Easy Mode Is Not Cheating If It Keeps Games Fun

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A lighthouse keeper searching for his son, a LEGO Gotham that feels oddly like Arkham, and a game that literally asks you to dig a hole until you hit the surprise at the bottom. That’s the kind of week we’ve had, and it turns into a bigger chat about why “chill gaming” matters when life is busy, hot, and your free time comes in 20-minute slices.

We talk about Fortnite’s latest chapter and the reality of streaming when tech decides to betray you. Then we get into what’s actually worth your time: 007 First Light as a standout modern James Bond game with proper set pieces, smart stealth, gadgets, and combat that makes you think, even if the hand-to-hand balance can feel brutal. LEGO Batman gets a lot of love, too, not just for the humour but for the open-world structure, co-op-friendly design, and the way it weaves movie moments into something that still feels fresh.

There’s a big Forza Horizon 6 “mop-up” session as well: clearing races, hunting XP boards, chasing speed zones, and finding that sweet spot between relaxing progress and full-on frustration. We also shout out Will Follow The Light for its calm, spooky puzzle-walking-sim vibe, and we admit A Game About Digging A Hole is far more addictive than it has any right to be, especially as an easy Game Pass-style palate cleanser.

The mailbag question hits home: is dropping games to easy mode cheating, or just sensible? From there, we tackle the bigger gaming industry news: reports about Sony moving away from physical discs, GTA 6 going digital-first and the money it could pull in, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 not landing on Game Pass day one, and worrying signs around Xbox restructuring and layoffs. We end on the big one: should PlayStation and Xbox embrace PC ports and a more open future, or are we heading into a more expensive, locked-down era?

Subscribe, share the episode with a mate, and leave us a review if you want more honest gaming chat like this. Where do you stand on easy mode and digital-only games?

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Transcript

Tech Gremlins And A Hot Night

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hello, and welcome to episode one hundred and eighty-five of Gamers The Lost Spark Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Burgess, and joining me this week is the other Spark on the pod, Mr. Stephen Carter. Steve, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I'm very good, mate. Thank you. I've I've made it back. I've made it back.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

We had a few technical technical issues. Um we're recording this as England are playing and currently 1-0 down. Uh we both decided to bail on the football and do the podcast earlier in the in the day. But uh typically I've come to my computer and my sure microphone and my roadcast doesn't seem to want to work, so uh I'm coming via my Apple headphones. So let's hope, let's hope that uh you can hear me and this doesn't sound too bad.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah, you sound alright to me, pal. So, like you say, we we mentioned before recorded, it's a bit of a poor man's podcast this uh this time around, but we'll we'll get by, mate. I'm sure we'll get by.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Everybody's a bit busy and it's still too bloody hot.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Oh no, mate. I was tempted to have the fan on while we're recording this, but I didn't know if an interview on Mike, so I might just have

Fortnite Returns With Stream Problems

SPEAKER_00 1:18

to have to tough it out tonight.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So uh what have you been up to, mate? And uh what have you been what games have you been playing?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Oh mate, it's just everything seems so busy at a minute, doesn't it? Like you say, just it's hot, it's awful. Like this this month, like build-ups this month is so busy for us. Like, Anna goes back to work this month off Matt Leave. Um, like Seb's got his first um taster session at school, like probably tomorrow. It's Oscar's birthday, he starts nursery. Oh mate, like this month is just like we're so busy. Like, I looked at my calendar this month and I'm like, we've barely got any spare time. Like the time that we've allocated for ourselves is like birthday parties or this, that, and other, and blah blah blah. We need to go get Seb's school uniform and da-da-da. It's just like, oh, like trying to fit anything in like gaming time has been it's been a bit of a challenge to be honest with you. So I have managed to squeeze some timing. Um so I have uh I have managed to get a bit of time in. So um I started the um started the latest chapter in season of Fortnite yesterday. Um so I had a few technical juice of that streaming here. Um so I um I started it and I got part way through my first game and my PS3 completely locked up. Like I was completely froze up. I just started getting shot at by somebody. I was running away, knee sliding away, and it just froze, just completely locked out. I had to do a full restart safe mode, the works, and then that's one somehow seemed to have um made me lose my mic on my Twitch stream when I rebooted it. So I was talking to nobody. So there's me chatting away to myself.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

You were talking to people because I I'd got to a client and I was running late. I got to a client and I we'd done the whole can you send me the code, which was came through to my phone to get onto Twitch. And I I thought, oh wondering's on. So I locked on and just saw you saw you playing and I can hear the gameplay and all of that. Uh and then I'm like, is it is he talking to Cam? Yeah, he's I can't hear him. So it's like message for you going, I can't hear you. So I think both of us recently have done Twitch streams, and uh it's something's gone wrong with it.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

We'll get there in the end, mate. We'll get there in the end. But is actually where I started it? I I have the app on my phone and I always do that the little bit of a can I hear myself, you know, make sure it's right. And it did, and then I was figured like when I jumped in again, I was like, Well, it worked before, it's gotta work again. And like I did all my mic settings and everything, it wasn't muted on the controller or the headset, but yeah, I don't know. I don't know. So yeah, I had a brief dabble, so the video is there for about an hour's worth, what it's worth. You'll see me playing, you'll see me talking, but you won't hear my voice. So there you go. Uh, I did come away with one victory though, Stu.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I say I saw your victory because I heard I heard the music playing. And uh and and and I've not even touched it this month because we've been busy, so it's like um it's much to Anthony's dismay not being on the podcast tonight. We don't really got much fortnight to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

No, and I must admit, is like I enjoy playing it, but there's not enough really, I don't think, as it stands for this chapter or season to really hook me in. Like there's no real collaborations at the minute, you know, there's John Wick, but I'm not a massive fan of that, so there's no real big major franchise or tie-in for me. So I'll lip in and out. Whether I'd do the full, you know, full job of getting to level 100 or getting the full B V-books out, I'm not sure, but we'll see. We'll see. But I've started it at least, I think I got to level 11, I think. Right. Um, because there's about four weeks worth of uh quests to do. Um, there's quite it's quite a lot. When I jumped in, I was like, geez, yeah, I've not played this in a while. So so yeah, so

007 First Light Hits The Spot

SPEAKER_00 4:42

I had I had a brief dabble. I had a brief dabble. Um but the other two things that I've um been playing a lot more um uh first of all is uh first light 007. Um so I've been playing that on the PS5. Um and I think to be fair, I'm echoing a lot of Anthony's sentiments on it, really. I think it's a cracking game, you know, and I think it's it's it's easily the best Bond game we've we know we've we've ever had today, which I know sounds obvious, but obviously because of it's on a new console and shiny and bigger and better and blah blah blah. But as we've seen in the past, just because it's got the licence doesn't necessarily mean it's a good game. But IO have done a very, very good job at making a very believable Bond story character universe. Um, you know, I think I sent it to you guys in the opening sequence when um you know the the guys like uh MI6 would never would never do this, and he's like, I'm not MI6. And you could it's just a completely you can see any of the actors, you know, of the Bond movies saying that. Do you know what I mean? It's such a a a great one-liner and sets the sets the tone for um for the game. I think it's great, you know. I think it's it's obvious that IO have done it, you know, the the elements of Hitman are there. Um you know, the the there's quite a lot of elements of Hitman in there, but not to the point that it's just a hit a reskinned Hitman. You know, there's enough bond in there to make it uh a unique experience, I think. Um I think Bond sometimes fragile. Um I think Anthony mentioned this as well in in a previous in the previous show for his thoughts. Uh that it seems like the hand-to-hand combat is very much tilted in the enemy's favour, which whether that's uh a choice, you know, whether that's a specific design choice, I'm not sure. But uh I play with the games on the easier modes, you know, just for the sake of ease and just because of my time's limited, I don't want to have to spend loads of time re retreading all ground. Um and even then it seems like you can punch a guy in the face, you know, repeatedly before you get able to take him out. You get punched twice and then they throw you against a wall. It's like, oh he's down. Oh, okay. Like these are not like big grunts, you know, these aren't like the you know, the big beef in militia. This is just your run-of-the-mill lab guys, you know, security guards or whatever that shouldn't really have a very um you know, very complex uh combat capability, shall we say. But yeah, I think it's great, you know. I think it's really, really good. I've just got to probably about halfway through it now, I think. Right. Um I I mean I love the um the the section where you're in the cargo plane. I thought that was fantastic. Like I don't think you've got to that point yet, but um, I have that bit. That that was really good. So that like for for you especially, if you get around to it and get some time into it, there's some great set pieces. And I I I think the stealth is good. I think I think it's good. I think the combat side of it is better. I think that uh whether that's because I like shooting more than stealth in, I'm not sure, but the combat is very good. Um it makes you think because you're not throwing a shed load of bullets, you know, you don't just pick up a clip of a hundred rounds, so you have to think about it a bit more, use your gadgets and things. So there is a bit more to it than just running and gunning, and obviously you can shoot guns out of people's hands, shoot them in the leg, etc. etc. disarm them. So yeah, I I really like it. I think it's a really, really um a really good bond game. Um, and hopefully in the long term we'll see another one. Uh, but even some DLC for this one, you know, just some add-ons to this. I know there's obviously the challenge modes and things that they do, uh, which I'm not massively going to jump into, but any sort of add-ons to the story or you know, even just saying we're gonna do it again, you know, I think it'd be very, very uh successful. I haven't seen any figures for sales or things, but I think it's been in very, very well received uh since launch.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Yeah, I mean they have they have announced an expansion on it which is coming. I'm not sure when it's coming, but they have announced an expansion on it which brings back the Levi Len Lenny Kravitz character.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yes, I have seen that actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, so that so we have got some stuff coming which is good. Obviously, I think me and Anthony discussed it or it was on the last pod or it was on the group, but we discussed that um Amazon have sort of gone, oh, this is successful, um, and just hopefully they're gonna work with I.O. to make a uh a sequel to this in a few years, and not think that they can bring it in-house, not pay out IO to develop it. Because I'm like you, I agree that it's nice because it's not hitman, but it's also not a shooter. It's sort of somewhere in between where you know you you can be a little bit stealthy, you can do fun little things like shoot the gun out of their hand and not like kill them completely. Um, but no, I mean I I've not really jumped into it. It's uh since being Anthony Poddied, it's just been work's been really busy, and and as I'll get on to a minute in a minute, I've just been sort of like uh hitting one game more than anything, just uh tick off the challenges type of thing. But it is definitely it's definitely one that I'm I'm gonna try and hopefully jump into the weekend and play because I've been really, really enjoying it. Um but also I think part of me was because uh obviously Anthony's talked about it, I've talked about it, you've talked about it. Part of me was also like at the weekend when I found I had Saturday, I think it was to myself. I'm like, do you know what? I'm gonna play something else to talk about on the pod than the the same thing that everybody else has played. Well, yeah. So um, so no, so it's uh it's definitely something I'll be getting back to. But uh you've also been playing Lego Batman, I see. I think Anthony's completed that now. So uh I see you've been playing that.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Yeah, so um I I I don't think I'm halfway through. I think maybe I think my it because it shows you how long you've been playing, maybe 10 hours or so into that. Right. Um so a decent chunk, you know, a decent chunk in there. Um and again, I I'm pretty much going to say what Anthony said. You know, I I think it's a very it's basically the Arkham games in Lego form, you know, and and that is not a a criticism, it's probably its biggest ringing and diamond that you could have. You know, it's it's completely different to

LEGO Batman Feels Like Arkham

SPEAKER_00 10:55

previous Lego games. You know, you've got that open world element, you're not just sent down a sort of a uh, you know, preset obviously some levels are, but you've got the open world element of being able to explore Arkham, go do your own thing, find bits and pieces, play like Arkham, like Anthony said, you can zip around between statues and take people out and these other things, and it clearly is geared up for co-op, you know, and in idea to play for court because there are sections where you control both characters yourself, which is nice. So there's little puzzle elements where Batman goes and does one thing, then Robin goes and does another, or Catwoman does, or Jim Gordon does, or what have you. So it's really, really good, and the way that they weave all of the movies and the stories together, you know, it starts with um the Batman Begins section, um of how you know the Wayne's pass away, and you know, there's a story we've we've been told many, many times before, but then it goes into all the you know the previous ones of the um uh the 90s Batman, and then it goes to I can't remember the turd of it now, but it then it goes to like Too Faced and then so on and so you know, so it weaves them very, very well. Um and you kind of wouldn't if you didn't watch the movies or follow them, you'd probably think that this was just how it naturally naturally progressed. And I've just got to the bit where you were where you get Robin, um so you go to the Flying Grayson's but you go to the circus and all that carry on with Two Face. Um so I've just come out of the other the other side of that now. But yeah, I I loved the Lego games um of old, you know, that came out of the 360 where it was just basically recreating the levels of movies uh in Lego, you know, the Star Wars, the Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. etc. But I think this is the future of Lego games if they if they keep doing them, you know, they could easily go back to Lego Harry Potter, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Lord of the Rings, you know, remake these games again in this style. Um, because obviously we've had Lego Batman games before, you know, this isn't the first Lego Batman game we've had. Um, but to give like a like a middle earth section, like a hogwalk section, you know, to these other franchises, give it a new liquor polish, make it this open world type thing again. I I could quite easily see them, albeit retreading old ground a little bit, bringing them back to life in a different way, because now we've got the text, we've got the dialogue, we've got the acting, the humour, whereas before all the characters were silent. So again, they they can they can bring that element to it now that they couldn't before. So yeah, I love it, I think it's great. Um it's just a brilliant game to dip in and out of. You know, again, you can just go complete one of the chapters for the you know the the story, do that, put it down, or just like you're doing with Falls of 2, you know, you're exploring the map with this, you can just go find some of the collectibles in Arkham, you know, go through the Joker riddles, some of the um, you know, the Wayne Tech things, that sort of thing. So yeah, it's it it's easily, easily one of the best, if not the best, Lego games um that we've had for sure.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Oh, I think it's it's saying the way they've done it, where they've almost made it, if you can say, a bit more grown-up Lego games, because you know, l Lego games are obviously Lego games, which are suitable for kids as well as adults, but this one they just seem to have lent a little bit more into the adult side of it whilst you know portraying and keeping it you know family friendly. So I quite agree. I think you could do like a a Lego Indiana Jones or you know a Lego you know Hogwarts or something like that, but you know, step it up. Um Lego Lego Spider-Man, that would be quite good, or Lego Marvel or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah, we've had the Marvel, but again, you could you could have that. But I think the one thing that I really was hoping when we had the Lego City Undercover game was almost like a family-friendly GTA, but in Lego form. Like and I thought that was a great game, you know, but we've not had something off the back of that. But again, you could quite easily make something of that ilk again without a franchise with a story, and that's something else that they could do, but whether we'll see that I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

Yeah, it's uh I mean hopefully they'll just see how successful this one has been, and then maybe just go, okay, well, maybe if we do this with a few more, you know, bring back some of the old titles or something like that, uh, and then make them a little bit more grown up. But um, but yeah, but as as you mentioned, yes, I've been very much uh uh as

Forza Horizon 6 Map Mopping

SPEAKER_02 15:14

I put on uh the docket Force for Horizon 6 mopping up. So I I've been literally um uh Anthony's way off there, he's got all the XP boards, the mascots, and all that lot. And this one I've um this one I've sort of like gone into it a bit more racing first. So I've gone into it on the racing and the exploring side of things more than the you know trying to race to get the XP board. So I think it was uh I think it was Saturday. I think it was Saturday. I went into the went into the the the filter and just turned on uh what was it dirt racing, road racing, and all the just the racing platforms. And then basically what I did was I just basically decided to just um get all the racing done, get all the uh what are they called, the Goliath sort of like races done, and then just clear the map of all the racing. So I did all that and then literally just sat down and just started over Saturday and Sunday, just hitting all the XP boards, and then even to the point of you know, just before uh we podded, I was this afternoon, I was the laptop had completely run out of charge. So I brought it upstairs and was like, oh, what am I gonna do for half an hour whilst I uh the laptop charges so I can do some more work? Hello, I play Forza. So I was um I was sort of like mopping up the speed cameras, mopping up the jumps. Um, and and the other thing I've started doing with it a little bit more is uh uh the uh online racing because one of the achievements is uh get to level 10, I think it is, in uh Forza Live or Life, I can't remember which one it is now. Um but but basically I went in there and started playing some of the racing and some of the uh competing against other people, and I really, really enjoyed it, and it it almost fills that void that motorsport had. Um, and one of my favourite ones in there is uh an app or sorry, a um uh a race that's called spec racing. So, what it is it is it's everybody's the same, everybody's in the same car, you can't have any mods. So they give you like a 1990s Nissan GTR, the only thing you can change is the colour, and then you just race each other. Um, and it's quite good. Uh, then there's like the downhill racing, I can't think what they call it now, um, but it's like the the two of you next to each other, and then you're basically racing downhill against each other. Uh, and the idea is to try and get in front of the other person and not let them pass. Um but but yeah, I really, really enjoyed the online side of it, um, which is really, really good. Bought another house today, uh, bought a um bought another house, went and visited Anthony's house. Anthony, your house doesn't look that good. You need to polish it up a little bit. Go do what I did. Go and find one of those um like you could 50,000 points or whatever it was, you could buy someone else's creation and put it in yours. Yeah, yeah. So I I I I've now got I've now got uh like three car spaces, I've got a TV area, and then I've got a massive like 400-inch TV on the other wall.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Yeah, I I've I I bought another house the other day and I was like, I could I could doll this up. Like I've got like three and a half million credits or something. I've like not spent them. Like, but I um I was doing the same as the U the other day. I was because obviously Fawzer ticks off your um your Xbox um rewards quite nicely because you've got it installed, it's a Game Pass game, it's on the console, and it counts towards you monthly or you whatever pack, so it's quite a nice one to get your quests done. So I was the same, I've been doing the XP boards, the mascots. Um I've got all the mascots now. Um they're all done and dusted. Um, I've got the last few XP boards to do, I think maybe ten or less, but some of them are on the last island, which I haven't unlocked yet. I've not gone locked to last island, so I think that's where they're hiding. Um I've just trying to unlock the shuttle, the space shuttle event.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Oh, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

I think I've either just unlocked it or I'm just about to unlock it. Um so that's next. Um but yeah, I've not been doing any online, I must admit, but it's it's good that it's there and there's you know options to do it. I mean, for fundamentally you are playing online, but not online, I guess, aren't you? And you don't have the option, I guess, to rewind and obviously correct your mistakes and such by playing online, but you know, I guess it just is what it is, isn't it? You know what I mean? It's just just tough.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

I think I'm trying I'm trying to rinse it for everything he's got, but there is a lot. I mean, for instance, for instance, like earlier I was uh doing the drag strips, and I think there's two there's two drag strips, and to to get rid of the drag strip icon from the things you haven't no sorry, yeah, the things you haven't completed map, um you've basically got to do the drag strip in every single grade of car. So you've got to sit on that, so you've got to sort of do it in C grade, B grade, A grade, was it S2, S1, um A, all of those grades. So it's not too bad because you could just fast travel back to the start, open up the map, go to your cars, change your car to the other one. So it's it's not too bad, but you've got to then do that also for the time attacks. So you go to a time attack track, which I think I think there's about three or four of them, and you've got a set of timing and a C cart, a B cart, an A cart, an S1, an S2. Um and there are certain are a few things in there, like like always, there's a couple of um there's a couple of speed zones that I just cannot do. Like I'm missing it by one or two miles an hour, and then there's a couple of trailblazers I just cannot seem to get. So I am I may well park it, excuse the pad, I may well park it for for a little while. Um we've got um as we record this next week, we've got black flag coming out, which I pre-ordered today. So I I may well park it and start. Well, we're gonna get onto a game in a minute, which I did something a bit different with. Um, but I might park it, play black flag, and do uh do that for an hour and see see how we get on with that. Um I

Will Follow The Light First Hour

SPEAKER_02 21:32

then decided to jump into two other games, one of which I've sort of seen online for a while, and I think it's one of those things where I must have been watching something and if YouTube chucked up, why don't you have a look at this next? And it's a game called Will Follow the Light. Um and what I decided to do, actually, if you go to our YouTube channel, if you're listening to this, if you go to the YouTube channel, I've actually put up the first hour of the the game. online um no no commentary no talking you don't have to look at me um it's just literally it's literally just the first hour of the game but it's it's basically you play a lighthouse keeper it starts off you're on a boat which obviously you're not lighthouse keeper but you're a lighthouse keeper something's happened in the town and you're trying to find your son and it's a bit of a like puzzle game walking simulator um but it was just quite chill I came up here on Saturday morning I think um and I just sat and played it for an hour on on the um on the stream recorded it and it basically just starts off you're on a boat and you've got to sort of put a sail up take a sail down and put another sail up and then you then all of a sudden go to being the lighthouse man and then you've just got to solve a few puzzles do a few do do a few chores then you go into the town someone turns up one of your friends turns up and says there's been something's happened in town you need to go to town and then you go to town and uh then you find out there's been I think it was like a mud slice uh and then you can't find your son and that's sort of where I stopped playing it and I I haven't gone back for the moment but that's that was quite good it wasn't expensive but it was like achievements were pop in um it wasn't in game pass I had to pay for it but again I think it was like £25 or something like that and it sort of it sort of fitted in with where I am at the moment which ironically because it's a puzzle game you do have to think but where I don't really have to think about it I could just sit down and play it and because of um instant resume on Xbox I could just be halfway through a level just close the Xbox down and I know I'm not going to lose anything and I can come back to it. But I've been really really enjoying that it's just something a little bit different and I've yeah it's just something a bit different and as I say the the footage is up now but if you want to watch the rest of it pop over to the YouTube channel um if you're not watching it uh and have a look because I thought it was quite interesting.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Yeah I've just been I I checked a bit out earlier but I was just looking at it again of with of your footage and it's a little bit like um things like Firewatch if um things like that again which it's like you say it's just a nice little chilled out um albeit this was a bit spooky you know with it been set at night with the fog and the mist and things but um and like you say god God loves that instant resume that if you've got a puzzle that you just simply cannot fathom just turn it off then come back to it and for a brief oh for God's sake I'm at this bit again and I can't think and then there's something sort of there's always something sort of simple isn't there like there's some like a little switch that you've missed or I've not quite done this and it's like why didn't I think that before like if instead of like banging your head against a big wall for like half an hour and you can't figure it out so yeah it's um I mean I say it's a shame you know it it's it's not on Game Pass, you know which is you know it's not quote unquote free but it definitely looks like something that is just nice that experienced it if it came up on sale or you saw it is like oh it's an offer I might pick that up you know just as a little like say just a little break the break the mould change change of pace but yeah that um that hours worth of footage is definitely worth a uh a little checkout for sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Well I think okay I I'm I'm not loaded but I'm fortunate enough that I could buy a few games and play a few games and I I suddenly thought well if I'm gonna play these and because of this podcast when it works because of this podcast you know I've got this I've got the setup here to be able to quite easily just using OBS to record an hour's footage so you know I've got plans to do the first hour of Assassin's Creed black flag I've got plans to do the first hour of Halo Combat Evolved um I've got the first I've got plans to do like the first hour of some other games um I might I might I might even use my points to buy to buy GTA that's that's a big call it's a big call but the I I think we discussed this in the in the group though didn't we like in the news what we've seen like the cost of consoles is is going to be astronomical potentially you know we've just seen the steam machine come out and jump above a thousand dollars you know yeah so and that's not as powerful as potentially what we think like PS6 might be or uh helix might be so without how expensive components are do you you know how much more you're gonna have to put in plus your points anyway yes you'd be able to take a good chunk off that amount but you're not gonna get it for quote unquote free are you let's if we're being brutally honest. Well and I thought I thought well so so I did update the docket so at the moment I've got 765,527 so that it's up about 10 grams since the last time we podded and it's worth about 617 pounds and forty six pence. So I know that I'm between so a couple of things I know between now and next Christmas which if the PS6 and the Helix

Microsoft Rewards And Next Console Prices

SPEAKER_02 26:57

does come out I can probably save about another probably about another £1500 roughly so I'll probably just be able to sort of scrape through to what it should cost if it was going to be let's say you know seven eight hundred pounds I j I don't think it's gonna come in at anything less than a grand based based on step the steam price. I like that lot lots of people lots of people are saying that you know actual manufacturers are saying that we they don't think that the the demand is gonna the supply is going to outweigh demand until potentially 2030. So it then brings you on to the fact that the frankly if Microsoft the Sony release their next consoles next christmas and they're hovering around about that 1100 to 1200 pound mark I honestly don't know whether I would buy it. I I you know I could I could justify an Xbox for five six hundred quid I mean Anthony was taking the Mickey out of me earlier saying you need to buy that PS4 Pro now and you know and I could I could potentially stretch to the 770 odd quid that um the PS uh pro is but I don't know there's just it's there's there's just something about that thousand part a thousand pound barrier where unless unless a game comes out which you like GTA unless a game comes out that you cannot play on what is currently Xbox Series or or Series X or PS5 a little bit like GTA with uh X the old Xbox and the old PlayStation actually I I think I'll just carry on doing the games on the existing console. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

So I and also from a completely clickbait point of view to make a video going I didn't pay for GTA 6 I mean that's got to get some views isn't it you'd like to think so especially with all the hoo-ha that's around it which we'll come on to in a bit but I can I completely get what you mean though Stu because it's like I couldn't afford to drop 1200 quid on a console like no way you know without putting it on like a buy now pay later thing you know even even if I jacked in both my current consoles and say look I'm gonna have to go down the route of one because every generation of console I've been fortunate that in some maybe not at launch but I can say I can get both you know I I've had the 360 and the PS3 I had the one and the PS4 I've got the Series X and the PS5 now you know I haven't got the Pro that would be my next logical step that if and even then I probably would have done it if it wasn't jumping up massively in price because the PS5's relatively held its value to be fair so if you took it and traded it in or sold it privately whatever you'd probably get a decent chunk you know to put towards a PS5 Pro which I probably would do will I do it now given how expensive they've got probably not because I mean even now my current setup it's not even got I'm not up to up to a proper 4k monitor or anything anyway so that the you know the benefit will be wasted as it stands anyway at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

But even still it's like then I'd have to upgrade the monitor then I have to get the PSI Pro and da da da so it's yeah I I like I I do wonder where it's going to do you know like and obviously like using these points you know towards that I mean that's what I'm that's what I'm saving towards because I'm probably going to put my Xbox rewards towards GTA when it comes out even though again we'll probably come on to it that there's a they've actively said that it'll play better on PlayStation I've got 20 pounds of rewards in there at the moment I'm about 30 something percent towards my next one so if I can just even if I can get 30 40 quid towards it come launch we know it's going to be what 80 90 quid yeah if that can knock it down to 50 quid well winner do you know what I mean that's a bonus so um but I like it's just so much uncertain about them points in it you know you don't want to get scared mongered by yourself but them points tomorrow like that you just don't know what's coming to you it's like sorry mate they've gone exactly especially with all the stuff that's going on around Xbox at the moment and obviously I would you know ultimately for the last game I played I I could have done with a PS5 Pro because of because I was I was looking okay this was from game pass but I think you can buy it anyway but I I played a game and this is no what no word of a lie the game just pinned up in front of me and I looked at it and went that's quite interesting I

A Game About Digging A Hole

SPEAKER_02 31:35

quite like the idea of that and and it was like really early one morning um like stupidly early like half past four in the morning so I'm like I just fancy playing something so I'm looking on Game Pass and there's a game and it's called a game about digging a hole.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

It's a run sealed game mate it does exactly what it says on the tin.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

So so so basically you you start off with you start off you pull up you pull up outside a house um I mean the graphics aren't that bad actually you pull up outside a house um and I and basically this poster gets for sale poster gets put up on the board and it says something like house of sale uh also included buried treasure I think it says or something like that. So consequently you buy this house and then you you have like you have a garage and you have almost like a trowel um uh like a uh like a very small spade or shovel and you start digging a hole and you start digging this hole where the X is in your garden and then what you do is fundamentally the further you get go down um like in um like in real life the further you go down the more precious stones you find. So at the top you're getting like um stones and you're getting uh coal and then you get copper and then you go all the way down you start getting diamonds and the idea is you dig the hole and you take you you you collect the stones you put them in your backpack you go back to your garage you trade them in that gives you money to upgrade your equipment and then you bit dig a bigger hole a bigger hole bigger hole and then you basically go all the way to the bottom of the hole and then there's a surprise at the bottom of the hole I won't give away. But it's just it's just weirdly really really weirdly addictive it's almost like this this uh I I can't remember the name now but it's almost like the the s uh steampunk world games where you thought I'll just I'll just spend another five minutes doing this I'll just spend another five minutes doing this oh I've just upgraded my shovel to a uh to like almost like a drill like a mining equipment so now I can just go all the way around the wall um and then when the game the only bit of advice I would give if anybody plays it it it sort of states that you only unlock your achievements after you finish the game but you don't if you like have collected 40,000 let's say pounds um once you complete the game and go back to your game again and you found out the mysterious ending all those achievements unlock. So I made the mistake of quitting the game and starting a new one where one of the achievements is like full 70 meters or something like that. And what you have to do is you have to dig all the way down to the bottom so you get to the bottom and then you just have to ludge yourself off the side until you hit the ground and then the achievement unlocks. So I have probably paid it I don't know probably I've probably paid it for about five hours over the two games and I've unlocked every achievement which is apart from the one what says complete the game in half an hour because I've got no idea how you'll do that. So I'm just like that's not that I'm not even gonna try I might I might watch a YouTube video or something like that to find out how someone done it. Because the problem is you don't unlock things like a little jetpack until a little bit later so if you go if you just stand there and dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, you won't get out of the hole. So you have to almost like dig some stairs which takes time so I might it's there I've said set it out I might do it but um but no it's uh it's a weird one but it's it's just one of those games that you know you just don't have to think about because you should dig in a hole.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

It's as simple as that yeah and it's a bit like um I guess like power wash simulator like again it's just there's something quite therapeutic about it. Like you say just cleaning away cleaning away don't have a care in the world just getting on with it.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

But it's a Game Pass game so it ticks off the you know it ticks off the uh the old quest so it's definitely something I'll jump into especially now we've ticked over into July and the four pack and the eight pack just started again well do you know what I'm at a loose end for 10 15 minutes half an hour what have you just dig an hole why not let's just dig in a hole rather doing the XP boards and stuff on Falls let's just dig a hole instead why not why not it's less frustrating than some of those XP boards I'll tell you um and and and and actually you you give that you say that that um the actual noise when you get your mining equipment the actual noise is reminiscent of power simulator um it's almost like they've used the same noise it's really really spooky but uh but yeah I mean obviously as you say with going back to Forza briefly um uh there was about I there was about four boards on there I just could not do and I was trying and I was trying I was trying I was getting a bit ragey and I'm like just turn it off and then to to re-emphasize your point that you said just a minute ago about when I turned the Xbox back on at half past seven next next morning bash bash bash bash done yeah and the only one I really had some problems

Game Pass Value And Third Party Worries

SPEAKER_02 36:52

with was up at the top of the one of the snow's ski slopes there's one I couldn't quite work out how you get to it and I I was flying the drone I think you put up a short about it a reel about it. Oh the pylon one yeah yeah yeah and and I finally got it I finally realized there's a bit of a racetrack at the top and you just go around and launch yourself but it was almost white I was putting up the drone I was putting up the camera I was trying to work out and of course the problem was because you're on snow as well you can't just stop your car because cars are rolling so um so no so that that's me yeah so really it's been it's been a real mix this week it's been four's a rising six it's been we'll follow the light and the one I've actually fully completed twice uh is a game about digging a hole it's the variety mate we do it for the podcast you know it's it's a hard job but somebody's got to do it mate somebody's got to do it but again as we keep saying and we'll say it every single week really that's the beauty of game pass you're gonna find someone game pass that you would had no intention of ever playing before played it enjoyed it and then we can talk about it and that's just the beauty of it. Yeah I don't think you've I don't think we've got it in the news because there was just so much news we would be here until we'd be here until the next wealth cut talking about the news this week but I know I know something came up on the group the other day about uh Xbox saying about potentially scaling back those third party games into game pass honestly you're probably not listening but if anybody from Xbox is listening to this if if you scale back third party games and make Xbox day and date first party only you won't have me anymore because I will I would quite happily buy let's say Halo Combat Evolved I probably won't wouldn't play that if it was on game pass I might now buy the cheeky 20 quid upgrade to get it five days early to to do an hour footage for the pod. But for me Game Pass is one of those things where when I just not I'm not thinking about what I want to play like digging a hole I'm not thinking about what I want to play and I just look and I go oh that's interesting and like a few months ago we talked about uh Moonshot I think it was exactly the same it's just one of those games that it's there and I will play it and and honestly if if Xbox Microsoft decide to scale back on third party games and and more push just first party games and that's what game pass is for I'm okay I get part of my mobile phone subscription but the only reason I'm staying with EE potentially is because I get game pass from them. Well if all of a sudden I don't get game pass then I'm would would potentially not stay with EE and I'd spend my Microsoft points on something else.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Yeah and I think I think I said in in the chat is that if that's what happened obviously it'd have to have a massive price reduction anyway you know they couldn't keep it at the same price and just do that. And that'd be fine you know if they didn't do a reduced pack option for that but you know how again you've you've just reacquired all these people back by shedding you know slashing the price of it you're gonna lose them all again you know because you've got no pull you've got no you've got no draw like you say it's fine having the first party things like you've you've got your gears you've got your halo you've got your force and all that is fantastic and lovely but how often do they come round like you say they are they're only coming round every two three four five six years given current you know development cycles what are you going to do in between you can't expect people just to play Master Chief collection again and oh go play all the old old Forz Horizons again and all the old gears that's fine for a week you know someone might go oh like you you don't play old games necessarily Anthony doesn't you know Anthony admitted last week said I don't go back and play old games I want new and shiny that's the world we live in that that's the world we live in now of everything. Everyone wants new and shiny obviously you've got your hardcore retro gamers that you'll go back and play but they'll buy the old consoles you know they'll buy the old consoles and do that people that just want new and shiny will want new and shiny of well everything you know the big games the little games the in-between your games and I'd the same you know I'd I'd if it was cheap enough I'd maybe keep it for the first party stuff alone but if that was the case I'd strongly consider PS plus instead you know I've got a portal you know that I I don't play the the the premium for the PS plus I could do that and play without connecting to PS5 with the portal if that was now my next best option and I think there's improvements to make for PlayStation Plus but if they went suddenly oh there's more you know third party or more back catalogue and of PS3 PS4 da da da da and you can stream it without connecting to PS5 I'll I'll probably jump over. You know I probably would jump and switch. But yeah as as we'll touch on with with stuff for Microsoft um you know in in the news sections it's there's a lot of worrying signs right now on both on both fronts really I guess from from both camps um but yeah hopefully hopefully that doesn't happen because I think they'll just massively shoot themselves in the foot through that.

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Well I think yeah as I say we'll we'll get onto a few of the stories in the news but uh you know there's quite a few stories in there which sort of go hand in hand with this sort of brief ish news story we've had at the beginning but before we get on to the news um uh we have actually got a bulging mailbag down here and uh we've had a we've had a letter um well email we've had an email in from uh Marcus and uh he uh he he he's uh he said he's okay to read it out on the pod um so basically the email read uh hey lost spark crew marcus from Whitford here just wanted to drop a note to say how brilliant it is to have Anthony back on the pod. Right okay I'm not gonna read these letter now that's it thanks Marcus thank you thanks Marcus thanks click unsubscribe um no so uh you know how brilliant it is to have Anthony back on the pod. The energy is unreal honestly that guy's just happy all the time what's his secret Pell Punch meditation or just pure vibes uh I think he's just life in general Marcus I think he's just uh I mean I think like most people he obviously has his down days of whatever but I think that that man is gonna be a kid till he dies and um yeah and he he's always always happy or he always perceives to be happy.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Yeah it's just infectious

Mailbag On Easy Mode Guilt

SPEAKER_00 43:10

isn't he's one of those people that you just can't help but smile or be positive when you're around him just like ooh there's positivity. Like it that's I said to him about this podcast because there's quite a few like sort of challenging or negative stories of this was like I think he even he'd struggle to put a positive light on some of this stuff we're gonna talk about.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

But yeah it's it's brilliant been having him back I must admit so yeah but we'll finish his we'll finish the um the the uh the message from Marcus but yeah it's been great to have him back definitely yeah it's been really good to have him back on but yeah as you say that you can you know keep him in small doses you can't you can't always be happy and and on a podcast with the news today I as you say I don't think he could be a happy buddy. The message continues I've got a question for the Sparks too also uh for anybody watching or listening to this uh if you drop us a comment it'll be useful to hear your uh thoughts on this as well um Marcus says Lately I've been dropping games down to easy mode just so I can chill and enjoy them after work. Part of me wonders if I'm cheating the experience or if it's totally fine to play however keep uh however keeps things fun. What do you guys do and what difficulty do you stick on by default? Um so for me um for me quite often if it's a new game with a new genre, I will quite often put it on to easy. Um I will probably just play on easy. Um I might assess a couple of levels to say, like, I'm trying to think of what I did with Bond now, um, but I will quite often put it on easy, uh, assess it a little bit. I mean, if it comes up and says, like, I don't know, Call of Duty, oh, you're used to playing a shooter or you're used to this, then I might put it on a step one or step two. So normally, no, I will put it on um, I will put it on like enjoy the story mode. Um, because you know, I bought this game or I've paid for this game for a game pass, and I want to enjoy it, I want to experience the story. And actually, if I like the game, I will step the difficulty up, or I might even go back and play it again. Um you know, I I can't think there was one game I did that was there was a few achievements for hardcore. It was something like Dead Space or something like that, and I I played it on sort of like a relatively low mode to complete the game, and then there was like go back and play it on nightmare mode, and I tried it and I gave up after the first level because I kept on dying. Um but what about yourself, Steve? What are you what do you usually opt towards?

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Yeah, so I I I mentioned it um just in this first two. Um that I just whack it on easy, you know. I um I don't think there's any shame in it, Marcus, at all. Um, you know, my my time is limited with gaming, so the last thing I want to do is be struggling and not enjoying it, you know, like you said, Stu, you you've bought this to enjoy it, you know, and and I get that people play demon souls and things like that, you know, there's the whole you know, the challenge and the overcoming it and working things out, and you know, the dope being hit from doing that. I I'm just not into it. Like I did it with Farza, you know, you start with I started Forza on a lower level, it's like, oh, you're winning races quite comfortably. Do you want to knock it up to the next level? And I think even then I knocked it up to whatever I forget what levels they are, but maybe average, amateur, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Yeah, there's amateur, average, above average, I think.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

Yeah, something like that. And then I was finishing four, fifth, six every time, and I'm like, why am I doing this? Like, I'm not enjoying it because I'm not winning, and I get that you can't win every time at all, but like you know, the whole lack of it, blah blah blah, but but again, I may just play it and enjoy it. I don't want to be like thinking, oh I'm crap at this game because I'm losing every time. I just want to not necessarily feel good, but I want to feel my sense of achievement is I finish first, you know, and yeah, you know, and I feel like they were just a bit of a too much of a jump that well, I was finishing four, fifth, six, and I was finishing in first by about three, four, five seconds on the lower down one. So again, I needed like somewhere in between. But yeah, I just play easy. I don't think there's any shame in it, Marcus, at all. It's it's you know, it it's completely what you want to do. Um, but for me, I want to enjoy my time with the game. Um, you know, and at best it'll be medium, you know, whatever the medium setting is. Like some games like like you said, shooters, I'll probably play a medium because it is a genre I'm familiar with, like Call of Duty, I can you know handle it. Um but again I'm getting older, you know. I'm getting older that my reactions aren't as what they used to be, you know, which is why I don't play online as much anymore. You know, when I were you know 15, 16, I was playing Call of Duty every night, I could keep up with them, but you know, I I can't do that now. So yeah, I'd I'd I'm here for an easy time, an easy life. I I just want an easy, easy experience. So yeah, um I'm I'm a wuss. I'll I'll stick it on easy.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

I think there's uh there's an analogy that I used to hear a lot in my running days, which was if you run a marathon in two hours, or if you run a marathon in five hours, you still run a marathon.

SPEAKER_00 47:46

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 47:47

Yeah, so so for for you for you, you know, no, yes, sometimes there's achievements hit hidden behind the difficult levels, and sometimes I will go back and play them to see if I can get those achievements. Yeah, there's a good there's a there's a sense of achievement when you unlock that achievement and a sense of pride, but there is nothing on your profile to say, oh, you know, you beat Gears of War on nightmare mode or something like that. So I think everybody's time is precious, and um, and I'm the same as Houston if you know I flip between average and above average for my avatars enforcer, but because of I know what I am, if I don't win every single race on the map, it will do my heading. And so I will I will just play around with the the balances of difficulty till I win every match on the game. Um I'll never go right down, but I'll just try and do it until I'll get to a point where I'm happy with it.

SPEAKER_00 48:43

Exactly. I think there's a like you said, there's a saying, what is it? It's not about the destination, it's the journey or something like that. Yes, it's like that, innit? Like it doesn't matter as long as you've enjoyed it, it like it don't matter, does it? Like at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Not at all. So uh so Marcus, thank you very much for your question. And as I said, if you are uh watching this or listening to this, please leave us a comment or drop us an email um to say how you play your games, how you do you like to play them on, like Marcus, myself, and Steve, you know, flit around between the ones to experience the game, or are you uh die hard? No, I must complete it on most difficult mode to get the most difficult achievements. So um um, right, so on to the amazing, proactive and

Sony Moving Away From Discs

SPEAKER_02 49:24

productive and very, very happy news this week, Steve.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

Yeah, it's uh it's quite tasty this this week, isn't it? So yeah, we'll we'll see if we make it through without feeling uh too uh worn down and sad at the end of it.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

So your the first story is a PlayStation story, um, but it's not good for you and your love of renting games from booberang.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

No, it's not, and um Anthony said this while I was out uh early today. Uh and it it it it quite had not upset me, but it quite shocked me really. Um so it's as we found out today that um Sony's gonna stop uh producing physical discs uh as of January 2028. Um yeah, so I I use uh it's called Boomerang uh subscription service where you read the discs, they come in just a little you don't get the original disc, they just come in a little slipcase, basically. Send you I buy a post, complete the game, send it back, they send you the next one. Um and I've subscribed to that for 10 years or so now. You know, I've had it for quite a while. Um it's great, you know. It's you know, I think I pay £15 a month on it. Um so yeah, it's you know, it it's a cheaper alternative to owning games, especially. Um, but that will stop, you know, and and I guess there was a way of this when Xbox said, oh no, you you can't, you know, resell your games and share them like before, but thankfully that stopped. But this will be a hard stop of well if you want to play a game, you've got to buy it digitally. You know, there's no tradings, there's no discounts, there's no, you know, Amazon have got a sale on and selling it cheap. You know, I Anna got me Lego Batman uh the other week on Xbox because it was down to 40 quid. You know, that's not gonna drop to 40 quid digitally. Why would it? You know, no way are they gonna do that. Um so yeah, so it it's quite shocking really, um, in some ways, because that's not far away. You know, we're in July 26 now, you know, come another six months' time, it's only gonna be a year away, you know, and that's you know, probably gonna be the you know the very early stages of the next console generation, you know, and look you know, look at the current issues with hardware, storage, all that. Well, what size memory are these consoles gonna need if you're saying you have to have every game digitally? You know, you can't have a catalogue of your games stacked up high and just say, I'll just reinstall it, it'll be fine. And granted, yeah, don't take along with internet speeds, etc. But that's not the point. You know what I mean? You can't just literally grab a disc, stick it in, and play it. You know, you're gonna have to have you know a limited selection of games installed at any one time, and maybe cloud streaming gets better and that'll you know allow it that way. But you know, we've seen tied in with that article, um, that the Vita and PS3, I think, back catalogues digitally, the stores are gonna go. Yeah. So they're really, really slashing um support for these sort of things, which I know cot I know things cost money. Like I get things cost money and having servers to support all these games digitally and to download them. And physical media will cost money to obviously the disc, you know, to install it on the disc and the packaging and so on and so forth. But do they really get that much of I mean they must do? Is that many people that want to play digital now that don't want to own a disc?

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Well, uh, just just looking at that, it's got on uh after two decades of supporting PS3 console generations, um they look like they are closing the PlayStation store on PS3 as well as Vita. Um it it looks like uh Mexico Honduras Nicaragua uh PS store on PlayStation 3 will close in this August. Um additional Latin America and Eastern Middle Eastern countries, the PS store on PS3 will close late this year, and in all other countries, the PS store and PS Vita will close in July 2027, so a year from now. So, and then briefly, briefly touching on uh a story we're gonna come on to in a minute. Obviously, you know, GTA have announced that there's not going to be a physical disc at launch, and actually, you can understand that because they don't want it to leak. And and I think I can't think of what it was now. It's one of the podcasts the other day, someone was saying how they went into a small family store and they just looked at this game selection and went, that game's not out yet. And the guy behind the counter just went, Yeah, it's not out till next week, but we don't care when we sell it. So they're they're they they get the games early so they can sell them on launch day, but some stores are just selling them out because for them a sale's a sale. So obviously GTA's not putting out a physical game, and also the rumours have slightly been squashed that that might come out, you know, two, three, four months after the game comes out. But I've also heard a few rumours that that is like that's not gonna happen. There's actually no plans to bring GTA out on a physical disc. So I just don't I mean, for me, I quite enjoyed, like your Batman analogy. I quite enjoyed um there's a few games I've gone on to Amazon and brought at a discounted rate. Uh goes to Yotai was one of them, because I'm like, oh, I want to play it, but I'm not gonna play it when it's brand new. So let's let's wait till it comes out and comes down in price. That's not gonna happen anymore.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

Yeah, and and I think the obvious thing there, Stu, is obviously that with GTA not coming out on um disc is the size of games. You know, if the obvious thing there we haven't really discussed is that how big this game, like GTA is gonna be. You know, we saw I think it was it Cyberpunk that came out on three discs, maybe. You know, how many how many discs can we expect a game to come on before before it gets a reasonable, you know, like a production cost for a game. You know, if a a Blu-ray, I imagine, is not cheap, you know, even if you buy it in bulk, then to obviously have four, five of them if these games are getting to like maybe whatever, you know. We see games that are like 150 gig in size, you know. If we're seeing games get two, two fifty-three, three fifty in size, it's gonna come on like five discs. So I I again I kinda see it, you know, I kinda get it. Um but there's the whole I think I mentioned it in the group recently, the whole anti-digital, you know, pro-physical movement of I've bought this game, I own this game, I shouldn't need an online requirement to play it, because if you shut it down, my purchase is no longer a thing. So basically I'm just renting this game, I'm not buying it. And I should have the choice to still be able to play that game if I want to. Because if you're saying I'm just renting it, well I should get something back for it. You know, so if they shut the online or the you know, it's online only. I I get it, I understand it, I completely get it because there's still some people that won't want to, they can't connect to the internet, they don't have the capability to do so. And like this, the the people won't think they don't want something in their hand. You know, I've bought something, I want it physically in my hand, you know. That this is my purchase. So I I completely get it as to why there's people that aren't happy or won't be happy with this news as it's come out today.

SPEAKER_02 56:03

Yeah, and I think there's that. I mean, we've seen it in a lot of other things, you know. Obviously, music now, you know, a lot of music is you just rent rent the music on Spotify and Amazon and things like that, but you still could go out and buy, I think, a CD, even a cassette tape in certain scenarios now. Um but and obviously then there's that, I mean, I can't think of what they call it now, but isn't there like a there's like a share technique within Nintendo where you can sell that game on that digital version of that game. So, you know, it's gonna be um it's gonna be interesting to see when when that does happen and if lots of other, you know, obviously we've had it in years for PC gays, but obviously if PlayStation and Xbox follow each other, then there's gonna be that case of well, okay, so but I I can understand it for 6.99 Steam game or a 9.99

Fallout Speed Plans And Franchise Fatigue

SPEAKER_02 56:55

Steam game, but when it's a £99.99 copy of GTA that you might want to pass on to a family member or sell on to a family member, you can't. So I think that that's got to change in a way. Um, yeah, I mean it's a funny one. You know, I don't play physical unless it's a game like Yo Tai where I just wanted to try it out. Um but yeah, it it's a funny one. Um, but I think unfortunately it is the well the way it's gonna go. Um and you just say, even though there's a hell of a lot less costs, um there uh there was uh I don't know whether it was a spammy thing, but Simon, who does the other podcast with me, he sent me a link um which was uh it was a picture of an Instagram post or something like that, where uh and it was an Instagram post from like a gaming website like us or gaming stuff like us. It says, and it said um uh Marcus Brown's, you know, a picture of Marcus Brown's post or something like that. It says uh found a way to save myself some money or make some money. I've drawn down on my 50, was it is it 501k they have in America? I've drawn down, I've gone out and bought 50,000 digital copies of GTA 6. So when they run out of copies, I can sell these at two, three times the price. Now, first of all, they won't run out of digital copies, and second of all, your purchase is tied to your account. So if that is true, which I don't think it is, you've just spent $50,000 on the same copy multiple times to your account. So uh I've never tried to buy the same game twice on my account because it it says you can't, it says you already own it. So so I think it's a bit spoofy. Uh but you you but the reason I said it was that you can see this happening, you can see this happening. I mean, the amount of times I bought the same car twice in Forza is unbelievable. You know, I've got two like three million pound Aston Martins at the moment because I've pulled up next to the side of the road and it says, Oh, would you like to buy this Aston Martin Valkyrie at 70% off? Go on then, and then I go to a shop and find out I've already got three of them.

SPEAKER_00 59:10

There's a reason why it's discounted.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

Yeah, yeah, so I don't need it because I've already got it. So um, no, I I I it's sad if we start to lose physical copies from a point of view of game preservation and been able to pick up a discount. I just hope that if they do do more digital only, that you know, unlike Nintendo do and unlike GTA will do, is that they discount them a bit, you know, after six months or so to make that you know it's a little bit more affordable for those people that would have gone along to your favourite store and bought the second hand copy.

SPEAKER_00 59:45

Yeah, but uh yeah, it's yeah, uh it like you say it is the unfortunate way of the world, um like like you mentioned right there, with streaming, music, TVs, you know, everything like that. It's just inevitable, but we can't keep everything that way, but it would be nice if you know, even if just some of the smaller games came on Discord, you know, that you know, part of it was on disc. Even if part of the game was on disc and the you downloaded the rest, like we see quite a bit now, you know. At least then you've got something. You've got something in your hand tangible to say, I own this, you know, this is mine. I don't know. Yeah, it's just it's inevitable, but yeah, it still sounds quite a shocking or alarming thing to still speak about, even though we know it's probably gonna happen eventually anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

Yeah, so we'll see. But uh right, on to the next news story, uh, a bit of Xbox. Um, so this is from IGN. Um, Xbox apparently is speeding up work on the new Fallout games. Um, one form of Vesta Death warns that faster sequels uh risk fan fatigue. So basically, new boss Ashasharma is reportedly speeding up development on the new Elder Scrolls Fallout and Halo games as she prepares to hit the reset button on Microsoft gaming business. Now Fallout fans are wondering what has been made of the new game in the post-apocalyptic franchise. One former Fallout developer is cautious against pumping out big games faster and faster in fear of game fatigue. I completely get where they're coming from, um, but I think Fallout is a prime example of they knew the TV series was being made. I mean, we said this before on the podcast, they knew the TV series was being made. There's a pretty good art shot that it's gonna go down well, even if it goes down well to the level of Halo. Um did that go down well, not really, but anyway, uh it goes down to it goes down well, and then okay, they've they've done a they've done a you know, they've played around with Fallout 76 and they've put some new stuff in it and they've spruced it up a bit, but I know game development takes a long time, and James is going to be shouting at the monitor now going. Do you realise how long it takes to create a game? But yeah, it's it's just a bit of a shame that we've not sort of tied out Fallout 5 or or even spun off. I mean, I've heard a few things recently, which is like you know, Xbox has at the moment has so many studios, can't they just take Fallout and give it over to another studio, not even to make Fallout 5, but just to make something fallouty. So, you know, a little bit like Halo Tactics, um something like that. So yeah, I mean it's it's a shame. I mean, I you know, Halo Infinite, I really enjoyed Halo Infinite, and I was hoping that they were gonna carry on updating it, updating it so it's an infinite game, but it just stopped and dried up.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:38

Yeah, it is like you say, I'd never thought of it that way, but like you say, when all these you know developers are in-house, shall we say, well, why can't you just loan them? Like, well, we really want to work on Fallout section, really want to get it here by this deadline. Can we borrow these guys? You know, you obviously pay them, you know, but obviously it means they can't work on any other projects, but oh, you know, rather than you know, it's in layoffs, well, we'll cut, you know, it might be just a temporary measure, but we'll go work on Fallout, go work on Gears or Halo or Elder Scrolls or something. Do you know what I mean? And I think in some respects, like Bethesda, they almost shoot themselves in the foot with this a bit because obviously they've followed the pattern of fallout, elder scrolls, fallout, elder. But then if they become longer and longer and longer and longer to make, I get the risk of fatigue if they come out too soon. Well, if people are not bothered anymore because you left it too long, do you know what I mean? Or the flip side, because other stuff's gonna come out that might do things better and take the same idea and riff off it and say, Well, you had your chance, but now I'm gonna go play a different version of a similar thing, you know. Like like it's not the same, but like metro games, you know, like the metro games have been coming out quite regularly, it's a similar sort of vibe, you know. People might go, Well, I'm not into that anymore, I'm into the metro games instead. And yes, uh the same as you. I'm like, you know, we have no idea what it takes to develop a game and the ins and outs of it. And obviously, it's stressful, it's hard, and there's a lot of things to consider, but how long has it been since Fallout 4? You know, and since Skyrim and did it? It's like, well, what have you been doing for them ten years or what have you? Do you know what I mean? Yes, you've been busy doing other things, but we've still got no tangible evidence of the next Elder Scrolls or next Fallout in ten years. How? Like what have you like what are you doing? Like you say, Fallout 76, especially when Fallout 76 has been so um like critically panned, you know, the the fit you know the the feedback and sort of reception of Fallout 76 wasn't great, right? Well double down on Fallout 5 then, or New Vegas remake or Fallout 3 re let's let's do some you know recovery here and like get people back on board and you know just you know just some fan service you know to get it back.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:40

Well hasn't hasn't Todd already already said that they're not gonna make fall they're not even gonna start ish Fallout 5 until Elder Scrolls is out.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:50

Yeah, it's like someone must be working on summer somewhere. They have to be even if it's just a story and a trailer or something, someone has to be in a background going, right, they they can't just go, Elder Scrolls, right, Fallout 5. What we're gonna do what we're gonna do? It's impossible. It's physically they cannot not have a vision of the future and at least have a roadmap or a vision board or something of how it's gonna work, um you know, and like you say, you don't want to have people, you know, work worked at bone and stressed out and crunched times and unrealistic deadlines, because obviously next to the final products will suffer. But with a little bit of a nudge in the right direction, or just a little bit of pressure to say, guys, what are you doing? You know, seriously, what we we need to make money here, and we just you know peeing it up a wall because we're just dragging his feet. Is that a bad thing? Uh you know, probably not if it's done in the right way, but I I think it's a good thing, you know, because again, we want new and shiny, we want new games.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:50

Well, it's also it's like I mean, no disrespect, but like Dumblefine, for example. I Dumblefine is one of my favourite studios, and um I really, really enjoy. Keeper. But like Kiln, I've not even played. I don't think any of the Sparks have played Kiln. And so what's happening with Psychonauts 3? Because Psychonauts 3 was a an award-winning, critically acclaimed game. So have they started work on Psychonauts 3 or have they been busy doing you know Keeper and Kiln? Which makes you sort of wonder that you know I don't think we'll see figures on Kiln, but I can't imagine it's going to be anything that is going to have any positivity out of it. And you know, like with Tango Game, with Tango work, Tango Games was it? You know, when they um they sold that off or sold the uh the game off, I can't remember what it was called now, the rhythm game. You know, everybody loved that game, and then they got rid of it and they sold to studio. So I just I love Xbox, but I hate Microsoft sometimes being in control of Xbox because it it's like what's gonna happen, what's gonna happen to it? And you know, and it's like

GTA 6 Digital Sales And No Disc

SPEAKER_02 1:07:06

we need some good games, we need some games that's gonna keep you know people happy, bring people to the platform. You know, I'm not a fan of exclusives, but bring people to the platform to play Xbox to keep Xbox going. So um, but uh but one game that X was probably made Xbox some money with their percentage share of uh the profits or from the the sales from it is uh is GTA and that's in the next story.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:33

Yeah, and obviously we've covered about the the lack of a disc which we had uh which we had as part of this news article that covered that. Um but yeah, like the we've not seen any official numbers or figures from Rockstar in terms of the actual sales, um, but this is potentially a billion dollars as a a rough estimate in the first 60 minutes of going live, and then I've got a separate um I think I said this in the group, allegedly 39 million pre-orders, which would equate to over three billion dollars in revenue in two days. Yeah, which that that it's just mental. Because we said this about we I think we mentioned it either in the the chat or on the pod about the the potential costs for GTA six. I said they'll they'll they'll get that back in initial day one sales anyway. You know, it can cost whatever it what it could cost five billion, they'll get it back. You know, they've got three billion in two days. That's not even long term, you know, the longevity of it when GTA 6 online inevitably comes out further down the track, you know, all those additional sales for the online credits and online content, DLC inevitably, blah blah blah, you know, it just it's just mental. You know, it's just and again, it's a lot it's a lot of money for a developer to spend on a game, you know, because if you're looking at that figure, and again, this is probably the things that are going through you know Charmer's head when she's taking over Xbox, it's like these are some scary numbers, you know. The development costs they're very, very scary. You know, it doesn't take it like a movie producer or production company long to suddenly go bust because well we've we've wrapped up a massive bill to create this movie, it tanked at the box office. Bye-bye. You know, there's no other way to make any money. And similar to this, really, if you if you make a flop, that's it, it's probably game over. Um, so yeah, from even from a a you know a proud you know profound studio like Rockstar, having a a billion, several billion dollar production value is scary, but they were always going to make that back. Oh, they were always gonna make it back.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:33

I've got I've got here just uh it's an uh it's an AI summary, a web scrape which says whilst uh parent company Take Two uh Interactive and Rockstar Games have not publicly disclosed exact figures, injury analysis and insiders report the estimated total development and marketing budget for GTA 6 is between 1 billion and 2 billion, with some fans and uh other insiders uh going it could be the most expensive product in history with unverified unverified amount saying anything up to 3 billion. Well, they've already made that back, so they've not got to worry. They can they can start they can start 15 years of development for GTA 7 for us now, and I'm gonna buy that with Microsoft point.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:19

It might be that expensive to buy it by that point, anyway. But yeah, it is it is it's silly buddy, it's scary buddy. Do you know what I mean? I mean I mean, and this and this kind of I guess poo-poos that whole thing about um you know digital online, you know, not giving discs. Well, there you go. This has been all purely digital sales, three billion dollars in review digital. But how many would they sold physical? You know, that's the thing, but again, it's you know, it's the whole argument. But yeah, it's just it's scary money.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:46

And also just think that's that's console, that's just PlayStation, which I think then they say roughly they reckon 60%'s on PlayStation, 40 is on Xbox.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:54

Yeah, roughly, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:55

And then also you've got people like James, and Anthony's not bought it, but you've got James who's like, I'm not pre-ordering, and Anthony's like, no, I'm not allowed to pre-order because James says I can't pre-order. Um, but it but it is that case of like there is now billions and billions of billions of digital copies that have not been delivered yet, that cannot be sold on, that if you know little Bob's younger son comes is coming of age and he can now legally play it because he's 18 and it and his brother moves out, he's got to buy a copy for himself. Um, so it's it just will keep on keep on giving the money, which obviously, you know, then as you say, it's gonna come to PC eventually, it's gonna come to uh GTA Online eventually. So yeah, and I'd hate to think how much this is gonna make them, but you know, that's off. I was old enough to play GTA, remember play GTA when it was top down and you were driving a car around, a little bit like sensible soccer.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:55

GTA London, that's a throwback, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:57

Just a bit. So uh so uh talking about physical, sorry, it's talking about uh digital games. I got this this

Call Of Duty Day One Is Paid

SPEAKER_02 1:12:05

morning and I sort of like double took on it, going, yeah, yeah, I know, you know, little Britain, you know, yeah, I know. Um but I got a I got a message this morning which was uh which was being confirmed on IGM by Wesley Input, which which was um Microsoft is reminding Xbox Game Pass members that they have to buy Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 if they want to play it on day one. Microsoft is sending out notifications to Game Pass members, so this was actually like on the the dashboard of the Xbox. Uh actually I think I got it on the app. Uh reminding reminding members that uh Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 won't be in the subscription service this year. So if you want to play the game at launch, you'll have to buy it. Call of Duty Modern Warfare launches globally on Xbox Series SX, PS5, PC via Batomet, Xbox on PC stream, Nintendo Switch on Friday the 23rd, 2020. Sorry, yeah, October, Friday, October the 23rd, 2026. Microsoft decided to stick a $70, I can't remember what it is in pounds, as a standard edition on uh uh price point or call it this year, resisting the temptation to go to 80 and the vault edition costs 100. Well, thank you, Xbox, for not putting the price up and reminding me that I have to buy it. Uh guess what? I'm not.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:27

Nope. And this is why I like boomerang. Because I can just rent it instead. So thank you. But it it's it's this world that we're living, though, Stu, because you know 100% there'll be someone somebody. Why can't I play it? Why can't I play it? I should be able to play it. No, no, no, no, no. But again, I guess that comes with the the whole thing of the confusion of the well, this is included, this is not, but the older ones are, but the new ones aren't. So I kind of get that somebody might get confused by it if they don't keep up to date with the gaming news like we do. Um I suppose it's good in a way that they are reminding people, but it's almost like, here, please, can can I have your money, please? Thank you. Yes, I'll have your $70 for Call of Duty. But like you say, I'm like, I'm all right, I'll either wait a year or I'll get it on boomerang, and that'll do me. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:10

I mean, I don't get me wrong, I can completely understand it why they took Call of Duty off because off of Game Pass because it it makes the made you know made activities so much money, putting it on Game Pass is just it's it's negative for them. So I completely get that. Um I think because well, one, I've still got last year's one to play because I still can't work out how to start it. Um I've not even bothered going back to try and start it, but I I I like game, I like Call of Duty, and I and it was always it always has been my Christmas game. It's always been the game that I really enjoyed. When I stop at Christmas, I will play Call of Duty and really enjoy it. I think just because the last few years have been a bit lame, um, and like even last year I really didn't get into zombies. Uh it just it's it's it's just not a game this year that I is gonna really potentially be on my radar unless I don't know, unless at the last minute there's some really good reviews and I sit us on it and I'll buy it, or or I'm I I use some points, or or something like that. But there's so much coming out between now and Christmas that you know, and I've still got to go, what is it? You know, I've still got to go back and finish Bond off, I've still got to go back and finish Lego Batman off, I've still not played Highland Life 2, you know, I've still not played Avowed. There's still so many games that are in Game Pass which I can play, which do I want to spend a hundred pounds on Call of Duty? I won't buy the Vault Edition because I don't really play online. So 70 quid for the the main game. No, I'm like you. I'll just I might rent it, I might pick it up secondhand, or I'll just wait until it comes out next year.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:52

Yeah, I'd uh and it's just cardio is not the thing that it was, but yeah, it's it I I agree. It's a good move that it was removed, you know, to make Game Pass cheaper. I get it, and it's added revenue for Xbox, which that's what they're all about at the moment. But yeah, it's just not it's just not a day one purchase for me like it used to be anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:08

Yes, so right, keeping the positivity coming towards the end. Keep it I mean, I I've got no idea how long we've been recording because hopefully I've edged this together beautifully. But uh, we've had to stop and start this a couple of times. So um um so continue with the positivity, Steve. Um the next story is over to you, and guess what? It's about Microsoft again.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:31

It is, and guess what? It's more sad news. But this is um this is something I I saw on Instagram and shared in in the group again uh from a page called the Gamer Web, um, with quite a bold headline uh of the biggest layoff event in gaming history. And sadly, this is in relation to Xbox. Now, there's been rumours flying around that we've seen in the last sort of week of like a restructure, um almost like a repackaging of Xbox that it's it's standalone thing. It might even be its own thing that it's owned you know separately to Microsoft, which again we know could be a good thing that Microsoft don't necessarily have the hands

Xbox Layoffs And Industry Anxiety

SPEAKER_00 1:17:07

over it. Um but yeah, this this has come from um the and again another quote from this on the post is Xbox is going to be supremely unpopular for a very long time, and I think I said in the group it's gonna be it's gonna be a very uh a short-term pain for a long-term gain, but the pain is gonna be quite substantial, I think, because if there's any hope of Xbox having a successful and profitable future, there's gonna have to be layoffs somewhere, you know, and it's not gonna be pretty, you know, it's gonna be quite ugly. And we've seen already about um, you know, um some game pass um agreements falling through or being put on hold. You know, they've been frozen for now while they're just you know while uh Ishama's going through it all and looking at it from you know just from a from a bottom line point of view, you know, which I think is what they have to do, you know, they they have to take all emotion out of it and it has to be financial, you know, just i it has to be. It's the cleanest way, it it's a cold way, but again, it it's the if they want to make money and still survive, well that's how it has to boil down to brass tax. Um but this warning's come from the creator, Duke Newcomb, um, who's claiming that Xbox's restructuring is gonna be the largest layoffing game in history. Um it's not just a a a roundup of job cuts, you know, it's not just a you know, oh sorry, we're gonna have to let X amount of staff go. Um it's gonna dwarf every previous wave of job losses that we've seen, which could mean that again, some studios, developers, they're completely cut off. You know, I think it would be a case of that my Xbox just says, sorry, no, we we can't uh we can't keep you anymore. You know, it's gonna be and there will be hundreds, if not thousands, by the sounds of it, probably internal, external. You know, there's gonna be a massive streamlining coming up. And you know, we've seen it in businesses outside of gaming. It it has to come to it if the business wants to survive, and of course it does want to survive, you know. She's not coming to just go, yeah, we're gonna wind it up. She's come to try and save Xbox, you know, that's what she's come to try and do. And you know, it's gonna be awful. It will be off because you don't you don't want to lose a job in in any realm, in any industry, in any job, you don't want to see it happen. But they're in survival mode, and if that means they have to cut ties, then that's what they're gonna have to do. But it does sound like this next sort of 12, 18, maybe 24 months, it's gonna be quite painful, it's gonna be very painful, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:32

And I I think it's it's sad to see because obviously behind all of this is are obviously human beings who have jobs and families, exactly, uh, and and mortgages just like all of us do. Um and you know, and obviously, you know, we've got friends in the industry, um, and yeah, it it there's nothing really you could say about it. I it unfortunately when big brands consolidate, and honestly, I although I was a fan of it when it was going through, um, I think one of the worst things Xbox have done Microsoft done is brought Activision Blizzard. Um you know, okay for the people at ABK, it could potentially have been better because obviously there was a bit of a a culture at ABK which people didn't like and a boss that you know people didn't like, but it's almost like you're trying to jump in out of the frying pan into the fire and and has taken on ABK been to the detriment of all the other studios Xbox have bought um that actually probably could have worked quite well without all those other studios coming in. So yeah, and and obviously we're not just seeing it at Xbox, you know. Um it looks this week I heard that you know virtually all of the um a load of bungee devs are being laid off, so a lot of the marathon team it unfortunately, and I think Ubisoft as well this week, I think, but it's just yeah, I just it's and then you've also and obviously you've then also got Saudi trying to buy EA, and then are we gonna see that with EA? So and then you flip it to like you know, my daughter who's next door, she doesn't play games, and a lot of people aren't playing games. So uh is it just is the creation of games just gonna get worse? And then I also heard the other day that last year, you know, even Candy Crush had its worst every year, and and that that's that was a big money maker for ABK and obviously now Microsoft. So gaming's in a difficult place, uh, and you know, and just like a lot of things at the moment in general life, with things costing so much money, it it when's it gonna end and how's it gonna end?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:49

Yeah, well this is it, and like you say, that there could potentially be a generation coming through of you know, it's like alcohol industry is the same, the smoking industry is the same. You know, you might get generations of kids that they're not going out drinking, you know, like like in my generation, your generation of going to uni and going out several times a week, smoking the same, you know, gaming the same, you know, especially like these restrictions that are coming in from um like a governmental point of view, of like banning social kids from social media and other things, you know, where does that stop? You know, because if they're not exposed to scene video games, they're not going to play video games. Well, when it comes to them being old enough to play them, they're not interested because, well, I've gone this I've gone this long without them. Well, I'm not interested now. You know, how often do you find something in later life that you suddenly get a passion or enthusiasm for that you've not had since you were a kid? It's very rare. Um so yeah, so again, it I I get it, you know, it's the sustainability, everything costs more money, everyone gets paid more, everyone expects more, you know, from pensions to wages to holidays to da da da. It's you know, everything costs more money, staff costs more money, buildings cost more money, rents cost more money, you know, equipment costs more money, you know. It's you know, we say consoles are getting hammered by components. Well, think what the developers are getting slammed with by having all these you know expensive production units of things, you know, that's gonna be costing a fortune to run and all the electric and you know, all it's just yeah, it it's hard, you know. It's like it's like you say, we know people these people are humans, you want them to have a job and um a job they enjoy. Sadly, if they would think where things are gonna be going, there's gonna be hundreds of people applying for the same job, and it's gonna be you know, dog eat dog, and some people might fall out of the industry and have to go do a a job they don't want to do anymore, and not something they've done for you know years and years and years, and that's really sad. And to lose some of the creativity and the talent from these studios will be awful, but it it it's it's that, or we lose Xbox, you know. They won't have a job anyway, you know. They're gonna either way they won't have a job. Do you know what I mean? So it sounds harsh, but Xbox goes and they're unemployed, they're unemployed and might find a new job, and Xbox continues, and they might get a job back at Xbox in the future. You know, you just don't know, but it it it's not uh you know, it's w we jokingly said this on the on the chat that it's it's not gonna be a great podcast for a positive side of things, and Anthony had struggled to get some positivity out of this, but you can't ignore it, you know. We have to talk about it, you know, because we can't just sort of sweep it under the carpet, we're not naive. You know, something that we love and are passionate about is going through a really, really tough and challenging time, you know, and we have to we have to be open and frank about these conversations because it it's gonna happen regardless.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:24

Well,

PlayStation PC Pullback And One Console Dream

SPEAKER_02 1:24:25

and and taking it on to the last story, uh which um it was basically former PlayStation executive Sean Leyden has said he doesn't understand Sony's decision to pull back from PC, he doesn't believe late ports were the cost uh costing his console business sales. Um it's quite a uh a longish article on VGC, but uh I quite agree because if if if you make so PlayStation pulling back on PC is PlayStation saying, Well, look, if you want to play Wolverine, you've got to buy a PlayStation console. And in my opinion, they have this narrow narrow view which will go, Well, if we say that you can't play Spider-Man, you can't play God of War, you can't play Wolverine, then you'll have to buy a PlayStation. No, it doesn't work like that, you just won't play it. Um, so then you're gonna get to the point where PlayStation are gonna make cuts because people aren't playing Wolverine, people aren't playing Spider-Man, people aren't playing God of War because they can't afford the PlayStation at the moment, which means that the developers get laid off, which means they lose stuff, which means that and it's just so for me, it's like let's just have a Hailey Gra holy grail, let's just have a machine, a Sony machine or an Xbox machine, or whatever machine you want, but it plays everybody's games and everybody gets a cut of the money. It's never gonna happen. I'm just hoping that crossplay was never gonna happen. The ability to be able to play Fortnite or Call of Duty with your friends on PlayStation, your friends on Xbox, and your friends on PC, that was never gonna happen five or six or ten years ago, I can't remember now. And it did. So I just hope that out of this negativity about of things closing down, will that spawn a more PC-like gaming environment where it Wolverine is available on your machine and PlayStation make it, Call of Duty is available on your machine and Microsoft gaming studios make it. And isn't that just going to be good for everybody? And maybe let's face it. I mean, I heard obviously the other thing we've not said is Xbox is going up in price, and the rumour is PlayStation is going to go up in price again. So, I mean, an Xbox Series X in America is the more expensive, if not the same price, as a PS5 Pro in America, I think. So it's about $800. So people can't already afford games consoles, and Microsoft are reportedly already losing about £100 to £150 on a console. So even by putting the prices up, they're going to be breaking even. But people aren't buying games because they can't afford them, and it's just this big circle that's just going round and round and round. And and together with the memory sh memory shortages and things like that, it's it's it's not getting any better. And you know, I'm sorry, but PlayStation, you're stupid. You know, not giving people the ability to buy your game at $80 and play it on PC because you think they're gonna buy a PlayStation, you're smoking something, as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:48

Well, I say, and you could get away with it when it was cheap enough to do that. You know, when you could say, Oh, I say only, but it's four hundred quid, let's say, four hundred and fifty quid to buy a console, you get away with it because people are like, Oh, do you know what? On a punt, I'm gonna buy it because there's gonna be more. Coming and blah blah blah. Like so that's double and tripled in some cases, you're not going to get away with it anymore. But like you said, what i in a blue sky thinking, you know, sort of world, well, what if Microsoft became a publisher? What if Sony or PlayStation became a publisher, Nintendo, and there was this generic entertainment box that was in the middle of all these three big companies? This is like like a Steam machine, you know, like it's just basically this is a machine, it is capable of doing XYZ. Send us your games and we'll play it on it, you'll play it on it. Why not? Why not?

SPEAKER_02 1:28:34

And if you want a Sony branded one with a Sony interface and GUI, graphic user interface, then buy the Sony one. You know, if there was rumors that Helix was going to go down that route, Microsoft were gonna make the all-singing, all dancing, mega powerful one uh of $1,500, and but they were gonna let other people make a the Sirius X type version and maybe let people like Asus make that. That was only ever a rumour, but it's actually not a bad idea to just sort of say, you know, fundamentally, if you want to buy a digital copy of Wolverine and you want to pay it on your machine, if you're not making any money from the console and people aren't going to buy the console anyway because they can't afford it, then you're losing money from the sale of the game. So, and and if if like on that machine, that you know, that gaming machine, um you you buy your game from Microsoft, or you buy your game from PlayStation, or you buy your game from wherever, and you know, PlayStation aren't making or aren't giving a like 20, 30, 40% cut to someone, so they're still making a hundred percent of the money they would have made on the PlayStation if the loyal PlayStation fan buys it from the PlayStation shop or the PlayStation website. I just yeah, I just I just don't get it. PlayStation, well yeah, PlayStation, PlayStation just and Xbox, but PlayStation's I decision to pull back on PC ports is just to me, it's only killing kill the industry and kill kill their studios.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:08

Of course it is, and it's a little bit like when obviously Microsoft bought like Minecraft, Call of Duty. You know, the first thing they said is it's still gonna be available everywhere. You know, it's not suddenly going to come exclusive, you can still play it elsewhere. But like you say, if and it's and even more so if we're going all digital and we're not putting disks out there, it's even easier. You know, like you say, you've got this one, you've got this hub, you've got this machine, it's got the Microsoft store on it, it's got the Nintendo store on it, it's got the PlayStation store on it. You can still get Game Pass, you can still get PlayStation Plus, you can still play, you know, Nintendo games online, da-da-da, whatever it might be. Even Steam, throw Steam in there, you know, USO store, um, you know, Origin 3A, that sort of thing. Why can't it work? You know, if especially if you're going in this all digital, you know, online world anyway, there's no reason it can't work. There's no reason why it can't work at all. You know, and like and it whether it's an amalgamation of all three of them that come together and make this machine, or like say ASUS or whomever, even Apple, you know, let's throw Apple in the ring. Apple make a just a games console that just sits there. Right, there you go. Avatic. There you go. Like you say, and if and if it was 1500 quid and it gave you access to all them three consoles and brands and whomever, and it was gonna last that last you five to ten years. That would be an easier thing to sum up for. Do you know what I mean? Rather than thinking, oh, I'm gonna have to replace this in five years again before they say it's out of date, and I can only play these games on it. Well, I've got a a vast array of games to play on it, the value is comes back in spades. So yeah, it's that's probably blue sky thinking. But I I think some conversation along that line will have to happen at some point, you know, because we can't keep going on. It'll have to. It'll have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:45

It's gonna have to, because at the end of the day, I I think if anything Microsoft would be the one to jump first and just go, look, we're not gonna make the console potentially after Helix, who knows? But um, but no, I mean if if if PS6 and Helix is going PC-ish based, which generally they are anyway, because obviously they're platforms anyway, but just why not do it? But uh but but anybody listening to this podcast or watching this podcast, um, if you don't agree, please leave your hateful comments below because uh it helps rank our podcast so much better. Because whether it's a good comment or a bad comment, YouTube just sees it as a comment. So uh but no, in all seriousness, what's your uh what you know, listener, viewer of this, what's your fault? You know, fault should should PlayStation and Xbox both support PC? Should we just have a universal console that plays the games from whatever platform we want, wherever we want, um, and we'll we maybe look at that cross-platform like we did playing games 10 years ago that hopefully in 10 years, you know, with the next seasons of consoles um after the Helix and the PS6, you know, is that something you you think about as well? So um, but uh but no. That's it, Steve. Our joyful podcast has ended. Thankfully, England England won two one. I'm not putting this down properly. I'm not gonna put this out until Saturday. So, frankly, if you've listened to this podcast and I've just given it away, where were you? It's it's Wednesday, it's already happened. So England has scraped through into the World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:23

I'm not sure who we're playing next, but you know Mexic Mexico in Mexico Mexico in Mexico, so it's not gonna be an easy game against you. It's sweet, it's gonna be even more painful.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:32

We'll be going home, and I think it's one o'clock in the morning, so I ain't watching that much.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:36

I mean, no, you you'll be in bed alone. You that's nearly our getting up time, that isn't it, to be fair.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:40

This was gonna be like the first World Cup match that I'd watch from start to finish, and then when England went one nil down, sorry, we're talking about football, but when England went one nil down, I jokingly messaged you to say she was in the pot now, laughing laughing, and then about ten minutes later you're like, What

Football Result And Where To Find Us

SPEAKER_02 1:33:56

do you want to? So why not? Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:59

Let's do it. Why not?

SPEAKER_02 1:34:00

So uh, but anyway, but thank you, uh Steve, for coming on the pod. Um and um uh sitting in, sitting in. No, you're not sitting in for Mr. Chester. Mr. Chester's saying for you, you're you've been in this seat more than he has. He did. But uh, but where can people find you across uh social media and PlayStation and Xbox and all those things?

SPEAKER_00 1:34:21

Yeah, so I'm pretty universal. I'm Steve Carter91 on PlayStation and Xbox, uh, YouTube and Instagram. Uh I think I'm Steve Carter1991, technically on TikTok, but I'm pretty much just doing the Lost Back TikTok account anyway. So if you're on TikTok, look for the Lost Back podcast on there, and you'll see uh little clips of this very nice podcast, uh clips of our gaming as well, our failed streams, you'll find everything on there. So I'm trying to trying to share a bit of everything. I I want to do a bit more sort of like face-to-face content, you know, a bit more sort of opinion pieces and things, which I don't have time to do it. But if not for now, you'll find clips of our gaming and this very, very glorious podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:00

And your really, really, really annoying uh 10 times multiplier for a thousand skills you score the other day that you lost, but still not over that.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:11

Yeah, for for context, for context, I thought if you've not seen it, it was me during a skill song on Farza Horizon 6. I'd got about 100,000, some of that are just coming up to on a 10 times. I was gonna get over a million XP off it. Brilliant. Just tearing around through the trees, bunny hopping round, blah blah blah. I hit a tree that I have already knocked over, so I've already knocked this over without crashing or being penalised for it, and then it counts it as a crash, and I lose my skill chain. How? How? I've knocked it down and it didn't count. Now it's laid there, it can't suddenly be a crash.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:45

Damn you, playground. The only thing I noticed was I don't know, I I when I first watched it, it almost you almost like jumped down and hit it at the same time. So whether it took a took it as a hard impact and a crash, I don't know. I'm not sticking up for I'm not sticking up for playing around the game.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:03

I've got the I've even got the angel perk on that as well. So I must have done it again somewhere online without even knowing it either. So I could have, you know, for that when you're hooning around and then crash into a car, you think, oh, I'm alright, I've got away with it. Not anymore. Not anymore. So yeah. If you're watching this playground games, I'm not happy.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:20

I am gonna find you.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:24

We'll find him, we'll find him.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:26

But uh he's still on the pod for some reason on here. So you can find Anthony Cheson. Um on you can find him on Chess Man on Xbox, PS Chess Man on uh PlayStation, and a whole mixture of everything on social media. Just just search up Anthony Cheson or look for a very happy man with a lightsaber in his hands.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:46

Can't be many Anthony Chessons around, surely. There can't be.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:49

Um on uh on Xbox, uh I think on most platforms, I'm uh General Letdown, but I'm mainly on Xbox, and uh on just general normal social media, I'm Mr. Sajivat Burgis. And uh yeah, if you are watching this and if you are listening to this, um please check out. I'm trying to get up some first plays um of games. So if you're looking at buying like uh Assassin's Creed Black Flag, if you're looking at uh this month Assassin's Creed Black Flag and definitely Halo Combat Evolved, uh I'm gonna try and do the first hour up here, just record it on the capture card and put it up on YouTube. So um uh please go along, have a look and like and just give us a bit of advice whether you like doing them or not. Um, there's none of me on camera, so that's that's fortunate. It's just literally the gameplay and all my faux pas and errors. So um to Steve, thank you very much for joining us. And uh uh yeah, and and listeners and viewers will see you in a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:47

Yes, thank you for watching and listening. We'll see you on the next one. Cheers, bye. Bye.