Busted Buttons

Xbox Network - Busted Buttons Ep. 47

March 31, 2021 TGPZ Gaming
Busted Buttons
Xbox Network - Busted Buttons Ep. 47
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

We start off getting Red's opinions on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. What does he like and not like about it? Is it a style of game he prefers?

We then turn our attention to the new rumors around the Nintendo Switch Pro. How do we feel about a bigger handheld screen? Are we disappointed in handheld staying at 720p? How are 1st party games going to look in 4K?

Afterwards, we discuss Microsoft buying Discord. Are we excited about it? What does it mean for the future of Discord?

Later, we talk about Xbox Live rebranding as Xbox Network. How do we feel about the name? Is this necessary? What confusion does it cause?

We then quickly touch on the new Xbox Series X controllers. We have the Electric Volt (neon yellow) and Daystrike Camo (red camo) controllers. Do we plan on buying either? Both? How do we feel about the look?

We end with a conversation about the Ghost of Tsushima movie. How do we feel about video games becoming movies? Is it something that we will check out? Would it work better as a series?

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Red:

Welcome to Episode 47 of the Busted Buttons video game podcast. You know, we we spent a lot of time talking about specific individual games. So this is our second episode in a row, the word is gonna be talking about the gaming industry in general, I think we've got a great lineup of topics. I finally started age of calamity, you know, the new Hyrule Warriors game. So I'm gonna talk a little bit about

Hick:

that. And I don't need to if you don't want to talk about that game.

Red:

Then we're going to talk about the switch pro rumors that have really blown up here. I mean, they've been circling for a long time. Yeah, I'm really blown up here. The last couple of weeks. Xbox Live is rebranding at least part of IT services. Microsoft is trying to buy out Discord. We've got new Xbox controllers coming. And you know, we can't leave PlayStation and Sony totally out of the list. So we are going to talk about the news that there's going to be a ghost of Tsushima movie coming, which has me a little bit excited. So you know, last episode was very sorry.

Hick:

You see, we're not going to talk about you though.

Red:

Today, although I am enjoying my new computer chair. I'm not gonna lie. And I know you got one not too long. Yes. I think that's something we could absolutely talk about at some point. But you know, so this is a lot of it. There's a lot of Xbox episodes. I know. We hit PlayStation pretty hard. Yeah. Last episode that you got your new PlayStation five, though, so

Hick:

we had to talk

Red:

about that. But we're gonna jump right in, you know, we started this channel, or we started doing video game coverage as a Zelda channel. So it feels kind of good to talk a little bit about a Zelda game. I finally finally fired up age a calamity the new Hyrule Warriors game. First of all, I

Hick:

don't know exactly if it's a Zelda game. Like I kind of know where you're going with that. But I don't know if you want to sit there and actually say that, hey, this is a Zelda game. Me. It's kind of more of a spin off. Like I don't really categorize it as a Zelda game. But I understand people's argument when they do but go ahead.

Red:

No, so I'm excited my girlfriend got for me for Christmas. But man, I was playing cyberpunk. And then I was playing the new

Hick:

buying games anymore. Your girlfriend is bile for you. She knows what I like. So I need to have a talk with her and tell her to buy into tendo switch online. Like do you need it? I don't really know if you need to understand your arguments, but it just bothers me man. It just bothers me every time it comes up in conversation, which is usually me, but I just I don't know, man, talk to her and get that for you.

Red:

But anyway, I did finally start aged calamity. And I gotta say I'm not very far into it. I'm a big fan of just kind of like the action and hacking slash video games in general. Like I really enjoyed the original Hyrule Warriors. I mean, I get when people say you know, it's not a true canon, or Canon Zelda game totally understand that but I just love the gameplay of these all action hacking slash games. And I know I've been talking a lot here from the beginning. So first, you know what, I know you haven't played age of calamity yet but kind of what do you think of just action games in these hacking slash type games in general?

Hick:

I'm not really a big fan of them. Like I do have that approach sometimes where I've talked about where I just go into a fight and I just go absolutely crazy as the years have gone on, I still use a little more stealth but I still have that kind of mentality to kind of you know go forward and attack but that only really happens or I like to only do that when there's like two or three enemies they're like you know no no more than five enemies while I do that so we can go into these games like we're just 1000s and out of 1000s let's say hundreds like you know a lot of enemies you had to face like to me I'm not a big fan of that and I think that's why I actually did start aged claiming I did like the first phase and I was like I didn't really say I was done with the game but I never got back to after that first stage now a lot of that right had to do with like next gen I don't know like I got my next my Xbox series x sometime around that time but then there was like also maybe a game that came out around the same time as aged claiming I can't think of what it is but there was other factors that went into that decision not to continue on with age of claiming but I can't always go back to that one point that if a game is really good you sit there and you play it yeah no matter what else is going on so me know I'm not a fan I don't find a lot of substance to the game I don't like he's just to me just been mashing I don't really care for bum mash he like I like there to be some structure and some strategy not a lot don't make a games too damn hard. Like you know make them reasonable but just that Hoban, mashing running around like to me there's no substance it's the same thing over and over again in this story is okay in those games, it was okay in Hyrule Warriors but you know it's just wants things like you want to be honest with you if we were still doing two guys playing Zelda more I probably would have played it budget wars EPS, you know, like we kind of talked about like I did burnout Zelda now I enjoy talking about it, like here and there but just talking about all the time playing all the time. Now if it's a regular Zelda game, then yes, I can do that with Scott. sore comes out. I mean, we'll see where I'm at with things. I'm on my play right away.

Red:

I've got that pre ordered. I'm okay. Yeah.

Hick:

But no, as far as the games go, I don't really care. And the thing is, whatever get back to ag claiming, I honestly don't know, like, there's, we talked about the backlog, and there's so many things. Now I want to play and just in the Xbox series x and the PlayStation five, I want to enjoy both of those systems right now. So it's kind of man, we could really do a good transition right now for the switch Pro. Group, that would have been an absolutely

Red:

great transition. But I do want to talk just a little bit more about age, because I know I've only played just a little bit of it. Oh, man, that would have been a great training we

Hick:

naturally

Red:

But no, I did play a little bit of it. I will say I love the idea of like exploring Breath of the wilds high rule before the calamity before it was destroyed. I know that's one thing you and I talked a lot about with Breath of the Wild was just we didn't like that everything was in ruins. We wanted to see what was it like before that so I mean, age, a calamity may have not been like the best way to do that. In my opinion. I would have liked it to be you know, a little more mainline Zelda. And maybe we'll get that with the breath of the wild sequel. Maybe it will be a prequel instead. I don't know who knows what we're gonna get. But you know, so I do love this version of Hyrule. But the art style though I'm not entirely sold on the art style not because it's very similar Breath of the wilds and rip the wild has an absolutely amazing art style for that for that game, but I thought Hyrule Warriors just took Zelda in a different art direction that I thought like popped so much more and I'm not just talking about sia, but clearly she was poppin But yeah,

Hick:

I we talked about that for a while.

Red:

But you know, I kind of missed that like original Hyrule Warriors, you know, a bit of a slicker, not necessarily more realistic, but just a different art style. So to lose that and come to, you know, the Breath of the Wild arsa which again, absolutely beautiful, great art style. It's just, I just thought that original Hyrule Warriors art style fit that style of game so well. And so I do kind of miss that. But I'm excited to dig a little more into aged calamity. It's got a little more complexity to it, then it seems like the original windage is from what little I've played. So I'm excited to get into it. I think I will play it all the way through. I did beat the original Hyrule Warriors, and I really enjoyed it. So yeah, I'm excited to play through Asia calamity. But for me, like I just like these action games in general. You've heard me talk on here before you know Bayonetta is one of my all time favorite video game series, even though there's only two of them. A third ones hopefully coming Nintendo teased a while too, you know,

Hick:

which is also same as the detox out by Dr. Dre. We talked about all this before.

Red:

I'm very excited like because I really do enjoy these kind of these hack and slash action games or use fighting hordes upon hordes of enemies. I do completely understand where you're coming from with sometimes it does feel like it devolves into some button mashing and yeah, a lot of strategy, you feel like you're doing the same like combo? Exactly. But you know, to me, I do think there are some of the series is like the action game series have a little more structure a little more linearity to them. Bayonetta and Devil May Cry are both great series is where you actually have a stronger story and a little more linear instead of just running around a battlefield. So yeah, that's why those really jumped out for me. So I'm, I'm a little bit different from you, and that I do love these kind of games. And I do hope to play through aged calamity. But how about now now? How about you make a great transition?

Hick:

gonna do the transition for me, but I guess Okay, since we're talking about Nintendo, I guess we'll talk about the upcoming switch pro in the rumor surrounded about that, which I want to get to, right when it's talking about next year, you want to talk about aged claiming, so it just didn't work. I was like, oh, man, that'd been the perfect opportunity. So what we'd like to do when we screwed up, is we actually actually like to talk about the transition is happening, because that's not what you're supposed to do. At least I don't think I don't know. We're not professionals, people. But anyway, potential Nintendo Switch Pro. We talked about this before. It's been a rumor for years and years. And I think we're kind of close to them. What's the What year is 2021? Those switches been out for three, three and a half years. You take a concept about life cycle of about seven. So this is midway, so you wouldn't expect some kind of upgrade or upgrade? Maybe not great, I guess, right about now because you can just do updates the regular switch, which I don't know, like, why do I go out and buy a new switch to get the other day or the upgrade? Like why can't you just like come with that stuff on your system, which is why I'm hoping like I said last episode PS five, make it big so you can add stuff to that that's already there. You don't have to go out and buy a new system. But anyways, that's not the point of this conversation. But um, so switch Pro, first of all the rumors kind of are a seven inch screen instead of a 6.2 inch. That might not sound like a lot. I can tell you that. I don't have any thing of for me to really know what that is but right I can tell you probably is a lot like when you're talking about screens that small point eight inches is a lot so I'm in all

Red:

things nice anything's Yeah, exactly

Hick:

a 4k wind doc. Now here's the disappointment right here. 720 still in handheld mode, how the hell you're gonna go from 10 ADP to 2160 p but stay the same in handheld mode. That is an absolute disgrace. They do better on that?

Red:

I don't know. Yeah.

Hick:

But um, it'll see. It's going to use this dl SS to achieve this 4k, which I guess. Okay, I'm going to actually read exactly what you wrote on the outline uses AI to enhance lower resolution images to higher resolution without needing a higher end graphics card. I had no idea what any of that means. I just know that you're doing something fancy to get 4k,

Red:

I can jump in on that one cuz I when I heard that, and I've heard the term dlss but I'm not a I'm not an expert. It's apparently a piece in the video technology and like what it does, like it uses this Yeah, computer learning this AI to like it fills in the blanks, almost like say it's running natively at only 720 K, but this AI like DLLs it's like deep learning. I forget what the SS stands for, but it like fills in the gaps like it uses AI to fill in and make it appear higher resolution. And when the tech apparently when the technology was like really young that led to some kind of actually crappier images because the AI wasn't that smart yet. Yeah. But I guess it's really improved and there have been some studies and articles I've read a lot of it just this week when I was researching Yeah, people were talking like sometimes dlss actually creates a better image than something running natively at 4k and I'm like that blows my mind

Hick:

and in tendo would do they will use a lesser I don't wanna say technology they use something less or to make it look better.

Red:

Exactly. Exactly so so I'm excited I'm you know, like you said this switch pro rumors we've we've talked about it before and then the upgrades look nice like I said the 4k dot is great. I'm completely with you on the set up and handheld at least at least give us 10 ADP i mean but and I get you know battery life size you know heating all that plays into that I'm absolutely sure but the big question is, would you buy one or what would it take for you to go out and buy a switch pro?

Hick:

No, man I just got next gen I just got ps4 Xbox series x though I'm not going to buy this I'm not one of those people I've never done it we'll see this next year I don't think I'll do it this Gen either but I've never bought like both systems in a life cycle like you know you have like if I bought the ps4 base I would never bought the ps4 Pro. So right away I'm just not a fan of buying two systems from the same generation even though one of them is an upgrade So no, it's not something that I'll get in this is kind of cool because they can now compete more with third party games like you know, versus like, you know, the Xbox series x and five they can't compete in that space being 4k but think really where their advantages is in the portability aspect and that's where I think they're losing in this whole thing is like you know, you don't need to be 4k in handheld mode the dead now that would be impressive right their battery got if you got to 10 ATP you might start to creep into third party category which I don't know the stats or anything but my thinking off the top of my head would be that they're still losing that third party rights because Xbox series x and the PS five so you know if you just made a tear up I think they can compete on that front and right now where they're at with these next to next gen consoles out like they really I feel dr go have a hard time competing even at 4k like right now people just I don't think they liked it. Like this switch doesn't have as much in regards to like the interface that the PS five and then the Xbox does like the switch does things really well. But there's not a lot to it, which is fine. But I'm just saying like when you think about a it's not a computer, but a computer technology gaming console, you really don't think about the switch, you think about the Xbox and you think about the PlayStation so really doctor not God, they might see some of their veins there's gonna be some players, but that Hey, no, that's really where they got capitalized. And that's why I think keep it at 720 is just a terrible idea now as you said there could be other issues behind the scenes and overheating battery life you know stuff like that but it's just like if you're gonna keep the hate like that's the advantage that's still think that you have right now when these next gen consoles come out and you sit there and you keep it the same I just don't think that's a good idea. But anyways to you. Would you buy the switch pro?

Red:

I'm with you. I've also as far as I can remember have never bought two versions. Okay, save 20

Hick:

bucks for the tendo switch online How the fuck you, bro. But no, I'm

Red:

with you because like I bought, you know, an Xbox, the original Xbox One sorry. So you're trying to think what generation And then when I finally bought a PlayStation four, yeah, I bought the Pro.

Hick:

Xbox One was like a third generation Red or whatever it

Red:

was, but I didn't buy like the 1x or whatever. And so it's to me, I'm just with you in general, I have a hard time justifying, especially if you know, the rumored price point, they're talking between 350 and$400. Yeah, which I get. I mean, I get if it's better specs is better technology, and you're paying, you know what you did for the original switch? Yeah, you're getting a better bang for your buck. But if you bought the original switch, there's just not a lot of purpose to it. So I, you know, here's my biggest thing. You're absolutely right on the third party games, it would it would let them compete a little better in the third party realms maybe get better ports, you know, things like that. But you know, when people buy Nintendo games for the systems, for the first party games, you buy a Nintendo console for Mario, Zelda Mario Kart, like all those types of games, Pokemon, all that stuff. And Nintendo already makes those games looks so beautiful. They don't need the 4k. They don't need all that to make their games look awesome. Because they but they need that further third party game. Exactly, exactly. And that's like, that's why. But again, like I said, most people buy a switch because they want to play Nintendo games, not necessarily third party games. And it's great that third parties are coming to the switch more and more, which is a whole different topic of conversation. As you know, Beth so has been one of the best companies about porting its games to switch between stuff like Doom, Wolfenstein, Skyrim, all that stuff. What the hell is gonna happen to that with Microsoft buying Bethesda? But that Yeah, that's a whole different. Yeah. But you know, I just, I just think Nintendo's art style for its first party games doesn't require it to be on the cutting edge of technology in terms of 4k and all this, you know, up upscaling all that stuff. It helps. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I will say, absolutely. Mario Odyssey looks a hell of a lot better than Mario 64. I mean, yes, that fits from the better technology, but it's not a necessity for those Nintendo first party games. So as long as he keeps playing Nintendo first party games, and they still look awesome. I'm not gonna sweat too much about the pro version. Because if I want to play third party game, I'm gonna play it on my fucking Xbox series x, or, you know, down the line, the PlayStation five. So I know not everyone's in that fortunate position that you know, that we really are. And we can do that. But you know, to me, it's, it's great that they're doing it, not something I'm necessarily going to jump out and buy day one. But you know, we've spent our first what 18 minutes here talking about Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo. Let's talk a little bit about Microsoft because they've also been in the news quite a bit here lately. One of the big announcements and this kind of blew my mind I mentioned Microsoft buying Bethesda. They're apparently offering 10 billion that's billion with a motherfucking B Yeah, by discord and first of all, other than Windows money right there that's fucking windows money right there. But you know, there's not necessarily a whole lot to talk about this but but what do you think about well first of all that dollar amount, but then Microsoft is buying discord in general what do you think?

Hick:

I mean, I hate when this happens, but I understand it like you create something with the intentions of making a lot of money off of it someday down the line, but discord had to hack that kind of Whoa, not small community but like, you know, it was made by somebody and like it like there's a lot of integrity. People probably argue that a little bit but you know, there's a lot of integrity behind the brand like you know, it wasn't owned by big corporation and stuff like that and people really enjoy things like that these days because there's so many corporations that go out and they buy up everything as we sit here and bitch about Xbox not putting enough studios you know, so for me like it kind of sucks in that point. Like, like even though discord was big. It still felt small. Like now a big corporation has it and you like

Red:

Yeah, well you don't have it yet. They're trying Yeah, well, they

Hick:

don't have it yet. But you're like what are they going to do with it? Like I don't think exports I feel are not Xbox Microsoft I feel has been good recently and like maybe buying stuff but keeping them like the same like don't don't fix something if it's not broken like discord you might need some improvements like here or there but overall discord is not broken so don't fix it. I honestly don't think that they're going to I think they did this more just because discord for the most part is a gaming chat room wherever you want called game chat lounge. But um, like you know, there are other things on there that aren't gaming but for the most part it is gaming. So I think they've kind of bought this like he was already integrated with Xbox in certain ways. But I think they're gonna really take this and they're going to integrate somehow will we like that? You know, who knows but I think they're gonna try and make the whole engagement and interaction better with the Xbox by buying Discord. What's your opinions on it?

Red:

No, I'm, I'm with you in general that you know, discord has been an unbelievable success. I mean, it took us a while to get on the whole discord train like it had been around for a little bit and we heard about it. We had heard about it,

Hick:

but it seems sound like is a technology thing at first because it's Discord server, you're like, well I don't want I don't know anything about servers, I can't get a Discord server set one up and then you kind of realize how easy it is. So I think the whole server word kept people away from it for a little while,

Red:

but it's just it's just a great success story where it were a group or a person, whatever, like just started this thing and they're like, yeah, you have servers and then you have channels and that server and you join a server you can chat on any of those channels and you know, with some limitations, of course, and it seems so simple and plus like you said, it was so tailored for video games like it'll show you what game you're playing PL eventually ended like the voice chat I mean, hell that's part of our podcast process. We're over Discord. I mean, I sound like a damn advertisement for it. Yeah, but you know, it really was a great success story and I get it man when somebody comes at you with that kind of money it's hard to say no or even if they just that's why you did in the first place

Hick:

everybody creates to make money like you don't create something just to create

Red:

I'm sorry if I created something and Microsoft came to my door with a 10 billion now check that thing before I even knew what so your

Hick:

$10 million sorry $10 billion in front of your face because you would do everybody here listen to this podcast will do the exact same thing. If they saw Tim billion dollars they'd be like I'm out of here. Good luck. I'm going to live on an island somewhere Exactly.

Red:

And so you know, I'm happy for the people who created discord if it goes through I mean, there's I guess there have been a few suitors coming after it or and they've even talked about maybe going public you know, just you know, which also works but no matter what I feel like if you sell or you go public, you do lose some of that sense of community and like it still has that small feel even though it is basically dominated so much of like the video game conversation last year so it just with how quickly it advanced and became the go to place to talk video games to stream like any other than twitch Of course, but you know, so I'm, I would be sad to see it sell but I would completely understand it. You know, my thought is you know, Microsoft already has its messaging video service was Skype. I don't know if they would

Hick:

get rid of that shit now, right? Yes, Korean? Skype Skype is terrible, man.

Red:

I'm with you. I'm not a big Skype fan. We

Hick:

used to use Skype before we went to discord for this podcast and we had some issues with it. That's exactly so

Red:

I always hoped they would phase it out entirely and just use Discord. You know? And there's just there's always especially with video game companies there's always that concern you know, when a bigger Corporation does out a studio like we've seen it you know, when active at

Hick:

least Microsoft is in gaming unlike Google just as like oh, we're gonna start streaming service one day you know think about discord and then we all been pissed off about so waste somebody's video games and video game systems bought it

Red:

and I would love to see them like if they could find some kind of way to integrate the Xbox Live or the sorry, the Xbox network we'll get to that Xbox with discord you know and make it smooth and make it work I would be great with that. You know, whether it's sharing videos and screenshots or streaming straight from your Xbox over discord like I'm sure there's ways they could integrate that and I think it look really cool. Like I said, a lot of fans have been burned when it comes to video games. Usually it's bigger studios buying littler studios. Yeah, so that when Activision was buying up everybody EA was buying up everybody and use all beloved studios like Blizzard and Bioware just they kind of they haven't gone away obviously Blizzard and Bioware still both huge but they both the quality down dropped you know you got more corporate involved. Yeah, yeah. And it's just like it's just shareholders like

Hick:

when the game when the game came out. When is the game coming out? They know nothing about actually developing games. That's exactly

Red:

so so it's it's hitting it like good for discord good for the pm created it. Because like we said, If someone's giving me$10 billion, I'm taking it and I'm not asking twice.

Hick:

The thing I would do things I would do for $10 billion, not for this podcast. We say a lot of raunchy shit on this podcast, man. So anyway, speaking of Microsoft news, we also got news about the what's it called the now confused Xbox. Which I guess they're going to call it the Xbox network which I don't know why it came in right there because I was actually right at talk but he was that gets back to you on this one. What's your opinions on this? Xbox Live rebranding and we know how Microsoft brands I mean, the Xbox series x, who the hell came up with that name, so they're rebranding their name and you know, they've not had the best track record on it. But Xbox Live is apparently going to Xbox network. Give me your opinions on what's going on there. Man. You

Red:

are kidding when we talk about some of xboxes branding has not exactly been on point. I think I think you hit that exactly on the head. We've laughed at their naming convention for their console's for a long time, but you know, I This one actually makes a little bit of sense because there it seemed like there was always a little bit of confusion between Xbox Live which is just like their network just your network versus Xbox Live Gold which you know let you get the free games you play the multiplayer so by at least rebrand Can you explain that I

Hick:

actually never knew the difference between those two so that tells you right there how confusing it actually was. Because I guess why would you like have a name for the network if like you You gotta have something to be on the network so it really be called that so I mean, it makes it a little bit since But even now hearing it that's first time I've heard it and it still is confusing.

Red:

And it's it's still not perfect because now they're just saying Xbox network is just like it's their whole like ecosystem. It's it's, you know, you can get on the, you know, the store. It's any of that, you know, the free to use stuff. The underlying network is just Xbox network. So to me, that makes sense. But they're still calling like, if you pay for a subscription. You know, it's still Xbox Live Gold, you know, so from that standpoint, there's no longer Xbox Live and Xbox Live Gold. It's just

Hick:

an Xbox Live go now an Xbox network that's more confusing the first one. Like, here we go once again with Xbox branding. Like what are they doing here? There's really I mean, it's been Xbox Live since I can't remember like waves like since day one. Yeah, Halo two came out for free so why like okay. Oh my god now I'm just getting pissed off. Cuz like he's, he's here to talk about more. I started like, I never I didn't hear Oh, I actually did hear about this earlier in the week, but I didn't really look into it. But as you're sitting here, you're explaining it more and more. It just sounds more and more dumb. Like Okay, I understand why you call it Xbox network. First of all, that's generic as fuck like how you gonna do like in at least Xbox series x is not a generic name. Now it's too long. I don't know why I had to go that far called Xbox. Like I said, you should call Xbox five Qian saying you can find four iterations that you had before. Xbox series x like I just don't understand but at least it was not generic and not just like a workbooks network. That's boring shit. Like, you know, I like Xbox Live a lot better than that name. So but like, I'm getting mad cuz Yeah, you gonna call Xbox network? But then you got the Xbox Live Gold? Why can't you just call fucking Xbox go like that makes sense? Because you're getting rid of the live you rebrand to the network. So take that dear bitch out of subscription and just call it Xbox go. Damn, Xbox, you making shit too complicated places PlayStation Plus, it's all fucking is. You buy PlayStation Plus to get some deals you play on bam, boom, they have a fucking name for their network. It's just the fucking network. It's just called the damn word. Like

Red:

pissed off about something. I'm glad you got worked up. I feel like we've been a little even keel just here. So I'm glad something got that fire.

Hick:

I don't know. Like I read it. We get worked up sometimes. And a lot of times, like you know, I hear something. I really don't think about it. Like I said I was hearing you explain it. I was like, Nah, I don't like this the same thing with like, Nintendo Switch online. Like, there's way too long of a name right now. That's cool. Let's not get into that. Let's just okay, I don't want to go off again. But there's too long too. And that's one part where like one place where PlayStation gets it right? You basically have your PlayStation Plus, and that's really everything. It's yours. There's not your subscription. It's PlayStation now. But you know you get your discounts and that's also how you play online. I can only pay 60 bucks you can play online you get these discounts simple BANG BANG networks

Red:

I don't know PlayStations is that much simpler? Because you got you got PSN PlayStation Network then you got PlayStation Plus then you got PlayStation now I don't know much I think they're both fucking this up.

Hick:

Honestly forgot about PSN. That's a good point. Cuz Yeah, so people have tags and I'm okay. I still like it better than Xbox.

Red:

But I will say like I think all this is is kind of a bit of a reaction. You know, I think it was a couple months ago they had floated the idea of increasing the price of Xbox Live Gold and the backlash was pretty was pretty severe which is

Hick:

unnecessary In my opinion, because things are costing more these days but whatever

Red:

it's just it's just like oh no, I'm gonna go it's just like people bitching about games costing $70 Yeah, that's what they've been 60 bucks for 15 fucking years yeah, I think it cost the same to make a 4k 150 our open world game that it did to make fucking Super Mario back in the 80s no

Hick:

more gamers are men are cheaper Why pay more for my games with your fucking ass and go to school quit playing games.

Red:

Oh, tangent, but

Hick:

don't get me go. Bam. worked up again.

Red:

But but man so like, you know, and that got a lot of backlash, which like say kind of pisses me off. But I think Microsoft really floated that on purpose just to gauge the reaction. Yeah, and you know, I'm part of this like they're, they just want to get a different name associated with it. I get that they're keeping the Xbox Live Gold name. Though which still is I'm with you. Yeah, ton of fucking since one thing I do like to see as your question I kind

Hick:

of like a little bit off topic, but yeah, cuz this generation not feel a little bit different, like every generation is different. But I know that this generation, but like we're changing things and like there's a new future that's not been the same in gaming, like it just overall just feels different to me.

Red:

I think it does and I'm excited about like, there's more and more at our fingertips. I mean, we've we've pimped game paths before we've pimped. Yeah, we're hoping PlayStation now gets streaming, we're hoping all that stuff gets there. And it's so exciting. Like, I feel like it is not even to do with like graphics or anything like that. It's just all this other quality of live stuff. It's

Hick:

about the experience nowadays, like okay, 4k, really? Yeah, it looks great. But PlayStation is also doing that. So what else are you going to offer me in terms of experience, that's what I want from you nowadays. And it really feels like they're kind of focusing on that we canceled the last topic with Xbox and discord like, you know, they're kind of getting outside of games and trying to focus on the interaction and the experience. So I really don't know what's going on with that. So you can kind of continue

Red:

in this day and age where you know, there's so much content creators on YouTube there's so many streamers on Twitch discord blew up with people who just want to talk video games like it's gone beyond just finding a multiplayer, you know, server or multiplayer room on fucking Halo three and and just playing with those people like it is blown up into such a huge industry

Hick:

that just but do we miss those small needed groups that we don't

Red:

Yes, I do. I don't play on Twitch or YouTube obviously is slow the fuck down. I'm yeah, I'm sorry, I'm dropping a lot of F bombs up now too. But you know, hey, we always say this is not the PG channel.

Hick:

I mean, it's like, you know, when the first Halo game came out, like, you know, you had your eight friends that you sit there and you played Halo with and like a lot that really is gone. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But just we have access to talk with more people and to interact with more people, which is great. But at the same time you lose some of that small knit community. Like if you have a Discord server with 10 people like why would I come to your Discord server, there's only 10 people like it's all about how many followers you have these days, and how many people are on your Discord server, and all the other stuff, you know, numbers, numbers, numbers, and we've kind of gotten away from that small knit community and you know, we'll

Red:

make a living off of it now people may have fucking and we are so far from the original topic, but I'm okay with it. Like it because you're absolutely right. Things are different than they were just two years ago. Yeah. And it's insane to think what YouTube and Twitch have turned into and discord for gaming just you know, people literally make their living off dreaming and good for people who can do it without getting burned out. We

Hick:

talked about this it's like going to the pros, only a certain percentage make it that big, you know, everybody wants to go out there. Everybody thinks they can do it. People I'm telling you right now, it's not easy. A lot of times those people have backers whether it be like you know an investor or big company or something like that, what helps edit their stuff? Yes, exactly. They are they have to have money, like you know, let's be honest, this stuff, it costs a lot of money and to do all this on your own, it's almost damn near impossible. So these people, most of them I'm not saying that there's not somebody who start off doing all their own that may big dead definitely probably happen. I'm saying the majority of these people, they have some kind of resource that is helping them out whether it be money, whether it be a team, whether it be a business backing them they have something so don't give you advice, don't sit there and think you can make a living on gaming it's very hard the markets oversaturated it's becoming more and more saturated. And the other thing is you're seeing a lot of these people that are doing it they are starting to become like kind of depressed like you know, we seem to you know, get too dark but we've seen some suicides and people like this and stuff like that, you know, like guest suicides, depression so I mean certain things like because what happens is we are way off topic, but that's fine. It's in his pockets likes to go. But you get to a point where you can see people and they demand stuff and like stress off He's like, Okay, I gotta have this content, this content and this content by this day, and it literally does become a job. You had to do it. You lose the fun in it and you start to hate it.

Red:

Always gave me no longer fun. Yeah. Good. Yeah. No longer fun.

Hick:

Go ahead. No, I do I try to spit out so go ahead. Like Yeah,

Red:

I love that you hit on that point. The biggest thing it's no longer fun. Yeah, video games are supposed to be fun. They're a hobby. You know even in like competitive scenes. It's still fun. It's like playing a sport competition competition. Repeating god I can't spit it out. Competing is fun like yeah, should be fun like all this you know the demand that people have you know stream eight hours a night 10 hours a day. Videos three times a week. I like bitch I'm looking at a lot of videos out in a year yeah, that's a lot that's

Hick:

like depression like in like suit. It's no Joe is no Joe Joe and these people Like you can understand like that's a lot on their plate. So don't think it's all fun games with that stuff, people.

Red:

And one thing I do like about

Hick:

Xbox, we went dark there for a little while man

Red:

is Xbox network one thing that I do like to see them getting a sub word back off topic we've ever gone on Yes, that was an interesting segue there but no it was sure though it is true is it really is and so much of it has to do with the online so it is related, like just the online atmosphere has changed everything but you know, at least one thing I liked that they are doing is for if you want to play a free to play game like fortnight, of course being the biggest example in the fucking world right now. Like if you wanted to play fortnight with your friends on Xbox, you had to have an Xbox Live subscription goal scription you had to pay and what they are it's in beta right now and hopefully rolling out in the next couple months. They are doing away with that requirement that if you want to play a game that is free you like fortnight Path of Exile, you know, Path of Exile is you know, these big Free to Play Games, you no longer have to pay for Live Gold to get to play those games. I think that's a great thing. Yes, if you have to pay for a subscription to play it. It's no longer free to play. And you know, in

Hick:

today's day and age, you should not have to pay to play online. Like that's just not a model like a Yeah, still works because they're making you had to do it. But we're to that point now technology where these people want to play online, they should be able to do it for free.

Red:

Right. And that's what especially is it for free to play games like you don't even pay for the game, but Microsoft is making you pay for the online service. So at least Nintendo and PlayStation were a little bit ahead of the curve there where they're like, Okay, if it's a free to play game, of course fortnight being like I said, fortnight being the biggest one right now and everyone fucking loves fortnight. It's not our forte, but yeah, most people love fortnight. And you know, so good for Microsoft for finally coming around and saying, Okay, if you want to play fucking fortnight, you don't have to have Xbox Live Gold anymore.

Hick:

Who? Yeah,

Red:

that was a topic.

Hick:

Yeah, we went all over the place on that one.

Red:

We're gonna stick with Xbox for just a little bit longer. I know. We've talked quite a little bit about it. I don't think this will be much of a topic. I hope not. But they did announce they're coming out with a couple of new colors for their Xbox series x and series as controllers. And first and foremost, I'm always a fan of new new colors for controllers. It gives people options, but yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure if you've seen the pictures. They're coming out with like a neon yellow called electric volt. And yeah, in a Red cammo mix called de strike cammo to either these look like a kind of controller you would want to go out and buy

Hick:

I love neon stuff. The electric boat looks fucking terrible Dude, I saw that I was like, Oh my God does hideous now the the rape kit came out. That one does actually look kind of cool. But I don't really understand the point this because there's so many like skins. And there's other companies that create like, whether it be like plastic covers, I don't know exactly how it works, because I never bought any of them. But I know that you can basically buy a skin or some type of artistic covering for almost anything out there. Whether it be the console, the controllers, whatever. So for x Xbox to do this, like Okay, cool. I guess it's like an official thing like that. But yeah, I mean, it's kind of like what's the point like, you know, like, people probably already got this from somewhere else that they really wanted it now. Yeah, Microsoft making is probably a little better. I guess. Like you don't actually have a skin because you only put those skins on there sometimes like it has the whole bubble thing and stuff like that. You don't give them exactly the way you want them to or something like that. If there's like a cover or something like that, that you know it makes it a little bit bulkier I guess the cool thing here is Xbox is doing it so it's actually going to be just the controller so that part of it is kind of nice it probably will look better because of that reason but um Yeah, yeah, I'm just so so the electric volt as no I like neon style, but that one was just not my cup of tea. The Red came came out I don't know why once a cameo. I guess I'm thinking about what's his name Keanu Reeves in cyberpunk making a cameo and how fucking awesome he was we talked about last episode go check that one out.

Red:

Go check it out. It was a good No,

Hick:

I'm a fan of blue. So I would love to see that blue camo like you know color on there so that's what I was gonna say texture. I was like chemo is really not texture like exactly what you classify chemo as so I'm just gonna say right now it's a color but me now I'm not really that excited about it. I usually don't buy more than one controller I had to buy more than one controller this time because I was having a sick issues with my first controller thank god that's not an issue anymore so happy about that just fix the sync issues in the new controllers that I need from your Xbox but what's your opinion on this?

Red:

I'm not a big fan of like skins or different colored controllers to begin with. And you know I look at like the joy cons from Nintendo that some of those colors have been wildly popular like yeah, people are loving like the Mario one some of the like the best buy exclusive. I think like the neon green was a really pop just default red and blue were really popular but they weren't i still like the generic

Hick:

man before i original i'm an original guy

Red:

originally yes like i love the black xbox series x controller i love the black nintendo pro controller i switch pro controller i love the black playstation controller well i guess the duel since now is white but i haven't done it yet so

Hick:

i don't know

Red:

but it is but to me i'm very much like a just i don't need something that flashy just say yeah and some of the skins that that could

Hick:

be are aged though like would be the same way in our early 20s you

Red:

know yeah we're not we're not you know we're not kids or teenagers anymore that's for sure but you know there are some really fun skins out there and we've seen yeah especially you know us being zelda guys originally the

Hick:

united skins those are beautiful man

Red:

i don't know that red that red is pretty shitty and but no i mean we've seen some beautiful like zelda skins over for not just for controllers like you said the systems the consoles like because in some of them look really cool and i agree that coming straight from microsoft it's probably going to look even better plus if it's like you know you don't lose the texture if it's like a plastic cover you have to put on instead of instead of

Hick:

you know a stick or those bumps on the back that's important to you like if you had a skin or a cover it would probably take away those bumps which i think is one of the best features on the xbox controller

Red:

right absolutely i'm a huge fan of those as well and i'm completely with you neither of these particular colors the electric volts or the day strike cammo really looked all that interesting to me i'm i'm not a cammo person just in general i grew i grew up in southern indiana i've been around camouflage too much in my fucking life and i'm happy to get away

Hick:

yeah i don't mind like the design of it's okay but it's not something that i've really ever worn i don't know if i've ever worn cable to be honest with you i've always made my wife always wanted me to get chemo like shorts like the khaki shorts or whatever it was a bio malware on but other than that i'd never i never really got to the whole hunting thing or anything like that so i am with you but i don't mind the design like you know it looks okay but um you know we can't go that we talked about nintendo we talked about xbox we cannot go the whole podcast without talking about sony and playstation because right now i am a playstation guy but damn i love like i said last podcast episode xbox is not too far behind but right now playstation guy loves my ps 500 thanks so sadly i don't know why so excited about that because we're actually not going to talk about ps five we're going to talk about ghost of tsushima and the ghost of tsushima movie that is in development now may i you know say your thing people talked a lot about the witcher like the netflix series and how good it was yeah i watched it i thought it was okay i didn't think it was fantastic or anything like that so i'm not i'm sometimes a fan of these like you know with like a video game becomes a movie or a show but there's so many times when they don't do a really good job at it so i want get your opinions on this goes to tsushima movie are you excited about it

Red:

on the one hand i'm excited just because the the director of the john wick films is supposed to be involved in it yeah i'm gonna butcher his last name chad's stahelski and i couldn't be worse now but like i love the john wick flicks all three of them i thought there's action pack the choreography is amazing good store well decent stories to them for just you know random action flicks but the action is so good in them and that's one thing that i think would translate well to go tsushima is combat just because that katana combat and like that yeah samurai style i think we'd look really beautiful with the right director

Hick:

is don't get tom cruise to play the last thought that idea

Red:

oh is the dances with wolves but in japan

Hick:

yeah gosh

Red:

so i'm tentatively excited like i think it would work better as a tv series just because go tsushima was such a long game buggering had very distinct like acts or sex cram

Hick:

all that into a movie like it's like it's a lot it's a lot

Red:

in it so i'm a little bit worried about that aspect that it's just gonna feel rushed or they're gonna make it too long but you know go tsushima is obviously one of our favorite games of 2020 it's one of yeah it's just an amazing all around game

Hick:

yeah

Red:

in the right hands i hope it can be done well is it something that you'll rush out to see are you gonna wait for reviews

Hick:

i can't remember last time i actually went out saw star wars movie but overall i don't go out and watch movies that often lobby that often a lot as kids a lot i'm just not really a big fan of going to the movies like i don't like sit in a dark for like two hours it's like i

Red:

can't help it either

Hick:

yeah well yeah yeah kobe has not helped on that front either so i'm not a huge fan of going to the movie so i think if you were going to ask me in this day now Yes, I would rather it be a show or a movie that comes straight to streaming like you know, your HBO max stuff, right? And all that stuff going on with some

Red:

of that comes from Mortal Kombat coming out soon on HBO,

Hick:

watching that movies that come straight to the streaming services, like if they're going to do movie, I want to kind of be like that. And I think they will do that, because I don't feel like this is a box office hit. Because if you're not played the game, you're I mean, the movie still can work if you've not played the game, right? But it's gonna be a lot better if you played the game. And

Red:

I hate saying this, but you know, I'm selling a, a Japanese themed game to an American audience will be Yeah, and it should Yeah, and it shouldn't be but that that is a reality, you know,

Hick:

movie like you know, you I think with a game you can do it, but I think a movie had different media. So like, I agree with you, like it's kind of hard to sell that because one thing I found cool it goes to Tsushima is that I learned a little bit about the samurai culture like I didn't know any of that before. And if you're going into the like talking about how it's hard to sell to an American market, if you're going into a movie not playing this game, you don't know a lot about the samurai history. So that's gonna like right there really thick I think how much you might get into the movie not saying those people wouldn't like it. I'm just saying those people probably aren't educated on the culture as much as so like you know, they might just not be into it as you know other places in the world and stuff like that but i think i really rather be a movie that came to one of these streaming services me Paramount plus because once again this is how you fuckers give me I got that for a stupid Champions League game and now senator oh yeah case on week I forgot so now that Paramount plus so please please breed the Paramount plus I can have a reason because I have fucking 20 of them. And I got that on top of cable. Like I don't I guess you know my problem is I like having options like do I use it? No, but I like having the option if something ever did come on. I do have access to it so I want these days I gotta go back I got cancel all these streaming services man because I just got too many but um Well

Red:

God knows Man United ain't playing in the Champions League right now so I don't know why he's still a pyramid. Yeah, whatever.

Hick:

I try to get bunny to soccer he's like oh and watch the main city game so that's why God I was like I say what domain topic peacock the NBC one that you had to get for the Premier League? That's actually one of the best streaming services they have got conned into buying so we'll see. We'll see about Paramount plus does they got like a movie so but

Red:

I got picked up WWE Network t so that's actually converted over to peacock I had to because I nice nice but goshima Do you

Hick:

have anything else you want to say on it?

Red:

No, I'll probably see it if it reviews well if it reviews like shit I'll skip it. Yeah.

Hick:

So next week that's that's kind of all we got to talk about yesterday. Next week right I don't think I'm quite ready to get back to another game this early those those galaxy games they really did number on me so let's see next episode because we were joking guys say yes, a 48 let's just talk the gaming industry again and then we'll go ahead and set ourselves up for Episode 49 in Episode 49 we will talk about cyberpunk 2077 so but like I said next episode gaming industry again but let's go ahead and wrap up all these links will be in the description because first on Patreon or PayPal educate supports financially please leave a review or rating they really help out with like SEO rankings when people search video games. If you have more reviews and ratings you will show up higher and then we also have some kick ass video game merchandise at our website tg PC gaming comm that is an affiliate shop so we may earn commission on purchases through our links Red wants to tell us about some of the other stuff we got going on out there

Red:

well we're on YouTube and we got two YouTube channels we got two guys playing Zelda and we have TGPZ Media this for 47 episodes I still fucking we pimped discord earlier absolutely love our Discord server we talk Nintendo Xbox Sony we talk sports we talk booze we talk TV shows we talk everything, love our discord community very much hope they don't go away if this Microsoft sale goes through social media with Twitter and Instagram Busted Buttons PC. This was a great episode. Yeah, and we went on some interesting tangents. Yes, we weren't expecting but I hope that time series

Hick:

wanted some happy ones, you know? Yeah,

Red:

I think that hope that that makes us you know, sound authentic. You know, it's not just, it's not all that Yeah, we got an outline, but we like to go off script every now. Thank you guys for listening and we'll be back with more gaming news in the next episode.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Nintendo Switch Pro
Microsoft Buying Discord
Xbox Network
Xbox Series X New Controllers
Ghost of Tsushima Movie
Wrap Up