Up next in 10
The new Zul'jan quest line just went live, so we're looking forward to World of Warcraft patch 12.1, which includes a new Player Housing exterior. Maybe. We hope. And we're not Monkey's Paw-ing this thing either, so don't act like we said it and that's why it's on the store. We already firmly rejected that possibility, so it is not on us if it goes down like that.
Speaking of Monkey's Paws, Summer Games Done Quick is live, and Microsoft took that as a challenge, seeing if they could finish games as a whole really quickly by firing 20% of Xbox employees. This included closing many iconic game studios, some of which are going independent (again), and some being bought out by another party. There are some silver linings here, but it's a tough summer for people who make or enjoy games.
A new Hearthstone expansion also released this week, so we have the lowdown on Escape from Violet Hold. It involves a jailbreak and Vanessa Van Cleef, so we're going out on a high note.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:08
[music]
0:11
Hi everybody. Uh, welcome to the
0:13
Blizzard Watch podcast. It's myself,
0:16
it's Joe, and it's Liz. And we are going
0:18
to cover all sorts of things Blizzard
0:20
related and maybe some other stuff. I
0:22
don't know. Starting off though, I'm
0:24
pretty sure uh, well, you know, let's
0:26
let Liz and Joe say hello.
0:27
>> Howdy.
0:28
>> Yo. So, now that we're we've done that
0:31
and I've talked and there's a bunch of
0:32
rambling going on, uh, patch 12.0.7
0:36
story quests are now more advanced
0:39
because we got Zuljen. Uh,
0:41
>> Zulj.
0:42
>> Zulj. No, I did I say Zen?
0:44
>> You said Zjen. It's I do it all the
0:45
time, man. It's okay. It's We've We've
0:48
talked about so many Zu insert thing
0:50
here for trolls. Sorry. Go ahead.
0:51
>> It's one letter.
0:53
>> You should distinguish these names a
0:54
little more, Blizzard. That's what we're
0:56
saying. Just a little. Just a little.
0:57
Couldn't he been like cool John? Like
1:00
you know so just he's cool and he's John
1:02
and now it's like he's one letter off
1:04
and kills odds.
1:05
>> What is he? He's going to come the troll
1:07
that walks around with like sunglasses
1:08
and like a leather jacket with the
1:10
collar popped up like a 90s. He doesn't
1:13
have to do that. A cool troll is just
1:15
going to be a troll who stands around
1:17
trolling. Uh wait, no. No, that's bad.
1:19
He can't be trolling [laughter]
1:21
anyway. But he's in now. We finally got
1:23
the legacy of the Ammani quest chain. uh
1:25
which you can go to him and and get. I'm
1:29
upset with myself that I haven't done it
1:30
yet, so here I am.
1:32
>> It it just it just launched, so I
1:35
haven't done it either, but it starts in
1:37
the middle of Silver Moon City, kind of
1:38
in the the central building with
1:40
Loromar, and you are being invited. It
1:44
doesn't actually start at Zuljon. You're
1:45
being invited to go to a council in
1:48
Herendar. So that's that's where it
1:51
kicks off and you can just you can grab
1:53
it and uh you learn about trolls.
1:56
>> Well, I mean I feel like we're going to
1:58
eventually learn not just about trolls,
1:59
but since the fact that the Harendar are
2:01
involved, we're going to hear about like
2:02
how are the Harendar related to trolls
2:04
because look at them.
2:05
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
2:06
>> look at these guys. They're trolls.
2:08
>> Lore people. Lore people here. How do we
2:11
know how the Harendar are related to
2:13
trolls at this point?
2:15
>> That sounds like a no. That sounds like
2:16
a no to me. I I feel like me is really
2:19
the right sound. [laughter]
2:21
Like there's suspicion but but yeah uh
2:24
it's almost like well look at them but
2:26
on the other hand they haven't actually
2:27
come out and said this like so and you
2:30
know how it is when when they do things
2:32
like that they they can even have like
2:34
magazine articles about things and then
2:36
later on go oh yeah that's not kid. So
2:39
>> but here we are
2:40
>> we're going to have there is actually
2:41
Blizzard's got a post up if you want to
2:43
go check that out. Uh we've probably got
2:45
like news for it on our site as well
2:46
because that's the kind of thing. Uh but
2:48
regarding
2:48
>> it was it was just like a footnote in
2:50
the 1207 stuff, but it was a delayed
2:52
launch. So it just launched on July 7th.
2:55
Uh but it's it's in game now. Check it
2:57
out. It is actually the first chapter of
3:01
the patch 12.1 quest. So uh yeah. Yeah,
3:07
it's the first chapter of cur of the
3:08
curse of story line and uh you can do it
3:12
right now. Even though I mean Curse of
3:14
Ulletch is still a ways out, we're we're
3:18
still a little ways from Curse of Wool,
3:20
but at Chapter 1 now live.
3:22
>> Yeah. So, you know, you time to get
3:24
yourself caught up and then you can go
3:26
once that's available, you can go do
3:28
that, which is good. It's always nice to
3:29
have new story stuff. Uh but like I
3:31
said, I haven't gotten to do it yet, so
3:33
I'm kind of grumpy. Uh but when we're
3:35
speaking of stuff that I'm not grumpy
3:36
about, uh turbulent time waves, they're
3:38
continuing. This week it's Battle for
3:40
Azeroth. Um, I don't know how you guys
3:43
feel about Battle of Azer for Azeroth
3:45
dungeons. Uh, there's certainly some
3:48
that I'm not particularly fond of.
3:50
>> Uh, I will do them because I need to
3:52
keep my buff up and then I will go about
3:55
not doing anymore on that character.
3:57
>> Yeah, it is. It is. There's some that I
3:59
I there's one that I recall really
4:02
really disliking. Um, but I can never
4:04
remember like what [laughter] what it is
4:07
until I get in it and I'm like, "Oh,
4:09
thank you." Yeah. which is which is
4:11
which is back for uh the mythic plus
4:13
season. One of the one of my most hated
4:16
dungeons that has ever existed.
4:18
>> Yeah. Um I I got to say that the one
4:20
that's number one for me isn't a Battle
4:22
for Azeroth dungeon. It's a it's a
4:24
Warlords dungeon. It's the train. Um and
4:27
they made a lot they made the train a
4:29
lot better when they got rid of some of
4:31
the motion sickness stuff. But at the
4:33
time I was tanking it and I get really
4:35
motion sick. So, I was like I'm like
4:38
desperately holding in everything going,
4:40
"Okay, yeah, I got I've got threat."
4:43
>> You know, I'm I'm looking at the list of
4:45
like Battle for Azeroth dungeons and
4:47
like, man, I disliked a lot of these
4:50
dungeons.
4:52
>> Yeah, a lot of people did. That's why,
4:54
you know,
4:54
>> King's Rest uh was was
4:58
Tolagar uh like no thank you. Uh, Shrine
5:03
of Storms, Siege of Borales,
5:06
Sacrificial Pits, like
5:08
>> see Borales. I I have one fondness.
5:11
Here's the story for CJ Balis. And then
5:13
we The reason I kind of liked it. I I
5:15
logged into what we had. I don't know if
5:17
we had Discord yet. I think we were
5:19
still using um what was it? Slack. Yeah,
5:21
I think we were still using Slack. I
5:23
logged in. It might have been Discord. I
5:25
don't remember. Sorry if I'm wrong. I
5:27
logged in and Ann was like, "Rossy." I'm
5:30
like, "Yes, I am. I am him." She's like,
5:32
"I need you to tank this for me now."
5:34
I'm like, "Okay." So, without I had not
5:37
tanked on my death knight. I was my
5:39
first character to to max level. I had
5:41
not tanked on it yet. I didn't have any
5:43
gear. So, I literally spent like an hour
5:46
coming up with a way to get gear as
5:48
quickly as possible. Did that and then
5:50
jumped on and I tanked that whole thing
5:54
that and Caesar Bales is not short.
5:57
There's a lot of going to places and
5:59
doing things and mini bosses. uh ran
6:01
through the whole thing and we survived
6:03
and at one point two of the people in it
6:07
with us dropped. So it was me and and
6:09
one person and I I I basically turned to
6:12
Ann and said you want to keep going
6:14
because you've been doing most of the
6:16
DPS in this place anyway and and she was
6:18
like yeah let's go. So we basically
6:21
carried this poor confused person
6:23
through the rest of seizure Borales and
6:25
and it was like it was amazing that we
6:28
got through it and I always remembered
6:29
it as just this moment of yes even other
6:32
players can't defeat us. So yeah I I
6:35
have a soft spot but it's it's got all
6:37
it is a terrible
6:38
>> that's the whole thing about Warcraft.
6:40
It's the memories you make along the way
6:42
that really make the game. The game can
6:44
be good. The game can be bad. It's
6:47
playing with friends is the best part
6:50
all the time.
6:51
>> Yeah. And that's I mean that's one of
6:52
the things that as I've gotten to the
6:54
point where I'm fairly isolated, I think
6:56
that's why I've switched so much to
6:57
Diablo because I'm I'm alone most of the
7:00
time. It's just me. So, it's not as much
7:02
fun as when I used to play with my wife
7:04
a lot and we'd end up my wife could run
7:06
into if you could put like one tree in a
7:08
zone, just one tree in the middle of the
7:11
zone and nothing anywhere else and my
7:13
wife would somehow find a way to ride
7:15
directly into that tree and I would
7:17
always I'd be on follow. So, [laughter]
7:21
we both run into the tree over and over
7:23
again. So, yes, uh I still have fond
7:25
memories of crashing into every tree in
7:27
Azeroth and and back in the Shadowland.
7:29
Trees are also my nemesis. And that that
7:32
was a a huge problem in Dragon Flight
7:34
when we got skyriting for the first
7:36
time. And it was like trees. Ah. Yeah.
7:40
>> Yeah. Oh no. [laughter] Oh no. I'm
7:42
falling. I'm falling. Oh god. I can't
7:43
keep the thing up. Oh, it's got to go.
7:45
Bang. Thank you, Mr. Tree, for finding
7:48
me a nice landing spot. Yeah. So,
7:50
Terminal Timeways, uh, Battle for
7:51
Azeroth. So, a little bit of an I
7:53
apologize for telling you that, but at
7:55
the same time, as Joe has pointed out,
7:57
it's you can go in, you can do them, you
8:00
can get your buff for the week, and you
8:01
get a ton of XP. It's great for
8:03
leveling. So, you know, consider
8:05
turbulent time ways for you if they're
8:07
right for you. Ask your doctor. Um, your
8:09
[laughter] doctor will be busy, you
8:11
know, so he won't you'll be running like
8:13
Lat King's Rest.
8:14
>> I do want to add, uh, you do only need
8:16
four weeks of this. I think we
8:18
incorrectly said five weeks last week
8:20
tool updated. Yeah.
8:22
>> Yeah. The tool tipping game was wrong
8:24
last week. So, four weeks of turbulent
8:27
timeways to get your Veronoth mount and
8:30
um
8:30
>> this is the second week. So, if you
8:32
missed last week, you still got you
8:33
still can do it.
8:34
>> You're still you're still good. Just uh
8:36
just keep at it.
8:37
>> Okay. Now, for something a little bit
8:38
different, but also I think something a
8:40
lot of people, especially the people I'm
8:42
sitting in this virtual room with, uh
8:45
they're going to have player housing
8:46
exteriors. They've been data mined for
8:48
12.1 PTR. They are not going to be sold
8:51
in the shop. There's nothing. They're
8:54
not going to be sold even though they've
8:56
got names like shop-fall.
8:58
>> Reject reject the lies that your eyes
9:00
show you.
9:02
>> Yeah. So, yeah, the deal is they were
9:05
data mined and the files that were data
9:07
mined uh have shop in the name. And so
9:12
people were freaking out. freaking out
9:14
just a little bit, which is
9:15
understandable because since player
9:18
housing launched, we have not gotten any
9:19
new since it launched in live. Am I Am I
9:23
remembering this right? We have I I may
9:26
not be remembering this right. Okay, I'm
9:28
just going to go back and say we have we
9:30
don't have a lot of different exterior
9:31
looks. We got human, elf, other elf,
9:35
orc. Those are our player housing
9:36
exteriors. This made me feel like human
9:39
and orc are just human and other human
9:41
or orc [laughter] and other orc.
9:43
>> That would be great if they came up with
9:44
this thing that just Yeah. And we were
9:47
told that more were going to be released
9:48
and we're actually getting to a point
9:50
where they should have already been
9:51
released by now.
9:52
>> We were told more races were going to be
9:53
added more looks and the only new looks
9:56
we've gotten have been two tree houses
9:58
that were released in the store which
10:00
made me so angry that I went and built
10:01
my own treehouse out of trees. And uh
10:06
yeah, it's a little frustrating. I mean,
10:08
you you do understand it's a business
10:10
and that the horrors of capitalism,
10:13
they're going to make things to go in
10:14
the store, but those are the only new
10:15
things we've seen for player housing
10:17
exteriors. And it's it's frustrating,
10:19
but uh yeah, we're going to get some
10:21
more in 12.1.
10:24
And Blizzard has directly said, they've
10:28
directly commented and said these will
10:30
not be in the shop,
10:31
>> which so please pitch pitchforks and
10:34
torches down. We're not going to sell
10:35
these in the shop.
10:36
>> I mean, you you can have pitchforks and
10:39
torches about other things, but not a
10:41
don't worry about this one thing. This
10:44
is one thing.
10:45
>> No, [laughter]
10:47
>> one thing in your life that you cannot
10:49
worry about, which is so reassuring.
10:52
Just one thing. one thing we can stop
10:55
worrying about.
10:55
>> Yeah, I'm I'm I wouldn't be surprised if
10:57
that was Oops, we got caught uh because
11:00
of the the uproar over the tree houses
11:04
cuz there was a lot of disgruntled
11:06
nature
11:07
>> over the cost of the tree houses, not
11:09
just that they were they were money. We
11:11
were part of that. Just going to going
11:13
to throw that out there. Yeah, it's just
11:15
it's it's just frustrating with the
11:16
limited number of exterior looks to say,
11:19
okay, you get a new one, but it's only
11:20
in the shop and it's kind of expensive.
11:24
So, here we are.
11:25
>> Uh, also, we should probably point out
11:27
this because this is one of the ones
11:28
that I know uh people that live in my
11:30
house will be. Um, you can get Pepe, the
11:33
little bird, or many Pepes are going to
11:35
this in your player home in patch 12.1.
11:38
>> It is a mechanically index
11:39
indistinguishable Pepe. Uh, so you get
11:42
little robots kind of like you're uh you
11:44
know you're you're playing uh what is
11:45
it? Clash of the Clash of the Titans.
11:47
Little mechanical bird that you can put
11:49
all around your place which is really
11:50
cool.
11:52
>> Yeah, there you go. [laughter]
11:54
>> Point reference the original Clash of
11:55
Titans. They didn't put him into the
11:58
newer Clash of the Titans with Sam uh
12:00
from Avatar there and and that made me
12:02
mad because he was the best part of the
12:05
original Clash of the Titans was that
12:06
little robot bird. Oh, also uh it should
12:09
be pointed out that uh because Pepe is
12:11
decor, these these robots are decor, you
12:14
can scale them. You can have many
12:16
different skilled Pepes.
12:18
>> My Pepees.
12:19
>> Can you put them outside?
12:20
>> Yes. If you put them outside, you can
12:22
have like gigantic robot Pepe statues
12:25
just floating around.
12:26
>> They are ostensibly robot Pepes, but
12:29
they're just they just look like Pepe.
12:31
>> I have I have a challenge for the Wow
12:33
community that listen to this podcast.
12:34
[laughter]
12:35
When this pet becomes available, I want
12:37
somebody to make a giant Pepe statue
12:40
made entirely out of other Pepes.
12:44
That is that is my challenge to you.
12:46
>> You're doing the Lord's work, Mike.
12:48
[laughter]
12:49
>> I'm just like someone should be like
12:51
building thrones out of them. All I know
12:53
is that my my my my Pepe are going to be
12:55
playing chess inside of my house because
12:57
this is a thing that's going to
12:58
>> You mean when you say playing chess, do
13:00
you mean there'll be two Pepe at a board
13:01
playing chess with each other or do you
13:03
mean there will be a bunch of Pepes on a
13:05
board being the pieces for a chess game?
13:07
>> Yes.
13:08
>> I should have known better. [laughter]
13:10
So anyway though, uh that's what we
13:13
thought. Oh, go ahead.
13:14
>> The real question is whether Pepe will
13:16
be dable. So you could have a variety a
13:19
rainbow of Pepes. I will make Power
13:22
Ranger Pepes. Make this happen.
13:25
[laughter]
13:26
>> Coco Pepe Rangers.
13:29
>> And will you be able to put tiny hats on
13:31
them? There are lots of important
13:33
questions still to come, but we know you
13:36
will be able to get a Pepe and get as
13:39
many copies of Pepe as you want.
13:41
>> Yeah. And I see the thing is what you
13:42
got to do is at least somebody has to do
13:44
a thing where they have a a larger Pepe
13:46
with a smaller Pepe on its head with an
13:48
even smaller Pepe on its head like just
13:51
because we want to have a nice recursive
13:53
Pepe.
13:53
>> I mean 100% I fully expect that to be
13:55
like uh Talison like 100%.
13:59
>> Yeah, sounds like something you do. Uh
14:01
before we talk any more about Pepe and
14:03
and possibly you know injure ourselves
14:06
in the the constant assumption of more
14:08
>> this is not Pepe watch. Yes, [laughter]
14:10
I do want to talk about Hearthstone
14:12
because whilst I don't play Hearthstone,
14:15
I love watching other people play
14:17
Hearthstone. It's become a thing I do
14:18
when I'm on the internet because unlike
14:20
a lot of things you can watch people do
14:22
on the internet, nobody ends up getting
14:26
arrested or shot or traumatized by
14:28
Hearthstone so far.
14:30
>> Usually. Usually not. It's It's
14:32
uncommon.
14:34
>> Yeah. But right now, we have the Escape
14:36
of for Violet Hold expansion which is
14:38
live according to this post. I'm reading
14:39
right now. Um, so let's talk about that.
14:44
Uh, which means Liz will have to do a
14:45
lot of talking. So I'm going to try to
14:46
throw a little bit of a bone here. Uh,
14:49
can you explain the rule breaking theme?
14:51
Like like that's like the the news the
14:53
new deal this expansion.
14:55
>> Um, I mean we are we are going out and a
14:58
sense breaking out of Violet Hold. So,
15:01
yes, there are um the every class gets
15:05
their own legendary rule breaker card,
15:08
which a lot of expansions do this that
15:10
there's some kind of special card that
15:12
everyone that everyone gets their own
15:15
and it kind of adds to the class flavor
15:17
for that expansion. So, each one kind of
15:20
defies some kind of core theme in
15:24
Hearthstone. And so, you get all kinds
15:28
of interesting things. So, let's see.
15:31
We've got Mugsy, who's a shaman card.
15:34
Okay. And uh start of the game. If your
15:37
deck has no other minions, get Mug's
15:40
Hero Power. It has no spells. If it has
15:43
no spells, get Z's. So, you you just
15:47
they're kind of unusual cards that push
15:50
the class beyond its usual boundaries.
15:53
So, you can do interesting things as as
15:56
these always have. Some of them are
15:58
going to be amazing kind of gamebreaking
16:02
things that like this is going to be the
16:04
meta for the expansion and some of them
16:06
are maybe Yeah. Yeah. So, we're just
16:10
going to have to see how the meta shakes
16:12
out. And every time we get a new
16:15
expansion. That's really the thing. It's
16:17
adding
16:19
135 new cards and that's going to really
16:21
change how the meta works. And yeah,
16:23
this is kind of the big the big thing.
16:26
Uh yeah, and the paladin card, I I it
16:31
shouldn't surprise anyone. I like
16:33
playing paladins. I also like playing
16:35
them in Hearthstone. So the paladin one
16:38
is while building your deck, pick a two
16:42
cost minion, 10 copies join your deck.
16:45
Usually you can only have two copies of
16:48
any given card. And that you can use
16:50
that in all sorts of different ways.
16:53
Paladin tends to have some sort of hand
16:55
buffy stuff. You've got a lot of buffs
16:57
that you could power up minions. So,
16:59
it's possible you could use something
17:01
like that to really flesh out some small
17:04
minions that you power up in different
17:06
ways. So, these are all just they're
17:08
interesting twists. They're going to add
17:09
a little twist on each class if you get
17:12
the right legendary. And uh that's
17:14
always fun. It's always this is the most
17:17
interesting time in Hearthstone when a
17:19
new expansion is released cuz everything
17:20
is in flux for a while. And that's
17:22
that's fun. That's change. Change is
17:25
exciting.
17:26
>> Speaking of things that are exciting,
17:28
although not necessarily good, uh we've
17:30
got another gotcha game for Hearthstone.
17:33
>> Yeah.
17:34
>> And this one is weird in that it does
17:36
not even have anything that will tempt
17:38
me with its cuteness,
17:39
>> which is like, what are you doing? Got
17:41
>> Yeah. I mean, this is this is not the
17:44
most exciting one because it's just some
17:47
some it's just cards. It's just cool
17:50
variant cards and it's it's nice. It's
17:54
nice, but it is still gotcha and you're
17:57
getting random rewards that each time
18:00
you spin for a reward, it costs you more
18:03
for the next spin. And that can be
18:06
that's just that's just a lot. It can be
18:08
really expensive. It is really expensive
18:09
to get everything you want. Uh the only
18:12
good thing about it is uh the rewards
18:15
just aren't that exciting. So, you're
18:18
not playing to get like some super
18:20
awesome pet or as in the last one we had
18:23
a terrifying baby Kathun. Uh, which
18:26
frankly, and when you see that guy on
18:29
the board, it's just terror. I'm going
18:31
to concede right now so I don't have to
18:33
deal with this. I just I don't want to
18:34
look at it. I'm leaving. I mean, this is
18:37
probably why I'm not a very good
18:38
Hearthstone player.
18:39
>> Meanwhile, I was looking up the Kathun
18:41
to see how cute it is. [laughter]
18:43
Yeah, that's really cute. Why don't
18:47
It's it it terrifies me. That's that's
18:50
all.
18:50
>> Oh, I it should absolutely terrify you.
18:53
I mean, it's got [laughter] it's got
18:54
teeth growing out of its head. I mean,
18:57
>> yeah, it's it's it is pretty horrifying,
18:59
but nevertheless, I still find it cute.
19:01
Whereas, I don't find any of these
19:03
signature cards cute.
19:04
>> Um, looking at them, not cute to me.
19:06
They're just there, which is fine.
19:08
>> They're there. I mean, card variants are
19:11
cool, but they're not necessary to play
19:12
the game. And I I'm I'm not a person who
19:16
feels the need to collect card variants,
19:18
which is good because they tend to come
19:20
with a price tag.
19:22
>> Yes. I mean, and that's fine. Uh in a
19:24
way, as you just pointed out, it's kind
19:26
of better that there not be anything you
19:28
feel like like when they put the the the
19:30
you know, King Crush pet or whatever.
19:33
>> Oh man, that was so cute.
19:35
>> That was one of the possibly the cutest
19:37
tyrannosaur based animal I've seen this
19:39
year. [laughter]
19:40
Um, so [gasps]
19:42
when when I saw that, I was mad. Like I
19:45
was I was considering going to try and
19:47
pick that thing up. Just I would never
19:48
play Hearthstone much, but I would still
19:50
like to have that thing. But then I was
19:52
like, "Oh yeah, in order to get this,
19:53
you're probably going to end up having
19:54
to spend $170." I was like, "Okay, then
19:56
I I I don't need it that bad." But with
19:59
this,
19:59
>> yeah, that's
20:00
>> you don't even if you've got the money
20:02
burning a hole in your wallet, you're
20:03
not necessarily going to feel like I've
20:05
got to do this because it's like, okay,
20:08
uh I can get uh what looks like some
20:10
character I don't know with tentacles
20:12
coming out of it. That's that's cool, I
20:14
guess.
20:16
Uh and if you're into collecting, then
20:18
you know you can do it. And if you're
20:20
not, you don't have to. So in that
20:23
regard,
20:23
>> it's all optional. It's all optional.
20:26
The hard part is avoiding temptation.
20:28
Because this is just this is designed to
20:31
tempt you. It's designed to tempt you
20:33
into spending more money than you
20:34
intended. And that's why I hate it.
20:37
>> Yeah. And this is one of the times where
20:38
it's not as tempting.
20:40
>> Uh so yeah.
20:41
>> Yeah. So that's take what you can get
20:43
people.
20:44
>> Yep. That's kind of like I'm going to
20:46
segue over to a different Blizzard game
20:48
here. Uh cuz I've been playing a lot of
20:49
the various Diablo. Uh Diablo I is doing
20:52
the Overwatch thing where they're sell
20:55
they're selling various skins for
20:57
Overwatch characters for various classes
20:59
in Diablo. And that's a very resistable
21:01
one for me because there's only one I
21:04
would want and I'm not feeling the need
21:07
to get it. Whereas I felt like when
21:10
there was the World of Warcraft ones, I
21:12
was white knuckling my way through it
21:14
until somebody was like, "Look, here
21:16
just take I got some money here. Go
21:17
ahead. Here's some gold. You can you can
21:19
do stuff." And I'm like, okay. I was
21:22
buying the thing before I even, you
21:23
know, got done giving it to me. Uh, but
21:27
for for the Overwatch thing, the the
21:30
live relicquery that you can do for
21:31
nothing is the only has the only thing I
21:34
want from Overwatch, the new die, the
21:37
amber set stuff. Um, and it's it's not
21:41
too hard to get because I've been
21:42
playing kind of like multiple games at
21:44
once here, so I have not been focusing
21:46
on it. And I've I'm almost to the 150.
21:49
uh Overwatch currency, whatever it's
21:51
called, to buy this. And I'm hoping that
21:56
they don't start putting dyes on the
21:58
store. If they just keep putting in new
22:00
dyes on the reoquaryy like this, like on
22:03
a special reoquary that's just, you
22:05
know, all in-game stuff, I would be so
22:08
so happy. I would weep because we the
22:11
one thing I feel like like Diablo force
22:13
dies, there are just not enough of them.
22:15
There just are not enough of them. And
22:17
some of the colors don't go well with
22:19
other colored.
22:20
>> Yeah. I mean, they've added some dyes
22:21
since launch, but Yeah.
22:23
>> Yeah.
22:24
>> And more adding more of them through
22:26
like gameplay stuff. I think that's
22:28
great. Uh, if that's the way you can
22:30
justify doing this,
22:32
>> I don't care as long as you do it. I I
22:34
feel like the gotcha game thing is way
22:36
off in the other direction of that. And
22:39
and it's not even in the in the
22:40
direction of we we just tell you upfront
22:43
this is naked capitalism that I can kind
22:45
of accept in various Diablo store stuff
22:49
because it's just straight up, you know,
22:52
we both know you're going to buy this.
22:53
Like why are we even playing Matthew?
22:55
You're going to buy it. It's Ash Condi.
22:57
I know that it's on a necromancer. I
23:00
know you're never going to play the
23:01
necromancer. You're going to not use
23:03
that suit ever.
23:04
>> But you have the option now.
23:06
>> Yes, you have the option. And meanwhile,
23:08
Ashcondi is a two-handed sword, so you
23:11
can still equip it on your barbarian.
23:12
So, yeah, it it it worked on me, and I
23:16
freely admit it. And it's very different
23:18
from the Gotcha in that the gacha does
23:20
not make you feel like you have an
23:23
option. It makes you feel like if I want
23:24
this thing, I either I get
23:26
astronomically love ghee or I don't and
23:29
I end up spending way more money than I
23:31
feel I should for what is a glorified
23:33
pet. So, that's just me. That's my my
23:36
system. And I feel like now that we've
23:39
gotten our cynicism to its furthest
23:41
expression,
23:42
>> have we?
23:43
>> We have we're about to get it a lot lot
23:46
worse. Um [laughter and gasps] so yeah,
23:50
we're we're going to see about 3,200
23:53
layoffs from Xbox. Uh in fact, some of
23:56
them have already been laid off. Uh on
23:58
July 6th, about 1,600 people. We should
24:01
note that uh we should note that when we
24:03
say Xbox,
24:05
>> this is essentially Microsoft's gaming
24:07
division. Uh the portion of them that
24:10
owns all of the game studios. So we're
24:13
talking Activision, Blizzard King,
24:15
Treyarch, Raven, Highoon, Beox,
24:18
Sledgehammer,
24:19
um
24:21
>> Mojang, Bethesda, Zenamax, ID, Rare,
24:27
like all of these companies. This is
24:28
what we're talking about when we talk
24:29
about Xbox. Yeah, we're not talking
24:31
about the console manage because that's
24:32
that's not even this is purely all that
24:35
stuff that that gets fed into the game
24:37
pass hopper which is the monetization
24:40
path for the Xbox at this point because
24:43
let's face it, it is at best the third
24:46
most popular console currently in
24:47
existence. And I say this as a guy who
24:49
only owns one. Like I only have an Xbox.
24:51
I like the Xbox architecture way better
24:54
than PlayStation. I always have. But you
24:57
know, facts are facts. We we [snorts]
24:58
know which consoles are the more popular
25:00
ones and Xbox is not one of them. Uh so
25:04
it's weird about this. Um and the point
25:06
was made by you guys in this like bullet
25:09
point list. So I'm going to go to this
25:10
one first.
25:12
>> Um a lot of this is studios being spun
25:15
off back to be sold or moved out. Go
25:17
ahead.
25:18
>> Sorry. Go ahead, Liz. I I have I have
25:20
thoughts. Not not not the majority of
25:22
it, but but I still feel like it's
25:23
something that should
25:24
>> it's it's a lot, but it's Yeah, as you
25:26
said, it's not the majority. A lot of a
25:28
lot of people are just done. They're out
25:30
of their job.
25:31
>> Yeah. So, the even the ones that are
25:33
being spun off as back to being
25:35
independent is
25:36
>> that's still a big deal because you're
25:38
still, you know, basically cutting off
25:39
funding.
25:40
>> That right there will collapse.
25:43
>> Yeah. And then then you have to worry
25:44
about because we haven't even talked
25:46
about the the rights of of IP ownership
25:49
either. and whether those are going and
25:52
being cut loose with the studios.
25:54
>> They are. They are being cut loose.
25:56
They're being they keep their IPs.
25:58
>> Okay, that's good.
25:58
>> All of them because Ninja Theory uh is
26:02
going to be still making Senua. Senua is
26:04
still going to be unique.
26:06
>> But that's because Ninja Theory is not
26:08
being spun off as a independent. They're
26:11
being sold. They're being sold to an
26:13
unnamed buyer just like Undead Labs is.
26:16
Um, my gut tells me it's going to be the
26:18
same Saudi or uh company that that
26:21
bought EA. Um, because that's that's
26:25
would be my guess cuz they're going to
26:26
throw money at. Um, but yes, several of
26:29
these are being spun off as back to
26:31
being independent. Uh, Compulsion Games,
26:33
which is uh South of Midnight, We Happy
26:35
Few, Double Fine, Grim Fandango,
26:38
Psychonauts, some of the best games that
26:40
have ever been made.
26:41
>> Um,
26:41
>> yes,
26:42
>> I'm I'm so happy. I'm so happy that
26:44
Double Fine is going to continue to
26:46
exist because that just Microsoft has
26:49
also closed a lot of studios in the past
26:51
few years and it is so good that Double
26:54
Fine is not one of them because they
26:55
have made so many great adventure games
26:58
>> and and
26:59
>> yeah but still by them doing this the
27:00
way they're doing it if you're if you're
27:02
spinning a studio off to be independent
27:05
that is an incredibly vulnerable time
27:07
for that studio.
27:07
>> Very much so.
27:08
>> Yeah. I I mean in some cases Microsoft
27:11
is still providing them some seed money
27:13
and some like launchpad to go off to be
27:16
successful but we don't know how far
27:18
that goes etc etc. So it we don't know
27:21
it's a lot of uncertainty for all of
27:23
these and the only the good news is
27:25
you're not immediately getting laid off
27:27
and we may still see these guys
27:29
continuing to make really fun games.
27:32
>> But you know a lot of these people a lot
27:34
of the people who have been laid off
27:35
have been straight up laid off. that
27:37
that is the majority here.
27:39
>> I do also want to point out something
27:40
that I think is um probably a really big
27:43
part of the story that we haven't talked
27:45
about yet. Um remember when Arcane
27:47
Austin was killed uh by Microsoft
27:50
layoffs?
27:52
[sighs]
27:52
>> Um they're trying to kill
27:55
>> the rest of Arcane
27:58
>> uh which currently exists in uh France.
28:02
Uh, but because they exist in France,
28:05
uh, labor laws are really being a thorn
28:08
in the side of Xbox. And I have I I I
28:12
will say this, thank God for the French.
28:14
Make them suffer on this one. [laughter]
28:16
Um, Arcane.
28:17
>> Yeah, that's the thing. That's been the
28:19
great thing about watching Ubisoft get
28:21
utterly destroyed by the French and
28:22
multiple occasions because they they
28:25
have laws that are actually concerned
28:26
with the people who work in. It's a
28:28
novel concept really truly like caring
28:32
about like what you have and what you're
28:34
doing. Who kn Who would have thought,
28:35
man?
28:37
>> Yeah, straight up. I didn't I didn't see
28:39
that coming.
28:40
>> This is the world we live in. Uh but I
28:43
think one of the worst things about
28:45
this, I mean there are a lot of there
28:46
are a lot of bad things we can talk
28:47
about is that they've announced these
28:51
layoffs, these uh 3,200 layoffs, but
28:54
they've laid off half of the people this
28:58
week. That means if you work at any
29:01
>> if you work at any Xbox game studio, if
29:05
you were in Xbox at all in any capacity,
29:08
you know, there are another 1,600
29:13
layoffs coming. You don't know if you're
29:15
one of them. They're coming in sometime
29:17
in the next year. You don't know if
29:18
you're going to be fired tomorrow or
29:21
next month. You have no idea.
29:24
And that is a stressful position to be
29:27
in. I would I mean if I were working at
29:30
Xbox I would be updating my resume right
29:32
now because you have no idea if you're
29:35
going to be caught in the next layoff
29:36
and that's you know that's not a
29:39
situation
29:40
>> you you have to you have to assume that
29:41
you're like you have to assume that you
29:43
have crosshairs on you right and
29:45
especially and and I'm going to throw
29:46
this out there too this goes back to
29:49
maybe part of our our pre-show
29:51
conversation you have to wonder how much
29:54
of this is also being driven from uh
29:57
executives who are very clearly making
29:59
poor choices and probably should not be
30:01
in charge of making decisions if this is
30:02
how things shake out. Um because I'm
30:05
sorry, you're in charge of profitability
30:06
and if you're not profitable because
30:08
you're making poor choices, you should
30:09
suffer not the that's a whole other
30:11
topic. Um but like I forgot where I was
30:15
going with this. I was ranting.
30:16
[laughter]
30:18
I think one thing we can point out is it
30:20
it's a situation where the industry is
30:23
basically set up on a on a cata
30:25
catastrophic level. Like every we hear
30:27
about this continuously. There's always
30:29
another round of layoffs. It's usually
30:31
never another round of layoffs after
30:33
massive game sales drops. It's just
30:36
another round of layoffs. So we the
30:38
people who shareholders and so forth can
30:41
get more money by not having to pay
30:43
those people now that they've g you know
30:44
the game has been it's it's always
30:46
something along those lines. It's always
30:48
something where you feel like it's not
30:50
like they made a bad game even if they
30:53
did. It's that they made a game and now
30:55
you feel like they are not needed until
30:57
such time as you will then hire them
30:58
back to possibly in a different
31:00
configuration to make another game. And
31:02
then it's like this concept is you only
31:05
get to work like you only get a living
31:08
wage during the exact period of time you
31:10
are useful and then you are basically
31:12
>> oh yeah that's what that was what I was
31:13
going to say. Sorry. Yeah, because now
31:15
now you have the the AI creeping and the
31:16
AI discussion and you you're I'm curious
31:19
>> how much of this is driven by the uh
31:22
incorrect assumption uh that they can
31:25
replace these people with AI because
31:27
like QAs got gutted, coders got gutted
31:31
like it art team got gutted and like for
31:35
several of these places in the initial
31:37
1600 and you wonder how much of that is
31:40
some executive saying we can use Gen AI
31:42
for this or we can use claw or uh we can
31:45
make the people use these tools that are
31:47
still here because they desperately need
31:50
a job and they're afraid of it, right?
31:52
Uh like that's that's my fear with a lot
31:55
of this too is the things that we've
31:58
really grown to enjoy like Mojang.
32:00
Mojang it like the the the minds behind
32:04
Minecraft, one of the most successful
32:06
video games of all time got hit by this.
32:10
What does that look like? What does that
32:12
what is that? What is that going to be
32:13
for future updates? They just released a
32:15
major update with major overalls to the
32:16
game. Like it's
32:18
>> Yeah. And and as you pointed out before,
32:19
it's not like how can you argue that
32:21
Mojang isn't making enough money? In
32:24
what universe is Mojang not making
32:26
enough money? [laughter] Like are are
32:28
you are you kidding me with this? Like
32:31
do do does like Mojang like does company
32:33
literally just have to have like people
32:36
in like Victorian rags eating grl and
32:40
going yes I'll make
32:42
>> that would be too expensive right like
32:44
and that's that's the part we're getting
32:45
to is like these companies it's the when
32:49
the question is how much profit is
32:50
enough profit it's all of the money it's
32:53
not a good amount of money it's not a
32:55
large amount of money they have to be
32:57
the ones with all of the money and that
33:00
in and of itself is part of the problem.
33:02
And I'm wondering what the repercussions
33:04
and ripples are going to be of this. And
33:07
to the other thing to Liz's point, like
33:09
updating the resume, you're going to see
33:10
that. And everybody's going to be like
33:12
looking for something more stable or
33:15
something that they can do potentially
33:16
to get out of there if they're capable
33:18
of doing so. And
33:19
>> and the game industry,
33:21
>> the game industry is not in a great
33:23
place right now. You know, a lot of
33:24
things are dialing down doing layoffs.
33:28
So, it's not a good time to go out and
33:29
find a job. So, you may see some people
33:32
desperately clinging to these jobs and
33:34
you may see some people going off and
33:36
finding something else or even starting
33:38
new small studios. Um,
33:41
>> I mean, there's also the problem of like
33:42
a lot of people will bleed to other
33:46
compatible but not the same careers.
33:49
>> Like people will just straight up leave
33:50
game position.
33:51
>> Yeah. But the problem the problem is
33:52
they can't do that everywhere.
33:54
>> They exactly, right? like they they like
33:57
it go the tech industry as a whole, not
33:59
just games,
34:00
>> is under this this huge shrink because I
34:02
mean
34:03
>> it it
34:04
>> the same delusion you just talked about
34:06
that AI will will save them and it will
34:09
do everything and we're in whips and
34:11
buggy time and you're just going to have
34:12
to adapt. It's like it's
34:14
>> this thing that you think is going to do
34:16
all this does not have the ability you
34:19
think it does. It doesn't do the thing
34:21
you think it does. And it's weird that
34:23
you person who works in this industry
34:26
refuses to know that because most of the
34:29
people making these decisions didn't
34:31
work in this industry, [laughter]
34:34
right? They're coming from weird
34:36
backgrounds of speculative business and
34:39
didn't like half these executives didn't
34:41
grow up through the trenches. They
34:42
didn't earn their position there, right?
34:44
Like it's I hate to say it like that and
34:46
I'm and I will swing this back towards
34:48
something that is potentially hopeful.
34:51
um right is that when things like this
34:53
happened, the last time we saw a huge
34:57
disrupt in the game industry, we saw a
35:01
ton of independent game companies able
35:04
to go out there. And I'm not saying that
35:06
we're in a a great economic position for
35:08
that to happen again, but there is
35:10
potential that from the ashes of the
35:13
this uh buffoonery. Uh see, I'm using
35:17
very colorful words instead of swearing.
35:18
Aren't you proud of me?
35:21
But instead of u from the ashes of this
35:24
this questionable decision-m we have the
35:27
potential that these people can start
35:28
making you know the games that they want
35:31
to make again like Double Fine is a
35:33
really good example. Grim Fandango and
35:35
Psychonaut Psychonauts two of my top 10
35:37
games of all time. Like when we did I
35:40
forgot when we did our our listical
35:42
thing from like way back when but like
35:44
those were always in my top games for
35:47
good reason. They took risks and they
35:50
were funny and witty and they knew what
35:52
they were about and they had soul. And
35:54
>> you know what's really weird about that
35:56
too to think about? Psychonauts 2 was
35:59
like as an as a sequel is so far
36:02
inferior to Psychonauts and is still one
36:04
of the best games that's come out in the
36:05
past 15 years. Like this game is
36:08
measurably worse than the previous game
36:10
and it's still better than anything
36:11
we've got right now. Uh, and it's just
36:15
>> we can talk about how great Costume
36:16
Quest was.
36:17
>> I just, you know, the the Hellblade
36:19
series is very deep and it's very
36:23
explorative and I I just not many games
36:26
are are willing to deal with mental
36:28
illness the way it is
36:30
>> and and even thinking it might not get
36:33
support makes me feel ill. Um, I'm not
36:36
going to say I'm not going to pretend
36:37
that I care much about state, but you
36:38
know, I don't want people to lose their
36:39
jobs regardless. Uh and and the fact
36:42
that there's a lot of people who've
36:43
already lost their jobs like because
36:45
they denounced this and did it almost
36:47
immediately like it it and it's just
36:50
it's the only thing that like hope that
36:51
we get something along the lines of what
36:53
we saw cuz you know some of the best
36:55
games of the past few years were either
36:58
from studios that were always
36:59
independent or studios that were created
37:01
in the you know aftermath of this kind
37:03
of thing. But I'm not I'm not sure we're
37:06
going to get a lot of expedition 33s out
37:07
of this. um and or blueprints or you
37:11
know there's just there's a lot of stuff
37:13
out there that I don't know we'll get
37:15
again because of how relentless this
37:17
>> I do I do want to note one thing that
37:19
part of this is just a complete shift in
37:23
how Xbox is thinking about gaming in
37:27
that Xbox had been really focused on
37:31
just buying up studios getting all of
37:34
these games and getting them on Game
37:36
Pass. They were heavily focused on Game
37:38
Pass growth and they were just like and
37:41
if you build it they will come
37:42
philosophy. They were like we're going
37:44
to buy these studios and tell them make
37:45
great games and then we'll get all of
37:47
these Game Pass subscribers and you know
37:49
that it did that. They got these Game
37:52
Pass subscribers, but I don't know that
37:55
the model was ever long-term sustainable
37:58
because they were spending tons of money
38:00
on studios and a lot of them were making
38:04
niche niche games. You know, Double
38:06
Fine, we're talking about Double Fine.
38:07
They're a great studio, but
38:10
>> they're notarily a game pass draw
38:14
because they come their game relatively
38:16
niche. No, I I understand.
38:19
>> They may be critical hits, but they
38:21
aren't something that's a live service
38:23
game with tons of microtransactions.
38:25
These are not long-term money makers for
38:26
Microsoft. So now what they're doing,
38:30
you know, they're focusing on their big
38:33
titles.
38:33
>> Yeah. The only one that'll do that for
38:35
them. Now they can go back and look at
38:38
all the companies we we bought. Which
38:39
ones don't we need? Which ones can we
38:41
weed out? Well, you know,
38:42
>> and even the companies making successful
38:44
games have seen cuts and they're okay.
38:47
The message is you're focusing on your
38:50
major titles, your known successes.
38:52
That's what you're making. And so, we're
38:55
going to lose a lot of the small stuff.
38:57
I mean, one of the examples of the most
38:59
brutal cuts here is Elder Scrolls Online
39:02
lost half of its team gone. So, and they
39:06
just at Summer GameFest announced a huge
39:09
new update. And it's just, oh, man,
39:12
that's that's crippling.
39:15
>> This is going to be great. Let me tell
39:16
you all about Okay. No, wait. Someone
39:18
else is going to have [laughter] to cuz
39:19
I don't work there anymore.
39:20
>> The other the other problem that I think
39:21
Microsoft has in general is a lot of
39:24
these things, especially when they're
39:25
buying the studios and like you have to
39:29
let them cook, right? Like, and that's
39:31
and that's part of the problem. um you
39:35
it's not an it was not an instant
39:37
return. We kind of all saw this coming
39:39
and I think we if we go back and and
39:41
review the tape, I'm pretty sure we all
39:43
made the comment at some point that with
39:45
them continuing to buy this, even when
39:47
they bought Blizzard, we even said,
39:48
"We're not so sure what's how this is
39:50
going to work.
39:52
>> That's a huge money deal." And like a
39:54
little
39:54
>> worried about there's one thing I want
39:56
to mention because we talked about this
39:57
on of all things Tavern Watch. uh Chris
39:59
Cox, who is the guy currently at Hasbro
40:02
who seems to be completely incapable of
40:05
not saying super villainous evil things
40:07
about AI. Um he he comes from Microsoft
40:12
and the the thing is is he was
40:14
revelatory of a tendency among Microsoft
40:19
>> there just the the you know the office
40:20
team what do you want to call them the
40:22
seauite or whatever they they don't
40:24
there's not a lot of forethought which
40:27
is you know Liz was just pointing out
40:29
they're buying all these companies and
40:30
they don't seem to be worrying about
40:31
whether or not they'll be profitable in
40:32
the future and then they get to the
40:34
future and they're like why aren't these
40:35
profitable? That's something that you
40:38
saw a ton in Hasbro over its entire
40:42
evolution so to speak or devolution
40:44
depending on what word you want to use.
40:46
Uh underneath the new leadership under
40:49
Cox and his I don't want to use the word
40:51
sickophants so I don't know what word to
40:53
use. Um but under those yeah under that
40:56
that cery of people I actually like this
40:58
because now we're into we feel white
41:00
wolf uh games.
41:01
>> You're welcome. It's my present to you
41:02
Matt. [laughter]
41:03
But uh this group this gaggle of people
41:07
are very much about this this delusion
41:10
that you can you don't need people
41:13
anymore. Like like it's like when we
41:15
built robots to make cars. The reason
41:18
that worked was because the car was
41:21
designed by a human, not an AI. Like if
41:25
you if you have an AI prescribing
41:28
medication for people, the AI will kill
41:30
people because it doesn't care if it's
41:32
right. It just wants it to look right.
41:36
And and that that's where we're going
41:38
here. It's it's you're going to end up
41:40
hitting a wall. And I feel like that
41:42
idea of go fast, you know, move fast,
41:45
break things
41:48
in in the tech scream for a long time.
41:50
it. And when you introduce it to other
41:52
things, you end up destroying things and
41:55
and killing people and ruining lives.
41:57
Uh, I'm gonna look very carefully at the
41:59
at the non-existent fourth wall here and
42:01
say, I want you guys to remember the
42:04
Titan submarine because that was someone
42:06
taking move fast and break things to a
42:09
situation where no, no, we want to move
42:12
slow and not break things because when
42:14
things get broken, this thing gets
42:16
crushed by the depth. Uh, if you do this
42:19
with the game company, you crush them.
42:21
People are out of work, new games don't
42:23
get made. And sometimes, yeah, do we get
42:26
indie companies come up and make cool
42:27
games? Yes. Is it worth like the
42:30
destruction of people's lives and the
42:32
ultimate economic cost of that? No. And
42:36
and that's don't [snorts] want to sound
42:37
like I'm super negative because I do
42:40
think at least in some cases this will
42:42
be beneficial. But there's also there's
42:44
there's some companies that have
42:46
actually done this to themselves in in
42:47
the past. I remember Bungie doing it
42:50
with Destiny. They were like, "No, let's
42:51
get out of here. Let's get out of this
42:52
publishing deal. Let's go be our own
42:54
thing again."
42:55
>> Well, that worked out for them real
42:56
well, didn't it?
42:57
>> It worked out for them for a while, man.
42:59
They made other bad decisions after. We
43:01
can't blame every
43:02
>> But regardless, yeah, I I let talk.
43:05
>> Well, I was just going to say this is
43:06
just a call for everybody. If these game
43:09
studios made a game that you enjoyed, um
43:12
it's time to pay attention and throw
43:13
them support when you can and see what
43:15
they're doing. Um, you know, if Double
43:18
Fine announces their next project, pay
43:20
attention. Or, you know, if you've
43:22
enjoyed their previous games, uh, it
43:24
it's going to be hard because of the the
43:28
current economic position of the world
43:30
that we're uh, but more than ever, if we
43:32
want these things to survive, I it's I
43:35
hate to say it, but we've got to vote
43:37
with our dollars. I will freely admit,
43:40
and I will say this before we move on to
43:41
other things, today is the first day
43:44
that I went in and I cancelled my Game
43:46
Pass subscription. I have had it since
43:49
it was introduced. I have never let it
43:51
lapse. I have canceled it. When asked
43:54
for the reason, I said, and I flat out
43:57
said this, "You don't deserve my money
43:58
because you keep laying off all the
44:00
people that make the stuff that I
44:01
enjoy." That was the in the little exit
44:03
survey of tell us why you're doing this.
44:05
Um,
44:06
>> it matters and they will see that and
44:08
because they're going all in on Game
44:10
Pass and the new executive is going all
44:11
in on Game Pass. Uh, and I've seen this,
44:13
they're going to see those numbers tank.
44:15
Uh, and good. They should, those
44:17
executives should be scared.
44:19
>> They they already did, uh, a price
44:21
increase on Xbox Game Pass, which was
44:24
very unpopular. That's when I canceled
44:25
my Game Pass. I'm like, "Okay, I'm not
44:27
using this enough for it to be worth it.
44:30
I'm I'm just I'm done. I'm done. I can't
44:32
keep subscribing every month." and
44:36
they they raised the price and they've
44:38
lowered it again because there were so
44:40
many cancellations. So I
44:43
>> they did do that weird thing where they
44:45
lowered it but then they said but now
44:46
you won't get Call of Duty and I'm like
44:49
okay
44:51
>> other stuff too while you're at it.
44:53
[laughter]
44:53
>> I yeah if if I was still in the
44:56
subscribing business I would be like
44:57
okay that's not a problem but I I've
44:59
gotten out and I don't feel a need to
45:02
get back because they've one of the
45:04
draws to subscriptions like this is that
45:08
you get access to such a variety of
45:10
games. games you might not have heard
45:12
of, games that you might not have known
45:14
to buy,
45:16
>> just little games. You know, that was
45:19
one of the great things about Microsoft,
45:20
buying up all these smaller studios. You
45:22
had more games, more interesting games,
45:24
unique games, strange oddball games. Uh,
45:28
and by having that big subscription, you
45:31
could try out games that you might never
45:33
have bought and just see if you like it.
45:36
That was the big draw of Game Pass. And
45:38
now they're cutting back to just being
45:39
okay, we're just making mainstream hits.
45:41
That's what we're focusing on is the
45:42
mainstream games. And that that makes it
45:45
a lot less interesting. So it's it's
45:48
it's less exciting than ever to
45:50
subscribe to Game Pass or participate in
45:52
this.
45:53
>> Yeah. Certain point, especially as the
45:54
next console will essentially just be a
45:56
computer. Uh and to the point where it's
45:59
got Steam and stuff on it, uh you're
46:02
eventually just going to be better off
46:03
just having a Steam subscription. like
46:05
it's just having Steam and you use your
46:08
Steam stuff on your Xbox because it's
46:10
just a freaking computer that that has
46:12
been made less good than a regular
46:13
computer. Um I don't know. I at this
46:16
point though I want to say turn to Liz
46:18
because I there's more stuff I want us
46:20
to be able to talk about and we do need
46:21
to get the whole thanking everybody and
46:24
site notes type stuff done so we have
46:26
more time. So I'm going to ask you to
46:28
please do that. Please, please, please.
46:30
Well,
46:31
>> and then we'll come back and cover the
46:33
rest of this stuff.
46:34
>> As always, I want to give a big shout
46:36
out to everyone listening to this
46:39
podcast, everyone who supports all of
46:41
our podcasts by tuning in every week,
46:43
everyone who reads the site at
46:44
blizzardwatch.com. You guys are why we
46:46
are here cuz otherwise we'd just be
46:48
talking to ourselves and that's just
46:50
having a conversation. I mean,
46:53
but I do want to give an extra special
46:56
shout out to our supporters on Patreon.
46:58
It is that financial support every month
47:01
that really allows us to keep making
47:03
these podcasts and publishing on the
47:05
site. If you are able to support us
47:08
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47:11
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47:14
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47:16
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47:19
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47:23
And if you subscribe, you also get
47:25
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47:26
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47:29
anything. You never know. It's going
47:31
off. It's us talking about whatever
47:34
interesting things we have in mind every
47:36
week. So, if you can support us, go to
47:38
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47:41
and toss us a few dollars. It's a bunch
47:43
of people who enjoy the show, tossing in
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47:51
the lifeblood of this site and I
47:54
appreciate you. If you cannot support us
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financially, I completely understand.
47:58
It's a it's a crazy world out there as
48:01
we've been discussing. But you support
48:04
us just by tuning in every week,
48:06
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48:08
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48:11
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48:13
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48:16
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48:18
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48:20
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48:23
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48:25
You can follow us. We are Blizzardwatch
48:28
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48:43
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48:46
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48:48
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48:51
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48:54
Let us know what show they're for and
48:56
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48:57
We try to get to podcast to questions
48:59
every week, particularly on lorewatch.
49:02
Uh sometimes we don't get to them on
49:04
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49:06
topic and we just dig in and talk about
49:08
it as you've probably noticed. So again,
49:11
thank you so much for your support and
49:13
if you can support us financially,
49:14
please remember patreon.combizzardwatch.
49:18
Thanks again everybody.
49:21
>> And thank you to Liz for basically
49:23
talking for a solid minute and a half,
49:25
which is not easy if you've ever tried
49:27
doing it, guys. It is harder than you
49:29
think. All right. Uh let's move back.
49:32
We've talked quite a bit about, you
49:34
know, things that are not good. Let's
49:35
talk about summer games done quick or
49:37
things that are good because that's
49:39
good. Uh, I
49:41
>> So good.
49:42
>> So good.
49:43
>> I admit I had I had forgotten it was
49:45
happening. So, this is definitely a Oh.
49:47
Oh, that's gonna happen. So, I went
49:49
looking for things I want to watch and
49:51
um I'm kind of looking forward to some
49:53
of the Fire Emblem stuff cuz Fire Emblem
49:55
is one of those games that I don't want
49:56
to play, but I love to [laughter] watch.
49:59
No, I'm just not I don't have the the
50:01
>> There are some games that are just like
50:03
that and this is perfect for
50:04
>> Yeah. and Dragon Quest XI like the 11
50:07
Dragon Quest Dragon Quest you could who
50:10
knows what when they're on at any given
50:12
moment but they're just so fun to watch
50:14
sometimes. The you know Jedi Knight Dark
50:16
Forces 2. Oh my god, Jedi Knight Dark
50:18
Forces 2, guys. Are you kidding me? So
50:21
yes, uh it's there's a lot of fun stuff
50:23
in here.
50:24
>> This is a it's a full week of video game
50:27
speedruns. So, if you if you want to
50:29
know the story of a video game, this is
50:31
probably not the [laughter] best way to
50:33
see it. But if you want to see crazy
50:36
things done with video games, this is
50:38
this is the thing to watch this week.
50:40
>> I remember watching Super Mario Super
50:42
Mario Galaxy one where they they
50:44
finished it like in 13 seconds.
50:46
>> Yeah.
50:46
>> And some of these things are possible
50:49
>> or when they did Doom 2016 when it first
50:52
came out, the Doom developers were like,
50:54
I don't see how it could possibly go any
50:56
faster than this. And then like boom
50:59
like you they were like what we didn't
51:01
think you could finish it [laughter] in
51:02
two minutes.
51:03
>> Yeah. People will come up with
51:05
something.
51:07
>> So I mean this is a week-long 247 live
51:11
stream and all of it for charity and
51:14
it's also one of the most wholesome
51:16
events in gaming just because this is an
51:19
event that is about the love of the game
51:21
and the love of helping people. Right
51:24
now, they're supporting Doctors Without
51:25
Borders. And uh I they're they're close
51:29
to half a million dollars as we're
51:31
recording this. And they're they're
51:34
going to they're going to do better than
51:35
that before the end. So, you can watch,
51:38
have fun, give a few dollars to a good
51:40
cause. And they're also giving away a
51:43
lot of prizes. Hey, I just like
51:45
watching. Even if I don't know the
51:46
games, even if I don't care about the
51:47
games, usually they're fun and engaging
51:49
and funny. I am so excited that they're
51:52
going to be running the Transformers War
51:55
for Cybertron game, which is one of
51:57
[laughter] my dead serious
52:00
>> dead serious. Uh, which is one of my
52:02
all-time favorite video games and
52:04
probably the best Transformers anything
52:06
that's existed in a long time. Uh,
52:08
>> it's like I that's seriously that game
52:10
that game has better continuity than
52:13
everything else involving Transformers
52:16
except maybe some of the comics.
52:17
[laughter]
52:18
Uh, just just wow. Okay. And and the
52:21
idea that they're going to do a speedrun
52:22
of that, my word, I don't even know how,
52:24
but yeah. Okay. I'm sorry I'm rambling
52:26
on. [laughter]
52:27
>> I
52:30
um on on Saturday there's a Mass Effect
52:33
3 speedrun. They're going to play the
52:34
whole thing in an hour and a half. And I
52:36
have to say it took me a little longer
52:38
to finish it. So I I love seeing
52:40
speedruns of crazy huge RPGs because
52:43
they're always these weird tricks that
52:45
just catapult you forward in time. So,
52:49
those are always my favorites, but
52:52
there's just there's just so much. And
52:53
if you can't watch it live, it's all
52:55
going to be on the Games DoneQuick
52:57
YouTube page. You can pick the games you
52:58
want to watch and go. It's so many hours
53:01
of entertainment.
53:02
>> Uh, nothing else to say. It's good. You
53:04
should go watch it. Uh, there's cool
53:06
stuff. I do.
53:07
>> It's pure It's pure joy and we could use
53:10
some of that.
53:11
>> Uh, next up, I wanted to mention this
53:13
one just because Liz is here and she
53:15
should get to talk about it. I am
53:17
>> um there blueprints bingo. Apparently
53:20
that's a thing. I I'm like what? There's
53:22
going to be open qualifiers. That's
53:24
going to be
53:25
>> Yeah. Uh I think that's actually I've
53:28
never considered there being blueprints
53:31
bingo. Uh there's an invitational and
53:34
everything.
53:35
>> That's a rogike that's a rogike classic
53:37
like the doing stuff like that. I and
53:40
and blueprints is actually a really
53:42
interesting format for it because the
53:44
whole concept of blueprints is you have
53:47
this house that you're exploring and
53:48
each day the house rearranges itself. So
53:51
you have a grid. You already have a grid
53:55
as you're going in to work on something
53:57
like this. They did they did one of
53:58
these at uh at a g at GDQ. Not I it's
54:02
not on the schedule this time, but it
54:03
was maybe last year's or
54:06
uh but yes, it's the speedrunning
54:09
community is so fun and they come up
54:11
with all of these weird things and weird
54:14
unusual ways to play a game that are so
54:18
interesting. And this one's going to be
54:21
fun to watch because this is a this is a
54:23
very strange way to play blueprints.
54:27
Strange, but very interesting.
54:30
>> Yeah. Also, now we're going to mention
54:31
something for Joe. Um, Jubilee. Jubilee.
54:34
Jubilee. It's Jubilee, not Jubilee. I
54:36
don't know why I said Jubilee.
54:37
[laughter] Anyway, Jubilee. Marvel
54:38
Rivals. Explain, Joe.
54:40
>> I don't know why that made me think of
54:41
Dana Carvey and the Chop and Broccoli
54:42
song. Anyway,
54:43
>> it did. Yeah.
54:46
>> So, uh I love Marvel Rivals. This is no
54:48
no surprise. I've talked about it a
54:50
bunch. Um and the new season of Marvel
54:53
Rivals is actually going to be starting
54:55
uh in a few days as of the time of this
54:56
recording. And with it comes two things
54:59
that actually tie in with X-Men 97. Uh
55:03
because the new season of X-Men 97 just
55:05
recently started as well. Uh and so
55:08
Jubilee who is prominently featured in
55:12
uh the latter two episodes of what's
55:14
available on X-Men 97 uh is coming as a
55:18
playable character uh in Marvel Rivals
55:21
and looks like an absolute blast. looks
55:24
like they've absolutely nailed her
55:26
kinetic power. Uh, and like it is just
55:29
looking like it's going to be absolutely
55:31
just a good time. Uh, and I'm super
55:34
super excited about that. The other
55:36
thing that's coming with it in this new
55:37
season as well is uh they're going to I
55:40
think it's Nahb. Um, I might be wrong. I
55:42
can't remember the name of the uh city
55:44
in Egypt where Apocalypse at is based.
55:47
Um, but that's the new map is and that
55:50
directly ties in with the X-Men 97 uh
55:54
animated TV show. So, like I'm super
55:57
here for this. I'm really excited about
55:59
it. Uh, it also means that they're going
56:01
through and and adding again like this
56:04
commitment of adding not necessarily
56:06
purely mainstream characters cuz
56:08
Jubilee, as beloved as she is to some of
56:10
us, a lot of people don't know she
56:12
exists. Um, and she hasn't really been
56:15
featured in the comics in a long while.
56:17
Uh, so seeing her get some love in both
56:19
the animated series and here is just
56:22
great. Um, yeah, I I cannot stress how
56:26
cool this is. Also, I'm going to say
56:28
this right now. The fact that they never
56:30
had Jubilee and Boom Boom go on a road
56:32
trip together, I do not understand you
56:34
guys sometimes comic book writers. Why
56:36
would you not do this? I I don't get it.
56:39
It's like the two characters perfect to
56:41
go on a road trip together. They hate
56:42
each other and love each other and do
56:44
all sorts of crazy things. It would have
56:45
been amazing. I'm going to point this
56:47
one out because I'm amazed Joe didn't
56:49
tell me about it. Um maybe he did. Maybe
56:52
maybe you told me about this and that I
56:54
don't remember you doing it. But uh
56:55
Transformers is doing a Scooby-Doo
56:59
crossover.
57:00
>> Yeah. So, I was going to mention that
57:02
during the pre-show and we didn't get
57:03
there. Uh it this is a shut up and take
57:05
my money situation for me, which I hate.
57:07
>> Um
57:08
>> I just need to describe this one thing
57:09
to you guys. Do you guys remember Iron
57:11
Hide in Generation One?
57:12
>> He's a van.
57:13
>> Imagine the Mystery Machine is that it
57:16
because it's the same thing basically
57:18
except he has an ascot.
57:20
>> Uh well, hold on a second. It has
57:22
multiple heads. All All of the Mystery
57:24
uh the Mystery Inc.
57:26
>> uh have heads that you can swap on top
57:28
of the uh the transformed robot.
57:30
>> And and Scooby-Doo is actually uh I
57:34
forgot what the name of it. It's like
57:35
Autobot do or something like that. Um,
57:37
literally it's a box of Scooby snacks
57:39
that turns into Scooby. Uh,
57:41
>> yep.
57:42
>> It is phen. I love Okay, so as much as I
57:44
give Hasbro like
57:45
>> the headmasters, you guys remember
57:46
headmasters?
57:46
>> It is exactly Headmaster. Yeah, I give
57:49
Hasbro a lot of crap. Uh, and I will
57:51
continue to do so, but every now and
57:52
then they do something that is great.
57:54
And they've been with Transformers, the
57:56
one thing they've been doing well is
57:58
crossovers. uh with Stranger Things.
58:00
They had a crossover with the uh with
58:03
them where it was I think it was
58:05
frequency or or I can't I think it was
58:07
the name of it where the van from the
58:09
last season of Stranger Things was a
58:11
transformer. Uh they did a crossover
58:13
with Back to the Future where the
58:14
Delorean uh is is a transformer. They
58:17
have a Ecto1 uh transforms into uh a
58:22
literally a transformer with a a proton
58:25
pack. like the the crossovers have been
58:28
phenomenal. Um, which is really really
58:31
cool. And this is just the latest thing
58:32
that I didn't know I needed until I saw
58:34
it and now it's available for pre-order.
58:36
Uh, and I have a local toy store that
58:38
we're friendly with uh at the comic shop
58:40
that I literally emailed him and said,
58:41
"Hey, Jeremy, I need this. You are going
58:44
to give it to me or I'll buy it from
58:46
you, but you're going to reserve it for
58:48
me." And he just said, "I already did."
58:50
[laughter]
58:52
>> Joe, Joe, Joe, who did you think you
58:53
were talking to? I'm a professional.
58:55
That's already [laughter] unbelievable.
58:57
I know. I know who wants what. Um, so
59:00
yeah, I just wanted to get that in there
59:02
because I want to make sure we talked
59:03
about it because I saw this thing and I
59:04
saw the ascot. I was like, "This is a
59:06
thing of genius. Of course, it should
59:08
have an ascot." And the fact that these
59:10
are multiple heads like a headmaster.
59:12
Okay. And the fact that Scooby is a
59:14
transformable box and h anyway, I'm I'm
59:19
very happy. There's That's it though. I
59:21
think that's it for the podcast. We went
59:22
out on a good note, which is nice.
59:24
Sometimes things are depressing in the
59:26
world, but also there's Transformers
59:28
tie-ins and those are nice, too. And
59:30
also very fast games, watching people
59:33
play games extremely fast while looking
59:35
at your your your model or the Batman
59:38
transformer, which was one of the best
59:39
things. Uh, yeah. So, yeah, this has
59:42
been the Blizzard Watch podcast. Thank
59:44
you guys so much for being here with us.
59:45
Thank you to Joe and Liz both for making
59:48
the show possible and also fun to be on.
59:51
And thank you to all of you for making
59:53
the show possible and also having a
59:55
reason to be on it. Uh we'll be back
59:57
next week.
#Games