0:00

Coming up on today's show, the

0:03

PS5 Pro has been revealed and

0:05

it's expensive! Apple wants you to

0:07

play more games on the iPhone

0:09

16 and Brit found some details

0:12

about Yakuza Wars. What's

0:28

good, everybody and welcome to

0:30

another episode of the What's Good Games

0:32

podcast, your source for video game news,

0:35

commentary, analysis and funny stuff every Friday.

0:37

I am one of your hosts, Andrea

0:40

Rene, joined by my partner in crying,

0:42

the blonde nerd, Britney Bronbacher, and Britney

0:44

Bronbacher. Thanks

1:42

for watching! I'm

2:00

scrubbing my kitchen countertop. If you're feeling sentimental about it,

2:02

that is a great way to upcycle. No, the problem

2:04

is they don't carry it anymore. They don't carry it

2:07

anymore and I can't make it. Victoria's Secret fucked up.

2:09

They suck. I mean, they don't suck. They've done a

2:11

lot of good things for their body image in the

2:14

last X amount of years, whatever. But I still digress. They

2:16

don't make this bra anymore and it's very upsetting anyway. Oh,

2:18

I know. Their clothing has gone

2:20

down markedly in quality. Yeah, it's really sad,

2:22

actually. Yeah, it is. What's Good Cities, everybody?

2:25

We could do a whole podcast just about

2:27

that. But instead, we're here to talk about

2:29

video games, whether it's your first episode

2:31

or your 383rd episode, we

2:36

are glad that you guys are here

2:38

to join us to talk about the

2:40

PlayStation 5 Pro. Dun,

2:42

dun, dun. We're gonna talk about

2:44

that in just a minute, but I wanna say thank

2:46

you to this month's super producers, Farris, Atiya, Punkdify, and

2:49

Joshua Franklin. And thank you to

2:51

everybody who is supporting us on Supercast and

2:53

has left us a five-star review. Keep all

2:55

of the emails and messages coming that

2:58

you guys have been sending about the show. We have

3:00

just three episodes left, Brittany.

3:02

Wow. Wow. Does

3:05

that feel real to you? No,

3:07

it doesn't. It definitely doesn't feel like

3:10

I have all of the production I wanna do

3:12

for the finale even planned

3:14

yet. I have been planning for over

3:16

a month now, but lots

3:18

to do still. Well, we'll

3:20

make it happen. We have some fun

3:23

stuff planned. We do. We have some

3:25

very fun things planned, including

3:28

a special guest who is

3:30

joining us not only for

3:32

the finale episode, but also

3:34

on our newly announced finale

3:36

stream. That's right. You know

3:38

we couldn't do a send-off episode without doing

3:41

something live and having some shenanigans. We are

3:43

excited to announce that on Tuesday, September 24th,

3:46

at 4 p.m. Pacific time, we

3:49

will be streaming at youtube.com/what's

3:51

good games and twitch.tv slash

3:53

what's good games to

3:55

have some finale shenanigans. Now

3:57

that will not be the finale episode. We're doing that

3:59

separately. downloads

10:00

directly to my console and I don't even have to

10:02

do an extra step. Like that

10:04

convenience to not have all

10:06

of the hassle that comes with being a PC

10:08

gamer and you could come at

10:10

me if you want but you know PC gamers as someone

10:13

who also has a PC that could

10:15

do gaming. I don't game a lot on my

10:17

PC because it's just, it's a lot of work.

10:19

Always got to be updating drivers and then there's

10:21

like the graphics card and then of

10:23

course like I can't afford a nice monitor

10:25

after I've already spent all that but I

10:27

already have a 4K TV so that's great.

10:30

But the cost is

10:32

something that I understand

10:35

given the global economic situation

10:38

with how much everything is but

10:40

it also means that people have

10:42

less money than ever and so

10:44

I kind of have to scratch my head a bit

10:46

about why they're putting this out now

10:49

instead of maybe waiting like another year. Maybe

10:52

it's just because they already had a part of their

10:54

rollout and this is when it was scheduled and you

10:57

know economy be damned. We

11:00

do have to remember that the PlayStation 5 and

11:02

the Xbox Series X and S launched

11:04

during COVID. Yeah.

11:06

It helps. I was like

11:09

well best laid plans or whatever

11:11

but Jeff Keeley, producer of the

11:13

Game Awards opening live in Summer

11:15

Game Fest tweeted, here

11:18

are inflation-addressed prices for mainline PlayStation

11:20

console since launch. And I thought

11:22

it was interesting that he put

11:25

all of the console prices.

11:27

So PS1 back in 1995,

11:29

now remember he said these

11:31

are inflation-adjusted prices, was

11:34

$611 when

11:36

it launched. PS2, $546. PS3, $778. Oh

11:39

yes. That was like a big deal. That

11:42

was. A lot of people

11:44

were very mad about that. Yes they were. PS4

11:47

was $538. PS4

11:50

Pro, $522. So

11:55

that to me was a normal leap. The price

11:57

didn't really go up at all. It kind of

11:59

stayed the same. PS5 was $606 and the PS5 Pro is

12:01

$699, beating everything except the PS3. Nothing's

12:12

gonna beat that bitch, let's be very clear. No,

12:14

but remember that came with a lot more things

12:16

in the box. It came with the Blu-ray player,

12:19

which at the time was

12:21

incredibly expensive to buy as a standalone unit. Was

12:23

not the PS2? PS2 was the DVD player. No,

12:25

because I don't think Blu-ray was pervasive by then,

12:27

but... Okay, so it does not have a Blu-ray

12:30

drive. No, you're right, but it did play... This

12:32

is what happened. As I remember, I was playing

12:34

Half-Life on my PlayStation 2, which you could do

12:36

back in the day. I had a Blu-ray disc.

12:38

Sometimes it would play, sometimes it wouldn't, and that

12:41

explains it, because the drive didn't work right. But

12:43

it did have the DVD player and that was

12:45

the hot topic. That was the thing for PS2.

12:47

But anyway, yeah, like, I think, again, like, I

12:50

understand that... I don't think the cost

12:52

is outrageous considering what's inside this thing. But again,

12:54

like, I don't really know tech that well, but

12:56

I've read a lot of articles from folks and

12:58

people who do know what they're talking about and

13:00

the consensus I'm reading, unless I'm reading something vastly

13:02

different from everyone else, is that,

13:04

like, yeah, this isn't outrageous considering what

13:06

you're getting for this thing. I

13:08

think the issue that people are having, and this is kind

13:10

of where I'm at, is... It feels

13:13

like this console is just here because

13:15

it's expected to get a mid-cycle refresh, not so

13:17

much because we need it. I am still so incredibly

13:20

happy, to your point, baby girl, with my PS5.

13:22

With the way it is, the way it runs things.

13:24

In my perfect world, I would be able to

13:26

run my high-resolution graphics at my 60 FPS. That is

13:28

the dream. But I don't know if I need

13:30

to spend $700 to get that right now. And

13:34

that's my life and my existence. Yeah,

13:37

I mean, that's definitely where I'm at, too. I

13:40

like having my disc drive. I

13:43

think them taking that out is a

13:45

huge bummer. I'm not sure... I think

13:47

that would have been a huge added

13:49

value for people who are not playing

13:51

physical video games, but want it for

13:54

Ultra HD Blu-ray, which is Sony's

13:56

proprietary technology. So it's like, why

13:58

not bake that? that into the

14:00

console and have that as part of the cost.

14:02

And I'm sure there's an engineering reason and

14:06

an economic reason, like it puts the skew

14:09

at X amount of price or whatever. I

14:11

get that that's part of the business of making hardware,

14:14

but it just feels like such a miss

14:16

to me. And really, we're gonna charge people

14:18

$30 extra for the stand.

14:21

Is that you can't include the stand. This is like

14:23

the gripe I have with Apple in

14:26

the most recent iteration of iPhone. And we're gonna talk about

14:28

iPhone 16 a little bit later on. They

14:31

didn't include the charging brick. They're

14:33

like, here's a cable, but you

14:35

don't get the brick that goes into the wall. When

14:38

did this happen? Last year when they released the

14:40

iPhone 15, like opened the box and I was

14:42

like, are you kidding me right now? You know,

14:44

like what I mean is. I paid over a

14:46

thousand dollars for this piece of equipment and you

14:49

couldn't give me the brick. That's the part I

14:51

want. That's the thing I'm talking about. I feel

14:53

like it just happened under our noses over the

14:55

past several years, where you just kind of stop

14:57

getting little things that you would expect to get.

14:59

I remember, I think the first example that I

15:02

can think of is when you'd get collector's editions

15:04

without the game. Remember that? That's interesting. And yeah,

15:06

like why the stand? Come on. Like of all

15:08

things to omit the stand. I mean, the disk

15:10

drive, I mean, again, I know that's more expensive

15:13

to make, blah, blah, blah, but I do feel

15:15

bad for people who have invested

15:17

in physical disks and they do wanna get this.

15:19

And now it's an additional $80. So

15:21

just so they can play the games they've bought into.

15:24

It's hard. And I know Sony's getting

15:26

absolutely reamed, but do you think this

15:28

thing is gonna sell out quickly? What's

15:32

your, rub your ball, your future, your

15:34

ball here, your crystal ball. I definitely

15:36

don't think this thing is going to

15:38

sell out. I think it'll be popular

15:40

at launch, like anything is that is

15:42

for early adopters. There's also

15:44

still a good amount of folks who

15:46

have not upgraded from the PS4 to

15:49

the PS5. I think

15:51

the backwards compatibility is a huge win

15:53

and is a good way to encourage

15:55

people who have not upgraded to consider

15:58

this as an upgrade. But

16:00

again, the cost is

16:02

just incredible, especially when

16:04

they have certified refurbished

16:07

PS5s that are rolling out on the PlayStation

16:09

Store. So if you don't wanna spend $800

16:11

plus on a PS5 Pro, you

16:16

can get a very incredible

16:18

piece of machine called the

16:21

PS5 certified and refurbished from

16:23

PlayStation for $400. I

16:25

think it's 350. There is a model that is

16:27

350. The discless version

16:30

is 350. That's what you want.

16:32

It's like half the cost. Literally

16:35

half the cost. Yeah, yeah,

16:37

yeah, yeah. I made a joke on Twitter and I

16:40

said, time to start selling bath water. I

16:42

was joking, but the amount of interest

16:44

I got, baby, the amount

16:46

of folks who DM'd me that asked if I

16:48

was serious and I was like, I'm not, but

16:50

maybe I need to be. Wow.

16:53

Would you like to go into business with me again? If

16:56

it means we can get all

16:58

that sweet, sweet ray tracing. Get the

17:00

triple the ray tracers in your face.

17:05

I need more particle effects, please. Oh my

17:07

God, second nerd. And they're willing to sell,

17:09

you know, foot water, I guess. Foot water,

17:11

oh God. So

17:14

silly, so silly. Well, we obviously had to

17:16

talk about this, so let us know what

17:18

you guys think. If you think the PS5

17:20

Pro is worth the price tag or if

17:22

you're gonna keep holding out for whatever is

17:24

coming next or for the next generation potentially,

17:26

by leaving us a comment below, we

17:29

are gonna take one quick break and

17:31

when we come back, we're gonna talk

17:33

about some headlines, including Xbox, just coily

17:35

announcing, hey, guess what, friends are back

17:37

on Xbox Live. More on that in

17:39

a minute. This

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and terms at goldenuggettcasino.com/welcome. Brittany,

18:52

it's that time of year. September.

18:55

That means Apple is rolling out

18:57

what's next for the iPhone. Oh,

19:00

lordy girl. I still have a 13 max. I

19:02

have not upgraded in a minute. Maybe this

19:05

will be it. Maybe what you're about to

19:07

read is gonna blow my mind so significantly

19:09

that I'm gonna say, fuck you, end this

19:11

podcast and go buy one. They do have

19:14

a new button. Oh. Which

19:16

is, you know, exciting. Let me show you this little ad

19:18

that they put out and read just a couple of details

19:20

and why I brought it up on our show because obviously

19:22

we're not a tech show. So according

19:24

to Eurogamer, Apple says, it's all new

19:26

iPhone 16, plays AAA games, and there's

19:28

no iPhone Pro required. Apple claims to

19:30

be a 30% CPU and 40% GPU

19:32

boost over

19:35

last year's model, courtesy of the new 818 chipset

19:39

designed to handle the company's

19:41

computationally demanding on-device AI features

19:43

that are coming out later

19:46

this year. And that

19:48

extra oomph includes hardware accelerated ray

19:50

tracing. Everyone's doing ray tracing these

19:52

days. It means that AAA is

19:54

no longer relegated to just the iPhone Pro.

19:57

Apple says the base iPhone 16 is capable of

19:59

playing games already. released like Death Stranding,

20:01

Director's Cut, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Resident

20:03

Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village,

20:05

and Digital Foundry previously looked at

20:07

all four games running on the

20:09

iPhone 15 Pro and reported mixed

20:12

results. So it'll be interesting to

20:14

see how this year's phones compare,

20:16

even if claims of low AAA

20:18

sales on iOS mean we might

20:20

not see an influx of new

20:22

big name titles anytime soon. Okay,

20:24

okay, I'm looking at this video.

20:27

It's the sort of thing, Andrea, I think

20:29

that I'm looking at these features. There's something called

20:31

like Genmoji. I don't even know what that is. Like

20:33

whatever, I don't even know the woman's typing stuff into

20:35

her phone and it's answering her. Cool. I don't think

20:37

that would sell me on getting a new iPhone, but

20:39

I think once I do have a new iPhone and

20:41

I start using those features, it's going to be that

20:43

thing of how did he ever live without this before?

20:45

Right now I'm looking at it. I'm like, I'm too

20:47

old and curmudgeonly for all that tech. What it's even,

20:49

I just need to take pictures and text people. I

20:52

watch TikTok. Yeah, if you're not

20:55

using your phone for apps that require a

20:57

lot of power or for

21:01

lots of storage, basically if you're

21:03

working on your phone, then

21:06

these things really matter to you.

21:09

But if you're not and you just want

21:11

the cool new thing, then that's cool too.

21:13

But Apple has done such

21:15

a great job of making their tech go

21:18

a lot longer than it did previously

21:20

because I think everybody who's been in

21:23

the Apple ecosystem has been

21:25

part of a generation of Apple products

21:27

that just goes, you know, curplit after

21:29

a software update is pushed. Like, wait,

21:31

my phone was working or

21:33

my iPad was working and then they

21:35

pushed some iOS update and now it's

21:38

basically like donezo. But they've

21:40

been much better about adjusting that. Is

21:42

that because there's been global regulations about

21:45

apps? Yes,

21:48

they are fighting legal battles on a lot

21:50

of fronts these days as they should because

21:53

they have quite a dominant position in the market

21:55

and it's good that people are holding their feet

21:57

to the fire. But also as somebody who's This

22:00

is very much in the Apple ecosystem. I

22:02

love their products. They're just so easy to

22:04

use. And I love that their gaming team

22:06

has been really pushing not

22:08

only gaming on iPhone through Arcade

22:11

and other storefronts, but also on Mac

22:14

as well. And saying, hey, don't forget, you can play

22:16

video games on your Mac. And they're like, yeah, Macs

22:18

are actually very, very powerful, more powerful than a lot

22:20

of PCs. So what's up with the camera button? I

22:23

was trying to understand what's happening. Is it a separate

22:25

button on the phone now? Yes,

22:27

so it was interesting. There were several

22:29

tech site stories that I read that

22:32

made sort of a joke about how

22:35

Apple made a big show of taking

22:37

buttons and ports away on their devices

22:39

and now we're adding them back in.

22:41

Yes. After people around the

22:44

world are like, hey, we need more buttons

22:46

actually. So. It's

22:48

true. We can't do everything on the glass. And so

22:50

I appreciate that they added back in, but the button

22:52

on the side is basically, so like if you're holding

22:54

your phone up in front of you to like do

22:56

a selfie or to take a photo of you and

22:59

a friend or whatever, there's a

23:01

second button below the

23:03

current action button. So

23:05

this is my phone, if you're watching on

23:07

YouTube, there was an action button here, which they

23:09

added in the iPhone 15. And

23:12

now where the SIM slot is, so

23:14

that's in the middle, there's a second

23:16

button. So when you're holding your

23:18

phone up to like take a picture, you

23:20

can literally just click. Oh, that's nice. And

23:23

it opens your camera. And I was

23:25

watching I Justine, cause she always

23:27

does the best Apple coverage cause she's one

23:29

of the goat Apple creators and she's OG. And

23:32

she's just a lovely person. Everybody go watch

23:34

I Justine, she's great. You could actually like use

23:36

your finger to like slide back and forth

23:38

to zoom in and out. Oh. Instead

23:40

of using your fingers on the glass. Okay, see that's brilliant.

23:43

Yes. And I'm like, that's what I

23:45

want. I want that thing. I do want that thing too.

23:47

It's such a pain in the ass right now. Cause with

23:49

my phone, it's like, yeah, you can either click the little

23:51

like camera button from the lock screen or you just swipe

23:53

up and then people try to take pictures on your phone

23:55

and they just touch everything and it gets weird. You

23:58

know, it's a... I

24:00

don't see that going away. I

24:02

think people will still be able to get to

24:05

your phone or your camera from the lock screen.

24:07

I mean, that's fine. Just delete all the weird

24:09

selfies, I guess, but being able to have your

24:11

phone open, like if you have your phone open,

24:13

being able to just hit the button

24:15

and go right into camera mode is

24:17

great because I think they understand that

24:19

people are using their phones as cameras as

24:22

one of the primary functions of your

24:24

mobile device. Obviously texting, calling are incredibly

24:26

important apps, but it's our camera in

24:28

our pocket. I mean, we're documenting life and

24:31

doing FaceTimes and all kinds of

24:33

stuff with cameras. So I think

24:35

it's a really smart upgrade. Is

24:37

it worth me trading in my

24:39

iPhone 15 Pro? Probably

24:42

not. Yeah. Because it was

24:44

expensive. Yeah, I think maybe I could upgrade.

24:48

I don't know. I have a 13. It's been a

24:50

hot minute since I've upgraded. I think

24:52

you should upgrade, especially since the front

24:54

facing camera improvements over the last two

24:57

iPhones have been markedly

24:59

better. Really? Is that my problem?

25:01

Because I feel like when I take front facing, I'm like,

25:03

whoa, jump scare. What's going on here? Yes,

25:05

it is. And I don't want to be like,

25:08

yes, it's your problem, but there's, I think

25:10

we have this misconception that the

25:12

selfie camera is much nicer than

25:14

it is, but they again did some really

25:17

big improvements in the last two generations. So

25:19

if you also have been wondering why your

25:21

photos don't look as good, you

25:24

might just have smudge on your lens. You

25:26

should just wipe that off. But then try

25:28

again if the fill looks bad. Maybe it's

25:31

time to upgrade. Wipe

25:33

off the smudge. That's been my problem this whole

25:35

time. If taking pictures is important to you, of

25:38

course. I gotta send

25:40

you nudes. Which as parents, that's what we do all the

25:42

time. We went in two completely. They can photos all day

25:44

long. Two completely different directions. You and I, I was about

25:46

to say, I gotta send you nudes after the show wraps

25:48

up and you were like, oh, as parents. You know.

25:51

Girl, yes, our brains were in different places.

25:54

But I like where yours was at. All right, so that was

25:57

a little bit longer of a headline that I intended it to

25:59

be, but. wanted to mention it

26:01

and also very excited about Bellatro coming

26:03

to Apple Arcade in two weeks. Can't

26:06

wait, can't wait. I'm gonna pin this

26:08

next headline and go to the one

26:10

after it and I'll come back. So

26:12

I saw this on Twitter. Xbox

26:15

is reintroducing friend requests. Now you might

26:17

be thinking to yourself, hey Andrea did

26:19

friend requests actually go away? And I'd

26:21

be like yes, yes they did

26:23

and they were replaced with this community feature

26:25

that I don't want to be like was

26:28

terrible but it was terrible. If you're like

26:30

me and then you probably have been ignoring

26:32

your friends list on Xbox for quite some

26:34

time because its functionality has been borked

26:36

to say the least. But good news, Xbox

26:38

posted on the app formerly known as Twitter

26:40

and said you will be able to send,

26:42

accept or delete friend requests

26:45

in addition to following or being followed by

26:47

others. We are testing with Xbox insiders now

26:49

and look forward to sharing more later this

26:51

year on a full rollout. Also your existing

26:53

mutual friends will update automatically with this change

26:56

once we roll it out and you'll stay

26:58

friends with people who had also added you

27:00

as a friend previously and

27:02

continue following anyone who hadn't.

27:04

Well this is absolutely, I am

27:07

one of those people who was like, huh they went

27:09

away? I don't even know that. I have like five

27:11

friends on Xbox. No that's not true, that is absolutely

27:13

the complete opposite of what's true. I have like five

27:15

people I know as friends.

27:17

You, Jason, some other people, Steinmürs,

27:19

on their Rias, on their, everybody

27:22

else are just randos that I had

27:24

added throughout the years back when I

27:26

thought I would. Or they're randos who've

27:28

added you because they had that as

27:31

a community feature that you

27:33

could add people just by knowing their

27:35

gamertag and there was like no way

27:37

to prevent that with the way that

27:39

they ran their community feature. So

27:42

if you go to your

27:44

separate friend's stuff, not your close

27:47

friends, but the other tab it's

27:49

like because I have a public-facing

27:51

profile, there's literally like thousands of people

27:53

in there who I have no idea who they are

27:55

and I've never met them before. Oh okay well that

27:57

explains a lot then. Okay great. See,

28:00

I don't play any games with people online really, so

28:02

I don't really know. I just exist and I'm just

28:04

happy to be alive. And as long as I wanna

28:06

play Space Marines II with Jason, I wanna be able

28:08

to do that. But that explains why I don't know

28:10

all these people and all the weird messages and shit

28:12

I get. Oh, okay, fair. I'm glad

28:14

that's going away. Good. It might be

28:17

worth even just like, you know, I don't

28:19

wanna be like nuke the whole friends list

28:21

from orbit and start over, but maybe. Oh,

28:23

absolutely going to. Cause that was frustrating.

28:25

I thought it was my bad. See, I was

28:27

incorrectly, Xbox, you need to pay for my therapy.

28:29

I was incorrectly blaming myself for this position I

28:31

put myself in. I was like, oh, look what

28:33

I did. Turns out, nope, wasn't me. I'm talking

28:35

to you, Jeff. I mean, it's very possible that,

28:38

you know, in your 360 era

28:40

that you added a bunch of people that

28:42

you used to play with. But then now you're

28:45

like, hey, I don't even remember who this person

28:47

is. Like what game did we play together? I

28:49

think we all have people like that in our

28:51

friends list that were like, I think I added

28:53

you after playing some random Rainbow Six sessions sometime.

28:56

And like pre what's

28:58

good, people that I used to like

29:00

run like vanilla destiny with, things

29:03

like that, that it's like, well, maybe it's

29:05

time to say goodbye. It's

29:07

time to say goodbye. Also,

29:09

Destiny 2 Roadmap has been

29:12

revealed to celebrate the 10

29:14

year anniversary of Destiny. Speaking

29:16

of vanilla destiny. But

29:19

sadly it was just after

29:21

their player base hit an

29:23

all time low following the

29:25

final shape expansion. So

29:27

this has been such

29:29

an interesting story to kind of watch

29:31

unfold. Because those numbers

29:34

were reported before they

29:36

announced the roadmap. And I think the

29:39

folks who are left at Bungie clearly understood like,

29:41

hey, we got to get out

29:43

in front of what's happening and remind the

29:45

community that we still have content coming that

29:47

we're not abandoning the game fully, but

29:50

that, you know, we are doing

29:52

things a little bit differently from

29:54

here on out. So what they're

29:56

calling these new annual expansions and

29:58

episodes are medium-sized. expansions

30:01

with four free updates

30:03

per year. Now I'm

30:05

not gonna go into all of the details because I know

30:07

there are plenty of people listening to the show that don't

30:10

actually play Destiny, but it sounds

30:12

like the next actual expansion that's gonna

30:14

be of this medium size is coming

30:16

next summer, 2025. Okay,

30:19

so obviously our shows are winding

30:21

down. We followed you across your

30:23

Destiny journey for a very long

30:25

time. Are you excited for the

30:27

future of Destiny? Are you worried about the future

30:29

of Destiny? Where are you at right now? I'm

30:32

definitely worried about the future of Destiny because

30:34

it feels like a lot of the community

30:36

members that I know that play Destiny still

30:38

really just want Destiny 3. They

30:41

don't want Destiny 2, the live

30:43

service game. Live service

30:45

games are difficult to manage long

30:47

term for a variety of reasons,

30:49

staffing, server cost, keeping the community

30:51

engaged, trying to split serving hardcore

30:53

players and casual players who wanna

30:55

come back. There's a lot of

30:57

challenges to keeping a live service

30:59

game going for 10 plus years,

31:01

which is why we have so

31:03

few of them that are still

31:05

successful, right? And I

31:08

as a Destiny player would love to see them

31:10

just do something a little different. I

31:12

obviously don't want to fully walk away from Destiny 2

31:14

yet, because quite frankly, there's a lot of stuff from

31:16

the last year or two that I haven't played that

31:18

I'd love to spend more time with. But

31:20

I also think it's okay for them to take a

31:22

break for a long while and just

31:25

say, listen, we're working on something new and

31:27

fresh and obviously Bungie's working on Marathon, so

31:29

we know that that's in the works. And

31:33

other projects that they

31:35

had an R&D and what that's gonna look like we

31:37

don't quite know yet. But I

31:39

think there's nothing wrong with them saying, hey, we love

31:42

the community, but we think in

31:44

order for us to envision what's

31:46

best for the game, the developers and

31:48

the community, we need to just stop

31:50

making content fully for a while, instead

31:52

of continuing to kind of trickle along.

31:55

Well, I mean, I'm gonna miss hearing about your takes, you

31:57

know, so I gotta get you talking about it while I

31:59

can. Someday I'll get back to

32:01

playing it when I'm out of my little

32:03

child era that I am still very much

32:06

in. Yep! Feel you on that baby. Alright,

32:08

Brett. Take headlines home. Let's freakin' do it.

32:10

What would it be without a Yakuza story?

32:12

You know what I'm saying? So this one

32:15

comes... I know what you're saying. Thank you,

32:17

baby. This one comes from Video Game Chronicle.

32:20

Sega's mobile game Yakuza Wars appears to

32:22

have been revealed early. So a mobile

32:24

game based on the Yakuza Like a

32:26

Dragon series appears to have been revealed

32:28

early via a Facebook page called Yakuza

32:31

Wars that has been spotted as reported

32:33

by ex-user Noble. The page, which appears

32:35

to be aimed at Chinese players, includes

32:37

a brief description of the game along

32:39

with some new artwork quotes. And this

32:42

was translated. Sega's first officially licensed Like

32:44

a Dragon mobile game is a brand

32:46

new classic gangster themed masterpiece for mobile

32:48

phones creating innovative strategic war gameplay. Here

32:50

you can fight side by side with

32:53

classic characters such as Kyurekazuma, Kasugo Ichiban,

32:55

Maja Magoro, and write your own legendary

32:57

story in the Yakuza overworld. And mobile

32:59

ads in a trailer for the game

33:01

have been spotted, but they currently don't

33:04

show any actual gameplay and just show

33:06

character art. So let's go back

33:08

to the beginning of August, friends, when this thing was trademarked.

33:10

And I think I went on like a 15-minute rant about

33:12

all of the different things this could be, because that's just

33:14

what I do. But I think at the end of that

33:17

conversation, we all kind of came to the conclusion that this

33:19

sounds like it's going to be a mobile title based off

33:21

of the clan creator mini game that you can find in

33:23

Kiwami and in Six. I'm not sure if it's in any

33:25

other games. I can't remember off the top of my head.

33:28

And that's exactly what it looks like this is going to

33:31

be. It's kind of like an RTS game. You have

33:33

different classes of enemies and you just basically have to

33:35

just beat the shit out of everybody. And then you

33:37

win and you move on. Now what that's going to

33:39

look like in a mobile iteration, who could say, but

33:41

I'm sure we'll find out. What's interesting

33:43

though is that the Facebook page is still up.

33:45

It's like it's still a thing and the pictures

33:47

are still there. So a lot of folks were

33:50

thinking, well, maybe this is fake.

33:52

Maybe these photos look a little AI generated. Maybe this

33:54

is just either way. Like, don't you think Andrea that

33:56

they would have done something with this page by now?

33:58

It's been a long time. several days. But

34:01

it's still a thing. You

34:03

think they would unpublish it? But unless this

34:06

is all by design. Unless it's all by

34:08

design. In which case, this is the wimpiest

34:10

ass erection I've ever experienced in my life.

34:13

You know, like, I mean, here's the thing

34:15

too, is I think this looks fun. Maybe

34:18

this is what will get me to buy

34:20

a new iPhone, right? Looking at my husband,

34:22

Maja Maguro, on it. Folks

34:24

do have their panties twisted though in

34:26

a very uncomfortable bundle. It's

34:28

splitting them in 18 different directions. They're so

34:30

upset about it. Because I think they are

34:32

worried that this is going to be that

34:35

new announcement that we're getting in the

34:38

coming weeks. So we are getting an RGG

34:40

summit on 9 20 September

34:42

20th. If you're on the West Coast like me,

34:44

that's gonna be at 3am friends. Get your sleeping

34:46

bag ready. We're having a sleepover. We're crimping our

34:49

hair. We're painting our nails. It's gonna be fantastic.

34:51

And then also we know at TGS there's going

34:53

to be something else there. That's September 26th through

34:55

September 29th. If I had to read between the

34:57

lines, unless this has been officially confirmed, I believe

35:00

they're going to announce their new slate of titles,

35:02

whatever thing that is new at the RGG

35:04

summit. And then we're probably gonna get a

35:06

deeper dive at Tokyo Game Show. This mobile

35:08

game is not that. Calm the fuck down.

35:10

Put your pitchforks away and go touch grass.

35:12

Are people still saying that? I don't know.

35:14

I'm just trying to sound cool, but just

35:16

relax and calm down. You're going to be

35:18

fine. I think this looks great. If we

35:20

can bring Yakuza to more people in any

35:22

way, shape or form, why not? If it

35:24

can generate additional revenue for RGG, why

35:27

not? I don't know why I was so mad. You

35:30

don't have to play it. You're still gonna

35:32

be getting your judgments. You're still being getting

35:34

your hot guiding games and everything else. So

35:36

just, just, yes. You know, it's like reset

35:39

on the show last week, but her idea

35:41

for a t-shirt that is play

35:43

the game or don't. And then I

35:45

added in parentheses and shut up about

35:48

it. Yes. It's like, hey, you can play the

35:50

game or you don't have to play the game. Good

35:53

news. It's definitely optional. And

35:56

like you mentioned, the Yakuza

35:58

library of games is. is

36:00

vast. There is a lot

36:02

of mainline games to play and because they're

36:04

having this summit there's no

36:06

way they're not announcing another mainline

36:08

PC and console game. Why

36:11

would they hold a giant summit to talk

36:13

about a mobile title? They would not. But

36:15

there are literally billions with a B as

36:17

in boy oh boy that's

36:20

a lot of people playing video games

36:22

on their mobile devices so of course they

36:25

want to make a Yakuza game for mobile.

36:27

Yeah and that's great I think this is

36:29

a great fit. Why are they outraged? It's

36:31

been like this now for over a decade.

36:33

I don't know because people don't know how

36:35

game development works. I think they assume that

36:37

all the resources are going into this that

36:40

means we can't get something else and this

36:42

is why anyway I'm gonna stop. I'm excited

36:44

I hope this is it. Obviously nothing has

36:46

been confirmed but I'm assuming it will be

36:48

confirmed next... is that next week? Is that

36:50

yeah that's next Friday. Yeah let's

36:52

go let's fucking go. I think this sounds

36:54

fun. Stop being a hater bitches. Yeah.

36:56

And also we're getting the live-action series at the end

36:58

of October. So we're getting plenty of good things. Take

37:01

it in soak it in just be excited. You know

37:03

how excited we would be for a new Yakuza game

37:05

how many years ago? You know what I mean? Before

37:07

we weren't getting shit over here before it was super

37:09

popular in North America. Now y'all greedy. You've gotten too

37:11

much of a good thing and now you expect the

37:14

good thing all the time. You can still get the

37:16

good thing you can also get another thing that maybe

37:18

isn't as good but it's still good in some way.

37:21

Spoiled kids. Again it's okay if it's not

37:23

for you. Play the game or don't. Or

37:25

don't play the game. I'm so excited though. I mean

37:27

I feel like again like we're winding down and I

37:29

know this and I've said it many times but

37:32

we're winding down at a time in this industry where I

37:34

get Dragon Age, I

37:36

get Zelda, I get Yakuza,

37:38

I get Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. You know

37:40

I mean the only thing I miss in

37:42

is Resident Evil. I have

37:44

a feeling we're gonna get an announcement

37:47

about something Resident Evil. That's what I was gonna

37:49

say we got Tokyo Game Show baby and if

37:51

I get... Tokyo Game Show yeah or not Tokyo

37:53

Game Show game awards. Game awards yeah one or

37:55

the other but if we get something at Tokyo

37:57

Game Show I'm going to be truly living. my

38:00

best lives like then I guess that is after we

38:02

wind down. Nah, kinda. My point is, is like I

38:04

feel like the universe is giving me a big hug,

38:07

baby, and they're saying like, it's okay, girl, we got

38:09

you. Here's all your hot, fuckable video game protagonists. All

38:12

Britney ever needs in life. On that note,

38:14

we're gonna take our last break of the

38:16

show when we come back. We're gonna talk

38:19

about going medieval, baby. See

38:21

you in a minute. It's

38:26

that time of the show when we talk about

38:28

what we've been playing and Britney, when we

38:31

were at PAX, there was a

38:33

lot of video games there, but because we

38:35

had such a jam-packed episode last week, we

38:37

couldn't fit everything in, but

38:39

you got your hands on with one

38:41

of your upcoming most anticipated

38:44

games, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Ah,

38:46

yes, I sure did. I was so stoked to see

38:48

this email come in my inbox. Yeah,

38:50

so this is the sequel to Kingdom Come

38:53

Deliverance, which came out in 2018, published and

38:55

developed by Warhorse, and I got

38:57

to play. It was actually also just recently delayed to

38:59

February 11th, 2025, but

39:01

I did get to play for about 45 minutes at PAX, and

39:04

if anyone knows anything about this game,

39:07

it is massive sprawling medieval RPG, very

39:09

realistic. I don't wanna call it an

39:11

immersive sim because I feel like that doesn't accurately

39:13

describe it, but at the same time, there are a

39:15

lot of elements that go along with that. For example,

39:17

the first game you had to have Henry, the main

39:19

protagonist, you could teach him to read, and that took

39:21

a long time. You could teach him how to do

39:24

everything and anything, hunting, and there is a whole

39:26

bunch of stuff you could do, completely optional as

39:28

well. So anyway, my point being is

39:30

like, this is the sort of game that you can't really spend

39:33

45 minutes with and walk away being like, I

39:35

know everything about this, because you just can't. But

39:38

three weeks ago, they did have a bunch of

39:40

press come out to Prague where they did a

39:42

really cool event, and those folks got to play

39:44

about three hours of the game. So I'm gonna

39:46

talk about what I got to see in the

39:48

little 45 minutes that I had, and then I'm

39:50

gonna combine some of the stuff that I've read

39:52

in previews, because yeah, they got a lot more

39:55

than I did. But anyway, immediately

39:57

upon booting up Kingdom Come Deliverance 2,

40:00

immediately notice this game just looks really really

40:02

pretty. The first one obviously a much smaller

40:04

team at the time, smaller budget, and

40:06

you can just really tell that they have a

40:08

lot more resources at their disposal to make this

40:10

game look great, it sound great, the animation, the

40:13

facial animations, the graphics, the color palette, even simple

40:15

things as washing your face in a trough which

40:17

I know sounds really weird but if you don't

40:19

you get really stinky if you don't go to

40:22

the bathhouse. If you don't wash yourself people will

40:24

like judge you and like oh you smell like

40:26

shit and you're like yeah I know I'm sorry.

40:28

So what you'd have to do is

40:30

you'd have to go wash your face in a trough

40:32

as you're walking around and the game would literally just

40:34

like fade to black because there's no animation for it

40:36

but in this time when you wash your face there's

40:38

a whole ass animation and you can see the water

40:41

and I know that sounds like the simplest little thing

40:43

that as someone who loves this team and loves this

40:45

game so much and has won nothing but to see

40:47

it succeed it was almost emotional for

40:49

me just to you know you you want to

40:51

see the games that you love and the teams

40:53

you love do well and have the resources that

40:56

they need to create the game of their dreams right it's

40:58

kind of like with layering and Baldur's Gate 3 it's the

41:00

same sort of like love and affection I have in there.

41:03

So anyway just walking around was just stunning

41:05

in itself and I did ask a PR

41:07

manager Tobias I was like can I just

41:09

wander and take it all in and do

41:11

everything and he was like you probably shouldn't

41:13

you should probably actually play the game and

41:15

see the mission that we have set aside

41:17

for you and I said fine maybe I

41:19

will. As you're walking around I was in

41:21

Kootenburg that there's so many more NPCs this

41:23

time around and they fill up the streets

41:25

and they all look so vastly different and again

41:27

it is such a big deal because it's just like

41:29

ah this is what I always envisioned that the game

41:31

would ultimately look like. So my mission

41:33

was I had to sneak into

41:35

a building and I had to steal a sword

41:38

and I had to hang the sword outside of

41:40

the building for reasons and that was my whole

41:42

mission sneak into this this area you know

41:45

and there's fences around it's guarded there's locked

41:47

doors there's guards roaming around and I mean

41:49

listen like I'm really bad at stealth and

41:51

sneaking but somehow I'm relatively good at it

41:53

in this game. So I managed

41:56

I mean I've played this game so I know it's a nuances

41:58

and so one of the things you should knows when you're

42:00

trying to sneak into any building, you want to do

42:02

it at nighttime. Because, duh, people are freaking sleeping unless

42:04

they're like me and what is sleep. But

42:07

you want to go in because you have an easier

42:09

chance at going in undetected, finding what you need undetected.

42:11

And you also know you want to do it as

42:13

naked as possible, because otherwise your armor is going to

42:15

make lots of sounds. So I stripped my Henry down

42:17

to nothing but his little skivvies. And then I realized

42:20

I really didn't need to do that because I actually

42:22

had really quiet clothing on, but I digress. And

42:24

then I snuck in, I lock picked the

42:26

door, I got the sword, I hung it

42:28

outside. And the next morning, everyone's panties were in

42:31

a bundle and there was a bigger fuffle. I did my

42:33

job good for me. So what

42:35

that meant is I then had to have a

42:37

duel. And because I went in

42:39

undetected, the duel was going to be a fair

42:41

duel, meaning that me and my opponents were going

42:44

to have the same amount of armor and the

42:46

same advantages and disadvantages. However, if

42:48

you sneak in and you get caught, you

42:50

are going to have a disadvantage because they're going

42:52

to say, haha, you suck, you got caught. Now

42:55

your enemies get to wear armor and you're going

42:57

to have a much more difficult time. This is

42:59

a game heavily based off of choice and consequence

43:01

and to the point where they

43:04

made saving very difficult in the first game

43:06

were horse did because they wanted to feel

43:08

like there was a lot at stake with

43:10

your decisions. So save scumming honestly wasn't really

43:12

an option. And so they've

43:14

built this these intertwining paths that were no

43:16

matter what happens, you're going to get to

43:18

something even if you fuck up, even if

43:20

you mess up. The saving thing was a really

43:23

big issue of mine in the first game because I am someone

43:25

who knows I probably only have time to play a game once.

43:27

And if I play it once, I want to make sure to

43:29

have the play through that I want, even if that means like

43:31

I have to redo a section over again. I

43:33

did talk to them a little bit about this this

43:35

time around, and it's supposed to be not as cumbersome,

43:38

a little bit more accessible, but they do want you

43:40

to have some skin in the teeth. So again, I

43:42

do not expect there's going to be a save

43:44

scum option like I kind of personally hope

43:46

for. But it's all good.

43:48

And so I was reading Wesley LeBlanc's

43:51

preview event from when he went to Prague

43:53

and he had to do the same mission I

43:55

did. And so his story, the way

43:57

his mission went down was a little different. He actually got

44:00

arrested three times while he was playing this

44:02

game which can happen and I was

44:04

like how the hell did that happen so I'm reading

44:06

the first mistake he made and this just goes to

44:08

show you how differently your gameplay can vary he went

44:10

to go lockpick a door lockpicking is loud because we're

44:12

in like the 1500s and shit like

44:14

you know it ain't quiet and so he in the

44:16

daytime was just like standing there trying to lockpick a

44:18

guard saw him like what the hell are you doing

44:21

instantly go to jail he's like okay that

44:23

sucks so he spends his time in jail he comes

44:25

back out and he's like alright I'm gonna go at

44:27

nighttime where no one can see me and hopefully people

44:29

will be in bed fun thing if you don't have

44:31

a torch at night and you're not wearing you're not

44:33

carrying one around the guards are gonna think you're suspicious

44:35

as hell so the guard saw him walking around in

44:37

the dark with no torch like hey you're suspicious ass

44:39

person what are you doing threw him in jail so

44:41

then he got put in jail again so a third

44:43

time he's like I'm gonna freakin try to get the

44:46

sword and do this thing so he block

44:48

picks the door he gets in there he's crouched

44:50

and he's chilling like waiting for this guard to

44:52

pass so he can try to get this and

44:54

he said I had noticed earlier while playing

44:56

that people had commented on how stinky

44:58

he was didn't really quite understand that

45:00

baths are important in this game washing

45:02

your face is important in this game

45:05

the guard literally smelled him turned around

45:07

found him through his action jail the

45:09

third time so it's just funny to

45:11

read people's different experiences and how much the game can

45:13

adapt to your play style or what you know and

45:15

you don't know and like listen it's a lesson we've

45:17

all had to learn the hard way so

45:20

I just thought that that showering is important that

45:22

people will remember what you smell absolutely and they

45:24

will treat you differently in this game fun fact

45:26

they absolutely will some other things I

45:29

learned that was interesting from reading other previews is

45:31

that something is gonna happen to Henry so

45:33

he's not going to be as powerful as

45:35

he was at the end of Kingdom Come

45:37

Deliverance 1 which makes sense to me because

45:39

you can't really start a game off like

45:41

being all-powerful because then where's the RPG progression

45:43

in that from what I've read

45:45

it's a semi-natural situation narrative thing that happens

45:47

where it makes it a little bit more

45:50

believable but you won't have to teach him

45:52

certain things like how to read again which

45:54

was quite the adventure and in the first

45:56

one the other thing let's see is that

45:58

War horse is very aware I

48:00

can't tell you shit, but I got to play Dragon

48:02

Age the Vailguard. And yeah, amen

48:04

to everything you just said, baby. I'll

48:06

be able to talk about it next

48:09

week. And I have lots, lots to

48:11

say. I mean, who didn't see that coming?

48:13

Right? I bet you didn't see that coming, Andrew. I bet

48:15

you thought I would just hop on here and say I

48:17

played the game. Insert reaction here,

48:19

and that would be it. Oh, no.

48:22

I literally have eight pages of notes.

48:25

I am not surprised

48:27

whatsoever. I saw the photos

48:29

of you at the event and several

48:31

other people also posting photos that

48:33

they were at the event. So we're excited

48:36

that Danny Peña is joining us

48:38

one final time here on What's Good Games

48:40

next week to talk about Dragon Age the

48:43

Vailguard, as you like to say. I like

48:45

what you say, though. And we will talk

48:47

to him about that when you guys are

48:49

allowed to. Yes. And then,

48:51

you know, we'll have to just follow

48:53

you on social media for your thoughts

48:55

when the game actually comes out. Yeah.

48:57

Too real. It's getting too real. Stuff

48:59

it. Getting real, Brit. It's getting real.

49:01

Now, this is where I would like

49:03

to insert. This is what I have

49:06

been playing because I'm supposed to be

49:08

playing Star Wars Outlaws, which just did

49:10

a brand new patch, which I'm very

49:12

glad that I have waited to

49:14

really dive into my play through. I

49:16

also am supposed to be playing

49:18

Astro Bot, which is by all accounts.

49:20

The front runner now for multiple people's

49:23

go to. Is it going to be game of the year

49:25

or not? But it's just been a very

49:27

hectic couple of weeks, and I was once again out

49:29

of town. So the only thing

49:31

that I've been playing is I've been

49:34

playing my garden joy game on my

49:36

phone. Yes. Good for you. Still in it to win

49:38

it. And I also

49:40

picked Grindstone Backup from Copy Games, which

49:42

is a mobile game that I really

49:45

love. It's a puzzle based

49:48

game with some really fun elements. And it's one of

49:50

my favorite games to play because you don't need to

49:52

be connected to the internet to play it. The best.

49:55

The best. Yes. So

49:57

if you've never played Grindstone or checked it

49:59

out, that was a recommendation. I got I

50:01

think multiple years ago at this point from

50:03

Jana Garcia. So yeah when she was on

50:06

our show, right? It's not when she yeah,

50:08

she recommended that. Yeah, it's still good They've

50:10

put out a bunch of updates and fun

50:12

things you can play so I

50:14

highly recommend I think if you've never checked

50:16

it out, I think grindstone. I think I

50:18

think sorry. I'm ordering a sandwich Some reels

50:21

like I haven't eaten today. Hello,

50:23

Dordash. You are my friend. I would say sponsors, but lol

50:25

No, I mean I think this is like a good

50:28

reminder of how busy life is and how busy life

50:30

has become You know don't feel bad

50:32

about not having played stuff. You are busy. You're

50:34

doing a lot of things You have a child

50:36

I have a child three as a child and

50:38

it just kind of you know Dripes home that

50:40

although wrapping up the show is a very hard

50:43

tough decision We know in our hearts that it's

50:45

the right decision because life is getting busy So

50:48

busy it sure is it

50:50

sure is yeah, Brittany We're not gonna

50:52

end this episode Before we

50:54

remind people that while life is busy if

50:57

you live in the United States of America.

50:59

Oh fuck Yeah, let's go. We implore you

51:01

to make time to register

51:05

to vote We have

51:07

a very important election coming up in just

51:09

a couple of months the debate

51:11

was last night Oh a bunch

51:13

of things happened at that debate We're

51:15

not going to dive into here though I

51:17

think everybody who is listening at this point

51:19

of the show who is an end of

51:21

the episode homie Knows that oh my god

51:24

Y'all know that we're Kamala stands and

51:26

it's important for you to please vote

51:28

Vote vote vote vote vote vote Vote

51:31

vote vote vote In

51:33

this election, please in this

51:35

election, please in this election,

51:37

please in this election I had

51:39

to play the votes on everybody Please

51:41

vote vote vote

51:44

vote vote vote

51:46

vote vote vote vote

51:49

And now it's gonna start over because we didn't hit

51:51

the right front Please vote it's good for you.

51:53

It's good for me. It's good for the future of

51:55

our economy and the country