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Andy: Welcome to another wild side gaming podcast. This is our post games come special So we were sat here last week talking before games con had just started We had rumors and some predictions things we wanted to see things. We thought Xbox might be hiding Inevitably a fair amount of utter nonsense. The games come has now happened We had some some pretty cool games. I think so. The question is pretty simple guys was games come actually any good
Frank: Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool. Can't can't complain. I thought this year came up with some good surprises. So yeah. On a whole, very good.
James: I was pleasantly yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by this year's Gamescom. I wasn't really expecting there to be much of anything that really interested me, especially nothing that we hadn't already seen something of. you know, there were obviously some games we spoke about in the bonus episode we did pre-Gamescom where we said we wanted to see more of certain games. But it actually turned out that there were quite a few games that I didn't know about that really took my interest.
Andy: Yeah, I think there was a pleasant amount of surprises, I would say. We were talking about rumors of Xbox having something secret tucked away, like a big surprise or a sequel nobody expected. And I guess this is the point where we'd get to see whether our insightful industry, now got us anywhere close to it, or whether we were just three blokes guessing. Unfortunately...
James: Yeah, we were definit yeah, we were definitely three blokes. No, it was rumors, you know. It was rumors that Microsoft were gonna announce
Andy: We were just, yeah.
Frank: I we weren't guessing. It I think it just yeah, there was there was something not wrong. Yeah, yeah, I don't think.
James: something. They were never they were never confirmed that it was gonna happen at Gamescom. Maybe something is still in the works, but you know, what we thought we might see, it never happened. And that's okay.
Andy: Yeah, I don't think Gamescom gave us kind of one singular, my god moment, but I don't think that means it was weak by any stretch. There was quite a few games where I'm definitely more interested in them now than I was before Gamescom.
James: Yeah, yeah, I
Frank: Yeah.
James: t I agree. There w there's there's some games that we already knew about that I saw a bit more of that sort of reassured me that maybe I'm right to be interested in them. There was a couple of games that we pretty much knew everything about anyway, but we just got to see a bit more footage from those games, which is always nice. And then there were a couple of games that I had no idea were coming. And yeah, a couple of those really like took me by surprise and I'm pretty interested in.
Andy: Yeah, absolutely. mean, there's a couple that we'll go over now to keep Frankie happy. So there's a couple, I think they're the only two that he's got any interest in the rest of it. won't the rest of it. He won't care about the topic. so Frankie.
Frank: Yeah, yeah. I actually forgot about one more. I might Yeah,
James: Yeah, and you won't care about
Frank: well if especially
James: that topic.
Frank: if you're talking about the rest of the stuff, which is your stuff, yeah, that'd be it.
Andy: I mean, the Rainbow Six tactics. I kind of said about it earlier before the podcast, but it does feel a little bit suspiciously like somebody at Ubisoft has looked at Rainbow Six and gone, how do we get Frankie interested in this then?
Frank: And yes, this one's for Frankie. I had a chat with the boys.
James: I mean it that game looks like it was tailor made for Frankie, right? Although to be fair
Andy: Yeah, it really does.
James: to be fair, I thought it looked pretty good.
Frank: Yeah, I thought I I think the way the design is to it all, I was pretty impressed with everything with it. So yeah, yeah.
James: I mean, it looked a bit like XCOM, right? And XCOM is probably
Andy: It did.
James: like, I would say up there with the gold standard of that sort of tactical game. And if they can sort of transfer that gameplay style into the Rainbow Six world, I can't see it being bad, you know, I think Yeah, I I I'm
Andy: I mean, as much as it, I hate to say it, I'm not a fan of those types of games. much prefer first person shooter, but Rainbow Six has always been kind of tactical at its core. It's just normally delivered through an FPS. So the idea of, guess, slowing that down and making every decision very deliberate, I can see the logic.
James: Also, I think FPSs these days, people have come to susp like expect that you can run on walls and leap all over the place, which, you know, the Rainbow Six
Frank: Ha ha.
James: games really weren't that. So slowing it down, making it a tactics game and you know, putting the tactical side of it back into Rainbow. Yeah, I I I think it's something I would definitely play too. Plus I think the the whole system where you can like breach walls in order to like clear rooms and stuff looked really cool, yeah.
Frank: and the buildings and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We we we we got to see yeah so they've just bought that over to yeah to that so that's cool yeah yeah yeah
Andy: I mean, you can do that in the first person rainbow. Yeah.
James: In Siege. Yeah, but Siege is awful.
Andy: you
Frank: no we got to see some good levels it depends what the content is well after depends how they you know what they build build on it so a bit more there
Andy: That's definitely a wait and see, but I won't be waiting or seeing with that one. I'll leave that to you guys. yeah.
Frank: Yeah, this is for me to review and do, yeah. This
James: Of course we didn't see
Frank: is
James: anything from any new football manager games, so Frankie was devastated. Yeah. He was he was sobbing.
Frank: so disappoint Ha no
Andy: Frankie is very disappointed though. Although, although because one strategy game wasn't enough to make Frankie happy, there was roller coaster tycoon.
Frank:
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I know, it's even better.
Andy: I mean, this one is probably less surprising that Frankie's up for it, but you know, I think.
Frank: Yeah, again I I even played originals now on on the Switch too. I I I I still yeah, there's still games I play to this day. So to have a new roller coaster tycoon be awesome. And
Andy: I did used to love theme park.
Frank: yeah, see that yeah, yeah. It was
James: Theme Park was always good, yeah.
Frank: always a
Andy: Yeah.
Frank: good And
James: Theme park, theme hospital
Frank: And they've added obviously Lego Skyline as well. So I've technically had all the three there, which is It was I
James: Lego Skyline as well, another one. it was a Gamescom made for you, Frankie.
Andy: Yes, yeah, yeah.
Frank: said I was fine. I don't care don't care about you lot, I was fine.
James: Yeah. Combine that with
Andy: I'm always slightly wary though people who specifically have a thing for a roller coaster tycoon because that game's a little bit different to other roller coaster sims. It's a combination of strategy and human cruelty because you can build a beautiful theme park, can manage your finances and design really efficient layouts, but then you can deliberately build a roller coaster that launches people into a lake.
Frank: Yes, and makes people ill. Yeah. Find that evil you wanna be. Yeah,
James: Yeah, or eternally traps them in an endless loop, yeah. W I think we all know what sort of what sort of theme park builder Frankie's gonna be in that one, you know?
Andy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
James: I've contacted HR once again. Who whoever whoever that is. Yeah. The mysterious HR.
Andy: Yeah, I think we need to make HR aware of the situation. Yeah.
Frank: yeah, yeah, that's it. Whoever HR is, yeah. They'll get back to us when they're ready.
Andy: mysterious. Another big one and I know I think me and you James was both kind of piqued our interest and and Lee as well. Warlock.
James: Yeah. Came out of nowhere seemingly. I I mean I'd heard
Andy: And you Dungeons
James: the name being banded around and then it wasn't until I saw the gameplay footage from it that I thought, wow, you know, this looks amazing. It it looked incredible, right?
Andy: Yeah, visuals look amazing, animation's amazing. know, D &D is a cool kind of subject anyway. yeah, I think.
James: The spell the spell casting system looked really cool. Like she was doing rituals in real time in order to like cast these spells. It it was it it it looked really, really good. It's it's definitely one that's on my list as one to watch.
Andy: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. mean, that firmly sits in the category of right. I kind of need to know everything about that game and when it's out and
Frank: Yeah, did they announce anything more on that, like release dates or is it just add to your wish list kind of thing?
Andy: No, so Warlock hasn't got a firm date. It's just 2027
James: I mean, as we saw a lot of them were sort of like wishlist now. Although we did get a surprising amount of actual release dates, which which we don't normally do. They're sort of they generally tend to be a bit more wishy washy with things like that, don't they?
Andy: Yeah, I mean one that did have a release date that was Blood of the Dormwalker. That again looked pretty interesting. That's out very soon, isn't it?
James: Well, at the time of recording this, it's out
Frank: Yeah.
James: in like two days.
Andy: Yeah, so it be out by the time people listen to this.
James: Yeah, yeah. Most likely, I think. Or this will come out the day before it's released.
Andy: Yeah, so that's definitely one to watch. I was pretty hyped for Stage Tour. I used to be a massive Guitar Hero fan, had all the guitars and
James: I mean, yeah. Yeah, same.
Andy: had the kit with the drums for that and rock band.
James: I mean I was I was hugely interested in it. Maybe my enthusiasm was dampened a little by the price tag attached to it.
Frank: Yes. Need a small little mortgage.
Andy: yes yeah i think the full kit was about 320 quid wasn't it and just that
James: Yeah. I wonder if the old peripherals will work with it. I've still got some of them.
Frank: I remember we used to I remember
Andy: I don't think so, I don't know.
Frank: we used to have a little band, James. We used to go around another friend of ours, Andy's, I think.
James: Yeah.
Frank: we used to yeah, we used to play with us lot, so yeah, I remember them days. No, yeah, yeah.
James: Yeah, that's
Andy: the benefit of everyone this was not me i was not in their very uncool band okay
James: Uncool band, come on. Our band was the coolest.
Frank: You're in a real band. You're in a real band, mate. We It was brilliant.
Andy: What was the name?
James: I don't think we had one. We we we were too cool for names, yeah. It w we were called let's go around the Andes Gaff and play rock band.
Frank: that call we just didn't need one. We were just yeah, we just we just turn up and that was it.
Andy: They go. They go for a name. Ha ha ha.
Frank: I remember just playing on the drums, that's I remember that quite a bit. Yeah.
James: The drums were cool, yeah.
Andy: Yeah, so I think that's it. It's kind of nostalgic, but also it'd be cool to see kind of what they do with the new age peripherals and go from there. But yeah, price price could be a little bit of a stumbling block for people as you're saying.
Frank: I need to sell a kidney, I think. Yeah.
James: Yeah, yeah. Seconds in that.
Andy: Yeah, I think that the duo just with the game and two guitars was 180, I think, which is still, it's pretty, pretty steep.
James: I mean I'd be happy I'd be happy with sort of like the game on one guitar if you can play it online and other people have the different peripherals, you know.
Andy: Yeah.
James: Yeah, I guess I guess we'll find out. But w yeah, I was just about to say
Frank: Okay. Mm. Yeah.
Andy: We'll find out. Obviously, Fable. Fable was a big one.
James: we saw more of Fable. And
Andy: We did.
James: the more I see a Fable, the more
cautiously optimistic I'm becoming that it's gonna be the game.
Andy: It does look like they pretty it does look like they understand the task, isn't it?
James: the footage we'd already seen, obviously there were some doubts. The newer footage that we've seen It very much felt like Fable. And to me that can only be a good thing. So I I'm still cautious but hopeful.
Andy: What about you, Frankie, on Fable?
Frank: Yeah, no, very excited. I was looking forward to the game when it was coming out anyway. but no, I I think we'll wait and see what lot another team are doing it. We'll what we saw again of it now, it hasn't changed my mind. So yeah, I can't wait for release day and yeah, definitely game will be playing.
Andy: Another thing that kind of pinged on our radar was surprisingly Witcher
Frank: Yeah, and the remaster, full remaster.
Andy: Witcher 3 is obviously... Well, yeah, so Witcher 3 has obviously looked at retirement and decided absolutely not. It's one of those games that's already had an absurdly long life. So when you see more Witcher 3 appearing in 2026, there's two kind of possible reactions. Some people will be like, brilliant, more Witcher or, you know, Geralt, mate, come on, you've earned a sit down.
Frank: Yeah. But then again, if they
James: Ha ha ha.
Frank: can keep doing Skyrim, then which of three's got plenty more in
James: Yeah, I mean yeah. But that was a surprise for me though, because although we knew that there was a new expansion coming,
Andy: Yes.
James: I had no idea that they were doing a full remaster.
Andy: No, and I think this
James: it's n
Andy: kind of sets itself apart. It is a proper remaster.
James: Yeah, and it's not just a graphical o overhaul either. They s they seem to have changed some of the fundamentals of combat and spellcasting and everything like that. They it seems like they've really put a lot of work into it.
Andy: Yeah, which I am very happy about because it's a fantastic game and I loved playing it through, but the combat was always just a little bit janky.
James: You know one for me that that sort of stood out and I I this is one I have to sort of take with like a grain of salt for now because I'm not sure exactly the type of game it is, but it was that Nodus fall from Ho from Hoyo.
Andy: Yeah, the trailer looks intriguing.
James: I mean the the trailer looked from what we've seen from Hoyo Verse before, you know, it was not that anime style that we've come to know from a lot of their games. It was a lot more grounded and sort of high fantasy and sort of realistic in terms of graphics. I'm just kinda hoping it's not gonna just be another gacha game.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, I really hope not. Yeah, I don't think we should put all our eggs in one basket. I mean, there was a few like that. I mean, that 1001 Arabian Lights looked really cool, but what is it?
James: Yeah, that one seems to maybe be like a th a maybe a third person person sort of action game, but I couldn't tell from the trailer whether maybe there was a co-op element to it with the multiple characters they were showing or something like that. But it's definitely you know, I mean they're designed to pique your interest, these trailers, and and and and a lot of them actually manage that.
Frank: It still shows.
Andy: There was quite a lot of the person action games.
James: I just pray that they're not all souls likes. Because, you know, while some souls likes can be good, they've kind of been done to death now, right?
Andy: Yeah. Gamescom overall was kind of... I think it was mainly sort of Xbox's event. They had the biggest show of games there by far. I they didn't really have one massive announcement that swallowed the show but I don't think had a bad Gamescom by any stretch I think. Some of the news that they put out and their line up you know looks pretty strong. Like we just said Fable looked stronger. There was more kind of ecosystem messaging. this to digital stuff is interesting. There was game pass announcement. So I think Xbox did leave games come stronger than it entered. Would you guys agree?
Frank: Yeah, think some of the last year has been literally every event. Xbox has come out even stronger. PlayStation don't attend these anymore. Nintendo's never really around of them either. They got their own bits. So in these events, Xbox is front and center.
James: I mean the general sentiment around it seems to be pretty positive towards Xbox at the moment, but as we know those things can change really quickly depending on what is announced next. obviously we've just
Andy: I E-Day has had a big part in that. There's a lot of, I'd say probably from what I've seen, warranted hype around E-Day.
James: it looks good. It would be on my honourable
Frank: Yeah, very good.
Andy: Yeah.
James: mentions this for sure. It's something that I'll play, but it's not really something that sort of like jumped out at me. Like and wowed me. It's kids of war. They're normally good.
Frank: Yeah, this would be good to see
Andy: Well, think then.
Frank: back going back in the back, you know, back to the to the start. I think they've changed a bit of the mechanics around the movements and everything 'cause they're younger now and not so clunky around. So I think I think the gameplay would be a much better gameplay.
James: It'll definitely be interesting to see the event that kicked it all off, the one that's been talked about in so many Gears of War games, you know. E Day.
Andy: Gears games before,
James: The day that it all happened in the Gears of War universe. So
Andy: Yeah, very cool. Absolutely. Yeah.
James: mean, you know what we're like. We'll we'll play it. We'll play it co op, so
Frank: Do you reckon we'll get a decor though to number five? Or do you reckon they'll just stay with these E days now, make a couple of them?
James: I think it's gonna depend on the success of e day.
Frank: We never find out what happens at the end of five.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, it would depend and then we'll see
which direction they take I guess.
James: It wouldn't surprise me if we did get one, but I guess we'll find out.
Andy: We'll find out. We'll find out.
Frank: And Andy, we've got Metro as well. That came that was a nice little surprise as well for us. So that's called.
Andy: Yes. Yeah, always enjoyed the Metro games. They're very atmospheric. Great to just kind of stick a pair of headphones on and play through. I've always enjoyed playing those.
James: One for me was Exodus. The one that had the octopus in the trailer
Andy: Yes.
James: that they showed. Wasn't something that was really on my radar before Gamescom. Definitely something that's on my radar since.
Andy: And that's good, I mean guess that's the point of shows like that isn't it? mean there's a few other games that kind of piqued my interest. You've got Tides of Annihilation. Ananta, that anime style game, kind of open world thing. It very cool.
James: Yeah, that and Anter actually did look really good. Very interesting.
Andy: There's obviously lots of new stuff coming to Division 2 which as a Destiny refugee that's where I live now. that's always
James: Ha ha ha.
Andy: nice to see that there's some content coming there. I think it's time then probably for the single most important award ceremony in the gaming industry. The World Star Gamescom Awards. Yeah, obviously there's no trophies,
James: yeah, the people are people are waiting on
Frank: that's the one w everyone wants.
Andy: no red carpet, no sponsors, there's no catering, but the prestige is absolutely,
James: I mean people must be on the edge of their seats, right? It's what everyone wants.
Andy: absolutely. So think the first category then would be most excited to play. Frankie.
James: Farming simulator too.
Frank: me on. Yeah, yeah, it's gotta be saying Cassimar. No. I wouldn't mind getting back into the Witcher. I'm gonna go a bit differently. the Witcher 3, I wouldn't mind seeing what they've done with that.
James: interesting one for definite.
Andy: Wouldn't mind having to play with Geralt.
Frank: Yeah. Yeah Don't
James: Jesus Christ.
Frank: say it like
Andy: Ha ha ha ha ha.
Frank: that. I wanna change my mind now.
Andy: Ha ha ha.
James: Yeah.
Frank: I'm gonna go with rainbow six rainbow six instead.
Andy: That's a whole team of them. So I can do this all day.
James: Okay. I think it's best if you just say no comment, you know.
Frank: Don't
Andy: Yeah, except defeat and you'll just move on. James, what's the one you're most excited to play?
James: I mean, this is one we haven't even mentioned yet, but it's something that that we already knew was coming. But we saw a little bit more of it, and that's Persona Four revival for me. You
Andy: Yes, yeah.
James: know, massive JRPG fan, as we all know. I constantly talk about it. But Persona Four was a great game and I can't wait to play the revival version.
Andy: Excellent. I think for me, it's probably the one we were just talking about, the one that kind of we sat up and took notes and that's that's Warlock. think everything that we saw about that in the footage was awesome, really kind of on point.
James: That's rare for you because by all accounts it looks like a single player game.
Andy: I I know. So I'll probably play it for about half an hour and then go back onto division. But you know,
James: Yeah, who are you and what have you done with Andy? Yeah.
Frank: Yeah. Yeah.
Andy: the fact that it's piqued my interest will take the small wins.
James: Yeah, f definitely, for sure.
Frank: It's always good, yeah.
Andy: before we go, it was announced there at Gamescom. Obviously the new ROG Ally handheld, the special edition. £2,300. But something that is not as powerful as a mid-range PC, yeah.
James: Ridiculous. Buy a PC. Buy a PC. You'll get you'll get a great PC for two thousand three hundred pounds.
Andy: You get an immense
Frank: Yes.
Andy: basic for that.
Frank: Look, I I I have
Andy: It's just...
Frank: the original one. Yes, I play it. Yes I use it. It is fantastic. Would I go that expensive? And does it need to be that expensive? You don't even you don't need it. You just go for the standard one, much cheaper, you get in everything out of the same thing. You just don't. It's just no, you just don't. Don't need it.
Andy: Yeah, I mean the new Sony handheld is rumored to be around $600 and that will play PS5 games.
Frank: And yeah, then yeah. Again I've got the original one here and I play that and use that. So that would be an upgrade. That'd be a fantastic upgrade to look into. But no, never to upgrade or put a
Andy: No, think obviously Ramageddon is having a big effect on stuff, which we'll cover.
James: I think sor I'm sorry, but if if I was gonna spend money on a handheld, I would go for one that's still cheaper and has games that you can't play on any other platform. So I'd probably go for the Nintendo Switch too. If I was gonna buy a handheld. Because none of the games that you can play on these handhelds you can are unplayable on other platforms. They're all PC games or PlayStation
Frank: Yeah.
James: games.
Frank: Yeah, even if you get the Steam Deck. Yeah.
James: So if I was gonna spend money on a handheld, it would be one that I can use to play games I can't play anything anywhere else.
Andy: Something that has a, yeah, something that has a USP.
James: Which I I probably
Andy: Makes sense.
James: will end up doing when Zelda Ocarina of Time remake comes out because
Frank: It's only a couple of months, mate.
James: I know I need it. I need it in my life.
Frank: No
Andy: Not long to wait. Not long to wait. But yes, I mean, so that was Gamescom. I think the fact we came away and we've talked about quite a few games in a positive light, I think that was a pretty successful Gamescom.
James: And I mean that wasn't all as well. You've got to think that we don't have time in this little bonus episode to go over all of them. But there were a ton of promising looking indie games, which we'll no doubt, of course, end up covering on our website. There
Andy: Yes.
James: were a a ton of other games that we've probably either forgotten or that there wasn't really enough information about for us to really sit up and take notice that we'll find out more about in the coming months. So it was pretty stacked, so yeah, I'd say overall it was a it was a success.
Frank: think this topic
Andy: Definitely.
Frank: hasn't finished. We'll come back to this another time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
James: for sure, yeah.
Andy: Yes, yeah, I think so. think so. as always, if there's something that stood out for you, you want to get in contact with us, let us know through wildcidegaming.com, through our socials or through Discord. And again,
James: In the Discord.
Andy: join the Discord. Again, as always, thanks for listening, watching, sharing and getting involved.
James: Bye.
Frank: Thank you.
Andy: See you next time.