Andy: Imagine being shown a game that looks like it could completely change gaming. You've got BioWare, you've got a massive sci-fi world, you've got flying Iron Man style suits, four player co-op, loot, exploration, and a huge incredible world. And then a few years later, you're watching the servers get switched off. That's Anthem. And if that's not enough disappointment for an episode, we're also going to talk about EA being bought out for $55 billion. Is this the beginning of a new era for EA or the beginning of something we should be worried about? intro. Welcome to Wild Star Gaming, the gamers podcast, real games, real tech, real reviews. This is our second episode. I'm Andy, I'm the creative operations lead here at Wild Star Gaming. I'm here as always with Frankie.
Frank: hello everyone.
Andy: Frankie is our founder and our editorial lead and I'm here with James. James is our editorial goblin.
James: Yeah.
Frank: Ha ha.
Andy: So James as always will be filtering this out making us sound lovely and removing anything that we're not allowed to say. So today we've got a pretty packed episode. We're gonna be talking about the games that promise us the world and then absolutely let us down. We're gonna be getting into one of gaming's biggest stories of late, which is EA's $55 billion takeover. We've got our usual remaster, remake, reboot, some ridiculous true or false questions. And of course then we'll end it with the save file. But before we get into all of that, I just want to take a moment to talk about one of our WorldSide gaming partners, and that is Safe in Our World. So we spend a lot of time talking about games, arguing about games, occasionally questioning why we still play some of them. But it's worth remembering that gaming is ultimately about people. Safe in Our World does some really important work around mental health and gaming, helping people to talk more openly about mental health and providing resources and support for people who might be struggling. So whether you're a player, a streamer, a developer, a content creator, or simply someone who When you gaming, looking after your mental health matters. You don't have to be going through a crisis to look after your mental health. We're really pleased to have Safe in our world working with Wild Star Gaming and we genuinely encourage you to check them out. We'll put the details in the links in the show notes, so please take a look and see what they're doing. Gaming should be a place where we can connect, have fun and be ourselves. Right, that's now the serious bit out of the way. Let's talk about the games that absolutely broke our hearts. My biggest gaming disappointment isn't necessarily and isn't the worst game I've ever played. It's the game where you look at it and you look at what could have been you think well how the hell did we get from that to what we actually got? And for me that's that's Anthem. It wasn't just another shooter, was Bioware making a Destiny style game with Iron Man style flight. I was absolutely sold. So, mean,
Frank: It was so cool.
Andy: it was so cool. It really,
James: Yeah.
Frank: Psycho.
Andy: really was. So, mean, guys, I'll start with you, James. What did you think Anthem was going to be when you first saw it?
James: Look, for me we were sort of power fantasy. Being able to fly around a vast open world in an Iron Man style mech suit. Come on, who doesn't want to do that? I mean it's a gamer's dream, right? I mean just
Frank: Yeah, your little mech suit.
James: a mech suit that you can fly around in. And I was hoping that it was gonna be very much like a Destiny style game with loot and ongoing content. And most importantly, lots and lots of Mexus to fly around in.
Andy: Exactly. And I think that's one of the weird things why it failed. One of the weirdest things about Anthem is that the thing everyone remembers is how brilliant the flying was because it was brilliant. It was probably the best bit.
James: Yeah, it was great.
Andy: You know, I mean, how many games have you played where one mechanic is that good? You immediately think, right, let's build the entire game around this one mechanic.
James: there's there aren't really that many other ones I can think of. I mean, you know, Destiny obviously is famous for its gunplay and Anthem could have been that for like its traversal and like but freedom of flight.
Andy: Well, yeah, mean, you know, just the launching into the air and the boosting, the diving, the water cooling, the transition. Yeah.
Frank: What and the worlds like the worlds around it was was
James: yeah.
Frank: superb and you think, this could have was just
Andy: I think that's exactly that, Frankie. The reveal of the game, I think, sold everyone on the fantasy of it before you were sold on the actual game.
Frank: Yes.
James: I totally forgot about the w you had to skim across the surface of the water to cool your suit.
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, exactly that. way that you suit interact with the environment and the scale of it and the way that the javelins fitted into the natural world. It had so much scope, but it just kind of came kind of shoot loop repeat, I think my disappointment is because is what happened with it. I played bad games and just forgotten them. Anthem is one where you can even now, you can still see that literally there is an amazing game and an amazing game world like right there. The flying was incredible. The world looked incredible. The concept was incredible. But somehow we ended up with a finished game that couldn't survive long enough to even start to become what it should have been.
James: Did you call it finished? Was it ever really finished?
Andy: exactly and that's the thing i think you know if my question to you guys would be if EA gave you anthem today and limited money and five years to build it what would you keep?
James: Flight.
Frank: Yeah. Well that that and the worlds, the worlds and everything around it was was fine.
Andy: So almost the actual structure of the game. You would keep it.
James: would mostly keep a lot
Frank: Yeah.
James: of what they already had in there. Yeah. I mean, I don't see any reason why they would need to change a lot of it. Most of
Andy: So
James: it worked well.
Andy: what do you think went wrong? Do you think it was the fact, I mean, for me, I think it was probably the missions were repetitive, the loot had some issues. There wasn't really any end game and a game like that, people need to feel powerful. There needs to be an end game. Yeah.
James: There wasn't any really any game. I think that was the biggest problem was it almost played like a demo. The whole game almost played like a demo or a beta
Andy: Exactly that.
James: test.
Andy: Yeah, was there wasn't it wasn't lacking potential. The potential was was enormous, probably the most potential I think of any game that I can think of in recent history. The problem was there was no real game around the potential. It had almost like a live service structure, but without enough content to even to begin sustaining
Frank: Yeah, I think once the social media side got on top, once the bad reviews and the bad got everyone start talking crap about it, I think it just got too much for and they just they kind of pulled the plug so early where they could have stuck with it and
James: I think it was the disappointment
Frank: made things so much better.
James: that really crushed a lot of people because it was such a promising looking game and from early play you were like, Wow, this feels really good. I mean there was real impact to the way that the mech suits, the way that you controlled them, the way they felt, the way they interacted with the world, it gave them a real sense of being a powerful suit that you were wearing. And I think that made it all the worse when that a lot of the rest of the game was a huge letdown.
Andy: Yeah.
Frank: Did they do the same as what they've done in Destiny? That they kinda gave everyone what they wanted near the end and then just turned it off, or did they just literally just turn it off? Yeah. Kind of.
Andy: No. No. Yeah, they-
James: No, they didn't give they No, all they did was ca keep promising Anthem two point
Frank: Yeah.
James: for years and years after Anthem had already failed. Don't worry guys, it's coming. We're rebooting it. We're doing it all again. We're overhauling
Andy: Yep.
James: the whole thing and then eventually wait, no, we're actually putting the plug
Andy: Yeah, and I think that's why it's that will probably always be my biggest disappointment because it had everything that I like in a game, know, a sci-fi world, a big world, an ongoing kind of live service world shooting because, know, that's my thing, shooters. And then it went from, you know, this could be one of the biggest games in the world ever to you got until January to play it because then we're going to turn the lights off, which is just absolutely nuts. But that's that's the way it went. So that is why Anthem is and will probably always be, I think, my biggest disappointment. And
Frank: Is a good one.
Andy: I think, again, it's why it's interesting because it's not necessarily a story about a bad game. It's more about expectations. You know, the trailers, the demos, the marketing, the hype and how people build games up in their heads and how maybe gamers are sometimes partly responsible for disappointment because we build a game up before we've even played it based on the fantasy that the developers and publishers sell us. So I guess a question for you guys and for our listeners is what is worse? Is it a genuinely terrible game or a game that's pretty good but nowhere near what you thought it was gonna be? that's mine. James, what's yours?
James: Well, as you both know, I'm a massive RPG gamer. And mine is Final Fantasy thirteen. When I was younger, many, many, many, many, many years ago, I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy VII. Many, many, many, many years.
Frank: Betty, Betty, Betty. Betty.
James: huge fan of Final Fantasy VII, eight, nine, ten to somewhat of a lesser extent. But later on in life I revisited it and it hooked me. Obviously the online eleven, and then thirteen came along. And from all of the trailers, everyone was thinking, this is it. This is a genuine leap forwards in terms of graphical fidelity sort of like the world building that Square Enix was so well known for in their Final Fantasy games being brought into the modern era. And then it came out. And it was nothing that anyone who was a longtime Final Fantasy fan was expecting. It was extremely linear for about 20 to 25 hours. You were basically walking down one singular hallway. JRPGs are guilty of this a lot of the time anyway, but this was even worse. It was so jargon-heavy with no explanation of what anything meant that. You needed to study the game for like a doctorate in order to understand it at all. The characters were flat and boring. Combat system was quite frankly terrible because you could only control the lead character in any given party. The rest were controlled by AI that weren't very good. And if the party leader fell in battle, it was game over. You couldn't switch to a different character or anything like that.
Andy: Do you think, so, I mean, you said about it. I remember that game again. I was kind of disappointed with it as well. was brutally linear. Like you just said, was, you know, walk forward, have a fight, watch a cut scene, walk forward, have a fight, watch a cut scene. But then I remember is once you eventually reached, what was it called, grand pulse. All of sudden you're
James: Yeah.
Andy: thinking, well hold on a minute, what have I just been doing for the last 30 hours? What was that?
James: Yeah. And unfortunately if it takes thirty, you know, twenty to thirty hours for a game to actually get good.
Andy: most people would have stopped by that point.
James: Yeah, most people
Frank: Yeah.
James: will have stopped long before then.
Frank: A lot of dedication.
Andy: So that's a similar kind of, it's got similar symptoms to Anthem, isn't it? Obviously very different game, very different mechanics, but similar symptoms in that, yeah. And how it's
James: I think again it is it's very much about the hype, isn't it? Because if you look at
Andy: delivered.
James: yeah, exactly. If you look at sort of the games that came before it. So obviously 7, 8, and 9 were very old games, the graphics were now extremely dated. 10 was a little bit more up to date. Then you had 11, which was online, 12, which somehow took a step back and looked worse than 10. And then you saw the trailers and the actual. gameplay footage for thirteen and you thought, look at that. I mean, at the time it was absolutely incredible. It was like they've done it again. Where Enix have been known for pushing the the bar higher in terms of sort of like graphical fidelity in their games and like their cutscenes as well and things like that. And you saw all of the trailers and initial gameplay footage and thought, this is it. This is gonna be absolutely incredible.
Frank: Good PR. We've all been suckered into it.
James: Great PR, but
Andy: Do you think it moved too far away from Square Enix's kind of tried and tested method of combat? Because for me, what I remember about that is for a big chunk of the game, it felt like all I was doing was pressing auto battle and then watching lightning do cool stuff.
James: Yeah, and the the visuals were very flashy, but there was little to no gameplay in those visuals. I mean, people that played Final Fantasy Twelve probably were more familiar with that because Final Fantasy Twelve had a similar system where you could s like set up the way battles would go before they happened and they would sort of play themselves out with very little interaction from you. But that was more of a tactical thing. This was like I don't even know how to describe it. But it was like you were watching the battles rather than participating in them
Andy: Yeah, exactly that. I think that is inherently almost a highlight of what I think went wrong with our whole game. Or what went right for some people perhaps is that, you said it a minute ago, 13 looked incredible. Everything about the CGI, the environments, the character models, the summons were amazing. The soundtrack was good. Everything visually about it screamed like, you know, next-gen Final Fantasy. But underneath, the gameplay was actually really restrictive and wasn't... It didn't match the visuals.
James: It's it sort of signalled a leap as well after that, if you think about the next single player Final Fantasy game that was released, which was fifteen, they took that in a completely different direction. But
Andy: Yeah.
James: stepping well away from the old turn-based systems and more into the sort of action gameplay things. So you had like fifteen and sixteen were both incredibly like action oriented games. And I think the people that really fell in love with the older turn based systems
Andy: Yeah.
James: Thirteen sort of signalled an end to that for them.
Frank: they ever going
Andy: I agree.
Frank: to stop making Final Fantasy? No.
James: Not as long as it keeps making money, you know.
Andy: No, no, exactly that. Yeah. I think the thing with 13 is, my question to everyone would be, Grand Pulse had been in the first eight to 10 hours of 13 instead of the last third, would we all remember it differently?
James: Most likely. For me, I think I think so.
Andy: think the So there we are. Good choice, James. Good choice. think there's probably a lot of people will agree with you. Frankie, what's yours?
Frank: So I'm going with the game Two Human. released in 2008 on the 360. This was the game that made me feel yes, I'm going to buy a 360. came out a couple of years before and I was like, yeah, this is it. The the trailers to it. Again, we got suckered in, I think, for well, in my point of view, just got suckered in for the The hype around it. It just looked like that next gen. It looked so f fresh and new that just made me think, yeah, this is I'm sticking with Xbox. I'm you know, I'm invested, this is the game I'm gonna like build around and everything. Yeah. And then it came out and I was so so disappointed. So
Andy: I mean, it's been
James: I could
Andy: a while, do you remember the history about it? Do you remember what's kind
James: Yeah.
Andy: of triggered that disappointment? So the hype
Frank: There I knew there was more to it than than just
Andy: was, it was massive. It was never meant to be a 360 game. I Silicon Knights had been working on it for 10 years. It was originally announced, think PlayStation won it. God, eons ago.
James: believe so. The game is controversial.
Andy: Yeah. Yeah.
James: many reasons. Like it was originally intended to be a trilogy. there were multiple
Frank: Yes.
James: lawsuits around the game. Apparently there was allegations of stolen code from like Epic and Silicon Knights ended up suing Epic and they lost twice and it was a a whole thing.
Frank: Yeah, it was a whole mess, complete and utter mess.
James: But I vehemently disagree with you, Frankie. I loved Too Human. I did. I loved Too Human. Yeah, it wasn't a perfect game. But what was there for me was so engaging and so promising, especially before we knew that it wasn't gonna be getting sequels setting up the trilogy, that I absolutely fell in love with that game.
Frank: See for me it was that first game I was wanted to believe in. It was the first game I would have yeah kind of got suckered into that promise of what it could look like and what it could be. the camera view was so annoying. I remember that. the the frame rates were always cutting out. It was a buggy audio mess. You know, one minute you'd be playing and there'd be sound and
James: I can't disagree with you either. I can't disagree with you
Frank: You know, an absolutely nothing. Yeah, you know, and it was just so weird. Even
James: in
Frank: even die
James: any way.
Frank: even when you died and come back, you had to wait an eternity to for that to load and my god, it was nightmare.
James: the death the that in the infamous death animation into human, yeah.
Andy: you know what you just said about it but i really wanted to like that game because it's got almost all of the ingredients that in a game
Frank: Yeah, a bit like what you said about with with Anthem. It just it it that was my first bit of and then obviously invested into the three sixty and not going on the PlayStation side and staying with Xbox and it was it was everything that this is what I would have loved the game to be. And it just was Yes, I know we had our f our fun bits and I think I I remember it it was you could play it as a up, couldn't you? And I f I'm pretty sure myself, you, James, yeah, yeah, I think we have played this.
James: game. Yeah. We played it together. Yeah.
Frank: I'm just trying to think. I th I'm pretty sure that I've I've I've played these games like with you. And it was just yeah, what a buggy mess and a bit of a letdown back then. You know. Now it'd probably be all right.
Andy: I'm kind of on the fence with this one. Like I say, ingredients wise, add everything that I kind of that ticks my boxes. And then the combat I thought was brilliant, incredibly weird, but brilliant. So.
Frank: Yes. You had to use the
James: Yeah, well twit it was almost it was almost twin stick shooter, yeah. Or twin stick shooter melee combat. I don't know.
Frank: right stick, weren't it? You had to do it so weird. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah.
Andy: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. When it worked, it was fluffing brilliant. You you fly around a battlefield killing people left and right like an angry cybernetic Norse god. But when it didn't work, it was truly awful. You could
Frank: Yes.
Andy: launch yourself into the wrong bloody direction. You're trying to hit something behind you and the camera's crap and then there's enemies around you and you're thinking, what am I actually doing? And then, as I mean, James mentioned earlier, that's sodding Valkyrie. Like... Death was genuinely annoying. It didn't just mean like, you know, okay, I'm dead now. So I'm to go to the checkpoint and try again. You'd have to sit through that entire death sequence every single time,
Frank: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Andy: every single time. And you can't, you couldn't, you couldn't skip it. Yeah. And you couldn't skip it. You know,
Frank: It was over twenty to thirty seconds. It was just so long, so unneeded.
Andy: it was the hundredth time you couldn't skip it. Just, yeah. And for me, I think
Frank: Ha ha ha.
Andy: the, the loop just wasn't, it wasn't satisfying enough.
James: The thing is,
Frank: It didn't, yeah.
James: I agree with everything you're all saying,
Frank: Yeah. Yeah, but I played it and I kept on playing it.
James: but I love that game.
Frank: Yeah. And we kept on playing it. Yeah.
James: I love that game.
Frank: I completed it. I completed it a couple of times. I'm I think I'm pretty sure I completed it with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
James: I think I must have completed it about four times. Yeah, we played it together. We played it with your brother.
Frank: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, like I said, like you still get drawn to it. You still play it, but you st that they're still there, then bugs are still there.
Andy: I still think the original like premise of it, know, like Norse mythology, but it's the future. So you got Odin, Thor, Loki, cybernetic humans, know, Ragnarok, gods. I think it's wicked, But again, for that amount of hype, the graphics were a bit naff.
James: It was three sixty.
Frank: Yes, 'cause I don't remember it to be, yeah.
Andy: I know, but even by high 360 standards then, you look at, it already had games like Gears of Mass Effect, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed. Next to those, two human look poor.
James: I think maybe I'm looking at it through like rose tinted glasses because I don't remember it being
Andy: I think you are.
James: as bad as that. I mean th
Andy: I don't think it would have suffered. I think it would have been up to the kind of scratch it needed to be. You've already said about it that the development history was just an absolute farce. It was PlayStation, then it was GameCube, then it was something else, then it was bought. So it wasn't only delayed once. It went through multiple platforms, know, 10 years of development. You got to think. I think it did, yeah.
James: I believe it killed Silicon Knights in the end, right? Was that the game
Frank: Yeah,
James: that killed Silicon
Frank: one of
James: Knights? I think so.
Andy: I mean, you got to think the amount of times that change platforms, was it being rebuilt? mean, I'm not a coder. I can code in HTML, but if you're switching platforms that many times, surely you can't use the same code.
James: Who knows? I mean only the people that worked on the game could tell that. So if you're out there and you hear this, let us know.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, let us know
Frank: Yeah, let us know. Let us know a bit
Andy: if anybody's got anybody's
Frank: more of a story beyond it.
Andy: got a bit of insight into coding like that. Let us know the impact it would have on a project if you were switching platforms that many that many times.
Frank: I don't especially back then, it wouldn't have been a copy and paste job because PlayStation, Sony,
James: Yeah.
Frank: Nintendo were so different with their coding and the way they done stuff. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been that easy.
Andy: But no, again, another good one. Yeah, really interesting ones there and all kind of different angles and different reasons why we were.
James: I think there was one sort of consistent theme though, and that was hype. So the
Andy: Yeah.
James: the hype that was generated before
Frank: Good pay all.
James: the release compared to what we got when the game was released. And I think that is one of the things that can kill a game quicker than anything else.
Andy: I agree. And I think that actually leads us into the next topic that reluctantly on my perspective, we should cover leads into that quite nicely. And that's, think because behind almost every massive gaming disappointment, there is a business decision somewhere. So EA has now gone private,
James: Ugh.
Andy: now gone private following a $55 billion acquisition. It's been bought out by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund who are not new to the game industry It's a consortium with them and Silver Lake and some affinity partners And it's not just a 55 billion dollar check there's I think there was something like 20 billion dollars worth of debt that they bought which is yes,
Frank: Yeah, twenty billion of debt. Yes.
Andy: that's a lot Why would anyone spend 55 billion dollars buying EA? You know, it's not it's not FIFA anymore
Frank: just love FIFA. Yeah,
James: No,
Andy: It's not free. And also in today's political climate,
Frank: no, no, it's not a FIFA anymore. Yeah, sorry.
James: no, it's
Andy: I wouldn't necessarily say you love FIFA either.
Frank: No,
James: No, I think that that that's a wild statement. Frankie's views do not re represent the views of Wild Star Gaming as a company.
Frank: definitely not, especially today, yeah. They want to buy the World Cup
Andy: Yeah. I think objectively, I've got my own opinions about EA games as have you, James, and as have you, Frankie, and I think we're mostly aligned. But if you're going to look at it objectively, you're not buying a games company, you're buying... one of the biggest collections of gaming IPs in the world. You've got, so EA Sports FC, Madden, Battlefield, Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars properties now, Frostbite,
Frank: Yeah. Formula one.
Andy: they've got development infrastructure, massive, massive, huge global player base. there's, you know, I think that's why you'd buy it. That's why you'd want to buy it if you were these people. Do we think there's gonna be any positives from them becoming, you know,
James: No.
Andy: do we think that them going private is gonna give EA the freedom to make better games?
James: No.
Frank: No way.
James: No hay chance.
Andy: No, you don't think maybe like, you know, bigger investments potentially giving studios more time, longer term planning. I'm trying to
Frank: Not with that twenty billion debt.
Andy: pick some positives here people.
James: 20 billion debt has been pinned on EA after acquisition, right? From from
Frank: Yeah.
James: what I understand. So there's one of two th man. Do you know there's
Frank: Nine.
James: one of two things that's happened, right? Either they've bought EA for 55 billion, they've pinned a load of debt on it, and they're gonna liquidate it in a few years' time in order to write off that debt. That would be an extremely shady thing to do. And I'm not accusing anyone of doing that at all, but It's the sort of thing that has been done before in the past. And let's just say that some of the companies involved have a history of things like that. On the other hand I mean they didn't hear it here first, it's everywhere. On
Frank: Yes. You just heard it here first. Yeah.
James: the other hand The thing that I can see happening is They're gonna keep the moneymakers. You're gonna have the EA Sports FC, the battlefield games,
Andy: Madden.
James: and maybe Madden, yeah. Madden is still a reasonably big franchise, not as big as it used to be, but still quite big. The the esports, yeah, the EA
Frank: They've got they've got a esports, haven't they? Is that what you just said, James? They've got the esports side to it and all that, yeah.
James: Sports side of it, yeah. That'll say. The Sims, I think they're still churning out multiple content for that instead of making a new one. So I think that will stay. I think the battlefield will obviously stay. And I think most other things are gonna be either pushed to the side, there's gonna be massive layoffs, studios are gonna close, and IPs are gonna either fade into obscurity or eventually be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Andy: Well, we've seen IPs, what you would consider, know, long standing IPs from EA already fade. Things like Burnout, SSX, Command and Conquer, God, SimCity, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge. That was actually quite unique, wasn't it, at the time? There's a couple of others, know, things like Skate and whatnot. They weren't what you would call flops, but they're gone. They're not franchises that EA have continued with. I why aren't they making more games of these? it? So...
James: Did you see the Dead Space thing?
Andy: Yeah.
James: For the Dead Space thing they projected how much it would cost to make a new Dead Space game and how much they would want the game to then gross and
Andy: Do you know my problem with all this when these publishers are projected? Who is getting that money? Because the salaries in gaming development, unless you're a CEO, and that's where we get into where it really winds me up, because it's almost like a closed market like football is. It's silly money that people throw around and it's it's unfounded. But. these budgets are throwing around you know mentioned again destiny three of them need three hundred fifty dollars to make it what do you get people making the game on being paid up marketing doesn't cost them where's the where's that money going that might just be me being completely naive and you know by all means if anybody has a better insight feel free to correct me but it seems to me like gaming is almost becoming a closed market like football where there are figures being spoken about and thrown around it's just not real money it's just nonsense
Frank: Everyone wants their share. So that's where you look at things just always go higher. And it depends where it's being made. but to make a game over in Europe and like compared to the USA is completely different. It'll be much cheaper to make it here, be much cheaper to make it Eastern European. A lot of devs are going over there now. But even with PR depends obviously how much you want to spend but people yeah like they'll just keep taking and taking and that's where someone has to say like no this is how much a how much budget of any PR can take how much this can take You know, there needs to be a lot more rules and regulations behind it. Instead of letting people just go wild.
James: You think there should be maximum budgets allowed for gaming? Yeah.
Frank: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just yeah, because then it just it controls everything instead of people just going absolutely just making a random number up.
Andy: Yeah, I think that would work. mean, that ties into, like, kind of mentioned on about it last episode about, you know, the really big developers having to every now and then pump some money into an indie game. Because I don't see how we've got to a stage where that Twitter, the head of EA got paid as much as he did. Apparently based on the success of Battlefield, but. the money that they paid him. I'm like, come on, no one person needs that amount of money.
James: I might be wrong, but and I most likely am wrong, quite often happens, but to me it seems like EA is going to become a football and battlefield machine that just churns out half-assed new versions year after year and everything else is just gonna go. And I I it saddens me that some of the IPs will probably Never see the light of day again. And it also saddens me that some of the studios that we have held dear to us over the years, studios like BioWare, albeit you know, not so much in recent years, they've sort of out of favour a little bit. But think about the games they made in the past and think about the heritage and the history that they've created in in video games. Can you really see Bioware surviving this?
Andy: No, and I think
Frank: I'd be very surprised.
Andy: that's the reality. My own personal take, I think is again, it's very similar to yours, is that unfortunately, private ownership doesn't mean, all right, let's make cool games now. It means, right, this investment needs to be profitable. If you've just spent $55 billion and Are you going to let a studio spend five or six years making a $50 million game? You're not. Every project needs to be profitable. Every product, every project needs to cut costs. needs, you know, monetization. You need to reduce the risks. You need to establish, need to work with your established franchises. You haven't got the resources to make new ones. So unfortunately, I think that is exactly what is going to happen. It's going to be really cutthroat and... it's just going to mean more more cuts and more things disappearing more layoffs yeah
James: layoffs. Seems that's all
Frank: Yeah, they they
James: that happens in
Frank: will go.
James: the
Frank: will go. And then respawn will stay, especially with the Star Wars stuff.
James: It just seems like all that you hear about these days in the gaming industry is cuts and layoffs.
Andy: I think for me it's quite fascinating because, you know, EA has got a pretty big catalog, things you don't necessarily tie to EA because their IPs haven't been used in a while, it's got a massive catalog and enormous earning power. But with the amount of money involved and particularly the debt attached to this makes me nervous about what's going to happen to the creative side because I don't think there will be one.
James: thing is that for a long time in order to recoup the money that they've spent on this takeover they're gonna play it safe. You know, going back to what we were saying in the last episode about is gaming being too safe these days, we're not gonna see any risks from EA studios like any time in the near future because they're gonna play it safe and they're gonna try and make the money that they spent back, cancel out the debt. before they even think about letting other IPs that EA owns or original IPs be explored.
Frank: Yeah, you're looking at at least ten years before they even think about because the games in development now will will stay and they'll they'll come out over the next like five, six years and then they'll start maybe thinking of stuff then.
James: I think that we'll see a lot of cancellations. I don't think we're ever gonna see another Mass Effect game now.
Frank: No, they'll sell that off, they said bioware, I they'll sell that.
James: I don't think
Andy: Yep.
James: they'll sell Bioware. I think they'll liquidate it.
Frank: Would you liquidate it?
James: Maybe eventually the IP will change hands, but I don't think we'll see that. EA have not been known to let IPs go even when they have no intention of doing anything with them. It's sort of like their whole thing. They've done it multiple times. They kill an IP and they never let it change hands.
Frank: Keep it.
Andy: yet it just it just always
James: Yeah. It's like the just in case we decide to make it one day we're gonna keep hold of this IP.
Andy: Right, well let's move away from billion dollar acquisitions. It's not real world money for us. We'll see what happens.
Frank: Talking about billion talking about all of that money, have you lot seen the Netflix with GTA being put on it?
Andy: Yeah, I'm not, I don't know. We'll...
James: Vaguely. I mean what is it, a trailer? A gameplay reveal?
Frank: Yeah, the the yeah, I think gameplay trailer. Netflix has has got their hands on it. And do you think next that will be kind of the norm now or do you just think that's gonna be just a one off just because it's so big?
Andy: i think we'll see more of it i think you then now netflix have done i think you see prime you see apple you see people want to go on board with it
Frank: What would be the next game after that after GTA though?
Andy: I mean, who knows? It depends whether it's a one-off.
James: Nice.
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: You know, it's arguably the biggest gaming release in gaming history. So it might just be a one-off. I'm hoping that doesn't open the floodgates because that would be annoying.
Frank: Do you reckon people will will then buy Netflix for it? Do you reckon?
Andy: No. god
James: Yeah, unfortunately I do.
Andy: no. No, nobody's that silly are they?
James: I actually do. Yeah, yeah, sure they are. Ga what, GTA fans. I don't mean
Andy: Yeah, true.
James: to like I I don't mean it like that, but what I mean is like some people are frothing at the they cannot wait and they think it's gonna be the greatest game ever made. And sure, it's definitely gonna be the biggest game ever released, and it's probably gonna make the most money out of any game ever released. And there are gonna be people that go, gotta see this, gotta do this. There'll be some. Won't be us, but there will be some.
Frank: Yeah, no, yeah.
Andy: I've got concerns about the whole GTA thing anyway. Yeah, so I'll reserve judgment.
James: Same, same, yeah. I think that that's a topic for another episode.
Andy: Yeah, it is indeed. Yeah. And we've touched on it before. not really looking, you know, I'm not really fussed about the single player. We'll see what happens when the multiplayer is released. But anyway,
Frank: Yeah, yeah.
Andy: so let's move away from that. we're going to back to something the gamers love arguing about, which is bringing old games back. So this is our usual segment of remaster, remake and reboot. So, usual kind of format.
James: Okay.
Andy: You guys pick a game. You need to pick whether it's a remaster, a remake or a reboot. Kind of give us a little bit of a lowdown on what the game was originally for people that don't know. And we'll go from there. So, Frankie, I'm going to start with yours.
Frank: My one is Dino Crisis. Full remake though. Technically, yes. Can't go wrong.
Andy: Resident Evil with dinosaurs.
Frank: Resident Evil, dinosaurs. It's just the way it needs to be. I
James: Hasn't we haven't we been promised like a Dino Crisis remake or something for like?
Frank: Yeah, I was just gonna say that but it's always on the highest light. So when they talk about on the fan zones and everything, Dino Cris Crisis is always there. But yeah, we it's just never you know, the technology's there now. Everything's there to make it a whole brand new remake, you know? So that would be mine. Dino Crisis, real but it back up to the modern age of gaming.
Andy: Why though, Frankie? Why does it deserve it?
Frank: there's another game where when I say Barnon and Playstation, it it was thinking especially the love of dinosaurs as well, I think. But no, it was just such a great game. I it drawed me in. It I think it had it's got the fans, it's got the people it was I preferred that than what you said Resident Evil. I kind of preferred that kind of game and especially with like a bit of the with the puzzles and everything else you could do. It just drawed me in a bit more. and I feel that yeah, a new remake would just be would be great this time. And I think it would sell bucket loads.
James: I mean, the team behind Resident Evil were the ones that originally made it, right? The original the team that were making Resident Evil at the time. And I mean they're flying
Frank: I think they're part of it. Yes, yeah, yeah. I think they were. Yeah.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, it was the same, yeah.
James: high right now, surely, because, you know, by all accounts the latest Resident Evil was a huge hit, right?
Frank: And Capcom, I reckon they could definitely you know, I mean, they've been they've been doing really well with their stuff recently, so
James: I mean I
Andy: Excellent.
James: every single year, like year after year you hear there's a Dino Crisis remake coming. I mean, Capcom has never announced that there's one even being worked on, but it's a
Andy: No.
James: it's a persistent rumour that never really dies.
Andy: Yeah, it's an interesting one. Again, as Frankie said, I think it would probably have enough fans out there that would buy it. Yeah.
James: Yeah, I think so. It's it's not a bad choice, yeah.
Frank: Yeah, that's what I'm going with.
Andy: James, what's your one?
James: Well, we're trying to move away from it, but I'm gonna bring us right back to it again because mine is Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.
Andy: Yeah.
Frank: Good game.
James: So what I mean, what a game. Bioware, Star Wars RPG, grandfather of Mass Effect. Incredibly janky, let's face it. And the the sequel also was not really ever finished, and it was left
Andy: Yep.
James: down to the fans to sort of finish that game. I mean, it was one of the games I think that really made me sit up and take notice. this is what gaming can do. And for me, it would have to be a so maybe a remaster because I'd like them to just bring the graphics up to modern day standards.
Andy: Yeah, I think a remaster will work quite well with it.
James: Smooth it, polish it out, but keep everything else the same because
Andy: Keep everything the same, yeah.
James: that game was absolutely incredible.
Andy: I was, mean, the choice system and I mean, again, not the huge Bioware thing, but the companions, you know, they weren't just generic kind of followers. You'd get actual characters and they'd have, you know, dialogue and personalities and some of them really kind of memorable and your decisions kind of actually sort of affected your relationships with them.
James: massively. I mean, it the the whole sort of karma system that is in a lot of video games these days, albeit not so much recently, you don't see it a lot, but that sort of era of games where you had the choices to be made and it was it would result in your character taking a darker path or taking the higher ground and sort of like staying on the light side. I mean, especially when it comes to Star Wars, what better franchise to represent the karma system in a game than Star Wars with the Force and the Dark Side? Let's just face it, it spoke to the the massive nerd in me and and
Frank: Yeah.
James: for for me it was w it's up there with one of the the best games I've ever played.
Andy: i would concur i mean to be fair you can still play it now it's free to play
James: You can still play it now, and I have played it more sort of like recently.
Frank: Yeah, I think it's on the switch and everything, yeah. Yeah.
James: even the second one, I mean like the sequel was not as good as the first one and it was kinda never finished and there was fan patches and mods and things that you could do to actually make the game playable all the way through and have a proper ending and stuff like that, but
Frank: What's the second one done by a different team?
Andy: not sure
James: I don't know.
Andy: i didn't really pay the second Okay, yeah,
Frank: Right.
Andy: it's a good one, James. I'm always happy anything Star Wars. Mine, think, same as last time, mine is the best by far. mine, no, you'll see exactly
James: Ha ha ha.
Andy: why in a minute. You'll see why in a minute. Mine is prototype.
Frank: Next.
James: Nah, boo. Terrible. No one wants that.
Andy: Nice, you know that's a good one.
James: come on, man. Prototype was amazing, yeah.
Andy: Prototype was awesome. It had so many... It was, exactly. See, I keep coming up with the best stuff. for me, it would have to be a remake. You'd keep all the original things that made it really cool and groundbreaking. I think one of the biggest things about the game was the power fantasy. So you weren't just a normal soldier. You're like a superhero who kind of has to, you know, like a walking biological apocalypse. could, you do everything. You'd run up buildings. You could jump you distances. You could glide across the city. You could eat people. You could shape shift. You could, you know, transform his arms into weapons. You could regenerate. You could throw cars. You could pick up, you could do anything and everything. You could rip through tanks. You could hijack a helicopter. And you could do that whenever you wanted. Literally, the entirety, I think it was New York, wasn't it, was your playground. So the entire premise around that game was just something that hadn't been done before. The idea of it, you know, the Blacklight virus, the fact that you can consume people and when he does, he can consume their memories and their appearance, their knowledge, their identity. So you can walk up to somebody, consume them and become them. It had like an investigation system, which I think could be massively expanded in a remake. So you hunt people that are connected to the outbreak. You find targets, you consume them, you receive fragments of their memories. You can gradually piece together what's happened. So it's basically like an assassin's creedy investigation, body horror, superhero sandbox, do anything you want.
Frank: Actually never played it.
Andy: You should.
James: Never played prototype.
Frank: Nope. And I was waiting for a break to say I've never played that. Yeah. Never
Andy: Yeah
Frank: played it. Never played it. There's a couple of them. I'm now looking into it thinking, yeah. And there's like they've got two and three as well. Never played it.
Andy: Yeah, it's one of those things I think you...
Frank: Is it worth going back to though?
Andy: 100 %!
James: Prototype was amazing, yeah. And begrudgingly I'll admit that this time I think Andy takes the takes the cake with his choice.
Andy: But yeah, I think a remake, it doesn't need to change many things. A lot of it was right. All the crazy things you could do, include all that, but just make it of bigger and better. I mean... Again, this goes back to what I was saying about people kind of taking things for granted. I mean, that entire city reacted to you. The outbreak would get worse. The environment would change. The military presence would increase. You'd see more infected on the streets. Certain areas you couldn't get through normally. You could trigger massive battles between the military and the infected. Sometimes I'd just stand on top of a building and look, holy crap, I did that. Like that's cool. That's really cool. And to me, that's what gaming should be about. I think it has got a big following of people that really appreciate that game. think the only thing that overshadowed it slightly, it released about the same time as Infamous, didn't it? I think Prototype was a better game, but Infamous got more coverage. And I think...
James: That's a bold statement there.
Andy: But yeah, so that's mine. I make myself a little trophy. Actually, you guys can make me a trophy. I expect handwritten medals. I'm going to HR. I'm not happy about this.
James: A good choice again. Make yourself a trophy. Give yourself a pound of it. I'm not making you anything.
Frank: Yep, you win that one. yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can come back tomorrow. Told you, join the queue.
James: I make it out of a a milk bottle lid. Yeah, I've already I've already filed a complaint with HR.
Andy: Okay, right. So now it's time for true or false. This is where Andy, me, will give you three crazy stories that are gaming related. They could all be true. None of them could be true. It is up to you to tell me which you think are and which you think aren't.
James: I'll just say I love I love this part.
Andy: I
Frank: Well you only 'cause you you got it right last week. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
James: I got all of them last week, yeah. Hmm, where's my trophy?
Andy: This is true, this is true. So I'm gonna give you each scenario and then I want each of your answers for each one first and then we'll move on to the
James: Thank you.
Andy: next one. So the first story is a group of former Xbox developers have announced a new co-op game where up to six players become students. whose main objective is to cause as much chaos as possible at school your missions involve things like setting traps and taking dares and deliberately giving yourself injuries that can land you in hospital is that true or false? James
James: Yeah.
Andy: Frankie.
Frank: Going with true as well.
Andy: You are both correct. This is a game called
Frank: BAG
Andy: Hijinks High, which has been announced by Sackbird Studios, which is a formed by former ZeniMax Online developers. a co-op school based, yeah, it's a co-op school
James: Yeah.
Andy: based chaos game with up to six players with missions involving pranks, dares, and deliberately causing mayhem. So.
James: Was this I d I actually think that when you were describing it it rang a bell for me because I think I remember reading an article recently that said there was a new game and it compared it to basically bully. Yeah.
Andy: Bully, yeah. That's what I was thinking. As I was reading that, was thinking it reminds me of, reminds me of bully.
James: Yeah, like a co-op bully.
Andy: Yeah. Okay, so the next one is a new co-op game from the developers behind Mouthwashing. Puts players inside a tank where each player controls a different part of the vehicle. But the catch is that the crew can actually see each other physically operating the Missouri in real time. True or false?
James: Wait, what?
Frank: Yeah, go on. Explain that one again, 'cause that I'm going with true, but I'm gonna have a look at this. Yeah.
Andy: So a new co-op game from the developers behind mouth washing puts players inside a tank where each player controls a different part of the vehicle. But the catch is that the crew can actually see each other physically operating the machinery in real time.
James: I don't understand the concept of being able to see Java operate
Frank: Yeah.
James: in the
Frank: It's so wild I'm going to say true.
James: gonna say true mainly because yeah, I think I'm not I'm not quite understanding
Frank: I wanna see this at work.
James: the
Andy: Yeah, so it's true. The real game is called Carkus
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: Clad, which is a co-op tank game from Wrong Organ, which is a developer behind Mouthwashing, Players operate different sections of the tank and they have to communicate with one another to survive. the specific, basically the tank physically falls apart if someone abandons their station. So it's half true, half false.
Frank: Still go true.
James: Do that?
Frank: You can the game's not called half true, half false. It's not make up as you go along.
James: The game's not called Did I Make Part of This?
Andy: I can. This is my section. I can do anything I want. I am the game master.
Frank: No, I went to him last.
James: I mean that's why it didn't make that's why it didn't make any sense because you made it up. I am actually now looking at this game, carcass clad, and it is
Andy: So next.
Frank: I
James: kind of what you said, like
Andy: Yeah, yeah.
James: each part of the tank does need to be operated separately.
Andy: Yeah.
James: But the thing that you that you said made no sense and threw me off. It was a red herring, but we still got ya.
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: It was a red herring. Okay, final one. Concerned Ape announced that the next major Stardew Valley update going to introduce a fully 3D mode allowing players to switch. So obviously currently it's 2D. They've got a switch between 2D and first person 3D version in Pelican Town.
Frank: False.
James: Yeah, I'm going false.
Andy: is indeed folks but you do you but you did but you did you believe me for a second
James: See you gotta you gotta get up much earlier to catch us up.
Frank: So good. Yeah. You gotta make it up, Andy.
James: No
Frank: No, not for that one. Yeah, not for that one.
Andy: Well, there has actually been a recent discussion around what Stardew Valley might look like in 3D.
James: I mean I'm sure there has, but it doesn't mean that they're going to do it.
Frank: Mm-hmm.
Andy: is true. mean, I, I
James: so far, so far you haven't managed to catch me out.
Andy: don't, I don't often play. I played it a little bit, but I'm, not sure. like the concept of looking at my Stardew Valley neighbor directly in the eyes while I'm trying to work out what I've spent 400 hours watering parsnips. So either,
Frank: Yeah.
James: Silently judging you.
Andy: yeah, yeah. The silent judgment. I'm not sure that's something I'm, I'd want to get
Frank: yes. His parsnips are bigger than mine.
Andy: involved in.
James: All you need to all you need then is for the NPC to turn around and you go, You're wasting your life. What are you doing? Go out there and grow some real parsnips. Contribute
Andy: Yeah
Frank: Get out, Ball.
James: to society.
Frank: Ha ha ha.
Andy: okay i think we were almost at the end of before we do finish you wanna wanna come to you guys say what's the what's the this is the listeners and the viewers what's the biggest gaming disappointment you've ever experienced and if you only a tomorrow would you bring one of their dead i p's back Let us know in the comments, on our socials or wherever you're listening to the podcast. We'll pick out some of your answers and we'll bring them into a future episode. So finally, it's time for our save file, which is a little section where we kind of talk about one thing we've discovered this week that deserves saving. That could be anything. could be a game, hardware, a developer, a gaming story, some tech. Whatever it is. And I'll start with you, James.
James: so I just want to take this opportunity to talk about a A game that I was reviewing recently for the website. A game called Rift Storm. And actually, Andy, you played this game with me.
Andy: Well, I didn't, did I?
James: And I Have to say that so far this year, that game has been one of the biggest gaming surprises for me.
Frank: Good.
James: I didn't say it was positive. No, it was. It was. Yeah. It it was. It was.
Frank: No. Yeah, I did read your review. Yeah, no, it was. You said it was. I feel a bit jealous actually 'cause it did look like a kind of it did look pretty cool.
James: It was really good, yeah. I mean so I will be the first to admit I looked at that game when we received the review code for it and thought, okay, you know, it looks like it could be all right. It's sort of another isometric shooter game. you know, the the bullet hell genre and things like that. You see quite a lot of them these days. But the more I played that game, the more I was hooked. And it's an early access game. Well, by the time this episode is released, it will be
Frank: Yeah, so on a
James: available in early access. And I would urge anybody that likes looter shooters or the twin stick shooter style of game, isometric view games like Diablo and things like that, give it a go because It is a game that I think will surprise you.
Andy: Yeah, I agree. think, yeah, we obviously we played that co-op and yeah, it was genuinely fun. Okay, that's a good one, James. I'm gonna, I think, start introducing my personal save files as movements. So my save file this week is a movement, like a mantra. I'm gonna save a phrase this week, which is, I'll just do one more mission. Because
James: Yeah.
Andy: it has never meant one more mission. It means suddenly it's 2.47 in the morning. I've eaten an entire packet of biscuits. My character's now carrying 37 weapons I didn't need. And I've somehow started a side quest involving a farmer's missing bloody goat. So I'm gonna save just one more mission because apparently I'm incapable of learning.
James: Yeah, I think that that applies to all of us, right?
Frank: Fair enough. That's fair enough. Yep. That's fair enough.
Andy: Yeah.
James: Just one more. Just one more. It's fine. Just one more mission and and then I'll and then I'll log
Andy: It's fine, yeah, just one more.
James: off. I'll I'll go to bed at a reasonable time tonight. Just one more mission.
Frank: Mine's like, just half an hour, just half an hour and I'll I'll be off and everything. And then an hour and a half later,
James: Ha ha
Frank: you haven't even done what you wanted even to do in the first place. Yeah, it's just yeah, it's like
Andy: Well, that's where you're going wrong. You're doing it in half hour segments. You can't do it in half hour segments.
James: Sidetracked. Rookie era right there.
Andy: Yeah, Rikiera.
Frank: No, but another rookie era, mate, it's learning.
Andy: Frankie, what's your save file?
Frank: I my save file for the week has definitely been we we went away, me and my partner for the week. as I was doing a few bits for the website. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't shut up. That's another one.
James: Hold on, I'm not sure where he's going with this. This is a this is a family-friendly podcast, you know, it's not that kind of podcast.
Andy: Yeah, this is this is a family show family show Frankie Yeah, if you saved if you saved that that's up to you
Frank: Yeah yeah. We just don't want to know about it.
James: Yeah, not here.
Frank: no, we're we were doing a bit I was doing a bit of work for the site and it come up saying that you guys online and you were playing that is it Senra? The game that you were doing you you were reviewing for us, Andy? Sonara,
Andy: So Sonara, yeah.
James: Sonara, yeah.
Frank: sorry that Sonara. And watching you guys playing it and it just brought back a lot of memories of watching and and playing with you guys and it and having such a laugh. the game's quite a scary game it was very funny hearing us all together watching and and kind of play it I know you had the controls Andy and you were doing everything but it was very good and it did bring back a lot of memories or a lot of fun memories. of of playing with you guys and like my partner doesn't she's not a gamer but she actually enjoyed it. She actually la was laughing away with the way we were reacting to it as well. So it was really good and that's definitely a good memory which I'll definitely keep.
Andy: i think that was a little bit too heartfelt emotional and nearly crying
James: Yeah Trikey, Frankie, you get a bit sentimental in your old age. It was it was it was fun.
Andy: Goodness me, yeah.
Frank: No, it was good though. It was it did bring back memory. It was good, man. It was funny. And then hearing you at the end was Shank him, shank him in the head Just made it brilliant. And I I know like we we recorded so much more, we could only put so much actually on the website and and with the social media size to it, but w it was definitely a funny, yeah, it was very funny, a load more going on and yeah. No.
James: A lot a lot of that conversation was not fit for broadcast, unfortunately, but using using humor to break the tension of the horror game, it was very much that.
Frank: Not a podcast. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. But it was very good.
Andy: No, no exactly yeah there were Yeah, there were some, there were some expletives for sure.
Frank: Yeah, very good.
Andy: That's it. That's it for this episode of WorldSideGaming, the gamers podcast. So, I mean, thanks everyone for listening. Thanks for watching. Thanks for being part of the WildStarGaming community. We've talked about disappointment. We've talked about $55 billion takeovers, games coming back from the dead. And somehow throughout all of that, James has managed to not waffle for an entire five minutes.
James: Where's my medal?
Frank: Yeah. That's that's that's where beg that's what you really want. You ask what the medal's for.
James: Yeah. That's the that's the real metal wurvy thing
Andy: We will make
James: right there. Yes.
Andy: you one. We will make you one. We'll be back next time with more real games, real tech, real reviews, real chats. Until then, take care and we'll see you next time.
Frank: DLA guys.
James: Thanks for listening.
Frank: hello everyone.
Andy: Frankie is our founder and our editorial lead and I'm here with James. James is our editorial goblin.
James: Yeah.
Frank: Ha ha.
Andy: So James as always will be filtering this out making us sound lovely and removing anything that we're not allowed to say. So today we've got a pretty packed episode. We're gonna be talking about the games that promise us the world and then absolutely let us down. We're gonna be getting into one of gaming's biggest stories of late, which is EA's $55 billion takeover. We've got our usual remaster, remake, reboot, some ridiculous true or false questions. And of course then we'll end it with the save file. But before we get into all of that, I just want to take a moment to talk about one of our WorldSide gaming partners, and that is Safe in Our World. So we spend a lot of time talking about games, arguing about games, occasionally questioning why we still play some of them. But it's worth remembering that gaming is ultimately about people. Safe in Our World does some really important work around mental health and gaming, helping people to talk more openly about mental health and providing resources and support for people who might be struggling. So whether you're a player, a streamer, a developer, a content creator, or simply someone who When you gaming, looking after your mental health matters. You don't have to be going through a crisis to look after your mental health. We're really pleased to have Safe in our world working with Wild Star Gaming and we genuinely encourage you to check them out. We'll put the details in the links in the show notes, so please take a look and see what they're doing. Gaming should be a place where we can connect, have fun and be ourselves. Right, that's now the serious bit out of the way. Let's talk about the games that absolutely broke our hearts. My biggest gaming disappointment isn't necessarily and isn't the worst game I've ever played. It's the game where you look at it and you look at what could have been you think well how the hell did we get from that to what we actually got? And for me that's that's Anthem. It wasn't just another shooter, was Bioware making a Destiny style game with Iron Man style flight. I was absolutely sold. So, mean,
Frank: It was so cool.
Andy: it was so cool. It really,
James: Yeah.
Frank: Psycho.
Andy: really was. So, mean, guys, I'll start with you, James. What did you think Anthem was going to be when you first saw it?
James: Look, for me we were sort of power fantasy. Being able to fly around a vast open world in an Iron Man style mech suit. Come on, who doesn't want to do that? I mean it's a gamer's dream, right? I mean just
Frank: Yeah, your little mech suit.
James: a mech suit that you can fly around in. And I was hoping that it was gonna be very much like a Destiny style game with loot and ongoing content. And most importantly, lots and lots of Mexus to fly around in.
Andy: Exactly. And I think that's one of the weird things why it failed. One of the weirdest things about Anthem is that the thing everyone remembers is how brilliant the flying was because it was brilliant. It was probably the best bit.
James: Yeah, it was great.
Andy: You know, I mean, how many games have you played where one mechanic is that good? You immediately think, right, let's build the entire game around this one mechanic.
James: there's there aren't really that many other ones I can think of. I mean, you know, Destiny obviously is famous for its gunplay and Anthem could have been that for like its traversal and like but freedom of flight.
Andy: Well, yeah, mean, you know, just the launching into the air and the boosting, the diving, the water cooling, the transition. Yeah.
Frank: What and the worlds like the worlds around it was was
James: yeah.
Frank: superb and you think, this could have was just
Andy: I think that's exactly that, Frankie. The reveal of the game, I think, sold everyone on the fantasy of it before you were sold on the actual game.
Frank: Yes.
James: I totally forgot about the w you had to skim across the surface of the water to cool your suit.
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, exactly that. way that you suit interact with the environment and the scale of it and the way that the javelins fitted into the natural world. It had so much scope, but it just kind of came kind of shoot loop repeat, I think my disappointment is because is what happened with it. I played bad games and just forgotten them. Anthem is one where you can even now, you can still see that literally there is an amazing game and an amazing game world like right there. The flying was incredible. The world looked incredible. The concept was incredible. But somehow we ended up with a finished game that couldn't survive long enough to even start to become what it should have been.
James: Did you call it finished? Was it ever really finished?
Andy: exactly and that's the thing i think you know if my question to you guys would be if EA gave you anthem today and limited money and five years to build it what would you keep?
James: Flight.
Frank: Yeah. Well that that and the worlds, the worlds and everything around it was was fine.
Andy: So almost the actual structure of the game. You would keep it.
James: would mostly keep a lot
Frank: Yeah.
James: of what they already had in there. Yeah. I mean, I don't see any reason why they would need to change a lot of it. Most of
Andy: So
James: it worked well.
Andy: what do you think went wrong? Do you think it was the fact, I mean, for me, I think it was probably the missions were repetitive, the loot had some issues. There wasn't really any end game and a game like that, people need to feel powerful. There needs to be an end game. Yeah.
James: There wasn't any really any game. I think that was the biggest problem was it almost played like a demo. The whole game almost played like a demo or a beta
Andy: Exactly that.
James: test.
Andy: Yeah, was there wasn't it wasn't lacking potential. The potential was was enormous, probably the most potential I think of any game that I can think of in recent history. The problem was there was no real game around the potential. It had almost like a live service structure, but without enough content to even to begin sustaining
Frank: Yeah, I think once the social media side got on top, once the bad reviews and the bad got everyone start talking crap about it, I think it just got too much for and they just they kind of pulled the plug so early where they could have stuck with it and
James: I think it was the disappointment
Frank: made things so much better.
James: that really crushed a lot of people because it was such a promising looking game and from early play you were like, Wow, this feels really good. I mean there was real impact to the way that the mech suits, the way that you controlled them, the way they felt, the way they interacted with the world, it gave them a real sense of being a powerful suit that you were wearing. And I think that made it all the worse when that a lot of the rest of the game was a huge letdown.
Andy: Yeah.
Frank: Did they do the same as what they've done in Destiny? That they kinda gave everyone what they wanted near the end and then just turned it off, or did they just literally just turn it off? Yeah. Kind of.
Andy: No. No. Yeah, they-
James: No, they didn't give they No, all they did was ca keep promising Anthem two point
Frank: Yeah.
James: for years and years after Anthem had already failed. Don't worry guys, it's coming. We're rebooting it. We're doing it all again. We're overhauling
Andy: Yep.
James: the whole thing and then eventually wait, no, we're actually putting the plug
Andy: Yeah, and I think that's why it's that will probably always be my biggest disappointment because it had everything that I like in a game, know, a sci-fi world, a big world, an ongoing kind of live service world shooting because, know, that's my thing, shooters. And then it went from, you know, this could be one of the biggest games in the world ever to you got until January to play it because then we're going to turn the lights off, which is just absolutely nuts. But that's that's the way it went. So that is why Anthem is and will probably always be, I think, my biggest disappointment. And
Frank: Is a good one.
Andy: I think, again, it's why it's interesting because it's not necessarily a story about a bad game. It's more about expectations. You know, the trailers, the demos, the marketing, the hype and how people build games up in their heads and how maybe gamers are sometimes partly responsible for disappointment because we build a game up before we've even played it based on the fantasy that the developers and publishers sell us. So I guess a question for you guys and for our listeners is what is worse? Is it a genuinely terrible game or a game that's pretty good but nowhere near what you thought it was gonna be? that's mine. James, what's yours?
James: Well, as you both know, I'm a massive RPG gamer. And mine is Final Fantasy thirteen. When I was younger, many, many, many, many, many years ago, I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy VII. Many, many, many, many years.
Frank: Betty, Betty, Betty. Betty.
James: huge fan of Final Fantasy VII, eight, nine, ten to somewhat of a lesser extent. But later on in life I revisited it and it hooked me. Obviously the online eleven, and then thirteen came along. And from all of the trailers, everyone was thinking, this is it. This is a genuine leap forwards in terms of graphical fidelity sort of like the world building that Square Enix was so well known for in their Final Fantasy games being brought into the modern era. And then it came out. And it was nothing that anyone who was a longtime Final Fantasy fan was expecting. It was extremely linear for about 20 to 25 hours. You were basically walking down one singular hallway. JRPGs are guilty of this a lot of the time anyway, but this was even worse. It was so jargon-heavy with no explanation of what anything meant that. You needed to study the game for like a doctorate in order to understand it at all. The characters were flat and boring. Combat system was quite frankly terrible because you could only control the lead character in any given party. The rest were controlled by AI that weren't very good. And if the party leader fell in battle, it was game over. You couldn't switch to a different character or anything like that.
Andy: Do you think, so, I mean, you said about it. I remember that game again. I was kind of disappointed with it as well. was brutally linear. Like you just said, was, you know, walk forward, have a fight, watch a cut scene, walk forward, have a fight, watch a cut scene. But then I remember is once you eventually reached, what was it called, grand pulse. All of sudden you're
James: Yeah.
Andy: thinking, well hold on a minute, what have I just been doing for the last 30 hours? What was that?
James: Yeah. And unfortunately if it takes thirty, you know, twenty to thirty hours for a game to actually get good.
Andy: most people would have stopped by that point.
James: Yeah, most people
Frank: Yeah.
James: will have stopped long before then.
Frank: A lot of dedication.
Andy: So that's a similar kind of, it's got similar symptoms to Anthem, isn't it? Obviously very different game, very different mechanics, but similar symptoms in that, yeah. And how it's
James: I think again it is it's very much about the hype, isn't it? Because if you look at
Andy: delivered.
James: yeah, exactly. If you look at sort of the games that came before it. So obviously 7, 8, and 9 were very old games, the graphics were now extremely dated. 10 was a little bit more up to date. Then you had 11, which was online, 12, which somehow took a step back and looked worse than 10. And then you saw the trailers and the actual. gameplay footage for thirteen and you thought, look at that. I mean, at the time it was absolutely incredible. It was like they've done it again. Where Enix have been known for pushing the the bar higher in terms of sort of like graphical fidelity in their games and like their cutscenes as well and things like that. And you saw all of the trailers and initial gameplay footage and thought, this is it. This is gonna be absolutely incredible.
Frank: Good PR. We've all been suckered into it.
James: Great PR, but
Andy: Do you think it moved too far away from Square Enix's kind of tried and tested method of combat? Because for me, what I remember about that is for a big chunk of the game, it felt like all I was doing was pressing auto battle and then watching lightning do cool stuff.
James: Yeah, and the the visuals were very flashy, but there was little to no gameplay in those visuals. I mean, people that played Final Fantasy Twelve probably were more familiar with that because Final Fantasy Twelve had a similar system where you could s like set up the way battles would go before they happened and they would sort of play themselves out with very little interaction from you. But that was more of a tactical thing. This was like I don't even know how to describe it. But it was like you were watching the battles rather than participating in them
Andy: Yeah, exactly that. I think that is inherently almost a highlight of what I think went wrong with our whole game. Or what went right for some people perhaps is that, you said it a minute ago, 13 looked incredible. Everything about the CGI, the environments, the character models, the summons were amazing. The soundtrack was good. Everything visually about it screamed like, you know, next-gen Final Fantasy. But underneath, the gameplay was actually really restrictive and wasn't... It didn't match the visuals.
James: It's it sort of signalled a leap as well after that, if you think about the next single player Final Fantasy game that was released, which was fifteen, they took that in a completely different direction. But
Andy: Yeah.
James: stepping well away from the old turn-based systems and more into the sort of action gameplay things. So you had like fifteen and sixteen were both incredibly like action oriented games. And I think the people that really fell in love with the older turn based systems
Andy: Yeah.
James: Thirteen sort of signalled an end to that for them.
Frank: they ever going
Andy: I agree.
Frank: to stop making Final Fantasy? No.
James: Not as long as it keeps making money, you know.
Andy: No, no, exactly that. Yeah. I think the thing with 13 is, my question to everyone would be, Grand Pulse had been in the first eight to 10 hours of 13 instead of the last third, would we all remember it differently?
James: Most likely. For me, I think I think so.
Andy: think the So there we are. Good choice, James. Good choice. think there's probably a lot of people will agree with you. Frankie, what's yours?
Frank: So I'm going with the game Two Human. released in 2008 on the 360. This was the game that made me feel yes, I'm going to buy a 360. came out a couple of years before and I was like, yeah, this is it. The the trailers to it. Again, we got suckered in, I think, for well, in my point of view, just got suckered in for the The hype around it. It just looked like that next gen. It looked so f fresh and new that just made me think, yeah, this is I'm sticking with Xbox. I'm you know, I'm invested, this is the game I'm gonna like build around and everything. Yeah. And then it came out and I was so so disappointed. So
Andy: I mean, it's been
James: I could
Andy: a while, do you remember the history about it? Do you remember what's kind
James: Yeah.
Andy: of triggered that disappointment? So the hype
Frank: There I knew there was more to it than than just
Andy: was, it was massive. It was never meant to be a 360 game. I Silicon Knights had been working on it for 10 years. It was originally announced, think PlayStation won it. God, eons ago.
James: believe so. The game is controversial.
Andy: Yeah. Yeah.
James: many reasons. Like it was originally intended to be a trilogy. there were multiple
Frank: Yes.
James: lawsuits around the game. Apparently there was allegations of stolen code from like Epic and Silicon Knights ended up suing Epic and they lost twice and it was a a whole thing.
Frank: Yeah, it was a whole mess, complete and utter mess.
James: But I vehemently disagree with you, Frankie. I loved Too Human. I did. I loved Too Human. Yeah, it wasn't a perfect game. But what was there for me was so engaging and so promising, especially before we knew that it wasn't gonna be getting sequels setting up the trilogy, that I absolutely fell in love with that game.
Frank: See for me it was that first game I was wanted to believe in. It was the first game I would have yeah kind of got suckered into that promise of what it could look like and what it could be. the camera view was so annoying. I remember that. the the frame rates were always cutting out. It was a buggy audio mess. You know, one minute you'd be playing and there'd be sound and
James: I can't disagree with you either. I can't disagree with you
Frank: You know, an absolutely nothing. Yeah, you know, and it was just so weird. Even
James: in
Frank: even die
James: any way.
Frank: even when you died and come back, you had to wait an eternity to for that to load and my god, it was nightmare.
James: the death the that in the infamous death animation into human, yeah.
Andy: you know what you just said about it but i really wanted to like that game because it's got almost all of the ingredients that in a game
Frank: Yeah, a bit like what you said about with with Anthem. It just it it that was my first bit of and then obviously invested into the three sixty and not going on the PlayStation side and staying with Xbox and it was it was everything that this is what I would have loved the game to be. And it just was Yes, I know we had our f our fun bits and I think I I remember it it was you could play it as a up, couldn't you? And I f I'm pretty sure myself, you, James, yeah, yeah, I think we have played this.
James: game. Yeah. We played it together. Yeah.
Frank: I'm just trying to think. I th I'm pretty sure that I've I've I've played these games like with you. And it was just yeah, what a buggy mess and a bit of a letdown back then. You know. Now it'd probably be all right.
Andy: I'm kind of on the fence with this one. Like I say, ingredients wise, add everything that I kind of that ticks my boxes. And then the combat I thought was brilliant, incredibly weird, but brilliant. So.
Frank: Yes. You had to use the
James: Yeah, well twit it was almost it was almost twin stick shooter, yeah. Or twin stick shooter melee combat. I don't know.
Frank: right stick, weren't it? You had to do it so weird. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah.
Andy: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. When it worked, it was fluffing brilliant. You you fly around a battlefield killing people left and right like an angry cybernetic Norse god. But when it didn't work, it was truly awful. You could
Frank: Yes.
Andy: launch yourself into the wrong bloody direction. You're trying to hit something behind you and the camera's crap and then there's enemies around you and you're thinking, what am I actually doing? And then, as I mean, James mentioned earlier, that's sodding Valkyrie. Like... Death was genuinely annoying. It didn't just mean like, you know, okay, I'm dead now. So I'm to go to the checkpoint and try again. You'd have to sit through that entire death sequence every single time,
Frank: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Andy: every single time. And you can't, you couldn't, you couldn't skip it. Yeah. And you couldn't skip it. You know,
Frank: It was over twenty to thirty seconds. It was just so long, so unneeded.
Andy: it was the hundredth time you couldn't skip it. Just, yeah. And for me, I think
Frank: Ha ha ha.
Andy: the, the loop just wasn't, it wasn't satisfying enough.
James: The thing is,
Frank: It didn't, yeah.
James: I agree with everything you're all saying,
Frank: Yeah. Yeah, but I played it and I kept on playing it.
James: but I love that game.
Frank: Yeah. And we kept on playing it. Yeah.
James: I love that game.
Frank: I completed it. I completed it a couple of times. I'm I think I'm pretty sure I completed it with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
James: I think I must have completed it about four times. Yeah, we played it together. We played it with your brother.
Frank: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, like I said, like you still get drawn to it. You still play it, but you st that they're still there, then bugs are still there.
Andy: I still think the original like premise of it, know, like Norse mythology, but it's the future. So you got Odin, Thor, Loki, cybernetic humans, know, Ragnarok, gods. I think it's wicked, But again, for that amount of hype, the graphics were a bit naff.
James: It was three sixty.
Frank: Yes, 'cause I don't remember it to be, yeah.
Andy: I know, but even by high 360 standards then, you look at, it already had games like Gears of Mass Effect, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed. Next to those, two human look poor.
James: I think maybe I'm looking at it through like rose tinted glasses because I don't remember it being
Andy: I think you are.
James: as bad as that. I mean th
Andy: I don't think it would have suffered. I think it would have been up to the kind of scratch it needed to be. You've already said about it that the development history was just an absolute farce. It was PlayStation, then it was GameCube, then it was something else, then it was bought. So it wasn't only delayed once. It went through multiple platforms, know, 10 years of development. You got to think. I think it did, yeah.
James: I believe it killed Silicon Knights in the end, right? Was that the game
Frank: Yeah,
James: that killed Silicon
Frank: one of
James: Knights? I think so.
Andy: I mean, you got to think the amount of times that change platforms, was it being rebuilt? mean, I'm not a coder. I can code in HTML, but if you're switching platforms that many times, surely you can't use the same code.
James: Who knows? I mean only the people that worked on the game could tell that. So if you're out there and you hear this, let us know.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, let us know
Frank: Yeah, let us know. Let us know a bit
Andy: if anybody's got anybody's
Frank: more of a story beyond it.
Andy: got a bit of insight into coding like that. Let us know the impact it would have on a project if you were switching platforms that many that many times.
Frank: I don't especially back then, it wouldn't have been a copy and paste job because PlayStation, Sony,
James: Yeah.
Frank: Nintendo were so different with their coding and the way they done stuff. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been that easy.
Andy: But no, again, another good one. Yeah, really interesting ones there and all kind of different angles and different reasons why we were.
James: I think there was one sort of consistent theme though, and that was hype. So the
Andy: Yeah.
James: the hype that was generated before
Frank: Good pay all.
James: the release compared to what we got when the game was released. And I think that is one of the things that can kill a game quicker than anything else.
Andy: I agree. And I think that actually leads us into the next topic that reluctantly on my perspective, we should cover leads into that quite nicely. And that's, think because behind almost every massive gaming disappointment, there is a business decision somewhere. So EA has now gone private,
James: Ugh.
Andy: now gone private following a $55 billion acquisition. It's been bought out by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund who are not new to the game industry It's a consortium with them and Silver Lake and some affinity partners And it's not just a 55 billion dollar check there's I think there was something like 20 billion dollars worth of debt that they bought which is yes,
Frank: Yeah, twenty billion of debt. Yes.
Andy: that's a lot Why would anyone spend 55 billion dollars buying EA? You know, it's not it's not FIFA anymore
Frank: just love FIFA. Yeah,
James: No,
Andy: It's not free. And also in today's political climate,
Frank: no, no, it's not a FIFA anymore. Yeah, sorry.
James: no, it's
Andy: I wouldn't necessarily say you love FIFA either.
Frank: No,
James: No, I think that that that's a wild statement. Frankie's views do not re represent the views of Wild Star Gaming as a company.
Frank: definitely not, especially today, yeah. They want to buy the World Cup
Andy: Yeah. I think objectively, I've got my own opinions about EA games as have you, James, and as have you, Frankie, and I think we're mostly aligned. But if you're going to look at it objectively, you're not buying a games company, you're buying... one of the biggest collections of gaming IPs in the world. You've got, so EA Sports FC, Madden, Battlefield, Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars properties now, Frostbite,
Frank: Yeah. Formula one.
Andy: they've got development infrastructure, massive, massive, huge global player base. there's, you know, I think that's why you'd buy it. That's why you'd want to buy it if you were these people. Do we think there's gonna be any positives from them becoming, you know,
James: No.
Andy: do we think that them going private is gonna give EA the freedom to make better games?
James: No.
Frank: No way.
James: No hay chance.
Andy: No, you don't think maybe like, you know, bigger investments potentially giving studios more time, longer term planning. I'm trying to
Frank: Not with that twenty billion debt.
Andy: pick some positives here people.
James: 20 billion debt has been pinned on EA after acquisition, right? From from
Frank: Yeah.
James: what I understand. So there's one of two th man. Do you know there's
Frank: Nine.
James: one of two things that's happened, right? Either they've bought EA for 55 billion, they've pinned a load of debt on it, and they're gonna liquidate it in a few years' time in order to write off that debt. That would be an extremely shady thing to do. And I'm not accusing anyone of doing that at all, but It's the sort of thing that has been done before in the past. And let's just say that some of the companies involved have a history of things like that. On the other hand I mean they didn't hear it here first, it's everywhere. On
Frank: Yes. You just heard it here first. Yeah.
James: the other hand The thing that I can see happening is They're gonna keep the moneymakers. You're gonna have the EA Sports FC, the battlefield games,
Andy: Madden.
James: and maybe Madden, yeah. Madden is still a reasonably big franchise, not as big as it used to be, but still quite big. The the esports, yeah, the EA
Frank: They've got they've got a esports, haven't they? Is that what you just said, James? They've got the esports side to it and all that, yeah.
James: Sports side of it, yeah. That'll say. The Sims, I think they're still churning out multiple content for that instead of making a new one. So I think that will stay. I think the battlefield will obviously stay. And I think most other things are gonna be either pushed to the side, there's gonna be massive layoffs, studios are gonna close, and IPs are gonna either fade into obscurity or eventually be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Andy: Well, we've seen IPs, what you would consider, know, long standing IPs from EA already fade. Things like Burnout, SSX, Command and Conquer, God, SimCity, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge. That was actually quite unique, wasn't it, at the time? There's a couple of others, know, things like Skate and whatnot. They weren't what you would call flops, but they're gone. They're not franchises that EA have continued with. I why aren't they making more games of these? it? So...
James: Did you see the Dead Space thing?
Andy: Yeah.
James: For the Dead Space thing they projected how much it would cost to make a new Dead Space game and how much they would want the game to then gross and
Andy: Do you know my problem with all this when these publishers are projected? Who is getting that money? Because the salaries in gaming development, unless you're a CEO, and that's where we get into where it really winds me up, because it's almost like a closed market like football is. It's silly money that people throw around and it's it's unfounded. But. these budgets are throwing around you know mentioned again destiny three of them need three hundred fifty dollars to make it what do you get people making the game on being paid up marketing doesn't cost them where's the where's that money going that might just be me being completely naive and you know by all means if anybody has a better insight feel free to correct me but it seems to me like gaming is almost becoming a closed market like football where there are figures being spoken about and thrown around it's just not real money it's just nonsense
Frank: Everyone wants their share. So that's where you look at things just always go higher. And it depends where it's being made. but to make a game over in Europe and like compared to the USA is completely different. It'll be much cheaper to make it here, be much cheaper to make it Eastern European. A lot of devs are going over there now. But even with PR depends obviously how much you want to spend but people yeah like they'll just keep taking and taking and that's where someone has to say like no this is how much a how much budget of any PR can take how much this can take You know, there needs to be a lot more rules and regulations behind it. Instead of letting people just go wild.
James: You think there should be maximum budgets allowed for gaming? Yeah.
Frank: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just yeah, because then it just it controls everything instead of people just going absolutely just making a random number up.
Andy: Yeah, I think that would work. mean, that ties into, like, kind of mentioned on about it last episode about, you know, the really big developers having to every now and then pump some money into an indie game. Because I don't see how we've got to a stage where that Twitter, the head of EA got paid as much as he did. Apparently based on the success of Battlefield, but. the money that they paid him. I'm like, come on, no one person needs that amount of money.
James: I might be wrong, but and I most likely am wrong, quite often happens, but to me it seems like EA is going to become a football and battlefield machine that just churns out half-assed new versions year after year and everything else is just gonna go. And I I it saddens me that some of the IPs will probably Never see the light of day again. And it also saddens me that some of the studios that we have held dear to us over the years, studios like BioWare, albeit you know, not so much in recent years, they've sort of out of favour a little bit. But think about the games they made in the past and think about the heritage and the history that they've created in in video games. Can you really see Bioware surviving this?
Andy: No, and I think
Frank: I'd be very surprised.
Andy: that's the reality. My own personal take, I think is again, it's very similar to yours, is that unfortunately, private ownership doesn't mean, all right, let's make cool games now. It means, right, this investment needs to be profitable. If you've just spent $55 billion and Are you going to let a studio spend five or six years making a $50 million game? You're not. Every project needs to be profitable. Every product, every project needs to cut costs. needs, you know, monetization. You need to reduce the risks. You need to establish, need to work with your established franchises. You haven't got the resources to make new ones. So unfortunately, I think that is exactly what is going to happen. It's going to be really cutthroat and... it's just going to mean more more cuts and more things disappearing more layoffs yeah
James: layoffs. Seems that's all
Frank: Yeah, they they
James: that happens in
Frank: will go.
James: the
Frank: will go. And then respawn will stay, especially with the Star Wars stuff.
James: It just seems like all that you hear about these days in the gaming industry is cuts and layoffs.
Andy: I think for me it's quite fascinating because, you know, EA has got a pretty big catalog, things you don't necessarily tie to EA because their IPs haven't been used in a while, it's got a massive catalog and enormous earning power. But with the amount of money involved and particularly the debt attached to this makes me nervous about what's going to happen to the creative side because I don't think there will be one.
James: thing is that for a long time in order to recoup the money that they've spent on this takeover they're gonna play it safe. You know, going back to what we were saying in the last episode about is gaming being too safe these days, we're not gonna see any risks from EA studios like any time in the near future because they're gonna play it safe and they're gonna try and make the money that they spent back, cancel out the debt. before they even think about letting other IPs that EA owns or original IPs be explored.
Frank: Yeah, you're looking at at least ten years before they even think about because the games in development now will will stay and they'll they'll come out over the next like five, six years and then they'll start maybe thinking of stuff then.
James: I think that we'll see a lot of cancellations. I don't think we're ever gonna see another Mass Effect game now.
Frank: No, they'll sell that off, they said bioware, I they'll sell that.
James: I don't think
Andy: Yep.
James: they'll sell Bioware. I think they'll liquidate it.
Frank: Would you liquidate it?
James: Maybe eventually the IP will change hands, but I don't think we'll see that. EA have not been known to let IPs go even when they have no intention of doing anything with them. It's sort of like their whole thing. They've done it multiple times. They kill an IP and they never let it change hands.
Frank: Keep it.
Andy: yet it just it just always
James: Yeah. It's like the just in case we decide to make it one day we're gonna keep hold of this IP.
Andy: Right, well let's move away from billion dollar acquisitions. It's not real world money for us. We'll see what happens.
Frank: Talking about billion talking about all of that money, have you lot seen the Netflix with GTA being put on it?
Andy: Yeah, I'm not, I don't know. We'll...
James: Vaguely. I mean what is it, a trailer? A gameplay reveal?
Frank: Yeah, the the yeah, I think gameplay trailer. Netflix has has got their hands on it. And do you think next that will be kind of the norm now or do you just think that's gonna be just a one off just because it's so big?
Andy: i think we'll see more of it i think you then now netflix have done i think you see prime you see apple you see people want to go on board with it
Frank: What would be the next game after that after GTA though?
Andy: I mean, who knows? It depends whether it's a one-off.
James: Nice.
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: You know, it's arguably the biggest gaming release in gaming history. So it might just be a one-off. I'm hoping that doesn't open the floodgates because that would be annoying.
Frank: Do you reckon people will will then buy Netflix for it? Do you reckon?
Andy: No. god
James: Yeah, unfortunately I do.
Andy: no. No, nobody's that silly are they?
James: I actually do. Yeah, yeah, sure they are. Ga what, GTA fans. I don't mean
Andy: Yeah, true.
James: to like I I don't mean it like that, but what I mean is like some people are frothing at the they cannot wait and they think it's gonna be the greatest game ever made. And sure, it's definitely gonna be the biggest game ever released, and it's probably gonna make the most money out of any game ever released. And there are gonna be people that go, gotta see this, gotta do this. There'll be some. Won't be us, but there will be some.
Frank: Yeah, no, yeah.
Andy: I've got concerns about the whole GTA thing anyway. Yeah, so I'll reserve judgment.
James: Same, same, yeah. I think that that's a topic for another episode.
Andy: Yeah, it is indeed. Yeah. And we've touched on it before. not really looking, you know, I'm not really fussed about the single player. We'll see what happens when the multiplayer is released. But anyway,
Frank: Yeah, yeah.
Andy: so let's move away from that. we're going to back to something the gamers love arguing about, which is bringing old games back. So this is our usual segment of remaster, remake and reboot. So, usual kind of format.
James: Okay.
Andy: You guys pick a game. You need to pick whether it's a remaster, a remake or a reboot. Kind of give us a little bit of a lowdown on what the game was originally for people that don't know. And we'll go from there. So, Frankie, I'm going to start with yours.
Frank: My one is Dino Crisis. Full remake though. Technically, yes. Can't go wrong.
Andy: Resident Evil with dinosaurs.
Frank: Resident Evil, dinosaurs. It's just the way it needs to be. I
James: Hasn't we haven't we been promised like a Dino Crisis remake or something for like?
Frank: Yeah, I was just gonna say that but it's always on the highest light. So when they talk about on the fan zones and everything, Dino Cris Crisis is always there. But yeah, we it's just never you know, the technology's there now. Everything's there to make it a whole brand new remake, you know? So that would be mine. Dino Crisis, real but it back up to the modern age of gaming.
Andy: Why though, Frankie? Why does it deserve it?
Frank: there's another game where when I say Barnon and Playstation, it it was thinking especially the love of dinosaurs as well, I think. But no, it was just such a great game. I it drawed me in. It I think it had it's got the fans, it's got the people it was I preferred that than what you said Resident Evil. I kind of preferred that kind of game and especially with like a bit of the with the puzzles and everything else you could do. It just drawed me in a bit more. and I feel that yeah, a new remake would just be would be great this time. And I think it would sell bucket loads.
James: I mean, the team behind Resident Evil were the ones that originally made it, right? The original the team that were making Resident Evil at the time. And I mean they're flying
Frank: I think they're part of it. Yes, yeah, yeah. I think they were. Yeah.
Andy: Yeah, yeah, it was the same, yeah.
James: high right now, surely, because, you know, by all accounts the latest Resident Evil was a huge hit, right?
Frank: And Capcom, I reckon they could definitely you know, I mean, they've been they've been doing really well with their stuff recently, so
James: I mean I
Andy: Excellent.
James: every single year, like year after year you hear there's a Dino Crisis remake coming. I mean, Capcom has never announced that there's one even being worked on, but it's a
Andy: No.
James: it's a persistent rumour that never really dies.
Andy: Yeah, it's an interesting one. Again, as Frankie said, I think it would probably have enough fans out there that would buy it. Yeah.
James: Yeah, I think so. It's it's not a bad choice, yeah.
Frank: Yeah, that's what I'm going with.
Andy: James, what's your one?
James: Well, we're trying to move away from it, but I'm gonna bring us right back to it again because mine is Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.
Andy: Yeah.
Frank: Good game.
James: So what I mean, what a game. Bioware, Star Wars RPG, grandfather of Mass Effect. Incredibly janky, let's face it. And the the sequel also was not really ever finished, and it was left
Andy: Yep.
James: down to the fans to sort of finish that game. I mean, it was one of the games I think that really made me sit up and take notice. this is what gaming can do. And for me, it would have to be a so maybe a remaster because I'd like them to just bring the graphics up to modern day standards.
Andy: Yeah, I think a remaster will work quite well with it.
James: Smooth it, polish it out, but keep everything else the same because
Andy: Keep everything the same, yeah.
James: that game was absolutely incredible.
Andy: I was, mean, the choice system and I mean, again, not the huge Bioware thing, but the companions, you know, they weren't just generic kind of followers. You'd get actual characters and they'd have, you know, dialogue and personalities and some of them really kind of memorable and your decisions kind of actually sort of affected your relationships with them.
James: massively. I mean, it the the whole sort of karma system that is in a lot of video games these days, albeit not so much recently, you don't see it a lot, but that sort of era of games where you had the choices to be made and it was it would result in your character taking a darker path or taking the higher ground and sort of like staying on the light side. I mean, especially when it comes to Star Wars, what better franchise to represent the karma system in a game than Star Wars with the Force and the Dark Side? Let's just face it, it spoke to the the massive nerd in me and and
Frank: Yeah.
James: for for me it was w it's up there with one of the the best games I've ever played.
Andy: i would concur i mean to be fair you can still play it now it's free to play
James: You can still play it now, and I have played it more sort of like recently.
Frank: Yeah, I think it's on the switch and everything, yeah. Yeah.
James: even the second one, I mean like the sequel was not as good as the first one and it was kinda never finished and there was fan patches and mods and things that you could do to actually make the game playable all the way through and have a proper ending and stuff like that, but
Frank: What's the second one done by a different team?
Andy: not sure
James: I don't know.
Andy: i didn't really pay the second Okay, yeah,
Frank: Right.
Andy: it's a good one, James. I'm always happy anything Star Wars. Mine, think, same as last time, mine is the best by far. mine, no, you'll see exactly
James: Ha ha ha.
Andy: why in a minute. You'll see why in a minute. Mine is prototype.
Frank: Next.
James: Nah, boo. Terrible. No one wants that.
Andy: Nice, you know that's a good one.
James: come on, man. Prototype was amazing, yeah.
Andy: Prototype was awesome. It had so many... It was, exactly. See, I keep coming up with the best stuff. for me, it would have to be a remake. You'd keep all the original things that made it really cool and groundbreaking. I think one of the biggest things about the game was the power fantasy. So you weren't just a normal soldier. You're like a superhero who kind of has to, you know, like a walking biological apocalypse. could, you do everything. You'd run up buildings. You could jump you distances. You could glide across the city. You could eat people. You could shape shift. You could, you know, transform his arms into weapons. You could regenerate. You could throw cars. You could pick up, you could do anything and everything. You could rip through tanks. You could hijack a helicopter. And you could do that whenever you wanted. Literally, the entirety, I think it was New York, wasn't it, was your playground. So the entire premise around that game was just something that hadn't been done before. The idea of it, you know, the Blacklight virus, the fact that you can consume people and when he does, he can consume their memories and their appearance, their knowledge, their identity. So you can walk up to somebody, consume them and become them. It had like an investigation system, which I think could be massively expanded in a remake. So you hunt people that are connected to the outbreak. You find targets, you consume them, you receive fragments of their memories. You can gradually piece together what's happened. So it's basically like an assassin's creedy investigation, body horror, superhero sandbox, do anything you want.
Frank: Actually never played it.
Andy: You should.
James: Never played prototype.
Frank: Nope. And I was waiting for a break to say I've never played that. Yeah. Never
Andy: Yeah
Frank: played it. Never played it. There's a couple of them. I'm now looking into it thinking, yeah. And there's like they've got two and three as well. Never played it.
Andy: Yeah, it's one of those things I think you...
Frank: Is it worth going back to though?
Andy: 100 %!
James: Prototype was amazing, yeah. And begrudgingly I'll admit that this time I think Andy takes the takes the cake with his choice.
Andy: But yeah, I think a remake, it doesn't need to change many things. A lot of it was right. All the crazy things you could do, include all that, but just make it of bigger and better. I mean... Again, this goes back to what I was saying about people kind of taking things for granted. I mean, that entire city reacted to you. The outbreak would get worse. The environment would change. The military presence would increase. You'd see more infected on the streets. Certain areas you couldn't get through normally. You could trigger massive battles between the military and the infected. Sometimes I'd just stand on top of a building and look, holy crap, I did that. Like that's cool. That's really cool. And to me, that's what gaming should be about. I think it has got a big following of people that really appreciate that game. think the only thing that overshadowed it slightly, it released about the same time as Infamous, didn't it? I think Prototype was a better game, but Infamous got more coverage. And I think...
James: That's a bold statement there.
Andy: But yeah, so that's mine. I make myself a little trophy. Actually, you guys can make me a trophy. I expect handwritten medals. I'm going to HR. I'm not happy about this.
James: A good choice again. Make yourself a trophy. Give yourself a pound of it. I'm not making you anything.
Frank: Yep, you win that one. yeah, yeah. Yeah. You can come back tomorrow. Told you, join the queue.
James: I make it out of a a milk bottle lid. Yeah, I've already I've already filed a complaint with HR.
Andy: Okay, right. So now it's time for true or false. This is where Andy, me, will give you three crazy stories that are gaming related. They could all be true. None of them could be true. It is up to you to tell me which you think are and which you think aren't.
James: I'll just say I love I love this part.
Andy: I
Frank: Well you only 'cause you you got it right last week. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
James: I got all of them last week, yeah. Hmm, where's my trophy?
Andy: This is true, this is true. So I'm gonna give you each scenario and then I want each of your answers for each one first and then we'll move on to the
James: Thank you.
Andy: next one. So the first story is a group of former Xbox developers have announced a new co-op game where up to six players become students. whose main objective is to cause as much chaos as possible at school your missions involve things like setting traps and taking dares and deliberately giving yourself injuries that can land you in hospital is that true or false? James
James: Yeah.
Andy: Frankie.
Frank: Going with true as well.
Andy: You are both correct. This is a game called
Frank: BAG
Andy: Hijinks High, which has been announced by Sackbird Studios, which is a formed by former ZeniMax Online developers. a co-op school based, yeah, it's a co-op school
James: Yeah.
Andy: based chaos game with up to six players with missions involving pranks, dares, and deliberately causing mayhem. So.
James: Was this I d I actually think that when you were describing it it rang a bell for me because I think I remember reading an article recently that said there was a new game and it compared it to basically bully. Yeah.
Andy: Bully, yeah. That's what I was thinking. As I was reading that, was thinking it reminds me of, reminds me of bully.
James: Yeah, like a co-op bully.
Andy: Yeah. Okay, so the next one is a new co-op game from the developers behind Mouthwashing. Puts players inside a tank where each player controls a different part of the vehicle. But the catch is that the crew can actually see each other physically operating the Missouri in real time. True or false?
James: Wait, what?
Frank: Yeah, go on. Explain that one again, 'cause that I'm going with true, but I'm gonna have a look at this. Yeah.
Andy: So a new co-op game from the developers behind mouth washing puts players inside a tank where each player controls a different part of the vehicle. But the catch is that the crew can actually see each other physically operating the machinery in real time.
James: I don't understand the concept of being able to see Java operate
Frank: Yeah.
James: in the
Frank: It's so wild I'm going to say true.
James: gonna say true mainly because yeah, I think I'm not I'm not quite understanding
Frank: I wanna see this at work.
James: the
Andy: Yeah, so it's true. The real game is called Carkus
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: Clad, which is a co-op tank game from Wrong Organ, which is a developer behind Mouthwashing, Players operate different sections of the tank and they have to communicate with one another to survive. the specific, basically the tank physically falls apart if someone abandons their station. So it's half true, half false.
Frank: Still go true.
James: Do that?
Frank: You can the game's not called half true, half false. It's not make up as you go along.
James: The game's not called Did I Make Part of This?
Andy: I can. This is my section. I can do anything I want. I am the game master.
Frank: No, I went to him last.
James: I mean that's why it didn't make that's why it didn't make any sense because you made it up. I am actually now looking at this game, carcass clad, and it is
Andy: So next.
Frank: I
James: kind of what you said, like
Andy: Yeah, yeah.
James: each part of the tank does need to be operated separately.
Andy: Yeah.
James: But the thing that you that you said made no sense and threw me off. It was a red herring, but we still got ya.
Frank: Yeah.
Andy: It was a red herring. Okay, final one. Concerned Ape announced that the next major Stardew Valley update going to introduce a fully 3D mode allowing players to switch. So obviously currently it's 2D. They've got a switch between 2D and first person 3D version in Pelican Town.
Frank: False.
James: Yeah, I'm going false.
Andy: is indeed folks but you do you but you did but you did you believe me for a second
James: See you gotta you gotta get up much earlier to catch us up.
Frank: So good. Yeah. You gotta make it up, Andy.
James: No
Frank: No, not for that one. Yeah, not for that one.
Andy: Well, there has actually been a recent discussion around what Stardew Valley might look like in 3D.
James: I mean I'm sure there has, but it doesn't mean that they're going to do it.
Frank: Mm-hmm.
Andy: is true. mean, I, I
James: so far, so far you haven't managed to catch me out.
Andy: don't, I don't often play. I played it a little bit, but I'm, not sure. like the concept of looking at my Stardew Valley neighbor directly in the eyes while I'm trying to work out what I've spent 400 hours watering parsnips. So either,
Frank: Yeah.
James: Silently judging you.
Andy: yeah, yeah. The silent judgment. I'm not sure that's something I'm, I'd want to get
Frank: yes. His parsnips are bigger than mine.
Andy: involved in.
James: All you need to all you need then is for the NPC to turn around and you go, You're wasting your life. What are you doing? Go out there and grow some real parsnips. Contribute
Andy: Yeah
Frank: Get out, Ball.
James: to society.
Frank: Ha ha ha.
Andy: okay i think we were almost at the end of before we do finish you wanna wanna come to you guys say what's the what's the this is the listeners and the viewers what's the biggest gaming disappointment you've ever experienced and if you only a tomorrow would you bring one of their dead i p's back Let us know in the comments, on our socials or wherever you're listening to the podcast. We'll pick out some of your answers and we'll bring them into a future episode. So finally, it's time for our save file, which is a little section where we kind of talk about one thing we've discovered this week that deserves saving. That could be anything. could be a game, hardware, a developer, a gaming story, some tech. Whatever it is. And I'll start with you, James.
James: so I just want to take this opportunity to talk about a A game that I was reviewing recently for the website. A game called Rift Storm. And actually, Andy, you played this game with me.
Andy: Well, I didn't, did I?
James: And I Have to say that so far this year, that game has been one of the biggest gaming surprises for me.
Frank: Good.
James: I didn't say it was positive. No, it was. It was. Yeah. It it was. It was.
Frank: No. Yeah, I did read your review. Yeah, no, it was. You said it was. I feel a bit jealous actually 'cause it did look like a kind of it did look pretty cool.
James: It was really good, yeah. I mean so I will be the first to admit I looked at that game when we received the review code for it and thought, okay, you know, it looks like it could be all right. It's sort of another isometric shooter game. you know, the the bullet hell genre and things like that. You see quite a lot of them these days. But the more I played that game, the more I was hooked. And it's an early access game. Well, by the time this episode is released, it will be
Frank: Yeah, so on a
James: available in early access. And I would urge anybody that likes looter shooters or the twin stick shooter style of game, isometric view games like Diablo and things like that, give it a go because It is a game that I think will surprise you.
Andy: Yeah, I agree. think, yeah, we obviously we played that co-op and yeah, it was genuinely fun. Okay, that's a good one, James. I'm gonna, I think, start introducing my personal save files as movements. So my save file this week is a movement, like a mantra. I'm gonna save a phrase this week, which is, I'll just do one more mission. Because
James: Yeah.
Andy: it has never meant one more mission. It means suddenly it's 2.47 in the morning. I've eaten an entire packet of biscuits. My character's now carrying 37 weapons I didn't need. And I've somehow started a side quest involving a farmer's missing bloody goat. So I'm gonna save just one more mission because apparently I'm incapable of learning.
James: Yeah, I think that that applies to all of us, right?
Frank: Fair enough. That's fair enough. Yep. That's fair enough.
Andy: Yeah.
James: Just one more. Just one more. It's fine. Just one more mission and and then I'll and then I'll log
Andy: It's fine, yeah, just one more.
James: off. I'll I'll go to bed at a reasonable time tonight. Just one more mission.
Frank: Mine's like, just half an hour, just half an hour and I'll I'll be off and everything. And then an hour and a half later,
James: Ha ha
Frank: you haven't even done what you wanted even to do in the first place. Yeah, it's just yeah, it's like
Andy: Well, that's where you're going wrong. You're doing it in half hour segments. You can't do it in half hour segments.
James: Sidetracked. Rookie era right there.
Andy: Yeah, Rikiera.
Frank: No, but another rookie era, mate, it's learning.
Andy: Frankie, what's your save file?
Frank: I my save file for the week has definitely been we we went away, me and my partner for the week. as I was doing a few bits for the website. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't shut up. That's another one.
James: Hold on, I'm not sure where he's going with this. This is a this is a family-friendly podcast, you know, it's not that kind of podcast.
Andy: Yeah, this is this is a family show family show Frankie Yeah, if you saved if you saved that that's up to you
Frank: Yeah yeah. We just don't want to know about it.
James: Yeah, not here.
Frank: no, we're we were doing a bit I was doing a bit of work for the site and it come up saying that you guys online and you were playing that is it Senra? The game that you were doing you you were reviewing for us, Andy? Sonara,
Andy: So Sonara, yeah.
James: Sonara, yeah.
Frank: sorry that Sonara. And watching you guys playing it and it just brought back a lot of memories of watching and and playing with you guys and it and having such a laugh. the game's quite a scary game it was very funny hearing us all together watching and and kind of play it I know you had the controls Andy and you were doing everything but it was very good and it did bring back a lot of memories or a lot of fun memories. of of playing with you guys and like my partner doesn't she's not a gamer but she actually enjoyed it. She actually la was laughing away with the way we were reacting to it as well. So it was really good and that's definitely a good memory which I'll definitely keep.
Andy: i think that was a little bit too heartfelt emotional and nearly crying
James: Yeah Trikey, Frankie, you get a bit sentimental in your old age. It was it was it was fun.
Andy: Goodness me, yeah.
Frank: No, it was good though. It was it did bring back memory. It was good, man. It was funny. And then hearing you at the end was Shank him, shank him in the head Just made it brilliant. And I I know like we we recorded so much more, we could only put so much actually on the website and and with the social media size to it, but w it was definitely a funny, yeah, it was very funny, a load more going on and yeah. No.
James: A lot a lot of that conversation was not fit for broadcast, unfortunately, but using using humor to break the tension of the horror game, it was very much that.
Frank: Not a podcast. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. But it was very good.
Andy: No, no exactly yeah there were Yeah, there were some, there were some expletives for sure.
Frank: Yeah, very good.
Andy: That's it. That's it for this episode of WorldSideGaming, the gamers podcast. So, I mean, thanks everyone for listening. Thanks for watching. Thanks for being part of the WildStarGaming community. We've talked about disappointment. We've talked about $55 billion takeovers, games coming back from the dead. And somehow throughout all of that, James has managed to not waffle for an entire five minutes.
James: Where's my medal?
Frank: Yeah. That's that's that's where beg that's what you really want. You ask what the medal's for.
James: Yeah. That's the that's the real metal wurvy thing
Andy: We will make
James: right there. Yes.
Andy: you one. We will make you one. We'll be back next time with more real games, real tech, real reviews, real chats. Until then, take care and we'll see you next time.
Frank: DLA guys.
James: Thanks for listening.
