Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Kinda Funny LIVE at BlizzCon!

Episode Date: September 13, 2026

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Prograde ergonomics for the highest level of play Welcome to the Kind of Funny games cast I'm one of your host Greg Miller alongside the master of hype snow bike Mike Bliz Conwater And of course Kind of Funnies A RPG expert you know him from the Diablo

podcast, it's Zanth Diablo 5 Shout out to the Twitch chat before this They were like did Greg know That he would be hosting a panel right after the announcement of Diablo 5 He did not. He did not.

A very exciting day for me. Of course, a very painful day for one Snowbike Mike's bank account. Greg, let me tell you what. I swiped that card today. And I'm happy about it. Everybody, thank you for coming out, spending, of course,

your Saturday evening of BlizzCon with us. It's a pleasure to be here and entertain you. If you didn't know, of course, this is the kind of funny games cast. Each and every weekday, we run you through the biggest topics in gaming, whether it'd be reviews, previews, or what Mike spent on his credit card.

Of course, we couldn't do this without our supporters on patreon.com slash Kind of Funny. So thank you, Omega Buster, Delaney the Somme Twining, and Michael Pesavento. Of course, if you're watching live on YouTube and Twitch, great. This is a Saturday show. I'm not looking at the chats. Instead, I got real people here, right? That's what I like to hear.

A lot of you, clapping. I don't want that anymore. I want yelling, screaming. People need to understand. The crowd is here. All right? Michael, talk to me about how much money you spent at the Blizzard Blizzcon store. Greg Miller, I swiped that card. Okay. I got a big bag.

production, we're going to move around a little bit. Get ready for this one. Every other panel has just been people sitting here talking so serious. Oh, geez, he's got the receipt. Greg Miller, of course, it's my lifelong dream to come to BlizzCon. I'm so excited to be here. You ask, Mike, how much have you spent $431? Honestly, less than I was expecting.

I expect that number up there. Fashion jump. Fashion jump. So, yeah, we're going to give a little fashion show right now. I need everybody to get loud, okay, on some of the cool things I got at the merch store. Option number one, who got excited for that StarCraft announcement. Are you kidding me?

Look at this Heather Gray, StarCraft sweater right there. Are we pumped up about the return of StarCraft, everybody? An open world shooter, come on now. I went there, I was like, I want that blues con, Heather Gray. They're like, that sold out day one. I was like, I'll go get a Diablo one. Going over there, it's like three and four X. I'm like, God damn.

Well, Greg Miller. I'm someone who loves you and adores you. No. Zanth and Greg, you are my Diablo boys. No. And I got my boss, my favorite guy, a very special Excel. Open it up. Diablo Blisscon hoodie.

Yeah. What about this is Mike bought this for himself last night when it's giving it to me? Because I see this. I love you. I love you too. I thank you so much. Mike, did you use the kind of funny credit card? I don't know of this on me, baby.

Now this is where I need the audience. And of course, if you're watching live, right now and Twitch it on YouTube. I need you to gas me up. Because I went out of my comfort zone on this. I like this. I like this. Yeah, fashion.

My first ever jean jacket. Wow! Hold the microphone. I'll hold the microphone snow bike. Mike, ladies and gentlemen, and he is a man about town in San Francisco and needs as many offices to get. Oh, Mike. No, no.

This is a good look, Mike. This is a great look. No, I like this a lot. Of course, getting excited for all things, Overwatch, celebrating 10 years. We're going to be. talking about Overwatch on the panel. Who likes Overwatch here?

Feels nice. Tell you what, it feels nice. It looks good. Thank you. But here's the one key thing you need to do. Wear it again. You need to wear it again. Real quick, by a round of applause.

And please, don't worry about hurting my feelings. Who isn't like a kind of funny fan? Who got dragged here? Who's here for the announcement to the people? Mike Manotti, fuck you. Why do you? The loudest clapper, giant bombs, Mike Manati. If you're new around here

You need to understand Mike buys clothes wears them maybe once and never again Did you even wear the pickman shirt? I never wore the pigment shirt I actually lost the pigment shirt So Roger, this first time I'm saying that I'm so sorry I don't know where it is

I don't know It's a great look I like it a lot How does it feel? Is it fit good? Are you happy with it? It feels good, it looks good I'm ready to get excited And we're gonna have Aaron on the podcast later on We are, we are we are

You know I'm gonna talk all things overwatch I'm gonna show it off See if he recognizes If any of you are of course Watching on the official Blizzard channels and don't know the kind of funny games cast. Hello, welcome, like I said, reviews and previews and all that jazz. But you tuned into a good one because our panel was basically completely redacted.

The program was just like, come see kind of funny talk. And we're like, oh, but we're going to have guests. We're going to have devs. We're going to have all these cool people who come out and talk about the games they announced today, including, of course, Starcraft. StarCraft, big deal. Including Diablo Five. Big deal.

As you know, I hate using notes, but I had to because there's so many announcements that we have to talk about. There's so many different things as you click through this. And I take a lot of Diablo notes I did. You, a lot. We're talking about Overwatch. And, of course, we're talking about World of Warcraft. So let's kick it off with a little wow, everybody.

Please welcome to the stage, the one, the only you know him from the Bliscon show today. Ian has a co-stice. Hello, Ian. Handshake there. Good to see you. Good to see you. Good to see you. Ian, of course, has been running around all day doing interviews and appearances.

It's just a casual quiet day, am I, Ian? Just a casual quiet day. Ian dope jacket yourself all right we're gonna gas everybody up here it's about fashion

all right thank you one person you got us today I like your energy you're here at the end of this you've had your end of day one you've had your big announcement

this is like the middle of day one you still have quite a left to do tonight talk to me about what this feels like to have it out there you've done the thing I think so few people

understand what it's like to work on a project for as long as you work on a video game then finally get to reveal what's happening and keep moving? It is cathartic and exciting. I mean, we have been, I was going to say keeping the secret for a while, but it hasn't necessarily been the best kept secret, but that's part of the fun of it.

A lot of bliss gone this year. Yeah, just being able to, you know, pull the curtain back and what the teams have been working on for years and start getting feedback. I will admit, like, in the 15 minutes I had between opening ceremony and getting out for the forever, what's next panel, I was, like, F5 and Reddit, like, just trying to, like, read every real,

time comment that I possibly could. That's been my day today. That's going to be, you know, the rest of the week for the whole team, right? It's just like, just put it in our veins, right? We've been working on this thing behind closed doors for so long and to be able to share it, to be able to see people actually playing it on the floor downstairs and soon, you know, getting into the beta in a few days, it's amazing. So talk to me about that. Again, we're at BlizzCon. We have a great BlizzCon audience here, but so many people are watching at home for kind of funny, don't know necessarily about World of Work. Forever. Talk to me about that. That was the big one that capped it off. Yeah, so World

Warcraft Forever is a whole new way to play World of Warcraft. It's a new experience that's going to stand alongside the modern game that's been evolving for the last 20 years, the classic recreation of how it was in the beginning. World of Warcraft Forever is a new game that is based in the roots and the philosophies of where Wow started, like a slower pace, a more meaningful journey where every step is earned, but what you earn matters. And we're not going to replace it tomorrow in a patch or make it irrelevant where the world is the main character rather than a big cast of heroes and villains that are dominating things but all new content all new development and updated engine and a future roadmap where this is just the beginning and we

cannot wait to welcome the world in to experience it snowmike mike i mean i got a giant smile i'm i was going to say you take it away this is the man whose grandmother you said i can't get through the phone lines you're like nah me and jacks were playing five to midnight Every day, sorry. Thanks, Mom, for paying that credit card bill. We appreciate you. Wow, what an awesome announcement. Of course, very exciting with the community as well.

And I think it's just wild to go back to the two big continents that we know. And somehow you guys tell new stories inside of it, right? It feels like we've been there, done that. But you say, no, Mike, we have a lot more to tell. That's the exact idea. I mean, really, this is a project that's born from the community's passion. When we re-released Classic in 2019, you know, some people jumped in, played it. And they were like, man, this is the perfect game,

except for the fact that I've already played it, except for the fact that it's already been solved, and there's guides for everything, and everything is out there. I just wish there were more in this style, as opposed to level cap going up, leaving that original world behind. And it's something we've been building up towards. We had to kind of relearn how to build in that style in some ways.

We had to get a lot of guidance from the community to make sure we understood what they were looking for. but the team has been cooking for a few years now, and it is amazing to get it out there. It's really exciting to see. I mean, four new areas you're going to open up. We have new dungeons, new raids, a new race as well. All in this, that is the forever home,

that vanilla feel of going back to the original. It's really impressive to see. Thank you. And this is just the start. I mean, this is everything that's coming that you just described is coming with release in November and December, but we also have laid out the beginnings of a roadmap with major updates.

zones, new dungeons, new raids, they're going to keep coming in these updates and not just at max level. Some of these dungeons, some of these new zones and quests are going to be level up content to keep fleshing out that world and expanding it sort of horizontally. We're not looking to replace the stuff that you did. We're not looking to say, oh, this is, you know, that was yesterday's content, you should be doing this new thing. We wanted to be additive.

And I think in that way, this is a version of the game that can perhaps respect players' time more than any of the others. And I know that's a heavy thing to say when it comes to World of Warcraft. Oh, but it sounds good. Oh, it sounds good though. Right? Like World of Warcraft, wait, that game's going to consume your life. That game takes, you know, all the time in the world. And yes, the classic style of the game

is, you know, progress is earned. It asks your time. But that time will retain value. The things you earn are not going to get swept away. You're not going to miss out on something because you were a little bit too slow, you're not going to feel like you got left behind, that world's always going to be there for you to experience at your own pace and the things that you earn today will matter tomorrow, will matter next year.

Everything you're saying is everything I've ever wanted. And let me tell you why. Why are you making eye contact with me to say that? This one is for you. I have a really close friend, somebody I love. I gave him a sweater just about five minutes ago because I care about him. He won't play World of Warcraft with me because it's mouse and keyboard. And he goes, Mike, I got to play on a game pad.

I need a controller. Official game pad support. If I got news for you. Blizzard listens, everybody. Took 30-some years. It was just for you. We made it just for you. I appreciate you.

No, I mean, it's watching, you know, people jump through a whole bunch of hoops and modding the game and using add-ons for years to try to make it work with a controller and doing a pretty good job of it and having a good time. And you shouldn't have to jump through those hoops if you have a handheld, you have a steam deck, whatever,

you just want to plug a controller into your PC and chill and kick back and kill some works, go for it. Yeah. What's funny, you know, is you're talking about the people who came to vanilla and were like, oh, yeah, been here, done that kind of thing. That was my wife where we had this dinner last night or this conversation at dinner last night with her where she was like, yeah, you know, I did try and I played wow for a week with her, but then got too lost in the lore, what's happening, I'm using a mob

that isn't exactly what I wanted. And then last night she was like, you know, yeah, I wish we could have that experience, have the visuals, have that classic style. So if you get her, you get me. It's that easy. All right. I'll take it.

Combo deal. Zanth, are we getting your son? No, you've tried to get him to play this stuff. Well, I'm surprised you didn't follow up with if they're already going to give you what you've been asking for, which is controller support. Yeah. What about console support?

Honestly, not at this time. There's a lot of other things to know. things to navigate and problems to solve in that space. You want to make sure we're delivering a great experience on whatever platform we're on, and PC is what we know, but certainly never going to say never. Yeah, okay. After this, you tell me how to spell your last name again.

I'm texting Asha Sharma. All right, we're going to get this crap. Where's this is going to happen? You are juggling a lot. We have a lot to talk about with Warcraft in a little time, right? So you guys are now juggling retail, classic, and forever. How does that feel for the team? Can we talk a little bit about retail?

And, of course, continuing that story. you brought up on stage. We're about halfway through. We're looking towards at the conclusion of how big this is going to be and really capping this off. How has that been going? And what's the excitement level there? It's been awesome. I mean, really, you know, the team's bigger than it's ever been. And that gives us the bandwidth to be able to give the right amount of focus to all of these projects and serve their communities and serve our players without taking away from another piece of it all. And yet, the World Soul saga, Modern World Warcraft, still going strong. We're right in the middle of it right now, as we saw this morning.

We're on the verge of taking the fight to what's been the big, bad villain of the saga so far, Zalatath. And this is, you know, this is the epic that Chris Metson came back to Blizzard to tell. And it's been an honor helping bring it to life. And what we are on the verge of getting into is not really just about wrapping up stories from the World Soul Saga itself, but wrapping up things that have been in the works truly for two decades. little hints that have been dropped about the nature of our world, the Titans, who they are, where they came from, what these forces mean, what's going on in Northrend,

what all those facilities that we found were for. We're going to learn all of that in the last Titan just around the corner and can't wait to fully pull back the curtain and talk all about it. I'm taking up all this because we have 60 seconds and there's one massive announcement. Go for it. Go big dog. War is back in Warcraft. Warcraft 3 getting content, a brand new campaign.

You gotta make some noise. This is my childhood dream. This is everything to me. In 2006. You believe it. Who would have thought? Well, you brought Reforged back to my life, and I can't thank you enough for that.

And now you're going to add content. Can you tell me a little bit about the campaign, the excitement to go back into the RTS genre with Warcraft? Yeah, so there's a patch that's already out there to download 3.0 for everyone who owns Reforge. That's just like a universal update, improved graphics, improved quality of life, and more. And then Foraken Kingdom is this,

30-hour campaign that tells the story immediately following that scene that we saw in the throne room of Lordoran, where King Terenus was slain by his son, and Arthus fully kind of started down that dark path to become the Litch King. And it's so exciting to tell stories in this world, and we can't wait for people to get their hands on it and let us know what they think, and hopefully let us know if they want to see more. Clap it up, climb it up. This is important. We make a lot of noise for this. Believe it or not, Ian, that's all the time we have you for, because we are a hot seat panel, but you did great,

and I'm very excited for all of this. Love you, thank you. Love you, thank you. But give it up for Ian. But while you give it up for Ian, keep it going, because up next is the one, the only, Joe Shelley from Diablo. Hey, Joe.

Hi, Joe. Are we shaking hands every time? I don't know. We don't have much time, but I feel like we should. It's rude not to. Joe, you sit down and you tell us everything about Diablo 5, you motorboat and son of a gun! Well, it's, you know, like I said, we're a long way from the campfire at this point. Yeah.

Everything is destroyed. The world is just flat crater. No, it's a world that starts from the premise of what if Diablo won, right? What if the heroes? Heroes tried and failed, and he's sitting on the throne. And you play as the heir, right? You're the heir to Westmarch, to this kingdom, but there's no kingdom. It's just Diablo and these dread commanders running amok throughout the Western continent.

And so you're going to have to forge a caravan of survivors that travels with you through the land, defeat these dread commanders and try to kick Diablo off that throne. I love it. It was an exciting announcement. I know Zamp has about 9,000 questions. So I want to get to him, but the one thing I want to say is, was there any trepidation to talk about this game the way y'all are talking about it right now? 29, we put a date on it, right? We had the teaser trailer during the show, and I know you've all been running around the show. Awesome. If you missed the panel, they have gone into such detail about here are the classes where that's why I have so many notes right of course sanctuary

falls we got a demon hunter we have a monk we have for the first new class we're announcing the plague night you're talking about itemization you're talking about the caravan like you're going in depth on a game that feels so far away it is but we figured if we're going to come here and we're going to start talking to people about the game and saying hey you know we want to develop this game alongside the community we can't just show up and say hey here's a teaser CLA We needed to actually address things that people care about. It's refreshing. It's bold.

Zanthier off the leash go. I can go off now. You can go, buddy. Thank you. Okay. So the last time we had a game director stay with Diablo was D1 to D2. You are now moving from D4 to D5. So what lessons are you carrying forward from D4 that?

that you're taking into D5? How long do we have? Seven minutes. No, you know, that's a great point. I think we learned and the team learned so much from Diablo 4. One of the key lessons is to make sure that we're building the game for the community.

You know, if you look at things, there are things in D4 that we have today, things like the overlay map, for example, or a loop filter, these are things that, you know, frankly, it's possible to know that the community loves and before they arrived in Diablo 4, right? And we want to make sure that with Diablo 5, we're delivering a complete end game,

we're delivering a game that has constant discovery, we've got the procedural world, but all of these things alongside features that players tell us that they want, and the only way to do that is to talk about the game. Nice. You know, as we, Greg already kind of alluded, we got some new classes. I know what to expect with a demon hunter. I know what to expect with a monk.

What can you tell me about the plague night? So the plague night is heavily armored. It's not necessarily the most mobile class. It's not as mobile as the demon hunter, for example. But you're going to be spreading disease and you sort of control the battlefield by manipulating that. You can consume it. You can move it around. you have a lot of like battlefield control

but not through minions. I know there's at least one person out here who's concerned about minions. There he is. Yeah. No, you don't have to name a class, but will we be seeing a return of minions in Diablo V? Yeah, of course.

Fundamental part. You know, you think about the... Sometimes you think of the Trinity of, you know, like a tank caster ranged character but really in Diablo you have this fourth pillar which is this commander minion class

and so we want to make sure of course that we have that in Diablo 5 Diablo 5 and like I said earlier today Diablo 5 features more classes than we've ever had in a Diablo game so there's a lot of space to explore

so you know that's a soft confirmation of additional class sure run with the James Jason Shryer, you can write that. Do you guys have anything? I don't want to get in your way. Yeah, I don't want to get in your way. Okay.

You're the Diablo podcast. That's what you do. I don't want to... Well, thank you. I don't want to just suck up all the oxygen. Well, for the record, too, those are your co-host clapping who went on the Diablo podcast, like, what are you guys doing on Saturday? They didn't say they were coming to this panel.

Don't make a sweat. They had to make them sweat. I appreciate that. Thanks, Greg. No problem. Keep you in your place, too. I mean, it's fair. Okay, so let's shift gears a little bit.

Let's talk Diablo 4. You announced the Switch 2 edition today. How long is... And did everybody get a chance to go out and play it yet? I did. Yeah, that was like the first thing we went to. It literally was. Literally.

How long has that been in formation? For a while. It's important when we bring the game to a new platform, like Diablo 4 to a new platform, that it plays really well on the console or the controller. Of course, Diablo 4 has good controller support, but there are some unique things to the Switch too that we wanted to make sure just really sang.

And it really does. So you got an additional day, get out there, give it a shot. What you're going to play, though, is not just the Switch version, but we do get the season of Hell's legacy. Deckerde Kaine is back, guys. Woo! Joe, do you have a Decker Kane impression?

Ooh. I don't think so. Stay a while. That's a bad. That's good. That's good. I think every Diablo player has at least one Deckerd Kain

in the back. You can whip it out when you need to. You need to identify these items. So we get Deckard Kaine back. Is Michael Goff doing any voice lines for this? He is, yes. New lines from an old friend.

Yeah, new lines from an old friend. And we can find Michael out here tomorrow. So go see his voice actor panel. If I was better at this, I would know what time it is. It's a pretty good transition either way. Right. But while we're here about Diablo, but in the shadow now of Diablo

5. What can I expect from Diablo 4 continued support? Obviously, seasons are still ongoing. We announced the Amazon class. I'm stoked to make a Wonder Woman. Let's go. But like, thank you very much. Remember, Diana. Don't talk about Wonder Woman 1984.

But the question would be like, are we ever going to, do you expect more classes? Do you expect more expansions? I know you have nothing to announce at this time, but are we winding down four as you build up five or is four continuing? Well, we're not planning to build more expansions for Diablo 4, but there's a lot more seasonal content. Of course, we announced the Amazon today.

Diablo 4 is going strong. And the Amazon, of course, has an entirely new weapon type, the javelin. Yeah. Which is like a medium range weapon. Like, if you play Diablo 2, itarkens to that. You know, it's got that flavor. Hell yeah. Like, you know, I'm just excited about all the announcements.

the Amazon in particular, as a D2 player, that is an iconic class that I'm very excited to see. Can we dive a little bit into maybe like some of the skills you might see some callbacks to things? Is there any teases you can give me about what we'll see? Well, we want to make sure that anytime we do a, bring a class back like this, that we're paying off the way that you felt when you played that class before. And that's why we've got, you know, bow skills, we've got javelin skills. We've got all of the aspects of it that you remember if you were playing in G2

and some new stuff that I will let people try out for themselves. I appreciate that. My one question about Diablo 5, to close it out, you talked in the panel about bringing back procedural regeneration, right, for levels for dungeons. Why was that important for 5? Well, the world of Diablo 4 is expansive

and it gives us the opportunity to have, to do things like running across the continent. But when we think about Diablo 5, we wanted to be able to have that aspect of constant discovery, being able to go back to the same place and have it be totally new, not just new monsters, but transformed. Dread commanders are there. The world is totally different.

New areas, same environment, completely new areas. Okay, great. Thank you so much, Joe. Thank you, Joe. Give it up for Joe and Diablo. Keep that applause going, everybody now making their way to the stage to talk. Overwatch. It's Aaron Kellynne.

And all shake hands in once. We all shake hands in once. All at once. Everybody's hand in it once. That's how we're going to do it. That's how we do the same time. That's how we do the same time. Hello, Aaron.

How are you? So good. Yeah? So good. Yeah. This is like, BlisCon is the most exciting thing that you can do as a game developer. It's pretty amazing. I can imagine.

game development usually pretty behind the scenes, pretty not interfacing with thousands of people on stage. Yeah. And it's like there's that moment when the doors open. I don't know if any of you were there for it this morning. Like I snuck out of like hair and makeup for opening ceremonies and kind of like watched everybody come in. And it's kind of like, it's like this like excited zombie horde like streaming through the doors. And it's like you can just feel the energy. That was the one thing. You could feel the footsteps. Whole place shaking. No, I loved you during the Bliscon

keynote presentation opening ceremonies. You came out and you had that, my God, both feeling for what we saw with StarCraft, but then getting to come out and see those people. As somebody gets to be on a stage and so lucky, I saw it in your eyes that I'm doing this. This is finally happening. Yeah, and okay, I had never seen that cinematic, by the way,

StarCraft one. We've been doing rehearsals for like a month, and every time they would run that, they would kick me out of the room. They're like, you have to leave. And I could hear it going, you know, like you hear all the sounds and everybody going, oh! And I'm just, I didn't see it. So I was like backstage this morning and the cinematics plane and I'm watching it for the first time.

And when, I mean, spoilers, sorry, but you should have seen it. But the guy dies, right? And I'm like, oh, my God. And I'm just like standing there. And I'm like trying to process it. And then the stage handler is like, you're on. Get out there. I don't even know what to do right now.

But, yeah. Well, what you did is you came out and talked about doctrine. Yes. Tell me all about doctrine. Okay. Yes. Okay. So Doctrine, he's our newest hero, the ninth hero that we've released this year.

And he's, like, inspired by a vampire, basically. You can just say you can see it in him right there, you know? And I think when Overwatch is, like, doing its best, you know, and we're, like, creating, like, our coolest heroes. we're hitting that fantasy or that archetype where when people look at them, they're like, I know what, I know what that person does. Like Reinhardt, you know, he's like this medieval knight or mercy. She's kind of like an angel. This is what doctrine is like, too.

He's just like oozing that sort of like persona, you know? And then he's like, he's got a really cool kit. He's got a really cool kid, Aaron. Yeah, did you get him? Of course I did, Aaron. Let's talk all about that. The man's wearing the overwashed jacket. He's all set, all right?

Come on. I like that jacket, by the way. Yeah. Let's talk about that kid, of course, a new support hero here. Really fun, a kind of mid-range shooter can heal and also call out some cool drone bats. Tell me about that. Yeah, okay. So his weapon, it's his scepter, you know, which is like pretty cool in and of itself.

But it's like really precise, you know. So, yeah, he's mid-range, but there's high aim skill with doctrine, you know. So it's like you've got to hit your shots. with him. And then he does, he has those drones, kind of like, they kind of look like the mechanical bats. You send them out to your teammates. They heal him. They can speed up their attacks. You can like dash, you kind of like almost go into shadow, you know, and kind of like move around the battlefield, but he's got this other ability, you know? And what it does is it transforms all of his other abilities. So if you want to put those bats on people, you hit, you hit that ability. It empowers

the bats, and you get all the effects. So you're healing, it's speeding up your attacks. Instead of just, like, dashing through the level, now you can fly. So you're going to be like, hey, I want to get to high ground. Boom, you can empower the dash and get there. Or you can empower your shot if you want to, and it's actually going to pierce enemies. And so the cool thing about this is it's like, there's a lot of, like, high skill, like high skill cap for this hero, but there's, like, strategic thinking as well.

And so it's like really like deciding the moment you want to use your abilities, the moment you want to empower them in order to have like the biggest impact on the battlefield. He's going to have a big impact. Yeah, okay. Let's talk about some more impact. He's cool. He's the coolest is right. Let's talk about some more impacts. Two hero reworks, some big time talks right now.

Sombra moving classes over to a support role. And then of course, Roadhog. Talk to me about that. Okay. So each of these heroes have been. reworked before, you know, like, maybe. Very funny part of the panel. Very funny part of the keynote.

You know? And it's because, like, there's some issues with their kits, you know? Like, roadhog, he's a tank, but he doesn't do a whole lot to help out his team. And you hear that a lot, like, a lot of times when there's a roadhog on people's team, sometimes they're complaining a little bit. They want somebody to take more space or to protect them more. So he gets an ability now where he can actually mitigate damage. from the enemy team, you know, like, he uses his scrap gun and he kind of like, there's like a handle on it,

and he can kind of like wind it, and it creates like this vacuum and pulls in all of the projectiles that enemies are firing. And the more that he pulls in, he'll fire out his own projectile afterwards. And the more damage he's pulled in, the more that's going to do afterwards. And we've even, like, totally changed up his firing cadence. And so his scrap gun now fires two shots at one time. And they each do, like, pretty heavily reduced damage from that initial one. So like when he does that hook combo, he'll pull people in and then fire into them, it's pretty difficult to get a kill off of that. And we feel like that's fair and it's appropriate. He's a tank. He doesn't need to be one-shotting people all of the time, you know? And then yeah, so SOMBRA, yes. So SOMBRA is like totally moved

roles, you know? And it's like, that's a big change for a character to do something like that because it's not just about like reducing some of the frustration but now like everybody on your team you want them to be excited that sombra is out there healing you so she has to be doing a good enough job of that that you're excited for it but then we've also got all these somber players that they want to be doing somber things right they're like i want to be stealth i want to be like hitting the back line and doing things like that so it was like a huge challenge for us to be able to like, hopefully, hopefully, like, hit that fantasy of what Somber is and what she can do while also having her be able to actually support the team.

I think we've threaded the needle. We're going to get a ton of support from, sorry, a ton of feedback from people at BlizzCon this week, and then she comes out in just a couple of weeks in season five. On Overwatch Day, you and I got together, and we talked about a big year of narrative. We've been pushing the story. Rain of Talent is what we started. with. Here we are three months left, and I'm looking at you, Aaron, going, how are we landing this ship in a big way, and how are we going to take right back off into the next chapter?

Okay, so something we haven't really talked about. I don't know if I've ever talked about this, actually. Exclusive, Jason, start writing. Here we go. Here we go. But so we have six seasons every year in Overwatch, and we want to tell an annual story every year, but we're wrapping this story in season five. So we'll have a cinematic in the middle of is season five, which is like the epic finale of this whole year-long story. And then in season six, we're ramping up to next year. Everything that you're going to see there is all about what's coming next. And I think the thing that I'm like the most excited about here is how do I say this? Doomfist has never been a very good villain. Okay. He's cool, right? He's super cool, but he hasn't

got much done. That's real harsh. So like the point. The point. He's super cool. But he hasn't gotten much done. So like, The point of this year, you know, is like, is Doomfist really worthy of leading talent? You know, and I can't tell you yet how it's all going to end and whether he really is. But if he's the guy at the end of it, it's going to be because he earned it. Yeah. Yes. There we go. I love you.

I'll tell you that recent character reveal and cinematic, he looks like he could be the guy. God, it was pretty cool. Let's, we have a little bit of time. Let's end on some fun. You and I love collabs. We always talk about the cool things you guys do. Leceraphim is in the building. They're putting on a party.

How was it teaming up with them? It's always, so this is like our third collab with Lecerophim. And it's like, it's so fun to do it every time. Because like we started with like the first one. We had this crazy cinematic that we worked on together. And then in this one, we did like their music video, you know? So it's like we were able to partner to do that thing. and it's like we're able to show our newest hero, demon in it.

We also have diva there. And like we've been able to make all of these new skins, including two new ultra skins for those heroes, which have all of these cool new effects in like different parts of them with it. And it's like, it's a blast to be able to do it. It's a lot of blast. It's a lot of blast.

We're finishing the year off strong. You're excited to finish this off, and what can we expect next? Can you tease me with something with the final, 20 seconds. Okay, yes. So every year in Overwatch, we want to be doing something big. You know, like, it's not just about telling a new story, but it's about having that moment.

And, like, BlissCon, it's an amazing time for us. But in February, we've got our next spotlight coming, and it is going to be incredible. I look forward to it. Yeah. The audience looks forward to it. Let's make some noise. Thank you. Keep it going for Aaron.

Keep it going for Aaron. Thank you so much, Aaron. and just keep the claps coming. Our final guest here to talk about Starcraft is none other than Dan. Hey, hello, Dan. We do one handshake. You shake all three hands at once, all three ones. That's how we do it.

That's how we do it? Yeah, okay, great. There we did it. How are you doing, Dan? I'm good. How are you guys doing? Good. Dan, there's a lot to say in a lot of little times, and so that's how you got to say it.

And what I want to say first is this. I've been doing this for 20-some years now. Okay. No one presents like you present. I appreciate it. If you watch today's presentation, you're enraptured. And I can take you back to when he told me about a different game and a different company and I was in raptured.

And this man speaks and we listen. Congratulations on today. I appreciate it. Hey, look, it's a team effort. Totally team effort. Actually, there's some team members that I can see in the audience right now. It's super cool. A team member.

Right on. Yeah, when you're the spokesperson, it's easy because you get team members who are We're basically lifting, and you get to stand on the shoulder of giants and say cool stuff. But it's totally the team that's doing this work. So don't think it's just one person. Okay, fine. But I'm still thinking it's just stupid. You got up there.

You said it's about damn time. And then we jumped into this amazing cinematic. Yeah. What did that moment feel like? What was that energy in the room on that stage? It was weird. Like, it was cool. It was weird.

It's funny because we've been keeping it secret for so long. and so it was, I'm going to tell a weird story. I'll bear with me a second. So right afterwards, you know, I'm up there. I had a lot of tea this morning. I had to go to the bathroom so bad. So I go in to go to the bathroom and somebody comes up to me and goes, wow, super cool.

That was awesome. Way to go with StarCraft. I was like, dude, we can't talk about that yet. I was like, no, we can talk about it. It's just weird. The muscle memory is like, don't talk about it. But what's super cool now is it's out. People have seen it.

People are reacting to it. They're feeling good about it. It feels great. an open world shooter Mike take it away this is your huge deal to bring back an iconic franchise for Blizzard and to step out of the RTS genre which

of course I love but into the open world shooter can you tell me a little bit about that decision yeah so it really come you know people have been asking us how did you how did you pick open world shooter how did it work and the answer is it comes back to story what did we want to be able to do we wanted to be able to make sure that we put the player

in tension and that it felt like there were moments where there were things that were intimate, there were things that were expansive, there were moments where you felt alone, there were moments where you could feel in a group. Obviously, I could talk about story all day, but if I do, somebody's going to come in here and shut me down because they don't want me talking about stories yet. Lizards sniper popped up in the back. Yeah, exactly.

They're like, you have a few bliscones until 2030, save something. So I got to dollop it out a little judiciously. But what's super cool about it is like we talked about the story first, and I talk about this idea of this creative ache. of what's the story that we want to tell? And we wanted to tell a story of what it was like to be a Marine. Tell the story of what it was like to. Because, you know, from the original games, fantastic.

I played a ton of them. They were amazing. But it's all about deploying troops. What happens if you're just one troop? What happened is if you're just one Marine who's out there and you have to survive? I was talking about that quote about somebody who was talking about it from a movie, a gun. And it was like, there are many like it, but this one is mine. Full metal jacket.

Full metal jacket. And you get your Marine suit, and if that was what you get? Right? You guys don't remember your first car. And it probably was not the best car ever, but it was the best car ever. And how do you figure that out? How does that work, right? And the answer is because it was yours.

It was special. It felt amazing. So if we give you this suit of armor, and you could see it in the teaser today, you saw the training going on, you saw the look on his face as he's like, I got my armor. It's the best car ever. This is going to be amazing. And you believe the dogma and the rhetoric of nothing can defeat me. I'm going to go out there and I'm just going to clean house.

And then you watch his face as the door opens and you're, bam, the zirger out there. And you realize, and we spent a lot of time on just the look on his face, that there was that moment. Because, you know, we all have this belief. We all have this sense, like, and at least I think a lot of folks do, that we're the main character in this story, in our personal stories.

And the answer is not always. Sometimes you run into another person, and they're more main character than you are. And it can be a really difficult thing. Mike's the main character. If you've been with Snowbike Mike at all this weekend, you would know that. So the thing is, when you run into those folks,

big personalities, you start to realize, you know, people just think different things. And so what's really interesting is watching somebody who's got this big suit of armor and believing that they can do anything, and then that huge horn sounds, and you watch his face just drop, as the distance between belief and reality closes very, very quickly.

That's the story we're telling. I love that we get a little tease of the story. I would love to ask you more. I know, okay, I mean, will we see some iconic characters, will we have callbacks? How do you bring on a new group of StarCraft fans while also, you know, paying love to the people who have been with it since Starcraft 64, StarCraft 1, StarCraft 2, right?

Totally. I mean, we get asked that question a lot is like, how important is the lore, how important is the legacy, how important is it to pay homage to that? The answer is it's incredibly important. Like, I really feel like I've won the cosmic lottery being able to work on this brand and being able to work at Blizzard. And I know that sounds cheesy. I don't care.

Like, it just, that's how it feels. It's like, what, you get to go to work and you get to work on StarCraft and talk about how somebody is going to destroy a Zerg, with a giant gun. Okay, yeah, I'll do that. Sign me up, right? So the trick is to make sure that this is something that's super important to people.

They care about it. This is, and I care about this. And so we have to make sure that we treat it with the reverence and the honor that it deserves. And so we picked the 70-year-ish, and it's not perfectly 70 years. The lore folks were coming to be going, I think it's 64.5 years.

I was like, okay, we're going to get there. But 70 years for a reason, which is, I love the notion of world, and the idea that if you pick the right amount of time, you have the ability to go, hey, we have enough real estate to be able to give the narrative room to breathe and make new characters, but if we want to bring somebody back, 70 years is not a lot of time.

Sure. So we can do that. We have the artistic license to be able to go back, and maybe you go off into the open world, and you find something, and you have to be very careful what I say right now, but you find an opportunity where you open a door or you unlock a latch, and you realize there's somebody,

I know. And that's the goosebumps we're going after. Talk to me about it, right? Open world shooter. We're talking about the narrative. So we're talking about a single player open world shooter. Correct. I'm running around, opening up stuff doing quests, making up my story

that way. Yep. That's awesome. So for me, I talk about this. Like, sometimes when you're making open world games, people will talk to you and they'll go, it feels like you're making two games. And the answer is, correct. You are making two games. You are making great stoic, story missions that you can go in

and that you really love and you have moments of. And then you're making an open world where you can go out and do what you want. You can follow your nose. And I talk about it in kind of a weird way, so bear with me. I'm metaphor-based, so it's just gonna leak out. This is how it's how it's gonna work. Which is, I talk about it like the hot tub and the pool.

This is gonna be weird. But when you're in the hot tub, you don't want somebody jumping in yelling, cannonball and being hit in the head with a, you know, Coors Light Can or something. You want to be able to chill out, listen to a little bit of music. But what's ironic is sitting in the exact same medium, literally only 4 degrees, 40 degrees temperature difference,

four feet away is the pool, where it's totally okay for you to go and yell cannonball and do something crazy. And missions in open world are kind of like that. In the missions, you're in the hot tub. And what you want to be able to do is have the sanctity of your experience and make sure that nobody can yell cannonball and jump into your space.

and that you can have great moments with villains and great moments with all these characters and great moments that you yourself do in the story. And then when you're open the world, it's cannonball time. You want to be able to go out there and follow your nose. You want to be able to do it at your own pace. You want to be able to have it so that you can go. And if you had struggled in a mission to be able to lift to the degree that you wanted,

you go, you know what I need to do? I need to go out into the open world and find all the stuff that I need to make my new car, which is kind of my old car, feel great. And so that's how we build it. No one talks like him. So it sounds like we'll be customizing our car in this one? Yeah, so that's the first question that I got asked.

So in terms of your gear, can you customize it? You can do all this? Here's the answer is we look at what players want to do. We want to listen to the community, right? And I will answer that question in this way. What I want to do, if I got a whole suit of armor, and let's be clear, I would love to have a suit of armor, and feel 10 feet tall

and be able to go out and destroy Zerg, I want to customize it. I want to be able to build stuff. I want to be... The world needs to feel like it's like a big box store and I can go into it and I can find stuff and figure out how to make the stuff

that I'm wearing better. It's what I want to do. Now, am I saying we're doing that? I'm not saying we're doing that, but I'm saying I sure as hell want to. That's a good answer. That's a good answer, Dan. You have 30 seconds left, so the one thing I will call out, 2030 sounds like a made-up date.

You think so? I don't mean for the game coming out, I mean for us to be talking about video games coming out in 2030. I get it. I get it. For me, you know, we get asked questions about the date. And you walk a funny line when you decide to share something, right? How early do you share it? We've been waiting a little while to share it, and we just couldn't wait any longer.

It's that simple. But here's what I like about a date. in my mind the difference between art and graffiti is the frame and the frame is that date when we sit down and have design discussions when we talk about stuff what we can say is hey that's really cool that's really awesome but can we make it by that date and if the answer is no okay let's scope let's be smart let's think about what we're making

and put it in the hands of the players in a reasonable amount of time that's how we think you're awesome no one talks like him Give it up for Dan, give it up for Starcraft, give it for our entire panel of amazing guests. Of course, this has been the kind of funny games cast. Each and every weekday, we run you through the biggest topics in gaming, whether it be reviews, previews,

or just things we need to talk about. Everybody get out there. Have a great BlizzCon, and until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you. BlizzCon is brought to you by Fanta, Lipsmacking Deliciousness. Want a Fanta? Nintendo Switch to

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