Video Gamers Podcast - Donkey Kong Bananza, THPS 3+4, Live Action Zelda! Ubisoft at it again (TWIG) – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and John are back with a jam-packed episode covering the biggest news in video games this week! First up, we’re talking about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 remake—could this be the comeback fans have been waiting for, or is Activision grinding the nostalgia rail a little too hard? Then we dive into Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Bananza. Is this new adventure a banana-blasting success or just another swing and a miss? Plus, Ubisoft has officially responded to the rocky reception of Star Wars Outlaws, who’s to blame? If you love all things gaming and want to stay ahead of what’s coming in the world of video games, this episode is a must-listen. From classic remakes to new franchises, we’ve got your gaming fix right here on the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, and Phelps   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, Patrick, Jigglepuf and PeopleWonder   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.com/invite/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1    Visit us on the web:https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get to Toronto's main venues like Budweiser Stage and the new Roger Stadium with Go Transit. Thanks to Go Transit's special online e-ticket fairs, a $10 one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel on any weekend day or holiday, anywhere along the Go network. And the weekday group passes offer the same weekday travel flexibility across the network, starting at $30 for two people and up to $60 for a group of five. Buy your online GoPass ahead of the show at Gotransit.com slash tickets. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop now at nofrills.ca. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. We've got a heck of an episode for you today from a modern

point-and-click adventure that's wowing gamers to the release of Donkey Kong bonanza that's bananas we've got lots of fun gaming news to talk about but first some introductions are in order I am your host Josh and joining me he loves tacos like Donkey Kong loves bananas And he'll go through great lengths to get them It's Ryan as long as my tacos are one for three and three for ten That's fair That is the perfect price point for tacos man people who aren't in the discord won't get that joke

But I ran into a taco truck where it was priced in a parking lot out of a van, which are my favorite tacos. And they were one for three or three for 10, which really a marketing strategy. I love it. That's like buy one, get the second one for a regular price, right? Love it.

People are like, wait a minute. What? And joining us, he applied for the role of Ganondorf in the live action Zelda movie, but instead he got cast as a book goblin. It's John. Hey, guys. Great reference, man.

I am so like I am so happy that we're going to be getting to talk about this Donkey Kong game. Now I feel like we are ripe for an opportunity to talk about this and people are just going bananas for it. Like I can't wait for us to talk about this. Yeah, well, I'll tell you what, we're going to jump right into that man because Donkey Kong Bonanza is probably the largest game release of the month.

But guys, we got to thank somebody, man. We have a new supporter that signed up to support this podcast a fine gentleman by the name of Mike Herndon signed up for rare status so Mike hey Mike yeah thank you from all of us to you for helping support this show and honestly our thousands and thousands of listeners are also thanking you for your awesome support. So thank you We're all we're all peeling the love very much guy. Yeah Feeling like he said peeling but man, I don't know we're stuff from John So, okay. Okay, great. So, alright. Well, hey guys as promised, let's just kick things off Donkey Kong bonanza it released

guys this game is getting amazing reviews. I mean, I'm pretty sure IGN gave it a 10 out of 10 called it a masterpiece. We're seeing nine out of tens. I mean, I don't know that I've actually seen a negative review for this, um, for this game so far. So none of us actually own a Switch 2. Is that correct? Nobody surprisingly picked up a Switch 2. But you know, I think this is absolutely what Nintendo was hoping for man is, you know, when they announced the Switch 2, they said, Hey, Donkey Kong Bonanza is coming. Famously, I joked around and said, don't be Donkey Kong. And then it freaking was Donkey Kong. But you got to admit, man, with review scores like this,

it really makes you wonder, did they nail it? And the one thing that I think makes me go, yeah, they probably did is these are the same devs that made Super Mario Odyssey, dude. Which is an outstanding, one of the best open world platformers I've ever played. I love that game. And, you know, it's really tough, guys.

I, uh, I'm probably the biggest Nintendo fan of the three of us. And if anybody was gonna buy a Switch, it'd be me. But there's, Donkey Kong just doesn't do it for me, man. I, you know, even with all these, I'm stoked that it's getting all these great reviews and it looks amazing. It looks super fun, but it's not a mover for me. Ryan, how do you feel about that? Because I'll be honest, we said way back

in the Switch 2 reveal, is Donkey Kong Bonanza a console seller? Will it make you want to pick up a Switch 2? I do not think that anyone has bought a Switch 2 because of Donkey Kong. They saw the trailer and were like that's the one I need, that's the game that I've been waiting for and dreaming and hoping for. I'm gonna go spend 500 bucks on a Switch and get this game. I don't believe so. I think that probably, and this is just wild opinions, is I feel it's grading so well because what the heck else do they have for the Switch 2? What else is there? What else did they come out with? There's not other games. I don't know. It's hard. I'm sure it's fun. These games, Nintendo does such a good job at always

releasing games that are generally pretty fun. You know, they're still enjoyable, they are a good time, but they're not going to be those next level, at least some of them, are not those generational type games. But they're just fun, enjoyable times, so I think that's probably why it's scoring well. But I have not touched a Switch 2. I actually picked up a Switch 2 the other day at Target. But that was the first time I've touched one.

But I have not played one or messed around with Donkey Kong or anything as of yet. I'm not going to lie. I have FOMO. Like legitimately. My daughter and I were at Target yesterday. She wanted to go shopping. And I was still on vacation.

I was like, dude, I'm gonna take any chance I can to hang out with my daughter because I don't get to do that a whole lot anymore because she's old and you know. So we go to Target and we're walking through the electronics section and they had the Switch 2. Dude, it's big, huh?

Bonanza, it is big, yes. And Bonanza was there and I was like, oh man, I was watching the little like gameplay demo for it. And I will say I'm having FOMO. It's not enough to make me buy a Switch 2, honestly. It begs a question for you guys, and I know I'm throwing you on the spot here, but has there ever been a game, whether PC, console,

whatever, that actually got you to purchase a console or like upgrade your PC to play. I have two. So I'll just start off while you think about it. Halo. Halo, when it came out, absolutely got me to buy an Xbox to play Halo. And when The Witcher 3 was announced, I had a PC that I knew absolutely could not run The Witcher 3 like not even remotely close. And I somehow convinced my wife to let me build a PC that could play this game. So like Witcher 3 for me was like a $700 game

Because it was like I had to build the PC just to be able to play it But yeah, are there any for you guys where it was actually sold you a console or a PC upgrade? Dead or alive to got me to buy an X-Box. Ryan and I talked about, I heard that. I heard that today. I did listen to today's episode and that one made me laugh. It's because it's a really good fighting game.

Yeah. Oh, I hear it's great, dude. Like the move sets are amazing. Um, yeah, I think that's, you know, that's definitely a console seller. What about you, Ryan? Oh man. Uh, you know what? I didn't think I had one until right now popped into my head is I built a computer entirely for, uh, for Diablo three. Diablo three. Diablo three. Yes. I, uh, you know, big, obviously I'm a huge Diablo two fan. Um, they're coming out with Diablo three. I'm like, this is the greatest day of my life. This is

awesome. I parted together, you know, uh, all the pieces I needed to build a good PC that could run it and stuff, and a little bit left down with what I got out of it, but that was the last time I built something exclusively for a specific game. That's pretty awesome. I don't remember The Over 3 being like that intense to play necessarily. Well, I didn't have a computer, so... I will say I did also update my graphics card so I could play Cyberpunk when it released. I actually bought a new graphics card.

And then that was another reason why I was really peeved when the game released in such a bad state. It won't work. I know. So all right, guys. Sorry for the sidetrack there, but it just got me wondering. That's a great question. Yeah, so moving to. OK, you all might have question. Yeah, so moving to...

Okay, you all might have noticed. Yeah, John sounds way better now. We figured out. That was really good, man. We figured out an issue that John made that happens. He was underwater a little bit, but he's back now. He's back. We're good to go. Yeah, it's... Yeah, sorry guys, I slipped up.

I slipped up. Yeah, you know, it's easy to just slip and fall, man. So, people are listening. Listen, all I'm gonna say is people that are listening to this podcast, you might should check out the video. That's all we're saying about this episode is the video product that we put out there is something special and we highly recommend

that people check out the video. We've done a lot of work into this, so. I mean, yeah, like we're as good as we've ever been, but why this episode in particular? Well, John's got a new background because he recently moved and so he's got this new background and he's got a sign behind him. That's really what I was going for, man.

I mean, I've got this new, like, cool sign in the background and stuff and lighting. Yes, yes, I've got everything dialed in. This is the only difference of the show, but man, that sign is sick, dude. But man, that sign is sick, dude. All right, guys, this is... God, why are we so stupid, man? Oh, I love it.

Oh, goodness. Okay, so another game that came out, it's Tony Oxborough Skater 3 and 4. The hype behind this game was big, man. And then it kind it came out and did you guys hear any continuing hype about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4? Honestly I didn't hear anything about it which speaks volumes. Yeah yeah it's it's especially like in the skate world that I'm in like I heard people talking and they were excited but at some point man when you just

keep we keep running into this with movies as well like just keep keep rehashing these old IPs. It's like eventually people get fatigue and you just I want something new. So I don't know what the answer is or solution but I as someone who grew up and absolutely loved Tony Hawk I bought the remasters that they had released prior but I honestly had no interest in these. I'm someone who grew up and absolutely loved Tony Hawk. I bought the remasters that they had released prior, but I honestly had no interest in these. I'm like, I've got enough Tony Hawks. Like, how many more do I need? You know, you have your iconic levels

and your competitions and all that stuff, but like, how many do you really need? Well, I picked up the Tony Hawk one and two remaster the day it released, and I had a lot of fun with it. It kind of took me back to my teen years of playing Tony Hawk with my buddies and stuff like that. It was well done, I enjoyed it. It was okay for a while and then I kind of just went, yeah, I remember playing all this and it didn't,

there was nothing new to me at that point. Well, it's not doing very well, guys. It's got a 71% on Steam, which is not good. The user score on Metacritic is a 6.6, which is not good at all. Oddly enough, the critic score is way higher, but I'm gonna trust users more than I'm gonna trust critics, man.

I wonder if those critics actually played it or if they're just going, oh, well, it was good back in the day. Yeah, so, but this begs the question of can you with a remaster or remake? Bring old gameplay mechanics back to life man and even with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 which I Enjoyed it don't regret buying it But it didn't play it for very long before it just kind of started to feel dated to me and I gotta wonder

it for very long before it just kind of started to feel dated to me. And I got to wonder, is it just that these are old game mechanics, man? People don't really care about going for high scores anymore. Yeah, that's a really good point, Josh. I will let me ask you this first. When you played Tony Hawk, one and two, the remaster, did it feel like a genuine like graphical upgrade? Or was it? Oh, yeah, it did. It was a good solid remaster. Like I could not fault the remaster, did it feel like a genuine like graphical upgrade? Or was it? Oh yeah.

Yeah, it did. It was a good solid remaster. Like I could not fault the remaster at all. It was more just like, hey, this was fun for like four hours. Cool to do a few of the levels that I was familiar with. Great music. And then it was just like, bro, I like I put hundreds of hours into this game

back in the day. There's too much now. There's too many other games. Back then there wasn't. Back then you had like four or five games if you were lucky. And so you just played what you had. And now there's just so many options. And yeah, you put in some time in this.

And then we all got jobs. We got careers. We got kids, whatever else have you. And then you're not going to put in the time that you would otherwise on a game that's not top, top tier. Yeah,'s not a eight or eight and a half nine out of ten. Yeah, absolutely. So Space Marine Space Marine the original Xbox 360 game recently got a remaster that they were trying to charge games workshop was trying to charge full price for and It got smashed right right away people hated it and they ended up

issuing a bunch of refunds now it's on game pass for free so I tried it out because I had a lot I mean I love Warhammer I absolutely loved this game when it came out but when I played it there were two problems for me so number one I noticed the gameplay is dated. The gameplay mechanics are dated. And number two is that like, it wasn't, it's called remaster, definitive edition, or something like that, but I don't feel like it got enough of a graphical overhaul

to really justify its existence when there's already so many games out there that are vying for my time. You know, like, I think they're going to do remasters of these games, they either have to be very dialed in about who they're catering these things to, or it needs to be a substantial upgrade. Oblivion. Oblivion was fantastic.

That was awesome. Awesome remaster. You hop in, you play, you remember the good times, you have a good, you know, experience, and then you kind of move the good times you have a good, you know Experience and then you kind of move on like it's they did a really good job with it They knew what they were trying to accomplish and I think they did it well and some of these other ones just you know It's just not the same I think the thing with the oblivion remaster is it came with a lot of quality of life Improvements to that made the game that felt felt dated feel like more modern and then honestly they

Crushed the graphical overhaul on that game dude like that game was so good beautiful. So yeah, so that's tough it's I it's I was playing persona 3 reloaded and On cloud because clay I am addicted to it man like game pass cloud is like that is my jam, dude it's so hard for me to to Play anything else basically at this point, but persona 3 doesn't have a autosave and so My my internet crap. Yeah, I got six hours Six hours of unsaved progress just wiped and I was like, yep not not playing it anymore So then I hopped around to a few other games like Oblivion

The remaster because I haven't played a Elder Scrolls game since Morrowind and I gotta tell you man Yeah, if that's an upgrade it wasn't great for me, man Skyrim slash oblivion It's a certain type of game that you can get lost in real quick And so a lot of people kind of go like okay this looks neat But I don't know what to do and then they just kind of fade out quick because it's overwhelming almost for people So guys this talk of the game mechanics and stuff leads into this story that came out where the the the

where the creator, or I should say the director, of Shadow of the Colossus, which was a beloved PlayStation game. Awesome game, awesome game. Introduced new mechanics as far as these gargantuan creatures that you could climb and try to conquer and things like that. We saw glimpses of this in the old God of War games where you're climbing on the titans and things like that. We saw glimpses of this in the old God of War games where you're climbing on the Titans and stuff like that.

And nobody had really done this before. So the guy's name is, I'm going to butcher this by the way, is Fumito Ueda. Yep, butchered. Yeah, so sorry, sorry for that. But he came out and he actually said that he believes the age of game mechanics is over. And what he meant by that is basically saying that there's no more creating

like new interesting mechanics and that we're in the age now of just trying to like refine and improve existing game mechanics. Did you guys have like an instant reaction to that? Like, you know, like when instant reaction to that? Like you know like when you when you read that did your brain kind of go like yeah or did it go like no? Like what was what was your response to that initially? I honestly initially went yeah I mean there's just I mean how much more can they do? I mean and that's probably what a lot of people would say until somebody

does something different, you know, until somebody comes up with something new that's revolutionary. So I would never say people stop trying, but what more can you do with games? And I know we've talked about this prior of like, you know, into the going into the realm of VR and that's where like maybe the direction things are going, but like, what more can you do with the games that we have now?

Yeah, I had the same exact reaction, Ryan. I, uh, and I experienced this honestly. So I had beat Indiana Jones and I was playing, uh, persona three and I loved persona five, but I'd never played any of the other persona games, but I was playing persona three and I'm like, this is persona five. And then, so I tinkered around with a bunch of other games and now I'm playing metaphor refent ozio again, and I go this is persona 5 And even when I was playing the Indiana Jones guys if you haven't like played that game the whole way through by the way

It's rated totally Glowing reviews from everybody that I know that has played Indiana Jones. Man, what an under... But, like, overall the mechanics are the same, you know? It follows the same line of, when I play an Uncharted game, when I play a Tomb Raider, when I play, you know, Indiana Jones, it's all the same mechanics. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Like, I know when I see a tall, like, set of grass of grass or reeds, I can go and I can hide in it.

You develop a comfort with the type of games you play, and it's just almost new skins and scenarios and stories. But the mechanics are generally all the same in certain types of games, and I do think we build up that connection and comfort to those to where we're comfortable. I will say this, and I am eternally an optimist, and my initial thought to this headline was like, bro, no, no, we need innovation, man.

Like you said, Ryan, come on, people are super creative. They're gonna come up with all kinds of mechanics that we haven't seen before. And then when you start putting thought into it, you kinda go like, okay, well, what could they do? What could they do? And then it's like, bro, I don't know. Like, I will say the one thought that came to my head,

and we've said this before, is that the use of audio and microphone input in games, I think is drastically underutilized, dude. I think that there are so many potential really cool things you could do in a game if the game recognizes audio input and what you're saying or your proximity or if you're making noise, for instance. We see this a little bit with some games like Phasmophobia where it says, hey, this game uses your microphone. You have to allow permissions, but if you're noisy when the ghost is hunting you,

it's gonna find you. We're seeing it more so in the friend slop games where you have the localized voiceover IP where it's like if your buddies get further away, you can't hear them anymore and that kind of adds to the dynamic there. I think that is an untapped market for audio input and recognition and things like that but I would like to think that developers are very creative and artistic people and

they'll continue to find ways to come up with these cool mechanics but I also get what Fumito is saying and kind of what you're saying, Ryan, is like you get to a point where gamers need a certain level of understanding and comfort with how games work, and you see a little bit of this with the whole debate about using like yellow paint in games to tell players where to go, because when you start introducing new things, right?

People get confused, and then they go, bro, I don't know where to go. I was just gonna say, like, if you were to just put, like, the average gamer into a little tutorial and then you just have, like, little white or yellow paint on a wall, they're gonna run up and try to climb it. I know, instantly. Instantly.

That's just naturally what you do, and it's because we're conditioned to do it. That's what all the games are. But that was enough of a problem that they had to solve the problem initially. They went, people don't know where to it. That's what all the games are. But that was enough of a problem that they had to solve the problem initially. They went, people don't know where to go. Yeah. When we did our first interview with Andre at Warhorse, remember he had a great day. He was like, what, you know, if you have like, if you have escort missions or under

or water levels, like people hate them. They're universally hated. Why do you include them? And he was like, well, it's because people are familiar with them. You know, people need that familiar get, they need to be able to figure out what to do in the game. And people just know what to do. And, but I, you know, I agree before the first, uh, before the first Mario, you know, water level, like they, they had to, somebody's going to have to do the thing first and people will adjust and adopt. I think we don't know what we don't know. Somebody will create something wonderfully novel that'll introduce a new host of things to gameplay mechanics. I love Josh what you just said about

introducing more audio cues. Actually, something that a game that I have like very, very persistently Actually, something that a game that I have like very, very persistently punched down on, the Midnight Walk, what they were trying to do with directional audio in that game is a really clever idea, and maybe somebody will pick it up and do something better with it. Yeah. All right, we gotta take a quick break.

We're gonna get into a couple games that are coming out soon that look really interesting, so stick around and we'll be right back. Introducing TurboTax Business, a brand new way to file your own T2 return, really interesting. So stick around and we'll be right back. Experts are standing by to help and review while you file, so you know your return's done right. Intuit TurboTax business. New from TurboTax Canada. Some regional exclusions apply. Learn more at TurboTax.ca slash business tax. The new BMO VI Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. All right, guys. Let's get it. Visit bmo.com slash VI Porter to learn more.

All right, guys, let's get a guy. Listen, I know I'm the old guy of the group. We talked about games that affected our childhood that we had nostalgia for. I brought up the Sierra games, the old school point and click adventures. More recently, like Monkey Island, I think there was Thimbleweed Park was another really popular point-and-click adventure. You know, this is a genre that just died out. Games got more complex, they got more entertaining, and the point-and-click adventure kind of just went the way of the dinosaur.

But man, if it doesn't bring up nostalgia for me when I see these and I grew up on these games. Guys, there is a game called The Drifter that I found out about this morning. Watched the trailer for it and instantly wish listed it. I told you guys before recording I'm absolutely going to pick this game up this week and play it. This is an old school point and click adventure. The reviews on this game are nothing short of stellar. Now there's not a ton of reviews. This is a small indie developer that came out with this, but if you read the reviews, it is like,

dude, this game, the music in this game is incredible. It is a pixel art-based game, it's got some neat animations and stuff. It is a dark and gritty story, they're calling it a pulp thriller, which I love that aspect like those words alone where you have to solve your own murder so that's all I really know about this game I'm going to be honest like if you read the reviews the reviews are absolutely glowing and if you kind of look

into this a little bit people are raving about this game right now does Does this game interest either one of you? I feel like I'm and this is probably OK, but I feel like I'm alone on this island because this is my childhood. But man, give me an old school nostalgic game that is brought into the modern age. And I'm in man. And this game right now is on sale for like 16 bucks, which helps a lot also. So any interest from either one of you on this nope i didn't figure that's okay that's okay i find it very unappealing yeah oh man that's a

fair point john that i'm the same way i um i i just i it looks like a really bad um uh I it looks like a really bad Disco Elysium like I But okay, but fair point Disco Elysium if the art style didn't grab you a lot of people would go this game looks weird But Disco Elysium is one of the best RPGs like honestly ever made It is I do think watch watching the trailer and stuff I think the voice acting from what I heard is stellar like it sounds really really good which Would you know hopefully it does draw in a good bit of people just on that alone?

But I don't know these these ones like we talked about there's just too many games like for something like this It's like you know I have no interest. Yeah, so it's all go ahead John So I was just gonna say like regardless of whether it's something that I'm attracted to, I love that games like this, these niche games are still being created, man. I love that for somebody like you who grew up with these things, I love that the genre's continuing to evolve.

Kid Josh inside of me got so excited when I saw this. Yeah, that's awesome, man. That's cool. And so I am really excited to give this a try and see what it's all about. So again, that game is called The Drifter. It is actually out right now. It's in its kind of like 15% off release window. So if anybody's interested and old like me and wants to kind of try to recapture some

of that childhood, it's getting phenomenal reviews as well. So all right, other game quickly, guys, is one of our, you know, shout out to Jigglepuff, one of our community members. Jigglepuff is incredibly good at just pointing out games to people. Stud. I mean, we have a game suggestions channel in our Discord server.

If you're not in our Discord server, you're absolutely missing out. It's the best gaming community on the planet. There's a link in the episode description. It's one tap and you're in gaming Nirvana with thousands of other gamers. But Jigglepuff actually pointed this game out in that channel.

And it's funny because as we were kind of scrubbing news stories, this game popped up in the news as well. It's a game called Eric's Home. And it looks like it is a triple A title. I don't know that I've seen an indie game, apart from maybe Expedition 33, that looks this good, dude. Like whoever your artists are over there at your studio, you need to give those people a raise because they are on point on their art game.

But Ericsholm is a stealth-based kind of story-driven game. What did you guys think about this one? I think it looks gorgeous. I, this, this isn't like my normal style of game. It's, it's kind of got like a Baldur's gate sort of feel to it, just the perspective and everything. But I will say, I don't know, man, I think this has potential to be the next Expedition 33.

I think that these indie games are absolutely crushing it and put in AAA on notice. It looks gorgeous. Dude, I love it so much. And you can tell that this game was absolutely made with passion and care. And just to give you an idea, I mean, you know, Eric's Home is sitting at a 93% review rating

on Steam right now. And the Drifter is sitting at a 97%, dude. These are the types of review scores that developers dream about, dude. And I mean, that absolutely tells you something in and of itself for these two games. You know, we always say, let's reward our indie devs when it's obvious that they put a lot of passion and care into these games.

Eriksholm, really, really good looking stealth based game, beautiful, sprawling city, supposed to have an incredible story. Fully stealth games are not necessarily my jam. I love a good bit of stealth in a game, but I have a hard time when it's nothing but stealth. I love a good bit of stealth in a game, but I have a hard time when it's nothing but stealth But again everything about Eric's home the stolen dream is the full title looks amazing to me To see I will say full transparency with you saying overwhelmingly positive. There is only 354 reviews that is so I am I and I love the way it looks, but just kind of just so people understand what's there.

But I just, it's given me like those kind of Sherlock Holmes, like mystery kind of, it's just intriguing. It's just, you want to know what's going on, what's happening in this world, and you want to dive into it. So I do love the look of it, and I'm very, very interested in this world and you want to dive into it so I do I do love the look of it and I'm very very interested in this game yeah so I I will play the drifter I've already said I'm picking that up Eric's home I would like to know from other gamers if this game meets you know their expectations I'm

because I'm very curious about I'm gonna check out the demo I already tried to click it and I was on my browser and it's like you need to sign in on Steam and then it popped up and I'm like, yeah, I Yeah, I'll get it later, but I know I do I want to check out the demo So I'm definitely gonna take a peek and see what it's see what it's like. Awesome Also, sorry ace if we stole a couple of your indie games, but man, yeah Yeah Alright guys, we're running low on time. Let's talk about this real quick I this one interests me a lot live-action Zelda movie is confirmed

It is happening and as we get little drips of news on this they have Selected the actors that are going to play link and Zelda Now normally I kind of balk at these things and I'm like, bro, I'll worry about that when the movie is actually out and we get to see kind of, you know, how it looks in the reviews and stuff like that. But dude, I kind of feel like they nailed this, man.

Like, you know, I'll be honest, I've never heard of either one of these actors. So forgive me for not knowing who you are but the guy by the name of Benjamin Evan Ainsworth who has been in a couple movies will portray Link and then Zelda is going to be portrayed by Bo Braggison who has also been in a couple movies but man you know Ainsworth is 16 years old you know, Link always kind of looks like a child in these games and Bo Bragginson is 21 years old, who will be playing Zelda. I will say, I absolutely love these castings

based solely on looks alone, man. Like it actually looks like what I would envision a real world Zelda and a real world Link to look like. What do you guys think about this? Dude, I agree, bro. Honestly, I think they nailed it so much that when I saw the pictures of them the first time, and they were kind of like wearing like,

I don't know if these are like costumes from the movie or not, but they're wearing kind of like Renaissance period, medieval costumes. It's just how they dress over there, John. Whatever it is, like when I saw them, like I got emotional. Like I teared up a little bit. I was is, like when I saw them, like I got emotional. Like I teared up a little bit.

I was like, oh dude, you know, if they act half as well as they look for the roles, like this is gonna be awesome. Yeah. For me, and again, you know, I normally don't buy into this, but these casting choices actually really upped my faith in this movie.

Like to where I went, if they cared this much and they nailed this, are they gonna nail like the rest of the movie? Are we gonna get a really good live action Zelda movie? Like what? How? If they're competent enough to like pick the right characters or somebody to embody the character.

Yeah. As long as Pedro Pascal isn't Ganon, I'll be okay. As long as Pedro Pascal isn't in this dang movie I don't know. I personally like I was excited, but then I saw that Bella Ramsey wasn't cast as Zelda So I'm not Hollins not in a mall. It's not in it like I'm just you know It's zero out of ten for me already Unfortunately guys we have to blow through this story but this one this one made me chuckle because it is a two-parter and man if this doesn't span the spectrum of one end to the other.

So Ubisoft responded to why Star Wars Outlaws was a flop. They have officially deemed Star Wars Outlaws to be a flop. Now the funny part here is, and we were chatting about this before we actually started recording, those conversations are available for our Supporters of the show on patreon so if you ever want some behind-the-scenes chatter and kind of deeper looks into stuff You can support the show like Mike did and you get access to kind of the pre-chat and the post episode chat But Star Wars Outlaws is one of those games that I think the gamer mob mentality honestly had an effect on. I was forced to play this game by Distritory one of our long-term supporters of the show.

You know yeah, honestly and he said you know what I know this game is getting a bad rap Josh I want you to play it and let me know what you think. Ryan you played it too because you were like well Bro, I don't want to miss out on this and we both both came back and we went, dude, Star Wars, outlaws? It's pretty darn good, man. Like, you know, it's not a 10 out of 10 game, but like the internet would have you believe this game sucks, dude. It is far from suck.

Like I actually really enjoyed my time with this game, but unfortunately it's considered a flop. And Ubisoft said, hey, you know what? It was a financial flop. It didn't work out. And a lot of PR speak and stuff like that. They were sure that Star Wars was gonna just, because it was a Star Wars IP,

it was gonna make him a fortune. And the CEO, Yves Guillemet, I can't say his name, man. I'm just butchering all these names. I'm sorry, everybody across the pond. I'm not good at this, but they blamed it on the time that it was released. It had a few items that still needed to be polished and some bugs on release.

And so they called it choppy waters on release. And they said, well, that's why it failed. We can, we don't have time to debate that. Again, I played it, Ryan, you played it. We both thought it was great. John, you even mentioned that everybody, you know, we don't have time to debate that. Again, I played it. Ryan, you played it. We both thought it was great. John, you even mentioned that everybody that you know for friends that you have that played the game

said it was awesome. Yeah, everybody in the discord. I haven't met anybody who didn't like it, honestly. Like that's weird to me because I'm the same way. All the gamers that we talked to that have played Outlaws said like, yeah, dude, it was really enjoyable. Like all this hate the game. God, I haven't met somebody that said, yeah, I played it and I hated it. If you're one of those

people, leave us a comment. Let us know what you didn't like about it. Um, because I was in that mindset that this game's going to suck. And then I played it. I'm like, this game doesn't suck, man. It doesn't. It was, I mean, the world building was fantastic. The exploration, like you go in and you feel like you're in a little market or a little shop or a little, you know, tea area and then you get in some food and stuff. Like, everything about it seemed to be done well. And I mean, I'm looking here, they, I'm blown away.

They only sold a million copies. Yeah. Wow. That's it. Yeah, for a Star Wars property, that's nothing. And then it's estimated they spent two to 300 million to make it. Yeah Get better making games Ubisoft I just cause that much but I will but they were like this is a good game

It is that's the thing is like what you know attitude to the three hundred million dollar game No, I'm not at home and and Expedition 33 for a fraction of that, man. That's corporate bloat. That's corporate bloat right there. I mean, honestly, maybe they're just getting in their own way. And to prove that point is this very last little snippet before we get out of here.

But on the same side, Ubisoft, come on, man. What are you doing? They claimed that microtransactions make games more fun for gamers, guys. This is all like, what? What are you doing, man? Like, how dis- Every time I ever play a game, that's the one thing I think of, like, man, I just wish this had more microtransactions.

I don't understand how you can be so far removed from, like, gamers and what gamers actually want out of games, but they actually came out and said that microtransactions and they released this in an annual financial report that monetization within premium games. So they're talking, you know, not free to play games where this is the lifeblood, but Hey, you paid $60 for this game. We're going to offer you some microtransactions on top top of that but they said that monetization within premium games makes the player experience more fun and they did want to stress that it was always optional but players like to pay to personalize their avatars or progress more quickly yeah that's bananas guys, that is absolutely bananas.

MovieSoft, you're gonna peel my wrath! I think that's a weird thing to say. I think that the numbers speak for themselves as far as what people want to do with personalizing their avatars. And that is what it is. I'm not a Rivals player, but I remember seeing Rivals skin for Incredible Hulk where somebody, it was Greyhulk, like the Mr. Fix-It Hulk, and I was like, oh dude, that's awesome. And somebody in our Discord was like, yeah, I know, right?

They were clearly stoked to have paid for it. The progression thing, man man paying for progression. Oh Does that grind my gears? $60 for well, it's not only that it's for me It's the FOMO of like well if I can pay to advance quicker. Does that mean like I'm being unnecessarily like Bro, yeah gated exactly for not paying and that that drives me nuts. I think I'm all for monetization and microtransactions for non like gameplay related stuff if it's like skins and

personalization options, I'm all for it, but The the pay to put paid away. Yeah, I hate that stuff man. Yeah Alright guys. Well listen that's gonna do it for. Yeah. All right, guys, well listen, that's gonna do it for this episode. We're gonna slip on outta here and call this episode over. Gotta split. Thank you so much for, thank you so much for joining us.

A quick reminder, just check out the video for this episode, man, you won't regret it. There's a lot of appeal going on on video here amongst the three of us as well. You guys are talking really weird. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe we'll see how many puns people pick up on throughout the course of this episode.

Remember to join our community. The link to our Discord server is in the episode description. If you want to support this podcast, it goes a long way to help us continue to put out what we think is one of The best gaming podcasts in the world you can do that over on patreon There's a link in the episode description to that don't forget to follow the show hit that plus button that follow button So you get all our episodes the moment they release That's gonna do it for this one boys until next time

happy gaming See ya!