Why Are Gamers So Mad? | State of the Arc Podcast

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I loved your story about the man who mentored you and how you grew up in that moment when you realized what you had been doing. I want to say that a lot of people would have that moment too if they met the people they were arguing with in real life. The anonymity of being online makes it all too easy to be dismissive, disrespectful and assuming the worst in others.

[@dasutin]

Something that Derrick from Mega64 said once that really stuck with me is "some people only know how to enjoy things by being mad about them." You'd think that would be counter-intuitive, but I think the *act* of being angry is a lot more fun than just being sort of lukewarm about something. I think about this a lot when I read comment sections on big gaming announcements that aren't outrageous, but bland.

[@dasutin]

Also, I'm sure someone has already mentioned it, but Bloodborne PSX has been done for a while! It rocks! It doesn't recreate the whole game, but is a really good vertical slice.

[@Fullmetal1291985]

Souls games sales support your claims 🤣

[@YuukitheMighty1]

I love these discussions. For me, I've been feeling indifferent towards major releases nowadays. I've been playing older games and indie games lately.

[@MarkMcDaniel]

Likewise. I buy VERY FEW modern titles.

[@Byakkoya11037]

Same here. I love older games and I love indies. So much more passion, more spirit, more ideas. It's just good for the soul to see things are still good in some corners.

[@molol44]

Same. The last "major" game I bought was Tears of the Kingdom. Other than that it's been all indies and I've been enjoying myself.

[@TheSaskOtaku]

The Indie and Middle Market spaces are where we are seeing the most fun titles pop up. Like I would rather play SEs smaller titles than their major releases. I would rather play the niche weeb centric game with ample fan service than major AAA open world game featuring non descript bow weilding protagonist that crafts items.

[@salmark9080]

any indie game recommendations?

[@maxderrat]

What you said between the 8 and 20-minute mark made me a little emotional, Mike. You said with explicit detail what I have tried to foster with my own community. I hope that one day, that civil, constructive approach becomes the dominant approach to KZbin that creators and commenters have. EDIT: YOU'RE DOING ALAN WAKE?!?!?!?!

[@bensharplesfilm]

Thank you

[@OmegaLogos]

A wild Alchemist appeared… Here on the SOTA podcast. Awesome! I totally agree with your sentiment.

[@donb6897]

very profound comment

[@Exciya]

Here to recommend Max to be a regular on SOTA.

[@RadioPlastic]

Hey max. Love your content bro.

[@phillosmaster393]

Online gaming discourse (like most online discourses) is disconnected from actual polite society and is subject to all flavors of bad actors. There's a difference between a school yard complaint sesssion and an actual honest discussion on the state of the industry. Comment sections and youtube vbloggers tend to be the former. Thanks for being part of the later guys. Cooler heads prevail.

[@eternalgracenote]

SE will likely never release a Xenogears remaster but they recently decided to start selling a $2,000 Xenogears watch no one asked for. The industry just doesn't 'get it' anymore.

[@captawesome42]

@@eternalgracenote the production of that watch does not prevent them from doing a remaster. You are not representative of the entire fan base. Just because you don’t want something doesn’t mean it won’t sell.

[@awildcyclistappears]

They should just leave it as it is. I'd rather play the OG till the day I die than get another monster like FF7 Remake.

[@TheSpectacledOwl]

It’s all corporate decisions. They don’t know or understand what gamers want; all they care about are numbers, not the craft of creating stories or entertainment.

[@TheSpectacledOwl]

@@captawesome42True, but $2000? People are complaining about a $700+ “upgrade” console. Only the truly hardcore would get that item, and most of them would still think that’s a steep price, especially in today’s economy.

[@johnmcternan4157]

Can you time travel with it at that price?

[@Yanncki64]

I agree with Mike's appeal on how to deal with politics on an interpersonal level, but I really disagree with it in regards to online political discourse. We've had a near decade of top-down condescension and hate-mongering, and yet now that those people are getting some effective blowback they're begging for de-escalation. It's a bullshit appeal to decency that they never granted when they had the upper hand.

[@CrowsofAcheron]

I personally don't feel like "gaming is dead" or whatever. I just feel people get WAY too invested. Like, I play a lot of games, but I don't take on the identity of "gamer". Whatever happens, there will always be cool games to play. Just chill.

[@neoasura]

Same here, Im older (I bought FF1 on the NES back in 1990 with my first job) I love to play games, but I don't consider myself a "gamer" I have other hobbies, but I love to play video games, and I've always found new games to play even over 30 years later. I think younger people took on the identity of "gamer" way too seriously, they need to relax.

[@El-Duderino-His-Dudeness]

Exactly. Anyone who's complaining there isn't any good games, just isn't looking. There's like unlimited games at this point.

[@ocher8931]

Great comment.

[@mikelife7072]

Also maybe with age comes cynicism and less excitement in general? What do the under-20 crowd think about things now? I agree with you, games are my main pass time but I would shy away from the 'gamer' label because I generally dislike the attitude of most vocal gamers. I play a mix of indies, 'AA'' and the ' dreaded soulless AAA' games, plenty of good stuff out there still.

[@Elora445]

I think it really depends on one's definition of a gamer. In my opinion, if you are playing a lot of games, then you are a gamer, period. Though some people do indeed take that label way too seriously. As way too many gamers tend to do.

[@keithwaggoner2375]

The Lunar games would be perfect to cover!

[@vic101roman]

This video, both of your empathetic view at the world and willingness to have such a positive look at the world, and the gaming industry within it, are exactly why I love this channel. You guys are great, the internet needs more like you to thrive. This video is the reason why I plan to finally support you guys on Patreon (there's only one other Patreon I've EVER subbed to). You're the best.

[@brijor6ff7]

Most people on both sides aren't what the media/youtube grifters claim them to be, but the problem is that a small percentage are exactly what we think they are. Until those people are rooted out and their behavior is deemed unacceptable in society at large, nothing will change unfortunately.

[@DrunkenbageI]

I'm usually a quiet listener of the podcast because I'm not confident in my ability to convey my thoughts properly, but I feel compelled to speak up. I don't think people are as divided as it may seem. While there are certainly bad actors taking advantage of the outrage to push their own ideals or even just to revel in the fallout, I believe that most people(including the LGBT people) are united in their fury. And I think they are pushing back against those bad actors as well as corporations. I do agree with your message of compassion and empathy. This podcast specifically has made me more conscious about being compassionate and I'm grateful for it. But I can't help but feel like people have already been trying to be compassionate and empathetic for the past 5-10 years. And people are feeling like it's not working. People have tried compassion and see that the result of it is the art that they love is being hijacked, molested, and used as a vehicle to either make more money or push and agenda. There's probably more to say but I don't know how to say it. I apologize if this made little sense. PS. I appreciate the extra podcast episodes!

[@jairekambui7738]

There’s an ongoing sentiment over the past decade or so but especially ramping up in the last 5 years or so, that entertainment isn’t nearly as good as it was 20, 30, 40 years ago. Whether it’s music, television, movies, western adult animation, cartoons, anime and manga, video games, every entertainment medium has been seen to either be pushed to a mass audience and sacrifice quality for mass appeal, be reduced to a dopamine fix to get people hooked and continually throw money at it, or push particular agendas. The vast expansions of these entertainment mediums thanks to the internet age around the late 2000s and early 2010s period, pushed this entire monetization and corporatization of entertainment that we see now. This leads people to be very frustrated, especially when you consider how upset a lot of people are in their real lives. We look to entertainment as an escape, to relax, to laugh, to cry, to make us think and change our ways of living. When it becomes clear that the thing we used to rely on for all these things becomes a vehicle to drain people’s bank accounts and offer nothing but raw brain stimulus and push agendas, there’s good reason for much of the ire we see in response to these mediocre shows.

[@TNTITAN]

On top of that the reason why the public think something is bad “your racist and sexist”. It would help if some director just said “sorry you didn’t like that I try better next time”.

[@raze2012_]

I think the thing is they didn't realize that media ALWAYS tried to drain your wallet and push agendas. You just couldn't talk with the director in real time to confirm that (and you were naive kids who didn't pay for action figures or t shirts or merch) The real issue is that these feelings are valid and there are also a lot of grifters, which always existed but now has an entire global platform, who will happily appeal to those feelings of rage, confusion, disappointment, and tell you it's not your fault. It's *them*. Whoever "they" want you to oppose. It's a universal strategy. Find a mad group and then paint a target for them. It takes off accountability while making them feel productive for fighting against "them". And you grow a community to sell to. Sell more merch. Sell ideology. Sell off to companies who want data.

[@Filsaveol]

Most people are pissed at the wrong reasons. We should be focusing our hatred on that $700 price on a ps5 pro, that doesn't even have a disc reader

[@themeangene]

Nah I'll overlook overpriced hardware if it means getting people out of gaming who want me dead for being conservative. That is my number one issue: get the toxic far left activists fired.

[@dylangirard4670]

I just stopped caring about what goes on in gaming these days. If there is a game coming out I am interested in I will just buy it and play it ignoring anything else going on around it. If there isn’t anything coming out I am interested in there are decades of games I haven’t played yet or woudlnt mind replaying. It’s nice going back to being disconnected from what is going on in the world of video games.

[@Rithysak101]

That's pretty much what gaming is to me before i have internet access.

[@dylangirard4670]

@@Rithysak101 exactly. Which is amazing.

[@fremendude8653]

This!

[@jonaskristiansen781]

This is exactly how I feel too.

[@neoasura]

@@Rithysak101 For real, I remember the only information I had to go on was looking at the back of the box at the rental store. And a lot of games I loved got panned hard in later years, I'm glad I didn't have the internet to influence me. I still go with my gut feeling. I had to make a Reddit post telling them why Im glad I DIDNT listen to them for passing up a great game that got blasted by everyone on Reddit.

[@Rithysak101]

This takes me back to the old Dark Pixel Gaming Podcast. Just 3 dudes with daily gaming news.

[@TheMetalGaia]

Ah Dark Pixel. I've been following these guys for so long now.

[@leif54]

Same here

[@mrgreen027]

Yep I liked those streams

[@dreamer6758]

I REALLY wanted to see something new from Yoko Taro :(

[@geeker9545]

This! New NieR or Drakengard would be so great.

[@photon_break]

I have been a member of the LDS church (or a Mormon, if you prefer) for all 20 years of my life. I agree with Mike completely that showing love and compassion to those who disagree with you is best for you, that person, and the world at large. Even to those who attack you, because you fighting back is only perpetuating the cycle that Mike was describing. I may disagree with a lot of things that are growing in popularity, but what I believe is more important than political differences is the fact that we are all human. My church teaches that we are all as dust of the earth, that no person should esteem themself above another. We are also taught that it is not our place to judge others and that we should focus on improving ourselves and not on how we think other people should improve. It's a common problem you'll see in the members of this church, as well as many other branches of Christianity, that they will condemn others, particularly on hot-topic issues such as sexuality, but that's part of that person's flaws and not at all representative of the doctrine we should be teaching. And we all do have flaws. Because of that, it's essential to give people compassion and patience. Maybe someone was ignorant of how something they said would affect you. Maybe they were taught a particular way since they were a child and have a difficult time putting themself in other people's shoes. Even if they did genuinely have your worst interest at heart, thinking that retaliating in kind is justified only justifies that person's potential retaliation against you.

[@Windraesa]

kinda sad this comment has no likes yet loads of more aggressive and vitriolic comments have upwards of 15.

[@Karifean]

Because gamers are people, and people are mad and are piling up more and more frustrations in general.

[@ChocolatierRob]

It is not essential to play Blood Omen before Soul Reaver, indeed many fans of the series such as myself only joined with the release of SR. However Blood Omen absolutely does need to be played before Soul Reaver 2. If you wish to play SR to coincide with the remaster's release then make it clear at the start of Soul Reaver that you will go back to Blood Omen before starting Soul Reaver 2. As with Chrono Trigger this series deals with time travel and the events of Blood Omen are cornerstone events to the series that get re-examined in later games.

[@rmsgrey]

While I agree that knowing the events of Blood Omen adds depth to Raziel's adventures, I still haven't been able to finish Bloom Omen - instead, I've piggybacked off other people's experiences - reading wiki entries and watching KZbin lore videos - to get the context. The biggest advantage to actually playing Blood Omen and doing it first is that you start out with Kain's perspective on his actions and character, rather than being introduced to him through Raziel's opening narration for Soul Reaver.

[@Tenpouin]

45:05 Legacy of Kain series would make an amazing Resonant Arc series. It is *better* to play Blood Omen 1 before Soul Reaver 1, but not necessary.

[@Nigel222]

Would love to see them discuss Legacy of Kain.

[@adamdam]

@@Tenpouin definitely, that's a really good shout!

[@phillosmaster393]

yeah I'd be hyped. So many eloquent vampires, giving retrospective soliloquies.

[@phillosmaster393]

and vampires sucking up blood like a reverse fire hose.

[@SamwiseTheNotSoBrave]

When it came to the State of Play, the fact that one of my favorite franchises (Legacy of Kain) got remakes announced in Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered completely made the show for me. Yes, I'd love for the rest of the franchise (Blood Omen/2 and Defiance) to get remasters/remakes as well, but this is a wonderful start. EDIT: Patrons, please vote for Soul Reaver for the podcast!

[@JediMimic]

I was a little worried from the title card and description but I am very very happy with the message you had here and fully and heartily agree with everything I've heard so far. I always tell people when something you are being told by media is making you feel an emotion, you should ask why they want you to feel that way. Most of the time, the benefit is all theirs, and not yours.

[@Arkholt2]

The hyperbole that people use is what really gets me. I was discussing a particular game with some folks on a stream last night, and basically saying how I didn't get why a particular section of that game was so hated by everyone that played it. Sure, it's not my favorite part of the game, but there are other parts that I dislike more. But I hear others say it completely ruins the game and is one of the worst gaming experiences they've ever had. I asked someone to explain it to me, and they're explanation basically amounted to "it's boring." It's boring, and therefore it elicits that amount of hate and ire? I understand that boring is bad, but why does something boring mean it deserves that kind of reaction? Clearly there's something else going on there. I feel like the gaming community really needs to do some introspection and ask itself some tough questions, and determine what it can do to make things better. The gaming industry will do what it will do, but none of this anger is doing anything to help matters if it's directed towards trivial things like this. If people are angry about workers' rights, and equal pay and whatnot, I think they should be. Those are worthy causes, and they are problems in the industry. But if they're angry that a game is boring, or that the graphics aren't exactly how they wanted them to be, or a character doesn't look the way they like, they need to look inside themselves and ask why these things really matter so much to them. Because they shouldn't. It is possible to just not enjoy a thing. You don't have to hate it with every fiber of your being.

[@zoricgames]

Obviously not finished with it, but I'm glad you guys are bringing up ESG. When people throw around the fact that they hate "wokeness" in games, I don't think they really mean that. Political topics have been done in games before - left wing politics have been portrayed in games and beloved media before. And people on both sides of the political aisle have embraced that media just fine. I think the problem we're seeing is that ESG demands shoehorning in of things in awkward and artificial ways. I heard somebody once critique Christian movies, and one of the things they said was that they often have meaningless asides where a character talks about something totally unrelated to the story, but it's in there because the writer or director thought it was just something that was worth saying. Like a character might start talking about how great it is to use Dave Ramsey's financial advice. Nothing to do with the film, the themes, or the characters. It's just bad writing. It gets preachy and sucks you out of it. I hate that about films that technically support "my" worldview, saying that as a conservative Christian. I don't feel like it's good writing, I feel like it's pointless pandering. Now when a bunch of investment firms roll up to an industry and tell them they'll have their ability to get business loans reduced if they don't put in XYZ *insert social topic here* in their games, how is that in any way going to feel organic? When Kojima talks about nuclear proliferation, it's because he genuinely cares about that subject. When I see the character designs in Concord, I just see lifeless corporate garbage.

[@rjfink]

Excellent summary.

[@lastmanstanding7155]

Yup bingo. See but they dress it up as if we're against the politics in the broad sense and are hypocrites because we will enjoy some politics. There's a famous quote from this comic writer, Kelly Sue, and she said "if you don't like my politics don't buy my book." She then goes on to make the popular argument that comics (media) was always political. See but she gave it away in her first sentence. "If you don't like MY politics..." see the problem? If I can read atlas shrugged and critize ayn rand I can critize Kelly Sue and everyone else who copies her. It's called a healthy discussion. But see the problem is that Kelly Sue and people like her are actually worse than Ayn Rand. It's just pandering. Lame asides that do nothing but take you out of the story. They don't do anything for the writing or themes or even characterization. So the problem isn't politics in the broad sense, the problem is their politics. Their pandering. When I read the Astonishing X-Men I can clearly understand what the allegories are for but at the same time I'm reading a dude shooting concussvie beams at a guy who controls magnetism. It's dressed up in a cool and interesting way with drama and changing team dynamics. These are interesting stories even if I go monke mode and don't consider the themes. Then there's something like the watchmen. That is made by a dude is a communist and thinks he's a wizard. He also thinks you're stupid if you like roarsach or think he's right. Welp that doesn't stop me from enjoying the watchmen or thinking roarsach is right. Why? Because the story is honestly well written. The characters. The politics. It definitely shows you how doomer Alan Moore was at the time but it's still a great read. And it doesn't even beat you over the head with anything. The only way it comes close to that is the purposeful straw man of roarsach and his characterization but even then the character I'd played so straight and real that people have legitimate and valid reasons to think roarsach was the only hero in the whole story, despite his flaws. Meanwhile captain marvel in the comics would go on political asides about women's rights. Or when Jane Foster was Thor she'd do that. So would she hulk. How, in anyway, is this latter half even comparable to the genius and mastery of the former? They aren't. They were better written. Less heavy handed. They said it in this podcast, it's condescending but it doesn't stop there and I want to drive that home. It's not that they are just being kind of rude about their politics. They are holding the things we love and enjoy hostage. Ruining it and tainting it. When a fan gets mad at an inconsistent minor detail the contradicts known lore, do you think anyone besides the fans cares? When someone perverts and changes a character and makes them into a mouthpiece to spew political nonsense, do you think anyone cares besides fans? At what point does someone have the right to say "hey stop that please" and it's not a hate crime? See fans will get rabid about any change. It's not just political. "They X-men aren't even wearing the proper costumes." "Spider-Man is just Ironman Jr." Fans do this. So when you go and make something politically awkward yea they will react to that too. If you KEEP doing it repeatedly then yes it's a pattern and people will call that out. If it becomes an industry wide pattern people will recognize it. JUST like how people recognized how a lot of comic book media that wasn't in a comic was afraid to have characters wear their costumes. See? Everyone is treating this as a massive political issue when it's not. I already made the case politics, in the broad sense, aren't the issue. It's the writing, themes, characterization and quality of these products that is the issue. And it's all wrapped up in political pandering. It does nothing but hurt the groups it wants to promote. I think the heaby push in media years ago to put strong females everywhere and make them mouth peices and lame has now trained people to resent any woman in any media. This is not a positive outcome and the only people to blame for this are people who forced it and did it badly. Is it right for people to react that way? I'm not saying it is. I'm saying 1+1=2. In other words, it's understandable. And it's not going away. People are hurting. Burnt out. Tired of being preached at. And it's not just for women in media. I'm just using that as an obvious example. But this gigantic push has only harmed the very groups they were "trying" to uplift. Edit: realized I never closed out. But yea I hope this can expand on why people are mad. And that it's not just people having issues with certain orientations or beliefs. As these same people will LOVE older things that clearly has those same orientations or beliefs *but just done better.* I think now more than ever my case is made for me by the constant release of slop. It's right there for all to see validating what people were saying for years. It's ugly and people were wrong. The more we resist that the stronger the push against the groups depicted is going to get. *stop it.* but what do I know, I'm just some guy.

[@themeangene]

Opposition to war and support for environmental conservation isn't even a controversial topic. The clean water act occurred under Nixon. National parks were due to Teddy Roosevelt. Antiwar movements have been part of the left and right. Those political statements weren't taking cheap shots at large segments of the population. The left and right both agree we should be good stewards of the Earth. It's just they disagree about how. Tokien was extremely conservative but obviously supported conservation of the English countryside. Putting in racial and gender politics is going to aggrevate half of your potential consumer base. It makes no sense unless you are being subsidized by these programs or you hired too many activists who refuse to change course

[@travelsizedlions]

I greatly appreciate Cyberpunk 2077's writing because the characters are relatable and human, even if I have political and moral objections with a lot of the game's mature themes and strong language. It's dang good writing that's interesting to engage with on an intellectual level and has helped me consider my position on certain topics more thoroughly. On the flip side, I can't stand the borderlands franchise anymore because it feels like the people writing it now haven't stepped foot outside of their office in Frisco, Texas in over a decade and never evolved past collegiate radicalism.

[@benjaminbeltran7004]

No, we do, i hate "wokeness" in games because wokeness IS political. Pushind diversity for diversity's sake IS political, if you want to highlight people of color then make the next assassin's creed in Africa, where real amazing stories have happened and nobody is telling.

[@RodMateu]

Expedition 33 looks a bit TOO awesome frankly. When you look at studios with similar money and manpower, they usually can't achieve nothing close to that. It makes me skeptical wondering how much the final product will look and play like these trailers.

[@danutghidia5820]

its on Unreal 5, all Unreal 5 games look great graphically, since its easier than ever to develop on it, but you have to worry about the rest of the game besides the visuals

[@RodMateu]

@@danutghidia5820 Still a lot of super-heavy 3D modelling work for a small team of under 50 unproven devs. Unreal 5 or not, I can't think of a similar dev that achieved that level of visual detail and fidelity.

[@Paul-to1nb]

My guess is that it will be hyper linear, with very few towns, if any, towns. This is fine with me as long as the story is compelling, makes sense, and has good characterization. Wishing them the best of luck! With a new team making a game that's gathered so much hype, I worry it will be hard to meet expectations.

[@MillenniumEarl014]

I think the reason people are pretty negative about the State of Play is because at the end of the day it's just a show. Like people aren't watching the State of Play because it is the State of Play. It's a good show that showcases what people think are garbage. With the Concord, Ubisoft, games dying and you not owning even a copy of the game you bought and shit. Things that are happening and we think are getting worse year after year. Just like the family dynamics where issues just keep building up over the years and not getting fixed so there is always tension between the family ready to explode anytime even from some most minor issues. You guys talked about this before about family dynamics. Issues that weren't resolve for years just keeps building up. One good thing doesn't erase those issues just like how one or two good shows won't stop people from getting mad or pissed. A lot of us gamers already picked the "do nothing" choice. And things got worse. So people on the internet started speaking out and it did nothing too. Now people are just pissed. That's the only thing the majority of people can do now. Constructive conversation is good and all but not everyone speaks good English. Well, at least I don't. And also I'm sure most gamers don't really care about all these stuff. Edit: I just want to add that even youtubers/content creators have their DLC/Battle Pass called Patreon or any monetization platform. You get exclusive contents if you subscribe to their Patreon most of the time. People basically become investors so the more they invest, the more their voice is valued. The opinion of a $1 guy is less valuable than the $50 guy. Not saying it is bad but this happened in video games, right? You gotta listen to the company that invested $100m to develop your game no matter how bad it is. Sorry if this has nothing yo do with the video but more like with your other video talking about video games collapse. You guys are reinvesting the money to the channel which is great. But in video games? I can't say.

[@locdogg86]

I think the best thing is to not buy the game. Which is wat made me happy about concord as I’ve been telling people not to buy cod for 15 years lol

[@Level_Eleven]

Your English is much better than you give yourself credit for here

[@lastmanstanding7155]

​@@locdogg86 yea but it remains to be seen what effect this is going to have. But the trajectory isn't looking good. Remember, that was apparently the future of playstation.

[@jordanetherington1922]

@@locdogg86 Honestly that's the only thing they care about an it'll make you happier with what you actually buy!

[@locdogg86]

@@lastmanstanding7155 yea it could definitely get worse before it gets better. Ultimately the end of trajectory is probably better imo

[@onthespoke2]

they're remastering a PS4 game already?

[@acidwizard6528]

Seems like a strange choice.

[@84jesterx]

We forgot about The Remaster of the Remastered version of The Last of Us? You know instead of just supplying said "upgraded version" for free to already existing owners akin to many PC games where the devs would have done usually. Oh, and they raised the price of the original Complete version product as well. Scummy Sony as usual. They are making money off of your less than a couple of years old nostalgia for zero reason. Yet people will buy it anyway.

[@lrodrigues7488]

The slow patient mentoring way is so slow and there are so many people to go through that process with... Why do millions need to wait to be treated decently?

[@rmsgrey]

Because trying to take shortcuts doesn't work?

[@lrodrigues7488]

@@rmsgrey that's bullship. I guess white straight males are the only people that deserve attention? You should ask yourself, why can't we just treat all people like they are people and are worthy of existing and representation.

[@ClankStarr]

Thank you guys so much for doing this format for videos again. I've been a fan of your channel since the Dark Pixel days, but I fell off for the last year or two because there would be months at a time when you'd be covering a game that I hadn't played with no other content to go along with it. I'm glad to be actively viewing again! Also, I watched a lot of State of Play reactions, and this is BY FAR the best analysis so far. I know it may not be your biggest passion, but I do like hearing your thoughts on current events in gaming.

[@Mondoness]

I grew up and was thought to judge people by their actions. I still do now. My wallet speaks for me when it comes to corporate pandering

[@kirkcavanaugh1493]

"Are" experts, or "consider themselves to be experts with no training or achievements of any kind that would be used by anybody else to call those people experts". I seem to come across that second one a lot more than I do the first one.

[@travelsizedlions]

Thanks for being a voice of reason, Mike. That's why I love your podcast. Whenever you get political, it's not really about the politics, but about building understanding.

[@LaxativePayne]

I've been a fan of you guys for ages; it's great to see how you've grown, both in terms of video production value and thoughtful discussion. If you think Midnight Walk looks awesome, I highly recommend playing through their previous game Lost in Random. On top of a pretty cool battle system, the writing is fantastic.

[@taleofthetape7499]

In the words of John Rambo, “they drew first blood, not me”

[@neoasura]

All I wanted was just something to eat.

[@themeangene]

I just wanted to play a game and they wouldn't leave me alone. Now I won't leave them alone

[@phillosmaster393]

That LOTR pull to illustrate your point is one of the best things I've heard in a long time.

[@fattiger6957]

To be honest, the rising level of toxicity has made me step away from the video game "community." There are so many gamers (of both political extremes) who not only get offended ridiculously easily, but seem to actively go out looking for reasons to get offended. It's just exhausting to constantly see people act like that.

[@proggz39]

Best thing I’ve done for my own mental health is to avoid all of it and just play what I want. Discourse will almost always dissolve into toxicity

[@benjaminbeltran7004]

Well it's not both sides, there's people and there's activists infiltrating and infecting everything with their crazy ideas. If you blame both sides YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

[@IlSH2]

The issue is that they turned gaming into a community. Making videogames mainstream was a mistake

[@AysarAburrub]

​@@IlSH2 Nobody "made" video games mainstream. They became mainstream naturally, just like any other thing that eventually becomes mainstream over time. It's like saying it was a mistake to make driving mainstream resulting in traffic jams, road rage etc.

[@kg888]

Then you are the problem. 😂 Youre just fence sitting while people are fighting to keep our games untouched. Bet you're the type who just sat there, while illegal immigrants taken over.

[@NickLysander]

For me, it's all about the lack of vision, which is why what you guys said in the last video (regarding indie games leading the way) seems right to me. Nowadays, companies are so big that they can't afford to bank on the vision of an up-and-coming writer or director so we're not really seeing new Kojimas, Sakaguchis, or Spectors. Everything has to have twelve writers working of list of trends of what's big right now and dozens of corporate executives sending it back for revision and hundreds of marketers sending it back again. No risks! I think that's why so many videos like "The Beautiful Weirdness of the GameCube" and "The Forgotten Capcom One-Offs of the PS1" are doing well on KZbin right now. People are hungry for that kind of artistic vulnerability and expression from an interactive medium, ESPECIALLY if they loved it when they were kids. Indie games are great, but a lot of them are still stuck in trends themselves (one thinks of the "Earthbound/Paper Mario sprite-based RPG featuring humorous dialogue, solid music and a story about depression" meme). I'm incredibly excited to get to the point where indie devs can consistently get games of the PS2/GameCube aesthetic out. I don't think we're too far away from that era.

[@raze2012_]

To be cynical: they are hungry, but lose their appetite the moment an indie tries it out and drops it for $15-20. Because back in the day my Dad got it for me and I didn't pay for it! I think in many ways the nostalgia is what feels good, not necessarily trying to play it again. It was a different phase of their life. Even if the companies did try to recreate that those auteurs are gone. Sakaguchi has been gone for most of square's life, and Fantasian seems to do well but isn't some blockbuster. Kojima is still doing his thing but he doesn't have his IP's.

[@13967237]

There's obviously a big chunk of online comments you can safely dismiss on any given topic. But as someone who is both pissed off about performative wokeness in media and aware enough to know where to direct that anger, I can explain why people feel so strongly about this. Firstly, it's important to note, the diverse characters, their actors and people who look like them aren't typically the source of the problem. It's actually generally white people who are trying to push these things. This is the crux of the problem, there's a bunch of well meaning people who think that they're being nice, and doing the right thing by shoehorning these elements into media. However, they are often the "useful idiots" (using the term in its political sense, not as an insult) for far more sinister political groups who know exactly what they are doing. I would recommend learning about "The long march through the institutions" or Antonio Gramsci's "war of position" to get a better sense of how deliberate and how long running both the inclusion of these elements and the inevitable backlash that they create actually are. At the heart of every seemingly harmless liberal cause of the late 20th and early 21st century there is a small group of radicals trying to destabilise society and replace it with utopia. This has been extremely successful so far, check out the BBC's diversity requirements for all of their productions - this is why we see characters deliberately race and gender swapped, as well as storylines or characterisations that seem at odds with the creator's original vision. These explicit requirements exist alongside the ESG mandates from investment firms who decide who gets access to capital. These mandates stifle creativity, originality and quality as the wrong things are prioritised and rewarded. Creators with a vision they strive to make real have been replaced by committees with quotas to reach. And each new game doesn't exist in a vacuum, it's the latest in a long line of insults, propaganda and shoddy workmanship that people with pattern recognition have had to endure for over a decade. There's a new straw to break the camel's back added every day. To a casual observer, the reaction seems overblown, disproportionate and even hateful - but to the people who have been under the boot of managerialism for years, the reaction isn't nearly strong enough.

[@Deport_All_nonWhites]

They're not well meaning, they're antiwhites. Your fence sitting will not stop them White-erasing you.

[@sanc3375]

I feel like gaming was this way to vent out from the real world, now a lot of it has been denied from many bad or good actors. A lot of resentment and, let's be honest, politics are a heavy factor that people are as angry as ever.

[@SaberToothPortilla]

I don't know if the works themselves were really ever any more escapist (for lack of a better term, you know what I mean) than they are now, it's more the ways that they aren't that have changed. Also a lot of it is genuinely people being goaded into it, sometimes by deliberate bad actors, other times by opportunists, mainly through social media. That is the one thing that is for sure unique about games culture now as compared to, say, 30 years ago. Broadcasting power used to be fairly limited and highly controlled. I genuinely don't think people would have nearly as negative of an attitude about *most* of the perceived problems with games if the idea weren't being sold to them so heavily. May still be negative of course, but nowhere near as intense.

[@sanc3375]

@@SaberToothPortilla that is also true, like a misdirection of their anger to other topics

[@ftg_vader8690]

the issue comes in when you say that just because you see a gay person in your video game that means you suddenly can't "escape from real life" anymore. At that point you are really only just saying "I want to be able to pretend that gay people don't exist"

[@twotimingpete]

your points are well taken and beautifully put. I'd just say that -- when you pointed to Tolkien's writing to make a point, like, there's a significant group of people who will say things like Tolkein's works are inherently racist with the implication being there's something wrong with you for liking them -- And that's just one example, and people feel (and there's reason to believe they're not totally wrong) that this type of thought is making its way into entertainment and changing it. This is what spawns a channel like criticaldrinker, not the existence of gay people. A channel like that is focused on media and I don't think you'd be totally crazy to notice mainstream media as a whole is changing in ways that not everyone likes.

[@Deport_All_nonWhites]

They're people crying racist are antiwhite and want my people gone with no countries of our own for our White diversity. They are trying to White-erase us both culturally and biologically. It is cruel and evil.

[@ftg_vader8690]

Not sure this is a great take, critical drinker is just straight a straight up homophobic grifter

[@neogotham2k39]

I rather play retro games

[@Mondoness]

There was a pretty big survey that came out not too long ago showing that 60% of gamers are just playing games that are up to a decade old or older

[@TetraMaster-f8s]

Based

[@Taneuma_563]

My favorite past time is going treasure hunting on the depths of the web to find new games I never would have known existed without emulation. Sometimes there's gold and other times there's pyrite.

[@themeangene]

Reject modernity. Embrace tradition. Motto to go by until modernity fixes itself

[@rangerscoach]

Basically I’m looking at content be it movies or games or whatever that pre dates the ‘cancellation era’. I don’t mind politically motivated content but eventually we got to thought police etc and that has made things really hard particularly for a bunch of my friends who feel attacked by it all. I do agree the reaction in some ways is worse

[@iggyig420]

Im over here just loving Resident Evil titles, Monster Hunter is killing it, im in love with the FF7 remake project, Black Myth Wukong was amazing, everything Fromsoft does is full of passion, fighting games are more popular than they ever been as a genre...People just love to hate things online...everything is doom and gloom blah blah blah.

[@johnmcternan4157]

I was thinking the other day how its funny how I grew up on the PS1 but I rarely thought about the company Sony beyond the cool PS1 intro itself until the Internet got big. Those mysterious Japanese names in the end of Final Fantasy or Metal Gear. It all seemed like magic. I miss that. There was a relationship between games magazines and their readers, like a magazine on your favorite tractors or fishing rods, or car mechanics, so the whole hobby.... felt like an actual hobby. Co-op gaming leant into this too, making memories in the real world. It was visceral and localised. The UK magazines were wrote in a very casual tongue in cheek way, the games were incredible in everyway and yet there was not a hint of airs, or talk of art or pretension. I distinctly remember this. It was wonderfully unassuming and a pleasure. Now developers and writers on are so serious and cringe, but the art is often terrible. Pushing the medium etc.. They were serious about the game making but it wasn't serious at all, really. It was all very punk rock. You'd be kind of laughed at in magazines if you thought your game was a art installation or an "experience" and this was their view of first party stuff too. They did not give a damn who you were coming across as. Kojima was doing his thing and respected but they weren't bowing down to him in the deifying sycophantic way they do now. In other words when your stuff is good and you know it's good, you're good, you tend not to be a poser or be insecure in your abilities, you relax. A lot of the modern world have forgotten the best way to live imo. One last bit being a game developer back then meant you likely knew a little bit of everything, a bit of Renaissance man so that helped you relax. I suspect specialisation has made people crabby and insecure too. Now they flip, rather than say "I don't know", they didn't have million eyes staring them down either.

[@rodflounder]

Really enjoying these pods. Its cool to get your opinions on current gaming stuff or less hyper focused subjects. Looking forward to more.

[@ChaosAngelZero]

Hate-farming is a thing.

[@proggz39]

A very big thing. KZbinrs/influencers/gaming journalists have bills to pay and typically that leads to saying whatever will get the views. That’s why you see one hundred and two videos about how “gaming is dead”

[@benjaminbeltran7004]

Fuck you! as if there wasn't a real problem.

[@MarkPTP7000]

It's such an easy way to get subscribers and make money. I'd do it myself if I had lower morals.

[@raze2012_]

And very profitable. The internet is almost designed to amplify the most radical takes instead of the most reasonable.

[@coconutgun8814]

Looking forward to the Radiant Historia episodes

[@Reginmund]

There's a certain segment of gamers that are mostly just in it to complain about stuff. You rarely hear them be excited or say anything positive about new games coming out, unless it's to make an unfavourable comparison to how good games used to be in the past. You get the impression they've just stubbornly stuck with the hobby even though they haven't actually had fun with a game since 1997.

[@vincentgraymore]

Hades 2, Ink realm and Travellers Rest are some games from this year (although early access) that I liked very much, but either way the story changes in FF VII remake and Rebirth are still pure garbage and I see no reason why people can't compare it to the original nor be silent about it.

[@RichardHannay]

Kudos to that story with the former co-worker 🙌🏼

[@Jermitis209]

Thank you so much Mike for sharing your story. Your message and the way you put it is very simple but is exactly what some people need to hear. We all just need to listen more and judge less. Everyone is just trying to get through life and it’s hard. We need to support each other, listen, and have empathy.

[@adamthompson5368]

its simple the issue is social media journos report a few negative tweets as 'news' make a headline that says 'everyone is hating XXX game' and quotes a few tweets and those small amount of negative tweets everyone turns that into 'everyone is saying' and then youtubers jump on bandwagon about it reporting it as 'everyone hates this' when it really is a small percentage

[@SoManyHaystacks]

It was nice to just get to see you two talk about games in a more casual sense. I absolutely love the book club style you guys have had going on, but one of these every once in a while is fun. I'm 100% going to have to try to play along if any of the Legacy of Kain stuff wins the votes. I've been trying to find to play those for years.

[@punmastamatthew3543]

Ok finished listening to this, the start had a lot of emotions that I feel especially since I have family/friends that are just polar opposites of one another and its always just concerning listening to the vitriol from either or and me just having the usual anxiety of do you think I'm that bad cause I talk/associate with blank, or believe in this thing you hate, etc. I do hope people can stop trying to destroy each other for being on the wrong colored team and just get rid of the grifters, trolls, and media outlets that prey on everyone anxieties for their bottom line. But going away from that, I really didn't find too much interest in the games other than the indie games really, and I pretty much only play indie games now. Also in terms of the graphic nostalgia there are a lot of indie horror games that have already gone the PS1 look and are starting to go the PS2 look now. Two I'd recommend is Signalis and Faith, Signalis is very classic Resident Evil (OG 1-3) and Silent Hill inspired with some German sci-fi and King in Yellow if you know the book. Now Faith isn't PS1 graphics its Atari style graphics, but I feel that Mike could add a interesting perspective on it considering its heavy religious tones.

[@andresrosel821]

Yeah, I would suggest not watching news at all, and minimizing the use of social media and memes, that is an awful mix that makes people hate each other and that enhances certain unuseful and troublesome trains of thought, I always suggest using your energy and time to do something else, anything else.

[@duder6666]

You've nailed it. God I appreciate you two.

[@LucasPatricio]

Mike, I learn so much from you. I admire the way you see things from a respectful point of view.

[@edwardnowakowski5990]

I’m just stunned that they’re remastering late ps4 titles from 2018 and 2019, but 2015’s bloodborne, honestly probably the most satisfying souls game in my opinion is locked at 30 fps and console locked to ps4.

[@alescano3504]

'Zero Dawn repits animations' Meanwhile me playing KOTOR II watching the Twilek repeat the same animation the 26th time in our dialogue:

[@TheMilhouseExperience]

All this assumes that both sides are willing to talk in good faith. I can’t trust one side for 2 reasons. 1. The video on GDC’s channel “now you see me: representation as innovation.” 25 minutes into the talk her words become hostile talking as if game devs are intentionally creating racist moments and telling people that it’s okay to scare the S*%+ out of marketing and higher ups if you don’t get your way. 2. The Black myth Wukong story where Sweet Baby Inc wanted 7 million dollars for consulting. Using it as a threat to deter any possible negative stories about racism in the future. And almost immediately after calling them out publicly, negative stories started coming out. There is no good faith argument. The bridge is burned and they’re holding the torch saying how we, not they, did it. Edit:as an additional note ESG, DEI, and Bridge are real corporate accepted racism. Ubisoft had a story talking about assigning scores to their employees based on their race and gender, but scores can go up and down based and several behavior factors including a ridiculous factor like eating at a foreign food truck. These people are terminally online. Not to say the other side has its problems, but there’s a more blatant entitlement problem coming from one side projecting it as everyone else’s issue that they can conveniently fix.

[@IdJustLikeToInterjectFrAMoment]

Wukong is all the example you need to show this is one sided. Critical Drinker isn't demanding money for good press nor is he even making any real money, but hes put in the same boat as people like SBI which is preposterous to me. This is not "both sides are bad" at all. One side is unfathomably worse.

[@ratchet2505]

I feel at hope here, too bad that I can't find the time to stay active in this community.

[@Nigel222]

I would say I have more of an indifference or meh feeling from most video game stuff these days. Getting mad about it isn't good for your health.

[@doublezeta2025]

Blood Omen seems pretty important. It introduces you to the world and gives Kain's origin.

[@nanoglitch6693]

It's just funny to me that both the most hyped upcoming games are remakes and the most apparently hated upcoming game is a remake 😅

[@raze2012_]

Then people wonder why theres no new and creative IP's. Apparently what most people want is Bloodborne officially playable @ 60fps 😂.

[@dreamshield8519]

LEGO Island, I had the game on PC and I remember when you talked to certain LEGO Figures, all the textures in the area would change to his face. Unfortunately, the LEGO games still have their faults because they often have to get out of the oven quickly, but they have certainly come a long way😅

[@AshenVictor]

Something I've been noticing increasing recently, not just in gaming but overall certainly here in the UK is people treating participatory identities as proprietary and trying to assert control over who can join in that participation.

[@giglobro09]

Buying an incomplete $70 game and being forced to buy extra DLC would make anyone rightfully upset. Plus AAA quality games look like polished turds.

[@Spartan1312]

I am buying Fantasian because I want to see more Mistwalker titles become multiplatform.

[@alanlee67]

You guys are back on the algorithm. Congrats

[@agroed]

The topic at hand in the title was largely side-stepped in this discussion but on the bright side, I'm excited for Alan Wake.

[@tardigrade9343]

I hear your personal heartfelt story with your coworker. But I feel like you‘re implying that people who are fed up with wokeness are actually just homophobic. And that they need to have a transformative experience like you did. But that’s basically what the woke narrative is. I‘m as gay as it gets and I‘m fed up with woke culture, too. I don’t need to “look a gay person in the eye“, I am one. This “culture war“ is not about “gays vs homophobes“, or “pocs vs racists“. That‘s the one-sided view that’s fuelling this whole mess. You call the likes of Critical Drinker grifters and an extreme response, when for me they are voices of reason and I‘m as far from homophobia as it gets, in my opinion.

[@amex02]

Thanks for sharing this. I feel that there is a lot of labeling and stories like yours run counter to the narrative.

[@mekannatarry1929]

I wonder what you think wokeness is when folk mention the concept, cause there are multiple meanings depending on who you ask; however, there is a source for the term.

[@el_oh_ell]

@@mekannatarry1929wokeness is a rebranding of social justice, which is a rebranding of intersection feminism, which is a rebranding of communism. Usually the folks acting confused and obfuscating around the point of “what is woke anyway???” are woke and are just being dishonest

[@themeangene]

Agreed I don't agree with that either. Thanks

[@tardigrade9343]

​@@mekannatarry1929 The original source is the concept of "being aware of and being sensible to social issues", more or less. Which most people, including the "grifter" KZbinrs mentioned in the video, are. That's the crux. So that's obviously not what the term means anymore, as professional activism becomes more and more niche and extreme in an already liberal, modern society in order to stay relevant. Problems arise as the nature of a social issue and the extend of it mostly come down to personal beliefs and social science theories these days. It's easy for narcissistic cry-bully types to latch on to a seemingly honorable goal to exert their power fantasies, so no wonder there's so much conflict. 10 years ago everyone knew what racism was. Everyone knew what homophobia was. Or sexism. Now these definitions get redefined to include, or better: EXclude, more and more people, and ideas. That's not making the world a better or diverse place. It unnecessarily divides society. It's creates hate, because it comes from a place of contempt. The civil rights movements from last century, which have become industries on their own, desperately try to stay relevant, and lucrative. Because what happens when you achieve your goal? What happens to the charities, the experts, the platforms etc? For example, it's no coincidence that the "gender movement" got in full swing right after gay marriage was achieved, and the formerly gay organizations, like Stonewall and GLAAD, got fully on board. Or how feminism reinvents itself and has become the 4th wave by now, and its followers hate the 2nd-wave radical feminists like JK Rowling. It left the ground of common sense a while ago and has become a faceless industry on one hand, and somewhat of a secular religion on the other. Wokeness is capitalistic, hierarchical, authoritarian and censorous (that a word? I'm not English) to its core. That's the damn problem. When Mike speaks of his experience with his co-worker (who, if I might add, is not the spokesperson of all gay people) I truly believe him. But it's fair to say that since Mike described him as an older guy, when he speaks of his hardships he surely speaks of the aids crisis, or gay bashing, or not being able to come out and marry your partner. Which has nothing to do with modern woes like "misgendering" or "not-having-a-gay-character-in-every-game-or-movie". So long, LONG story short: "woke" isn't just an innocent term describing some kind of awareness anymore. It describes a very specific belief system and power structure. It's an erosive and nihilistic philosophy. It doesn't reach out, it mandates. And it's very corporate, very by the numbers, sterile. And that's what gaming has become as a consequence.

[@MR_ARKANSAS]

a lot of people talking about escapism as if the only people seeking to escape are in a deep depression or sad, lonely, and angry. A lot of us just don't want 24 hours of our day dedicated to whatever the "most existential threat to democracy" is every 4 years. i don't want to turn on call of duty and get hit with a gay pride banner, free palestine, and blm in the same way that i don't want to load it up and get a MAGA ad or whatever. These triple A games are being marketed as activism. They choose their words carefully because they want to signal very specific things.

[@Filsaveol]

It's very weird as a non American seeing a comparison between movements that fight for basic human rights being compared to MAGA

[@quiddity131]

So I know you guys don't follow much anime, but Nier Automata just finished up airing its anime adaption this past Friday and the fanbase was super hyped because of it coinciding with the Tokyo Game Show, thinking we'd get a big announcement of a new Nier game or something similar. As far as I can tell, nothing big actually came of it. There was an announcement of Nier Automata skins becoming available for the game Stellar Blade but that was about it unless there's stuff I wasn't aware of. If the fans are angry about this (maybe they're not, you didn't bring it up!) it's their own fault for hyping this up too much in their head. I feel that as with so much in our society right now the "culture war" has infested gaming discourse on social media with the express purpose of people getting mad about things and so much is in being done in bad faith and at times I don't even know what to believe. To use an example, this whole Dragon Quest thing sounds like insanity to me. The game isn't allowed to call the playable character male or female and apparently this upset the creators but US censors or investors are imposing it on them? It is impossible for me to have any sympathy for one side of the conflict when they are trying to impose something that is so insanely overboard. At the same time, the fact that this is so insanely overboard makes me wonder if I actually have all the context here and if the other side of the conflict is purposely leaving things out to get someone like me riled up on it. Because if you're telling me no video game is going to be able to identify characters as male or female anywhere, there is no way I actually believe that.

[@mysticmarbles]

Some people really do care about the world more than the characters in a fantasy setting. Not me, I’m with you. But I’ve known people who love stories that I find boring because they are too focused on the politics, magic/technology, or world at the expense of individual characters who are flat. But they love that about it. I need a reason to care about your fictional world before I can care about the politics or structure. And the characters are the only way that’s going to happen. But other people feel the opposite and need to care about the world first and the characters second. Just interesting where people's priorities differ.

[@CrowsofAcheron]

I think part of the anger at the Horizon remaster is that a lot of people view it as "replacing" a Bloodborne remaster. Now, I know the industry doesn't work that way. I think a lot of people were dissappointed it wasn't the "right" remaster. To me, I feel Bloodborne remaster is more deserved since you can't even play the original at 60 fps without modding it. A lot of people view a Bloodborne 60 fps remaster as 'free money' for Sony. I kind of feel the same way, but I'm not going to act like a fiend about it.

[@smasha444]

I'm loving these non=game specific episodes. Looking forward to whatever it is you have planned

[@Darrel_B]

Horizon Zero Dawn sold more copies than Bloodborne, but I only know ONE person in my life who's ever played the former. Bloodborne is on everyone's lips all year round, but the pleas for a remaster or even a damned patch fall on deaf ears 🥲

[@tacobales]

Been waiting on this topic for a long time. Hope everyone is listening and receptive 🙏

[@disturbedrebirth]

Mike, I'm an atheist so this might sound weird, but you have a very beautiful soul.

[@DelphieNEhuntah]

Gamers are mad cos noone literally asked for Horizon or last of us remakes and we keep getting them... yet there is Bloodborne which is what really needs a remake or something and Sony isn't touching it... just give the IP back to Fromsoft ffs

[@TJTheEmperor]

I cannot fathom how anyone can get so worked up over something so insignificant, and honestly, I'm happy about that. Like imagine how miserable they must be to spend so much time in anger, when they could be channeling that into something that makes them happy. I'm no fan of (most) AAA games either, so you know what I do? Ignore them. Even filtering out the AAA schlock, I can't even begin to keep up with all the newer games I want to play, to say nothing of the older stuff I haven't gotten around to yet (and god forbid, all the stuff I want to replay!). And say there are no current games that grab my attention - oh well, I'll focus more on reading, or catching up on anime (which I'm also terminally behind on). Life is too short, and the world too interesting, to pidgeon-hole yourself into one very narrow sector of one specific medium.

[@jacobmonks3722]

Aptly put. People are just finding things to be upset about, when they could be a lot happier if they actually spoke to people in the real world and just engaged with the things they are interested in.

[@pooply3053]

​@@jacobmonks3722Look I'm going to say this. Personally? I don't care, Disco Elysium is one of my favourite games of all time, so I'm sure you can guess where I lie politically on that. However, for someone else, sure you can go back and play something old etc, but one of the best parts about gaming is having new games to look forward to, and not having to awkwardly search for games that aren't going to grind your gears due to narratives it may try to push or gameplay elements etc. Like for me, I play a lot of fighting games. I really like guilty gear, I played a bit of xrd (back when it had bad net code), and was looking forward to strive. Strive came out, gameplay wise I can't stand it, it feels simplified, air dashing feels like I'm slogging through mud and gatlings being gone sucks. So if I want to enjoy guilty gear, I have to play the older games, worse graphics, much smaller communities, and less games overall. Plus, because of how successful this game has been compared to the previous ones, there's very little chance that they'll change up the formula in the next games. I know it's not the exact same scenario, seeing as I'm bringing in a multiplayer game, but feeling alienation from a game, or watching your favourite series become something you no longer want to play sucks, both because the fanbase of the older things will dwindle, and there's little to look forward to

[@quezcatol]

My most wanted game of the year: Metaphor comes out in 1,5 week and it wasnt even in the state of the play- its weird because the demo came out the next day. You would assume a jrpg from the guys behind Persona would get some kind of love, but I guess microsoft is paying SEGA to hide that.

[@SaberToothPortilla]

I wouldn't be surprised if that were exactly it. I don't know if they've made the details clear anywhere, but Atlus does seem to have been boosting their relationship with Microsoft the past few years.

[@quezcatol]

@@SaberToothPortilla which baffles me a bit- why not just buy SEGA then instead?

[@GamingRobioto]

The Japanese (and Indie) market is doing all the heavy lifting with gaming now.

[@steveco1800]

Came here to post this! The demo is great and got my preorder in - I never preorder digitally but giving us a free demo to decide is such a pro-consumer move. And it’s Xbox play anywhere which is really useful for me. Really hope it sells well like Persona 5, but I don’t think it quite has the same appeal. Its themes are bit more complex and mature (which I’m enjoying).

[@quezcatol]

@@steveco1800 same already paid for a digital copy over psn store AND a CE coming later.

[@BobBill-z8u]

This podcast is so chill

[@rudidellama3718]

Here in Brazil Sony double the price of the game via Steam, that alone pissed alot of people

[@KillerKyuubi]

Outside of my other comment, the reason I'M upset is because this industry spends so much time and money making these giant ass blockbuster looking titles because of the investors, and then when it doesn't sell as expected, it's a failure and entire dev teams are laid off if not the entire studio closing. THAT pisses me off. AAA gaming is in such a horrible spot right now. There's barely any risks being taken because everything is all about making investors money. I know this was discussed in the last video, but I just agree with the point. It is tiring seeing yet another studio of great people getting shut down literally every week. Indie devs are taking risks because they have to and that's where I'll be pouring a lot of my support going forward. And the remasters.... I wish the entertainment industry as a whole would move past them, but for SOME video games it's fine if the previous version is either hard to attain on modern hardware or limitations made it a pain to play. Games industry is extremely bad about media preservation, too.

[@AntonioCunningham]

Why are games so mad? Because most of us feel attacked by the media we consume. Our hobby is effectively taken over by people who hate us. With that said, I agree that some gamers go too far as well. However these companies are the ones holding the powerstone. It's pretty clear what US Gamers want. Make the games without preaching to us. Stop with this injection of modern day politics in games where it doesn't belong. For the bad faith actors out there, I'm not saying don't make a political game. FFT was a political game, but they weren't preaching to us gamers. It was done right here.

[@losgryfog]

What?

[@elijahbauer8488]

the hobby isnt really being taken over tho, most gamedevs have always been left leaning these are modern games, why wouldnt they have modern politics? sure, they can be executed badly, but why not criticize the writing or art etc. rather than the mere presence of "politics" the companies don't hold as much power as you think, if you dont like how a game is presented, or its messages etc. just dont buy it, and buy games that do have the stuff you like, its just capitalism. sure, it can take a while, due to how long games take to make, but voting with your wallet does have an impact and if these games do end up surviving/succeeding that you dont want or whatever, it may just be that "US gamers" doesnt actually entail ALL gamers. most people just simply dont care about the "politics" in these games (hogwarts legacy is a good example, highly pushed by the right, the game is filled with left leaning political messages, yet sold gangbusters because no one actually cares)

[@AntonioCunningham]

@@elijahbauer8488 The whole don't buy it if you don't like it won't work. That's like conceding ground and giving up on my favorite hobby. We're *not* doing that! You can say they've always been left leaning, but I don't believe that. If that was so, we'd have this problem through all of gaming, not just with the latest slope they're trying to shove down our thoughts. We didn't have these problems until the mid 2010s. Why do I say politics and not writing? I didn't say politics. Remember I gave an example of a political game that was fine. Another one is final fantasy 16. I have my issues with the game but the politics and it was just fine. I don't have a problem with political game. I've stated what the problem was. Them preaching to us and breaking the immersion by inserting current day dogma down our throats. No one likes to be preached to as if they're inferior. I also don't want them making changes for people who don't even play their games.

[@Krisusu]

​@@AntonioCunninghamwhere is the evidence that anything you're saying reflects what the majority of gamers actually want? How do you know that changes being made are in fact for people who don't play the games in question? There's obviously a weighing of risks when it comes to decisions of what to make, who to market to, whether or not to include "politics," etc. If catering to people who think like you was profitable, you would be more catered to. And yet, that's not what happens. It seems to me the people you're presuming to speak for don't represent a particularly significant segment of the market. Can you demonstrate that the success or failure of any game is because of how gamers like you responded to it? Not games where your opinion was the same as the gaming press or a more general audience, but specifically ones in which you diverged from them.

[@AntonioCunningham]

@@Krisusu Are you ignoring so many games complaining? There are so many content creators with big accounts on youtube alone complaning about it. You can stroll through the comments sections of this video alone to see gamers being upset with modern gaming. I mean why do you think there's this push for indie games? Why do you think people down vote in large amounts videos that do the things I talked about earlier? Remember gamers didn't do this prior to 2010s They were overall happy until gaming media went to war with them. The evidence is living though gamergage and seeing how things have continues to get worse. Here's a good example. Concord. That game would not have failed if Gamers wasn't upset like I'm suggesting here.

[@lijnat]

On the subject of trying to see others as people and not let their "excessive" appearance in media impact how you view them (really their identities are essentially being used by companies and social media personalities on both sides)... Lets say a bulk of this started with Gamer Gate and by people like Anita. We don't need to so extreme on the opposite end. Media could all be Hetero Caucasians for the rest of time and I'd be ok with other people not getting represented, but I don't yearn for the status quo, nor do I get upset when original diverse content comes out even if I'm still not fully comfortable with non hetero PG13+ content (I'm growing, it's not a snap your finger situation). This is because ultimately because I don't use the mentality that many upset people do of "it's just an agenda, how else do you justify a DEI character?" Mainly because I don't think you need to justify it as you typically don't/didn't need to justify it for hetero white characters. In any case, the point that I'm building it is if it can be justified, then things should be cool, right? Well no, not really. At least not with vocal minorities. Diversity can play by the rules and still get rejected. This brings me to the example inspired by mentions of open world games like Ghost of Tsushima. That example being Assassin's Creed Shadows. This is an example of a company fundamentally playing by the rules while having missteps along the way, but the greater pushback is against the fundamental story design. Ubisoft have selected to have a dual protagonist story featuring Naoe, a Japanese female ninja and Yasuke, a black former slave turned retainer and "Samurai" of Oda Nobunaga. People are upset because they feel a Japanese Assassin's Creed should be Japanese. But the reality is, this is what Ubisoft does with Assassin's Creed. You mostly have Native to the setting Assassins but you also have outsider Assassin's coming to a new land. A dual protagonist story lets them have both sides. Abd just as the outsider is a new idea they explored, they have a chance at incorporating another new idea. "A historical figure that has little noteworthy documentation that can be inserted into their fictional history to be present just as made up main characters are." Maybe there was a Japanese person who would be perfect for this, but it's not a big deal. Yasuke fits and probably plays outsider better than any made up or existing Japanese character might. This type of protagonists works in other places of history as well as if we look at Julius Caesar or Alexander the great, they certainly have warriors and generals who are praised without much specificity that would make them perfect for historical fiction. People's complaints shouldn't be on this completely justified narrative setup. If it had to be about the story then make it about how to make the best possible story with that setup. But the real discussion should have been about gameplay. Ubisoft have a track record of making mediocre gameplay despite having a history of doing such game elements well in the past. With AC Mirage and the Star Wars game being the most recent similar options. People should be talking about what works and what doesn't from those 2 entries. Instead everyone is talking about "DEI" because it's what is popular now both in terms of being available and available to hate. We should be like the past and focus of the gameplay and level design. When Resident Evil 5 was out, being a white guy shooting down African zombies was the main discussion point. In Nioh 1, we we're hung up on William being the main character. And now with games that are coming out, we shouldn't be overly focused on the DEI element (tho not ignore it, as it is likely worth evaluating) and just try to focus on the game itself for the most part

[@gumielmgz]

There's this one game that I saw on Steam called Sacrifire and I think you guys should check it out. I find myself being drawn to indie j/rpgs more lately and why I'm contemplating on actually getting a Steam Deck. Kind of getting tired with all the monotonous style that AAA companies are pushing towards to.

[@Shanmania]

Casen got the white socks on??? You think you know a guy

[@CasenSperry]

Hahaha😂

[@mopeybloke]

People have been making low poly 3D games for a while now. The indie revival of retro-shooters is almost all in that camp.

[@agroed]

"I wonder when we'll move into when indie devs are starting to use PS1... ...aesthetic as inspiration for their games." Hate to tell you but, you guys are a bit behind the times. XD

[@JCDadalus]

Another video with a lot of things I can agree with, but things that Mike said that make him sound a little disingenuous. The people who are angry or annoyed at the hyper left leaning political slop are not usually hurting, lonely, or sad people. A lot of Conservative Christians and non-Christians are happy with their lives, don't have a high suicide or depression rate the way younger left leaning Liberals and Woke leaning people seem to have. Most Conservatives are banned, leave on their own, or create their own groups where they can hang out and enjoy games or other entertainment with people of like mind. There is indeed much more virtual tribalism on the internet now more than ever, and maybe it's a good thing. My advice to people who are suffering or feel like they are being encroached upon, guys just make your own group, find good people that you agree with, keep your circle of friends small and full of people who value you as a person and who you care about as well. I am just 1 dude, but I'm happily married, I've got 2 loving children, and friends I game with online and in person with Tabletop wargaming that my life is very full of joy and enjoyment of franchises that aren't woke/left leaning, E.S.G. D.E.I. filled. I do pray that the angry sad people on the Left can learn to have at least half the enjoyment of life that I have on a daily basis and maybe they'd be less upset and attacking Conservatives every waking moment of their lives.

[@Alarios711]

I like that faux "I'm relaxed, don't really care" attitude you have to then bring the most uncharitable caricature description of a left leaning person you can. Yeah man, really seems detached. "I do pray that the angry sad people on the Left can learn to have at least half the enjoyment of life that I have on a daily basis" You are parody. "they'd be less upset and attacking Conservatives every waking moment of their lives." I'd smack you IRL just for being absolute cringe.

[@MrTamriell]

Love you guys doing these podcasts, covering some recent events. It made me want to actually watch State of Play now, after listening to your discussion

[@CielBlanche]

The PSX indie game look has been here for a while! Most notably in 2023's amazing Signalis, but also the more recent survival horror game Crow Country, platformers like Lunistice, the action game Pseudoregalia, or King's Field-inspired dungeon crawlers like Dread Delusion and Lunacid. The Bloodborne PSX project was desisted but the creator turned it into a Bloodborne-style racing game called "Nightmare Kart" which is free on Steam.

[@TheBeird]

I am so tired of the culture wars. It's genuinely ruining my ability to enjoy stuff. I'm watching things and I see stuff I know for a fact will be pounced on by the bad faith grifter types who'll make a mint spouting coded hatred. On the other hand, I know what the militant reaction to those bad faith critiques will be and get annoyed how little of an effect they'll have on calming the discourse. It's maddening. Oh yeah, Soul Reaver Remaster. Will be nice to send my mind back to a time when my life was simply boring and not horribly soul destroying.

[@AntonioCunningham]

I'm there with you. I was glad that gamers got together and starred pushing back against the moral busybodies trying to ruin our hobby, but lately both sides have gone too far. For example, with Stellar blade, one sad said it was objectifying women. That it was disrespectful for them to betray her that way. The other side instead of focusing on the game play, the story, the lore... You know anything related to the game, baby treated her like a porn simulator. Praising that he's sexy and going out their way to show it to everyone. I won't play this game because of them. If a game is surrounded by the culture War, I just avoided from now cuz I'm tired of it

[@kl342000]

Stop preaching. It's nice that you've met 3 gay people. Most of us grew up knowing multiple gay people and have no problem with the people themselves. The issue is performative/forced diversity by corporations.

[@Rowri88]

seeing these comments reminds me of how pathetic your westerners's first world problems is. oh the horror

[@devan_danger]

That's too convenient for this discussion. The issue is anger by consumers against intellectual property that serve as modern idols that cannot be sacrilegiously tainted by the ideology of its liberal creative teams. Else they reap the whirlwind of a vengeful old testament like force of death threats and general online harassment. These types gin up a hate campaign for a star wars tv show before it even comes out. The real people involved in making it have probably suffered greatly due to the amount of vitriol that has been spewed at them. All they wanted to do was make an interesting new star war. I'm sure people in the game making business feel the same level of anxiety and pressure from haters in online echo chambers getting high from their own venomous screed.

[@ab-hv8qs]

​@@devan_dangerno they didnt want to make interesting star wars They wanted to use star wars as a medium to spread their agenda. Can we just honest and talk about obvious issues instead of trying to create a narrative and try to create victims to use as a shield?

[@TheBawster]

Sure that's why the interviews up to the show was all about how gay the show is.

[@Deport_All_nonWhites]

so if they get rid of our race nicely it is okay??? lolwut

[@maj-solidsnake1808]

Corporate greed and finance in the gaming industry is one the cause of outrage

[@JKirkis9]

As a gay man, I cannot even keep up with gaming discourse anymore. It is soul crushing. Any game that i might have an interest in or any game that had the slighest of LGBTQ content gets lambasted as "woke garbage" constantly, even before the games are released! The quality of a game, in my view, has nothing to do with the amount of "woke" content in it. For example, Dragon Age: Veilguard is coming out soon and I have loved every game in the series, but I haven't even looked at much about the game because I already know everything related to it is inundated with people complaining about how gay it is and how going woke ruined the series (as if from its inception, Dragon Age wasn't full of LGBTQ themes). I am skeptical of the newest game and I'm not going to be buying it on release, but that has nothing to do with the content, and everything to do with the quality of the storytelling and gameplay. It's just sad that I, and the LGBTQ community, can't even participate in these discussions because the level of vitriol displayed toward a game with even one single gay or trans character is unhealthy to take in.

[@TJTheEmperor]

I’m sorry you have to put up with that nonsense. I know you weren’t asking for advice, but honestly, just play what you want to play, and screw involving yourself in “the discourse.” Bad-faith actors have a tendency to monopolize internet discussion because they’re terminally online, are stupid enough to get worked up about nothing, tend to be loud and obnoxious because they don’t comprehend how they’re poisoning the social environment, and, sadly, online platforms tend to give those people a megaphone, despite how loud they are already. When it comes to that sort of online interaction, to quote Wargames, the only way to win is to not play.

[@CreaturesOfTheMarsh]

I really don’t think Sony putting out the Pro at that price point is unreasonable. It’s a premium console for people who can afford it, and that doesn’t bother me. Most used PS5’s under are in the $350’s. People are mad at the current economic climate. My wife and I struggled to get a house. Houses that we turned for $350k+ sold in the $80’s-$100’s in 2020. Even with 5-star driving records according to our insurance agency, we get our rate hiked (but hiked less than others) because more and more people are dropping car insurance altogether because they can’t afford it. It’s very disheartening, and gaming is most people’s escape. When that escape becomes perceived as another chokehold, people reacted. I don’t know why Nintendo somehow dodges this, but every game that has anything perceived as a political message or even reflects a current trend gets hit with a wave of “but I want to escape.” If the PS5 Pro and Horizon remaster came out in a better climate, this reaction probably wouldn’t exist.

[@themeangene]

These videos came out the same week the Godot engine PR manager called developers scum for not being rabidly leftwing and banned their own donors and dev projects lol. I think we all see the problem 🤔

[@elijahbauer8488]

i mean they are a private company, they can do whatever they want as long as they arent breaking any laws. there are other game engines you can use if you care about godots politics

[@Gehrich_]

​@@elijahbauer8488 I mean we are private individuals, we can discuss and criticize whatever we want as long as we aren't breaking any laws. There are other threads to respond to if you don't agree with OP's expression of dissatisfaction. I hope this example can show how outright dismissive responses like these aren't particularly productive.

[@themeangene]

@@elijahbauer8488 They banned at least one platinum investor. They're going to be in a huge lawsuit in certain jurisdictions if they banned people that didn't break their terms of service where money is involved. You don't get to use catch all arguments like that in California for example Also it's highly unethical and disastrous for the hobby if companies act this way. All you're going to do is create backlash. In ten years we are going to see a huge right wing backlash to all of this.

[@user-nw5ef3zh9t]

thats not what happened, but whatever fits your narrative. lol

[@Gehrich_]

@@user-nw5ef3zh9t themeangene's version of events are slightly hyperbolic and reductive but effectively conveys what happened. The head moderator of the unofficial Discord server that is endorsed by Godot and that shares most of the same team as the official server called people "evil" and "cockroaches" for having any sort of response to a questionable post made by a CM on the official X. Some donors and devs were blocked, timed out, or banned on said platforms as well as Github. Godot then put out a statement that apologized for their own overreaction and distanced themselves from the server while simultaneously painting themselves as the victims. It's a bit much to expect people to fully cover every detail in a concise manner in casual discussion, and it's definitely dishonest to dismiss the simplification as being fully untrue.

[@VazBrasil]

It’s not just games. Keep fence sitting. Everything you love will be destroyed.

[@Deport_All_nonWhites]

Even their race.