Xbox Steals the Show - Easy Allies Podcast - June 14, 2024

[@angelg4895]

Huber touring the SGF event was so good! Hopefully we get more in the future.

[@charoleawood]

he's featured heavily in MinnMax's SGF Travelogue

[@InnerRise]

​@@charoleawood Link?

[@benjaminc6304]

Love seeing Huber’s knowledge on full display here. He knows so much.

[@derekmccasky6189]

Blood had the correct read on the Fable trailer. The voiceover is setting up the villain not your character. They say the hero made all the wrong choices, then your character steps into frame and says “she’s here.”

[@schrockboy]

Huber in his prime during this podcast. so much knowledge and good analysis on every game brought up. Even Ubisoft's Monopoly. He is really shining right now

[@charoleawood]

54:04 i'm not saying it won't have a character creator, but Fable has never had one before.

[@tylerisse5120]

I don't think it should i think you should just mold your character

[@charoleawood]

@@tylerisse5120 i agree, especially as Fable 3 is one of my absolute favorite game of all time and i love that you play as a specific person with a voice and personality.

[@unal.05]

I believe they announced character creation when the game was first announced?? I may be wrong though, I just remember seeing an article about it like a year or two ago

[@charoleawood]

@@unal.05 oh, well either way i want to love the game

[@skeeyee1643]

@@unal.05I don’t remember this one

[@DravenxEyeless]

32:00 the delta symbol in the game's title "fits the concept of the remake project. Delta means "change" or "difference" without changing structure." apparently referring to the symbol's use in math and science to mean a change in quantity. (Which fits the premise, since the camera angles, cutscenes, and coreographies are 1:1 side to side)

[@otakugamerx]

Unfortunately Expedition 33 is Not an anime but I would definitely watch it if it was

[@Kaleb_SMILE]

Idk what's so confusing about Expedition 33..... if it says 33 and it changes every year and you are 32, you WILL turn 33 by the time it changes to 32.... There's literally nothing confusing about that.

[@heybinsu]

ikr lmao

[@Smallville619]

Just gabby being picky as f

[@geneticjen9312]

Nah it's totally reasonable. There are multiple ways to interpret it. When I first heard, I thought everyone who was 33 died when the announcement happens. 32 year olds would survive. So if they turn 33 before the 32 announcement comes round, they've avoided it because they won't be 32 when the 32 announcement is made. It's just a misunderstanding over whether it kills everyone currently 33 or everyone who will turn 33 between then and the 32 announcement. It is a bit weird

[@lanhikari4930]

Thank you! I was about to have an aneurysm listening to gabby speak. Like come on

[@timstreller5464]

agree wth was that take lmao

[@rori9742]

perfect dark feels heavily mirror's edge inspired! i quite like the gameplay they've shown so far

[@shifting_tides]

Huber embodying the hardcore guy in Disco Elysium

[@ahorserunning]

I can't express enough just how much I appreciate the Robamiani setup lol

[@Treefingers6005]

People, Microsoft spent $80 BILLION and bought 2 major publishers - one of which used to have their own E3 conference every year, and the other had the biggest third party games in the industry! Of course they’re going to have games to show. They should really “win” every year at this point. They’ve outspent the rest of the E3/SGF participants combined.

[@alexlyster3459]

While that is fair, even with just their own internal "Xbox Games Studios" that they either founded (The Coalition, The Initiative), or organically grew with and acquired (Playground Games) or smaller ones they acquired (Compulsion, Obsidian) or just acquired like 2 decades ago (Rare). Even just with those I'd argue they still "Won" SGF. South of Midnight, SoT, Perfect Dark, Fable, Avowed and Gears of War E-Day is a damn strong showing anyway.

[@Dan-hz4vf]

@@alexlyster3459 None of them look GOTY quality though, i don't think you win with 7 or 8's out of 10 and a CG trailer of gears. Nintendo showed very little but they are super hyped cause people know they will release quality highly rated games. MS has yet to prove that.

[@22antricha]

@@Dan-hz4vffable or perfect dark could definitely be goty contenders.

[@Dan-hz4vf]

@@22antricha Maybe Fable, but the way PD looks? no way

[@22antricha]

@@Dan-hz4vf we barely saw anything…

[@MarkusAxunIllianus]

1:06:20 - Very glad Damiani mentions the shoddy Indiana Jones trailer. Don't know if Brendan is pleased, but Kyle definitely is.

[@MG_Gambino]

I can't answer for all survival's, but the one I tend to get into is Project Winter. I think I'd classify it as deception with survival elements. For Huber, I think it comes down to what you're looking for. V-Rising is one I think is more for him. Anyway, this was a great episode overall. The energy and vibes was great across the board. The Gears of War portion was interesting. For me, Phantom Blade Zero, Where Winds Meet, Metal Gear Solid Delta, and Expedition 33 were my highlights. SGF overall was solid. No S's or A's. I'd probably give it a B+

[@charoleawood]

1:55:55 The classic Assassin's Creeds were all about verticality so much so that AC3 being set in Revolutionary War America was called into question --- AC was seen as needing narrow streets and tall buildings with roof access. AC Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla considerably flattened AC's gameplay so that tall and dense building architecture was no longer the only way to tell a story in AC.

[@timytimeerased]

funny to see Damiani shout "don't listen to leakers, they dont know shit !" when the guy has been gloating about readin/knowin stuff other allies dont know cause he spends his life on Era 😂

[@mister_brownie6416]

much like tony stark and geoff keighley, damiani is constantly learning with his mistakes and next week his l&r timing will be even better

[@chariotgoblin8060]

The Gears of Wars fans rant lol

[@milesdyson7429]

I love having Gabby on the podcast to get hyped about LiS and CoD with Huber. With the smaller EZA crew these days, it would be great to have her, Isla, and Don on the table more frequently to share their tastes and takes.

[@TheSSJSnoop]

Don is not allowed to be on a full podcast

[@raymcdougal420]

DOOM Perfect Dark” South of Midnight Indiana Jones 🍻

[@charoleawood]

48:01 This set-up exists, beat for beat, in Deus Ex invisible War during the Cairo section with the Arcology protecting select citizens from Nanite Swell 11 and all other poor sods having to live outside the arcology walls.

[@charoleawood]

49:34 And i have to disagree here as "The Grays" in Deus Ex aren't aliens, they are biologically engineered creatures and DX doesn't ever jump the shark with them. You DO go to Area 51 and see how the grays are created, but the secret of Area 51 is that its the hub through which all communications in the world are routed --- which is a little hoakey, but the point is there are no flying saucers from another planet.

[@xalt255x]

and Mirror's Edge...

[@charoleawood]

@@xalt255x The Cairo thing though is pretty wild. We'll never see an invisible War remake but i can imagine if it did happen everyone being like, "Oh, this totally stole from Perfect Dark". i love that this new Perfect Dark looks like a continuation of what Eidos Montreal was doing with DX, so i'm not upset, but i just want to shout "Deus Ex existed, y'all, and it was great!"

[@deshaunfortune912]

You for sure go to Borneo in uncharted 2

[@jaydo4545]

I been listening to this podcast on Spotify for a few months and they look waayyy different then I had in my head it's surreal to me. The control room chick is hot as hell idk how to spell ila

[@hododod246]

If Switch 2 comes next year with banger games and all of these 2025 games will be released on 2025 plus GTA6, 2025 might end up as good as 2023. And Sony even haven't shown its hand for 2025.

[@paulseidler1644]

So xbox finally has a decent showcase and some bragging rights. All it cost them was almost $80 billion...😂😂

[@InnerRise]

They show the same games every showcase. Easy to win with the same load out that never comes. Sony can say god of war, last of us, tsushima, etc.... are coming every year and could "win". What's the point of a "good" showcase if the games never come?

[@brentrobinson316]

Expedition 33’s premise really isn’t that hard to grasp. If you are 32 and the number is currently 33 then you die on your next birthday. I’m the event you birthday happens to fall on the day the witch writes 32 and you become 33 then you still die as you are above the written age. I don’t see how there can be any confusion. Granted the game isn’t out so who knows if there is some kind of loop hole of bypassing it. Regardless definitely my most anticipated next to monster hunter wilds.

[@MauriceisMAD]

I interpreted it as if the paintress draws 33 then everyone that moment that is 33 dies. I was thinking it would kill in the moment not for an entire year.

[@ironmunger2]

Isla calling South of Midnight a souls lite is real “any turn based game is a jrpg” energy

[@charoleawood]

Traditional "character action" games didn't camera lock onto enemies a la Souls (or Ocarina of Time, as it were) --- i think that "Souls-Lite" is an accurate description of the combat we saw in the South of Midnight gameplay reveal.

[@ironmunger2]

@@charoleawood so is any third person game with combat and a lock on feature a souls-lite? Is breath of the wild a souls-lite? Is ocarina of time? Is red dead redemption 2?

[@charoleawood]

​@@ironmunger2 Souls may be looked at as an "Ocarina-like" if we want to go there. The fact is that FromSoft has MASSSIVELY influenced action game design in our era, these devs (and we the consumers) are playing From games and thinking about game design from that perspective. Lil' Gator is clearly directly influenced by Breath of the Wild as are Fenix Rising and Genshin impact. Star Wars Outlaws has Dead Aim and so is influenced by Red Dead Revolver, has an open worlds a la Red Dead Redemption (a "Gun-like"?), and general gunplay/movement like Uncharted (a Tomb Raider-lite). i look at the combat of South of Midnight and my Souls muscle memory sings out "Hey! That's rather akin to Souls!"

[@humblecanadian4206]

I was really underwhelmed by the gameplay of the game but i think it'll still get a 10 for the choices the game made and the art style. But ill be skipping it

[@deathrowslag78]

South of midnight reminds me of Kena and that was a great game

[@InnerRise]

And a little Prince of Persia 2008

[@mikeybeeee07]

I like xbawks and I think xbawks is neat and really cool

[@hododod246]

So when is Microsoft putting Activision/Blizzard back catalog to gamepass? I was expecting recent call of duty games at least and some classics. Also Diablo 3 and Diablo 2 remake. I think they put Bethesda back catalog very quickly. I wonder why is it taking so long for activision and blizzard? Just put all the black ops games so people can catch up.

[@alexlyster3459]

I think we still will see those games on GP before BO6, but I imagine they want to announce it some other time. Likely Gamescon?

[@EricShoe]

I don’t think that’ll ever happen. Only because it floods the market and very likely will result in less sales for your new game, especially if it is bad.

[@khs511]

I'm sure it's coming but they won't drop at once.

[@Echo__plex]

​@@EricShoe it will absolutely happen

[@EricShoe]

@@Echo__plexThey want people to play the new thing. They’d be shooting themselves in the foot by putting their whole back catalog on GP. If anything they’ll put some old games with defunct multiplayer.

[@Siege_Panda]

Finally got a new modern day turn based Final Fantasy ❤

[@lukemoonwalker8444]

I know this is very petty, but Shenmue 3 released a month after Gears 5, so technically Gears fans have been waiting longer than Shenmue fans.

[@EricShoe]

They’re talking about the gap between shenmue 2 & 3

[@titusorelius9458]

Perfect Dark does not look like real gameplay...

[@antivanti]

Gears of War trailer is from what I understand pre-rendered using Unreal Engine. The offline rendering of Unreal Engine is not the same as the realtime renderer so it's using game assets and animation/camera tools but it's basically a CG trailer

[@InnerRise]

So why beat around the bush with all that technical meaningless mumbo jumbo. It's a CG trailer. Not gameplay.

[@antivanti]

@@InnerRise Because that's the excuse they use to be able to claim it's "in-engine" which is the worst kind of lie... The kind that is technically true but misleading

[@trinity31409]

Whoa...Huber...relax...I know this was recorded in June but...whoa... 1:25:27

[@Divagoddess1]

I tired to watch this at work and you guys are too awesome! Sadly I kept laughing out loud and now the office thinks I’m a bit crazy 😂❤. I’m also happy to see a female as passionate about gaming. I know we exist but seeing women in podcast getting equal respect is awesome. I love it here

[@urbanesmala]

So mad theyre calling it an anime and not Logans Run.

[@geneticjen9312]

Long list of games slitterhead is like but i was thinking Messiah!

[@charoleawood]

Every time i see "Messiah" mentioned from SGF i think people are talking about the 2000 game from Shiny Entertainment, lol. edit: oh, that's exactly what you are talking about, forget what i wrote.

[@martymcintosh5026]

20:47 def Robert Pattinson, guessing they asked permission

[@wardromon]

It disappoints me to hear the panel's reaction to releasing preview demos to the wider public just be a Loud "NO! Don't do that!" I fully understand the concerns, but that should definitely be a future, in my eyes, we should be building towards and not one where we just outright reject Also it seems to ignore the industry role, in the toxic behaviour, it's excessive secrecy helps to build

[@Hazz3r]

I think the underlying point being made is that if that were to be the case then there would be many less demos overall. The demos that the journalists play, that are accompanied by trained staff or developers don't have the same level of quality that a for the public demo would have. So having all demos need to be for the public would be overall worse because we'd end up with less insight into upcoming games, not more.

[@EasyAllies]

Yeah, I think the point we're getting at is there is a very big difference between a demo made for a controlled environment and a demo that anyone can download and play at home. In a preview meeting, you can put some artificial gates around the full build of the game without worrying about someone digging in and finding spoilers, etc. because media outlets are going to have a limited amount of time and will be joined by someone from the team to keep them on track. When you build something for people to download at home, it has to be polished up, debug commands need to be removed, you have to make parts of your game work while also removing parts you aren't ready to show, there need to be tutorials and other guidance. It's a huge undertaking. The funny thing though, is that alongside the transition from E3 to SGF, Steam Next Fest has become a major component of the summer events now, and there have been a ton of great demos to download at home, unlike anything we saw in the past. So while you won't necessarily be seeing the same games ready to do both, there are more demos out there than most people have time to even check out. -Bloodworth

[@tehgman2]

@ 1:47 also where is Beyond good and evil?

[@HaruVibes_]

Juicyy Edit: okay we definitely need Huber at Gamescom this year!!

[@RomanGaluk]

Nintendo Direct coming to June 18

[@anthonydevetis7221]

Shockingly terrible gears of war take, Jesus. Take gabby out and replace her with RoboBosman when he can

[@EricShoe]

Shockingly angry KZbin comment

[@anthonydevetis7221]

@@EricShoe not that shocking

[@elementInfinitium]

Xbox finally done did good

[@kmn2222]

wait in america do you guys class eggs as dairy??? I know the joke is about american education system but damn

[@charoleawood]

2:44:16 i felt this, i hope Geoff Keighley did too : )

[@MrKryton24]

If poe2 didn't look as good as it does I'd argue sure good time to try diablo but now you gotta buy an expansion upcoming... Or you can just play poe2 which is f2p, amazing looking every reveal they do, and now looking solid for console too

[@alexlyster3459]

I mean. You can always play both. Playing Diablo now on Gamepass. Will likely buy the expansion. Also plan on playing POE2 when it comes out.

[@jerrysnowland9398]

I don’t get the life is strange hype, what am I missing

[@kmn2222]

shouts out to binary domain one of the best "swimming in 7"'s game ever

[@archonrex5600]

02:00:50 YES, Cyberpunk Assassins Creed!

[@charoleawood]

1:15:15 i agree. i love Gears 5 and i NEED a Gears 6 (if they do it right) --- i was super bummed out that this "E-Day" is the next project. But perhaps it's a Judgment situation and we'll still see Gears 6 soon. if it had to be a prequel i'd much prefer it focus on the Pendulum Wars with nary a Locust in sight.

[@charoleawood]

fun fact, i thought that the E-Day trailer was doing "Gone Away" by The Offspring. so i've looked up Mad World by Tears for Fears and i have never listened to it before --- how does everybody know that song by name?

[@Hazz3r]

@@charoleawood Gears of War 1's launch trailer infamously used it as a backing track and it was used in game in Gears of War 3 at a climactic story moment. But also it's just a great song so a lot of people do just know it.

[@charoleawood]

@@Hazz3r i've seen Donnie Darko, didn't remember that song, and i've played all the Gears games. seems to me that there are lots of trailers and movies with songs, why does this one get recalled? i guess also it's that i've never played a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game so these titles and songs never got burned into my mind. anyhow, listing to Gone Away again i think it is a far better piece of music than Mad World --- though The Offspring may have borrowed somewhat liberally from Mad World.

[@lireid1825]

DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT KNOW A FROG DANIEL BLOODWORTH

[@yallofthemates6688]

Love easy allies ❤

[@archonrex5600]

Great pod, Allies, sending love for Gabby!

[@DarkEggplant]

1:51:10 They wanna have their sakura and eat it too, Gabby.

[@timogul]

AC games are entirely about the modern day stuff. The less and less Ubisoft realized that, the further they've gotten from the core of the franchise. AC games have never been about you playing a historical character, they have been about you playing a _dude_ who is living the experiences of a historical character. The ludo-narrative IS the narrative. And yeah, they need to make one in which there is full modern combat gameplay.

[@Dan-hz4vf]

Sorry, we're done with Diablo 4 Huber. We got other things to play, let it die i'm so done with it and its repetitive nature - path of exile 2 is just better

[@InnerRise]

Yeah I'm confused. Wasn't that game absolutely panned for an update where it ruined itself resulting in A mass exodus from the game. Didn't reference that aspect at all Isn't all the goodwill it began with gone?

[@geneticjen9312]

I'm 100% with Huber on the Chernobyl TV show. Peak

[@boardvision11]

Now that’s 🍟

[@Hozasaru]

“What’s new, what’s news…” They’re the same thing. It is catchy though.

[@Badalight]

Huber: They have historical advisors on Assassin's Creed They literally didnt even get the architecture right in this game. It uses chinese architecture instead of Japanese. Imo its so they can save money by reusing assets between this and Jade, or incompetence. Im not sure which.

[@TheSSJSnoop]

And now we're back to the regular podcast...God I miss Kyle and the boys 😢 PUT DON ON THE FLIPPPING PODCAST ALREADY!?!!

[@comradestannis]

Also, definitely more spacing for the events; they're too bunched up together.

[@Reaper616]

Like you know, you know like.

[@comradestannis]

Yeah, I wish these events didn't take place during Pride Month.

[@ec5018]

winning the show does not equal making great games

[@alexlyster3459]

Except that they won because it looks like they're making genuinely gpod games. Sure. They still have to deliver on those games. But showcases are about showing games. Preferably good looking ones. And they showed those in spades.

[@KidJustice123]

Other than redfall, what bad AAA game has Xbox put out this gen? And I mean actually bad, not what the toxic side of the Internet thinks is bad

[@charoleawood]

@@KidJustice123 They were putting out great games last gen too. i love how with FH5 people were like, "Wow, FH5 is great and really beautiful!" Meanwhile i was like, "Uh, yeah, like all of them have been." Honestly, FH5 feels like FH3 Remastered to me, it's practically the same layout with the same variety of climates and urban spaces, and it felt like a step back from FH4 which had those awesome shifts in season.

[@KidJustice123]

@@charoleawood I feel like fh5 was a game they had to make now or else it was gonna come out after fable since it went into full production. I think fh6 will be the one that is a fullblown evolution of the series. They just wanted to get it out to show off the tech that Fables using and make some $$$

[@charoleawood]

​@@KidJustice123 Oh for sure. People looking for a graphical showpiece here in the current gen got excited about FH5 in a way that they never allowed themselves to in the Xbone era. They simply ignored Xbone and focused on PS4 --- convincing themselves they wouldn't care even if they did try to see what Xbox was doing. They turned a blind eye. Those of us who were saying, "Xbox has games", would be told "Yeah, games nobody cares about." So to me it's just hypocrisy when people all of the sudden wanted to like Forza Horizon (in particular) because of FH5 --- a game which failed to improve the series. i'm very excited about Fable, of course.

[@charoleawood]

The philosophy of the Souls series, in Demon's firstly, is that death is not to be avoided --- that to cheat death, either as an individual or as a nation, is to stagnate and zombify. i compare it to The Langoliers. in that piece of fiction beasts devour places that become removed from time. in the Souls series various rulers attempt to attain immortality and the result is their lands are removed from time. You are the langolier what has come to make the world pass on into oblivion so that new lands can exist. Souls is steeped in Eastern philosophy and attitudes toward the nature of time, of existence, and of deity. i suppose, then, that anybody can take this philosophical template and many have, both before Souls was around and in the present. i argue that Dark Souls 2 Scholar and The Surge 1 are better than the games of Miyazaki Hidetaka (which i also love) and they excel at the same universal philosophies what Miyazaki was tapping into. Dragon's Dogma 1 and Cyber Shadow are also superb examples of those philosophies. Metal Gear, then, is not of a general universal philosophy. Rather --- for better and worse --- it is Kojima Hideo spinning a silly yarn the way a comedian might tell a really long joke. if you replace the comedian in the middle of their joke then we the audience lose connection, we're here for the entertainer more than we are the joke. i think that Kojima said everything he needed to say with MGS1. i wish he'd been able to move on instead of getting hamstrung with continuing the franchise --- which didn't need to be continued, new games could have existed instead. if we had got, then, a game like MGS5 without the characters and lore of Metal Gear it would have been better.

[@phantomtroupe3821]

shinji mikami he is the one who creation RE. you have never talking about he should the one do all RE. so I have a question. are you fan of kojima to say that or you have a problem with konami?.30:28

[@charoleawood]

36:02

[@charoleawood]

39:04 Shoulda done a Speed and had everybody hold the same position they were in before Damiani came in, would have been trippy.

[@geneticjen9312]

I said "The Lodge!" at the same time as Gabby did

[@titusorelius9458]

22mins and no comments? That dont feel right...

[@charoleawood]

3:11:44 Heck, yeah, Veilguard! What a terrible trailer, they never should have put it in front of us like that, but the gameplay video that Bioware later released allayed my fears. What Bioware showed was basically like the beginning of inquisition where you make your way up to the Conclave while grouping with characters and fighting demons. in tone Veilguard is very akin to inqusition and it's carrying that story forward, so if you were turned off because the trailer looked like another hero shooter just know it's not that.

[@alexlyster3459]

Agreed. I do still have concerns about the game, but after that godawful reveal trailer, the gameplay got me back in. I still think it's not the game I was hoping we'd get after all these years, but it does look kike a game I can grow to love for what it is rather than what I wanted it to be, and that's all I can really ask for. And these days I'm alot less mad about them making the game more linear that I would have in the past. Too many games, not enough time. I'll take streamlined any day.

[@charoleawood]

@@alexlyster3459 Yup!

[@unknown-xu1vd]

keep saying games look good etc, most stuff was showed in game engine combined with cinematic, no real gameplay, those games will not look like that.

[@BGDeinonEkgona]

The gears of war disrespect from these people is crazy

[@ValMeri417]

From Kyle to Gabby, What an upgrade!

[@EricShoe]

Heartless

[@ValMeri417]

@@EricShoei cant believe I got likes, it possibly the biggest downgrade ever

[@EricShoe]

@@ValMeri417 very mean. Very sad

[@calamityyy]

Man it seems like you don't understand the thing about Gears of War. Gears of War 1 to 3 were the best ones. Judgment, 4 and 5 were a big disappointment. Gears of War 3 is in my opinion the best one and that came out in 2011. I think most fans can agree with me on that. Now over 13 years later since Gears of War 3, we're getting E-Day, with good old Marcus and Dom again. And it looks like that colorful and woke feel of 4 and 5 is gone, back to the more dreary look which is good. Seems like we're finally getting some good Gears of War at last. You just had to experience that 1-3 trilogy to understand.

[@byebyeblue]

With these big hit games coming and gamepass keep grow bigger it sooner or later MS will push playstation out of console scene like sega.