In-Game Chat
Summary: In-Game Chat is a weekly radio show and podcast that covers video gaming and the games industry. We play games of every type on nearly every platform. We review what games we can and conduct interviews with talent, technicians, and management from the creative side of gaming whenever we\'re able. We offer strong opinions and we\'re suckers for hype, but we check facts, ask questions and we\'re wrong a lot. We broadcast live every Saturday from the heart of the American south, and we\'re pretty sure we don\'t have accents.
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I love a good horror game. I just wonât play a good horror game. Or a bad one. Itâs a genre I donât really ever dip into but theyâve mostly been some of the more fascinating play throughs Iâve watched or experienced. And sometimes, when weâre ever so lucky, we get a pretty good story out of it, or, at the very least, a massive franchise with some winners and losers. Itâs Halloween and the topic of scary games has come up yet again. Our likes and dislikes, the good and the bad, and then the ones that dip a toe or two into the genre but arenât really considered scary. The Last Of Us isnât a horror game but it (or the enemies and a few instances in the game) always end up on a list of âscary momentsâ. The Resident Evil franchise is probably the go-to king of the genre, but I have to hand it to Supermassive Games and their Dark Pictures Anthology. Itâs one of the most directly consistent studios putting out quality titles in the genre and they never seem to stop. Also, the frequency of the output on top of the quality itself just boggles my mind. If I had to pick horror games to play, it would be theirs. The cinematic aspect to it puts that whole âitâs like playing a movieâ thing into better perspective. Because thatâs exactly what it feels like. Games like Amnesia, and Five Nights at Freddyâs – even games like some of the Resident Evil remakes – are, again, fun to watch but Iâm not so good at playing them. Anything that gives a sense of never knowing whatâs coming behind you or from any side really and has extremely tense moments, I just canât enjoy. It messes with my mind to the point where I donât enjoy playing the game anymore. I get frantic and discombobulated. Hell, Iâm also sure it hikes up my blood pressure, which is a big no-no for me at this point. Speaking of scary, the real horror story, Ubisoft, is that weâve been waiting 3,350 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Itâs getting closer and closer to that time of year when weâll start to hear about all the Black Friday discounts, where games are concerned anyway. And by the way, just because itâs a Black Friday deal doesnât mean itâll happen on that day or that you even have to go out in the mess to take advantage. You can pretty much stay home and do the shopping online, if you like. And, better yet, a lot of these deals will go live the week of Black Friday or sooner. The reason Iâm bringing this up is because we always do, but usually a little too late. My general rule is to stop buying games around August. But you can put that into effect anytime you want even before then (There is also the option of not giving a damn and just buying what you want when you want. Not a thing wrong with that at all). Any later than that and you risk running into buying a game at full price and then seeing it heavily discounted within a few months. Our best example of this is from last year with Guardians Of The Galaxy. This game was released October 26th last year at a full price of $60. The big steelbook collectors edition was $80, I think. Anyway, during the week of Black Friday it was down to $25. All editions. One of the biggest drops in the shortest amount of time and one of the best deals I got last year. Great game too. Now, we donât have any deals yet that have shown up but they will be over the next few weeks. Weâll run them down as much as possible when we get them so you can better stay informed of whatâll be on sale, for how much, and when. Maybe by next Black Friday weâll see a discount on a brand new Splinter Cell game (unlikely). Ubisoft, weâve been waiting 3,343 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Lowered Expectations⦠Things seem lite. I feel like we should be talking about new games released or just around the corner to do so, but nothing stands out. Thereâs God Of War in November and your usual Call Of Duty. Let me take a moment to talk about Call Of Duty. That franchise doesnât even make a blip on my radar anymore. It was the quietest of blips before since Iâd stopped playing the games, but even more so now I justâ¦forget about it. OR, rather than forget, itâs just a part of life now. Routine. Every year we get a new CoD. Every year around the same exact time we get a new one. And thereâs been so many now it just rolls into itself over and over again and it feels like the passing of time. You donât notice it anymore. It just happens. But thatâs just me, probably. I doubt it feels that way for fans of the franchise. Anyway, thereâs other games on the horizon but not much being said. Scorn is out now but the reviews are all over the place and itâs a pretty short experience. Gotham Knights releases soon andâ¦I donât know where I am with that game. It doesnât look fun and for all the stuff I have read that says not to compare it to the Arkham series – thatâll be tough for me, I think. Maybe. Sonic Frontiers is on my radar but, like, at a discount whenever that may happen. Thereâs probably a Nintendo Switch title or two getting some big releases that have fallen off my radar or donât seem to be as big as they once were when announced. It just feels lite to me. Maybe not to you, however. I guess it all depends on what you like and what youâre looking forward to. I hope your horizon looks a bit brighter than mine at the moment – game wise anyway. Sure would be a lot brighter if we have a brand new Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, weâve been waiting 3,336 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
They almost never pick the one YOU want. Like a lot of things we consume for entertainment, I suspect the ideas of remakes are subjective. The negative points being itâs either too soon for a remake or it was never worthy of one to begin with. The positives being returning to an old game with a fresh coat of paint on it or other kinds of tweaks and fixes or giving newer fans a chance to play something they were never able to when it originally released. We can probably all agree that remakes are a cash grab – be that good or bad. Depending on the depth of the remake/remaster – do they start from the ground up in rebuilding the game or are they just adding in elements to upgrade the look, are they tweaking the controls or adding in gameplay mechanics – a little to a lot of work can go into one. Calling some of the more robust remakes/remasters a cash grab would seem a bit disingenuous. But again, itâs all subjective. Especially when itâs a title you donât really care about. I donât think anyoneâs ever done one for a sports title. We never got âMadden â95 Remasteredâ (at least I donât think we ever did). Call Of Duty has been doing this but that felt more like a lack of ideas rather than a cash grab. Probably a little bit of both, really. The original Myst has gone through a number of these sorts of things. I canât tell you how many copies of the original game I have that have some sort of subtitle or pre-title, each one claiming to be better than the one before it. And these arenât sequels, mind you, but legit releases claiming to be remasters, remakes, real, 3D, anniversary, and other some odd editions. Still, it falls to a matter of opinion. Thereâs nothing wrong with these things. As a consumer you either buy it or you donât. Which kind of breaks down every sort of subjective discussion, doesnât it? Is it worth your time, your money, and do you even want it in the first place? I mean, Iâd like a brand new Splinter Cell, Ubisoft, weâve been waiting 3,329 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Happy Spooky Season. Letâs visit a tech graveyard. We could say we called this whole Stadia thing going south way back when it was first announced, but EVERYONE called it, really. Google leaves a trail of death behind it. Like some weird nature thing where the company gives birth to a product and then just moves on to something else leaving it to live or die on its own. Iâm sure thatâs not actually the case but in both software and hardware, they canât seem to keep things going. And it doesnât have to be doing poorly. Plenty of things google offered would just get turned off or shut down for no real reason at all. I tried Stadia in a beta and even some after release. It was interesting and worked well enough in the beta that I was excited for the idea but ultimately, video game streaming isnât there yet. I loved the idea of opening a browser and playing a triple A title of some sort. And it was cool to see it load in my browser just as it would on a PC or console, but you still knew you were playing a streaming game and not something directly from your system. It wasnât there yet. Not as ambitious as Google would like, I suppose. I think, eventually, video game streaming will get there, but thatâs a long way off and even then youâll need people supporting it once we do get there. I was just as skeptical about the Steam Deck and I already kind of regret not getting one when I had the chance. It has nothing to do with streaming, but more so Steamâs track record for physical devices. I think they got this one right, however. And me saying that probably means theyâll shut it down within a year. Actually, itâll probably take me buying one before they decide to pull the plug on it – if my track record of new tech holds like these companies do. Meanwhile…Ubisoft, weâve been waiting 3,322 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Pretty soon, the card number will match the price⦠There was a lot of stuff leaked last week and still relatively very little was revealed. I mean, Diablo 4 was going to probably look like a better Diablo 3 with some QOL changes here and there, but nothing surprising. The GTA6 leak was massive as far as just how much got leaked but none of it was all that significant. We already had official confirmation that the game was in development and these leaks showed very little, at least to most of us. Iâm sure other game devs could look at those videos and read way more into them than I could, but yeahâ¦it exists. Weâve got the faintest of details on it so far and I feel like for as much as companies protect these things from getting out – this really didnât change anything. Iâm still of the opinion that we shouldnât see stuff until itâs ready to be seen, and, really, this kind of leak sort of makes my point. I prefer my leaks to be shaky low quality cell phone camera stuff – of a trailer or gameplay with a near finished product. Not whatever this stuff was. Then thereâs the whole 40 series from NVIDIA. If you were still scratching your head over the EVGA dust up from last week, wellâ¦now you know. Probably. There was more to it than that, Iâm sure, but having the base price of your lowest card be near a grand and putting your partners in the position of selling at a higher price, well, Iâm not looking forward to what those prices end up being. Thankfully, thereâs competition in the market and if AMD can play their cards right, theyâll come out winners here in a big way. We just have to wait until November to see how that shakes out. Meanwhile…Ubisoft, weâve been waiting 3,315 days for a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
I mean, the word Graphics was in their name! Sometimes it feels like thereâs more to a story than what we are all being told. This whole split between EVGA and NVIDIA seems like one of those. Or, maybe it isnât. Maybe weâve been told exactly whatâs going on and maybe this is how other companies feel about it as well, but EVGA is the only one taking action on it. I donât know. No one BUT those two companies have said anything about this whole situation. But the complaints EVGA has would be the same exact complaints from any of the other NVIDIA partners. So why say something now? And why EVGA? And only EVGA at that. I think MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Zotac, and others all have the same agreements with NVIDIA. The other thing that stands out here is what EVGA has to fall back on. Other companies Iâve mentioned before all have other products but most of them, like EVGA, rely heavily on the sales of their graphics cards for PCs. However, I doubt itâs 80% of their revenue like it is with EVGA. And thatâs the weird thing about it all. Iâm guessing they did number crunching and were…losing money? I mean, the logical part of me, the calculated part, the paranoid and planning part tells me they did the math and figured theyâd be good to make this split, but I donât see how they fill that massive revenue hole. Should have seen this coming though. I always get something new only to have it become obsolete or die off shortly after. Happens with TV shows too but mostly with electronics. I wonât go over the list (itâs a long one), but yeah, I just put my first EVGA card in my PC back in April of this year. And, apparently, my last EVGA card. Meanwhile…Ubisoft, it has been 3,308 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Buyers Keepers⦠Iâm not really a Call Of Duty player. And itâs hard for me right now to find something to equate this whole thing with, but I think Sonyâs displeasure (weâll call it that) with Microsoft over Call Of Duty isâ¦a little weird. I donât know if Sony were ever in the running to buy Activision, but Microsoft threw down almost 70 BILLION for it. And hell, I think maybe nearly 99 percent of that money was for Call Of Duty. And I think if youâre throwing that kind of cash around, youâll do with the property as you please and if it means keeping it on your platform to increase system sales or subscription sales with Gamepass, youâd be a fool not to, honestly. I mean, I can see Sonyâs frustration with the whole thing but they canât be surprised by this or cry foul for it. I mean, Microsoft owns the franchise now. Itâs theirs. Theyâll do whatever they want with the property. Iâll remind you again, I donât play that franchise of games so itâs probably very easy for me to say all these things or speculate anyway. However, Microsoft usually holds the position of being more available to players. Itâs an argument theyâve used a few times when dealing with cross play titles and not imposing restrictions like Sony does. And keeping your newly bought franchise that has been multiplatform to your own ecosystem kind of goes against that philosophy. They havenât done it yet, and I canât say they will, but it wouldnât surprise me at all if they do. I guess weâll see what happens with Bethesdaâs games to get an idea of how this might play out. But then again, this is Call Of Duty, and I think that player base will go where those games are. Even if it means buying a new system or subscription service. Even more interesting will be to see how Sony deals with that in the future. Meanwhile…we had a whole Ubisoft presentation the other day talking about their upcoming library of games. Not one mention, tease or anything for Splinter Cell. And so the clock continuesâ¦it has been 3,301 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
A relic appears⦠Weâve likely spoken about video game nostalgia before. And, for a moment, Iâd like to talk about it again. And really, this is just a âmeâ thing or, well, an âusâ thing. Destiny 2 just relaunched an activity in the game that hasnât been there since the first Destiny. It launched in September of 2015. Back then, so many of us on the show played that game and did that raid. For me, it was my first Destiny raid. In fact, it was my first raid ever. We completed it. And would go on to do so over and over again. Until people left and moved on to other games or got tired of the Destiny loop. It happens and thereâs not a thing wrong with it. The night before writing this, our group and myself spent a good many hours completing it again. This was mostly with brand new people whoâd never experienced this as it was originally released. They only had the options of videos to look at and understand the mechanics of what to do. Back then, we never actually had that. We had to go on crude drawings and very detailed written explanations if we wanted to have some idea of what to do in the raid. Itâs not that long ago, but it surprises me how much has changed in that time. We werenât broadcasting our runs either (donât even think that was a thing, really) which is a shame since we had some great times and moments back then. Going so late on the raid run last night but eventually getting to the end and completing it brought back a ton of memories of not only the first time we made that accomplishment back in 2015 (probably taking just as long or longer), but also the many other times we brought someone new along and did it again with them. Gaming nostalgia is all around us when playing games, be it in the controls of a game or just anything Mario or Zelda or whatever your memory might be, thereâs likely to be reminders of it every single day in some way or another. But this kind of nostalgia not only brings memories of the game, but mostly, the friends we enjoyed it with. Iâll snicker at the videos of Bungie developers talking about how this game forms bonds and what not, but here it isâ¦living proof, and itâs doing it again. To Jeremy, Matt, James, Dennis, Daniel, RJ, and Kevinâ¦thanks for the runs back in the day. By the way, the game is free to play now with crossplay and cross save, so we could have a reunion of sorts. Just sayin. Speaking of memories and nostalgiaâ¦Ubisoft, it has been 3,287 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
We didnât really hit the news so much for this show as we did just talking to folks through Discord. And to follow up on that conversation, Iâd asked for help in No Manâs Sky and last night after the show did not disappoint. I appreciate DukeFrukem for giving me a hand in the game telling me how things work or what all can be done and giving me a bit of support on this long journey toâ¦well, thereâs no end really. Especially given the updates they continue to churn out. Seriously, if youâve ever been curious about the game or were maybe put off by the reception it got at launch, give it another look. Thereâs plenty of videos out there documenting all of the changes and growing pains this title went through and how itâs done a total 180 on where it was then compared to now. And, by the way, you can usually find it for at least half off from the regular price if not even more than that (as of this writing the PC version was down to about $21 on some sites). All eyes this week will likely be on Saintâs Row. A series we havenât heard from in quite some time and will be the first we see on next/current gen consoles. The original reveal had people wondering if this would be a different Saintâs Row than what we last saw and in that comparison, yeah, I think it will be. But not in a negative way. The over-the-topness will likely be brought down a notch or two from the last game, but thatâs to be expected and, probably, needed as well. Weâll find out Tuesday. Well, everyone else will. Iâll be diving into the next season of Destiny. What none of us will be playing, however, is a new Splinter Cell from Ubisoft. It has been 3,280 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
A few weeks back I nostalgically spoke of the console wars. The olâ Microsoft versus Sony thing we all did way back when and what some still do. It was always a clash, but it was one that took place in a court of public opinion or one we measured with sales and popularity or game titles available or even to the point of comparing the guts of the machines to who was better. Side note: just to be clear on this, the one that is better is the one you pick. Nothing else matters. Thatâs the one you wanted for the reasons you wanted it and itâs the best and weâre all in agreement. What we rarely had and almost never get are these companies actually calling each other out. Apparently, it took something like âCall Of Dutyâ to make that happen. We go over the whole thing here in a segment of the show and itâs rather long and PR/Boardroom speak, but the gist is there: Sonyâs afraid Microsoft’s ownership of Call Of Duty and its likely appearance on GamePass will hurt Sonyâs console sales. Microsoft argues otherwise but also goes on to point out that Sonyâs deals for exclusivity with third party developers does the same thing. Sony has yet to respond to that (as far as I know), but Iâm curious what they will say if they do. I know Iâve said that competition like this is only good for one group of people and thatâs you and me, the consumers, but unless this forces a hand of some sort on either side, itâs just two companies sparring in released statements that likely will result inâ¦nothing. By the way, I donât think Sony has an argument here. Iâm not saying either side is right or wrong, but I think when your competition finds an advantage or opportunity, then youâve got to adjust to counter it. Better yet, whoever gets Ubisoft to make another Splinter Cell game is the winner in my bookâ¦because it has been 3,273 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
The skyâs the limit.. Been quite a while since Iâve started something new. On a large scale, I suppose. Iâve poked around some small indie titles here and there or played some demos but havenât really set off on a large scale new game in awhile. And while No Manâs Sky isnât new, it is to me. Also, itâs probably considered indie as well. Hmmâ¦maybe this isnât any different. Itâs really weird starting something like this. The game kinda throws you in the deep end right off the bat, but if you donât like where you start, you just start over. Itâs all completely random. It feels like Space Minecraft. And while Minecraft is vast and huge and random, youâre stuck on the world you start with. I mean, if you donât like it you can start fresh on a random new world, but with No Manâs Sky, if I donât like the planet Iâm on I can restart, sure, but I can also get in my spaceship and fly to another planet. And while Minecraft has a randomly generated playfield, the things that inhabit that playfield are the same as any other. No Manâs Sky randomizes EVERYTHING. Thereâs a 99% chance the animals and plants Iâve discovered on my planet will never show up again on any other planet. Course, Iâm only 3 hours into the game so maybe Iâm completely wrong, but I think thatâs how it works. We could do a full commercial-free 2 hour show on this one game alone and its history. Itâs kind of an amazing thing and maybe one day weâll run down the timeline of how this game launched, failed (to meet expectations), and redeemed itself. Here I am explaining a game that came out in 2016. Strange how new it feels. Speaking of 2016, the last Splinter Cell game was released 3 years prior to thatâ¦Ubisoft itâs been 3,266 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Begun, the console war has⦠I donât remember when I stopped caring about the âConsole Warsâ, but at some point I did. Likely when I was able to afford all the systems so I could cover all grounds of whatever was released. I can remember as a kid in school getting the magazines that covered E3 months after it took place. Before then, you could only rely on that one friend who had a cousin whose brother had an uncle who âworked for Nintendoâ. I never really cared who won E3. It was all marketing, anyway. In the end, the consumer won. And that was due to competition. So yeah, while I donât care for console wars anymore, Iâm more than happy to let the companies enjoy that battle. It only means better things for us, as players. I donât know where the future of our hobby is going in relation to the consoles. I feel like something modular may come along. Something PC-ish. You buy the base and then add-on and remove for upgrades and stuff. Game development takes a long time (the big stuff, anyway), and it seems as of late we get one game from a franchise per generation. That wasnât always the case but the more advanced we get in our games the longer these things take to make. Not even speaking of the money and people involved in making them happen. You might think companies wouldnât switch to a format that actually saves the consumer money, but I donât know if thatâs the drive anymore. I mean, yeah, they want our money but they want it over and over again. In a shorter period of time rather than once every 5 years or so. They know asking for $500 every year is a hard get, but if they space it out over time, maybe weâll pay. Not sure how thatâll work. Anyway, Iâm going to go see whatâs new on Gamepass and PS+ Extra Premium. Speaking of getting a franchise once a generation/decade/centuryâ¦Ubisoft itâs been 3,259 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Sometimesâ¦well, most times, really, games will get a lot of hype, then release to some very underwhelming reception from reviews, the public, or any number of different things. Point being, it doesnât live up to the hype. Maybe it gets patched. Maybe things get fixed, but the taste has already soured and thereâs little hope for redemption until the studio makes a new game or they release a sequel. Then thereâs No Manâs Sky. A game with a tremendous amount of hype and promise that absolutely failed on release. The backlash from everyone was tremendous and, at the time, Iâd say it was warranted. And to be clear, I donât mean the hateful backlash – the kind involving death threats and just the horrible things thrown their way for not being the game that was promised. Iâm talking about the criticism of the game and even to the point of comparing the talking points given from the developers to what was actually released. Except, if you did that now, youâd be underselling the game. They brought in everything they promised and a whole big bag of things they never even mentioned way back when. No Manâs Sky is now the game the developers always wanted it to be and even more so, it continues to grow and evolve. It is one of the more impressive redemption arcs in gaming that weâve probably ever seen. Given the flak, they really shouldnât have survived but they kept going and, even better, the audience received them. They didnât abandon the game and with the quality of life changes and improvements made, they brought in more people. Even now they are being compared with something like Starfield – a massive game from a major studio with likely hundreds of people working on it and being compared to this little studio of less than 50 people who made a game 6 years ago that still impresses, improves, and, apparently, inspires. Whatâs not inspiring? Wellâ¦Ubisoft itâs been 3,252 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).
Somehow we managed to hit every single news story weâd planned on this episode and thatâs pretty surprising since we mostly donât stick to that with how far off track we get. Not something we mind, really. I do realize, however, that given we did that, it makes writing these a bit tough since we donât stay on a topic too long. I decided to pass on getting the Steam Deck. My invite has expired by the time you read this. As said in the show, I love the idea of it. I love what it does and Iâm even more in love with what it has the potential to become. And thatâ¦is what Iâm waiting for. I understand that with all things PC related, waiting is somewhat futile. There will forever and always be something better not too far down the road so if thereâs a Version 2 of this thing, thatâs likely when Iâll jump on. As it stands now the thing isnât broken, but I feel like thereâs a lot of room for improvement with another iteration of the device. The Nintendo Switch is the closest comparison I can make to owning a portable gaming system andâ¦I just donât use it. Granted, my PC library far outshines my Switch library and likely always will. Not to mention the Steam Deck will most likely have massive backwards compatibility, right? I mean, itâs a PC. Anyway, Iâll wait for the next version or get one used with a steep discount if Iâm unable to wait or they just never make one (juryâs still out on that one with their hardware history). Speaking of a company making a follow up productâ¦Ubisoft itâs been 3,245 days since the last Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, or VR exclusive).