Welcome to Off the Console, the hottest
podcast that's all about gaming, tech
news and anything nerdy.
Today, we're talking about the next
generation of consoles.
All the major consoles, all the major
console makers are making big plays
include, but probably the
biggest play is Microsoft.
Inevitably about to kick
off the next generation.
I'm Hyattekalowlife, and I'm joined by my
co-host, Games Reveal.
And Gardner, unfortunately, was unable to
make it today as he is sick.
Yeah, so we'll send your
warm regards to Gardner.
Hopefully he'll get better by next week.
I mean, we're like one and a half co-host
today because I'm also sick, but I'm not
that I'm just more or less
my voice is very gravelly.
So forgive me if it
grates your ears today.
It's all good.
Gardner will fix that.
I don't know who's
editing today to be honest.
I don't know how you fix that.
Someone will fix it.
All right.
So James, what have you been
playing or doing this week?
I have for the past week.
Well, actually, let's see.
So I started Resident Evil Requiem, which
is Resident Evil 9 last Friday.
And then I beat it
probably after four or five days.
I want to savor it a little bit.
It ended up taking me about 12 hours, but
honestly, it's more like a 10 hour game
and I did everything.
I think I did it on
my second playthrough.
And the second, like I will have to say
Resident Evil does a really good job of
doing like second playthroughs plus, like
making it much easier because you get
items and you can get access
to a lot of things earlier on.
And they have a lot of unlockable.
So as you do achievements through the
game, you get money to spend on
unlockables, like
different types of guns.
Skins like you get like pretty weird
skins, but I love it.
So Capcom has got it down on making games
replayable and fun and not feeling like
it's just everything's locked away.
But I will have to say Resident Evil 9 is
a good solid like nine,
nine point five out of 10.
Like there's a couple of critiques.
Like it's a little short for a $70 game.
It's very replayable once
again, but it's pretty short.
Loved it though.
Loved it.
Loved we're back to Leon.
We have a new protagonist along the way.
It is a fun ride.
I love it so much.
Definitely.
I don't think it's going to be game of
the year because they play it safe, but
that's not a bad thing for Resident Evil.
Resident Evil is like it doesn't, it just
needs to be what it needs to
be like for the past few years.
So highly recommend if you're even
interested in, in action or horror or
Resident Evils at all.
This is a nice blend of all the
generations of Resident
Evil from zero to eight.
This is a really good
blend through them all.
Personally, I'm waiting to see how Capcom
remakes Resident Evil 6.
Bad take maybe
or you know, controversial take.
I like six.
It's my least favorite Resident Evil, but
I like, I'm a big Resident Evil fan.
I think Resident Evil 6
has a lot of fun parts.
They are unfortunately pretty much Leon's
part where it plays very much like Leon,
but there's like, I think four
protagonists in it
that you get to play as.
Chris, a little too meathead playthrough,
but like Leon's
playthrough of Resident Evil 6 fun.
I am curious to see how they do a remake
of that because from what we.
And you know, Resident Evil 5 2 Resident
Evil 5 is a lot is not nearly as crazy as
Resident Evil 6, but it still has some,
uh, some, some hilarious
moments such as the, uh,
field punching a boulder.
So he punches a boulder at it.
And it's not just like one big punch.
He like repeatedly punches
as if he's pummeling a dude.
That's the funniest thing ever.
Like sometimes I think people take
Resident Evil 2 serious like it, like
Resident Evil 9, for example, it has like
Leon making some of his
cheesy little, uh, takes.
And I won't ruin much of, uh, ruin
anything really, but there are a couple
of parts where you're like, wow, we're,
we're, we're, they, they wanted to get a
little bit into the
Resident Evil 6 territory with it.
Where I'm like, wow, this is a little
extreme, but they, they, they, they just
toad the line a little bit.
I loved it still.
Like it was good, all good fun.
Um, and we got to remember these are
video games and like Resident Evil games
are in their own world
because I will say this right now.
If you played a Resident Evil game, like
raccoon city is a big part of like half
or more of the Resident Evils.
And that thing has a better functioning
Metro system than any part of America.
Like the Japanese people don't understand
that we don't have good public
transportation in most of our
cities, but like raccoon city.
Had an amazing Metro system.
Dude, right.
Raccoon city is spiritual Japanese, bro.
They're like, Oh yeah.
Like you have to have like
a good Metro system, right?
To have a functioning city.
That's how they, they made raccoon city
because there's so many, uh, it's
honestly, it reminded me
more of Russia than it did.
Uh, like, not Japan, Japan, like Japan
has good public transportation, but it's
not true Metro systems.
Uh, as much as like what Resident Evil
is, cause it's all underground and it's
like extensive underground.
Makes for a good game though.
Um, also, I guess, just a little solidify
what I've been doing too, is, uh, working
on a side project that I'll probably be
releasing in the next week or two, uh,
called, uh, Novaholm.
And it's, uh, it's going to be what my
pla- my apps and platforms are, or it's a
platform essentially for
me to release all my apps.
So I can stop paying
for first party services.
No, but a big chunk of it will be open
source so people can check it out if
they're developers or anything.
I'm hoping to have a
module for game servers too.
So you could easily, uh, get like, let's
say, uh, a Minecraft
server or something else going.
If you want to play with other people and
only pay like five to $10 a month with
Hetzer, um, like Het- Het- Zner or
something like that.
It's like really cheap hosting.
That's German.
So I'll, I'll, I'll let
people keep an eye on that.
I'll, I'll keep you guys up, uh, apprised
with that one, but I plan on adding a
module for this server
system to be able to do that.
Um, so you could, I mean, technically you
could do it on your home
server, like on your, uh, home lab.
It's designed to be deployable in
multiple locations, but yeah, I don't
have to work on the
instructions for that.
We could get Gardner
to do on his home lab.
He has a pretty good sense of it.
It's definitely very heavily.
You could write a, you could
write it by the oddest block.
That's not a bad idea.
Like I want to get like a little, uh, a
little warning on it though, as I did use
some AI, but these are, anything I build
is stuff that I've written at one point
or I have it using my code, um, that I've
written in the past.
So this is an idea I had a while ago and
I wanted it to, uh, I had a, I didn't
have it fully flushed out.
And so I'm having, um, I'm working with
Claude to fully flush it out and to do
some, um, like security
audits and stuff on it.
So not to get too nerdy with all this,
but at the end of the day, hopefully, uh,
some people will really enjoy it.
Um, I know I will, uh, and,
and have just an easy system.
Cause I do get, like the thing about tech
I hit the most is redoing the same thing.
Like I hate being repetitive too much.
And so, uh, I'm going to automate the
stuff that I hate about deploying servers
and all and managing.
And so hopefully it
translates to other people too.
Yes.
Uh, right.
Yeah.
So hopefully you'll write more about it
so that, you know, the viewers and
audience and get better
idea as to what, what it is.
I mean, it's a really
easily made server system.
So it should be able to be.
Yeah.
Anyone should be able to pick it up, but
we can talk about that later.
What have you been up to?
Me, I have been juggling two different
games marathon and slate
aspired to it's doing numbers.
Oh shit.
It is doing numbers.
It's doing more than it's doing more than
fucking marathon and
Resident Evil nine at the same time.
And together it's crazy.
Speaking of craziness though, you know,
that I'm Thor that I've
been fucking around with.
It runs.
It runs on the eye door through, I,
through emulation, uh, Steve PC
emulation, basically top
screen can be, uh, the game.
It has controllers for, by the way, uh,
or you can use the touch screen.
Isn't the ninth or is it, is it, what are
you running on ninth or
that's what I thought.
So Android.
Interesting.
And the bottom screen, you can use for
whatever I've got the Wiki up even the
Wiki is like half complete.
I honestly just pulled up the Wiki for,
uh, for, for the screenshot for the
picture for the gram.
But yeah, that's basically a
steam games work pretty well.
Um, I probably wouldn't
expect any triple a games drag.
I thought, you know, I tried dragons
dogma one on it cause dragons just dogma
one runs of like really crappy PCs too.
But it doesn't really run that well.
Interesting.
I see there's this game
is not an intensive game.
I'd expect it to play
anywhere that I don't know.
Anything that runs.
Exely, I was gonna say doom, but doom has
been played on like a
toothbrush essentially.
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, shit, man.
So I will, I will say though, it'll
probably be a lot more optimized once an
official Android version comes out.
Um, but I think that usually happens
after early access ends.
Mmm.
Yeah.
I, yeah.
That's why I thought you were playing it
on was like there, but I'm like, I don't
remember them announcing
cause they're in early access.
Yeah, no, I haven't bought the game yet.
I do plan on it.
I should, I have resident evil and I have
a couple of games I want to get through.
Um, and, and this is one of those games
where I like to step back and play it and
it eats up too much of my time.
Uh, more so weirdly
enough than like resident evil.
Like I was, I would, I was able to work
and, and run some law, like run builds
and stuff while working
and playing resident evil.
This is one of those games where it just,
I'd get sucked into it and wouldn't be
able to go back to anything else.
It's so addicting.
Definitely worth it.
And a, and a big note is
that this is it is holy shit.
Like I said, it is doing
numbers from my understanding.
It's the number one played game, at least
at one point in the last few days.
Um, it is also built on top of Godot.
Just, we said this last week, but I just,
anyone that missed that is built on top
of Godot, which is a
really good, uh, this is good.
This is good for Godot.
This is a good, like, is
it the most complex game?
No.
Um, I want to see more 3d games and more
shooters, uh, and horror and stuff like
that on Godot, but like, this is a good
litmus test to say, Hey, you can be
successful with Godot.
Um, and we want to support Godot so that
we have a good ecosystem of engines, not
just to have unity and unreal.
And I honestly wouldn't be shocked if one
day unreal eats unity,
meaning like they, they buy them.
I could see that.
And so having a good, healthy Godot
framework, uh, game engine that is be
readily available is important.
Yeah.
So this, so this game right
here, Road to Vostok is in Godot.
It was going to be in unity, but then
unity, you know, did their shenanigans
and we talk a little bit about unity, a
little bit in the bonus episode too.
We talked about all sorts of spicy stuff
in the, uh, like, uh, government
propaganda in video games and stuff.
So don't, don't, don't miss out on that.
Uh, the spicy episodes too.
Yeah.
Conspiracy theories,
conspiracy theories too.
We love to see them, but essentially yes,
this game isn't good, a good dough.
And I think it looks reasonably good.
I mean, it's no Resident Evil nine, but
this looks reasonably good.
It's like a stock or realism.
It looks good.
It looks more realistic.
The hard part with Godot right now is
getting the shaders and a couple other
things just right to where you can really
feel like it's your own game.
And so, uh, unreal are not unreal, but
like Resident Evil is its own engine.
So that's why all the registered and
evils lately have been feeling very
similar is because
they use a special engine.
That has a lot of stuff built out.
It's probably, I think it builds stuff so
fast because their engine so specialized.
Um, then yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah, Capcom uses their own in-house
engine called the RE engine, which by the
way, does not stand for Resident Evil
because in Japan, they
don't call it Resident Evil.
They call it biohazard.
It could still stand for it because
they've, they've Americanized.
I don't know.
What does it RE engine stand for?
Well, I mean, they, they
reality something engine.
I don't know.
That's right.
You're right.
Yeah.
Oh, it's reach for them.
Wait, reach for that.
I think it's reality.
What the dude, where's the reality sounds
around it now, but they
have a, they have an engine.
They've been using it for
all of their like 3d games.
They've used it for Resident Evil,
Resident Evil, Monster Hunter wilds,
Resident Evil,
struggles in Monster Hunter.
There's a couple of games where if it's
really open world, it struggles.
That's really good at Titan it.
Um, action-based horror stuff though.
Street fighter six runs on the RE engine.
Yeah.
So basically, yeah, the two games that
don't run that well, that Capcom's
released is dragons dogma
two and monster of wilds.
And both of which are
massive open world games.
Yeah. Well, and that's why they don't run very
well on Steam back to partially.
It's just not, it's not a
really well optimized engine.
Um, open world.
See,
I don't know.
There's a lot going on.
There's a lot here.
I would imagine they also have their
older engine to empty framework.
I think it is that they use for like a
lot of their older style games and also,
uh, their collections like this model
versus Capcom one Capcom, Capcom is still
one of the few like triple A devs that
hasn't like fully
onboarded themselves with a unreal.
If I'm not mistaken.
Let's look at Square Enix Square Enix.
I think he uses unreal.
Yeah.
They use it for Final Fantasy, uh,
Final Fantasy seven remake.
They're using UE4 and I think they're
using UE5 for a fancy 60.
There's a lot of, um, unlucky as much as
people are going to like or not like.
Um, and I actually kind of wish they
would have gone a different route
potentially, but, uh, um, which are four
is going to be in unreal engine, which
albeit I really like the unreal engine,
but I also like competition and I'd like
to see some major game
company heavily invest in Godot.
Godot has a lot of maturing to do.
Um, so, yes.
So another game I'm actually looking
forward to is Crimson desert and the
game, the like combat
gameplay looks insane.
Uh, I think it's in their
own engine, to be honest.
Cause it's made by the guys that made a,
that made black desert online.
Let's find out.
Let's see what AI says.
Black space.
Yeah.
That sounds like a custom engine.
Yeah.
It's most likely more and more game
developers aren't doing it.
Like the thing is, I think if we could
get a healthy like engine that was like
two or three options, especially once
there were specialized to their genres,
um, and have it be like, um, and have it
be heavily controlled by the community,
like the dev community,
then that'd be the best.
Dude, look at that shit.
He fucking like
spider-man swung across that pole.
That's insane.
Huh.
I don't want to play this game though.
It almost seems like one of those too
good to be true sort of games.
I mean, you're watching.
Seems like right here,
at least there's that.
Yeah.
There's actual gameplay of it.
It looks, it looks cool.
You know, it doesn't get
much cooler than dragons.
We'll see though.
Yeah.
We will see.
March 19 March.
Man, March is a stack.
Holy shit.
Yeah.
Let's see what, let's see what, uh, steam
DB's calendar has to say about March.
Uh, a lot of games,
a lot of games.
Ah, it is.
Look, sleep, aspire marathon poker night.
Where did it res?
Oh, resume came out.
It came out like February.
At the very end of the February.
Let's see if there's any
other major game releases.
Let's see.
Mama's, see mama's sleeping angels.
Mm hmm.
Oh, a lot of weird games.
I mean, there are indies like we can't
complain too much, I guess.
So we have a healthy indie.
We have a talks
commando, fatal frame two.
I've never played a fatal frame.
Frames are pretty interesting, but yeah,
I've never fully played one.
They're on my list.
See WWE,
uh, 1348.
I think I'm going to
play Crimson desert instead.
Seven deadly sins fell off.
Man.
See, all right.
All right.
That's it.
All right.
That's enough.
This instead, let's get
into the story of the day.
But before that, though, if you, if you
like our content, be sure to like and
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Yes.
That's the good stuff.
You got to follow us there.
Um, yeah, yes.
And, uh, send gardener our regards, send
him his, send him his wishes.
Cause he needs to get,
he needs to feel better.
Hopefully by next week.
Yeah.
So let's talk about the next
generation of X-Box project.
Helix it plays X-Box games,
but it also plays PC games too.
According to Asha, uh, Asha what's her
face from Microsoft AI, you know, the
new, the new X, the
new Microsoft gaming CEO.
Yeah.
I mean, at this point, I hate PlayStation
might not want to hear this, but pretty
much everything that's being built
besides Nintendo are PC games.
So like a PlayStation is just a PC.
There's nothing fancy about it.
The thing is the games are made for is a
very specific operating system, but the
hardware doesn't
really require emulation.
So when you, if you, yeah, if you can get
it to run on a PlayStation 5,
you can get it to run on a PC.
Well, what they're, you know, evidently
what they're indicating though is that it
can play games, presumably.
It may stay.
Definitely.
Meaning you don't have to go through any
hoops or anything, right?
Yeah.
So here's my thing though.
People are saying it's just a PC or that
it's going to be as open as a PC, but
personally, I don't
really see it that way.
I don't think Microsoft's going to be so
open as to make it open much like a PC
because that would open up things like,
you know, piracy or cheating.
I think it's, if I had to guess, here's
my personal guess, I could be wrong, but
if I had to guess, it's going to be kind
of like what we have now with Xbox, but
with special, specific, authorized third
party stores like a steam and Epic.
Maybe GOG.
I don't even know if GOG is big enough
for off to be on
Microsoft's like roster of launches.
Yeah.
It will be interesting to
see what they end up choosing.
Like if they decide to, uh, who they're
going to partner with, or if they're
going to make it more open to where like,
Hey, this is the kit.
If you want to make a launcher, uh, let's
go through the approval process.
Maybe look at that route.
Who knows?
Yeah.
I mean, there's a lot,
there's a lot of question marks.
I mean, like, for example,
why don't I just buy everything on steam?
Still like, I like literally you could
buy, like, unless Microsoft pulls back
their whole like day one sort of deal,
quite literally, you could just buy Halo
combat campaign evolved on steam instead
of through Microsoft.
It'll still play on their X-Bikes.
Right.
Yeah.
No, you're right.
Like it will be interesting to see what
I'm really curious about the cost here
and the hidden because I'm, if they're
going to allow PC games to be played on
this and be bought even through like a
steam store, what is the, they're going
to lose some, like, don't get me wrong
because they're more of a publisher and
there's, they own a ton of
PC publishers or PC devs.
Um,
are they going to lose money on this or
are they going to do deals to where they
like with a valve, like, Hey, you have to
cut your, your, your take by
so much and we'll allow it.
Yeah.
I mean, I could see that happening or I
could see it being restricted and like,
oh, you can access your steam library,
but you can't buy games on steam.
I think that's what like you steam had to
do one time to get their steam, like
remote play app on, uh, on like the
Apple, the Apple, uh, app store.
I don't know.
It's, it's a crazy
situation to think about.
And honestly, we don't even know if steam
is going to be on there.
I mean, we've seen like couple of teases
of steam being on like, like an Xbox
interface of sorts, but we
don't know of any actual deals.
We do know of Epic trying to get deals
with Microsoft, trying to talk with them
about getting the Epic
game store on their next Xbox.
Yes.
Epic doing whatever Microsoft wants to
get their, their thing on there to
compete with steam, like they have a
really big competitive, uh,
hate, I guess, or
like bone against steam.
So it'll be
interesting to see what happens.
I know valve has an okay
relationship with Microsoft.
Um, at least in the past, uh, that being
said, I, there, they wanted to compete
with Microsoft more and more like the
steam OS and the more that windows comes
out with new updates, the more I think
people are getting tired of windows.
So maybe this is a play for them to try
to keep the market because it, once we
have so many games, like once live
service and these heavily D R M D R M
and, uh, edit sheet games are fully
working on steam OS.
I think windows days are
numbered for gaming period.
So it'll be interesting to see the play
here and how it actually turns out.
Cause there's a lot, there's
like, we'll find out in a year.
What the ultimate play actually is.
There's a lot behind the, the curtains, I
think on this, but, uh, it'll be
interesting to see how they go about it.
Cause this could eat
like the new console wars.
I'll say this are, uh, very interesting.
I never expected them to
evolve into what we have.
Uh, Nintendo doing Nintendo's thing makes
sense, but valve has entered the console
wars, technically Xbox is like mutated
the console wars to include PC gaming.
Technically.
So it was valve, I guess.
And Sony's kind of like, okay, we're
going to, they tried to
put their foot into it.
Now they're retracting and
doing more of a Nintendo thing.
Uh, but the, the, the next console wars
are going to be very interesting.
Man, this, this is crazy.
Also, what do we think the
new Xbox is going to look like?
I'm thinking it's going to
look something like this.
Oh my gosh.
You guys are better than these.
Like sometimes I was
like, Oh, this is so cool.
Like concept art for
gay, like for consoles.
But I'm like, I want
something more interesting.
What they came out with, what they came
out with was a black box that looks like
a printer or a fricking paperweight.
I want it to at least
look a little interesting.
Um, how about this?
Uh, how about this,
uh, O'Connor games here
than what they made, even though what
they made is very practical.
And as for like a server, it's
great, but it's not exciting.
Like PlayStation's exciting.
Xbox or 60 was exciting.
Uh, the Xbox one was not.
And then the Xbox series X and S are just
flat out not interesting.
Also on the topic of the next Xbox, what
do we think the, what do you think
Microsoft's going to call it?
Because as we know, Microsoft has no
consistent pattern with naming their
products, at least their X boxes.
Cause when we got the Xbox, the Xbox 360,
we've got the Xbox one.
And then we've got the
Xbox, uh, series S X.
And then, uh, what, what are they going
to call the Xbox five?
We don't know.
Uh, I hate it.
I honestly, I kind of wish
that just be like Xbox five.
That's what we're going to call it.
We're going to just simplify it.
So people aren't free.
Uh,
it's been one of their problems is that
they just don't know how
to name things properly.
PlayStation keeps it simple.
Nintendo doesn't, but they went to switch
to, so there's, they even saw that they
need to be more simple.
Xbox two.
Sure.
I prefer it.
I prefer anything than what they're
probably going to come up with.
Uh, it's going to be like the Xbox ally
console in conjunction with a Suess X or
something, you know?
So it's just like, no, you X box.
You need to come out with one version
this time and you need to then have, um,
and then you could do a version that's
mobile or you can do slim, or you could
do stuff later on, but
come out with one version.
Don't come out with a
series X and a series S.
So how do you feel about this
stupid fan concept right here?
It looks like a PlayStation two in the
background and that looks like, uh, so
PlayStation did, I think, um, patent, uh,
all digital controller.
But I highly doubt there's going to be
anything coming out with that.
I doubt, I think they're
just doing conceptual things.
They always like the patent it so they
can save money and maybe
even have it for the future.
But.
Wow.
Look at remarkably
similar to this edX con.
This is before the Nintendo switch even
had a, uh, official name.
Look at remarkably similar to this.
Looks to like the real deal.
Almost.
It looks a lot like,
so I can, I know device.
It does,
but it's got like the
detachable controllers.
It's got the screen.
I think the only thing that it doesn't
have the real deal doesn't
have is this camera right here.
And thankfully that
that's probably for the better.
I wouldn't want to just staring at
you while you're playing Mario.
Yes.
Consoles are a weird, the, the, the, the
discussion surrounding next generation
consoles is interesting to say the least.
That said, I feel like this is probably
the least interested I've
ever been in a new console.
Even though even I was vaguely interested
in the PS five and Xbox series devices,
but like, I don't know.
It's partially because we know what the
hardware market's looking like.
Like more and more of these
companies want to go digital.
Xbox wants to completely
get rid of physical medium.
Um, who knows this?
They said that the next one's
going to be it, but we'll see.
Sony wants to, too.
I kind of get it.
Harder, uh, this drives our failure
point, but, um, I will give them this.
They can go for me.
I will accept them going
fully digital for these consoles.
If they will give us full backup rights
to our games, to where we own them.
So if we buy them from the store, we can
put them on a disc and we can use them or
put them on a drive and we have full
ownership over that
copy from here on out.
Doesn't mean that we can make copies of
it, but if we want, we
can loan it to someone.
Or like, or make copies or yeah, it's
going to be, it's going to be an
impossible nightmare.
No, it's not like that.
They can do like, you have licensing, uh,
uh, ways to license this stuff.
They could do it if
they really wanted to.
It's not much
different than having a disc.
Um, so they could do it if they wanted,
but they're honestly, they're really
trying to move
towards having no ownership.
And that's where I'm getting, I think
more bitter as if I lose access to like,
that's why I'm in
decimal or more on Steam.
I,
albeit, you know, there's still stuff
there that say maybe you
don't own the game, but, uh,
yeah, but like on PC, you have the
ability to back up your games regardless
of whether or not valve, whether I,
regardless of whether that developer or
valve wants us to do that, we
have the ability to do that.
It seems not going down in 10 years.
Like, uh, like some of the older, some of
the older consoles that have stores on
them are shutting down now.
So you can't even
access those games anymore.
Steam, I can.
That's my biggest thing.
Will I be able to
access my games in 20 years?
If no, then we're having a problem and
maybe I won't invest
in any of your platform.
That's important to me.
And they want to keep milking it.
Like they can milk it through remakes.
I'm fine with remakes
as long as they're good.
I'll buy a remake, but don't try to sell
me the same game twice.
Well, you know,
speaking of remakes and steam,
Sony seems to be wanting to
pull back from PlayStation.
So this was reported by Jason Schreier,
who as we know is like one of the big
dogs in terms of like
video games journalism.
I mean, he has a lot of insiders.
So of course Sony hasn't said anything
yet officially speaking.
There's been so much talk on this, even
from Sony heads at conferences from
understanding that this is pretty solid.
But also very recently what happened was
that a PlayStation Asia very recently was
advertising a PC
ready dual sense box here.
Let me pull it up real quick.
And this came out after Jason Schreier's
article, which I find super weird that
they would advertise these PC ready dual
sense boxes when they don't
want to put their games on PC.
Because they don't want to put their
games on PC does not mean that the
controller doesn't work great on PC.
That's like I have this right here.
Right.
This is my controller for PC right now.
I really like it.
Right.
And I'm not saying that I'm not saying
that they can't do this.
But I am saying it is a bit of an unusual
strategy when they try to, you know, both
appeal to the PC gamer by making, you
know, these like PC ready
boxes that come with a cable,
but then also not release any of their
major, major releases like Ghost of
Yotei, which is not out on PC.
Probably the last single player Sony game
that's going to come out on PC if this is
to be believed as Death Stranding 2.
And that's mostly because Kojima, oh, and
that Kenan game, whatever it's called.
That's on PC.
But Jason Schreier also said to not
expect Wolverine to come to PC.
That's crazy.
It may never come to PC.
There's a couple of IPs where I'm like
Wolverine is one of them where I'm like,
OK, you can you can put that on PC.
Come on.
Like this is an IP that
stretches beyond PlayStation.
I get Ghost of Yotei.
I get Death Stranding.
I don't get it.
Actually, that one seems
like a very PC oriented game.
But yeah, I don't know.
I think this is a bad take.
Who knows?
Sony might do this for a few years and be
like, you know what, screw it.
We're going to go back to PC.
Hopefully this doesn't also hurt their
support for PC for the games
that have already come out.
We'll see because Sony's
making a lot of good money.
I know it's hurting PlayStation's cells,
but they don't make a lot of
money off PlayStation itself.
They make it off of,
I guess, accessories.
But like I said, these work for the PC.
So I'm still buying their stuff.
Yes, of course, this doesn't affect their
multiplayer ambitions as online games
will continue to be on PC and release on
PC when they make new ones.
If any online game does not get released
on PC or like Android and or, you know,
depending what type of
online game, it will fail.
PlayStation, I don't think, has a big
enough market to make some like or like
or you just be putting
leaving a lot of money on the table.
And like I know PlayStation, A.K.
Sony and Nintendo like to do their own
thing, maybe leaving some money on the
table just kind of keep complete control.
I don't think they're they like the
control that much to lose billions.
So.
Right.
We'll see.
Right.
I mean, at the end of the
day, the money money speaks.
And if Sony makes a lot more money on
consoles than anyone PC,
then they'll follow that.
But if they make a lot more money on PC,
then they'll follow that instead.
It really depends, really.
But yeah, I mean, Marvel
Tokan is coming out still.
Marathon just came out.
We just talked about this earlier.
Also, another thing came out.
Another news article came out as I was
writing the article.
I didn't add it to the topic, but I feel
like this is a little
too important to skip.
Dynamic pricing on video games.
So have you heard about how some stores
have been like some retail like grocery
stores have been trying
to do dynamic pricing?
Like they know your portfolio, your like
investment portfolio.
They're like, you're kind of rich.
So they like up the price.
Yeah, kind of like that.
Is it?
Well, that was the idea
to see men get to a point where they like
know you so well, you walk into a grocery
store and the little prices on the tags
change a little because
it's the E Inc readers.
I mean, truth be told,
they've been doing this for years, if I'm
to be honest with you,
man, like dynamic pricing.
Yes.
Like for example, like for example, I
remember that a couple of years ago there
was a little controversy surrounding.
There was a controversy surrounding
hotels like Expedia or Xperia or
whatever, and they were
charging MacBook owner.
They were charging Mac owners more for
those hotel, those same hotel rooms
because they knew the new Mac Apple
fanboys were a lot richer than like your
average Windows person.
Or is that the idea?
Yes.
Oh, shit.
I didn't close that.
I didn't close it either.
No, no, I close either.
Well,
anyway, so yeah, so these tried the same
shit on their store.
Oh, okay.
So I hate it.
Exactly.
Roll through me.
Roll through for like the audience and me
like exactly what we'd expect to happen
with this dynamic pricing.
Well, with this dynamic pricing, they
would A, keep like a port, they would
keep information about you.
And they would change the pricing
depending on the individual or at least
the account that's logged in.
And if they know that you if they know
that you will pay more for something,
they'll charge you more for it.
If you have any good deals, maybe they'll
have like for people they know will spend
when it's 50% off, they'll give you deals for that all the time.
Yeah,
I mean, it's, I mean, it's
a it's a shitty business.
It's, it's, it's bad
enough with video games.
It's even worse with groceries where, you
know, they've been trying to do that
dynamic pricing for that groceries.
Like, they'll charge you like a dollar
more for milk, because you're richer, or
they recognize your face.
This is the whole, this is part of the
whole mass surveillance thing that people have been worrying about.
I'm not gonna get into it because that
like leans a little too
political for the podcast.
That's the spicy, we didn't talk, we can
talk about in the spicy.
Yeah, that's the spicy level.
Yeah, we didn't talk about it this time.
But yeah, essentially, that's, I mean,
that's just kind of how it is.
If you're rich, and they know you'll pay more, they'll charge you more.
And it's, it's, it's a messed up. It's a real mess. Yeah,
I'm really curious, because if they, I
don't think they're
gonna get away with this.
So they'll try and all that.
But I think they're like, if it hits
enough people, they might be
able to get away with wells.
So if they can get like, if it's the
rich, rich, where they just really don't
understand the price,
they can get away with it.
I think anyone else, even middle class, we all like a good deal, especially Americans. We do not like to be screwed over.
This is definitely making me want, like,
I really hope next, if they're if they're
gonna do this for long term, I want them
to maybe this is why they want to pull
away from steam so they can have control
over their prices again, maybe they're
gonna not have discs anymore.
But this is making me go more and more to like, I want to buy discs. Well,
I
think the, well, I think the primary
theory is that the reason why they pulled
out of PC is because of Xbox's crazy plays, you know, I'm talking about no, I mean, but Halo's coming to PlayStation.
So yeah,
but like, yeah, but like, when GeForce
Now was made playable on Xbox, Sony
explicitly wanted Nvidia to like,
blacklist, playing Death Strang on Xbox through GeForce Now.
Yeah,
this is once again, this is a big part of
my problem with with Japan.
And they're the way they think they are
very controlling of their
IP of a lot of their stuff.
They really have this weird, they make
products for themselves
almost instead of for the consumer.
It's really weird where I'm like, if I make a game, I want people to play it.
If I make a game, I
want people to play it.
On one hand, yes, it's
absolutely true about Japan.
On the other hand, though, I don't really
think playstations really as Japan
centric as it used to be.
That's another reason why they're, I
mean, they move the place, they move the
headquarters to like, San
Diego, like San Francisco, I think.
San Francisco, I think.
It's still the base.
And a lot of I'm sure the high ups is
very Japanese coded.
That's why I say like, I don't see if it
was it was American, this would be opened
up more because they
want to make their needs.
They've already proven
that PC game cells pay.
They pay very well, like, so.
Yeah, you know,
speaking of America in Japan,
Nintendo, the third of the big three,
here's their new here's
their new console plans.
They're suing the government.
They're suing the US
government for tariffs.
I thought we were gonna get political.
Yeah, I thought so too.
But Nintendo decided to sue the
government, the US
government for tariffs.
Yeah, it's it's interesting.
I don't know.
This is a this seems bigger.
I know a lot of people
are like really thrown out.
I think the Pokemon go ad
for home for the homeland.
There was whatever.
Hold on.
It was bigger deal than this.
This is so this is just some context.
They're suing to get over tariffs, which
is funny because most companies pat like
they raise their prices, right?
All consoles raised their prices like
anything that probably got affected by
tariffs raised their prices over the last
year, year and a half.
They pass that cost on to us.
And then they they want an F in rebate.
They want to rebate.
Now, if they want to pass
it on to us, that's fine.
They're not going to do that.
And if they can prove that they ate some
of it, which I'm sure
maybe they did maybe.
But they're like, tariffs are infamously
passed on to the consumer.
And we're the ones that paid for it, but
they want to get paid in return, which
really pisses me off.
Another thing, a little note on this is
that a lot of companies are doing this
Costco and a lot of I think there's a
bunch of other companies are suing the
administration to get over tariffs.
So I think this is just them entering the
fray and knowing that there's a good
chance they could get some money back.
We'll see, though.
We'll see.
Sorry, I cut you off.
You're probably going to
explain more of what this is.
Right.
So I'm reading more into this lawsuit
because it's kind of insane
because I mean, let's see.
I mean, they only just started.
We don't really know.
We don't really know
much, much more about this.
But I mean, we can imagine Nintendo had
to make major changes to their production
pipeline to try to skirt around the
insane hundred percent
tariff issue to China.
Then move some of that
to Vietnam for this, too.
I don't know.
It's crazy.
It's a crazy situation.
It's an evolving situation.
I just added it because I thought it was
really funny to see Nintendo, see how
powerful Nintendo's lawyers really are.
This is the final level.
This is the boss battle for Nintendo.
They're usually- Oh, yeah.
I'm bringing the court.
I'm bringing popcorn to the courtroom.
You should too, James.
It'd probably boring still, but I think
I'd be I'd be down to bring popcorn and
actually watch them
go to court over this.
I think it's I want to see more pushback
against like tariffs because I like no
matter what you think politically like
tariffs are just there are attacks on the
consumer on us like that.
I don't like that.
I'm not anti-tax, but I don't I'm anti
tariffs for the most part.
I think they're just strategic.
So yeah, I hope they win weirdly enough.
But at the same time, I kind of a little
bitter about how they were treating power
world and stuff like that.
So I don't know.
They have also really pissed me off.
Two things can be true.
They two things can be true.
They've really pissed
me off a lot.
Two things are true.
They can they can be they
can they I don't like that.
Nintendo's the good
guy in this situation.
But I mean, if
they want to do their redemption arc,
then I'm down to support them.
I'm always down for forgiveness.
So I
just hope that I just hope that this
burns both the tend to also I hope that
Nintendo wins and this
burns up on their way.
I hope it wins.
But then they're like, yeah, OK, well,
we'll pass on the tariff thing and
they'll settle with all the companies
like, OK, we'll pass
it on to the consumers.
So we'll get like a
rebate or something like that.
Yeah.
I don't know. Like I don't want them to get the money
back, though, unless they can prove how
much they lost, which I
don't think they ate much of it.
Since they can like the switch to is
what, five hundred some
dollars like, come on.
Right.
So, yes.
All right.
Yeah.
So this is the evolving situation.
We'll probably cover a lot
more about it in the future.
But in the meantime,
though, let's talk about valves.
I will say just real quick, though, with
that last topic, we'll probably end up
planning covering it
more in the bonus level.
So make sure that you subscribe there.
You can even become a free member and
maybe we'll try to leak some stuff there
to you more for free members.
But like, if you like the spicier stuff,
like don't tell Gardner to cover it over
there to just make this a
little bit more neutral.
Sorry.
Continue.
Yes.
So here's one thing earlier, it said we
hope to ship in this year.
Now it says we will be
shipping all three this year.
Yeah, I think a lot of steam fans and
steam machine people that are wanting
this right away had a mini
heart attack when they saw that.
Yeah.
Now, Val fixed it.
I still don't know this.
Man, I mean, we'll see.
We'll see.
I'm just a little concerned as to what's
going to happen when the steam machine
comes out and then the next generation
comes out because it seems like the Xbox
is more of a steam machine competitor
than like a PlayStation 6 better.
And the funny thing is, is if I mean, Val
is playing a very dangerous game right
now, they need to have this thing come
out at $500, especially if it comes out
in a year from now or else they're going
to be releasing during a period that Xbox
is going to be releasing.
And I can guarantee you there, the Xbox
device is going to be twice as powerful
as this and probably not
that much more expensive.
So I am all for valve.
I'm all for steam machine and all that.
But like if I can play my games on either
one, but the ones going to be double the
performance, it's a hard sell.
I don't know what's going
to happen at this point, man.
But let's see what else is.
Let's see.
Let's see what is that was
talked about here, though.
Anything of interest.
Oh, yeah, a lot of the new steam features
came out this year, too.
Let's see.
Update news pop up.
All right.
Monthly new releases.
All right.
Let's see.
See what.
Oh, High Guard was the
top new release of January.
Shame that game is going to die.
We'll talk more about that later.
Oh, yeah.
Let's see.
Themed sales, you know, sports fest.
Have you guys remember
the steam capitalism fest?
It was a real fest, by the way.
Steam capitalism fest.
Yeah, steam capitalism.
No, I don't remember.
It was a call that that's hilarious.
It's called the yeah, it was called the
steam capitalism and economy.
It was for games that promoted like
capitalism or economist,
economist style gaming, right?
Yeah, yeah, this is what yeah, this is
actually what it's called.
Cool.
It was really funny.
I like playing those games too,
oftentimes, but that's so funny.
See, organic recommendations.
I don't know how organic this is, but,
you know, whatever, I guess.
Discovery queue overhaul.
All right.
Personal calendar.
All right.
The community recommends.
Is this really that useful, though?
I don't know.
The search and layout learning more about
games, accessibility features.
This is this is a bit of this is an
underrated change because steam used to
not use your widescreen
aspect ratio properly.
And now now it does.
Yeah, that's actually a huge win for I
wouldn't say accessibility per se, but
maybe is like I'd like more and more
websites to be able to fill up more of
the screen, especially if
there's a lot of information.
See the trailer player user user reviews
by language bundle landing pages.
Oh, look, this is
actually a super useful.
This is actually super
useful guide right here.
The avail about a lower price message
like when you try to add a game, it'll
tell you if it's at a lower
price as part of a bundle.
And lo and behold, like, slave aspire,
slave aspire, slave aspire to.
If you own slay the spire one, you could
get the sluice you get.
So so the spire two is normally 25 bucks,
but you could get slayed aspire one and
two as part of a bundle.
But if you already own slate aspire one,
you can just get that bundle and it and
you just get slayed
aspire to for cheaper.
Yeah, see me money earlier today.
It's a meme on it earlier, too.
See what else we got here.
Our asset templates,
yada, yada, yada, bunch
of stuff for developers.
Steam play test improvements.
Shit.
I don't know.
Yeah, so steam had a lot of updates.
I think people are still most excited
about the hardware because of course,
it's new steam hardware.
But steam still has a lot of updates.
They do invest a lot into making their
store front a better place.
Which is what Epic
is doing it.
I'll say this epic is getting better.
The problem is that I think they wrote a
lot of the epic store on like a C plus.
I don't know.
I feel like it's a C plus plus system.
And it's really fast.
Typically, but they have some major bugs.
They should have just gone with what
valve did with steam.
And that's written on like web
technologies, which is very good at
browsing information like this.
That's their biggest downside to epic,
like they really shot
themselves in the foot.
It gets better.
But like, sometimes my epic games goes
right like rogue on both windows or Mac
and like eats up a ton of
resources and gets locked up.
It's really weird.
Where steam is very like, it used to do
that a little bit a decade
ago, but it is very solid.
It's very like incremental.
They come out with new features all the
time that are very like, I think very
user researched, meaning they actually
know how to do research
as to what users want.
Sometimes people complain.
And gamers are probably some
of the worst users to have.
Gamers are really, gamers are really bad
about giving feedback about anything.
It's not constructed.
It's usually just
whining about something.
So, yeah.
And they also give like bad like waste,
like let's say, Oh, just lower the damage
on this weapon and not considering, you
know, the entire sandbox of a game.
You know what I'm saying?
Like they get very, let's just say not
very constructive criticism.
They're very bad at it.
And they'll oftentimes insult you.
Has this, has this developer ever played?
Have they ever played
their own darn game?
Like, shit like that.
Of course they do.
They're probably sick of it.
Yeah, no, I mean, I want to filter out
more of those types of people.
I'd actually, people wouldn't like this,
but I wouldn't mind more
user filtering out of steam.
They'd be required to track you more.
But I kind of want to be able to filter
out the noise of like, does this person
just are they just
negative on every game they play?
Like, I don't want, I don't want them to
be a part of the user review.
I want, I can, a user review
that's based on my persona.
I think you should be able to block.
I mean, you can, you can
block people on the steam.
I wonder if you, I wonder if
you should be able to do that.
I don't think that'd be a complex system.
I wrote, I've actually
written a system on this.
I probably should go back.
I've wrote a persona review system where,
and with the games reveal.com because the
platform I'm building is going to help
build games reveal.com again.
I'll probably implement it.
So like a review system like this or
persona based one, where you can, you can do that.
Where you just answer like you, as long
as you have like 10 games that you like,
you put them in there and then kind of
like what your temperament is.
And then it will kind of
learn about you as it goes on.
And then it will recommend and give you
like reviews of games that are actually
based on who you are more
than an arbitrary thing.
Because like even me, you and Gardner, we
all play very different games at times.
I'd like to see stuff like that in steam.
Sorry, I went really on that one.
We can, it's all good.
Speaking of, uh, speaking of steam, guess
what's not going to be
on steam for very long.
High guard.
So here's the
interesting thing about high guard.
High guard actually pushed
out an update at the same time.
They pushed out this letter and they
added some, they added some stuff that
actually sounds pretty interesting or it
could be interesting.
You see new warden,
new weapon, account list.
They put some, they put some, some level
of progression and skill trees.
They put, why, why on earth would they
release that so late and like right as
the game is about to die.
I think these companies need to start
doing, like if they want to be smart
about this, they should come in.
They either bring in new developers or
bring in developers back and figure out a
way to make this an offline experience.
And see if they can just I know this is
saying a lot because sometimes the games
are built from the ground up to be A very
specific experience, but I think high
guard could be an interesting play with
Put a little more money into it and see
if you can get more of your money back If
they get like it looks like they already
have skill trees and stuff like Figure
out a way where people could self host it
they could do a lot of different things
to Give more power to the
players blah blah blah blah blah
And I'd like to see that I don't know why
maybe they're making a play on like
Trying to resurrect high guard.
I mean it sounds like they're shutting it
down But if they're adding more features
to it before shutting it down, I there's
obviously something going on
Yeah, but here's a thing though like
fucking here's the thing though like
They also laid off all of the guys that
worked on the game that's how
they release his features then I don't
know I know they were I know a lot I
Before but they're still needs developers
to wrap them up finish them
merge them in and stuff like that
Man I don't know so
Hi, I don't know a really weird game with
the way that they're handling and how
they bring stuff out I am curious if
they're gonna be made my sorry drops on
my keyboard, uh if they
Are making a play for like resurrecting
it or morphing this into something else?
I think that's a good play I think they
should do this more often with a lot of
games, but we'll see
We shall see if I had to be completely
honest with you I I mean
What the hell the hell they may as well
have just not updated the game is it?
They I mean see it
just gives you hope like that's why it
gives it like it makes me become a
conspiracy theorist The saying oh well,
they're gonna do something with his game
at one point They should turn it into a
first person Single-player shooter where
it's just a dungeon crawler.
I do that like a
rogue first-person shooter
So So here's my question though.
Do we really think concrete?
Do we really think this
is Concord no, I think
I Really think it's weird that people
call us Concord I think It's a live act.
It's a life service game.
I think that's the biggest problem.
It's its life service
Right remember this
tweet from jock Healy I'll be
accepting your apologies
Would it really
That's was like before like two hours
like two days before release.
Yeah, that's it's funny It's I think Jeff
Kelly or the Game Awards did I think it
just expedited the death of high guard I
don't think it was like honestly it
probably saved developers or the
publishers more money than it cost them
Cuz I don't think this
was gonna be successful
Man whatever man, I'm over high guard and
it seems like and the world is gonna be
over it No, actually no the the guys that
always mentioned Concord are gonna use
this as a as more ammo For marathon.
Yeah, I mean marathon.
I well, I do want to try it out like
marathon looks really good
Yeah Yeah, it is pretty cool You want
platform marathons not on though?
It needs to be I need to be
more on Mac through steam.
That is sorry Yes
So this is the new MacBook neo 599 a 599
decent laptop in this economy.
Yeah, Mike like there's a lot to be
skeptical about but I think all the tech
reviewers like Linus tech tips and
There's a couple of
more that I've watched
They have really good takes on this
That this is actually like an amazingly
good deal and it's also very disruptive
Linus talks about how it sounded like PC
makers are very worried about like
because it sounded like Apple was gonna
come in out with a Budget MacBook they
were very worried and they should have
been because this thing Almost takes all
the boxes for a casual laptop user
Right I Mean I mean truth be told I'm not
in the market for a 5 9 a 5 9 9 MacBook
Honestly, if I wanted to get a Mac, I
would probably get one with an M chip,
but if it's good for like More casual
users because let's be honest.
I think most casual users
don't really do much more than just
You write emails on Facebook Type up some
essays this this would be this would be
good for college like if you had to go to
like, okay, like if all you really needed
to do with your computer was a Do your
school work and this this is a good.
This is a good
choice This okay, so a little
bit of like context for this.
I'm gonna give a couple numbers First off
it has 8 gigs of RAM, which sounds
disgustingly low, but the A18 Pro
processor that's in last year's iPhones
iPhone 16 I believe
only Pros the RAM is a soldered on to the
Dye chip I think or something.
It's something a part of the chip itself.
So and it only supports 8 gigs That's one
part of the reason the other one is Mac
is pretty optimized on RAM It kind of
goes optimization goes Linux Mac than
Windows Mac is really good at the RAM And
they're really good at caching and
compression like I have a 24 gigabyte
MacBook Air that works pretty good as
long as I'm not getting too crazy with AI
8 gigs is plenty for Chrome and one other
like if you're listening to music and
going on to Chrome, I think it's totally
fine You probably won't notice any
differences because it will compress and
even if you go past the 8
gigs it will then cache it
This is going to eat
Microsoft slop and
Google's Chromebooks eat their lunch like
it is like this a 18 Pro processor is as
fast as an M1 chip With the single
threaded process, which is more important
for this type of thing being faster so
the multi threaded or like
the not multi thread the multi
Yeah, multi threaded process like is
going to be it's not is about the same as
M1 But the single thread process like
this really good So running multiple
applications at a time on this isn't
gonna be as good as running one or two
But it's very similar.
It's a it's a iPhone chip and Truth be
told I will say This is a really good
deal if you don't like it should be able
to even play some games Honestly, like
the a 18 pro trip can play Pretty like it
can do really good with some games I
would be shocked if this couldn't play
like some of the resneable
games that are on the store even
So yeah, I think like college student
needs a little bit of gaming on the go
This is the it's a look.
It's going to be aluminum.
So dense a little bit more Than some of
the newer Mac books.
So just be aware that if
this thing drops it will dent
But it's got the keyboard it's got the
it's not haptic feedback trackpad, but
it's classic click I think people like
that It's got it's Not a lot of
compromises One big thing it doesn't have
is Thunderbolt though
It has USB 3 and a USB 2 Interface on the
side in the sense of USB C like speeds.
It's USB C though Port but it has it does
not have Thunderbolt speeds
Yeah, I mean yeah the lack of ports is
probably the one thing I I can agree with
It's not you know, it's only two USB
ports one of those USB 2 by the way
It's weird, but like I think their
audience it works great.
They can plug it in it can power I think
one or two monitors and charge off of
that one poor on the top or the USB 3
port but that's where they cut they had
to cut costs and use and Thunderbolt is a
Intel tech that they have to pay
royalties for so this makes sense
And I think for $600 wait a second.
I don't think people
are gonna notice Wait a second.
You know what I see over here a Jack holy
shit Apple remembers that they exist.
Yeah, my my My air has one they they took
I think they took them away for a few
generations and I think they brought them
back They have the app.
They're back for a while
Fuck man if Apple brings back the
headphone All right, if Google Goes and
tries to kill like sideloading and then
Apple brings back the headphone jack
Man, that's really
tempting to switch to abroad.
It's a sideloading
To America and without any weird without
any weird like would
Chavian that being said then making a
budget Mac book was not on my list of and
especially at 599 meaning and here's the
thing guys if you're a student or I
Don't know if I don't know if you're
student at all or maybe if you have a
student you can you can get a discount Of
a hundred dollars off.
So this is a four ninety nine dollar
device and technically this
is Geared towards students.
I would say more than anything.
So make sure you get that four hundred
ninety nine dollar price on this They
might even have other deals where they
include other stuff It also comes with
the charger to some people might not
realize this but it comes with the
charger like this is an
all-around Really good.
Oh shit deal, which is a little sad but
also not sad in today's world like
Did Apple being the good
guy is not what I expected
that's really hard to say like that
There's the guy but and there's a reason
why I'm I'm I'm prim I have a Mac studio
right here I have my Mac book air.
I have my Windows device over here and I
also have Linux stuff But for work wise
I've gone more and more to Apple and for
simplicity rise I will be doing a lot of
backups and doing some replacements of
Apple stuff with a home lab Eventually
once I can afford you know, the parts
that are getting more
expensive every day, but
I'm kind of done with Windows and Google
in a lot of ways Apple has shown that
they're consistent over the years I'll be
at you know Cost more but I have had much
better luck with their hardware lasting a
lot longer than Anything
Windows or Google's done
Just gonna say it
God damn it man.
What does the world come to where apples
making a budget computer?
I mean they're the ones that
are going to be like there.
This is going to Potentially further hurt
a lot of the PC market that's already
struggling to get RAM Because that 8 gigs
of RAM was gonna function really well in
that Mac book as opposed to you can't do
8 gigs on Windows nowadays
Yeah, like 6 gigs and that's gonna cost a
lot in today's world like them having to
opt like this is weird like maybe Windows
is gonna have to be forced to be
optimized because Mac being more
optimized is going is
winning the battle on price now
That or the entire entry-level
PC segment can just disappear
would not be shocked if that happens
So Mac has entered a budget space in
Windows exit in like all the other
manufacturers exits the budget space What
kind of world what kind of
world are we living in now?
Where Mac is a budget brand?
Apples a budget brand.
They're definitely gonna have okay.
They're gonna have price ranges.
They're trying to get more and more
market share There's a
strategic reason for this.
They're not being you know, ultra-listic.
They're They They're going after a market
segment that they just haven't been able
to get they can probably also move into
India more With this pricing range You
can see they've done it more and more I
go for their premium stuff I always like
their premium stuff because they last a
few like a lot I usually do it for a few
years that I trade it in because it has
higher trade-in value and I get the next
thing now this is There's another really
like Chromebooks Google push Chromebooks
into schools not to be the kind guys it's
a playbook that Microsoft Apple and
Google has they'll push free licenses
They'll push a lot of stuff for discounts
because if you can train your the kids
early on to use their product They will
use that later on in their
lives because they're used to it.
That's why Microsoft
is such a big deal if
Apple gets more I wouldn't be shocked if
Apple makes more and more deals with
schools and all that In 10 20 years you
can see a lot more Apple products that
Winning out over Microsoft.
We'll see this is Definitely interesting
especially if like if the market just
pretty much all you I don't know It'd be
so weird to go to a Best Buy and not
having cheap laptops and desktops just
sitting there like really cheap ones
Right just have to be my Apple stuff.
That'd be weird
I Mean but here's the other thing too, so
Specifically when they mean entry-level
PC segment they mean sub $500 PC segment
Which I mean truth be told I don't think
I don't think a lot of people would
Recommend buying if sub $500
like PC at this point in time
Are there are so is that even a thing
anymore because with what tariffs and
with RAM costs and all that I would be
shocked if that's even dead now
Well, they expected to fully disappear on
and honestly I am curious as what would
happen if that did happen because you
know AMD and Intel still make all these
really low-end CPUs and whatnot
These do they still make all these really
low-end CPUs that most people honestly
probably Shouldn't really
buy like the a A18 Pro processor in this
MacBook is actually really good in the
MacBook and the oh It is not garbage.
It is is it low-powered is it?
is It's you know going
to do Amazing things.
No, but it is not garbage like The Intel
and AMD's really low-level stuff that
they shove into these Sub 500 PCs that
being said what can you expect if you're
getting something like that?
I
Don't know man, I think yeah, I think man
there's so much going on there's so much
change going on with you know, the prices
of PCs and all the
other stuff and Nothing.
Nothing.
There's no feel-good story here.
I will say
No, like I think without I think without
there being a cheap PC.
I think I mean None of us got started on
really expensive PCs.
At least I certainly didn't get started
on like it really expensive Oh, I
see but back when I got started PCs were
expensive anyways I don't we didn't have
like I don't know if we had like a
graphics card really in The
PC I got real graphics card
Right, but like PCs were also like the
high-end pieces were also like far more
expensive to actually
I don't think there was like They're PCs
were probably like I'm sure I'm I don't
know parlay around a thou I don't know.
I'd have to look it up.
What costs were back in the late 90s, but
Yeah, they they they cost it a lot But
they're not like what it is today where
there's a low-end market on a high-end
market There was kind of
like a mid-range market
With some high-end
upgrades you could get but
Nowadays like the the I Don't know I
don't I definitely think that it's
required essentially in today's society
to have a computer of access to a
computer Some form of
fashion even if it's a smartphone.
I'll put it there like making sure
there's good subsidizer or cheap options
for people that are in poverty to not be
left behind because it Does like having
these types of skills are very important
at that job as well they'll be they'll be
important to when you have to tell the AI
how to do it, but your job, but This is
important I don't want the entry-level
PCs to go away But at the same time I
kind of want them to go away because I
think they're just such garbage where I'd
be like Hey guys anyone that I know
that's thinking about
getting our entry level.
That's like sub 500 even like ten years
ago I'd be like save a couple hundred
dollars more and you'll think me like
your computer will last another year or
two These are really
Really garbage PCs in my opinion you
Yeah, it gives a bad impression of
technology actually.
Yeah so I definitely don't want the
MacBook to kill off entry-level but I
want them to redefine it and maybe bump
up the price just slightly and show that
that you need to
optimize your software to
I Mean even having a 599 MacBook is
better than having Every option be like
over a thousand dollars Like shit, man I
don't think I don't like I don't think I
would have gotten into computers or tech
had I not had a affordable
computer to mess around yeah
Yeah, I mean that's just kind of the
nature of the situation here and Speaking
of just speaking of
destroying things though.
Have you seen this story?
uh
So basically this was an ultra rare demo
of the vid of the old visual novel
sukihime It's a demo of the game not the
actual game itself Only 50 of these demo
discs were actually produced back when
type moon was an indie developer And this
is what this is what uh, this is what
happened when customs got their hands on
this floppy disk totally destroyed
undestroyed unlike Shit, man.
All the bubble wrap was removed the
floppy disk was destroyed
Man that's So I will say they were
probably triggered dude, I will say It
says adult only right here.
So that's probably
what got them all riled up
But fuck man, that's
crazy
Even if it wasn't
anti-gauge was it a hentai game?
Well, yeah, sukihime is a wasn't a bad
visual novel but then they but then the
company But then type moon got
super big and so they did it.
They didn't need to add a little
Don't think I know my adult game history
I'm sure you've heard of
faith stay neither, right?
Yeah, yeah, maybe the same company.
Okay so anyways
Okay, this is This is
unacceptable in my opinion.
They could hold on to it.
They don't have to destroy it.
That's crazy That's them seeing a floppy
disk like some like young
Person they're like what's that?
This looks like it's frickin
It's probably got
I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna make that
joke, but it's got
some certain files on it.
We're gonna destroy this Um Yeah, this is
I Hope that they can like legally do
something about this.
That's crazy
It's an ultra rare
one out of 50 ever made
Look it was made for Windows 95 Slash 98
but this is ancient.
Yeah, it's it's an ancient Well, I just
it doesn't set a good president So you
don't get to shred people's packages.
You can hold it.
You can figure out a ways to Go about it.
You don't get to destroy it though
Yeah, like I like I get like if they had
to take it out of the bubble wrap, yeah
sure whatever I guess But they like
fucking destroyed the dip
the floppy what the hell?
Yeah
God damn it
That's I don't know I hope I hope
something happens out of this in the
sense of like retribution because it's
more of a precedence for me of like we
have male standards we have standards on
all this type of stuff because we live
enough like a civilized country a
civilized world Like you don't get to
just destroy stuff because reasons like
at least give a good reason I guess I
don't know Did they even give a reason?
Yeah, yeah,
I don't think so Yeah, I guess we'll
never find out that's
not destroying works
well, I don't know if I'm gonna say
amazing works apart, but Rare stuff and
destroying stuff that like
they don't need to destroy
well, I would say the full game is
apparently what is like one of the It's
like one of the formative games for like
the whole modern visual novel genre.
I'll say So It's apparently so yeah,
there's that too speaking of adults
content Let's talk about Let's talk about
the growing interest in age attestation
on OS level devices As you know,
California passed that one bill that
forces companies to do this already But
it seems like Colorado and New York want
to do the same thing
I Don't know I I know Gardner's really
like upset about this and I
There's
well, here's see well, here's here's the
thing though They want to go further than
what California do because California
currently it's like, you know, put your
birthday in and yeah, that's it Whatever
but like from what I've read they want to
do more They want you to verify your ID
with like a third-party system So that
yes, you have to put your personal
information and send that to every
company Also, there's the other thing
well at the rate is with
the California interpretation.
There's this there's a system called
Actual knowledge which essentially shifts
the comp blame to like other companies
So like if you were a kid you typed in
your 18 then you get a website You maybe
shouldn't have but you
shouldn't be going on to
If anything were to happen as a result of
that that company would be liable because
they had quote actual knowledge
Yeah, it's definitely going to hurt.
I don't know.
It's gonna make I think
more of a black market.
I I
Don't think this is gonna be overly
useful in the sense of like
Stopping a lot of stuff, but maybe it
will my problem my ultimate problem with
this type of thing is like Yeah, if you
had to put a birthday in on an operating
system, okay, whatever I People can say
it's a slippery slope But you know
whatever with that one But this
definitely improves that it's maybe is a
little bit more of a slippery slope That
if you have to put your ID in and you
can't use a computer unless you use your
ID like In the right hands this could
stop a lot of crap happening In the wrong
hands and we've proven that like the
wrong hands can happen
The administration right now is proof
where 9-11 happened we let a lot of
things slide we gave a lot more power to
the executive branch and now we're here
This is one of these things where in the
right hands it could probably it'll
probably be okay in
the wrong hands it will
Pretty much make it so that people can
decide whether or not you have a PC or
not so and if like I said PCs phones They
are quintessential to live today and you
should not be in any way Inhibiting it
now we can do controls we can have
software level controls for to help with
like parental and all
that but like parental
Control but this is
the wrong way to do it
so I Definitely
Don't I just don't I want to know who's
backing these I want to know what like
what Because usually
with this type of stuff.
It's huge.
It's it's a big
Big Groups that usually fund and also
back these types of things to kind of
push legislation to like lobbying
essentially to push this type of stuff
I'm curious what's like how Who and how
this is happening cuz?
Yeah, I don't know this is I know these
are happening in very liberal areas but
liberal brained left brain all the stuff
like this seems very
much like liberal and of
Old-school conservative kind of brained
kind of situation where they both might
agree on this I don't know.
It's weird
It's very bipartisan.
Yeah, this put this push towards a
Cuz I mean what what I don't know man I
don't want to talk about politics
anymore, but I mean this is gonna affect
literally all of us Literally all of us
will be affected and This will affect
your way of accessing your technology
might not and I am not
affect you right now, but just wait until
it gets into the wrong hands and They pat
like figure like a way like It's already
proven that executive
branch can do whatever they want.
It takes a long time.
So if they're like, well We have this
kill switch Now cuz if it gets if it gets
into enough of the states What I'm saying
is that we'll get into the federal level
and then they can have a kill switch
essentially to say well We don't want
people of this age to touch the computers
right now and they'll just kill it and I
Just don't trust that we wouldn't be in
that type of situation in 10 years.
I think it's just safer to just Let's
battle it the hard way.
It's hard, but it's hard for a reason
because it's the right way This feels
like the easy way out
and it's the wrong way
I don't trust the situation.
I Legit.
I mean It's not just the US.
It's not just these three states It's
like it's a worldwide initiative towards
all of this too, which
makes it extra troubling.
Yeah, I still
this makes me think of what Gardner said
he wants a Library card
for accessing an Internet.
This is not much different to me but
The Internet is a big thing where I don't
know I do I would rather
This not happen or they could put a badge
that says this is like kid approved
Operating system like there's ways around
making this like more of an optional
thing of like well if you want to add
this then We can put a certificate like
certify it that this
is more kid appropriate.
That's fine Okay, or you have
access to the More resources.
I have a worker.
I'm a workaround that does that is
relatively cheap and inexpensive It's
called being a better parent
Monitor what your kids do more
the problem with that though is that a
big chunk of people that have kids should
not be having kids so
That's I mean
Initiatives like this are important, but
I don't think at this level.
This is correct I think it needs to be
done at a different level.
This is just like we're tired of trying
to Actually do our job and passing laws
and working with companies.
This is we're just gonna Burnt earth.
We're just gonna stop it at
the problem at the at the base
But it Definitely leans into giving so
much more control over to the government
for something that should be more open.
That's my problem So that's
why I go back and forth on this
Parents, that's why you need your first
land meals at schools That's why a lot of
things are important to give a baseline
for people to survive
It's not like kids
Decided to be born to shitty parents
right so you got to have some safety nets
in there for them But this
is not that in my opinion.
This is just going to I think harm more
people than it is going to help as
Opposed to especially long term it gives
a lot more control than we should give
away They should be
handling this on a different level.
This is my opinion.
Like at least try to handle it on a
different level first so
It's such a sit.
I don't know it I I just don't want I
don't want this bill to be a thing.
I think it's a terrible idea I think I
think people in companies are gonna use
it for nefarious things and Honestly, I'm
not I'm surprised that you know The big
companies haven't gone out and tried to
lobby against this using
their their favorite tactic.
Yeah, I am curious, too But maybe they're
all but maybe they're all
for it to them with a lot of
responsibility But maybe Microsoft
Microsoft and Apple could be like
actually like we're fine.
We know we're gonna be
able to Enforce is better.
It's just gonna kill
their call the issue beta
Or they can sell data better too.
That's another maybe I'm sure there's
some laws in there They
they can't like I I don't know.
I bet you these laws.
I haven't looked through all of them, but
like they're I Don't know I Don't know if
they're gonna be like This round is gonna
be the end all be all of like
Horribleness, but they're pretty generic
but like it leads into more and more
control which I Get it you get it have
you have to pick and choose your battles
on like what the government gets involved
in what it doesn't And it's just this is
one of those places where it just doesn't
need to get involved in We have much
other like we have better areas to get in
to handle this Like California's doesn't
do much you just put your birthday in
that's it which is weird But it doesn't
do a whole lot, right?
putting your government ID in is a little
weirder and could actually even like
These companies like if they do that This
is essentially putting a paywall into
owning a computer further
Which these states
are against for voting?
At the end of the day and people don't
might not understand this and they get a
little bit of political But this is more
just educational to vote you have to have
no matter what an ID if it's to register
you have to have an ID and proof that you
live in where you live or You have to
have it at like the polling place Some
states don't do it a point place or
whatever that But you have to have it at
one end or the other and there's always a
verification process people don't
understand this This is one of those
things where and and if you put if you
make it so you have to go You have to
vote with an ID Especially if they some
of them want to do it like with with
passports, which is like
that's a couple hundred dollars
This is where I get a little worried like
okay, you bought your computer, but then
you have another paywall and for
People that can't afford that it just
adds more gates for them.
I don't know things
is a bad idea We'll see
It
could end up being something they
implement and then they find out very
quickly like if this is just annoying
Let's let's get rid of it.
I'm hoping that's the case I'm hoping
that there's a lot of rhetoric and a lot
of talk and that this brings that like we
don't just pass something Like this just
without a whole lot of debate
but it definitely is gonna come back to
bite us in the butt if there's not a lot
of laws behind it, but
I just don't know as long as there's no
kill switch where it's like, okay the
government could just go and kill
everything that's this is attached to
because They have the power to that's
what I'm a little worried about
Look conspiracy-minded
Yeah I'm over I'm over government
overreach on our technology I will say I
feel like I felt a broken record saying I
don't want to get too political but like
the more things happen the more I feel
like I'm My my hand is forced into it and
I feel like I feel like no one should be
subject to hearing some random Content
creators opinions on political types.
Well, I mean It is interesting because
there's definitely like politics politics
where we could get involved much more on
talking individuals and stuff like that
But like this is stuff that like people
this stuff that touches you.
This is the stuff that's gonna affect you
Whether it be a gamer or a tech
enthusiast like this is going to this is
why we talk about it These are big things
happening and this is gonna keep on
happening for the next few decades Like
we're in formative times where AI and a
lot of stuff's coming out We got to
decide where we're at and all this Even
I'm having a hard time with all this And
that's why we try to throw more of this
like this is like we throw essentially
more of the controversial stuff and spicy
Stuff into the patreon.
This is one of those things where I don't
know if I'd go as far as this is
controversial But this is
definitely in the sense.
Like I think most people are gonna agree.
They don't want
Age like OS level age verification
But what I would like is more education
on the topic from the people that are
Trying to add these in as laws.
I want to know More about it and why?
I
Don't know this is weird
I'm just tired.
I'm just tired with all and honestly, I
think I'm like tuckered out for the
episode to be honest It's
man shit's been too depressed.
I mean you gotta play more good games.
There is an evil nine came out.
That's a fun game I love it.
We got slay the spire well We have a lot
of good like we have the steam machine
not coming out now I mean, that's not
that's not good news, but like okay, it's
coming but like maybe maybe not But we're
still we still have some good stuff Guys
we'll try to find some good topics But I
hate to say it whether for the next year
or two It's probably gonna be some
negatives like some pretty big negative
stuff because we're in
for a negative storm of news
Man I just want to go I just want to play
video games In peace.
That's the beautiful thing if people want
to step back and just
play their video games.
They have there's hundreds and thousands
of games Millions of games have been
released that you can go back you
probably have time There's that you go
and play if you want it if you want
Yeah, if they stop releasing new games
forever, you still there's still be more
games and then any one person play
That's how I want at the end of the day
We don't need to Like for your love for
our lifetimes for what's going on right
now Like you if you're an adult you
probably could sit back Hopefully have a
job because that's you know,
we get into political stuff.
But like this does affect you like But
you could sit back and just play And not
like it is you can have some type of job
or whatever You could just play the rest
of your life and just play with tech But
the thing is like the tech industry is
being ravaged So if you like doing home
lab stuff if you like doing anything
that's tinkering That's gonna be affected
greatly if you want to do anything new in
that realm That's gonna be like games are
getting regulated differently this stuff
affects you and it's gonna be political I
hate to say it is going to be political
if you don't want some very political
podcast wise Heck I wouldn't be shocked
if you like even Linus gets into the
political stuff sometimes because he has
to on his podcast so And he's the maybe
I'm sure he gets affected even more but
It's just this is just kind of the realm
we're in right now We'd be it'd be more
interest like it does
make for good content.
I think technically but like it's This is
kind of how it is Like we could talk out
week Maybe we could do more topics like
it'd be nice to know from people in the
comments like if you want us to go deeper
into certain games and really talk about
Them or like what you kind of want to see
more of but like I think no matter what
we'll have Some of the like because we do
a lot of tech this will be
I think the next few
years of this negative tech I
Hope at some point once the steam machine
comes out We'll just have an entire
episode dedicated to
just the steam we've pretty
much already had like an episode when it
first came out That was a heavily
Addressed to the steam machine.
But yeah, no, I mean, that's the thing
ebbs and flows if you go back like we
have Episodes where we talk about like a
lot of stuff that's positive But
unfortunately since we
do a lot of news articles
It tends to go more negative now if we
did more top topical base that wasn't
based off articles then I think we could
make it a little less
political a little less but
Unfortunately, we can't
control the news, right?
It's gonna get political at times
Especially yeah, well that's that yeah
Well with that said I think that about
covers it for this episode I don't really
think we have much more to talk about
Nothing interesting had can't happen
between yet last night and right now
Of course we will be talking about
interesting stuff next week, hopefully
Hopefully garden once Gardner comes back
Once Gardner comes back, it'll be a fun
fun time Fun time for all.
Yeah.
Yeah, you'll have a little bit shorter
episodes this year this week just because
you know, we're missing our best co-host
but Better than me or car in
beat me and high tech, right?
Better than both minds Hey gardeners a
good guy man, I know I know sometimes he
can get I know he's a good guy
But sometimes he gets sick.
Is that what you're trying to say?
Yeah
Sometimes he can get too sick
Hope he gets better man.
I hope I hope he does man.
He'll
be gets better too with that should we
wrap this up and you guys can see us next
week and I Just do want to iterate on the
comments like constructive criticism.
I think is warranted But yeah, like we'll
try to improve our content over time.
We've been doing this for a while now,
but like yeah We can keep on improving.
All right
Join us next time same
Same time same day this week.
He's out every day
Later
(Music)