In-Game Chat

To start this off I need to thank all of you for listening over the years and being as supportive as you’ve always been. And to specifically thank Dave, Sarah, & Bryan. We have hosting costs coming up next month and their generosity has gone further than I ever expected to make that possible. This is what was talked about at the beginning of the show and before the first hour was done, we’d already made our goal – thank you each from the bottom of our heart and thank you all for your continued support of this show. As for the news, that’s about the only happy news we have. I mean, yeah, we cover some more of all the games shown off last week, but then we talk about more closings and people losing their jobs – at both Ubisoft and Microsoft. That and what’s to come for PC and console players alike – which is more price increases. And the outlook for how they’ll go about selling you a brand new Xbox or PS6. While no one has announced prices yet, I think it’s mainly because, right now, at this point in time with the way things are price wise, you’d be asking A LOT from your consumers. We’re likely talking 4-digit prices or the whole 999 thing. I miss building PCs. That fun little hobby done every several years or so has evidently faded away as well given the prices of components. Oh, I completely forgot about the “no shows” of our big games reveal week – and at the top of that list you have ONE guess as to what I’m talking about. Ubisoft…it’s been 4,682 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 3,300 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

It’s been a bit since I’ve sort of been excited for upcoming games. The game awards reveals weren’t all that spectacular this year and there’s so many of them that you hardly have time to drink them in and remember them. Compare that to what we got from Sony’s recent State Of Play from this past week and it’s a night and day difference of what a good show should look like. A lot of video and very little talk in between. It likely could have been shortened just a hair but with things like this you sort of have to cater to all tastes a little bit. So the boring parts for me are the exciting parts for others. Still, all around, this was a good showing. Even more so because a lot of what was shown was not exclusive to the PlayStation platform. My two biggest stand outs were the John Wick game (jury is still out on how it’ll play – what we got seemed mostly NOT actual gameplay. It’s not a red flag but I’ll wait and see) and Star Wars Galactic Racer. Let’s focus a bit on that racer, shall we? It’s made by a studio that has mostly employed folks from Criterion. The old Criterion from the Burnout days. And if what we saw was anything to go by (again, did we see gameplay? Are we sure? I’m still gonna wait but I’m hopeful) there is a heavy sense of Burnout DNA in that game. I don’t mind that it’s adorned in Star Wars clothing, I’ll take it. For me, you could have wrapped it in a Sesame Street Kart racer but if the Burnout DNA was there, I would be to – day one. Nothing to dismiss from Wreckreation – another game with Burnout devs. I haven’t played it yet and it didn’t sell well but it exists and I’ll eventually get around to playing it. I’ll take any and all comers when it comes to my Burnout. Someone’s bound to get it right and I’ll probably still enjoy their attempts. Then there’s that Shinobi Ops game with the Tenchu vibes. You know, seeing how that game plays, I wouldn’t mind an isometric stealth title in a Splinter Cell package. Ubisoft, if you’re listening (you aren’t). It’s been…4,563 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 1,280 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.