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Episode 241 - The Cake is a Lie

Eclectic Gamers Podcast·podcast_episode·40m 0s·analyzed·Mar 15, 2025
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.032

TL;DR

Multimorphic confirms Portal pinball; hosts discuss TPF prep and broader gaming industry news.

Summary

Eclectic Gamers hosts Dennis and Tony discuss upcoming pinball announcements, game releases, and broader gaming news in a remote episode. Key pinball topic: Multimorphic has confirmed the Portal license and will reveal a Portal pinball module, likely at Texas Pinball Festival. Hosts also cover video game industry news including Switch 2 reveal timing, Xbox roadmap, AI voice acting concerns in games, and various corporate developments.

Key Claims

  • Multimorphic has the Portal license and will release a Portal pinball module

    high confidence · Dennis: 'Multimorphic released a poster that has one of the Sentry Droids from Portal on it' and 'there's been a rumor swirling around that multimorphic does have the portal license'

  • Ellen McLain (GLaDOS voice actress) and J.K. Simmons (Cave Johnson) are expected to reprise roles for Portal pinball

    medium confidence · Paul P. email: 'I'm sure they got Ellen McClain. She's a sweetheart in person and loves the character. And they did get J.K. Simmons back for that free Aperture desk job game.'

  • Weird Al module sold the most P3 systems; Princess Bride had most modules manufactured

    high confidence · Paul P. email citing Loser Kid interview: 'Jerry said Weird Al sold the most systems for them, and Princess Bride had the most modules manufactured.'

  • Potato Face Alice Kickstarter exceeded $100k goal in two minutes and is now over $500k

    high confidence · Tony: 'Their goal was $100,000... The uh blew past their $100,000 goal in two minutes... it's over a half million dollars'

  • Xbox will release third-party branded handheld device by end of 2025, with internally developed handheld releasing alongside next-gen console in 2027

    medium confidence · Tony: 'they are working with a third party PC OEM handheld producer to put out a Xbox branded handheld device by the end of this year but they're also supposedly doing and internally developing a completely separate handheld device to release alongside the next generation console in 27'

  • Nintendo Switch 2 reveal scheduled for April 2nd with expected $399-$499 price and June 2025 release

    medium confidence · Tony: 'The big reveal For Switch 2 is coming out On the 2nd of April... the rumors are saying a June release and the price tag is varying between $400 and $500'

  • Sony is developing AI-driven characters using Alloy from Horizon Zero Dawn; voice actress Ashley Barker confirmed no performance data was used

    high confidence · Tony: 'The gorilla who is Horizon's developer, had gotten in contact with her to let her know that the demo didn't reflect anything that was actively in development and that Sony didn't use any of her performance data to create the AI'

Notable Quotes

  • “I think the big thing will be to see if they get the properly snarky and hilarious voice stuff right. That's going to be the big thing.”

    Tony @ ~13:50 — Identifies key expectation for Portal pinball: capturing the game's characteristic tone and humor

  • “Weird Al sold the most systems for them, and Princess Bride had the most modules manufactured.”

    Paul P. (email, citing Loser Kid interview with Jerry) @ ~18:20 — Quantifies relative commercial success of Multimorphic licensed modules, establishing precedent for Portal expectations

  • “Can you imagine the rage? Can you imagine the absolute rage?”

    Dennis @ ~26:30 — Reaction to hypothetical Multimorphic hardware upgrade scenario, illustrating ecosystem lock-in concerns

  • “They blew past their $100,000 goal in two minutes.”

    Tony @ ~27:50 — Demonstrates rapid market validation for novel pinball design (Potato Face Alice)

  • “They could fire up a game to play and suddenly find themselves talking in the game and not know anything about it, not get any money for it or anything.”

    Tony @ ~51:30 — Describes concerning scenario in AI voice acting without performer consent or compensation

  • “I just don't see how they could ever upgrade it. That's maybe the best way I could put it.”

    Dennis @ ~25:00 — Articulates structural limitations preventing Multimorphic P3 hardware refresh without ecosystem fragmentation

  • “I basically had the entire movie of Princess Bride able to play in the game. What more do you honestly need?”

    Tony @ ~26:00 — Questions need for computational upgrades on P3 platform, emphasizing sufficiency of current architecture

Entities

MultimorphiccompanyPortal (Multimorphic module)productTexas Pinball Festival (TPF)eventEllen McClainpersonJ.K. SimmonspersonWeird Al (Multimorphic module)productPrincess Bride (Multimorphic module)productPotato Face AliceproductNintendo Switch 2

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Ubisoft facing financial pressure; founding family exploring separate business unit for major franchises to maintain control while attracting Tencent or Saudi investment

    medium · Tony: 'the founding family of Ubisoft... do not want to give up their control rights' leading to consideration of 'entirely new business unit'

  • ?

    event_signal: Texas Pinball Festival imminent (less than one week from episode date); major venue for Multimorphic Portal reveal and industry announcements

    high · Dennis: 'we're getting closer to Texas Pinball Festival, less than a week away for that' and expectation of Portal module debut

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Portal theme generates enthusiasm in pinball community despite one co-host (Zach) lacking familiarity with source material; becomes appreciative once theme potential explained

    medium · Paul P. email: 'Portal would fit in the category of pins that comedically insult you while you play... will be interesting to see the intersect between the OC gaming community and pinball'

  • $

    market_signal: AI voice acting in games without performer consent or compensation emerging as significant industry ethics concern; SAG-AFTRA negotiations highlight producer desire for unrestricted AI usage

    high · Tony detailed SAG-AFTRA strike issues: 'voice game producers want to use all past performances and any from outside the contract without protections' and 'actors would be told nothing about their voice being used as AI'

  • $

    market_signal: Potato Face Alice homebrew pinball Kickstarter exceeds $100k goal in 2 minutes and reaches $500k+ funding; demonstrates viable market at $800+ price point for unconventional designs

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.120

0:00
Welcome to the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. Today is Sunday, March 16th. This is episode 241. I'm Tony. I'm Dennis. And we're remote, so we're probably going to talk over each other and people are going to be like, why is Dennis interrupting Tony so much? Yeah. Because that's what happens. That's what happens when we're remote. But yeah, I finally tested positive for COVID. So I told Tony to stay away. Don't come here. Stay away. Don't get sick before TPF. That's right. Hopefully I'll be better before. We get sick after TPF. Yeah. So that was Friday was when I first felt bad and the test showed it right away. So I let Tony know, hey, we're going to need a plan to record remotely Sunday. But I was still able to talk and everything. So my voice is probably a little bad because I'm a little flimmy. But otherwise, I should be okay. So I think we're going to be able to get through this. But before we get into the meat of the matter, and we do have a number of listener emails that have come in. Tony, what's been going on?
1:14
Okay. Now I need to explain this. No. I do. I have to. I'm sorry. I have an excuse. You see, the big crazy fun mod for Battletech has an online patch for 2025. They made major changes and huge gameplay shifts and completely rebalanced several things. So I've been playing Battletech again. No!
1:46
But Brotato. I have not stopped playing Brotato. I am actually still playing Brotato as well. But typically, so what I'll do is, because with the mod pack installed and everything going on, I can only play like one battle on Battletech after work at night. And then it's to the point where a second battle will have me staying up late by the time I'm done with everything else and can actually start playing. So I'll play one battle, and then I will play some Brotato while I'm watching body cam videos from the police and getting ready for battle. So life has found balance.

  • Scopely is acquiring Pokemon Go for $3.5 billion

    high confidence · Tony: 'it has been confirmed that we talked about last episode, I believe, that Scopely is buying Pokemon Go for $3.5 billion. So that is a confirmed deal that's happening.'

    • product
    Forza Horizon 5product
    Chrono Triggerproduct
    Horizon Zero Dawnproduct
    Ashley Barkerperson
    SAG-AFTRAorganization
    Ubisoftcompany
    EA (Electronic Arts)company
    Blizzard Entertainmentcompany
    Zachperson
    Dennisperson
    Tonyperson
    Paul P.person
    Richard A.person
    Loser Kid Pinball Podcastorganization

    high · Tony: 'Their goal was $100,000... blew past their $100,000 goal in two minutes' with over 500+ backers at various price tiers

  • ?

    announcement: Nintendo Switch 2 official reveal scheduled April 2, 2025 (3 days after next TPF episode); FCC filings confirm NFC/Amiibo support, WiFi 6, dual USB-C charging

    high · Tony: 'The big reveal For Switch 2 is coming out On the 2nd of April' with 'rumors are saying a June release and the price tag is varying between $400 and $500'

  • ?

    announcement: Multimorphic officially announces Portal pinball module via poster reveal featuring Sentry Droid imagery; expected to be playable at Texas Pinball Festival

    high · Dennis: 'Multimorphic released a poster that has one of the Sentry Droids from Portal on it' with confirmed license per community discussion

  • ?

    product_strategy: Multimorphic P3 platform positioned as ideal for Portal theme due to scoop/portal mechanics and ability to show thematic consistency with game's core mechanic of portal transitions

    medium · Tony: 'with what the P3 allows them to do, they should be able to do a pretty good job' and discussion of scoop mechanics enabling portal-like ball transitions

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Intentionally fake rumors submitted by listener Richard A. for entertainment; includes false Curious George/King Kong confusion and fictional 'Myth of Terror Island = Gilligan's Island' trademark claim

    high · Richard A.: 'I heard on another podcast that stern is not doing king kong but the license is for Curious George' followed by admission these are 'completely made up rumors'

  • ?

    technology_signal: Discussion of whether Multimorphic can substantively upgrade P3 hardware (4K, enhanced processing) without fragmenting ecosystem; consensus that backwards compatibility essential but unlikely to add gameplay value

    medium · Dennis: 'I just don't see how they could ever upgrade it' and Tony: 'What more do you honestly need?' after Princess Bride example of content sufficiency

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Portal represents licensing of major video game IP to pinball manufacturer; hosts speculate about voice cast (Ellen McClain, J.K. Simmons) based on precedent from Valve's Aperture Desk Job

    medium · Paul P. email: 'I'm sure they got Ellen McClain' and 'J.K. Simmons' involvement in previous Portal projects establishes likelihood

    • 2:35
    Life has found balance. Brotato has not been forgotten or sunk like so many other games where you get to a point where you're just like, I don't care no more. but I'm still playing the Brotato. I have my clearance up to 64%. I have cleared two more characters on the DLC since we last recorded. Progress has been made. Excellent.
    3:11
    I haven't played much. I set a new personal high score on my Jaws pinball game, but that's about it. Yeah, finally. Finally caught me a Mako. Got some sharks going on.
    3:24
    No. Did you break a billion? But now I feel like I didn't do enough. And let's see. We have a couple of listener emails I wanted to do before we would go into our segments. So first, Glenn, he wrote in, and he wrote as follows. Dennis and Tony, this was going to be a scathing, screaming rant of an email, but I won't be screaming because you did mention the Will Smith classic, Wild Wild West. But there are three more that you left out, especially in that JJP is surely to make a pinball for American Tail, Fievel Goes West, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Back to the Future 3, Glenn. That would be hilarious if the new Back to the Future game was just Back to the Future. Some people really love that one, though. I would say it's better than two. No, it is. It's my second favorite. And I consider 1 and 3 neck and neck. They're both great.
    4:25
    So if they wanted it to be the bad one, like the whole Toy Story 4 thing, so it'd have to be just Back to the Future 2. But I really enjoyed Back to the Future 2. I've not seen A Million Ways to Die in the West.
    4:37
    I vaguely remember Fievel Goes West. Vaguely. And then the second email for the intro is from Fulgore, who wrote in, Hawk. He said hello, but there's a reason for this. Hawk, Dennis and Tony, a longtime listener to be read in Shakespeare accent if available. Based on Tony's recent activity, I picked up Brotato for the Switch. Do you, Tony, keep up the great show, Fulgore?
    5:06
    I'm telling you, man, if you've not played Brotato yet, I'm just going to say it right now. You should play it. 100%. But it is an addictive, fun little game. I mean, it is just addictively fun.
    5:26
    It has a great gameplay loop. Well, that's good to know. So I'm sure another person will probably write in in two weeks saying that they've started it.
    5:36
    But we have other things. We have other fish to fry. And that fish is pinball. So as Tony noted in the intro, we're getting closer to Texas Pinball Festival, less than a week away for that. And in the run-up to the show, there has been another piece of information dropped. And that piece of information has come from Multimorphic, which we're used to seeing new games from Multimorphic at TPF because it's kind of the show in their backyard. Well, they released a poster that has one of the Sentry Droids from Portal on it. so the and there's been a rumor swirling around that multimorphic does have the portal license so anyway tony what i i don't want to we haven't seen it so there's not a lot yet to say on it other than the theme itself so what do you think about the theme of portal and multimorphic doing it i i think the theme of portal is a great theme for a pinball machine um i think with what the P3 allows them to do, they should be able to do a pretty good job with it and make it interesting. I think the big thing will be to see if they get the properly snarky and hilarious voice stuff right. That's going to be the big thing. I think it's a pretty good theme for pinball in general. I think it's a theme that could really lean into some of those more virtual aspects that Multimorphic has with their P3 platform. so it makes sense for them. I'm just thinking of like their scoop wall and stuff and the ability with how the balls fire out to make you feel like a ball's gone through a portal. Just seems to have a lot going on with it there. I'm curious if they'll put anything down towards the lower end though because all of those portal shots hypothetically are going to be in the middle to back so I really want to see where I need to see the layout but I think there's a lot of opportunity there yeah, I agree with you about the tone Portal is a video game that very much makes fun of the player. We don't see a lot of that in pinball, but we've seen a little bit. Steve Ritchie's kind of known for that with the Black Knight games and stuff, where the game's actually making fun of the player playing poorly. So they've embraced that, and I would assume they would. Multimorphic has seemed to do a pretty good job with their licensed themes, so that would be Weird Al and the Princess Bride, about embracing the asset structure. So I don't think they're going to miss on the tone. I think that they know that that's what they've got to do to land it. So anyway, I look forward to trying it. I'm assuming it will be at TPF, but I think it's a very good get for them.
    8:13
    Okay, in the pantheon of themes, I suppose Weird Al and Princess Bride are better themes overall. But you'll see this come up in an email. Actually, I'm going to jump into the email because Zach, who I do the pinball show with, he doesn't know Portal. What is wrong with him? There's probably a lot of things, but this one was sort of surprising. So I'd like to go ahead and start with an email from Paul P., who wrote in, and he wrote the following.
    8:38
    Zach said he didn't want people emailing him about Portal in the latest episode, but I figured you guys would get the appeal. It recently hit me that Portal would fit in the category of pins that comedically insult you while you play. I'm sure they got Ellen McClain. She's a sweetheart in person and loves the character. And they did get J.K. Simmons back for that free Aperture desk job game. Plus, J.K. Simmons has said on several occasions that he loves voice acting and takes it seriously. He's really enjoying Omni-Man and The Invincible lately.
    9:10
    I've recently been replaying Portal 2 for probably the sixth or so time, and it is really something special. Coming from a 29-year-old, not a 40- to 60-year-old, it will be interesting to see the intersect between the OC gaming community and pinball, since it really hasn't happened since Mario and Pac-Man. Portal was such a cultural touchstone at the time. I mean, it was a time when nerd culture was more pushed references like the cake is a lie being strewn everywhere, but I'd like to think the series has more staying power than the memes. Plus, I'm one of those weirdos that bought a P3 for Weird Al. In a recent interview with Loser Kid, Jerry said Weird Al sold the most systems for them, and Princess Bride had the most modules manufactured. Anyways good luck with Brotato Tony That thing is surprisingly addicting Thanks for a great show as always I promise I email here about EGP specifically next time Paul Well thank you Paul And thank you for bringing up Brotato yet again Because I just talked about how in two weeks we'd hear about Brotato. And in reality, it was two minutes later. Right? Okay. Now, first, so everybody, it'll be too late by the time people get out there. So by the time people actually hear this, because it's already done. But to give Dennis a warning, in a chat that me and Dennis have with Zach that has not been used since 2023, I'm telling Zach to play Portal. Okay. So I just told Zach to play Portal. I hear you typing in the background.
    10:38
    You're going to have to scroll way down for that chat. I did. I did that. I'm like, I know there is a chat with me, Dennis, and Zach somewhere in here. I know it. I finally just searched and found it. Okay.
    10:50
    Yeah, no, he had no familiarity with Portal, didn't know what it was about, and because of that was very dismissive of the theme. He acknowledged that he thought it would be a good theme for Multimorphic once I kind of described it to him. But yeah, he just – like he's not heard of it, so he doesn't think it's inherently a good theme. And I was like, but you're very wrong. Oh, he's so wrong. This was a huge, I mean, the biggest problem with Portal is just that it's been so long since there was a Portal game, because Valve won't make a third game of anything.
    11:26
    Three is the magic number. I think it's one of those, if there's a secret thing that if Valve ever makes a third of one of their hit games, the universe ends. That's the decision I've come to at this point. It's strange. I'd say, why do they hate money, but they make so much off of Steam, I can't really say that. Right?
    11:46
    But anyway, so again, thank you, Paul. I agree with a lot of your points about this. And that gives me – his email gives me hope about that they actually have a good voice cast. As long as they get Ellen to be GLaDOS, I think things will be fine. Yeah. But I kind of want Wesley. Wasn't that the bot in the second one, Wesley? I kind of want him. Yeah, he was one of them. And, of course, J.K. Simmons played Cave Johnson in the second one. I kind of want him, too. J.K. Simmons is just great. He's just great in, like, every role. Yeah. That's just his way. but anyway so appreciate that another pinball oriented email this one is from David P he wrote in to us Dennis and Tony enjoyed the latest episode as always and really enjoyed the discussion of western movies in the previous podcast even though it's a TV episode and not a movie you forgot the greatest western of all time Star Trek the original series season 3 episode 6 Spectre of the Gun nothing beats the crew of the Enterprise wearing Star Trek uniforms with six shooters on their hips I did actually enjoy the discussion of westerns and would love to hear you guys discuss your favorite movies and other genres such as sci-fi, fantasy, action, etc maybe even favorites from movie franchises with lots of movies such as James Bond, Star Trek, etc I know some listeners may not want to hear movie rankings so you could either do this at the end of the episodes or as separate Patreon episodes just a thought regarding the term tables when referring to pinball machines I don't use the term and I do cringe a bit when I hear it As you mentioned, the term was used in the past and is even in the 1969 song Pinball Wizard, also something that makes pinball enthusiasts cringe a bit.
    13:26
    I think it's cringey now, but most pinball collectors and enthusiasts don't use the term anymore, and when someone does, it sounds like they're trying to drop some pinball lingo but don't really know the hobby that well. I guess that's unfair to pinball people who still use the term, but in my experience, most don't. It's a dumb controversy, of course, but who doesn't love weighing in on dumb things that don't matter? Regarding virtual pinball, it can be fun in a physical cabinet. There's no replacement for real pinball, and if space is limited, I'd always recommend real pinball over a virtual cabinet. I have several real pinball machines and plenty of space in my game room and bought an AtGames Legends Pinball 4K virtual pinball machine. It has the surround sound feedback kit installed, which makes it more realistic because the sound comes from the location of the ball. I didn't know about that. That's why I kind of exclaimed that.
    14:14
    And has an accelerometer for nudging and solenoids for realistic flipper sounds. It's plug and play and doesn't require fiddling with virtual, with visual pinball, etc. Many of the Zen pinball effects tables are available on it, including Williams tables and Zen originals. There's a little lag, but it's not terrible. And I do enjoy it. Using tables for virtual pinball seems more natural since the term it's the term all the vendors use. Or I'm a hypocrite. Probably the latter. Well, that's it. Keep up the good work. Feel free to use any or all of this for the podcast, David. P.S. Can't wait to check out the latest Garmin Swartwatch in the plastic.
    14:52
    Thank you very much, David, and for hitting all those things. So Tony and I, if we do more movie stuff, we'll probably just throw it up on the Patreon to keep it clean. I think so. I think that feels like a really good way to balance it out. Mm-hmm. But thank you also for the comments regarding pinball and the use of the term tables. And we have one last email I wanted to go ahead and cover today, Tony, and pinball related. And that one is from Richard A., who wrote in, hello. Last time I emailed you, I gave you a rumor corner, but I feel like they missed the mark and were more predictions. My goal is slash was to have completely made up rumors, but play off of real rumors. So here are two new rumors.
    15:40
    Activate rumor corner. rumor number one i heard on another podcast that stern is not doing king kong but the license is for Curious George. There we go. Looking at you, Dennis. As an aside, I may have said something about Curious George. I may have.
    16:21
    Back to the email. I think Dennis is wrong. It is King Kong, but a remake of the Daddy East game from 1990. Same layout, but with video assets. Rumor number two. My wife heard from an unreliable source. Me. That Stern's trademark for Myth of Terror Island is for a Gilligan's Island game.
    16:46
    I hope you were infotained, because the facts don't matter, and the rumors are completely made up. Riff on a line from Whose Line Is It Anyways? By the way, now that it's confirmed that Multimorphic is doing Portal, I could see that. Shot a ball into one scoop or portal and instantly have a ball come out of another one someplace else. use shots to light the color of the portal blue or orange I could see that on a full-size cabinet not sure about one with limited area at the top of the game Richard well thank you Richard and thank you for supplying rumor corner rumors it's rumor tamed though not info tamed but very close otherwise and I did enjoy the reference to whose line is anyway one of my favorite ad lib shows you know it'd be fun what would be fun Tony if in addition to really multimorphic releasing portal. They released an all-new system with it. Just go whole hog. You know, the P460 Pro S2.
    17:50
    I just, the problem where I struggle with that, I mean, in a way, I agree it would be cool. But, oh, I mean, the whole idea is you're baked into the ecosystem. I don't know how they ever can do a substantive upgrade. I mean, as long as there weren't very many buyers, but after Weird Al where they sold a bunch, I just don't see it. Can you imagine the rage? Can you imagine the absolute rage? Oh, we're releasing everything for this new ecosystem. So the modules don't even fit into the old machine. Sorry.
    18:24
    Surely it would be backwards compatible. I cannot imagine it being like the old console days where you can't. Backwards compatibility has got to be baked in. Absolutely got to. But I think it would be a very hard sell to do an upgrade like that anyway. I just – that's something – I've chatted with Zach in the past. We haven't talked about it really for a couple of years, I don't think. But I've talked to him before about that because he's brought up things like 4K and all of that. And I've really questioned the value that it's really going to add much to the gameplay experience. But the whole idea of getting people – you're bifurcating your ecosystem. Right. Unless you give everyone the upgrade. And that's such a waste of money. I just don't see how they could ever upgrade it. That's maybe the best way I could put it. Unless the upgrades were optional. Like, oh, the games load faster, or it boots faster, but you can still use the old system to play all the stuff. I don't know. I don't know if that will... Pinball doesn't inherently, as long as you're doing whatever it's, like, concept-wise, they don't really need to push things more, is my thought. I basically had the entire movie of Princess Bride able to play in the game. What more do you honestly need? It's just the switches and stuff. Otherwise, it's like how I had a Pi-based system running my Sinbad at one point or my Buck Rogers. It's like you don't need a lot of computing power to really do pinball. Some of this other stuff like we're hearing about Stern upgrading to Spike 3 and stuff, I think is really driven by some of the communication things between the node boards trying to improve that Maybe they want to be able to have some more RAM in their system but they selling individual machines so it doesn really matter When they want to upgrade, it's not going to impact anyone's old game. So it's just a different situation with Multimorphic. That's all I really had, Tony, but I think you wanted us to talk a little bit more about Potato Face Alice. Right? Yeah, I just was – I'd followed up on it. It had been mentioned in the Discord, and I followed up on the Kickstarter.
    20:27
    And it's over a half million dollars for an $800 potato face game. What was their goal? Their goal was $100,000. Oh, so they've blown past it. They blew past their $100,000 goal in two minutes. Wow.
    20:46
    I'm not surprised it met its goal. I am surprised it did so quickly. Right. I'm like you I thought oh yeah I'm sure this will hit its goal even before I knew what the goal was as long as it wasn't something stupid as long as it wasn't like 11 million dollars or something crazy like that but I don't think I expected it to go quite as quickly as it did but I mean it let's see 200 backers at the $800 price 25 backers at $1,900 12 backers at $1,600 273 backers at $850 so it okay well there definitely is a market at this price point for a game right I just I don't know what this thing is going to be like it's going to be what's taters precious right but I am very much surprised at how rapidly it made its goals. Well, that's interesting. Well, thank you for updating us on that. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens with it. It looks not exciting. Well, your standards are high. You've been exposed to the campus queen. I have. To be fair, its topper is better than some of the toppers I've seen in other games. and it costs less.
    22:21
    So video games, Tony. What's going on with that? Video games, so much. So much. Like, stuff started coming. I was listening to several of my normal news things that I go through and reading them, and I'm just like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be a bit of a crazy one. So first I want to say that it has been confirmed that we talked about last episode, I believe, that Scopely is buying Pokemon Go for $3.5 billion.
    22:51
    So that is a confirmed deal that's happening. And then, coming up at the end of April, Xbox has their next round of games coming out on PlayStation, which includes Forza Horizon 5.
    23:09
    Hmm. And the pushback from players is already happening. Oh, yes. Because this is consistent with everything they said they're doing. It is consistent with everything they already said they're doing, but it is a digital-only release.
    23:26
    And to play it, it will require you to link your Microsoft account to your PSN account. Oh, interesting. They know. And we know from the Helldivers 2 outcry just how much people like linking their accounts to other accounts because nobody wants to have a PSN account and link it to their game on Steam to play Helldivers 2.
    23:56
    This will go great. Trust them. This will be great. So now I need to get and connect my Microsoft Live account to my PSN account so that I can play my game on my PlayStation.
    24:13
    So, yeah, I'm sure this will go well. This is going to go real well for them. I'm real happy. This is a great choice. The big reveal For Switch 2 is coming out On the 2nd of April So like 3 days after our post-TPF episode So we're 2 episodes away from having Switch 2 Information Like what I'm assuming will be the final information the rumors are coming hot and heavy some things have been confirmed because they had to do their FCC filings so we know that it has NFC and will support Amiibos we know it has Wi-Fi 6 network support and we know that it can be charged from either USB-C port, the one on the top or the bottom so we know that but the rumors are saying a June release and the price tag is varying between $400 and $500.
    25:21
    How much was the Switch when it came out? $300. Okay. So the Switch was $299 when it came out. Everything I'm seeing on this is between $399 and $499.
    25:36
    And it just depends upon which rumor place you happen to be at, where the pricing is. Okay. So I'm assuming this will all be solidified on the 2nd.
    25:53
    But talking about new consoles, Xbox, Microsoft seems to be locking in on a 2027 release date for their next generation of Xbox console. they've also information has come out that they are working with a third party PC OEM handheld producer to put out a Xbox branded handheld device by the end of this year but they're also supposedly doing and internally developing a completely separate handheld device to release alongside the next generation console in 27 that seems kind of strange to do too i think i i kind of feel the same way but i'm wondering if it's not that's why they're working with a third-party handheld producer so it could be like uh i mean steam or nvidia or or there's a couple other companies that make handheld PCs to use for gaming devices. That's why it's just going to be an Xbox branded, created by a third party device, is just to start getting feelers out there and to have something drop in combat time with the Switch 2. Okay. And then while they develop an internally designed thing for release with the next generation consoles,
    27:27
    is my guess. lost my space in my notes there we are uh march 11th was the 30th anniversary of the release of chrono trigger which if you've not a really good game oh it's such a good game it the the uh the art is amazing uh done by uh akira toriyama of dragon ball fame uh the gameplay and the whole story and everything are just great um what's interesting is that square uh enix has announced they are launching various projects quote unquote related to the game throughout the year they didn't say what these projects are we know nothing about any of it we don't know if it is a re-release of the game for current generation consoles which would be great because currently the only place you can get it is on uh steam so i i think a console release would be great i think it would be a wonderful game uh to be playable on uh the switch but for all we know they could be paired up with a bubble tea company and just are releasing plastic cups hopefully it's more than that Hopefully. You would think for such a big game that it is so well-loved that they would, but we'll see. They said they're going to make the announcements throughout the year.
    29:03
    Also, big news release here was that a leak out of Sony has shown video footage of them developing AI-driven characters, which they're using Alloy from Horizon Zero Dawn as one of the test beds and the leaked footage shows one of their engineering developers interacting with the AI generated Alloy so they're like talking and asking her questions she's responding and stuff which to be using the main character from a game whose entire premise is that the world has been destroyed and overrun by insane evil AIs is, yeah, a little ironic.
    29:56
    But the voice actress for Alloy Ashley Burke was interviewed and she said that she had been told after the leak the gorilla who is Horizon's developer, had gotten in contact with her to let her know that the demo didn't reflect anything that was actively in development and that Sony didn't use any of her performance data to create the AI, So none of her facial tracking, none of her voice data or anything for it. But she did go on to say that she's worried about the future of game performance as an art form and talked about the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes where the big push is for the AI protections. SAG-AFTRA has kind of signed not a deal, but they have a temporary work thing that is allowing people to work under certain restrictions that have been signed on by a few companies that's allowing some voice actors to go back to work, but the overall larger deal is still in the works and the latest offer to the union they were worried about and they've pushed back their version of it because it had large loopholes in their mind that would allow for AI abuse. They claim that the video game producers want to use all past performances and any from outside the contract without protections. So actors would be told nothing about their voice being used as AI, offered nothing in payment and left without a method to dispute it. and it's claimed that the producers want to use an AI replica to continue an actor's work during future strikes.
    31:44
    And if incentive is given to AI, producers can refuse to tell performers how it's being used. Yeah, they sure don't want to let this one go. They really want this AI. Yeah, they do, and they want to do it in such a way that the actors have no choice in the matter. They are completely out of the loop. They could fire up a game to play and suddenly find themselves talking in the game and not know anything about it, not get any money for it or anything. So that's definitely the route that the companies are going. That's what they want. They want it because it's cheap and it'll save them a lot of money and all of that. So it is a very concerning situation in regards to this and other future uses of AI. So we'll see how it all works out.
    32:49
    Okay. Yeah. Well, let's see. Ubisoft, they've been having some monetary troubles for a while. Yes. They've been having a variety of issues.
    33:04
    Seems like apparently part of the issues is that the founding family of Ubisoft, the Goulamois family, do not want to give up their control rights. So they don't want to have outside people come in to a point where they would lose their controlling rights. So they are considering the launch of an entirely new business unit that will be partially owned by outside companies. And the entire purpose of this unit is to manage their more successful games. So Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, Far Cry.
    33:42
    So if this happened, they would create this wholly new business that would be worth more than Ubisoft, just because all of Ubisoft's big titles would be in it. But that way, the founding family could retain complete control of Ubisoft, but they could bring in outside support to help with those larger games and help deal with the monetary issues of running said larger games. And of course, as no surprise to anybody, the number one people being talked about for coming in big is Tencent out of China. Okay, I was going to guess the Saudis. No, I'm sure they're number two, but Tencent is the big ones in the talks that are being bandied about right now to come in. Okay, that does make sense. Yeah, because Tencent already has the largest unit of tie-in to Ubisoft outside of the founding family. So EA Has continued Their love of Microtransactions They've been working on the skate game A skateboarding game Follow up to one that was popular From years and years and years ago The game is currently in alpha It's not in early access or anything But they have already Launched microtransactions For the game testers who are game testing the alpha version.
    35:11
    Okay. So they can buy, so game testers can buy alpha, you know, cosmetics and stuff that will get refunded eventually and they will still have their in-game bucks to use once the game goes live.
    35:34
    I mean, hey guys, you're our quality control testers but did you know you can spend your money to buy in game stuff on the games you're quality control testing for us so please use your EA bucks to play ESPAC to pay us for letting you have a job oh yeah next thing you know they're going to open some apartments for everybody to live in uh and i'm gonna and to finish things up uh a big convention announcement uh blizzcon is not happening in 2025 again again but they have announced they will be back in 2026 which is interesting because 2025 is would be their their 20th anniversary.
    36:32
    Yeah, but they probably don't have a new game to talk about. That's my guess, is that they're expecting major new releases so 26 would be better. And it kind of makes sense because there's not enough Blizzard-related stuff to cover yearly cons to do one every couple of years as you have major announcements coming out.
    36:58
    I'm expecting Overwatch 3, it's exactly like Overwatch 1, we're sorry. But with the new characters. Yeah. I'm wondering maybe like StarCraft 3. It could be StarCraft 3.
    37:15
    That would be enjoyable. It's probably just going to be like WoW expansions and a new classic server. I don't know. They might have classicked everything they can classic at this point. They've classicked a lot. They've even done some classicking in Overwatch. Yeah. I did have an interesting conversation with a friend from the WoW days a couple months ago, and he has been playing hardcore Burning Crusades classic servers where if you die, your character is deleted.
    37:53
    Wow. and he says it's fun but yeah as you start getting higher it just gets to a point where you're just like I was in too many guilds that didn't know not to stand in the fire for that to work I was like man I don't know that I could ever play a hardcore version of a game like wow though I guess I mean technically I played Eve so I kind of did that's true Which reminds me, I need to look. Eve has a mobile game out now. I might have to download that onto my tablet.
    38:31
    Don't know how you'll fit it in between Battletech expansion, DLC, Brokado-ing, and everything else. That's true. We'll figure it out. Maybe it's an offline game and I can play it in the car on the drive to TPF. Yeah, maybe.
    38:47
    But that's all I got. That's what I've got in video games. TPF is coming up and I'm super excited hopefully you are feeling better enough that we don't have to change our plans hopefully I will test and find out but I am going to go rest after this so anyway thank you everyone for listening to this truncated show but Tony was very kind to spare my voice so if you want to reach out to us you can email us at collectivegamerspodcast.gmail.com You can also go to Facebook.com slash Eclectic Gamers Podcast. You can support the show for as little as a dollar a month at Patreon.com slash Eclectic underscore Gamers. We're available on Twitch and Instagram. Instagram as Eclectic underscore Gamers. And Instagram is most active during TPF because that's what I do the most with it. Yes, right. So until next time, unless, of course, we see you at TPL. If you see us around, say hi. Yeah. But my name is Dennis. I'm Tony. Goodbye, everybody. See you.