In-Game Chat

I’ve recently been on a nostalgia trip playing two games I probably haven’t touched in nearly 20 years.

The Burnout series has been one of my favorites since the sequel. A game I picked up on a rental just to check it out and completely fell in love with it immediately. And I got other people on the bandwagon as well. Since then, I’ve just been a massive fan of the series and the developers – most of which have left the company at this point.

With emulation and mods I’ve been able to play Burnout 3. A game you can’t play without an Xbox, or Xbox 360, or a PS2/PS3. Thankfully, we have emulation on PC so you can absolutely play it that way and it has been amazing to revisit this gem. I’ve also been playing Burnout Revenge for the 360 by way of backwards compatibility on the Series X and it also absolutely holds up.

What gets me most about both of these is how difficult it is to takedown other drivers in the events. So many years of only playing Burnout Paradise, the final game in the series, is that takedowns mostly took a simple nudge or slam from the side. Apparently that doesn’t cut it for the earlier games in the series. And I was pleasantly surprised how much more I enjoyed that challenge in the previous games. In fact, jumping back to Paradise after playing the earlier two games, I found myself preferring the old ways. Even though I can easily remember me defending their decisions for an open world racer.

Regardless, we need Burnout to come back. They remastered Paradise of all games and I’m almost positive they’d find profit in remastering either or both of Burnout 3 Takedown and Burnout Revenge. The hook of the games are still there. They still pull me in as they used to and time flies by while playing. I’ve missed it. And I never knew how much until I got to go back 20 years and feel it all over again.

Well, this is an easy segue. Speaking of games I’ve missed for years on end – Ubisoft, it has been 4,051 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.

One really quick note before I get into the show post today: If you can emulate your games, do it. Being able to play Burnout 3 on my PC or Steam Deck has been amazing and fun as all hell. I plan to start grabbing a lot of my favorites from the past and get those up and running. Something I just can’t really do now without the original hardware and games. Emulation is gaming preservation. Make it happen.

Now, who’s got $700 burning a hole in their pocket right now, because have I got a deal for YOU!

Look, I don’t know if it’s a deal or not, but a PS5 Pro has some pretty good improvements over a PS5. You might even notice them when you’re playing. If you’ve never had a PS5, go for the Pro, sure. Or, wait for the prices on base PS5’s to drop (they will – or aftermarket prices will).

Mid-generation refreshes of consoles aren’t bad, depending on what they can throw into the machines, but they don’t always feel like a leap forward. Hell, they sometimes barely feel like a step forward. Sure, if you’ve waited this long then maybe going for the newest and best on the shelf is what you want, but if you’ve already jumped in the upgrade is…pretty minimal.

But it’s a nice preview of where things are headed – technically speaking. Pricewise, however, is starting to look like a nightmare scenario.

For even more food for thought, I wonder which generation I’ll get to play a new Splinter Cell game. Ubisoft, it has been 4,026 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.

It’s never really good when a game fails. Now, there’s good reasons FOR a game failing, but, I mean, that’s people, with lives and families. And when a game fails now, it’s almost one and done for a studio in that regard.

Rocksteady failed with Suicide Squad, but they have 3 pretty big bangers in their history and they can (for the most part) survive to try again. But when a new studio shoots for the moon and misses, they fall hard – near to the point of oblivion. One and done. It’s over.

Concord will probably come back. But it clearly failed and it has a chance, somehow I’m sure, to redeem itself and pull a No Man’s Sky. Well, I should find a better example than the absolute KING of recovery stories. Because I don’t actually think Concord will pull off that kind of recovery. They can salvage this and maybe possibly perhaps live to fight another day. But it’s going to take some deft maneuvers on Sony’s part. I also don’t know if Free-to-Play is the answer, but given what they’ve said and the refunds, that’s probably the starting point.

Then what?

If Ubisoft pulls some executive suit-and-tie BS with the next Splinter Cell, so help me. That is to say I’ll still probably buy it, but it has been 4,019 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.

I know interviews exist with the people at Microsoft. I know there’s people with more info on the subject than I, but it’s not gonna stop me from trying to figure out Microsoft’s idea for buying a studio and releasing on multiple platforms.

We’ve looked at this before and it really just comes down to money. It’s a big company and the bottom line for that big company is money. What makes the most money for us – release on multiple platforms.

I mean, that’s the nuts and bolts of it, to me. There’s nothing else behind it. There’s no shared unity or trying to play nice or anything you might be led to believe. It’s money. It has always been money and it will forever be money. Anything a big company does is for money. They may talk about how they do things to help the environment or some other charitable causes, but that can all be traced back to money. Even spending money is done to make more money.

The game trailers, the E3’s and not-E3’s, the gameplay videos, the interviews, the stages and presentation, the teases – ALL OF IT – is done to make money. Or to at least entice you to give them some of yours. And this isn’t an argument for you to NOT do that. It’s your money, do with it what you will. But you giving some of it to them is what they hope for. Be it in the purchase of a console, a game, DLC, down to a keychain or even a pen. Give them money, that’s what they want.

So when you hear us trying to go over the reasons for Microsoft (or Sony, or Nintendo) for doing what they are doing, we’re missing the bigger picture in that discussion. And it’s money.

They’re the same picture.

And I plan to let go of some of my money at, hopefully, some point in the future. Seriously, Ubisoft, I’m offering you money and I suspect I’m not going to be the only one who wants to give you money for a new Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it has been 4,005 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.

Is it really time to upgrade?

I don’t know if it’s my weird sense of time, but it seems way too soon for me to be thinking about getting a new graphics card. But now I’m realizing how LONG it took before I moved onto the 3080 that I currently have. Due to the inability to find the cards because of COVID it was well over a year or more before I grabbed one. And looking at the 4070s currently, they are seemingly cheaper than what I paid for a two year old 3080.

We got into this discussion when looking at the PC requirements for the new Star Wars Outlaws game. It was nice to see more than just the min-max specs. Hopefully, more studios will show us more options. More than the consoles, PC’s have a wide array of different methods of displaying a game. You have at least three different resolutions to pick from, you have different targets of FPS, and then you’ve got wide and ultra wide monitors. So it’s good to see they take that into consideration, just sad to see that my current card (for THAT specific game) can’t pull off 60FPS at 1440p.

And yeah, I know PC gaming is more tweaking the settings than it is actual gaming but that’s actually the fun part to me – finding that sweet spot of performance and looks. It’s just nice when you have the card that allows you to really adjust that to your liking. And it’s also nice to not have to worry about whatever is thrown your way.

To be clear, I’m not worried about games coming out that I can’t run. This card is still a beast of a card and is working very well. It can decently handle any game out right now that you can throw at it. Maybe not at max settings but easily enough that I can hit a target FPS without really worrying too much about lower settings. It’s just that, when you’re looking at the min-max settings on games and your card begins to trend towards the lower settings, it puts that notion in your mind about moving up a step.

It makes me wonder what kind of PC I’ll have whenever a new Splinter Cell is released. Ubisoft, it has been 3,998 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.

Just a head’s up that we won’t be doing a show next week.

If I paint the state of Destiny 2 in some uncertain light as far as the future is concerned, that wasn’t my intention. That game will be fine to an extent. The die-hards and long termers, as I once was, will still be there playing it most likely. It also serves as a nice meet up with friends who play on the regular and run a weekly raid or dungeon or whatever is currently on offer. I suspect there’s plenty of those people to keep the game afloat for some time depending on what gets offered up on a regular basis.

Honestly, though, I can’t really say if it’ll be enough year after year. And I don’t mean that in some sense that they may not offer what it takes to keep people to stay. I actually mean I don’t know what is going on in the game anymore. I don’t know storylines or content drip or ANY of that sort of thing. I am out of the loop on the loop. But my clan is still playing it, still doing weekly raid nights, still running the grind. However, the drop off comes from people who would step back in the game when new content hit and that average has dropped immensely. And it isn’t likely to increase now that they don’t seem to be doing big expansions year after year. Also, given what we know of the layoffs and everything that went down this week, it may be some time before anything big is brought to that game to pull players back in.

And while you might think I’m disappointed to find out there is no Destiny 3 in development (any new Destiny game would allow for me to jump back in but I am forever banned from Destiny 2), I’m okay with it. This means my group of friends can look elsewhere to move on from the game if they want and I can join them wherever they decide to land. There’s a good bit of other looter shooters out there to accommodate all of us and where they go I will definitely follow.

As long as it isn’t some battle-royal shooter thing.

There’s a few times in the year where, really, nothing is going on in gaming. This is one of those times.

I mean, sure, things are happening but announcements and rumors and the like kinda dry up at this point as we move into the bigger release months. Outlaws in August then…whatever comes in September, October, and November. And I’ve been really drawing a blank as to what some of those releases will be outside of Assassin’s Creed. My memory on upcoming releases has really failed me lately. But I think that’s probably my memory in general.

Lately, I’ve had trouble finding something to stick with and play. Most of what I dip into is exactly that – I’m dipping in and dipping out. Spiritfarer has held up a bit though and seems to give me that satisfaction of playing a long or short stint of it. I’m not looking for more games like it, but I’m happy to have it there while I look for other things to hold me over if they stick. That part has actually been kind of fun trying to find something that sticks. Just browsing my backlog and the storefronts themselves just to see what might tempt me. My library may not be increasing but my wishlist of things to come and things to try is growing quite fast.

Speaking of things to wish for, it seems I’ll have to find an actual genie to grant me the wish of a new Splinter Cell game. Ubisoft, it has been 3,977 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.

I really like watching the EVO tournament.

I was really just going to leave it at that. I absolutely love watching the professionals and amateurs battle it out in this competition. I don’t know their names or their histories for the most part. Even some of the games I watch them play are unknown to me, but none of that stops me from enjoying watching the talent on display and really getting into it when the matches are close (and a lot of them are).

I’ve noticed I do this with a lot of things, actually. Just watch to enjoy the competition. Except I really think I enjoy it more when video games are involved. But mostly the head to head stuff.

Actually watching the E-Sport stuff hasn’t really sunk in for me yet, but I imagine if I gave it a proper chance, it likely would hook me.

Speaking of, having an actual tournament for the old Spies Vs. Mercs from Splinter Cell would be awesome. Ubisoft, it has been 3,970 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.

What goes up…

We kind of expected there would be some sort of change to the whole Gamepass thing once we knew the Activision stuff would start showing up on Gamepass for day-one releases. Maybe a price hike, or an extra tier type of subscription to add onto it. Had to be something when you spend that much money on buying a company but also have the money juggernaut of the Call Of Duty franchise. I mean, in the world of gaming CoD is like Mickey Mouse.

So, a price increase is it. Seems a bit odd it’s only (for some) a three dollar increase. But maybe this is water testing for a while. See how many people stay on after a small rise in price, so later they can raise it a bit more and see who sticks around. Look, I feel certain that Microsoft went over the numbers on this and came up with something that wouldn’t feel too bad in the pocketbook, but when prices on things like this go up they never go down. I’m usually one to throw an “almost” in there just to leave some wiggle room that it might happen, but no, it absolutely won’t.

The question then becomes how much is too much for you? This will vary by gamer as to what’s on offer from the service and how worth it is to them, but I never thought I’d ever get rid of Netflix and I absolutely did that (coming up on a year now) so I could easily see myself dropping off the Gamepass train at some point. Even now I rarely use it. But I like having the option of it there whenever I want. We’ll see how long that holds for me.

This is where I’d say I’d sign up to a subscription service to play the next Splinter Cell. But I’ve never once ever considered signing up to Ubisofts subscription thing and Splinter Cell won’t change that. Still, it has been 3,963 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.

Just a heads up that we’ll be taking off next weekend so no show again until July 13th.

The days between shows didn’t really afford me as much time with gaming as I would have liked so there isn’t much I’ve played lately. Still, the current Steam Summer Sale happening now is making me all wide-eyed like a kid in a candy store.

And again, I suppose I have the people at Bungie to thank for that. I’m not sure where I’d be gaming wise if I were still able to play Destiny 2. I don’t really know what’s going on over there anyway after this final expansion thing or story ender or whatever. I’m not sure I’d still be grinding – look, we all know I would be. But that ban has now afforded me more time with other games and to actually get excited about these sales cause I’ll put in the time with the games I end up buying.

Now I’m just playing a lot of catch up on games I never bought or never played while I was focusing all my free time in Destiny 2. And you’re likely aware that my backlog of games runs deep. Like, deep deep.

Who knows, maybe I’ll fire up some old Splinter Cell. I mean, it has been 3,949 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.