YoVideogames!

State of Play 2024 was a mixed bag for me. Matt rates it as overall pretty good - a win - even before he got what he wanted: Ghost of Yotei. I rate it as so-so, even though there were a couple things that did genuinely excite me. Let's dive in and talk the state of play 2024/25

Square Enix released its earnings and we saw in plain numbers that Final Fantasy 16 and Rebirth did not hit target earnings. In fact the company missed its target by billions of yen. So, is this the death of Final Fantasy!? Okay, probably not, but this could be a wake up call to publishers that it's time to build new franchises.

Plus we address some of the PS5 Pro cope floating around, as well as Switch 2 rumors and leaks... Oh and Matt explains Yaoi to me. So... Come for the earnings and stay for the hot man on man action I guess.

Starting on a positive note: Astrobot has really landed with us. Granted, Matt thinks there's places to improve, but even then - it's a 9 or 9.5 at least. Sony is going to take the wrong lessons from this win I'm sure, but for now let's bask in a great exclusive for the PS5...

Annnnnnd it's gone. The PS5 Pro was announced and as far as we can tell it is an 800 dollar nominal upgrade. (800 because it's an extra 80 bucks for a disk drive). Frankly this generation has been a mess and has proven only one thing: Nintendo - who is still in LAST gen - might be the only company that even sort of understands the market.

Not the record it wanted... But a record nonetheless.

In a shock move, just 10 days after it released, Sony announced that Concord is being pulled offline, and the dozens who bought it will get refunds. Does this mean that it is dead forever? There's some debate. It could come back as F2P - but then it may also just get totally shelved.

This is probably very bad news for Sony's next big Live Services game, Marathon.

Will Sony, and the industry at large learn a lesson from this? Yes.

Will it be the right lesson? No.

In a twist, Nintendo dropped a double-direct earlier this week. Combining a Partner Direct with an always fun Indie Direct for a show that had some stunners in it. A few people seem to have run away with it, though. Imagining that this direct double feature portends a Switch 2 announcement soon.

We don't think that's happening. At least not in the remainder of this year.

In this episode we talk about the direct, what we think Nintendo plans for the next six months, and how they continue to win when it comes to game presentations in general.

Oh we also talk about the great Robert Muldoon. And we rank Indiana Jones movies on a tangent.

Man, it's too bad Bob Peck died so tragically soon after Muldoon was born because I would have loved a Muldoon game warden movie in Kenya.

Anyway...

Positive up front: there was some cool stuff announced here. Not much gameplay, yeah, but still cool things coming. We don't go game by game. Rather we talk generally about the showing and then go into some loves and hates specifically.

Tiny bit of cynicism: Everything was very safe. Which adds to our fears that the next year or two will be rough for the industry and this is only the beginning. Much like the film industry, gaming is going into a downsizing and that means "safer" ideas will be the only ones pursued. That doesn't mean cheaper, though. It means less games, and more budget for the blockbusters they think will make big money. It means more shovelware and big companies trying to bottle the magic captured by indie darlings.

In case you had a hard time following the two-ish hour Xenoblade One Lorecast featuring Nico B - we have gone ahead and recorded a bonus DEFINITIVE EDITION episode. We got it to just over an hour and still fit in several inappropriate jokes along the way.

Plus I make an obscure reference to the latest Planet of the Apes trilogy. What could possibly be the context for that in this episode? Listen and find out.

Taking a wee break from lore-castin to talk about some of the latest news. Definitive edition episode of the Xenoblade lorecast is coming later this week.

For now: let's talk about Switch 2 news, Tango getting bought, where Phil Spencer really dropped the ball and other stories!

This is it! We're at the final, and arguably most difficult, part to explain.

Klaus is dead. The conduit is gone. The two worlds are at peace.

For now.

12 years after the conduit has disappeared it seems the two universes are no longer stable and can't be held apart. They are crashing back together and annihilation is on the horizon! But Melia and Nia have a plan to back everyone up onto an Ark that can survive the collapse. A powerful genetic hard drive that uses the last of their ether to instantaneously transfer all beings from their old world to the new one, in new bodies.

It is a miracle of technology, and the heroes of both worlds will lead the way.

However, there is a ghost in the machine...

This week we are tackling Xenoblade Chronicles 2! We're back in our universe, on our Earth, with what remains of Klaus and the Trinity processor. The planet has been killed, and the conduit has gone quiet. Klaus is overcome with guilt and seeks redemption... Can he build a better world then the one he destroyed?