Day One Patch Podcast - The Finest Gaming Podcast

In this week's Gaming Fun Fact, we discuss some Halo facts that may catch you by surprise including all the work that was put into the Halo 3 engine, the last minute addition of multiplayer in Halo: Combat Evolved, Destiny easter eggs in ODST, and more! Assassin's Creed is finally headed to Japan with the reveal of Assassin's Creed Shadows, shown off in a fully cinematic trailer. Players will have two different protagonists to choose from, will have to contend with seasonal changes, and will have a map about the size of Assassin's Creed Origins. Following the success of the Fallout TV show, Prime Video has ordered a Tomb Raider show with Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the writer and executive producer. Square Enix has been taking a beating in the wallet lately, but they have a plan to turn it around. Just like Xbox, Square appears to be seeking new exposure to their games by going multi-platform.

In this week's Gaming Fun Fact, we explore the days before the internet was widespread, but gaming was still alive and well. Today we push updates to our games all the time, to fix problems of all sizes, and even to overhaul entire experiences. But before high-speed internet, how did games get updated? Microsoft has closed down a collection of studios including Arkane Austin - the creator of Redfall, Tango Gameworks - the maker of The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush, as well as mobile developer Alpha Dog Games. This news comes as a sudden surprise to many, especially for Tango Gameworks given their recent success with Hi-Fi Rush. Nintendo has finally broken their silence on the Switch successor, presumably named the Switch 2, will be unveiled before April 2025 - according to Nintendo's President Suntaro Furukawa the reveal will happen within this fiscal year. EA is considering the addition of in-game ads within their AAA titles. As ads are working their way into more of our day-to-day experiences like Windows 11 and Prime Video, it seems only as natural as it is unfortunate that video games would befall the same fate. During a May 7th earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson answered a question regarding "dynamic ad insertion" within their top-of-the-line experiences to which he responded that he sees advertising in games as a "meaningful driver of growth" but he wants to be "thoughtful" about how these potential ads could be implemented.

In this week's Gaming Fun Fact, we explore the world of the very first commercially available arcade game - Computer Space. Computer Space was a precursor to Pong, being shipped in an arcade cabinet that looked like something straight out of Star Trek. Computer Space sold over 1000 units and was controlled entirely by buttons (no joystick) where a player would control a ship trying to take down hostile flying saucers. Microsoft has announced an E3-like Xbox Games Showcase coming in hot this summer on June 9, 2024. Game announcements will include games from Xbox Game Studios, Activision Blizzard, and Bethesda. We also got a look at a graphic that was intentionally redacted, but looks very much like Call of Duty (maybe Call of Duty: Gulf War). Redfall, the vampire game with quirky characters, a horrible launch, and an apparently terrible update schedule has started to concern some players that purchased the $100 Bite Back Edition of the game. As of recording, the last update for Redfall was approximately 6 months ago, with no reveal or date set for the release of the expensive edition's included DLC. Square Enix is re-evaluating how it approaches games, being more selective about which games to develop. Unfortunately, this comes at a great cost to the tune of $140 million dollars and several cancelled gaming projects.

Xbox is entering the VR space by partnering with Meta to create a limited-edition Meta Quest headset bundle - this news comes to us as apart of Meta's recent announcement that they will be powering third-party headset makers such as Lenovo and Asus. Fallout fever has gone and got us down! The Prime Video show has ignited a flurry of Fallout popularity resulting in Fallout 76 hitting one million players in a single day and a surge of players on Fallout 3, 4, New Vegas, and Shelter. Even we've been playing Fallout 76 again in anticipation of the new update that's already in the PTS! The much anticipated Fallout 4 next-gen update has finally come out...and in typical Bethesda style has been suffering from a collection of issues. On PS5 some users can't even claim a free copy if they own it via PS Plus (a bug that is being addressed for PS Extra and (maybe) PS Plus Collection owners), Xbox users are having issues with the update's capabilities only having a 60fps mode with no 4k resolution...and PC users are having a myriad of random issues including missing textures and some guns firing stop signs instead of projectiles.

Sarah Bond has confirmed through emails to her staff that Xbox has created a dedicated game preservation team that is working to ensure our digital libraries will be accessible on as many future consoles as possible. As also confirmed in Sarah's emails, Xbox is working on a next-gen console that promises to be a massive technological leap. We offer our insights and speculation as to what the future of Xbox hardware looks like. The Fallout series has premiered this past week on Prime Video, some have heralded it as one of the best video game adaptations to-date...while others are plagued by holes that they've found in the lore. We explore the first and second episodes, offering our opinions and thoughts on the series we've seen so far.

Video Game Fun Fact: This week's fun fact revolves around Fallout 3's iconic handheld nuclear launching device - the Fat Man. As ridiculous as it sounds, the Fat Man's design was inspired by a real cold war era weapon called the M-388 Davy Crokett Tactical Nuclear Recoilless Rifle that was put into service in two models including the M28 (light) and M29 (heavy). We also discussed the recent news out of Apple regarding it's take on emulators on the App Store. Previously, emulators were banned from the App Store causing users to look to workarounds, or Android devices. But now Apple has loosened up these rules, opening up the App Store to emulators provided that all laws are followed in their distribution. Despite the long silence from the KOTOR remake, it is apparently alive and well according to the Saber Interactive CEO himself. Then in the Query Corner Question, we discuss the current gaming landscape and our obsession with re-releases of old games. Should old games be brought onto modern platforms for game preservation? What about remasters and remakes of the same games time and time again?

Video Game Fun Fact: During the development of 2003's Call of Duty, its codename was "MOH killer" or "Medal of Honor killer" as the series was going after EA's acclaimed WWII shooter series. Much like Medal of Honor at the time, the Call of Duty campaign was originally going to follow a sort of James Bond-like character taking on hundreds of soldiers solo. To avoid being too similar to Medal of Honor and the Wolfenstein series, they changed the campaign into what became a series staple - three distinct campaigns covering different allied factions including the US, British, and Russians through key WWII battles and events. This multiple perspective campaign appeared in several Call of Duty games over the years including Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty: Finest Hour, and more. With GTA6 close (we hope) to release, tech experts are saying to not expect it to run at 60fps on PS5 - even if a PS5 Pro model does get released. Phil Spencer is interested in having more game launcher offerings on the Xbox console, a move that could see the likes of the Epic Games Store and Steam find their way onto the Xbox Series X | S. We discussed how we think the competition may react and how third-party launchers may look on a platform that is currently designed around selling games from the Microsoft Store. After a recent trip, Phil Spencer offers his feedback on using his Lenovo Legion Go while travelling - offering us insight into what he'd like to see from portable gaming (ie seamless cross-saves, Xbox dashboard on-the-go). With the console market not growing past ~100 million units for the "generation winner" will Xbox be making a handheld to grow its sales and help fulfill Phil Spencer's vision of gaming on the go?

Video game fun fact of the week: Mercenaries 2 held a promotion shortly before it launched where it offered free gas in north London and LA for a day. The promotion transformed the gas stations with Mercenaries 2 themed posters and paid actors playing the part of the mercenaries. Unfortunately, the promotion went off the rails a bit in London as it caused gridlock and an overall public disturbance so severe that the promo had to be cut short around 4 hours into it. Dragon's Dogma 2 has been released to rave reviews from those that are enjoying the gameplay...however, many are flocking to Steam to express their dislike of the newly discovered microtransactions in the game. PSVR 2 has reportedly paused it's production in order to clear out some inventory. The virtual reality headset that is designed as a very expensive accessory for the PS5 console is seemingly not selling as well as expected - does this spell doom for VR on PS5? Larian isn't planning on making any Baldur's Gate 3 DLC/Expansions and also isn't working on Baldur's Gate 4 as the studio looks to make something entirely different than Dungeons & Dragons.

PS5 Pro seems early...but also right on time? With the difficulty in grabbing a PS5 in the year following its launch, man gamers may feel as though it's too early for there to already be an upgrade to the PlayStation 5. However, it appears that this pro model is not only in production, but also coming as soon as the holiday season 2024. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection was a much anticipated launch by Aspyr, bringing the classic first two Battlefront games back into the modern gaming sphere with new maps and large online battles. However, its recent launch has resulted in disaster following several server errors, connectivity issues, and bugs. The Suicide Squad game has been anything but successful, with many gamers blaming its focus on games-as-a-service instead of deep storytelling as we've grown to expect from the game's developer, Rocksteady. Unfortunately the allure of potential profits are keeping WB in on games-as-a-service as the studio will be doubling down on its live service offerings.

Xbox has confirmed the games that are coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch with release dates including: Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, and Sea of Thieves. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer and release date was just revealed, giving us an insights into what the highly anticipated DLC is story-wise and how big the new section of the map is. PSVR2 is being tested on the PC with the functionality expected to be released later in 2024. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is coming bundling both the first Battlefront (2004) and Battlefront 2 (2005). This collection supports a bundle of bonus maps and 64-player online multiplayer battles.

This week the Official Xbox Podcast hosted a business update to address a series of rumors and speculation that has been spreading like wildfire through the internet surrounding Xbox's future console business, exclusive games, and releases on third-party platforms (ie PlayStation). Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty lay out all the details we could have asked for and more about the future of Xbox and their approach to games and consoles moving into the future. Join us as we discuss these updates and more from a temporary recording setup.

Rumor and speculation surrounding Xbox's new unannounced business plans has stirred up a flurry of articles and videos online. It seems likely that Xbox is planning on releasing some of their most famous games on PlayStation 5 for the first time, including big hitters like Starfield and Sea of Thieves. Furthermore, some believe that a move like this will inevitably be apart of a plan to discontinue Xbox consoles altogether, followed by big Xbox names like Phil Spencer leaving the company. The Xbox division has recently seen a 49% revenue increase following the Activision-Blizzard acquisition, an indication that software alone can drive enough revenue to possibly drop hardware. Is Xbox exiting the console market? Will PlayStation be left as the only standing mainline console, other than Nintendo - a company that is largely seen as being in it's own market and not in direct competition to Sony or Microsoft?

PlayStation's January 2024 State of Play was this week announcing and showing off a collection of upcoming games including: Stellar Blade Death Stranding 2 Rise of the Ronin Until Dawn Remaster and more... The PS Vita was and is loved by a dedicated fan base keeping their handhelds alive over a decade after their first release. Even though the Vita was released in 2011, there has been no sign of a Sony/PlayStation handheld beyond the remote play centric PlayStation Portal that recently released in late 2023. Recently, however, there appears to be a leak that states that a new PlayStation handheld centered around playing full blown console games is in early development - with at least 2 years of work left before it sees the light of day. Could this be the Steam Deck competitor console gamers have been waiting for?

Pong and Atari are known for being pioneers of the video game industry, but they weren't the first. This week we discussed some of these early video games including Tennis for Two and the Magnavox Odyssey. Apple has finally opened the App Store up for video game streaming services. Previously, apps like Xbox Game Pass were blocked by the App Stores' policies because each and every video game included in the Game Pass collection would need to be Apple approved. This red tape has now been removed, opening the door for Game Pass, GeForce Now, and other services. Microsoft has cancelled a new Blizzard survival game that was in development after 6 years of development, alongside a flurry of layoffs that resulted in 1900 people being let go (8% of the gaming division's staff).

Xbox Developer Direct 2024 showed off a collection of great looking games including Bethesda and Machine Games' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, Avowed, Visions of Mana, and Ara History Untold. Ubisoft director says gamers will et more comfortable not owning games with subscription services like Game Pass and Ubisoft+ finding success in the market.

Nvidia will release new GPUs this month including the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4080. Samsung TVs are getting a new controller for the Samsung Gaming Hub. Unlike existing compatible controllers, the new Samsung controllers are able to control the power and volume of the TV. HBO has hired Kaitlyn Dever to be Abby in the upcoming The Last of Us season 2. Ubisoft has signed up for Nvidia's AI-generated video character tool called ACE (Nvidia Avatar Cloud Engine).

Happy 2024! It's our first episode of the year and coincidentally is releasing exactly 11 years since our first episode launched. This week we'll be discussing MSI's new Steam Deck competitor called The Claw - it should give us a good look at mobile PC gaming on the Intel side of things. Switch 2 speculations are always floating around, but this time some former Nintendo employees offer up their insight into what the next Nintendo console may look like. Xbox released a fridge not that long ago and now they're back at it with an Xbox toaster available from Walmart (in select regions). Then for the Query Corner Question: How bad should a bug be to warrant a delay?

The sequel to 2019's Gears 5 could soon be revealed after an alleged tease by one of the level designers potentially working on the project. Is Gears of War 6 coming in 2024? E3, the annual "Christmas for gamers" has officially be cancelled indefinitely. The show has recently struggled to get back on its feet after being cancelled due to COVID in 2020, returning in 2021 as a digital-only event, and then once again being cancelled for 2022. The event was supposed to return to the LA convention center with a revitalized showcase, but sadly it seems the event won't be coming back for the foreseeable future. Starfield's recent reviews on Steam have fallen to a "Mostly Negative" rating. Bethesda has promised a series of updates to the game on a regular basis in 2024, including a story expansion...but will it be enough to revitalize this struggling space game? The teaser for Monster Hunter Wilds was shown off at the Game Awards 2023, showcasing what appears to be a first for the series - an open world. Gaming in Review 2023: This year was absolutely loaded with game releases both big and small. How did this year's absolutely stacked collection land in the hearts of gamers.

Starfield's design lead took to Twitter/X to talk about his thoughts on all the negative feedback that Starfield is getting. He wrote a long thread that covered several points including: a reminder that games are developed by hard working people, he doesn't criticize games anymore due to his position at Bethesda, and that games are made in a particular way for a reason (ie technical limitations) that most of us won't understand unless that behind-the-scenes information is revealed and verified. The Last of Us Online has been cancelled due to Naughty Dog's concerns over supporting it long term. Due to the amount of resources that it takes to run a games as a service title, Naughty Dog was concerned it would affect their future single player games. Insomniac has sadly been hacked and affected by ransomware. An online auction has begun for the data on top of a ransom demand, with the data including information on their new game - Wolverine, as well as employee personal data.

The Game Awards 2023 just wrapped up so let's talk about it! We discussed a collection of the awards including: Best Ongoing Game, Best Multiplayer Game, Game of the Year, and more. We also covered some of our favorite reveals including Light No Fire; a new game from the creators of No Man's Sky about a large-scale procedural planet that you can build on and explore with your friends, Rise of the Ronin; an open-world samurai game, Skull & Bones (again), and much more! This past week we also got the first official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI and we discuss our impressions at this first and early look at the mega popular franchise's latest entry, coming in 2025.