The Onslaught of Summer Games Fest, Steam Deck price go BRRRR & the Logo Wars! | Games for Breakfast

Good morning, Matt.
Good morning, Will.
to all of you.
Welcome to Games FOR BREAKFAST, THE ONLY INTERNET TALK SHOW WE TALK ABOUT THIS WEEK'S GAMING AND TECH NEWS, but then also will be the last episode not only on Mondays, but also because we're moving to Fridays, don't worry about that, but also because it's the last Monday and last Games for Breakfast that I'm going to be a single man because I'm getting married in under 2 weeks before the next Games for Breakfast.
I I I have questions real quick.
so I figured we could probably treat this this episode kind of like my bachelor party. I think that's really right. You definitely you planned something, Will, right? You've done You've You've put together something like bachelor parties and video games are the best weddings or like some sort of thing along those lines, right? I mean, I'm ready. I have I totally haven't spiked my coffee. This isn't

It's fine, RIGHT? LIKE IT'S BACHELOR PARTY. LIKE THAT REALLY BAD Atari game for the 2600.
[laughter]
Sure. Definitely. I
All right.
Yeah, uh-huh. No, um hey chat, does anyone asking for me know where I can get a cake that a video game character pops out of real quick? Uh just on short notice. Does anyone
party. [laughter]
Anyone Anyone know how I can do that? Maybe Shadow. Shadow Shadow pops out of
Shadow the Hedgehog to jump out of a What would the cake be shaped like?
No, it's got to just be the multi-layer cake. Like it doesn't
It's a classic. Like you'd expect Marilyn Monroe to pop out of it, but it is Shadow the Hedgehog wearing the exact same outfit.
Yeah, that's correct. I feel I feel like yeah. If Shadow the Hedgehog isn't wearing the halter top dress from the from Marilyn's iconic collection, then like I don't want it.
Batch Listen, bachelor party is off to a great start if we're doing that. I'm and

I feel like I'm dressed for it. Otherwise, I just look like Butcher from The Boys. Um anyway, we have a lot of summery type things to discuss with you on this last episode on a Monday. Summer is officially here. It's June 1st.
It is. Happy pride, everybody.
Happy pride. The The We We're We're kicking off the summer hopefully in in style and with panache. And I mean, I hope in the next hour and some change there's a Shadow the Hedgehog jumping out of a cake, but we'll see how that goes.
Yeah. We We should also mention that you may notice that there is a gradient of awakeness. Matt has stolen all of my sleep. And
What are you talking about? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
IT'S FINE.
UH OKAY, FIRST OF ALL, that was a gift for the bachelor party. No take backsies. You You You imbued me with the ability to be awake at this current time.
Yeah, you ever hung up like an IV bag of Monster? Asking for a friend who is me. You ever just

Leave Leave your tips for Will to wake up and/or steal his awakeness back from me. In the chat, Brad or Janet. Or heck, even later, I'm sure Will's not going to be awake by the time you watch the VOD on this Rocky over on Nebula. So, leave that on Blue Sky. If you do so, let me
take a power nap during the ads, I think. That's That's my plan, really.
That's That's what you're going to sell as the power nap?
Yeah, that's right. You just
[snorts and panting] [laughter]
Sleep faster.
Thunder, you're heisting my sleep. You can't tell me you're going to do that.
Mhm. I feel like you don't understand how Brad approaches the idea of heists.
Mhm.
I feel like uh Brad approaches the idea of heists like a Phantom Thief does from Persona, where like they have to tell you that they're going to do the heist. Otherwise, it doesn't count, right?
All right. All right.
They
also decided that they're going to put the British Museum on permanent notice that they will be heisted at some point, but we've also discussed that heisting

the British Museum isn't really a heist because you're just taking back stuff that they stole. It's fine.
Yeah, it's a re- it's a re-heist. A reverse heist?
It's like re-gifting.
Yeah. A returnal, if you will. Um but that's neither here nor there.
Yeah.
I think the biggest heist of all, Will, that I think I want for this bachelor party episode
I'm so interested to see how you do this.
is the heist of my time. Right, I heisted your awakeness. I want Now I want some other group, possibly summer-themed, to come in and demand the entirety of my attention THE WEEK BEFORE I'M WED. I JUST REALLY WOULD LIKE THAT IF THAT could possibly be the case.
Boy, have I got good news for you, Matt. What if uh I
THAT'S US. THAT'S THAT'S IT. THERE IT IS. WHAT IF IT WAS THIS? [laughter]
WHAT IF WHAT IF next week was Summer Game Fest? And what if Summer Game Fest

had grown beyond all comprehension into some kind of week-long eldritch monstrosity of announcements?
So, I as I am dressed, I want to love Summer Games Fest. I love the graphic. I love the little warbly thing. If you go to Summer Games Fest website, it's got little like sand moving around. And it has so many like directs and collections of announc- YOU SEE THAT WILL'S IN IT. WILL'S IN THE BACHELOR PARTY NOW. HE'S HE'S CHUGGING my chug chug CHUG CHUG CHUG. [laughter] UH I DON'T know if uh the they'll know where to drop off the cake, Will.
You let me worry about that.
Okay, got it. So, uh I I love Welcome back E3. Well, okay, truly it's at the same time, but it's also like in in my opinion the antithesis of

what E3 was. Cuz E3, while I have a fond memory of it, especially reading an EGM like what's going on, it was an industry showcase. Like until the last couple years they opened up to the public and then I think it's quietly died. But the But like it was the thing that happened when we didn't have direct access to all of the information about games coming up and new releases, etc. So then the the essentially games journalists and and publications and and websites a little bit at that point would go and report and bring it back to all of us the lay people. Now, with the way that directs work now and the way that we can have showcases just beamed into our brains specifically through our phones and computers and televisions, etc. That is obviously not as needed even though it was very fun and cool. So this is like So there's pros and cons I think to the switch over, right? Like the one of the big pros is it highlights, especially if you look at If

you go to Summer Games Fest dot com and you go down to the schedule, it is a glut. It is It is a a cornucopia, a a a variable smorgasbord feast of different directs in different little sections of the gaming world across the next from June 1st to June 7th, I believe. No, June 8th. June 8th.
No. I don't know about the 8th.
The India Games Showcase is on the 8th.
Oh, I thought that was late on the 7th. Nope, that's my bad. Yep, that's the 8th.
So So I think
[laughter]
Meredith is Zoe signing for the cake. Yeah, she's She I'm sure she ordered something strange to go along with it. Um I think that on its surface, this is always phenomenal. Like, I like uh sort of in my heart of hearts a one-stop shop of like, "Oh man, I could check out the PC Gaming Showcase on the 7th or the Green Game Showcase on the 6th or the uh Pride

Parade also on the 6th." Uh there's also the Day of the Devs from a bunch of my favorite sort of indie publishers. There's the State of Play, there's Next Box One, there's Women Led Games, Black Voices in Gaming, you know, all sorts of stuff. But then when I went to go like look at some of these cuz they're obviously not happening yet. We'll do a recap, I'm sure, when we come back uh of Friday and a half from now or two Fridays or whatever it is.
That'll be uh Friday the 5th.
19th?
19th, yes.
Yeah. Yeah. That's when the next Games for Breakfast is. Mark your calendars to be wowed at the end of your week. But I I kept clicking into these different things. I'm like, "Oh, Black Voices in Gaming, what are they going to be spotlighting? What developers? What's going on?" And then all the information I have is here. New games from talented black creators around the world, date and time. Okay. Uh cool. I'll come back for that. Like, Day of the Devs, it's funny, you can find on Day of the Devs like own little website who's involved with it, but you can't find

that here and there's no link to external websites that I can find on the Summer Games Fest page. Uh South Asian Game Showcase, announcement of up an update from Southeast Asian game developers. Okay. Like, I this is all good and I'm glad they're getting a platform, but like I would also like to like if I was here and I wasn't specifically excited about a a a topic or or a group of these, I would want something that like got me excited about it, right? I'd want a little information. At least link back to a website of the the group that is doing the showcase for your show. Um because this is less of a Game Awards all in-house kind of thing. And this is Geoff Keighley doing one show and inviting a bunch of other people to do other shows that are approved to go in this thing.
Right. And there's some weird division, too, between a partner showcase and a community spotlight. I don't know what the difference necessarily is, but like that's a thing.

Also, it's very strange to me. The Xbox showcase and the State of Play are flagship events, but the PC Gamer Gaming Show is not. It's all
because because PC Gaming is not technically one ecosystem where these other two Well, PlayStation is, but Xbox maybe is. I don't know.
Uh it's just weird to me. Also, it's not listed as anything. It's It's not a community spotlight or a partner showcase or a flagship event. It's just its own thing.
Which Is that the only one?
It's the only one, and I'm sure that makes
PC Gaming Show has no tag on it, but everything else
Yeah, right. It's because trying to put Day9 in a category is futile. Just don't try. Just It'll be what it is. You don't think it'd be like it is, but it do. Day9.
So So I guess my question cuz So the And I I was talking to Will before the show.

I was like, I have I I always have a weird back of my mind issue with Summer Game Fest. Like, I can put a Like, the Game Awards, on the other hand, I know what I don't like about it. I know what I like about it. I've come to terms with it. I can identify it. It is a big old commercial. I really You know, and the Just like the Oscars, just like any other award show. There's nothing wrong with that. I think they do a really good job by this point. The last two or three I've very much enjoyed. So I get it. Summer Game Fest feels like I can never figure out why it rubs me a little bit the wrong way. It's not that I don't want this information. I very much do. It's not that I don't like convenience. I LOVE CONVENIENCE. THAT'S MY WHOLE THING. Um I just I was trying to like land it somewhere where I could figure out what that actually is. And the only thing I can think of, and I'm curious if other people have this vibe as well. Um or if

I'm alone on this bachelor party island. Just just me and Will. And a pastry with an animated character. Um I think what I've landed on is because this is crammed into one week at the beginning of the summer. Even if I wanted to, even if I wasn't going to be saying my vows the the week after this. I would not be able to keep up with all of this. And if I was, I surely wouldn't remember every game that I might be interested in.
And a reminder that this is me and Matt's job in part is to be plugged into the gaming industry and know what's going on and know what's coming out and know what like big things are happening. Like we're doing this semi-professionally to like help inform you and to be

entertaining. And we can't do it effectively, right? There's just too much.
Like we can, but if that was like our only job.
Right, but like we it's not our like, you know, we got other stuff we got to do.
I mean, do other people feel this way? Do other people feel like it's sort of a a glut of information and like you just I mean, is is this an us problem? Is this like I'd love to hear if like and that's okay if it is. I I just want to know.
Yeah, I also feel like and maybe this is um maybe this is too harsh. Chat, tell me if I'm off base. Does it feel like some of these other showcases are like a little bit like Yeah, we've filled the diversity requirement. No one can be upset at us now that we show like several hours of ads for the latest AAA game by like shoving uh another diversity like oriented showcase

on another day that that's not direct related and saying it's under our event banner. Like cuz I do get that feeling from time to time and I might just be really cynical about it.
There's two There's two schools of thought and we're not going to solve this problem uh You're You're You're two widest of white internet dads here uh are not going to solve this issue. Are we old and good?
[laughter]
Yo, fam. Check it. Um
Are we unk?
Are we Oh, we're definitely unk. Um look again.
unk.
Uh but the the There's two There's two schools of thought on this, seriously. Like one is is amazing that on a thing this big there are individual showcases for these uh different groups that might not be highlighted otherwise. It's It's kind of It It It Like that that on its on the surface is good.
Yeah.
You could also argue that

breaking these up like this further others people.
Yeah.
Like Like I'm guessing, I have no idea, but like the Day of the Devs, Women Led Games, um Latin America, and like Black Voices in Gaming, we're just looking at like the top eight here on the thing. And South And Southeast Asian game show case. I imagine that there'll be types of games across all of those.
Yeah.
In different genres, right? Like different different styles of games, different things like that. Like wouldn't it be more effective to get it across to audiences who want to play a specific type of games? I'm just making stuff up right now. Let's pretend that racing games are like the hottest thing for a moment, right?
Sure.
Like like it's the racing game showcase. And then you just showcase the games made by a diverse group of people making racing games.
Yes.
Again, I'm not saying that that works. I'm not saying that that's better. I'm saying that

you you maybe you'd get games in front of people that like what if someone for whatever reason just isn't isn't interested they're not from Latin America so they're like oh I'm going to skip the Latin American showcase. Right? Like
And if you do that you won't know that um FMV games like full motion video games are making a comeback in Latin America, by the way. If you didn't know this I found this out last year cuz I watched the Latin game showcase last year. This is amazing. The FMV games you remember fondly from like the 90s make a comeback in Latin America. You should watch the Latin American game showcase. It's dope as hell. Anyway, sorry aside cuz you brought it up but like
Yeah. No, true. But like that's kind of interesting, right? Like that's a fun fact that we wouldn't know if we didn't watch that showcase. And so I go back and forth a lot on this. Like I understand I understand the large and air quote I mean they're labeled as such flagship events. Like you got State of Play, you've got the Xbox showcase, you've got

Summer Game Fest proper, which is essentially whatever Geoff Keighley is excited about, right? Uh those are walled gardens entirely.
Yep. Although I will say Day of the Devs is its own whole thing. It is a nonprofit. It's exclusively for Indies. Like Day of the Devs is the closest thing to what you're asking for. Um, in terms of
of the Devs might be the only one that's not I mean what unless what's the um There's the Indie one.
Yeah, the
Mick Mick Summer Games?
Yep. And then there's uh also um
I guess okay, so
A wholesome direct is another one that's very like what you're describing.
Yeah, and I really don't like just being like I don't like a thing without trying to figure out why and trying to figure out a better way for it. And I'm not saying I'm going to find it. Um, but the Like I understand that a lot of these groups are also their own groups that

are putting together a showcase that are tying it to
Right.
They're like they're they've been invited to be on the website for the Summer Games Fest and put in the schedule.
Which also feels like the lowest possible lift from Summer Games Fest.
Oh, yeah.
To be like, "Hey, you. Do you want to show off things that your group of people have made? Great. You are allowed to do that. We'll um take credit for including you, but you have to do all the work."
And I don't know if it's taking credit for it. Like I I Every time I'M LIKE, "YEAH, NO, THIS IS BAD." I'M LIKE, "ACTUALLY, it's kind of good though." But then there's something bad about it. And it's very it's it's There's no perfect solution.
And it feels weird, right? Cuz like is it good that these that like the Pride parade happens and that people get to um have a singular place where queer upcoming games can be highlighted? Yes, absolutely. That's a good thing.

Do I wish it were done a little more prominently and not done at noon the day after the Summer Games Fest?
It's also June 6th, I think is the most slammed day. We have Southeast South Southeast Asian Games Showcase, we have the Wholesome Direct, we have Story Rich, we have Green Games, we have Pride Parade, we have Australia.
Yeah, the the Frosty Fest. The Frosty Games Fest, yeah. Right? So
Like I guess I guess here's my thing. And I I would love to know uh what folks actually feel about this. Like, to me, that feels like so much information to parse brought out in one day, even if you catch up on it over the next week. I know the VODs are obviously up. Like it feels like it sucks the the the announcementness out of these individual things.
[snorts]
And kind of just gloms them all together

as day four of six of Summer Game Fest.
Yeah.
Right? Which you could argue is kind of in a different in a different organizational style kind of what I'm what I was asking for before, except they're all in their own little like presentations.
Yeah.
I like I'm just trying to think, right?
Pixel's point, right? If they really want to do it for visibility and impact, they have to be platformed by equally large groups elevate, not just give them a space and say good luck, you guys.
Yeah, I think that's it. I think it's like
Maybe.
Hey, it's sort of like size show staging them. Right? And like
But you also like And then there's the argument. I want to I want to be very devil's advocate here. I agree with that, but also would Green Games, for instance, get this large of a platform without being here?

Possibly. But maybe not. Right?
I I I Yeah.
So like
I I feel like having more
I'm just wondering if it's like in the balance cuz there's a positive and negative across the board. Is this setup more positive for all of these groups or does it drown out a lot of what they can get stuck in the public zeitgeist?
I While while chat's mulling that over, I do think that like a big part of the problem with all of this is just the raw volume, right? Like a lot of these might benefit more from being some other time because I know that in the past when I've tried to prep our Summer Game Fest recap episode and what we're excited about that we saw, I am literally So I can I Thanks to a long period of information absorbing at unusual speeds can double speed videos on the internet pretty effectively without losing much content. So I double speed most of

Summer Games Fest to try and find the things I want and then I'll go back and watch it at normal speed if something catches my eye. And it's still as someone who is doing it for a thing that I am making professionally, it's still too long at double speed, right? Like I do feel like my big problem is that there's just too much to Like at some point by trying to include everyone, they've made it too noisy and like nothing gets through, right? Especially when some games show up multiple times and other games show up one time and like it seems like the best way to do this in a lot of ways is to just show up on as many different things as you can. Like if something manages to get a time slot in PC Gaming and Story Rich and Wholesome and Day of the Devs, I'm probably going to remember it more than I would if it just shows up in

Summer Games Fest, which is cool that like indie games can do that, but still at the same time like why is it repetition of a less great quality trailer than a really good high-quality like presentation of your game, right? That like is effective.
Uh also, Graves has a really good point here. Uh it's long, but part of the strangest uh that you aren't in the position to see this or feel the suppression these groups normally get and therefore don't understand the drive from people looking for more of these games support. The other issue is the Summer Games Fest organizers seem to have assumed people aren't going to have more than one special group interest or niche, so they cram a bunch of showcases into a single day instead of spraying them out more evenly. Yeah, that's entirely true. Uh I think that's sort of like like I would have loved to have seen essentially everything on June 6th spread out a little bit more. I would I You know what it is? And and I don't I would love to see Summer Games Fest spread out over a month.

Yep.
You would have more time to internalize and discuss. We would do so many more I think episodes on things we liked or segments on those were we able to not like cuz by the time this is over, by the time June 9th hits, I'll be writing vows and I won't be paying attention to No, but like in in in all seriousness like something else will come down the news cycle.
Yep. Well, and and I'm I'm kind of I'm kind of on a like I'm kind of with Nollie on this, right? That like while it's cool that you're you're highlighting it because it's made in SEA or women-led team, it doesn't tell you anything about the game, right? But if they had like a tactics uh games and city builders event and highlighted devs who happened to be in those groups, I think it would be more effective advertising.
Yeah, like I wonder I wonder if you could take the groups like all of these groups that are putting these showcases

together in their in their own niches in the games industry. And and I know there's going to be problems too, especially like if we're labeling things like indie or not. That's a whole can of worms. But like I go back to my racing game thing. Like what if there's a great racing game from the women led games group and the South East Asian group and the Australian group? Right? Like throw those in a racing game thing together. be harder because you'd have to make sure that someone is actually making sure diverse voices are being heard in those that would have to be an active thing that is done. You can't I think we've proven you can't just let that go and it it instantly happens.
Right.
Right? You would have you would have these groups sort of submit to be in those categories rather than but then that is to Will's point far more work for Summer Games Fest which they could do if they wanted to.
Right. I'm going to say I have a really hard time feeling sorry for Summer Games Fest given the amount of money that individual spots in Game Fest cost. They could do it. They could do it. Like

Summer Games Fest makes a lot of money. So does So does the Game Awards. Those both make a lot of money.
I actually don't know the breakdown of Summer Games Fest monetization. I I know a little bit more about Game Awards. But if they're built similar I'm sure.
Yeah. I just think it would be cool to have like to make if you really care about these games, find better ways to surface them.
And that could be scheduling. That could be building groups that highlight sort of around style or genre or something. And some of them are, right? Like wholesome story rich
Yeah.
And I guess green games because green games is showcasing games that reconnect us with nature, spark hope in the future, and remind us of what we're supposed to do. That's more topical.
It's a lot of solar punk. Right? It's a lot of like solar punk aesthetic, like green gardening growing game kind of thing, which is like good. That that is a that is a a game

category.
I guess maybe I'm maybe I'm being a little too harsh in these cat I don't I don't know. Like I
Okay, so like these games So so let's let's talk about like we talked about Dreams on a Pillow, right? Last week, right? A game about by a Palestinian developer about uh surviving the Nakba. Okay, great. That is a game that is relevant to people who want to see games by Palestinian uh developers who um that's relevant to people who want to see games that deal with tough historical topics, right? So like how do you categorize that and not just put it in stealth games, right? The category. So there is some amount of like this group or this game talks about an experience that is relevant to me, right? So like it's Pride Month, Pride Parade, right? Queer games are going to have uh stories that relate to me as a queer person and and that will be a thing that

like showcases that. The problem is that a lot of like we were saying if you think that the Pride thing is only for queer people, then it's not actually doing anything to surface games to like the broader industry. It's just surfacing it to more queer people. Which cool, great, but like you could do better cuz there are lots of queer games that like not are coincidentally queer, but like are queer and also appealing to a broad group of people. And I feel like it's a disservice to say that they're only attractive to queer people, which is kind of the siloing that we're getting here. I guess for me
Yeah, I guess How eff- Like truly, how effective is breaking the containment of your community for more success in the

product or game that you're making if your community is consistently walled off. And the But the But on the flip side again, I every time I say something like, "Uh, but the other side it's walled off, but it's also on the largest gaming event that is sucked the news story out of the entirety of of the the industry now. Like these groups and these things are now are in front of a larger group of people than they were before.
Yeah.
I I don't know. I think I do like my genre or style. Like if if it was sort of all put together, but again, that requires um like any good you know, museum, it requires curation. And that is something that's very hard. Um I don't know. I think Well, you were talking about how you end up watching these things. Uh I end up trying to watch everyone.

Uh but I will if if the trailer for the game does not grab me in the first 10 seconds, I skip to when the dev is talking about it.
Yeah.
Or the next segment of Jeff for whatever, right? Like And And then if they win me back or if like if I'm interested in it beyond whatever, I'll go back and watch the full bit of the trailer. But that's how I kind of time lock myself. I like listening to people talk about what they're making even if the trailer doesn't do it for me or it's a genre that I'm not interested in.
Yeah.
That's kind of my jump around. But I don't know. I'm I'm not like mad at Summer Games Fest by any imagination.
like that I I feel like we're more cynical about it. Like a little jaded. Like every year, I don't know. Maybe maybe I'm just at the point where like I'm old and curmudgeonly and I need to get like a lightsaber cane to shake at Geoff Keighley every time he shows up or something. I don't know, man. But, it

just feels like there's This is getting less great at doing the thing that I believe that it could do for the industry. And in that respect, I am disappointed by it. Like it clearly like it Summer Games Fest is an event that clearly recognizes that diversity and inclusion in our industry is important that highlighting other games is good, but it's sort of doing it in name only and not finding better ways to do it. They're just saying, "Oh, hey, yeah. We need diversity points. Let's throw another game showcase on on the eighth." There are a billion with a There are more than a billion people with a B in India. And India gets a game showcase on the last day as an afterthought?
Again, I'm not going to I'm not going to um say what any of these are an

afterthought or or or tack on whatever. I don't know their planning schedule. I don't know any of that stuff. I do get what you're saying, though.
Right.
Um the siloing in I think I fall on the side of the siloing, while helpful for initial like elevation to get it onto the stage of like something that of the video game awards esque type bigness, um I think that is good, but then the deluge of content ends up drowning it down again. And unless you are a group that is intrinsically interested in any of these specific things, it won't sure like Case in point. State of Play. I'm very interested in the state of play. I'm a Sony pony. We all know this. I will probably dislike or not be interested in half of the games in the state of play. I know this, but I'm going to watch them because every once in a while it feels because I know that that's an ecosystem I'm interested in, something will surprise me and something will get in front of me that I was not expecting to

enjoy.
Yeah.
You have to have that no matter what, you have to have the largest invite point in to any showcase so you can get those moments cuz not every and nor do I think every game should connect with every person. That would be super boring. Uh but you want to have the widest reach you can so that those games that will only connect with X number of people have a chance to get in front of X number of people, right? Like so I oh and someone asked a question about like what the cost differential of like being on one of these shows is. I actually don't know. Will, I don't know if you've read this more uh or not. I don't I think Summer Game Fest probably has things that Geoff Keighley and the producers really like and want to the main show proper uh wants to highlight and show things. Uh I also think there's definitely spots in there that are sold as commercial spots.
Yes. Yep.
I actually don't think there's going like outside of that flagship thing, I'm curious and maybe maybe the PC Gamer

Show Gaming Show I I I don't know if anything else here
PC Gaming Show tends to be the most egalitarian of the main showcases I would say. Like if if we put it up there, right? Because PC Gaming is so broad and because PC Gamer is like not Xbox and PlayStation obviously have a vested interest in selling their first-party titles because they are producers and developers as well as console manufacturers, right? But PC Gamer doesn't have that. So PC Gamer tends to be a little more egalitarian and surface like weird indie stuff.
Okay.
Also, because Day9 and Frankie do that, like that's just part of who they are as gamers and they have some amount of influence over the show.
Sure. Uh I love this. Uh uh Magnum, uh I guess I'm in the minority here, but I find it much easier to schedule 1 to 1.5 days to watch Game Fest rather than try to schedule 3 hours a week every week for a month. Plus, and that's totally fair. I like I'm I am

glad that this structure works for people. Yeah. Like without a doubt, that's good. Um and maybe that's why I keep being like I possibly am in the minority here or maybe Will and I are, right? Like that just
It just like I I think I'm not like totally unhappy with what we've got. I just feel like every time Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards show up, we could do more and better. And I think it's part of our responsibility as people who yap on the internet about video games to remind people that we could be doing more and doing better in both of those places all the time every year, right? That like this will not get better to the place that we want it to be unless people continually go, "Hey, that's good and I'm glad you're doing this thing, but like you can do better. Like do better, right?" And like I I feel like that's part of our role.
It gets It gets do better for who? It

goes back and forth, right? Cuz it all depends on who Like like Odin brings up a good point, too. Like while it's definitely a lot to consume the show as a whole, the average use case, I imagine average users will treat it like a con and only watch the bits that they want. Also true, but then we get back into the siloing effect. Yeah. Like Anyway, this is not a Summer Games Fest bad. I think overall Summer Games Fest good. I just always have a weird feeling about it and I wanted to kind of talk through the reasons why. Um, I also I I've said this before, I don't think Jeff Keighley is is bad by any means of the imagination. He is one of the most prominent people who built a job that he wanted and did it and elevates things that not only pay him to advertise them, but things he just likes and that is totally fine, too. We just We should also be honest with what these things are. Um, I think it is amazing this this structure that they've built with this at The Game Awards, making making especially The Game Awards, I

think, far more mainstream than every year it feels like they're more and more mainstream. Now, whether or not that's good overall for the vibes, I don't know, but I think it also is good for people outside the gaming industry to maybe be invited into the gaming industry.
Yeah. Uh, here's my here's my my final takeaway. Chat, are we going to have a high guard at Summer Games Fest? Are we going to have a one more thing that's launching this week and it does so terribly that it is the kiss of death?
I think I think This is the other thing about Jeff in my opinion. I think he does mess up a decent amount, but I think every time he does try, it seems to not do the same thing that was messy again.
Yeah.
Like
Yep. Yep.
I don't know. I
Absolutely.
I think it'll be okay. Anyway,
Yeah.
before we move on to our next story. I have an assignment that we brought up in the pre-show, but I want to I'm going

to take these off so I could look you directly in the lens. Um, for uh my bachelor party here on Games for Breakfast, uh I would like to ask you to keep in your pocket two different types of two uh things that I want to I will ask you for eventually as we go. The first is because this is a bit of a loose fit episode, if there's any news stories in the industry that you'd like us to discuss today, we'd have to obviously look at it for a moment or maybe we already know something about it. Keep those in your pocket cuz we will be asking for suggestions for stories to cover in a segment later on. And the second thing which I did not brief uh Brad at the at the pre-show on Twitch or Will about is I would love it if and hold these, do not have them yet. Hold these. I need to know your favorite weddings in video games. And I want to know why that wedding is your favorite.
Okay.
I'll when we start that, I will bring up

what mine is and then we can talk about other things too. But we have other stories. I just wanted to prep you you all so that when we say, "Hey, feed us stories." or "Hey, best weddings in video games." you have something ready.
We know Brad's not good at being put on the spot and we kind of assume Janet isn't either. But we know Brad isn't. Sometimes we try and put Brad on the spot and they just sort of uh Uh okay. Uh
The information is coming from inside the stream.
[laughter]
All right. Uh first up on our on our list of of news stories of the week. Uh Take-Two is saying that there is only one multiplayer modding platform for Grand Theft Auto and it's not rage. So RageMP uh was a multiplayer modding network for um for Grand Theft Auto V and they have been shut down.

Yep.
they have received a cease and desist uh directly from Take-Two. So um if it's not FiveM it's getting shut down. Which is so bizarre to me, right? But I am also coming from a place of um I am also coming from the Minecraft modding community where we have not only like more mods than you can shake a stick at, but more mod like architectures than you can take shake a stick at, right? Cuz like right now there is Forge Forge Neo Forge Quilt Fabric. There's another one I don't even remember uh and all of these start and like there's multiple different competing sites and like the whole idea that a company is like, "No, it's this or nothing." is so weird to me that I had to bring this up.
It's not weird to me if it was

5 years ago. Like GTA 6 is on the horizon.
I swear.
Why? I'm trying to think of the connective tissue, but why choose now to go after to go after uh this group to go after RageMP and shut them down when your new game that's going to print you all the money, that's going to take over the online stuff is going it is coming down the pipe. And look, I know that didn't didn't Rockstar they bought the other one, right? They bought the main one and that's why it's fine.
I believe that is correct.
I mean again, I get it. I just feel like this this plays into the like I actually I'm for this might say more Oh, interesting. Does this say more about

Rockstar's worry that people will stay on GTA 5 online for longer?
I feel like that might be it. Like that is a worry, right? Cuz like okay, when you've sold as much of a game as they've sold of Grand Theft Auto V, if Grand Theft Auto VI doesn't slap, how do you convince a large number of people to migrate and begin modding and doing all of the things to set up this infrastructure over there if you don't have centralized control?
Yeah, like I am a I am a GTA Online leech. Like, I have never bought a shark card, but I am deeply embedded in that system. Over COVID, listen, sometimes you accidentally leave your PlayStation on in just the right way. Uh and and stuff happens. But like, I have a lot of time logged playing GTA Online. And I have my infrastructure, and I have my thing. And like, to to start from

scratch, and I again, somebody who hasn't put a dime in, I'm wary of starting from scratch in that world. I'm psyched for the to be honest, the GTA VI single player. Um cuz I think Rockstar does an excellent single player campaign.
Sure.
But I'm curious what this sort of like how how hard it's going to be to get people off regular GTA Online and NoPixel. So.
Yeah. That's true. Yeah, a new guy has a really great point. Remember Starfield how modders basically ignored it. Rejection can happen. Yeah. That's a really good point. Yeah.
Yeah, I don't I don't know. It's inter- It's the timing of this story is the most interesting part to me.
Yeah, that it's happening right now. Yeah, it's it's so very strange. Um what is our next story? Oh, uh it's a it's a fast one. We can do this before ads. Speaking of real big problems, No Man's Sky has has done a new thing,

which I I kind of think is noteworthy. So, the noteworthy thing is not that No Man's Sky got an update. It's a day that ends in Y, and Sean still feels bad, so we get an update.
Sure. This one is, "Hey, what if we gave you like a galaxy ending threat? What if we put like Star Destroyers that were blowing up Atlas interfaces in different systems, and players had to band together to like fight back against these giant swarm ships, and like actually band together into teams?" Now, there are a bunch of complaints about the way that they've done this expedition, and those are all super valid. The idea of doing like uh a bigger, different take on like live service expeditions as an ephemeral event thing is really cool. I really do like this. I think this is a really great idea. I love the idea that they're doing more MMO style events
Sure.
in No Man's Sky, uh and I think that

this is a great shot for them to take. Implementation problems aside, a lot of No Man's Sky is this is a great idea, and your implementation needs work over
Yeah.
and over and over again, thinking about Corvettes, thinking about base building,
What are you talking about?
thinking about some other expeditions,
What are you talking about?
thinking about
Everything's perfect.
Yeah, all the broken expeditions, but like, you know, it's it's got it's got some stuff. Like, they're they're really good ideas. Yeah. Um so, I I think it's really cool. Um I'm I'm very I I think uh I would like to do this at some point, but I don't know when I'm going to have time, so I might like, you know, get to it. Um but, yeah.
You never know. You never know when you're going to have time.
Right. Time is time is a mysterious soup, and and who who even knows?
Who even know? Who even know time?

Who You know who know time? Not me.
Not me?
Not not me neither. Uh Uh you know what I do know time?
Who know time now what?
Time now FOR ADS.
OH NO.
TIME NOW TO DO FAKE ads for things you can't spend money on while Twitch chat gets real ads for things that Twitch sponsors want you to spend money on so we can keep more ads off so you can spend more time here watching us and not time in ads. Time.
Would you like to go first or would you like me to go first? I don't care which.
Sure I I can go first.
HERE WE GO. [screaming]
HELLO CHAT. It is I Will E credits the first of his name joined by Matt credits also first of his name overlord of the credits and save your silly. Take a power nap. Right now. Do it you won't coward. Just close your eyes wear sunglasses so no one can tell. Just keep talking so that no one will know. Just put your brain on

autopilot and say words. Lobster, fairy, crab rangoons. Just keep talking and let your brain go to another place another time and just power nap. Just close your eyes and rest them and and sleep behind your sunglasses.
I think overall that's a lovely sentiment. People should yep just like that. Um Hey everyone. Matt from Extra Credits with Will here also from Extra Credits but we have to be quiet cuz he's sleeping. Listen, I don't think that everyone should take a power nap. I think maybe Will's the only person that can and hear me out why. If you take a power nap then you can't engage with the stream and it doesn't help us at all. What we need from you if you're going to power nap is to take a small animal preferably a cat or a chinchilla or anything that has enough weight to them that can knock keyboard buttons, so that way they can leave

comments in chat, and that [music] way we still get the engagement while you also catch some Zs. We'll look for those messages now. Wake up, Will.
What?
been asleep for 40 years.
Oh, sick. Is the world better?
Look, look, it worked.
There you go. It's great. Yeah, okay. Cool. Mhm.
Excellent.
Yeah, these are these are great. Um this is a great this is a great question. I like this one. If I pass out on my keyboard and hit it with my face, does that count? Yes.
Uh only if you do it multiple times.
Yeah, you got to kind of just roll. I also like that this one got held up by smart detection, uh despite committing the Lots of these are being held up by smart detection, which I love, uh including this one. Uh apparently this is this is a thing that yeah, mhm, yep, okay. Anyway.

I like it.
Uh thank you, chat, for for letting me take a power nap. Appreciate it.
That was nice.
Yeah, it was very good. Um 40 years later in Star Citizen is still in beta.
Sure is.
You know, when you're right, you're right. And you? You're right.
right.
Mhm, he's right. Uh are we ready to talk about Xbox?
I guess.
Okay. So the stream [snorts] about to get banned for botting views. That's right. Yeah, totally, because we definitely have enough viewers. Oh, wait, hold on. Did I put these in the wrong order?
Uh oh.
I put these in the wrong order?
Uh oh.
No, I'm just missing one.
Uh oh. Spaghettios. Oh, hi, Zozo.
Okay, we can talk about this one and then go back to the next one while I figure out where the the thing went. Can you Can you pitch this while I go?

I sure can, Will. Here we go. So, basically something weird happened with a on a on an Xbox presentation. Essentially, let me get back over here so I can see chat. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Um people got all in a huff when when Matt Booty of Xbox essentially decided to give people uh uh sort of a precursor of what they're going to be showing at the Summer Game Awards. And Booty was asked, this all comes to us from Kotaku, um uh should they expect to be transparent about what games in the showcase will be on like multiple platforms? And he said, "Yep, absolutely. We've been very clear about what platform a game's coming to and want to continue that precedent. I think we've got a good system going. We've made it clear in the showcase." And that's just referring to like at the end of a trailer when it says like Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or like whatever it's coming to. Um but apparently that's not a good thing.

Uh people in the Xbox camp are a little bit upsetty spaghetti that that's going to be happening uh because they think it doesn't put enough onus on Xbox as like a as being the most important thing in an Xbox showcase. Um and a lot of uh I will say vocal minority kind of attacked them for this. To that point uh then essentially I'm trying to find out the the time the timeline of this because it is quite silly. Uh ba ba ba ba ba
Oh, Asha Asha apologized.
Yeah, and said that they need to think about it more in the future.
Same feedback on logos, it was missed and I own it. We're talking about how do we adjust for future Xbox shows.
But like so what does that mean? You no longer put the other systems that it's coming out for or you just don't show

multi-platform stuff?
Which seems silly because Xbox is also a developer and part of like every major deal is that they like put stuff that they make elsewhere.
Yeah. Zola has thoughts and feelings. Yeah.
I think she has feelings. I don't know she's ever had a thought.
Oh, she has lots of thoughts.
Okay.
She has lots of thoughts. Like Oh, I know. I'll let go. Let go. Let go. Let go. Here we go. Okay, like belly rub thoughts. Yeah.
Yeah.
That's all she wants.
Yeah, that seems that seems correct. That and to apparently try and eat your beard.
Yeah. Yeah, buddy. Yeah, buddy. Uh yeah, so like I don't know, chat, doesn't this seem like a nothing burger? Doesn't this seem like why would we be mad at information that is important?
I don't know. Like it people want

games I want games in more places, right? I want to be able to play a game in the way that makes sense for me in all the places like where where it's possible to play. And I don't I don't like yeah, it's weird. That they they're they're now saying that they might not show information about how you can buy or play their games because people got big upset is just even weirder to me. Like just
Like I get Look, I get it. Xbox, we have an episode coming out 2 weeks a week? Uh a big old Xbox exposé. Oh, we should call it Xbox What Wait, what's the What's the verbage? Xbox obey, I don't know. Doesn't matter. Uh
But like I just don't think uh Oh, uh RC, great question. I'm glad you caught this. Uh everything on here is a console. Technically, Mega 64, while a wonderful comedy channel, is also the name of the console in the original web

series. It was the Mega 64. That was the game that uh Derek uh and Rocco got sucked into and Shawn got sucked into to play the games. That was the meta narrative of their sketches forever ago. Uh the only In fact, the only thing that is not a place to play video games here on this graphic is uh is the Martinelli's sparkling cider logo, which I felt was also just appropriate cuz maybe they'll enter the console space someday.
You forgot the Philips CD-i. True, how could we?
I love these though. Look at this. Xbox say, great. Xbox good. Xbox say. Xbox pose, oops. Xbox so say. Xbox say. Xbox say.
[laughter]
I think these are very, very good. Uh regardless. Um I understand

the vocal minorities sort of whining here to a point because Xbox for the longest time has not been treating their ecosystem like it is the main important thing. But a lot of other things are happening in the background to I think make that more prominent overall. And I think complaining at something small like getting more information about a game that will be places uh is not the best look to strengthen your I don't know. The offerings that a company sells you. Like I could see being upset at a showcase that didn't have games that were specifically for an Xbox if you're excited about the console.
Yeah.
But that's a that's a scheduling. That's a that's a marketing. That's a whole thing there. Like you you wouldn't Do you just want not want any game that's going to be out on multiple systems in your showcase? I don't know.

Maybe not.
Who who knows? Who who is to say?
Who is to say?
We are to say and I think that people are being silly and we should have more games on more places that come out in more consoles.
Agreed.
Okay. Let's [snorts] talk about less great news from the gaming world.
Oh, no.
Uh so Balatro is published by Playstack.
Yes.
Uh developed by Local Thunk as a solo dev and then Playstack came in to do a bunch of publishing in a bunch of places including the mobile ports and everything else. And currently it looks like Trufin Holdings or Trufin t r u f i n Holdings
Right.
uh is slated to sell 85% of its interest in Playstack to Vantange Co Limited which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Integrated Media

Company for about $151 million. Now, you might be like, but why does this matter at all? And I got to tell you that it matters for bad reasons because Integrated Media Company owns GameSpot Fandom and Curse. None of
Sure.
None of which are exactly the image of their former glory. And I I'm a little worried about poor Playstack in this ownership change.
So I don't know so so they published the game. Like they they published Balatro. They don't own Balatro, right? Like
that is correct. I believe Local Thunk retains full ownership and all that.
So, so it's not
[clears throat]
it's bad, but it's not like capital B A D bad. You know what I mean?
worried about Balatro. I'm most I'm mostly worried about a good publisher turning into a less

great publisher
Sure.
because another venture capital firm conglomerated them under a big old label and now they have to publish stuff for Fandom and Curse. And I just like don't want that, right? Like we have so few not so few. We have a selection of folks in the industry that I think we all have decided that we like. And when one of those groups gets their gets theirself messed with,
Yeah, yeah.
it's not ideal, right? I would feel the same if Devolver got bought or Finji or Humble or whatever. It doesn't feel great when one of those studio when one of those publishers gets put in jeopardy because of an ownership change.
No, that makes sense. I I it it also does make it sort of harder.
[sighs]
It's another place that's going to be in

our opinions slightly in shitified. In in that's not exactly the right word. It just it's probably going to operate worse.
Yeah. Yeah. I yeah, I agree.
So, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
a great feeling.
No.
But by far not the absolute worst thing that's ever happened ever.
No. Do you know what isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to everybody, but it's definitely worse than this?
Sure.
Uh when your tiny indie game, your tiny solo indie like theoretical game project, uh gets wholesale stolen by another company and now everyone thinks that you stole it from them? So
Yeah, this is not great.
This is This is another very not great look. So, um recently uh the dev of Ouros

uh Michael Kamm, K A M M came out and said, "Hey, y'all. I just wanted to put it on the record that um the new mini game in Zenless Zone Zero, hit game by uh Mihoyo is a direct copy of my indie game that they took pretty much wholesale
Yeah.
and slapped in as a mini game into their into their project um without recognition, compensation, or anything. And now it doesn't appear this is the first time this happened, but like man, does it stink that it keeps happening. Like
Yeah, this isn't the first time that this has actually occurred, right? Like
[clears throat]
This is pretty blatant. Like if you go it's in the show notes, you can go check it out on There's a Blue Sky post. He basically did a minute-long video showing exactly all the ways that this is just his game.

Yeah, like all of the mechanics are the same, the hint system is the same, the ways that the game gets more difficult or changes as levels goes on is the same. It's the same game.
And like what's the recourse here? Like what do you do?
There really isn't one, right? Cuz like what are you going to do? Try and find Hoyo's lawyers? That's like an entire tank of like cocaine bear lawyers. I'm pretty sure Hoyo's lawyers are just cocaine bears that they put in suits. Like I don't Like what do you do, right?
Like the Yeah, and they're in China, right? Zar like there's no It just does really stink. Like the Yeah, there's no like There's no like legal point you can fight that like you can you you if you

had infinite money, you could fight it and win.
Maybe.
But you need infinite time and money.
Right. At which point you're fighting it for moral reasons, not monetary reasons, because you already have infinite time and money.
And like no firm is going to do this pro bono with a thing to win it like it would they get paid if you that if you win even if they know you're going to win because they know it'll take 4 years and they have faster ways of making more money.
Yeah.
Um Yeah, and Evan I mean this isn't this you know, I think the game jam space is being heavily monitored by big gaming companies. I think I think yes, but not in like a shadowy way. I imagine that someone at Hoyo saw this game they're like oh just take it. Like I don't think that I I
Right. Which is awful.
Yeah, uh Generic I think has it right. The game mechanics themselves are not copyrightable, but the presentation is, right? This is a this is a common thing that happens in a bunch of places. Um the

underlying mechanics of a game system are not a thing that you can copyright. Um there are certain things you can patent, there are certain things that you can copyright, but the underlying game mechanics are not one of them. Similarly, by the way, uh to the way that magic tricks work. This is like a very similar thing. And to the presentation bit, one of the only cases where someone has successfully sued over someone else stealing their trick is Teller of Penn and Teller um sued over someone copying his um act where he uh cuts the shadow of a rose and the rose gets cut.
Yep.
Because he protected the performance, not the trick, and they copied the performance. So, like in this case, because it's uh artistically similar, there is a case that you could have in any jurisdiction that recognized that prior

art. But, or isn't China, A, and B, it's Hoyo, tons of money involved. Right?
And it seems like there's kind of And again, when any of this has sort of happened, the the discourse surrounding it isn't the best, either. Uh there are people that are like kind of like championing Hoyo for this, being like, "Oh, it's elevating the game." It's like, no, it's not. Like, in no way is this elevating this game.
People die of exposure, you can't get paid in it.
Yeah, like it's just not the case. Um so, I'm just going to give that straw man 3 seconds of air and then drown it in the river. Like, I just it's silly.
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Just Just a reminder, Hoyo does have build a fission generator money.
Yeah.
Correct.
Um I don't know, maybe uh and if you got a couple bucks, throw it Oros's way. I think I'm going to pick it up later today just to kind of grab it. Uh this just sucks.
Yep, this is just This is just a thing that sucks uh and uh

a heavy bummer.
Yeah.
Other things that suck and are heavy bummers.
What? Oh, yeah.
So, the
We knew this was coming.
Yeah, we we knew it was coming. Boy, does it suck. So, due to the increasing cost of components, aka RAM, largely RAM, the price of the Steam Deck is going up. Both models, the 512 gig OLED and the 1 TB OLED. The 1 TB OLED is going up from $650 to $950.
Yep.
And the 512 is going from $550 to $790. Which means it is not really a great deal to buy a Steam Deck then Steam Deck anymore. Now, I will also say in looking

up some stuff for this, I would do want to point out that if you do still want a Steam Deck, a reminder that Valve refurbishes them themselves, and you can buy a refurb.
Yeah.
you want one, you should do that cuz they're way cheaper. Way cheaper. So much cheaper.
Uh Sawyer, I'm just curious, what what element specifically, sorry, I thought I clicked it. Uh what are people over the the the the price hike?
Like
else? I was just I want to make sure before we continue on.
Um
Like it is I think the big So, so there's two things, right?
The price hike, okay.
One,
Yeah.
I think this sucks for anyone who didn't get a Steam Deck yet. And two, I think this is a heavy bummer for anyone who was hoping the Gabe Cube would be a reasonable price at launch.

Or like a a an affordable price at launch. Because I cannot imagine that it will be significantly uh that it won't have suffered from the same component shortages. Right, yeah.
Yeah.
Like
Yeah, I think I think there's sort of a difference between like I I think the I don't think it's overblown per se. I think this is the largest price hike we've seen on hardware. in this inflation era.
Yep.
in the in the data center boom. So I know a lot of them are getting I don't want to get too news organizationally, but like I am just enjoying my my Instagram feed is almost exclusively now like town halls trying to fight back against data centers and some of them are winning. So that's nice. But the I think this being the largest hardware increase in this console generation,

especially for something that um I think the Steam Deck is older than the PS5 Pro, right?
I believe that is correct.
So like the Switch 2 is newer. But like the Steam Deck itself, even the OLED is fairly old, like it's 4 years old, something like that. So like I think this amount of a price increase on that old of hardware is I think Not shocking's not the wrong word if you're paying attention, but like essentially a purchase killer for a lot of people. Like, you know, There's an argument there. You could say like everyone who was going to get a Steam Deck already already got one, like cuz it's so old in the tooth or whatever. But like I don't know. I think I think an extra $300 on one of these things is a pretty big deal. Again, not a not a shocking one, though.
Yeah.
Right? Like
It's just a bummer, right? Like it's not

it's like no one's like shaking their fist at Valve and being like, how could you do this? Of course they could do it, right?
Yeah, as someone who yeah, who was gaming on a PS5 and switched to his eyesight and this to me Steam machine is a way to get to PC gaming, but now I'm far less interested because of right, yeah.
Yeah, like that's that it does not bode well, right? And Valve as a company that many people view as being incredibly consumer focused having to raise prices and directly saying, "Hey, this is not something we want to do. This is because of um uh essentially upstream cost increases in the manufacturing pipeline.
[snorts]
It's not a good look. It's not good. It's I don't I don't I don't like it's not the end of the world, but no matter the way that you slice it, this isn't good for the industry.
No, it's actually a really bad bellwether, right? Like it's it's at to Will's point, Steam is a company that really really really wants to for its own obviously profit, but like

they're right at the cusp of trying to sell more hardware. What's the worst thing you could possibly do if that's your goal? Increase the price of your old hardware. Right? Like
Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
And there'll be a really interesting um There's a really interesting thing that's like I'm we all know the price is just going to keep going up until insert general political wind change here. Uh and even then it's going to take years to come down. Like if it does at all. So like
It will need a major economic factor that causes us to revalue the dollar.
Yeah.
And that is not something anyone like you might think, oh that sounds like a good thing. Uh-oh, it's not. It's a bad thing. That's That's a very bad thing.

It would It would take a major economic shake-up that would be bad for people to like really cause
yeah, what a twist anyway, more expensive old hardware might make new hardware more appealing in comparison. So, I don't think so, and I think that's because essentially, I know the parts are intrinsically different say between a Steam Machine and a Steam Deck. Right. But, the part that is causing the increase still has the same shortages. And therefore, the Steam Machine, which would be, you know, for your newer PC essentially, uh is still going to be far more expensive than people were expecting at the announcement of it before all this went down.
Yes, correct.
Um yeah, uh that stinks.
It do. It stink a lot. Okay. One One more bad story. One more. One more.
And then we're going to ask you for stories, and they better be happy on

this day of my bachelor party.
That's right. Okay. Chat, I need them to leave Stan Lee alone. I just I need this. I need them to don't. Like, please just don't stop. Like, I know I know you have like the rights to, but like don't. So,
Essen- yeah.
Yeah. Go go ahead, man.
I was going to say, essentially, uh what Will is referring to is there is a company called Eleven Labs, which does have the rights to Stan Lee's voice and visage. I believe sold by the Stan Lee estate. So, from what I understand, and there's uh the story goes a little deeper, but we're not going to go too into the the end of Stan Lee's life, but there are reports of elder abuse and a couple of other things that like perhaps these rights were not given at a certain amount of time or like the right moment in his cognitive space or whatever. That's neither here nor there. Personally, again, I've never met Stan

Lee. I don't know the man. This does feel like something that he might be like from a from his like to for him to be the forever voice of comic books might be something he'd like. It doesn't really make it any less ghoulish because we'll never fully know because he didn't sign this over from what I understand or at least in the in that way. Um but essentially they've now have this company has a bunch of different voices from Michael Caine to Judy Garland, David Hasselhoff. And basically it let it they're allowing users to create comic book panels that then Stan Lee can read. And air quotes Stan Lee. Uh there is of course a trailer for this. It is some of the most generic things that Stan Lee has said reshuffled uh in in a way that only a live learning model possibly can. Um and it is fairly ghoulish in my opinion.

I don't think I just I I don't know. I keep trying to think of is there a world where when I'm dead that I'd want people to like still use my voice for like EC or Extra History or something. And I don't think I would. Again, to each their own. I I you know, whatever. But like I think and again, I am in a much insanely smaller pond than Stan the Man Lee. But I think I'd want someone else to do it.
[gasps and laughter]
Yeah. Well, also like this goes to the whole like current generations in positions of power not getting out of the way so that new stars can rise thing that like I personally have beef with. So like not only do I not want

anyone to do that to me, I specifically don't want them to do that for like me or anyone else so that we can get new talent in here that rises without people like continue to occupy space long after they're gone, right? Like you you've passed. We thank you for the time that you spent in the industry, but like don't.
Yeah. Also miss miss Inkwich, very true. Stan Lee was not the writer like specifically of a lot of different things, but what he is known as colloquially and like his voice
Yeah.
is something that is very recognizable in that community for good or ill. It's just like
Right.
He's a he's a icon there, right? Uh and also Zoe does own the rights and if you sell them we're fighting. Yeah. Uh
Okay.
[snorts]
That having been said, it is now time

chat. What news uh we have we have uh the I will I'll tell you for free. There is uh there is a story coming up. Uh we're going to talk a little bit about the stuff that got announced at TwitchCon Rotterdam um and we're going to talk a little bit about Katsuhiro Harada's Waffle House trip. So both of those are already on our slate for after this. But what um what story
Now is the time.
Yeah. Now is the time.
What story?
What what what have we missed? What what did what did we not talk about?
what stories are you bringing me for my bachelor party?
That's right.
I need to know.
What what what is there?
We're going to check chat right now.
Uh
Uh Zip, I will not be offering this to her and luckily she can't read and I'm not saying it out loud. Um news reporting Let's see, video games he bought coffee cups and the PS3 fish. Dark was I'm trying to I'm trying to parse this.
So, there's actually there there's

there's reporting that's making video games into a boogeyman because funds were embezzled to to purchase in part video games, but he also bought a coffee cup that cost more than a PS3 and and like but it's being reported as like video games. Like it's one of those like making video games into boogeyman things because they're seen as childish or degenerate or it should negative pejorative adjective.
Uh, you know, we didn't talk about that guy Jimmy and we should.
I don't want to. Like I Like I Like the reason I didn't is cuz I don't want to cuz like I'm going to go ahead and commit a heresy, chat. Are you ready for the heresy? I don't actually care about Hideo Kojima like at all. Like I don't. I think his games are fine. They're I guess like a spectacle of their own kind, but like I don't get it and I don't care.
I do care.

Okay.
I I I think I'm noticing a trend. So, just for a quick thing, Hideo Kojima with I forget what the other guy's name is, but basically made like an AI movie of them together doing space stuff. I don't I didn't watch it. I don't want to. But engaging with this there was a um And I I pray and you I I don't think this is ever going to happen to any of us here, but like You know how it used to be, how when you got older they said you got more conservative? Right? Like that's kind of a a general rumor, old wives' tale, something, right? Like a kind of like, "Oh, you know, you're you're whatever." I don't necessarily agree with that, but I I do think that as particularly I don't know. As people in the games industry get older, they tend to start evangelizing

AI more.
Yeah.
I'M NOT THAT'S NOT EVERYONE. I DON'T WANT to globalize. But it's it it it in that in that thought process, it is very sad to me to see Kojima do this because again, auteur theory being what it is, the games that he made are special because of his involvement, but he didn't like make them on his own. He had giant teams and a lot of people that he trusted. And even when he moved to his own studio to make Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2, like these are from his mind, but also not one person did it. But he's a creative. And the second I start seeing a creative start leaning on this kind of tech for creativity, it all it says to me is you are out of ideas.
Which, by the way,

Which then what is your value as a creative?
Right, but like you can just don't for a while until you have a new idea. Like this is a thing that I talk about in the streaming space, right? One of your jobs as a streamer is to go have experiences so that you can get ideas and talk to people about stuff.
Yeah.
Right? Like you can't just sit and do nothing and expect ideas to happen, right? You need to have like hobbies and do things and like whatever.
Yeah.
So
So, that story. I I'm sad about it. Um
Yep.
And maybe this doesn't apply to me. Maybe cuz I'm the world's oldest millennial. Um
Yeah.
Yeah. What other What other stories were there? There was the the
There's a uh it's been announced that the same team that's doing uh that did Kingdom Come: Deliverance is doing an open-world Lord of the Rings RPG.
Ooh, that's fun.
Yeah, do I'm kind of interested, although I will

also say I feel like again, potentially controversial take. Why though?
Mhm.
Like why are we doing more Lord of the Rings stuff? Why are we not doing you know, take
Cuz Stephen Colbert's writing a movie.
I guess, right? But like at the same time, why?
I hear you. I I don't need like Uh I've said this a million times. Things are only good because they end. Um
Yeah.
Like narrative specifically. I Like The Boys just ended. And The Boys was a series that I would that I really really enjoyed. Do I think the ending of The Boys is good? I think it's fine. I'm super glad it's over because that makes me thankful for the encapsulation of the entire thing, good and bad. If I we just keep making things in all of these worlds, nothing ends and then nothing means anything.
Yep.
Cowboy Bebop is the most perfect

television show ever because they did a 26-episode and a movie, and that's it. And I don't count the Netflix series. I just want that thing, and I want it to be done, and I want it to be encapsulated. As long as you end something on your own terms, and it's not something that's cut off due to streaming nonsense or tomfoolery, just let stuff stop. And continuing to do things uh Like I don't know. What what what else is there to I don't know. I don't know. You could go back and forth with Lord of the Rings. I didn't watch the uh Amazon series either.
Yeah.
Sorry, I'm catching up on things.
No, it's good.
Uh the Stop Killing Games is moving forward in California. I saw that. That's Yep, keep it moving. Keep it trucking.
We'll we'll talk more about it if that law passes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But currently that law is in uh it passed half of the bicameral legislation of California and still needs to pass the other house and get signed. And then we'll talk about it. But like I don't

want to talk about a bill in progress and then talk about it once it gets signed into law. That's sort of redundant.
Yeah. And I don't want to make all the money. I just want a lot of money. Which I think the world would be a far better place if more people just wanted a lot of money and not all of the money.
Yep.
Uh any other stories? What did I miss anything? Uh Yep. Uh uh First Light sold 1.5 million copies in 24 hours. That is very very cool. I am looking forward to checking it out. Uh apparently Will the the tutorial of First Light is some of the best tutorialization that has been around in a while. It like makes tutorials fun from what I hear. Which I'm I'm looking forward to checking out. I read that I started reading an article about it and I'm like, you know what? I just want to like experience it at some point. So I stopped reading that. Um
Yep. Uh
I think Is that all the stories?

Shovel Knight creators came out with a new IP. Cool.
Uh-huh. Obviously uh Mina's popping off at this point.
Yep, that'll be the first game we play when we get back. But I don't have time to finish it this week and I don't want to start it and then take a break and then come back to it. So we'll start it turn to start Mina the Hollower on on 15th when we get back from break.
Yeah.
Even if I'm going to be very tired.
You're going to do it.
I'm going to do it. It's going to be great.
Woo! All right, let's let's move on. Uh
Okay. Let's move on to
we're going to we will do wedding choice at the end.
Okay. We're going to we're going to talk about TwitchCon. All right, so uh they announced a bunch of at TwitchCon Rotterdam. Um some of it we've already seen. They announced the ability to do um mod announcements where mods can say how long they've been a moderator in chat and that's kind of cool. They've announced dual format streaming which we may be poking with a stick at some point in the near future where you can stream

vertically and horizontally and are not the same. Vertical won't just be like a vertical slice of this horizontal stream. It'll be a re-canvas so I'll I'm working on that.
Sure.
Um behind the scenes. Um here's a couple of things that I'm less thrilled about.
OH, NO. ON THIS DAY OF MY BACHELOR PARTY?
Speaking of joining a stream in the middle, have you ever shown up in a stream and wondered what's been going on up to that point? Today we're announcing our new stream summary feature. Stream summaries will generate a brief synopsis of what's been happening in the stream so you can jump right in without feeling like you missed out.
That's stupid.
to experiment with the information shared with viewers as we roll this out.
That's dumb.
God, I hope I can turn this crap off.
That's stupid.
Yeah, it is very stupid. It's not useful. It's never been useful. It will never be useful. Stop it. Yeah, right. I

can't wait to get an incomprehensible AI slop summary of Games for Breakfast, right?
Yeah, could you imagine? It's like Matt Will, welcome to the show. Shadow the Hedgehog popped out of a cake.
Right.
Then there was the at Summer Games Fest, Geoff Keighley bought and sold Stan Lee's image. It was like, "No, that's not what happened."
Yeah, right. Also, here's the summary AI that hurts free chat engagement. Correct, because every time someone comes in and asks, "Hey, what's been going on?" That's engagement and that's good, right? Because the community is reinforced by engagement.
Yeah.
So, yeah. Great question. Um can we turn it off? I don't know. And that's an unknown.
I'm sure you're going to be able to.
You would think that, and there are plenty of things that we can't turn off, like the ability to put emotes all over the screen at viewer discretion, which

is why that option costs $100.
Mhm.
And has a little pixel sign on it that says, "Don't use this."
don't Yeah, that do not do it.
Yeah, that's the don't don't use it. I can't turn it on, right? Like, I can't turn it off, right? Okay. Um so, that's a thing. They are adding auto clips, and they're telling us how auto clips work, so I'll be very interested in this. Chat, if you didn't know this, clipping on YouTube Clipping on YouTube Clipping on Twitch is one of the most important ways that we can find the good parts of the stream and share them on social media to help get more people here. Clipping is really important. So, they are now doing an algorithm. It doesn't look like it's an AI, it looks like it's an algorithm that does chat activity, vocal inflection, and amount of on-screen activity to generate [clears throat] um an automatic clip of a moment, which

lets you go back and edit the clip.
So, that's just going to cause people to yell more.
Maybe. There is also a vocal cue. You You apparently say, "Quote, "Twitch clip that." And
work?
Who knows? We'll find out next time on Dragon Ball Z.
Is this the clip right now or did it clip what you said before? Twitch clip that.
Right. And if If we say Twitch clip that, does it make two clips or just one of us talking in a meta fashion about Twitch clipping that?
Twitch clip that.
Right. Okay.
Zoe, you say it. Twitch clip that.
Right. It's perfect. Um I I also want that to be a soundboard. I want that like on a soundboard so I can just boop. All right. Anyway. Um so that's a thing. Um there's also going to be more captioning and some other um interesting stuff. Here's the last one. Um Oh, by the way, there's there's new trade changes to hype trains and uh

creator badge drops and some other stuff.
What fresh hell are they implementing with the hype train?
of them is really interesting. We can give people badges for being here for special events. So we might be able to like give people a badge for being here for the birthday.
Okay. That's neat. I'll take that.
Here Here's the the the one that I really um I really think is uh interesting and I'm I'm very uh excited to talk about. So currently there are three tiers of subscription on Twitch. Tier one gets you pretty much everything. Tier two gets you slightly more emotes. Tier three gets you a bunch more emotes. You can also do other things based on the tier in other places like Discord. You can have a the separate channel for higher tier subscribers
[snorts]
or whatever. They are experimenting with the idea that if you are a higher tier subscriber, tier two or three by default, and you can turn this off, you can post giffy GIFs in chat.

Which is kind of an interesting idea and I'm leaving it on for now because I know who all of our tour tier two and threes are, and I think they'll abuse this in all the right ways.
Okay.
Um but it is it is a very interesting idea. Um and I'm
I go back and forth. I I It's a pendulum.
I'm very I'm very just just see how bad it is. Uh and I am kind of interested in it as a as an experiment to like
[snorts]
give people more reasons to subscribe at higher tiers. That being said, it could also just be a nightmare, right? Like it is one of the most fascinating changes that I think I've seen Twitch suggest in a very long time, and I'm kind of excited for it even if it's an absolute train wreck.
Yeah, it's not going to It's yeah, we're

We'll find out.
Yeah, well, so here's here's the question. Are they uncurated, right? RC says allowing uncurated gifts in chat seems precarious.
I mean, Giphy is kind of curated, right?
Giphy is kind of curated, and I'm sure that there will be some amount of curation settings available on a per stream basis.
Yeah.
Right? So, like yeah, right, right, right, right, right. And like some people who are So, if if you're in chat, anyone with like the little plus one or plus two like little green badge, um has a ha is someone who could use this, right? And so, like Luna
eventually parody that, right? the uptick not the uptick, but like they'll let Twitch try a thing for a while before they throw it in. Yeah. Um cuz again, even though we love streaming on YouTube, it is not a YouTube I I think it's like Right. 5% of their business model is live streaming.
Yeah. Also, I like this. If you want to pay me to ban you, correct.

There you go.
I yeah, I don't I don't know
Right. And cuz cuz I think that this is very fair, right? Like Osiris says, "I don't consider emotes to be enough for me to up a subscription." Yeah, and I think that that's totally fair, right?
Giving them some sort of a yeah, some sort of ability that doesn't derail entirely what is going on
Yeah.
is a good thing. But I guess the dependence is does it derail?
Right. Yeah, you might have settings. We don't We don't know all of the details, right? But of the concepts announced in TwitchCon, this is very interesting.
Here's the question, Will. Here's the million-dollar question for me.
Yeah.
Will the gifts show up when we pop them up on Social Stream?
That's a really great question. I think it'll require a Social Stream update, but I God, I hope so. That'd be great.
That'd be very funny.
That would be amazing. Uh so Yeah.
Cuz I mean, we get like for instance, like we get animated emotes, right? Like
Yeah. We got Alki's Alki's not there. It's a

good
Yeah. So like I And I love seeing those on the especially like uh if I'm watching a VOD or something, I love just seeing those moving in the in the stuff.
Yep. Cool. Yeah, there's a bunch of other dry stuff, but that that was really what I wanted to say. Okay. Uh and then last up a dessert story. A A A sweet sweet story of something a very long time coming.
Perhaps something with syrup and uh butter?
Yeah, that's right. Perhaps something that involves a brawl at 3:00 a.m.
A perfect breakfast story.
That's right. Katsuhiro Harada, the director of Tekken 8, has finally, after all this time, made the great pilgrimage to Waffle House.
Which is where the after-party for my bachelor party will be.
That's correct. Now, if you're wondering why this is momentous, uh he wants to make a Waffle House stage. It's very
Well, yes and no. So, he's not he's no longer with

the with the the Tekken Group there. The but uh this has been a meme for a very long time. Uh and he's not very I like this in the story. It says, "Not known for his happy-go-lucky attitude." Uh but he asked why he should go to a Waffle House and he finally did.
Yeah.
Um He had took a bunch of pictures.
He got a menu.
always friendly and asked if he'd sell me a menu. He sold me one for $5. Next time I'll be back at 3:00 a.m. for fight time.
Yeah. It's great. I I'm very happy about this. The meme has become a reality and that's that's really all I wanted out of this out of this, which is great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And listen, maybe this is a perfect uh transition story into the discussion of the best marriages in video games because like uh Harada and Waffle House could be a wonderful marriage. That's
marriage A marriage made in brawl?
Yeah.
That's right.

So, so everybody, we asked you before what your favorite weddings in video games were. Uh I Mine personally, and you can start leaving them in chat now so we can discuss them. Mine personally, I think might be Dark Souls 3. And I don't want to spoil it if you haven't done the wedding in Dark Souls 3. But it's not like any other wedding you're going to get to. Uh and it's one of my absolute favorites. It's not what I'm basing mine on.
[snorts]
But I don't want to copy, right?
Okay.
All right. Let's see.
We got some
We got
Yeah. I'm I'm going to let you pull all these up. I'm I'm
Booster's wedding in Super Mario RPG. You fight the cake. Yes.
Yep, really good one. Yep.
That's a great one. Uh let's see. Number one best marriage in video games, madness to do me wife. That's very sweet, Twitch. Thank you very much. Yuna and Seymour from FF10. This actually I I think uh is one of my favorites. I also was

talking to Will. I think when I'm uh sometime probably late June, early July, I'm going to take a weekend day and just do a new play through on stream like all day of Final Fantasy 10. Uh maybe we'll get to the wedding there. Ghost wedding in Curse of Monkey Island. So, the entirety of the Monkey Island series for the most part is based on trying to have this marriage happen, right? Like the the I'm trying It's been a minute.
It has also been a hot minute for me.
Um let's see. Dragon Quest 5. Might not be the flashiest wedding, but it felt meaningful because it wasn't a finale. Wasn't Dragon Quest 5 also named something that was specifically marriage-based? Um Let me see. Dragon Quest 5.
I was going to put forward uh the wedding in Super Mario Odyssey. Uh because you end up fighting uh in tuxes, which was great. I thought that was great.
Hand of the Heavenly Bride is the

subtitle of of Dragon Quest 5. So, we're right there.
Okay.
Um Gordon Freeman and a crowbar. Love that will never die.
Yeah. Uh I did see I did see one that was really good.
Which ones?
Uh Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley has has really good weddings.
Uh Stardew Valley is uh great because you get to sort of choose, you know, who's involved on multiple fronts, which is great.
Uh-huh.
Um Let's see. Octodad's wedding because it's in the church of Cthulhu. A thousand percent. I couldn't get them as an officiant. Uh alas, we can't get what we want all the time. Um Fable. You can get married in Fable. You can get married in Skyrim.
Yep.
I do like Amila, this is why I I Amila, sorry. This is why I uh uh like this one. Just burying a guy just to end him, which is really really fun.
Mhm.
Um let's see. Oh.

I didn't know this cuz I never beat Final Fantasy IX. Interesting. Is that true?
I have to play Final Fantasy IX still.
Okay. Uh let's see. We got Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Final Fantasy
There's a bunch of people talking about their weddings in Final Fantasy XIV, WHERE YOU CAN
OH, YEAH. MMO WEDDINGS.
You can get married to another and and Square Enix sells like upgraded packages of like with with additional fru-frus and gifts and minions and mounts and outfits and all kinds of stuff.
I will say Oh, yeah. And then Chrono Trigger's ending four, absolutely. I will say um I don't know how many of y'all have engaged in the act of getting married and/or paying for the privilege. Um it's no surprise that Final Fantasy XIV would monetize it because literally you say the word wedding in front of any type of business and it instantly jacks the price up like 150%.
Yep.
It is bonkers. Uh let's see. Do do do do do do

why you just uh um That's That's That's why you just have a big party. You don't You don't tell them it's a wedding.
Well, oops. Uh let's see. Do do do do do do You missed so much, Pixel. We're talking about best weddings in video games.
Yep.
Scrolling down. Chrono Trigger wedding, we did that one. Last bit here, Space Mom offici Oh. Space Mom did officiate the first wedding in Warframe.
Mhm.
I believe that is correct.
Yep.
Jimmy, you're planning one now? Oh, then you know. You know.
Yep. My friends claimed their wedding was a family reunion to get better prices.
That's what you should do. You absolutely should do that.
[laughter]
I like this one from Siri. My spouse and I got married in a park by a guy who officiated with a VW manual.

Perfect. No notes.
Amazing. No notes. No notes.
Perfect.
Uh the wedding DLC for Hecto Mansion will be incredibly robust for a game that will never come out. Um but anything you can imagine, it's going to be there when it inevitably doesn't exist.
Oh.
You technically do marry Ronnie. Uh we've all been there.
[laughter]
Very wedding.
All right, so there's lots of them.
There's lots of weddings that
That actually finished. But
Yeah. All right. Well, thank you everybody for going down this this odd this odd little road with me. And Will, thank you for throwing me such a phenomenal bachelor party.
Yeah, right. Sorry the the the Shadow the Hedgehog cake has been inevitably and permanently ruined.
I guess I'll get it later.
Yeah, prob- Yeah, sure.
Like it's going to show up at like 2:00 in the morning.
Yeah, totally. Mhm. You should stay up all night waiting for the Sonic the

Hedgehog I mean, Shadow the Hedgehog cake.
Shadow the Hedgehog cake. Yeah, NO, WE DON'T WANT A SONIC the Hedgehog cake. God, no. Absolutely not.
Going to be an edgy cake.
Oh, it's Yeah, yeah. What is What is a bachelor party if not the edgiest party you can have? I Uh my IRL bachelor party was also very nice though. We went to We were in Colorado, we went skiing. It was very very good.
Very cool. Very very cool.
Yeah.
Uh chat, reminder, this is the last Monday Games for Breakfast. The next one will be not on the 15th, but on the 19th of June. We are off next week entirely. When we return, we'll be on the new schedule. Worry not, however, because there will be a design club on the 16th of June if all goes well. So, design club is moving to Tuesdays. Uh Games for Breakfast moving to Fridays so that we can get all of this week's news in as opposed to getting all of last week's news in.
And but wait, there's more. Uh basically before Will and I's hangout time with

mitigated to Mondays and Thursdays, but now it's all going to be on Fridays. We're going to have a roughly 2-hour Games for Breakfast and then we're going to play something together right afterwards on Fridays to keep the hang going. Uh so it'll be more of this if this is your particular jam. Also, uh please if you're watching this over on Nebula, thank you so much for your subscriptions there and uh you can message us over on Blue Sky if you have any things you want us to talk about in the help us prep for the coming weeks when we get back and we launch on Fridays. Um you can yeah, you can message us right there. Also, feel free to leave comments on YouTube if you're watching over there to uh ensure that we see them and uh I don't know. Keep keep the um keep the back-and-forth going because I don't know. I personally liked these two prompts because it gave us lots to talk about uh outside of what we were planning.
That is correct. Uh coming up this week, we're going to be organizing books in Librarian. Tomorrow we're checking out a tangram-based roguelite deck builder called Moon Sigil

Atlas. Wednesday we're going uh hiking in map. There will be a design club on Thursday and there will be something on Friday, but it'll probably just be a chill hangout right before our break because I'm going to be so eepy by Friday. You have no idea. So please look forward to ALL OF THAT.
YEAH, WELL THAT'S I GUESS THE ONLY THING THAT'S LEFT, TRULY, is uh to do the same ending that we do every time at the end of Games for Breakfast and the last ending of its kind for on Mondays, but we will keep it the same obviously when we move it to Friday. It's just this is going to be the last one. This is kind of special doing it this time, right? So, thank you very much everybody for joining us for Games for Breakfast and always remember that Oh, actually, wait. Hold on 1 second. We'll just hold on. I I heard THE DOORBELL.
[laughter] [screaming]
WE'RE EATING GOOD TONIGHT, BOYS. YEAH.

[groaning and screaming]