In-Game Chat

The gaming industry is kind of in a bit of dire straits at the moment. It’s odd that in the same show we talk about how many billions of dollars Steam made in only two weeks and then we end by talking about Ubisoft restructuring, Paradox losing 162% of profits, and Microsoft having pretty abysmal hardware sales. And just as I was writing this the night before posting, Intrepid studios have closed their doors and laid off all 250 odd employees. Then there’s the whole RAM and AI issue that’s just screwing up pretty much everything when it comes to this hobby and industry. The AI situation is affecting the price of RAM and now hard drives, solid state drives, and just drive space altogether. Prices have skyrocketed. AI is also affecting jobs in the industry as it is everywhere else. I’m not saying games are going to start drying up but advancement will hit a wall. Because in order to keep moving forward better computers will be needed and RAM is a part of that. As is, apparently, AI, sadly. Console generations are going to stretch beyond what we’ve previously known, as will PC upgrades. It’s all a bit gloomy really. And it’s probably going to get worse and worse before it even slightly gets what you might call “better”. So what do you do? Well, there’s very little you can do. Stop using AI is a small solution but it won’t change anything. Maybe if we all could on a global scale, sure, but that’s just wishful thinking. We’re all just going to have to ride this train to whatever station it’s taking us to and then decide if we want to stop there or keep going. Eventually, things will change. But I can’t even begin to predict when it might. All I can do is just dig into my backlog, find the indies, and pick up games or hardware on sale when it hits a price I can afford. Some of that, however, also feels like wishful thinking. Speaking of wishful thinking, Ubisoft it has been 4,549 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 1006 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

My backlog has backlogs. I am drowning in options of games to play. Especially on PC, but if you want to throw in Gamepass and PS+ go right ahead and increase those numbers. It’s a massive library of games awaiting me to play. And 99% of them I have never played before. They’re fresh and new and maybe the lot of them could suck but how would I know – I haven’t played them. As time goes on that backlog only gets larger. Having options is always a good thing but there’s a point of saturation. I crossed that point YEARS ago. I enjoy having a backlog, don’t get me wrong. It means at any given time I have something available to play. If anything pulls me, a racing game or a puzzle game or a shooter, I’m good – I’ve got something to scratch that itch if need be. But then I keep adding to the pile. This past holiday season, for instance, I added more titles to my library and I’ve yet to play near a one of them. I’ve selected two that I’ve put time in and both of those are very sort of casual, non-story-like games. It’s been a while since I dove into something meaty with a great story and compelling gameplay that keeps me coming back. Spider-Man 2 seems to be a once a week play thing and that’s fine but it’s also console and not taking advantage of ALL of my PC games that I could be playing. Again, this isn’t a complaint. It’s just an observation that each year I add to my library of games on my PC and each week on the show I tell you, mostly, of the same games I’ve been playing with nothing new to add. I really should do something about that. New year. New me. New playlist. Right after I grab this game I want that’s on sale. New year. Same Ubisoft. It has been 4,535 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 871 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.

Welcome to Season 20. Yeah, for TWENTY years now we’ve been doing this thing. Or will have by the end of this year. That’s…well, kind of a lot. For anything. And it’s all your fault. I mean, we wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for you continuing to support us every single weekend. Showing up is enough but you show up live and you show up for the YouTube videos and the podcasts. You show up when we stream (which we should do more of) and you’re even there when we can’t be (my gallbladder removal, heart attack, and Covid). You being here for us means we’ll continue to be here for you. I know that I mostly use this space to talk a bit about something we talked about in the episode or elaborate on something else within the industry but I sort of wanted to just take a moment, out of twenty years, and be very heartfelt when I say thank you. Personally, and this is just myself, Scott, speaking, you’ve all given me an unknown dream come true. I’d never dreamed I’d be able to attend events such as E3 but you got me there. Got me to London for a visit with Criterion studios and that was also a dream come true. Got me to Spokane to visit Cyan Worlds and that was also a dream come true. Far beyond what I could have ever imagined when their games set the tone for my gaming experience standard. I’ve made countless friends as both listeners and professionals in the industry. I’ve been to Seattle, Boston, and San Antonio for PAX. All of these things because of this show. That would not exist without you. And this is why I thank you all so very much for being a part of our lives for 20 years – as much, maybe, as we’ve been a part of yours. It has been an honor. Thank you so much for listening.

And so ends another year of the show. We’ve gathered some friends to talk about their year in gaming and what they’ve been playing and enjoyed. It’s a nice wrap up that doesn’t involve news of any kind be it good or bad, it’s just friends talking about games and going over the year end lists. It’s fun to reflect at times. Therapeutic almost, even with gaming. Especially when you listen to others and discover something new. Or, perhaps, you discover a different point of view on a game you had a completely different experience with. Which is, obviously, exactly how communication works. Especially among friends. All of us here at the show consider every single listener our friends. From those who just casually listen, tune in from time to time, the die-hards who show up in chat every single episode, to the ones who never say a word but still tune in down the line on YouTube or wherever. As well as everyone who’s joined our discord. We cannot thank you enough for your support not only throughout the year but throughout the life of this show as we head into our 20th season in 2026. We appreciate you. We love you. And we can’t wait to see you again on January 10th. Have a wonderful holiday season and we wish you all a fantastic new year. Listen Ubisoft, I know it won’t happen but if you could put a little speed up on that Splinter Cell to get it released next year, I could stop tracking how horrible you are treating an exceptional franchise. I’m tired of counting the days but I’m not stopping. Get it done. It has been 4,507 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 5,300 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

I won’t speak too much on the structure of The Game Awards. It’s the usual thing year in and year out. We’ve been here before and we’ll be back here again next year. Same show. Same complaints. What I will talk about is why we’re announcing games that, at the earliest, we’ll never see until 2030. I know we’ve had announcements of games far in advance before but this one feels significant, I guess. We’ve also had games announced that never got released so this isn’t all that new but it just seems a waste to put it out there while we’ll likely never hear about it again for another 2 years or maybe 3. Elder Scrolls 6 was teased back in 2018, I think, and we’ve heard nothing about it since. Perhaps it really depends on the game. Like Elder Scrolls there is a massive fan base who are familiar with waiting and waiting on the next installment though this has been a rather longer wait than ever before. And so we’re here with a Star Wars title that won’t release before 203 – again a massively large fan base who are also familiar with waiting on the next installment. Of course, they’ll need to tread lightly. We’ve waited on games and other media before for very long times only to have them arrive with massive disappointment. Eventually the waiting builds up enough hype to where it peaks before the thing even releases and by then everyone’s expectations are either so high the game never lives up to it or so low it doesn’t sell because people have already peaked their hype and moved on. Gamers have short memories, however. But I haven’t forgotten about Ubisoft. It has been 4,500 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 5,300 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

I’d like to think I’m someone who was always into the future stuff, you know? The science of Star Trek and what we’d eventually develop with technology and all of that stuff you think about as a kid watching your sci-fi or reading about the future. I was always hopeful we’d get to a point where I could really think we took some steps into making that sci-fi stuff a reality – but like, the good kind. We got there a few times. Moon landing being one of them and video phone conversations. There’s plenty to point at and be amazed. But then there’s AI. I won’t go into the pros and cons of the tech – there’s layers and layers deep of conversation to be had on that subject, philosophical or otherwise. But to just step back and look at the ripple effect of it…that’s a little disheartening. There’s many examples I could point to, but for the purpose of this show, it’s the current prices of RAM that is just bonkers crazy with how prices have skyrocketed. It started in Covid times when people started to work from home and needed more PCs which meant more RAM. So the companies made more. Too much, actually and we had a good surplus of it. Prices were pretty great. Now we have AI and companies are snatching up all they can. Because we were in a surplus, we now find ourselves with low quantities due to all the AI companies grabbing all they can where they can. And the prices are ridiculous. Much more so, the RAM makers are starting to skip over regular consumer RAM and selling ONLY to the big tech companies. And at the risk of sounding all conspiracy theorists, the government is involved in this as well. Like, I’d say the rabbit hole goes deep, but it really doesn’t. Mainly because it isn’t being hidden anymore. And the more you look into it the more depressing it becomes because it absolutely shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. An AI bubble burst is the hope, but we don’t know if that’ll ever happen and, worse yet, if there’s a chance of it happening, it is WAY off in the distant future. A lot of it feels like it’s just going to get worse before it even slightly gets better. For now, I hope you’re satisfied with the power of your PC, laptop, phone, watch, console, and any other device using RAM, because making upgrades to your PC or getting any of those other devices in the very near future is going to cost far more than it does now. Ubisoft, in the time since you’ve announced a Splinter Cell remake, your original director on the project left and has now returned. And we’re still nowhere close to a release. A remake isn’t even a part of the deal here but it’s been so long I might make an exception. It has been 4,493 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released. Also, there’s been 5,300 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

As a note, well…two notes, we won’t be doing a show next week and will return with a new episode the first Saturday in December. Secondly, there’s a point in the video portion of the show where I forgot to change the screen. Probably more entertaining really. There actually was a decent amount of news […]

It’s not black Friday yet but we already open the show talking about some great deals to be found out there. Well, currently if you have a Switch 2 and a Costco nearby, at least. I don’t know what it is for me about finding deals, but as much as people love this time of […]

I’ve never felt so judged. Actually, I’m kidding. I think going over my wishlist with someone else on air was fun, actually, and I learned how to “follow” a game instead of wishlist it. That’s the whole first hour of the show. Going over my, currently, $6,000 wishlist on Steam. Also realized I had games […]

Destiny sure did a number on me as far as games are concerned. Or maybe I did it to myself. It’s something that happens early in the show but it’s an admission to myself or a realization that Destiny has given me some type of gaming anxiety. Recently Arc Raiders released and it’s gotten a […]

Long live the indies indeed. That’s how I ended the last show post here before our little week vacation. And in that time I’ve played pretty much nothing but indie titles. Specifically Clover Pit and Ball X Pit. These two games alone dominated not only my time gaming but my off time thinking about them. […]

Show note: There’s no show next week. I failed to mention that until the VERY end of this episode. We’ll be back on October 25th. I wouldn’t say that I’m worried about the future of my hobby. I don’t expect a crash like in the early 80s or whenever that was. I think I’m just […]

It’s been a VERY long time since we’ve done an interview on the show but given the game he made, I couldn’t pass up talking to Aaron Gwynaire. He’s a solo developer and his new game “Neyyah” released last month and has been doing quite well. It’s his first game, took him seven long years […]

I don’t know that I would call it a complaint, but saying we have too many video games sure seems like a good problem to have – for the player. But having too much of anything is almost certainly going to, at least, end up being bad. I don’t know when we might see the […]

Surprise! Tariffs make things more expensive. I actually didn’t have to finish writing that. The whole smart document thing saw “tariffs make things…” and it completed the rest of it. So yeah, now we’ve got the second price hike in 6 months for Microsoft consoles. We’re at a point where if you bought a Series […]

We’d planned to bring you one of our first interviews in I don’t know how many years but some technical issues have pushed that through to next week. We’ll be talking with Aaron Gwynaire about his new game NEYYAH. As for today’s show, it’s a lot about Nintendo. Both with their Nintendo Direct held on […]

It’s been a few weeks and in that time I seemed to have found some games to actually put some time into. Nothing new, of course, but given I haven’t played them yet, they’re new to me. Recently I finished Astro’s Playroom. This was a pack-in title with the PS5. A console purchased in November […]

Just a note for the show – Labor Day is next week here so we won’t be back live until September the 6th. With Gamescom come and gone we’re sort of set for the year on upcoming releases. I mean, there’s plenty of releases to come but I don’t see anything too surprising to show […]

It’s not unlike us from time to time to sort of stray off topic for a little bit. And by “us”, I mean “me”. And that’s the case early in this episode and throughout as I try and remember the very first comic book I ever read. At some point I’m going to have to […]

Still haven’t found a game to hold my attention in recent weeks and now, seemingly, months it feels like. I have a lot of quick games I play. Little things that I can spend however much time I want with them and back out whenever. But nothing on a story driven basis or anything like […]