This is a disaster waiting to happen

0:00 Every openw world game is now just a list of chores that nonetheless I will

0:05 still pay $70 to do because my real

0:08 chores involve actual dirt and potentially uncomfortable self-reflection.

0:12 You know what?

0:12 How about we do some gaming news?

0:14 Huh?

0:15 A new Steam game called Pikmon has put

0:18 the shamelessly Pokemon inspired POW World to shame.

0:22 Pikmon developer Pocket Game, not to be confused with Pocket Pair,

0:26 the developer of Palworld, has birthed a Frankenstein mesh of stolen aesthetics.

0:31 The trailer immediately opens with a discount Breath of the Wild.

0:35 Link, we're cutting.

0:36 We're ripping them off, too.

0:37 Running off a cliff with his favorite sidekick, literally Pikachu.

0:41 The pair hanglide off to explore a new adventure and are definitely not running

0:45 away from the offscreen Nintendo hired legal

0:48 ninjas trying to serve them a seasoned desist.

0:51 Then you've got an alt Charizard on the cover which appears to be based

0:55 on a lightly Charizard inspired Powworld Pal which

0:59 Pikmon then recolored to look like Charizard again.

1:03 It's a remake of a ripoff of a reboot.

1:05 Disney wishes it had this kind of recycling program.

1:08 They even stole Palworld's major innovation,

1:11 which was to take creatures that already have

1:14 sometimes worldending superpowers and give them gatling guns.

1:18 The game even copies some of POW World's more original pals,

1:22 like this grass-type elephant thing.

1:25 And Roadhog from Overwatch makes an appearance.

1:29 You know, why not?

1:31 What are they going to do?

1:32 Sue us?

1:33 Despite all this undeniable theft, in Pikmon,

1:36 you catch monsters using cards instead of Pokeballs or PAL spheres?

1:42 you know, because they had to squeeze in at least one semi- original,

1:46 convoluted idea that has never been done before.

1:50 I'm pretty sure this has been done before, too.

1:52 Um, I just want to go home and play Slay the Spire 2,

1:56 although for me, you know, it's lacking some of the story.

2:00 Uh, Hades, I feel like Hades is more I I might play Marathon.

2:04 Valve has released a public statement responding

2:06 to New York State suing them over loot boxes,

2:10 arguing that their cosmetic crates are functionally identical to physical

2:14 blind boxes like Pokémon and Magic the Gathering card packs,

2:18 which are famously not used as a slightly

2:20 more socially acceptable form of gambling.

2:23 It's only for fun.

2:25 Valve also takes issue with the state attorney general's demand

2:29 that they disable playerto-player trading and implement global age tracking.

2:34 Valve flat out refused,

2:36 calling transferability a fundamental consumer right and stating they won't

2:42 comply unless an actual law forces them to do it.

2:46 It didn't work when I used this with my parents, but it might work for them.

2:50 Meanwhile, across the pond, Europe is attacking manipulative gaming tactics

2:55 with major changes to their rating system.

2:57 Starting in June, games featuring paid random items,

3:01 loot boxes, will earn a Peggy 16 rating,

3:04 while NFTTS and unrestricted online chat earn a strict Peggy 18.

3:10 They're even targeting FOMO mechanics like punishing

3:12 players for breaking a daily login streak,

3:15 a mechanic which will earn the game at least a Peggy 12 rating.

3:19 A game's rating can drop down to a seven

3:22 if it includes built-in controls that disable spending by default.

3:27 And while features like that are rare right now,

3:29 the change is clearly designed to force developers hands in a good way.

3:32 Others will no doubt try to skirt regulation.

3:35 Maybe they could try something like

3:36 renaming loot boxes to surprise-based progression opportunities.

3:42 That sound Yeah, that'll work.

3:43 Sony has been quietly running a dynamic pricing experiment

3:47 on the PlayStation store since November of last year.

3:50 This news comes from the price tracking site PS,

3:54 which detected the experiments identifier tags

3:57 buried in the PlayStation store's API.

3:59 And this isn't an Uber surge pricing

4:01 thing where prices rise or fall for everyone.

4:04 Different users are being shown different prices for the same games

4:08 with only some players being offered discounts of up to 27.8.

4:13 8% very specific on titles like Hell Divers 2 and both

4:18 The Last of Us and The Even Less of Us.

4:21 The test has grown from 50 games in 30

4:24 regions to over 190 games across 70 plus regions,

4:27 including the US, which only joined this test in early March.

4:32 In one particularly egregious case,

4:34 some users actually got 56% off Hell Divers 2, while everyone else only got 25%.

4:40 Now, Sony hasn't commented on this, but the theory is that prices

4:45 change for specific users based on their activity on the platform,

4:49 which games they've already bought, time spent in those games, etc.

4:53 It is worth pointing out that the current tests only show prices going down,

4:57 but you got to remember that the whole point of pricing elasticity

5:00 is to find out how much money people are willing to pay.

5:04 So, it might not stay this way.

5:06 So wait, if I only ever play Uncharted on my PS5,

5:10 literally only Uncharted, does that mean I eventually get Uncharted 2 for free?

5:16 Be the other way, Riley.

5:17 You think so?

5:18 Yeah.

5:18 Well, I think you should check out our sponsor, HTC Viverse,

5:23 the web-based platform for creating and exploring

5:26 interactive virtual worlds in three dimensions.

5:31 Wow.

5:32 Unlock all these dimensions on any device, computer, phone,

5:36 VR headset with no sign up or installation needed.

5:39 Just hop on the information superighway

5:41 and go to worlds.viverse.com to explore realworld places,

5:45 educational content, art, and games like Voodoo Detective,

5:49 which delivers an experience using the dimensions of voice acting,

5:52 live soundtracks, and handdrawn animations.

5:56 HTC Viverse is a developer first platform that's open- source friendly,

6:00 so there's always new stuff showing up.

6:02 Maybe one day it'll be that elusive

6:04 fourth dimension Christopher Nolan keeps making movies about.

6:07 He's obsessed.

6:08 Transport into virtual adventures with HTC Viverse using our link today.

6:13 You know what never seems like a chore?

6:15 Doing the quick bits.

6:17 They made me say that.

6:18 That's a help.

6:19 Microsoft had a pretty good time at GDC this year,

6:22 sharing new details on Project Helix,

6:24 their nextgen Xbox that will play PC games.

6:27 The company's promising an order of magnitude

6:30 leap in ray tracing over current gen consoles, plus multiframe generation,

6:35 enhanced backwards compatibility with games from all four generations of Xbox,

6:39 and free back rubs on demand.

6:41 Just please buy this console.

6:43 to help gamers make the right decision.

6:45 As of this week, the company has scrubbed nearly all traces

6:49 of the infamous This is an Xbox campaign from its website.

6:53 You know, the one that told you everything except an actual Xbox was an Xbox.

6:59 And just in time, because I was beginning to wonder

7:02 whether the new Xbox would even be an Xbox.

7:06 Fallout 3 Remastered might have just been outed,

7:09 not by Bethesda, but by a toy company.

7:13 McFarland Toys posted a listing on the Bro Depot website for an elite edition

7:19 7in Fallout 3 remastered T45B Nucaccola figure

7:25 with a release date of August 2026.

7:28 Bethesda hasn't officially announced the remaster, but at this point,

7:31 it wouldn't be surprising considering they shadow dropped Oblivion last year.

7:36 Whoever it was at McFarland that did

7:37 this, you clearly didn't have enough points in Sneak.

7:41 You have become vilified by Bethesda's PR department.

7:45 Star Wars First Assault, the unreleased beta of a multiplayer shooter that was

7:50 cancelled 13 years ago when Disney shut down Lucas Arts,

7:54 is now playable on PC thanks to a community

7:57 of fans who just really wanted to play it.

7:59 The game was meant to be a stepping stone towards

8:02 the original Battlefront 3 and plays like Call of Duty on Tatooine.

8:07 Getting it running requires a modded version of the Zenia Xbox 360 emulator,

8:12 so it's not exactly a one-click install,

8:15 but it's cool to see pieces of Star Wars history finally get a chance at life.

8:20 Hey, so is Grou going to be a baby forever or what?

8:23 Disney Jeff Kaplan, the former director of Overwatch

8:27 and lead world designer of World of Warcraft,

8:30 has revealed he left Blizzard after receiving an impossible financial ultimatum.

8:35 Kaplan told Lex Friedman how executives aggressively

8:39 overpromised the Overwatch League to billionaire investors,

8:42 framing it as having the potential to be bigger than the NFL.

8:46 Okay.

8:47 When reality struck and the league's

8:49 expected revenue projections were grounded in reality,

8:52 the CFO demanded Kaplan meet impossible targets or see 1,000 developers fired.

8:59 Kaplan ultimately resigned after 20 years at Blizzard,

9:02 pursuing other projects and passions, such as working on his new indie game,

9:07 The Legend of California, which is not about the real California,

9:11 but the mythical island of California.

9:14 Back in the day, everyone thought California was an island.

9:17 You know what?

9:17 Look it up.

9:18 And great news, Wikipedia is now a gotcha game.

9:21 A Japanese solo developer called Harasugi created Wiki Gotcha,

9:26 a free browser-based card game that turns

9:29 every Wikipedia article into a collectible trading card.

9:33 You open packs, get five random cards, and their rarity, attack,

9:37 and defense stats are all based on the actual articles quality ranking,

9:42 page views, and length.

9:44 You can even battle other players with your decks.

9:47 I challenge anyone in the audience to beat

9:49 my ultra rare 1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg deck.

9:55 You will never beat me.

9:57 Now, if you'll excuse me, I have actual dishes to do.

10:00 And since those don't come with an XP bar or an Xbox achievement,

10:05 this is going to be miserable.

10:06 But hey, look on the bright side.

10:08 We'll both have more news to distract us next Thursday.

10:11 Be here.

10:12 Uh, next