Q&A: November 1st, 2023 (Patreon)

Q&A's are supposed to be bi-weekly, so terribly sorry this one has been repeatedly absent. Lots to answer this time around! So...

Ze Nightman Asks
Do you feel that the AAA field has been extremely diluted by marketing departments focusing on aspects which don't matter that much for the regular guy wanting to play something entertaining and engaging?  

AAA's been diluted due to a race to the bottom.

The bottom being people's immediate attention, praying upon people's impulses and addictions via studies and telemetries. It's good to see the recent bump in successful singleplayer games and more people getting tired of games changing themselves up for the sake of attention and revenue, though I don't expect this race to the bottom to change until regulations are in place to discourage them.

This isn't just going to resolve itself by making "better" games, and in many ways, 2023 being such a great year for games, yet still laced with the same overabundance of overscoped, overhyped, and obnoxious games, speaks to this.

The Phantomnaut Asks
Have you tried out Remedy’s CrossfireX campaigns before they got delisted and be only available in China? Also is it weird for me to think that they did it to help fund Alan Wake 2’s development?

Remedy has done a lot of things to fund Alan Wake 2's development.

Sam Lake always said we'd get to play it, and the company was willing to take a couple pay-gigs to fund their passion.

I wanted to play CrossfireX but didn't have an Xbox at the time, and now, I will never be able to experience Remedy's pay gig first hand. That might not sound sad, but I am sad about it, because this shouldn't keep happening.

Zigo Asks
Do you tend to play an entire video game series to play one episode of a series, for example The Witcher series, did you play the 2 preceding Wild Hunt or not?

Depends.

I intend on starting with Devil May Cry from the beginning, but Witcher, I played Assassin of Kings, disliked it, then tried Wild Hunt a few years later, loved it, but I don't hold much desire to go back.

GiantPurplePen15 Asks
What are your thoughts on the state of video game preservation?  Any specific games you would like to see somehow preserved forever?

It's amazing and awful at the same time.

On the one hand, even video game content preservation got an amazing boom recently via NoClips efforts to upscale a collection of games coverage from years past in HD.

On the other hand, CrossfireX got shut-down in one year including its single-player campaign.

It's a battle...

Mastiffio Asks
Have you ever thought doing a years later on the midnight club games?

Honestly, I thought about doing Midnight Club 3 immediately after Most Wanted, as I played through the game in its entirity for probably the third time in my life immediately after releasing that video.

Though, that's where my experinece begins and ends with the series.

Were I to cover Midnight Club, it probably woudln't be a years later.

OmegaXLRT Asks
A game series you wish would get a spiritual successor, if not an outright new game?

I've always wanted a successor to Goldeneye/Perfect Dark style of games. I know there's Agent 64, but when I say succesor, I don't mean a one-to-one recreation of its core-gameplay, but an iteration on that style of objective driven/sandbox shooter.

One where the goals are more flexible in how the player can get to them.

Snuron Asks
I've seen you've recommended animes like Spy x Family or Cyberpunk Edgerunners in Patreon.   What about Western cartoons? (Duck Dodgers, Beavis and Butt-head or Regular Show) Is there one you like watching?

That's quite the tone shift.

I adore shows like Arcane and Avatar, so I'm not at all opposed to Western Cartoons. I'm honestly not sure if I really separate them in my mind from Anime.

At the end of the day, show's engaging, I'll watch it, don't care where or how its done.

Rabotyaga Asks
What do you think about 2023's massive layoffs in gaming companies? Will this result in more gamedev veterans forming more indie studios? Will it scare off potential newcomers to this industry that initially wanted to work under a big name?

Vets have already been forming more studios, probably because they saw the writing on the wall. I don't think it'll scare off newcomers, as nothing seems to scare them off, but I do think even more of these studios are going to fall under due to the economic environment we're in.

Tons of them went to Microsoft not out of desire, but survival.

Submit your questions in the comments below, for future Patreon Q&A's.