Home
Artists
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register
Partychan Telegram ThePornDude
Home Artists Posts Import Register

Defining Duke, Episode 111: The Thread (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-13 18:02:21
Imported:
2023-02

Content

Hey All! 

It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 111 of Defining Duke. 

Great ways to get your write-up used: Be pithy, be topical, and be insightful. Walls-of-text, posts littered with poor grammar and punctuation, etc., are promptly (though respectfully) ignored. 

As this is an Xbox podcast, be sure your submission makes sense within that realm. You have until Wednesday, 2/15 at 3 PM ET to make your submission.

Comments

Anonymous

Sup Dukes With Microsoft admitting that GamePass is cannibalising game sales on the platform, not that this should surprise anyone. But does this help explain why third parties treat Xbox is a lower priority or skip the system entirely (Square enix)? And does this explain why the acquisitions are so important for their business model Have a ‘I accidentally left a detailed genitalia mod in my next gen update’ kind of day

AlexDiesTwice

Hello, Dukes! Simple question this week, what the hell happened to Map Designers in this industry? Did they all leave alongside for the UI Designers? Halo Infinite, Destiny 2, COD MW2,BF 2042,etc etc. All these games are having trouble creating new maps to be delivered in the same timespan they used to give us map packs. What gives? Not even Call of Duty, which since Black Ops IV has had a terrible amount of support for post launch releases. What Gives? Hope you have a "Monster Hunter Rise is so good but it has some competition coming its way soon" kind of day.

TheMuff1nMon

Hello Dukes! Writing in today about Atomic Heart - wondering if either of you have seen the video that went viral (currently at 1.6M views) called "Please, Don't Buy Atomic Heart" and if you had thoughts about the controversy that seems to have cropped up on social media as a result with people who now want to play the game being labeled as "Pro-Russian". Have a "I tried to play Persona 3 Portable but Tartarus sucks so I'm waiting for that remake" kind of day

Nathan Densley

Question for the Xbox Gentlemen: Double Fine released another set of documentary episodes about the making of Psychonauts 2, called PsychOdyssey. They have done this in the past. Have either of you watched any of these? If so, are they worth a watch for the sake of learning the ups and downs creative process?

Anonymous

Hello duks, what are your thoughts about the new documents published by Microsoft were they state that new games released day one on gamepass as show that it can cannibalized the purchase of games, and more importantly is a complete 180 of past statements form Phil. Have a there is nothing to play until the 28th kind of day.

Lucius Augustus

Hello Dukes, WIRED published an article about Hogleg last week that caused the internet to light on fire. Though I recognize that all reviews are opinions, my understanding was a game review is an opinion based on the game product. The WIRED article mentioned very little about the game itself and when it did, it did so with such vagueness that it doesn’t pass the sniff test that the person actually played the game. How did you gentlemen feel about the review if you've read it, and do “reviews” like this (that seem to stem from bath faith) poison the well for WIRED specifically but publications in general in the eyes of publishers and the public? And on a personal note, have y'all ever asked someone for something and they gave you their whole life story without actually answering your question?

ZipDavis

Hello Heat Action Dukes, It’s February which means Yakuza Ishin will be out soon! Matty are you interested as a fan of the older Yakuza titles? How about Cog being an old school kung fu movie fan? I really want more Japanese games to do well on Xbox. The Personas & Hi-Fi Rush are giving me hope but the momentum needs to continue. Thanks and have a delicious strawberry cream cornet kind of day.

Nevets

Dear Dukes, I am writing to say that I see all this chaos with Xbox admitting that Game Pass makes game "sell less". I'm here to say, it gets more player engagement. It can get players in and excited for the next game. I've played lots of games on Game Pass that I would not have touched any other way. I have also bought some of the games that I have played on Game Pass. Wanting to go back later and experience them again. Game Pass gets me hyped for the next game and becomes a day 1 purchase for me. Games are selling because of Game Pass! How do you think this will affect Game Pass deals in the future? Have a "oh crap, I have to beat a JRPG before it leaves Game Pass" kind of day.

Echos93

Good day Dookie boys!! With Microsoft finally admitting that gamepass "cannibalizes" their own game sales, can we finally admit that gamepass while an amazing bang for your buck for us gamers, isn't a viable revenue income for the Xbox brand? I'm curious what you guys have to say about this, but I also see this as an excuse for Microsoft to solidify their gamepass price increase that's eventually coming. What say you and have a "I downloaded 5 games on gamepass but only have time to play 1 game kinda day."

Anonymous

Greetings Dukes. I was just wondering how people can defend certain switch ports. When the experience is so compromised. That the game itself cannot be called 'a port'. Such as Doom 2016. That game isn't even 60fps by which is the core part of the gameplay experience. Furthermore, the Witcher gets defended as an 'impossible port'. However, it looks so terrible in motion. That I cannot tolerate it. This comes on the back of the Games Media. All advocating for a new Sony handheld. But I've seen games like elden ring on the Steam Deck. It's 800p with low texture settings. I just cannot accept the compromised experience. When I'm reminded of playing the 'full fat experience' on my PS5 instead. Have a great 'I finally started finishing my backlog from last April. Which begun with FFVII: Remake Intergrade' kind've day.

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Sir Dukes of Normandy, I've seen a lot of articles about the cannabalization of game sales after their addition to Gamepass. My first reaction was, who cares? Secondly, it was isn't this obvious? As long as a transaction between two companies is voluntarily agreed to, who cares? Assuming rational actors were involved, the deal had value to both parties engaged in the deal. I then went to look at what was being quoted in the articles. In short, the articles all seemingly quoted the same interview with Phil Spencer, aka Special P, where he talked about games on Gamepass seeing a bump in sales. The articles then quoted the CMA documents where Microsoft revealed games saw a redacted percentage decrease in base sales 12 months after the game was added to gamepass. I'm an economics guy and both these statements could be true. Sales could increase in the first few months after a games' entry onto Gamepass but have a decline from pre-Gamepass time to 12 months after Gamepass. Without knowing hard numbers and dates, I'm not sure these statements mean anything concrete. In the end, I trust my first reaction and trust companies act in their own self interests so there isn't a lot to fuss about. Have a I-Wish-That-guy-explained-that-in-less-words kind of day

Jordan Falduto

This one is mainly for Matty, but I'm interested if Cog happens to have a story too. Have you ever just bailed on a review? Since you work for yourself and no one is there to hover over you and hold you accountable - have you every just said forget it and dropped a video you were partway done with?

Anonymous

Hey Dukes, Long time listener, first time caller. Do you have any games that stand out in your minds because they helped you get through a tough time in life? For example, I have a strong love for Kingdom Hearts 2, as I was in the midst of my first encounter with depression at the time. Looking back, The charm of that game was exactly what I needed to start finding the light again (the normal light, not kingdom hearts confusing light). To this day, when I feel another depression wave coming on I find myself going back for another romp with Sora and friends. Thanks for all the great content, and have an "I think I left my plasma cutter in the bathroom" kind of day.

Anonymous

Hello Man-juice Matty and Baby-batter Cog, Last week, Microsoft revealed its AI integration into Bing to usurp Google's dominance in the search market. While the current focus is on search; Matt Booty had previously expressed interest (Colin covered this in a previous SS segment) in training AI to perform QA testing to assist game development. I believe it's only a matter of time before Chat-GPT-like AI systems percolate deep into gaming. As a game developer, Matty- are there any aspects of this sudden explosion of AI technologies that excite/scare you? And as a journalist and given your role with ILP, Cog- what are your thoughts about Microsoft's expanded focus on AI integration into their platforms? Thanks, and have a- I clicked on a youtube video titled "Todd Howard on Elder Scrolls 6 new features" and heard Godd Howard talk about Argonian tiddies kinda day.

Anonymous

Hey Dunkin Dukes I recently started playing the Trails series based on Mattys rec. Now I have one problem: I suck at tactics and JRPGs. Do you guys any combat afvice for a JRPG beginner? I know combat systems are different in various games but maybe there are some general tips and advice that can help me out. PS. Golden Oreos are underrated. Have a good one! Thanks, Jacob

OTTAPPS

My Dukes, I can’t sit in silence any longer. Matty needs to take pride in his Xbox profile and the achievements he earns himself. A couple of times in passing I have heard Matty smugly proclaim that other people have access to his Xbox Account and have earned achievements on his behalf. The final straw was during the Pentiment Spoilercast when he revealed that his brother played through it after him and was “popping achievements” that he had missed. I could just imagine Matty strolling into the room, leaning against the door frame, taking a bite of his apple, nodding to himself with a shit eating grin as his Gamerscore was ticking up without having to lift a finger. Surely the man has to take some pride in his profile, what he has achieved and not have others doing it on his behalf? In all seriousness, are you protective over your gaming accounts and ensuring the achievements you earn are your own or am I a mad man? I think I know Matty’s answer… Have a “I am 5 weeks into this exercise malarky and still ache like a mother F’er” kind of day x x

Lucius Augustus

Hello Dukes, I gotta call the media on this reporting. It really surprised me how quickly the news of "Microsoft said that GP cannibalizes sales" went through the news and was copied from one publication to the next, unfortunately no one did any research beyond the first person and they seem to misunderstand what the document actually said. So of the two sections in the document that talk about the sales going down because of game pass. One of them is talking about a future scenario where ABK games are on GP and because of the successful B2P nature of all Activision titles it makes sense that you would lose sales on one of the biggest games sold every year (Section 7 part 83 page 99). The other one is talking about game sales going down after one year of coming to Gamepass but unless your name is Nintendo your game sales go down after a few months anyway much less a full year (Section 5 part 61 through 64 page 58). Yet all of that context is removed from these articles and what you have left is a merged concept of both sections that turns into "Microsoft said that GP cannibalizes sales" but that isn't really true when you look at the document itself. They are also using these future and present statements as a way to attack what Phil said in an interview 5 years ago. Despite those comments also having their own context of him talking about Forza Horizon 4 and State of Decay 2 not about ALL games that hit gamepass. So when you see all of the context surrounding this narrative it makes me trust these people even less. The media took a future projection and used that to infer the present while also judging statements in the past and using this future projection to claim that Phil was lying in the past. You can't make this shit up. I hope y'all have a "vet everything Microsoft says, but believe any and all negative Microsoft news" kinda day.

Guns vs Kittens

Greetings scientifically curious Dukes, Et tu, Matty? I thought I would get some sympathy after the microwaved poptart story, but it appears I was mistaken. Shoutout to the dukes that came to my defense, I see you. I'll wrap up the oreo arc of the DD by saying that since the Dukes roasted me, I manned up and made some melted oreos for my friends on Rock Band night and they were pleasantly surprised! To follow up, Cog was right. This is a quick in and out situation, if you have made cream of oreo soup you are doing something terribly wrong and should be punished. The end goal is that they are just slightly melted but still held together, like a grilled cheese. The method of heat doesn't matter so the microwave is simply the most convenent. I WILL however rightfully take the L by saying "nuke" reffering to just a few seconds in there, I only did it because I thought it would appeal to the Fallout fan. Have a "I tried to showed my friends the hilarious response to my write in, but now they keep calling me Double Stuffed Man Juice" kind of day.

DarkRod99

Hi Dukes, There's been reports where Microsoft disclosed that GamePass cannibalize game sales. So what do you make of this, Phil said before that GamePass helped increase sales of the titles but now it hurts sales? Will this hurt future GamePass deals and relationship with other developers since let's be honest unless the GamePass bag is really good, Game sales is the primary revenue source for these publishers/developers , and can we trust what Phil says from now on? Have a "Can Xbox have a month where is just positive news!!" kind of day!

Sam Lee

Hello fellows, while it should be obvious that a game will sell less when added to a very generously priced service, what about the sales when a game leaves Game Pass or is having a discount? I might be mistaken but I skimmed through the report and found no mention of this data. Do you think that data is important to accurately asses if Game Pass is indeed cannibalizing sales? Have a 'styled pubic hair and visible labia' for Valentines Day.

Anonymous

Hey Dukes, Do you guys think Microsoft will ever follow Sony's and Nintendo's lead by locking entire games behind their subscription service? Right now, I can purchase every single game on Game Pass as someone not subscribed to the service. Meanwhile, Nintendo fans are excited to subscribe to play GBA games, and Sony has subscription-exclusive content that can only be played from the cloud. Have consumers proven that they will readily pay for subscription-exclusive content on the other console platforms?

Anonymous

Hey Dukes, Can you guys address the whole “XBOX admints that Game Pass is hurting sales” story that every game journalist is running with over the last few days? 1. That’s not what they said in the CMA response 2. There are as many or more examples of it helping sales dramatically. 3. It very much feels like a PS-bias media spin machine regurtating fanboy talking points It is very weird that, GamePass, something with incredible value for gamers getting back into the hobby is being so aggressively attacked by the media compared to the anti-consumer behavior by Sony and Nintendo over the last few years. Feels like gatekeeping. Have a “tell me you grew up playing only on PS without telling me you only played on PS” kind of day.

joseph lemons

Hey Matty & Cog, be sure to check out the Double Fine Doc they just put up on their YouTube Channel it’s pretty bomb. Have an awesome day ❤️

Anonymous

Good afternoon Dukes, Let’s say hypothetically Starfield is pushed to the fall of this year and Avowed also launched somewhere within a couple months of it, do you think Avowed could end up overshadowing Starfield much in the same way The Witcher 3 did for Fallout 4? While thematically they are different, on a mechanical and genre level they are comparable. I’m excited for both but I view Obsidian as a sleeping giant that with Avowed’s launch will finally awaken. They have always been held back by time and money, both of which shouldn’t be a problem now. Even with those constraints they went on to make sequels for established franchises that many say match or surpass the work of the original studio. I do think Starfield will sell more but I could definitely see the critical reception for Avowed being better and over time it being more beloved. Would love to hear what you guys think. Have a you find out someone you respect likes Kraft Mac and Cheese kind of day.

Anonymous

Hey Dukes, With the success of Spider-Man and eventual Wolverine game for Sony. Should Microsoft try to lock down their own superhero games? I would love a new Arkham Batman game.

Andrew M

My fine dukes! I originally didn’t have a write in for this week but upon hearing the news from Matty about not be able to attend the event in Houston I just thought I would send in this: Don’t ever beat yourself up over taking care of yourself Matty. It will get harder and harder for you to provide us with the great content you do if you’re not taking care of yourself. I hope that you find the solutions to your health needs and don’t beat yourself up along your journey towards health. Ps. My dad and I are now playing through the Mass Effect Trilogy together over stream and having a blast. He did a paragon Shep in his first playthrough and now I’m showing him renegade femshep and he’s loving it. Best Regards to you both! Andrew M

Jamie Anderson

Hey guys, So with how well made and practically bug free Hogwarts is. Why do you think it is that mostly every other AAA game is broken in some way or another ? When hogwarts is made by a studio who have never made a AAA game before this its kind of embarrassing for everyone else.

Quinnton from Seattle
>>101918804

I''m not trying to be critical but hasn't Avalanche made several AAA games for Disney? Am I missing something, like they were AA?

UnkemptHawk

Hey Dukes, I have a bit of a strange problem I wanted to share with you guys - so, while I absolutely love listening to gaming podcasts and keeping up with gaming news, it's really dawned on me that I hardly ever sit down and actually play games these days. Maybe once every few months I'll get wrapped into a game and spend a whole weekend on it, but then its weeks and weeks of basically no gaming time. Part of me wonders if this is just a sort of dry spell, but with so many fantastic games to play, I'm a little perplexed by this situation. That being said, have you guys ever went through a "dry spell" with gaming, and if so, what brought you out of it? Also, do you have any recommendations for me to rekindle my desire to game?

Broderick Fleming

Hey Dukes, Sunday the 19th is my birthday, but also a difficult day for me. In 2021, I unknowingly spent the entirety of my birthday at my dad’s death bed as he passed just two days later. Now, I almost can’t help but tie my birthday to those events. However, not to make this all dreary and depressing, I just wanna say thank you guys for helping make this day easier. I have a massive backlog of DD/DDU content to get through and that’s how I’m spending my birthday! As always, let’s remember that (mental) Health is Wealth!

Anonymous

Hey Dukes, I just wanted to let people know Mlb the show 23 is doing a tech test and it free on xbox consoles. It's available 2/15.

Benji BOP

Howdy Dukes, Regarding the "Xbox is cannibalizing Sales" news last week, do you guys feel Playground has already shown the best business model to release a game day and date? Forza Horizon 5 had the upgrade to premium add-on listed for $50. So not only did forza fans with gamepass feel compelled to buy it, as they already were saving $60 and could justify the purchase. But the add-on actually cost $10 more than just buying the premium version of the game, which works in playground's favor. And with 5 million people playing in the early window, it was safe to say that strategy was a success. Do you think we will see more developers try this? Thanks as always, have a great week!

Nicholas Brilhart

Greetings "Rest my sweet angel" Matty and "See you in Texas" Cog. This past week Double Fine dropped a 32 part making of documentary showcasing the development of Psychonauts 2. The industry is no stranger to these sorts of behind the scenes looks, but I'm curious if there are any upcoming titles for the Xbox ecosystem you'd be interested in seeing these for? Also with the introduction of Developer Directs and a shrinking marketing budget within Xbox do you think we will be less likely to see these going forward? Stay sexy. Stay healthy. I love you both. Peace.

Hayden Glass

Howdy Dukes! I wanted to ask what is your opinion on pirating games? While not Xbox related, Im seeing more and more people talk about pirating Nintendo games after the $70 price increase, and Saudi Arabia’s growing stake in the company. So I was curious what you guys thought about game piracy, have you ever pirated a game and for what reason? Appreciate the content and hope you get better Matty!

9-11 is a reference to MGS 2

Hello my brothers in Christ, I recently read the upsetting news about Matty not being able to attend Last Stand Media Live show in Texas. Of course health is wealth as we always say and I’m glad you capitalized on it and hope you are able to recover. I do, however, have a proposition for you. What if you could still do a presentation for but it’s either a live video call or prerecorded? Or who knows maybe this was already in the works?? Either way I hope to see my boy Matty in some form. Stay healthy and stay safe gents, much love from your boy Patches.

Broderick Fleming

Hey Dukes, While not entirely gaming related, I wanted to share my “Health is Wealth” story: I’ll be listening to this on my birthday, the 19th. However, my birthday haven’t been good days the past few years. In 2021, I spent my entire birthday at my dad’s death bed and now I can’t help tying my birthday to my dad’s death. However, I’m pushing myself to make a change this year: I’ll be spending the day binging DD/DDU content and cherishing all the good memories we had instead of that one terrible day. As always, take care of yourselves physically and especially mentally, a task I’ll be working to improve. Thanks guys!

RK128

Hey Dukes, Just want to wish Matty well, seeing his post about the LSM Live event. Health comes first and you know all of us here respect your decisions man. Stay healthy and maybe you could let Cog speak for you on the over rated game stuff. Have a ‘Phil better stop lying’ kinda day.

Dick Justice

Greetings Dukes of Snacking Etiquette, So with the recent documents acknowledging game pass eats into sales many are coming out with the "Phil Lied!" energy that I frankly don't understand. If you watch the interview the quote the sight comes from he's talking about how the exposure game pass gives games can lead to an increase in sales. On top of that this is an interview from 2018! Almost 5 years ago and in that time game pass has tripled it's subscriber base. Why can't people understand that something that was true five years ago may not be true today? P.S. microwaving pop tarts is a pro move.

Michael Thew

Hey fellas, I got a question about the gaming scene that we’ve gotten in the last 10 years. I’ve been a gamer since 1987ish and gaming seemed to just be more special and less cynical than today. The Nintendo powers and EGMs of the world would hype up games and it would just seem to be a more of a special of a time. N64, PlayStations, and Dreamcast launches where just huge and it wasn’t so negative. Even the sega and Nintendo console wars era, seemed to just be fun and we as kids where just happy to play games. I think now there are to many voices. Do you think gaming has become too big and accessible, so instead of bringing up the medium with excitement like in the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. And now it’s more about being controversial and trying to bend gaming into something, instead of just letting it be what it wants to be? Examples being gamergate, crunch, how much games are or inclusion that every game needs to be for everyone. It’s seems at times that most gamers don’t even enjoy games anymore Thanks guys Mike