The Giant Beastcast: Episode 275

Alex is indeed 100% wrong about people not wanting to buy consoles and specifically PS5. We have never spent as much money on entertainment as we are now.

I also want to make the point that north America is several degrees more fucked than other parts of the world, so the fact that this "Pre-order" campaign is US only makes a whole lot of sense. Yes of course they're testing the waters.. where C19 hit the hardest. Its not a gray area scam to push more units, its research.

@zoofame: Stadia isn’t a side project, it’s a paid service that won’t go to an alleged Google Graveyard. Game streaming is the future, everyone is getting into it now, because tech companies are seeing the writing in the wall. Google will keep Stadia alive. Also, their customer service for Stadia is pretty great, and you can easily get full refunds on any games you pay for, like instantly. No waiting for a ticket to be processed and potentially denied.

I don't buy the argument that Stadia has a limited library still. The library is getting there and they have been pretty good to have at least a handful of new games each month to play. September is huge for Stadia with something like 8 to 12 games coming over the month. I can't remember exactly but Stadia isn't going anywhere.

I feel like most people would agree to the button job and then treat it like every other boring/tiring job and slack off even though they've agreed to pay full attention and efforts to their tasks.

Is it just my feed, or isn't the premium feed up yet?

Undo the belt, button and fly, push down front of undies and pee! All you weiner fishers have pee-pee dribbles running down your legs!

Seriously. Acting like undoing your belt is some laborious chore is so silly. It's less work than maneuvering your hand through all that fabric to pull your dick out.

If you have regular boxers which are a looser fabric i can kinda get it, but if you wear briefs/boxer briefs then fuck that noise. Just pull the front down.

Did anyone else get sad hearing that Vinny and Alex would rather do nothing but stare at a button for 4 hours than do this job for 8? Your work is very much appreciated!

Please enjoy your vacation Vinny, and it's Alex's turn next!

@peffy: I think where you're thinking it is negative, I am thinking it is logical.

Spiderman being a small "side story", Playroom, and a Backwards compatible game isn't really enough for most people even as an enthusiast. Especially if you have a Pro, but even if you have a PS4 its not enough.

When I got a XB1, I got AC: Black Flag, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3, Killer Instinct, NFS: Rivals, Battlefield 4 and Ryse. And I knew Titanfall was coming. And all in all my TV felt alive with the sounds of higher resolution gaming, the sound quality was amazing, I even got Zoo Keeper and used the Kinect (my mom fed some giraffes - she thought it was kinda scary on a big screen tv). Those aren't 10/10 games but that is a lineup of several different kinds of neat games that I knew I could buy when I bought the console and they were all considerably higher res than XB360 by a country mile.

This is just my experience but I think logically the argument for getting in on day 1 is slimmer than ever. What are your thoughts?

@aktane: Well, yes of course each individual's mileage will vary. But I still don't think that Alex's idea that new consoles will have trouble selling is likely. Maybe it could happen in the US, which seems to be the most fucked-up of all major countries (on top of very poorly managed COVID, there's the election which could have some crazy consequences). But many other countries (like mine) have their shit at least somewhat together and will likely sell out their console allotment easily... unless the price is ridiculously high. Scalpers are gonna be doing their thing too.

Personally, my launch PS4 feels ancient now, so I'm very excited for the new tech PS5 supposedly has. It's worth it to me just for the faster load times and the new controller. And I have more money than time, so I'm perfectly fine buying the console with just one game.

I don't know if I'd call your XB1 launch experience typical. I feel like most people just buy one or two games, especially since they just spent hundreds on the console itself. PS4 launch was actually pretty bad on the "exclusive" side (Knack & Killzone were the big ones), and it still sold out easily. I only bought Black Flag at launch, and it kept me busy for a month. Which was fine, to me. My point being, it doesn't necessarily matter how many exclusive launch games there are. As long as some big popular franchises are there, and the prices aren't too crazy, they will sell.

@peffy: I agree with your points here, I think they may sell okay, especially with your comparison of the ps4 launch line up which was legit abysmal, Resogun wasss good though lol. I have more money than time as well, but I also cherish games, not tech. I think AT launch I only had Forza and Black Flag, I got the others a few weeks later, but Black Flag was something massive to cherish my new console, just not seeing games on either side to be that massive.... I think if Cyberpunk comes out for the new ones and looks and plays significantly better though.... that's my sale right there. ( I actually have a preoder for the $250 version of Cyberpunk for XB1 because I have a 1X)

I have a question for you, why didnt you buy the pro / 1X? That was new tech for sure... especially with the HDR, 4K scaling, all that... Seems like you'd be the perfect target market for those upgrades.

Speaking of dramatized representations of video game development, I think Halt and Catch Fire did a very good job of it. It's not initially about video games, but in the later seasons, video games become somewhat of a focus. Old school games, though, like late 80s-early 90s. It's not super deep on the technical side of things, but I think they did a commendable job of making "nerdy" topics feel like a normal drama subject.