Season 20, Episode 01

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 worth talking about and should still be when we return in two weeks, but for this one, we just run down the current deals to be had and what to watch out for during the Black Friday sales. If I buy anything or not it’s always my favorite time of year to see some good discounts. Some are better than others and some years are better than others. As an overall assessment of this year’s deals – we’ve had better. Much better. That isn’t to say it’s all at a loss here, but there’s been better and bigger discounts on far more items in the past than we’re seeing this year. Trust me, I know. I’ve been doing this whole thing back when you physically had to line up outside a store for the sales. As is the case with this time of year, all of us at In-Game Chat (yeah, I know, it’s like just two of us at this point) are exceptionally thankful for every single one of you reading this and listening/watching the show. Be it live or after the fact. We’re here because of you and we cannot tell you how much it means to know you’re out there supporting us. We hope you have a fantastic holiday season and we’ll see you on December 6th. Ubisoft, you just got a massive truck load of money from Tencent. You WON’T make another Splinter Cell, but you really should. It has been 4,479 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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 year for all those holiday reasons I’m just as excited to find some amazing deals. I chase them down like some sort of gaming discount hunter on safari. Even better, it doesn’t even have to be gaming related for me to get me going. Could be anything from a pair of shoes to a big bundle of dishwashing detergent on some crazy sale. But for here, we keep it as close to gaming as we can. And right now you can get good deals on Donkey Kong Banaza at Costco and a crazy deal on a PS5 at a base exchange if you’re military. Next week’s episode will cover, hopefully, far more deals on games and gaming systems. And anything else that’s just too amazing of a deal to pass up. As for the rest of the show, well, Valve had a lot to show and tell us about all their new toys except for what we’ll have to pay for them. I think they might get the Steam Machines right this time. Maybe even their VR too. Not sure yet on the controller, but who knows? And a lot of getting it right will have to do with whatever price they come up with as well. It is a REALLY bad time to be building/buying a PC currently. Ubisoft, you were THIS close to making it happen. Then you got greedy. It has been 4,472 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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 there from well over ten years ago that I’ve still not purchased. Perhaps I’ll do a clean up of sorts today and get that trimmed down. We got another delay for GTA6. Probably a lot of publishers/developers who let out a sigh of relief so they could better schedule when they’d be releasing their games. If the new date sticks to November 2026 then expect there to be VERY few releases for the holiday. Call Of Duty will come as usual but probably earlier in October. And for November you’ll see practically nothing and it’ll stay that way until February. Except for Nintendo. They don’t ever seem to care what they’re up against. They do their own thing and go their own way. We still don’t know what kind of price we’ll be paying for that game either. Ubisoft, it has been 4,465 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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 lot of positive talk. It’s probably a bit Destiny-adjacent. Something with a little tiny bit of that DNA within it, and it doesn’t actually need all that much to begin with to pull me in. So there’s the pull of me giving it a try. If it works and grabs me I’d be excited to be a part of that conversation and maybe find something else fun to play on a consistent basis, but that’s also where I worry. That it does to me what Destiny did and that is honestly not a place I want to go back to. It consumed my gaming time. I passed over a LOT of games during that time. Or, at the very least, didn’t give a lot of games the time they deserved to really enjoy them. That’s not missing out, really – the games are still there for me now to go back to, and I have. I’ve also experienced a lot of other games because of my ban from Destiny. Ultimately I think that ban was a good thing. The other night after the show I jumped into Discord with the old clan who were running something in the game and I was able to watch them and listen in. I missed it. But I didn’t miss what all of it had turned into for me. I just missed the group. I missed the fun of playing together like that. I’m not looking for another Destiny. I’m just looking for a place where I can play with my friends again. I am, however, looking for another Splinter Cell. Ubisoft, it has been 4,458 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 4,787 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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. And both of them are less than $20 – even better when they’re bundled together. Speaking of prices, we’re getting closer and closer to those cheap deals for the holiday seasons. I don’t know how cheap we’ll get them this year, but if you can, I’d hold off on buying pretty much anything right now gaming related unless it’s something like what I mentioned earlier or the deal is already pretty good with whatever you find. Console stuff will probably see the majority of discounts but, on rare occasions, you might find some good PC game deals. None of this has ANYTHING to do with what we talked about on the show as mostly that was just a hodgepodge of different topics. Video game TV adaptations, good performers (Battlefield 6), bad performers (Bloodlines 2), naming conventions for games with countless sequels, Halo on PS5… Let me say something about that – Halo released in 2001. It’s been rereleased and remade like 3 or 4 more times since then. If, in all that time, you haven’t played the first game somewhere, then you are probably not in the market to play it now. I get that new players MIGHT be drawn to this on their PS5, but to also not include the multiplayer at launch seems absolutely pointless in 2026 when this thing releases. I’m not hopeful for this release. I want it to do well, cause I’m never really on the side of things failing, but I can’t see this having ANY legs at all. I could be wrong. I usually am. Good job on Ubisoft and Netflix with the Splinter Cell animated series. Again I hope it spawns interest enough to actually make a new game in the series but, like before, I’m not hopeful. Ubisoft, it has been 4,451 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.

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 concerned about the future of, perhaps, maintaining MY hobby. Cause ain’t none of this looking to get any cheaper. We’ve spoken before about the console prices going up – twice from Microsoft this year already. But now to push out further into the future (not sure how far) to the next generation of systems from Microsoft and Sony. I can’t imagine paying close to or more than a thousand dollars for one. But I also can’t see how they pull off selling them for any cheaper, given the way things are now and where they are headed. I’ve not even bothered to think about making any upgrades to my PC. I don’t know what parts are going for now but I do know that graphics cards are INSANELY overpriced. And the bang for your buck is just not proportional. The math barely worked when they were $800 for a 3080 or whatever and that was back something like five years ago. The indies shall inherit the industry. Yeah, maybe. What they’ll likely do is keep pumping out original games or better versions of existing games to keep us playing on whatever system we own regardless of PC or console. Vampire Survivors, Clover Pit, Balatro, Among Us…the titles that run on all the platforms but don’t take the latest and greatest to run at all. Because none of this is affordable. Video gaming was always a luxury expense, but never one that was completely out of reach. It’s getting harder and harder to say that, however. Hell, at this point some common commodities are shifting into luxury expenses the way prices are going. All hail the generic store brand. Long live the indies. Ubisoft, it has been 4,437 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 4,400 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2025.