The Besties - Our 2023 video game predictions! [The Resties]

Episode Date: January 10, 2023

Welcome to the second-annual Resties Video Game Predictions episode! Each January, Frushtick and Plante make six bold predictions for the upcoming year in video games. We also revisit the previous year's prediction and announce a winner. (The year's champion gets a new, soon to-be-revealed anime statue.) Will Tom Cruise appear in video games? Could cloud gaming go mainstream? Is this the year of AAA mega-hits?Listen to the episode and find out! Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

rush did you do anything fun for the holidays how we start the episode oh yeah how do i do it every time okay here we go hello everybody my name is christopher thomas plant my name is ross welcome to the resties where the rest of the best discuss the best of the rest. Today, we are talking about predictions. Our predictions for 2022, which is something of a gamble. We have a bet going on, and whoever wins is getting a very special prize. Oh, yeah. I forgot the actual, yeah, that there was a prize. Oh, no, it's good and

there will be accountability depending on well actually i truly don't know who wins so i should be careful what i say yeah and uh we're gonna make our predictions for 2023 uh but first welcome back the holidays how were they to you uh they were good we had a lot of, as I think everyone on the planet did, a lot of various colds and flus and not funness that kind of spoiled some of the fun. But we were able to get out. We went to the aquarium. We went to the science museum, did some kids' stuff.

You know, made the most of it. How about you? My child discovered guilt. Oh, so for people that aren't familiar this is a jewish uh tradition where on hanukkah you give children gold foil coins that are actually chocolate inside yes and this was very charming at first yeah it seems like a bad idea long term for kids It doesn't seem safe. Yeah, no, it's not great.

It's not great because you have a dog, too. Now you just distrust every gold coin that you have lying around the house. Do you have a lot of gold coins? A lot of gold coins. Wow. It's like Wario's house. But yeah, because the first night of Hanukkah, he was like one gelt. And then for the second night of Hanukkah, he was like two gelt. And then for the second night of Hanukkah, he was like two gelt.

And quickly we realized he expected as many gelt as there were nights of Hanukkah. Oh. And now we're like 20 nights post Hanukkah. And he just keeps the counting going. We're not even giving it to him anymore. He's like, how about 20 gelt? Yeah, that's like exponential gelt right there. Yeah, and I'm just wondering when it stops.

I don't think it does. So far, yeah i if there's one thing i've learned about parenting yeah it just gets more expensive see what he hasn't learned is the true jewish tradition of celebrating hanukkah for the first one or two nights of the year and then forgetting that it's still going on and then just not lighting the rest of the candles which i think is my and then i'm letting all the presents at the end yeah yeah the present situation i gotta say look i have all the love in the world for the jewish people i am certainly one of them but i think christmas from my present giving standpoint is so much better

it's not even close the idea that you're spreading out the presents across eight days versus having this one exaltation moment is sort of incomparable. I definitely wish we had Christmas instead. I guess we could celebrate it, but it just doesn't feel right at this point. See, that's the trick. If you have a family, it's like, well, I don't know if it's half Catholic at this point. to like uh well i don't know if it's half catholic at this point but yeah yeah it was a a month of festivity at the plant household and now it's going to be a month of festivity for your ears crammed into one beautiful hour right after the break okay here's what happened a year ago almost to the day we made predictions for 2022 i believe

we made five predictions each i thought it was six one two three four five six yes that is the right number and we made six predictions and uh each we made each six yeah and and we vetted them together you can go back and listen to this episode in fact i encourage you to uh and see how wrong for the most part we were and the deal was whoever got the most predictions right they would receive a uh some sort of uh video game and or anime character statue from the other person. Yeah. And so throughout the year,

when we remember that this is actually happening, have sent each other some pretty atrocious statues that could be received. The only problem being, most of them seem to cost like $800. It's not going to be that. So we're not going to do that. We're going to find something more doable.

Assuming we have a winner. I don't even know if we have a winner. So we're just going to go from prediction to prediction, figuring out whether any of these came true. Okay. Okay. So first up for me, I have two new VR headsets will ship

from either Apple, Oculus, or PlayStation by the end of the year. And I came close. Okay. And we should mention, if you don't get something right, you don't get negative points. You're just getting points for the ones you got right. Right. Right. And I came very close. Yeah. MetaQuest Pro shipped during this year. Right. And PlayStation VR 2 ships in like a month from now. Sure. But I did not get them into the calendar year and therefore no point. Also, arguably there's like, I mean, it would count, but arguably there's like 60 people

who bought Meta Quest Pros because it's the dumbest thing ever. Hey, did it get a review on theverge.com? Yes. Was that review a dunk fest? Yeah, it was. Okay. How about you for next? was going to release in the middle of this past year, 2022. It ended up getting delayed to 2023. Plant made me specify that it was for Mission Impossible and not for Top Gun, which was also a possibility.

Maverick could have shown up in Fortnite, but neither obviously happened. We found out afterwards that Tom Cruise doesn't really appear very often in video games. I mean, it's, it's true. He,

as far as I'm aware, he doesn't appear in any video games, but, and, and people were making speculations. Maybe that's a Scientology thing. I am very suspicious of that. Cause I haven't seen the sourcing on it.

So, uh, and it's Fortnite, you know, like lots of things don't happen until they happen. Maybe that'll come back real soon. So, okay it's Fortnite, you know, like lots of things don't happen until they happen in Fortnite. Maybe that'll come back real soon. Oh, okay.

Okay. The pulse. Okay. Next up, once again, close but no cigar. I said a new Bioshock game is announced along with its setting. And you, so here's where it gets tricky. What happens if you concede? Like, you know, an election, right? Where I got a call from you, my rival.

Yeah. And you said, congratulations, you won. Because that's what happened when the trailer for Judas showed at the Game Awards. You texted me immediately and said, good game. I'm happy for you. And then two minutes later i got i take it all back um that doesn't count yeah i judas do you want can you explain what judas is yeah we talked about it recently on the besties but judas is the game coming from ken levine uh trailer was released i think we know very little about the actual what

the game is but the trailer is uncannily similar to bioshock in terms of like you know people creepy people using magic and guns to you know with maybe political angles to them and like the art design is very bioshocky um it's biosho if, for whatever reason, the early 2000s Xbox logo had gotten installed on someone's arm. It's so weird. There's this glowing neon green circle. I actually think it looks cool, quite honestly. I'm into it. Oh, the game or the green thing?

No, the trailer. Oh, yeah. The trailer looks great. The green thing, I'm suspect. Okay, so I didn't get that one. Didn't get it. Next up for you. I also didn't get this one. thing no no the trailer oh yeah the trailer looks great the green thing i'm yeah i'm suspect okay so i didn't get that one didn't get it next up for you i also didn't get this one a trailer for metroid prime 4 will be released including gameplay footage and a 2023 release date uh that certainly absolutely 100 didn't happen you know no point in embellishing it uh so we can move on um okay i have no new mario platforming games are

shown in 22 aside from mobile games and expansions dlc and baby that's just a win that's a win it's an unquestionable i was skeptical of it but you did make a good argument about the frequency of mario platforming games uh and in this case uh you know yeah yeah i mean to the point where i will i could feel comfortable flopping flipping this one for next year i think there definitely will be something next year you you mean this year oh yeah 2023 yeah you think 2023 there definitely will be unquestionable yeah okay yeah um but we can get that to later um how about how about you you have a little mario of your own yeah mine mine was the Super Mario movie will get under 55% on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie got delayed until 2023.

So that didn't end up happening. Question for you. Would you stand by that now having seen the trailer? It's not even that. No. No, for two reasons. One, I think the trailer looks pretty good apart from the crisp rap voice. Yeah.

I think it looks okay. But secondarily, I actually went back and looked at all the Illumination movies on Rotten Tomatoes. And there's only one movie that has gotten under 55% on Rotten Tomatoes. And it was Over the Hedge or something like that. Yeah. They live like in an uncanny zone of like 60s to low like that. Yeah. They live like in an uncanny zone of like 60s to low 70s. Yeah.

So if we were to reevaluate that for this coming year, we would have to, I think, look at the percentage again. Okay. Okay. Okay. Next up.

Okay. So I think I kind of got this one. I said, I said Microsoft reveals a standalone streaming hardware and releases a Game Pass xCloud app for smart TVs. Okay.

The second part, nailed. Unquestionably. There is Samsung, yes. It is built into the software. Samsung has it built in. Yeah. They did reveal standalone streaming hardware. They just aren't selling it no no they showed it they showed the actual hardware and then they said yeah we're not we're not we're not we're not shipping it i think there's like a half a point there i was technically right

was i right because i reveal standalone streaming hardware. Yeah. I know it's never... Here's the thing. It's never going to come out. Ever. No, it's not. But I didn't say it would ever ship. No, I know. And they also...

They didn't give it a name. They didn't codename Keystone. They did codename it. Oh, yeah. Half a point? I'll give you half a point. And what I'm worried is... I think that half a point...

It's probably going to be decisive. I think you're right and it probably will be yeah um okay what do you have uh another wrong one for me playstation now is oh i'm sorry uh sony will launch a game pass competitor to replace playstation now um which which you got that part which i got that part right um and uh with a triple a release of uh god of war or some other triple a game being uh you know basically if you subscribe to the service you would get day and date uh for like a triple a major release including if god of war came out that year which it did uh it would be on there uh and we now know that uh the god of war was not included as part of a uh as part of that service and i think like maybe a month after we did our predictions episode sony was like yeah we're never doing that right which which i still

think we'll see long term whether they go back on that i don't know that that's a great move for them but i guess we'll we'll wait and see i get it i get it financially for them but yeah that's a rough yeah um uh next up for me i have disney marvel will announce two video games for individual superheroes who don't have any previous games the example like it couldn't be spider-man correct um and i i got it i got it halfway yeah you don't get half points for this one yeah no i don't think so but the the game would be that there's a captain america um it's a black panther black panther game yeah yeah yeah um okay so and obviously black panther has appeared in other games but not as like a starring league character yes the other thing where i got close i have small vindication but no point And obviously Black Panther has appeared in other games, but not as like a starring lead character. Yes.

The other thing where I got close, a small vindication, but no point, is I think like EA announced that they're making like three more Marvel games, but they didn't give them names. Yeah, that's a shame. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Even if they had given them names, like it's more than likely that they would have been for characters we've seen before yeah uh okay so mine an indie uh a new indie game not published by ea activision or activision blizzard or ubisoft will be a game of the year nominee for the game year the game awards 2022 uh i think i get a point for this. And it's for a little game called Stray.

And I know you might disagree about it being an indie game, but realistically speaking, everyone considered it an indie game. Whether it is or isn't is sort of a little bit negligible. So this is where I get back to back to the the concession when straight when when this list got announced you're like ah damn i didn't no i know when the list got announced uh i was like wow that's a weird list for game of the year nominees uh but i definitely thought that stray you counted yeah. I think it's, I think that's a full click.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Okay. Okay. If you pull the thousand people that know about video games and ask is stray an indie game,

I think they would all be wrong, but they would say yes. Yes. I mean, we were confused about it, right? Remember like the whole promotion for that was like, there are only two people made this.

And it's like, well, yeah, I mean, I, you know, it's a it is a small creative team that was guiding a much, much larger asset creation team behind them. Yes, yes. But it's not a major publisher that put that out. So, OK, I think that I think that's fair. Well, a major publisher. Well, sure. But we didn't say so. Did Sony publish it? I don't's fair. Well, a major publisher. Well, sure.

But we didn't say. Did Sony publish it? I don't actually remember. No, not Sony. But it was. What is it? Is it Annapurna? Yeah.

Annapurna, the epitome of indie game publisher. I mean. Either that or Devolver. Those are both indie publishers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Last one. And I got so close. You did get very close. Sonic Frontiers will get above 76 on Metacritic. When the subreddit for the besties checked in, I think it was at 73%. It's currently at 75. Oh, man. I know. It is so close.

I know. It is so close. That makes it one of the highest reviewed Sonic games, like, ever. I think it's the highest reviewed Sonic game since Sonic Generations. Sonic 3D game, you mean? Yes. Yeah. And yet, and yet, it does not. And yet. So close, but so far. Yeah. And yet so close, but so far. Yeah. And how about you? And, uh, yeah. So my last one was talking about so close yet. So far, uh, Alienware or Razor will announce a Steam Deck equivalent before September of 2022. And the Razor Edge, which is indeed a steam deck equivalent was announced in october so i was

basically a month or so off so close i will not will not uh take the point because i understand and i think that uh it leaves you indeed with a whopping 1.5 to 1 with a 1.5 to yes a 0.5 edge i would probably give you a full uh point quite honestly for the for the x cloud thing because it is they didn't reveal it they did and we're gonna have to really like legalize the uh we'll do a legal pass yes yeah we'll have to hand it to our legal team um but no, I think you're in the clear on there. Part of me feels bad that we were so off, and yet I feel like we were very close. There were, yeah, a number of them.

Nearly everything here. Yeah. Very close. I am proud of this, and the whole point of this, just as a reminder as we dive into the second half of the episode in a second, the whole point of this is to pick stuff that we do not know for sure will happen because that is boring so we are picking stuff that is like edge casey and shruggy and maybe stuff um and uh yes we could cheat on this very easily yeah it would be very easy to like

you know whatever tears of the kingdoms coming out well not even that i mean just you know any additional reporting or any other things we hear like yeah no a fair amount that we could cheat with yeah um uh okay i'm excited about this when do i get my joy um are we gonna do this in person no because you're i'm gonna see you in person next week but i won't have it ready by them so okay okay it'll be within the next uh soonish i don't know should we i i wonder if does it make sense to wait until next year's as a presentation of the year before no that's okay like yeah this is this is an award for 2021 oh you're right you're right you're right that's fair okay um so uh yeah soon i will say

soon okay okay that's you can talk about it you don't when it arrives don't open it we'll do a live unboxing that sounds great podcast i think that's a great idea. How about we take a quick break, and then we come back. We can talk through our 2023 predictions. Let's do it. Cool. Okay, we're back. Okay. And it is time to win another toy.

I'm so nervous, quite honestly. Yeah? I think you're better at this than I am, I think, but we will see how it goes. There was a time where I feel like I would have killed at this, when I was more in the reporting space and I had this general vibe of what was going on. I sat down to write my stuff this year

and I feel way, way less certain. But I still have a few good options. I have more than six. I also have more than six. I also have more than six. If we have to turn some down, I understand. Yes.

Do you want to go first? Sure, I'll go first. Okay. We're going to start with a bang. Okay. Sony announces the intent to buy Square Enix. Oh, wow. That is bold. I mean, there is no way i would argue with that i mean i think it's

definitely the boldest of these and i thought i would start big i think if sony and ever i think sony will announce some major acquisition this year and of the all the major acquisitions that are out there, Square Enix, I think makes the most sense to me. Yeah. They already have a very close relationship. Obviously the,

the power of, you know, Final Fantasy and all that stuff. And, and yeah. So here's, here's why I both think that could be true and why I think it could be wrong. Why it could be true.

Square Enix America was this like big problem for Square Enix, you know, when they were publishing games, uh, uh, in Europe, like the Deus Ex, uh,

their Eidos projects, all of that stuff. Um, and they, yeah, they, they've, they've certainly made a lot of unusual deals.

It felt like to, to, to effectively stay alive. Yeah. The part where I'm less convinced is they're releasing like two final fantasy games in a dragon quest game in the next year and a half. Okay. And it feels like that would be the most expensive time to buy a developer but does sony even have a choice right like i don't yeah i think sony after the the micro i mean we'll we should maybe add that i didn't add it in mine uh the activision deal after the activision deal i think sony 100 sees the writing on the wall and this becomes uh you know a game of life or death

life or death it's a it's basically like cold war like building a muscle uh a missile supply um so i you know i don't think is 100 definite i could definitely see it happening but i could see it not happening but wanted to start start strong okay okay okay then i will i will pick something that will be strong like that, too. Okay. I have a few cultural things here. Mine is at least three popular games will be announced with villains not so subtly inspired by Elon Musk. Oh, no.

No? I don't think we can do this. You don't think so? Because, like... Is it too subjective? Well, A, it's a little subjective, but B, it's like... Okay, let's give an example. Glass Onion just came out.

Yeah. Very clearly inspired by Elon Musk, what's-his-name's character. For sure. Let's go back to GTA V, for example. There are characters in GTA V, one character that jumps to mind, you would think is like, oh, this is obviously Elon Musk. But it was before Elon Musk was even a thing. It was really just an archetype of like a super rich techie guy.

It was kind of like a Mark Zuckerberg thing. I'm fine killing it. I have boatloads, you know? Boatloads? Wow. I'm trying to find one that I'm like, this is a risk because I want to match you here. Okay. And here we go.

Oh, boy. The Super Mario Brothers movie will be nominated for a Golden Globe. Is there an animated category in the Golden Globes? There is. And I don't believe Illumination has ever been nominated for a Golden Globe. I'm not feeling good about it. Really? Well, I just don't know how many animated movies are coming out this year.

Well, to give you context, Golden Globe nominations for 2022. Do you want that? Yeah, that'd be great. Okay. Golden Globe nominations for 2022 in the category of animation. Yeah. They are, as I struggle to find it, the nominees this year are Guillermo del Tororo's pinocchio sure inuo marcel the shell with shoes on turning red puss in boots the last wish it's you do you want do you want 2021

would that make you feel so you're saying no not like the minions movie has never like none of them say no not like the minions movie has never like none of them uh what miss uh what a despicable me was never nominated um no i'm gonna i'm gonna pull up animation nominations wiki okay and we can go from there um best animated feature film uh so to give you this is just a sampling of the last few years okay sure so uh it was something the no 2022 incanto flea luca my sunny mod raya and the last dragon yeah there's so actually i can you know i can do command f elimination uh despicable me okay in 2001 yeah sorry 2011 despicable me too okay i was wrong i was wrong uh you're not gonna let me have it now you're not gonna let me have it i wonder if there's like a tweak we can do okay i'll give you a got it in 2017 i'll give you a tweak i take it all back here's a tweak super mario movie will be nominated for, in two categories, for Golden Globes.

What other categories are going to be nominated for? It could be sound. It could be editing. It could be special effects. There's no way. There's no way. There's no way. Okay.

I'll tweak it. I'll tweak it again. Ready? Okay. Super Mario Brothers movie will be nominated for an Academy Award. We can't do that because they're not announced until the following year. Fair. Oh, man.

Oh, man. Oh, man. Can I suggest to you a Nintendo will announce new hardware? I have that on mine, though. Well, I beat you to it. We picked this in order. And now that I know you have it on yours, I know it's okay. So I'm... there we go perfect

wait wait wait but i i do have a tweak i have a tweak to that because mine is more specific okay uh the nintendo switch follow-up of new hardware it can't be like a redux of the nintendo switch yeah and it will be announced with the name um yes but that can be a code name no fine that needs to be an actual name it's fine if they end up changing the name for some stupid legal reason but they need to present it as you know it's called the nintendo blah or whatever it doesn't i so the trick here i i will i will If they say codename, it doesn't count. Nintendo has a history of codenaming. You're right, you're right.

But if they say this is codename Dolphin and they say name TBD, that doesn't count. No, that's right. I'm going to go with it. But I think that you will win because of that. Because they do have a solid history of not giving names when they first announced hardware. It's possible. But okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, it's funny because it when they first announced hardware. It's possible. It's funny because it was one of mine, but that's okay.

No, no, no. I threw away two are in the trash bin already. I still don't think... We'll see how it shakes out. I'm next. Man, I have another big swing. Fortnite will be playable native on iOS and Steam Deck this year.

Wow. You did take big swings. I respect this. I, I, I, I might have minor like big, but like attainable. Here's like, okay, I'll tell you why the iOS because, because Steam Deck, I, I, mine, mine are like big, but like attainable. Yours are like, okay, I'll tell you why the iOS, because, because team deck, I think is more feasible than iOS. Certainly you would agree with that. And the iOS, the court drama is kind of settling.

The only reason I mentioned the iOS one, and maybe I'll pull back on this. If you're not going to pick actual hard ones is the reason I mentioned the iOS. The one is because I think there was a recent ruling somewhere i have to do the research again that's basically said that ios will allow third party marketplaces to operate on i ios i'm i'm gonna reduce this to steam deck okay it's still a risk i they've made no announcements and they've been very specific we cannot support it because uh proton not allowing for the anti-cheat oh yeah i think steam deck is hard enough yeah i think that gets it closer to like where these are i want you to

have a chance i appreciate it i have some easier ones coming up. I do. Okay. Okay. Here's another culture one. A YouTuber will recreate a popular video game in real life and, and here's the huge part, the video will get over 100 million views. Wait. Say it again. So YouTuber will recreate a popular video game in real life yeah and the video will get over 100 million i mean let's be direct so you're not talking about any youtuber you're talking about mr b effectively mr beast that's the best the person has the best shot but i'm

giving myself a little leeway because who knows who the next youtuber will be but many mr beast videos do not pass that threshold. I was shocked. But there are MrBeast videos. Wait, wait, wait. Let's look at MrBeast, his last few uploads. Okay. And see where they have stood. MrBeast.

Okay. Oh, God. He just auto-played in my ears. It was so loud. Yeah, wow. He just auto-played in my ears. It was so loud. Yeah, wow. You're right. Can you say some numbers? Yeah, okay, sorry.

So the numbers, the last few, I survived 50 hours in Antarctica. This was 11 days ago, 68 million views, 85 million views for the one previous, 91 million views for the one previous, 81 million. I'll take this bet. Yeah. views for the one previous 91 million views for the one previous 81 million i'll take this bet yeah see there are over 100 like he did one versus 100 uh 1 1 million uh hotel room and i got 130 million views survived 100 days in the circle 108 million views so and the reason the reason i have also not just mr b so this is a very, I think, actually a very tough bet. Yeah. He has not done a video game video, at least in the last year. You're right.

So there's like kind of two things going on here that I think, and he only makes like a video a month? Yeah, that's true. So we'll see. The thing that I will, do I want to cheat? The cheat would be like, what if he makes a YouTube short? No, that's no that's cheap okay because youtube shorts you just leave on and they replay and replay so i don't trust the numbers behind youtube shorts realistically he's going to make a youtube short he will definitely make a full video that's true that's true so um okay did you add that? I'm adding it right now. What's your next one? My next one is, oh, this is a fun one.

Okay. So as we know, Last of Us, the TV show is coming out this year, pretty soon, actually. Last of Us season one will have the giraffe scene in it, but it will not have the, quote, fireflies scene that happens at the end of Last of Us. I'm not going to spoil it if you haven't played

through the game, but there's like a very major, very obvious moment that happens at the end of Last of Us Part 1. The hospital sequence? The hospital sequence. Thank you.

Yeah. That's with the fireflies. So just to reiterate, there will be a giraffe the giraffe scene there's a famous giraffe scene in last plus part one and there will not be the hospital sequence in and this is all for season this feels very this one feels too way too easy and here here's why the the tv show is clearly just beat for beat. Like, Gus Van Sant doing psycho levels of reproduction of the video game, right? It's like, of course the giraffe scene is going to be in there.

I don't know that that's true. It's unquestionably true. Look at, I mean, look at any of the footage. It will be similar. Neil Druckmann is directly involved. Okay. Yeah, like. Okay, so in that argument.

And here's the second part. Okay. The scene that you're talking about is the very end of the game here's the thing though the giraffe scene is the scene right before the very last scene in the game that's why i put it in there that giraffe scene happens almost at the end of the entire uh. It's like an hour or two before. After the snow and everything? It is the emotional climax for those two characters before it gets really bad. Okay, okay, okay.

So I think it's pretty good. Because under your same argument, you're right. If they're doing it shot for shot, there's no way the giraffe scene will be in it because the draft scene happens way late okay okay okay okay i i still think you're gonna get this one but okay um it is tough it's tough i because i think they'll find a way to fit the draft stuff in to get the emotional ending that is what i think maybe half the game you know yeah well we'll see yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah okay okay okay okay okay I think the season's maybe half the game. You know? Yeah. We'll see.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Um, hmm. Okay. Okay. I do have the next Bioshock game will be announced for real this time, and we'll see gameplay. I'm sorry, say that again? The next Bioshock game will be announced for real this time, and we'll see gameplay i'm sorry say that again the next bioshock game will be announced for real this time and we'll see gameplay uh yeah i think that's too easy okay here's one that is more

difficult okay triple a will dominate metacritic's year in top 10 at least five triple a games will make metacritic's top 10 after that's removing redundancies right where it's like that game was on three consoles so you have yeah and here's what here's why that's actually i think very bold sure for comparison this year only god of war ragnarok and elden Ring made the top 10. But you know... And, and, and, wait, wait, wait, wait. Only five big AAA games made the top 50. Okay, but you know, as I do, that this past year was the worst year in either of our careers,

and we've been doing this a while, for AAA releases, in terms of, like, number of releases and also quality releases. So the past year is not representative of anything. We could land on a number, but I think

it would need to, what are you saying? It would need to be five at the time? Five? Yeah. I think it needs to be higher than that. That's wild. No way. Because here's the thing. There are a few of them we know. Like, barring a total calamity, Te tears of the kingdom is going to be on there barring a total calamity i i don't have my list of like our most anticipated which

we just went through on besties but like there's a lot of uh you know uh jedi survivor pretty likely to be on there um how starfield almost certainly going to be on there. Starfield almost certainly going to be on there. I mean, it'll probably launch broken, but people still bump it. It can't be. They also can't be like re-releases or anything like that. No, I think. Well, let me give you an example. Okay.

2020. A good year for video games. Yeah, let's go to 2019. Okay. Because 2020, a lot of games got delayed because of the pandemic. So let's go to 2019 2019 okay 20 because 2020 a lot of games got delayed because the pandemic so let's go to 2019 that's not when do you think the pandemic happened i understand but games still got pushed if they were leasing end of 2020 they got some of them got pushed until later so okay okay i got a war for okay, okay. Best games of 2020.

Oh, the Metacritic list is not as good for this. There must be a better way of doing this. I'll give you... Oh, here we go, here we go. I found it. Okay. Okay, so. Best games of 2019. There you go.

On Metacritic. Okay. Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition on Switch. So, nope, doesn't count. Why? Nope, because it sin 2 definitive edition on switch so nope doesn't count why no because it's a re-release okay i understand sure red dead redemption 2 on pc okay so that doesn't count that's re-release yep beat saber doesn't count resident evil 2 re-release dragon age or dragon quest 11 s doesn't count re-release i kind of think yeah okay releases should probably just be removed from the... Yeah.

Sekiro. Okay, so Sekiro. Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers, which wouldn't count. That is an expansion. Disco Elysium. Yeah. Nier Automata, so throw that out. We're throwing out tons of stuff here.

Monster Hunter, I've thrown out. Ori and Blind Forest, thrown out. Chess Respect. That's not it. Now we're getting into devil may cry five one second let me pull up let me pull up i have the rundown here of our most anticipated games specifically the obvious list that we were keeping in mind okay of most anticipated for 2023 and that i think will help uh clarify how likely or unlikely this is okay okay so games that i think for sure will make the top 10 regardless of anything tears of the kingdom final fantasy 16 diablo 4 i think all those are going to make the top 10 in Metacritic. So that's three guaranteed.

I don't think there's any guarantee with Diablo 4. That is no way is that guaranteed. Yeah. I think this is much harder. I have this on my like, I think this is like a hard one.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Fine. Let's do it. Okay. Fine. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm going to regret it, but that's fine. And how are we defining AAA? That's a major publisher putting it out? Like a not an indie publisher? It can't be Annapurna. It can't be

Devolver. It has to be like... Wait. Oh, yeah. It has to be Annapurna. It can't be Devolver. It has to be like... Wait. Oh, yeah, yeah. It has to be a major publisher. It has to be a major publisher. On the ad, it can't be like an EA publishing an indie game. No, no, no, no, no.

It has to be a AAA game. Come on. We all know what AAA is. We know, we know. Okay. Okay. Fair enough. What's up next for you?

Okay. Up next for me, and we will recap these at the end i know there's been a lot of back and forth we have three each now we have three each okay next for me um tears of the kingdom will play as a character that isn't Link? And I will add, I'm not counting those moments where like Zelda shows up in the last three seconds and like shoots a light arrow at Ganon. It doesn't count. And it is... Zelda shows up in the last three seconds and like shoots a light arrow at Ganon. It doesn't count.

And it is. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll give, I'll give this to you. I think that's pretty much guaranteed, but you play as that character for at least an hour. No,

at least three hours of story. What do you mean story? just gameplay you mean just gameplay yes but it can't be like oh well they briefly put you in an open world and i left my switch on no no okay uh like playing the game like you you know yeah i'll make it even more specific and you can explore the open world as this character well no i think you'll be able to do that but but it could be like short. No, I guess you're right. I like that. That's good. That's fair.

Tears of the Kingdom will have a playable character and you can explore a playable character that isn't linked and you can explore the open world as that character. What if Link is inhabited by somebody else? I don't think that counts.

Like if there's a soul, the soul of fucking Ganon or Zelda is in Link, that doesn't count. Okay. Really needs to be like, basically the equivalent of Atreus in fucking, you know god of war what what do i want to do here what do i want to do what do i want to do what do we uh so i'm at

four and you're you're you know yeah yeah yeah okay i have gta 6 will be formally announced with a 2024 release date and we'll see gameplay. I mean, we've seen gameplay. Well, no, I mean officially. Right. Okay, yeah. GTA 6 formally announced and we'll see gameplay. I mean... There's three things here, right?

That it's announced, that we get a release date, and that we see the gameplay. I'll give it to you and that we see the game i'll give it to you okay let's do it i'll give it to you i think um yeah i mean i think if they formally announce it they'll definitely show gameplay because they know you know i think the release date is the hardest part yeah and the release date is going to be tough um i am genuinely interested in what the leak has done for their development timeline, because I'm sure it disabled it at least some amount. Yes. But that's a good one.

OK, my next one. Here we go. Big swing. Ready? Wait, let me just see of the ones that i have left i have two mario movie centric ones so i want to mix it up so i'll do something else big swing tom cruise will appear in fortnite okay okay i'll give it to you back i i like it back. His likeness. No caveats. No caveats. Because at this point, I don't think we need a caveat.

It's going to be probably permission impossible. But who knows? It could be an icon skin where he's like, this is what Tom Cruise does in his spare time. Okay. Again, I don't think this is super likely, but it's possible. Sure. I mean, I'm happy to give it to you. Yeah.

I'm sure you are. Okay. I know what people think about the likelihood it to you. Yeah, I'm sure you are. Okay. I know what people think about the likelihood of this happening because of the Scientology thing. But again, I, in my research, could not find anything really well sourced on that. So I think something might change. Okay, okay, okay, okay. A gaming YouTuber and or Twitch streamer will develop and or publish a hit game. And by hit game, I mean the game needs to be in the top 10 on Steam sales or on like whatever platform it's on.

I don't like it. No? No. You feel too certain that that's going to happen? Well, okay. So let's look at it. You know, obviously the one that immediately just brings to mind is donkey who announced his there's no way that can be this year but i agree

it's not going to be this year um how do we how are we defining gaming like developed by so obviously like developed published would be like somebody just put a ton of money behind it right and their names on it is like executive producer yeah developed would be like somebody just put a ton of money behind it right and their names on it is like executive producer yeah developed would be like game makers toolkit or something like that some person who has developed you know been working on learning games let me let me paint this scenario for you some person partners with mr beast to throw mr beast into a platforming game no no no no that doesn't count. No, no. It has to be like someone very clearly getting into the business, right?

Like it would have to be similar to like Dunkey or what is it? The two dudes, Gamer Grumps. Game Grumps? Yeah, Game Grumps. Didn't they publish a game? I think they put out some games, yeah. Yeah.

It's like something like that. Okay. And I'll exclude Game Grumps we i already know they have history doing this yeah and there's some yeah extra stuff with game grumps okay um okay so a twitch streamer or a youtuber will publish and or develop a top 10 game and we're determining top 10 by steam sales basically it needs to hit the top 10 list in steam sales or whatever or like whatever other platform oh yeah if it's on another if there is no measurement we will have to like go to like a listener poll of like and by top 10 sales you mean annual sales or just like at one moment oh no at a moment at a moment yeah yeah uh okay sure i'm down with that

okay okay and so that means we have one more yeah okay well i have one more for me interesting one's a risky one and one's a little bit safer i think you should do the safer one okay and then you can tell us the risky one okay yoshi will in his first appearance in the super mario movie appear as a post-credits scene character. That is, I like that. It's pretty good because we know for sure fucking Yoshi's in this movie. Like, no question about it. The question is, is he going to show up before the post-credits scenes? I think it's like a real 50-50.

It is. The fact that they haven't shown him yet. Yeah. 50-50. It is. The fact that they haven't shown him yet. Yeah. There was a rumor very recently that action figures of Yoshi and Fire Mario were revealed, but

it turns out it was a false rumor because they were just from an old toy set. So, not tied to the movie at all. So, I think it's going to be interesting. I think that's good. I like that that also sets up a Yoshi spinoff. I mean, it does, yeah.

Yoshi story, hell yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. I'm just... What do I want to go with for this final one? I guess I only... I have at least two major hardware brands

will release Steam Deck style hardware that's not cloud-based. Okay. So you're talking about like the Razors of the world or like Logitech. And it'll actually ship, which I think is the big. And it will actually ship.

Yes. And they cannot be cloud-based. How are we defining a Steam Deck? You know what? Actually, here's what I'll do. I'll make this more difficult. Okay. Two major hardware brands will release Steam Deck-style hardware

that's not cloud-based. So in some way, I kind of have a little bit of a gimme here. You do, in one of them. Yes, in one of them is very likely to do it, and they're known for shipping product. Yes. So to make it a bit more difficult, I will say, and Valve will release a minor upgrade Steam Deck.

Okay, I will take that bet. And that can be like any upgrade at all. Yeah, yeah. It would need to be like, here's a Steam Deck, and it has better battery life now. That counts. Yes. Okay. like uh here's a steam deck uh and it has better battery life now that counts yes okay but it can't be like a software update that increases the battery life no no no no no a hardware change okay i feel good about that yeah um what was the one that you what was mine mine was uh that the mario movie will beat sonic 2's domestic box office office weekend which i believe

was 83 million dollars oh that's yeah it's tough that's a tough one yeah so sonic movies do well it's gonna i think the mario movie will do quite well the sonic 2 sonic 2 was like a record breaker for that weekend by like a lot. Yes. I also think the Mario movie will grow over time. I mean, depending on whether it is reviewed well. Well, I mean, I don't think I think it's his parents taking it. I think Sonic 2 was interesting because people liked the original Sonic movie. Sure.

So parents were like, yeah, sure, let's go. We're like, Mario will be like, yeah, we'll get to it. You know, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. sure parents are like yeah sure let's go we're like mario it'll be like yeah we'll get to it you know whatever yeah i yeah i think this movie is going to do very well um i'm not saying it's going to be a good movie but i think it's going to do extremely well oh yeah because i think it has a lot of buzz around it and it's a splashy hey this is a movie we'd want to see in the movie theaters which is obviously a big concern for movie theaters these days is the only movies that are making money when it's a kid's movie you just want and it's a kid's movie yeah kids movies is too well because parents are like whatever i can get out of the house i'm desperate also there's no competition okay should should i go through these

yeah let's go through these because there is one one uh clarification okay you how about we each read our own okay uh sony announces intent to buy square enix nintendo announces new hardware and this excludes any one-off hardware like mini retro consoles or single game handhelds and this new switch effectively gets a name okay so the tweak here that i need you to make is this can't be like another oh yeah it can't be the oled the oled switch exactly right it needs to be a the equivalent of a switch to yeah no there will almost certainly be backwards compatibility yeah that's fine that's not a problem um but it can't be like a i would even say like i wouldn't count like a switch 4k if they call it that and it basically just like plays switch games would even say I wouldn't count a Switch 4K, if they call it that,

and it basically just plays Switch games in 4K. I don't think that counts. I think it needs to be a new... It'd feel like a new follow-up. It'd feel like just an upgrade. Well, how about it's like there are certain things that can only play on it. Yes, exclusive to that platform.

I'm fine with that. Software that is exclusive. Yeah. Because I think like there, there was that late generation new Nintendo 3ds that was like, that's, that's where I think it like knowing Nintendo, it could be that.

And they think that's a switch to sure. So I just want to make sure we leave a little room for that. That's fair. Okay. Okay. Uh, mine Fortnite will be playable natively on the steam deck this year i did originally say an ios which plant rightfully confirmed that it was that that was a bit of too big of a swing so we're just gonna say steam deck uh then i have a youtuber will recreate a popular video game in real life sorry wait wait just to step back one second.

Fortnite will be playable natively on Steam Deck this year using Steam OS. Because technically right now you can install Windows and play it. So just... Yeah, I appreciate it. I have a YouTuber will recreate a popular video game in real life and the video will get over a hundred million views yes and and clarification on this the game needs to be mentioned somewhere either in the description or the title of the video or or it can't just be like i have an open world no no or it just has to be obvious that it's

inspired by a game because there's a lot of legal reasons that they might yeah but it can't just be like, I have an open world thing. Well, no, or it just has to be obvious that it's inspired by a game. Because there's a lot of legal reasons that they might not do that. Yeah, but it can't just be like a paintball. No, no, no. It has to be obviously inspired by a real game. Okay, well, would you count like, we left 100 people on an island with paintball guns. No, no, no, no. It doesn't count.

It has to visually be inspired by the game. Okay, fine. I will add that. no it doesn't like visually be inspired by the okay fine i will okay mine is uh the last of us tv show will include the giraffe scene but not the hospital ending of the last of us part two part one sorry part one okay um i have a triple a uh triple a will dominate metacritics here in top 10 at least five triple a games will be will make metacritics uh in top 10, at least five AAA games will be, will make Metacritics top 10. That's after removing redundancies and, should we say,

re-releases? Are we removing re-releases? Well, re-releases, but not, but not, but not release, removing remakes. Remakes or, or, um, upgrades, right um upgrades right so again would we remove like red dead 2 on pc yes because that's just that like that's just the exact same game coming out right

but but we wouldn't remove like last of us part one on ps5. Okay, which is a remake. Yeah, like that's, you know, we wouldn't remove... I think if we're doing that, we need to increase it by one. We need to get it out. There's no way. There's no way I'm going to get it. Well, the problem is you were just going through the list, and you're like, well, we can't include that, we can't include that,

but they were all things that we would skip over anyway. It was like the Red Dead... Okay, I'm sorry. It was all just re-releases. Let's just go back to, this was 2018 or 2019? 2019, I think. Okay. Let's go back. See how many games you have to get through to get

to five new AAA releases. Okay. We're cutting, I'm going to count games that are AAA and games that would otherwise have counted. Okay. So Red Dead Redemption 2... Sorry, no, that wouldn't count.

So Beat Saber. That's the first game that is not a re-release, right? Not a AAA game, though. Not a AAA game. Doesn't count. Resident Evil 2, which would be available but would not count. Right?

Resident Evil 2, that was the that was the reason remake yeah so it doesn't yeah so that that would be included in your five you know it would not because i i'm not counting remakes so remakes no you are counting remakes you're not counting re-releases no no okay let me sorry let me be clear towards my five'm not counting. I do not get to count remakes. But remakes do not count towards redundancies. Does that make sense? No. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Let me put it this way. Okay. So if it is just a general re-release, like Divinity Original Sin 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dragon Quest XI were that year. Right. We don don't those are redundancies we take them they do not even count towards the top 10 right right yes then if there is a remake like resident evil 2 right um or demon souls on ps5 yeah that counts towards just the top

10 list of like what is the final top 10 on metacritic but doesn't count does not count towards my top five i understand okay okay so my really here's what easy way of clarifying it they have to be new new games fully five fully new triple a games okay are we counting um rebirth um rebirth final fantasy 7 that's a full i think that counts as fully new just because Rebirth. Rebirth. Final Fantasy VII. I think that counts as fully new. Just because... We can't get into the spoilers of it. I know, I know.

That's a very good question. Because it's such a weird... It is a weird situation. I would count it. Fine. That's fine. Fine, fully new. I also don't think that's going to come out this year i think you're right okay uh my next one tears of the kingdom will have a playable character that isn't link and you you can explore the world as them doesn't count if someone else is inhabiting link

okay i love i love it this year because we saw what happened last year. And I think we've actually made it even more pedantic. I think you're right. Okay. Next up I have GTA 6 will be formally announced with a 2024 release date. And we'll see gameplay. And by gameplay do you mean like UI HUD stuff? Or just like in-engine?

In-engine. But like I think like the you know the gta 5 yeah or gta 4 the classic like we're flying through the world showing you i think that i think that counts okay fine mine is tom cruise will appear in fortnite i have a gaming youtuber and or twitch streamer will develop and or publish a hit game this excludes game grumps it must be top 10 on steam or another platform if there is no top 10 list available for that platform like nintendo switch then we will poll the listeners to see if it counts as a hit cool uh mine is yoshi in his first appearance in an in the Mario movie, will be a post-credit

scene character. And then I have at least two major hardware brands will release Steam Deck style hardware, not cloud-based, and Valve will release minor upgrade Steam Deck, or really any upgrade Steam Deck. And that can be a better hard drive,

a battery, or a screen. And we're not counting Valve in the first part of this? No. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I feel pretty good about this. This is good.

I'm a fan of this. Did we have a rule about what I need to get you statue-wise? Was there like a dollar amount that we landed on? I think there was. We'll have to go back and look. Okay.

I mean, I'm going to get you something fun. Oh, I'm looking forward to it. I'm very curious if I will be allowed to display it in my room or if I'll have to hide it in a closet. I feel like that has to be displayed in your room. Oh, I mean, sure. Directly behind your webcam. Can my child see it? Is the question that I have.

It'll be a big day for him. Any other recommendations for the week? Yeah. I had one. I watched Spirited on Apple TV+. It is the Will Ferrell Ryan Reynolds holiday movie. Much better than I was.

I mean, the bar is very low for like direct to streaming movies. And I actually found it to be a very catchy musical and a very interesting twist on the Scrooged formula. So, you know, kind of if you're interested, it's kind of past the season. But, you know, I really enjoyed it. I watched White Noise on Netflix. Ohflix oh boy did you watch it no i've just read about it so i i'm this is not me recommending it necessarily to everybody i'm still not really sure how i feel about this movie but if you are interested in something very, very strange, or you liked Don DeLillo books, I guess, check it out. But if you were not planning on

watching it anyway, you're like, hey, you know what? I was never going to watch it. And you have a Netflix account. Go on and just watch the closing credits. Because it's... I think you will enjoy them. And I think they work as a standalone thing.

For anybody who saw After Yang last year, there's a very similar vibe, which now I'm just talking about two. The overlap here is getting smaller and smaller. It is. I think that's it. Yep, we did it. Well, thank you for doing this.

Thank you for whatever you're going to get me and thank you listeners for listening um this has been another episode of the resties where the rest of the best discuss the best of the rest resties