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0:51

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening,

0:53

ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to another

0:56

episode of the Kind of Funny X-Cast,

0:58

your home for all things Xbox here

1:00

at Kind of Funny. A new intro,

1:02

Paris Lilly, since I'm under the weather,

1:04

wanted to bring a different vibe today.

1:07

How are you, Paris? I'm doing great. Good

1:09

morning, good afternoon to everybody that is

1:11

watching us live right now on Twitch

1:13

and on YouTube. But great partner program,

1:15

man. That was good. Or

1:18

program preview from Xbox.

1:21

I thought it was excellent. I thought we got to see 14 games. Nice

1:24

variety there. Looking forward to a

1:26

lot of the stuff that's going to be coming out here in 2024 and beyond.

1:29

Yeah, I'm excited to talk about what we just

1:31

saw, of course, for all of you tuning in,

1:33

whether you're watching live on Twitch or on YouTube,

1:36

or you're just catching us on the podcast feed

1:38

later on in the day. Of course, we are

1:40

coming hot off of the heels of a live

1:42

reaction for the Xbox partner preview to kick off

1:44

your 2024 brand new year. And

1:48

me and Paris just live reacted so you can catch

1:50

that live reaction. You can see all 14 of

1:52

the games displayed on your screen if you want

1:54

to go catch that on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/kind

1:57

of funny games. Or if you're just here for

1:59

the breakdown. talk about it when

2:01

give our thoughts on the show itself

2:03

thirty minutes fourteen games different partners from

2:05

all across the third-party platforms and uh...

2:07

a whole lot of fun to be

2:09

had but of course i have to

2:11

remind you that this is the kind

2:13

of funny x cast we post each

2:15

and every thursday at six a m

2:17

west coast best coast time on youtube.com/kind

2:19

of funny games and of course on

2:21

podcast services around the globe you

2:24

love what we do please consider supporting us

2:26

here at kind of funny with the official

2:28

kind of funny membership found on patreon and

2:30

on youtube to get all of our

2:32

shows ad free watch live as we

2:34

record them and of course you get

2:36

your daily exclusive greg way but greg

2:38

miller will tell you about his life

2:40

an awesome exclusive piece of content we

2:43

like to thank our patreon producers for

2:45

the month carl jacobs kieran hova sapien

2:47

and delaney twining thank you so much

2:49

for your support this week the kind

2:51

of funny x cast is brought to

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you by shady raise and better help

2:55

but i'll tell you all about that

2:57

in just a little bit let's

3:00

talk about it the

3:02

xbox partner preview thirty-minute

3:04

broadcast dozens of trailers

3:06

and of course partners uh...

3:08

publishers and developers like cap com next on

3:10

an e a we saw fourteen games give

3:13

me your top-level thoughts before we go game

3:15

by game and break it all down for

3:17

the people watching and listening uh...

3:19

my top-level boxes again i thought we

3:21

saw a nice variety and mix of

3:24

games out of the fourteen uh... my

3:26

thought we saw across different genres uh...

3:29

i thought this was

3:31

again you can always do these the showcases

3:34

of the first party games but the feet

3:36

things from from the partners that aren't necessarily

3:38

at the triple level we thought the double-a

3:40

games but we saw a lot of fun

3:43

games we saw a lot of intriguing games

3:45

things that weren't necessarily on my radar because

3:47

one in particular no we'll talk about i

3:50

had no clue now it just

3:52

got to the top of the charts for me

3:54

of this is something i want experience this is

3:56

something i want to play so Again,

3:58

top-level I thought this was. Then tested again.anyone

4:00

watching this meant did not can support

4:02

and preview from the go back and

4:04

much. Yeah, I'm right there

4:06

with you pairs. This was a very good

4:09

afternoon. This is a very good presentation from

4:11

the team over at X Box. I mean,

4:13

if we take away all the rumors that

4:15

really clouded X Box at the start of

4:17

the years, this is a solid start to

4:20

the year of showcases, right? We talk about

4:22

the spots developer underscored, direct we go into

4:24

this. It's a good cadence of a X

4:26

boxes in front of you, their out telling

4:28

you what you can expect this year and

4:31

a little bit beyond right as we build

4:33

up towards June. And I liked this cadence.

4:35

I like. This kind of level of communication

4:37

I like as a consumer. the hyper of

4:39

a his fourteen games come into your ecosystem

4:41

that you should be aware about and I

4:43

get excited right? The not all going to

4:45

speak to me And I think that's one

4:47

thing I've really remembered as we've watched so

4:49

many of these is the not going about

4:51

a thousand. There's not a hundred percent of

4:54

games can speak to be every time, but

4:56

it's not for me, it's a big pile

4:58

of people that will see this. M yeah,

5:00

I walked away going about games that I've

5:02

already seen them now, more so forth and

5:04

others new game. So I go. Oh. You're

5:06

on my radar and that's exactly what

5:08

I'm sir. X Box wants to do

5:10

with this. But let's talk about as

5:13

we break down fourteen Games Commons you

5:15

X Box ecosystem. some of them coming

5:17

of course, day and date we had

5:19

a shadow drop here. In this we

5:21

have games come into Game past, Pc

5:23

Game Past so there's a bunch of

5:25

I'm But let's go down the list.

5:27

We have Unknown Nine Awakening coming Summer,

5:30

Twenty Twenty Fourth Daves, some solid Assassin's

5:32

Creed and Tomb Raider vibes. To me,

5:34

we got to see some game. Plays

5:36

with some real fast combat. some cool

5:38

magic spells would you think of this

5:40

one? Pairs. i thought it

5:42

was interesting you're doing this is one

5:44

that i had no clue what was

5:46

coming into your point i love the

5:48

assassin's creed was spelled action that we

5:50

saw in this your mix with some

5:52

powers and things like that i'm i

5:54

think i would assume little bit more

5:56

ah i but i believe the vr

5:58

and map antagonists but the protagonist in

6:00

here is Yennefer

6:03

from The Witches Theory. So

6:05

you instantly got my attention with that. But

6:07

it looks good. It looks interesting. Definitely want

6:09

to see more coming from Bandai Namco, I

6:12

do believe. So yeah, nice kick off to

6:14

the partner preview. This is something to keep

6:16

your eye on. Yes, and of course for

6:18

everyone out there, if you're interested in learning

6:20

more, maybe you're listening to this going, oh,

6:22

I'd like to learn more about that. Go

6:24

to the Xbox wire. They have breakdowns of

6:26

each and every one of these games. So

6:28

that's very cool to check out. But

6:31

I'll give you a quick little top

6:33

level one, of course, step in to

6:35

protagonist Haruna's. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing that,

6:37

but I'm trying my best shoes, tap

6:39

into an alternate dimension and use a

6:41

potent energy to take down those who

6:43

stand in your way. Learn

6:46

about reflectors, entertainment team, and what

6:48

they've been up to as this

6:50

tealer teaser won games comms best

6:52

announcement award of 2020. So

6:55

there you go. Something cool for you to look forward

6:57

to. Yeah, Paris, I'd

7:00

like I think in the summertime we

7:02

see this. I'd like the deep dive. Hey,

7:04

this is who you're playing at. Hey, this

7:06

is the world. But like it felt very

7:08

much like Assassin's Creed when you first saw

7:10

this. And I'm into that. And so I'm

7:12

all about that right now. Absolutely.

7:16

Moving forward onto our next game. We

7:18

have one sleight of hand coming to

7:20

game pass. Paris, you said at the

7:22

end of it, third person stealth. There

7:24

was no gameplay on this one, though.

7:27

What'd you think a sleight of hand?

7:30

I think the premise of it definitely looks

7:32

interesting. Again, the cards obviously, you know,

7:34

Queen's Blood and everything that's going on recently

7:36

has made that the rage right now. But

7:40

to your point, we didn't see actual

7:42

gameplay. So I do want to see

7:44

more from this title to see how

7:46

the third person stealth action along with

7:48

the card play works in this type

7:50

of world. But as an introduction to

7:52

it, again, put it on my radar.

7:54

So now I'm intrigued. I for sure

7:56

want to see more. Yeah, I catching

7:59

visuals with the. CGI trailer right

8:01

it was no gameplay, but it had this

8:03

very cool like Mafiosa 19. I

8:05

don't know 50 vibe right and I I

8:07

dig that you put me in that kind

8:09

of world I'm all about it and card

8:11

games are all the range right now is

8:13

right Paris, and so the idea of maybe

8:16

Balancing a deck builder rogue light.

8:18

I'm sure we'll have probably some

8:20

elements of this, but I like

8:22

the vibe I like kind of

8:24

the mystery of Figuring out

8:26

what's going on in this world and

8:28

maybe your ex-partner doing some nefarious stuff

8:30

I'm into this and so well done

8:33

You're on my radar now, and I

8:35

look forward to seeing some gameplay I

8:37

love that neon white is really inspired

8:39

yeah, why other other devs to be

8:41

like what if cards

8:43

were the weapons Up

8:47

next we have a game hitting game

8:50

pass that stole the show for you

8:52

and I pairs That's the alters now

8:54

the alters is looking real really cool

8:57

The alters giving off some fallout shelter

8:59

vibes some man on the moon all

9:01

by himself type of vibes Paris

9:03

what did you think of the alters as I bring this one up? Hit

9:07

the top of my list coming out of this partner

9:09

preview that this is the game that I for sure

9:12

Want to see more of and definitely want

9:14

to get in my hands on I think

9:16

as we're reacting when I initially saw it

9:19

Definitely had kind of a recurinal vibe to

9:21

it, and we saw someone in the chat

9:23

even call it starfield shelter And I think

9:25

that's exactly what it is like you said

9:27

there's some fallout shelter vibes in this or

9:30

some Returnal vibes in this I'd love being

9:32

able to have these different alters which represent

9:34

different choices that you're making in the game

9:37

kind of a Regret like I think

9:39

at one point One of

9:41

the characters even said the main character said

9:43

you know what if I fought harder for

9:45

my marriage so choices like that Really intrigues

9:47

me to see how is that gonna play

9:49

out in this world on this this isolated

9:51

planet that you're on Yeah,

9:54

This looks fantastic to me. I Love these type of

9:56

games so for sure want to see more of this!

9:59

I Got a small. The about page on

10:01

this one that the Alters is an

10:03

upcoming survival video game developed and published

10:05

by Eleven Bit Studios. In the game

10:07

the player assumes control of Jam, a

10:10

space miners who must create alternative version

10:12

of himself in order to survive an

10:14

inhospitable planets and Pears A got me

10:16

with the sub Not a crafting vibes

10:19

year night amount of the idea of

10:21

the authors kind of being you but

10:23

also being them own selves and they

10:25

have their own goals and their own

10:28

things that they're going for and likes.

10:30

Of course is gonna be some hostility there.

10:32

There's gonna be some button of heads and

10:34

I'm excited to see what kind of freaky

10:36

turn a it puts off because the whole

10:39

vibe was very just like you said, we're

10:41

Turtle is kind of dark. he was mysterious,

10:43

a lot of waiting for that hard left

10:45

turn of like oh we got a big

10:47

problem right now with all these guys yottabyte

10:50

think that the big thing other this is

10:52

how ones who is Kim can define you

10:54

right? So you have all these years alters,

10:56

getting and be interacting with each other, but

10:58

they're going to be unique. Because of

11:01

one particular choice. too bad older down

11:03

one road while you might have been

11:05

another towards it took you number know

11:07

the road near and receivers versions of

11:09

that in this game or lose I

11:11

hope you do so and decide to

11:13

the top. a deterrent for me and

11:15

doesn't wanna see more this this one

11:17

yeah keep this in mind everybody's look

11:19

at that one are coming to game

11:21

pass as well so that's a big

11:23

when I'm next is Creatures of Eva.

11:25

Creatures of Eva is a creature saver

11:27

game in which you will have to

11:29

help creatures like skates. From an incest

11:31

since that is rapidly growing on the

11:33

planet. Able. are pairs you called

11:35

this out right away with a little

11:37

fun nods you of course of even

11:40

pin yada and also oh what's the

11:42

rare game i keep forgetting what's it

11:44

called ever wilde ever wilds it's got

11:46

the art style like ever wilds i'll

11:48

give you that but us suits are

11:50

very vibrant colors i always love cute

11:52

creatures i like taking photos of few

11:54

creatures like it's pokemon snap if i'm

11:56

gathering a bunch of cute creatures to

11:58

be might seem i'm all about it

12:00

what what i want to see more about this one

12:03

there here for sure i i

12:05

i immediately thought of uh... game like bugs

12:07

next uh... as well when we're looking

12:09

at this but like i think i have a view

12:11

of the pinata vibe to it seems like it will

12:13

be a single player only experience of that i think

12:15

something like this could buy in a

12:18

co-op setting as well but uh... intriguing and again

12:20

when i think about my kids on my especially

12:22

my youngest daughter this looks like something that would

12:24

be hurt and yes you would love to do

12:26

something like this so definitely want to keep your

12:29

eye on yeah keep an eye on that one

12:31

that one looks good up next we have all

12:33

one pair she just spoke about grief bill

12:37

chucky which is out now so big i p

12:39

grab with chucky pairs do you know about grief

12:41

bill what the heck is this i

12:44

have no idea other than i know it's

12:46

it's a it's an expansion of roblox i

12:48

do believe that when i bring up again

12:50

my my youngest daughter that that's her thing

12:52

that's her and her crew that's what they

12:54

do so as i'm watching this i go

12:56

oh yeah though they'll be jumping into this

12:58

don't want to play this so and getting

13:00

chucky bringing that into into the mix as

13:02

well instantly makes

13:05

me go alright what house is

13:07

going to play out what's gonna be more but

13:09

i i'm sure my daughter will be telling a

13:11

lot about this one yeah uh... if this is

13:14

in roblox which i i do believe it

13:16

is uh... nice expansion there great grab with chucky

13:18

always fun you know i think of games like

13:20

dead by daylight i think of of course

13:22

predator hunting grounds these games that bring these just

13:24

very familiar i p's and make them fun

13:26

and playable is always a win for me and

13:29

i mean when i was a

13:31

kid paris chucky was the scariest thing on the

13:33

block terrifying so yeah you put chucky in a

13:35

video game to me my friends can play we're

13:37

definitely checking that out and getting scared for sure

13:41

up next paris it's a sequel to a

13:43

game we never heard of but now we

13:46

know about it the sinking city too so

13:48

now you can put the sinking city on your

13:51

must plays because you have a lot of games

13:53

already to play but the sinking city to what

13:55

you think of this one pears i

13:57

mean it looked interesting and that's why i joke i was

13:59

like hello didn't know there was a first one,

14:01

but you know, it's interesting. It's

14:03

something again, looks like a survival horror kind of

14:05

thing. I think, you know, shout out to Brit,

14:08

like as we were watching it, I was saying

14:10

kind of that resident evil vibe to it where

14:12

I for sure would see someone

14:14

like her loving this. Need to see more. I

14:16

know the chat was telling us during their reaction

14:18

that the first one was good. So

14:21

that's a great sign. So let's see more of

14:23

it. Coming from the

14:25

Xbox wire, this is what they have for the

14:27

sinking city too, that I could quickly grab shot

14:29

to Joe Scrabblez. Thanks Joe for all the where

14:33

the first game was a detective

14:35

adventure with horror bubbling up from

14:37

its flooded world. Its sequel has

14:39

taken a darker, more aggressive form.

14:41

The sinking city too is a

14:43

true horror game now with more

14:46

emphasis on combat while keeping the

14:48

Lovecraftian narrative close to its twisted

14:50

heart. So there you go. Had

14:53

a lot of vibes of that one. Also

14:55

had like a train coming in and I thought it

14:57

could be void train. Having some fun time. So keep

14:59

an eye on that one. Maybe you'll jump into it.

15:02

Paris, here's one you and I, we can think

15:04

a lot of hours into it's finally here. The

15:07

world's number one, MMORPG free to

15:09

play here available on Xbox. It's

15:12

final fantasy 14, the full release

15:15

March 21st. You can already

15:17

jump into the beta now on Xbox, but you have

15:19

the full release on March 21st. Will

15:21

you sell your soul and start playing final

15:24

fantasy 14? Oh my God.

15:26

I don't think I have an opinion. To

15:29

be able to do it, but I'm happy

15:31

to see that it, the full release is

15:33

finally coming to Xbox. I know

15:35

the lineage of this. It is one of

15:38

the greatest redemption stories of all time. Final

15:40

Fantasy 14 online. Oh,

15:42

more people getting to play. This is great. So

15:44

I'm looking forward to everyone having the opportunity to

15:46

go check it out. You know, Paris, there was

15:49

a time back in the day when I was

15:51

a kid who loved World of Warcraft and these

15:53

MMORPGs. Right. I think of RuneScape,

15:56

but there was an ever wild

15:58

ever ever scape. And I remember

16:01

thinking I can only play these on my PC, and I

16:03

don't have a PC And I just want these games to

16:05

come to console and man Xbox

16:07

certainly like that Xbox one era into

16:10

now really has brought these big MMORPGs

16:12

to console And I'm so thankful for

16:14

that from neverwinter to warframe to ESO

16:16

and beyond I mean you are just

16:19

getting treated to these giant massive multiplayer

16:21

games that you can play with all

16:23

your friends and To have Final Fantasy

16:25

come over. I know it's a big

16:28

win I know a lot of people

16:30

love this over on the PlayStation PC

16:32

side, so I hope Xbox players jump

16:35

in I know they will so

16:37

should be a really good time with that one up

16:39

next pairs. This is a cool one Stalker

16:42

stalker legends of the zone

16:44

is out and available right now

16:47

So you have stalker one with it

16:49

looks like three different expansions on this

16:51

but perfect time to get ready for

16:53

stalker 2 Yeah, okay

16:56

I can't even talk sorry But yeah I think

16:58

this was a great idea for for them to

17:00

be able to do this to kind of package

17:03

up the trilogy This way and have it available

17:05

before stalker 2 comes out kind of as an

17:07

anticipation for people That did not get to play

17:09

the original stalker series So now they can jump

17:11

in if they so choose play the original kind

17:14

of get caught up on the story the world

17:16

everything that It is and then when stalker 2

17:18

releases later this year. They're all caught

17:20

up and ready to go there you go a

17:22

stalker Legends of the zone trilogy did they put

17:24

price on this yeah I got a price

17:27

for you for Xbox one and Xbox series

17:29

X and S it is 40 US

17:31

dollars right now 3999

17:35

for this trilogy so if you want to

17:37

jump in play stalker 1 with

17:39

this little trilogy package They go I'm sorry

17:41

that you said Xbox one as well Xbox

17:43

one as well, and there's so yeah Yeah,

17:46

cuz it was doing backwards compatibility Yeah,

17:48

um now I will say about that

17:51

$40 price wish it was a little

17:53

or I Think

17:55

a lower price point would would intrigue more people

17:57

to want to jump in and try and play

17:59

it $40

18:01

kind of gets right up there to that red line of

18:04

like do I really want to go back and please order

18:06

games? Or should I go play something else that's newer? Yeah,

18:08

and if you don't want to pay the

18:11

$40 up front it does say here or

18:13

you can pick up each of the games

18:15

individually for 1999

18:17

so of course you'll be paying more at the end

18:19

of the day But maybe you just buy one check

18:21

it out see if it vibes with you and then

18:23

go from there But I do agree Paris that $40

18:26

price tag is a little high For

18:28

such an older game to jump back into it

18:30

would have been a big win on game pass

18:32

if this was on game path I'm jumping in

18:34

tonight, right? I'm trying it. I'm doing it now

18:37

$40. I'm looking around going Oh, I don't know

18:39

if I'll vibe with this because man

18:41

and just it looks old Paris And you know, I don't

18:43

want to say old games are old But there's a lot

18:45

of games competing for my time It is tough to jump

18:47

back to such an older game and think I'm gonna have

18:50

a good time with it Agreed and

18:52

we obviously don't know the financials or the deals

18:54

that were happening on the back end But as

18:56

we're watching it, I'm thinking oh This will be

18:58

in game pass because stalker 2 is gonna be

19:00

in game past Day one and that'll

19:02

be a nice way to really get people to

19:04

jump in and try out the older games But

19:06

I mean, we'll obviously see with

19:08

the price point But I regardless glad that they're

19:11

at least doing this so it gives up people

19:13

an opportunity to go back and play these games

19:15

Yeah, another fun one here for me and Barrett's

19:18

Monster Jam showdown Hell

19:21

yeah, brother. Hell. Yeah, brother is

19:23

right bear You and I have

19:26

had some fun with games like

19:28

Lego 2k Drive. We've checked out

19:30

of course hot wheels unleashed These

19:33

are the type of games bear where you and I

19:35

played and all of a sudden I go Why am I

19:37

having so much fun with a car game? I love

19:39

it bear the car games like Your

19:42

forts us and your whatever

19:44

the PlayStation plan to rizmos Yeah, don't really

19:46

speak to me when you get like silly

19:48

with it and just goofy and

19:50

it just looks like a fun time I'm

19:52

all in yeah, like your hot wheels your

19:54

rocket leagues your Mario karts. This definitely speaks

19:56

to me I don't know if this is

19:58

one that like I'll be With

20:00

over like weeks, but this at least seems

20:02

like a fun Mike and Barrett afternoon play

20:04

on this And just being

20:07

a couple of dudes, you know,

20:09

just dudes loving monster trucks big

20:11

wheels I mean, it's gonna be

20:13

a fun time is right and I love that

20:15

They have the arenas where it's like the stadium

20:17

show or you can go off-roading in some races

20:19

So I'm all about that. I I'm sure it'll

20:21

be dumb fun pair. So you checking this out?

20:25

I'll probably try and check it out. But yeah,

20:27

it's like dope fun. Yes. That's what it's all

20:29

about You know, there was a time back in

20:31

the day where we had a lot of motocross ATVs

20:34

it was like it was a very special time now.

20:36

We don't really get that as much so we got

20:38

to bring that back to be a country Mike Be

20:41

a country that just loved off-roading and

20:44

going fast is right Paris

20:46

I'm gonna kick this next game over

20:48

to our director I'm the ones and

20:50

twos bear Courtney because I know he's

20:52

gonna bring the hype Properly for this

20:54

because it's persona 3 reload it or

20:57

reload with an epilogue coming September 24th

20:59

on game path Bear

21:02

you lost your mind for this one. Of

21:04

course when Xbox finally got persona over here

21:06

What what should we know about I should

21:08

have seen this coming, you know, like the

21:11

persona 3 reload launched last

21:13

month as a remake of

21:15

persona 3 the devs were very clear that

21:18

they wanted to remake the original

21:20

version of the game not Fez or persona

21:23

3 portable which came

21:26

with a lot of kind of

21:28

questioning from the audience portal portable

21:30

added a playable female

21:32

main character and then Fez

21:34

added story content and this

21:36

is the kind of original story

21:39

epilogue from persona 3 says That

21:42

people were kind of wondering about and so

21:45

it's cool to see them kind of like

21:47

bring it in as kind

21:50

of like a In A unique

21:52

way for Atlas at least like as like

21:54

post launch Content for the Persona series. Like

21:56

people were kind of guessing that this was

21:58

going to be saved for. The a

22:00

Persona Three Reload Royale kind of

22:02

situation. Where be it's own skew

22:04

and you'd have to play through

22:06

the i entirety of Persona Three

22:09

again and all that stuff. And

22:11

ah, either I prefer this overs

22:13

that for sir. I'm. Yeah.

22:15

I'm I'm really excited to see what

22:17

they do with with the The Answer

22:20

which is the the name of this

22:22

epilogue here and there because it's definitely

22:24

story wise. I really really enjoy it

22:26

is. It definitely feels like a hey

22:29

let's reflect on the events of the

22:31

main game and the do how everybody

22:33

is walking away from that ah emotionally.

22:36

Gameplay wise it's a it's a bit

22:38

monotonous, it a bit tedious. It's it's

22:40

not super fun. Some excited to see

22:42

how they reworked that ah if at

22:45

all. Structurally at least with the gameplay

22:47

and how they kind of updated the combat

22:49

stuff are ready for the main game. I

22:51

feel like that may might be enough to

22:53

serve. you know, get in there and go

22:56

through that grinds but I'm very excited for

22:58

it's ah I'm ready for Atlas to to

23:00

fuck me up all over again and this

23:03

is like a my thumb a mess. Can

23:05

I can I dislike about this because I'll

23:07

know. Follow the lane on is this what

23:09

you are not or another concentrates on the

23:12

review I talked about like the trophies for

23:14

percent of three. Reload and how

23:16

after I'd finished playing through

23:18

it and. Reviewed

23:21

it. And we had one

23:23

trophy last which is max out Also feelings

23:25

would require a whole nother play through ah

23:27

for for me which I'm not a mostly

23:29

read for quite yet. Ah but I've been

23:32

on health we go back to present a

23:34

Five Royal the Ps fibers into the Never

23:36

Platinum's That Game ah some going through that

23:38

and then I think I'll probably go back

23:41

to reload and preparation for the answer. and.

23:44

La Persona. This year my ex. And.

23:47

has a really long as it's all about bear

23:49

lot i i i gotta get back into elvin

23:51

ring i gotta remember how to play elton ring

23:53

again at some point this year man totally start

23:55

with me on that ah here's a fun one

23:57

some details for you because of course this is

24:00

the Persona 3 reload expansion pass and a

24:02

lot of people have questions of is

24:04

this coming to game pass Paris as

24:06

we've seen some DLC Not really

24:08

included in game pass. You got to buy yourself.

24:10

So there's always some question marks So

24:12

here's the quick rundown from the Xbox

24:14

wire the newly announced persona 3 reload

24:17

expansion pass featuring new costumes

24:19

background music tracks and extended

24:22

story content scenario Episode

24:24

the answer now, here's the details persona

24:26

3 reload expansion pass is coming March

24:29

12th to Xbox series X and S

24:31

and Xbox one and

24:33

PC and will be available To

24:36

Xbox game pass ultimate users for free

24:38

as part of the perks program So

24:40

if you have game pass ultimate, guess

24:42

what? You'll be able to redeem that

24:45

perk You'll get the expansion pass you'll

24:47

get all of that ad-libre contact, which

24:49

is always a big W

24:51

Ladies and gentlemen up next Paris

24:53

is the game that I said at the top

24:55

of the show keep your eye on I think

24:57

Andy and blessing this is their type of game

25:00

So if you identify with Andy and bless on

25:02

their kind of souls born games, this is it

25:04

This is the first berserker Paris you liked

25:07

the art style. I know the combat

25:09

kind of looks soulsy like What did

25:11

you think of this one? I

25:13

mean, yeah to your point definitely soulsy like

25:15

I love the visuals that they were on

25:18

display there and What

25:20

looks great it really does if you're

25:22

into that type of game I definitely

25:24

think this is something you're gonna want

25:26

to check out for sure. Yeah, I'm

25:28

I am interested in this Of course,

25:30

I've been on my soul's journey. I've

25:33

been having so much fun We get

25:35

ready for the Elden Ring DLC and

25:37

I'm always craving that kind of punishing

25:39

challenge of get better Get good and

25:41

you know have some fun on these

25:43

grand adventures And when you put a game

25:45

in a different art style like you brought

25:47

up pairs I think it always catches my eye.

25:49

I'm looking for like, you know, of

25:51

course awesome combat and gameplay But I'm

25:53

looking for crazy enemies and like really

25:55

fun Well thought-out boss designs and this

25:57

had that with this kind of arts

26:00

So I am I'm in on the first

26:02

presurker for sure. So make sure to keep

26:04

an eye out on that one

26:06

up next Paris tales

26:09

of Can there a zow you

26:11

and I have been teasing now we have a

26:13

very special interview Coming up at the

26:16

end of the show and I'm happy to reveal that

26:18

today Myself in Paris during this

26:20

kind of funny axe gasps will sit down

26:22

with the man behind the game Abou car

26:24

Salim to talk about tales of Can there

26:26

a zow with all of you So if

26:28

you want to dive a little bit deeper

26:30

into this stay tuned after the ads We're

26:32

gonna talk all about it Paris. You've played

26:35

this game via demo. We talked now with

26:37

the developer What do you think about this

26:39

one? Oh man day

26:41

one day one. I I love

26:43

the Metro Metro I

26:45

cannot talk today and I apologize

26:48

the Metroidvania style of this game

26:50

I love how it dives into

26:52

the African culture I

26:55

feel like you see the various power set that you're

26:57

gonna be able to use and you know We'll get

26:59

into this more when you guys watch the interview, but

27:02

I mean Seeing this

27:04

at the game awards for the first time I

27:07

instantly go man. This looks really cool I want

27:09

to check this out and then

27:11

getting to play that demo itself All

27:14

I want to do was play more of it after

27:16

it was done So definitely check out this interview that

27:18

that we're gonna have later in the show It's

27:20

a treat and this game looks like it could

27:22

be a special one Yeah, the interview is a

27:24

treat the game looks awesome Especially coming hot off

27:27

of Prince of Persia for me Paris as someone

27:29

that's not big into the Metroidvania I

27:31

have now found an interest in that thanks

27:33

to Prince of Persia And I want more

27:35

of it and seeing this game at the

27:38

game awards seeing it now today Speaking

27:40

with the development team. I'm like, oh boy

27:42

I'm ready for more of that so I cannot

27:44

wait for this game to come out and jump into

27:46

that with you and everyone else It's gonna be a

27:49

ton of fun We'll talk about that interview

27:51

in just a little bit two more games to go

27:53

through out of the 14 shown today We

27:56

have Frostpunk 2 coming July

28:00

24 PC game pass Paris, you know,

28:03

I'm an RTS jabroni. I love city

28:05

builders. I love getting lost in this

28:07

I'm all about this Paris. I cannot

28:09

wait to play this game. Oh,

28:11

yeah This is again another one where it's like if

28:14

I have the time Because this will

28:16

be a time thing to be able to play

28:18

this but it's on PC game pass So so

28:20

there's an opportunity for people to at least give

28:22

it a try go check it out see if

28:24

it's for you But yeah, it looks

28:26

good. This is another one. I didn't know there was a

28:28

first one I will fully admit that but hey,

28:30

we'll check out part two I love

28:32

when we get a good PC game pass game

28:34

You know, it's kind of I don't

28:37

want to call it a rarity because usually

28:39

we get games that come to PC cloud

28:41

and console Right, but like sometimes you get

28:43

those true deep nerdy PC games

28:45

Like we saw with Total War war hammer

28:47

3 and like I like when we get

28:49

those and that makes me want to turn

28:52

on my PC Makes me want

28:54

to get on that Xbox app and download

28:56

these games So like when we get a

28:58

real nerdy PC game, I'm all about it,

29:00

especially with game paths So shout out to

29:02

this one. You got my attention. I'm in

29:04

absolutely rounding it out can

29:08

Kunitsu Gami coming to

29:10

game pass as well Paris this

29:12

game was all over the

29:14

piss Kunitsu Gami path of the goddess.

29:16

We finally got a really a much

29:18

deeper dive into this We've seen the

29:20

flashy combat, but we kind of saw

29:22

a RTS I kind

29:25

of tower defense in this one. What

29:27

did you think of this? Like

29:29

I was saying during the reaction I don't know

29:32

what the hell is going on But I like

29:34

what I'm saying the art style in this is

29:36

just drop that gorgeous This is such

29:38

a beautiful game to see in motion and

29:40

to your point It looks like it's blending

29:42

a few different genres into one Like

29:46

I said during the reaction man Capcom's been killing

29:48

it this year with their games And

29:50

this looks like another one where I'm

29:52

intrigued enough that I want to check this out for sure Like

29:54

I said, I don't know what's going on, but I want to

29:56

check it out. Yeah There

29:58

was a lot thrown at us During

30:00

this little teaser trailer or during this

30:02

trailer could have gone a little more

30:04

in depth But I'm sure we'll get

30:07

that at some sort of summer presentation

30:09

But this one definitely has a cool

30:11

style to it. It looks interesting and

30:13

like you said from the Xbox wire

30:15

It is a highly unique Japanese inspired

30:17

single-player game that blends Multiple

30:19

genres to create an action-packed

30:21

adventure unlike any other so

30:24

I like that we're blending I'm interested to

30:26

see all of this live and in person

30:28

and play it So you know what

30:30

you have my intention. I'm interested in that that's

30:33

coming to game pass as well Which is another

30:35

big win Paris 30 minutes

30:37

14 games a number

30:39

of partners being showcased here We talked

30:41

about it at before we both really

30:43

like this I mean out

30:45

of all those games plenty to kind of say hey,

30:48

I'm interested in this one, right? Oh,

30:50

absolutely and that's the point I think we saw

30:52

a nice variety of games in this and again

30:54

I can just give a shout out to Capcom,

30:57

but shout out to 11-bit man I

30:59

mean as far as being able to

31:01

deliver these games that we saw during

31:03

the showcase. I mean looks

31:05

great It looks great I for sure want

31:07

to see Xbox do more of these partner

31:09

previews throughout the year because the main point

31:11

of this is sure You're gonna have the

31:13

big June showcase We'll see all the big

31:15

big games coming from Xbox game studios But

31:18

games like these get lost in the crowd

31:20

when they're shown during a big showcase like

31:23

that Yes, we're all we're gonna talk about

31:25

are those main games So kind of giving

31:27

these games their own showcase their own room

31:29

to breathe allow people to discover them is

31:32

a great thing Very excited about

31:34

that We're gonna share a very

31:36

special and important and awesome developer interview

31:38

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of our lower than low prices. Tales

34:43

of Kenzaru Zao. And so we are

34:45

sitting down with the man behind it

34:48

all, Aboukar Salim, to talk all about

34:50

it with you. Paris, final

34:52

thoughts on the interview that you want to share? Maybe a

34:54

little tease of the interview before we jump into it. I'm

34:57

gonna do a quick costume change before the

35:00

interview. But no, I loved

35:03

it. I loved it. You can see

35:05

how passionate he is about this game and

35:07

what it means to him. And I think

35:09

that's an important thing to take out of

35:11

this interview. Like I said, you played

35:13

the demo. I probably said it in an interview a

35:15

thousand times that I played the demo, but you play

35:17

the demo, you see the love and the care that

35:19

they put into this game. And I'm really excited for

35:21

people to be able to check it out for themselves.

35:23

Yeah, this is a game that's gonna make you smile.

35:25

This is a guy who's gonna make you really get

35:27

up out of your scene and go, man, this

35:30

is awesome. So stay tuned, enjoy this interview. We'll

35:32

see you on the other side. Hey,

35:34

what up everybody? It's Mike and Paris

35:36

with a very special guest to talk

35:38

about a brand new video game that

35:41

you need to know about. It's Aboukar

35:43

Salim talking about Tales of Kenzaru Zao.

35:46

Aboukar, what's going on? Hey,

35:48

man, how you doing? I'm good. How are

35:51

you? Always struggling with your name, trying my

35:53

best. But it's nice to see your smile

35:55

on. That's all that matters. So good. So

35:58

good, Matt. So good. Let's

36:01

talk about it because it's very exciting. We get

36:03

to talk about your game, your team's game, and

36:05

you showcased it with the world premiere over at

36:08

the Game Awards. Now you've teamed up with Xbox,

36:10

you go a little more in depth, but

36:12

let's start at the beginning, showcasing it on the

36:14

big stage at the Game Awards. I thought that

36:17

was really special, and to see you up there

36:19

was really awesome. Yeah, man, that

36:21

was crazy terrifying. The thing is, it's

36:23

so different when you watch the Game

36:25

Awards from afar, like when you're streaming

36:27

it, and it's what it is, right?

36:30

It's the Game Awards. And then suddenly, now you're

36:32

there, and it is just an attack on the

36:34

senses, right? And I just

36:36

remember sort of walking on stage,

36:38

and even backstage actually, I'm seeing

36:40

like Jordan Peele and Hideo on

36:43

stage, and I'm like, what's going

36:45

on? Even like Matthew McConaughey

36:47

showing up, and you're like, oh, okay,

36:49

this is the kind of vibe. And then,

36:51

yeah, going up there and sort of opening

36:53

my heart was like, it

36:56

was crazy, man. It was really, really crazy. I thought

36:59

that was really special, opening your heart and

37:01

sharing the story about your father and dealing

37:03

with grief. I think that resonates with everyone,

37:05

right, Paris? No, absolutely. And I

37:07

have to tell this story. So I was

37:09

at that Game Awards, and you and I,

37:11

we got to meet prior, I think it

37:13

was at the JW or something like that.

37:16

And I remember, oh, cool, you know, very

37:19

nice to meet you kind of thing. And

37:21

then what, like an hour or two later, all of a

37:23

sudden, you're on stage, introducing this game and telling this story.

37:27

I'm sitting in my seat like, oh, my God, I

37:29

just, I just met like this huge celebrity and did

37:31

not realize it at the time. But

37:33

the story that you did tell on stage

37:36

at the Game Awards, and I'm sure we're going

37:38

to get into the game here in just a second.

37:40

Very touching to me. And

37:42

being able to play that demo and

37:44

understand your inspiration

37:47

for making this game was

37:49

fantastic. So, again, kudos to

37:51

you. I love the story and really excited

37:53

for this game. Matter of fact,

37:55

let's just jump into it. Let's start

37:57

talking about the game itself. Like

38:00

I said, I got a chance to play the demo. Loved

38:02

it. Visuals, outstanding. Platforming elements, outstanding.

38:04

I love the combat elements that you

38:06

have in there. I love the skill

38:08

tree, how you're able to upgrade as

38:10

you progress through the game. But

38:14

with all that said, it's the story

38:16

that you're telling. It's the culture that

38:18

you're bringing to the world with

38:21

this game that I want to talk about. So if you want

38:23

to jump into that place. Yeah, I

38:25

mean, look, it's one of those ones where I

38:28

kind of saw this as an opportunity of like, okay,

38:30

if I only have one chance of doing something, it's

38:32

got to be real, it's got to be honest, and

38:34

it's got to be truthful. And again,

38:38

something that I've pulled from

38:41

several times, be it from my acting

38:43

career or even now within kind of

38:45

game development, has been a sense of

38:47

like looking at what my father

38:49

meant to me and trying to emulate and

38:51

reflect that and sort of show that. And

38:53

I think like that was essentially really important

38:55

with the game, you know, something, you know,

38:57

telling these stories that he would tell me

38:59

as a kid, also learning the stories that

39:01

again, with, you know, having through my journeys

39:03

as well as learning different other cultures. But

39:06

really ultimately it was about bringing

39:08

this universal feeling of grief and

39:10

reflecting and showing that in

39:13

the best way possible, which is the platform of

39:15

Metroidvania that, you know, people are going to be

39:17

playing. You know, for

39:19

me, that's the universal connecting, you know, tissue

39:21

that kind of, no matter who

39:24

you are or where you're from, we're

39:26

all going to connect and go on that journey. You

39:28

know, in my eyes, story is king and

39:30

I really wanted to tell a beautiful story, but

39:32

also some really cool fun gameplay at the same

39:34

time. That's

39:37

really rad. And I think the fun one

39:39

as well as you coming from a voice

39:41

acting background and now making a game, I

39:43

think that was really rad and stuck out to

39:45

me. What was that like jumping to a whole

39:47

other side of game development? Yeah,

39:50

I mean, it's surreal, man. I mean, like

39:52

the thing is, you know, having done like

39:54

TV film and games, like something

39:56

that really stuck out to me was when

39:59

talking to developers. There

40:01

is such a love for video

40:03

games, like a real

40:05

love for the actual art that

40:08

they're making that it just

40:10

inspired me to want to go behind the

40:12

scenes and really try and bring that.

40:16

I think that's really what drove me

40:18

to tell this story within a game

40:20

space. When

40:23

working on Assassin's Creed Origins, that

40:25

was the one thing that stood out

40:27

was just how everyone not only enjoyed

40:30

games but they loved

40:32

making it. I think having that

40:34

kind of enjoyment, you can see

40:36

that and feel that, it's so

40:38

inspiring. It's like life is

40:40

living, man. If you enjoy what you're doing,

40:43

then you're doing it right. Absolutely.

40:48

A question I had for you, you

40:50

think it's something like Black Panther, the

40:52

movie and how that was a phenomenon

40:54

at the time and really introduced the

40:56

world to African culture. As

40:59

you were making this game and as it's about to come

41:01

out, are you thinking of

41:04

a similar vein where this is an opportunity, not

41:06

only are you able to tell this great story

41:09

but introduce the gaming world to more

41:11

African culture? Yeah, man. It's

41:13

like this is the perfect position

41:15

to inspire people to tell more

41:17

stories like this. That

41:20

was the one thing that really stuck out to me

41:22

with Black Panther was I remember

41:24

going to the cinema again and I put it

41:27

this way, I didn't know who Black Panther was.

41:29

Whenever we all spoke about what Black Panther was

41:31

to me, I was thinking of the movement of

41:33

the party. I'm now suddenly

41:35

watching a Marvel film here and I'm feeling

41:37

seen and I'm feeling like, wow, I can

41:40

be a superhero. I can't

41:42

imagine the effect that has on

41:44

a kid who's wanting to, who

41:46

again are completely enamored into these

41:48

worlds and what that can do

41:51

to them. I feel like, oh, I can be

41:53

a superhero. I think that is

41:55

something that I really wanted to channel

41:57

with Zal, with Telsa Kazara Zal. I

42:00

think, you know, I always say this to

42:02

the devs as well, like if we're able

42:04

to inspire someone to play

42:07

this game and be like, now we can make

42:09

something even better and cooler within the same sort

42:11

of world, then we've won. You know, that's a

42:13

win. And I think like that is growth. And

42:15

that's, you know, again, inviting other

42:17

people to really strive and push the boundaries

42:20

of not only, you know, gameplay, but also

42:22

storytelling and these kind of really cool cultures

42:24

that we can explore at the same time,

42:26

you know. You got

42:28

a great opportunity as well. You've teamed up

42:31

with some big partners to put the spotlight

42:33

on this story and also the awesome gameplay.

42:35

You're an EA original, which is very special.

42:37

I know that's a big honor. Teamed up

42:39

with Critical Role and now, of course, X-Men

42:41

with this. So, yeah, let's go down the

42:43

list because there's some big names to help

42:45

you in this team. Yeah,

42:48

man. I mean, like Critical Role have been

42:50

like really like instrumental in regards to sort

42:52

of like listening to the

42:54

community and kind of building on top

42:56

of that community and working with them,

42:58

right? They're incredible storytellers. They enjoy what

43:01

they do. They're just having fun. And

43:03

that's infectious, right? And I think like

43:05

that has really inspired the way in

43:07

which I want to approach telling

43:09

these stories. When you look at someone as well, like

43:11

Ridley Scott and his, you know, the creative group and

43:13

what they do, they bring they're

43:16

just unapologetically artistic.

43:18

And I love that. And I think like that's the

43:20

sense of, you know, that sense of like, this is

43:22

what we want to do. What is cool is

43:25

to us is what matters the most. You

43:27

know, they're not chasing a zeitgeist. They're just

43:29

trying to tell really interesting and fascinating stories.

43:31

And, you know, they're telling you're teaching us

43:33

how to do that in interesting ways and

43:35

not only, you know, with the game space,

43:37

but also with the film and TV space

43:39

as a whole. And, you know, this is

43:41

the thing. And like the one thing that I love about what's

43:44

crazy about Xbox is like I

43:46

remember some really cool, crazy games that

43:48

I play with my friends through, you know, with

43:51

the Xbox, with the Xbox 360, man, like, you

43:53

know, you're looking at like Halo 3 here, like

43:55

you're talking about these games which connected up on

43:57

another level. So to be in this kind of.

44:00

position now where we're showing our

44:02

game here is it's wild it's

44:04

wild and of course we are

44:06

coming hot off of the Xbox partner preview where you

44:08

showed more of the game we got to go a

44:10

little more in the end of course Paris has played

44:12

the demo some people have seen the

44:14

game awards they've played the demo now let's talk

44:17

about going a little bit deeper we saw some

44:19

locations we got to see the three masks I

44:21

mean we got to talk a lot about this

44:23

with this nice next new trailer yeah

44:26

I mean like look I think the ultimately again

44:28

we wanted to show the versatility in the and

44:31

the agency that we give to the player within

44:33

this within this world right I mean from the

44:35

get-go I've always said to you

44:37

know to people like with grief everyone's

44:40

journey is their own individual one it

44:42

isn't necessarily something that is kind of

44:44

cut out that anyone can follow it's

44:46

your own path and I think what we wanted

44:49

to show was the fact that you had all

44:51

these really cool new abilities you can you know

44:53

switching with these masks on the fly then you

44:55

know the locations and how each location as

44:57

well has been inspired by grief in a

44:59

way and you know kind of pulling from

45:02

that has been really key and critical in

45:04

regards to you know showcasing this journey that

45:06

we want to take the player on so

45:08

yeah it's this is one

45:10

of those trailers which I was super

45:12

excited to kind of be showing to

45:14

people because it goes more in

45:16

depth it respects the medium of the game and

45:19

shows the interactivity rather than giving you the kind

45:21

of cool fresh and whatever you know what I

45:23

mean because at the end of the day we're

45:25

here to play games and make games and enjoy

45:27

them right you know so that's something that we really

45:29

wanted to kind of push a strife for now

45:32

absolutely and I feel like I keep going back to

45:34

the culture but I'm about to go back to the

45:36

culture again you

45:39

just talked about the mask and the various

45:41

powers that you'll have in the game I

45:43

think about some of the enemies that you

45:45

encounter along with the

45:47

music as well are these things

45:49

based on real African mythology yeah man we

45:51

were really we really wanted to pull from

45:53

that like I think you know I think

45:55

from the get-go as I

45:58

say like you know Zao is an in Ganga or

46:00

like a shaman. And my

46:02

great grand, my grandfather was a shaman.

46:05

He was able to kind of commune with spirits and all

46:07

this sort of stuff. So we wanted to reflect this. And

46:09

I remember these stories that my dad would tell me. And

46:11

at the time I was like, okay,

46:14

you're crazy, man, but sure. But it was

46:17

beautiful because it was this different, you know,

46:20

you're learning about this different side of what

46:22

of what this life is. And so yeah,

46:24

the enemies, the, you know, like the Namibs,

46:26

the, you know, Rohori Arungus, they're all like

46:29

these kinds of spiritual beings that, you

46:31

know, not only exist within sort of

46:33

some mythological cult, like mythologies,

46:36

but also kind of, you know, conjurations

46:39

of where the canzera of where we're supposed

46:41

to be in. Like, for example, like the

46:43

Tokolosh as well as is a very famous

46:45

sort of South African mythological

46:48

kind of Bremlin

46:50

like creature. And we wanted to pull from that, you

46:52

know, looking at the mask of the sun and the

46:54

mask of the moon, you know, the

46:56

moon and the sun means like

46:58

they are beautiful representations of both

47:00

life and death, this balance that one needs

47:02

the other, you know, and you can see

47:04

that not only within, you know, Egyptian mythology,

47:06

but also within, you know, sort of the,

47:08

the, the Maasai as well. So we wanted

47:10

to really pull these elements in, you know,

47:12

you look as well at like each

47:15

of the stories as well behind the,

47:17

the abilities. And although they are kind

47:19

of, you know, we, we took some

47:22

agency in, you know, creating and flourishing

47:24

these stories, but this is exactly

47:26

where, you know, where the inspiration of

47:28

it all comes from. Right. It's this

47:30

idea of storytelling is the, it's the

47:32

oral storytelling and, and sharing stories. And

47:34

sometimes, you know, elements might change. Like

47:36

my dad would tell me these stories

47:38

of my grandfather and I would

47:41

then listen to my uncle tell me the same

47:43

story, but he would add his own embellishments

47:45

and that's the beauty of, of these kinds of

47:47

vantoo storytelling elements, which are, which is really

47:49

fun, you know, and we wanted to influence that

47:52

and put that into this game. It's about story.

47:54

It's about connect human connectivity. That's how we

47:56

learn with one another, you know, absolutely.

48:00

I'll just say really, really quick, Mike, before you go

48:02

to the next question, just on a personal note, I

48:04

bring this again back to something like Black

48:07

Panther, if I could spin it out, where,

48:10

you know, I'm African-American and I don't

48:13

necessarily know my African roots. I've done

48:15

a little bit of research over the

48:17

past few years and I know I'm

48:19

of Nigerian and Congo descent. And

48:21

I've been researching that when

48:24

it was something like Black Panther that inspired

48:26

me to do that. So my personal

48:28

hope is, you're creating with this

48:30

game can inspire some other people that

48:32

may not know their ancestral history and

48:34

be able to see something like, oh

48:36

wow, is this real? Let me let me

48:38

go research it and get even more

48:41

educated on beyond just the game.

48:43

Yeah, it's a celebration, man. Like,

48:45

absolutely. This is it. Like, it's

48:47

to me, it's it's and

48:49

this is what I've been saying as well. Like,

48:52

I'm not here to educate. I'm here to inspire

48:54

and celebrate because I think like that is how

48:56

you get people interested in sparking it. You know

48:58

what I mean? And I think for me, you

49:00

know, like I am,

49:02

you know, first generation sort of,

49:05

you know, Kenyan in a way or British in the way in

49:08

the sense that, you know, my parents are Kenyan, but they moved

49:10

to Britain and I'm very much British.

49:12

But there are these roots that I'm

49:14

very aware of that allow

49:17

me to sort of touch in and

49:19

bait and learn about it as well.

49:21

And I think even that's reflected with

49:23

the music, right? We really wanted to

49:25

bring this sense of traditional African music

49:27

with the instruments, but also have this

49:29

clash of the modern sort of timeframe

49:31

of of Zuberi and what they're going

49:33

through in this sense. It's like sometimes

49:35

it works together, sometimes it doesn't. And

49:37

I think that's also beautiful. I think

49:39

that kind of mishmash and that acceptance

49:41

of like, hey, we can still learn

49:43

about this stuff is really, really what

49:46

we're trying to reflect in, you know, I like

49:49

that a lot. And I like the word celebration, right?

49:51

I like being able to celebrate the culture and see

49:53

it on the screen. I think it's something really special.

49:56

And I want to celebrate some of your art team

49:58

and the music. Where did you go? to get

50:00

the music, who have you teamed up with to capture

50:02

the essence of this culture, like you said, and bring

50:04

it to this bright, vibrant world that we're gonna see

50:06

on the video game? Yeah, I mean,

50:08

Nuneet to decide, she's like an incredible

50:10

composer. She's, you know, she was the

50:13

first person, I remember,

50:15

you know, rocking up to her very, very

50:17

early, during the, you know, the making of

50:19

this game, and she has just gone to

50:21

town. Like, she has not only like got,

50:23

you know, musicians here in London, but also,

50:25

you know, we've got the choir out in

50:27

South Africa, we've even got the Black Panther

50:29

Choir singing in this as well, like we've

50:31

got like, she went in, like she really,

50:34

really went in when it comes to kind

50:36

of pulling not only traditional music and

50:38

traditional players as well within the sort of

50:40

space, but also just leaning into her sense

50:42

of also creating this epic sort of score

50:45

as a whole. And even when it comes

50:47

to the art style, you know, it really,

50:49

I gotta shout out, you know, there's

50:52

three artists in particular. There's two

50:55

Mo Mehr, who's a brilliant sort

50:57

of artist in Botswana. There's

51:00

Ibrahim Idris from Nigeria, and

51:02

Godwin Akpan as well from

51:04

Nigeria. These three

51:06

concept artists were, you know,

51:10

set the sort of journey of what we were trying

51:12

to bring from the get-go. I

51:14

remember sort of reaching out to them, you know, randomly

51:16

on Art Station and being like, I wanna build this

51:18

world, I wanna kind of create this world, but I

51:21

want it to feel authentic, I want it to feel

51:23

real. And they set those, you know, early foundations for

51:25

our team to just go from. And

51:28

I think, yeah, it's been like a really, really

51:31

fascinating and also just beautiful journey

51:33

of, again, as I say, like, it's

51:35

just felt like a celebration every

51:37

time, like we learn something new and we

51:39

get inspired by it and we bring it

51:41

forward because again, we know, again, we

51:44

just want other people to be inspired by it

51:46

and go on this sort of wiki wormhole of

51:48

learning about like, what is an impundaloo? Or, you

51:50

know, where does the Gogori come from? You know,

51:52

that kind of thing. So, yeah, I mean, even

51:54

the fact that we're even doing this game in

51:56

Swahili, for example, like this is like the first

51:59

game to be voiceover. in

52:01

Swahili, it's like massive.

52:03

I remember talking to EA about that and

52:05

they were like, okay, sure, and it's like,

52:07

yeah, this is like the first step because

52:09

then you can start getting into Zulu, you

52:11

can start talking also, you can do all

52:13

this other stuff as well, which I think

52:16

opens it to so many people

52:18

out there because there's a massive African gaming

52:20

community out there, man, and it's

52:22

just getting them to feel seen and to be

52:24

listened to is like, it's

52:26

gonna be so exciting for the games industry as a whole.

52:30

So you just mentioned community and

52:32

I pay attention to social media

52:34

and I saw something you said

52:36

a few hours ago that

52:38

since the demo, which again, I absolutely loved,

52:40

I recommend anyone go check out the demo

52:43

now, but since the demo, you've

52:45

been listening to community feedback. So how important

52:47

has that been as you get to the

52:49

finish line with the final product? Incredible, man,

52:52

like it's been one of those things where

52:56

it's good because you

52:59

can tell that when they feed you something really useful

53:01

and really, because these are the people who are playing

53:03

the game and I think you need to listen to

53:05

them and you need to kind of hear them and

53:08

I think a lot of the time, especially

53:11

with a lot of arts sometimes, you end up

53:13

getting lost in your own thoughts

53:15

and thinking, I know, but this is what I wanna

53:17

play, this is what I wanna build, but actually it's

53:19

all about sharing, it's about playing with other people and

53:22

feeling that and I think it's

53:24

been incredibly crucial in regards to not

53:26

only making sure that

53:28

the game is accessible to people when they jump

53:30

into this game, but also

53:32

it's a fun experience and they feel like they've been part

53:34

of that process of building it and yeah,

53:36

I've found it so inspiring, again,

53:40

just hearing feedback of enjoyment and

53:43

feedback in regards to good critical feedback

53:46

to help in regards to be it

53:48

from the gameplay or the visuals or

53:51

the audio, like these all

53:53

help deliver an experience where we can

53:55

all meet in the middle and be like, yeah, this

53:57

was fun and so yeah, it's

53:59

one. of those ones where it's terrifying,

54:01

like don't get me wrong, absolutely terrifying,

54:05

but also just really enriching

54:07

and just it just

54:09

feeds the soul on another level. Talk

54:13

about getting all that feedback and now making

54:15

some adjustments. We look at the finish line. How

54:17

are you feeling as we head towards the

54:19

finish line and what can players expect when

54:21

we're finally there? Terrified

54:24

man. I'm scared man.

54:26

I think that's good.

54:29

I feel nervous. Normally, it's

54:31

funny, I was talking to this about with

54:33

a friend of mine, normally when it comes

54:36

to film TV or just acting in general,

54:38

I'm never really nervous anymore. I kind of

54:41

do my job, I move on and I go through, but because

54:43

I think this is so, it is

54:45

personal and I can feel the sense of

54:47

the fact that this is, it feels like

54:49

a first time that we're bringing

54:52

this world to, this story anyway,

54:54

to the wider public

54:57

and there's this feeling of

54:59

like it's got to hit home well, it's got

55:01

to hit home great and the

55:04

nerves are there and I think that's a good

55:06

thing because it shows that we care, right? And

55:08

I think, yeah, I

55:10

feel very alive. The time is going

55:12

fast and slow at the same time,

55:14

so surreal, like having a

55:16

baby, you know what I mean? It's not

55:18

so like you just don't know what's going

55:20

to happen, but all you can do is

55:22

your best and hope that people accept

55:26

that and take that on board and as I

55:28

say, like build on it, you know,

55:30

be inspired by it and move through it. I

55:32

think that's the, that to me is the most

55:34

exciting part of it all. Well,

55:36

let me just say from personal

55:39

experience of playing the demo, you're

55:41

going to be fine. You're fine. You'd

55:43

be nervous, but you're going to

55:46

be fine. Going back to the

55:48

game awards where you gave that

55:50

very personal and emotional debut of

55:52

this game, I Know

55:54

it touched me to like, you know, yeah, I Want

55:56

to play this. I want to know more about this

55:59

and then getting. This early sample of

56:01

what the full game is going to

56:03

be I'm definitely excited for. I can't imagine

56:05

seen a gamers out there right now

56:07

that watching this. listening to this some

56:09

the other interviews that that you've men

56:11

on or have played the demo are

56:13

going to be excited for this when it

56:15

when it comes out I saved for

56:17

this being the debut you bring this

56:19

out in have in their personal touch

56:21

to it's. Did

56:24

you can ask for anything more, so

56:26

I will say in advance congratulations because

56:28

I know this is going to be

56:30

a smash it for? Thank. You

56:32

thank you So much money! As

56:34

lessons on that. Awesome! The here parents really

56:36

celebrate Yeah, Nasa were all about celebrate and

56:39

have on which is really resonated with me.

56:41

When. Can we expect the? Can you tease

56:43

us with what the future is? Where. We

56:46

have the Gamma enough. Know. Me

56:48

nervous April twenty third man it's is

56:50

is is right next door which is

56:52

terrifying of but also again just it's

56:54

coming so far as like a train

56:56

or to see a van. were in

56:58

March already in an ied April next

57:00

door and it's. It's. It's their

57:02

van and be every still got some more stuff

57:04

to show you guys still the some more to

57:06

play like it's. It's. It's it's

57:08

gonna get good. You know? we've been over

57:10

a call waiting to disguise to more of

57:13

the music. The costs like to hear the

57:15

stories like. That's. Where it

57:17

starts getting really kind of crazy and

57:19

cool and yet it's just so much

57:21

to to to. To. Take him. If.

57:24

People want to keep up with you if they want

57:26

to learn more as we get closer to April, where

57:28

can people find you and the game and keep up

57:30

to date. the as severe on

57:33

also souls or money you know said

57:35

and studios is are you know it up

57:37

are handled for for us to our studio

57:39

saw the game you could find us on

57:41

your mom acts as a say like on

57:44

instagram tic toc we've also got the

57:46

car and discover channel is wells as as

57:48

a studios where you can find out you

57:50

are some other cool kind of nice behind

57:53

the scenes stuff which we interact with again

57:55

a lot of the community in the in

57:57

the disco channel are a brilliant man every

58:00

They give a lot and and they share

58:02

a lot which is beautiful and it's it's

58:04

all about building that community man and taking

58:06

And everyone going on the ride with us

58:08

on this. It's it's big. It's really big

58:12

Well, we're ready to jump aboard and go

58:14

on that ride with you. I cannot wait to

58:16

play in April I know everyone listening is probably

58:18

very excited. Thank you for joining us on today's

58:20

X cast and sharing all the fun and the

58:22

hype around the game Thank

58:25

you. Yeah. Thank you so much. All right,

58:27

everybody. We'll see you after this Hey,

58:30

ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed that

58:32

awesome developer interview I know myself and Paris

58:35

really had a blast and are thankful for

58:37

all the awesome Opportunities to shine a light

58:39

on some really cool games coming your way

58:41

That has been this episode of the kind

58:44

of funny X cast your home for all

58:46

things Xbox here at kind of funny Talking

58:48

about the Xbox partner preview, of course live

58:50

reactions are up on YouTube Now you have

58:53

your podcast for the week and we will

58:55

be back next week with more Xbox gaming

58:57

news to talk about and all the fun

59:00

With me and my gaming dad's Paris Lily

59:02

and Gary Witte I want to thank each

59:04

and every one of you for tuning in

59:06

if you've been watching live on Twitch and

59:08

on YouTube the fun doesn't have to stop

59:10

We're gonna continue right into our afternoon stream

59:12

Greg and blessing are gonna be talking about

59:15

a game coming to ps5 Celebrating the launch

59:17

of that and they're gonna be playing some

59:19

WWE wrestling So stay tuned for that if you're

59:22

watching and listening just to the podcast. Thank you

59:24

for another week We'll catch you back here next

59:26

time. Bye gamers You