Pod Insights Triple Click Gaming's Biggest Night (Since The Last One) About this episode Finally, it's time for gaming's biggest night. Kirk, Maddy, and Jason go through each category at the 2024 Game Awards, from Game of the Year to Content Creator of the Year, and make their predictions. They talk about the biggest snubs, what they expect, and which game announcements they hope to see.
Transcript 12,534 words · 8 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:03 Kirk Hamilton? My biggest complaint about the Game Awards is that you can't call them the TGAs, because the T already stands for "the," so that'd be calling them the The Game Awards. Welcome to Triple Click, where we bring the The Games to you. It's time for Gaming's Biggest Night, so we're here to talk about Keeley's Game Awards, who we think will win, who got snubbed, and just how fully Hollow Knight's song will not be there.
0:30 Kirk Hamilton? I'm Kirk Hamilton.
0:31 Speaker 01 I'm Maddy Myers.
0:32 Jason Schreier? And I'm Jason Schreier. Hello.
0:35 Speaker 01 Hello.
0:36 Kirk Hamilton? Hello, and happy Game Awards.
0:38 Jason Schreier? It's Gaming's Biggest Night.
0:40 Speaker 01 Gaming's Biggest Night, yeah!
0:43 Jason Schreier? Yes, we are recording this a little bit early, but I, as by the time people are listening, I will be out in Los Angeles.
0:49 Speaker 01 You're there, right now.
0:52 Jason Schreier? To attend the Game Awards. And by "attend the Game Awards," I mean watch from the hotel nearby.
0:56 Speaker 01 Which is very similar to my experience watching it.
0:59 Kirk Hamilton? How many years have you actually gone to the show?
1:01 Jason Schreier? Most of them, except the COVID, and then maybe I missed a couple here and there, but most of them I've gone to.
1:06 Kirk Hamilton? But when I say "you've actually gone," I mean you've gone and sat in the audience for the show.
1:10 Jason Schreier? Oh, no, most of them I have not gone to.
1:14 Jason Schreier? No.
1:15 Speaker 01 If we're saying watching the stream means going, I've gone every year. I'm always going.
1:22 Kirk Hamilton? No, no, really going means going to LA, being in the vicinity, picking up the vibes, the sweet gamer vibes coming off of the show without having to actually go be in the room.
1:31 Speaker 01 Meeting Kratos in person.
1:33 Jason Schreier? As long as you're at the after-party afterwards.
1:36 Kirk Hamilton? Right.
1:37 Jason Schreier? As long as you're seeing people before and afterwards, then it counts. This year, I got invited to a Netflix Games viewing party, so I can watch from there, potentially, or I could just watch from my hotel room. Last year, I attended, but the only reason I attended is because our buddies Russ Freshdick and Chris Plant let me come to the Polygon Box, and so I watched from there, which was awesome. Because being able to move around and eat food and stuff, as opposed to being stuck in a rose full of loud... It's so unpleasant being there because of how loud it is. But anyway, the box was... Cool. This year, the box, they've been clamped down. It's much smaller, don't have the same capacity.
2:15 Speaker 01 I know. We uninvited Jason specifically from the box. It's actually not been clamped down at all. It's just Jason. There is an internal memo.
2:24 Kirk Hamilton? Blacklisted from the box. This is a scandal.
2:26 Jason Schreier? Well, and then another fun thing about last year. So usually after the game awards, the kind of go to hangout spot for a lot of people is the JW Marriott nearby, the big bar that they have there, as you guys saw in Summer Games Fest, it winds up becoming kind of like a locus point for the video game industry.
2:44 Kirk Hamilton? Yes. You two can make small talk and enjoy a $17 glass of whiskey.
2:49 Jason Schreier? So what happened last year at the game awards is that I guess people who were attending, who were just kind of fans also learned about it. And so it was.
2:57 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, because someone kept talking about it on podcasts.
3:00 Speaker 01 Yeah. How could they have learned that?
3:02 Jason Schreier? Sure. It's my fault. Yes. All of our listeners showed up at the game. So anyway, so the Marriott, so it was like so cramped that you couldn't actually move. And that was a little bit less pleasant. Hopefully it will not be like that this time.
3:18 Speaker 01 You need to not reveal the new bar, Jason. That's my hot tip to you. Don't tell anyone what it is. We shouldn't pick one live on the air.
3:27 Kirk Hamilton? It's actually at the Airport Hilton. That's where you want to go.
3:30 Speaker 01 Oh, we should disseminate a fake one.
3:32 Kirk Hamilton? That's the place to be after the game awards.
3:35 Jason Schreier? Before we talk about the actual awards, Kirk, what do we need to know about this podcast?
3:41 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, right. I guess we just, we just went right into it because we just, we just love talking about games so much here on Triple Click. And if you want to support our love of talking about games and this platform that allows us to do it every week, you can become a member of Maximum Fun, go to maximumfun.org/join, become a member, support our show and get access to all kinds of bonus episodes. Seriously, so many of them. I don't know, 40 something, almost 50 at this point. And you will also get to hear the grand finale of Triple Quest, episode three, the two hour throwdown in which all kinds of things go down. It's incredibly fun. And it'll go out in the main feed at the end of the month, but of course. Of course, if you become a member, you also get access to all sorts of other stuff. We're gonna be doing our favorite non-gaming stuff of the year at the end of the month.
4:26 Kirk Hamilton? We're gonna do a Metaphor Refentazio.
4:29 Speaker 01 Yes.
4:29 Kirk Hamilton? Beans cast, we're gonna spill the beans on the story. I don't know, all kinds of good stuff for next year as well. So please support our show. We really do count on you all. And, uh, and really appreciate everyone who has become a member or been a member at any point. Maximumfun.org/join. Yeah.
4:44 Speaker 01 Yeah.
4:44 Jason Schreier? Cool. So let's talk about the game awards. So, um, here's what we're gonna do. So we had a lot of fun last year making predictions and picks for each of, uh, well, not picks, but predictions for each of the award.
4:55 Kirk Hamilton? Right.
4:56 Jason Schreier? Um, categories. And we also use as our tiebreaker for our annual predictions bet, which we will, uh, cover in January at the beginning of next year. And so we're gonna do that again. Uh, this will be, once again, a tiebreaker. Whoever wins the most of these picks will win the tiebreaker in case there is a tie for the 2024 predictions bet. Um, which to those of you who are not familiar is where we each make a bunch of predictions and whoever gets the most right gets to pick a game that we all play, um, the subsequent year. So what we're gonna do is first, we're gonna do that. We're gonna go through each category. I'll read through each one while I'll make our picks. We'll talk about snubs. We'll talk about what we like about them, what we don't like about them. And then, uh, at the end of the show, we will talk a little bit about the announcement portion of it,
5:38 Jason Schreier? because of course every year the game awards includes a bunch of, uh, trailers and exclusive reveals that Jeff Keighley, the host, loves to-
5:46 Speaker 01 World premieres. How could you not say that phrase?
5:48 Jason Schreier? Of course, world premieres. Um, and so we'll, we'll talk a little bit about the rumors, what we expect to be there, what we hope to be there, et cetera, et cetera. Um, so first, let's do the awards. We're gonna go through them. I have them all listed here in the order in which they are presented on the website. And we're just gonna go through them. And so, yeah, so we're gonna each make a pick. These are picks based on what we think will happen, not necessarily what we want to happen. So first, let's start with the big one, game of the year. The nominees are Astro Bot, Bellatro, Black Myth, Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor Refentazio. What do you guys think of this lineup of game of the year candidates?
6:30 Speaker 01 It's tough.
6:30 Kirk Hamilton? I mean,
6:31 Speaker 01 is what I think.
6:31 Kirk Hamilton? It's a weird year.
6:32 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:33 Kirk Hamilton? I, I think it's, I think it's like, it works as well as any other collection of, what is this? Six games. And given that the game of, that, that the game awards skews so heavily toward big games.
6:44 Speaker 01 Mm hmm.
6:44 Kirk Hamilton? I guess it makes sense. It's just that this year, for me at least, was such a year of indie games, where so many of the really big, expensive games, just either they were fine and I, like, I thought they were fine and a lot of people seemed to not like them, which was true of a lot of games that I was like, yeah, this is pretty cool. Or I thought they were fine and a lot of people like loved them. So that's like metaphor for me at least. So it's kind of a weird one for me where I look at this and I'm like, well, very few of these games are like my personal games of the year.
7:15 Speaker 01 Yeah.
7:15 Kirk Hamilton? So I don't really know what to make of the list, but I, which makes me just think, sure, I know.
7:21 Jason Schreier? Sure. Yeah, okay.
7:23 Speaker 01 Yeah, it feels like a real vote splitting year to me as well. Like, there's not an obvious frontrunner of these picks, which is part of why it was very hard for me to
7:32 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah.
7:32 Speaker 01 make a decision on this category and a few of the other ones immediately following this one for the same reason. Because a lot of these are kind of mid-tier in terms of critical darling status. Like, there's no really obvious one where it's like, well, everyone freaking loved this game. And since this is an award that the press votes on, it's the international press and that definitely changes things. But you can kind of get a sense of the prediction just from knowing what was topping websites' goatee lists. And that is kind of tough to say here. Like, I don't, I had a tough one. So I'm, I'm really curious what you two are predicting.
8:07 Kirk Hamilton? I think Metaphor is gonna win it. I mean, it really could be Astro Bot, so it's between those two for me because they're both beloved games. I don't know. For some reason, I just think it's gonna be Metaphor. It's totally a gut thing. Metaphor is gonna be game of the year.
8:20 Jason Schreier? Maddie?
8:21 Speaker 01 I was between Metaphor and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and I ended up going Final Fantasy VII, which is a tough one. I feel like a lot of times, big splashy narrative RPGs have a strong chance of winning. And I think that because my colleague Ollie Welsh has been doing this thing at Polygon called GodiWatch where he analyzes game of the years over many years. And he noticed that trend. So I'll credit him with that. It's part of why I think one of those will win. But I'm also, so I went with Final Fantasy VII because I was like, I think it's a little more approachable for people than an Atlas game, maybe. But I could easily see Black Myth just edging it out. So I don't know. But anyway, the one I literally wrote down, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
9:02 Jason Schreier? It's funny, Rebirth, it almost feels like if the Two Towers won Best Picture. Like, it feels like they're gonna wait for the third game to take it all.
9:09 Speaker 01 I'm not sure though.
9:10 Jason Schreier? Okay, so, so my pick is a strategic one. You guys are gonna love this. So I kind of feel like Bellatro is gonna win. That's what my gut is telling me.
9:20 Speaker 01 Wow, that would be wild.
9:22 Jason Schreier? But I do not want to pick Bellatro because one of Kirk's predictions for 2024 is that an indie game will win game of the year. And so if Kirk takes that, then, then I'll lose anyway. So like, the tiebreaker won't matter.
9:37 Speaker 01 But that doesn't make any sense, Jason.
9:38 Kirk Hamilton? So according to this logic, you're picking Bellatro makes it more likely that that game will win game of the year.
9:44 Jason Schreier? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're not following. No, no, what I'm saying.
9:48 Kirk Hamilton? I'm not following. Explain it to me like I'm a child.
9:50 Jason Schreier? What I'm saying is that I want to optimize my chances of winning the tiebreaker. But if I pick Bellatro, me winning the tiebreaker won't matter because Kirk will likely have won the predictions bet for the year anyway. So I'm going with a different shirt. This is game, it's kind of, it's pure game theory, guys. You gotta.
10:09 Speaker 01 Oh, it's game theory. Okay.
10:11 Kirk Hamilton? We don't understand, Maddie. Our little brains don't follow Jason's towering logic brain.
10:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, totally, totally. It's kind of why he's so good at Bellatro, really, is what this is evidence of.
10:20 Jason Schreier? And gambling. Anyway, my pick is Metaphor, Refentasi.
10:24 Speaker 01 All right, all right.
10:27 Jason Schreier? Best game direction. This is always the funky category where it's like, we're gonna give it to the, to the person who's like the biggest personality of a director, whatever that means.
10:37 Speaker 01 It's so silly that video games have this.
10:38 Jason Schreier? Let me read the nominees. Astro Bot, Bellatro, Black Myth Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor, Re: Fantasia. Same.
10:46 Kirk Hamilton? Identical.
10:47 Jason Schreier? Same ones. Yeah, same ones.
10:49 Speaker 01 Not always identical, but this year it's identical.
10:52 Jason Schreier? This year it's identical. So yeah, what do you guys think? Maddy, why don't you start? We'll kind of rotate who gets to start first.
10:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, I guess there's nothing really further to say about game direction as a category in general, other than that we all agree it's silly and we can just move on.
11:06 Kirk Hamilton? Extremely silly.
11:07 Speaker 01 I duplicated my pick here for the exact same reasoning. I just picked Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, although I'm certainly regretting it now because you two picked Metaphor, but it's fine. I'm sticking by the picks I wrote before the call for some reason. I could have changed it on the fly, but I'm not.
11:20 Jason Schreier? Yeah.
11:21 Speaker 01 That's my game theory.
11:23 Jason Schreier? I'm going in a different direction. I'm actually going with Astro Bot.
11:27 Speaker 01 Interesting.
11:28 Jason Schreier? And the reason for that is because, once again, I think that this, this category just rewards the personality involved. And I think, and they have this guy, Nico, who I think would come out and like do a speech and become a fan favorite because he is kind of this likable, like French dude. And I can see that going over well. And Jeff kind of like doing the 4D chess of like, who should win this one? Kerry, what about you?
11:52 Kirk Hamilton? I'm actually gonna go with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for this because in my mind, game direction is like the best wrangler.
12:00 Speaker 01 Yep.
12:01 Kirk Hamilton? Like the, the game team that was able to best wrangle the most difficult thing into something cohesive. And FF7 Rebirth was such a bananas project, just from a logistical and like ambition standpoint, that why not? Let's give it to them. Maybe they'll get it.
12:18 Jason Schreier? Yeah. And I think, so Rebirth, you guys might be right because Rebirth also has like a very lovable director who will come on and have this personality.
12:25 Speaker 01 That's what I was about to add. Yeah, like that's kind of what this category really is, which is sort of unfair as compared to say, the film director category where I think it might mean something different. This category in games, it's like, have you heard of the person who directed this video game? And fairly or not?
12:41 Jason Schreier? Well, in film direction in the, in the Oscars, it's also people who like make films voting on who the best director is.
12:48 Speaker 01 Yes, it's a very different vibe.
12:50 Kirk Hamilton? Well, and it's like, the director is an individual person for each film. Where in best game direction, that's not always the case.
12:56 Speaker 01 It's different for multiple reasons.
12:59 Jason Schreier? That's true. And also director means different things depending on what company you work at. Next up is best narrative and the categories, the nominees are Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Metaphor: Refontazio, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, and Silent Hill 2. Another friggin weird one.
13:17 Kirk Hamilton? Another weird one. Let's talk about this a little because I think this is, I think that this is a category that needs the most work. At least like, I think that there are the most snubs in this one. And it's the most indicative of the way that these awards are picked, which is just a big group of people vote. And it just always winds up coming down to the games that were played by the most people.
13:37 Speaker 01 Yeah.
13:37 Kirk Hamilton? Because for me at least, three games come to mind, A Thousand Times Resist,
13:42 Speaker 01 Yep.
13:42 Kirk Hamilton? Mouthwashing and Tactical Breach Wizards, all three of which were incredible narrative games that to me at least go, are better or at least as good as the best games that we just listed here. And I'd say that the thing that sort of sums up the game awards to me, and at this point, like, it's fine. Like, the game awards is what it is. I'm not trying to get it to change. It's fine.
14:05 Speaker 01 I am.
14:05 Kirk Hamilton? But I think that if you want to understand the game awards, you can look at the fact that the remake of Silent Hill 2 was nominated for best narrative and Mouthwashing, which is a new game that takes so many of the kinds of narrative concepts and amazing ideas and disturbing techniques that were kind of like in the first Silent Hill 2, you know, were introduced or at least first or early, you know, that was an early exploration of some of those ideas. It takes them in new directions and it's a new game from new people. Like, that's really exciting, playing a game like that. And then Silent Hill 2 got the nomination for best narrative. I think that kind of sums up why this, why this category is lacking.
14:47 Jason Schreier? Yeah, it just speaks to, yeah, you're right. It's lowest common denominator. It's whoever's played the most games.
14:52 Speaker 01 Yeah.
14:52 Jason Schreier? Let's make some picks for these. I'll go first. I'm gonna go with Metaphor: Refontazio. I think that's gonna win it.
14:59 Kirk Hamilton? I agree. That's my pick as well.
15:01 Speaker 01 Same.
15:01 Kirk Hamilton? For obvious reasons. I think it's got an ambitious and interesting narrative.
15:05 Speaker 01 I just feel like of these, it feels like the one the press would pick. I, again, I'm like, if I were picking my own thing, it doesn't matter. That's not what we're doing here. We're talking about what we think the voters will say, and that's metaphor.
15:18 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I mean, for me, actually, among these nominees, I think that Infinite Wealth is the best narrative.
15:22 Speaker 01 That's not what we're picking. Sometimes I feel like I have to clarify that because I, I don't know. But everyone gets it. These aren't what we personally like the best.
15:31 Jason Schreier? Yeah. Best art direction. Astro Bot, Black Myth of Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erd Tree, Metaphor Refentazio, never.
15:41 Kirk Hamilton? This is a tricky one because I think that Astro Bot's got a shot at it, but I, I think that so does Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erd Tree. I believe Elden Ring won this, and Shadow of the Erd Tree is really, really beautiful. And I, I don't know, it's, it's just hard because we're guessing votes, and it's a little hard to guess what voters will do. Yeah.
16:03 Jason Schreier? How do you, like, give the same award, just like, it's essentially you're giving it to the same game that won it two years ago. Because, yes, it is beautiful, but it's not like drastically different than, I don't know. I mean, my, my pick is Astro Bot, for what it's worth.
16:16 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, you know, I think mine is too. Like, thinking it through even here, I think I'm gonna say Astro Bot, just to try to pick the one that I think is most likely to win.
16:25 Speaker 01 I didn't pick Astro Bot, even though my colleague Ollie thinks it's gonna be Astro Bot. I, I put metaphor for this too, because I was like, it has such a distinct visual style, and I feel like people would agree with that. And I feel like Astro Bot just has the corporateness working against it, even though I agree it's very creative.
16:42 Kirk Hamilton? That's definitely my knock against Astro Bot.
16:45 Speaker 01 Yeah.
16:45 Kirk Hamilton? But I don't know. I kinda think that, like, a lot of people see Astro Bot, and it's so beautiful looking, and it looks so great, and actually, they'll be like, yeah, man, this game.
16:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, it could, I could be definitely wrong here. We'll see.
16:57 Kirk Hamilton? But no, it's a, Metaphor is a great pick as well. It's very, it's just as likely.
17:01 Jason Schreier? Best score and music. Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor Refentazio, Silent Hill 2, Stellar Blade.
17:10 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, this is an interesting one, huh?
17:12 Speaker 01 I can't even remember the Cellarblade music. If you had a gun to my head, I wouldn't remember it.
17:17 Kirk Hamilton? The music is pretty cool from what I played. It's like, kinda like, it's got like-
17:21 Speaker 01 Oh, I guess now that I'm thinking about it, I kinda do.
17:23 Kirk Hamilton? It's like a dreamy K-pop thing. It feels kind of like playing Nier Automata. It has that same kind of ethereal vibe. It's really nice music.
17:30 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's poppy. It's poppy. It's not quite what you'd expect. Yeah. Not what I picked.
17:34 Kirk Hamilton? That's a beloved aspect of that game as well.
17:36 Jason Schreier? For me, I would be shocked if Final Fantasy VII Rebirth did not win this and say that's my pick.
17:41 Speaker 01 That's what I picked. Yeah.
17:43 Kirk Hamilton? I think, just thinking it through and looking at all of these, for me at least, I actually think that voting will maybe line up with how I feel. Like, personally, I think, like I've mentioned before, that I found Metaphor-
17:54 Speaker 01 Yeah.
17:54 Kirk Hamilton? I found the soundtrack for that to be kind of lacking. Like, I think a lot of the orchestral pieces are a little run-of-the-mill, but it has that really iconic battle music.
18:02 Speaker 01 I know.
18:02 Kirk Hamilton? Like, they're gonna have a guy there-
18:04 Speaker 01 Doing that.
18:05 Kirk Hamilton? He's gonna do that chant for the battle theme live on stage.
18:08 Jason Schreier? Yeah, for the, uh, for the game of the year montage. That'll be awesome, man.
18:12 Speaker 01 It's gonna be pretty good.
18:13 Kirk Hamilton? And like, there is a chance that that guy, like, kind of bowls, like, just occupies such a large space in people's minds that they're just like, "Yeah, that soundtrack was great," even though, like, a lot of the, I think, the score is not that great. And Astro Bot has a really fun score, but it is a lot of reused music from the first Astro Bot, or like, the first two games, and so like, that's kind of a knocking against it. And then Silent Hill 2, yeah, I don't know. Cellarblade, I think not enough people played.
18:36 Jason Schreier? It's funny you say reused music, cause Rebirth, like, is reused music in the best possible way.
18:41 Kirk Hamilton? Well, right, very different.
18:43 Jason Schreier? That's what I'm saying.
18:44 Speaker 01 Well, yes, but Nobuo Mitsu did compose that new song for Aerith to sing, and that song is beautiful, so, there is that. Also, Silent Hill 2, also another remix of a pre-existing game as well, so it's, it's like, it's just funny that these, these games are in contention for things that they already did. But I, I also think it's kinda cool. I don't think Silent Hill will win most of the things it's up for, which is too bad. But, yeah, it's funny to see it here.
19:08 Kirk Hamilton? I didn't really play it, so I don't know if that's too bad.
19:11 Jason Schreier? Best audio design: Astro Bot, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Senua Saga: Hellblade 2, Silent Hill 2.
19:19 Kirk Hamilton? I'm picking Astro Bot for this. I don't really know. Like, I think like Hellblade 2 has really cool.
19:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, that was what I chose.
19:27 Kirk Hamilton? Silent Hill 2 does as well.
19:28 Speaker 01 I chose Hellblade 2 because I didn't think it would win many other awards. And I think psychologically, people kind of think about wanting to give an award to something that hasn't. You know what I mean?
19:39 Jason Schreier? Yeah, I picked that too, because that's the whole point of that game is the audio.
19:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, the audio is big in that game.
19:43 Kirk Hamilton? And the graphics. But yeah, they talk a lot about the like binaural audio design or whatever. I just kind of think.
19:49 Jason Schreier? If you think about like a bunch of critics like making their picks, they're like, oh yeah, Hellblade, that's the audio game.
19:54 Speaker 01 Right, exactly, exactly. Yeah.
19:56 Jason Schreier? Yeah, pretty, pretty clear. Okay, best performance: Brianna White for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Hannah Tallow for Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Humbert Lee Gonzalez for Star Wars: Outlaws, Luke Roberts for Silent Hill 2, Melina Jurgens for Senua Saga: Hellblade 2. To me, I don't know how you guys feel, but it's so funny that the lead of Star Wars: Outlaws is on this because I felt like the performance of that game was so flat and hard to listen to.
20:20 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, I don't agree. I think she does a good job.
20:22 Jason Schreier? Oh my god, I thought it was awful.
20:24 Speaker 01 I think she does fine. I think the script is not doing her many favors, though,
20:30 Speaker 01 for what it's worth.
20:30 Kirk Hamilton? No, yeah, I don't really agree. I think she's, she's plenty charming. I mean, she's, I didn't play Life is Strange, but she doesn't feel out of place on this list to me.
20:38 Speaker 01 I don't think she's gonna win, though, because that game just has, it's the reputation that it has.
20:42 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, well, looking at these two, I think it's probably, I think it's probably between Melina Jurgens and Brianna White. I think that like playing Aerith, and especially Aerith's role in FF7 Rebirth, she's my pick.
20:55 Speaker 01 She's my pick, too.
20:56 Jason Schreier? Mine, too. Yeah, I think we're all in agreement on this one.
20:59 Speaker 01 And, and here's why. Melina Jurgens has already won it once for Senua.
21:03 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah.
21:04 Speaker 01 So I don't think she'll get it again in the previous game.
21:07 Kirk Hamilton? It's an incredible performance. I mean, I played probably like two or three hours of Hellblade 2, and it is like astonishing, like what she's doing, and also like the way they use the technology to render her performance. So she could still win. But yeah, I think, I think we all kind of are saying the same thing here is that playing Aerith, especially in
21:25 Speaker 01 This game.
21:26 Kirk Hamilton? FF7 remake game where Aerith has so many big moments is such a major like emotional core. And yeah, like you mentioned earlier, Maddie, she also has like a Disney song that she has to sing, you know, in the middle of the-
21:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, sung by someone else, though. Not her, by the way.
21:39 Kirk Hamilton? I guess that's a good point. That's not her. For some reason, I thought it was her.
21:43 Speaker 01 But I think in people's minds, but, but, but honestly, Kirk, you're playing into something that I think voters will think about where they might not necessarily know that's not her.
21:51 Kirk Hamilton? Sure.
21:51 Speaker 01 So the voters will just be like, oh, yeah, she did so much in that game. She sang a song and put her name down.
21:57 Jason Schreier? All right.
21:57 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah.
21:57 Jason Schreier? Let's crank through some more.
21:59 Kirk Hamilton? Crank. Let's crank.
22:00 Jason Schreier? Innovation and accessibility. Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Diablo 4, Dragon Age: The Veil Guard, Principals of the Lost Crown, Star Wars: Outlaws. Kirk, what's your pick?
22:10 Kirk Hamilton? I'm gonna pick Dragon Age only because I don't, you know, I didn't like thoroughly explore all of the accessibility options for each of these games. I know they all had them and there were just like more good accessibility options this year or like every year than there were in the previous year. But I think The Veil Guard, it had good accessibility options and this is might be the only thing that game is nominated for.
22:31 Jason Schreier? Yeah, that's my pick, too.
22:32 Kirk Hamilton? So I kind of feel like people are gonna vote for it for that.
22:34 Speaker 01 Maddie, that's your pick, too? Exactly. Exactly why I think it will win. It's a pity vote.
22:39 Jason Schreier? All right. Games for impact. Closer the Distance, Indica, NEVA, Life Estranged, Double Exposure, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, Tales of Konzera Zau. Man, someone needs to teach people how to name video games. My pick for this is-
22:57 Kirk Hamilton? Least favorite game.
22:58 Jason Schreier? My pick for this is probably the worst name, Tales of Konzera Zau. And the reason for that is because it feels like a lot of people know him and that guy has like been, he's told his story to a lot of different press people. And I feel like most press people have not played most of these games and so they're just gonna go with the familiar one.
23:16 Speaker 01 I picked Hellblade 2 for the same reason. I thought people would just go Hellblade 2 on this one.
23:21 Kirk Hamilton? Same.
23:21 Jason Schreier? Okay.
23:22 Kirk Hamilton? Though I almost picked Tales of Kinsera. I think they're the two highest profile games here. And like, because Games for Impact is like such a kind of vague category and like, people don't really know what to go with. They kind of just go with, yeah, like which one has a story associated with it? And those two games both do, Hellblade 2 in that it's like a depiction of mental illness, and Tales of Kinsera in that, yeah, the director of the game sort of shared so much of how this is a story about me and my father and all of that.
23:48 Jason Schreier? Yeah, and his father, yeah. Best ongoing: Destiny 2, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy XIV, Fortnite, Helldivers 2.
23:55 Kirk Hamilton? Hmm. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I, it's between, it's a tough one. I mean, these are all, there's like different arguments for each of these games.
24:04 Jason Schreier? What's your pick?
24:05 Kirk Hamilton? I don't know, what's your pick?
24:06 Jason Schreier? Helldivers 2 is my pick.
24:08 Speaker 01 That's mine too.
24:09 Kirk Hamilton? Mine is Diablo 4.
24:11 Jason Schreier? Diablo 4, okay.
24:11 Speaker 01 But it's a tough one, because I, I feel like honestly, like Fortnite got a lot of really cool updates this year. It could win Diablo, same deal. I don't think Destiny would take it, though.
24:23 Kirk Hamilton? Even though Destiny got the Final Shape, which was beloved, and I think really good.
24:27 Jason Schreier? Destiny is marred by like the-
24:29 Kirk Hamilton? I think Destiny is cursed, yeah.
24:30 Speaker 01 I know.
24:31 Jason Schreier? Layoffs and like all their bunchies issues.
24:34 Speaker 01 There's not a lot of goodwill there right now.
24:35 Kirk Hamilton? Well, so Diablo, I'm picking Diablo 4 just because like, I think Vessel of Hatred seemed to have gone over really well, and the new loot update, and like, they really have kind of updated and improved that game significantly over the course of the year. And it seems like it was pretty popular. And yeah, I don't know, I think people will pick that.
24:51 Jason Schreier? Yeah, I just think Helldivers 2, it was so big and hasn't really made an impact on other categories, that I feel like this is the one it'll get.
24:59 Kirk Hamilton? I think there are some other categories later on that Helldivers is gonna do.
25:01 Jason Schreier? Yeah, maybe, we'll see. Best community support: Baldur's Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, No Man's Sky.
25:09 Kirk Hamilton? So I think that this one is gonna be Helldivers 2. I think that just because Helldivers 2's community folks, I think it was, they did a really good job of just communicating with people. And there was all that funny stuff where they were like in world and pretending to be like, they're like, oh, all these sightings of new alien types are fake news, like it's propaganda, like being like the Super Earth sort of, you know, towing the company line. And that stuff was just all really cute and fun. And it kind of kept people interested, especially in those early months as they were adding stuff to the game. And it just seems to me like that's the sort of thing that voters will look at when they're thinking like, who did the best job of like communicating with their community?
25:46 Jason Schreier? Maddy, what's your pick?
25:47 Speaker 01 Uh, mine is actually gonna be Baldur's Gate 3. They just did so many massive updates to that game this year. But I agree, Kirk, I really almost picked Helldivers 2. I'm torn about it. I think it could easily be either one of these. For just the exact same reasons. I think both of these dev teams continued to update their games and really communicated with their fans in ways that were, just sparked a lot of goodwill among people and still has, so.
26:14 Jason Schreier? Yeah, my pick is Baldur's Gate 3 also, cuz I think can't get a game of the years, can't get a game awards by without giving Baldur's Gate 3 something. Best independent game, the nominees are Animal Well, Bellatro, Lorelai, and the Laser Eyes NEVA, and UFO 50.
26:32 Kirk Hamilton? I just gotta say that Tactical Breach Wizards and Mouthwash and A Thousand Exorcists, those games should be on here. I just.
26:38 Speaker 01 I was really the strategy game category that I couldn't believe Tactical Breach Wizards didn't manage to get it in. Cause there's even a couple indie ones on there, but yeah, I don't know. Oh, well.
26:48 Kirk Hamilton? That's just my gripe.
26:49 Jason Schreier? I don't really, I like feel like I've never heard people ever talk about NEVA. I'm surprised that is on here.
26:56 Speaker 01 It's by the developers of Grease, which I know made a really big splash when it came out, but it feels like NEVA didn't as much.
27:02 Kirk Hamilton? Did Grease make a really big splash? It was really lovely.
27:05 Speaker 01 I think so, it made it on some goody, goody lists at the time.
27:08 Jason Schreier? Yeah, did people play it though? Like.
27:10 Kirk Hamilton? I don't know about really big splash.
27:11 Speaker 01 I feel like it did among people I know, then.
27:13 Kirk Hamilton? I think it was like a respected indie with lovely art that was kind of like a pretty okay game. And I get the sense NEVA- That way too. I played the first part of this and was like, oh my God, there's like a dog. They're gonna kill the dog.
27:25 Kirk Hamilton? It looked nice. Like it looked cool. I think it's a good game. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like, that's just me. But, you know, of picking among these, I think it's just gotta be Bellatro.
27:35 Speaker 01 That's what I picked.
27:37 Kirk Hamilton? I just think it's gotta be like.
27:39 Jason Schreier? I think we're all in agreement and I'm sure we'll all be in agreement for this next one. Best debut indie game. Just to read the categories. Animal Well, Bellatro, Manor Lords, Pacific Driver, The Plucky Squire.
27:51 Speaker 01 It's just specific drive, by the way, not driver.
27:53 Jason Schreier? I can't believe The Plucky Squire is on here.
27:56 Kirk Hamilton? You know, I'm really interested to see, because I've now am in this weird liminal space where I've in my head called Bellatro, Bellatro. I'm really curious what they will call it at the Game Awards. I think maybe we'll.
28:06 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah. Well, you're the one who's right.
28:08 Jason Schreier? That's a great question.
28:09 Kirk Hamilton? Am I? Is that like technically how it's pronounced?
28:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's what it, that's how it is pronounced.
28:13 Jason Schreier? I assume you guys are, we're all picking Bellatro for debut.
28:16 Speaker 01 I picked Animal Well for this. I'm probably gonna be wrong, but I, you know what? I have to rebel somehow.
28:21 Kirk Hamilton? No, I don't, I don't know about that, Maddy. Cause I think that like, normally, yes, like if the best independent game is also a debut, of course, it's gonna be both. That just is logical. But in this case, I think that Animal Well might get it. And for a while I was picking that. And it's because Animal Well is also the debut of Dunky's Publisher.
28:40 Speaker 01 Yep.
28:40 Kirk Hamilton? And like, so it's like kind of a debut in more ways than one. And I think a lot of people were very impressed that this famous YouTuber, for his first game that he ever published, published like this phenomenal game. So it could be Animal Well for that reason, but I still think it'll be Bellatro.
28:55 Speaker 01 Yeah. And I kind of see the logic voting wise of being like, well, I'm gonna pick Bellatro for best indie game. And then you get to the next category and you're like, okay, but I don't wanna pick it again. Let me, let me give the award to one of these other ones that's also a debut indie game.
29:09 Jason Schreier? All right, let's crank through some more. Best mobile game, Arc Journey, Bellatro, Pokemon Trading, Card Game Pocket, Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero.
29:19 Jason Schreier? I picked the Pokemon game for this.
29:22 Speaker 01 Oh, really?
29:23 Jason Schreier? Cause I've seen a lot of people obsessing over that recently. And Balatro just doesn't feel like a mobile game to me, even though it is on mobile. You pick Balatro, Maddy?
29:31 Speaker 01 I did, yeah. I went with Balatro.
29:34 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, man, I'm really torn between those two. I'm gonna say.
29:38 Jason Schreier? Are you picking as we go?
29:39 Kirk Hamilton? No, I was gonna, I had Bal- no, I've really literally deleted and re- undelited.
29:43 Speaker 01 That's amazing.
29:44 Kirk Hamilton? Between Pokemon and Balatro. So I, I, I just really am not sure. I think, I think it's gonna be Balatro.
29:50 Jason Schreier? Okay.
29:50 Speaker 01 Okay.
29:50 Jason Schreier? Oops. Balatro, okay. Best VR AR, Arizona Sunshine remake, Asgard's Wrath 2, Batman: Arkham Shadow, Metal Hellslinger VR, Metro Awakening. I picked Batman because it's Batman.
30:08 Speaker 01 I did too.
30:08 Kirk Hamilton? It's gonna be Batman. Um, Asgard's Wrath 2 is apparently incredible and it might be that game, but Batman is recent and apparently Batman is spectacular. Like people say.
30:17 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's Batman. I mean, yeah.
30:20 Kirk Hamilton? I gotta play it. Man, I gotta play it. I got a Quest 3 sitting right here.
30:22 Speaker 01 Yeah, you should play it.
30:23 Jason Schreier? Here is the part where we get into these weird friggin' genre categories.
30:27 Speaker 01 I can't believe these are existing.
30:30 Jason Schreier? It's extremely stupid, but we're gonna read through them anyway. Best action game, Black Myth Wukong, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2. Best action game.
30:41 Kirk Hamilton? Black Myth Wukong.
30:42 Speaker 01 Same.
30:43 Jason Schreier? Yep, yep, yeah, that's what I went with.
30:45 Speaker 01 Why did we all pick that?
30:45 Jason Schreier? Cause it feels like that's gonna win one.
30:47 Speaker 01 This feels like where it would go if it couldn't ice it out in any of the other categories.
30:52 Jason Schreier? Yeah, exactly.
30:53 Kirk Hamilton? Big popular game, apparently a great action game.
30:56 Jason Schreier? Exactly, exactly. Cause it's not gonna win the others. Best action adventure game, whatever that means.
31:01 Speaker 01 So different.
31:02 Jason Schreier? Astro Bot, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Silent Hill 2, Star Wars: Outlaws, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. I just wanna say, it's so funny, between Outlaws and Plucky Squire, it's so funny that like mediocre games are making these nominees.
31:15 Speaker 01 It's bizarre.
31:17 Jason Schreier? I went with Astro Bot for this one.
31:19 Speaker 01 Same.
31:20 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, me too, even though it should go to Prince of Persia, it's gonna be Astro Bot.
31:24 Speaker 01 I mean, look, we're not here to talk about what it should go to, okay?
31:28 Kirk Hamilton? Just cause Prince of Persia is an adventure, it's such an adventure.
31:31 Speaker 01 It's one of my favorite games. It doesn't matter.
31:35 Jason Schreier? Here's another weird one. Best RPG, Dragon's Dogma 2, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Metaphor: Refantazio.
31:46 Kirk Hamilton? It's funny, this is the one where I think it's really just a function of Dragon Age coming out so late, but it's wild that Dragon Age isn't on here.
31:54 Speaker 01 I know.
31:55 Kirk Hamilton? You would think it would at least be nominated for best RPG.
31:57 Speaker 01 I think not enough people played it in time.
32:00 Jason Schreier? I don't know. Truly. I also, I think it's, it was a little bit polarizing, like.
32:04 Speaker 01 Yeah, I think the beginning of it being slow was enough to turn people off.
32:08 Kirk Hamilton? It's good, it's good enough, or I don't know, anyways.
32:10 Speaker 01 I agree, I agree.
32:11 Jason Schreier? But I think if you look at, I think if you look at the like Metacritic, not that Metacritic is an amazing rubric, but if you look at that, all of these have higher scores than Dragon Age.
32:20 Kirk Hamilton? Between that and the fact that it came out pretty close to, you know, the end of the year.
32:24 Speaker 01 And also, people should know, the voting deadline is way earlier. There's that too.
32:28 Jason Schreier? Anyway, mine is, my pick is Metaphor.
32:30 Kirk Hamilton? Uh, Metaphor for me as well.
32:31 Speaker 01 Oh, that's interesting. I put Dragon's Dogma 2 here, it's the only award it's up here, up for.
32:36 Kirk Hamilton? Wow.
32:36 Speaker 01 I think it's, I think it would be rad if it won here, but like, I don't know. I'm just going crazy at this point.
32:42 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, Maddy going wild.
32:44 Jason Schreier? All right, best, best fighting game, Dragon Ball, by the way, the category for this is not best fighting game, it's best fighting.
32:50 Speaker 01 Yeah.
32:50 Jason Schreier? So best fighting.
32:51 Speaker 01 Best fighting, which game is the best fighting?
32:54 Kirk Hamilton? Dragon Age should have been nominated for this, there's so much fighting over that game.
32:57 Jason Schreier? Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, Grand Blue Fantasy vs. Rising, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, Multiverse vs. Tekken 8. I went with Dragon Ball Sparking Zero.
33:07 Speaker 01 I did too.
33:08 Jason Schreier? Okay.
33:09 Kirk Hamilton? I think Tekken 8.
33:10 Jason Schreier? Okay.
33:11 Speaker 01 Those were the two that I debated between. I think Dragon Ball has recency bias on its side.
33:15 Jason Schreier? Alrighty, uh, best family, Astro Bot, Princess Peach Showtime, Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, The Plucky Squire. None of these games have families in them, but I guess that's not what I mean.
33:29 Kirk Hamilton? I mean, Astro Bot is really about the PlayStation family.
33:33 Speaker 01 Oh, that's so true.
33:34 Kirk Hamilton? It's about the PlayStation family of consoles.
33:36 Jason Schreier? That's also why I picked Astro Bot, the franchise family.
33:40 Speaker 01 I also did, yeah.
33:41 Jason Schreier? Best sim strategy, Age of Mythology Retold, Frostpunk 2, Kunizugami: Path of the Goddess, Manor Lords, and Unicorn: Overlord. I went with Unicorn: Overlord.
33:53 Kirk Hamilton? I actually think this is gonna be Manor Lords.
33:55 Speaker 01 Oh, really? I went with Knitsagami.
33:57 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I think so.
33:59 Jason Schreier? Okay.
33:59 Speaker 01 Wow.
34:00 Kirk Hamilton? Nice, three different things.
34:01 Speaker 01 All right, this is, this is the real tiebreaker, folks.
34:03 Jason Schreier? Yeah, that, that'll be it. Best sports racing? F1 24, EA Sports FC 25, NBA Ku 2K 25, Top Spin 2K 25, WWE 2K 24, 224s and 325s on this one.
34:17 Speaker 01 Yup, yup, yup. Good stuff.
34:21 Kirk Hamilton? This is a tough one, I haven't played any of these.
34:22 Jason Schreier? I went with EA Sports FC.
34:24 Speaker 01 I did too.
34:25 Kirk Hamilton? I went with F1, because I think those F1 games are probably pretty cool. And, I don't know.
34:31 Jason Schreier? Best multiplayer? Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Tekken 8, Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2.
34:39 Kirk Hamilton? I think Helldivers 2 is gonna get this one.
34:40 Jason Schreier? Me too.
34:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's what I chose.
34:42 Jason Schreier? Okay, so we're all in agreement on that.
34:45 Kirk Hamilton? In agreement there.
34:45 Jason Schreier? I feel like this next one will probably all be in agreement.
34:48 Speaker 01 We will be too, yeah.
34:49 Jason Schreier? Best adaptation? Arcane, Fallout, Knuckles, Lycad Dragon, Yakuza, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.
34:56 Speaker 01 Let's all say it together. Fallout!
34:59 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I think it's gonna be Fallout, even though, well, I actually just finished the second season of Arcane, and it was kind of like watching two seasons of a show on 2X Speed. It's beautiful looking, and I think an amazing adaptation in a lot of ways, though narratively not as strong as the first season. And also, I think that Arcane Season 1 won. Fallout is new, and Fallout is just such a great adaptation. And I think it was so popular.
35:21 Jason Schreier? Yeah, I mean Fallout is...
35:22 Speaker 01 It was popular.
35:23 Kirk Hamilton? It's gotta be Fallout.
35:24 Speaker 01 I think especially because it doesn't have great competition here. I think it will win.
35:28 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah.
35:28 Jason Schreier? This next category might be the big, the like, safest shoo-in of all time. Most anticipated game? Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yotei, Grand Theft Auto 6, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Monster Hunters: Wilds.
35:47 Jason Schreier? It's hard to see anything but Grand Theft Auto winning this one.
35:50 Kirk Hamilton? Obviously.
35:50 Speaker 01 Yeah, I didn't even pick Metroid Prime 4 as a joke.
35:54 Kirk Hamilton? No.
35:55 Speaker 01 But it is my most anticipated game.
35:58 Jason Schreier? Content creator of the year. This one is hilarious. If you look at the image of this one, which everyone should go do because it's four bearded guys and then an anime girl with carrots in her hair. The content creators are Cat Case O, Illow Wan, Teco Gamers, Typical Gamer, and Usada Pacora. Usada Pacora is the anime girl and that's why I'm picking her.
36:20 Speaker 01 She's a VTuber.
36:21 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, yeah, I think she's gonna win too.
36:22 Jason Schreier? Okay.
36:22 Speaker 01 That's what I picked. That's what I picked.
36:24 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I was reading about her and I was like, it seems like she did a lot of stuff this year. People were really having a good time with her streams and like.
36:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
36:29 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I think she's gonna win.
36:31 Jason Schreier? Okay, good for her. Next up is best esports game. Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Mobile Legends Bang Bang.
36:43 Jason Schreier? Sorry, Mobile Legends Bang Bang.
36:46 Kirk Hamilton? It's the comedy Bang Bang esports game.
36:49 Jason Schreier? And Valorant.
36:51 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, no, I'm realizing that. I was gonna pick Valorant, but then I think I picked that last year.
36:57 Jason Schreier? And it won last year.
36:57 Speaker 01 You can pick it again. It's here again.
36:59 Kirk Hamilton? But I don't know if Valorant is gonna win again.
37:01 Jason Schreier? I'm going with League of Legends.
37:03 Speaker 01 I am too. I know they did things this year that people liked. I know that from people I know who play it.
37:11 Kirk Hamilton? I think I'm gonna go with League of Legends as well.
37:13 Jason Schreier? Okay.
37:14 Kirk Hamilton? I don't think it's gonna be a repeat.
37:15 Jason Schreier? Nobody is picking Mobile Legends Bang Bang. That's unfortunate.
37:17 Speaker 01 For some reason, though, we are.
37:19 Jason Schreier? Best esports athlete, best esports athlete, 33, Alex Sib, Chovy, Faker, ZywOo, and ZMJKKK.
37:32 Kirk Hamilton? It's too bad that this category isn't the best episode of Battlestar Galactica, because then I would pick 33.
37:39 Speaker 01 Anyway.
37:40 Kirk Hamilton? That was a sweaty joke.
37:42 Speaker 01 I picked Faker last year. I'm picking Faker again.
37:46 Jason Schreier? It's always, it's gonna be Faker until he loses it. Yeah, it's Faker's to lose every year. This is like, like the, I don't know, LeBron James of esports. Like it's gonna go anywhere else. This year, unfortunately, they do not have like best esports coach or anything like that, or best esports tournament. They just have best esports team. And I'm gonna read the nominees. Billy Billy Gaming, Gen G, Na'Vi, T1, and Team Liquid. I'm going with T1 because that's Faker's team.
38:17 Speaker 01 Yeah, I almost picked them for the same reason, but I chose Team Liquid because they're also well-known.
38:23 Kirk Hamilton? I'm gonna go with Billy Billy Gaming. I don't know who they are, but their name is fun to say.
38:28 Speaker 01 That means Kirk is gonna win.
38:31 Jason Schreier? Yeah, we got some, some disputes here.
38:33 Kirk Hamilton? We'll see how that goes.
38:34 Jason Schreier? All right. So those are the 29 categories. That is it.
38:38 Kirk Hamilton? Those are our picks.
38:39 Jason Schreier? And yeah, we'll see who takes it all. This will be a fun one.
38:43 Speaker 01 Ridiculous show.
38:44 Jason Schreier? Before we move on to one more thing, let's talk a little bit about the announcements portion, which I think is why most people tune in is to see new games get announced and shown off. I know a couple of big things that'll be there. By the time this airs, maybe some of them will have leaked. So I don't know, I won't even get into what I have or haven't heard. The couple of big things that I've heard though are like actually big, like will make an impact on people and also probably won't be out for years. So like there'll be those things that you hear about and then don't hear about again for two more years. Haven't heard anything about Silk Song, sorry to say.
39:18 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah. What are the kind of known rumors that, that are sort of already out there?
39:23 Jason Schreier? I don't know.
39:24 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, because you know, things and you don't want to like.
39:27 Jason Schreier? Yeah, well, I don't, and I don't even know what's been made public. And again, by the time this airs, there will probably be more stuff made public. One thing I'll say that I don't know is that there's been a lot of like Half-Life chatter and some people are theorizing that we could see a new Half-Life game here, which would be wild. That would be bonkers.
39:44 Kirk Hamilton? Right. Cause they just updated Half-Life 2 and added all that, all that commentary.
39:48 Jason Schreier? And Half Life: Alex ended with a tease for a new
39:51 Kirk Hamilton? Yes, of course. There is a narrative setup, yeah, which I guess has been the case for more than a decade that there already was a narrative setup. But yes, they made it clear they were.
39:59 Jason Schreier? And then the other thing is that I I would be, I would say it's highly, highly, highly unlikely that we would see GTA 6 at the show.
40:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, especially since Rockstar snubbed the Game Awards last year. Why would they not continue to snub the Game Awards?
40:15 Jason Schreier? Well, they never do like Game Awards.
40:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, they don't need it. They don't need it.
40:17 Jason Schreier? They're just like, hey, we're posting on Twitter in three days. Enjoy.
40:20 Speaker 01 Yeah, exactly.
40:21 Jason Schreier? What do you guys want to see or expect to see or predict that you'll see? Anything you guys are excited about?
40:25 Speaker 01 Well, I can at least speak to some rumors. I have no inside information on any of the things I'm about to say, but just from my own coworkers and what they're excited about. There's the game Dawnwalker that's like, some of the ex Witcher 3 folks got together and made a studio called Rebel Wolves. People have definitely been waiting for something on that to come about. I O Interactive's James Bond game, we haven't seen that in a while. What's up with that? Max Payne remake has been rumored for a while. We had a fun conversation at work about who would play Max Payne. It's just an interesting question now. And then there's kind of just stuff that I personally wonder about. The Wonder Woman game. Haven't seen that in a really long time. I feel like every show, I'm like, I
41:10 Speaker 01 wonder if we're gonna see the Wonder Woman game. Maybe we'll never see it again. And yeah, I think that's it for stuff that's actually kind of exciting.
41:20 Jason Schreier? When was that announced? Was that announced in 22 or 21?
41:24 Speaker 01 Yeah. Definitely in development hell somewhere.
41:27 Jason Schreier? I spoke to someone, I spoke to someone who was working on that game a while back, and they were like, yeah, our current timeline has us at like 2026, and even that is unrealistic.
41:38 Speaker 01 Oh, God. So probably not a big splashy Wonder Woman trailer then.
41:43 Jason Schreier? Kirk, anything you're excited about or want to see?
41:46 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I don't really know. It looks, I'm just looking up rumors. It looks like Split Fiction, the new Joseph Faris game, has kind of leaked and might get announced. And given that he has such a long history at the Game Awards, it seems likely that he'll come on stage and everyone will be like, do the thing, do something silly. And he'll be like,
42:04 Kirk Hamilton? Oscars, suck my balls, and then everyone will be like, you did it, he said the thing. And then they'll show, you know, footage from his game or whatever. I don't really know what else. There'll probably be like a couple of teases for things that, yeah, aren't going to come out forever.
42:17 Jason Schreier? Anything you really want to see of Vivint Silk Song?
42:20 Kirk Hamilton? That's it.
42:20 Speaker 01 Another Half-Life game, Kirk? Would that excite you at all?
42:23 Kirk Hamilton? That'd be great. That'd be great. I'd be kind of surprised. I guess it'd be cool to see a Valve announcement. Just because Valve tends to do things, you know, on their own, at their own tempo. But of course, I would be very excited to see a Half-Life game. I just, it just feels like Silk Song. Like, it feels like something that will never happen. And then when it does happen, it will happen in a way that isn't the normal way that these sorts of things happen.
42:46 Speaker 01 Right.
42:47 Kirk Hamilton? And it's more likely we'll just see like, I don't know, like a, something big, like a new Gears of War tease or something.
42:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
42:54 Kirk Hamilton? That kind of thing, where I'm like, oh, okay, yeah, they were probably making another one of those, and now they've officially shown a title card.
43:00 Speaker 01 I mean, we did just actually get one. You've just already forgotten it. We got a Gears of War tease at SGF. That's like the prequel game with like a young baby Marcus Fenix and Dom in it. Remember that?
43:11 Jason Schreier? Yeah, yeah.
43:12 Speaker 01 We got one of those.
43:13 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, there you go. I have forgotten.
43:15 Speaker 01 But it's a good guess. I mean, it's like, some of those things that were just revealed, I'm like, yeah, probably we'll see more of them. Like, probably some more Borderlands 4, for example. We'll get a bigger trailer for that.
43:23 Jason Schreier? This is a safe bet.
43:24 Kirk Hamilton? Right. And it's funny, because that's not even, like, yours wasn't even a guess. It's more of just like, that's the kind of thing.
43:28 Speaker 01 Exactly.
43:29 Kirk Hamilton? Like, where it's like a console-y, big-budget-y thing that I don't really care that much about, because of course, you know they're making another one of all these huge franchises. So whatever big franchise hasn't had an announcement lately, there will be some title card announcement, and that's cool and everything. But like, the things I get excited about, yeah, are like Silk Song, because it's actually coming out, and I'm like, I know it's going to be really good. And it's, it feels unlikely that that sort of stuff is going to be at present.
43:53 Jason Schreier? Yeah, it'll be nice. I mean, usually Jeff shows off some indie stuff, like a cool, like, Hades 2 was announced at one of these, or like, there are other kind of cool unexpected sequels.
44:03 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, maybe they'll announce like a 1.0 release for Hades 2.
44:06 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah, that'd be cool.
44:07 Jason Schreier? That sounds right. Yeah, that sounds like a...
44:08 Kirk Hamilton? Seems like we're coming up on time for that.
44:11 Jason Schreier? Yep, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that... That I it seems highly unlikely to me that like Nintendo would do a hardware thing here. But maybe they'll announce some game that happened that like will also be on the Switch two next year when that comes out. Xbox, they have a billion games as always that are just forever away that they could tease. I'm sure they'll throw in something like that. Playstation, I think I'm, I'm, I'm pretty sure we'll have a couple of things in there.
44:41 Jason Schreier? I'll leave it at that. And then, uh. Yeah. What else? Are there other like big publishers that we haven't heard from in a while?
44:47 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, you know, you say Playstation, maybe they'll announce a release date for Last of Us Part Two on PC.
44:53 Jason Schreier? Ah, yes.
44:55 Kirk Hamilton? That's the kind of thing that's at this, right?
44:56 Speaker 01 Yeah.
44:57 Kirk Hamilton? It's not actually that exciting, but because you know that's gonna happen at some point, but it's still kinda like, oh, cool. All right. A lot of more people.
45:02 Jason Schreier? Wait, did that not happen yet? I thought you were joking. Like, I thought that was like a, another like.
45:07 Speaker 01 I don't think that has happened yet.
45:09 Jason Schreier? I Kirk, I really thought you were joking, like another Last of Us release, like a.
45:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, they're making another remaster.
45:17 Kirk Hamilton? I think, um, I think.
45:18 Jason Schreier? It hasn't come to PC yet. Okay.
45:19 Kirk Hamilton? I think it's, it's safe to say it's, it's coming out, but like they'll just announce a date for it.
45:24 Jason Schreier? I would actually be really excited for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on PC.
45:28 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:29 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, I mean, that'll happen probably next year, so they might have a date for that as well.
45:33 Jason Schreier? Would be exciting to see also some of those big square games that haven't been in, like the Final Fantasy IX remake they're working on. Or like Final Fantasy Tactics remastered. It'd be nice to see those. For, for once. And yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to think like EA, uh, I don't think they have anything interesting in the works Ubisoft. Maybe they'll announce something or maybe they'll just show more Assassin's Creed. I don't know. Yeah, could be, uh, but, but, but there will be, there will be some fun things.
46:02 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, they probably will, right? Cause they're like, they're pretty jacked up for Assassin's Creed Shadows, like they, cause they really need that game to be a success. So I could see there being something else.
46:11 Jason Schreier? Yeah, more, more permission.
46:12 Kirk Hamilton? Did you see, by the way, they showed that, I know we're out of time. They showed that trailer where you can go prone. I was like, you go prone in the Assassin's Creed game?
46:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
46:19 Kirk Hamilton? Say no more. I wanna play this game now.
46:23 Speaker 03 I was like, what is this metal gear crawling around? Looks great.
46:27 Speaker 01 Yeah.
46:28 Jason Schreier? And then, of course, I think it's like a 99% certainty that we will see the new Death, like a trailer for Death Stranding 2.
46:38 Speaker 03 Yeah.
46:38 Jason Schreier? There.
46:39 Speaker 03 Seems likely.
46:39 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, Kojima will show a video game. We know that. We, that's not a prediction. That's just a statement of fact. He'll be there and he'll show a trailer for one of his games.
46:50 Jason Schreier? Um, okay, cool. Well, yeah, uh, let's get ready for gaming's biggest night. It should be, uh, should be fun times.
46:57 Speaker 01 Yay.
46:58 Jason Schreier? All right, why don't we take a break and we'll be back for one more thing.
47:08 Speaker 04 All right, we're over 70 episodes into our show. Let's learn everything. So let's do a quick progress check. Have we learnt about quantum physics?
47:16 Speaker 03 Yes, episode 59.
47:17 Speaker 04 We haven't learned about the history of gossip yet, have we?
47:20 Speaker 05 Yes, we have. Same episode, actually.
47:22 Speaker 04 Have we talked to Tom Scott about his lot of roller coasters?
47:25 Speaker 03 Episode 64.
47:27 Speaker 05 So how close are we to learning everything?
47:29 Speaker 04 Bad news, we still haven't learned everything yet.
47:32 Speaker 01 Oh.
47:33 Speaker 03 We're ruined.
47:35 Speaker 04 No, no, no, it's good news as well. There is still a lot to learn. I'm Dr. Ella Hubber.
47:41 Speaker 03 I'm regular Tom Lum.
47:42 Speaker 05 I'm Caroline Botha and on Let's Learn Everything, we learn about science and a bit of everything else too.
47:47 Speaker 04 And although we haven't learned everything yet, I've got a pretty good feeling about this next episode.
47:52 Speaker 03 Join us every other Thursday on Maximum Fun.
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48:37 Jason Schreier? And we are back. Kirk, Maddy, it is time for one more thing. Maddy, kick us off.
48:43 Speaker 01 All right. So we watched Scream from 2022. Doesn't have a number after it.
48:50 Jason Schreier? Scream.
48:50 Speaker 01 1996. Yeah, we watched Scream 2022. So this movie is the first one that was made after Wes Craven died. And if this is your first time ever listening to Triple Click, for context, my wife and I have been watching every single Scream movie in order. And now we are up to post Wes Craven.
49:08 Jason Schreier? And if it's your first time finding out that Wes Craven died, we are sorry. Our condolences.
49:13 Speaker 01 Yeah, this is how you're finding out. I'm really sorry. And I'm also really sorry because I thought Scream 2022 was fine. And I would say my biggest gripe with it was that I was able to guess who the killers were. And I can't say the same for the other Scream movies. All of them have an ending where even if you had kind of an inkling, the full scope of the ending, you'd be like, what? In a way that would kind of just mess with your head a little bit and make you reevaluate what the movie was saying about cinema itself. These are very meta movies. I don't know. They just have really interesting commentary to make about the movie biz and movies as an art form. And Scream 2022 kind of felt more like fanfic.
49:56 Speaker 01 I mean, it is functionally that. It's very high budget fanfic. I thought the performances were great. The fight scenes were really fun, great choreography, funny, really good, good jokes. No complaints about any of that. They had some fun tributes to Wes Craven. They had a character named Wes. He's the one who got the sexy shower scene. I thought that was funny to give a male character that. They, I appreciated all those things. I just was a little disappointed that the end felt kind of predictable to me. Not sure if I'm going to continue with this. There's a whole Scream TV show and I think another Scream movie after this that will also not have Wes Craven's involvement. So I'm a little torn.
50:36 Speaker 01 I'll let everyone know if we keep going, but this may or may not be the end. I still recommend all four of the original Screams, though. They were really, really, really good. And I just, I think they really hold up. And I recommend them.
50:50 Kirk Hamilton? Is this the one with Jenna Ortega?
50:51 Speaker 01 Yes, she, her performance is great. It's, it's more just the script, I guess, that I'm taking a little issue with.
50:57 Kirk Hamilton? My older niece, who is 14, I've been talking to her about some sort of starter horror movies, like Tremors, you know, movies like that, that she might dig that aren't too scary.
51:06 Speaker 01 Yeah, this I think is-
51:07 Kirk Hamilton? And I was like, you should watch the first Scream, it's great. And she's like, oh, I've only ever seen the 2022 one because it has Jenna Ortega in it. And so that was the only reason I cared.
51:14 Speaker 01 She'd probably still like the first one. Because Scream 2022 refers to Scream 1996 quite a bit, as, as do all the movies.
51:23 Kirk Hamilton? That was, that was definitely my advice. But it was just funny because it's like, well, that one's called Scream as well. And this one has an actress I actually give a shit about in it. As opposed to Neve Campbell, I have no idea who that even is.
51:33 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
51:35 Jason Schreier? We're so old.
51:37 Kirk Hamilton? Oh, yeah.
51:37 Jason Schreier? Um, Kirk, what's your one more thing?
51:39 Kirk Hamilton? My one more thing is a new delightful Netflix show called A Man on the Inside. This is a show starring Ted Danson, created by Mike Schur, creator of The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Rec. And it's really wonderful. It's also pretty devastating at times, or at least it is, it was for me. So this, this is actually an adaptation of an award-winning documentary, I think a Chilean documentary called The Mole Agent, which I didn't know when I started watching the show, that it is taking a true story and turning it into a sort of heightened, heightened fictional sitcom set in San Francisco. But it is. So this is a story about a, a retirement home in San Francisco where there's a P I,
52:23 Kirk Hamilton? a private investigator is hired at the beginning to find out who stole a woman's necklace, like one of the residents of this really swanky retirement home that's like in Pacific Heights, or it's like on Russian Hill or maybe Nob Hill. It's like in a really nice part of San Francisco. And the P I needs to get into the retirement home in order to, you know, find out what's going on. So she hires Ted Danson, who is a sort of widower, a retired widower, who is like a, you know, a former professor and kind of this tall, natty nerd and has really kind of, since his wife died, has kind of, his life is kind of closed. Goes down, his daughter is really like, you need to get a life and start doing stuff. Very common thing, I think, anyone in our age range has started to sort of experience.
53:08 Kirk Hamilton? And so he, he moves into this retirement community and it's kind of a mystery as he's like undercover. And, you know, it's each episode is a little riff on a famous spy novel or spy movie. And he loves spy books, but he's kind of hapless as a spy. So it's the story of him sort of getting to know everyone and trying to find out who stole this necklace. And then there are later crimes and more things are stolen and he's, they're trying to find out who it is. So there's a bit of a mystery to it, which is nice, but really it's the story of retirement homes and the kinds of community that you can find at that later stage in your life, which is a really, it's a really nice rendition of that and a kind of lovely tribute to all of the ways that your life can kind of open up, despite the fact that when you're that old and living
53:52 Kirk Hamilton? among people who are all that old, death is always there. And it's this really, it's like a different challenging part of your life. And of course, like I, it's, you can compare it to a lot of other things. The Thursday Murder Club books that Jason, you and I have read and talked about are very similar. And I think have a similar energy where they really, it's like, it's lovely to watch such an endorsement of all of the positive things about moving into a retirement community, because it can be so hard to convince your own parents or, you know, loved ones to move into one. And they kind of represent an unattainable goal, I think, for a lot of people. And then I'll say, just as a like, not exactly a warning, but just something worth mentioning. This is yet another show that is a lot about dementia.
54:37 Kirk Hamilton? And in particular, it's about surviving losing someone to dementia. Because Ted Danson's, his character's wife died to dementia. And it's tough, or it was tough for me, especially after this summer. And like, you know, my dad, I think people know this, my dad died, my mom has dementia. He would have been Ted Danson if he hadn't gotten cancer, basically. Like, he would have outlived her and then had to deal with, I think, the guilt and the sort of sadness that comes with that. And like, the show does a really good job of depicting it. A big part of it is, a big part of Ted Danson's character is that He wants to feel useful. He'll talk about it. He'll be like, well, I like doing the coffee routine myself because it makes me feel useful. And then this is kind of this
55:21 Kirk Hamilton? fantasy that this young, cool, private investigator hires him and he can go like, play an integral part in this investigation and his life like, comes back online because he's being useful and is having so much fun. And I think, like, that's cool on its own. It's really moving and I think very true, that he feels so particularly useless because he watched his wife die from Alzheimer's. Because like, that feeling, there's nothing you can do and it is really, really hard. Like, hard in a way that nothing else is. It's a very particular kind of hard. And the show really deals with it. So, if you have dealt with that, or that's something that's in your life, it can be a nice thing to like, process that a little through this show, to see it. It made me cry a lot, but
56:05 Kirk Hamilton? like, that's okay, because I've just cried a lot this year and like, I was alright with it. But I'll mention that, just as something to like, think about when you're going into watching the show. And then to keep in mind, as you're watching it, if you haven't had to deal directly with dementia at all, that I think it's just like, it's a really particular depiction. I don't know if like, Mike Schur or one of the writers like, has a parent who's suffered from dementia. It really feels very personal. And I, I found it lovely, if kind of emotionally tough at times. So anyways, I really do recommend it. I think it's a wonderful show. So many great older actors. Man, Sally Struthers is in it. She's awesome. There's another, there's an actor named Stephen McKinley Henderson, who you'll know if you've seen him. He's a total character actor. A lot of the residents of the home
56:47 Kirk Hamilton? are character actors. He is amazing. Like, he plays a guy who becomes friends with Ted Danson. And it's like, they have the best, the best episodes of the two of them together. And it's, it's really great if you like, like, just heartwarming, lovely stuff. So it's A Man on the Inside.
57:00 Jason Schreier? He was in Civil War. He played-
57:03 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, he was in Civil War and a few other things as well, that I recognize him from. So, it's A Man on the Inside. It's on Netflix. I really loved it. Great show.
57:11 Jason Schreier? My one more thing is also a delightful Netflix show called The Diplomat.
57:16 Kirk Hamilton? Oh yeah.
57:17 Jason Schreier? And The Diplomat is this show starring Keri Russell. And it is, it is basically, I would describe it- Is like a nicer version of House of Cards. Carrie Russell plays this ambassador who is sent on assignment to the UK to become like one of the most important ambassadorships in the UK. And a British ship, like naval ship, has blown up and people are blaming Iran and she has to like dive headfirst into the middle of this like foreign entanglement quagmire and deal with it. And I think it's an entertaining show and it's got some good stuff going for it, but
57:59 Jason Schreier? the real reason to watch is to watch Carrie Russell play this character who is almost like the opposite of her character, her kind of iconic character from the Americans. Because in this, she is playing like a total mess and she's like super competent, but she's also like the type of woman who will like show up to a meeting with like stains on her pants and like, like her hair is just all over the place and she's just like kind of a total sloppy disaster of a person. There's also some fun interpersonal drama because her husband, who she wants to get rid of, is kind of like embroiled in the middle of this case and her life and the political atmosphere. And then Michael McCann plays the president, which is very entertaining. He kind of looks like Joe Biden as he's playing a president, but it's kind of this
58:44 Jason Schreier? grumpy, grumpy.
58:45 Kirk Hamilton? I would have voted for Michael McKean for president. He should have run.
58:48 Jason Schreier? Should have, should have run, although you would not want this guy to be president. He is not a fun dude.
58:54 Kirk Hamilton? Actual Michael McKean. He could like sing presidential addresses.
58:58 Jason Schreier? But yeah, but Carrie Russell as, as the lead character of this is just fantastic and a good reason to watch it. I'm not super far in, I'm only, I'm like halfway through the first season, I think maybe a little more than halfway. But I'm very much enjoying it so far as kind of like a House of Cards that is less of a bummer. Not to say that House of Cards, I loved House of Cards, especially the first two seasons of that show, pre kind of Kevin Spacey like revelations.
59:28 Jason Schreier? But, but, but the show is very entertaining and very fun to watch.
59:34 Kirk Hamilton? Nice.
59:34 Speaker 01 Sounds good.
59:34 Jason Schreier? Once again, it's called The Diplomat, in case you missed that the first time around. All right, and that is it for this week's episode. I wonder how many, how many of our TripleClick fandom I'll see at the JW tonight? How many people listening who are like, you know, I-
59:49 Kirk Hamilton? I believe you mean the Airport Hilton.
59:50 Speaker 01 Right, right. Not the JW.
59:53 Jason Schreier? No, well, I want TripleClick listeners to come. It's the other people. It's like the types of-
59:57 Kirk Hamilton? We have to invent a code language that only TripleClick listeners understand.
1:00:00 Jason Schreier? Exactly. We want only TripleClick listeners at the JW.
1:00:03 Kirk Hamilton? When we say Airport Hilton, we mean JW Marriott.
1:00:06 Jason Schreier? Right. If you're listening to this and you're a capital G gamer, then go to the Airport Marriott. Otherwise, if you're like a regular TripleClick listener, then come to the JW.
1:00:15 Speaker 01 Great. Great advice. That will work.
1:00:17 Kirk Hamilton? That will definitely work.
1:00:18 Jason Schreier? This should be, should be a fun, fun evening. Are you guys, Matty, I know you're watching for work.
1:00:23 Speaker 01 Of course.
1:00:23 Jason Schreier? I'm gonna be watching. Kirk, are you gonna be watching?
1:00:26 Kirk Hamilton? I'll watch for a little and then I'll get tired and I'll go do something else.
1:00:28 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's a better time zone for you than me, Kirk. I feel like I'm gonna be jealous of your time zone when it's 11:00 PM.
1:00:35 Kirk Hamilton? Yeah, but a four-hour award show is long in any time zone.
1:00:37 Speaker 01 That's a great point. And maybe it should be shorter.
1:00:42 Jason Schreier? It should be like an hour shorter.
1:00:44 Speaker 01 Yup. I agree.
1:00:45 Jason Schreier? It is, three hours is just too much. All right. We will see you all next week.
1:00:52 Kirk Hamilton? Yep. See you both next week.
1:00:54 Speaker 01 Bye.
1:00:57 Kirk Hamilton? TripleClick is produced by Jason Schreier, Maddy Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton. I edit and mix the show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom G. J. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes. TripleClick is a proud member of the Maximum Fun Podcast Network. And if you like our show, we hope you'll consider supporting us by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join. Find us on Twitter at TripleClickPod, send email to [email protected] , and find a link to our Discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
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