DF Direct Weekly #280: John on GTA 6, State of Play Disappoints, Helix "Family of Devices"

Richard Leadbetter (0:02)

Hi there, a warm and unconditional welcome back to DF Direct Weekly, our weekly show, hence the name, discussing the latest gaming and technology news. First up, owing to a gigantically dense workload and a pretty vast slate of videos. We didn't actually release the Q&A show last week, but we did actually tape it. And because we are knee deep in various projects right now, including our DLSS 5 coverage, this Direct is a little different. We're adding some new content on top of what we tape for Q&A. So expect more questions from supporters in what has become a mainline Direct. And for those of you watching on video, maybe the panel will look slightly different. That's because of editing. Oh, and speaking of videos, for some weeks now, DF Direct Weekly has been available on Apple podcasts in video form. So with that said, though, if you're looking for DF Direct, no ads at all. Check out patreon.com/digitalfoundry for a private ad free, RSS free feed, high quality video downloads, everything we do, including direct our early access to direct too. Anyway, a packed show for you today, including commentary on State of Play, John's thoughts on GTA 6 Extended Look, reaction to Asha Sharma's BBC interview, and the latest hints dropped on whatever the new Xbox strategy might actually be. Joining me to discuss first of all, it's got to be John Lennon. Hello.

John Linneman (1:19)

Why hello there, Rich. Good to see you doing better. I know it's been a tough week.

Richard Leadbetter (1:24)

So here we are on Saturday morning.

Oliver McKenzie (1:26)

Here we are.

John Linneman (1:27)

Good fun.

Richard Leadbetter (1:28)

Of course, Oliver McKenzie. Hello.

Oliver McKenzie (1:31)

Yes, Rich. It's a bit of a DF Direct Classico this week with the topics and the questions all at once. I hope people enjoy a bit of a return to form.

Richard Leadbetter (1:40)

Brilliant. Yes, lots to get through. Let's crack on. Let's talk about our first news topic of the week, and it is Sony's State of Play.

A pretty massive presentation they put out there. Because I've been unwell this week, I haven't had the chance to check it out, so I'm going to be relying on you guys to tell me all about it. That said, John, I think the overall reaction, first of all, to the entire presentation was that you were not particularly impressed, not so much with the games, but with the fact that there wasn't really any new stuff as such.

John Linneman (2:14)

Yes, I think that's fair to say, Rich. When you break it down, what was shown here, I can't say that it was actually bad per se, like there's plenty of good games being shown in here. But I think fundamentally, it was a kind of a boring state of play, and that nearly everything here is already known. Most of it's just the typical trailer-y stuff that we've seen. There are a few standouts which we'll talk about, including Metro 2039 and Man Eater 2, which looks entertaining. But yeah, if this is the state of play, things aren't looking very good. It does feel like we're in the state where, even though it feels like the PS5 has barely gotten started, it's actually closing in, I guess, on the end. Because of the gamble Sony made with the live service stuff, that's ultimately all failed for the most part.

They're left in this lurch where they just don't have much to show. You can certainly feel it here, where it's just, they're bringing out the Lego thing. Oh my gosh.

I joked earlier, they're trying to catch up with Microsoft's 2013 Xbox One reveal.

They've already angered people with the distuff, but then they start the state of play with a movie trailer, which is like the Hollywood version of TV, TV, TV. Then they've even got the Lego PlayStation, which Xbox of course just recently did something like this. But the Lego PlayStation is especially funny to me. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but inside you open it up, there's a bunch of Ape Escape references in there, and there's a lot of Ape Escape stuff around this Lego system. Yet the Lego PlayStation they've built here doesn't include a DualShock, which I just found funny because that game requires one, and they didn't even go far enough to include it. To me, this show is like a lack of understanding or missing the details, so to speak. Not a big deal, but it's funny. But should we talk about some of the individual games, I guess, on this list?

Richard Leadbetter (4:28)

Yeah.

John Linneman (4:29)

There's quite a few. Where do we want to start, guys?