The new January 2024 game releases are nearly upon us, as this week, not one, but two demos dropped for major games releasing this month. Sean and Marc have played Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Granblue Fantasy Relink. How do they stack up? Did they get them even more excited for their perspective releases? You'll want to tune in for this.

Also, Xbox announced their now yearly Developer Direct is happening next week with Machine Games Indiana Jones game getting some major screen time and more info on Avowed and Senua's Saga Hellblade 2. But the shadow drop from last year's Direct, Hi-Fi Rush, sent the internet buzzing because rumors have swirled that it could be going multiplatform along with Sea of Thieves. Does it hurt Xbox to put its exclusives on other platforms after its initial release? Or is this a smart business move?

Nintendo also is apparently in deep discussions about working with more third-party developers on some of its own IP. The guys discuss the news and what dormant franchises could stand to benefit from this the most? Are there any of them they'd like to see make a return?

Also, Sony was at CES 2024 and they teased some things, Golden Sun 1 and 2 are coming to Switch Online, the DICE Awards Finalists have been announced, and much more!

You can also watch this episode in video form on the W2M Network Youtube Channel, please give us a like, comment on the episode, and give the channel a subscribe and follow as well: https://youtube.com/live/p4x8njWcKrA

Links:

Christopher Dring at Gamesindustry.biz says Nintendo is discussing with some third parties about making a game with their IP: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/how-can-nintendo-switch-2-surpass-its-predecessor-opinion

Sea of Thieves Could be going Multi-Platform: https://www.gamefile.news/p/sea-of-thieves-playstation

Hi-Fi Rush could be going Multi-Platform: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/report-microsoft-may-release-sea-of-thieves-hi-fi-rush-on-ps5-and-switch

Radulich in Broadcasting's Review of Netflix's Rebel Moon: https://youtube.com/live/bSDDRJG8OWo

The latest episode of Talk the Keki is their End of Year Awards: https://youtube.com/live/M5AGDZNxfYw

Timestamps:

00:00:00: START

00:02:25: Housekeeping

----------- Games We Are Playing -----------

00:04:10: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Sean and Marc)

00:15:50: Granblue Fantasy Relink (Marc)

00:20:50: Fantavision 202X (Marc)

00:25:05: Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Sean)

00:28:05 The Ascent DLC (Marc)

00:29:10: Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis (Sean)

----------- What's in the News --------

00:31:00: PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium Games for January 2024

00:32:20: Sony at CES 2024: Horizon Forbidden West coming to PC, Gravity Rush Movie does exist

00:34:50: Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush Could Be Coming to Nintendo Switch and PS5

00:43:05: Xbox Developer Direct is Happening on January 18

00:49:15: DICE Awards 2023 Finalists Announced: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 leads the way

00:52:05: Netflix May Develop an extra tier for the games that are added to the service

00:56:05: Twitch, Discord, and Unity Engine all hit with layoffs

01:03:50: Golden Sun 1 & 2 are coming to Nintendo Switch Online

------------ BIG TOPIC -----------

01:05:00: Discussing some franchises that may fare better if Nintendo lets a Third-Party developer handle them

------------- The End -------------

01:10:40: Games Coming Out This Week

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