MLB The Show 23 and the PUBG 6th Anniversary

[JINGLE PLAYING] LARRY HYRB: Hi, it's Larry Hyrb, Xbox's "Major Nelson." Welcome to The Official Xbox Podcast. I have some great news for everybody this week-- well, maybe not great news.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Great news?

LARRY HYRB: Well, there were-- the gang is back.

REBECCA GORDIUS: What's the great news?

LARRY HYRB: I mean, last week we had--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh.

LARRY HYRB: --different folks. And now we've got the core group here. But here's the really great news. Everybody's going to join us this week. Do you know why?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: How's that work?

LARRY HYRB: Well, we've got some interviews later on-- Malik did one, and Kelly did the other. So we're-- kind of everybody's here in the show.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I was catching up.

REBECCA GORDIUS: That's awesome.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And Joe was really good, too, a couple weeks back.

LARRY HYRB: That-- yeah, we've got to get Joe back on. Joe was--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Please, let's have him do that.

LARRY HYRB: Joe has the mean mustache-- and our Xbox Wire editor from the UK. He's--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Best mustache.

LARRY HYRB: We record this-- just so you guys know, everybody-- first of all, hi, Rebecca. Welcome back. I know you've been away for a few weeks.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Thank you. It's nice to be back.

LARRY HYRB: I'm really excited to talk about where you've been, because you've got some cool stuff to talk about But yeah, we're excited everybody back this week. Jeff, it's good to see you. We've got a lot going on this week. We've got a couple of interviews, like I mentioned. We're going to talk about what we're playing. I guess we'll start-- Jeff, we'll start with you. I feel like we should start with you.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Really?

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Do I deserve that? But thank you. I appreciate that.

LARRY HYRB: No, you always deserve it. You're always deserving of our time.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Ah. Is there-- what's your angle here, Major Nelson?

LARRY HYRB: There's no angle.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I just feel like you're being awfully nice. And I don't--

LARRY HYRB: Well, here--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I don't know how to trust.

LARRY HYRB: So it's not so much what my angle is with you. It's more with Rebecca. Because I know she has something to talk about, and I wanted her to go kind of towards the end.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, so saving the best for last.

LARRY HYRB: (LAUGHING) Exactly, exactly.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Therefore, the inverse is also true. Got it.

LARRY HYRB: Exactly.

REBECCA GORDIUS: You should have just stopped while you were ahead, Jeff.

LARRY HYRB: (LAUGHING) Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I should have. I should have just, thanks, Larry.

LARRY HYRB: Since you asked-- [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: This is great. Yeah. So I've talked about it in recent weeks. I've been very into both Resident Evil 4, where I'm taking my time. But it is really good. I really love it-- and then also Midnight Suns, which is a game that I had gotten back into over the course of the last few weeks.

I hit the 40-hour mark. And actually, last night, I had this big climactic battle. it was the-- most of the time, you're bringing three characters in. This was, like, a major two-stage battle with two groups of three. And I was like, yeah, this is it, we're getting to the end here. And then after that battle, it was like, end of chapter one. And I was like, I'm sorry, what? What?

REBECCA GORDIUS: 40 hours for chapter one?

LARRY HYRB: Wow.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Just about. Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Well, are you being a complete-ist? Like, are you finding everything?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I've been doing-- yes, I've been doing a lot of side stuff.

LARRY HYRB: That's fine. That's fine.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: There's a few things I think I'm, like, ahead of the game with in some ways. And I was looking. And they were like, there's three acts basically to the-- big fan of howlongtobeat.com, which is built into actually the PC hub, the Xbox hub. But it's a great standalone site as well. Apparently, the game is-- most people finish it in about 60 hours that do some side stuff and whatever.

LARRY HYRB: So chapter two, chapter three, chapter four is all going to come at you rapid fire. [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Chapter two, three apparently are shorter--

LARRY HYRB: Right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --than chapter one. But it's a really great. And I just am super into it. So you could even see the bones of where the XCOM team put little things in there. Even some of the names of achievements are throwbacks to--

LARRY HYRB: They're kind of winks.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --to XCOM 1 and 2.

LARRY HYRB: Right.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So anyway, thoroughly into it-- and between that and RE4. Because I'm under the gun. Because a lot of good stuff is coming really starting next week. So I got to knuckle down. I got to stop doing all this work stuff and just basically spend time over here.

LARRY HYRB: Well, the good news is you're going to be gone next week. [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It's true. I'll be on vacation. And--

REBECCA GORDIUS: More good news.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I'm going to be traveling with-- do I-- I'll show you what I'm going to be traveling with.

LARRY HYRB: Show me.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: This is my little travel buddy.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I don't know if I can go full screen. It's hard to fit on the window here.

LARRY HYRB: Oh, I absolutely can. Ah.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Ah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: This is my Xbox Series S--

LARRY HYRB: Right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --with my--

LARRY HYRB: X Screen on top.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --beauitful X Screen.

REBECCA GORDIUS: So cool.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And all I do-- I mean, it's effectively a chonky laptop.

REBECCA GORDIUS: [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You probably shouldn't have it on your lap for too long, but I have done it. And it works just awesome for-- I just throw this into my backpack, and I'm off and running. And I'll be-- we're going on a late-summer ski trip.

LARRY HYRB: Show the back of it, because there's an interesting design on the back there.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Sure, sure.

LARRY HYRB: Have you ever seen this, Rebecca? So it's kind of--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: it's kind of-- so that snaps along the back. One of the USB ports plugs-- this is the X Screen-- plugs into the back. You can't see it. So it covers it. And that's what's feeding the power for the screen above. And then you've got enough-- that's your power port on the right and then your memory stick, memory card on the left-hand side.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Your memory expansion there, yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, the memory expansion. So do you have it in there? I can't tell.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I don't right now because when I got home-- because I was traveling for a couple of weeks. I just popped it out.

LARRY HYRB: And you put it in your console.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I threw it into my Series X that's over in that cabinet. And then I'm just going to yoink it and pop it in there. Although, knowing what's coming up next week, I'll probably have downloaded Ghostwire-- Tokyo first so I can bring that with me, too.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah. You've got a lot to do.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Nice.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Exciting stuff.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, yeah.

LARRY HYRB: You have a lot to do. So anyway, nice to see your travel companion. That is-- it's fun to have that.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I borrowed that from Larry. So thank you. Thank you, Larry.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Rebecca, you--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I've been borrowing it now for-- this is the two-month anniversary, I think, of me borrowing that from you.

LARRY HYRB: Well-- yeah. And let's be clear. When you asked me to borrow it-- I don't know if you know this, Rebecca. And you are welcome to borrow it as well if ever you are traveling.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Mm-hmm.

LARRY HYRB: Jeff-- I said, Jeff, what do you need?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: He said, I don't want to borrow this.

LARRY HYRB: I said, OK. What new games do you need? I downloaded all the games for him.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Very nice.

LARRY HYRB: I updated the system. I had it all ready for him.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Thank you.

LARRY HYRB: He just had to plug it in. In fact-- so it's just one--

REBECCA GORDIUS: That is very generous of you, yeah.

LARRY HYRB: --one the services I provide. I'd do the same thing for you, Rebecca. So. That's fine.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Hmm, I might take you up on that.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Got a whole loaner service.

LARRY HYRB: Anyway. So you've been playing that. Do you have anything else on the back there? I can't tell, but it looks like you're watching Ted Lasso with Apple TV.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I am watching Ted Lasso.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, and then also MLS.

LARRY HYRB: Right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So a big Seattle Sounders fan. You can see a thing right there. I'm a season ticket holder.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And all the games are on Apple TV this year. And so actually, what I did last Saturday during the match is I was like, well, I'm using the Xbox to watch the game. So then I pulled out the--

LARRY HYRB: Oh, no.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: During halftime. I pulled out the Series X and the X Screen.

LARRY HYRB: You side-screened? [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And I used it as a little laptop. And I was like-- [IMITATES TAPPING]. So--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Perfect.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. So I had COVID. I've been testing positive at least for, like, the last week. So my--

LARRY HYRB: Are you still positive?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: My family was like, do you still--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, no.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I'm finally not after, like, 10 days. And I felt fine the whole time, but my family was like, yeah, you stay in that room, and don't even think about coming out because we don't want it, which--

LARRY HYRB: And just to be clear--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --is fair.

LARRY HYRB: Just to be clear, that's, like, 85% of the room that you're looking (LAUGHING) at right there. It's not really large.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. Just over here, there's a little pullout couch that we're-- like, a guest would stay.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Hey, it's a well-stocked room at least.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Basically, I woke up. I came here. I worked. Then I went over here--

[LAUGHTER]

--over to the Xbox at the end of the day. And then I went over there. And I just went in a big circle for-- or a small circle for--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, that was my life in my New York apartment, though. So--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, OK.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I got a feel for that. Like, this is what it's like to have a 200-square-foot efficiency or whatever.

LARRY HYRB: Well, I'm glad you're feeling better.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Thank you.

LARRY HYRB: So are you allowed to go back to the rest of your house?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, yeah.

LARRY HYRB: OK.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: No, I'm testing negative.

LARRY HYRB: Good.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I checked. Everything's good now. I went back to the gym for the first time in a month yesterday. And I-- if this mic needs to be adjusted, my arms will not lift up to do it because--

LARRY HYRB: I see.

REBECCA GORDIUS: [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --I'm done.

LARRY HYRB: Here, a little second. OK.

REBECCA GORDIUS: And what about you, Larry? What have you been up to?

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, I-- what have I been playing? I've been playing-- [CHUCKLES]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh?

LARRY HYRB: --Cornhole Pro. [LAUGHS]

REBECCA GORDIUS: That's a game?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Go on.

LARRY HYRB: Have you ever played cornhole?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Well, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yes.

REBECCA GORDIUS: In person, but--

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, it's called ACL Pro Cornhole. And it's on Xbox. But let me see if I can bring up the-- I don't know if you can see it.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Is there a way to play the game with one hand because you have a beer in your other hand? Because I don't know how else you'd play cornhole.

LARRY HYRB: It's kind of with this stick. And it's-- I did terrible last night. So I was just playing. I saw this. And I was like, what is this? And so I downloaded it. And sure enough, it's cornhole.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Wow.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: [LAUGHS]

LARRY HYRB: But the one I've been playing quite a bit-- I've been playing Apex, Halo Infinite-- gone back into that, of course, with their new season. But the one that has really grabbed me-- and it's one of those, let me just play it for 10 minutes, or 15, or a half hour-- DREDGE. Have you heard of this game? [CHUCKLES]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: A lot of people on the team are playing this game. And it has started to be talked about in some, like, hushed whispers as a bit of a potential game of the year candidate. So tell us about it.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Wow.

LARRY HYRB: Well, it is from Team 17. They did Worms and a bunch of other games. But essentially, what it is, it's-- you have a little boat. And it's all this third-person-- you're in a boat. At least it is-- I've only played it for three hours. Maybe you get first person eventually.

But you have a little boat. And you have a series of tasks. And you have to go fishing and trawling. And you have to level up your boat-- and with different-- with a net, and with the fishing, and the lights, and the horn, and the whole thing. And you go around--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Spoken like a true seamen here, Larry.

REBECCA GORDIUS: [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You're-- it's got all the parts.

LARRY HYRB: It's got all the parts.

REBECCA GORDIUS: It's got the part that touches the water and--

LARRY HYRB: And you have to go. And there's a day/night cycle. And you have to go out to different parts of the ocean. And there's-- and discover things. And then you have to go meet somebody. And he asks you to go on some quest. So it's just-- there's a dark, murky-- no pun intended-- side to this that I'm starting to discover with the story. And it's like I went in, and I was like, oh, there's a--

I was in the evening once. And I'm blowing my-- [IMITATES FOGHORN]-- foghorn. And this-- there was a response. It's not a multiplayer game. So I was like, oh, it's the exact same horn back. So I went and found it. And this boat-- I was like, oh, let me go see what that boat is. And it basically turned into, like, this lantern fish and ate me. It was rather rough. So yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh.

LARRY HYRB: [LAUGHS] Things took a dark turn. But you simply must play it. There's a fishing mechanic of going to into the different spots and getting fish, whether it's deep water, shallow water, or what have you-- nighttime, daytime. And then there's the parts of dredging things that are under there, whether it's a shipwreck or what have you. So there's a couple of different mechanics. But Jeff, I could see this being game of the year, because it's just different enough and it keeps pulling me back in. So I need you to go check DREDGE out.

REBECCA GORDIUS: OK.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Wow.

LARRY HYRB: So. I have it downloaded.

REBECCA GORDIUS: As a kid, my dad dragged me to go fishing so much when I was growing up. And then it's kind of funny that, as an adult, I've been fishing in Disney Dreamlight Valley. What's the-- shoot, gosh. Animal Crossing--

LARRY HYRB: Right.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I fished a lot in Animal Crossing and then now DREDGE.

LARRY HYRB: Well, there's a lot of--

REBECCA GORDIUS: But who would have thought-- fishing in video games.

LARRY HYRB: There's a lot of things that happen when you're younger that kind of stay with you. So I mean, my dad also-- he was a fly fisherman. So that was something that-- I mean, you don't fly fish in this-- maybe you do. I don't know.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: How do you catch a fly? I don't-- how does that work?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Are you being serious?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Please move on. No, I'm not being--

REBECCA GORDIUS: OK. [LAUGHS]

LARRY HYRB: I'm just letting it--

REBECCA GORDIUS: I just wanted that look from Larry.

LARRY HYRB: You took the bait, Rebecca. I'm disappointed. [LAUGHS]

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, my god. I should have known. Dang.

LARRY HYRB: Anyway, so DREDGE is-- and to your point, Jeff, there's a lot of people playing it. It's kind of-- I don't know where it's going. I'm just having a blast with it right now. So it's available right now. It looks-- and again, it's not one of these games that is, oh, it's 4K, 120 frames a second. It's just cartoony, stylized, but it's got something.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, it's $29.99.

LARRY HYRB: Yep. It's budget priced.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. And it's optimized for Series X and S. But it's also playable on Xbox One. And so there you go. So I'm going to have to try that out. I'm going to download that and bring it on my trip.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah. It looks like has probably a good story too, right?

LARRY HYRB: Well, yeah. It's starting to--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Just a mystery.

LARRY HYRB: There's some characters in it. And you have to do certain things. And there's-- right, there's mystery. And I'm upgrading. Now I'm trying to upgrade my-- I need to get a net now so I can go real real trawling. But anyway, that's the one that for some reason is--

Jeff, you're a very interesting gamer in terms of-- and Rebecca, I'd love to hear from you on this as well. Jeff is going deep on a whole series of games. I kind of spend-- I do the same thing but just with one game. I just focus my time because I'm not held up--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Which is smart because-- trying and not finishing games.

LARRY HYRB: I'm not held up in a 200-square-foot room under duress right now-- or you're not either.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I-- yeah. Maybe that's the depth level. It's like, Jeff goes really deep, Larry is kind of medium, and then I get bored with games after, like--

[CHUCKLING]

LARRY HYRB: Next, next.

REBECCA GORDIUS: --a really short time sometimes. Yeah, and I move on. Thank you Game Pass--

LARRY HYRB: Yeah. [LAUGHS]

REBECCA GORDIUS: --for making it possible to try a lot of different things.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: But there was actually something that you had mentioned-- again, I was listening to the show with Joe and Malik a couple of weeks back when Rebecca and I were at GDC.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

REBECCA GORDIUS: And you were talking about gaming on a treadmill. And can you do that? And the answer is you absolutely can.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I just can't do it with a game where you control the camera as well, because then my--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --real-life balance falls also.

LARRY HYRB: Too much is moving.

[LAUGHTER]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. I can't-- like, I couldn't play RE4 that way, where-- a lot of quick turns. But a game like Midnight Suns? No problem at all. So DREDGE might be one of those ones that--

LARRY HYRB: You may-- you can swing the camera around in DREDGE. It's not fixed. So maybe there's a way you can fix it. I don't know.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Maybe not. OK. It's good for JRPGs and sort of top-down games, strategy games.

REBECCA GORDIUS: A whole new category of games that are well played on a treadmill.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: We should put that-- we should make it a category on the dash-- like, great for the treadmill.

LARRY HYRB: Great for the treadmill.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: So anyway, that's what's really grabbing me right now.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Cornhole is great for that.

LARRY HYRB: It's cornhole. I'm telling you, you should try it. I don't know if there are--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Cornhole '96.

LARRY HYRB: There may be multiplayer, Jeff. I'll have to check. Rebecca, I don't know if you ever want to play some cornhole.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Ooh.

LARRY HYRB: We could--

REBECCA GORDIUS: That sounds fun.

LARRY HYRB: [LAUGHS] I'll let you look it-- I can't even believe I started playing it. It was-- anyway. The one that I do need to play-- and we're going to have an interview, if all goes well, later on-- MLB The Show 23. It's-- or is it MLB 23 The Show. We're going to have-- I'm going to play a little bit of that. So Jeff, what are you looking up?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I'm looking up ACL Pro Cornhole. It just came out last week.

[LAUGHTER]

It has real pro players. It's funny. It's like-- it looks a really nice set. I'm used to playing cornhole at a brewery or in someone's backyard. And there's uniforms and stuff like that.

LARRY HYRB: No, there's lighting. And it's-- everything's all marked off. It's legit.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yep. You can use personalities-- Trey Ryder and Bernie Nabors.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, Trey is not happy with me. I failed him last night hard.

[LAUGHTER]

I'm just telling you right now, Trey. I'm sorry.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: All right. I'm piqued. My interest is piqued here.

LARRY HYRB: [LAUGHS] Anyway, so that's my--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Wow.

LARRY HYRB: Rebecca, you've had a chance to play something. Let's talk about what you're playing, but I know one of the things you want to talk about is Minecraft Legends.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah. So spoiler alert, I've been playing Minecraft Legends, as has Jeff. So that's where I've been the last couple of weeks. Minecraft Legends is coming out really soon-- Tuesday, April 18.

LARRY HYRB: It's almost here.

REBECCA GORDIUS: And-- I know. And so for the first time since before the pandemic, we took this game on the road. And we held different demo events. And we invited press and influencers to come and play the game and capture the gameplay footage. And I think we're starting to see some of that pop up this week.

But I-- the demo experience was really cool because we invited people to play an hour of the campaign and kind of get the feel for how the mechanics work. It's not like Minecraft, where you're just thrown into it and you just-- all you can do is start punching trees right away. There are a lot of different kind of resources, and different actions, and things that you need to learn with Legends. And so we did an hour of campaign for everyone who came. And then we put them into PVP matches against the people who were in the room.

LARRY HYRB: Fun.

REBECCA GORDIUS: So we got some friendly competition going, which was awesome. And yeah, it was my first time actually playing the game. And I have to say, I really loved it. I-- [LAUGHS] after the one hour of campaign, I had a hard time setting the controller down. But we had to move on to the PVP section. So, you know. But yeah. Jeff, what did you think of it?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I was really into it. It was one of those things where I wasn't exactly sure what the genre of the game is. And until-- because it was like, OK, there's strategy elements. There's, like, third-person adventure elements. Normally, you're used to playing Minecraft in first person-- well, depending. I guess it depends on how you like to play.

And so I like how it started off with the tutorial. And for the first 20 minutes, I'm like, how do I do this? And it's really-- you are in the battle. And I guess if you're thinking about it as-- like you're the quarterback in a way. Like, you're on the field. You're actively playing, but you're also calling the shots.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, a quarterback is a good way to put.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And so it's really cool. Like, you have-- does that work? There's like a--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Well, it works for here in the United States. What about the rest of the country? [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It works for here.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I guess you would be the number 10 in soccer or something like that.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Team captain?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, sure.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah. [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So things can happen in and around you. But things can happen elsewhere. And you can direct people and-- or direct your partner golems and-- now, the thing about-- because I do like RTSs. I generally like to play the campaign. I generally haven't liked to play multiplayer. But when we played Minecraft Legends at this event, I had so much fun in multiplayer-- more than I expected to have. Because it was really interesting. We each found a role that worked out well.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Mm-hmm.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And one person wanted to just build the base and make these really complex, like, walls so that, if someone did get into our base, they would actually get kind of hung up trying to get where they were going. And one person wanted to go out there and get into scrums. I wanted to explore and find unique, like, mining and other sort of assets that we needed for the person back at base to be-- because it's shared resources.

So that person was calling out to me like, hey, we need more coal so I can build-- whatever it is that they wanted to build. And so I was going out, finding the coal, and setting up the harvesting operation there, and then occasionally finding treasure or other things like that. And then at the end, once we built up to make this really awesome cannon that would shoot-- and we found an overlook--

REBECCA GORDIUS: The redstone launcher, probably.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: The redstone launcher--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --that overlooked the other team's base. Once we had built up enough, we were basically holding off the other team as best we can while we were basically saving up for this because-- and then once we got that, we all agreed we're all just going to defend that thing and let it do its thing. And we ended up winning. And it was really fun. So I could imagine if we had played a second and a third match, they would have seen that strategy coming and would have maybe--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --done something else. And we would have had to pivot. But the fact that we were able to have a role that we were comfortable with was great, because I've found multiplayer with RTS-- sometimes I'm a little overwhelmed. Oh, there's something happening back at the base. There's something here or there. And I'm just sort of like-- I can't multitask well enough. That's not what this game was at all. And I was in my comfort zone the whole time. And I really liked it.

REBECCA GORDIUS: In the campaign, you do have to assume all of those roles, right?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Right.

REBECCA GORDIUS: But yeah, you're right. In the PVP, it was great. Because I don't personally care for building things. I wanted to just go, and attack, and collect resources. And so my team and I kind of--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Blood lust.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, we kind of huddled at the beginning and figured out, like, who was going to do what. It was a little bit tough because like the other team was in the room. And so we were shouting like--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Right right. Psst, psst.

REBECCA GORDIUS: --hey, we need more redstone. And they were like, why do you mean redstone?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, right.

[LAUGHTER]

REBECCA GORDIUS: We're like, no, it's not a redstone launcher. It's fine. But yeah, the campaign was really cool. I think I am going to have a lot of fun with that on my own playing. But you can also do campaign co-op. So Jeff, if you want to hit me up, we can do some co-op.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That's the plan.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah. Larry, too. Sorry.

[CHUCKLING]

LARRY HYRB: I just want to--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, and--

LARRY HYRB: Go ahead, Rebecca, because I want to show the photos that you sent over so we can include those.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, yes. Please do. Yeah. But PVP-- you can do, I think, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4. And then there's also that element of the piglin PvE, because the piglins are also in the world. And they're also attacking you while you're also trying to attack this other team and this other base. And so there's kind of this constant threat going on. And sometimes the piglins are a little annoying. It's like, ugh, they're attacking the south wall again. [LAUGHS] But--

LARRY HYRB: Right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: But you could harvest them. And there were certain materials that they would drop that actually you really needed.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Totally. Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So if you-- there was a good balance of things going on there that-- I don't know. It really clicked with us very quickly, our team, the red team. We--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It was good.

REBECCA GORDIUS: The red team, the best team. I get it.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Or orange team, I guess.

LARRY HYRB: The red team.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: But yeah, I want to just show--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, do you want to show the--

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, you did this event-- and we-- back in live events. And this is-- who do we have here?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah. So that's me on the far right there.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

REBECCA GORDIUS: So going left from me, we have [INAUDIBLE] Lamon, who is the marketing manager for the game. And he's--

LARRY HYRB: We've had him on the show.

REBECCA GORDIUS: He's across-- yeah, he's awesome. I've worked with [INAUDIBLE] for a long time-- Minecraft Dungeons, a bunch of other projects. Then in the middle we have Dennis Reese, who's our executive producer. And he's kind of like the head honcho driving development, and making the decisions, and making everything happen.

We have Craig Lee, who's our principal design director. And he was so much fun. I had a great time getting to know him. And he just brings this, like, fun energy to the preview events. And he interacted really well with the attendees. And then on the far left we have David Fries, who is a release manager at Mojang Studios. And I don't think he works too much on Legends, but he is a great resource and super knowledgeable with tech stuff. And it was just awesome to get to hang out with them for a couple of weeks straight and travel.

And we had all these kind of mishaps that happened, like we-- our flight to San Francisco got canceled. And so then we all ended up meeting to find a hotel room and chit chat about all the different gaming events that we've done in the past and funny things that people have said about us when we've appeared on live streams, and podcasts, and stuff. We kind of swapped, like, horror stories of some mean comments we've seen on the internet but also just really happy, good memories, too, of staffing events and seeing the energy from attendees. And yeah. So the other photos were just of the event spaces. So this one was in--

LARRY HYRB: Is that Lamar? Jeff, is that Lamar in that picture over to the left? This one there.

REBECCA GORDIUS: That is Lamar, Lamar Wilson.

[CHUCKLING]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Hello, Lamar.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Friend of--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Friend of all of us, actually.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, this is one of the events you did that-- these are press and influencer events. It's not like we had a public event. I just want to make sure everybody understands what's going on here.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Totally. Yeah, these were invite-only. It's like, we're going to get ready to send out codes for the game and let people play it at home. And so we wanted to have that introduction, and give them pointers direct from the development team, give them the opportunity to ask questions, and kind of get them ready to evangelize the game for us and share with their communities their perspective, and their tips, and things like that. And then this is in the San Francisco space-- another press and influencer event. I'm going to miss that loft. I think [INAUDIBLE], right?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You see Snow Bike Mike in there.

LARRY HYRB: Where is he?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Host of the Xcast. He's sort of in the middle of the screen there in the picture.

LARRY HYRB: Oh, there he is. There he is. Yeah.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Anyway, if you're watching this on Spotify or YouTube, you can see the video there. But let's get back to our lovely faces, and we'll continue on here. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. It sounds like fun. Well, maybe-- we're going to talk about next week's show after the interviews, but maybe we can play a little bit of that next week if we have time.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Maybe.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I would love that.

LARRY HYRB: Maybe. You're not going to be here, pal.

[LAUGHTER]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, but the internet is everywhere. Even in Canada they have it.

LARRY HYRB: Oh, you're-- anyway, we're going to kind of drift into the news section right now, which-- Jeff, usually you handle that. And I don't know if you are up to the task this time.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Pssh. Pssh. Come on, man.

LARRY HYRB: You're going to move three inches over to the news desk, and you're--

REBECCA GORDIUS: How is he supposed to say no?

LARRY HYRB: And you're--

[LAUGHTER]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, I know. Yeah. Just coming over the wire here. So this week, we announced four games coming to Xbox Game Pass, as we tend to do. Minecraft Legends is, of course, one of them. You'll be able to play that on Cloud, console, and PC April 18-- of course, available day one with Xbox Game Pass. This week, you're able to play Iron Brigade. Do you remember this one?

LARRY HYRB: Oh, I do.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: A tower defense shooter from Double Fine.

LARRY HYRB: I do.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That's coming to Cloud and console. And that's available now. Next week, we announced this--

LARRY HYRB: I think it was called something else before they changed the name. And this is a deep cut. I'll have to think about that.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: [GASPS] Well, let us know what you come back with. Ghostwire-- Tokyo, this one coming from-- wow. OK. I know. I can see you have the gloves on, Larry.

LARRY HYRB: (LAUGHING) OK.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Ghostwire-- Tokyo is--

REBECCA GORDIUS: I love it.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --coming out on April 12. We announced this one. From the makers of Hi-FI Rush-- very different game, but very much looking forward to it. And it has a new update as well.

LARRY HYRB: If you're thinking, like, wait a minute, that sounds familiar-- because it's been on PlayStation, right?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It came out on PS5 last year.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Last year.

LARRY HYRB: Yep.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, exactly.

LARRY HYRB: So it's for those people that were thinking, I think that sounds familiar, why do I know that? That's why.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Exactly.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So it has some new content. So even if you had played it before-- and it was out on PC. It was out on Steam as well. So it's coming now to Cloud, next-gen consoles-- Xbox Series X and S-- and also PC through PC Game Pass. So many more folks will have the opportunity to play it starting next week. On console, NHL 23 is now part of EA Play. So just in time, as we're getting close to the playoffs here, for NHL. And also, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is in its early access trial.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And that is available now.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Hmm.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: The-- what?

LARRY HYRB: No, you just-- you got this really-- you planted it well, as we say in the business.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Ah. Let's just soak that in-- a lot to play, a lot to play.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Work on that backlog. All right. Now, Larry, you've got your gloves.

LARRY HYRB: I do.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So why don't you go ahead and go to what you've got here?

LARRY HYRB: You sure? OK. Go ahead, and read it, and I'll review--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, I'm sure. Well, point it, we'll come back to me. But let's break it up here.

LARRY HYRB: All right. Here we go. Go ahead and read the-- because here we go. This is what we got. Look at this.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: This is where you put in some record scratches, because this is the remix.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: The Xbox Wireless Controller-- Remix Special Edition. Now, this one's a little bit different. Why do we call it the "remix?" Because it is partially made from post-consumer resin-- so like reclaimed CDs, water jugs, parts of other controllers. And so this is to celebrate Earth Day this year. We've created a controller that features--

LARRY HYRB: Which is coming up later this month.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --recovered plastics.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I love it.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: One third of it are made from reclaimed materials and regrind. So because it is made--

REBECCA GORDIUS: So that's where my recycling has been going--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: With post-consumer materials--

LARRY HYRB: Right here.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Exactly, exactly. So this is why you sort your plastics.

REBECCA GORDIUS: [LAUGHING]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: If you look at the grips, there's some subtle variations-- swirling, markings, texturing.

REBECCA GORDIUS: There we go-- in focus

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Each one of these controllers is actually going to look different than other ones.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So if you put two next to each other-- because--

REBECCA GORDIUS: That is so cool.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yep. So it's a subtle variation. They're all going to be green and-- various shades of green. But there are some just subtle variations that you'll see throughout, actually, the controller as well.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I love the grip.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yep. I do as well.

LARRY HYRB: There's a--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So--

LARRY HYRB: Go ahead. Go ahead, Jeff. Keep going because there's a lot--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, so something that's also different about this.

LARRY HYRB: There's another interesting thing about this.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Exactly. We also are including an Xbox rechargeable battery pack. Xbox is exploring ways to use less plastic and reduced waste.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, that's great.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: This has what you might know as the Play and Charge Kit. I'm a big fan of those. And so you can just put that in instead of AA batteries.

LARRY HYRB: Yep. You're good to go.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And it will give you a significant amount of battery life-- up to 30 hours of battery life per charge. And you can charge it up by plugging in a USB-C. And so you can play it while it's charging. It'll take about four hours to get up to a full charge, and then you got another 30 hours in.

LARRY HYRB: That's why they call it the Play and Charge Kit.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Exactly. So it's a little out of focus there, but it works.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And of course, like all Xbox Series X and S controllers, it's got both Bluetooth technology-- so you can play on PC as well as the Xbox proprietary--

LARRY HYRB: Ooh. Hey, by the way, I just noticed--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --wireless-- yes?

LARRY HYRB: That custom-- that design we saw on the grips-- that actually also exists on the--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: On, like, the battery cover there?

LARRY HYRB: No, on the grips. I mean, it has it on the grips.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh.

LARRY HYRB: But it also has it on the triggers.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, nice.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, on the triggers.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, I see it.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, see the--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, that's cool.

LARRY HYRB: The bumpers-- and on the triggers, you have some of that as well. So.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh.

LARRY HYRB: Nice--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So they rejected my original headline, which is, this controller is trash. Because-- you get it.

REBECCA GORDIUS: [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: They're made with recycled materials.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I like that.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Provocative. It's actually a really nice controller. It is--

LARRY HYRB: They properly rejected your idea. [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, this is why I'm not in-- [CHUCKLES] don't listen to me.

REBECCA GORDIUS: I guess we didn't want to see the headlines, Xbox released a trash controller. [LAUGHS]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I-- but in, like, a good way. Anyway. So because this does include that wireless battery kit, this is going to be an MSRP of $84.99-- will be released April 18. And so check your local retailer for product availability in your region.

LARRY HYRB: All right.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Very cool.

LARRY HYRB: There we go. I got to tell you guys. I mean, I've always got the white gloves out. And a lot of it is for controllers. I have so many controllers in this office. I mean, I just should-- you can see many of them back here. Those are the Elites we talked about last week.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: We can't because you're not full-screened.

LARRY HYRB: We should just completely-- you can see some of them back here.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: There they are.

REBECCA GORDIUS: [LAUGHS] Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: I should just take this TV away and just put in a wall of controllers. It's just-- It's--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You should do that. They're suitable for framing.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, they're beautiful.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Because I have a few on my wall as well.

LARRY HYRB: All of them are just-- they're beautiful little Fabergé eggs unto themselves. So moving right along, what else you got, Jeff?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, just a few other bits here. Some updates to some big games-- one is No Man's Sky. The Interceptor update is the largest new update in recent memory. Yeah, I think you have to say that, because No Man's Sky has been around for quite some time at this point. But this is a really big update.

LARRY HYRB: Is it, like, five years?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, it's more than that.

LARRY HYRB: The reason I remember is because, when we started doing Inside Xbox-- the first episodes, when we would do them in studio-- or this weekend. Remember the show we used to do and--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: All right. So it has been five years.

LARRY HYRB: OK.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I mean, the game had been out on PC. And I want to say it was out on PS4 even more than that.

LARRY HYRB: On PlayStation, right?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So it's coming up on five years--

LARRY HYRB: OK. Say I'm right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --on Xbox. So yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty good. So-- but anyway, significant new update here. People were talking a lot about it. We've got a whole story here on Xbox Wire from Sean Murray, who you--

LARRY HYRB: Ah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --may know from Hello Games.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Of course.

LARRY HYRB: Of course.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. Overwatch 2 definitely been showing us support fans some love. First, we had Kiriko, who appeared I want to say, what, late last year or earlier this year. Now Lifeweaver has been introduced. Lifeweaver has some really interesting, I would say, game-changing abilities in terms of being able to grab members of your team and pull them out of danger-- very interesting stuff.

He will arrive as part of Season 4 on April 11-- yeah, so next week. And I think that a good Lifeweaver could be a significant boon to your team. Just looking at comments on Instagram, people were like, all right, maybe I finally put Moira down for a change. So we will see. But you will be able to--

LARRY HYRB: I'm still doing the [INAUDIBLE] meta.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, yeah. I mean, that's good.

LARRY HYRB: With Pharah and Mercy.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That's good for Pharah. It's bad for the rest of your team.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, I know.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: But whatever works for you.

LARRY HYRB: I even it out. I even it out. Don't worry. Don't worry.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: OK. OK. And then--

REBECCA GORDIUS: I haven't--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, go on.

REBECCA GORDIUS: So I haven't really played much of Overwatch, but I really enjoy all the different cinematics that they do for the characters-- like, the intros. They're really good. I just sat and watched them--

LARRY HYRB: Historically--

REBECCA GORDIUS: --like, a couple of months ago.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: I mean, Blizzard does those very, very well.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Right? They do them so well.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah. And they've really carved out the lore for Overwatch significantly over the past-- six years?

LARRY HYRB: Six or seven years, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Seven years?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It's been, yeah, going on for some time. So. Another game that-- an indie game that folks have been talking about is Meet Your Maker. This is an FPS game where you're both shooting but also using-- you're also crafting, and raiding, and building as well.

So this is just something that I had noticed people talking about. And there's a whole content roadmap. They're already thinking about these things. It definitely seems really buttoned up in that way. So I want to try this out. So Meet Your Maker-- build, raid, and upgrade. And that is available.

LARRY HYRB: All right.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And then we also had-- a member of our team from Xbox Wire, Mike Nelson, got to play Star Wars Jedi-- Survivor at an event that took place last week in LA. This is going to be a good game. We're all looking-- it--

LARRY HYRB: [INAUDIBLE].

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: All of the signs are really shaping up. And what I appreciate about this is that the dev team is really talking about, here are the things that people really didn't like-- now, we liked Star Wars Jedi-- Fallen Order a lot. But there were things like the map, for instance, that were a little bit tricky. And there was things like fast travel, which I think didn't exist in the game.

REBECCA GORDIUS: That was a pain.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That people-- well, they heard all of this, and they're taking it to heart. And it just really seems like it's going to be not just improving the things that are-- that we were complaining about, but really providing a heck of a lot more. So I'm pretty excited about it.

LARRY HYRB: Yes.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It's coming out April 28. We have a lot of games to play. We got to catch up on this backlog because--

LARRY HYRB: You have to.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --next week we'll be playing Jedi-- Survivor. We got to play DREDGE. We'll have to play Minecraft Legends, which is coming out in another week. And then we have a week after that-- or 10 days after that will be Jedi-- Survivor. [INAUDIBLE].

LARRY HYRB: And then Redfall.

[LAUGHTER]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And the Redfall May 2.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And then Zelda's in may.

LARRY HYRB: Oye. Oye, oye, oye.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I mean, there's a lot of stuff. So.

LARRY HYRB: Here we are.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Exciting things. And then one last thing, in case you didn't have enough to play, Free Play Days-- I just got this in. PGA TOUR 2K 2023, Black Desert, Bravery and Greed, and The Elder Scrolls Online are all available for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to play from the time you hear this all the way until Sunday night-- that is April 9-- at 11:59 Pacific Daylight Time. Enjoy.

LARRY HYRB: Did you cover everything in the notes as well? I'm trying to pull up the notes in front of me here. Because I know there was some things in--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I didn't even-- oh, well, yeah.

LARRY HYRB: [CHUCKLES]

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Actually, there's a big spring sale going on until--

LARRY HYRB: (LAUGHING) Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --until 4/20. No jokes.

REBECCA GORDIUS: That's a lot.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Save up to 60% on select Xbox digital games, PC games. There are Xbox Series X bundles. There are savings on Xbox controllers. 50% on select movies and TV shows. There's a lot of stuff going on there. And then there's a game called-- an expansion for Age of Empires II-- Definitive Edition. That's coming out on May 16. That was announced. This is breaking news-- Return of Rome. It is unlike previous DLCs. And so now we're up to 16 original civs, many other surprises. So there's a lot going on here. I will have to try that out.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, we'll have to get somebody on to talk about Age of Empires-- Rome.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: They're basically bringing Age I into Age II.

LARRY HYRB: Right,

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So it's-- all 16 original civs from Age I will be coming into Age II. So that's--

LARRY HYRB: There's a lot.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That's actually pretty unprecedented. Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: There's a lot.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So very cool.

LARRY HYRB: All right. We've got to get to some interviews. And then we'll come back on the other way and tell you about next week's show. Rebecca, if you would so kindly bring us into those interviews, I would appreciate it.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yes, for sure. So first up, Kelly returned to the show and chatted with Chris Linn, who is the lead producer at PUBG Madison. And he came on to chat about PUBG's five-year anniversary. I can't believe-- has it really been five years? And then Malik this week came on to chat with Ramone Russell about MLB The Show 23-- can confirm it's MLB The Show 23, MLB 23 The Show-- which is now on Xbox Game Pass. So let's listen in.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Hi, guys. I hope you've been enjoying the pod so far. I'm really excited today to be joined by-- we have Chris Linn here, a member of the production team over at PUBG. So excited to talk with you today. How are you doing today, Chris?

CHRIS LINN: I'm doing awesome. I'm really excited to be here. Thank you.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah. So you're here to celebrate the six-year journey of PUBG. That feels like it was just yesterday when PUBG launched, but also a lifetime of things have happened. Can you give us a few of your highlights of some of your favorite moments of the past six years?

CHRIS LINN: Yeah. There have been a ton of highlights. I myself haven't been with this team for all six years but remember plenty of the game fondly, plenty of the really large Steam concurrent users, and all these types of things. But yeah, 2017 is when it initially dropped. I've had the pleasure of being with the team for a couple of years now. And through the awards, the concurrence, all this type of stuff, it just been crazy, crazy.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah. And you've been able to try some new things with the game, and with your business model, and a lot of different things. So I believe it was January 2022 that you guys went free-to-play. . Can you tell me what impact that had on your business model, and how that might have changed the player ecosystem, and that kind of thing?

CHRIS LINN: Yeah, it changed a ton. It was just a really, really great planning and idea to just bring Battlegrounds to everybody. Battlegrounds for all has always been something that's been mentioned. And free-to-play just offers up so much-- so many more users, so many more opportunities-- different feedback loops, different folks from different regions, content creation. It just brings in so much more and just breathes life back into the game, even for players that have been there for all six years. They get to interact with a ton of new people and maybe even friends they didn't have-- had the title yet. Free-to-play just opens all these doors. Really, Battlegrounds for all.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah. Do you feel like the new players and the old players kind of mixing together and creating new strategies has led to anything fun? It's always interesting when you're exploring a game you think you know everyhing about and you're always learning new things. So do you want to talk about that a little bit?

CHRIS LINN: Yeah. Specifically, in the interactions with the game-- you're fighting. And you're having these gunfights. And you're like, man, this person's doing something I'm not so used to or not so meta. And then that kill card happens.

And you're like, oh, yeah, level 15, level 22. Or even that introduces to the high-high-level players-- like, wow, there's this new stuff going on, these new types of players. I think, for me, just the aggression really went up. All these new players coming in-- it just felt like matches just got that much more aggressive. [CHUCKLES]

KELLY LOMBARDI: [LAUGHS] They're sweaty, and they have something to prove.

CHRIS LINN: Yes.

KELLY LOMBARDI: And it's always interesting to see the game through a player's eyes, where it's like, oh, I'm going to approach it aggressively rather than, like, strategically. And it does change a lot. So--

CHRIS LINN: Totally, totally.

KELLY LOMBARDI: It's really cool to see the amount of players that are able to get in and teach each other new things.

CHRIS LINN: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

KELLY LOMBARDI: OK. So I am not allowed to ask you about any, like, major secrets. But I do have to ask if there is anything coming up for players in PUBG that we should know about?

CHRIS LINN: Yeah. I mean, across the entire game, we're taking a look at things that can be improved, things that can be added upon via gunplay, maps, tactical equipment. I mean, we're really looking in-game, out-game. We're looking at all facets and trying to improve upon what we've already been doing.

A large part of that is looking at player feedback, looking at things that we think we could improve based on that. And it takes time. But I can confidently say, with the sixth anniversary and this 2023 outlook and road map, that we're really looking top to bottom.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah. Is there an area or a particular update that you are personally really excited for?

CHRIS LINN: Yeah, yeah. Without being too specific, but I've always been a maps person. And the tactical equipment is very, very close to my heart. But maps-- we've taken a lot of what we learned on Deston, our most recent map, and some of the things we wanted to try there with density and just buildings in general. And I can say that there's some stuff in play that we're really, really excited about for maps.

KELLY LOMBARDI: That's really cool. Map changes are always a really great shake up. So excited to see the future for you guys. I do have one last question, but I wanted to ask first if there was anything else in the past six years that you wanted to touch on-- anecdotal story, anything to kind of celebrate and highlight that six-year journey the game has been on?

CHRIS LINN: Ooh, that's a great question.

KELLY LOMBARDI: [LAUGHS]

CHRIS LINN: I always tend to just lean back towards the community and towards the creators and things that support the title. I can't reply to everything but love to just watch videos and streamers and just see what folks are doing in ranked play or map rotations. But it's really, really driven by the players.

We can look at it as much as we want to, the improvements we want to look at. But over six years, it's just how many players have had impacts on this game, on this title. I know it's kind of corny to say that, but that's what I think of, is our players and the people that really support the game.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah. That's awesome. I love to hear that. OK. So my last question was around the April Fools event, that I believe is an annual thing. And it's still up until April 10. And I've heard something about giant chickens. Can you tell me what that mode is and how people can kind of enjoy it?

CHRIS LINN: Yeah. So this year, it's kind of a mix a lot of things that we've enjoyed and the fans have enjoyed-- Bizarre Battle Royale is back. Giant Chicken is back. There's a bunch of zombies. There's a bunch of stuff going on. You can purchase yourself some upgrades and just play. It's still last team standing. It's still-- you can play with your friends and things like that.

But it truly is kind of a sixth anniversary thing, because it is some of the crazy stuff we've done over time and some of the stuff that has gotten pretty good feedback recently, with the Bizarre stuff. So yeah, that's up for-- I think until April 10. So please, go try it. It's a lot of fun-- free-to-play.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah. We won't give too much away. You'll have to just go explore the giant chickens and zombies for yourself and figure out what that means.

CHRIS LINN: What it means to you. [CHUCKLES]

KELLY LOMBARDI: Well, Chris, thank you much for your time today. Yeah. [LAUGHS] We really appreciate your time, and we're lucky to have you on the pod. And yeah, thank you so much.

CHRIS LINN: Thanks. Hope to be here soon, again. And I really appreciate it.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yeah.

MALIK PRINCE: "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" is what you're going to be singing when you play this next game-- or maybe you're already singing it, because it came out on March 28. Of course, I'm talking about MLB The Show 23, which is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and, of course, day one on Xbox Game Pass. Here to talk more about it is-- and I got to get this title right-- product development, communications, and brand strategist from Sony, Ramone Russell. Ramone, how's it going?

RAMONE RUSSELL: It's going great. It's a good night to talk to you, Malik. How are you doing?

MALIK PRINCE: I'm doing well, especially since playing MLB The Show 23. I started it last night. I'm a little bit late to the pitch. I don't know. I was trying to make a really weird baseball pun there, but--

RAMONE RUSSELL: [LAUGHS]

MALIK PRINCE: I wanted to-- so I'm really enjoying the game so far. I wanted to start a little bit, though, with that title-- I know I stumbled on it a little bit at the beginning-- because it's such an impressive title. What does a product development, communications, and brand strategist do?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Oh, I'm still trying to figure that out myself.

[LAUHGTER]

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.

RAMONE RUSSELL: Everybody here on the team-- we all wear many, many hats. Not one individual does one singular thing. Like, we all have a lot of responsibilities. So it was just the closest title we could come up with that kind of encapsulates some of my contributions to the team. But it's a team effort here.

MALIK PRINCE: Team effort-- love that. That segues well into a team game, that being MLB The Show 23-- which this is the third year that it's been on Xbox. And the fan reaction online has been-- it's been really impressive. From the team's perspective and maybe yours a little bit, what's it been like being able to bring this game to Xbox players?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Oh, we have the same goal as Major League Baseball. We want to bring a premium officially-licensed baseball game to as many people as we possibly can. And the only way we could do that was by being on all of the major platforms.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. And I think that it's all about, as you mentioned, bringing the game to as many players as possible. Now, when I jumped into the game, immediately one of the first things that you notice is kind of the overwhelming number of options there are in this game, because there are so many new features. Can you tell us a little bit about what players who are jumping into the game can expect that's new this year?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Right. So we have a multitude of game modes. We have Exhibition, which is in every single sports mode, right? You just go in. You want to play as your favorite team because you got a little bit of time. But if you have a little bit more time and you want to try to build the next powerhouse, we have Franchise Mode. We also have a mode where you create your own character and try to get him to the Hall of Fame, which is called Road to the Show.

We have this amazing online card-collecting mode called Diamond Dynasty, where you get to play as everyone, and you get to build these crazy Frankenstein teams just by playing the game and unlocking more content. And we have a brand new game mode this year called Storylines. It's a new game experience celebrating the rich history of the Negro leagues.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. And I wanted to jump into that a little bit. Because in preparation for this, I was like, let me jump in and play this. And I was like, man, I don't really know much about the Negro leagues. So am I the right person to do this? And then it clicked for me. It was like, that's exactly why this needed to be done-- to tell the history of the Negro League.

So can you tell us a little bit? And then I would just want to quickly give my reaction because it was so amazing, the work you did, and kind of the detail that you went through. So it opens with Bob Kendrick, who is kind of the president of the Negro Leagues Museum. And just the music, the b-roll on top of his very powerful words was so striking. It just hit such an amazing tone. And then I jumped into the story of Satchel Paige. Can you tell us a little bit about why it was so important for the team to tackle this work?

MALIK PRINCE: Well, the Negro leagues is a very important part of not only baseball history but also Black and American history. And you can't tell the story about baseball without talking about the Negro leagues. Unfortunately, Major League Baseball had a nearly six decade-long ban on black and brown players in Major League Baseball.

And one day, Rube Foster, the father of Black baseball, said, OK, you won't let me play with you? I will create a league of my own. And he and some other independent owners-- they created the Negro National League. And it was a super successful baseball League for almost 40 years.

And that story really hasn't been told. And that's why we knew we needed to create something special and different to specifically be able to tell those stories. Because as you mentioned, myself included, a lot of people don't know what the Negro leagues are. And they don't know about the players and/or how good they are.

So if we were to have just thrown a Satchel Paige and a Hank Thompson into the game, a very vast part of our fan base wouldn't who the hell they are. And that feels cheap. That feels a little-- that feels real icky. And so what we needed to do was create an interactive way to be able to do something very difficult in video games, which is to educate, to enlighten, and to inspire. And we believe we've done that with the creation of this new game mode called Storylines.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. I mean, when I jumped into it specifically with the Satchel Paige-- it was the first one that I jumped into. It was really interesting how Bob Kendrick told really interesting stories, like him not knowing when he was born or nobody knowing the exact year he was born-- and also him jumping in as, like, one of the oldest players for their rookie year. And it's these small things that add to when you jump into the game.

And I think the first challenge is, like, throwing four strikeouts in a game. And it's just like that added bonus of that backdrop really makes it so that, when you jump into the game, it means a lot more. And then the small details that you all did, like obviously the crowd wearing attire that you saw back in the day-- and so it just immersed me. Was it a little bit difficult for the team to kind of jump into something knowing the amount of work that would need to go into this?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Oh, absolutely. This was by far the biggest project the San Diego Studio MLB team has taken on. I had no inclination or thought that we would be able to launch it MLB The Show 23. I was thinking "24" would make more sense because there were just so much work that needed to be done. And when we first reached out to Bob, we didn't have a feature.

We've been talking to Bob now since 2020. And when we first talked to him, there was no feature. We had no idea how to do this. We were just trying to figure out how do we start to build up a foundation and a knowledge base so that we can ask the right questions and have the right people in the room to answer those questions.

And after our first conversation with Bob, it became readily apparent that Bob and the museum not only have to be involved in this project, but the entire project is really Bob and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. How do we use his story and his knowledge as a Negro leagues baseball historian to put that into the game in an interactive way that makes sense for a participatory medium?

Because you know that's what makes video games so special. You have the controller in your hand. You have agency. But at the same time, because the Negro leagues is such a touchy subject, how do we immerse you in the Negro leagues in the right way for an E-for-all video game when you're going to have the controller in your hand? And so we decided very early on that we would tell the bulk, the vast majority of the storytelling before you actually go in-game.

And that's why we created these super cool micro documentaries that you will see before every moment. That's why they're really short. That's why we added in all of this amazing artwork. That's why you see the archival footage and the motion graphics. Because we knew, as a gamer, we have to keep your attention span because you're just sitting there watching for the moment. And how do we keep you engaged and enlightened before you go in-game? And that's why you see the super high production value for those videos.

MALIK PRINCE: I mean, "super high production" is spot on. It is-- like, you all knocked it out of the park-- not to overuse the pun. But it is really reminiscent of what you would see on any of your favorite streaming services. And I know a lot of gamers are maybe wary about jumping into something like this-- again, to your point around it being a sensitive topic. But I think the way you all handled it and how just pitch perfect the tone is-- it just-- I was blown away.

And so I'm curious, from your perspective, what other Storylines do you all-- this was called Storyline Season 1. What other Storylines do y'all have coming down the line? Because I know obviously baseball-- America's pastime. It's called that for a reason-- so many stories that you could potentially tell. Any teases into what may be coming down the line?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Well, because Storylines is kind of essentially a micro documentary series. That's why we called it "Season 1." Normally, if you're watching something on your favorite streaming service, a season-- they normally happen once a year. So that's why we called it "seasons." So Season 2 would be next year's game, if we're so lucky to be able to make one. And there will be a brand new crop of Negro League players.

And the reason why we called it "Season 1" is we knew we wouldn't be able to tell the breadth and the depth of Negro leagues history in one game cycle. Sports game development cycles are, like, nine months. That's not a lot of time. And there's no way we could tell 40, 50, 60 different players' stories in a nine-month development cycle.

So we sat down with Bob Kendrick. And we thought, OK, so for year one who are the first eight individuals that make sense to tell their stories? And there's really no right or wrong answer, but we had to think about position diversity. We had to think about other legends that are being introduced into the game. We don't want to have too many shortstops, or we don't want to have too many pitchers. We also want to save enough heat for future years. And we want to be able to use the superstar names, the transcendent names to help bring up the other names of people that you might not know about.

So people know who Jackie Robinson is. If you're at least mildly a baseball fan, you've probably heard of Satchel Paige. And so we used those two iconic figures to introduce you to some more iconic figures that you've never heard of, like the great Martín Dihigo like the great John Wesley Donaldson, like the great Hank Thompson. And so that's really been our focus from the word "go." And so far, the response we've seen from Storylines has been nothing short of amazing.

MALIK PRINCE: Yeah. I mean, it has been impressive. Major kudos to the team at Sony San Diego-- just really impressive stuff. And I am sure you all will be back for next year. I mean, I feel like it's a given. But I wanted to switch gears a little bit and talk a little bit about Face Scan.

Now, I personally have always wanted to be a baseball player, but hand-eye coordination is not so great, athletic ability not so great-- all those things that you kind of need to be a baseball player doesn't work. But with the new Face Scan feature, of course, you can put yourself into the game. Can you tell us a little bit about what this means for players and how it kind of works?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Well, it's one photo. The tech in the Face Scan app is absolutely amazing, future-facing tech. All you need to do is download the companion app for MLB The Show. Go outside when it's bright and sunny or in your bathroom when it's bright and sunny. And you take one photo. And we build your face from that one photo.

But after the fact, you can go in, and you can change your hairstyle. You can change your facial hair. You can tweak your skin tone. So it's really been an amazing piece of tech that the good folks at Sony were able to develop. And we used it to create the Face Scan app.

MALIK PRINCE: I love that. I'm excited to go in, and make myself a World Series superstar, and go all the way to the World Series, and win it--

RAMONE RUSSELL: Nice.

MALIK PRINCE: --and maybe make my parents proud for the first time in my life.

RAMONE RUSSELL: [LAUGHS]

MALIK PRINCE: That's a joke, everyone watching at home. So really excited for what you all have done on the game. I want to kind of take a turn a little bit away from the game but stay on the topic of baseball, because we the atmosphere at a baseball game-- you hear the crack of the bat. You smell the food, the crowd going wild. But I want to go back to the food, because I'm a big foodie. What is your favorite food at a baseball game? I'm curious.

RAMONE RUSSELL: Oh, man. It depends on the stadium.

MALIK PRINCE: OK. Exactly.

RAMONE RUSSELL: It really depends on the stadium because all-- every baseball stadium, they're known for something different. Like, San Diego-- it's tacos. The tacos here are amazing at Petco Park. The barbecue here is actually really good, too, which is crazy. But if you go to Pittsburgh or you go to the San Francisco Giants' stadium, it's something else.

And so that's also what I love about the different baseball stadiums, is that you're going to get something different. And every baseball stadium-- they specialize in a different type of food. So it's hard for me to choose one particular thing, but it would probably have to be the hot dogs at Wrigley Field.

MALIK PRINCE: That's what I was going-- I'm a New York guy. Yankees fan here. I grew up going to Yankees and Mets games. And a simple dog with ketchup is kind of my go-to. But I loved-- I was in San Diego recently. And walking past Petco, I wanted to go to a Padres game. So maybe I come down here. Me and the team, we can just go out and watch a Padres game. How does that sound?

RAMONE RUSSELL: That sounds fantastic.

MALIK PRINCE: I love it. I love it. So Ramone, this has been fantastic. Any last words you have for the players as they jump into MLB The Show 23?

RAMONE RUSSELL: Oh, have fun. Lots of more content coming. And we're so appreciative of all the support from Xbox fans this year and since we've been on Xbox platforms. We really appreciate it. And we're going to keep trying to make the best possible baseball game we can every single year.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Thank you, Chris and Ramone, for coming on to the show and chatting about PUBG and MLB The Show 23. Good stuff this week.

[CHUCKLING]

LARRY HYRB: I just noticed Puma--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, I just woke him up. What was that?

LARRY HYRB: --lifted his head up when you said "thank you." He's like, yeah, well, you're welcome, pal.

[CHUCKLING]

You're welcome.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Anyway.

REBECCA GORDIUS: he thinks I'm done with my calls and it's time to go for a W-A-L-K, a walk.

LARRY HYRB: Yeah, don't say that word.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, or he's hearing about baseball. When I think about baseball, I think about the food you get to eat while you're watching a baseball game.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, he's-- baseball is not doing it. Yeah. [LAUGHS]

LARRY HYRB: OK.

REBECCA GORDIUS: Anyway.

LARRY HYRB: Anyway, we're-- thank you. Thank you. Again, thank you for, everybody, enjoying the interviews, our guests, and, of course, Malik and Kelly. It was good to chat with them. And that's what I meant by having everybody on the show when I said that earlier.

REBECCA GORDIUS: So nice.

LARRY HYRB: We're going to wrap things up because we're running a wee bit long. But I want to point out, next week. Jeff will not be with us.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Low ball.

LARRY HYRB: But that's fine. And in fact, we're kind of not going to be with you either in this format. We're going to do it live. So Rebecca--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh.

LARRY HYRB: Rebecca and I are headed into the studio. The last show we did was in February. We've got a few special things planned for you. I think we're going have-- maybe Kelly is going to join us as well. So we're going to go into the studio. We're going to do a live show. So that'll be next Friday, which is-- what is that, the 14th? Friday the 14th?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, Friday the 14th.

LARRY HYRB: And we're going to do it in the morning. Keep an eye on my Twitter. And I'll make sure I tweet that out and tell you when you can join us. We would love to have you join us. We'll probably have some stuff to give away as well, so-- right, Rebecca? I hope. Maybe we'll--

REBECCA GORDIUS: Yeah, yeah.

LARRY HYRB: Maybe we should play Legends during that session?

REBECCA GORDIUS: Oh, maybe. I'll see what I can do.

LARRY HYRB: OK. See if you can get me a code by then.

REBECCA GORDIUS: OK.

[CHUCKLING]

LARRY HYRB: Well-- so anyway. All right, gang. Thanks, Jeff. Enjoy your time off, my friend.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I will. I'll watch. I'll put some comments in while I'm driving across the border.

LARRY HYRB: Thank you. Thank you. And then, Rebecca, thanks for joining us this week. And we'll see you next week. Bye-bye, everybody.