Unboxing the New Fallout Xbox Controller and WWE 2K24

ANNOUNCER: Games in this podcast range from E to M.

- Hello, and welcome to the Official Xbox Podcast, the only podcast coming to you from inside the walls here at Xbox, coming to you on YouTube, and all kinds of Spotify, podcasts, anyplace you listen to a podcast. I personally listen to Spotify. It's good.

- Same.

- I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's great. We've got a full crew of dark jeans-wearing people today.

[LAUGHTER]

- I didn't even notice that.

- We did not coordinate this.

- Yeah, black jeans are infrared shoes-- gets you in the door. Just show up here, and we'll let you in. Tina, it's really great to see. You you've had--

- Thank you.

- --quite a busy week, haven't you?

- I have been busy. I was going to make the joke of when you were like, oh, there's a big show. I was like, what? But then you ruined my joke.

- Oh, well, that's I do.

- We got to redo the podcast.

- Yeah. We'll just dial it back. So you produced the Partner Preview this week, right?

- Yes. This was the second-ever partner preview. So, super exciting. I saw a few people. So we are recording this before the show has actually gone live, so I have no idea what people are going to think.

- You don't even know what's in it.

- I don't even know what's in it. What did I produce? There we go, I got my joke in. No, but I did see people reacting to the announcement, and I was really thrilled to get the impression that people are excited that they weren't expecting one so soon.

But that was definitely my goal. There's so many games out there. We talk about them every week on this podcast. So why not have a little bit more of a momentous occasion? Not that podcasts aren't momentous, but a little more flair.

- It depends on the podcast.

- It depends on the pod-- it depends on the--

- This is a regular episode in the podcast.

- Exactly. But yeah, just such a good opportunity to shine a light on how many amazing third-party partners we work with and how many amazing games are out there that we get to kind of curate for the show to figure an experience that everyone can kind find something that they like out of the lineup.

- And even a few things that you can play right now. But we're going to deep dive into those as this show proceeds. First of all, let's head on over here to the cheese couch. Ethan Rothamel, this is the first time we've been on the show together.

- It is. It is. I don't know if we've ever been on a show together, now that I think about it. Maybe--

- No, I've been avoiding you pretty successfully for the last decade or so.

- As soon as Malik's gone, it's like there's no barrier between us.

- I mean, we almost thought you guys were the same person. You never show up in the same space.

- He has glasses.

- That's true.

- Exclusive--

- Exactly. Thank you, Kelly.

- Oh, holy crap. Wow.

- Yeah, good to be here. Thanks for having me. Great to be on the show. I think my first time on was maybe two weeks ago? So I--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: No, it was a good show.

- --didn't bore everyone enough. I guess they decided to have me back.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I liked it. You were great.

- Oh, thanks. That's sweet.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It's good to have a familiar face here. Kelly Lombardi, how you doing?

KELLY LOMBARDI: I'm doing great. Thank you for having me during Xbox podcast email week.

[LAUGHTER]

It was great to have an excuse to break out the black skinny jeans again. But yeah, happy to be here.

- We're setting the clocks forward this weekend, so I feel like we're going to come out of the big dark, as they call it, up here in Seattle.

KELLY LOMBARDI: This is the last week I get to be emo, and then I have to move on.

- I'm ready, though. It's been a real downer. This weather has been tough, so I'm ready to move on.

- Cherry blossoms are already coming out.

- Yeah.

- Yes, a sign.

- We'll come back-- the weather segment is actually later. We do weather on the ones here.

[LAUGHTER]

So, Kelly--

- Good to know.

- --you've been coping. We were talking about this. Time of year, sometimes it's sort of like, eh. And you found a great game on Game Pass that has been sort of helping you through-- bring a little order to the chaos of life.

- Yeah. I think I had said since my life is in shambles, all I can really wrap my head around that.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I didn't want to say that, but you can say it.

- It's relatable. But no, I have been playing A Little to the Left on Game Pass. And it's basically just a game where you take things and put them places. And everything makes very satisfying sounds.

And when everything lines up, it's just-- it brings order to the chaos in my life. And it is just so much fun to play through. And then they also have a DLC that you can buy, called.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Which has, like, the cutest name, right?

KELLY LOMBARDI: Cupboards and drawers.

TINA AMINI: Aw, that is cute.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Oh. And--

TINA AMINI: A thing with your audience. Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

- Highly recommend checking it out. It's not a super long game, but it's really fun to play. And if you like just putting things places and seeing things line up-- and some of the puzzles have more than one way to solve them.

So you might, like, color code something, and then you see that there's actually two additional ways to organize them. And it kind of makes you change your thinking a little bit of like, oh, my Instinct was to do this. But there's other ways that you could look at it where the labels line up, or I don't know-- I don't want to spoil-- no spoilers.

[LAUGHTER]

No spoilers for the organizers.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: The pencil did it. It was the green pencil.

- It's totally true, though, because even with records or movies when people used to actually collect physical copies of this thing, like, what was your organization method? Do you go alphabetically? Do you go by director? Do you go by genre, or do go by like--

- Autobiographical.

- Yeah. Or do you go like the color coding of the spine that you see visually? Like, everyone's got a different--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: You guys are dorks.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: This is the game for you.

[LAUGHTER]

All right--

- How's the music, though? How's the music? Is it pretty good?

- Oh, it's so relaxing. It's a like a little like tinkly kind of like, doo, doo, doo, doo.

- Nice.

- It's nothing like that.

[LAUGHTER]

But no, because I don't want to spoil it. Gosh, stop pressuring me.

TINA AMINI: Kelly actually produced and recorded the soundtrack.

- Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

- It's just me going, boop, boop, boop, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.

- So zen.

- Hire me for all your voice acting needs.

- Jazzy. pretty good. Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

That's music I can sort of pencil to. Yeah.

- But yeah, highly recommend. So Tina, check it out when you're done playing--

- Like a Dragon. It's going to take me a minute.

- You're the host now.

- Did you like that?

- Yeah. Test it out.

- And we've talked about Like a Dragon a bit, so I'm not as far as-- you finished it at this point.

- I did, 84 hours.

- OK, yeah. So I think I probably have another 80 left-- no, I think about maybe 10 hours in. I'm on chapter 5. So my understanding is it's very much opening up to me at this point, which I'm very appreciative of because I just-- any amount of time spent in this world and 70, 60 more hours of it, I am very prepared for.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I should say don't let my hour count intimidate you.

TINA AMINI: Oh, I doing doing every side quest too.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: OK, then, right. It'll take you that long. Yeah. You could blow through the game in half that time, but I really wanted to see everything.

And I wanted to explore all the jobs. There's some really fun jobs out there. I even went and got some of the DLC ones, turning Ichiban into a linebacker. And you're doing-- and one of his ults is like marching through the field with the cheerleader group at halftime. And they're, like, doing high kicks and whacking these

- It's so goofy.

- It's so ridiculous.

TINA AMINI: The amount of animations and costumes and just obviously like the actual skill set that you get alongside every job. There's just so much put into it, and it's so enjoyable. I'm currently-- I just swapped to action star so I've got this yellow, bright yellow Kill Bill style, Bruce Lee style, like, jumpsuit kind of a getup. And it's--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Using the nunchucks?

TINA AMINI: Yeah, the nunchucks and well. And it's so fun to experiment with, but it's also useful because sometimes in some games, I get wary of, do I want to respec in this way? But with infinite wealth, you actually-- with the series in general, you actually are stronger-- or the more that you put into more jobs under each character. So everything you do is very useful and worth your time.

- And then you can bring the best skills from one job over to another one.

- Yes, exactly.

- Like you said--

- And experimental--

- Yeah, yeah. It's all right to be a jack of all trades in that game. Ethan, I saw you're on my friends list. And I saw you playing a game that a lot of people are talking about, but I don't know how it works, Baltro.

- Baltro. And I think that's how you pronounce it-- super addicting. And I will say, like, when I booted it up, I also was kind of like, what is this game? And I'm a fan of card games in general, deck building games.

And I like poker especially. So it was kind of like this really called to me. And what it feels like is it almost feels like you're playing poker with the ability to, I want to say, like, cheat because you get these Joker cards that have abilities in them. And it behaves much a roguelite, where it's like, it's like how far in your run can you get?

And you're basically just making poker hands. It's all poker hands and terminology, but there's no concept of betting. So it's basically like imagine the person you're going up against is a boss, and you're trying to beat their blind, which is a set number of chips.

And so you're basically trying to combo your way up by, like, making these poker hands with the help of the jokers that you find and just getting, like, the highest scoring hands. So it's hard to explain. But everyone I know that has jumped in within 15 minutes, they're, like, oh, this is going to take over my life.

And it is-- it's like one more game. It's like any other roguelite where you're just, like, I could do this again, one more run. I got time. And it's just completely taken over my life, especially now that you have touch controls on Remote Play.

Like, I can play it on my phone. I can lay on the couch and just, like, grind it for hours. Very, very much recommend. I think it's 15 bucks.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So it's ID@Xbox game. And really, it just seems a lot of people are streaming it. I still am not exactly sure what it is.

- Literally. And I don't know that I can explain it to you. Like, it's so-- like, even when I was playing the tutorial, I was like, am I doing this right? But then within a couple of hands, you figure it out. Highly recommend folks go watch it if it's interesting to you.

It is like-- it's just so hard to explain. But it is basically like poker meets roguelite meets deck building. It's so fun.

- Poker with a twist.

- Yeah, exactly. That's a great way to look at it. And no betting whatsoever, just beating bosses. It's kind of nice.

- Yeah, I read that the developer doesn't gamble. And so this is not another like Texas Hold'em game.

- No. No, no, no, no, no.

- So the cards might look familiar.

- It's more comparable to a Slay the Spire or something where you're like trying to beat a harder and harder challenge. And there's, like, curveballs they throw at you, or maybe you can't use diamonds this play, this hand, right? Maybe face cards are worth twice as much, you know? And it's kind of just-- I don't know how the guys came up with it because it really is a creative game, yeah.

- It reminds me of, like, when you would play a card game at camp or something. And one person was in charge of making up all the rules.

- The house rules.

- They'd be like, you can't use jacks this time. And you'd be like, OK, Samantha.

[LAUGHTER]

- Exactly, exactly.

- Sure.

- It feels like that. It kind of feels like that.

- It sounds fun.

- Yeah.

- I feel like all the card games in my camp just involve slapping each other.

- Yeah.

- Is that a thing?

- Slapjack?

- Butterfinger, I think, was one.

- That was something. If you weren't fast enough, you were getting slapped.

- Yeah, for sure.

- It was a Philly thing. I don't know.

- Very simple, like one to one mechanics. Yeah.

- So you're playing something else that was sort of surprise drop for folks on Game Pass.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. My wife and I this weekend got super into Dead Island 2. We were kind of just looking for a new co-op game. We're both big RPG players. And we actually have an upcoming vacation to California.

So we're like, oh, let's check out the digs. Let's see how LA does in a zombie apocalypse and see if it's comparable to what our vacation will be like. And we got totally sucked in.

I mean, that game, it's like the perfect Game Pass game because it's just hours of content, up to four of your friends, multiple characters that are all fully voiced and have different builds, like tanks versus DPS versus support so you can replay. The dialogue is funny and cheesy at times, but really entertaining.

The cutscenes, the boss fights, they're all tied to some great musical compositions and some legitimate songs that just make it fun. It's probably one of the most fun zombie games I've played in a while. And I mean that by like, drop kicking zombies, the variety at which you can slaughter these guys.

I've been playing a lot of cozy games. We just talked about the Seattle-- This is like the polar opposite of that. It is gruesome, so be prepared for that. Every time you hit a zombie, if you hit him with a bat in the jaw, you're going to break their jaw. Like, their arms are going to go limp when you break their arms. Like, hit is visceral but very funny and very entertaining. Yeah.

- Yeah, you know, broken jaws.

- Yeah, so fun.

- You'll laugh so hard here.

- Spice of life.

- Yeah, exactly.

- We'll be talking about a lot more Game Pass games, including those that were just announced this week that are coming out over the course of March. There's some really good ones coming down the line. Our good friend, Malik, is speaking with the WWE 2K24 team, I want to say. So that's coming up in a little bit.

But the big news this week, of course, has been the partner preview. So where do we want to start? There was some games-- there was one specifically that I was really excited to learn. What is this game? And that was Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. What can you tell me?

TINA AMINI: Yes. So that was really exciting because we debuted the reveal trailer last year at the June showcase and then got a really much deeper dive into what the actual mechanics looked like because I think you got a really good understanding of, wow, this looks gorgeous, and it looks like there's some interesting combat elements. But how does that actually play out? What are some of the other mechanics around the game?

And ultimately, we got to see at the partner preview the concept of the day/night cycle and how that works out into the combat at the end of the day. So you're rescuing these villagers, bringing them as part of your party, and assigning them different roles, building out these structures, and preparing in the day for the nighttime, like, big boss-level-style enemy battles. So it was really fun to be able to debut, like, hey, this is what this game is and more of a fully fleshed out way.

I believe Capcom is going to be diving in even deeper. If this is going live on Thursday, if this is a Thursday, then their show is actually later today at 3:00 PM PT time if you're on the West Coast like we are. So we'll hopefully get to see even more about how all those systems kind of intertwine and maybe a little more context on what we got to see.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: We also have a blog post on Xbox Wire. That's news.xbox.com where Capcom explained it. And it was-- in terms of just, like, the quick, like, what is this game? it's got in those periods of time at night where you're actually fighting off these evil spirits or demons. It's both a combination of action and real-time strategy.

So you're in there actually doing this like dancing martial art, but then also directing those villagers. And you can even reassign them using these masks. What are their different roles going to be? So it seems like-- it has a very interesting look to it.

We were talking before the show. Like, just the aesthetics almost reminded me of that part in Elden Ring where you go up on this hill, and there's this creepy village of people dancing.

[LAUGHTER]

And it just was-- I did not like that area. It very much disconcerted. This looks much more colorful. But there was just like-- there's a lot of mystery here. And I am really eager to learn more. So like you said, Capcom Highlights-- they're doing a multi-day stream.

But the day one is today, March 7, 3:00 PM Pacific time. So you can head on over to, I guess, Capcom. Head over to their social channels. I'm sure it'll be on Twitch and YouTube as well. And you can find out about that.

Do you have a favorite game coming with of this partner preview? Anything you all want to talk about?

- You want to go first, Kel?

- No, you can go first.

[LAUGHTER]

- For me, they obviously didn't see a ton of it. But Sleight of Hand looks really cool. I mean, I loved-- I believe they called it a stealth game of hard boiled espionage action, which is just like, what a cool tag?

I loved the cool maybe main character kind of smoking. She's a witch. She throws out the cards, and then she's using abilities with her cards. Like, just the-- I'm already bought into the world. I want to know where this takes place.

I want to understand the setting. I want to know what kind of game this is. Like, is it deck building? We talked about-- I'm a little bit of a fan of. Or it seems like there's more to this game than that we're going to see down the road. So, definitely really excited for it. The art style alone has got me hyped.

TINA AMINI: Very much so. It's a very unique aesthetic, but also, one of our new game reveals for the show. So I'm glad that that stuck out to you. And that there seems to be like little inklings of what's going on because the fun of brand new trailers for brand new games. Like, what exactly is this?

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Totally.

TINA AMINI: Who's the protagonist? And what are the mechanics, and what's the setting, and what's my motivation and stuff? So I'm sure we'll see in the future.

- Yeah, love it.

- All right, Kelly, now you're up. I know you were into Tales of Kenzera Zau.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Yes. That one definitely got me the Tales of Kenzera. I saw it and I was watching the trailer, and I was just so drawn to the aesthetic of it and the style. And then I think I forget the exact phrase that was used, but it was something about needing precision and patience.

And I literally laughed out loud to myself. I was like, oh, that's not my strong suit, but I will be playing this anyway and be very bad at it. And I'm going to enjoy every second of it. So I think it's a beautiful game, and I'm very excited to check it out.

And I'm also very excited for The Creatures of Ava. That one also looked right up my alley with kind of befriending different creatures. And--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: The flute was delightful in that trailer. Loved that.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Ah, get me get me some flute and some creatures, and I'm--

TINA AMINI: Get some belly rubs?

KELLY LOMBARDI: --I'm salt. Yeah, like, uh--

TINA AMINI: Did you like the belly rubs?

KELLY LOMBARDI: --what more could you ask for in a game?

[LAUGHTER]

But yeah, I think that's one that I'm excited to learn more about, where just kudos to you and the team because I think that there was such a great mix of, here's a game, here's everything about it. And then here's just a little taste, and you can learn more down the road.

And I think that it was just really well-done. There are games that I'm, like, oh, I'm going to play that right now; and then games that I'm like, I'm going to remember this for later because, like, definitely piquing my interest. So, fantastic.

TINA AMINI: I really appreciate that because we try to think about a balance of-- because we have a core group of people who work on the show. And we think about-- from each of our personal perspectives, we're, like, I'm personally really excited about this show. And if it does not make it into or about this game, and if it doesn't make it into the show, then I'm quitting immediately. It's never that intense.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: You're still here, so that's good.

TINA AMINI: Yes, exactly. So all my favorites made it in, obviously. No, but it's so interesting to talk to people with different perspectives because that's a reflection of our audience, too. And we want to make sure the cozy games are in there; like, the shooty shooty games are in there.

Like, things that strike at different types of people's core. And it helps with pacing of the show, too. And we like to kind of tell you a story ultimately through the pacing and how we kind of thinking about the structure of the show and--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: The format of these.

TINA AMINI: --from game to the other.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: I love the format of these. They really are incredible. And we're not tooting our own horns because we're not on that team.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I mean, maybe a little bit, but that's OK.

- Maybe a little. Maybe a little. But I do like it. It is just like an awesome flow. Like you said, it's intense games to casual. And you get a little bit of everything, and it's just back to back to back. Like, it's so hype. I love it.

- I mean, to your point, as someone-- I did nothing for this show other than watch it. And so I got to just see it as a fan. And I had no deep emotional connections like I do with some of the stuff that gets produced. But I just watched it, and I was just like, just fangirling a little bit as I went through. So, just well-done.

TINA AMINI: I'm so glad.

- Yeah.

- Quick note about Tales of Kenzera and me fangirling actually is--

[LAUGHTER]

--so this is-- as I'm sure you know, there are many great video game podcasts out there, a number of great Xbox podcasts. And we usually go up around noon Pacific on Thursdays. Usually, first thing in the morning, I end up listening to the Kind of Funny Xcast and the creator or the executive producer of Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

You've seen in a lot of different places, Abubakar Salim is actually on this episode of Kinda Funny Xcast. So as soon as you're done here, go over there. I could listen to him talk all day.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Oh, Seriously.

KELLY LOMBARDI: incredible.

TINA AMINI: He narrated the asset, too. Like, you have a little bit of dialogue from the characters to set up some of that emotional storytelling that he talked about when he introduced the game at the Game Awards. But he actually narrates what some of the new features that you're diving into in the Partner Preview, too.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: And he's got a pretty extensive both acting career and voice acting career. And we have to talk to him at some point. You don't often see someone go from the talent, if you will, into, like, leading the development of a game. And so--

TINA AMINI: And he's been so hands-on. He's done so many appearances, showed up at the Game Awards. Like, yeah, just clearly a real drive and passion for his own game, of course. And it's really cool to see.

- This is now an Abubakar Salim fancast.

[LAUGHTER]

- Appreciation podcast.

- All right, so since were working on this for months, what are some of the games that you want to make sure people really notice here?

- Ooh, there was a bunch of stuff, actually. We had a shadow drop, which, if anyone noticed the very cheesy, hopefully not so cheesy little shadow drop badge we added in to add extra flair for the Stalker trilogy. The original Stalker trilogy that was on PC is on console for the first time.

So that was available today. So we definitely tried to add in some surprises, as well as some deeper dives. So First Berserker-- Khazan got a little bit more of a deep dive into. Its very unique like anime kind of style, but also combat. So people have seen some clips of that game, but we wanted to dive in a little bit deeper. We

Had a couple release date announcements, which was fun. So Frostpunk 2 and Final Fantasy 14 kind of confirming on that front. And then I was really, like, intrigued personally by Unknown9 Awakening because we had also known about that game's existence but didn't quite know what the gameplay mechanics were there.

And as the protagonist, you can kind of take on your enemies' bodies and shoot their friends with their friend and then jump into the next one. And it was just very cool seeing that play out in the different environments and kind of overlaid with some of the narration so you can get a sense of what the story is, too.

So just jam packed with a lot of very different kind of games. And I was also really excited to get Roblox into the show in the form of a Griefville cross-Chucky, like, in-game expansion experience. And it was just so fun having an asset with Chucky in there.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You're such a horror fan.

TINA AMINI: Yes. And I also-- and this may be bad to say, but I grew up with Chucky. So there's a nostalgia to it as well

KELLY LOMBARDI: That explains the emo week, for sure. Yeah.

TINA AMINI: At least for today. But it was just very fun to see him jumping on the characters' backs and just kind of flailing around with his knife and the Chucky laughter-- we had to definitely make sure that was played up. So it was really cool to see that in the show.

- I was not allowed to watch Chucky growing up.

[LAUGHTER]

- Really?

- I probably was not technically either, but somehow.

- Those things always kind of sneak through, and then it haunts you forever.

- Forever. Your fear unlocked.

- So a game that I've been playing just a ton of is Persona 3 Reload. This is my treadmill game right now. Because the day goes by and I'm, like, I have not left the house today, so let me just hop on the treadmill and watch something or play something.

And Persona 3 Reload has been that game. It's so good. And so I was super excited to see that there's a lot more coming. And so there's an expansion pass that was revealed here during this partner preview.

And there's new outfits. There's new background music. Music, by the way, is just phenomenal in this game across the board. When you're playing a game for 80 to 90 hours, and you still love the music all the way through, there's a certain skill to that.

But the most important part is there's an episode Aigis. Aigis is a character who is like essentially a robot, but there's more to it than that. And there's multiple versions we've talked about in the past of Persona 3. There's Persona 3, the original version. Then there's Persona 3 Portable, and there was Persona 3 FES. And this brings in that expanded section called the answer episode Aigis from FES, which has not been available for a very long time, and brings it into Reload, which looks beautiful.

It's an additional-- it's dozens more hours, and it takes place sort of in the endgame. So if you're enjoying the game now, continue to enjoy the game. And then, come, I think it's several months down the line, when this comes out, you'll have a lot more to come back to.

And the great part is, is this will be redeemable through Game Pass. So if you're a Game Pass Ultimate member, there's basically you unlock a perk, and you can get this expansion pass that gets you some things now, some things later. So if you've been enjoying the game-- and, of course, the entire game is on Game Pass-- please download it. Please play it. Like--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: For me.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It'll make me happy. Yeah.

KELLY LOMBARDI: When I saw that trailer pop up, I went, ooh, Jeff's going to be excited. So you are so closely tied to Persona 3 for me.

- Yes, you're not wrong. And when I found out, I would have bought it anyway. But when I found out I was in Game Pass, I was like, OK.

- Even easier.

- Yes. We had talked about a Capcom stream that is going on later today at 3:00 PM. But even earlier than that at 2:00 PM, we've talked a little bit about Towerborne over the course of the last year or so. I got to play it at Gamescom. It was really fun.

But there's actually a stream where you're going to learn more about it at 2:00 PM today. So you're going to join Stoic Studio. There kicking off a broadcast with a casual conversation, diving into the game design of Towerborne, including its unique and beautiful art direction, and just stories from game development.

So the stream is going to be hosted by the community strategist named Raibot01 digging into the origins of Towerborne and the transition from The Banner Saga trilogy which was a great tactical RPG series, which is very, very different from what Towerborne is. So I'm really curious the development and the changes that they've made and the things they've learned and what they're going to be bringing into Towerborne when we play that.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: There might be some artistic influence. It just kind of seems that way, like, when I watch them both. And I was such a big fan of the Banner saga. So I'm so hyped. I know we played a lot at Gamescom. We talk about it ad nauseam, I would say.

- A lot, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, that was a very grim game. Whereas, like Towerborne seems very light and airy. And I think that's going to be really fun. And just because we're talking about the Banner saga little bit, I just want to make a shout out for a game that is coming out tomorrow, actually. And that is Unicorn Overlord. I talked about it a little bit last week.

I've gotten to play another probably 10 hours of the full game. And let me tell you, this one's holding up. This is a really, really good game. The folks at Atlas and Sega have been just throwing RPG after RPG at us this year, and I'm here for it.

It is a phenomenal game. It's a mix of Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy 12 and Tactics or Ogre Battle 64. And it's the first game from Vanillaware that's ever been out on Xbox. So if you love these types of games, you like RPGs, you like Japanese games, you like strategy games, you should support this game.

So I'll leave it at that. There's a demo. Try it out. If you like what you're playing in the demo, all your progress carries over to the full game. So that's how they should do it.

- I, mean sold, especially with that last line. I love a demo carrying over into my full game.

- And it's a nice, meaty demo. So you will know by the end of the demo whether you want to keep playing it, and you're going to want to keep playing it. I can just tell you that from experience.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Throughout March, Xbox is celebrating Women's History month and the contributions that women have made to gaming. One of the main things that we have going on is Microsoft Rewards-- a lot of different ways to get Microsoft rewards points.

But you can earn and donate those points to a few different organizations that are supporting women with Xbox. And the organizations that will be featured this month are Women in Games international. They work to cultivate resources to normalize diversity in the games industry through increased representation and things like that.

And then the second one is the National Center for Transgender Equality. So they advocate to change policies and society to increase understanding and acceptance of transgender people. So go ahead and use your points, donate.

- Just play games, and you earn them.

- Yeah, just, like, literally game and search for things on Bing, and it's just great.

- Gaming for good. Yeah.

- That's right.

- Another thing that we'll be doing. Is there will be a Women's Community Games collection as part of the Xbox store. It'll feature women in powerful lead roles in games, teams that have women that have built games, things like that. And it's actually going to exist year round as part of our ongoing work to create more inclusive gaming ecosystems and elevate content that resonates with communities. So make sure you check that out.

And last but not least, log in to Halo.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yes.

KELLY LOMBARDI: Halo celebrating women as well in a very cool way. By logging in to Halo Infinite this month, you'll unlock the Women's History month armor coding visor and emblem suite all based off Rosie the Riveter, so that, yeah, iconic poster. Make sure that you check that out. All really great stuff happening.

- They did a really good job with that. One other game I want to call out-- because actually right before we went live, I saw that they posted this-- the MLB The Show team for '24 in their road to the show, which is sort of, like, their almost, like, baseball RPG that they have, and it's probably the most popular mode.

For the first time, you can play as women athletes in MLB The Show, which is really cool. So great to see the work they put into it. That team-- I mean, it's the best baseball game there is. So--

KELLY LOMBARDI: That's awesome.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You can at me on that one. And in fact, it was just, confirming again, that game is coming to Game Pass, which is awesome. It's a day one Game Pass game. And that'll be coming out on March 19. It's almost baseball season.

I swear we're coming out of the winter. We're not going to be all wearing black.

- It's so soon.

- --in like a month from now. We're going to be-- we're all going to be dressed like Ethan's shoes in just a couple of weeks.

- I can't wait to get a tan, you guys.

- My gosh, Hawaiian week?

- Oh, absolutely.

- I don't tan. This is it. This is as good as it gets.

- This is what you get.

- Yeah. Or I go straight to red. But so let's talk about Game Pass because there's so much to play and a bunch more games that were just announced.

So first of all, Warhammer 40k Bolt Con. They call this one a boomer shooters. I feel like they pixelated--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: A shooter, that's good.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, that's the thing. I can't take full credit for it. It's a thing. So he plays a space marine. It's a very '90s. And I mean if you played, like, OG Doom, which is also on Game Pass, you kind of know what to expect-- sort of more modern of, course. But anyway--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: It's on the 40K universe.

- Bolt Con, worth checking out. And then you can't play that with the kids in the room. But that's what PAW Patrol world is for. These games-- I've missed PAW Patrol, but I've got friends with young kids.

And let me tell you, that is an empire. Like, that is-- it is on a level that I cannot comprehend. It is up there. And look, you already know. You don't need me to tell you. If you've got a child of a certain age, go ahead and just download this, and you're all set for quite some time.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: What a drastic difference in games, too, between Warhammer and Paw Patrol.

- PAW Patrol for them and Warhammer for you.

- Evening game, day--

- Yeah, exactly.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And then we announced a bunch of new games that are going to be coming out-- SpongeBob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is coming out on March 12. Do you see the SpongeBob Xbox that we announced this week?

TINA AMINI: Yes.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Super limited-- do you know about this?

- Oh, yeah.

- I bet you-- I mean, are you, like, close to this?

- I did not. No, I did not work on this one at all.

- You didn't hand paint each--

- No, no. Tragically, there's just too much hardware going through those doors, but it is sweet.

- When we designed-- and when I say, we, I mean, not anybody in this room-- the Series X, I don't think we realized quite how many things it would perfectly lend itself to. I mean, a fridge. Obviously, I do have a mini fridge at home. But it works perfectly for SpongeBob.

- SpongeBob is another obvious choice. Yeah.

- The memes write themselves, truly.

- Yeah, truly.

- So that'll be available only on Best Buy. We've never made-- usually, when we make these special Edition Series X's or Series S's, I think we've-- well, that's a normal one. It's special, too.

But they've usually been away for give away. And we've never put any of these for sale. It's a very limited amount. But I don't know, it'd be cool to see if we're going to continue doing that or not.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah, I love it. I love it, honestly.

- Exactly. All right, all right. You know what I love? I love control, not like the idea of having control of my life.

[LAUGHTER]

This is a bit of a trainwreck segue, but we're going to go with it. But Control the game made by Remedy. That was my favorite game of 2019?

TINA AMINI: '19 I want to say.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Oh, it was. Wow.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: We're either both wrong, and I'm finding-- if I was wrong as you, Tina, that's right enough for me.

TINA AMINI: It sounds right, though.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yes. That was my favorite game of that year.

TINA AMINI: Yeah, me too.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Absolutely phenomenal game. And Ultimate Edition is coming out on Game Pass, March 13-- that is really soon-- on Cloud Console and PC. If you haven't played this game, or if he played Alan Wake 2, and you want to know more about that world, this is a must-play game.

TINA AMINI: So much crossover. And actual threads of the story, not just the--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: So they're in the same world?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yeah, or there was an Alan Wake expansion that was actually part of it. I believe that--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Oh, I remember.

TINA AMINI: The control DLC that also threads the gaps between them. Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Yes.

TINA AMINI: So it's very intricate storytelling.

- Can you play control as a standalone?

- Yes.

- Asking for a friend that hasn't played any of the Alan Wake games.

- Yes, absolutely.

- Oh, yeah. Yes.

- Yeah. It is kind of its own-- it's definitely its own contained story, but there are implications as to how--

- I love those games too.

TINA AMINI: Because yes, exactly. And there master mystery storytellers at Remedy. So it's just the thing where you can absolutely play control on its own. And that's another, like, awesome female lead character, too, so it's a pretty incredible experience.

- Yeah, less of a horror game. Although, it's very creepy at a lot of times--

- Yeah, still counts.

- --but it's not so much-- a lot of voices. I didn't love that part. but yeah, it's almost like if you were like running the X Files, but you were the smoking man, I guess, but no smoking because smoking is bad for you. But really awesome game. And I'm just talking myself into playing through it again.

- Yeah, yeah, it's really great.

- It's insane, yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: No More Heroes 3. So this is a long-running Series by SUDA 51, I want to say, that got to start on the Wii. And No More Heroes 3 is coming out on March 14 on Cloud Console and PC. Have you ever played No More Heroes?

TINA AMINI: Oh, yes

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Tell me about it because I only know Travis Touchdown.

TINA AMINI: Yes. Travis Touchdown, he is the center of everything, and he kind of goes through these battles with other famous strong, powerful leaders. And it's been too long. I have to replay now because I've lost the thread of, like, the core story outside of that, where he's just sort of battling and going up the ranks. But it's another one of those really goofy experiences, kind of on the level of a Dead Island like we've been talking about, or Infinite Wealth. So it's kind of a palate cleanser in that sense I would say.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: He's armed with a lightsaber-esque sort of weapon.

TINA AMINI: Yeah. He does a shake weight to charge it up, essentially.

[LAUGHTER]

Lie, It's got a long running joke series around that, yeah.

- And one last game announced as part of this March batch of Game Pass games, Lightyear Frontier.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Cozy.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It's coming into game preview. Yeah, this is a game that--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Looks pretty cozy.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: --we've revealed about a year ago. What do you think?

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah, it looks like--

TINA AMINI: Multiplayer, but like building-- yes, exactly.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Exactly, yeah Co-op, building a farm in space. I mean, what more could you want? It looks wholesome. It looks cozy. It looks a lot of fun if you're into farming games or just something that's more chill.

I've been playing a lot of farming sims lately. Like, Stardew Valley--

KELLY LOMBARDI: I have not heard of this.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Oh, you should check it out.

KELLY LOMBARDI: They might as well call it Kelly's Lightyear frontier.

[LAUGHTER]

I'm excited for that.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That'll be the extended version.

- DLC?

- There's still a game preview. I think there is still open to taking feedback.

- The Kelly Edition.

- OK, I'll write them a letter.

[LAUGHTER]

I let them know my thoughts.

- All right.

- Oh, man, so many games.

- Yeah, and a few others that are out now. You've played Outlast Trials before, haven't you?

- Oh, yeah. I mean, if you had-- if Outlast Trials' on your-- if you've played Outlast, you have an idea of what this game is like. And Tina, I know, again, you like horror. I love horror. I'm a big fan, but I'm also a total baby.

I won't watch horror games alone or play horror games alone. I won't watch horror movies alone. I literally have my-- I'll have my wife sit down with me to play Resident Evil 4 because I love it so much--

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: She's a saint.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: --but I'm too scared. Yeah, she is. What a wonderful-- I love you, honey. But this is a great game for those kind of people. If you're like me, where you like the horror experience, but you need a friend, and you need a buddy. And it's four-player co-op.

You're running through Trials and tests in the Outlast universe. I don't want to spoil the story too much because it kind of kicks you off right into it as to why you're there, why you're in this facility with other people, very creepy.

It does not lose any of its horror elements in a co-op setting, which is great. And there's even like a-- there's like a social hub. Like, if you played a Destiny or a game with a tower or something where people hang out, Outlast has a social hub where you get to decorate your room in the insane asylum. And you can see everyone running around in their sadistic outfits. It is so weird. I love it. Give Outlast Trials a shot if you like that genre at all-- very scary.

- All right, you've talked me into maybe--

[LAUGHTER]

- That's available now. And last but not least, WWE 2K24 launched this week. And our own resident expert-- wrestling expert efficenando Malik Prince. He's going to WrestleMania.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: I know.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: It's like, say hi to my mom. Going back to--

[CHATTER]

- I know. I was like, can I come with? And he's like, maybe. So he spoke with Bryan Williams and Lynell Jinks hyping us up for the launch of this high-profile wrestling game. Before we go to them, though, one reminder, we'll be coming back with some really cool new controllers. So you want to stick around for that. But Malik, take us into the ring.

- What's going on, everybody? Malik here. Now, we're about to talk about the EST A professional game releases because they're always on top. But now it's time for them to finish their story as WWE 2K24 releases tomorrow March 8 here to talk all about it is Lionel jinx who's the creative director of the WWE 2K Series and Bryan Williams, who's the gameplay producer of the game. How's it going, guys?

- Doing great.

- Yeah, man, doing fantastic. This is always an exciting part of the year for us, you know? It's like Christmas, Christmas in March.

- 100%. I mean, this is the time that wrestling games-- game fans love to see. And again, I love how it's timed next to WrestleMania. So I feel like the general WWE hype is there.

Now the game comes out tomorrow, as I mentioned. Some folks have had their chance to get their hands on it a little bit early, but this must be a really exciting time. The tagline for the game is "finish your story." And I feel like, in some ways, that kind of applies to the series in general. Can you talk about how exciting of a time this must be?

- It's extremely exciting. I think when you think about our journey at Visual Concepts in 2L from taking this game over-- Bryan Williams came over from THQ back in the 2K14 trade And seeing the ups and downs of the franchise since then and then the 2K20 release. I think it was-- say what it really was.

But our story and journey from that point on has been nothing short of a miracle when you think about working on this franchise and the history of this franchise. And just like you said, wrestling games, it's synonymous with fun and mayhem and all of these things. And for a lot of reasons. I think the fan base has been expecting more ever since we took this over from THQ since 2K14 and wanting us to put that fun back in.

And if you look at everything that we've done since 2K20, that's been our mission, is to breathe fun, breathe that mayhem. And we're finishing our story, but the story ain't over. We're going to keep going, right? So it's exciting for us. We can't wait for people to get their hands on it because, in my opinion, this is the best one we've ever done.

- Yeah, agreed. And it's funny. You mentioned it's been 10 years now that from the THQ when DC over the license. And 2K14 was also themed around WrestleMania. So yeah, it's very poetic in that way.

10 years ago, we handled WrestleMania. Fast forward 10, we're doing it again. And yeah, man, that's really exciting. I didn't think about it that way. But pro wrestling, your story's never finished, right?

- That's right.

- It just keeps on going. But yeah, and I love what you said there, Lynell, about that because this is, I think, we are at a point now where I feel that the fan base had envisioned when DC did take over the franchise.

And yeah, I feel the same as you, brother Lynell. I think this game is fantastic. And I know I'm biased, but I also play these games. I don't just work on them. I mean, I have a hell of fun playing this game. So I think everybody else will, too.

- I mean, and as players, I think that's what you want are devs who are passionate about the game and who love-- especially in this case, love professional wrestling as much as you all do. Now you all mentioned WrestleMania. Now we're just a few weeks away from the biggest WrestleMania of all time, WrestleMania 40.

And you all had a massive task with this game. It was really about capturing some of those amazing moments from previous wrestlemanias and really showcasing them. In the showcase, can you talk about what was the decision about what moments to pick? It must have not been an easy task at all.

- I think that's one of the hardest things that we try to do every single year. Outside of figuring out the feature list, you're like, all right, showcase and with trying to encapsulate 40 years of WrestleMania and look at every single match, every single superstar that was involved in that match, all the logistics that go into that, right? You're like, is this person available? Did we do this one already with this match, even though it might have been a main event?

Is it worthy of being in a showcase? Will it be fun to play? And so all of these things that we have to factor in when thinking about creating a great showcase list. This year was no different. And if anything, like you said, it was even harder because you're like, man, how do we not have a showcase without this match?

And you're like, well, we don't have the rights to X superstar, or that person's in another federation somewhere else or another company. And you're like, all right. And so there's definitely things that we wanted to do that we couldn't just because of the logistics.

But you look at the 21 matches that we put together, and it's hard to argue with any of them. And I know, Bryan, you were associated to that 2K14 30 years of WrestleMania. And we looked at that list as well. But we did-- there's some in there that you're like, man, we cannot exclude, like, Hogan Andre.

Like, that's just-- when you think of WrestleMania, that's one of the ones that you're, like, all right, but there's a few that Bryan and those guys did back in '14 that we wanted to do. But you're like, man, there's so many that we wanted to do. But due to time-- we have-- I always tell people it takes like nine months. Just like making a baby, it takes nine months to get this game out the door, and we couldn't do it. But again, I'm still happy with what we were able to pull out.

- Yeah, absolutely. And I would just say, it's a testament to the WB in their storied history and just the depth of them as a company that even mitigating kind of working through situations where, oh, we don't have the rights to this superstar or this, that, and the other that. That we were still able to pull together 21 just magnificent matches through the course of 40 years of what they have done as the leaders in sports entertainment.

And I think that is just-- I mean, honestly, kudos to them. They gave us a lot to work with. And sticking through all that is definitely a chore. But a good one where it's like, you want to do them all, right?

You want to do-- you make sure every mania is covered. And I know that Dino the designer showcase, he was very adamant about not wanting to redo a lot of the matches that were in 2K14. But as Lynell mentioned, I mean, some you just have to, right?

I mean, Hogan Andre-- I mean, but if you ask lay person, a WrestleMania memory, whether they watch back then or never watch, they'll probably remember the fact that Andre Hogan slamming Andre the Giant. So that was a gimme.

- I watched that one through the squiggly lines because we didn't have the pay per view. It was like it wasn't clear. I remember watching it through that.

- Yeah. And I mean, I feel like one of those benefis-- and I always talk about these. For games like this one that are telling the story from decades ago at this point, there are so many new fans who maybe weren't even alive to experience those moments. And the idea of being able to experience it through something you all create is like it's got to be a super fulfilling moment.

And so I cannot wait to see what's in there. I can't wait to see what made the cut. I'm sure people are going to be wanting-- like you said, for some that didn't make the cut. But you know what? Wrestling fans have never been without an opinion. And so I'm sure you all are going to get to hear it, but it's going to be awesome to see what made it.

I want to shift gears a little bit to talk about match types because I think on top of superstars, what's the showcase? Another one is, what are the new match types in the game? And so I would love, Bryan, if you could answer, like, what are some of the new ones that are coming in? What's your favorite? And maybe a few tips and tricks for those who are jumping in for the first time.

- Oh, yeah, brother. Absolutely, man. So with 2K23, we provided fans the long-requested, long-awaited war games. It was the first time that match had ever been in the franchise. And the team just hit a home run with it. For a match of that complexity and that many moving parts, like, they really did a phenomenal job.

So for 2K24 we up the ante. I mean, last year, what was it, Lynell? It was even stronger? You can say this was 24-- when it comes to match type, there's like even hulkier, because instead of not just one match types, we added four brand new match types.

Two that are making their franchise debuts-- and the ambulance match and the casket match. Two match types, one on one, where the objective is to basically put your opponent in the object, whether it's the casket, or put him in the back of the ambulance and shut the doors on him.

We also are bringing back special guest referee, which is probably outside-- it might be actually the most fan requested match type going back to maybe like 2K14 and those generations of video games. So that makes a triumphant return with some great new additions.

The gauntlet match, now, everything we've done this year is fantastic. The gauntlet match-- you asked for my favorite. It's that. I love the gauntlet match because three there's three versions of it.

There's a traditional where one person starts. And you just keep trying to win until you get through all the opponents. There's an eliminator style one which has the multi-person gauntlet. And my favorite, the turmoil, is one superstar against a team that's just out to get them. And it's up to-- it's as little as four superstars in as many as 30. And I love a challenge. And so the turmoil is probably my favorite new addition this year.

MALIK PRINCE: Nice. What about you, Lynell?

LYNELL JINKS: So Up until last week, turmoil was my favorite as well because like, Bryan, I love a challenge. And I would always crank it up yo legend difficulty. And I was just like-- and so I'm looking for that challenge and starting at one trying to last all the way 30.

I still haven't done it. And I'm just like in my old age, I can't do that to my heart. I'm just like, no, I got to stop. So I've switched over to eliminator. It's so much fun because it's like royal rumble, but with the chaos of extreme rules match because it's there's up to eight people in the ring at once, and you're just running around.

So it's not throwing anyone over the top rope. It's just a free for all. And someone new's coming down the ramp. Like, you'll see some like the AI go and stop them and fight them on the stage. And I'm like, in the ring. And I'm like, it's just-- it's so much fun. I'm like, all right, I think that's my new favorite.

- Oh, man, you sold me on that. I think it's my new favorite too.

- But this is what I love. Talking about my shirt-- it says "WWE 2K24 Community Day," which is an event that I attended with you all. And it was so great to see the community and the passion the discussion like this where people were talking about, man, this is my favorite part. This is my favorite part.

It's almost uniquely WWE because not only is it sports, but it's sports entertainment, and it's all about having that fun. And there's nothing more entertaining than a casket match or a gauntlet match or even, of course, an ambulance match, which is so over the top. It wouldn't happen in any other place besides WWE.

Now, I want to go a little bit to talk about MyRISE. so there are two new MyRISE experiences for players to enjoy. We have unleashed an undisputed. Can you tell us a little bit about that mode in general, but then what players can expect from each of those? I'll start with you, Lynell.

LYNELL JINKS: So both are-- and to me, they're like two completely different modes, where in undisputed, you are basically trying to become the new Roman Reigns because he has vacated his championship. It's in abeyance, right?

And it kind of starts from there where Roman kind of lets you have it because he doesn't want Cody to finish his story, you know? So you're like, all right. And it goes from there. And that roller coaster ride of trying to hold on to that championship, trying to last as long as Roman Reigns's reign, pun intended, of the WWE and Universal Champion.

Like, and the ups and downs of having to deal with the Miz and form your own faction. Like, it's so fun and intense. And the star power that we're bringing not only on undisputed, but unleashed as well with getting like Roman Reigns to do voice over, Becky, like, Woods.

It's just so good. I feel like-- I know I'm going to keep saying this. It's the best one we've ever done. It is, like seeing the bump. We have Kayla and Byron hosting the bump in our video game. And you're--

So cool.

- It's so cool. It's those things where I look back a few years ago. We used to have to do like, generic brand this and generic thing this. And you're just, like, no, now we actually have sponsors, and we have Slim Jims in the game, you know what I saying?

So it's just like, I feel like we're on that precipice of-- I came from the NBA team when we were heading into that pop culture territory and not just being a basketball game. We're like, no, we're heading in a totally different direction. And we're kind of on that same trajectory I feel like with WWE 2K24, where you're like, yeah, we have real products in the game.

It's no longer, like, generic thing, you know? And I also want to touch on unleashed. You start off as a co-owner of one of those like fictional brand, but then quickly get recruited by William Regal to join the WWE. And you start your journey from there.

And you have beef with Shotzi. And then you meet up with Alexa and gained supernatural powers if you choose to go down that path. So it's some of that. So we're talking about breathing that fun. And you said it, too-- that WWE thing where you couldn't really get away with that in professional sports. But in sports entertainment, it makes complete sense, you know?

I'm levitating above the stage. Yes, that makes sense in wrestling, right? Sting used to drop from the ceiling on a rope. Those are the things that I think wrestling fans will give you a pass on and actually applaud you for doing it.

- Yeah.

- 1000%

- A giant sandbox just awesomeness pro wrestling.

- 100%. Well, speaking of sandbox, one of the things that we see in a lot of these unbelievable but believable situations are weapons. And now I hear you all have added new throwable weapons and interactive environment elements. And so, Bryan, tell us a little bit about what fans can expect and maybe, of course, what's your favorite weapon to use.

- [LAUGHS] Yeah, so the return of throwables. I think this was one of those things that we had-- during pre-production of 2K24, we had tossed out the idea of bringing this back because I'm an old head. So for those who aren't aware, back in SmackDown Vs Raw 2011, we had throwable weapons.

It worked in the sense that you press the button and you could throw something. The targeting the homey wasn't all that great, so it kind of got pulled from the game. But it's back. And brother, it is fantastic.

It completely changes the paradigm of how one goes into a hardcore, a no-disqualification, a match where anything goes, right? Because not only do you have to count for your opponents that are in front of you and what they're holding in their hands, but you also have to keep your head on a swivel and watch out for things that are thrown your way when you're finding somebody else.

And any weapon that you're holding can now be thrown, with the exception of, I believe, the championship titles. But water bottles that are on the announce table, the kendo stick, the chairs. We have Elina Vega's chocola. Her slipper is a new weapon in the game; the microphone.

- Nice.

- And I'll and I'll just say, one of my favorites-- my favorite is any weapon that I can throw that beam somebody upside the head because the cell and the reaction that they perform just never gets old, which goes into the backstage because, again, the backstage environment, of course, that's an anything-goes situation. And we actually expanded that this year to include multiplayer support.

We've got a new elevator that you can use to take yourself from floor one the floor two and vice versa. Just a lot of cool bells and whistles. And like I said, vending machines. And with the vending machine comes cans and bottles of water to be chucked at your opponents.

It's really, really fun. And the designers, Derek, he did a really good job of tuning the stamina because the backstage environments is pretty large, and there's a lot of running, a lot of dragging. And so stamina has been adjusted accordingly.

So as you're playing, you won't see your characters get winded tthree or four minutes into the match just to kind of enhance and elevate the fun factor of it. So it's one of my favorite new improvements to the game this year-- throwables, and, of course, all the cool things we did with the backstage area. Breakable glass, I mean, yeah, it's a sandbox of violence.

- Yeah, which is what people want. And I got to say it's great that you brought it back. As you were talking about it, it did remind me of those SmackDown game days where you could play in Times Square and get hit by a car.

So it's not quite as over the top as that because those moments are great. But it is integral to the WWE experience. It's like, I hate you so much. I'm going to take you backstage and throw a kendo stick in your face. it is awesome.

So I can't wait to see some of those matches with that end up a little bit more violent than the other ones. But so, Lynell, as we round up this interview, you mentioned at the top, even though the tagline is "finish your story," you all are just getting started. So now that we're launching tomorrow on Xbox, I'm sure that you all have a great line up down the line of DLC coming through. Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yeah. Like I said, I'm going to keep saying this. I think it's our best DLC ever, right? We announced it. Everyone was like, this is the best one. And it's hard to argue,

You look at what we're starting off with with, like, ECW, and then getting CM Punk, the return of CM Punk into the game, and then going into some of the '80s and then get into the '90 with late '90s with the WCW pack and ending it strong with some of the current superstars that were offering, like Shade. So there's so much for everyone.

And then I can't leave out Post Malone, right? I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, not only to see how good he looks in our game. There's always the question, like, who's the best looking character in the game?

I saw his face scan the other day, and I was like, I think that's the best one. I was just, like, oh, my god. I was looking at it and it was like-- because it was Randy Orton. We rescanned Randy Orton this year.

And I was just like, oh, I think he's the best looking one now because there's so much detail in his face. And then after Post Malone, I was like, I think he's our best looking because he has the tattoos and everything. He just looks so interesting and his hair with the little mullet thing. And I was just like, he's probably the best looking character.

And then Bryan Williams also had a hand in his moveset and making sure that-- he had a specific list of what he wanted his character to-- how he wanted to behave in the game. And Bryan Williams went to town with the animators and the moveset guys.

- Yeah, it was fun. He provided us with some-- he, being Post Malone, provided us with some videos describing how he'd like his character to behave in the ring-- taunts, moves. And as he's explaining, it just the enthusiasm.

It just came across. Like, he is a fan. And I knew that two or three minutes into him discussing how he wanted his character to be. And so I took all that information, and I curated this moveset for him, which I'm hoping he digs because, obviously, if he wants any changes, we're here to oblige.

But yeah, it's cool. And honestly, like this interview has been informative for me because I was not aware of how great his model was coming along. So I'm going to have to take a look at him after this.

- I'll send you a link, B. I'll send you a link.

- Because I mean, I know how much-- Randy Orton-- like, you said, his face and his likeness is just-- I mean, forget about it. So if you're saying that pose is on that level, it's like, oh man. Yeah, it's exciting times.

And I do agree with you, Lynell, that yeah, look, if it's true, it's true. This is the best DLC that we've done in a long time, I mean, between Punk, a mix of the new stars and with the old. I mean, I'm excited for Punk. I'm really excited for the great Muda. J Cargill coming down the line, I mean, DDP. It's stacked, it really is.

LYNELL JINKS: We got Honky Tonk Man coming back.

BRYAN WILLIAMS: Honky Tonk Man, yeah.

LYNELL JINKS: [LAUGH]

MALIK PRINCE: Someone for everyone. That's one for everyone. I swear, getting here that post Malone's in the game, I feel like my dream match-up is now a Texas battle between him and Undertaker. Who would win, Post Malone or Undertaker?

I guess we'll find out. And the only way to find out is with WWE 2K24. Lynell and Bryan, thank you so much for stopping by and joining us, talking about the game. As I mentioned at the top of the segment, the game is out tomorrow, March 8. So you don't have much to wait-- much time to wait. So jump in there. Lynell, Bryan, thanks so much for stopping by.

- Thanks, Lynell and Bryan. And Malik was very in his element right there.

- Absolutely.

- He was the right person for the job. Ethan, I know you thought you were here because you're the right person for the job. But actually, we invited you because we knew you were going to bring stuff.

- Yeah. I get it. I know my role.

- Still makes you the right person for the job.

- I think it's just very important that he knew the score.

- No, no.

- You're doing great, but I was just like, bring the controllers, and you just didn't leave.

- I like you because you're a straight shooter. So this is great. Yeah.

- Yes. I take what I can get.

- Says no one who's ever played with me in a competitive shooter, by the way.

[LAUGHTER]

All right, so what do you got here? Where doe we want to start?

- Let's start with the-- we got a couple of controllers to show off today. Let's start with the-- let's start with the one from Xbox Design Labs. You want to grab that for me, Kelly?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Do not touch that! Hey, hey, di, di, do.

- Oh. Oh, my gosh.

- We have standards here on the show.

- It's a longstanding--

- These are fresh. No Dorito dust on those.

- Oh, excellent. OK.

- Yeah, get those on there. Get those on there before you handle this beautiful Fallout themed controller that is just a lovely tribute to our lovely boy vault boy.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Would you say it's special?

- They're like kelly size too. They're so tiny,

- I would say it's very special. I would say it's extremely special. And in fact, every little character on this controller is a unique, special ability in the game. If you've played Fallout, you know that every ability has a Vault Boy tied to it, be it intelligence, strength, perception, what have you. And they're all--

- Charisma.

- Charisma. Riz.

- Riz.

- Yeah.

[CHATTER]

[LAUGHTER]

Ooh, nice. Yep, get those joysticks working nice.

- Can you see this?

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: This the pink one I believe. Now, this comes in many different colors. But like we said, this was designed with a collage of some of the most iconic Vault Boys. I actually have a Vault Boy shrine at my house, so I might have to cop one of these.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Really?

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: I do, yeah. I love Fallout. It's one of my favorite games. And so--

- It's so beautiful.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Show's coming up soon. Very exciting.

- It looks so so good.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Oh, and the Jones Soda colab. Oh, my god.

- Jones soda.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: I know, it's a straight shot to the '90s kid, you know what I mean?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Wait, like Nuka Cola?

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: I think so, right? I think Jones tweeted something where they had a lot of pictures.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: All right. Well, I'm going to look that up while you tell us more about this controller because you can get this controller, right? This is not--

- Yes. This is available right now on Xbox Design Labs, and you can customize it. So maybe your favorite faction is the Brotherhood of Steel. So you can get things that embody-- colors that embody that faction.

There's a Vault Boy 1. There's a few options for you, a variety of button styles, but they're all kind of around the Fallout theme. Obviously, iconic and blue and yellow, reminiscent of the vaults. The silver and gray, as I said, represents the Brotherhood of Steel.

And really any other color combination that represents your favorites, right? You could go for the railroad, go for whoever you want, you know?

- Go for whatever you want.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: The academy, what have you.

- Do you, boo boo.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah. Now--

TINA AMINI: I like this combo of colors, whoever created this specific one.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah, I'm a sucker for pink. I didn't work on this one, but--

TINA AMINI: Pink but lavender. And you got that flash of a little like teal kind of turquoise blue in front.

- Show them metallic triggers. Give them some love. Yeah, those are nice. Yeah, let's tip that towards the cam-- oh, oh, look at that.

- Oh, my goodness.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Beautiful.

- Boop, boop, boop.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: So this is available. If you're a Fallout fan, don't sleep on this controller. It is gorgeous.

- I feel my endurance getting stronger by the second.

- Nice.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: The Ethan special.

- I was just saying, can we name all the special skills, I guess?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: So SPECIAL's an acronym. Yes, attributes.

- That's a good call out. So Special. So we start with S.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Strength.

- Right. P?

- Perseverance.

- Ah, close.

[LAUGHTER]

- Good. Also good to have.

- Perception. Knowing that, Yes.

- Perception.

- E for Ethan.

Yeah.

- Oh.

- I don't actually know what E is.

- I want to say Endurance.

- Endurance. that's 100% in. Endurance. How do you spell special? C, Charisma.

- Charisma.

- I.

- I.

- Intelligence.

- A, Agility.

- Agility.

- Agility.

- Great.

- And L.

- Love.

- Linguistics.

- No.

- Limberness, no, I'm just kidding.

- It's all close. It's luck. It's luck.

- Of course, of course, yeah.

- Actually, all of those not bad, though, not bad. So there you have it.

- You need all of those things.

- You do, you really do. Yeah, every one of us has a set number of those.

I like, love. Can we change it?

[LAUGHTER]

I like your suggestion.

- It's almost February 14.

- Yeah.

- You were right, by the way. So Nuka Cola Victory Cola is the new one from Jones Soda. Apparently, they had done a different one previously. And it is a peach mango flavor.

- I actually love that.

- Ooh.

- Brad proof clearly in that future. And that's a--

- Don't try that. But, yeah.

- It's a very-- like, imagine your mind. Peach mango, it's that color.

- Because I feel like there one before was the bright blue.

- It's actually the color of orange. It's neither peach or mango. I'm just kidding.

- Also, separately--

- That's definitely true.

- I think the Fallout should just release the first stills, like, the posters of many of the main characters. They're so awesome. They're in the Fallout art style. Go check those out. They're great phone backgrounds if you're excited for-- I'm a Walton Goggins fan. I'll watch anything he's in. So I'm very hype for Fallout.

- I'm sure Todd watches the show, so.

- I'm sure. Todd, it's going to be great. Now, we got another controller to show off.

- Who wants to open these?

- Who wants to touch? Who wants to--

- Wait, wait, wait, wait.

- Oh, get the gloves.

- Tina, I got more gloves for you. Also, new.

- I ate any cheesy snacks before this.

- I saw you in the green room. You were eating--

- I don't like the mime vibe.

- --more Doritos probably.

- OK so this is the Victrix BFG wireless controller. What does BFG stand for, you may ask?

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: I think I know one of them.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah, yeah, I'm going to let you-- it stands for whatever you want it to stand for. I'm not going to get in trouble on the show. This is pretty cool because recently designed for Xbox started releasing wireless controllers, and this is one of our first ones. And so this thing is robust. It's going to have many of the features you're used to on an elite controller and then some.

- Smells like a new case.

- Yeah it probably--

- Yeah.

- A new case smell. Yes, exactly.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Give that a whiff for us, Tina.

- No, legitimately, it is emanating.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Nice, nice. Yeah, let's get that in a car scent or to hang in my car.

- Yeah, a little air freshener.

- Yeah, thank you. That's the word I was looking for.

- Anyway--

- In a car scent.

- This thing has four programmable buttons on the back. It's got hall effect triggers. If you know anything about hall effect, like, that is the way to go when it comes to sticky triggers. They are very nice.

- Is that just it docking?

- That is-- let me see this.

- I am not a hardware professional if anyone could not tell.

- Oh, yes, these are nice. Oh, my gosh. These are the trigger locks.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: You don't have gloves on. We may have to burn that one.

- No! Yeah, so these are lock triggers. So if you need your little hair triggers. And the cool thing about that is it's very modular, too. So if you don't like where the stick is, if you want both sticks low, you can switch those out. Maybe you're into fighting games. I know it's on the front-- is it the front of the box or the side of the box here?

- I think we might have a second one in there, too.

- We've got the close up here too.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Can you open that for me? It might be on there. But you can swap it out for the six-button cover.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Wait, so you could put these closer together? Like, you could--

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Yeah. Exactly. Those all kind of pop out fully modular, which is nice. So set it up how you want it to be. And based on the games, like, multiple joysticks to choose from, multiple D-pads to choose from. This thing is really just a nice piece of hardware it's really going to fulfill or hit any of those kind of needs you have as a gamer.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Oh, yeah. Oh, so you can put in essentially a six-button controller.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Right.

- Oh, that's amazing.

- Little fight stick.

- Yeah. I prefer to play fighting games with a controller as opposed to a fight stick, but then you only have the four buttons. So usually, if I'm playing Street Fighter, I take the medium attack, and I put it on the triggers. I use those less than heavy and light.

So that brings me back to the Sega Genesis six-button controller days. Those were-- those were good times.

[CHATTER]

- For those fighting game fans or anyone that's trying to get competitive with this thing, obviously, it's wireless. It's also bluetooth so you can play it with your mobile on the go. You can play it on your PC. But it does come with a cable as well if you're trying to plug-in because you don't want any latency. You're trying to sweat it out in a tournament setting if you're at your local fighting tournament or what have you.

- Did you lock those triggers?

- Do you lock--

- We're just having fun with it now.

- Yeah. Where's the mic?

- Now, we're just like smelling them, clicking the buttons.

- The ASMR--

- It does have that new controller smell.

- --slash smell-o-vision.

- Yeah. multiple-- it's got the tool for tightening in there as well. If you're looking to kind of ball out with your controller, this is a nice piece of hardware.

- This is the most innovative thing I've ever seen.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Victrex makes some really cool stuff. Their headsets are awesome. They're just a really nice brand. Yeah, big shout out to Victrex and everyone on the Xbox and the victory side that worked on this device. It is rad.

- It's a shame they only sent one of them over here.

- Well, there's two.

- You're not really following along here, Ethan. You got to raise that eye stat.

- It's a shame we never saw any of them at all.

[LAUGHTER]

- Yeah.

- He's the odd man out here.

- Yeah, these things are great.

- Well, we figure out exactly what we're probably not going to be able to take home. Let's talk about what you're going to be able to take home because it is free code Friday time. You know how it works.

All you got to do is head on over to twitter.com/xboxwire tomorrow. That is Friday at noon Pacific. And you just have to, between noon and 2:00, on March 8 answer this question, and we will randomly select five folks. And they will actually get a copy of WWE 2K24.

It is random. But the question you've got to answer is this one-- "What would be your pro wrestling entrance song?" Who'd want to go first?

- Love is a Battlefield, Pat Benatar.

- Wow, how does that one start? Is that a strong start?

- It's almost a slower-- it's a slower build. You can kind of come out, like, oh, I don't want to get us in trouble. I can't hum it, right?

- You need the one where it's like the rock is monologuing, and then they hear the first note. Everyone goes, oh. And then you run in with the chair.

- You're telling me everybody doesn't know Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar in the first note? I don't know.

- I mean, maybe Barracuda might be more of a baritard banger.

- That's hard. That's hard. Barracuda is hard, man.

- Yeah, yeah. But you would know it.

- You could come in on the chorus.

- That's true. That's true. Just screaming at the top of my lungs.

- It could be the Ethan remix.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. Do you have an entrance song? You've had all five seconds to think about it?

- Yeah. I had one and, but I'm changing it. And it's going to be Taylor Swift, Look What You Made Me Do.

- OK. All right, would it be a certain part? Would it be like the, oh, she's dead, or where do you come in?

- That would be a really good one. Like, why?

- That would be powerful.

- Because she's dead. And then it's like, ooh, and then I shut down. But even, like, the beginning is really good where it's just like the slow kind of like, doo, doo, doo, and so.

- Yeah, you could do some really cool stuff with the lights in the stadium.

- Yeah, like, so smoke I'm in a snake outfit.

- Kind of wondering how much you two have watched wrestling? Because you got to come in with that. You got to go right in strong.

- It's true. It's true.

- And I'm wearing a black snake leotard because it's reputation, Kelly's version.

- Extra credit here, by the way.

- For real.

[CHATTER]

- You put more thought into the outfit than the actual song.

- I want to know yours of yours since you you've thrown so much shade on ours.

- Oh, yeah.

[CHATTER]

- Let's do my Spotify playlist song. Actually, I have my head right now, which I think would be really good. For this is, Easy by the Seraphim. Like, I've had this song in my head, like, all freaking week.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: I don't know that one.

- See? Yeah, all right, so you can tell me you haven't heard it.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: Dang it.

- I don't know if that's what really represents me the most, but it has a really great beat. So it just comes right on in. So we'll go with that one.

ETHAN ROTHAMEL: OK, nice.

- X movie energy coming in. Honestly, I'd have to deep dive into my Spotify to truly pick one because you sprung this on us. But be going with my horror theme because it was honestly between the joke of like something Celine Dion and like--

[LAUGHTER]

We've been talking about horror games, so let me go in that direction. Have you guys have seen 28 Days Later, like the original?

- Yes.

- Oh, I know where you're going the.

- The like, soundtrack song. I think it's called In the House in a Heartbeat or something like that. And it is, like, just incredibly intense and so--

- The one where really builds towards the end--

- Yes, exactly.

- You have great taste.

- So I think-- thank you. I think it might come up right towards the end of that build because you do need that intensity for WWE.

- OK, that's that. I appreciate the thought that went into that. That's--

- In the House in a Heartbeat.

- In the House in a Heartbeat.

- Yeah, you should look that up. That i a fantastic soundtrack.

- It's a great song. I was obsessed with it.

- What a film.

- Yeah. Now, I'm going to have to go back and watch and watch. Anyway, what we think does it matter. What you think does matter. So again, on Friday, March 8 at noon between noon and 2:00, answer that question, "What will be your pro wrestling entrance song?" That is a reply to the tweet you will see on twitter.com/xboxwire. And we will select five winners to win WWE 2K24.

Kelly, Ethan, thanks so much for joining us. Any final parting thoughts here? Use that I or the C. Use your charisma.

- What's a thought?

- Yes.

- Oh, use the C?

- Yes.

- Play Sea of Thieves on Xbox Game Pass.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: That was the I, use your intelligence on that one. I'm impressed.

- Good plug, good plug.

- Yeah.

- I like it. Everybody love one another. Call your mom for Women's History month. You said that earlier. That's a great reminder. I stole yours, but I'm co-opted.

- Or if you don't want to, no pressure.

- Yeah, that's a good call. Yeah Thanks for having us.

JEFF RUBENSTEIN: Of course.

- Thank you for having us.

- Anytime. Maybe we'll have them back. I think they I think they passed the audition.

- They did good.

- They really did. Thanks so much. Tina, any last thoughts?

- Just let me know what you think about Partner Preview. We were really excited to put that together, and really excited that people were excited that we did another one so quickly after last October. So, hoping to do more of those.

- All right, and I would just say, if you're watching this when it first comes out, please watch the Towerborne stream at 2:00 PM Pacific and the Capcom stream at 3:00 PM Pacific. A lot of stuff to keep you busy today. Thanks so much for spending some time with us, and we'll see you next week.

[XBOX SOUND]