Welcome to the brand new Friends Per Second newsletter!
We can’t believe we’re in the third year of the podcast, and it’s been such an exciting Project to be a part of. We wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all the Users who have been along for the ride so far, and we’re excited for what the rest of 2024 is going to bring.
We had a big planning meeting recently, and not only did it give us this incredible moment where Jake accidentally turned himself into a robot and couldn’t turn it off…
…But we also outlined a big list of ambitious things we want to do with the show this year and beyond. And number one on the list was this newsletter.
Why are we doing this again?
We know that not everyone catches every Twitter update or podcast episode, and that’s okay! But if you’d like to stay in the loop about upcoming episodes, conventions we’ll be attending, and other secret plans (sorry to be a tease), this is a great way to keep up to date
We don’t have a dedicated Discord, and we thought the comments section here might be a nice additional place for Users to congregate outside of YouTube, as well as be an additional place to field User questions
Speaking of comments sections, we often get messages asking for a list of the things we discuss, so we’ll be collating them all here. There are often great pieces of video and editorial criticism or news reporting that we reference, and we thought it’d be cool to do a kind of reading list for each episode. Don’t worry, there won’t be any quizzes (unless you want that)
We hope you like it! We’ll be in the comments and welcome feedback on the formatting of the newsletter, and can’t wait to watch it grow and evolve.
Without further ado, let’s get into what we were chatting about this week.
Xbox’s Game Pass Changes
Price hike shows Xbox is determined to make Game Pass work | Opinion - GamesIndustry.biz
Note: The 70% Game Pass attach rate was an old figure from 2020 - Lucy
It’s been one hell of a year for Xbox news, and we’re honestly not surprised that the cost of Game Pass going up. But with a new tier that doesn’t include Xbox first party titles arriving day one on the service and a price increase for all other tiers, is Game Pass still the best deal in gaming?
Games mentioned: Starfield, Minecraft, Avowed, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, South of Midnight, Fable, State of Decay 3, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Gears of War: E-Day
Misc mentions: Limited Run Games, Tune & Fairweather, Lost In Cult, The Video Game History Foundation, the Snoopy Apple Watch face
User Question #1 - Harvey Monro
What do you think is the modern-day equivalent of going to Blockbuster on a Friday night?
We loved this question but simultaneously felt the sands of time drain even more quickly as we tried to think of a modern-day equivalent to the high of a Friday night Blockbuster trip. Turns out, there probably isn’t one, but that doesn’t stop us from reminiscing about those amazing Blockbuster nights. Brace yourselves for a SHOCKING revelation from Jake.
Games mentioned: Mortal Kombat, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Movie mentions: Toy Story 3, The Northman, Madame Web, High Fidelity, Star Wars, What Women Want, Speed, The Mask, The Mummy
Misc. mentions: Portland, Oregon, Civic Video
Games We’re Excited About In The Second Half of 2024
2023 was an absolutely ridiculous year for games, and while 2024 may be a bit quieter, there are still plenty of titles to get excited about. As we’re enjoying the post-Summer Game Fest lull and gearing up for Release Season, we decided now’s as good a time as any to talk about the games we’re looking forward to playing in the latter half of the year. Expect guilty pleasures, JRPG bangers, and “Lucy-ass games” galore.
Ralph’s picks: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Jake’s picks: Star Wars Outlaws, Frostpunk 2, Kingmakers
Lucy’s picks: Thank Goodness You’re Here!, Daemonologie, The Rise of the Golden Idol
Games mentioned: Starship Troopers, Helldivers 2, Far Cry, Borderlands, West of Loathing, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, The Alters, Elden Ring, Destiny, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Astro Bot, Case of the Golden Idol, Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game, Nancy Drew games, Eagle Eye Mysteries, Call of Duty, Backyard Baseball, METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER, Frostpunk, Path of Exile 1 & 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ghost of Tsushima
Misc mentions: Between Two Fires (Christopher Buehlman), Berserk (Kentaro Miura), Lucy’s Kay Vess cosplay, Famous Five (Enid Blyton), Harriet the Spy (Louise Fitzhugh), Snowpiercer
If you’ve got burning questions you’d like us to answer on the show, email us or drop them in the comments below!
User Question #2 - Matt Wood
Do you think Steam reviews enable a sort of mob-rule mentality that has the potential to cause more harm than good?
Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, you can’t deny the impact of Steam reviews. This user question got us discussing whether or not the umbrella term “Mixed Reviews” is a good thing or not, and we discuss other potential options to help Gamers make informed purchasing decisions when they’re browsing Steam.
Games mentioned: Ctrl Alt Ego, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Elden Ring
What We’ve Been Playing
A lot of what we’ve all been playing is under embargo for a little while, but we have still managed to rack up some big gaming hours. This week…
Ralph’s been hitting Concord, Destiny 2, and Zenless Zone Zero
Jake’s also been playing Concord, as well as Once Human
Lucy’s been replaying Dragon Age Inquisition, but has dipped her toes into ZZZ and Concord
Other games mentioned: Guardians of the Galaxy, The Finals, Overwatch, Valorant, Call of Duty, The First Descendant, Death Stranding, The Division, Palworld, Honkai Star Rail, Genshin Impact, Hearthstone, Marvel Snap, Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Baldur’s Gate 3, Marathon
Show and Tell
Sometimes we do things other than playing video games. Sometimes.
Ralph’s been researching spiders in the Amazon with Madame Web
Meanwhile Lucy was enjoying Beck live at The Greek
Yes, chef! Jake watched season 3 of The Bear
Misc mentions: A ‘Simpsons’ Joke Comes True for Cypress Hill, Morbius, Ultimate Spider-Man (Hickman, 2024), Breaking Bad, Succession, Ted Lasso, basically the entire Beck discography
Thank You!
If you like the show, please leave us a review! It helps us grow and find more Users to add to this fine Project. We’ll give reviewers a shout out in each newsletter 🫶
Next time…
Embargoes are up so we’ll have plenty of hot games to talk about, Lucy will be fresh from San Diego Comic-Con, and the gang gears up for Gamescom. See ya then!
I really love the fact that you guys are doing this! It would be really cool to see small personal write ups from each of you guys whenever you have thoughts on something but don't think they'd be good enough to do a video about.
Absolutely love this as a recap for what was talked about or if I don't have the time in the week to check out the whole episode.