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Defining Duke, Episode 252 | We PLAYED The Halo Remake... (Patreon)

Published:
2025-10-30 16:00:21
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Following months of swirling rumors, Halo Combat Evolved has its remake. It's called Halo Campaign Evolved and you can play it next year on Xbox, PC, and yes, even PlayStation! It has everything from sprinting to aiming down sights, but more surprising is the new content found within. Cutscenes have been entirely reshot, new prequel missions are being added to the game, new weapons are getting thrown in there, and even the warthog saw an expansion to it. Cog and Gene had the opportunity to go hands-on with a demo of this remake and the takeaways are what you'd expect from a Halo Studios led project. Indeed, it's the familiar cocktail of optimism for what's in front of you and lingering skepticism from the thing you just got.Timestamps:0:00:00 - Intro

0:02:53 - Sarah Bond says exclusive games are antiquated

0:16:09 - Matt Booty says Xbox’s competition is TikTok and movies

0:29:43 - Phil Spencer says Forza Motorsport isn’t dead

0:38:25 - Phil Spencer on Xbox’s AI push

0:45:09 - Xbox has a Partner Preview coming in November

0:52:55 - Fallout Day 2025 was terrible

1:18:40 - ID@Xbox showcase reveals 12 indie Game Pass titles

1:20:43 - Canceled multiplayer God of War game leaks

1:24:12 - Ghost of Yotei sales analysis

1:31:00 - Loulan: The Cursed Sands revealed

1:33:23 - Masters of Albion will be Peter Molyneux’s final game

1:41:31 - Mouse: P.I. for Hire releases on March 19th, 2026

1:42:45 - Battlefield REDSEC shadow dropped by EA

1:45:07 - FemShep wants to go back to Mass Effect

1:46:40 - Crash Bandicoot is getting a Netflix series

1:47:51 - What We’re Playing (Xbox Ally X)

2:26:55 - Halo Campaign Evolved discussion

3:01:40 - Cog's thoughts on Ninja Gaiden 4

3:09:11 - Outer Worlds 2

3:35:17 - Massive details on the next Xbox

3:59:25 - Xbox’s 30% profit margin to blame for price hikes

Files

Comments

Daddy T

Master Gene, Sergeant Cog & Grunt Matty

Parker Petrov

Gene park on this? can't wiat to listen now.

BamAHamYum

I’m sorry, but can we please stop using Jez as a reliable source of information? This is the same guy that claimed Xbox exclusives would NEVER come to playstation, and that it was just “hard hopium from fanboys”. Now look where we are.

Daddy T

Yeah he needs to be bumped back a few tiers on the leaks Reddit

Cloud

Hoooooly this episode is GIRTHY let's gooo

Joe Mama

I like Gene, but I miss just having Matty & Cog. It's been a good while now.

Jacob Lesperance

What about the data that shows your console sales falling off a cliff after you abandon..... Exclusives. Just look at today's xbox financials

BamAHamYum

I love Cog, but it was frustrating hearing him appeal to data, while ignoring the data you just mentioned. And also brushing over the fact that the only exclusive Sony released from their studios this year is performing well on the Circana charts. Not to mention the limited data we have on Pokemon Z-A and DK Bananza.

ToiletDrummer

he's a MSFT mouthpiece and a bit of a shill, yes. I'd have said that he's been very wise to call himself a blogger and not a journalist a few years ago, but with how far journalism in general has fallen now, I think he may as well call himself one now. Turns out he was just ahead of the curve

Michael McCoy

I haven’t finished the full conservation yet so this might be brought up, but bingo. Exclusives are important because they play a key factor in what console a consumer will get, and then when they have the console the console manufacturer gets a rip off of their digital purchases. Madden, Fifa, and NBA aren’t exclusives but because Sony put in the work to court people onto their platform, they make way more money off of those titles than Xbox

Jei Tee

I think one of the points that is missed, is that when gamers have no reason to be part of your ecosystem those “multi platform” games essentially become exclusives. If I don’t have a reason to be on Xbox then all of my purchases for stuff like Fortnite, COD, Madden, etc. will be happening through PSN. The point of exclusives is to bring people to your system so they play all of those multi platform and third party games through your store front, console, etc.

ZombiesNJ

Matty Booty 😆😆😆😆😆

Carl of rng

I really think a lot of guys when they talk about Pokemon being a really good seller really really are devoid of context when Pokemon is the number one IP in the world Pokemon makes the most money out of every other IP out there I think comparing things to Pokemon is a little bit disingenuous especially because Nintendo does not even keep all the money off of the Pokemon IP as it’s split up between two other companies. And also I wanna add to that Nintendo‘s exclusives dominate compared to the other two because they don’t have as much competition for big games outside of the exclusive all the Pokémon games on the Nintendo switch consoles have sold over 111 million copies whereas Sony‘s big franchise Gran Turismo across five consoles sold 100 million copies again there’s always gonna be exceptions to the rule. It’s just this particular argument. I don’t like because it is so devoid of context besides that I have no issue talking about it. I just wish people would caveat by saying Pokemon is in fact the biggest money making IP on the planetso it has way more fans and it has way more reach

CombatSneeze

76 runs at 60 when you play the ps4 version on ps5 but it looks rough

Bogey

Cog no one’s disputing that multi plat games sell more than exclusive titles. Of course games that are sold everywhere will 9 times outta 10 outsell the exclusives. But that’s different from saying exclusives are antiquated. Exclusives are what drives people to those platforms where those millions of third party games are sold. THATS why they’re important You know what data you can look at that supports that? Console sales. Sure PS was always gonna outsell Xbox based off last generation alone, but let’s even compare Xbox’s numbers to themselves. The moment they announced they’re going multi plat, their hardware sales plummeted. Like we’re talking selling worse than ever historically bad numbers. They were doing decent before that. There’s data you can look at that supports that exclusives are NOT antiquated

Lawrence B

Was it not them two last week?

Alan

Microsoft has cog on a leash that they don’t even have to hold 😂

Joe Mama

Ben was on for the first half-ish.

BigDumbStupidIdiot

I appreciate COG's realistic corporate mindset. Doesn't matter how much you explain exclusives gives you a little vertical monopoly, creates culture and long-term loyalty with consumers when your boss points at the monthly best sellers and says "None of this shit is exclusive. Why do we make exclusives?"

Gary Clark

Cog has to defend Xbox so he can get early excesses.Thank god Colin doesn’t do that bullshit.

Honest Abe

Dude I love Cog, but he needs to get off Xboxs nuts

GlasgowRaider

"I only care about the data" whilst ignoring the fact the data isn't complete

Mysterious Narrator

First time in all LSM history the show topics start immediately. 😲

DogMeat

With the new "hybrid" system will they continue to have a severely cheaper pc game pass? Or will this maintain the 30 dollar plus game pass as a "console"?

Guybrush Threepwood

Great episode, Loved Gene on here, he always brings the special spice.

Slippery when wet

Cog completely over looking Mattys point of the exclusives “drive people to your ecosystem to spend money on those third party games..” that’s the point of being antiquated sounding ridiculous

ZakBlade

Love ya Cog, but gotta push back a bit. Cog pointed out that only ghost of yotei showed up as an exclusive on September’s Circana chart. Name another exclusive that came out that month. I don’t think there were any other exclusives, so the fact the only exclusive that came out in September showed up at #4 is very significant. There are hundreds of multiplatform games that Ghost of Yotei beat. Meanwhile, in October, Microsoft has 3 multiplatform games coming out: Keeper, Outer Worlds 2, and Ninja Gaiden 4. I’ll be shocked if any of those hit the top 5 in October. If being multiplat is the secret to success, at least one of them should, right?

zepplinmike

I’m honestly loving the rotating 3rd chair guest thing as imho three people is the perfect podcast amount in general for energy level, variety of viewpoints and areas of knowledge, while still giving everyone plenty of opportunity to chime in. It’s also been great for these recent Duke episodes as a way to hear a little more from the LSM expanded universe beyond Summon Sign, especially now that Constellation is gone. Matty and Cog are of course elite as a pair, I just wanted to give some positive feedback to encourage at least a good mix of episodes with guests in the future, especially as you guys are thinking about tweaks to the format all around.

Jordan Wray

You don't have to use Pokemon, Animal Crossing in 2020 sold 45 million copies lmao. Spider-Man on Ps4 - 20 million copies Just because Gene used Pokemon in this instance doesn't mean it's the only example, or even remotely close. Gene has point out plenty of times in the past, Nintendo is regularly a top all time seller with their EXCLUSIVE games.

Carl of rng

And Spider-Man is also no longer exclusive to ps4. Also it’s not a Sony owned ip. What we saw with the insomniac leaks is that PlayStation also is getting a lot less money from these games due to Disney faking a huge cut. Nintendo exclusives dominate because they still have the inferior 3rd party support. Exclusive don’t really matter having a good game does which Spider-Man 2018 was. But even then that game is almost 10 years old the exclusives matter argument is dying more and more and even your example isn’t an exclusive anymore.

Trill Spencer

I love Cog and I hate to see some people being unnecessarily rude to him in the comments here… That being said I really disagree with his take on exclusives. Specifically that he is leaning on data that shows 3rd party games dominating. While that may be correct, I don’t think that is the point in contention as a lot of commenters have already noted. The fact is, Sony and Nintendo have built their brands via exclusives that drive people to their platform. Now, they reap the benefits of a huge share of those 3rd party games being sold on their platform where they get a piece of the profit. Xbox tried to do this and failed. Notice how their most successful generation by far was also the one where they had heavy-hitting exclusives driving platform sales. Now they say that exclusives are not the answer. That may be true in the sense that exclusives won’t salvage their situation immediately possibly ever. BUT that isn’t because exclusives don’t matter, it’s because they haven’t been able to produce exclusives that matter. Like Matty says, they would certainly not be saying this stuff if Halo Infinite and Starfield were smash hits. And as Gene points out, recent Pokémon sales (not to mention GoY and countless other high-profile exclusives) prove that exclusives can and do sell gangbusters while simultaneously driving platform traffic.

The Iron Lords Podcast

Much love. Comment sincerely appreciated without attacking me personally:) I also agree with most of what was discussed regarding our "exclusives" discussion, as I stated from 7:13 - 7:30 in the audio/video. Just extra nuance on why publishers & developers are making these statements, especially YTD sales, F2P, and other sources of time engagement. I think we all know WHY Xbox is making these statements right now. lol

demosthenes140

Cog glosses over the fact that the majority of third party sales aren’t happening on XBox driven by the lack of exclusives

Murderer Kevin

Gene tripping on Masterchief backflips haha get what he's saying about change tho

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Stand on business, Cog. Comparing PlayStation and especially Nintendo to Microsoft is like comparing an apple to an apple pie or maybe apple sauce. A lot of similarities in taste but still different. PlayStation and Nintendo have years and years of advantage in gaming because they were there earlier. There customer bases are much different as well. You also can't compare this industry to movies either. Way way different. Everyone forgets. Microsoft lost the digital age where people got their libraries together. They have to evolve the industry and if you look at the up-and-coming generation, they want to play on whatever device they have. They are different. Also, no one here is going to convince me that PlayStation has an advantage this generation due to their exclusives. Theyve been way too infrequent and not at the greatness level we saw in past generations (ps4 comes to mind). Budgets have exploded and risks can't safely be taken anymore at that level. They have to go multiplat. The walled gardens are crumbling ya'll. Times are changing. Good on you, Cog.

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

What has driven people to PS5? It isn't exclusives. If you're talking past exclusives, how can that factor for Xbox today? Industry is changing. Exclusives are becoming a thing of the past. You know who knows this? PlayStation, which is why all their games are going PC.

Slippery when wet

Man please.. Xbox had alot of good will during the 360 era and should’ve kept their foot on Sonys neck. They fucked everything up with the Xbox one reveal and that’s just a fact. Microsoft is literally the reason Microsoft is in this situation right now and nobody engages with their platform. Xbox literally was the driving force of gamertgas and establishing your digital games. They just got way to cocky and lost their way in the process.

Slippery when wet

PlayStation doesn’t view pc as competition. Sony had missteps this gen soley due to the heavy investment in live service games. They canceled damn near all of them and that is what ruined their normal 1st party output this gen. If you think Sony will ever put their “unlicensed 1st party games” meaning Spider-Man not included, you’re high. Why would they release their first party games on Xbox, to sell about 10,000 copies. Xbox gamers don’t buy games anymore. Everything is “ahhh I’ll wait to see if it comes to gamepass”. when Sony says “intergalactic” will be releasing on Xbox, then I’ll say you’re right. Times are changing. But for right now, times are only changing for Xbox because they are nearly a dead console platform.

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Three things 1) Shout out to Gene for some of the worst Halo takes I've ever heard haha 2) The Dukes have been on flipping fire lately. Really good, entertaining episodes. 3) You guys missed an opportunity for BeltToAssDD but #HoodDD is okay I guess

Claude

Cog’s noises hearing Matty talk about outer worlds 2 is peak fat guy looking at a stack of pancakes. All the love

Walk Forward Cutscene

You can see sprint clearly interrupt the music transitions. If you guys don’t care about that then you should be force-fed AI slop for the rest of your lives.

Del Griffith

You don’t want Halo remake to be an RTS? I laughed out loud at that. Gene is great but that was a wild take. Lol