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Defining Duke, Episode 293: The Thread (Patreon)

Published:
2026-08-10 18:26:14
Imported:
2026-08

Content

Hey, all! It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 293 of Defining Duke.

Great ways to get your write-up used: Be pithy, be topical, and be insightful. Walls-of-text, posts littered with poor grammar and punctuation, etc., are promptly (though respectfully) ignored.

As this is an Xbox podcast, be sure your submission makes sense within that realm. You have until Wednesday, August 12th at 3 PM ET to make your submission.

Comments

Joey Rawlings

Halo post-Bungie: Worse than Concord? Morning Dukes, Is it possible that the “Halo” IP, under what was 343 and now Halo Studios, has cost Microsoft more than Concord did for PlayStation? The only reason I think about this is Colin had mentioned at some point that the total cost for Concord was between $300 and $400 million, and it’s widely considered the most expensive flop in gaming. Could it be assumed that in the 15 years that the “Halo” IP has been underneath what is now Halo Studios, that that amount of money, if not more, has been spent unsuccessfully on the franchise? It’s safe to say the “Concord” was IP that hit a brick wall. It exploded on impact, but it feels like Halo as a flagship IP has been in the state of a rolling, flaming car crash for the past 15 years. This is not an attempt to say that one was more important than the other; this is to simply try to provide a scale of how badly the IP has been treated and for how long. I’ll hang up and have a “enjoying the burger, shake, and fries on the blue picnic table” kind of day.

Raisin

Howdy, Dukes! With the seemingly disappointing numbers for Halo on PlayStation and the impressive Gears E-Day beta numbers on Steam, is it time we reevaluate who exactly is the burger, fries, and shake of Xbox? Typically, we refer to Halo as the burger, Gears as the fries, and Forza as the shake, but I don't know if that order makes sense anymore. Personally, I think... scratch that... I know Forza is the burger, Halo has been demoted to the fries, and Gears has been upgraded to shake. Conventional wisdom would have you believe Halo was the burger because it's the main event. However, let's call a spade a spade. Forza is the main event. Forza Horizon 5 alone has more players than there are Series consoles. Gears is sweet. Gears has never really missed. Even entries like Judgment and Gears 5 are far from bad. Much like a nice strawberry milkshake, Gears hits just right. Halo, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. Not unlike fries, Halo is hit or miss. They are both deceptively simple, yet people still somehow fuck it up. Somehow, Halo Studios has missed more times than they've hit. The same can't be said for Gears, which is why it's been upgraded to shake. All three of these franchises have something in common: they were birthed by other teams and have since been stewarded by new teams. In the case of Forza and Gears, it's worked out pretty well. The same can't be said for Halo. Which is why I believe it is time we officially acknowledge the new and updated burger, fries, and shake standings. Can the Dukes please get this one on the record? Or, if you disagree, please, tell me why. Sincerely yours, The Ultimate Forza Bro, Little Raisin!

Gaming Empire Chronicles

With Xbox changing so much as a business, what part of the Xbox identity do you think still has to survive for it to feel like Xbox ten years from now?

Blurry

Dukes! All this talk about 360 era coming to pc, has it been said/ leaked that steam is involved ? I'm sat here watching the coverage and we are all just assuming that the games will come to steam but Xbox hasn't hit a rake in a while and hosting everything exclusive on the windows store is damn Xbox move if I did see one

Eddie Spaghetti

Sup dukey-dudes, I’ve been thinking on and off about what the Xbox equivalent of Sonys platinum would be called. I think the lay up answer is already there… hiding on our Xbox when we hit the home button and scroll over to our profile. Introducing the new ‘Mastery Badge!’ Xbox already has badges for years on Xbox, a Gamer Score milestone badge, and some others already on our profiles. Why not add another? The number inside of the ‘Mastery Badge’ can go up with each mastered game we complete. As always, thanks for the discussions and have a ‘I’ve been stuck on a podcast topic while working all week’ kind of day. (Doesn’t need to be read out loud, and just for Cog; SEA! HAWKS!)

Killwin

Sup Dukes. With all the Halo talk lately, I decided to boot up the Master Chief Collection. I have it on steam. But as soon as it boot up, it asks me for my windows/microsoft login and so I immediately closed and uninstalled the collection. And went back to grinding in Granblue Fantasy Relink. Why am I like this?

J Reid

Howdy dukes, All of this halo disappointing talk has me thinking... Are halo studios any more disappointing then Mr Matty plays not playing gothic? Honestly I'm more disposed and disappointed by Matty then halo studios. #gothicgate

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Dear Dukes of Manliness, Boy, was I feeling mixed emotions when you fine gentlemen were giving your Gears Eday thoughts. On one hand, I was like oh man this is sounding really good. On the other hand, I was like these damn noobs are always complaining the multiplayer is too shotgun focused and wack, so can I trust their opinions. So, I was conflicted as a Gears veteran. I'm happy to report the positive thoughts on Gears E Day were well founded. The games multiplayer is solid as hell. Im pumped. But is six multiplayer maps enough at launch? How quick do they need to add more before it becomes stale? Have a even Gears Noobs know Gears E Day is good kind of day!

Derrek Beeck

After watching The Odyssey and the new Spider-Man it got me thinking, do you wish that we still got mid tier level movie video games? So often after watching a great epic action movie I just want to be in that world a little bit longer and video games were able to bridge that gap for a while. I know a lot of them are bad but they're also a lot of decent and even good ones. I know it will never happen as even making a mid-tier level game with modest budgets it would be ridiculously to time-consuming and expensive for what is often considered a quick cash grab. So much of my original Xbox and 360 collection are filled with license games like it because they just don't make them like that anymore and they're often some of the most expensive to buy. So what recent movie do you wish had a video game adaptation?

BigDumbStupidIdiot

Hey Duke Dudes, After 4 years of grinding at work, I earned a promotion to a leadership position. This is my first experience being the 'Boss Man' so I'm seeking advice from seasoned Boss Men before the Imposter Syndrome kicks in. COG, you've had several serious, big boy positions at serious, big boy companies and Matty, you've been your own boss since you were prepubescent teen and you're leading a team to make a game. I will gladly take any leadership advice to heart from you boys. Have a "respect my authoritah" kind of day!

Joey Melone

Hey dukes, With all the talk of original Xbox and more 360 games being brought forward do you think this could help extend the generation and buy some time to hopefully get thru the component pricing issues and launch the next gen at a more palatable price point?

DHall82

Wassup Dukes, We have a lot of folks talking about gears (rightfully so) but I gotta ask if either of the dukes have tried Marvel Tokon. I’m an old man like Cog and cut my teeth on teken, mk, street fighter, and the classics, but I haven’t been this deep in a fighting game in a minute. Can’t get enough right now. Tell me you have tried it, who ur main is, and why this is the tightest fighting game out in the last 15 years. Have a my thumb is throbbing kind of day. DHall82

Dr. D

1000 BAND-AIDS FOR 1000 CUTS!!! Whew… you guys had me yelling at my phone last week…

thejjuan1

Hello Dukes. What is up with this marketing cycle with GTA6? Two trailers in 3 years. 80 dollars with no disc. Preorders open with no gameplay trailer. That gameplay trailer being exclusive on Netflix for 6 hours. Which they could have easily shown on gamescom, but Rockstar just hates Geoff Keighley. I hate that Rockstar can get away with all this bullshit just because it’s GTA. If anyone else would have done this. They would have been roasted. Just imagine a Sony or a Ubisoft did this for one of their games. I hope this does not become a trend. Because it’s starting to feel that GTA6 will hurt the game industry then save it. Have a good one Dukes.

MC Squared

Hey Dukes! Long-time listener from the UK and a big fan of you both — Matty and Cog, you keep my commutes sane. Quick one: I got tired of squinting at blurry achievement lists on ancient tracker sites, so I built my own — SynchPulse (synchpulse.com). High-res achievement and trophy lists, creator profiles, a community-voted roadmap, and we're building out the features area now — including LFG, so hunters can actually find each other for those multiplayer grinds. It's live, it's early, and I'd genuinely love your input — check it out, and anyone who signs up now secures a founders badge. Come say you were there at the start. Much love, and have a "my wife just got dumped by her boyfriend kinda day" All the best Marc

PLAY HAS LIMITS

Dukes I know every enthusiast is upset at the high prices of current and future hardware/software aka Country Club Gaming. But now I have begun to think, why does anyone really need the newest shiniest thing as soon as it comes out? We have current gen consoles and PCs that can play all generations of gaming in their best possible versions (better resolutions/framerates, improved controls). There are also, too many good games that players have missed and not enough time to play everything. I say let the corporations release their products at whatever price they want and the market will dictate if that is worth it or not. If truly unaffordable, it will not succeed.

danny

Hey Dukes, First time writing in. Love the show and the posi vibes y’all bring. Have either of you been keeping up with the fiasco that is Marvel Tokon on PC? The beta a few weeks ago was widely criticized for poor performance and stuttering, which many blamed on the aggressive anti-cheat and Sony SDK services running in the background. ArcSys promised fixes by launch, but the launch-day patch didn’t really solve it. Things got bad enough that TNS, **the** biggest online FGC tournament organizers, made its weekly Tokon tournament PS5-only. Maximilian Dood even uninstalled the PC version live on stream and told his huge audience it was basically unplayable, and the whole situation was all over Twitter. The game also saw a pretty sharp drop on PC after day one, presumably from refunds and people waiting for a patch. ArcSys did finally release an update yesterday that seems to have substantially improved performance, but I wonder if the damage has already been done. For a game as beautiful as Tokon and an IP as big as Marvel, how does something like this happen? If the PC issues could be improved this much with another week of work, why not delay the PC version? Mostly just venting because I really love the game. I’m sure the answer is complicated and probably just part of the giant mess that is modern game development, as y'all might well know.

Thomas Christ

Hi Dukes, With physical media fading, ad-supported gaming and streaming are the next frontier. As Colin and Gene noted, despite the iconic status, the Mass Effect franchise didn't sell spectacularly relative to the development costs. This is also true of high-budget single-player IPs from that era. This illustrates Colin’s point that Sony tried the creative single-player strategy, but the broader audience simply didn't show up. Sony disclosed that 8 mega-popular games (free to play, live service, and annual franchises) plus 2 publisher subscription services generated 53% of all PlayStation Store revenue. Ad-supported services and game streaming opens doors for price-sensitive gamers in the new generation who play these super popular type games. If core players have the means to easily avoid ads or streaming, why resist services built for a different and vital demographic?

DanXcel

Hey Dukes, I wanted to add some context to the video I shared with the both of you on twitter yesterday. I had my wisdom teeth taken out and was under the influence for several hours. I’ve always seen hilarious videos of people after their surgeries, but I never quite understood just how potent the truth serum was until Monday. I decided to come clean about something I’ve felt for a long time. For years now, I’ve watched and listened in silence as others mock Starfield, and I’m looking at you Matty. I’ve been subjected to dozens of hours of harassment and a constant barrage of negativity surrounding this game. At this point, I’ve scrolled through endless comments and posts just begging for a moment of reprieve each time. It was simply time to speak my truth and the drugs gave me the courage that I once lacked. In that moment of sheer vulnerability, all I cared about was making sure I told the world how I really felt, that Starfield is one of the greatest games ever made. Now that this revelation is public knowledge, I hope my tears can move other Starfield lovers to come out from hiding. Please, don’t be ashamed, instead be bold and help me evangelize the truth. If you need more encouragement, you can find me in the r/NoSodiumStarfield subreddit. And Cog, please don’t ever stop humming that Starfield tune.