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Defining Duke, Episode 298: The Thread (Patreon)

Published:
2026-09-14 17:58:17
Imported:
2026-09

Content

Hey, all! It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 298 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, September 16th at 3 PM ET to make your submission.

Comments

Raisin

Sup, Dukes! I wanted to provide a slightly counterculture take on the Kojima/PlayStation/Xbox triangle of madness. For context, I really liked Death Stranding. I fucking loved Death Stranding 2. However, if the goal is a prestige play, I'd be pissed if I were Ninja Theory, Compulsion, or Double Fine. This isn't about the perceived quality of these games. It's about the fact that you had three award-winning, prestige studios and decided to part ways with them for more commercially viable options. But! Wait! That's not true either, because they canceled Project Blackbird and let State of Decay 3 walk. Which is it? Matt Booty famously said Xbox needed more shorter, prestige games. That was a week after attempting to close Tango. You know. The prestige Japanese studio that made the prestige title Hi-Fi Rush. Once again, what is it? Lastly, not to defend Hermen Hulst. I've long wanted him gone. But are we even sure this was a Hulst decision? The man was seen standing next to Kojima during the announcement of Physint. He was instrumental in getting Kojima Productions hooked up with Decima. Which then leads me to this: if Physint is still running on Decima, then there's no way it's exclusive to Xbox. And if it is, why would PlayStation willfully give up publishing rights but let a proprietary PlayStation engine run an Xbox console exclusive? Or perhaps development hasn't started in earnest and Kojima will be using Unreal, like they are with OD. In that case, while I still ultimately disagree with the decision to let Kojima go, it suddenly makes more sense why this happened, especially if the reporting from Jason Schreier is true that the game was already running over budget, missing deadlines, and wasn't a true PlayStation exclusive. In closing, while this is in no way intended to justify Sony's actions, I'm having a hard time seeing the play for Xbox when their entire franchise first mantra stands in stark contrast to the prestige play.

Jeff Sokol’s slice of pizza

Afternoon Dukes, This last weekend my fiancé several times mentioned that she and her family are going to be celebrating 9/11. I thought the phrasing was a bit off but thought nothing of it. But then I remembered, her family immigrated from the USSR during the height of the Cold War, she watches Hassan Piker religiously, and moved to Texas from California. Am I marrying a sleeper agent? Thanks, I’ll be trying to descramble Soviet era transmissions while I await your answer.

LameDumbAndGay

What’s up yearning Matty and Platonic Cog, I’ve got a small correction from last weeks episode. Matty, you were talking about Troy Bakers video game career and said he played Hope in Final Fantasy 13 but that was wrong, he plays Snow. It was on the mind because I was literally replaying ff13 while listening to the episode. Thanks and have a, “Matty gazes deeply into Lord Beefy’s eyes, yearning for his affection. Platonically of course,” kind of day.

thejjuan1

Hello Dukes. First time writing in for Heath is Wealth. I have a friend’s wedding to go to in a year. So I want to look good for it. Especially in a suit. First of all, I changed my diet significantly two years ago. Went from 330 to 280 pounds. But now I’m at a point where it’s harder to lose weight, so I'm going to try to get fit instead. So I want to start exercising at home. What are some YouTubers or even exercise programs you would recommend? I don’t want to start with a gym membership just yet, until I can get a good workout routine. I don’t want to hurt myself being in my 30s. I want a little of everything: weights, cardio, legs and chest. Any good tips will help. Have a I don’t know how to balance working out and playing these 80 hours RPGs kind of day!

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Dear Dukes of Leisure, I'm not going to harp on the game itself too much, as I want to ask a broader gaming question, but is Wolverine a pivot point in the industry from a game design standpoint? After watching the reviews, Skill Ups being particularly illuminating, I have to think the industry has to be done with this trend of making games so easy, yeah? The yellow or white paint, the non-stop talking protagonist giving you the answers, collectibles that only a child would miss, etc. Can we be done this? Can we make games harder and more rewarding again? Have a I feel bad for Logan hanving to breathe in all that ass gas kind of day!

Pedro Carrasquillo

Hey dukes, long time listener here and I just wanted to state something that I feel is getting dismissed alot. Xbox getting in bed with Kojima is huge for them and their prestige as a brand. The sacred guys seem to think that it won't help xbox move units in a meaningful way, but I will say it has led me to jump ship to Xbox and Nintendo. I had my series x collecting dust, but with sony going full heel I refuse to give them my business moving forward until they earn it again. Looking forward to the ride with you boys and have a Hulk Hogan joining the NWO kind of day.

Raisin

Sup, Mr. Scott. I don't know if it's a reflection point. While admittedly anecdotal, if you go on the PlayStation Store right now and look at the most pre-ordered games, Wolverine's Deluxe Edition has surpassed the Ultimate Edition of GTA VI for the most pre-orders. Now, obviously, GTA VI is going to sell more than Wolverine will over its lifetime, but the fact that it surpassed GTA VI as the most pre-ordered game on PlayStation after reviews went out might be the canary in the coal mine. Ultimately, you and I will have to make up our own minds and play Wolverine ourselves. However, I do find it interesting that we, as a culture, are having this conversation about PlayStation and its game-design philosophy all while The Blood of Dawnwalker is being praised. Look, I'm not yucking anyone's yum, but where one group might see an innovative RPG, I see just Witcher with vampires. Which is fine, but where one thing might work for you, it might not for others. Lastly, to your point about yellow paint. I'm not gonna harp on SkillUp since I haven't watched his review, but I can't in good conscience beat up Wolverine over yellow paint but love The Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Horizon, Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei, Star Wars Jedi, FF7, 007, Tomb Raider, etc. Acknowledging the tropes of a genre doesn't inherently make it bad. It just means that you and I understand the language of game design. Whether or not you believe those tropes have been executed appropriately is a whole other issue. But, as I said, you and I will find out when we play Wolverine for ourselves.

harry smiff

Wagwan Dukes! Long time listener first time writing in, with Physint a hot topic right now I was curious, which project do you consider Kojima’s magnun opus? I’m currently playing MGS1 for the first time, excited to revisit 2 and finally play the 3-make soon. Cheers for the enthusiasm and hard work you bring from across the pond.

BigDumbStupidIdiot

I would suggest 3 pieces of equipment: stationary exercise bike (put it in front of a tv to game while sweating), adjustable weight dumbbells and an adjustable weight bench.

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Raisin, I won't be playing Wolverine. I can tell I won't find it enjoyable. I'm a Souls fan and play all my games on hard as the standard. Skill Ups review highlighted so many problems I would have with it, it doesn't make sense for me to drop the money. I'm also not a superhero guy. The whole collectible and nightmare scenarios in this game seem soooooo not my style. The Wolverine name will carry this a little, but if they adapt this level of hand holding and "watching" to other games, it would burn up so fast it'd be like a small meteroite entering the atmosphere.

They Now Call Me UNC.

Dukes of Power Is OD taking away precious development time, money and talent from what the people truly want: Physint. How about we put OD on Ice and really kick Sony in the pants with what is: the steal of the century. I’m not sure how far along that project is, but from what you guys have previously discussed, it seems more like an “experience” rather than a traditional game. The last thing Xbox needs is another Hellblade 2 moment… Have a: Kojima has gone on to GREENER pastures, kind of day.

Raisin

Fair enough, Mr. Scott. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I play the game. My larger point, especially as it relates to the yellow paint scandal, or in this case, white paint, which many reviewers, including SkillUp, have pointed out, is that I personally have a hard time believing I'll be upset about that specifically when this is just standard signposting in third-person action-adventure games. Perhaps I'll feel differently when I actually play it, but therein lies my point. Obviously, you're checked out. That's fine. As you said, superheroes aren't really your thing. That's cool! But I feel like too many people are prejudging it without having actually experienced the thing they're judging themselves. At least SkillUp played it. Who knows? Maybe I'll come back next week and completely agree with SkillUp. Or maybe it'll be the opposite. Wouldn't be the first time I disagree with the critical consensus on a first-party game from PlayStation or Xbox, for that matter. But I feel like too many people who would actually be in the market for this game are just letting the reviews dictate their opinions.

Kellen Kensinger

Hello dukes! This is my first time writing in to this show and I was hoping for some advice from you both. I’ve been mainly a PlayStation user since the PS4 came out. I had a Series X for a couple of years and then sold it last year when I figured they would mostly be bringing every 1st party game to PlayStation. These past 6 months or so have really soured how I feel about PlayStation, with the Kojima debacle being the final straw. I have a gaming PC that I haven’t used in about 2-3 years and I was wondering if you guys think it would be better for me to try and just upgrade some of my PC components or just buy an XBOX instead. I am a big trophy hunter so that was what was holding me back originally but with the platinum equivalent coming to XBOX soon, that’s had made my decision even easier. Thank you for what you guys do and keep it up. I hope Asha keeps working like prime LeBron out there.

Micah and Sweeney’s Racism Against Aliens

On the YouTubers part, Madfit and Joe Wicks (The Body Coach TV is his channel) are my go tos. Madfit might seem too focused towards women but her workouts are great, helped me lose around 10-20 pounds during the pandemic. Hope that helps, you got this!

Mr. Scott If You're Nasty

Yeah, if you're interested, I say go for it. Why not? If skill up was an anomaly, I'd be more skeptical, but countless pro-Sony style game reviewers, including Sacred Symbols hosts and Greg Miller, didn't really like the game. That's enough for me.. interested in hearing your thoughts though. In the meantime, I'll be playing Blood of the Dawnwalker, which is really good for me and the combat way different than Witcher.

Raisin

Have fun with Dawnwalker. I'll probably swing around to that Witcher 3 Remaster after GTA. Maybe it'll connect with me this time. Maybe then I'll be ready for Dawnwalker by then.

Tom Sweeney

Hello SEGA and Atlus aficionados, I was wondering if you saw some adaptation news in regards to SEGA. First, a Golden Axe animated show will be arriving on Paramount+ this month and if it’s anything like the Among Us show, safe to say we may have a banger. Netfilx is also gonna be producing a Crazy Taxi movie with the writer from the new Naked Gun movie (great movie btw) and they will be also producing a Stranger Than Heaven film. What are your thoughts on these announcements? Will you be watching? Does adapting a game that hasn’t been out yet show confidence or mis-placed confidence? Anyway, have a great day gentlemen!

Plumber Boy Mustache Man

Hey Dukes, why do you guys think XBOX is still relevant when nothing you see online, good or bad, translates to BOX office? Is it just hanging on for hope or is it hard to just transition your content? It's pretty clear XBOX would be fully third party if they didn't already heavily invest in Helix, which by all signs is just a PC. If you replace everything you hear about Asha with Phil's name instead, you will be exactly where XBOX was in 2014.

BigDumbStupidIdiot

Hey "You deny your weapon its purpose" Matty and "Nanomachines, son" COG, I'm all about glazing Asha Sharma, especially if she makes Physint exclusive, but are we really drinking the Kool-Aid of her answering support tickets? This is giving Kim Jong Un vibes. What's she going to do next? Make Creation Engine not run like doo-doo butter? Give Halo to Raven? People forget; this lady is a master marketer so take everything, even the wins, with a grain of salt. Have a "Asha Sharma can talk to dolphins" kind of day!

Screwed Mcfucked

Mr Scott, I just saw someone point out something I hadn't considered about Wolverines QTEs A QTE is a quick time event. Quick meaning you need to respond quickly In order to not fail them. Wolverine will not let you fail them. They are simply time events. Time events Either the game slows down a cutscene or it pauses entirely. They have essentially put light visual novel elements in their action game. And I find that hilarious. I'm skipping Wolverine (I'm sure it's good, but I've got things to get to that are better than good). I haven't even gotten around to playing my copy of spiderman 2 yet. It looks like I'm just gonna be waiting until they make another Ratchet game, which I'll be day one on no matter what. I just hope insomniac is allowed to make another on the scale of rift apart.

Setsuna Yuki is The Number 1 Idol

Hey Dukes, Quick correction from last week. Matty you said Metal Gear was exclusive to PlayStation until the remasters. This is not true as both 2 & 3 were released on the original xbox as expanded editions. Even MGS1 was released on PC 2 years after releasing on PlayStation. Metal Gear Solid 4 and the PSP games were the only PlayStation exclusives until the remasters and collection.

Zach Theuriet

Hey Dukes, As a mainly PC player (the other XBOX), I gotta say I’m quite excited for the announcement of Kojima’s Physint coming into the fold. Now I ask of you two: what other “prestige” studios would you be interested in Asha making a second party deal with? What would this hypothetical game be in your mind? Thanks from an electrician y’all keep company during long days

Paul Alguire

Hello, long time listener, but new to the Patreon and I wanted to give a big thank you!! As someone who has always been intrigued by souls games, I have never been good enough to play them and would often give up. After hearing Matt shout out Lies of P, I knew I had to give it a shot. I locked in and went through the base game and then into Overture. What an experience!! I then immediately played BluePoint's Demon's Souls and then eventually the GOAT, Elden Ring! Once I finished Elden Ring, I immediately played again and at the end of the 2nd run, I went into Shadow of the Erdtree which I just started. Cog, you should ABSOLUTELY play, I absolutely stunk at the games, but once it clicks, it really clicks and I dont want to say the difficulty is trivial, but it certainly becomes easier when you change your approach. Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work!

J Reid

Dearest Dukes, How are we surviving this busy release season? By the time this posts I'll hopefully be done with Dawnwalker and on to Onimusha. Anywho my question is about this Asha answering customer support tickets story and more specifically some of the backlash from it. I saw the story was immediately followed by some pundits labeling it, "Complete B*llsh*t", "horsesh*t" and more. (if the editor can bleep out the swear words that would be funny). While there is always a PR spin it seems odd that they would just make up a completely fake story to release. Thoughts? Do we believe Asha really got in the trenches or that people are completely fabricating stories like Matty saying he was eager to play Gothic when it released?

JP

Hey Dukes, Xbox continues to be best in the business at "Wait and see, in 3-4 years, we're going to REALLY be showing out". Have we quickly forgotten this was the exact sentiment early in the generation and then again with the ABK deal? Is this another "fell for it again" moment or do you think PlayStation is truly at risk of losing out to Xbox this next generation in any meaningful way? I get Kojima is an industry icon, but is publishing a game that likely won't release until we're well into the next generation of consoles really going to move the needle? Optical wins are great for a brand trying to rebound but I'd discount the engagement farming chatter online as this will be drowned out by some other headline in a month and the positive momentum may be lost as well.

Captain Hero

Dear Dukes of mayhem, I felt very privileged this week, I got to go and see the God of War composer, Bear McCreary play live. Fantastic gig including bangers from God of War - plus TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Walking Dead and Lord of the Rings. It reminded me of just how big a part music plays in our favorite games. Rez built its whole experience around its soundscape, BioShock's entire vibe was grounded in 1920s era music, while Tekken is famous for having consistently excellent foot tapping bangers. We obsess over graphics, but tend to forget about the vital role of music. Question for you both - what is your favorite video game soundtrack of all time? Or even fave track? Some of my faves tracks are 'Deliverance' from God of War, Tekken 7's 'Devil Kasumi' as well as 'Tamashi' from Tekken 8. For me standout soundtracks are Resident Evil 5, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Streetfighter 3 and Sonic R. But what do you keep coming back to? Keep up the good work. Best, Captain Hero P.S. Strongly recommend folks check out Bear McCreary's The Singularity: Ekleipsis tour, which is currently winding through the US, and hitting up other countries as well.

DeucesBruh

Hey guys, What’s your current experience with emulation? After getting into it this year (legally by dumping my physical discs) I have to say, it’s been a really fun ride playing my old Xbox, 360, and PS2 games at 4x the resolution and 2x the frame rate. I’m excited to see the official Xbox versions, but it ultimately now seems unnecessary, especially as disc to digital doesn’t work for 360 and older games.

Starlight137-Roko

Guten Tag honorary EU citizen dukes, just a quick question. How are we affording a new Kojima project while we are laying off 3600 employees? Imagine working at ID, trying to create the next project with a skeleton crew while beeing gaslit to tell and believe that the studio size is perfectly fine, while Asha writes up that beefy check for Kojima. Im not saying its wrong to get that game, but some things arent adding up. Have a standing 4 hours in line at Gamescom to play Control Resonant kinda day.

thejjuan1

Thank you for advise gentleman.

Quiet Lighter

Hello Dukes! Slight correction to Cog, the Witcher 3 DLC Songs of the Past is NOT going to be free. Whats free is the 'next gen' update for the game, which is still good, since a lot of other devs do sell it at a premium. CDPR must have really good PR to make you believe that they would give out a Blood & Wine quality DLC, which is probably one of the GOATed DLCs, for free. Especially since everyone seem to remember Cyberpunk's launch as 'just another buggy launch.' A lot seem to forget they withheld console review codes, while saying in an interview that the game 'ran surprisingly well.' Before the final 3-week delay to the game (after going gold), the game would have launched in a world where the new consoles have just barely launched. There would have been almost no way to play the game at an acceptable state on consoles. Love their games, but I will always remember the launch of Cyberpunk as the moment I lost 'one of the good ones.' (Slight edit because I mis-remembered some dates! sorry!)

Señor Pene Largo

Hello Dukes, hope you are all well. Watching Summon Sign, I heard some horrible news… Matty has never played Super Mario World. WHAT?! Cog can we have you explain why this game is better than Sonic on Genesis? All jokes aside, Super Mario World is a short game but a long game if you explore. A master class in video game design even more than OG Super Mario 1. Matty please fix this extremely big hole in your video game knowledge. Ya’ll have a good day

Jordan Wray

Just because you have layoffs doesn't mean funding isn't available, Microsoft laid off staff that it thought it could afford to lose. You might disagree with that assessment, I do too, but the math isn't "If we cut 3600 people we can fund xyz" it's "Do we need these 3600 people? No? Get rid of them" By the next quarter those 3600 people are forgotten about and no longer exist in Microsofts budgeting.

Jordan Wray

You don't gotta pretend like you're dumping your own games lol.

Booga the heart breaker

Hey Dukes, I wanted to ask if Matty is ok. I’ve been listening to you guys for awhile and I have noticed that Cog keeps affirming that he’s not gonna hold you. I think Matty deserves a hug like everyone else once in awhile. HOWEVER, not keeping up with trails … Tsk tsk. Maybe hold off on that hug for a bit actually.

Last Stands Unofficial Darkwatch Correspondent

Good Day Dukes, You’re casting a movie about Xbox from its beginnings to today. Who are you picking? Here are some of my high level picks. Bill Gates: Jesse Eisenberg Steve Ballmer: will Ferrell Seamus Blackley: Adam Driver Peter Moore: Jason Isaac’s Don Mattrick: Matthew McConaughey Phil Spender: Kyle Chandler Asha Sharma : Priyanka Chopra Jonas

DeucesBruh

I am. Its not hard. Dont steal shit.

boogersupreme

Hello gentlefish, I have been playing Marvel's Wolverine on release day (at the time of this post) and really enjoying it. I had extremely low expectations and have been pleasantly surprised. It reminds me of a really good Call of Duty campaign, a mostly guided experience with really fun setpieces. But obviously, this is not the reception that Sony wants from their 300 million dollar game. With the insane blowback that happens everytime someone shudders the words "Herman Hulst", what would you guys do to reset PlayStation? What games would you greenlight to keep nerds like me happy? Perhaps a Rainbow Six style SOCOM game? Maybe we get Psyonix (developers of Rocket League) to make a Twisted Metal game? What the actual fuck are we planning to do with 4loop and Fairgames? I'm curious to see an outside perspective on this given the consistent prognostication of Sacred Symbols. Be well my friends, and enjoy the Dong Walking with Zero Company.

Luis Sanchez

Hey duke, with all the talk of Kojima partnering with xbox of future games, do you think the move is like the polar bear going to Baltimore or spongebob working for the chum bucket?

Anton Kaye

Hey Dukes, I hear a lot about people complaining that there are not enough exclusives to justify this generation. Do you think our idea of generations has not changed with what generations actually are? When you buy a new CPU or GPU for your PC, you aren't expecting exclusives for those components. Since consoles are now on PC architecture, shouldnt we have the same mentality, in that, our existing and future games will play best on the latest hardware, but there are budget console options to play the same titles? Thanks and have a, "Exclusives are just a boomer idea", kind of day.