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Defining Duke, Episode 127 | That Was INSANE - Our Reaction To Xbox's 2023 Showcase

Xbox needed a good showcase after all of the bad to remind folks why they bought their piece of plastic in the first place. Well, Xbox's 2023 showcase wasn't just good, it was close to perfect. First party arrived in spades with Fable, South Of Midnight, Avowed, Hellblade 2, Forza Motorsport, and Clockwork Revolution all showing out to varying degrees. Third party delivered in the form of Persona, Metaphor ReFantazio, Towerborne, Payday 3, Path Of The Goddess, 33 Immortals, and tons more. The icing on the cake was none other than Bethesda Game Studios who blew everyone out of the water with Starfield. A game that truly feels like a major turning point for Xbox as both a publisher and the quality at which their exclusives should launch in. The emotions are high, so let's settle into a groove through all the amazing games we saw in a showcase for the ages.


Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:03:27 - What have we been playing?

0:14:15 - Do we have a reason to plug in the Xbox in 2024?

0:20:11 - Should we worry about more delays next year?

0:24:36 - Showcase - Fable

0:32:31 - Showcase - South of Midnight

0:38:17 - Showcase - Star Wars Outlaws

0:42:45 - Showcase - 33 Immortals

0:45:49 - Showcase - Payday 3

0:48:45 - Showcase - Persona 3 Reload

0:57:48 - Showcase - Avowed

1:06:38 - Showcase - Sea of Thieves: Legend of Monkey Island

1:08:30 - Showcase - Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

1:12:31 - Showcase - Hellblade 2

1:21:05 - Showcase - Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth

1:25:58 - Showcase - Fallout 76

1:35:35 - Showcase - Path of the Goddess

1:39:18 - Showcase - Forza Motorsport

1:44:18 - Showcase - Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom

1:44:49 - Showcase - Overwatch 2

1:47:33 - Showcase - Persona 5 Tactica

1:52:51 - Showcase - Starfield Trailer

1:55:56 - Showcase - Jusant

1:58:04 - Showcase - Still Wakes The Deep

2:00:14 - Showcase - Dungeons of Hinterberg

2:02:25 - Showcase - Phantom Liberty

2:09:24 - Showcase - Cities Skylines 2

2:12:10 - Showcase - Metaphor ReFantazio

2:23:57 - Showcase - Towerborne

2:26:11 - Showcase - Clockwork Revolution

2:35:34 - Showcase - 1 TB Series S

2:39:24 - Showcase - Starfield Direct

3:25:43 - Game Pass Pick of the Week

Defining Duke, Episode 127 | That Was INSANE - Our Reaction To Xbox's 2023 Showcase

Comments

Corporate Cog and Monetization Matty

Jacob R.

I'm a little disappointed that the focus on South of midnight is the idea that it looks like it's dropping frames. When I saw it, it looked like stop motion to me and I loved it. And discounting the scope of a game from AAA to AA because of the art style? Damn. Granted, it could be AA in the end, we don't know, but i thought it was graphically gorgeous

David P

The Avowed debut style looked better to me but the game still looks dope. Does Persona 6 go to Xbox? No doubt. Question is will it be day one? 🤔 Props to Matty for being the most die-hard BGS fan I know and yet he stills criticizes them as needed. #GodHowardDD

NeO JD

Dukes! I've been having trouble getting that Starfield Constellation edition too! I tried to get it from the Bethesda store and they charged me 4 times, no confirmation email or anything. Then, they told me those charges will be cancelled, and it's been sold out everywhere since. I'm on lookout now, I want that watch! And of course, the game looks stellar!

PuppiesOnParade

Metaphor is its real name. It was announced as Project Re Fantasy in 2016. Knew exactly what this was when I saw the trailer start.

Jason Bolla

"Market Matty"

Dano Bass

I’m shocked Matty thought it was a possibility that Metaphor could be exclusive. Apart from the fact that Xbox would’ve hammered that point home if it was, they did the same exact thing with the Persona 3 and 4 ports, where they only said Xbox at the reveal, but then a few days later added they were coming to all consoles.

Joseph Gedgaudas

9/10 , nearly full score but too many animations in-between the shows and that alone took up a few minutes.

Hozi

Agree, wasn’t expecting much and still disappointed.

Hi wasteland 3s biggest fan here, I assume no one has wrote in about it because having come out in 2020 it’s not very topical in 2023

Captain Bon Clay

Loved what I saw. I wish they showed gameplay of Hellblade since it’s so soon in the pipeline. Also final note, Fable was perfect, I don’t know wtf some of that Fable subreddit is smoking but the tone was spot on.

Joshua Brown

I’m happy that Xbox fans finally have some joy in their lives haha

Adam Barnes

The show was just good for my taste, but I understand why an RPG guy like Matty would love it. Still a good job on xbox imo.

Bryan Lozano

Sure that has never been the strong suit for bethesda but the magic of it is in the world, freedom, exploration and interactivity and customization which is unmatched.

Joe Campbell

Exactly starfield carried HARD clearly imo. Especially with bare to no gameplay for some of the biggest exclusives.

Joe Campbell

It’s not a negative it’s the way business works. For the 2 days you have on say atlas for all the games available on Xbox and pc and where not a load to say the other platforms .

Garry

Yeah, I wasn't impressed. Sony had way more games I'm interested in (of course, all of them are coming xbox, too). But I'm in the Super Minority in that I think Starfield looks meh. Same old lifeless character models, and just bland looking

Ryan Zimm

I may be in the minority here but l feel like if it wasn't for the Starfield Direct, the showcase wasn't that much better than PlayStation's. There was still a lot of fancy trailers with barely any gameplay shown which is exactly what PlayStation got shit for (rightly so). Starfield looks absolutely stellar though I have to say.

Mr someone

"It's just his ass" should be the next shirt/sticker lol. And it is Like A Dragon 8, with the infinity symbol.

Hidari Shotaro

Starfield looks like game of the generation type good.

Chris Evans

My brain must be wired differently. Almost nothing shown was interesting to me. Except for: Person 3 Remake. Metaphor. And that Capcom game. Anything like Fable needs to show me some real gameplay.

Ryan Zimm

Great shows you guys hit the nail on the head. Except Matty, LAD in Hawaii will be no less than a masterpiece!

Kickstand

This was the exact reaction after the showcases the last two years, and we all know how that has played out. Unfortunately, x box no longer gets my benefit of the doubt until they actually deliver and just not show

Jeffery Carlson

In my opinion it was not that great, it was okay. Yeah starfield looks awesome but there was no real gameplay for most of the big exclusive games shown aside from clockwork and avowed which looks fun but downgraded from the original look. Aside from that games like persona 3 and metaphor I’m sure are not console exclusive. Also very few release dates. Let’s hold them accountable cgi trailers are not it unless it’s a known franchise reveal like mgs 3 remake for example.

Joe Campbell

Absolutely phenomenal showcase. Starfield looks like a real GOTY contender and 2024 is BONKERS stacked for Xbox between first, 2nd and third party. Only negative was lack of Hellblade gameplay but about as perfect a showcase as you could've asked for.

TheMuff1nMon

Fair enough. I just don't see it as a negative really. That being said I repect your opinions on the matter, was just curious.

Tonys_Always_Write

As a ESO player, Seeing Necrom there is important. It shows us that the game is still front and center to Xbox and that it’s important enough to invest more time in as a gamer. Out of my guild of 4, I play the least of the game at 8hrs a week while my guild mates easily play it 20hrs+ a week. This game is important to us and every time that it is shown, our eyes light up.

Ib Saint

Sometimes I have to “pull down” in Apple Podcasts to refresh

Jason Hjartarson

The showcase was good, but not great. There weren't really any exclusives shown that looked on par with games like The Last of Us or God of War. Starfield is the closest to being on that level, but even that looks to have janky moment-to-moment gameplay and I remain unconvinced that the No Man's Sky approach they've taken to building/exploring the planets will be compelling.

George

I don't have a problem with the game being colorful, but Avowed in the trailer didn't look very good visually. I think the lighting wasn't done. If you look at the stills released with the bear and lizard enemies, the game looks a lot better. So, the visuals in the trailer were bad, but I think the game will get to where the stills are visually before release. When it releases, I bet if people compared this trailer with the released game that they would see how much a visual upgrade was needed.

Well, looks like 2024 is the year to finally get an Xbox. They killed it with that showcase.

Jimmy G

Usually, these podcasts show up in my RSS about 15 minutes after they go live on Patreon. However, this one has not appeared yet, 45 minutes later. Anybody else have this experience? Can’t wait to hear the Dukes’ thoughts!

Luke Waltermire

Watched Matty lose his mind yesterday was amazing lmao.

Jay-one

Just weird the first thing Xbox did was tweet after the PlayStation showcase what was coming to Xbox and they made sure that PlayStation couldn’t do the same thing. Aren’t we all here because we love listening how the company run there business.

Garry

Not being atagnostic, just curious. Does it bother you if/when other 1st parties having deals in the background?

Tonys_Always_Write

Great show was a couple of issues. Kyle Bosman stated third party where embargoed to not say other platforms for 48 hours so PlayStation couldn’t tweet to say what was on there system like Xbox did. The other thing a lot of 2024 but no dates again for a lot of games .

Garry

It was great watching your reaction to the show yesterday Matty! Can’t wait to listen to y’all’s reactions.

Themopylae

LET'S GOOOOOOO

Guns vs Kittens


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