BIG Picture Mode + #1: Do Androids Dream of Gamepass?
A weekly tabloid report simplifying the eccentricities of the Gaming World. (Sunday, February 23rd.)
"BIG Picture Mode +" is a satirical take on Gaming news and the Games industry. Made by and for, those who love video games, but find it hard explaining to others why any of this shit matters.
Making Games is hard, so let Microsoft "MUSE" make it even harder.
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, was way too excited to sit on a three-way Zoom call and explain, as a resident video game nerd of Microsoft, why Billy Gates and the boys upstairs plan to downsize their development studio offices within a few years with the introduction of Microsoft Muse, a generative A.I. model for game development, training on a previous failed Hero Shooter1 game (Bleeding Edge). Since Phil took over as CEO, Microsoft’s Xbox consoles have had a string of “bad days,” but Microsoft considers Phil to be the only person who can peddle big ideas to the Xbox gaming fans by priding himself on being a lover of video games, and video game preservation. Phil stated,“We believe this could radically change how we preserve and experience classic games in the future and make them accessible to more players.” Just last week, Zuckerberg got caught feeding his A.I. model a bunch of books; in that case, I imagine Microsoft is gonna try to feed this A.I. a bunch of classic games. So when Microsoft’s A.I. remake of “Space Call of Duty Racing” doesn’t sell enough A.I. loot coins, I better see Microsoft blame and close down “Co-pilot.”
Biggest L: Fortnite Kids.
Morgan Bamford, also known by his Fortnite account name "RepulseGod," caught a case this week by none other than EPIC Games themselves, the parent company of Fortnite, for trying to cheat his way into the blessed inner sanctum of the Fortnite Championship Series. Bamford shared his account with another player to qualify for the tournament, ultimately losing during ranked competition, but taking some prize money home. The problem is that Fortnite still wants to be a major player in the "E-Sports2" world, so whether you cheat and win or cheat and lose, cheating makes Fortnite and Epic look like a child's toy rather than a competitive sport. So the gloves are off; Epic Games stated: "We took legal action against a player who shared their account to unfairly qualify for FNCS. Now they're banned from Fortnite tournaments forever, and their undeserved prize money was donated to charity." And to add insult to injury, like your mom pulling your ear and making you apologize to the kid you hit, the "Repulsed God" himself dropped a faceless apology video, admitting to the community that he cheated, he's very sorry, and he won't ever do it again, please don't call his dad. Big ups to the charity "Child's Play," an organization providing children with games and specialist gaming equipment; they're getting Mr. Bamford's prize money and maybe tickets to the next Fortnite Championships.
Biggest W: Gabe Newell and PC Gamers.
Ethan Evans, Former VP of Prime Gaming at Amazon, comes clean and admits everything we already knew. Since Amazon entered the gaming industry in 2014, it has cemented itself as the little brother playing with the controller unplugged. Notorious for committing multiple cardinal sins of the video game industry, like building a gaming console without consumer research, buying Twitch.tv to chokehold the video game streaming market, or purchasing studios only to later close them down when Amazon only wanted triple A titles3 for their platform, which has led Amazon Luna to going out sad. However, Evans continued to surprise no one when he admitted that going against STEAM (a video game marketplace for PC games) was probably a bad idea: “The mistake was that we underestimated what made consumers use Steam. It was a store, a social network, a library, and a trophy case all in one. And it worked well.” Hindsight sure is a bitch when the writing is on the wall, and you make a “cloud-based console4” that doesn’t work and a marketplace that doesn’t work, but most importantly, release a platform with only a few games to buy. According to reports, Steam has 101,035 games to purchase on their marketplace, and according to other sources, Amazon Luna has “hundreds” of games… (translation: no games). Ultimately, Evans admitted defeat with a life lesson quote we should all remember, “Just because you are big enough to build something doesn’t mean people will use it.” We at Big Picture Mode + would also like to leave Mr. Evans with a quote:
“When you come at the king, you best not miss.”
- Omar Little5
Rumor Mill: Hot Topic Alt Kids REJOICE! Tony Hawk Pro Skater Might be Back.
Suppose you would have told me last week that Activision, the parent company of “Call of Duty” and “Tony Hawk Pro Skater,” would remaster another sequel in the Pro Skater (THPS) franchise. In that case, I’d believe you, seeing that when the first remake of THPS 1+2 sold 1 million copies in less than two weeks, that’s easy money math. So it would only make sense that if Activision wanted to remake THPS 3+4, they’d announce it via one of their biggest games this year, and that’s precisely what they did. This week, “Call of Duty, Black Ops 6” released a skate park-themed map for teens and young adults alike to relive their youthful memories of scraped knees and monster tab necklaces. But fans were surprised by an illuminated sign with the cryptic date of “03.04.25” stamped with the Birdman’s6 logo in his signature 360 Front Foot Impossible Position. All that said, what I wouldn’t have believed was we would uncover this news from an interview with professional skater Tyshawn Jones via the illustrious paladin of journalism Charlamagne tha god’s Breakfast Club, who informed the public that he had been called up to be in a new skateboarding game remake stating: “I’m in a new Tony Hawk coming out.”
While all statements point to us getting a new THPS, the real question is the culture ready to find our heartagram t-shrits and Binge-watch Viva La Bam, while ODing on Mega Monster. See ya at Warp Tour.
Top Games of The Week:
Every week, we at Big Picture Mode + scour the net to keep your bank account empty and buy new games. To accomplish this ambitious task, we interview only the top minds in this creative industry to keep your library expansive. That said, these are the following recommendations this week. Enjoy.
1. Our Grandma’s Favorite Game of the week: “Mahjong” by Maple Media Apps, LLC (Designed for iPad)
When asked why this specific Mahjong game won for the week and not the other four she has downloaded on different home screens of her iPad, Grandma stated, “I like how you can play the Mahjong game while listening to prayer service.” While we appreciate Grandma’s critique this week, we are excited about her upcoming Solitaire Free review next week.
Hottest of the Week! “Die In the Dungeon” by Developer: ATICO
Credits: Álvaro Farfán. Art & Design. [twitter]
Gabriel Farfán. Code. [twitter]
Jorge Ruiz. Code. [twitter]
AFRODISIAQO. Music & SFXs. [bandcamp]
The horrible curse bestowed onto all video game developers is that their game will always be compared to the titan of their game’s relative genre. In this case, 2025’s “Die In The Dungeon,” a dice-based Rougelite7, is cursed to be compared to the indie scene’s darling card-based roguelite 2019’s “Slay The Spire.” Nevertheless, what people fail to remember about the curse is that both things can be great simultaneously, and there isn’t a finite space for roguelites. We can have more than one, and “Die in the Dungeon” chisels its name on the board amongst the greats even in Early Access. The mechanics are sharp, and moment-to-moment action never dulls as you pack your little frog warriors with customizable dice, enhancing your probability of taking down the meanest of bug baddies. We’re loving this project, and for this much polish in the early stages of development, Die in the Dungeon’s success feels limitless.
Best of the Week! “Keep Driving” by Developer: YCJY Games
Credits: Christopher Andreasson: Developer
Josef Martinovky: Developer
Remember your first road trip? What about when you ran out of gas even though you said, “I know my car, it’s got 20 more miles even on Empty!” And that time you picked up a hitchhiker only to realize he had a crippling gambling problem, and the money you were saving for car repairs he wagered and LOST! in a blackjack game after you were just trying to get some sleep before putting in another 80 miles? Keep Driving packages all your worst road trip fears and the wanderlust of the open road and asks you to do one thing: Keep Driving. For nearly the whole week, we could not put it down.
Here is another roguelite that uses a card-based battle system but doesn’t remotely find a comparison to “Slay the Spire,” probably because it’s in a car. From managing your car to managing hitchhikers, you play as an 18-year-old just wanting nothing but a road trip adventure out west to a music festival, but how you get there, or IF you get there, is all up to you. With battle events occurring on roadways, story events popping up as you explore the open road with passengers, and even exploration sections for items to add and manage in your limited car space, and let’s not forget the SOUNDTRACK, WOW! Keep Driving has us putting the pedal to the floor and coming back for more.
Coming Next Week.
Next week Big Picture Mode + checks back with EA Games the parent company of “The Sims” to learn if their 2025 Re-release of Sims 1+2, two games made in the early 2000’s will open on your new computer without crashing… Some problems will live on forever. Enjoyed the wrangle up? Drop a subscription, it’s free! Tell ya people! we drop every Sunday. Remember, Drink more water. Love yourself a bit more, and actually play the games you buy.
Big Picture Mode + is made possible by Readers, Gamers, Developers, and Artists like you. Thank you! A Big Shoutout to the Trend Report, their report inspired us to create something like this for the Gaming community.
A hero shooter is a subgenre of shooter games which emphasize "hero" characters that have distinctive abilities and/or weapons that are specific to them.
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games.
Big budget games made by studios that are publicly traded.
A video game console that needs to be connected to the internet and can only play games from a subscription service.
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO crime drama series The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. He is a notorious Baltimore stick-up man, who frequently robs street-level drug dealers.
Tony Hawk’s nickname
A dungeon crawling game that when the player dies, the game world changes, but their items, progression, and the rules remain the same.
Ngl, this was pretty funny 😆 Dig your style, dude! Looking forward to next week’s issue