[knock on door]
Hey,

Mom says you have to let me 
borrow your new graphics card.

KYLE: Previously teased in fun/corporate 
cross promotional PR just a few weeks ago,

was officially revealed this week.

Immediate side note, 
when I went to rewatch the trailer,

I noticed this banner on 
Xbox's YouTube channel. It says:

Which would lead one to ask,
"Why would I pre-order something

that I'm going to eventually play 
Day 1 on Game Pass?"

And I think what they mean here 
is the "and" is an option.

You have the option to pre-order

AND you have the option to 
play Day One on Game Pass.

It could be "or".
The end of the trailer says "or."

But if this said:

there's kind of no reason to pre-order.

It's like saying, "You can go on 
a second date with me

or take this $20,000 
and walk away forever."

They're gonna take the money.
Nobody wants to pre-order that bad.

Really, though, this couldn't be simpler.
The solution's obvious.

Just make it a plus sign.

What were they thinking?

But I'd say when I watched that trailer,
I had two main takeaways.

First takeaway:

The Stop the Music moment
doesn't really hit.

And when I say Stop the Music moment,
I just mean that part of a trailer where

the music's goin' great, right?
We have a lot of momentum.

But then suddenly, bwoo.
Stop the music.

Big reveal. 
"Whoa, they're doing WHAT?"

Music kicks back in.
Title.

Trailer's edited like you're supposed to 
throw your head back and say,

"Wha--?! A-- Whoa!
I can't believe they're going there!"

But, I don't know, 
it just seems like another place.

Anyway, it's kind of interesting that 
this collection of two classic games

would be so proud to advertise:

And I think it has something to do with 
what they're doing with Tony Hawk 4.

Here's what the Xbox website says:

So Tony Hawk 4, back in the day, 
tried out a new thing

where you'd have more open area levels

and you would skate around and pick up 
whatever little missions at your own leisure.

Tony Hawk 3 + 4, I think 
to be a more cohesive package,

has taken that fourth game and authentically 
streamlined it into the epic 2-minute format.

Kotaku confirms that's what they're doing.

So I wonder if including the water park in 
the same breath as explaining these changes

is their way of saying, 
"It's all good, alright?

None of this is bad.
We're not taking anything away.

In fact, we're giving you more.
We're giving you a water park."

And then the other big takeaway 
is obviously, "Woo,

look at Doom Slayer here."

Not just a hidden character, mind you,
but a Digital Deluxe incentive.

To me, an indicator that the Doom Slayer 
is teetering on the precipice of becoming

a mascot.
I do think it is less exciting in that

he looks identical to his in-game 
character model from Doom Eternal.

So does this Revenant.

And sorry that the best shot I could find 
of that guy is from the Switch trailer.

I think it's apparent to anyone whether 
they're really thinking about it or not,

that the specialness of a crossover 
is reduced when

you're looking at a 3D model 
that has already existed before.

It's like, "Big deal. 
You put Quagmire in Grand Theft Auto.

You're not gonna get a blog post 
about that anymore. We've seen it."

I feel like the real magic,
the real fun of a crossover event,

is when the guest character has to 
adhere to the host game's aesthetic.

Recent example: Sub-Zero in Fortnite.

He's both unmistakably Sub-Zero AND 
unmistakably a Fortnite character.

They really pulled this off.

Least they could do here is 
give Doom Slayer, like, a sideways hat.

Maybe give this guy a shirt 
that says "Gnarly Dude." Make 'em fit.

By the way, I don't believe these boards 
contain any original art.

It's basically, 
"Yeah, we took some PNGs we had

lying around from the last few Doom games 
and slapped 'em on some skateboards.

Enjoy those."
Those could've been cool.

All what I'm saying is they--
Maybe it would've been cool if they hired some

unique artist to do Tony Hawk-specific 
Doom original art for those boards.

Kinda like what Fortnite does.

I think the Unmaykr Hoverboard down here 
is pretty much a new asset.

Yeah, that's what the gun looks like.

So there you go.
That's a new thing.

And I think a funny thing about this,
just in case you are concerned that

maybe you're plunking down 20 US dollars 
on a swaparoo of pre-existing assets

is that the bullet points for the 
Digital Deluxe Edition on the store page,

in a very self-aware fashion, stress 
that each of those characters include:

To me, that is exactly technically enough
to shield this from being a quick asset swap.

The value is in that horn toot.
Better show it twice.

[toot]

[toot]

But also, take a look at that cover art
for the Digital Deluxe Editions.

You see what I'm saying?
This is mascot status.

You don't do this unless 
Doom Slayer is huge.

And by the way, if any 
of that footage was confusing,

it's from a whole minute-long trailer just 
for the Digital Deluxe Edition of this game.

And what this is and why it is so funny that 
they do still advertise Day 1 on Game Pass

is that they are also, at the same time,

trying their best 
to discourage you from doing that.

"If you want to play as the Doom Slayer,

how about $20 on top 
of your regular subscription?

If you wanna play 3 whole days before 
Day 1, slip us an Andrew Jackson.

If you want this Wireframe Tony Shader
and access to the demo at some point,

pre-purchase now."

The message everyone is receiving is that 
while your 19.99 a month is really nice,

it's simply not enough.
You need to be doing better than that.

However, let me be uncharacteristically 
fair to poor Xbox for just one moment.

Back in 2020, back when Activision 
was its own publicly-traded corporation,

you did have to digitally pre-order 
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2

to access its demo as well.

So some of this is really just
Activision business inertia.

We can't stop is now.

So while it's fun to see Activision characters 
finally mix with Microsoft characters,

it's also kind of fun to watch 
Activision business and marketing

mix with Microsoft business and marketing.

There is a Digital Deluxe Edition 
of Tony Hawk 1+2,

which was a measly 10 extra dollars

and included The Ripper, who is,
I believe, an icon in skate culture.

But, curiously, there are no trailers that 
end advertising this Digial Deluxe Edition.

There's not even a single trailer that is 
only about the Digital Deluxe Edition.

I mean, there are no 
promotional screenshots, even.

I had to pull this from the Tony Hawk wiki.

He does look cool.

It's at least an original character model.

[HONK]

So it's hard to say if Tony Hawk using its 
final, dramatic seconds of its trailer

to advertise ways 
that you can pay more now

is more of an Xbox influence
or

a Call of Duty influence.

Or maybe that's just how you end your 
trailer if you're, like, a big shot game.

But for Tony Hawk, it wasn't there 
5 years ago and now it's here.

But, to be clear with you, 
I do think it is cool that this exists.

Back in 2021, when Vicarious Visions 
got sucked up into Blizzard,

it seemed like there would 
never be a Tony Hawk 3+4.

So it is encouraging that Microsoft 
was able to justify publishing this game.

Now,

we just have to hope that 
nobody plays it Day 1 on Game Pass.

And that's Delayed Input.
I'll be back next week.

Thanks for watching.

As the Doom Slayer 
becomes an official mascot,

I do feel like it's time 
to call out somebody who is

definitely, certainly become a mascot.
That's Astro Bot.

Just in July of last year, 
Sony put out that

Game & Network Services Segment
presentation, right?

They had this slide for 
Exciting New Releases

and didn't even include Astro Bot.

He wasn't their guy yet. It wasn't 
worth mentioning to the investors.

However, in November, 
after Astro Bot sold 1.5 million copies

in its first 9 weeks,
Sony started to talk it up more.

Look at this weird stat, by the way.

37% of people who bought Astro Bot

didn't buy any other first-party 
PlayStation title in the last 2 years.

That is kinda crazy.

But I feel like its a couple of recent 
ads that have really solidified this.

Astro Bot's appearing in 2 ads 
co-starring Finn Wolfhard,

who you might recognize as

the guy who's got the Slimer subplot 
in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

[Slimer screaming]

TREVOR: Yeah.

KYLE: A legitimate, famous actor.

Listen to how affectionately 
he talks to Astro Bot.

WOLFHARD: Alright Astro, break's over.

KYLE: Yeah, I think it's apparent that 
Astro Bot is a good mascot.

But what I also appreciate is the marketing 
team seems to realize and recognize

that their more serious human face IP
can be mascotified with Astro Bot robots.

Robot Joel and Ellie finding 
some big mushrooms and freakin' out

is actually incredibly funny to me.

Last of Us is huge. It's a huge success. 
No one would argue that. However,

some franchises just aren't 
cut out to become controllers.

Meanwhile, Astro Bot, 
practically born to become a controller.

They shoulda just 
put a little beard on this.

There you go:
Last of Us.