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I am a horrible host.

That image you’re looking at is exclusively my audio from the whole podcast recording. The “gaps” in between those long monologues are the opportunities given to Shamus Young – whom I invited as a special guest – to speak.

So, Shamus, consider this an apology for inviting you onto my show so I could largely sit there and talk at you.

All self-deprecation aside, I believe my dominating of the conversation and even occasional dip into personal baggage are a side effect of the Covid-19 lockdown. I don’t get to speak with a lot of people these days, and having someone receptive to my thoughts is a more exciting prospect than it otherwise normally would have been. Shamus was a gracious and attentive guest, and I hope he will join again, allowing me the opportunity to be a better host. Another more well-rounded discussion such as the conversation with Steve and I about Control.

In regards to the actual content of the episode, the first half is largely griping about Microsoft’s strategies and ecosystems. I may be skeptical and suspicious of their Game Pass strategy, but I must confess to being curious how it’ll all turn out. If ever Microsoft had an opportunity to earn consumer good will, it is with the combination of Xbox Game Pass and their streaming XCloud service – which I had completely forgotten to mention is now rolled into the subscription. Though Microsoft is in a desperate – or perhaps it would be more polite to say eager – position to get as many on board their ecosystem as possible, they’ve managed to provide an evolution of the PlayStation Plus concept while simultaneously offering a far more marketable streaming service than Stadia. It’s a more reliable transitionary approach than Google’s efforts, as any game you spend actual money on is yours to own be it physically or digitally. Only the games provided by the subscription services remain the property of those services, with no additional money spent on them. This means those lacking trust in corporations are still able to obtain their games to own while gradually easing into the shallow end of the subscription pool to test the temperature.

Even so, being a good tactic doesn’t mean I have to like it. Thanks to licensing issues you still cannot purchase Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game anywhere. Activision’s loss of the Transformers license has also resulted in my beloved Fall of Cybertron vanishing from digital storefronts. Alpha Protocol is similarly absent from Steam’s library.

The availability of games being tied not only to the likes of a subscription service, but to the likes of a specifically Microsoft subscription service, gets my old curmudgeonly bones fearing we’ve hit the stage where art is a regurgitated product for swift and mass consumption with no regards for historical preservation. Hasn’t this industry been plagued by such problems for far too long as it is?

Speaking of preservation, Shamus’ adventures with Game Pass last June can be found over here on The Escapist, though the imagery is sadly no longer intact. He goes into further detail over on his blog.

As for the game Adr1ft, you can purchase it on Steam or PlayStation 4. You can read the Eurogamer feature on the game’s creation if you’d like more detail than I was able to provide.

What sort of experiences have you suffered through Microsoft’s ecosystem? Do you find Game Pass to be worth it despite the negatives? Are you still using Twitter or have you left it as well? Please leave a comment below or send us an e-mail with what you’ve been playing.

Opening theme music by my buddy Brandon, a.k.a. Fallen Prophecy.