868: Aladdin Land

Hey, everyone, is Tuesday, the twenty sixth of November twenty twenty four. I am your host, Timu Giant Jan Boum, and I am joined as always by Jeff Grubby grub Grub back from Disneyland. How are you name? Jeff?

I've returned only I knew. I knew he was going to correct you. I knew he was gonna be able to help himself. Yeah, uh yeah, no, I'm I'm back. Happy to be here, happy to be hanging out with you.

Damn wonderful, wonderful. Also joined by Sean. What did I say wrong that needed connected?

It is Disney World because he went to Flora.

Yeah, who fucking.

It.

I'm just gonna say this.

I'm gonna I'm probably gonna get canceled. All the disneys look the same to me, That's what I'm saying. I think if anyone was real and admitted it, I think they wouldn't people know deep down that old disneys look the same. Okay, Sean, there's also a k a Turbo Seawan. The turbo Sean's how you doing?

That's right? Where's my hog?

Tamp?

They took my hog away from me? I need you riding right, now in the middle of bombuck Nowhere, Oregon?

Where is my hog?

Of course we're talking about days Sean. That's right, isn't it?

That was that was experienced last week the hit.

Giant Bomb video games Let's Play series featuring Sean playing perhaps one of the most boring games of all time.

It's it's it's agressively like seven O ten at best is how I got it? Got okay gameplay wise, the story.

Was just yeah, well we'll.

Get into that a little bit later.

But yeah, yeah, we'll get into it. I'm being unfair to It's. It's perfectly fine if you're into if you're in Today's Gone, you know, good for you, I know, maybe help, yeah, yeah, yeah, more power to you. We're also joined by Mitch Manati. How are you doing, Michie?

Oh I woke up pretty dizzy today and I feel a little nauseous right now.

But that's all right. Oh no, that's okay. Well, what did you do last night?

I recorded a podcast about an obscure Beating the Beast Christmas themed direct the video sequel.

So what you're.

Saying is like, the the feeling you have right now is your body eating itself to prevent you from doing this kind of absolute.

Intel ship.

Okay, wait that you caught a lot of things. It's so I think it is a bit unfair, ye'a.

I'll have you know. The other Minates are very much happy family men.

Exactly, and they enable me as always.

This episode is I don't know if we still have to say this, but we're powered by n zx T.

Let's go.

I'm still powered by n z x Half of you guys, you yeah, if you're not by z x T, get help yourself.

Geat grip.

My ram is dying.

I recently purchased the new Mac Mini, the first time I've ever purchased a Mac computer.

Yeah, my U my Mac Air. What do they call the bacbook Air? Yeah yeah, but I just bought that last year and that was the first time I ever bought an Apple. It's it's fine. They work fine, like I would never have it be my main computer. This is fine.

This new MacBook Mac Minnie Mine, Mac Minnie M for Chip is very very affordable, relatively speaking, very powerful and I don't know if you've watched the videos on it, it is an absolute beast for emulation, of course, definitely purely for emulation and it is rocking. So I'm very excited to my week is going to involve like redoing my entire setup.

Yeah that is it like a you're going to just put RetroArch on it or.

I don't know. I think I'm going to use it as an actual computer instead of like re loading up with games. And I'm doing that primarily because I bought it because like the footprint on it is so small, it's crazy, and I know that by incorporating it into my setup, I like will free up so much death space. It's going to be crazy.

Oh that's yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, and it's also.

Just small as quiet as cool, Like exactly this room heats up, especially in the summer because of how much heat that my computer puts. Off to the idea of just like this little thing that can like get the work done, not like every workload as well as what I have necessarily, but close enough to it and it kind of just like fits below my monitor, that's really cool.

Yeah, that's what I'm excited about because right now I'm running off a Raiser laptop, which has been very good, but it's just a lot of like space that is being taken up and also like if I can free this raisor laptop, I can use it for like gaming in other places.

You know.

The only concern that I have is whether my like el got too stuff will work on a Mac Mini, like via like my like my came link and stuff like that, because.

I'd assume they have software there, because streaming on Mac has become like popular enough that, like, you know, because creators will just stream from their MacBook that they also use for like work stuff, so I'd assume that that'll work.

I think there might be some quirks with Elgato software, but they should all still mostly function. Yeah, trying to mention the computer heating up your room, like I remember, I don't remember where I read this, so maybe it's not exactly accurate, but they're like a space heater and a computer use about the same amount of energy and put off about the same amount of heat. Instead of space heater, just get a good computer and now you have both things.

There was also this thing though, which I'm not sure if it's a it was a misnomo or something, but apparently like turning a computer on takes more power than just leaving it on the entire day or This was a while by people to say that, and I was like, oh, because yeah, the juice were required to actually get everything going.

About cars and stuff. Right where it's starting, the car is used up more gas than just letting it run idle.

Just like an excuse to enable you, you freaks who like to just keep your computer on.

I mean that's why.

That's why I primarily did it, because I was like that.

Judgmental you are of my people like you, as someone who works at home, turning your computer off, that's a freak move, right there is. I'm going to walk through recruiter. Better turn it off.

You look at it. Yeah mode, I do a sleep mode.

Yeah.

What is the that's different?

That's different now all right, So what is the amount of time you need to be away from your computer for you to be like, I'm turning this off? Because mine, I only ever turned mine off if I'm leaving home for at least two to three days.

I think just been on entire vacations where he hasn't turned it off.

Yeah, because I remote into it.

I'm the same Yeah, same reason here, I at least leave in sleep mode on my local network. The mini PC or like the micro PC at this point that I use for my NASS setup can wake on land my main machine, so I at least leave my main machine and sleep. I never turn it off unless yeah, I don't think I've ever turned in this one off unless I'm.

Like, that's like a lot of stuff on my computer kind ends up being it's like acting as a server in a lot of ways. So yeah, I just I leave it on, and uh, you know, I guess this last one. I think I put it at least in sleep mode. So it's not like I'm like, sure, run fully up and.

Reason for we're not just freaking to like to like train the power and everything, you know, right, Yeah.

There's occasionally just like I need to get something on that on that computer in that folder that I know is there. God, I wish I could do That's like, oh I can, it's like a remote into it. But when you guys do want to like put it in sleep mode, what do you do? Because I've been doing the Windows X. Then you hit you and then you hit is it D? I think it's that.

Off down and then I ain't put the windows hit Windows key X on there and then it gives you uh yeah, you hit you to get the shutdown option, and I'm not gonna do it.

XS shut down the computer the show. And then yeah, so I just hit Windows X is the shortcut to bring up like that fast menu, and then you and then and then d I think, and then.

I may I might go to the Windows but on right click shut down or sign out sleep.

Okay, look at that. I just clicked the left click the button and there's that little power button and I click that and it gives me the options.

Okay, yeah, that's probably the same. Yeah.

Yeah. The reason that I like keyboard shortcuts is especially once this is one of the things I talk about where like PC gaming, uh like on a TV is easier than ever because with Steam, you know, you do the Steam chords they call it, where you hold the homebun and then do different bun combos and like Analog six stuff to control your mouse and stuff. So I

I just I just yank the power code out every time.

Yeah, well shut down, that's the damn sure.

Yeah, certain the machines will take over.

Yeah, you are right though, like playing uh games on I use my I have my old gaming PC set up to my TV in case I want to play like any like low tier games or like not too high like power Hog games or graphics Hog games and running steam Deck on there. I just have it, like boots straight into steam Deck is so nice.

The big picture, yeah, exactly.

Pry vcs is that they are that they're discontinuing sitting in the back room. I'm gonna put steam os on that thing. That's that's that's just it. I'm going to do that.

You know what I recently figured out, not figured out, but I finally a problem. I finally overcame the problem with big picture mode, or I think it might be more of a Windows problem than a thing. And then a big picture mode. I feel like Bluetooth controllers suck on it like really bad. Yeahs general are I've I've like got the official like Microsoft dongle and the elite dongles go to all that kind of stuff, and it just it's not very good for me, Like I don't

The dongle's are two point four giga hurts connections, so I wonder if there's just too many years.

However, Yeah, however, I recently purchased let me get the exact name of the product, the eight bit Doo controller the Ultimate, Yes, the Ultimate, I believe.

Yeah, but I think that might be like my default controller, that thing I use right here on the dock on my PC. I've been using a NonStop and it's like God, every time I pick it up, I still get happy, like this is oh, yeah controller.

The eight but do ultimate two point four gu wireless control of the whole of one stuff. I heard a lot of people talking about this thing, and people be like, this thing is so awesome, it's so crazy, And I've always been like whatever, man, I don't really care. I've got like a I've got the various controllers, the official ones.

Yeah, I have my the dock plugged into my PC and then I just have the I think the dongle plugged into the base underneath there, so it's like the dongle's really close to the controllers, so it looks really good. It's yeah, it's very convenient.

Oh grab you were out while I was talking about this, But A bit Dough is making their own telescopic mobile controller, and you know really yeah, I like playing some mobile games that you know, use controllers. I also really like using because I have an Android phone, I do like using as a lightweight emulation device is that way, and just pop it into a telescopic controller like a backbone or whatever, and it's just a lighter thing to carry around with me if I want to do some PS

I would like to Yeah, I like to hear more about that. That sounds very cool.

Hey, Bat, if you're listening, we would like to handle out about that personally. Yeah, yeah, Match, You've been trying to talk for a little while now, so it's okay.

I didn't say you could.

Just you're so observant.

All right, finally, well, what are you going to say?

Okay, look, look I noticed maybe isn't the exact panel to talk to Jeff about his Disney trip a ton, but can I mean, I just want to know what you thought about the avatar land Jeff and Animal Kingdom.

It was definitely one of the family's favorites. I really enjoyed it. It was so we did the flight of Passage like pretty early on and we got off and Emmy was just like it just kind of freaked me out. And Addie was like, well, I'm never doing that again. And then about an hour later after we tried to convince them do it again, Steph really liked that you wanted to do it again. Uh, they were like, hey, maybe we'll do it. And then we started like, looking, are we going to be able to get back on

It closes pretty early right now, and yeah, with the you know, yeah exactly, So it's a bit. It's sad because it's very pretty there at night, but yeah, right.

And it was beginning to look very pretty, and it's very impressive. I just I do. I think that's what I'm at a point where I enjoy the attractions. I think they're fun, but they're they're over so fast and so fleeting that I kind of like just spending time in the themed areas more than anything else. And that Avatar Land was very very well done. And also I'm a mark for Avatar, so of course I was into it.

This is Avatar, the Blue People, correct, the Blue People, Yes, well, noon, they make the Avatar Land that everyone Actually.

They're They're gonna let m Shyamalan cook one more.

There was an Avatar TV show ride in that Mall of America theme park. It was like a weird little carousel thing and you're on AG's Flying Buffalo Friend or.

Something Nickelodeon in the All America.

Right right, yeah, like.

The Bend one.

No no.

I was like, I don't want to say I was too old for it because I watch a ton of suffering from your audience.

I I I'm sending you homework you need to watch. Start watching an Avatar. Okay.

I started watching on that really weird.

Like Disney ship that you're constantly watch.

You know.

What.

The one thing I did see of Avatar is the night Shamalan. I got attracted that I'm.

Gonna need I'm gonna need you to watch this show immediately, and then I want regular reports in on this. Okay, that sounds fine.

Is there a name there, the last mitch Bender.

This this is for your person, Richmond. This is because it is one of the few attempts that you have. This is a few methods that you have to make me dislike you less.

So watch Cora.

Also, now just start with the normal, Just start with book one.

Oh yeah, see if you like Avatar first, like try that, sure.

Yeah, I bet it? Like, yeah, I gotta watch that. I need to watch Gravity.

I just pulled a full art Sabrina. Sorry, I started opening when they started, and I was just very excited about that.

Sorry, it's very good. That's a very good card shote.

Anyways, we're gonna need those avatars me next time I picked you. If I don't hear about you being part way through avatar, I'm going to be very upset. And I recommending it because I think you genuinely will like it. It's all like it's it's like, it's a very well written show, but it's got all that annoying little baby ship that you love in it as well.

Do you like the baby ship does have some power friendship stuff? Oh?

Yeah? Oh boy? Does oh? Okayo?

Does may do like people like maybe slowly fall in love and maybe like kiss at the end.

No, I'm not going to spoil anything for you. Yes, does kiss maybe?

Who can say? Who can say? Maybe? Just look the fact that hang on, the fact that Mike doesn't know that tells me he knows nothing about this franchise.

It's just incredible.

That's the one thing.

He's going to watch this and literally grow up. He's going to be like, Oh, this is what actual good cartoons can be. It's gonna be incredible. I can't wait. It's got creatures in there that you'll love, like Uppa and Momo.

And what better do you think I would be? Which is the I know a little bit, What are the what elemental bender would I be?

You're not going to be a bender. You're being the cabbage guy and that is it.

I don't like the sound of that.

Yeah, okay, you are my cabbages guy, and that is it.

Okay, he's our cabbages guy.

Yea, God, that's not I don't know why, but that sounds like the worst thing I've ever been called.

Like, yeah, isn't there there is? And you are not Uncle irol you are knowing that Uncle one is though, that's like yeah uncle like yeah, Uncle Iro like will take if he's taking up your time, he's telling you something wise and helping you grow you.

You remember when you're still call Disney World Disneyland. I had lots of wise things to say about that.

That's what we call you.

But yeah, I think you would actually really like it. Honestly, I think you really really would like it.

Holiday break Caro out, Yeah, I.

Would love I would love that. I would love to hear how you get on with it.

I always respected the fact that instead of seasons, it called him books, right, I see that the Best Buy or something like Book one of Avatar. I'm like, oh, neat books are more important than seasons.

I don't know if that's true.

Man, Yeah, sports are horizon. What are you talking about? Remember the book a fet I mean the most important?

Oh my god, that was one of the worst things I've ever watched that. I don't even remember it. I just remember him being in the ground for like, was it like thirty episodes.

Quite a while.

It's the only show that I ever watched every episode but the last one, I just like obligated. You think the last one I may as well, And I was just like, who gives a ship?

They didn't care, so yeah, why would we?

Jeff? Do you have any follow ups on your trip to Disney's?

It was very nice? Yeah, sure. I think the big thing is you really do notice where the money goes when you spend all this money on trip like this. You go there and it's like, there are forty people working at this bus depot. They're like gonna make sure that you never go two inches without someone that might help you or say something nice and it's like they're like I looked it up, like this might do they just deploy more people than anyone else. They do. Seventy

It's like, I feel like it's the largest, most successful like doomsday cult waiting to be activated, but it's it's like that is literally coound of fucking insane people. When the ship hits the fan, they're are just going to turn into like fuckings.

I went to Universal and it's like it's the same thing, but they're not as happy, So give me the doomsday call like that was like.

Yeah, but like the moment, like the fan, you're just gonna have the good kool aid. Yeah, the moment the ship is the fan, you're just gonna see like gates appear and everyone's.

Like at least when they're drinking the kool aid, So that would be arrant.

That's gonna be when they like go full of stone cuts and everyone goes, oh, we.

Have no idea.

That's why there's seven thousand people in here. There are self sustaining society built on fucking mouse cartoons.

It was a thousand.

Actually, there's plenty of us to kill you.

I didn't feel myself becoming more of like, oh, I am becoming one of the cultists, because my favorite part was always tell my family, I think you're gonna like this, and when they liked it, I was like, oh, I did it. I got.

The adult experience hoping that people like things as much as you think.

Yeah, they're like, oh, they did love Sorrow, and I knew they would love sorin and then yeah, it was a good time. I think some of my favorite stuff was going around the Moon specifically and Guardians of the Galaxy, the Roller or the Cosmic Rewind because that like it just you feel like it's like an actual gravitational hole, and they do a really good job of emphasizing that. I don't know. I just had a really good time and it really felt worth it.

The picture of your kids guards of the CASI incredible. Yeah, your your daughter's holding onto you for dear life.

She and she was the one that was down to clown with a lot of these rides, and then she would go off and be like, oh, I don't know about that one I asked, and you seem to want to do it. They and Addie like pride on every single ride, and then we get to the next one, like are you sure you want to do this? And she's like, well, mom is going, so I'm gonna go. That's cook it.

Sometimes like they have a kid can have a back experience and they're like, I'm not doing any more rides the rest of the trip.

I was wondering if that would happen.

Is the Guardians one that does like the Drop.

So that's Disneyland, it's a drop and Disney World.

It's a coaster, yes, and it's a it's basically it's a lot like Space Mountain, but in terms of like it's inside and it's got a similar sort of like

I've avoided that one for a while because I am a coward. Do you think I could do guard into the Guxy Jet?

How do you feel about doing Space Mountain?

I'm pretty good with these days.

I think it's space it's one step up from Space Mountain. Here, it's one step up. That's probably that that step though, that the big difference, I know, I you know, I think so that was definitely one where so we're we're doing all these different roller coasters and stuff like that, and there's the little kids roller coasters. The kids very much gott into those, Flight of the Hippogriff and barn Stormer. They love seven Doors mind Train that. Everyone really liked that.

It's definitely, to be clear, she's already doing much better than I was because I just didn't go on yeah, and she's like, and she did kept coming coming back to other ones, but that one was one that she wouldn't do again.

So I wonder I think that one's probably a bit too much.

One one last question, what was what was the yummiest thing that you ate in Disney World, Jack, because for me, a big part of it anymore as the food.

Yes, so there's the Rodeo round up. The restaurant, a sit down restaurant in toy story Land, had really really good barbecue sauce. It was very very good. We had a good waiter. We had the dining plan so we could get you know, alcoholic drinks with every meal, and we did and that was good. They had great drinks also. The I had the curry at the I try to specifically try to. I definitely had the curry at Tusker

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely there just that Sam Eagle seemed one in Epcot. I haven't even been able to eat at yet. C Yeah, I went in there so much Topcott.

Yeah, it smelled so good. But we already had the plans to go somewhere else. So but man, the Sam Eagle, and we already had barbecue a bunch of times, so we're like, well, no, it's not do Sam Eagle, but man, that place smelled great.

The thing I loved most about going to Disney was mainly getting the doll Whip, because I was led to believe that doll Whip was only available inside Disneyland. I was like, oh, well at least that's something exciting for me to look forward to to go. And though dolip is everywhere, it turns out like it's there. Went every time I went go to what do you call it?

There's the Disney Magic there, though they don't have an animatronic bird singing to you while you eat it.

You know, I did not go in there. Yeah, there was a few things. Lounge, yes, whatever is that what I called her? Is that what it's called?

You call it the na Tiki Lounge and it's the Chanit Tiki Room. And yes, that small mistake upset me greatly.

Okay. So that's the other thing. There are a lot of things where it's like this is a forty show or a place where you go sit down there's animatronics, and every single time I'd be like that sounds and then I'd go in, I'm like, this is amazing. Every single time Mickey's phil Harmagic, I'm like, well whatever going there. I'm like this cgi is old. Five seconds in this rules, I'm having a great time. It's they just do a good job with all that stuff. And so yeah, it

That is primarily one of the reasons I quite dislike Disneyland. Like, yeah, I think the adults are the worst part of Disneyland, and like they have no humility, they have no shame, and they have no self awareness, and like it happens every time I go there.

I see these bitch ass.

Adults getting in the way of children and like just being the worst human beings every time. And I say every time I go there, I see like at least two or three instance of the instance of it. And I'm just like, I think there should be a rule where if you're actively making a child's experience worse, you should be kicked out, like immediately, like you that's not.

That motherfucker up there, I would ever get that.

I feel like in a situation like the fireworks, there should be someone going around and being like the kid, that adult needs to go back so the kid can get forward, Like that is how it should be.

And it is a little bit like where like you go and watch anything about like the start, like how like Walt started it, and he was like, I just wanted a place to go where we could do things together with my very young daughters. I'm like, fucking preach Walt. Hell yeah, let's let's let's make that well.

It's busy known for his good takes on life, the universe, and the people.

Okay, lot that stuff's overstated.

I feeling around to these adults and being like, hey, you're being a bit Michael Jackson right now.

So what I did do is I was like, we we stopped and there was a spilled coke and I was like, all right, I'm gonna be like, just don't stand in that coke so it creates like a little bubble in front of the kids. And that that didn't work. But there was also a bit of smashed fry. Someone stepped in some fries and it looked a little bit like, oh,

Yep, yeah, I feel like that does should be like, hey, man, you know how you wouldn't get on bosses or public transpond, it's like, hey, these these see stuff of the elderly, Like, let you know, if someone if you're sitting here and someone comes in and they like, let's say, or they're older,

Shut up in And like point is like, you know, it's so big and all that money that the adults spend makes the whole thing go round. So I get that they're like catering to everybody.

Yeah, universal disrespect children.

That aren't going to stop you like the one group people like don't like Disney and understands people who don't like crowds like, well, yep, sure are a lot of those in Disney. And when you get a bunch of people together, all bets are off. You're gonna just run into assholes and weird people exactly. You're gonna get frustrated. Yeah, like that is gonna and.

I know that those people went home and are like that guy was an asshole, Like they're gonna think I was the ass all but I'm like, I think you are. Yeah, but I knew I was writing this.

Yeah, it's for the kids. As long as your kids came out of that like happy and got to see what I would if you had told me you punched someone in the face when they like came up to you, just so your kids have a better experience, I'd be like, good on you, man. I respect that punctioned on Disney Doults.

I respect that.

I love that next time, I love that for you.

That's enough of the Disney.

Talk, Mitch.

Anything that you want to talk about, we have to carry on, like on to the next session.

I gave you an opportunity to match. It wasn't me. That's okay.

Away from you, that's still say I'm sorry about that.

That's fine. I know you did your best.

All right.

We're gonna go to Sean to begin with to see what you've been playing. There's a couple of things that I'm really interested in seeing hearing about from you. Not days gone obviously, but the other two years.

But yeah, the first one I want to start with a little bit more metaphor. I'm like in endgame right now, if you know, you know, like I don't, I don't know how close the endgame I am, but like I'm after the opera house. I'm after the place you go after the opera house. So that has to be like closing in on the end there, right, like at least in the end quarter.

Yeah, And like most jack gees, there's always like maybe a smidge more than you think there is. Yeah, you're definitely.

Like that's what I was telling you, Yeah, because I'm like, I'm sixty hours in, so I'm like, yeah, yeah, minimum, I have another ten to go. Like basically my final time was like was eighty hours. Yeah, so I know I have quite a bit more to go. And hey, we got the extra extra long weekend here, so I'm

I'm actively playing it now, So I played a bunch of it to make sure that you know, I had a good frame of reference for like coverage, review, verification and that kind of stuff, but one that I had

Yeah, that's how I've been the whole game through.

I did the whole game through my rock ally.

Yeah, which that's that's impressive. I I played. I do basically the switch thing I do for that someazonlla on the Nintendo Switch, as in, I play big story parts in the big comfy chair back there on the big old TV. And then when it's like okay, X amount of days until this happens, go do whatever, then I'll play, you know, like an hour or two before bed on the Steam deck while I'm like laying in bed or chilling in the chair or whatever. Yeah, I'm really enjoying it.

He's so good still at the One Game Awards sub I'm upset about first off, no metaphour characters or best performance, but Hi's me especially he has so many just incredible battle barks. He is the best battle barks. That's bar versus capcom to.

It's so goods may not getting nominated and the voice actor for Egon in a Tree.

Not getting right.

Energy disgraceful, disgraceful, killed guy. I posted about that on like Blue Sky or whatever it was, and people were up my ass. So like ego only has like two or three phase phrases and I'm.

Just like, and they were up here. This is probably threads. I'm just going on here, but threads, And yeah.

So who cares?

So yeah, those two or two phrases are better than anyone else. So at this point, I just want Jeff to play metaphor just so you can see Hi's me. It's the most he's not getting there, Yeah, probably not, but it's like to give you a frame of reference, Jeff. It's kind of like a Bear and Marlene in f F seven. It's like moments like that a lot sadder for reasons. But yeah, like a lot of really good character moments there. And yeah, just metaphor has been.

He's a little bat guy with a with a sword back guy.

He's like a sad dad, but he's like a fun sad dad. He's wisdom and uh incredible.

Also, get like the sad dad part of his arc gets resolved or at least like quickly progress fairly quickly. He's more than a sad dad.

Yeah, that being his social link and the way it resolves, And like I said this, I think in our initial review cast of the way his social link is him growing as a person, which is meaningful considering that he is like the mentor to so much of this younger cast, I think is fantastic.

Yeah, it's it's one of those where you're like, the younger cast gets to see someone older and why is it actually like resolve the issues in a very healthy way and it serves to be a good example to them, which is really find of.

Good examples of like healthy French ships right in this game. And it makes me really glad that they didn't do the kind of romance stuff. Right, there's a couple of things that hint at it, and that's cute. But somehow it does feel actually more mature and more adult that it's not just like here's all these people, which one of them do you want to go on a date with?

Right?

Seems to.

You want with her?

Yeah. Does the characters absolutely make this game? It's phenomenal and I'm loving it so much.

Yeah, for sure. The other game that you've got on here, I'm very very interested, but I've never heard of it, But it's it's in my wheelhouse. Yeah, NBA Superstars, what's up?

That's right?

Okay, So this is that raw Thrills arcade game at Dave and Busters. Now that is like, yeah, I forget how much NBA jam involvement is in there, but like Tim kits Row is the voice and everything. But so the this is the one that people are like, oh, this is going to be the good new NBA JAM. I have a friend in town who he's iroqically here for work, but we went to a daven Busters last night just to hang out on our thing, and that was the first thing we went to because they got

Those calves. Those calves are on fire right now.

Yeah, but we but we had Giannis, so you know, guess who won. I'm just saying, uh.

Just has to be a Roth Thrills joint, right, Yes, sorry, my pad it has guns reference to a.

Yeah, So yeah, I don't know. Even even if the game isn't like amazing, it's got it's got nothing on actual NBA Jam. I'm still gonna like you know how it goes, right, We have a barcade here. If I actually want to play it, that's where I'll go. But if you're just like hanging out, oh no, it's kind of neat like playing that. And I just wanted to say that, Like my David Busters also has that's where they have the floor player cruising blast machines that like

I was the Hollywood damon Busters and they had a fifth House of the Dead I never knew existed. Yeah, Scarlet right, Yeah was super fun.

Yeah, it's fun, but it's it's tough, like they they eat your quarterers.

Currently, what is the best way to play NBA JAM if.

You have a like three sixty era console, that game is.

No, that's the one I really like. I like. Obviously the older NBA GM is better, but I really enjoyed the three sixty Era one. But it's just like you cannot play that anywhere, right.

Unfortunately, do licensing stuff, it's hard to go back to some some of these games. I just fire up. I like firing up a Dreamcast emulator so I can play like Blitz two thousand and NBA Showtime with my friends.

Stamps are always picking like mods that do the new rosters and yeah, like Clascond. I don't know if they're doing it in like some Genesis version or some main Arcade version, right, I don't know exactly what the base is at there.

I just wish that on Fire Edition was a little more available. I think I did see that someone on PS three that someone was emulating the PS three Versiones.

Says that it's backwards compatible on Xbox one in series. Oh is it the on Fire he says, the NBA Jam on Fire Edition.

He's got no way that's true. That's I mean, if yeah play with Xbox Series.

There you go, tam, Yeah, there you go.

What When I opened up this slink, it says not available separately, So I don't know how I actually calves fan Yeah it's oh yeah, he says, it's been it's been delisted. For purchase, but if you own.

It, owned it already actually, which also means because the way they do it that if you have a disc for three sixty and pop in a series X as well, and.

I'll or I'm out of luck. I think I owned it for the Wii, so ship, I'm going.

To see if I can buy a disc because I'm pretty sure I owned it. But it might be like a regional thing because I owned it when I lived in London.

It shouldn't be too bad. I mean, I mean, you know, the fact that it's backward compatible will make it maybe a little bit more expensive, but it should be affordable.

I bet I won't buy really too late to just really bring back NBA JAM as kind of a cool triple A.

No, I think it's definitely it should be something that people are doing. I don't understand why no one don't.

We don't even get blitz, we don't get SSX, we don't get uh, we don't get any sort of like alternative sports of any kind again.

Wherever we get our kidie sports games. And now it's like either like an indie spiritual successor or it's something kind of done more cheaply, you.

Know, and that, you know, I think that said like we we were saying the same thing about arcade racers a little bit ago, and then we've got a ton of arcade racers in the last few years. Pretty well. Space though it is kind of usually yeah, but there's some one with like the Hot Wheels game, right, seems like it's like in you know, it's big enough, and I guess us and Blast it's definitely more indie.

But speaking of that's where you're going and get this stuff because you know, rath Thrills was the natural extension from Midway and so that's why they are playing out these excessive, a little too expensive and sometimes a little lower quality arecade games, but they are at least trying to keep the spirit alive there even if they don't always land, but sometimes they do with stuff like I think Cruise and Blasts is very fun. Again, I think, you know how the physics and Cruise and Blasts are

That's kind of like I'm doing research here and I think on Fire Edition is the only one that works backwards compatible. And it was never released as a disc if I remember correctly, So that's the right.

Yes, you're right, yeah it was. It was the we that get physical or like a base edition.

Yeah, okay, bollocks, that's how we're going to come on and welcome to the Jam.

Has a disk what I'm googling right now and I cannot see a disc version for it?

Anyway, last Sanna gets in on them. If someone can send me just the base edition was released on disc. It's an on Fire edition is digital only?

Yeah only?

Yeah, so that's specifically the version that's backwards campatable.

Tell me about Days Gone? Yeah?

Do I have to? I was really stalling with that last segment, Jeff.

I just okay, here here's what I remember about, oh, last thing.

Sorry, I started last thing. I'll go watch wrestling with gamings the story behind NBA Jam for a few weeks. It's very good. Anyways, we're gonna ask me.

I remember that there's a man who loves his wife and his hog and loves is a strong word. Okay, yeah, he did wants to ride him and then he uh, there's zombies and then the zombies have a tech where there's a bunch of them and you can.

Yeah, Horde, Horde of Zombies.

See just sounds may be interesting. I don't know. I wouldn't know.

I got ten hours into the game and didn't really see any of that. Holy shit. Okay, yep, you want to talk about slow openings, galliy g. This game is the most I think. Yeah, it was Mike you saying it's a very PS four game. It's like aggressively PS four where just it's a survival, stealth, cover shooter, third person shooter, open world. They kind of just combined everything that we were oversaturated with into one game and put a sometimes problematic biker culture skin on top of it all. So,

Like I get it's wasting your time.

Yeah, it's wasting my time, like straight up, like I get this build up, I get like, you know, artistic vision all that. But it was I forget who said. But I remember someone back in the day when Dusk Stranding came out said, if you have a forty hour game where ten hours of it are boring, you made

Yeah.

Yeah, the worst thing is that we didn't get to the freaking wedding flashback. We did a lot of flashbacks, but not the wedding with the riding hogs thing.

Yeah, the icon of what I assumed we would have got. That seems like the kind of thing you would get to in the first like, you know, eight to ten hours, But no, we see this really awkward Hallmark movie meet cute scene instead where she almost kills a guy. It's just, yeah, a decent gameplay, but I think poorly written game is what we ended.

Up with there. Yeah, that's definitely always the sense I got, so not too surprised to hear that, but I mean, are you occasionally having fun?

Like is it like definitely like it took a while to get going. It took a while until you know it's it is a survival game. I don't expect to have access to like a mini gun until like mow these things down or anything like that. But it does take a little bit for you to get a more decent assault rifle or shotgun whichever you want. Upgrade your pistol a little bit, get your like long range sniper rifle or crossbow that also does well.

It.

Yeah, it takes a little bit to get going, but once it does, I was actually having fun with the gameplay.

Yeah, remember that part got my favorite part was the enemy set up an ambush for you. So they just pushed an empty, on fire exploding card down a hill into the road you're going on. But first we're like, what the fuck is that? And like it was an ambush. It was like, oh, it's acually pretty cool. I was like, oh, yeah, that's great stuff.

That's a cool moment actually where I'm just going from point A point B, going to my next objective and they actually got in my way in a smart way, which the enemy.

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Okay.

Yeah, So like so it has moments.

You'd rather play that than Ride to Hell Retribution is what I'm hearing.

Yeah, I guess.

Okay, that's a tough one. That's a tough question.

Say that.

I had more fun watching the days than.

Stuff was happening. You know, the game was giving me stuff to work, right about people.

With their clothes on and Ride to Hell Retribution days gone.

Yea, but only the first half they start even that doing that.

The best special effect. They stopped using special effect.

There you go, it's my that's my book report to the class.

What's the plan now, is it? Well?

Okay, so just you know, with how we're busy here at the end of the year. In particular, I don't think we really have time for it. That's why I said episode five a day Sean was the season finale, not the series finale. If we have time, if we need to like fill a slot, like you know, Grubs on vacation or something, yeah, we can bring it back. Absolutely, because I was having a good enough time. I do kind of want to see where it goes gameplay wise,

Yeah, I want to hear about Dragon Quest three HD two D Mitch, what's going on there?

Yeah, I'm pretty deep into this one, now, you know.

Sure?

Sorry. I played original Dragon Quest three, the sort of mobile port version that's on Switch, which is ugly, but I really like that. But boy, this is just so much better. It is just the prettiest of the HD two D games that I've ever seen, and I think they do a really good job of making locations feel bespoke, which is a problem you run into in the original EIGHTPI games, right, because you're using a lot of the

Yeah, that's definitely with all these HD two D remakes should feel.

Right, Yeah, I think so. I think it's like when you have a game like this and you're going to remake it like you and you're gonna do all this stuff with the HD two D, I think the whole point is to still make it feel like the old game in a lot of ways. I think you can make prune it. You can like treat like a Bonzie tree a little bit and fix it up here or there a little bit to remove some of the pain. But if that was the experience of the game, you

That is, I says in America by actual World.

You you said an incredible thing that which you may be the whitest thing you've ever done.

I'm dizzy.

Playing like Ohio, I was, how was the centric of me?

I was I was gonna let it go to But then everyone's like, we should call him out.

I'm all right, the overworld is the actual our world is what I mean by that? Yeah, the world, the over world. The shoot Earth in this game is based off of the uh no, the work Earth in this game. They thought the shoot Earth in real world there.

Maybe call your dad when you're done here, say doctor, I'm dizzy and confusing things up, not feeling.

I told everybody Dragon Quest three World America. You'll be like, oh, you're having a You're you're not doing good. Get over here.

You're having a stroke, Mike. I keep asking this, But like, the more you play it, like it's just like I always was curious about Dragon Quest, Dragon Warrior and stuff like that. Wanted to check it out. Uh, and this one looks so good. I want to play it. But it's gonna be one of those where it's like I he'll probably bounce off.

I mean, it's hard to say because it gets going. The pace of it is very nice in terms of it becoming the game right away, but again, like it like it can get difficult. Even when I was grinding for a while and I like this, but uh, you know, still getting the boss fights. At the end of long dungeons, I was like oh yeah, this is still actually a precent challenge.

It's not.

It's like a lot of final fantasies, and I love them. There's a lot of fun faces. You can kind of push X to win in a bit, just kind of attack attack, do a limit break. You gotta be a bit more thoughtful here. I think you probably would like that and with it. Yeah, you know, as long as you're down with the grinding, turn based battles. I know that bristles against some people. I don't mind that, but I mean they're definitely here. That's just how the game works. Yeah, it's hard to.

Say, Jeff.

I think you'd honestly would probably last longer in this than a Metaphor, just because you know, Metaphor does have a long story based intro and it might ask you if you think that fiction can impact reality, and I know that you would find that deeply upsetting.

You're right, I just can't handle that. Just Yeah, I did play people are suggesting eleven. I did play it. Play quite a bit of eleven on my paternity leave. I started that up for some reason, played like fifteen hours of it, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't go back to it. After paternity leave was over. But I enjoyed what I played.

I thought you didn't love those aggressively old school JRPGs.

I don't know. I you know, I always you know, it's not that I don't like them. I want to like them, and then I do case they try to play them and it's like, oh, this isn't working for me. But I like which one was on the DS? Was it nine? That was nine?

Yeah?

I liked nine as well.

I played a bunch of that too, So nine is kind of a lot like three A in a quite a few ways. Then I think about dragon Quests in general is that they're all kind of like each other. Dragon Quest has sort of stayed what it is for the most part as sorry as from when they made that MMO we didn't get. So it's okay, if you liked eleven, you're like this, it's dragon Quest though.

Yeah, I'm gonna give this a shot. It's just the problem is so many games and I want to go back and start sending some more times in Astrobot, and you know, there's just a lot of things taken you have to do.

If you don't beat a thousand your door by the time I see you in I know, La, I'm just not going to talk to you.

I know, I know, I'm I'm that is you finished up? Yeah, it'll be great. People will love that I'm finishing up echoes of wisdom and then a thousands of your doors right there. I was like, when I got back from vacation, that's the first thing I started working that priorities but okay, yeah, sure, no problem.

I don't already want to talk about this, but.

Look it's real quick. I beat Kingdom Hearts Too on Proud Mode. Yeah, I did, aust you because I started it last December. For a word, I was feeling quite a lot of pride. I beat it based off the save file that I had last December. When I do my yearly marathon stream for the Giant Bomb Extra Life campaign, it's called Final Mixed miss and this December we're going to be playing Kingdom Hearts birth by Sleep for Final

It's so good.

Tron is there and he kind of makes me cry because he learns about emotions and love and friendship. And the combat system is actually super fun in this game. It's very fast paced. You kind of you have your form shifts and you summon Peter Pan because if you get killed when Peter Pan is around, then tinker Bell touches your nose and brings you back to life. So it's a very very it's the thing you kind of manipulate.

I'm sorry. That reminds me Emmy's tooth fell out at Disney and we told the front desk and tinker Bell was her tooth fairy. He left her a note under a pillow and stuff.

It was amazing Disney fucking magic.

It's raal. I would like to tell the audio listeners that TAM's face is slowly turning inward with how.

Shit how Kingdom hawks wanting too And I think it's like one of those games where I finished I was like, deeply embarrassed by this.

Something.

I like, I'm a Kingdom Hearts fan, but also like, I I recognize that it is top to bottom complete nonsense bullshite.

You can go and read my review of it.

I'm just like, all of this is so cringe, Like every second I'm doing this.

That stuff definitely gets worse. Like my Kingdom Art three, it kind of is total nonsense. I could still follow it because I'm a sick Oh I'm not proud of I'm not proud that I played Keen of Arts three and know what's going on. That does actually bring me a level of saying, okay, K two as a period.

I know you never played Key because it was a mobile game, but have you played like every other Kingdom Hearts.

I played every other thing, every other spinoff thing. Key the browser game was the one I was like, I don't need to play this turns very important to Keen of Marts three story fuck yeah, probably very important to King of Martes.

That's about Kingdom Hearts. There's no such thing as a spinoff. They are all very can and very important.

That's why I think a lot of people were kind of like upset at Keeno March three because they played two and they're like, excuse me, uh well, we don't have to worry about all these like fifteen spinoffs or anything. Right, Then they play three and it turns out, oh, those move the story for very important ways. By the way, that last one of the three d yes that introduced time travel, So fuck you, that's part of the proceeding.

Yeah, if you had no frame of reference for who, like the fuck Aquay is or whatever, it's just gonna be like, what does any of this mean?

Man?

What is.

By sleep?

Miss?

You're gonna learn all about Aqua then and Tara. It's gonna be great.

I also like remember going back and and like I remember during the Kingdom Hearts too, like days when people were just losing their ship over how much they love Axel And I was.

Like, yeah, what this is the most two tires and he drives around. He's cool.

Like the moment I saw him, I was like, this character looks like dog ship. What is this character? He's like a bad like reject character from Bleach. And I was like, fucking hell.

Watch Bleach and I know exactly what you mean.

I was gonna say, he's like a bad rejected early versus Squall.

But yeah, exactly, it's just like, oh god, this is so bad.

But the best thing it's just Reno from f Fantasy seven even as the same Well, that's true.

The best thing that Kingdom Hearts has given us is Daily Beloved, like the and Yo Koshimamura's music.

The music.

That's the thing that even Jeff over here while saying.

Just playing through it, all the all the boss themes and all these emotional beats. Oh even like at the end, there's like a part where they're straighted in the darkness of course and in the world like the dward and the light shows up and it's cheesy. But then they played the orchestrated version of Dearly Beloved. It's like, oh, oh, never mind.

It's like my heart is meling.

I don't want to exploding because Memora is one of the greatest thozers ever.

I'm not afraid to say I cried like a fucking baby when that smash trailer happened, and I'm like, I don't want to Soura is a little I hate this guy now, Butler.

I remember going to the preview event for Kingdom Hearts three. It was in La where we first got to play it and like sitting down and putting the headphones on, and then like going into the game and daily beloved playing over the title screen. I remember just sitting there and feeling like overwhelmed with an emotion of how much I love that song. And then I started playing. I was like, what the fuck is going on? And then someone came over and gave me a seesaw ice cream popsicle.

Was like one of these.

I was like, hell, yeah, I do ible.

We were we were both there. We didn't know each other, we didn't know.

I yeah, Grob tell us about hot video game, perhaps one of the game of the Contender's Rise of the Golden Idol.

Yeah, you know, with the travel I had to put everything down. I brought my Steam deck, which was an insane thing to do. It sat in my suitcase the whole time. But I, you know, played a little bit before I left. It is the other thing I picked up when I got back, and uh I still, yeah,

I'm interested in whether you think that people who haven't played Case can enjoy Rise given how much of the low and characters you love about it. I personally think that people who have just like a basic desire or an interest or like of puzzle games will enjoy it. But how much do you think that that law and character element plays into the overall enjoyment.

So I think it would It will work this way. If you just want to be on the zeitgeist and we want to go play this one first, you can do that and you'll enjoy it, and if you want more of that game, you can then go back to Case. And I think it would work like as a two way street of Oh, all these characters that we're in here that they're referencing, there's actually a history there, and now I'm getting to discover it in the reverse direction, because it is like it feels like that stuff just exists.

Yeah, It might be me because I never played the first game, but I want to check this out. I do have a question about that kind of magic stuff you're talking about, because I played Obra Din and I liked it. What one of my complaints was that is this game where I'm supposed to use logic to solve mysteries, but there's also this magic element that obviously exist outside

No, because you're almost always dealing with like people want to use the magic to do things, and you know, this is more of a case so far because I'm I'm at a part in a student in Rise where a lot of that stuff has not come about yet. They're still trying to piece together the Golden Idol. But and you know, in Case, it was always yeah, maybe they're going to use this statue to do something magical, but you're gonna you will have piece together how it works.

I think the real quick just looking at the how long to be case of going idols six hours on average, so like these are.

Yeah, yeah, I think you'll each scene in about you know, thirty minutes, forty five minutes. Yeah.

I think the concern that like Micheal kind of speaking about is the it harkens back to old school like point click adventure games where nonsense is kind of factored into it the whole, like you know, combine the rubber chicken with a rope to make a polly kind of

Right, and you're gonna like you're gonna pick up on stuff like just looking at the scene and you know, kind of like I never played much La Noir, but I know the whole thing is like this character is making a face and you're supposed to read something into that. Well, these characters are making one face static scene, and if you're like this, I feel like I feel like this

No Dan record in this game though.

As far as I'm aware, wistfully now, Yeah.

A lot a lot of things you say about though, I feel like maybe I'm off based. I feel like there's some Ace Attorney DNA in here where like it's sort of stand alone and like there's magic, but logic prevails, like the magic has kept in check.

Yeah, and I feel like it's less less like magic weirdness focus than the as Tony series is even okay.

Right, but like as the turner will do stuff like, oh, there's people who can summon the spirits of the dead and they turn into them. Yeah, and like sometimes I can throw it off, but again there's there's a logic to that that.

They exactly even though it's just like, well, now that person is just here, we're just gonna talk to him like they're a normal person, you know, exactly.

Yeah.

I highly recommend everyone if you have an interesting puzzle games, checks out Rise or even case like I think that.

Yeah, there's some of the DC case.

I think there's some of the coolest, most fun games.

They are on Netflix included with your account right now. Yes, you don't need to buy them. You have them if you have Netflix. Yeah.

Yeah, we know Mike has that because he watched the Tyson Fight and he was very enthralled by it. Oh.

I recently found out I do not have Netflix. I was trying to watch something on Netflix recently, and I was like, do I have Netflix? I don't think. I hope I don't because I haven't tried logging in there.

I'd be very surprised if you did.

No.

No.

Last night I was watching an old documentary from the nineties about dinosaurs. I'm like, this info probably isn't up to date, but I like how it's from the nineties.

We're gonna take a quick break and then come back with some news, and we are back. I have some terrible news for everyone. I turned on my Xbox Series X and went to my full library. I do not own NBA.

JAM on Fire Edition, Bloody.

I'm sorry.

I'm devastated. I don't know if there's no way for me to purchase it anymore. Obviously I feel like it. I wonder if I could, Like, I'm going to send an email and see if, like someone at Xbox can ask Phil Spencer to just have it assigned to my account.

Right and push the button. Film.

I know you can do this, Phil. Now, there's clearly no other way I can play NBA JAM.

No, definitely on that new Mac Mini or anything.

No way.

But if you see me playing NBA HM in the future, don't ask any questions about it.

That's what I'm saying.

All Right, we're gonna go over to see a pig your best not squeal.

News coming from Games Indus right up is VGC Kataky Pug and all. We're gonna kick Elba to our resident News Pava Jeff Grub that's me.

Let's talk about the news. Yeah, all right, let's start. Let's start here with the Witcher four has entered full scale production. CD Project says A CD Project has confirmed that production on the fourth Witcher game, code named Polaris, has officially begun. The game is currently the furthest along in development among all of the company's projects, and is entering its most intensive phase. Game director Sebastian Kalimba expressed excitement about the game's progress and thanked the team for

It was twenty twenty four years?

Yeah, four years.

Yeah, it's about time they released a new game now. They did have Liberty that seemed to be taking a lot of their time, even.

Like expanded a whole bunch as well, right, because they have from like a American in office and such a different bunch of teams and.

Wild I can't believe Witcher three was nine years ago, because you know, again, we've been here for a while now. But it's like, wow, games have not changed that much in nine years. Huh, Yeah, I mean that's forever Witcher.

Three is definitely like one of those uh uh like games that I think about where it's like, at at that point they just stopped being like, oh, if a game was before this, it's old. It's like, no, witch Er three is just going to be sort of that one of those timeless games now and everything after that is in that zone.

It's like Skyro basically, yes, yes, yes.

They all kind of started around that time and then kind of built up to like twenty fifteen twenty sixteen where every game now came and out was like you could release that with like a few changes in twenty twenty four and no one would really bad an eye. Yeah yeah, So, I mean, God, making a big sequel to uh Witcher three seems like a tall task. I don't know, what do you guys expect from it? What do you want from it?

Well? I suspect that Siri is probably gonna have a bigger focus here, maybe just straight up be the main character. There's that teaser image that has like that cat medallion or links medallion, which apparently is probably a reference to her wearing a school with the cat medallion in the books or something like that. You played us are a little bit in three, and even like the story at the end of three very much kind of was wrapping up Girl's story in a lot of ways and sort

Do you think they can move on from Carol?

It's difficult, right, because there's so many reasons why that will be hard for people, people who love garyl. There's gonna you know, there's there's gonna be some other annoying aspects of.

These days, right, And I like, for me, I think the smart like what I would love is like a almost male guest olid two sew thing where it's like, you don't you play a Siri, but Girl is the way that you you don't get to play as him for the majority of the game, but you get to witness why he's so cool from the outside. Looking for that, I would but then those I feel like.

It was killed Girl in the first three hours with a golf club.

Yeah, have Abby do it?

Yes?

From the top rope God going around and killing every like she's she's like in the.

One where she just goes through different dimensions killing dads.

Yeah, it's incredible.

Yeah, gosh, that would be incredible. Yeah, maybe they could do a dual protagonist thing like Spider Man two kind of like, yeah, it can work. It could be a I don't know if I love that as much as just having the one or you know, the one with like a little bit of a side thing here and there. I mean, it'd be nice if you could have garyl be there and be important to the story but not necessarily be the player character. Yeah, I think it's difficult.

It depends on the on the fiction because like with Spider Man, it clearly works because uh, Miles is being built up as this next generation of Spider Man and like I'm not I'm not a Witcher guy because I'm just not a high fancy guy in general. But it seems like that's kind of what's going on here where Gerald is like you know, training up Seria or whatever is going on there. Yeah, they have in the fiction

I feel like by the end of Witcher three, she's pretty formidable as a as a like fight and Witcher risque character as far as I know, because like.

They take on the wall and win, so like I yea special she can she has a dimensioned portals.

I want them to old Snake girl and make him like older. I know that there's weird ship that with the witches, like you know, blood and shit like that that prevents them from it aging. I think it is something crazy like that. I don't know, maybe I'm getting wrong, but like yeah, or oil of oldly, but like I would love to see like a like an older Wiser kind of like out of the Action almost old man Kratos or Logan or whatever version of it where you play it as Siri or a Siri like figure or

Apparently the voice actor for GARYL. Doug Cockle like as already said like, oh, yeah, I'm coming back, but like, I'm not going to be the main character. And I mean, if it's not garyl, it's got to be Sirie. You're going to bring some third persons. Not going to be rating.

Kids, can they?

Witchers are very steris, don't work so much, unprotected sex constantly.

Yea having a great time.

But yeah, I just know a lot about Witcher's penis and balls Joe.

They are very happy to tell us about.

But yeah, that would be I would love to see. I'm excited to see what the future of the Witcher is.

Yeah, I'm excited to go back to that. You think they just have Went again and they try to do a new thing. We're going to get the Witcher's version of Tetra Master or whatever.

I feel like they bring back Gwent and add some like new fucking fantasy taking random polls and like ship like that.

Yeah, yeah, will be card packs for sure. Uh okay. Sony is planning a new PlayStation handheld. It has been claimed by Bloomberg. Sony's reportedly developing a new PlayStation portable capable of playing PlayStation five games. The devices in early stages of development and could take years to release. We're talking three maybe four. Console aims to expand Sony's reach and compete with the Nintendo in the portable gaming market.

Yeah, and also like that this time is weird, right, Like if they say a few years, does that mean it it launches like alongside a new console or.

Yeah, that seemed weird to me too. But with each of these consoles, the era of cross generation games like that extransers period is longer and longer, to the point with a PlayStation six, like, I don't know if there will ever be PlayStation six exclusive games right, like almost all of those at least for like the first four years,

Are we both because what are we all reading this as they're making a separate device that is PlayStation focused potentially or do you think this is perhaps the first indication that the next iteration of the PlayStation is more like what Nintendo strategy is and there's less of a boundary that.

I mean, I guess it's not impossible because but I just think that Sony would really needs to have a PS six as their next device is well, because that's what the audience.

I think maybe it could be a two skew approach some similar to what Microsoft is currently doing this generation. But so there's a lot to unpack here, because the chips that are available in mobile devices right now are not nearly powerful enough to run PS five games at PSI quality, and you you can't they could theoretically, it would be a really dumb thing to do, is if they put out a game that runs PS five games but at a lower equality because that doesn't exist right

I know, people like, it's not it's not that powerful.

It's not compared to like a mainstream gaming PC in twent twenty four.

But it's the mobile chips we're talking about. Compared to the ally Yeah, no, what Apple's doing with with the you know ARM, Yeah, for sure, that is what different.

That is what makes things interesting because that is what Microsoft is absolutely going to be doing for their what they're doing because they are the masters of backwards compatibility in the console space right now, Windows is also getting good at backwards compatibility, so Microsoft kind of has that lockdown.

Yeah, I think it's important that they do all this R and D for this because the we're gonna need one of these eventually. It's gonna be difficult me to do with the tech we have now or even in a few years, but like ten years from now, if you're in the video game space making hardware, you're gonna have to have a handheld or hybrid skew. I think this switch is just kind of made that whole thing

Yeah, I mean, why they're chasing Nintendo again kind of, I think they'll be to a.

Degree they're chasing Nintendo. I don't think they are. I feel like it's not entirely Nintendo chase. I feel like what Nintendo did was they figured out where the market was going before anyone else did, and reacted to that. I think now we're at the point where the other major you know, platform holders are now in a situation where they can't ignore where the market is going and where the demand is. And obviously as other companies lean into it, like Valve leaning into it and ass and.

Then Valve proved that you could follow. Yeah, yeah, burned the path. That's what I was like, we're gonna try to and and they, oh, wait, they could do it, We could do it. They didn't think they could do it if only Nintendo was doing because they had learned.

Right, it makes that's a good way of puting it. That's That's more of what I was trying to get at is that Nintendo saw where things were going for them because their handhelds were doing so well and they were struggling with the consoles, so they leaned into the handheld and they were like, there's already a trend happening slowly but surely with handhelds game more powerful, and handheld

It's interesting if this does become an avenue they chase. I'm interested to see how they approach the kind of attitude shift that needs to happen towards PlayStation to make that possible. Because right now, obviously they laying the groundwork by making a lot of their major titles PC you know, availability incompatible, But from a general kind of overall approach, I feel like they need to be a little more

Kind to be a different than yeah, And I think that that audience, even if they are okay with that, they'll be they'll bristol the idea of what you were saying earlier about, Hey, this thing is still just going to be on PS fives. I just bought a PS six. Why am I buying a PS six? But they just got to realize it's you know, the main difference between the PS four and the PS five is one has an SSD. Yes, it's more powerful, but the thing that

That's a good point because if you're trying to get more of an audience, you do need to appeal to a wider demographic. And let's be real, a lot of what PlayStation has been for the past decade now has been you know, as we call them, the sad dad games.

It's not a breakout hit, right, like it's doing very successful three D platform right.

It's doing all right within the genre, but it is not like overnight that ten million selling hit that PlayStation wants with these games, where the games that look like Prestige TV cost him to sell that number to that audience. So it's yeah, it's a it's a difficult situation that they're in. I'm curious to see how they changed their output, especially now they don't have stuff like Japan Studio anymore.

Uh, Well, PlayStation knows what women want from software games and from software parent kata Kawa confirms Sony has sent it a letter of intent to acquire it. Kata Kawa, from Software's parent company, has received a letter of intent from Sony expressing interest in acquiring the company. In acquiring the company. Talks between Sony and Katakawa were previously reported

I love how threatening this sounds.

Uh huh.

Do to you?

Yeah, we're gonna fuck you up. Yeah, I hate Oh boy. If I had a bunch of money and we've had a console and had to like spend it to like make that console a better place for people to play games, I would want from software too.

If I buy from software, I would buy from exactly.

Yeah.

I will say, that's absolutely not why this is happening. This is Sony, the anime company in twenty twenty four, wanting to.

A bunch more going on. Right, Yeah, I'm completely unfamiliar with Katakaw. So enlighten me in the audience.

They are anime and manga. His point, like, they are one of the companies that is that stuff, and so Sony is trying to acquire them. You know they already have in terms of distribution Frenchy Role and Fundamation. Well Fundamation now just is Crunchy role. They own Aniplex, one of the biggest like I guess you'd say publishers of anime. So they they are like just doubling down and slowly getting all of.

The the games portion of their business is it, Like it's minuscule compared to pretty much they have like from Spike, chun Soft, I think ACCHOIIR and those are the big ones, and they have I think it's like a sixty six percent ownership share and in from but like that's still a significant part of it. But the rest of it, like their public the publication of manga and and like book material and their animation and and like streaming ability on that kind of stuff is immense, Like it's huge.

And in a recent earnings report, in a conversation with investors, the CEO that's not Hermanholst of PlayStation said that they wanted to lean more on the anime ips that they had, so that to do this is the strategy, Like that is a huge like so them like like doubling down on the strategy is not too surprising.

But regardless, they would own from stare at least like most of it would be the result of that. I mean, could would they be in there as much scrutiny as Microsoft was certain things would just want to release these.

Games in the Japanese company by the Japanese company.

Yeah, I feel like it doesn't have the kind of like mainstream juice around it to to warrant that kind of scrutiny. And also like I don't think people consider you know, dark Souls or whatever from makes to be on the level of something like a call of duty, which, if we're being honest, was the main kind of you know, sparked that kind of illegal battle. But it does have implications on people who care about video games. There is a very real possibility that you know, so Ony locks

However, but does that I mean, would that make sense if you were it does not make.

You have to think of it in this The way I think of it is like hopefully Sony is smart enough to know that they have like an MLB situation here where it's like it's obviously MLB is like there's actual license issues that prevent them from like exclude keeping

But that's kind of what I got at when this news is first announcement we were talking about their day

The other thing that complicates the situation is in the case of like Activision. Activision developed and publish their own games, whereas we're from Software, a lot of their games are published by other companies, like the Elden Ring is published by Bandy Namco and Sekiro is published by Activision. Dark Cels is also a Bandy Namco joint, so it would be tricky for them to to kind of like snap.

That up and like and I think like band probably has like right of first refuge.

Yes exactly, Like yeah, exactly, and same for like Elder Ring, Like if there's more Elder Ring happening. You best believe that band Namco has already locked down their kind of like stake in that, and for them to be like, oh, Elden Rings exclusive to PlayStation now, that would be a monumental thing because they would have to negotiate that with Bandy Namco, and I imagine Bandy Namco is not going

Yeah, yep, and it's not happening. Yeah, yep. Virtual Fighter five is getting a steamer remaster called Virtual Fighter five Revos. Is this a like an update of a previous update? Is my understanding?

Yeah?

Yeah, Showdown or whatever it's called, The Ultimate Showdown is the news, Jeff? Can you keep writing a little bit here?

It's okay, Yeah, let's keep it. The remaster will have four K visuals, updated textures, and rollback net code for improved online play. Sega describes it as the Ultimate addition of the classic three D Fighter, it will feature classic Virtual Fighter modes like arcade and rank Match, custom online tournaments in leagues, and spectator mode. Sega's head of trans media hinted that a new Virtual Fighter game is also in development.

And they they hint on the official Sega account. They were like, well, they had just a text document pulled up with the word Sega listed over now and they're like spotted the difference in one of almost Sego but the was a six, So they're clearly teasing that Virtual of Fighter six is also a thing that will be happening. But yeah, what this is is Virtual Fighter five came out a long time ago. It was a decently early

The world is just better when Virtual Fighter is going concern. I just I'm so much happier when I see when I look around there's more Virtual Fighter happening. I just, you know, early gaming memories of like Virtual Fighter being so important and like.

I see, that's how we know you're old.

Yeah, what was it? Like, Well, there was one picture in a magazine, it might have been virtuale Fighter two or three of like what's his name, just like moving his jacket and the jacket physics, and I'm like, oh my god, damn jacket physics, it's all happening. So yeah, Virtue Fighter is important, definitely.

I'm excited. It's I've not really played the game since I think that vanilla version keeping on and put policeation in three. I liked it. I remember thinking it was incredibly complex, but I'm certainly in the mood for that, especially I like taking eight, but some of it flash your elements sometimes almost get a little tiresome, like I hate I hate the super moves and teching it right, So a bit more us to the ground fighting, boots

Yeah, and it's also just good to have more people in the space. Like Harad has been saying for a long time now that he you know, as one of the heads on the tech and project, he wants more three D fighters. He wants like Virtual Fighter to come back and stuff. It's just maybe there hasn't been room for that in the public eye because they just see Virtual Fighter and Tech and they're like, well, what's the difference.

Now, bring back Fighters, Mega Mix, bring back to.

The Hornet Bloody Role Yeah, or the for the all the online pervs.

Now for all the online pros. They'll be in the new debt or Alive that will never get.

Stalker Too is getting its first post release patch during the week to come. We didn't talk about it, so no one's been playing Stalker Too, right, I'm start it now? Oh what do you? What do you? How do you find?

It?

Is a Stalker Stalker game, which is really really great and also kind of you know, if you're not ready for the frustrations that come with it being Stalker, it can be off putting, but it's it is very very classically Stalker, which is very unique. There's very few other games that are have that kind of ambience and atmosphere and that kind of ruthlessness in how it treats you. It's it's a zero how and handhold the game to the point where I had to shift my mentality when

I think it does tell you.

But it does this insane thing where the tutorial prompts like they fucking come at you like a Star.

Wars, like like.

It fads in there and then like as you move it goes back out, and like it is the most insane thing I have ever seen in my life.

It's like atial Jump scar like.

It genuinely is like the Star Wars like opening crawl a where it like comes at you like a ship coming at you, and then like fades away again. I cannot understand the thinking behind it one bit, and I thought it was a bug, but then it kept happening and I was like, oh no, this was a stylistic and artist choice and it is insane behavior.

So that's the kind of like the entire thing.

Press X to make the dead speak exactly.

Anyway. This update's going to It aims to address various crash issues, progression the progression fixes, gameplay and balance adjustments, visual fixes, soft locks of soft block fixes, and UI improvements. There have been a lot of reports of bugs, especially for performance issues as well. How's it running running for you, Pyabe playing on the forty ninety.

Is Yeah, I'm playing on a forty ninety. It runs mostly well. I feel like it depending on your set up. If you go into town that is when it really puts like your your rig to for its paces. Some people I've spoken to are like, oh, yeah, it crippled my machine when it got there, and my machine is like mostly fine. I think they have optimized it. I it's a weird situation, but like I feel like the safest.

This is very Stalker.

But also some people just had they can't abide that. If you're if you're one of those people who like when the frame dropped, you're like, oh my god, I have to debug everything, and it like stretches you out. Maybe don't play Stalker on PC because it will like set off your ADHD around that it is is pure eurojacktop to the.

Ball maybe at the very least, like like especially if you're playing on game pass, maybe just wait for a couple more patches here, because this game is coming in hot.

Oh.

Like, look, if any game has ever had reason coming hot, it was this one. Yeah.

But nonetheless, it is very impressive that they put out a game under the conditions that they put it out under, and it's.

Yes, it is this good. Yeah exactly, but the patches are definitely coming in hot and heavy. I I know around VGC Jordan talked about at some point during the review period there was a quote unquote patch that was

Yeah, I imagine it. Like under the conditions that they were working under, it wasn't as easy to run like optimization and compatibility testing for like all the because when you make a game, you have to test it on so many different configurations of devices and potential and it's probably not as easy as and for them as it is for maybe others would be and others have it hard at in the best times anyway.

Yeah. Uh. Nintendo Switch, E shop and online services are ending in China in twenty twenty six, and to Switch, E shop and all other related network services will be closed down in China on March thirty first, twenty twenty six. On May fifteenth, twenty twenty six, players will no longer be able to download games, reading codes, or purchase DLC. The Nintendo Switch was launched in China in twenty twenty been running for the last several years.

That's happening.

Yeah, why so Yeah?

I tried to figure out if there was a stated reason. Does it seem to be you know, obviously switches at the end of its life. Nintendo's not saying why now, You know, when you do. When you are a foreign company working in China, you have to work with companies like ten Cent, you have to go through all of the they're very very very byzantine regulation, and I would imagine that that is costly to the point where having a stated end date ready to go is is probably like, oh,

Yes, I'm surprised. What even have Let's Go in China be as Pokemon Go as banned in China. Odd?

Yeah, right, it's odd. And I think that this is like more about maybe they just want to like have an end date for their deal with ten Cent.

Yes, this is probably like a re re re upping your license juncture where they're like, now we're good.

Yeah, right, exactly. And so and you know ten Cent is is the company they work with the you know that's whites we Chat, uh. You know that that is their local publisher, and you know, you know how like people complain about the thirty percent cut for using stores in the rest of the world, that cut in China is like eighty percent. You gotta get fun. You got to get like thirty five percent to like the publisher and another like forty five percent of the stores.

It's massive.

Yeah, So that's why I was gonna I'm sure we don't have the numbers, buzzz won or is it maybe just not profitable for them to be in China.

It probably it probably was, and they can like see like the bar going down on the bar graph and like by twenty twenty six, this is going to cross down into the red. So let's just you know, cut it off now and have a plan to get out and make sure that we're in compliance with all the deals that we have with ten Cent, and so that means twenty twenty six. These are my guesses. I'm sure

What do you think this does? Do you reckon? This is just means like paves the way for people just to like homebrew the shit. I assume they're doing everything already, like they probably have that situation going. But do you think it will speed up the initiative to kind of like create other opportunities to access these services?

Yeah? I mean I oh yeah, you mean, like to emulate the Nintendo Switch online services. Yes, for sure, because there's a community that like loves to do that shit. They have cracked that three DS stuff open, Yeah, to the point where you just put in a different DNS three DS Yeah, three ds.

Are back online through homebrew efforts. It's really cool exactly.

So, yes, that that will speed it up a little bit, and that I'm sure those people are already, like, you know, sniffing around this, being like, hey, we'll be ready when Nintendo was ready to stop doing it.

Yetta be careful though, because with everything happened with Yuzu and reujinks and everything like that there, Nintendo's clearly on the prol for like these projects.

Hasn't Nintendo traditionally been relatively unsuccessful in China?

Yeah, I ever, everyone's been everyone, All these console manufacturers have been relatively unsuccessful that you know. So there were laws against releasing consoles in China for a very very very long time. Those got lifted, but then tons of regulation about you know, can you release a game in China. It's got to get approved by the government you can release it in China, And so there's still a lot of hurdles, which is all that stuff eats into the

They were there for a long time. Because on summer little or whatever. Yeah, they had the IQ brand, which was just Nintendo, but they well I believe IQ was their subsidiary that.

The China domestically.

Yes, yeah, so you would have like just a game Boy Advance sp and it came out a little bit after we got it, but it was just branded completely differently.

So then has some weird stuff of the n sixty four IQ was just like an all It was basically a plug and play device, right yeah, because it was like there was no cartridge slot. It made it easier for them to suck that was not technically a console. It was this toy.

Yeah.

Yeah, So there was always ways that they would try to get around it, and they had some success in China with that stuff, but nothing really to write home about. All these companies saw the writing on the wall of China be in the biggest gaming market here over time, and they're trying to be ready for that. But it's not been easy and you do have to partner with

This headline phrase like this, I picture you leaning into micronizer, Sir, another Donkey Kong classic like that George Bush meme.

Yes, yeah, this is that headline. I remember I copied this one from VG SO. I don't know, but I the Donkey Kong Land too. After they just released Donkey Kong Land one, and I still see people being like, oh, these are just the ports of the S and S games, Like, no, they have a ton of original stuff in them. These are different games.

But although oddly there is also a Hockey Kong Country for the Game Boy Color.

Yeah, yeah, those are ports, Donkey Kong Land is somewhat different.

Ye's bespoken. It's probably more interesting because of that. Gosh, I was so frustrated that we're getting these Donkey kong Land games before we have Donkey Kong ninety four on NSO now wor No, it's not my big worry. When they just announced Honkey Kong Land one last week, was like, oh my god, they're gonna like dole these out over the course of three months, and it's the only n s OGINs we're going to get. At least, we seem to be going through these Donkey Kong limbs once a

Yep, yeah, fair, fair enough. It's I like those Donkey Kong Land games as interesting curiosities that were surprisingly good. It is very weird to see that got to get ACM. I can't remember what that stood for, but the Silicon Graphics machine like animated computer or whatever stuff that they did, like scrunched down to work on her original game Boy. That was always very weird to Yeah, all right, last story and official Metroid Prime Trilogy art book is up

They're just does sell the blowout any day.

It's a little bit different than this one is real twisted.

Vauxel dot com I had a story saying that, yeah, metch of Prime two was allegedly planned for Switch release in early twenty twenty five. I mean, why the hell not, Like you said, we did the first one, these two are probably done. You're releasing Metroid Prime four later now, Like you know, this art book isn't exactly the most smoke in the world. No, it's a little bit of smoke.

And it's like, you know, at the time when I was talking about Metro Prime one, at the time, it was like two or three are happening, but they're a little bit less of a remake. The Big Boy Remix was one. But they have two and three and they have it ready, and it's like, well, okay, they'll probably do that here pretty soon. It's like, well, Nintendo does things on their own time, and it's man, it's a long time. But it's like, no, they just wait until

Yeah, I've I've been thinking a little bit about where the Switch Too is going to come out, because we're assuming it comes out next year, which all logic would dictate at this point, but because we don't have anything on it at this point at the end of November, it's almost assuredly not releasing in the first quarter of twenty twenty five now, so that means when would they

I think I wasn't gonna do anything until Jeff Grubb pledges to shave his bid.

I will say, I think Mike May, you're on design because that feels like the tier of announcement that Nintendo likes to do it the Game Awards, you know, like doing like Joker revealed for Smash. I feel like that's the tier of like, oh yeah, the niche audience who's watching this right now are really a lot of this. It's like a two and three.

It was the lost Nintendo appearance games, you should.

Have something again. Sometimes it's just a that's really like sometimes it's not even an announcement.

I feel like everyone says Nintendo always has something, but they don't really.

I think they did in the past. I think big one.

Other than Smash and Reggie being on stage, they had like they was it shadow Drop, the Breath of the Wild DLC their one year like they have they have stuff so interesting.

I don't know. Have they done much in the Doug Bowser Nintendo?

No, I think in the Doug Bowser nothing much has happened. So I'm not saying it's not possible. I just feel like when people say Nintendo have don stuff at the game I feel like I remembering, yeah, remember anymore?

But if anyone can put.

So, yep, I would love to. I would love to get my trade prime. Just shadow drop that a night. That'd be great.

Yeah, I would not like to.

Actually, no, don't do that. Leave time please.

Okay, that does it for the headlines. I'm handing this show back over to you. Dam Hey, we got that mark.

We got a Mario Brothers movie clip in twenty twenty two at the game work.

Okay, do we want to take a quick break before we come back to emails.

Let's do a quick breaking break time.

Everyone, see you soon.

Email time if you keeping you on your toes deep you're just not right?

Yeah yeah, yep, no.

Email if you would like to send an email to us, you can use bombkos at giant bomb dot com and you might be able to have your email read out. Like Kyle in Scotland who says high bombers don't like that one has anyone watched to any rugby? I feel like the American football fans amongst you might enjoy it. And the US is going to be hosting the World Cup off the Australia. As you may know, New Zealand

I think I know about it is from that movie Invictus.

Sure it's pretty good.

If I could get away with doing a hakka one million percent, I would do a hawk I.

Would we could get away with it more than I could.

To be fair, I would ask for permission and if I could get it, I would be the happiest man on earth. I want to do a hakka so bad.

Check muted.

Ci boom a moment, Let's do it.

Oh you better reporting you little recording should be fine what what what's a harker?

So you know what Polynesian people do? They like ha ha, Like no, you don't know that that's.

Not right you doing it.

It's like a ceremonial like Maori in MraY Culture's I guess it is technically a dance. I apologize if I'm speaking out of turnal incorrectly to anyone who is from the Murray culture background. It's very sacred to them. And every time I see it it is pretty incredible. It's very moving, and it's a lot like very like vigorous, like stomping and aggressive movements, and it's very intimidating, but it becomes it comes from like a a kind of idea of I think unity, but it's impressive. I I like,

In a way that it's crazy, Okay, and.

A lot of people of that lineage are very good football players in American football, and one of my favorite players. It comes from that and so and I'm always like, man, I want to learn more about rugby because I know they have a lot of rugby that they play there that's very popular in like New Zealand exactly.

But we should we should all dance like the Charlie Brown characters in the Christmas Special in the background. That'll be our thing.

We should start every one of our events with doing the one hundred nugget challenge. Oh my god, everyone has to eat one hundred nuggets. I'm sorry Mike is dancing like a Charlie Brown character right now with himself.

Am I the only one here who wouldn't die from the hundred nugget challenge? Like? Feel over instantly? I feel like I could survive.

I used to.

I have eaten a one time. I believe it was one hundred chicken wings and.

I used to I used to do that.

It was I was easily.

I had fifty. I was like, no problem, I could have eaten another fifty before.

There's an all you can eat place here. Yeah, quicker stick and lube. We would go crazy on that ship. Wait wait, wait, what was it called Quaker steak and lube.

It?

So it was it was like originally a gas station, which is where the lube parts. Yeah, yeah, of course that's.

Where you got your wings from.

Like you said that, I'm like, what's the problem, Like quicker, I'm so use of Quaker sticking lube. I'm like, why did I what did I say?

Oh?

I guess it does have the word lubin the time.

What if we what if we, as an homage to the Hawker, had learned a version of it, but incorporated eating chicken nuggets into the harker.

So I think that would be assive.

Movements to like eating chicken nuggets.

We do something like that.

Uh, the most like aggressively pathetic thing you've seen a bunch of people who.

The gamer howker. Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what.

What I'm going to really want to do after dance eating a hundred chicken nuggets is then played a.

Uh. Our next email comes from no One's.

Listed here, so I don't thank you. By the way, these are these are the left ards from last week. I think these are all new apologies. If there's any going up.

They didn't have time to pick hi, are these are these repeats then?

Or they did not? Get you?

PI bomb crew.

With the Half Left two twentieth anniversary happening, I was reminded of the first time I played the game as a teen. During the finale, when the gravity gun turns blue and you can use it against living enemies and energy balls, I was blown away. The power trip felt incredible. What are some of your wow moments in video games that blew you away when you first played them? And before we answer that, check out no clips Half Left

Gosh, that Halfway two moment is a big one for me. I got I love Halfway two in that whole final act there. Just having that player restriction and having it makes sense of the game and learning to be okay with it and then removing it at the last moment and just letting you be a powerhouse was so incredible.

Gosh.

Two other ones that I love train levels and uh gosh, Gears of War ones final levels on a train and it was just really cool seeing all this stuff. Zoomed Bay. I remember playing that game. We call it My Brother and I literally did do a wow, like just seeing how cool it looked. And then a few years later we had and chart it to do the train level, and that was a different level because it wasn't just going down this straight track. It was bending around landscapes.

I felt like, speaking of Kids of Aar, I remember being wow the first time used a Hammer of Dawn. That was pretty awesome.

Yeah, that's a very cool thing. Yeah.

I think I played the demo for the GameCube Roque Squadron a Rogue Leader, Oh yeah Leader so many times because it's like I think I've read that they they just got access to ILM's assets and they just put the movie assets in the game, and it's like, this thing just looks so inc credible and I played it over and over and over and that blew me away.

I think God of War two has a bunch of like sequences that are really impressive. I think there's one way running along the chain which I remember being like what the fuck?

Especially on the PS two Yeah.

Yeah, And and I think like playing all of malgos other two was unreal for me.

Okay for me so being a little bit younger, I you know, I did play some PS one and sixty four as a kid to like my form at if gaming years were starting with like the early PS two game cube and everything. So once we got to that point, I mean games have been we mentioned earlier in the show kind of natural evolutions of the PS two era up to this point, so the wow factor is kind of gone. But one thing that did really strike me.

That's cool.

At the top of Mount Silver, it's like.

Oh, shoot, that's me, I know that guy?

Like that was That was a really cool moment too. I love win games sort of like twist your expectations a little bit like that.

Yep. Yeah.

Our next email is a super recipe which I'm just gonna thank Alex for. But I won't be reading out in totality unless people really want it. All right, I can read for it real quick. I want to hear a super supers five large tomatoes, one red onion, two large carrots, free clothes of garlic, one lit a stock Mexican spice, mixed tomato paste and a salid beans chopped the vegetables small enough to fit in your air fryer. Live the garlic, cold coat them in olive oil, salt, pepper,

That sounds nice.

Yeah, yeah, I'll do that.

Ship next one comes picked. The next one comes from Chase in Los Angeles, who says, hey, you sexy gamers. I just got back from a two week trip to Japan with my wife. Prior to going, we download yeah, okay, prior to going, we downloaded do you o lingo to learn some Japanese in anticipation for the trip, because we always like to make things as easy as possible for

My Questionwai means cute, I means cute.

My question for you is do you try to learn a few simple phrases or words when you're traveling to a non English speaking country, or do you just roll the diet and hope enough people will know English less you can charade your way through most situations. Dan, I already know answer, so you can set this one out.

Yeah, that's why we told me couldn't be on this. Yeah.

Thanks, guys, love what you do, and I swear I'm not sending this email to next lander to hashtag never be double get you thank.

You number one.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I try, uh and it never works. You know. I would probably like brush up on some of the duel and go stuff we did in Japanese. We were doing that a few weeks ago. I haven't done that in a while, but I would be able to brush up on that, like the basics pretty quick, and maybe I would give it an effort. I would I would learn please thank you, like, yeah, that stuff's real easy, and then I would probably like where's the bathroom? And I would be set.

So yeah, I feel like Japan is one of those places where if you make the effort to earn a little bit, the feedback loop on it is incredible. They are like, oh my god, that is awesome.

Like anytime they're like a white guy speaks Japanese, don't they just put them on TV automatically basically understand. Yeah.

I studied Japanese for like four years to learn how to speak it well, and so like when I went there and spoke it to people, they are just like frozen in in Like in the moment they're like, oh my god, because it's not even a white dude, it's like a brown dude. So there firstly they're like, holy shit,

But that's the way to learn. Just go there and that like when you say something, you have someone there ready to correct you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.

It was so good.

I've never been, but I've heard both from people who are fluent in Japanese and people who don't know a word of it that Japan in particular is like a place you could go if you're not super familiar with the language. Yeah, both because they do learn English over there, so there's a decent amount of English scare throughout it. But also Google Translate has gone good enough to point there where you know, just put up Google lens and

And also like it's I found that a lot of people there were eager to practice their English, so they would ask they would ask you if they can speak English to me, especially like cab drivers. When I got into like taxis and stuff, and I would speak in Japanese, I'll be like, oh, what language do you normally speak? And if I said English, they'll be like, oh, can I speak English to you? Because my English I'm learning

English smaller side. But that just reminded me of when I was at EVO this year and I talked to Matsumoto sound a little bit from Capcom and just cultural exchanges can be fun. Because I was getting ready to talk to him through a translator and he looked at my shirt and it was the Combo breaker shirt I have where it's banksy but it's kimberly throwing a spray. It was like, oh, Kimberly, Yeah, sure, it's awesome.

Man.

It's like having that moment they're like, oh, yeah, you probably haven't seen much of this, like I know you were at Combo Breaker, but yeah, like yeah, it's got your character on is nicchol and like having those little moments can be really fun. It's like international we're sharing stuff like that. Yeah, but yeah.

Next email comes from Chris. He says, hey, bum Cast, longtime listener, first time email. I have three kids, two daughters four and six and one son four. They're still little and I've slowly started introducing them to more and more games as their abilities improve. Recently we've been getting through Bugsnacks and they've absolutely ate it up. They're always talking about the mystery of what happened to Ega Bell

That's adorable.

Because of that, I usually have to handle the conversational part of it and we're good to go. But what I've come to realize is that the ending to this game is a bit intense in terms of the body horror of what happened to lizbet after disappearing and eating too many of the snacks. My question is, how can I get through this ending considering how sensitive my daughter is towards just talking to NPCs without scoring her too much? And what other games do you recommend for kids of

I'm the shining light.

I think it's probably grub your probably best position to answer this.

Yeah, I mean there's no Yeah, the kids are going to be sensitive and you're probably gonna scar them, but they're also usually surprisingly better at handling things than you realize. But you maybe have to break through that seal a

In friends, Phoebe's mom did with old Yeller, just like, oh yeah, turn the movie off ten minutes early, nothing bad happens.

Yeah, I mean a certain extent, Yeah, why not?

I also, I don't know, maybe I'm being idealistic, but as someone who has like younger family members that has considered this stuff, I think like, give them the option is a way to approach it as well. Like you can sit down with her and be like, hey, I know you've been ready loving this game. We're reaching the end of the game. There's going to be an ending. The ending is a little bit intense. I know you

Yep? And that would work. I think they said a bour and six on a six side of things that all that stuff would work for is like so that like, they are not capable of understanding the consequences of any action, let alone their choices. So you definitely still want to put the choice in their hands to like to teach them that that is something that they have power over.

So I also also, I don't ascribe by the thing where it's like, hey, everything you know sucks, so we might as well get them used to it now. It's like, yeah, man, that's true, Like why should when we have the situation, when we have the ability to control how they or help them navigate this stuff that could potentially suck in a healthy way, you should take that opportunity because they often won't have that in the out world, you know, in the rest of life, they will just have that

I think that's right. Other good games Piku Niku is one that my kids constantly go back to Breath the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Surprisingly, they love that. They just love going around and doing stuff in those worlds and deciding like what their own adventures are going to be. They very rarely interact with the main game. They just go in the world and decide today i am gonna collect eighty horses and I'm gonna them to name them. Yeah uh and yes, so that that that's

Yeah, I mean like it also kind of depends on what kind of games they want, because Steam is full of like low you know, low drama.

You find out, Yeah, you find a cat simulator, Yeah, I mean unity.

Yeah, I've been playing Willmot works Out, which is just like a game about putting puzzles together, and it's been really enjoyable and it has like a cute little story. That kind of thing is really easy to find. But if it's a case of, like you want a little more something similar to Bugs next, that's tricky to find.

And yeah, they just like to do stuff like they like to affect the world. So a game like Donut County, right, where like I'm moving this whole around and it's getting bigger and things get solid up in it. Stuff like that really works. But then there's like a million of clones of that where it's like holes dot Io where you just go on there and play online to try to make the bigger and bigger hole and they love that stuff too, and that stuff's free and right there.

Yeah, it could be my nephew, just go ahead.

It was like six is recently discovered goat simulator and hasn't been a big it.

Based on the description of what she likes, I'm willing to bet she probably and you will enjoy something like animal crossing or you know, just like interacting with characters no real kind of like you know, world ending stakes on on in the just speaking and you know, having fun and creating your own stories. So I bet that would be something they would enjoy.

Grub did you say holes dot Io?

Yes, yeah, then is that not what it is?

Well, I went there and it told me to turn off my app blocker, which I obliged, and when I did, it just served me an ad for plumbing repairs.

So it could be hold dot Io. I gotta be honest, they all look the same to me. That like Disney, Yeah, there's different, it's and honestly that it's an app that they play on the Amazon Fire tablets. So I'm like, are they just naming it after those dot Io games that are like everywhere? I don't know.

Next question. The next email comes from d W from Seattle. Just as Motherfucker's play Missed. Play all of them. They're great. They're challenging and required to pay attention and make notes, but they're better than pretty much any puzzle game that came amount. Since that's fair.

I've been hearing very good things about that Riven remake that came out this year. Seems like it's kind of like the sleeper hit of the year. Maybe I keep threatening to get At some point, I'm gonna do a miss series playthrough.

That was one of the initial things we were thinking of doing instead of Days Sean was Monday Mornings Missed with Mitch.

We can do it on Mondays, right, So it just was never going to be as good Enoption A, and that brings I got.

I'm just gonna say, I gotta be honest, I just started playing hold out io. I'm doing it right now. There we go. My name is Player and I'm pink. If anyone wants to get in there. Well, I I just swallowed up a policewoman fell in Okay.

Well, just playing hold on. I will take this podcast home.

And oh my god, a giant Johnny depp hoole. Just it's gonna swallow me. What is happening? What is this game?

But before we start wrapping up, we want to give a shout out to our good friend friend of the show, Imran Khan. I'm hoping you're doing well and on the mend, look forward to hopefully chating to you again soon. But beyond that, thank you everyone for listening to the show. What have we got going for the rest of the week. It's a short week.

Thanksgiving this week, I.

Don't think, is it. We don't have anything planned for tomorrow right what we're going to.

I'm having dump truck tomorrow to close out the week, and then yeah, we have off Thursday and Friday.

Yep, so we'll be back next week for another full week. So yeah, enjoy your weeks everyone, take it easy, rest up, eat loads of food or whatever goes.

On, grow up.

Thank you for joining us, Thanks for having me Mitch, you two, thank you for on us once again.

Yeah, it's always good hanging out.

With your tembo Sean. Thank you time all right, We'll see you again next week. Until then, keep gaming mm hmmmmmmmm