The Alters Review, Donkey Kong Bananza, Switch 2's Final Verdict

you Hello, and welcome to a new episode of the MinMac Show, a place about games, friends, getting better. I'm Ben Hanson, and I'm thanking you for being here. I'm not alone. I'm joined by Jeff Marchiafava. That's me. The Mad Dog. Don't be deceived by his...

friendly demeanor yeah he howls at you when you're not looking uh i'm joined by leo vader hello did me putting my hand on my face draw attention to me and make you pick me next probably kyle hillard's here too hey i was trying to remember any of the weird banana words we learned this morning

What do you mean? Tear off, chunk jump, ploppy, grumpy, void Kong. Benandium gems. Benandium. That was the one I wanted. Benandium. I guess Benandium gems mean nothing to you, Cal Hillier. That's what we're learning today. Not yet. I haven't collected one. This generation. Haley McLean is also here. Welcome, Haley. I'm a hungy-wungy gamer. Revived again. Thanks to the SGF Travelog. Now on YouTube. We've got a lot.

On this here episode of the podcast, we're talking about The Altars, a game that Leo's, I know, red hot on. Haley, I don't know her temperature, but I'm scared to touch the door handle if you catch what I'm putting down. And then we were talking about FBC Firebreak, Squeak Cross to a T, Rune Factory. Talking a little bit overall thoughts on Switch, too, but then, of course, kicking it off with Donkey Kong Bonanza, the game that...

Nintendo graced us with a full Nintendo Direct devoted to the glory of the big bonanza. And then, of course, back after the show, we have some wonderful questions submitted over there on Patreon. Kyle, as somebody who...

I think in every like pull down menu on every site and every form, you always check to see if you can list Donkey Kong Country instead of USA. It's not that I want to claim that I'm from there. I don't want to lie. I just want to know that it exists. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just want it to be proven to me. And it is absolutely a place that really does exist. Huge. What did you think about the Donkey Kong Bonanza Big Direct? Overall, how's it changing your perspective on the next big Switch 2 game?

It made me more excited for it. A game that I was already very excited for. The Pauline reveal was fun, but it was a little tiny bit leaked earlier. But I like her integration. I like her there. I like seeing a young Pauline. That's fun. And I like, I also...

This is like a weird thought that I had, but I didn't really say while we were doing our reaction stream or anything. But I like the idea of just going deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into the core of the world. It's like, I don't know, something about it is like...

Creepy almost. For real. You're going to go by all the unborn children. Yeah, it is funny just to think of like the layers of what they have to hook you at, where it's like, even out of the gate, it's like super expressive, great looking, redesigned Donkey Kong. In. Then, you know, Red Faction style destruction of the environment. In.

And then the layer of, okay, we're also going to the journey to the center of the earth and you will be granted one wish when you get there. And inside, just like... the real Journey to the Center of the Earth, there's a bunch of weird biomes and different creatures and wacky stuff, and it looks like you're actually outside again. Like, okay, in. And on top of that...

What a good bait and switch from Nintendo here where they said, you know, there's a little purple guy called Odd Rock and he rides around on your shoulder and he was in the previous trailers. There's a whole Nintendo Treehouse segment that was devoted to like the cutscene where you get Odd Rock. And I need to go back and look at that again. Because the way they were talking about it was like, I know Odd Rock's your companion throughout the game, yada, yada, yada. And then...

They lied. They lied. Well, Nintendo Korea leaked a version of the box art that had Pauline in it, which is funny how they could get those files mixed up months ago. So people were a little skeptical. And then this big direct just kicks off with like... Something that we're all just excited to see. Like, oh, Pauline's here. But then the more I thought about it, I'm like, she just like hatched.

out of a purple rock so this is the origin for this huge nintendo character she's like born from no i'm sure she got like mistakenly wrapped up and tossed in the hole and that's why she's stuck there or something i don't think she's born of rock So she was just stuck inside of Odd Rock. Like she busts out of it like a Togepi. Like it's, or I guess. Yeah. It also has like.

tape on it that says like void or something like it's like a package it's very strange well there is of course it was adult rock delivery and she got mixed up in the rocks yeah because void kong is the big bad in here along with his dear friends poppy and grumpy So this game is throwing us for a loop on several different fronts. Leo, maybe as a Nintendo skeptic, a friendly Nintendo skeptic, is this doing anything for you? Everything they're showing in the Big Direct?

The core gimmick resonates with me for sure, the digging around. And we saw more in this trailer, the animal transformations that is... seemingly become core to i mean i guess it always has been with mario turning into a tanuki mario yeah but it's like interesting that they're going for that with donkey kong too um so i i don't know i hope the the digging is is deep no pun intended

And I'm interested to see if there's any destruction outside of just terraforming the dirt and stuff. I don't think we really saw it with buildings in the Red Faction comparison you brought up. Yeah, I guess it's like we're going to encounter an entire city.

towards the center of the earth or something like that. But even in this one, they were showing like cooler stuff that I hadn't seen yet of like, okay, they'd shown some rocks you can't dig through all that fun stuff. But this time it's like, okay, there's actually like soft rocks.

that you can throw and you can kind of like stick them together and make like these huge kind of pillars and bridges. Like, okay, that is more interesting now. Destruction. It's like a bat-ray gun, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, it's like, can you just...

You're going to need to build it in some wacky ways to get to areas to find some collectibles that you couldn't find normally or something. Yeah, I'm really curious. I definitely want to try it. And I'm really curious how I'll like it because it is so Mario Odyssey flavored. That's more clear than ever from this trailer, I feel like.

but it also does have those immersive, semi, more creative elements, more in the Prey or Tears of the Kingdom direction. So I'm curious if it leans enough... towards the ladder that it grabs me yeah Kyle I feel like we both had a little ooh a little extra ooh where they show the puzzle challenge courses where like when I got to play this game at the Switch 2 preview event

It's like, okay, you descended this one level or like little offshoots. It's like, okay, take down these three enemies, that type of thing. um but when they started showing like oh they might even be closer to like shrines from zelda or something just kind of like one-offs little little experiments that seems really cool just encountered throughout this entire 3d thing

I mean, since it's revealed, there's been a lot of Zelda coding in it, like just the way the trailer was structured. And like it felt like very Breath of the Wild, like the opening of just showing like landscapes with like soft music and stuff like that. And then.

The way he climbs walls, and then I couldn't help but recall, you know, I can't remember the ability because it's been a while now, but Link being able to go through ceilings and stuff like that in Tears of the Kingdom, it feels like... It's called a recall. Attention. Ceiling go. Yeah.

But there's, I don't know, just there's some of that flavor in there. They're taking lessons from Zelda, I think, even if it's not an open world necessarily. Yeah, just kind of player expression and everything, I guess, kind of ripping that in. The big thing is we still don't know who's developing.

this game which after a big direct fully focused on this game is egregious uh that they're still keeping that as secretive as they are it's like it seems clearer and clearer that it has some connection to the Tokyo team to the Mario Odyssey team like I think I think the smart money is it is a smaller team that is kind of split off or a smaller

percentage of that team perhaps that that studio is now working on probably the next big 3d mario game and this at the same time and i'm curious to see like what that staff is going to be like and who's the actual director of this thing is you know

I mean, it doesn't feel like a small project anymore. Yeah. Because that was the feedback that you and Janet had that surprised me, where you were kind of like, yeah, I mean, for what we played, which obviously isn't the whole thing, it just felt like... Kind of a unique idea spread out into a full, like a launch game. You know, I think the point of reference you guys used was like the original Luigi's Mansion. Totally.

This makes – this at least – the implication here was that there's like a lot more to this game. I don't know. Maybe I'm just like feeding into the marketing or something. Oh, yeah. You're definitely a monster. No, I think that – I think you're right. I think –

Seeing the scope of this thing, like seeing the different bonanza transformations where you can turn into a zebra, you can turn into an ostrich. You can't turn into a rhinoceros. Rambi is out there hanging out around with Cranky Kong, which is confusing. But...

You can turn into those things, but then also just like seeing you have different unlockable costumes and like a skill tree. It feels like not exactly. Yeah, that was a lot. Yeah, but something is just like, OK, like my scope for what this game is expanding a little bit. I still don't think.

it is going to be seen as like, this is on the level of a Mario Odyssey. Not even in quality, but in terms of scope, I don't think it's going to be there. I think it's going to be a really cool game that it probably is north of a Luigi's Mansion in terms of reception, but I still think it's in that arena more than this is.

top tier 3D Nintendo going all out, you know? What's missing from what you've seen of this that makes it feel like it's not quite Odyssey level? It's a good question. I feel the same way, but I can't pin why I feel that way. God, am I just biased against Donkey Kong as a gentleman? It's a good question. Sir, as a gentleman. Yeah, what would they have to show? It's like they have a ton of new moves. The environments look varied. Yeah, maybe I should eat crow. I don't know.

This game looks different than anything I've ever seen Nintendo make. And that has me super excited. I didn't bother watching this until 10 minutes ago because I thought... what could they possibly do with donkey kong that would make me you know like i played the original donkey kong countries and that was fine um but like it's not a franchise that i've had any interest in for years

And like everything about this looks super cool. Yeah. And it looks different. It looks like a different type of gameplay than I would expect from Nintendo. And that that's apparently that is what they needed to do with Donkey Kong. in my opinion. The weird thing is them leaning so much into Pauline as a character. Like, there's a part of me, there's like two lines in the trailer and the director was like, uh-oh.

Is she going to be annoying? But if they can hit that note of it's just like a foil for Donkey Kong, some weird personality. And the fact that like they open and close this direct with like.

big huge musical numbers of her singing like it just feels like a disney musical and it kind of is charming in a way didn't expect to have her singing like you know a version of the donkey kong arcade intro song but with lyrics like okay this is this is truly an extension of you know jump up superstar but like that mentality spread throughout an entire game not on the retro front as much to that

on my on youtube regularly like i love that moment in odyssey is sticks out as one of my favorite game moments of all time 100 so there's just like tastes of that in this yeah i'm also such a pauline stan some people are like too much pauline Sarah and I got in a big fight about it. She's anti-Pauline. I know. That's what I said. She's really into Rosalina. I don't know why the two girls can't just...

I was going to say typical things. Come on, Sarah. I have a theory. Maybe it's because Rosalina looks like Sarah and Sarah's really into people who look like her in general. I'm really – Why does that have to come to Pauline's deficit? Yeah, I know. It's a fair question. It's a fair question. I was also –

Went through the history of Pauline today again because I'm like, what was her trajectory after the original Donkey Kong? And I forgot that she was in the Mario versus Donkey Kong games on like 3DS and DS and stuff. There's like a weird kind of... busty version of her that's in there it's kind of become a weird debate online that like about the lore of Donkey Kong now which is like Nintendo cares the original game

Yeah, like Nintendo cares so little about lore. There is no lore to Donkey Kong, really. Even with it being young Donkey Kong and young Pauline and you're seeing those old levels in 3D, you don't think that's going to have any story? Implications just can be like a bonus stage set in the cute old level. Yeah, no, there's not gonna be any like but but it does make me think like

If they were going for that, like, what is this say about the relationship between Donkey Kong and Pauline in the original game? Like, was Mario, was Jumpman the villain all along? Is he the one trying to separate these two people that grew up together? I don't think evil Pac-Man.

Yeah. I don't think Pauline was happy up at the top of that tower. She was like five pixels. Who could know what she was feeling? Well, I think she like gave a little heart or something. I think when you get up there, right? Maybe he was saying that to Donkey Kong this whole time. That would be so funny if they just pulled like a Metal Gear and just like, you know, we're going to answer questions from the NES game that you didn't even know you had.

Like, that's... Well, it is like, okay, this is just the big prequel, which, yeah, it gets confusing. Ugh, of course. Because Cranky Kong is in this and Young Pauline is as well, but I believe it's apparently... posted two different ways where in donkey kong country in the manual to explain that what is i think it's like the that's his grandfather

You know, the implication is that Cranky is the original. Cranky is the original. That's right. So yeah, Donkey Kong is the grandson of Cranky Kong. But then in Donkey Kong 64, it says son. And then in the movie, it's his son. Right. But then it's like, OK, but then if young Pauline's here in Cricket Kong, they must be throwing out that part of it.

Entirely? The Cranky? Yeah, no, they're throwing all that out. They don't care about any of it. No, Kyle, just a minute. Wouldn't Cranky Kong have been old for like a long time?

yeah but he can't be his grandfather and his father unless something really gross happened in the timeline at some point oh no Leo hang on maybe this is the tree you're barking up so maybe the idea is in the arcade game that is still Cranky Kong but just with the resolution you can't see that it's actually the old kong and that's why he's like angry because he's like shaved

Yeah. And he's like, Pauline spending too much time with my beloved son. I can't raise him right. He's bringing her down the wrong path. He's racist. He wants Donkey to settle down. with another gorilla that's right i was going there that's cranky's bit in bonanza is he's just racist and donkey kong is just like i look i don't know he's of his time i can't i don't know what to do it's relatable as a

As a 30 something year old person. I can't get them off Facebook. Yeah. I wonder, I wonder if, or maybe something like if they get to the core of the earth and they get their one wish, Donkey Kong just like jumps in. you know, Pauline wants to save the earth and get rid of this void company or whatever, something like that. I think she just wants to get back to the surface. Yeah. Yeah. But like, what if Donkey Kong jumps in? He's like, what if your one wish is to Pauline a gorilla?

I was going to different directions. I was going like, make me hate Pauline. No one must know of our secret adventures. It's kind of like a Obi-Wan Star Wars series of like, it's confusing that he's with Leia the entire time. Like, how do we justify this? But there has to be some justification for then why he's kidnapping her. And I hope they watch Obi-Wan and we're like, yeah, we need to take stuff from this because this was great.

Weird things, they have co-op. Classic Nintendo 3D co-op. Cappy co-op. Cappy co-op, exactly. Cappy co-op, that's the term.

you said they should have another well I guess that's the term cappy co-op but there's like a there should be like a version of this where it's like co-op half co-op right it's like one and a half players or something you know yeah well back for the old heads you know with galaxy and stuff it was called girlfriend mode but then the internet exploded like you girlfriend mode so Cappy Co-op sounds much more gentle I think overall

But the weird thing that I didn't understand, I didn't know this was possible, is that you can play co-op with somebody with the original Switch, like Switch 1. You can stream the game with the game share thing to the Switch 1. And we think that runs like ass. on purpose i don't know it is it looked like it was like smaller on the screen so i am curious if it's like if they can stream you know control and resident evil 7 or whatever to switch one like if it's just like streaming then

Maybe it would be chunky depending on your internet signal, but it's an interesting way to... I wonder if the chat functionality works. If you stream it to a Switch 1, can you voice chat to someone with a Switch 2? If they're the one streaming it to you. Well, it's only local, right? It's meant to be played like sitting next to somebody. You can do it through game chat. You can share it that way too on Switch too. Uh, so even GameShare... GameShare is a local...

like, system. I think so. Like, GameShare is for two Switches near each other. GameShare is not online at all. Yeah, okay. And Leo, you're popping for the weird 3D stuff, the DK Artist, as they called it. Evolution of Mario Artist, which I thought was going to be packed into Switch. to it turns out this is where it comes through is included in donkey kong bonanza they have like a 3d sculpting thing which looks cool

That's totally. I was just happy to see that as like, this is a cool thing to put in kids' hands by accident. They don't have to go out their way. They'll just find this in their Donkey Kong game and it'll be probably their first 3D modeler they've had. Right. And that could be an interesting like doorway for kids. I don't know. That's cool. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And if only there was a Miiverse to share it or something. Like, I worry you just get kind of siloed in there and stuff. But I bet there's going to be a lot of really awesome creations if you're cruising around the Donkey Kong Bonanza subreddit. Like, I bet people are going to be sculpting some really cool stuff. Like, apparently they...

Um, they had a reference to like a sound bird from the DSI or something in the direct, like they already were sculpting some deep cuts in there. Do you remember this kind of like a sound test bird or something? It sounds. somewhat familiar on dsi yeah dsi is like a weirdly interesting system that had some bizarre games on it

Like camera games, there was like a WarioWare camera game. There was also like a game that simulated stereoscopic 3D before the 3DS because it would like use the camera and it would like shift the perspective as you rotate it. There's like a lot of weird DSI exclusives, yeah. There's also... I learned from this other game called Welcome Tour that also with that there was like you use the camera

to calculate how similar two people's faces looked so it could tell who was related. It would give like a percentage similarity between faces with the DSI. Like that Dragon Ball Fusion game. You remember that, Ben? Oh, yeah. picture of two people and you could fuse them Dragon Ball style. Good camera work. But Donkey Kong comes out July 17th. This is going to be the next big thing next month so we can dive in a bigger way. But yeah, I'm excited for it.

Yeah. Let's learn who's directing this thing. Let's learn who this development team is. But it was sweet. They're hitting all the notes. They had, you know, the minecart stuff in those challenge levels and stuff like that. Yeah, they had 2D stuff, which... It was dumb that I popped for it so much that I was like, oh yeah, 2D! This looks like Donkey Kong Country now. Finally! Kyle, how are you enjoying your Switch 2 overall? We haven't really talked about it on the podcast with you yet.

Yeah, I like it. I think it is a good if sort of safe and not surprising system. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it feels like Nintendo's safest bet. But I like it a lot. I can say that I'm playing Death Stranding. On Switch 2? No, not on Switch 2. I'm playing it. So I haven't been playing my Switch 2 very much since like finishing the game in former review and playing Welcome Tour. And I played a lot of Mario Kart World. But like it just it's.

I like it on a basic level of like, okay, I've been really growing exhausted with the Switch 1, but this feels better and games run better and Cyberpunk looks pretty solid and like... So I'm quite happy with it. Like, I'm almost disappointed that it's not more creative and new and unique. Totally. But it's like getting a good...

like, I don't know, like a good new phone, but it's like familiar at the same time. It's yeah. So, but overall, overall happy with it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm still happy with like the hardware with the feel. I'm excited to have it. I did send myself into a tizzy the other day where I was just thinking about like, I'm enjoying it. Still way less exciting than playing Wii U at launch.

you know yes absolutely yeah i would agree like it's just not it's not unique it's not exciting yeah like the ui even looks the same but like yeah i remember the first time I played the Wii and like taking the Wii U out of the box and playing those, you know, even in the Nintendo land games and stuff where it's like, this feels different. And like, I like the mouse stuff. I think that's cool. And I think it works well, but it's a familiar.

Not particularly creative new interface for even a console, really. Where did you land on Welcome Tour for those who didn't read your review? I gave it a 6 out of 10.

Nobody's perfect. What's your login, by the way, to Game Informer's site? Just so I can go change some numbers around real quick. If you want to tell me your password, I'd appreciate that. Oh, sure, sure. Yeah, I'll DM it to you. I will say... Not to like open the welcome tour can of worms. Open, please. You guys have a wonderful discussion about it that I love listening to. I do think it justifies its price.

Like, I think there's a lot there and it's really well made because Nintendo is just good at making these kind of things. But ultimately, it's just not fun. It's just like it's playing a tutorial. Yeah. You know, it's like and it's just like it's. I mean, it sounds dismissive to say it's like a lot of reading, but it's like a lot of marginally interesting reading. Here's my welcome to your defense.

I've just about 100% of this thing at this point. I've really been enjoying Welcome To It. I mean, it is a badass game for Benz, for sure. Here's the thing that got me. It's been a rollercoaster, right? Of like, while we were laughing, we were playing the minigames during the stream. I get that. It was the last time we played it. But the more time I spend with this thing, a couple things out of the gate. Obviously. Obviously, Welcome Tour should have been free and a pack-in game. It is so...

designed for that. The Japanese name for it is Switch to Secrets Exhibition. I feel like, yeah, maybe if they would have called it that and charged 10 bucks for it, it wouldn't better. Because the welcome tour just feels like this absolutely should have been baked into the hardware, right? You will not be welcomed. Yes, pay for the welcoming, please. So that, obviously, should go in there. Number two, it's not really that fun of a game, to be very clear. But number three...

I really enjoy it and I think it is a cool thing. And what I eventually came to is why I'm appreciating Welcome Tour so much is that it's so different and it feels like it's made with love. And it's made with love from an... area of the game industry that i have never seen before which is love from hardware designers

from industrial designers you know and it's it's so unique to have someone you can feel the passion coming through in the blurs of like oh my god you guys you would not believe how hard it was to actually wire this up and then we had to put this over here because of this but like just it is it is a glorified interactive you know gdc talk on the engineering of the hardware

And it's like, hell yeah, I want some weird experiences like that in the game industry. I could not be more on board for this existing. And like, yeah, the mini games, they aren't as funny. as even Mario Party minigames. I get that. Get the minigames out of there. I totally understand that idea. I'm not defending those like, those are actually great games. I actually like the tech demos which, you know, weren't having you chase high scores. I thought were more interesting because it kind of...

was like showing you little magic tricks of the switch. Right, right. Little engineering tests that are like... interesting i guess as you move through it but more so it's just here's a bunch of things with how modern consoles are designed that i have never considered before and that combined with like you know the nintendo museum aspect of going through the history to talk about the history

of the dsi the history of the cameras history of like oh here's a racing wheel for mario kart you know here's the full history of nintendo using wheels uh we had a racing game going back to 1966 and we had racing 112 that released in 1978 Like, it is just a cool little interactive museum, and I want more strange experiences like this.

Did they get my history of blowing and games in there? No, but they were so close to it, Leo. Like your old video. It feels really relevant. Yeah, they should have at least had like, I don't know, some sort of embed. It's the least they could do, I think. But that is it. It's just people. Not even people. Monsters.

in this company and beyond online rallying against welcome tour it's like of all the things to hate like this this is not a ten dollar mario gotcha where it's okay put in two bucks and mario will dance around it's a cash grab in that front like i genuinely think it's a made of the place of love and there should be room in this industry for focusing on this because of the game i think they hate on it because of the vibe it creates around nintendo's current business style

I think that's why it attracts like lightning rods of symbol. And also it sucks. It sucks that all of this, that all of that great information is gated behind having to do like.

All this stupid crap that you have to go get dozens of medals in crappy minigames in order to get to the next part, which is like the worst, like, sin of game design to like... force you through stuff that you don't want to do to get to the parts that you do want to do okay you're gonna tell me you don't like going around collecting those stamps and scouring every pixel yeah look for invisible places and click on every

button that's the same on both joy cons like i like the trivia stuff i love their passion that's coming through even though it's like you can you can say the same thing about a ford commercial has so much passion okay they're trying to sell Four commercials, sir. We've got a problem.

Yeah, I like learning about hardware, too. They presented it in the worst f***ing format that they possibly could have. Oh, please. This is a classic negotiation or debate tactic where Jeffim tries to get you to write down swear time codes during your background. so that you would like to form an argument.

typical yeah i get it it's frustrating to go around and collect the stamps but it's like i get the idea if they want to gate it you know in some way so it's not just all right sprint through and then you get bored when you go to the museum do they say no you can't look at the van gogh's yet you got to go look at every other stupid painting and then we're going to quiz you on them so you have to make sure that you're paying attention to the like you just just let if people

are inspired to learn about this stuff. Just let them go around to the parts that they actually find interesting and learn about it.

you don't have to gate like the only reason they had to gate it was because they charge you ten dollars for it so now they have to force you to spend time doing the fucking stuff you don't want to do I can see that yes like Just let people play with the tech demos and let people learn about the stuff that they want to learn about and not turn it into this forced tour and quiz thing.

No quizzes are forced. Let the record show no quizzes are forced, sir. You can run right through that. Those are all optional. Stamps are forced. Stamps are forced down your throat. Stamps are forced and getting medals is forced. Yeah, correct. But you can get from the mini games as well. But no, I got to the point of like, I ordered like the camera for the switch too. And when it arrived, my first thought was like, Oh, this is kind of like a toys to life.

for welcome tour i get to like plug it in now i can play that dopey camera game Hey, look, man, I'm the one who's... I'm not some Nintendo apologist. I want to be very clear. I'm the one who killed Mario Wonder single-handedly for our two 10s. I just think this is a cool thing that gets way too much crap, and a lot of it is because of the idiotic decision to charge 10 bucks for it.

Malcolm in the backstage past chat says Ben cussed back at Jeff and fight back. It's not how it works. Ben still has to write down the time. He can just be distracting himself. Can I just give Hanson a compliment real quick? I think you catch a lot of crap for defending stuff that everybody else hates. And I think it makes the podcast so much better. And just now it brought out that Rand and Jeff that he wouldn't have been...

driven to make otherwise so i hope commenters consider how much it elevates the conversation for you to have a different point of view like that i was expecting i will not be helping you like i did for rebirth though with this one at the end of the year okay all right hey look i'm not gonna push this thing hard for the two tenths

It's going to be a passing. I think that game is cool. I think that game is cool. We have talked about it more than Rebirth at this point. I don't think, like, I guess... People feel passionately about it, you know, good or bad. I'm going to write this down. I really just think it's a lightning rod for Nintendo proper. I don't, I don't think it's really the game too much, except for the Jeff was valid museum comparison, which are so valid. I never thought.

about it that way. People in the backstage past are like, oh, did you... And they're saying this with love. They're saying, did I order a 4K 120 hertz TV as well so I could play through those? Yeah, that was insane. That is insane. There is the option if you talk to the NPCs, which you should because they're so well written and fun. One of them, it gives you like, hey, by the way, here's a little Morse code.

thing you go up and you press this and you can skip that or you'll get to play that game if you don't have a 4k tv But yeah, it's hidden. I mean, you talk to somebody. It's not like a secret wacky cheat code. To the faceless, voidless NPCs that all are the same. They're kind of fun. I kind of like them. I like talking to them. I have a good time with those guys. From the company that's known for like personalities and interesting characters. Yeah.

There was an ending that people were talking up that you wanted to get to, Ben. Have you gotten to that? I think what they were talking about specifically is like it does get more interesting when you get into like the guts of the system. of like, let's actually see how the circuit board is laid out and stuff like that. I don't think it's like a revelatory, oh my God, this goes so much deeper than you think. But it's like, I think instead of, you know, hey, here's the A button.

Let's talk, share our fun facts with the A button. Once you get into like designing like the pro controller and stuff, like, oh, we want it to be seamless and no grickets in here. Or like, here's how we had to actually lay out the circuits in this thing. It's like, okay, this is a...

aspect of the game industry that i haven't really thought about i mean it kind of undeniably does if you go through all the quizzes it does make you appreciate all the little details about it yes like i picked up the pro controller a day or two ago and i was after having played playstation xbox i was like you know what It is nice that they don't have the seams on the side.

And I wouldn't have, like, I wouldn't have ever thought about that if I hadn't played Welcome Tour. Right. And one of the feats on the Switch, it's slippery so that it doesn't tip over as easily. You would never think about that level of design, you know? But then, I mean, you can just tip it over. You can still look it over, I guess.

bowling ball or some like superhuman strength but i mean all that defending welcome tour i do think i'm pretty cool on the switch 2 in general like i think it's a good piece of hardware but i had that moment of you know i was setting it up from wife's like oh what's new with the switch 2 and it was really like a

And it's a bad sign where it's just like, the mouse? She's like, oh, weird. Okay. That's what I have. It feels better. It looks better. It's a bummer. I'm cool on it, too. I'm very excited to... play it with and you know mario kart world's fantastic game changer party game now i'm gonna be playing that literally every week for the foreseeable future i'm excited for that but i'm coming at it almost like uh i feel like nintendo needs to

I'm coming at this almost at a negative because of how annoyed I've been with Nintendo's bullying in the game industry lately from a legal side. I really don't like how they do business the last five years in particular. They really annoy me.

So if they're going to come on the other end and go, here's our entertainment product. And it's like full filled with technological protection measures. Like you can't use any SD card. You have to use our SD card. Mario's on it. I'm like, stop it. Like, I just don't like.

All those things are kind of piling up to not having fun with it because I'm thinking about how annoyed I am at Nintendo proper. Do you know what I mean? And even when I say, that's enough, I'm having fun with my new console. What am I doing? Like the first night I had it, I played, my partner worked nights, so he played some Mario World with me. Then he went to work.

And I got in bed with my new console and I genuinely had nothing I wanted to play on it. And that was insane. It was the first night with it. And I was just like, oh, this does not feel good. And I just have never really shaken that feeling since. I could have done more Free Room.

I do want to play Survival Kids. I do want to check it out. I hung it up and played my Steam Deck for the rest of the night. And I didn't want to do that. I felt bad. I felt guilty that I had a Switch 2 and I wasn't playing it that night.

That's me being self-aware of those facts and stuff too. Like someone who... isn't and it's just like here's my new thing oh nothing else to play besides free roam since my friends and wife and kids are busy it's like right and it's like delta rune i think is like the answer but it's like if you're not into the episodic stuff and you've already played cyberpunk you've already played

it takes two like it yeah i get it that's slim yeah it it is it is interesting that nintendo kind of did itself a disservice by the switch the original switch being so popular that it like made all these other companies want to get back into handhelds, and now the Steam Deck exists, and that has also taken a lot of thunder out of it for me. I probably would have been much more impressed and much more excited about it.

If I wasn't already playing a handheld that's, you know, comparable in, like, power and size and pretty screen, but I have all of my PC games on it. Right. But, like...

That said, I am probably maybe the hottest on it right now. I have been warming up on it because I have just been playing more stuff. And it really is like... like get the launch date like part of this is also we're all fools who got it on day one in the first place when we knew that the only game on it was Mario Kart World and like what were we expecting for like

for like big, for like having exciting launch with a lot of like first party, like we're going to have to wait for the drip feed of Nintendo titles. But like, I've been playing a couple more games on it. I've... Had a great time with my kid who's playing Mario Kart, which has also painted and made me much more in love with the Switch 2. This is for the kid. That's the other part. They're getting pissed at the EULA.

have them sign it for you but that doesn't work anymore so I've been playing some of it you know in the evenings and been having some good you know, it's, it's just like, it is a solid alternative to the steam deck when my wife is playing the steam deck and I can, yeah, I've been playing like Yakuza zero, which I, which is one I've never played, but it feels like a new game to me, you know?

That's fun. Yeah. This is fun. And I mean, the Zeldas are like, you guys know how much I love Zelda. Like, it really is like amazing to play those games at a higher frame rate. Like, I was shocked at how much I was like... almost upset that i had already played those games i'm with you yeah i put it up tears of the kingdom and it's like oh okay this i know there's a lot of stuff happening in the game just right now but like this could have been a whole a whole cycle of hype if they would have

you know, charged 70 bucks for it completely separately. I know that those upgrades are financially really confusing themselves, but like that, that is a huge deal. 20 bucks to upgrade it or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. it is but then for others it's like different for depending on the game it's it's somewhere in Pokemon you know you just pop it in there and it works Scarlet and Violet and that was another moment where I

where I was like, do I need to, like, I probably put, like, 10 hours into Scarlet, and I was like, this is fine, but it's just, like, it's... Scarlet looks a lot better. Yeah, and I was... And because you can't transfer your save either without paying for Pokemon Home or something like that? I don't know how that works. Mine went right over. Really? I don't have Pokemon Home. Yeah, I was playing the DLC and had all my Pokemon. Really? Yeah. Huh.

Cause like there was a Rebecca Valentine was talking, was complaining about how her save didn't come over. Cause it's like animal crossing and Pokemon do not transfer over the cloud. Am I lucky, a lucky ducky or something? Maybe memory card or something. Huh? I'm, I'm. That's great. I'm jealous. Yeah. I hope I don't like log in next time and it's like a glitch and it's all gone now. Missing number. There must be some way to do it that I just missed or something, you know?

But yeah, I mean, but yeah, I played the first like, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes and I was kind of like, should I play this thing again? Like, you know, maybe I actually beat it this time. I think with the Switch 2 overall, there's the new story that in the four days following its launch, it sold 3.5 million units worldwide, becoming the fastest-selling Nintendo game system ever. But I think it's still coasting on just the wild success.

of the switch like i think i also think that's because there's more humans every year Every record is getting broken every time anything comes out. They have the hardware available. They made them, yes. They could have sold that many Wii's, but they couldn't manufacture them faster. That's interesting. That could be.

I think Lifetime, I predict the Switch 2 is going to be 50% of the sales for Switch 1, which would still put it at $75 million, which is where the 3DS is at. It's like, yeah, that feels... about right like I just don't think I don't think on the streets there's much hype for this thing like I was gonna show it to my nephews and it's like they'll be okay on Mario Kart and then outside of that maybe they'll watch like a let's play of Donkey Kong but I don't think that's exactly gonna

Get him hyped. My daughter really doesn't care. Like violently doesn't care. Which I don't know what that says about her generation. Your daughter is just cool. I had to I had to like it for Father's Day. I was like, you have to play Mario Kart with me. And that's what you know how much of a dream that is that my dad on Father's Day would say, hey, I had to go to a golf course.

I love my dad, but I ate golf courses. Hang on, a Mario golf course? No, not even. Oh my god, that's terrible. I'm so sorry. Did you play golf? The way your phrase means I went to a golf course. You're not saying I went and played golf. You're saying I went to a golf course. That was on purpose. That was a compromise. She's up for five minutes. Yep.

Kyle, do you want the most damning review for Switch 2? And the hype level out there? Are you going to quote my review or something? Is that what's about to happen? Yeah, get ready. This is going to be controversial. No, I was just looking it up because he was on, he, I think Nate Bildorf, right, was on Jimmy Fallon. Shown off the switch. Yeah. Yeah. It has. And of course, this is a scientific as it comes. It has one hundred and nine thousand views. The big.

showing off of the Switch 2 on Jimmy Fallon on YouTube, right? The Switch 1 is at 7 million views. And obviously, maybe that's Jimmy Fallon popularity. Maybe that's millions and millions of people. Why are you touching it? This is such a weird way to touch it. Because I'm just thinking of the level of hype out there. I think no one's turning their head to look at Switch 2. Guys, JoJo Siwa made a tweet about the Switch 2.

And no one reposted it, not even Miley Cyrus. If Jimmy Fallon is in science, I don't know what is. I'm getting some heat about Brie Larson's YouTube channel. Apparently she had Switch 2 on it. People are excited about that. Oh, really? I missed that. That's something that's huge. Absolutely. That counteracts the Jimmy Fallon description. I'm guessing Miyamoto was on Fallon for the Switch 1. Doing his thumbs up thing. We barely know who Nate Bildorf is. Oh, you know it was Reggie

If that matters. Back in 2016. Love that man. They should have had Doug Bowser because Fallon would have really been fascinated by the fact that his name is Bowser. That would have been the whole thing. It would have been awesome to be. Hey, you know what my favorite type of hair is, Jeffem?

I don't want to answer. Angel hair pasta. Cause I like to eat. And when I want to eat, I need it nice, simple and clean. Everybody, you know how you like to eat food, but you're looking sometimes for just like the easiest possible food that still tastes good. I guess the easiest possible. food is like you shove Cheerios in your mouth as you're sprinting down a hallway. But what is like a tasty version of something that's easy?

and good? And that answer, ladies and gentlemen, drumroll please. Honey Nut Cheerios. It's Honey Nut Cheerios. How can we get sponsored by... Almost as much as I'd love to talk about factor meals, everybody. These are delivered right to your house and they are microwavable little meals. Two minutes.

You can have truly delicious food. And they want you to know that, hey, summer is here. Don't forget it. So spend more time outdoors. Spend more time enjoying family, the sun. Jeff, I'm catching the rays, getting the tan. Soak up the sun. And you can do that with Factor Meals. Two minutes! They arrive fresh and ready to eat.

They've got 45 weekly menu options for you to choose from. You can enjoy this summer more. Get started at factormeals.com slash minmax50off and use code minmax50off to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code minmax50off at factormeals.com slash minmax50off.

for 50% off plus free shipping. Leo? There's been a lot of confusion that it adds 50% to the price, so we've got 50 off as the new code. Yeah, it is 50 off. That's factormeals.com slash midmax50 off. Give yourself the option. in your fridge at all times of super, super easy lunches. Factor Meals is designed for that, and I really do enjoy them. So check out that link in the description if you want to. All right, The Altars. I was thinking back on The Altars. This is from...

11-bit um who uh you know made frostpunk and this war of mine they're known for They're super depressing but interesting systems-focused games. That's the genre? That's the milieu they're working in? Really tough choices. Yes, yes. Such a Charlie problems here.

Some tough thinkers. Yes. Your base is just one big trolley in the altars. But I was thinking of like, what a good debut it had. Like the first time we all saw this thing, the fact that they showed gameplay and we see like, okay, interesting sci-fi premise, but we're diving into

systems out of the gate we're going to be x-com style building out this base and then cloning yourself to navigate the different tasks because like it was a good hook immediately and i'm so happy to hear that leo and hayley in particular are loving the hell out of this thing or how would you phrase your love affair currently with the altars? Yeah, I teased it a bit ago as my new number one for the year so far that I've been playing.

I also loved it. It was very, very fun. I have some complaints with it, but overall, like, just so unique, so cool. Kept me on my toes. I couldn't guess how the gameplay was going to go at any given time because of just how, what a weird mismatch of stuff it is. I couldn't predict how it was going to end. It was just so fun. So you finished it. You guys have both finished it? I haven't yet. I'm almost on my second playthrough of it. What? Oh my god. Jesus. I want to see all the older stuff.

Oh, okay, because you have a different playthrough every time is a beat they're hitting, right? Depending on, like, who you're actually making. Yeah, there's a couple that are required. um like you know they're built in that you can't even progress through act two until these two altars are made sort of thing see jeff that's called gating it's basic game design it's welcome to her it's the altars it's all the same thing so i don't know why we knock me sorry uh anyways so

A couple of them are really specific. And then... a bunch of them are optional and it and you know i went through mine oh there's just so many good anecdotes me and leo have been sending messages just like what'd you do when blank did this like he did that for you for me he did this like there's just so many great opportunities for anecdotes in this type of game which is such a leo thing

For sure. And with the replayability, it's like we assume this thing happened to each other, but the scenes are generated based on the alters you have. They have specific beefs with each other, like issues that you have to resolve between them based on their different personalities. And that's also...

fascinating and does not feel procedural at all. It feels like it may as well be linear for how well that stuff all ties in with each other. Wow, that's amazing. So, I mean, you two talking to each other and comparing notes, it is a feeling of like, whoa, this has...

a lot more breadth and possibility than we thought even. Yeah, like shocked, like, oh, this just happened to me way late in the game. That was the first thing that happened to me when I got that person and that kind of stuff. And assuming I knew something that I had no idea what she was talking about.

That's fun. I spoiled something for Leo. He's like, that didn't happen to me. I was like, how has it not happened for you yet? It's just like, because the way I set things up was just different. Yeah, but the game is just so, so... strong like it's got all these different elements and it is rare that they all work

so well on their own merits. And it's not like I'm ignoring the story because I like the gameplay. I'm ignoring, you know, whatever combination of things I happen to like within a game. This is like the altar stuff is so interesting because it's rooted in this timeline that is. Your character, Jan, you look at the milestones of your life from birth and these decision points where you like.

Did or didn't stay to help your mom when she was sick. Did or didn't get this scholarship to college. These little breakout points on this totally normal life that is like very relatable. You end up getting more and more branching paths where this altar is if you didn't get the scholarship and that motivated you to work harder, then you went down this path and you become the scientist. And all of them kind of have a little different voice, which is just like something.

funny to do with the concept maybe not totally literal that they would start speaking so differently but they all have such different personalities and are so recognizable despite all being this one person and it is so cool to have that be so interesting this this these conversations of between the person who stood up to his dad and the person who didn't their different ways of looking at the world and their values on top of this management sin that is so

delightfully punishing in the same way that frost punk and this war of mine is legitimately i'm playing on the heart of difficulties and i might have to change because it's making me too scared to like continue with it because the stakes are so high It's really hard. It's so hard, but fun. And the, like all the, the, that science exploration of the planets, the way you're probing and drilling, it is a lot of decisions.

based on spending your time wisely and delegating what your alters are doing wisely. And it is also just fun and cool to explore. Yeah, that's my biggest surprise is even in the opening of like, this game could really be made or broken by the on-ramp.

It is smooth as butter so far, at least, for kind of easing you into the systems of this game and having little pop-up video tutorials to make sure you fully understand everything that's going on. Like, okay, use this tool like this. Use this tool like this. God, I think what I love about this is the most... care is definitely as good as the systems are there's a lot of care in the writing for the altars that like you think it's like every time an altar gets woken up

You think it'd be the same conversation of like, whoa, whoa, slow down, buddy. I know I look just like you, but calm down. Like, it would just be that five more times. But like...

because the alters are so different in personality and they take the time to like make it really feel like that way like the technician feels so different from yawn even though they barely look different you know what i mean but i see the technician like that's the technician that you just like know it's him is and so like each alter wakes up in such a different way that's so not tropey or annoying or whatever like for example when the scientist wakes up

he's like oh my god fascinating like he doesn't freak out because he's like interested in the science of it and he's because he's been a part of this project in his timeline working on the science so he's like oh my god rapidium got found no way so that means wow and he's like of the science of how he thinks being a part of

that like and being made via rapidium that he doesn't freak out that much and then if when you bring in like there's like a botanist guy or something for example he's like oh my god he's just because he just knows nothing about science he just likes plants so he like freaks out and you have to be like okay wait calm down

calm down that all those different things always hit so different and are so so fun and the decisions are so hard i legitimately would stop and just like think forever on some of them And some of the moral thoughts that they throw at you, like at one time I was really donking up, like I was wasting my time, things weren't getting done quick enough. They have these optional quests where like...

The doctor wants five really good meals to make a feast for everybody to improve morale. And I didn't do it in time. So that pissed him off. And then the minor has something really effed up that happens. That was my fault that he also was pissed off and everyone was mad at me. And then they had like almost like a intervention where they were like, just because you're the first one doesn't mean that you'd necessarily be the best leader. And I was like.

you got me there that's so good true and i got i failed because they kicked me out of the ship because i was bad at my job so i had to go back yeah i had to go back and and refix another time one alter got so pissed off he killed me and everyone in the ship and then killed himself and it was like you failed because everyone's morale was just absolutely trash because i was focusing too much on just like min maxing all the items and getting all the items don't i i hate saying

And she said, and she could have avoided all that by playing beer pong with the guy who killed everybody. I could have just hung out with the miner a bit more, but he was so mad that I almost was kind of scared of him.

And he did, he does something really messed up that I don't want to bring up. But like, I gasped when I woke up one morning with what he did. And then I said to like, keep doing what I was doing. And I was like, this is so weird. And then like three days later, he killed everyone. I was like, whoopee. This is, of course, painting a very specific picture. I want to say it also has such amazing light moments. It is also so funny.

Like, really great writing in that direction, too. A definite best moment contender of a light moment between all the alters near the end of Act One. It's really delightful. The movies, too. You find movies amongst other collectibles, like leftover of Jan's stuff he packed scattered across the planet. Right. And you can watch them with the crew. And it seems to be like a real YouTube channel, Chris and Jack, whatever they... commissioned or bought some of their...

But it's refreshing after like Revenge of the Savage Planet and things like that where I sit down to watch a movie and I'm like, it's like a five minute short and it's like actually funny and well made. And it's like thought provoking. And then when you watch those, everyone's glean goes down. Like after you watch the movie, all the alters are happier.

so it's like good to watch the movies too. Yeah. The fact that even that granular of a little thing that games so rarely get right like is worthwhile and fun in this is really cool. Yeah. I'm only like day eight in it, and it is already... It is such a tense game, and you guys are scaring me a little. It's scary. Because I haven't really had any, like, big, hard decisions yet. But it's just...

At this point, I'm afraid just not to go to bed too late because then I'm going to be tired the next day. And they keep telling me everything you do is going to be way slower.

thing it is like it hits that it hits that like classic stardew valley like vibe of like do i have enough time for this can i like mine one more thing and then run home and get to bed fast enough so that i don't get that penalty should i be like they told me at one point should i be hanging out with people in that tired zone yeah you should be talking to everybody what it's for

Yeah. When you have to do like make meals or workshop stuff in that zone or beyond, you can stay up till like 4 a.m. working on stuff. That's like out of desperation. But once it hits a certain time, it gets irradiated out on the planet's surface. So you come back inside and mostly that's for spending time hanging out. And moderating the morale of everybody. I will say my biggest ding against it was my one loss so far, which was not getting things together to...

make the journey. You're kind of escaping the sun rising over this planet that's going to burn you up. And you have to... accomplish certain things at the end of each act to get the ship moving again, which is so cool. This giant wheel with your grid based layout that you're moving the rooms to optimize how to get around. And then you actually walk around and deal with that layout. That's also so slick looking and well designed. I was like, I know I have to stay up all night to get.

ready for the move here or else we're all dead and i have to do all these things and you can put people in crunch hours where they're overworking and that's 12 hour shifts that's the max they can do which is very ethical but

I was like, the sun's going to burn us up in four hours, guys. Just don't go to sleep right now. And I'm there trying to do everything by myself and we just get... If you do that too much, they refuse to work and only work four hours a day. They'll wake up and they'll go, I'll work only four hours if you crunch them too much.

So I was crunching too early and then they were like, screw you. You suck. And then they all refused to work. And I was like, damn it. I couldn't get anything done. But that's what it most broke. My immersion was like, so you're going to die then instead.

And I don't think it would be too strong to like let you do that on the last night. Maybe it'd be like too many people would rely on that. But that was the one time where it's like, oh, this isn't working totally perfectly for me as well as immersion and gameplay mixing. So do you think it's going to appeal?

to just kind of farming sims fans sim fans in general i suppose you know it's really hard i think it's too hard to appeal to that more chilled out vibe as much as i did have moments of being chill yeah it's not cozy it's stressful there's really sci-fi f'd up decisions you have to make that don't feel good to make them either way a classic like lose-lose situation

Everyone's mad at you. I'm a people pleaser gamer. Everyone at the end of Avowed loved me. And I had like a cheering squad. Everyone was like, yeah! I was like, well, I won Avowed because everyone likes me. Like, that's how I view games. It's so hard to play this because one guy will be like...

we should have better meals. And the other guy's like, we do not have time for that. The sun's going to kill us. Yeah. And I was like, I kind of agree with the fact that we could be dead and who cares if we eat gruel or like a sandwich. And the other guy was like, literally kill yourself. He's like, don't fricking talk to me. And I was like, Oh, It's just not meant for good times. It's stressful.

No, but on the farming thing, maybe the fact that you're doing it's so much about passive income, setting people to do things and then the resources are coming in and you're delegating what to do with them. That is satisfying in that way, in that genre. I will say in my second playthrough, I prioritize having more alters instead of.

being stingy because I didn't have a lot of alters in my first playthrough because I was almost worried about not having enough food to feed them. And like, it was almost scary to bring in new life.

And like even the moral implications of that, they make you think of that all the time. Like one guy's like, why'd you make me? That's so messed up. Oh, that's good. So right. And the core thrust is what's going to happen to them after this is over? Are they this company really going to let you bring eight of your.

self back right right yeah um so like doing that and the second playthrough i have way more alters and it just makes more sense so i would if you could do it in your first playthrough have more alters than you think you need

Because ultimately, they'll just go be out doing the things that you would do. And you can focus on the bigger picture, like making sure you make it to the final things and also talking to them and having fun. Like, who cares if you send the botanist out to mine one day? It's not the end of the world if he's not always planting things, you know?

Like you can shuffle people around and do what you want to do. But I didn't have the research guy in his research lab as much as I wanted. So I didn't get as many upgrades. So then I didn't have unlocks I wanted to have. So blah, blah, blah. And that could have been solved if I had more alters. It's like...

oh it's there's a lot going on that is it is not calming it is not relaxing even if there is passive elements to this i was stressed and yet it's the lightest compared to this war of mine and frostbunk it's like yeah rom-com compared to those two i feel My major ding was the fact that it's not clear enough for me, especially at the, there's like a final act. I'm not going to say what number in case people care about that, but the end of the final act, it is not clear about.

how much time you'll need to finish something. And it made me have to go back like 15 days to refigure it out because I thought I understood how things had to be done, all that kind of stuff. And then it was like, You only have two days left until the sun beats up. And there's like this big final mission I had to do. So I went and did the final mission. I was like, oh my God, I'm just making it in time. And then the game was like, go to bed and have a meeting tomorrow with your altars.

And then I went to bed and it was like, you burned up from the sun. I was like, why can't we have the meeting this evening? Why do we have to have that? Like there was like stuff like that that I was just like, oh, like that's just poor planning on like.

the objectives it should have said make sure you have an extra day after the meeting or after the thing so that you know that like because i was planning out my days to make sure i had enough to do everything i wanted to do and finish on time because why would you end five days early it makes no sense in a game like this you want to

be having everything set up the right way and then for that to just say like have a nice sleep we'll talk in the morning about how we're gonna figure this out and then it was like game over and i went back and every minute mattered Yeah, could I also go back in real life and change the way I spend my days? That's what you're supposed to be doing. It took me out a bit. And I think this game does... It has elements in it that...

are fun to go back and do things. Like for instance, it has little icons that show you what choice you chose before if you want to choose something else this time around. I thought that was fun. But for my first time playing it and beating it, I hated that. That made me so mad that it almost like...

It was like a whole score point down from when that one thing happened. I was like, that pissed me off so much. Oh, God. And so chat's saying it's like 20 hours or so to beat? Is that about? Yeah, that's about right. And then encouraged to play through again. Got it. Yeah, but I will say I went back and started from scratch again, hoping that there was some kind of new game plus sort of elements and it doesn't really work that way.

The biggest thing is I wanted my research unlocks to carry over into my next playthrough because I thought that would be fun because I unlocked a lot of auto miner things. I was like, perfect, I can just set up all my auto miners and then I can just focus more on the story stuff, which is kind of what I wanted to unlock anyways.

But then as soon as I got the research or none of the unlocks were there, I was like, dog. So I think the way to go back and play it is not to start fresh with a new gameplay, but to go back to an earlier day and just like redo it. But my brain hates that because it feels like it's a racing.

my first time I played it and that now that doesn't count. That's just a weird way my brain works, but I kind of wish it went the other way. Your previous dialogue choices, though, it shows like this is what you chose last time, which is interesting. Oh, that's cool. I am really enjoying it and it's like...

It got me so out of the gate. I'm a little scared of it now and a little apprehensive, but I did not expect there to be a second Claire Obscura that just instantly hooks me, and I love everything that there... they're doing with it and it is just such a different style of gameplay like my my wife asked me the first night after i was done playing like you know what was i playing and and what's it what's it like like what's the genre and i'm like

I don't know what the genre is. Like I've never done this stuff in a game before and it is so weird and such good. Like I'm, I am so happy to have a sci-fi game that really cares about the sci-fi where sci-fi isn't just like. window dressing you know like a setting totally okay it's it's size five so therefore we all have like fancy armor and we're still just shooting people like you know any other shooter like like they really care about the sci-fi they really care about like

presentation of it like the the first time that you take an alter out which is before the before they put up the title they put the title up as it's doing it but like jan goes down he sets it up and then he just sits on the ground like across from it and just stares at it while it's like processing. And it is such a good shot that like I got goosebumps. And then they, then they flash up the altars and it's just like, you guys know what you are doing so well. And you are like, you are nailing it.

So I'm really excited to keep playing, even though I'm a little scared. So with you. And the milestones, the way you look at the life timeline, too, the presentation of that is so cool. It feels like it's something that would be in a head scene where you're going between the little, like, windows into these different spots in your life, but it's totally self-driven. The second you open that up, I'm...

going through every single thing and reading it it's so 100 100 that is exactly like i read his entire timeline and and like you know obviously i knew the premise of the game but i was not expecting like that much agency over who you're

who you're creating. And like the first one, you know, is like baked in. And so they, they brought him out and then they were like, Hey, you could, you could like make another one of us to like figure stuff out. And when I looked at the timeline, all of a sudden there were like,

15 different split points and there were split points off of the alters timeline alternate timeline has alternate timelines i was like oh my god like and then i didn't create anyone because i'm scared of like bringing more people in and

And the consequences. But I will do that now because Haley has convinced me to not be so scared. It's a lot easier, which I think is thematically cohesive because it's like the whole reason you're making alters is to try to survive on this harsh planet to get to get away. So it makes sense if it's too hard.

If you don't have enough, hence the whole reason why you have to make them in the first place. Yeah. It's like a last resort that you're even told to do it. Yeah. Yeah. And like to the credit, like that is like that is a glowing recommendation for me for the writing of this, because like. I really cared. Like once the mechanic was there, I was like,

I'm finally kind of on good terms with him. I don't want to F this up. I don't want to screw up someone else when I bring them in. I care so much more about the decisions that I'm making when usually in games it's like... Yeah, just shoot everybody in the head and it's fine. Whatever, go on to the next objective. Like, I am tense and freaked out about all of this. And, like, the exploration is...

Super cool and super interesting and not what I was expecting at all. And there was like a place to mine. It was like, but it's irradiated over there. So like anybody you send there is going to like be poisoned by it. And the mechanic was like, do you want me to go in there and do it? I was like. No, I don't. Let's just try and get by without the resources. It is wild. It is a wild game. I'm very smitten with it.

The exploration is like third person over the shoulder running around. That was part of the initial trailer. That's like, okay, and this really might be something I get into versus just like appreciate the concept of. And that stuff does feel really cool and is in that hard sci-fi lane that Jeff was talking about where it's not shooting monsters.

so much there's stuff that's kind of approximating that but it is a lot more about exploring and finding genuinely surprising stuff and learning about it from being around it and from talking to your alters around it that sense of exploration is really unique to it yeah like they're running around like you know if you've played 11 bits games in the past you kind of get an idea of maybe some of the emotions you'll have during this game but just like a simple thing of

being able to walk around in that base as well. It's like, oh, God, you know what? I wish I could have been able to walk around in my XCOM base. It turns out it is fun to build this out and then, like, take a super fast elevator over there and go explore it a little bit. Like, that is just innately satisfying. Other authors walking past you with their little comments, little snippy comments if they're mad. Oh, if they're mad at you, they're like, get out of my face while you're in the elevator.

Yeah, my second playthrough, like, I immediately set it up the way I had in my first one because I just memorized where, like, you know, this room's always by this room, by this room, and I just couldn't.

It was switched around when I started. I was like, nope. And I had to take five minutes and reassess everything and put it the right way, quote unquote. It is going to be. I've seen other people on YouTube with their setups. I'm like, that's a way better way to set it up to maximize space. I didn't even think about it. Oh, funny.

It's going to be a really fun one to talk about in comparison to Death Stranding. Not identical games, obviously, right? No, no. There's little tastes of Death Stranding in this. Yeah, totally. We'll talk about it. That more in the future. But The Alters, it's out on PC and Xbox and PlayStation if you want to check out The Alters. Sweet. Look forward to talking about it more. On a similar note...

They're at it again, folks. Squeak cross, home squeak home is out now. Killer decisions just moving. It makes the authors look like welcome to her. Oh, I love this game. I saw a trailer for this game last year, Wholesome Direct. Yeah. Literally exactly the year. And then Sarah and I went to watch the new Wholesome Direct this year and literally go back, watch the tapes. First thing I said was like, I hope we see Squeak Cross again. That was last year.

And then they come out, they go, Squid Cross is available today. And I literally went, ah! I've been waiting for it. And it's sweet to have just a Picross-style game drop all mouse-themed Picross. And then it's sitting at like overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. It seems like everyone's like, yes, feed me Mouse Picross, please. How did I? This completely went over my head. I did not. Oh, Kyle. It's embarrassing. I'm going to get it for my Switch 2.

Oh, great Switch 2 game. It's a Switch 1 game, but I can play it on my Switch 2. Hey, that counts. We'll take anything we got Switch 2 at this point. Yeah, this is a great Switch 2 game. Please.

So wait, wait, okay. So it's Picross, but there's also like a home building aspect? The puzzles unlock furniture for your little rat. And then you can, you'll get the new thing and you'll take it out and put it in the room. And then you can do a harder version of each puzzle to unlock new colors of each item. too so each puzzle is really like two puzzles I fear that this is that what was that Burner by Numbers a couple years ago which was like a Picross game with like a story yeah

I just played that and I was so excited for it. And I was like, I just want to do Picross puzzles. And I ended up just like going and I wonder if this will be the same thing. You can, Kyle. You can't just play the Picross puzzles. You can just ignore your rat. You don't have to put any of that furniture crap in there if you don't want to.

You'll live like a bachelor, but you'll be done with puzzles. I love Picross. I've played a lot of different Picross games. Same as Kyle of like, I want to see every different take on how you can make a more gamified Picross and it's never been that exciting. But Squeak Cross, I think, is like, for fans of Picross, this is not just another puzzles in a new kind of shell. It is like... for lovers of Picross. It's more polished than any of the Switch Picrosses were. Yeah.

More satisfying. You know, you're five by fives, which you get all the time, of course. It's always like, what even is this? I guess this is kind of what they're saying. But even at the five by five, you see that shape and you see it turn into a 3D model of that thing. That is cute. So it is really rewarding even to do the smaller.

ones before you get to the big giant ones that take forever to then get a beautiful picture and you always get this cool 3d model out of it it's so cute and um hey pick cross heads listen up kyle that's me ever heard of eight by eight puzzles Yes. I never done an 8x8 before. I did like, you know, 5x5, 10x10, 10x15, 20x20.

Yeah, they usually are divisible by 5, aren't they? Right. I said, oh, we're doing something here when I got my first 8x8. They did one that was like 8x4. They got non-square... non, you know, equal. Mega Picross is all that you're revealing about yourselves. You guys are telling yourself. If you know this much about Picross, why are you not playing this game? I'm downloading it right now. Why do you think I'm looking off to the sky? That's it.

You're kicked out of the homesqueak home. Yeah, it's like the thing that I love most about it, the, you know, the mouse rat stuff. Is it a mouse or is it a rat? The rats. I made a rat. It's a rodent creator. I made a rat. But in game, they have connections to rat sanctuaries where you can donate money via the game menu to donate to rat sanctuaries. And there's rats in the game based on real life rats. I need homes, you guys. Rat sanctuary? Isn't that Leo's bedroom?

high five yeah rats need homes too nice one the the rat stuff is cool um i think like it's it's not a it's not a sexy cell but like the ui for Squeak Cross is insane. Like, they have made... That's sexy. They've made the act of playing Picross, like... really satisfying like they they will they do things where it's like they will highlight the numbers as you're working on them they will gray out a specific number in a row or column

uh if you if like you have figured that chunk out so far so it will just show you the ones that are left they cross them out once you have like everything put in and so it's just like on the fast puzzles you know you're you're Yeah, and yes, and what you're putting out is cheese, of course. We can't ignore that. But, like, as you're putting things out, there's just so much that's, like...

getting highlighted and updated and crossing out that it makes you feel like some kind of mathematician genius as you're doing it. And like the puzzles themselves feel more... like handcrafted in terms of like constructed to feel good to solve which is which is like a very nebulous thing that's hard to but like you know like i play a lot of sudoku and stuff and you can tell when a sudoku puzzle has just been created by a computer versus created by a constructor. Really?

actually thinks about how you're solving these. And I got, I've been getting those vibes from the puzzles of like, this is unfolding really nicely in, in, in a really satisfying way. And then like the, the harder puzzles, you know, like I liked the.

like very small bite five by five ones and then the larger ones take a little longer and they are also satisfying and then when you go back and do nini's challenges or whatever for the ones that you unlocked before like those are those are surprisingly thinkier and so like they just have the full spectrum and it is it is the best presentation I've ever seen for a Picross game and then you have the rat stuff too which is fun and cute

jesus squeak cross yeah i'm excited about this now yeah home squeak home on steam and switch if you want to check it out um you can make a really messed up rat you know you choose like missing left foot Clipped ear. You have a personality of like deranged. Yeah. Mine is feral. A feral artist. When you create the rats, it captures that kind of like the me editor.

Where it's like, I feel like I am creating an actual character and I'm not spending 15 minutes like adjusting the angle of my nostrils or whatever bullshit. It's like it is it is fixated on creating. a unique character that feels like they have a personality by the time that you're done with it. Multiple whisker options. One more do you need in life. A game we talked about a couple weeks ago based on the preview.

Where I think the take was... It's now out, which is FBC Firebreak from the good folks at Remedy. This is the co-op shooter, the Left 4 Dead-esque thing that's set within the world of control. You're in the oldest house. taking down mysterious forces with your buddies uh kyle number one remedy fan and then hayley number one remedy fan leo limbo and remedy fan and jacob number one remedy fan

There's a new episode of Max Settings on Max's YouTube channel if you want to watch them play for several hours in co-op here. But after the preview and that wave, Haley, how are you feeling about Firebreak at this point?

it's okay okay okay i had some fun with it um the it's just i think i love remedy's universe they've set so you could could probably plunk me in anywhere and i'd be like cool neat like just the premise of why you're going through a level is just so much more fun in this than any other like

multiplayer co-op thingy like shoot the the post-it note monster i'm like that's hilarious perfect add this teapot augment to your gun and now it shoots boiling water and i'm like that's silly like i just all that stuff i love But I kind of love Remedy for their amazing narrative work and not the shooting. And that this is just like, what if we had minimal narrative in all shooting? So...

Just the inverse of kind of what I'm looking for. Not to say that I didn't have a good time, but I think I had a good time because Leo and Jacob are my friends, which we talked about a lot. And we just, it was a fun playground to hang out with them with. I do not think we'll probably ever play it again. Correct me if I'm wrong, Leo, was kind of the vibe we got at the end of it.

No, and if you hear that Jacob and I are playing without you, you're being lied to. That's pretty messed up if I hear that. I'm not going to lie, I'll freaking freak out. But the other thing was like some of the...

Jacob had a tweet about this too, or a blue sky post. I just pulled it up because I thought maybe we could read it for his sake. Sure, let's read it for Jacob's sake because I completely agree with his sake here and we talked about it during our stream. I'll read it in Jacob's. I'm going to do a spot. on Jacob you guys ready? Okay let's hear it.

Played a few hours of FBC Firebreak today. Bizarre game. Each character feels weak and bad to play in a different way. Objectives are conceptually fun, but mechanically just miserable. Doesn't feel maliciously designed as a living game, but hard for me to understand how much of this got through.

In one of the handful of levels, you're tasked with bringing 20 plus radioactive orbs to a cart. Each orb makes you walk slow and gives you a poison status effect. You can clear this poison by going back to a shower at the level's entrance. What is the enjoyable part there? Right.

Was that a good impression? That was perfect. That was really good. Your YouTube channel is about to get a million hits. Congratulations. That one was particularly egregious and probably my least favorite one was that you collect these elder pearls um from eels in the wall you have to shoot the eels in the wall to get them to spit out the pearls if you pick up a pearl it makes you irradiated and then after like five seconds it's doing the irradiated like crackling sound like oh you're

you're dying right now kind of thing. And then you're, it got to a point where I was just dying by mistake on the other side of the map. Cause I was too close to a pearl. Jacob would have to peel over, walk for 30 seconds to res me. There's no enemies around. I'm just dying because the mechanics aren't good. You know what I mean? That's why I'm dying. So it just sort of felt bad.

When there was like cohesion between, you know, me spraying them all with water, Leo zapping them, Jacob doing something else. The third thing. Jacob's doing the third thing. There was some really fun.

gameplay moments but yeah it's just not quite what i want it to be slash i don't think i'm gonna return unfortunately i i have no doubt that in two months they will have responded to the feedback with patches And it will be a better thing to play because right now it is like all of these unpleasant things and it takes forever to unlock.

stuff including the fun stuff including the teapot thing takes forever there's not that much content in it there's five missions of three levels each that are not that long each like the third level is 30 minutes probably tops So it is really kind of bone dry and what is there is really stretched out. So that will not be how it remains. I would be really surprised. But yeah, it's like it's so in that fine camp that it's like.

sure you can play a game and have fun with your friends because you're goofing off and you're having fun but is it more fun than just talking to these friends and i think some games don't quite clear that bar yeah it's interesting like so much of their messaging has been like hey Pressure's off. It's on Game Pass. Play it if you want. It's on PS Plus. Don't yell at us. We're not demanding you play this. It's such a weird spot for a game industry that's pumping out 6,000 games every day.

It's weirdly refreshing in that way. It is refreshing. Yeah. I don't feel like I need to talk more on this than what we're going to say today, because that's what their expectation almost is. It feels like in the way they've communicated to us thus far. They're like, Hey, control two is going to come out at some.

point soon isn't this thing fun over here anyways moving on right sort of what it feels like so what's what's in there being so gated so it takes long to get to everything like welcome to her it is hard to not be like oh It's not the perfect version of that because you cannot just check it out for a weekend and see everything and be satisfied. It is like kind of a grind. It feels like they didn't quite commit to that. At least that's how it just, you know, as a player. That's good. That's good.

What do developers do, Jeff? What are they to do? How do we communicate better? That frustrating thing of like, we're not hurting for games. We all have more games that we could possibly glance at. let alone play. They're going to release a product if they want to release a product. They don't care about whether we want more games. It's just a weird spot. I don't know. I think a lot of...

Atari's lineup over the last couple years. You know, we did that interview with Wade Rosen where he's like, yeah, the strategy is like, just keep hitting singles. Let's just get like a bunch of little solid games out there. And I think about it in terms of this too, just like... I'm not saying you have to swing for a home run every time you make a game, because that would imply that probably a budget's going to get more complicated, but it's just like this feeling of...

No one is going to jump on this in a huge way for Firebreak or these games like Ayars Rising and Atari's camp, you know? It's like no one's... No one's cruising around me like, God, if I could just have a solid 7 out of 10 right now. But if you're a developer, I don't know what you do. Like, you want to make the game you want to make, and if you don't want to swing for the fences every time. Is part of it...

Not so much the game that they want to make versus they need people to have a game to make. Otherwise, they're just paying people to not work and then they're going to go out of business. If Control 2 isn't ramping up.

and i mean while they're making this they're working on control two assets and it's like why don't we kill two birds one stone just release a product in the interim yeah could be and you know they're always in that camp too we talked about it last time with the preview of like you know they're an independent studio and It seems like maybe there's a more sustainable model if we have microtransactions for cosmetics in a multiplayer thing that seems safer than...

every five years taking another big swing at single player that if one of those misses were effed yeah um it's just yeah that's just like you your your sentiment of like yes we all have so many games to play um is spot on and i i feel like it's doubly true if you're trying to put out a multiplayer game like yeah people who like those kind of multiplayer games have their games that they play every day and like to think that people are just gonna

Just be like, oh, well, you like playing, you know, the finals every day of every week, you know, every weeknight. Like, then surely you'll want to stop playing that game and play this to try this because we're also a multiplayer game. I don't understand why people still keep trying to make live service multiplayer games. It makes me think that if Remedy wanted to make something like this, what if it was a six-hour campaign three-player co-op?

that you play once and beat if they don't want it to be a forever game versus like kind of half-assing the direction of a forever game. I don't know. It's interesting that they tried it, but I don't think it's a worthwhile type of game. Yeah, I think the answer is because of... potential revenue

You know, it's like you can make that game, but there's a clear cap on that. Whereas this type of game, in theory, it's an infinite cap on revenue. And I truly, in my total conspiracy, make it up out of nowhere mind. I think there's some... corporate person that is learning a harsh lesson from this and Remedy won't have to make another game like this again.

Yeah. There's some kind of point that needed to be proven by making this. It does feel a little bit like that. It does feel like that. Yeah. And it's especially with the messaging. I'm not being like, if you love control, you've got to play this. It seems like they were much like. It's a cool little thing if you want to check it out. That's cool. You feel very meek about it in an interesting way.

To say what nice things there are to say about it, great control remedy design in here on the little gizmos, on the monsters, on the bosses. Lots of things that made us smile to see just in the character models, even if you're not getting... lore documents or little story moments that might make it more of a worthwhile little piece of the remedy pie it still is there's still talented artists there who made some cool stuff for this yeah yeah that's awesome fbc fighter break yeah it's available

Yeah, PlayStation Plus and Game Pass. I believe it's both, right? This is the game that was on both? Yeah, it is both. Okay, sweet. And also on Steam. Jeff, speaking of infinite revenue, you've been going back to play No Man's Sky.

Your old favorite from 2016. They got me again. And you're playing on Switch 2? Yes. I saw an article that was like, hey, the Switch 2 version of No Man's Sky is flawless. And it was interesting to me because... I do want to go back and they just did another huge, you know, giant release of new content and whatever. But also, like, I felt like I don't have a good benchmark for how powerful the Switch 2 is in the first place. Right.

like where it, where it fits in, in the hierarchy of different consoles and whatnot. So I was like, okay, well if it runs, if it runs well, I'm, you know, I want to see it and it feels like a good excuse to go back and play more. no man's sky which i always feel like i i never really get into as much as like i enjoy what i play and then i just stop playing and i don't get progressed far enough to see all the new content anyway

And so I've been playing the Switch 2 version, and it's not flawless. It runs okay. It's like 30 frames per second, and it feels like they're...

Like, they're compromising somewhat on the visual fidelity. Last time I got into it, it was Series X. And so, like, that is the most powerful version that I've played. But, you know, I have... I was up to, like... four in the morning last night playing it because it's every week it's hooked into me again stop saying that for all the stuff that they have added to it i don't i don't it's not going to be like an amazing destiny style shooter still it's it doesn't have like

the rpg storytelling and stuff but it what it has is like that vibe of living in space and like going to different planets and just kind of It is my perfect escape game when I want to not be on planet Earth anymore and I just want to F off out into space and not think about earthly things anymore.

This is the perfect game for that. And, like, it's getting me all again. And what they have added has just added a ton of progression and depth of, like... systems and upgrades and things to just give you that excuse to continue living in this in this kind of universe yeah and it's your first time playing handheld right like i feel like yes and and like

And that makes up for the, you know, like, not quite as polished visuals. Like, I just like being able to... sit on the couch and playing it there is lore to the different you know alien species and whatever is going on and that's fine it is very heady like sci-fi they they have also thought a lot about the kind of sci-fi but like i don't love the presentation of it but it is through and through a story game in terms of just like

The shenanigans that you get into and the predicaments and like being stuck in a cave because I can't I can't find like the tunnel that I that I like burrowed my way down in here and like and just like. Finding a good upgrade. One of the first upgrades that I got for your multi-tool, which is what you mine with and stuff, is it...

Like you get credits for everything that you take a picture of, like all the animals and plants on every planet. And like this upgrade that I feel like they must have planted like specifically for new players to get just gives me like. a 7000% increase on, on like the money that I make. So like everything I'm taking a picture of is like tens of thousands or up to a hundred thousand credits for everything. So like all of a sudden, like.

Money doesn't matter as much. I'm able to buy a lot more stuff. And now you can wholesale create a ship. You can pick through all the parts that they've added over... you know the decade that they've been working on it and just create your own ship and and it's just like there's there's so much

Like I am now just consuming content and like all these different upgrades and stuff because like they have like I'm starting to get all the hooks and the, you know, cyclical like upgrade paths and stuff. And it is. It is very satisfying. It is one of those Jeffem games. We should have put it on the Venn diagram, Leo, yesterday. Have you confirmed that that is an upgrade they give to new players now? Or is there a chance you just got really lucky?

I feel like I must have just gotten really lucky, but I have no reason to know or believe that they do. give it to everybody, but it, but it is like, it was such a treasure to have randomly found in whatever little place that I found it that, um, I like at one point I got an, I got a new multi-tool. And I thought I lost the old one and I didn't want to play anymore until I figured out it's like the menus are still very arcane and it's hard to switch between them. But I was like, I can't.

play this anymore if i'm not getting paid for everything that i'm taking pictures of but it is just like it is a very it is a very satisfying game if If the, if just like the world and that, that exploration appeals to you, it is a good version of it on the switch too. Okay. If you're hungry for something to play on the Switch 2. I am a hungry one-game gamer. Right. I've never considered that it might be Steam Deck verified until this...

conversation and I went and checked it and it is. That'd be a great place for me to try and replay that too. What a great future for the Switch 2 that would be. The Switch 2 and the Steam Deck are friends. And I won't be such an annoying PC-only gamer now, because it'll cross over to what's on Switch 2, too, probably. How glorious! Everybody's merging! Yay! Hayley, we also talked about this one after GDC, I think, where we both played the demo for...

to a T from Kaita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari, obviously. Did you finish to a T? Mm-hmm. God bless you. This is the game where it's very cute and you play a little kid named Teen, I do believe, and their arm is stuck out. You can name it whatever you want. All right. But they're stuck in a T-pose running throughout the game. Then they eventually...

can make little whirlwinds and tornadoes and fly around. And based on the demo, TDC was very stressful because Kaito Takahashi was watching me play the entire time, and it's such a charming, quirky thing that you feel like a jerk if you're not laughing at a... Giraffe dancing around the screen. But it seemed like a cute little thing that'd be fun to play with a five-year-old watching you. Exactly correct. And that is the full read after finishing the game as well? Yeah, it's...

I play his games for the vibes. I've played pretty much all his games. I Platinum Wadum, and that game is just like... Platinum Wadum? Yeah, that was during law school when my mental health was not good. And that's like what these games are for, is like... colors like sounds sounds that's literally what it's for if you try to get anything more out of this what are you doing over here kind of energy

If you know where the plot of this is going, no, you don't. The ending of this is so freaking weird. It was kind of interesting. All right. But I will say part of why I like his games is the gameplay is quite flow state, no thinky fun.

And this was more like I was playing a children's book where it was a lot of just like reading and watching scenes play out. And then I would play a little bit of gameplay in between those. So didn't love it nearly as much as all his other games. It's still interesting. It's just, I don't really know how to, it almost feels mean to be mean to this game because it's just such a pure little colorful thing. But it's just, I was a little bit bored. Well.

while playing it i think but i wanted to see it through because i did hear from a friend the ending's really weird so i mostly stuck around to see that out but it was it took like six hours to beat so it's not terribly long either okay is it still like the beginning of just kind of going through a series of like okay i guess i rotate the analog stick here, and I try and eat cereal this way. Just kind of a lot of quirky little interactions that aren't exactly lighting the world on fire.

It's truly just kind of like you're watching an anime or something and you play like even to the point that there's like the same song that plays every morning, kind of like the intro song. And at the end of every quote unquote episode, I mean, they do call it an episode. I shouldn't say quote unquote. They have like an ending song that like the character.

Characters will sometimes be swapped out of. Rebecca Sugar sings the ending song and I adore her. She's the creator of Steven Universe. She's giraffe. She sings a song about waking up at three in the morning to bake bread for her sandwiches. And I would sing it in bed and my partner was like trying to sleep. He's like, shh. He's like, I wake up at three every morning. It's like, it's just...

It's just cute, but it's, yeah, it's for a child. So I don't feel right critiquing it any more than I need to do for that. That's what I will say. Yeah. 2AT. Yeah, it's from. Full of bugs. Oh, really? Yeah, this character was stuck in a T-pose the whole time. I got you. Oh, my God. Got you, idiot. You dumb simpleton. You dumb bastard.

I was thinking about Annapurna's in a weird spot, right? Because they published this game overall. And there was a story from months and months ago about the entire team quitting for Annapurna Interactive. Yes. We are stepping down. And I'm curious what Annapurna looks like now. Clearly, I mean, these games are on the runway for a long time, but it's like that was a cataclysmic event. And then you look at Annapurna's lineup and it's like...

Looking pretty good still. Like, Skin Deep, they just published, right? Real World looks sweet, coming out soon. Mixtape is game of the show for Summer Game Fest for this crew. Like, Lego Voyagers, they have a Blade Runner game coming up. It's like, they still... I think maybe we'll be feeling the... the effects of that in two years when there's no projects coming out because they haven't been set up in advance. Yeah, it just feels so weird to be like, oh, Anapart Interactive, goodbye.

And then, oh, no, I guess it's going to be years of solid games still coming out from them technically. Goodbye soon. Right, right. They're in a weird spot. Jeff, I have one simple question for you. Don't sugarcoat it. Don't beat around the bush.

There's a game called Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma. I was there. Rune Factory 1, baby, being like, this is it. This is what I've always wanted. Give me Harvest Moon, but more of an RPG and more dungeons. This is cool. With combat, yeah. Yeah. Is Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma on the Switch and the Steam good? In Switch 2 as well, right? There's like an upgraded Switch 2. Yeah, that's where I'm playing it. Yeah. Good.

Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. It's interesting. And I'm, I have enjoyed what I played so far. I feel like. Is that what's going on? No, I stayed up pretty late one night playing it. Although, to be fair, I have fallen asleep like five times playing this game. Most nights when I play it, I end up falling asleep.

um during cut scenes during it um but rune factory is one of those series and the original harvest moons and maybe story of the seasons because i get confused about them i feel like all of the japanese games that started this genre have really struggled to transition it into 3D. And Rune Factory especially is one where it's like, Jesus, I hate the character designs.

You know, in previous in previous games and like they do things where it's like you farm and you make one giant radish and then you carry around a giant radish around your head as you like take it to the farming box. And it's like, what? What are you doing? What don't you understand about this core formula that like everyone else is now doing better? And this one is interesting because they they do do those things better than than in.

kind of the previous, um, 3d ones, but they also focus a lot more on combat this time around to the point where like, you're getting different weapon types. You are doing a lot more fighting. You're doing boss fights in, and like, And there's, you know, like an entire like dance break thing that's going on with bosses that is actually pretty cool because it like.

Once you hit them enough or you parry an attack, they will slow down. So you can get in a flurry of hits as they're moving in slow motion and stuff. So it is a lot more focused on...

Combat and exploration because you're going out of this village that you're trying to revitalize and exploring these different locations. And then there is a lot more... um like village building like the the actual farming you don't have to spend much time on if you're not interested and they've really like juiced up How much resources you're getting out of farming, like each plot that you do when you when you plant like turnips or radishes or whatever, it gives you like.

five to six of the thing that you're planting plus also a seed that you can just immediately replant and and it's it's all like mystical kind of you know it's you're like an earth dancer and it's kind of set in olden japanese times and so like you you have a drum that you can play that just skips ahead like the like the growing aspects of it so like Some crops you can basically just grow in a single day. But like –

After, you know, half a dozen hours or whatever, you are recruiting a bunch of other people, you know, like farmers and things, and you can just assign people to do all these different jobs and things. So it's... It's simier than I expected. It's more focused on combat, which is better than in previous games, but still, you know, doesn't. isn't going to stand up to other like bespoke action games so it is it is a weird mix of mechanisms that i have been intrigued by but um you know i won't

I won't lay down and die for in terms of recommendations to other people. Yeah. The satisfying basic level. They do. One interesting thing is in the farming mode on the Switch 2. You can pop out to like a very zoomed out top down and then you can use the mouse mode. You can switch to mouse mode and you just click on all, you know, like you plant everything super fast and then you can just.

water it all really fast like we're using a mouse on a pc hey mouse mode there we go mouse good use of girl good use of mouse mode um but yeah it's it's interesting and i do want to play more it is like it is a weird And the story is all over the place and very weird as well. Squeak Ross the whole damn game is mouse mode. They're rats! Is anyone still playing... Is Fantasy Life Eye still in anybody's...

I played it a ton since we last talked about it. Yeah? Digging it more or less? A little more. I don't know. It was like in absence of anything else coming along. And now that Sweet Cross is here, I don't think I'll ever touch it again. Okay. Gotcha. You can play it, Fantasy Live. Perfect. Hey, Kyle, do you know how this whole thing operates? I have no idea. I've never told me. It seemed better.

I don't know. He hadn't talked for a while. I was trying to liven him up. That's right, Kyle. Patreon! People jump in. We see this URL almost every episode saying, hey, you know, people drop out literally on a daily basis. And so to keep us around as an outlet. We're doing okay, folks. It's not that dire. But it's always nice when new folks jump in. For example, we had somebody named Sign Guy Bubsy.

Just jump in on Patreon at the $10 tiers. Got an email notification about that. They jumped in. Maybe they want the extended version of that Summer Game Fest travelogue, the Brazil travelogue, the pissy zone, post debates, all that fun stuff. Do we have any Bubsy content for them?

Zero Bubsy content. Oh, no, we talked about Bubsy with the previously mentioned Wade Rosen from Atari in that interview, but he wants to make a new Bubsy game, so there you go. Go watch that. Or people like Magic 8 Ball that jumped in at the $5 tier. Unlock the bonus podcast feed, which has...

early and ad free versions of this podcast and bonus pod every single week. This week was a banger with Haley and Leo running through the community suggestions for overlook games from 2025, the midpoint check-in just to be like, Hey. Is there good stuff out there? And the answer, Hayley and Leo, was there good stuff out there? Oh, of course. My wish list is as thick as a queen.

I already checked out Neon Garden and Loot Plot from that stream, and they're cool. You already did, Jesus. There we go. So, check out that URL. I was desperate to stop playing Fantasy Live. Hey, thank you to people. in general, but people specifically like iM8Bit. They want you all to know about Diablo 4, the vinyl soundtrack. It's available in their wonderful online store. It's an iM8Bit soundtrack. It's premium. It's beautiful. There are...

vinyls along with it. It has the box set with foil embellishments. And if you're there, you should check out iMateBitsWonderful online store in general because it's filled with a truly kiosk that I'm looking for. cornucopia of stuff. Nailed it. Okay. There's a ton of really great stuff in iMateBit's wonderful online store, and you can get 10% off of everything by using the code MELTEDICECREAM throughout this month of June. MELTEDICECREAM. No space. 10% off. They have great vinyls, great...

physical versions of games, truly a ton of great stuff. If you go to IMAPE, it's a wonderful online store, go to like, sorted by most popular, you will have at least five instances, I promise. I'll be like, ooh, that's cool. Ooh, that's cool. Ooh, that's cool.

And you should help support IMAPIT because I support the MinMax community in a huge way by shipping out a prize each and every week to whoever has the best questions submitted on Patreon. This week, of course, the prize is the vinyl soundtrack to Gone Home.

The 10th anniversary edition. That gives 10 years old? Sorry. Oh, my God. Bad news, everybody. More than that. But this is from Chris Remo, who did the soundtrack from Idle Thumbs fame, one of my favorite podcasts of all time. All right. Here we go.

Pay attention, everybody. Only one person's getting this grand prize. I don't care how much you all scream at home about how you all want the prizes. I'm Apen. It only ships out one. So here we go. Buddy Jarjora writes in. They say, hey, crew. First time question submitter, I think. Kyle, you know what joke I think about all the time? No. It's the Paul F. Tompkins one where somebody asked him if he had any pets. And he goes, no, that I know of.

The cancer gets so stupid. That's not a buddy joke. So Buddy says, what's your take on the internet discourse around Switch 2's first party offerings being weak? I know it's tough to compete with Breath of the Wild, not as in the first six months of the Switch 1's life, but how can Nintendo be faulted with a six-month calendar that includes new Mario Kart, Pokemon, DK Bonanza, and Metroid Prime 4? On paper, it seems quite strong.

People are saying there must be a big holiday game not yet revealed. But I mean, like, it feels like Metroid and Pokemon are the big guns already. Yeah, there's also, they said that, you know, Kirby Air Riders is coming 2025. But, buddy, I'm with you.

I don't want to be number one Switch defender because I really don't think Switch 2 is worth getting at this point unless you're a huge Mario Kart fan. But at the same time, I do feel like years from now we'll look back and Donkey Kong Bonanza will feel like a launch game. I think we're just in that eager, greedy...

Well, of course we're all senile and idiotic, but it's like, it feels like we're in that window right now. Remember when Animal Crossing was going to drop and we're like, the pandemic's heading. Give us Animal Crossing right now. We need it right now. I feel like we're in that phase right now for Donkey Kong Bonanza.

remember how that felt though and how mad i was i didn't get it a week early even though i did not deserve it a week early i just wanted it yeah it was a travesty yeah come on really you're quarantined

It also was a big scramble for everybody to get a Switch to, so I think now that they have one, it's like, can we do more with it now? Yeah, they want to, like, validate something. FOMO scarcity marketing doesn't work well with not a lot of launch titles. If you're going to go the FOMO scarcity marketing route... You can't then turn around and be like, chill out.

Yeah, there's one game. No, you made me want this so bad. Also, give me more games. I would love a smarter person to break down for me how that went, because it did seem like it had the marketing of you have to work to get this and had it available for everybody day one. It kind of got best of both worlds is how it feels. Yeah, yeah. They made you very scared about pre-orders by making it so the pre-orders were hard.

And they never followed up with how many units they were going to be making, I feel. They just were vague. And it was like, I hope they make it up. It's Nintendo nowadays. I hate their patents, Jeff, so they need to be really fun on the other side if they're going to be as annoying as they are on the other side. Yeah, I agree, but it's also like, I read this question and I don't know what... people expect from Nintendo.

Like 3D Mario. I mean, it's just video games. They expect the greatest game ever made. I honestly think if Bonanza was day one. Or Zombie U. Thank you, Leo. It's been huge. I think if you had a game that's good for playing with... friends and a single player experience that's also fun first party day one I think that would have

Shut up 99%. Welcome to her. I don't know, man. Like, launch lineup for Nintendo is a Nintendo game because they come out with one Nintendo game, like, every three months. And that's the way Nintendo works. But they also haven't come out with one in, like... three years, it feels like in my head. I know that's not accurate, but it's like last year was Wet Peach and Echoes of Wisdom. So it's kind of like, eh, we're kind of owed one.

I'm the only one who even played Peaches Showtime and I loved it. No one else respects it. I played and beat Peaches Showtime. Okay, Kyle's an ally. All of you guys cannot throw that back in my face. Just don't read my review on Game Informer. It's just tough to compete. It's tough to compete with the Switch 1 2017. I mean...

That basic idea of Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild in the same year. It's like, all right, good luck, everything else, forever. You are right, though. In, like, three years, we're going to be like, oh, yeah, the Switch 2 lineup was... Pretty good. We had Mario Kart and Donkey Kong. That's just how people are going to refer to it. I'm going to be a little bastard. Please do. You should. Yeah, be specific. Don't let it blur. I do think that...

Not that this is a defensible thing, but I bet Donkey Kong sells a lot more because they withhold it for a month. I think you're right. There's so many people who... dropping all this money they're like well I gotta get Mario Kart that Donkey Kong game is supposed to be good but like I just this is like $600 at this point you know where it's like now there'll be like a month and it'll be like

you know you have time for your finances to resettle i guess you know and then and then it's like and i want something new like i bet it helps its sales but it would have been very nice to have those would have been a great like launch lineup to have those two together and you know also i mean we're kind of assuming donkey kong is complete like we're kind of just assuming it's done and has been done for a while because that seems to be how nintendo functions but

Who knows? Maybe they're still rushing to finish it up. I have no idea. No, I can't imagine. I think it's pretty ironclad. But I mean, I do think when we look back on this, Mario Kart, you know, you feel about Mario Kart the way you feel about Mario Kart.

Bare minimum, it's going to sell 20 million copies. It is just weird how kind of anticlimactic it feels. 70% attach rate or something like that. I think even higher than Zelda, I think. Oh, boy. It kind of gives me the same vibe as when a new iPhone comes out. It's like, obviously, I'm buying that.

not me i mean like in general the world i'm not an apple swill chill out but it kind of gives that same energy it's like a new iphone and you know the world's gonna buy it so it's not exciting because you know it's good That's so lame to say, but that's like the vibe of like, of course, everyone's getting Mario Kart. I can't wait. Yeah. And then you play that for two nights and then you're like, okay.

But I do think in hindsight, once it's been the main Mario Kart for three years, it's like, wow, it's crazy. This was here day one. This game, that's still so relevant. Yep, totally. Yeah, it's going to last for a decade. We're never going to stop talking about it. Mark this podcast 10 years from now, we'll be talking about Mario Kart World. But I do think if you're a single player, cool person gamer who loves living in your basement, cromping on some chips.

Living the good life solo. Not now, mom. Yeah, if you're a not now mom kind of gamer like we are. Put my trench coat in the dryer. I want to go out. But I think like, you know, having Donkey Kong Bonanza and Metroid Prime 4 in the same year, like that's that's a cool double whammy. It's a DC year. It's a bad launch month is how I feel. Launch day.

Even, I guess. Yeah. I think so. And, you know, Pokemon, I don't know. I love Legends Arceus. I'm not feeling too hot on Z to A, but maybe that one will be a solid time as well. You know, like there's enough in there. I feel like I feel good about the launch.

Yeah, year for the Switch, for sure. And I think we're just being a little too greedy and... needy at this moment in this month long window we can't wait a month for donkey kong game come on but but i do think i i agree though the most expensive console they've ever made of course i'm a little bit greedy with the most expensive

Yes. I do agree that if Mario Kart World had a kind of like Mario Golf, Mario Tennis style campaign, people would be satisfied. Yeah. It would be like a bigger feeling thing. Like, are you guys not doing the race? Like, I'm going through the 50cc and the 100cc. Wait, you can race in this game?

I mean, that's like the single play that actually surprisingly, I haven't really been doing the open world, but I've been just like, that's what I've been enjoying is like getting three stars on all the races. And I'm like, not even halfway through all that. That's fine. It's just a friend game for me, and that's a me thing, I think. Yeah, you and Sarah were saying that, and I sat quietly thinking about how I've been playing single-player Grand Prix.

you could have spoken up we wouldn't have made fun of you and what's the i mean the even the um the the knockout what's that called knockout like you can play that like that's fun too single player like there is like you can get stars and stuff on all those too don't look at me like that ben i need

Leo also looked at you like that. I don't know why you singled me out for my wincing. I looked at you harder. I'm going to knock you out with that kind of language. We haven't talked about that Splatoon Raiders. that weird drop of Nintendo and the Nintendo today app being like, by the way, Splatoon Raiders is coming out. Seems like another big single player standalone type thing now, which is interesting. I'm curious to see if it's going to be on the scale of like,

The Splatoon 3 DLC that I've always been meaning to play. What was that called? Salmon Home Run Derby. What was it again? Salmon Run. I'm guessing you're going to feel the same way about this too. Probably. I've always been meaning to play it. Yeah. I feel like I've learned my lesson with Splatoon. I enjoy my time with it, but it's always so expensive. And then I don't spend enough time with it to warrant the price tag. And I do it every time. I think I've finally done it enough times.

Yeah, like I'll get Splatoon. I play it for like a week and then I never touch it again. And I buy Splatoon 2. I do the same thing. I just buy Splatoon 3. And I think third time's the charm and I don't... I think I'll do it again. But if Splatoon Raiders comes out and it's $25, I dare you to say no. I dare you. But it'll be $38 for me in Canada.

It's going to be that much better for you. The DLC for Splatoon 3. It's called Side Order, by the way. I think I was talking, Salmon Run was a Splatoon 2 DLC, I think, yeah. I think that was two. Yeah, but still confusing about exactly what the scope of Splatoon Raiders is. but I like the idea of it. We'll have to ask Janet. Is it a play on Tomb Raider? That's a great question, Leo.

Platoon Raider? Platoon Raiders. Oh, my God. I never got that. Maybe. Let's go with yes. Did you know that there was a PS1 game, Leo, that was called Sheep Raider that starred Wile E. Coyote? Was it good?

It was okay, but I just think it was weird that they were trying to go for a full Terminator pun back then. L. Stockler writes in... Didn't try very hard. Yeah, it's a stretch. They say, Hiya, I used to play League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, and Overwatch with my brother and friends, and for the most time...

We avoided playing ranked. That was me stumbling, not you being dumb, El Stockler. Basically, on ranked, losing became too big of a deal and stressed everybody in a number of different ways. How are you all with competitive games? Do you play ranked? I do not touch ranked unless I am drunk as hell and alone. Kyle style. I'm not joking. So if me and my friends are online playing quick play a long time and I drink a lot of beers and then they'll go night night.

I'll go and play a couple ranked by myself drunk. Because you just won't not care. That's the only time I do it. I want to not care. And then if someone is in chat being annoying, I have the courage to be annoying back because I'm drunk. That's genuinely how I do it. That sounds miserable.

For everybody involved. It's kind of fun. It's honestly fun. Oh, okay. I did that with The Last of Us 1 multiplayer back in the day. It was my first kind of online gaming experience like that. And it was like the courage to talk to people positively or negatively. I needed a little help with that.

Ranked, I first remember in Overwatch, loving Overwatch with my friends, pressing the ranked button and it just changing everything immediately. It was so miserable. Even if you go like, it's just a number, who cares? There's just something about it.

people actually get these sports all of a sudden yeah yeah but it does and siege it works with my friends because we're naturally taking it more seriously just like that's how we have fun in that game is really caring about the strats and trying things and

outsmarting but the finals too we just don't do ranked because there's so many goofy strats in that game and i'm blessed to play with friends who love to do the goofy strats and i don't want them to feel like they shouldn't like there's something on the line because i will i will always take a friend who is uh

Less good, liking being goofy, in a good mood versus a friend who is like super invested in winning and really good. Yeah. You know, in Honolulu, Leo and Waikiki Beach out there, they got a big statue. of the greatest surfer of all time from like the 50s. I think his name was Duke. Help me out, champ. But he has a quote on there, which I always love. And it says, the best surfer out there is the one having the most fun.

I think about that a lot in terms of games. Like, you know what? Just play your stupid strats and have fun. Yeah, exactly. He was actually terrible. He just never stopped. People are like, yeah, money's not that important to me. It's like, well, yeah, because you don't have to be rich. Yeah, he could barely stand on the board, but he was always giggling and laughing.

and pulling pranks, so everyone just deemed him the best. I'm sorry about his knees. Kevin Cooper writes in, Kevin! They say, what is a modern song that you think will stand the test of time and be regularly played at events for decades to come. Stuff such as Metallica's Enter Sandman or Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle that are still played all the time today.

Hot To Go? I was just thinking of Chaperone. Do you think Hot To Go? I think Pink Pony Club is five times the song Hot To Go is, if I may be so bold. Oh, yeah. It's not my favorite Chaperone song. But it is the most popular by far, we think. yes it's most likely the vent scent right it's like the one that like would play in an arena you know yeah

Pink Pony Club. If they score a goal at an NHL thing or something, they would pay for the rights to hot to go to play it after a goal. They wouldn't do that for Pink Pony Club. I'm going to make it in Manhattan. It's too long to build up. So do we think... ladies and gentlemen, that Hot To Go is on the level of Enter Sandman for all time. Is that our bold claim here? In every sense. I think it's a better song.

Never been a Metallica fan. You think Hot To Go is a better song than Enter Sandman? I don't really like Metallica. I've never really liked Metallica. I had a really dark weird thought the other day where I was driving around listening to some classic rock and Enter Sandman was on and I was like, you know...

I'm not looking forward to dying, but it is going to be sad that there's going to be some day in my life where I'll never hear Metallica's Enter Sandman again. Wow, that means you really like that song. That's what got you. You're like a big Metallica? No, not really. I just was really enjoying hearing that song. at that moment oncoming traffic yeah and then the very next song that started playing was why am I forgetting the name of

The most popular song of all time. Would you say, would you say, Kyle? Chumbawamba? Close. No, the... My Anaconda don't want none unless it's got buns on. Oh, Sir Mix-a-Lots? Yeah. What is it? Baby Got Back. Baby Got Back. That was the very next song that played and I was like, oh, maybe there's some upsides to death. Maybe this is going to be so bad.

Wow. Like big butts. Well, I was just never hearing it, but... Hanson is anti-big butts. That's right. That's just insane. Anti-butt. Wow. During Pride Month. pro sandman so we think is hot to go the answer like i was really i genuinely think that's the answer wasn't isn't there isn't there a song that's like called anthem that was making fun of drake or something that everyone was like this is the greatest song ever yeah they play it at boarding i thought that was

I thought Not Like Us was kind of the impetus of this question, and we would come up with a different one. Oh, really? That's interesting, because Not Like Us, of course, is an absolute smash hit, but it also is tied to a moment. Yeah. Being played at arenas and stuff. It is for sure. Yeah. It's arena worthy. That's true. AI.

God bless its stupid little heart. It's screaming that the answer is The Weeknd's Blinding Lights, but that's the most popular song. That is the most popular song on Spotify, I think, period. Do we think it has the most plays? Hey, why don't I remember how this? Great. I love that. And you guys are really doing it justice. I still don't know it. Have you heard other songs by the weekend? It's kind of like that. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean, it's certainly anthem-ish.

It's, you know, he could play in a stadium. I don't know if Blinding Lights is going to be on that level. I could see Abracadabra being like, because even still Lady Gaga songs from 2009 hit. I could see Abracadabra still hitting in 2030 something.

My daughter introduced me. She's a big Deltarune fan. She finished Deltarune. And there's a song in Deltarune called Raise Up Your Bat that has... vocals that's really good i've been listening to a lot so that's my answer okay i think that's probably going to be it yeah once the yeah it's definitely a chicago pope hears he's gonna freak out Chicago Pope. Is that what we're calling him? The Chicago Pope. Chicago Pope over there. I got the...

An answer is a blank check. The world did it. I don't, I don't, I'm not proud of this answer, but I think it might be the correct answer for like, especially if we're talking 50 years from now, what song is still going to be out there. In a big way. Jeff, you tell me if I'm nuts on this one. And I know it was made technically before the last five years. You're setting it up. But it ballooned and exploded in like the last six years.

Baby Shark. Is Baby Shark the song? No, that's already out. That's already out. Oh, that's out and I don't want to be in. You just have a kid. I guess I could be. So you're saying... Chaperones Hot To Go will outlive Baby Shark. I think you're damn foolish. No way. 100 years from now, Baby Shark will be around Hot To Go. Barely a thought. I think Baby Shark burned really hot and really fast. It was too hot to go, you're saying? I don't think it's even going to be like a lingering kid's song. Oh.

People are going to keep having kids and they're going to listen to Baby Shark. Yes. It's banned from Baby Shark. Yeah, it'll be like a thing they look back on. Look how lazy parents were. They put on Baby Shark. To the They Might Be Giants kids albums and Raffi and stuff. Baby Shark, I didn't... didn't let in but i think maybe it's still giving ipad baby it's inescapable alex mcmillan says hey max one of my favorite games the last few years is tren

a first-party PlayStation exclusive released in 2023 that is part puzzle game, part platformer. It has an amazing art style and really sharp gameplay, and I can't recommend it to anyone because the game is stuck inside of Media Molecule's dreams. It's a game I love dearly and just due to being stuck inside a PS4 game when it released in 2023, it feels genuinely difficult, if not impossible, to ask anyone else to play it.

I hear you, Alex. Yeah, Trend is cool. I played it. It has an amazing soundtrack that we talked about in the soundtrack of the year back then in 2023. But yeah, the idea of being like, okay, there's this game called Trend. Technically, it's a Sony game. Okay, you need to get this Dreams game on PS4 and then you need to, hopefully, it'll still be on the home menu somewhere.

So what is your favorite game that you cannot in good faith recommend to anyone due to how weirdly inaccessible it is? Interesting. I thought this was inaccessible in like the terms of this game is whack as hell. So I wouldn't recommend it. Not like. I physically find it hard to play this. Yeah, take it whichever way you want it. PT is a good answer. PT probably is the answer. It is the answer. My answer is Fuser, which is within that category.

Yeah, because that's gone. Oh, mine's Concord. Yeah. What was it called? Was it Mario Run or Mario Chase? Right. The Nintendo land. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. Yep. But like you got to play it on Wii U with a camera. Like it's that makes it more fun. Right. That's a great answer. Yeah. I think like, you know, the old classic of Beatles rock band.

Of like, okay, obviously you need all the instruments and then it's not backwards compatible like Rock Band 4 is with all that stuff. It's like a separate thing. And so just trying to line that up for recommendation is just kind of the windows. quickly closing on that one for being feasible half-life alex oh that's interesting yeah that's a good one totally yeah like my favorite psvr game moss was cool yeah oh moss yeah

Michael Berry writes in. Do you all want to be dragged back to Donkey Kong lore town, USA? It's a bit of a country. It's so freaking big. That's right. So Michael Berry says, who do you think? Why do you think? Donkey Kong Jr. disappeared.

He had a big hit with the arcade release Donkey Kong Jr. then appeared in Super Mario Kart. As out of a few cameos in N64 games, he just vanished. And with the DK series being relatively popular over the years, why do you think that Donkey Kong Jr. specifically is ignored and left behind forever. The rise of Bowser Jr. Diddy. Diddy. Diddy.

I was also going to say he grew up and that's Donkey Kong in the Donkey Kong Country games now. Cranky Kong is Donkey Kong Senior. I think there's something to it. So like, you know, GameXplain has a whole video about it. There's definitely the conspiracy theory because... They have like a poster in Mario Kart World that has all of the sprites from the Super Nintendo Mario Kart, including Donkey Kong Jr. But then they have like their modern representations as well.

And it's like, oh, they're implying that Donkey Kong is the same as Donkey Kong Jr. which is a radical thought. And maybe that is why he's gone is because he actually was this version of Donkey Kong, even though now Donkey Kong Bonanza throws that. into even more confusion with the timeline of Cranky Kong. But if we ignore Cranky and his existence, then just the simple math of Donkey Kong Jr. is Donkey Kong makes sense according to the poster in Mario Kart World.

But also like Mario never ate like no one else in Nintendo ages. It's just the gorillas are cursed with. It's like a mortality. Do you know why? Gorillas do age faster than humans. I understand legally they are a nightmare in a lot of ways, Haley, but shouldn't we give Nintendo some credit for never introducing a child of Mario? They've never tried. I know there's baby Mario, but they've never had like. That is Mario. It's just a yes or no, Haley.

What are the legal implications of that? It's impressive that a corporation has never tried to milk that to the point of the new, hip, younger version of Mario. He's Mario, but he's hot. It's his 18-year-old son. Literally his new outfit. World, the Sunshine Sprite outfit. Yeah, so you just dress them up differently. What do you want from them? Reskin the current guy. We don't need some new ones. Mario is somehow a 10-year-old and an adult.

You're right. He's kind of perfect that way. Or maybe honestly the answer is they did do that and it was in Yoshi's Island and it was just a younger version of him. And it was just baby Mario and he wouldn't shut the hell up. But you think about how many Mario games there have been, right? How many sequels they've had to come up with ideas for. They've never gone for like, Peach and Mario have a kid and they're disobeying the rules. They've never gotten near that old trope, you know?

that would have been cool i don't know if they'll ever do that they love the like the flirtation of do they even sleep together right so if you give them a kid then you just know it for sure They did some kind of surrogacy nonsense, but why are they doing that? I don't consider that nonsense. Oh, my blob writes in. They say, hey, man. Don't try to cancel me. Oh, my blob says, hello, Minaxers. Please settle a fierce.

debate for me. Am I a lazy gamer for turning on auto-accelerate in Mario Kart? I'd only be holding down A the entire time, or is that the point? Have I given in to our robot overlords? You are lazy. Auto-accelerate's great. No, you're lazy. Press the button. Hold the button that you never let go of. Sometimes you let go of it for a crazy drift. Do you? No.

If the real skill is knowing. Acceleration while drifting, I think. Yes, but you could also let go in order to do a tighter, tighter drift. You don't need to do that, Haley. That's how you win. No, it's not. The roads are like 20 lanes wide. There's plenty of space. Let me guess. You have secure steering on, too. Or whatever it's called.

Smart steering is an insult. Now you're just getting personal. That's the line. Acceleration's okay, but smart steering is just obscene. Smart acceleration is just like cruise control. You just press the button. And it will keep going, and you can press the brake if you need to, which you never will need to, and it'll turn it off. It's fine. It's better than trying to hold that stupid button forever.

My hand was cramping up in Knockout Tour, for sure. When the countdown happens, right, you press the button when the two appears. Obviously. Of course, everybody knows that. Yes, yes. Do you just tap the button for that, Jeffem? No, I hold it down for the start. And then let go once you get the speed boost, which you get 100% of the time because we've all been doing it on the two count.

Don't check the archive of the stream to see how we reacted to that. Three, two, one, go. You get to do the second one of the four. That's right. Somebody supported us on Patreon and their name is Guy Who Told Turtle Suit Dana Carvey about 9-11. They write in and they say, Heyman, Max, Leo, friend of yours. They say, time for the hit game show, BD Wong or BD Wrong. The panel will get a video game. You decide if the actor BD Wong has provided his voice to this video game.

Is BD Wong Kyle Hilliard in Kingdom Hearts 2? Okay. Yes. Yes, he is in Mulan. I cheated. I cheated because I just Googled him to look at his face to see who he was. And Mulan was there. Monster. So I cheated. I admit. We all want to see BD Wong's face all the time, but we can't Google it if we're being quizzed on it. You should have it as your wallpaper.

Like the rest of us, Wong Ed. I would have gotten that. If I didn't have the Mulan connection from that recent Google, I wouldn't have gotten that. Jeffem, Disney Infinity. BD Wong. Yeah. Don't be dead. Naive fool! Of course not! Leo, Lego Jurassic World. Was BD Wong in that? Was that after they started doing the... Well, is that one where it's just clips from the movie and then does that count? And if it does count, I'm going to say yes.

Yes, he was in it. Yes, he was in it. I think he was in it in and above clips from the movie. Okay, he was like the main... I think he's probably doing a lot of narration and stuff. Hayley McClain, Jurassic World Evolution 3. Is B.D. Wong in that one? Yeah. This one's not out yet, right? Correct. They say we don't know yet, but probably. All right, Jeff, last one. Redeem yourself. I got the fake one. Disney. I'm sorry, Haley. You get the real one. Disney Speedstorm.

The game we cannot forget, that free-to-play Mario Kart-esque game. Is BD Wong in there? That would be BD wrong. No, that's actually correct. He is in there as soon as his Mulan character again. We all tried. That's fine. It is the Mulan. You know, Captain Li Shang. So Mike Lynch writes in to say, hey, who's the best live host in gaming? Someone who is effortlessly comfortable on stage.

Elijah Wood introducing the Xbox 360. He was the most comfortable? He was chill? I think so. He was chill. He seems like a chill guy. I know it's not how nerves and anxiety work, but... There should be some way to convey to everybody on stage that it's okay to relax. Wouldn't they all be better if they were just chill to the max? Remember when Anthony Mackie at the Game Awards...

People were just yelling stuff out at him and every single one he was going like, whoa. Everybody in the crowd. What happened? That's so funny. Hitting him like bullets. It was crazy. Oh, I mean, is that answer the words from Pauline? so is that answer by proxy then keanu reeves because somebody volleyed something at him and he just gave the greatest judo flip of all time saying you're breathtaking

He made everybody in that room comfortable for sure. Yeah. Even if he was, I think because he was goofing off and he sounded a little silly reading the, in a city where crime is around. Yeah. Obruni writes in, they say, with the release of Rematch, the best football game I've played in decades. Yeah, it's out. Leo, are you going to be diving into Rematch a little more from the devs of Sifu? Yes. Really excited. I haven't had time. Another thing to take you away from Fantasy Eye.

What sport do you think should get the rematch treatment? Oberoony asks. Or spec writing. From the seafood devs in particular? Yeah. Like really, really good, intricate, animated horseback riding where it's like movement could mess up the horse's movement a lot, too. What are the verbs? What are the buttons you'd be pressing that are more technical than games that you ride horses in let you currently? you know, rain, rain in.

um but is there like squeeze its sides with your feet type stuff yeah squeeze or and or kick maybe you squeeze is a light press kick is a hard press on the button there we go and you want like gyros for like shifting your own buttocks weight on the horse to like optimize that because if you donk up like the takeoff on a jump the horse will like mess up because your weight's getting thrown around like an idiot

So you could set him up for success, but if your gyro's off, the horses can go, oh, land wrong. Is donk a horse riding turn? Oh, yeah. No, that's a Haley thing again. Okay. Which is an NFL thing, right? I wasn't sure. I was like, oh, interesting. I was thinking hockey, actually, because it's so fast, right? Isn't Rematch a little turn-based, or am I insane? You're insane.

It just has more specific control. That's the core of the question. Is this kind of like more direct yet arcadey control over a sport? Because you can have hockey, you can do like... Sifu-style fighting when you get in a fight. Oh, that would be sweet. Environmental attacks. Yeah. I was watching Jeff Grossman stream Days of Thunder on NES the other day.

which is like, you know, NES game based on the Tom Cruise movie about NASCAR or whatever. But they had like this playable section in that game. And I was like, why haven't people done this more? Where it was just an interactive like pit stop. I was like, that, that. should be a game that pressure i want to try that you know i don't know if it's vr or what but the idea of like okay you got your routine down a car is going to come in in a minute and you need to go as fast as you possibly can go

with the team and like done! Like that is such a cool thing every time I see it visually. I want to play it in some way. And do you want to know why I like gamers? You know, they'll like... mom i'm not at a checkpoint yet level of gamer is i was uh bowling with joe juba recently dear friend of the show and

And I was talking about, like, why aren't there pit stop focus games? Where's my pit stop game? And he's like, you know what game you should check out is Days of Thunder on NES. Like, he just, like, had that on the top of his mind. And I was like, that's exactly the reference I just watched today, Joe. That is a...

Absurd pull. Nice. Also Pacific Drive. You're doing the pulling over, but you got to do it real fast sometimes. Okay. Yeah. All right. That's true. That's true. Pit stop energy for sure there. Donnie says, hey, I'm sorry about this one. I need to get out of my head. Cyberpunk 2077 on the Switch 2. Is this the first game on a Nintendo console with full frontal nudity? There's so many of those puzzle games. Mario when he was swimming.

Mario Swimming. What version were you guys playing? Did those really have nudity, though? The Switch eShop hentai puzzle games? They do. I think, from what I could see... And this was, again, looking at a Reddit post summary, and it was like, it doesn't seem full frontal. It was like a lot of topless stuff with the hentai eShop. So there is some good answers. There's a Reddit post that's summing this up, which had like, oh, of course. There has been...

full frontal nudity on Nintendo systems for a while in a very specific place in a first party game. The paintings in Animal Crossing. the Museum of Animal Crossing technically has. Oh my God, of course. full frontal nudity in there. I'm so dumb, I just typed full frontal nudity on my browser. Smart. Without Nintendo after it, it's four noblins. You have to like, blur the reflection in Hayley's glasses. I'm not seeing any Nintendo in here, so I guess not.

Actually, I gotta hop off. I'm getting a call. I gotta hop off the podcast. Uh-oh. Isn't it interesting that it's all cool in the paintings? But you couldn't have your Animal Crossing guy be naked? Yeah. It's basically a painting. This is like a layer deeper. A painting at the museum in real life. When Ben started the Instagram story with the guy's penis at the museum.

You didn't think twice. That was just on our socials. Right, but it's hard. Walking free. Yeah, but if I started it with Leo's penis, people have a problem with it. We're done. We're done. It's so random. Also, that Reddit thread pointed out, like, L.A. Noire, there's nude corpses. Witcher 3 is on Switch. Interesting poll. South Park Stick of Truth. There's a boss fight. Do you remember this one, Haley? Were you...

there's a boss fight while your parents are having sex. Oh yeah. You're underneath. Yeah. And it's like, there's a quick time event of like testicles swinging at you. It's a really classy smart game. Pork Bun Power writes in and says, Hey, I'm excited to try out the alters, but it reminded me that I had to mentally assess myself each time before I played Frostpunk. My question is, are you always down to play or watch something emotionally draining?

Or do you have to do a headspace vibes check before diving in? It's not. Who is down for an emotionally draining thing anytime? Yeah.

Okay, good. I thought you were going to say the opposite. The way you said, of course not. I thought you were saying, of course not. I'm always ready for that. Yeah. I need to check my gut and see if I can... take it in that day i gotta be in the mood for sure yeah but when are you in the mood for something sad like that like it's so weird to be like you don't wake up on a tuesday and be like today is the day i can absorb some sad stuff right i think so

To me, it's not always sad, though. It's like challenging. It's like a long new movie that I know is for smart people. And I think I am... More often ready for that than I think I am. I think I default to unchallenging, simple game, simple TV show I know I love. when I would be a little more fulfilled by something more challenging. It's just it is always scary, even if I am.

in the mindset more than i give myself credit for it's almost more of a focus thing to me right it's like do i want to give this my full attention am i in the mood to give anything my full attention or should i just you know rewatch community I don't know what else to bring this up because I keep forgetting I'm not going to pull it off one more second

I've been watching Nirvana, the band, this show, Ben, and it's amazing. Oh, good. Oh, that's awesome. And this is the series, not the web series, right? Because it's confusing because they both had like two seasons and stuff. How far are you? Almost done with season two. Okay. It's crazy. I give so much credit to like Bad Trip for being like a movie filmed in public. And this is totally a sitcom filmed in public. Yes. Where do you watch this?

Hansen handed me a flash drive with it on it, which I give him so much credit for because it's been recommended to me over the years, but...

Everybody recommends everything to everybody. But that was what put it in my head of like, I really got to watch it. Physical media, baby. They have a movie coming out soon, right? That like people are all like it's been shown at some festivals and people are kind of losing their mind over. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just looking last night and there's not like release plan.

for when that's coming out, but I think they still are planning for it 2025. But Leo, in particular, I think it's the second to last episode of season two. It is... is just one of those episodes in a rehearsal style way, I guess, just like, how did they do this? And there's a really good podcast that they did of like breaking it down. And I, I made Jacob Geller watch it with me in Brazil. Like, just look at this one.

episode like the first half of this episode is just the best blending of like what is really happening here because this is such a wild exchange but it's it's excellent i'm glad you're enjoying it like groundbreaking and just genuinely funny on a sitcom level yeah lovable

Yeah, for sure. So Travis and Fargo, they say, thank you, Leo, for talking about Nevada the Band of the Show. I'm flying out to beautiful Portland, Oregon this weekend for a three-day trip. I pack light, so I'm just bringing a backpack. Cool. What's your philosophy when it comes to packing for a trip? I really like being insanely well prepared. Okay. Yeah. So I like, I have packing cubes.

And I one cubes for pants, one cubes for shirts, one's for underwear, one's for underwear that were worn during the trip. And so I'm like, like just knowing everything I'm going to be doing and knowing where it goes in my bag. I already have like cute versions of like.

Where I put my 100 milliliters of my shampoo so it's not just a haphazard thing. I actually like the way they look. And it feels like I'm taking a little piece of home when I go on a trippy. Like, I need it to be like that, otherwise I freak out. What is a cube?

like a packing cube if you use those they're actually really they actually end up making a ton of space it's like just like uh think of those vacuum upper thing you know you put under your bed and you put a bunch of things and you vacuum out the air but like no vacuum stuff but like It'll take like four pairs of pants that otherwise would take up half your bag. You can shove them in a packing cube and zip it up. It might be tough to zip it up, but it takes up like a...

like two-thirds less space. It's a bag within a bag. It's like simplified. Weird. Yeah. I love them. Cool. I always roll my clothes up on the Jeff Cork tip. Yeah. And it makes them nice and small. It really gives me a lot more space. But I only ever bring a backpack. I haven't checked a bag in...

Yeah, I am bare minimum. And also, like, one time my sister, I think it was when I started a Game Informer, she was like, oh, you're going to need a roly-poly bag for the airport. And it was a very nice gift. It was one of the rare Christmas gifts where I'm like, I'm going to return this because... I don't know, I'm committed to having a bag that I carry. It's just easier to get in the overhead. I don't want to be locked out by having a hard suitcase.

You only like, there'll be some trips where it's more than a day and you're bringing a big bag that you check. No, everything's always just in the one bag. Even if you go to vacation? Even if I go to vacation for a week. Yes, I know I said that weird.

I mean, how many clothes could you possibly need? You bring one for each day and it all fits in there. And yeah, I've never had a situation. Yeah. It's like, well, it's like a little duffel bag thing. That's like flexible. So I can like squeeze it in. So like going out to dinner one night. Another outfit for swimming at the beach. Another outfit for if you go off the resort. Your toiletries. Go off the resort.

I'm just coming up with a vacation for you. This vacation sounds amazing. No, I guess you bring like, you know, a fanciish shirt. Maybe I'd have like one extra shirt in there or anything, but I'm not changing words. What am I, Princess Peach Showtime?

You didn't play that because you're not an ally, so you don't know. Damn it. That's fascinating. I wish I could be like that, but I need options. You can do it. No, I need options. What about those people? I was always annoyed by those people who... And maybe they just don't want to be my friend. But I feel like it's a thing that would come over once in a while and be like, hey, do you want to hang out tonight? Like, I got to pack for a trip tomorrow.

That was always the worst excuse to me. I'm like, it takes six minutes. You put some socks in a bag. Like this idea of being like an all day affair always freaked me out. And those people should be punished by law. Oh my God. You're going to punish me then. That's how I've prepared.

It's ironic, but yeah, lawyers are going to jail today, folks. Lock it up. Hanson, I was just making up that excuse every time. People use it. People use it, and it sucks. They might be trying to say, I want to stay home on my last night before this trip.

That's acceptable. That's acceptable. I appreciate that. But then they're lying to me. I actually am slowly packing with YouTube on and like taking my time and making it a relaxing thing. It's true. I don't know when it's going to happen. I could get it done early. I could do it the last thing before bed. Okay. I love how you're all set up down there. Hanson, have you not gone on any road trips with your kid? Mmm. Yeah. Because it's a nightmare. That was...

What I was thinking in the concept, we haven't flown anywhere, but anytime we go on vacation, it is like full trunk, full front passenger seat of just all the crap that kids need.

yeah and and then you still forget like three things that is a nightmare that they're gonna forget about my my trip for getting over anxiety for going uh or my not my trip my my life hack for um Getting over traveling anxiety is I keep a master list of like a checklist of things to pack and anything that I've ever forgotten.

just gets added you know retroactively to the list and so i just go through that and i don't pack everything but it's just it's to get rid of that anxiety of like what am i forgetting to pack right so it's it's like a hundred items long but I at least know I won't forget stuff when I go down the list. It's not an item list.

Well, you know, it's, it's like, it's, it encompasses like work trips and vacations and any kind, anytime I ever had to go anywhere, it's like everything just gets added to that. I like that too. You miss traveling, Jeffem?

No, not really. I hate airports and I hate flying. I'll go on something at some point for MinMax when I'm not abandoning my wife with... a baby but um okay so five years from now sometime okay all right but but yeah i like i hate airports and layovers and flying so much and it's it just gets worse and worse. And it's, I love it. That kills a lot of, that kills a lot of, you love the airports.

I don't mind it. I like having a space where it's like I'm limited in what I can do. It simplifies my life. All I can do is wait for a plane and play my Switch. That type of focus. I feel very trapped. I love being trapped. put me in a cage. I'm happy as can be. Rattling the bar is me on the other end. I'm with you. I look forward to getting to the airport, oddly. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. What do y'all like for question of the week?

We've got Donkey Kong Jr. We've got, what song's he going to say on the Test of Time? I like that one. Switch to Launch stuff. I like Test of Time, yeah. Yeah? Okay. Yeah. Over Switch to Launch, that was another big diver. uh nudity on nintendo obviously um okay we can we can go with test of time that is kevin cooper congratulations you just won the prize from i am 8-bit which of course is the gone home vinyl um

Speaking of soundtracks, it'll stand the test of time. They'll be playing in 30 years from now. That's right. Now it's time for something that we call Get a Load of This. I think the Get a Load of This jingle is probably going to be around for another 70 years.

Cartoon bank heist sting or whatever the hell it's called. Hey, get a load of this. Jeff can attest, and Kyle I suppose as well, but you read a lot of kind of boring books when you have a kid over and over and over again. And the other day, my kid had this book and I was like, hey, this is fun. And it was like myths and legends of sports. And they just had a bunch of like fun little facts. And with the NFL.

So maybe I'm brainwashed and this isn't interesting as I thought. And maybe I'm just not enough of a sports head to be intrigued by like, oh, they have stats for that. But icing the kicker, you know, Jeff, we're about to go for the field goal. Time out, time out. The average percentage completion for a field goal is 81%. Icing the kicker with a timeout, getting in their head, making them think a little bit, that drops to 68%.

Isn't that good? All just mental. That's very noticeable. Yeah. Also, fun fact, apparently in 1943, they were short on players, and the Steelers and the Eagles combined to form one team called the Steagles. That was the Steagles. Cool. Yeah, I thought it was cool. Not the Eaglers.

A good last name for a fictional character. Well, they fought the Eaglers. They went up with them at the Super Bowl and it did not end well. It was a confusing thing. They had the same costume and jersey. It's called a jersey, not a costume. It's a jersey, not a costume. Oh, calling it a costume is a great way to knock it like a football jock down a couple of matches. That's such a cute costume. Nice cosplay.

Get a load of this. You guys know that VR game Maestro where you orchestra? Yeah. They added a bunch of songs as DLC that I was really impressed by. They have a duel of the fates from Star Wars. What? Yeah, and they have Fantasia. They have the Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia. Oh, what? That is the orchestra song. In the Hall of the Mountain King.

Banger! There's a bunch of good stuff, but obviously their trailer leads with Star Wars, but I was like, this is good stuff. They have Game of Thrones theme in there. Wow. Baby Shark? Like, not your typical, like, add-on music for rhythm games. Yeah. So I just thought it was really cool. That was nice. I need to play more of that. I love it. Hey, get a load of this. This is an IGN article about Hideo Kojima insisted on making changes to Death Stranding 2.

Because play testers thought it was too good. Yeah. This is crazy. Jeff, can you change that to a Game Informer YouTube link, please? Because we also got that quote from him. Yeah, Marcus asked him that live. It was great. Well, they asked him about that question. But he still had the balls to look him in the eyes. That is true. Yeah, but he took the... What is it? Sound producer?

uh the uh yawn wood kid lemoine working on the game soundtrack and he he told the story that uh apparently kojima came in and said they had a big problem and he took him aside And he said, I'm going to be very honest. We have been testing the game with players and the results are too good. They like it too much. That means something is wrong. We have to change something.

And then he says that they're changing a bunch of stuff to make it polarizing. It's the best PR ever. And meanwhile, Remedy's over there going, oh yeah, we did that too. Check the calories at Thanksgiving? My God. credit for it though right uh get a load of this my partner got me um my favorite album of all time is discovery by daft punk my favorite song is digital love by daft punk

He got me this vinyl where it's like the Interstellar 5555 characters and you flip it around. It took me a long time to open it because I just, you know, but I finally was like, I'm going to play my vinyl. And I opened it and I realized that Daft Punk has this super cool thing.

Where if you bought this vinyl, you get admitted into the Daft Punk Club. Don't look at my number. Someone's going to steal my freaking club number. You get admitted to the Daft Punk Club number. I now keep this in my wall just because I think it looks rad. And it got me access to this, like, special unique merch website with, like, unique merch on it. It's like...

They're doing this in 2025. They haven't released an album in how many years now? They also broke up two or three years ago. Yeah, I just love that. There was one... They killed each other? Yeah. When they announced that they were breaking up, they had a video where they walked away from each other in the desert and blew up. I thought you were like...

making a joke that I missed the news when they're dead or something else. No, no. That's a real get-a-load of this. That would be my insane get-a-load of this. The expiry is 5555. That's cute. But now I just have it in my wallet. It's fun. There's an absolutely...

The best hoodie I've ever seen in my life is on that website, but it's sold out. And I check all the time and it's always sold out. I'm sorry for your loss. I love that movie, Interstellar 555. It was like I snuck it into my daughter's rotation of films to watch when she was growing up. but I've only been able to find it like on DVD. And when they were doing all this stuff for discovery, they showed the film in theaters again for like a night, which I wasn't able to go to, but I, um, and, uh,

But they haven't released it on like Blu-ray or anything. Is it on that secret website? Can I buy a Blu-ray? It is not. I don't have any. It's just all clothing. There's like a Christmas tree ornament or something. It's like that kind of stuff. Get a load of this.

Teachers Are Not Okay is an article by Jason Keebler at 404 Media that is really interesting. It is his most responded to article ever as far as people writing him with their points of view. And it's teachers talking about... ai in classrooms chat gpt and how it factors into assignments and stuff which is like

obviously such a huge thing that's going on in schools right now that few of us have a window into actually probably most of us do since most of us have kids of this group but I didn't have a window into and it's just personal testimonies really interesting stories I want to specifically shout out the one in the middle by Nathan Schmidt, who's a university lecturer, who's basically his point is that basically the very end of it is. So that's the long story about how I adopted an absolute.

tolerance policy on any use of chat gpt or any similar it's working my way down the funnel of progressive acceptance to outright conservative luddite rejection it's all about the um little ways that it creeps in if you let it in at all Yeah. Was interesting to me because I was thinking about it recently with cash cleaner simulator. Yeah. Which Steam games have a disclosure at the bottom of what AI was used for this. And that says like we used it for the avatars for the.

characters on the phone that you're talking to in that game and as i play that game it's clear those are ai like i knew that before i read that that they're by ai and the text messages you're getting i'm going like these feel like they're written by ai too like there's not that much personality in these that they're not Couldn't totally be chat GPT. And they would never, you know, they wouldn't have to disclose that. They wouldn't be caught if they didn't disclose that.

And I was thinking about that as like, wow, what an interesting thing to say. We used AI for this thing, and now I'm poisoned looking at everything going, was this AI too? Right. The way it poisons the well. So it's interesting to have a lot of teachers' perspectives on. Can we have a little bit of AI as a treat because it is so convenient, but maybe it is just not a path to go down. Yeah. I got to say, Leo, on the topic of not using AI, your thumbnails.

for the new show Plus Options every week make me laugh. It is so crude and bad and human just having this blurry picture of Mia's auction powers in every single thumbnail. It's so stupid. always tell me when that gets old for you the auction powers thing i haven't hit it yet totally i wanted to circle back to it for that reason because that was when we talked about it as something i had used for two thumbnails in the past it was like from that perspective like it's so integrated and everything

use it a little bit as a treat for a cute little joke. But then thinking about it, like, yeah, I can... understand why other people would see it and it's like now it could be anything anything in here could be ai and now that's distracting from the the art and the humanity of it yeah and it has been yeah once i've got the clear go ahead of like yeah we like it when it's stupid

I make them as stupid as possible and it's fun. Yeah. And look, I shouldn't have even accepted that that song from the weekend might be the most popular song of all time because that was letting AI in a little bit into this podcast and God forbid. I've done it. You've been reading up AI this whole time. I still never used it, other than that AI overview nonsense. Hazard, the Disney Channel star, in the Discord shared a link from Dead by Daylight, Haley.

that they posted that they just broke their concurrent player record with 106,000 players. And they're like, yeah, coming up on our ninth anniversary, we have more coming up in the future. But nine years in and they're breaking their concurrent play record. And it's because of the Five Nights at Freddy's crossover. Springtrap sent it.

whoa yeah that is and he's cool that's like it's not just like they're ringing it in they're like here he is and he just runs around hits you with a knife they have this cool thing where it's like all these doors like the five nights at freddy's pizzeria doors spawn around the map

And then the survivors can open the door and use it to teleport somewhere else. But so can Springtrap. And if Springtrap is going through it while you're in there, it has this great cut scene of like getting caught in the security room. And then he like he'll grab you and come.

out of this the next door like already with you on the shoulder to hook you so it's like a really big punishment so it's like the whole time you're in there it's like it takes about 10 seconds to teleport and your character is like creeping and you're like oh my god i hope he doesn't come in here and it's literally like playing five nights at freddy's for five seconds

when you're playing Dead by Daylight. They've tried really hard. It's great. Is it a cut scene to walk through it or do you play walking through it? No, you just like your character is just like this. And then if he happens to also use the same item, this like thing interrupts it. He's like. And it does the Five Nights at Freddy's jump scare. So you're like, and then he grabs you and puts you on a hook. That's sweet.

Well, there we go. That's it for this episode of the MinMax Show podcast. I apologize for being a long one, but thanks so much, everybody, for watching, listening, sharing, all that fun stuff. On MinMax's YouTube channel and beyond, we've got a bunch of fun stuff, including BonusPod, the Patreon-exclusive podcast. Unlock it. Every week. It's very good. Haley is rocking it. So appreciate everybody unlocking that and all the kind words sent on Patreon about it. Pew, pew, bang.

New episode is coming up on Monday, and this is the final episode of the season. For season one, there's going to be a short break, I think is the official wording, and then season two will kick off. But Haley, do you have a tease for the final episode? Oh, it's so fun. You'll see. It's not just a normal episode. We have something fun playing with a guest. Yeah.

I heard what it was and I was like, I never thought this would happen on PP bang, but that sounds fantastic. I can't wait to listen to it. It's already being like pre-planned all this week. So it'll. be fun to record. And don't forget to play that clip that I sent you a long time ago. Yes. Okay. I know. Okay. I will play it. I will play it. Okay. Also up on Mimax's YouTube channel, we have Doc Lightning, our film festival. If you remember on this podcast, you know, a little over a month ago.

We challenged everybody in the community to create a documentary under three minutes. They didn't need any experience. They could use their phone, do whatever they want, come up with something to document in a short documentary format. And we just held the film festival and it's up on YouTube right now if you want to check it out. But it is humbling and unbelievable. Like 39...

Courageous people went out of their comfort zone, made a short documentary, and then just seeing those topics back to back, always unexpected and always so good. Um, so yeah, really there were laughs, there were tears, there's everything. So check out that doc lightning, uh, video on the max's YouTube channel. Um, we also have the summer game fest travel log.

If you want to experience all of Summer Game Fest with Kelsey and Jacob and Janet, boy, do we have the video for you. So it's a fun time. It's technically the first time that... Janet has met Jacob and just getting to edit the three of those folks together when it's the first time a lot of them are in the same room together. It's really a fun dynamic to cut together. They're all so cute together. Yeah. It was fun having Janet and Kelsey beefing about baseball teams.

Right. Or at least the extended version. That's a rare type of conversation for the group. Yeah, for sure. And so, yeah, in the extended version, if you're at the $10 tier, you unlock the six hour version. It's a little over six hours long and it's.

Crazy. Better well shot than any extended version I've ever done. It all looks great and sounds great, so I hope you all enjoy that. And also, a reminder, if you don't want to mess with Patreon, which we like Patreon, but if you don't want to mess with it, you can get a YouTube membership.

And if you want to jump in at $10 on YouTube, you can get a min-max membership on YouTube and you can get all the extended versions of all of our content as well. The SGF travelog is up there, Brazil's travelog is up there. That's all up in the...

community post tab on youtube if you want to become a member there we appreciate it and we're starting to put bonus pod video versions there as well yeah yeah why not so yeah it's never been a better time to jump in on that youtube membership if you want to check that out but thanks everybody for watching and sharing that shift travel. We appreciate it.

and new episode of max settings for fire break is also up as well thanks to nvidia for making that whole thing happen but that is it for this episode of the podcast greatly appreciate it we'll be back next week for our 300th episode of the min max show wow wow it's gonna be fun thanks so much everybody be good have fun let's go