Giant Bombcast 08-24-2010

[0] Everyone, it's Tuesday, August the 24th, 2010, and you're listening to the Giant Bombcast.

[1] I'm Ryan Davis.

[2] This is Vinny Caravella.

[3] I'm not in a shitty place.

[4] How you doing?

[5] Doing all right.

[6] I'm hot.

[7] Yeah, hot dogs.

[8] What's up with hot dogs?

[9] I don't know.

[10] They're delicious.

[11] I don't know.

[12] What's up with hot dogs?

[13] What's up with hot dogs?

[14] Any hot dog people here today?

[15] Jeff Gerstmann is hot dog people.

[16] I've been known to have a hot dog.

[17] What's up with hot dogs?

[18] Is there delicious?

[19] We were discussing hot dog crisis in your house and the hot dog time bomb that was going off in your fridge.

[20] How's that going for you?

[21] It's going okay.

[22] I went to Costco and bought a bunch of bulk buns and bulk hot dogs, and now I'm on this mad dash to eat it all before it goes bad.

[23] So the buns were wrapped in such a way that I could just take half of them and throw them in the freezer.

[24] So I did that.

[25] Half of how many?

[26] 24.

[27] 24.

[28] Is that a gross?

[29] How much is it gross?

[30] No, gross is like 128.

[31] Yeah, 144.

[32] Oh, is that right?

[33] That's right.

[34] It's a dozen dozens.

[35] Sure.

[36] That's gross.

[37] But in the first pack, one of the buns totally had a bunch of mold on it.

[38] Oh.

[39] This went right out of the...

[40] Like second to last.

[41] bun in the bag had one like none of the other ones did so i definitely mold wait wait like how how long after three how long one of them had a big spot on it how long does that happen like this is like a week and a half maybe if that's enough time for Yeah.

[42] That's the thing about those Costco buns is that they aren't like putting any preservatives in them and they're still hot when they put them.

[43] It's why I don't buy bread at the Costco because it's still hot when they put it in the bags and then the moist, it gets moist inside there.

[44] And that's just how you grow mold.

[45] Well, just one of them had the mold.

[46] The rest were all fine.

[47] So at some point I thought about, well, maybe I should throw away all the buns that were in this bag because this one's all moldy.

[48] Because the spores are in there.

[49] Yeah.

[50] And I was like, oh, whatever.

[51] It's fine.

[52] Just scrape it off.

[53] A little free penicillin.

[54] Yeah, a little free penicillin.

[55] But I did toss out the one that had some fur on it.

[56] I mean, yeah, you could do that.

[57] That's one way to go.

[58] So when you buy in bulk, do the number of hot dogs match the number of buns?

[59] No. It never does?

[60] No. You want to talk about your 80s stand -up material?

[61] There you go.

[62] What's the deal with hot dogs?

[63] I got buns and hot dogs.

[64] And I got a cart that had one of the wheels going all crazy.

[65] I always get that cart.

[66] Why does that wheel just want to go like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah?

[67] Yeah, exactly.

[68] Who's out there breaking one wheel per, huh?

[69] What's that wheel want?

[70] What's the deal with that wheel?

[71] What else is new?

[72] Jeff Gershman's here.

[73] Brad Shoemaker being...

[74] Fuck you, buddy.

[75] Oddly quiet.

[76] We had some business to settle.

[77] And now it's settled.

[78] That needed to be said.

[79] What?

[80] And now let's move on.

[81] What was that for?

[82] I don't know.

[83] You know.

[84] No, I don't.

[85] Well, tell them what you told me. That'll have to wait.

[86] Oh, you're just going to sit there and act like this is okay.

[87] You don't want to say it.

[88] I'll tell you later.

[89] You don't want to say it now.

[90] I'll tell you.

[91] I'll have to wait after the show.

[92] Oh, no. Now there's beef.

[93] Best jerk move ever.

[94] Whatever, Brad.

[95] Tell them what you told me before.

[96] You don't want to say it?

[97] That's fine.

[98] How are you doing?

[99] Doing all right.

[100] How are you doing?

[101] I'm good.

[102] I've got to water because it's hot.

[103] Yeah.

[104] It is hot.

[105] It's a coffee cup full of water.

[106] Yep.

[107] Best of both worlds.

[108] Is it just hot in here or am I sunburned?

[109] It's hot.

[110] It's hot in here.

[111] I am sunburned.

[112] You're red.

[113] But is it also hot?

[114] It's hot in here.

[115] It's not just me. Oh, that's right.

[116] You were angry at me because I said take the bus.

[117] That's what it was.

[118] All right.

[119] I was just trying to remember what was being said before the podcast started.

[120] Good weekend, Vinny?

[121] Yeah.

[122] So let me break it down for you.

[123] I would love it if you would break it down for me. Bring out the whiteboard.

[124] Yeah.

[125] You got the telestrator.

[126] Can you show me where this play went bad?

[127] Yes, I can actually.

[128] It was Saturday evening when my wife left for Connecticut.

[129] It's never a good start for a story.

[130] Actually, it's a good start for like a penthouse forum story.

[131] So I started checking my online dating profiles.

[132] You know, just to see if anyone was interested.

[133] I haven't used them in months, but I just wanted to see if I had gotten any bites.

[134] And what do you know?

[135] Tina.

[136] Sasha.

[137] I just want to know how many Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburgers you've had since then.

[138] None.

[139] None?

[140] But I'll get to it later.

[141] That's Sunday.

[142] So Saturday, I beat StarCraft 2.

[143] Finished that up.

[144] What's that about?

[145] Started playing through some of the challenges.

[146] Got about halfway through it.

[147] I think I'm pretty much done with StarCraft 2.

[148] I had the multiplayer screen sit open for a little bit.

[149] Just kind of like...

[150] You didn't even try.

[151] Don't want to get in there.

[152] You didn't even try.

[153] I played like seven matches in my head.

[154] And then I was like, nah, I think I'm good.

[155] And I end it.

[156] I will say a little disappointed at the ending of Starcraft 2 for the Terrans.

[157] We'll see what happens moving forward.

[158] But it kind of drops you off.

[159] Just kind of ends.

[160] You're like, oh, it does.

[161] I mean, something momentous happens.

[162] Like, is every thread addressed?

[163] No. Are there still many lingering questions?

[164] Absolutely.

[165] Do I want to play the next installment?

[166] Something happens.

[167] There is an ending.

[168] So then after that, I still have my Gamefly account, right?

[169] Yeah.

[170] I think you're the last man standing on that.

[171] No, I've still got it.

[172] I think I'm on month five of Bayonetta at this point.

[173] Nice.

[174] I could have bought Bayonetta like twice by now.

[175] Well, I was kind of in a similar situation with the game I had, and I finally decided that I would play it.

[176] And it was Terminator Salvation.

[177] Oh, my God.

[178] So wait a minute.

[179] Hang on a minute.

[180] How long have you been holding on to Terminator Salvation?

[181] When did Terminator Salvation come out?

[182] That's not true.

[183] 2009?

[184] Because you had prototype until like last week.

[185] No, it's been a while.

[186] It's been at least a month or so.

[187] Or a couple.

[188] So I beat it.

[189] That game.

[190] Wow, you spent all of the four and a half hours or whatever?

[191] Yeah.

[192] So that was actually Saturday night after I beat StarCraft 2.

[193] I popped it in.

[194] I was like, I'm going to get this out of the way because I should return this or buy it.

[195] And I'm not going to buy it.

[196] No. Yeah.

[197] So something needs to be done.

[198] So literally like three and a half hours.

[199] Yeah, it's a short, short, short game.

[200] And then I'm not a big points guy, but 1 ,000 points.

[201] Did you play it on hard?

[202] I think you have to play it on hard to get them all around.

[203] You can play it on easy and then start a co -op hard campaign and then do a little thing where you save your easy campaign to another directory and then start a hard mission select from your new save and then you just beat that last level which is about 10 minutes.

[204] That's a lot of work for a guy who says he is not interested in his voice.

[205] Well, because you wind up going through it with pretty much all the achievements except for two.

[206] Did you figure that out or did you like troll that off?

[207] I looked it up.

[208] Okay.

[209] Yeah, because I was like, dude, I have all these achievements except for this one and I'm not playing this again.

[210] So you do in fact care about points.

[211] Well, it's more the completionist than the points.

[212] Like if there were like seven achievements I didn't get, it would have been back in the mail already.

[213] Anyway, it took about 20 minutes.

[214] So about four hours and same for all the people who like their thousand points.

[215] I mean, the game is...

[216] It's really weird.

[217] Obviously, you played through the whole thing.

[218] There are, like, two enemy types.

[219] Yeah, there's the bikes.

[220] There's the, I don't know, the kind of crabby ones.

[221] There's the, yeah, the T500s or whatever, which are, like, the kind of retarded -looking terminators.

[222] Yeah, skin jobs.

[223] Yeah, like the early skin jobs.

[224] Man. Then there's, like, eight chase sequences that go on forever.

[225] No multiplayer at all.

[226] It's a weird, weird game.

[227] The coolest thing about that game is the loading screen.

[228] It's just like the exoskeleton from the Terminator, but you get to move it with your analog sticks while it's loading so you can make them look at you.

[229] That's about the coolest thing.

[230] So then Sunday came around and I went to KFC.

[231] This is what I do when nobody's watching me. I got a bucket of eight skin jobs.

[232] Extra spicy.

[233] And you know you're doing something wrong.

[234] No, literally.

[235] They don't have that everywhere yet, do they?

[236] The skin job?

[237] The skin sandwich?

[238] No. The Double Down or whatever it is?

[239] It's a skin witch, I think.

[240] Oh, God, really?

[241] That was awful.

[242] Really?

[243] It's like five chicken skins put together.

[244] It's not even worth talking about.

[245] It's not even worth talking about.

[246] But they're trying to follow up on the, like, ew, what the fuck?

[247] Of the Double Down with other stuff.

[248] No, they don't.

[249] To get people excited about their products.

[250] So I went in and I ordered.

[251] The eight -piece family meal or whatever for my family.

[252] But they were gone.

[253] I got home and no one was there.

[254] This is all going to go bad.

[255] Who's going to eat these four biscuits?

[256] Right.

[257] I am.

[258] Then he will.

[259] And then the side of mashed potatoes and the side of the potato wedges, which are actually really good.

[260] Sometimes they're really good.

[261] Sometimes they're really bad.

[262] If you get them and they're too chewy, I find that they're usually bad.

[263] What a glorious mistake to make.

[264] So I was going to ask, were you eating the chicken directly out of the bucket?

[265] What else are you going to do?

[266] Are you going to dirty a plate?

[267] That's KFC.

[268] It's not worth a plate.

[269] That's when you know it's gone bad.

[270] Plates are for lovers.

[271] Taking the mashed potatoes with a fork and then just dipping that into the gravy.

[272] That's still in the container.

[273] I thought you were going to say you dipped the chicken into the mashed potatoes and then dip that in the gravy because that's the way to eat it.

[274] I felt terrible.

[275] I noticed in the South, big, big fans of potato as condiments.

[276] The potato salad on the hot dog.

[277] I've never...

[278] What?

[279] Oh, interesting.

[280] Who knows that?

[281] I've seen images of you with a plate of food with that on it.

[282] No, that was coleslaw.

[283] Never me. Oh, okay.

[284] Never me. Coleslaw on the hot dog?

[285] Yeah, hell yeah.

[286] Really?

[287] Mustard, onions, chili, and coleslaw.

[288] Wow.

[289] Like a big mayonnaise -y coleslaw or just more like cabbage?

[290] Well, then I guess I had that idea.

[291] I want to try potato salad on a hot dog.

[292] On a potato bun?

[293] Well, you know, you got to get the finer stuff.

[294] I have the photographic evidence right here.

[295] That's really going to play well on this podcast.

[296] I'm going to look at it.

[297] Well, so then the highlight of my day before I killed myself with KFC.

[298] It was not the Kentucky Fried Chicken?

[299] No, that was like the quick decline.

[300] I should have done this.

[301] It's like, yeah, I got home and I was really excited.

[302] The darkness started creeping in as the pants started coming off.

[303] I'm like, I'm actually uncomfortable now.

[304] Why were you wearing them in the first place?

[305] Well, I had to go to the KFC.

[306] I mean, just take them off before you eat.

[307] Once you get home, yeah.

[308] Who's the pants?

[309] The slime on my face, just like, what am I?

[310] What have I become?

[311] You start getting cheek sweats.

[312] That's always a good sign that sitting on the couch naked, watching television, eating Kentucky Fried Chicken.

[313] Burning through all the liquid.

[314] Just empty containers of water and stuff.

[315] Seven cups.

[316] Oh, so thirsty.

[317] Oh, God.

[318] Shake it so salty.

[319] I played through Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

[320] Yeah?

[321] Awesome.

[322] Good game.

[323] That game is great.

[324] It's fun.

[325] Yeah.

[326] I played through the entire thing and then went back and started playing again.

[327] Nice.

[328] Yeah.

[329] So that was really fun.

[330] I'm not really enjoying it.

[331] I think that game's...

[332] Yeah, I think it's solid.

[333] I got to the level where the first time where they kind of split you up and you got to find the sun discs or whatever.

[334] Yeah.

[335] Did you play with somebody else?

[336] No. Okay.

[337] Got two of them and went...

[338] I'm good.

[339] I find that most of the levels aren't that open explorer -y, though.

[340] That's kind of the exception.

[341] That's not how most of the levels flow.

[342] I don't really like the combat so much.

[343] There was one point where I was coming out of one of the extra rooms or whatever, and it checkpointed me right there with not a ton of health, and a truck was exploding as it saved.

[344] So it's like I was respawning, the truck would explode, and there were nine guys standing at that doorway.

[345] You have a knack for finding these doomsday situations, Jeff.

[346] I kind of died over and over again until I got really good.

[347] And then after that, I went a little further and just kind of...

[348] Built -in tutorials.

[349] You know, the perspective stuff seems weird.

[350] It seems really arbitrary.

[351] It's like, this is an item you can't stick the staff into because it disappears when you try to.

[352] And that's because we said so.

[353] Because it's going to break this puzzle if you do.

[354] Yeah.

[355] There's been like three cases where I've thought like, oh, I could totally solve that with like this.

[356] And it's been like, no, dude, just go roll this ball over here and jump from there.

[357] I don't want to.

[358] I don't know.

[359] I found the pacing to be fine, like to get some of the challenges to have to burn through.

[360] The thing I really like the most about that game is they do the Resident Evil 5.

[361] thing really well again where it's like you get all these weapons that power you up and stuff like that and then you could just play through any level you want again with all that stuff and then like by doing that by playing through it really quickly or getting a high score you get more stuff it's it's no it's it's Like parts of it seemed really neat.

[362] Like I'm not, I'm not saying I hate it or anything like that, but it just definitely not clicking with it.

[363] Yeah.

[364] It didn't, it did not inspire me to sit there and play it all in one sitting or, or anything like that.

[365] Well, the biggest bummer I had was like, I'm really enjoying it.

[366] Right.

[367] I'm going through a single player, really enjoying it.

[368] And like every hour or so.

[369] check my friend list to see if anybody else is playing online.

[370] Be like, oh, this would be awesome.

[371] I should play this co -op.

[372] And then remember that there's no online co -op.

[373] And then forgetting again, being like, oh, man, somebody else must be playing this.

[374] I'm going to play it.

[375] Oh, yeah, there's no. I got a message from someone while I was playing.

[376] It's, hey, you want to play some co -op?

[377] And I read back and say, I'm sure, but unless you live next door, that's not happening.

[378] And also, if you live next door, that's creepy.

[379] It's just not happening either way.

[380] Yeah, so I really enjoyed that.

[381] And then I really kind of enjoyed the first 10 minutes of my KFC disaster and then watched about seven episodes of Arrested Development as I fell into a KFC disaster coma.

[382] Did you do the thing where you would just wake up every once in a while and it would just be mid -episode?

[383] What is going on?

[384] You're too lazy to get up, turn it off, and go to bed.

[385] I missed three episodes in between the last one I was awake for, so I'm really not sure what's happening.

[386] I didn't fall asleep ever, but it definitely got to the point where I was in a position on the couch and then trying to just hit the 360 controller buttons to get to the next one.

[387] B, B, down, A, just go again.

[388] Just play the next one.

[389] Yeah.

[390] Gloriously slothful weekend.

[391] I feel like you're cleansing your soul just by confessing all of this.

[392] Well, it's one of those things where I feel like I was scraping the bottom so then I could only go up.

[393] I could only come back up.

[394] So today I've just had like two fruit bowls.

[395] Nice.

[396] Because I know it's also in there.

[397] Still sloshing around.

[398] It's bad news.

[399] And then like you eat it all and then you have the leftovers.

[400] So I didn't eat all the chicken because I had all the sides which I ate.

[401] And then you just want to throw it out.

[402] And it's just like, I don't even want to look at this anymore.

[403] I don't want to keep it anymore.

[404] And immediately put it in a trash bag.

[405] Like by the time you'll be physically able to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken, all of that will have gone bad.

[406] And I just don't want to remember it at all.

[407] Just get rid of it.

[408] Make this disappear.

[409] Get rid of the evidence.

[410] Yeah, what are you talking about?

[411] This has never happened.

[412] Eat the evidence.

[413] And yeah, so that was Beat the Regames.

[414] That's a hell of a weekend.

[415] Yeah.

[416] Plus your shame spiral.

[417] Yeah, beat my pride down.

[418] Jeff, what bad decisions did you make this weekend?

[419] My food catastrophe involved pizza.

[420] Yeah, we went to a room and I ordered some round table.

[421] Which he then picked up and, yeah, ate too much pizza and had a bad stomach issue from that and had to lay down but didn't want to lay down.

[422] It was one of those things where you, like, wake up at 4 in the morning and go, I need water so bad right now.

[423] And you're just, like, chugging water.

[424] But you're still full, but you need the water.

[425] So it's like, this is going to just replace this problem with another problem.

[426] Sure enough, it did.

[427] Yeah, so.

[428] Poison the house.

[429] And the whole time we were watching Smackdown from like two weeks ago because my roommate went with his lady friend and they were in the front row on like the camera side.

[430] So they're not like behind all the wrestling action.

[431] It was always just like when there were people out of the ring you'd see him.

[432] Yeah.

[433] His stupid fucking sweater.

[434] Tell us about his stupid fucking sweater.

[435] Stupid cross pattern.

[436] I can't.

[437] You'll know it when you see it.

[438] Go back.

[439] I'm not going to watch that episode.

[440] Go back to your TiVo.

[441] Point one, don't have a TiVo.

[442] Point two.

[443] How do you even wear a sweater to SmackDown?

[444] Did he cut the sleeves off of it or something?

[445] It was some kind of sweater vest thing that he was wearing.

[446] I can see it.

[447] I can kind of see it.

[448] Over and under it.

[449] His lady friend with bleach blonde front of her hair and dyed black.

[450] Anyway.

[451] So they look like a classy couple.

[452] They look like compared to fucking everyone around them.

[453] Absolutely.

[454] Yes.

[455] Definitely.

[456] Sure.

[457] Definitely.

[458] Took my lady out to go see Smackdown.

[459] She took him.

[460] Front row.

[461] She took him.

[462] I know.

[463] I know.

[464] I maintain my statement.

[465] Yeah.

[466] Sure.

[467] So, yeah.

[468] Kept woman as he is.

[469] And yeah, I don't know.

[470] He ruined a lot of illusions about.

[471] I mean, it's been a long time since I've seen wrestling recorded for television up close.

[472] And he's like, yeah.

[473] especially because that show's not live broadcast, so they edit it.

[474] So he's like, oh, yeah, there was a big mistake right here that they edited out, and Big Show, for whatever reason, threw up on the mat after pinning this guy, but they cut that out.

[475] But you can see the puddle right there.

[476] What the fuck is going on?

[477] That's pretty awesome.

[478] What is going on with wrestling?

[479] Guys throwing up in the ring.

[480] So, yeah, we're talking about people throwing up in the ring while both of us just eating as much pizza as possible.

[481] Yeah, so that was pretty much that.

[482] But there were some games, too.

[483] Did you play some games?

[484] Yeah, I started investigating Quake 1.

[485] Yes.

[486] Yeah.

[487] Quake.

[488] I played that Lara Croft.

[489] I played a little bit of that, too.

[490] Yeah, we were playing Quake 1 for TNT this week.

[491] Oh, yeah, we are.

[492] And since running old -ass games on a PC can be dicey, I figured I should start figuring out how that actually all works.

[493] I actually ended up digging through my garage and finding a ton of old games and pulling them all out.

[494] I found my original Planetside CDs.

[495] I was going to say, I saw like half a stack in your house this morning.

[496] Wing Commander Prophecy.

[497] Oh, wow.

[498] Like all this, you know, it's like Max Payne 2 in the original box and all that stuff.

[499] That's on my shelf.

[500] Yeah.

[501] Like three different versions of Half -Life 1.

[502] That's like the DVD box, wasn't it?

[503] Yeah.

[504] It was like one of the first.

[505] It was among the first like DVD.

[506] Oh, like that form fashion.

[507] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[508] If I remember correctly, it was good packaging.

[509] All those PC games were in a box with all of my CD TV games.

[510] I don't know what that is.

[511] It's basically an Amiga turned into like a consolized Amiga that they released and immediately failed.

[512] Do you have a CD TV?

[513] I do, yeah.

[514] I don't know if any of that stuff still works, but the discs actually would work in a regular Amiga too.

[515] Do you have a regular Amiga?

[516] Yeah, I have a couple of them.

[517] A couple of A500s somewhere in there, broken in different ways.

[518] Is Dragon's Lair one of those games?

[519] I think they might have done in Dragon's Lair 4, but it's like, Asterix teaches you French.

[520] There was a lot of educational crap for it.

[521] You have three stooges for the Amiga.

[522] No, I don't.

[523] I had the Commodore 64 version.

[524] That was pretty good.

[525] I think that was the original one.

[526] I think they ported it up or something.

[527] And just was reminded about all these bad offline dictionaries and encyclopedias and stuff, like naval ships.

[528] Some of the entries are narrated, and they all make great sample fodder if you're making a bunch of dumb ambient music.

[529] So I'm thinking about hooking that thing up and just sampling.

[530] some announcer talking about the world's most powerful ships and all this stuff.

[531] Um, man, disc based encyclopedias.

[532] Yeah.

[533] About those.

[534] Yeah.

[535] And Carter and all that stuff.

[536] Yeah.

[537] Here's this tiny little quick time movie.

[538] Like, Oh my God, this is the future.

[539] Yeah.

[540] The thing that the thing about the CD TV that felt kind of futuristic at the time is there's this thing called CD remix that we did.

[541] You'd actually load the program and then remove the disc and put in a music CD and it will let you kind of sample parts of the CD and.

[542] play them in different orders and it had some drum samples in it that you could lay over it so that it was just like keeping in memory yeah yeah you could save what you had done to the files to stuff but you couldn't save out the file itself necessarily if i remember right but sense yeah it made me want to find all that cd tv stuff and try and hook it all up because it's all crazy like well here's lemmings and then here's like nine different weird like basketball colleges Education.

[543] Yeah, I don't know.

[544] That thing is crazy.

[545] Cut to the end of the story.

[546] Quake doesn't run on current Windows.

[547] Yeah.

[548] If you have the original DOS Quake 101, you can't.

[549] The files are compressed using a piece of software that does not run on 64 -bit Windows 7.

[550] Oh, so it's not even like the game.

[551] You can't install off that disk.

[552] I thought it was like you would install it and then it would just.

[553] No. Fart on you, and then that would be that.

[554] No, that's fine.

[555] I mean, Windows 7 doesn't have Trumpet Windsock anyway, so you can play it online.

[556] Yes, precisely.

[557] But I was mainly just trying to get the pack files after you install it because Quake 1 is now open source, so a lot of people have created updated versions of the Quake client.

[558] Source ports, I believe they're called?

[559] Yeah, so they're porting it around.

[560] There's EasyQuake and...

[561] There's a package called nQuake that you use to set up EasyQuake properly with higher res textures and that sort of stuff.

[562] All that means is that they're legally allowed to go in there and mess with the executables and stuff.

[563] But the game data is still commercial content, so they can't distribute it with the full version of Quake, which is why you need to have those pack files either out of a Steam purchase or off of the original CDs.

[564] So I had to install DOSBox to get it to install and all this stuff.

[565] hours of time already have gone into me getting just quake up and running and i did and i played some deathmatch and i was like all right cool i played some deathmatch like a super high resolution you played in software no no no i played with this easy quake oh right gl quake and radio software quake like those might as well not exist yeah i guess that's like a direct 3d thing yeah yeah uh so this is all you know how'd you find like a dude playing there are a bunch of people playing quake one yeah oh man i need to just like type in There are still master servers running, so you just hit multiplayer and it says, here's servers, let's go.

[566] Such as satan .idsoftware .com.

[567] I don't know if that's the master that everyone's using.

[568] There's a few different ones that are just like fan -run masters, but yes.

[569] Yes.

[570] That's the master of master servers.

[571] That's the master of master servers.

[572] Have a look.

[573] It's fast as fuck, dude.

[574] Holy crap.

[575] So you can't, like, is there, like, an option to lock down the frame rate or anything like that?

[576] You can, but, I mean, just, like, game speed.

[577] Just, like, even just the raw game speed of Quake is so much faster than any game that has come after it.

[578] God, I can't wait for Thursday.

[579] It is so insane.

[580] And just the rocket launcher is so messed up.

[581] Yeah, now you remember.

[582] Awesome.

[583] And, oh, goddamn.

[584] This is going to be awesome because we can run that, like, once we get.

[585] The executable thing sorted.

[586] We can run that on virtually any device here.

[587] We'll run it.

[588] Yes.

[589] TI -85.

[590] Yeah, and there's a Mac port of EasyQuake and all this stuff.

[591] There's a Linux port and all this stuff.

[592] If you had to boil it down kind of quickly to a few steps, anybody who's listening to this now wants to join us on Thursday, what should they do?

[593] They have a copy of Quake.

[594] They need a functional Quake install.

[595] Okay.

[596] which if you bought it off Steam, you have that already.

[597] Okay.

[598] You could still go download this endquake, which is what I downloaded.

[599] Okay.

[600] And set up from there, which will give you a different version of the client that has, you know, it's just graphically better.

[601] And, yeah, that's about it.

[602] Okay.

[603] The content files are just the two pack files, right?

[604] Yeah, it's still the same two pack files.

[605] It's just two pack files.

[606] Okay.

[607] So you'd recommend testing out...

[608] Just pack zero and pack one, not pack.

[609] Testing out your quake.

[610] Getting it up and running before 4 o 'clock on Thursday.

[611] Because we'll basically post a server IP and say go into the console and type connect and the IP and we'll go.

[612] It's the most exciting thing.

[613] And we'll go from there.

[614] It's not even going to be a master server sort of situation.

[615] Keep trying.

[616] We'll go kick players and stuff.

[617] Should we just maybe stick to the original maps since everybody will have them?

[618] Yeah, probably.

[619] I don't see any point in...

[620] I had originally thought about tracking down Rocket Arena 1 and installing that stuff and maybe playing that for a while.

[621] There's so many good DMs.

[622] I was just saying, I don't know that I could play Quake 1 without the grappling hook.

[623] Ah, no. You don't, no. Nope.

[624] What?

[625] We're not playing CTF.

[626] Yeah, this is not a capture.

[627] I mean, that is appropriate in Capture the Flag, but not in Deathmatch.

[628] All right, fair enough.

[629] DM3.

[630] We just run two hours of DM3.

[631] That's all we need.

[632] Just one game, even.

[633] Yeah, yeah.

[634] Frag limit of, like, 200.

[635] No frag limit.

[636] Just go.

[637] Okay.

[638] What's the player limit?

[639] As high as you want it to be, baby.

[640] Whatever.

[641] We could set it to 64.

[642] I mean, you know, on modern machines, it probably would still run fine, too.

[643] One plays it fast and loose.

[644] It would just be chaos.

[645] Yeah, they released larger versions.

[646] Like, they took, like...

[647] It actually has the maps up on their side, I think, where it's like base 32, which is a combination of three different...

[648] Yeah, I remember that.

[649] Yeah, of like three different single -player maps.

[650] I mean, you do run into problems on smaller maps where there are so many people, everybody is just telefragging everybody else as soon as they spawn, so nobody can actually play the game.

[651] I just want to see a mess of people in a closet.

[652] Your screen is just constantly exploding into gyps.

[653] We'll have to do that.

[654] Because, I mean, we'll be running the server out of this building, so we'll just at some point just set player limit to 64 and let more people join until it just turns into garbage.

[655] It's such an awesome day.

[656] And then set it back to 16 or something.

[657] So join us this Thursday.

[658] So can you literally just type in a number?

[659] Like for the player limit?

[660] Yep.

[661] Like 999?

[662] I don't know.

[663] I'm sure there must be some theoretical limit.

[664] So that ended up leading me to re -downloading and re -playing Nexius, which is a bad pronunciation for a game that has a U in its title.

[665] It's spelled like Nexu -ees.

[666] It is spelled like that.

[667] The title screen is pronounced Nexius.

[668] That's what they say it.

[669] They say it there.

[670] And that is actually a Quake 1.

[671] So, you know, as a result of this engine being open sourced.

[672] People have gone and made other engines.

[673] There's the Dark Places engine the guy makes, and this is based on the Dark Places engine.

[674] It's all new content, a whole new game, basically.

[675] And it seems like there are more people playing that than playing original Quake, but not that.

[676] How does it look?

[677] It looks good.

[678] What era are we talking about here?

[679] It looks more like Quake 2 or, in some spots, Quake 3.

[680] They added jump pads to the Quake 1 engine.

[681] So it basically...

[682] I mean...

[683] Tech -wise, it looks a lot better than Quake 1 ever did.

[684] But artistically, this kind of community -developed project, the models aren't all that great.

[685] Some of the sound effects are a little janky.

[686] People have done some ridiculous stuff with the source.

[687] Somebody added all the normal mapping and stencil buffer stuff from Doom 3 to Quake 1.

[688] It looks basically as good.

[689] So that stuff's really weird, and I ended up playing a bunch of that.

[690] Nexius is worth looking into.

[691] If for nothing else, the narrator during the tutorial section is magical.

[692] So if you shoot that guy, the tutorial just ends.

[693] I know.

[694] I shot him.

[695] I was like, oh, I hope there wasn't some other weapon I needed to know more about.

[696] Oh, well.

[697] Well, I didn't shoot him until the end when he says, you may have noticed that I've been here the entire time.

[698] Yeah, that's when I shot him.

[699] And I was like, oh, I hope he didn't say anything.

[700] I think then you just walked through and that was that.

[701] So anyway.

[702] So I played a bunch of that and then I started.

[703] like reading up on that.

[704] Cause what happened with that game is they like, I think it was last year sometime.

[705] They announced that they were bringing it to Xbox live arcade and PlayStation network.

[706] Uh, this company ill phonic, uh, who is, which is run by Raphael Sadiq, the singer.

[707] Really?

[708] I don't know.

[709] Yeah.

[710] Yeah.

[711] I don't know how the fuck that happened.

[712] I was about to, I was about to joke that Nas was involved in it, but then yeah, no, it's yeah.

[713] I don't know what they're, they, uh, are also developing ghetto golf.

[714] which I don't think ever came out coming out to cell phones.

[715] Right.

[716] Yeah, probably.

[717] Uh, so they ended up going to the, like the guy that made the dark places engine and they went to it and went to the, like the guy at the top of this open source free project and like struck a licensing deal basically to produce a version of Nexius for these platforms.

[718] Um, and basically the whole open source community.

[719] Lost their shits.

[720] The community for that game, it seems like to a man, they were all like, what the fuck are you talking about?

[721] That's the point.

[722] Open source, not for profit.

[723] It sounds like they wouldn't include any of the content that the community necessarily contributed.

[724] They're just going to the people that are running the project and then they'll go make their own maps or something.

[725] I don't know.

[726] A lot of that stuff seemed pretty unclear, but it seems like legally they were in a defensible position that they wouldn't have to go and open source their stuff GPL style.

[727] Yeah, I was going to say they'll just include the GPL documentation.

[728] Right.

[729] Everybody will be happy.

[730] But, you know, but they can't do that for a console game.

[731] So anyway, so it's like there was just this long trail of forum posts of like the dude from this ill phonic company, like one of the founders trying to placate these people who were just like fucking no, not having it, not having it.

[732] Like, change the name.

[733] Like, why would you name it this?

[734] Which is a really good question.

[735] Why would they name it this?

[736] Not like the name has any recognition.

[737] To make that stuff, like, one or two levels crazier, they announced back in July that they're switching to CryEngine 3.

[738] So at some point, none of the work from the original game carries over.

[739] Or maybe some of the map stuff does or something.

[740] They can find a way to make that work.

[741] Art assets that they were generating on their own anyway.

[742] But not even the engine.

[743] But not even the engine.

[744] Now it's just the name.

[745] Not even the community -driven maps or any of that content.

[746] Yeah, exactly.

[747] There's tons of maps.

[748] People remade Deck 16, like the Unreal Tournament map for this game.

[749] There's all kinds of cool maps.

[750] That's the coolest part about it.

[751] I think that's why I enjoyed it more than playing Quake 1.

[752] It was just like, here's all these wild new maps and all these crazy -ass weapons, and let's go.

[753] It was a lot of fun.

[754] But it seems like they'll get none of that by making a console game.

[755] They're just going to make some downloadable first -person shooter, and you'll be like, oh, I guess this is fun for this kind of game on this console, but people don't want to play Arena Deathmatch on a console controller.

[756] So the whole thing seems a little ill -conceived at this point.

[757] So, like, because it's all GPL and all that stuff, like, all the people that were outraged by this move that were, you know, the people contributing to it forked the source code, came up with their own game name, and are now working on their own separate thing.

[758] Awesome.

[759] I love it.

[760] I then downloaded and compiled all that.

[761] And a lot of it's the same stuff, but they're slowly changing it all out and doing all this stuff.

[762] Internet drama.

[763] Internet -ass drama.

[764] It's just a case of money being inserted into a situation and breaking everything.

[765] You want drama.

[766] I do.

[767] Internet drama.

[768] Tell me. Did you hear what happened in Korea?

[769] No. Actually, I don't know exactly where this physically took place, and I'm probably going to screw some of this up.

[770] So there's the whole issue with Blizzard and Kespa, the Korean eSports League.

[771] And they never came to terms.

[772] So did we talk about the huge GOM TV StarCraft tournaments last week?

[773] No. Dude, that stuff is crazy on its own.

[774] So this other kind of broadcast network in Korea, GOM TV, like Blizzard is gone with these guys because Caspa basically refuses to play ball.

[775] Right.

[776] So Blizzard has hooked up.

[777] This all came down to like licensing issues and like paying.

[778] Yeah, because Kespa made a shit ton of money off of Brood War and basically didn't funnel any of that to Blizzard.

[779] And they obviously didn't like that too much.

[780] So they tried to negotiate.

[781] Nothing worked out.

[782] Blah, blah, blah.

[783] So GOMTV is running these tournaments with $85 ,000 grand prizes on a monthly basis.

[784] Wow.

[785] That's a little bit of money.

[786] Now, that figure's in place because they're trying to pull people out of Brood War, right?

[787] Like, they're trying to pull...

[788] That's probably the case, yeah.

[789] Get people into their stuff.

[790] But at the same time, it's open internationally.

[791] It's not just in Korea.

[792] You have to be in Korea to play in it, but you can be from anywhere.

[793] That's Blizzard's money?

[794] I don't know where...

[795] You know, I'm sure there are sponsors involved.

[796] Is that USD's?

[797] Yes.

[798] Okay.

[799] I'm sure there are sponsors involved.

[800] You know, I don't know where the...

[801] Not Zenny?

[802] How they're getting the prize package together.

[803] Don't ask where they're getting the money.

[804] But this is like an ongoing thing.

[805] It's like...

[806] Starting next month, I think.

[807] I don't have enough of a sense of what the average esports competitor pulls down in a major competition, so I don't know how impressed I should be by $85 ,000.

[808] $85 ,000 clearly sounds like a lot, especially on a monthly basis.

[809] I think the grand prize at the IEM last weekend was like $5 ,000.

[810] Okay.

[811] Second place was like $2 ,500.

[812] Is that a big competition?

[813] It was pretty big, yeah.

[814] That was an Intel -sponsored competition.

[815] Okay.

[816] This was actually in Cologne at Gamescom.

[817] Oh.

[818] Do you know if this would be like one person winning $85 ,000 or like a team of like 15 people?

[819] First prize dude is $85 ,000.

[820] Second prize is like $25 ,000.

[821] Okay.

[822] It's serious money.

[823] Significant prize bundle per month.

[824] Crazy money, yeah.

[825] And you could win it consecutively every month if you're good?

[826] Probably, I guess.

[827] Was there scandal?

[828] Of course there were.

[829] I want to make sure that that wasn't the part that we were supposed to be blown away by or if there's another good.

[830] Walking home with $85 ,000, somebody's trying to game that system.

[831] I don't think he's given to you in a big satchel with a dollar sign on it.

[832] I don't think that's how they give out prize money.

[833] No, it's not because it's Korea, so it's a K with a line through it, not an S. It's gold bars.

[834] Yeah, they don't give you Kruger hands.

[835] Here's a bag of jewels.

[836] Now go home.

[837] Bullion.

[838] Oh, yeah, we hold all of our competitions down these dark alleyways with bad lighting.

[839] It's $85 ,000 in Vespine gas.

[840] A jewel -encrusted knife.

[841] See?

[842] It's worth $85 ,000, but you might need to use it to get out of this alley.

[843] Oh, it's worth every penny, believe me. And we hit it in North Korea.

[844] Good luck.

[845] Yeah.

[846] Sorry.

[847] I don't know enough of the details to do this justice, so I'm probably going to screw something up.

[848] But anyway.

[849] You already said that.

[850] So the little one.

[851] He screwed it up.

[852] The little one, which is one of the biggest European players.

[853] Yes, we've talked about him.

[854] Yeah, he is awesome.

[855] He is one of the best players going right now.

[856] He's European.

[857] I didn't know that.

[858] He is German?

[859] Okay.

[860] Or Ukrainian?

[861] Same thing.

[862] I think he's from Germany.

[863] Anyway, he was playing a Korean pro player, and there was some, like Kespa basically laid down the law and was just like, I can't remember what the penalty was, but they were like, this match cannot be shown in Korea, bar none.

[864] Like, don't fucking let people in Korea watch this match.

[865] And, like, somebody streamed it from a stream or something in Korea, and, like, they called him up, and they were like, get your ass out of that game right now.

[866] And he actually GG'd out of the middle of the third match in this tournament.

[867] Because, like...

[868] This was the IEMs?

[869] I don't know if it was that or if it was, like, a show match.

[870] I think it might have been just, like, an exhibition kind of thing.

[871] Where were they playing?

[872] Like, where was it hosting?

[873] I don't even know if he was physically in Korea at the time he was playing this match, but the video was being shown in Korea, and they saw it, and they called him up, and they were like, stop right now.

[874] Like, that is the level of control they're apparently exercising over there, over these players.

[875] He wasn't allowed to beat their top player?

[876] No, he wasn't allowed to be, like...

[877] Like he was being paid by Kespa so he couldn't...

[878] I believe that it's a sponsorship deal.

[879] They said you can't do it.

[880] Again, I might have some of the specific details mixed up.

[881] Oh, maybe I'm confusing who called him up and said stop doing it.

[882] I believe it was Kespa, the Korean League, I think.

[883] But I thought they were no longer allowed to use StarCraft.

[884] It's an insanely tangled web, but they do license these players.

[885] Players are part of their league.

[886] Right, right, but I thought...

[887] I thought their deal with Blizzard was terminated, so are they even still effectively able to...

[888] I don't think they ever had a deal.

[889] I think that's what's at issue here.

[890] Oh, okay.

[891] They do have contracts with these players.

[892] Right, no, I get that part.

[893] You think you could take them?

[894] Hell no. Why not?

[895] Come on, man. Let's sponsor you.

[896] It's 85 grand we're talking about.

[897] I didn't make it into Diamond League.

[898] I am in Diamond.

[899] Dude, not even close.

[900] Not even fucking close.

[901] Seriously.

[902] Go watch some of these pro matches that I keep telling you about on daily basis.

[903] So were those guys at the top of the ladder?

[904] A lot of them don't even play the ladder.

[905] They're so good that they don't even bother.

[906] They just play each other.

[907] Weird.

[908] They don't have Battle .net profiles?

[909] I guess probably the biggest recognizable player who's on the ladder is Hydra, who is also a gigantic cock.

[910] Wow.

[911] How does he play?

[912] So he plays Zerg, and all of his replays online end with him.

[913] Every time he loses, he curses the other player out and then just quits.

[914] I'm just imagining a giant penis sitting in a chair with headphones on.

[915] Oh, yeah.

[916] That's Hydra, the giant cock.

[917] He just displays very poor sportsmanship in his tournament matches.

[918] He's not here to make friends.

[919] Obviously.

[920] But I guess he's not here to win either because he lost this weekend.

[921] Why do you think this isn't catching on in the States?

[922] It is catching on.

[923] Oh, so let's get going.

[924] You were underestimating the popularity.

[925] I got like $10.

[926] I want to sponsor you.

[927] Oh, man. Let's go.

[928] Come on, Brad.

[929] I mean, I will never be that good.

[930] I'll never be in that galaxy of skill.

[931] We don't have to be that level.

[932] There's got to be lower tiers, right?

[933] Not with any amount of significant prizes at stake.

[934] Just get good enough that we can just hustle people.

[935] Be like, oh, man, I guess I suck.

[936] How about one more?

[937] One more just to get my money back.

[938] Those guys weren't always at the top tier.

[939] Yeah, but that's all they do.

[940] The little one has been playing RTS games for like a year.

[941] Yeah.

[942] It's crazy.

[943] He started out on, I think, Subcom 2.

[944] Do you know how old he is?

[945] Probably in his 20s or something.

[946] It might have been a little bit longer than a year, but he has not been playing RTS games his whole life.

[947] It's crazy.

[948] These people have innate ability that allows them to rise above.

[949] It's crazy.

[950] It's insane.

[951] It is.

[952] Like, that's the basis of StarCraft II design is making you do, like, five really complicated things at one time.

[953] Most people inherently cannot do that and will never be able to.

[954] So, like, these people, it's just like, you know, naturally talented athletes, right?

[955] Like, they are genetically predisposed toward, like, being more athletic or whatever.

[956] These people are the same way.

[957] Like, it's a level of decision -making and, like, fast response that most people just can't handle.

[958] That's what makes it exciting to watch because you can't do it yourself.

[959] I feel like we're on smart drugs.

[960] I feel like we are half a step away from talking about Nazism now.

[961] I don't know why.

[962] I feel like we are, like, just, like, a razor's edge away from just, like, natural superiority of the white race.

[963] Start breeding better Zerg players.

[964] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[965] This is going into an uncomfortable place now.

[966] This is how Khan got started.

[967] So were you actually involved in any?

[968] How was your Starcraft 2 play this weekend?

[969] I didn't get to play much.

[970] No. Oh, I'm not happy about that.

[971] You had family in town, right?

[972] Family in town, playing some other games that I had to play.

[973] You really don't want to talk about Mafia 2.

[974] We could talk about Mafia 2.

[975] I'd just rather talk about Starcraft.

[976] I know.

[977] But you didn't play, so we don't really have anything to do.

[978] I did play a little bit.

[979] I think we had our Starcraft 2 minute.

[980] I didn't play enough.

[981] So I've played three matches in the Diamond League.

[982] Only one of them was against a Diamond player.

[983] Did you lose that one?

[984] I did.

[985] I think.

[986] Yeah, I think I lost that one.

[987] What's higher than Diamond League?

[988] Nothing at the moment.

[989] You're in it.

[990] What is higher than Diamond?

[991] Tell me, Vinny.

[992] Tell me now!

[993] It's crazy how fast those leagues move, though, because I placed into my division at 6th place, and the next afternoon I signed back on, and I was like 47th.

[994] There's a lot of movement at those upper divisions, especially when they create new divisions, which I think would happen for me. So you're not like 47th player in the States or something?

[995] No, no, no, no. I mean, there are hundreds or maybe thousands of divisions per league because you can only have up to 100 players per division or it would just get unmanageable.

[996] Is there any way to see your stance?

[997] It just doesn't make sense because I want to see a list that says here is the world's best Starcraft 2 player.

[998] I believe it's sc2stats .com is the site.

[999] They're scraping and aggregating data.

[1000] It's just weird that Blizzard doesn't have that because they call it a ladder.

[1001] It's a little strange.

[1002] That stuff is probably on the way if I had to guess.

[1003] But you're having to make a few assumptions about some of that data since not every player is playing every other player since there are these subdivisions and stuff, right?

[1004] But this, I mean, you know, you could do ELO rankings or something like that.

[1005] There are ways to at least, I mean, he might not be the best in the world.

[1006] It's just like right now, you know, according to this set of rules we've set up, this guy's the best.

[1007] Like they should at least be able to give you that.

[1008] I think last I checked, Hydra was number six on the U .S. realm.

[1009] It's in the U .S. Battle .net or whatever.

[1010] Pro Starcraft is exciting.

[1011] You should watch it.

[1012] Pro Mafia 2, however.

[1013] I don't think there's a lot of room on the competitive Mafia 2 circuit.

[1014] Yeah, you filled it up already?

[1015] Yeah, it's pretty much a division of one.

[1016] So I've played that game a couple of times in preview form.

[1017] As have I. Yeah, I played it at GDC, played it right before E3, and both times it left me about as underwhelmed.

[1018] as I could possibly be about a game that looked otherwise competent.

[1019] Why was that?

[1020] It seemed aggressively generic, where it was just like, you know, check out this third -person shooter.

[1021] The open world game we made.

[1022] There is a lot of third -person shooting.

[1023] There is an open world.

[1024] The driving didn't seem great.

[1025] Even just the setting is just like, here is, by the numbers, a mafia sort of setting.

[1026] It's a 1950s facsimile of New York City, basically.

[1027] Or like the New York City as represented by every mobster movie and media you've ever seen.

[1028] Yeah, more or less.

[1029] Actually, it's kind of the weird thing about Empire Bay to me is how rural it seems.

[1030] Like we shot a quick look of it and you see a lot of just like mountains with a bunch of trees on them and shit.

[1031] There's a decent amount of outlying country, yeah.

[1032] Are you like going into the greater New York area?

[1033] No. Or greater, would you say Empire City?

[1034] Empire Bay.

[1035] The landmass is not exactly, it's not like GTA 4 where it's like, you know, here are the boroughs, you know, with different names.

[1036] It's not like directly analogous to that stuff, but it's clearly, you know, that's what it's inspired by.

[1037] Benny, as an Italian -American, are you joining the...

[1038] the fervor over this game as being completely racist.

[1039] I haven't seen the game yet.

[1040] So yes.

[1041] Okay.

[1042] There are a lot of, I have neither played it nor had a lot of hands on time.

[1043] So going by previous demonstrations, then I guess I have, there are certainly a lot of ethnic stereotypes and racial epithets in the game, but I'm sure they're just based off of.

[1044] perception of media.

[1045] Based off of what Marty Scorsese told them.

[1046] At this point there is no real Italian -American anymore.

[1047] There's like a simulacra.

[1048] All that stuff is appropriate to the period setting and the subject matter.

[1049] Or at least the media portrayal.

[1050] Until the situation showed up and then that was kind of weird.

[1051] I thought that seemed a little anachronistic.

[1052] The situation?

[1053] The situation.

[1054] That guy from Jersey Shore.

[1055] Oh man. Out of my pop culture references.

[1056] Yeah.

[1057] You don't get like the Italian -American newsletter or something that lets you guys know what's going on?

[1058] Here's what to hate this month.

[1059] You're not a member of Unico.

[1060] Nope.

[1061] So that was my perception of the game kind of before it came out is looking at it just going like, wow, this is...

[1062] Looks fine, I guess, but I am less than interested in it.

[1063] Yeah, there's nothing aggressively bad about it.

[1064] So you would say that's how the final game is then?

[1065] Pretty much, yeah.

[1066] I mean, it's a whole lot of driving through an open world.

[1067] It's a pretty significant amount of third -person shooting.

[1068] That's about it.

[1069] Like a lot of cut scenes, there's very little variety in the mission objectives.

[1070] Pretty much always culminates in you taking cover and shooting at guys with Tommy guns.

[1071] Okay.

[1072] How are the boobs?

[1073] The boobs are pretty good.

[1074] The boobs are pretty good.

[1075] Brian and I, we looked at these.

[1076] These are like 50s boobs.

[1077] They're like 60s, 60s boobs.

[1078] Pretty much all the, I did some fact checking.

[1079] Yeah?

[1080] All the centerfolds are pretty much from the 60s.

[1081] Okay.

[1082] Which is weird because the game never goes beyond, I think, about 1951.

[1083] At which time, Playboy did not exist until, or the first issue was in 53, so.

[1084] Centerfolds are, but they look appropriate to the era.

[1085] Sure, sure.

[1086] There's a lot of weird shit of the music in that game being released like five to ten years after.

[1087] Yeah.

[1088] It's super anachronistic in some really kind of oddball ways.

[1089] Frankly, there's a lot of interior design, like characters' apartments and stuff, that look way more sort of like mid -late 60s, like go -go.

[1090] kind of stuff.

[1091] You know what I'm talking about?

[1092] Lots of real weird colors.

[1093] You know, Italian -Americans on the bleeding ass.

[1094] Fashion forward, right?

[1095] Big collars.

[1096] Yep.

[1097] Leading the...

[1098] With their gun lamps.

[1099] I don't know.

[1100] Fur collars.

[1101] Generally, though, I mean, I think the visual design is one of the bigger strengths of the game.

[1102] Yeah.

[1103] Like, the city looks really good.

[1104] I mean, the music may be a little anachronistic, but it sounds appropriate.

[1105] Yeah, no. Well, I mean, it's even like it's...

[1106] It's mostly just kind of like some of the early rock and roll stuff that they have.

[1107] 51 is a little early for some of that stuff.

[1108] You're definitely right.

[1109] To your 2010 perceptions, that's ballpark.

[1110] But if you actually look at it, it's like you don't get too close to it.

[1111] The period stuff feels fine.

[1112] You swing at it and you're like, oh, okay, yeah, that works.

[1113] I mean, the biggest issue for me is that it just doesn't feel like a modern open world game.

[1114] Well, let's be honest.

[1115] There has to be stuff for it to count as open world.

[1116] Yeah, well, I mean, the letter of the law says if it is a big kind of circular area and you can more or less go anywhere you want at any time and there are a bunch of, like, AI -controlled, like, bystanders hanging around and you can jack cars, then it's an open world game.

[1117] They just didn't bother to put anything, like, literally anything for you to do.

[1118] There's very, very little to do.

[1119] So sandbox, no sand?

[1120] Something like that.

[1121] Sandbox, no shovel and pail, let's say.

[1122] I don't know the sand, but...

[1123] I don't know what I'm going to do with the sand.

[1124] So, I mean, it's very similar, I guess, to the first Mafia in that the story is 100 % linear.

[1125] Right.

[1126] It's not, it doesn't have like the GTA trick of offering you two to three story characters with missions at any given time.

[1127] Right, right.

[1128] Generally, like you need to do like, let's say, you know, in GTA, you need to do a set of missions for a set of characters before you open up more.

[1129] Right.

[1130] Like this one, there is one mission at any given time that you can do.

[1131] Okay.

[1132] So it's just straight up.

[1133] get your way through the campaign.

[1134] It is a linear, completely linear storyline.

[1135] And since there's so little to do off to the side of that path, it really makes you wonder why is there an open world here?

[1136] Because all you're doing is driving from one mission to the next.

[1137] It's weird.

[1138] It is.

[1139] It's weird.

[1140] And the linear storytelling stuff, I mean, that's not inherently bad, but what I saw of it, like, it's crazy.

[1141] It's crazy, Jeff.

[1142] It's crazy how directly it seems like they're lifting stuff from mobster movies.

[1143] There are a lot of, if you've seen Goodfellas more than twice, like you're just every 30 minutes, you're going to be like, huh, okay.

[1144] Maybe that's just a factor of them developing it out of the Czech Republic.

[1145] They're just like, this is, they think that it's their perception.

[1146] It hasn't been beaten into the ground.

[1147] Yeah.

[1148] Well, I think it's just that story is a lot more entertaining than probably the reality of the situation where it was like, you know, what do you want?

[1149] Do you want Al Capone, like syphilitic Al Capone, and getting caught on taxidermy?

[1150] Yes, I do.

[1151] That's just not very fun.

[1152] I'm not saying it needs to be real.

[1153] I'm just saying that just biting all these movies and biting all this really specific stuff, instead of just like...

[1154] It's one thing to go for tone.

[1155] I get that, but to actually...

[1156] It needs to be a variation on the theme, not just a light repackaging of the theme.

[1157] Does anybody get hit in the head with a baseball bat?

[1158] Yes.

[1159] Okay.

[1160] I saw someone today get in bed with a baseball bat.

[1161] In a cut scene?

[1162] Yeah.

[1163] Okay.

[1164] A cut scene during a mission.

[1165] I mean, it's really specific stuff.

[1166] Does anybody get ice picked?

[1167] No. Other fur coats.

[1168] Let's just say that there is a mission that revolves around cigarettes being sold off the back of a truck.

[1169] Yeah, like a factory.

[1170] Yeah.

[1171] Wait, really?

[1172] Yeah, no. This criminal enterprise that they went in on somehow turned bad.

[1173] There's a mission where you're out for a night on the town, and then all of a sudden the guy who's riding with you is like, oh, by the way, there's a dead body in the trunk.

[1174] We've got to go bury it.

[1175] I could go on.

[1176] Does every mission go bad at some point?

[1177] Does every mission start with, hey, this will be an easy one?

[1178] Just kind of join me on this.

[1179] Isn't that kind of the case for any GTA thing of like, we're just going to go do this?

[1180] That's not how this is going to play out at all.

[1181] I know that's what you think.

[1182] And we're going to go shake down this guy.

[1183] I just need some backup.

[1184] All right, fine.

[1185] Should I bring my gun even?

[1186] Don't worry about it.

[1187] All right, fine.

[1188] Let's go talk to him.

[1189] Oh, no. Naked lady.

[1190] Look out.

[1191] So Mafia 2, in stores now.

[1192] Yeah.

[1193] It's an okay game.

[1194] It's not bad.

[1195] Is anybody named Vinny?

[1196] I actually don't think there is a Vinny.

[1197] What?

[1198] What's the name of that?

[1199] Now you're angry.

[1200] Who should I sign up with?

[1201] There's a Vinci.

[1202] What?

[1203] Really?

[1204] Frank Vinci.

[1205] Like da?

[1206] Well, yeah.

[1207] Making fun of Italians.

[1208] Da Vinci.

[1209] Should have called him.

[1210] Has anybody called two times?

[1211] No, there's a, let's see.

[1212] Well, the main character is Vito.

[1213] So, boom.

[1214] All right, period.

[1215] Godfather.

[1216] Period piece.

[1217] Yeah.

[1218] There's a guy named Beans who's an accountant.

[1219] Get it?

[1220] Okay, counting the beans.

[1221] That's not bad, beans.

[1222] Got it.

[1223] Bean counter.

[1224] I'm trying to think of some...

[1225] Yeah, I'm trying to think of some mafia -esque names.

[1226] There's no Jimmy No -Nos or like...

[1227] Bobo the Whale.

[1228] That was more of the 60s.

[1229] Yeah, they weren't that clever back then.

[1230] Back when drugs got on them.

[1231] Yeah.

[1232] There is...

[1233] Yeah, I mean, speaking of Goodfellas, there's the...

[1234] There's the schism in the mafia world.

[1235] We don't mess with the drugs.

[1236] Those who want to deal dope and those who don't want anything to do with it.

[1237] Is it heroin?

[1238] Because it gets the feds involved and then everybody's effed.

[1239] Smack?

[1240] Is it heroin?

[1241] Yes.

[1242] Heroin is the substance of choice in this game.

[1243] As in most movies.

[1244] As in the real world.

[1245] I agreed.

[1246] Shoot a bunch of smack.

[1247] Go play some Mafia 2.

[1248] The substance of choice.

[1249] It worked for Snoop Dogg.

[1250] This game is cracking, he said.

[1251] I mean, there's some genuinely exciting moments later on.

[1252] There's one actually kind of revolting scene that, like, really sort of put me on edge a little bit.

[1253] Is there, like, the token Irish guy who...

[1254] Oh, yeah, there is a...

[1255] Yes.

[1256] Is he a cop?

[1257] No, there's a whole, like, Irish gang that you come up against several times.

[1258] And they are referred to as Crazy Mix repeatedly, of course.

[1259] What?

[1260] Are they drinking at the time?

[1261] I'm boycotting this gang.

[1262] There are Molotov cocktails thrown.

[1263] He had a potato in his pocket.

[1264] It was in his mouth.

[1265] Well, yeah.

[1266] All right.

[1267] I don't want to talk about Mafia 2 anyway.

[1268] Anything else, Bradley, that you want to talk about for games?

[1269] Let's talk about StarCraft 2.

[1270] Vinny, do you have anything else that you want to say about StarCraft 2?

[1271] Because you've been playing StarCraft.

[1272] Jeff, have you played any more StarCraft 2?

[1273] No. Finish it, Vinny.

[1274] Or stop effing with the campaign and just go online like you clearly want to.

[1275] I know, I can tell.

[1276] I just can't.

[1277] Every time I think about doing that, it seems like such a huge dedication of time that I'm just like, I can't do it.

[1278] Do it and see if you like it, and if you don't, then cool.

[1279] But at least you tried it.

[1280] I guess my big revelation this weekend is that I didn't realize you could actually play custom 1v1 games.

[1281] Not on weird side -scrolling shooter maps or whatever, but just straight up Blizzard maps.

[1282] 1v1, standard rules, no ranking.

[1283] Right.

[1284] So go do a bunch of that.

[1285] Yeah.

[1286] Like, you know, practice build orders, like see what works, see if it's fun.

[1287] I don't want to.

[1288] Then play ranked.

[1289] You do want to.

[1290] We should just play.

[1291] You should play me. Yeah, you guys should play.

[1292] No, I just don't want to.

[1293] Do you actually, you just genuinely don't want to play the multiplayer?

[1294] It just doesn't interest me that much.

[1295] Without the narrative in there, I don't want to build stuff.

[1296] I want to build and then beat a level and then move on and have an end in sight.

[1297] You want to turtle for 20 minutes?

[1298] Yeah.

[1299] That's why the last mission is just build.

[1300] I will say there are players playing custom games who are at a level of skill that will allow you to do that.

[1301] Yeah, but eventually if I want to move forward, I'm going to have to memorize build orders.

[1302] Click time.

[1303] I don't know why people would get all bent out of shape about memorizing build orders because you're not really memorizing them.

[1304] If you learn the workings of the game well enough, you just know what to build when.

[1305] An interesting semantic argument.

[1306] No, but it's not like you're memorizing, all right, I'm going to go nine pile on 12 gate or whatever.

[1307] It's like, I know I want Stalker sooner, so I'm going to get my gas sooner.

[1308] Well, eventually, wouldn't you just have a list that you just kind of run down and it's almost like automatic?

[1309] See, that's the semantic distinction that I don't understand.

[1310] Like, what is the difference there?

[1311] I don't know.

[1312] What are you asking?

[1313] Have you remembered it?

[1314] Have you memorized it?

[1315] I mean, you know, I know that, I know that stalkers need a cybernetics core and Vespian gas.

[1316] So like, I'm going to build a core and an assimilator faster.

[1317] Like I don't.

[1318] Well, see, it's like for me, it's not that it's, it's, it's basically the race to do that.

[1319] It's like going against another human.

[1320] I know that at some point there's going to be, I I've made a mistake in my build and that person probably hasn't.

[1321] and that he's going to come charge me and it's going to be game over.

[1322] I can't recover from it.

[1323] And then playing against the CPU, it's like you can kind of...

[1324] I'm really bad at recovering from stuff.

[1325] If there's one good attack that's jacked up my base, I'm like, uh, I don't...

[1326] I have no guys.

[1327] The first encounter very often determines the flow of the rest of the game.

[1328] That's why a lot of people will GG out as soon as they lose their army because they know they're fucked.

[1329] It's not like I could reload a previous save on auto save or something and go back.

[1330] Well, I probably shouldn't have built 18 ,000 fire bats.

[1331] And now this guy's attacking.

[1332] Maybe they just need a good middle ground for people like super beginners that just starts you out with like three buildings already.

[1333] Gas already going.

[1334] It's like here's five minutes in.

[1335] Ideal scenario.

[1336] Now you can go.

[1337] Of course, then those people would never learn how to actually do it themselves and not be able to adjust on that stuff.

[1338] I think that's what.

[1339] keeps me away from the multiplayer is I kind of see what the end game is like if I want to get if I really want to get good I see I can see where that leads to and like that just doesn't interest me really like I really did enjoy the single player a lot I mean for me there is no end game because I don't know how good I can get Like I said, that skill ceiling is so high.

[1340] Those people are so much better than me. I don't know where my skills will top out.

[1341] You watch those $85 ,000 matches and you see what they have to do to win.

[1342] Well, they haven't started those yet.

[1343] But yeah, I watch pro matches all the time.

[1344] So you see what that is.

[1345] And when I watch that, I'm like, I don't want to be in there.

[1346] I know I'll never attain that, but I don't know how close I will get.

[1347] And that's exciting to keep improving and having fun with it.

[1348] The single player is cool because they introduce new stuff every mission.

[1349] It's like you get all these new units and you get this tech tree and you get kind of power -ups and stuff like that.

[1350] They did a really good job making each mission be like, all right, here's a new unit.

[1351] Try this out.

[1352] Here's a new thing.

[1353] Try this out.

[1354] But in the multiplayer, it's literally just like, all right, go get them.

[1355] I don't want to get you.

[1356] Limited roster is necessary for balance reasons.

[1357] I would play that game co -op.

[1358] I'd play multiplayer co -op against AI.

[1359] Do some co -op stomps.

[1360] Take that shit to Mafia, too, man. Hey, Ryan Davis.

[1361] Hey, what's going on?

[1362] I was kind of spaced out during some of these StarCraft II sections.

[1363] So we can keep talking.

[1364] Do you know anything about LaserDiscs?

[1365] Yes, I do.

[1366] I do now.

[1367] Why?

[1368] Because I didn't play a lot of games this weekend.

[1369] I had family in town most of the weekend.

[1370] My brother and grandparents in the house.

[1371] But then they all took off on Sunday.

[1372] In the house?

[1373] Both.

[1374] They were raising the roof and doing the cabbage patch.

[1375] They were also staying in my house.

[1376] So my carpet's all messed up now from all the hip -hop dancing that happens.

[1377] That's why you put down the breakdancing.

[1378] That's why you have the cardboard.

[1379] I screwed up.

[1380] Although my linoleum is now shiny.

[1381] Live and learn.

[1382] From all of the backspins.

[1383] I don't think my grandma ever could have done a backspin.

[1384] Anyways, I had last weekend...

[1385] I've had this idea for a while now because I've got all of these old game systems.

[1386] You know, my NES, my CDX, my whatever else.

[1387] What have you.

[1388] And so on and so forth.

[1389] My Intellivision.

[1390] And I'm like, I don't...

[1391] Don't hook up your Intellivision.

[1392] I'm going to hook up my Intellivision.

[1393] I know.

[1394] But that's not really the point.

[1395] Anyways, you know...

[1396] Like, I've got my home theater set up as it is with my modern LCD TV and my PS3 and my Wii and my 360 and, you know, all that stuff.

[1397] Everything's hooked up through HDMI, so it's super digital, super clean.

[1398] Oh, I can't wait.

[1399] 15 years from now to hear this podcast played back.

[1400] And it's a terrible way to play.

[1401] Got my high five.

[1402] I find it's a terrible way to play older games.

[1403] Sure, they don't look right.

[1404] Yeah, they don't look.

[1405] They're too sharp.

[1406] They're too clean.

[1407] The same reason why people don't put LCDs into arcade machines.

[1408] Like why you kind of want some of that.

[1409] Jank.

[1410] Yeah, a little bit of the fuzz.

[1411] The CRT of Ford.

[1412] So I've been playing with the idea of building up like a retro gaming kind of.

[1413] set up in one of the other rooms in the house.

[1414] I always have getting an old wood panel TV and stuff like that.

[1415] So last weekend, I ended up going and buying an old Harman Kardon receiver, which also came with a tape deck.

[1416] Sweet, dedicated tape player.

[1417] And I'm like, awesome.

[1418] But then the tape player, I put a tape in and it just seized up immediately.

[1419] And I was like, ah, what's going on?

[1420] Managed to get it working again, which I was very stoked about.

[1421] That was Sunday morning, and then I thought, you know, I've been looking on Craigslist for stuff for a while.

[1422] I should just go pull the trigger on some of this stuff.

[1423] So there was a listing for a TV and a VCR, a Zenith TV and a Panasonic VCR, both like circa 83.

[1424] I had to drive like 40 minutes to go get them from a deaf family.

[1425] What?

[1426] A deaf family.

[1427] Oh.

[1428] Family of deafs.

[1429] Russell Simmons?

[1430] No, D -E -A -F.

[1431] Oh.

[1432] They couldn't hear.

[1433] which at first I was like, wait, what's going on?

[1434] I'm like, oh, wait, okay.

[1435] But she started signing out her husband.

[1436] Like, that's awesome.

[1437] And all the stuff was in really good shape.

[1438] Anyways, I ended up spending $125 on a Laserdisc player and 67 Laserdiscs.

[1439] Same family?

[1440] No, no, no. A different listing that I found on Craig's.

[1441] Yeah, I did some Craig's listing this weekend.

[1442] So now I have this six set up in my other living room.

[1443] You've got a lot of Laserdiscs?

[1444] I have a lot of Laserdiscs.

[1445] About a quarter of them I would actually want to watch.

[1446] There's a lot of just, like, really older stuff.

[1447] But some of it's, you know, some of it's good.

[1448] Insane.

[1449] It's awesome.

[1450] Laserdiscs are awesome.

[1451] They're crazy.

[1452] It's such a crazy format because they're so damn huge.

[1453] Like, you might as well just get an 8 -track player at this point.

[1454] I know.

[1455] Real -to -real.

[1456] Yeah.

[1457] That's where this goes.

[1458] This goes to real -to -real tape players.

[1459] Did they sell commercial real -to -real recordings?

[1460] Yes.

[1461] Yes, they did.

[1462] They were the small reels, weren't they?

[1463] They weren't the big, giant.

[1464] Yeah, they were like the small reels.

[1465] Yeah, they were like the little ones.

[1466] You put them in the little thing.

[1467] A few inches or whatever.

[1468] Yeah, and the player's like, I don't know, a foot wide or something.

[1469] I don't know.

[1470] It's like the things you find smaller than the ones you find in the time shift.

[1471] What was the?

[1472] Singularity.

[1473] Singularity, yeah.

[1474] That one with the time.

[1475] Remember those things?

[1476] Yes.

[1477] Smaller than that.

[1478] But the reels were a little small.

[1479] That's right.

[1480] That's right.

[1481] No, I think I've reached my...

[1482] So anyways, yes.

[1483] In pursuit of creating this sort of old school living room setup, I ended up going and spending $125 on Laserdiscs.

[1484] Crocodile Dundee.

[1485] I think you can make that room smell like the 80s.

[1486] It's getting there.

[1487] All those old electronics.

[1488] You turn everything on and it heats up some.

[1489] Dustin.

[1490] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1491] The thing that's blowing me away is I think I just lucked out, and so far everything that I've bought belonged to someone's grandparents, so it was already super well taken care of and never used.

[1492] Right.

[1493] Because all of it's crazy clean and works surprisingly well.

[1494] Picture clarity is more than I could have hoped for on the TV and the VCR.

[1495] My copy of Cannonball Run 2 looks amazing on that.

[1496] Does it come with like a Murder, She Wrote test pattern, kind of the calibration thing?

[1497] Does Murder, She Wrote look okay?

[1498] No, that's my test tape.

[1499] That's my reference tape is Cannibal Run 2.

[1500] I like to test all my VCRs with that, so just make sure that everything's tracking is good.

[1501] Right, period, accurate.

[1502] Yes, exactly.

[1503] So I have yet to hook up any of the game systems, but this is the first start.

[1504] The TV is so fucking awesome and wood -paneled.

[1505] Is that a remote?

[1506] It does.

[1507] Is it a clicker?

[1508] And there is also a remote for the VCR, and it's wired.

[1509] How big is the TV?

[1510] 19 inch.

[1511] Bigger.

[1512] When that tube blows up, you should yank it out of there and mount an LCD screen in it.

[1513] Just to keep the wood paneled look, but then just have this LCD in it.

[1514] Super flat.

[1515] It would be weird because of the rounded aperture of the tube.

[1516] But it's, yeah, that stuff looks surprisingly good.

[1517] Anyways, that was my fun thing this weekend was running all over Hell and Gone to people's houses and buying things from them.

[1518] You're at your mind.

[1519] But I'm pretty much done.

[1520] I'm pretty much done.

[1521] I think you should get an 8 -track player.

[1522] And then we should listen to Footloose on it.

[1523] I was looking at stuff and I saw 8 -tracks and I just stared at 8 -tracks and I said, no, that's my limit.

[1524] No 8 -track?

[1525] Because I don't know.

[1526] I don't have any...

[1527] You weren't an 8 -track.

[1528] I have no weird affection for 8 -tracks.

[1529] That was never a thing for me. There's also nothing aesthetically to gain from listening to an 8 -track, right?

[1530] Like, TV, you can make the argument that, like, old games look better on there.

[1531] Yeah.

[1532] Like, people will certainly make their audiophile arguments about vinyl.

[1533] Sure.

[1534] But, like, what do you get out of an 8 -track other than, like...

[1535] You get, like, occasionally, like, you'll have a song that can't be fully fit on one track or the other, so it'll be, like, at the end of track one and the beginning of track two.

[1536] like just kind of halfway through the song or something, it'll go, and then the song will keep playing.

[1537] See, I don't even have any nostalgic.

[1538] I encountered one, and they were already out of date by the time I got a hold of one, but I believe it actually was the Footloose soundtrack now that I think about it.

[1539] I've got a couple of A -tracks.

[1540] The cassette thing was more like I have a box of cassettes, and it comes with this receiver that I want anyways.

[1541] You can put it in your car and get the A -track player put it in your car.

[1542] And then you could, I don't know, you could be in like a Tarantino movie or something.

[1543] Yeah.

[1544] Listen to Parliament.

[1545] Yeah.

[1546] No, I'm good.

[1547] I think 8 -tracks might be where the Nintendo tape myth originated.

[1548] Yeah, probably.

[1549] They definitely look like video games.

[1550] They are cartridges.

[1551] I mean, they're basically just tape cartridges.

[1552] Oh, like where people call them tapes?

[1553] Yeah.

[1554] Atari tapes.

[1555] Yeah.

[1556] Totally.

[1557] Yep.

[1558] We get some Atari tapes.

[1559] I never heard it until Nintendo tapes, but yeah.

[1560] Yeah.

[1561] They're not tapes.

[1562] Well, good for you.

[1563] 8 -track is terrible.

[1564] It's the worst.

[1565] Yeah.

[1566] It's so stupid.

[1567] Even at the time, when it was already kind of on its way out.

[1568] But it was cool because you could do continuous play.

[1569] You can play through the album, and then you could skip forward.

[1570] You obviously couldn't go backwards.

[1571] But you can only skip forward.

[1572] to these other three tracks that were all rolling at the same time so you would get to like this other point and be like well this I want to hear the song that's the beginning of track two and I'm at the middle of these tracks so then it's like I got to fast forward all the way around to go back stupid it doesn't it doesn't make any sense yeah exactly like like the logic of eight tracks it only makes sense in in that they needed some kind of portable car based medium because records wouldn't work.

[1573] Sure.

[1574] And, you know, it was before cassettes.

[1575] Yeah, yeah.

[1576] So that's the only thing.

[1577] Like home -based 8 -tracks, you're just like, why would...

[1578] Yeah, but home -based 8 -track players allowed you to have big buttons that would be illuminated for 1, 2, 3, and 4.

[1579] Yes, that is definitely true.

[1580] That's what it's all about.

[1581] Colors.

[1582] I've been outbid on these LaserDiscs.

[1583] Why do you want more LaserDiscs?

[1584] You want, like, the ultimate LaserDisc collection?

[1585] There's some gaps in my LaserDisc collection.

[1586] You have Roger Rabbit?

[1587] I do.

[1588] Then you're done.

[1589] That's an HD on Netflix though.

[1590] Do you remember?

[1591] There's a lot of naked cartoon pussy.

[1592] Do you remember that?

[1593] That's probably my biggest Laserdisc thing about like you get Roger Rabbit on Laserdisc.

[1594] You can fast forward.

[1595] You can pause it on this one scene where Jessica Rabbit's like spreading her legs and you can see cartoon.

[1596] Naughty bits.

[1597] And that's pretty much my LaserDisc memory.

[1598] Well, come on over.

[1599] We'll watch the Jessica Rabbit falling out of the taxi scene in slow -mo.

[1600] Is that the scene it is?

[1601] That's the scene it is, yeah.

[1602] Shit.

[1603] All right.

[1604] This guy wants it more than I do.

[1605] Isn't there some kind of LaserDisc decay that sets in over time?

[1606] I mean, there's any kind of laser rot that will happen on any medium like this.

[1607] Especially like...

[1608] cdrs and stuff like oh yeah that's a different i mean you know that's i have cdrs that don't work anymore right yeah that's a different processing process that's not even a pressing that's a there's a die right like photosensitive die this is these are at least pressed in a factory i don't do you know what the capacity of a laser disc is You put a movie on it.

[1609] Well, they're analogs.

[1610] You put half a movie on it and then half the other movie on the other side.

[1611] But my player auto -flips.

[1612] I don't have to flip it.

[1613] Oh, wow.

[1614] That is the 8 -track of video play.

[1615] It doesn't actually flip it over.

[1616] It's just a laser on the other side.

[1617] You're right.

[1618] That is the stupidest, worst part about LaserDix.

[1619] Like, Jesus Christ.

[1620] You couldn't make this so you could put a whole movie on one side.

[1621] You've got to flip it over halfway through.

[1622] Data compression.

[1623] They could not get that data.

[1624] How cool would it be if they made a Laserdisc player that played like a record player where like you have the laser on a needle and you set it on top and it just spins like super fast.

[1625] That sounds like someone's steampunk fantasy.

[1626] I would love that.

[1627] Somebody send me a picture of that because I'm sure it exists.

[1628] But it looks like an old time controller or something.

[1629] And you're just putting down this giant bear Laserdisc on it and moving the needle.

[1630] I don't know how those things work.

[1631] It might have to spin super fast.

[1632] My Laserdisc player is also a CD player.

[1633] So, you know.

[1634] What?

[1635] Is that the two different insets on the trays?

[1636] It has two different trays.

[1637] A different button you press eject on and it makes the little CD player thing pop out and you put your CD in there.

[1638] Out of the middle of the big tray.

[1639] Or the big tray comes out and the whole thing comes out.

[1640] It's awesome.

[1641] Alright, that's pretty cool.

[1642] Yeah, so that was my old -ass electronics adventure this weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a lot of fun getting the stuff and now I just need to figure out how I'm going to hook up.

[1643] all of these various game consoles I have to the one system.

[1644] I think I still have...

[1645] An RF switch?

[1646] Yeah.

[1647] Well, that's the thing is I've got...

[1648] I can get RCAs into the VCR and then go RF to the TV from there.

[1649] So then it's just a question of how I'm getting to that point and what goes where.

[1650] I guess I still have one of those old switchers.

[1651] Yeah.

[1652] But with stuff like the Intellivision that doesn't have RCAs, you're going to have to...

[1653] Jack into your VCR.

[1654] coax and then like you have to go get like the two clips to the coax adapter or vice versa or just put the two clips on the tv clips on the tv because it's an old tv tv yeah totally has the the two screws it's like tv or game that's right little also fake wood paneling sticker on that thing that's right that's right good good remote for the for the tv i wouldn't even thought it had a remote oh no remote control tv 1983 this was a high -end set for 83 for 83 All right.

[1655] You know, upside, I say, you know, I show restraint in all of this in that I did not indulge or even look at any eight -track stuff, and I resisted the urge to call the dude who had a Betamax player for sale.

[1656] So I did not buy a Betamax player.

[1657] Yet.

[1658] Not going to buy a Betamax player.

[1659] Yet.

[1660] I've got my VCR.

[1661] That's the thing.

[1662] For the cassette player and for the VHS player, I have tapes.

[1663] You want my Young Ones tapes?

[1664] You have Young Ones tapes?

[1665] Yeah, I do.

[1666] I'm going to have it all on DVD now, so I don't really need it.

[1667] I just found them.

[1668] I also have your...

[1669] On my VHS copy of My Sweet Satan.

[1670] Yes.

[1671] Can you rip me a couple of Laserdiscs so I can watch them at home?

[1672] I don't know how to do that.

[1673] Bring it in.

[1674] Hook it up to the Aja.

[1675] It'll be fine.

[1676] Give me the Aja.

[1677] I'll take it home.

[1678] It's a new revenue stream.

[1679] Selling rad on DVD.

[1680] People have been selling bootleg copies of Rad on DVD for a while on eBay.

[1681] So there you go.

[1682] There's my justification for a laser player.

[1683] I own a laser disc of the movie Rad, the BMX movie, that was never officially released on DVD.

[1684] So what happens if you put Rad in and then put the Kokomo soundtrack in on the CD part?

[1685] I don't think it will let you put two discs in at once.

[1686] Bummer.

[1687] Not really.

[1688] The 80s were crazy like that.

[1689] All right.

[1690] All right.

[1691] Can we move on?

[1692] I don't know.

[1693] Brad's on his phone.

[1694] Sorry.

[1695] That's okay.

[1696] There was nothing for you over here.

[1697] This was your StarCraft II time.

[1698] Think about StarCraft II.

[1699] Why don't you sit there and I want you to think about StarCraft II.

[1700] All I'm thinking about right now is let's hear it for the boy.

[1701] Yeah, you are.

[1702] Damn it.

[1703] You want to talk about some news?

[1704] Sure.

[1705] All right.

[1706] We can do that.

[1707] It's out on LaserDisc this week.

[1708] You know, looking surprising how late Laserdiscs were still being produced.

[1709] Yeah, I bought...

[1710] Like early 90s or something?

[1711] No, like Star Wars Episode I is available on Laserdisc.

[1712] Yeah.

[1713] Yeah, but that was just like a cash grab for them.

[1714] All three Jurassic Park movies.

[1715] Like the first one and the second one I kind of get, but by the time you get to Jurassic Park 3, it seems a bit crazy.

[1716] Late 90s, probably.

[1717] Yes.

[1718] I thought...

[1719] My PC came with a LaserDisc player.

[1720] Installed.

[1721] Like Dragon's Lair, the way it was meant to be played.

[1722] How cool would that be, talking about crazy technology, if that technology caught on and a PC did have to come with...

[1723] Nothing else evolved and it was sideways on...

[1724] The PC had to mount it on the side.

[1725] This is still it.

[1726] Put in mist on LaserDisc.

[1727] We got data compression, but we were used to the format, so it was just like, we can put all sorts of shit on here now.

[1728] It can hold a lot.

[1729] It's so sweet.

[1730] HDLDs are all the rage.

[1731] I think they're HDLPs at that point.

[1732] Think of the awesome box art we're missing out on because giant LaserDisc went out of passion.

[1733] It's true.

[1734] So, much to no one's surprise, the guys at Hothead Games are hard at work on a follow -up to Death Spank.

[1735] Much to everyone's surprise, that shit's coming out in like a month.

[1736] A full -on sequel?

[1737] They're not calling it Death Spank 2, they're calling it Death Spank Thongs of Virtue.

[1738] Who called it?

[1739] Yeah, I called it.

[1740] He totally called it.

[1741] What did you call?

[1742] Because there was a listing, someone found the achievements for this game last week.

[1743] Last week sometime, yeah.

[1744] And it's just listed as Death Spank TOV.

[1745] Yes.

[1746] And we said, what the fuck could TOV stand for?

[1747] And Brad totally busted out with Thong of Virtue.

[1748] Wow.

[1749] Nice.

[1750] Very nice.

[1751] Very specifically.

[1752] Good job.

[1753] That just added a thin air?

[1754] Well, yeah.

[1755] Thongs play a role in the game.

[1756] Thongs are a big deal.

[1757] In fact, at the end of the game, they're all these mystical thongs you must find.

[1758] Well, now there are virtuous thongs, I guess.

[1759] Well, that's like where is a virtuous thong?

[1760] Well, now there are more than one.

[1761] Perhaps.

[1762] Other people are wearing them.

[1763] I don't know, but I do know this.

[1764] It was being developed alongside what we know as just Death Spank.

[1765] Yeah, that seems like a weird gamble.

[1766] Yeah.

[1767] Like, what if that game tanked?

[1768] Like, it seems like it did pretty well, but...

[1769] Well, they had already kind of put all of their eggs in the Death Spank basket already, so...

[1770] So it's worth it for them to at least make a second one, regardless of what happens.

[1771] Yeah, you're probably right.

[1772] There is an economy of scale there.

[1773] Yeah.

[1774] But it also means that it sounds like there's not going to be a lot that's different mechanically.

[1775] It sounded like the helper character.

[1776] No, it's still just more of that.

[1777] More puzzle and adventure.

[1778] The wording was like more adventure and puzzle solving.

[1779] Yeah, which that's what the first game had.

[1780] So it's just more of that.

[1781] Not more in proportion.

[1782] Sparkles is gone, replaced by some dude named Steve.

[1783] If you're playing, it's still the same type of co -op.

[1784] What is the catchy phrase?

[1785] Asymmetrical co -op.

[1786] Is that like the character's name?

[1787] Is some dude named Steve?

[1788] No, it's just Steve.

[1789] Bummer.

[1790] There you go.

[1791] Guns?

[1792] We have out -funnied.

[1793] Wait, there are guns?

[1794] Yeah, there are guns.

[1795] The teaser image is just straight up him holding modern guns.

[1796] Like a bazooka.

[1797] Dude, do we care if we talk about the ending?

[1798] First game.

[1799] Anybody care?

[1800] That weird, that non -sequitur at the end of, you know what I'm talking about?

[1801] at the end of the first game.

[1802] Stuff like after you're actually ending the game.

[1803] Like the battlefield that you walk out onto.

[1804] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1805] What the hell was that?

[1806] I would explain the guns, but at the same time...

[1807] That reminded me of the weird flashback stuff from the darkness.

[1808] Yeah, kind of.

[1809] I didn't see that.

[1810] Anyway, yeah, yeah.

[1811] You end up with this weird battlefield and they're saying that it...

[1812] I guess they're not really saying what that stuff is, but yeah, it's...

[1813] Maybe that's where you are.

[1814] Yeah.

[1815] In thong...

[1816] Modern...

[1817] times or some kind of mystical time of no time where there are weapons from every era or something.

[1818] Eternal Battlefield.

[1819] I'd say, Lord help this game if it's just more Deathspank.

[1820] Yep.

[1821] I don't want that.

[1822] I liked Deathspank a lot.

[1823] I got all 200 of the points I could get out of Deathspank.

[1824] So did I. I don't want to play that ever again.

[1825] It just wore kind of thin by the end.

[1826] No less in a month.

[1827] Yep.

[1828] It was not especially funny.

[1829] So it didn't really hit on that stuff.

[1830] Little bits are pretty funny, but as a game that they were kind of marketing as comedic, it was not enough of that.

[1831] And it was not enough of a fun, exciting game either.

[1832] I think that's really hard to...

[1833] Well, that's okay, because this game will be 50 % longer.

[1834] Oh.

[1835] Awesome.

[1836] So you get more of that delicious...

[1837] It's a promising yet middling game, the first Death's Bank.

[1838] So to say like, hey, we developed this concurrently, so, you know, that's...

[1839] That is not exciting.

[1840] I think it's really hard to picture a game as a comedy.

[1841] Absolutely, yeah.

[1842] It's the hardest thing to do in games.

[1843] It's definitely the hardest.

[1844] And so every time I hear somebody be like, it's really funny.

[1845] Like when they're pitching it, they're like, this is automatically going to fall flat.

[1846] Like BMX XXX was pitched to me as hilarious.

[1847] But sometimes games are actually funny.

[1848] Yeah, like if they're made by Tim Schafer.

[1849] Well.

[1850] He's not the only, I mean, like, you know, the Penny Arcade stuff.

[1851] He's proved that Hothead was capable of putting out funny games.

[1852] He's just a prominent example, but I'm saying that there is...

[1853] Eric Wolpaw, when he makes games, they're funny.

[1854] Yes, there is a very limited quantity of really funny games writers.

[1855] But Portal was not pitched as a funny game.

[1856] Like, this is a funny game.

[1857] Yeah.

[1858] I don't know if Portal seems more charming than funny to me. I think Portal was actually really funny, yeah.

[1859] Yeah, there's some...

[1860] But you don't laugh out loud that much, so much as you're like, damn, that's really clever.

[1861] But I probably got more...

[1862] humor out of it than a lot of yeah yeah i'm not pitched as i'm not maligning it in any way i'm just saying like the tone of it is different than it was just smarter comedy it wasn't just like you know and then he farted and there was a rubber chicken you know it's just like it's a it's just like a smarter brand of comedy and then something like portal like that's neither here nor there i mean i have my preferences but you know yeah i think comedy it's subjective yeah the new tales games were no you're wrong I'm right and you're wrong.

[1863] They were funny, and they were kind of pitched as being funny, but I feel like they never went that strong.

[1864] Like, Deathsmack, I feel like that was the big pitch.

[1865] You're talking about Monkey Island?

[1866] Yeah.

[1867] It was like, this is a funny game, man. You've got to get in there and just play it.

[1868] Like, that dude's funny, right?

[1869] Like, yeah, that dude is funny.

[1870] Well, the problem is they don't have to lean on that so hard for the tail stuff because they have the nostalgia crutch to go to instead of being like, hey, Monkey Island, you remember those?

[1871] Right.

[1872] With the implication being that, and you remember that they were super funny, right?

[1873] So this is like that.

[1874] Few laughter.

[1875] So they get that instead of having to come out like you're saying and just say, Dude, it's so funny.

[1876] I was like in high school then.

[1877] I don't know.

[1878] I had bad taste then.

[1879] We'll see.

[1880] So there you go.

[1881] Death's Bank, Thongs of Virtue.

[1882] Also, things were funnier back then.

[1883] It's forthcoming.

[1884] The world was a...

[1885] Easier place to get a lot.

[1886] Same 15 bucks.

[1887] Probably.

[1888] I'm guessing.

[1889] I don't know.

[1890] Sure.

[1891] Torchlight's coming to consoles.

[1892] Or at least the dudes have been working on Torchlight for consoles.

[1893] and are now in initial talks with Microsoft and Sony about bringing it to those consoles.

[1894] What happened to Torch World?

[1895] It's still happening.

[1896] They said that that's being put on hold because the Torchlight stuff was originally intended to just be bankrolling for their Torchlight MMO.

[1897] Yeah, that was before they got bought.

[1898] And then also they sold like 750 ,000 copies of Torchlight.

[1899] So it's like, whoa, well...

[1900] This is doing pretty good.

[1901] Why fuck with this?

[1902] We could probably get away with doing another one of these, and then we could have even more to make.

[1903] They said they're on track for a million on that.

[1904] But again, they were acquired by a much larger corporation, so they are not necessarily making all their own decisions.

[1905] Yeah, yeah.

[1906] But who cares, because all the decisions that have been made sound great.

[1907] But if they put that out for consoles, what's the price point for Torchlight now that it's been on sale every other week on Steam for $1 .99?

[1908] It's $15.

[1909] You just make it $15.

[1910] I'd pay $15 for that experience.

[1911] Would you?

[1912] Yeah, absolutely.

[1913] I didn't play that much.

[1914] No, I'm saying the game's great, but you should buy it on a PC.

[1915] Yeah, it's like, here's this version of this game with a control scheme that is not how it was originally intended to be played and no mod support.

[1916] And the overhead on the PC game wasn't that great.

[1917] I mean, it wasn't like you needed a raging PC to play that game.

[1918] I mean, there's a ton of people out there who will only play a game if it's on a console.

[1919] It doesn't matter how good their PC is.

[1920] Yeah, you're right.

[1921] Even if it'll run on their crappy Dell or whatever, they don't want to play games on that.

[1922] I just think about Diablo for the PlayStation.

[1923] I just think of Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance.

[1924] Oh, but it's not that game.

[1925] Yeah, I don't think they're going to significantly redesign it.

[1926] No, but I mean, it is very much a streamlined dungeon crawler.

[1927] I think they would have to give you direct character control.

[1928] Yeah, absolutely.

[1929] If you're moving a cursor with your analog stick, they have F'd up.

[1930] I don't know how they do it.

[1931] I don't think they could do it Dark Alliance style.

[1932] I think they could.

[1933] I think they have to make changes, but it's doable.

[1934] Like direct combat?

[1935] Hold down button to keep swinging.

[1936] So when did they say that that MMO is on hold?

[1937] Like I saw that, I mean, Torchlight 2 is coming, but they said that's just happening in the interim and the MMO stuff is still on the way.

[1938] Somewhere.

[1939] I don't buy it.

[1940] The internet.

[1941] So if that comes to the PlayStation Network, we'll have cloud support.

[1942] It's their first game.

[1943] Steam clouds now?

[1944] Maybe.

[1945] This would be the breakthrough.

[1946] That is not an impossible dream.

[1947] I don't know that they ever gave an external timeline of when their MMO was going to be coming out.

[1948] I'm sure work is still being done on it, but it sounds like their current, their most immediate priority is making a Torchlight 2 and then also making this console port.

[1949] If they're as small a team as they represent, then...

[1950] Well, they're not now.

[1951] They're owned by a big company.

[1952] If you're saying that ominously, who is the big guy?

[1953] Perfect World.

[1954] Okay.

[1955] Bought them.

[1956] What is that?

[1957] They bought them a while ago.

[1958] They make a bunch of MMOs.

[1959] You know who Perfect World is.

[1960] I don't know.

[1961] Just wink at me. Why did you just wink at me?

[1962] Perfect World is a publisher of online role -playing games.

[1963] Yeah.

[1964] They make a bunch of weird stuff.

[1965] A lot of free -to -play stuff.

[1966] Okay.

[1967] A bunch of stuff that is not in the League of Torchlight for sure.

[1968] I know the name, but I just don't know.

[1969] The point is, I mean, now that they've proven they can sell games, they probably have an injection of capital.

[1970] Sure.

[1971] That would allow them to do a bunch of stuff at the same time.

[1972] I mean, I hope it does well on a console.

[1973] That game's awesome.

[1974] Yeah.

[1975] It did what it needed to do, which is fill that Diablo gap.

[1976] Yeah.

[1977] Let's keep this RPG train a -rolling.

[1978] Neverwinter.

[1979] What?

[1980] Neverwinter.

[1981] What?

[1982] Neverwinter.

[1983] This time there is day as well.

[1984] It's not just nights.

[1985] It's Neverwinter.

[1986] So there's been rumors flowing around for a while that Cryptic, an MMO developer...

[1987] was going to be making some sort of Neverwinter Nights MMO.

[1988] And it sounds like that's not so much the case.

[1989] More that they're just making...

[1990] Yeah, I think it was just, you know, the Neverwinter name got attached to cryptic at some point.

[1991] And everyone said, like, well, they're an MMO developer, so obviously this is the way they're going to go.

[1992] It's sound logic.

[1993] Sure.

[1994] But no, they're making a Neverwinter Nights 3, basically.

[1995] But it is cryptic.

[1996] Yeah, it is cryptic.

[1997] And they've got the D &D license.

[1998] Atari's had it forever.

[1999] Atari bought Cryptic, and Atari did the Neverwinter Nights games, so this is just them rebranding it a little bit.

[2000] When, if ever, was the last time Cryptic got to make a single -player focused?

[2001] I don't know that they've ever...

[2002] Have they always made MMOs?

[2003] I think so.

[2004] That is a tall order, because Neverwinter Nights is a great series.

[2005] What's your feeling on 2?

[2006] I know it's an audience splitter.

[2007] I couldn't get that far into it, but from what I played of it, it seemed awesome.

[2008] It just happened to hit that period of my life where I couldn't spend that much time playing RPGs anymore.

[2009] You remember when we stopped off at the Best Buy on our way back from PAX, and I bought that copy and never went a nice tube of gold.

[2010] The full bundle.

[2011] We were there to get Mercs 2.

[2012] Yeah, and they didn't have it.

[2013] I was trying to hassle the guy and he gave it to me anyways.

[2014] They had it and they couldn't open it.

[2015] Anyways, that copy of that game is still unopened.

[2016] Very good.

[2017] Does that include the vaulted store of Zaheer?

[2018] I believe it does.

[2019] I believe it does.

[2020] That sounds right.

[2021] Yeah, not a lot of details about Neverwinter, but five classes.

[2022] Can you make that game today?

[2023] Co -op.

[2024] Yeah.

[2025] It sounds like user -generated quests.

[2026] Yeah, they've got some kind of streamlined.

[2027] I mean, it's always had mod tools and stuff.

[2028] What little info they did put out makes it sound like this forge is a really easy way for users to create their own quests or something.

[2029] Yeah, their stuff was pretty...

[2030] pretty intense at the time for making your own stuff it's like now as cryptic it's gonna have to make all that stuff all over again instead of oh but like seems like something they could do for console it was a it was a pretty it was you know a heady rpg at the tail end of kind of like all right bye bye rpgs and like western rpgs and it's like can you release that now with Bioware pretty much saying, well, you know, we made pretty much the last big RPG that we're going to make and now you're going to release Neverwinter Nights kind of on the heels of that.

[2031] Are they going to do kind of the Dragon Age style?

[2032] Like the D &D rule set like in Neverwinter is kind of why you went to Neverwinter.

[2033] Right.

[2034] You know, all the big D &D stuff.

[2035] Who's going to buy that game?

[2036] Five player online co -op sounds pretty cool.

[2037] Yeah, but do you keep all the D &D rule sets in there, or do you kind of whittle it down?

[2038] Fourth edition is already pretty whittled down from what D &D was.

[2039] I have no idea.

[2040] It's made for computer games at this point.

[2041] At some point, they took the D &D rule set and basically said, well, World of Warcraft's pretty popular.

[2042] This is my understanding of it.

[2043] I haven't looked at any of it myself.

[2044] Sure.

[2045] That they said, like...

[2046] Let's just make it mirror the typical MMO kind of standards of tank DPS, like that sort of stuff.

[2047] Like I said, I hope they do a great job because I would buy that game.

[2048] I have really fond memories.

[2049] Yeah, it'll be great.

[2050] There's a button on screen at all times for the cryptic store.

[2051] And it's like, do you want to play as an elf?

[2052] Cash in your cryptic points that you have to buy with real money here.

[2053] Oh, no, stop.

[2054] Stop.

[2055] Do you want to play as a Vulcan?

[2056] Yes.

[2057] Totally do.

[2058] You can play as a Vulcan.

[2059] Great.

[2060] Vulcans are just space elves anyways.

[2061] In other news, I patched up Star Trek Online again.

[2062] How long did that take?

[2063] And did not play it.

[2064] I don't know.

[2065] I was not in the room.

[2066] I've been thinking about playing that recently.

[2067] Yeah.

[2068] I'm like, literally, a couple button presses away if I can find some time.

[2069] But last time I loaded it up, they had added an achievement system since the last time I played.

[2070] I don't remember if I already talked about this.

[2071] And it just started rolling out these achievements.

[2072] Like, 100 days of service!

[2073] returning captain, like all the stuff.

[2074] And it was, it was real crazy.

[2075] See, now this is why this is when the lifetime subscription pays off because you can go in anytime.

[2076] Exactly.

[2077] This is all, you know, I'm open door.

[2078] I'm taking the long view.

[2079] Yep.

[2080] Take the long view when they actually figure out how to make that game totally bad -ass.

[2081] Oh, whatever.

[2082] But you can just jump in and play for an hour or two and you don't have to feel guilty about like filling out the rest of your month.

[2083] You know?

[2084] Yeah, totally.

[2085] It's like, let's go in.

[2086] You can just ignore it.

[2087] Yeah, exactly.

[2088] Yeah.

[2089] But in about four years, when they have worked out all the kinks of that game and gotten it to be kind of good, I'm going to go back in and create a new ship, and it's going to be amazing.

[2090] That's usually what happens with MMOs.

[2091] Yeah, totally.

[2092] That's how it always occurs.

[2093] It starts bad, but they just get really, really good.

[2094] Go play Anarchy Online right now.

[2095] Yeah.

[2096] Awesome.

[2097] That is kind of true for some MMOs.

[2098] They do actually start out pretty bad.

[2099] No, none of those get good.

[2100] I mean, Warcraft was okay when it came out.

[2101] It was pretty good.

[2102] It was amazing when it came out.

[2103] But it's unrecognizable, man. Yeah, it was just kind of a funky launch because all these games launch in a semi -broken state.

[2104] But now you look at, I think if somebody were to release what World of Warcraft was when it released, it couldn't be.

[2105] Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[2106] Some do evolve and get better.

[2107] But a lot of them.

[2108] No, no, they evolve.

[2109] I don't know that they get better.

[2110] They evolve to meet, like, their...

[2111] Because what happens, if they aren't World of Warcraft, they evolve to meet the fucking insane demands of their weird niche audience that just makes it that much more inbred and just inaccessible.

[2112] Well, no, it's just they are playing to this weird audience, and it's like, we just want to appease the people that are paying us now.

[2113] A lot of them go the other direction.

[2114] Like, EverQuest 2 is going, like, weird free -to -play tiered.

[2115] Like piecemeal subscription now.

[2116] Is Star Wars Galaxy still around?

[2117] It is.

[2118] You want to talk about a game that has been mangled by time?

[2119] Star Wars Galaxy sounds like the biggest insane clusterfuck you could possibly have.

[2120] Let's go.

[2121] Go get a station pass.

[2122] Go get into some...

[2123] That's what we needed to play The Matrix Online.

[2124] So we...

[2125] So we have one.

[2126] Play all our games.

[2127] No, because The Matrix Online closed and so I can't.

[2128] That was all we had access to was the Matrix online.

[2129] We did not have a full station pass.

[2130] I think it's like 90 bucks a month or something for a full station pass.

[2131] Something ridiculous.

[2132] It gives you access to everything that they do.

[2133] Can you get a lifetime one?

[2134] No. Bummer.

[2135] I'm out.

[2136] Yeah, Star Wars Galaxies.

[2137] I want to know what's going on.

[2138] I want to see who's playing that.

[2139] What happened to that?

[2140] Hit up Justin Calvert.

[2141] He probably still has an account somewhere.

[2142] That dude sunk some time into that game.

[2143] Didn't the Wookiee expansion just break him in half?

[2144] I think a number of patches and expansions broke everyone in half.

[2145] They did a lot of weird shit in that game.

[2146] That's the problem.

[2147] People started calling for John Smedley's head around that time.

[2148] It's a problem of you have this live server and this live game that people are playing with and you're like, well, we want it to be better and we want it to be more popular.

[2149] But you're basically just doing like live site beta testing of like, does this work?

[2150] We aren't going to really know until we turn it on and go.

[2151] Plus the persistent part is really rough to work around too where you're like, all right, we redid the tech tree.

[2152] Yeah.

[2153] What?

[2154] You just completely fucked up my character.

[2155] This item that you've built your entire character around, we decided that you shouldn't be able to do that.

[2156] It doesn't exist anymore.

[2157] Remember how becoming a Jedi was kind of messed up?

[2158] But you kind of all spent that time trying to do it anyway.

[2159] Well, we decided we actually wanted people to play the game, and it turns out if you can't be a Jedi, there's so much people that just will never play.

[2160] So there's an out button that you click to become a Jedi.

[2161] Yeah.

[2162] It's a hard balance because you've got to try to develop something that new players can get into without alienating the people that have been playing it all along.

[2163] Ideally, the content would be so far apart that...

[2164] you know, changes you make to the early game barely matter.

[2165] But if you trivialize the early game too much, I guess I should say that none of this applies to World of Warcraft for whatever reason.

[2166] Well, somehow they get past it.

[2167] Well, when they're like, well, let's redo, it's time for a kind of big shift.

[2168] They just do like Cataclysm and they redo the entire world and they don't do a sequel.

[2169] They're like, listen, I guess they're big enough where they can be like, we're going to redo the entire game pretty much.

[2170] People want to have flying mounts in Azeroth, so what do we do?

[2171] It's a really interesting way to tackle that problem because it gives them a good world reason to totally redo all of the early content as well as the high -level content and gives them a chance to reset the game.

[2172] It's pretty smart, I think.

[2173] I think that'll probably end up working out pretty well for them.

[2174] It seems like people playing the beta are loving it.

[2175] Yeah, that's actually very intriguing because it makes me actually want to log in, like I've said before.

[2176] Have one last tour around, you know.

[2177] Around old.

[2178] Yeah.

[2179] Old country.

[2180] Yep.

[2181] West Falls 2.

[2182] Go fight some robots.

[2183] Let's play WoW.

[2184] Do you know if they're doing an event or anything?

[2185] Is it something like where if you're logged in, when they flip the switch, you'll see the whatever happened?

[2186] I highly doubt it.

[2187] You know, they might have something.

[2188] Like meteors come out of the sky?

[2189] That's too much work for artists and designers for a one -time event.

[2190] Oh, they'll do stuff like, you know, just spawn a bunch of whatever.

[2191] It won't be like a specific.

[2192] Yeah, unique thing.

[2193] You're not going to see a gigantic dragon come out of the ground and start trashing everything.

[2194] Unless it's a dragon model that they already have and it's like, oh, just spawn this crazy dragon everywhere.

[2195] Because I would, if you're listening, Blizzard, I would totally pay for my month just to be around when that dragon comes out.

[2196] When they flip the switch?

[2197] Yeah.

[2198] Oh, you mean like on the live?

[2199] Just like a big world event in the lead up to Cataclysm launching.

[2200] See, I'd be more doubtful of that than on the beta end.

[2201] Oh, yeah.

[2202] End of beta stuff.

[2203] Sure, yeah.

[2204] Everywhere they spawn level 99 or whatever.

[2205] I don't know.

[2206] No, I want the live server.

[2207] I mean, Cataclysm's a big deal, bro.

[2208] It is.

[2209] It is.

[2210] But not everybody's going to be there for that event.

[2211] The people who matter most, like their biggest fans, would absolutely want to be there.

[2212] I'm sure they'll do something.

[2213] I can't see them going to those links, though.

[2214] But then they would be there anyways.

[2215] Yeah.

[2216] Even if they just did something where like...

[2217] everybody suddenly falls asleep or something like that.

[2218] Like your character automatically falls asleep.

[2219] And then next time you wake up, you're in the middle of the cataclysm.

[2220] I think, I think that's called the servers being offline.

[2221] Sure.

[2222] But I mean, seriously, like I think there's enough of a technical challenge switching over to this new stuff that they don't want to like complicate it more than they have to.

[2223] Still, they should create some kind of storyline thing.

[2224] Yeah, that'd be cool.

[2225] I mean...

[2226] It doesn't have to be fancy, but, you know, that's kind of a...

[2227] Well, I mean, there is, like, an explanation for how everything happens.

[2228] Right, yeah.

[2229] Yeah, but if you see it...

[2230] But they should show it in game.

[2231] You're saying something happening visually.

[2232] Yeah, yeah.

[2233] I mean, something should happen, yeah.

[2234] Fade to white.

[2235] But also, I mean, they're doing so much...

[2236] Cataclysmic white.

[2237] Yeah.

[2238] They're doing so much with the phasing now that everybody can kind of see that on their own time.

[2239] It doesn't have to be something that everybody can see at one time because everybody's got their own version of the world, basically.

[2240] So what happens when I fall asleep or I set my character to rest on a part of the world that will no longer be there after the cataclysm?

[2241] You're not going to stay logged in all that time.

[2242] No, no. I put my character to sleep on a cliff.

[2243] Yeah, yeah.

[2244] I don't know.

[2245] It'll reset you to some common spawn point or something.

[2246] I want to break it.

[2247] It's just a video game.

[2248] What?

[2249] It's not the real world.

[2250] It's better in the real world.

[2251] Mr. T is there.

[2252] Maybe you're fucking insane.

[2253] It is the real world.

[2254] Fallout New Vegas.

[2255] That's not the real world.

[2256] It's not the real world.

[2257] Yet.

[2258] It's getting there.

[2259] We are headed in that direction.

[2260] It will end.

[2261] And apparently it will end the way Fallout 3 originally ended with an ending.

[2262] It will end and you will not be able to keep playing after it ends.

[2263] And there will be a bunch of slides telling you what happened to the characters.

[2264] And they're acting like, oh no, but it's going to be because you're going to have such a crazy impact on the world that there's no way that you could keep playing after this.

[2265] And then there will be a bunch of slides and we'll go, why can't I keep playing?

[2266] Everybody will complain and then they'll put out DLC that changes it.

[2267] I didn't want to keep playing at the end of that game.

[2268] So I was...

[2269] Games should end.

[2270] Like...

[2271] game should choose like dude they give you a billion save slots in that game yeah like just and then the thing the thing i will say that that was kind of a bummer about fallout 3 is it didn't really warn you when you got to that kind of point in overturn yeah yeah they said that this game the ui will make it very clear like you if you want to do anything else don't go here sure I mean, I take issue with just these, you know, you spend that much time with your character, you kind of start getting familiar with them and where they've been and the stuff that they have.

[2272] And to me, it's weird to start creating, like, there's this splinter version of my character that now exists that, like, well, this is kind of different from the first time I finished it.

[2273] Then do all the side stuff.

[2274] But there's always more stuff to do.

[2275] Or a new game plus it.

[2276] It's not that hard a thing that Bethesda proved already.

[2277] I feel like they're coming from the right angle on this stuff.

[2278] I don't know what the quality of that ending will be, but yeah.

[2279] You should get to a point in that game where everything is so messed up because of what you've done that it would be crazy from a story perspective to load you back into it after the credits.

[2280] Well, the bummer for me is when they do the DLC stuff and then you have to load up a previous save to see that stuff.

[2281] Yeah, that's pretty bad.

[2282] That's the only part of it.

[2283] That definitely could have been handled better.

[2284] For narrative impact, it's cool if you're changing the world.

[2285] The game should end with things differently than it was at the beginning.

[2286] That's just good storytelling.

[2287] I don't know why this happened where we got to this point where people always expected like, oh, and after the credits, it's just going to dump me back into the world so I can F around.

[2288] Well, because, I mean...

[2289] Bethesda RPG is such a strange beast because the core storyline is almost incidental to playing the game.

[2290] Right.

[2291] Because there is just a mountain of content that you can miss if you just do the story.

[2292] It's like a stunning breadth of optional stuff out there.

[2293] Like Oblivion was probably even more so.

[2294] You could spend like 100 hours in Oblivion not touching the main story.

[2295] I literally never played.

[2296] I closed one Oblivion gate.

[2297] I spent like 60 hours with that game.

[2298] Just going through all the side weird stuff.

[2299] I think as long as they're good about pointing out where that threshold is, where that line is, that should solve the problem.

[2300] I agree, but also I think that they need to justify it.

[2301] Hopefully they do.

[2302] The problem with Fallout 3 was that there were totally endings where I'm like, wait, I'm still alive and in this world.

[2303] That sucked.

[2304] Why can't I just go and run around and do stuff?

[2305] The ending of Fallout 3 was garbage.

[2306] Yeah, it was not.

[2307] It was the worst part of the entire game.

[2308] It was not well thought out.

[2309] So...

[2310] hopefully they're you know taking that criticism to heart as well and you know at least at least they're talking like they did you know i'm kind of bummed though when they do it too explicitly where they the characters and the whole situation prepares you for like hey you're not going to be able to go back right then you're like oh man i guess i'm not gonna be able to go back and then text comes up that is like you should save your game because you're not gonna be able to you know revisit this it is a little weird yeah like dude i understand it's kind of hard to handle that stuff yeah but i know they probably have to do it otherwise people will complain but yeah I know that was like the number one email that Matt Rory would get off of his, like one of his Zelda guides or something from people going like, how come I can't continue to play?

[2311] Oh, really?

[2312] Yeah.

[2313] Like kids or mothers or somebody would be like, he just wants to keep playing.

[2314] What do I do?

[2315] Like hit start.

[2316] Play it forever.

[2317] Yeah.

[2318] Go again.

[2319] Like what?

[2320] Hyping Zelda for your name.

[2321] Right.

[2322] Second quest.

[2323] Jeff, Vinny, do you guys want to talk about Catherine at all?

[2324] I think it looks kind of cool, too.

[2325] Thanks for asking.

[2326] I wasn't going to say anything.

[2327] I was going to ask these two guys.

[2328] Whatever you want to call what they put out, a trailer, a teaser, a cinematic, or something looks interesting.

[2329] Yeah, it looks great.

[2330] It looks real persona -y.

[2331] It looks awesome.

[2332] It looks more deliberately sexier.

[2333] Well, this is a conversation I had with Jeff right after I saw it.

[2334] It made me...

[2335] feel real weird about persona for suddenly like wait oh man these guys are into the sex and then like these kind of like really kind of oddly good -looking high school kids are you supposed to be sexually attracted to them i don't really know but obviously you guys have that in mind in this game so did you have it in mind in that one yeah was that a thing because now i feel real awkward i think they were trying to be like you know shy and innocent and high schooly about the stuff in persona 4 it was just us that made it dirty You make everything dirty.

[2336] But this is just dirty.

[2337] This is just dirty.

[2338] These are not high school kids, right?

[2339] No, that guy doesn't look like a high school kid.

[2340] Dude, what is with that sheep?

[2341] I don't know.

[2342] There's like 17 different styles of art styles.

[2343] Yeah, they got an anime studio that had a segment in the Halo thing and in the Animatrix doing the cutscene stuff for them.

[2344] Then there's the in -game stuff with their weird rendering engine.

[2345] It looks like it's in -game stuff.

[2346] I mean, there's that part where he's climbing up the stairs.

[2347] It looks like it's just straight out of the Persona 4 engine or something, like just straight out of a dungeon.

[2348] But then there's like that cinematic style.

[2349] Then there's like another cinematic style they have in it.

[2350] And then there's like some CGs.

[2351] I don't know.

[2352] It's all over the place, but it looks really interesting.

[2353] Like it's like that stuff.

[2354] I'm really excited to see what that game ends up being.

[2355] I liked the music in the first half, and then it got to the weird J -pop.

[2356] It got to the Persona music, and you're like, oh, yeah.

[2357] That's the point where you're like, fucking yeah, this is the Persona guys, huh?

[2358] That's the part I knew was Persona, but then it was like, I really have no idea.

[2359] That music where it's like Japanese people rapping in English over kind of like a pop.

[2360] So it's shut up by their ability to say, yo, get in my car, and I put my headphones on.

[2361] It's like, what are you even talking?

[2362] It's just saying weird words.

[2363] Have they said...

[2364] Get in my car and put the headphones on is one of my favorite summer jams of this summer.

[2365] That's Gucci Mane's hottest joint as far as I'm concerned.

[2366] That's a burner right there.

[2367] Burning up the block.

[2368] Have they said what kind of game this is?

[2369] They said kind of action -adventure -y or something, didn't they?

[2370] Or some kind of adventure.

[2371] It sounds like it is not a visual novel, which was my concern.

[2372] But it is also not a Persona game.

[2373] There is a teddy doll in the background of one of the shots.

[2374] But I mean more like the structure of it, not necessarily the story.

[2375] I don't believe so.

[2376] I don't believe that to be the case.

[2377] A lot of that stuff is in Japanese.

[2378] It did break Infamitsu.

[2379] This game is all in Japanese and then the description of the game is all in Japanese.

[2380] Can't be bothered to read it.

[2381] Some of the translations of stuff in the teaser is like...

[2382] the girl Catherine saying like, do with me what you will and that sort of stuff.

[2383] Like it's, it's great.

[2384] That trailer is kind of overt.

[2385] Yeah.

[2386] A little bit.

[2387] Um, even if you don't understand what's being said in it.

[2388] Uh, so yeah, I don't know.

[2389] It's kind of, I, I like the way it looks and I hope they do it in English.

[2390] I'd be interested in seeing it, but it's, it's going to be their first PS3 and 360 game.

[2391] Right.

[2392] Um, it's out this winter over there.

[2393] That's soon.

[2394] That is soon.

[2395] That winner at the same time, right?

[2396] 360, you say?

[2397] Yes.

[2398] Both.

[2399] Wow.

[2400] Crossing over.

[2401] It also had that moment of like, man, maybe I should go to TGS.

[2402] Just go see more of that.

[2403] Brad, what are your thoughts on this development?

[2404] Still thinking about the Sheep Man. I don't know.

[2405] It has a tie.

[2406] I also like the part where the text flies out of the lady's cleavage.

[2407] That was pretty neat.

[2408] Yeah.

[2409] A lot of cleavage.

[2410] Not even from an erotic standpoint.

[2411] I was just like, oh, that's kind of interesting.

[2412] That's it?

[2413] Yes.

[2414] That's all you got.

[2415] I don't remember.

[2416] That's it for news.

[2417] And also, like, we're not going to do an endurance run of that game.

[2418] Stop asking.

[2419] Like, a couple people were like, it's ripe for an endurance run, right?

[2420] Like, no, we're not.

[2421] We're not in the business of, like, the more spoiling Atlas games.

[2422] Like, we'll probably never do an endurance run of an Atlas game ever again.

[2423] Because we already did.

[2424] Yeah, plus, they're too big now.

[2425] Yeah.

[2426] They're just blowing up.

[2427] Exactly.

[2428] Look at this.

[2429] Mainstream coverage of Catherine.

[2430] Yeah.

[2431] I remember the day.

[2432] And the more you ask, the less we want to do it.

[2433] Yep.

[2434] Ask me. Vinny, you guys should do endurance run to Catherine.

[2435] You got it.

[2436] Import version or should we just wait until it's locked up?

[2437] No, he's doing Japanese.

[2438] Vinny, KFC 8 -piece endurance run.

[2439] I can't do it.

[2440] I tried.

[2441] 12 -piece.

[2442] No, he doesn't do endurance run.

[2443] He does speed runs.

[2444] That's true.

[2445] KFC done quick.

[2446] Yep.

[2447] Let's talk about some new releases.

[2448] A nightmare.

[2449] You guys.

[2450] Hello Kitty Online supposedly comes out this week.

[2451] Oh, HKO.

[2452] Yes.

[2453] Great.

[2454] I believe it is finishing its beta run, so it'll be going retail soon.

[2455] There's a panel at PAX East where someone who was working on Hello Kitty Online was on the panel.

[2456] Uh -huh.

[2457] And he casually referred to it as HKO.

[2458] And I, for whatever reason, thought it was the most hilarious thing.

[2459] Because I'm sure, you know, internally, that's just what they all call it.

[2460] But just this idea that that's a game that gets its own, like, mainstream abbreviation that everyone understands what's being talked about.

[2461] I'm like, come on.

[2462] You don't get to do that.

[2463] I bet that'll be profitable.

[2464] I bet that'll be a big...

[2465] I put in a request to gain access to HKO.

[2466] See what happens.

[2467] So is that a worldwide server turn on or is that like going in Japan already?

[2468] Level 8 Batsmaru.

[2469] I know that is.

[2470] Mafia 2 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and personal computer.

[2471] Oh yeah, PC seems like the best one probably.

[2472] Okay.

[2473] And then there's day one free DLC for the PS3 version.

[2474] Yeah, which is kind of thin.

[2475] Yeah.

[2476] It looks better and plays better on the PC.

[2477] Martian Panic for the Wii from Zoo Games.

[2478] It comes with a gun, so you know it's good.

[2479] Grease, also for the Wii, and the Nintendo DS.

[2480] I think that's where Grease's main fan base is.

[2481] Yeah, I think in the world of games, sure.

[2482] No, because Grease is, well, yeah, okay.

[2483] In the world of games.

[2484] Once you said that, everything that you say after that, it qualifies it.

[2485] Sorry.

[2486] Because Grease's main fan base is not on video game machines.

[2487] Okay.

[2488] That's my, that is what I'm thinking.

[2489] Okay, sure.

[2490] Is it a racing game?

[2491] I have no idea.

[2492] Is it a dancing game?

[2493] I have no idea.

[2494] Could be a karaoke game.

[2495] Where's Kessler?

[2496] It's on its way, so we'll find out soon enough.

[2497] NHL 2K11 for the Wii.

[2498] They only made it for the Wii this year.

[2499] Really?

[2500] 2K only.

[2501] They decided to take the 360 and PS3 off because they've been getting their ass kicked by EA for a while now.

[2502] They're like, oh, we need to regroup.

[2503] They didn't come out and say, because EA's game is so damn good, ours is not moving.

[2504] But that's totally what they're doing.

[2505] They're taking a year off to figure out what the hell to do with their hockey game.

[2506] So they only put it out on the Wii because EA doesn't put NHL 11 out on the Wii.

[2507] Instead, they're doing NHL Slapshot, which is like the one that they said, like, Wayne Gretzky's in it, and here's a hockey stick controller that you put the Wii remote into.

[2508] So we're actually getting more hockey games this year than in most years as a result.

[2509] But, yeah, 2K is not on.

[2510] consoles other than the Wii this year.

[2511] That thing supports the Motion Plus and the Wii Speak.

[2512] Yay!

[2513] They just went all out.

[2514] Big ol' last hurrah for the Wii Speak.

[2515] I just assumed they're on a different dev cycle because clearly it's a different team and blah blah blah, but they're on a completely different dev cycle.

[2516] That's exciting to me. I don't necessarily care about hockey games, but just the notion of just like, dude, we need a year off.

[2517] Alright, take it.

[2518] That doesn't happen.

[2519] That's rare.

[2520] No one gets to do that.

[2521] That's rare.

[2522] Hopefully it gets put to good use for hockey fans.

[2523] Ivy the Kiwi?

[2524] For the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.

[2525] It has a question mark on the end of it, so it's Ivy the Kiwi?

[2526] So it's not really a Kiwi then?

[2527] I don't know.

[2528] That's the mystery.

[2529] Even they don't know.

[2530] Yeah.

[2531] What is it?

[2532] Sure.

[2533] Gunblade NYC and LA Machine Guns for the Nintendo Wii from Sega.

[2534] Two rail shooters from arcades wrapped up into one package.

[2535] Yeah, two light gun games on the Wii.

[2536] Didn't they do that already with House of the Dead 2 and 3?

[2537] Yep.

[2538] So I guess that worked.

[2539] It was profitable.

[2540] I don't know.

[2541] Well, okay.

[2542] I don't know if I'd say it worked.

[2543] Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar.

[2544] Depends on what metrics you are judging by.

[2545] That's for the DS, of course.

[2546] And the Bachelor video game for the DS and Wii.

[2547] On Xbox Live Arcade this week, we have Scott Pilgrim and Shank.

[2548] On PlayStation Network, we also have Shank.

[2549] Scott Pilgrim already came out.

[2550] And MotorStorm 3D Rift.

[2551] And PixelJunk Racer's second lap.

[2552] What is that?

[2553] That's an update for PixelJunk Racer's.

[2554] No, the MotorStorm.

[2555] Is that a demo?

[2556] No, they're selling it for $10 this week.

[2557] It is...

[2558] 10 tracks from Motorstorm Pacific Rift with 3D support.

[2559] Rather than patch that game, which I don't think they did, they're releasing a separate product for you to buy that is content taken from that game and redone in 3D.

[2560] Do you need 3D TV for that?

[2561] No, it just works, dude.

[2562] It totally just works.

[2563] All the other Sony PlayStation 3 stuff, you'll need the glasses and the TV.

[2564] This one, they're like, let's just not do it.

[2565] I don't know.

[2566] What do I know from 3D?

[2567] You don't need 3D to play it.

[2568] Yeah, it has a 2D mode, but it is called 3D Rift.

[2569] I mean, technically, it's still a polygon.

[2570] Is this the first 3D thing released?

[2571] No. Oh, what else has been 3D on the PS3?

[2572] I mean, they did their initial batch of releases.

[2573] Like, there's a pain add -on for 3D.

[2574] There's a racing game for the Master System.

[2575] Super Stardust HD.

[2576] Yeah, there was Zaxxon 3D.

[2577] The Master System.

[2578] Oh, okay.

[2579] No, there are.

[2580] What were those?

[2581] Yeah, there's a handful of 3D downloadable games.

[2582] Okay.

[2583] I'm saying we need to get a 3D TV.

[2584] How can I know these things if we don't have a 3D TV in the office?

[2585] Those are all of the new releases that I handle, which is why it's now time for me to throw it over to Jeff Gerstman for our Nintendo Download Weekly Update.

[2586] Jeff, take it away.

[2587] I don't want to hype this up too far ahead of time before we start.

[2588] I'm already too hyped.

[2589] There's a virtual console this week.

[2590] Holy shit.

[2591] Skip right to it.

[2592] What is it?

[2593] I'm not going to skip to it.

[2594] I'm starting from the beginning, and we're going to go.

[2595] One release on WiiWare this week, and I almost feel like I should just read it straight because it's actually a game that might matter.

[2596] Yeah.

[2597] It is And Yet It Moves by Broken Rules.

[2598] 1 ,000 Wii points.

[2599] And Yet It Moves is an award -winning physics -based platform game in which players run and jump.

[2600] Through a world made of paper.

[2601] To aid in completing its twisted mind -bending levels.

[2602] You possess the unique ability to rotate the world at will.

[2603] Walls become floors.

[2604] Slides become platforms.

[2605] When a harmless pile of rocks becomes a hazardous thread when turned upside down.

[2606] Use the Wii Remote controller like a magic wand to tilt the world.

[2607] Explore beautifully crafted environments.

[2608] Survive 20 challenging levels filled with strange creatures, traps, and puzzles.

[2609] Unlock bonus levels, competitive play modes, and surprising modifications that change the entire game.

[2610] Turn your world upside down with And Yet It Moves.

[2611] That was a PC game.

[2612] Indie favorite.

[2613] They're making some dramatic changes to it for the WiiWare version.

[2614] This is, you know, they put out trailers for this so I could see the game, so I could know what it was.

[2615] Yeah, nice when they do that.

[2616] And that helps so much, me being like, oh, okay, I don't have to go off of some batshit crazy.

[2617] I actually got an email from a developer whose game, I believe, we ridiculed in the past.

[2618] Yeah?

[2619] On here.

[2620] Who said, like, dude, we don't even know.

[2621] This was text that was in the back of our instruction manual that...

[2622] our publisher just went and pulled unbeknownst to us and gave to them.

[2623] And that's where that text is from.

[2624] So it's not even, it doesn't even conform to our theory of there's some poor bastard who has to sit there.

[2625] It just comes from random places.

[2626] It just comes from random spots.

[2627] That's, wow, that's even wilder.

[2628] So like these publishers are having to provide this stuff to Nintendo and then that's what's being used for this promotional text.

[2629] And then it's just, that's why you get the hard swings in quality and style.

[2630] Yeah.

[2631] Speaking of WiiWare and DSiWare games, IGN reviews all this stuff.

[2632] Wow, like all of it?

[2633] They fucking reviewed My Notebook carbon.

[2634] What did they give that game?

[2635] A 7 .5 out of 10.

[2636] Compared it to the other My Notebooks.

[2637] Like, this one has more pages.

[2638] So...

[2639] It did not occur to them to question why the fuck a virtual notebook needs to have a finite number of goddamn pages.

[2640] I don't really want to...

[2641] I don't know.

[2642] I mean, yeah.

[2643] But that National Anthems game, they gave like a two or something.

[2644] I think they just have one guy that just does it all.

[2645] I was going to say, I don't want to take to task the poor sad bastard who then has to play and write about all of these games.

[2646] I hope he's an intern.

[2647] Yeah.

[2648] I hope he's just like, yeah, you get to review all this stuff.

[2649] We didn't even make our intern do that.

[2650] That's intern work.

[2651] That's because we have better ways to spend those resources than this, dude.

[2652] We're not as actively cruel to our interns either.

[2653] Yeah.

[2654] So DSiWare, that was your one WiiWare?

[2655] That's it for WiiWare.

[2656] Virtual console.

[2657] Oh, shit.

[2658] Euphoria, the saga.

[2659] This was an NES game originally.

[2660] I remember seeing screenshots of this.

[2661] Sunsoft did it.

[2662] I remember seeing screenshots of it in magazines, but I don't think I ever actually played it.

[2663] Rated E for everyone, 600 points.

[2664] Join Bop Louie as he searches for three friends, Shades, Freon, Leon, and Gil, to help him complete his mad scramble.

[2665] It won't be easy.

[2666] Brain -boggling mazes, traps, and bizarre pitfalls stand in your way on the journey back to euphoria.

[2667] By the way, that's the letter U -F -O -U -R -I -A.

[2668] Euphoria.

[2669] So like G -phoria.

[2670] Got it.

[2671] But without the number four.

[2672] Four spelled out.

[2673] Brain -boggling mazes, traps, and bizarre pitfalls.

[2674] I already read that.

[2675] You'll rely on your friends to survive in this strange, changing world, and you'd better have the right powers for the strange worlds you'll encounter.

[2676] As you make your trek through mystical forests, deserts, and oceans, you'll need to seek out and destroy monstrous creatures every step of the way.

[2677] Will you have the right powers at the right time?

[2678] I don't know.

[2679] Don't let the mind -zabbing colors and stupefying sound effects throw you off.

[2680] That's a good idea.

[2681] Oh, what was that sound effect?

[2682] Stupefying.

[2683] Oh, no. It's like a brown note.

[2684] I just poop my pants and can't read.

[2685] No, Jeff, that's just every day.

[2686] Is that what that smell is?

[2687] DSI wear.

[2688] Oh, it's DSI wear.

[2689] What's that smell?

[2690] DSI wear.

[2691] That's how it's going to start off good.

[2692] When you just look at it and then through your brow, you're like, what did I just read?

[2693] Oh, wait, are these words?

[2694] Rytmik.

[2695] Spell it out for us.

[2696] R -Y -T -M -I -K.

[2697] Rytmik.

[2698] Okay, that checks out.

[2699] No hyphens, no weird.

[2700] No. Okay.

[2701] By Cinemax.

[2702] What?

[2703] Cinemax.

[2704] Like spelled out?

[2705] Like C -I -N -E -M -A -X.

[2706] All caps here.

[2707] Cinemax.

[2708] I'm hoping it's softcore porn.

[2709] Me too.

[2710] Let's roll those dice, Jeff.

[2711] All right, 800 DSI points.

[2712] Good week for softcore porn and video games.

[2713] Rhythmic is an application for creating rhythmical and melodic themes and composing whole songs.

[2714] Oh, yeah.

[2715] Contains more than 170 carefully selected sound samples of drums, cymbals, percussion, bass, and melodic instruments.

[2716] With rhythmic, you can quickly and easily create the basic building block and audio clip.

[2717] It consists of musical notations for up to four instruments that you may transpose.

[2718] Select their location in the stereo field and modify their volume, polyphony, and echo.

[2719] I want you to transpose it for me. Oh, yeah.

[2720] You can arbitrarily combine as many as 128 clips in four tracks to create complex pieces of music.

[2721] Because that's how good music's made is arbitrarily.

[2722] Yeah.

[2723] I just flipped a bunch of switches and then I made a Mozart.

[2724] That's how I'd make most of mine.

[2725] Really, it's just...

[2726] It's on Reggio, sounds good.

[2727] Polyphony 8.

[2728] All right, I don't know.

[2729] That's good, right?

[2730] Hold down the button, and it goes...

[2731] All right.

[2732] You also have a rhythm library with a varied collection of 16 pre -made compositions that can be used to help quickly compose your own pieces.

[2733] For the best musical experience, we recommend connecting headphones with a quality speaker system.

[2734] Wait, I can't download speakers or headphones?

[2735] Shannon Tweed stars in...

[2736] Ritmik.

[2737] Ritmik.

[2738] How much is Ritmik?

[2739] That's eight bucks.

[2740] Eight bucks, okay.

[2741] Seems like a lot of these weird...

[2742] Music apps and stuff.

[2743] I think after that Korg thing did well and people thought Electroplankton was kind of cool.

[2744] That was the name of that game.

[2745] I was trying to remember that for a while.

[2746] What was that called?

[2747] GG series, Ninja Karakuri Den.

[2748] All right.

[2749] By Genterprise Inc. Or Genterprise, I don't know.

[2750] Genterprise?

[2751] Genterprise.

[2752] That's G period G. No period on the second G. G dot G series.

[2753] I'm going to go home and have me a GG series.

[2754] Yeah.

[2755] What?

[2756] I don't know.

[2757] I hear you.

[2758] That sounded dirty.

[2759] Yeah.

[2760] Is that on Cinemax?

[2761] Brad's GG.

[2762] Shannon Tweed and Brad's GG.

[2763] Oh, in Cinemax presentation.

[2764] 200 Nintendo DSi points.

[2765] Jump and slash as a gravity defying ninja in this acrobatic action game.

[2766] Control a jumping ninja as he fights his way through a booby trapped mansion.

[2767] When your ninja touches a platform, it will automatically disappear and he will jump, making for pretty unstable footing.

[2768] But where some see obstacles, a ninja sees opportunity.

[2769] You will be forced to think on your feet, push your reflexes, and bend the very rules of physics to conquer your treacherous surroundings.

[2770] Master the art of the dash, shuriken, and sword.

[2771] Be a ninja.

[2772] Okay.

[2773] Be a ninja.

[2774] Be a ninja.

[2775] I'm a ninja.

[2776] Hey, Vinny, be a ninja.

[2777] It sounds like that Ninja Town, like, touch -to -jump game.

[2778] Kind of does.

[2779] Jeff, could you be more of a ninja?

[2780] Be a ninja.

[2781] You could always be more of a ninja.

[2782] Be a ninja, ninja.

[2783] I took all those ninja classes at the Gathering of the Juggalos.

[2784] My ninja.

[2785] What else?

[2786] My Farm by Bip Media.

[2787] That's capital B, lowercase i, capital B, lowercase m. Bip.

[2788] We've seen stuff from Bip Media.

[2789] Bip Bip.

[2790] Bip represents on here pretty hard.

[2791] This is my farm.

[2792] 200.

[2793] This is your farm.

[2794] 200 DSI points.

[2795] My farm.

[2796] Do what you gotta do.

[2797] My farm is a livestock farming simulation game.

[2798] At the beginning, all you own is an empty field, a few pennies, and a single hen.

[2799] If you feed the hen and take care of it, she will lay eggs that can be sold.

[2800] With this money, you can buy...

[2801] It's just like laying out the build order and tech tree right here.

[2802] I'm doing six cow, nine hen.

[2803] Nine heifer.

[2804] With this money, you can buy new animals at the farmer's market and purchase equipment from the shopkeeper.

[2805] Little by little, as your farm builds up, you will unlock bonuses including a wind turbine, rooster, guard dog, and tractor.

[2806] You will be able to exchange your animals with your friends who play my farm or my exotic farm.

[2807] Ooh.

[2808] I want to play the game where you wind up with one hen and three pennies at the end.

[2809] Like, what fucking miserable life did you...

[2810] Oh, no. Yeah.

[2811] I lost everything!

[2812] The rise and fall?

[2813] Yeah, I want to play...

[2814] It's a dust bowl now.

[2815] I can't grow it.

[2816] I can't tell...

[2817] Food flows where the water grows.

[2818] Congress created dust bowl.

[2819] I can't tell if...

[2820] I can't tell if...

[2821] Don't like water?

[2822] There's a difference between, like, Farmville and Harvest Moon at this point.

[2823] Harvest Moon is...

[2824] potentially cool Farmville.

[2825] That's classy, yeah.

[2826] But I mean, like, as far as...

[2827] In Farmville, I think you just click buttons.

[2828] But as far as, like, the actual...

[2829] Yeah, I guess.

[2830] But, like, the content of it is...

[2831] Harvest Moon has dating.

[2832] It's true.

[2833] I guess this sounds...

[2834] But Farmville takes place on Facebook.

[2835] This sounds...

[2836] But there's also dating.

[2837] Closer to Harvest Moon to me than to Farmville.

[2838] You're probably right.

[2839] But who can say?

[2840] No one ever.

[2841] No one ever.

[2842] It will remain a mystery.

[2843] My exotic farm, incidentally, also starts Shand.

[2844] There are six kinds of animals to customize, many farm improvements to buy, and bonuses to collect.

[2845] That has never been aired outside of Germany, though.

[2846] Right.

[2847] Yes.

[2848] Absolute reversi.

[2849] My Tosuke!

[2850] Are you sure it's reversi?

[2851] You're positive.

[2852] Is this the reversi I want to play?

[2853] Absolutely.

[2854] Are you sure?

[2855] I've got this other reversi.

[2856] That is...

[2857] Bull crap.

[2858] That is...

[2859] I mean, it's not bad.

[2860] It's reverse -y.

[2861] What can you do?

[2862] I'm going to call it Othello because I'm not an asshole.

[2863] And I have the license, so I can say...

[2864] You have the Othello license?

[2865] I do, personally.

[2866] I want to sub -license it from you for a DSiWare game I'm working on.

[2867] Nope.

[2868] Tell me about this definitive version of reverse -y.

[2869] It's from Tasuke!

[2870] That's okay.

[2871] One to two players, 200 points.

[2872] This Reversy game is for all players at any level.

[2873] Absolute.

[2874] Absolute.

[2875] Absolute.

[2876] Top to bottom.

[2877] Absolute Reversy takes the classic strategy game and updates it for the 21st century with three modes of play.

[2878] Fuck you.

[2879] So it's got a real -time mode, I bet.

[2880] Oh.

[2881] And Pokemon on one side and pictures of Shannon Tweed's ass on the other.

[2882] It is for all ages.

[2883] Yeah.

[2884] Exactly.

[2885] All players at any level.

[2886] How else are you going to appeal to all players at any level?

[2887] Just smoke goes before fire, you know what I'm saying?

[2888] Pokemon and Shantweed's ass.

[2889] Free play mode lets you select one of eight characters with different abilities to play against.

[2890] What?

[2891] In challenge mode, you are given missions to complete to advance in the game.

[2892] With the third mode, you can play against a friend using DS Download Play.

[2893] Additional features include a strategy guide, different ability levels, and the...

[2894] assistance function, which highlights all possible moves per turn.

[2895] You know, I guess we should be grateful that it's not just it's reverse.

[2896] It's absolutely like they did some weird shit to it.

[2897] Work for risk.

[2898] Eight characters with different abilities.

[2899] I wonder if that's just like some are better at playing reverse than others or it's like this one can make lightning striking.

[2900] It's double flips.

[2901] Double flips.

[2902] That's bad because then it's just back to their color again.

[2903] He doesn't know.

[2904] He's the Dan of the game.

[2905] He only drops red gems.

[2906] Remember those Absolute ads?

[2907] Do they still do those anymore?

[2908] Absolute Vodka?

[2909] Yeah.

[2910] What is that?

[2911] I don't know.

[2912] I don't look at the backs of enough magazine covers to know if they're still running those.

[2913] I don't do alcohol.

[2914] I don't need alcohol.

[2915] I'll have a good time.

[2916] I'll play somewhere first.

[2917] I don't need alcohol, however, to enjoy some emails, so bombcast at giantbomb .com is the email address.

[2918] I'm just thinking I could do a really rad Absolute bottle.

[2919] Can you just make all the white ones the Absolute bottle?

[2920] Somebody call up Absolute.

[2921] I'll get them on the phone.

[2922] Mark Thomas.

[2923] I'm sure we could.

[2924] Mark Thomas in Findlay, Ohio.

[2925] Hey, Bombcast.

[2926] Recently, my kids destroyed my Guitar Hero World Tour drums, prompting me to return the whole set to Best Buy since I had purchased the extended warranty.

[2927] Smooth.

[2928] Rather than purchase another band set, I decided to wait for Rock Band 3, but I've seen no information regarding what kind of full band kits will be available for the game.

[2929] Do you have any information on the various ways to buy Rock Band 3?

[2930] They did a big old licensing deal with Madcats this time around.

[2931] Madcats are going to be making a lot of the controllers, and it sounds like there are going to be bundles, but they're not forcing them on people.

[2932] They seem very intent on pushing a software only, and as well as a software plus the keyboard controller, since that's the one new thing.

[2933] But I would be shocked if there was not also a full band.

[2934] for people that did want that.

[2935] But I suspect that there will be fewer of those on shelves this season.

[2936] It definitely seems like both Activision and Harmonix have become keenly aware of the fact that, yo, people have a lot of this hardware already and they don't need to...

[2937] It's a big box.

[2938] It's a big box.

[2939] Box is too big.

[2940] It takes up a lot of space on the shelves, so...

[2941] It's true.

[2942] Don't look at me. I didn't do it.

[2943] Why did you make these boxes so big?

[2944] We said we needed the boxes to be smaller!

[2945] How else are you going to make a fort?

[2946] I still have a Rock Band 2 full band kit box full of garbage from my old office.

[2947] Sitting.

[2948] Like feet away from your front door.

[2949] No, it's now in my home office and I need to go through it.

[2950] That's true.

[2951] It's a good moving box.

[2952] Yeah.

[2953] When I moved, last time I moved, I used a Rock Band box to move a bunch of stuff.

[2954] Yeah.

[2955] It's a sturdy box.

[2956] But I was like hastily throwing everything into these boxes to like, I gotta get the fuck out of here.

[2957] Like.

[2958] It's got a Halo legendary helmet in there and a bunch of other crap.

[2959] I didn't close the top.

[2960] It was so overfilled with crap.

[2961] I still have my World Tour box and I don't know why.

[2962] Yeah, I do too.

[2963] I was digging through my garage looking for all those old PC games and found a bunch of old...

[2964] I have the box that my printer came in.

[2965] I now have...

[2966] I found my Xbox 360 Elite box and opened it up, and there's totally a power supply in there that I think will work for our weird debug needs, by the way.

[2967] Awesome.

[2968] So I'll dig that out and check and bring it in.

[2969] A bunch of weird shit.

[2970] So, yeah, I guess they have...

[2971] Don't save your game boxes anymore.

[2972] Like software, yes, but the full band kit stuff, let's free ourselves.

[2973] Although I do have that extra drum kit I can put in.

[2974] Anyways.

[2975] Bottom line is I don't believe they have officially announced anything.

[2976] as far as what they're going to do, but it definitely seems like a shift in focus.

[2977] I think they have announced some kits, like some bundle stuff is out there, but I don't know that they've said one way or the other on the band kit.

[2978] Check it out, and yeah, with Mad Cats involved now, it's kind of a whole different ballgame for how that stuff is packaged and sold, because there's even more players in the mix.

[2979] We'll see.

[2980] And yeah, new hardware that maybe you, or that you...

[2981] Wouldn't have, plus maybe some hardware that you did have that makes a lot more permutations on possible viable.

[2982] Plus you might want pro guitar, you might not.

[2983] I doubt they'll do any bundles that have like, here's the drums and a pro guitar and no keyboard.

[2984] At this point, there's almost an infinite number of ways they could package that game up.

[2985] Are there vintage instruments?

[2986] What's the year you want?

[2987] Oh man, 2006 was a good guitar.

[2988] I was a big believer in the Guitar Hero 3 guitars for a long time.

[2989] Like a 2007, 2008?

[2990] What's your model?

[2991] I don't know.

[2992] I played Warriors of Rock, the new Guitar Hero, and played one with their guitar, and it felt really nice.

[2993] Do you feel like each year they get better?

[2994] I think the Guitar Hero guitars have gotten better each year.

[2995] I think the Rockman guitars have gotten better each year also.

[2996] It's just at this point it's a matter of...

[2997] do you prefer the rock band style of guitar or the guitar hero style of guitar?

[2998] Yeah.

[2999] It's like you, you like the click or you don't.

[3000] Yeah.

[3001] But they got rid of all the weird crap up the neck on the guitar hero stuff.

[3002] There's no touch bar there anymore.

[3003] They still have like the palm mute star power thing.

[3004] If you want to go that route.

[3005] Okay.

[3006] Um, but all the electronics are in the neck cause they do customizable bodies, which like whatever, that's kind of dumb, but I would never be into that.

[3007] But the whole thing's a lot lighter, I think as a result of that.

[3008] And the whole thing felt nice.

[3009] Everything clicked right.

[3010] It felt pretty good.

[3011] So I think it's just you kind of go with whatever the newest stuff is because they've had the most time to work out the kinks.

[3012] All wireless now across the board.

[3013] Oh, yeah.

[3014] Everybody's.

[3015] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[3016] Although, you know, a rock band has been like for Beatles.

[3017] They had value packs of we have all these old damn guitars still.

[3018] So buy them from us for cheap.

[3019] Please.

[3020] Please.

[3021] You don't have to throw them away.

[3022] Next email comes in from Sean in Illinois.

[3023] Hey, Bombcast.

[3024] I'm really good at hotkey functions at work.

[3025] I hear that being able to know and use hotkeys is essential for high -level play on Battle .net.

[3026] Do you think I will be able to transfer my ability to hit hotkeys really good to StarCraft II play?

[3027] Absolutely.

[3028] Just you want to open your barracks and then copy and paste some.

[3029] Some Marines out of there.

[3030] I imagine he's talking like Excel, like spreadsheet stuff and all the hotkeys or maybe, I don't know, Photoshop.

[3031] It'd be pretty cool if you can copy and paste soldiers.

[3032] That's how you build them.

[3033] Control C, Control V, Control C, Control V. Ah, I pasted soldiers right in my base.

[3034] I overwrote these other soldiers that I had.

[3035] Fuck.

[3036] That's right.

[3037] I cut it instead of copied.

[3038] Do you want this clipboard to be available for other applications?

[3039] Ah, fuck, I replied to all of that shit.

[3040] Clippy, you bastard.

[3041] I don't know, that seems like, you know, the more comfortable you are at remembering all that stuff, I mean, hotkeys are definitely something you need to remember and memorize.

[3042] Yeah, some of the, so I guess the default hand position is kind of a, I want to say WASD.

[3043] Have you heard anybody referring to it as WASD recently?

[3044] Like pronouncing?

[3045] I have heard people pronounce it like that.

[3046] I've heard people calling it WASD recently.

[3047] But I don't trust those people.

[3048] Yeah, and like no hint of irony or nothing amiss.

[3049] That's just like the term.

[3050] Anyway, that's...

[3051] I've also heard people refer to WASD as just a generic term for like, what's your keyboard configuration?

[3052] Like, what's your WASD?

[3053] Which is really dumb.

[3054] That makes no sense at all.

[3055] Yeah, because either it is that or it isn't.

[3056] Right.

[3057] But there's kind of like two...

[3058] like schools of thought for the Starcraft stuff, like the classic versus people trying to make it around those keys.

[3059] Yeah, I haven't dug into it.

[3060] So that's the point I was going to make.

[3061] There's a few of the high keys are kind of pretty far afield of where you'd want your hand most of the time.

[3062] Like Immortals for Protoss are an eye.

[3063] Yeah, that's far.

[3064] It's pretty far for the left hand to go.

[3065] Yeah.

[3066] So I actually lose time looking down at the keyboard hunting the eye.

[3067] I mean, if you can do stuff like that, yeah, it would help.

[3068] Yeah.

[3069] Good.

[3070] The time we talk about Stark.

[3071] You don't think that's that inherent skill that you're talking about if he has a natural ability for hotkeys?

[3072] You've got to be able to hotkey fast and hard, though.

[3073] It's not just like memorizing it's only the first step.

[3074] You go through some weird manual contortions.

[3075] You've got to hit controlled numbers to set hotkeys or set groups.

[3076] Sure.

[3077] So, like, you got to kind of stretch your pinky back here to the control.

[3078] Especially if you're on a keyboard.

[3079] I was using my PC a lot this weekend while I was doing all that Quake stuff.

[3080] And it happened.

[3081] It flipped.

[3082] I kept trying to do Mac keyboard shortcuts on it.

[3083] Oh, yeah.

[3084] Like, just hitting alt stuff.

[3085] The best part is when some of it works.

[3086] Yeah, yeah.

[3087] Is that there are some of those things.

[3088] I'm like hitting Alt -R and going, why won't this page refresh?

[3089] Oh, that works.

[3090] The browser I use, that totally works.

[3091] Do you have the Apple keyboard at home?

[3092] Oh, I use a laptop.

[3093] Yeah, I use a laptop.

[3094] I've got the same Apple keyboard here and at home, but I use it on Windows at home.

[3095] That's the worst.

[3096] Oh, I'm sure.

[3097] But yeah, it happened.

[3098] I became that person.

[3099] I don't know.

[3100] How do I open Finder?

[3101] John from St. Catharines, Ontario, with a quick yet extremely important question for Jeff.

[3102] What's the best song on the new Big Boy album, Royal Flush, does not count?

[3103] It's track two.

[3104] All right, whatever that track is, track two.

[3105] Song two.

[3106] Oh, shit, I kept this email.

[3107] Yes, song two.

[3108] Awesome.

[3109] Yes, Blur's song two is the best song on the new.

[3110] He does a cover of it.

[3111] It's amazing.

[3112] Totally makes it his own.

[3113] Pat Baer from Brooklyn.

[3114] I bet Drew is great at ping pong.

[3115] Can we confirm or deny this?

[3116] What do you think, Vinny?

[3117] Do you think he's any good?

[3118] I agree, yeah.

[3119] Brad?

[3120] Probably, yeah.

[3121] What do you think the characteristic is about Drew that makes him so good at ping pong?

[3122] Okay, follow -up question.

[3123] Who do you think is better at ping pong, Drew or Joey?

[3124] I bet Joey is more modest about it.

[3125] I don't care about modesty.

[3126] I want to know when they hit the turf, when they're out there on the streets playing, hustling, ping pong for money, who comes out on top?

[3127] Joey doesn't hustle.

[3128] Joey trained for like half a year.

[3129] He actually worked as a pro ping pong player for a summer.

[3130] Yeah.

[3131] He's got a Kespa license and everything.

[3132] So we actually can't find out because he's not allowed to play ping pong in this country anymore.

[3133] Not legally.

[3134] Underground street games.

[3135] Shadow games is a reflection mechanic.

[3136] Ping pong is fun.

[3137] Ping pong is fun.

[3138] I'm going to go Joey.

[3139] I think Joey would take Drew.

[3140] You think Joey would take Drew?

[3141] Who would win or who's the better ping pong player?

[3142] Isn't that the same thing?

[3143] I feel like Joey might let Drew win.

[3144] like Drew might be more competitive than Joey and Joey might realize that.

[3145] And Joey's like, man, I got nothing to prove.

[3146] I have nothing to win from beating Drew at this.

[3147] You're really good at ping pong, man. I guess, you know, I was going to say like mind games aside, but mind games are an integral part of the experience.

[3148] So that's a valid perspective, I guess.

[3149] All right.

[3150] So who's better?

[3151] I'm going to go with Drew.

[3152] You still think Drew?

[3153] Yeah.

[3154] For some reason, I can picture Drew really getting intense over ping pong.

[3155] I don't know.

[3156] We should try it out.

[3157] Now I want to know.

[3158] Now we need to find out.

[3159] Man, yeah.

[3160] Like dog fights.

[3161] What about air hockey?

[3162] Which of them is better at air hockey?

[3163] Yeah.

[3164] I mean, do you identify?

[3165] them as maybe being good at air hockey as well.

[3166] You know, I see those as being more like foosball dudes.

[3167] Yeah.

[3168] Joey and Drew?

[3169] Joey, definitely.

[3170] A foosball guy?

[3171] Joey, definitely a foosball guy.

[3172] How about skeeball?

[3173] How about skeeball?

[3174] Yeah.

[3175] Can we go play some skeeball?

[3176] We'll break out of here.

[3177] I'm actually not so bad at skeeball.

[3178] Yeah?

[3179] You're on.

[3180] Let's go.

[3181] We had a skeeball.

[3182] We had skeeball at the roller rink.

[3183] I did skeeball maintenance.

[3184] Oh, wow.

[3185] Do you know any good skeeball places around here?

[3186] No. Can we go play some skeeball?

[3187] No. Fisherman's Wharf has got to be some skee -ball.

[3188] Yeah, it's got to be some skee -ball.

[3189] All we knew was Spider Ring.

[3190] I do.

[3191] Can I get little rubbery finger puppets, too?

[3192] You got it, sweetie.

[3193] All right, well, we're going to end this podcast, then.

[3194] We've got to go down to find the local skee -ballery.

[3195] Nickelodeon.

[3196] It's going to end up with us playing Fascination, isn't it?

[3197] That's it for emails.

[3198] Once again, bombcast .giantbomb .com.

[3199] And that's it for the podcast as well.

[3200] Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time.

[3201] Thank you.

[3202] It's hot in here.

[3203] It is hot in here.

[3204] We're going to go and get hot doing other stuff with Shannon Tweed.

[3205] Yeah.

[3206] And a burrito.

[3207] Cinemax.

[3208] Don't forget, Thursday Night Throwdown this week, Quake.

[3209] Perhaps you've heard of it.

[3210] Start figuring it out now.

[3211] Start figuring out how you're going to play Quake now.

[3212] So that we have people to play Quake with.

[3213] I'm going to go set up my keys.

[3214] You got to go set up your WASD.

[3215] No, I did not use that.

[3216] Well, it's the other benefit of using EndQuake or EasyQuake installer really is that it comes that way.

[3217] It comes with mouse look turned on and all that stuff already.

[3218] I kind of like there's something ritualistic about typing in plus Endlook every time you played.

[3219] Until you put it in your file.

[3220] Until you figured out like, oh, I could just do that and not have to do that every time.

[3221] Uh, so yeah, that's a TNT this week and be sure to tune back in next week for another edition of the giant podcast.