Giant Bombcast 01-04-2011

[0] It's Tuesday, January the 4th, 2011.

[1] You're listening to the Giant Bombcast, 2011 edition.

[2] I'm Ryan Davis.

[3] Vinny Caravella's in the house.

[4] Back in 2011.

[5] 2011.

[6] 2011.

[7] 2011.

[8] 2 -10 -11.

[9] Double D's, double Oots.

[10] Brent Shoemaker's here as well.

[11] Jeff Gerstman on vacation.

[12] Enjoying his holiday break.

[13] On assignment.

[14] I will say this morning when I woke up, I was like, oh, oh.

[15] I was just happy something got me out of bed.

[16] But if you wait a few weeks, how much better will it be?

[17] Oh, and then take that vacation later?

[18] Yeah.

[19] Yeah, we'll see.

[20] Space it out?

[21] We'll see.

[22] Yeah, the next opportunity that happens, it'll be, oh.

[23] It's December.

[24] I've been saying it for like five years now.

[25] I'm going to take a week off.

[26] This is a good time, right?

[27] I'm already sitting here thinking we've got a trip across the country next week, and then I've got a big review the week after that.

[28] Dice is coming up.

[29] Dice is two weeks after that, and then GDC is like two weeks after that.

[30] At least you're not going to CES tomorrow.

[31] At least you're not going to CES tomorrow.

[32] At the most, I'm not going to CES tomorrow.

[33] That is not coincidental.

[34] So, yeah.

[35] So good luck to our boys at CES.

[36] Consumer Electronics Show.

[37] It's nice knowing you.

[38] The cesspool.

[39] Oh, yeah.

[40] Look for that.

[41] The cesspool.

[42] Look out.

[43] The cesspool.

[44] See, every time you say that, I think you're invoking Adam Sessler.

[45] Oh, no, that's cessdog.

[46] I'm like, why are you talking mess about cess?

[47] I'm not going to talk mess about cess.

[48] That would be a good name for an Adam Sessler segment.

[49] You should start the cesspool.

[50] Like a good podcast.

[51] But then you don't have your clever CES segment.

[52] He can take it.

[53] Because we're only going to use it for like two or three days.

[54] About next year.

[55] And we're not even using it.

[56] Tested using it.

[57] They're in the tech realm.

[58] They'll never use it.

[59] They won't use it.

[60] Forget it.

[61] Well, I'll just keep yelling it at them.

[62] Anyway.

[63] But we're not going to CES because video games have no business at CES.

[64] 3D TVs, man. Except when...

[65] PSP 2 gets announced there.

[66] And whatever else happens.

[67] And we'll have that information as fast as not faster.

[68] I'm not disagreeing with you.

[69] We've got plenty of other stuff.

[70] I'll send you to Vegas.

[71] I'm good.

[72] Old Vegas, not even New Vegas.

[73] I'm good.

[74] New Vegas is kind of messed up.

[75] Yeah.

[76] So I think there's a little temporal dissonance here for some folks because all last week we posted like nine hours of bomb casts as part of our giant bomb game of the year.

[77] And Vinny Caravella, I just wanted to extend my gratitude to both you and Drew Scanlon, who is not here, but I'm going to gesture at and look at.

[78] Oh, as everywhere.

[79] for the incredible work that you guys did on our Game of the Year feature.

[80] Thank you guys for playing around with our monkey games.

[81] Hey, why don't you guys get in front of the camera and dance?

[82] What are you going to do with this?

[83] I don't know.

[84] Sit on the couch now.

[85] Okay.

[86] Brad, wave your arms around and just pretend you're looking at it.

[87] Okay, fine.

[88] But the packages were super slick.

[89] Oh, thanks.

[90] Dave designed it.

[91] Yeah, the design work was excellent on it.

[92] I thought it all looked really nice and it helped us.

[93] We had a bunch of really cool content up on the site.

[94] on holiday break.

[95] So that was a nice thing to have.

[96] It was pretty awesome.

[97] Almost without incident.

[98] Almost.

[99] Let's talk about the incident right now.

[100] I still don't fully understand it.

[101] Neither do I. Because when I left this room, it was my understanding that Morden was...

[102] That incident.

[103] I thought you meant the other incident.

[104] I don't know what the other one is.

[105] You perpetrated the other one.

[106] Your incident.

[107] But that's not even an incident.

[108] Whatever.

[109] I don't care about that.

[110] The January 1st, 2010 incident?

[111] Yeah.

[112] Oh, yeah.

[113] That was a good one.

[114] God damn it.

[115] It's weird in our tools because you hit the next month.

[116] Yeah.

[117] And then you're like, yeah, this is going up next month, January 1st.

[118] And totally doesn't cycle the year over.

[119] Right.

[120] Oops.

[121] That's okay.

[122] Oops.

[123] I'm surprised.

[124] You caught it quick.

[125] Yeah.

[126] So who was at fault for the prime incident?

[127] I don't know.

[128] The prime offense.

[129] It's weird because Jeff and I talked about it when we were going over the old packaging.

[130] We both watched all the videos like...

[131] 10 times.

[132] I must have watched it about 150 times.

[133] I felt bad because I was kind of like going through the text feature before it was going up and I'm like, yeah, everything here looks fine.

[134] I know.

[135] Nothing about it jumped out at me because I was even looking at that text a bunch.

[136] Like in terms of like formatting and content, it looked fine.

[137] Yep.

[138] Like nobody thought to actually check the winners against like the master list.

[139] I know Bayonetta was spelled right.

[140] I didn't catch that video.

[141] Did Bayonetta make it into the video as the winner?

[142] So Bayonetta was the winner.

[143] Well, that's the thing.

[144] Dude, I smell some kind of conspiracy here.

[145] So Jeff and I talked about it a bunch and we both had it marked.

[146] off on our copies of the list of like this was the winner from the from the podcast and decisions and stuff and we even talked about it specifically because we were talking about uh the spelling of morton you know not morton it's morton and we're talking about it and he was like oh yeah and i was like well you know we're only putting the winners in the video so he's like oh yeah i guess that's true so i guess morton's not going going in there Yeah, I don't know.

[147] I will put us all at fault.

[148] I will say each and every one of us.

[149] I wash my hands.

[150] I'm saying you and I looked at it.

[151] That's true.

[152] We did, yeah.

[153] We even were like, okay, this looks fine.

[154] And it wasn't until when I was like, oh, wait.

[155] From a raw editing perspective, it looked fun.

[156] So, yeah, I don't know.

[157] So I would just like to say that.

[158] Congratulations, Morton.

[159] Morton.

[160] Not Morton.

[161] It's a D. Morton.

[162] Morton.

[163] M -O -R -D -E -N.

[164] I can swallow those as much as I want.

[165] I'll just make it ambiguous.

[166] Morton.

[167] That's good.

[168] Morton.

[169] Morton.

[170] Yeah, be whatever.

[171] Spell how you want.

[172] He is our actual choice.

[173] We like Bayonetta an awful lot, obviously.

[174] She was on our mind.

[175] But on the record?

[176] On the record.

[177] For the permanent record.

[178] And in third place, John Marson.

[179] Martin.

[180] John Martin.

[181] Steve Martin, our best new character of 2010.

[182] Other than that, I thought I went off hitchless.

[183] Yeah, which is a real funny way to start it off with something like that because it just puts me on edge the entire time.

[184] Like, oh, fuck, what else is going to go wrong here?

[185] You know, there's a lot.

[186] Or to have that be like the first day of the awards and like, oh, like a major oversight.

[187] Like, this is all going to be in the office every day.

[188] Speaking of temporal dissonance, I loved in the comments, like the conspiracy theories people were coming up with.

[189] about primarily the personal top tens.

[190] People overanalyzing the choices that were made.

[191] Like, oh, he only put that at number two to get revenge for that game losing so -and -so category or whatever.

[192] We finalized those lists and shot those videos before the deliberations happened.

[193] Like days, like a week before those were done.

[194] Locked in.

[195] Yeah, I think it would be interesting at some point to do, on two regards, on the purely production technical end, to kind of surface how that stuff is done because there are a lot of moving pieces that need to come together and I'm really surprised that not more goes wrong.

[196] But there are a lot of things that need to match up and line up and go over.

[197] But then also on the kind of like...

[198] how we come to those choices, and I don't want to say how lightly, but it's definitely one of those things, at least in my top ten list, I'm sifting stuff around until somebody says go on the camera.

[199] Like, we say, oh man, my number eight, do I really want to?

[200] I think you and I both ended up with top elevens.

[201] Yeah.

[202] It's like, when you're asked to kind of put your favorite games and solidify this forever in a video, it's like, it seems very important, but then like...

[203] I almost feel like it's how your mood feels that day.

[204] But it's an in -the -moment decision.

[205] All you can do is judge it from how you feel at that very moment.

[206] And I think Jeff Green, in his top ten list, which I also want to – I've already talked to everyone personally.

[207] I want to thank all 11 of our contributors, our guest top tens.

[208] I thought that was a lot of interesting insight.

[209] It definitely affected the games that I played over the break.

[210] Some of the games that were coming up on that, like Racketeer, the item shop game.

[211] Is that how you say that?

[212] I've never figured that out.

[213] It's Racketeer.

[214] It's something that in the game is actually kind of spelled out because of how close it sounds to Racketeer.

[215] Those were fun lists, getting different developer perspective and industry perspective on 2010 and seeing what games were bubbling up on certain people's lists.

[216] I was surprised to see how often Darksiders really got brought out there.

[217] Although it also made it really funny for me that you literally can't talk about Darksiders without saying Zelda.

[218] It's literally impossible for anyone to say anything about Darksiders without at some point saying, Now, Zelda!

[219] It doesn't hide it.

[220] It's probably a testament to the need for more Zelda -style games, because there aren't that many.

[221] But all those lists were awesome, so thanks to everyone involved.

[222] One thing that was neat, this only happened once, admittedly, but hearing from the maker of...

[223] a game that was on another developer's top ten list and saying, like, oh, man, I super respect the game that that person makes.

[224] So hearing that they like our game was extra awesome.

[225] Yeah, folks at 2K asked us to extend a shout -out to Christina Norman from BioWare for her love of Civ.

[226] Oh, cool.

[227] Which she placed number two right behind.

[228] StarCraft.

[229] That she did.

[230] That she did.

[231] Christina Norman and me on the same page.

[232] So going back to the top ten thing, the original thing, certain games are solidified, at least for me personally, on my list.

[233] These will make it.

[234] These are going to make it on the list.

[235] And then this year, especially, once I got up to four or five, then there are a lot of games that could have made that back five.

[236] Absolutely.

[237] I definitely feel like I could have been...

[238] 11 through 15 on my list were very near contenders.

[239] There isn't a steep drop -off for me after 10 to be like, here's number 10, and the rest of the games this year were shit.

[240] I think around a dozen was where I had to start, or maybe around 15 I had to start whittling.

[241] But for me it was more the ordering.

[242] That's the thing that is super fickle.

[243] That's the part where it's just like, yeah, if I looked at this list tomorrow, I might have completely inverted it and had a totally different order for this.

[244] The important part is to just kind of highlight the stuff that you like.

[245] And I also want to say, and I don't want to linger on this Game of the Year stuff too much because I've been thinking about it constantly for like a month now.

[246] We are not – we are four dudes.

[247] We are not definitive, all right?

[248] There are a lot of people on the internet, it seems, that – there was a lot of questions like, well, did you forget this?

[249] Why wasn't this there?

[250] It's like it – Maybe we forgot it, but is that materially any different than it didn't strike us as a thing to talk about?

[251] I definitely saw in reading the comments mostly looking out for this video is broken.

[252] There were definitely a lot of comments.

[253] The one that jumped out for me the most was the God of War for best looking stuff.

[254] Easily the 2010 game of the year gate.

[255] It's weird to see it as a conspiracy because we had literally printouts and lists of all the games in front of us as we went through.

[256] everywhere, and prepping for going into the podcast, going through everything.

[257] Before we sat in this room and hashed out those winners, we sat in a different room and hashed out a list of finalists.

[258] Right, and so we had all the releases.

[259] And I even, while we were sitting in this room, even during the recorded part, I had full lists of the games that came out that year that I was scrubbing through to make sure, is there anything that we missed?

[260] Anything that's jumping out at me?

[261] Didn't jump out.

[262] In terms of missing a...

[263] I don't think anybody here could possibly have missed the name of the game as something that came up.

[264] But for me, God of War is a great -looking game, but it's just not something that jumps to mind when I think about what were the most visually striking things of the year.

[265] It's incredibly proficient on a technical level.

[266] Right.

[267] It's like somebody turned the knobs up.

[268] It also just looks like a much better version of the previous two games.

[269] The design is nice.

[270] I'm not even saying that it wouldn't be a valid choice.

[271] Sure.

[272] But, again.

[273] We're four dudes.

[274] These are the perspective of the four dudes, and these were the games that stayed with us.

[275] And I guess God of War 3 wasn't necessarily one of them in that regard.

[276] I mean, it might have been number four.

[277] for all of us i don't know there's only three there's only room for three finals it's just something that for me just does not even when people keep saying it now like oh you forgot about it it definitely doesn't jump to my mind as like uh fitting for me in that category i mean uh you can mention it but it still would have just been like i think there are i think you can find more striking things that will imprint on your brain more for that category and obviously it didn't imprint on our brains enough to kind of keep bringing it up.

[278] Yeah, these are totally opinions.

[279] There's nothing, there's no formula for this.

[280] Yeah, don't get upset about it.

[281] And I really, part of the reason that I wanted to put up the lengthy uncut deliberation podcasts.

[282] I wanted straight up a document.

[283] I don't think those things are entertaining at all.

[284] I think that actually listening to our deliberation podcast is fucking grueling.

[285] But it is a paper trail.

[286] If there's any question, how could they possibly come to this decision?

[287] Just listen.

[288] Right.

[289] It might be a bad decision.

[290] We might have come to it poorly.

[291] It might just be because one of us said, fuck it.

[292] Right.

[293] Fine.

[294] I don't care.

[295] I'm too tired.

[296] Let's move on.

[297] Like, it could be that.

[298] And that's fine because that is how these things work.

[299] When you have to.

[300] We've been doing these for a long time.

[301] Long time.

[302] And this is the process.

[303] I don't know if this is the process everywhere, but this is the process I'm familiar with.

[304] So.

[305] There are humans behind these choices.

[306] Not many of them.

[307] And a lot.

[308] And it gets worse when there are more.

[309] In the spirit...

[310] Oh, yeah.

[311] Fuck.

[312] Yeah, try not to remember that far back.

[313] Oh, God.

[314] Try not to remember, like, 30 people in the same room trying to come to consensus.

[315] We're not leaving here until we have a consensus.

[316] I was actually thinking about that some, because that was where, for me, like, where the filibuster began.

[317] It's where that skill and your ability to really sell a game...

[318] Where I, at least for myself, developed that.

[319] Was in that room.

[320] Because I'm like...

[321] I'm only going to get to get my word in edgewise a couple of times here.

[322] So when I do, I've got to fucking go for it.

[323] You've got to pick your battles.

[324] You've got to pick your battles, but you also have to have a good set of talking points.

[325] You've got to be able to really sell it not just with information but with passion.

[326] Man, that was fun.

[327] That was a lot of fun.

[328] Well, that's why I really like the top ten list as well.

[329] Because it's like, you know, we have to agree on all that stuff.

[330] You don't have to agree with anybody about your top ten list.

[331] Actually, I just wanted to say in the spirit of there only being four of us or going along with that theme, And also the parts of the top 10 is moving around a lot.

[332] It's really, I almost hate to admit this, it's really sad to play other games that you didn't have time to play afterwards and feel like, man, maybe that could have, that might have edged in toward the end of the list.

[333] I played a bunch of shit over the break that could have come up one way or the other.

[334] Totally.

[335] Well, that's the part I hate about Game of the Year is I think it's kind of a dopey thing in concept, but I really like it because it celebrates all these great games for the year.

[336] And then actually going through the entire process and looking at all this stuff, you're like, man, I have a shit ton more to play this year.

[337] I feel like if I had had time to play Darksiders, there's a good chance it would have been there.

[338] But it was a point that I made repeatedly.

[339] If you had cared enough, you would have played it.

[340] Well, there are certain demands.

[341] Reviewing has to take precedence.

[342] There's no way I was.

[343] going to play like a second of fallout new vegas before the break that's just the reality of it right and i played it i'm really enjoying it um it still has its faults hey that's why we have our 2011 2010s game of the year i don't know i don't know what year that is you mean 2010 2020 who 20 i was sitting there playing i was sitting there playing iso milo yesterday and thinking man this is going to be on the list for best music i know it is um All right, closing the book.

[344] What's not talking about?

[345] Game of the Year.

[346] Arrivederci, 2010.

[347] Buenos Dias, 2011.

[348] Did you start your list yet?

[349] You're going to shoot early this year.

[350] No, I've got different lists.

[351] I've got different lists.

[352] I've got the games that I played over the holiday break list.

[353] Oh, man. Vinny Caravella, though.

[354] Should we start with you?

[355] Let's just go around the room.

[356] I'm sure we must have some overlap.

[357] Actually, I don't know.

[358] I feel like the break games are so eclectic and weird.

[359] They can be.

[360] They can be.

[361] Hey, Vinny Caravella.

[362] Hey, man. What you been playing?

[363] So, let's see.

[364] I don't have my list in front of me. I didn't bring notes, so I'm just going to be off the head here.

[365] Christmas Day.

[366] Paint me a picture in the Caravella household.

[367] Okay, this is an easy one.

[368] So my wife got me Kinect.

[369] You got Microsoft Kinect for Xbox.

[370] The Microsoft one, yep.

[371] Did you get the off -brand Kinect?

[372] It's Kinect.

[373] Oh, you mean the move?

[374] Oh!

[375] Oh!

[376] No, whatever.

[377] They're both kind of stuff.

[378] So it's really funny.

[379] I didn't play the Kinect once over the break.

[380] I still don't have one.

[381] That fucker just sits on top of my TV and judges me. You can't even use it for voice chat.

[382] It's useless even for that.

[383] Oh, no, it works for that.

[384] Well, have you been on the other end of it, though?

[385] Oh, no. Does it sound terrible?

[386] Terrible.

[387] Terrible.

[388] Because it picks up all of the game audio.

[389] Oh, no. That's the part where you have to just turn your game audio way, way down.

[390] Oh, it doesn't do it.

[391] I thought it was supposed to set up to...

[392] Its occlusion is not very good.

[393] It's unlistenable.

[394] Well, so she knew that I had this interest in Kinect.

[395] Let's just say a morbid curiosity in Kinect.

[396] Yeah, I think that's fair.

[397] You were not very pro.

[398] In a sense, I kind of hate it, and I hate everything about it.

[399] But in another sense, I feel like I need to experience it before I can really develop that kind of love or hate, right?

[400] Because you can't hate from the sidelines that deeply.

[401] You can have a casual hate, but you can't really.

[402] Thanks for breaking it down.

[403] No, you need to know what you're talking about.

[404] Yeah.

[405] So I felt like I really needed to know what I'm talking about.

[406] And she knew this.

[407] And she also knew that there were things about it that I probably would enjoy.

[408] It's a new piece of technology.

[409] technology is kind of awesome like technical marvel showing my brother that over the break and you know it's like oh this is magic so she's kind of like here's connect and i was like all right great all right let's set this up nowhere in my house can i set this up that it works properly so a little san francisco apartment yeah so we i've got a i've got a crt television that's pretty big and my old school crt beefy and hd you should point out yeah there are not a lot of hd's yeah it's a nice one it's uh that's why i haven't gotten rid of it but let's just say for the sake of argument it's about uh a foot and a half to two feet deep right yep So the Kinect has to be up against the wall.

[410] So the TV is popping out an extra two feet.

[411] The Kinect is pushed up against the wall, stacked on top of the Kinect box it came in, on top of another box to get it high enough.

[412] So it's placed upon its boxes on top of the CRT.

[413] So it's about, I don't know, probably about eight feet up, right?

[414] Yeah.

[415] And we have our...

[416] or calves pressed against the couch.

[417] So that was the only way we could possibly get the Kinect to work.

[418] And it's got a wide -angle lens, so it gets a lot.

[419] Yeah, it gets the breadth of it, but it just needs the...

[420] The height is kind of tough.

[421] It needs the distance.

[422] So it's pointing down on us.

[423] So we played some Kinect Adventure, and that was kind of fun.

[424] Yeah.

[425] And then I spent like an hour going Xbox.

[426] Yeah.

[427] Saying things to Xbox.

[428] I like to just say it just so that the thing comes up.

[429] Yeah.

[430] And be like, eh, never mind.

[431] Xbox cancel.

[432] Yeah.

[433] And so like.

[434] There's nothing here I want to do.

[435] But I just want to let you know.

[436] Yeah.

[437] I know your fucking name.

[438] I just, there were just things about it I just don't understand.

[439] And now having.

[440] Had it in my household, having it in my household, I can say with authority that there are just design decisions that seem so weird.

[441] Like, why do I have to go into that other dashboard?

[442] Why, if we have the spoken thing, can I not just say Xbox and then say number two or number three or up or down?

[443] Like, why are you going to give me this isolated thing that has, like, I don't know, 10, 12?

[444] choices that are none of the things I ever use.

[445] ESPN never uses.

[446] Is there no way to customize the items on that screen?

[447] No. It's what's on there.

[448] The first pane, the only thing that's on there that really I could ever want to use is the game.

[449] Right.

[450] Don't want to use anything else.

[451] It's a bummer that, like, I wish Netflix worked with it.

[452] Netflix, you know, pretty much anything else besides Zoom.

[453] I don't use that.

[454] There are two media options on there.

[455] I mean, the reality of it is that the Kinect is bad for, like, UI.

[456] It's so slow.

[457] It's bad for you.

[458] Well, just because it is slow, it takes time for it to register what you're doing.

[459] But you're thinking if it was trying to register anything faster, even if it could keep up, it would be way too easy for it to confuse just like scratching your head for, oh, you want to go up five pages.

[460] No, no, no. I was just scratching my head.

[461] It's kind of the limitation when your body is the controller is any errant movement you do can be interpreted.

[462] I just want the voice stuff to work on the main menu because I just want to be able to.

[463] You know, baby steps.

[464] What you just said, Ryan, is similar to the argument against something like, for instance, using the move for first -person shooters.

[465] When you're doing that, there is no dead zone for the controller, essentially.

[466] There's no way to drop your hands and not have the view react to what you're doing.

[467] The controller can stop moving the joystick and your view will stay static.

[468] Yeah, there are a lot of design obstacles to overcome with this stuff.

[469] Just played Kinect.

[470] Kinect Adventure is the one that comes with it.

[471] And, you know, it's very similar to the experience we've had in the office with that game.

[472] There's nothing new there.

[473] But we had a hard time in our space trying to keep two people in the Kinect.

[474] Oh, I bet.

[475] Oh, they just wanted to lose that.

[476] I became my wife for a while.

[477] Especially after all that ham, right?

[478] Oh, yeah.

[479] We were just busting out the seams.

[480] And then...

[481] So we had our fun with that.

[482] It was fun.

[483] It was a great gift.

[484] And I'm glad I have one now.

[485] Then I played World of Cat Flames with Jeff.

[486] Was that the rest of your break?

[487] That was Christmas.

[488] It was Christmas Day.

[489] Tell me about it.

[490] So I have it.

[491] Yeah, I have it too, but I want to hear about this.

[492] It's one of the trio that I have not downloaded yet.

[493] I played a fair amount of Kingdom.

[494] But at a certain point, it got too complicated, and I'm like, I don't know what's going on anymore.

[495] There are some actual good improvements to that.

[496] It's basically the same kind of game.

[497] It's identical.

[498] It's resource management and putting down dudes.

[499] It's like, oh, there's wood over here, so I need to...

[500] Yep, chop wood, dude.

[501] Put this hat on, you're a wood chopper.

[502] Right, it's all the hat -based job stuff.

[503] But now there are some refinements that are nice.

[504] The best thing that they have added are these little helper guys, specifically four or five guys.

[505] that will just help you out that you can't assign tasks to.

[506] But if you build something at your factory and you walk over to somewhere else, they will bring that stuff to you.

[507] So they literally are just there to ferry goods that are being built to you.

[508] And then if you've built a blueprint before for like, I don't know, let's say a mill, they will automatically build that while the supplies are coming out.

[509] So that makes the game a lot faster and a lot more fun.

[510] But essentially it is the same.

[511] Just streamlined.

[512] Any new online stuff?

[513] I thought Kingdom had multiplayer.

[514] I think it had some degree of multiplayer.

[515] Jeff and I were building the world together, man. There are three different worlds now.

[516] You travel from a snowy one to a kind of more medieval fantasy one to a desert world.

[517] So there are three worlds.

[518] And you don't bring stuff in between them.

[519] There's like a story.

[520] It paces better than Kingdom.

[521] In Kingdom, I feel like you got to a point where you're just lost.

[522] I don't know what to do.

[523] This has like objectives that keep you going the entire time.

[524] It was, yeah, it just got to a point where it's like systems are just getting more complicated and I've got a million guys running around.

[525] I can't keep track of that.

[526] And that tech tree or building tree or whatever it was in the first one, I remember being gargantuan.

[527] There were like dozens of buildings on that thing.

[528] This seems like more streamlined, and Jeff and I were pretty much able to quote -unquote beat the game in one sitting.

[529] Oh, wow.

[530] Yeah, it was fun.

[531] It was goofy fun.

[532] That sounds good.

[533] I'm building the lumber mill.

[534] What are you building?

[535] I'm building the glass maker.

[536] So wait a minute.

[537] Do you both go offline then and have a copy of that world?

[538] I think so, because it asks me to save it.

[539] Who gets custody rights when you split up?

[540] I think we must both have it.

[541] I'm not 100 % sure.

[542] You get it on weekends?

[543] Yeah, I get to stroll around the world, take the Kef kids around.

[544] But you have to have a quarter -pointed monitor there at all times.

[545] Of course.

[546] Well, unless we go out into the frozen world.

[547] That's what the Kinect is there for, to keep an eye on it.

[548] Yes, that's the other thing with Kinect.

[549] I don't trust that thing at all.

[550] I really don't.

[551] I like the way it battles.

[552] I don't know if I should say it.

[553] I just think that thing is just recording whenever it wants to.

[554] What's up, Brad?

[555] I don't know if we can talk about that.

[556] I heard some terrifying things about the early hardware.

[557] Oh, what about it?

[558] About them being able to access it remotely and stuff?

[559] I don't know.

[560] That is all apocryphal.

[561] I have no idea if that's true.

[562] Oh, I mean, I don't doubt that...

[563] You could build that hardware.

[564] Yeah, it's technically possible.

[565] And it's not even a hardware.

[566] That could just be fucking drivers.

[567] Yeah.

[568] Whatever.

[569] Guess what?

[570] You get to see me being fat in my living room.

[571] Nothing too shocking going on there.

[572] He's scratching his crotch again.

[573] Yeah, you know what?

[574] The visions they get back from Connect would just depress them, I think.

[575] When I saw the images that came back when it takes those photos, I was like, this is fucking just depressing.

[576] Here I am in my pajamas, my socks, and my wife's in her pajamas.

[577] just in the smallest cramped looking space is trying to jump and like the contrast between the reality and like those, those marketing driven commercials starring like models where people are in like some like, they always look like they're in like Asia somewhere on some like, like, Or something super nice.

[578] Or in an Ikea.

[579] Yeah, just like huge floor space.

[580] And the couch is just in the middle of the room for some reason.

[581] Hardwood floors.

[582] Bright lighting.

[583] Very attractive.

[584] That's right.

[585] But yeah, super minimalist.

[586] There is a couch and nothing else.

[587] Nothing.

[588] And a flat screen mounted to the wall.

[589] And like that's it.

[590] Not my everything smushed against the wall living room.

[591] We've jammed as much shit into this space as we possibly could.

[592] My coffee table is on its side now.

[593] Is that in the frame?

[594] If they want to spy on me, let them come.

[595] Let them see me. And then after that, it was my wife and I on our little couch, me laying on my side.

[596] She's laying with the blanket, trying to wave her hands.

[597] It's not working.

[598] Why does it work?

[599] Can't get it to see us.

[600] It's lighting up my hand, but it's also lighting up the book that's next to me. But anyways, whatever.

[601] I've got...

[602] The eye toy and the live vision camera.

[603] Those have been sitting in my living room staring at me for years already.

[604] I don't know.

[605] This thing just seems a little more nefarious.

[606] Because it moves on its own.

[607] There's like a Hal -like quality to it.

[608] It's like you can start talking to you.

[609] I turn my vision camera around.

[610] Do you really?

[611] Really?

[612] You don't use the dashboard effects?

[613] No. It doesn't work for that.

[614] Oh, for the live vision it does.

[615] Yeah.

[616] I use that and I use the dots.

[617] There's a few different, like, because there's, like, the swimming.

[618] Ah, yes.

[619] I use the dots.

[620] The water and the dots and, like, the edges.

[621] They still have that?

[622] That's still in there.

[623] Okay.

[624] I was always kind of bummed that the PS3i doesn't have something similar.

[625] I use the dots.

[626] Just pop that thing on once in a while.

[627] I don't have an eye.

[628] I should get that.

[629] I bet if you use the move controls with the Kinect, it works great.

[630] I don't think they're compatible.

[631] Just light up your hands.

[632] I'll wait until somebody hooks them both up to a computer and makes them work together.

[633] It's a real game.

[634] Kingdom.

[635] World is great.

[636] You like World?

[637] We'll take a look at it later this year.

[638] Yeah, let's play some of that.

[639] So the games I went through are, oh, that's no good.

[640] Don't stick that in there.

[641] What are you, a doctor?

[642] Whatever.

[643] I wanted to see what was going to happen.

[644] Wet.

[645] Feeding itself.

[646] You asshole.

[647] It's not as bad as you might.

[648] No, I played it.

[649] I got to a point and I had to say, I just got to a certain jump where I'm like, I don't know where I'm supposed to jump from here.

[650] I will say it's a game I had to play over the course of like four days and it's not a long game.

[651] I'm putting this down.

[652] I really liked where it was trying to go.

[653] I really dug some of the music and stuff that was in it.

[654] It was not competent enough.

[655] I agree.

[656] I agree.

[657] A lot of ideas and a lot of – I see this vision in your head.

[658] I share this.

[659] What you see is happening.

[660] Like you're playing a Tarantino movie.

[661] Yeah, like it's a badass chick, grindhouse kind of vibe.

[662] Some acrobatics, some dual gun.

[663] Start this kind of like – John Woo jumping gameplay.

[664] Western, like southwestern kind of guitar riffs and stuff.

[665] That's right.

[666] A slide guitar and twangy shit.

[667] And a battle breaks out and then it's just like – And there's Yakuza motherfuckers everywhere for some reason.

[668] And then, yeah, you're in Texas Chinatown or something.

[669] It's crazy.

[670] It sounds great on paper.

[671] And then it's like – in execution, it's like the only way to trigger this bullet time is to slide on your knees and start shooting.

[672] So that's you going around in a circle basically sliding on your knees or jumping.

[673] It's just weird.

[674] That sounds like Vanquish before Vanquish.

[675] And just bad – just like weird handling stuff.

[676] The film grain and like camera shake stuff just doesn't look good.

[677] But it had some style that shone through.

[678] So, yeah.

[679] A little bit.

[680] That was a great use of your free time.

[681] Well, so I put that in and then I sent that back to Gamefly.

[682] Did you finish it?

[683] I finished it.

[684] I almost...

[685] First, are you pumped for Wet 2?

[686] Is there going to be?

[687] Yep.

[688] Oh, really?

[689] Yes, because maybe they'll figure it out.

[690] I don't know.

[691] Like I said, there are things in it that seem pretty cool.

[692] Yeah, I believe they've confirmed Wet 2.

[693] But what I'd like to see a sequel to, the other game, I'll skip ahead to the end of my vacation, and there's a bunch of stuff in between.

[694] But the end, my favorite game this break, Alpha Protocol.

[695] Really liked it.

[696] There will never be an Alpha Protocol 2.

[697] That game...

[698] Are you okay with that?

[699] In the sense that I really liked Alpha Protocol and I can close the book on it, like, yes.

[700] But, like...

[701] There were things about that game that could have been better.

[702] You think a second crack?

[703] Maybe.

[704] It's really ambitious.

[705] But as far as seamless, multi -narrative stuff goes, it's probably the best on the market.

[706] I want to check it out because Jeff said a lot of really positive things about it at the time.

[707] Granted, it was all couch and caveats.

[708] But it was just like the fucking shooting.

[709] Just like the basic gameplay.

[710] I played it before it came out.

[711] I was like, this is just...

[712] untenable.

[713] So I had the...

[714] I was able to play it with all of that...

[715] told to me beforehand.

[716] Yeah, you have the benefit of like six months of hindsight.

[717] Yeah, and people are like, listen, if you really want to...

[718] And patches.

[719] Yeah, and patches.

[720] So if you really want to enjoy the game, don't do this.

[721] You should probably do this.

[722] And like min -max that game.

[723] Like build your character in this very specific way and then you'll have fun with it.

[724] Not even so much of that.

[725] It's like drop, like forget trying to even out all the points.

[726] Like just maximize something because you get perks as you put points into things.

[727] And those things really make a huge difference, especially with the gunplay.

[728] So I was able to play it with a character that I thought was great.

[729] I kind of can't see playing it any other way than the way I specced it out.

[730] But the story stuff, it's just really fantastic.

[731] The way they integrate everything, it's smartly written, clever dialogue, and like I said, it makes you feel like the way you're making the story evolve is the only way the story could have gone when obviously there are...

[732] Hundreds of permutations.

[733] I also had a very positive Obsidian game experience over the break, playing some Fallout New Vegas.

[734] Again, my copy was still wrapped, still sealed.

[735] You had to break the seal on it?

[736] I had to break the seal on it about a few days into the break.

[737] I think that's for the best, because I think they just put out that giant patch the week before.

[738] Well, it's kind of like I knew patched.

[739] It was one of those I was going to start.

[740] playing it a little bit before the break, but I knew there was a patch coming, so I'll just hang out.

[741] It is at least as stable as Fallout 3 was when I played that.

[742] I'm not going to say it's stable.

[743] But I've only had two hardlocks, and that game is so crazy about...

[744] auto -saves.

[745] That motherfucker auto -saves constantly.

[746] So on both occasions, I didn't really lose any progress.

[747] I didn't really care.

[748] I think that it's better written than Fallout 3.

[749] I think that it's got a better story than Fallout 3.

[750] I think the stuff with the factions is really interesting.

[751] I think the stuff with your companions is really well done because...

[752] I feel like part of it is I got better at playing Fallout through playing Fallout 3.

[753] Like when I first started playing Fallout 3, I really didn't fucking know how to play Fallout 3.

[754] And now you're just jumping in like, I know this.

[755] Well, now it's like I know where I want to sync my time or my abilities, basically.

[756] It's like I know I just want to get to 100 with speech as fast as I can.

[757] And I know what perks are going to be fun to use.

[758] Because it's more like...

[759] I'm not going to play to, like, spec to some specific combat thing.

[760] I'm speccing to what's the most fun?

[761] What gives me the most options in any given scenario?

[762] When you're able to give yourself all the points.

[763] Because there are so many options.

[764] Yes, exactly.

[765] But there are so many occasions where it's what you were complaining about and the reason why you kind of just ham and egged your way through it.

[766] is that if you have speech and barter and sometimes it would be science or repair or medicine, that will open up these other options for you, both in dialogue and as well as mission completion.

[767] That's the stuff you want to see.

[768] Yeah, but a lot of those decisions you don't have to make in the moment.

[769] There's a lot of those where you're like, well, I'll come back.

[770] I'm not ready to do this right now.

[771] so I don't just murder this dude because I'm not good enough at medicine to fix him.

[772] I cannot amputate this guy's leg.

[773] But even just having full speech and having pretty good barter, I was able to get through so many situations without firing a shot, just see some great dialogue options, watch some amazing scenes play out, and have really enjoyed that.

[774] Having the companions means that I don't really have to fight.

[775] I've got the to -dos.

[776] I've got Cass, and I've got the dog, Rex, my robot dog.

[777] So you're not spending much time in vats then?

[778] Whenever I fight, I'm in vats.

[779] But I don't have to.

[780] Like you're saying, you don't have to.

[781] I just hang back.

[782] They do most of the killing for you.

[783] Literally, they will do the killing for you.

[784] So you have to worry about they get incapacitated.

[785] They can get incapacitated, but they cannot die.

[786] So it's one of those like they'll fall down.

[787] And there are definitely some kind of tough parts where I'm like, okay, after each wave of enemies, they're pretty much done.

[788] But I'm okay, so I'll let them.

[789] They're basically just like a weird another level of shield as well as attack.

[790] Going back to being able to not make that decision on the...

[791] In the moment, yeah.

[792] In the moment.

[793] Alpha Protocol has a timer.

[794] Oh, no, I know.

[795] Oh, it's so good.

[796] It's just like, no, right now.

[797] Oh, man. There's so many times where I'm just reading the things and I'll hit the button at the last second.

[798] Like, I'll leave it on execute or something.

[799] Wait, no, I want the other one.

[800] That is...

[801] Oh, man. That's good.

[802] That's good stuff.

[803] The bad part, like you were saying about...

[804] an Alpha Protocol compared to New Vegas, is there are totally situations where they're like, we don't care what spec you are, you're going to have to fight this guy.

[805] And you're like, dude, I'm a stealth dude, and now I'm going up with a dude who stabs you with knives, just runs up to you.

[806] This guy has rockets.

[807] That's not cool.

[808] I'm going up against a helicopter.

[809] This helicopter doesn't give a shit if I'm in stealth.

[810] He just backstabbed that helicopter.

[811] It's like, what did you do to me?

[812] Why would you do this to me?

[813] But high recommendation for Alpha Protocol.

[814] You've reminded me and it makes me want to go and revisit.

[815] Grain of salt, but yeah.

[816] I don't know if they patched in a lot of stuff about the gunpoint because that's something I heard a lot was like you have a reticule and you're aiming at dudes and bolts are just whizzing by their head.

[817] That's something I remember hearing a lot.

[818] Yeah.

[819] I just didn't find that stuff.

[820] and I thought it looked really ugly.

[821] There was a confluence of things where I'm like, I just don't want to.

[822] I got really invested to admit it and wound up playing through it on Saturday Sunday just to sit down and play throughs and, I don't know, a load of fun.

[823] I also was just reminded that I love the world of Fallout.

[824] This is a fun world?

[825] I was like, yeah, I'm happy to be back here.

[826] This is like, and especially because when you first start that game, one of the perk options is Wild Wasteland.

[827] Which is basically just weird shit is going to happen while you're out in the wasteland.

[828] And, you know, it's just going to make your experience goofy.

[829] I'm like, yeah, I want goofy.

[830] You are pro -wild wasteland.

[831] I'm staunchly pro -wild wasteland.

[832] That is a divisive perk from what I've read.

[833] You know, people who take Fallout serious, like, dude, they were making Money Python references in fucking Fallout 2, all right?

[834] The goofy, dumb, nerd stuff is inherent to Fallout.

[835] I agree.

[836] Can't be that serious.

[837] I think that they can have good drama, and there is good drama in Fallout New Vegas.

[838] But I want crazy shit.

[839] I just want stuff to jump off at all times.

[840] It's the best, most memorable things.

[841] And I haven't played through all of it.

[842] It was one of my games I definitely wanted to jump back into over the break and never got to.

[843] But the best moments for me are when you meet the bizarre.

[844] You want the weirdest dudes out in the wasteland.

[845] Oh, so you must have met the guy, my favorite dude from Fallout, and again, I haven't made it through the whole thing, and I'm probably not nearly through the whole thing, was the guy for the mission.

[846] Fucking, I can't remember his name.

[847] The aliens that come down, the invisible.

[848] The Invisible Mutants.

[849] Oh, the Nightkin.

[850] Yeah, the first time you meet the Nightkin dude.

[851] Oh, please tell me you met that guy.

[852] Cross -dressing guy?

[853] No, he's the guy.

[854] There's basically like cows.

[855] What do they call the cows there?

[856] Brahman.

[857] The Brahman are getting killed.

[858] Oh, I met him.

[859] I didn't follow up on that thread.

[860] Oh, he's so good.

[861] I need to go back.

[862] I need to go back.

[863] I know what you're talking about.

[864] He's so good.

[865] He's pretty good.

[866] I love the Yes Man robot.

[867] I think he is.

[868] The voice work on that character is amazing.

[869] Oh, the one you meet in the beginning?

[870] No, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, not the main robot dude.

[871] You beat him after you get to the strip.

[872] Okay, I might be before that.

[873] Did you find Benny?

[874] I don't remember who Benny is.

[875] Benny's the guy who shoots you in the face at the beginning of the game.

[876] No. Checkered suit.

[877] Okay, then this is after that.

[878] See, I don't know if, like, the Fallout games are great because this is the way I played Fallout 3.

[879] I just never did the main story quest until the end.

[880] Yeah.

[881] I mean, that's how you play all Bethesda games, right?

[882] Yeah, kind of.

[883] And by you, I mean everybody.

[884] Like, they put a path in front of you and you head where the waypoint's not pointing.

[885] Like that's just kind of how I go.

[886] My only slide against Fallout New Vegas right now is that I feel like I've reached a point.

[887] I've been playing in a pretty specific way of like, I want these guys.

[888] I want to align myself with these guys.

[889] I don't like these guys.

[890] And so I want to start putting things into play to get in a certain direction.

[891] But I feel like the only options that are apparent to me right now, and I've got like seven or eight missions available to me in different states of undoneness.

[892] I feel like the only option for all of them is fucking kill everyone.

[893] And I'm like, that's not how I'm playing and not how I want to play.

[894] I am a chatty dude.

[895] I am not the murderer.

[896] I'm not a merc.

[897] But it seems like it's the most apparent thing.

[898] So I'm kind of reaching a point where, like, because I was moving and, like, cranking through missions and getting a lot of good stuff done, and I've kind of hit a little bit of a wall.

[899] Slow down a bit.

[900] Yeah, a little bit.

[901] Hey, Drew.

[902] Ladies and gentlemen.

[903] Gentlemen.

[904] A wild Drew has appeared.

[905] Drew Scanlon.

[906] Wild wasteland indeed.

[907] Indeed, indeed.

[908] Fourth chair coming in.

[909] Drew Scanlon, thanks for joining us here.

[910] Yeah, you bet.

[911] Making time out of your busy prepping for CES schedule.

[912] Yeah.

[913] Are you going to see us?

[914] I'm not.

[915] I'm fucking awesome.

[916] Score for you, right?

[917] It's so rad.

[918] Oh, do you mean the cesspool?

[919] Make the New Jacks go.

[920] Make the Youngbloods.

[921] Yeah, that Will Smith.

[922] Go earn their stripes.

[923] What you got with that beard?

[924] Hey, did you guys ever hear of Cities XL?

[925] Yeah.

[926] I played some of that.

[927] I heard that it was an MMO that then went free to play.

[928] Is that right?

[929] It was subscription -based originally.

[930] Oh, wow.

[931] Even though it's all, like, instance.

[932] It's basically like...

[933] You're talking about City of Heroes.

[934] No, no, no. Cities XL.

[935] Cities XL was an MMO.

[936] It was some kind of online collaborative something.

[937] Oh, really?

[938] Like build your own city?

[939] I believe there was...

[940] It was supposed to be, like, connected and everything, like, in the beta.

[941] Yeah, there was a beta period.

[942] Yeah.

[943] I can see that, but this is a totally single -player experience I had.

[944] It was complete SimCity.

[945] Just, fuck, you want SimCity?

[946] I think the idea was it was supposed to be like connected SimCity.

[947] So the guy's next to you in SimCity, like that's an actual person?

[948] But I think it's supposed to be also like super, or it was at the time, supposed to be super instanced.

[949] So it was one of those, it's...

[950] It's one of those things where they were trying to use the MMO pricing model but did not necessarily have the tech to justify it.

[951] I can see that because you, on a single -player account, you build your city and then you can build another city and another city.

[952] in separate games and then have them trade with each other.

[953] So maybe that's where that would, like, come in.

[954] But it's weird because it looks so good.

[955] Like, you zoom in to, like, street level and you're like, oh, this looks kind of like Grand Theft Auto.

[956] And then you roll it out and you're like, oh, man, I'm building these residential zones, industrial zone, commercial zone.

[957] I'm just waiting for the little Sim dude to pop up from SNES.

[958] Yeah, where's, like, the cartoon Will Wright?

[959] Yeah.

[960] But it's just straight up Sim City.

[961] It's so Sim City.

[962] I love that SimCity has gotten to the point that if you want SimCity, you've got to go somewhere else.

[963] They're not just providing the vanilla SimCity experience anymore.

[964] No, they left SimCity behind.

[965] So now somebody else has come and picked up the storage.

[966] I'll tell you, once they started getting into water pipes...

[967] That's where I lost it.

[968] It loses me. Like, SimCity.

[969] Dude, I like the water price.

[970] It's too much.

[971] It's too confusing.

[972] I can't keep up with it.

[973] I liked it when it's just simple.

[974] Like, the grids are simple and easy.

[975] At a certain point, it's too easy for the grids to get away from you in, like, SimCity 2000.

[976] Well, this is, like, it's the same problem I've had in every SimCity game since, I think, the Commodore 64 traffic.

[977] I can't deal – I'm not good at traffic.

[978] You can't deal with traffic?

[979] I just – I make my small city and then at some point the city grows too big.

[980] And then I have to figure out a solution to traffic because the roads that I had connecting these four blocks now does not support.

[981] You have to remember that your small town isn't always going to be a small town.

[982] It just uses public transportation all the time.

[983] Actually, that was always my way of playing SimCities.

[984] I'd always just use rail everywhere.

[985] I'd put no roads down.

[986] So now you could do subways in CitiesXL and you could run them underneath.

[987] But it's weird because you do this.

[988] Anyway, CitiesXL.

[989] Was that a Steam sale?

[990] It was a steam sale.

[991] Okay.

[992] That explains a lot.

[993] Yeah.

[994] So then there were a couple of other things.

[995] I think it was a steam sale.

[996] And there were a couple of other things that was just like...

[997] I think it was there.

[998] I remember you telling me. I bought Neverwinter Nights 2 again.

[999] It's like the third time you bought that game.

[1000] But now it's got all...

[1001] I don't know.

[1002] It was like whatever.

[1003] Steam sale stuff, I'll just say everything's $0 .99.

[1004] At this point, it's more of like a convenience purchase.

[1005] Yeah.

[1006] You don't even have to find the disc anymore to play it.

[1007] But I want to say that you even already owned that.

[1008] Unless it's like this is...

[1009] Oh, this was the gold edition.

[1010] This was the one with all the expansion packs and everything in it, which I heard are pretty good.

[1011] So maybe it'll read my save.

[1012] I don't know.

[1013] Don't play that ever.

[1014] Actually, whatever.

[1015] If you're playing Cities XL, there's a chance.

[1016] You totally might play.

[1017] Vinny played some games.

[1018] Kane and Lynch 2 on the PC was a Steam sale.

[1019] That was.

[1020] What did you think of Kane and Lynch 2?

[1021] I didn't boot it up.

[1022] I played Cities XL.

[1023] Well, then don't tell me what you bought.

[1024] Tell me what you played.

[1025] I'm trying to think of what else I played over Carcassonne.

[1026] Yeah.

[1027] First time I ever played it.

[1028] Oh, really?

[1029] I love Parkinson's.

[1030] Yeah, I bought that.

[1031] That's fun.

[1032] I think it's better than Catan.

[1033] I know that that's a controversial position to take, but I would rather play...

[1034] Don't let Alex hear you say that.

[1035] I have other backers.

[1036] Are they both board games first?

[1037] German board games.

[1038] German board games specifically.

[1039] That's hardcore.

[1040] That style of...

[1041] As was Ticket to Ride, which I really enjoy Ticket to Ride.

[1042] Ticket to Ride is actually the one of those that I think I would enjoy playing the board game version of.

[1043] Yeah, that one's really fun.

[1044] I've played Catan in Meat Space.

[1045] There's way too much shit going on.

[1046] Way too much shit going on.

[1047] That one's intense.

[1048] Catan is intense.

[1049] With the cards and the little things and trying to set up your routes and all that stuff.

[1050] Carcassonne's a lot more relaxing.

[1051] Of the three, it's the most relaxing.

[1052] On Carcassonne, I can't imagine playing that on a tabletop just because of where you have the...

[1053] Oh, just like positioning of like, oh, well, everything is expanding off to the upper right.

[1054] Well, that part too, yeah.

[1055] It's like move the whole table, like slide it, like shift it real fast.

[1056] But more of the like – And the flowers are still standing.

[1057] You can't put this farmer here because I already have a farmer.

[1058] But try to match up if he's contiguous with the rest of these.

[1059] Just kind of the placement of things on it.

[1060] Like, oh.

[1061] Seems like there would be a lot of room for error.

[1062] Yeah, that and scoring.

[1063] Yeah, just like, oh, he's actually touching the four -walled cities here.

[1064] So it would be like, well, no, he's a 50 -er.

[1065] Like, I don't know.

[1066] It's not so hard to see when it's there in front of you.

[1067] But I don't understand, like, once the score tallies come up.

[1068] I don't know.

[1069] The land.

[1070] The land one specifically, I'm like, I really don't.

[1071] I put a dude down in what I think is a good location and hope for the best, but I really don't understand how that part of the scoring specifically is working.

[1072] It's the number of completed castles that his contiguous land touches.

[1073] Right.

[1074] And he could be the only one on there unless you started another guy and they got joined later on.

[1075] Right.

[1076] And then you split it down the middle.

[1077] Right.

[1078] I think they both get the same.

[1079] They both get the same, right.

[1080] If you're playing by, like, U .S. or Europe rules.

[1081] I love that part.

[1082] Like, you want to play by U .S. rules because it's fucked up.

[1083] Because the European rules are weird.

[1084] No, they seem like the most generous U .S. rules were a mess, though.

[1085] Did you turn off smoothing?

[1086] No. I didn't know if you could.

[1087] Is there an option?

[1088] No. So, I played that.

[1089] That was fun.

[1090] That sounds good.

[1091] I'm trying to think of what else.

[1092] I feel like there was more, but it's a wash. River expansion.

[1093] Yeah, I didn't actually.

[1094] Does that come with it or do you have to buy it?

[1095] I think it comes with.

[1096] It's just an option.

[1097] I think it's just one of those if you're a Carcassonne purist of like, no, fuck the river expansion.

[1098] I'm trying that off.

[1099] No, I only play pure Carcassonne.

[1100] I always play with the Riverside.

[1101] Yeah, me too.

[1102] Back to the Future.

[1103] BTTF, the game.

[1104] I hate seeing that written.

[1105] I don't even like it.

[1106] Episode 1.

[1107] Episode 1.

[1108] No, BTTF.

[1109] Yeah.

[1110] I'm not a fan of that acronym.

[1111] Yeah, it just looks like.

[1112] It's what it is.

[1113] It's all with that.

[1114] It's my best friend or something.

[1115] It just looks like a BFF or something.

[1116] Yeah, it looks like a name acronym.

[1117] Yeah.

[1118] I don't like it.

[1119] It looks like BUTF.

[1120] It's no good to me. It's BTTF.

[1121] Yeah, well, I'll see you next Friday or something.

[1122] Well taken, sir.

[1123] That game.

[1124] Yep.

[1125] I played through it as well.

[1126] What did you think?

[1127] I liked it.

[1128] I totally hit all my, like, you got me. I'll tell you this.

[1129] You put the right bait on the hook.

[1130] Like when it first boots up.

[1131] And it's just the opening little...

[1132] Yeah.

[1133] You can go...

[1134] Yeah.

[1135] Oh!

[1136] Even that font, dude.

[1137] You're right.

[1138] Even the fucking font.

[1139] Yeah.

[1140] Even them getting that.

[1141] Even the fact that there's a law firm in Hill Valley named after the screenwriters of Back to the Future.

[1142] Didn't see that.

[1143] Yeah, it's Zemeckis Gale, and I think it's the name of the guy who wrote for Telltale.

[1144] Oh, is that – okay.

[1145] So it's Bob Zemeckis, Bob Gale, who are the screenwriters of the films.

[1146] And then I think the third might be the – Telltale guy.

[1147] There's also a total local shout -out.

[1148] When they're in 1986 and Marty is outside Edna's apartment, there's a storefront for an arcade.

[1149] That arcade exists in Marin County.

[1150] a few miles away from where Telltale is located.

[1151] Bananas!

[1152] That has to just be a specific shout -out to that arcade, which I saw that one.

[1153] Oh, that's awesome!

[1154] I live in Hill Valley!

[1155] So I know where that is, and that's in Hill Valley, and I live in Hill Valley.

[1156] I have to know if I haven't played it.

[1157] Does the storyline of this integrate plausibly with the storyline of the movie?

[1158] Yeah.

[1159] Does it all make sense?

[1160] I don't know.

[1161] There's confusing parts for me. I guess I don't want to ask too much.

[1162] I mean, does it happen in parallel?

[1163] It takes place like after...

[1164] We're talking about a time travel series.

[1165] It takes place after Back to the Future 3.

[1166] So all that stuff exists.

[1167] Okay, I was mistaken.

[1168] I thought I had read somewhere that it happened like in parallel with the first movie.

[1169] It gets complicated.

[1170] They're having their fun with it.

[1171] It's time travel.

[1172] There's already like the sneak peek at episode 2.

[1173] There's already like...

[1174] things that you did in this episode, you're going to have to sneak around yourself.

[1175] But at the outset, the movies have happened.

[1176] So the setup for this is that Doc is missing, as in the end of episode three, the third one.

[1177] But it's 86.

[1178] It's been like six months or something.

[1179] So he's been stuck in a computer for 20 years.

[1180] So he's gone, and they're having an estate sale of his house or whatever, and then basically kicks off from there.

[1181] So, yeah, it takes place right after the series left off.

[1182] Fake Marty McFly is excellent.

[1183] Oh, man, I saw those YouTube videos of that voice actor, man. And he's great.

[1184] He continues to be really solid.

[1185] He's better than real Christopher Lloyd.

[1186] Because he sounds so old.

[1187] Maybe, maybe, maybe.

[1188] You should pull up that guy's demo reel.

[1189] I think he does a really good Morpheus as well.

[1190] He does a lot of good imitations.

[1191] I think it was Morpheus.

[1192] A lot of crazy imitations.

[1193] So the thing I really appreciated was that, one, it looks like they're not holding the cartoonist canon.

[1194] Great.

[1195] They're flying around on their time travel train.

[1196] He was married, right, in the cartoon with the kids?

[1197] He's still married in this.

[1198] They talk about – That's fine because that was in the movie.

[1199] About the kids, yeah.

[1200] Emma, is that her name?

[1201] Clara.

[1202] Clara, right.

[1203] So the time travel – Jules and Vern.

[1204] Yeah, the kids don't see – Do they get referenced?

[1205] Do they?

[1206] Yeah.

[1207] Okay.

[1208] Because he talks about trying to find a good college for Jules and Vern because they're in his timeline whenever the fuck Doc lives.

[1209] Never.

[1210] He's just a man. But I'm saying like this version of Doc has teenage boys who are going to go to college and they're talking about sending them to – like, you know, 1960s Berkeley or, like, some other, like, basically finding the best universities in time.

[1211] So the weird thing about this game, I will say, I really enjoyed it, but it's a time travel, Back to the Future is a time travel series which you should not try and poke a stick at or, like, try and figure out what's going on because it's a movie.

[1212] Don't look behind the curtain.

[1213] Don't even think about it too hard.

[1214] If you think too hard about the logic of the time travel, it's fucking retarded.

[1215] The DeLorean got smashed by a train in, what, 85?

[1216] Yep.

[1217] DeLorean comes back.

[1218] DeLorean's here.

[1219] They explain it away quickly.

[1220] I didn't get it.

[1221] They do.

[1222] Because he had his dream where something happens, but then it seems like that happened in reality as well.

[1223] No, no. That had nothing to do with any of it.

[1224] Okay.

[1225] They talk about basically in 1955 when the lightning strikes.

[1226] In 1955 when he's flying in the lightning strikes.

[1227] Oh, I don't think I got this.

[1228] The end of Back to the Future 2.

[1229] Basically it created a...

[1230] There's a second DeLorean.

[1231] When was this?

[1232] When did they talk about that?

[1233] It's one of the dialogue options.

[1234] Oh, no. You didn't go talk to Doc about all sorts of shit while he's in prison.

[1235] Oh, I didn't talk to him at all when he was in prison.

[1236] You didn't talk to him at all, dude?

[1237] He's in prison.

[1238] Oh, no. Really?

[1239] Yeah, dude.

[1240] Oh, I...

[1241] We gotta go play it again?

[1242] You gotta go play it again.

[1243] You missed out on all sorts of stuff.

[1244] Oh, that's crazy.

[1245] Oh, no, because, yeah, I didn't understand how that was happening.

[1246] Yeah.

[1247] Oh, dude, all of your questions are...

[1248] Very quickly kind of scrubbed away.

[1249] What do you want?

[1250] Dude, love the opening.

[1251] The opening scene.

[1252] Oh, from the view of the camcorder?

[1253] No, no, no. Even just like, I don't know.

[1254] So the very first scene in that movie, or in that game, is the mall parking lot scene from the first movie.

[1255] J .P. Penny's, what is it?

[1256] I think it's J .P. Penny.

[1257] J .P. Penny.

[1258] Whatever their fake J .P. Penny's is.

[1259] J .P. Penny.

[1260] Yeah.

[1261] It's the parking lot scene from the first Back to the Future.

[1262] And they're actually – they're just recreating that scene.

[1263] But at certain prompts, as Marty, you are getting dialogue prompts.

[1264] You have the actual dialogue from the film plus like two other alternate takes.

[1265] I chose the movie dialogue for all of those.

[1266] I'm like, I don't – I don't want to break this.

[1267] Is this a quiz?

[1268] What happens if we just keep going on the actual, and then it spins off and goes crazy from there.

[1269] So did you just choose the true movie dialogue?

[1270] We did the quick look here, and I did it during that.

[1271] But then at home when I played it again, I chose different ones.

[1272] But it was also the same thing of like, wait, this isn't right.

[1273] And it's like, wait, this isn't right.

[1274] But, you know, it's...

[1275] That game is a Telltale adventure game.

[1276] It's an adventure game.

[1277] I was waiting to hear.

[1278] I saw a screenshot with some Match 3 stuff going on.

[1279] Oh, no. That's the Facebook game.

[1280] That has nothing to do.

[1281] Oh, okay.

[1282] That was on their site.

[1283] Yeah.

[1284] Okay.

[1285] But this is like, yeah, this is...

[1286] It's a telltale.

[1287] It's specifically a telltale adventure game.

[1288] They've done nothing to the mold.

[1289] Same length as everything else.

[1290] It actually seems a little shorter than some of the...

[1291] I might just go home and play through that tonight.

[1292] It's total like one or two sittings.

[1293] Very easy.

[1294] I need to go play that.

[1295] This sounds amazing.

[1296] The only thing I didn't like...

[1297] I think the look of it's really good.

[1298] I didn't like the...

[1299] It was one of the last quote -unquote puzzles, the chemistry set.

[1300] thing that went on a little too long.

[1301] Turn this knob and hit this thing.

[1302] It's the most gamey I felt of all the things in that episode.

[1303] I like how they couched it and that was kind of fun, kind of clever, but I was just like, ah, at this point.

[1304] And also, I kind of like where they're going with the story, but in a way...

[1305] I hope they change it up a little bit.

[1306] I hope locations change and some stuff.

[1307] Oh, you know what?

[1308] I'm totally happy to just go to a variety of different eras of that same Hill Valley downtown.

[1309] That's fine.

[1310] I just don't want to stay in the same era with the same characters.

[1311] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[1312] No, no. I expect more time traveling.

[1313] I hope we don't have to wait for season two to change eras.

[1314] But, yeah, it left a good first impression.

[1315] I also wanted to say, though, Right after I finished that, I dove into Puzzle Agent.

[1316] Oh, nice.

[1317] Which is very much not.

[1318] Actually, I enjoyed the hell.

[1319] I'm still playing it, but really enjoying that game because of the ways in which it is not a super typical telltale adventure game.

[1320] It is more like Layton, but there's things about it that it just distills.

[1321] Puzzle games and adventure games.

[1322] Just down to like the very basic.

[1323] There are things about it.

[1324] The way that animations don't happen.

[1325] That just give you.

[1326] We don't need to watch this guy fucking walk over and open the door.

[1327] You click on the door.

[1328] Next scene.

[1329] You want to talk to a guy?

[1330] Click on him.

[1331] Talking.

[1332] Puzzle time, hit the puzzle.

[1333] It's just like all the little steps of like, well, you've got to wait for the guy to walk over here and then you can talk to him or, oh, you've got to traverse this.

[1334] There's just the time spent trying to make this look like a place or something that Puzzle Agent is just not concerned about.

[1335] But then it's like fully voice acted.

[1336] But it's got great, great voice work in it.

[1337] The puzzles are very latin -y in kind of self -contained little logic puzzles.

[1338] Any matchstick puzzles?

[1339] Close.

[1340] Close.

[1341] All right.

[1342] But also kind of same weird thing of like this town loves puzzles.

[1343] Yeah.

[1344] This is a puzzle town.

[1345] Yeah.

[1346] Try this puzzle on for something.

[1347] Which is why you're called out because you're already puzzled.

[1348] That's right.

[1349] You work for the FBI.

[1350] But that character is great.

[1351] His weird dreams are super funny.

[1352] I like the sheriff.

[1353] The sheriff is great.

[1354] That was part of their pilot program, so I have my doubts about them doing more of them, but I – I urge you to check it out.

[1355] It's available on iPhone, iPad.

[1356] It's on PC.

[1357] You can get it all sorts of different ways.

[1358] PC and Mac.

[1359] I wish the art style supported an HD monitor a little better because it's a little blurry.

[1360] It's all bit mapped, right?

[1361] So they're just going to have to scale it up.

[1362] It's, yeah.

[1363] Well, it's, yeah.

[1364] It's weird.

[1365] It looks like somebody drew it.

[1366] It's a lot of sprites.

[1367] It's a lot of sprites, but a lot of sprites, they do like close -up shots on a dude that, you know, when you're at full distance, it's fine.

[1368] But then when you get really close to it.

[1369] It almost looks like a pencil drawing scaled up or something.

[1370] Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[1371] Yeah, it's something like that.

[1372] But I...

[1373] Yeah, I was really enjoying Puzzle Agent.

[1374] I can't quite remember all the other stuff, but I'm going to...

[1375] Well, you know what?

[1376] There are two other things.

[1377] I'll start with Pigsy's Perfect 10 for Enslaved.

[1378] Oh, dude, yeah.

[1379] Yeah, tell me about it.

[1380] I got fantastic.

[1381] This is a good piece of DLC.

[1382] This is...

[1383] How does it compare to the rest of the game?

[1384] Because I played some Enslaved and it didn't really...

[1385] It's better.

[1386] Okay.

[1387] I liked some of Enslaved, but it's different and you should try it.

[1388] Okay.

[1389] Before you put Enslaved back on the shelf.

[1390] It's not on the shelf.

[1391] It was just I started playing it and then I said, I ought to start playing Fallout because that's what I really want to play.

[1392] Enslaved is kind of a slow burn.

[1393] I was pretty iffy on it until about chapter four probably.

[1394] Because I've liked some of the stuff that's been happening but just like no interest in the combat.

[1395] Yeah.

[1396] The combat gets a lot better as you buy more stuff naturally.

[1397] Okay.

[1398] I haven't even gotten to a point where I can buy shit.

[1399] Oh, dude.

[1400] You're nowhere then.

[1401] Okay.

[1402] At all.

[1403] Yeah.

[1404] I'm running around the city and fighting robots, and I've got the girl.

[1405] The combat gets pretty good.

[1406] Telling her, go stand over there.

[1407] Yeah, the momentum builds, and then it gets real fast.

[1408] And then for me, it just kind of hit a wall at the end.

[1409] But the pixie stuff, it's such a nice little – it's charming as fuck.

[1410] It's a weird thing to say for that character in that universe because it seems kind of charmless.

[1411] The game's got a real weird aesthetic.

[1412] Yes.

[1413] I like it.

[1414] It's really weird.

[1415] It's weird.

[1416] What's weird about it?

[1417] It's like the tribal retro -futuristic.

[1418] I think it's plausible, though.

[1419] It's odd because it hits a lot of familiar notes, but at some kind of weird angles.

[1420] The Pigsy stuff seems a little more steampunk -ish.

[1421] His whole thing takes place in a big junkyard of robots and stuff.

[1422] The cinematics in Pigsy's Perfect Ten may be my, this is a bold statement, may be my favorite cinematics I've ever seen.

[1423] The stuff, I don't think they're happening in any kind of engine.

[1424] I think they're pre -rendered.

[1425] Yeah, it seemed like it from what I saw.

[1426] But they are gorgeous, and the emotion that they carry through is fantastic.

[1427] Visually, stylistically, they've got...

[1428] Like this painterly thing going on.

[1429] It almost looked like a watercolor or something to me. Yeah, but also really sharp and crisp.

[1430] Yeah, like it's aided by a computer, basically.

[1431] And the colors they use are great.

[1432] It's really, and I think we've said it before, the characters in that game are so well rendered in the face.

[1433] Even the brief, like maybe not even an hour that I played Enslaved, I was not impressed by character design.

[1434] But very impressed by the performance and also just how quickly they were able to establish these characters.

[1435] That game wastes no time.

[1436] I know what this guy's about.

[1437] I know what she's about.

[1438] Go.

[1439] I know literally nothing else about the world around them.

[1440] Everything else is a complete mystery and a lot of it seems to be the case for them.

[1441] I have those characters.

[1442] Everything about that game, at least narratively, they do so much with such a spare economy of dialogue.

[1443] Not to name drop too much or whatever, but Alex Garland, who is a pretty successful screenwriter, wrote all that dialogue and stuff.

[1444] Yeah, I think the character stuff is great.

[1445] The overall story, I can take a look.

[1446] But the character stuff, and just the way that they play with their eyes and smiles and looks and the tones of their voices when they're doing things really sells that entire universe.

[1447] And Pigsy...

[1448] The Perfect Tenet really hits all that stuff, turns it up even more than the game does.

[1449] I was really, really impressed.

[1450] And the gameplay is different enough.

[1451] That's the crazy part.

[1452] It's kind of a different game.

[1453] Yeah, so you play as him, obviously.

[1454] You play as Pigsy, who you don't play as in the game at all.

[1455] And in the game, you play as the guy, Monkey, who is well...

[1456] that hand -to -hand combat very heavily muscled and acrobatic and like swings on and pigsy can't do hand -to -hand at all like pigsy is like a squat little fat dude who like needs a grappling hook to get around and stuff so you use gadgets and stuff and uh and your sniper rifle a lot but yeah man i really Really, really enjoyed that DLC.

[1457] Maybe I'll go play through that tonight.

[1458] Damn you.

[1459] It's worth it just to check out those cutscenes.

[1460] Like I said, they're gorgeous.

[1461] They are really striking.

[1462] Maybe I was just on some kind of ham -induced fantasy trip or something at that point in the break, but I was really blown away.

[1463] I played a little bit of Enslaved in 3D.

[1464] Did you?

[1465] How?

[1466] So when you install that Pigsy DLC, it patches the game to make it 3D.

[1467] Do you have a 3D TV?

[1468] No. It's Triovit.

[1469] Well, actually, they have, like, whatever the term is for, like, the shutter -assisted, like, actual...

[1470] Somebody help me here.

[1471] I don't know what the name is for that.

[1472] Like, Real3D.

[1473] Whatever people call actual 3D that you need a special TV for.

[1474] Yes.

[1475] It has support for that.

[1476] The 120 hertz style.

[1477] Yeah, that thing.

[1478] Like the polarized glasses or whatever that stuff's called.

[1479] And then the one where it's like on your TV it just looks like two.

[1480] That's the one I'm talking about where you need the special TV and the power glasses and all that stuff.

[1481] But you just use the blue and red.

[1482] It has TrioViz, which is instead of.

[1483] Blue and red, it's like magenta and like a forest green or something.

[1484] Where do you get those glasses?

[1485] They sent us a pair of glasses.

[1486] Oh, okay.

[1487] I think you can probably get them from anywhere.

[1488] You can cut them out of a magazine if they included them.

[1489] Did it work?

[1490] It worked.

[1491] It was 3D.

[1492] But it gives it that, it gives it like the sort of...

[1493] Like the colorations, it gives this tone of stuff kind of looks magenta and kind of looks a little too green.

[1494] It messes up the colorization.

[1495] We should maybe take a quick look at Pigsy's Perfect Town.

[1496] We should definitely do that because that sounds awesome.

[1497] Because I feel like a lot of people won't try it out.

[1498] Because maybe they got enough of Enslaved.

[1499] And it's probably worth a look.

[1500] I still think a lot of people are hearing about Enslaved for the first time during a lot of the Game of the Year conversations.

[1501] Not just on Giant Bomb, but on other parts.

[1502] I still think Enslaved's a real mixed bag.

[1503] It is.

[1504] But Pigsy's Perfect 10.

[1505] Is it as much a mixed bag as the phrase mixed bag?

[1506] No, no. If you're a fan of the phrase mixed bag.

[1507] Fans of mixed bags.

[1508] In the end.

[1509] Fans of mixed bags.

[1510] Perfect 10 is pretty damn good.

[1511] Cataclysm.

[1512] You mean the World of Warcraft?

[1513] Yes.

[1514] Cataclysm?

[1515] Played a bunch of that.

[1516] What?

[1517] I know.

[1518] Oh, you son of a bitch.

[1519] Yeah.

[1520] Did you start from one?

[1521] I did.

[1522] How did you play more other games than I did and also play a bunch of WoW?

[1523] Like, this doesn't...

[1524] You know, I went into this break.

[1525] You were in a North Carolina ham coma the entire time.

[1526] Oh, man. I went into this break being like, I don't think I'm going to play any games this break.

[1527] I'm just going to take a break from games.

[1528] Oh, you thought that?

[1529] Dumbass.

[1530] No, it's funny because we have that guild up, the Giant Bomb Community Guild, and Dave and Andy were playing a bunch of it and a bunch of other really, really nice folks on it that I don't communicate with at all pretty much because I just want to play by myself.

[1531] And so I go through and I reach level 30 -something, almost hit 40, and I think I might be kind of done.

[1532] Enough has been said about World of Warcraft.

[1533] We don't really have to go into it.

[1534] That's how I spent a good portion of my time playing that.

[1535] But how do you feel about what has happened in Cataclysm?

[1536] I mean, I'm not the one to ask.

[1537] I don't know.

[1538] It seems like World of Warcraft to me. Well, I mean, to be fair, you didn't get to any of the new high -level content.

[1539] No. Whatever.

[1540] I care more about what has changed in the low -level context.

[1541] Right, but that's not Cataclysm because everybody got that.

[1542] That's true.

[1543] But that stuff for me, even that stuff, the rending of the world or whatever, I don't notice it.

[1544] I don't know.

[1545] Had you played through it before this?

[1546] I hit 60 on my other character, but I don't know.

[1547] It's like these zones.

[1548] I just feel like I might be in the wrong place.

[1549] Like, oh, yeah, I think this is – okay.

[1550] Was this not underwater last time?

[1551] That makes sense then.

[1552] I guess.

[1553] Sure.

[1554] The only thing I noticed...

[1555] There's been enough time that certain things aren't...

[1556] Were these orcs always in this place?

[1557] Like, oh, no. That's the one thing I did notice, actually.

[1558] Like, the shifts of...

[1559] controlled areas where those are things I really remembered.

[1560] This used to be a choke point for where I would get murdered by orcs every time I tried to run through.

[1561] Elves were in this area and they controlled it and now you go through there and I'm playing as a horde character like, oh dude, this is just orcs strip mining this entire elven forest and that's pretty cool.

[1562] They're just burning it to the ground and basically very...

[1563] But forever.

[1564] Forever, yeah.

[1565] Never run out of resources.

[1566] They're constantly burning that force to the ground.

[1567] Well, no, they've got the phasing stuff now.

[1568] It's true.

[1569] But I imagine stuff like that is not going to change.

[1570] Those areas that are now controlled by the Horde versus the Alliance, I guess.

[1571] Yeah, so I don't know.

[1572] It's World of Warcraft, and you want to go kill things and collect things.

[1573] I saw a television commercial for World of Warcraft.

[1574] Oh, yeah, they've been running commercials for three years -ish.

[1575] Or more.

[1576] They can do whatever they want.

[1577] I mean for Cataclysm specifically.

[1578] They call it cataclysm.

[1579] I think my one month runs out the 9th or 10th.

[1580] We'll see.

[1581] Clock's ticking.

[1582] I'll forget about it.

[1583] And they'll charge you 15 bucks.

[1584] You're going to be subscribed for the next year at least.

[1585] We'll check in with Vinny in December to see how his cataclysm game is going.

[1586] Drew Scanlon!

[1587] Hey!

[1588] How you doing, sir?

[1589] Good.

[1590] I'm good.

[1591] Did you get to play much games over the break?

[1592] A little bit.

[1593] I spent most of my time in Tahoe.

[1594] where all my old systems are.

[1595] Nice.

[1596] Playing SSX, right?

[1597] Yeah.

[1598] Is that where the pinball machine is?

[1599] That is where the pinball machine is.

[1600] Oh, nice.

[1601] But we have staples that we get up to up there.

[1602] You got your go -tos?

[1603] Yeah, let's see.

[1604] Is your N64 hooked up up there?

[1605] Oh, yeah.

[1606] So Mario Kart, Goldeneye, obviously.

[1607] So is N64 your Mario Kart go -to?

[1608] Yeah.

[1609] Ugh.

[1610] Yeah.

[1611] Ugh.

[1612] Yeah.

[1613] Do you have a SNES up there?

[1614] What's that?

[1615] Do you have a SNES, a Super Nintendo Entertainment System?

[1616] No, so I've got a Genesis, a 64, a Dreamcast, and a 2600.

[1617] Oh, wow.

[1618] That's a good spread.

[1619] Yeah, and let's see.

[1620] That's about it for 64 stuff.

[1621] Genesis is usually Mega Bomberman and ToeJam & Earl.

[1622] Okay.

[1623] 2600 is usually just Warlords.

[1624] Nice.

[1625] But we have the paddle, so it's all good.

[1626] You have the paddle, so it's all good.

[1627] It's all good.

[1628] So have you had Warlords the entire time?

[1629] No. So I recently, well, maybe like six or seven years ago, picked up this Atari because I had one when I was a kid, but it was sold.

[1630] And then I bought this one with like 50 games.

[1631] And it came with Warlords?

[1632] Yeah, it came with Warlords.

[1633] It was a good spread.

[1634] 50 games, you're going to get just about everything.

[1635] Yeah.

[1636] I got also E .T. Wow.

[1637] You get 50 games, you're going to end up with E .T. 49 of them are going to be E .T. There's a good chance you're going to end up with a copy of Empire Strikes Back.

[1638] I don't think I have that one.

[1639] That's a good one.

[1640] Yeah, shoot the things in the butt.

[1641] That's the first Hoth level.

[1642] Wow.

[1643] That's the first game.

[1644] That is the Hoth level.

[1645] And the whole game is the Hoth level.

[1646] That's all that game is.

[1647] And a four -bar loop of...

[1648] Did it have music even?

[1649] Yeah, I think so.

[1650] You're singing the Superman theme?

[1651] No, you know what?

[1652] You're singing the Tron theme.

[1653] You're singing like eight different themes.

[1654] You went around the world and managed to not get to the Star Wars theme.

[1655] That was just like generic 80s action movie theme.

[1656] You know, I do get the Superman and the Star Wars.

[1657] It's okay.

[1658] It's all John Williams bombastic bullshit.

[1659] Just John Williams went, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

[1660] It's like, all right, that's it.

[1661] All right, we've got a cello out.

[1662] We need 49 instruments for this.

[1663] Warlords.

[1664] That's a good version of Warlords.

[1665] Yeah, yeah, I like it.

[1666] That's solid.

[1667] What else were you playing up there?

[1668] Let's see.

[1669] The Dreamcast is usually Crazy Taxi and Rush 2049.

[1670] Oh, man, no choo -choo rocket.

[1671] Don't have that one.

[1672] Best of all party games on the Dreamcast.

[1673] No, it's...

[1674] Okay.

[1675] I love Choo Choo Rocket.

[1676] I actually played through Choo Choo Rocket not that long ago.

[1677] You have a heart attack playing Choo Choo Rocket.

[1678] It's madness.

[1679] But it's not a great party game because a great party game is something you can play for long periods of time.

[1680] Choo Choo Rocket, you get like two games and you're like, alright, now my every sense is completely shot.

[1681] I think that's still a good party game.

[1682] No, I have to go close my eyes and be in a dark room.

[1683] I'm no longer interested in partying because I'm so fried out.

[1684] They still need to put that out for live arcade and PSN.

[1685] I don't disagree with that.

[1686] But Power Stone 2 was always my multiplayer go -to Dreamcast game.

[1687] That's a good one.

[1688] Yeah.

[1689] That's a good one.

[1690] What else?

[1691] Well, when I got back to the Bay, I played some Rock Band 3, finally.

[1692] I mean, I touched it a little bit when we had it in here, but my brother got it for Christmas, so...

[1693] Keyboards all over the place.

[1694] Multiple keyboards?

[1695] No, just the one.

[1696] We had one guitar and a mic.

[1697] No dueling pianist kind of action.

[1698] You can do that.

[1699] Even with a guitar, because you can use the guitar to do the keyboard parts.

[1700] Yeah, so I found out expert bass with the keyboard is actually really fun.

[1701] Oh, no, when I was doing the review, I was playing almost all of the guitar parts on the keyboard controller just because I was enjoying it so much.

[1702] I know.

[1703] It's fun.

[1704] It's a fun controller to use.

[1705] Yeah.

[1706] With the bass, I like the bass because there's not a lot of chords.

[1707] Right.

[1708] So it's just a lot of, like, with your fingers, and that's cool because you can actually do it on the keyboard.

[1709] Chords are hard.

[1710] Yeah.

[1711] Chords on the keyboard.

[1712] That's when I kind of start losing is I have to start moving my hand around on the keyboard because it's like, I could use these four.

[1713] It's the pinky finger.

[1714] You're trying to make me make chords with that, and it gets real bad.

[1715] So I end up moving around a lot.

[1716] That was good.

[1717] Let's see.

[1718] We bought...

[1719] Band on the Run.

[1720] That's right.

[1721] That just came out, huh?

[1722] And a song by a German band that I'm a fan of.

[1723] The band's called Wir sind Helden.

[1724] And the song is called Nur ein Wort.

[1725] I might have gotten that.

[1726] Was it a free song?

[1727] I don't think so.

[1728] I saw it in the recommended.

[1729] I was like, oh, man. Wow.

[1730] They occasionally just have some weird shit in there.

[1731] Although now that harmonics is...

[1732] independent or something.

[1733] Whatever their current situation is, I'll be curious to see how that affects...

[1734] I wonder if previous stuff will change.

[1735] I'm sure licensing is...

[1736] I guess not.

[1737] It sounds like...

[1738] Harmonix runs and owns and has all the contracts for that stuff.

[1739] MTV was not necessarily material.

[1740] Yeah, I think they made a public assurance that it would be business as usual, right?

[1741] Really?

[1742] I think they did.

[1743] But I just wonder if...

[1744] If that will mean anything for the types of music.

[1745] I would still...

[1746] I'll say it again.

[1747] I definitely got the sense that there was some stuff that was coming out DLC -wise that was just like...

[1748] Somebody was...

[1749] Someone in a business room.

[1750] Some A &R guy.

[1751] A finger was pointed and said, this must be done.

[1752] You know what's hot?

[1753] This.

[1754] Them saying, we'd rather not.

[1755] This is what you're going to be doing, so do it.

[1756] I will say it again that...

[1757] harmonics or rock band pass is what I would love to have.

[1758] With all that DLC at this point?

[1759] Too much sticky licensing, I'm sure.

[1760] I'm sure, but even like Drew, I'm sure if you were able to just put down $15 for access to the entire library, you don't keep it, but you're just able to play all the DLC, whatever, for a month or something like that.

[1761] Yeah.

[1762] They would make less money.

[1763] Also, that stuff...

[1764] Well, then you just don't buy it, you know?

[1765] Those songs are also sizable enough that playing them on demand would be kind of an issue.

[1766] I guess.

[1767] Like, you couldn't just, like, click a song and play it right now.

[1768] You'd have to wait, like, two or three minutes probably.

[1769] 30 or 40 megabytes.

[1770] Yeah, I guess with all the different tracks and stuff.

[1771] Most consumer internet connections are just sitting there.

[1772] I just feel like with all the DLC, I'm overwhelmed at this point.

[1773] I can't even look through the list.

[1774] It's just like, oh, I don't know.

[1775] If I look through the list, I'll just buy it.

[1776] You just have it on auto debit.

[1777] It just comes right out of your paycheck.

[1778] I already bought all.

[1779] God, I just...

[1780] hundreds and hundreds of fucking songs in Rock Band that I have.

[1781] You have it all on your own hard drive?

[1782] Dude, even Guitar Hero, because I did all of the disc imports for Guitar Hero.

[1783] Like, my Guitar Hero library.

[1784] If anyone ever wants to play a Guitar Hero game...

[1785] Again, hundreds of songs at my disposal.

[1786] I'll come over to your house and play some rock band.

[1787] We'll eat that ham.

[1788] We'll fucking play some rock band.

[1789] I could eat some more ham.

[1790] Lose the first one out.

[1791] Ham and rock band party at Ryan's house.

[1792] Ham band.

[1793] Let's go.

[1794] Everyone's invited.

[1795] Rock ham.

[1796] B -Y -O ham.

[1797] I can't bring my own ham.

[1798] So it sounds like you did a lot of good social gaming.

[1799] Yeah, yeah.

[1800] You know, brother and sister.

[1801] Holidays.

[1802] Yeah.

[1803] I also taught my dad how to play Civ V. And how did that go?

[1804] Well, he loved it.

[1805] You never saw him again.

[1806] Yeah.

[1807] I mean, he has not played a video game since PGA Tour on the Genesis.

[1808] Okay.

[1809] Still my favorite golf game, but we tried to get him to play like Call of Duty 2.

[1810] Sure.

[1811] And that didn't go well at all.

[1812] So this was like, wow.

[1813] Well, I mean, we're like a board game family.

[1814] Sure.

[1815] And I thought.

[1816] that that might translate well to Civ V. Oh, absolutely.

[1817] And it totally does.

[1818] I totally see that.

[1819] Civ V is like a complicated Catan, so if you can handle that, then you can easily graduate up.

[1820] Yeah, so that was kind of cool.

[1821] Excellent.

[1822] That's always fun.

[1823] I was happy that I was able to turn Whiskey Media benefactor Shelby Bonnie onto Civ V. That's right.

[1824] And that motherfucker is crazy about it.

[1825] Yeah.

[1826] Dude loves him some Civ V. Anything else, Drew?

[1827] That's about it.

[1828] Brad Shoemaker.

[1829] Hello.

[1830] What'd it do?

[1831] It does.

[1832] It did.

[1833] What happened?

[1834] It got done.

[1835] It got did.

[1836] What'd you do?

[1837] No Cali.

[1838] Played some stuff.

[1839] What'd you play?

[1840] Man, I spent...

[1841] Brad, let's talk honestly about Tron Evolution.

[1842] Speak frankly on this sensitive issue.

[1843] I don't think it's that sensitive.

[1844] It's not very good.

[1845] It's not a very good game.

[1846] Johnny V, gotta love him.

[1847] So you guys played some?

[1848] To completion.

[1849] I'm about halfway through it.

[1850] I might finish it before it goes back to Gamefly.

[1851] Jeff gave me some good advice.

[1852] I don't know if he aired this publicly, but play a bunch of the multiplayer and then come back to the story to level up.

[1853] Yeah, because it's easy as shit to level in multiplayer, and you bring that experience back to the single player.

[1854] You know, I tried to play the multiplayer.

[1855] Yeah.

[1856] I couldn't find any games to play.

[1857] Really, I had zero problems.

[1858] When did you play?

[1859] During the break.

[1860] Okay.

[1861] I started playing it two days ago, three days ago, so this is very recent.

[1862] I mean, I was like a week and a half earlier, so unless the drop -off was that sudden and hard, there was lots of full games to get into.

[1863] I got into the kind of basic...

[1864] Deathmatch?

[1865] Yeah.

[1866] What was it called?

[1867] Disintegration or something?

[1868] Anyway.

[1869] The basic kill other guys mode.

[1870] Yeah.

[1871] There were games.

[1872] But I want to try the other modes because there's some achievements.

[1873] I just want to see what they were.

[1874] I did the light cycle stuff.

[1875] That was actually the most fun I had on the way.

[1876] Not only could I not find games running in those modes, but I sat there and created a game and let it idle.

[1877] I never got enough people to start a game.

[1878] So I don't know.

[1879] The game's not super great.

[1880] It's not good.

[1881] And, Ryan, you haven't seen the movie.

[1882] I still haven't seen the movie.

[1883] I still haven't seen it again.

[1884] You've seen it twice.

[1885] I might go to the IMAX.

[1886] Guess what?

[1887] I'm going to see it tonight.

[1888] While you go and play Enslaved and or Back to the Future, I will go see Tron.

[1889] All right.

[1890] So, Brad, having seen the movie, are you at least getting some good story hooks out of it?

[1891] I'm getting some story hooks.

[1892] Okay.

[1893] Brad told me that he felt the game made the movie worse.

[1894] I think I may have backpedaled on that stance a little bit.

[1895] That might be a little bit harsh.

[1896] The deeper in I get, although there's one...

[1897] Well, you haven't seen the movie yet.

[1898] Did you see it, Drew?

[1899] Yeah.

[1900] There is one pivotal...

[1901] With you.

[1902] Oh, that's right.

[1903] You were there.

[1904] Oh, yeah.

[1905] He took my spot.

[1906] That's right.

[1907] That's right.

[1908] There's one scene from the movie that the game recreates very poorly.

[1909] Like in -engine, kind of?

[1910] Yeah, like with...

[1911] Well, it's actually a CG cutscene, but it just doesn't look great, and it loses a lot of the gravitas from...

[1912] If Tron Legacy can be said to have any of that.

[1913] It's just, yeah, it's...

[1914] But it's really just the gameplay, really.

[1915] I had issues with just, like, checkpointing of, like, I just got through this really, like...

[1916] kind of stressful combat.

[1917] The game is fairly demanding with the combat.

[1918] Yeah.

[1919] Especially early on when you're not level.

[1920] Yeah, especially then.

[1921] But there's just issues of, like, you'll go through a combat section and it's like, okay, now it's time for a little jumping around section.

[1922] And it's like, oh, you ate it in the jumping around section.

[1923] Go back to the beginning of the combat section and do that again.

[1924] And it's like, there were definitely, like, multiple times the first evening I was playing it where I'm like, oh, okay, I'm never playing you again then.

[1925] And just, like...

[1926] Quitting out the game, like dashboard up, out, gone.

[1927] And I'm like, all right.

[1928] Let me try this again.

[1929] It was so good.

[1930] Let me try this again.

[1931] It's really pretty.

[1932] It is.

[1933] The art style really shines through.

[1934] I mean, that basically owes to the visual design of the movie.

[1935] Right.

[1936] Because they just took that.

[1937] But they render it well.

[1938] But yeah, it's done extremely well.

[1939] But there's issues of just the controls are more precise than the gameplay really demands, which just makes it feel kind of twitchy.

[1940] I find myself oversteering and overcorrecting my guy a lot.

[1941] Yeah.

[1942] Like jumping too soon because I thought I was going to have to basically predict what I was going to do.

[1943] Right.

[1944] If that makes sense.

[1945] There's some good looking stuff in it.

[1946] Yeah, like everything about it.

[1947] I don't know how many of the light cycle sequences you've seen.

[1948] I just did the first one.

[1949] Some of those are pretty fucking cool.

[1950] Oh, did you have trouble with that?

[1951] Oh, did you have trouble with that?

[1952] I just thought the steering was, the handling on the thing is awful.

[1953] Well, I mean, it's a light cycle.

[1954] Get your phone off that cord.

[1955] Have you ever driven a light cycle?

[1956] They are touche.

[1957] Yeah, well, I expect them to be squirrely as shit.

[1958] I guess, I guess.

[1959] And also, you just go straight.

[1960] Those sequences are just...

[1961] Maybe a little bit right, maybe a little bit left.

[1962] The one I was playing where there's stuff blown up around you and you have to quickly steer around stuff.

[1963] I ate it once or twice.

[1964] I didn't have that much trouble with that.

[1965] Did it start at the beginning?

[1966] Are there checkpoints in there?

[1967] There are checkpoints in there.

[1968] The game is checkpointed.

[1969] I think I just kept running into the occasions where it was not checkpointed.

[1970] There are a few of those.

[1971] There's one where you have to fight probably six or eight guys and then hit a couple switches.

[1972] The floor, like, the building you're in basically sort of starts derezzing underneath you.

[1973] And every time, so basically, like, it literally, like, floor is just disappearing out from under you without warning.

[1974] Every time you die there, you have to start before the combat, like, fight all those guys again, go through all that stuff again, and, like, slowly fail.

[1975] Oh, yeah, I remember that part.

[1976] That sucked.

[1977] I don't know.

[1978] I mean, it's, like, everything about it design -wise is fairly sound.

[1979] If they had just had a whole lot more time to, like, make the controls better and make everything kind of fit together better, like, it would have been a decent action game.

[1980] It's just...

[1981] I'm going to interject here for a second.

[1982] Please do.

[1983] Because we're talking about checkpoints.

[1984] Yeah.

[1985] Checkpoints.

[1986] In my old age, in my cranky old gamer age, I really enjoyed checkpointed boss battles.

[1987] When you get to where you're like, oh, thank God I don't have to do that fucking first party game.

[1988] Oh, you're just going to start me from the second life bar?

[1989] Oh, thank you so much.

[1990] And you're going to give me full health?

[1991] You're an awesome game.

[1992] Or like, oh, it took me so long to get to the third stage of you.

[1993] Thank you for just starting me here.

[1994] I know there was even a timer going.

[1995] Thank you.

[1996] Good looking out game.

[1997] I feel like it's something that as I've gotten older, I'm just like, I don't want to do that.

[1998] I would have turned it off.

[1999] Mass Effect 2, pretty good at that.

[2000] I have to check one in the box.

[2001] Yeah, especially that last level.

[2002] I was like, oh my god, please don't die.

[2003] Especially the surprise second life bar where you're like...

[2004] What?

[2005] Oh, you got to be...

[2006] I used all my health things on that first one.

[2007] I'm so out of juice.

[2008] I'm fucked.

[2009] There's no way I can do this.

[2010] And then it's like...

[2011] Oh, my God.

[2012] It's like always they expect you to die.

[2013] And then it's like a barrage of missiles out of his penis or something like that.

[2014] And you're like, what?

[2015] And you're like, all right, now he's just going to checkpoint him.

[2016] Okay, I see now.

[2017] Okay, this makes way more sense.

[2018] All right, we cool.

[2019] We're back.

[2020] Anyway, I just wanted to add that in for developers who...

[2021] Don't mind sticking a checkpoint on boss battles and also on timed sequences where there's a timer going and it's like, they're never going to checkpoint this.

[2022] And they're like, oh, wow, you really did.

[2023] And you gave me like 60 more seconds.

[2024] Like, good.

[2025] Good on you.

[2026] You know what I got on the health pack?

[2027] Sweet.

[2028] Yeah.

[2029] Like, you know what?

[2030] I just want to beat your game.

[2031] So I played through Tron Evolution and played a couple hours of multiplayer and went back and...

[2032] scouted around for some achievements, and, you know, I didn't dislike it.

[2033] I do think the art style carries a lot of it.

[2034] I think that there are some, yeah.

[2035] Something can be cultivated.

[2036] It's definitely, it's like with Alpha Protocol.

[2037] There's a seed there.

[2038] Where I'm like, I like where you're coming from, and I like where you're going, but it's where you are that's a little bit of a problem.

[2039] Yeah, like sometimes I'm not even sure what you have to do.

[2040] Although I am not anything like Jeff.

[2041] I have no aspirations to get the full thousand points.

[2042] He's crazy.

[2043] I saw him play more of that game than I did.

[2044] That's out of spite.

[2045] That's Johnny V's spite.

[2046] He's almost maxed his level.

[2047] So the backstory with that is that Johnny V was giving him shit back in the day for a Ballers review about the online multiplayer.

[2048] where John was like, I just wish that you had played more of the multiplayer.

[2049] And he's like, yeah, I tried to, and there was no one playing, so I literally couldn't.

[2050] So he wanted to show him.

[2051] He wanted to say, like, I have played all of your games.

[2052] Maybe the most.

[2053] I have the full thousand in your game.

[2054] He did buy the DLC maps for the multiplayer.

[2055] He did.

[2056] I tried the first time I hit quick match in that game.

[2057] It was like, find a game, and then it was like, you do not have the required maps.

[2058] Like, why did you try to match me against a game with?

[2059] Yeah.

[2060] I don't want to talk too much about...

[2061] I don't want to talk out of school about his proclivities towards that game, but he has said to me that it's a game that he plays more than it is worth playing.

[2062] I know the feeling.

[2063] Indeed.

[2064] Brad, anything?

[2065] What else?

[2066] Oh, man. Starcraft has Starcraft.

[2067] I didn't really get to play it because I was not here.

[2068] I was not in a place with a computer that would do it justice.

[2069] Man, I had grand aspirations for this break.

[2070] Yeah, you were going to chew through a lot of bad catalog.

[2071] I spent, like, two hours a night before I left, like, amassing games that I was going to play.

[2072] You got your CD wallet out.

[2073] You got your lists.

[2074] I had put, like, a dozen games into that CD wallet, including the first Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect 2 and Bayonetta, all this stuff.

[2075] And then?

[2076] And I also got a 16 -gig USB.

[2077] It was actually a little USB hard drive and filled it full of XBLA games.

[2078] Because your dad's got an Xbox.

[2079] Yeah, my parents have an Xbox that they use for DVD and Netflix and stuff.

[2080] I flew across the country and realized I left my memory stick with Profile and Save Games on it at home.

[2081] You could recover the Profile.

[2082] I recovered the Profile, but all the Save Games were here, so I couldn't pick back up on anything that I had started.

[2083] So I didn't really play much while I was out there.

[2084] That would have inspired you to play some new games.

[2085] Was there anything in the mall that you hadn't started yet?

[2086] Yeah, but not a ton.

[2087] Cracked into PB Winterbottom a little bit.

[2088] Drunk in North Carolina is not a bad way to be for the holidays.

[2089] Instead, I got up on Christmas morning and it had started snowing profusely at 8 a .m. We got effing snowed into my house with a full liquor cabinet and a ton of leftovers.

[2090] I just got rained into my house.

[2091] I played a bunch of DS, played a bunch of Picross 3D.

[2092] Do you believe?

[2093] The game's pretty good.

[2094] The game's pretty good.

[2095] Good to hear.

[2096] Good to hear.

[2097] But I did have three days when I got back to play as much as I could.

[2098] And what did you like?

[2099] Of stuff.

[2100] Let's see.

[2101] Primarily, or at least in terms of the most complete experience I had with anything, it was Dead Rising 2 Case West.

[2102] Ah, yes, which we recorded a quick look of, and yeah, it came out over the break.

[2103] Quick look, I think, on the site.

[2104] I believe the last release of fucking 2010.

[2105] Oh, whoa.

[2106] Dick bags.

[2107] Calendar -wise.

[2108] Yeah.

[2109] It was on the...

[2110] 29th, wasn't it?

[2111] 27th.

[2112] Is that when it came out?

[2113] Yeah.

[2114] When did Milo, Ilo Milo...

[2115] Ilo Milo...

[2116] Like the week before, 20...

[2117] Well, no, Ilo Milo was, at the time of this recording, not officially out.

[2118] Okay.

[2119] Still not?

[2120] That's the one where...

[2121] Oh, that's right.

[2122] It's supposed to come out this week.

[2123] They had that crazy, like, clandestine, like, speakeasy style, like...

[2124] Like, get the demo.

[2125] Give us the secret handshake, and we might let you buy this game.

[2126] But, yeah, it's this week's XBLA release.

[2127] Okay.

[2128] Right, right, right.

[2129] Because it was World and then Rascals and then ILO.

[2130] I think so, yeah.

[2131] That's right.

[2132] I did play some of that.

[2133] You were playing that.

[2134] Well, we talked about that some before.

[2135] Yeah, a little bit.

[2136] That game's cool.

[2137] Yeah, I like it.

[2138] It's got a nice...

[2139] The music is so nice.

[2140] The music's great.

[2141] It's got a really nice look to it.

[2142] It does...

[2143] Again, I'll repeat what I said before.

[2144] It does remind me of Cookie and Cream for the Dreamcast an awful lot.

[2145] Another cutesy co -op game.

[2146] of that nature, although not as mind -bending as Isla Milo.

[2147] I don't know.

[2148] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[2149] Oh, but even just like the main menu tune that you can play?

[2150] That might be the best achievement I have ever seen in my life.

[2151] It's really good.

[2152] And when you get it, because it took me a while to find the...

[2153] So there's a tune that plays over the main menu.

[2154] It's really catchy.

[2155] All the music in the game is super catchy, but...

[2156] Every time you go down a menu item, it makes a little plank noise.

[2157] But they're actually, the register for each plank as you go through them are pitched to match the background tune.

[2158] So if you can figure out what the background tune is and line it up, you are basically thumbing through the menu and playing along with the music.

[2159] Such a good tune.

[2160] And when you do it completely correctly, you do a full iteration correctly, achievement unlocks.

[2161] I've always wanted an achievement like that.

[2162] It's so good.

[2163] You basically end up playing the melody in time with the music.

[2164] I used to do that in ToeJam & Earl with their...

[2165] You can go and play sound effects.

[2166] You can play samples of claps and snares and stuff.

[2167] And you can actually play one of the ToeJam & Earl songs in that thing.

[2168] But you play it and nothing happens.

[2169] But this is awesome.

[2170] And this is way more simple because it's just like...

[2171] Go down.

[2172] Step it down, yeah.

[2173] But it's just a matter of like, and it doesn't even matter what direction.

[2174] It's just like switching from one to the other makes the noise.

[2175] Can you guys hum a few bars?

[2176] I can't think of it off the top of my head.

[2177] Oh, I'm trying to, oh, I had it because I just did that.

[2178] If you lost those, just move on.

[2179] Ilo Milo.

[2180] I've got another song from that game in my head right now.

[2181] I'm trying to think about it.

[2182] Oh, there was another one that I just, I was on like one of the tutorial screens or something where it was looping.

[2183] in my house for hours.

[2184] Yes, I made dinner to a song from that game the other night.

[2185] They put out five or six tracks on their site.

[2186] Now I am obsessively unlocking all of the sound test music so I can record it all because I don't think they've put the soundtrack out.

[2187] It's good stuff.

[2188] They ran an interview with the guy who did the music.

[2189] Yeah.

[2190] Like, super goth looking dude.

[2191] Oh, I know.

[2192] I saw that.

[2193] Like, long black bangs.

[2194] Did not look like the happiest soundtrack full of harmonicas and xylophones and kazoos.

[2195] Yeah.

[2196] It's amazing.

[2197] Yeah.

[2198] But, anyway, zombies.

[2199] I love Milo zombies.

[2200] Yes.

[2201] They're not zombies as far as I can tell.

[2202] So, big surprise, Case West is essentially, in terms of format, it's another Case Zero.

[2203] Yeah.

[2204] It's about two to three hours long.

[2205] Similar mission structure, similar map size.

[2206] Donate to own Dead Rising 2.

[2207] Yeah, also standalone.

[2208] Double the price, though.

[2209] It is, like, Case Zero 2.

[2210] Well, they realize there's a market for that.

[2211] This has, like, actual, well, I shouldn't say.

[2212] I was going to say it has, like, real fleshed -out co -op, but.

[2213] It's got the same co -op, it's just you're playing as a different dude.

[2214] You know what, Case Zero had zero co -op.

[2215] Had zero co -op.

[2216] If you can hear me, turn your microphone on.

[2217] Case Zero had no co -op whatsoever, so that's something that Case West has to justify the higher price.

[2218] But this one takes place directly after Dead Rising 2 and seemingly would wrap the storyline up, but then they kind of leave you with more questions at the end.

[2219] I do really like how there is a...

[2220] self -contained bit of content that you can buy without the game that takes place directly before the game and a self -contained bit of content that you can buy that takes place directly after the game.

[2221] So you can pretty much get the beginning and the end and just miss all that middle part.

[2222] Just avoid the...

[2223] Some would say maybe tedious work in the middle of Dead Rising 2.

[2224] I really like Dead Rising 2.

[2225] I think the genius, though, of Zero and West is they...

[2226] get to the points that Dead Rising 2 gets to so much more quickly.

[2227] It's true.

[2228] Killing zombies.

[2229] Well, just of, like...

[2230] you know, item assembly, like, they, I feel they really stretch that stuff out.

[2231] Yeah.

[2232] Like, things, like, discovery happens much more slowly.

[2233] The whole track is accelerated greatly.

[2234] It is.

[2235] And that's great.

[2236] I think that benefits the experience.

[2237] I mean, it's absolutely valid to just play both of those if you can live with not knowing the middle, like, 80 % of the storyline.

[2238] Yeah.

[2239] You could just play those two.

[2240] If you want to kill some fucking Zambies.

[2241] Yeah, that's totally fine.

[2242] And...

[2243] Capcom is probably cool with that because they've got 15 bucks from you and I have to imagine making...

[2244] Is it 15?

[2245] I thought it was 10.

[2246] No, it's 5 for...

[2247] Oh, 5 for 0.

[2248] It's 5 for...

[2249] Another 10.

[2250] 15 total.

[2251] You have to imagine making those games was an economy of scale because they already did the work on the engine and most of the assets and stuff.

[2252] Yeah, just like rearrange the stuff.

[2253] A couple more areas, do a little bit more VO and stuff.

[2254] Maybe some weapons that were left on the cutting room floor.

[2255] There are a couple pretty good weapons in this that are new.

[2256] It feels easier.

[2257] I believe that.

[2258] You also start at level 40, right?

[2259] To be fair, yeah, there's no save game import.

[2260] You just by default start at level 40.

[2261] and level to 50, which I did by the end of the first playthrough.

[2262] And there's no, like, reverse import, right?

[2263] Like, if you beat West, then, like, on your way through, you'll get a couple more Frank.

[2264] Nope.

[2265] You listening, Capcom?

[2266] That doesn't really work.

[2267] Oh, man, it was good to have Frank West back to the timeline.

[2268] Frank West.

[2269] Well, they could drop, like, Frank West.

[2270] I didn't play through all of Dead Rising 2, so I don't know if there is any Frank West at all.

[2271] So they, it's weird.

[2272] What's that?

[2273] There isn't, right?

[2274] In 2 itself?

[2275] That you saw, yeah.

[2276] Definitely not.

[2277] They actually pick up kind of the B -tier ending from Dead Rising 2, not the best possible ending, but the next best.

[2278] Your S -rank ending.

[2279] Yeah.

[2280] And kind of shoehorn him into it and find a way to kind of parlay that into this little kind of...

[2281] We recorded a quick look of this.

[2282] Yeah, you should go check that out.

[2283] You could check that out.

[2284] A lot of zombies dead because of that quick look.

[2285] Not going to lie.

[2286] I was a little put off by the guns, but other than that, I like what Case West is selling.

[2287] The guns are overrepresented in the quick look.

[2288] I just kind of grabbed those for convenience.

[2289] No, no, no. I don't even mean you're using them.

[2290] The enemies that have guns.

[2291] Yes, there are.

[2292] So it's all set in this little facility.

[2293] Yeah.

[2294] It's like zombie research facility, and there are security guards everywhere who shoot you constantly.

[2295] That part was what threw me off.

[2296] But again, when you already start at level 40, you're pretty powerful, and it's not a huge deal.

[2297] Just the constant wince, like, oh, got hit, reset your animation, lose your momentum.

[2298] They've stripped so much else away from what makes Dead Rising 2 a chore.

[2299] You don't have to leave survivors around anymore.

[2300] That's crazy.

[2301] That's great.

[2302] You save them, and they're saved, and that's it.

[2303] Figure your own way out.

[2304] But, yeah, I don't know.

[2305] That's cool.

[2306] Anything else, Bradley?

[2307] Before I get down.

[2308] I think I went on some weird Plants vs. Zombies binge yesterday.

[2309] Nice.

[2310] Slowly making my way through Professor Layton.

[2311] Three.

[2312] The new one, yeah.

[2313] Unbound future.

[2314] Unwound future, yeah.

[2315] I played through Minerva's Den.

[2316] Oh, yeah.

[2317] And then I finished my Bioshock 2 game because I was on such a roll.

[2318] It does do that to you, right?

[2319] I feel like you guys would call me crazy.

[2320] That is crazy.

[2321] No, it's because I think for me...

[2322] Like Minerva's Den, again, Minerva's Den does the same thing that Case Zero or Case West does of the accelerated track, where that game is maybe four hours long, if that, but you go from soup to nuts of having nothing to having full plasmids, maxed out everything, hardcore.

[2323] It makes Minerva's Den also easy as shit.

[2324] when compared to Bioshock 2 proper.

[2325] But I felt like I learned things about the gameplay, about what certain weapons did, and their effectiveness.

[2326] How to work in the...

[2327] I played through Minervas then and went into Bioshock 2.

[2328] I feel like I had a really good understanding of how to set up the traps.

[2329] Oh yeah, my trap laying got a lot better.

[2330] But even just stuff like...

[2331] The drill is actually pretty good if you have the dash.

[2332] With the drill dash, you can fuck dudes up.

[2333] Because you get that in, like, 30 minutes in the DLC.

[2334] Right, but it's not super apparent.

[2335] Like, the first time you use the drill in the...

[2336] main game.

[2337] It's awful!

[2338] And you're like, oh, never using that again.

[2339] Yeah, it's like, oh, well, so let's get away from the drills.

[2340] But once you, if you level up your drill stuff and get the drill dash, it's this, like, lock on, fly across the world, one hit kill, badass move that's like, this is great.

[2341] It was this all the time now.

[2342] And so it made playing through the rest of Bioshock 2 a lot easier so I could just appreciate the setting, the really high quality, high quality voice work throughout.

[2343] Like, definitely, I see your points about Minerva's Den, like, there's some great voice work in there.

[2344] work in all of Bioshock 2 is really top notch.

[2345] I liked, not to harp on Minerva too much, but I thought they did some pretty interesting thematic stuff with that.

[2346] Oh, yeah.

[2347] The one audio log where the main character talks about other guys asking him why he didn't splice himself white so he could get ahead and rapture society.

[2348] That was interesting.

[2349] The part where there's a lot of stuff with the AI where he has a little freak out scene.

[2350] It's kind of like one of the last audio logs you find.

[2351] Yeah.

[2352] really emotionally affecting.

[2353] They did a good job of wrapping this thing up and making it all come together.

[2354] I thought that stuff was good.

[2355] I thought the gameplay was Bioshock.

[2356] It played the way that stuff plays.

[2357] I was a little bummed out.

[2358] You encountered this kind of rogues gallery of antagonists.

[2359] More so in Minerva's Den than in Bioshock 2 proper, I feel.

[2360] Boss characters, basically.

[2361] And I didn't realize this until After Effects, but there's totally an achievement for letting them all live.

[2362] Basically, you can choose to waste this dude or just walk away.

[2363] You're talking about in Bioshock 2.

[2364] I'm talking about in Minerva's Den.

[2365] Wait a minute.

[2366] The guy in the giant vat.

[2367] Wait, what was that?

[2368] No, you're talking about Bioshock 2.

[2369] I have no idea.

[2370] Okay, okay, okay.

[2371] I'm sorry.

[2372] Well, then I just, it all ran together.

[2373] I didn't care for that.

[2374] That was in Bioshock 2.

[2375] That's all standard Bioshock 2.

[2376] Right, right, right.

[2377] Yeah, I didn't like that.

[2378] But, yeah, I thought.

[2379] Did you make those choices, like, from the heart?

[2380] Yeah.

[2381] Did you just, like, do what you felt you should do?

[2382] I thought, like, well, it's the right thing to waste this dude.

[2383] Right.

[2384] But then, like, achievement -wise, they only reward you for one course of action, right?

[2385] Yep.

[2386] So I was like, ah, balls.

[2387] I'm not going to do that again.

[2388] Hit the power button real quick.

[2389] So that's just not going to happen.

[2390] But there's a little sister sequence that is really interesting in Bioshock 2 that I think is interesting and kind of fleshes out in a way that I don't feel that Bioshock 2 really does for most of the game.

[2391] A lot of that game is very retread.

[2392] Like, yes, we've seen this.

[2393] We kind of know.

[2394] You know what's up.

[2395] We know these themes.

[2396] We know these ideas.

[2397] They're just taking it from the socialist edge instead of the other way around.

[2398] Instead of pure capitalism, it's no self.

[2399] The little sister sequence, I think, is one of the things that kind of adds to the overall feel.

[2400] You are the big guy.

[2401] I enjoyed it.

[2402] I enjoyed that game.

[2403] I thought, like, this is a well -made game.

[2404] It's no revelation like the first Bioshock was, but I had my fun with it.

[2405] So here, Tron Evolution, Back to the Future, Puzzle Agent, Enslaved.

[2406] Octodad.

[2407] Hey, let me just say something about Enslave now that you've played through the beginning part.

[2408] Yeah.

[2409] A good sense of, like, urgency, right?

[2410] Especially in, like, the beginning there.

[2411] Oh, yeah, especially when the ship blew up while I was still on.

[2412] Oh, did you not make it to the end?

[2413] Wow, really?

[2414] I didn't make it to the end.

[2415] Oh, I didn't know that could happen.

[2416] I figured it was all scripted, too.

[2417] Oh, no. Oh, really?

[2418] Well, it was just, like, one jump that I didn't, I was, like, waiting for a piece to fly off and I didn't realize I could make.

[2419] I'm sorry.

[2420] I was about to reach for the little pod and go into that cutscene.

[2421] I was like, oh!

[2422] I didn't know.

[2423] Yeah, I thought it was all scripted.

[2424] I think me and you both had the same experience where there was literally one second left when we got to the pod.

[2425] No, the second time I had like ten seconds left because I'm like, okay, I've got this route fucking clocked now.

[2426] That's funny.

[2427] Okay.

[2428] Moving on.

[2429] You can die.

[2430] Go down with the ship.

[2431] You can go down with the ship.

[2432] Octodad!

[2433] Tell me about this game.

[2434] Is that a game?

[2435] Kind of?

[2436] That was real popular on the site like a month ago.

[2437] It was.

[2438] I didn't know what that was.

[2439] It's like a student game project.

[2440] Is it PC?

[2441] Yes.

[2442] It's like University of Michigan or something like that.

[2443] University of Minnesota.

[2444] I think it's a physics experiment.

[2445] It's basically...

[2446] Is it like the ship?

[2447] It's recreating what it's like to try and deal with normal people when you're on drugs.

[2448] That's pretty much what that game is actually about.

[2449] Is that the premise or is that your interpretation?

[2450] That is my interpretation.

[2451] You're an octopus pretending to be a dad.

[2452] You are Octodad.

[2453] And so you have to try and act as normal as you can even though you're an octopus.

[2454] So it's got this fucking insane control scheme where you're using your mouse and the two mouse buttons.

[2455] Each mouse button is a foot.

[2456] So you're basically like...

[2457] pressing down on one button to lift up one foot and then dragging it in a direction to move that leg forward, unclicking it to put the foot down, clicking the other foot to lift it up, then drag it forward to match it.

[2458] So all of the animation looks fucking out of control because everything is just like really stilted.

[2459] Because everything else is procedural.

[2460] Like the rest of the animation just kind of happens based on where your legs are placed.

[2461] He doesn't look right at all.

[2462] And then you click in on the mouse wheel and it switches to hand control, which are just the tentacles coming out of the suit arms.

[2463] You've got to try and wave those around to interact with stuff.

[2464] This octopus is clothed?

[2465] He's wearing a suit, right?

[2466] He's a dad.

[2467] He's an octodad.

[2468] He's wearing a suit or something?

[2469] Yes.

[2470] He's pretending to be a man, but he can't let anyone know that he's an octopus.

[2471] He's got to keep that under wraps.

[2472] So he has to try and act as normal as...

[2473] So I'm saying this is some college student getting high for the first time and not wanting to go out into public because they're afraid that everyone's going to know.

[2474] But not so high that their code doesn't compile.

[2475] Apparently.

[2476] But it's, yeah, very weird.

[2477] It's free to download.

[2478] I don't know that I recommend it, but it's...

[2479] It's an experience.

[2480] It is definitely that.

[2481] Yeah, I had an experience.

[2482] Wrecketeer, which popped up on a couple of them.

[2483] Oh, did you play that?

[2484] I played some of that.

[2485] I had that sitting on my computer for a long time.

[2486] I just didn't get around to it.

[2487] But that showed up on a couple of our guest top ten lists during the game of the year.

[2488] And, yeah, it's interesting because you are – I definitely – I ate it at a certain point, and that game doesn't auto -save.

[2489] Yeah, it's basically like a roguelike kind of – Like NetHack style, like Dungeon Crawler, right?

[2490] Well, yeah.

[2491] So it's weird because the basic idea is that you run an item shop.

[2492] Oh, that's right.

[2493] You're not the adventurer at all.

[2494] You're the person who runs the item shop in the RPG town where all the adventurers are coming through.

[2495] Servicing the adventurers.

[2496] So you have to go.

[2497] There's a guild that you can buy stuff from basically at wholesale.

[2498] And then you can put that in your shop.

[2499] And there's issues of what kind of stuff do you have.

[2500] How you arrange it in your shop will determine how attractive it is to your customers.

[2501] Customers come up to you and say, hey, I want this.

[2502] How much is it?

[2503] You have to try and gauge how much can I charge.

[2504] this person without them just storming out.

[2505] Because there's basically like, you go too high and they'll say, well that's fucking ridiculous and they'll just leave.

[2506] Or you can go just kind of too high and they'll say, that's a little bit much.

[2507] What can you do for me?

[2508] So you gotta try and like...

[2509] You gotta haggle.

[2510] You gotta haggle.

[2511] But you gotta try and find that right spot.

[2512] God, I wish that were like RPGs.

[2513] Where you don't insult them but can still like turn a profit.

[2514] Because you have base costs that you have to buy this stuff from.

[2515] The other option is that you can basically hire or get in line with an adventurer.

[2516] and follow them around in a dungeon.

[2517] Pick up loot or something?

[2518] You basically handle support and logistics for them.

[2519] They do some weird explanation as to the...

[2520] Like, you know, you're not really there, but you're kind of there.

[2521] But if they die, then it's basically you're never in any danger of being hit.

[2522] Oh, okay.

[2523] You're just kind of along for the ride.

[2524] A little more gameplay.

[2525] So you're actually controlling, you know, the adventurer during those sections.

[2526] So you're like their handler or something?

[2527] Something like that.

[2528] Something like that.

[2529] It's a really interesting concept.

[2530] But you aren't the adventurer.

[2531] I feel like they're catty.

[2532] But both parties are getting something out of it.

[2533] So it's another way for you to collect items for you to go and sell in your shop.

[2534] I like the idea of being the shopkeeper in an RPG.

[2535] So is there a storyline?

[2536] Is there an in -game objective?

[2537] There is an overwhelming storyline.

[2538] If there is a fault that I will give other than the brutal no auto saves.

[2539] That game spends way too much time setting up its story and doing dialogue stuff.

[2540] And a lot of real cheesy JRPG style.

[2541] You could tell this was originally not written in English kind of vibe.

[2542] But kind of well -written at the same time.

[2543] Kind of like the story scenarios.

[2544] Maybe the dialogue isn't always great, but kind of the setup and the characters that they establish.

[2545] They thought about it a lot.

[2546] They could have just said, all right, you're the store owner and RPG go.

[2547] All right, they're fighting monsters.

[2548] You could have lost all that, and it would have been okay.

[2549] But then they stuffed a bunch of this stuff in there.

[2550] And in some ways it helps.

[2551] Premonitioned it up.

[2552] But in some ways it's just like, I wish we could just kind of get to the.

[2553] Get to the meat here.

[2554] What is your progress through the story based on?

[2555] Is it like you hit milestones in the amount of money you have?

[2556] Or is it like you sell a certain item, a certain character?

[2557] You are the daughter of a...

[2558] I think he was a shopper.

[2559] I can't remember what he did.

[2560] Your dad runs off one day on some crazy whim.

[2561] and you're just a young girl left on her own, and then basically the mortgage company comes and is going to foreclose on your house, but they're willing to work with you to help you make the money so that you can get out from under this horrible loan.

[2562] You're paying off debt, then.

[2563] Paying off debt.

[2564] So that's how the story is kind of timed and parceled out.

[2565] It seems like it.

[2566] Again, I didn't get that far into it.

[2567] Does your shop have a sign?

[2568] I have not seen it from the outside.

[2569] I've only seen it from the inside.

[2570] Oh, yeah, it totally does.

[2571] She makes the sign.

[2572] I forgot.

[2573] Is it S?

[2574] Two P's, two P's, an E at the end.

[2575] Shope.

[2576] No, it says, it says, uh, Wrecketeer.

[2577] Ye olde shop.

[2578] Oh, that's the name of your shop.

[2579] It's a combination of two characters' names.

[2580] Uh.

[2581] It's Wreckette and Tear.

[2582] Mr. Tear.

[2583] Tear is this little, uh, pixie fairy that helps you out.

[2584] That works for the mortgage company.

[2585] Sell that thing.

[2586] Oh.

[2587] You can't sell it.

[2588] No, she's the one who's going to decide whether you still have a house to live in.

[2589] A different game.

[2590] Well, all said and done.

[2591] How would you pay for the Pixie?

[2592] And then, yeah, I played a whole shitload of Fallout New Vegas.

[2593] And I really enjoyed that.

[2594] I want to get back into that game.

[2595] I need to revisit.

[2596] So I got that new sick new TV.

[2597] Yeah, your projection.

[2598] My 61 -inch rear projection.

[2599] Got a new bulb for it, so it is bright and shiny.

[2600] Nice.

[2601] which meant that I got to move my, you know, modest 46 -inch TV into my bedroom.

[2602] Jeez.

[2603] So there was a couple of days where I just didn't leave the bedroom.

[2604] Well, did you have to bring a 360 in there?

[2605] Well, I have another 360.

[2606] Oh, did you just bring a profile in there?

[2607] So, yeah, it's the USB stick now makes a lot of movement.

[2608] It gets around.

[2609] It goes from one room to the other.

[2610] It's tough to get into the slims.

[2611] I find it harder to get that stick.

[2612] It's a little bit harder.

[2613] It's a little bit harder.

[2614] Mine doesn't fit in the rear because of the bezel on the...

[2615] You can spit on it first.

[2616] That's pretty much...

[2617] He's the one talking about not fitting in slims.

[2618] It's not my fault being all nasty.

[2619] I don't know.

[2620] All right, we're going to have to end this podcast now because I'm running out of hard drive space.

[2621] I'm going to send you off with that.

[2622] So back into for 2011.

[2623] Sending you off in dreamland.

[2624] Here's a special selection from Ilo Milo entitled Sunny Days.

[2625] Come on.

[2626] Let's give it a second.

[2627] I could also just like lay this in.

[2628] Oh, you're not doing that right now.

[2629] No, this isn't just Brad holding his phone up to the mic.

[2630] It's a nice effect to make it sound like it is.

[2631] It's pretty gothy.

[2632] Is this the main menu music?

[2633] No, this is just old.

[2634] Oh, okay.

[2635] Some of the level music.

[2636] Okay, I was going to say, this is, I like, because the main menu music is way, it's the same instrumentation, but it's way catchier.

[2637] All right, gentlemen.

[2638] V. Caravella, Drew Scanlon, Brad Schumacher, thank you guys for coming back.

[2639] 2011.

[2640] Don't forget to check out Tested's coverage on CES.

[2641] CES happening this week.

[2642] Tested .com is going to be there.

[2643] Bill Smith, Norman Chan, Ana, Herca Robles, and Joey Famiglia are all going to be up.

[2644] in Vegas' butthole.

[2645] They'll have a live stream.

[2646] I think almost every night they'll be starting.

[2647] They're going to be doing a bunch of nighttime streams, podcasts, video content, day wrap -ups.

[2648] Check it out.

[2649] All that shit, y 'all.

[2650] The cesspool.

[2651] So look out for the cesspool on Tesla .com.

[2652] That's it for this week's Chat Bobcast.

[2653] Thanks for listening.

[2654] And we'll be back again next week.

[2655] Another dish of the Chat Bobcast.

[2656] Now we have to license our music.

[2657] Great.