Giant Bombcast 12-21-2010

[0] Hey, guys.

[1] It's our last podcast of 2010.

[2] Ever!

[3] 2010.

[4] Oh, damn it.

[5] Just of 2010.

[6] I'm Ryan Davis.

[7] This is the bomb cast.

[8] Taking it down.

[9] Taking it down.

[10] Taking it real smooth.

[11] Taking it.

[12] Oh, yeah.

[13] There's going to be more podcasts from us posting this year.

[14] Yes.

[15] For our game of the year stuff.

[16] Is that right?

[17] Podcasting.

[18] Tell us more.

[19] You can look for that between Christmas and the new year.

[20] We'll have that stuff up.

[21] But this is the last thing we are actually recording for 2010.

[22] Yeah.

[23] How does that feel, Vinny?

[24] Fan!

[25] Jeff is...

[26] All of the way checked out.

[27] He is playing with his Windows Phone 7, getting points.

[28] Man, we've done a lot of recording things.

[29] Motherfucker.

[30] In the last week and a half.

[31] God damn, have we made some recordings.

[32] I got nothing left to say.

[33] Well, that's good, Vinny.

[34] Yeah.

[35] I fired a sunburst and got like 20 points.

[36] No, stop.

[37] That's good, honey.

[38] He promised we wouldn't talk about video games today.

[39] That's good, honey.

[40] No, I didn't.

[41] No. We're talking about video games.

[42] If it is in the context of an email.

[43] Certainly.

[44] I feel like before we do that, though, since you stated that I have this Windows phone, I should say that it's...

[45] How do you feel about Windows phones, Jeff?

[46] It's not very good.

[47] I don't like it.

[48] But there's things about it.

[49] There's things about it that are kind of okay.

[50] Go talk about that on the Test Podcast.

[51] Yeah, you know, just the points are real, which is nice.

[52] Real points.

[53] But also it led me to spending like $7 on Crackdown 2 DLC.

[54] Oh.

[55] Because they tied.

[56] So they have like the Facebook game where you like save ducks.

[57] All right.

[58] And then they have Crackdown 2.

[59] And then they have this Crackdown 2 Project Sunburst, which is kind of like a tower defense game, but with manual targeting and Bing maps.

[60] So you can, like, I put my base at the Statue of Liberty, which makes it really easy to defend because the freaks only come from, like, one side.

[61] He showed me that.

[62] I can verify.

[63] I can vouch.

[64] The freaks in New York City only come from one side.

[65] Lower East Side.

[66] They also only come out at night.

[67] They do, yeah.

[68] But none of that stuff works.

[69] It's supposed to interconnect to where, like, so I bought the Deluge Pack, which is, like, a wave -based survival thing for Crackdown 2, which they should have put in the main game because it's better than just about anything that's in Crackdown 2.

[70] And they said that playing that would unlock stuff in this phone game and vice versa.

[71] But so far, none of that has actually worked.

[72] So I feel like I've been taken for a ride.

[73] A mobile ride.

[74] Fruit Ninja is coming out soon for Windows Phone 7.

[75] Hey, fantastic.

[76] We'll talk about that more in 2011.

[77] Did he win the StarCraft II thing?

[78] Fruit Ninja.

[79] Yeah, he's that guy.

[80] He's a pro star.

[81] Top of the leaderboards.

[82] How's the Ilo Milo for the phone?

[83] Ah, framework's kind of eh.

[84] Does it look basically the same?

[85] It looks basically the same.

[86] It's also free for AT &T customers, I guess.

[87] I played a little Ilo Milo.

[88] Dude, I'm going to take my SIM card out of this phone and put it back in the iPhone where it belongs.

[89] All right.

[90] Can I borrow that Windows Phone 7?

[91] No, because I don't need to have a SIM card in it to get points.

[92] So I'm going to mess with it for a little while longer.

[93] You just profile.

[94] You don't need to make no phone calls.

[95] It's Wi -Fi.

[96] It's Wi -Fi.

[97] Crazy.

[98] I wanted to check.

[99] You will.

[100] Soon.

[101] Oh, you will.

[102] Okay.

[103] Oh, you will.

[104] That Ilo Milo, it's coming out in the new year.

[105] It's out now if you want it.

[106] If you really want it.

[107] Well, there's a demo version in blah, blah, blah.

[108] Talk to me after the podcast.

[109] I have it.

[110] I'm playing it.

[111] I bought it.

[112] It's like three weeks ago.

[113] It's kind of like cookies and cream.

[114] Yeah.

[115] Yum! That's what I said.

[116] But with a different visual style, which is super cute.

[117] Oh, the music is the best.

[118] And the music is the best.

[119] The best.

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

[121] Wait, is it the best?

[122] I don't think we can...

[123] We can't say...

[124] I cannot say a score, but I can...

[125] I can say that I've played it.

[126] I'm here to talk about video games.

[127] We already established that.

[128] Let's get on.

[129] Also, I played some Tron Evolution.

[130] It's not very good.

[131] Emails.

[132] Can I also just say...

[133] I played a bunch more Tron Evolution, and I agree, but I keep playing it.

[134] You should stop.

[135] I got an email that said, Back to the Future would be out on Wednesday.

[136] Yeah, it's out this week.

[137] All right, well, let's finish this.

[138] Yeah.

[139] Redo all the game of the year.

[140] No, no. I mean, only if all of the best things are in episode one, because that's the only one that's coming out this year.

[141] The full game does not finish until 2011.

[142] And that's your news for the week.

[143] New releases.

[144] Nothing.

[145] Yeah.

[146] A full compliment.

[147] What are you talking about?

[148] Back to the future episode one.

[149] Yeah, there is a bunch of Nintendo releases.

[150] Who knows what those are?

[151] I don't know.

[152] Not me. Let's get to emails, gentlemen.

[153] Bombcast at giantbomb .com is the address.

[154] First one.

[155] Emails.

[156] All right.

[157] I think you've got to say it twice or stand up and say it or something.

[158] That's right.

[159] Stand up your head.

[160] Can you sing it?

[161] Can you sing it?

[162] Can you sing it?

[163] I'm going to look in the mirror and say it three times.

[164] That's my email.

[165] Can you give me a little vocal treatment for emails?

[166] I don't think so.

[167] A little yodel.

[168] Saving that for 2011.

[169] Email me. Hee -hoo.

[170] I love it.

[171] Bobcast at JohnBomb .com.

[172] First one coming in from Alex T. in Chi -Town.

[173] Gentlemen with the recent automotive game releases.

[174] I ask you, what was the first car that you guys drove?

[175] Drove or owned?

[176] Drove.

[177] Ford Taurus.

[178] Ford Taurus.

[179] What year?

[180] Oh, God.

[181] Ballpark.

[182] I'm going to say a 92.

[183] This was like...

[184] I don't know.

[185] It was driver's ed, so it was about...

[186] I think it was 95 when I did driver's ed?

[187] You would have been 95 or 96.

[188] 95, so it belonged to the school or the county.

[189] But it seemed pretty modern.

[190] Do you remember what kind of car that was?

[191] That's crazy.

[192] My school did not have a driver's ed program.

[193] Everybody in the South drives a Ford.

[194] It was pretty easy.

[195] Except when it's a Chevy.

[196] Sometimes it's a Chevy.

[197] So it was the first one.

[198] Your parents never snuck you out?

[199] We also had a Ford Taurus.

[200] Oh, okay.

[201] So it was the family.

[202] Either way, it was a Ford Taurus.

[203] Yeah, it was pretty easy to transition.

[204] What do you care about?

[205] I learned a bit on a Dodge Colt stick shift.

[206] Oh, nice.

[207] A stick.

[208] Very well.

[209] But my most driving memory.

[210] And then I got my learner's permit and took out my dad's Ford, like, 350 pickup truck.

[211] And the whole thing was all sorts of fucked up.

[212] And I kind of stuck.

[213] I wasn't supposed to use a parking brake.

[214] It's probably with the bungee cord around the parking brake.

[215] It's just like bad news.

[216] Got my permit, came home, was like, I'm going to drive a truck, go pick up Jimmy.

[217] Your dad was not around for all this?

[218] Yeah, and then I was screaming at my mom, I don't know what I did!

[219] He's going to kill me!

[220] Having met your dad, I bet that that was an entertaining day in Caravella House.

[221] Yeah, so, I don't know.

[222] 81 Malibu.

[223] Obviously, he did not kill you because you're still here.

[224] No, I've come back.

[225] You've made it.

[226] Jeff.

[227] I don't know.

[228] I drove like a pickup truck around a field and stuff like that when I was like eight or something like that.

[229] Do you remember what you learned on?

[230] I don't know that I ended up driving when I actually got my license.

[231] It was a 68.

[232] I think my very first driving experience behind the wheel was on a Volkswagen thing.

[233] Nice.

[234] Yes.

[235] Nice.

[236] Those things are awesome.

[237] Yeah.

[238] My dad was collecting them for a while, and so we had a bunch of those around.

[239] Do they have another name in Germany?

[240] In Gran Turismo, they do.

[241] Yeah, I heard it referred to as the other name recently.

[242] We always knew them as things, just the Volkswagen thing.

[243] It's the real boxy -looking one with the straight, flat sides.

[244] A friend of mine had one in high school, and you could fit a lot of people.

[245] You just laid them across the back and all kinds of stuff.

[246] Oh, you clown car people like nuts and those things.

[247] Well, also because most of them didn't have roofs, so it's that much easier to just get nine people hanging out of it.

[248] Throw idiots into them.

[249] I know, Volkswagen things are fun.

[250] The cops are coming to this party.

[251] We need to get into this thing and get out of here.

[252] Well, Volkswagen things are fun also because it's super easy to do things like lower the windshield, and take off all the doors.

[253] It's just driving around in this thing that's only barely recognizable as a car.

[254] Is that engine in the back or the front?

[255] Yep, it's engine in the back.

[256] Everything else is pretty much you could swap it out with a Beetle.

[257] Same engine.

[258] It's more modular?

[259] I mean, it's just as modular as a Beetle.

[260] Strip that thing down.

[261] It's like a Jeep version of a Beetle.

[262] Did a little driving on that, but then 89 Peugeot wagon.

[263] That was my main learning car.

[264] Oh, yeah.

[265] Next email.

[266] Coming in from Kevin in Toledo.

[267] Hey!

[268] Hey!

[269] Bombcast.

[270] Oh.

[271] I heard you guys talking about Commando.

[272] And you mentioned you play as Super Joe.

[273] Is this the same Super Joe from Bionic Commando?

[274] Just wondering if the two games were linked by this common thread.

[275] Yeah, absolutely.

[276] Yes.

[277] The other Super Joe.

[278] No, there's not a competing Super Joe out there.

[279] In the Capcom universe.

[280] In that other game that also has Commando in the title.

[281] From Capcom.

[282] Let's just say, it's a pretty loose fucking connection.

[283] And I will defend this guy to the extent that it was a long time before it even occurred to me that Commando and Bionic Commando would even be related.

[284] I feel like they strung a lot of that together later on.

[285] Wolf of the Bionic Battlefield.

[286] Don't they even have very similar logos?

[287] Yeah.

[288] Sure.

[289] I don't know.

[290] One of them you have a robot arm.

[291] Both the logos say Commando in them, if that's what you mean.

[292] It's true.

[293] I think the font's the same.

[294] But then also the movie Commando says Commando right there in it.

[295] That's not Super Joe.

[296] And that is not Super Joe.

[297] For most of it.

[298] Oh, you mean Captain Joseph.

[299] But Danny transforms into Super Joe.

[300] That's right.

[301] Levi Laughlin, British Columbia, Canada.

[302] Hey, Bombcast.

[303] With the news of Kratos in MK Servicing, I pondered who would be in the 360 version.

[304] And the best character I could come up with was Mass Effect's own Rex.

[305] That would be pretty good.

[306] But also not going to happen.

[307] But Mass Effect is coming to the PS3, so he's not really like your platform representative.

[308] No longer first party.

[309] Kid from Limbo.

[310] Dog from Fable 3.

[311] Snoob Saibot is actually the grown -up kid from Limbo.

[312] It won't be anyone.

[313] I don't think they're going to do a platform exclusive thing.

[314] Sony is like funding.

[315] You know, it's like there's 3D in that game.

[316] There's already Sony -exclusive stuff in that game that's not going to be mapped over.

[317] You don't think they could convince Microsoft to give them money to put another character in the game?

[318] I don't know.

[319] I don't think they'll do it.

[320] My guess is that there will not be an equivalent.

[321] Also, the Kratos thing is going to be one of those code deals.

[322] So first buyer will get Kratos.

[323] Oh, oh, packing to the Voodoo Vince.

[324] Yes, Voodoo Vince.

[325] I can't.

[326] I can't think of anything.

[327] They already put a Spartan into Dead or Alive 4.

[328] There aren't a lot of strong fighting game -oriented characters on the Xbox.

[329] Especially M -rated ones.

[330] I see someone signing off as saying, yeah, if you want him to rip his head off.

[331] A Spartan -type character is too serious for the kind of craziness that MK...

[332] Again, has kind of been done.

[333] What else is there?

[334] How about the alligator with the machine guns from Brute Force?

[335] Yep.

[336] you know, memorable characters.

[337] That dude from, uh, from Bloodwake.

[338] Dude from Gears of War with the two, uh, double chainsaw staff thing.

[339] Remember that guy?

[340] Oh, yeah.

[341] That, yeah.

[342] A lambent.

[343] I guess, I guess somebody from Gears makes the most sense.

[344] A locust.

[345] I don't know.

[346] Yeah, one of those locusts.

[347] If that game is Unreal Engine, probably just drop dude in.

[348] It's true.

[349] Push go.

[350] You have a point.

[351] Chris in Morrisville, North Carolina.

[352] Love the show.

[353] With all your talk about Assassin's Creed Brotherhood lately, I decided to go back and play Assassin's Creed 2.

[354] While going through, a nagging question popped in my head.

[355] When did haystacks lose their importance in society and stop being stored in every city street if Assassin's Creed 3 was more modern?

[356] What would be seen in the same frequency as the haystack?

[357] Trash bags.

[358] Dumpsters.

[359] Go to New York City sometime.

[360] See how the filthy people live.

[361] Yeah, you just dive off the roof into the dumpsters.

[362] It's a broken glass.

[363] All the time.

[364] Oh!

[365] It didn't work.

[366] Like a poof of white dust comes out.

[367] You don't know what it is, but you know it's killing you.

[368] Oh, this was full of fluorescent light tubes.

[369] Take me to a hospital right now.

[370] Anybody.

[371] Help me. Vince.

[372] Yes.

[373] He doesn't say where he's from.

[374] Voodoo.

[375] He's from Nolens.

[376] From the Big Easy.

[377] Vince from the Big Easy.

[378] What's up, Giant Bombcast?

[379] I was born after Tron came out.

[380] I have no frame of reference for when people didn't have computers or when they thought that arcade games ran on programs that looked like Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner.

[381] That's a sad time, then.

[382] People still think that today, so I don't know what time he's really...

[383] For me, the go -to completely rad, completely bullshit computer -based universe is the 90s CG cartoon reboot from Mainframe Animation.

[384] My question to you guys is, which one do you think is cooler?

[385] I know some of you guys have gone back and seen Tron recently and kind of aren't digging it so much anymore.

[386] Jeff and I were just talking about Reboot.

[387] Not a fortnight ago.

[388] In your weekly reboot.

[389] I don't know.

[390] Reboot was fine for its time.

[391] Reboot was kind of fun.

[392] For as much as is extremely dumb about Tron, there is a lasting impact to the visual aesthetic and the cutting -edge tech they use to make these boring computer stories.

[393] Without Tron, there would be no reboot.

[394] This is true.

[395] Without Tron, there would be no reboot.

[396] more consistent internal logic as to how things worked in Computer Town.

[397] Well, it's a little bit further along, too.

[398] I feel like they had a little more mainstream.

[399] Yeah, there was more of a framework to work with.

[400] Yeah, people could follow along with the notion of how a computer works when Reboot came out.

[401] Oh, yeah, and I agree with the idea that without...

[402] If Tron had not existed, you couldn't get away with something like Reboot.

[403] I think Vinny was trying to say there was more to computing at that time also.

[404] Yeah.

[405] Tron just makes stuff up at points.

[406] Tron's weird because they have future computer, like touchscreen stuff.

[407] In the first Tron, you're like, this did not exist at all.

[408] They're just predicting things.

[409] Light cycles didn't exist then now, and look at us today.

[410] Recognizers.

[411] I never thought about that.

[412] Yeah.

[413] Glowing pools of computer water.

[414] Jeff Bridges.

[415] Yeah, we invented Jeff Bridges.

[416] A lot of good conversation around the computer water cooler.

[417] Andrew writes in to say that if anyone is thinking of playing Assassin's Creed 1, Brad, I think this is directed at you.

[418] Hi.

[419] It's worth noting that the PC version has four more mission types, which makes the game somewhat less monotonous, especially if you're just playing the story rather than completing all of the prep missions.

[420] That sounds all right.

[421] I already have a save, just for the record.

[422] I got like a third of the way through that first game.

[423] All right.

[424] Also, Assassin's Creed games on PC have always run like garbage for me. Not at all.

[425] Yeah, there have been issues.

[426] I've had horrible technical luck with those games on PC.

[427] So do you consider buyer beware on those Assassin's Creed games on PC?

[428] Next email comes in from Andrew.

[429] Hello, Bombcasts.

[430] Hi.

[431] With the announcement of Uncharted 3 and its focus on the lost city of Irem, I was just thinking about the responsibility a developer has to depicting a real -life location.

[432] How would you guys want Naughty Dog to depict an area as culturally and politically complex as the ruins of an ancient city in Oman?

[433] Also, I love that Naughty Dog is looking into areas and stories no other games have covered.

[434] What did you guys think of how they dealt with Tibet in Oman?

[435] Thieves.

[436] Well, I don't know anything in the real world about these places.

[437] As far as I know, Tibet has giant clockwork and blue dudes everywhere.

[438] Yeah, everyone's blue or giant bulls with giant balls.

[439] That's all that there is in Tibet.

[440] As far as I can.

[441] Which is why we're trying so hard to free it.

[442] I don't know.

[443] Has your bumper sticker worked yet?

[444] I don't know that there's much responsibility other than, you know, try not to be offensively racist about it.

[445] If you could avoid it.

[446] Don't be babysitting mama.

[447] Yeah.

[448] Try not to raise the ire of the people that live in the real place that you're basing your thing on.

[449] But other than that, you know.

[450] But even that's not, you know.

[451] It's not a hard, fast rule.

[452] Sometimes that works to your advantage.

[453] Yeah.

[454] Brad, do you have anything to add to this?

[455] Eh.

[456] All right.

[457] Great.

[458] Nate in Vancouver.

[459] Hey, Bobcast.

[460] Vancouver Nate.

[461] Need your help to settle an argument.

[462] When is the proper time to show the game over screen after you die when there is a one or a zero by your life slash lives counter?

[463] Zero.

[464] I mean.

[465] But it's lives remaining.

[466] Like you have one left, and then you die, and you have zero left, and then you play through that life, and then you die while it says zero, and that's when you get game over because that's how many tries you have left after the one that you're on now.

[467] I can't even think of games that have life counters anymore.

[468] Mario Galaxy.

[469] That's a better point.

[470] Yeah, but I always wrap up so many in that.

[471] And even if you run out.

[472] You hit continue, and you have another five.

[473] It makes no sense.

[474] Well, keep going.

[475] That doesn't matter.

[476] You're fine.

[477] I agree.

[478] You have zero lives remaining.

[479] Yeah.

[480] Yeah, it's lives remaining, not your current lives.

[481] Sean Light in Columbus, Ohio.

[482] Hey, Bombcast, I was just thinking of how when almost every PC game comes with patch notes saying what they fixed when they update a game, 360 and PS3 seem to never do this, having to listen to some random person state hearsay in multiplayer voice chat or comb through pages of a dev site to find the right forum page discussing a patch is a pain on both accounts.

[483] Are there no patch notes because of a technical limitation or a lowered presumption of their audience's intelligence?

[484] would you want a text file pop -up with your automated console patches or title updates?

[485] I don't think that they assume their audience is too stupid to interpret patch notes or something.

[486] That seems really presumptuous.

[487] I just think that those systems weren't built with those sorts of notes in mind.

[488] So wait, is he asking specifically why you can't see them in -game when you get the patch?

[489] Yeah.

[490] I think the systems just weren't built for that.

[491] That actually would be kind of nice.

[492] I don't know if that's the appropriate venue, really.

[493] Well, it's nice to know if you're downloading a change.

[494] It's nice to know what it does.

[495] I mean, like when you're on the PS3, whenever you do like a system update, there's several pages of like you have to click.

[496] They at least have the opportunity there.

[497] They'll have the time just as security updates.

[498] Well, the firmware updates will tell you what they do.

[499] I'm saying like in that format, something like that, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

[500] I do wish that they would do sometimes because there will be times where like 8K patch.

[501] What the fuck are you fixing with this?

[502] You can find a lot of us online.

[503] I don't know if he's claiming that those notes are just universally unavailable.

[504] Yeah, I mean, definitely out there.

[505] Hydrophobia just had...

[506] Hydrophobia had a ridiculous patch.

[507] So it's so long that it's...

[508] Go out or it's about to go out.

[509] Yeah, the list is so long it's impossible to miss. It's on every page on the internet now because of its length.

[510] So I don't think they're like, you know, deliberately trying to bury this stuff or anything.

[511] But you do have to...

[512] Sometimes you have to dig.

[513] That's true.

[514] That's absolutely true.

[515] And I do wish that there was a...

[516] A more consistent way to get that information.

[517] More and more games are having that news ticker or other things like that that will surface some of that stuff.

[518] Need for Speed even just has a full -on news section.

[519] Monday Night Combat guys have been real good about putting out comprehensive, like, here's all the balance changes we made.

[520] We'd added five names.

[521] Does that stuff show in -game, though?

[522] I haven't fired it up.

[523] Yeah, it's kind of weird that you have to, like...

[524] In a lot of cases, you have to go dig it up off their website or dig it up off a message board or something like that.

[525] It's weird that you have to go to those lengths.

[526] More patch notes.

[527] If you're going to patch, it will tell us.

[528] Tell us what you're doing.

[529] Tell us what's going on.

[530] Start updating your plan files again.

[531] Also, yes.

[532] I need more information.

[533] I recently fingered John Carmack.

[534] John C. Edited Software.

[535] All right.

[536] Moving on.

[537] Marcus Lindstedt in Helsinki, Finland.

[538] Hey, guys!

[539] Hey.

[540] Oh, God.

[541] Finland is...

[542] So now that the third installment of the Uncharted series has been announced, do you think there will be, just like with Naughty Dog's last two series, a racing game?

[543] Yes.

[544] Hopefully.

[545] So far, that has been the pattern.

[546] You get a trio, and then you get some sort of a cart -type game.

[547] I don't know.

[548] Hmm.

[549] I mean, there was some thrilling car sequences in Uncharted 2.

[550] That's true.

[551] Damn, those were some great car chases.

[552] So the cart game would just be you on foot being chased by exploding cars.

[553] It would be you in the back of constantly exploding cars.

[554] You pick up power -ups that enable other cars to explode.

[555] You never actually control any of the cars.

[556] You're just constantly leaping from exploding truck to exploding truck.

[557] And you throw bananas to trip on the opposition.

[558] Now you lost.

[559] They would have to farm it out.

[560] shells.

[561] They'd have to farm it out.

[562] Naughty Dog's time is way too valuable to be making.

[563] Eurocom, what are you guys doing?

[564] Now I'm sitting here trying to think about the timeline of those previous cycles and what that means for the remaining lifespan of the PS3.

[565] Damn.

[566] Because if that game's coming out a year from now...

[567] Hmm.

[568] Hmm.

[569] Hmm.

[570] Hmm.

[571] Hmm.

[572] Hmm.

[573] Hmm.

[574] Hmm.

[575] Marco.

[576] Marco.

[577] Polo.

[578] Heavy machine guns.

[579] Marco says, hey, crew.

[580] I have been listening to you for years now.

[581] Even since you were podcasting in the arrow pointing down thing, remember those anyway.

[582] In recent months, I have been noticing that you guys spend a lot of time, 10 to 15 minutes, reading the WiiWare and the DSiWare releases, and normally just five or so for emails.

[583] I must admit that I find the WiiWare and DSiWare completely bored regardless of who reads them.

[584] Good try by Alex a few weeks back.

[585] And personally, I find myself fast -forwarding that complete section just because I have no interest in anything that comes out of these platforms.

[586] In fact, I find it very inconsistent that you spend so much time reading the WiiWare and DSiWare releases and never the same kind of effort is put into presenting Xbox Live or PlayStation Network releases as well.

[587] I realize that.

[588] The whole point is to mock the descriptions of the game.

[589] And sure, if anything major comes out, I want to know about it.

[590] But rather, you use this time for emails or, in general, anything else.

[591] It's just a suggestion.

[592] Keep up the good work.

[593] The side is awesome.

[594] Marco.

[595] What should we do instead?

[596] How about this?

[597] Now, emails.

[598] You're just going to make that noise for 15 minutes.

[599] Yeah.

[600] Oh, man. I could do it.

[601] No, but you want to slow it down to half speed.

[602] Yeah, like I want to listen to a podcast to listen to guys make fart noises.

[603] Learn how to fart.

[604] Teach you how to fart.

[605] If there's any place that you can do it.

[606] Is that how you, Dougie?

[607] Is that what that actually is?

[608] It's as great a place as any.

[609] Imagine that sort of fart sound.

[610] That would be so entertaining.

[611] Just like exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale.

[612] Yours don't?

[613] Like a suck back in.

[614] I sound like a sousaphone.

[615] Next email comes in from Sean.

[616] On the recent podcast, when discussing Marvel Pinball, you were talking about how great it would be for a real table to reverse the flippers in a game mode.

[617] This, in fact, has been done at least in one table.

[618] The one that I know of that does it is the Simpsons Pinball Party.

[619] Neat.

[620] What does that mean, reverse the flippers?

[621] Like, you hit the left button, the right one goes.

[622] Oh, gosh.

[623] Yeah.

[624] That's crazy.

[625] Next email comes in from Andrew.

[626] I only play pinball inverted.

[627] You're the worst.

[628] Gloomy tangent on the site.

[629] Hey, Bombcast.

[630] I was playing Fable 3 and came back to visit my family one last time before heading off to the other continent or whatever, as per the game's suggestion.

[631] Last I saw my kid, he had just been in the crib but was now a bit older.

[632] To my shock, the kid was black.

[633] Neither I nor my fictional wife were even remotely tanned.

[634] What the fuck is going on?

[635] What is the game applying?

[636] And most importantly, does this mean I've somehow been cuckolded by Peter Molyneux?

[637] Now, do you think Fable 3 is sophisticated enough to burden you with another man's child?

[638] Or do you think it's just kind of busted?

[639] I don't know if it's busted.

[640] Given so many other things about Fable 3 being a little busted.

[641] You're going to go with that?

[642] I'm going to go with that.

[643] I know which is likely, but I know which I would like to be true.

[644] Yeah.

[645] True enough, Brad.

[646] But only if that means you can go back and murder her with no penalties.

[647] Whatever.

[648] Recessive genes.

[649] It's just, you know.

[650] I guess, yeah.

[651] It can happen.

[652] Two recessive genes hit, and that's it.

[653] Yeah.

[654] Boom.

[655] Good save.

[656] What, did you need to play Fable 2?

[657] Chris from Smyrna, Tennessee.

[658] Dearest of bomb peoples, I'm an assistant manager at a video game retailer and have been playing games on an unhealthy basis.

[659] Since I can't remember, I have just found out that my girlfriend, who has never owned a system in her life, and has been up to the...

[660] And the kid doesn't look anything like him, right?

[661] Could I go to jail for this?

[662] And has been up to this point an anti -gamer and has secretly ordered herself an Xbox 360 in order to try and understand my hobby more and grows closer as a couple.

[663] This is by far the coolest thing ever.

[664] Seriously.

[665] She ordered it with Donnie's Inferno for her love of classic literature and condemned criminal origins because of her interest in the minds of, well, criminals.

[666] So my question is this.

[667] What is the best way to approach the situation so I don't discourage her?

[668] The cynical and jaded side of me wants to tell her that these aren't the best games to introduce yourself to gaming with.

[669] However, I'm incredibly excited that she would even do something like this in the first place, and I want to encourage her in any way I can.

[670] What are the best games you can think of to introduce a non -gamer to that makes the best first?

[671] impression.

[672] Thank you for all the advice and high five for everyone.

[673] I think if she's already showing a direct interest in a type of game, I would just kind of let that play out before making any suggestions.

[674] Or snapping that disc in half.

[675] Like, oh, you did it all wrong.

[676] You're so stupid.

[677] You bought the wrong game.

[678] Why don't you put a piece of poop in that Xbox?

[679] Yeah, I think probably the hardest impulse that you're going to need to suppress here in this situation.

[680] is keeping your enthusiasm at bay.

[681] Let her kind of find it and figure it out.

[682] If you get too up in her business about this, it's going to cool the whole thing immediately.

[683] Yeah, figure out what she liked and didn't like about those games, and then I would work some suggestions for future games around that.

[684] It will be especially tough watching her play these games.

[685] Oh, God.

[686] It's tough watching anyone play Dante's Inferno.

[687] Because she will be bad.

[688] Yeah.

[689] And you will want to try to correct her.

[690] That Islo Milo.

[691] Do not do that.

[692] That co -op mode in Islo Milo.

[693] Yeah.

[694] Tread lightly.

[695] Yes.

[696] On that one.

[697] Yes.

[698] If you're playing with someone.

[699] Whatever you do, let's say first six to nine months, do not even consider cooperative game experiences.

[700] Just let her figure some stuff out.

[701] DS is a fine gateway drug.

[702] I think Brotherhood is a good...

[703] You're out of your mind.

[704] No, no, that game...

[705] You're crazy.

[706] That game's not very hard.

[707] For somebody who's never played a video game, the controls are sophisticated as shit.

[708] You are assuming way too much.

[709] I remember the first time I picked up the first Assassin's Creed, nothing made any sense about how that shit worked.

[710] But I mean, even stepping back from that, the idea of using both thumbsticks at the same time is beyond most people who don't play games at all.

[711] I was just thinking it's kind of forgiving.

[712] The timing on it's not crazy.

[713] It's way too much.

[714] Way, way, way too much.

[715] Limbo.

[716] I wouldn't do that.

[717] Even though too demanding, too precise.

[718] I'm telling you, man. Get a DS.

[719] She's got a 360.

[720] Bejeweled.

[721] Or Zuma.

[722] Well, yeah.

[723] I mean, if it has to be on the Xbox.

[724] I'm just saying, if you've got a girlfriend that's going to potentially be way into beating up hobos with 2x4s, just marry her.

[725] And go buy a copy of Condemned 2 already.

[726] That's way better than the first one.

[727] Next email comes in from Johnny G in Clear Creek, Ohio.

[728] What's up, Bombcasters?

[729] I recently loaded up my save of Costume Quest for the Xbox 360 and was required to install an update.

[730] Unfortunately, the update made the beginnings of the third act unplayable with the use of a pre -update save, and I'm unable to get the NPCs to follow me to the French fry stand, essentially breaking the game.

[731] I checked the Double Fine forums, and they said they are looking into it, but they suggested to just start the game over since new saves after the update will not crash the third act.

[732] My question is, should game developers be responsible for some sort of compensation for breaking games they have already been purchased by the user?

[733] I have a bad feeling that I'm going to have to start the game over and play it through, and I really don't want to have to do that.

[734] Your thoughts?

[735] Remove the update and try playing.

[736] Yeah.

[737] Unless it's already gotten up in the save and won't get out.

[738] How do you do that?

[739] Clear your system cache.

[740] Go to the memory setting area.

[741] Unless he's on a PS3.

[742] He said 360, which explicitly.

[743] So if you send your Xbox to Japan, they will modify your save file.

[744] Nintendo.

[745] It's a bummer, and I think it shines a light on an issue with the pure digital downloadable games.

[746] If you get a retail game like that, you say, well, fuck you guys.

[747] I'm going to go and sell this game now because I don't want to do that again.

[748] But in this case, it's like, well, you know.

[749] We already sold it to you.

[750] We already got the money.

[751] Also, they'll fix it.

[752] You think so?

[753] Like, I hope so.

[754] I would think that.

[755] But, I mean, if it affects a...

[756] Breaking a save.

[757] Yeah, but in a six -hour game.

[758] Like, they already told them to start it over.

[759] And given all the hurdles you have to jump to get another patch through, I would assume they would fix it.

[760] I hope they do.

[761] That would be the right thing to do.

[762] Yeah, I don't know.

[763] Like, sense of obligation, though, about something like that.

[764] It's tough.

[765] I've certainly seen games get abandoned before.

[766] Yeah, that will happen.

[767] But I don't know if Double Fine is trying to make their way in this bite -sized, downloadable space.

[768] Yeah, they should do right by the customers.

[769] That's a shame, though.

[770] Smart things do.

[771] It doesn't seem to happen.

[772] I can't think of too many things that happens frequently enough where, you know.

[773] Fable 3.

[774] Did he ever get out of that?

[775] I thought it was supposed to get fixed.

[776] It did get fixed.

[777] It is fixed.

[778] Yeah, it got fixed.

[779] They did address that.

[780] Yeah?

[781] Yeah.

[782] All right.

[783] Next email comes in from Leo.

[784] He's from Tampa, Florida.

[785] I've heard of that.

[786] And he was just wondering what would a direct sequel to the original Final Fantasy be called?

[787] I have been asking this question ever since Final Fantasy X2 was released.

[788] It couldn't be called Final Fantasy II because that game is taken.

[789] Also, is this worthy of a new concept page on the site?

[790] Nope.

[791] Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[792] Love the show.

[793] Love the site.

[794] Brad rules.

[795] Brad rules.

[796] I think that should always be the default answer when you ask yourself, should this be a new concept page?

[797] Nope.

[798] Probably not.

[799] Probably not.

[800] The answer is no. If you think it's funny and you can only think of one example, no. I don't know anybody.

[801] Final Fantasy.

[802] Final Fantasy colon a subtitle.

[803] I should have started that from the beginning.

[804] Just don't use Final Fantasy anymore.

[805] Final Fantasy.

[806] I don't have a funny answer for that.

[807] Start a new franchise.

[808] I don't think it's especially funny.

[809] Because Final Fantasy is serious business.

[810] Yeah, exactly.

[811] Jeff's serious about it.

[812] I'm pretty serious about Chocobos.

[813] Stop fucking laughing.

[814] I'm sorry.

[815] I'm sorry.

[816] Someone, this was apparently, I didn't realize this was an issue, but recently it has bubbled up on the internet that a lot of people don't know how to fucking say chocobos and say it like chocobos.

[817] Oh, yeah.

[818] Who was saying chocobo in here?

[819] I think Will says.

[820] Yeah.

[821] And I've gotten emails similarly of people being like, what's the right way of chocobo?

[822] Do they ever say it in the games?

[823] Yeah, I think around maybe 10 they said it in 10.

[824] Here, here's my favorite line for Final Fantasy 10.

[825] Hey, look, there's a fucking Chocobo.

[826] Look at that shit.

[827] Yeah, look at him fuck.

[828] That one's going to produce a good racing Chocobo or Chocobo racing.

[829] Chocobos.

[830] I bet they did, yeah, because 10 was the first one to have voice acting.

[831] I bet they did say it out loud.

[832] You guys all blah, blah, blah, Chocobo.

[833] Blitzball Chocobo.

[834] Yup.

[835] Airships, Chocobo.

[836] Firaga, Chocobo.

[837] Spira, Chocobo.

[838] Sin, Waka.

[839] Waka, Chocobo.

[840] Weston Milligan.

[841] That's the guy's name.

[842] That's amazing.

[843] Weston Milligan.

[844] At your service, professional concierge.

[845] Ontario, Canada.

[846] Ontario, Canada's own.

[847] He's on Rogers Wireless Network.

[848] because I don't think you can not be on Roger's service.

[849] Who's Roger?

[850] He's the guy that runs all of Canada's IT.

[851] Are you talking about phone service?

[852] I don't have anything.

[853] No, there's definitely.

[854] Call Roger.

[855] When I was, God, where did we go?

[856] Vancouver.

[857] Yeah.

[858] Oh, the couve.

[859] I got on Roger's, and then I went like two miles, and then it switched to another network.

[860] Bills.

[861] I can't remember who it was, though.

[862] Adams.

[863] Greetings and salutations, Bombcast.

[864] Keeping it classy in Ontario.

[865] Weston.

[866] Personal concierge.

[867] He's used to it.

[868] My house is currently on fire, and I have to make a very important choice.

[869] The fire is starting to burn through the living room door, and I have to pick which console to save.

[870] I have a good volume of 360 games that I love to play all the time, but I also have a backwards compatible PS3 that I really value, but I do not play as often.

[871] Which one do I save?

[872] I will try to fight the flames until your response is so time.

[873] Well, is of the essence.

[874] The games are the things you'd probably want to save.

[875] Well, the PS3 is kind of a limited item at this point.

[876] Yeah.

[877] Because you can't just go anywhere and get the backwards compatible one.

[878] Yeah, but you can get a PS2.

[879] Maybe you can get your PS3 and grab your USB stick with your saves on it.

[880] But Jeff's Insight is absolutely correct.

[881] It's the damned games.

[882] Because that's like the super expensive.

[883] It doesn't matter.

[884] You're going to get out of there with all console and like, oh, well, I downloaded some games for this one.

[885] You download them again.

[886] Yeah, it's true.

[887] Those physical games, like, you know, again, you talk like 60 bucks a copy new, rack up the price, not bringing out games, you know, 360s, you know, 200, 300 bucks.

[888] The correct answer is, of course, leave it all behind and get out of your house.

[889] There's only one of you, man. There's only one of you.

[890] Weston Milligan.

[891] From Ontario, Canada.

[892] This next one's from Sam.

[893] He's in Lakewood, Washington.

[894] I just drove to Canada and set some guy's house on fire.

[895] Brad, this one is for you, so put your ears on.

[896] Hello, Giant Bomb crew.

[897] And he dresses all of us.

[898] That's us.

[899] He's a gentleman about it.

[900] It's about StarCraft.

[901] It is.

[902] Take it out.

[903] So, yeah.

[904] Take a knee here, Jeff.

[905] Tune on out.

[906] I'm having a StarCraft II multiplayer troubles.

[907] Okay.

[908] On 1v1, I have...

[909] This seems to be the problem.

[910] Make more Marines.

[911] That didn't work.

[912] He tried it.

[913] He fucked up.

[914] On 1v1, I have been stuck in bronze since the game came out.

[915] And I only seem to be getting worse at it.

[916] Naturally, this is a common enough problem.

[917] However, the story gets more interesting.

[918] Making the incredible assumption that it was already some kind of interesting.

[919] When I reveal that in 2v2 I'm ranked silver.

[920] Not only that.

[921] But in 3v3, I am ranked gold.

[922] And lo and behold, in 4v4, I am ranked mother -loving platinum.

[923] When this occurred at first, I thought it was a glitch in their ranking systems and proceeded to keep playing to equalize my rankings.

[924] But they're actually quite stable, and this confuses the hell out of me. I have lost my last ten bronze 1v1 matches in a row and won my last five platinum 4v4s.

[925] It seems that the more distilled my contribution to any given match, the better a player I become.

[926] that I excel at team play but absolutely suck when going for wins on my own.

[927] Given your expertise in the field, could you possibly suggest some way to alter my strategy and improve my sacking 1v1 while hopefully not hampering my 4v4?

[928] For the record, I play Zerg pretty much exclusively and like to fast build to mutalisks and swarm.

[929] Much love from the Pacific Northwest.

[930] Bradley, do you have something to cure what ails?

[931] Jeez.

[932] Young Samuel.

[933] Sounds like that guy's real good at riding coattails.

[934] Oh, nice.

[935] I don't know.

[936] 1v1 is a totally different game from any other kind.

[937] As soon as there's another player in there, there are things you don't have to do because they can get your back on that stuff.

[938] Okay.

[939] So by playing 1v1, you've got to do everything yourself.

[940] So you're managing five different aspects of the game all at one time.

[941] So you're saying it could be just a basic issue of multitasking?

[942] Yeah, definitely.

[943] These other things where he can focus on a specific task.

[944] Yeah, and there are way better guides than I can give you for how to get better at 1v1 specifically because that's all the pros care about, so that's all they write about really.

[945] Who's a top -tier Zerg player?

[946] Like GSL level?

[947] Yeah, this guy can go check out and go watch some of his stuff.

[948] Oh, man. I don't know if watching pros is going to benefit somebody at the bronze level.

[949] I mean, I don't mean that.

[950] I'm not trying to...

[951] He could work his way down from there at least.

[952] Yeah, I guess so.

[953] The better thing is to just go read some guides.

[954] There are some really good comprehensive guides at the bottom level of skill about here are the things you should be focusing on that you probably aren't.

[955] You probably are doing this and this because you think that's fun or that's what you did in StarCraft 1, but here is the actual way to really improve your game from the ground up.

[956] I've heard it said that just making shit and attack moving it to the other guy's base and moving off of your base, never stopping production, will take you to platinum by itself.

[957] Because the other guys at that level are going to try to do everything the same way you are and do none of it well.

[958] So just marching forward.

[959] Getting your production down is the absolute cornerstone of winning in that game because it is a macro strategy game.

[960] It is generally about making more shit than the other guy.

[961] And that's one to grow on.

[962] Everything else.

[963] You have to build everything else on top of that.

[964] So get your production stuff down first.

[965] Go look for some guides.

[966] Good advice.

[967] Brad Shoemaker.

[968] Next email comes in from Randy in Poughkeepsie.

[969] Poughkeepsie?

[970] Poughkeepsie?

[971] Poughkeepsie?

[972] Poughkeepsie.

[973] Poughkeepsie.

[974] Poughkeepsie.

[975] New York.

[976] Poughkeepsie.

[977] Poughkeepsie.

[978] Schenectady.

[979] Schenectady.

[980] Schenectady.

[981] Schenectady.

[982] Schenectady.

[983] Dearest Bombcast, which is worse, playing old arcade games on an LCD monitor or playing new HD games on a CRT monitor?

[984] Thoughts?

[985] That's an interesting one.

[986] I don't know if I've seen too many new HD games on a CRT.

[987] I don't really mind old games on an LCD.

[988] Yeah, it doesn't bother me that much.

[989] You're talking about going back with...

[990] An old CRT, I assume.

[991] Yeah, I would assume.

[992] Because I've got a CRT.

[993] Playing HD games in not HD sucks ass.

[994] Yes.

[995] That's much more extreme ass.

[996] I don't know.

[997] Some old arcade games are kind of, I don't know.

[998] I want them to look filthy.

[999] I want to see every single filthy, grimy pixel.

[1000] There is an aesthetic.

[1001] but there's like hardcore functionality issues when you start trying to run HD games on a non -HD monitor that I think are much worse.

[1002] Yeah, that's true.

[1003] Next email comes in from Jameson, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

[1004] True or false, Die Hard is the quintessential Christmas film.

[1005] True.

[1006] We had a discussion here.

[1007] True.

[1008] It wasn't a discussion.

[1009] Yeah, true.

[1010] It was just a true -false.

[1011] That's true.

[1012] That's it, true.

[1013] Brad from Dayton, Ohio wants to know, why is Brad always so tired?

[1014] Now, I'm not sure if he's asking about you or himself or just Brad's.

[1015] Maybe it should be, why are Brad's always so tired?

[1016] He's always going to the gym.

[1017] Because it's tough to be rad, you know what I'm saying?

[1018] Moving on.

[1019] It really is endemic to the species.

[1020] I don't know.

[1021] Justin from Washington, D .C. Did the latest Game Room update.

[1022] solve some issue that allowed them to actually start releasing good games again because the last few weeks have been a fucking revelation compared to the months before.

[1023] And I don't see any reason they would intentionally destroy their brand by releasing eight bad breakout clones when they had Sunset Riders waiting in the wings.

[1024] Can we start to believe again, Jeff?

[1025] You'll notice that there is exactly one game left in the current pack, and it is Sunset Riders.

[1026] because they are riding off into the sunset, and that is it.

[1027] I like that.

[1028] I want to see that.

[1029] I love how he assumes that they give any kind of shit about preserving the integrity of the brand, or that there's even a brand there to destroy.

[1030] For them to do what they're doing with this stuff, there has to be someone that at least cares enough to organize it this way and do this.

[1031] I get the impression they licensed all of these games week one and then have been eking them out ever since.

[1032] Can I add a question here, an email?

[1033] Email from Vinny Caravella.

[1034] Please don't say last names.

[1035] Huntington, Huntsville, Long Island.

[1036] Farmingdale.

[1037] Fuck Farmingdale.

[1038] When Game Room finally goes off into the sunset.

[1039] What should, in the grand style of arcades closing down, what should replace the game room when you load it up?

[1040] Stock car track.

[1041] I was thinking like an Olive Garden.

[1042] A Qzar.

[1043] Like a laser tag.

[1044] I turned the old arcade in the mall where I lived into a police station.

[1045] Like a sheriff's office.

[1046] In the mall?

[1047] Auto supply store.

[1048] Did you guys have freestanding arcades, though?

[1049] Yeah.

[1050] Because where I come from, arcades could not exist outside of a shopping mall.

[1051] Yeah, most of mine were in the mall.

[1052] There were some cities, some towns in the area had such a...

[1053] There used to be one of the strip malls in Cotati, like Flynn's Arcade style.

[1054] Yeah, I remember that one.

[1055] I would go there a lot.

[1056] That was good.

[1057] That was a good one back in the day for sure.

[1058] There was one...

[1059] I mean, there was the Chuck E. Cheese up in Santa Rosa.

[1060] There was the Aladdin's Castle in the mall.

[1061] There was another one, though, in that area.

[1062] But Santa Rosa eventually adopted that sort of like you can't have a freestanding arcade rule or something weird like that.

[1063] I don't know if it was a fish out of water, man. I can't breathe.

[1064] It was city -mandated.

[1065] Mine was called Galaxy in the mall.

[1066] Really?

[1067] Yeah.

[1068] We had the spaceport.

[1069] That's a good one, too.

[1070] It was all decorated.

[1071] It had these sort of airlock -looking doors going inside.

[1072] And that became the sheriff's station?

[1073] Yeah.

[1074] Aladdin's Castle was decorated with drug dealers.

[1075] Nice.

[1076] Nice.

[1077] Yeah.

[1078] Well decorated.

[1079] There was probably a good reason why the city of Santa Rosa was a little cool towards arcades in that you could buy incredible drugs at the Aladdin's Castle.

[1080] It's a pretty good name for a drug den, too.

[1081] Yeah, absolutely.

[1082] Hey, meet me at Aladdin's Castle.

[1083] Take you on a magic spot.

[1084] You have a dark, noisy room where we can safely transact drugs.

[1085] Yeah.

[1086] And then I can go to the food court.

[1087] That's back when there was still a Chick -fil -A in that mall, too.

[1088] It would be very awesome if you boot up Game Room in 2011 or 2011 and it's an auto parts store.

[1089] He's like, oh, man. Hey, do you want to download a spark plug?

[1090] I do need a case of oil.

[1091] All those games you bought, we sold them at auction.

[1092] That's right.

[1093] He threw me the dump.

[1094] We'll just end up pulling them out rescuing machines from the dump.

[1095] We got another email, you guys.

[1096] All right.

[1097] What?

[1098] This one's from Alex Perry.

[1099] He's in Wichita.

[1100] AP.

[1101] Kansas.

[1102] Damn.

[1103] Why in third -person shooters with over -the -shoulder aiming modes is the camera usually situated over the right shoulder with a character on the left side of the screen, while in first -person shooters the gun is almost always on the right side?

[1104] A good third -person shooter will let you switch.

[1105] I like that.

[1106] Well, that's only when it's tactically important.

[1107] for them to allow that.

[1108] I think it's always tactically important.

[1109] I guess.

[1110] I just like switching.

[1111] You always want the character on the side of the screen where...

[1112] The corner.

[1113] Yeah, I like you, yeah.

[1114] Well, you know, ideally the camera automatically swings around when you are stuck.

[1115] Behind cover or something.

[1116] That's an even better third person.

[1117] It was one of the things that always super bothered me about Alan Wake.

[1118] I like that.

[1119] It would assume one side, and I'm like, I don't even care if that's the side I'm actually using more.

[1120] In my mind, I need to be this other way.

[1121] It wasn't for you to constantly push it one way or the other.

[1122] It wasn't assuming, though.

[1123] It was just the last way that you swung the camera.

[1124] If you go back and try it.

[1125] Because I sat there.

[1126] Because it bugged me, too.

[1127] I was like, what is going on here?

[1128] And then I messed around with it.

[1129] And it was actually, it may have been a function of which way you were moving and swinging the camera at the same time.

[1130] It would leave it in that position.

[1131] I just felt like it was constantly going over the left shoulder.

[1132] And I'm like, this feels weird to me. It would definitely end up on the other side just as often as not.

[1133] I wish it, yeah.

[1134] It shouldn't do that.

[1135] Nick writes in, hey guys.

[1136] Recently you had a quest involving food mascot games.

[1137] What is your favorite food game?

[1138] Mine is Yo Noid.

[1139] Vinny, favorite food game?

[1140] Mine is Fast Food for the Atari 2600.

[1141] That's not really licensed though.

[1142] It doesn't have to be.

[1143] Oh, okay.

[1144] What's your favorite food game?

[1145] Well, Burger Time.

[1146] What about Food Fight?

[1147] Food Fight's really good.

[1148] You like Food Fight, too.

[1149] I fucking ate Burger Time, though.

[1150] Burger Time's what I gave you.

[1151] I actually didn't mind, what was it, The Spot?

[1152] Cool Spot.

[1153] Cool Spot.

[1154] Cool Spot was good.

[1155] It's a drink, doesn't count.

[1156] Disqualified.

[1157] Food Game!

[1158] Not Food and Beverage Game.

[1159] Oh, sorry.

[1160] Wait, beverages are a kind of...

[1161] No, they're a drink.

[1162] I don't know.

[1163] I'm thinking like the...

[1164] Food and drink.

[1165] Animal Kingdom style.

[1166] It makes its way up to beverage.

[1167] No, you have to choose again.

[1168] All right.

[1169] Food game?

[1170] Food game.

[1171] Game based on food.

[1172] I wouldn't say like, oh, these burgers are a delicious beverage.

[1173] They're not interchangeable.

[1174] I wish I could say that.

[1175] If you blend it, it is.

[1176] We are not going to drink burgers.

[1177] Doodles drink burgers.

[1178] I wish I had played this Burger King games.

[1179] Do you have to say any of them?

[1180] I've still got them sealed.

[1181] Sneaking is...

[1182] Sneaking.

[1183] I love sneaking.

[1184] It's the prequel to stacking.

[1185] I love the main menu screen in sneaking where it's just live action.

[1186] Yeah.

[1187] Burger King.

[1188] Hanging out.

[1189] Should I open those at this point?

[1190] Yeah.

[1191] I don't think there's any chance of them like...

[1192] They're going to be worth a million dollars and you're going to be bummed when you open it up.

[1193] You always know they are never going to be worth any significant amount of money.

[1194] No video game is ever going to be worth a significant amount of money ever again.

[1195] Yeah.

[1196] The time of that is long since gone.

[1197] Probably.

[1198] Collectible memorabilia.

[1199] That was a pretty fucking weird release you have to admit.

[1200] You have to admit.

[1201] Which they sold millions and millions and millions of.

[1202] That's cool.

[1203] I'm just saying, there's no rarity to it, so there's not going to ever be collectible value.

[1204] I'll trade you my sealed copy.

[1205] I should go get the fake record with the Big Mac song on it.

[1206] That did not stop me from buying two copies of each.

[1207] You'll put a penny on that thing.

[1208] But you can also, seriously, go on eBay.

[1209] You will spend an extra dollar for sealed copies.

[1210] Just go buy another sealed set.

[1211] Or just go buy another set and keep your sealed set.

[1212] I understand the desire to keep things sealed.

[1213] Yeah.

[1214] Yeah, but I was like, hey, I've got this Tron record.

[1215] I'm going to need to open it because I want to listen to this.

[1216] So function beats.

[1217] Dude, I thought for a second that you turned on Echo.

[1218] I thought I started hearing Echo for a second.

[1219] All that being said, none of those games rate, right?

[1220] No. Hey, Mr. Domino's.

[1221] In the food game Pantheon.

[1222] It's not the name of a game at all.

[1223] How about Mr. Domino's?

[1224] How about McKids?

[1225] Anybody ever play that?

[1226] I actually never played McKids.

[1227] I never played that.

[1228] Mick and Matt Global Gladiators may be a little better.

[1229] Josh P. Brisbane, Australia.

[1230] Hey, Bombcast.

[1231] I've been wondering.

[1232] Have you?

[1233] If Snake Plissken got into a fight with John McClane, who would win?

[1234] Wouldn't they be friends?

[1235] But still, even friends will argue sometimes.

[1236] Let's say it's not like a physical fight.

[1237] Let's say Snake Plissken and John McClane go to the movies and they can't decide what to see.

[1238] What if Snake Plissken's picking up on John McClane's girl?

[1239] I think John McClane is a more persuasive individual.

[1240] No one can stop Mr. McClane.

[1241] So you think they get there and it's like they each want to see something different.

[1242] Come on!

[1243] You think John McClane...

[1244] Go to the movies!

[1245] We'll see the new Tron!

[1246] Have a laugh!

[1247] Yeah, yeah.

[1248] He wins that argument every time.

[1249] Yeah, that's probably true.

[1250] All right, I like it.

[1251] There you go, Josh.

[1252] The answer is John McClane.

[1253] I think John McClane because John McClane has not lost an eye yet.

[1254] So that means he's the better fighter.

[1255] So just depth perception you think is the advantage.

[1256] No, it's track record.

[1257] Like after all that stuff, he walks out.

[1258] I still got two eyeballs.

[1259] The only time Snake Plissons is going to win that argument is if he's trying to get him to see a 3D movie.

[1260] He's like, I can't.

[1261] I can't.

[1262] No. Just put on the glasses.

[1263] It'll make it 2D.

[1264] It doesn't work that way.

[1265] I need to.

[1266] It totally works that way.

[1267] John, you aren't a scientist.

[1268] Go to the mall.

[1269] See a movie.

[1270] Alex P in Newfoundland.

[1271] Different Alex P?

[1272] Kanata, yeah.

[1273] Keaton.

[1274] All these Alex P's.

[1275] Piercy.

[1276] Isn't that an enemy from Final Fight?

[1277] 2P.

[1278] Yeah, Alex P. Hey dudes and or dudettes.

[1279] What?

[1280] I was just thinking about...

[1281] I'm talking about you.

[1282] I was just thinking about two of the major releases that have seen a...

[1283] released this I'm sorry two of the major franchises that have seen a major release this year Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo and how they were both met with mostly mediocre reviews do you think that these franchises will ever be able to recover or do you think they might have lost their prestige status forever thanks for your opinions do you think Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo can make a comeback totally yep maybe if they take a little time off and kind of regroup I don't know It's just a hunch.

[1284] I think that they can...

[1285] Whatever, they'll announce those games and there'll be rooms full of people.

[1286] Some are going, yeah!

[1287] I mean, they're going to keep going, but I think both of those franchises have peaked.

[1288] as far as both quality and popularity.

[1289] I don't know.

[1290] What's a franchise?

[1291] It's just the title on it.

[1292] They can just slap that title onto something else.

[1293] I'm just saying I believe that they've peaked.

[1294] I don't even know what...

[1295] Sales -wise?

[1296] Sales -wise, popularity, quality, influence in the industry.

[1297] I think that the times for those games...

[1298] I think Final Fantasy...

[1299] I agree with you because are they really making new Final Fantasy fans in this day and age or is it just the large number of people that have fond memories of previous games?

[1300] I don't even know what that name means anymore.

[1301] They have spun entire sub -IPs off of Final Fantasy that have lost the Final Fantasy name and have themselves started spawning new offshoots.

[1302] I don't even know what that is at this point.

[1303] What's a game, man?

[1304] Whoa.

[1305] Wait.

[1306] What's a Turismo?

[1307] What's so grand about it anyway?

[1308] There's like games.

[1309] You can't even say D. There's like players, but what if the game played the player?

[1310] It's grand fantasy.

[1311] They're like users and programs.

[1312] Final Turismo.

[1313] That's where the series needs to go.

[1314] It's the last of a line of fighter cars.

[1315] But it's like a 13 -year -old boy fighter.

[1316] I poured hell of Phoenix down in my gas tank, and now my car cannot get damaged.

[1317] Oh, wait.

[1318] So did everyone else in the race.

[1319] Daniel in Plano, Illinois.

[1320] Hello, giant bombers.

[1321] In this generation, we have seen a birthing...

[1322] Yeah.

[1323] Burgeoning?

[1324] We have seen a birthing growth of downloadable games, gamerscores, trophies, avatars, and downloadable full retail games.

[1325] One of my main concern is where does all this stuff go in the next generation?

[1326] When PS4 and Xbox 720 are announced and there is not a clear -cut answer, how are they going to transition these items to their next console?

[1327] Then I can see the audience getting furious because all the time and money is ultimately wasted.

[1328] Yeah, I mean, you can't at this point.

[1329] I think there has to be some sort of...

[1330] carry forward with this stuff.

[1331] Yeah.

[1332] Because otherwise everyone will say like the people who are invested will have no good reason to move forward immediately.

[1333] And it's the people that are already invested in your old platform that you want jumping on early in your new platform.

[1334] So you need to pull them.

[1335] I mean it would be awesome if they could do that for that console because then they'd launch with a huge library.

[1336] Right.

[1337] Of old games, though.

[1338] Yeah, but still, they'd say it launches with over 800 downloadable games.

[1339] Sure.

[1340] If you've got your fucking rock band DLC, it's like, well, I don't really want to get a new console because I've still got my old one hooked up because I use it for this, this, this, and this.

[1341] And you also run into a situation where what happens when you can't buy those consoles anymore?

[1342] Right.

[1343] Right.

[1344] I agree with everything you guys are saying, but speaking from a pragmatic perspective, it may be...

[1345] non -trivial on the technical side to actually make that happen.

[1346] Yeah, and it also, you know, that informs a lot of decisions they have to make about the architecture of these consoles.

[1347] That's what I'm getting at.

[1348] Yeah, that, you know, kind of force it to keep a foot in a previous generation, which is not the best thing for moving forward.

[1349] I mean, you know, look at what happened with the PS3 for about a year.

[1350] Right.

[1351] And then they phased it out because it wasn't working out very well.

[1352] Yeah.

[1353] And it was expensive.

[1354] But I don't know that this, that I...

[1355] I feel like games – like we are growing and we are getting to the point where we can't just make Blu -ray again every time we make a new system.

[1356] You know what I mean?

[1357] Yeah, exactly.

[1358] And it's so much more about services and stuff like that with this generation that I feel like there is an expectation that those services are going to carry forward to the new console.

[1359] If you bring those games over, though, and developers, for the first year of that console, they can't just remake those games again and have everybody be like, I know, they have to make new games.

[1360] I know, that's crazy.

[1361] They'll be nuts.

[1362] Super.

[1363] Super Meat Boy.

[1364] That's what they call it.

[1365] Super.

[1366] Oh, Super.

[1367] Super.

[1368] Super.

[1369] Super.

[1370] Super.

[1371] Super.

[1372] Super Meat Boy.

[1373] Meat Boy 64.

[1374] Ms. Super Meat Boy.

[1375] See, now they'll just be playing catch -up.

[1376] What's the difference between Super Meat Boy and Ms. Super Meat Boy?

[1377] Really?

[1378] This next email comes in from Kyle.

[1379] Hi, Kyle.

[1380] Hey, Kyle.

[1381] What's up?

[1382] Gentlemen.

[1383] Due to my dyslexia and inability to give things I read the proper thought time they deserve, I am stricken with a very odd video game -related brain mix -up.

[1384] When I was in ninth grade, I think I remember reading a review of an Apex Twin album playing an Apogee game and seeing a picture of an Apache helicopter within a half -hour span.

[1385] To this day, every time I see an Apache helicopter, I can't get this box art of a video game that has never existed out of my head.

[1386] It's called Apex Twin.

[1387] And it's got an Apache helicopter and is developed by Apogee.

[1388] So please riddle me this.

[1389] Is there any truth to my fake game?

[1390] Did Apogee ever develop a helicopter game?

[1391] Has there ever been a helicopter game with the word twin in it?

[1392] And has Aphex Twin ever done the soundtrack to a helicopter game?

[1393] Please help me. It's not safe to lose sleep over shit like this.

[1394] There is a helicopter game with the word twin in the title.

[1395] Can you remember it?

[1396] I can't.

[1397] Twin B. Twin Eagles.

[1398] Twin Blades.

[1399] Twin Blades seems likely.

[1400] I don't think Apogee ever developed anything.

[1401] Twin Snakes.

[1402] They're just publisher?

[1403] They were the big shareware magnate.

[1404] Raptor.

[1405] But I'm pretty sure they...

[1406] Apogee.

[1407] I didn't know how to say Apogee for the longest time.

[1408] Pretty sure Apogee just put out other people's games.

[1409] Chocobo.

[1410] Chocobo.

[1411] Comanche.

[1412] Voxels.

[1413] Who's that?

[1414] Nova Logic.

[1415] We need to bring back Voxels.

[1416] They never left.

[1417] Zayfax Twin should do video game music, though.

[1418] Is Zayfax Twin still kicking?

[1419] I mean, it's just a dude.

[1420] I think he's still there doing something somewhere.

[1421] Still alive, making weird faces.

[1422] Yeah, I don't like that guy's music because I don't like his weird face.

[1423] You're going to fucking get out of my face with that, you weirdo.

[1424] Stop dressing up in bikinis and shit.

[1425] You're the type of electronic music that goth people listen to.

[1426] Get out of this party.

[1427] Oh, God, but have you seen the window liquor video?

[1428] It's disturbing as shit.

[1429] Billy writing in, my wife and I are about to buy our first home.

[1430] And I want to reserve space for an arcade cabinet, maybe Smash TV.

[1431] Any advice?

[1432] Do it.

[1433] On what?

[1434] Any advice?

[1435] Yeah, any advice.

[1436] Get a good mortgage rate?

[1437] I don't know.

[1438] You bought a house recently.

[1439] Lock it in.

[1440] Get in a fixed rate mortgage.

[1441] Fixed rate mortgage is key.

[1442] Do I get an electrician in there?

[1443] I mean, well, obviously, yeah, you want to do full.

[1444] Inspection.

[1445] Full inspection and everything.

[1446] I don't know.

[1447] Get the pest report.

[1448] I mean, I was ready to put a bid in on a place, and then the pest report came back sketchy, and I was like, I'm glad I did.

[1449] Always get the pest report.

[1450] And I don't know what part of the country there are issues of mold, basement conditions.

[1451] Legally, you have to have a recent mold report to even try to sell a house.

[1452] Do you kind of, at the last kind of moment, say, you know, actually, this might be outside of my budget.

[1453] This might be a little bit too much.

[1454] Well, I think you've got to reach a little bit.

[1455] I think that's kind of part of the process.

[1456] But do you try and get them to go down a little bit?

[1457] I was really only looking to spend about.

[1458] Again, I don't know what the specific market is like, where they're at.

[1459] It can be various levels of competition depending on how much.

[1460] If it's a buyer's market, seller's market.

[1461] Such large sums of money to be.

[1462] Throne about.

[1463] Saving or overspending.

[1464] Even like on the $10 ,000 range where it's like.

[1465] Can you come down 2 %?

[1466] Yeah, that's $10 ,000.

[1467] I think if you're going to put an arcade cabinet in your house, I don't know.

[1468] Jeff, you have arcade cabinets in your house.

[1469] Yeah, look out because sometimes the bottoms of them can be greasy.

[1470] Mess up your carpets.

[1471] Yeah, put grease shit on your carpet.

[1472] Have a big door.

[1473] Measure your door probably would be my advice.

[1474] You take the control deck off and you can fit anything through anywhere.

[1475] You try hard enough.

[1476] You know what I'm saying?

[1477] This is true.

[1478] I've seen good arcade cabinets in like nice garages.

[1479] It seemed like a good place.

[1480] That's where I'd want to do it.

[1481] Like a nice cleaned out garage.

[1482] Remember that dude's little like altar?

[1483] That was hardly even a garage anymore.

[1484] That was a weird little side den.

[1485] Be a good place to grow weed.

[1486] I'll send you some pictures of what having too many arcade cabinets in your...

[1487] What is that about?

[1488] Is that a California thing?

[1489] The whole idea of using your garage as some kind of weird cement floor rec room?

[1490] Is that because you guys don't have basements?

[1491] I guess so.

[1492] I don't know.

[1493] That's what would happen in a basement.

[1494] I've never lived in a house where it was like that.

[1495] Usually if a garage is not used for cars, it's a shop of some kind.

[1496] Mine is just full of shit and the car does not currently fit because I need to clean it up.

[1497] So you do like woodworking or...

[1498] Yeah, you know.

[1499] You have a circular saw or something in there.

[1500] You've got your workbench in there.

[1501] I've got my workbench and all my tools are there.

[1502] Reload bullets all day.

[1503] That happens in the basement.

[1504] Dux tape this car battery to this rake and then, you know, do some work.

[1505] Set some shit on fire.

[1506] Basement's where we reload ammunition.

[1507] With one desk lamp, just kind of...

[1508] In California, we reload our ammunition in the garage.

[1509] Okay, it all makes sense now.

[1510] Barrett lightbulbs swinging on a string.

[1511] It's not safe to go below ground here.

[1512] You don't want to do that.

[1513] Yeah, I guess that's fair.

[1514] And up where we live, the dirt is hard to work with.

[1515] Yeah.

[1516] Adobe.

[1517] Adobe.

[1518] Basements are cool.

[1519] It shifts a lot.

[1520] It shifts a lot too.

[1521] There's a lot of cracks all over my house because of everything shifts.

[1522] And it just kind of comes with a sign of things.

[1523] It says, you understand this house is on Adobe and this will happen.

[1524] So don't like six months from now when the weather changes and the pressure changes, you'll come going, my house is cracked apart.

[1525] You sold me a cracked house.

[1526] It's part of the deal.

[1527] It's part of the deal.

[1528] You know this is a crack house.

[1529] And some places get it a lot worse than others.

[1530] Yeah.

[1531] For sure.

[1532] Smash TV wouldn't be a bad one.

[1533] That'd be a pretty good arcade machine.

[1534] You take the control deck off it, it'll fit through.

[1535] Any door?

[1536] Most doors.

[1537] Most doors.

[1538] Most front doors, because they're bigger than the average door.

[1539] Yes, that is accurate.

[1540] The average door would probably be tough.

[1541] Tony.

[1542] Next email.

[1543] Tony.

[1544] Tony.

[1545] Tony, Tony, Tony.

[1546] Nope, just one.

[1547] People have said the next Xbox needs Blu -ray, and after the Forza and Final Fantasy outcries of DVDs being too small, is it absurd for Microsoft to consider returning to HD DVD?

[1548] Yes.

[1549] Yes.

[1550] Oh, it doesn't also say that in there?

[1551] Yes.

[1552] No, no, I'm just answering.

[1553] I'm stopping the email and answering yes.

[1554] Well, it's pretty crazy.

[1555] Yes.

[1556] It's crazy, but by using a dead format.

[1557] Well, I guess the format's already cracked.

[1558] Yeah, I was going to say.

[1559] That would be the benefit.

[1560] Blank HD DVDs might not be everywhere anymore.

[1561] That's true, but also then you can never get any benefit of using a medium that is plentiful, which is to say the cost benefit of producing it.

[1562] Yeah, the other thing that's not everywhere is HD DVD production facilities.

[1563] They would have to.

[1564] I think it's crazy.

[1565] It's super duper crazy.

[1566] I think Microsoft would not go to Blu -ray.

[1567] I think it's not really.

[1568] I don't think they can.

[1569] It's a weird one because they're doing such a push on the digital distribution stuff, right?

[1570] They are.

[1571] But they still need discs.

[1572] So many people who don't ever go online with their console.

[1573] They just want to go to a store and buy a disc and play it.

[1574] Right.

[1575] So you're saying for the games to be on Blu -ray, not just as like pitching it as the media center for your living room.

[1576] Yeah, I don't know.

[1577] Maybe you just keep it DVD, but have a heavier focus on installing games to a hard drive that is done up front.

[1578] Yeah.

[1579] I mean, I don't know.

[1580] Then you don't have to pay Sony's licensing fee.

[1581] Yeah, but then you have to make more discs.

[1582] Yeah, that's true.

[1583] Like every game ships on two to three discs at that point, right?

[1584] Yeah, probably.

[1585] Is Blu -ray doing well?

[1586] Is it penetrating?

[1587] Is it...

[1588] I was just reading something...

[1589] It's all up in them guts.

[1590] Not as fast as DVD, but it's...

[1591] I was just reading something that was saying that it's like it's finally actually...

[1592] Starting to catch on for realsies.

[1593] I mean, they have to license DVD, don't they?

[1594] Yep.

[1595] Yeah, but they're not paying their direct competitor.

[1596] Yeah, but different divisions and stuff like that.

[1597] Sony's kind of getting their shit together with that these days, with the 3D stuff.

[1598] They've been showing more organization -wide focus than I think I've ever seen them have for a really dumb thing.

[1599] Yeah.

[1600] But they're doing it by gosh.

[1601] Maybe it'll work their advantage elsewhere.

[1602] You see that quote from that former Sony executive saying, we should never have let a foreigner run the company.

[1603] Yeah.

[1604] What the fuck?

[1605] No, I didn't see that.

[1606] That's pretty gnarly.

[1607] It was fucking serious.

[1608] Kind of messed up.

[1609] Sony.

[1610] Yeah.

[1611] Good job.

[1612] Ray from, can you guess?

[1613] Ottawa.

[1614] Ottawa, Canada.

[1615] Where the ballers dwell.

[1616] Nice.

[1617] Hey, Bombcast.

[1618] Thanks for keeping the productivity of office workers like me at a weekly low every Wednesday.

[1619] Here's my question.

[1620] I have two 2010 games, Bad Company 2 Multiplayer and Civ 5, which I've invested 100 plus hours into each.

[1621] But I don't consider them as game of the year material.

[1622] They're in my top ten but not number one.

[1623] Do you guys have games which you keep going back to and enjoy but aren't necessarily your game of the year?

[1624] What do you care about?

[1625] In my list or the game of the year?

[1626] Your game of the year.

[1627] Which we're not talking about right now.

[1628] Right.

[1629] Yeah.

[1630] Yeah, sure.

[1631] I mean.

[1632] That's that, yes.

[1633] Yeah, absolutely.

[1634] There are totally games I play that are not my game of the year, yes.

[1635] But that you play...

[1636] That I put a lot of hours into.

[1637] Sure, I put a lot of hours into a lot of games.

[1638] We're not allowed to say what it is.

[1639] Yeah, I don't want to...

[1640] This is coming out before our...

[1641] Yeah, but all you're saying is what's not your game of the year.

[1642] Still leaves a lot of...

[1643] Still a huge number of games that could be your game of the year.

[1644] Yeah, no, there are plenty of games I've sunk in tons of hours into as many as games that would be my game of the year.

[1645] I have to make the cut.

[1646] Starter F2.

[1647] You just ruined it for everybody.

[1648] All right, fuck you.

[1649] Cut that out if you want to.

[1650] You can bleep that if you want to.

[1651] No, it's too much work.

[1652] I'm not doing that.

[1653] I don't know.

[1654] People just fucking stop being internet clever.

[1655] Just have names.

[1656] Just put in your name.

[1657] I'm going to say Olivier because I'm not given a better option here.

[1658] Dearest Bob Squad, if you had to choose between infinite pizza and infinite ice cream, which would you choose?

[1659] Infinite pizza.

[1660] Fuck.

[1661] Jeff.

[1662] Infinite ice cream, infinite pizza.

[1663] If I pick infinite pizza, does that mean I can never have ice cream again?

[1664] Hold on.

[1665] Let me check.

[1666] Both foodstuffs could be summoned at will instantly whenever you wished, and there is no limit in toppings and flavors.

[1667] However, you must construct your own sundaes and calzones or other pizza -esque food that do not fall under the pizza banner.

[1668] Wait a minute.

[1669] Did he say sundae?

[1670] Yes.

[1671] How is sundae not ice cream?

[1672] You have to construct it.

[1673] You have to construct it yourself.

[1674] You can't just summon a sundae.

[1675] You can't just say sundae.

[1676] You can summon ice cream for your sundae.

[1677] I don't know.

[1678] You can say ice cream!

[1679] A sundae seems way more ice cream than a calzone seems pizza.

[1680] Calzone is a pizza folded over.

[1681] Yeah, I guess.

[1682] We have to bake it differently.

[1683] It's not true.

[1684] What about a puzzle?

[1685] How is that inaccurate?

[1686] Okay, add ricotta.

[1687] Exactly.

[1688] Okay, then that's it.

[1689] Could you just put ricotta on a pizza?

[1690] Yes.

[1691] And there's not as much sauce in it.

[1692] And you make it differently.

[1693] Yeah.

[1694] A sundae is just ice cream with toppings on it, which he said were a fair game.

[1695] How is a Sunday anything about that?

[1696] Sunday's got a banana in it.

[1697] I feel like a Sunday has that.

[1698] You take issue with this fantasy world.

[1699] It's a banana split.

[1700] That's not even a Sunday anymore.

[1701] It's got bananas and shit in it.

[1702] He's not saying you're going to also have bowls show up out of nowhere.

[1703] You've got to come up.

[1704] Sunday needs a thing to go in.

[1705] Now I've got to wash dishes.

[1706] I would just make enough ice cream to just have it plop somewhere and then just eat the top of it and then not care about the stuff that's touching the dirt.

[1707] You know what?

[1708] I think I'm going to have to change my answer.

[1709] We're talking about the summoning infinite ice cream.

[1710] because summoning just balls of ice cream is way more impressive than just summoning.

[1711] You can kind of summon a pizza right now if you just call Domino's.

[1712] I can't.

[1713] I haven't been able to lately because every time I enter my stuff, it says we can't price your order.

[1714] You need to call the place.

[1715] I'm like, no. No, I will not.

[1716] I don't want to talk to a person.

[1717] Not with this much food I'm ordering.

[1718] I'm not even ordering that much food.

[1719] I tried ordering more food thinking like they're just like, oh, it's just broken until I cave and order more.

[1720] Like, no, it's just broken.

[1721] I tried a different computer.

[1722] I'm with Vinny.

[1723] I don't even want to make eye contact with Vinny.

[1724] Dude.

[1725] Have you ordered?

[1726] No, I've been ordering elsewhere.

[1727] Where?

[1728] I got some from Raffi's over the weekend.

[1729] I don't even know what that is.

[1730] It's another pizza place.

[1731] Is it any good?

[1732] It's okay.

[1733] Why did you order out for ice cream?

[1734] I got extreme pizza and it was garbage.

[1735] Like all extreme pizza.

[1736] Yeah, extreme's no good.

[1737] I've not gone to the extreme.

[1738] Pizza tracker.

[1739] Assholes.

[1740] In Petaluma.

[1741] Summon an ice cream.

[1742] I'm going to decline.

[1743] You know what, Vinny?

[1744] Your point about...

[1745] That yes, I can just about summon pizza as it is.

[1746] Well, you are literally summoning pizza.

[1747] But if I need ice cream, fuck.

[1748] You got to go get ice cream.

[1749] But I get sick of ice cream way before I get sick of pizza.

[1750] Also true.

[1751] Yeah.

[1752] I would pick pizza.

[1753] I'm going to decline this horrible offer because I've already had to let my belt out one notch.

[1754] I haven't even gone on vacation yet.

[1755] Also, if you summon too much ice cream, you're in way more trouble than if you summoned.

[1756] I would like to get a hot tub and then summon it to be full of ice cream and then just hang out in it.

[1757] Too much ice cream.

[1758] You're like, we need to do something with all this ice cream.

[1759] Everybody come over here right now.

[1760] Bring a spoon.

[1761] I got a carpet.

[1762] Summon too much pizza.

[1763] Just put it in the fridge.

[1764] So many bugs.

[1765] In my ice cream hot tub.

[1766] It's kind of a one -use thing.

[1767] You've got to burn it or get rid of it.

[1768] Ice cream hot tub.

[1769] Braden Smith from Idaho Falls, Idaho.

[1770] As someone who suffered through both at some point, I have to ask, which is worse, Castlevania 64 or Shadows of the Empire?

[1771] Castlevania 64.

[1772] Yeah, yeah.

[1773] Shadows of the Empire.

[1774] Shadows of the Empire was alright in its day.

[1775] Castlevania 64 was bad at release.

[1776] Never any good.

[1777] Zach Edwin, Santa Barbara, California.

[1778] Seriously, why don't they make another The Rock?

[1779] There's all this talk that they were going to do The Rock 2.

[1780] But like in 98.

[1781] Yeah.

[1782] There's a lot of talk like...

[1783] He's got the microfilm and then the government's going to be chasing after him.

[1784] And I think there was a lot of talk amongst us.

[1785] We were talking a lot about...

[1786] I read it somewhere.

[1787] I'm sure that Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay both were talking at some point about...

[1788] a potential sequel to The Rock.

[1789] See, one of The Rock writes itself.

[1790] Maybe not anymore because of the amount of time that has passed.

[1791] Yeah, and also Sean Connery has been stuck in a computer for 20 years and Nicolas Cage goes to look for him and finds him and he has to enter the computer world.

[1792] You would literally have to have a CG Sean Connery because he has fully retired from actoring.

[1793] Has he, like, officially?

[1794] Yeah.

[1795] Okay.

[1796] Yeah, well, think of the last time you saw him in anything.

[1797] Well, that's why I'm asking because, I mean, he obviously hasn't been around.

[1798] Oh, yeah, he took himself out.

[1799] I don't know if he was ill or...

[1800] Shai from Israel.

[1801] Hi, Bombcast.

[1802] Shalom.

[1803] Love the podcast and the site.

[1804] Have been listening since May of 2008 and have been loving it ever since.

[1805] Anyway, I saw on Twitter that you...

[1806] I have recently started playing the infamous for the PS3 and it is refreshing to see that when you boot the game, it boots right into the game.

[1807] No menu, no nothing.

[1808] It got me thinking, what is the purpose of title screens that require you to press start?

[1809] Many modern video games have an unskippable title screen which have nothing...

[1810] but the title of the game and require you to press start.

[1811] Some games will accept other button presses, but some will require you to specifically press the start button just to move so you can get to the main menu of the game and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[1812] The email keeps going.

[1813] I asked this one because we actually got several.

[1814] with this very specific concept in it of people wondering what the fuck is the purpose of the start screen.

[1815] What the fuck is the purpose of the start screen?

[1816] I feel like we've talked about this before at some point, but Infamous doesn't ask you to continue or start a new game or anything?

[1817] I don't remember that about it.

[1818] There's at least one option or something.

[1819] But it's kind of, it's the, like, why not just be at the main menu when you start?

[1820] Like, why does there need to be...

[1821] Oh, push start and then hit the main menu?

[1822] Yeah, because it's never, like...

[1823] I think that's the point being got out here, and that's the point...

[1824] I think part of it is vanity.

[1825] They want their big title page and stuff before it gets all cluttered up with menu.

[1826] And tradition.

[1827] Yeah.

[1828] I guess.

[1829] People are just, you know...

[1830] People, arcade games did it.

[1831] Atari 2600 games traditionally does not do it.

[1832] This is true.

[1833] This is very true.

[1834] Next email comes in from Andy Newman, Columbus, Ohio.

[1835] I recently saw an Assassin's Creed Brotherhood commercial on TV.

[1836] I love that song he did for Cars.

[1837] That's Andy.

[1838] This is Andy Newman.

[1839] What?

[1840] That focused on the positive reviews it's received throughout the whole commercial.

[1841] I couldn't help but think of Ryan's past comments that he loved Assassin's Creed because he loves stabbing dudes.

[1842] This sure beats the same old magnificent or must play quotes that are so overused they've become meaningless.

[1843] So why don't you guys get quoted more often?

[1844] Because we don't work on the same timetable that...

[1845] Print magazines.

[1846] You'll notice that oftentimes there will be a quote on the back of the box for a game.

[1847] That means that you had to have reviewed or written some sort of critical thing about that game before it went to production.

[1848] And generally speaking, that's not when we get games for review.

[1849] It's not even when we would consider reviewing games because usually...

[1850] Games are not done.

[1851] Right, right.

[1852] There are, you know, TV or more traditionally print media requires much more lead time to get their content together and to get it, you know, printed on wood.

[1853] Bottoms of skateboards.

[1854] Yes.

[1855] That's where I read all my game reviews.

[1856] You would buy a magazine that was just made out of skateboards.

[1857] Yeah, probably.

[1858] Here's like six skateboards by the set.

[1859] Then you can read our cover story.

[1860] Also, yeah, we swear a lot and say things about how great it is to stab dudes in the face.

[1861] I think marketing departments just want the magnificent or best of the year.

[1862] Or dot, dot, dot, outstanding dot, dot, dot.

[1863] Please, dot, dot, dot, buy this, dot, dot, dot, game.

[1864] Exactly.

[1865] Cody!

[1866] Cody!

[1867] From Nova Scotia, Canada.

[1868] Cody!

[1869] Hey, Jai Bob.

[1870] Good Cody.

[1871] Recently, I've been playing a lot of shooters like Doom and Doom 2 and Painkiller and really enjoying them.

[1872] However, it seems that most shooters these days have the persistent leveling system and unlockable levels and weapons and the multiplayer component.

[1873] Just an overall focus on being slightly more realistic in the single player department.

[1874] So, like, are shooting games where you're just...

[1875] Sprinting around and mowing down dudes.

[1876] A thing of the past, or do you think there's still a market for such games?

[1877] Thanks a bunch, Cody.

[1878] That is not at all what that Cody sounds like either.

[1879] It's an offensive Cody impression there.

[1880] Oh, offensive Cody.

[1881] Fuck you too, bro.

[1882] Oh, no. I don't know.

[1883] Cody, please.

[1884] Anybody buy those Sirius Sam HD?

[1885] I didn't buy the HD ones.

[1886] I bought the first one and went like, yeah.

[1887] No. You bought Quake Adrena Arcade.

[1888] That's a dumbass.

[1889] That's a real bummer.

[1890] You dumbass.

[1891] Have you ever seen my gamer picture?

[1892] Part of the problem.

[1893] It's a $15 gamer picture.

[1894] Hell yeah.

[1895] I think you could actually get that gamer picture with the demo.

[1896] I don't know.

[1897] Whatever.

[1898] Doom and Doom 2, I played a ton on Xbox Live Arcade.

[1899] Those are fun.

[1900] I think, you know, let's step back a second here and let's consider that we are calling something like Modern Warfare 2 realistic.

[1901] Yeah, yeah, it's not.

[1902] They're not doing that out of realism.

[1903] That label makes no sense in this context or, you know.

[1904] With respect to this question, it's not about realism.

[1905] It's about the style of gameplay.

[1906] Sure, but even those games, even like Modern Warfare, those games move fast.

[1907] They don't move Quake fast, but they move fast.

[1908] Sure, but those games have a layer of precision and technique that is lacking in Serious Sam or Doom.

[1909] Talking about some health pack picking up shit and just plowing in to do different killstreak bonuses and loadouts and stuff like that, as opposed to you play Doom and you get the rocket launcher and you kill.

[1910] Right, right.

[1911] Yes, then.

[1912] I guess the answer is, yes, they are dead.

[1913] I don't know.

[1914] It almost seems like what's going on over there.

[1915] I'm being dripped on the air.

[1916] Did you wipe your pipe again?

[1917] Yeah, just a wet pipe.

[1918] It almost feels like the shooter equivalent of the 2D beat -em -up to me. Yeah.

[1919] It's like the earlier form of the genre that was kind of mindless and repetitive, and everybody's kind of moved on.

[1920] Well, the novel at the time.

[1921] Yeah, for sure.

[1922] Oh, dude, yeah.

[1923] Yeah, now it's just.

[1924] You know, critical point evolution.

[1925] Can never go back.

[1926] All that stuff.

[1927] Those games seem insane now.

[1928] Yeah.

[1929] Too old for this shit.

[1930] Doom's still fun.

[1931] I'm still trying to S -rank Doom 2.

[1932] Crazy idiot.

[1933] Tough, tough.

[1934] David from North Potomac, Maryland.

[1935] I find that the quality of the game often can't hold a candle to other day...

[1936] I feel like I'm getting into this.

[1937] Email halfway through.

[1938] I'm just going to read it, and we'll figure out at the end if it makes any sense.

[1939] Yeah.

[1940] I find that the quality of the game often can't hold a candle to other day -to -day factors for me, putting aside your gaming habits for occupational purposes.

[1941] How do you guys choose what games to play next out of your backlogs?

[1942] Do you need to take a break from shooters after going through two or three of them in a short amount of time?

[1943] Are you more likely to throw in a shorter game rather than the more intimidating longer game?

[1944] I'll put this.

[1945] to Vinny first, since his inexplicable ambition to put in games like The Saboteur and Dante's Inferno are exactly how I roll.

[1946] I just...

[1947] Man, I just play what I want to play, man. Just, you know, whatever strikes me is...

[1948] Yeah, I literally just...

[1949] It comes down to what I feel like playing.

[1950] There's no...

[1951] rhyme or reason to it.

[1952] And sometimes you'll be like, I am totally intending on playing this game and then get home and be like, oh, whoops, I ended up playing something else entirely all weekend.

[1953] Like, oh, I was really excited to go home and play wet, and then I just wound up playing WoW the entire weekend.

[1954] Wet to WoW.

[1955] Yeah.

[1956] Drip.

[1957] Yeah, the reason for me putting in something is...

[1958] There is none.

[1959] There's no reason to it.

[1960] Jeff?

[1961] Yeah, same.

[1962] It's just, you know, I'm sitting there, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, God, I've played Trackmania for four hours.

[1963] Because it's there.

[1964] Me?

[1965] Hi?

[1966] Hello?

[1967] You're looking at me. I am.

[1968] I guess it means I can talk now.

[1969] Mm -hmm.

[1970] I have the worst time getting into, like, games that seem like they're going to be lengthy or mechanically dense.

[1971] Yeah.

[1972] Or, like, there's going to be a high learning curve is the thing, you know?

[1973] Right.

[1974] It's easy to procrastinate getting into an Assassin's Creed or something because it's like, man, I'm going to have to go through, like, 30 minutes of cut scenes.

[1975] There's going to be all these fucking tutorials.

[1976] Tutorials.

[1977] Like, it's going to take probably another hour before, like, all the missions really come into play.

[1978] And I feel like going through, like, I could spend all that time playing, I don't know, Geometry Wars.

[1979] That's when you summon a pizza.

[1980] Just work through it.

[1981] Like, I'll literally sit there with the Xbox dashboard ailing with the disc in the drive, like, not hitting the A button.

[1982] Man, I don't feel like making the effort.

[1983] I will sit here on the laptop and read Wikipedia instead.

[1984] Or just have it at the end of that install screen.

[1985] Yeah, yeah, totally.

[1986] I'll just go play some Hot Pursuit.

[1987] Yep, yep.

[1988] That's been my shoot pull lately.

[1989] It's been, like, not really ready to start playing New Vegas, so a little more Hot Pursuit.

[1990] I can play 20 minutes of this and be done and then three hours later.

[1991] Michael from Mission, British Columbia.

[1992] Okay.

[1993] Call that a place.

[1994] It is now.

[1995] I assume it's not a salutation.

[1996] Hey, Bomb Squad.

[1997] I grew up with Pokemon.

[1998] Putting that out there.

[1999] Just letting you know.

[2000] Signing off.

[2001] I'm going to assume that he means the game series, not that he actually grew up with real Pokemon.

[2002] He was raised by Pokemon.

[2003] This is way less interesting.

[2004] Yeah, sorry.

[2005] Yeah, it's not.

[2006] Those guys are fucked.

[2007] Bulbasaur is my mom.

[2008] Pikachu is not his dad.

[2009] And I don't appreciate you guys ragging on him.

[2010] I remember when it was fresh and new in 1998, and everybody was talking about it back when there was only 151 Pokemon, and my eight -year -old self could probably list them all from Bulbasaur to Mew.

[2011] Now we're in 2010.

[2012] They're still milking this franchise, and they're pushing 600.

[2013] Pokemon now.

[2014] I'll probably be a hypocrite and go out and buy Pokemon Black next year, but is this franchise really going anywhere?

[2015] They've been doing the same thing for more than a decade now.

[2016] They continue to run out of creative ideas for new Pokemon, and the heart behind it doesn't seem to be there anymore.

[2017] With Black and White coming out next year, do you guys think Nintendo is going to keep making these games?

[2018] They seem to be reeking in money still, but I'm not sure how much longer they'll be willing to keep this up.

[2019] Thoughts?

[2020] They will be willing to keep this up.

[2021] up for as long as it keeps raking in money.

[2022] Which it still does.

[2023] Right.

[2024] The thing you have to remember is that Pokemon players get older, but the age that Nintendo aims for remains constant.

[2025] New to them.

[2026] This is always a new Pokemon experience for the audience that they're going after.

[2027] There's like a window, right?

[2028] You hit the Pokemon bottom edge, and then you leave at the top and go on to something else, and then you're kind of in that next window for a longer period of time.

[2029] So that means, guy from Mission, the longer you keep buying Pokemon games, the creepier you are.

[2030] That's right.

[2031] Standing around a Pokemon collectible card tournament in a trench coat.

[2032] Hey.

[2033] Let me see your Pikachu.

[2034] If you own a fanny pack, Michael, what TMs you got on this thing?

[2035] Consider stopping playing Pokemon.

[2036] It's a winning formula.

[2037] There's a reason why they are...

[2038] I don't want to say that Pokemon's only for kids also.

[2039] You know, whatever.

[2040] No, I had a Pokemon game recently.

[2041] It got stolen.

[2042] Oh.

[2043] Yeah, but...

[2044] It's funny because for me, Pokemon is like, I'll buy one and I'll get a couple hours into it.

[2045] And I'll be like, that was good.

[2046] That was kind of fun.

[2047] Stop playing it.

[2048] And then like two or three years later, there's another one.

[2049] It's the same exact shit.

[2050] And I'll be like, oh, totally.

[2051] Is it the same thing?

[2052] Yeah, totally.

[2053] Oh, it's exactly the same thing?

[2054] Okay, yeah.

[2055] Do I need to like cut down a tree, find some way to cut down trees?

[2056] All right, this is where I lost interest last time too.

[2057] All right, I'll see you again in two years.

[2058] Oh, yeah, I got the bike.

[2059] What version did you get?

[2060] Should I get this version?

[2061] What version is the good version?

[2062] For me, it was just everything after the first 151 Pokemon sucked.

[2063] As far as the Pokemon designs?

[2064] Mew.

[2065] I don't know enough about it.

[2066] When did Porygon exist?

[2067] Because that's pretty fucking dope.

[2068] I don't know for sure.

[2069] He's the first all -digital Pokemon.

[2070] Really?

[2071] That's got to be late -modeled.

[2072] Digimon is what you're saying?

[2073] Yep.

[2074] But also a Pokemon.

[2075] But also kind of racist because his name is Porygon.

[2076] As if to say polygon, but you can't pronounce the L. You replace it with an R. Like you were an old man's racist version of a Chinese person.

[2077] We should never have let a foreigner run the company.

[2078] Now you're talking.

[2079] James Kephart.

[2080] Hey, Jai Bomb.

[2081] Would you rather live in a world without Batman or a world without toast?

[2082] I already live in a world without Batman and it fucking sucks.

[2083] What?

[2084] You're saying...

[2085] Backman's not real.

[2086] I hate to break this to you.

[2087] Toast is real.

[2088] Toast is all too fucking real.

[2089] Does that mean anything's toasted?

[2090] Powdered Toastman is real.

[2091] It just means toast.

[2092] Like two pieces of white bread in a toaster?

[2093] Can't know.

[2094] What?

[2095] A what -er?

[2096] That's what I'm saying.

[2097] So that's the...

[2098] A fucking a what?

[2099] Well, can I put it in the oven?

[2100] Do what?

[2101] An oven doesn't have to...

[2102] What about a toaster oven?

[2103] That's loud.

[2104] My mini oven.

[2105] Where else are you going to make pizza bagels?

[2106] Exactly.

[2107] In the microwave.

[2108] Next question.

[2109] Alexi Krasnov.

[2110] Hi, Bombcast.

[2111] Long -time listener, first -time writer.

[2112] My wife, Molly, would like to send you a healthy care package.

[2113] For many months now, she's been overhearing your mailbag and Bombcast discussions of the merits of various energy drinks and snack foods that you receive from your adoring fans.

[2114] She's become increasingly concerned that you guys aren't getting enough healthy and nutritious food and would like to send you something healthier than a barrel of Twinkies or a case of four Loco cans.

[2115] While I don't personally see any cause for concern, I think it may add some variety to the next mailbag.

[2116] My question is, would you accept it?

[2117] healthy care package and if so, what would be your preferred healthy snack?

[2118] Warmest wishes.

[2119] Please.

[2120] Please.

[2121] A case of Four Loko?

[2122] Please.

[2123] That's pretty healthy.

[2124] Anything other than energy drinks and fucking weird foreign candies.

[2125] For the most part, we actually don't eat most of it.

[2126] It goes to the office and I know it disappears but I know I personally...

[2127] I probably drink most of the energy drinks that get sent.

[2128] But the – no, like the candies and the snacks and stuff.

[2129] Like you see in the videos we'll like – Partake in one thing, and then immediately everything gets put into a box.

[2130] Off a spool.

[2131] And then taken into the kitchen, and then it disappears.

[2132] And then messaging is put out that says, there's a bunch of stuff.

[2133] Come in to get it.

[2134] Drew eats it all.

[2135] Drew actually does eat it all.

[2136] It all goes into Drew.

[2137] Whenever he can't, there's no time for Drew to get lunch.

[2138] I had a bag on my desk, and he just kept it over.

[2139] I was like, dude, just take the bag, because I hate it.

[2140] I can't stand it.

[2141] I know.

[2142] I would watch him.

[2143] I would just shake my head and mouth, no. But it didn't stop him.

[2144] So, yes, please.

[2145] Anything.

[2146] Anything at all.

[2147] For God's sakes.

[2148] What is your healthy snack of choice?

[2149] Pizza.

[2150] Poof.

[2151] A banana.

[2152] How about some gorp?

[2153] Some gorp.

[2154] Some gorp.

[2155] You know, trail mix.

[2156] Good old raisins and peanuts.

[2157] Gorp.

[2158] What?

[2159] You guys never heard of Gorp?

[2160] I've heard people call trail mix Gorp before, but...

[2161] Oh, my God.

[2162] Really?

[2163] Good old raisins and peanuts.

[2164] That must be some West Coast thing.

[2165] That's some hippie shit.

[2166] All right.

[2167] Absolutely.

[2168] Oh, my God.

[2169] That's some backpacking ass.

[2170] Granola organic raisins and peanuts.

[2171] I also learned ants on a log from you.

[2172] How did you, how had you never heard of it?

[2173] I'd heard of it.

[2174] What is Anselmolog?

[2175] I'd eaten it.

[2176] That's celery, peanut butter, and raisins, right?

[2177] Yeah, celery filled with peanut butter and you put little raisins on top.

[2178] Anselmolog.

[2179] I'd eaten it.

[2180] I'd never heard the name.

[2181] That's a good one.

[2182] I never heard that at the time.

[2183] I eat that even today.

[2184] Don't send celery in the mail, though.

[2185] For the record.

[2186] That's probably not a good idea.

[2187] Gorp, though, will travel.

[2188] Yeah, Gorp will travel.

[2189] Gorp will keep it.

[2190] Does jerky count as healthy?

[2191] Jerky is pretty healthy, yeah.

[2192] Although insanely high sodium.

[2193] On all the packages, I'll say it contains nitrites.

[2194] Yeah.

[2195] I forgot what that means, yeah.

[2196] It's a hot dog.

[2197] Yeah.

[2198] It's because they have to use evil preservatives to sell you dry meat at room temperature.

[2199] We should make our own jerky.

[2200] I like edamame.

[2201] Edamame is good.

[2202] Fantastic.

[2203] Test it.

[2204] Make our own jerky.

[2205] Tell us how to make our own jerky.

[2206] Yes.

[2207] Dehydrator from Ronco.

[2208] No, you don't even need that, man. Just get the meat strips and then put a pan in the bottom and hang them from an unfolded paper clip on your oven rack.

[2209] Done.

[2210] All right.

[2211] Sounds good.

[2212] Ben Wellsfree, if there was a big head mode in every game, would it make all games better?

[2213] No. Kind of get boring, wouldn't it?

[2214] Most heads are not worth looking at for the length of time that you do.

[2215] I'm trying to think, and most of the things are coming out real bad, like a nightmare, so no. No. Mass Effect 2 would have a good big head mode.

[2216] F you, Ben.

[2217] I'd play that.

[2218] Pac -Man.

[2219] Sean from Columbus.

[2220] I'm sorry, not Columbus.

[2221] Sean from Columbia, Tennessee.

[2222] Greetings, Bombcast.

[2223] Was there ever an arcade game you could beat in just one quarter?

[2224] For me, it was...

[2225] Pyros, or Pyros, a platforming arcade game from 1987.

[2226] I could wreck that game with $0 .25.

[2227] Vinny, ever an arcade master?

[2228] No, not in the arcade.

[2229] Only when stuff came home and you could just practice and practice on it.

[2230] Does it count if it was one credit?

[2231] What if it was a $0 .50 game?

[2232] Yeah, I think.

[2233] One play.

[2234] For this scenario, we'll allow it.

[2235] Mortal Kombat 2.

[2236] Yeah.

[2237] And 3.

[2238] Okay.

[2239] Yeah, there was nothing I could do that to.

[2240] Yeah.

[2241] And one, actually.

[2242] The AI was so easy to trick in all those games because it's all so bad.

[2243] I think the only non -fighting thing I ever made it through was Gold Max.

[2244] Really?

[2245] Yeah, that took a bunch of quarters.

[2246] Oh, I thought you meant on one quarter.

[2247] No, no, no. Did you see they put out UMK3 for iPhone?

[2248] What?

[2249] Yeah.

[2250] What?

[2251] And all the characters are 3D.

[2252] Like it's all polygonal?

[2253] It's a weird fucking game.

[2254] I have to see this.

[2255] It's like eight bucks, though, or something.

[2256] It looks bad.

[2257] I'm going to buy it.

[2258] We'll go look at a video of it.

[2259] Eleven characters.

[2260] You guys done?

[2261] Yeah, it's pretty hot in here.

[2262] Go on.

[2263] James L. Oh, done with that.

[2264] Okay, never mind.

[2265] Shakopee, Minnesota.

[2266] What?

[2267] Shakopee.

[2268] S -H -A -K -O -P -E -E.

[2269] What'd you call me?

[2270] Shakopee.

[2271] We're fighting.

[2272] MN.

[2273] That's Minnesota, right?

[2274] It is now.

[2275] Hey, guys.

[2276] I need advice.

[2277] Uh -oh.

[2278] This is James talking, not me. James talking.

[2279] I recently picked up a refers PS3 to play GT5 and other exclusives I can't get on my 360.

[2280] I screwed up, though.

[2281] Oh, no. I didn't tell my wife that I bought it.

[2282] I told her it was my PS2 when she noticed it in the entertainment center, and she bought my story.

[2283] I want to play Heavy Rain with her soon, so what's the best way of turning the situation around and changing my faux PS2 into the PS3 that it truly is?

[2284] Wait, does she know the difference between the PS2 and PS3?

[2285] Yeah, I'm not.

[2286] I guess if she can't tell the difference from looking at it, then go for it, man. Just, yeah.

[2287] You know.

[2288] Run with the lie, and if it breaks, then you come clean.

[2289] If not, then it's a really impressive PS2.

[2290] Then you say you bought it at a flea market for $80.

[2291] Or just hold on.

[2292] Hold on.

[2293] What is it?

[2294] Two more weeks or something?

[2295] I don't know what holidays you celebrate, but put that thing in a box, wrap it, and then give it to her.

[2296] Say Merry Christmas.

[2297] I wanted to play Heavy Rain with you so badly.

[2298] I bought you a PS3 because I love you.

[2299] I want you to be a part of this.

[2300] What happens for that interim period when there's nothing under the TV?

[2301] Put the PS2 back.

[2302] Bit and switch.

[2303] You're really not giving this guy's wife a lot of credit here.

[2304] Neither did he.

[2305] He's used to underestimating his wife.

[2306] Plug the controller.

[2307] Plug the PS2 back in.

[2308] Run the controller across the living room so she's bound to trip on it and glue the controller into the PS2 so that it doesn't pull out.

[2309] PS3.

[2310] No, no, I'm saying put the PS2 back.

[2311] Okay.

[2312] And then make sure that she yanks it off the shelf and then say it's broken.

[2313] Yep.

[2314] And then be like, oh, I guess I really...

[2315] This is a plan that's guaranteed to...

[2316] Don't need a PS...

[2317] I don't know.

[2318] It was like you're writing a fucking Three's Comedy episode over there.

[2319] I was going to say, this is a Jack Tripper -esque plan you have going on here.

[2320] I don't know.

[2321] Next thing, Larry's going to ask you to borrow five bucks.

[2322] Jack, I just got your pot.

[2323] It's from Mexico.

[2324] What'd you do with the PS2?

[2325] Oh, no. Oh, Mr. Furley's got it.

[2326] It's running CD plus G karaoke discs down at the Regal Beagle.

[2327] Oh, did you take the disc out?

[2328] Oh.

[2329] Now Chrissy has to win the karaoke competition to get the disc back.

[2330] This is a good movie.

[2331] I like this.

[2332] See what you started here.

[2333] No, this is not a movie.

[2334] This is 22 minutes at best.

[2335] You know how much advertising will bring in?

[2336] It's a two -parter.

[2337] Oh.

[2338] A very special season finale.

[2339] Can't laryngitis.

[2340] Oh, no. Uh -oh.

[2341] What's going to happen?

[2342] Tune in next week.

[2343] Benny writes in to say, hey.

[2344] Tell the truth.

[2345] It always works.

[2346] Hey, Bombcast.

[2347] Truth will set you free.

[2348] That's true.

[2349] It's true for you, Benny, so pay attention here.

[2350] What are your thoughts on the Fast Five trailer, and what would you like to see from the movie?

[2351] It looks to me like they're trying to make a Fast and Furious versus Modern Warfare 2 mashup, and it looks bad as shit and also really bad, but I can't wait for it.

[2352] Fucking A it does.

[2353] He's right on all accounts.

[2354] And he says, and above all else, we don't ever, ever let them get into cars.

[2355] I love that the bulk of that trailer has no fucking cars in it.

[2356] It's great because you don't know what it is for a while.

[2357] You're like, oh, shit.

[2358] And I also love that the bulk of that trailer is Dwayne Johnson.

[2359] Yeah.

[2360] Dwayne the Rock Johnson.

[2361] Bring him into the fold.

[2362] The perfect edition.

[2363] The perfect edition.

[2364] Really, I couldn't think of anyone better to bring into Fast and the Furious.

[2365] Maybe Edward Norton is a sleazy car thief.

[2366] And then they're also, and Jeff, I know this upsets you to no end, but they're also bringing back everyone from Fast and the Furious 2.

[2367] Yeah.

[2368] But then also everyone from Tokyo Drift.

[2369] Not everyone.

[2370] Not the kid.

[2371] Not the main kid.

[2372] Not the main kid, but anyone that was relevant to the story prior.

[2373] Yeah.

[2374] seems to be showing up.

[2375] But it still takes place before Tokyo Drift.

[2376] Yeah, because Han is in it and Han dies on Tokyo Drift, so therefore...

[2377] It must.

[2378] QED.

[2379] Quid pro quo.

[2380] Yes.

[2381] Ipso facto.

[2382] Yep.

[2383] That movie does look dumb as shit.

[2384] Robbie in Peabody, Massachusetts.

[2385] Hello, Bombcast.

[2386] After watching both pinball effects quick looks, I was wondering what all of you, but mostly Jeff, think makes a good pinball table, or pin, as it were.

[2387] I've always had some fascination with pinball but never really knew what were considered the classics until hearing Jeff's talk about tables like Black Knight and Tomcat.

[2388] Is it the ramps, objectives, lights, shaky things?

[2389] I want to know.

[2390] It's a combination of all those things, really.

[2391] Good ramps, good gimmicks.

[2392] Yeah.

[2393] Interesting modes for kind of later tables that are mode -y.

[2394] Interesting motifs and sound samples, I think, go a long way, too.

[2395] I think the audio on a pinball table really matters a lot.

[2396] Yeah.

[2397] Yeah, that can make a big difference for sure.

[2398] Yeah, I mean, it's like Black Knight has its character.

[2399] It's the Black Knight.

[2400] It's the guy.

[2401] He's there talking mess to you.

[2402] 2 ,000 of these Black Knights.

[2403] F -14 Tomcat has a guy with a kind of sketchy Russian accent screaming at you.

[2404] And then occasional fighter jet talk.

[2405] All you need.

[2406] It's all you need for any game.

[2407] Yeah, good momentum and a balance between playtime and risk.

[2408] Because there are definitely pinball games that are too easy.

[2409] And it's just like, this is boring.

[2410] I'm just going to play forever, but there's not really anything to do.

[2411] Yeah, I like a good objective -based pinball machine.

[2412] I like a game, though, that is fairly fast and loose with the multi -ball.

[2413] Because I like me some multi -ball.

[2414] Multi -ball is just because I feel like the rest of the time it is putting a highlight on my lack of pinball skill.

[2415] But then when it goes to multi -ball, it's like everything is just crazy.

[2416] So don't worry about it.

[2417] Just go for as long as you can.

[2418] Yeah, that's my criteria.

[2419] Anyway.

[2420] Alan Bradley.

[2421] The Alan Bradley?

[2422] The Alan Bradley.

[2423] Great.

[2424] Bruce Boxleitner writes in to say.

[2425] Bruce Boxleiker.

[2426] From Lockport, New York.

[2427] Everything's going bad in this room now.

[2428] I'm being dripped on with wet pipes.

[2429] Pop screens flying all over the place.

[2430] And he just broke everything.

[2431] He just broke everything.

[2432] First off, just wanted to point out the odd coincidence that the protagonist in Black Ops is called Alec Mason.

[2433] Frighteningly similar to Alex Mason of Red Faction Guerrilla.

[2434] Isn't it the other way around?

[2435] He's Alex Mason in Black Ops and Alex Mason in...

[2436] I thought it was Alex Mercer.

[2437] No, Mercer's is prototype.

[2438] That's prototype.

[2439] That's another similar one.

[2440] Oh, I'm sorry.

[2441] I wasn't even...

[2442] Okay.

[2443] And who's the guy in Infamous?

[2444] That's completely different.

[2445] That's Cole.

[2446] Yeah, okay.

[2447] That's completely different.

[2448] He sounds like a DMX rider, so...

[2449] DMX rider.

[2450] Sounds like a DMX rider also.

[2451] Get off me. Yeah.

[2452] The rest of this email is dumb, so...

[2453] But...

[2454] Yeah, it's weird that those are super, super similar like that.

[2455] It makes me believe that the Freemasons really are running this industry.

[2456] Too many characters with Mason.

[2457] Yeah, maybe.

[2458] Or something similar in the name.

[2459] Think about it.

[2460] Think about it.

[2461] Alistair Crowley.

[2462] I have these pamphlets I would like you to read as well.

[2463] Okay.

[2464] Phil Hawkins, New Brunswick, Canada.

[2465] Yo, Bombcats, what non -video game -related item is everyone hoping to get this Christmas?

[2466] Vinny, you celebrate Christmas.

[2467] I do.

[2468] You celebrate the Christ's birth.

[2469] I celebrate the shit out of it.

[2470] Yeah, you do.

[2471] Yeah.

[2472] What do you want?

[2473] I don't know, man. I buy stuff for myself now.

[2474] It's weird.

[2475] Yeah.

[2476] I want some good times and a nice vacation.

[2477] Jeff, is there anything you'd...

[2478] I just bought a whole bunch of stuff for myself.

[2479] Yeah.

[2480] We're showing up tomorrow -ish.

[2481] I'm pretty happy about it.

[2482] Bradley?

[2483] Yeah.

[2484] Time.

[2485] More time.

[2486] Maybe when you get to a certain age, you're just like, fuck, I just get to sleep.

[2487] Yeah.

[2488] I feel like it's not time for stuff.

[2489] I get games over the course of the year pretty nonstop, so I don't want any fucking video games.

[2490] And there's literally nothing to buy.

[2491] Like I even – like a couple weeks ago, I went and was like, I'm going to look on Amazon because I know they're running crazy deals on everything right now.

[2492] I own everything.

[2493] So this would be the time.

[2494] And I look and I'm like, I have anything that I would be even remotely interested in playing.

[2495] I have or have access to.

[2496] Non -video game related stuff, you know, where the – I bought the stuff that I – anything I would ever ask, like put on a list or something.

[2497] I've kind of bought that $20 item for myself when I needed it.

[2498] But that's not to say I don't get a lot of good surprises.

[2499] I'm finally done with action figures and stupid crap like that.

[2500] The collectible.

[2501] Yeah, finally I've gotten all that out of my system of just like, I have no place to put any of this shit.

[2502] So I'm just not going to get any of it.

[2503] So yeah, I don't know.

[2504] I guess the time, the rest.

[2505] Even within my family, it's like...

[2506] If something is needed, it's not like, well, wait until Christmas.

[2507] We'll just fucking buy the thing, and then now you have the thing, and then guess what?

[2508] You're not going to get anything at Christmas because the thing has been bought.

[2509] Right.

[2510] Which is fine.

[2511] It's the practicality of let's not wait for this ridiculous preordained time.

[2512] If a gift needs to be got, let's just do it.

[2513] I don't think that takes any of the fun or joy out of it.

[2514] I don't know.

[2515] Gift cards.

[2516] You get to a certain age and you're just like, I don't know.

[2517] I have bought gift cards like a motherfucker this year.

[2518] Yeah.

[2519] It's good stuff.

[2520] Small, easy to ship, cheap.

[2521] You know what's even easier?

[2522] Email gift cards.

[2523] But I like to go and give the thing because then...

[2524] I can also choose what the gift card looks like.

[2525] Amazon's got all kinds of different designs for the email it sends.

[2526] I've done that in years past, and I felt like I'm barely even trying.

[2527] At least with the gift card, I show up and hand them a thing and say, here's the thing.

[2528] I wish they could just credit your account.

[2529] Oh, Amazon gift card.

[2530] Why don't you just direct deposit the money straight into my bank account?

[2531] Please, thank you.

[2532] Show up with $35.

[2533] Here you go.

[2534] Merry Christmas.

[2535] Carton of Newports.

[2536] Those little cards with the – Got you this Benny here.

[2537] The face of the president cut out.

[2538] They still make those where you slip the money cards where you put it in?

[2539] Only in Italian mafia families.

[2540] Oh, really?

[2541] That's only in Goodfellas have I ever seen that.

[2542] Really?

[2543] Yeah.

[2544] Because I used to get them all the time.

[2545] I got those.

[2546] Okay.

[2547] I'm sure they got totally messed up with the redesign of all the bills.

[2548] No, I would always – whatever.

[2549] I'd always just get like Christmas card with check inside of it for $12 or whatever.

[2550] Buy yourself something nice.

[2551] A weird quantity.

[2552] I'll buy a G .I. Joe.

[2553] That's what I'm going to do.

[2554] I'll buy G .I. Joe's.

[2555] They still make those?

[2556] Yeah, I think so.

[2557] All right.

[2558] Good job.

[2559] Patrick Hayes in Amesbury.

[2560] Ma.

[2561] Hey, Bombcast.

[2562] In spite of all the yang, this is the only reason that I've chosen this email for reading is that he uses the word yang.

[2563] In spite of all of the yang, and he uses it correctly.

[2564] In spite of all of the yang that has been talked about JRPGs over the last couple of years, I continue to be a huge fan of JRPGs.

[2565] For those on the Bombcast who had an affinity for the genre in the past, do you know which game or what games it was that caused you to lose interest in this genre?

[2566] Was there ever something that you played that you were just like, eh?

[2567] That's a weird question.

[2568] I'm done.

[2569] instance of that thing right yeah you just kind of get tired of it after a while yeah for me but was there like a last one where you're just kind of like you got this one and you thought like fucking yeah but it was a good one final fantasy 10 is the last one well i mean i yeah you know i mean that's okay ones after final fantasy 10 this doesn't necessarily have to be like a indictment of the quality of that thing yeah yeah yeah but there's definitely it's not that it's not that you know the playing one bad one is suddenly going to make you dislike the genre or whatever.

[2570] I don't know.

[2571] I just got tired of it.

[2572] I think the last ones that I was incredibly excited about were like Phantasy Star 3, Phantasy Star 2, Final Fantasy 2, meaning 4.

[2573] Old man games.

[2574] Yeah, those are the last ones that I was like, fuck yes.

[2575] I have all this free time.

[2576] I'm going to shirk off everything and do this.

[2577] And it's like, nah.

[2578] Yeah, same.

[2579] I mean, I would still go back and play a superb JRPG if it came out now.

[2580] I don't know.

[2581] Persona 4, for example.

[2582] Yeah.

[2583] That's a pretty good one.

[2584] Yeah.

[2585] I think it is the repetition of the combat more than anything that gets to me. Yeah, I guess maybe if it didn't change those things, would it stop being defined as a JRPG?

[2586] Yeah, if it stopped having the things that make traditional JRPGs.

[2587] And if it came from outside of Japan, what would you call it?

[2588] I don't know.

[2589] That's why the whole term is so fucking broken.

[2590] I suppose that's true.

[2591] But that's the only place they'd come out of.

[2592] Is it?

[2593] Yes.

[2594] Like what defines a JRPG?

[2595] Like random enemy encounters?

[2596] It comes from Japan.

[2597] Is that it?

[2598] No, at this point it's – well, yeah.

[2599] I mean, yes, exactly.

[2600] It's a Japanese RPG, an RPG that comes from Japan.

[2601] Right, but like in the actual use of the term.

[2602] Random encounters, party days.

[2603] No, though not all of them have had that.

[2604] Some of them have gotten that out of it.

[2605] Hell of cut scenes.

[2606] But that's not like, but that's, yeah.

[2607] It's becoming traditional because random encounters have fallen out of favor.

[2608] I suppose so.

[2609] Amnesia?

[2610] I suppose so.

[2611] Yeah.

[2612] Ethereal, wayfish ethereal girls who hold the fate of the universe in their hands.

[2613] Matthew Lancaster in Fountain Valley, California deserves to get punched for this next email.

[2614] If Bioshock Infinite is the game in the franchise which takes a turn for the worse, it is so bad that no other Bioshock game can save the franchise.

[2615] Is that considered jumping the shock?

[2616] Have a good break, man. I think I just broke the podcast, you guys.

[2617] It's been fun, guys.

[2618] All right.

[2619] So, yeah.

[2620] Thanks to everyone who wrote in.

[2621] Except for that last one.

[2622] Except for that last one.

[2623] apparently you've saddened everyone, and now this holiday break is going to be mired in darkness.

[2624] Yeah, you know what I want for Christmas?

[2625] Take that question back.

[2626] Take that statement back.

[2627] From the entire Giant Bomb family.

[2628] I'm going to play Back to the Future this Christmas.

[2629] Vinny's going to play Back to the Future.

[2630] Is that like a sex game?

[2631] Yeah.

[2632] So me and the missus are going to play a little Back to the Future, if you know what I'm saying.

[2633] I'll be out of the office for a bit.

[2634] Hide the DeLorean.

[2635] Be sure and check GiantBomb .com.

[2636] That also involves feeding garbage into a hole.

[2637] What?

[2638] God.

[2639] Oh, my God.

[2640] Like the Mr. Fusion.

[2641] No. Like the Mr. Fusion.

[2642] Okay, well, it's the other part of the analogy that I don't want to get.

[2643] No, that's the one I was talking about.

[2644] I don't know what you're talking about.

[2645] So let's say Game of the Year dates here.

[2646] 27.

[2647] The 27th of December is when this will kick off.

[2648] Fingers crossed.

[2649] Yeah, that's the idea.

[2650] Through January 1st, 2011, when we will be announcing our game of the year.

[2651] So we'll be having content going up on the site all during that time.

[2652] So look for it and have a happy holiday from everyone here.

[2653] Be safe.

[2654] Be safe and sane.

[2655] Don't forget, Vinny, that's important too.

[2656] Wait, are we lighting on fireworks?

[2657] Fucking A, right?

[2658] It's a vacation, isn't it?

[2659] Yeah, okay.

[2660] I got all these mortars still.

[2661] Yeah, no you don't.

[2662] We will see you in 2011.