Giant Bombcast 01-25-2011

[0] Welcome to the giant bomb cast.

[1] Welcome.

[2] I'm Jeff Gerstman, joined by Vinny Caravella.

[3] On the Bombcast.

[4] Yes.

[5] Okay.

[6] Yes.

[7] And Brad Shoemaker.

[8] The podcast where we talk about real video games that come on discs.

[9] I mean, we talk about all kinds of things here.

[10] Okay.

[11] Specifically that.

[12] Yeah, I wouldn't say that defines the podcast, but...

[13] Yeah, but if we were going to talk about video games, they would probably come on a disc.

[14] This might be the place.

[15] Yeah, that makes sense to me. Speaking of video games, Brad, what video games have you played lately?

[16] Starting this week.

[17] Well, we don't want to start the show with a showstopper, I think.

[18] So, fine.

[19] Not to say that what you have to say is useless, but go ahead and get it out of the way.

[20] Well, we can talk about Dead Space 2 this week, so let's talk about Dead Space 2.

[21] Yeah.

[22] I effing love the S out of Dead Space 2.

[23] Okay.

[24] I don't know if you noticed.

[25] I'm just putting it all together.

[26] Dead Space 2 is an amazing game, and I'm going to talk about why.

[27] All right.

[28] Let's hear it.

[29] This week, Rad talks about Dead Space 2.

[30] Too soon.

[31] I don't know.

[32] Dude, that game is great.

[33] That's such a good game.

[34] Yeah, I haven't seen too much of it.

[35] Well, you watched me play a good amount of it.

[36] Yeah, until we did this quick look earlier today.

[37] And it looks pretty awesome.

[38] It's basically more and better and a little bit faster than the first Dead Space.

[39] Same basic idea.

[40] All the weapons are back.

[41] Isaac Clarke is back.

[42] You didn't have to change too many things about the original Dead Space.

[43] Yeah, that's the thing.

[44] Actually, I saw some comments on the review right before I came in here.

[45] Like, oh, they didn't change anything.

[46] How can you give this five stars?

[47] Dead Space is pretty awesome.

[48] It's a fucking awesome game.

[49] It's not like it's Dead Space 20.

[50] But also, I feel like Dead Space was awesome, but there was room enough for improvement to make a sequel that's even better.

[51] And they made a lot of improvements.

[52] Remember those awful turret sequences from the first one?

[53] They were forgettable.

[54] They were only memorable because they sucked.

[55] Those are gone.

[56] Oh, you know what?

[57] At the end, I remember the turret stuff.

[58] You had to get on a turret every once in a while and shoot asteroids.

[59] There's certainly precedent for great games involving asteroid shooting.

[60] I can think of a few.

[61] But that was not one.

[62] Okay.

[63] They took that stuff out.

[64] They've made tons of little subtle UI tweaks.

[65] There's a few new weapons, a few new enemies, a lot more.

[66] places to fight through.

[67] Like, it's just a damn fine sequel.

[68] And you would say that you like the story?

[69] Yeah, the story's pretty good.

[70] Pretty good.

[71] Like the journey, you know, like the moving through, the diehard aspect of it.

[72] The moving through, like, messed up areas in desperate circumstances, that stuff's awesome.

[73] Like the internal, like, kind of psychological turmoil of Isaac Clarke is okay.

[74] You can kind of take it or leave it.

[75] But, you know, it's done well enough.

[76] That's not the point of the game.

[77] The point is to shoot everything off of everything.

[78] Team -based multiplayer.

[79] That's the point of the game, right?

[80] Not so much.

[81] How is that stuff?

[82] Does it feel like something they tacked on to try and stop people from selling it used and hope that they can catch on that way?

[83] Maybe?

[84] Kind of?

[85] They're doing the whole Project $10 thing with it.

[86] Everything's gotten on.

[87] It's the online pass thing.

[88] We're past calling it a project.

[89] It is happening.

[90] It's an official thing.

[91] It's a trend.

[92] It's happened more than three times.

[93] Yeah, fair enough.

[94] It's a trend.

[95] EA alone has done it more than three times.

[96] So what's the trial buffer period you get if you do it?

[97] I think it's 48 hours.

[98] Wow.

[99] That's the rental.

[100] You can pop a two -day.

[101] Well, that's just for the multiplayer.

[102] Any copy will play the campaign fine.

[103] And it's $10 per game?

[104] It's not like an EA Pass, right?

[105] It's platform -specific, yes, if that's what you mean.

[106] No, I meant per game.

[107] Like, if I buy the thing for $10, whatever it is.

[108] Oh, it's not.

[109] Yeah, that doesn't work for...

[110] That would not work for Bulletstorm.

[111] It's game -specific.

[112] Multiplayer's fine.

[113] Like, it doesn't seem especially deep.

[114] Yeah.

[115] It's only got five maps.

[116] There's four Necromorph classes.

[117] There's a few weapons to upgrade.

[118] But, I mean, it probably would be fun for, like, a week or two.

[119] Is it a DLC platform?

[120] So I thought it was going to be that.

[121] I thought straight up, especially because you had Frank Jabot a few weeks ago saying, we're never shipping a single player only game again.

[122] Everything will have multiplayer from now on.

[123] I took that to mean we want to sell a lot of map packs.

[124] Because the competition is selling a lot of them.

[125] I took it to mean specifically that they want to put their online pass into stuff.

[126] That too.

[127] Well, I mean, maybe that serves a dual purpose.

[128] Yeah.

[129] And to, like, hopefully, like, basically to try and fight off used sales wherever they can.

[130] That's what it struck me as being.

[131] It sounded like that to me as well.

[132] But surprisingly, the timing of this might be a little questionable, but they announced DLC today.

[133] Well, the game's out.

[134] They were like, hey, guess what?

[135] DLC on the way.

[136] We're going to do more Dead Space 2.

[137] But it's campaign DLC.

[138] That's the shocking part to me. Yeah, that's...

[139] I was like, there's multiplayer in here.

[140] They're going to crank out some new weapons and maps and stuff for that.

[141] It's not wave -based survival gameplay.

[142] I wish this game had that.

[143] Really?

[144] I would...

[145] Yes.

[146] Like co -op?

[147] I would pay money for a horde mode.

[148] You heard it.

[149] It's coming.

[150] I mean, the combat is the best thing about this game.

[151] It plays so well, just like the first one.

[152] Have they said anything about the contents of this campaign DLC in terms of what it's going to be?

[153] It's two chapters, and the chapters in the campaign are, I'd say, anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.

[154] So if it's two hours...

[155] But are they saying, is it set after the events or before...

[156] It's during the Isaac Clarke stuff, but you're playing as different characters.

[157] Oh, okay.

[158] Weird.

[159] Actually, you're playing as a different character, and he will have, like, an AI companion.

[160] Okay.

[161] But they're from Dead Space Extraction, which is weird because...

[162] Oh, weird.

[163] All right.

[164] How characters from that game ended up in the same place that Isaac Clarke happens to be, remains to be seen, and seems a little weird, but...

[165] Yeah, I'm sure they'll figure it out.

[166] It'll be like a Half -Life Blue Shift kind of thing.

[167] Like, oh, this was going on on the other side of the station at the same time.

[168] That seems like a good way to handle it.

[169] I thought you were going to say, like, oh...

[170] there's two chapters that you didn't get to play and now they're filling them in, like Assassin's Creed 2 style or something, which I thought was not a great way to do it.

[171] It's definitely not like the lost chapters of Isaac Clark's journey or anything.

[172] And in fact, I don't know if this is getting too behind the scenes here, but one of the Visceral guys posted on NeoGAF about this after the announcement today.

[173] And I guess they locked the shipping game content a while ago and then started on this DLC after that and are just now wrapping that stuff up.

[174] It's still kind of annoying that people have to come out and say that.

[175] Yeah, it is.

[176] I understand why people get angry about quick DLC, but it seems like a lot of people still just don't understand how game development works.

[177] The game gets content locked and it's in this QA process and you basically have a bunch of people sitting around doing nothing.

[178] Or kind of chipping in on bugs here and there, playing the hell out of the game over and over again to find bugs.

[179] In some cases, some of those developers get let go.

[180] Yeah, or laid off or rolled onto other projects or something like that.

[181] So it's kind of cool that...

[182] they're able to make use of that time.

[183] Totally.

[184] And able to do stuff that doesn't just include working on their day one patch.

[185] Right.

[186] And it might actually be a problem if this in any way felt like an incomplete game, but it's a good solid 12 -ish hour campaign.

[187] I think consumers keep them in check on that stuff, or at least with rage, if not with actual dollars, let's face it.

[188] People buy what people buy.

[189] But, I mean, that campaign that's on the disc already is so damn good.

[190] It's easily worth going through two or three times.

[191] Is it worth getting up in the middle and swapping discs on the 360?

[192] Yeah.

[193] Yeah, it is.

[194] Okay.

[195] I don't know.

[196] I don't know.

[197] I can't believe they didn't solve that.

[198] It's a shame.

[199] The Forza way.

[200] I don't understand what's going on.

[201] We have these hard drives that you can hold the full install of two discs.

[202] It's a shame, but only from a philosophical standpoint.

[203] Yeah.

[204] If we're going to sit here and complain about getting off the couch one time during a 12 -hour game, we have.

[205] Typically, from where I sit and play games, it's really a lean -forward move anyway.

[206] We have questionable priorities.

[207] I don't know.

[208] We actually are incensed about that.

[209] It seems silly.

[210] When there is a solution that seems not tough to implement.

[211] It's inelegant is all it is.

[212] It's like there is a cleaner way to do this, and you've got the tools to solve it, and you just kind of haven't.

[213] And those tools include a PlayStation 3.

[214] Yeah.

[215] Which gets bonus stuff on top of just the one disc benefit, right?

[216] Yeah, if you don't really care about achievements or trophies, or you don't have friends that only play on one console, you'd probably go for the PS3 version.

[217] It's all on one disc, it's got that Dead Space Extraction as a bonus on there.

[218] And that comes in every, like there's no special collector's edition?

[219] It's only the first run, it's that whole like...

[220] quasi -limited edition thing that EA's been doing, where it's the same price, but if you bought it day one, then you got the limited edition.

[221] Or month one.

[222] I don't think there are Medal of Honor copies out there that are not limited edition.

[223] That might say more about how fast Medal of Honor moved.

[224] Or do you think they're still making it?

[225] Someone told me it was doing okay.

[226] To which I said, that kind of bums me out.

[227] And the response was, it doesn't bum me out.

[228] I was like, okay.

[229] So, yeah, I mean, that version might be out there for a while.

[230] I guess they're also going to be selling Extraction, or it might be up right now on the PlayStation Network.

[231] I know there's at least a demo up on the PlayStation Network.

[232] I don't know if they're actually selling it.

[233] And did they do Extraction for 360 as well?

[234] Not at all.

[235] Okay.

[236] It'd be cool if they did.

[237] I mean, I can't really think of a reason it wouldn't work on Kinect.

[238] It might not work.

[239] That would probably take a lot more work than getting it to work on the move, considering they're just taking a Wii game and redoing it.

[240] Has anybody done that yet?

[241] I don't think there has been a Kinect kind of Wii port to Kinect.

[242] Or even just crosshairs with Kinect on screen, like a light gun game.

[243] Like a light gun game?

[244] Well, Child of Eden, when you break it down, is a light gun game.

[245] And they're doing that.

[246] So the answer is kind of yes.

[247] And every menu, basically, does that.

[248] I don't know.

[249] Yeah, exactly.

[250] The indicator.

[251] Well, as far as extraction goes, it was made for a pointing controller.

[252] So you should play it with the move if you can.

[253] It works with a DualShock 3.

[254] That might be the thing that gets me to get a move.

[255] I'm thinking about getting the move.

[256] For a light gun game, I hate to add that qualifier at the beginning, but for that kind of game, it's really well done.

[257] How much is a move?

[258] Set me up with a move.

[259] A hundred bucks.

[260] All right, what do I get?

[261] The wand.

[262] For a wand, a camera, and a copy of Sports Champions.

[263] Okay, and what do I need for the...

[264] What do they call them?

[265] The nunchuck?

[266] It's the navigation controller.

[267] The navigation controller.

[268] Okay.

[269] That's 30.

[270] You don't need that.

[271] I bought one.

[272] You don't need it.

[273] You can use your controller, right?

[274] You can just use the PS3 controller if you want.

[275] For games that actually need that sort of stuff, which are not all of them.

[276] If you just want to play Extraction, you can just go get the wand for 50 bucks.

[277] If you can find it.

[278] If you have a camera.

[279] At that point, you would actually...

[280] Yeah, if you have the camera, but...

[281] You don't have a camera.

[282] I don't know.

[283] I've been kind of poking around at retail since the move launched, and I have yet to see standalone move ones, really.

[284] Well, that's a shame because I think I kind of would want two ones.

[285] Yeah, exactly.

[286] So that's what I was looking to do last week when I bought LittleBigPlanet and bought a move set up at that point.

[287] Oh, for LittleBigPlanet?

[288] Yeah.

[289] Two.

[290] LittleBigPlanet two.

[291] Yeah.

[292] We'll get into that.

[293] get into that um so there's no bundle that comes with dual wands no okay no like a family pack or so i ended up buying like the the bundle and then a navigation controller because i have yet to actually use one of those i think so i thought it'd be cool to have one um and yeah i'll probably end up getting another wand because there are games that work right with two wands um You can find them online.

[294] The bottom line, if you already have a camera and you don't want Sports Champions, then you can just go for $50.

[295] I believe it is $49 .99 to get just a wand.

[296] Okay.

[297] But I wanted Sports Champions, and that would be $40.

[298] So we're looking at $90 without the bundle right there.

[299] Sports Champions uses the – doesn't it use the – The controller or whatever for archery and stuff?

[300] No, it uses two wands.

[301] It uses two wands.

[302] Oh, two wands.

[303] Crap!

[304] Yeah, so archery is great with two wands.

[305] Not as good with one.

[306] Okay.

[307] Yeah.

[308] Yeah.

[309] So the way the bundle pricing works out, you're almost kind of getting a free camera, which I thought, well, that'd be cool.

[310] I could plug it into a PC and do something weird with it.

[311] Or, in my case, I actually just straight up have two PlayStation 3s hooked up at home now.

[312] One on my 3D TV, one on my TV that I actually play games on.

[313] How's that 3D working?

[314] I played some Super Stardust HD in 3D after I set all that stuff up.

[315] And it was a lot harder in 3D than it was in 2D.

[316] Because it seems like you're kind of forced to focus on a smaller part of the screen because of the 3D.

[317] I don't know if it's eyes playing tricks on you.

[318] But there's been all this stuff like Roger Ebert posted that thing.

[319] I don't know if you saw.

[320] Posted an article basically a film editor that worked on.

[321] has been nominated for Academy Awards and all this other stuff.

[322] It basically says, here's the science of why 3D doesn't work and never will work.

[323] Because of stuff like that.

[324] Because you're forced to focus differently on different parts of the screen and that sort of stuff.

[325] And that's been going around and getting a lot of traction.

[326] And I kind of read that and go, yeah, it kind of makes some sense.

[327] Well, Dead Space Sand in 3D, right?

[328] Ebert, no, it's not.

[329] Ebert also posted a link this morning to some...

[330] from like the 20s talking about how talkies were more stressful to the viewer than silent films.

[331] I believe it.

[332] I totally agree.

[333] I don't know.

[334] We'll see how that stuff shapes up.

[335] Yeah, but I don't know.

[336] It's definitely something I noticed when I went and saw Tron.

[337] You're kind of focusing on not the entire screen.

[338] It's hard to get the whole picture in 3D.

[339] And Tron was subtle.

[340] The 3D wasn't that intense.

[341] Tron's actually been the mildest 3D that I've seen.

[342] But playing Super Stardust was...

[343] I mean, it looked great.

[344] I thought, like, you know, just on a technical level, you look at it like, man, the frame rate's awesome.

[345] You know, the depth is cool.

[346] Like, it's well used, but it's just – it's harder to, like, you know, when you're changing weapons and the words are coming off it and stuff like that.

[347] Like, you're not focusing on that stuff.

[348] You're focusing right around your ship.

[349] And I just found myself just, like, wrecking into stuff and going, like, oh, I didn't even see that there.

[350] It's like the – I lacked peripheral vision or something, and it had just, like, blind spots all over the place or something.

[351] It was a more difficult game.

[352] And that, to me, is kind of the biggest thing that kind of turns me off to the whole thing.

[353] I don't know.

[354] Like, I have Grand Theft Auto V, and that supports 3D, but I didn't really want to play it in 2D, so I kind of didn't really go there.

[355] But no, Dead Space does not support 3D.

[356] Yes.

[357] I doubt that it could handle 3D, because they are...

[358] pushing the hell out of those consoles it's it's barely keeping 30 frames a second in 2d but on a ps3 and 360 pretty much parody and pretty much identical yeah like we don't typically have a lot of time to play through both sure sure game but like i just like this one so much that i did and i Really would be hard -pressed to find a difference.

[359] And have you had a chance to check out any of the PCs?

[360] No, they didn't send out the PC version ahead of time.

[361] Okay.

[362] Sounds like preliminary reports are that it plays a lot better than the first game because that port was not great to the PC.

[363] Like, the mouse control apparently was pretty screwed up.

[364] It would be nice to see.

[365] It sounds like it's locked at 30 if you have vSync turned on unless you get into, like, driver shenanigans.

[366] It's D3D overrider or something.

[367] Yeah, yeah.

[368] Which I...

[369] I can't believe we live in a world we're still having to do that stuff.

[370] I'm going to check it out because it is an amazing looking game.

[371] Right.

[372] And seeing that at high res at like 60 frames a second would be really impressive.

[373] I'm getting close to a full PC upgrade.

[374] Time is now.

[375] It's a good time.

[376] Yeah, it's going to be like in the next month or two.

[377] I'm going to go build something big and crazy.

[378] Our own Norm Chan just tested NVIDIA's new price performance king, the GTX 560.

[379] Yeah.

[380] It's like a $250 card that apparently smokes just about everything except a 570.

[381] Weren't people saying that NVIDIA was done?

[382] Yeah, they seem to be coming back pretty strong.

[383] That race is heating back up.

[384] I like their drivers better.

[385] Competition is great in the market, but man, I just have just...

[386] nightmare flashbacks to the nvidia ati kind of like which card do i get do i want to play doom or half -life like what is that's right yeah what do i what pixel shader do i go for that was basically do you like open gl or do you like direct 3d open gl you like open gl yeah always the answer um so you've been playing anything else uh you've been like locked to dead space for like a week yeah playing the hell out of that um i should mention they got the new game plus stuff right this time so it's It encourages multiple playthroughs a lot better than it used to.

[387] Basically, it carries over to different difficulties, right?

[388] Yeah.

[389] That was the issue with the first game.

[390] Yeah, the first game, your weapons only carried back into the same difficulty again, which made no sense to me whatsoever.

[391] So they go across pretty much all the difficulties now, and there's an achievement for beating the hardest difficulty that's available from the get -go.

[392] But when you finish it on any difficulty, they unlock hardcore mode.

[393] Yeah.

[394] Which is fucking crazy.

[395] I read something about this.

[396] It is insane.

[397] This sounds like it is for...

[398] It was like one hit death.

[399] I'm thinking about going for it.

[400] Oh, man. Maybe we should live stream it.

[401] With a New Game Plus?

[402] Here's what hardcore mode is.

[403] New Game Plus does not work.

[404] You have to start fresh.

[405] It's the hardest mode in the game in terms of the strength of the enemies, how much ammo is out there, everything.

[406] Also, you only get three saves.

[407] Wow, really?

[408] Yeah.

[409] But if you do it in one...

[410] There's three saves?

[411] I thought it was three lives.

[412] No, it's three saves.

[413] So if you do it in one playthrough, you checkpoint still, right?

[414] I haven't tried it yet.

[415] I'm still working on normal on the 360.

[416] But my impression is you only respawn at your save.

[417] So you can respawn as many times as you want, but it's going to be at that save.

[418] You better think real hard before you go up to a save point.

[419] That's pretty hardcore.

[420] And make a save game.

[421] Because on that difficulty, I bet it's a 12 to 15 hour game.

[422] So you're looking at losing 3 to 5 hours of progress if you die.

[423] So where would...

[424] How many chapters do you think you would get through?

[425] Would you try to get through all of Disc 1 without saving?

[426] Definitely don't burn it on the early stuff, right?

[427] Yeah.

[428] Maybe we should find out.

[429] Yeah, this sounds cool.

[430] I don't know.

[431] It sounds interesting.

[432] Yeah, we should try it.

[433] I mean, I played through several hours on the 360 debug, then I played through it on the PS3, and I'm almost done playing through it on the Xbox.

[434] I'm going to play it again on the hardest regular difficulty on the Xbox, so that will be like three and a half playthroughs.

[435] Yeah.

[436] I'll practically have the game memorized at that point.

[437] It would kind of be an interesting experiment just to try that.

[438] The thing that bugged me about the first one with the New Game Plus stuff was the weapons are really satisfying, and they're fun to upgrade, and the upgrades actually do awesome things.

[439] They're really meaningful, and they're even more so in this one because it's weird they didn't do this for all the weapons, but they've got the same kind of upgrade tree format where it's like circuits, and you put nodes in the circuits to connect stuff.

[440] Right, right.

[441] So some of the weapons have a special ability at the end of that track that you have to unlock.

[442] The plasma cutter, just the basic pistol, if you get that thing, it basically adds a fire effect to it.

[443] So every time you shoot an enemy, they catch on fire.

[444] Great.

[445] Great.

[446] Yeah, it's awesome.

[447] It's almost like MMO -style procs on your stuff.

[448] Does it proc every time it hits?

[449] Yeah, the fire one is the only one I got, and it does, yes.

[450] So it's great to be able to, I think, now fulfill the dream of having all of those things upgraded in an eventual playthrough.

[451] Totally, totally.

[452] Somebody on NeoGAF was saying that on Zealot, which is the hardest regular difficulty, If you start a fresh character on that, it's essentially a one -hit death every time you get hit.

[453] And you got hit.

[454] I saw you doing that quickly.

[455] You can take some hits.

[456] You can get overrun.

[457] You can get dismembered.

[458] That will be pretty tough.

[459] Not so strategically.

[460] That will be pretty tough.

[461] But man, that game is so good.

[462] It's worth playing.

[463] And that stuff, multiplayer is completely different.

[464] It doesn't carry over none of your...

[465] Totally separate, yeah.

[466] But there is some kind of progression there.

[467] Yeah, there's a total Call of Duty style.

[468] As there has to be.

[469] You level up.

[470] Yeah, exactly.

[471] There's only one level.

[472] You play both sides Left 4 Dead style, but you only have one experience level.

[473] I think it's every level you basically get something for both sides.

[474] So it's unified pretty well.

[475] There's just weird unlocks and stuff all over this game.

[476] it's almost hard to keep track of.

[477] Like, I played through it on the PS3 with no prior saves and any other Dead Space anything.

[478] Right.

[479] Just played through it, it was fine.

[480] Like, it didn't feel like it was lacking anything.

[481] I fired it up on the Xbox where I had a Dead Space 1 complete save, and I had also played through Dead Space Ignition, that kind of not -so -good motion comic.

[482] Yeah, yeah.

[483] And it's just like, I start the game, I hit a new game, and it's just like this litany of pop -ups.

[484] Like, you've unlocked the refurbished plasma cutter.

[485] You've unlocked the hacker suit.

[486] Oh, right.

[487] It's just one thing after another.

[488] Now I have a Dead Space 1 clear save on my 360, but now I was going to get it on the PS3.

[489] Now you can't.

[490] But there is no version of, I forget the extraction.

[491] Ignition.

[492] Extraction is the one that is currently PS3 exclusive because that's the Wii game.

[493] Right.

[494] So there is no version of that on the 360.

[495] Right.

[496] Not right now.

[497] So I'd have to go buy Dead Space 1, beat that on the PS3.

[498] I've got Dead Space 1 on the PS3 if you want to borrow it.

[499] I think you actually maybe just need a save, period.

[500] It may not have to be a finished save for one.

[501] The plasma cutter that you get out of that is cosmetic.

[502] It just looks like the one from the first game.

[503] Whatever.

[504] It could need everything.

[505] But it's the same.

[506] Yeah.

[507] Yeah.

[508] It seems like EA's been doing...

[509] Stuff like that.

[510] It kind of extends out of their EA gun club thing where if you played Battlefield 1943, then you got a Metal Honor gun or Bat Company 2.

[511] If you played any of those racing games, you got all that stuff in Most Wanted.

[512] Yeah, like Most Wanted rings up Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed Shift.

[513] The extent of the rewards in this if you played Ignition is crazy.

[514] Straight up giving you free weapons.

[515] Free, like, improved versions of the weapons.

[516] It's like, hey, sorry.

[517] I guess.

[518] Sorry about all those hacking minigames.

[519] It's actually kind of cool the way it ties into the story of that game because it opens up a bunch of rooms that the character from that game went into during that game.

[520] Oh, that's actually really interesting.

[521] Because he was another engineer and he went through all these, like, conduit rooms where he's, like, patching circus together and stuff.

[522] And so that guy left those rooms open, basically?

[523] Yeah, so on the second playthrough when I was going through on the Xbox, there were all these little rooms here and there that were just not open when I played it before.

[524] And you go in there, and there's a bunch of money, there's a bunch of health, you know, just basic stuff like that.

[525] But there's also an audio log from that dude in every one of those rooms.

[526] And like schematics we saw.

[527] And you pick up, I've gotten one suit so far, which is better than anything else you can get at that stage of the game, and it's free.

[528] Usually that stuff's really expensive.

[529] And I just got a much better version of the contact beam for free at the point I'm at where I was playing last night.

[530] It's like they dole out all these free...

[531] Do you think it needs to be a complete ignition save?

[532] I've seen conflicting reports.

[533] Some people just fire it up one time and have a save, and it'll work.

[534] It tells you right when you start the game.

[535] You unlocked all this stuff, so you know we're going in.

[536] Man, that's weird.

[537] I don't think I have ignition, but if I was going to get it, I might.

[538] For $5, I think it improves the quality of the game.

[539] Especially if there's some narrative stuff in it.

[540] Yeah, those audio logs are not super in -depth, but it's kind of cool.

[541] I don't know.

[542] That's almost kind of annoying.

[543] It's almost kind of dirty.

[544] Kind of.

[545] It's verging on it, but you're not missing anything super important.

[546] But it kind of adds some context.

[547] I think it's only dirty because I feel it working.

[548] I'm like, I might buy this game that I think is actually kind of bad.

[549] Well, that game is a very easy -ass rank.

[550] Really?

[551] I'm not.

[552] I don't do that anymore.

[553] Yeah.

[554] Especially right now because all the achievements on the site are broken.

[555] Yeah.

[556] Thanks.

[557] Thanks, Microsoft.

[558] Well, you know, this is actually a better thing in the long run.

[559] They went and made some changes on their end.

[560] Basically, achievements on the site are broken.

[561] We've had some reports, we know, and it's something that's going to take some time to fix.

[562] But we are aware and are going to put the work in to get it done.

[563] The good news is we'll kind of be back to where we were before they made the last change.

[564] They messed up everything.

[565] So we're actually getting stuff back.

[566] On some stuff.

[567] Yeah.

[568] So some tracking will be easier, and that's nice.

[569] You know, not to bore you with engineer talk, but there's a lot of, yes.

[570] Andy and I aiming back and forth last night going, fuck!

[571] Once he was realizing the full extent of what had changed.

[572] That's always exciting.

[573] Anything else, Brad?

[574] I think that's it.

[575] All right.

[576] I haven't even played StarCraft in the last week, really.

[577] What's that?

[578] I don't know.

[579] I don't quite.

[580] I don't know.

[581] It's a distant memory.

[582] Yeah.

[583] I guess I'll go because I know we're going to talk about 3DS for a good long time.

[584] That's what you told me last time.

[585] We're going to talk about tons of stuff.

[586] I don't know anything about the eShop.

[587] I don't know what the numbers mean.

[588] Tons of stuff about 3DS.

[589] This is you to tease it.

[590] This is how it works.

[591] Coming up, top of the hour.

[592] But first.

[593] Your phone calls and 3DS.

[594] But first, I played some LittleBigPlanet 2.

[595] Tell me about this because this is a game that – so Dead Space I think is the one that's going to kick off my year.

[596] And I'm kind of holding back because I've been getting so much other stuff done.

[597] Like just like, oh, you know, I'm going to do all these other hobbies and projects I do and I'm not playing games.

[598] Yeah, and like set up this office and do this other stuff.

[599] I almost bought like CD or MP3 turntables.

[600] Yeah, like all this other stuff that's just like when I'm not playing games.

[601] There's a lot of hours in the day to do some other stuff.

[602] And then I just see Dead Space coming down.

[603] Yeah, you put the press release right out there, the first blockbuster of 2011.

[604] All right, here we go.

[605] Just open up my bank account and let's go.

[606] So LittleBigPlanet is in that chain of like, let's just start this.

[607] LittleBigPlanet is great.

[608] God, crap.

[609] All right, I'm in.

[610] And it's great in a lot of the same ways that the first game was great.

[611] In fact...

[612] They're almost kind of hamstrung in a way because the game is backwards compatible, like the user levels from the first game carry over into the second game.

[613] And that's awesome.

[614] But at the same time, the weakest part about the first game, I think, was the platforming itself.

[615] The physics of the movement were demanding in ways that it didn't seem like they intended.

[616] It felt like the height of the jump was never quite enough.

[617] Yeah.

[618] The friction on the character when you hit the ground and just, like, lots of weird stuff, you know?

[619] Yeah, yeah.

[620] Stuff that's – it's not that huge of a deal kind of depending on the design of the levels.

[621] But I felt like it was kind of holding back people from making kind of truly devious levels by design because the controls just didn't feel up to the task.

[622] Right, right.

[623] You know, my endless dream of, like, just – give people full sliders and then just, whoops, we accidentally set all the defaults on those sliders to Super Mario Bros. 1 would have been kind of the ideal for me. But I think different people probably have different opinions on that.

[624] So a lot of that's the same.

[625] When you play through the single player, it's kind of the same game.

[626] There's great new stuff in there.

[627] The grappling hook's awesome.

[628] The stuff where they kind of let you control other things, and that's where you actually get to see.

[629] Completely different feels.

[630] It doesn't feel like the physics of the first game at all when you're kind of controlling some of this other stuff.

[631] And there's like low gravity and all these other kind of wild things you can do.

[632] How crazy do they get in their own campaign?

[633] Like, are they making totally different game types in some of those levels in the...

[634] They're getting relatively out there.

[635] I'm still, like, a few levels away from finishing it, per se.

[636] But, you know, it's like finishing it's kind of not the point.

[637] Because all you really want to do, you know, theoretically, is you want to ace every single level in the campaign just so you have the maximum amount of stickers and decorations and stuff to make your own levels.

[638] Objects.

[639] Yeah.

[640] And, you know...

[641] If you're not going to create levels – like I'm never going to create a great little big planet level.

[642] I'm going to mess around with the creation tools and kind of get a good feel for how they work and kind of see where the cliff is for hundreds of hours of time spent tweaking and building and going super crazy with it.

[643] But I'm never – I've come to terms with it.

[644] I'm never ever going to be that guy, which is kind of a bummer.

[645] It's the life we lead, man. It's the lifestyle we've chosen.

[646] But the great thing is if you're in that boat, there are millions or a million plus of things to do in the game.

[647] tons and tons of levels that have already been published for the first game.

[648] And, you know, as someone who didn't really keep too current with that, like the last two years have been kind to LittleBigPlanet because some of the big levels from the first game that you can now play in the second one as well are intense and awesome.

[649] And people have figured that stuff out.

[650] Yeah, yeah.

[651] And it's great.

[652] And the stuff that they've added in the second game...

[653] You know, with like the controlinator, which kind of lets you build levels where you're controlling other objects.

[654] So that's what people are using to make racing games and shooters and all this other stuff.

[655] And you don't really see as much of the kind of behind the scenes.

[656] It's not coming apart at the seams all the time when people do that.

[657] Like it feels like it was built to handle that sort of thing.

[658] And that's great.

[659] You know, people are making like cool basketball games and, you know, fighting weird little fighting demos where you can throw fireballs and just.

[660] crazy business and and just sifting through that is uh is a real joy like it's so much fun to to just kind of sit down and say i'm just going to check out some levels i'm going to try and find some stuff and they're really good at uh providing you with a lot of great tools to filter the levels to kind of find what you're looking for and uh on top of that they have a website that is like second to none in terms of like console games that have websites like some kind of website integration lbp .me yeah lbp .me is is amazing and it's it's basically the same type deal like you can go through and see like an activity wall for each level uh and when you're logged into your psn account on the site there's just a fat add to queue button and you just push that you know you'd be anywhere you know you just push that it gets added to your queue of user made levels that you want to check out and when you fire up the game It says, hey, you have nine levels in your queue.

[661] Do you just want to go there right now?

[662] That is great.

[663] Yeah, that's awesome.

[664] So you're able to kind of sift through that stuff.

[665] And on the website, you can kind of see how many people have played it and what they're commenting on it.

[666] And you can go write reviews of levels in the game.

[667] And all that stuff carries over.

[668] And it's amazingly well done.

[669] It's great that they added all this other stuff to let you make all these different types of levels.

[670] And that'll keep them going for at least another two years.

[671] Yeah, if people got that far with LittleBigPlanet 1 tools, imagine where's this going to be in two years?

[672] Yeah, exactly.

[673] But it's the website that I think that really is the thing that more games need to look at.

[674] Definitely, it's not the only game to ever try to integrate website stuff.

[675] I think Bungie does really good with Halo stat tracking.

[676] But this is...

[677] It's above and beyond.

[678] Truly some next level business on the part of Media Molecule.

[679] Any way to filter by which game the level was made for?

[680] Yes.

[681] You just want to see the new stuff.

[682] Yes, absolutely.

[683] Which, yeah.

[684] We recorded a bunch of stuff with two.

[685] Yeah.

[686] That showed levels from one.

[687] Unaware.

[688] But, you know, those levels look awesome, too.

[689] So, yeah, you can definitely filter that stuff, and there's kind of an easy way to tell just by looking at a level where it came from.

[690] Because they've condensed so much of that stuff, like the logic that you could put together.

[691] Yeah.

[692] And the first game had to exist in physical space.

[693] Yeah, I was like, you know, you're creating these big ridiculous breadboards that you then had to hide behind your scenery and stuff like that.

[694] Now all that can go down to something that's like a logic chip -sized thing and hide it away.

[695] You tuck away that.

[696] You tuck away the music that you've made with their new synth tools and stuff, which are pretty cool.

[697] I think I might.

[698] That might be – if I do end up making and publishing a level, it would probably be a music level because I can do that real easy.

[699] The Tron level was pretty good.

[700] Yeah.

[701] That was a reasonable facsimile.

[702] Yeah, totally.

[703] Is there any keyboard or mouse support?

[704] So that stuff is coming.

[705] And it's kind of the deceiving thing about LittleBigPlanet 2 is it has the Move logo on the box.

[706] Prominently.

[707] Prominently.

[708] As prominently as any other game that has move support in it.

[709] But that's only technically correct, because through most of the game, you can't use it.

[710] It also comes with Sackboy's prehistoric moves, and you launch that from the menu, from the XMB, basically.

[711] You launch it from there, and that requires the move.

[712] So technically, there are things on that disc that have move support in it.

[713] Okay.

[714] But...

[715] Not necessarily...

[716] But not in the creator, which is kind of where you'd want it.

[717] It sounds like when they do add move support, when they do patch it in, you'll basically be able to create your own levels that are similar to the prehistoric moves levels where you kind of...

[718] setup logic that says like okay i want to use the move controller to move this object or be able to interact with this object here so i want it to interact and that'll be actually really amazing to to put uh kind of a dev uh environment for people to play with the move stuff yeah you know i'd really like to see what people would do with the move But I haven't seen that much moves though.

[719] And I wonder if it'll be able to, like if you'll have move only levels, like if you'll be able to set up like, okay, like almost like an Echo Chrome thing or something where Sackboy is just going to move.

[720] You don't want to die.

[721] So you need to navigate this level.

[722] You need to move the blocks around on this level with the move controller to keep them alive.

[723] And like puzzle levels like that, you could probably do.

[724] But with prehistoric moves, it's like it's strictly a co -op game.

[725] Like one person is running around, the other person is using the move wand.

[726] Yeah, so it's disappointing that stuff didn't launch with it considering the move is kind of the big thing and it would have been great to see that fully integrated.

[727] But they are working on patching it in.

[728] Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later.

[729] Sounds like there's plenty to keep in with.

[730] Yeah, it's not exactly – the game is not exactly lacking because of it.

[731] And with the way they built the creation tools, it really is focused about you moving Sackboy around anyway.

[732] So it's – It's almost like a paradigm shift, I think, if they were to build that around mouse and keyboard or something else.

[733] But at the same time, when it comes to building stuff, mouse and keyboard is what I know when it comes to making business.

[734] But, yeah, I don't know.

[735] I also have been playing Breach, which is this week's Xbox Live Arcade release.

[736] There's also a PC version out.

[737] What else have you been playing?

[738] Yeah, it's kind of...

[739] Five maps, multiplayer, first -person shooter.

[740] Quick look at that.

[741] Yeah, quick look at that up.

[742] Check that out.

[743] Up, up, up.

[744] Yeah, okay.

[745] Let's say up.

[746] Yeah, let's say up.

[747] All right.

[748] And it's lacking.

[749] I don't think that it's particularly...

[750] great game.

[751] It's pretty generic in spots, and it's just kind of missing some of the stuff that you would want from a first -person shooter.

[752] You've played it.

[753] I haven't.

[754] It didn't look flat -out bad.

[755] It looked basically competent, but basically competent is not enough to cut it in that genre.

[756] The cover system is a little crazy.

[757] It doesn't work great.

[758] Some of the HUD UI stuff could have been handled better.

[759] I don't think all the modes are great.

[760] You can escort convoys and stuff like that, and it's a neat idea.

[761] I don't know that I'm behind how it works.

[762] Because escort missions.

[763] Yeah, yeah.

[764] Everybody's favorite.

[765] Well, you know, there's that TF2 mode with the track and all that stuff.

[766] Wait, really?

[767] I don't even recognize that game anymore.

[768] Yeah, it's the one with the hats.

[769] I don't even know you anymore.

[770] Yeah, that's from the six days to Fallujah.

[771] Yeah, yeah.

[772] At least they're shipping a game.

[773] Like, I guess that's, you know...

[774] Only five more days now.

[775] Right.

[776] Yeah.

[777] They've got a big thermometer up on their wall, and they're just, like, filling it up.

[778] And it's kind of an unfair comparison, but it's kind of...

[779] I mean, you know, they're shipping this game basically a week before the Black Ops map pack comes out on 360.

[780] That's out February 1st.

[781] Wow.

[782] And that's also five maps.

[783] Granted, one of them's a zombie map, so I will never...

[784] I have no...

[785] I will never see that, though the trailer actually makes that map look kind of neat.

[786] Is that the first map pack they put out?

[787] Yeah.

[788] Okay.

[789] Yeah.

[790] And, you know, it's also $15.

[791] So you kind of weigh it out that way, and, you know, it's a rough comparison.

[792] Yeah.

[793] Because it's like, here's this, you know, small group of guys making this game, and rah, rah, that's cool, against the hugest juggernaut in the world.

[794] Yeah.

[795] But it's still, the games are similar enough that...

[796] If you're spending $15, you know, I haven't seen the Call of Duty maps.

[797] Maybe they're all terrible.

[798] Well, you also need to have Call of Duty.

[799] Right.

[800] As it happens, a lot of people have it.

[801] If you're into first -person shooters.

[802] I think the Venn diagram of people that will buy Breach and people that own Black Ops, probably pretty tight circle.

[803] I wonder if we'll get any insight into who makes those Black Ops maps.

[804] Oh, yeah.

[805] Like what?

[806] These two masks were made at Raven.

[807] Neversoft made that one.

[808] I don't know.

[809] I have no idea.

[810] Yeah, yeah.

[811] It's hard to say.

[812] Yeah, that is a good question.

[813] There was also some big LA Times story or something.

[814] Was it LA Times?

[815] I want to say it was the LA Times saying that Modern Warfare 3 is the game this year.

[816] Oh, yeah.

[817] And that it's not just Infinity War.

[818] It's like they're roping in Raven and Sledgehammer.

[819] Who we thought was making its own game.

[820] Yeah.

[821] Well, the story then goes on to say that it's pushing back that game because – Wow.

[822] Like basically more or less saying like Modern Warfare 3 is on fire and they had to call in these guys and push this other game back because of it.

[823] Which, you know, it's an unannounced game so we don't even really know what the story is.

[824] Yeah.

[825] And some people are taking that to look at like, oh, this game's going to be garbage.

[826] I don't think that's, even if that's true, I mean, all it is is reflecting the way modern games are developed.

[827] Like outsourcing and multiple team collaboration.

[828] This is how it's done.

[829] Movies go when you watch the credits on a movie now, and like 17 different effect shops have contributed to it.

[830] Yeah, exactly.

[831] That thought occurred to me pulling through Dead Space because every inch of that game is so detailed, it's mind -boggling.

[832] Like if you think about artists having to design and texture, like all that stuff.

[833] It had to be a huge number of man hours.

[834] And then I look at the credits, and it's like, there's a team in Shanghai.

[835] There was a team in Australia.

[836] I think there was somebody in Montreal.

[837] A lot of the QA was done in Argentina.

[838] Ubisoft has been really good about doing that, too.

[839] Maybe good is not the right word, but they have employed these tactics a lot in the development of their games, and they have put out some quality games using that.

[840] Distributed development seems to be the way.

[841] There are plenty of...

[842] Kind of middleware shops and just like, you know, guys that focus on specific stuff.

[843] You got like digital extremes and stuff doing multiplayer for various games.

[844] There are development houses out there that exist.

[845] Iron Galaxy out there.

[846] Yeah, like developers that do mercenary work.

[847] Yeah.

[848] Like they just come in and help on.

[849] Yeah.

[850] projects that are already in progress yeah whether that's by design or it is that situation of our game went so far sideways we need to hire some dudes to come in and make it okay because otherwise it's not going to ship so yeah there's all kinds of situations that call for that that uh that run the gamut it's not necessarily the case that that the game is is being developed poorly just because there are multiple teams working on it but then again the game hasn't been announced yet so who even knows right yeah what game I don't know.

[851] Yeah.

[852] Vinny, you were in New York.

[853] I was.

[854] How'd your vacation go?

[855] It was great.

[856] It was chilly, but it was fun.

[857] And, you know, did the kind of like Caravella family press tour.

[858] Was it slushy when you got there?

[859] It was still snowy.

[860] You and I missed a trip to New York.

[861] It's true.

[862] Directly prior to your trip to New York.

[863] I was on the heels of a missed trip.

[864] Yes.

[865] And, you know, there was snow on the ground.

[866] And it was cold.

[867] But it was, you know.

[868] It's what New York is in January, so there's no surprises there.

[869] Surprises that people would think to hold press events in New York in January.

[870] Yeah.

[871] They've been getting a lot of snow out there, and maybe people will think twice in 2012 before hosting a January New York event because they are keeping planes on the ground apparently.

[872] But during the middle of all that nonsense, there was a Nintendo 3DS event.

[873] Right.

[874] And that was fun.

[875] Yeah.

[876] Yeah.

[877] That's all I have to say.

[878] Okay.

[879] Great.

[880] Yeah.

[881] Awesome.

[882] You heard it here first.

[883] All right.

[884] So let's talk about the 3DS.

[885] I'm rolling up my sleeves.

[886] Yeah.

[887] You roll up your sleeves.

[888] I'm strapping in.

[889] They announced the price, the release date, like all kinds of stuff.

[890] They let you play the game.

[891] Yeah.

[892] So this was it.

[893] And they gave a name to their digital download service, the eShop.

[894] I knew it.

[895] It's a trap.

[896] Now, what did they – was Reggie there talking eShop?

[897] So Reggie gets on stage and it's – Reggie takes control of a stage when Reggie gets on stage, right?

[898] Yeah.

[899] He's like borderline huge presence and also a little intimidating.

[900] The man has presence and charisma.

[901] Yeah.

[902] And a stare that could knock down a – Brick wall.

[903] He also is really tall.

[904] He's really tall.

[905] He's a large individual.

[906] I've not gone back -to -back on him.

[907] I've met him before.

[908] I shook his hand.

[909] He's formidable.

[910] He's a large person.

[911] You'd have to get a running start to knock that guy over.

[912] Like 6 '3"? I'd say 6 '5".

[913] He's taller than me. He's taller than me and Koontz.

[914] Eight feet tall, shoots lasers out of his eyes.

[915] He probably weighs as much as three Sean Koontzies.

[916] I feel like the myth of Reggie is being born.

[917] And that's all muscle.

[918] Oh, of course.

[919] Yeah, the myth of Reggie is a little ridiculous.

[920] So he got on stage and he did his little sales pitch and announced the price, which was what, $249?

[921] $249, yeah.

[922] I don't know if the colors had been announced prior to this, but there's...

[923] Blue and black.

[924] Aqua blue and Cosmo black.

[925] Now the aqua blue, is it fully that color or is it like too weird two -tone?

[926] It's three -tone.

[927] I think it's still got the black in it, right?

[928] Like the top of it is a dark blue.

[929] I think the inside of the top is black.

[930] Yeah.

[931] The face with the buttons I think is a light blue.

[932] None of that makes any sense to me at all.

[933] Yeah, it's a little like Frankenstein.

[934] And the bottom is another.

[935] There's another dark blue.

[936] It's like three separate colors.

[937] Neapolitan.

[938] Well, especially with the different size screen.

[939] It almost is like, is this the demo hardware?

[940] Yeah, it looks kind of scattershot.

[941] It's just all thrown together.

[942] I would get the black one just for consistency.

[943] Yeah, who wouldn't?

[944] I would get the blue one for the same reason I got the blue DSi because it looks ridiculous.

[945] It's as ugly as sin.

[946] We were in Houston when we bought those.

[947] Oh, DSIs.

[948] Day one in Houston.

[949] My poor DSI.

[950] Yeah.

[951] What were you doing in Houston?

[952] We were at WrestleMania.

[953] There was a lot of DSIs at WrestleMania.

[954] Yeah, we bought it at the gigantic mall that the hotel was attached to.

[955] And there was a Chick -fil -A there, right?

[956] Yeah.

[957] And a skating rink.

[958] Yeah, there was a skating rink and a Chick -fil -A.

[959] Tell me more about Chick -fil -A.

[960] It was good.

[961] It was my first Chick -fil -A.

[962] Ever?

[963] Yeah.

[964] There was also a place that had the Texas Toast Sandwiches.

[965] There was the other place.

[966] Oh, yeah.

[967] There was a Sonic there.

[968] Yeah, that's right.

[969] We went to the Sonic.

[970] That's what it was.

[971] And then we went and saw, what was it, Fast and Furious?

[972] Yeah, we went and saw Fast and Furious.

[973] And as we were walking away from the theater, a man called us homosexuals.

[974] That's right.

[975] Yelling out of the window of his car.

[976] And it was like, pick up, yep.

[977] And then we witnessed a car accident.

[978] It was a fantastic trip.

[979] Sounds like an amazing trip.

[980] People were fleeing the scene, yeah.

[981] Yeah, people fled the scene of a car accident.

[982] And we thought they were going to get beat to death.

[983] And then got chased down.

[984] They got chased down.

[985] They got chased down.

[986] Maybe by that same guy who called us out in parking.

[987] Maybe.

[988] Just doing rounds.

[989] Like, we're just two guys walking up the street at one in the morning.

[990] Like, what?

[991] Anyway.

[992] It's not like I'm walking out of bushes with no shirt on or something like that.

[993] Like, what the fuck?

[994] Fuck that guy.

[995] We were walking through the parking lot after – I don't know.

[996] Anyway, this trip did not live up to all that.

[997] Instead, it had a lot of 3DS.

[998] So, Reggie, I have some notes here.

[999] So, Reggie just went down all these and – These are pretty much the bullet points of what is included on the 3DS.

[1000] And this is probably old news by this point.

[1001] And as I'm sitting there, I'm literally just thinking because there's no embargo on this event.

[1002] Just like as I'm sitting here, I am learning this as you guys are probably learning this as well instantaneously.

[1003] Just the state of things.

[1004] So we got the telescoping stylus.

[1005] It's cool.

[1006] Well, you mean the retractable stylus.

[1007] Yeah.

[1008] Okay.

[1009] Which, you know, it's cool.

[1010] It's aluminum or whatever metal it is, and that's kind of nice.

[1011] That's just like the one you bought for the regular DS or aftermarket stylus.

[1012] I think it's metal.

[1013] Maybe it's plastic.

[1014] I had a gray market retractable stylus in my DSi for about a year.

[1015] It's nice.

[1016] That's cool.

[1017] Yeah, it comes in handy.

[1018] You know what?

[1019] I...

[1020] No. I don't want to think that...

[1021] No, it couldn't be.

[1022] What?

[1023] When I went to see...

[1024] I went to see Zelda Spirit Tracks.

[1025] And you brought your own stylus?

[1026] In Redwood City.

[1027] And I whipped that thing out.

[1028] And Bill Trendon was there and said, wow, he seemed mighty impressed.

[1029] By your stylus.

[1030] Stylus.

[1031] Maybe he was just holding back like the, oh, God, we're making one of those and trying to like, where'd you get that?

[1032] Or just like, do you like that?

[1033] You didn't like steal that out of.

[1034] It's funny.

[1035] Who do you know?

[1036] It's funny because the one in the shots they put out looks exactly like the one that I bought.

[1037] Oh, exactly.

[1038] Oh, yeah.

[1039] It's like that metal.

[1040] Yes.

[1041] Totally.

[1042] I touched it, and it is very similar.

[1043] Not that I've touched your stylus, but I've touched your stylus.

[1044] You were coming out of a bush with no shirt on.

[1045] This guy drove by.

[1046] The 10 % larger screen, which is aesthetically maybe a little weird.

[1047] 10 % larger than what?

[1048] The DSi XL?

[1049] I'm not 100 % sure.

[1050] The bottom 3DS screen?

[1051] What are they comparing that to?

[1052] It's hard to tell without my actual DS in front of me what's going on with the size of the screen.

[1053] But it is definitely larger than the touchscreen that's on the bottom half of the DS.

[1054] Which, you know, looks kind of weird, but...

[1055] With two different sized screens.

[1056] Yeah, but once you're playing a game, you don't really notice.

[1057] So the backwards compatibility with the DSi and the DS stuff, that's great.

[1058] It comes with a two gig card.

[1059] Now the DSiware stuff is supposed to port over somehow, right?

[1060] That's what I heard.

[1061] I don't remember them mentioning that specifically.

[1062] They said in the past there was something they were looking into.

[1063] Definitely.

[1064] And Brad, when you had an interview with somebody.

[1065] Cammy.

[1066] It was with Cammy.

[1067] She said they were looking to it.

[1068] And look what happened to her.

[1069] There's a conspiracy inside Nintendo.

[1070] Retracted her stylus.

[1071] Oh, dude.

[1072] What?

[1073] Are you saying she was walking out of a bush with a shirt on?

[1074] Two gigabyte card comes stock.

[1075] The biggest things probably going down this list.

[1076] So the analog stick.

[1077] Great.

[1078] It's a fine thing to add to any...

[1079] Analog disc.

[1080] Yeah, very much like the PSP, but I think better.

[1081] Yeah, like the...

[1082] It's not as sloppy as the PSP.

[1083] The one on the PSP I found very hard to...

[1084] I couldn't get a smooth gradient across it.

[1085] It's at the neutral position and you push it a little bit and all of a sudden it's all the way to the side.

[1086] This one's better.

[1087] Maybe it's a little more tension or something in it, but I liked it.

[1088] The motion sensing stuff and the accelerometer and the gyroscope.

[1089] Cool.

[1090] Thumbs up on that.

[1091] The charging dock.

[1092] It's kind of cool that it comes with a charging dock.

[1093] It's cool.

[1094] It is, but I wonder if...

[1095] I assume that plugs into the wall, did they say?

[1096] I mean, I have to assume.

[1097] Does that mean that USB doesn't provide enough voltage to charge that thing properly or something?

[1098] No, probably not.

[1099] Do you think they'll still put out USB cables for it and stuff?

[1100] I don't know if they'll put it out.

[1101] Well, whatever.

[1102] You have to be able to copy stuff onto that USB stick.

[1103] I mean, for charging.

[1104] They probably won't let you copy stuff onto the stick from that unit, will they?

[1105] No, I'm talking about charging off a USB port.

[1106] Just a little trickle charge.

[1107] Just charging.

[1108] I don't know.

[1109] Get your five volts on.

[1110] It seems weird to put a cradle in there.

[1111] Well, they never put out an official USB charge for the DS either.

[1112] So that's really not their concern.

[1113] But I wouldn't be surprised if someone put that together.

[1114] I can't imagine it's a technical challenge.

[1115] There you go, Doc.

[1116] That's fun, right?

[1117] That little thing in the box.

[1118] Yeah.

[1119] So 3DS has a home button on it.

[1120] Yeah.

[1121] Which on the DSi, you kind of hold down the power or you hit the power button.

[1122] You can tap the power button.

[1123] Yeah.

[1124] But it exits the game.

[1125] Right.

[1126] 3DS, you can hit the home button and actually kind of get to some of that system level stuff.

[1127] In -game XMB.

[1128] Yeah.

[1129] So you can take notes or do whatever you want.

[1130] Write down your passwords, whatever you need to do.

[1131] Justin Bailey.

[1132] Done.

[1133] So they talked about SpotPass.

[1134] which was a little confusing when they were going through it because there's Spot Pass and what's the other thing called?

[1135] Street Pass.

[1136] Street Pass.

[1137] Street Pass is when you're on the streets.

[1138] Spot Pass is when you're chilling at the spot.

[1139] That's right.

[1140] Done.

[1141] Go on.

[1142] Spot Pass is like some kind of Wi -Fi hotspot kind of stuff.

[1143] Specifically built to get demos.

[1144] Sounds like it.

[1145] Specifically when you're at McDonald's.

[1146] I guess.

[1147] Best Buy, wherever they're going to have.

[1148] their things and the street pass is this kind of uh always on uh tag mode yeah exactly they did on the yeah they did that on the ds but you always had to have the game launched and the lid closed right so now uh nintendogs and like the oh you mean bark mode right bark mode so now So now you can be out of the game, and let's just say, for example, you own Street Fighter for the 3DS, and I own Street Fighter 4 for the 3DS.

[1149] And there's this little minigame thing that can go on in the background while our DSs are turned on, but the games exit out of the game or whatever.

[1150] We pass by each other, and this little minigame takes place in which our collectible figurines will fight.

[1151] Yeah, it's like when you go back and open it up, it's like, hey, you fought a guy.

[1152] You fought some dudes.

[1153] That seems like something where you'd have multiple games installed to the street pass at a time.

[1154] I guess that's how it works.

[1155] I don't think you need the cart in there.

[1156] Yeah.

[1157] But I'm not 100 % sure.

[1158] That's actually a really good question I should have asked that.

[1159] Yeah.

[1160] If multiple games use that, you'd think that the first time you put in a game, it registers to go like, okay, now you're ready for Street Pass for this game too.

[1161] Right.

[1162] And I wonder if there's like a limit.

[1163] Or I wonder if you have to put the cart back in.

[1164] Or I wonder if you have to put it back in to access that stuff.

[1165] Like I wonder if it happens in the background and then the next time you put in Street Fighter 4 for the 3DS.

[1166] The elegant way I would think to do it is that you would have.

[1167] have some menu thing that said hey you passed by guys for this game this game this game launched these games to figure out what it did right and i wonder if that's how it works uh but i also wouldn't be surprised if it was just like whatever game you have in the slot also that would be i just don't see myself Also, yeah.

[1168] Also, we don't ride trains.

[1169] I mean, I ride trains, but like...

[1170] But not...

[1171] I don't know, man. I don't know, dude.

[1172] This ain't Japan.

[1173] Yeah.

[1174] Point blank.

[1175] That girl on the bus has been playing Picross 3D every morning.

[1176] That's a great game.

[1177] I played that a lot on the plane.

[1178] We were standing right in front of her this morning.

[1179] She was playing that game.

[1180] Tell me about the girl that plays Picross 3D.

[1181] She has a black TSI.

[1182] Yeah.

[1183] So you want to, you know...

[1184] I'm saying there are some people...

[1185] Street passer.

[1186] Even in this country, I wouldn't complain.

[1187] There are some people in this country who play DSs in public.

[1188] Oh, for sure.

[1189] It could come in handy, maybe.

[1190] I mean, there's some other stuff that the StreetPass stuff will do that is system -level stuff for people walking by.

[1191] I'm sure this will come out in more detail, but I actually think if you have it enabled, you can like...

[1192] Get people's profiles, like that girl on the bus, to be able to see what she's playing.

[1193] What she's wearing, where she lives.

[1194] That's right.

[1195] Her phone number and all that stuff.

[1196] That's called the I'm out in front of your house pass.

[1197] It's going to keep showing up on my street pass just constantly.

[1198] I'm hiding in the bushes pass.

[1199] You want to play some Picross 3D 3D with me?

[1200] You're just in the bathtub and Street Fighter 4 fights just keep happening.

[1201] Anyway, yeah, stalker alert.

[1202] Coming out of your closet with no shirt on.

[1203] That's right.

[1204] We just street passed that guy who called us out.

[1205] Yeah, exactly.

[1206] Same thing with the spot pass, which is like, I don't know.

[1207] Go get some latent puzzles at the McDonald's.

[1208] I'm not really sure.

[1209] This seems like stuff that you could do with a regular Wi -Fi connection.

[1210] Like that was the whole thing with the McDonald's thing is that it was just an easy access Wi -Fi for people that were not on it already or actually ran real security on their routers and couldn't access it because that stupid thing doesn't work.

[1211] You could see a situation where they use SpotPass to distribute demos.

[1212] Yeah.

[1213] And with the StreetPass SpotPass stuff, I'm sure more will get fleshed out once you get some units in here.

[1214] Yeah, I mean it's just like when they first announced DSiWare, like it seemed really Spartan and they didn't really say a lot about it.

[1215] But now that it's been available for a while, we understand the full scope.

[1216] And hopefully they're becoming a little more comfortable as they have unified that friend code stuff on a system level instead of a game level, slowly becoming a little more comfortable with kids being on the internet.

[1217] Half step closer.

[1218] Yeah.

[1219] Great.

[1220] So that was news too.

[1221] And then there's some more like the hardware stuff, which is, you know, we all know it's got the 3D camera, two 3D cameras on the back and the single camera on the front and the 3D slider.

[1222] So the depth slider.

[1223] So you played some of the games.

[1224] I did play some of the games.

[1225] Speaking of the 3D slider, Street Fighter and Dead or Alive.

[1226] Some fighting games.

[1227] Yeah.

[1228] When you set them to 2D, the frame rate doubles.

[1229] So I can't – I wouldn't say for sure on Dead or Alive, but – From the man's mouth, who is at the station for Street Fighter IV.

[1230] Again, I'm not sure if he was Capcom or not.

[1231] There are a lot of Nintendo likes to do, just populate with Nintendo people.

[1232] Yes, he said that it's 60 in 2D and 30 in 3D.

[1233] You said when you moved that down to 2D.

[1234] There's like a little blip.

[1235] It's like changing the rendering mode.

[1236] Yeah, it's not like there's some mechanical thing that is suddenly shortening whatever's going on.

[1237] Yeah, it's going like, oh, cool.

[1238] We're good.

[1239] Yeah, you're like, bloop.

[1240] It's like a frame, but you do notice it.

[1241] You don't notice it as you're going up and down until you click into TV mode.

[1242] So I guess, yeah, the 3D.

[1243] Probably the least important thing about that system.

[1244] And I don't mean that – But it's right there in the name.

[1245] I don't mean – because the system is – it's a great upgrade from the DSi.

[1246] It's got the analog stick.

[1247] It's more powerful.

[1248] It's got all the tilt stuff.

[1249] It's got – yeah.

[1250] And the UI stuff and the system level stuff is pretty cool.

[1251] So like it's a great new handle.

[1252] The 3D stuff – Also, it sounds like that they're – with the digital downloads, they're going to start – charging real money instead of points.

[1253] So they're upgrading that too.

[1254] The eShop should be pretty cool.

[1255] What about the eShop?

[1256] It should be pretty awesome.

[1257] Yeah, and they'll support the Game Boy stuff and the Game Boy Color stuff, right?

[1258] Yeah.

[1259] Both the platforms I would have chosen.

[1260] The eShop.

[1261] I just hope they really do a fine job in letting you navigate that shop.

[1262] not like show two games at a time and sort it by alphabetical.

[1263] We've solved that problem.

[1264] I solve it for them.

[1265] Just how?

[1266] I know a guy.

[1267] So, yeah, the eShop.

[1268] The eShop.

[1269] This ain't that podcast.

[1270] All right.

[1271] Fine.

[1272] I'm hoping it's good.

[1273] Real money is a good one.

[1274] Also, if I don't have to put my credit card in every time, that would be kind of cool.

[1275] I don't know.

[1276] Bet you you do.

[1277] I bet you you do too.

[1278] Let's talk 3D though.

[1279] Yeah.

[1280] It works, man. It is glasses -free 3D.

[1281] The screen looks great.

[1282] The 3D, it's got that thing where it's not popping out at you.

[1283] It's actually receding into space.

[1284] And it totally works.

[1285] You're looking at stuff in 3D.

[1286] No question that this is in 3D.

[1287] As the name says, as advertised.

[1288] It's not a false promise.

[1289] You're not lying.

[1290] Yeah, it's not a big trick or a hoax or anything like that.

[1291] It totally works.

[1292] Is there 3D in the menus?

[1293] You know, I didn't necessarily see too much, but I'm not going to rule it out.

[1294] I would hope so.

[1295] Yeah, just a little something -something.

[1296] So here's the thing about the 3D and why I say it's probably the least important thing to the system is because it doesn't really – affect the gameplay on anything.

[1297] It's a visual thing.

[1298] It's an aesthetic thing.

[1299] We're not talking the difference between Super Mario 64 where suddenly there's a whole new axis or something.

[1300] Wow, they have to introduce Z -targeting because this is going to change the game.

[1301] It's literally like they added more colors or something to it.

[1302] It's an aesthetic thing.

[1303] It's not like you're tilting the thing and seeing behind some other object or anything like that.

[1304] But that could happen.

[1305] That happened on DSI.

[1306] They would have to use head tracking with the camera for that to work.

[1307] Or the gyroscope accelerometer.

[1308] And I don't know if that necessarily means it.

[1309] But you're talking about something different.

[1310] That's not 3D receding into space stuff.

[1311] That's literally like...

[1312] like the motion tracking and navigating in, we need better terms, but in the 3D space.

[1313] That's moving your point of view within the 3D environment.

[1314] Right.

[1315] But a 3D, an optical 3D effect would enhance that.

[1316] So that's the thing.

[1317] So it enhances some of that stuff, but it doesn't change the gameplay.

[1318] That slider is so necessary because a lot of the games, the 3D is actually too much.

[1319] I played Ridge Racer in 3D, and going fast or something about it, I had to turn it down a lot because it was hurting my eyes.

[1320] Like you were saying before it started, you just lose it.

[1321] You lose track of the screen.

[1322] Right, yeah.

[1323] And that's the sort of situation I ran into when I was messing around with it back at E3.

[1324] And those weren't even really.

[1325] games that i was messing with it was like right after the the press conference they like okay you guys come back here and check this out i was like okay here's like a lightly interactive solid snake you know snake eater demo thing yeah i messed with that thing too um And yeah, like I just – I could never – I never felt like I was the right distance away from the screen and I was messing with the slider.

[1326] Like I kept fiddling with it and it never ever felt quite right.

[1327] It makes your eyes go a little goofy.

[1328] Like sometimes there would be points where I'm like, oh my god, I hit it and then I lose it.

[1329] And then like a minute later.

[1330] Yeah, exactly.

[1331] Yeah, it's like a magic eye picture.

[1332] Yeah, and so it made me – The 3D stuff – a lot of times I would start in 3D to check it out and then I'd slide it all the way down to 2D and just play the game.

[1333] And I don't know.

[1334] It made me feel – like when I was thinking about it in my head, like am I just like a cranky old man?

[1335] Like is this what people were thinking when like 3D stuff came out?

[1336] Like, well, games don't need to be in 3D.

[1337] Polygonally 3D.

[1338] Are kids just going to get super used to this and just be like, this is the only way to play.

[1339] Anything that's not in 3D seems old.

[1340] That's the thing I wonder is if you were to retrain yourself.

[1341] If I were to sit there and bang my head against Super Stardust HD for six months.

[1342] Would I not have the issues I'm having now or is it something that's just like – Right.

[1343] And would you long for stuff in 3D?

[1344] It comes with the 3D experience.

[1345] Is that part and parcel with it?

[1346] So it's tough for me to – not having spent I'd say like even like weeks with it to kind of get used to it.

[1347] It was disorienting.

[1348] Like some of that 3D stuff was kind of disorienting.

[1349] And that is why I say it's probably the least important thing of that system is because you turn it off.

[1350] And it's still a great handheld.

[1351] It's still the Nintendo handheld that you want to have at this point.

[1352] With a lot more horsepower.

[1353] With more horsepower.

[1354] And I'm telling you, analog stick really does make a big difference.

[1355] So I played Kid Icarus.

[1356] And Kid Icarus was interesting because it uses, with your left hand, your...

[1357] You have your thumb on the analog stick, and I'm pretty sure you were firing.

[1358] Now, is this an eShop game, Kid Icarus, like a re -release?

[1359] No, this will come.

[1360] Because I did do some kind of sequel for Game Boy, I think.

[1361] Is it this one?

[1362] This isn't from the eShop.

[1363] So you're firing with the shoulder button, and you're using a stylus to aim.

[1364] So it's almost like you have a dual analog situation.

[1365] Right.

[1366] And that was.

[1367] Provided that you are comfortable holding a stylus with your right hand.

[1368] That's right.

[1369] That's right.

[1370] Yeah.

[1371] So.

[1372] Kid Icarus, the gameplay aside, it's a cool thing that we'll probably see in more games as we go forward where you're kind of like controlling and then aiming with just the touchpad.

[1373] And that was cool.

[1374] And Kid Icarus itself is, you know, it's okay.

[1375] Like a Panzer Dragoon kind of sinned punishment kind of thing.

[1376] Yeah, and then you're kind of landing and kind of fighting on the ground.

[1377] So it's Star Fox 2.

[1378] Well, no, it's more Panzer.

[1379] It didn't impress me as much as even some of the other stuff that they had on display.

[1380] They had pilot wings there, very pilot wings.

[1381] Woohoo Island, back.

[1382] The hang glider, rocket belt, and plane, and the analog stick, again, is great for that kind of fidelity of control that you want.

[1383] Steel Diver did the coolest thing with the motion controls for one of the games there.

[1384] which was there's...

[1385] Tilt controls, I guess.

[1386] Yeah, yeah.

[1387] Using the gyroscope or whatever.

[1388] So there's a mode where you're looking through a periscope and you're kind of holding the 3DS in front of you as if you're looking through a window or something like that.

[1389] And the top screen shows you the ocean as you're looking through the periscope.

[1390] And as you kind of rotate or pivot on...

[1391] in place like 360 degrees you're actually looking around as if you were looking through a periscope right so you're like looking for ships and stuff like that now that seems like a game you wouldn't be able to play sitting down no or you need to be in like a spinning chair or something like that so But the mapping of those controls to your body to a periscope feels very natural.

[1392] Right.

[1393] Because you assume that's how a periscope should work, right?

[1394] I mean, yeah.

[1395] You being a former submarine commander, I would think that you would.

[1396] Back in my day, that's how we did it.

[1397] So that actually worked really well.

[1398] Now, kind of the other end of the spectrum, there was Zelda was there.

[1399] Oh, man, I'm blanking out.

[1400] Ocarina.

[1401] Ocarina.

[1402] Yeah.

[1403] They have first person for like the slingshot and stuff like that.

[1404] And you can move the 3DS to look around your environment there.

[1405] Now your first inclination now, at least mine, is to tilt it to look around.

[1406] But you tilt that thing and you have now destroyed your viewing angle on the 3D.

[1407] So as soon as you start tilting it, there's a window that you want to be in for the 3D.

[1408] As we were talking about, we're like, I found it.

[1409] And then as soon as you tilt it.

[1410] You destroy your 3D.

[1411] So you actually have to, again, move completely.

[1412] Like locked in place, like you're manning a turret.

[1413] Yeah, I think your line of sight needs to be directly perpendicular to the screen.

[1414] As close to it as I think you can get.

[1415] And so you kind of have to move the whole 3DS around as if you're trying to hang a picture on the wall or something like that to kind of look around.

[1416] Now, you can just use the analog stick if you want.

[1417] But it's one of those things where, unlike a periscope, you kind of want to tilt it.

[1418] Right, yeah, yeah.

[1419] So that was a little weird.

[1420] I just, that, the stuff with the spinning, like, that just seems like a bad idea.

[1421] Like, how do people play portable games?

[1422] Like, sitting on a train, sitting on the toilet.

[1423] I don't know.

[1424] Laying in bed.

[1425] Yeah, laying in bed.

[1426] Airplane seat.

[1427] Yeah.

[1428] Airplane seat.

[1429] Like, none of the situations where you would be likely to play one of these games is going to accommodate you twisting your entire body around.

[1430] Yeah.

[1431] So it's weird that they would make that a...

[1432] Like, they're doing that, and then there's some of the augmented reality of the face.

[1433] The face shooting stuff.

[1434] Yeah.

[1435] That all seems interesting and all fine and good is a tech demo.

[1436] But when it comes time to actually play these games, no one's going to do that.

[1437] So Face Raiders, right.

[1438] Is that the actual full name for it?

[1439] Face Raiders?

[1440] I think Face Raiders, yeah.

[1441] What?

[1442] So you do have to, again, go 360 degrees around.

[1443] So this is using the cameras on the back of the 3DS to...

[1444] Look through a video comes through it, right?

[1445] So I'm seeing the background and I have previously taken a picture of one of your faces and is now mapping your face onto these kind of spheres that I have to shoot down.

[1446] And the way you shoot them down and aim is by moving the 3DS around and kind of aiming.

[1447] Again, it's like looking through a window and these augmented reality things are coming through it.

[1448] So you do have to physically move around.

[1449] And, yeah, it would be real tough because they're behind you, so you have to spin around and get them.

[1450] Yeah, it would be tough if you were laying in bed to try and raid somebody's face.

[1451] I mean, speak for yourself.

[1452] I do my best face raiding while laying in bed.

[1453] But it is a cool proof of concept because it works.

[1454] And that's the thing that is the most impressive about a lot of that stuff is.

[1455] Unlike some other things that have come out recently that have motion controls and stuff, I felt like it was never failing.

[1456] Like it was always doing what I needed – what it was intended to do.

[1457] It was like I'm moving it around.

[1458] It feels great.

[1459] Like the tracking seems right on and it's not – I'm not struggling against the controls.

[1460] It all feels very natural like what I'm supposed to be doing.

[1461] The other augmented reality thing is they had a – like basically like a little card that you put on the table.

[1462] Like six cards.

[1463] with the system.

[1464] Is that right?

[1465] Yeah.

[1466] So you put it on the table and you go into the augmented reality stuff I think from the system menu and you look at the card and all of a sudden like a giant dragon pops out of the card and you have to fight the dragon by kind of moving around.

[1467] In real space, the dragon.

[1468] And it was cool.

[1469] The dragon's oriented to the card, so it appears that it's standing on the table.

[1470] Yeah, yeah.

[1471] You get behind it.

[1472] Yeah, you've got to find the weak spots of it and kind of shoot it.

[1473] Now, when I was doing it, I was kind of trying to abuse it a little bit.

[1474] They want you to be a certain distance away, and they want the lightning to be right.

[1475] It'll lose track of the card, and the screen will actually fuzz out, kind of like static on the screen.

[1476] And then it'll blink back, and you're right.

[1477] back in so it's a they they know you're gonna lose track and stuff's gonna happen so how does that do you have to like launch i mean you probably didn't get a chance to see but you have to like launch in a certain mode or are you just in the camera of the no it's it's a i think it's in the system level stuff okay it's like ar games yeah exactly okay uh and then you put the card down and it's like all right well back up move a little forward back up and then it's like gotcha you're cool yeah um so this is just this could be like the new e -reader Yeah.

[1478] You know, theoretically, if code actually exists on those cards in some way, if the system level stuff is just programmed to recognize these six things and then six more, then that'd be a little less interesting.

[1479] But if they could, they do a thing where like, oh, you looked at this card long enough and now it pops up and now you're playing a weird 3D Super Mario game on your table.

[1480] I can't imagine they could transfer that much information visually.

[1481] Yeah, probably not.

[1482] It could be like a QR kind of thing where you've got an active internet connection.

[1483] It pulls the game down after you scan the card or something.

[1484] I don't know.

[1485] But then at that point, you just remove the card from the equation.

[1486] Right.

[1487] They have the game up for downloading.

[1488] Yeah, exactly.

[1489] Like digital downloads.

[1490] Totally.

[1491] They have a whole shop for them.

[1492] Oh, wow.

[1493] An electronic shop?

[1494] Yeah.

[1495] The card thing was cool.

[1496] It looked cool, and it was kind of fun to play.

[1497] You know, it lasted all of that.

[1498] I don't know if it was a demo or what, but that session lasted all that 45 seconds.

[1499] Right.

[1500] Until I killed the dragon.

[1501] There's a reason why six of them come with it.

[1502] It's like, hey, here's a weird thing for you to do.

[1503] That part was cool, though.

[1504] I want to know if you're in.

[1505] On the 3DS?

[1506] Yeah, at launch.

[1507] Get in or get out.

[1508] At launch.

[1509] I need to see more games.

[1510] I mean, there's a slew of games, but like.

[1511] You know, we're not talking.

[1512] They're even being weird about like this.

[1513] In the launch window.

[1514] The launch window is so ridiculous.

[1515] When is the end of the launch window?

[1516] E3.

[1517] What?

[1518] In June.

[1519] So this is coming out.

[1520] End of March.

[1521] And they're like, yeah, three months launch window.

[1522] Come on.

[1523] Come on.

[1524] Okay.

[1525] Yeah.

[1526] So Kid Icarus and Ocarina are both missing launch, correct?

[1527] Their launch window.

[1528] Their launch window.

[1529] They were being real cagey about when you ask them for dates, they would launch, you know, around the launch window.

[1530] You need to launch with those games.

[1531] Right.

[1532] Yeah, I mean, they're definitely not launching alongside it in Japan.

[1533] Man. The day one lineup in Japan is pretty slow.

[1534] I don't know.

[1535] Nintendo Dogs plus Cats might be enough over there.

[1536] Yeah.

[1537] Did you see that at all?

[1538] Yeah.

[1539] So here's the shit thing about that.

[1540] So they're talking in the press conference about Nintendo Dogs plus Cats.

[1541] And there's all this new stuff.

[1542] There are different models for each breed of dog this time.

[1543] Three different games, yeah.

[1544] there'll be facial recognition using the camera.

[1545] So like my dog will recognize me, but if you come on and want to play with the dog, it might not be as friendly towards you because it's supposed to recognize me. None of that was on display.

[1546] So like they just had one dog, one cat, and like you could pet it and like throw the ball around.

[1547] And it was like, oh, we're not showing any of the facial recognition stuff or any of the stuff that you would want to check out.

[1548] Well, yeah, any of the weird tech stuff.

[1549] Cycling that many people in and out.

[1550] Out from in front of that one unit, you know, I could see there being some technical challenges.

[1551] So it looked like Nintendogs.

[1552] It was like, you know, rub the dog's face.

[1553] Plus cats.

[1554] Yeah.

[1555] It was a cat.

[1556] There was certainly a cat.

[1557] Whoa.

[1558] Which, you know, if you had told me they were cats from the beginning, I would have believed, like, if that were the bullet point feature of the new game, what?

[1559] Didn't they put out a cats one with a Z on the end?

[1560] Is that somebody else?

[1561] That's not Nintendo.

[1562] That's not Nintendo.

[1563] It's different brands, different quality of product.

[1564] So there are...

[1565] I could count on one hand the games I'm excited about.

[1566] Pilotwings is cool.

[1567] I like Pilotwings.

[1568] Really?

[1569] Yeah, I do.

[1570] I have kind of a soft spot.

[1571] But again, the graphics look all right and there's not too much else going on with Pilotwings.

[1572] Street Fighter 4 seemed pretty playable.

[1573] Full roster seems in there.

[1574] Seemed like it had, if you want a portable version.

[1575] Of Street Fighter 4.

[1576] This seems like a really good version.

[1577] And that's got like proper online play.

[1578] Yep.

[1579] Which none of the other stuff actually does, right?

[1580] Didn't seem like it.

[1581] They're like, forget it, man. We'll connect to the internet.

[1582] We don't care.

[1583] We'll be those guys.

[1584] Street Fighter IV has some other weird things in it that you probably just never use.

[1585] Like the kind of like over the shoulder or more kind of like tilted mode, view mode.

[1586] And some like quick select stuff on the touchscreen for your supers and stuff.

[1587] But, you know, okay.

[1588] If you want like a portable version of Street Fighter IV.

[1589] There you go.

[1590] I don't know if I'd pick up Dead or Alive Dimensions.

[1591] I'm not really a big Dead or Alive guy.

[1592] Yeah, that game's got the whole move list on the touchscreen, right?

[1593] So it's just like, I'm going to do this combo.

[1594] Tap.

[1595] Yeah, and the guy was saying it revisits some of the Dead or Alive fiction from other points of view.

[1596] Awesome!

[1597] I myself am not that invested in the Dead or Alive fiction.

[1598] Well, Kasumi's a clone and she's...

[1599] Right.

[1600] Wait, really?

[1601] Yeah, there's...

[1602] Whoa.

[1603] Yeah.

[1604] How does the Lady Minister Chief fit into it?

[1605] Not at all.

[1606] But Samus is in it.

[1607] Not playable.

[1608] She runs the corporation.

[1609] But there is a Metroid -themed background, and there will be some move you can do that they're not revealing that we'll have Samus roll out in ball form or some weird thing like that.

[1610] Or it's all lie.

[1611] I don't know.

[1612] I saw these screenshots, and people have been kind of bringing it up as if it was fact.

[1613] So I assume it's on, but I don't.

[1614] It seemed like the easiest thing to do would have been just to put Samus in it and have it play exactly like the Spartan from TOA 4.

[1615] Because they're both just armored dudes.

[1616] Both ladies in robot suits.

[1617] Yeah, they're both armored ladies.

[1618] Nicole.

[1619] That was the name of the Spartan.

[1620] Yeah.

[1621] There you go.

[1622] Really?

[1623] Was that really the Spartan?

[1624] I didn't know that.

[1625] The other thing, they have your Miis.

[1626] Come on the 3DS.

[1627] Do they transfer over?

[1628] Yes.

[1629] Okay.

[1630] And they have a Mii Maker, which uses a camera to take a picture of your face, and then it'll try and make a Mii out of you, which is kind of interesting.

[1631] That sounds okay.

[1632] Yeah.

[1633] Did you try that?

[1634] That's right.

[1635] I did.

[1636] I'm actually really bad at making avatars myself.

[1637] Yeah, I'm not so good.

[1638] I don't really know what I look like.

[1639] Same here.

[1640] You know, Mii's are very...

[1641] Yeah.

[1642] There's not too much going on.

[1643] Yeah, all these avatars, like the Xbox avatar, all that stuff is kind of like, yeah.

[1644] But if you sit me down at any kind of character creator and say, make yourself, at some point I'm like, I don't know how.

[1645] Well, so you can take a picture and it'll try and make a me out of you.

[1646] And then you can go in and change stuff if you want.

[1647] Skinnier.

[1648] Well, it's just your face.

[1649] So that was fun.

[1650] The 8 -4 podcast said that thing was quite accurate.

[1651] The Meme Maker?

[1652] They tried it.

[1653] I saw it demoed a lot and stuff.

[1654] Right, but there's like seven noses.

[1655] So it's like, you know.

[1656] Yeah.

[1657] Man, are there only seven?

[1658] I don't know.

[1659] Maybe there's more, but like.

[1660] It looks like a Mii.

[1661] Well -made Mii is disturbingly accurate.

[1662] And, you know, it's really great because, you know, think of all the great things they've done with Mii over the years.

[1663] Like, why wouldn't you want to bring this amazing system to another platform?

[1664] The best -looking Mii in the parade.

[1665] Yeah.

[1666] Put on my Darth Vader mask and then...

[1667] I mean, they're certainly...

[1668] I guess the best Wii games actually do use the Mii's, but you're not, like, stoked on them because of the Mii's.

[1669] Sure.

[1670] I always liked Ryan's Mii.

[1671] I don't know.

[1672] It's terrifying.

[1673] Yeah.

[1674] Those dark circles under the eyes.

[1675] It looks like a fucking serial killer.

[1676] Well, again, so accurate.

[1677] And so there are a handful of things, like I said, like Street Fighter IV.

[1678] Steel Diver seemed kind of interesting.

[1679] The other mode is like you're using – it's a 2D kind of side scroller where you're using – Like a depth slider and a throttle slider to navigate in 2D obstacles and stuff.

[1680] That game seemed all right.

[1681] And there's just a bunch of stuff.

[1682] Clone Wars.

[1683] It was a Battle of the Giants.

[1684] Battle of Dinosaur.

[1685] Combat of Giants.

[1686] Dinosaur combat.

[1687] Asphalt 3D.

[1688] That's a phone game?

[1689] Yeah.

[1690] Is that going to be on carts or is that an eShop exclusive?

[1691] I think it was on a cart.

[1692] We're not talking about that yet.

[1693] And Ridge Racer.

[1694] Hey, I love Ridge Racer.

[1695] You like Ridge Racer?

[1696] There's Easy Drift now in this.

[1697] Tap the drift icon.

[1698] I hate to break it to you, but it's already Easy Drift.

[1699] Yeah, so Resident Evil The Mercenaries.

[1700] Right.

[1701] Which I didn't.

[1702] Play that?

[1703] Yes.

[1704] Now, is that a minigame in RE5 that they're breaking out into a full product?

[1705] Is that what this is?

[1706] It's been in 4 and 5.

[1707] It started in 4.

[1708] Okay.

[1709] It was fucking awesome in 4.

[1710] It was okay in 5.

[1711] I mean, you might like it, but I didn't like the controls on it.

[1712] Is it just that?

[1713] That's my question.

[1714] Also, they wouldn't let me invert the aim.

[1715] Somebody has, Nintendo has taste.

[1716] Yeah.

[1717] It's just grayed out.

[1718] Like, no, that would break everything.

[1719] Breaks the 3D.

[1720] I mean, it totally works, but we just consider it to be broken.

[1721] Well, so, I mean, Mercenaries in those games is just kind of a one -off action challenge mode with, like, a high score basis.

[1722] Like, is this just that, or are they building an actual, like, scenario?

[1723] Is there, like, a Resident Evil campaign?

[1724] No, it seemed like what I played of it was, like, RE5 and RE4 Mercenaries just kind of, like, racking up points.

[1725] So there's no, like, story mode in there that you know of?

[1726] I don't think so.

[1727] The hands -on stuff was kind of weird because it didn't break down into sessions really.

[1728] It was just kind of grab a DS and grab a dude if you can and kind of walk around all these stations.

[1729] Looking at the continuing exploits of Ricky Copley on S. Kennedy.

[1730] So, yeah, I don't know.

[1731] Am I buying one at launch?

[1732] Probably not.

[1733] Yeah, I think I'm out.

[1734] Am I going to get one eventually?

[1735] In the Nintendo product cycle, yeah, it may all get Revision 3 or something like that.

[1736] Everyone will end up with a 3DS or something like that.

[1737] Yeah.

[1738] The interesting stuff, if they follow through on it, is I think using the camera stuff and the motion tilt controls and all that stuff, having it in the hardware.

[1739] will enable developers of games for the 3DS to hopefully exploit that stuff.

[1740] And we saw on, like, the DSi not too much camera stuff, right?

[1741] Right.

[1742] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1743] But we saw on the DS the good games were ones that used the touchscreen well.

[1744] And so it's weird what people lock on to in technology.

[1745] And I assume the DS...

[1746] i stuff didn't really catch on with the camera because it segmented the user base no developer used it because they couldn't count on the majority of people have it right so well you had like the downloadable developers were able to do that because you know that only happened on the dsi theoretically but yeah everything is garbage in there right i mean let's just yeah you know there's a couple of good nobody put the effort forth yeah sadly uh but so i'm really hoping and it really i mean this from the bottom of my heart that developers Break out on the system and use all this stuff.

[1747] I can think of one developer who will do that.

[1748] Nintendo.

[1749] I really hope so.

[1750] Isn't that the story of every Nintendo platform ever?

[1751] It's chock full of all this stuff that you've never seen before, and you're like, what the hell are they going to do with that?

[1752] And then only they really properly exploit it.

[1753] So my big worry, and again, I love the analog stick, but my big worry is more horsepower in an analog stick means they're probably going to try and get more ports of games that are on bigger brother consoles.

[1754] That is the terrifying future of that thing.

[1755] It gets closer to PSP.

[1756] They're going to do it because you slap your name on the game and try and sell you a port of it.

[1757] Please, for the love of God, don't make...

[1758] a bunch of third -person shooters for this thing.

[1759] Yeah, don't.

[1760] There's already at least one in the launch lineup.

[1761] There are cool things to be done with what Nintendo has put in that handheld.

[1762] And if you exploit that and use that well, don't just let Nintendo do it.

[1763] You can make really good games for that system.

[1764] And they will make a game for that system that makes me buy one at some point.

[1765] That's kind of how I feel about Street Fighter and DOA.

[1766] I think it's great.

[1767] And all the reports from people that have played Street Fighter say, dude, it's amazing.

[1768] It's totally Street Fighter.

[1769] But I totally have that game and a fight stick and multiple fight sticks and the lure of 3D and figurine fights.

[1770] It almost seems like a tech demo.

[1771] It's like, dude, it's great that it can do this.

[1772] That's awesome.

[1773] But that's not what I want to do with a handheld platform.

[1774] On an airplane, that's not what you want to play necessarily.

[1775] It's not going to – if I can't do my dash cancel, my Fierce or whatever, my FADCs, whatever I need to do on my arcade stick, I don't know.

[1776] I'm not going to be able to do it on – I assume on the 3DS.

[1777] Just tap the screen.

[1778] Just tap the screen, right?

[1779] I don't know.

[1780] I mean it's early days for this thing.

[1781] Yeah.

[1782] Developers, like this is the story of every hardware launch in the last decade.

[1783] Totally.

[1784] The first wave of stuff is like a bunch of tech demos and like half games that got padded out and thrown together for the launch.

[1785] Right, stuff that was in development for the DS and then kind of moved on to the DS.

[1786] Yeah, like hardware launches are so accelerated now.

[1787] That's all anybody has the time and expertise to do.

[1788] Yeah, I'm kind of surprised.

[1789] It seems like reactions have been pretty tepid after the price and stuff got out there.

[1790] For me, I think it was because I was expecting $279 and kind of looking at Japanese prices.

[1791] I just figured they're just going to go for it.

[1792] It's like, whatever.

[1793] This thing is expensive to make.

[1794] We'll sell this for eight months and then cut the price to $250.

[1795] So maybe it's because I was expecting a higher price.

[1796] But when they announced $249, I'm like, oh, all right.

[1797] That's the price that I would pay for a thing.

[1798] Well, it was weird.

[1799] But other people were like, this is ridiculous.

[1800] And a lot of it is centered around the software prices.

[1801] Yeah, because we're looking at, what, $40 to $50?

[1802] Yeah.

[1803] For that stuff?

[1804] And that's a lot of money.

[1805] That is a lot of money.

[1806] For some of this stuff.

[1807] You almost wonder, like, maybe the eShop will be better by, like, it'll have to be.

[1808] They need a goddamn Nintendo seal of approval on that eShop.

[1809] They need to vet.

[1810] Seriously.

[1811] Or make two shops.

[1812] Make an exclusive shop and make the shit shop.

[1813] Make it like the Windows Phone 7 stuff where you have the games that have achievements.

[1814] Those all pass through Microsoft.

[1815] I'm not to say that they're good because they're not.

[1816] But there's at least some kind of quality control there.

[1817] There's some kind of deals being signed.

[1818] And then you have the rest of it, which is just free -for -all iPhone app land of just like, as long as it doesn't fucking break our phone, you can put it out and charge whatever.

[1819] We'll take a cut.

[1820] It's not going to have achievements.

[1821] but hey whatever yeah like if they're because it man if they dsi wear up that shop fuck it well there's a built -in notebook on the 3ds right well so they're gonna have to come up how many pages how many pages can it hold i don't know all right there's competition in that market though yeah yeah they they either need to vet more of that stuff or tier that shopping experience to be like do you want to shop at banana republic the gap or old navy Take me to the dollar store.

[1822] All right.

[1823] Here we go.

[1824] What do you want?

[1825] I want this flashlight.

[1826] A 3D flashlight.

[1827] It's great.

[1828] It's coming out of the screen.

[1829] I literally – so you know what?

[1830] I appreciate that you, for all that time, are reading those descriptions of those DSiWare games because when I had to get stuff to go on that plane, shopping in that DSiWare store is the most miserable consumer experience.

[1831] across the board of consumer experiences it like literally shows you like two games or maybe four i don't even remember but i couldn't get past c and i felt so bad that stuff because you get to you get the places where it's like electroplankton or some fucking shit like that and there's like 14 releases of it it's like yeah because they broke electroplankton out into each individual game being sold separately you're literally just going through e next No, next.

[1832] I don't even want anything.

[1833] So I'd go and look on the internet and be like, what do I want to buy?

[1834] I want to buy Cape Story.

[1835] So it's like, all right, great.

[1836] Fucking cycle to see.

[1837] I'm not going anywhere past this.

[1838] That's it.

[1839] Oh, it's the worst.

[1840] It's terrible.

[1841] The worst.

[1842] It's terrible.

[1843] It's so bad.

[1844] It's really bad.

[1845] And so as I was looking at this stuff, I don't know.

[1846] remembered all the descriptions.

[1847] So you bought My Exotic Farm.

[1848] Well, you know, because they don't even have descriptions of the games on there, or I'm not going to wait for them to load.

[1849] Terrible.

[1850] Goddamn shame.

[1851] Anyway, 3DS, eShop, I hope it's better.

[1852] For all our sakes.

[1853] It's going to be great.

[1854] How could it not be?

[1855] So that's pretty much my experience with the 3DS.

[1856] I will buy one at some point.

[1857] Everybody will buy one at some point.

[1858] Jeff will buy one on launch day.

[1859] So I was going through that process of looking at pre -orders and Amazon's got them.

[1860] Everybody's taking pre -orders now.

[1861] And then I realized it came out on a Sunday.

[1862] So I'm like, well, wait.

[1863] I don't want to pre -order it online at all if it's not going to show up until Monday.

[1864] And then I started thinking, well, we'll probably get one from them before that.

[1865] So I won't need to get one that early.

[1866] for us to use it to cover games and started going through this process of like, well, wait, do I trust that we'll actually get one early?

[1867] Do I need to like, do I need to like pre -order, do I need to go somewhere and pre -order one to make sure we're picking one up on Sunday so that we have the ability to review games ASAP?

[1868] And then I just, at some point realized like, dude, I'm just going to let the chips fall and I'm going to order one from Amazon or something like that.

[1869] Have them ship it here to the office the following day.

[1870] And that'll be that.

[1871] That's it.

[1872] And if it shows up, great.

[1873] If it doesn't show up, great.

[1874] These day one games are not going to.

[1875] Right.

[1876] Yeah.

[1877] You don't need to get your pilot wings fixed that quickly.

[1878] Yeah, exactly.

[1879] Like I really did like pilot wings on the SNES.

[1880] And then that was the last pilot wings game I really liked.

[1881] I'm not really.

[1882] It's pilot wingsy.

[1883] It's fun.

[1884] I don't know what about pilot wings.

[1885] You know what?

[1886] I don't.

[1887] I think it's a nostalgia play.

[1888] That's cool.

[1889] I don't want to play Pilotwings anymore.

[1890] No, you're done.

[1891] You don't get to that rocket belt and go through rings?

[1892] Not really.

[1893] The rings thing, like, not really feeling it.

[1894] You're done with the rings?

[1895] And Ocarina, I...

[1896] Yeah.

[1897] I tried playing that again when it was a GameCube game, and it started to bum me out, so I immediately quit.

[1898] I was like, wait, I don't want to be...

[1899] It looks a little better, but...

[1900] I don't want to be ruined.

[1901] I don't want this all -time great game to be anything other than...

[1902] It's a product of its time.

[1903] It really is.

[1904] Yeah.

[1905] And deep down, I know that.

[1906] I think it's 12 years old at this point.

[1907] Yeah.

[1908] That game created...

[1909] a genre or you know or brought a genre into 3d that so many other people have built on um whether they're you know aping the zelda style or just taking z targeting and and kind of putting that into their game like every game uses something that ocarina came up with at this point uh well not every game but a lot of them if any game can be described as seminal that is it yeah and um You don't want to sully that memory?

[1910] I don't want to sully that memory.

[1911] I also know that you already need to shoot the arrow into the sun to get the fire arrows, and I know that I'd never want to do the water temple ever again.

[1912] Oh, they said at E3 that they are redoing the water temple.

[1913] Are they really?

[1914] They are changing some stuff.

[1915] They called that temple out specifically and said, hey, we know you hated that.

[1916] We're going to do something about it.

[1917] That sucks, too.

[1918] Like, yeah, okay, but...

[1919] It's like you're rewriting history now.

[1920] What are you really trying to accomplish?

[1921] with that and at that point like just make a new game yeah well that's so that's that's the thing that's missing right so for me that was where is nintendo's big uh is it kid icarus they're big like we're gonna show you how to use 3d appropriately and we'll set the bar you know because that's usually what they do they're they release their thing and there's like listen here's how you do it really well but i mean they didn't really do that on the last two handhelds You know, not that the GBA had anything so unique going on with it that Nintendo had to sit down and go, like, here's what you can do with it.

[1922] I mean, it's just damn SNES.

[1923] Right.

[1924] But with the DS, like, when the DS launched, it launched with a bunch of trash.

[1925] Yeah.

[1926] And it took a while before, like, the...

[1927] There's, like, the Yoshi game.

[1928] Yeah.

[1929] It was, like, that touchscreen moment of, like, okay, all right, I'm starting to...

[1930] Yeah, but that thing was barely more than a tech demo.

[1931] Yeah, but it was at least a thing.

[1932] It was still more interesting than most of those games that shipped.

[1933] Right.

[1934] Because you were like, okay, I see what you could do with this.

[1935] But it wasn't there at launch.

[1936] It wasn't a launch game.

[1937] I'm pretty sure it was not.

[1938] And Phantom Hourglass was way later, right?

[1939] Oh, yeah.

[1940] Like three years after.

[1941] Oh, geez.

[1942] Was it really that late?

[1943] Super late, yeah.

[1944] But the launch of the GBA was not awesome.

[1945] Yeah.

[1946] They had that one Castlevania.

[1947] Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm kind of strictly talking first party.

[1948] Like, Nintendo does not bring its bangers out day one, and they haven't since the Game Boy.

[1949] Then they're like, here you go, Super Mario Land Tetris.

[1950] Yeah, GBA launched with Mario 2.

[1951] Like, what was it called?

[1952] It was Mario Advance something?

[1953] Yeah, it's like Super Mario Advance colon Super Mario Brothers 2.

[1954] Yeah.

[1955] I guess I was thinking more like Wii Sports or something.

[1956] It's just like...

[1957] Yeah.

[1958] Basically show you what you just bought.

[1959] Like, hey, man, check this out.

[1960] This is going to be a lot of fun.

[1961] I think it's just kind of – that speaks to – I mean the 3DS is not all that unique.

[1962] I mean it's got a lot of stuff in it and some games will use that and some games won't.

[1963] Right.

[1964] Well, it just makes me wonder what – if Nintendo isn't showing me up front what this 3D really means aside from aesthetically what it does to the picture, will anybody?

[1965] Will it be able to do anything that is beyond an aesthetic layer on top of the stuff?

[1966] I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[1967] It's just coming out.

[1968] Even on the augmented reality stuff where I was fighting the dragon from the Nintendo card, I turned the 3D off.

[1969] It was just 2D and moving around it.

[1970] That stuff seems like the cool stuff.

[1971] It is really cool.

[1972] It's the diciest kind of.

[1973] I mean, again, it works, but you don't need it.

[1974] You will get an experience.

[1975] But the Nintendo ARDS.

[1976] Right.

[1977] If they were to position augmented reality as the big feature, that would be just as silly.

[1978] Right.

[1979] Because that's something that is kind of dicey and also kind of doesn't work in some cases, like lighting.

[1980] Yeah, and distance and all that stuff.

[1981] But, you know, it's stronger, faster, bigger, better.

[1982] We'll all get one eventually.

[1983] It's just a question of is it worth the price at launch, and it doesn't seem like it to me. Right.

[1984] Yeah.

[1985] Yeah.

[1986] All right.

[1987] Well, more to come.

[1988] Yeah, more to come.

[1989] Meanwhile, let's talk about news.

[1990] Okay.

[1991] I drew it out like that and talked loud so that I could see the waveform so I would know when I'd go back later to put the music in.

[1992] Here's what news looks like.

[1993] Taking us behind the curtain.

[1994] I should clap.

[1995] And I was like, all right, now where that spike is.

[1996] In important news, Vinny went and saw the 3DS.

[1997] What was that like?

[1998] So we went to this event in New York.

[1999] And there was this dinosaur game.

[2000] That's pretty cool.

[2001] We went around and clicked bones.

[2002] Now is that a digital download?

[2003] No, that is not from their eShop, they're calling it.

[2004] Now, what's that about?

[2005] It's e, I assume electronic, but I guess it could be electric, but I don't think it's electronic shop.

[2006] Electric shop.

[2007] Yeah, electric shop.

[2008] You know, you got to build a lamp and then turn it on.

[2009] Got it.

[2010] I guess the newsiest news out of that thing was the U .S. price.

[2011] Right, yeah.

[2012] What was the reaction like in the auditorium when they dropped it?

[2013] Did they pull like a Sony of just like...

[2014] So here's this discounted like we think we're knocking it out of the park with this price.

[2015] So I literally have here in my notes.

[2016] under launch because it stood out to me that much.

[2017] How much would you pay for all this?

[2018] So Reggie does this thing of like, gets up there and is doing his whole spiel and he knows the biggest news is the price and the date that's going to drop.

[2019] And so he teases it in the beginning and at the very end, he's like, so all this that you just saw, the new stylus, the motion controls, the eShop, the...

[2020] We asked focus groups, how much would you be willing to pay for that?

[2021] And they came back to us and they said between $300 and $400.

[2022] And we said, great.

[2023] We're going to give you all of this for a suggested retail price of $249.

[2024] Pause for applause.

[2025] Silence.

[2026] Yeah, that sounds about right.

[2027] Crickets chirping.

[2028] Yeah.

[2029] 599.

[2030] Man, what a huckster, man. That sounds like a real late -night cable pitch.

[2031] Yeah, it sounds super infomercial.

[2032] Order now.

[2033] We'll throw in a second 3DS with no additional charge.

[2034] Just because I like you.

[2035] I like America.

[2036] Just because I like you guys.

[2037] I'm going to see what I can do.

[2038] I'm from Canada, but look, man. I'm going to go in the back room.

[2039] I'm going to go talk to some of the higher -ups and see what I can do for you.

[2040] I'll be right back.

[2041] Let's just sweat it out for a little bit.

[2042] He says I can't go below $250.

[2043] What is it going to take to get you behind a 3DS?

[2044] He's at friend prices.

[2045] Friend prices, bro.

[2046] I had that experience last weekend when I bought a couch.

[2047] Oh, yeah.

[2048] That's kind of cool.

[2049] What's it going to take to get you on this couch?

[2050] As it turned out, no tax and half off the delivery fee.

[2051] What if I threw in a charging dock for you?

[2052] Oh, man. Now we're talking.

[2053] And then you are.

[2054] Yeah, you know, $250.

[2055] I got a free charging dock.

[2056] You shop and spot pass.

[2057] It was pretty good.

[2058] So yeah, it was kind of crickets.

[2059] What are you going to do?

[2060] It works for Reggie.

[2061] If anybody else had done it, it would have seemed way more awkward.

[2062] He could pull it off.

[2063] Yeah, he could pull it off.

[2064] Because, you know, it's Reggie.

[2065] He just seems like he's ready to do it.

[2066] And also, coupon for Pizza Hut.

[2067] Great.

[2068] Call in some favors to get you a pezone.

[2069] Remember those depressing, lonely years between Howard Lincoln and Reggie?

[2070] Remember when Nintendo, like, struggled to have a new mouthpiece?

[2071] Yeah.

[2072] Like, Howard Lincoln was a pretty good...

[2073] He was.

[2074] He was a good talker, right?

[2075] Yeah.

[2076] And then they had, what, they had Peter Mayne for a little while?

[2077] Yeah.

[2078] Peter Mayne was going up there.

[2079] He was cool.

[2080] Yeah.

[2081] Peter Mayne's a good guy.

[2082] Well, exceptionally Canadian.

[2083] Yeah, he wasn't necessarily...

[2084] But also, like, most damningly, he only hung around for, like, a year or two.

[2085] I think.

[2086] I think in that role, but I'm pretty sure he was at the company for a good long time.

[2087] Yeah, and then I think George Harrison took over for a while.

[2088] Yeah, that's right.

[2089] Seemed like a totally nice guy, but not a whole lot of stage presence.

[2090] Yeah.

[2091] And then Reggie.

[2092] Reggie owns a stage, man. The dawn of Reggie.

[2093] Remember that?

[2094] The stuff they make that man go through on stage and the kind of the composure.

[2095] And the kind of gravitas that that man can yield while pulling out a fucking GB Micro.

[2096] And talking about weights and paper.

[2097] It's right here in my pocket.

[2098] And now he does that all the time.

[2099] Did you ever notice that?

[2100] Every time, it's just like he waits for that moment of reaching into his inside pocket.

[2101] He did it with the 3DS too.

[2102] He announces the price.

[2103] He announces the launch date and everything.

[2104] They pull it out.

[2105] Photo op. Reaches into his pockets very deliberately, pulls it out, and does the, like, look towards, like, the four -angle look, right?

[2106] I need to photos here.

[2107] Flashes start going off.

[2108] Not saying anything, just like, turns to that.

[2109] And then puts it in his pocket.

[2110] It's like, great.

[2111] It's hilarious.

[2112] It's really funny.

[2113] Like, man's a professional.

[2114] Goddamn professional.

[2115] I mean, he came in there as a marketing guy, right?

[2116] I think he came in as like VP of marketing.

[2117] Yeah, that sounds right.

[2118] Within a short period of years running the damn company.

[2119] I would love to see them just all, you know, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo stage presence people just talk about their tricks.

[2120] Dude, fucking grudge mash.

[2121] Jack Tretton, Reggie, and who does Microsoft put up for that fight?

[2122] I want to see.

[2123] Bring out Allard.

[2124] I don't even know.

[2125] Patrick.

[2126] Like nowadays?

[2127] Nobody at Microsoft could hang with that level of competition.

[2128] Balmer.

[2129] Oh, shit.

[2130] Oh, shit.

[2131] Oh, man. I would pay.

[2132] What are the going rates for wrestling pay -per -view?

[2133] So my new reality TV show, like Hype Off.

[2134] I would totally pay a pay -per -view rate.

[2135] Hype my product.

[2136] Yeah, I don't even know.

[2137] Anyway.

[2138] All right, so that's one handheld.

[2139] It sounds like we're getting ready for some news on the other one.

[2140] Thursday, 3 p .m., according to andreasang .com, is the time in Japan for the PlayStation meeting where it's expected that the PSP2 will be formally announced.

[2141] That's this Thursday?

[2142] That is this Thursday.

[2143] In Japan, which means what, Brad?

[2144] What are we, like, Wednesday?

[2145] Wednesday night?

[2146] Would that be...

[2147] Our man in the field, Brad Shoemaker.

[2148] 8, 9 p .m. Wednesday night?

[2149] That sounds about right.

[2150] I think that's right.

[2151] Okay.

[2152] Somewhere around there.

[2153] And why is this call so important?

[2154] Why is this talk with Japan so important?

[2155] What's an event?

[2156] Well, this is supposedly an event that they are inviting press to over there, and they're supposedly going to say PSP2 stuff.

[2157] Crazy.

[2158] Touchscreen.

[2159] Touchscreen?

[2160] Touchscreen.

[2161] Touchscreen?

[2162] Confirmed?

[2163] I mean, well, it's so then Nikkei ran a story saying OLED touchscreen and that it was also going to have 3G connectivity on it.

[2164] Interesting.

[2165] Docomo would be – it would basically like be a Docomo device in Japan.

[2166] That's a cell phone provider.

[2167] It's like an AT &T.

[2168] That's like a T -Mobile.

[2169] Man, I wonder if you have to get a contract or something.

[2170] So is it just a phone?

[2171] But it's not a phone.

[2172] Would it not have phone functionality in it?

[2173] Probably not.

[2174] Yeah, I would suspect.

[2175] I don't think that's crazy.

[2176] I mean, it worked for the Gizmondo.

[2177] Obviously.

[2178] I have mine right here.

[2179] Yeah.

[2180] I totally think that is reasonable to not be a phone.

[2181] You think?

[2182] Yeah, of course.

[2183] It depends on what the plan is.

[2184] But, you know, look at the iPad.

[2185] Look at the Kindle.

[2186] Yeah.

[2187] I still don't know how those things work.

[2188] And the Gizmondo is literally the only other thing I can think of.

[2189] I don't care what PSP2 turns out to be.

[2190] It's not an iPad or...

[2191] A Kindle.

[2192] Right.

[2193] But the Kindle, you don't pay for a plan.

[2194] You buy the Kindle and then you just connect to KindleNet or whatever it is.

[2195] But at the same time, for the things you would use, a gaming console, a handheld – The data you'd be downloading.

[2196] Yeah, the data that would be transferred on that is not something that you subsidize via I'm selling books.

[2197] Right.

[2198] So I wonder if they have to charge for that, does that become some kind of like – core subscription style thing of like you know your oh you're saying like it go it would go through sony and not through a cell phone provider huh and that's how you subsidize it and i don't know that that that also seems dicey i think it would just be a device that you hook up to a plan hook up to a plan that's that seems crazy too well 3g is gone isn't with 3g yeah kind of i guess i don't know what i need a psp3 yeah um what else Well, I mean, it's all speculation at this point, but some of the stuff that I heard is two cameras, one front and one back, and there'd be some kind of touch on the back of it.

[2199] It just sounds clumsy to me. I can't fathom how that's going to work.

[2200] Yeah, I mean, it could be something as simple as, like, the shoulder buttons are on the back to there's some kind of crazy back control.

[2201] I heard conflicting reports about tilt sensor stuff being in there, which seems likely that they would put it in there.

[2202] It's in everything else.

[2203] Why not?

[2204] And that it's powerful and that the games are being compared to PlayStation 3 games.

[2205] Of course, keep in mind that's on a smaller screen that you're kind of not really looking at closely.

[2206] It's the same way that PSP games now are kind of cutting some corners if you compare them to PlayStation 2 games, but you don't really notice because the screen's not that big.

[2207] Right.

[2208] But when you blow it up with that TV connector.

[2209] All PSP games look like trash.

[2210] Yeah, that's a shame.

[2211] Have you ever wondered why we put that stuff on a border?

[2212] I don't wonder.

[2213] Yeah, because we don't want to.

[2214] We want the games to look like the way they look.

[2215] We're kind of being kind to those games.

[2216] Yeah, they don't scale very well.

[2217] I wonder also if that thing will support TV out stuff.

[2218] I wonder if it's going to be 480p or what.

[2219] That'd be nice.

[2220] I don't know, yeah, I guess.

[2221] Who knows?

[2222] Theoretically, I would imagine it would tie into whatever services Sony has come up with for video downloads and stuff, just like the PSP does.

[2223] So you think it'll be able to display 720 on that little screen?

[2224] Maybe, yeah.

[2225] That'd be cool.

[2226] That'd be great.

[2227] Or it could do 720 out, at least, for video, maybe not games.

[2228] I mean, with the iPhone 4 out there, a screen of that resolution is absolutely not out of the question.

[2229] It's just the horsepower you need to run your PS3 -style games at that resolution.

[2230] impossible right you can't 720p on a handheld device of a ps3 caliber game is that is beyond the the you know reason for expectation for that device well there are trade -offs yeah yeah depends on you know what you're using your fill rate for and stuff like that yeah i mean if you put resolution overall yeah yeah you can make a lot of other cuts in other areas to make that work and as long as people are developing with that in mind You're not going to see it as much as you might in some other cases.

[2231] But I'm not going to be playing Killzone 3 on the new.

[2232] You'll be playing Killzone Retribution 2 or something.

[2233] I don't know.

[2234] And then the other thing I heard that I haven't seen anywhere else.

[2235] UMD.

[2236] No, no UMD.

[2237] Specifically no UMDs.

[2238] Specifically all digital.

[2239] So they'll have their own eShop full of games.

[2240] It's very exciting.

[2241] No new disc -based technology?

[2242] Yeah, exactly.

[2243] They're coming up with a new disc.

[2244] Mini Blu -ray?

[2245] Higher density, yeah.

[2246] Mini Blu -rays.

[2247] It's Blu -ray UMDs.

[2248] It's Blue MDs.

[2249] This one.

[2250] This is the one.

[2251] Yeah, this is the one that's going to take off.

[2252] I'm sorry.

[2253] What were you going to say?

[2254] The other thing you had heard?

[2255] And this I only heard once.

[2256] I don't know.

[2257] I just even feel a little weird repeating it because it's something I haven't been able to track down.

[2258] But I figure I want to get it out before they make the actual announcements in case.

[2259] It's true.

[2260] It's true.

[2261] What is it?

[2262] One of those cameras would be some kind of depth camera for potentially facial recognition or Kinect style functionality.

[2263] Yeah, the IR and the Kinect.

[2264] Yeah, like some kind of thing like that.

[2265] See it?

[2266] It seems possible, but at some point all this technology sounds fucking insane.

[2267] And you're like, how much are you going to charge for this thing and what kind of games are you going to make?

[2268] Yeah, especially in light of what's in the 3DS.

[2269] It's baffling to me in this post -Wii world.

[2270] These hardware makers are still in this arms race of who can have the most technology in this thing.

[2271] You're right.

[2272] Look what happened to the PS3.

[2273] But look at the technology that it is.

[2274] It's not just fill rate.

[2275] It's not just resolution.

[2276] It's not just text your memory and all that shit.

[2277] It's tilt and touch and twist and cameras that do different stuff.

[2278] If Sony said, here's the PSP2, we added a second analog stick and it looks way better, you'd be like...

[2279] No fucking thanks.

[2280] Absolutely.

[2281] Why would anyone ever care about that?

[2282] But if they can add all this control stuff, then they start to get into that realm of the games on this platform are unique to this platform.

[2283] You can't get them anywhere else.

[2284] That's fair.

[2285] And maybe they have a chance there.

[2286] I'm more concerned about it driving the price up.

[2287] Yeah, I think that this thing sounds super techie.

[2288] Because, you know, they filled the PS3 full of everything that you could think of in that period of time.

[2289] But, you know, it's like when Sony launched the PSP at $250, people said they were crazy.

[2290] And as it turns out, like, you know, looking back on that now, maybe they were.

[2291] Sony launched the PlayStation 3 at fucking...

[2292] $600.

[2293] Yeah, $600.

[2294] You know, they play the...

[2295] this thing is high -tech and you will pay a premium game, and they have been for a while.

[2296] But they also play the, man, our install base here in the States maybe suffers a bit in the early months because it's so expensive.

[2297] Yeah, and you can make all the arguments you want about the trade -offs.

[2298] I mean, it's like in this market, PS3 is behind 360, and that's probably not going to change this generation.

[2299] And the development on the PSP is...

[2300] Zero.

[2301] Yeah, it's not...

[2302] And who knows, maybe it's piracy or whatever, but...

[2303] That doesn't help.

[2304] Yeah.

[2305] But, you know, also, they're not moving a ton of software.

[2306] I mean, they themselves have almost given up on it, or their third parties have, because their games...

[2307] Yeah, a lot of third parties, yeah, exactly.

[2308] Like, there are new PSP games that you can't even buy on the PSP Go.

[2309] Like, they just have not been put on the store, so if you don't have a UMD drive, you ain't playing that game.

[2310] Yeah, but, I mean, to be honest, like, no one bought a PSP Go, so...

[2311] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[2312] Saying that they abandoned the PSP...

[2313] By saying that the PSP Go was a failure, that's not a one -to -one thing.

[2314] The PSP Go is dumb for a lot of other reasons.

[2315] I still think it looks cool.

[2316] It does.

[2317] It looks cool.

[2318] My hands cramp up when I use it for long periods of time because it is so thin.

[2319] My hands are a little too close together to use it.

[2320] It never feels quite right.

[2321] The buttons, there's not enough throw on them.

[2322] They don't push.

[2323] They just kind of click a little bit.

[2324] The whole thing just feels...

[2325] janky as a result so it's too small it's not comfortable um but you know you can use a dual shock you know at that point it's just it's it's ridiculous but um so touch screen some kind of possible touch on the back definitely a camera they say or or more they're they're not necessarily saying anything but yeah cameras possible possible possible yeah like like i said there was it was one guy who wasn't even necessarily clear on the concept it was something that he heard you know so right At this point, who can say?

[2326] Any news on the actual, aside from the touch stuff, the interface?

[2327] Would there be a dual analog stick?

[2328] Yes.

[2329] Two sticks is kind of the running rumor.

[2330] The safe money is on that.

[2331] And possible 3G.

[2332] And possible 3G connectivity.

[2333] I mean, that comes out of a Japanese newspaper just straight up saying, like, here's what's going on.

[2334] Interesting.

[2335] And they're presenting it as straight up fact.

[2336] So that seems, you know.

[2337] Like a given.

[2338] You know, if I were Sony – I can't even say that because I have no idea what the hell is going through their mind.

[2339] I would enjoy 3G out of the box on a PSP on whatever carrier they're going to subsidize for me if I don't have to pay for it.

[2340] would give me a lot more incentive to download stuff from like the minis and stuff like that just from wherever I am if I don't have to be on a Wi -Fi.

[2341] So when I'm at an airport or something like that or just on the go in my portable situation and I'm like, I'm out of games.

[2342] I don't want to play this anymore.

[2343] What can I download and buy right now?

[2344] But that's the thing is like the free 3G on the Kindle is downloading books that are like maybe two megs.

[2345] If you start saying like – Now I'm going to download 200 megs over this 3G connection.

[2346] Hey, that takes some time.

[2347] And Sony's download stuff is already molasses slow.

[2348] I want to download DCU on my PSP.

[2349] I will pop in some extra memory.

[2350] Yeah.

[2351] So even if they're subsidizing it, they're going to end up with some kind of carrier -imposed limitation.

[2352] What's the AT &T limit on the iPhone?

[2353] It's still like 20 megs.

[2354] They raised it from 10, didn't they?

[2355] Really?

[2356] Yeah, for apps that you have to like, oh, this is more than this size.

[2357] You need to connect to Wi -Fi to get it.

[2358] Which if we're talking about modern handheld games and they're not putting out Game Boy emulators, which I don't think they're going to do that.

[2359] I wonder if that's what they'll do.

[2360] Maybe that's what they'll do.

[2361] Maybe it'll be a limit like that.

[2362] That's like the same thing like the iPhone.

[2363] That's like you need to be on Wi -Fi.

[2364] to download this bigger game.

[2365] But then, like, what do you use?

[2366] How big are the minis?

[2367] The minis are still, like, 60.

[2368] The minis have to be under 100 or 150 megs.

[2369] 150.

[2370] Yeah, 150.

[2371] So that's still bigger than I think anyone's going to do.

[2372] On 3G, that ain't so many.

[2373] Yeah.

[2374] I don't know.

[2375] Maybe it won't let you download anything.

[2376] Or maybe it'll just be – yeah, exactly.

[2377] Like maybe it'll just be for like profile stuff or – Maybe a patch or something or system updates are actually really big.

[2378] Or maybe they'll charge for the 3G and that's an entirely different scenario as long as it's optional.

[2379] Like that's not a – If it's optional – Like if someone's willing to – Yeah, I'm not paying for it though.

[2380] – pave that fee and do whatever.

[2381] I can't.

[2382] Maybe they treat it like the – like some of these mobile hotspots like virgin has one that's no contract pay as you go like if you don't use it you don't pay anything and you can buy like 10 gigs for some amount of money or you can buy unlimited gigs for a month for somewhat more than that um you know maybe they go with one of those sorts of plans and then maybe that starts to make sense there but i just don't i i don't know what you do with 3g on a game on something that's primarily a gaming device like You can do streaming video and stuff like that, but you're not going to download episodes of TV shows or 3G.

[2383] Maybe you can play wirelessly.

[2384] The games that have done that, it's dicey.

[2385] It's good for certain types of games, but the connection is just not there for a real action game.

[2386] I think there's cool stuff you could do.

[2387] I bet there's location -based stuff, that kind of stuff, if there's a GPS or something in it that you could use.

[2388] I bet they can think of something.

[2389] Messaging.

[2390] I could see.

[2391] Messaging.

[2392] That being.

[2393] Yeah, I was going to say just like console style baseline networking functionality.

[2394] Yeah.

[2395] PSN stuff.

[2396] Friends list.

[2397] Friends list and you look at their trophies.

[2398] Trophy syncing and stuff like that.

[2399] Even though the trophy syncing on the PS3 is still.

[2400] Yeah, they didn't even get that right yet.

[2401] But yeah, I bet their stuff.

[2402] That actually, it makes me excited if I have to pay for it.

[2403] I'm out.

[2404] Yeah, absolutely.

[2405] I can't.

[2406] AT &T is already ringing me dry on their charges.

[2407] That's exciting, though.

[2408] Hey, welcome back to the handheld race, I guess, right?

[2409] But I guess that kind of raises the larger issue.

[2410] The 3DS is coming out.

[2411] The PSP2 announced days from now, probably.

[2412] I thought they were out.

[2413] I'd never expected to see that.

[2414] I mean, we're looking at a situation where these 3DS games are $50.

[2415] The system's $250.

[2416] The PSP2...

[2417] by all accounts.

[2418] If you just look at the power of the games, with the people that have said, oh yeah, the system is really powerful, we're looking at porting our main console engine over to it.

[2419] That's not cheap.

[2420] Oh, God, where was it I heard recently?

[2421] Was it...

[2422] Man, I'm trying to remember.

[2423] I think it was on Weekend Confirmed I was listening.

[2424] I think Shane was on there.

[2425] Talking about from the developer side that basically they're out there pitching now.

[2426] Maybe you've heard this as well.

[2427] They're basically out there saying, like, you could basically develop the same game for the 360, the PS3, and the PSP2.

[2428] Like, in terms of, like, art assets and stuff like that.

[2429] Yeah, really?

[2430] Like, they're talking that comparable.

[2431] So, at that point, those games have to be $50 also.

[2432] Right.

[2433] At minimum.

[2434] Yeah.

[2435] And, like, the sound of this system, like, you could see this being $399 easily.

[2436] I think.

[2437] Yeah, maybe.

[2438] You think, really?

[2439] All that stuff packed in there?

[2440] Like, a nearly portable, like, almost a portable PS3 with all those other bells and whistles?

[2441] I don't want to pay that considering the way I use handhelds.

[2442] So that's kind of my point is are they totally pricing out of what the real mobile market is now?

[2443] And by that I mean iPhone apps are $6.

[2444] Not to say that those games are even comparable.

[2445] I'll be the first, literally, the first person in line to tell you that iPhone games are usually shit.

[2446] But they are insanely profitable.

[2447] That's what people are buying.

[2448] And Apple is selling its iPad for what?

[2449] Like $400, $500?

[2450] $800.

[2451] If you want to go all balls out and get the biggest one with 3G and stuff, you're spending like $700, $800 or whatever it is.

[2452] There was a recent thing.

[2453] I forget what it was.

[2454] It might have been on NPR or something.

[2455] They were talking to somebody about those mobile games and pricing them at $0 .99.

[2456] And basically the prediction was that that will have to go away.

[2457] There's just no way.

[2458] Well, it's why Apple added the top grossing.

[2459] charts to the store pages is because like EA like all the real companies that wanted to sell their games for 7 to 10 or 15 in some cases were not getting any exposure because they were just buried under these 99 cent apps which I think you know like artificially giving them a place to go like this is all fine and good but if they can't compete they can't compete like it's kind of Yeah, but...

[2460] And also, you know, I think that those games that they have been charging that price point for, in some cases they are technically impressive, but they are not games I have ever wanted to play.

[2461] Yeah, I mean, if they're not good games, that's one issue, but...

[2462] There are also a lot of cases where people don't know what they want until they see it.

[2463] So if you don't put it in front of them, they are not going to know to buy it.

[2464] Sure.

[2465] But that market has changed a lot.

[2466] And six months ago I would have said, oh, you're crazy.

[2467] There's not even any real overlap.

[2468] All these people saying that Apple is killing Nintendo are crazy.

[2469] But you look at it now and you look at the price of this stuff.

[2470] More and more kids getting iPod Touches, if not iPhones or some other smartphone device.

[2471] That's where this is going.

[2472] And they're starting to get it.

[2473] Some developers really hit it and they're like, I know how to make a game that works on this device.

[2474] So I wonder if both these guys, if both Nintendo and Sony are just going to run.

[2475] into a brick wall on this stuff and realize that they totally misjudged where the market's at and they put out something that no one actually wants i think nintendo will do fine because nintendo i mean they'll still put out a pokemon game for that thing right there's at least some sort of draw nintendo has just entrenched itself in that handheld market and i just don't think you're you're gonna knock them out it's true but i mean 250 ain't But it's $250 now, and then in a year it'll be $199, and at some point it'll be $149.

[2476] Sure, sure, which will put it back in line with what the DS Lite was, which was $130, which was much more palatable to parents who just want to buy.

[2477] A sturdy, basic handheld to keep their kids busy.

[2478] And they've got the revenue to float that for a while.

[2479] They'll still sell DSi games.

[2480] They're flush with cash.

[2481] They'll be fine for a while if that thing doesn't do gangbusters.

[2482] And I have to assume Nintendo doesn't take a loss on any of its console stuff now, right?

[2483] I have to assume they probably wouldn't own this.

[2484] I don't know that that's a company mandate or anything.

[2485] The reports were that they were making profit on Wii sales from the get -go and stuff like that.

[2486] It seemed like a good idea.

[2487] They could be taking a risk on this thing.

[2488] So Sony, though, on the PSP2, if they price out at like $400, that is...

[2489] I mean, you can go buy, what is it, like an iPhone or like a Windows Phone 7, like a Samsung Focus.

[2490] A Samsung Focus out of contract, if you just say, give me this device, is $600.

[2491] Yeah, same for an iPhone, I think.

[2492] Yeah, yeah.

[2493] And that's not cheap, but they're able to subsidize the cost of it.

[2494] by doing the contract stuff.

[2495] Maybe that's where the 3G stuff starts to make sense.

[2496] Oh, man. Oh, don't tell me that.

[2497] I'm going to have to go sign up with Verizon just to get a...

[2498] What if all this Android phone with PlayStation controls stuff ends up being bullshit and it's all just the same thing, but it is a super device that is also a 3G phone and a PlayStation?

[2499] I don't want to talk on that.

[2500] If I can get a good smartphone, granted, I don't think that Sony is necessarily capable of making one of those.

[2501] I think they could do a better job than Microsoft has done.

[2502] Yeah, you've been rocking that Windows Phone for a few days now.

[2503] It lasted four days for me before I was screaming, like, get this SIM out of here.

[2504] Get it back in my iPhone.

[2505] Fuck God.

[2506] Yeah, it's – I don't know.

[2507] It's a really kind of weird time for this whole market.

[2508] And the economy still sucks if you're coming out and saying, like, here's this super luxury item for crazy people that – It's also – it starts to compete with the iPhone that – like a little more directly, which by the way is huge.

[2509] The whole thing starts to sound real crazy and the whole thing starts to sound like last ditch.

[2510] Oh god, we got to get this right.

[2511] We got to get this back before Apple runs away with it sort of scenario.

[2512] And that's just – I don't know.

[2513] I think on a game quality level, I would much rather play just about any 3DS or – you know, whatever the PSP two ends up being rather probably play those games than anything that's solely touch based and action, because that just doesn't work.

[2514] Um, it just doesn't work.

[2515] Um, I don't know.

[2516] It's, it's going to be really exciting to see how this all pans out though.

[2517] Cause it's like, it could just be fucking blood back for everyone involved, but for everyone involved, like it's, it's, It's scary in a lot of ways.

[2518] It totally is.

[2519] You have companies reorganizing around mobile and digital strategies and stuff like that.

[2520] Well, our other story, Disney layoffs.

[2521] Sure.

[2522] Huge cuts.

[2523] I mean they closed down propaganda after – Last week, right?

[2524] Yeah, last week.

[2525] And they laid off – so they laid off a bunch of people with propaganda and then after that went and shut them down.

[2526] Disney laid off something like 150.

[2527] That was like internal people or people across their own studios.

[2528] Junction Point are affected somehow and all this stuff, I guess.

[2529] And saying that they're getting out of the packaged goods and getting into digital.

[2530] And some of that is the mobile phone space.

[2531] Some of that is going to be that sort of space.

[2532] And they've already had thick cuts.

[2533] If they bet wrong.

[2534] It could be disastrous for a company like that, for a division like that at that point.

[2535] That's not to say like, oh, Disney's out of business because they've been on phone games.

[2536] They also have ABC and ESPN.

[2537] Right, yeah.

[2538] As a conglomerate, they'll be fine.

[2539] Yeah, I feel like they could always get back in.

[2540] Yeah, but they took their shot.

[2541] They built up a big division.

[2542] They've got some studios.

[2543] They've got some big name talent together.

[2544] It felt like a pretty quick turn and burn for them.

[2545] Yeah.

[2546] It shipped like what?

[2547] Three games?

[2548] Yeah, something like that.

[2549] It was like split second.

[2550] Split second seemed like the first game to come out where you're like, oh, dude, okay, they're getting serious.

[2551] Did Pure come out under Disney?

[2552] I think it was that before.

[2553] I think that was before BlackRock.

[2554] I think they bought BlackRock after Pure came out.

[2555] Oh, is that right?

[2556] I think that's right.

[2557] Yeah.

[2558] It was...

[2559] Okay.

[2560] I think they published it, right?

[2561] I think they did publish it.

[2562] It was definitely at a Disney booth when I saw it.

[2563] Yeah, all intents and purposes, it's a Disney game.

[2564] But whatever.

[2565] Of the current era, of the portion of time where you were like, man, Disney looks like they're going for it.

[2566] They were like, all right, we got Pirates of the Caribbean, which looks hot.

[2567] We got Guilty Party, which is a kid's game, but it still looks like a good kid's game.

[2568] Split second.

[2569] Split second.

[2570] And then they had Tron.

[2571] But it wasn't an abject failure.

[2572] It was like...

[2573] I mean, I don't know.

[2574] Who knows sales -wise, but I don't.

[2575] For Tron?

[2576] No, no, no. In general.

[2577] I was going to say, we have like 400 people on the site that have played Tron on the 360 according to achievement statistics.

[2578] That's low.

[2579] That is very low.

[2580] That's low.

[2581] Right, and I don't know how many people picked up Guilty Party.

[2582] Yeah, I don't either.

[2583] If you step back and look, that is a modestly respectable portfolio.

[2584] Yeah, totally.

[2585] Yeah, like the portfolio looked good.

[2586] It was stuff like Pirates was a game that you were like, all right, we got ex -Bioware guys working on.

[2587] this you know it's like kind of katori but but on the water and you're like all right and they showed it and it looked cool and you're like man if this develops like this this could be like a you know it's gonna be like their breakout i left the the disney e3 judging thing going like man disney looks like they're really going for it yeah and and now you know i'm sure that the vast majority of the people that i met at that thing are no longer with the company yeah it's crazy yeah I wonder what they just expected.

[2588] I think it was like some higher -ups took off and someone else got in there and they changed direction.

[2589] They were like, look at this, cut and run, go.

[2590] I feel like that's the same thing.

[2591] That's the cycle that keeps repeating over at LucasArts for the last 10 years.

[2592] Corporate management keeps changing and the direction keeps changing and they never have time to make great games.

[2593] Like I tried it once with Force Unleashed.

[2594] That's stuff like that direction has to come from the top.

[2595] Yeah, yeah.

[2596] So it's...

[2597] It's cutthroat out there.

[2598] And it's getting – it's not getting better.

[2599] It's getting better for some people.

[2600] It's like there's still some great game shipping and some companies are still making money hand over fist.

[2601] But it's – by and large, there's companies making like very expensive gambles.

[2602] And like are you going to gamble on a handheld?

[2603] That cost $400?

[2604] I mean, we're speculating on top of speculation.

[2605] If that thing comes out at $300, that would be a pretty interesting race all of a sudden.

[2606] Like a $250 handheld against a $300 handheld?

[2607] That would be pretty cool to watch.

[2608] If the games are right.

[2609] Sure.

[2610] The games on 3DS don't necessarily seem right right now.

[2611] But like you said, they'll put their Pokemon out.

[2612] There'll be a new Zelda game at some point.

[2613] New Professor Lane will come out.

[2614] Yeah.

[2615] So at that point, you start to build an install base.

[2616] But does the third -party stuff move?

[2617] Which has kind of traditionally been Nintendo's Achilles heel.

[2618] I don't know.

[2619] I mean, I'm sure pets and babies.

[2620] Yeah, I'm sure that Ubisoft would love to disagree on some of what I just said.

[2621] Yeah, I don't know.

[2622] But then again, those are not the expensive games that you're talking about.

[2623] Those games are cheap to make by comparison.

[2624] Those games should be in the eShop.

[2625] Speaking of eShop, we've got a new release this week.

[2626] New releases.

[2627] Games are coming out.

[2628] Yeah.

[2629] There are some games coming out.

[2630] Dead Space 2.

[2631] Play it.

[2632] As you mentioned.

[2633] Play it.

[2634] Two Worlds 2 is out this week on 360 and PS3.

[2635] I don't know that I've ever...

[2636] seen anything on that game but not a thing uh some people i saw saying it was better than two worlds one which i didn't necessarily take as high praise backhanded compliment um yeah lord of arcana arcana for psp it's a square release that sweary 65 worked on we gotta get that in here I just got a copy today.

[2637] Oh, all right.

[2638] We've actually had a copy for a while.

[2639] I played a few hours of it, but we weren't able to do the video ahead of time or something, so it didn't really play too much.

[2640] It's Monster Hunter.

[2641] Oh.

[2642] It seems very Monster Hunter -y.

[2643] Oh, you're the monster or the hunter?

[2644] You're the hunter.

[2645] Yeah.

[2646] But are you dead?

[2647] So it's like an action RPG, basically.

[2648] You're not dead.

[2649] I didn't see any coffee.

[2650] Like, it's not.

[2651] Nothing like that.

[2652] Play that song.

[2653] Play the song we all like.

[2654] I did not hear that in there at all.

[2655] But yeah, he was brought in to do some stuff.

[2656] But yeah, it seems very derivative of Monster Hunter in terms of just like mission structure and that sort of stuff.

[2657] Monday Night Combat is now out on PC.

[2658] Sounds like they made some interesting additions there.

[2659] Yeah, we should check that out.

[2660] The Fruit Fucker is in that game.

[2661] I'm sorry.

[2662] Actually, as a T -rated game, they have renamed it to the JuiceBot.

[2663] Oh, really?

[2664] But the character is in the game.

[2665] The Penny Arcade guy.

[2666] Yes.

[2667] What's going on with Penny Arcade?

[2668] So we're going to have a panel of PAX East.

[2669] That's what's happening with Penny Arcade.

[2670] All of their attention is laser -focused on the giant bomb panel.

[2671] Like licensing into other games now?

[2672] Is that where...

[2673] Well, there's also Team Fortress 2 stuff in that game.

[2674] So it's just kind of a crossover -y crossover.

[2675] Magica.

[2676] You know anything about that?

[2677] I was looking at screenshots of it with Dave yesterday.

[2678] I saw it described this morning as a gauntlet for the modern era.

[2679] Weird.

[2680] Yeah.

[2681] Who by whom?

[2682] I don't remember who said that.

[2683] That's out on the PC.

[2684] It's out on Steam.

[2685] I don't know what the retail situation is for it, but it is definitely on Steam.

[2686] Soonish.

[2687] If that's not today, it's tomorrow.

[2688] Yeah, it's 825th, I think it is today.

[2689] Breach is this week's.

[2690] Xbox Live Arcade release, and that's also going to be available on the PC this week via Steam.

[2691] I believe there is a boxed copy of that coming, but that's not this week.

[2692] And there were some WiiWare and DSiWare releases.

[2693] You want to hear about them?

[2694] You want to hear about them?

[2695] He's just played a podcast.

[2696] I could tell you about them.

[2697] Loading up the page.

[2698] I got a thing.

[2699] Jam City Roller Girls.

[2700] From Frozen Codebase, one of two players.

[2701] Uncomfortable moment that was.

[2702] 1 ,000 Wii points.

[2703] Do you want to go?

[2704] I think we're going to get some food.

[2705] Let's eat.

[2706] Fine, fine, fine.

[2707] Jam City Roller Girls is out.

[2708] We should actually probably check that out.

[2709] Because it has teams like the Texecutioners.

[2710] and the Rat City Roller Girls, and the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, and Brew City Bruisers.

[2711] Oh, it's executioners.

[2712] It's amazing.

[2713] A couple of demos, furry legends, and fish them all.

[2714] Fish them all.

[2715] Virtual console, Capcom finally got a version of Black Tiger out.

[2716] I know you're excited.

[2717] Somewhere Craig Chiara is like, fuck it, finally.

[2718] 1942.

[2719] DSI wear airport mania nonstop flights, which I read this description recently, and it sounds like airport where it was air control.

[2720] Flight Control.

[2721] Rocks and Rockets from Tick Games.

[2722] Digger Dan and Kaboom, which you have to rescue Kaboom, so his name probably shouldn't be in the title.

[2723] Annie Up, Texas Hold 'em, which has a story mode.

[2724] Like all good poker games.

[2725] And that's it for those.

[2726] PlayStation Network, it sounds like there's nothing in terms of actual...

[2727] Isn't Dead Space Extraction out this week?

[2728] I know a demo's up.

[2729] There is a demo, yes.

[2730] So that is available.

[2731] So you can buy that solo.

[2732] And also Lord of Arcana is out for PSP Go or for digital PSP owners.

[2733] And there's some demo stuff, but it didn't seem like there was any full -on exclusive release.

[2734] Yeah, no eShop releases.

[2735] I don't know where to get my Dead Space 2 action.

[2736] It's so conflicted.

[2737] Flip a coin, man. Always the best solution, just to flip a damn coin.

[2738] All right, we forgot a news story.

[2739] Is this where that should go?

[2740] Yeah, sure.

[2741] What?

[2742] The Mortal Kombat.

[2743] Oh.

[2744] Like Michael Jai White vehicle.

[2745] Yeah, that's been picked up.

[2746] That's been picked up.

[2747] Though they did not mention Michael Jai White's name and did not mention Jax as a part of this.

[2748] They say it's going to focus on characters, popular characters such as Scorpion, Liu Kang, and...

[2749] That's funny.

[2750] Johnny Cage.

[2751] That was him.

[2752] Those are the three characters.

[2753] That was him as Jax in that thing.

[2754] But they might not be willing to pay him to do a full run of it.

[2755] Wait, so you're talking about...

[2756] It could be one way or the other.

[2757] I don't know.

[2758] They don't mention his name in the press release.

[2759] I just assumed...

[2760] And I'm assuming that it's...

[2761] I assumed what was already done was just the first installment and they were just going to keep going with that.

[2762] You're talking about that thing that was on YouTube.

[2763] In that first installment, Johnny Cage is already dead.

[2764] So anything they do would have to take place before that stuff if they were to keep some kind of continuity.

[2765] That crazy YouTube movie.

[2766] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[2767] That guy is going to make those, and they're starting shooting in Vancouver next month.

[2768] Under the complete acknowledgement of Ed Boon and the Mortal Kombat team.

[2769] Well, the Warner Brothers.

[2770] Like Warner Brothers.

[2771] And they're going to sell them from the sounds of things.

[2772] They say it's going to be available through digital retailers, so various V -Shops.

[2773] It was on its own, right?

[2774] Yeah, he just made it, and not even on spec, just kind of made it, I guess.

[2775] Who else?

[2776] There was another name in that besides Michael Jai White.

[2777] Well, it was the guy who directed it, his name.

[2778] Oh, who played?

[2779] Was it Sonia that was somebody you've heard of?

[2780] I think so.

[2781] Oh, was it Jerry Ryan?

[2782] Yeah.

[2783] She was in it.

[2784] Yeah, she was in it.

[2785] So there were some names in it.

[2786] That was a really interesting story.

[2787] I suspect that by the time this thing comes out, I would not be surprised if both of those names are no longer associated with the project.

[2788] So some kind of live action.

[2789] Yeah, so it'll be some kind of live action thing that'll debut in the spring.

[2790] And with Mortal Kombat being out April 19th, I imagine that they will just release them up until the release of the game.

[2791] But they're selling them, which means they can maybe put them out on Blu -ray after the fact.

[2792] Or who knows what the requisite Blu -ray release.

[2793] Man, what a weird story.

[2794] Yeah.

[2795] Great story.

[2796] Yeah.

[2797] That's cool.

[2798] Do what you love.

[2799] That stuff was neat.

[2800] Hopefully get paid for it, yeah.

[2801] We live in a transmedia world.

[2802] I just wonder if they'll be able to kind of – if they're going to stick to the canon of – because that thing was so far outside of what Mortal Kombat is.

[2803] Like I wonder if they're going to continue with that or now that it's an official project, if it's like – I would assume, yes.

[2804] Ed Boon and the crew going like, no, here's how Mortal Kombat really is.

[2805] Like I don't know what you're doing with your weird – mass murderer crap.

[2806] This needs to lead up into the game.

[2807] Over here at Outworld, this is how hell works.

[2808] We got this eight foot tall guy with a skull helmet.

[2809] You should check it out.

[2810] I don't know what that thing will be, but that first one was really cool, so it could be neat.

[2811] But more importantly, that game is out April 19th, which I don't know if they had announced that date before.

[2812] That was the first place I had seen the actual day.

[2813] It's just been saying April.

[2814] That is...

[2815] 84 days from now.

[2816] Shit.

[2817] And is that, have we hit roster completion yet?

[2818] I don't think so.

[2819] I'm not sure.

[2820] Yeah, I think they've still got lots of spots to fill.

[2821] They still have spots left.

[2822] I mean, not internally, but like publicly they haven't said what a lot of those spots are.

[2823] Right.

[2824] They should have launched without ever revealing.

[2825] It's got to crack open that copy and put it in.

[2826] Who's in it?

[2827] That would be crazy.

[2828] That'd be great.

[2829] Had to like rush to your console and throw that thing in just to see who you could play as.

[2830] That'd be a pretty awesome news day for a lot of people.

[2831] They've been confirming characters in a lot of different locations.

[2832] Game Informer had a couple of, like, they revealed, I think Goro and Jade was what came out of that.

[2833] Let's be honest, probably not going to be terribly surprised by anybody who's in this.

[2834] Yeah.

[2835] Yeah, exactly.

[2836] Are you telling me it has Molina and Katana?

[2837] Dude, yeah.

[2838] One of them you don't want to mess with.

[2839] The other one you want to mess with.

[2840] Yeah.

[2841] Wait.

[2842] All right.

[2843] Now's the time of the show for emails.

[2844] Emails.

[2845] Bombcastgiantbomb .com is the email address.

[2846] Feel free to send in your emails.

[2847] And we don't have any emails.

[2848] Wow.

[2849] All right.

[2850] Yeah.

[2851] Ryan never forwarded me the emails, and I don't have access to that account, so there are no emails this week.

[2852] Well, thanks, guy.

[2853] We hope he gets better soon.

[2854] Hang in there.

[2855] Get well soon, Ryan.

[2856] Yeah.

[2857] Otherwise.

[2858] If he's out next week, there's not going to be two podcasts anymore.

[2859] There's only going to be one podcast.

[2860] Just saying.

[2861] What are you guys going to do about it?

[2862] Nothing.

[2863] That's what you're going to do about it.

[2864] I'm just worried that Ryan's going to hit you with his car or something.

[2865] Let him try.

[2866] He's going to jump in the ring.

[2867] But Jeff will narrowly survive and go into a coma, and then most of the rest of the season will be spent in pursuit of the identity of his attacker.

[2868] I don't know if Ryan's actually really ill. I think he's just fed up.

[2869] No, Ryan, feel better.

[2870] Just kidding.

[2871] So, yes, keep those cards and letters coming in, of course.

[2872] I'm trying to think of any questions for you guys just to fill the void here.

[2873] What do you guys like games?

[2874] You know, kind of.

[2875] Would you take Mortal Kombat or Ham Sandwich?

[2876] I would take Mortal Kombat.

[2877] And I like ham sandwiches.

[2878] Right now, I think I'd go for the sandwich.

[2879] Have you guys ever had White Castle?

[2880] I have not.

[2881] Yeah, I have.

[2882] I've never had White Castle.

[2883] It's gross.

[2884] It's gross.

[2885] I mean, wait, it's a White Castle from a White Castle.

[2886] Yeah.

[2887] Okay.

[2888] Not the frozen stuff.

[2889] Yeah, the frozen stuff.

[2890] Well, the frozen stuff was bad because it always had onions on it, and I don't like onions.

[2891] So there's no way to get it without it.

[2892] I had White Castle.

[2893] But yeah, I was in New York.

[2894] This is probably like seven years ago or something like that now.

[2895] And we were heading to...

[2896] Newark.

[2897] Now, where were we going?

[2898] We were going to Connecticut.

[2899] It'll be past Stanford.

[2900] Got some White Castle.

[2901] Yeah, we stopped off at a White Castle on the way out.

[2902] Just get a sack.

[2903] I got a bunch of sliders of varying.

[2904] They have different types, right?

[2905] There's like a barbecue.

[2906] No, what is there?

[2907] There's the regular one and there's like a cheese one.

[2908] Yeah, with cheese.

[2909] Yeah, I don't know.

[2910] There's like one other type that seemed weird at the time.

[2911] Chicken one, I think.

[2912] I don't know.

[2913] I got my four.

[2914] I got some chicken rings.

[2915] Yeah.

[2916] And those were pretty gross.

[2917] They're pretty gross.

[2918] I love it, though.

[2919] It's one of those things they just have to have.

[2920] I was happy to have eaten it, but the whole thing was just kind of gnarly.

[2921] Especially as it got older.

[2922] Over the course of me eating it because I got a quantity of food.

[2923] By the end of that, I was like, man, I need to get rid of this.

[2924] In my mouth.

[2925] This has gotten gnarly.

[2926] Chicken rings.

[2927] Yeah, I don't get the fries.

[2928] I got some at like 1 o 'clock in the morning.

[2929] I mean, that's what it's good for, right?

[2930] Like late at night when nothing else is open?

[2931] But it's New York.

[2932] There's a lot of stuff open.

[2933] Oh, yeah.

[2934] It's because you want to go through a drive -thru and you're high or drunk or something.

[2935] You just don't want to deal with humanity.

[2936] You just want to eat little hamburgers out of a sack.

[2937] I don't need to be messed up to not want to deal with humanity.

[2938] That was my question.

[2939] That's why I order pizza off the internet.

[2940] Yeah.

[2941] One less person to talk to.

[2942] Okay, still got to deliver it.

[2943] Yep.

[2944] Figure that out.

[2945] Just get a pizza box -sized slot in your door.

[2946] I just have to push the money out on it.

[2947] Pay my credit card.

[2948] Have you tried ordering pizza through your DS?

[2949] No. Because it has the web browser.

[2950] It does, yeah.

[2951] It doesn't support Flash.

[2952] Right.

[2953] It might still work.

[2954] We should go to a Seattle Doors game.

[2955] Pizza in 3D.

[2956] Apparently, maybe somebody can confirm this.

[2957] You can use your DS at an earner's game.

[2958] There's a custom app or whatever that downloads.

[2959] Order food to your aisle.

[2960] Yeah.

[2961] What are you guys doing for the Super Bowl?

[2962] Anything?

[2963] Probably eating a lot of pizza rolls.

[2964] Is that this weekend?

[2965] It's next weekend, I guess.

[2966] You left a comment on the web zone, and now you are getting some pizza rolls.

[2967] I don't know what I'm doing.

[2968] Are you offering?

[2969] For a Super Bowl thing?

[2970] Super Bowl is an excuse to eat junk food.

[2971] I know.

[2972] That's what I'm saying.

[2973] We should put our junk food making powers together and just make double the junk food.

[2974] Order junk food.

[2975] Don't make it.

[2976] Crack open as many bags of chips and pour them all into the same bowl.

[2977] Cheetos and corn chips and Fritos and potato chips in a giant bowl.

[2978] Pour all the salsa and the guacamole and everything into a bowl.

[2979] It's like Chex Mix but somehow darker.

[2980] Yeah, it's this unholy concoction.

[2981] It's how you summon Captain Frito -Lay.

[2982] I don't want that.

[2983] I don't like it when Doritos dust gets on non -Doritos or anything like that.

[2984] Yeah, Doritos are very powerful.

[2985] They can overwhelm them.

[2986] Also, you can't eat Doritos with any kind of, like, salsa or condiment thing.

[2987] They're not thick enough.

[2988] No, they are spiced enough.

[2989] Also, you don't want to mix the powder with, like, a...

[2990] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[2991] Also, there's, like, for the Super Bowl, it's awesome because you get to order such large quantities of food and not have that food guilt.

[2992] I can order, like, a 12 -foot party sub for myself and just the guy will assume that I'm having a Super Bowl party.

[2993] Right.

[2994] Well, it's, like, the past couple of years, yeah, we were getting, like, just a...

[2995] bag of pizza rolls and then just continuing to make them throughout over the course of the games like because you can't make them all at once because then you know there's only like two or three people sitting there eating them so you know you gotta space it out yeah and like by you know the third quarter it's like the roof of my mouth is completely burned out from eating fresh pizza rolls but and but it's like we got to finish the bag like otherwise they'll be around and that that won't do either oh pizza rolls so the jets a lot of bean dip I don't even know who's playing.

[2996] So the Jets and the Steelers, which sounds like a Super Bowl.

[2997] Yeah, it sounds crazy.

[2998] It sounds like Super Bowl IX or something.

[2999] Like the original Super Bowl.

[3000] Well, it's cool because they're kind of, I don't know anything about football, but they're older teams.

[3001] They were teams that were around when I was growing up, so I know they're not some new made -up team that came around the last 10 years.

[3002] We just invented a team for our invented city.

[3003] It's not the Newark Lasers.

[3004] I got two Super Bowl rings in my family.

[3005] What?

[3006] Yeah.

[3007] Wait, how?

[3008] My mom's cousin.

[3009] It was a footballist?

[3010] No, he runs a pawn shop.

[3011] He ran over a guy who played football.

[3012] He was a professional footballer.

[3013] Really?

[3014] Yeah, Super Bowls 1 and 2, actually.

[3015] What team, do you know?

[3016] God, I can't remember.

[3017] Man, Super Bowl 1?

[3018] Yeah, he has a Super Bowl 1 ring because he played in it.

[3019] Who is this?

[3020] His name's Bill.

[3021] But who is, with relation to your mom's brother?

[3022] She's his cousin, so she's...

[3023] We're up to like Super Bowl.

[3024] My grandmother's sister's son.

[3025] There's at least been 10 of those things.

[3026] There's a lot of Super Bowls at this point.

[3027] Was it 35?

[3028] I don't know.

[3029] I don't know.

[3030] What was that in the 60s?

[3031] I don't know.

[3032] He was old enough to play in the first Super Bowl.

[3033] He was old enough to party.

[3034] Yeah, I mean, he's...

[3035] You can't get your hands on that?

[3036] I've never seen it.

[3037] Really?

[3038] I know.

[3039] That's limited edition, man. That's pretty neat.

[3040] Yeah, there's probably only a few of them.

[3041] They played Super Bowl I. That was like five guys on a team at that point, wasn't it?

[3042] Yeah.

[3043] Leather helmets.

[3044] Yeah.

[3045] Just play both sides a little Iron Man. That's crazy.

[3046] That's a good story.

[3047] That's pretty intense.

[3048] Well, all right.

[3049] I think that's going to do it for us here.

[3050] Thanks for your emails.

[3051] Yeah, thanks a lot for your emails.

[3052] Keep sending them in, bombcast at giantbomb .com.

[3053] We're looking forward to hearing from you.

[3054] In the meantime, we'll be back next week with more of the Giant Bombcast.

[3055] So come back for that, I guess.

[3056] Hopefully I'll be back.

[3057] Yeah.

[3058] Oh, other housekeeping.

[3059] Live show this Friday is free for all.

[3060] Yeah.

[3061] And Supergiant Games will be on with Bastion.

[3062] Tune in at 3 .30.

[3063] 3 .30 Pacific time for that.

[3064] And then Happy Hour will start at 4.

[3065] Yeah, at 4 -ish.

[3066] And the other thing I had was Achievements Are Broken, but I think we talked about that.

[3067] Yep.

[3068] Bye.