M hm. Hey, it's Tuesday, December eighth, twenty fifteen. You
were listening to the Giant Bomb Cast. I'm Brad Shoemaker. Jeff Gerson.
Hello, Hi, Hi Dane record. Hey there, what up? Nothing?
We're in a new office, well right now. Actually they're in the
same old podcast room. Yeah. Ours ours is getting our new one is
getting strapped together. Still. Yes, we sit somewhere else, that's for
sure. New desks, new floor, new idea walls. Uh huh,
yep, we have idea walls, walls you can ride on. It's like
the most like turn of the century. Asked that company HiPE ideas and those
weird little corners with three stemps that were supposed to sit up and it's gonnahead
to go over there and vibe a little bit. Yeah, totally had come
up with some some fresh ideas. I had an idea, let's hear it.
I decided that Daniel Dwyers that should come join us. Did you guys
got your complimentary scooters yet? I would get damn it. That was my
material. That's bot's midshelf humor. That obvious reach, that's my specialty,
obvious reach. Have you guys been in the new Okay, you know the
best thing about our floor, the third floor was the disabled toilets. Yeah,
highly coveted executive stall. Yeah, yes, the executive stall. Yes,
people who don't know it. There's a single bathroom with one toilet and
a door that locks. It's great, the door, it's it's a huge
room. It was highly coveted though, and I always chuckled myself whenever I
saw somebody go for it and beat in the fail. Yeah. People used
to come from other floors. Well wait wait, I thought every floor head
one of those. No, no, I don't think this one serious.
Theors have those that the other has have showers, and that's you either have
a shower or how can there not be a handicap bathroom on every floor?
Isn't that point? There are handicap bathrooms and even the standard bathroom. It's
the bigger stall. Yes, it's just it's right, right, okay,
yes, yeah, yeah. I can't take a ship in a shower.
Yeah, I can't get rid of a cake in a shower. Just just
tell it that heal it down the drug try. Okay, you probably kind
as well, but have you been in the one on our floor? Yeah,
it's amazing. It's like it's like on the floor. Yeah, because
it's like a carbon copy. I walked in and I got this weird like
stepping through the looking glass, and I'm like, whoa, I'm back on
the third floor. Although have you realized yet that we actually have three of
those nexts and two of them are almost never used? No, you were
quite wrong about that. What are you talking about? Those bathrooms are often
used. I'd say, way more frequently in this building, way longer than
you have, I promise you. Like, it's sporadic. There's times a
day when it's fine, but not always. A man, I'm sporadic,
that's true, especially when I go on that bathroom especially regular, are you
nah? Who knows they have a whole thing for that. Yeah. Yeah,
that's it called fiber. Stop having beer for breakfast. No, that
that I think is if you want to be extra regular, ultra regular streaming,
constant stream streaming is the future. It's that's what they keep telling me.
Yeah. Yeah, Oh, is that the streaming room they're gonna finally
build for us? Yeah, they're gonna finally build the streaming as that for
like two years have these bathrooms are getting weird? Finally at least you're stream
in there. Yeah, let's subscribe to my stream. And I would say,
like mid afternoon, you're probably fine with those bathrooms, but there's definitely
a period of the morning, say like ten am, but they're likely to
be occupied. I got super excited when I realized that right behind where we
sit now is that secret little door that leads right to those oh those ones.
Yeah yeah, so oh. I literally just saw a dude walk in
on somebody in one of those bathrooms, like thirty minutes ago. Yeah,
it was great. And I was walking past at the time, so I
saw the guy on the toilet and the guy opening the door. It was
like it was like a perfectly good window into the into the world. If
you're into four, this should be a muscle memory the second you go into
any bad. So I walked in on Peter Brandt, whoa nice I have
called Peter Brann for a reason I have. I have forgotten to lock that
door, and I paid for it. Really, someone got to see some
action. Peter had his phone in his right hand but outstretched his left palm
in a no no, no, no, no stop looking kind of fashion.
When we were at E three this year, we were at whatever dumb
hotel we were at the Standard. Uh, the only bathroom we could use
was down in the lobby, and it had a their big stall. The
block didn't work, and it was the only it was the only bathroom that
we knew about at the time. So I danger danger, look I had.
I had a situation that had to be dealt with. So I went
and took seat and was getting ready to handle business and realized I realized that
the store didn't lock, and I realized that also it was a very fucking
jumping off lobby, like there's a bunch of people running in and out of
there. I was like, well, this is I mean, this is
like a recipe for disaster. Pretty sure enough, dude, And you know
the door is just out of reach that I can't really hold it close.
Uh so guy walks in. I'm still gonna go hello, own it and
he and closes it. And then I realized that I was not gonna be
able to handle any sort of business in that area, so I just got
out of there. I mean, chances of you knowing who that person is
pretty slim, So that's not exactly what I mean. It was, So
yeah, it is it went's a colleague, then it's you know, it's
hey, it's all in the family. Also, they're probably gonna feel worse
about it than you do. Who's if I had to guess, if it's
E three rights here, you don't want some industry luminary walk exact, Who's
the one person you wouldn't want. Who's the one person you would to walk
in on you? Or for you to walk in on for some to walk
in on you? Because different answers. Yeah, Peter Moore, you wouldn't
want it. No, Peter knew I could be fine with him walking in
So Peter Maryna, I would just be a gas. I'm sorry. I'm
sorry you had to see such a display. I don't know. Yeah,
I could think of a lot of people. Yeah, I can't pick Click
Blazinski. You would or would would not? You would not want it.
You wouldn't want him to see you in that shape? Probably not, Okay,
I don't know. But Dennis Dyek, he's a wild card. I
guess he might be like keep one way, all right, two human and
alright, alright, nice Danny, thanks for being here. So I made
the first ten minutes to be back that's okay. Uh yeah, we're we're
usually the last ten minutes, got have some kouth. We're still we're still
unpacking boxes and Drew and Jason are running around setting up equipment like crazy.
Yeah. Well we of like half our audio baffling, Yeah, which is
not enough. Yes, things, but definitely still some parts missing. Yeah,
and most of the other parts are in boxes or otherwise taking apart pretty
much. Yeah, but I don't know. I sye hooked up a computer
and placed and they both seem to work. So yeah, they still have
electricity on these floors for the most part. Yeah, most in most of
the outlet in most cases. Yeah. Uh so yeah it will There'll be
a little bit of a ramp up period as we get acclimated to the new
digs. We wait, you know, we have to wait for stuff to
show it for more. I wish it was something as simple as getting acclimated
and get you know, if it was all within our control, then that'd
be great, sure, because I know we can get things done, but
it's one of those things were just like, well at the mercy of some
other bullshit, So let's just do what we can't That always the way,
Yes, Yeah, I mean, yes, yes, man, it's been
an action packed week though, holy crap, like moving our entire operation to
a different floor. It's not even close to the only thing that's happened in
the last seven days. Yeah, I mean we recorded all of our Game
of the Year podcast. You guys in that stuff's all in the can yep,
well a lot of it. Is still a lot of stuff left to
do. God, you guys are pre game awards on the last podcast.
Yeah, yeah, dude, yeah, yet, and then there's that there's
like two major events and also taken place in the last week. Right,
Uh, what do you say we run through that stuff first? That seems
like the hot topic of the day? Hot topic? Yeah, I like
that one. Get some corn t shirts, Get some video game vinyl while
you're there. Yeah, it's vinyl and a backpack that has fairy wings attached
to it, permanently hot topic. Cell records. Yeah, okay, vinyl
to Fallout three colored vinyl. Literally, we're not fucking with you. I
got a record in the mail and went fucking what and then I gave it
the Drew who gave it to Dan. I spent a lot of a week
I listened to it yeah, I am firmly against the Like they had another
one that was MegaMan music pressed on the vinyl, and the whole thing was
just like this is so needless. Yeah, Like, don't get me wrong,
I kind of like, I get records are cool, I get it,
but that is so far removed from the way you should or need to
be listening to MegaMan music. It's like it's yeah, it's the dumb It's
the worst way maybe to listen to. Don't you have a Streets of Rage?
Oh it's love shit tons. Yeah, I've got GTA five hot Line
Miami to fall Out three Journey Streets of Rage too. There's another one,
super Hexagon. It's a hexagonal vinyl. Yeah, you can throw it.
It probably fucks someone pretty bad. Yeah. Do you listen to any of
those? You spin any of them? Plass? Actually? Okay? The
one that actually does sound kind of gnarly is Hotline because that stuff, like
is the way it's produced is kind of it's got that like analog feel to
it. Some of it is it's like digital analog. Oh sure, you
know, so that stuff kind of comes out narly. I had I had
a software, a piece of software that would just add vinyl pops and whatever
silly, and I used it as like, I want these drums to sound
older. Turn this on. That's pretty good. Do you guys have nice
turn tables? No? Do you have any turn tables? Yeah? We
have like a it's a I forget the brand, but it is a like,
you know, one hundred two hundred dollars turntable something. It's not like
super great. Yeah, it's it's a one. It's one unit, you
know what I mean. Like, it's not the table and the speakers.
I had some super old one. It was an old pioneer like rack mount
system, this big beautiful silver thing with you know the brush brush metal Yeah,
yeah, waist high speakers and that I stole from my parents and moved
into my bedroom when I was like thirteen, and then proceeded to blow out
the speakers and almost blow up the amp because that hardware was not meant for
the type of music I was listening to it the volume I was typed trying
to listen to it. Yeah, that'll happen. The neighbors really were uncool
about that. Anyway. I still have most of that gear, but you
know, whatever I'm not, I should get rid of it, get some
video game Vinyl, it'd be great. Just imagine it confused, your fucking
kids are gonna be yeah, like what the I mean? I mean,
we're we're at the point where there are videos on YouTube of kids who don't
know what CDs are. You know, yeah like that. Yeah yeah.
I saw the video of like, you know, some kid trying to work
a tape deck, trying to figure out to stick a tape and a tape
deck, and I'm like, yeah, no, I like some people look
at that and go, oh my god, I'm so I look to go,
yeah, no, that thing's super weird. Like if you didn't fucking
have someone show it to you or or ever encounter that stuff, Like why
would you know how any of them? Imagine like kid picks up that game
viol and they're like, but what I feel like there's like twenty years between
these things, right, And they're like if they if they know that stuff,
then it's like, well, what why tapes are kind of shitty?
Though, then you have to explain like the shitty revival of vinyl. No,
you don't just stare at that, but whatever, Like like vinyl has
advantages, CDs have advantages like what's good about asset tape? Nothing small?
Yeah, okay, is it smaller than an eight track's vinyl but like last
basically forever, right, Like it doesn't have like bit rod or whatever,
Like do tapes are tapes get thin? You know? It's you get an
old tape, put it in, hit rewind, and you'll just rewind right
off the spools. Yea, eat a tape and yeah it's a huge mess.
You can if it doesn't pencils trying to re wind tapes back into the
game, you can, you can't. Man, that means like, yeah,
all those like C sixty four games thener, yep, yeah, I
found all my Atari four hundred tapes and and yeah they're pretty rough. I
bought a USB tape deck. Those weren't on just straight up cassette. They
weren't on some configure to be like a custom tape forms like the MSX thing,
because I remember you mentioning that. You know, there's one part in
the middle of or five where he puts like a thing in. Yeah,
he puts a tape into tape deck and yeah, in a computer tape deck
and loads a game like yeah, okay. The awesome thing about the Atari
though, is that it also put music on there along with the game,
So like the left channel would be the game, and then the right channel
would would come out of your speaker on your tape deck at the appropriate time.
And they had this fucking kicking jam, this hot fucking bassline that would
play while while your tapes loaded. I thought it was like, it's like,
why twenty ninety seven he just basically that thing in a CD player.
Yeah, got the sand track And it was also there was a guy that
would give you like instructions and you were loading like states and capitals or Hangman.
So it was like this guy going, you could play Hangman and load
up this other stuff. Can you name all fifty capitals? Keep trying until
you get them all? Right? Like this weird sales e copy for the
game that you're loading. Was it Sympany of the Night where if you just
put it into a music player, it just played the tracks? No,
because you we will so on on one speaker you would hear that, and
then the other speaker you would hear okay, you know because that was where
the game was. Yeah, yeah, I told you about what they let's
set a project, right, told me when I went over because we did
that whole piece about which or three and we started talking to him about like
piracy you know in you know, pre democracy Poland or whatever, and they
said, yeah, there was like radio stations straight up broadcasting C sixty four
audio over the airwaves, and people would like sit at home and record games
from the fucking radio. Yeah. Yeah, not ment layabel games. Yeah,
it's for the audio and then the cassette could be put into Yeah,
because you know a lot of these games were getting sold when like the concept
of a dual deck tape deck wasn't super widespread, so copying a tape was
not quite as easy, but home taping was killing the music. And there
was no copyright infringement in those states because they didn't have I guess what would
you call it, Like they wouldn't there was no copyright the law, no
copyright laws, especially foreign works. I'm sure. Yeah, so they're just
like whatever, Uh, that's great and it's super awesome, and like you
know, people went and there was a while there that like, uh,
you could get like CDs or people to hook up iPods with the tape recordings
on it and hook those up to a computer to get them to load and
you just play them, just play the track that way, and it just
the same. Yeah, it's it's a really insane it's just really insane the
way that that worked. Yeah, the ways people used to transfer games around
were so crazy. Like you know, there were those magazines back in the
early eighties that had the straight up the source code for games in the back
of them, And get the magazine and type all the code in your computer
and run at it. And I would always have three typos and never be
able to find where I'm at the type of And that was where that was
where I learned that I didn't want to be a programmer because I could I
had no patience for going back and finding those typos. My mom would do
it. She would actually pour over the listing and try to look for mistakes.
And how long did that take you? I mean how hours? Hours?
Hours? Hours? Wow? Like insane, Like both of us were
insane, me insane for typing it, for insane for fixing it. And
and do you like those Fallot three hacking mini games? They're yeah, they
were all right, I don't know. I thought they were kind of fun,
Yeah, you don't mind, and Fallout three and then when they showed
up again. It was like, all right, all right, okay,
remember the trick with the brackets. Yeah, I never needed him. I
just there's a website that's like, hey, typing all the words and then
we'll tell you what the route is to find the answer, or just a
console thing on PC. I wasn't playing on PC. Oh right, yeah,
way does that website sli work? Yeah? The Fallout three websites all
still work for Fallout four. Yeah. I feel like that was that was
like a defining moment in your experience with Fallout four from from what you were
saying, Yeah, it was just like, man, what am I doing?
Why does it still work? I mean it's canonical, it's canonical.
All the same computers would have been there. Yeah. So that was that
was how I felt okay about it, but also felt okay, totally sidestepping
it because like I've played multiple games where I've done this before, Like,
I don't, I don't. This is not a challenge. It's not fun
for me. I'm just gonna open these locks. The guns, yep,
guns are good in video games, all right, Danny, So did you
watch the Game Awards. We were all in the deep in the throes of
podcasting that you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we had everyone in
the office basically stay late for fucking got those reasons. Did you enjoy it?
Was it good? Yeah? I like how was the show? I
like that show? Yeah? I mean, you know game awards, you
know awards shows, they're kind of it's not how a thing where you have
to like appeal to so many different people in one thing. You need to
appeal to like the hardcore and like casual people and folks who only play like
one game year and X y Z, and like it's it's super difficult to
put on a show to appeals for a lot of people. It still seems
like it's, you know, they've got a narrower focus than when they were
on when Yeah that stuff was on Spike TV and trying to be a television
show, because then it was like even like you're trying to appeal people who
actually actively don't care about video games, but you still want them to watch.
Yeah, Like, were they doing the comedy skits and stuff this year?
Come back on Spike. That was the thing they would do, the
comedy skits, And I feel like after Spike you saw way less of that
stuff. I felt like this was pretty straightlaced like they had Like, for
instance, I don't think Spike would have allowed you to basically dedicate, you
know, ten fifteen minutes of the show to the memory of Saturo Watta,
you know what I mean. That was like that was a nice moment.
They seem to have not as many awards as before, but they sort of
peppered in more announcements. I don't think any announcements were particularly massive. Yeah,
there was no sort of like I don't really think they have been in
the past. I know, like people talking about No Man Sky. But
then like when that game was announced, it wasn't a big announced nobody knew
it was. And I think it's it's the thing where it's like, you
know, we did we just did it, where you connect this thing directly
to Spike TV because it's Jeff Keeley running the show and all that other stuff
like he did for Spike, But this is an Internet thing that he's he's
putting together. This isn't some big, you know, network behind him putting
it all together. So you know, it's four it's it's on the Internet.
It's like a different audience, like you're I think you're going to attract
different types of announcements when when you don't have like hey we're on basic cable
as like the thing backing you up, like he was able to like procure
a lot of bigger exclusives I think with the bargaining chip back then and you'll
be on Spike TV. Like that's the thing that like some pr person can
go back and tell their boss, Hey, we're gonna be on tel We're
revealing our Game World premiere on television National great terrific trif that's I understand television,
I understand a magazine cover Internet what so yeah, I mean you know
now that that show is is on the Internet, and you know, I'm
sure is a much smaller affair, Like it makes sense that like the scale
of the announcements would would kind of you know, be a little different.
It still felt like it had that sort of grand appeal though had a really
impressive stage. I feel like it wasn't particularly like there was empty seats.
I think that's going to happen when you do it in LA when this note
like they at least they could wrote it right on the colt tails of PSX
last year and get those people in there because it was in the same city,
right, and they had like some of that, there was sponsored stuff.
I wasn't too a great year. It was kind of funny like that
I just seen outside basically talking to people about Battlefront throughout the Yeah, so
they had like Vinyaki was on a stage like talking about Disney Affinity, but
like they talked to him about Battlefront for like a good forty seconds beforehand while
people played battle Front behind and they had like, you know, Cliffy was
out like talking about Lawbreakers, but like he talked about aout front where for
like thirty seconds before boots that great video game, you know, yeah,
and let me tell you about Lawbreakers. So that was kind of strange.
Actually, the best part they had was, Oh god, what the fuck
is the hashtag? It was bud Light responsoring it and they were like it
was like hashtag like stay light or some nonsense. But he basically there was
like two people in the crowd who had won tickets to the game Awards who
weren't maybe necessarily the biggest gamers, and Keiley had to go talk to him
in between the bit and he was masking, like you know, how's your
how's your bud Light evening going, you know, like, fuck up bud
light to you right now. So that was probably the most egregious one,
but that But the best part of the show though was the crazy weird like
Jade Raymond, metal gear solid backstabby stuff that went on. Did you see
any of that? I heard something about it. I didn't actually watch the
clue. It was super weird. So they said, how anyone has anyone's
seen this? I heard about the Kajima stuff with Keiley is saying that was
amazing. Okay, I didn't learn anymore Jad Raymond. So to give a
context, I guess. First of all that happened was that Melgar Solid one.
I don't know what award it was. It was was the best character
so the one keeper accepted. Yeah, so Keeper Sulli went up and accepted.
Sorry, I can't remember what it was. It wasn't best game right
anything, And Keeper Sulli went up accepted on behalf of Kajimat cuts back to
Jeff Keiely, who's in his like box, and he basically goes like,
oh, we wanted Hideo Kajima. It's calm, we asked, we reached
out. But his lawyers essentially said that we learned he was not allowed to
come and represent the company. And but then and then Keiley basically went off
on one saying like, we're really disappointed. This is the fact, and
we send our love to Hideo Kajimat and he basically just like without in like
the most professional way possible, push Kanami in it, like which you know,
fair enough, it's a company that's getting all the way out of video
games. It is the safest come if you if you're going to throw a
company under the bus, right yeah, kanam He's not in a position to
right back, at least not in terms of video games. But it was
kind of like he didn't need to, Like it was kind of like a
it was like all right, fair Yeah. It's one of the things where
it's like, I mean, you know, I think everything we heard was
that his contract was up sometime in December, but probably not probably not yet
or something, and or he's got a non competent place or or whatever.
It seems like the sort of thing that like, you know, they probably
would have known about a while before this. It wasn't like some like day
of things like oh he was gonna be here and yeah, there's nothing new
about this, Like, I'm sure keey knew months ago. Have to be
highly calculated, didn't He tweet two Kajima a little bit before the show,
being like, hey, you ready for the show? Yes? Yes he
did. Well, keep in mind that, you know, there's a lot
of stuff in place to try to get people to watch the show moments like
that. You know, there's the Trending Gamer reward where I think you vote
by putting a hash tag out there. So it's like, so the trending
gamer thing, I look at it, it seems like super calculated to get
the people that have big followings to constantly rile up their big following, yeah,
and then hope that they all then tell people about this show and watch
the show. As a nominee, you know this all too up? I
did not. I deliberately did not mention it. So, yeah, I
nominated myself because I'm a judge, and I was just like a trending game
or what the fuck that wrote my own name in because I thought that was
real dumb and apparently that was all took. I don't know, And then
I was suddenly a nominee that year who won last year? I can remember
little Biscuit one. Yeah. Oh really, yes, I think that's right.
Yeah. Greg Miller picked it up this year. Yeah, did did
a big old speech. It's pretty good I heard. So what was up
with Jade Raymond though? Man? So she comes out right, So,
first of all, this is the first it's great to see her back.
It's like the first time we've seen Jade Raymond back in I feel like a
big thing in like maybe five or six years, like since she left Ubisoft.
Right, Yeah, so it's kind of like, oh, great,
Jade's back, you know. And here she is, She's running that new
eat about that doing the she working on the Star Wars with that thing.
Yeah, yeah, that's gonna be pretty cool. And then she comes I
forget the like introduction, but it was essentially like, you know, there's
certain things we associate with games that are just like to do with the characters,
which are like super important. It was for character, I think,
actually this award and she says like, you know, for instance, you
can't imagine the Medal Gear Solid game without the voice of David Hayter. And
then I was kind of like, oh, you know, kind of a
mute of applause, and she was like sorry, that was a bit mean,
and then she pulls out not wrong, no, yeah, but like
you was sudden, like the camera I think maybe maybe cut two. I
forget, like they're cutting to him literally all the time because he's the only
celebrity apart from Shock who's at this event. And I don't think Shock's in
the crowd. I think he's done his bit. And then shack footwo and
has fucked off. But yeah, she does that, and then she basically
they run the reel of like who's in this and it's like which or three
in her story and a bunch of other video games, and then she opens
the envelope and she says voice was voice best performing? Yeah, it was
character performing or something like that, and she pulls out the thing and she
says the name of the character from her story and then says the Witcher three.
So what So it cuts back to the lady who plays the character in
her story. Who is She's actually already been on the stage for a different
thing, and she's sitting directly in front of Marsha Nevinsky from CETI Project Red
and he's so it's like her going yeah and him going like what like throwing
his hands back, being like what the fuck, like it didn't make any
sense, and then she walks up. So Jade Raymond's entire time on stage
was just this kind of massive fuck up. She's subsequently tweeted saying like that
was what was written in the envelope. So I don't know, that's weird.
Who is supposed to win Price Waterhouse Cooper? It was supposed to be
her story. It was like everyone knows ahead of time, Like every every
for these type of awards, you think, oh yeah, it's really oh
yeah, like they're told on the night at least, I'm just still thinking
prepared speech or whatever, and so that, yeah, because the thing the
thing an awards show, it's not sure if they do this for all at
them, is that you tell somebody so they know what to say, because
otherwise they don't. They go up there and they babble for two minutes and
then you can't get them on or in some cases so they come right.
Yeah, yeah, they're certainly like you know, obviously, like everyone's gonna
go to the Oscars. If you get invited, you go, but you
know, then you get to like the Kids Choice Awards or some of these
other smaller awards shows. It's like then it becomes like, hey, you
should come because we're going to give you an award, Brian Austin Green,
you should show up and do or you know whatever it is. So that's
I think that's pretty common in the like award broadcast thing. I mean,
like the CEO of CD project is probably not going to turn up from Poland
unless he knows that he's maybe gonna win. Right, So, like I
mean dated one best game, what about the Slammy's Those those are legit?
Right? Yeah, yeah, okay, no one knows. No one knows
anything about Sammy. That's more like your your like company office party, because
like you're all just contractedly obliged to be there, right, It's like,
yeah, you know, best employee, you know, one who needs to
stop using the them in the machine all the come on looking at you.
I was trying to think of a yokazuna he sent around he's dead. Oh
god, the vending machine yet him. Then the potato ships got stuck that
one time and he just had to rock the machine. See that's why they
say all facilities yep. Uh. Let's look at the news that came out
of that like I was sitting down to like, you know, map out
the podcast this morning, like gather news stories and stuff, and in my
mind I felt like a bunch of news had broken out of this thing.
And then I looked and they were like three things. Not as much happened.
So it was like delC announcements. Yeah, yeah, a lot of
DEALC stuff, a lot of smaller you know, rocket leagues coming to the
Xbox One. Well, we already knew that. That's a piece of news.
Wait I did not announce it. Yeah, they they had announced that
already. The only thing we didn't know is that there's a ward Hog and
a Gears of Right War thing, and also that you can't play against people
on other platforms. Will I understand? Yes, you kind of on the
Xbox One cannot you cannot. It was just other Xbox players. Yeah,
which sucks. Be is the PS four and PC is Yeah, you can
do private matches. Yeah, that's a shame. Gears the word thing have
a name, obviously, the word on the vehicle from Gears of War.
All right, Right, you're playing and the constantly hurt, like just bats
coming out, But that would be kind of cool, I would be okay,
uh, it seems like Psychoonauts Too is the big thing out of the
Game Awards. For sure. It's weird enhouncement, right, Is anyone's surprised
by that? No? No, no, not actually no, it seems
like it's say, in like that list of games that like everyone Vocalman already
wants to come out but really didn't sell all that much. I guess it
has sold a lot since it came out on Steam again, right, Yeah,
they broke out the numbers for potential investors on their Accredited investor crowdfunding platform
and they're like, hey, this game sold almost two million copies and seven
hunder of the thousand those are on Humble Bundle and blah blah blah. Yeah.
So yeah, they put numbers out there to try to say like,
hey, you know, we are intending to spend this amount of money and
if we sell this many copies, this is our break even point. Like
they're actually the businesses out there. They got out there that specifically, oh
wow, I've been so I've funded the thing and I went on then you
can click on like invest in it if you want, And like, maybe
that's probably a little bit set too far for someone in the game's press,
but I said a little bit, you know, I'll just check it out,
see what's in there. So if the game like makes like four million,
if I was to invest five hundred, you'd get like fifteen hundred back.
That's the minimum, right, five hundred, Yeah, I think yeah,
yeah, So what are the requirements to be like an investor? Don't
have they'd have separate options for unaccredited and accredited investor. As an accredited investor
means that like I think you have a million dollars cash on hand, or
you've made over two hundred thousand dollars a year for the past two years.
It's some like a government like i RS classification if you can be an accredited
investor, so so they know, like you're good for it. I guess
I don't care. I mean, you have to pay up front, so
it's not really I think it's protecting people. Yeah, I think like they're
they have safeguards in place for investments to stop people from throwing away their money.
Yeah, stuff like psychonauts too, what where Where's Where's notch in all
this? They ember that they've said that they would have that they had funding
from multiple sources, maybe one of them is not so interesting. So that
does this not represent the entire budget of the game, then probably not.
No, they did like a pie chart in the shape of a brain because
it's Psychonauts, and what it looked like was about a third of it was
double fine throwing down, about a third of it was crowd sources. Okay,
a third was from unknown invisity. So that's okay, that's good to
know, because you know, they're asking for what they made on the Broken
Age Kickstarter three point three years. Yeah, but you know, if you
watch the documentary for that thing, like they were very clear in the thing
that they had put quite a bit more money into that game than what they
raised on Kickstarter. Yeah, you know, so I looked at that number
for Psychonauts and I was like, that's not going to be a very big
or elaborate game if that's all you're Yeah, they're they're getting more. But
yeah, you know, they got the rights to Psychonauts back, like,
it seemed pretty clear at that point that they would do something else with Psychonauts.
Yeah. I didn't do that just to rerelease Psychonauts one. So yeah,
I'm just kind of surprised it took him this long, but three D
action platform or game. Woo. Yeah, it's that's a really weird thing,
I mean lately, so they're all coming back. So yeah, I'm
not I am not ready to declare like a return of the three D platform
or the third person platform or just yet give it another year. Maybe maybe
like the amount of like third person or yeah, like three D platforms that
you go back and really think all fondly considering how many came out right,
like they were great because they were the evolution that almost like they only exist
almost because technically we could start making three D levels and then they forced all
these two D games into three D. But like the Amandin you want to
go back and play today, I mean yeah, it's yeah, it's pretty
much just croc Yeah yeah, yeah, chameleons, sure, yeah, Blinks,
Jersey Devil, Yeah, Jersey Devil, Yeah, Rascal and stuff.
Uh. What was that? There's one that a claim put out that was
real bad anyway, that that Duck Dodgers game. Yes, Duck Dodgers game
that was something, uh, the predecessor to Duck game. Yes, Duck
Dynasty is the third Indo Yep, it's the conclusion of the trilogy. Uh.
Eric Woolpau is working on this game. Also. That's the other weird
thing about this. Yes, well he worked on the original. I know
that, I know, But but like the idea that he would continue to
work for Valve but also co write this game like they're busy making any other
video games. I mean fair, that's that's fair. You know, Like,
what's he you know, he's a writer, he is, he gonna
spend all his time writing like more comic strips for T two characters. Like,
no, it's like trailers for a game that came out eight years.
He's got time. It's fine, I guess. So. Uh, it's
still a weird arrangement, you know. Yeah, you don't. You'll see
that every day. Yea. Valve's a weird thing. So yeah, Valve's
weird Double Find is weird. And I that's a huge reason that I love
those companies, even if I don't love everything they put out. They just
do strange things all the time. Yeah, and that's exciting to waking out
there. Yep, for sure. Uh, I guess that's kind of it
about Psychonauts. Some scrolling through this list, Rocket League a bunch of DLC.
As you said, there's a new Walking Dead game coming out of tell
Tale. Anybody what a new Walking Dead game coming out of tell Tale?
Those first two were good? Well what happened there? Because I remember that
first one came out and everyone freaked out over it one like game of the
Year and whatever whatever the video game awards were that year. Everyone seemed to
love it, and then no one talked about season two from when I saw
it when it sounds like the second season was not great. But also I
think that tell Tale has been putting out too many games. Yeah, they
put out a lot of stuff now, like or they put putting out so
many games that it's like it's hard to get like excited about any individual franchise
anymore. Those games are they all pretty much followed that format? Yeah,
well that's why the first Walking Dead, the season one of Walking Dead was
so profound because it was like tell Tale completely pivoting on their design of their
games broken Yeah, totally, like it came up with a new format for
the venture game, and then they proceeded to make like eighteen other games in
that format. Yeah, Ioney, of that, Tails and the Borderlines is
really good. Yeah, that's the one that I keep hearing yeah over and
over from people. They put out so many of this year, like Game
of Thrones, Yeah yeah, did the Wolf among them stuff up? Guess
yeah? Like some yeah Minecraft that when you go look back, actually like
they had all the ones they did, They did the Back to the Future,
this stuff was back to the future. Those were before Walking Dead.
That was kind of the inflection point for them. So many Yeah. But
for me, I need to be like inherently into the subject matter of one
of their new games before I'm going to give a yeah, give it a
closer load. But those things are huge. My understanding is that they are
raking it the fucking yeah with all of that stuff. So good on them.
I mean it's fine with me because, like I said, at some
point, they will license something that I care about, right, and then
I will play that they found away. I mean, those games are presented
in such a way that like anyone can enjoy them. It's not something that
you have to be like super into video games to get. So they can
crack them out on every form now, right, it seems like that's you
know, they'll they'll hit people who don't touch other video games because they just
like they're just some Game of Thrones fan or something like like your kid wants
something Minecraft on already has an iPod and they've been watching YouTube videos. Play
the Minecraft game. Yeah, story mode, I think I think you can
literally play real Minecraft. Also, it's a great experience. Oh god,
that wasn't even the only tell Tale announced but they're real Batman game alsoight yeah?
Uh two Telltale games out of there. Wait didn't they announce a full
throttle double fine? No, that's that's double PSX. We're getting there.
I thought were already doing Uh oh right, shock fou. Yeah, what's
up with that? I got kick started? Okay, so that was all
known about they show. I didn't watch the trailer. I don't know.
I don't I don't like Surprise Prize. I don't give a fucking fuck about
ship. The best part of that was that Shack also gave out the award
for best like Espors year. Yeah, and the guy who choked that guy
did he win? I don't know what that is. I don't think so.
Okay. Five, what looked like hobbits came on the stage. They
just regular size people. But you put like shock beside regular folk, bestie
folks who sit down playing video games all day and it's like, wow,
look like Gandalf and yeah, fucking a bunch of little dudes. It was
pretty cool. Wait, so you were aware of that he sports choking incident.
Yeah, I just found out about it this morning. I had no
idea. I don't know that we'd even need to give it any airtime or
not. But like, some fucking dude got thrown out of dream Hack for
being a dirt bag. Well it was. Well, the reason I took
notice of it, it was because the DODA player that was involved as like
a super prominent player, the guy who got the choke the chokey yes,
wow, like he was the captain of the team that won the International three.
Like he's He's a dude who I was well well aware of when I
saw that name, and I was like, what the fuck is up?
At least he didn't take a dump in the hole like the Pokemon guy,
right, Yeah, well, dot players have standards. Yeah, some Pokemon.
Professional Pokemon players got thrown out of the tournament in Hawaii winning twenty twelve.
It was like the winning team or something. Professional Pokemon players, they're
partying a little too hard, Okay, Yeah, man, So sore winning
there. That's kind of it, I think looking at this list to there
for the Game Awards, Yeah, there's not a whole lot of other major
news that came out of there from what I can see. But then I
bet did Coajima didn't go because he wasn't allowed into the after party last year?
Do you remember that? Was he not? Yeah? He was wearing
trainers? What he was wearing? Trainers? Are you serious? Man?
That's really dumb. Yeah, that's really dumb. Uh man. I guess
it was Vegas or Vegas. They're big places, same stick to that town
of dumb shit, different states, same cesspool. The PlayStation experience then proceeded
to pop off a couple days later here and here. I would say they
had a considerably more action packed keynote at that thing than the game boards did
in terms of major announcements. Oh shit, I'm sorry. One other thing
from shit, one other thing from the Game Awards. Complex Oh yeah,
oh yeah, remaster, Complex Remaster. Yeah, it's coming out on PC,
PS four and Xbox One, and it's already out on piece And just
like Surprise dropped for free on the PC. It's they they need a way
to get people to download the launcher games Launcher, which is how you play
Fortnite and Unreal Tournament and Sarah Soon Paragon Docs paragone. Is it gonna be
like a battle dot Net thing? Yes, okay, yeah, that's uh
it is. It is there, and also the Unreal Engine atset. I
was gonna watch it if you want to install that to make Unreal Engine games
like, that's the way to do as well. So yeah, if you
download it you can. I guess it's just this month it'll be free,
but yeah, you can just play. So I did that till the end
of the month. How is that thing? It's higher resolution Xbox three sixty
games. Get the faces and stuff. You look and go, oh,
you can kind of tell. I mean, you know it's been a while.
That's uh what was that two thousand nine, Yeah, something like that.
It's yeah. So it's like they didn't go in and redo every little
bit of it too. You know, it's not some huge, huge change,
but it is a sharp looking game now or you know, it runs
at PC resolutions and it's shadow complex. Yeah, so I mean that's a
good thing. Yeah. I mean things about it that I don't know that
age super well about the movement really. Yeah, it's gonna specifically has a
real speed to it that just feels flitty and just real weird. But is
it only cosmetic upgrades? Just the resolution, like all the movement feels exactly
the same. I didn't play a ton of it, but yeah, it
felt pretty similar to me. Yeah, you know, people people on the
PC have been clamoring for that game for a long time. It's a really
good game. Yeah, it took ages, but you see, maybe enough
people play it, maybe they'll figure out a way to make sequel. Yeah
may I I don't know chairs, because it looks like chairs got there.
Kind of their next projects already lined up at this point. Yeah, there's
no saying the chair would even have to do the work. There's another studio's
name on this thing also really someone whoever did the work, but I cannot
remember who it is. Seen any Microsoft copyrights on there? I did not.
Yes, it's all epic then, yeah, I guess so all right,
Uh, PlayStation experience happened. Then I thought about going in person to
this Yeah, and then read the email where they said about you know,
like press entry right, and then it said get here at eight am.
Yes, I was like, well, okay, I'm gonna stay here and
watch this on the internet, considering started at ten we were at the office,
moving right the night prior. Yeah. Uh. I also decided to
stay home and watch it on the couch, which turned out to be a
great way to watch it because it was totally fine to watch that stream.
Uh. Let's see, let's just go through all the news. I guess
as I scroll in order through the stuff they did. Mean they showed that
Final Fantasy seven remake. Yeah, trying to go in chronological order here,
just we can get a handle on things. Excuse me, Uh, do
we want to talk about that now? Or you want to save that?
Yeah, I'm very torn on that because that issue got way more complicated by
the end of the weekend. Yeah, up front, I was surprised at
how much they showed and that it looked better than I expected. Like,
I thought, its face looks stupid, Well, but I think it always
looks stupid. Class is always look fucking stupid. Yeah. It's like one
of the things where it's like, the more realistic you make a Final Fantasy
character looks, You're just like, Okay, that's like, no, that
hair doesn't translate on like J Metal asshole or yeah, but still like they
showed a lot and I was like, wow, they have more of that
done than I personally expected before the other shoe drops. I think they interesting
thing about that was like the combat look different, you know, and yeah,
kind of like fifteen is looking got a real time issue looking at the
combat system, which I like, you kind of have to change it up
at this point. That game is fucking I mean, I mean yeah,
but like also, like you know, it was standard active time battle.
You know, It's like they made a lot of games like that. I
think you're right, but I think every decision about this thing, you could
go one way or the other. Right, I guess, well, we
want to stick to the the what the original was, or it could just
go like fuck it, we're gonna redo it. Like I was blown away
really that they changed the combat. I wasn't because I figured they would just
be like, well, you know, everyone's going to freak out if we
change it, so let's just let's just stick to what it was. I
just you know, or whatever, you know, But that that one thing
was very surprising. Yeah, that makes me think that it's being used as
like a jump gap to get people who are like that Final Fantasy seven cried
that generation who don't play Final Fantasy games anymore, trying to like get them
back on board. Right, Yeah, like let's make it play like the
current one because a the tech is there already, we can leverage it.
Oh they're actually no, they're on Unreal Engine for Final Fantasy seven remake,
which seems crazy really because it looks well. And then fifteen's not No,
that's on their own stuff, all right. I think those fifteen is also
want Unreal. I want to say fifteen was on I'm gonna I'm gonna crack
up my laptop check those facts and see if it connects to the shoddy wifick.
We're already in it. Let's just talk about it. Keeps talking.
Uh yeah, Like it looked good, I thought, even though, like
you know, some of that dialogue was a little yes seven hearing some of
them, iog spoken aloud like we're doing it for the planet or whatever.
It's just like all this stuff looked terrible. All this stuff has always looked
terrible. All this stuff it's sounded, you know, like like the Red
Terrible looked terrible. I guess what, right, But I'm saying, hearing
it spoken out loud is did not drives that home in a way that seeing
in a little text box did not. Hopefully some of that stuff will be
updated, but anyway, whatever, let's fast forward all the way past the
entire event to like what an hour after that ended Sunday evening. Is that
is that when this happened. Yes, okay, and a press release trickled
out. I did not get that press release. Anybody in this room get
that in their inbox. I tend to get just about all press releases from
Square Nix, but not that one. Uh. And yeah, they they
put out a little like one or two paragraph thing that just casually mentioned the
fact that this thing will be split into multiple episodes three discs, just like
the original. I mean, it sounds like that would be preferable along the
fan base to the alternative, which is split it a lot more than that.
They said they a multipart series. They have said anything specific. So
Kingdom Marts three is Unreal Engine four, but uh, Final Fantasy fifteen I
believe is Luminous Engines. Yes, point Oh, I mean, I think
the whole thing is that they've been working on that thing for so fucking long,
like they're locked into whatever engine they were using. Sure for a luminous
engine US Yeah, yeah, yeah, rotate the cubes and drop it in
and then some fucking Baja boat. Yes, sounds like a Final Fantasy game.
Man. Reactions were not kind. I've got to say, I've got
this awesome life hack. You want to hear it? I want to hear
my awesome life hac. What's that if you don't like episodic games, wait
till they're all out and then play it. Yeah, but then, because
if it wasn't an episodic game, that's how long it would take for it
to come out. Probably that's that's very possible. But you know, so
did what's that gonna be like twenty twenty when the thing's done? I don't
know, Like, Brad, you tell me, man. What they always
allude to, Like how fucking im possible it is to remake this game because
it's so much But like they're going and entering full production on other Final Fantasy
games. What is it about seven that makes that like more impossible? Er?
Is it because it's is there just a bunch of one off stuff they
can't reuse? Is it because like the snowboarding is in there, like you
know, the Golden Saucer. Like, yeah, okay, Bury in mind
that I played through this game once in nineteen ninety seven. That's how fresh
my memory of it is. I just I remember being an incredibly long game
and there are a whole lot of environments you go to, like just a
whole lot of different story sequences that take place in different places. Yeah,
so it's not even lot of contents. So it's not even that like the
gameplay changes so much that you're using your you're you know, making stuff and
throwing it all away in the next chapter. I mean, you know,
you're getting new summons and those have animation. It's literally just content creation.
It's literally just the range of because you know, how many discs was that
on with three three? I think it was three four, I think that's
right. But yeah, it was just like I mean, who else played
through that game. I played about thirty hours of it and stopped. Uh,
It's just it's just really long and you went to a lot of places,
and like that made a lot more sense back then when you know,
I'm sure that game was fairly expensive for its time, but even then,
like you're not putting nearly as much, just like art and animation effort into
stuff. As you're right now, you know, isn't it one of the
last ones with the traditional overworld too, because you know, next one I
played was I played nine to ten. I don't remember those having the overworld
eight and nine definitely. I think ten was the first one that didn't have
a real overworld. Okay, yeah, you kind of always saying about it
being line. You always saw that game from the kind of ground level perspective.
Yeah, it's characters full size and everything for seven hours, going through
big deserts and stuff. Yeah yeah, uh yeah. I mean I buy
their argument that it would be insanely expensive to remake every minute of that game,
you know, but also like I feel like, if you were trying
to remake that game and we're willing to make real changes to it, which
it sounds like they definitely are, then tighten it up right. I Mean,
it's a story so dense that like it'd be hard to to do that.
It just seems like I feel like if you went through that thing as
an editor, I bet you could squeeze ten hours out of it. I
can't I can't answer that confidently, just because it's been so long. But
like, you know, what would the reaction of the fan base be if
you did that, Like, you know, people that want this thing fare
enough about it. I feel like the reaction of the fan base is going
to be super touchy no matter what you do. If you if you are
super faithful to the original game, they're people to be like, oh,
they just fucking upresed it, you know if they if they totally have wide
departures from the original game, they'll be people that think it's not the same.
You know, this episodic thing is just another example of that of people
just want the thing they got then, but better, which is like a
weird thing to ask for. Uh, and and not that doesn't seem like
a great bit of business for Square either if they made this like really faithful
remake, like they made that and it's the PC version of Final Fantasy seven,
which is now on PS four, right, if you want your super
faithful version, Like, isn't that the one? Yeah? Totally that is
the game, and like I guess it's got trophy and stuff. So it's
like, all right, here's a relatively modernized version of that thing, Like
it at least run in a way you can play it. It might not
be perfect to the PS one, but that you know, yeah, I
don't know, Like that's it's just a weird I that's an impossible game.
It's an impossible fan base to please. Yeah, at this point, so
much time has changed and the expectations of the genre are very different. The
way games or made it has changed a lot. The game that people remember
in their heads, especially if they're like you and haven't played its ninety seven,
is not the same game that actually got released. So like, the
expectations are are unrealistic on all ends of that, I think, or you
know, even even if you played it more recently than that, Like games
weren't in a different place at that time, Like everybody who played it at
that time was any different place than they are now, because that was almost
twenty years. Like by the time this thing is out, it will be
it will have been over twenty years since Final plantsy seven came out. You
know, Like that is insane to think about, but it's true. I'm
scrolling through this uh story that Austin wrote. He gathered some so the way
they handled this thing was just like you know, of course they're going to
sneak this piece of potentially damaging information out in the quiet manner as possible,
but they gave no context for it in that press release. And then,
like other little details are starting to come out in some like interviews that have
been published in Japanese, which Austin had uh as it has a story about
where he collected some of those details. Sorry, I'm just trying to parce
all this stuff because they have talked about Okay, here's the thing I was
looking for. Because when you're talking about, you know, needing a story
editor or whatever, this says some story content will change, some will remain
the same. Bold claim. Yes, well yes, obviously. Uh.
This is talking to Tatsuo Nomura and Yoshinori Ki to say who kind of the
you know, the biggest people on this project. They were both around for
the original game. It says they are definitely aware that the game that they
need to keep both diehard fans happy in the original game while also updating an
out of date script. Man, yeah, they are aware that. Are
they aware that that's actually impossible? Did they have guns to their head while
giving this interview as the people who would most directly receive the feedback from the
crazed fans for this thing. I'm sure they're imminently aware, right. Uh
yeah, so it says this is I think this is Austin's words. But
so, on one hand, yes, Final Fantasy seven remake will still feature
cloud Cross dressing for Don Corneo. But on the other hand, no,
Morris says he wants to quote surprise fans who know the story from start to
finish, and Keta say says that he wants to remake. He wants the
remake to be more than just quote something nostalgic, right. I think that's
that's probably the right way to go, right, Like, you know,
especially if it's coming alongside like hey, here's a here's a here's a way
for you to play that original game. I mean, I assume the PC
version was was on par I don't know, I've never assumed. Assuming,
yeah, assuming that's a fine version of the game. They're like, hey,
here's here's the way to play the original thing. If that's what you
want to play, and then we're gonna, you know, take some license
and do something different, Like right, that's that seems like what you the
way you kind of have to go with that. Let's see, they say
that the remake will you'll still have a three person party. You can still
switch around between characters, So there's that. Reconnect two is also working on
it, yeah, along with various companies, so they're like outsourcing a bunch
of stuff. They compare the battle system to that of Decidia or Kingdom Hearts,
which like, okay, fine, I've seen that stuff in action,
Like it's kind of whatever. Is that more real time? Yeah? I
mean you're run around, you're controlling the characters because twelve, yeah, fifteen
is super action e Yeah, although you're still kind of inputting commands and stuff,
but like they're probably be lifting out what they're doing the Kingdom Hearts,
right, It's it looks like a yeah, uh I get you know.
The biggest question is just like how do they chop this thing up. How
many different releases are there they're going to be, how much they've they've come
out They have come out and said each release will have a like full game's
worth of content. See that that starts to make me scared because then you're
into like StarCraft territory instead of like you know, tell Tale territory. Right,
But also at least that is seven seven two and seven three. Yeah.
They also ok, they also confirmed that the actual real final title of
this thing is Final Fantasy seven Remake. Yeah, which sounds like weirdly clinical
to me. That's Japan, but that's exactly what it is, I guess.
But yeah, like, like, what the hell does like full game
mean at this point? You know, like some full games are four hours
long, like some full games are eighty Yeah, that's not It's not a
very helpful statement. Are they trying to just stay away from the idea of
these are because like games that are don't feel full are tell tale episodes,
they feel like chapters. Yeah, those absolutely feel like, Hey, I
just played a small portion of a full game, right, and now I'm
gonna wait in a month or two. Trying to like distance themselves and like
whether that blow or something. Yeah, I guess so, but I wonder,
you know, it's like how well the episodic thing will hold up over
these next couple of years, you know, if people are going to kind
of turn the corner on it, like no, I want the whole thing
at once. It's like, I mean that's what Netflix just does with,
you know, episodic series. Now it's just like, ah, look here
you go. Yeah, I have like obsotunity, no interesting. I know,
it's like just my own perspective, but like as somebody who plays a
lot of games, I have no interest in playing anything and having to wait,
Like I'm the same as you. Yeah, I'll just wait for them
to come out. I've done that wolf Wolf among us. If done,
I would walking down. If done, would load them. Wasn't that Resident
Navil revelations too? That was like one every week, wasn't it. Yeah,
I mean that thing, that thing. Yeah, that was clearly more
of a business strategy of they had it all basically done up front and just
kind of put it out piecemeal. Here's the here's the explanation. They says
that, due to the remakes increased density, making the full game as a
single release would require a number of undesirable cuts and would limit the team's ability
to make new additions. Rather than that, they chose from the beginning to
target a multiple part release. They will have more information in the future about
what that means. But it could be as simple as some businessman over there
looking at Western game purchasing and going, hey, you know what's really big?
You know, it's been picking up over the past couple of years.
Episodic, make it happen, and then we'll figure out what the upside of
stuff, like, Hey, you know you're out there selling an episode before
the whole game is done. You're getting some money coming in, right,
Yeah, you know, like that's that's nice if you're in that position.
I guess I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I mean,
you know, to hear them tell it, it sounds like people have taken
them eighteen years to remake the entire thing start to finish before they put it
out. But I mean final five s seven fins waited this long. It's
true. You know. The real question is just how much is in each
episode and how much they cost? Right cynically, I would assume they will
be closer to a full price game than not mhmm. But you tell me,
I mean, I would you know, figure like twenty dollars episodes three,
you think three acts of the game, like there are natural stopping points.
By the end of it, you get to sixty bucks. I will
say that none of the footage, all the footage they showed at this thing
was all in mid car, which is the first part of the game,
like the fairly early first part of the game, Like there's a ship ton
of game after that. Like it looks like some half of the footage looked
like the first five minutes right, get the train stuff, right, Like
most of what they showed looks like it could be from the first like two
hours of the game or whatever, and there's like another seventy eight hours after
that or something. So I like building these environments, you know, and
filling them out with stuff is the limiting factor, Like how long is this
thing going to take to get done? I don't know. That seems like
a that that seems like the sort of project that is just a noose around
your neck. Many sign up for it, and you're like, we're gonna
eat the next six seven years, no way out of such a thankless time.
Hopefully it'll do well. There's no pleasing everybody with this thing. Like
it's fun for me to revisit it, but everyone's gonna hate us, ye
as well, might as well have some fun with Let's hope that by the
end of it we've turned them around. Yeah, but this is the only
way to get made. And they told me that I had to be the
one to make it so it's either quit or do this. Also, especially
the weird thing is that the guys that they're quoting for this stuff are very
much working on other games at the same time. Yeah, you know,
No More is the director of Kingdomart's three. Yeah, and was directing Fun
and Fantasy fifteen until they put somebody else on it. But like, but
if they're outsourcing a ton of this cont yeah, that's nothing. And they're
gonna be the figureheads for it regardless, and get there the Internal Square people.
And they also have you know, a I see connection to the original
game. I mean, yeah, who knows what they're actually actual involvement is
what a boondoggle? Yeah, everybody seemed to be feeling really good about that
based on the footage, and then a day and a half later, you
know, the other shoe dropped. All right, let's run down a bunch
of the other stuff that happened at the PlayStation experience. They kicked off that
keynote with some new and charted stuff. I had a diet pepsi. Yeah,
how was that? It's cold? Yeah? Yeah, taste born in
the Carolina's Yeah, do you have any of that party mix in the media
lounge. No, it's good party. I liked the party. Yeah they
didn't have any bar. I wasn't there to party. I was there to
work. Yeah that's that's a lie. But we'll get to that lane.
While all right on Charted four has dialogue choices in it. Yeah, yeah,
that at least that opening cinematic which appears to be the beginning of the
game. Yeah, like that does That was maybe the most exciting thing I've
seen about and Charted four so far. I bet they don't make that much
of a difference. Probably not. Bet they make no difference, Probably not,
But that's the only one. Also, come on, that can't come
on? Yeah, maybe they maybe they just gen that up the police station
experience. How much that chrisma do you think? Nathan Jake eys, he's
like a solid time probably yeah, sure, okay, yeah something like that.
I just you know, they made three fucking uncharted games that we're all
kind of the same, Like any anything changing it up at all is kind
of exciting to see you right, Also, did you guys actually able to
shoot your gun? Sarcastic? Right, right, Yes, did you guys
you got watched that cut scene that they like you see all that stuff the
whole when his brother kept going on and on about like it's it's like I
can't believe you, blah blah blah, you know, and he's like,
yeah, well it happened like this. He was like, no, it's
literally unbelievable that, Like I thought I was for a minute, I was
hoping they were going in a direction where like Nathan Drake turns out to just
be the like, the most successful con man in history, and like none
of the previous games ever actually had it. You're just playing through his life,
do you exposed? The entire game is just exposing Nathan Drake as a
giant fraud. Oh that would be so great, or he's crazy like games
like I don't believe you. Let's go back there and you can prove it
to me. And you get there and there's nothing there. Yeah, those
places exist. Sully's like his parole officer Shambala is more like it. Yes,
sick burn Okay. They announced the final character for Street Fighter five.
His name is Fong Yeah with period an. I don't know you tell me,
you guys, You and Jayson did not seem especially stoked on that guy.
I think he looks kind of lame. He just looks like a goofy
like comedy characters like this really lanky, kind of tall hat wearing dude slender
Man. Yeah, I kind of like not too far off, I don't
know. Yeah, and he's a shadow loop guy, so I don't know
works for Bison. Sure, new background stage that had a cool set of
statues in it. I thought was neat. But yeah, that character seemed
like a bad one too. I don't know what a good one would be
though, Like, but he didn't seem like a great way to like end
the Here are all the characters in our game, Like, that's that's the
the last character for launch. Yes, so they've announced the full roster and
then they announced the which I think this had leaked out, but they said
what the first six additional characters would be. Oh yeah, I think the
internet had figured that one out. Yeah, a lot of stuff was in
the beta and they hacked the names out and stuff. But yeah, that's
like and then came out and kicked his ass. Yeah someone had too,
might as well be Geo Real lived Oaken took place right there on stage.
It was cool hockey Jersey. They spent a bunch of time on Battlefront and
Call of Duty. Yeah, there was. Well, I mean I imagine
they have to, like you know, like like that thing is mostly focused
on smaller games. They probably have to just like pay some lip service to
the companies they've partnered with. Yeah. I thought it was so weird seeing
those on the show floor, like these big booths for Call of Duty and
Battlefront and people like waiting in line to play it. What are you doing?
Why do you think money? They come to this thing? Yeah,
in line to play games that are already out. You know, it's really
weird. But what people weren't people? People may not have had a chance
to see those games before, and I think they had it on they had
an upcoming level for a Battlefront. Yeah, that's it's just free DLC.
So that's free for everybody. Again, Still, why I wait and lone?
Is this this thirty day exclusivity on Call of Duty DLC? Was that
a new thing? No, that's that's the standard. That's what I don't
know. It's been standard for Microsoft, But had it not been announced before
now for that out there, I think that was a new three thing.
Yeah, I don't know they said thirty days specifically, but that was always
how the clause worked before. That's what this story I'm looking at says.
So it's yeah, I mean yeah, they got up there and said,
hey, remember we were the Forced the Force is strong with PlayStation and also
we got those Call of Duty maps, y'all sure do it was it was
like a weird moment. It was like, hey, we're we'll open with
Final Fantasy. Then let's get this stuff out of the way so we can
get back into announcement territory. Like I thought that was stuff went fine,
but it's like it's just one of the things you just look at and go
like this didn't actually need to be here. Someone just wanted to make someone
at some other company feel like they were appreciated. I'm sure everybody wants to
feel important. Yeah, you know, uh, you know who is important.
It's a bad segue, Tim Shaefer. Okay, he showed up that
both of these things. Yeah, they had more announcements. Uh Full Throttle
remastered. Yeah, you guys, anybody ever played Full Throttle here? I
have never played it. It never did anything for me. It was like
it is like there are there, they are already doing Day of the Tentacle
and that's the one when it comes to that sort of stuff, you know,
you can't that I want the mostest. Yeah, so Full Throttle was
kind of like got already kind of moved on from the genre by the time
they were making Full Throttle, so it's it was never like that in Grim
Fandango both. I was just like, you know, it's full throttle.
Late nineties, mid ninety five is show. Yeah, Grim Fang was after
that. Okay, yeah, I did that remaster come out? Yeah,
okay, but but not all year they showed that Day of the Tentacle remaster.
That looks nice. It looked like it looked like a lot of the
filters that come with every emulator out there. So yeah, but they're redoing
all yeah, well they're redoing it. But also like it's the same number
of raimes, it's the everything. It was exactly the so interesting, everything
moves like exactly the same. But you know, I don't I don't think
I want like a huge graphical overhaul for that game. But that's one of
those things where I still have my CD copy of Day of the Tentacle and
you can still run it through scum VM and it's a fine version of that
game and its original format. Yeah, so like smooth edges on that stuff.
I think I think it looks good. It's it's that game should come
out and be accessible to more people. Yeah, exactly. It was a
great adventure. Well, like I think it's I think it's really cool that
Tim Shaffer is going after every game he's ever made and getting them all under
the under their roof. You know. That's cool kind of topping that well
so many left right Maniac Mansion and uh yeah, well he didn't he didn't
run that one. Yeah. I think Data Tonacle was the first one.
He like co directed that with Dave Grossman. Right, that's that's I think
that's rightful Fortle was the first one he did entirely by himself. I just
I just have a lot of respect for somebody that cares that much about their
body of work to go back and like buy it all up and and or
I guess they don't. They didn't buy the rights in some of these cases,
but like, yeah, you know, did the business like work and
found the all the old assets and stuff to make it happen. It's cool.
Yeah, yeah, I still have my Triangle Box for a day.
The Tentacles. Yeah, yeah, it's yeah. I remember seeing that thing
in stores when I didn't have a computer to play it on. I was
like, man, I bet that's cool. That looked neat. It's a
it is a phenomenal game. Yeah. And the voice of less Nestment from
Yes from Wrap and s It's duty. Yeah, that's crazy. That alone
makes me want to play that thing more than anything. I also I wanted
to do some of the any guys played The Grim the Grim from that Girl
a little bit. I had not as much as because you know, at
the end of the day, it's still an adventure game and at a certain
point I need to like pull up a fact to really progress in it ectly.
But like they did a great job with it. Yeah. The commentary
is the thing that I really liked about it a lot, which was that's
the thing I liked and the thing I wish it had was the Remember they
did the special edition of Monkey Island and they had the like tips thing.
There was like three layers of tips right like ask it and would like nudge
you in the right direction, and then like on the third one of which
is straight up to tell you. So I think that stuff came straight out
of the Hint books, because that's Lucas used to sell hint guides that were
like invisible ink and you would rub out like the the and you'd rub out
the first one and then the second one and the third one and be like,
all right, just give him this and do this. So I want,
I want to say that that stuff, it might have just there.
Maybe one of those existed for that game. I think one existed for Indiana
Jones. But I hope they do with this because it's an not a scum
game, because they didn't than Grim Grim didn't happen any of that stuff,
and I think that's probably a game that needs it, maybe more than Monkey
On. Yeah, yes, so I thought it'd be pretty cool. Yeah,
it's a nice job they're doing with that stuff. They announced they knew
another Psychonauts game for PlayStation VR. Also, oh yeah, great little I
love that animation, the little Palmer Lucky Yeah, beach thing. Yeah,
it's Psychonauts. Guy, I don't I don't think I actually showed that game,
do they Nobody? They had the logo up and it's probably the Psychonauts
in the Rhombus of the Rhombus of Ruin Ruin. Yes, that game will
be set between Psychonauts one and two. It's the dark middle chapter. Yeah,
the Psychonauts saga. Uh, let's see what else happened? Yaka is
a zero is coming over here? And then five is out today? Really,
I think okay, or zero out today and they're doing five. It's
one of the other. All I know is the Girls zero is the one
that just kind announced see it out? Yeah? Girls look great? What
the trailer said, Yeah, don't worry kids, Let's see Ace Combat seven
for PlayStation VR. Yeah. Like I saw that. I was just like,
yep, okay, yes, that's if you're gonna take one real video
game franchise and shove it into your VR headset, that is the one.
So I want to say they'd are already said that an ace Combat thing was
coming for VR out of TGS the same I think honestly it was in the
same breath as the Tech and seven VR announcement. Really, but I could
be wrong, really, I'm I could definitely be wrong. Is a new
thing. So but the so the interesting thing there or well whatever, I'm
not that interesting. But the official like Twitter account for Project Aces or whatever
tweeted out, welcome back to the strange real It's good to be here,
thanks for having me. It's what they called the reality. That is what
fans called that reality. Wait, and it never was officially embraced until this
very moment really, so it's so it is a very clear way for them
to signal this game will take place in they're fucking crazy anime war world.
It's not like some realistic you know, it's not like that Last Day's Combat
game where it's like fly helicopter and gets sick to STULTI yeah, when was
it. I feel like the early ones were just kind of like, hey,
I'm just flying cool air. And the early ones were based on arcade
games, so it was just like, yeah, just shoot it down and
go to the next level. And it was like PS two PS two air.
Maybe it's kind about five or so around there, and it started getting
real weird and they really leaned into it by the time that like sixty one
came out. Yeah yeah, yeah, so they're they're gonna make one of
those sounds like sure, so yeah, can I shoot missiles of planes and
VR? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna go out on a limb here and
say yes, can I hold in circle and the camera will follow the missile?
That I can't. I can't sure, but that was my favorite,
very sick. I want to do that. I don't know if there will
be a camera. You are the camera, yeah, like you, I
don't think you can do that anymore. I mean you can, there's a
third person stuff. Yeah, but like I don't know that that stuff works.
I mean, like you say that, like I'm just following a missile.
Well, camera control independent of your head movement is what I mean?
Like, like you sensory perception standard. I think the thing you could,
Yes, there there is a way to do that. It would just have
to be kind of a slow fade to transition from one viewpoint to the others.
I talked to a number of developers doing VR games with this weekend about
just like how crazy it is to figure out these rules as they go along,
you know, in terms of like like like they don't know going in,
what's gonna make people sick, Like what's gonna like totally scramble your brains.
In terms of like having camera moves and like do all kinds of weird
stuff. Yeah, So it seems like people are starting to figure out some
kind of early things, and it is stuff like you can't just do a
cut to now you're controlling a missile or now you're you're following a missile,
Like there has to be kind of a transition, yeah, to make that
to make your brain not wig out. Like all kinds of stuff that I'll
touch on this sum later with another game that I played, but just all
kinds of stuff that works fine on a TV screen that suddenly doesn't when you've
got it in the head mounted display. Well, I mean if it makes
like if it makes the player feel something even if it's bad, you know
someone's gonna make that game where it just uses all that like dark knowledge,
like the game I want in the game I want VR Simulator twenty sixteen.
That's that's what it is. Like, Yeah, that's just the thing that's
like makes you throw up as fast ass that goal them I mean vrans,
Like you're controlling a girl who's wearing a blindfold that takes the place of a
VR headset and then she's controlling a goal them. That's kind of yeah,
yeah I played that. Yeah, that's the game I was about. I
was talking about, like I figured i'd get to that later. Apparently I'm
one of like half a dozen people that managed to because they were showing it
in a hotel room. Okay, and it did not get out to a
lot of people, but I guess I could just talk about it now.
It was really limited demo. Okay. Yeah, so yes, the setup
of the game is that you're like a you're a disabled child who's like bedridden
but has like the psychic ability to take control of goalms, you know,
big like big stone automaton, big monsters, rock monsters and control them and
like guide them around and stuff. They were like two parts to the demo.
One of them was in the bedroom that you would be in, or
one of them. I'm not sure what the story set up is exactly there,
but they went full level lord with it. Like the first first monster
you occupied was doll size. Okay, so you go from like you start
out sitting in the bed as the child, and then you go into the
doll and all of a sudden, you're five inches tall walking around this gigantic
bedroom. Yes, yes, yes, low gravity was turned on and yeah
it's it's it's it's the first person game. But like they said, straight
up, you will play this entire game sitting down, and I was immediately
like all right, good, yes, not because like I want to be
lazy or whatever, but like I'd not to get off on a tangent,
but like I used a vibe recently in a very limited environment. Yeah,
it was not nearly big enough for like what they're even trying to do with
the demos for that thing. Ye, and it was incredibly frustrating because like
you literally could not walk far enough to get across the virtual room because your
real room was too small. Yeah yeah, yeah, So like, uh,
seeing this game that is fully first person and lets you walk around in
the three D space but in a seated uh kind of configuration was like kind
of refreshing. Actually. So it's your head's kind of the joystick lean forward
literally leans, so it is full, it is full three D freedom of
movement to walk around this three D space just like in a like a standard
first person game, but you're moving your head around to do it. That
sounds like being drunk. It was. That sounds like you just your head
is leaning in the direction and you're just like staggering in that direction as you're
almost falling lean forward too much? Uh, you know, I'd say it
took a couple of minutes to get a feel for kind of how their sensitivity
was set up. But like by the time, by the end of the
five minutes I spent walking around that room and that was all you could do
in that portion was literally just explore this room, just walk around and look
at stuff. Also you had to you had to move controller, which was
a candle in that situation, which was a light source you could wave around
in the shadows were all reactive, and it looked it looked really nice.
But it was nice to see here is a proper first person game in VR
that actually felt pretty good to control. By the end of it, Like
I had a weird moment of I was like, because I was walking around
and like you're leaning forward to move forward and not like you would kind of
like turn your head to turn right or left and then keep walking straight.
And I had a moment of I was like, man, I wish I
could strafe though with this. I wish there was like a modifier button to
like like hold LTA. Yeah, like hold hold the button on the move
to go to left and right movement. And then without even consciously thinking about
it, I just tilted my head to the side and then I was strafing
like it was kind of cool. And by the end of it, I
found this little crystal on the floor and I was sort of practicing with it
and I managed to like circle strafe around it like first person shooter style in
like a pretty consistent way. Like it actually felt really good, and that
game looks really good. I mean, they're on Unreal Engine four. I
believe I must be four. But like the fear with the PlayStation vr IS
has always been like the games won't look amazing, right because you're on this
kind of already weak GPU and it's not like you can just render two eyes.
It's said, you know, a high frame right now, you're asking
for a lot of performance out of a console level piece of hardware, and
so you can't just throw a better G force at it or whatever. But
that thing looked great, like fantastic lighting, like really detailed environment, like
it looked super impressive. The second part was outdoors, and it was like
a sword fighting demo against another monster. So you're using the move to position
your sword and it's all one to one movement, you know, it's all
it's all hold it up and wait the sword around in front of you,
and it was like pretty limited stuff in terms of the way the monster would
attack you. It had had like maybe five different attacks, kind of an
overheads chop, you know, it would try to poke you. But it
still felt really good to move the sword, you know. Yeah, as
you were actually moving the move controller and like block the hits that we're coming
in. So, you know, like in terms of gameplay, it wasn't
that much beyond a tech demo, but just seeing that they've got movement figured
out in first person was like really exciting, you know, because I was
talking about like it's like, oh, you know, like a lot of
connect games like Fable Journey or whatever came out and like they said they weren't
gonna be on rails, and they totally were, you know, and they
said, like no, you know, we could we could PLoP this control
scheme down in the middle of a battlefield map and it would totally work.
So to see like proper games, proper environments, and like the method to
explore them being being rolled out on this hardware is really exciting. Yeah,
for sure, that's it. Yeah, it seems like in like five years
time, we'll listen back on this podcast, and that'll all be just assimilated
knowledge. Like they're going to figure this stuff out, and that's just going
to be like horrible, all tank so hard that we will never get past
this. Well, but it at least defess the case. It won't be
because they couldn't figure out how to make good games for him, right,
which was the problem with connect right. Yeah. Yeah, And this is
Marty o'donald. This is Martyo o'donald's studio. He was there and a couple
other like long time industry veterans that co founded the new studio with him,
and like they're a really small team. I think they're like people high wired
just working on that. Yeah, and like they're looking to keep it small,
you know. So it's kind of it's nice to see like an indie
level game being made for this thing. It's that VRX case of yes,
PlayStation VR exclusive. Wow Jesus really, but yeah, that that stuff was
really impressive to see, even though I didn't get see much of the actual
game. Like between between it looking really nice and running smoothly and then and
like kind of having some interesting control stuff, I was I was impressed.
When you say the leaning to walk forward thing that is like just made me
smile. That's like, oh, that's how you do it. Yeah,
like like in this in this case, I felt like I maybe I had
to lean a little more than I wanted to, or it was there.
I know in some cases I was not meaning to lean and moving when I
didn't want to. But like they said that they would probably offer like sensitivity
settings for that stuff so you can kind of dial it in to how you
want it. So that that all looked pretty exciting. Cool. Uh that
was not the most attention grabbing VR announcement of the weekend. Yeah, uh,
that honor goes to hundred foot robot golf. I mean obviously it was
riz, but let's hundred fort robot golf looks awesome. It does. Yeah,
totally. No that actually, I mean like like no, no joke.
That seemed to elicit some of the most positive response of that whole keynote.
Yeah, it's you know, you can play golf on a battleship.
Whoever would have thought, like an aircraft carrier, right, smash down buildings
to make your your shot matter. Yeah, I was kind of I was
kind of out of the room. Is that guy announced to sort of ran
back in to see the end of it, like it is there a destruction
component to that game? Like are you actually even playing golf at all?
In any sense whatsoever? I don't know. It looks like that Golf question
Mark game certain extent, and then Ninja Golf for the Atari seventy eight hundred,
but with giant robots a parrene. There is an old Nez game any
s game that is giant mec robots playing golf. There's a Superintendo game called
Mecca Robot Golf. Yeah that's a Yeah, it's like ninety three or something.
Okay, yeah, that's a that's a no Goblin joint. Yeah.
The makers of Rounded, Yes, friend of the site, Danteesdale awesome working
on that. It's also that modern taxi Zombie Taxi Company, which looked weird
enough to be interesting. I don't know if anyone got to play that,
but like the trailer made it look pretty funny. Reminded me of Enviral Bear
two thousands. That thing. Yeah, oh I didn't the zombie tax company
thing yet, I totally missed. I think that looks super weird, but
yeah, Res infinite res infinite specifically is the name of that thing. Yeah,
yeah, enhanced Games, which is uh, let's tetsi mis Gucci's new
thing thing that was founded earlier this year. Uh, they are making REZ
again. Yeah, like it's rezka. Everything I saw was from original REZ.
So if you watch the presentation, there is something near the end of
that trailer where they talk about something called Area X and they show the character
the avatar in something that looks like it is a little less on rails.
So it seems a wait really yeah, oh shit, so it seems like
there is gonna be there. Well, so there will be something new in
that game. But what they were showing was REZ uh and you can play
it on TV if you like. It was outputting to a TV just the
same. But I played it with interesting Actually did they say if you could
just buy it and play with the controller? Yes, like nor option?
Oh oh wow, okay, also not gonna be full price? Wait really
yeah? Yeah there's there's that's that's got to be a downloadable. That's that's
even better. Well, I mean you know, like, like you said,
there's new stuff in it, So the question is how much new stuff?
Yeah, maybe they could fill it enough to make it sixty totally totally
not. Did everybody in this room play it? Uh, try to,
couldn't. I think we all played it with the vibro suit, right,
yeah, I think, well the three of us tried the suit. Yeah,
so that was the other thing they had is that's that's not it's not
going to be for sale in the form. It's real cool form I talked
to. I talked to Miss a little bit after I played it. Yes,
oh, yes, the miss was there, uh, the original Miss.
After I had asked him a few questions, he then proceeded to ask
me how much I would pay for that thing. I wanted to buy it
alongside the game. Your answer, I was like, maybe another eighty dollars,
Like I would maybe go to one hundred. Maybe that seems like it
would be more. It would depend on Yeah, totally. That's very Yeah.
And and there's a new story that I wrote an impressions piece based on
the game. You can find on the website that has a bunch of pictures
of me wearing this thing. Uh. It had twenty six actuators in it
was hooked up to a rack mount setup with like five different blades looking things
in it. In the rack, I took a picture of that. There
my whole bunch of wires going into the back of that suit. Yeah,
it's you know, it's a crazy thing, yeah, but fucking awesome.
Yes. Also, I didn't know that. I didn't know that he is,
like he's part time professor at I believe a ko University, Like he
has access to like or he is working in a lot of R and D
and experimental yea, design and hardware stuff. So that would totally makes sense.
How how something like that could come about. Yeah, so you know,
they they had keyed up the demo to kind of respond or you know,
work with the twenty six at actuators. So over the course of like
this, so they what they ad was gosh, So the thing that I
played with the suit on, I assume it was the same thing you guys
did where it was like kind of level one, but it was the level
four boss. Yeah, uh so kind of a truncated level. It's just
kind of for the demo, a three minute thing, right yeah. Yeah,
And so that was just kind of like you know, pulsating in your
chest and your arms and then at some point it just works its way down
to your legs and you're like, oh shit, dude, I was.
I was oh shit from second one, like the first time one of those
vibrations went off, like I forgot that I was wearing that stuff, and
so they kicked in and like it starts so subtle, like just a couple
things in your chest or whatever, and then like as you're going forward,
is the whole body is just thumping and pulsating with the music, and holy
shit, that was incredible headphones that are turned up very loud. Yeah,
yeah, it is. It's a thing. It's nuts. I mean,
it's intense, like but also so I played the entire first level without the
suit on. Yeah. Yeah, And so that was the first time I
played it was that Yeah, And that was ninety five Okay, Yes,
I had said the exact same thing to somebody yesterday. I said, like
eighty percent, but very much like, yes, most of the effect is
being in that world in the VR headset with with the with loud, with
good headphones like suit the suit is all well and good, but like it's
just playing that game in VR is you could So that's why I think,
you know, like you know, I think that if they can find a
way to make something that is a little more reasonably priced with you know,
fewer actuators or this and that. Like I think that there's a way for
like, hey, we put some we put out a shirt with some put
out some sleeves for your arms, body body gloves some of you to strap
your legs or you know, like trans vibrate or two point zero. You
know, I think that there's there's room for that as like a crazy kind
of high end item. But I also feel like the game definitely doesn't require
uh and and it like playing through that entire first level, it's fucking intense,
realzy. It's reallywel's and you it does things that like you know that
I feel like other VR developers have said like, hey, this is a
thing you should never do, and it was some of my favorite stuff in
that game was that, like specifically like using your head as radical like to
aim at things. Well, I thought that was great. But also so
it's a it's a third person behind the back, you know, it is
it is the view of a traditional res and like I suspect they'll put a
first person view in there, it doesn't necessarily need it, or you could
just remove the character right from so when you go from layer to layer across
a level, like it gets fucking fuzzy blurdy crazy and then pops and comes
back and you might be moving sideways. Uh you know, like what that's
just res you know, like sometimes you're you know, it's it's Panzer dragoon
without the ability to rotate your around your character. So sometimes you'll get to
like layer five or whatever and it's like, oh, it's now it's like
I'm on the left side of the character shooting things that are coming up alongside
of him as we go. You can rotate in like the boss fight when
he would run behind you, you could turn around with that was yeah,
you could turn around, but like could you turn around and shoot? Yeah?
Yeah, Mark was Mark McDonald was yelling at Brad because he was doing
the boss fight and he was just waiting for him to run back into his
view too. Yeah, so since I had heard Mark yelled at I did
that and yeah, as he's running behind you and everything, you can completely
turn around and shoot at him. And god damn it though, was cool.
Huh wow. Yeah, So you know it's it's crazy, and you
know it is a bunch of crazy, pulsating squiggly lines and like wild.
Like, so much of VR so far has not been abstract, you know,
it's been like humanoids, it's been like first person experiences. It's been
you know, like some form of a reality right or super cartoony like a
job simulator. Right, but that's still you know, hands like that doing
human stuff. Yeah. Yeah, so this is just like so far removed
from that, uh that it's it's kind of amazing. Yeah, even though
it's it's it's res you know, it's this is an almost fifteen year old
game. It like yeah, like it on on one hand, it is
exactly what you think it is. It's that game in VR. But like
on the other hand, like Enemy Patterns, like all that stuff is there.
The only thing is they didn't have a HUD in it at all.
But the but the sensory experience of being in it is is pretty overwhelming.
It's like it's everything that REZ was always supposed to be. Like I,
you know, I asked it, like he gave a very kind of standard
answer about like, you know, I asked him, like how did this
idea come about? You know, like who started putting this together? Although
I was kind of curious about the business aspect of it. Too, but
he gave a very standard answer, but at the same time, like I
feel like it's totally applicable in this case of like, hey, he basically
said, like, yeah, when I thought of this game, it was
always in VR in my head, you know, and like that just there
was no such technology back then. But it's like like this game basically just
expanded onto the canvas that it was designed for in the first place. Yeah,
and it's one of those things that like, yeah, it's like a
weird thing and it's this is you know, this would be the kind of
the third release of rez As as We Go or whatever RESHD and now this,
but it makes perfect sense. Yea. I never found it super disorienting
or anything. In fact, like I loved pausing you could pause with the
touch pad and then just look around the world. Like floating was really cool
too. Yeah, but even with the shifts and everything, I didn't feel
sick, or I didn't I didn't feel sick, but it was definitely like
a it was a disorienting moment that a lot of other VR things are strang
are trying to stay away from. But yeah, but that in a bad
way, in a way that like when it did do those shifts. I
was like, whoa, holy shit, yeah exactly, like and and maybe
that'll be too intense for some people, like who knows, but like totally
like it became. Yeah, it became intense in a way that like very
few other VR things have done for me, Like you know, like Vinnie
talked about, you know, his time with the Vibe and you know,
like the portal demo and looking down and getting this feeling of vertical like I've
never had that. I've never had that feeling from any VR thing. It's
always just been like, well, okay, here's this thing, Like you
know, my brain never bought into like this is real or whatever. And
you know, rez doesn't look real, but there's just so much going on
that it gets you anyway. Not only that, but like that demo drove
home for me how goddamn huge the vertical field of view is on those on
that headset. And I guess that's true of all of it, right,
just how tall the screens are, Like you're used to, you know,
TV screens are much wider than they are tall, but it's almost the opposite
here. And like I feel like the lack of round in that demo was
a huge part of that because you know, like every just about every VR
demo you are you're doing, you are standing on a ground, you know,
like you're in a normal place, so like the bottom half of the
environment doesn't matter because there's a surface there. Yeah, but this game,
you are just suspended in space, you know. Is that why it feels
like not jarring, because it's like so much of VR is is trying to
apologize for the fact that it's not matching your exact body, and you're like
you're so aware of your where your arms are because that's what you're trying to
do, is the fact that this is basically just you being a floating head.
Like does it almost like get rid of so many of those problems gave
it so you gave it a different Like the environment felt downright cavernous to me.
It just felt fucking huge. Yeah, it all feels like you're going
on forever. Like those levels are not long, they never were, but
like it felt it felt like I was in there for an hour. But
just like looking looking and it was awesome looking, Yeah, just up,
down and around, Like it just felt like a huge space. The sensory
deprivation time, Yeah, and then yeah, I took I took it off
after playing through the first level and then was like, legit disoriented, totally
totally wobbly on my feed for sure. Awesome, that's exactly what exactly.
Also, I'm gonna like, I'm gonna humbly request that VR demos stopped taking
place on these like weird elevated stools. Like half the VR demos I've done,
You're sitting on this like bar stool level like high chair kind of thing,
which is like a bicycle thing. Yeah, already a little bit wobbly,
so once you're like completely deprived of your senses, it's like super scary.
I think they'd been doing them standing up and they realized that like that
was that some people were getting so disoriented that maybe it wasn't the thing and
kind of found whatever stool they could or something. But yeah, that nothing
is weird because again it's like res is an own quantity and it's exactly what
you think it is when you play it. But also like experiencing it is
kind of like the I think that actually helps in a weird way because you
know what RES is, you know, you know, you know, like
I knew where those enemies were coming from most of the time. You know,
my memory is not perfect with that stuff, but I've played a lot
of fucking Rez. I have an enduring respect and love for Res that goes
beyond its actual quality. Uh sure, And it's very much just it's a
lots on shooter on it's five levels and and a bonus level. Like you
know, it's a very short like game. To say, it's very style
over substance totally. I'm not trying to disparage it, but you know,
no, it is one of the ultimate examples of that. But it goes
so far in that direction that like what it doesn't matter, right, Uh,
it is still like an amazing experience, even four by three on a
fucking dreamcast. It's still did things you know. Uh, so like having
that knowledge base of Res and being able to go like, oh, by
the way, here's the thing you think you know a lot about and fuck
you like it was just like it, it's so much more. Uh,
it's so much more with that headset on. It's It's really crazy. I
wonder if there's this well of video games that have come out for the past,
like you know, let's say three D only like past twenty years past
ten, fifteen years that are actually going to be super like applicable to VR.
That will be like like we'll have the HD remasters, like the VR
remasters of these games that are going to actually be like a transformative experience based
on the original one. Shark, Yeah, Stewart Shark could be pick it
was actually it was justist I could actually see in a weird way. It
was interesting talking to talking to those High Wire guys about that because you know,
like I said, they've figured out one possible solution for like first person
movement in VR, and like they were saying, you know, because Marty
and Jamie one of the other founders, like we're both long time Bungee guys.
So they mentioned Halo as an example. But they were like, you
know, you could play Halo with this control scheme, Like you couldn't do
it on legendary like that would suck, yeah, but you could play it
on normal. You know. The idea, the ideah, the idea of
going back to obviously you're not gonna get Halo on PlayStation FR but like you
could go back to maybe some of that old stuff and adapt it in a
way that made it make sense. I think for me, it's like there's
an intensity that VR has lacked in a lot of cases where it's like,
you know, you think about that impulse geared demo and that sort of stuff,
like they're shooting involved and there's all that sort of stuff, but they
haven't. Like remember, it's like when console shooters first started really kind of
paving their own way. When you think about Halo and you think about Golden
Eye and stuff like that, like they were very slow games. You know,
it's just like, well, you know, we're going from like these
fast games on mouse and keyboard too, now like these very slow uh these
very slow moving almost tactical but you know, it just felt like a thing
like well, you know, like the controller is not what a mouse and
keyboard is precision wise, so we need to go in this direction. It
didn't It was slower, but it didn't feel slow exactly. Like yeah,
they they found a different pace for that game that made it work. You
know, it's it's not, but it would you know, it was slower
compared to Pay Yeah, and then you know, now it's like we've had
decades or you know, a good long time of playing console shooters and stuff
like that, and you've seen those games start to speed up a little bit,
and now you know, like movement is all the rage, you know,
the wall runs and boosts to boost to jumps and all this other stuff
like speed, you know, because everyone's a lot more comfortable with the aiming,
like you could almost think about like VR and first person shooting, but
also like just kind of joy en roll as being that type of big reset
in a way right of just like okay, well now we have to kind
of go back to this very slow thing. We don't know where the line
is for people to get sick, We don't know anything, so we have
to kind of turn down the intensity and kind of figure out like what are
the things that actually work here, and then ramp up from there. So
like a lot of these demos have been very soft. They feel very soft
as someone who plays a lot of video games. They they're not difficult,
they're not challenging. They're not like amazing like visceral crazy experiences. They're just
like, oh, that's cool, I shot some stuff, or you know,
I ran up with this sword and it was just this we had this
friendly little sword back. Well, that thing there was some challenge to that
was was it was there speed though, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
yeah, I definitely missed some some swings, like because they kept spawning
harder ones in so I can see it ramp up. But like the precision
wasn't totally there. There were definitely spots where it like it looked like I
should have blocked it and it kind of went through. It wasn't perfect.
That's maybe my worry thing to it. The PlayStation stuff using the Move cont
roller and a camera as opposed to like the Vibe and the Oculus touch,
like those just feel like more uh intric hit and precise instruments. Well they're
way newer obviously. Yeah, the move is kind of Yeah, I did
a job simulator, and I had done Vibe and the Oculus times and everything,
and you know, those two worked great all the time. And job
simulator worked all right, Like I mean, the Move controller still feels good.
It's got the triggers and everything. Yeah, but there were several times
where my hands just kind of freaked out and you know, it flicked out
on screen, wasn't tracking right, And it's hard to know if that's the
fault of like move or just you know, maybe the libraries aren't there,
and then there's a zillion things that could right right, it might be worked
out by the time they're done, but yeah, yeah, yeah, I
still liked it a lot. But that was one of the first things with
controllers that's kind of freaking Yeah, yeah, I'd agree, like i'd used
the Oculus touch stuff. Obviously it's like a whole ways ways away, but
like, yeah, yeah, it felt it just felt like if I kept
my hands still, they probably weren't being still, and then you never know
if that's yeah, just why you're playing, or yeah, yeah, I
think the move is going to be totally adequate for that stuff. Even if
it's not quite as new as those newer controllers, it'll probably be fine.
Move was always like a nice piece of hardware that just never knew what the
fuck to do. Like I also, you run into a case where,
like you know, you think about some standing VR situations like that Impulse gear
shooter was was you know, the move control or at the end of that
gun shell, and at one point I turned around completely Yeah, so my
back was blocking step the camera, the same thing to the ball on the
Move controller, and the aiming goes totally south at that point. They tried.
It seems like it's not like they were trying to do some guests work
to try to keep things in line with some of the other inputs they get.
But you know, like that still happens. And again that's not a
final game, so you know, maybe there are ways to solve for even
those issues that people won't notice, but like that's something that developers will have
to probably solve for. That's why the highwager. So they started out like
one of the core tenets of this game was you have to be able to
play sitting down because like the more basic aspects of VR game design haven't been
figured out yet, Like you can't like, let's not layer on too many
variables before the stuff we have to get right, and people have set ups
where they sit down in front of a television and a PlayStation to play video
games. You know, that's that's the other thing about Oculus and the Vibe
is you know, like setting up your room to work with this stuff is
still a real problem that people are going to run into. You know,
this is one of the first shows I've been to where on screen you weren't
getting the you know two whatever that is a feature of the Morpheus dev kit.
Okay, that's what I was wondering. Yeah, it's first time i've
seen that when. That's really cool because then you could be playing in a
room and people could watch you and not have it. It's just someone who
maybe wants to put video of these games someday. It's very exciting. Yeah,
I mean, I think that'll that'll be solved for all of them.
You're probably right, not that hard for them to do. I don't think.
But uh, you guys feel pretty bullish then about this VR stuff coming
out of here. Like I was, I was more impressed with with rezin
Gold in particular than I expected it to be. I thought, I thought
res was incredible, and like I played Reds back when it came out,
and I actually the lack of gameplay depth didn't really I didn't. It didn't
grab me the way that other people were, you know, kind of hyping
it up and loving it. And then I played it again when it came
out on three sixty on x LA and it's like, yeah, okay,
I still think this looks and sounds really cool, but I didn't really have
much fun playing it. I did all of those complaints or anything like I
know it's not any deeper because you have a headset on, but it's a
lot more fun. It's fucking awesome, So I'm one hundred percent on board
with it here. Of course, you know, it's still not going to
have any more replay values than it didn't know, I don't know. It's
a show it's a show piece, but not They are looking to develop new
content as well. Yeah that helps. Without knowing what that is, it's
kind of maybe hard to say, but yes, it's you know, I
like the lost area. Sure, it's one of my favorite levels. I
guess they're dressing it up a lot. It saw. Shane Bettenhausen was tweeting,
like comparison photos of texture maps earlier, it's super cleaned up and it
looks very sharp. Yeah, you know, yeah, obviously it's nice.
It's nice that anybody will be able to play it, even if they don't
have the stuff. I'll say that the PlayStation VR, I really liked the
little buttons. It's very easy to make it snug hunt. Ye, I've
gotten at the very bad that you used to pull out the back to fit
on your head, and then there's a button under the goggles to pull in
and out to where you find focus, and there's also a tightening dial on
the back further kind of type it was. It's a very comfortable head.
It was relatively easy to get the optics centered so they weren't blurry and super
lightweight like down my head. It's it's wired up as well, so it
doesn't have to have any of that sort of stuff extra It's oculus kit might
still be more a little more comfortable. Just I haven't I haven't touched one
of those sins three, but I remember putting that thing on and going like
man, it's like I'm wearing a very comfy hat. This is great.
Wow. I also like the lights on the front. I just think it
looks cool. Yeah, well that's that's for tracking. Also the camera,
Yeah, for the tracking. But it sounds like those final models that we
were playing at the show. And yeah, I think it looks and feels
really really awesome. Yeah, I would like to own one of those.
Yes, I'm not, I'm not sure. I mean, and I think
you know, Sony's doing the thing where and a lot of these games will
appear on other platforms, right, you know, like it's not necessarily that
they're all exclusive or but like Sony is at least putting it together the story
of like, there are games here, this is a gaming platform. We
are producing games for this thing. It's not it's not just tech demos,
and you go like, oh, I guess I could see a game around
some of this stuff, like you're starting to see, you know, and
naturally, as we're getting closer a ship, there are more and more things
you look at and go like, this is a thing I could play,
This is the thing I would like to play, this is the thing I
intend to play. That's what's exciting for me right now is that we're now
at the stage where I can't name every game that's coming out on that right
It's not like, oh, here are the four games that and even if
it launched, is only like you know five, Or when you're going to
spend that much money on a piece of hardware, you need the safety blanket
of having, you know, at least a large amount of games coming out,
even if they're not massive games, just the amount of them. And
then like seeing games like you know, just seeing Drive Club there with a
bit of R and it's just knowing that other companies are maybe going to be
including a little bit sort of gives me the confidence to be like, yeah,
I'll probably be an early adopter. Here's here's the big question for me,
Like this is like question for this room as much as for anybody,
Like are you gonna buy more than one headset? Yeah? Yeah? Really?
Yeah? That bought in. Yeah, I think I'll need to you
know, it's I think I need to know, you know, And and
the only way to really do that is to you know. And it remains
to be seen, like how it's going to work on the PC, like
how how many games will end up being Oculous exclusive, like you know,
because they announced that Rockman VR thing, I think that was the Game Awards,
right, yes, uh? And that is it looks like it's being
published by Oculus Studio, So well that's there, that's their play. Their
Oculus is going after they have a whole publishing division, like they you know,
they want games that are only available on their gear, right uh.
And whereas it sounds like Valve is being a little more free wheeling about that
stuff, right, I mean, Valve is approaching it with like I don't
know, whatever we'll see from the market forms, I don't know. Well,
I mean the team machines. It's going great. They probably know like
it at the stage, like it's important for the basics to get hammered out,
right, So like the like tech and knowledge that shared, the better
it is for everybody. Yeah, definitely, And and and you know,
can those games be hacked and ported to other VR headsets? Like you know,
how how does that stuff work? Right? Uh? It seems like
those questions have to be as it seems like like the PlayStation heads so I
keep calling wanting to call it the Morpheus, but like and the PSVR and
one of the PC headsets seems like that. Yeah, the motion anybody should
do. I'm definitely leaning Oculus like right now in terms of just like quality,
like having tried different and you know, none of it's quite final,
but just having tried Oculus, having tried the Vibe, Like, I don't
like the Vibe controllers. I don't like their wands. I think they feel
chancy, they feel fucked up like a move controller does. And in the
same way compared to like Oculus touch you, I think you used the same
controllers I did, right, Yeah, those were super jacky. Yeah if
they came out on the same I mean the Vibe in multiple Okay, so
not just well jenky in the sense that those had been beaten the hell up,
is what I mean. If they came out on the same day,
I would probably just get Oculus. But considering it sounds like Vibe is going
to come out first, it's like, well, I'm looking at this future
where I might have three VR headsets. That's what I mean. If one
is out, that's good. Like the Vibe is really good, and it's
there's no release date or anything in sight for Oculist, I'm gonna buy.
I also have to really rethink, you know, things about positioning in the
home and stuff, because right now I have a computer in the bedroom and
there's not enough floor space to do any of that stuff. And I've got
another room that would potentially have more floor space but is still not as big
as most of the areas where we've done these demos for for the Vibe specifically.
Yeah, yeah, I want to say, when I used the Vibe
a couple of weeks ago, I was I would say, maybe five by
five, six by six something like that. Yeah, clear floor space,
and that was nowhere near enough exactly. And you know, like the stuff
that they're showing for PlayStation VR, it has been very much like stand here,
you know, you can move around a little bit and it'll do something,
but it's not necessarily walk around room and interact. And and they walk
around room and interact. Was like the bulk of the Vibe demos yea,
and those I thought all those were pretty bad, like the portal demo,
the Secret Shop demo, stuff where it's just like okay, like you're okay,
I get it, Like you've got this box metaphor that like literally when
I walk up against the edge of the sensors, you're drawing fake tron lines
in to remind me that I'm near the edge of this virtual box. And
then like all the experiences seem built with that same metaphor in mind, or
a lot of them do. I mean, you know, they're party,
you know they're gonna do what they're gonna do. But I just don't think
that's a fun like that metaphor for movement or for like you know, warping
that box around a larger environment. That doesn't sound fun to me. It
just it seems like something that is like a couple more iterations down the road
ye to me. Yeah, the freedom to get up and move around,
like, you know, you're still tethered to a computer. Ultimately, they've
got a big cable coming out ahead no matter what you're doing. There's also
the floor space record. Like it just seems like the freedom to get up
and walk around is something that you would address after like way more basic concerns
are figured out, you know, right in terms of game design and stuff.
But it seems like they're trying to go for it in some cases,
and that just seems like a weird thing, you know. That seems like
sort of thing where it's like, well, you know, if if this
stuff takes off in a huge way and people start really going down that rabbit
hole, then you start revisiting the multidirectional treadmill concepts and you know, these
the walk in place type stuff that'll let you do those things. That feels
like that'll be the solution to that, but also probably crazy expensive, and
VR is already going to be crazy expensive, and this thing it has to
be like drug levels of fucking insane to inspire people to spend that kind of
money, you know, And I guess maybe that's ends up being another point.
And like, like I said, it feels like most of the PlayStation
VR stuff has been very much like, hey, sit here or stand up
and look around, but don't really don't really walk, and I don't mind
doing movement with a with a sub controller or like a you know, nunchuck
style thing like the analog stick for movement has been fine, Like that's no
better or worse or I think it's better, but you know, it's definitely
not worse than you know, warping around an environment in a crazy virtual box
like that just seems weird. But imagine imagine a game like Just Cause three
where you don't walk but you use gameplay mechanics to get around the world.
That's like an experience. Maybe they just change the games so that it doesn't
include just that version of what you know, Yeah, you're expanding around the
space, but you're never actually moving more than or the games have to just
be you know, limited in scope in a way to work with the realities
of people's homes and the realities of the limitations of the gear you know,
I got, I don't know. Yeah, that Eagle Flight thing seems like
it'd be something along those lines, which one was that the sub saw thing
that they stopped just short of putting the Assassin's creed branding on. Alright,
it's like a multiplayer eagle flying game and for PlayStation VR and PC, you're
flying over this like kind of classical looking European city. Wow. Do you
scream every time you see somebody jump into a pile of straw? Pretty much?
Right? Yeah? Basically slim me up hopefully. Yeah? Did the
Yeah? Did they say what that is? It's a game? Like what
the game? What? Yeah? But then lie, okay, okay,
I don't know Desmonds now, but it works. That'll that'll come to five
innoculusystation vry. I've started off topped at all Humans and now you're going back
to prehistory or early history. This eagle is a templar. Yeah, this
eagle name band long band names are super in right now. Uh, there's
a little bit of other news out of PlayStation Experience. The biggest news Sparrow
racism Destiny. Yeah, anybody that's out that's out today, three weeks.
I'm gonna play that for three weeks. I also goes away because it was
so much content in that game that they can't afford to have something like that.
Yeah, I don't I don't know how I feel about it being so
limited in time. That's a bummer, uh, because you know it'll have
geared un lock and stuff. So I looked away from the screen for a
while and then looked back and saw that, and for a split second I
was like, oh, are they making another way? And then realize what
it was. Fuck man. Credit to Destiny for that. It could even
make you think that for a second. I guess, well it was the
music that let me down. It's like, oh no, this is Destiny
music is the future sound of London exactly. I like they we're kind of
leaning into the whole thing. And though you know there's like racing pennance and
team logos and stuff. You know, can you swing a chain and hit
the Irish cop who's chasing you beside you? Yes? Left and right?
No? Yeah? Oh VR road rash would be awesome. Yeah, don't
have to move for that at all. God, I don't know remember that
road Rash clone that came out for PC, oh just like six months ago
or something calling right Road Retribution road road rich. Yeah, it sounds about
right right to retributions different thing. Yeah, but yeah, picture you looked
to your left and just yes, swing a chain. That'd be fucking us
in the face. Bat yeah, oh god, I want that. Just
the hills in the distance, up and down, up and down. Oh
man, there you go. I guess the last thing I'll mention is that
they announced the new Nino Cooney. Say that five times fast, yeah,
ann man, A lot of excitement for Nino Cooney. This root where's the
Welsh guy supply in the great I was very upset that I didn't see any
mister Drippy in that trailer, and then somebody tweeted at me that he is
in some like leaked artwork that came out, So I will play that Nino
Tuny good stuff. Thanks for being here, Danny. I couldn't do with
that. You uh, she hasn't joined the event. I mean it was
it was fine. It was I like the fact that it was an event
where it had like super wide like concourses and stuff so you could walk like
there were a lot of people there. But I'm just so used to having
a like shoulder your way through packs or tgs or whatever, and then this
it's like, oh, this is nice. And the area developers that were
at the outer edges of both of the floors. Yeah, definitely got a
lot more crowded through there. Right, it was like thoroughfare, just like
walk past Battlefront very easily. But then you get to wear there are games
You're like, oh shit, yeah, yeah, I got it seemed like
people were happy to be there. It's you know, there was a ton
of games there. Yeah, a lot of stuff. Yeah, it seems
it seemed like an alright thing I got. I got embarrassingly into the they're
dumb convention app achievement system. Of course you did walking around scanning real world
trophies, man, and there was there was an RFID chip in your badge,
which is crazy that like, because that thing just felt like a thin
layer of plastic. I realize how small those things have gotten. But you
could go around scanning your badge at every game station to get fucking trophies in
their achievement or in their and eventually that's how they gated some access to like
free game codes. That's that's where it kind of broke down because a lot
of that stuff worked very poorly, like like they were supposed to give out
like nuclear Throne and bit trip to all attendees, Like none of that ever
lit up in my app, like it's still I did check in at one
of the stations, but it never Some of it worked fine, like like
I wanted to check out that that Dead Star game and they were getting up
beta access for that, so I like literally rolled by their swipe my badge,
and like five minutes later in the app it was like, here's a
beta code for Dead Star, Like that's fucking cool. Oh mine, is
that the future of advertising? But then yes, that was the s Then
yeah, that was the other already got the stuff. That was the other
aspect of it was like, man, I feel fucking I am just allowing
them to mark get to me. Just spend five minutes in a well it's
far Ago and get a free movie rent. I am walking to the advertisements
now like a fucking idiot. I thought it was gonna scan the QR code
like an airport scanner thing, but you have to like, yeah, press
flush against the thing and it turns blue. Yeah. Do you guys play
the new job simulator demotal? I looked at it a little bit. It
seems like it's got more stuff in there, and then it seems like it's
you know, it seems like a full game. Did you do it.
I played the I played it on the vibe of not that long ago,
the kitchen one. So this is more of an office thing. Did you
eat the rotten donuts in the trash No? No, I did not play
the office things. So they bring in donuts and stuff, and if you
just eat it, if you bring it close enough to your face, and
you can like make coffee and just pour it on your face. Whatever.
Just awesome, super dumb stuff that was in a lot of fun. Like
your boss comes around, he's just like a computer with glasses and a tie,
and I ripped his glasses off his face and threw it out a screen.
Perfect. But at one point I ate all the normal donuts and I
looked down at the trash can underneath my computer and they're a bunch of rotten
donuts and there were like gross green stuff on it. I ate one and
I started puking in the game, which puking in VR in first it's hilarious.
I puked all over a printer and so it kept eating rotten tomatoes and
just puking on other computers and stuff. It was just awesome. Did you
use the photocopy or on that printer? No? I heard you could like
put a donut on there and press the button and it just copies the actual
three D donut. I'd like fucking twelve donuts by Ina that demo. I
just kept turning over and hitting copy every two seconds, just copy more donuts.
It's just so much fun to do dumb shit. And they're like open
up a filing cabinet and just start throwing papers everywhere, Like I don't know
why. It's that fun, Throwing coffee mugs across all the cubicles. The
kitchen one was was fun in the same way. Yeah, like you know
you can you can process the orders and you're like, oh, I'm gonna
make a sandwich, i'mnna do this, or just like fuck it, I'm
gonna start throwing stuff everywhere. Yeah. Yeah, they explained what the concept
was too. It's like Job Simulator twenty fifty. It's like humans are gone
or something in nearer robot and it's almost like a museum exhibit, like,
oh, this is what humans used to do at the office, This is
a human in the kitchen. This is what it was like. But it's
just the most boiled down stupid like your keyboard on your computer. I was
like two buttons on it, but with a working mouse at zero and one.
Yeah, yeah, and you have to like do your password and you've
got to stick you know this at one oh one and gone it in Like
it's so dumb and fun. I had a great time with that, mainly
people on that prayer. That sounds great. Outside of December events, anybody's
been playing anything they want to expound upon. I just caused three games,
all right, yeah yeah, I keep going back to it, and that
game really bums me out, man, Why because they hid all the cool
stuff behind a bunch of dumb challenges. Yes, that's just like you want
to fly helicopters through some rings, like fucking no, do you want to
do it? Absolutely not? Eight more times after that? I want to
drive through thirty rings to get night No, I do not. Do you
want an ab sale down two thirty or fly through wingsuit Dan two, I
don't even know. I don't want to play Pilot Wings and just cause.
I think the reason I didn't I want to play fucking destroy everything fuck you
in just cause and even the story missions aren't enough of that. Yeah,
I think the reason they didn't bother me that much is that none of them
are that long. I think there's only one driving one where it's like two
laps or whatever, even that's like three minutes or something. I can't I
can't accept that as an excuse though, Yeah, I mean they're not great.
It's like there are tools that they give you in that game that are
just a great are great fun to use, tethering things to other things,
and you know, rocket launchers and the bombs and all that other stuff,
but then you want more, and the verge is to get more. Are
like some of the worst, you know, some of the worst types.
The execution is fine, but it's just like some of the worst types of
open world game side missions of just like here's this totally stakes free thing that
you actually wait, no, the stakes are higher than you thought they were
because if you don't fucking bust ass through this thing, you're not gonna get
all five gears and then haha, you get to do the whole thing again.
It's not fun. I had to force myself to get really good at
the wingsuit challenges because I want better wingsuit control and you have to right or
you just don't get it, you know. Like, yeah, like the
versions of some of the tools they give you up front, Like, I
feel like the tethers are way too weak early on to slam together the objects
that you want to slam together right off the bat. So at the same
time, if they started you with everything, where would you go and what
would you do? Yeah, so you know, I don't It's like one
of the things where it's like I don't necessarily want a sandbox game either,
right, I want a game that's built to properly exploit well, gating the
progression is fine, but like gate it with something more interesting, right than
like that your third tier like challenge. Yeah, that is if the challenges
were just better at exploiting the tool set and just built in a way that
I have no I spent actually a good solid chunk of time thinking about like,
okay, let's thought experiment here. If I was the fucking guy I'm
in charge of designing this stuff over and I've came up with jack fucking shit.
So I don't have the answer. But it's just one of the things
where it's like, you know, there's there's a joy to that game that
they don't tap into, Like you have to find it yourself. The game's
missions and the games structure does not exploit the inherent joy of that game.
Well enough, Ye, the tools are there and they work when you have
a dumb idea, totally. Yeah, but it's like, but it's only
good for dumb ideas. It's not always good for like completing the tasks.
Yeah, most of my phone was just like sitting at an intersection doing dumb
ship the cards that were passing by. Like, I like that more than
like most story missions. Right, let's be Rob Handlery over a game spot.
I spent like seven hours of that game he's played. I think he
did like two Conbaan missions and then spent the rest of it doing that yeah,
and was loving it. Yeah. I downloaded a cheat engine script at
one point, and that was fun because it was like infinite rockets, no
reload. I'm like, okay, well, great, I can keep shooting.
But the downside of that is like, so I guess I could just
disconnect from the internet or something, but that's that's a long way to go.
It's one of those things where it'll set your timer to zero and lock
it there so I can all these races. I could just do them once
and get five gears and all this other stuff and still see the progression in
a natural fashion without having to be you know, good at their dumb challenges.
But it would then post all that to a leaderboard, and I thought
like that that's a shitty thing to do. And also like, I don't
know if there's any I don't think that. I don't think you would get
a vac band because I don't think the game is protected by Valve Saint cheat
stuff, which is a great Auntie cheat client. Yeah, but you know,
but they might ban me from online connections and just costs or I don't
I don't know what. I don't know what the potential fall out of that
situation is. So it's like, maybe I'll just unplugged from the internet if
I'm gonna play anymore of it that way. Yeah, I don't know,
but you're you're still liking it. I haven't played enough to say to what
you were saying hasn't applied to me yet, So I think I'm just getting
into that now. It's done maybe like four or five of us challenges,
and it's like, yeah, yeah, I might just dive into the cheats
as well. Actually it sounds pretty good. It's super fun. Yeah,
there's a lot of fun. One of the cheats is just unlock all the
mods, and then at that point it's just like, well, here's everything.
Why are you even playing any of these challenges or what. At that
point it became like, well, why am I even playing the game?
You just go liberate everything, right? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, But
then it's I don't know, maybe I'll just wait for a massive multiplayer to
come out for it, and and that'll that's much better exploiting the sandbox.
There will probably be some great mods for that game. Maybe. See anybody
got anything else? Went Mario Maker? Yeah, I'm I'm working on another
Mario Maker level. I tried a couple of your levels, yeah this morning.
Actually, yeah, I really don't like that first jump in your Turkey
and Stuffing level. Yeah, you're not supposed to. It's designed to be
something that you don't like doing, and it's not easy to do, and
there's no horseshit thing like I jumped around for invisible blocks. There's no I
just had to do what you just It looks like you had to do do
exactly the thing it looks like you need to do. Not a fun jump,
No, nope, no, it's not a fan of that at all.
No. I thought about after after watching uh Kataku's Patrick Kleppick played that
level for a couple of hours. It just got me thinking, like,
what if I made a level that was just thirteen of those in a row.
See what the clear rate is? Your clear rate is real low on
that one. Yeah. Have you done all the current event courses I have?
Okay, I really like that Yoshi's awesome course. Yeah. It does
some really cool stuff where like you have to make the bullet hit the Yoshi
and he runs a crust. Yeah. Yeah, I think it does some
really clever stuff with yosh Yeah, that's a cool thing where he's running and
you're running, like you're taking alternate pathways through a level. Yeah. The
coolest thing about that game is like every every level, good or bad.
I feel like I'm learning something about that I might want to use in the
levels. Yeah, because a lot of stuf where it's like, oh okay,
and we'll do that. Do you know if there's a way to see
if you've played event courses? Because I I'm looking at the list, it's
like I think I've played all these. Yeah, but you know it doesn't
say like what she gives you the flag. Yeah, like once you get
the mystery mushroom thing, it doesn't check it out for anything. But you're
saying that Mario maker needs better notification tools. Maybe a couple, but yeah,
those event courses are awesome, and yeah, they've started weeding out a
lot of the Like We've talked about this before, but like the automatic levels
and stuff are becoming less voted up. And I did a sixteen Mario Challenge
thing this morning and the quality was it was a lot higher than at launch.
Yeah, for sure, really really cool stuff going on. And still
with that game. Yep, yep, video games they're back. Yeah,
I hope that my Dreamcast they never left. Yeah that for a while.
Really, I found three Dreamcasts in a box. I don't know why I
had three Dreamcasts consoles. Yeah. I was just going through my dad's basement
where I left a bunch of boxes when I moved, and I was like,
oh cool, my old Dreamcast. And then I opened another box and
there's another Dreamcast, and then I found a third dream That is hey,
there was someone who lives that life with numerous consoles. I mean there was
a point where Dreamcasts, stuff of any kind became very easy to come by.
Yeah remember that? Yeah? Yeah, I think I bought like eighty
percent of the Dreamcast games I had. I bought like at you know,
fire sale time for like three to five dollars a piece. When the console
was dead. I still have a brand new inbox black second Sports Dreamcast.
Nice. Whoa, I found a Second Sports tank top when I was at
home? Nice? Yeah did you get it out your dad? Actually no,
I'd think I took it home. I started running my second Sports tech
ties. No, it's appropriate, don't work tech tough, all right?
From video games emails, let's read a few that were since bombcasts at joint
bomb dot com plus. All right, Well, I'm sorry, what us
somebody doesn't listen to our racing podcast. I'm sorry. I was honest.
I don't know what anything about cars? You are? Yeah, I know
all about that. Get brought on the next yeah three months time? Wait
it's back. Do I have to actually watch F one? Oh? Do
you know they're bringing robot races in? Yeah, okay, I'm in.
Yeah, so like the there's gonna be automated cars and like as an offshoot
of Formula E. It's they're gonna race them before the Formula E races next
year. Okay, yes, and it's literally like AI. It's not like
remote control or whatever. Oh okay, so it's not like battle bots or
yeah, it's not battle bots. Cars with fucking AI racers oh crazy going
super fast? Okay, yeah, okay, this sounds cool. I'll probably
watch. Maybe there's fan boost in that as well, like because at that
stage you might as well just go like super White bad and just have boost
pads and like how people crash because robots haven't been Twitch plays f one.
Yeah. Yeah, man. There was a thing. There's a thing on
sixty minutes last night about the race to bring self driving cars to market,
and Mercedes showed their concept car that they have designed that they planned to release
in the year twenty thirty ju and it is actually styled like they think cars
will look in twenty thirty. Concept cars are awesome. There's so much fun
to look at because so many of them are fucking weird sixth day cars.
This car has no windows. There are no windows and all this you don't
need to see out, and all the seats face all the crashes and you
have to climb out of the the two seats face each other like one a
little train car and like the curved inner surface of the car is all screens.
I do not like the no windows weird. There's a reason about windows
and planes, Like it scares the shit, Like, look the clouds,
we're gonna die. Was scared. You need to be able to see outside.
Man, it's not you'll have screens for that. Maybe just play reds.
Maybe just sit in the thing and just play reds inside of the car
projects wearing a flashing suit. I just wanted a sensory deprivation tank on wheels.
I just get out. And that's like exactly what it was. It
was like kind of scary. Actually, uh, that report about self driving
cars was nowhere near as cool as the report about the eighties KGB agent who
lived in the United States. Oh, man, dude, you gotta fucking
watch that report. It is so crazy. It's got it's got dead drops,
it's got defecting agents. It's got like it's got like a shadowy dude
showing up on a train platform and whispering that you're going to die and walking
away when that happens. Just like it's got like shortwave shortwave like information transfer.
Yeah, like the dude talks into explicit detail about how he got his
orders from Russia by shortwave every Thursday night at nine pm. Yeah, it
was. It's fucking crazy. You have to look it up. It's really
cool, just like the best, like Cold war intrigue kind of stuff.
Where do you watch those that was on sixty minutes or I think they have
a website. All reports are up there. Uh I should put that one
in the show notes because it's super fascinating. Yep, sentiments of our competitors,
our competitors. No, that's that's CBS great fighting program. Yeah yeah,
all right, let's read some emails, maybe watch some Star Trek.
Okay, I'm into that. I like all this stuff. Velamir sends this
email. We had a lot of emails because last week we took old emails,
so there's such a bunch of random shit in here, such as this.
Jeff likes to bring up that on Battlefield's battlelock site you can hua something
you did in the game. Yes, that is no longer the case.
The whua has been renamed to like fuck, I just thought you'd like to
know that. No I did. I did not like to know that.
Well, okay, you need to know that. I who odd to know
that he and he ended the email with hashtag bring back who a Yeah,
as long as we still have un yeah right, what's on on the wu
me verse? You can the yeah things and then you can yeah some fucking
you've got yeah remorse classic double speaker there. You could never un whuah wants
who It's just plus yeah on your ass. Uh, let's see. Joe
from Portland wrote in about the three sixty discussion from last week two weeks ago.
I don't remember. Two weeks ago. I was listening to your conversation
about the failure rate of the Xbox three sixty, how some of you know
folks who have had upwards of twelve replacements, and how the game spat guys
have a huge graveyard of dead three sixties. They actually threw those out.
Yeah, I was super fucking bummed. I saw Dan Mahorick walking around that
storage room they had him in. I was like, what happen in three
sixties? Like we tossed them, They had like twenty of them stacked up.
I would have at least kept the hard drives. I would have taken
a sledgehammer to him or something. Man. Yeah, dude. Yeah,
like take them to the rifle. Like, think about all the things you
could do with a bunch of dead three sixties, fix them, sell them.
Well, they were all red ring. I don't know that. I
mean, are they still honoring that anyway? I'll read this email. This
baffled be as to how the three sixty can be held in such high regard
and revered so highly when it seems like it was almost guaranteed to be the
cause of headaches eventually. I get that they ushered in several advancements and console
gaming, but it seems like everyone just sits back and laughs about the huge
hit to their wallets. Do you think that would pass today if the suddenly
started having hardware failure due to some unforeseen factor, now that the initial couple
years have passed, would they be handed they get out of jail card like
the three sixty. I think it depends on what their response is and how
quickly they fixed those units that are breaking and and all that sort of stuff.
I think Microsoft bought that get out of jail card for a billion dollars.
Yeah, which is the cost of their replacement program that they put into
place. Yeah. I wasn't on that one. I've gone through nine xbox
three sixties geeze. Yeah, until I got to the Slim, and then
once I got the Slam, everything worked fine. Wow, that's that's a
lot. Yeah, that's that's that's definitely in the upper echelon of people I
know going through three sixties. But yeah, like, I don't know,
I don't know if people remember when it was happening. It wasn't. It
wasn't nobody was giving them a pass. No, Like, there was an
enormous amount of anger. It was only because they you know, they let
into action. I mean, you know, it shouldn't happen in the first
place. But they for the most part, I'm sure there were some people
out there that would say otherwise, they would send you the coffin, you
send it back. Yeah, they put the programs into place to get people
working three sixties and you know, and make mistake, it's still an inconvenience
to have to send your consul in replacement. But at least they were expediting
as much as they could. They you know, they did their best to
make it right and that that clearly went a long way in most people's opinions.
Uh, do you want to hear about a guy taking street overlord.
Yeah. Yeah, he lives in Groner Park. Of course he doesn't.
His name is Gabe, straight out of Murder Park. Yep, he even
signed it Murder Park. I knew, uh, he says if. Years
back, I was having dinner at a girlfriend's apartment. She had just moved
in and was still receiving mail from the previous tenant. E section, what
are we talking? M section? He doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't
say two amusing parts of the story. The previous tenant's name was Willie May's
Perfect, although it's spelled m a Ze. And he likes to buy uh.
And he likes to buy his pornography via mail order because I'm complicated.
Yo. Yep. She was receiving large amounts of pornography, or at least
advertisements for pornography daily. One day, a sample package of Stree Overlord arrived.
There were two pills in the package. She jokingly said, I'll take
one if you take one, Oh awesome. Always the best thing to do
with mystery pills that show up in the mail. Absolutely, I swallowed mine
down quickly, assuming there would be no effect. As a joke, I
said, maybe you don't take yours in case someone needs to drive me to
the hospital. She didn't, and this was wise foresight on my part.
Almost immediately I got cold sweats. I recall wanting to go lay down on
the bed. Next thing I remember is waking up on the floor with blood
streaming down my face. I had passed out due to the medication lowering my
blood pressure, and it hit my head on the side of a coffee table.
This was followed by the realization that I have the most painful erection of
my life. It did not go down for over twelve hours. I know
the warning of erections lasting longer than five hours and medical attention, etc.
But I kept running through the scenario of having to explain this to a need
er doctor. I won't even go into the story of going to work the
next day and trying to hide my erection slash anxiety about what permanent damage I
was causing. Go to the doctor, yeah, even now, even now,
maybe go, Yeah, what do they do if you go into the
hospital with one of those super bowners, Like, what can they do to
take something they can give you it helps counteract? It is probably something bloods.
I think that's the blood pressure thing is exactly what was in that the
FDA right warning that I read last week right. Two weeks later, I
was having dinner at the same girlfriends. I want a dessert and ate a
cookie out of the fridge. Turned out it was an unlabeled medical marijuana cookie.
Not knowing what was happening to me, I thought it was dying again.
I won't go into what the next day at work was like, but
our relationship ended shortly after that. Yep, okay, it sounds about right.
Yeah, they'll take stree over lord, you might pass out and or
have some painful stuff going on. Uh, let's see. John writes in
about Prods Anatomy as renowned video game anthropologists, I turned to you as experts
for a difficult question about the prods from the StarCraft series. The character is
zero. Tool often runs around topless, which reveals two things. The Protosts
do not have belly buttons, but they do have nipples. My question is
about the nipples, specifically, why do they have them. They don't have
mouths and which are with which to suckle upon a teat Sure they could be
vestigial, but if they evolve past eating mouths over and untold number of years
the nip should have slipped away in the same time. Well, they're all
descended from the same stock, right, all the races. Yeah, but
also the you need something to get pierced. I don't know if you know
that the protosts are giant plant people what like they eat through photosynthesis or whatever
kind of Yes, I guess so, I'm pretty sure that's part of the
accepted lore. Wait quite as a plant its photosynthesis, I don't think they
ever ate to begin with. So yeah, I you know what. I
also noticed the nipples on Zero Tool. There's like one shot in a scene
where it's kind of hard. It's kind of hard to miss, Like I
don't know if Joel Schumacher did some guests directing in that game or what.
Maybe the nipples are like the final straw, Like if you took the nipples
away, they just be not human enough that people wouldn't like empathize with.
Is that? Is that what it is? Gotta have dreadlocks and nipples and
legs by peel, I can see that it sounds like you're placing a personal
ad. Must have nerve courts severed. You just send your emails if you
feel if you fulfill those requirements. All t F one a giant bumps,
what a picture please? Nipples prominently explayed Nobody Bums Luke from a book Overton
Uh says, Hey, guys love the podcast. I was listening to an
old episode from twenty thirteen where you discussed into Noo dropping their E three press
conference. You all seem to agree that it made sense for Nintendo because A
they were transitioning too directs and B didn't have new hardware to promote to mainstream
audiences. The new hardware stuff got me wondering about next year. With all
the new rumors about NX shipping sooner than expected. Do you think Nintoo could
we're turn to the E three stage in twenty sixteen. They could, but
I don't think they need to. I think they could always have an event
or something timed to just after their press conference or whatever, or just before
or whatever they pre brief the larger outlets on what's going to be in their
video. Yeah, it does not seem like it almost does seem a little
anti climactic to me, though, to debut a new fricking console in like
a prerecorded video stream. Who cares if you're sitting at home watching said stream.
Like the difference is actually, I guess you're right. The people who
they are selling nothing to aren't the people who are going to think it's anti
climat. Yeah, he're right, You're right, yea. And I think
like the directs they it gives them a chance to chose more personality and humor
and stuff, Like they've done some pretty funny, charming things in those so
like I almost kind of prefer Nintendo to do anything. And also they can
also get more elaborate than they could in the stage setting. Yeah. Also,
if I don't know that we music demo, that's true, it's pretty
elaborate. Also, if that thing's got any weird wireless transmission stuff, that
definitely helps them control the environment and not run into weird interference problems that PlayStation
VR down. I was real good. Oh man, Yeah, that's a
shame because the guy given that demo was doctor Richard Marks from Sony, who's
like a like a super instrumental guy in their hardware R and D for like
a long time. Yes, he's been there for ages and he totally knows
his ship. So I was like, man, that's hard to watch stuff
like that happens. It felt really bad seeing that stuff mess up. I
was mostly just excited that it looked like Discs of trontly, Like shit,
they need to make that into a game, yep, and make it look
exactly like that, but work Adam from Redwind, Washington. Uh. In
Day of the Technacle, you could use weird eds computer and play the original
Maniac Mansion. Huh. Well, day have the Tentacle remastered contain Maniac mentioned
reasd remastered as well? I would imagine it would contain a regular Maniac manchon
straight up Maniac Mansion or unless that's a weird rights thing. I would assume
it would. I would assume it would still be in there. God,
it would. That would be terrible. Well, I mean, is there
is a devote, always replace it with something else. We know it's devoted,
there is they are to preserving that stuff. I would imagine they'd do
whatever was necessary. But yeah, like, I don't know if what are
the rights issues around a game within a game? I don't know, nam
colds the pattern, No, I don't. Yeah that's over now, yep,
that's true. Yeah fuck that. Mini games during loading screens now free
for all for everybody. Although like it ended right, it ended twenty fourth
is when people could start developing them again, It's like that's official. Yeah,
where the fuck are the mini games and loading screen and start developed?
You can't start developing one and oh you literally couldn't even put work into one.
It wasn't just you could put them out after that, you wouldn't be
able to release one that you had been working. Oh is that how the
patent stuff works? That's crazy? Okay, it seems like that would be
hard to enforce. Yeah, we made this game in a week. Yeah,
especially as long as some of the load times have been on the consoles
recently, you could be just caused three with you give me something to do.
Uh, let's see, So rotating something on like a Fallout or Skyrim
that that doesn't count as a game. I wonder at what point it legally
she comes a game because sky I ever mad that too. So that's been
a while and you're really do stuff like Bayonet and FIFA because that was like
a subsection of the full game that was getting right, it's not training of
the actual game. Yeah. Oh, let's see, Danny, it's a
good day for you to be here wait. Oh god, it's a question
about Ireland, isn't it? Potatoes? Potatoes are my favorite vegetable, followed
by Paris nips, followed by what about breakfast? Yeah? Same? Oh
okay, potatoes and Lucky Charms. I'm the first time I look at arms
in Los Angeles, like four years ago. You were they everything? You
hope they alf the time. I don't like them at all. Yeah,
okay, okay. I thought you guys were about to about how much you
love Lucky Charms and I was about to feel weird. Sh Ever, just
thinking about biting it out of it. It's like styrophones gives me a weird
like I kind of I kind of liked the texture just because of how alien
it was. But you're you're right, it's not good. Alpha bits have
the same. Yeah, they're not alphabets. Yeah, they're not Coco pops
thing. Where you've had it? Do you guys call them that? Here?
Yeah? Yeah, where they had the Yeah. It's like after a
while, it's just like it's a chocolate and it's not nice anymore. The
milk's gone weird. It's like that would look at arms, except that happens
in like twenty five seconds. Yeah. Yeah, the non marshmallow parts,
so that gets sludgy engrossed real fast. Anyway, Sorry, I just turned
it into my own stage accidentally. I'm thinking about breakfast. What's not?
What is it? What is the traditional Irish breakfast? Is it similar to
in English? Yeah? Similar English that we have black pudding and white pudding
as well. Whit putting? Wait? What is white pudding? It's the
same as black pudding, except they don't have the blood. No wait blood
black pudding was just blood. No, it's like a bunch of other stuff.
Wait, really I thought it was just Wait, but blood sausage is
just blood right, No, it's like awful and everything else. Wait really
I think so? Yeah, I don't actually know the process. It's like
it's similar to like like mushroom, not much sausages. What exactly is awful?
Is it? That's like giblets and stuff. It's just random, just
random parts parts, you know, parts of you like boiling the leftover parse?
Wait is awful and name of food? Yeah, it's a part of
the animal. I think more than and again in Ireland? Right, well,
yeah, it's it's an English It's a word in the English language.
Referring to something like, oh, okay, I was gonna say, that's
a terrible name. I got my There's this place called the English Market and
Cork where I used to live for a while. One of my friends lived
there and he was needing to he needed to get fast because he was like
making like some sort of big meat thing. And he went down to the
English Market and said, I need to buy fat and he was like.
The guy was like, you know, you can make your own fat.
It's like, okay, how do I do that? And he sold him
what's it called that? Like white stuff? It's like they cut it off
the meat, and there was a massive butchers. They just had shiploads of
this stuff. And I forget what it's called. It's awful it because it's
it's something else. So he just gave him like bags of this ship.
He said, just boil a bunch of that. You get all the fight
you need. What's that curdledge? Is it? No? It's like fat?
I thought, I thought, yeah, like the white stuff on meat.
Yeah. Yeah, it's like there's like a word for like this amount
of it. It's like they had bags and bags of it, and he
was like, you gott have it for free. Just there you go.
And then he boiled a bunch of fat in his house and his smelt like
fat for like two months. Oh that sounds terrible. It's not it's not
tallo is it? Oh no, it's something out became with sant do it?
So many words for fat? I don't know. Don't do it though,
That's all I got, all right, Sorry, what was the original?
I could never eat blood, anything, black, anything. I'm sorry.
I just can't do it. It's like it does not even taste.
I've eaten a lot of weird stuff, but I can't eat congealed blood.
Man, I just can't. I mean, you eat sausages, that's faces.
The taste is gone. Yeah, it taste delicious. I don't actually
like to taste of blood. I did not know that that was a weird
thing until I moved like over here. I think I had some blood in
Korea actually, and I did not enjoy It does not taste like blood like
I like blue meat. But it does not taste like that. Wait,
blue like raw blue is blue is like a little bit right, yeah weird?
Yeah, blue blue is like the one I'll eat rare like blue is
the one above rare. All right, okay, yah, yeah, Like
I'll have like meat, you know, meaty steaks, like bloody food.
I don't mind that. Yeah, but that's not what it tastes. I
don't mind that either. I just don't want to eat actual like solid blood.
It's delicious, man, Get some clown of guilty pudding any and stuffing
it rather eat lucky charms. Come on, all right, Mark from Vancouver.
As a fairly new member of the site, I'm not clear on Jeff's
history with the Commodore sixty four. I assume that he had one as a
kid and has also acquired a collection of tapes later in life. I certainly
enjoy his updates and comments on the platform. Growing up in the UK,
my first exposure to games was my cousins C sixty four, which I later
inherited, But my first new computer was an Amiga six hundred. Yea,
did Jeff or anyone on the crew spend much time with the Amiga platform?
An he thought on revisiting some classic Amiga games on the site in a similar
way to how Jeff covered some C sixty four games. Sadly, my parents
mistakenly donated my Amiga six hundred while I was away at university. That's what
I'd have to find one on eBay or emulate to experience those games again.
Have any of you misplaced, sold, or given away something video game related
that you now regret? Yeah, my Amiga six hundred of my parents gave
to my aunts, who then like fucking disappeared, and I got one as
a birthday presents of years later from a friend. You can get them pretty
there's enough of the match amulation on Amiga's actually pretty difficult. Well as there's
some good Amiga emulator like win you ae is is a pretty good piece of
software I couldn't get. Yeah, yeah, so you have to kind of
cross that barrier of of getting the kick starts and stuff like that. There
are packages you can actually buy that just give you the necessary kind of work
bench and kickstart stuff. Uh. I have an A five hundred. I
have a couple of them actually, but they're one of them is broken.
And yeah, so I had a Commodore one twenty eight. So I never
actually had tapes from my C sixty four. I just got a disk drive
right away. I had taped on my Atari before that, years before that,
And yeah, I just I have a friend of my cousin had one
and I really liked it. And then a friend of mine we moved when
I got a junior high and my friend across the street had one, and
that made me want one, So I upgraded to A one twenty eight.
Uh and then yeah, yeah, like I don't know, ninety two or
something like that. Got hold of a a Mega five hundred from a friend,
and you're like the only American I have met? I think. Who
I owned an Amiga? Ye like not very big over here at Yeah,
I didn't know a single person. I never I barely hurt. I didn't
play that many games on it. I just didn't have the hook up to
get games, and they weren't really sold because no one was buying amiga's at
that time. It just wasn't really the software was not out there. Oh,
speaking of the Amiga, did you guys see Shadow of the Beast to
play it? Actually did any thoughts? Like? I never played the originals?
I the original It doesn't make any sense to me. It never did.
Yeah, it's a weird game, weird game. Super It's it's kind
of like a I always wondered if it was just like an altered Beast knockoff,
because there was a lot of that happening on the Amiga, right with
like Johnasisters and Mario and Zul was always like a sonic well Zuls on everything
too, I mean, you know, but there was there's a Genesis version
of Zul. It's probably a Snaest vers two. Anyway, the Amiga.
I continue to look at the Amiga library and try to play different games and
and think like, oh, you know what, what would be some games
that would like, you know, and ask people like what are the games
on the Amiga that are worth looking at? And a lot of the time
they will mention games that have you know, been arcade games, like it's
ports of other stuff. So it's one of the things where like I'm trying
to figure out, like what are the Amiga the Amiga exclusives, what are
like the shining points of the Amiga library that you can old still only play
there that are really worth looking at, Like all the big ones got portive,
Yeah, exactly, so it's sortable to speedbol Speedboll series was all the
bit. My brother's stuff was original and the like imported to consoles or devices
that had you know, more buttons on their controllers, and the games were
just you know a little bit easier to play, like connon fodder Sensible Soccer.
Can of Fodder's great. Yeah, it's a great game, Sensible Soccer.
You people are crazy at Turrikan. Like Chaos Engine, Hurrican was never
Awesomecast Engine came out here as Soldier of Fortune, but they licensed from the
magazine Soldier of Fortune Spectrum Hollabyte brought it over Jesus before Raven got their hands
on the Yeah, yeah, yeah, they brought it over for consoles.
Wow. And and that just seemed like a bad shooter. So it's one
of those things where it's like a lot of those games just seemed bad now
like they haven't aged super well or they've been ported elsewhere where they're more playable.
So it's like, yeah, I don't like people are like, oh
Man, Street Fighter two was awesome on the emigas, I'm sure it was,
but like they have four discs. Yeah, like that just doesn't matter
now, Like so many of the ones that were like when I think about
games like I love playing, like theme Park and Syndicate, like they are
all so many of them were doss games, right, were games that were
coming. Yeah, I mean I played Syndicate, you know on Doss and
that that, to me was the version of the game. Like I actually
went and looked at the Amiga version, kind of curious to see if it
was any better. I was like, I think I'll stick with the PC.
They all run rather slow, yeah, which but you never noticed,
because like that's why Sensible World of Soccer and Sensible Soccer were these like like
oh my god, you can make games this fast and controlled. Yeah,
and like yeah, so many of those sports they weren't idea like More of
a Combat was a three day this game in which you had to do two
disk stops before a bunch of fights, and x com I think it was
eleven discs. Monkey Island two was twelve, Monkey Ala one was four.
Like there was a lot of like like I love playing games like Desert Strike,
but like it's not the best play way to play Desert Strike. There
was it was just like I don't know what it was. It's like people
look fondly, look back fondly on the Amiga six hundred because it was just
like I wonder if the fact that there was so much like blatant copyright and
that there was just this bounty of games that everyone had access to and if
you had a friend to it an amiga, you just had shitloads of discs.
So it was just this like super crazy like experimenting crazy types of games,
Like there was loads of indie games on the front of magazines coming outs
and then big budget games getting made for it. It was just there was
loads of stuff out on it and it was easily accessible. It was it
possible to make any money on that thing though, basically killed Commodore right.
It was the well, it wasn't the straw book to commes back maybe,
but like no, and like you go back in. There's a great book
out called Britsoft, which is made in the UK, which basically tells the
story of all the people who got out and all the people who didn't.
Like the amount of people who got out of that, like companies who were
people who got rich off of making a media games you can count on like
one hand, like there was you know, but it was also like you
know, it seems like that's that book is amazing, uh and and there's
yeah, there's just a ton of people that were like our legendary that made
it out of that thing, and maybe they didn't make their money there,
but they at least like cut their teeth and got in to a point where
they were able to probably make a lot of money after the fact. And
there's lots of didn't. Like. Yeah, there's some you know, there's
there's some tragic stories that there's was that our own called from Bedroom to Billions,
that documentary. They're doing an Amigo one now, I think, and
like some of the like I met some of the Bitmap Brothers guys a launch
party for a Sensible Software book, right, and like, some of those
guys look like they've not had the easiest Yeah, I've even heard about some
of that stuff. Yeah, Like the Sensible Software guys are all just like
developers John Harry, lead guy. He like lectures in London. Some of
them are just like graphics dudes and audio dudes and the three D when games,
when consoles ran three D in development three D, they just kind of
got left behind. You know, that's really tragic. What'll happen there?
Great though, love it. I got an Amiga six hundred on my desk.
Really, yeah, I want to come see what that looks like.
Man, Yeah, I'll show you, right, now fondle it, don't
touch it. Okay, break it. You bought it. I'm terrified to
flug it in America. Oh yeah, and I would totally sit down and
check some of those games out if you guys ever wanted to you want,
well, you guys are all about long streams. You want to have some
loading time? Yeah, well it's the benefit of a good emulators. You
can kind of wet. We gotta emulate it. For real. That was
the worst one of your discs. Point load or like, oh you can
play most of the game, but if I walk into this room, I
can't play anymore. Yeah, I mean how long are we talking to load
a disc? I don't know, like anywhere between like twenty seconds to a
minute. Yeah, it depends. Like sometimes they just loaded a bunch onto
rap. For the two disc games, they were just like load all the
disc one and then this too. Will just kind of sit there and play
whatever whatever thinking one megaby to RAM. Yeah, they were all kinds of
RAM expansions and stuff like that. You could buy a second megabyte for one
hundred ye old Irish pounds. Yep uh. Email from Stephen. I remember
when everyone would email in talking shit about other cities. Why did that stop?
I love that we should do that again. I'll start fuck Cleveland from
Detroit. I don't any cross on Cleveland. Pots and cattle is there,
isn't it? Yeah? I don't heard thoughts on Cleveland. I don't know
the herd. The chili is good? Is that the rock and roll sandies
where the chili is good? Yes? I understand that it rocks, But
it's still Ohio. There's that. Any internet video where they talk trash about
Cleveland, you can probably get that for every time. Now, Ohio sounds
more exciting than Indiana. I think either of those places. No, just
just figuring they're all driving to sense of everywhere else in the Midwest. I've
never been anywhere out so good Lord. No Kansas, No, no,
no. Yeah. At least Cleveland has like several cities I've heard of.
Indiana just has Indianapolis. Can you name any other Indiana? Oh? You
like Cleveland? Like Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. Right, yep, that's
three right there, man. I know there's race cars in Indiana. And
Dave Letterman and Axel Rose, which, to be fair, are to my
favorite human beings that have ever lived. I can't, but they don't live
there anymore. So right now, Indiana's probably terrible. I can't think of
anything. This is terrible. Yeah, this is embarrassing. Is there something
Bend? North Bend, East Bend? Are you looking at me? Bro
and you grew up that I place? Right? Indiana? That's it,
Indiana. There's a I usually assume that non Americans know more about American geography
than I mean, they're just is Purdue, and maybe that might be there.
Maybe I've just never heard of anything excepting ever happening in Indiana. All
right, well there it's racing. I said something. Did we get into
these cars crash? And that's exciting? How did we get it onto Indiana?
He didn't even mention because I was thinking about how Ohio was boring,
and then I remember, oh, it's pretty close to Indiana, and that
seems more boring about Ohio. So now Dan is throwing shade at very Indiana.
Kansas man, Okay, all right, gaunt was just thrown. I
guess yeah, the worst states, mister, you know, at the worst
city I've been in this country. Mil petis really California. Get that,
mall? What's up that smell? Smell? Fucking I was on an internet
mel Petis and I was like, I felt bad. I had to like
check over my shoulder. I like, I'm sorry if you're from mel Peters.
I googled why does Melpea smell? Fucking Plenty of websites down you talking
about IY some rendering plant there? Oh, super smells now, mel Peters.
There used to be an arcade in that mall and I think Namco would
have stuff there, uh, because they were located nearby. So I remember
going like, oh, is a techn tournament down here or something? Tech
tournament? Yeah, in a world famous grand tradition of the world famous mis
tech tournament. Take it all back? Yeah, great place. It smells
because so many people get thrown into volcanoes there. Yeah. Right there in
the welcome center under the town loadan, it says Kenyan, home of the
King of Iron Fist. You and from Manchester, Good day, duters.
Mine is a two part question. Grime is having something of a commercial resurgence
here in the UK, and as far as I'm aware, it is having
some success state side. Do any of the Giant Bob crew enjoy the musical
stylings of lethal Bizil Bugsy Bloone, Skepta, Stormsy or Big Narsty or are
you all simply pagan wasteman. I've heard some Skepta that I thought was okay.
Yeah, but that's the only one of the of those that I've heard
of, Lethal Basil I've heard of. Yeah, that's Big Narsty. Nobody
Narsty is pretty good. What was the last one? Big Narsty was the
last one? Got the Bugsy Malone, Stormsy, storm Zy, fucking uk
your names? That's pretty good, right, God? I just want to
know, yeh, lethal business. No, I want to look at Big
Narsty if we can hear some of that here Narsty? Who I e Oh,
of course I should have known? Okay, Well, while you do
that, I'll read the second half of his question. Secondly, if EA
were to announce a new def Jam game, as we all know they should,
who would you like to see on the roster? I personally would love
to see how many alternate costumes a roided out young thug would have. Keep
up the good work and fuck leads, they're all in bread cheap shaggers up
there. Oh man, So like I don't know what happened the place beef
is just back this week out of nowhere us. They just pissed off.
Well, yeah, you got Eric Kanson. I don't be a dick about
it. There's a reference you can all get. This WiFi takes forever to
handle. Yeah, okay, the WiFi was I'm on the like the public
Wi fire whatever, and it's it's a fucking real shit show. Okay,
I'm hitting except yes, no, I know the Victoria's Secret. Yes again,
it advertising CBS shows when you connect to CBS public WiFi. Big Narsty
Okay, what was the question before leads? Uh? Who should be?
Who should be on the roster of the new deef Jam game? Warren zevon
Jesus Christ I would put well, I don't know. I mean, were
they all def Jam artists? No, No, they were not. That
was the one of the coolest parts about is you know they were able to
kind of get outside. This is don't sit down by Big Narsty. Wait,
where's the speaker on this? How do I hold this up? I
don't think that's that's not outside of us his hand. That's maybe not gonna
play. It's just live. I don't know. Oh, okay, that
was just he was watching the TV in the videos under story, the story
Glory. He looks like Bizarre from D twelve. Yeah, I'll skip ahead.
Was the road side the road? He sounds a lot like Dizzy Roscoe.
Yeah he does it, really does? I know? It's a London
accent. Settle on the accent vote. What does he saying from Brixton?
That's yeah, I guess what's the story? Brixton Glory Part two is the
name of the album. All right. The only place I've been pickpocketed in
London. Here's a giant by a big narsty. I just think it's funny.
I don't know like that. I don't are people listening to that like
seriously? And I'm like, fucking yeah, I'm entertained again, and like,
yes, I'm entertained by it. I just listening like you guys,
fucking grime. It's hilarious. What defines a crime? I don't know.
That's that's it's a It's a state of mind. May I see? Uh?
Speaking of weird names, weird international names for things, Anders writes in
from Denmark, Anders, that's a weird name. Well, no, I'll
get the weird the weird stuff high bombs. You're discussion about big Trouble in
Little China made me recall that the Danish title of the film is loosely translated
as who do the Chinese blow up? For Chinese, in this case being
an ancient slang term for firecrackers. Other great translated Danish titles are for Trading
Places, The Boss, and the Bum. Okay, yeah, we're descriptive
every which, able to loose stewed beef for naughty boys. Now you're talking
if you're kind of stewed beef for for red heat a Russian cleans up in
Chicago. Yeah, yeah, accurate. I assume other countries might have similar
great titles. I would like to hear them so fast and furious. This
call was it? It's called wild Speed? Oh nice in Japan? Okay,
all right, it's not bad. Yeah, you got a weird,
weird ass translated and then retranslated. Uh uh. I was like the very
movie titles. Please. I always like the version of Departed and Korea wasn't
was Infernal Affairs? Well the Departed is based on that. Yeah, yeah,
I know, yeah, I like that title. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah, it's great. But yeah, that's a classic. It's not
Chris, It's uh, it's not Korean. It's uh isn't. I thought
it was Korean. I don't know. I want to say it's Hong Kong.
Oh, you might be pretty sure. We might both be wrong.
It's been a long time since we've had a game change. It's titled between
Europe and because we had like kind OF's kind of met it with Bully right
and uh firen heis was Indigo prophecy over here? Yeah, you're you know,
puzzle bobble bust a move yea god split indeed, uh probotector it's contra
or grys or in some regions all this I think that. Okay, I
I don't know if I should read this. I'm gonna read this. I'm
gonna regret reading this. Keep your answer relatively short. Bomb Cast Crew.
This from Greg not being a wrestling fan. I need your expertise. Last
week, media circulated of American wrestler Joey Ryan's dot dot dot unorthodox finishing move.
Okay and the Annals of Wrestling. Where does this rank in terms of
weirdness? Is incapacitating an opponent using only the power of your genitalia really that
odd? I mean I did what happened in DDT, Yeah, which is
a Japanese promotion that is known for ridiculous like they'll have like you know,
guys wrestling dolls and mannequins and stuff like that and putting on like weirdly good
matches with inanimate objects. Yeah, that are like kind of awesome. That's
creepy, but you know it's like when when they're like pretending to get hit
by a fake thing and you believe it, it's like wet, that's okay,
nuts. Uh, And this is just kind of another in the long
brand tradition. You see that a lot with like chicara and set to like
invisible hand grenades and slow motion attacks and all that. So I'm like those
super silly things that it almost seems like they're you know, orchestrated to get
go viral, and people that don't normally watch look how crazy this is.
You know as far as actual like WWE they've done weird snake charming things.
Uh, they've shot lightning out of their hands, lots of fireballs. Fireballs
are kind of a long running classic flash paper or whatever they're using. Yeah,
but nothing quite nothing that you have to suspend your disbelief that much for
so no, I that that's maybe mainly a japan DDT chicara type thing.
Japanese wrestling sounds like where it's at well, so no, well, yes,
but not most most of it is not like that. It's it is
only these DDT guys that are running that way. The rest of Japanese wrestling
has a very different tone that is entertaining in its own way, but it's
it's not It is not dudes doing fucking hip tosses with their dicks or you
know whatever. It is super serious. Yeah, it's all seriously about.
They have strong style where they are hitting each other much harder than typically do
in the US, like literally physically harder, Like they're actually beating the shit
out of each other, not necessarily beating the shit out of each other,
you know. I mean the hits are look a lot stronger. Well,
i mean it's more realistic, you know. Fuck, like, even even
if you're taking that, you know, knowing it's coming, like you're still
getting welts, you're still coming out of Well, my understanding of even American
wrestling was that, you know, like, oh, you know, if
it's all fake kind of stuff. Aside, so many people out injured right
now. That's what I'm saying, like, like aside from that whole thing,
like even faking it, like you're gonna take some knocks there are.
There is a reason why so many wrestlers of the eighties got hooked on pain
killers. Yeah. Yeah, Also, Joey Ryan is one of the guys
I'm scheduled to manage. I will try to change it to all penis based
off, so I'll have to chat with them about that. All right.
I didn't even know about that. Good to know, all right. Last
email, this actually came from the stack of tumbler questions I got that I
solicited last week when they emails down. So it's anonymous, fuck Mary Kill,
anymous Solid Snake, Karragan, the Queen of Blades, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Yeah, fuck Sonic the Hedgehog. Wait, Aretty, sure about this?
What do you mean? This is it? It's pretty easy, you
think, is it? Fox? Mary Kill? Yeah? What's your answer?
I haven't done that touch So it's as simple as it sounds. Right,
Yet you pick one for each? Yeah, well, I guess Karragan,
Snake, Sonic, fuck Sonic the heg Yeah. Yeah, huh,
I's so spiny though, No, no, no, you misunderstand. No,
I know, I know, I have no answer to this question.
Yeah, all right, maybe maybe it's best we just back away from this
one. All right. BombCast a giant bomb dot com. You can send
emails there. Plus I thought about opening that tumbler up some plus uh permanently,
Yeah, because careful. I also had anonymous questions turned on. So
it just led to a whole bunch of real, real weird anonymous drive by
shit. You know, you tell people just loaded the form up you can
turn off anonymous questions. Yeah, yeah, it's like the best thing about
Tumbler. Oh yeah, yeah. I realized after about a week of having
anonymous stuff back on why I had turned it off in the first place.
But I don't know, we should maybe look into that. It just led
to a lot weirder, like quick hit type shit. Yeah, coming through
dead drop emails, some real weird stuff in there. Yeah, I bet
you it'll be exactly like you're a Tumbler. It'll be a great idea for
the first Oh yeah, totally, but so yeah, clearly, Uh,
some percentage of our audience does their best work on Tumbler from the looks of
things. Uh, Danny, thanks for being here. Thanks for finding me
man, Yeah, pleasures ever. Really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to
all to your Game of Year podcasts. Yeah, when are they kicking off?
It's the between Christmas and New Year's so the final day will be January
first, yes, but that week, that Friday will be the last day,
so that Monday the first day. What do you guys got going on?
You've got anything you want to plug while you're here? Yeah, I
don't know. We got the lobby on the on the c NET stage tomorrow.
That's gonna be a fucking nightmare. Wait what Yeah, studio right today?
But what is this? Where is what? What? And where is
the s NET stage? Apparently it's got a city view on the sixth's yere
on sixth Oh wow, studio where we used to shoot let's game spot.
Oh shit, that's cool. Yeah we shot in there for a while.
Cool. Yeah, probably got all that game it to your stuff's going up.
We've it's already started with some oh wow likely well like it's not the
actual Game of the Year stuff, but like that's going to start this week.
When do you guys post your stuff? I think it's uh, I
think the actual Game of year is going to be on the closer to like
two days before Christmas. Something that all starts on the seventeenth, I think
is the Top twenty five list. We've literally like listed what we think of
the top twenty five games of the year, and they're gonna do them in
five, like twenty five all the way down to it's the number one.
Man, if we didn't have to do if we didn't cut ours to a
ten, that would have been an easier list to do. Yeah, it
would have fully crap. Everybody would have gotten what they wanted. Ten is
a savage list twenty five, especially this year for sure last year, last
year, it was a savage for the ops of reason, Yeah, that's
true. Did we always put stuff up that earlier when we were off GameSpot
No, there was like there was this weird arms race to go earlier.
Yeah, there was this like this weird feeling of like, oh, can
we get it up before im They started super early, those fuckers. Oh
yeah, you know, there's there was like a weird it's like game of
the year season now. Yeah, it's like, oh, we're gonna do
you know, here are our platform report cards on how we you did this
year? It's all like sort of mixed into it. You know. So
does a bunch of that stuff up on games what dot coom already? It's
cool. Yeah. So if you had just had a double agent who had
infiltrated IGN and could send you by shortwave the date that they were going to
start posting, all right, I mean everyone sho. You know, it's
the same street and there's only so many bars at this point you just ask
no, I'm talking about I'm talking about ten, ten to fifteen years ago,
right, But also they were they were not down the street back then,
right, they were across the bay. Yeah. Uh man, you
gotta watch that ship. Like the short wave stuff is a literal number station
yea. Like literally it was just a voice reading numbers of a short wave
and he had to sit there and spend hours transcribing the numbers and through their
cipher. You should download the Conet Project. It's four CDs of actual numbers
station recordings from the era and beyond. Some of those are still broadcasting now.
It's on our cave dot org. You just uh, they may have
actually done a limited them. Yeah alright, man, you should download those
and listen to them while you try to fall asleep if you want to have
spy nightmares. Wait, are they reading the numbers in Russian? Some of
them are reading them in foreign languages. It's oftentime. It's like the NATO
alphabet and numbers, and but they're all playing little sings, little little jingles
to signify that you're on the right station before they start reading the numbers.
And then it reprograms you in your sleep and you wake up and your sleeper
says agent activated. You're activated. Work great for me, man, all
right, I'll get on that. All right, Well, let's get that
all out of here. Then, thanks for listening. We will ramp our
production stuff back up here as best we can. Yeah, look for some
stuff for stuff to show up in the mail at this point. Yeah,
but yeah, we're getting there. Yep. All right, uh yeah,
thanks for listening. We will be back next week with another edition of the Giant Bodcast