Speaker 1: I thank you, Chris.
Speaker 2: You literally didn't perfect you don't change it thing.
Speaker 3: Happy Thanksgiving motherfuckers.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: That I'm like, I think we might not put this
on YouTube, but I am recording to put it on YouTube.
Who cares anymore? Welcome to the show. It's a game,
that's asides. It's a podcast where we decide everything you
should be thankful for, so you don't have to actually
be thankful because you're an ungrateful bast dude. Uh yeah,
We're gonna just to do a quick one, a very
quick one, like verily an episode. Honestly, I'm gonna say
I'm thankful for going to Disney. It was a good time,
and I'm also thankful for the show and you guys
carrying it last week. I appreciate it as always like
you had an idea, you wanted to do a thing here,
you had a I'm pretty good.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Actually I like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a stupid but fun one. Just because
some reason. I think about this a lot, but just
video games, I associate with November Mount Rushmore, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I there are You know November used to be the
gaming month, right, It was the month where the biggest
stuff would come out without fail until it failed. And
now it's like a lot of Novembers come and go
with like oh nothing really happened, you know, or mid
sized big games just not the biggest games of the
year necessarily. So yeah, there are a handful things I
definitely associate with this time of year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, so I think it'd be fun to maybe
narrow that one down if you're ready, sir.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm running a base. I'm basically ready. I'm gonna
get a doc going here, But yeah, why don't you
start us off while I get that going?
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think a big one for me actually is
Metroid Prime. That one I know came out like November something.
Something goes that date that Nintendo loved in general for
a while. It's like November twenty first or something. They
kept releasing stuff on that day, sometimes even consoles. But yeah,
Metroid Prime was positioned as a big holiday game for
them on the GameCube, and I remember picking it up
right away, and there is It's funny because as creepy
as Metroid Prime could be, there is also a cozy
factor to it. I think think November is generally a
very cozy month. The holidays are starting. Thanksgiving, of course,
is maybe one of the coziest holidays. The weather's is
crisp in a generally pleasant way. There's something November coded
about Metroid Prime.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely feel that way as well. You're that
date of like looking forward to November because of Metroid
Prime was definitely in my head and then you know,
kind of just took up once the reviews came out
and it was so huge. It's like, oh, now this
is all I can think about until I get a
chance to play it. So yeah, that's definitely one that
we should put up there.
Speaker 3: In fact, I am writing it down now and the
dock that I have.
Speaker 1: And even though like metro Fusion came out the same
day and I love monted Vision, don't associate it with
November as much.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have fin drown a drifts, which I definitely
think of when it starts getting cold outside.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've mentioned this one a bunch of times. A rare,
rare game Donkey Kong Country, I just you know, it
came out. I think it must have came out in November.
But even if it didn't, I associated with November because
we get to Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3: Break, and I just played it non stop.
Speaker 2: That Thanksgiving break after it came out, and even to
the point where we had a huge family get together,
like my family hosted Thanksgiving for the extended family, and
I was like in the basement and like people can
come down and hang out, and the people are definitely
hanging out, and like I was like, I would let
him play, but I was just like, I'm you know,
whenever it goes back upstairs, I'm still down here just
playing Donkey Kong Country and loving it.
Speaker 3: And you know, the warm.
Speaker 2: Feeling of the house being filled with people and all
the smells of all the cooking happening, and the sounds
of football being somewhere and Donkey Kong Country happening. It's
still a sense memory I have to this day.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, that one makes a lot. But you're right,
there's it's funny because like, even though a lot of
the vibes are tropical or even pirate themes, there is
something novembery about Donkey Kong Country. Absolutely for sure. I
think of a lot of the Call of Duty games
with November. A lot of them do get released in November,
a lot of them get released on October also, But
I actually have a pretty vivid memory of the first
Thanksgiving when the Xbox three sixty came out. We just
had it plugged into you know, a big TV, and
we were doing Call of Duty to split screen matches, right.
We had just you know, me, my brothers and our
cousin running around these maps that were far too big
for just two v two but still having a really
fun time with it. It was still, you know, one
of a lot of our first experiences with HD gaming.
So it looked really crisp and really sharp, and I
continue to always kind of have Thanksgiving November vibes with
a lot of the calle of Duty game, but I'm
getting that a lot with this new one with Black
Ops six. Oh definitely, yes, gosh, probably, you know was
our metaphor. It might be my most played game this
November right now?
Speaker 3: Which Call of Duty was it that you mentioned? Though,
Well two is.
Speaker 1: The one I have the memories of, so we can
say Call of Duty two, okay, definitely, with apologies to
Perfect Dark zero.
Speaker 2: A like okay, so when it comes to like November games,
you're right there, Like there's a lot of dates that
just stand out. This one might be the most November date,
and that was eleven eleven, eleven eleven eleven actually for Skyrim.
When Skyrim came out on November eleventh, twenty eleven, and
you know, I think about that date. It's not quite
a nine to nine to nine, but it's it's the
next step day. It's pretty good still though, and to
the point where you know, they had they had like
the ten year anniversary and it was like, oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, now we're kind of doing eleven eleven eleven.
Speaker 2: Or you know, it was eleven eleven in twenty twenty one.
It's like, yeah, man, remember eleven eleven eleven. So yes, Skyrim,
And you know Skyrim is a wintry wonderland game and
you're walking around and all the the you know, the
snow is everywhere, and it's definitely stuff that just made
me feel cozy and warm playing this cold game at
one big snow level.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 1: You're right, though, I just like that release it alone
because it is so iconic, right, everybody remembers that that
alone is absolutely associated with November so heavily, Like you say, Skyrim,
and one of the first like word bubble thoughts things
is going to just beat that date, that.
Speaker 2: Date, Yeah exactly. Yeah, it'll be like one of the
bigger word bubbles. Yeah yeah, what else?
Speaker 1: Uh, Halo Combat Evolve. First Halo game was a launch
title for the first Xbox So it came out November
fifteenth to thousand and one. So I remember, you know,
gain this early in that hype and just again kind
of homes some bit of call of Duty too, It's like, well,
look how futuristic this stuff is. It was a big
deal almost immediately, and because those right around Thanksgiving, you
got to show a lot of your family this, look
at this hot, new, incredible video game, and everybody wants
to play splitscreen multiplayer matches. So yeah, there's something about
Halo that definitely makes me think about kind of like
people being around, people being excited. And again, you know,
one of nice things about Halo is that it wasn't
just the all gray, you know, piss colored game. There
was a lot of vibrant, outdoorsy areas that are surprisingly
cozy and comfy. I think that's a big part of
why Halo is fun to play. It never really feels
oppressive or anything like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and for like all these massive games, we're mentioning
like the game Halo might be the one where I'm like,
I most associate with a November lease at the very
least because it was I don't know something about like
big games came out in November, especially after that for
a very long time, it felt like and to me
in my mind, even though it maybe didn't start this way,
in my mind, it started with Halo Combat Evolved.
Speaker 3: So yep, for sure, and I did. I looked it up.
Speaker 2: Donkey Kong Country also came out on November twenty first,
that Nintendo date.
Speaker 1: So they love that date. They love that date.
Speaker 3: They love that date.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, obviously the probably it's probably like a
certain day before Thanksgiving, right, is what they really liked.
But uh yeah, November twenty first. I know that we
have Metroid Prime up there already in Donkey Kong Country,
But there is like another November big Nintendo release that
like definitely sticks in my mind. Uh Okerina of Time,
right that came Oh that came out November ninety eight, right.
Speaker 1: It might have been October. Let me let me see
you real quick. Legend of Zota, although oh no, November
twenty first of Japan, November twenty third, America. Yeah, that's
a November game for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it was like, I'm come like, I'm pretty
sure I remember that being one of those ones where
I was looking forward to getting that around Thanksgiving and
U and then god, yeah, I must have played that
for months though.
Speaker 1: It's such a good game to release, as like you're
gonna get some long weekends from school and winter break
coming up, right, I think a lot of us spent
those extra days off from school venturing around high roll yep.
Speaker 2: I mean I for a very long time I associated
the four day weekend of Thanksgiving with just playing a
game for that entire weekend. And you know, it might
have that Donkey Kung Country might have been the one
that started that for me, but Ocrea of Time might
actually be the more iconic one in the long run.
Speaker 1: Half Life One was actually right around the same time, Jeff,
this is November nineteenth, nineteen ninety eight. I mean, this
was that ridiculous fall of nineteen ninety eight where we
got like Half Life one, Apron Time and Metal Gear
Solid Melgar Saw. I think I was actually released in October,
but all releasing around the same time, all being just
monumental games you just literally felt the industry change because
of this is handful of releases happening, and Half Life
one was so cinematic and just so neat and stood
out from the kind of more the more, I don't
want to say simple, but more like get the blue keyed,
open the blue doors and just fight all the enemies
and you know, don't worry about it too much. Kind
of shooter that we had been getting up to this point.
And this sounds stupid, but there are like a lot
of browns and Half Life and that's the Thanksgiving color job.
Speaker 3: That is stupid, But you're not wrong. I know what
you mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds dumb, but that's how I feel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but beyond I think we probably have our four here.
Are there a couple more you want to mention? Because
I feel like I could start working from this list.
Speaker 1: One more and it's just like Also, it's a GameCube
launch game, so it's November, but Star Star Wars Rogue
Squadron two, Rogue Leader, because there's so much nostalgia ty
into that game, and I think Thanksgiving it especially you know,
Christmas later on very nostalgic holidays. Yeah, yeah, Classic Star
Wars is just as nostalgic as movies can get. Even
though like those Stars movies always came out in the summer,
there is something about the holidays that I associate them
with me. It's just because people are around. Those movies
are always playing on TV or somebody throws them in
at one point or another. But definitely one of the
games I played the most when the GameCube came out.
There is a big cozy factor there.
Speaker 3: I don't remember when I got my game Cube.
Speaker 2: It must not have been at launch because I was
like probably buying my own stuff behind then. It was
highly unlikely I would have been able to afford it,
I think. So I'm like, but I got it not
too long afterwards.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I don't know. Well, maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2: Maybe I did get it because I had the demo
disc and I don't remember the game. I don't know
it was like right there. I'm like just trying to
remember my personal history with it. But yeah, I definitely
have associations with that game coming at that time for sure.
Speaker 1: In fact, it was released a little bit before the
GameCube launch. I remember it was like one of the
games you could just buy them is actually out, which
was weird.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that.
Speaker 2: Okay, that does ring a bell now that you say that. Yeah,
you know there's other games, like, you know, Mass Effect.
Speaker 3: I'm like, look, I'm looking at a list now.
Speaker 2: Super Smash Brothers Ultimate came out November, A Supermut two
came out in November. You know, Half Life two and
Halo two also came out in November. A Call of
Duty for Modern Warfare. So again, wow, November was the month.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mass Effect was the one we said that. I
was most like, that is a Thanksgiving game. I have
no idea why. I may it's the found family thing
in it or something. I don't know, but maybe that
one I would maybe want to consider because there is
something about that, and I really I do associate massively
me too. Of the Mass Effect games, and a lot
of them aren't very cozy. Mass Effect one has some
coziness to it, right, that slightly slower pace, The stakes
aren't quite as high maybe as they get in some
of the later ones in some ways. Yeah, just and
there's like that very big section earning the game where
you're just walking around that city and there's some conflicts
that show up now and then. But that's my favorite
thing in any of the Mass Effect games and that
feels very comfortable.
Speaker 3: R Theft Ought of City, Vice City November.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's some bet. Graft is also be a big
one for a lot of people, and I can see
that for sure.
Speaker 3: But did I mention World of Warcraft? Yeah, lots of stuff.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, we want to work out this any
time game. But yeah, that definitely happened in November for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeap, okay, So the West we have now is Metroid Prime,
Donkey Kong Country, Call of Duty to the Elder, Scrolls five, Skyrim,
Halo Combat Evolved, The llegendis eldest Ocher, Enough Time, Half Life,
Star Wars, Rogue, Rogue Squadron two, Rogue Leader, and Mass Effect.
Speaker 1: I think we have the four here for sure.
Speaker 3: I think we do, all right, let me make a
little room for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Chris just sent me a message he's upset didn't
include rock band. Gosh, he's not wrong. Did your family
to play rock band?
Speaker 2: But that is something you would do, and I think
I personally remember getting the family together to play Guitar Hero,
But yeah, rock band too as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah counts because n seven.
Speaker 1: I mean, oh and seven day is also during November.
That's pretty gets a good point.
Speaker 2: That's a good point that massfect might have a chance here,
might have a chance of making.
Speaker 1: It now, Sean just best to be saying, Chris is
right to be upset with me about rock but look,
Chris ruined rock band a little bit for me. He
may be playing too much, all right, and he's stills
to live with that. He should he should have thought
about that before. Dare he want to play games with me?
Speaker 3: With you? Get here, get back at your rock band hole.
Speaker 1: Your brother, whole brother. What do you want to put
up there?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I I do want to put Donkey
Kong Country up.
Speaker 2: There because it really does just like super sing to
me for when whenever Thanksgiving comes around. And so if
this is our mount rushmore of November games, I I
kind of have to put it up there. Yeah, I
think it's the one I would feel that way about.
And then I'm kind of willing to hear you out
on the rest. Well, he definitely won me over with
Skyrim just that date. I yes, I agree with that,
and it's like again, like then the game itself very
much like hey, you're getting into the winter. This is
a game all about that, so just everything about Skyrim
really works.
Speaker 1: Then gosh, I was like I was feeling mass Effect
in a weird way and then being reminded of end
seven Day and again, it's not Mount rushmore of Thanksgiving days.
That's part of Thanksgiving games. That's part of it. You're right,
You're right, that's part of it. But it's November games,
and like, man, yeah, mass Effect. Oh that's very November,
ye isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'd be weird if we left it off. Yeah,
because November comes around and the first thing that everyone
that happens really is in seven Day, and the game
came out in November.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I think Massie needs to get to
get there.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I fucking love mass Effect. Yeah,
mass Effect.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I always looking like do I have time
for the Legendary Edition in my life? I think about
that once a week.
Speaker 1: I was really enjoying my like playing three mass Effect
one again on there. I just like bounced off because
there's other things I had to do, but I kind
of wish I could get back.
Speaker 2: I think the Legendary Edition, if you listening to this,
is probably still on sale for like five dollars. Oh,
my gosh, So just go get that ship Man.
Speaker 1: That's that's like one that if you know Nintendo switched
to ports, that should be on there, like on launch day.
I think, get the launchary edition on there. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 2: You get that, get Elden Ring, a handful of other
things and your That's a good launch for a system that,
like you know, needs a need some games at that time. Yeah,
all right, that means on one spot left, although of
course we can always move things down if we need to.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I do like Metro Prime a lot harder. I
think you're probably right about It's like the first game
if you tell me to name a game that came
in November. For some reason, Metro Prime is the first
one that comes to my head, even before Skyrim. Uh. Yeah. Again,
It's just there's something about it that is cozy. It
feels it's funny because it's like the opposite of like
a rock band, where I could probably distinctly remember hiding
away from my family to just beat in my room
and played Metroid Prime instead of being social.
Speaker 3: Yep, totally.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And there's something about I don't know that sounds
like a November game to me. Again, because the game
felt so important that that was the kind of game
that would come out in November at that time. So yeah,
I think I agree with that. So it means we
are cutting hey Loo Combat Evolved. We're gonna get yelled
at for that legend of Old Doctor any time. Yeah,
we'll get yelled at for that and Half Life. We
probably won't get yelled at as much for Star Wars Rope
Squadron two Rugue Leader, although that's probably the one I
would put up the next.
Speaker 1: It feels very thanksgiving Slash November e to me again,
They're all definitely very strong November games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, and then Call Duty two for sure.
Speaker 2: Okay, So our Mount Rushmore November games are, Mike Minatti, Please.
Speaker 1: It is fact I'm doing this, remember, because I'm not
looking at this, but I think I could do this.
I believe in myself. Donkey Kong Country, The Elder Scrolls five, Skyrim,
Mass Effect, and Metroid Prime.
Speaker 2: That is correct, and that is our Mount Rushmore of
November games.
Speaker 3: I feel pretty good about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 3: That was a good time. Yeah, anything you're thankful for, Mike.
Speaker 1: You know, it's been a pretty wild year. Jeff. I'm thankful.
I guess I'm suppsed to do that more than New Year.
But I got to travel a bunch this year, right,
I got to see a lot of friends and do
a lot of interesting things. So uh, yeah, I guess
I'm grateful that I get to do this with you.
I get to have my dream job and it gets
to continue to be a dream. So yeah, I got
a lot to be thankful for.
Speaker 2: Yeah you're here, Christian. I know you're not American, but
are you are? Do you have thankfulness in your in
your culture?
Speaker 4: I'm thankful to all, still thankful, a little alone again now,
I'm very thankful to all the workers on the industry
that keeps this this Yeah, this hobby alive, the thing
that love so much and I don't. It's just that,
thank you guys, and you this are better.
Speaker 1: Christian Argentina keeps coming up in my nineties dinosaur documentary.
You know, so many dinosaur bones there.
Speaker 4: My my uncle he found a fossil back in the day.
Oh yeah, big, a big, like a huge armadillo. They
have it on the on the you see them over there.
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: Sean. You want to hop in with anything you're thankful for.
Speaker 5: Yeah, maybe a little cheesy, but I am thankful to
you guys. I wouldn't have the career I have right
now if it weren't for you guys and becoming friends
with you and then working with you and now having
the day job I have, And uh, do you want
to say that I'm thankful to the audience that we
have because I know things have looked different in the
past know year or so of game mess, and I'm
grateful that people stick around with.
Speaker 3: What they will with the punches, right they really exactly.
Speaker 5: We've all all of us here, everyone on the call
has been busy with our various day jobs that we
have and everything and things are shifting around, but the
fact that everyone shows up still and baby comes in
from news sources because it seems like we're even like
growing a little, which is kind of cool. I'm just
thankful that I get to have, like Mike allude to
with his I'm thankful that I get to have my
dream job now and get to do very cool stuff
with you guys, and have an audience who gives a
damn about what I think, what you guys think and everything.
And in a more material sense, God, I'm thankful for
his steam deck, because I've been so fucking busy this
year that I'm just thankful that I get to play
video games still wherever I may be.
Speaker 3: Yep here here to that as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Chris Manati, what are you thankful for?
Speaker 6: I would have been thankful for my brother Mike if
he played rock with me. I'm pretty content now I've
gotten over it.
Speaker 1: That's fair. Poor Chris would do things we're growing up,
like hey, who wants to play catch with me? I'd
be like, go away, I'm playing a video game by myself.
Speaker 6: But I would even ask for things like let's play
Pokemon cards and no playing.
Speaker 1: This Pokemon card video game? I guess computers.
Speaker 6: Yeah, my life is a drama, as you can see, poor.
Speaker 1: Cris being the most normally like social person family.
Speaker 2: Yeah that sounds about right. Yeah, well yeah, thanks to
all you guys. I appreciate it. Thanks to everybody who
listens uh and supports us in any way, And that
does just mean listening, tuning in, uh, interacting with us
in any way on social media or in the comments
or whatever. Just the fact you guys take time out
of your lives to spend any of it interacting with
us means a lot to me, so I really really
appreciate it, and we're gonna keep doing this because it
is somehow continues to be a ton of fun.
Speaker 3: It really does. So look out for more of us from.
Speaker 2: In the future, you know, going at twenty twenty five
and beyond, and make sure you have a safe and
happy holiday if you celebrate, if you're somewhere else in
the world, appreciate that we're mostly going to be shutting
up in America for a couple of days because we're
all just going to be too busy doing other things.
Speaker 3: So well, that's our gift to you.
Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 3: And we'll be back next week. It will get busy
again right after that very soon.
Speaker 2: Here again a couple of weeks, we're going to be
traveling for the Game Awards and Giant Bomb Game of
the Year and all this stuff. But we're gonna have
plenty of fun stuff for you, and Mike's right, we
will figure out what our Game of the Years is
going to look like for a game mess here and
a little bit hit you over here. I got I
got a better mic setup now, so maybe we'll fix
that echo that has caused Christians so many headaches and
past the past years where he had to edit that
you guys got any fun plans for Black Friday? No,
I'm just stay inside. Yeah, it's not what it once was.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going out tomorrow and later Thanksgiving. Actually this
I'll be having some fun. But Black Friday. I do
a lot of my actual Christmas shopping online and Black Fridays.
Oh yeah, same.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening, everybody, catch you next time. Take care
of yourself. Goodbye.
Speaker 1: God, I am an animal.
Speaker 4: I don't know what it says, but it's cool.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. Enjoy your gaming master Chief comes
classic