Speaker 3: You'll be bad.
Speaker 1: This episode, we're gonna be talking about elden Ring Night
Speaker 1: Rain reviews, and a big event for one of the
Speaker 1: switch To's most important holiday games got announced. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a good one because we have Chris Plan on
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 3: Plant.
Speaker 2: How are you doing, Hey, I'm doing good. What a
Speaker 2: great voice you have. I mean I always know it,
Speaker 2: but hearing it in real time and watching it come out.
Speaker 3: It's something.
Speaker 1: Actually, you know, I work on a little bit because
Speaker 1: I've mentioned this before where I always feel like I
Speaker 1: got to go up a couple octaves because otherwise, if
Speaker 1: I'm just like relaxed and talking to my own voice,
Speaker 1: it gets down here and then no one can understand
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, including me. So I kind of have
Speaker 1: to like find this good range where I'm not straining
Speaker 1: too much so I can do these long podcasts and
Speaker 1: and and still be understood.
Speaker 3: But you know what, I'd like your voice on your
Speaker 3: podcast too. Plant. How are things going over in Plant world?
Speaker 2: What is going on over in my world?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: I think the first thing that's going on is my
Speaker 2: Bluetooth headphones just randomly disconnecting while I do it. But
Speaker 2: fortunately I have another thing But the other thing that's
Speaker 2: going on is I made a podcast thing, which I
Speaker 2: will talk about as I set my stuff up, because
Speaker 2: this is what it's like being an indefinite creator. It
Speaker 2: is frantically scrambling and pretending that you know what the
Speaker 2: are we all in a curse on the show?
Speaker 3: Yep, you're good, That's what I thought.
Speaker 2: I'm pretending that we know what the fuck we're doing anyway. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So it's been a weird couple of months. And now
Speaker 2: I'm doing something very different than what I did before,
Speaker 2: and I'm making my own show and it's called Post Games,
Speaker 2: and it is the show that I always wanted to
Speaker 2: listen to. And I'm a firm believer of the best
Speaker 2: thing you can do as a creative is make the
Speaker 2: thing that you would actually pay for. It's so easy
Speaker 2: to get like pulled into like what do I think
Speaker 2: is cool or important or interesting, which are not always
Speaker 2: the same as what would I actually take the time
Speaker 2: to read. I always say this when people are like, hey,
Speaker 2: you should write a book, and I'm like, well, considering
Speaker 2: how few books I enjoy reading, the odds that I
Speaker 2: will make one that anybody else will enjoy reading pretty
Speaker 2: low we're not all Jason Tryer. It turns out no,
Speaker 2: we're not. But but yeah, it's a I don't know
Speaker 2: how much should I should talk about it. It's a
Speaker 2: hour long show. It's weekly basically picture like anything that's
Speaker 2: on NPR, but like about stuff that you like and
Speaker 2: not stuff that completely bums you out. You should still
Speaker 2: listen to that, but that's not this show.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I listened to the first episode.
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, I got immediately what you meant
Speaker 1: where it's like, this is a show that you wish
Speaker 1: existed because it's like, yeah, I've heard the show for
Speaker 1: a million other topics. Clearly it works really well for
Speaker 1: video games. It's like, you know, a little bit of
Speaker 1: a you know, Marketplace is kind of what reminds me
Speaker 1: of a little bit where it's like, hey, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have these segments, we're gonna have a topic, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about this stuff. We're gonna get into it,
Speaker 1: and uh, yeah, I really think that's a good fit.
Speaker 3: So I'm enjoying it. I'm glad that you got it
Speaker 3: up and running.
Speaker 1: How much of like a production lift is it for you,
Speaker 1: because that's that's always the thing, right for a show
Speaker 1: like that with some you know, choppy editing and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and you want to make everything feel punchy.
Speaker 1: It's like, Okay, how much time am I going to
Speaker 1: spend on this each week? How is that process going
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 2: Honestly, it's hard for me to know yet what is real.
Speaker 2: I think what happens is my life when I was
Speaker 2: at Polygon was just completely unhealthy, right, And that's not
Speaker 2: like I hate to say, like that's the way it is,
Speaker 2: because I like to believe that that's not how it is.
Speaker 2: But like when you are that editor in chief of
Speaker 2: a publication, truly, like you you really do have like
Speaker 2: just multiple jobs. You are like writing, you are going
Speaker 2: to like you're traveling for work. You are just doing
Speaker 2: so much. So when I switched over to this, it
Speaker 2: feels like not much time at all. Right, But now
Speaker 2: I'm like wanting to make a more sustainable life, so
Speaker 2: I'm trying to monitor it better. I also have that
Speaker 2: tricky thing where I'm learning how to build the plane
Speaker 2: as I'm flying it sort of. I have no experience
Speaker 2: in editing, Like literally, when I started working on the
Speaker 2: first episode, that was the first time I had opened
Speaker 2: a program to edit audio. So yeah, that I think
Speaker 2: is eating up most of the time, right, But I
Speaker 2: feel really confident that I'll be able to maintain this
Speaker 2: like weekly cadence. I'm really lucky in that the hard
Speaker 2: part for these things is the way that the show works.
Speaker 2: I should tell people is I'll use I'll use this
Speaker 2: upcoming week's episode. This upcoming week I'm talking about why
Speaker 2: you can't escape poring games because I'm just endlessly curious
Speaker 2: about it, right, And for the structure for every episode
Speaker 2: is I want to make you an expert before we
Speaker 2: even get to the interview. That way we're not just
Speaker 2: spending all of the interview time doing.
Speaker 3: Getting the basic gains, getting the who, what, why? I wear? When? Sure? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Right, So the like I end up writing a fifteen
Speaker 2: to twenty minute script that is the intro through this
Speaker 2: and it's like research has original journalism in it, and
Speaker 2: then we can throw to the interview and then you
Speaker 2: can get into like the real meat of it, right
Speaker 2: with somebody who can give you that extra level. And
Speaker 2: I'm very lucky in that I'm just a very fast writer,
Speaker 2: like just very and and that that comes from like
Speaker 2: being the you know, decase is like us who like
Speaker 2: you know, in the early days, we're writing twenty thirty
Speaker 2: posts a week, and then from there went into freelance
Speaker 2: where I was working at places like Hurst and doing
Speaker 2: a lot of more traditional journalism. And you throw those
Speaker 2: two things together and I can just move very quickly.
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm like the best at any of it,
Speaker 2: but I'm I'm fast and consistent and clean, so when
Speaker 2: I can reduce that and I can get people on
Speaker 2: the phone. Fortunately, just because I have like a little
Speaker 2: reputation in the industry, and like, those two things end
Speaker 2: up making it move just so fast.
Speaker 1: Yes, it makes a big difference for sure. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: glad that you were doing the show. Like I said,
Speaker 1: where can people find it if they want? Like, should
Speaker 1: they just go search their podcast feeds for post games?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean the easiest way right now is post
Speaker 2: dot games. That'll take you to like the newsletter and
Speaker 2: all the other information. It's still a young enough show that,
Speaker 2: like I've it seems like it got the search juice
Speaker 2: that it needs for you to find it when it
Speaker 2: comes up, despite it being a pretty common word. Right,
Speaker 2: But yeah, post dot games I think is your best bet.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: It's a little just a tiny bit envious of you
Speaker 1: getting to like start something from scratch because the idea
Speaker 1: of like here's a podcast, here's a new idea, I'm
Speaker 1: going to do it, and then here's like the newsletter
Speaker 1: that goes along with that, and it's like this clean
Speaker 1: package that you've produced there, and it's like over here,
Speaker 1: we got a mess of like fifty different piles we
Speaker 1: have to attend to all the time. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna put this show here, and if we do it,
Speaker 1: there's no just like one neat little thing we can
Speaker 1: hand to people. I wouldn't change anything, but I really
Speaker 1: appreciate how you've built this so far. So good luck
Speaker 1: with postgames. Looking forward to hearing the next episode. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, let's explain what we do here and explain ourselves.
Speaker 1: You can go to giant bomb dot com slash join
Speaker 1: and support our independent gaming media website. We're covering the
Speaker 1: Switch to launch, we're gonna be at Summer Game Fest.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be doing GB at night out in La
Speaker 1: all on our lonesome. We've figured that out and we
Speaker 1: need your help to make that happen. You go to
Speaker 1: giant bomb dot com slash join, become a member. It
Speaker 1: gets you add free shows, gets you a handful of
Speaker 1: other goodies. On this show, however, most weekdays, I Jeff Grubb,
Speaker 1: will help pace your gaming life back together. That includes
Speaker 1: breaking news and maybe even some of our own original reporting.
Speaker 1: For all these topics, I'll get the input of a
Speaker 1: bona fide expert who will make me look smart. If
Speaker 1: you were watching live on twitch welcome. You can always
Speaker 1: listen to the show later on podcast feeds by searching
Speaker 1: for game breaking News or god damn.
Speaker 3: It, Game Mess Mornings.
Speaker 1: I thought I changed that in every reference there that's
Speaker 1: the old show Game Mess Mornings, or find therssfeed on
Speaker 1: giant bomb dot com. You can also catch the show
Speaker 1: later on YouTube. Hello YouTube. Yeah, I'm never gonna change everybody.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into the headlines with this first
Speaker 1: one here. Elden Ring Night Rain reviews. Chris is getting
Speaker 1: a seventy nine on Open Critic Mitchell Saltzman over at
Speaker 1: IGN gave it a seven out of ten and said,
Speaker 1: when elder Ring Night Rain is played exactly as it
Speaker 1: was designed to be played, it's one of the finest
Speaker 1: examples of a three player co op game around.
Speaker 3: But that's harder to do.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, that's harder to do than it should be,
Speaker 1: and playing solo is poorly balanced. Richard wakeling Over at
Speaker 1: GameSpot gave it a nine out of ten and said
Speaker 1: elder Ring Night Rain successfully condenses the elder Ring experience,
Speaker 1: cramming challenging combat exploration, world building, and character development into
Speaker 1: a fast paced and thrilling multiplayer game, and then Connor
Speaker 1: mccarr at VG twenty four to seven gave it five
Speaker 1: stars and said I cannot help but to love elder
Speaker 1: Ring Night Rain. It's a strange beast get bashed from
Speaker 1: parts of Elderring that feel clunky in places. God, the
Speaker 1: vaulting system can be frustrating at times. It has bugs,
Speaker 1: and it has blimishes. It's not a traditional souls Like experience,
Speaker 1: and as such will surely turn away fresh faces and
Speaker 1: diehard veterans alike. But it's also a celebration of you,
Speaker 1: the massive community of souls Like players, and specifically Elderring players.
Speaker 1: It's a game and a story about you and all
Speaker 1: the weirdos you've met along the way. If this is
Speaker 1: a sendoff to elder Ring and the lands between, it's
Speaker 1: a perfect one. This is one that I'm not surprised
Speaker 1: to hear has like some contention and how people are
Speaker 1: are responding to it. I also think that Saltzman at
Speaker 1: IGN kind of nails it where it's like, I bet
Speaker 1: this game works really well when it's working really well,
Speaker 1: and then when you have that experience of well, yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: I would love to be enjoying night Rain in this moment,
Speaker 1: but I can't get two of my friends who have
Speaker 1: a similar skill level to me into this game at
Speaker 1: this time for a four hour period, so we can
Speaker 1: do several of these forty five minute runs in a row,
Speaker 1: so we can really get the most out of it.
Speaker 1: That to me already sounds like an impossible task, an
Speaker 1: impossible feat to pull off as someone with a busy life.
Speaker 1: So I think this is going to be one where
Speaker 1: I might mostly watch from the sideline. Sure, we'll do
Speaker 1: a couple of streams over here and they'll force myself
Speaker 1: into that situation, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, But
Speaker 1: I get that this is not going to be the
Speaker 1: thing that most people are looking for.
Speaker 3: How are you feeling about Night Rain?
Speaker 2: A few different things. One, I think it's very funny
Speaker 2: to hear people who love the series saying, oh, I
Speaker 2: wish it accommodated me more after all of the conversations
Speaker 2: about that in the past, some tasty irony. The I mean,
Speaker 2: the big thing for me is like whatever, I want
Speaker 2: people to play a game if they like and if
Speaker 2: they don't like it, they don't. I mean, that's how
Speaker 2: I kind of fall down a lot of these reviews,
Speaker 2: especially at this point when the reviews. I love all
Speaker 2: of this writing. We're in the car review period. The
Speaker 2: game is still new enough that it's hard to like,
Speaker 2: have any really intense or interesting criticism. It sparstly like
Speaker 2: does it work? How does it work right?
Speaker 3: What are the new features and stuff?
Speaker 1: And then how do you feel about that, which is
Speaker 1: not always how you end up feeling about the game
Speaker 1: two weeks later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And I think this also just really gets
Speaker 2: at the absurdity of scores. And let me be clear,
Speaker 2: like we didn't have scores at Polygon. I don't have
Speaker 2: a beef against scores. I can use them as a
Speaker 2: quick reference point, but the I don't want to like
Speaker 2: I'm not to be clear, I'm not calling out Connor
Speaker 2: a great writer, and this is a good review, but
Speaker 2: five Stars is very funny for a game that is
Speaker 2: so clearly described here as a seven out of ten,
Speaker 2: Like if this was Earth Defense Force, you could use
Speaker 2: this exact same description, right yep, But it's not elden Ring.
Speaker 2: And I think there's a weird thing that can happen
Speaker 2: with a I always call them injured puppy games, where
Speaker 2: if like an injured puppy game gets made by Nintendo,
Speaker 2: it could be your favorite game of all time and
Speaker 2: you're like ten out of ten even though I know
Speaker 2: it's broken.
Speaker 1: And that's like that's important, like that the fact that
Speaker 1: it's made by Nintendo and people have those feelings is
Speaker 1: something you cannot discount.
Speaker 3: But I get, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Well, and and it kind of it gives you a
Speaker 2: I think there's a bit of a permission structure where
Speaker 2: I think if you give Earth Defense Force a ten
Speaker 2: out of ten, it's like, come.
Speaker 1: On, like it's permission to yourself you're talking about, right,
Speaker 1: Like a permission to yourself to enjoy it, almost like.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, well, and you can even enjoy it.
Speaker 3: You'll write that.
Speaker 2: You could write the exact same review for both of
Speaker 2: these things. Yeah, the score is just not going to
Speaker 2: be there, and I think that that it inherently is
Speaker 2: why certain games tend to always be higher and certain
Speaker 2: games tend to always be lower. It's like the the
Speaker 2: bump of polish, the bump of prestige. But again that
Speaker 2: doesn't really have anything to do with the game itself.
Speaker 2: For even these reviews, it's more just the meta commentario.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the you know, the score is the
Speaker 1: same thing it's always been. It is going to be
Speaker 1: useful to that person who has sixty dollars in their
Speaker 1: hand and is trying to figure out what they're going
Speaker 1: to do with it, and they can quickly look at
Speaker 1: a number, and I think it has the utility for that.
Speaker 1: Beyond that, You're right, like night Rain is going to
Speaker 1: have so many more interesting things to reveal to us
Speaker 1: as people get in there and explore it and find
Speaker 1: new ways of interacting with it, and that's going to
Speaker 1: take time for us to find out about it.
Speaker 3: In the meantime, I go get go ahead.
Speaker 2: Well, I was gonna say, do you think that they're
Speaker 2: making too many games?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that this is not crossing that
Speaker 1: line yet. So the way Miyazaki, who didn't direct this game,
Speaker 1: described I think what is happening with night Rain. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he called out night Rain specifically, but
Speaker 1: it kind of sounds like that's what he was doing.
Speaker 1: Where you're saying, we are going to take some of
Speaker 1: our games, some of our assets, and we are going
Speaker 1: to use them specifically to make smaller things off to
Speaker 1: the side, to train up the next generation of our creatives.
Speaker 1: And it's like, if that's what night Rain is, I
Speaker 1: think it's it is not too much. It is exactly right,
Speaker 1: because you're gonna need people kind of ready to go,
Speaker 1: and you can't wait an entire development cycle for the
Speaker 1: next game that you're making to really get them up
Speaker 1: to speed. It's kind of you know, other developers have
Speaker 1: different ways of doing this. Over at Naughty Dog, they're like,
Speaker 1: let's remake every single one of our games every couple
Speaker 1: of years and we'll put a lot of people to
Speaker 1: work on that and they'll get trained up. And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: as a training program, that makes a lot of sense,
Speaker 1: and then you make a lot of money selling these games. Again,
Speaker 1: I think that that I don't get the sense that
Speaker 1: from sooft is doing too much yet, but you never know,
Speaker 1: like one of these things, like let's say night Rain
Speaker 1: took off and became a massive thing, and now they
Speaker 1: have to support that game going forward for years and
Speaker 1: years as it gets bigger and bigger, Like that would
Speaker 1: put them in a situation where it's like, oh, I
Speaker 1: don't how does the studio navigate going forward.
Speaker 3: I don't think they're in that case yet.
Speaker 2: That's funny. I never even thought of that as a scenario. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like not as a is to it. I just kind
Speaker 2: of assume that they're going to release this and people are.
Speaker 3: And that's that is what's going to happen here.
Speaker 1: That's because that's the most likely scenario, of course, for sure.
Speaker 1: I have not played night Rain yet. I we got code.
Speaker 1: We're gonna probably play it on the well on the
Speaker 1: site this week. I'm curious, but I'm also part of
Speaker 1: me is like I'm almost a little relieved. I don't
Speaker 1: have to like put a ton of time into a
Speaker 1: new Elder Ring in this moment, when there's so much
Speaker 1: else to play and the Switch Too is coming out.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go have a good time in this
Speaker 1: for a couple of play sessions. But I don't know
Speaker 1: if this is going to become my life.
Speaker 2: You've you've only finished one hundred line forty times of
Speaker 2: the one hundred endings.
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Exactly right? I really got to get in there. I
Speaker 1: hear it gets really good at forty two, so.
Speaker 2: That true I can attest. I'm at forty three, and
Speaker 2: let me tell you, it's a different game.
Speaker 3: That that game we talked.
Speaker 1: I talked about this somewhere. That's the one game that
Speaker 1: did get lost in the shuffle. The last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Everyone was worried about Claire Obscure, and it was really
Speaker 1: one hundred line that was getting lost, and O Oblivion's
Speaker 1: out and Claire Obscures out and all this other stuff
Speaker 1: was happening. So people seem to really like it. I
Speaker 1: bet it gets.
Speaker 3: Rediscuss we still I'm happy, happy to hear it. Fantastic.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move along here, next place, or excuse me.
Speaker 1: Next Pokemon Presents is announced for the end of July.
Speaker 1: This is from John Walker at Kotaku. Nintendo and the
Speaker 1: Pokemon Company International have just announced the date for the
Speaker 1: next Pokemon Presents, due to be with us before the
Speaker 1: end of July.
Speaker 3: It's set for July twenty second.
Speaker 1: The contents of the new Presents have yet to be detailed,
Speaker 1: but it's extremely likely that a lot of it will
Speaker 1: be dedicated to Pokemon Legends ZA, given that they also
Speaker 1: just dated that game.
Speaker 3: For October sixteenth.
Speaker 1: That's one of the switch Too's biggest games. They are
Speaker 1: going to detail that quite a bit. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: think there's a chance that there's a lot of other
Speaker 1: Pokemon news or do they kind of just focus on
Speaker 1: this big z A game.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if there's maybe a little bit of a surprise, like, oh,
Speaker 2: there's a new Pokemon store opening in the US.
Speaker 3: You know we've had I'm sure yeah.
Speaker 2: Opening, and the Pokemon centers in Japan are like a
Speaker 2: big thing there. I'm always kind of surprised that they
Speaker 2: haven't come here, and now feels like they're big press
Speaker 2: like into the physical space of the US. They have
Speaker 2: the shop in San Francisco opening right or open for Nintendo.
Speaker 2: They have both theme parks now open on both coasts,
Speaker 2: and it feels like now would be the time to
Speaker 2: do that. But game wise, I think that they have,
Speaker 2: you know, their hands full, and I can't imagine them
Speaker 2: overloading us. I always wonder when we'll get more of
Speaker 2: a like dedicated retro device thing for Pokemon, but that's
Speaker 2: not going to happen the same year as the switch
Speaker 2: to coming.
Speaker 1: Out, right, Yeah, that's that's when they always seem to
Speaker 1: kind of keep in their pocket. And you know, it's
Speaker 1: weird with Nintendo and the Pokemon Company, which obviously Nintendo
Speaker 1: is a third of the Pokemon Company, but they it
Speaker 1: operates autonomously. I'm sure they would collaborate on a device
Speaker 1: like that, But you're right, that's when they probably saved
Speaker 1: for a year when they don't have the switch to launching.
Speaker 1: That's like in their stocking stuff or category, which is
Speaker 1: where like the nes Mini was, and then those many
Speaker 1: things that played the Super Mario and Zelda, and they'll
Speaker 1: probably find a way to get to those eventually. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, we are in the thirtieth anniversary this year,
Speaker 1: I believe for the Japanese release, and so it's like
Speaker 1: there is a chance they find a way to do
Speaker 1: something bigger, maybe a big remake or.
Speaker 3: Something like that.
Speaker 1: But man, I don't know if it also feels like
Speaker 1: they recognize they need to take more time with all
Speaker 1: of these games and Pokemon legend Za is the exact
Speaker 1: kind of thing that can distract from them taking a
Speaker 1: few more years on everything else. So I kind of
Speaker 1: hope they just lean into that, and I would because
Speaker 1: I would rather other than getting big announcements, I would rather,
Speaker 1: you know, game Freak be given the opportunity or take
Speaker 1: the opportunity. It's control of its destiny somewhat, take the
Speaker 1: opportunity to really focus on making that next mainline Pokemon
Speaker 1: game for the switch to something that is worth getting
Speaker 1: excited about from a technological standpoint, because it's just been
Speaker 1: off for the last couple of releases.
Speaker 2: And I tell you about why my kid can't go
Speaker 2: to college, Yeah, please, it's related, Okay, it's financial. When
Speaker 2: I was a kid, I was obsessed with importing Japanese
Speaker 2: video games from a very very young age because like
Speaker 2: how young, like six or seven to be clear, I
Speaker 2: got like two or three games a year. So this
Speaker 2: was a terrible logic for games that I can't play.
Speaker 2: But what I realized is like, oh, I can borrow
Speaker 2: from everybody, and if you have a Japanese game, that's
Speaker 2: like a great bartering technique, even though you, okay, give
Speaker 2: them your counsel. It was like a whole thing. My
Speaker 2: parents were very into it. They're like tinkering with like
Speaker 2: hardware and stuff. Anyway, the long story is, as I like,
Speaker 2: at the very beginning of getting into this stuff, I
Speaker 2: had heard about this game Pokemon and that before or
Speaker 2: even came to the state. So you could get these
Speaker 2: cards and if you went to your local shop, you
Speaker 2: could ask them to order them for you. If you
Speaker 2: went like the little like war uh what uh people
Speaker 2: who make the dioramas or whatever, I don't know what
Speaker 2: they're called models.
Speaker 3: Yeah, ok, yeah, sure, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: Hobby Like we would go to like a hobby shop
Speaker 2: and we asked them to like order some of these,
Speaker 2: and our hobby shop, after like a month or two
Speaker 2: did we got like this original thing and I collected
Speaker 2: just gobs of these, filled up an entire binder for it,
Speaker 2: kept it in my closet untouched, kind of forgot about it,
Speaker 2: and then in college I asked whore it was. My
Speaker 2: parents were like, oh yeah, like right after you move,
Speaker 2: we gave it to the church for a donation.
Speaker 3: Oh no, and it is that church is that gold
Speaker 3: plated day?
Speaker 2: Then I'm like, oh yeah, man, that's that's great because wow,
Speaker 2: more money the Catholic Church. What are they doing with
Speaker 2: my charters are I don't want to know Jane?
Speaker 1: Or you hearing the story chance a Pokemon card guy? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: you hurt Jan?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: No, man, that stinks.
Speaker 1: I don't have I didn't have the press sience for
Speaker 1: that kind of thing, you know now. That means I
Speaker 1: avoided heartbreaking stories like this, But also I didn't have
Speaker 1: anything any treasure in my closet or anything like that.
Speaker 1: What you know on the video game side, what was
Speaker 1: the favorite game that you like imported?
Speaker 3: Like what's the standout by far?
Speaker 2: Powerstone two? Oh? Hell yeah, all right, Echo the dollh
Speaker 2: Powerstone two from Japan and Echo the Dolphin from Europe.
Speaker 2: The dream Cast. The Dreamcast was like the future was
Speaker 2: like the dream and it was at like peak point
Speaker 2: where people were making really strange stuff and it still
Speaker 2: was just barely held back from the US for like
Speaker 2: six months to even like a year and a half, right,
Speaker 2: like a weird time. So yeah, you could. You had
Speaker 2: the Internet, you could be aware of a lot more,
Speaker 2: and yet you also didn't have access to it. So
Speaker 2: it was like, I think I could gold an era
Speaker 2: that in a Sega Saturn for that sort of thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Sego would have been really good for that.
Speaker 1: The one game that I really remember importing was Donkey Konga.
Speaker 1: I just I loved rhythm games. Yeah, and I was like,
Speaker 1: there's no chance they bring this to the United States,
Speaker 1: And of course they did, But I still I had
Speaker 1: no complaints because that Japanese version is quite a bit
Speaker 1: different and it was still a ton of fun. And
Speaker 1: I still have that somewhere back there in that closet
Speaker 1: or over there.
Speaker 3: Yes, all right, let's take a quick detour.
Speaker 1: This just got announced as I was getting ready to
Speaker 1: start the show, or I guess got reported over at Polygon.
Speaker 1: Persona for remake apparently in the works. This is by
Speaker 1: Maddy Myers, who writes. Famed voice actor Uri Lowenthal has
Speaker 1: just blown up Atlas's spot on his personal Blue Sky
Speaker 1: account with a post about not getting to reprise his
Speaker 1: role ass in the studio's Persona four remake, a remake
Speaker 1: that none of us knew for sure was happening until
Speaker 1: Lowenthal's post.
Speaker 3: Here's what Urie posted.
Speaker 1: And for those who keep asking, no, I will not
Speaker 1: be returning as Usk for the Persona four remake. I asked,
Speaker 1: maybe I even begged, but they don't want me to
Speaker 1: come back, so hey, Wow, kind of getting messy when
Speaker 1: we're we're revealing other people's games now. To be fair,
Speaker 1: PERSONA four red dot co dot JP has been registered
Speaker 1: for a long time, so people are like, clearly this
Speaker 1: is happening. There were rumors before that, even we kind
Speaker 1: of knew this was going to happen. Also, you know,
Speaker 1: remaking these games just feels obvious, so circumstantially it made
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. But here is essentially a confirmation
Speaker 1: from someone who might know. Uh yeah, interesting huh.
Speaker 2: I mean I I was waiting for Catherine too, but
Speaker 2: I guess we're gonna get this instead.
Speaker 3: That's yeah, just keep holding the torture Catherine there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a hard life, you know. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 2: I don't want to be the person who's like why
Speaker 2: but like why yeah, especially with the way they remade
Speaker 2: three and the loyalty it shows to kind of the
Speaker 2: structure in the formula. I am a little confused as
Speaker 2: to what would be so different with this.
Speaker 1: Right, Like, is there a chance they're just reusing all
Speaker 1: the same voice lines and not adding anything new and
Speaker 1: that's why they don't and they don't need them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not what it's not what It sounds like like
Speaker 1: the way he's describing it makes it sound like there's
Speaker 1: something happening and they're getting someone else.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I'm confused as well. Do do you do?
Speaker 2: We feel like absolutely certain that it's a remake and
Speaker 2: not a sequel.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so you mean like a sequel to the
Speaker 1: four lineage or or like six okay.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, like a sequel to the four lineage, like
Speaker 2: an expansion of what the game story is or a
Speaker 2: different point of view or something like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, he says persona four remake like in when
Speaker 1: he's talking about it. I also think that they are
Speaker 1: most likely done with the four sequels, but you know
Speaker 1: that was I wouldn't be surprised if they like start
Speaker 1: going back to one of those franchises in some way
Speaker 1: here pretty soon.
Speaker 3: And I don't know if that's what they're talking about here.
Speaker 3: It's like that, Yeah, we're kind of yeah.
Speaker 2: Final fantasy, like, oh, there's more to be done here.
Speaker 2: I yeah, I don't, I don't know, it just seems
Speaker 2: I also, yes, I understand using the word to remake,
Speaker 2: but using the word remake, remaster, reboot in video games right, yes.
Speaker 1: Completely ill defined in many ways yeah.
Speaker 2: I think I'm also just being hopeful, right, like I
Speaker 2: would love I just don't. Personally, I don't. I can't
Speaker 2: imagine what a version of Persona four is that they
Speaker 2: create that is that different than gold and other right
Speaker 2: being slightly nicer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean people really thought that that Persona three
Speaker 1: remake was really well done. Dose four need that treatment.
Speaker 1: I don't personally know, but I think when I talk
Speaker 1: to my friends who are big Persona heads, they seem
Speaker 1: excited about the prospect.
Speaker 3: So we'll see. I think there is this idea.
Speaker 1: Of like, you know, you can kind of have a
Speaker 1: definitive experience and that'll be good, even though Golden was
Speaker 1: very definitive in a lot of ways. But I still
Speaker 1: think people are like, oh, you know, upgrade the visuals,
Speaker 1: give us the definitive version, and then apparently don't change
Speaker 1: the voice acting or completely change it with a completely
Speaker 1: different actor.
Speaker 3: So we'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 1: But yeah, do you think this is something that pops
Speaker 1: up like summer game Fest?
Speaker 3: I think there's a chance for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you think it's that soon? I think I
Speaker 2: just don't know their cadence yet for these things.
Speaker 1: So I think Persona six is still a ways off, right.
Speaker 1: They won't even like necessarily talk about that until maybe
Speaker 1: the end of this year, if that's coming out next year,
Speaker 1: but that will take some time. There's no reason even
Speaker 1: to speculate about that. But this could pop off at
Speaker 1: any time between now and then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so full of shit. I said all that, and
Speaker 2: then I'm like, oh, damn, I can play for Zona
Speaker 2: for this fall. That sounds pretty kick. Let's go damn it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they got you. That's all it takes.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get back into the headlines I have
Speaker 1: here in the Actually, you know what, let's take a
Speaker 1: quick break. We're gonna go to break, which you can
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Speaker 3: Go ahead, jan.
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Speaker 1: mess Mornings Giant Bomb.
Speaker 3: I'm Jeff Grub. That's Chris Plant.
Speaker 1: Let's get back into the news with Apple to launch
Speaker 1: dedicated video game app around switch to Launch.
Speaker 3: This from Jordan Midler at VGC.
Speaker 1: Apple is reportedly planning to launch its own dedicated gaming
Speaker 1: app within days of the launch of the Nintendo switch
Speaker 1: To in an effort to bolster bolster its position in
Speaker 1: the gaming space. The Apple Come pre installed across Apple's
Speaker 1: suite of products in an effort to unify the tech
Speaker 1: giants push into the gaming space. According to Bloomberg, the
Speaker 1: app will feature a centralized achievement system, leaderboards, and other
Speaker 1: communication tools. The app will be announced during Apple's Worldwide
Speaker 1: Developer Conference on June ninth, four days after the launch
Speaker 1: of the switch Too. There's there's more here, and there's
Speaker 1: another Apple related gaming story here in a second Plant.
Speaker 1: But I'm not an iOS guy, I've always been on Android,
Speaker 1: but I I like, remember an early iOS gaming app, right,
Speaker 1: they didn't have achievements. I don't know, Like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: You tell me, do you have an iOS device? What's
Speaker 1: going on here?
Speaker 2: There have been a lot of these. I mean the
Speaker 2: Apple one was game Center, which is technically still exist
Speaker 2: and is going to be replaced by.
Speaker 3: This, okay, but before for that, Apple.
Speaker 2: Just doesn't keep their hands on the wheel with any
Speaker 2: of this stuff. I don't understand this, like we're taking
Speaker 2: gaming seriously bullshit, because they have had a million opportunities
Speaker 2: dating back to the Apple too, to do this and
Speaker 2: to be in a position of just intense and immense power.
Speaker 2: In the earliest point was why was this not around
Speaker 2: for the first few years. Why did companies like ng
Speaker 2: Moco who most people do not remember create the actual
Speaker 2: game center tool that then got replaced by game Center
Speaker 2: and most games were using that. I think EA was
Speaker 2: using it. Why do they not have a dedicated controller? Right?
Speaker 2: There are so many kind of obvious things that you
Speaker 2: would want. Why do you not promote any of your stuff?
Speaker 1: I mean, it just feels like Apple Games is like
Speaker 1: they are never going to take it seriously because it's
Speaker 1: like not in their DNA at all, they or it's
Speaker 1: in their DNA to sort of be skeptical of games.
Speaker 3: In some ways, it it's.
Speaker 2: As weird, weird thing, especially in the era of iOS,
Speaker 2: where it is responsible for most of their money right
Speaker 2: of the of the software air spot and yet this
Speaker 2: refusal to take it seriously until things look grim. So
Speaker 2: it's like, I am I surprised that they're announcing this
Speaker 2: when they have completely lost sight of their AI strategy
Speaker 2: for the past three years and like, forget whatever you
Speaker 2: feel about AI. Their job was to figure that out
Speaker 2: alongside Google and Microsoft, and they just tremendously dropped the
Speaker 2: ball so much that what they were advertising for the
Speaker 2: last iPhone, like the features just are not available. That's
Speaker 2: a problem. So this feels like a classic up. We
Speaker 2: got to go take care of that thing that makes
Speaker 2: us money, which I think is just video games in general,
Speaker 2: like deeply relatable. I will say, where you have a
Speaker 2: thing is you know, video games for it and makes money.
Speaker 2: Not gonna say any more than that, but I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2: I'm both not surprised and not going to get my
Speaker 2: hopes up that there's actual and actual taking seriously of
Speaker 2: their game strategy.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 2: I think the people who work within it are doing
Speaker 2: genuinely incredible work. I think the Apple Arcade Rules editors
Speaker 2: over there, like yeah, yeah, the editors are great. Everyone
Speaker 2: within it is doing a killer job within the limitations.
Speaker 2: I just wish that they had way more say in
Speaker 2: these things, because they have assembled a great team in
Speaker 2: a way that few other places have. They just they
Speaker 2: really have them on some limits.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've always been a little bit sort of you know,
Speaker 1: the best word to describe is but hurt about iOS
Speaker 1: AND's relationship to video games at like just the years
Speaker 1: and years of making so much money off of them
Speaker 1: and then like banning games that are historical and try
Speaker 1: to tell talk about the Civil War because they had
Speaker 1: like the the the rebel flag or whatever in there,
Speaker 1: the Confederate flag, and it's like, look, this is not
Speaker 1: what you think it is, or I don't even know
Speaker 1: what you think it is. This is actually an educational
Speaker 1: or at least a thinking game and worthy of being
Speaker 1: considered art. And it's like they won't even let it
Speaker 1: into the door. And I always found that incredibly frustrating.
Speaker 1: So the idea that they end up back here without
Speaker 1: sort of reckoning with their deep seated feelings about video games.
Speaker 1: First is like, Okay, you're just going to end up
Speaker 1: back like like you said, taking your hands off the
Speaker 1: wheel here, because it's not something you think about seriously,
Speaker 1: even though it, yeah, like you said, makes most of
Speaker 1: their money. It really is this mass, which is why
Speaker 1: they fight so hard against Epic and trying to keep
Speaker 1: that thirty percent cut in everything.
Speaker 2: Because the bills listeners who don't obsess over this shit,
Speaker 2: yeah please. The problem for Apple is twofold. Their hardware
Speaker 2: hit effectively a cap like they basically sold when they
Speaker 2: could expect to sell onto, and now they have tariffs
Speaker 2: and other issues, so they are needing to find way
Speaker 2: to get more money from the people who have the iPhones.
Speaker 2: That is why we have the cases about in app purchases,
Speaker 2: because they needed to find ways to keep growing once
Speaker 2: they actually hit a ceiling, and the only way to
Speaker 2: keep growing was to find newer and fresher ways to
Speaker 2: pull money from the same batch of consumers. It sucks.
Speaker 1: It's literally like we talk about this all the time,
Speaker 1: that same exact thing, but for consoles, where it's like
Speaker 1: consoles have been sold to as many people as they
Speaker 1: can possibly be sold to. They've been stagnant for years now,
Speaker 1: and so like, look at all the news headlines about
Speaker 1: what's happening with what the decisions that these companies are making.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about them? Does it feel like
Speaker 1: they're trying to extract more money from you, their most
Speaker 1: dedicated fans, Because you're right, that's exactly what's happening. It
Speaker 1: sucks that so many of these things are at that
Speaker 1: point that now it's like, oh, the target's turned back
Speaker 1: to us, who really enjoyed these things and kind of
Speaker 1: made it part of our you know, our hobby or whatever,
Speaker 1: and it's like they know they can get more from us,
Speaker 1: and they're going to try, all right. Sticking with Apple,
Speaker 1: Apple acquires first game development studio. This is from Alex Hopley,
Speaker 1: a game reactor. Apple has acquired its first video game studio.
Speaker 1: The Tech Giant recently revealed it acquired Rax seven, a
Speaker 1: two man development team behind Apple Arcade's twenty nineteen hit,
Speaker 1: which is a Yes, Sneaky Sasquatch. We love Sneaky Sasquatch
Speaker 1: and are excited that the two person Racks seven team
Speaker 1: has joined Apple to continue their work on it with us,
Speaker 1: we will continue to deliver a great experience for the
Speaker 1: Apple ArKade players with hundreds of games for many of
Speaker 1: the best game developers in the world. Apparently Rack seven
Speaker 1: is going to continue working on the game. They're going
Speaker 1: to try to make it even bigger with Apple's help,
Speaker 1: and Apple says we're not acquiring other game studios. This
Speaker 1: was a one time thing. What's going on here? What
Speaker 1: was Apple trying to pull here? Is like this part
Speaker 1: of an idea of like, hey, we want to support
Speaker 1: Apple Arcade or is this a shift that is maybe
Speaker 1: or is this them testing the waters.
Speaker 3: Of an acquisition of a game developer. I can't really
Speaker 3: read this situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, my best conspiracy theory for it is
Speaker 2: that this is boxing somebody else out of the paint, right,
Speaker 2: Like right, you have a two person team and you
Speaker 2: don't plan on buying more studios, you have an IP
Speaker 2: that is relatively well known for your platform. I don't know,
Speaker 2: it feels to me like somebody else wanted to acquire
Speaker 2: this team. It's small, I assume comparably cheap, and the
Speaker 2: Apple here is that they're going to lose this seat,
Speaker 2: you know, sneaky Sasquatch. What do you do, Like you
Speaker 2: throw some money their way. I do believe them in that,
Speaker 2: Like it doesn't seem like it is. There's much more
Speaker 2: to it, yep than We really wanted to make sure
Speaker 2: we continue to have these games on our system, and
Speaker 2: this was probably the only way to ensure that.
Speaker 1: Twenty nineteen is this I'm not familiar with Sneaky Sasquatch?
Speaker 3: Is this game? Like you said, it's still pretty relevant
Speaker 3: and well known.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a game that you would find on an
Speaker 2: Apple arcade the moment you booted it up. Okay, all right,
Speaker 2: it's one of those games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, cool, all right.
Speaker 1: Moving right along ahead of Switch two's launch, Animal Crossing
Speaker 1: New Horizons gets its first update in years. Is from
Speaker 1: Alex's new house at game Spot. Really not much to this,
Speaker 1: They are just updating it so that when you play
Speaker 1: online cooperatively with other players between Switch to and Switch one,
Speaker 1: it'll be more stable. But I did want to like
Speaker 1: talk more broadly about Animal Crossing with you, Chris Plant.
Speaker 1: Do you think that this is a sign or do
Speaker 1: you think the Animal Crossing is one of those guns
Speaker 1: that Nintendo's reloading relatively soon to get ready for like
Speaker 1: the first year or year two of the switch to I.
Speaker 2: Mean that's the rumor, right. The rumor is that they've
Speaker 2: been working on it for a while. Now that they
Speaker 2: see it takes a lot of sense on the Animal
Speaker 2: crossing new horizons, maybe earlier than they had originally planned
Speaker 2: because they wanted to make the Forever game version of it.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if we saw it in the
Speaker 2: next two years. But the great thing about Nintendo is
Speaker 2: there is no confidence in anything. They are not afraid
Speaker 2: to sit on games for as long as they want.
Speaker 2: So maybe they have it planned for this December. Maybe
Speaker 2: they have it planned for next December. Maybe they'll change
Speaker 2: their minds twenty times between then and now. I would
Speaker 2: never bet a single dollar on a release date for
Speaker 2: a Nintendo game right till they have like announced it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I bet my hair once and that didn't go
Speaker 1: well for me. So yeah, they moved it a month
Speaker 1: and it screwed me.
Speaker 3: So yeah.
Speaker 1: It's the kind of thing where, uh, this is something
Speaker 1: that could really pop up at any time. I do
Speaker 1: think they consider it like one of the more important
Speaker 1: franchises at this point. That last one did sell like
Speaker 1: forty five million copies or something like that.
Speaker 3: That number, though, does make me think like a.
Speaker 1: Forever game version of Animal Crossing, Like is there some
Speaker 1: risk in that of like because like they were having
Speaker 1: so much success just making one per platform and it
Speaker 1: grew so much on the Switch, It's like they can
Speaker 1: kind of just make a game and sell it at
Speaker 1: six dollars for five to ten years, like they're going
Speaker 1: to with New Horizons and then and then eventually just
Speaker 1: make another one. What benefit do they get from the
Speaker 1: forever game version of it.
Speaker 2: I think that Mario Kart eight is like a historically
Speaker 2: great example of what a forever game yeah for Nintendo
Speaker 2: and how they're thinking about this, which is to say
Speaker 2: it's forever until it isn't a very very long time.
Speaker 2: It feels like forever, yeah, acad and I think that
Speaker 2: is closer to it, Like we're building a game that
Speaker 2: is meant to be able to be added on to
Speaker 2: and in that everything works. The question that I would
Speaker 2: love answered about New Horizons is the multiplayer is garbage,
Speaker 2: Like it's like real, genuinely a pain in the ass,
Speaker 2: and the rest of the game is great, but clearly
Speaker 2: the potential is that and if it wasn't clear enough
Speaker 2: by the end of the pandemic or not the end
Speaker 2: of it during it, you know, I that would be
Speaker 2: the reason to rebuild it if you couldn't fix that
Speaker 2: with the way that the game was designed and it
Speaker 2: needed the ground up. So when I think of like
Speaker 2: what they're building right now, I don't picture like Fortnite.
Speaker 2: I don't picture an app purchases. I don't picture any
Speaker 2: of that stuff. I just picture a game that is like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we've it is solid on every facet, and we can
Speaker 2: start hooking things on year after year for the next
Speaker 2: ten years, and by that then we'll know, like, what
Speaker 2: does the Animal Crossing and game look like? A decade
Speaker 2: from now? It'll look like something very different in the
Speaker 2: same way Mario Kart Open World Edition does.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know.
Speaker 1: For Nintendo, I think you're right that they would just
Speaker 1: define it as a game they can come back to
Speaker 1: when they need to, without having like like they did
Speaker 1: with Mario Kart, where it's like suddenly years later after
Speaker 1: not doing anything, they had new rounds of DLC. That's
Speaker 1: the Nintendo version of this, I think, And it's like
Speaker 1: Animal Crossing could very easily get to that point where
Speaker 1: they could do that with New Horizons right now, if
Speaker 1: they really stelc for it, sure that would just sell
Speaker 1: completely fine, But I think you're right that that online
Speaker 1: version is is the online issue is something they want
Speaker 1: to solve and then start doing that.
Speaker 2: All right, What was your question, oh, for you? Do
Speaker 2: you think that they expect the same type of sales
Speaker 2: and interest as they got with New Horizons.
Speaker 3: I don't know what they expect.
Speaker 1: They probably shouldn't expect that, you know, kind of across
Speaker 1: the board for all these games until they know what
Speaker 1: the Switch two is going to do, because the Switch
Speaker 1: too is very likely going to end up following the
Speaker 1: trend of the follow up Nintendo console very similar to
Speaker 1: the console.
Speaker 3: Before, it doesn't do quite as well.
Speaker 1: Right, The three DS did really great eighty million units
Speaker 1: or whatever it was. That is almost half of what
Speaker 1: the DS did, and the DS was like an all
Speaker 1: time success for them. And that's you know, true from
Speaker 1: NES to Supernintendo and even N sixty four to GameCube
Speaker 1: and game Boy to game Boy Advance, although obviously that's
Speaker 1: a little bit stranger in that situation. But so you know,
Speaker 1: I think that trend likely holds out here, and so
Speaker 1: just generally, there will probably be slightly less excitement and
Speaker 1: slightly fewer people to sell the game to, So just
Speaker 1: like physically, it'll be harder to sell as much. It
Speaker 1: will be difficult to sell as much as Animal Crossing
Speaker 1: New Horizons dead. But I do think it is one
Speaker 1: of those franchises that has fully broken through, and now
Speaker 1: when a new one comes about, it's gonna be like
Speaker 1: Tiers of the Kingdom, where it's gonna be good for
Speaker 1: twenty million copies sold almost no matter what, which is
Speaker 1: more than about any other game that gets released.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's the tough choice that they
Speaker 2: have to make when they are setting the release date right,
Speaker 2: which is, do we want to wait to release this
Speaker 2: once there are a lot of switch tos already out there,
Speaker 2: because then it's more likely people will buy the game
Speaker 2: and if there is a moment they'll participate in it.
Speaker 2: Or do we think it is so strong that it
Speaker 2: can be a hardware mover. And that's a tough choice
Speaker 2: because if you want to wait for there to be
Speaker 2: enough consoles, you're gonna be waiting three or four years
Speaker 2: to get that kind of like threshold moment. And there
Speaker 2: is a scenario on the flip side where you launch
Speaker 2: it a year from now when there's not a lot
Speaker 2: out there and it doesn't get the same traction it
Speaker 2: did in the past, and it is a game that
Speaker 2: benefits from a moment, like, yes, people can hop into
Speaker 2: it whenever, but it is different from Mario Kart. Like
Speaker 2: Mario Kart, the social fund is what is happening in
Speaker 2: the room while you're playing it. Animal Crossing the social
Speaker 2: fund is like what is happening everywhere while you're playing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we saw that reflected like in the you know,
Speaker 1: MPD or Skana stuff, where Mario Kart would not even
Speaker 1: from there like Nintendo's own numbers, Nintendo would be like, hey,
Speaker 1: Mario Kart this quarter, you know, ten years after at
Speaker 1: least sold a million copies in the last quarter, and
Speaker 1: like it just sold better than just about any other
Speaker 1: new game getting released, because it is very much that
Speaker 1: forever game already. And Animal Crossing definitely sold better than
Speaker 1: most games each quarter. But it wasn't doing like Mario Kart.
Speaker 1: Nothing was though, to be fair. Yeah, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the one caveat with what you were explaining there is
Speaker 1: Nintendo's games do tend to just sell forever now, and
Speaker 1: so if they put a game out, I think they're
Speaker 1: likely doing it with the idea of and someone's going
Speaker 1: to buy this game four years from now, also for
Speaker 1: full price, and and you know, there could be a
Speaker 1: year where it's like it's actually selling better now than
Speaker 1: it did in like year two or something like that,
Speaker 1: because that's how our games go now. I think you're
Speaker 1: still right that for Animal Crossing specifically, they will try
Speaker 1: to find the balance between how many systems this is
Speaker 1: going to sell versus how many systems are out there,
Speaker 1: and that's why they probably will at least push it
Speaker 1: until late next year if it's coming.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think it's coming.
Speaker 1: All right, let's see here. Nintendo sixty four Nintendo Switch
Speaker 1: Online is going to get rewind and CRT filters on
Speaker 1: the switch to and control mapping features on switch to
Speaker 1: and Switch one. That's the one that, like, I'm most
Speaker 1: interested in because n sixty four controller mapping to a
Speaker 1: normal controller is troublesome sometimes and it's like I just
Speaker 1: want to be able to like do that myself and
Speaker 1: not have to do it on the system level every
Speaker 1: time I'm playing. Although I like a go CRT filters,
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier. You play much NSO and Nintendo
Speaker 1: Switch Classics and anything like that. There's some people who
Speaker 1: like just dive into the NonStop and some people who
Speaker 1: never touch that stuff.
Speaker 2: I love the idea of it, and I got really
Speaker 2: obsessed for a week. My son plays this stuff like crazy,
Speaker 2: Oh that's awesome, Like this is his go to and
Speaker 2: I think it's just that experience. He's seven and really
Speaker 2: loves like a library. Yes, you open it up and
Speaker 2: there's just like just a bunch of stuff there. You
Speaker 2: can try a whole bunch of different things.
Speaker 3: And you never know what you're going to get next. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And and for like kids, I'm I would love to
Speaker 2: know more about like how the retro aesthetic hits them,
Speaker 2: because how is it that different than roadblocks? You know,
Speaker 2: like there's there's not a lot of difference. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm happy for that. Do I think he cares about
Speaker 2: a CT filter? Not at all? Will he like the
Speaker 2: wind feature?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Probably there'll be less frustrating, so that sounds good. And
Speaker 2: finally getting them into blast Corpse, Yeah a real boy now.
Speaker 1: Who finally finally did the Plant Family's gonna have two men?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: I love to hear it blast chorus a favorite of
Speaker 1: mine for sure. Uh, yeah, you're right. The kids like
Speaker 1: why would they ever care about a CRT filter? Like
Speaker 1: that's one where even some people around my age who
Speaker 1: grew up on emulators, like playing Super Nintendo games on emulators,
Speaker 1: They're like, wait, why do I need a CRT filter?
Speaker 1: This looks just like it did when I played the
Speaker 1: game when I was a kid. It's like, wait, did
Speaker 1: you play on Were you play it on PC? It's like, yes,
Speaker 1: yes you were. And it's always funny to like hear
Speaker 1: those stories and like, yeah, you didn't see it the
Speaker 1: way I guess it was intended or like that how
Speaker 1: I feel it must have been intended. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people just grew up on those raw pixels
Speaker 1: and that's usually what you get these days when you're
Speaker 1: getting some like something like Nintendo Classics.
Speaker 2: That's funny. I had not thought about nestical being like
Speaker 2: the entry point for most people are.
Speaker 1: A lot first significant number like Mike Manati I do
Speaker 1: when it was and show, He's like, now I don't
Speaker 1: care about errtwo filters, And we talked it out one time.
Speaker 1: It was yeah, he finally played a lot of his
Speaker 1: favorite games on the nes and Supernintendo a few years
Speaker 1: later on Esticle and a few other things.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that explained it.
Speaker 2: Great.
Speaker 1: All right, a couple more headlines here. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: this one planning. Game Stop just bought a half billion
Speaker 1: worth of bitcoin. This is termed Eddie mcco at game
Speaker 1: Spot video game retailer. Game Stop is a big believer
Speaker 1: in bitcoin. The grape Vine, Texas based company disclosed today
Speaker 1: May twenty eighth that it had purchased four seven hundred
Speaker 1: and ten bitcoin.
Speaker 3: At the current trader rate, that's more than five hundred
Speaker 3: and ten million US dollars.
Speaker 1: But quickly, bitcoin is I think back to its highest
Speaker 1: price ever kind of bounced back after being I guess
Speaker 1: a little bit down for a few weeks.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's as much as I know about it, so bad
Speaker 1: time to buy. But whatever, they're buying a bunch of bitcoin.
Speaker 3: What's going on.
Speaker 1: Here that I've heard that they want to be sort
Speaker 1: of the nerd version of Berkshire Hathaway, Dorkshire Hathaway. I
Speaker 1: think it's what they want to be. That's like all
Speaker 1: in the bitcoin and and and cryptocurrency area.
Speaker 3: That just sounds dumb. As hell to me. But what
Speaker 3: do I know?
Speaker 2: Yep, So I think this is a great idea. I
Speaker 2: have no notes. I think it's I think it's I
Speaker 2: think it's brilliant. And here is why I think it's
Speaker 2: a really good idea. It is not unusual for very
Speaker 2: large companies to spend a lot of money to invest
Speaker 2: in smaller companies or in assets. This itself is not unusual,
Speaker 2: and I want to be like very clear about that,
Speaker 2: in the capacity that when I worked at Vox Media,
Speaker 2: NBC Universal, I believe or Comcast invest in and it's
Speaker 2: like there are different other larger companies that would put
Speaker 2: money into us Penski Media that that's not unusual for
Speaker 2: a large company to invest in something. What is wonderful
Speaker 2: about this is they have put their money into something
Speaker 2: they can't fuck up. It's great. They put it into yeah,
Speaker 2: and the biggest person will hurt is them and all
Speaker 2: of their investors, versus them putting their money into let's
Speaker 2: say some in the media company or anything else that
Speaker 2: they would then have to operate and that would not
Speaker 2: be my favorite. They have not shown that they're very
Speaker 2: good at operating companies. Are they good at investing? I
Speaker 2: don't know. Maybe I don't really have any reason to
Speaker 2: believe that, but I don't have any reason to not
Speaker 2: believe it. I guess. Is it a absolutely strange and
Speaker 2: peculiar pivot kind of I mean, I mean, yes, it
Speaker 2: is on a very top level week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but if you know the CEO, it's not that strange.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, this is right that nerve.
Speaker 2: And also like they do need to make some just
Speaker 2: absolutely wild pivot because their business is nonexistent. And I
Speaker 2: think you look at something like them or something like
Speaker 2: an airline, and this is a bit of a reach,
Speaker 2: but these companies are borderline banks. They are like holding
Speaker 2: onto value like with an airline. They are totally fine
Speaker 2: with you changing the date of your plane because they
Speaker 2: literally just stock up all of this cash that you
Speaker 2: have and then they use that cash to like raise funds.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: That's not so different than like how GameStop was built
Speaker 2: around use games and all of its weird approaches to
Speaker 2: like taking money in a non traditional capitalistic sense. So
Speaker 2: am I shocked that it would do something like this. No,
Speaker 2: would I invest in this, Absolutely not, But glad that
Speaker 2: they're they're just here to you know, do damage to
Speaker 2: themselves and their their shareholders.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do like have this like grim vision of
Speaker 1: this is how a game Stop becomes our wailan Utani.
Speaker 1: They just somehow lashed themselves onto this and suddenly we're,
Speaker 1: you know, fifty years in the future and you got
Speaker 1: to go get an organ transplant from GameStop. So I
Speaker 1: hope it crashes and birds, because it's better than whatever
Speaker 1: else that this could end up in just a really
Speaker 1: weird move, Like for investors, like I guess it's just
Speaker 1: like you invest in game Stop, which is invested in bitcoin, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, there a certain point you cut out
Speaker 1: the middleman, but I don't know.
Speaker 3: I guess invest It.
Speaker 1: Has worked for Berkshire Hathaway, which doesn't make anything. They
Speaker 1: just invest in other companies and then people invest in them.
Speaker 1: But I don't think that game Stop is going to
Speaker 1: have the track record that Berkshire Hathaway had, especially with cryptocurrencies.
Speaker 1: Something that you know, the whole thing with Warren Buffett
Speaker 1: was We're going to look at the fundamentals of all
Speaker 1: these companies and we're going to invest in big name,
Speaker 1: big name brands that have good fundamentals in their and
Speaker 1: their financials and it's like, well, you can't actually measure
Speaker 1: that for a bitcoin, let alone any of these.
Speaker 3: Other cryptocurrencies, so what are you basing this on?
Speaker 1: And it's just you know, wishes and hopes like always,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I see what happens next.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, that's just.
Speaker 1: Uh and you know, I'm sure that the bitcoin investors
Speaker 1: are happy about this because you know, pushes up the price.
Speaker 3: So we'll see, all right.
Speaker 1: Last thing, kind of an update Nintendo switch To out
Speaker 1: in the wild though locked behind day one patch. We
Speaker 1: talked about this on the BombCast yesterday, but kind of
Speaker 1: wanted to touch on it a little bit here, especially
Speaker 1: like learning why.
Speaker 3: What is this day one patch, like what does it enable?
Speaker 1: Apparently what's happening is I don't know if it's blocking
Speaker 1: out switch to games, but apparently the people that are
Speaker 1: that have the switch to don't seem to have switched
Speaker 1: two games, or at least I have not shown that
Speaker 1: off yet. They're trying to play switch one games on there.
Speaker 1: When you do that, it prompts you to say, it
Speaker 1: prompts you with the thing says you should update to
Speaker 1: be able to play switch one games and that that
Speaker 1: is probably the day one update. And so when they
Speaker 1: reach out to the server, nothing happens, or something happens
Speaker 1: and it alerts the Nintendo Ninjas and they're coming for them.
Speaker 3: That's more likely.
Speaker 1: But the other thing that this is going to enable
Speaker 1: is micro SD express card support. So like a bunch
Speaker 1: of things just don't work on the switch to when
Speaker 1: these people are getting it. Do you think plant that
Speaker 1: this is a very much a day one thing and
Speaker 1: like the next batch of switch to s will just
Speaker 1: have the day one patch installed and this is not
Speaker 1: going to be a thing going forward. But interesting, right?
Speaker 1: Do you think Nintendo deliberately did this to avoid this scenario?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, it's right.
Speaker 2: Why why would we not think that? That seems totally reasonable.
Speaker 2: This is one of those stories that I'm kind of
Speaker 2: on the whatever side of things of I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I don't think this is a permanent thing. I think
Speaker 2: it is a first batch thing. Yeah, and I think
Speaker 2: it will be taken care of. Nintendo is being they're
Speaker 2: really feeling themselves right now, I think, and like they
Speaker 2: know where they are one of the few stable, powerful
Speaker 2: players in this space. And I think that is why
Speaker 2: we see rumors of the press not getting which is
Speaker 2: before launch or maybe even out launch. I don't know why.
Speaker 2: It just feels all very locked down.
Speaker 1: I do think, what do you need the press When
Speaker 1: you got Nintendo today, that app is gonna tell you
Speaker 1: all you need to know.
Speaker 2: It's I mean, I keep just looking at my Nintendo
Speaker 2: alarm clock and it's not telling me shit.
Speaker 3: I know, I give me these too.
Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, I uh, I don't know. I mean, how
Speaker 2: do you how do you feel about this is the
Speaker 2: thing that you worry about?
Speaker 3: No, not not too much.
Speaker 1: I mean worry about it in the sense that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, these companies do feel a little bit detached
Speaker 1: and that might signify other issues. But no, I mean
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna have to get our hands on
Speaker 1: the switch to to find all the ways in which
Speaker 1: it's going to annoy us.
Speaker 3: I don't think this is gonna be one.
Speaker 1: This is very much a puddle news sort of thing,
Speaker 1: where it can cause concern before you actually have the device,
Speaker 1: and then once you get it, you're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: won't even think about that ever.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 1: I did, like, look at the micro SD express card thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, is that similar to how you have to
Speaker 1: activate the Blu ray drive play Blu Ray DVDs or
Speaker 1: a Blu Ray discs and movies on your PlayStation five
Speaker 1: year Xbox because when they do that, they have to
Speaker 1: send a consortium fee to the Blu Ray consortium, so
Speaker 1: they only activate it once you ask for it. It
Speaker 1: doesn't come activated. Apparently SD cards don't work that way.
Speaker 1: There is fees, but you pay the fee when you
Speaker 1: implement the device in the first place, so they've already
Speaker 1: paid that. So I was like, is there an explanation
Speaker 1: for some of this, because they apparently on the switch
Speaker 1: one also had a similar thing where to use an
Speaker 1: SD card you had to download an update. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: that sounds like the Blu Ray thing. Apparently it's not that,
Speaker 1: So it's just Nintendo being strange about this.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, let them have their feelings. Everything is
Speaker 2: gravity right like right now, they're very very high. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm sure that the rich to will be fine, but
Speaker 2: nothing ever stays as high and nothing ever goes that's right,
Speaker 2: Like we will, we will equalize, and I think it'll
Speaker 2: be interesting few years for the company.
Speaker 3: Yes please, yep.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking forward to just getting the switch to
Speaker 1: my hands so we can actually see what the thing's
Speaker 1: about and talk about it and not have to worry about,
Speaker 1: you know, Nintendo giving us all the details, because they've
Speaker 1: actually done a pretty poor job of that so far.
Speaker 1: They've done a good job at selling the thing and
Speaker 1: getting excitement going, but actually giving us those details it's
Speaker 1: been very spotty.
Speaker 3: So we'll just get the thing ourselves and figure it out.
Speaker 2: I want to all, right, Action Gorilla game looks good, yeah,
Speaker 2: Donkey Kong, right, Yes, the Red Faction Gorilla game, of course.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I want to punch through those walls so bad. Plant,
Speaker 3: you have no idea?
Speaker 1: All right, we got a pull question to get to.
Speaker 1: I have this from last Friday because we were off
Speaker 1: on Monday. Let's see here. Do you want a Star
Speaker 1: Wars battle Front three? Fifty percent of people said yes,
Speaker 1: forty five percent of people said no. There's been a
Speaker 1: lot of like hype around Star Wars Battlefront two, Plant,
Speaker 1: because I think and Or got people feeling pretty good.
Speaker 1: Revenge of the Sith did well in theaters, and so
Speaker 1: it's at its highest a you know, concurrent player count
Speaker 1: on Steam right now than it's ever had. That's because
Speaker 1: it launched late on Steam. But whatever, it has a
Speaker 1: lot of players I was a little surprised to see
Speaker 1: this thing where it's like, this is just the poll question.
Speaker 1: It's the easiest thing in the world to say yes
Speaker 1: to something that you don't.
Speaker 3: Have to pay for.
Speaker 1: It's just free, like just click it and just say hey,
Speaker 1: I want this, And still forty five percent of people
Speaker 1: are like I'm good on Star Wars. I think that's
Speaker 1: going to be a divide that's going to keep something
Speaker 1: like Battlefront three from happening. What do you think multiplayer too?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know that there is a campaign, but
Speaker 2: like one, yeah, it's a multiplayer game, and not everybody
Speaker 2: is just dying for the next, you know, competitive multiplayer game.
Speaker 3: But Star Wars, Yeah, we're kind of we're kind of
Speaker 3: set on that.
Speaker 1: It feels like they got to He's already got to
Speaker 1: figure out battlefield in that space, which does It feels
Speaker 1: like that doesn't even have room for that, let alone
Speaker 1: Battlefront three.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I will say I went back and played Outlaws
Speaker 2: last week. Pretty good game. Yeah, polish the shit out
Speaker 2: of that thing.
Speaker 3: I like that game right away, and it's only gotten better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a it's like a blast. I was shocked.
Speaker 2: I bounced off of it that first go around and
Speaker 2: I'm just like zipping through it and having having a
Speaker 2: great time. So maybe this is a question I had
Speaker 2: asked my buddy Russ freshchick on on the best of
Speaker 2: these restees that we do. I'm curious for you, for
Speaker 2: an IP game, how much does a launch matter?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean for an IP game, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's it felt like it mattered the most because the
Speaker 1: you know, the upfront costs that these companies are paying
Speaker 1: that I think they need to see that it's justified
Speaker 1: in that first moment, or else they're going to have
Speaker 1: bad feelings and that's going to hurt around.
Speaker 3: That's going to hurt the game. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: Outlaws is maybe testing that a little bit for me personally,
Speaker 1: when I'm like when I'm thinking about these games, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm I've played through like half of Outlaws, and for me,
Speaker 1: it's still sitting there. It's like this treat I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go back to when I have a little bit of
Speaker 1: time and h and as I was finishing and or
Speaker 1: show that I just deeply, deeply love, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: right now I'm in the Star Wars mood. I can
Speaker 1: go back to outlaws, So I just having it there
Speaker 1: for me works really well. I don't feel the need
Speaker 1: to rush through these things at launch.
Speaker 2: That's why I ask as more. I agree that, like
Speaker 2: that's the reality we live in, but if that could
Speaker 2: change in terms of the calculus for how these companies
Speaker 2: think about these things. And I point to how Fall
Speaker 2: Up four popped and followed Something six popped after after
Speaker 2: the TV show, right, and you're we're seeing the same
Speaker 2: thing now, and should we be thinking about these sorts
Speaker 2: of games as Yeah, I get them out there, well,
Speaker 2: hope they have a good launch, But the reality is
Speaker 2: these things are going to have a different long tail
Speaker 2: than a lot of other games. They're going to reach
Speaker 2: their audience whenever these you know, other moments are going on.
Speaker 2: And especially when you see all the stats of who
Speaker 2: even plays a new game each year? Yeah, right, does
Speaker 2: the average consumer even give much of a shit about
Speaker 2: the launch or is it just like, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm going to move for a Star Wars. There is
Speaker 2: a new one of those, right, and they pop on
Speaker 2: and play it.
Speaker 1: Yep, exactly, And it's like a lot of them are
Speaker 1: at this point waiting for things to get added to
Speaker 1: subscription services or whatever else, or to see it on
Speaker 1: sale for a black or a Steam sale or something
Speaker 1: like that. So yeah, I think people are just not
Speaker 1: motivated to move in that first instance when the game
Speaker 1: is the most expensive, especially when they've.
Speaker 3: Been trained to know that it's going to go down
Speaker 3: in price. All right, we got a new poll question.
Speaker 3: We'll get to that here in a second.
Speaker 1: Before we do that, plant, why don't you te people where
Speaker 1: they can find you on the internet what you have
Speaker 1: going on and all of that good stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can find me and my new show at
Speaker 2: Post dot Games. And again that's like show if like
Speaker 2: you enjoy NPR, if you ever liked a life well wasted.
Speaker 2: I think that's like a great comp.
Speaker 3: From me, it is. I love that show. Yep.
Speaker 2: And you can also find me on The Besties and
Speaker 2: the Resties. That is a video game weekly review show
Speaker 2: basically that I do with my buddies Russ, Frushchik and
Speaker 2: Griffin and Justin mac Roy best known for Adventure Zone
Speaker 2: and my Bimbam. And you can also find me. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know that's enough. Those are great places to
Speaker 2: find me.
Speaker 3: What's what's the next Besties or yeah, the next Besties episode.
Speaker 3: What's the next review?
Speaker 2: What is the next Besties episode? That's I mean probably
Speaker 2: night Rain. Yeah, Like I'm probably we're gonna kind of
Speaker 2: have to do that because it's so big, but I'm
Speaker 2: looking to see, Like what else, I mean, I'm just
Speaker 2: still working my way. Oh the one that is this Friday,
Speaker 2: we're talking about Fantasy Life. Okay, great, have you gotten
Speaker 2: into this?
Speaker 1: No, but everyone's talking about so much that I feel
Speaker 1: the need to, so I might listen to this as
Speaker 1: I play it.
Speaker 2: It is. I am not much of a two screen person. Like,
Speaker 2: if I'm gonna be watching I'm gonna be watching show.
Speaker 2: If I want to play a game, I'm gonna play
Speaker 2: a game right now. With Fantasy Life, man, Fantasy Life
Speaker 2: is a game that is meant to keep your hands
Speaker 2: busy for the rest of your life. It is truly
Speaker 2: bubble wrap the video game, just constant feedback of accomplishment.
Speaker 2: It is such a treat and very cool to see
Speaker 2: that level five. When they made the first one, they
Speaker 2: published it with Nintendo. This weirdly feels more Nintendo polished
Speaker 2: than the original, so they really committed to that bit.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to see it succeeding. Yeah, they did not
Speaker 2: have that on my Bingo card for this year.
Speaker 1: It seems like it's really fine in its audience, which
Speaker 1: is fantastic. All right, new pole question, what are you
Speaker 1: more excited for next week? Switch to launch or SGF
Speaker 1: game announcements? Do you like playing games or do you
Speaker 1: like hearing about games. I'm gonna be curious to see
Speaker 1: your responses everybody. We'll get to that poll question on
Speaker 1: Games Morning's tomorrow. Here on Giant Bomb. Speaking of Giant Bomb,
Speaker 1: in a little bit, we're gonna have Blake Club. Mike
Speaker 1: Manadi is going to be returning to Rascal Jim Henson's Rascal,
Speaker 1: where he's going to look so cool. He's just gonna
Speaker 1: look like the coolest dude you've ever seen. So look
Speaker 1: out for that.
Speaker 3: We'll get to that.
Speaker 1: Might have to be kind of a hot nighttes We've
Speaker 1: got some other stuff happening around that, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: We'll try to do our best, and then we'll be
Speaker 1: back tomorrow with Game Mess Mornings. We'll have voicemail Dump Truck.
Speaker 1: Got to find some time for night Rain this week,
Speaker 1: one one way or another, everybody, so look out for that.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, Chris planned thank you so much for
Speaker 1: hanging out with me today and talking about video games.
Speaker 3: Man, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, and.
Speaker 1: We'll make it happen again. We'll get you back on
Speaker 1: the show sometime soon. Until then, though, everybody, thank you
Speaker 1: for watching, Thank you for listening. You are the best
Speaker 1: audience in gaming. Until next time, have a good one,
Speaker 1: take care of yourself and goodbye.
Speaker 2: He'll be Lucker, gon't be bit