All Things | E3 2021

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For better audio quality and our current ongoing DD campaign, skip ahead to season two featuring the Daft Monks on this episode of Nat One Presents. I was really excited for Airbender. It wasn't that. So I was super disappointed. You know, like what's the point of this thing? Like, are we gonna have like a Titanic video game next? Because James Cameron's just pushing that, like with Leo and [expletive] in there. Like I might play.

Yeah, I would I was just thinking that.

I would too. Like, why aren't we doing that?

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Hello and welcome to Nat One Presents the Podcast. Hey Chris.

What's up, guys?

Uh you just got back from vacation. How was that? Thanks.

Yeah, uh, we can't start an introduction unless you start it. Oh, sorry. I refuse to just initiate conversation. Rude. Uh it was good. I just uh I went to uh Mexico. Ooh, I've never been. Yeah, it was good. Usually we just like we're so close to the border anyway. We just literally drive there, but we actually flew closer to like the capital, like like the state south of Mexico City. Um, it's where my husband was telling me. So it is where it's a very safe, very like lush, like rich area, because lush is probably not the right word, but very rich area because that's where the cartel's family go to retire. So it's very safe. The mall was way better there than I had like been to in the United States in forever.

And I was like, wow, this is really nice. Is this what Mexico's like? And he's like, No, absolutely not. Um, but yeah, just got back.

Dang.

I hear I hear you're going on a family vacation soon.

Yeah, I'm going back to the town I grew up in. Oh, that's pretty exciting. Uh, nothing wrong with that if you people are watching this. You people. Yeah, I'm gonna call them you people. You know who you are, you live in this town, and it's a [expletive]. You know it's a [expletive], but you're staying there, and now I'm being forced to go there because my mom's holding my oldest son hostage, and she's forcing me to go down there and visit her. And it's wasting my vacation time, but it's whatever because I love my mom.

We love you, and you listen to the show, so thank you for supporting.

That's all the only reason I'm going down there. Other than that, it's not gonna be that great of a time. But what can you do? Wow, I know I got a lot of feelings about that place. None of them good.

So, but like it's gotta be a little fun. Like, do you at least get a little pride out of flexing on people and being like, yeah, like you know, I I'm like I have a career and a family and a home.

No, I try to avoid that at all costs because it makes you feel bad. Yeah, you feel really bad for these people. Everyone's got a [expletive] sob story. Like, oh yeah, my dog had cancer, and then a boat fell on me. I'm like, where the [expletive] did a boat fall on you? She's like, Well, we were using it to hold down the shingles on the roof, and it flew off in a storm. Like, oh my god. Wow, yeah, I know.

Yeah, I uh uh I kind of want to look on a map later where you're from. We won't we won't disclose it here. But thinking real redneck uh real red.

It's just rough. I think it's uh one of the meth capitals of the United States. Yeah, yeah. Claim my fame. Uh big joke we always had is like if you took everybody in this town and put them all together, what would you have? I'm like a whole mouthful of teeth.

Yikes. Yeah. Okay, well, on that note, oh, I do have a cool thing for my vacation. Going back to a not totally sad decrepit. Um, I have PS5 now.

Ooh, yeah. So is that?

Yeah. Uh I've just set it up. I haven't even played a game with it. More of like a decoration piece. Yeah, I took an accent piece in my living room. Uh I mean, I just got back from vacation two days ago. I also don't play games, but whatever. Um, no, we were just we were at a mall, and my partner was like, There's been this joke of like, we want for anniversary. I'm like, a PS5, because in they don't there are there isn't any. That was like the joke. I was almost being nice by like telling him something he couldn't get me, so he didn't have to spend money. In my in my mind, that's nice. I don't know. Whatever.

But then we were at a mall, and he's like, Do you want me to see if there's anything here? I'm like, Yeah, PS5. And he's like, Oh, they have them. And like my mind had not prepared myself for a situation where a store actually just had PlayStation 5, especially being in Mexico.

Well, that's where the cartel people clearly don't play video games, they're just too busy. But the money's there. So the mall people know they can afford PS5s, but these old retired gangsters aren't buying them.

It it was a little bit more expensive because tech like so. It's it I find it interesting, like food is crazy cheap. A lot of like services are crazy cheap, but clothing and technology tends to be more expensive when they go down there. Like a lot of times his family comes up here and they buy like friend like name clothing because it's cheaper here. Something I didn't, you know, I didn't know. I I thought everything was more affordable down there, and not always the case.

Because where we live, it's like in spurts, like you can go to the mall, and then it seems like every [expletive] plate in the parking lot's from Mexico. Do you work at Rosny? No.

Like Ross Ross is like they go everywhere, but Ross is where it's at. Is where it's at. Like during the holidays, that store is like picked through. Like there is nothing hanging up, and it's it's because it they can just get like designer labeled stuff like Jupiter.

Oh, well, for those of you who don't know, my wife has uh it's becoming pretty successful vintage clothing type business. It's more successful than this. That's true. It's more successful than that one, which isn't saying much, but like she's very successful. She's crushing us, let's put it that way. She's overshadowing that. But she likes to go to the Goodwill outlet and you find the vintage clothes and then resell them. And let me tell you, the amount of Sonoran plates at that place, it's like a [expletive] it's like I'm in Mexico when I go there. I went with her twice, and I'm like, I'm never coming back here again. This is outrageous. It's bad news. First of all, it's not even like a regular Goodwill.

They bring these carts out, and everything's like in a big [expletive] pig trough looking thing with a nasty old sheet over the top of it, and then everyone's waiting, you know, and then the employees are looking at their watches and stuff, and then everybody's like licking their lips and like getting in like stance ready to [expletive] rumble, and then they pull the nasty old sheet back and like bugs fly up and [expletive], and then you bug you like well. I'm exaggerating, I'm only exaggerating a little bit. Most of the [expletive] really happened. But these people are like [expletive] animals, like they jump in there like and then I get pissed off because like people are elbowing Megan and [expletive], and I'm like, what the [expletive]? But then Megan turns around, she's like elbowing them back.

I'm like, I'm not getting involved. She's there, like she's ready to rumble. I was like, wondering while we're in the car, and she's putting like the black paint under her eyes and [expletive], and like got like nucks on. I'm like, what's going on? I thought we were just gonna go shopping.

Wow. I I I kind of want to go, like something.

No, no, well, you can go with it.

Not to like participate, but to observe, right?

It might not be bad to observe, but I feel like I need like pressure wash or shower after just walking into the place.

We're here talking [expletive] about Mexico, and like our goodwill is like even worse. Like, oh, yeah, it's disgusting. Um, so I want to. It's been a while since we read reviews from our quote fans. Um our seven listeners who aren't family. Yes. I don't know. I I make up numbers every time. I don't even like being a little bit.

We appreciate you though, whoever you are, even if you're bots.

Yeah. The number in India keeps suspiciously growing.

Thank you, Nightbot. Number one person on our Discord. Always there posting [expletive]. Thank you, Nightbot.

Um, so you wanna want to read some reviews?

Yeah, I in in tradition, I think we like to have them as uh in the from the voice of Greta.

Okay. How dare you! Um this first one comes from how do you how do you say that? Heidi Kluna? I can read people. The this these letters don't make sure. I'll go with Heidi Kluna. Heidi Kluna. The best friends you didn't know you wanted and probably didn't need, but it's only a dollar. Wait, that sounds kind of [expletive] up, Heidi Kluna. How dare you? Let me read that again if you didn't pick that up. The best friends you didn't know you wanted and probably didn't need, but it's only a dollar.

I don't want to feel like on one hand, I'm glad he's promoting the Patreon or she, but on the other hand, like it is kind of slap on the face. Yes, and actually, I kind of like that.

Yes, keep it up, right? Definitely been saying it for weeks.

Like, we don't care if you don't like us. Tell us, talk [expletive]. Tell us how terrible this show is.

But obviously, they're giving us a dollar.

Yeah.

And this next one comes from totally underscore legit underscore 69. I love the podcast. My favorite thing to do is leave a comment after episodes and send them money every month to make content. This is because I am totally a real person and not a projection of the host's desperate need for validation. Dare you? Totally legit. Totally legit. I believe it.

If that's how he feels, she, I don't know who it is, because I definitely didn't write it. I think that's how everybody should feel.

Totally a real person. Totally real. It says it right in their name, totally legit. 69. And anybody with a 69 at the end of their tag is obviously a real person.

Yeah, and they're like one of 69, I guess. Like there was a 68, there was a 67, they had to go all the way up to 69. Just happens that way. Just happens.

What are we gonna moving on? What are we talking about?

You want transitions? Join the Patreon. Yeah, right. [expletive] you.

But thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening.

Uh, what are we gonna talk about today?

Um, you know, we're gonna do this thing that we never ever ever [expletive] do, which is actually be timely on a subject. Like, and I know like Mortal Kombat was timely. Timely in that we published it a month after the movie came out. Well, you're in Chris's Pokemon one was kind of timely, right? Wasn't there something going on there? The whole year is the 25th ever. Anytime this year would be timely.

I would say that's pretty good for us today.

The Nat 1 standards are within the year.

We'll get back to you eventually.

Today we're we're doing a recap or our kind of thoughts, our digest of E3 uh updates, announcements, and and whatnot. And actually, it like is happening slash just ended, right? I think I think it's done now, Chris, right? Yeah, I think it ended a day or two ago. Anybody we wanted to present. So anyway, uh yeah, this it started on Sunday. We're recording this on a Thursday. This will literally be up by next Tuesday. And I want to say because it was we're proactive, it's actually because we're just a little straight up out of content. Yes. So uh, but yeah, so actually you're gonna hear this not like a month after everybody stopped talking about it. So very excited today to be relevant for once. Oh, yes.

Yeah, I am too.

Um, let's start with what is E3? Um, I know everybody hates like Nate told me the other day, he's like, I think we [expletive] like talk too much about like what we're gonna do instead of just doing it. But I think we gotta establish context sometimes. I think so for that. Every listener maybe is from the United States or maybe knows what E3 is or maybe cares. But uh, what is E3? Uh basically it's like it's like the science fair, is kind of what I thought it was. It and it's just like the science fair in that I made up every project in every science fair I ever did. Never actually did the whole thing that I was like talking about.

And it's the same thing, they show pre-rendered content uh that clearly isn't from in-game, even though they say it is. Uh, and that's E3. That's uh did I don't know, Chris. Do you want to maybe give a more coherent take on what the convention is? Uh it's a consumer expo for video games. Oh, okay. You're gonna literally define it and make me look stupid. Okay, fine. That's what it is. The electronic something expo. Yeah. Yeah. I have no idea what I understand. What the I think Electronic Entertainment Expo, I think is sure is what yeah. That fits. Whatever.

Yeah, it's basically I don't know, it's like one of the top, I don't know, five times in the year that they'll like, because there's like the Tokyo Game Show, there's a couple other ones that are really big where they'll like companies will usually announce updates or new products or whatever.

So I'm I'm with you, Nate. I think it's more of like a science fair or like even just a big room where they're like, hey, these things could happen. Yeah, they never [expletive] do, but they could.

It's something that gamers every year get their hopes up and then they just get crushed every year. Um, and we're oh, we're gonna talk about it for sure. Like we have plenty of examples this year, just like every other year. Um, the last thing I was gonna say is that it's like when I used to imagine E3 when I was younger, I was thinking it was kind of like a gaming convention, kind of like more like what PAX is where you go and like you play stuff. Really, you just have to be a reporter and you have to have it invite, you have to be a media person.

You sign up to go to shows, and the shows are in all different places.

It's like presentations, it's it's really not like probably as cool as just a regular like.

I bet we could get in now. We have a semi-successful podcast. Yeah, we gotta something. We got 60 some listeners out there.

Yeah, I think if we took all the Patreon money we've ever earned, it could maybe pay for the dinner that we would have there in LA. So uh yeah, but anyway, E3, it it happened this week. Uh did it happen last year with COVID? Do we know? Did they have an E3?

Um, I don't know.

Did they just do like an online thing? They probably just did an online thing. I don't remember it from last year though. Me either. Because it was like right around the start of when things were happening. I was trapped on a military installment and had like no access to anything, so I really don't know what happened those months.

I really I haven't been following it that much. Is E3 every single year? Because what's that one that's like every three years or every four years or something like that? Isn't there's another one that does that?

The Olympics.

No, well obviously that, but I think there's another one that does it like every other year or something.

But that might be like CES or something like that, okay, which is consumer electronic show, which is like tech, right? Stuff like that. The one I really care about. Well, anyway, it's this thing that we ascribe importance to every year, even though it basically lets us down. Like it should be this big announcement reveal, and it almost never is. But inevitably, some things do come out of it, and we're gonna talk about them today. Um, so starting with uh talk, uh, we're gonna start with the title called Elden Ring. Um, and I wrote down on on my little like sheet here, uh, what is it and why are all the neckbeards erect? Looking at you, Chris. Uh I can have not actually heard of this game. Why? Like, why? I don't know.

Uh so by the company that did Dark Souls Bloodborne guy? No, that's a publisher. Uh it's from Software. From Software.

No, Chris, you're a huge Dark Souls guy, right? I wouldn't say huge, but compared to me and Nate.

You're a huge Dark Souls guy, right? In comparison, yeah. Several thousand hours between. Have you played every Dark Souls of the three? Uh Dark Souls, yeah, I think Demon's Souls is the only one that I haven't played. Okay. Yeah, I chopped that up to I chopped that up to proficient in the series, yeah. Uh so yeah, it's their new game that's coming out. Uh this is the first one they've had like someone else as being the creative behind it. They have George R.R. Martin. He's writing some of the stuff.

And at least from certain interviews that they did, they also had like a different process of making this one of instead of making a game system and then crafting a story to fit within it, they did it kind of the more traditional way of making a story and then crafting systems around that to make it work. How do you feel about that? Because I know some people who are bananas about that kind of story system where they did after the fact and it's a lot of flavor text and it's a lot of like reading between the lines.

Yeah, so overall, um through interviews with Miyazaki, who is the head like designer or head of the uh whole game, they said they're kind of taking lessons from all the games as they've done and trying to incorporate the best of everything. So still be a lot of that, but they're also trying to, like they did with their last game, Sekiro, they're trying to incorporate actual like cutscenes and being a little straightforward with the story. Yeah. So I I I had a roommate in college, uh who I won't name, but he would like play like these like three-hour-long videos about like all the lore behind Dark Souls, and I was just like amazed because I'm like, you got this from like like half a sentence on like a ring. This wasn't me, was it?

No, it wasn't. I would I mean I would just say if it was you, I won't. Uh no, he was he was super into it.

Um, but there's a lot of games that are like that that apparently just have this deep lore going on. Like, I know Destiny is a huge one where the story's like, eh, okay, but once you go online and start reading the wiki, like, where the [expletive] was all this? Like, who's pulling this [expletive] out of here, you know?

Exactly. Uh, what did so there was a trailer, right? Yeah, so this was the first confirmation that it exists since it was announced at E3 two years prior, so 2019. So this was one that had gameplay footage in it and wasn't just a pre-rendered thing. What did you think? To me, it looked very much like a medieval Dark Souls whatever game. Yes, less of a dark spooky and more. Yeah, so looking at it's definitely a lot of Dark Souls inspiration. Dark Souls has a lot of like Berserk uh references and stuff like that because the people who make it love berserk, so a ton of like imagery and stuff like that from it.

So yeah, it looks very Dark Souls, and from like the explanation of like how the game's gonna play out and what you're gonna do, it's Dark Souls 4, essentially, is the idea, but it's got more systems. Yeah, they've got just more systems and stuff that they're pulling from their catalogue of games and stuff. So it looks good, I think. It'll be interesting to see how it comes out. They've been like consistent with releasing good games, so I trust them that this one is going to be the same. General reception online was good. Um everyone was just happy that it was there at all. People were excited, or I think they weren't expecting to hear about it at this event either.

So I mean, it's just been a joke of just any time there's gonna be any announcement at all. It was just like, is it gonna be Elden Ring news? It's probably not, but I'm gonna hope that it is. And this time it was. It was, yeah. And do you have any thoughts on the trailer?

I liked the trailer. Like looking at uh most of these E3 trailers, I watch it and I'm like, would I really play that game? And this one for sure. I'm like, yeah, I could see myself playing that game. It definitely peaks all my my valleys. You know what I'm saying? Gross.

Alright, so moving on after that, uh, there was an avatar game.

Do we care? Does anyone care?

Now, first of all, let's talk about the confusion because I didn't watch any of these while they're going live. So Nate sent the text saying, hey, watch some E3 stuff. We're gonna do an episode. One of them was Avatar. I'm thinking Airbender game. I'm like, why would Nate have a [expletive] problem with Avatar Airbender game?

Because they're awful. They've all been awful.

Well, yeah, but maybe if it's a good one, if it's worth showing it E3, it's gotta be good. But then when I looked it up and watched it, I'm like, that Avatar. The blue people were yeah, not the good Avatar.

I actually considered clarifying, but one I honestly didn't think he'd even watch the track. I watched that. So I was like, there's no need to even go into detail. I came on another, I bet he's gonna think it's the other avatar. I'm like, Aang looks so good in the trailer, right, guys? I here's my hot take. I do not give a [expletive]. Like, I people have been cramming down how Avatar like sold all this money and was like like they've made four sequel, they're making four sequels all at once that we've never seen. Um, and now there's a game for it. Like, I don't and the hype was long gone. Oh, yeah. Long [expletive] gone. Like this game needed to come out. Well, how long ago did that [expletive] movie come out? A decade? Yeah.

We're talking like easily a decade.

Yep.

It was like near the beginning of like it was in high school. Yeah, it was like near the beginning of 3D movies being a thing because that was the so over a decade then. Like it was a while ago. So I don't I just don't care anymore, you know. Like it's it's Space Pocahontas, and I'm not about it. Right. I I wasn't even that excited then, you know. I don't know.

But it does have like some good things going for it. So looking it up, since it you made me watch it and then it piqued my interest.

Which I honestly just didn't expect, right?

So it's gonna use the snowdrop engine, which the division two, which I am a huge fan of. Wow, uses name drop and [expletive]. Yeah, and but the only difference is this is gonna be first person instead of third person, and that would probably be the only [expletive] reason that I play this game is because you don't have to see your character right if you're naked boom by anywhere. It's just me running through the avatar world, and I'm not some weird alien. I probably gave two [expletive] about the story. I still don't care about the story, like you said, it's space pocahontas. But if the game looks great on my PC, then maybe I'll just use it as like a wandering platformer and I can play the story.

Maybe they'll let you play as one of the soldiers where you just mow everything down.

That would be that would be alright. I'd be okay with that. Like turn into a looter shooter and then we could start talking.

Also, I looked it up 2009. That's when it came out. Holy [expletive], so 12 years ago. Yeah, way too long. Yeah. Way like very much so. Who thought that? Like, we know what we need right now, and I have an avatar game. Uh James Cameron and Ubisoft. He needs to go the [expletive] to bed or whatever.

Go back to the bottom of the ocean or whatever he's [expletive] doing.

It's a trigger point for me because like they've made now, at some point, there's like three movies they filmed like all together, and yeah, and they're just when the [expletive] are they gonna roll them out when I'm like have children? Like, I don't I don't understand. Like, it's just that's not how things work. Like, I don't care about the thing I was into yesterday, let alone twelve years ago. Oh seriously, think about yourself twelve years ago. Do you have anything in common with that person?

No. Wait. No. I do the same job as that person. That's about it.

Wow. That's crazy. I suck. I look roughly the same. That's about it. You baby faced assassin you. I don't know. I just think too little too late. Too much too late. Right. Like, who gives a [expletive]?

You know, like you brought it up. I was really excited for Airbender. It wasn't that. So I was super disappointed. You know, like what's the point of this thing? Like, are we gonna have like a Titanic video game next? Because James Cameron's just pushing that, like with Leo and [expletive] in there.

Like, I might be more interested in that, honestly.

I was just thinking that. I would too.

Like, why aren't we doing that? You know? Or like a Goonies video game came out. Like, let's play that if we're bringing up the [expletive] past.

I mean, there are Goonies video games you can play.

Well, I tried the board game that comes with the DVD. Nobody wanted to play with me.

It's like the uncool guy in his family who just like tries to do things and they just aren't they're gonna be.

They push me down and call me a nerd.

Like you do the pickles.

Oh yeah, she's got it coming. But there's like uh in my head, there's lockers in my house, and people are always just pushing me into the lockers.

Alright. Moving on, Borderlands movie. Right? There was a trailer for that. Yep. I couldn't find it, but I know of it. Yeah, I also didn't look that up.

Because the Borderlands people had a couple good things.

What's the other game that's Tiny Tina's Wonderland? Yes, that looked good.

It's more set in like a fantasy style place.

Yes. So that's based off of their um It was a DLC or something like that. Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, I think is what it's called. So it's DD specifically.

So that looks alright. That piqued my interest a little bit as far as things.

I'm curious about it. But the movie. Uh their what, Gearbox is Yeah, Gearbox. I generally their stuff is solid. I don't know. Like I I kind of trust them generally.

It's not the worst. Orlands 3 is not the best.

It's okay, but it's not super fun. I think I always know them for like their writing is pretty good. Like usually if you know the company's not under a lot of stress, which it always is because the people that run it are awful. Oh, that's sad. Yeah. Fun fact, we actually had a roommate who limboed with the CEO of Gearbox. Yeah, also me. And yeah. You limbo too? Yeah. Oh, you lost. Yeah, I know I lost. Dan Dan beat the CEO. Yeah, I forgot about you because you because I lost. I came third. Uh Limbo is not the game I think of you. No. That makes me feel like, you know what Chris would be good at? Limbo. No. That's never been a thought that's occurred in my mind.

It was definitely the kid that did a backflip during orientation. Yep. Yeah, that's our try hard friend. Um, yeah, he's really simmered down since then. Life really got him. Yeah. Back then, I think uh he just didn't know. And then adulthood.

But really thinking about it, like, are there any super awesome video game movies?

Oh god, no.

Because how did everyone feel when the World of Warcraft trailer came out? Like, ooh, that's gonna look good, and then we watch the movie, and we're like, oh my god, I did you see the World of Warcraft movie?

Yeah, did you Chris? Uh I didn't. I'm not a big enough like Warcraft narrative. I've never played World of Warcraft, so that one I was like, I can't go see a movie for that's obviously not correct, but right, like, so what?

I watched it, I've watched it because apparently I like to just I'm a glutton for punishment. I watched it like six or seven [expletive] times, and I hate it every time I watch it, but I keep [expletive] watching it. Is it bad?

Yeah, it's just not it's not good. It's not coherent, is basically what I hear. It's you have to have a lot of knowledge of the Warcraft universe, specifically this part of it to begin with, because they're trying to churn through so much information. It's just super super condensed and then just kind of like there. So do you think we'll have that same issue with Borderlands? Like open Borderlands. Oh, it's gonna be awful. You think so? Yeah. When they announced that Kevin Hart was gonna be playing Roland, I was just like, yeah, that doesn't fit at all. Wait, what? I missed that. What? Yeah, that was a while ago. That that's the thing.

But he's real star power, yeah?

I mean, they already had a Kate Blanchette. They should just go with that. That's who they're leading with their marketing, not Kevin Hart, and it's just like, yeah, her character fits better. Comedy's like a big part, but I just don't see him like it is an action. Yeah, he's supposed to be like a 6'5 tall, muscle-bound dude, and they pick Kevin Hart and it's like, mmm, there's something off there.

Okay, okay.

It's a little weird. Like, do they know who Kevin Hart is? Like, do they maybe think there's a different Kevin Hart? Who knows? Or they saw Jumanji and thought Kevin Hart was the rock? Speaking of that, they also have Jack Black in it as uh claptrap. Oh, I can see that. Yeah, it's like kind of fancy.

Yeah.

It's gonna be bad. I heard that and I heard like the synopsis of what it's going to be, and it sounds like um is there like a prophecy? Did like somebody curse video game movies to not be good? Like Well, Gearbox got bought recently. I forget by who, but I'm guessing it's probably that they're just trying to make more money off of their already established IPs.

I think the curse originally started with the E.T. video game. And they're like, you're gonna do us [expletive] dirty like that. Like from now on, any video game movie that comes out, it's gonna be a [expletive] [expletive].

I can see it. Well, great. We got two answers. We got a very real sad answer, and then we got a hilarious, also sad answer.

Conspiracy. Conspiracy. A voodoo priestess played the E.T. video game on Atari and was like, [expletive] all y'all. You did my favorite movie, dude. I loved that little alien.

Just went and they cursed the ground that they buried all the cartridges in.

It's the new pet stone too. Amazing. Someone went out and buried a copy of Mortal Kombat in that dirt and [expletive] out came that movie. [expletive] [expletive] show.

Uh you know we're gonna see the sequel, right?

I'm looking forward to it.

You have to go see Mortal Kombat with me. We've like set a precedent. So that's like that's our series.

I'm so excited for it.

All right, uh Halo Infinite. I didn't even look up. I've never cared for a Halo. I'm just kind of surprised because I thought the last few Haloes were not great. So why is it going? What's happening?

This one's uh bringing it back a little bit to I guess where they kind of left off at Halo 3, Halo ODST. They're going back more to that direction, which I loved all those games. I played all the Halos. The Halo 4. When did it get bad?

Was it 4?

It was after ODST. Yeah. Or uh Reach. It was after Reach. Yeah, I think Reach was the last one. After Reach, it got real [expletive] show because 343 picked it up instead of Bungie. And it was just bad news bears. They tried to go like a whole modern, futuristic type shooter, arena shooter style game, and that's just not what it was. It needs to be the original sandbox, like decently sized arena style shooter game. That that was what made Halo great. You could play it easily on the Xbox controller. You didn't like I love that game and I was good at it, and I am not that great at shooter games, but for some reason, like that was my jams and jellies. And I'm kind of excited for this. I'll probably pick it up.

Okay.

No joke. I hope do you do you think there's any hope that this could be better? Is it it's not three by three by three anymore, is it?

Actually, I don't know. I didn't look up who I don't remember seeing at all. Because I the trailer that I watched didn't have the publisher in it, I don't think. Because I watched the uh story trailer, not the multiplayer one.

Right. So I I I don't know. I'll see you're just gonna give it one more chance.

Yep, I'll give it a shot because they from what they're promising, it's gonna go back to how it was. From the little bit of gameplay I saw or whatever, it looks like it's kind of bringing that back. They said it's gonna be more like Halo 3 than anything else with like new elements in it. So, okay, I will I will play that.

They had like an award-winning formula, right? I guess from what I understand.

Right. And then they went and just [expletive] off. Yeah.

That sounds like Microsoft for you.

Yeah. So honestly, I'll probably check it out and see, or at least wait for it to come out a little bit, have some reviews on it before I decide. But no, I'm not gonna be lining up at midnight to buy the [expletive] thing.

Because I think they already had like a demo come out for I think E3 did happen last year because I think that's when the demo came out for it. Because that was when the new generation of Xboxes came out and they put out a selling point. Yeah, they put out the demo for it, and then people played it and it was just like, this is awful, this looks terrible, it runs terrible, and it's just bad. And so I guess they took it back and like we're gonna fix everything. That wasn't the real game, but April Fool's joke tech demo. That can turn out really well though. That like Final Fantasy XIV launched from crashed, uh partly like historically bad. They just took the game back, redid it, and then it's yeah, fairly successful in Mimono.

So fairly successful. It's the first thing to actually unseat World of Warcraft as the top late.

It's crushing it.

So that's saying something because people have been trying to do that since WoW has come out. Yeah. So well, I guess just where I'm going, it's not always a bad thing to like put out a demo or whatever. People be like, nah, [expletive] no. And then a developer be like, all right. If anything, it's great that developers are like, okay, you guys didn't like this, so we'll try and address all that. That never happens because who has enough money to just remake a game? But uh, it sounds like they caught maybe.

Hopefully, they had a chance to maybe catch it early and make some anything's better than setting out a game and like, you know what, we're just gonna fix it with patches. Cyberpunk. [expletive] you, Cyberpunk, or what was the other one? Uh Fallout 76, uh No Man's Sky or whatever.

Yeah, no, like that game like [expletive] itself hard. Like it's better now, but it's like it came out years ago and they're still working on it.

Yeah, the Fallout. Like, and then even at E3, they still put out, like, hey, we're coming out with new DLC. Like, does anybody even give two [expletive] about that anymore? Like now. God, I'm glad I didn't waste my money on that.

That is a great transition into uh Square Enix's Marvel games. Uh, because it's almost the exact same situation. I don't know if it's it's not so much buggy as much as like people hate those games. I I mean I could tell from the trailer, I'm like, I'm not gonna play the game. And turns out, like, uh, so that what?

Uh was it the Guardian of the Galaxy one? Is that what so well?

Yeah, so Guardian Galaxy is new, and then they have like they're gonna do a Wakanda expansion for the uh Avengers game. Yeah. Uh the Avengers game now has been out just about a year. It's about like the year anniversary. Um, horrible. Like everybody, no one's happy. There's no it suffers from everything from just being bland to being having no endgame content, all that stuff. And a year later, now they're finally really getting ready to release like some expansion content, but people are just done with it. They're over it. They're like, Why do I they're way past the window? One of the things they announced at this conference was like a ten dollar per costume like [expletive] skins for the characters for a game nobody wants to play.

And everybody was like, Are you [expletive] kidding me? Like, instead of spending time on this, and then they're like, and these skins aren't even that good.

They're like, This is straight up a recolor of some other skin.

Well, that's the worst. The only one they liked was uh because it was supposed to be like a steampunk style skin. Um, and it really kind of was a poor interpretation of that. But Iron Man's is kind of cool. He almost looks like Dr. Fate from like the DC um universe. He's it's like that kind of like more like heavily armored, yeah, like bronze more so than anything else. Yeah, so his skin looked okay, but everybody else was like, the rest look like [expletive], and we don't want skins, like we want this game, like we actually want this game to be better. Make the game good, less microtransactions for now. Add that later when we want to play. And then also it just it just suffers from being crazy bland.

Like if they have like generic versions of the the heroes, like they're using okay, like they launched with like Taskmasters, the villain, all that stuff, but it's like okay, a year later, like you're just replaying the same fights with the same villains, and they're not even the cool ones. Alright. So that game is just like it'll I'm curious to see if the servers are gonna stay on. Like, I uh it's one of those, like, very usually, especially for score and exactly, I'm one of those guys. There's always these die hard fans who will like support like even the worst Final Fantasies, but this Marvel game, like 100% the threat is all negative, like nobody says anything nice ever about the Marvel games. So that's kind of sad.

Now, Guardians of the Galaxy, I thought did look better.

Uh I don't know, still no interest in playing it. It's just not one of those games where I'm like, I need to play this because honestly, I'm [expletive] marveled out.

I'm over it. Valid. I mean that I don't think that's why the games are bad, but it's not helping. Right. Like it's definitely not helping that I don't give a [expletive] about Marvel stuff. I haven't even watched Loki. I didn't watch The Winter Soldier or whatever. I don't know. Falcon. Yeah, I don't. It's just too much. I don't I don't care. I don't know. I'm over it. I'm over it. Done. That's sad. I know I was looking at Twitter when Ether was going on and when the Guardians thing came out, and the comment that stuck with me was, wow, it was really good until they started actually like playing more of the trailer.

And then I watched and I was just like, Yeah, actually, like it was okay, and then it just got worse as it went on because it's just like, wow, this is really boring and bland, and there's no like oomph to anything.

As a film, Guardians of the Galaxy is like a cool premise, maybe as a comic as well. But as a video game, I feel like we've seen this game many, many times. It's just a new skin on something with like no anything to it.

Right, a group of friends in space fight bad guys. I'd rather go play [expletive] Mass Effect.

Yeah, no, like that's a real video game. No, dead serious, absolutely. Um, so alright, let's transition to the other game that Scranicks announced that got super [expletive] on. Um, I was less like disgusted by it versus everybody else, but so they announced like uh Final Fantasy Origin, Strangers in Paradise or whatever. Um basically uh it seems almost like a prequel to the Final Fantasy first Final Fantasy game, and kind of plays, doesn't play like the standard JRPG or even the more recent action JRPG ones are doing. It's more of like it's a devil's may cry game. And the angst is thick. Yeah. Did you guys uh did you suffer through the trailer, any of you guys? Um I did. They say chaos, so chaos, chaos, chaos is what it seems like the writing is bad.

It seems very like just it's very angsty and then just poorly written. Yeah, it's a lot of teenage angst, but also with just adult characters, which makes it weird to talk. So to give more of the premise, the first Final Fantasy game is about like basically a time loop of like there's like this dark knight, you kill him, he becomes chaos at the end. And basically, it kind of I I think you break the loop at the end of Final Fantasy 1 the time loop, but like basically it's like heroes kept being revived to fight chaos, get killed, new heroes. And so this is supposed to be the vibe that this game gives is that these are probably some of the unsuccessful heroes from like one of the previous time loops.

So that premise, I was like, all right, cool.

Cool. Everything else matters.

Yeah, and then gameplay, which was bad. Now, granted, I'll play an angsty double make cry game. Like, that doesn't sound bad to me at all, but the writing was just like what has to do, like it needs to be more self-aware. Like, kind of like double make cry five is like terrible, but also like it's self-aware. But it's the fun kind of thing. And so I can laugh at it. Like, I'm in on the they're in on the joke, I'm in on the joke. Whereas like screening isn't usually about joking, so like they probably thought it was pretty cool. There's a there's actually I I have PS5 now, and there is a demo, so I might go try. I haven't had a chance.

I just he just keeps rubbing that in everybody's face.

I just you know, I'm better than pretty much all of you now. Um I straight up just I didn't even [expletive] play games anymore. I was just like, hey, I can have this thing that other people like are fighting over online. Hell's yeah.

I showed up at the house today. He's wearing a shirt that says ask me about my PS5.

And he didn't ask if I can error.

Of course not. I played with Ben.

Um, so yeah, we'll see. Uh reaction was not good. I don't think you can fix writing in a game, to be honest. Like, you can depends how far along, but I really doubt that's the big thing. If they have a demo out now, I really doubt they can go back and change the writing. Who knows? I feel bad with the voice actor though, because it was like, what a terrible imagine being that guy's voice actor and then everybody being like, wow, that guy sucks. Like I mean, hey, as long as he got paid, it's just like, yeah, it was probably trying to [expletive] on this guy. He has like a better career, like his career is actually cool, and then here we are talking about things.

All right, so moving on. We're still cool.

Sea of Thieves. Um, they announced this isn't like a huge announcement, but they basically announced a bunch of free content, and it's straight up tied to Disney and Pirates of the Caribbean. Um, I'm I'm a pretty big Pirates of the Caribbean fan. Okay. I'm really into the series. Uh the first three after that. But are you a big Sea of Thieves fan? Absolutely. I've been trying to get you to play this game for weeks, Nate. I have been trying. I thank God Chris has more free time now because I'm pulling him into this game. Straight up, I think he doesn't have a choice. Like, I need him to play this game. Um, I think it's fun.

Like, so you can either in pairs of two or four, you know, just kind of man ships, and it's it's everything you'd expect from like pirates, in my opinion. Not like the the real like getting scurvy and dying from disease and stuff, but like like we'll go do quests and then we finish the quest.

We're like, oh, we like defeated this raid on an island of skeletons, or oh, we like unlike unloaded a vault that we found deep within like a hidden thing and did solve the puzzle and got a bunch of treasure, and then we'll literally get on our boat and then some [expletive] will come like ambush us, blow up our ship, kill us, and take all our treasure, and like it's it's frustrating when it happens, but it's like there's something addictive about it of like because that could be me too. Mike crew is not very good. We're hoping Chris will bring some more expertise to that because whenever we try to ambush people, we just die. Um, but it's fun, like it's I don't know, like it feels like it has stakes.

Um, and then exploration is fun, it really does a great job of like that's a tiny little island, then you go like way underwater, and there's like crazy tunnels and sunken ships. Um, I have a good time, it's just like it's fun with my friends. Um good open world experience, and then go ahead, yeah, add some Pirates of the Caribbean in the mix, and I'm down. Right.

I saw that trailer, and it looks like a beautiful game, the way it's designed and everything. And then, like, when they have that scene where they're diving under the water, and then it cuts to like, oh, now we're gonna throw out the pirate stuff, and it has the dog with the keys in there, and the guy at the bone turns out it's Johnny Depp, which I was a little iffy on the character model. Not so much Johnny Depp. It's not Johnny Depp.

It's the other guy that does the voice for him.

Oh, is that what it is? Well, okay, it's Jack Sparrow, but I was like, eh, he doesn't really look like him. But he still had the uh the old guy's voice in there, though, right?

Too Mr. Gibbs, yes, yes, Gibbs. That guy probably is doing whatever job is throwing his away. Probably. See, if the never heard of it, I'll do it. Hell's yeah. That'd be me. How much is it paying? Doesn't matter. Give me money. It doesn't pay, great, I'll be there. No, it's a fun game. I uh I hope we can get you on someday. I'm gonna try. If if not, Chris, I'm yeah, I installed it last night. Yeah. That's commitment. There's a chance. That's commitment. Um, as far as the content, I think I actually don't all right. I'm excited about Pirates of the Caribbean. Do I think Pirates Caribbean content in a pirate game is gonna make a difference?

No, however, I think it'll bring a lot of players back to the game, and so that whole like like just constant anxiety about being ambushed will be like you know tenfold. Right, so how it's set up, like it's just one big online world, or is it like there's different servers, like it's kind of cool because like you'll be sailing and then like things will like a mirage will happen, and that's actually them like combining servers when there's less players. Oh, okay. Um, but it's it's all just done really well, and then there's ways to like make yourself like public, like you can like get more points for treasure by making it public, like where like you can see yourself on the map.

Oh, okay, but then other people can see you on the map, and so there's like high risk reward type deals. It's fun. I don't know, it works really well, and uh I'm excited to play with my pals. So that's all I got. Uh next on the roster, uh, we did finally get an update about Breath of the Wild 2. Also took two years, also took two years, and it is just kind of a vague trailer. Um, but yeah, what Chris, what were your thoughts on that? I know uh you and I both played around the same time. Um I'm Breath of the Wild was a good game.

I don't know how to feel about it. After watching the trailer, there's not a whole lot there.

It's kind of just here's more Breath of the Wild, but also things are up in the air now, literally. Floating islands, and there's more like Chica slate power things. Yeah, they added in some new things, which is like, yeah, I would kind of expect you to do that if this is gonna be a new game. I agree. Like the trailer looked good, but I'm like, you know, you could have just had it a different zone with the same game, and I'd be excited. Like the game itself is good. The first so like we're gonna assume that everything good from that is gonna bleed over. So it's hard really to judge what's going on. Um like I said, there's not like a whole lot of new there.

It's kind of things that are expected of like this is going to be a sequel to a very popular game. So it's we're adding in more stuff, we're keeping the stuff you like. They said it will be out 2022. We'll see. Yeah, that could be December of 2022, so and then get delayed into the next year, but we'll see. Uh I don't I don't think you've even played Breath of the Wild.

No, uh any Nintendo. Like, I have a strong appreciation for all things Nintendo, and I understand why people play Nintendo, but me myself, I've never really gone down that road. But me myself, those are a bunch of [expletive] nerds. No, I I see uh like the the appeal to it and everything, but I've never really been a part of it. Like the only uh real Nintendo games I've ever played is probably uh Super Smash, uh Mario Kart Mario Party. Yeah, you know, like yeah, and then that's been about it.

Well, yeah, it's I don't know, it's it's a good game. It was one of the for me, I've played a bunch of the Zeldas, and Breath of the Wild is definitely of all of them one of the best for sure. Um so I hope they can like again, kind of what we're talking about, Halo, like it's a good formula. You don't have to do much except make some more content. You don't even have to I don't I don't like you're talking about like, yeah, I expect some new powers. Yeah, if you want. Like it just just don't break it. Like just give me more of the game I really love. Uh and if you can build on it without ruining it, sure.

Right? Do you guys feel like you set the bar really high when it comes to something like Breath of the Wild? Because you've already played the first one and it was great, awesome. What you gave a 10 out of 10? So when a new one comes out, like your expectation is right here, and if it doesn't even get close to that, you're all like garbage. Because I'm gonna do that with Halo, no lie.

Like if it doesn't meet what I think it should, automatically garbage, hate it. I think it's challenging because, at least in the context of like Zelda, they don't usually make sequels, they just remake the entire formula, and then every time there's a risk, like Skyward Sword was a risk that didn't really pay off as well. But they just reinvent the game every time. Whereas, like, you know, Mortal Kombat, you're just they stick to their formula and they just build, you know what you're getting with Zelda. The next Zelda game could be horrible. Like that's really always a possibility because they that's really shake things up from the inception of Zelda. That's been the thing.

Zelda one, like top-down, like scrolling through screens, Zelda 2, you got an overworld, and then it's a side scroller when you start combat and stuff, and it's all over the place. Right.

Because I did play the uh the one on GameCube, which one the completely cell-shaded one Wind Waker. Yes, I did like that one, but compared to I think the one previous was on the N64 with Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mass.

Yeah, and then even Ocarina and Majora's Mass was technically a direct sequel and major elements changed. It's still a sequel, but and the only reason it was a direct sequel is because they were like, hey, we have all these models still, we can just make a game and not have to make all new things.

So does this this one come off kind of weird then that it's so similar to its predecessor?

I think it might just be Nintendo's new marketing way of doing things, of just like it was popular and we want to keep selling games. We like making money. Yeah, Nintendo's weird in that, like their strategy tends to, I feel like, deviate than the other game companies are like, this is good, we'll make a fourth, fifth, whatever. Yeah, but with Nintendo, they like I think you mentioned it, Chris, like they like to like stick with tradition, they like they do things their own way, like they they are really big into [expletive] like uh selling like attachments to controllers and like like hardware. Like Nintendo's always always been a big part of their model. Nintendo's all about doing weird [expletive], right? Yeah, so with them, like it's always a crap bag, you know.

Like, I'm like, this could be great, or this could be terrible. Like, like Mario Party is a great example of like growing up, like those were some of the best multiplayer games. Like I play with my friends, like we still get heated to this day talking about the game, but like it blows my mind because sometimes it is not a hard [expletive] formula, and sometimes they've just absolutely [expletive] it up by sticking everyone in a single car and taking away all the I'm like that is not like this is not something you need to meddle with, you know. Like, yes, okay, certain like uh like a new Zelda, yeah, we want to see new battle systems, new powers.

A [expletive] board game Mario essentially is like I just want fun mini games and a long board game, and I want it to [expletive] over my friends. Like, that's it, that's really all I want. So let's just go right into it because the next one is Mario Party Superstars, and I am pumped for this because the last few Mario Partys have been terrible. But growing up, fighting with my friends about Mario Party was a big part of my life, big part. If you can get [expletive] over by one of your friends in Mario Party like two through six, then you weren't doing it right, you know, because and you all know I'm talking about that space with the stars where you would randomly switch things, yeah.

So like you could switch you and the other person, like with and and like no control, like it's not a strategic thing of like, oh, I'm gonna land on that and then give his stars with mine. It's usually like, oh, I landed on that, and now my husband lost all his stars to my other friend, and now my husband's pissed at me and I have to sleep on the couch. Like, that is usually how it goes in my party, or when you're younger, like obviously without the marriage part. But same thing with friends. My friend pushed me into like some kitchen cabinets one time over that game because I accidentally, I think I did the same thing. I think I accidentally like swapped his stars with somebody else, and then we both lost.

And like that kid was like, like the rage in his eyes, I still remember.

Oh, yeah. Like it gets heated because so the people get the bonuses or whatever, like that. And like the tappy tap games. Like, I know I'm a culprit where the tappy tap games, I like slide my foot over there and knock their controller out of there. You're that guy. Yes, I want to win. But it's one of those games, even though it's just a bunch of mini-games, you want to [expletive] win.

You need to win. It it gets heated for like a board game video game. It like you know, like playing Digital Monopoly doesn't make me feel that way ever. Right. But uh Mario Party, it's it's huge. Anyway, Mario Party Superstars, it's gonna bring back some like five boards from like the first four games on the N64, which is pretty cool. It's gonna bring back a bunch, like a hundred of the minigames. So I'm pumped because that's what I've been wanting. Just like, hey, just put this on modern systems and maybe some cooler graphics, but give me the same [expletive]. Um so and then I can tell a little fun fact is that my husband only plays like five games at all in existence, but he tends to be very good at them.

And one of them is Mario Party one through four. He played that a lot growing up. Chris and I have spent entire nights doing nothing but ganging up on him and still lost. It's it's crazy. It's crazy how good he is at like a game. It's a game based on chance. Yeah, exactly. Same thing. It's like same anyway. I'm not gonna go, I'm not gonna go to it's Katan, is is is the same situation. But anyway, uh pretty pumped for that as well. Um, that's all I had on the list that I prepared for you guys. But what else? There was a lot of other excitements, some bigger, some smaller. Was there any ones that stood out to you guys?

Uh I know one that people are very excited for is uh Metroid Prime or Metroid Dread. Yeah, yeah. And that's like a sequel to Fusion, I think was the last one, which I think was a Game Boy Advanced game. So like it's been a while, it's been like 15 years that they've been waiting for any kind of a sequel that wasn't hot garbage. I feel like Metroid's a game you would play if you were to try like a Nintendo game, you know.

Um it's it and miss because I really love fighting games, obviously, and shooters. And then sometimes I'll play like a platformer or a heavy story game, but mostly I just stick to those two. And so for me, like the only one that really stuck out huge was Battlefield. I'm excited for that. But hopefully it's just not a [expletive] show like the last one.

The the Is this 2042?

Yeah, we're going back to the future.

People seem very optimistic about it from what I've seen. People were like writing it off, and then they've seen more about it, and they're just like, I'm actually kind of excited to see how this is gonna go.

Because in this one, they're cutting out all the garbage. There's not gonna be a battle royale, there's not even gonna be a story mode, it's just gonna be multiplayer.

Wow, sandbox really we're focusing in on what the people actually want. Yeah, that's gonna go really well or really badly, right? It's gonna be one or the other.

Let's hope for because honestly, I'm getting [expletive] tired of battle royale games. Like everybody's [expletive] doing it. Oh, yeah.

I just stop. I think thankfully we're like past the point, and now it's just going to be games that were already in development. Right. I think people are like, we might include that, but it's not going to be our main thing. Right. Of the mind, because I don't play those games, but memes in the internet tell me that Battlefield is like the superior Call of Duty base, like like children play Call of Duty, and then like people who are serious about the genre play Battlefield.

It just depends what is the internet misleading me? No, it depends what you're like, what you like. So if you want serious, like high-functioning snapshooter, then you're gonna go play uh Counter-Strike or Valorant right now. But and then the step below that is gonna be your Call of Duty, where it's really a gunplay game. Now, when you get into the battlefield, that's almost like a [expletive] simulation game where you get rewarded just for doing your job. Like if I'm a medic, I don't have to kill one person and I can get the highest score on my team just by running around [expletive] healing people non-stop. I don't have to shoot my gun once, you know, and I've always loved that aspect.

The military is really like that too. Like, not the medic shooting people part, but like you just are rewarded for just showing up in the right uniform and just doing what you're supposed to do.

Do your job. Yeah, and like that's a very simulation. And that's one of the only games where like if you don't do your job, people get [expletive] pissed. Really? Yeah, they're like, lay down an ammo pack, [expletive]. Like, where are you at? I'm gonna lay down one [expletive] ammo pack, or the medic is running by you with the SMG, like, I'm gonna go kill him. Like, no, your job's not to kill him, I kill him. You come pick me up. Like, and it's pretty good. And they always had like the vehicles and stuff were a huge part of the battlefields, and it made it nice. Uh, I think they were one of the first ones to actually have the environment work around the explosions and everything. So I'm actually a little excited for it.

I'll probably buy it day one because who gives a [expletive]?

But will you wait outside at midnight?

[expletive] no. The last time I did that was for Halo 3, totally worth it. I skipped a day from work and it's been a minute since you've done midnight releases.

I mean, I think the last one I did was the one of the more recent Smash Bros. I think that was the last time. Was it worth it? On yes, it was Smash Bros. is always worth it.

Well, now with like the way everything goes now, you don't have to. Like you can buy it already and it'll start downloading.

I am my so uh the only PS5 they had in Mexico to bring it back with PS5 was the one with the disc, which I wouldn't have if I had a choice, I wouldn't have bought the the disk drive anymore. But I did uh this was the only one they had, and I think I am this time going to try to just stick with digital. I used to love collecting the games and the cartridges, but the switch kind of taught me like nah, I just want a giant SD card with all my stuff. Like, I'm I'm beyond changing cartridges or discs now. Like that's the point of my life I'm in. Like, I want everything as much as possible. Like, I mean, PlayStation games take are huge, oh yeah, um [expletive] massive.

So I mean it comes with like I think after the like system storage, there's maybe like 600 gigs plus. That's like nothing. Yeah, it starts with A25, but they obviously it uses a bunch of I think the disk drive one also has a smaller, smaller hard drive on it.

Oh, see, it's time you're gonna have to.

No, it's the same. Is it? It's exactly I looked it up because I was like, oh, I hope I'm not getting a smaller hard drive for the disk drive. I thought the other one had a terabyte.

Yeah, I thought it came with a terabyte.

Uh unless I looked at an old article. Maybe, maybe I looked at an old article. What did it say on the box? Uh well, the one I bought was an 820 Five, but I I read that so does the one without the disk drive. So that's the same. And then so I don't know, we'll see. But I I'm gonna try to keep everything digital this time. Um, especially because also what we're seeing with consoles, like I've seen it with like switches and stuff, I've seen it with [expletive] Wii's even, but like you when you get a new console, it like just starts to transfer your stuff from old consoles.

I that believe PS5 did that, I've seen it with I don't know if the Xbox does that, but yeah, I feel like a lot of consoles now is just gonna be like when you buy the next one, it's gonna import it over. But the messy part is when you have like you know disc games, then that's not necessarily the case. Um, and eventually they're gonna change from it being yeah, a disc or a Blu-ray or whatever, it's eventually gonna be something else, I'm sure.

So probably you go to the store and buy a case, and inside it's just a piece of paper with like a redeem code on it. Like, there you go. Like with uh PC games now. That's all it is. You go and it cracks me up when I see that, right? You buy the box, it's got the box, it's all super cool, and it's just like enter this code and yeah, download. Like I could have done that already.

That's I that's an interesting question. Like, I used to like having for people who like to collect, is it still worth having the box if it didn't come with the disc? For me, it's like cheating. Like, it has to actually have a disc for me to want to have the box. If it doesn't have the disc, do you care about the box? Hot take, Chris. What do you think? Uh it kind of depends. I know I like um a lot of things have like reverse art on the cover, so you pull out the cover sheet and turn it around, and whatever's on the inside can be on the outside.

So if it was the same price, would you buy it with the case and the cover art, even though it's just a redeem code, as buying it online? It's kind of a convenience thing. Yeah. Like if I can get it with no with not a lot of extra hassle, then yeah, I'd prefer to have the physical copy. But like if it's like sold out everywhere, it's just like, nah, I just want to have it. It's 100% how I was until I bought a house and had very illuminated storage space and had to share everything with another person. That's when I stopped. Yeah, I think I think that's a big one, is you have to share your space now. Yeah, that's when I stopped being like, okay, I don't have room anymore.

I have one bookcase that has all my old games on it, and that's about as much room as I have. So unless I throw those away, I'm not buying new cases.

All my games are in a box in the garage. And I just got yelled at today that I need to do something about that.

No, really, yeah. Because we already had the documents. We need to get rid of the uh the Halo helmets and the swords.

My Marcus Phoenix. Man, that thing was cool.

Well, do you have one of the statues?

Yeah, and then uh one of the Jax Action figures too, but the the big ones? Yeah. Yeah, still in the box and everything. For like five bucks. Oh, I know.

That must have hurt. Yeah. That's not even how much it was worth, yeah.

No, like this, like not even worth talking to somebody to get five dollars. I saw them take it with a smile on their face, and I'm like, I'm like, enjoy being single, man. I think the only thing uh I can see it going two ways. Like uh, you don't want to put your own credit information online or anything, so you'll just start buying prepaid cards and just use those to buy games. Or if you just want to go in the store and pay for cash, because there are some weirdos out there. But other than that, I think collector's editions, I think Oh yeah, sure, you know, for sure, buying a collector's edition because you get all that extra [expletive] for it.

I I know uh Final Fantasy Endwalker, the new uh expansion for the Final Fantasy XIV.

I will be playing that. I know that the collector's edition came out, sold out within an hour of it being announced, and it was just gone, and that's it. That's all they're making. Well, and the thing with that though is is did that come with physical items? I know their last few digital ones, like their their collector's edition always comes with like mounts and stuff. Yeah. So that stuff you get even if you buy that online, but does it also come with like books and [expletive]? I think it also had some physical uh collectible stuff. They Philomancy does a good job usually of like giving you like cool art books or like other stuff, usually.

They're also like a they're a Japanese company and they're like pretty good with that kind of stuff to begin with.

So like Capcom's legit. Like the last uh Resident Evil Collector's Edition I bought, it just came with nothing but books, but it's all like handwritten journals of them like on their adventures, and I'm like, ooh, what's all right?

Here, a question for you guys what is your favorite collector's edition item you've ever got? Um for ones that I own. I know for um I got the collector's edition of Batman Arkham Asylum when that came out, so I have the like little journal in it that's um got like a bio thing on all of the characters and like handwritten stuff in there and stuff like that, and it came with like a uh battering from the game.

Ooh, that's cool. Um, I've only ever bought the uh Halo 3, obviously, because everybody bought that [expletive] thing with the helmet and everything, but it actually came with cool [expletive], and then uh like it even had like patches in it. I didn't even know they got sucked into like one of the notebooks, and I was like just going through it the other day randomly, and like some cool patches came out. I'm like, what the [expletive]? I could have been using these.

But then I think the Resident Evil one was my favorite one because the stuff in there is just super cool, like there's like fake blood splatter on it and everything, and like almost handwritten journal entries and stuff, and I think I'm more into that kind of stuff than like the Master Chief helmet, obviously.

For sure. I have to be honest, I don't usually buy the collector's edition of games, like almost ever. So if I if if I have to participate, I would say for the digital edition, I got a fat chocobo mount, which I really enjoyed for one of the Final Fantasies. Um, and then I have a couple art books, but I very rarely usually if I bought a collector's edition, it w it went on sale later because it didn't sell well enough or something. Yeah, it's like there it goes.

The only ones that I have are usually I think you have to be like a pretty uh like at least a decent fan.

Yeah, you have to be on top of it because they will sell out fast if they're any good. Yeah. Yeah, and that and I'm very I'm very much like uh like a completionist, like if I'm gonna like collect everything I want to start from the beginning. So like for me to just have random entries of collectors editions when I don't have for other stuff, it's like why bother? I've always been that way, even from a young age. So okay, well, let us know if you actually enjoyed this episode, if timely news and discussions is actually what you want from this [expletive] show, then tell us. Tell us because we'll do it if maybe a couple people [expletive] say it. But otherwise, uh, thanks for listening.

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