[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even something attached to an IP is huge as the avengers couldn't make it for a multitude of reasons but you know that exhaustion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know that's- I- I am still gonna play Suicide Squad because I love Rocksteady, I want to believe and I hope that there really is, like, that good game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well wait, there was that mission in Gotham Knights where it was a side mission for I think Barbara, and it was like going around and oh, Batman's left.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, so that's what I'm, that's what I'm afraid of. And I don't want to be afraid of it because I love rocksteady, but I don't want to be afraid of it. No, I don't want to be afraid. No, it's like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is this the trade-off that we're gonna, I mean, game development is so expensive, is this the trade-off we have to expect to even get these licensed things anymore? I feel like, fewer and fewer risks especially, I mean,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Putting to one side Warner Brothers discovery and the absolute-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's like the co-founder of our studio, but he was creative director, he was like director on Arkham 1-3 and then, yeah, leaving.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm on PetSitter TikTok right now, it looks pretty sweet. Just going into people's houses, looking after their pets, easy. Two. Professional pimple popper. AKA.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, three, I would love to be, uhm, one of those professional organizers, but like, specifically for rich white women.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In LA or New York where they pay you a ton of money and you just get to go in and you buy little bins for everything and just talk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She didn't tell me. Just like random little jobs, but she does it just because she's helping people out. I would love to just do stuff like that. Just, no real, I just, just like a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like a leaf on the wind of the world going from random job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To random job. But also pimple pop and being a dermatologist would be sick. I love that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was a mentor. Did I tell you guys this a couple of years ago? I was a mentor. There's a program run out of the UK called Limit Break.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's all about connecting people in the games industry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Advanced in their field, I guess, and so I was a mentor for three people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was really fun, it was all just about, obviously the landscape is very different from when I started, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So they, they were kind of like earlier on in their careers, but like, one's at IGN now, one's at RAG, the other one's at Future, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm less interested, especially because people are still talking about, I mean, I can, I guess I can ask you all. How's emotion sickness?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's lovely. I met him in like 2016 and I haven't seen him since, but he was very nice. I've queued up his video, which is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I, I mean, do you, do you know that me, Tam and Dave at work had a Destiny 2 show for a while?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Perfectly. At this point. Cause I think the deflect system is way more forgiving than inner souls.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Game i think it's you know and especially because when they do these things a critical strike or the flash red.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't have to worry like in Sekiro about jumping or anything or doing things like that, it's just, you can just do the deflect and it's fine. And so I'm getting used to that, but also that guy is, I hate him, I hate him so much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not as I guess we're just so attuned to and it feels so funny saying this because from games like when they come out there's always something in this kind of like broken but then you kind of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then obviously it's gonna be compared so much to Souls games, like one of the producers of Bloodborne is on it, like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It feels weird to have these massive, massive swings because even like Genichiro was that skill check.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But he didn't feel unfair, he didn't feel like a big swing in a different direction but, well especially because I trapped him behind a door and killed him that way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's also, it's also very nice that like, Ben Star, who plays Clive, is a fan of the show.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did you hear, so I didn't know this until today, Dom Peppiet, I can't remember where they wrote it up for, but uhm, there are Jordies in it and like, that's from my neck of the woods and I was so stoked to hear that because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like in the UK, which is very well, it's just having different people in, um.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the Witcher, like coming from different regions, like the Baron is a Bromian, for example, and then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just really like that, you know, as they're taking sort of old fantasy, like medieval kind of stuff as an inspiration, it's just really nice to be like, yeah, there are Jordies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, no. Thingy as well. Uhm, what was the Ghibli game?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually, I mean, I'm amazed there isn't some kind of pitbull tie in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, where basically they've just taken all three games, you launch them from one kind of unified thing. And now there's a new mode called freelancer where instead of just like booting up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Berlin or Miami or Sapiens or anything and just going for, you know, you know who the target is ahead of time. You basically have to go around the world to a couple of different maps, take out some targets, um, because the syndicate is being, is, uh, keeping, keeping a lid on who the real evil people are. Cause more and more people are being evil. And then by doing that, you kind of figure out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your ultimate target and then you kind of go and that is the big one. So you do like a couple little missions and then, um, you build up to a big, uh, big takeout or like a big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so, like, you'll get little bits of information where, you know, they'll have, oh, they have, uhm, like, brown hair, a tattoo, and glasses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But then you walk around and there'll be a bunch of people like that and you have to like figure out, make sure all the configuration is correct. Uhm, but when you start the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I booted it up and it was like, okay, well you have a gun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's it and then if what if you go where you do one of the missions come back to like your base you get down and gives you like one of three things you can pick from to take into the next place and then you kind of build.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I remember, what was it, 2016 when Hitman in this iteration came out and everyone just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is one of the greatest of all time. I think it is unbelievably good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Sean Bean, uh, like the actor famous for dying and everything, they put him in as, um, one of the targets in a limited time hitman thing and his character was called the unkillable or something like that and they made a whole joke about it and it was actually him and you had to kill him and it was...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, Ralph, that's our sales pitch. Please. I mean, it's, it's always been.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kind of a networking convention thing for game devs and, uh, some members of the press and so Tam and I went and, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gerard was also there, uh, hung out with Gerard a bunch, and it was just like a really...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Strange kind of event cuz it's not really like an e3 where there's any announcements or anything it's mostly you know the big award ceremony so i got to go to that. Pumped into miyazaki and sent you guys a sneak peek.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause we didn't know he was gonna be there and so it was just really strange to kind of walk around cause it's all in casinos, uh, in one, in one hotel, but it's in Vegas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was just like this big industry gathering and honestly I don't really have much to say about it because all we did was like take meetings and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Talk about, like, what, you know, Tam and I are working on at GameSpot over the next, uh, few months and, like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pitching ideas to PR and stuff to get some buy in hopefully and then just like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just, you know, I'll walk past something and I see, you know, like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Tim Schafer was there and I just walked past him in a corridor and it was just very strange, especially as like someone who.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so this, this is my first one, but I would say like, if you have...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like if you're in the pitching phase or if you're like searching for funding phase, I think the networking there would be kind of invaluable. There's a lot of like biz people there too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And obviously GDC is the other one which is coming up at the end of this month, which is the game developers conference and there's an awards thing there, but there's also lots of talks and there was talks at dice, but uhm, I don't think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's kind of incredible who you can just kind of run into and pitch games to and whatever. So I would definitely, the problem is, and this is kind of a big thing, you know, with GDC as well is cost.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because it does cost a lot of money to not only fly to Vegas, stay there for a few days, but also just to even attend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think that's GDC. GDC is exceptionally expensive and I've seen, um, you know, they don't compensate, um, speakers or anything. And so it's, you know, kind of another one where it's like, okay, you go for the prestige, but can't. I mean, and like, okay, San Francisco liver here, like personally lives in San Francisco, but like this place is fucking expensive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How much the hotels and stuff are going to be around a convention because my mum complains when she comes to visit me off season, she's like, why is this place so hideously expensive? And I'm like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was cool to actually go and I said to you guys that we should all go next year. Uhm, cause it's just like, it's really nice and like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I spend, you know, three days there once a year and then I leave and then I hopefully, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but the licensed machines are so weird so that the reason i'm bringing this on is because there is a flappy bird machine, i didn't see it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But we were staying in resorts world, which is a brand new casino. I think it's only a couple of years old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we were with Andrew Goldfarb, XIGN, currently Sucker Punch, and he and I and Tam are very, very big persona fans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kind of a very old shabby rundown casino. We went all the way there to find, it's, the machine is called Four Reels by the way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Phenomenal work. We went all the way there and they got rid of it in the last like two weeks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, you know, I did get to go to the awards. The awards were cool. Greg and, um, Stella Host did an incredible job. So, it was great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We don't have to, I wrote that down as like a joke because I'm in like a gaming rut.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause I just, I don't, I, I feel like I'm kind of just kind of all over the place a little bit, like dipping into things, but I did get a new chair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm very excited about it because it means that I don't have a gaming chair anymore and that...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I did have a secret lab and I really enjoyed it for like a year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I turned 30 and I couldn't sit on it anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Took advantage of some of the office furniture.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Liquidation stuff over in San Francisco because sadly a lot of places are closing down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and it meant that I kind of upgraded to a nice office chair and I'd-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's wild the difference it makes cause I was getting to the point of my gaming chair.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where I didn't even want to play games at the end of the day on my PC because I was so uncomfortable after being sat at my desk all day. Now, all new world baby, I'll be sitting with the best of them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But no, it's, it's, it's kind of, it's wild and I don't think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it's something that I've just never really had to think about before. And now I've talked a bit about, yeah, I have Repetitive Strain and just, you know, as I'm getting older, the debuffs keep stacking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was a really great reductress, um, headline the other day, which was, woman who sits like Gollum for nine hours a day, wonder why her back hurts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the thing, like, Nintendo's also positioned itself in a place where they are courting more third party, um, devs and stuff and so I can't imagine them doing,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something so wacky that they would kind of put them away, like they would need to keep, to improve the technology to keep at least on, on par with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, the Nintendo Switch is kind of the worst place to play, like most third party games, I think it's better to say. But, I can see them doing...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, an improved switch, better specs, runs things nicer, but I would hate for them to lose some of their creativity. Like what the hell was the, uhm, the cardboard stuff?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, where I just feel like they are always gonna have an outlet, whether it's with the.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's so easy to get other people to play with you, it's, everyone has one, like, I don't know how you would...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] God that studio, like, and also like, obviously, uh, you wrote it and hosted, but wanted to give a shout out to Roger cause his work on that, like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Super talented, but I think it, like, everything in that video...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Works together so so well like those those little flourishes just really elevated it and like. Not to blow smoke up your arse.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Education and i think it's presented in such a great way that i was watching it and i was like enthralled all the way through like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My game. Uh, I did look through those, like, for some reason, February, big for Sims expansions, but uhm, well I did Sims a few weeks ago. Seven years ago, February 26th, was Stardew Valley.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not gonna name any names, but I know certain friends of mine who've made spreadsheets and like min-maxing the whole thing and I never got into that, but I, I do remember.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, a bunch of my friends and I got into it on holiday, we were on holiday together and we all brought our switches and we all were sat by the pool just playing statue pearly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's just a very chill game that I wish I had kind of the patience to go the distance with, but in terms of, you know, games that have had


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A cultural impact, and also have kind of spread to being outside of the game too, like the music is huge, there's like cross stitching Stardew Valley, there's cookbooks of Stardew Valley, there's the board game, I just think it's really...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's just such a quirky game and I can't believe it's seven years old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stodgy Valley lo-fi and chill playlists have helped me through a lot of times. A lot of dark times.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hello, uh, you find me on Twitter, uh, Lucy Games Games. I'm, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's funny because the first thing he had to work on was Ruin, which is War's mount, you know, the horse, which are notoriously difficult to animate. And I was like, oh my god, Steve's food thing is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, and just to talk Steve up, cause I don't know if he'll do it himself, but he did like, he has an animation background and when he joined us, he was like our lead animator and ran the animation team at like on Battle Chasers, even though it was our first game and it was a Kickstarter, uhm, as Airship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was, it was awesome. Yeah, like I, first of all, THQ was always really cool to work with. Like they,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gave us so much creative freedom and, you know, having stepped away for a while, like coming back we...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Honestly, a lot of the stuff we did led to Wayfinder and I don't think that we could have done this game at the time that we were pitching it without having worked on like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Battle Chasers and Ruin King was all about like the RPG, like, systems and, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and it was action which, you know, we hadn't done in a while and it, it, it like helped us cut our teeth and it was in Unreal as well because we were working in Unity before. So like all of these little pieces kind of like came together to like help us, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Publishers were like, could you do something bigger, like third person?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, we were like, yeah, I think we can, but, but before then, I don't know that we could have confidently done it. So, uh, but yeah, it was awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, we basically pitched THQ on like a war and strife like side quests and like heavily on strife because he hadn't really been.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, comedy to the, the series, like more like a buddy comedy cause, you know, the story gets pretty dark, uh, in Darksiders, but uh, like it just felt like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, if, if death is like the, brings the levity to the team, we're in trouble because he probably was the funniest, right? Fury is super stoic, so is war. Uh, so like it just felt...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, play off of each other like that and have fun little quips and stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then yeah, the game, like, you know, we, we cut our teeth on the combat and like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no one remembers the 40K MMO that we were doing at the original THQ, but like, yeah, Dark Millennium Online, uh, it got scrapped right, you know, when, uh, THQ went bankrupt, original THQ, but that also is an important piece of the puzzle because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We were working on an MMO and one of our founders, Chris Brooks was actually, uh, like on the tech team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Came together and it's like, we've done this before and we've done that before. Put that on 40k.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, otherwise, I don't, you know, it would be tough for a tiny studio in Austin to like work on what is slowly becoming, I mean, it's been called like an MMO light or whatever. We definitely didn't set out to make an MMO, but I think we all


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just make it a cool place where, you know, it's, you can just like hang out. We have social stuff planned, like player housing, like just a cool, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And just, we're just big nerds for Metroidvania games and it seemed like something, it was like what kind of games can we make with our super small studio without, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love the concepts of the game. It's so cool, but it's like so small. Like we don't know what to do with this. Like would you, what would you do if you had like 10 times that budget?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that got more traction, oddly, but we were like pretty nervous about it until, uh, digital extremes with, you know, like we hit it off with them like right off the bat and they had done Warframe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was extremely successful and we thought like, hey, if we're gonna step into this realm, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, pick your gender, pick your class. I'm a rogue. I'm a warrior. And we like, as we started fleshing it out, we were like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, we should have characters with like their own backstories and like just lean more into like what we do well. We have an amazing art team. Uhm, and so we, we made the switch to uh, character based, which DE was very supportive of. And it also, I don't know, they're just, we kept making changes that would make it


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, less like Warframe, uh, and more like its own identity. And, uh, yeah, it just, everything, it's just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think the systems like that are still, that there are some still in place, but like the narrative wrapper is less, uh, crafting, if you will, and more, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the start of the game is destroyed by this threat called the gloom, uh, by these invaders, uh, that, that basically, yeaah, wipe out humanity. And luckily the, the, this last attack was predicted by the seekers, this group of heroes, uh, and they,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using this, this weird destructive magic that sort of like alters reality.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As you're doing this, like, you, you, and you discover more about the gloom and the mysteries behind it, uhm, she's able to, uh, piece things together and bring back


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Other legendary heroes that have fallen. It's kind of like our version of a multiverse type thing where it's like not concurrent realities but possible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Outcomes, so, you know, that's why you'll see a bunch of wind graves running around. It's like my wind graves, not the same as yours. You have a basis in a character that lived before, but once you pull them out of the gloom, like they can kind of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, we were really trying to create something new and fresh, uh, that doesn't just feel like traditional fantasy, but like the underlying systems might feel like, oh, I got a weapon and now I gotta level it up. That's just like Warframe. But, uh, the, the presentation, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, hopefully it feels like very different. Different enough that if you are, uh, you know, a player of Warframe, you'll enjoy it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How, how much is enough? And it definitely is a lot, but so many of the systems touch each other that it's like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you, if you're like, oh, let's, let's hold off on housing until like a later date. Like you'll be, you have like so many of the resources and crafting components that you get. Like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's been amazing though in beta, like people have spent like a lot of time, like, uh, and just like complete, there's a lot of collection stuff too, like I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have acted on quite a lot of it already and even internally when we play together and we're testing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Game breaking, this is stuff that like everyone's saying we need. So let's do that first and like make our way down the list.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, at the tail end of Vigil, right, we had the 40K MMO, and like, at that time, like, there was a lot of people in the industry saying like, you just can't make an MMO now. Like, you can't compete with WoW, it's like a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like I think there was a period of time where nobody was really even trying and because, you know, it is kind of hard to, and so like for a small studio like us that started with four people and it's like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can we make like a JRPG kinda game with like 8 to 10 people? Uh, like, that wasn't even...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like if you asked me for a list of like 50 games we could possibly do on MMO, just would not be on it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] EverQuest, Ultim Online, like we go way back, like, shout out to you for your shit, like, Lord of the Rings Online is kind of what...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scratching my MMO? Itch! Well, in a way, I mean, it's action, it's, you know, there's, there's a lot that's different, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Look, we're still a pretty small team for this kind of game. We've grown a lot in the last year, uh, but it's still, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A fraction of the team size of a lot of the guys making these kind of games. So the more support we get.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The more successful the game is, the more we're going to grow and make even more stuff. We just need resources. But our hearts are in it and so far the player base has been so cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you know, it really is like a community as corny as it sounds, like, uh, it's, it's us working with, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Honestly, like, I think the most exciting thing about early access is that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Finally, it'll be like in, in more people's hands. Beta was great. Uhm, it was mostly positive. Uh, and if we continue that trend, uh, if beta was like bad and then early access is bad, like we would definitely like start to freak out. Uhm, but so far it's been very encouraging.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everyone, welcome to another episode of the Friends per Second podcast on this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Zelda Tears of the Kingdom release weekend. Uh, we're all very excited. Obviously the game is out right now. Uh, we are filming, uh, for your reference on the Wednesday before. So I think out of the four of us, Ralph, you're the only one who's actually


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've been playing, so we have a lot of questions for you. So quickly go around the room. I'm Lucy. Uh, joining us obviously is Ralph aka Skill Up, Jake Baldino.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's always really fun because there are always, you know, it's great to be playing so many great games. Sometimes some not so great games too, but you know, there's a real wave of excitement because everyone's obviously getting ready for Summer Game Fest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But also the most anticipated game since Elden Ring, I think it's fair to say, is finally here and by all accounts is very good. Uh, we'll talk a little bit more about it, a lot more about it later, but did you guys watch any of the leaked stuff? Cause I did not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You got Alana banned from Twitch, sir.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tan was telling me about, is it a Warriors player where they realized that he was doing really well if there was like a hot girl?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we're gonna circle back on the Zelda discussion. Oh my god, circle back? Jesus Christ. What's happened to me? Why am I saying this is corporate? No, I'm doing corporate speak.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're going to sunset the Zelda discussion for now, uh, and we'll circle back on it next time. But no, we are going to be talking obviously, um, about all the stuff happening with Redfall cause we haven't really, uh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Talked about it as a group except for in sad discord messages and of course last week Phil Spencer did a great interview with the folks over at Kinda Funny so we will be diving into that and then Ralph you can regale us with some spoiler free tales from The Legend of Zelda. How's that sound?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] About, you know, time being wasted and things not feeling fulfilling. I'm a huge Arkane fan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I went to the same preview event as you and I came out of it thinking like, oh, okay, it's them trying something new. I felt the same. I thought they're going to be, there's got to be something else. There has to be a reason why they started us an hour or so into the game. There's got to be a reason why we didn't see that opening. Turns out it's just cause the opening's pretty boring.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the thing about playing video games is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can forgive a lot of foibles, right? There are things that even in Dishonored 2, which is one of my favourite games of all time, that I don't particularly like, but I forgive because the rest of it, the whole experience is so good. The thing with Redfall is that it had a really bad first impression.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or even worse than that, it had nothing of a first impression. There wasn't a splash, there wasn't really anything enticing to get me into it. And then all of the things that usually would be annoying that I would forgive, I just couldn't. Because there wasn't enough of the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For me, when you're implementing games as a service style things, like a weapon, uh, tier system for example, well...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not good because you can only carry three guns, and there's a certain enemy that can only get killed if you have a UV gun that isn't really actually good enough to carry around the whole time, but you can't create a loadout, so every time you come across one of those stupid little stone guys, you have to go in, manually swap the weapon out, and then go back in. That's frustrating, that's annoying. End of every mission, having to go back to the safe house. Annoying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, I mean, I get what you're doing, you're doing the Destiny thing, you've wanted to come back into orbit and re-evaluate and do stuff, but when you're in this open world, which is empty as fuck,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's frustrating as hell, like I don't wanna go all the way back cause I know that I'm just gonna walk back to a safe house that's closer, that's probably where I am right now, cause I can just resupply there, or I can resupply just by looting a bunch of stuff. Like AI, uh, AI is pretty dumb in Dishonored.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I love that because that is a stealth game and I want to be the person who's outsmarting the AI. It's part of the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Push and pull of those games is getting one over using my smarts to overcome them. In this, they are so


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then, you know, you get the story which isn't really hitting for me at all. There are some cool things in there. You know, the stuff with, um, the daughter for the Hollow Man and everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But ultimately, it's just like, ugh. I mean, Ralph, you and I were talking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wish I had the screen grab of it, where I was talking to Ralph and he was like 10 hours in, I was about 6 or 7, and I said, oh, I'm just about to take on the Hollow Man, and Ralph goes, is that the first boss? Oh no, is that the last boss?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I just, and yea, you said, is that the last box? And I just went, oh mate, oh mate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That many games co-op, I think the last game I played some co-op was, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doctide, which was really fun, but you know, at the end of the day,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe it'd be easier if I didn't have a full-time job and stuff that I do outside of work, but like, it's hard to get people together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love arcane games. I love that, that feeling. And the thing is, is that throughout the marketing,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Delivered an experience, it felt like a fragmented part of an experience and that's-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Forgive me, like, correct me if I'm wrong, but Borderlands is the similar vibe where it's two main abilities and then an ults.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Trends from other games get picked up and then not implemented in a way that it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah. Oh no, that's very sad. I mean, like, I'll draw it, go on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't review, uhm, the one major game I did review for GameSpot was Persona 5 and I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Enjoy the experience for sure, but it's definitely, you know, you are putting yourself out there as a critic and your voice, for better or for worse, is amplified because you are delivering a verdict on a game and I'm a person who is incredibly anxious and I don't like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Negativity, really. I was genuinely so when the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the Redfall Embarko lifted, I tweeted out my impressions and I was genuinely late to meet my friends because I was just sat there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thinking, overthinking what I was even just gonna tweet out because I knew this game was gonna get a kicking. You know, from my experience with it, from talking with you guys when we were playing it early, I knew I was gonna get a kicking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But then at the same time you kind of have to balance and, you know, as we will do, we...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are people in the industry that people want to hear the opinions of, or at least, you know, people message me and go, hey, what'd you think of this?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Good faith criticism, and you are, at the end of the day, contributing, uh, your thoughts towards an art form that warrants.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Criticism. Good and bad. And so it's a very delicate, delicate balance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know if the No Man's Sky redemption story is there for this game. And I think Arcane's talents are better put to use where we know they work.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It feels weird saying that because obviously, like we said, people spent five years of their lives working on this game. It's come out and there was a commitment to extra characters and maybe extra content.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, I don't know, sentiment, you know, that's gonna be a hell of a PR job, like, spinning it when any of the new stuff comes out to make it, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause are people, are the major sites gonna re-review it? Like Ralph, would you re-review it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think to your point, Ralph, about No Man's Sky is that the concept was new. The concept is different.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whereas the concept in the Heart of Redfall is, you know, Tam and I talked about this in


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're chasing trends from five years ago. And so to change the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's, and it's, you know, part of the reason why people are so pissed at the way Suicide Squad is looking. Again, it's like trends from five years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To change it to be something palatable that doesn't feel like retreading old ground with regards to games as a service stuff, there's, yea, a ton of work needs to be done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Cyberpunk had, you know, it had nine out of tens at the time. There was still, Cyberpunk was this wave, like it was inescapable. There was no way, and you know, they, CDPR have this track record of supporting stuff, like Witcher 3 was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think that audiences is there for Redfall as much as it pains me to say it. Like I was on the VGC podcast and, uh, it was saying that Arcane makes games that GameGen lists like but that the main, the regular audience doesn't buy. And I was like, fuck you!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they are super easy to set up too. Like I was amazed, like I got them connected to my phone with no problem, I got them connected to my PC no problem. Super easy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Big Phil Spencer himself was on the Kinda Funny X-Cast and whew, what a week to do it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because, uh, the CMA, uh, said no to the Activision Blizzard deal, uh, and, uh, yeah, Redfall launched, uh, to not a great reception, so I was genuinely amazed that he even went through with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was there on the Wednesday like a few hours before.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were recording with Phil and Mike, Snowbike Mike, turns to me and goes, Lucy, if you could ask Phil Spencer anything, what would it be? And I was like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, a non-question, and Mike was like, oh yea, we're talking to him in a couple hours. I was like, oh shit, okay. I couldn't use that context, my guy. Uhm, but no, it was a really good interview.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, did not shy away from the tough topics and Phil certainly didn't really shy away in his answers. And so I guess we'll kind of go through some of the big points.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean first of all, it was weird to see a dejected film.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think the kind of funny guys were like, oh, on a more positive note, and he was like, sorry, this isn't positive Phil, I'm gonna be grouchy, this is, you know, kind of like outwardly said it, and so, kicking things off with comments about the Activision Blizzard deal, obviously a big


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, issue, well not issue, big thought on the side is the CMA saying, nope, uhm, not the country music awards, but, uh, you know, what does this CMA stand for again?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, one of them's a bed. One of them is, uh, like a bunch of car seats. One of them is a hot tub that's cut in half.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then on the walls they play, uh, horror movies and then at random points they intersplice it with, uhm, adult movies. We went there, we got messed up, and I slept through the coronation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just enjoyed one tweet which was, calling the coronation of a 74 year old man once a lifetime thing is crazy. Like speak for yourself, I'm young and sexy, I'm going to outlive both him and his very bald son. I have three coronations in me, you all stay safe though.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, rumors are bound that the EU's gonna approve it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But yea, I mean, yea, so he commented on that at the very start, but then I think the real meat of the discussion was just that Xbox is not, not been performing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Lately, uh, so I mean, kicking off early on again, uh, disappointed and upset with himself that Xbox fans are losing confidence. Mentions, oh yea, the, uh, 30 FPS issue with Red 4 and the critical response to the game. Mentions the IGN thing, which I found very, very interesting. The way that he said that, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Xbox didn't necessarily support Arcane enough, didn't get as involved in the project early enough.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, they already knew internally that the game was not gonna hit 60 at launch. On console. On console, but did not say that to IGN. And so...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We love you man! Great jacket! But no, I think the other part of the whole conversation with Phil is that a point that he kept coming back to was the fact that Xbox have not been good at communicating their plans or they have been communicating stuff like, uh, you know, last year at the Summer Game Fest showcase they said all these games are gonna hit in the next 12 months.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a bunch of them didn't, like we just got the silk song delay. And they said, yeah, we messed up on that. And, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Being, uh, you know, they acquired all of those studios a few years ago, still waiting for that stuff to hit. We're like, we're still waiting for Avowed, for Fable, for Perfect Dark, for Gears 6, and the Xbox community, and Phil was saying, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're getting frustrated and they have every right to be. Uhm, which is, uh...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very, very good. Man's been taking his leadership training courses, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well there's a company that uh, like Hit Detection specifically does it, but they are so NDA'd, like you'll never get anything out of any of them. But I'm also like super interested in it, cause it just seems like, what a job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we also had the Microsoft earnings, we saw how much Game Pass is pulling in and yea, there's been that dip in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hardware sales, which is worrying, but in terms of actual subscription stuff like Game Pass pulled in a bill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, in the last quarter, so it's like, he doesn't need to be necessarily speaking to the shareholders at this point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He needs to be talking to the audience because the audience is ultimately going to feed into what the shareholders care about, which is gonna be money. And so this is the point in the life cycle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is the point where Xbox needs to start delivering and obviously the big, uh, things in the immediate horizon for Xbox, the Summer Showcase, uh, which, you know, is part of, uh, or at least


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, they were talking about being third place in Xbox One generation, we lost the worst generation to lose, the one where everyone started to build digital library of games, now there is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5s, that's not going to happen. Very interesting kind of statement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He is the master, I hope to learn. My name is Padawan. Uh, the Diablo 4 server slam is happening May 12th to 14th, so that's what, uh.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's see if it plays our form. Uh, it's basically a pre-launch test of the very first chapter of Diablo 4, and with the, it's basically kind of beta again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just try and break our game, or try and break our servers. So, are you guys gonna delve in this weekend?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not gonna play this weekend, but that's only because I'm going to my friend's house and we're gonna do a Zelda pajama party where we all, like six of us are just gonna


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, Nafat Diablo, we're going to go to a user question. Remember, if you have any questions for us, go to, and I think I got it, contact at friendspersecond.com.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, so we have a question here from Ross. Gerard, do you wanna read it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think so. But also, I mean, I want an actual Beyond Good and Evil sequel, not whatever the hell that trailer was for Beyond Good and Evil 2. But also...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think Enslaved was a really, really cool concept for a sci-fi world, and I really enjoyed that game. And there was, uhm...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was DLC for it, uh, with the kind of like, uncle character, was it pig?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause Uncle Paige was, Paige was Beyond Good and Evil and there was the pig guy in Enslaved, but I really loved that world, I really loved the character's monkey and trip. Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And obviously it was written by Alex Garland, so it was a genuinely really cool, well thought out world. Uhm, I would love to see that. So, I snuck in another answer, but that was a lie.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, uh, just after the break, we will be discussing... I forgot. Legend of Zelda! Tears of the Kingdom of-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I remembered, you know, the Homer Simpson, every time I learned something new, it pushes something all over my brain, I learned the email address. I forgot the biggest game in the series.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right. So, we're gonna be talking about Ralf's time with Days of the Kingdom after a quick word from our sponsors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Better skin, hair, mood support, and boosted energy. Now, a bunch of us obviously take, uh, AG1, Athletic Greens. Uh, Ralph, why do you take it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if you're looking for an easier way to take supplements, Athletic Greens is giving you a free one year supply of Vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. Go to athleticgreens.com slash friends. That is athleticgreens.com slash friends. Check it out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, welcome back. Let's have a little chat about some of the new releases from the next week or so. Ralph, I'm gonna throw it to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because, at the same time, I have, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Told you guys, you know, my fears about playing it is that I wonder if I am gonna fall off if there's not a guiding hand for me. So how did you find approaching a world as rich and as dense as this one?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was gonna say, so obviously at GameSpot we have, uh, Max Blumenthal, who is Rin Harasaki, so if you see any video which is things you didn't know about Breath of the Wild, it's guaranteed to come from us. Right, right, right. Because Max is like this genuine Breath of the Wild, like, he's a combat expert, like he has moves named after him in the combat community because he's really good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, so uhm, the stuff that he's discovered is in the game. Not in the game, but like is... Stuff that he discovered in the game, his name, those moves, whatever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Max posted a gameplay video, and we were watching it to review it to go up, and he was making...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A kind of mounted turret thing. It was like, yeah, and then it was like firing off stuff and I, for context, like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I saw that first trailer, and I haven't really kept on top of anything of Tears of the Kingdom, because I was like, I'm gonna play it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like, I don't know if I'll gel with it like massively, but I have not been following it as intent- intently. And then I was watching this gameplay earlier and I was like, oh shit, okay. So there's like a little mounted turret thing you can do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just, I just worry that if I hadn't seen that, if I wouldn't know that would be in the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, that one is already out. I've been playing a little game that comes out on the 16th, I believe? Uhm, I've been playing a game called Humanity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so I didn't realize who the dev was, uh, it is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Limited. Uh, Japanese company.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's being published by Enhance, which is, uh, Mizuguchi's, uh, kind of publishing, um, uh, obviously he's behind things like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thousands, like, tons of, uh, characters on screen at once, uh, and you play as a dog, and you basically lead all of these people into the light.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but basically, it's a really really cool puzzler.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you just, yea, you control this dog and you basically set the path for all of these thousands of characters on screen at once. And the big...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The big thing that I can compare it to is Lemmings, but it's Lemmings without the stress because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know in lemmings you have to rescue a certain number. I have lost my voice even talking so much today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But in lemmings you have a certain number of lemmings and you have to save a certain number to pass the level. In humanity...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, they can fall off the side and I guess die, but then they come straight back again. So you get told very early on that it doesn't matter, you should experiment and you should.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Try path, uh, pathsetting the only ones that you have to save.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Are the ones called goldies, which are kind of sort of optional.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Big, tall, gold characters in each level, and by doing that, those are kind of like the gold stars, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but obviously they are kind of trickier to get, they're usually off the beaten path and you have to kind of do some cool stuff with the puzzles, but it's just, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was playing it yesterday and I was like, this is a really relaxing puzzler.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It has like kind of a little bit of a story in there, you know, you kind of awaken and you find yourself to be a dog, and there's this...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kind of voice in your head that's guiding you gently into what you have to do but genuinely I just think it kind of got me


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not in the same flow state as Tetris Effect, because I think that is such a uniquely incredible experience that is difficult to recreate, but...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As I was playing, and this is not a review, this is just based on the preview stuff, uh, cause I had no way if I finished it or anything, but it's just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really cool and really like really tight controls, tight, uhm, I think the options that it gives you in terms of what you as a dog are able to do and how you are able to direct these people as to where they go. Very simple but builds in complexity in such a way that just a really nice balance to it and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wonder if they use the same people. I should look into it because there was one song that I was like, oh yeah, this could be straight out of Tetris Effect.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you can kind of do user created levels, but I haven't dipped into any of that stuff. I've only really tried like the single player, uh, like the main campaign of it. But it's coming to PS Plus as a day one. That's right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, it's worth your time man, it's fun. Like I was genuinely just kind of vibing out with it, uh, and I'm excited to play the rest of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's just single player. I think what you need on like online stuff is the, um, like user created level stuff. Yeah, fate volunteers in your paws, which is very cute.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dipped into it just yet, but it's, I just, yea, you know, you play, you play the dog, man.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would say more like just the vessel. At least, at least kind of, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the couple hours that I've played. Cause I mean, you know, stray very much the cat game. I think the only thing that being a dog.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, kind of changes for you is you can, you know, you can, you can jump and you can, you have a lot more mobility. But there is a really cool thing that we, um, there are some places the dog can't get to. So you can go into.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The people, and then there's a really, really satisfying way that you can like dash up and down like the line of people and it's just, it's a great time. It's very, it's a vibes based game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It depends on the vibes, but no, there is a pop-up to be like, basically, you know, experiment, uh, try things. If they come out, they'll come straight kinda back again. Uhm, one other thing I will say is like, performance-wise, uhm, at least in the kind of opening hours, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, it is, uh, Dishonored 2? Tomb Raider? Yeah, Watch Dogs Legion?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, it's mixed, so yeah, so extra and premiums, extra is ratchet and clank, humanity, watchdogs, legion, dishonored 2. Oh, the PS block, all of this into 1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if you have premium or extra, uhm, which is like tier 2 and 3, tier 1 is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Essential. Can you tell I used to do the- Yes, that's right. I used to do the- I used to do the PS Plus monthly, uh, video. So I was like, I was very intimately familiar with the differences between these tiers for a while.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that's the games coming out. Uhm, but it's time to look back and go to this week in the way back. So Gerard, take us there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peggle is one of my favorite games of all time. I genuinely think Peggle is a perfect video game. Uhm, this is also weirdly not the first time I've spoken about Peggle this week. I did kind of funny games daily with Tim and someone wrote in and asked,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's your, like, go-to relaxing game? And number one for me is Peggle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, however, obviously I travel a lot, Peggle is no longer available on iPhone. However, PopCap made another game. Which is perfect.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For iPhone, and still works, thank god. We're just Plants vs Zombies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which is just, I think everything about that game is just so well made, still holds up, like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If ever I'm on a long flight, I have it downloaded and I genuinely just like play through a whole run. It's got so much charm and character and you've got, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, in like different stages, randomly whether you'd have a pool or you would have night time, you have to use different plants and different combinations and it's just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I dunno, it kind of also transports me back to a time where Capcom, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Popcap, Jesus Christ, were able to make those fun games like, uh, it was at Zuma and, um, Peggle and it was just like a very different time in gaming that I...


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[Assistant] Uh, well, we have a couple of exciting ones on the games front. Obviously we've got Tears of the Kingdom, but we also have Street Fighter VI. They announced, was it the open beta, you guys jumping in?


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[Assistant] No, I mean, I'm not a fighting game person. I'll give it a go because everyone says this is meant to be way more approachable. Uhm, so I'll give it a go. I'll give it my best shot.


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[Assistant] Awww. Feels, I mean- Yeah. Yeah, it feels weird not going back to the LACC, but yeah, I'm excited for some of my game parts.


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[Assistant] So please be excited. What do you got for your boys? I can't even speak today. That's where I'm at. What have you boys got going on until we meet again, Gerard?


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[Assistant] No. Ralph, what about you? Your Tears of the Kingdom stuff is up. I'm done. You're free!


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[Assistant] That looks very fun. But I worry about the time that they've sent it to launch man, I really hope it just doesn't die on it's ass cause everyone's too


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not giving away a gajalhorn, uh, but no, so on the last episode I teased that like there was stuff I couldn't talk about and now I can because it's out there.


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[Assistant] Uh, the team at GameSpot, we've been working on a lot of new shows and new programming and we launched that last week, so we are still working on that, so we have like new shows.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of it is passion projects that people have been pitching for a long time, but we never really found.


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[Assistant] The way to make sure that when we get it out, like it would give it the pomp and circumstance and it all deserves. And so, you know, Tam and I have a new show called Spot On.


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[Assistant] Uh, where we discuss like big themes in the industry. And so last week we discussed with Redfall, you know, why every game needs to sort of stop being, trying to be Destiny.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and then we have other games like NoHUD and, uhm,


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[Assistant] How it's saved and the Kurt Locker, which is where Kurt, uh, Ken does like a little video essay every week and they're really great and so we're thrilled and it's gone down really well.


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[Assistant] So, uh, if you're interested in any of those, if they sound fun, head over to GameSpot's YouTube and check it out. That's what I've been doing. Uh, we'll be back again in a couple of weeks with another episode of the Friends per Second podcast. Thank you so much everyone for watching, listening.


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[Assistant] Rating, reviewing on places like iTunes, it means a lot. If you have any questions, contact yourfriendspersecond.com. We'll see you in a couple of weeks, but Jake, take us away.


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[Assistant] I will not compromise on this.


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[Assistant] Not committal, baby. You can't lock me down in this studio. This is going to be my permanent setup. They asked me, they're breaking down the studio system that I was in.


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[Assistant] Uh, before, so this is now my permanent setup. I told them I wasn't going to go in here unless they put soundproofing, and they did put soundproofing, so hopefully there's no echoing, and if there is, I want it home. I'm very sorry, but I will get my revenge, don't worry.


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[Assistant] To me, he's just like, I'm gonna throw it out there and let everyone fight.


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[Assistant] Shudder Island this shit, fade away, evaporate through the walls and let them fight it out. He just wanted to get that one, two hit and then peace. Cause I, this to me sounds like a set it and forget it vibe. He just wants to just want to set the record straight. It's their fault. Bye.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it, it kinda, to kinda add to that, Ralph, it kinda feels, I mean, I don't know. I, when I, when I hear Phil Spencer say that he's not about console separation, he wants people to


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[Assistant] They see this, this opportunity of a contract renewal.


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[Assistant] And they go, well, what if we got a better deal now that it's, it's out of the hands of Activision Blizzard and now in the new parent hands, right? The teenager is gone. Now the adults come in, let's talk to the parents and see if we can get a better deal.


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[Assistant] And, and maybe that, and maybe Jim Ryan's using that to his advantage. Maybe he's going, you know what, if I create.


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[Assistant] A public shitstorm and smack that beehive and get gamers all riled up, it'll make Microsoft


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[Assistant] Rethink how they approach working with us. I don't know, I don't-


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[Assistant] I don't know. I don't care either way. I think, uh, I like all consoles and like we said earlier, uh, I'm, I'm all for everyone enjoying whatever they want, but I don't know. This just seems, again, uh, I think, uh, Gene said it best. It sounds like he dropped a grenade in a room and then walked away.


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[Assistant] Personally speaking, just thinking about what's been going on in Activision Blizzard, specifically on the Blizzard side for the last several years, if this acquisition attributes or even aids a little bit to


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[Assistant] The cultures of those companies improving significantly, then I think it's good. Just because uhm, we're at that point now where Activision Blizzard specifically is a company that's been around for 20 plus years.


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[Assistant] But there was a while where it was like, there was a good, you know, while where it was like, we only make these two IPs. And then it was suddenly, we brought back Diablo. Here's Overwatch. There's a card game, Hearthstone.


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[Assistant] Uh, we're supporting the esports scenes within those communities with Starcraft 2 and with Overwatch. Like, there was a huge shift in how they approached, uhm, taking care of their communities. And then...


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[Assistant] We found all this bad stuff and now it kind of, I mean I can't speak for everyone out there, but it kind of like it makes people feel bad to play Blizzard IP now, right? Knowing that so many people were in pain, so many bad things happened. So for me, and maybe I'm just speaking


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[Assistant] You know, candidly, but I hope that the very least, the one positive that comes from this is that Microsoft as the parent company goes, hey,


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[Assistant] Please stop this and take care of your employees properly and we'll, we'll make sure that they're fine. So that's my, that's my hope. Sorry, Gene.


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[Assistant] I think it's gonna go through, and I think if they do any other major acquisition after this, that's where the fisticuffs are coming. That's where all the governments are gonna go, hey, you can't do this.


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[Assistant] I am. That second conversation, I kept hearing time and time again. Me too! I thought when I heard Activision Blizzard, I was like, whoa, where's the second conversation? That was, that was the news we were all talking about for a little bit.


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[Assistant] It's ex- yeah, I mean, I mean look, this is the third time this game has been released again, and it's not a matter of like,


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[Assistant] Yes, the, the comparisons that you've made, Ralph, about, you know, VHS to, to DVD to Blu-ray to Ultra Edition, absolutely a hundred percent.


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[Assistant] Uhm, if the $70 price tag was the special edition that included all of the bells and whistles that you would normally get in a special edition anniversary type thing of a game, then I would absolutely say the price is justified. However, uhm,


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[Assistant] The true question is, who is this game for? And if it's for the fans that originally played The Last of Us to play it again for the third time, that's why the $70 price tag is an issue.


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[Assistant] It's, to me, it's, if you're gonna, if you're gonna have, the way that I would do it, cause I'm, you know, such a great person to influence for this whole thing, right? Is, I would make it, if I was Sony, I would have gone, hey, according to PlayStation Plus, and your PlayStation account, and your PlayStation Network account,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have purchased The Last of Us on PS3 and on PS4 Remastered. So, you're buying the game for the third time. Here's your discount code. The game is 30 bucks.


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[Assistant] You do that, you do that, you're immediately saying thank you to the fans who purchased the game before, here are the upgrades, the upgrades you're paying for are a little more on the accessibility side, a little more on the visual fidelity, you don't have that feeling of FOMO, and you don't have to feel guilty for spending $70 on a game that you would otherwise


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Would love to play, but not spend 70 bucks and Lucy, you just something that I immediately thought about cause I always buy games even if I'm given codes.


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[Assistant] So I believe the world goes round. If you want to support something you believe in, you gotta spend that money. Nothing is free, right? Uh, in the case of The Last of Us, uhm,


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[Assistant] It's, it's that situation of, I'm gonna wait until PlayStation Plus. It's gonna come to PlayStation Plus. I'm okay waiting, cause I've played the game twice before. And, uh, most people who have a PlayStation 5 right now are the most hardcore of hardcore gamers. And everyone else out there can't get a PS5.


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[Assistant] Because you can't even buy one. So, if this is for an audience that has never experienced The Last of Us,


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[Assistant] The people who don't even have a PlayStation 5 can't experience it anyways. So to me, it's like you're marketing it to the hardcore gamers who played the first two games, who played the remaster. That's why $70 is kind of the hard sell for this, in my opinion.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and I think, Kirby if I'm wrong, but I think the remaster of The Last of Us was a launch day PS Plus title on PS5.


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[Assistant] We as a gaming community online, right, games journalists, game influencers, streamers, games media at large.


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[Assistant] We think everyone in our community is plugged in 24-7. We think the internet, we think reading articles online, we think all of us are in the know and the drip beat conversation connects with us.


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[Assistant] But in actuality, there's a large portion of the world that is nowhere near connected as we all think. And so you can go to the store today and you can see a guy with The Last of Us. You know, I think Alana Pierce told a story on one of her videos. It's like, you know, she went to the grocery store and saw a guy with The Last of Us, uh, tattoo.


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[Assistant] And it was before Last of Us 2 came out where a lot of the controversial leaks were coming out of the story. And Alana goes like, oh wow, what a great tattoo.


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[Assistant] I agree with Eugene and not only that, but I also think it's, it's not just that it's a missing feature.


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[Assistant] It's a missing staple, an identity of Halo. If Halo never had this feature, I don't think anyone would care as much. It wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't, yeah. But like, a lot of what made Halo so popular over the years was that couch co-op experience, right, of the split screen, and more importantly, not to like,


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[Assistant] So it feels like the missing feature is kind of a missing promise in that way.


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[Assistant] As the world's biggest Halo fan, and my biggest Halo fan, I've only really played incompleted Halo 1.


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[Assistant] So I'm very much the person to answer your question. Of course. I am very qualified.


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[Assistant] Um, you know, at the very least, I don't think it's a matter of taking Halo away from 343 that would solve the solution.


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[Assistant] I think it should be taking Halo to market with other studios.


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[Assistant] It should be, let's take a hit. Cause I mean, look, I'm not the biggest Halo guy, obviously, but I'm sure there's some fascinating stories. You know, golden boy here at G4 every day is lore dumping on all of us about how awesome Halo is. And every time he does it, I'm like,


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[Assistant] That would be great to experience if it wasn't the Halo gameplay that I've been getting for the last few decades, right? Let's change it up. RTS is a great style, but it's a very niche thing. Like what, let's get a different game in the


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[Assistant] In, in a different engine, a different style for Halo. Let's turn it on its head and, and, and use the Halo franchise that way to explore different areas. Or, kind of how you're going to do it, Ralph, maybe give it to the Call of Duty guys. See what they can come up with, with Halo. Even if it's, you know, acquisition through Microsoft or not, like,


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[Assistant] I think that might be what's needed for Halo, is not to get rid of 343, but to challenge other studios to think outside of the playbox that is Halo.


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[Assistant] Or, or at the very least, find a studio who is very well experienced in games as a live service. And let them take the reins.


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[Assistant] Well, I do want to just comment real quick, Ralph, because I don't want to dismiss what you said about how 343 doesn't, or what I said and Gene claimed about


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[Assistant] How 343 doesn't have experience with live service. I guess that's not so much what I meant in terms of what I was insinuating. I think in my mind, taking something like League of Legends or Apex or, uh,


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[Assistant] Uh, Flippin' Rumbleverse or Fortnite, right? Like those are games that are, I mean, as far as I'm concerned.


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[Assistant] They're free at their base level and they are all about the monetization model to continue to fuel the economy of the game.


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[Assistant] That to me means that your overall methodology of how you approach it is going to be different. Versus, with Master Chief Collection, uhm, I don't remember, you just pay for it once and you get everything? Or you do buy it in packs? Uhm, it was a


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[Assistant] Right, so inherently the approach for doing something like that, and Halo 5 to an extent too, right? Uh, I feel like the design philosophies have to be treated a little bit differently because you're trying to figure out how to


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[Assistant] Get people to spend money on the skins, and the guns, and the skins, guns, and the, and the, the cat ears, and I don't know, I, I didn't really get into the monetization model of Halo all that much. Uhm, but yeaah, I, it feels like if you, and this is where the problem stems, right, with, with everyone with 343 and what they're doing,


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[Assistant] Is that if they're not creating enough of a content ingestion into free product, then what is the reason as to why people would keep playing? Whether it's gameplay modes, empty promises, or even skins, right? It feels like when Overwatch first came out,


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[Assistant] Kermit if I'm wrong, but wasn't a big selling point or rather like a tarnishment about Halo Infinite on launch? Was it that the campaign wasn't in the game? Or am I making that up? Didn't they have to like delay release the campaign a couple of weeks?


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[Assistant] And I, I think that to kind of send this, this conversation to an end, I think knowing that, you know, the pink, the only peak concurrent viewers on the Steam, according to Steam charts is 5,000k concurrence versus launch of 250k on a live service. They just kind of, kind of pull us out.


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[Assistant] I think something that Fall Guys did super well.


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[Assistant] Was just introduced so many IPs to.


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[Assistant] People who didn't know out beyond fall guys, right? I think, you know, I'm a huge enter the gungeon fan, thousands of hours spent playing into the gungeon, but the minute I saw that I could dress up as the bullet from enter the gungeon, I grinded for several hours so I could get that thing. So I think that's something that fall guys from the very beginning, you, you guys were on top of, which was, Hey,


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[Assistant] I played, I played, I played, I played, I played, I played, I played, I played, I played,


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[Assistant] Tour, Tournament, sorry, Tournament Fighters on NES, Super Nintendo, and Genesis are three different fucking games. All the same title, three different games.


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[Assistant] Uh, Gene, I'm working, I'm working with my, with my producer Jake on an incredible TMNT video we can talk about after this, but I think it's made just for you. I think you're going to really like it.


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[Assistant] Also, also, I think Lucy, Lucy just made our, our, our first, our first t-shirt. A shirt that says game feel. Game feel.


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[Assistant] It's funny you say that. It's funny you say that, Gene, because I'm not the biggest fan of the multiplayer. I'm the weirdo that loved the single player. And I don't know why. It's just the charm, the charm, the style, the collectibles.


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[Assistant] Also, uh, yes, internet, I know in Splatoon 2, when you get your first collectible, it says, who do you think you are? The completionist? I'm very aware. I got thousands and thousands of texts and tweets about it. So shout outs to my, to my boys at the tree house throwing a reference my way. I appreciate you guys.


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[Assistant] There's only a handful of games stuck on the Wii U at this point. It's like, at least first party wise, it's like Yoshi's Woolly World, Star Fox Zero, which probably will never show, and Xenoblade Chronicles X. There's probably more in there.


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[Assistant] They do that, and they have every, you have every Xenoblade game available on Switch, and everyone's happy.


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[Assistant] There's, there's, there's South. No, South is gone. So there's now PAX East in Boston, PAX West in Seattle, PAX Australia, and PAX Unplugged.


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[Assistant] Readpop, the Readpop company purchased it, yeaah, so it's their org now. First off, I want to give a huge shoutouts to the


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[Assistant] Hundreds if not thousands of you that came up to me at


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[Assistant] Uh, at, uh, PAX West and said that you love FPS. We love you. It was really filled my heart that so many of you guys came up and said the podcast is great. We love you guys. Uh, it felt good that like we got so much. I got, I got all the love for the podcast for us. So thank you so much.


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[Assistant] Second, uh, I went with no appointments. So I just walked around. I explored packs and just walked up to indie dev booths and sat in line and, uh, freaked out some indie devs cause they were like, why are you here? Um, and I got to play some fun games. Uh, I got to play a game, uh, called Seafrog.


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[Assistant] Don't know if you guys heard of that. Uh, it's, uh, imagine, uh, 2D, uh, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, but you play as a frog. Uh, and the aesthetic is very much like Mega Man Legends in that you're like on boats and you travel between ships and fix each other boats while doing tricks.


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[Assistant] Uh, it was a very, it was a very crazy, very crazy game. Uh, very hard to play, but man, it like, I felt like I took an edible when I was playing it cause it was, it was a trip and I feel like I didn't learn enough about the game, but it was super, super sick.


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[Assistant] What else did I play? Uh, I played 30XX. If you guys remember the 20XX, the indie game. Oh, sure. 30XX is the sequel and it is a banger. It's, it's so good. Uh, shout out to Chris, the lead dip over there. That game is amazing. Uh, it's, it's just shaping up better and better. It's,


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[Assistant] It's exactly what I wanted from a sequel, more, more characters, better, better pixel art, kick-ass music, and of course, roguelite or roguelite galore. Um, and then of course, uh, last week, for those of you who don't know, uh, I got to act.


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[Assistant] In a commercial that I directed and wrote and shot for Yacht Club Games for Shovel Knight Dig.


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[Assistant] And, uh, I got to play Dick for the first time at the convention, uh, show floor, as well as Mina the Hollower.


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[Assistant] Which I also got to debut at G4, but never got to play. So I got to spend a lot of time at those booths, actually playing those games and those yacht club people are wonderful. You're going to love it. I also checked out Rift of the Necrodancer, which is the new rhythm game by Brace Yourself Games in the Necrodancer, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It is very, very fun. It's, I, I'd akin it to, it's, it's, uh,


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[Assistant] One part, uh, on the zone of, uh, like rhythm, like a, like DJ Hero or like those anime rhythm games where it's like simple beat patterns of left up down right kind of vibe with DDR but a little more easier.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then it's also like WarioWare or Rhythm Heaven where there's minigames where it's like your, uh, cadence does like yoga poses and you have to like time them to the beat of the music in the yoga room with everyone.


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[Assistant] Uh, and then the boss fights are like punch out characters. So you're playing punch out, but it's rhythm games. You're hearing music and you have to dodge the B and engage. It's, it's, if you like Crypt of the Necrodancer, this is a great, great way to keep that, uh, that whole genre fresh. But yeah, I think.


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[Assistant] Very, very, very good stuff coming out of Pax. I played a lot more, but those are the key highlights that I specifically loved.


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[Assistant] Probably would be acting still, trying to find, just be the starving actor that I was meant to be, trying to get that next gig, that next TV show, that next stand-up comedy routine.


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[Assistant] Uh, cause that's where I was going before I did this. And in fact, my YouTube career was supposed to be my stepping stone to do that. And then I got stuck in a loop where I started completing things and never left. So I'm kind of there now, but it took 11 years, but you know, that's where I'd be. You're right.


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[Assistant] We got it, we got it. Back in those days. So I went through, um, again, feedback always is appreciated. I'm trying to make the list smaller, but this week it's pretty crazy stuff. Here we go. Uh, uh, two years ago, Tony Hawk, Pro Skater 1 and 2.


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[Assistant] That came out, remember the pandemic? Two years ago. Oh, that was the remaster. That's a more recent one. Uh, also three years ago, river city girls came out, great beat them up. Uh, September six, 11 years ago. This one's going to make you feel old. Dead Island, baby. Dead Island.


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[Assistant] Uh, yeah man, five years ago, Ralph, this is for you. Destiny two. Oh God, what a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, let's see. Trash game, dead game. Yeah. September 7, 10 years ago, Mark of the Ninja.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Huge indie game for those of you who missed it. Uhm, 12 years ago, September 7th, 2010, Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions.


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[Assistant] Uh, one of the weirder Spider-Man games, and I bring it up because four years ago on the exact same day, Spider-Man for PS4 came out. So they really made sure to come around full circle with that one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, 23, 23 years ago, September 8th, 1999 ready to rumble boxing for the dream cast came out. That was a great time. That was a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 12 years ago, September 8th, uh, today or within the week, amnesia, the dark descent came out. That's a big one. Uh, and plants versus zombies on the, on the Xbox 360 came out a very popular title.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, uh, huge anniversary here. 28 years ago, everyone. September 9th, 1994. Hold on to your butts. Mortal Kombat 2.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whoa, that one's a rough one to hear and rounding things out September 10th, 2009. This one's for Gene specifically, uh, teenage mutated turtles, turtles in time reshelled. Well, maybe one of the worst ports of turtles in time produced by Ubisoft.


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[Assistant] Yeah, sorry to the dev that made that game, but it was, it was not a good time, but that's, that's your abbreviated game. Weekend Fortnite gaming. Weekend Fortnite. Weekend Fortnite gaming. Love it. There you go. Well, uh, thank you very much.


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[Assistant] Uh, no, just gonna keep promoting it. God of Work Season 1 is out now. It's doing super well. We appreciate all the positive feedback and love. Uh, you know, let's make Season 2 happen. Just keep watching the show. Tell your friends. We love making it and we hope you guys enjoy it. It's great. Thank you. Thank you.


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[Assistant] I said it in my review, but I personally think this is probably...


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[Assistant] I said it was one of the best Resident Evil stories, but I think it's probably just the best one. Now, everything is so intricately put together and like, make sense when you analyze all of it, where they've never done that before, where like, a file will just be thrown in and you'll read it and you'll be like, okay, when did that happen? Why is this happening? Where like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I loved it. Cause like, that's the thing, like, Capcom usually nails gameplay. Like...


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[Assistant] I've, I've seen a lot of, uhm, a lot of fans, uh, like on my tweets especially, like where I'm like going insane, like, oh my god, the game is so good, I can't believe it. And then like, someone will be like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The controls suck and the graphics are so bad. And then I find out later that like apparently the dead zones on the controller, like the Xbox controller are like.


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[Assistant] Like, I don't wanna say lost, but it doesn't have like, the same type of edge as the original did, and I feel like that's literally only because the original was made in 2005, so like,


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[Assistant] Limitations, cultural differences, Japanese video game, also them just not having time or money to finish the game and they just shipped it out. So it's just like, like I feel like certain like death scenes aren't


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like, that's a little soft, like for this one death scene, like what's that about? You know? That's like, that's such a nitpick.


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[Assistant] That is such a great point too because like there was literally nothing else like RE4 when it came out in 2005. Like over the shoulder camera, laser accurate like aim and all that kind of stuff. It was like just blowing our minds like left and right. So it didn't matter if something didn't make sense. It was just like, do you see what I'm doing in this game? You know, like.


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[Assistant] Oh wow, it's really weird, like IGN and GameSpot, everyone's like 8 minutes, 10 minutes. I wonder what's that, what that's about. And then I just got the email and they were just like, it had to be 10 minutes. And I was like, oh, okay. That's private.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I actually think, and I've always had this opinion about the island specifically, is that, cause the most common complaint about the original RE4 is that the island drags, it feels longer than it actually is, like all the content isn't, you know, the best. And I feel like that entire section of like, Krauser knife fight,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you fight Krauser. They literally took everything I just said out of the game. And you go from set piece to fighting Krauser. And there's breathing room in between. And I feel like when I play the game now, like with this like remade version, I'm like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh my god, the island feels so good to play through now. You know, it's not dragging. This entire part isn't here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like them cutting that out, like really helped the pacing. And I feel like that's, that was always an issue, like a very minor issue with the original RE4. Cause like even in the village, like you fight Del Lago, you go through one hallway and then you fight El Higanthe. In this, you fight Del Lago, you get a gigantic open-ended lake to explore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And find like cute little collectibles and items and everything. And then you fight El Higante. So I just, I feel like they...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The biggest improvement with this, with this remake was that they just paced everything a little bit better, you know? Like they took the amazing pacing of the original and made it better. Like just space things out a little bit. Give it time to breathe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, in the spoiler set piece, the wall will get knocked down faster and you won't have to do like three waves of enemies or like, oh, if you stand right here, you can actually see this thing and you could shoot it and the gate opens, you know, and it's all intentional. Like it's not awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, uh, it's, ugh, god, it's so good, it's just so good. I'm actually working on another video, uh, right now, just talking about the story stuff, cause I, I usually, like, okay, back in the day, I didn't do one for Village, cause I was kinda like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like the hype around Village was like so weirdly intense for a lot of different reasons that I didn't really want to make like a whole lot of content around it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Playing it over and over again and like finding my own like little strats and skips, but like also analyzing like the story and putting it all together, uh, for me. And I'm just like, oh, this is like, this is actually great.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I just like, yeah, like what Ralph was saying, like, like you make a game like this good, and then you just go the extra mile. It's like, can you do this every time, Capcom? Like, please? Like, can you give us this?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It made me kind of realize how easy Village was, because like, I felt like, you know, besides like Village of Shadows, like, the meme hard difficulty, like, when you choose hardcore in that game, it really feels like normal mode, you know? And,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you choose hardcore in this game and you get to that little opening, like, village raid, like, you, it's hard. Like, it's so hard, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was just like, wow, like Village like tempered my expectations for like difficulty going into this. And then it's like, oh no, I actually have to like apply like every single tool in my, in my arsenal to like get through this game, which is like what you guys were saying before, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I love how like every single encounter too, Leon actually has like a different reaction to it. Like, so if you like, if you got through with like no problem, he like literally scoffs at them. He's like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, exactly. If I had to rank them, I would probably say like the top three would be RE4 Remake, RE2 Remake, and then RE7.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause like RE7, like, without that game, like it, you know, we wouldn't have any of these games. Like that game brought all of it back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was gonna, I was gonna add to your point Alana, like about like just being able to like draw the map because the level design is so good, like that's, that is like what I love about RE7 and it's just that, that game is like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Without like, with like the exception of like Jack and like the new bosses and the new monsters, like-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's more stuff coming, you know, we got Mercenaries and there's a lot of signs that point towards, uh, separate ways coming down the line. And VR. And VR.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, they could find me at the Sphere Hunter, just everywhere on Twitter and Instagram and YouTube and Twitch. And yeah, I have a, can I, can I plug something coming up? I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, I have time. Tell us, tell us, tell us. Yeah, I could plug it. What is it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think you did this too, Alana, but I'm gonna be on the Metro City Academy stream with, uh, it's the, the Street Fighter 6, uh, learn, lernya.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Going there on the same day as Mercenaries comes out for a RE4 remake.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very busy. But yea, that's, that's all for me. Thank you guys for having me on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, and I think that goes for every single game, so you, uhm...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then you have to deal with, uh, and it turned out to be really complicated, right? So when you're gonna play BG3, hopefully you're gonna discover that it's as if somebody's writing a screenplay for you and, uh, like, tailors to your choices, decisions, the identity that you picked at the beginning of the game and how you develop during the game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the newspaper, the printing press, that has an entire adventure built into it, which means that ends up with you being able to manipulate the press to your own advantage, because the media is against you, and so you have to add a whole bunch of story angles to it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right now all the focus is obviously on the PC and the PS5 are coming out. So, but we're working, there's a team working on it and so they're making progress. It is already a lot better than what it was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So anyway, I'm deviating, but to answer your question, we're gonna get there. It's just gonna take some time. Do I think that it holds it back?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Takes development effort. And that effort, despite us having grown, we don't have infinite resources. So that means that we can't do everything at the same time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Necessary. Uhm, but to, to, to, to extrapolate on the, on the bear scene, uh, it was a good scene to pick, uh, to show the variety of romance that you can have, because what we showed before was just a couple going on a date, uh, and having a romantic conversation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People, uh, will think it's cool too. Uh, but it is, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I believe it is a mashup of controller, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like, it's just a mix. It's definitely worse on my right side because I am predominantly right-handed and obviously I use like my phone in my right hand, but I get like the flashing pain down here and so it's not even just like the wrist, it's all the way down here. Sorry, audio list.