Mark Trobough:
And welcome everybody to the Game Junction podcast, episode number 77. How's everybody doing? Good, good, good.
Brandon Hurles:
Friday Pretty awesome Friday TGIF.
Mark Trobough:
Oh, I thought we were going with the with the Femboy Friday. That was today's theme.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, it can be a thing that we like Femboy Friday podcast.
Mark Trobough:
Just how's everybody's week been going so far? It's great. It's great it's been's week been going so far.
Kerguhl Games:
It's great.
Brandon Hurles:
It's great it's been a week, I mean, like it's not been bad, it's just it's been crazy. A lot going on, a lot happening and then trying to keep up with stuff along the way. So I like don't get behind on the podcast, like holy crap is this year overwhelming. Like Jimmy Christmas, it just doesn't stop. We say it every week. I figured there would be a slow week.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah right, it's almost April too. It's crazy.
Brandon Hurles:
And three big AAA game releases today.
Mark Trobough:
Jeez, it's been pretty big. Obviously the headline for today's episode. Obviously you got some PS5 Pro specs leaked, some more information about the PSVR 2, and some new stuff about Godzilla I've been hearing about. But I guess we can dig right in, unless anybody else has anything they want to say before we go right into it.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I mean we'll be talking a little bit kind of about everything. Sandland demo We'll dive into that a little bit, because that's one of Akira's last works Other than the Dragon Ball show. Um, we'll be talking a little bit. We've got a good bit of anime stuff, a good bit of movie and tv show stuff, so a little quite a bit more than just gaming. Um, I will say, if you are a Marvel fan, this is your week to listen, slash watch, because there's been like two pretty big things this week, uh, among other things actually too. So, yeah, we're going to be talking a little bit of about everything.
Mark Trobough:
I guess we'll just go ahead and dive in yeah, I guess, first and foremost, before we get to kurgle segment, which is first up here, is there any kind of plugs or anything you wanted to put in real quick, brandon, or?
Brandon Hurles:
yeah, so, um, we have got the channel membership. So if you are watching on youtube, uh, channel membership is there. Uh, you just go to the channel and there'll be like a membership tab and if you're listening to audio, um, you can subscribe on. Buzzsprout helps us out, there's. There's a few other options as well. If you go to our link tree, there's some things there but definitely want to plug, uh, merch we're going to have new merch up this week again, but we've got a semi-recent podcast design up, um, and then there's a few other like regular game junction stuff. We're going to have like a collab design coming up for the podcast here soon with everybody's logo on it. So, uh, we've got that. And also, you can now just go to thegamejunctionpodcastcom and it will take you straight to our Buzzsprout and all of our audio platforms. So that is a new thing and I think that's the last plug there.
Mark Trobough:
Definitely. So I guess we're getting right into Kurgle's weekly segment. We got it going on here.
Kerguhl Games:
Well, a couple of things happening, so I usually talk about, you know, the new releases, um some of the free games that you can get, um, obviously, big, big things. Um, first and foremost, I wanted to talk about the, the free stuff. There's actually three different games you can get on pc for free right now. There is call of the, the Wild, the Angler and Adam Eve from Incredibles Sorry, invincibles that is on Epic Game Store, and then there's also Book of Demons, I believe it's called. That is on GOGcom, so you can grab those games. There's also some really nice spring sales. The actual spring sale on Steam ended, but there's a couple of different events currently on Steam where you can grab some really cheap stuff.
Kerguhl Games:
The whole Battlefield franchise has really really steep discounts. So if you want to jump into Battlefield 1, battlefield 5, or Battlefield 2042, now is the best time, and there's also a free weekend for battlefield 2042. I personally play it from time to time. It was terrible at launch, we all know that, but now it is a pretty decent, decent game, especially when you can grab it for like seven, eight, nine bucks. Um, there is also a couple of more other sales. There's some final fantasy um titles that are currently discounted on steam there's um star Fantasy titles that are currently discounted on Steam.
Kerguhl Games:
There's Star Wars Battlefront 2, heavily discounted you can grab it under five bucks. And there's also Titanfall 2, which actually still has a thriving online community, and you can grab it for $3 only on Steam. So those are some deals you can. You can look through. Um, obviously, some really, really cool new games that came out.
Kerguhl Games:
Um rise of Ronan launched Um, it got a 76% um critic score. Uh, we're still waiting for um people to you know actual people to to rate it. Um, cause critics have no souls and they're not people. Um, but moving on, uh, it looks like a. Yeah, it looks like a. Rise of Ronan is is like a. We just talked about it before we started. It's like a little baby that that neo uh ghost of tsushima and um sekiro had and it has guns in it and it just it looks really fun. It doesn't look like it's super deep in terms of the story. It's more like gameplay oriented or, like you know, the combat oriented, but it still looks really fun um, so definitely check it. Check that out. It looks really, really cool. Um, moving on, we do have um dragon's dogma 2 obviously released. Uh, it is.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, I think we're all a little disappointed, right yeah, I think it's gonna be a.
Kerguhl Games:
We can talk about this later, because this has been a thing with, you know, triple a games. Lately, everybody was so excited about this game. Um, it's been what? 14 years since the first one and I watched probably over 10, 10 to 15 hours of live streams of it and the comment looks super fun. Um, but man, they really, they're really greedy. Um, essentially like long story short and we can talk about this later more. But, um, there is 21 different options, or like microtransactions that you can buy on steam store alone, and some of these include fast travel amount. Um, some, uh, from what I've understood, uh, like crystals that you can revive your pawns, which are like your, your allies or whatever. Um, I mean essentially paid to win in a single player game. Just just sounds weird.
Brandon Hurles:
Right, so dumb. It makes absolutely no sense. I'm actually kind of I want to say I'm shocked because it's Capcom Now, they have done stuff like this in the past, but it's not like they're not notorious for doing this sort of thing. Right Like, their DLC is normally pretty normal. Like, you know, skins for Street Fighter, pretty much nothing for, like, mega man, monster hunter, you know like there's stuff there but nobody complains, right.
Kerguhl Games:
So I'm, I'm a little shocked yeah, for sure, and, as I said, go ahead, mark no, I was gonna say there should.
Mark Trobough:
There's no excuse to ever have microtransactions in a single player game. I think it's just cut and dry yeah, I think it's stupid, but for sure, and there's a time and a place.
Kerguhl Games:
I feel like with you know, with DLCs, and like if they're selling I mean I don't even know if they're selling costumes, like skins and stuff, I mean sure, right, but when you're baking functionality like fast travel, mounts it, just it makes no, it really makes no sense. I mean I'm also like another one is go ahead.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean like personally, like I, I get that like a few options or whatever for single player games.
Brandon Hurles:
Some people like that right, like if it's a thing, I feel like it should be a thing later, but of course that doesn't happen anymore, that there's no like a post-development oh we, we developed this. You know a month later it was all made before. But, um, you know, some people like that for single player right, like there's some things like even like ghost of tsushima had like a little bit of uh, microtransaction, dlc get, and it's a single player game, it's got a multiplayer mode now, but like there's, there's always been options, even since the PS3 for that. But like personally, I've never once ever bought a microtransaction for a single player game ever. And like I'm pretty good with whatever costume you give me or I earn in the game, but like more power to you if you, you do like that. But having the options that are here for this game, like I think the developer said something like fast travel takes away from the experience, and I don't want to take the full quote away from that, but that I read something to that regard.
Kerguhl Games:
That's reasonable, like that statement is reasonable, but don't just bake it into a microtransaction, right it just. I mean, the whole approach is just wrong and what's wrong. I feel like I guess we're having this conversation now. We can kind of continue later. But no, it's fine, but it's.
Kerguhl Games:
It blows my mind that nowadays and this is why balder's gate 3, I always use it as an but it's it blows my mind that nowadays and this is why Baldur's Gate three I always use as an example, because it stood out so much with doing everything right. You know, obviously it has its little hiccups. The development was rushed in chapter three, but I mean that was a full game. You get a full game. It works.
Kerguhl Games:
They don't beg you to spend more money past the. I mean, dragon's Dogma 2 is $69.99 in the US. In Canada, with taxes, it's over $100, which is insane. And then on top of that you got to pay like right now I'm looking at the Steam DLC quotations for the listeners there's $42 worth of micro transactions. That is insane. And among one of which, which is the most notorious one, which I think people are mostly pissed about, is the character editor, which allows you to edit your appearance. You have to buy, you have to pay money to change your character after you created it, right? And then what they say like oh, you can use in-game currency to do this. Why am I supposed to be locked into something and spend hours of my time grinding currency in order to change the way my character looks?
Brandon Hurles:
It makes no sense when you pay $70, I download the stupid. I didn't realize at first it was only a character creator. But I download the character creator and made a character that transfers over the game because I expected to grab it right away. And now I'm like I think this is a sale game for me. I'm $70 plus all this other stuff you want me to buy. I think I'm good with holding off. Now, unfortunately, I'm very disappointed about this game, very, very disappointed, you know I can't say about the gameplay, because I haven't played, but this whole deal you
Mark Trobough:
know it's crazy I was gonna say this is just the epitome of what the greed that triple a gaming has come to for a little bit. It's one thing if it's like a, that live service, slash mmo, I expect some some microtransactions, especially if it's a game that's continuously getting updated and developing to some degree that you're putting hundreds or thousands of hours into. I can that kind of makes sense. But if it's a single player game, to me there's no excuse to ever have any microtransactions of any. I mean, we've come to expect even dlc, but that's just proof that you were too lazy or you want to. You want to cut content from the base game and recharge people to play, to continue, to do a, continue the actual story of said game.
Mark Trobough:
It's just inexcusable. It's gotten to a point now where people are like you're reaching too far. This is ridiculous. Like why does this exist? But even you brought up the fast travel. I'm like but even you brought up the fast travel. I'm like. Sure, to some people or that's your opinion some people like fast travel. It's like okay, so instead of fast traveling, I'm just gonna walk in a straight line for the 10 minutes to get to this location, like I don't, especially if I've already. It's an area I've already explored and it's just back traveling yeah, see a good example go ahead.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, I was gonna say my thing is is that like I can get, like, if that's their vision and that it takes away from the experience? Sure, right, but for me now I get there's a lot of games that do this where you unlock the fast travel, like you know, 15 hours in or something. I get that because then you get the time to explore the game a little bit, the map, but then, like, there becomes a time where the person is, you know, playing so much and has been around the area so much that you get tired of that. So then you unlock it, right, you unlock that fast travel. Or you get the, the ubisoft system where you gotta like, unlock the map and then you can fast travel whatever, right, so like, I get that, like I think that should be an option and it is, but you got to pay for it I think it's just so tone deaf at that.
Mark Trobough:
So tone deaf at that point. It's like it's not our design philosophy. But if you're willing to pay extra, you can do whatever you want. I'm like that's the most tone deaf thing I've ever heard. If it's against your philosophy, then don't have it in the game at all, right.
Brandon Hurles:
But to have it in the game, complete hypocrisy. At that point it's pr speak and they're trying to save themselves. Uh, but it's. I don't think they are like 58 critic reviews like we. We all feel the same way about critic reviews or I could give a crap less honestly, but sitting at an 87 is a little shocking to me. But meanwhile got review bombed on steam.
Mark Trobough:
Well, I mean the core game could be good, but there's so much bad that overshadows it with with the microtransaction. It's like I don't even want to support this kind of this kind of practice that's where I'm supported here. It's going to continue and get worse down the line with other games. Like you need to have a line in the sand where you say this is too much, we're gonna going to, we're going to say no at this point.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I can't support. I mean, that was my very thought. I'm like, ok, I'm seeing all this I'm actually legitimately seeing it from somebody stream. Like I personally can't support that. This will be a sale game where I can support them at the lowest cost possible.
Brandon Hurles:
And I'm disappointed because I love Capcom. They hold my favorite series ever and I love Monster Hunter 2 and Street Fighter and it's just disappointing. I loved Dragons of Dogma, played the crap out of it, grabbed Dark Arisen the day it came out. It's just really, truly disappointing. So I was really looking forward to this and this reminds me of Dead Island 2 all over again. I know that there's a few people that like it or whatever. To me it looks like crap and I have no interest in it now. But Dead Island was the same way, right, you had Dead Island, you had Riptide and then there was a long, long development for 2. And it gives me that kind of vibe because it had the same sort of microtransaction setup, uh, at launch, and that that was why I didn't grab it and I was just like I just I don't care at that point and I was also very hyped for that game as well.
Kerguhl Games:
So this is uh, this seems to be a repeating pattern yeah, fortunately yeah and and I was going to mention, you know, the the whole thing with fast travel. There's a way to do it. Where, for example, in Red Dead Redemption 2 is my most recent example, I refuse to use fast travel. There was maybe, I want to say, five times I used it because I already explored that area. But even if I I didn't, even if it was like a long ride, like a horse ride, I just let it go and I just enjoyed the, the environment and it was great, you know.
Kerguhl Games:
And they made it somewhat difficult to to fast travel, where you you don't just go and open up a map and click a button. It's like you fast travel, no, you just gotta set up a cam, select an option, blah, blah, blah, um, but still, they, they worked it in in a way where they encourage you to explore and do things and I think it's really not that hard to do. But truly, it just blows my mind that they did this and and probably thought like, oh, we'll be fine. You know, um, community's pissed, so that was definitely not worth it for them yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean as they should be personally definitely.
Mark Trobough:
Is there any more you want to say on your little segment, kirgo, before we move on, or?
Kerguhl Games:
yeah, there's actually. I saw Alone in the Dark actually released and let me just see what the name of the actor is. It's the. Is the guy from stranger things. Uh what's his name?
Mark Trobough:
Uh, I can't.
Kerguhl Games:
I haven't watched stranger things, so anyway, it's uh, it's like a cinematic game, it's like a Lovecraftian action horror game and, um, it got decent scores and the mocap work looked, looks really nice. The cut scenes look amazing. Um, not my type of game personally, but it kind of went under the radar. It was developed by pieces interactive and it was published by thq nordic and it looks really nice. I mean, I don't know like there's a lot of people that like games like these and yeah, I watched a few hours of it. Somebody was streaming it so I just wanted to mention it. So definitely check it out because I didn't see it get a lot of press.
Brandon Hurles:
It's also a remake. I actually played. The original came out, I think like on DOS, but I played it on 3DO. I still have it actually. Um, so it's kind of weird that came out in 2008 no, no, the 3do one came out in like 94, uh, but yeah that was a remake too, that was a remake, oh yeah, since it came out in 92 92.
Brandon Hurles:
So yeah, it's a old game. I think it was dos first and then 3do um and there was a. There was a few like obscure systems. It went on, but yeah I know you're right it was dos first.
Brandon Hurles:
yeah, okay, I thought so I, because I remember like the floppy disks and stuff back in the day for it. But uh, this particular version of the game doesn't look like something I would enjoy. As much though I think I would like to grab it, maybe at a sale price or something, to give it a go, because I'm pretty nostalgic for that game. I've always really liked it and I like the 2008 game that came out.
Mark Trobough:
I like that as well, yeah, I think all versions of this game have come out on so many different platforms. Dude, it's so many.
Brandon Hurles:
The original by itself was probably on like 10 different platforms or something crazy, like obscure, weird platforms too. I mean, like for most people even the 3DO is obscure it's really not, but it kind of is Like most people haven't played a 3DO.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, or it's some weird stuff on here like the PC 9800, fm Towns, classic Mac OS, risc OS Some weird stuff I've never heard of before.
Brandon Hurles:
Let me tell you the FM Towns Marty is one of the most expensive systems that you can grab now. I've looked for years for that system.
Mark Trobough:
Why is it so expensive? Is it just rare? Does it do?
Brandon Hurles:
something unique or I'm very unique and didn't didn't sell so like there weren't very many units made, it's like very expensive system, um like 1500 to 2000 all day uh, oh, I guess.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, they said what 500 000 units sold, which is not a lot no, no, not at all.
Brandon Hurles:
So yeah, but it does look interesting, like it is a pretty game, like definitely you know, and it like semi has that feel kind of of the original, but I do like the sort of new coat of paint they gave it. It's definitely way different than the Alone in the Dark, games that came Like the remake and there games that came like the, the remake, and there there were sequels and stuff too. I didn't play all of them, uh, but it it's a pretty notorious series. So I was kind of surprised to see this just sort of fly under the radar. I've heard zero people talk about it.
Kerguhl Games:
So, yeah yeah, that's why I wanted to mention it. Yeah, that's why I wanted to mention it. I definitely didn't see a lot of coverage for it. And then I actually wanted to mention Horizon. Forbidden West came out on Steam and people are loving it and that's awesome. You can enjoy it fully, maxed out 4K, crazy graphics and all that.
Mark Trobough:
That's another little title. I don't know what to call it, little, but yeah there was there was one weird.
Mark Trobough:
There was one thing that I saw people complain about it, and that's that's the fact that the map is permanently mapped to the tab button, even though you're supposed to be able to remap. But you can't, because it used to be like how you brought up your weapon wheel and it's just weird. That tab, a really good key, would be for a map which you don't really need that often. So I definitely saw a lot of people on the steam forums like almost everybody's complaining about that, that key. They gotta throw out a patch for that right. Like that's well they. One just came out today but it was for for stuff related to like support. So hopefully some mapping stuff comes out fairly soon to fix some of these bugs.
Brandon Hurles:
It wasn't a problem on PS5, but I will say I actually recently heard some discussion and I was listening to a buddy's podcast and have heard other people talk about it but it seems like there are always issues with PlayStation's PC launches. This one might be the best launch for one of their games, but I remember like what was it God of War when that launched on PC, and then Ragnarok had like major issues like screen tearing, like real bad, and a frame rate, massive frame rate issue. I'm not sure what it is, but like their optimization team on PC has some like real problems, but this seems to be the best launch, but I have heard nothing, and I haven't played any PC PlayStation games myself, so I just assume it's.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, I assume for a lot of these studios they've never developed for PC as well as these are games developed and then having to be ported over. So maybe it's just a mixture of everything. But I mean, this game came out two years ago, hopefully moving forward. Eventually these problems won't exist. But maybe it's just kind of like we'll do the bare minimum and these things gotta get fixed.
Kerguhl Games:
We'll fix it later, whatever yeah, and they also mentioned that they're going to focus on PC releases a lot more, because they realized, with the success of God of War and Horizon, the first game, they just saw the opportunity, and I think it's going to make sense for them to release it at the same time, cause I correct me if I'm wrong I think we already talked about it, but they did make a statement or the ceo talked about it um, like they're going to basically release it at the same time, which makes a lot of sense, um, but, yeah, I agree, there's. There's probably just, you know, optimizing or porting, this is more of a port than it is optimization. Yeah, um always comes with its own challenges, you know, because you're essentially on pc. Uh, you have so many different configurations of parts, processors, gpus, yeah, all of these different things that affect it. So, but, yeah, it's, it seems that people are enjoying it so far. So those are a little bit of the of the new titles that are released.
Kerguhl Games:
And then the last thing we wanted to talk about is Sandland Demo. This is the last, probably, bit of work that Akira Toriyama worked on, and it is such a lovely little game. The map is huge, but the gameplay was just really, really fun and I'm excited to hear Brandon talk about it because I know he also tried it out. I personally really enjoyed it. I love the art style. It runs pretty smooth. I got to say I was expecting more hiccups, honestly, but it looks good, the world looks really cool and yeah, let's talk about it a little bit.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I guess I'll start off with saying it's getting really good reviews. Ign gave it a nine and you know, I think I have to agree. Like I was just based on the demo. Obviously I haven't played the full game, but based on the demo, like if the full game is like this and obviously way more, I think I'm going to be sitting around the same spot. I enjoyed it so much I went back to it twice to really kind of take it in because I was like absolutely blown away how it looks like it's.
Brandon Hurles:
It looks more like it's straight out of the manga, like it just looks so much it reminds me of dragon ball fighters. How that straight up looks like it's straight out of the manga. Like it just looks so much it reminds me of Dragon Ball Fighters. How that straight up looks like it's an anime episode Like this looks like it is straight out of the manga, colorized, like it is beautiful. The gameplay is so fun. Like you can see the early sort of thoughts and things that were brought over to Dragon Ball later on Cause this you know the series came out before Dragon Ball and like you can see what the capsules and how it creates the vehicles, like you've thrown out a capsule and then you've got. You've got your mech and you've got your, your bike, and exactly the way that capsule core works in Dragon Ball. Yeah, character design Like I always thought the character design for Sand Land was really good and it just translates very well to a 3D game and I think this is the.
Brandon Hurles:
I could be wrong on this, I don't know, but I think this is the only other form of media that we've ever gotten for Sand Land that I'm aware of, and it works very well in the game form. Um, like the enemies, like there's not a ton that you get to see. I think I maybe saw five, six different ones throughout my playthrough of it. Maybe there might have been a couple more, but like, super cool, like you've got a ton of customization, like I was just in the demo alone. Like you could, straight up from the beginning, customize each vehicle that you had. You only got to see three of them. You got the motorcycle, the tank and then, like the mech, the mech yeah, the mech was really fun to play. The motorcycle was a little I felt a little hard kind of floaty a little hard to stop.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, it felt overpowered, though, um, in my opinion, because fast yeah, yeah it's really.
Kerguhl Games:
It was really hard for, like, bigger enemies to do anything to you. So, yeah, definitely the mech was the most fun I had because it felt very impactful when you, when you started landing those hits yeah, and there's there's little's little things that I saw. I explored like two or three ruins and basically you need to use the mech to hover over a little cliff so you don't fall, because it has a little propeller up his butt so you can kind of hover over little obstacles, and then you would use the bike to jump off a ramp, like it's. You know it. Has they kind of thought about, um, ways to make you use other vehicles, even if you enjoy a particular one more than the others? Um, and I thought I think I mean from a demo perspective like did a really good job with that. Which enemy type did you like the most?
Brandon Hurles:
I think probably I don't know the name, but when you get like over to that tower there's the other guys in the mechs. I thought those were cool because they just felt like more kind of powerful. I guess like sort of the giant bird was kind of a little tricky, cause you you kind of had to shoot it unless you were able to hit it when it swooped down like a lot, but it took forever If you tried to do it that way, it really liked kind of all the enemy designs that I saw. I mean this this translates very well. I almost think that like this looks better than like the animated, like it just translate really well to like a 3d animation. That like normally. For me, like a 3d animated anime like kind of loses me. I feel like they're all sort of the same now and it just isn't the same.
Brandon Hurles:
I like the hand-drawn stuff, but this like takes that hand drawn, makes it 3D and it like just pops. It looks really. I was shocked at how good it looked. I wasn't expecting this, so yeah, I'm like super stoked for it. I'm sure that this will get like some sort of DLC later. I don't know that we like there's anything like announced for that sort of thing. I didn't read anything in reviews about that sort of stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
But this is a game I would like to see have dlc that's developed later, because, like I could see myself wanting to keep coming back to this game and I I am curious sort of how long that you get out of it, because the two articles I read didn't really say um, but the map is the, the maps bigger again than like I would have thought it would have been.
Brandon Hurles:
It's. It's interesting because it's like a wasteland, right, like that's kind of like the deal with it. So it's interesting seeing like the enemies and like random places and like encountering things along the way, and I'm excited to see like the sort of stuff that you can discover along the way of playing the story. So, um, super cool, man, super cool, and like hopefully this makes some people go back and read the manga or watch the anime and like get excited about some of this other work that um Akira's worked on, because this is one I think that has probably gone more unnoticed than than anything like even more. You know more people talk about his art design from Dragon Quest and things like that than they do this series, so most people didn't even know about it.
Kerguhl Games:
You know, like I talked to you. I personally never, never, knew about it and for sure. I agree, I was shocked how a lot of the times like when it comes to kind of outlined graphics, like hand-drawn stuff, that gets translated into 3d, it doesn't look as sharp A lot of the times just because of the nature of how it's presented and how it works in a 3d space. Uh, but they did such a good job. It felt very like the structures didn't feel cartoonish, they felt real and the characters still had that. I don't know how to explain it I don't know what the word is that I'm looking for but they felt like they had character. They weren't washed up Like, for example, some of the stuff in like I love Borderlands, but some of the stuff that you would love borderlands, but some of the stuff that you would see in borderlands, like environments and stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
It just felt too, too cartoonish in a way, yeah, yeah and cartoon, yeah which I mean that was the art style that game was going for. But yeah, to me it like felt flat in a lot of areas, like there's kind of nothing to it or repetitive, like areas would look exactly the same for sure yeah, so, yeah, this, I mean it, it does, uh, I think is going to do the series justice, because it just a demo was a lot of fun there, isn't?
Brandon Hurles:
I can only think of a few other instances where I wanted to go back and play a demo again.
Brandon Hurles:
So, um, super cool and then like it'd be cool to get you know something from like dr slump or something one of the other obscure like series that he's done. Um, I don't know if we've ever gotten, like any that I'm aware of, any game adaptations of that series, but like you, know he's done. He's done a lot of other works. So, um, yeah, hopefully this makes people you know dive a little deeper into the series and stuff. So and then, mark, I know you haven't played it yet, but I think you're looking forward to it, right?
Mark Trobough:
we kind of yeah, I just haven't had the time this week. I'm pretty, pretty busy with work, but it's definitely. I'll definitely get around to playing the demo this weekend.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah I think you're gonna enjoy it, especially since you told me you're watching that panzer girls anime. Um, you're going to enjoy it, especially since you told me you're watching that Panzer Girls anime. You're going to have a ton of fun in that tank.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, the tank is fun. The tank actually controls really well yeah.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, it's definitely good to know, for sure.
Mark Trobough:
What's it called?
Brandon Hurles:
again Panzer.
Mark Trobough:
Tank, girls and Panzer. Essentially in English it's girls and tanks, or girls and tanks or whatever it is, but it's in German, it's a German title, but yeah.
Kerguhl Games:
Interesting, but yeah, that's a fun little game. Definitely check it out, guys. It's pretty fun yeah for sure.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, what else we got here? Looks like we're going to.
Kerguhl Games:
That's it. I think that's it, for you know the titles that I wanted to mention personally. Um, there's obviously always new things coming out and and new games and um, the one that I guess we can mention, and I don't know if you guys saw it, I don't know if it's anybody's cup of tea, but um bellatro, um is a game that came out a couple of days ago and it's a poker roguelike, yes, and like everybody's going crazy for it. So I'm going to try to snag it if it goes on sale. It looks really fun, but it's like a deck building game, roguelike, so you're kind of doing new runs all the time and, yeah, it looks fun. Check it out.
Brandon Hurles:
I actually thought that was a Switch exclusive, so I I'm a little out of the loop, but yeah, I've seen a lot of people talking about it. Looks like I. I don't know anything about poker, but it sounds kind of interesting.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah, yeah, for sure no, but I guess the uh, going from that into some of the uh, some of the minor headlines that we had, apparently the next xbox controller reportedly be called the nocturnal vapor hit the market april 9th priced at 70.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't know why they're calling it that, but yeah, I'm not, because it's gonna be overheating and there's gonna be vapors coming out of it yeah right, it's supposed to be like the competition to the um, the dual sense edge, essentially uh, which is weird because, like we already have the uh, what's it called? The playstation elite controllers. There's a one and two um, but it's a oh, I guess, like. The difference is it's gonna have haptic feedback and that sort of stuff. It's supposed to be better than um dual sense edges, haptic feedback. So, uh, it'll be I. I guess that's interesting. I like haptic feedback. I think the um that's what makes the dual sense stand out. I think it's a excellent controller because of that, because there are some games that really take advantage of that where it's just like it's kind of crazy, like even like the um, the speaker and and stuff implemented into some of the games is really kind of cool. It adds to that haptic feedback, haptic feedback.
Mark Trobough:
Haptic feedback.
Brandon Hurles:
So it looks like it's coming out in April. Yeah, I think the haptic feedback, I'll grab it. A lot of people will grab anbox controller just for their pc, so I'm sure that this will probably sell. Well, probably sell out. Um, speaking of selling out, I did just want to bring this up real quick because I did not add it into the notes. But pdp released the, the new guitar hero guitar. It's called the the Rig Master or the Riff Master, I think it's called, and it sold out in three minutes. It was $150,. I want to say because I was interested in it and I was like I did not think at all that it was going to sell out. But there's like an Xbox version and a PS5, ps4 version and, yeah, it immediately sold, sold out, and the stupid thing is they are only making 500 units.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, so like can't have anything nice because of the bots yeah, I mean like obviously like selling out in three minutes.
Brandon Hurles:
Bots were related. I I can't even imagine I'm sure on ebay they're. They're 400 plus right now and make only making 500 of them, like the. The sort of demand for guitar hero guitars even now are crazy, didn't they announce?
Kerguhl Games:
it when we talked about it. It's kind of it's definitely like a fomo tactic. I have a feeling like it was more of like hyping it up than it was them just making 500, like like 500,000 units just for making it that much Like I. I really feel like companies nowadays are just exploiting definitely the the fact that if you kind of create that fear of missing out, like, oh, we're only making this many units, I bet you anything like half a year or a year they're going to be like oh, we're doing this special edition, you know, and you're just going to be able to grab it.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, and I mean people buy into the. The FOMO is like a real thing man, people really buy into it. I'm looking at the last sold one here, which is the Xbox one, and I'm kind of surprised because I would think that would be the lesser of the two, but $487 sold today Last one, so more than I thought it's just crazy.
Brandon Hurles:
They really made this for Fortnite, for that mode in Fortnite, but because it is backwards compatible with the previous systems and PC, you can also play it with the last Guitar Hero that came out on PS4 and Xbox Series S or Xbox One. So yeah, I mean I get it. The demands there. Like if you look at the aftermarket prices for old Guitar Hero guitars, you'd be shocked at the prices.
Mark Trobough:
So crazy. That is crazy. But I don't know exactly how many they've got for the Nocturnal Vapor, but pre-orders start April 2nd and then it's releasing a week later, on April 9th. It's priced at $70 here in the US, another $70 in Europe for the Euro and $65 in pounds. Uh, at least as far as what Gamera and said, the market availability is in the U S, in Europe. We don't know about any other market as of right now.
Brandon Hurles:
I'm actually surprised on the price. I'm actually shocked that they're putting it because that's what the series X controller originally was priced at, like the standard controller.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, it's the it's what the dual sense is marked at. So I guess, just well, in the dual sense we're gonna go the same is 200. It's 200, the dual sense edge. So but I just like look in a few more details. It looks like it's using xbox wireless 2 technology. Um, new mobile app features uh, precision haptic feedback, vca haptics, uh, double s speakers, so it does have speakers. Accelerometer, uh, quieter buttons and thumbsticks. Rechargeable and swappable batteries. So, wow, they're actually doing away with the double a batteries. Now, um, you can repair and disassemble it, so that's good. I think that's a thing that, like, most companies are going to be doing now because, as like a big hot topic there for a while um, new modular thumbsticks, so you can take those off. Improved, improved longevity um, continue to build improvements and firmware updates, lift to wake, and there's going to be a few different additions available, apparently S-E-L-E-X-D-L options, as expected. So weird, because what's the point of the Elite then, it seems like, because that's like a $150 controller. So what's better?
Mark Trobough:
What's the better controller? Yeah, I don't know no idea at this point. I think the regular DualSense works for me. I don't have an Xbox. It's a controller. I don't need it to do all this fancy crap. I just need to be able to play my game at this point.
Kerguhl Games:
But do you mainly because I know you have a PC? Do you mainly game when you're on PlayStation?
Mark Trobough:
I was for a while there, but I'll go back and forth between the pc at this point. I'll play my exclusives on my uh, ps, um, ps5 and then any any other game on the pc preferably. But I mean it doesn't really matter as long as I can play the game I'm I was never huge on. I don't care about the the haptic feedback. Like it's nice but it's not gonna affect my immersion in the game or something like that. Like this is nice but it seems like it's super niche and just a way for people to buy another controller and get get more money from them.
Kerguhl Games:
But I mean to me like yeah, and and to me, like from what brandon was talking about, and you know what the updates are like. Essentially, you're getting a better controller with more technology for the same amount of money, which I mean that's a win for for a consumer, that's, that's a that's great for, like your average consumer, like that's, that's awesome, and you know the. The way to repair it is something that definitely has been really bad lately. Oh yeah, um, so so really happy to see that for sure yeah, I just what we were talking about earlier.
Mark Trobough:
Uh, mr coffee was commenting about those. Uh, those guitars. Apparently a friend of his sold the xbox one guitar hero usb dongle for 60, yeah, yep yeah, I've sold a dongle too.
Brandon Hurles:
I think I sold mine for around 50, but yeah, the dongles are harder to find for the wireless ones in the guitar so I mean at that, at that point, sell the dongle, get a new xbox controller it's very expensive.
Brandon Hurles:
Man like I just actually it's funny I just sold a wired one last week. The what? Uh, it was a ps2. Like it depends on the system that you're selling it for. Ps2 is pretty sought after, but uh, I think I sold it to a friend for 45. I think they're going for like 70 or something. So, um, yeah, I don't know. I was looking too at the elite series 2 still 180 at best buy. So I know that those have like like crazy because I have one. I bought mine on marketplace so I didn't pay anywhere near that. Um, and I'll be honest with you, like I'm not a guy that like the only thing I switched out is the d-pad before, but like I don't really like switch out buttons and care about all that too much because I don't play like competitive first person shooters or anything and it's really.
Mark Trobough:
It's really niche for competitive games or something like that. You see, like high level players do, but at that point you're just gonna buy a third party controller that does everything, probably better than what microsoft's ever gonna do for sure yeah, I'm happy to see that it's at the price that the original controllers were and, uh, that I, I don't know.
Brandon Hurles:
At this point I had to see like a sort of review breakdown on what controller is better now, because I'm curious if this is better than, like, the elite series 2. I'm sure that that I'll grab one at that price point. It's not going to be like the dual sense edge, it's $200, um, which is just crazy to me. Um, so I I'm sure they'll probably grab one. I like the haptics and, and mostly for the non issues with being able to break it down, because I've already gone through two series X controllers, uh, with issues.
Mark Trobough:
So I I'm sure that I'll need the replacement anyway. So, yeah, uh, so I enough about one controller, apparently fatal. Fury. City of the wolves fighting games trailer revealed new and returning characters, english and japanese cast in an early 2025 release. I know I'm not big on fighting games, but I know you are, brandon. What do you got to say about this?
Brandon Hurles:
yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one. So this is a follow up. We've never gotten one to Garu Mark of the Wolves on the Neo Geo. It's like a $15,000 cart and we've never really gotten a follow up. So I mean, basically that's a spin off of the Fatal Fury series, but Garu was like it's own standalone game, got like an never really gotten a follow-up. So I mean, basically that's a spin-off of the fatal fury series, um, but gara was like its own standalone game, got like an anime and manga and and all this stuff like that. But it's just like a really like I would say like god tier fighting game. That one is like it is perfected to the t for you know retro 2d fighter. So I'm definitely super interested to see, uh, how this one does like the.
Brandon Hurles:
The recent s and k outputtings for fighting games have been really really good like they've. They've been really on point with their, their fighting games, and it looks like it's already going to be uh, playable evo and I'm sure that this will be one of the first to go in line for the next Evo event. I can see this being a long running Evo event game because S&K titles are usually at the top, really of the fighting game competitions. And yeah, I mean it's cool to see a new installment. We haven't had a Garu game since like 91 or something I need somewhere in the 90s, maybe mid 90s, I forget when that came out. But yeah, like, if this is like the original, it's going to be pretty cool. And, um, I still think it's stupid that a cart is like fifteen thousand dollars. But, fair enough, don't collect the neo geos too expensive unless you're like a millionaire at this point.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, crazy, but fair enough, don't collect the Neo Geo. It's too expensive, unless you're like a millionaire at this point. Yeah, crazy. I did see somebody brought in about the, the Pokemon games in chronological order, which my first viewing on this is it doesn't, really doesn't make any sense because there's technically multiple timelines in Pokemon, but didn't know if you had any opinions on this. Uh, either, you had opinions on this.
Brandon Hurles:
Pokemon, the, the game timeline I just thought it was kind of interesting because I I think that the order that they have them sort of does make sense. Although I didn't know until recently, I I thought that let's go. Pikachu and eve were supposed to kind of be like direct remakes, but they're actually not. And it makes sense because I didn't pay as much attention to the story as I probably should have, because it's a.
Mark Trobough:
Pokemon game. It is completely different.
Brandon Hurles:
It is completely different and it's not like a direct remake. I was like, oh crap, yeah, there are all those correlations. Crap, yeah, there are all those correlations. So to me this does make sense, but it pretty much just goes chronological, other than I guess the interesting things are the let's Go being added in there and Arceus.
Mark Trobough:
So, for those that aren't aware, the order in which this fan-made list is, it goes from the oldest to newest Pokemon, arceus, pokemon, red, blue and Yellow, also with the remakes Fire, red and Leaf Green, if I can speak. Then it's the let's Go games, pikachu and Eevee, then it's the Gen 2 games Gold, silver, crystal and their remakes, ruby and Sapphire, emerald with their remakes Diamond and Pearl, black and White, black and White 2, x and Y, sun and Moon, short and Shield, and obviously the remakes, uh, diamond and pearl, black and white, black and white 2, x and y, sun, moon, short and shield, and obviously the remakes are kind of side and side. But playing through some of the games, like the, the uh gen 3 remakes, uh, omega, ruby and alpha, sapphire, are technically in the same timeline as the x and y games and I believe that's I don't know that falls in with the archaea's, I just can't remember. But because there's certain types of evolutions that exist in these specific games that don't exist in other games. So while there's no official timeline, it makes sense that it it is in a different timeline because the actual, at least for the gen 3, because it's the most recent that that comes to my mind is it's a whole new story which is very similar but it's very different than the original.
Mark Trobough:
Uh, ruby, sapphire and emerald, like the story is intentionally different and it's it references like hey, it's in a deals like with dimensions or somewhat with that. I remember it's directly tied to the x and y because of I think it had the omega evolutions if I'm not mistaken. I'll be getting that wrong, but it's different. And then it's then some of the other timelines where I think the original gen 1 through gen 5, the original games, probably would fit the same timeline, even though between generations there's really no connection with the actual games. But once you got to X and Y it started doing something different. So I would see some issues where a lot of people would kind of be like no, this is it kind of makes sense, but not really People would kind of be like no, this is it kind of makes sense, but not really.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, the other thing is too that, like you have to take into account because they've always done this. The discussion was brought up when Legends X I can't remember whatever it's called- Z or something like that, yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, z was brought up. They were like, well, they didn't. They didn't fill out zygarde at all in the game, like you just caught him and that was it. There was no story. Well, it was brought up. That that's because the anime that tied directly into that filled out the entire there was a whole arc on zygarde and filled out the entire thing that the essentially the game did not give. And that, I guess, makes sense, because I always thought that too, I'm like it's just kind of like a random legendary Pokemon. But then you look, and so I did a. I watched a YouTube video that went through all of that anime because I wasn't going to watch it, and that sort of makes sense. I think a lot of this stuff gets filled in with the anime and we don't watch it.
Mark Trobough:
It's not a good way to tell a story, you have to watch this other medium that you probably don't even care about.
Brandon Hurles:
But isn't that how all mediums are with their stuff? Now you look at the MCU you've got to watch a movie, and then you've got to watch a TV series, and then there's tie-in comic books to the MCU, and then you gotta watch TV series and then there's tie-in comics books to the MCU and like I mean, you know they, they do that, but it's not a good way to tell a continuing story, if you ask me, yeah, definitely don't wanna, and the MCU has to me a ton of issues that I think Disney's just ran that, that, that series into the ground.
Brandon Hurles:
But that's a personal opinion yeah, and then I guess the other thing would be um, it'll be interesting to see where za fits into this, because, like, what's interesting about that? The quick trailer that we got it looks like very, um like advanced technology that's coming out right yeah, okay, the next game that comes out yeah, because arceus was like the the beginnings Pokemon sort of. It was like a prequel.
Mark Trobough:
There's no official timeline. Each game is like its own. Each generation of games are their own standalone store. They don't really connect to one another. For the most part it's obviously connected to the X and Y, but if it is, it'll just be those two games for sure. Kind of like Arceus is definitely connected to. What is it? Gen 3 that it was connected to?
Brandon Hurles:
Or am I mistaken on that? Arceus was yeah, or was it Gen? No, it was Gen 4. It was related to Diamond and Pearl.
Mark Trobough:
It was definitely tied into that one, but there's no official timeline for how these games and the timelines everything's kind of fan-made. I can't imagine that changing anytime soon, or you're going to end up with a Zelda issue, or just yeah, we pulled a timeline out of our ass. That doesn't make any sense.
Brandon Hurles:
That's what I was going to bring up is like is Nintendo eventually going to do that with Pokemon? Because I mean, you know, zelda's been around longer and it took ages for us to get like an official timeline. Then ended up being there's three timelines and now it's split into four with breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah, I get yeah, they get to these new games like we need a soft reset this timeline. All these games they don't.
Brandon Hurles:
That doesn't make sense yeah, I don't, I don't know. I am curious, though, to where like za would sort of like actually like to us fit into the story, since it's like so far advanced from Arceus. That was like sort of a semi origin story of Pokemon. It wasn't, but like it was, you know, the earliest game, like it was the earliest we saw on the Pokemon universe game wise, since the trailer didn't.
Mark Trobough:
I mean it had teases, but for the most part there's really not a lot in there to go off of. We just know it's tied to x and y in some way, and as we get closer to the game release we get more trailers and we'll probably find out something something closer. But that's really all we we have to go on right now it's kind of interesting, I guess yeah, they spent way too much time on a pokemon timeline.
Mark Trobough:
That's, that's a whole, that's all 30 minutes. If you're like some of these hardcore pokemon fans could probably argue about it for days. Oh, I'm sure. And then, uh, I guess the next major thing was also after a surprise announcement no real announcement date. It's also being alleged that, uh, gta 6 is facing a major delay. Yeah, or it's behind. It's behind its expected development, probably going to get pushed to a 2026 window based off rumors I am.
Brandon Hurles:
I'm not really surprised with the scope and how big this game is going to be like. I don't know if you guys saw the map in comparison to uh five, but absolutely ridiculously massive. Um, but yeah, it was rumored for spring and they did say 2025, so it's saying fall or early 2026.
Mark Trobough:
Now I mean to be fair. They were forced to prematurely announce it at all, before they wanted to because of that huge leak which they put that kid in prison for or whatever it was, whatever BS that actually was, or he was fined To me it was BSs, but they were. They were forced to announce it, probably a year earlier. They were probably really wanted to. And then it's just kind of like a yeah, this is really early development. You have at least another two to three years where this game is probably realistically going to come, realistically going to come out, and this delay is probably just another symptom of yeah, we thought this was what we were going to be because we had to now come out and say something. But obviously the development's so early in stages it's really hard to tell when it's going to be done. But I mean, best case scenario take your time, don't rush it, even if it gets delayed a year or two this so great.
Brandon Hurles:
Oh, here's what's interesting. I, I bet you know, with that leak, investors are like you guys need to announce this now. I, I guarantee, but they had to.
Mark Trobough:
They were pushed into a corner.
Brandon Hurles:
This says the higher-ups are said to be concerned about the company's ability to wrap up the final stages of GTA 6 development without letting the game slip into 2026. Should everyone keep working remotely? So apparently they're still working remotely on this, why?
Mark Trobough:
I mean you have to get to a point, you have to get that remote works Got to end. Eventually it's probably going to cause more problems than expected.
Kerguhl Games:
That only cause problems. That worries me.
Mark Trobough:
Really I don't know. That's a personal opinion. If I work remote I'm going to be lazy. Then if I'm actually in the office I can mentally get into a workflow a lot better I'm going to be lazy than if I'm actually in the office. I can mentally get into a workflow a lot better.
Kerguhl Games:
But yeah, I work from home and I feel like it. It. It actually motivates me to work more efficiently because then I can have more free time. Um, but that that's just personally how how I see that situation. But it's also interesting because, um, they're releasing still. I mean, I don't know if you guys follow GTA 5, but they released two DLCs. It's not like DLC, it's more like a GTA Online expansion, whatever right Additional content. They released two of those in the last five months, six months. So I'm not necessarily feeling bad for them because they made so much money with online.
Kerguhl Games:
It's ridiculous yeah, but that's my point. It's like, do they actually, you know, are they actually bogged down with gta6 or are they like just not the you know, pushing enough resources into gta6 development?
Brandon Hurles:
that's a great.
Kerguhl Games:
I think it's making they're making so much stuff for for gta 5, right, but to be fair, since we're so far out even from when they originally announced it.
Mark Trobough:
It's just like that game's far from done. It's kind of hard to tell what's going to change, even the next year or so, because game development's such a such a hassle yeah, yeah, I mean.
Kerguhl Games:
I mean, if it comes out as like our red dead redemption 2, like I'm all for it. Right, yeah, just do a good job with the story, because and this is not a popular opinion, I feel like is I care much less for GTA 5 story than I did for GTA 4.
Brandon Hurles:
I think that's probably not a popular opinion, but yeah, I feel the same.
Kerguhl Games:
It just blew my mind Like I just by the end of it. I just didn't care about the characters you know.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I imagine that they've got a pretty big team still on GTA online and I bet the resources are probably pretty split and that's got a lot to do with this, because I mean they are they are making so much money from GTA online Like they've made billions and billions of dollars from that game alone For sure. So like I imagine they're like oh, we can't let this slip until this you know other game comes out, cause we don't want to lose our money. So my thoughts are they're not going to downsize their GTA online team in favor of this.
Mark Trobough:
I assume that the team's going to be permanent, because then they're just going to move the online from the five to the six, probably a dedicated team. You're not working on this. You're going to work on it once this game's done, and now we have to transition. However, the online works to five to six, which is probably going to be sometime after they get close to done or it's already done. There's going to be some kind of a transition.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I also feel like moving over 100%. Yeah, yeah.
Kerguhl Games:
I have a feeling they're going to try to do some kind of transition, like a GTA online transition too, and that might take them additional time because in reality it's such a product in its own Like, when you think about it. It released what 2008.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah.
Mark Trobough:
It's been around for a little bit. 2000 when did when did five come out like I?
Kerguhl Games:
thought it came out before 2008.
Brandon Hurles:
No, it's 2008 you've gotten three gen or three gen releases for this, so it feels like it had to have come out like 10 years, three generations, four gta4 came out in 2008.
Mark Trobough:
I was like five. It had to have come out later than that. It just seemed.
Brandon Hurles:
It's only been 11 years and it's had three different console releases. That's insane.
Mark Trobough:
Wow, there's been no incentive to make a fifth game. It's kind of like Elder Scrolls Online we're just never going to get a sixth game for that series.
Brandon Hurles:
You just get like 50 expansions, it's frustrating.
Kerguhl Games:
Oh my god, I hope they make it meaningful, and I hope they make it meaningful and I hope they make it good. It's just like with things like this, it's just you kind of start losing interest at this point. You know, and I'm sure there's gonna be a ton of people that play it and you still have like maniacs that play gta online rp like every single day. That's all they play yeah, mr copy right up in the comment section.
Mark Trobough:
This is gg5 is a ps3 360 era game yeah it's crazy. Well, as well as uh, okay, you think it's gonna come to the switch too I do.
Brandon Hurles:
You know what they're? Definitely I, I, they want to. I know that I. I know that they want to. Um, I guess it depends on how beefy that hardware is, but you know dang well that Rockstar wants to release out everything they can that's going to sell.
Mark Trobough:
It's not going to have enough power, if you ask me, but that's just based off Nintendo's.
Kerguhl Games:
Red Dead Redemption. Whatever, the Switch 2 is Red Dead Potato.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean I don't know, I guess we'll see it depends, I mean I don't know, like, I guess we'll see it depends on the hardware. We don't know anything pretty much. Dlss. That's all we know.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, if that really is implemented, they're using, you know, like DLSS 3 or whatever that would be enough Outside of it just being like it's on the Switch but you have to stream the game at that point because the hardware doesn't exist on the switch or switch to actually play this game they did a lot of those uh stream only releases there too, for a minute.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, like control was a stream only game. I don't know it'll be interesting. But we do have some breaking news. It's completely uh, didn't have in the notes because it was just posted earlier, but uh, apparently there's a rumor from a well-known Capcom leaker that Resident Evil 9 may be an open world game, adding that Dragon's Dogma 2 is partially to thank for that.
Kerguhl Games:
Oh nice, More microtransactions. Can't wait for that.
Brandon Hurles:
Dragon's Dogma 2 uses the RE engine. I actually didn't know that Interesting. So yeah, it looks like maybe open. That would be kind of insane to see an open world Resident Evil game, because that's like.
Kerguhl Games:
Wouldn't that make it less like scary?
Mark Trobough:
Isn't like a point of those games that you yeah, and a lot of scripted yeah, like it's supposed to be claustrophobic and stuff like that.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah yeah, that's why it'd be really really weird. I mean, like so four, five and six got very action oriented and not scary and then seven brought it back, kind of like return to form, but in first person, where that game was like that was like a legitimately scary game where there were like some of the the scenes happened like actually scared me, playing in the dark, uh, like that is uh, it's like if you don't like horror games, like that is not one to play, cause it is like a pretty brutal game. But um, yeah, I don't know, I don't know how that would go. I don't. It sounds like to me the first thing I think of is like dead rising or something like that. I, I mean, I I don't know, uh, interesting, yeah sure.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, it's certainly interesting don't.
Mark Trobough:
I don't know how that, how that works, but I've never been a big resident evil fan, so I've not played, like you know, one or two of those games.
Kerguhl Games:
So yeah, I, but I also feel like and then, on that note, with like delays and stuff I didn't put in the notes but um riot to me right, even though their games make me want to pull my hair out, they make good games. Um, and their mmo that everybody's been talking about and I don't know how how much you guys like mmos or play them, but I was a very hardcore mmo player for in my early years and, and I was, I've been looking forward to this game and they just announced, um two days ago or yesterday maybe, um, that they're basically, you know, wiping the slate clean, they're, they're starting over and they said, like we're in a position where we, you know, we, we build this universe out, we built it out and we we looked at it and it just doesn't seem like it's uh, it's unique or innovative enough for you guys. And I was like, holy sh*t, a developer that actually kind of like thinks about these things. You know, I I think it's amazing because they're in a position with and you know, league of Legends, as everybody knows, is huge. The TFT, which is a team fight tactics, the auto battler, is huge. They have so many funds coming in that they can afford to do that and I think it's really cool and I can't wait for them to like take fricking seven years from now, I don't care, I'm going to play that.
Kerguhl Games:
I'm going to play that. I'm going to be, you know, running around with four kids with a Steam Deck on my chest, like this, and then I'm going to be like trying to play that MMO while I'm handling kids. It's going to be great. But yeah, I just wanted to say a little kudos to Riot for kind of taking a different approach from a lot of developers nowadays, especially the triple, triple a studios. But on that note also, I really hope the gta 6 um has a meaningful story and that they do the single player right, because, as I said, gta 5 felt it was really fun. I just did not get, I did not care by the end of it, like who I'm going to take out as the character or whatever. I just didn't feel as meaningful as I thought it would yeah, we can move on now.
Mark Trobough:
At this point, I just need to have gator wrestling in this game and then I'll be sold on gta6 yeah, man, everybody loves uh gator wrestling yeah, so next up we got a brandon's spotlight. So what you got going on here, brandon?
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, so we've got in. Playing Sandland made me think of like some older Dragon Ball games I'd play back in the day, so I had picked out Dragon Ball Revenge of King Piccolo. So this follows along pretty closely.
Kerguhl Games:
What no? Go ahead. I'm excited to hear about this.
Brandon Hurles:
So this follows along pretty closely to the anime. It kind of just plays out the anime arc essentially, but it's like a really fun, like sort of beat him up style game. I have always said I'm a bigger fan of the original Dragon Ball than I am Z. I still like Z a lot, but I've always loved the original Dragon Ball because of the adventure aspect versus the focus on fighting. So this gives that sort of adventure aspect of it and it's cool to see the series as a sort of beat-em-up game where you are following along the story. But it actually gives more than like that arc gave, like it goes more in depth, so like, if you want more, like essentially follows along more of like the manga than the anime did, um, but there is actually a multiplayer mode too where there's like a beat them up style sort of like fighting game. It's not like a straight up fighter, it's like a beat-em-up um, but it's like a also like a 3d platformer at the same time and it's really unique because we haven't had that many um like dragon ball related games like that. Uh, I considered putting like legacy of goku on there, but I figured less people had probably heard about this game since it was a wii exclusive and uh, it's actually kind of fetches a little bit of value still today and is just a really good game. I don't know anybody else that's really played it or talked about it, but I absolutely loved it.
Brandon Hurles:
When it came out, I got it when it was new. Anything Dragon Ball during that time I could get my hands on I grabbed. Multiplayer mode was really fun too. Um, played that with with my sister and brother and stuff and I have a lot of uh good memories with that. But yeah, it follows along with the red ribbon army and and all the stuff with, uh, the demon king and all that jazz. So pretty, pretty fun. Released in 2009. I have one question.
Mark Trobough:
The only ones I've played with the Budokai games. Hey, what's up?
Kerguhl Games:
Just one question. But you said it follows the story, so does it follow the moment where Goku is slamming Bulma's crotch to see where her parts are?
Brandon Hurles:
I don't remember, but I'm going to guess no, because it's on the Nintendo Wii. I don't remember that, but I'm going to guess no, because it's on the Nintendo Wii. God, I don't remember that legitimately.
Kerguhl Games:
That's my favorite Dragon Ball moment. Oh my God. For people that don't know, goku is just this little kid and Bulma kind of goes on this adventure with him and they're in the little trailer. She falls asleep. He comes up to her and just smacks full open hand on her crotch and he's like where are your private parts?
Brandon Hurles:
I'll tell you what. I have always thought that like Dragon Ball was like a lot more perverted than like any of the other series.
Mark Trobough:
Oh my God, it's so bad.
Brandon Hurles:
I just felt like because, yeah, you had like Masa Roshi and Z, but I felt like he was the only sort of dynamic with that. In Dragon Ball you had Goku, that was that way, and even Bulma would say stuff oh, for sure.
Mark Trobough:
And of course.
Brandon Hurles:
Master Roshi, and that was still very perverted. So that series was definitely unique. It had a lot of comedy, it had a lot of adventure.
Kerguhl Games:
Of course there was some fighting, but I felt like it just offered um and also fighting felt more meaningful on that note, like you know, through comedy and all that stuff. And then all of a sudden it gets serious and you're like kind of on the edge of your seat and you're like, oh sh*t, like this things are happening all of a sudden, in a sense when in z it's, it's a lot more, as Brandon said, like you will have 15 episodes in a row, just like straight up like a tournament.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, they're just charging the whole time and you like pan over to some. You know filler thing that's happening and goes back and Goku's charging.
Mark Trobough:
Like you brought. You brought that up and just made me think of the uh the Namek arc, where it's like not Goku's coming, it's going to take 50 episodes, but he's coming.
Brandon Hurles:
So like I'm nostalgic for that, that stuff. But like the times I've gone back to watch like I had to watch Kai, because like I just couldn't, I couldn't sit through all of that again, there are ones that I've specifically gone back to watch because there are like some filler episodes I really like that are just like stupid. There's always the anime trope of a filler episode where they're like on the beach and it's like a beach day or a pool day. I don't know if you remember that, mark, but it seems like every anime from that era did that. It's like a random pool day in between the next arc. That starts.
Mark Trobough:
It's the mandatory beach episode.
Brandon Hurles:
Always Pokemon did it, digimon did it, everything I can think of from that era did it. You hawk a show like they all, all of them did it. They all had like a beach pool episode.
Brandon Hurles:
there was like some random filler that made absolutely zero sense and was usually pretty boring, so so yeah that's a, but it's a cool one, released by bandai, uh, of course, and um, yeah, so check it out if you get the opportunity. It's it's really, really fun. There's two different modes too, and stuff too. There's like this uh uh, kamehameha uh, battle mode too, so it was like completely different, like a separate mode from the, the story um, to offer like different content, but it's a lot of fun, like, if you like, arcade style beat-em-ups, but like that adventure aspect too, like the 3d platforming, like it'd be right up your alley whether you like dragon ball or not mr coffee brought up.
Mark Trobough:
Hell was renamed as a hyphal, and I don't know if it was like that in the original, but I do remember, uh, watching the dvz bridge. Home for Infinite Losers is what they called it. I don't know if that's what it's called in the original dub.
Brandon Hurles:
I remember that. Yeah, we did a whole discussion on that abridged last week. Yeah, he brought up Origins 2. That's another one that actually released on the Wii and DS and, like he said, it's like an isometric RPG. It's again like a different style, for the series doesn't usually have like those type of games. So that's a really good one too. I think the we I preferred the Wii version over the DS, which kind of surprising for me, but I thought that we offered a little more content. It was a little, a little bit more fun, but that's another good one to actually debate it on which one of those to put on there. But I feel like less people have probably heard of this one, so yeah, probably.
Mark Trobough:
But I mean, I guess, if you're done with that, we can get into one of our first of our main stories. Apparently, the psvr2 headset production has been paused by sony surprise uh, as of right now they were saying they're uh, until it clears its existing inventory, which probably signals they're not selling that well what I wonder is is there going to be a price cut?
Brandon Hurles:
and there's no way they're going to completely, there's no way they're going to completely stop development for this. It's had a year like they didn't even do that. The psvr1 and it, it it sold less units than the psvr2 has. So, like it's not, you know, it's doing better than the last one. But yeah, I don't, I don't know, I I'm not surprised.
Mark Trobough:
We we talked about this a couple of times because it's popped in the news about like yeah, about the studio that laid off 900 developers that pretty much worked in with their vr, which means it's not doing enough for them to continue supporting this, but apparently they were also testing PC compatibility with it to try to yeah, I assume, to salvage it to some degree, but it seems like it's just the PC VR is just killing it. Nobody, nobody, cares for PlayStation VR.
Brandon Hurles:
It sucks. It's crazy because I actually had this weird random with a stranger yesterday, these treatments that I have, um, brought up VR and we were talking about VR and she's like I really liked the meta quest three. She saw I was wearing like a Zelda shirt and had my demon slayer hat on or whatever, and uh, we got into discussion with that and she she's like I'm, I'm 54 and I use the meta quest three to to work out, and then I play this game called Guerrilla Tag with my kids and they all got their own headsets.
Kerguhl Games:
That game is awesome.
Brandon Hurles:
I heard one other person talk about it. I know nothing about it, but she said all of our kids have their own individual MetaQuest 3 headsets which, by the way, are $500. So I was like, oh, dang must have got some money. But uh, we were talking about it and she's like, yeah, we had the psvr one. Um, we had looked at the, the two, but I just don't like it being corded, like I don't like the cord, that's, that's, that's fair. I mean, like, you know, the um, what's the? Not the steam, the um, uh, who is it that made the like the first one that was big, was it not the meta quest?
Brandon Hurles:
no, there was there was that one hdc, that one and another one that, like I literally just saw that they're going to discontinue or something. I don't know the guys that did half valve, the valve index oh, oh yeah yeah, wait they're discontinuing about index. I'm pretty sure that's what I saw. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, okay, I think that they announced a while ago that they're doing a new one.
Brandon Hurles:
Um, and there there was a report saying you can do it wired and wireless, which is the move like that's I think that that was one of the downfalls of this is like not having a wireless option for it. Like there could have been something they did, even at like an accessory, a battery, I don't know something right that they could have did. Uh, but I think that the the pc compatibility would be huge for this. Would it will outsell the meta quest 3? Absolutely not. I don't think that any headset at this point is that it's going to out, so that has its own dedicated hardcore fan base at this point. People love it. It's 50. This is technically still more powerful than the meta quest, which makes sense because you do plug it in. It has to be wired, so you're getting that direct technology versus being just straight up wireless. But, um, like at what cost? You know what I mean. Like at what cost? You know what I mean? Like at the cost of not selling at all? Does our matter if at that point, yeah.
Kerguhl Games:
I feel like VR is still in its stages, where there's some games that look amazing, like I played Blade and Sorcery with my what is it called it's?
Brandon Hurles:
the HV.
Kerguhl Games:
No, it's. Is it HT. It's the HV? No, it's. Is it HTC Vive?
Brandon Hurles:
Or no the Vive.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, the Vive, okay, htc, Well, vive 2, I guess, or something, or S. No, rift S? Oh, yeah, okay, rift S. And there are some really cool games Like this one you have to plug it in. And I have games like this one you have to plug it in, and I have a really decently powerful pc, but the games that I had the most fun with usually look like crap. Yeah, right, like you don't really need a super powerful computer to have fun in vr, like the more of it is like like that, the monkey, what is it called?
Brandon Hurles:
the monkey tag, gorilla tag. I still have never seen gameplay for it, but you gotta see it.
Kerguhl Games:
It's insane like there's a guy on youtube that just does videos of like him. They're scaring like little kids in that game. It's hilarious.
Brandon Hurles:
There are a lot of vr streamers like I. I tried to do it. You can go back. I'm embarrassed, very embarrassed of them, but they're on the channel, whatever, go back. And I did three vr streams and, like I, I knew nothing right, like I had not even played vr before, so like I didn't know there's. There's all this equipment that you realistically gotta have for the vr. You can't just like straight up, do a normal stream in vr, right, because I had it where they were seeing what I was seeing but also seeing me. It just wasn't set up right. I think it's cool the way people do it, um, but I I do think that, um, like I, like I said, the pc compatibility would be huge for this. That blatant sorcery, by the way, is coming to the psvr and it's an updated version of that oh yeah it's like an expanded version or something, and it doesn't.
Kerguhl Games:
It doesn't have multiplayer in that version, right I?
Brandon Hurles:
I dad, I can't tell you. It was in the last PlayStation.
Kerguhl Games:
Ah that sucks.
Brandon Hurles:
It was in the last PlayStation event. They did a whole highlighted section on the PSVR too.
Kerguhl Games:
Interesting.
Brandon Hurles:
Of course, it was all third-party developers. Of course. Yeah, they don't want to invest in it.
Brandon Hurles:
I will say the Horizon game on it that came with mine about the bundled version is a. It's amazing like it looks beautiful, like it plays really well. I still haven't beat it. I, to be honest with you, I haven't played my VR headset very much. I haven't spent a ton of time with it. So I would like some other things to draw me back in, but for me it's like it's a bit of a headache because it's like a whole extra thing I got to clear out space, like it forces you for that game specifically to make it scans your room and you have to have a certain amount of space and, like I just don't have the space.
Brandon Hurles:
There's three games that I bought physically because, like physical PSVR two games, for some reason, are like they all go up in value and there aren't that many of them. I think there's like something like 30 of them in total, um, but three of them I can't play at all because you have to have so much space for the games they require you. They won't let you continue to the game at all. I'm like this is frustrating.
Brandon Hurles:
That is so stupid. Like give me a mode where it works with the space I have, then like get you know what I mean, do something like there's got to be some that's and that kind of peed me off and I like I can't play three of the games I got. Like makes me mad. But the Horizon game the time I spent probably put a good like three hours into it it is like a full game. It's a pretty lengthy game, from what I understand, is really good and it connects directly into the story and I know people love it. Uh, I wish they'd bring over that astrobot game from the psvr one. Uh, because I know people absolutely love that game and I I saw an article the other day the guy talking about and I've heard on youtube too that that was a launch demo. It was like actually it wasn't a demo, it was a full game. It was a launch game for the psvr one and it's still the best, best, they said the best use of that.
Mark Trobough:
That it's a really good game and it's really. But you don't, you don't have to, you don't really have to do a whole. You just use regular control and just sit there and play it and then it plays just fine.
Brandon Hurles:
You just get like the depth and feel of it. But yeah it said it's still like the best use all the way up to the last. Actually, there's still psvr1 games coming out, believe it or not, like there's been limited run releases and stuff like that. But um, yeah, I I. The fact that they aren't pointing that over tells me that they really don't give a crap. And why even release the thing?
Mark Trobough:
because they're they're selling this at a loss too yeah, the technology doesn't doesn't know what to do with vr, they just blunder everything.
Brandon Hurles:
I you know who I wish would do vr. I legitimately wish microsoft will get in the game because they have the funds to do it. They, they have the actual funds to do it. They've got a beefier system. They've got pc. Pc they're fully on board with PC, game Pass, all the jazz, like yeah, they own Windows, like they're all on board with PC as much as they are with the Xbox. I wish they would get into it. They have more money than any of these companies doing it.
Mark Trobough:
You know, I guess Maybe they see it as too much of a risk to lose money because it's like oh, we already on pc and everybody outside of sony that does vr does it on pc. So like what's, what's the incentive for them to do it specifically?
Brandon Hurles:
yeah, I, I it would just like competition is good, right, like competition in general is good. Unfortunately, playstation is like losing out again because, like the psvr one did well and I think by the end of it they I think they weren't selling it at a loss they ended up discounting those. They were discounting them pretty low and just people bought them up. People liked it. I know a lot of people that liked it. I know that it was pretty ass from what I understand.
Mark Trobough:
I didn't like it at all, but people still loved it.
Brandon Hurles:
It had a pretty hardcore fan base. I knew people that were collecting, going for full sets of the physical games for it Just absolutely loved it. Sony even made it to where now, of course, this piece you can no longer order and goes for crazy, crazy money. And I kind of wish I had owned one so I could have got this. But there's an adapter that you can. You you'd have to buy it like on ebay now, but there was an adapter for the ps5 to hook up the psvr1 to the ps5. But now that adapter goes for like crazy money. But before, if you had the serial number to the psvr1, you got it for free, they mailed it out to you, so it was like a free accessory to be able to play. But of course now they don't offer it anymore. I don't know guys, I don't know Kurgle, do you play VR often? Is it like a regular thing for you?
Kerguhl Games:
Not anymore. I used to play it literally all the time and unfortunately, lately I just had play it like literally all the time, um, and unfortunately, like lately it's just been. I just had, because of the baby, less and less time really. Um, but when I did play and that's why I was asking him if, if blade and sorcery and that like updated version, has um, uh, whatchamacallit, uh, multiplayer, because there's a multiplayer mod that you can get on PC and it was like the graphics are not amazing or anything like that, but it was such a blast.
Kerguhl Games:
I had so much fun playing that game for probably like three weeks straight, just like doing everything. The physics are hilarious. You can do a bunch of things. Now they unlock new areas for multiplayer. It just it was just a ton of fun. So I think definitely people should, should, should, give it a go and yeah, the the whole thing with Microsoft it's it makes no sense. But at the same time, maybe they're going to be doing more, because really the problem with VR is just I don't know if you guys followed the um, whatchamacallit, the Assassin's Creed VR, like it didn't sell well at all. Yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
I know I wouldn't play that. I want to play it.
Kerguhl Games:
It looks really fun. It looks really fun. We, they're like we're not doing this again.
Brandon Hurles:
We're not doing any more VR because of that.
Kerguhl Games:
Exactly, Exactly. That sucks, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I think it's still so early. There's a couple of games that I played in VR that just it blew my mind how fun it was Like for real.
Brandon Hurles:
It was what blew my mind how fun it was like for real.
Kerguhl Games:
It was well, go ahead. Have you played half-life, alex? I have not, I haven't, I haven't bought it yet, but, um, I played a ton of pavlov, which is like a counter-strike for vr, and it has like custom mods. You can play hide and seek modes. Um, you can find a ton of different things prop hunt, you can play a zombie mode, you can play gun game. You can play all these different things, all these different weapons and and people make mods for it and it's just like super fun, like I could literally just, if you made me choose one thing or like one system, it would, it would be weak. Vr, like 100 dang. It is so seamless. The multiplayer is super fun. You know, even though you're in this virtual world, it's like you feel closer to your friends when you're playing with them because, like you know, you have your hand gestures and you can like do stupid things and it just so, so fun.
Brandon Hurles:
It's sad to see that it's it's not doing that well yeah, the reason I asked about half-life alex is I know like pretty universally from all the conversations I've had and just like everything I've seen is like it's like the best vr game apparently. Like people absolutely love it and I've watched a ton of gameplay because I'm a big half-life fan and it looks amazing like you can't really see the depth when you're watching videos, but like for sure, when you know I've heard people talk about it and and all this stuff, like it looks like a really, really fun game and it's supposed to be coming to the psvr too, but I don't. I don't think it ever actually got released. I remember last year, because I reported on it, that it was announced that playstation did get the rights from Valve to bring it over, but I don't. I don't ever remember hearing that it actually got released. Like I was trying to look it up and I can't find anything. I see it.
Brandon Hurles:
Psvr 2 is reportedly getting this is when I reported on it last year getting the best VR game of all time. It was like one of the articles and yeah, I don't know that it actually has come because that would make me break out the headset to play again. I've wanted to play that for so long. But like I'm not going to, I would not buy just the valve system to play that. But I mean, that's why I like if you have Rift S or something like that it's, it's affordable, you can find it used for like.
Kerguhl Games:
I mean that's why, like, if you have Rift S or something like that, it's affordable, you can find it used for like. I mean 200 bucks nowadays and because it uses hardware from your computer, it runs amazing, it looks amazing. I mean really really low, low price to enter that space with a PC. Yeah for sure.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, they need to. I hope that PC compatibility comes to PSVR 2 because it's already powerful, but it can be tenfold. It could do a lot more because it's the most capable right now on the market as far as specs go, and that would be cool to see because that would give incentive, just like the rest of PlayStation wanting to, to put a focus on pc, which they should, because they're they're missing a whole demographic and pc gaming, I would say, is like bigger than it's ever been. However, it's still not at the console market, but it's still big.
Kerguhl Games:
They're missing out on a gigantic crowd of people wait, and there's I thought, and correct me if I'm wrong. I thought that there's. The pc market is bigger than both consoles I feel like it is.
Brandon Hurles:
There's no way. It's bigger than the switch. There's absolutely well because, there's so much.
Mark Trobough:
There's so much overlap already, but there's a lot of people that only the only game on pc. Pc has to be the biggest.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, there's a lot of people that only only game on pc. Pc has to be the biggest. Well, there's a lot of people that only game on xbox or only game on ps5. I mean, it's the same deal. I I think, honestly, that's hard to gauge because there are also a lot of people that have you know, multiple like.
Mark Trobough:
Like I said, it's very yeah, there's, there's a decent amount that.
Brandon Hurles:
That's a crossover that counts towards both, both markets to some degree yeah, I I wonder if there's like an updated definitive article, but from my understanding, because consoles are just like easier for people, right like that's, that has been my problem. I'm finally getting a desktop pc soon, I'm still gaming.
Mark Trobough:
The bar to entry is not always that high because a lot, a lot of people that get into pc gaming they don't build their own, they'll buy a pre-built, pre-built which is more, is more expensive than building your own usually. And buy a few hundred.
Brandon Hurles:
I've been doing research like crazy on it the past week.
Mark Trobough:
If you're already going to do that. If you already want to spend that kind of money, it's negligibly more expensive, Maybe $400 or $500 more expensive.
Brandon Hurles:
It depends, yeah, so there's market share.
Kerguhl Games:
Market share from grand view, research industry analysis. For the gaming industry it looks like mobile is the biggest well, yeah, okay that doesn't count, yeah, it's not gaming despite no no no, no, no, but listen, listen, so. So gaming is the biggest, and then we have the console devices experience growth with around 31% of market share in 2021. And then what does it say for PC? What's the percentage for it? I don't know. I just read recently On the graph it looks similar, but yeah, PC gaming is much, much bigger than people think.
Brandon Hurles:
Way bigger than it for sure was. Because I mean I was, look, I was PC gaming when people didn't care about PC games at all, because PC gaming is realistically During the period of time when I was hyper, like, like, hyper focused in the gaming, like I was. I would think I started PC gaming when I was I think I was nine, because I would go over to my grandma. I was like that's, you know, she had a high end PC at the time. I actually got graphics cards and updated, I mean, cause she worked from home, so she had her laptop that she would use and I was back there all day in this dedicated computer room and like I mean, I was playing everything. I had the floppy drive, I had the disk drive, everything. So I was playing like old stuff and you know everything with the virtual machine and like it. I had a lot of fun.
Brandon Hurles:
But then there was a long gap after that, after I had grown up and stopped going over to my grandma's to play pc um was no longer a kid, I would say by like the age of like 14 I stopped doing that, uh, and then there was just that gap where they just lost me after that and I just got out of the loop and um had stuck the consoles after that, but like I, it's it 100 percent bigger than it was then.
Brandon Hurles:
Because I can remember at that point in time nobody talked about PC gaming. Mark, I think you can probably attest to this because we, we semi talked about it, like even we go to your house. I remember us playing like of course we play like Cartoon, orbit Right, but other than that we played like Civilization maybe, and I can't really think of anything else that you know, know, and you even said at that point in time like you did play on the pc a little bit, but it wasn't like console, and I think that was just a general consensus for most people. Because I feel like at that point in time pc gaming was really an adult thing, like it was more geared towards adults like it, I more and more adults or mmos and stuff like that.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, yeah, I just it's funny it's so funny when you guys talk about it because it was completely like in eastern europe it was. That was the way you played games like then nobody like the only, like the rich families had like consoles. And it's funny to me because, you know, and maybe that's why we have such different tastes in video games too, because we didn't have anything besides PC, you know. So like Age of Empires, like that might, might have seemed intimidating to people here in the US. Dang you, bump your head.
Kerguhl Games:
But you who me? You're just like, like oh you're good.
Mark Trobough:
No, but I do know what you're saying because I do know, like we, a little bit. It's changed now, but if you go back like a decade or plus, like just because I know, uh, age of empires 2, like the competitive scene, it always seemed like the top players were coming out of europe, like like the top player was first out of europe.
Brandon Hurles:
It makes sense. But I will tell you this what one of the other reasons like a mid grade PC that we would then upgrade from. My grandma spent $1,100 on a like I. I would say at the time it was like a mid grade Cause we still upgraded the graphics card from it. Like six months later it was $1,100 for for this Dell and of course Dell made really low and cheap like entry-level PCs too, but like it was expensive. And then you've got the GameCube. That's $300. So, like that's the reason here, it was definitely if you were getting into actually playing games and like even running like something like WoW at the time or whatever, like civilization at that point in time, like it it was just. It was just a different landscape. If you're wanting to play the new fps's, it was totally different. You had to have a rig that could run counter-strike you know what I?
Brandon Hurles:
mean like you would have to have a built rig to run it, because I tried to do it with the stock 1100 pc and it I couldn't even run these games so like it it must be just entirely different, like with the market, like as far as cost of pcs versus consoles there, which makes sense because I mean you've got, I I'm sure that there's like, uh, like, what was a, um, a PC brand that you grew up with? Like what was it A pretty common one that we have here, was it? Are there other brands that were?
Kerguhl Games:
just in Europe I mean, yeah, honestly, I cannot remember Well, because when we were kids like you didn't really your parents would usually get a computer, and it was like I don't even know how this started, but it was you would have a family computer, right, so your parents wouldn't get it to for you to play video games. Like you know, it was just a computer that a family had in the living room and that somehow I don't even know how it just became a standard for, like most homes.
Brandon Hurles:
It did. I agree we didn't get one till we were poor. So that's why I said going to my grandma's like that's how I got my Game Boy and any of the handheld systems or anything I had was from her Like never got anything here. We were always behind got the, the budget stuff and at the end of the life cycle. But yeah, I mean you're right, like cause we did eventually have like that family computer that everybody shared and I hogged for my space and hogged up the phone lines. And you know, that's when, by the time we got one.
Brandon Hurles:
that's what I was doing, Like it was so long.
Mark Trobough:
I need to get on Facebook. My farm needs me. I need to grow on facebook, my farm needs me.
Brandon Hurles:
I need my friends to grow the ogs that used to be the sh*t back then were you guys on myspace my.
Kerguhl Games:
I kind of never cared about that era I was I was playing wow and was that you're like top?
Mark Trobough:
five or whatever it is.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, basically you're saying I didn't get any girls, that's basically what you're saying I was a giant nerd dude that's all I did, man, at that point in time, like it was my space and finding what to do, that we had something called bear share.
Kerguhl Games:
I think it was called what bear sh*t? Yeah, it was like a, it was like a imagine like spotify with. No, it's like spotify, with like social media features. It was really weird, interesting, yeah it is.
Brandon Hurles:
It's weird what, uh, myspace turned into and I get it always was kind of like music oriented, but it was very, very popular. I mean, like I don't think I I didn't move over to Facebook until it was out for like probably four years. Like I was there too. I was on MySpace till the end. Man, I did not want to. I was like I don't want to set up a new profile.
Brandon Hurles:
Dude, I've got all my, I got my top 10 already set up here that people have argued over, Like like I never had a MySpace.
Mark Trobough:
I only ever had a Facebook that I was reluctant to even get on Facebook at that I did not want to get on Facebook. Back in high school.
Brandon Hurles:
At that point in time I was like look, I held on to the end.
Mark Trobough:
And then I did because we talked about this a while ago. As far as the market share stuff, I found something from NewZoocom or something like that where, as it stands in 2021, this is based off revenue, but the PC market had 19 of the market revenue, a console at 22 and obviously mobile gaming has 59 of this 180.1 billion market uh revenue in gaming in 2021. Uh, and actually year after year, both the pc and the console are shrinking, but they're technically not shrinking in percentages, they're just getting mobile. The mobile market share is just outgaining them as far as revenue. But as it stands right now, year after year from 2012 to 2021, the console market's growing at a 2.3% rate and PC's growing at 3.1% rate as far as the revenue goes. Pc's on track to eventually outshine console as far as the revenue of this were to take place, but they're continuing to shrink overall market revenue just because the mobile market is just so big.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, everybody's got a phone and mobile games are getting better. I mean, we just learned that there's some new releases that are coming out for phone, or like the next iPhone, because it has DLSS.
Mark Trobough:
You have like your Fortnite, your call of duty Cause, even Sony and them. It's like oh, here you can play your games, Just snap this little controller on and you can play your games on, on on mobile. Now with this mobile app and stuff like that, yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean they're, they're very, Even with my 14,. There are full-on games. You saw what GTA V went to. The Netflix app thing where you could play on there. That's crazy, Just all these things. And the iPhone 16 is supposed to have some crazy chip in it. That's also going to make it cost much more. That's very, very gaming-capable, plus having DLSS, Because they've got that into Mac. I actually was going to throw this in the notes, but that it's really good.
Mark Trobough:
It's a really good ship.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, they've got the ultra version of it now.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, they keep getting better versions of it.
Brandon Hurles:
And I was. I was both shocked and not shocked at the cost of this because, like, if you, if you compare to like a high-end pc, I guess, like it is, it's, it's beefy as is all hell, but the problem is is that you can't, can't really upgrade these, but that that m2 ultra. So I was looking at their um, their best model, essentially with the most cores, and it had some like 72 cores or something crazy. Uh, it was hopefully I can pull it up kind of quick. But I was shocked at the price it was. It was something like fifteen thousand dollars or something like that, like a really, really high price and I knew it was going to be expensive. But the lower tier m2 ultra, um, this I forget what the actual computer is called, but the one that has an m2 ultra chip, the, the cheaper version, is eight grand.
Kerguhl Games:
So, uh, that gives you a massive yeah. Well, it's not made for gaming, though.
Brandon Hurles:
Like then, that's, that's professional, that's for professional work, pretty much at that point it is, but it also is used for gaming, because, I mean, there are people that you can use it for it.
Mark Trobough:
But I mean that's you're gonna find that just a game. Unless you have just that, you're ridiculously amount of extra money.
Kerguhl Games:
You just piss away yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not, it's not necessarily it's well, I'm saying because of compatibility video yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just the fact that developers just don't make games for max anymore, which I mean I think it sucks because it does suck man, even even Linux has like some crazy support lately when it comes to when it comes to like games compared to, compared to Macs my buddy was really trying to convince me to go the Mac route versus the thing, so not your friend is what you're saying.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah well, so here's the thing a lot of because working with like film and the stuff that I do with film, school and all that, like a lot of people do edit, prefer to edit with mac and and I found that the software is way easier to use and than adobe premiere. I mean, adobe premiere is very in depth but it's either adobe premiere or you're editing on a mac, like those are the only options when it comes to like film, like that. That's it that people don't edit film or any of that stuff on davinci, resolve or anything like that. There's just not enough options. There's not.
Mark Trobough:
Macs are good, like the MacBook Pro and the other versions. They're good for what they do. They're just not. They're not designed for gaming. It's designed for professional, like photography and film and stuff like that. That's really what it's designed to do and it does it really well. Which, like that, that's really what it's designed to do and it does it really well, which is why I never got the the art between mac and and microsoft's pc. I'm like they're designed to do two very different things. They do both of them pretty well, like if you're gonna game, you you just get a regular pc. If you're gonna do professional work, you do, uh, mac, and if you're a sociopath, you go linux, I mean yeah, I would not go linux, linux is good for a very niche thing, which is usually something arbitrary.
Mark Trobough:
That's not not the average person I. I have issues with linux I used back in the day and I liked it, but it's been many, many, many years.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh. So, by the way, I I kept saying that for for audio listeners. I apologize, I was talking about the M3 chip, but their Mac Ultra, mac Studio, if you go with the highest end model, is 80 GPU cores and I was trying to pull up a price too. None of these one, I don't know. I went straight to the website and not give me a price, but anyway, it's insanely expensive, but it's got some juice, man. The thing that sucks about those is when it comes time to upgrade. You just got to buy a whole new unit. That's the problem.
Kerguhl Games:
They're not modular. In a way, that's what they're targeting. Yeah, but that's what they're targeting. You don't buy a Mac to upgrade it. You buy a Mac because you have the money.
Mark Trobough:
But they're. They're targeting not individuals, are targeting like companies and corporations to buy their stuff, not not the individual. That's why they're so expensive yeah, and at that at that level you don't care if you're just going to upgrade. It's easier to upgrade other stuff. Well, I mean like mac, mac stuff just works and it works really well. I as much as I wish it worked better for gaming, because I love the whole Mac operating system. It's just as many issues as it has. It's very well used. It's really user-friendly, very user-friendly, easy to use.
Kerguhl Games:
Well, yeah, but also you've got to consider the development between the two. Like iOS is built on devices that they know what they have, you know you have this much, much ram, this much cpu processing power, this much gpu processing power, it's much easier to optimize and make it efficient, yeah, compared to windows, which you can slap a freaking potato on the cpu slot and it's, it's gonna work.
Mark Trobough:
it's gonna work terribly, but it's gonna work, but that's the issue from the microsoft, where it's a open source code, where apple it's a closed source code, but everything works within itself really well, yeah. Yeah, I mean, they each have their own issues, just yeah, pick and choose what you want to what you want to use.
Brandon Hurles:
The at the end of the day, I mean, and mac is just plug and play too. That's why a lot of people go that they don't want to mess with, like building a higher end um pc for video plug and plug and play what?
Kerguhl Games:
because there's no games for it.
Brandon Hurles:
I'm joking, yeah well, mr, mr coffee, mr radar did want to hit a few of his comments here. Sorry for anybody commenting, not ignoring you. Uh, he said farming simulator is huge in europe. Uh, also said that he had an hp gateway, pentium 3. Hp gateways are very popular then.
Kerguhl Games:
Okay, that's maybe what it was, because we always had Pentium 1, 2, or 3. That was usually what was around. They were cheap too.
Brandon Hurles:
You could get a low grade for $300. He said he got it with 500 megabytes of storage and my friend was flipping out. That was too much space, he said. He said you would never fill it up. Uh, and he said who was on your top 10 friend list on myspace? Well, mark wasn't, because he wasn't on there. Um, I was tom on there. Tom was on there. Actually did it as a joke. I left tom on tom everyone just ignored tom.
Mark Trobough:
He was the real og I never had my space, but it's. Tom was always there.
Brandon Hurles:
He never left dude, he never left anybody, I mean he was an og. Uh also said uh, you forgot the gta collection that came on the consoles was port, the mobile version, yeah, uh. So yeah, it's actually pretty funny. Like have you guys ever played the grand theft auto stories games? I haven't. No, they're actually both my my favorite gta games still today.
Brandon Hurles:
So vice city stories and liberty city stories they're actually oh yeah they were on ps2, but there are ports of the psp game because it came on psp first. It was really interesting to see a psp game at that point in time when, when that console was new, what it looked like on a PS2. And let's just say the PSP version is still better. He said well, you can maybe that is a Microsoft end game to have a streaming service for Mac users to use. So yeah, so we talked a bit about Mac there. What do we got next now?
Mark Trobough:
The next big article we got is Git Labs confirms it removed Suyu, a fork of Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu. Yes, you guys. So they disabled the accounts of its developers.
Brandon Hurles:
After receiving what appears to be a, from what the article says, from the Verge, a scary email from the dmc takedown request yeah, so I I did a little, uh, this one I was able to do a little bit of a deep dive on um. So, yeah, there there was. It's not confirmed about that dmca takedown from what I understand, but I think that git lab was just like hey, let's get this off here for now. We're gonna remove it just in case, because of the stuff happened. It's. It's weird because suyu was literally a copycat clone of yuzu to replace it. So I'm confused where the scare factor is because, like the potential loss.
Mark Trobough:
They don't want to deal with a lawsuit from Nintendo.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, they're working on a new one called Zuzu.
Brandon Hurles:
It's the replacement of Yuzu from the lawsuit. So that's why I'm like why are they afraid now? So maybe that did happen, but from what I understand, there was no actual confirmation that a Nintendo employee threatened them, or a lawyer or whatever Not employee like lawyer what it would have been. But yeah, git lab is 100, just going to move this somewhere else on the internet and it may get a different name, like this is I.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't think it's forgotten about well, and the other thing is there's, there's another, um, there's another big nintendo switch emulator 2 right now, so like it's not the only one, I just think it seems really really stupid to me to go and name it something really close to the thing that just had a lawsuit. I mean, they pay it out the rest of their lives on that lawsuit from that, so why would you even go and do that?
Brandon Hurles:
to me that is stupid out of spite it's like alright, screw I do you want to risk the the money involved with that spite like I?
Mark Trobough:
don't. I don't know what the what, the legal, what they actually got nailed on. I don't know anything about the lawsuits. I don't know what exactly what got them nailed, the lawsuit? So they might be like well, this is technically a workaround, it's still a gray area, but you got it for this and we're just going to do it differently, that you can't necessarily come after us the same way again.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't know well, I'll tell you this um, I still haven't got my switch cart yet, so not too happy about that and got robbed brother those damn russians the the meg switch man, what is going on?
Brandon Hurles:
yeah, the other emulator is called ryu jinx and you can actively go on it right now on your desktop and use it. So, uh, I still pretty peed off trying to be able to give an update to you guys about the meg switch, because I was pretty excited about it and like apparently people have gotten it. So like I don't understand, some people have gotten it, others are haven't. I don't understand. Some people have gotten it, others are haven't, and like they're worried that now they're not going to ship out the other units and there's no refunds.
Kerguhl Games:
They heard you buy Nintendo games at full price, so they got pissed. They're not sending you one.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, I'll tell you what I did. I'll tell you what I did't buy at full price. Mark, I've talked I don't actually don't know if I talked to you about it, but I've talked about it on One of the last like 15 episodes but I didn't even know they were still around. But QVC runs these deals all the time where you get this discount code and you get like $20 off a new release game. So I've used I've gone through four emails now to keep using it. So I got the. It didn't come today, even though it's release day. It kind of pisses me off. But the Princess Peach game, I got it for like $31 because I also had like a $5 coupon from my last purchases or my last purchase.
Mark Trobough:
You're stealing food out of Nintendo's mouths because of that.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean $60 new release game, 31 bucks, man, I'll. I'll take it so.
Brandon Hurles:
I'll make a Nintendo employee suffer and starve but look, you don't not just switch games, like any of these games coming out, like you can use these codes on. They're just a general code, like welcome 20 or whatever the code is for the week for them. And like, seriously, people take advantage of this, like get these. If you want to get these new release games and not wait for like a sale price, like be able to play it like dragons dogma 2, you could have got that on there 20 bucks off. Uh, like take advantage of it.
Kerguhl Games:
So you can buy the. So you can buy the, the microtransactions. You gotta save that money.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, it's not like Nintendo's losing money, because whoever is selling it already paid Nintendo for the product and then they gotta resell it. So I guess they can either take the loss or they're hoping you buy other stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Or you just keep making emails and you don't buy other stuff. You just abuse the system. The other cool thing that they offer too is it doesn't matter the price of the item. You can do it for something that's $10. But they've got like a free plan thing where you can do in five split payments, so like if you want to get something, use this code and then you could just do that. They don't work through a third party service for it either. It's like straight through QVC. It's like straight through QVC.
Brandon Hurles:
So like if you want to buy your game now and pay, like you know, eight bucks for it right now and every two weeks pay another eight bucks, you can do that too. So seriously, jump on that. Like if there's some games that you want to get, it's a new release. Like a game like that for me, like I'm excited to play it. I played the demo and mostly like to play it my daughter, but like it it's just a platforming game. It's like mario uh. So that's you know, looking forward to it. But I wasn't like super in love with the demo or anything like it didn't feel as good as like super mario brothers wonder, but it was still fun. So like. It felt like kirby to me, because you get all these abilities.
Brandon Hurles:
You get like a ninja ability and like that's what it felt like it felt like Kirby, but more like, less like floaty and and like I had a real story with like actual cinematics and I mean some of the Kirby games do too but like had real, like cinematic cut scenes, like an actual story so maybe, maybe it actually is a Kirby game and Kirby just is taking over Princess Peach's life.
Mark Trobough:
Maybe, isn't it crazy?
Brandon Hurles:
we've only ever taking over Princess Peach's life. Maybe Isn't that crazy. We've only ever gotten two Princess Peach games In however long 40 years? Not really.
Mark Trobough:
Whatever, that's how I look at it, take that with a grain of salt.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we got something about Larian Studios, right, yeah so it was announced, I think, yesterday, that they're not doing any.
Mark Trobough:
They're done with Baldur's Gate 3. No DLC. You bought the game, you got the full game, but they're also done with it. Not planning on a fourth game, they're moving on to something else after this. Good, I say good, yeah, a series that actually gets an ending, just not forever Halo games.
Kerguhl Games:
Nah, honestly, I don't blame them. They probably heard so much crap from Hasbro Because they bought a license, right. So, yeah, I can only imagine. And Larian is such a good studio because they kind of they they're even an article came out like an hour before, uh, we went live but an article came out that talked about a developer like a lead developer who was leading a team on working on a dlc for baldur's gate 3, and they scrapped it because they weren't feeling it. How many studios can say that we don't feel like making this, we don't feel like we're passionate about this project or about this DLC. It just doesn't feel right. We're not going to do it. I admire them for it, honestly.
Brandon Hurles:
I do, too, same thing as with Riot, with a game that did so well too. They're like we just don't care.
Kerguhl Games:
it's like right on man, we can make a better a game just as good with a different IP exactly, and they have Divinity Original Sin, which, you know, a lot of people know about, but that's a game that did well. Not a lot of people were crazy about it, but they can take the knowledge and experience they got from Baldur's Gate three and just apply to a new divinity divinity game.
Brandon Hurles:
What's yeah, what's crazy is that Baldur's Gate three like really introduced people in the series. But, man, I'm telling you, one and two are such good games too, like they're, they are so good. One and two are such good games too, like they're, they are so good. Like, if you, you really like balder's gate 3, I I would say like there's, you know, a lot of improvements with balder's gate 3, but, man, they, they hold up so well. Because I played, uh, balder's gate 1 again, not not that long ago, probably 2020 on the gamecube and like that's how that's the only game to this day that I can remember actually sitting down, my dad and playing through the whole game. Like I don't remember anything else like that I actually sitting down and playing through the entire game. It's just so much fun, like you could just just so much freaking fun, man. And like there it was almost like mindless fun because like you don't have to really be thinking about it and you can sit there and local co-op and talk with your friend. You know what I mean.
Brandon Hurles:
You can run through the dungeons and just have a good time.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, you're talking about a game that's a blast from the past, that came out in 98. So it's definitely going to be a step it's an older game for sure if you're going to get into some of these older Baldur's Gate games but but it holds up very well and there's now a double pack on the switch which I haven't played.
Brandon Hurles:
That version, um, the they're like they released it on the switch, interesting.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah, boulders gate, I'll double check, but yeah, I'm pretty sure they they came out on the switch and uh, yeah, I mean like that's a good way to go back to it. Like to me. Um, if you really like boulders gate 3, I see, yeah, just to it. Like to me. If you really like Baldur's Gate 3, I see, yeah, it's confirmed. It did come out in a double pack on the switch or enhanced edition. Holy freaking crap. Why are they going for $150, $300, $350 on eBay?
Kerguhl Games:
Jesus.
Brandon Hurles:
As the first thing that popped up.
Mark Trobough:
Oh my.
Brandon Hurles:
God, well, get it digitally this is one time I do recommend getting it digitally, because do not pay that price, uh.
Mark Trobough:
But yeah, like you know, super fun games and I just I really like, um, I really really like all the baldur's gate stuff, so uh, yeah, and it looks like, uh, as far as steam goes, both balder's gate enhanced edition and balder's gate 2 enhanced edition are both uh 1999 on steam right now and then dark alliance 2 is 30 I was gonna say have you guys played the dark alliance games? I haven't played any balder's gate game before.
Brandon Hurles:
You know so either so, besides the balder's gate 3, that was a freaking blast so good, man, dark alliance games are a lot of fun, man, really, really a good time. But, uh, I played on gamecube but it came out on xbox and ps2 as well, so highly highly recommend those as well. Very fun games I think I actually liked. Uh, I, I think I prefer dark alliance one and two over, uh, the, the regular games. Personally, there's a lot of nostalgia attached to that. So I don't know, I don't know, you know, but uh, wizards of the coast is also having issues, so larian is smart to get out and I, uh, mr coffee, took advantage of that deal. You might have been watching when I when I told about that deal, but I got $20 off of Mario RPG, so that was another game I used it for as well. Yeah, good on you saving $20. I'm all for the deals and the coupons, yeah.
Mark Trobough:
I don't know what was going on. I didn't experience anything, but I didn't really use my PlayStation all that often. But the playstation network went down yesterday, or it partially went down yesterday yeah, um, I did not sign on either, but um playstation is dead yeah yeah, I didn't.
Brandon Hurles:
I didn't sign on either, but I, I don't know, caused it, but there were some rumors going around that there may have been another hack-like situation. There were no other reports that I had saw that had updated on exactly what happened and went back online, but it was fully down. People couldn't access multiplayer, couldn't do anything. So for it to fully go down like that, with no notice something happened. I couldn't do anything. So, uh, for it to fully go down like that with like no notice, like some, something happened. I couldn't tell you what, uh, but it came up just in time. For just in time, it says, for the dragons, dogma 2 and rise of the ronin, uh release window. So they were either like working their butts off to make sure that people weren't peed off about that, cause I'm sure people were literally waiting to the minute for both of those games, yeah, so, yeah, there's something small there.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, and I guess the next big thing that we kind of already talked about. But Capcom also put out another tone deaf apology about dragons dogma too. They came out and said we would like to update you on the status of the following items, about which we have received numerous comments from the community. To all those looking forward to this game, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Didn't even address what people were upset about, just no, didn't they. We're sorry, give us money.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, didn't they? I think they posted it on twitter that, like they basically stated like you can get these items or get these things through like in-game currency, which is like it completely misses the point of why people are pissed, you know, but yeah, nothing new yeah, that's that's why I was bringing up that, like they.
Brandon Hurles:
They were saying it takes away from the experience of the game or whatever, and it's like, yeah, you can.
Mark Trobough:
You know what takes away from the experience of the game Forcing me to spend more real-world money on your $70 game. Yeah, you can buy it in-game but you have to grind for it. I'm like, oh, then what's the point?
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, like the whole thing was like free to play games is, especially when they're single. Multiplayer is like you get this game for free. It costs us a ton of money to develop it. You can buy microtransactions to support us, right, like that's fair. Or you can buy microtransactions to win, or like play to win or pay to win. Sorry, which is still I hate it personally, I hate pay to win should never pay.
Mark Trobough:
To win should never exist agreed, agreed.
Kerguhl Games:
But ethically or morally, whatever you want to call it, it makes more sense if a game is actually free, right?
Mark Trobough:
yeah, that's, that's okay, but this is a 70 game. That exactly came out and it's like oh here's another $70 game to get stuff you can get in game. What's the problem? We just want you to pay us because you can get it in game, but it's going to be an inconvenience.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, here's the thing the price raise is $70,. Right, like we, we get it Like. These studios are having major problems, it's their fault for spending the type of money that they are. Well, it's their fault for spending the money they are.
Mark Trobough:
We gotta lay people off while we're still making record profits at the same time. I was about to say You're just talking about your ass at that point.
Brandon Hurles:
And with the price increase, this makes me even more angrier. It's just so dumb. At $70, we should not be paying to fast travel, I what. What is going up? Why, it seems like, are these companies not learning? Week after week, with all the news coming out, with all this, all this stuff happening in these studios having problems and like entire studios just getting shut down that are like good studios and they're learning absolutely nothing? And if this absolutely bombs for them which it's not, because it's already sold crazy gangbusters and numbers and already, I think, outsold the first game, if I remember reading correctly. So they're not going to lose on this. But I wish that there would be a sign People are just going to continue to buy. Right, we can make our stance and like not support it, but like the general public I think at generally just doesn't care, I think like a lot of these people, I mean, if you don't care, they're gonna keep f*cking you over.
Mark Trobough:
That's just not gonna stop. The only way to get this to stop is to stop giving them money. I agree because there's closing studios down. Because, well, we want to save money and we don't want our profits to drop, so we'll close down the studio for a game that probably was barely going to sell and we'll just increase the price so we can continuously make more and more money.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, like don't put stupid money in the games that you don't know are going to sell, or like definitely don't deserve. I mean, or definitely don't deserve Saints Row the reboot is the first thing to come into mind. Every aspect of that game was so stupid and the cost of that game was dumb. They screwed themselves in so many ways with that game, the politics they shoved into the game and the money they spent on it. It was an abysmal failure. That is one that they did lose massive money on, which doesn't happen often where, like this, they completely like just lose a crap ton of money. But yeah, I mean, that studio got shut down too. So yeah, yeah, I don't know. There was like a whole dev notes on on twitter with, uh, the dragon's dogma stuff, if you want, like want to go check that out for audio listeners.
Mark Trobough:
But yeah, what a what a freaking bummer man yeah, against you, unless anybody has something else to say on that thing. We just pretty much addressed that whole issue. Yeah, I'm over it, I'm over it, I'm over it, and it's got terrible Steam reviews.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, it was overwhelmingly negative and now it's mixed again, I think, Is it?
Mark Trobough:
Oh, probably because Steam's going in and deleting reviews, oh, probably. They've done that before in the past. Yeah, they've done that before.
Kerguhl Games:
But also another thing is you can't, because of the way that the save structure is done in the game, you have to go into system files and delete your save to be able to make another character. It's like because of the auto. I've heard like people getting stuck in like the, the textures, and not just basically being soft locked and then they have to delete all of their progress because there's no save point, it's all auto save based. Um, and you got to delete your character, their progress because there's no save point, it's all autosave based, and you got to delete your character in order to like get to that point again. It just that's frustrating, I don't know. Like it had so much, it was so promising and they just like messed it up, like it sucks.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, this is a discount game, and wait a long time for this to get heavily patched and fixed, do you guys think I guess? One last thing on this do you think that they'll roll back where they they change anything with those microtransactions? Do you think the backlash is gonna nope?
Mark Trobough:
nope, because of the said. At the end of the day, if the player count, the sales are there. Well, it's a they don't care like a mind, a vocal minority of trolls. They're gonna wash it, wash it away. They'll have media run a defense for them and then they're just going to continue to do the same thing, yeah, until the sales for it utterly fail. Nothing's ever going to change.
Brandon Hurles:
And we'll get an Ultra Deluxe Super Edition at some point where it'll have everything packed in and be like Dark Arisen.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, they're the industry leaders skyrim and gta5, like just follow their tactics.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean dark arisen was the same game, with like an expansion to a new island and like some very minor like improvements, with with like the actual game itself, but like there was no need to grab both. Uh yeah, so I wonder if they'll do that.
Mark Trobough:
It sucks yeah, it does uh, on a little bit of lighter news, apparently the world's first dragon ball theme park is going to open in saudi arabia, of all places. Yeah, so unless you're a millionaire, it's kind of hard to go here yeah, I thought I was like it's a little interesting that the place will visit on YouTube.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah right, you would think Japan right Like because maybe they already have something there for Dragon Ball that I'm not aware of, but oh well, no, it says the first theme park dedicated.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah, so the quid quid dia, investment company behind the project, shared details about what to expect from the development. The park will span 500 square meters and features seven themed lands based off different Dragon Balls. There will be more than 30 themed rides across the lands, plus five major attractions, hotels and restaurants. And because it's Saudi Arabia, it's going to be expensive.
Brandon Hurles:
So basically, a Saudi and arabian prince with billions of dollars funded. This is funding. Yeah, more or less he's.
Kerguhl Games:
He's a big dragon ball fan and wanted yeah, it was probably like oh, oh, I like that show, let's, let's build a whole thing for it right, but it doesn't matter it probably looked dope, but it's probably gonna be expensive to go to I'm already flying internationals expensive.
Brandon Hurles:
The rendered images for what they're doing look really really sick. Like looks, looks pretty cool. So it says they're going to stay pretty accurate to what they have there. So yeah, that looks really cool. And they're basing it on the Dragon Ball manga, so that's even cooler. Oh nice.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
So it's all original Dragon Ball themed, not Z, from my understanding and what I've read. So that's Pretty interesting and I'm sure that they'll expand like into the other stuff. But yeah, it looks. It looks really cool. So, yep, something on a lighter note Saudi and Arabian Prince funds Dragon Ball his own personal park. That's. That's what he he like. I said he's a big fan.
Mark Trobough:
There was a whole like league of that Saudi Arabia I think it was a golf league or something and like pro players here were like moving there during like 2020 and 2022 and likehing with this league because they're paying like gangbusters just to go golf there because the it legitimately was a prince was like a big golf fan so he wanted to see his own tournaments, stuff like it's like well, nobody's gonna come in or out, you're just gonna live in your own little bubble, so you can just play golf all you want, I'll give you bank I mean, if you get an, you know the kind of money that they can afford.
Brandon Hurles:
Like you'd be an idiot to decline, so yeah everybody's got a price. Everybody's got a price.
Mark Trobough:
I guess the last of the major mainstays we had so far was the new Black Panther Captain America game from Amy Henning, unveiled at the State of Unreal 2024. I've already spoken I'm not a huge MC fan. Have you all actually seen the trailer? Do we know?
Kerguhl Games:
how far in development we actually are. It looks amazing, even though I'm not I don't follow either DC or MCU if it's anything close to, gameplay-wise, to what we saw in the trailer, which is obviously just a cinematic in-game trailer. Um, I'm probably getting that. Um, I'm a huge fan of world war ii. Uh, the history of it, you know it. You know it affected my heritage my did you know?
Brandon Hurles:
this is based on a true story like black panther and captain america were really there, yeah yeah, captain, america was in serbia defending us from nazis.
Kerguhl Games:
It was great, uh. But um amy worked on legacy of games which are beloved by many, many people, and she actually worked on the. What was that new game that flopped?
Brandon Hurles:
um, oh, I think it was uh talking about it.
Kerguhl Games:
it flopped so bad. I don't remember the name of it it's Forspoken, forspoken that's what it was.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and unfortunate, because it's actually pretty fun, like I enjoy it.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, and she worked on the first on four different Uncharted games as a writer and game director, so she has potential to do something great with this. Yeah, um, I really like the setting and yeah there's like four different playable characters yeah yeah, yeah, um, but yeah, it looks.
Kerguhl Games:
It looks really really cool. Um, apparently, like the black panther and captain america have their own little agents or whatever who are also playable characters. So four playable characters in the game, um, and then Black Panther and Captain America kind of butting heads on who's gonna, I guess, take out Nazis faster, or something. We don't get too much information, but it just looked cool. I feel like they have the budget to do something very cinematic, but also very good.
Brandon Hurles:
Now, as I said, cautiously optimistic about it yeah I I'm excited because, you know, I like I read a lot of these comics growing up and stuff. So I read like sort of through the story of all this and like, as far as I understand, this is the first game that Howard Stark has ever been in which founded Stark Industries, so that's kind of cool to be able to see some real backstory there, some early stuff. This isn't MCU, this is a game. I don't think this has any connection to MCU, but this is really really cool. I thought't think this has any connection to MCU, but this is really really cool. I thought the trailer was awesome.
Brandon Hurles:
Again, no gameplay, so we can't really make huge assumptions on even the sort of style, but you can tell this is going to be a very heavy story-based game. I'm all for it. I love a good story in a game. As long as the gameplay is good, I'm all for that story. So this was totally unexpected, at least I don't know if this was announced before and just like shown now. Maybe it was. But apparently Dominic, now, maybe it was. But, um, yeah, apparently the dominic uh, I'm butchering the name rebelliard uh was the director of that canceled star wars 1313 game that everybody and their mother was looking forward to that game looked amazing uh, but he was hired um by skydance studios for for this game. So so, uh, that game had like a really good direction. It was like probably the only Star Wars game I was like legitimately really looking forward to at the time. Uh, and that was like pre announced, like pre um those last two Jedi games Uh, but yeah, it looks really cool.
Brandon Hurles:
Man. I love black Panther looks really cool man. I I love black panther. I think he's a great character. Um, I I like I like captain america too. He's not my favorite, always, always say he's kind of boring, but like this era of of captain america before he got frozen, all that is really cool. Uh, like really cool era of of captain america, like seeing like this early stuff.
Mark Trobough:
So uh, he no Tony. He's no Tony Spark, but I mean.
Brandon Hurles:
Tony Spark yeah who can be?
Kerguhl Games:
I are you missed?
Mark Trobough:
opportunity. I mispronounced it.
Brandon Hurles:
I was wondering if you did on purpose or not no, I did, I, just I missed, I mispronounced it but you guys heard. You guys heard it. Tony Spark. Oh man, that's great, yeah, but it's cool to see Howard Stark in there. He's an interesting, interesting fella. Hopefully they dive into some of the craziness with him. But yeah, that looks. It looks really really cool for sure. So I know we got what's some cyber cyberpunk stuff this week yeah.
Mark Trobough:
So a little bit. Some more smaller articles coming up, apparently the cyberpunk 20, 2077 sequels to provide a unique fusion of film and game. Uh, apparently they want to continue to add more like cinematic stuff into their, the next sequel. So it's pretty much a CDPR, pretty much. Come out and saying, yeah, there's going to be another cyberpunk game coming out after this as well, as obviously we're getting another Witcher game. I don't know where they're going to be at with the development cycle and stuff like that.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, they had a big announcement about all of that, like that. Yeah, they had a big announcement about all of that. Um, uh, they're working on two or three witcher universe games and then there's two cyberpunk projects, I believe, um I mean that would make sense yeah with the success after you know the expansion came out.
Kerguhl Games:
Yeah, yeah, guys, I'm getting a phone call. I got to hop. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how late it was, but it was really fun talking to you guys. Brandon and Mark have a couple more things to talk about, and thank you guys for listening. I'll see you all next week. Peace. See you guys. Brandon and Mark have a couple more things to talk about. Thank you guys for listening. I'll see you all next week. Peace. See you later.
Brandon Hurles:
Peace out, but yeah. So I mean, I don't know Two Cyberpunk games coming.
Mark Trobough:
Is that the deal?
Mark Trobough:
I don't know exactly, but I mean what I took away from this is they want to keep the cinematic appeal. They brought some some hollywood-esque uh, you know, uh people, celebrities into it. So definitely it's a as far as, if you like, the cyberpunk game in the cyberpunk universe. It's a good sign, like hey, eventually we're going to get a sequel to this. We just don't know exactly the development for it, how long it's going to be out. But I mean they want to double down on uh, like the whole cinematic aspect of the first game, but definitely go into the second one, uh, which which, outside of outside of its botched mechanical launch, cyberpunk one is uh, or cyberpunk 2077 is a really good game to me. It's just too short, like it's a really short game yeah, it is very.
Mark Trobough:
You can beat it in like six hours, six, seven hours, um especially even if you're like a hundred percenting all the content, I'm like it's you could do it under 40 hours, which is not not long for for an open world game it's not.
Brandon Hurles:
I I don't like the fact that it's being brought up about bringing actors in, because I've talked so many times about that is something that's cost raising on these games and like I mean you just you never know, like it sure it's cyberpunk, it's still a a new franchise, like I'm it's going to sell, but I'm so against, uh, at this point, like raising the cost where, like to me, that doesn't sell me anymore about you, you're bringing an act. It could be brad pitt and I could care less.
Mark Trobough:
You know what I mean, I mean, they haven't, they haven't confirmed anything, but after they brought in, obviously keanu reeves was was there at the launch, and then uh idris, uh elba, as far as the uh, when he came with dlc, uh, phantom liberty, they, they have had one, that one connection. But I think keanu reeves was the original your, because he was essentially the your uh, one of the, one of the, the main character slashing antagonist. However you want to, you want to view uh johnny, but I mean he was like a one of the large marketing, he was directly modeled after him, he played him and everything else like that. So I feel like from the ground, like he was always intended to be there. And then they just put the dlc like, oh, it's bringing somebody else in, yeah, but I don't know how much uh you know it costs to bring both of them on I bet the cost goes up for keanu reeves if you know he's he's involved in the next game or anything like that.
Mark Trobough:
But I you see that's hard because that depends on which ending of cyberpunk they can't after the added it because there's what like eight, like six to eight endings or something like that. There's a bunch and either v it's either him or v, but uh, depending on the ending, either v would live at the end or they both die, or you have johnny. I mean the game's out for a while. You know, spoilers abound, but I mean like it depends on which ending.
Speaker 4:
But I mean I don't I don't, I would like hard to tell I assume he's not going to be back in the next game.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, you're, you're probably right. I you know, I never even went through and outside of the ending on YouTube or anything. I just finished the.
Mark Trobough:
I've played them all, but outside of maybe marketing with Keanu, I don't know how they bring Johnny back, unless they're retconning and be like here's another DLC with the actual canon we're going to move forward with.
Brandon Hurles:
But, who knows, I would love to see, see if there are two games coming. I would love to see something centered around the cyberpunk anime because, oh my God, was that so good? That was so unexpectedly good.
Mark Trobough:
They added a quest into the game based off the anime, but it's kind of like the. The anime takes place, like what, a year or two before the actual game does yeah, and that anime has a definitive end to it, more or less it's just, and it's canonized in the game as far as the one quest goes, for the most part, but you know it, I mean, I think I don't know what they do.
Mark Trobough:
The story that that story was, was done and told and they've already come out and said if we do a second season of this, it's gonna be completely different characters, because these characters, the stories already been told, we're done with them yeah, the only thing that I could see them doing is that I mean a.
Brandon Hurles:
It's hitting a very niche crowd because it is an anime. So making the anime again, I guess doing a prequel game, but maybe they do it differently, maybe they you know, I'm it's a game, so there's more that could be offered. Uh, so maybe, maybe. Like there is like hey, we're doing a prequel game and we're doing a sequel game. Like I I wouldn't. I'd be on board for that myself. I loved ed Edge Runner, so I think it was great.
Mark Trobough:
Isn't the board game take place like 20, 30, 40 years before 2077? Like it's so much further in the past, yeah, and there's so much added lore that you don't really get that in-depth in the game. Like you have to go into the added books that have come out recently with Cyberpunk Red. Some of the older board games are really fully understand, like why the world is the way it is, how the corporations are the countries. Like it's really good lore, but it's just not in the game.
Brandon Hurles:
See, we were just talking about that earlier, like talking about the different mediums of pokemon. I mean, this is even crazier.
Mark Trobough:
I mean I just saw that board game for the first time, actually the other day but I mean this is like a what a tabletop RPG from the 80s, like it's a really old tabletop game, like it's been around for a while. So it makes sense that it's really developed lore, but it's in the past. They wanted to kind of separate the game. So it's kind of go in the future, which means I think I think there was either a book or another tabletop book or something like that that had to they put out within the past few years that they kind of bridged the gap between the, the original timeline of the tabletop game in 2077, because obviously a lot changed in within the world itself that they kind of had to bridge and be like.
Brandon Hurles:
This is canonized what happens for for you know the world to go from where it was to to the game itself right, I wanted to confirm this too, to to make sure, but there is a new uh Cyberpunk tabletop game that also expands the the lore, Is it like?
Mark Trobough:
uh, is it red?
Brandon Hurles:
something. Yeah, cyberpunk red combat zone is the name of it.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, cause I think it also had to come out to kind of bridge some of the Lord and stuff like that, cause there's such a huge time jump see, this is one of those things where it's like a little frustrating because, like, I'm not against like offering different mediums to expand story, like you, you seem to be more against it earlier when we're talking about pokemon, like to me, like, yes, I would like to have all that packed into the game, but I do semi get it like with something like pokemon, right, where you, you only get so much of a story in a game anyway, right, so like anime they're a little different yeah, they, but I would say this sense the tabletop story doesn't, isn't really relevant to the game itself and they they allude to stuff in game, but you kind of have to go out of your way and all it really is at this point.
Mark Trobough:
It's just added lore to the universe. That obviously happened in the past. But even if you're gonna do it right, do it like what they with the anime, where it's in the universe it, but it's its own story. It doesn't have any impact on the game.
Brandon Hurles:
It's just sort of standalone, yeah yeah, where it doesn't it?
Mark Trobough:
if and it's not really, I mean it's referenced because it can in the game, but it's such a a niche, outyour-way thing where it's like you could completely ignore it, it has no impact on this game or the story or the world at large, pretty much.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I get that. I mean I'm sure that people will be super excited about this one. Mr Coffee said the Cyberpunk DLC did have Idris Elba and it was really good. So yeah, it was really good.
Mark Trobough:
so yeah, I, it was very yeah, I think they, I think he was for anybody, he was the right choice. I mean, I think the the dlc with him was really well, it fit perfectly into the world and the lore and everything like that. Yeah, I mean, that's fine, that's. That's pretty much where that article is. Just at this point. We just know they want to continue the cinematic aspect of it and it just pretty much confirms if we you didn't already know.
Mark Trobough:
We're getting another cyberpunk game because, outside of the botched launch, like I played it. It launched on pc, like it's a good game. It just had a bunch of technical issues with it. But they, they've added a lot of stuff in. Like it's a really good game and I I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's just I I would say the same thing at launch. It's just not enough content in the game for me, for, for, like I would, I would like a game where I could spend 80 hours in universe, like really spend a lot of time, you know, learning more about the universe, doing a lot more side quests and stuff like that. Yeah, the main quest. It's really like you said, you probably, if you just bum rush through the game, ignored all the context or all the audio and stuff like that.
Brandon Hurles:
It could take you, you know, under 10 hours to beat the main story yeah, I've seen people do speed runs even shorter than the six to seven hours I mentioned. Like if you just run through the game, it's like even with everything for a game like that it's pretty dang short. Like even if you're doing everything it's not a long game, which is OK too, because like look, I don't want every game to be super long, even these triple A games, like not for me, not every game needs to be so daggone long.
Mark Trobough:
uh, maybe like another 10 hours worth of content.
Mark Trobough:
I think the dlc brought in enough content to make it feel more fleshed, because oh, I think there's like one other, another 15 hours of content that game for for the small area you get access to, there's a lot of added, added quests and stuff to it, but it just it's like I want to spend a little bit more time because there are some areas in the map that feels like it content got cut, like there's just you're here in this one big empty area for like one quest. You're like this just feels like it's such a big area to have not a lot of content to it. It just felt like some I think it probably happened with the rush development where some areas just got cut.
Brandon Hurles:
Which that game, yeah, had that crazy crunch Cause that that was one of the big games that got brought up during that time where the crunch was brought up, the whole like conversation of the game industry crunch. So yeah, I I think that probably has a lot to do with it. That game was. The problem is like it's so hard to defend any of that, even the crunch, because that game was in development for so long and it's kind of shocking how short the game is.
Mark Trobough:
Well, to be fair, the game had what realistically? Four or five years of actual development.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't know.
Mark Trobough:
I'll have to look it up, Well, no because when they announced it they were still working on the Witcher 3 when that game got announced, so it was an early development for a long time, like it didn't fully ramp up in development until the final Witcher DLC came out. That's when full development really kicked off on that game. So, based off when its first trailer came out, compared to when it came out, you would think it had a really long development cycle. But it actually didn't. It really had a good four, maybe five years of actual good development on that game.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, I'm sure there was like there was like a good why announced. Three years was on pre-development 2012. May 2012 is when it was announced. Why, yeah, like that. That. That comes into the question of why, like if it was announced too soon.
Mark Trobough:
Do you know the witcher 3 for sure? Still a dlc coming out? Yeah, we do know, because based off witcher 3 dlc coming out at the time, you know that they couldn't have gone into full development and stuff like that well, full development, but there's, I mean they split teams like studio development yeah, I don't know, but you know cdpr is not, is not a massive studio like like ubisoft.
Brandon Hurles:
Having all these studios, it's not a huge studio so wait here just a second, because it's not entirely true that the following year they had their first full trailer for the game, so that that means that they pretty much did start development like almost right away.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah pre-development, but a trailer you could, you could bring up. But you can make a trailer in a month. Yeah, make it look like what you want the game to look like. That's all pre-rendered CG, what we think the game is going to look like. That doesn't mean that you can put out a full trailer with no work done on a game.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, come on, like the Metroid Prime trailer, you Metroid Prime 4, you telling me that didn't have any work put into it. That logo took forever to make bro.
Mark Trobough:
The Witcher 3, Wild Hunt, which is the accumulation of everything, came out in 2015. So you're thinking realistically around that time frame. It's probably when Cyberpunk 27 really ramped into development. Probably 15, 16 around there.
Brandon Hurles:
CD Projekt Red is massive and they 100 have split teams for witcher in this because we we already know that the witcher game, the new witcher game, has been in development for also a very long time. We knew it was coming. There was an announcement a long time ago before I I feel like the announcement for that. I could be wrong, but I feel like the actual like mention of it was brought up before Wild Hunt even came out, which has been a while. At this point, I mean, I got that on Switch in like 2020 if you look at it, the final the Witcher was fully done 2015.
Mark Trobough:
Cyberpunk comes out in 2020. I'm like we realistically have a good 5 years of building a brand new game from the ground up and who knows how many if it was scrapped early on and they had to restart development, if there was any issues within that development period, right, and then I mean it didn't have like a seven year development cycle.
Mark Trobough:
It probably had closer to a four or five, with potentially issues in the way of what they were doing, because you're going from a, you're going from a a third person like a sword action game to. You know something with more shooters, something they probably never really they haven't worked on like a like a shooter type game like this before. Yeah, so there's probably a lot of stuff that that had to get scrapped or changed or it's like this isn't working. We have to completely scrap. You know six months worth of work we've done. I mean, obviously, we're probably never going to really know, but I think there's a a huge misconception that this game had like seven years of development in it, which is just. It's just not true.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, uh, Josh is saying hello. And then Mr Coffee said CD project red has offices in eight countries with up to a thousand employees.
Mark Trobough:
So is that like current or back then? I also don't know how many of those employees are actually development developmental employees, right, probably a good chunk of those are office workers who don't really do a whole lot with the game.
Brandon Hurles:
But I don't know, I've always. I've always just as important as everybody else.
Mark Trobough:
Dang mark I'm being realistic. I I don't know. I've never thought of cdpr as a triple A studio, but oh. I mean, that's just me.
Brandon Hurles:
Witcher. I mean that massive, massive series. I feel like you know how they said. Skull and Bones is a quadruple A company. Oh, this to me would be a quadruple A With the success of Witcher. That's like a spawned Netflix series. For God's sake. It's absolutely a AAA studio and has so much funding behind it that it's not even funny. I can't even imagine the funding behind the studio. I'm curious what happened as far as like stocks and investors and everything with the launch of Cyberpunk, with how just crazy that whole deal was. I'm curious if there was the mention of this studio is getting shut.
Brandon Hurles:
That was a big deal. I know you remember that was a big, big deal for people. People were so excited about the game and I can't even remember hearing a single good thing about it. And, like I, my experience with it was I had my my game crash three times. Of course, I played on the PS5. So next, pc. Those were the two best ways to play. Apparently, I think the Series X version was just as optimized too. But if you're playing on like an Xbox one or a PS4, you had, you had issues, especially like a base ps4, xbox one, uh, but but for me now I will say I was very frustrated because I I didn't have like recent save points or anything for when my game crashed, so I had to keep like restarting points when when that did happen. But uh, for the most part I didn't have all the crazy bugs that people were seeing and things like that in my original playthrough. I still do think to this day, though it's dumb that they didn't launch that for the current consoles.
Mark Trobough:
I brought up something like this and it's mentioned on Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. There was a portion of this. The game's development began following the release of the witcher 3 wild hunt blood and blood and wine in 2016. The game was developed by a team of around 500 people using the red red engine for game engine. So it's even later. So you're talking, you know, probably closer to you know three, four years of actual proper development on that game. Uh, 500 people I mean it's still a decently sized team, but I mean yeah, yeah, I mean yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
So there's that we got some more cyberpunk coming.
Mark Trobough:
I pretty much expected that though but I guess the only, the only thing I really remember being discussed is like well, this was announced in 2013. Why is it so bad? It's like, well, probably because it it was announced then it probably still had wasn't really in development. It's like it is our next game and it's going to be in pre-production for a few years as we try to nail out. You know the story, the world and you know get everything that we want.
Mark Trobough:
So when the developers actually start working on they have like an idea, you know what needs to be done and obviously it's. It's you know how. You have like a peripheral view of like how complicated game development can be at times, especially with large studios and stuff like that, with how many people you know have inputs on it and stuff like that. So but I mean, it's still no excuse for that game to be delayed almost a full year and still be a buggy mess, because then that's the other thing it came out 2020, supposed to come out 2019. It was delayed a whole year and it was still that buggy launch, which begs the question. That game probably was rushed from the get-go, I feel like 2016 to 2019, that's, that's three years yeah, and that wasn't enough time for that game.
Brandon Hurles:
Zero excuses for that launch of the game. Yeah, with that, that delay I it was shocking because I saw at least knowing what we know now.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah, I mean like I'm not going just just because I like the game now and especially with, you know, expansion, and like I liked it. I liked it when it came out, but like I was, like you know, seeing my friends gameplay, like their screen recordings and stuff the game, I was like this is ridiculous, like it almost made me like I want to return the game and not support it, even though I was enjoying it. I'm like I paid full price for supporting a studio launching an absolutely buggy mess.
Mark Trobough:
I guess all I can say is I was glad I played on pc because, outside of some pop and some minor stuff, it was for the most part a a playable game, with some buggy issues, compared to people on PS4s and stuff like that who were just like this is an unplayable mess on last-gen consoles at the time.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I had very minor issues. The crashes were the biggest thing and, like I said, it happened a couple of times.
Mark Trobough:
They launched a patch out real quick and I don't think I had a crash after that, outside of the buggy issue, the technical issues and probably some of the cut content because of the rush, there was a good game there that was there Because of investors and stuff like that. The game has just put it out now and it caused so many issues, so many refunds and stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Absolutely ruining the industry.
Mark Trobough:
It ruined CDPR's reputation.
Brandon Hurles:
Oh, 100%.
Mark Trobough:
I mean I feel like they've come back around a lot to people because they did, but they're going to have to prove the next game isn't a broken buggy mess when it comes out, because immediately, the next time the next games come out. You know this launch of this game is going to be brought up.
Brandon Hurles:
All games media is going to be talking about that. Is it going to be the launch of 2077 all over again?
Mark Trobough:
You're assuming Polygon and Kotaku still exist back when this next game comes out?
Brandon Hurles:
I think Kotaku's getting shut down right.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, a lot of these studios are on their, on their last breath. But that's a that's a issue for another day I did.
Brandon Hurles:
It is kind of funny, though I did see something uh about. I guess I can go ahead and bring this up before we uh jump into the next thing, because I mean, why the heck not? I want to cover all the the industry stuff, but uh, yeah, apparently, um, there is kataku content change, uh, this is like the all the controversy stuff going on around it, but, um, there was something like 50, or hold on, let me, let me make sure I'm reading this right um, because, mr coffee, but you're talking about the, the editor-in-chief, who quit yeah, so the other, and oh, because the uh, I do remember hearing about it where, like, the head came down and says no more politics, and when you're talking about games or something along that line, didn't she just quit?
Mark Trobough:
it was like okay, so you're just an activist within the games media, yeah things yeah, so Kotaku, uh, editor-in-chief, exit exits due to parent company's new guide directive.
Brandon Hurles:
So yeah, essentially they were forcing a couple of employees to pump out like 50 guides a week, like like, I think like 10 employees or something. So they wanted like 50 full guides put out every single week. So I absolutely would. Yeah, I mean I, I would, I would have resigned too.
Mark Trobough:
I mean that's, that's just crazy but, to be fair, there is a push like focus more on the games themselves and a lot of this other crap that you're focusing on. That's probably costing the company money to some degree.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, yeah. So here's a direct quote. I firmly believe that the decision to invert Kotaku's editorial strategy to deprioritize news and favors of guides is fundamentally misguided, given the current infrastructure of the website. The decision is directly contradicted by months of traffic data and shows an astonishing disregard for the livelihoods of the remaining writers and editors who work here. According to a source familiar with the matter, Kotaku staffers are expected to create 50 guides in a total of a week. Aftermath notes that the site's landing page area, a space typically home for major stories and breaking news, has been replaced by tips and guides, and it looks like she's hired back in. I mean, she's only been there since October of 2023. And with her exit, Kotaku lost another editor in chief in under a year. I mean, there's a lot of problems wrong with?
Brandon Hurles:
kataku, like we've known that for a long time, but like, yeah, I, I get it like that. That was the focus, right was like the guides and stuff.
Mark Trobough:
Like kataku goes I mean you're, you talk about games. Talk about the games, not other controversy, other bs that most people, if they read your article, it's the laugh at you. But like this is, this is worthless.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, I'm like let's be real I I don't want to um miss say this, so I'm I'm going to try to to look it up 100, but we we know about all of the uh, the political stuff um going on and and so apparently a kataku writer tried to to de-platform, tried to deplatform RGT85. Big gaming YouTuber. I'm sure that anybody that listens or watches podcasts knows who I'm talking about. Very big gaming YouTuber and he did a whole video. So after you watch or listen to this podcast, I recommend that you go over to his channel where he does a different videos, talking about it as sort of as it happens, and he learns about the deplatforming and all that.
Brandon Hurles:
He gives a background and context of this is true, as well as in a PlayStation employee and all he was doing was speaking his piece and mind and opinion on the sweet baby ink stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
So basically he talked about it and instantly there was backlash and you know this goes into the the sweet baby ink stuff, um, so basically he talked about it and instantly, uh, there was backlash and you know this goes into the the sweet baby ink, the, the gamer gate 2.0 discussion and, like you know, he was like the only um gaming youtuber and that's there's like a sort of circle, because he's a part of the spawn cast as well. Uh, so, like all of those guys, as far far as I'm aware, he's the only one that's really spoken about it, at least in video, and so, like they instantly went after him and there's been, like you know, different controversies or whatever throughout the years, supposedly like around him and stuff like that. I can't, you know, confirm and, like I watch most of his videos. I really like him. He's always been pretty good to me when I've had conversations with him. But I just think it's, you know, interesting that, like, how about spend less time worrying about trying to de-platform a youtuber who literally just covers gaming news and does reviews and stuff? Uh, stop being political and like, do your job, do what you're supposed to do.
Brandon Hurles:
Games media is not politics media but apparently it is.
Mark Trobough:
If you don't want to know what the epitome of kataka was, because I know some of the other youtubers that I follow that have brought up in the past, but you know, if you if you don't already remember, back in july 1st of 2020, otaku put out the infamous article about, you know, playing animal crossing with a butt plug. Okay, like, this is the epitome of what the site has been for the longest time. It's just like what do you? What is this?
Brandon Hurles:
I didn't know about that it's complete crap.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, I mean it's not a long article and they're they're they're talking about, they're responding to some some random tweets from some you know crap company, but it's just kind of like nobody cares. Why is this a thing?
Brandon Hurles:
yeah, I um, so I got blocked. Didn't really want to speak on it, but um, I'll just. I'll put it this way I got blocked on twitter putting my opinion out there on the, the whole ordeal with all that, the, the gamer gate 2.0 and the, the sort of bs around it, because I was following it like real time. Once I started to understand what it was like, I had sent you some things and I didn't quite understand yet. But then on twitter everything's like real time, like there was stuff happening real time, and one of my friends, smash jt, has been doing a bunch of videos on it like constant. So he got like blocked and like hate, just like all kinds of you know, derogative stuff from this particular circle of people that I think are just like straight attached to sweet baby that I'm not sure this whole thing started with sweet baby inc.
Mark Trobough:
And uh, there was.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't have it pulled up in front of me at some point, because I know that they got.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, but you're talking about media, who's gonna protect other media entities, so it's kind of like a whole mess. But it had to do with somebody from sweet baby baby ink attacking somebody around a forum that had popped up on steam, like a steam community forum that had popped up around.
Mark Trobough:
Hey, these games are involved with sweet baby ink, that's it don't buy these games or just be aware of it and because there's a whole other boatload of crap that has come out, you know, with the whole, with whole sweet baby ink uh, if you want to get into it, because it definitely gets into you know social politics and stuff that goes back to the whole og gamer gate stuff, where people are like you know the issues with the media, with games media and everything else around that it's it's it's been a while, so I've definitely looked into it, but it's a whole sh*t show. There's no better way to say this. When it comes to gamers and games media developers, people behind the scenes, that they're like you, you have no business being in the games. Meet in game game development, like why, why do you even exist? Type thing yeah, I.
Brandon Hurles:
So I can't pull up the actual names because I can't remember there's been so many people involved. There's, there's actual better.
Mark Trobough:
There's better youtube channels yeah following this whole babe sweet, baby ink thing that could describe it better and stuff like that. Well, it's not hard to find one one I'll recommend too.
Brandon Hurles:
That's also been covering it. So my buddy, uh smash jt, but also 8-bit eric, has been covering the whole thing and RGT did one video on it and then the whole de-platforming thing happened. So he made a video discussing the beginning of that and another one. He's like I'm done talking about it. I'm going to move on to my regular content. I don't care the type of attitude that me and you would have, but yeah, if you want to dive more into it, I just it's all BS. But like Sweet Baby Inc like privated their their Twitter account and it's just. It's just crazy man, because like there's politics behind everything. To see some of the things that I saw said on on Twitter. Yeah, that if you're not like a particular person or are a particular person, you don't matter.
Mark Trobough:
I'm thinking you don't matter that was my first thought to two of the channels that I know that fall. They're not, they're not specifically gaming, but they're kind of in this area and obviously they cover a lot of general drama stuff. So you can, you can have your own opinion about these YouTubers. But both the Rev Says Desu and Yellow Flash, if you've ever watched them, they are like almost constantly, daily, have some kind of like video on it. So if you want like a a day by day, you can watch them. But obviously if you have an opinion on them, you know that's gone on but they fall. A lot of game journalists, news media type type crap, that kind of goes on yeah. But I mean obviously they've they've got their own biased, which is anti, anti a lot of these media, media outlets. So I mean kind of kind of already.
Brandon Hurles:
So I just want to say real quick, real time. Obviously, if you're listening to audio, this is later, so I posted. I did want to bring this up to you, and I'm assuming you didn't check this one out either. I was really hoping I could have talk with somebody about this. But there is a game, there's a demo that you can play on PS5 right now for free and it's called Potato Sack Racing Simulator 2024. And the developers just tweeted back to my post and they said the full game is way better. I wish that I had screen sharing set up the way that I would like to do it, or I would, but just go to the Game Junction Twitter at Game Junction 1. If you're an audio listener, you can look at this. I posted this on 321, so it depends on when you're listening or watching, but absolutely hilarious and I'm going to tweet back real time. Amazing game.
Brandon Hurles:
I absolutely love it.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, and this is the last time, just because I know Mr Coffee kind of brought it up and then we'll kind of move on to some better stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Like the Tatum Sack Racing Simulator 2024?.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah. So that's a major concern the parent company has. They're worried that they can get sued like the whole messed up dead. Spin over the kid dressing up at the Chiefs football game, wearing the face paint, stuff. I mean that's a few months old. That was a whole, whole yeah, sh*t show. Then he says yes, it's a steam forum. But that's weird was the creator wasn't saying anything bad, all he did was posting up the games. Uh to sweet baby ink advertised people saying hey, didn't really say anything. It was like a sweet baby ink who is a company that does this type of thing. Uh, these are the games they've worked on. So so you can make an informed decision whether you want to, you know, buy these games. You don't want to buy these games and stuff like that, right, and it just kind of there was a tweet and then it it blew up on youtube and then the whole thing just kind of blew up I don't know how it pulled up, but I think josh had a question that we had passed over as well.
Mark Trobough:
I'm trying to get up youtube and then I just wanted to bring this up before we go on. Mr coffee, right, I was saying my whole, the whole thing personally. You know, video games are supposed to be a fun break away from reality and this kind of stuff just kind of I agree puts a whole, a whole black eye on the whole whole.
Brandon Hurles:
Games should community there should be none. None of that I mean. This is, you know, this is for gaming, for me, as my escape from, from the crap. You know what I mean it's my way to turn off my brain or turn on my brain to think about something else, because we we have enough like just crap in the world, man, right now and like to worry about yeah there's just there's too much.
Brandon Hurles:
And then you know, most of us got full-time jobs and families or whatever, and it's our sort of escape and we have to hear about this news constantly, no matter where you turn. It's on your phone, it's on your computer, it's on the TV radio.
Mark Trobough:
This is one of the last things, because this is kind of why this whole Gamergate 2.0, whatever you want to call it blew up the way it is. Because people are saying like, I don't care about your own personal political views, your own personal ideology, I just want to play games, but you're at odds with with, you know, certain developers and with certain media, and that's that's why this whole thing kind of blew up to begin with, because people there are, there are a vocal portion of these people that are sick of it and like, if I have to to make it crap for a while for this to end, this is what I want to do. But I mean it's, it's a whole. It's a whole crap show. Yeah, it's. But yeah, we can move on to this next question and kind of kind of move on to better stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, absolutely so we've got josh asking. I didn't have it pulled up. Uh, is there a guilty pleasure of a tv show you like to watch? Mine would be live pd on the weekends. Um, I, there's definitely been many guilty pleasure sort of shows that are either like absolutely awful or people don't like them, and or they are just like mindlessly stupid. Um, but I have to think I haven't watched tv in forever. I mean like like I watch.
Mark Trobough:
I watch shows and stuff like that, but I gotta sit there and think about one for a second I mean the first one I can think of, and this is like going way back.
Brandon Hurles:
I haven't watched it in a long time, but like, uh, those nights that you couldn't sleep at like two or three in the morning you wake, wake up or whatever, and George Lopez is on TV. I posted that the other day, so that's why it freshly came to my mind.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, you wake up at like two, three in the morning and it's just the Lopez show Like the theme song You're like oh wow. I think I'm going to go to bed.
Brandon Hurles:
I yeah, I feel like I remember just that theme song, like waking me up but it happened, it was like all the time. So it wasn't like a one-time thing, it happened all the time. But, um, do you got? You got any? I'm trying to think of something like maybe semi. I don't really watch, I just don't have time. I'm trying to think of something like maybe semi. I don't really watch, I just don't have time.
Mark Trobough:
I'm trying to think like a guilty pleasure, like that, because I haven't watched, I got a t. I haven't watched tv in years at this point I don't have.
Mark Trobough:
I haven't had cable in over 10 years myself like at this like, well, I mean, I'll pay for tv during, you know, football season, but that's about it. I only ever watch football. I'm like guilty, but I watch random youtube videos. That's what I watched more often than anything else anymore. I don't know, maybe I'll turn on like a two-hour history or world war ii documentary and just watch that and or how about, at this point, girls and uh, girls, in what is this?
Mark Trobough:
2006. I gotta stay up to 1 am so I can watch the Girls Gone Wild commercials. Oh, my God the most titillated thing I'm going to see is like a 12-year-old.
Brandon Hurles:
I saw the bus for that twice in my life. The actual bus came through Circleville twice.
Mark Trobough:
It was always the big thing around spring break down in Miami or Florida or somewhere or something like that. Always.
Brandon Hurles:
All the commercials were like I'll just put it this way, I always wished I could have gone on that bus. I remember the first time. I saw it. I was like 8 or something. I was like young and my dad pointed it out.
Mark Trobough:
You say that now take a blacklight on that thing, it'll probably change your mind yeah, yeah, you're probably right there, didn't think about that.
Brandon Hurles:
But Mr Coffee says Night Court News Radio. I will, um, like I really really like, uh, I really like like true crime. So I guess I don't know if it's really a guilty pleasure to say that or not, but like I, I still liked going back and watching the old episodes of, like unsolved mysteries. That's one. It's not really. It's. A lot of people love the show, so it's not really a guilty pleasure. I liked it especially when they did that Circleville episode. That was pretty crazy.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, let's find something dark about where I grew up.
Brandon Hurles:
If you haven't watched that, or even just look up, there's several videos on YouTube about that whole um, that whole thing.
Mark Trobough:
That happened pretty crazy stuff uh, but I have no idea what you're talking about.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah, just look up here like some myth led just look up letters of circleville when you get time and you know. You know I'm talking about. I don't live in circleville or anything, but it's a place that we grew up.
Mark Trobough:
So but I have no interest in ever going back. I mean, yeah, no I don't want to go back to where I grew up at all period. But I, that's just me.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, josh said the commercials for ggw were.
Mark Trobough:
Lol, yes, oh, yeah, so but I mean, I guess you know back to back to some you know gaming articles hey, there's apparently tangents yeah, apparently final fantasy 16 reveals the release date for the rising tide dlc. That's the final fantasy mmo game. It's supposed to be coming out april 18th for 20 or include for for the standalone or 25 for the expansion pass.
Brandon Hurles:
This is the last new installment You're thinking of 14.
Mark Trobough:
It's 14.
Brandon Hurles:
My bad.
Mark Trobough:
I'm thinking oh, there's another expansion to that MMO or something like that.
Brandon Hurles:
No, so this is the last mainline game. Obviously, we got Rebirth.
Mark Trobough:
This is the one that came out that I have. It's sitting on my shelf. It's still in the plastic because I haven't I haven't even opened it yet yeah, oh, you bought them.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't even know you bought it, so I'll tell you this? You said that you're not like a big final fantasy fan.
Brandon Hurles:
Um or have, I don't know, haven't played a lot of them or whatever this is like you're good um this, so I don't dislike the game at all, but it's not even in my top 10 and I think most people said that it's like not a bad game. But it is like if you're like trying to start or want to get into the series, this is like one of the last ones I think I would ever recommend starting or trying to get in this. It doesn't represent the series like I feel like almost at all. It's like it is like games of Game of Thrones to a T.
Mark Trobough:
That's what it is. It doesn't even sound like a Final Fantasy. It's a very dark game.
Brandon Hurles:
It's the darkest one ever Like, very, very dark.
Mark Trobough:
I was going to say, like if you really want to start and get into Final Fantasy, play Final Fantasy one and then just go from there. I mean, I don't disagree. It's going to be a smart ass about it. No, no, I mean that's then just skip X and X two.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, they made the pixel remasters which sold gangbusters and are very recent releases. You can get on PS five and get on switch. I mean, there, did you get them digital? They're on steam, but no, seriously, that is a good, a great starting point. They completely redid those games like from the ground up, essentially, um and like they're good, they're really good and they like fixed I I don't want to say fixed, but they made like combat quicker so, like people you know, you can get through the games quicker if you don't want to spend all that time, essentially the grind time of those classic RPGs. They cut a lot of that down which, depending on the type of fan you are, you can still do that, but you can still do it the grinding aspects of those games Right.
Mark Trobough:
It's why some people play certain games Like I play it for the grind and then, once I got what I want, all right, I'm done with. It's why some people play certain games like I play it for the grind and then once I got what I want, all right, I'm done with it.
Brandon Hurles:
We could do something else now. Yeah, for someone like me that's played final fantasy one in multiple iterations, like there's been other final fantasy. One's been remade on the psp, it's been remade on the gba, um, there's been other collections and stuff for it. So, like, for me, like that, that's perfect and I did play one through three. I haven't gotten through four through six yet, but for you, I feel like that's an excellent starting point for you. They cut down all that grind time for people like us that don't have a ton of time to game. Uh, like that, is that actually, honestly, that? That's my suggestion.
Mark Trobough:
There is to start with that bad, bad introduction with final fantasy x and then Final Fantasy Zero. Yeah, not Terrible introductions to the series, if you ask me.
Brandon Hurles:
Not the pinnacle of the series. I don't think they're the worst things ever, but they're again. Not even in the For me, not in my top 10 discussion.
Mark Trobough:
And, like I'm also, I had like less than two hours in Zero before I dropped it and I never picked it up again it up again zero.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I got less than two hours into that game you mean, are you talking about type type? Zero types here again. That is not a good representation of the series.
Mark Trobough:
It's like it's a spin-off that was one of my first introductions in the series.
Brandon Hurles:
Like that's the problem that's the problem, because I it's shocking to me that, like you've made the comments that you have about final fantasy, because I'm like this seems like a mark series, but like it seems like you, you pick the exact wrong games, even attempt the the games that were somewhat hot at the time when I picked them up type zero like I, legitimately.
Brandon Hurles:
I can't think of anybody that played it or talked about it at all, but I it's not. It's not like a true final fantasy game. It it is a legitimate spin-off. That's a whole other style of game.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, I played a, played a mainline, I played X, I had it on the Vita or something like that, and I just didn't care for it.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I mean a lot of people don't like it's not their favorite. I do know people that it is their favorite and X2 was better than certainly better, or X2, I guess, was certainly better than 10. It definitely was, um, in my opinion, uh, but uh, yeah, 10 was not it's not my favorite by any means and uh, honestly, like the pixel remaster is great suggestion but the final fantasy remake series, like a great, absolute, great starting point. And they, they also did the Crisis Core Reunion which was a remaster of the PSP game, so it's set during those games. I still don't 100% know. I have to like look it up.
Brandon Hurles:
I've been meaning to do it for a while whether that is now or whether that has remained being part of this new Final Fantasy remake timeline, like this new story.
Brandon Hurles:
Because this I'll say this I won't give any spoilers because I'm not even super far into the game and I don't even think I've reached a point where it does get kind of crazy, but like there's a reason it's called Rebirth, like they don't remake was more along the lines of OK, we're remaking the series, but realistically, here's what's crazy about Final Fantasy 7 Remake it really only goes about 15 minutes into the original game. That entire gigantic game is really 15 minutes of the original game. Literally you make it one of the pretty early scenes, but Rebirth throws the entire story on its head. This is like a full blown remake, like and with three. Who knows the direction they're going to go? I've been spoiled a little bit, which I'm a little angry about, unintentionally reading stuff that popped up freaking tweets. So I sort of know something that's going to happen, but I'm not even halfway through the game I'm actively playing.
Mark Trobough:
It's like the only game I know about is uh, it was a teeth in the air than a bikini, and the internet just lost their collective minds over it. Well, I haven't that's the only I knew about the game I haven't read that.
Brandon Hurles:
I will say they're there if you want to it's died down.
Mark Trobough:
That came out. That's when they first advertised the new game and stuff like that. They lost its click of mind over it.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, don't they about every video game character.
Mark Trobough:
Well, not in a negative way, in a simpy way. Pretty much the internet collectively loved it for the most part.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, sounds about right. But yeah, I mean I can't recommend Final Fantasy seven rebirth enough. Again, I am not even halfway through the game. And like it's one of those games where you could spend a ton of time doing side quests, like if you want to, but yet like 90 percent of them are required.
Brandon Hurles:
And there's also like other stuff too. Like there's this simulator thing that you can jump into and it has like different tiers of taking down bosses. Essentially, you have to like I tried the first one that it makes you do and intentionally you can't beat the the boss because you're nowhere near powerful enough. But like, yeah, the power levels are are just insane. So like you've gotta really get your, you got to level up and get the right weapons and things attached to your weapons. But there's like a ton of like extra content. They've got like a like a card game inside the game, which was in the original as well, but like you can play through this entire like sort of story with the card game, even if you want to. So there's like all this extra stuff you can do and or you don't have to and you can just play through the uh, the story straight. So good stuff.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, fair enough. Uh, kind of going back to a few things you've kind of already talked about. Uh, bouldergate three's director blames gaming layoffs on greed. Uh, so I was going to pretty much. I mean, it's not the longest article, but what I was going to get down to is the quote that the article got him on off of a game rant. He pretty much came and said you can make reserves, just slow down a bit. Slow down on the greed, be resilient, take care of the people, don't lose the institutional knowledge that's been built up in the people. You lose every single time. So you have to go through the same cycle over and over and over. It really pisses me off.
Mark Trobough:
I don't know what happened with Brandon, but I mean, from what I understood, from what I was reading in the article, it has to do with you're going to lay off people, probably people that have been around for a while and know how game development works, and then you're going to hire new people, inevitably, who just don't have the same, the same knowledge and stuff like that. So it's you know constantly. You don't have this, you know everlasting person that just knows how it works. This is that. This is what you need to do. This is this is what works. If it doesn't work and stuff like that, you always have to go re-go through like a a learning process with with a younger talent. That older talent you know would already kind of like have and know and understand and stuff like that.
Mark Trobough:
Obviously, larian Studios can make good games and isn't held by greed, because we're not going to put a bunch of DLC in a single-player game All the Dragon's Dogma 2 and that whole crap. But yeah, it really comes down to it. We lay people off, we increase the price because we want to keep making money, but we're just going to fire you because we don't want to potentially not make as more money year on year God forbid. We make the same money year after year. We lose a little bit of money at the top and stuff like that. It's just it's straight greed and comes down to you know that, it's just it's straight greed and comes down to you know, uh, shareholders and stuff like that kind of getting into the whole, the whole games industry. Uh, I have no idea what's going on right now. He's just he's doing his own thing, but I mean, yeah, it just comes into, you know. You know all the all the layoffs coming off. There's a lot, a lot of good talent that's probably being laid off. It might hopefully land somewhere else, but the studio they left. You're losing a lot of talent. Probably.
Mark Trobough:
It probably wasn't his fault or the developer's fault that your game sucks. It's whoever's in charge of the game. Making poor decisions is why game after game just come out as complete crap. But, kevin, does anyone here remember the Scooby Doo project was a parody of Scooby Doo and the Blair Witch Project. Man, that was wild. I mean I have to ask Brandon, I was not aware of that at all. I don't really know about the Blair Witch Project because it's just not my cup of tea, but that does sound crazy. I mean it makes sense that it would kind of Scooby-Doo kind of does. The whole semi-creepy thing Just depends on whether it just went completely fan-made wild or it just was completely negative or it was like an official type thing.
Mark Trobough:
Mr Copy, playf, play final fantasy one on the psp. It's pretty good, updated sprites, music, yeah, um, I need to look around to probably get into, you know, some of the better final fantasy games. But uh, I already have a massive backlog of backlog of games I need to play. Who knows, I'm gonna get around to playing my next final fantasy game, as it's kind of crazy. Since Brandon's taking his time, I guess we'll go on to the next one. It's a little bit smaller for those of you that are into the whole trying to throw up mobile gaming thing, but we come back around.
Mark Trobough:
There's a new Pokemon Go event that will feature a debut of three new shiny Pokemon. So the Pokemon Go's sizable surprises will debut shiny Wimpod, kartana and Castelia Castelia. I'm butchering that the Northern Hemisphere battles Kartana while the Southern Hemisphere battles Celestine in this new event. It looks like there's about 800 plus shiny Pokemon on Pokemon Go, which probably covers most, if not all, the Pokemon they have. They brought Pokedex. Yeah, I don't know what region they're from. I was trying to see if this says exactly.
Mark Trobough:
Oh, here's the actual treat. Uh, I mean pokemon kind of put out a tweet. Uh, oh, so it is the sizable surprise event. I'm just stupid. I read and kind of forgot about it. Uh, from thursday, april 4th at 10 am to tuesday, april 9th at 8 pm. Uh is like the time frame for this event where you can, you know, catch some of these. Uh, or either you can catch or there's like a increased chance to said, catch shinies. It's kind of hard to tell what they're gonna do with that, but yeah, it's just kind of small for those that kind of play pokemon go, uh, from the 4th to the 9th like a like a extended weekend type thing. They got going on. Um, mr copy. Oh yeah, my backlog is is bad. Yeah, it always is. Backlog's crazy. It picked up PS2, nba Street, ssx and NFL Street Back when sports games were actually good.
Brandon Hurles:
I love the street games. Those are fun. Yeah, good days of sports games, definitely.
Mark Trobough:
And apparently, I guess the next thing up, shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance is releasing sooner than expected, so the release date moved up to June 14th, 2024, a week earlier than planned. We don't know why the big thing is, but it's coming out a week earlier. For those of you that are fans of this series, that doesn't happen very often is, but it's coming out a week earlier for those of you that are fans of this series, that doesn't happen very often. Yeah, or it's a week earlier. Yeah, cause, apparently, uh, yeah, cause they they came out uh of the official Atlas West tweeted it out, uh, two days ago on the 20th. Oh, wow, that's coming a whole week earlier, sir. Maybe it's, you know, development's going better. It's long since already been done, I don't know, but it's, you know, a net positive at the end of the day. Yeah, that's good. Usually it's this game's getting delayed.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, a, you're getting it a week earlier now Always Like how often does that happen that you're getting it earlier? I actually sold off my copy in anticipation for this one, because there's literally no reason to own the other game at all now. I mean, it's got everything on it. So I went ahead and sold that one off. It comes out pretty soon.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, the only negative thing about this game is Atlus includes a denuvo drm on the pc version, uh, which usually doesn't. It's a complete waste of time. If you know anything about, yeah, about you know illegal torrenting it at times, uh, it gives you like a less than perfect experience when you're playing it legally and all it does is a speed bump to to playing it illegally and it might slightly lower the quality.
Mark Trobough:
But if you play games illegally anyways, you don't really care about the the slight drop in in quality of the game, because you know you're, you're paying for you, you're getting it for free. Who cares? Yeah, which is always a big discussion within you know the pc gaming community when it comes to anti-piracy, because it doesn't stop piracy at all. You're not combating it at all.
Brandon Hurles:
No, and DRM. All it does is make performance of your game worse. It actively affects your game.
Mark Trobough:
So that's really really stupid, really dumb, yeah, and I've heard the argument that the best way to combat piracy for those that otherwise would buy it is just make it easier to get your game in some, because some areas it's like it's, it's ridiculously expensive in some countries that just don't have the the economy for the equivalency. Like a $70 game in the U? S, and even the U? S like you know what's going to drive people to piracy. You're driving up the price of your, of your games when they come out 70, maybe, eventually 80. That's going to drive people to piracy because, like, I'm not paying that at for a game. Like, screw you yeah I don't like.
Mark Trobough:
There are people that think like that I don't understand the whole thing.
Brandon Hurles:
see, like, in a situation like this, I'm like don't grab the pc version. I mean don't, just don't like a dr. First of all stupid to begin with and then, second of all, it dramatically affects your performance. So, like I wouldn't, I wouldn't grab this Plenty of people that prefer to game on PC.
Mark Trobough:
They just know I DRM aspect, like get rid of this, just gives us a bad experience to combat Absolutely. It doesn't do anything for people getting this game they want to it illegally. You're not going to stop them. Nope, like you're just not going to. You might make it harder, might make take an extra week for them to get the game, but they're going to get it eventually.
Brandon Hurles:
You're not going to stop that yeah, I think it's, it's just uh it. I think it's stupid. It's just really stupid. That's that's amer to hear. I didn't know about that actually.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, but that's an ever-growing, that's a thing that's going to be an issue for everyone. I mean, Atlas is a Japanese-based studio which definitely makes a lot more sense, if I'm not mistaken, or the company. I should probably double-check that.
Brandon Hurles:
What Atlas?
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, is it an?
Brandon Hurles:
American company. They're owned by Sega. So no, they're a Japanese company.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, they're headquartered out of Tokyo. So, yeah, that definitely makes sense. Because it's just, I don't know, these Japanese companies love to add DRM to everything.
Brandon Hurles:
They're basically.
Mark Trobough:
Western companies do the same thing.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, they're basically Sega's studio for all the JRPG stuff for the most part Almost not everything, because like Atlus doesn't do like the Yakuza. Well, yakuza wasn't a JRPG before, it was more of a like beat-em-up style game. But anyway, like that's just a straight-up Sega title. But they do most of the like japanese focus jrpg games.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah, because mr coffee brought up he's like sega owns the right and I just I just pulled up yeah, sega is the official parent company, that that that owns them. Just if there was any like doubt, which I don't think there was, for you.
Mark Trobough:
But no sir on that. Yeah, so there's uh, two other, I guess, articles before we get to the next section. Apparently now three classic Bungie games are making a comeback, so Bungie has recently announced that the original Marathon trilogy will be available on Steam soon. Marathon is a beloved Bungie franchise and old school fans will be pleased to know they'll be able to play these classic games with revamped graphics oh, okay so there is now a steam page up uh that they're bringing uh these games back and there's no release date.
Mark Trobough:
I don't know how old this, this game, actually is.
Brandon Hurles:
Classic marathon I, yeah, I know I don't either actually, um, I don't know, or or the Classic Marathon Trilogy, so it's all three of these.
Mark Trobough:
Classic Marathon games, apparently Immediately. I've never heard about this game before.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, well, it's a series. Yeah, they were all in the 90s. It looks like the first one was released in 94. Second one don't know the release date, but that was Durandal. The first one was released in 94. Second one don't know the release date, but that was Durandal. And then Marathon Infinity. I have mildly played but I didn't beat it, didn't get far into it, thought it was fine. But I mean, that's cool, this is like good era Bungie. This is, you know, heading into Halo before the dark times yeah, I mean they're absolute.
Brandon Hurles:
Did you see? We actually I don't think did you put any uh notes about the playstation, talking about bungee thing the what was it? Exactly so, basically, I don't have something straight in front of me for the direct quote, but I'll try to find it. Uh, basically, uh, playstation regrets buying bungie. That was. Uh, that was the statement, without there yeah, no, but I guess.
Mark Trobough:
But I was looking at something else. Like I just want to say like, because I was looking at like the, the graphical ui for classic marathon. It definitely reminds me like the old, like early 2000s windows media player. You remember that yeah. Yeah, of course you make it so weird and stuff like that. Like I'm just looking at like the, the ui for that game. I was like that like the first thing that came to my mind it's very interesting.
Brandon Hurles:
I haven't played the first or second one, but I, like I said mildly, played uh yeah, but a lot of people my.
Brandon Hurles:
My first introduction to bungie was with halo, so yeah, like most people, um, but yeah, no, I just want to quickly mention this because I we didn't have it in the the notes but uh, basically playstation was saying, uh, that what changes they need to make with bungie? Um, there were there was like some discourse put out there about, basically, people I saw a bunch of people say this they wished that they had not allowed Bungie to stay. They own them, obviously, but they allowed them to stay independent as a company, so kind of separate from PlayStation. They did their own thing, but playstation own them. Um, yeah, because then I mean, like, look at what bungie has turned into, like it's completely changed and shift from like bungie that that we knew, uh, but basically that they they regret the, the acquisition. So I mean they paid 3.6 billion dollars for the acquisition, so yeah, I don't know the long list of sony making bad decisions I mean, yeah, I like all these, like big companies are acquiring these other studios.
Brandon Hurles:
I mean, look at xbox in like 2020 to 2023, the beginning they were just buying studios left and right and we've seen almost nothing from these studios yet which it takes time to develop stuff, but there probably would have already been stuff in development for these studios the only one I can. What's the big one that came out at the end of the blood?
Mark Trobough:
you know of the studio they acquired yeah, the um.
Brandon Hurles:
I said it has to be one of the bigger ones well, yeah, the the bethesda game, star starfield sorry, that's the only one that that I can think of. That's like a big thing that came out from a studio they acquired so and which I would say I think that's the biggest one they acquired too, because I mean, bethesda is massive, like they own so many huge, huge properties.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, yeah, because it's obviously you think about that. Bethesda game studios is a subsidiary, the actual parent bethesda, and they own a bunch of other stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
But yeah, yeah, and I mean, like you know, there's even others like wolfenstein and doom and like not even like the first things that that people think of.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah yeah, crazy stuff, crazy stuff yeah, I guess the last uh article I had was don't know how many people are into like the uh street fighter scene, but apparently pro street fighter player michael broly legs, uh big uh has died at the age of 35. I.
Brandon Hurles:
I, I heard about that. Um, yeah, there was like yeah cause he was uh.
Mark Trobough:
He had a disease called uh, atherogeoposis.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't I can't pronounce medical terms, but he had some, some some issue that you know limited his mobility, but he's still like one of the top ranked uh uh street fighter, like uh players in the world and stuff like that. Yeah, um, if I remember correctly, he had like a dedicated device because he had like mild use of his hands.
Brandon Hurles:
Um, yeah, like I'd struggle using his hands. So like that's, that's amazing that somebody you know can do that still at that level. And I'm thinking, wow, man, I suck, but yeah, it's great to see the fighting game. Community support his family. I could be wrong, but I think there was a fundraiser set for him. I think I remember reading and yeah, it's sad, there's a it's pretty much I mean to his backstory and everything so yeah, but I mean it's it's.
Mark Trobough:
I mean, at the end of the day it's still, you know, a a good story, because it just shows somebody overcoming like a severe, like disability to become like really good at something that they really like to do at that yeah, yeah, I mean, and, as you know, fighting games are just that, the competition is just insane, so that that's such an uh, such an awesome feat.
Brandon Hurles:
And, um, yeah, capcom uh has spotlighted a video on him. Uh, it looks like the spotlight video is called, uh, brawley legs the fighter. So, um, that's, that's definitely good for them to do. Yeah, there's been, you know, despite Dragon's Dogma 2, they're not all bad so, but it looks like he has a book that you can buy and it looks like lives on, through his book and the unique method he used to compete, inspiring the game community. So it looks like there's a book out there that you might be able to purchase to help support his family. But, yeah, I mean 35, that's a bummer, huge bummer. Sounds like a massive loss to the fighting game community. Yeah, definitely, absolutely.
Mark Trobough:
Sad to hear.
Brandon Hurles:
So it looks like we are jumping into what's your weekly segment name I guess we'll do anime of the week or something like that.
Mark Trobough:
I still kind of like all over the place, but like the soft transition from games to, you know, pop culture anime stuff like that.
Brandon Hurles:
This guy can't figure out a name like no I can't you know so much anime, come up with something unique like, uh, right here you got. You know you're about to say this anime mike's or mike mark's anime, spice of the week, or something.
Mark Trobough:
I don't know, I'll think about something eventually. I I didn't. I obviously didn't put a lot of thought into it. It's just kind of like pulling stuff out of my butt to some degree. I'm not good with names.
Brandon Hurles:
I'm sorry you do that a lot with the butt.
Mark Trobough:
Like when I find a name I use said good name for quite a while.
Brandon Hurles:
Before you jump into that. It looks like Mr Coffee said some of the lore of Marathon was the basis of destiny, which I didn't know. He said also marathon lore was also hidden Easter egg and halo games. Uh, I thought the main reason Sony bought bungee was for its knowledge on building a live service system. Bungee was responsible for the cancellation of the last of us multiplayer, which is true, so that dives into a little bit of a deeper topic.
Brandon Hurles:
There is that, yes, sony came out and said we want to focus on live service games. Like they said that and then they were planning I forget the percentage that they put out there, but like 60% of their games are going to be live service focused and this was a little bit before. You know, live service had gotten such a backlash because people were people were playing bungie like crazy at that point in time and, um, like they we discussed so many times, there is just a couple of live service games that really successfully do very, very well. Yeah, 95 of them absolutely flop, mean we've seen ones come out and they're out for less than a year. Godfall, for instance, like I'm thinking of that, that came out on PS5.
Mark Trobough:
Well, I mean the problem is, if those games aren't like immediately successful, they're just a cash dump that just eat up all this money with these servers. They're not successful, they can't last long.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, what was the other one with the mech? Where you like, control the mech.
Mark Trobough:
I know what you're talking about. I can't think of the name of the game on it, yeah this was a. This came out like a few years, yeah, a few years ago, but that was another one.
Brandon Hurles:
Huge amount of money put in that game, massive flop. What was that called? I cannot remember, but yeah, that was a. He's got Hawken. That's not the one I'm thinking of, but that is another one I cannot remember. It's like Scarlet Nexus, I think, is that it?
Mark Trobough:
Is that the one? That's a Japanese game. It's a JRPG, or like an action JRPG? No, it's a completely different game.
Brandon Hurles:
Okay, that's not what I'm thinking of. I can't remember of it. I can't remember it. Yeah, whatever that was that one instantly flopped. Yeah, whatever it was instantly flopped and did not do well, Just control terrible and stuff from the get-go. So it was crap at the get-go. It's a live service. People are going to move on. There's a dozen other live service games that do the live service well, if you will, and then apparently, like Titanfall 3 is supposed to be live service, which sucks.
Mark Trobough:
Just tell me the game's going to fail immediately.
Brandon Hurles:
That's a bummer because I like those games, but yeah, whatever. So we're because I like those games, but yeah, whatever. We're going to dive into your anime corner.
Mark Trobough:
There's a Something. I brought this up because it's a show that I haven't watched in a while we technically talked about it last week with the light novel stuff, the whole fiasco going with that and because apparently I didn't realize how quickly there's a new, new, new series uh coming out. I'm like a week or two get to that a little bit later. Uh, part of the segment stuff. But uh, have you ever watched an anime called Spice and Wolf, I have and I've read the manga.
Brandon Hurles:
I used to be a big big.
Mark Trobough:
There is manga. It's an anime, it's one of those animes that's based off, you know, based off something else. Originally there was the light novel, which came out in 2006, and it's still ongoing today. The light, the manga which came, which, the original manga, ran from 2007 to 2017, and then it picked up again in 2019. The original anime that most people would be familiar with came out in 2008 and 2009 the first two season, one and two, which kind of came back to back, which is about 25 episodes, which is a really good show, but it left off on a cliffhanger. And then obviously, we're getting a new, the new anime in april 2nd, but the one unfortunate that I found out about that was it's not a, it's not continuing the story, it's a, it's a reboot of the series, which I was really upset about Because I'm like the original was good. Just continue the story, it'll just look nicer.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, and the manga continued for so long. There's so much story there and you said, the light novels are still continuing to this day.
Mark Trobough:
Light novel from 2006 to this day. As far as what I pulled up. It's still ongoing.
Brandon Hurles:
That already is like a very established anime, like a lot of.
Mark Trobough:
Actually I I brought that up and I was like because I read something, I was like at present, I thought it was done. I thought the light novel was done, but maybe I'm wrong. I mean, maybe I should double check, because I pulled it up from I don't think I pulled it from from one of these, uh, uh, from like the, the wiki sites yeah, I'd be interested to hear if like that is still continuing like that, because that's pretty crazy unless it's like a spin off light novel is kind of the same thing.
Mark Trobough:
But I saw that and I was like I thought that was done already, but maybe I'm wrong because the manga.
Brandon Hurles:
I remember when the manga ended it was like 6-7 years ago or something, something like that. I remember when it ended, um, I did not finish the manga, but I I did read very far into it. Um, but yeah, it had continued past the point of where I had stopped reading manga or watching anime for like a long time and okay, so I don't.
Mark Trobough:
Maybe there's a different arc, uh, that i'mreading, but no, there's still. The last light novel that came out came out in 2023. Hmm, spring Log, volume 7.
Brandon Hurles:
So yeah, it's definitely still continuing. Did you know this? I'm not to interrupt your segment, but I wanted to throw this in there. I thought it was kind of funny segment. But I wanted to throw this in there. I thought it was kind of funny. Um, there, I actually found out not super long ago that there are a couple of spice and wolf dating sims for the ds yeah, I did have them in here as well did you, okay, just slightly I hadn't even I hadn't even looked.
Mark Trobough:
It's actually pretty much like the next thing, because most of the other stuff was like uh, because I put on the other, it's a reboot, not a continuation, which was kind of sad, but hopefully we can. You know this this anime will continue on further than the original run.
Brandon Hurles:
I will be okay with this If they do it the way that they did, like Hunter Hunter, because I thought that was a really good and, um, a full metal alchemist too Like.
Mark Trobough:
Well, I mean to be fair, there wasn't. It wasn't like it was a bad adaptation, it just wasn't popular enough to get a continue, a season three pretty much.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't know.
Mark Trobough:
I felt like it was really popular I I felt like it was one of the more popular, maybe here in the West, but at that time the anime community is much, much smaller and you talk about a time where the Japanese community was going to determine whether or not it was popular enough to get a follow-up. At that time. You know 2008, the 2010s, even into the 2010s, like the anime market was still fully dominated by the Japanese domestic market. It's only recently where the international market is kind of getting attention. It's kind of helping influence for better or for worse. You know some anime stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Is the picture that you grabbed? Is that an audio drama?
Mark Trobough:
Because it says unabridged and that usually yeah, that's, I think it's just probably I'm pretty sure it's a because I just pulled an image. It's not the original one I grabbed, but you know windows didn't like the original jpeg that I pulled, but it was just just a image, just the same image. It looks like it's a just a somebody reading the actual, actual light novel. As far as the image that I pulled, that literally nobody else can see so that, um, yeah, no, I thought it was funny.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, so that new one comes out in just like two weeks on the second yeah, april 2nd.
Mark Trobough:
Uh, hopefully we get the same day. Uh, sub that comes out, but it'll probably be out with it, usually without a week or at least may actually uh watch that thing, because I don't, I didn't, I didn't look into it, I just know that's when it comes out. I don't know as far as, uh, when it comes out, where it's going to be probably end up on crunchyroll as much as I don't like crunchyroll, it's probably who's going to have it.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah yeah, I don't, I would. I'm definitely not going to resubscribe for for one show uh, did you crunch roll in years?
Mark Trobough:
I haven't, probably the better part of a decade at this point it's been a long time for me too.
Brandon Hurles:
Um, did you ever watch the oba, though? For that?
Mark Trobough:
I remember that. I can't remember if I did. To be honest, it's good. I don't remember it's good. I really liked it probably is because, uh, for those that don't know, that's kind of going around, it's by some wolf, it's pretty much. Uh, it takes place in essentially it's its own fantasy world, but think, like medieval europe, it's like the, the time frame for the show pretty much, and it deals with the some uh, uh, I think it's her name is hollow or holo. There's always some confusion about or some contention about the name there was back in the day.
Mark Trobough:
And then lawrence, the main character. He's trading between towns. I think he's bringing in like furs to trade, because you're thinking old, old, uh, medieval, like like trades and stuff like that. And then she just happens to stumble upon him where she's trying to leave said village who used to worship her. Now they don't really, they've kind of gone on uh and uh essentially. Then she follows him on his travels as she tries to kind of get home.
Mark Trobough:
Shenanigans involves you kind of get a dabble in like old, medieval trade and stuff like that, where it's like how you know some some old school finances, trade, trading and stuff like that works, uh, there's because she's supposed to be some kind of deity to some degree, that you get issues with the, with the church and stuff like that, uh, kind of trying to come after her, and you know a whole bunch of shenanigans gets involved. That's just the anime Light novels. Obviously it's very different, but the story goes a lot longer. Obviously we're about to get a new, new anime adaptation, so we'll see how much, how much it changes or they're just retelling.
Mark Trobough:
You know essentially the same story, but it was always told as a. It's a like a for most people. That that at least back then around 2012 or 2010,. When I watched it I can't remember exactly when I first watched it it was always around the whole. You know it's an old medieval finances with a with a cute wolf girl type thing and there's always the, the, you know some other other fun stuff. It's classified as an adventure, fantasy, romance and the romance is kind of there in at least the original anime, but the story just doesn't go far enough for that to actually be a thing.
Brandon Hurles:
It's super major but it definitely starts to dabble in it as far as the original anime, the manga goes a little bit more into that, I feel, and that's the whole reason it got dating sims, because it's there.
Kerguhl Games:
The element's, the whole reason it got dating Sims, because it's there, the element's there, but yeah.
Mark Trobough:
Okay, no, sorry, I was reading a message from you, but yeah, I mean, it got Technically. It got four games, two of which were in Japan only that you kind of talked about, so in 2008 and 2009,. There, two japan only ds games, uh, spice and wolf hollows in my one year. And then the wind that spans the seer, more or less dating sims. I know the first game was explicitly a dating sim. The second one, um, didn't, from some of the stuff I read, didn't explicitly say dating sim, but it probably was very, very similar to to what that was, which is kind of why those games were were japanese only at the time.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, uh, and then it got in 2019. In 2021, there was a spiceable vr and vr2 that came out worldwide on almost or on most vr kind of platforms. Um, I don't know exactly what type of games those were, I just didn't have the time to kind of pull that up. But I mean, if you're talking like 2019, 2021 VR, it's probably not going to be the most complex game in the world. It doesn't make sense.
Brandon Hurles:
It would be a dating sim that's what I was wondering what type of VR games would those be? That's very interesting.
Mark Trobough:
I did not know that it might be more of just like an interactive story, but I can pull up the Steam blog what it says.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, like a sort of visual novel.
Mark Trobough:
So it says because VR2 is the first one that popped up, I'm trying to think exactly what it classified it as. It classifies it as a casual, but it didn't really say a whole lot.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it didn't tell us anything. That's very intriguing, though, because this does not seem like the sort of property.
Mark Trobough:
So this, so the. So the about the game says at the end of his journey with the wolf goddess hollow, former traveling merchant, lawrence settles down with her and opened a bath house. The couple was blessed with an adorable daughter and an idyllic life. However, the beautiful wolves have a weakness for delicious meals and their food expenses are a source of headache for Lawrence. One day, as Lawrence is going about his fur side business to further fill the family coffers, a slight incident occurs. To further complicate things, hollow saunters in with quite the feast, and it's supposed to be a sequel to the first game. Pretty much. The game is a 30-minute story in a game mode where you can watch part of the anime alongside characters. It seems more like it's just like an interactive vr story, more or less this makes no sense, unless they're talking about using it with the labo kit.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, but it's actually on nintendo switch and you can buy it right now on the e-shop for the first one, for 12 yeah, but it's also.
Mark Trobough:
It's also on steam, so the labo kit doesn't make sense for that though okay, so I I don't know what, why it's called vr. Then if it's not just because it's a vr, game and from what I've read and what I looked at, it just looks like a. It's an interactive vr story where you have some interaction to some degree, but you're pretty much just watching it.
Brandon Hurles:
For for a story it's mostly a visual novel, but yeah, yeah, like a vr.
Mark Trobough:
Visual novel is definitely what I reading. That look as well, as I'm like, yeah, that's, I don't know. I couldn't think of visual novel the first time around so I wonder if this expands.
Brandon Hurles:
It sounds like maybe like it expands on the story, or wonder, unless it's canon or.
Mark Trobough:
I would say no, just because it tend to not be, but if it is, it's much further on the story. But I'm not far enough for the light novel to have any idea. If this is even close to reality. It feels like it's just a a spin-off for fans of the series. But uh, I mean, I mean who who knows?
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it'd be interesting to know if it is. But yeah, most anime games there's a few I can think of, but most typically aren't canon and have their own story and retell the story.
Mark Trobough:
It's a fairly light story. It's fun to watch, while it does get serious. It doesn't get at least as far as the original two anime series. It doesn't get too serious. It's, for the most part, a lighthearted story with you know some light. You know stuff with the church. He's trying to hunt her down because of uh, um, trying to think of the actual word like a, like a heretic or something like that. Uh, and trade stuff like that, like oh, this is how the market like a really dumbed down version of like how medieval finances in in the in the market worked and stuff like that and trading and stuff I do where it's like instead of like dollars. It's like you know trading, you know one product for another, you know weights of coins and silvers and stuff like that kind of gives you a brief overview of medieval uh finances yeah, I, I agree with that.
Brandon Hurles:
It's one that you can just like kind of sit down, chill out, turn your brain off and watch. But I didn't want to say. Just to wrap back around to the VR real quick, I got a little bit more info on it. It looks like it was a crowdfunded game and upload VR dot com says it plays out like a 2016 promotional tie into a movie, not a VR project worth the $292,000 in crowdfunding, let alone a price tag anywhere North of a few dollars. If you're a series, die, die hard. You'll probably enjoy the fan service on offer. Everyone else should steer clear. It's available on steam and Oculus for PC VR and is on PSVR as well as Nintendo Labo VR I was right and as a quest to be fairVR as well as Nintendo Labo VR. I was right, and it has a quest to be fair.
Mark Trobough:
So it is on Labo VR Only only a fan of the series would even get this VR to begin with. It's wholeheartedly fan service.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it's a crowd. I can't believe how much money it raised. But yeah, I mean it's.
Mark Trobough:
That just shows how dedicated of a fan base there is to to spice and wolf yeah, so that might be. It might be a small semi-small niche community but they really love loving. That's why the light novel has been going on for so long.
Brandon Hurles:
You know, I've never absolutely love it I do want to get one just to try it out, and I know they're not at least I don't think they are any. They might have went up price. But the lab ovr I've never gotten to try that. Out of curiosity's sake I really want to try it. I mean, I know it's not going to be great, but I heard like it's not like the worst thing in the world and for like the price. It's like there's like a whole vr mode for breath of the wild. I want to say that's like exclusive to if you have the labo vr.
Mark Trobough:
I have no idea about that.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I'm pretty sure, and I've never gotten to try that out. So yeah. Maybe it might be Super Mario Odyssey, I can't remember. One of them has like a. Labo VR mode.
Mark Trobough:
But the last thing I kind of put on here was, depending on what region you're in, it was advertised to be on Hulu, amazon Prime and Crunchyroll Stream, though if you're in the US it's probably going to be on Crunchyroll than the other two, or you can be like me and, just you know, still have an interest in physical media.
Brandon Hurles:
You can tell I bought this used oh you do like physical media, just kidding, yeah, I do.
Mark Trobough:
Even though there's, I need to get a new case. This case has been it, but I bought it used. I don't know if I told you, but that high school DXD Blu-ray that I have.
Brandon Hurles:
It's going for upwards of $100. You know how many episodes it has on it.
Mark Trobough:
There's only three seasons of it. Maybe there's a fourth season. I know I think there's a fourth season. I don't know if I have it on Blu-ray though.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it's very expensive, I was shocked.
Mark Trobough:
It's out of print yeah, it's a really popular series. It's one of those series that you watched for the fan service. You stayed for the surprisingly deep and interesting story.
Brandon Hurles:
It did legitimately have a story. But yeah, it's very fan service-y To be fair, that makes sense.
Mark Trobough:
You're talking about an anime. That's very the definition of what an ecchi series is really. Perverted series is uh, but like spice, and that that's uh high school dd or dxd, whatever you want to call it. It's originally a light novel and it's still an ongoing light novel oh which makes sense why there's such a good story to it. But it plays into, it knows what it is. It doesn't change that the main character is a complete pervert.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it reminds me of some of Tenshi Muya. Because I mean, you know, that whole series. It's a little different.
Mark Trobough:
It's still harem, but Tenshi's far less of a. He's not really a pervert, though Not in the way you would think nowadays.
Brandon Hurles:
No, but if I remember correctly, in one of the OVAs or it was multiple, because I can't remember how many OVAs there were he was different than he was in the anime. He was definitely a pervert well, it depends.
Mark Trobough:
Are you watching the uh Tenshi in Tokyo, the Tenshi universe, or the OG OVA Tenshi Muyu series?
Brandon Hurles:
I was different. All three it was. It was the original, but whatever, that would be the OVA the OVA would be the original, yeah that's it's still technically ongoing. Interesting, crazy that is yeah, I didn't know, it was still ongoing man, I have there's like five OVAs for it is there? What's the last Tenchi Muyo series to come out? Uh, I think Mr Coffee said, wasn't Tenchi more of a waifu anime?
Mark Trobough:
I mean like it was it was a harem, so it was like very centered around the girls uh, I think technically it's the fifth ova, but there's another series coming out about one of the spin-off light novels uh, I can't remember the thing of what it's called, it's, it's something worse or something like that. That's, if it's not out, it's coming out soon. Um, but I mean most of what he uh. Uh I'm blanking on the name of the actual creator because I haven't looked it up in forever. What he's been doing like for like the last 20 years, since the third uva came out in like 2002 or 2003 along with the, the gxp anime. He's been working on it for forever a handful of of uh manga or uh manga panels and some some side stories, but mainly he's been working on it for forever a handful of of uh manga or uh manga panels and some some side stories, but mainly he's been working on the gxp light novel for like the bulk of that time.
Mark Trobough:
And there's another spin-off light novel. That's what the new anime is kind of coming out on, because he as much as I like the g tension movie gxp anime, it's technically not considered canon because he absolutely hated it and it had a weird sense of humor that I kind of like. So he essentially retold the gxp story in a light novel that's still technically ongoing and so there's technically, the ova timeline has like three spin-offs that kind of tie into it. So you have the early one that most people know was the war in geminar, which technically takes place after ova five. And what ova five bridges together?
Mark Trobough:
Because the the fourth OVA was kind of a test dive into the series as well, as it started to tie together a bunch of series. The fourth and fifth OVA are, at least in the West, very contentious and I don't think it was received the same way in Japan, but it's essentially trying to tie together a bunch of series altogether. So you have another spinoff and it's kind of like handing out the name the GXP light novel, and then the Warren Gemini is kind of all getting tied together as well, as the fifth OVA leads directly into the Warren Gemini story and fills in some of the gaps of kind of what's going on and stuff like that. People didn't like those because they're very dialogue heavy OVA series but kind of by necessity that's kind of what they needed to be. I remember Warren Geminar. I can see the middle ground.
Brandon Hurles:
Kevin, in the chat, if you're listening to audio, there's a comment about asking if I was thinking about Warren Geminar. I definitely watched that one. I feel like I watched all the OVAs, all the ones that you're talking about. I like Tenchi Mugabe because of you.
Mark Trobough:
I got into it because of you I really like gxp yeah, the fourth and the fifth of you came out. I don't have any pulled up from like I think the fourth one came like around 2019 and 21 22 is when the fifth ova came out and stuff like that. Uh, but essentially I might be getting this wrong, but the whole from I understand and it's been it's been six months or so since I've looked this up. I'll be getting some stuff wrong. But I thought he said, like tenchi story is pretty much wrapped up and done because he hasn't focused on tenchi and that that game for for like the better part of 20 years he's been focusing on the two, the main two spinoffs, mainly the gxp and then the. Uh, I think it's war in paradise or paradise war, I think, is what the others spin off and that's what he's been mainly focusing on.
Mark Trobough:
But they, yeah, but they're also tied into the whole ova universe. The problem is most of what he's been working on since the third ova and gxp came out around 21 to 2003 uh, has been stuck in japan only like there's no this gxp light novel because I think I showed it to you, like last week or something. There's no official translation. You're stuck with either learning Japanese to read it or you're reading fan translations. There's no legal way to read any of this into the stuff he's written outside of the animes and stuff like that.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, this is kind of frustrating.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, that that that is frustrating, but I mean that's like part of the course, at least for a lot of, really, I mean that's like part of the course, at least for a lot of really yeah, but you're talking like, as it stands right now, a really small, really niche series which obviously just doesn't have the popularity to come over to the West, which to me that sucks. But I mean we got some light novels, but they were more of the that. We got got three of the true tenshi muyo, uh uh novels that came to the us, but those are very different, those more of like hey, here's more background. We're tying a lot of stories together based off the original uh tenshi muyo stuff. But it definitely goes back and it's trying to like fix a lot of the uh or come to. It's like hey, some of the stuff that we referenced, this kind of like fixes a lot of that stuff that's just not addressed in either the anime or some of the other other light novels.
Brandon Hurles:
I remember a lot of the background for some characters I remember you buying one the light novels when we went to some store in columbus, probably like 2015. I can't remember it, it's been a long time, but, um, I was going to some stores.
Mark Trobough:
I don't remember what I would have bought, though.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I remember you buying one there, but this is 2022. But yeah, this is bringing up the Tenchi Mujo GXB Paradise Shidohen, which is Paradise Begins arc. The anime will be tied into the Tenchi Mujo GXB spinoff series.
Mark Trobough:
This is kind of like a spinoff of a spinoff and it's weird because in the fifth OVA you get you see both the GXB and the Paradise War spinoffs in that OVA, but the stories are kind of not fully done. It makes sense if you've read those light novels when you, when the fifth OVA came out, the problem is if you weren't in Japan. Va came out, the problem is if you weren't in Japan, you never read those. So it's super confusing.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, but it ties into stuff that if you were in Japan and followed it, this all makes sense. It ties in. You know, the tie-in makes sense. It just doesn't to us because we miss so much stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
It looks like the entire thing is based around all the novels, so yeah, we wouldn't have any idea.
Mark Trobough:
My big thing is I was wouldn't, wouldn't have. My big thing is I was like, okay, hopefully this paradise war does well and then we can actually get a proper adaptation of the gxp light novels which are flashing is still ongoing to some degree, but then again, this is how crazy, uh, uh, he's made this oba universe the. It's not until the gxp light novel, but it also ties into another work that he worked on in the late nineties, is it?
Brandon Hurles:
Oh my God.
Mark Trobough:
So if you've got if you watch dual parallel trouble. That's technically tied into the attention. Will you OVA series?
Brandon Hurles:
So I didn't notice. In 2014, there was a short form anime that had over 50 episodes.
Mark Trobough:
Oh you, I is a complete waste. Don't watch it.
Brandon Hurles:
AI that had over 50 episodes for Tenchi.
Mark Trobough:
Muyu Tenchi Muyu. I Don't watch it. Ai Tenchi Muyu I It'd be I in Japanese, or something like that. It wouldn't be straight.
Brandon Hurles:
AI. Do you remember? Oh my Goddess, do you remember that anime? Did you ever?
Mark Trobough:
like that one. It was okay. I never really got into it. It was too slow paced for me.
Brandon Hurles:
You could say that about some other series that I like. So what about Fruits Basket?
Mark Trobough:
Do you remember that one? I remember, but I never watched it. I liked that one back then, it never came off as one that I want, but no, it's.
Brandon Hurles:
I was just going to say GXP was on Tanami, so it garnered an audience. I loved it as much as he hates it.
Mark Trobough:
But I mean, it's his story, so I get why he didn't. He didn't like the sense of humor and some of the changes. But uh, that that OVA timeline is so convoluted because the the dual parallel trouble sure Sounds clearly was never, was never designed to be tied into it. It's just left open, ended and some stuff doesn't make sense because it's based in Japan, but Japan is in Tenshi Muyo, but this is supposed to be like a thousand plus years in the past or like a hundred thousand years in the past. Oh my gosh.
Mark Trobough:
It's just like, wow, this is complicated, yeah, so you have to watch that series. There's a handful of Monger slash Dojin you need to read. There's a bunch of light novel you have to read for this to all make sense light novel you have to read for this to all make sense.
Brandon Hurles:
It's just kind of like a see.
Speaker 4:
That's another one of the things we talked about twice today. You got it.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it is a medium that yeah, but this comes out as when.
Mark Trobough:
What I've understood. This is kind of like a necessity, like he wanted to keep telling his story but he couldn't get an anime, uh adaptation or an ova series. So it's like, well, I'm just going to continue telling the story in in light novel form primarily, and then we'll address some other doujins when, when they're there. But, like, for like the longest time he had, there's only one way to tell him that wasn't light novel format. So it's more by necessity.
Brandon Hurles:
It sounds like it's. It makes it convoluted. It sounds like it's even niche in Japan. If it's such an issue to do that, it must really still be very niche obviously because it's a niche series, straight up, like it's.
Mark Trobough:
There's no way to get around it. Even in the us it's not a super. It was back then because it got a tsunami adaptation, uh, or it was on tsunami, but I mean, like it became really, really niche well, it can't be that niche because, uh, everybody in the chat has are fully aware of it and new titles.
Mark Trobough:
Well, if you, if you if you've watched it in the war on Gemini was kind of it's Tenshi Muyu, but it was kind of its own thing, probably for the better. The way that series kind of works it's, it's directly tied into it. But the way the show does it itself it's very, very lightly tied into it. The actual story is not related, not until the fifth O is it like hard, you know connected and stuff like that. But it's, it's a, it's a series that I love and it's always been my favorite. But god, I'm not trying to curse, but damn, is this a super convoluted timeline.
Brandon Hurles:
As far as, like the main oba, it sounds like it's crazy than I would want to uh ever mess with that which makes it hard for a barrier to entry.
Mark Trobough:
The problem is because I mean, I watched it.
Brandon Hurles:
I watched it. I read some of the manga. I don't remember.
Mark Trobough:
I definitely did not read any of the light novels, yeah, but if you ever look into what people, especially here in the west, don't like about the fourth and fifth, you'll be like this doesn't make sense. I'm like, yeah, because we were missing so much of the, of the work that he did never got adapted from the, from the dojins, all light novels in the west, which is directly what this is tying into. So if you're in japan, it it makes sense and it was fairly popular, successful, from what I understand, or else the fifth ova wouldn't have gotten made. And the fourth, if you ever watched the, the third ova, the fourth ova pretty much just retells the ending of that with the whole, uh, his, his dad kind of getting remarried and stuff like that and everything else around. It kind of retells it. But it also kind of felt like it was uh, just testing the waters to see if there was still even an appetite for it to get another ova series, which it did, because it got a fifth one, uh, like 15, like within six episodes. You're jumping through like 16 years.
Mark Trobough:
But she's kind of out of necessity because it's like you only have so many episodes and you need to get to where you tie into the, to the, to the war on jim and r, because that's the whole series deals with the uh. Uh. I'm playing on like is it kenshi or something like that is his name from uh, from war on jim and r. But the whole series based around him getting ready for whatever he's supposed to do as far as the Bidlow VA is concerned, to Warren, jim and R. So it was kind of like uh, don't know when I'm going to, I'm going to have another episode, so I've got to force the story in six, six episodes that are about 40 to 50 minutes long. I mean they're not short episodes, but it felt like by necessity. It's like I've got for sure this one shot to tie this in. I need to take advantage of it and then, whatever happens next.
Mark Trobough:
Luckily the Paradise War got an adaptation. Hopefully it does well. I've never been. I never read the light novel, so hopefully it's a good adaptation. I assume he's going to be fairly heavily involved in it. But yeah, I could talk about this all day. There's probably a lot of research I could do. I'm like alright, now I'm loaded, now we can go hard into this. But I'm passionate about it because I grew up. This is the first anime that I watched. For the first one it got me back into it. I love it For all its faults. I'm a dedicated fan.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, that's fair. I enjoyed what I watched and where I had been involved in it, I hadn't got that deep.
Mark Trobough:
I wonder if there are fan translations of some of the light novels that haven't been brought over here, At least I haven't looked at the Paradise Board, but for the GXP, at least up fairly close to where they're at right now, there are fan translations, uh. But I mean you're you're taking a shot with accuracy and it's you have to read it online and stuff like that. So you take it with a grain of salt because it's not a proper it's not a proper translation.
Brandon Hurles:
That's how I used to play a lot of uh jrpgs and japanese. Yeah, that's how. It's still the only way I've ever been able to play earthbound 3.
Mark Trobough:
So, yeah, it just sucks that you're stuck with a fan translation because like, hopefully this is a good dude, obviously some of it's done machine translation and then a human goes and after the fact from I understand, and then tweak some stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
It can be way more accurate now with with ai. I mean, obviously there's still going to be issues, but like yeah, legitimately, you know how much close because it's somebody here translating it. So it's like they, they for years and years and years. I mean you, you saw it with the dub and even the manga, like even official translations were never like always super wrong oh, they always did always the only way to get it accurate is to learn Japanese and then go back and read it.
Mark Trobough:
It's the only way that you're going to get a proper adaptation. Because this is also a series that delves heavily into old Japanese culture and stuff like that. Because people were like, oh, that's weird, you're marrying like his half-sister or distant cousin. I'm like, yeah, today in the west that doesn't make sense. But if you look at any kind of royal family tree lineage, it's kind of par for the course to some degree and it's got a oh, it's definitely tied into old japanese like, like mythology to some degree and how it kind of acts. It's definitely it's not.
Brandon Hurles:
It will never be like mainstream at the stand right now uh, so I was looking up, uh, the tenchi Muyo video games, because I've never played any of them and there's actually one called Ryuki FX and it's actually on. It's called.
Mark Trobough:
Ryuki.
Brandon Hurles:
I briefly mentioned. No, you're good, I briefly mentioned this system slash computer to you before. But NEC, who did the TurboGraf, turbo graphics and pc engine. They made a game for the, the nec pc fx, which was essentially like a beefed up pc engine. That was also a computer, yeah, and it was like home to 90 light novels.
Brandon Hurles:
There were some like other, like legitimate video games on it, but they're very, very, very few and far between and never came out here. But it's interesting just watching a quick like trailer of this because this is a perfect example of most of the games that you would get on this system. This is one I've been after for for many, many, many years. I've never been able to find one um that's working. I found one that was broken years ago and I passed up on it. But there are some actual non-visual novel anime based games on there too and it's like a. It is like an anime slash gamers dream console because there are so many adaptations or exclusive story games that are attached to the PC effects like tons based on anime and manga, like it is like if you like old anime and manga, like this is like literally the system for you.
Brandon Hurles:
But there's a fan translation to for the Super Nintendo game and it's it's tenchi miyue game hen, which translates to game edition.
Mark Trobough:
Uh, I think that's the game I have for the super famicon. Yeah, there's one of the games that I have. I bought it at a con in atlanta a few years ago, but yeah, no, I was looking at like the the one you were talking about, that tenchi miyue ryoki pc fx. Yeah, uh, game like it's not like on ebay, it's a pretty. The game itself is pretty cheap, it's like $40.
Brandon Hurles:
Oh, that's not bad at all.
Mark Trobough:
Or around there. It's like well, a lot of these games are well under $100 for the PCFX, but it's probably just the console itself yeah. It's hard to come by.
Brandon Hurles:
The console is hard to come by. I saw somebody actually a few weeks ago posted that they found one complete in box and they got like a steal of a price on it. They paid like 200 and complete in box for that. That console is absolutely insane. Now it is like not a um the. The problem is there is now okay, you know retro gaming there's a market for everything. It's not a crazy expensive console because you can get it loose for like I don't know 250 or something like that, but like based off of what was it currently?
Mark Trobough:
the controller I was looking at what's on ebay and some of these actually have the controller anywhere from like 250 to 400 on ebay.
Brandon Hurles:
Some of them say they have the controller within the picture, so I assume they they're selling it together because the controller by itself, like I think loose, is like 50 bucks and you can get them boxed from upwards of like 120 or so you can get this right now.
Mark Trobough:
Hopefully it's it's. It works if you bought it off of ebay, so it's a. You know it's kind of like a hit or miss, but I mean it's still cheaper than a ps5 right now yeah, I, I will say this is like I said.
Brandon Hurles:
This is one I very much OK, so I do have one. I have a couple of collecting goals. Right now. I pretty much like steered off of any like real collecting goals, but I've got three and right now my three are actually collect every NEC system, like I want all the variants and releases.
Brandon Hurles:
I'm a massive, massive, massive TurboGrafx and PC Engine fan and also my childhood is attached to that system. You know, I had it as a kid and I was very upset when my dad sold a lot because you couldn't find games anywhere and if you did, they were hundreds of dollars even then, like it was, it was absolutely insane. And then just a few years later then games were getting discounted like 20 bucks and if you know anything about box TurboGrafx games, that is a steal, because if you you can get so TurboGrafx games come in a jewel case but they actually come in a box too, a a jewel case but they actually come in a a box too and it's like a thin, thin box and those boxes are very, very rare. For just about every single game, um, almost every single person threw the, the outer box away. It's sort of like a super nintendo box, right, but inside it came in a jewel case, so they just kept the jewel case. Well, what's sought after is the actual boxes. But, uh, there are some very expensive pcfx games too.
Brandon Hurles:
But this is one that like, if you're an anime fan like, or manga fan in any capacity, like, I highly recommend grabbing this. And it's it's a 32 bit system, slash computer and it does have like computer functionality too, so I can get a keyboard for it and like the whole nine. But it's a legitimate console with, you know, legitimate software. But I have seen some of these games go upwards of seven, eight hundred dollars, um, crazy. There might be some more expensive than that. But my three, three collecting goals are every Pokemon game, every NEC console and then my. My last one is I want to have every first party switch game and like that that one's that's achievable and easy, right, like, like I'm not that the switch library is insane, but I mean collecting every first party game like that that's easily achievable. I'm pretty much waiting until switch 2 comes out and like a lot of these games drop because, like, I don't really want to pay 60 bucks for Mario Golf. I want to play it, but you know I'm not trying to pay 60 bucks for Mario Golf.
Mark Trobough:
Now I did have a question because I was just kind of scrolling through the eBay. Is there a difference between PC FX and the PC FX Duo R console? Yes, because it looks different and it's like twice as expensive as like $800 for for this one posting that I saw.
Brandon Hurles:
So the duo are also plays, uh, PC engine games, so like original PC engine games. So it plays the huge. They're called hue cards instead of carts. They're, they're little, they look like credit cards. And uh, it also plays the hue cards, so like that is the ultimate way. So that is for like uh, even looks completely different yeah, for like an unmodded console.
Brandon Hurles:
Um, like that is the best way, even to this day, that you can play pc engine games. Uh, like unmodded, uh. And it would be next to like there's a system called the super graphics that also plays pc engine games, but essentially it was a beefed up pc engine that only had like seven games released for it.
Mark Trobough:
But yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's basically that, uh, but I mean to be fair, the the pcfx kind of looks like a like, kind of looks like a 90s computer tower to some degree.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah. And then there's the RX as well. So, yeah, there's a few variants and, if I remember correctly, the RX is the most expensive and I think it like it was like minor stuff, like having like an earphone jack and like like a couple of like quality of life improvements, but yeah, I mean, those are even rare. So you're getting deeper and like, if you want, now granted, like you could just get a PC FX and then get a PC engine for they're not like crazy expensive.
Brandon Hurles:
You could get one for relatively uh cheap and just play them that way, but like it's the uh rx's are stupid expensive, so they're even more expensive than the the duo are, so uh it's not surprising that, like all these, at least as far as the e is concerned, like 95% of what I saw, they're all shipping from Japan.
Brandon Hurles:
It's a Japanese console. Yeah, so TurboGrafx is the American version of PC Engine. So if you ever hear PC Engine, it's all Japan. We got the TurboGrafx, the TurboGrafx Express, which I have, that's the handheld and then we got the turbo graphics cd and then we got a turbo graphics uh uh, it's called turbo duo, so it plays the, the hue cards and the cd base games in one console.
Mark Trobough:
So those are what we got. That's the. That's the. Oh yeah, that's the.
Brandon Hurles:
What the american version of the duo are so the duo are, it's, it's sort of the duo are is it's different?
Mark Trobough:
yeah, it's, it's it's different.
Brandon Hurles:
It plays the uh, the fx games, but also plays the cd based games for the pc engine cd basically it's a, it's not just.
Mark Trobough:
Just because I need to now collect these games by console, to play them on and then, hopefully, one day, I can understand what the f*ck they're saying in these games.
Brandon Hurles:
I would just grab a PCFX. There's actually a I will look up what it's called but if you want to save a lot of money and have the better route, just recently there is new uh, new hardware put out for it, essentially um, there is a new uh bluetooth adapter so you can play it with any controller that you want. That's like 25, 30 bucks so you can use your ps5 controller if you wanted to, or you just play it the original way. And then I also want to say that there is I got to make sure on this, because I remember seeing something about it. I feel like there is a way to play all the games.
Brandon Hurles:
Now, I could be totally wrong. I could be totally wrong on that, because I have the um turbo everdrive pro, so I can play all of the pc engine games turbo graphics games, turbo cd, pc engine cd but I can't play. I can't play pcfx, um, and I've told, I've told you about the everdrive so many times, but it's at pGA so it plays it identical to the original cart. There's absolutely zero difference. But yeah, I mean like if you were to, I would, if I were you, I would totally just grab the PCFX itself. Now, I mean if you find a deal on there, you know, do a little bit of hunting around. I would I mean grab the R.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, or the RX. I mean, you know, do a little bit of hunting around, I would, I mean, grab the grab, the r, yeah, or the r. It's probably not going to happen for a few months because I got those. You know, financial stuff. It's one of those things like I gotta add this on the list of stuff I need to get, just because, as much as people, you might have your own opinions. I'm such a big tinchy movie fan like I've been trying to hunt down as far as just the western releases, like every release of the ova or all these series, like every copy of it that's both DVD, blu-ray and VHS, just to have it in my collection. It's like the one series I'm such a nerd for, I just absolutely love both the series.
Speaker 4:
I just told you how big of a nerd, I am for NEC.
Brandon Hurles:
I too am after the PC-FX, but for me. I'm such a nerd, I want the PCFX and the R and the. Rx.
Mark Trobough:
So then that is Somehow not because you were somehow still connecting anime and video games together. Oh, it's great.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, and I mean there's even like a. It's stupid expensive but, like I said, there's a mouse and keyboard for the FX so you can play that way. The mouse, I want to say, is like several hundred dollars, I can't remember. It's been a while since I've seen the prices of these things. But if you ever dive into now, not only is a PC FX have a lot of anime releases, but the PC Engine and PC Engine CD do as well. So, like, if you are interested, like if you look up and you'll have to see what's cheaper now at this point, or, unless you can, like swipe a deal or win an auction, but it either the pcfx if you care about the other ones, that is, the pcfx are or just grab a pcfx and get a cheap um, because there are what they call budget model, uh, pc engines. Now at this point, um, they're not. They're not like really budget, but there's like cheaper models.
Brandon Hurles:
There's several variants of it. There's one that people call like the shuttle, um, pc engine shuttle, uh, it's all. There's a core graphics which is a pc engine um, and that is like just just the. It's a small form factor of the PC Engine and it's the cheapest model you can get. I mean, you can get them, you can find them oftentimes for, you know, $100, $120, something like that.
Brandon Hurles:
Like it's just a straight-up base model, small, you know, no extra stuff, but then you can still attach the super module unit to it which allows you to attach the cd drive, so like if you wanted to buy the cd-rom 2 drive, you could still attach it to that. It's, I think it's, called the interface unit, um, so like there's, and like you can find deals on getting all three of those together. I've seen them I I saw a deal not long ago that I regret having passed up, uh, having all three bundled together for like 250, uh, which is a pretty good deal I mean because the cd-rom drive some oftentimes goes for more than the console itself, and then the interface unit you have to buy separately which attaches the CD drive.
Brandon Hurles:
So but I will. I will tell you they did make. Now the TurboGrafx-Mini is very expensive, but they made a TurboGrafx-Mini and a PC Engine Mini and these are moddable, so you can't add games to them, and I do believe you can add PCFX games to either. I'm pretty sure they work on those. But my God, you have no idea how bad I want a TurboGrafx-Mini. I still am upset with myself for not having pre-ordered that, because the pre-orders sold out and they never made any more of them, and these mini consoles are like 300 if you were to get it in the box, which for this I absolutely 100 have to get in the box uh, but I've never I've never, I've never seen a loose turbo graphic 16 mini.
Brandon Hurles:
But yeah, I'm curious, I'm gonna look it up for our listeners how much one's going for right now. Yeah, first one that pops up to 70, uh in the box and uh, konami. Konami released the, uh, the. I actually didn't realize that Konami released the turbo graphics, many interesting. Uh, nec is the company, so that's interesting. But yeah, I mean you look up, like here's one loose 250. Um, yeah, I mean like it. The crazy thing is is it's a cheaper to get a real turbo graphics than it is to get the mini, because here's one right now loose for 170, the original console. Um, like it's cheaper to do that which I've got, one of those two I've got. Um, like it's cheaper to do that which I've got one of those two.
Kerguhl Games:
I've got any CYs.
Brandon Hurles:
All I have is the TurboGrafx-16 and the Turbo Express. Um, but I want you to look up something for our audio listeners. Go ahead and look this up, if, uh, if you're listening. This is called the PC Engine LT and it is my holiest of holy grails. Um, this is something I have looked for for many, many years and even 10 years ago was going for a lot of money, but now it's going for about quadruple the cost it was then. Uh, but yeah, I mean, they're well upwards of a thousand dollars and essentially, yeah, um, I it's.
Brandon Hurles:
It's like a better version of the, the pc gt, which is the handheld unit, like I've got the turbo express. The pc engine gt is the same thing, it's just a pc engine variant. Well, this is like a foldable with a bigger screen, plays better, runs, the game is better. It's just like a better unit overall and it kind of looks like a portable dvd player, but like you put the hue card right in the front of it and it's got a nice screen and has controls on the actual unit and you can play with the controller. It's just, it's incredibly cool and super cool piece of history.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, but I say the first one I brought up on eBay was going for like $4,000. But I found I found one as cheap as like 560 on eBay. Obviously it's probably going be. Yeah, it didn't seem like the right one, though it said oh no, never mind, it's the, it's just the pc engine super graphics I was gonna say I wondered why it was even broken, with a cracked screen and everything's going for more than 500 yeah, I don't know why it popped up the way it did.
Mark Trobough:
I, I, yeah, that's on me, but yeah, when the first one, the first one that came up, was going for $4,000 on eBay as far as the USD, but yeah, the PC Engine itself is not overly expensive.
Brandon Hurles:
The TurboGrafx is slightly more. If you're to get the base unit, okay, but I'm looking, I found one for $21.75. Oh geez. What a savings. Well, this one doesn't have a box to go with it, so oh I, if I'm being honest with you, I've never seen an lt box. I've never seen a pc engine lt box. I don't even know what it looks like.
Mark Trobough:
You never seen the first one that came up with it. Uh, this is pc engine lt console system pi td9 boxed, tested, free shipping I see that and then whatever that thing is, it's going for 4k 78 watchers.
Brandon Hurles:
Wow, that is such a beautiful unit. I mean, that is just such a cool piece of history. Man like I, yeah I mean like with that folded box with it folded, it looks like a gba uh sp slash an original game boy oh my god, it's got one of those old little antennas you used to have on those portable TVs, so I'll just show you mine.
Brandon Hurles:
The Express has a separate TV unit that you can buy for it and put on the side. I'll show you it sometime, but I've done a short on it before and what I've done is I've plugged Essentially, I've got the adapters, I've got all kinds of crazy cables that I've got the adapters. I've got all kinds of crazy cables that I've ordered to do weird ridiculous stuff with before. But I played a Wii game on my Turbo Express using the TV antenna, plugging in through the audio cable. I plugged in video cables and played a Wii game on my Turbo Express. There's a short on the channel of me doing it.
Mark Trobough:
Crazy. So was this also like a TV? Because I was looking at one of the pictures and it's had, like you know, channel call, channel plus, channel minus and stuff like that. It looks like you could actually, with the little antenna, it's like a portable TV as well, as well as a gaming console.
Brandon Hurles:
So that's like that was like one of the things for it that was marketed with this, because the GT GT itself didn't have one. The GT is like a. If you look up the PC engine GT, it's a handheld that looks like a game boy.
Brandon Hurles:
There's one down below and PCGT it can't but there was an external unit that you could buy a TV adapter for to watch TV on. Well, this had it built in already, so like that was the one and it had a better screen. So it was marketed with a better screen is marketed, you know, obviously with having the option to play it straight from that controller adapter. And people don't know, because you can't do this with the Express, obviously, but you can attach. There is a special CD ROM unit that you can attach to the back of this and you couldn't do that with the Express. The Express was just a straight up handheld but you can play pc engine cd games on this crazy handheld and turn it into a home console essentially. But I think that's called the um. Trying to remember what that's called, the pc engine cd for the lt, I can't. I think it's called super cd. I want to say, or I can't remember, but it's own special unit and my buddy, oh yeah, nec Super CD ROM 2. So it's the special version to attach to the LT.
Brandon Hurles:
But my buddy actually picked when I went to what convention was I at last year in Chicago Video Game Summit? My buddy that I've talked about before he picked one up there because he's never been able to find one either. At last year in Chicago, uh, video game summit, um, my buddy that I've talked about before he picked one up there cause he's never been able to find one either. And uh, we were amazed. There was a Japanese vendor there and he collected NEC for years and years and years and he had the craziest stuff I've ever seen in my life. I'm talking like NEC promotional items, so like these turbo graphics gloves. They came in these packages.
Brandon Hurles:
They were like 700, they were gloves just promotional gloves, like he had everything, all the accessories that you can imagine. There were things that I had never seen before, I didn't know existed. Like he had the craziest collection I've ever seen. Like that that was uh. There's one company in the retro gaming sphere that means you know a ton to me. It's NEC. I've, I've always been very attached to to NEC and I just they're. They have phenomenal games Like there's. This console is so overlooked. I would like to say hey, I like overlooked. I would like to say hey, I like the neo geo more, because the neo geo is an amazing console but that is a uncollectible console. I mean that you look up neo geo prices. I mean I just told you garu mark of the woes is a fifteen thousand dollar cart and that's not even even remotely close to the most expensive one. Like metal slug for it. I'll look up how how much metal slug is for the neo geo, but like it's just uh it's like console.
Mark Trobough:
Didn't seem like it was that on a four wheel on ebay, but maybe it's the games that are expensive what console the the neo geo? Yeah, or like the new geo aes. Yeah, you can get one for like what?
Brandon Hurles:
four, four hundred dollars right now, or like the neo geo x.
Mark Trobough:
No, which one specifically is the expensive?
Brandon Hurles:
one. The Neo Geo X is a new thing. They actually came out in 2010.
Mark Trobough:
So what's the one that's hard to come by, then? Which Neo Geo is it?
Brandon Hurles:
So the AES is the home unit and the MVS is the arcade unit. They are basically the exact same thing, except the MVS takes gigantic carts and it's an arcade unit. Basically it's just. But the AES is the home unit. The Neo Geo CD is cheapest to collect for, but that's because the load times are atrocious and the games they don't run as well as the carts, as well as the uh, the carts as as well as aes. But but the aes is the one where the carts are just crazy, crazy expensive.
Mark Trobough:
Um, like you, I mean as far as a console, I'm seeing from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars between the actual console itself for the aes.
Brandon Hurles:
So yeah, I'll look up to see what you're seeing there, but yeah, the console, like you, can get the last recollection of prices, because I actually do want to grab.
Mark Trobough:
Oh, there's the metal. Metal is like you're talking about. It's going for like forty seven hundred dollars on yeah, right now.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I think the first metal slug is the most expensive, but yeah, like, three is like is yeah, they're all crazy prices, but no, there's there's. There's Neo Geo, like, there's a Neo Geo website dedicated to this and there are only I forget, but I think there's like two people in the world that had the full Neo Geo set, but there is.
Mark Trobough:
Oh my God, I just saw it. Oh my god, I just saw it. Apparently, it's the brand new old stock new Geo Japan AES Silver, ngh system console, s&k NOS going for like $17,000 right now.
Brandon Hurles:
That's crazy.
Mark Trobough:
It still has the plastic. You can see in the picture. There's still consoles in plastic and sh*t like that.
Brandon Hurles:
So you can barely, you can only see the edge right. Where I'm pointing right here is an mvs mini. They sent it out to me about a month ago for review and, uh, essentially it's supposed to emulate the mini. Uh, it's supposed to be like an mvs mini, the arc, the home arcade unit. But I also have the neo geo mini, which is basically the a. It's like 30 aes games put in there. So there's a bunch of um, fatal, fatal fury, all the metal slug not all of them, but uh, most of the metal slugs um, just a bunch of random any. Uh, the neo geo minis are cheap, like a hundred dollars pretty much. There's like 27 variants of them, of the minis, like literally. But the MVS mini is the newest one and it's put out by Unico.
Brandon Hurles:
But I highly recommend grabbing. It's really cool if you want to experience some Neo Geo games and not pay the crazy prices. It's, it's well worth it. But like I was looking up the rarest and most valuable Neo Geo games and, trust me, like it's phenomenal, phenomenal console, phenomenal games. But like I'm looking here, kazuna Encounter $35,000 to $50,000. Ultimate 11. This is a soccer game, keep in mind $35,000 to $45,000. And the list continues, like it just continues. And I know that that, uh, top one is not the most expensive one, because I saw the most expensive game recently that was like unreleased but got like there's a few copies out there, and it was well over like 100 grand. Uh, I'm trying to think what the game? Oh look, new turf masters loose price. This is a golf game. This is a golf game. Fourteen thousand dollars, complete in box, three thirty thousand dollars and eight hundred dollars.
Mark Trobough:
Um, it's just, yeah, it's could you imagine being alive when these games came out, looking at them in the store for retail price, and then how much they're going for now, all these years later? That would just blow your mind.
Brandon Hurles:
The crazy thing is these games were several hundred dollars retail when they were new. Because here's the thing with this system. Right, the deal with this system was it was the first console that had it was, like I would say, like a 99 percent accuracy. You can't even tell the difference. It was the first console to have like actual home arcade ports, because the MVS was the arcade unit. But this home console it obviously had gigantic, massive carts too, but it's it has like pretty much an arcade board inside that massive cartridge and like. So it was targeted from the beginning for high-end, rich families who can afford to play arcade games at home, like that it was from the beginning. So like there were already carts that were three, four hundred dollars, brand new, um. So yeah, from the beginning it's been an expensive console and like I've never known anyone growing up that ever had one, whoever could have afforded one, and like it's one of those ones that I absolutely love, uh. But what I do want to do is grab. I really, really, really want to find an aes, and I know this is going to sell out immediately. Like this is going to be gone again in a few days and I just saw it pop up again yesterday. But your best option is grab one of those consoles, grab an AES, find the best deal that you can. But there's actually a FPGA option for it. So there's the NeoSD Pro and it's back in stock on the website. It went up for pre-order. Sold out immediately. It's currently back up for another set of pre-orders.
Brandon Hurles:
This is from Terra Onion. So Terra Onion is kind of like Crixus products, but they only have a few. They've got like three FPGA options for systems. They've got the Mega SD, which I have, that's Sega Genesis, and they've got a Neo SD Pro for AES and MVS. They're both currently, as I speak, 322. They're available right now. They're going to be gone. This is basically after shipping. It's $650 for the cart. You can play the full library FPGA versus a $31,000 game by itself. Crazy. If you want to play the game the way it originally played, like it's an original cart. This is literally the only and best option out there to play FPGA. After diving into your anime corner and getting into that to play FPGA. So, after diving into your anime corner and getting into that, I like it though because, you're learning things too.
Brandon Hurles:
He said Hugh cards crazy how those carts were the size of a credit card. Talking about the TurboGrafx, he said also look up the SuperGrafx, that's another model. Yeah, I was telling you about that earlier. The SuperGraf graphics is really interesting because it only had like seven games made for it, but it also played the original. Um, it played a turbo graphics game or pc engine games too. Uh, so you it, you could play those like. I think it was like seven games. You can play those seven games that came out for it, but it is the coolest looking model that there is. It looks like a motor, like it legitimately looks like an engine because it is called a PC engine.
Mark Trobough:
Like it is crazy.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, so did you see that one? Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah, cool stuff. So, yeah, I guess we'll go ahead and dive into. We got quite a bit. There's some other anime stuff here as well, but we got some movie stuff, tv stuff, a bunch of other pop culture stuff. There's been a lot this week and there's a lot happening. So I guess off the top we'll go and mention because I can talk about this one X-Men 97.
Brandon Hurles:
First two episodes dropped I think Two days ago, it might have been yesterday, I can't remember, everything blurs all the time, but I watched both of those very good. So there's going to be 10 episodes total for this quote unquote season. That's all that we know about. My hope is that, with how good these two episodes were, that they do continue on the story because they could. They could go very, very far with this. Um, the storytelling that they brought back for this very much gives me like anime vibes, like that, because anime you know the difference with not all, of course, not all, because like the original series of this wasn't that way but versus being like episodic, it's very much a in-depth, continuing story and it feels like just very, very kind of alive and um, like just a continuing thing that there's a lot of lore for, because the x-men animated series got comic books, it got video game adaptations, like it had a lot to just a specific cartoon series, which is, you know, one of the reasons people absolutely love it. But the ending of episode two, like holy crap, like they left off at a cliffhanger and I kind of wish they had just dropped the whole season, cause I've, I'd be honest with you like finding the time to watch things that I want to watch and do. Like I planned on trying to do, um, ghostbusters tomorrow, which we're going to get into Uh, but unfortunately I don't think it's going to happen because Godzilla comes out next weekend and I'm 100% going, um, I already got my ticket. I want to be able to do a video on it. I think we talked about maybe, if we can work out getting you to go, we might be able to do a collaboration on that.
Brandon Hurles:
But animated series it starts off right where the original did. It's just, it's super interesting because there was like five seasons of the original show. Like it was a very successful show, uh, 70, some episodes and um, I I well, I guess I can't. I don't want to give any spoilers. It's brand new. It's hard to like say some of the things because there wasn't like a lot that happened in two episodes, like the, the first one back here. Like it spent about half the episode building the show back and like sort of getting you know what I mean.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I, I don't recommend diving into this if you haven't seen the previous series, uh, but or at least any of it. You know, like maybe watch a few episodes or something you can, because I mean it continues the story, but like any like comic book type thing, like people pick up an issue like anywhere and like you have no idea what happened in the last thousand issues. But it's very, very good. Really really enjoyed it. Animation looks really good, you know. It keeps to that original style while having an updated animation and it's good.
Brandon Hurles:
I highly recommend it. What I watched, I mean solid. Probably eight out of ten for that first episode and maybe like a nine out of ten for the episode 2. The character that is coming, which you'll see in episode 2 insane. It's going to open up a lot of stuff, so really good. And then we've also got, before diving into anything else, ghostbusters dropped today and yeah. So have you seen anything about the new Ghostbusters yet? Frozen Empire.
Mark Trobough:
Outside of the actual trailers for it. I know nothing about it. I mean, I saw it and I was skeptical after the last one. Was it Ghostbusters 2016 or whatever it was?
Brandon Hurles:
Are you talking about the female one or the last one that came out? Oh yeah, we'll disregard that one. Did you watch the one?
Mark Trobough:
after that? I didn't know. There was one after that, to be honest.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, there was one after that, to be honest, yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a previous one that that leads up to this, but I mean, like it's cool to have a bunch of the original cast back and, um, I am I'm really excited about, I'm massive ghostbuster fan. I got like four or five shirts. I got a hat that I wear all the time. It's a series that I've always loved and I think it's great, very classic series. However, I've been seeing some stuff online about it and I've been hearing some real mixed things and like real, real mixed. And so, for instance, instance, metacritic critic score sure, we don't care, but I was actually excited. The critic score is low. For once, it's at a 46.
Brandon Hurles:
However, what's upsetting is that the user score is at 4.4, which is the only one that I care about, and I was like, oh, the Metacritic score is low, maybe it doesn't have a bunch of politics in it and a bunch of BS and stuff. So I was like all the the metacritic scores low, maybe it doesn't have a bunch of politics in it and a bunch of bs and stuff. So I was like, ah, maybe that's a good thing. Um, my buddy watched it and he said it's like very like just middle of the road. He's like it it's ghostbusters, but like it just doesn't have the, the whole soul of the, the franchise, behind it.
Brandon Hurles:
And he's like I just it felt kind of soulless. He said it felt like just another movie, kind of like almost like a cash-in, cash-grab sort of thing. It sucks because the last one I thought was really really good. But there are quite a few positive reviews out there too, because looking at the actively looking at the Metacritic now of course that's as we're live with the episode for the audio listeners but I'm looking at a few recent, the most recent reviews and like the most recent one, or at least one of the most recent ones today, he gave it a 10 and the he gave it a 10, uh, and the guy below that gave it a 10.
Mark Trobough:
So I was gonna say, based off the metacritic is uh, it's a 4.4, but there's only 20 as far as metacritic website goes, only 26 user reviews so far. So maybe it's because the movie just came out. Maybe I'll give it a few more days to see if it, if it, there's more good than bad and stuff like that.
Brandon Hurles:
But yeah, it looks like as as uh, we're. We're talking about this now. Of course, this will change over the next few days, especially being the weekend, but there's 10 positive ratings, which is at a 36, 12 negative ratings for user score at 48%, and four middle of the road. So yeah, I mean it sounds like that's kind of a bummer. And then here in like firsthand, that was just like very much, just okay, like he's like if I had to rate it, it would have been, it would have been a five out of 10. So now I trust his judgment. He's another big Ghostbusters fan, so, bummer, I mean, I'm of course, still gonna watch it and still looking forward to seeing it, but that kind of kind of sucks. I kind of busted my bubble of excitement for it.
Mark Trobough:
So you know, I don't like that my bubble definitely wasn't there for it dang okay well, just I'm just saying, based on what we've gotten in the past, I I was already tippered to be going into it a moment of silence.
Brandon Hurles:
I will have to cut out for audio listeners, which you will have not heard that there was just silence of me staring at mark.
Mark Trobough:
Um, yeah, so let's go ahead and dive into to the other stuff then yeah, so one of the first stuff, because some of this was what you brought up. Apparently this is a chibi godzilla raids again anime sequel. I didn't even know this first one, to be honest yeah, yeah, it got an actual trade definitely looks like a, like a children's godzilla show yeah it is based off the visuals yeah, it very much.
Brandon Hurles:
Is it get? Uh, it gives me like the vibes of trying to think of that classic kids anime. It gives me the vibes a mix of the like Hello Kitty universe stuff, but also like that whatever. That blue. I can't remember if he's a dog, but it's a very popular children's anime, if you know what I'm talking about. He's like blue. I just know he's blue.
Mark Trobough:
I don't know if he's a dog Just off the top of my head. I just can't remember now. Yeah, but I mean it comes out in about two weeks, on April 3rd. Yeah, I'm going to watch it.
Brandon Hurles:
It's short, I think it's just like a short film sort of thing.
Brandon Hurles:
I don't know if it's a film, or if it's a series, but I it just says sequel oh, so the anime will feature a turning cast. Uh, anime premiered in april 2023. Talk about the first one. Um, so I think, I think it is like a short, or Okay, the original was a series of animated shorts, apparently, which was in 2020 on the Godzilla YouTube channel, and then they made it looks like a picture book after that in 2018. And then after that, they made what looks to be like this short film and now it's getting a sequel, so it was like a consecutive. Apparently, it's an ongoing series. I had not heard of the original YouTube series or the series that was streaming on YouTube, which is called Tidaima Chibi Gojira, and it translates to I'm Home, chibi Godzilla. So, yeah, apparently this is a series that's been going on since 2018, with the picture book and then turned into a series on the actual YouTube channel, which I think is pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, I definitely think that's pretty cool. I'll watch it because I'm such a massive Godzilla fan.
Brandon Hurles:
But I probably probably not gonna watch it, but that's just me wait, you don't want to talk about it come next episode, time doesn't grab me as a series that I would even be interested in, to be honest.
Mark Trobough:
It's like a. It's a short children's thing it's a short film.
Brandon Hurles:
It's for all ages. This is age appropriate. This is canon. How can you make that canon? I don't know. It premieres on the 3rd of April. Coming up soon a few episodes we'll be able to talk about it. I'll at least give it a go. I think it's super, super short. You can go on the YouTube channel to watch that. I guess I'll see. We'll see it's going to be incredibly short. I don't.
Mark Trobough:
No, what are?
Brandon Hurles:
you saying It'll be on the Toho Animation Japanese YouTube channel. Just go ahead and subscribe.
Mark Trobough:
I don't. I've been following this series forever. Do you know what's coming up with this new Transformers 1 movie, apparently.
Brandon Hurles:
I know very little about it, so I actually just learned about it yesterday. So this is apparently going to be a prequel movie. So this will be set on Cybertron and my assumption is that it is a prequel before even Bumblebee, which was a prequel to the other movies where Bumblebee was brought to earth, essentially, and like he was the first one here. But yeah, so this is something that I've wanted to see for a while and in a good movie format, like the first image you see is of my favorite transformer. A second favorite, I guess sound wave, sound wave and Grimlock, and you actually see Grimlock in the background. Those are my two favorite transformers and this will cover I assume this is going to cover all of, like, the war of Cybertron, you know, the sort of destruction of cybertron. These are just guesses, uh, but it looks like uh, cooley or josh cooley uh, who was attached to toy story 4, which is a phenomenal film. Um, this will be his, his first film, or no, he's talking about the, his first film to take home an Academy Award of Toy Story. So it looks like he's worked on a boatload of animated movies the Incredibles, cars, ratatouille and Up. He co-wrote Inside Out. This will be his first action movie. So, yeah, it looks like it's going to be a prequel until the war of Cybertron, before the Transformers came to Earth, which is what I really want to see, because I mean, like it's a little confusing for people They've only watched the films that they're pretty much immediately on Earth and like this kind of starts there and you miss like the whole gigantic backstory of what happened and why, why they're even on earth. So, yeah, I mean I think this will be really good.
Brandon Hurles:
The movies are very hit or miss for me, like I still, yeah, they are. I I I think the best two are the original movie on Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a really good movie. The first movie, I think, is really good. The other ones, like pretty much, are all either mediocre or bad. Um, which is really unfortunate because my, my two favorite non-video game series are godzilla and transformers. So I was really excited to hear this and and I'm really excited about the stuff happening with godzilla right now. So I'm I really hope that we, I hope that this goes the direction that Bumblebee was going, because that was a really good film.
Brandon Hurles:
But I mean Transformers, I got to be honest, as big of a fan as I am like it's just been so hit or miss with the franchise as a whole for a while, like the last cartoon. I watched two episodes and I was out like I, I just didn't care for it. Yeah, I mean, like you know, the the original Transformers series is still one of my favorites, and if this covers all that, the war for basically like the Transformers movie, the original one from 88, the animated movie, like if this covers that stuff where you know, optimus Prime spoiler alert dies, this will be really cool. So, yeah, I think this will be pretty neat. Yeah, I mean, do you have any interest in this one?
Mark Trobough:
I haven't watched one in so long. I'm just like maybe we'll see what it's reviewed as. If it's a good movie I might entertain it, but who knows when it's going to come out and what it's going to be competing against. So I'm very stingy when it comes to what movies I'll actually go and actually watch. Yeah, I am too.
Brandon Hurles:
I haven't seen anything in the theater since I saw Super Mario Bros movie, movie and Barbie.
Mark Trobough:
I guess the last Western made movie would be the Super Mario Bros movie technically, but I haven't watched an actual Hollywood movie in forever. The last few times I intend to go to the theaters, I intend to watch foreign films, just because they tend to be better than anything Hollywood's been's been pumping out recently I like the last decade for that matter I don't regret not going to the theater for anything other than godzilla minus one, like literally every single movie it's come out.
Brandon Hurles:
There's been stuff that's interested me, but I'm totally fine. I'm not going to theater to see. It's got to be something I really love and care.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah like sometimes I'll just be in, just be in. I like I'll be in like Salt Lake City or something like that. I've got an evening where I've got nothing to do, so I'm like I'll see what's in town. But there's a lot of theaters down there that show foreign film. There's a theater that shows a crap ton of Bollywood films which I will never watch because I hate them. I think they're so stupid. But there's a lot of films like this, a lot of like reruns, like like some of the studios will just reshow like old Ghibli films or some other other kind of films that I'll periodically go watch. I mean, sometimes there's just trash and I just I won't go watch anything. But there's another. Is this a film there that I might be interested in? Like some of those theaters down there were showing the uh uh. I brought up before the uh um.
Mark Trobough:
It was, uh, one of the anime movies that just came out oh, the boy and the heron no, no, it's an actual uh based off like an actual ongoing anime demon slayer yeah, the demon slayer movie, it could. They was even showing the whole like their, their top, the dx or whatever, like the big theater screen. They were showing it on as well, but I'm so removed from yeah, of course you got that from the actual story. I didn't actually watch it but, uh, more often than not I just I don't really care for what's what's going on out of hollywood, because it's usually garbage more often than not I don't either.
Brandon Hurles:
There's, there's too much, too much agendas push, pushed in. Uh, I mean, even like the, the barbie movie which, when that came out, talked about on the podcast because pop culture, and like I, you know, I went with my daughter to go see it and like we like I liked it in general, but there was there was like some stuff that I could have did without. No like, in general it's a good film, but I was shocked, I like idiot, I didn't look up Ratings or anything like that because it was a Barbie movie. I thought, like you know I'm going to hold out a lot about it. Well, there were two things said back to back on it that I did not appreciate when, when taking her there, and I was like had to explain and I'm like why, why would they put this in a Hasbro Barbie? Like there was just a few unnecessary things. Um, yeah, a little bit. I guess I didn't really notice it in the theater, because we just send the moment and I was talking to my daughter and we were having fun, but there was like some weird, like sort of a couple of weird like political things that could have sort of been left out of it. Um, but other than that pretty, pretty OK movie. But yeah, anyway, that was the last thing that I saw and that was because of that.
Brandon Hurles:
I was going to try to go see Ghostbusters tomorrow. I think I'm going to go ahead and pass on on doing that. But Godzilla, I know that I want to be the first movie review on the channel. I'm like I'm really like legitimately really excited to do that, to to have something else. So, um, yeah, so gonna see that Saturday, uh, can't Friday, because the podcast it comes out next Friday. Uh, so Saturday evening I got to go to, I'm pretty sure, a late showing, which kind of sucks because it's really long, and I gotta drive 45 minutes because the closest one is sold out for that Saturday already. The next closest one is already sold out for Saturday all day, so I have to drive to the farther one.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, which sucks, but oh well but yeah, if you can watch it that weekend, that would be awesome to cover it, because I think that would be a pretty cool. You saw minus one, I didn't get to, so you get that aspect.
Mark Trobough:
I was like I'm going to watch this without watching, probably realistically, probably any movie, that which is good.
Brandon Hurles:
So I mean that's good, like you're taking in. You saw a few of the original films. You saw minus one. You saw the, the one before minus one too right.
Mark Trobough:
Um, shin godzilla. Yeah, no, I've watched an in-depth review on it, but I've actually sat and watched the movie. The in-depth review actually spoiled the whole story and I was like, yeah, this is probably better than actually watching this movie.
Brandon Hurles:
But yeah, it was. It's not a it's not a bad film, but the transformation stuff was awful and it's definitely not my favorite, but I still found it better than some of the stuff that we got in here.
Mark Trobough:
Maybe I'll watch a review for these other movies leading up to it, just so I'm not potentially completely lost in the sauce.
Brandon Hurles:
I do think that it is good to get the point of view of here's a mild Godzilla fan. He's seen some of the originals, some of the originals, some of the 80s stuff, saw minus one, which was the last movie. Have you seen any of the legendary movies? Because it might be even better if you have or haven't.
Mark Trobough:
I don't even think so to be honest. I don't think I've seen none that I can immediately be like oh yeah, I've for sure seen that movie because I mean there's, there's just.
Brandon Hurles:
There's kong sko island, there's godzilla, then there's king of monsters and then, yeah, yeah, I haven't watched any of those movies. I know that for a fact the only thing I haven't seen like minus one was like the first god.
Mark Trobough:
Now I was gonna say my godzilla was like the first godzilla movie that I've seen in in years.
Brandon Hurles:
Well, that's perfect because you're coming at the point of view of okay, I haven't seen any of the legendary movies. I know minimal about Godzilla. Here's my take on it. So you're getting a review of a non-biased Godzilla fan because I'm not the legendary movies.
Brandon Hurles:
I'll never be like biased I'm not. I'm not a biased guy whether I love the franchise or not. I just said I love Transformers and most of those movies are crap. Godzilla, like, like I said, the legendaries I have enjoyed all of them but I I still and I've told you I think, probably the past two podcasts, I think the first Godzilla legendary movie, um, it was. It was too much of a slow burn. You saw too little of godzilla. You you started to see him like through building glasses of him walking by and, like you, you just didn't see him for like most of the movie and there wasn't like big character development anticipation for me. That I was like super interest, that was super interesting. That made it like okay of it. You know, not seeing godzilla and him not being there for most of the movie I didn't think the character development was great, now later like king of monsters, I think is great.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, there are a ton of the kaiju in there, a ton. And then you get the girl from stranger things is in there obviously, and like her connection to godzilla is pretty cool in that movie. So I did like that. Um, she's like connected to godzilla and I don't like spoil it for you depending on what you do or whatever, but that one's really good and you get to see some really good kaiju. I still am not a fan of the design, particularly um, definitely not my favorite, but I'm also like an old school suit actor godzilla fan, like I. I like that. Um, yeah, you know, and I I think that, like some of the other cgi stuff later did was fine. You know, apparently godzilla minus one is fine, like you're really good. Uh, shin godzilla, you know fine, you know um, some weird design choices in that movie, but uh, yeah, but yeah, so I'm really really excited and I just re-looked it up.
Mark Trobough:
Obviously the metacritic is kind of different, but on rotten tomatoes, both the critic and the audience score for minus one is like a 98. Wow see, I mean that, which is pretty, pretty high for that movie on that site, especially when dealing with the audience, where if there's something they they see, they absolutely hate. You're gonna know it right.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I mean, I know it's uh universally beloved. I've heard from people that aren't even Godzilla fans enjoy the movie. So if it's like there aren't too many movies that can do that, you know what I mean. Like there aren't too many movies that, if you're not a fan of the series, you can still enjoy it.
Brandon Hurles:
It's like. It's like the sort of thing with, like Baldur's Gate three, like you know, people aren't even fans or, like you know, like big gamers and like enjoy the game. But I was looking at this. It says this is from Gizmodo. It says the biggest way Godzilla Kong New Empire has evolved from its predecessor. You're going to learn more about Kong in the film, which I feel like we got. That that's the thing I feel like this is going to be like a pretty good chunk of. I feel like it's going to be lean more on the kong side, which I think is good.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, I don't know that, but my guess, just based on the trailers that we've seen, um having backstory for kong is really good because his backstory is very interesting and, as you know, there's a lot of king kong movies too, like a lot. Yeah, so um goes back to the 1930s pretty much. Yeah, yeah, I mean it predates godzilla by quite a bit. Um, but yeah, I mean like the, did you have you ever seen the original king kong film? That that original? No, have you ever seen the original King Kong film? That original? No, so it's interesting because they go and trap Kong from Skull Island. Sorry, if you don't know this already Spoiler alert for an 80-year-old movie. But they trap him from Skull Island and bring him to New York City and then that's where, like the famous scene of him climbing the skyscraper and getting out and all that stuff, so it's like it very much is reminiscent of the original Gojira in many ways and kind of the aspect of it, and like it's been told that inspiration from godzilla came from kong as well. So that's how they ended up clashing together because they're they're in. You know, we're in no way related whatsoever in franchises. So the first time we got godzilla kong, you know, a western film with a western, uh, what is now known as I, I guess as a kaiju, is very interesting. And plus Kong, you know, originally was way, way, way, way smaller than Godzilla. Like you can look up scales of the evolution of them and then like how big they scaled them up for the original Godzilla vs King Kong movie, which is an absolute. It's one of those films that is so bad, it's good, it's. You just look up the fight scenes of them, like rolling around on the ground together it's, and suit actors, it's hilarious, that's crazy. But it says.
Brandon Hurles:
The things that excite me about this film aren't even the action, even though, as you know, we have tons of action in the movie. Wingard told Iowan. So part of part of the movie there says to me it was being able to see the monsters just interact with each other in between the action scenes. That to me, is more exciting. It's almost like a character study but with monsters a character study but with monsters.
Brandon Hurles:
The idea came early on the process, when wingard began to think about what a second film featuring godzilla and kong would be. I was never like, okay, we've got to top godzilla versus kong, because we knew we were doing something special and different. He said I knew right out of the gate that we weren't copying ourselves, because my emphasis was always on trying to break new ground. I wanted to do a movie that really leaned into the monster point of view. Just by making that decision alone, I knew we were going to be doing things that we weren't even able to do in the last film. Then you obviously get the introduction, which you see in the trailer of Scar King, which is the baddie of the film, which I don't know too much about. So I'm interested there. That was my concern of the film, though, because I didn't necessarily care for that part of the trailer. I mean, who knows, there might be stuff that we just have no idea about, but to me he seems very uninteresting, scar.
Brandon Hurles:
King does so I am going into this with uh, I want to go in with low expectations, so I'm not, you know, disappointed, disappointed or anything like that, but I really have no idea. So are you looking forward to it.
Mark Trobough:
I think I am. I haven't looked at tickets or anything like that, but I'll definitely look into that for, like next weekend and stuff yeah so looks like the premiere is on the 25th and then it releases on the 27th, which is next Friday.
Brandon Hurles:
So a week from this live podcast, and if you're an audio listener, it will be just a few days away right around the corner yep, right around the corner we have some comments uh there are a few all right uh, mr coffee was saying if you like in, if you like animation, godzilla, so good.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, he's also saying godzilla is a more political type because of the bureaucracy. Yeah, and the one view at least this was the, the video that I did watch on it his opinion was he hated that aspect of it, the whole bureaucracy, political aspect of the godzilla. He's like this, isn't he? It's like that's not, like it's not that it's there, but it's it overstays.
Mark Trobough:
It's welcome too much for mine that was obviously that was obviously no for shin godzilla, oh shin godzilla, yeah. Yeah, at least for what he didn't. He didn't like it. It was like it's just too much. But I mean and you know everyone's got different opinions on movies and stuff like that what about Pacific Rim versus Godzilla? It would be interesting. I don't know how you make that lore work with Pacific Rim and Godzilla, but I I only watched the first Pacific Rim movie I think there's two, if I'm not mistaken and I enjoyed it. I didn't think it was a terrible movie.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I didn't. It's a giant.
Mark Trobough:
Rim 2.
Brandon Hurles:
It's a giant mech.
Mark Trobough:
I like mech shows.
Brandon Hurles:
Mech versus Kaiju is literally what it is. I don't know why I haven't watched the second one. I thought the first one was just okay. I I don't know why I haven't watched the second one. I thought the first one was just OK. I wasn't like a Uber fan. I thought it was OK. Yeah, I didn't particularly like the kaiju designs. Like I didn't like that. Yeah, it's kind of weird, but but yeah I probably should watch that second one at some point.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, Kevin was saying I'm watching the Godzilla series based on the 98 film right now. My condolences uh, I have not seen uh shin godzilla yet, though I did see minus one and honestly I wish these movies would uh focus more on the monsters uh well, that's what they're saying they're doing on this one.
Brandon Hurles:
So that was the whole yeah, I thought that was.
Mark Trobough:
The whole beauty of minus one is it went back to the original, while like he's there and it's wild since you probably go back and find a godzuma where the human character is actually decently well written but it's like, uh, he's not like the core of the actual story, but he's like this force that's like just not necessarily evil, this force of nature that's just does nothing but you know destruction for you know, you know whatever he wants to do. That's what I liked about it. It kind of went back to that whole horror movie-esque type of the original 54 Godzilla.
Brandon Hurles:
The thing is, though I think I told you before Gojira, so the actual original Godzilla, before you got that American one. There's a lot less of that, because I dislike the original godzilla. Now, going back um, gojira is a much better film, in my opinion, that that news news reporter and that they shove in that original Godzilla. Oh my god, it's so annoying. He's not in at all. They're trying to americanize the movie. I watched the the the original original subtitle so it's not like you watch gojira the original, yeah okay well it's.
Mark Trobough:
I think it's still called gojira, because that's just how it's pronounced phonetically in japanese, but yeah, yeah, yeah, the original is gojira.
Brandon Hurles:
And then they made the american one, I think, a year after, which was just godzilla just a dubbed version of godzilla. Well, it wasn't just dubbed they. They threw in a freaking news reporter that was in half of the movie. That had nothing to do with the film, like he's just oh he's attacking is attacking the city. What are we going to do?
Mark Trobough:
But you brought that up. I'm like I've never. I was like I don't even know. You brought the news reporter. I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never seen a news reporter in the original Godzilla movie.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, see, I thought you watched the American release I call it Godzilla just because it's easier to pronounce than Gojira.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, he's super annoying. He has completely different shot scenes, obviously because they're American shot scenes that really don don't fit into the film. And it's just him complaining all right, oh, now, now he's did this and that and blah, blah, blah it. For comedy sake you should go back and watch that at some point. But I they take away a bunch of the cool godzilla scenes from it and then add him in to fill out the movie. It's like really dumb yeah, stupid.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, um mitch covey was saying minus one is huge, one of the highest grossing movies in japan. Yeah, and then it definitely it's a. Really, to me it's probably one of the the best godzilla movie that I've seen. Yeah, of the ones that I've seen. Uh, kevin was saying it's been announced that on apr 15th all eight Spider-Man movies are going to be re-released in theaters to celebrate Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary.
Brandon Hurles:
Oh wow, Interesting.
Mark Trobough:
So obviously we're only watching Spider-Man 3.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, apparently that's the case. I did want to mention on the topic of Godzilla. We'll figure out what here that we have left is most important, getting awful late in my time, but I did want to just mention that Godzilla Kong New Empire, it says is paying a very specific homage to Godzilla minus one. Godzilla is so massive that the only thing that can cast a shadow on him is another Godzilla, and that's exactly what happened between Godzilla minus one, the Toho released Oscar winning smash sh*t. So yeah, there's going to be some sort of homage directly to minus one. I knew that they were working on a Godzilla film, but I didn't know concretely anything until everybody saw the trailer at the same time we did. We were over halfway done with the movie at least, and I do remember being inspired when I saw the trailer. There's some sort of homage.
Mark Trobough:
As far as I know, you're on time. I pretty much chopped down. There's only five or six ones that probably mattered. It shouldn't take too long to get through some of those okay, just some of the bigger ones. And I saw this uh as far as the uh. Uh, apparently for the first time, or not for the first time, but like all in one thing, apparently nearly all the macross anime is coming to disney plus I saw that that, uh, because, uh, it's not, it's.
Mark Trobough:
It's originally called robotech, which was the first matt sdf macross and then two other unrelated series. In my opinion, robotech is a bastardization of japanese animation, but that's a personal opinion that's what I first watched because that was the only option.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, at that time.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
Like I didn't even know Macross was related at all until later.
Mark Trobough:
For the most part it does. The original SDF Macross for the most part right, except for the added subplot that they added for their own Robotech series before it gets into the other unrelated. So it's for the most part a faithful translation, with some things that obviously they, they intentionally changed uh, but because of uh, uh, uh I can't remember this, I thought it was honey something studio uh, the way they trademarked it and dealt with it here in the west essentially blocked any other dub or proper release of the rest of the macross series here in the us wasn't it.
Brandon Hurles:
Was it hjc that released it, or what? What was that studio's name that released, like you always saw their name on a bunch of the VHS from that time.
Mark Trobough:
I was trying to pull it up. Harmony Gold USA is the reason we never actually got any of these Macross series, which is a studio founded in 83. It's a really old series but I mean they're pretty much the reason we don't really get any the rest of the macross series here in the us yeah because they own the rights to robotech and there's some other crap that went on.
Mark Trobough:
So we never really got proper any of the other series and it's a really macross as far as the mech series and the idol series and, in the idol genre, really influential in both of those genres because it smashed both mech and idol culture together. Yeah, it's pretty much all their series.
Brandon Hurles:
It's a very interesting series. It's one I've always always really enjoyed, so it looks like we're getting like a ton of stuff brought over From what.
Mark Trobough:
I saw it looked and seventy some episodes of the show and some of the movies, the, the super defense. So SDF Macross, flashback 2012,. The music video derived from, you know, the original anime SDF Macross to lovers, lovers again, which is kind of like a movie miniseries macross plus, macross plus the movie edition macross 7, that it's movie, another macross dynamite, macross zero, the frontier series, and it's two movies um macross fb7 and the macross delta series. Some of these are kind of like it's a movie or it's like a series and like two movies that kind of go with it. But I mean it's a series where it definitely mixes mech and idol culture which is blew up in Japan probably around the same time. That makes any sense, which I love.
Brandon Hurles:
Mech have mostly hatred for idol culture, but I mean yeah, I'm not into that myself, but I mean I think it. It's a very influential series, both like all over the place yeah, and I mean it's a long, long running franchise with a lot of entries and a lot of lore, it's still fairly ongoing video games, light novels, manga, toys you name it, it's everywhere. So yeah, there's Lin.
Mark Trobough:
Min-Mei the OG.
Brandon Hurles:
I hate her. We're getting the OVAs, some of the OVAs as well.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, lin Min-Mei, the original guy. You watch it and you realize, oh, she is. There's no better way. She's kind of a bitch who allows herself to be manipulated by her, her cousin or whatever he is. Yeah, or something like that. I don't know I I came to to hate her as a character, uh, though her japanese voice actor is really really good, really good singer, uh. But yeah, I, I have issues with the whole robo tech version of it. That's just because I don't like when the, the West changes anime for literally no reason. But back.
Brandon Hurles:
Then they thought that we had to. I mean, like Super Mario Brothers 2, we never got the real one because they thought it was too hard and they think that Japanese culture wouldn't mix well with. I mean that all changed honestly with like Dragon Ball, but once that hit, I mean that all changed honestly with like Dragon Ball, but once that hit, I mean yeah. They kind of got over that.
Mark Trobough:
The only other major thing is this is going to be on Disney+. So they picked the worst streaming site ever. Because I refused to give Disney a dime of my money, because I absolutely hate that company with every fiber of my being. So you won't be watching any of this, will you?
Mark Trobough:
Eh, refiber my bean, that's besides the point. I used to do what I do already, just touring it. Up until now, most of these shows you had to stream illegally or tour them to watch to begin with. But I'd rather tour before I give Disney another dime of my money. Yeah. That's unrelated. I have hatred for Disney, that's fair. I get it as a a corporation.
Brandon Hurles:
They've ruined star wars for me. They are butchering now marvel mcu, so yeah, uh, I already taught, I did that.
Mark Trobough:
Uh, there was, we did one I wanted to bring up. But, uh, apparently the dragon ball super mongo is going into an indefinite hiatus for, for obvious reasons, because of toriyama passed away. But this was, uh, officially announced yesterday that the the super mongo is officially going under hiatus and I probably should have brought up earlier when we talked about it. But I mean, you know, it is sad he passed away and who knows if this is ever gonna. Well, there's probably a chance.
Mark Trobough:
This might never, might just be incomplete forever yeah because, I have seen some manga where the the author dies and they're just kind of like we're not. Nobody else is ever going to touch this ever again.
Brandon Hurles:
So the story's kind of left incomplete I can't remember if it had a manga too, but like that I I think it was called RWBY series.
Mark Trobough:
Ruby, is that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it's called the creator, and I'm playing on his name. They completed it for him, but yeah because he had, like, I'm pretty sure they changed a lot of it, but yeah, they kept going on with it too.
Brandon Hurles:
And the whole rooster teeth issue became very divisive, which I mean could happen to this. That's the problem, right?
Mark Trobough:
like you don't know, if somebody else picks it up, you know, will it feel like not the right thing to do. Or are they just going to forever just be like we're just never good? It's just going to be forever incomplete? I mean, who knows how much?
Brandon Hurles:
he had worked on like. I know that they work pretty to the pace of chapters, so, like, oftentimes, the one piece um mangaka would would talk about. You know, he would be crunching the, the next chapter to get it out like he would be like up to the point. So who knows if, like, there was anything left or if no, like, literally, what he had worked on was pretty much it and he started the next or if they do anything, it's a rushed ending to the series, if anything.
Mark Trobough:
But I mean there's an equally good chance that they continue with it, that they don't. If it was not as popular as it was, I'd say there's a good chance. It just never, never gets complete. But with how popular it is, I think there's a chance they might wait and then continue out with chapters. But who knows, that's gonna be up, that's up to Shonen Jump at this point, because it's they're the ones that publish it and own probably a good portion of the rights to it.
Brandon Hurles:
So yeah, it's. I mean, who knows what happens there? Honestly like it. And the Dragon Ball Dima anime comes out soon.
Mark Trobough:
Obviously, the continuation of this manga is going to affect Dragon Ball Super and every other project that comes after.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, my wonder is what gets continued there. Do we get the season one of that show and that's it, or do they? Continue on.
Mark Trobough:
It's hard to tell at this point. I don't know, I'm not anywhere near a position of decision making for this. It's kind of hard to tell. The only reason I think it has a chance to continue on with how popular it was. But obviously that might also potentially backfire on it. If people are just kind of like People might get mad and upset that they can.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, there's a chance that the fans might just be like, just leave it as is. So yeah, I haven't. I haven't read a Dragon Ball manga pretty much at all, so it's it's not really going to affect me, but I mean it is sad for everybody involved.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, it's a bummer. I don't know exactly where it left off, how you know if it was in the middle of an arc, if it was starting a new arc. Yeah, I don't know, because.
Mark Trobough:
I know Mr Coffey brought up the whole GT, which you know he didn't have any say. But yeah, I was thinking that I don't know if that was a manga or the straight anime, but obviously he's had input up until this point, so who knows what they're going to do? Obviously, GT wasn't received very well.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I'm actually pretty sure that GT was an anime first and then got a manga. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it didn't have a manga first. It got a manga adaptation that obviously Kiryama didn't Oriyama. Sorry, yeah, I mean it's. It's hard to say because it could end up being like a gt situation or it could backfire where fans are upset that they do continue or, you know, there's going to be fans that are upset that it isn't continuing. So it's like this is probably a really tough um decision for them on what to do, I imagine, with such an established franchise, and you know his entire vision.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah, and then, unfortunately, there's some, some more sad news that kind of came out earlier in the week uh, the tales of rpg series artist, uh, uh mutsumi, uh, you know, you know, mata, if I said that correctly, apparently had passed away back on march 10th, which is a very, you know well, well loved series. Obviously that may not like creator, but you know, had really heavy influence on on the art of that series. So it's like a lot of, a lot of bad news all the way around yeah, yeah.
Mark Trobough:
I saw that earlier in the week and I was like, yeah, because it looked like, uh, she worked as an animator, like she got into the series, like in 79 to like the year like late 70s, early 80s, when she she entered the series. So she's been, uh, she's been around the block doing a lot of work on a lot of different series oh yeah, she's done.
Brandon Hurles:
She's done a lot of stuff. And you know she has that classic 80s anime art style that I like and like. She's evolved it over time because you know she stayed involved with the series.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, making the covers Animation has changed. Yeah.
Brandon Hurles:
And has adapted to it very well because, mean, like you know, like like tales of her eyes and and things on, how it's sort of evolved but still kept the sort of classic influence design to it. Um, you know, I don't know how how much um, I mean, they've they've kept that general character design over the years. You know, I don't know how much uh people would receive the, the anime, uh art style, the 80s now, versus, you know I like it I like it well.
Mark Trobough:
The problem with the 80s is it's. It's an art style that's more or less dead at this point. That's full-on hand-drawn, cell animated. None of it's. There's no digital involved or it's very minimal. It's all every uh, every uh uh. It's not. Not that maybe this sells the right word, but every frame is hand drawn. Obviously there's other work and stuff, some copied over to everything's kind of done hand work. You can also see the, the layers on the animation when it gets dark, as you can see the uh, the dirt of the imperfection where you know, different layers are kind of stacked on top of each other, which I thought brought a charm to some of those older, you know those older yeah, I like that personally much, much prefer um the hand-drawn art style.
Brandon Hurles:
I I love classic and like still, that is kind of where I'm attached to to the 80s and and like mid 90s, um sort um sort of art style.
Mark Trobough:
Some degree, just still like a, a heart and a soul compared to some of the digital. It's like it's. It looks good, but it's just too clean Sometimes, like I want to see some imperfections.
Brandon Hurles:
It feels very stale, like where it's almost at the point where every single new anime looks the same, has the same look to it.
Mark Trobough:
Well, I same has the same look to it. Well, I'll say this because I mean, you kind of had that with, with the animation stuff that the hand drawn to some degree I get. But uh, the only time digital animation really stands out is like the top of the top, like the, the super best, like like like movie, where like there was a lot of money put into this and it just looks amazingly good in some movies. But then you've got the, the studio ghibli aspect where, like this is still, you know, this is hand-drawn animation into this. It's not to the same degree, but there's no digital animation because of, uh, uh, I'm blanking on his name, but uh, studio ghibli, ghibli, what do you want to say? Doesn't really believe in it. Um, yeah, I'm terrible at names sometimes I.
Brandon Hurles:
I didn't know that she actually did the, uh, the art design for future GPX, which is a throwback. I love the. I really love that.
Mark Trobough:
Yeah, it's one of those artists where you just their name doesn't get thrown around, but they've worked on a lot of, or she's worked on, a lot of good, like influential stuff, or she just been around the industry for so long she worked on a lot of stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, a lot of a lot of the Tales games and, at least you know, a bunch of Tales of Destiny 1, 2. It was all the way up the Tales of Graces, mentioning some of the ones that she worked on.
Mark Trobough:
So yeah, and then just because kind of game related to Jason, apparently you know, they do this weekly where there's a Japan's game rating from the 4th to the 10th of March had just come out and it's pretty much based off of weekly sales out of that week. But it's also interesting because you'll see the same game on there multiple times just because it's for different consoles. They kind of break it up.
Mark Trobough:
Unicorn Overworld, so apparently for yeah, it was the top the Nintendo Switch version of it, the PS5 came in 3, so it was like 40 000 copies and then 24 000 beating out final fantasy rebirth surprisingly. Wow, holy crap, I thought it was. I thought it was funny, though apparently number six of that week and obviously japan is not the biggest market in the world, but the uh, mario kart 8 deluxe is like number six on here. I thought that was funny. Like this game's been out since the launch on the Switch.
Brandon Hurles:
It just keeps selling. That's why we didn't get a Mario Kart 9 on Switch. It just keeps selling.
Mark Trobough:
They don't have to do it To be fair, only 3 of these games on this list are not on the Nintendo Switch, which just shows you how dominant of a market this has.
Brandon Hurles:
Japan is all Switch man.
Mark Trobough:
It's Rebirth. Just show you how dominant of a market this has japan. It's the uh switch man. Yeah, it's, it's a rebirth. At number two. Uh, unicorn overlord at number three. And then uh unicorn overlord for the ps4 at number eight, because you know every, I didn't even copy of that game. Yes, four oh dang that's funny.
Brandon Hurles:
Wow, it's on there three times and splatoon three versions of the game Minecraft is on there. Oh, my God at number 11.
Mark Trobough:
Animal Crossing New Horizons on the Switch.
Brandon Hurles:
Pokemon Scarlet at number 15. Wow, that's.
Mark Trobough:
I mean to be fair. There's like 4,000 copies sold in that week, but it's still interesting that the Japanese market is just dominated. Nintendo just owns this, because how many like half, over half these games are Nintendo's publisher for these games.
Brandon Hurles:
Yep and Fitboxing is only on there because it has Hatsune Miku featuring.
Mark Trobough:
Oh yeah, probably the collaboration.
Brandon Hurles:
And that's number four. That's hilarious. Wow, it's crazy. It's one of those fun things.
Mark Trobough:
They usually do, this weekly thing for both anime and games. These are the most based off ranking. They say ranking, but it's usually what sells the most. Right, yeah, in said week that's yeah. Granted it goes back like two weeks, but it probably takes that long for them to, or whoever's putting this together to accumulate all those sales and stuff like that probably takes it long for them to, or whoever's putting this together to accumulate all those sales and stuff like that.
Brandon Hurles:
That is absolutely hilarious.
Mark Trobough:
Oh my gosh, I just thought it was a neat, funny thing that I saw and I was like I'll bring this up like oh my god, mario kart's still on there, like what the are you carping.
Brandon Hurles:
That is hilarious. Oh my gosh, yeah did. Did we have anything uh else to bring up, or?
Mark Trobough:
uh, I mean there was some stuff, but it was pretty much some small, minor stuff, unless you saw something you wanted to see. I know you said you were kind of crunched for some time, so I was just picking out some of the major stuff.
Brandon Hurles:
Yeah, I think I pretty much got it. I did see the Gundam scene, dune collaboration, part 2 collaboration.
Mark Trobough:
I thought that was kind of cool to mention they pretty much just like recopied the whole Dune scene, but with the, with the, mobile suit Gundam seed. The seed to it's a. I haven't watched the show in like two years. I'm trying to get the actual two characters names and then I don't know if they're on here. I, like his client, I'm trying to get the actual two characters names and then I don't know if they're on here, it's Lackus Klein yeah, it's, kira and Lackus are the two characters.
Mark Trobough:
Obviously. I just blanked on the name for a second it's like the poster and it just recreates the Dune logo.
Brandon Hurles:
I dig it it looks really cool yeah, it does.
Mark Trobough:
It's the simple, the two characters just walking in the sun, but obviously it's got the two at his two little curious who like mechanical birds falling behind him. But I mean it makes sense because the scene we just came out as well. Yeah, man. Well, that's really unfortunate it's not really getting a proper US release outside of a time showing in like New York and LA, which just robs pretty much all of us of getting to see it in theaters.
Brandon Hurles:
but of course, of course, alright. Well, it's good to eventually get it here yeah, yeah, hopefully, hopefully. I think that wraps up episode 77. Appreciate everybody that has watched live. Any recaps, mark, or anything that you want to mention before we close out? I mean just as usual, you know, don't forget to tip your waitress.
Mark Trobough:
Uh, any recaps Mark or anything that you want to mention before we close out? Uh, I mean just as usual, you know, don't forget to tip your waitress. Uh, say hi to grandma, don't drown your goldfish. You know the same thing All right, uh, you're watching live.
Brandon Hurles:
Uh, consider or you watch this later uh, consider becoming a channel member. It helps us out a lot. It helps the show keep going. Uh, we do have membership tiers up on there. Starts at I said at the lowest cost I could, and I think there's up to four tiers. So that helps out a lot. It's all in the description below. And then, if you're an audio listener, you are able to subscribe on Buzzsprouts or some of the other platforms on there. If you check our link tree, which I'll drop in the chat for live viewers, you are able to help support the show there with patreon uh, there's a few different options and then as well as on the discord. So if you check the link tree, it's got all the information there. Again, it'll be in the description of this video.
