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You Must Play Every Video Game · Critical Error

• 0:00
  Jake, I'm playing like a really cool
• 0:01
  game right now.
• 0:02
  >> Oh my god, dude. Kind of itching for a
• 0:05
  new game. I've got I've got the money
• 0:07
  loaded on my eShop. It's right. I got
• 0:09
  the virtual cards.
• 0:11
  >> I got the Okay, I'm dying. Tell me. Tell
• 0:12
  me.
• 0:13
  >> Uh oh.
• 0:16
  >> I
• 0:19
  It's under It's under embargo. I can't I
• 0:22
  can't talk about it.
• 0:24
  >> A critical error is an error which the
• 0:26
  OS cannot reasonably ignore. Sh Jake
• 0:29
  Jake Steinberg is a streamer and writer
• 0:31
  and certified yapper complimentary.
• 0:34
  Peter Hunt spit tech
• 0:36
  is a YouTuber, journalist and certified
• 0:39
  yapper. Derogatory. These are the things
• 0:41
  they cannot reasonably ignore. Today on
• 0:44
  the critical error podcast we are
• 0:45
  talking about FOMO. That is of course
• 0:47
  for the uninitiated. The fear of missing
• 0:50
  out.
• 0:52
  >> Peter, how affected by FOMO are you as a
• 0:55
  as a consumer, as an individual? Does it
• 0:57
  get to you? pretty much never. I mean,
• 1:00
  >> no, that's not true. I always because
• 1:03
  Okay, so here here here's what it
• 1:04
  actually is. Yeah. When I feel like the
• 1:06
  FOMO creeping in on stuff,
• 1:09
  >> I think I am pretty good at like
• 1:11
  assessing if it is something that I'm
• 1:13
  actually interested in or not.
• 1:15
  >> So, for example, um Tomodachi Life comes
• 1:19
  out what, a month ago or at this point,
• 1:22
  >> and everyone's talking about this game.
• 1:23
  Everyone's posting their screenshots.
• 1:24
  Everyone's saying, "Oh, it's so fun.
• 1:25
  It's so fun. It's so fun." And I'm
• 1:27
  starting to be like, "Well, dang. That
• 1:28
  was not a game that I was particularly
• 1:30
  interested in, but everyone's saying
• 1:31
  it's pretty good."
• 1:33
  >> But I was like, "Let me wait. I'm going
• 1:35
  to wait on it. We're going to see."
• 1:37
  >> And then now, now that it's been a, you
• 1:39
  know, like I said, a few weeks, I'm
• 1:40
  starting to see some bits and pieces
• 1:42
  about it where I am like, you know what?
• 1:44
  Actually, that has held some purchase in
• 1:46
  my mind a little bit. I might actually
• 1:47
  be interested in this.
• 1:49
  >> Especially because my wife asked me
• 1:50
  about it, and I was like, well, if you
• 1:51
  want, then maybe we'll do it. But
• 1:52
  that'll do it. That will do it. Um, but
• 1:55
  uh largely I I will I would say I am
• 1:59
  pretty uninterested in FOMO just because
• 2:04
  we we've seen how the dance goes. You
• 2:05
  know what I mean? Like this is not a new
• 2:07
  topic on the show of saying like a game
• 2:09
  comes out, everyone says it's amazing.
• 2:11
  It's a masterpiece. It's the g it's the
• 2:13
  goate and then no one's talking about it
• 2:15
  in two weeks. You know what I'm saying?
• 2:17
  >> I do. But I
• 2:19
  >> Are you affected pretty heavily by it?
• 2:21
  >> So here's my take. Part of my my my take
• 2:23
  coming into this episode is that I
• 2:25
  wanted to ask the viewer to leave a
• 2:27
  comment about how affected they feel
• 2:29
  they are by FOMO at this point before
• 2:33
  what I'm about to say next. So, hit your
• 2:36
  space bar, pause the video, type in
• 2:38
  there, go Jake, out of 10, this is how
• 2:41
  much FOMO affects me. Maybe like a 6.7.
• 2:45
  >> I'll say for me, if I may, like a like a
• 2:47
  three and a half. 3.5 I would give it.
• 2:49
  >> Okay. Wow. So, I think it's pretty low
• 2:51
  on for me.
• 2:52
  >> Part of my contention with this
• 2:53
  conversation is that I do think that
• 2:56
  everyone is severely affected by FOMO.
• 2:59
  >> Oh, interesting. Okay.
• 3:00
  >> Yeah. And and I and I think that we we
• 3:02
  see FOMO as like one thing, but it's
• 3:05
  actually it's actually like so much of
• 3:09
  the video game culture. Yeah.
• 3:11
  >> This is true. I think I think it's at
• 3:13
  the core of like like how we even talk
• 3:16
  about games. You know what I mean? And I
• 3:18
  think that the the the truth is is that
• 3:21
  when you look at something like a movie,
• 3:24
  there is an element of okay, you you
• 3:26
  have to see this when it comes out
• 3:27
  because that's when it's in theaters,
• 3:29
  >> right?
• 3:29
  >> And there's there's something there. And
• 3:32
  with video games, you really don't have
• 3:35
  that at all. And if anything, what you
• 3:38
  are ensuring is that you get a um and
• 3:41
  oftentimes a worse version of the game
• 3:43
  because of um post-launch patches and
• 3:47
  things of that nature. So, you know, so
• 3:49
  it's like, okay, I I need to be there
• 3:51
  for what could potentially be the worst
• 3:53
  version of the game on day one. You
• 3:55
  know, I have to be there. Um but here's
• 3:58
  the thing. Here's my here's my
• 3:59
  contention. I would I would say that
• 4:00
  maybe every single person who is
• 4:03
  listening to this podcast, who will ever
• 4:05
  listen to this podcast, whoever arrives
• 4:07
  at YouTube.com, Critical Error, or
• 4:10
  whatever it is,
• 4:12
  in this past year, has bought a game on
• 4:15
  day one. Every single person, I don't
• 4:17
  think that there is anyone here who
• 4:19
  could ever end up here who has not
• 4:21
  purchased and played a game the day that
• 4:23
  it came out.
• 4:24
  >> I think that's a fair assessment. Yes.
• 4:26
  >> I Thank you. Thank you. And for that to
• 4:28
  be the case, I am sorry. The FOMO has
• 4:31
  gotten to you. It has because there are
• 4:34
  too many incentives, I think, for
• 4:37
  waiting for a game in terms of the
• 4:40
  financials of it, in terms of the um the
• 4:44
  libraries that we have that we know are
• 4:46
  going un un you know, fettered and and I
• 4:49
  think that Yeah. You know, okay, you've
• 4:50
  got something.
• 4:51
  >> So, here's something interesting. You
• 4:52
  know, you bring that up um because I
• 4:53
  think that's true. I I do think that
• 4:55
  that um most people who are like
• 4:59
  actively interested in video games I
• 5:01
  think do play games the day they come
• 5:02
  out.
• 5:03
  >> Um but you know what's interesting is I
• 5:05
  think that there's been an interesting
• 5:07
  shift over the last I'm going to say
• 5:08
  like five to seven years of like this
• 5:12
  anti- pre-order sentiment. And I think
• 5:15
  it comes from things like like Cyberpunk
• 5:16
  or whatever like dropping and being like
• 5:18
  totally busted and everyone's like well
• 5:19
  this is what happens when you pre-order
• 5:20
  games. Maybe we shouldn't be
• 5:21
  pre-ordering games and whatever. But
• 5:23
  that sentiment does not exist for buying
• 5:25
  games on day one, you know, which I I
• 5:28
  think no one would argue is like a bad
• 5:30
  idea. I think the reason people say you
• 5:32
  shouldn't pre-order is because it's
• 5:32
  like, well, what if the game is totally
• 5:33
  busted and broken and you don't know and
• 5:35
  you've already spent money on it,
• 5:36
  whatever, and so you have to like wait
• 5:37
  for reviews for that to happen. But like
• 5:41
  what I guess what you're saying what
• 5:42
  what I'm saying is I think it's uh uh
• 5:44
  very very true what you're saying that
• 5:47
  the core of um that so much of the core
• 5:50
  of like gaming culture is centered
• 5:51
  around the idea of like FOMO playing
• 5:52
  things immediately as they're happening
• 5:54
  just because so much of the culture is
• 5:55
  like you got to play day one.
• 5:57
  >> We don't even have to kind of like
• 5:58
  assess this based on vibes because we
• 6:00
  know this to be the case like the vast
• 6:02
  majority of any video game sales are
• 6:04
  coming
• 6:04
  >> Oh yeah
• 6:05
  >> immediately.
• 6:06
  >> Yes. And then and then kind of like the
• 6:08
  funny layer to this though is that if
• 6:11
  you examine kind of like the trophy data
• 6:13
  of any game, we also know that the
• 6:15
  amount of people like finishing games,
• 6:17
  sometimes even getting a significant
• 6:19
  percentage of the way into them is uh
• 6:21
  shockingly low.
• 6:22
  >> Yeah.
• 6:23
  >> So there there is this have to be there
• 6:27
  for that first moment that I really do
• 6:29
  think we can materially assess is part
• 6:32
  of the culture of buying games. Like it
• 6:35
  simply is. And I think that's impossible
• 6:36
  to deny. Um, but then you have to wonder
• 6:41
  about I Okay, so Okay, so to back up for
• 6:44
  a second, I think that there are a lot
• 6:46
  of different ways that we can take this
• 6:48
  conversation. And I think that maybe why
• 6:50
  is FOMO so prevalent in the video game
• 6:53
  space is a potential avenue.
• 6:57
  >> Um, I think that there is a kind of
• 6:59
  audience that the prevalence of FOMO
• 7:02
  produces and we can kind of see that
• 7:04
  across Oh, certainly
• 7:06
  >> the video game landscape, right? But
• 7:08
  then I think something that's
• 7:09
  interesting to me is that often times
• 7:11
  when I have brought this up in the past,
• 7:14
  there ends up being this conversation
• 7:15
  that emerges surrounding privilege and
• 7:18
  economic privilege and the ability to
• 7:21
  kind of like participate in video games
• 7:23
  that that people kind of come back to
• 7:24
  over and over again. You you something
• 7:26
  came to mind with this.
• 7:27
  >> Yeah. So, this is actually like uh you
• 7:29
  know, when you ask about like my
• 7:30
  relationship with like video game FOMO,
• 7:32
  um this is one of the the major things
• 7:34
  that uh keeps me from making these
• 7:38
  purchases based on FOMO is is the fact
• 7:40
  that like I just straight up can't. And
• 7:41
  I'm very lucky. I'm very in a I'm very
• 7:43
  privileged of course to be able to u
• 7:45
  play a lot of like new games early based
• 7:48
  on my job. But like there's a bunch of
• 7:49
  stuff that like I'm interested in that
• 7:51
  if I don't get a code for, I just won't
• 7:53
  be able to play it until later, you
• 7:55
  know, uh until I it's either on sale or
• 7:57
  I am able to save up money and and
• 7:59
  whatever. And um so like the easiest
• 8:03
  thing for me to combat that sort of
• 8:05
  feeling is to be like I just straight up
• 8:07
  can't afford this. You know, you know,
• 8:09
  you look at what you do have and
• 8:10
  whatever. Um but I think that is a big
• 8:12
  component of sort of the culture of it.
• 8:16
  Oh yeah. And I think as I kind of
• 8:18
  started this conversation, the idea that
• 8:20
  FOMO is present in a lot more than what
• 8:22
  we initially think of it as. I would say
• 8:24
  that beyond the kind of desire for the
• 8:27
  day one purchase, you also have things
• 8:30
  uh coming into play here about
• 8:32
  accessibility and digital ownership that
• 8:34
  I think are also conversations about
• 8:36
  FOMO. And
• 8:37
  >> yeah, 100%. Because you think about like
• 8:39
  like okay like some of these online
• 8:41
  games like go up, right? And the whole
• 8:43
  like the conversation with any like
• 8:45
  online multiplayer game when it launches
• 8:47
  is like hey probably not going to be
• 8:50
  around forever. You know what I mean in
• 8:52
  the sense that like well it probably
• 8:53
  won't be in this like in the totality of
• 8:55
  time right but like is it going to be
• 8:58
  around for even two years? Uh
• 9:01
  I mean high guard was what four weeks
• 9:03
  five weeks right and that was earlier
• 9:05
  this year. You know you talk about
• 9:06
  Concord same sort of deal. People are
• 9:08
  looking at Marathon and saying like how
• 9:10
  long is this thing going to be around? I
• 9:11
  mean, it's good, but like does it have
• 9:13
  the player base to support it for, you
• 9:16
  know, five years? Unclear. In the same
• 9:18
  way that Destiny does, unclear. So, I
• 9:20
  think you're 100% right about this sort
• 9:22
  of thing where like a lot of the time
• 9:23
  like the digital ownership, the like
• 9:25
  idea of if the these games are going to
• 9:27
  exist forever or be available to be
• 9:28
  purchased forever is a huge question.
• 9:31
  >> Oh, yeah. And it's funny, there is this
• 9:34
  um what is what is a battle pass if not
• 9:37
  FOMO monetized? What is uh
• 9:39
  >> So true. the the constant conversations
• 9:42
  we see about um this game comes out and
• 9:45
  then the DLC is held back or it's being
• 9:48
  dripfed. It's being you know this these
• 9:50
  are also I think permutations of FOMO
• 9:53
  and I think that there is a modern video
• 9:54
  gaming perspective that has emerged that
• 9:56
  is frequently demanding access to
• 9:59
  everything immediately. Um, there's
• 10:03
  there's a difference in I'm thinking I'm
• 10:04
  thinking a little bit of like Pokemon
• 10:05
  Champions in my head when I'm having
• 10:07
  this conversation, but like there's a
• 10:09
  difference between looking at the
• 10:10
  pricing structure of something and
• 10:11
  calling it exploitative and somebody who
• 10:14
  says like I should automatically be able
• 10:17
  to afford every single thing that I
• 10:19
  want. And no other entertainment medium
• 10:22
  really produces that exact expectation.
• 10:24
  you don't have people looking at um you
• 10:28
  know why isn't every single Blu-ray that
• 10:30
  Criterion puts out uh priced around my
• 10:33
  personal budget? Why is not why are um
• 10:35
  Broadway tickets uh they don't cost what
• 10:38
  I want? Uh concerts are not accessible
• 10:40
  to me. But the game discourse I think
• 10:43
  treats the personal inability to
• 10:44
  participate as evidence of an ethical
• 10:47
  failure by the medium itself. And that I
• 10:50
  think is like really um the the way in
• 10:54
  which like FOMO I think intensifies
• 10:57
  existing economic anxiety because and
• 11:00
  this is something people miss. I think
• 11:02
  the economic anxiety is not because of
• 11:04
  the games. It's not because the game
• 11:06
  went from $60 to $70. It's not because
• 11:08
  the price of the console, right? It is
• 11:10
  instead pushing on existing economic
• 11:13
  anxiety from the larger culture that we
• 11:15
  live in. Um but now and then kind of
• 11:20
  turning things to the media landscape
• 11:21
  because of the the media and social
• 11:23
  landscape that we live in um
• 11:26
  participation in video games feels
• 11:30
  >> socially uh necessary to like being a
• 11:33
  video game player.
• 11:35
  >> So the the culture is constantly telling
• 11:37
  you this is the conversation. It's like
• 11:39
  what you said all the Tomodachi Life
• 11:40
  reviews coming out. This is what
• 11:42
  everybody's posting about. This is the
• 11:43
  moment. This is where community is
• 11:45
  happening. It's like, you know, it's
• 11:49
  it's right now the NBA playoffs are
• 11:50
  happening and I'm a big Sixers fan. The
• 11:53
  Sixers are in the playoffs. They're
• 11:54
  going to they're going to win the whole
• 11:54
  thing. No big deal. And it's like
• 11:56
  somebody being like, "Jake, you cannot
• 11:59
  watch the game. You cannot post about
• 12:01
  the game. You cannot participate in this
• 12:04
  kind of sports fandom unless you pony up
• 12:08
  the Bucks and get it." Like, that would
• 12:09
  suck. And I would and I would understand
• 12:11
  why that would suck. So it creates this
• 12:14
  alienating feeling in a in a deeper way,
• 12:17
  especially online in our contemporary
• 12:19
  culture where the your kind of like
• 12:22
  personal identity and your consumption
• 12:25
  and your posting all these things kind
• 12:26
  of blend together.
• 12:27
  >> Well, and I think it it comes to the
• 12:28
  fact of what you just said too, but this
• 12:30
  idea of like personal identity gets so
• 12:32
  caught up for so many people in um like
• 12:36
  fandom, right? And so it's like, well,
• 12:38
  if I'm a huge uh I don't know what's
• 12:40
  coming out.
• 12:43
  I'm a huge huge fan of Eternal, so I
• 12:48
  have to play Sorrowos right when it
• 12:49
  comes. What's on my mind, right? So I
• 12:51
  have to play Sorrows right when it comes
• 12:53
  out.
• 12:53
  >> You know what I'm saying? I have no What
• 12:54
  else is coming out?
• 12:55
  >> Think about the Batman, dude. Think
• 12:56
  about Lego Batman's coming out. Huge
• 12:58
  Lego Batman. You got that digital deluxe
• 13:00
  edition and you get you get a few days
• 13:03
  early unlock. You get some costumes.
• 13:05
  That's the thing about it though, right
• 13:07
  too, like is the early unlock for games
• 13:09
  and stuff for pre-ordering, you know,
• 13:11
  buying the deluxe edition, whatever. And
• 13:13
  like that all feeds into it too. And
• 13:15
  then socially, you're going to your
• 13:17
  social circles to talk about these
• 13:18
  games, whatever. And if everyone else
• 13:19
  has played it and you haven't, it's like
• 13:20
  the push to to want to. But like there's
• 13:23
  so much about the culture of gaming
• 13:24
  itself that it just like pushes people
• 13:26
  into that. And it's so frustrating,
• 13:28
  right? Like because
• 13:31
  hey, it's it is difficult to be able to
• 13:33
  spend that kind of money. so often, you
• 13:36
  know what I mean? If you are someone
• 13:36
  who's playing every single major release
• 13:38
  in a year, like I mean that's a lot, you
• 13:41
  know, it is it costs a lot and and so
• 13:42
  it's it's very difficult to know sort of
• 13:44
  like how to combat it. Um I will say I
• 13:49
  have a a surefire way of combating FOMO
• 13:51
  for me and it is anytime anyone is
• 13:54
  talking about something that is
• 13:55
  exclusively on the personal computer,
• 13:57
  I'm like, "Oh, cool. I don't need to
• 13:58
  worry about this."
• 13:59
  >> Yeah, you're right. That works for me,
• 14:00
  too. That works for me, too.
• 14:01
  >> Yeah. Everyone's talking about uh what's
• 14:02
  that? What's the game that's like pink
• 14:04
  and blue? Uh, titanium.
• 14:07
  >> Oh, yes. I'm talking about I think
• 14:09
  that's it. Yeah.
• 14:10
  >> Everyone's talking about this game. I'm
• 14:11
  like, what is this?
• 14:11
  >> No. Me too. Me too. It's only blackout.
• 14:14
  >> Yeah. Okay.
• 14:14
  >> Completely black. I I That game doesn't
• 14:16
  exist in the world I live in.
• 14:17
  >> Exactly. Happy for you and your reality.
• 14:20
  I Yeah,
• 14:20
  >> there are games like that that happen.
• 14:22
  But also then, you know, I was thinking
• 14:23
  about the the Steam Controller stuff.
• 14:25
  Uh, out of nowhere, all the reviews for
• 14:27
  the Steam Controller all dropped and
• 14:28
  everyone's talking about, "Oh my gosh, I
• 14:29
  got to pre-order this thing." and
• 14:30
  pre-orders went up and it was limited
• 14:32
  and and not everyone was able to get it,
• 14:34
  whatever. And it's I'm seeing everyone
• 14:35
  talking about it and I was like, "Oh
• 14:37
  man, it would really suck for me if I
• 14:39
  cared about gaming on my PC at all." You
• 14:42
  know?
• 14:42
  >> Yeah. The funny the funny thing about
• 14:43
  the Steam controller, too, is that it's
• 14:45
  a controller.
• 14:46
  >> No, and that's that's the other part of
• 14:48
  it, too. We're like, listen, I'm sure
• 14:50
  it's a I'm sure the ergonomics of it are
• 14:52
  great. Seems like that's what people are
• 14:54
  saying about it. But, hey, this is a
• 14:55
  great controller. I'm happy I'm happy
• 14:57
  for the ergonomic heads, right? Yeah.
• 15:00
  Um,
• 15:01
  >> you know, we all
• 15:01
  >> it's it's a little odd for me to feel
• 15:03
  the FOMO that I was seeing demonstrated
• 15:05
  online over a controller. And maybe and
• 15:07
  and I'm not trying to judge anybody. We
• 15:09
  all get our jollies, but like I like I
• 15:12
  understand wanting it, but but like
• 15:14
  needing it I think is odd.
• 15:17
  >> I 100% agree cuz I for the most part
• 15:20
  have not played a game in the last I
• 15:22
  don't know like decade and been like
• 15:24
  damn this controller [ __ ] sucks. You
• 15:26
  know what I mean? Just like
• 15:27
  >> Sure, sure. I think at the end of the
• 15:29
  day, they're all uh at at the very worst
• 15:32
  passable, you know. Um
• 15:34
  >> is there something there about being
• 15:38
  someone who has the Steam controller?
• 15:41
  >> Oh, I H
• 15:43
  >> Is that Is that like Okay. You know how
• 15:45
  people get like the new iPhone?
• 15:47
  >> Yeah. And then
• 15:49
  >> the iPhone's like a symbol. It's like a
• 15:50
  It's like a It's Yeah. Yeah. Is is it is
• 15:52
  there something there in gamer cred in
• 15:55
  that's like similar to
• 15:57
  >> it? Surely, right?
• 15:59
  >> I'm sure. Yeah. Here's But here's the
• 16:02
  problem. I'm the wrong person to ask.
• 16:03
  >> As strange as it sounds. Yeah.
• 16:05
  >> I'm the wrong person to ask because I
• 16:06
  don't I'm not plugged into the PC
• 16:07
  culture of it. So, like I'm sure the PC
• 16:09
  people.
• 16:11
  >> I would love to see a comment from
• 16:15
  somebody on this video that's just like,
• 16:19
  Jake, actually, there is an incredibly
• 16:20
  large amount of gamer credibility
• 16:24
  associated with the Steam Controller.
• 16:26
  And when I see somebody that has the
• 16:28
  Steam Controller, I am filled with envy
• 16:32
  at what it must feel like in their
• 16:34
  sweet, sweet hands. We had technical
• 16:36
  difficulties. Anyway, yeah, I don't
• 16:38
  know. I I I think I'm sure there is
• 16:40
  something uh to do with the fact that
• 16:42
  there it is a status symbol that like
• 16:44
  the Steam Controller is
• 16:47
  a big deal because it comes from Valve,
• 16:50
  right? Because it's like one of these
• 16:51
  like major
• 16:51
  >> Oh, interesting. Okay.
• 16:53
  >> Uh things. And also I think because
• 16:54
  there is so much excitement surrounding
• 16:56
  the um uh what's their console going to
• 16:59
  be called? The Steam Box, Steam.
• 17:04
  >> I don't know. I'm sorry.
• 17:05
  >> You know what I'm talking about. The
• 17:07
  >> I do.
• 17:07
  >> Yeah. I think there's excitement
• 17:09
  surrounding that and the fact that that
• 17:10
  isn't here because of, you know,
• 17:12
  whatever economic and uh issues that are
• 17:15
  going on, whatever, uh within like the
• 17:17
  the production side of it. Um, I think
• 17:19
  that there's a certain level of like,
• 17:20
  well, if we can't get the console, we
• 17:22
  can at the very least get this
• 17:22
  controller.
• 17:24
  >> And I think so part of that is like the
• 17:26
  excitement for the Steam controller. But
• 17:28
  I do I do think that I bet that there is
• 17:31
  some sort of status of having this
• 17:32
  controller among PC gamers because it's
• 17:34
  like, well, Valve is the PC gaming
• 17:36
  company. You know what I mean?
• 17:38
  >> No, you're you're right though that it
• 17:39
  is carried over hype for the console.
• 17:41
  It's it's like a preview of you can
• 17:43
  start imagining in your head using that
• 17:46
  console which which I also I won't press
• 17:50
  in on this too much. I also question the
• 17:51
  hype over but that's but that's neither
• 17:53
  here nor there.
• 17:54
  >> Right. Right. Right. Right. So you
• 17:55
  mentioned something though about the
• 17:56
  idea of like hype for the console
• 17:57
  whatever. And that just had me thinking
• 17:58
  though too about like the I think
• 18:00
  obviously like very obviously the idea
• 18:02
  of like hype plays into FOMO. Right.
• 18:05
  Like right getting hyped for something
• 18:06
  means that when it comes out everyone
• 18:08
  else is playing it. the hype, the
• 18:09
  excitement leading up to it leads to
• 18:11
  people wanting to play it because
• 18:12
  they'll feel like they're missing out if
• 18:13
  they're not. Something else that I think
• 18:15
  is kind of interesting is sort of like
• 18:16
  the um
• 18:17
  >> the role that like media plays in FOMO
• 18:21
  because I think a lot of um
• 18:25
  not I think one of the main draws for
• 18:27
  people to follow content creators and
• 18:29
  stuff like that is the like vicarious
• 18:31
  living. You know what I mean? about like
• 18:33
  well I can't go to these luxurious you
• 18:35
  know preview events and whatever but
• 18:37
  this person gets to go and I can kind of
• 18:39
  live through them
• 18:40
  >> and I think it plays on that fe like
• 18:42
  that fear of missing out right a little
• 18:44
  bit because it's like well I wasn't
• 18:45
  going to get invited to the you know
• 18:47
  event but here's this person who is
• 18:51
  going and I get to watch what they're
• 18:53
  doing and talk about it by proxy of of
• 18:56
  this other person. Does that kind of
• 18:57
  make sense? Do do you think that plays
• 18:58
  into it? of course, but I I I almost
• 19:01
  think it goes like a little bit deeper
• 19:02
  than that too because I think that we
• 19:04
  don't have to retread old ground and I I
• 19:06
  think it's it's this kind of thing where
• 19:07
  we know that there is a propensity in
• 19:11
  games media to uh favor coverage of the
• 19:14
  next thing.
• 19:15
  >> Yeah.
• 19:16
  >> Over%. Yeah. So the newest thing, the
• 19:19
  next thing that's more important than
• 19:20
  anything and I think um that goes beyond
• 19:23
  games media that's just everything
• 19:25
  >> 100%. The idea kind of underneath that
• 19:28
  is that because that's the content that
• 19:30
  drives clicks. And a lot of people kind
• 19:34
  of stop the conversation there. And
• 19:36
  where I would want to push a little
• 19:37
  deeper is maybe that's what drives
• 19:40
  clicks because that is the audience that
• 19:42
  we built.
• 19:44
  >> And yeah, and I and I think that's worth
• 19:46
  talking about. But like just for for
• 19:47
  anybody who's maybe unfamiliar, I think
• 19:49
  that like um you know in in mainstream
• 19:53
  games coverage, but also in something as
• 19:55
  like uh if we think about friend of the
• 19:59
  show Dusty Goat, who has a YouTube
• 20:00
  channel, the Hidden Power podcast, it is
• 20:03
  this uh we were Dusty and I were
• 20:05
  actually talking about this this
• 20:06
  morning, how kind of the constant
• 20:08
  emphasis on what is the next Pokemon
• 20:11
  game going to be, when is the next
• 20:12
  trailer going to come out, you are
• 20:14
  actually training your audience to value
• 20:16
  the feeling of anticipation
• 20:19
  over experience.
• 20:20
  >> Yeah.
• 20:20
  >> So when you spend years anticipating
• 20:24
  games, weeks speculating, and then a
• 20:28
  single day reviewing, that is going to
• 20:31
  create a kind of person that wants a
• 20:36
  particular kind of feeling. The the game
• 20:38
  becomes old almost immediately.
• 20:41
  >> Yes. This is so true because me
• 20:52
  talking about the game and I think
• 20:53
  things like review embargos uh play into
• 20:56
  this as well, right? Where it's like
• 20:57
  obviously no one gets to have the game
• 20:59
  usually when like review embargos go up.
• 21:01
  Usually that is pre-release. But it it
• 21:05
  is like, well, we're all going to be
• 21:06
  talking about it at this one time. And
• 21:08
  to me as the consumer, it means I need
• 21:10
  to get this game immediately so I can
• 21:12
  like like refer back to to reviews,
• 21:15
  whatever. I mean, that's kind of what I
• 21:17
  do. I don't know if most people do that.
• 21:19
  Uh,
• 21:19
  >> no, of course. But but it's just anybody
• 21:21
  who's familiar with the gaming landscape
• 21:23
  at large can tell you like, okay, the
• 21:25
  Here's something we say all the time.
• 21:26
  The algorithm rewards immediiacy. What
• 21:28
  does that actually mean? And I think
• 21:30
  what that means is that we're in an
• 21:31
  ecosystem that will privilege certain
• 21:34
  types of content over others. So the
• 21:36
  things that you will see are first
• 21:38
  reactions. Uh you will see guides, you
• 21:41
  will see ending explained. You will see
• 21:43
  outrage and you will see leaks. What you
• 21:46
  won't see a lot is like closely reading,
• 21:50
  reflection, revisits, reconsiderations.
• 21:53
  Um, could you imagine could you imagine
• 21:55
  could you imagine a review comes out for
• 21:57
  a game and then two weeks later the
• 22:00
  person who wrote the review goes
• 22:04
  >> actually okay so uh my wife had this
• 22:07
  idea for a movie review
• 22:09
  >> podcast podcast that she she is like not
• 22:11
  going to do it but she was like I want a
• 22:13
  podcast that would do this she's like I
• 22:15
  love seeing a movie in the theater with
• 22:17
  a diet coke and a big popcorn and if I
• 22:19
  see a movie in that under those
• 22:21
  conditions I'm going to really really
• 22:23
  like it. But then she's like, but I was
• 22:25
  thinking like what if someone then did a
• 22:27
  review again in like 3 weeks after that
• 22:29
  where they then now they've had time to
• 22:31
  sit with it and maybe they watch it
• 22:32
  again not in those conditions and then
• 22:34
  they talk about it there and like seeing
• 22:36
  if there's a discrepancy between the
• 22:38
  glitz and glamour of like the way uh
• 22:41
  excitement and experience actually sort
• 22:45
  of like impacts the way we feel about
• 22:46
  you know art and whatever. And I think
• 22:48
  like,
• 22:49
  >> dude, wait, hold on, I want to stick on
• 22:50
  this cuz cuz great art holds up to
• 22:52
  multiple viewings. And we we've kind of
• 22:55
  referenced the idea of review inflation
• 22:58
  in the past and how these games come out
• 23:00
  and it's like everything gets, you know,
• 23:02
  the eight or nine if it's of a certain
• 23:04
  budget and polish. And I wonder, man, I
• 23:06
  wonder if you weren't reviewing the
• 23:09
  first time playing the game. If you were
• 23:11
  reviewing the second time playing the
• 23:13
  game and you didn't have the spoilers to
• 23:15
  carry you, you didn't have the novelty
• 23:17
  to carry you, what would what would your
• 23:19
  review of this and how many of these
• 23:21
  people are ever even playing a game for
• 23:22
  the second time because of the kind of
• 23:24
  go go go nature of covering video games.
• 23:26
  So, and dude, that talk about something
• 23:29
  that would tank review inflation like
• 23:31
  that.
• 23:32
  >> Yeah, the second time playing through it
• 23:34
  is the stuff that you start to be like,
• 23:35
  "Ah, this sucks."
• 23:37
  >> You know what I mean? It's It's funny
• 23:38
  you say that. So, I uh this past weekend
• 23:41
  uh I played Resident Evil 7 three times
• 23:44
  um and had a great time with it. But on
• 23:47
  that third time, if you could believe
• 23:48
  it, there were some sections where I was
• 23:50
  like, "All right, okay, got it." You
• 23:53
  know what I mean? And obviously the game
• 23:54
  isn't meant to be played that way. But I
• 23:55
  do think that that by exposing yourself
• 23:57
  to something, you know, multiple times,
• 23:59
  you are starting to see the parts that
• 24:02
  stick out as like, I don't know if this
• 24:04
  all works, right? Um Yeah.
• 24:07
  >> Yeah. Yeah. There's and I think it also
• 24:09
  is a good practice to kind of ward off
• 24:12
  what I would say is maybe just um bad
• 24:15
  criticism or bad critical practices.
• 24:17
  Like something that kind of gets on my
• 24:18
  nerves sometimes is the uh
• 24:21
  >> it made me cry as like a attestation to
• 24:25
  the emotions that the movie or the game
• 24:28
  was able to evoke. It made me cry. And
• 24:30
  I'm like, cuz there's a part of me
• 24:31
  that's like,
• 24:33
  >> you know, if you start up a movie
• 24:36
  >> and it starts with you see a sweet dog
• 24:38
  and the dog looks at the, you know, and
• 24:39
  then and then somebody comes over and
• 24:41
  kicks the dog and that makes you feel
• 24:43
  bad. Like
• 24:45
  >> I just think the the ability to like
• 24:47
  inspire emotion is maybe not always a
• 24:50
  compliment to the storytelling in in the
• 24:52
  way that people think it is. Yeah.
• 24:54
  >> And Yeah. Yeah. And I think that like
• 24:57
  the the the upon repeat viewings, the
• 25:01
  kind of craft of a work becomes more and
• 25:04
  more visible and tangible and legible,
• 25:06
  whereas the first time you see
• 25:08
  something, it is so reaction focused.
• 25:10
  And I do think a lot of our media and a
• 25:13
  lot of our fan culture around these
• 25:14
  things is reaction focused which which
• 25:18
  then creates a kind of viewer who
• 25:22
  believes that the purpose of reviews is
• 25:24
  to be a reaction and then that person
• 25:28
  has an insane amount of friction when
• 25:30
  they encounter an actual review. I think
• 25:33
  this is 100% correct and I think that um
• 25:38
  like spoiler culture is so I mean
• 25:40
  spoiler culture is like huge in like all
• 25:43
  corners of culture but like I don't know
• 25:46
  to me I think it is so immensely
• 25:50
  important in gaming culture specifically
• 25:52
  and I don't know why. Um you said
• 25:55
  something I don't was this on the
• 25:56
  podcast? Maybe this was on the bonus pod
• 25:58
  which hey you want to talk about you
• 26:00
  want to talk about FOMO. Oh my gosh. We
• 26:03
  have been on
• 26:04
  >> fearing for your life.
• 26:05
  >> We have been on a heater of bonus pods
• 26:07
  over at patreon.com/critical
• 26:10
  error for $5 and up. You can gain access
• 26:12
  to all that. Um, again, an absolute
• 26:14
  heater. This week's was was excellent.
• 26:16
  We uh we have 60 video games that we
• 26:18
  believe are the best of all time that we
• 26:20
  we both brought 30. Uh, and it it was a
• 26:22
  wonderful conversation. But I think you
• 26:24
  mentioned um I again I think this was on
• 26:27
  the the the podcast like we care so much
• 26:30
  about story in video games but people
• 26:32
  only want to talk about the beginning
• 26:33
  and the end and the very end. The entire
• 26:36
  story is premise combined with ending.
• 26:39
  That's what people think story is. Yeah.
• 26:41
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 26:41
  >> Um but like people in games are so
• 26:44
  fixated on spoilers
• 26:46
  >> and I think that comes back to the idea
• 26:48
  of you're missing out, right? Like if
• 26:50
  you don't get to react, if you don't get
• 26:52
  to have that first viewing that is un un
• 26:55
  untunt untainted, right? Uh then it's a
• 26:57
  huge problem. And that's that's the
• 26:59
  thing about FOMO is that it's it's more
• 27:01
  than about the anxiety around buying a
• 27:05
  day one game. It is so much more
• 27:07
  holistic than that because there is a
• 27:09
  audience that FOMO produces. There is an
• 27:12
  idea and and I need people to really
• 27:14
  this is like the thing I feel most
• 27:15
  passionately about that that we're going
• 27:17
  to talk about I think in this episode is
• 27:19
  that I think that there is in
• 27:22
  combination with the media landscape and
• 27:25
  the the just like the video game culture
• 27:27
  all of it all of it is aimed towards
• 27:30
  creating an ideal consumer who is
• 27:33
  permanently restless. Let that sink in
• 27:36
  because I think FOMO culture is trying
• 27:38
  to create a video game player who one
• 27:41
  simply cannot sit alone with a video
• 27:43
  game.
• 27:44
  >> Cannot replay a game, cannot fall
• 27:46
  behind, cannot ignore discourse, cannot
• 27:49
  miss updates, and cannot lead leave the
• 27:52
  kind of like social media feed. And it's
• 27:54
  it's all consumption and that's kind of
• 27:56
  like the goal of FOMO. Yeah.
• 27:57
  >> Yes. And and I think that um you know I
• 28:00
  I don't think that there's like some
• 28:01
  like secret cabal of these game
• 28:03
  companies that are like like Ubisoft and
• 28:05
  Microsoft and whoever are all sitting in
• 28:06
  a in a room. They're like how are we
• 28:08
  going to do this? But I think that like
• 28:10
  it is this thing where they have all
• 28:11
  noticed like oh hey here's the practice
• 28:12
  that works for all of these AAA games.
• 28:14
  we are all just going to continue to do
• 28:16
  this and then now we have this like
• 28:17
  unified culture of consumption and it
• 28:20
  comes from I think it's exactly what
• 28:21
  you're saying people not wanting to miss
• 28:24
  out on this stuff and it pushes people
• 28:26
  to buy and buy and buy and buy and buy
• 28:27
  and buy.
• 28:28
  >> If you have an underdeveloped media
• 28:30
  landscape you will be reduced to a
• 28:32
  consumer and I think often times people
• 28:35
  in this space often feel like I feel
• 28:37
  like I'm being treated like like I'm
• 28:39
  just a consumer. this uh these these
• 28:41
  pre-orders and these digital deluxe
• 28:43
  versions and all of this stuff uh makes
• 28:46
  they make people feel bad. And it's
• 28:49
  funny because I actually
• 28:52
  >> so I mentioned earlier that there's like
• 28:53
  that version of the Lego Batman game,
• 28:55
  right?
• 28:56
  >> And if you buy one Yeah.
• 28:58
  >> Yeah. whatever it is. And it's like I
• 29:00
  don't know 20 $30 extra, whatever. And
• 29:03
  you get the game early access, you get
• 29:05
  some DLC with it, whatever, whatever the
• 29:06
  hell it is. And I know that every time
• 29:10
  this kinds of kind of thing pops up,
• 29:13
  there is a
• 29:15
  really powerful outcry from people being
• 29:18
  like
• 29:20
  this is predatory and bad and um
• 29:24
  manipulative and all of this stuff. And
• 29:26
  not to be a crazy person. I think I
• 29:28
  think people know where I stand when it
• 29:29
  comes to my progressive point of view.
• 29:32
  >> Sure. This is something that like I have
• 29:35
  to do some real soulsearching about
• 29:37
  because I don't see
• 29:40
  asking people for a little extra money
• 29:43
  to play a game early as a crime. I guess
• 29:47
  I just don't I like Yeah,
• 29:49
  >> I I know what you're saying, but do my
• 29:51
  question is like do you not see that
• 29:53
  then as these companies playing into the
• 29:56
  things that we're talking about here
• 29:57
  that are making people less interested
• 29:59
  in being uh more actively thinking about
• 30:02
  this sort of thing.
• 30:03
  >> So yeah, but I also just don't think
• 30:05
  it's the company's job to do that. I
• 30:07
  think that it is the job of the public
• 30:10
  and I I think it is the job of the
• 30:12
  public and particularly the media to
• 30:15
  create the kind of well-rounded consumer
• 30:18
  that would have a particular reaction to
• 30:20
  these things. But I don't think we can
• 30:22
  expect the company to do that to take
• 30:25
  care of it for us
• 30:26
  >> because they have no interest in it and
• 30:27
  no incentive in doing it. Yeah, that's
• 30:28
  true.
• 30:29
  >> Right. And and I also just want to say
• 30:30
  that I don't think every pricing
• 30:32
  structure is equally predatory. And I
• 30:35
  think that that's something that people
• 30:37
  often charge it as that I just like
• 30:39
  don't agree with because if you have an
• 30:40
  expensive edition of the game and it
• 30:42
  comes with um the soundtrack,
• 30:46
  >> nobody's going to get mad at that.
• 30:49
  Okay. And then if you have an expensive
• 30:51
  edition of the game that has like an art
• 30:53
  book or maybe the DLC pass or cosmetics,
• 30:57
  it's like things people may or may not
• 31:00
  get mad about. It's like a sliding
• 31:02
  scale.
• 31:02
  >> The few days of early access is one that
• 31:06
  really does bother people. And I guess
• 31:08
  for me, this all of this stuff is so
• 31:11
  materially and meaningfully different
• 31:13
  from like games that have pay to win
• 31:15
  systems, things that have
• 31:17
  >> Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
• 31:18
  >> Gotcha economies that have like a uh a
• 31:22
  grind that I would call gameplay
• 31:24
  hostile. Um, and also just kind of like
• 31:27
  psychologically coercive manipulation.
• 31:30
  And I got to I got to tell you, I I
• 31:31
  guess I just like
• 31:33
  >> No, there is a difference there. And it
• 31:34
  and it's difficult when when we treat
• 31:36
  them all like they're the same thing.
• 31:38
  Because I because I think like the the
• 31:40
  the
• 31:40
  >> the premium edition in my mind and maybe
• 31:43
  I'm just ass backwards about this is
• 31:45
  less about buying the game and it's more
• 31:47
  like you're subsidizing the development
• 31:50
  of the game in exchange for perks. And I
• 31:53
  don't know if that is necessarily
• 31:54
  unprecedented because we've always had
• 31:56
  collector's editions. You see like
• 31:58
  deluxe Blu-rays. There's VIP concert
• 32:01
  access. There are tiers if you go to a
• 32:03
  Kickstarter on our own Patreon. there
• 32:06
  are levels of support and I think that
• 32:08
  like the
• 32:09
  >> early unlock is just saying I'm willing
• 32:12
  to pay more to participate sooner and I
• 32:14
  don't think that that is like holding a
• 32:17
  video game hostage which people frame it
• 32:19
  as.
• 32:20
  >> Yeah, I I think that's fair. I I I think
• 32:22
  that what you're saying makes a lot of
• 32:23
  sense but I also do understand the like
• 32:26
  uh irritation towards this sort of thing
• 32:28
  because
• 32:28
  >> me too. Do I like it? like
• 32:31
  I'm not saying that you're out here
• 32:32
  being like and all of this is really
• 32:34
  good and I love it, right? Um but
• 32:37
  because I understand the hostility
• 32:39
  towards it and uh but I would agree 100%
• 32:42
  that like uh I I think sometimes we in
• 32:45
  the gaming culture tend to conflate a
• 32:47
  lot of things as being the same when
• 32:49
  they are not. Um and understanding the
• 32:51
  like levels of like uh okay something is
• 32:55
  a problem but is it like a huge problem
• 32:58
  that it's like the thing we need to die
• 32:59
  we need to die on I guess truth
• 33:01
  truthfully my question is that is the
• 33:04
  reason that this 3 days early unlock
• 33:07
  access is seen as so devastating as I
• 33:11
  know that it is is the reason for that
• 33:14
  because 3 days early in our FOMO formed
• 33:19
  gaming culture is a lifetime.
• 33:21
  >> Yes, it is. Because here's the thing. Uh
• 33:23
  uh I I think about the fact that like I
• 33:26
  know people I've never done this, I
• 33:28
  don't think.
• 33:29
  >> Um but I know I certainly know people in
• 33:31
  my life who have like taken the day off
• 33:33
  work the day a game comes out, right? So
• 33:36
  they can sit down and play it for eight
• 33:38
  hours, let's just say a full day of
• 33:39
  work, right? And I don't think there's
• 33:40
  anything wrong with that, by the way.
• 33:41
  And I'm not judging anyone who does
• 33:42
  that. But I do think
• 33:43
  >> I think it's a great way to spend a day
• 33:44
  off.
• 33:44
  >> What what a what I wouldn't give, right?
• 33:48
  Um uh but I do think that because of
• 33:50
  that I I don't think that's uncommon is
• 33:52
  what I'm trying to say. I think that a
• 33:53
  lot of people do that sort of thing. Um
• 33:56
  and so 3 days of early access to a game
• 34:00
  or a whole weekend or whatever is a
• 34:02
  lifetime because you have people who are
• 34:03
  going to say, you know what, I'm
• 34:04
  actually taking that whole time off of
• 34:07
  my whole life so that I can sit and I
• 34:10
  can live in Night City. You know what I
• 34:12
  mean? I can be Raul Kohley or whatever.
• 34:16
  Uh you know what I mean? Like I I I do
• 34:18
  think that people are using that as like
• 34:23
  sort of ammunition for fandom of like,
• 34:25
  hey, I've actually already beaten the
• 34:26
  game cuz 3 days is is plenty of time to
• 34:28
  to play a significant portion of a game,
• 34:31
  right? And so I do think that that is a
• 34:34
  significant amount of time and and when
• 34:37
  everyone else isn't getting in, I think
• 34:38
  that creates that vacuum of of sort of
• 34:41
  tension and like irritation and whatever
• 34:43
  that FOMO is like breeds on, you know.
• 34:45
  >> Yeah. And I do wanna, you know, I we're
• 34:48
  talking about all this stuff and I can I
• 34:50
  can already like hear the comments
• 34:51
  coming in and it's like, oh, Jake said
• 34:53
  that the the higher cost of this edition
• 34:56
  is subsidizing the game's development,
• 34:59
  but that's not true because the, you
• 35:00
  know, where is that money going? Is it
• 35:02
  going into the hands of the people that
• 35:03
  made the game? I'm going to say probably
• 35:05
  not. But like,
• 35:07
  >> yeah,
• 35:07
  >> is it is it
• 35:11
  >> you know, we we always have this
• 35:12
  conversation about the the the video
• 35:14
  games are getting more expensive. Mhm.
• 35:15
  >> And and I guess to me if
• 35:19
  if I can still get a $70 version of
• 35:22
  Grand Theft Auto
• 35:24
  >> and but there but there's a hundred
• 35:25
  version a $100 version collector's
• 35:28
  edition or a $100 $20 version
• 35:30
  collector's edition. Is is that as a
• 35:32
  consumer the worst
• 35:34
  >> outcome? Is that the worst trade that we
• 35:36
  can make? And I guess I just don't think
• 35:38
  that it is. It's completely optional.
• 35:40
  And there's Yeah, there's there's this
• 35:42
  idea about like release dates, right?
• 35:44
  And I think it's like I could see
• 35:46
  somebody in the comments being like,
• 35:47
  "Well, here's the problem. The game is
• 35:48
  done, so they're just withholding it."
• 35:51
  But like release dates are artificial as
• 35:53
  a concept. So like it's not. So I I just
• 35:56
  have a hard time see. But anyway, you
• 35:57
  were going to ask,
• 35:58
  >> do you So okay, so with with Grand Theft
• 36:00
  Auto is a is a great thing cuz that's
• 36:02
  going to have I'm sure
• 36:04
  >> something you can spend money on. Yeah,
• 36:06
  >> I'm certain. And there's going to be
• 36:07
  tears to it. You know, you see like
• 36:08
  Assassin's Creed does this. Like, hey,
• 36:10
  Assassin's Creed's out and uh uh you can
• 36:12
  buy for 70 bucks or you can get the
• 36:14
  digital deluxe edition which is, you
• 36:15
  know, 90 bucks or you can get the
• 36:17
  founders pass which gives you all this
• 36:18
  whatever for $150 and it goes up from
• 36:21
  there, right? Uh and I'm uh guaranteed
• 36:25
  that that that Grand Theft Auto 6 is
• 36:27
  going to have that uh as well. Does that
• 36:30
  ever sway you? Those like do you ever
• 36:32
  like even look at those sort of like
• 36:34
  digital deluxe editions and stuff like
• 36:35
  that?
• 36:36
  >> Oh, dude. I think I'm going to buy the
• 36:37
  Batman one.
• 36:38
  >> Is that so? Is that right?
• 36:39
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so let me let me
• 36:40
  let me give you the breakdown. Let me
• 36:42
  give you the breakdown.
• 36:43
  >> So, the standard edition of Lego Batman
• 36:45
  Legacy of the Dark Knight is 70 bones.
• 36:48
  Not not nothing surprising there.
• 36:50
  >> Yeah. Yeah. and then 90 bones for the
• 36:53
  deluxe edition, which does come with the
• 36:55
  3 days early access. Okay? But it also
• 36:57
  comes with what they call the Arkham
• 36:59
  Trilogy pack, the Batman Beyond pack, a
• 37:01
  music pack, the and the Mayhem
• 37:03
  collection. Now, the big thing in all
• 37:05
  this, I don't have to give you the whole
• 37:06
  roundup. It's a bunch of costumes, you
• 37:08
  know, but the but the the important
• 37:10
  thing is is that one of those is what I
• 37:12
  presume will be a DLC pack that you can
• 37:14
  buy that it has a special set of
• 37:16
  missions where you play as the Joker and
• 37:18
  you break out of Arkham Asylum. And I'm
• 37:20
  like, "All right, I'll I'll play that."
• 37:21
  A little bit of a throwback to the
• 37:22
  original, if you if you remember, taking
• 37:24
  you back here.
• 37:24
  >> Batman Arkham Asylum, I believe, had
• 37:27
  PlayStation exclusive content that was
• 37:30
  you you got to play as the Joker in some
• 37:32
  challenge rooms, which at the time was
• 37:34
  so sick. I'm sure it made people so mad
• 37:36
  that it was PlayStation exclusive for no
• 37:37
  reason.
• 37:37
  >> I feel like they stopped doing that,
• 37:38
  didn't they?
• 37:40
  >> So, yeah,
• 37:40
  >> I had this conversation with myself
• 37:42
  recently because, and it's going to be a
• 37:43
  similar thing with the Lego Batman game.
• 37:45
  I just want all of that extra content,
• 37:47
  and I know I'm going to enjoy the Lego
• 37:48
  Batman game. I don't I don't feel any
• 37:51
  weirdness about throwing them an extra
• 37:53
  $20 to be to be totally honest with you.
• 37:55
  Um, but
• 37:56
  >> I had this conversation recently
• 37:58
  actually with Soros, one of the first
• 38:00
  PlayStation first party games that I
• 38:01
  noticed did this early access thing
• 38:03
  where you could buy a more expensive
• 38:04
  version of the game, right?
• 38:05
  >> And the only reason I even considered it
• 38:08
  was
• 38:10
  that day that the early access went up,
• 38:12
  I was sitting at home.
• 38:14
  >> Was it one of those times where I was
• 38:15
  like, I just have the time for this
• 38:16
  today? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 38:18
  >> So, I considered it because I was like,
• 38:19
  man, this will actually fit into my Now,
• 38:20
  ultimately, I did not end up buying it.
• 38:22
  Instead, I went to the Nintendo eHop and
• 38:24
  I bought Dungeon Clawer, a awesome
• 38:27
  rogike.
• 38:28
  >> I watched the trailer for this. This
• 38:29
  looks cool.
• 38:30
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Look that up. If you want
• 38:32
  $15 on your Switch, have the time of
• 38:33
  your life. Uh, but it's just about it
• 38:36
  kind of like fitting into my life. And I
• 38:38
  think um like in my head it was this
• 38:41
  thing where I was like, "Okay, I could
• 38:44
  kind of pay a little bit of a premium
• 38:45
  now to make this work for me in a in a
• 38:48
  in a very specific way."
• 38:50
  >> Um and I guess to me the thing that
• 38:53
  makes this okay is that
• 38:55
  >> I feel that there's no
• 38:59
  smoke screen. I feel like everybody
• 39:01
  knows on both ends exactly what's going
• 39:03
  on. You know when the game is coming
• 39:06
  out.
• 39:06
  when the early access
• 39:13
  is it is every single person going to
• 39:15
  have the time to start playing this game
• 39:18
  on a [ __ ] Wednesday probably not like
• 39:21
  like probably not so even the period in
• 39:24
  which they're asking for you to join
• 39:27
  into that early access I find to be
• 39:29
  generous a little bit to be because it's
• 39:31
  like how much time were you really going
• 39:33
  to you know who who even needs that you
• 39:35
  know how many hours are you going to
• 39:36
  play between Wednesday and the Friday it
• 39:38
  was going to come out?
• 39:39
  >> Right.
• 39:39
  >> So, I don't know. So, yeah. So, I guess
• 39:41
  I just look at it and I and I don't see
• 39:43
  it as this this like criminal thing and
• 39:45
  it's hard for me to to see it that way.
• 39:47
  >> I I I know what you mean. Uh it's funny.
• 39:49
  I have ne I don't think I've ever bought
• 39:51
  like a digital deluxe edition. I've I've
• 39:53
  had some cuz sometimes when you get
• 39:55
  codes for games, you will get the
• 39:57
  whatever edition.
• 39:58
  >> That's right. Um, but it's for me it's
• 40:01
  because like I I would be I think
• 40:02
  significantly more interested in getting
• 40:04
  like a collector's edition or something
• 40:05
  like that than the digital deluxe
• 40:07
  editions simply because I find um
• 40:10
  digital rewards to be largely worthless.
• 40:12
  Like I you know like some games will be
• 40:14
  like you start with two skill points and
• 40:16
  I'm like am I going to get those
• 40:17
  eventually in the game anyway? Like yeah
• 40:19
  okay so we just get to have what early?
• 40:22
  You know what I mean? Like or it'll be
• 40:24
  >> that's stuff silly. So, I think
• 40:26
  typically an argument that you could use
• 40:28
  when you look at something like the Lego
• 40:29
  Batman game is that Jake, there was a
• 40:32
  world, there was a version of this game
• 40:34
  that
• 40:35
  >> had all that stuff in there,
• 40:36
  >> had all that stuff in there, but they
• 40:38
  put it behind a wall. And now and but
• 40:39
  now it's this now I think that creates
• 40:41
  this weird question where I think we can
• 40:43
  all maybe acknowledge that because of
• 40:46
  the way the economy has gone video games
• 40:48
  should be a certain price but video
• 40:51
  games have largely been able to stay
• 40:54
  >> at a at a similar price and and it's
• 40:56
  like
• 40:59
  >> I I think that there's something there.
• 41:00
  I don't think it's necessarily that you
• 41:02
  you have to pay extra for all of the
• 41:04
  content. you could just reframe that in
• 41:06
  your head as I actually get to pay less
• 41:09
  for some of this less meaningful content
• 41:12
  >> a version of the game that has you know
• 41:14
  you know what I'm saying
• 41:14
  >> I do I do and because I think that's a
• 41:16
  that's a part of it as well right um but
• 41:19
  I I also think that gets away from the
• 41:21
  idea of like FOMO a little bit at that
• 41:23
  point it's just like digital editions
• 41:24
  the cost of games and whatever
• 41:26
  >> Sure to take it back to the FOMO thing
• 41:27
  is that I think like okay this is this
• 41:30
  is going to I need everybody to take
• 41:31
  this walk with me so
• 41:33
  >> I'm coming
• 41:34
  >> Borderlands 4 comes out.
• 41:35
  >> Yeah.
• 41:35
  >> And I I really like Borderlands. I know
• 41:37
  I like it. I know that I'm going to want
• 41:38
  to play all of that that game, the DLC,
• 41:40
  whatever it is.
• 41:41
  >> So, they've got their launch edition
• 41:43
  that has all the DLC bundled in it. And
• 41:45
  I go, "Here's here's the money. I'm in.
• 41:48
  I'm a I'm a fan. I can't wait." Um,
• 41:52
  part of what's going on there, I think,
• 41:54
  is this acknowledgment of
• 41:58
  the gaming moment and how you can hold
• 42:00
  attention and how long you can hold
• 42:02
  attention and how after the game comes
• 42:04
  out,
• 42:05
  >> if you don't give people the option to
• 42:07
  buy into the moment now, it becomes much
• 42:10
  harder to sell them on the content
• 42:12
  coming out months down the line because
• 42:14
  you no longer. So, I think that's why
• 42:16
  it's here. I think the the reason that
• 42:17
  these things are even ever offered half
• 42:19
  the time and why like the Lego Batman
• 42:22
  edition contains the DLC that's going to
• 42:25
  come out later, I think, is because of
• 42:28
  FOMO. It's a product of we need to
• 42:32
  >> sell them on the excitement of this now
• 42:34
  because we're not going to be able to
• 42:35
  sell them on the excitement of it in the
• 42:36
  future.
• 42:37
  >> 100%. Cuz it's it's like Yeah. When that
• 42:38
  DLC comes out, like you've already moved
• 42:40
  on to something else and so like I I
• 42:42
  don't know. I mean, unless the Lego
• 42:44
  Batman fandom is just so rabid, you know
• 42:47
  what I mean? That is that is, you know,
• 42:50
  when that comes out and they're like,
• 42:51
  you if you aren't if you aren't playing
• 42:52
  the DLC, oh my gosh, you're missing out,
• 42:54
  right? But by saying that's how I'm
• 42:56
  going to feel
• 42:56
  >> if if you don't have it, but like I
• 42:59
  don't know if that's the conversation
• 43:00
  that's happening, right? And and
• 43:01
  certainly not like the prevailing mood
• 43:03
  because it'll be everyone's moved on to
• 43:04
  what 007 whatever that game is or you
• 43:07
  know what else is coming out down the
• 43:08
  line. And so I think that um you're 100%
• 43:11
  right that like they are trying to
• 43:12
  capitalize on that idea of like it's
• 43:14
  kind of like early FOMO. It's like yeah
• 43:16
  but you won't have the DLC when it comes
• 43:18
  out and you're like do I even want that?
• 43:20
  You know what I mean? And you know you
• 43:21
  get to make that decision on your own
• 43:22
  and and this that whatever. But um yeah
• 43:24
  I don't know. I I think that like it is
• 43:27
  just so interesting that it feels like
• 43:28
  the games industry is built on the back
• 43:30
  of the fear of missing out. And so many
• 43:34
  industries are, you know, we we
• 43:36
  mentioned that at the top, but like I
• 43:37
  think that at the end of the day, video
• 43:39
  games specifically, video game culture
• 43:41
  is so so
• 43:44
  reliant on this feeling. And that's
• 43:46
  across in fandom spaces, that's in like
• 43:49
  content creators, that's in like
• 43:50
  traditional press, like all of that is
• 43:52
  just so 100%
• 43:55
  um dedicated to this feeling. Cuz also
• 43:58
  like I don't know, do you ever play a
• 43:59
  game that's like not in the the like
• 44:01
  zeitgeist and you're like what am I
• 44:02
  doing right now?
• 44:03
  >> On Discord, we're playing through uh
• 44:05
  Pokemon Gold and Silver right now. We're
• 44:07
  doing a little book club talking to
• 44:08
  everybody and and a consistent thread
• 44:10
  I've noticed is how much fun people are
• 44:12
  having just kind of like playing
• 44:15
  something in this little bubble divorced
• 44:17
  from
• 44:19
  >> Zeitgeist and online discourse and just
• 44:21
  kind of like playing it in the in a
• 44:22
  little community on their own. And I
• 44:24
  think what I want to emphasize for
• 44:26
  people is that it is not wrong to enjoy
• 44:32
  the communal aspect of playing a video
• 44:34
  game. That is that is that's total that
• 44:36
  totally makes sense to me. It's good.
• 44:37
  It's fun.
• 44:38
  >> Um Yeah. And like half the fun of like
• 44:40
  being a Sixers fan and them being in the
• 44:42
  playoffs is talking to other people
• 44:44
  about it and trash talking the haters.
• 44:46
  Yeah.
• 44:47
  >> And like that's that's part of the
• 44:48
  experience and I and I completely
• 44:49
  understand that. But um I think that
• 44:52
  like we need to be able to access that
• 44:54
  experience in a way that is also kind of
• 44:58
  divested from constant consumption
• 45:01
  >> and you know so like
• 45:04
  >> creating a little like a a little book
• 45:06
  club or having a little group having
• 45:08
  somebody that you can do that with is um
• 45:10
  huge and can go a really long way in
• 45:13
  kind of uh divorcing you from all of
• 45:15
  these forces that are kind of constantly
• 45:17
  trying to pressure you into bye bye bye
• 45:20
  bye. buy the next thing, the next thing,
• 45:21
  the next thing. Now, the other half of
• 45:23
  this though is that
• 45:25
  >> whenever this comes up,
• 45:27
  >> there is a kind of knee-jerk reaction
• 45:29
  from a certain cohort of people that's
• 45:32
  like, "Well, it has to be this way. We
• 45:35
  have to cover games this way. We have to
• 45:37
  get the clicks. We have to do this. We
• 45:40
  have to do that." And it's funny, man.
• 45:43
  This same group of people, and I think
• 45:44
  you know this well, will constantly say,
• 45:47
  "Oh god, there's no money in this
• 45:49
  business. I should just become a
• 45:50
  YouTuber."
• 45:52
  >> But
• 45:52
  >> yeah,
• 45:53
  >> but
• 45:54
  >> but then let's let's go deeper.
• 45:55
  >> It's so easy.
• 45:56
  >> As if it's so easy. Which is very funny.
• 45:58
  >> Yes.
• 45:59
  >> As if as if knowing how to edit videos
• 46:01
  makes you good at it. Very funny.
• 46:02
  >> Yes. Um,
• 46:05
  if we go a little bit deeper here, there
• 46:07
  is YouTube content that that that often
• 46:10
  times cannot rely on the embargos and
• 46:14
  the go and this thing and the next
• 46:16
  thing. You got something to say.
• 46:17
  >> So, so this is the thing. So, when you
• 46:19
  say like, oh, like but critical error,
• 46:21
  we have to do it this way. I I would say
• 46:24
  like like yeah in the current landscape
• 46:26
  that is set up yes but at the end of the
• 46:28
  day I think you know one of the things
• 46:29
  we were talking about earlier is like
• 46:31
  yeah but we taught people to be like
• 46:32
  this and we taught people to be like
• 46:34
  this and it is through our actions as
• 46:36
  people who sort of drive these
• 46:37
  conversations that we have created a
• 46:40
  system that is like this and of course
• 46:42
  the companies are going to do what
• 46:43
  they're going to do but that they're
• 46:45
  going to do that regardless of how we
• 46:47
  behave and by playing into the their
• 46:49
  hand a little bit we've created a
• 46:50
  culture of people who are only
• 46:51
  interested in this stuff but also So,
• 46:53
  when we say that people are only
• 46:54
  interested in this stuff, um, that's
• 46:56
  categorically untrue. You know what I
• 46:58
  mean? Of course, people are interested
• 46:59
  in the newest whatever. But at the end
• 47:02
  of the day, you go on YouTube.com or you
• 47:04
  go on in some of these like fandom
• 47:05
  spaces on Reddit, whatever, and you will
• 47:07
  notice that people are not always
• 47:09
  talking about the newest, biggest,
• 47:10
  whatever, because some people don't
• 47:12
  always have the newest, biggest,
• 47:13
  whatever, especially in their fandoms,
• 47:15
  right? You look at like um the the uh
• 47:20
  >> Let me give you one. Let me give you
• 47:21
  one. Let me give you one. So, um, on my
• 47:23
  Twitch, I've been streaming through the
• 47:25
  Xenolade games.
• 47:26
  >> Yeah.
• 47:26
  >> And I'm streaming through these games.
• 47:27
  They are not in the Zeitgeist, right?
• 47:29
  They are not. Nobody is talking about
• 47:30
  these games. And it's like, I'm out here
• 47:32
  streaming these games, playing them as
• 47:33
  if they're brand new, talking through
• 47:35
  them, whatever it is. And this gets to
• 47:37
  the point, me streaming these games on
• 47:39
  my own on my Twitch channel. I'm not
• 47:41
  bothering anybody to the point that
• 47:42
  Nintendo is emailing me going, "Okay,
• 47:45
  Jake, you've generated enough attention
• 47:47
  by this point that maybe we want to work
• 47:49
  with you. We're going to send you
• 47:51
  product provided by Nintendo, Xenolade
• 47:53
  Chronicles X definitive edition to do a
• 47:55
  couple of streams on on on Twitch 4. And
• 47:58
  that is a manipulating of this space
• 48:00
  that was not um reliant on the Yeah, two
• 48:04
  of my biggest videos that on my YouTube
• 48:06
  channel uh are are are about games that
• 48:09
  are not relevant. Right. One of them was
• 48:11
  about Wolfenstein, which I think you
• 48:12
  could argue say, "Yeah, well, but the
• 48:14
  things you were talking about relevant
• 48:15
  political whatever." And like, yes,
• 48:17
  that's true. uh that was not there for
• 48:19
  my Dead Space video. Do you know what I
• 48:21
  mean? That you know, hundreds of
• 48:22
  thousands of views and it's like, okay,
• 48:25
  we have to talk about this stuff. We
• 48:26
  have to play into the FOMO stuff. And I
• 48:28
  just don't don't think you do. I think I
• 48:30
  think in the current landscape that that
• 48:32
  is set up, yes, because that's like the
• 48:34
  audience that's been made. But I think
• 48:36
  people are interested in games that
• 48:39
  already exist and are not the newest,
• 48:41
  biggest, whatever, because that's what
• 48:42
  fandom is, right? Exactly what you're
• 48:44
  saying. Like there's not a new Xenolade
• 48:45
  game right now. So, what are those
• 48:48
  people looking to? What are what are
• 48:49
  people who love Xenolade doing? They're
• 48:51
  looking at, you know, whatever is going
• 48:52
  on.
• 48:54
  And I think again to my initial claim of
• 48:57
  FOMO is in everything. I I really want
• 49:00
  people to hear this. When a review comes
• 49:02
  out for a new game and it and and the
• 49:05
  reviewer calls it game of the year or a
• 49:08
  game of the year contender,
• 49:09
  >> Yeah.
• 49:10
  >> that's FOMO.
• 49:10
  >> That's also what that is. Yes.
• 49:12
  >> That's FOMO. That is 100% FOMO. It is.
• 49:14
  you need to play this so you are part of
• 49:16
  the conversation that we are going to
• 49:18
  have now throughout this year and
• 49:20
  particularly at the end of the year.
• 49:22
  >> Well, so that's the other part of it
• 49:23
  too. It's persistent, right? Cuz of
• 49:24
  course it's like you need to play this
• 49:26
  now, but also there by saying that sort
• 49:28
  of stuff and by making so much of gaming
• 49:30
  culture surrounded uh uh centered on the
• 49:33
  idea of like game of the year and like
• 49:34
  what was the best game this year? As
• 49:37
  soon as we get to January 1 next year,
• 49:38
  boom, it's over. And so, so yes, there's
• 49:40
  the immediate you need to play this
• 49:42
  right now. But then there's also the if
• 49:43
  you missed it, you do have a window of
• 49:45
  it being relevant for you to play this
• 49:47
  thing and you can sheepishly say on your
• 49:48
  podcast or you know, whatever like, oh
• 49:50
  man, I I went back and I finally got
• 49:52
  around to playing Resident Evil
• 49:54
  Reququum,
• 49:55
  >> right,
• 49:56
  >> 3 months later and and you go, "Oh,
• 49:57
  actually what everyone said about it is
• 49:59
  good." And then you just move on. But at
• 50:00
  the very end of the day, at the at the
• 50:02
  very least, sorry, is you played it
• 50:04
  before the game of the year discussions
• 50:05
  happen. And then now you get to be a
• 50:06
  part of those discussions. And whether
• 50:08
  that's in your friend group, whether
• 50:09
  that's if you're part of, you know,
• 50:10
  games press, games media, whatever it
• 50:12
  is, it is there is a deadline for these
• 50:14
  things. And by saying stuff like, oh,
• 50:15
  it's an early game of the year contender
• 50:17
  or just a game of the year contender at
• 50:18
  all, you are putting it in that category
• 50:20
  of, you need to play this before January
• 50:23
  1 when it will be irrelevant and dust,
• 50:26
  you know. Well, and I think maybe one of
• 50:31
  the more uncomfortable parts of this
• 50:33
  conversation is simply that the um
• 50:37
  anticip anticipatory form of media and
• 50:41
  content
• 50:43
  is like the lowest resistance form of
• 50:46
  coverage to to put it simply. It's the
• 50:47
  easiest form. It
• 50:48
  >> it is. It is.
• 50:49
  >> And and I think like um I actually on
• 50:51
  Blue Sky was posting about this today. I
• 50:53
  I complimented what I thought was a
• 50:55
  really well-composed review of Tomodachi
• 50:58
  Life on Kotaku.com and I said that a
• 51:01
  kind of uh selfish privilege of of as a
• 51:04
  reader of Kotaku is that they do not get
• 51:07
  uh review copies of games from Nintendo.
• 51:09
  So if they want to produce a Nintendo
• 51:13
  review on their website um like the one
• 51:16
  I did for them for Kirby Air Riders, uh
• 51:18
  they have to kind of make that happen.
• 51:20
  They have to go out of their way.
• 51:21
  >> Yeah. It's all elective.
• 51:23
  >> Yeah. And it comes out not only after
• 51:26
  the review embargo, but like, you know,
• 51:29
  much like far after launch because, you
• 51:31
  know, they they're they have to go out
• 51:32
  of their way to actually play the game
• 51:33
  after it comes out. Yeah.
• 51:35
  >> And I found that that review on Kotaku
• 51:37
  for Tamachi Life actually like broke
• 51:40
  from the formula. It actually had
• 51:42
  something that existed in the culture of
• 51:46
  the g of like the world that was playing
• 51:48
  the game. It wasn't just Yeah. It was it
• 51:51
  was so much more like real to me.
• 51:54
  >> There's something about this too. Um,
• 51:56
  Marathon, I don't think Bungie I don't
• 51:58
  think Sony gave out codes for Marathon
• 51:59
  or if they did, I don't know if they
• 52:01
  were activated. Yeah. Because it was an
• 52:02
  online game and so reviews for that
• 52:04
  either were skipped completely by Oh,
• 52:06
  yeah. by you know these these
• 52:07
  publications or they came out after the
• 52:09
  fact after people had were able to like
• 52:11
  entrench themselves in that culture
• 52:12
  which I think is even um more compelling
• 52:15
  because it's an online game so it is the
• 52:17
  culture of the online space that they're
• 52:18
  cultivating right. Um, and and I think
• 52:22
  that tends to make for more fascinating
• 52:23
  reviews because as you said, like you
• 52:25
  have people who have the time to sit
• 52:27
  with it and and not only just sit with
• 52:29
  it and and like be able to like take
• 52:31
  their time with the game and how they
• 52:33
  feel about it, but like
• 52:35
  >> they get to to be a part of like an
• 52:37
  active part of the community and feels
• 52:38
  like what is it actually like to play
• 52:39
  this game? Not in the insulated game
• 52:42
  review community. something we've talked
• 52:43
  about before and I I know you have
• 52:46
  specific feelings about is the Animal
• 52:47
  Well, uh community, right? Because
• 52:50
  Animal Well, uh kind of a it's like a
• 52:52
  Metroid Vania game, but it also like is
• 52:54
  is um kind of cryptic in the way that it
• 52:57
  dishes out information. And uh I was
• 53:00
  playing that game pre-launch and I was
• 53:02
  playing it with like I don't know 60
• 53:04
  other people who were like reviewing it
• 53:05
  and whatever. And I was in a like
• 53:06
  dedicated Discord server exclusively to
• 53:09
  like these people. We were all sharing
• 53:11
  information and it was an incredible
• 53:12
  experience
• 53:13
  >> and it was entirely unreplicable because
• 53:16
  when it comes out more and more
• 53:18
  importantly if you talk about the
• 53:20
  perspective of somebody who is reviewing
• 53:23
  Tomodachi life a month after it came out
• 53:25
  that is a more unique perspective than
• 53:28
  the one that is built
• 53:30
  >> the same in by every reviewer before the
• 53:34
  embargo. And what you're talking about
• 53:35
  there is not just that the pre-release,
• 53:39
  the review coverage of Animal Well made
• 53:42
  a more positive experience. It actually
• 53:44
  made one that was far more singular. It
• 53:47
  made one that everybody was talking
• 53:48
  about the same thing because everybody
• 53:50
  had the same given circumstances around
• 53:53
  their review. So what so and again this
• 53:57
  is maybe the most uncomfortable part of
• 53:58
  this conversation is that I do think
• 54:00
  that the next thing coverage being the
• 54:03
  lowest resistance form is because it
• 54:05
  simply makes it um look at it this way.
• 54:09
  If you're constantly talking about
• 54:11
  announcements and trailers and rumors
• 54:13
  and release dates and and and leaks and
• 54:16
  showcases and first impressions, that
• 54:18
  requires it just does, I'm sorry, a far
• 54:21
  less sustained form of intellectual
• 54:24
  labor than like deep criticism does. And
• 54:26
  that's not because like the writers are
• 54:28
  stupid. It's because the e ecosystem
• 54:31
  incentivizes speed and volume far more
• 54:34
  than uh depth and reflection. Because a
• 54:36
  trailer, for example, a trailer by
• 54:39
  design gives you a hook and a topic and
• 54:41
  an audience and and and keywords and
• 54:44
  urgency. So the work is prepackaged and
• 54:48
  like once the actual game arrives, real
• 54:51
  criticism becomes much harder. And I
• 54:54
  think that that is the biggest challenge
• 54:56
  in front of us is that the
• 54:59
  by using FOMO as a crutch, you are able
• 55:03
  to produce content that is far easier to
• 55:06
  build out.
• 55:06
  >> Yeah. Because it's a different skill
• 55:08
  set, right? because it's it's like
• 55:10
  figuring out how to uh capitalize on
• 55:13
  that FOMO, how to capitalize on the
• 55:15
  trailer or like quote unquote analysis,
• 55:18
  whatever, versus
• 55:20
  saying, "Well, my audience doesn't
• 55:22
  really actually care that much about
• 55:23
  wanting to sit down and like do a close
• 55:25
  read of a game or or do a, you know,
• 55:27
  deep dive into this that whatever." And
• 55:29
  >> well, nothing is at stake. Nothing is at
• 55:31
  stake. You never risk being wrong. And
• 55:33
  that I think is why like I I find
• 55:36
  speculation culture to be like so
• 55:38
  frustrating sometimes is because like
• 55:40
  people are often are always just doing
• 55:42
  like the here's what we know so far.
• 55:44
  Here are our predictions and then like
• 55:46
  when the when the thing finally rolls
• 55:47
  around none we never roll the tape back.
• 55:50
  We never it doesn't mean anything. It
• 55:51
  was just we were just like killing time
• 55:52
  with each other. And it's it's like
• 55:54
  lowrisk writing. And I think that even
• 55:58
  reviews
• 56:00
  have turned into low-risk writing as a
• 56:03
  result of the FOMO crutch, as a result
• 56:06
  of the kind of writing that people want
• 56:11
  because this is, you know, the the
• 56:15
  reviews are essentially the FOMO test.
• 56:17
  It's is this worth missing out on?
• 56:19
  >> That's Yeah, that's true. No, that is
• 56:21
  true. And I feel like you can see that
• 56:22
  in their construction. So there is less
• 56:26
  of a invitation to the writer of a
• 56:30
  review to put something of their own at
• 56:33
  stake and to stand against the crowd and
• 56:35
  to say something that a lot of people
• 56:36
  are going to disagree with and instead
• 56:38
  it becomes this here are all of the
• 56:40
  elements. Are you okay with skipping out
• 56:43
  on this?
• 56:43
  >> Right. Right. No, I think that's that's
• 56:45
  fair. And I think that the way reviews
• 56:47
  like specifically like list those
• 56:48
  elements and discuss those elements is
• 56:51
  um
• 56:53
  built in that way as well, right? About
• 56:55
  about like uh this is the best looking
• 56:57
  game ever. You're like, well, do I want
• 56:59
  to see the best looking game ever? You
• 57:01
  know, like
• 57:02
  >> man, something about something about
• 57:04
  just something that's hitting me about
• 57:05
  like
• 57:07
  these games are in development for so
• 57:09
  long
• 57:11
  and then they get three days of
• 57:13
  discussion. No, it must be the most
• 57:14
  frustrating thing in the whole world.
• 57:16
  >> It's really
• 57:18
  >> No. No. This is how I feel like in a
• 57:20
  different way about like YouTube videos.
• 57:22
  I work on a video for a full month and
• 57:24
  then it goes up and it pretty much has
• 57:25
  two days to for YouTube to decide if
• 57:27
  it's a success or not. You know what I
• 57:29
  mean? And it's like,
• 57:31
  >> could you give me four even? Like four
• 57:34
  would be good at the very least, you
• 57:36
  know? Uh yeah, I I completely agree. Um,
• 57:39
  and and I hate to say this, but like
• 57:41
  spiritually to to become a to be a
• 57:43
  little stupid.
• 57:44
  >> Sure.
• 57:44
  >> I I think like spiritually
• 57:48
  >> I I think a culture that's obsessed with
• 57:50
  like the next thing eventually loses the
• 57:52
  ability to experience anything fully and
• 57:56
  everything becomes transitional. And you
• 58:00
  have like games that exist as um objects
• 58:04
  of anticipation for the launch and then
• 58:07
  the game exists as an object of
• 58:10
  anticipation for the next launch. Um
• 58:12
  that that Pragmata review where the
• 58:14
  headline was like this is Capcom's next
• 58:16
  big franchise. I was like [ __ ] bro. It's
• 58:19
  like that's and and I think again
• 58:21
  spiritually so not to be you know
• 58:25
  >> open myself up to easy criticism I would
• 58:27
  say that there's a there's a particular
• 58:29
  tragedy with video games and I think you
• 58:31
  see this evidenced by YouTube is that
• 58:34
  games specifically are actually
• 58:36
  extremely well suited to um slow
• 58:39
  criticism
• 58:40
  >> and so that the the revisitation the
• 58:43
  retrospect the the having like a long
• 58:46
  experiential kind of yeah there's I
• 58:49
  there's just Yeah, we're we're missing
• 58:51
  out. We're the my the real fear of
• 58:53
  missing out is the all the the the the
• 58:55
  discourse we could have that we're
• 58:56
  missing out on.
• 58:57
  >> I think it it pushes us uh to view games
• 59:00
  as content.
• 59:01
  >> Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does.
• 59:02
  >> Yeah. And and not real works of art. But
• 59:04
  um yeah, you know, I want to hit again
• 59:06
  the the FOMO of our bonus episodes,
• 59:10
  >> Jake. Patreon.com/critical error.
• 59:12
  There's a bunch of great stuff in there.
• 59:14
  It feels so funny to do this after the
• 59:16
  conversation. They should have
• 59:17
  destabilizing fear of missing out again.
• 59:20
  I came to this bonus podcast with 30
• 59:22
  games. You came with 30 games as well.
• 59:25
  And we just chop it up for like 2 and
• 59:27
  1/2 hours about 60 of our favorite games
• 59:31
  of all time.
• 59:32
  >> And would you believe that there was
• 59:33
  only one one video game on both of our
• 59:35
  lists?
• 59:36
  >> And you didn't even notice that because
• 59:38
  you introduced that game and it was
• 59:40
  shared to even out the list. I still had
• 59:42
  another one.
• 59:42
  >> I slid in an extra one.
• 59:44
  >> Oh my gosh.
• 59:45
  So it is I was looking at the list and
• 59:47
  when it was 59 I was like this is
• 59:49
  embarrassing.
• 59:49
  >> Wait, what did you throw in there?
• 59:50
  >> So I did it during our discussion. You
• 59:53
  didn't even notice. You didn't even I
• 59:54
  was Yeah,
• 59:54
  >> I love that. I love that so much. Yeah.
• 59:56
  So if you're interested in that
• 59:57
  conversation, patreon.com/critical
• 59:59
  error, become a $5 member of the nation.
• 1:00:02
  You can join our nation. We are um going
• 1:00:05
  to secede from the United States at some
• 1:00:07
  point here, I think. Although it's it's
• 1:00:08
  I think it's multinational at this
• 1:00:10
  point. Um, but uh uh I want to give a
• 1:00:13
  special shout out though to the members
• 1:00:15
  of the Jake and Peter tier on our
• 1:00:16
  Patreon. I want to say thank you to one
• 1:00:19
  Andrew Bulkar, two Evans, and to Robert
• 1:00:22
  Kesada. These are people who are
• 1:00:24
  supporting us monetarily uh at the at
• 1:00:26
  the highest level and it means a lot to
• 1:00:29
  us. We're going to Summer GameFest this
• 1:00:30
  year. Part of our ability to do that
• 1:00:33
  comes from the support of people like
• 1:00:36
  Andrew, Evan, and Robert. But it also
• 1:00:38
  comes from members of Critical Era
• 1:00:40
  royalty, Jake. People who you crafted a
• 1:00:42
  sound effect for.
• 1:00:44
  >> And and I'm really proud of the the
• 1:00:46
  support that we get on our Patreon
• 1:00:47
  because it allows us to do things like
• 1:00:49
  we're bringing a video producer to
• 1:00:50
  Summer Games Fest that we pay when we
• 1:00:53
  have uh when we have a guest on the
• 1:00:55
  bonus podcast like we had Giovani
• 1:00:57
  Giovanni Antonio a couple of weeks ago.
• 1:00:59
  We are allowed to pay him for his time
• 1:01:01
  for his appearance on that podcast. And
• 1:01:03
  um so so the support on Patreon is
• 1:01:05
  actually so materially functional for
• 1:01:08
  what we're allowed to do with this
• 1:01:10
  podcast.
• 1:01:10
  >> It's funneled back into what we're
• 1:01:11
  doing. And I think it's cool.
• 1:01:12
  >> Now the the sound effect this week is of
• 1:01:15
  course after we finish recording this um
• 1:01:17
  I will be heading on a three-day camping
• 1:01:18
  trip with my wife. So I will be I will
• 1:01:21
  be roaming the free music available to
• 1:01:23
  me on the internet to try and find the
• 1:01:26
  most camping
• 1:01:28
  >> sound. Oh,
• 1:01:30
  >> I don't know what that's going to be
• 1:01:31
  yet. Maybe you can maybe you layer a few
• 1:01:32
  things. Maybe you put a little campfire
• 1:01:34
  sound. The crackle of a campfire.
• 1:01:36
  >> Is is it is like slow like campfire
• 1:01:39
  acoustic guitar. You know what I mean?
• 1:01:40
  Kind of.
• 1:01:40
  >> Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll see. So, we'll
• 1:01:42
  see.
• 1:01:42
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Love that.
• 1:01:43
  >> And you know, and so let's go ahead and
• 1:01:45
  listen to that sound right now.
• 1:01:47
  >> Once again, having your name read in the
• 1:01:49
  weekly sound is a perk for $10 and up
• 1:01:52
  members of the critical error nation.
• 1:01:55
  Thank you for supporting the podcast.
• 1:01:57
  I'm talking to Mergley non-existent Alex
• 1:02:01
  Sims thick dick Mystic Pinky Oats Shin
• 1:02:05
  Kalech Chow Mitch Dyer Cole Sam Woods
• 1:02:09
  Jared Kuseno Jacob Richter James Pierre
• 1:02:12
  Reed Danny Disaster Connor True Love
• 1:02:16
  Robert Quesada
• 1:02:18
  Evan Celit
• 1:02:20
  and Andrew Bulkar. Thank you again for
• 1:02:24
  supporting the channel and for everybody
• 1:02:26
  else patreon.com/critical
• 1:02:28
  error. Get in on the nation.
• 1:02:31
  >> Truly delightful. Jake,
• 1:02:32
  >> what a camp. Um,
• 1:02:35
  >> now to close out to close out this
• 1:02:37
  episode, we of course uh share a
• 1:02:40
  pre-written piece. And I will say I'm
• 1:02:41
  I'm doing a little bit of uh pre-order
• 1:02:44
  bonus right here with this free piece
• 1:02:47
  because what I am doing is simply
• 1:02:49
  advertising a big piece that's going to
• 1:02:52
  appear on my blog this week.
• 1:02:53
  >> Oh, okay. So, I wanted to give a tease
• 1:02:56
  because this is a highly anticipated
• 1:02:58
  piece from some people on my Discord,
• 1:03:01
  and I thought it would be fun to release
• 1:03:03
  the essay in its totality after
• 1:03:06
  releasing this tease on
• 1:03:07
  >> this is literally exactly what our
• 1:03:09
  episode is about. That's so [ __ ]
• 1:03:11
  funny.
• 1:03:14
  Um, so
• 1:03:14
  >> yeah, so give us give us the, you know,
• 1:03:16
  the 3-day deluxe edition pre-order
• 1:03:18
  bonus.
• 1:03:19
  >> That's right. That's right. So, um, this
• 1:03:21
  is, uh, the beginning, the the first
• 1:03:24
  page of my extremely long and
• 1:03:26
  exhaustive,
• 1:03:27
  um, essay about Xenolade Chronicles 2.
• 1:03:31
  >> Okay, here we go.
• 1:03:35
  Xenolade Chronicles
• 1:03:38
  is a masterpiece.
• 1:03:41
  Xenolade Chronicles 2 makes me regret
• 1:03:44
  video games.
• 1:03:47
  I thought it was important to be upfront
• 1:03:49
  about my position in all of this. See, I
• 1:03:53
  streamed the entirety of the first
• 1:03:55
  Xenolade Chronicles game on my Twitch
• 1:03:57
  channel. I was shocked to discover an
• 1:03:59
  exceedingly successful story in the
• 1:04:01
  Golden Fleece formula with clear
• 1:04:03
  thematic intention, characters drawn in
• 1:04:05
  ways that birth sentimentality. It was a
• 1:04:08
  joy to navigate the twists and turns of
• 1:04:10
  Schul's adventure. As I do on my
• 1:04:12
  streams, I broke down exactly what the
• 1:04:14
  story was doing as I played. how scenes
• 1:04:16
  scaffold ideas, how they apply pressure,
• 1:04:18
  how they cash out in ways that deploy
• 1:04:20
  narrative inevitability and surprise in
• 1:04:22
  equal measure. Xenolade Chronicles
• 1:04:24
  understands how to generate meaning. I
• 1:04:26
  could not wait to start the sequel. From
• 1:04:30
  a distance, it looked like my kind of
• 1:04:32
  game. I perceived a stronger emphasis on
• 1:04:34
  love and romance. The Driver Blade
• 1:04:37
  system surely would dramatize something
• 1:04:39
  about close bonds and relational
• 1:04:41
  identities. I knew too that the game was
• 1:04:43
  divisive. I assumed this to mean that it
• 1:04:46
  took huge creative swings and would be
• 1:04:49
  bold in its craft. After about an hour
• 1:04:52
  of playing, my heart sank,
• 1:04:56
  crumbled, and never recovered.
• 1:05:01
  The profoundity of my disappointment was
• 1:05:04
  the most coherent feeling the game
• 1:05:06
  produced.
• 1:05:08
  Nothing is important to Xenolade
• 1:05:10
  Chronicles 2. It accumulates without
• 1:05:13
  direction. Characters are introduced
• 1:05:15
  carelessly. Nothing is demanded of them
• 1:05:18
  over the course of a 60 plus hour
• 1:05:21
  campaign. They do not clarify under
• 1:05:23
  pressure. They do not sharpen through
• 1:05:25
  conflict because both of these forces
• 1:05:28
  rarely ever arrive in a way that changes
• 1:05:31
  anything at all. The result is a kind of
• 1:05:34
  hermetically bloated and anesticized
• 1:05:37
  sprawl. The story keeps moving, but the
• 1:05:41
  people inside it do not. Now, a brief
• 1:05:46
  pause as I am of course reading this off
• 1:05:49
  of a Google doc and for some reason they
• 1:05:52
  were like, "Jake, you need to log back
• 1:05:53
  in."
• 1:05:55
  >> Uh, I'm I'm back.
• 1:05:56
  >> Oh, you're back. Okay, good.
• 1:05:58
  >> One more paragraph. Xenolade Chronicles
• 1:05:59
  2 does not feature a story that
• 1:06:02
  develops. It extends. It stretches
• 1:06:04
  forward, adding material, content, lore,
• 1:06:07
  without ever reorganizing around it.
• 1:06:10
  Rex, Pyra, Mithra, everyone ends exactly
• 1:06:14
  where they began, exactly who you
• 1:06:16
  thought they were when you first met
• 1:06:18
  them. They show up with a clear shape
• 1:06:20
  and spend the rest of the game
• 1:06:22
  confirming it. All we gain in the
• 1:06:25
  process is more information.
• 1:06:29
  But what a feeling. There you go.
• 1:06:31
  There's your tease. There's your tease.
• 1:06:34
  >> So, I have not played Xenolade
• 1:06:37
  Chronicles or Xenolade Chronicles 2, but
• 1:06:39
  I have played Xenolade Chronicles 3.
• 1:06:42
  >> A game that I
• 1:06:42
  >> That's my next one starting soon.
• 1:06:44
  >> A game that I quite like.
• 1:06:46
  >> We'll see. I can't trust I can't trust
• 1:06:48
  anyone. I don't know.
• 1:06:48
  >> But I I in hearing this I'm like I think
• 1:06:52
  you're not I don't know. I mean like I
• 1:06:53
  it's been you know what, four, five
• 1:06:55
  years at this point since that game came
• 1:06:57
  out, so I don't remember it 100%. Um,
• 1:07:01
  but
• 1:07:03
  I have a fear that you are going to
• 1:07:06
  really [ __ ] hate that game. Can I can
• 1:07:08
  I tell you something really crazy that
• 1:07:09
  happened to me last night,
• 1:07:10
  >> please?
• 1:07:11
  >> I was was in my bed before bed. I like
• 1:07:13
  to read comics and I was reading on my
• 1:07:16
  tablet um a a manga called Witchwatch
• 1:07:20
  that I've been making my way through.
• 1:07:22
  >> Okay. Witchwatch as in like witch like
• 1:07:25
  witches.
• 1:07:26
  >> Yeah, as in witches. So, the the the
• 1:07:27
  general premise is that you've got this
• 1:07:29
  guy who is kind of the the the bodyguard
• 1:07:33
  of a witch because she's she's really
• 1:07:35
  important
• 1:07:36
  >> and and yeah, so he's he's a uh he comes
• 1:07:39
  from this long lineage of ogres. Ogres
• 1:07:41
  don't look like they they do in, you
• 1:07:43
  know, they're not cartoony. They just
• 1:07:44
  look like a human now at this point.
• 1:07:46
  >> Um but then he makes all these friends.
• 1:07:48
  So, you've got like a vampire guy and a
• 1:07:50
  werewolf guy and they're all living in
• 1:07:52
  this house watching over the witch being
• 1:07:54
  her bodyguard. Okay, fun.
• 1:07:56
  >> They did. So, one of my favorite things
• 1:07:58
  about this comic is that they you can
• 1:08:00
  tell when they got like their series
• 1:08:03
  order because it was all very focused
• 1:08:06
  and they had a story and there was stuff
• 1:08:07
  going on and then at some point they
• 1:08:09
  just decide, okay,
• 1:08:11
  >> we can no longer make progress. We
• 1:08:13
  simply must move laterally.
• 1:08:15
  >> So, yes,
• 1:08:16
  >> which is but but but a lot of a lot of
• 1:08:18
  things do this and it's bad. This this
• 1:08:21
  does it in a way that I'm like this is
• 1:08:24
  why episodic things are good. Actually,
• 1:08:27
  this is it. It calls back to a time
• 1:08:29
  where TV shows had like 30 episode
• 1:08:31
  seasons and there would just be like
• 1:08:33
  things where you got to have fun.
• 1:08:35
  >> Yeah. And where four episodes like quote
• 1:08:37
  unquote matter and then the rest is just
• 1:08:40
  >> some characters doing some slice of life
• 1:08:42
  stuff and whatever.
• 1:08:43
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you'll find that
• 1:08:44
  there are several issues where the the
• 1:08:46
  the main character talks about his love
• 1:08:49
  for vintage jeans,
• 1:08:51
  >> okay?
• 1:08:52
  >> Because the author of this clearly has a
• 1:08:54
  love for vintage jeans and he just he
• 1:08:56
  just like goes into like the the
• 1:08:57
  yearslong process of breaking them in
• 1:09:00
  and it's it's awesome. It's awesome. So,
• 1:09:02
  anyways, there was one of these one of
• 1:09:03
  these goof issues in Witchwatch, the one
• 1:09:06
  I happened to read last night. It was
• 1:09:08
  like it was about Xenolade Chronicles 2.
• 1:09:11
  So the the main character is they go to
• 1:09:14
  the grocery store and they get this like
• 1:09:16
  this little this little like I think
• 1:09:17
  it's a chocolate and it comes with a
• 1:09:19
  sticker and it's kind of like a Pokemon.
• 1:09:21
  So, there's like all these different
• 1:09:23
  creatures on the stickers, and they have
• 1:09:25
  like goofy pun names, but you'll notice
• 1:09:29
  that the the kind of like gorilla
• 1:09:31
  character is holding an axe, and then
• 1:09:32
  there's another sticker of a tiger
• 1:09:34
  character who's holding the same axe.
• 1:09:36
  And then it's got this little
• 1:09:37
  biographical information on the back of
• 1:09:38
  the sticker that tells you about them.
• 1:09:40
  And what the main character realizes is
• 1:09:42
  that beneath all of these stupid Pokemon
• 1:09:45
  stickers, there is this like
• 1:09:46
  interconnected world of all this stuff.
• 1:09:49
  And it's like, oh my god, they were the
• 1:09:51
  king and then this person killed them
• 1:09:53
  and took their axe and then they married
• 1:09:56
  the princess and then the princess
• 1:09:57
  became this person and then they got
• 1:09:58
  they got imprisoned but then it was
• 1:10:00
  actually they were a disguise and you
• 1:10:01
  find that they have the same body but
• 1:10:02
  their head is the with the mask on and
• 1:10:04
  it's all this stuff. So he he goes kind
• 1:10:06
  of like crazy and he holds himself up in
• 1:10:08
  his room and he's got this like crazy
• 1:10:10
  whiteboard. He's putting all the notes
• 1:10:12
  together. He's drawing all the lines and
• 1:10:13
  they're they're solving the mystery of
• 1:10:14
  this thing. And it is ultimately about
• 1:10:19
  and I I find that the way that they're
• 1:10:20
  able to execute this is actually really
• 1:10:23
  well done. It's about how the mass of
• 1:10:27
  information, the fact that all of this
• 1:10:29
  stuff is connected to each other
• 1:10:31
  >> makes something seem
• 1:10:33
  >> meaningful, deep, and coherent.
• 1:10:36
  >> Yeah. the fact that there are all of
• 1:10:38
  this this connects to this and to this
• 1:10:39
  and to this and to understand this
• 1:10:41
  moment you really have to understand
• 1:10:42
  these 12 other things. It is um what I
• 1:10:45
  refer to in this essay as the thickening
• 1:10:48
  of evidence where if you were to
• 1:10:51
  interrogate any one piece of evidence
• 1:10:54
  you would go this is stupid and not
• 1:10:57
  meaningful and it doesn't make me feel
• 1:10:58
  anything. It is only when you accumulate
• 1:11:01
  the mass, when the evidence thickens
• 1:11:03
  that you can convince yourself it was
• 1:11:06
  there all along. It was all planned. And
• 1:11:08
  the fact that it was all planned is what
• 1:11:09
  makes it feel so meaningful. And what
• 1:11:12
  that comic was about with the world of
• 1:11:14
  that stickers is pretty much exactly how
• 1:11:16
  I feel about this game. There is no
• 1:11:21
  appreciation of a moment that you can
• 1:11:24
  experience without kind of outsourcing
• 1:11:26
  its meaning to a million other things.
• 1:11:29
  >> Yeah.
• 1:11:30
  >> So that's what I'm trying to get to the
• 1:11:31
  bottom of. Um this is a people will see
• 1:11:34
  on my blog. This is much longer than I
• 1:11:37
  typically allow myself to um write.
• 1:11:39
  Yeah. This is this is um this one's for
• 1:11:41
  the heads. This is not for the normal
• 1:11:43
  people. And part of my strategy in kind
• 1:11:46
  of demonstrating what I'm talking about
• 1:11:48
  to the audience is that I isolate a
• 1:11:51
  scene from Xenolade Chronicles 1 and one
• 1:11:54
  from Xenolade Chronicles 2 that occur at
• 1:11:56
  like similar points in the story and are
• 1:11:57
  asking for similar things. And I kind of
• 1:11:59
  try my best in a close read way to show
• 1:12:02
  why the first game is successful to me
• 1:12:04
  and why the second game is like
• 1:12:07
  >> beyond unsuccessful. And I do this. So I
• 1:12:10
  do this for a few scenes in the game.
• 1:12:11
  And I hope people will see what I mean.
• 1:12:13
  But even in writing this, I got to tell
• 1:12:15
  you, it is so hard to get away from, you
• 1:12:17
  know what it's like.
• 1:12:18
  >> You know what the comments are going to
• 1:12:20
  be.
• 1:12:20
  >> Dude, this and this is the worst part
• 1:12:22
  about making anything in my opinion is
• 1:12:24
  you're like,
• 1:12:25
  >> dude, no one's going to understand what
• 1:12:26
  I'm saying about this. And it's like so
• 1:12:28
  frustrating because it's like I'm not
• 1:12:30
  like like I just want you to come here
• 1:12:31
  with me. And you don't even have to
• 1:12:32
  agree, but like you can at the very
• 1:12:33
  least go like, oh, I see what you're
• 1:12:34
  saying.
• 1:12:35
  >> It's a starting point. It's a starting
• 1:12:36
  point. And and I think like I I'm I'm
• 1:12:40
  going to you're going to be able to hear
• 1:12:41
  hear my heartbreak from across the
• 1:12:43
  country in real time the second that
• 1:12:45
  there is a close read of a scene and I
• 1:12:46
  say this is why the scene is bad and the
• 1:12:48
  retort is you just don't get it.
• 1:12:51
  >> You just don't get it.
• 1:12:52
  >> You just don't get it. And it's because
• 1:12:53
  it's tough, man. I was there.
• 1:12:55
  >> I was there.
• 1:12:56
  >> Yeah. Well, yeah.
• 1:12:57
  >> I played the whole game.
• 1:12:58
  >> And it's also it's also so tough. I hate
• 1:13:00
  that comment. Like you don't get it cuz
• 1:13:01
  it's just like
• 1:13:02
  >> what do you think I'm doing?
• 1:13:03
  >> What do you think?
• 1:13:04
  >> What do you like? Did you read the whole
• 1:13:05
  thing about it? cuz like I'm talking
• 1:13:07
  about how I get it.
• 1:13:09
  >> Yeah.
• 1:13:09
  >> Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:13:10
  >> I get it. But and that's the thing. It's
• 1:13:11
  like no, I understand everything that's
• 1:13:13
  going on, but do I feel? And that's
• 1:13:15
  that's I think the biggest challenge in
• 1:13:17
  writing about it to me is that I'm
• 1:13:18
  really trying to in in my analysis get
• 1:13:21
  to go and this is why it makes me feel
• 1:13:25
  and I think I achieve it. I really do.
• 1:13:27
  There is a there is a close read of um
• 1:13:30
  some of the the scenes I really do like
• 1:13:32
  from the first Xenolade Chronicles game
• 1:13:33
  that I was I was kind of like writing
• 1:13:35
  why these scenes work and in the middle
• 1:13:37
  of these paragraphs you you see me write
• 1:13:39
  this I just kind of have these moments
• 1:13:40
  of like
• 1:13:44
  >> and I and I and I hope it comes across.
• 1:13:46
  So that's my Yeah.
• 1:13:46
  >> Uh dude, the the whole like no I
• 1:13:49
  understand it. I get it. it just doesn't
• 1:13:52
  work is like the it's it's the most
• 1:13:54
  frustrating thing because that's uh uh
• 1:13:57
  like my Ghost of Yote video. Everyone's
• 1:13:58
  like uh she actually trained with the
• 1:14:01
  samurai. So I'm like I KNOW I KNOW I
• 1:14:03
  KNOW.
• 1:14:04
  >> OH, I KNOW.
• 1:14:04
  >> It doesn't matter because IT DOESN'T
• 1:14:06
  COME ACROSS THAT. It doesn't matter. Uh
• 1:14:07
  thanks for being here. Uh wait, when
• 1:14:09
  when can we expect that?
• 1:14:11
  >> Uh I'm hoping to have it up by the end
• 1:14:12
  of the week.
• 1:14:13
  >> All right.
• 1:14:14
  >> Mhm. Now I'm I'm honestly fighting
• 1:14:16
  myself with whether or not I should
• 1:14:17
  include the Witchwatch thing in it
• 1:14:19
  because it was because it was perfect
• 1:14:21
  and I can just put the I can put the
• 1:14:22
  screenshots of the manga in the thing.
• 1:14:25
  >> Sure. Yeah.
• 1:14:26
  >> And I'm like it's it's so good. I've
• 1:14:28
  actually been like wrestling with like I
• 1:14:29
  think that it might need to be there. It
• 1:14:31
  might need to it it demonstrates in like
• 1:14:33
  a very casual way exactly what I'm
• 1:14:36
  talking about. Yeah.
• 1:14:37
  >> So
• 1:14:37
  >> yeah, there you go. All right. Well,
• 1:14:39
  look forward to that. Uh I'm excited to
• 1:14:40
  read it. Excited to see it. We'll catch
• 1:14:42
  you next week. Bye bye.