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The Real Game Awards · Critical Error

• 0:00
  After carefully evaluating the entire
• 0:03
  Summer GameFest lineup, the winner of
• 0:07
  the best game of Summer GameFest is
• 0:10
  >> I got to take jig dig. Unfortunately,
• 0:15
  >> it is under embargo.
• 0:18
  >> No. Yeah, I know. Really? Yeah. No. Yes,
• 0:20
  it is. I know. No, I know Jake cannot
• 0:25
  reasonably
• 0:28
  STREAME
• 0:34
  the future. I'm not even going to
• 0:35
  remember the game. Nobody's going to
• 0:38
  care. Nobody's going to care about our
• 0:40
  SGM awards. Hello everybody and welcome
• 0:42
  back to Critical Error. We are of course
• 0:45
  back from our trip to LA Summer
• 0:48
  GameFest. And it was only thanks to you,
• 0:51
  the viewers, the supporters, and most
• 0:52
  importantly, the people on
• 0:54
  patreon.com/critical
• 0:56
  error that we were able to attend the
• 0:59
  event and have some nice giggle time
• 1:01
  together while we were checking out all
• 1:03
  those games. If you are not already part
• 1:05
  of the nation, you have maybe missed
• 1:07
  that there is a whole bonus episode up
• 1:09
  on our Patreon right now of us in our
• 1:11
  hotel room at SGF cutting it up about
• 1:14
  what the event is, what it means, who's
• 1:16
  it for, the purpose of it. Really great
• 1:18
  critical error stuff, I think. But today
• 1:22
  is about fun. Today is about wins.
• 1:25
  >> It really is. We want I think we want to
• 1:27
  just kind of kick our feet up and
• 1:30
  delight in some of the joy that we got
• 1:32
  to experience at SGF with uh with each
• 1:35
  other. Bring the audience into that. So
• 1:38
  we have prepared quite a hefty amount of
• 1:41
  summer games fest awards.
• 1:42
  >> The critical error awards
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  >> the critical error awards for our our
• 1:46
  favorite games and and other elements,
• 1:48
  other things uh that we saw on the on
• 1:52
  the show floor. Things we got to play,
• 1:53
  some things we didn't. But um I think
• 1:55
  this is gonna be fun just going through
• 1:56
  uh games that we actually got handson
• 1:58
  time with. A lot of these games not
• 2:00
  coming out for months. How do we how do
• 2:02
  we even kick this off? What do we where
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  do we start?
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  >> Uh Jake, I I think we start at the
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  beginning. I think I I mean like like I
• 2:10
  think we start with like the very first
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  game that we played. Do you remember
• 2:13
  what it was?
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  >> It it set us it set us up for success.
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  Are you remembering? Cuz I remember. I'm
• 2:19
  thinking I'm thinking it was it was a a
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  delightful little trek across a river.
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  >> It certainly was. And I would like to
• 2:26
  preface this as well by saying that that
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  >> uh I did the whole schedule for us. Jake
• 2:31
  Jake said with how it works with the
• 2:33
  with the workload of the pod is we will
• 2:35
  often look at each other and say, "Hey,
• 2:37
  you're going to handle that, right?"
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  When it's a thing that we don't want to
• 2:40
  do and always the other person says,
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  "Yes." And so Jake looked at the
• 2:43
  scheduling for Summer Game Fest and he
• 2:44
  goes like, "Hey, you're going to handle
• 2:45
  that, right?" And I was like, "Jake,
• 2:47
  don't worry. I got it." and he's looking
• 2:49
  at he's looking at our schedule and he's
• 2:51
  going like, "Yeah, man. I don't know if
• 2:52
  there's like really there's not a lot
• 2:54
  here at the show for me." And I was
• 2:55
  like, "Ah, Jake, I got some surprises
• 2:57
  for you." Right off the rip. Right off
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  the rip, we play
• 3:01
  >> Lazy River.
• 3:03
  >> Thank God because as you said, we had
• 3:05
  just come off watching the Summer Game
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  Fest showcase
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  >> and I felt that there was a distinct
• 3:11
  lack of of levity, of whimsy.
• 3:14
  >> It's all heavy, right? Like it was all
• 3:17
  like the world is torn to pieces. You're
• 3:19
  like, "All right, cool. Great."
• 3:20
  >> So, we jump into this lazy river game,
• 3:22
  which I would say is very much in the
• 3:24
  vein of like a Peak style friend game,
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  right? And the the premise of which is
• 3:29
  that you're in this kind of like indoor
• 3:32
  um what do you call it? Like a water
• 3:34
  park almost.
• 3:34
  >> It's like a water park atrium like
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  greenhouse cuz there's like a bunch of
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  like like greenery and stuff like that
• 3:40
  inside there.
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  And I think what I was surprised by, you
• 3:44
  know, often getting forced to play these
• 3:45
  games on a on a personal computer of
• 3:48
  which I despise, you know, uh Yeah. No.
• 3:51
  Can't can't be bothered to the same the
• 3:53
  same device I do my emails in. I'm
• 3:54
  supposed to be finding surprising
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  delight. Exactly.
• 3:58
  >> I was surprised with Lazy River how
• 4:01
  immediately I understood how to play the
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  game and how well the game worked. I
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  felt like we had the developers on our
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  shoulders being like, "We're still
• 4:10
  working on it. Things are a little
• 4:11
  weird." And I'm like,
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  >> "It's cooked." No, like like fully
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  cooked is what I mean. Like, you're
• 4:15
  good. Like, don't worry.
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  >> I'm like, "Yeah, no, no, this is all
• 4:17
  great. Like, I'm having no issue here."
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  And I really liked some of the cuz once
• 4:21
  you get into like crafting and building
• 4:23
  stuff, I'm I start to peel off the page
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  a little. I start to be like I'm a
• 4:27
  little scared. But
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  >> I think the way that it worked in this
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  game was really nice. So, it's like you
• 4:31
  create this little floaty and you're
• 4:33
  you're going down this pool, going down
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  this little lazy river or whatever. And
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  the way that you do it is there are all
• 4:38
  these other floaties just on the pool.
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  You pick them up, you attach them to
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  yours, you make yours bigger and bigger
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  and bigger so you have more space on
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  your raft so that you can make it down
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  the lazy river
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  >> as you get attacked by an onslaught of
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  like silly looking zombies and like
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  robots that are that are trying to
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  dismantle your your raft. It's great,
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  >> dude. It was so fun. You like pick up an
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  ore and you go, "Oh, got this. Now we
• 4:59
  can row our raft down the river. You
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  pick up the little uh the the the
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  noodle, the the pool noodle, and now
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  you're you're hitting those zombies and
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  they go they go flying. And I think if
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  you uh if you hit the zombies into the
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  water itself,
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  >> they'll like melt.
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  >> Oh, that's cool.
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  >> They're done. That's cool. Yeah. I I
• 5:14
  like too uh it's very like physics based
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  in a way that like makes for really
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  silly kind of like situations because if
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  you've got an ore and you're paddling on
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  one side of your raft, if you've ever
• 5:25
  used an ore on one side of a boat
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  before, uh it just turns doesn't really
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  go forward. So, you need to have like
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  two of those going at the same time.
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  It's it's great. It's it's it's
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  >> entirely enjoyable. And for me, I don't
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  know. It was a great way to like kick
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  things off because it was like, "Yeah,
• 5:41
  like it's going to be fun. We're going
• 5:42
  to have a good time.
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  >> And we forgot to mention at the top,
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  we're giving uh we're giving Lazy River
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  the yearning
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  >> award
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  >> because this is the game that I think
• 5:54
  after the show was over, we were both
• 5:56
  kind of like, when do we get to play
• 5:58
  Lazy River again?
• 6:00
  >> So, I got home on Sunday and I'm hanging
• 6:03
  out. I text two of my friends who I who
• 6:06
  I play video games with and uh we we are
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  like we have a group chat called friend
• 6:12
  slop activists because it's just we're
• 6:14
  like down to try literally anything that
• 6:15
  looks like anytime someone makes an
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  Instagram reel about like here's a game
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  where you play as three guys who
• 6:20
  whatever like we're we're playing it for
• 6:22
  at least an afternoon cuz it's always
• 6:23
  like they're like two bucks whatever and
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  I literally looked up when I'm sitting
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  down with my friends Joe and Brett and I
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  was like guys
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  maybe there's like the beta is out maybe
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  the Early access is out for this game
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  that I played and No. No. So, we're
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  waiting. We're waiting.
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  >> When you were busy at a separate
• 6:41
  appointment, me and Christian went to
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  the Lazy River demo, saw that nobody was
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  there, and we go up to the devs like
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  like children asking if they're allowed
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  like a scoop of ice cream, and we're
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  like, "Hey." And he recognized us. He
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  was like, and so it was this like, "Do
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  you guys want to do you want to?" And
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  we're like,
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  >> "Could we could we be bothered to play?"
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  And you know, and we are literally me
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  and Christian sitting on that couch just
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  screaming at each other the whole time.
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  I think it has this good balance of like
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  you're playing cooperatively, but you
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  can go off and kind of do your own
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  thing. And then you all you always come
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  back to the raft itself. So there's this
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  good rhythm of like like Christian, I
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  need you on the raft. I need you on the
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  raft and it's like, okay, I'm running
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  back to the raft and I'm going to help
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  you out. Yeah. It's it's like a um like
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  a push objective in in in like a
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  multiplayer like competitive game where
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  it's like no no no like you can branch
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  off and go out and do other things and
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  you actually need to do that but at the
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  end of the day like you have to come
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  back to this centralized point because
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  like that's the real like objective. Um
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  >> and I think the big thing I want to say
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  about this too with like the um just my
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  general impression of it is that you
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  know we see trailers for these games all
• 7:43
  the time and you see them pop up in
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  random places. I think if it were not
• 7:46
  for the demo and actually playing it
• 7:48
  myself, I wouldn't have known kind of
• 7:50
  like how ready to hand it was. And I
• 7:52
  don't know if I would have like been
• 7:53
  been as into it and attached to it as I
• 7:56
  am now if I had not played that demo. So
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  just if if people are listening and
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  they're like, "Oh yeah, I kind of know
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  what this is. I don't typically go for
• 8:02
  these or whatever." I'm like, I think it
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  actually was better in hand than it was
• 8:06
  visually.
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  >> I would agree. I would agree 100%.
• 8:08
  >> Great.
• 8:09
  >> Do you mind if I kick us off into our
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  second?
• 8:11
  >> I want you to.
• 8:12
  >> Okay.
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  I would like to uh give the best use of
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  two
• 8:19
  >> in the title award.
• 8:20
  >> Okay.
• 8:22
  >> Peter and I sat down and played a little
• 8:25
  game called Escape Academy 2. Jake
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  >> two best use of two in the title. It's
• 8:31
  the sequel. What are you What are you
• 8:32
  talking about? Let me tell you what I'm
• 8:33
  talking about. So, we sit Peter and I
• 8:35
  both Escape Academy fans, I would say,
• 8:39
  >> and you know, we we sit down to play
• 8:41
  this demo and I think I pretty much know
• 8:42
  what to expect. Something I did not know
• 8:44
  was that we were going to have the
• 8:46
  ability to play our demo together in
• 8:48
  split screen.
• 8:49
  >> Come on.
• 8:50
  >> What a delight. Because I was saying to
• 8:52
  the person running the demo, I was like,
• 8:54
  they they were asking, "Have you played
• 8:55
  Escape Academy?" And I was like, "Yes,
• 8:56
  you know, played it with my wife, had a
• 8:57
  great time." And he was like, "I'm so
• 8:59
  glad you said that. We literally went in
• 9:02
  and put co-op in this game for people in
• 9:04
  your exact scenario so that you could
• 9:06
  play together." What level of whimsy did
• 9:10
  it ratchet up the fact that you and I
• 9:12
  were running around that demo together?
• 9:13
  >> I mean, it's the best, right? Because
• 9:14
  also the game is is silly itself. It's
• 9:17
  like
• 9:18
  >> I the pitch is just like it's it's like
• 9:20
  Hogwarts for
• 9:23
  escape rooms, which is awesome. Like I
• 9:25
  >> Yeah, that's that's good. That's good.
• 9:26
  >> You know, and like that's that's a great
• 9:28
  like pitch to begin with and it like
• 9:30
  really leans into just being very kind
• 9:31
  of silly. But the thing about it that I
• 9:34
  think is so interesting is the fact that
• 9:37
  it is a co-op puzzle game that is almost
• 9:41
  not cooperative at all. There are no
• 9:42
  puzzles where you're like turning this
• 9:44
  thing at the same time. Maybe there are
• 9:45
  in the the final game.
• 9:47
  >> I don't know. I think that they're
• 9:49
  together.
• 9:49
  >> Yes. Yeah,
• 9:50
  >> I think
• 9:53
  it's interesting that you say like, oh,
• 9:54
  you know, I played the first one with my
• 9:56
  wife and we sort of did it together
• 9:59
  because this game really like makes good
• 10:00
  on that promise in a way that um when
• 10:03
  they were making Portal 2,
• 10:05
  >> Valve talked about how people the reason
• 10:07
  they added the multiplayer element to
• 10:09
  that game is because people talked about
• 10:10
  playing the original one multiplayer in
• 10:12
  the same way that you're talking about
• 10:14
  where you've got someone looking over
• 10:15
  the shoulder saying like maybe try this,
• 10:16
  maybe try this. But what I think is more
• 10:19
  successful about Escape Academy 2 in
• 10:22
  that regard than something like Portal 2
• 10:24
  is Portal 2 gets in its multiplayer gets
• 10:26
  incredibly complicated because it
• 10:28
  increases the number of like Portal
• 10:30
  options that show up. So, I don't know
• 10:32
  if someone who's like playing with you
• 10:34
  over the shoulder in Portal 1 is going
• 10:38
  to have the same like fun experience
• 10:40
  playing with you in Portal 2 as
• 10:42
  something like Escape Academy 2 because
• 10:43
  it's not ratcheting up the intensity of
• 10:45
  the puzzles by having a second person
• 10:47
  there,
• 10:48
  >> right? And it's funny, it almost uh in
• 10:50
  the way that like having a second mind
• 10:52
  in the room just makes any puzzle
• 10:54
  easier. I actually liked how, you know,
• 10:56
  we're playing in split screen, so I
• 10:57
  think the viewer can imagine this just
• 10:59
  like you're solving a puzzle on one side
• 11:02
  and I'm on the other side kind of with
• 11:04
  like the key that you're using to decode
• 11:06
  the puzzle.
• 11:06
  >> So that's that's great because it's it's
• 11:08
  effectively like emulating the
• 11:10
  two-player experience of one of us
• 11:12
  having like written down the the key and
• 11:14
  then bringing it over to the other thing
• 11:16
  without having to like go through all
• 11:17
  those steps. We get to actually be in
• 11:18
  the space. Yes. Um in that way. And I
• 11:20
  also got to say, I really liked in the
• 11:22
  demo how it was it was like actually an
• 11:25
  open environment. It wasn't just like
• 11:27
  you go from thing to thing. There was
• 11:29
  like a lot of stuff to do just like out
• 11:30
  in the world.
• 11:31
  >> Yeah. So, and that's so I played this at
• 11:33
  Summer Game Fest last year. It was much
• 11:35
  earlier, but one of the things they
• 11:36
  talked about is uh in Escape Academy 2.
• 11:38
  In the first one, like you just pick
• 11:41
  where you're going from like a like a
• 11:43
  map screen and then you just like load
• 11:45
  into the puzzles or whatever. Whereas in
• 11:47
  this one, you get to explore the whole
• 11:49
  uh school, which is really like quite
• 11:51
  cool. And there's like all these like
• 11:52
  smaller like bite more bite-sized
• 11:54
  puzzles hidden throughout the world. And
• 11:57
  then there are of course the more like
• 11:59
  direct escape rooms that you're actually
• 12:01
  in. But yeah, uh this is this is a
• 12:03
  winner for me.
• 12:05
  >> So so shout out to putting in that that
• 12:06
  that two-player mode because I think it
• 12:08
  it really uh adds something to Escape
• 12:10
  Academy 2. And another shout out just to
• 12:13
  giving as much I think attention to the
• 12:15
  quality of the puzzles themselves as
• 12:17
  they do just kind of like the characters
• 12:19
  being like aloof and sweet and like
• 12:22
  doing little jokes like I think that
• 12:23
  that's important. It helps you get
• 12:26
  through everything. I think yeah carries
• 12:27
  you through.
• 12:27
  >> It's a game that's funny on like a lot
• 12:29
  of different levels and not just in a
• 12:30
  like oh it has some kind of witty
• 12:32
  dialogue funny and I always appreciate
• 12:34
  that.
• 12:35
  >> Mhm. Good call. Hit me with the next
• 12:36
  award.
• 12:37
  >> Yeah Jake uh I would like to give
• 12:39
  the games are deep. No, really. Award.
• 12:42
  >> Oh,
• 12:43
  >> it's a bub.
• 12:45
  >> Bub.
• 12:47
  >> Okay. So,
• 12:48
  >> yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 12:49
  >> Bub,
• 12:49
  >> please
• 12:50
  >> is um kind of like I I want to say like
• 12:54
  just like a narrative adventure game,
• 12:56
  but I think that's be like
• 12:58
  >> I don't know if that's a great
• 13:00
  classification for it.
• 13:00
  >> I think it's fair. It's fair.
• 13:01
  >> Uh they showed this off at the Day of
• 13:02
  the Devs. I think showcase. This is a
• 13:05
  game that is like made entirely out of
• 13:07
  like uh paper and all sorts of other
• 13:11
  sort of like physical art objects that
• 13:14
  are like manipulated through whatever
• 13:16
  through photographs and and sort of
• 13:17
  stitched together in that way. And it's
• 13:19
  this it feels like it's a diary entry to
• 13:21
  be entirely honest with you. Um there's
• 13:23
  this running narration by um an actor. I
• 13:26
  didn't recognize the name. It's an
• 13:28
  actor. He was in that movie Weapons, but
• 13:30
  he was like an unnamed role in that
• 13:32
  movie. Um, so I'm not totally sure what
• 13:34
  his contribution to it was, but it's
• 13:36
  this actor who's doing this voice and I
• 13:39
  it's kind of a a bizarre like nasely
• 13:41
  voice, but it sounds really like honest
• 13:45
  and the writing is so honest. It it I'm
• 13:48
  trying to remember what the scenarios we
• 13:50
  we saw were. It it starts coming home
• 13:52
  and Yeah.
• 13:53
  >> Yeah. It it was very kind of in the in
• 13:55
  the vein of this autobiographical art
• 13:57
  game kind of like a despote. Um, so this
• 14:00
  confessional style narration and you
• 14:04
  know coming home and having to like see
• 14:07
  the tiny little apartment that this
• 14:09
  person lives in and then them just kind
• 14:11
  of like get in a very artful way like
• 14:13
  swept away by a memory. For me, the part
• 14:16
  that stood out the most is that you
• 14:18
  inhabit this memory of like going to a
• 14:20
  beach. So, you have this fun little part
• 14:22
  where you're a character and you're just
• 14:23
  kind of like diving into this little
• 14:25
  lake or something in the ocean or into
• 14:27
  the ocean rather and and then it
• 14:30
  gradually transforms into this
• 14:32
  surrealist representation of something
• 14:35
  else that they're remembering. So, this
• 14:37
  like almost memory in a memory uh
• 14:40
  experience. And the writing is what
• 14:43
  really stood out to me because I think
• 14:44
  that there are a million ways to tell
• 14:46
  this story. And what they end up talking
• 14:47
  about is a classmate they remember from
• 14:50
  their youth who it was like a story that
• 14:53
  people told in school. It was somebody
• 14:54
  went on a vacation with their family and
• 14:58
  drowned. They went on a beach trip and
• 14:59
  drowned. There was a classmate that this
• 15:01
  happened to. And the way that the
• 15:03
  character kind of like delivered this
• 15:04
  story, it again with something like this
• 15:08
  where there are so many ways to tell it.
• 15:10
  And I think my expectation in a video
• 15:12
  game is always, oh, you're going to
• 15:13
  apply such a heavy hand to this. the the
• 15:15
  themes are going to be just beaten over
• 15:17
  my head. The way that it was told in
• 15:19
  this game, high degree of ver
• 15:20
  similitude. It felt like a person.
• 15:23
  >> It felt like a person really actually
• 15:24
  being like this thing happened when I
• 15:27
  was in school and people talked about it
• 15:29
  in a way that allowed it to cut deep uh
• 15:32
  because there was a closeness with the
• 15:35
  narrator who was talking to you like a
• 15:37
  person and not talking to you like an
• 15:39
  audience member.
• 15:40
  >> Yes. it because it feels it feels so
• 15:42
  like so incredibly
• 15:44
  >> uh intimate
• 15:45
  >> and also because it's it's maybe talking
• 15:47
  about something that's like a little bit
• 15:48
  it's a little uncomfortable because of
• 15:50
  course it's like the death of a kid is
• 15:52
  never comfortable but it's almost like
• 15:54
  there's a I don't want to say
• 15:55
  callousness to it but he's kind of
• 15:58
  saying like I don't remember why like it
• 16:00
  wasn't like a big deal to me but it was
• 16:01
  a really big deal to my mom and and like
• 16:04
  talking about that is like such a
• 16:06
  >> oh god even you saying that right now
• 16:07
  >> it's like uncomfortable right because
• 16:09
  like Maybe when you're older, you begin
• 16:11
  to understand why that is such a big
• 16:14
  deal.
• 16:14
  >> So honest.
• 16:15
  >> Yeah. But when you're a kid, you're
• 16:16
  like,
• 16:16
  >> you're kind of like, I don't know, a
• 16:18
  someone died and that happens, right?
• 16:20
  But it's like, no, but it was a kid and
• 16:22
  like they died in this like very tragic
• 16:24
  preventable way and all this stuff. And
• 16:26
  again, it's not like, do you get what
• 16:29
  we're talking about here? It's it's just
• 16:32
  this Yeah. Like it's like a diary entry
• 16:34
  almost. I love I I think a lot of
• 16:36
  mistakes I think a lot of um I think a
• 16:38
  mistake that a lot of young writers make
• 16:40
  is often times knowing exactly the thing
• 16:44
  that they want to say in a piece
• 16:46
  >> and and then either um and then just
• 16:48
  kind of writing a piece and then
• 16:50
  delaying that conclusion until the end.
• 16:53
  >> I see this all the time in my students.
• 16:55
  And I think something that I really
• 16:56
  appreciated about the way that that that
• 16:58
  Bub was kind of like going about its
• 17:00
  ideas and what we experienced was that
• 17:02
  there was this curiosity and this like
• 17:05
  investigation and this like sitting on
• 17:07
  something that it felt like they didn't
• 17:08
  have entirely figured out.
• 17:10
  >> It was it was just like this is what
• 17:11
  happened. This is what I think, you
• 17:12
  know, and just like trying to be honest
• 17:14
  without trying to be like here's the
• 17:15
  message. Yeah. Uh, I was listening to an
• 17:17
  interview with Patton Oswald uh, the
• 17:19
  other day and he said something about
• 17:21
  like he's he wants comedy to return to
• 17:24
  people being like getting on stage and
• 17:25
  being like I don't really even know
• 17:27
  anymore as opposed to how it sort of has
• 17:30
  been which is people feeling like so
• 17:31
  like I know everything that's going on
• 17:32
  and here's what here's what here's what
• 17:34
  the take is. And I think sort of what
• 17:36
  you're hitting on is is a little bit of
• 17:37
  that, right? This idea of like I don't
• 17:39
  maybe I don't even know where where this
• 17:41
  is going.
• 17:42
  >> Um, it's good. Bub is great. Yeah, games
• 17:45
  that are deep. No, really award.
• 17:47
  >> And yeah, and and one quick uh quick
• 17:49
  note too on just like that art style
• 17:51
  that you mentioned at the beginning, I
• 17:53
  think something to me that that was that
• 17:54
  was working was that the the protagonist
• 17:56
  felt like somebody who was just like
• 17:58
  deeply affected by stuff. He feel like
• 18:00
  he feels vulnerable. And the way that
• 18:02
  they did like light in this, like when
• 18:05
  it would come off a lamp or whatever, it
• 18:07
  just felt it felt like so like a
• 18:09
  aggressive, almost like violent. And I
• 18:11
  was like, "Oh man, it's like you're
• 18:12
  you're so like delicate
• 18:14
  >> because it speaks to something about
• 18:15
  this game too where it's like uh it's a
• 18:18
  really ugly game complimentary.
• 18:20
  >> Oh yeah.
• 18:21
  >> In that like the characters it's not
• 18:22
  like a
• 18:25
  >> if you drew me in the way that this
• 18:26
  character is drawn I would be very hurt.
• 18:30
  Right. Right. Right. And and I I like
• 18:32
  that because I think it it it's so real
• 18:34
  because it's like, "Oh, I feel that way
• 18:35
  though." Like like I I feel this way.
• 18:38
  And when there's like all this pressure,
• 18:39
  like you get home and your landlord's
• 18:41
  there and and she's being a dick and
• 18:43
  you're like, it sucks, right? And it's
• 18:46
  this oppressive thing, but it's also
• 18:48
  this very human thing. I don't know. I I
• 18:51
  loved this and this was such a such a
• 18:53
  surprise and such a delight to me.
• 18:55
  >> Yeah. Yeah, the second the demo was
• 18:56
  over, I went over to the two devs that
• 18:57
  were there and I said, "Hey, just so you
• 18:59
  know, the games media crowd, they're
• 19:00
  going to love this. This is going to be
• 19:01
  a hit."
• 19:02
  >> And uh and I still feel that way. I
• 19:04
  think that this is going to be uh one to
• 19:06
  watch in the future for sure. I hope um
• 19:09
  yeah, I hope like being at that showcase
• 19:11
  was um helpful for them because there's
• 19:14
  I I don't even know if they even have
• 19:16
  like a publisher or anything. I bet and
• 19:17
  I bet they do after the show, but it's
• 19:19
  you know what I mean. Yeah. So, uh,
• 19:21
  something I've learned after talking to
• 19:23
  devs for my video that I made about
• 19:24
  Summer GameFest last year on my YouTube
• 19:26
  channel is that like for indie devs like
• 19:28
  the creators of Bub and, you know, uh,
• 19:31
  any of these like smaller developers,
• 19:32
  going to this stuff is like huge because
• 19:34
  they make those connections and they are
• 19:36
  also like getting in front of games
• 19:37
  media like I don't know. There was a
• 19:39
  trailer for Bub in the Day of the Devs
• 19:41
  showcase after the main SGF show. But if
• 19:44
  we didn't play it, I don't know, would I
• 19:46
  even really remember it? Probably not.
• 19:48
  like I might be like, "Oh, yeah, it was
• 19:49
  that one that was kind of whatever." But
• 19:51
  um yeah, I so I hope that they got
• 19:53
  something out of this show. Uh because
• 19:55
  I'm really excited for this guy.
• 19:57
  >> And I guess to make it even as clear as
• 19:59
  possible to the listener, like I really
• 20:02
  got to give this game props because do
• 20:03
  you know how hard it is to be on this
• 20:05
  crowded SGF show floor to put headphones
• 20:08
  on and actually get absorbed in like a
• 20:11
  like an artsy narrative game like this?
• 20:13
  Like I I I got to give him credit cuz I
• 20:15
  I talk about the worst possible
• 20:17
  environment to experience something like
• 20:19
  this and and and yet
• 20:20
  >> and it still is is so salient and so
• 20:22
  Yeah. Agreed. You got another one.
• 20:26
  >> Allow me to give the broken promises
• 20:29
  award,
• 20:30
  >> please.
• 20:30
  >> To Avatar Legends the fighting game.
• 20:34
  Here's the thing about fighting games.
• 20:35
  You only have enough room in your head
• 20:37
  and in your heart for a certain number
• 20:38
  of them. You have to be choosy. You have
• 20:41
  to be discerning. We all know Marvel
• 20:43
  Tokon is coming out in the fall and I
• 20:46
  must protect my heart until then. I've
• 20:49
  got to all the combos, all the mo the
• 20:51
  characters, the whole thing. I got to
• 20:52
  wait. So then we we go over SGF. We
• 20:56
  don't even have an appointment. We walk
• 20:57
  up. I go over to the people. I say,
• 21:00
  "Please, a little taste a little taste
• 21:02
  of Avatar Legends the fighting game."
• 21:04
  And they were actually quite nice to us
• 21:05
  and they let us right in and we played
• 21:06
  the game. Um, and I realized I would
• 21:09
  have to be breaking some promises
• 21:11
  because god damn, the the immediacy at
• 21:15
  which I enjoyed this game. So, they're
• 21:17
  kind of they're kind of doing the thing
• 21:18
  where you can tell the developers like
• 21:21
  have some level of appreciation or
• 21:23
  understanding of all the characters
• 21:25
  because there's like the way that they
• 21:28
  fight, their personalities, it's like
• 21:30
  all wrapped up together. The characters
• 21:32
  are extremely unique and distinct. I
• 21:34
  really appreciate that. I think that for
• 21:37
  there's going to be so many like Avatar
• 21:39
  the Last Air Bender fans that try to
• 21:40
  pick this game up that are maybe a
• 21:41
  little scared by fighting games. I I do
• 21:44
  think that this is a relatively easy one
• 21:47
  to kind of like figure out the basics to
• 21:49
  just because of these bare mechanics
• 21:51
  being relatively simple. You have a
• 21:52
  meter and if you hold down like the X
• 21:54
  button or whatever, it's just like puts
• 21:56
  you in a defensive stance where you can
• 21:57
  you can uh like dodge all moves that are
• 21:59
  coming at you at least for a certain
• 22:01
  amount of time until you burn through
• 22:02
  that meter. And um all of the special
• 22:05
  inputs are just like quarter circle
• 22:06
  forward inputs. So again, like a pretty
• 22:09
  easy thing to pull off. And um I just
• 22:12
  had too much fun going through each
• 22:15
  character and like seeing what their
• 22:17
  moves were going to be to the point that
• 22:19
  I was I was going to skip this one. I
• 22:21
  was not going to play this. There are
• 22:22
  too many fighting games out there. And
• 22:24
  now I'm like having an illicit affair.
• 22:25
  Now I'm like, "Oh, when does this game
• 22:27
  come out? I'm I'm playing it day one. I
• 22:28
  can't wait to go online. I can't wait to
• 22:30
  figure out who my main is." I think it's
• 22:31
  gonna be toough based on how I play it
• 22:33
  at the demo, but um yeah, it it just it
• 22:36
  did the thing that I want fighting games
• 22:37
  to do.
• 22:38
  >> Something I like about the idea of
• 22:39
  playing a a fighter like a fighting game
• 22:41
  like this is something similar to how I
• 22:43
  feel about like Smash Bros. where
• 22:46
  >> if you're a fan of the thing that is in
• 22:48
  the game, you're going to have a really
• 22:49
  good time seeing like how those
• 22:52
  characters were interpreted
• 22:53
  >> to have a move set, right? And obviously
• 22:56
  like Avatar is like pretty simple
• 22:57
  because it is a show surrounding people
• 22:59
  fighting. But
• 23:01
  >> I don't know like I'm not a big Avatar
• 23:03
  fan. It's not that I don't like it. I've
• 23:04
  just never really seen it. Um but in
• 23:06
  playing it I was like oh I'm sure there
• 23:08
  like it feels like there's like a lot of
• 23:09
  nods to these characters in a way that
• 23:11
  probably fans of this show are going to
• 23:14
  get a lot out of in the same way that uh
• 23:16
  last year I played Lego Party and there
• 23:17
  was like a lot of like Lego jokes that
• 23:19
  like you only get if you like you know
• 23:21
  know a lot about Legos or whatever. And
• 23:23
  it's it's uh uh I don't know there's
• 23:26
  certain
• 23:26
  >> deep in on Ninjago
• 23:28
  >> dude. So someone they told me this about
• 23:31
  Lego party is someone in the dev team
• 23:33
  watched the entire there's like a
• 23:35
  hundred episodes of there's like a
• 23:36
  Ninjago TV show and they watched all the
• 23:39
  entire thing to like just put some like
• 23:42
  flavor in in like flavor text in the
• 23:44
  game. And that's awesome. Like that's
• 23:45
  that's what I'm talking about though.
• 23:47
  And I that's from my perspective as
• 23:49
  someone who does not know Avatar. That
• 23:51
  was my takeaway from this game. Like,
• 23:53
  oh, this is like very much the people
• 23:56
  who are making this love this IP.
• 23:58
  >> Oh, yeah. And I think even um you know,
• 24:01
  it's funny. It's like I I was surprised
• 24:03
  by some of the polish that the game had
• 24:06
  in in terms of its animations and
• 24:09
  references and stuff because every
• 24:10
  character had like these these little
• 24:12
  like victory animations and intro
• 24:14
  animations that I was like, "Oh, okay.
• 24:16
  We're like referencing the show and and
• 24:17
  doing it well." Like that's,
• 24:19
  >> you know, it's funny. You play something
• 24:21
  like Nickelodeon Allstar Brawl and
• 24:24
  because it's, you're right, because it's
• 24:26
  like got these these like funny little
• 24:28
  3D animated characters. It's like like a
• 24:30
  will do something and it'll just not
• 24:32
  look quite right.
• 24:33
  >> And and in this game, it's like, oh no,
• 24:36
  good. You did it. Actually, this is this
• 24:39
  is what you want these characters to
• 24:40
  look like. Um, so yeah, and it's and
• 24:43
  it's funny. The game has a I don't know
• 24:45
  anything about it, but I know that it
• 24:46
  has a story mode. Didn't get to see any
• 24:49
  of that. So that's cool.
• 24:50
  >> Um, and would you believe base version
• 24:53
  of this game on release, 30 bones.
• 24:56
  >> Huge. Perfect.
• 24:57
  >> Isn't that crazy?
• 24:58
  >> Yeah, that's great.
• 24:59
  >> So that's great.
• 25:00
  >> Tip of the cap. Tip of the cap.
• 25:02
  >> Jake, let me uh let me hit you with
• 25:03
  another award,
• 25:05
  >> please. This is the you don't need to
• 25:07
  hear it from me award. And I would like
• 25:09
  to give it to Control Resonant.
• 25:11
  >> Oh, okay.
• 25:12
  >> The reason you don't need to hear it
• 25:13
  from me is everyone's already talking
• 25:14
  about this game. This was like one of
• 25:16
  the big headliners at at SGF. Uh I got
• 25:19
  to play it. I had a blast with it, but I
• 25:22
  don't know if I have a whole lot to say
• 25:23
  about it that everyone else isn't
• 25:25
  saying. M
• 25:26
  >> it's it's delivering on the promises
• 25:28
  that the trailers have made in regards
• 25:31
  to uh its characters, its its story, and
• 25:36
  the one my one big takeaway that that a
• 25:38
  lot of people have echoed online is uh
• 25:40
  hey the combat in this is pretty good.
• 25:42
  Remedy has been uh focusing on like
• 25:45
  games about guns pretty much ever since
• 25:47
  they started uh from even you know from
• 25:49
  Max Payne to Alan Wake and the Control
• 25:51
  Quantum Break all that. That's those are
• 25:52
  like gun games. And this is like a this
• 25:55
  is like a sword game. I a scythe game if
• 25:58
  you will. And I do. Thank you very much.
• 26:00
  And like so I was worried and seeing the
• 26:02
  trailer like oh they're sort of changing
• 26:04
  things up. Planet Fears Assaged. Stay in
• 26:08
  line. Looks great. Had a good time with
• 26:11
  it. I'm ready for Control when it comes
• 26:13
  out uh in September along with
• 26:15
  everything else. You don't need to hear
• 26:17
  from me. I think sometimes people
• 26:19
  characterize these control games as
• 26:21
  being a little carried by their style
• 26:24
  and substance more than they are by
• 26:26
  their video game playing kind of
• 26:28
  qualities that that in the hand quality
• 26:30
  is is would you characterize control
• 26:33
  resonant in the same regard or would you
• 26:35
  say that maybe we've got a little bit
• 26:37
  more juice on the sticks?
• 26:38
  >> Uh I think there's more juice on the
• 26:40
  sticks. there's there's more going on uh
• 26:42
  in terms of what you can actually do cuz
• 26:43
  in control I mean you have like your
• 26:45
  superpowers and whatever and those are
• 26:47
  all cool. Um but at the end of the day
• 26:49
  it's it's what kind of gun are you using
• 26:51
  whereas this um you've got different
• 26:53
  combos to use based on the different
• 26:55
  weapons you get. Uh you are choosing
• 26:58
  between like three different weapons
• 27:00
  like right at the start there's like you
• 27:01
  have your heavy attack and your light
• 27:02
  attack and those are different weapons
• 27:03
  and you have three different options for
• 27:05
  both of those and eventually you unlock
• 27:06
  more of them. Um, but there's there's
• 27:08
  just a lot of a lot more depth that's
• 27:10
  going into it that's asking you to do a
• 27:12
  little bit more than uh just more simple
• 27:15
  like thirdp person over the shoulder
• 27:17
  shooter kind of thing.
• 27:18
  >> Okay. Yeah.
• 27:18
  >> You don't need to hear from me. You
• 27:19
  >> don't need to hear from me.
• 27:20
  >> It's going to be good.
• 27:21
  >> It's going to be good. And what's what's
• 27:22
  funny is is that there are games out
• 27:25
  there from Summer GameFest, some of
• 27:27
  which kind of uh in in reference to our
• 27:30
  our opening to this episode that uh we
• 27:34
  don't find ourselves in complete
• 27:36
  agreement with all of our peers, but in
• 27:38
  Control Resident, we all agree this this
• 27:39
  one.
• 27:39
  >> Yeah. I like I haven't seen anyone say
• 27:41
  like, "Oh, this was was kind of a miss."
• 27:42
  Yeah, you're very right, though. There's
• 27:44
  one that we're sort of waiting on to
• 27:45
  talk about that is um
• 27:49
  when you like say like, "Oh, it's like
• 27:50
  what was the best thing you played?"
• 27:51
  Everyone's like this this and we're like
• 27:53
  oh oh no.
• 27:54
  >> What a funny conversation to find
• 27:56
  yourself in at SGF cuz what do you how
• 27:58
  do you respond? I cuz cuz in my heart
• 28:00
  I'm like really good.
• 28:03
  >> Cuz for the most part there's like
• 28:04
  pretty much like a lot of consensus
• 28:06
  going in. Like there were some demos
• 28:07
  where you're like you walk away and you
• 28:09
  see the a person who you know who also
• 28:10
  played it and you're like you're shaking
• 28:12
  your head. You're like no. Right. And
• 28:13
  they're like yeah no. Uh but yeah when
• 28:15
  whenever there's the the disconnect
• 28:16
  there it's always like are you sure? Did
• 28:19
  we Maybe my kiosk was broken. Maybe the
• 28:22
  demo kiosk was was malfunctioning or
• 28:25
  anyway,
• 28:26
  >> hit me with another.
• 28:27
  >> Uh, the most buttons award is going to
• 28:31
  on Musha.
• 28:33
  >> A lot of buttons.
• 28:34
  >> Way of the sword. Um, so first off, I
• 28:38
  want to say could not be hotter on this
• 28:41
  game, especially following the
• 28:43
  announcement of a Nintendo Switch 2
• 28:45
  edition. God damn.
• 28:47
  >> Is that is that day? Is that on day one?
• 28:49
  >> Day one.
• 28:50
  >> That's where you're playing it. I bet
• 28:52
  >> those bastards. Oh my god. So, okay. Oni
• 28:56
  Musha Wave the Sword.
• 28:58
  They got me with this game. I've I've
• 29:00
  said it before. I'm going to say it
• 29:01
  again. The journey I've been on with
• 29:03
  this game is such uh beginning of the
• 29:05
  year, I counterpicked this on my Fantasy
• 29:07
  Critic team because I went, "This isn't
• 29:10
  on Musha in 2026. This is going to get
• 29:12
  buried. Nobody cares about this." And
• 29:14
  then and then these these Jokers Capcom
• 29:17
  like like on a heater in this year. A
• 29:20
  heater.
• 29:21
  >> And I liked Pragmata so much that it
• 29:24
  made me go, "Okay, maybe I've just got
• 29:27
  to give Capcom benefit of the doubt.
• 29:29
  Maybe they're so good that even even my
• 29:31
  when my stupid brain thinks I'm not
• 29:33
  going to like something, I have to trust
• 29:34
  that they know what I'm going to like
• 29:35
  more than me." So where does where does
• 29:38
  this go from here? It uh of course these
• 29:40
  Resident Evil games, we all love them,
• 29:42
  whatever. But uh you know Capcom sent us
• 29:45
  both copies of Monster Hunter Stories 3
• 29:48
  of which I started on my plane back from
• 29:50
  SGF and I went [ __ ] I like this too.
• 29:54
  And um of course you had told me Jake
• 29:56
  you got to go back. You got to play
• 29:57
  Kitsugami Path of the Gods. I go back I
• 30:00
  play that on my Switch too. Those
• 30:02
  bastards they had it then and they have
• 30:03
  it now. So slightly before SGF they
• 30:06
  release a demo you can download now on
• 30:08
  your PlayStation 5 which I did of Oni
• 30:10
  Musha. to which a point I went, "Oh no,
• 30:14
  >> they got it.
• 30:15
  >> Another one."
• 30:16
  >> And this continued. This continued into
• 30:19
  what we saw um at SGF. I think I am
• 30:22
  genuinely surprised. You know me, you
• 30:24
  know, I want a game with a little
• 30:25
  lightness, a little whimsy, a little
• 30:26
  levity. I'm surprised how we have one of
• 30:29
  these third person action games that
• 30:30
  have this art style that we're really
• 30:32
  familiar with, and you're a guy swinging
• 30:33
  a sword that they found a way to make
• 30:37
  that compelling to me. They found a way.
• 30:40
  There is a character here with
• 30:41
  personality. They're not just a stoic
• 30:44
  idiot saying the same nonsense everybody
• 30:46
  else says in one of these games. They've
• 30:47
  got little Capcom NPCs that are doing
• 30:50
  stupid [ __ ] that are asking, "Hey, can
• 30:52
  you save Can you save our theater stage?
• 30:55
  Can you save where we used to perform
• 30:56
  our little dance?" And I'm like, "What?"
• 30:58
  And it's like, and then they do it. Then
• 31:00
  you save them and they and you you
• 31:01
  cleanse it of the filth and then they go
• 31:03
  on and they go, "For no, we're just
• 31:05
  going to do a cut scene now where we do
• 31:06
  a dance for you." LIKE, IT'S GOOD. GOD
• 31:08
  DAMN. But anyways, to bring it back to
• 31:11
  the award, the most buttons award, we're
• 31:13
  sitting there in the in the the Capcom
• 31:15
  Theater. We're watching this demo.
• 31:17
  Somebody is narrating for us, the the
• 31:18
  lovely PR person. And it's this funny
• 31:21
  thing where this game genuinely just has
• 31:23
  a lot of buttons. And which I think we
• 31:25
  like because rather than just like
• 31:28
  press, you know, in in kind of like a
• 31:29
  Batman Arkham way, you have your square
• 31:31
  and you have your triangle in this game,
• 31:33
  you have like an offensive suite and a
• 31:35
  defensive suite to the point that I feel
• 31:37
  like when you're in combat, you feel
• 31:39
  like you have ownership of it and you're
• 31:40
  really doing something and you're making
• 31:42
  all these different decisions about how
• 31:44
  you want to fight and where you're going
• 31:45
  to kind of spend your resources in a way
• 31:48
  that is um really rich, I think, and
• 31:51
  separates itself from a lot of these
• 31:52
  action games. talked about in the past
• 31:54
  is this this feeling where like so many
• 31:57
  games are designed such that you were
• 32:00
  supposed to pick up the controller and
• 32:01
  know immediately what to do like right
• 32:03
  away.
• 32:04
  >> Like you know we we saw that trailer for
• 32:05
  that God of War uh sequel God of War
• 32:08
  Luff and like I know exactly what all of
• 32:12
  the buttons are going to do
• 32:13
  >> like with pretty much 100% certainty I
• 32:16
  can look at the controller and be like
• 32:17
  got it. I know exactly what how this is
• 32:18
  gonna go. Yep.
• 32:19
  >> Um I thought that that's what on Musha
• 32:21
  was gonna be. I was like, "Got it." You
• 32:24
  know, uh, parry with the left bumper,
• 32:26
  like all this stuff. And it's not that
• 32:28
  it's not that, but there's a layer of
• 32:30
  like, oh, we're hitting multiple buttons
• 32:32
  at the same time to do different things
• 32:34
  that it adds this like level of like
• 32:36
  mechanical depth uh, and uh, freedom of
• 32:39
  choice to to choose how you want to like
• 32:41
  engage with these combat encounters that
• 32:43
  I found really refreshing. That said, so
• 32:45
  uh I did the hands-on demo of it, uh
• 32:48
  which was a different demo than you
• 32:49
  played on your PS5 at home. And I'm
• 32:51
  standing there and they are giving me a
• 32:55
  PowerPoint presentation of all the
• 32:56
  buttons and I mean it's like 17 pages
• 32:59
  long and I'm standing there like I wait
• 33:02
  hold on I didn't grasp what was on page
• 33:05
  nine fully. Can we go back to that?
• 33:07
  >> Because you have to play it. you have to
• 33:09
  practice which is part of why it's
• 33:11
  compelling.
• 33:12
  >> And that's like I I found myself more
• 33:15
  interested in games like that than I
• 33:17
  think maybe I used to be where it's like
• 33:19
  I think the I think like the obvious
• 33:20
  point of comparison would be something
• 33:21
  like a like a Marvel Spider-Man game
• 33:23
  where it's like they want you to be
• 33:25
  good. They they want you to be good the
• 33:27
  whole time. Yeah. And and this was a
• 33:29
  game that I think found a really good
• 33:30
  balance of not being like overly obtuse
• 33:33
  or complex. It's like all right in front
• 33:35
  of you, but it's like you are going to
• 33:38
  have that feeling I think as you go
• 33:39
  through the game of like mastering all
• 33:41
  those systems and just getting more
• 33:43
  comfortable additional them out whenever
• 33:45
  you want. So,
• 33:46
  >> um really man, I I like can't believe
• 33:49
  that they managed to turn this game into
• 33:51
  one of my most anticipated games of the
• 33:53
  year.
• 33:53
  >> Yeah, looks great. And and and I had a
• 33:55
  great time with it and all of its many
• 33:57
  button presses.
• 33:58
  >> Switch two, can you believe it? Day one.
• 34:00
  >> Huge. Huge.
• 34:01
  >> God, what can't they do? What can't they
• 34:04
  do?
• 34:04
  >> What can't they do? Jake, I would like
• 34:08
  to give the TTG award.
• 34:12
  >> One of my favorites.
• 34:13
  >> Time to genius award.
• 34:17
  >> To slap out of it. Now, what's slap out
• 34:19
  of it?
• 34:20
  >> Slap out of it is a slapping puzzle
• 34:23
  game. And by that I mean it is a puzzle
• 34:25
  game where you interact with things by
• 34:26
  slapping them with the triggers. Left
• 34:28
  triggers, left slap, right trigger,
• 34:31
  right slap. Are they different? Not at
• 34:33
  all, but they're essential. You're going
• 34:34
  to say something.
• 34:35
  >> Oh, they they felt they felt different.
• 34:36
  Yeah. I just want people to go on this
• 34:38
  like journey with us over We start up
• 34:40
  this demo. I'm playing it on the little
• 34:41
  TV. You're playing it on the little
• 34:42
  Steam deck.
• 34:43
  >> First time I've ever held a Steam Deck,
• 34:44
  by the way.
• 34:45
  >> That's fun.
• 34:45
  >> Yeah, it was cool.
• 34:46
  >> Uh yeah, and the the demo starts where
• 34:49
  you're in this section where people are
• 34:50
  like coming up to a counter and they
• 34:51
  kind of tell you their problem and then
• 34:52
  you solve it for them. And I at that
• 34:55
  point in the game went, "Oh yeah, I'll
• 34:57
  do a whole game of this."
• 34:58
  >> Yep. Instantly. Oh, just hearing the
• 35:00
  premise, you're like, "Oh, yeah. No,
• 35:02
  that's pretty good."
• 35:03
  >> I'm like, "Great work." And I Yeah, I
• 35:06
  was so excited to be like, "How many
• 35:08
  different variations of this can you
• 35:09
  do?" And then you get through that and
• 35:10
  that kind of reveals itself to be kind
• 35:12
  of the the baby tutorial. And now you're
• 35:15
  brought into this multifloor tower where
• 35:18
  it's like there's there's three levels
• 35:19
  and the puzzles kind of like intersect
• 35:21
  with each other. and you're going over
• 35:22
  over to the third floor. You're grabbing
• 35:24
  something. You're bringing it down to
• 35:25
  the first. You're doing things to
• 35:27
  manipulate the environment that you
• 35:28
  never would have imagined. And it was
• 35:30
  this game that was like, you are here
• 35:34
  because you love these silly little
• 35:36
  puppet characters. The long range
• 35:38
  slapping is like a great goof and a gag.
• 35:41
  And then it it opens itself up and goes,
• 35:44
  "But what if we actually also had like
• 35:46
  top tier brains,
• 35:48
  >> like actually like very good puzzles?"
• 35:50
  because there's so many games that like
• 35:52
  get have like a great aesthetic or like
• 35:54
  a great hook, but then the actual act of
• 35:56
  like doing their puzzles. I think about
• 35:58
  like the Duck Detective games, they're
• 36:00
  fine, but they're just not that like
• 36:03
  complex like solid puzzles. I just don't
• 36:05
  like them that much. Which is a shame
• 36:07
  cuz I love a game called Duck Detective:
• 36:09
  The Secret of the Salami or whatever is
• 36:12
  very like that's a very strong hook for
• 36:15
  me. But then actually playing it, it's
• 36:17
  not so good. Slap out of it. Not only is
• 36:19
  the presentation all there and is is it
• 36:21
  fun to just like walk around just
• 36:23
  slapping whatever, but like as soon as
• 36:25
  you grow tired of that, you find out
• 36:27
  that the the puzzles are very are very
• 36:29
  like they're great. They're really
• 36:31
  great. I always have something to say to
• 36:33
  the developers at events like this. I
• 36:35
  play the game, I give them I give them
• 36:36
  my little take or whatever. I'm so
• 36:37
  annoying. They hate me. And and
• 36:39
  literally, we played the slap out of it
• 36:41
  demo, got up, and I was like, "Guys, you
• 36:44
  don't need me on this one."
• 36:45
  >> You know, congratulations. I wonder what
• 36:47
  we were like, what vibe we were giving
• 36:49
  them because they acted relieved. They
• 36:51
  were like, "Oh, thank goodness." I was
• 36:53
  like, I was like, we were like goofing
• 36:55
  the whole time.
• 36:57
  >> Oh, no. And really truly the time to
• 36:59
  genius award could not be more apt
• 37:01
  because I think the first puzzle I did,
• 37:03
  I was just like,
• 37:05
  >> you had you got it.
• 37:06
  >> You got it.
• 37:07
  >> I was like, great work. Great work. Um,
• 37:10
  yeah. really like it just had that
• 37:13
  feeling of when you would finally
• 37:15
  deliver the answer under the puzzle that
• 37:17
  you were trying to solve. This like you
• 37:19
  wanted to stand up and applaud. You just
• 37:22
  >> it's also it does the right thing that
• 37:24
  like all good puzzle games do where you
• 37:26
  are able to complete it the second that
• 37:28
  you have the solution. Right. Sometimes
• 37:30
  like a game is like a little slow in its
• 37:31
  its execution where like you figured out
• 37:33
  what the answer to the puzzle is, but
• 37:35
  you actually have to spend like extra
• 37:37
  time walking around to figure out like
• 37:38
  to like do the thing that you are trying
• 37:40
  to do. But like this game is like the
• 37:42
  second that you figured it out, you're
• 37:43
  like, "Got it. I know exactly what to do
• 37:44
  and I'm doing it right now."
• 37:46
  >> It's good. It's really good.
• 37:49
  >> The single good deployment of a
• 37:51
  PowerPoint
• 37:53
  >> award. You know, we go to SGF sometimes.
• 37:55
  They bring us into theaters. People
• 37:56
  decide they're going to they're going to
• 37:57
  walk you through a little presentation.
• 37:58
  and you're going to sit there for a
• 37:59
  really long time, get talked to about
• 38:01
  the game. Um, I find that these on the
• 38:04
  whole are pretty unsuccessful. I I I I I
• 38:07
  struggle to find a time when that's like
• 38:09
  a valuable thing to have people who are
• 38:11
  really in on games sit through because
• 38:13
  we know we know every we can you show us
• 38:15
  8 seconds of a game, we can parse
• 38:16
  everything we need to know.
• 38:17
  >> And it's also like so often too it's
• 38:19
  like irrelevant information like oh this
• 38:21
  franchise has sold this many units like
• 38:23
  okay I don't what like sure great.
• 38:26
  The only time this was good, the only
• 38:28
  time where I sat there and went, "This
• 38:30
  was actually a valuable thing for me to
• 38:32
  sit through," was at the Atari booth
• 38:34
  when they told us about the Godzilla
• 38:36
  Destroy All Monsters Melee remastered.
• 38:38
  They told us about the the Barbie game.
• 38:40
  >> Yes.
• 38:41
  >> Uh, Thief
• 38:42
  >> Thief Remastered.
• 38:44
  >> Yep. And Toy Story Retro Roundup. Um, I
• 38:48
  actually walked away being like, "Damn,
• 38:50
  SGF worked on me because I now have a
• 38:52
  more complimentary view of the Atari
• 38:55
  brand." Uh, I think the guy that led
• 38:57
  that presentation was just like very
• 38:59
  congenial and he gave the impression of
• 39:01
  somebody that was just like telling you
• 39:03
  the truth because I would like ask him a
• 39:05
  little question and he would just give
• 39:06
  me the answer in a way that like was not
• 39:08
  canned.
• 39:08
  >> Yeah. I Yeah. So, a similar thing
• 39:10
  happened too when I was playing the um
• 39:12
  the Thief remaster where I'm sitting
• 39:15
  there and there's another guy who we
• 39:17
  didn't know, I didn't recognize that was
• 39:19
  like in the presentation with us and he
• 39:21
  came over and he right
• 39:22
  >> he came over and asked the I think it
• 39:25
  was like the producer of the Thief
• 39:26
  remaster that I'm sitting there playing
• 39:28
  with
• 39:28
  >> and he asks like, "Hey, so like in terms
• 39:31
  of remaking this game, is this a game
• 39:33
  that you have like some like
• 39:34
  long-standing relationship with that
• 39:36
  you're like super passionate about from
• 39:37
  like when you were younger or something
• 39:38
  like that from when it first came out in
• 39:40
  the 2000s. And the guy just looks at him
• 39:42
  and goes like the games that we choose
• 39:45
  to remaster and remake, it's purely a
• 39:47
  business like decision. Like, yeah, I
• 39:49
  love this game, but like that is the
• 39:51
  reason why we're doing it.
• 39:52
  >> And it's funny because like that is so
• 39:54
  because it's so true for like every
• 39:56
  single
• 39:57
  >> every VIDEO GAME EVER MADE,
• 39:59
  >> but nobody will no one will say it. No.
• 40:02
  And so it was really cool sitting
• 40:03
  through that Atari uh that Atari
• 40:05
  presentation because it was essentially
• 40:07
  this like we are able to leverage these
• 40:10
  Yeah. We're leveraging these these IP.
• 40:12
  We're taking these kinds of um beloved
• 40:15
  games that we know people have fond
• 40:17
  memories for from their past of like
• 40:19
  renting them from Blockbuster or
• 40:20
  whatever it was and we're able to put
• 40:22
  them out at like a normal price. And um
• 40:26
  with Switch 2, you know, asking him
• 40:28
  about this with the with the the games
• 40:30
  like on the cartridges, which is like
• 40:31
  important to people. And when I kind of
• 40:33
  pressed him about this, the answer I got
• 40:35
  was just was it wasn't like this fairy
• 40:38
  tale, oh, having games on the cart, the
• 40:41
  physical media is so important to us. It
• 40:43
  was it was really just like this brass
• 40:44
  tax of we've actually just kind of
• 40:46
  figured out the manufacturing
• 40:47
  relationships to the point that we just
• 40:50
  know how to do this. like we've got this
• 40:52
  and it makes me kind of question the
• 40:54
  people that don't do this now a little
• 40:55
  bit more. But um and then they were they
• 40:58
  were kind of talking about all the
• 40:59
  different branches of the Atari, you
• 41:00
  know, all the stuff that they do now
• 41:01
  where it's like, oh yeah, now we're kind
• 41:03
  of being contracted by these other video
• 41:05
  game studios to make to put out their
• 41:07
  physical editions because they have
• 41:08
  those relationships. It was all stuff
• 41:10
  that was like genuinely interesting. And
• 41:12
  then, you know, dear dear listener, you
• 41:14
  should have seen my face when we get to
• 41:16
  the part of the presentation that's
• 41:17
  about Toy Story Retro Roundup. And they
• 41:20
  make a special point in that
• 41:21
  presentation to say, "Hey, the exclusive
• 41:25
  Zerg content that was originally tied
• 41:27
  only to the PlayStation 3 is now
• 41:30
  available for everyone."
• 41:31
  >> Content you love is here.
• 41:33
  >> I was kicking my feet. I was kicking my
• 41:35
  feet cuz I remember I remember being a
• 41:36
  child and going, "God, I want to play
• 41:38
  Toy Story 3 on the Wii, but I want that
• 41:41
  Zerg. I want that Zerg character. I want
• 41:43
  to be Zerg and I want I want the Zerg
• 41:44
  car.
• 41:45
  >> Yeah, and it's here. It's here.
• 41:47
  >> It's here. Could not could not be more
• 41:49
  excited for those games on my Switch,
• 41:50
  too. All of those old Toy Story games, I
• 41:52
  think, are going to be so fun. Um,
• 41:54
  Christian and I played the Godzilla
• 41:56
  demo. We played against each other.
• 41:57
  Christian had a horrible time. I had a
• 41:59
  great time. Only only because he he, you
• 42:02
  know, Christian didn't having to play
• 42:03
  these fighting games with me. He had
• 42:04
  this this experience over and over
• 42:06
  again, which you can hear about on our
• 42:07
  uh bonus podcast, patreon.com/critical
• 42:09
  error, of that moment in the fighting
• 42:11
  game where I would figure the game out.
• 42:13
  >> So, and then I think that I can only do
• 42:16
  this once. I basically let Christian,
• 42:19
  because this is the first time we ever
• 42:20
  did this, right?
• 42:21
  >> I let Christian anytime there was like
• 42:23
  a, hey, do you want to play this
• 42:24
  one-on-one fighter against each other?
• 42:25
  I'm like, you and Jake, Christian, go
• 42:28
  right ahead. I don't need this. I don't
• 42:31
  need this. Um, I visited Jake and his
• 42:35
  wife. Me and my wife flew to
• 42:36
  Philadelphia in February and Jake pulled
• 42:39
  up
• 42:40
  I mean we played like two things and it
• 42:42
  was both it was Mario Aces tennis aces.
• 42:45
  Is that the new one?
• 42:46
  >> Tennis fever.
• 42:47
  >> And um we played two rounds and Jake was
• 42:51
  like I think that's enough. And I was
• 42:53
  like I think that's enough.
• 42:54
  >> Yeah, I would probably agree.
• 42:57
  >> I have that dog in me.
• 42:58
  >> You do. You do.
• 42:59
  >> Okay. Uh, Jake, I would like to give an
• 43:01
  award, please.
• 43:04
  >> The title to quality ratio award.
• 43:07
  >> Ooh, we talking good title, bad quality,
• 43:10
  or bad title,
• 43:12
  >> title, good quality.
• 43:13
  >> The the better the better scenario, I
• 43:15
  would say.
• 43:15
  >> Correct. Now, I think a lot about video
• 43:17
  game titles.
• 43:18
  >> Um, yeah, me too.
• 43:19
  >> I would like to I out of the the games
• 43:21
  we've talked about, I think Lazy River,
• 43:23
  great title for your game.
• 43:25
  >> Great title. Yeah,
• 43:26
  >> great title for your game. Right.
• 43:27
  Control Resident. Unfortunately, not a
• 43:30
  great title. Makes me think of Resident
• 43:32
  Evil. Makes you sound like you're saying
• 43:33
  Resident. Uh, I understand why it's
• 43:36
  called that. Unfortunately, not a great
• 43:37
  title, everyone. Impulse.
• 43:42
  >> Bad title. One of the worst titles in a
• 43:45
  long time.
• 43:47
  Conversely,
• 43:49
  >> a very fun firsterson shooter. Like a
• 43:52
  very, very fun firsterson shooter. This
• 43:55
  is um from the makers of Splitgate. Uh
• 43:58
  what are they called? 1047, I believe,
• 44:00
  games.
• 44:01
  >> Wow. Good for you. Yeah. Yeah.
• 44:04
  Something. Um yes, they also made Split
• 44:06
  Gate 2, if you could believe it. And uh
• 44:08
  but Impulse is is a new thing. It is
• 44:10
  also a first-person shooter, but instead
• 44:12
  of using portals as its main sort of
• 44:14
  hook, uh this is a game that's that's
• 44:16
  eaten the lunch of Titanfall. Now,
• 44:18
  there's a there's a big void uh in the
• 44:21
  in the hearts of pretty much everyone
• 44:22
  who's waiting for the next Titanfall
• 44:24
  thing. and EA seems just completely
• 44:26
  uninterested in doing it. So, um, the
• 44:28
  the makers of Impulse said, "Fine, we'll
• 44:30
  do it ourselves." And it's it's a
• 44:31
  first-person shooter where there's like
• 44:33
  these big titans that drop into the map
• 44:34
  and you can go grab them and jump in
• 44:35
  them and and all that. And the movement
• 44:38
  mechanics in it. You got a big grappling
• 44:39
  hook, there's wall running, there's
• 44:40
  sliding, all that stuff. It's fantastic.
• 44:43
  It's really, really, really solid. And
• 44:46
  uh, in a way that I was kind of
• 44:47
  surprised cuz I like the shooting in
• 44:48
  Splitgate. I like that game a fair
• 44:50
  amount, but it got just so sweaty with
• 44:52
  the way that people knew exactly where
• 44:54
  to place the portals to really open up
• 44:56
  the game. And I think that's an awesome
• 44:58
  hook, but at a certain point for like a
• 45:00
  casual player like me, it just became
• 45:02
  like unplayable because you just load
• 45:04
  in, you're like, I'm already dead. Cool.
• 45:05
  Great.
• 45:06
  >> Yeah. So, it's funny. Impulse, I think,
• 45:08
  was one of our like most talked about
• 45:10
  games after we played that demo. Like,
• 45:12
  we just we kind of kept talking about
• 45:13
  it. We had so much fun playing it. And I
• 45:16
  think uh I cannot stress this enough.
• 45:18
  The amount of times that we were like
• 45:20
  >> it's called what's called it was the one
• 45:22
  it was the Titanfall one
• 45:24
  M
• 45:24
  >> and then we we would go M
• 45:28
  and it was it was like
• 45:29
  >> get away from us like well
• 45:30
  >> and now and now remember I feel I have
• 45:33
  come up with a far better title and I
• 45:34
  would like to put it out there now in
• 45:36
  case that they're listening. That is
• 45:37
  correct. This is and they can have it.
• 45:38
  >> Yeah. For free. For free. There's still
• 45:40
  time for free. There's still time. if
• 45:41
  they want to if they want to support us
• 45:42
  on patreon.com/critical error, I would
• 45:44
  appreciate it, but there is still time.
• 45:46
  I think you should call the game Giant
• 45:48
  Leap. Yes,
• 45:49
  >> Giant Leap. There's a lot of Listen,
• 45:50
  it's one of these like like movement
• 45:52
  focused shooters, right? And I think uh
• 45:55
  in all of your trailers, you can do this
• 45:58
  fun like one small step.
• 46:00
  >> One small step.
• 46:01
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then Oh my god,
• 46:02
  dude. And I like it it just it does it.
• 46:05
  It does it. It works for you, I think.
• 46:07
  >> I think so, too. I think so, too.
• 46:08
  >> Giant leap. I think it's a better title
• 46:11
  at the very least than Impulse, which I
• 46:14
  don't even really know what it's ref
• 46:15
  what Impulse is referencing. Maybe it's
• 46:17
  because we only played, you know, like
• 46:18
  30 minutes of it. I like I don't even
• 46:21
  really understand what that means, but
• 46:23
  um
• 46:24
  >> God, I I I really want to emphasize how
• 46:25
  how much fun we had playing that demo.
• 46:27
  It was it was
• 46:28
  >> especially since I'm not out here being
• 46:30
  like, "Oh, you know what? I got to play
• 46:31
  a new first person shooter." But damn,
• 46:33
  dude. It really It really hit on like
• 46:39
  that that like in in the hand feeling.
• 46:41
  Yes. You shoot out that grappling hook.
• 46:43
  You're you're running along the walls. I
• 46:45
  really liked how they have this almost
• 46:47
  Splatoon like you throw
• 46:49
  >> Oh, yeah. There's like paint grenades
• 46:50
  that increase your paint speed but
• 46:51
  damage at other players. It's cool.
• 46:53
  >> And then there's like other effects that
• 46:55
  you can have. So, you can have like a
• 46:56
  like I think he said there's like an icy
• 46:58
  one where you like slip around. There's
• 47:00
  a there's a paint grenade where if you
• 47:01
  jump on it, you'll do like a big bounce
• 47:02
  and go. And I was like, damn, that's a
• 47:04
  good idea. That's just like a that's
• 47:06
  just like a smart immediate like
• 47:07
  >> and it's cool because it just opens the
• 47:10
  movement of like okay I already have
• 47:11
  these tools and but how do I like
• 47:13
  augment them even further without that
• 47:16
  said like without becoming for me
• 47:18
  splitgate which is like
• 47:20
  >> oh as soon as you master this you just
• 47:22
  win whereas like this is still something
• 47:24
  that is going to be like uh I I think it
• 47:26
  doesn't like
• 47:27
  >> tilt it too far in one direction if
• 47:29
  you've mastered that or not
• 47:31
  >> and you know I think with that game I'm
• 47:33
  I was like so charmed by it and how it
• 47:35
  felt to play that I think more and more
• 47:37
  I'm just thinking about how I think it
• 47:38
  has a little bit of a branding issue
• 47:40
  like I wonder if it can get by purely on
• 47:42
  that the gameplay sensibilities because
• 47:44
  like the world and the characters like
• 47:45
  that stuff just like wasn't there and I
• 47:47
  wonder if it would be worth it for them
• 47:49
  or like for the audience that they're
• 47:50
  they're chasing if it would be worth it
• 47:52
  for them to just like go in and find
• 47:55
  something a little bit more distinct. I
• 47:57
  don't know. Maybe not though. Maybe
• 47:58
  that's not what those kinds of players
• 47:59
  want, right?
• 48:00
  >> Yeah. I wonder I wonder if this is being
• 48:01
  made specifically to like hit on like
• 48:03
  the esports crowd which to my
• 48:05
  understanding do not care about.
• 48:06
  >> That's how those games look. That's they
• 48:08
  Yeah, they're very functional.
• 48:09
  >> And I know I'm sure there's like very,
• 48:11
  you know, uh competent lore for uh I
• 48:15
  don't know, Valerant or whatever. I know
• 48:17
  there's like different characters in
• 48:18
  that, but I don't know if the people who
• 48:19
  are like playing that competitively are
• 48:21
  sitting down and being like time to read
• 48:23
  about Veronica or whatever.
• 48:25
  >> Yeah, exactly. Okay. Um, the next award,
• 48:29
  the speedrun Kissing Award. This was to
• 48:31
  a little game that Christian and I
• 48:33
  played together at the mix. It's called
• 48:35
  Whisk. This is an indie game that is
• 48:37
  like level-based speedruns. You're
• 48:39
  trying to get to the end or in some
• 48:41
  cases trying to throw this like orb with
• 48:42
  a cat in it into the into the final
• 48:44
  gate. And it is a co-op speedrunning
• 48:47
  game in which all of your movement tech
• 48:49
  is based on helping each other out. So,
• 48:52
  like I go into a position to give
• 48:53
  Christian a boost and he runs into me
• 48:55
  and I throw him high into the air. I I
• 48:57
  run up to a ledge and Christian has to
• 48:59
  throw his little arm out to pull me up.
• 49:01
  And
• 49:03
  and it's funny because all of this this
• 49:04
  this tech is there. You can do this
• 49:06
  thing in this game where you face the
• 49:07
  other player and you just hold each
• 49:09
  other's hands, both of them. And every
• 49:11
  single time we would solve a little
• 49:12
  puzzle, we would hold hands and like
• 49:14
  spin around. And it was just it was this
• 49:15
  level of whimsy that that I was really
• 49:17
  taken with. But I think I was impressed
• 49:19
  with um having the speedrun formula
• 49:24
  applied to this like co-op trust
• 49:27
  platformer because now it's not just
• 49:29
  repeating the same actions and knowing
• 49:31
  exactly what you need to do. It is this
• 49:33
  version of that in which you also kind
• 49:36
  of have to lean on the sensibilities of
• 49:38
  the other person you're playing with and
• 49:40
  learn their rhythms too. It was like a
• 49:42
  really unique, clever take on a game
• 49:45
  that I've seen before. And uh again,
• 49:47
  like Christian and I just immediately
• 49:49
  understood and were was having fun with
• 49:51
  it. So
• 49:51
  >> I think anytime you make a video game
• 49:53
  that is co-op in any way,
• 49:56
  >> I think the like like that's
• 49:57
  collaborative rather is the thing you
• 50:00
  need to have in there is a way for you
• 50:01
  to interact and like high-five or
• 50:03
  whatever the person you're playing with
• 50:06
  >> because like even even just something
• 50:07
  simple as like being able to like hold
• 50:08
  hands. It's sweet and you're going to do
• 50:10
  it because you're like you're having fun
• 50:13
  doing this thing and and like achieving
• 50:14
  goals together. Uh it's funny. We were
• 50:16
  just talking about Portal 2 earlier.
• 50:18
  Portal 2 has that same thing. You can
• 50:19
  hug each other like and high five and
• 50:21
  play like rock paper scissors and all of
• 50:22
  that is like superfluous and doesn't
• 50:23
  matter to the game, but like when you
• 50:25
  achieve something, you want to celebrate
• 50:27
  and like high five and whatever. Um what
• 50:30
  was the game that we were playing? Oh, a
• 50:32
  marathon where we were like we did a
• 50:33
  marathon stream on on your Twitch
• 50:35
  channel yesterday and we were like there
• 50:36
  there should be like emotes like high
• 50:38
  five emotes or like hug emotes.
• 50:40
  >> Um it's a waste it's a wasted
• 50:43
  opportunity.
• 50:44
  >> Uh I also want to say that I'm I'm like
• 50:46
  a little concerned because we were
• 50:47
  having so much fun playing the Whisk
• 50:48
  demo, me and Christian that like the
• 50:50
  developers started taking pictures of us
• 50:53
  and I'm like I'm like worried about
• 50:54
  where those are going to pop up.
• 50:55
  >> It's going to be on the website on the
• 50:56
  Steam page. Look at how much fun you
• 50:58
  could be having. Oh. Oh, also you you
• 50:59
  mentioned Valerant when we were talking
• 51:01
  about Impulse and one of the lead
• 51:03
  developers on this game is an ex
• 51:04
  Valorant developer
• 51:05
  >> for Impulse.
• 51:07
  >> No, for Whisk.
• 51:09
  >> How uh how far to it is?
• 51:10
  >> I know. They they kept saying that as if
• 51:12
  they I think they thought I would have a
• 51:14
  higher reference point for like sure.
• 51:17
  All right. I was like, guys, I don't
• 51:18
  even know what that is. Like I don't
• 51:19
  even know what that you know I'm like
• 51:21
  I'm sorry.
• 51:22
  >> Is I mean also like is that relevant for
• 51:25
  the handholding game? I don't know. No,
• 51:28
  I think that's what they were they were
• 51:29
  into. That's what they liked about it.
• 51:31
  They were like, I bet you thought we do.
• 51:33
  >> Oh, okay. I see. I see.
• 51:34
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 51:37
  >> Um Jake, I would like to give the
• 51:39
  critical error bait award.
• 51:41
  >> Oh, yes. Yes. Highly coveted
• 51:43
  >> to out of words. Now, here's the thing.
• 51:45
  Between the two of us, we will sometimes
• 51:47
  read stuff and see stuff online, see
• 51:49
  discourses and see the reaction to
• 51:51
  discourses and we will say that's
• 51:52
  critical error bait. And what but that
• 51:54
  by that we mean people I think want us
• 51:57
  to talk about that and we're not going
• 51:58
  to talk about that out of words. This is
• 52:02
  a game that hits all the things I think
• 52:03
  that you and I really like in games in a
• 52:06
  way that we're it feels like did you
• 52:09
  make this for us?
• 52:11
  Literally the the developer starts
• 52:13
  talking to us and I'm like guys I'm
• 52:15
  going to be honest. there's a there's a
• 52:16
  chance that you saw us coming and you
• 52:18
  listened to the pod cuz literally the
• 52:20
  first thing the guy's saying is like you
• 52:22
  know a lot of people think that story is
• 52:25
  is just like in the plot and the cut
• 52:26
  scenes but we want to kind of achieve
• 52:28
  the the thematic point of view of the
• 52:30
  story through the gameplay itself. So
• 52:32
  there's stuff that people maybe don't
• 52:34
  pay as much attention to sitting there
• 52:37
  I'm like dog I'm like I'm with you I'm
• 52:39
  with you. So um this was at the Nintendo
• 52:41
  event. We played this on uh Switch
• 52:44
  >> two. Did we play it on Switch? Yeah, we
• 52:45
  did. We played with you. We got these
• 52:47
  great glasses cleaners.
• 52:49
  >> Yeah. And it was
• 52:52
  >> It's pretty good, actually.
• 52:53
  >> It's actually really good. All my other
• 52:54
  ones are kind of like nasty. Not nasty,
• 52:55
  but just like I've been used.
• 52:57
  >> What a what a delight. Anyway.
• 52:59
  >> Yeah. Um, so yeah, it's it's one of
• 53:01
  these um kind of co-op almost like an it
• 53:04
  takes two looking type thing, but um the
• 53:07
  the art style kind of has this high
• 53:09
  degree of integrity because they made
• 53:11
  all of this like stop motiony stuff to
• 53:13
  to to fill it out. But um yeah, it's I
• 53:16
  really like the premise of it's like two
• 53:19
  childhood friends and one of them is
• 53:21
  moving away and they like want to tell
• 53:23
  each other how they feel about each
• 53:24
  other before the move happens, but then
• 53:26
  they're kind of thrust into this fantasy
• 53:28
  world where their mouths are erased so
• 53:30
  they can't talk.
• 53:30
  >> Yeah. And
• 53:31
  >> that that's nice. That's nice.
• 53:33
  >> It is. It is. And it's like a really
• 53:34
  simple game in that like it is I think
• 53:37
  there's two buttons, jump and crouch.
• 53:40
  And
• 53:40
  >> Right.
• 53:41
  >> Like it's it's super simple. It's it's
• 53:43
  kind of a a what I would call as like a
• 53:46
  Marvel platformer. Not Marvel and the
• 53:48
  company Marvel, but like it's a game
• 53:49
  that you're meant to marvel at because
• 53:51
  of its fidelity. Um, similar to
• 53:53
  something like Bub where like
• 53:55
  >> it's going for something visually
• 53:58
  >> based on the fact that it's it was made
• 53:59
  in the real world. They actually had one
• 54:01
  of the puppets there for like these like
• 54:02
  frog puppets.
• 54:04
  >> Yeah, it was really really cool. And uh
• 54:06
  the the dev that we were talking to, he
• 54:10
  was saying talking about like the
• 54:11
  different like animation studios that
• 54:12
  they worked with and like whatever. And
• 54:14
  I was not familiar with them. Christian
• 54:16
  knew what he was talking about. Uh there
• 54:18
  was a something in the strings. In the
• 54:20
  two strings,
• 54:21
  >> Kubo and the two strings.
• 54:22
  >> Yeah. Okay. They worked with I don't
• 54:23
  know if it's like producers from that or
• 54:25
  if it's the studio that worked on that.
• 54:26
  What I'm getting at is fidelity wise,
• 54:29
  this thing looks great and it really
• 54:31
  sort of sells this little fantasy world
• 54:32
  that these characters are trapped in.
• 54:34
  Um, but as I think we may might have
• 54:36
  mentioned this on the bonus podcast that
• 54:37
  we did last week, patreon.com/critical
• 54:39
  error. Uh, it's a game about like two
• 54:42
  people who can't really talk and it
• 54:43
  starts out quite simply and so you don't
• 54:46
  really even need to talk to it. You're
• 54:48
  sitting there playing this game with
• 54:49
  with the partner that you're you're
• 54:50
  playing it with and one person's
• 54:52
  controlling the guy, one person's
• 54:53
  controlling the girl and it's so simple
• 54:55
  that you don't need to say anything. But
• 54:57
  as it goes and as it ratchet like up in
• 55:00
  intensity and introduces like new
• 55:02
  mechanics like there's this um like
• 55:04
  anti-gravity mechanic where one person
• 55:07
  has anti-gravity but they jump and if
• 55:09
  they hit a while they're in the air it
• 55:12
  switches to the other person. So you are
• 55:14
  kind of like magnetized to the ceiling
• 55:17
  as soon as you decide to jump. And as
• 55:20
  that starts going you have to talk and
• 55:22
  coordinate a little bit more. And it
• 55:24
  sort of pushes this point, this
• 55:25
  narrative point that the that the dev
• 55:27
  was talking about through gameplay that
• 55:30
  you got to have this communication with
• 55:32
  with the people in your life. You got to
• 55:34
  be able to say like talk about how
• 55:35
  you're feeling about each individual
• 55:37
  situation and all this stuff. And what a
• 55:39
  what a lovely little experience.
• 55:42
  >> Oh yeah. Best part of the demo is when I
• 55:44
  turn to you, we've got this like kind of
• 55:45
  like rigorous platforming challenge
• 55:47
  ahead of us and I just go, Peter, you're
• 55:49
  just going to have to trust me. I know.
• 55:50
  and we start doing the jumps and it's
• 55:52
  like just trust that the other person
• 55:54
  will hit the gravity button when they
• 55:55
  need to and you'll and you'll switch
• 55:57
  spots or whatever because that was the
• 55:58
  only way you couldn't you couldn't you
• 56:00
  had to run you had to keep running and
• 56:02
  keep moving so you did just had to have
• 56:03
  to believe
• 56:04
  >> there was no there was no way to
• 56:05
  complete that without the other per
• 56:06
  without like having to rely on the other
• 56:09
  person I don't know a very very
• 56:11
  excellent uh sort of marriage between
• 56:13
  gameplay and story in a way that uh uh
• 56:15
  absolutely you can tell that they
• 56:17
  thought about it a lot
• 56:20
  I would like to uh give myself an award.
• 56:23
  >> I think you should. I think you deserve
• 56:24
  it.
• 56:24
  >> Thank you.
• 56:26
  >> I'm giving myself the award for best
• 56:29
  wabishabi player of all time. Peter,
• 56:32
  what happened? What happened when we
• 56:34
  played wabi?
• 56:35
  >> All right. So, we're at the mix. And the
• 56:36
  mix is is sort of a thing happening
• 56:37
  adjacent to Summer GameFest where it is
• 56:40
  a a festival for indie games uh that's
• 56:43
  open to the public. So, people can go
• 56:44
  see indie games, play some games,
• 56:46
  whatever. It's great. Wabishabi
• 56:49
  is like a like a horse derby game where
• 56:53
  you are trying to train your horse to
• 56:57
  get around the track as fast as
• 56:58
  possible. However, it's not horses. It
• 57:02
  is sushi rolls.
• 57:06
  The game starts
• 57:08
  easy, normal, hard. Most people, I
• 57:10
  think, are picking normal. Not Jake
• 57:13
  Steyberg.
• 57:14
  >> No,
• 57:14
  >> Jake Cyberg picks hard. And uh the dev
• 57:17
  who was there, I think, kind of like
• 57:18
  prefaced by saying like, "I don't know
• 57:19
  if this is like fully like
• 57:21
  >> I don't know if this is the experience
• 57:22
  you're gonna want to have."
• 57:23
  >> She's like, "Yeah, you probably
• 57:24
  shouldn't do this." I was like, "You're
• 57:25
  like, "Let me try it. Let me try it.
• 57:26
  It's in the game, right? Let me try it."
• 57:28
  >> Yeah.
• 57:28
  >> Uh and there are three sushi rolls to
• 57:30
  pick.
• 57:31
  >> Uh each one graded for, you know, their
• 57:33
  different stats and whatever. And uh as
• 57:36
  is as is the sort of push and pull, the
• 57:38
  give and take of a lot of games, statbas
• 57:40
  based games, there's one that has very
• 57:42
  bad stats that
• 57:46
  has a very high level of potential. It's
• 57:49
  going to start out it's going to be a
• 57:50
  little rocky, but if you can get it
• 57:51
  there, what was it? The corn roll.
• 57:54
  >> The corn roll.
• 57:55
  >> The sweet corn roll. It can if you can
• 57:58
  get it past the first few races, it's
• 57:59
  going to uh be exponentially better than
• 58:02
  than it appears. I'm going to say that
• 58:04
  the developer straight up said that one
• 58:07
  >> and you said I'm doing this.
• 58:09
  >> I believed. I was like, "Look at him.
• 58:11
  Look at look at him."
• 58:13
  >> And you won two races in a row and the
• 58:16
  dev was like after you won the first
• 58:17
  one, the dev was like, "You shouldn't."
• 58:18
  That was weird. Not weird, but like
• 58:21
  that. How novel. You shouldn't have won
• 58:23
  that.
• 58:23
  >> It was awesome.
• 58:24
  >> And then you win the next one again. And
• 58:26
  she's basically like, "No one's done
• 58:27
  this. No one has no one's done this."
• 58:29
  And not on hard difficulty certainly.
• 58:31
  Um, so I guess
• 58:32
  >> when we were sitting there waiting for
• 58:34
  the I was waiting to play Wobbi and I
• 58:36
  saw two people in front of me first race
• 58:39
  immediately lost and I was like, "Okay,
• 58:41
  >> chumps."
• 58:41
  >> Yeah, chumps. Chumps. But the uh No, I
• 58:44
  believed in my sweet little high
• 58:46
  potential corn roll. And
• 58:48
  >> I got to say, I think the game was
• 58:50
  pretty fun. It's kind of like built
• 58:51
  around this mechanic of uh you know you
• 58:53
  you customize and you alter the stats of
• 58:56
  your little sushi guy in between races,
• 58:58
  but um it's built around this idea that
• 59:00
  you are racing along a sushi conveyor
• 59:02
  belt
• 59:03
  >> and people are coming in to it's like
• 59:04
  aliens are here to grab you.
• 59:06
  >> Yeah. It's like they'll tell you what
• 59:07
  the order is. So it's like, okay,
• 59:08
  they're going after a salmon roll, so
• 59:10
  I'm safe. But then in the little corner
• 59:11
  it would be like, okay, they're going
• 59:13
  after the cornrow. There's two of us. So
• 59:14
  now it's a 50% chance they come for me.
• 59:16
  Do I use my little like opponent stamina
• 59:19
  meter to to dash in case they come for
• 59:21
  me so that they miss? And
• 59:23
  >> I was I was really thinking about when I
• 59:25
  was using that that stamina meter. I was
• 59:27
  really thinking about it. And I think
• 59:28
  that and I think as I was using it, the
• 59:30
  dev was kind of being like, "Oh, you're
• 59:32
  not really supposed to." It's like, "Oh,
• 59:33
  now you're going to be in danger if the
• 59:35
  if the thing." And I was like, "No, no,
• 59:36
  no. I'm moving on the edge, baby." Yeah.
• 59:37
  Yeah. There's a lot of doubt. A lot of
• 59:39
  doubt coming.
• 59:40
  >> There was a lot of doubt, dude. Yeah. I
• 59:42
  was
• 59:42
  >> something if I may speak I think this
• 59:44
  speaks to something a little bit larger
• 59:45
  about like playing games in front of
• 59:46
  developers is that there's like a
• 59:48
  certain weird pressure that happens
• 59:51
  where games are so much about like let
• 59:53
  me just figure it out. Let me let me
• 59:54
  like experiment and try something on my
• 59:56
  own. And I think that the fear from
• 59:58
  these devs is like okay I only have you
• 1:00:00
  for like 15 minutes or maybe 30 minutes,
• 1:00:01
  maybe an hour, right? Uh
• 1:00:05
  >> I don't want you to walk away having a
• 1:00:07
  bad time. So, we we have to push you in
• 1:00:10
  the direction, but unfortunately being
• 1:00:12
  pushed in that direction makes me feel
• 1:00:14
  like I'm not actually playing. Uh uh no
• 1:00:18
  no no fault at no fault of his own. I
• 1:00:20
  think I sat down with that Thief
• 1:00:22
  remaster game and I think most people
• 1:00:24
  who are sitting down with it might not
• 1:00:26
  100% know what Thief is and know what
• 1:00:29
  like immersive sims are. So to
• 1:00:31
  counterbalance that, the the producer
• 1:00:34
  guy had a clipboard with the
• 1:00:36
  instructions on how to beat the level
• 1:00:38
  that he was reading to me as I was
• 1:00:40
  playing. And like that's not how you
• 1:00:42
  play these games. These games are not
• 1:00:43
  these guided experiences. It's it's
• 1:00:45
  about like being in the world like
• 1:00:47
  trying to figure it out. Similarly, I'm
• 1:00:48
  playing the Onimusha demo. They told me
• 1:00:50
  I could explore, run around the world,
• 1:00:51
  and I'm exploring, running around the
• 1:00:52
  world, and the dev next to me is like,
• 1:00:53
  "You're going to want to go over here."
• 1:00:54
  And I was like, "Right. No, I know. I I
• 1:00:57
  see the I see the way point. I see the
• 1:00:58
  objective marker. I'm I'm trying to live
• 1:01:00
  in the in the the gorgeous world you've
• 1:01:02
  created for me, friend. Um, and so I
• 1:01:05
  think yeah, with the Wabisawi demo, she
• 1:01:07
  kept being like, "Yeah, you're probably
• 1:01:08
  not gonna do this." And like, "It's in
• 1:01:09
  the game. You made the game. Let me play
• 1:01:10
  the game."
• 1:01:11
  >> And I got to say, though, she said my
• 1:01:12
  favorite thing after after I get done
• 1:01:14
  playing a demo, I always ask him, "Hey,
• 1:01:15
  platforms." And she goes, "PC." And I
• 1:01:17
  go, "Oh, and Switch." Oh.
• 1:01:22
  So, I'll be playing that one on my
• 1:01:23
  Switch.
• 1:01:24
  >> Uh, Jake, I got an award for you. Uh,
• 1:01:27
  >> the Feather by Sabrina Carpenter Award.
• 1:01:30
  >> Oh my god, this could only go to one
• 1:01:32
  game,
• 1:01:32
  >> of course. Demi and the Fractured Dream
• 1:01:35
  published by Annaperna Interactive. This
• 1:01:37
  is a uh
• 1:01:38
  >> Oh, I didn't realize that.
• 1:01:39
  >> Yeah. Yeah. This is a uh kind of mix
• 1:01:42
  between a Dark Souls Legend of Zelda
• 1:01:44
  thing, but the big hook of this game,
• 1:01:47
  >> you've got a big feather.
• 1:01:49
  >> Big feather.
• 1:01:50
  >> Should have been called Demi and the big
• 1:01:51
  feather to be honest with you.
• 1:01:52
  >> Oh, good. idea.
• 1:01:53
  >> You've got a big feather that you use I
• 1:01:55
  think in like Wind Waker has a similar
• 1:01:57
  thing. It's a big leaf I think where you
• 1:01:59
  are like waving this giant feather and
• 1:02:02
  it is blowing wind at things and you're
• 1:02:04
  using that to solve puzzles by pushing
• 1:02:06
  stuff around or there's like piles of
• 1:02:08
  dust on the ground and you're wave or
• 1:02:10
  sand and you're waving it and the sand
• 1:02:12
  clears and there's an item underneath.
• 1:02:13
  Um this is this is a cool game. It has
• 1:02:16
  this like cell-shaded art style and uh
• 1:02:19
  just truly lovely. Just had a great time
• 1:02:20
  with it. It didn't overstay its welcome
• 1:02:22
  in its demo. We got to play it. Put some
• 1:02:24
  stats, some points into some stats, some
• 1:02:26
  rolling stats, some health stats. Um,
• 1:02:28
  just a tightly designed little uh little
• 1:02:30
  sort of Zelda Dark Souls Z kind of game.
• 1:02:33
  This is one of those that we had no idea
• 1:02:35
  about before we went to go play it. And
• 1:02:36
  it's and it's like and now I'm just like
• 1:02:39
  really curious about when this comes out
• 1:02:41
  if it is able to kind of generate any
• 1:02:43
  buzz at all because I think you and I
• 1:02:44
  were both surprised at playing that demo
• 1:02:46
  and very quickly just being like, "Oh,
• 1:02:49
  there's some like smarts. There's some
• 1:02:50
  smarts here.
• 1:02:51
  >> So, yeah. Uh, two things. Things that
• 1:02:53
  happen in the background in the, um,
• 1:02:54
  Peter take care of this sort of
• 1:02:56
  situation. So, we played this at the
• 1:02:58
  Nintendo booth, uh, at their Nintendo
• 1:03:01
  sort of like, what would you call that?
• 1:03:03
  Not campus. Yeah. And so, we played this
• 1:03:05
  on the Switch 2. Uh, very excited to
• 1:03:07
  play it on the Switch 2 when it comes
• 1:03:08
  out. We were actually booked to play
• 1:03:10
  this uh, at the Annaperna booth. And
• 1:03:14
  they switched us from playing this game
• 1:03:16
  to doing a theater presentation for I'm
• 1:03:18
  forgetting what the name of it is. That
• 1:03:20
  dinosaur game. You know what I'm talking
• 1:03:21
  about?
• 1:03:22
  >> I do. The dinosaur game.
• 1:03:23
  >> The dinosaur game that was at the SGF
• 1:03:24
  showcase. Uh which we walked away kind
• 1:03:27
  of feeling a little uh not so hot on. I
• 1:03:31
  think it was a little too early to show
• 1:03:32
  us with any sort of like real certainty.
• 1:03:34
  I don't know. Um maybe not. But we we
• 1:03:37
  didn't walk away super wowed by that
• 1:03:39
  game. But for whatever reason, they were
• 1:03:41
  like, "No, no, don't play the game
• 1:03:42
  that's really good." and like coming out
• 1:03:44
  soon. Sit in this theater and watch this
• 1:03:47
  other game. And I understand why. You
• 1:03:48
  know, it's a big marquee game for them,
• 1:03:49
  I guess. But yeah, were you gonna say
• 1:03:50
  something?
• 1:03:51
  >> I mean, in their defense, I what I
• 1:03:53
  really needed at that point in time was
• 1:03:54
  to sit in a dark theater with a box of
• 1:03:57
  red vines.
• 1:03:57
  >> Yeah. No, that's actually true. Yeah.
• 1:04:00
  >> So, I think it uh I think it served its
• 1:04:01
  purpose.
• 1:04:02
  >> Yeah. I mean, the Fracture Dream,
• 1:04:03
  though, uh just a a lovely time.
• 1:04:05
  >> Can I tell you what the most slept on
• 1:04:08
  announcement is from Summer GameFest,
• 1:04:10
  >> please? The most slept on announcement
• 1:04:14
  comes to you from the misunderstood, the
• 1:04:18
  the
• 1:04:20
  just completely unfairly maligned
• 1:04:23
  Nintendo Direct.
• 1:04:24
  >> Okay.
• 1:04:26
  >> Dragon's Dogma 2, the most slept on
• 1:04:29
  announcement coming to Switch 2 with the
• 1:04:31
  Dark Arisen update.
• 1:04:33
  >> Yeah. What is that? What does that
• 1:04:35
  update do?
• 1:04:36
  >> Let me tell you. Let me tell you. So,
• 1:04:38
  here's here's the here's the back. Let
• 1:04:39
  me You're You're going to get thick
• 1:04:40
  right now.
• 1:04:41
  >> Wait, hold on a second. Are you telling
• 1:04:42
  me that Capcom is releasing another good
• 1:04:44
  game this year
• 1:04:45
  >> on Switch?
• 1:04:46
  >> Switch.
• 1:04:46
  >> Um, so years and years and years ago,
• 1:04:49
  there was a little game called Dragon's
• 1:04:50
  Dog
• 1:04:51
  >> that was, you know, a little cult a cult
• 1:04:53
  classic, kind of a favorite amongst the
• 1:04:55
  people who know, you know, whatever. And
• 1:04:57
  it doesn't really reach any kind of
• 1:04:59
  mainstream success or or become
• 1:05:00
  something that people are really
• 1:05:02
  comfortable recommending and praising
• 1:05:04
  until it comes out with this
• 1:05:05
  gamechanging update full of all sorts of
• 1:05:08
  improvements and content called Dragon's
• 1:05:11
  Dogma Dark Arisen.
• 1:05:14
  >> Now, Dragon's Dogma 2 came out years ago
• 1:05:18
  on the on the PlayStations on every, you
• 1:05:20
  know, wherever you play your video
• 1:05:21
  games. And I thought it was over. I
• 1:05:23
  thought it was in the dust. Here they
• 1:05:25
  are at this Nintendo Direct. Dragon
• 1:05:27
  Sagma 2 is coming to the Nintendo Switch
• 1:05:29
  2. An announcement glorious enough in
• 1:05:32
  its own right. I love Dragon Sogma 2.
• 1:05:34
  And they have the G to say actually it's
• 1:05:37
  Dragon's Dogma 2 Dark Arisen. So they're
• 1:05:41
  back. Who knows? Who knows what what all
• 1:05:43
  is going to be included in this, but
• 1:05:44
  they know what it signals.
• 1:05:46
  >> Okay.
• 1:05:48
  >> They know it signals something big. And
• 1:05:50
  the people who know Ball are extremely
• 1:05:52
  excited about this. I'm sure the Darker
• 1:05:54
  Risen update is going to come to the
• 1:05:56
  PlayStation whatever versions of Dragon
• 1:05:58
  Saga as well. But I just I just cannot
• 1:06:00
  believe that this is when when people
• 1:06:01
  talk about Elder Scrolls, when people
• 1:06:03
  talk about these big fantasy RPGs, all
• 1:06:05
  the [ __ ] that they love, I'm like, you
• 1:06:07
  garbage garbage in the face of Dragon's
• 1:06:10
  Dogma. And now if if Nintendo fans give
• 1:06:13
  this game a shot, they will really
• 1:06:15
  appreciate it. I also think that the
• 1:06:16
  trailer for this game that was in the
• 1:06:18
  Nintendo Direct was really good. Showed
• 1:06:20
  a lot of a lot of the good juice of
• 1:06:22
  Dragons Dogm as well. So, yes.
• 1:06:23
  >> So, okay, a few things. Thing one is I
• 1:06:26
  uh recently
• 1:06:28
  >> reddownloaded Dragon's Dogma onto my
• 1:06:30
  Dragons Dogma 2 on my PS5. Haven't
• 1:06:32
  opened it again, but it was because I I
• 1:06:34
  had to play a bunch of Crimson Desert
• 1:06:35
  for guide stuff.
• 1:06:36
  >> Oh, sure. Yeah.
• 1:06:37
  >> And that is a game that uh
• 1:06:41
  this is maybe not great for Crimson
• 1:06:43
  Desert, but good for Dragon Sogma is
• 1:06:45
  every second I was playing Crimson
• 1:06:47
  Desert, I was like, I wish this was
• 1:06:49
  Dragon's Dogma. I really I really wish I
• 1:06:51
  was just playing Dragon Sagma 2. So
• 1:06:53
  download that. Haven't jumped back into
• 1:06:55
  it.
• 1:06:56
  On Switch 2 though.
• 1:06:59
  On Switch 2 though. Might might not.
• 1:07:01
  >> Did you imagine?
• 1:07:02
  >> Oh, I'm imagining it right now. Does it
• 1:07:04
  have a date?
• 1:07:05
  >> It does. It's like October, I think.
• 1:07:07
  >> Okay. Okay. Can I say I'm like
• 1:07:09
  >> Yeah.
• 1:07:10
  >> doing a lot I'm doing a lot in my mind
• 1:07:12
  trying to figure out what Switch 2 game
• 1:07:14
  is going to be the game I bring on my
• 1:07:16
  honeymoon. And unfortunately, a lot of
• 1:07:18
  games are letting me down because
• 1:07:19
  they're coming out after. So, could have
• 1:07:21
  been Dragon Sagma 2. Unfortunately,
• 1:07:23
  coming out after I'm going to uh mid to
• 1:07:25
  early September. I was like, Fire Emblem
• 1:07:28
  Fortune Weave comes out when I get home.
• 1:07:30
  So, unfortunate. Um I'll find something.
• 1:07:33
  I'm sure I'll find some. There's like
• 1:07:34
  plenty of great stuff coming out around
• 1:07:35
  that.
• 1:07:36
  >> There's non-stop stuff coming out. Yes.
• 1:07:37
  Next week, we have Star Fox. We also
• 1:07:39
  have
• 1:07:39
  >> Who is next week, huh?
• 1:07:41
  >> Devil May Cry 5
• 1:07:42
  >> on Switch 2.
• 1:07:44
  >> On Switch 2. That was in the Nintendo
• 1:07:45
  Direct as well. I totally missed that.
• 1:07:48
  >> With with some new with some new stuff
• 1:07:49
  with some It's a special edition of the
• 1:07:50
  game and it's and it's inexpensive. It's
• 1:07:52
  like $30.
• 1:07:53
  >> Huge. Huge. I'll say this. Uh oh. Are
• 1:07:56
  you telling me another good Capcom game
• 1:07:58
  is coming out of the Nintendo Switch,
• 1:07:59
  too?
• 1:07:59
  >> Obviously, I'm going to BE THERE.
• 1:08:00
  OBVIOUSLY, THEY GOT ME. THEY GOT ME NOW.
• 1:08:02
  EVERY SINGLE ONE OF these I'm like,
• 1:08:03
  "Yeah, put it."
• 1:08:03
  >> I think I'm actually I think of all of
• 1:08:05
  the companies that I I'm like a pretty
• 1:08:06
  big mark for, I think Capcom has really
• 1:08:08
  turned me into just like a big fan of
• 1:08:10
  like whatever they're up to.
• 1:08:11
  >> I didn't start this way.
• 1:08:12
  >> No, I I didn't. I also didn't start this
• 1:08:14
  way. And now I'm like, "Yeah, Capcom's
• 1:08:16
  making it. Sure, I'll give it a shot."
• 1:08:17
  Um, so we talked before we started
• 1:08:19
  recording about the uh the most slept on
• 1:08:22
  announcement award.
• 1:08:24
  And we were going to say that I was
• 1:08:27
  going to actually be the decider of if
• 1:08:28
  this gets the award based on if I've
• 1:08:31
  seen people sleeping on this and if I
• 1:08:33
  even knew what you were talking about.
• 1:08:34
  Of course, I remembered that this
• 1:08:35
  happened.
• 1:08:36
  >> Not a damn person's saying this.
• 1:08:38
  >> Not a damn person putting respect on
• 1:08:41
  Dragon's Dog Mater's name.
• 1:08:44
  This this is those games that I think is
• 1:08:46
  really for the heads. I think people in
• 1:08:48
  games they talk about stuff all the you
• 1:08:50
  know it'll be like oh if you're a real
• 1:08:51
  gamer Mina the hollower and I'm like
• 1:08:53
  yeah okay WE ALL KNOW ABOUT WE ALL KNOW
• 1:08:56
  WE'RE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE but Dragons
• 1:08:58
  Dogma 2 when you talk about meaningful
• 1:09:00
  friction when you talk about real like a
• 1:09:03
  game that takes swings I think about the
• 1:09:05
  fact that and I think this is a story
• 1:09:07
  that a lot of people have there's like a
• 1:09:08
  trophy associated with this so like I
• 1:09:10
  imagine that a lot of people have done
• 1:09:11
  this.
• 1:09:12
  >> I'm playing Dragon Sagma 2. I'm running
• 1:09:13
  around. I'm fighting a griffin. I'm on
• 1:09:15
  the back of the griffin. I'm stabbing it
• 1:09:17
  in the back, Shadow of the Colossus
• 1:09:18
  style. And then the griffin
• 1:09:19
  >> begging for it to go down.
• 1:09:20
  >> The griffin [ __ ] off and it flies away
• 1:09:23
  with me on its back. And I like
• 1:09:25
  thousands of feet in the air. And I'm
• 1:09:27
  like, well, well, this is no good. I my
• 1:09:31
  grip meter isn't I don't remember if
• 1:09:32
  there I think there's like a grip
• 1:09:33
  stamina meter. I'm like, I don't have
• 1:09:36
  this in perpetuity. I don't have this
• 1:09:38
  forever. Uh launched me off, fell all
• 1:09:40
  the way to the ground. Like there was no
• 1:09:42
  like cut being like, "Well, you fell far
• 1:09:44
  enough, like time to die." It was like,
• 1:09:45
  "You are going to think about your
• 1:09:46
  actions now, aren't you?" Like, "Yeah, I
• 1:09:48
  guess so." Huh. Good game.
• 1:09:51
  >> And then and then if you really were
• 1:09:54
  getting nasty, you could actually cling
• 1:09:56
  to that griffin as it flies off and then
• 1:09:59
  just be really high.
• 1:10:00
  >> That's what I'm saying. It took It took
• 1:10:01
  me way up.
• 1:10:02
  >> Oh, you went Yeah. Yeah. My grip fell
• 1:10:04
  off. I didn't have enough grip and it
• 1:10:06
  like knocked. Yeah. Then you Yeah.
• 1:10:08
  >> It was great. It was great. Like what a
• 1:10:10
  moment where like uh sort of like
• 1:10:12
  dropped my jaw cuz I was like in no
• 1:10:14
  reality was I was I was like, "Oh, this
• 1:10:16
  thing is going to like fly to another
• 1:10:17
  part of the map." Like no way.
• 1:10:19
  >> Pawn system. The pawn system, it's so
• 1:10:22
  good. Cuz you know what's going to
• 1:10:23
  happen is that people on the Discord or
• 1:10:26
  whatever, they can put in my little code
• 1:10:28
  and then they can get my pawn in their
• 1:10:30
  game and it's like Jake's buddy.
• 1:10:32
  >> Did you make your pawn look like anyone
• 1:10:33
  specific?
• 1:10:34
  >> Yeah, my my pawn was gritty in in when I
• 1:10:36
  played Dragon Sag 2. So it was a big
• 1:10:38
  orange guy. So, my uh my character I
• 1:10:40
  made look like Timothy Shalamé and uh my
• 1:10:43
  uh my pawn looked like Florence Pew. I
• 1:10:45
  just seen Little Women and I was like,
• 1:10:47
  got to get these got to get these fools
• 1:10:48
  together here.
• 1:10:49
  >> In Dragon's Dogma, I like to be uh I
• 1:10:51
  like to use the magic stuff. So, I make
• 1:10:53
  sure that my pawn is somebody who's
• 1:10:54
  getting in the mix, who's taking some of
• 1:10:56
  the attention.
• 1:10:56
  >> Yeah, that makes sense. Makes sense.
• 1:10:58
  >> Um
• 1:10:59
  >> God,
• 1:11:01
  >> do we do other ones? The other ones of
• 1:11:03
  these
• 1:11:04
  >> I got a couple of stray that I want to
• 1:11:05
  throw.
• 1:11:06
  >> All right, go ahead.
• 1:11:06
  >> Just a couple of stray. I just want to
• 1:11:08
  give uh Nintendo Direct best campaign
• 1:11:10
  strategy. Just throwing that out there.
• 1:11:12
  Just I don't want to I don't want to
• 1:11:13
  spend a lot of a lot of time talking
• 1:11:14
  about this, but I feel like Nintendo has
• 1:11:16
  got me pressed under their thumb with
• 1:11:19
  this like we're going to announce a
• 1:11:21
  game. We're going to give you your
• 1:11:22
  trailers. We're going to give you that
• 1:11:23
  big overview trailer. Then it's going to
• 1:11:24
  come out. Then we're going to move on to
• 1:11:26
  the next one. Right now, we're in the
• 1:11:28
  the the the Eye of the Star Fox Storm.
• 1:11:30
  Then it's going to be that Splatoon
• 1:11:31
  game. Then it's going to be, you know, I
• 1:11:33
  don't know, Fire Emblem, whatever it is.
• 1:11:35
  And I just love being on the ride.
• 1:11:36
  Everybody out here complaining about,
• 1:11:38
  "Well, we didn't even really see the
• 1:11:40
  Ocarina of Time remake." I'm like,
• 1:11:42
  >> will the moment in the moment? Who
• 1:11:45
  cares?
• 1:11:46
  >> Can I So, here's the here's the thing
• 1:11:47
  about uh Nintendo's campaign strategies
• 1:11:50
  currently.
• 1:11:51
  >> Yeah,
• 1:11:51
  >> I do believe
• 1:11:54
  every other major publisher wishes they
• 1:11:56
  were doing it like them.
• 1:11:58
  >> Oh, did you see that the stats came out
• 1:12:00
  and more people watched the Nintendo
• 1:12:02
  Direct than the Summer GameFest
• 1:12:03
  showcase?
• 1:12:03
  >> That makes sense to me. Nintendo's the
• 1:12:06
  big dog, right? Yeah. Uh and and I think
• 1:12:08
  that the idea that they've been sort of
• 1:12:10
  like really leaning into over the last,
• 1:12:12
  I don't know, five years is like we're
• 1:12:14
  gonna have, you know, one of these every
• 1:12:16
  quarter, every six months or so, and
• 1:12:18
  we're just going to fill you in on the
• 1:12:19
  stuff that's happening between Nintendo
• 1:12:22
  Directs. And so with the Ocarina Time
• 1:12:24
  remake, no date on that. It's going to
• 1:12:25
  come. It'll come right now.
• 1:12:28
  >> They even said 2026.
• 1:12:29
  >> Yeah. But no, no specific date, right?
• 1:12:30
  But like Yeah. So 2026 is is the promise
• 1:12:33
  of hey this is happening later this
• 1:12:34
  year.
• 1:12:35
  >> Later this year we're going to see more
• 1:12:36
  about this. Yeah, it's happening
• 1:12:37
  happening. I I like it and I think uh
• 1:12:39
  other like they they seem to be
• 1:12:41
  uninterested in like in announcing dates
• 1:12:43
  unless they have like a for sure date
• 1:12:44
  for it. And um I think after something
• 1:12:47
  like Metroid Prime 4 uh was sort of a
• 1:12:50
  fiasco of like where is Metroid Prime 4
• 1:12:52
  for what 10 years or whatever. I think
• 1:12:54
  that um they kind of shifted the way
• 1:12:55
  they did their announcements to be just
• 1:12:58
  like what are the things that we can
• 1:12:59
  announce that will for sure be coming
• 1:13:01
  out in the next six months.
• 1:13:03
  >> And let me tell you something else. I
• 1:13:04
  think a lot of Nintendo fans like to do
• 1:13:06
  this performative, oh, I'm so I I wish
• 1:13:08
  Nintendo did it this other way thing,
• 1:13:11
  but I actually think that that is part
• 1:13:12
  of the design of how they do these
• 1:13:14
  announcements. Nintendo wants this
• 1:13:16
  little period of time where they show
• 1:13:19
  you six seconds of this game and now you
• 1:13:22
  have all of the Nintendo YouTubers
• 1:13:24
  making all these videos being like,
• 1:13:26
  "Here's what I think the Ocarina of Time
• 1:13:28
  remake is going to do." This is a this
• 1:13:29
  is a period a specific period of time
• 1:13:32
  before they kind of give you the next
• 1:13:34
  thing that's going to be a different era
• 1:13:35
  of discourse. Yeah. When we talk about
• 1:13:37
  like we've talked in the past about how
• 1:13:39
  like video game like games media
• 1:13:42
  participates in advertisements and and
• 1:13:45
  marketing. This is what we're talking
• 1:13:47
  about, right? In the same way that like
• 1:13:50
  uh Xbox is doing layoffs, whatever, and
• 1:13:52
  everyone's talking about the Xbox
• 1:13:54
  layoffs in the time that it's designated
• 1:13:56
  to talk about the layoffs, but they're
• 1:13:57
  also talking about all the previews that
• 1:13:59
  they're doing. Like, this is how the
• 1:14:01
  marketing thing works. it has been
• 1:14:02
  decided that this is the moment we're
• 1:14:04
  talking about the Ocarina of Time
• 1:14:06
  remake. It like and so and so we are. So
• 1:14:08
  like that I think that's a a just clear
• 1:14:10
  example of like hey here's how that
• 1:14:12
  works. Um yeah I I I I but I think their
• 1:14:16
  their strategy they're doing is is quite
• 1:14:17
  good.
• 1:14:19
  >> Peter I hit you with the most slept on
• 1:14:20
  announcement. Can I give you the most
• 1:14:22
  underrated announcement?
• 1:14:23
  >> Yeah, I have this one in front of me and
• 1:14:25
  I'm uh I'm curious to hear your thoughts
• 1:14:28
  on it. Yeah, go ahead.
• 1:14:29
  This is a huge announcement. Huge. And I
• 1:14:34
  feel like people saw it and they're
• 1:14:36
  like, "It was fine. It was No, no, it
• 1:14:38
  wasn't fine. It was [ __ ] awesome."
• 1:14:40
  And I'm talking about Kingdom Hearts 4
• 1:14:43
  coming on release day to Nintendo Switch
• 1:14:45
  2, getting getting an extended look at
• 1:14:48
  the gameplay at a at a bunch of fights,
• 1:14:50
  at a bunch of cutscenes, whatever. And I
• 1:14:52
  think a lot of people out here are like,
• 1:14:54
  "Why didn't you show me a Disney World?"
• 1:14:56
  And I'm like, "WHAT? THAT'S WHAT YOU YOU
• 1:14:59
  JUST WANT to see content cuz to me, you
• 1:15:01
  know what I was impressed by seeing this
• 1:15:02
  Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer.
• 1:15:04
  >> I was impressed by the fact that it
• 1:15:06
  looked like a real video game that there
• 1:15:07
  was there were gameplay. Uh
• 1:15:11
  >> so can I talk can I talk as someone who
• 1:15:13
  doesn't play Kingdom Hearts
• 1:15:14
  >> and has like no interest in Kingdom
• 1:15:16
  Hearts.
• 1:15:16
  >> Oh yeah, please.
• 1:15:17
  >> Uh I'm like also not a big Disney
• 1:15:18
  person. So like I like I kind of am
• 1:15:21
  allergic to the idea.
• 1:15:22
  >> What you're talking about is actually
• 1:15:24
  how you would get me to play Kingdom
• 1:15:25
  Hearts. is like, "Oh, does the game look
• 1:15:27
  fun or does it look like something you'd
• 1:15:29
  see at a kiosk at a mall?" And all the
• 1:15:32
  other Kingdom Hearts games for me look
• 1:15:33
  like a mall kiosk of video games. Uh,
• 1:15:36
  like I know Kingdom Hearts 3 was not
• 1:15:38
  necessarily beloved by the fans, but I'm
• 1:15:41
  like thinking about you're in like some
• 1:15:43
  like spaceship shooting at rocks and
• 1:15:46
  >> the gummy ship.
• 1:15:47
  >> The what?
• 1:15:48
  >> The gummy ship.
• 1:15:48
  >> It looks gummy. Like it it looks
• 1:15:52
  >> I'm looking at that and I'm going like
• 1:15:53
  this is not this is not
• 1:15:56
  >> Chip and Dale are in charge of the gummy
• 1:15:57
  ship.
• 1:15:59
  >> Theip Chip and Dale Rescue Ranger. Yeah.
• 1:16:03
  Yeah.
• 1:16:04
  >> This is what I mean. Or you got to show
• 1:16:07
  me the game. And so Kingdom Hearts 4 did
• 1:16:08
  show me the game. I'm still maybe not
• 1:16:11
  entirely on board,
• 1:16:13
  but I I do agree though that like this
• 1:16:16
  is this is what you do. Show me the
• 1:16:17
  game. it like we didn't see any Disney
• 1:16:19
  Worlds. There's going to be Disney
• 1:16:20
  Worlds in it. Don't worry.
• 1:16:22
  >> I think it was shocking shocking to see
• 1:16:25
  a trailer in this Nintendo Direct of
• 1:16:27
  Kingdom Hearts 4 looking like a video
• 1:16:29
  game that maybe is not that far away.
• 1:16:31
  That's what that's what Even if it is,
• 1:16:32
  it was shocking to see it in this state
• 1:16:34
  where I was like, "Wow, I bet you
• 1:16:36
  somebody could play that what they just
• 1:16:37
  showed us." Um, and I thought it looked
• 1:16:39
  quite good. And and I got to say kind of
• 1:16:41
  kind of boostering my or boosting my
• 1:16:44
  positive opinion of Kingdom Hearts 4 was
• 1:16:46
  that on my plane ride home, I did also
• 1:16:48
  download and play the demo on Switch 2
• 1:16:51
  for Kingdom Hearts 3 because that that
• 1:16:53
  whole collection is coming to Switch 2,
• 1:16:55
  which I am quite excited about that. But
• 1:16:57
  man, for anybody that hasn't played it,
• 1:16:59
  I didn't know that we were doing this
• 1:17:01
  kind of [ __ ] on Switch 2, to be honest
• 1:17:02
  with you. I can't believe how good that
• 1:17:04
  game looks on Switch 2 on handheld mode.
• 1:17:06
  I was like, whoa, we can just do this
• 1:17:08
  now. And the demo is crazy because it's
• 1:17:12
  one of those that you just like play the
• 1:17:14
  beginning of the game and I'm sitting
• 1:17:15
  there on that plane and I'm like, when
• 1:17:16
  are they going to stop me? When are they
• 1:17:18
  going to cut this off?
• 1:17:19
  >> There's something about playing a demo.
• 1:17:21
  I felt this way about slap out of it
• 1:17:23
  where like uh you're you spend the first
• 1:17:25
  little bit and you're solving these
• 1:17:26
  people's problems. And then as soon as
• 1:17:27
  you're done, I was like, "Cool, that's
• 1:17:28
  the end of the demo." And it's like,
• 1:17:29
  "No, no, there's more." You're like,
• 1:17:30
  "This is good. This is good."
• 1:17:31
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I highly recommend
• 1:17:33
  anybody that that's that's curious, even
• 1:17:35
  if you're like not a Kingdom Hearts head
• 1:17:36
  at all, even if you haven't played any
• 1:17:38
  of the other games, I would load up that
• 1:17:39
  three demo and just like skip every cut
• 1:17:41
  scene and just like jump in and start
• 1:17:42
  playing the game. And I think that'll
• 1:17:44
  give you a good taste. Man, I can't wait
• 1:17:46
  to have all those games on Switch 2. I
• 1:17:47
  think that's such such a fun
• 1:17:48
  announcement. But, um, but no, like
• 1:17:50
  Kingdom Hearts 4, whenever that comes
• 1:17:52
  out, it will be one of the biggest games
• 1:17:54
  of that year. And I'm I guess I was
• 1:17:56
  surprised at the lukewarm reception to a
• 1:18:00
  new trailer that I don't think anybody
• 1:18:01
  saw coming.
• 1:18:02
  >> Yeah. I mean, I don't know like
• 1:18:05
  this is a game that's been MIA for what
• 1:18:07
  years, right? When did when did that
• 1:18:08
  Kingdom Hearts 4 announcement happen? It
• 1:18:10
  was like like a game awards or something
• 1:18:12
  like that.
• 1:18:12
  >> Forever. It was forever ago. Yeah. Um,
• 1:18:14
  so yeah, so for something that's been
• 1:18:16
  MIA for so long that people have been so
• 1:18:17
  highly anticipated, I I would say I mean
• 1:18:19
  I saw some people like very excited
• 1:18:20
  about it, but I think largely people
• 1:18:22
  have not been uh
• 1:18:24
  something I might want to talk about in
• 1:18:25
  a future episode is that I feel like
• 1:18:27
  people are are too ready nowadays to
• 1:18:31
  they come out of the gate being like,
• 1:18:34
  I didn't like that thing. And they and
• 1:18:37
  they like think that they're doing
• 1:18:38
  something.
• 1:18:39
  >> Yes, I completely
• 1:18:40
  >> I've been noticing this I've been
• 1:18:41
  noticing this trend. I think there's
• 1:18:43
  there's like more respect in this faux
• 1:18:45
  critical opinion than there is in coming
• 1:18:47
  out of the presentation and just being
• 1:18:49
  like, "Oh, I liked it." You know what
• 1:18:50
  I'm talking about?
• 1:18:51
  >> All right, everyone. Lean in close.
• 1:18:53
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:18:55
  >> It's the same It's like the exact same.
• 1:18:59
  Actually, let me get closer.
• 1:19:01
  >> Yeah. Get closer. Get closer. Tell them.
• 1:19:03
  Tell them.
• 1:19:03
  >> So, it's the exact same sort of like
• 1:19:05
  thing that we experienced after watching
• 1:19:07
  the SGF showcase where I think critical
• 1:19:12
  is is shorthand for deep and smart in
• 1:19:17
  the same way that dark and heavy is
• 1:19:21
  shorthand for deep, emotional, good in
• 1:19:25
  video games. Does this make sense? Are
• 1:19:27
  are you on board with what I'm saying
• 1:19:28
  here? I'm 100% on board with what you're
• 1:19:30
  saying. And it's just I'm I'm watching
• 1:19:32
  people talk about their negative
• 1:19:34
  reactions to this Nintendo Direct and
• 1:19:35
  Peter, they're not they're not making
• 1:19:36
  any sense to me. They sound like raving
• 1:19:38
  lunatics. It's like they they'll
• 1:19:40
  literally be like, "Yeah, sure. I I
• 1:19:42
  mean, I liked every game in the
• 1:19:43
  showcase. I'm gonna play them. They look
• 1:19:45
  like good games, but I just bad."
• 1:19:49
  >> It's like It's like, "No, they got to we
• 1:19:51
  got to figure something out."
• 1:19:52
  >> Yeah. There's There's something in
• 1:19:53
  between here. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:19:55
  >> All right. Let's just Let's back up a
• 1:19:56
  little bit.
• 1:19:56
  >> All right.
• 1:19:57
  >> Yeah. All right. Thanks for
• 1:20:00
  uh Peter, is is that all we got? What is
• 1:20:02
  the
• 1:20:02
  >> It's not all we got. Of course, it's not
• 1:20:05
  what What do you got for me? I got the
• 1:20:07
  critical error nation, Jake. Oh, I would
• 1:20:10
  like to tell you about the members of
• 1:20:12
  the critical error nation. These are the
• 1:20:13
  people supporting us on
• 1:20:15
  patreon.com/critical
• 1:20:17
  error. The $5 tier, you get all of our
• 1:20:19
  bonus content. We've done a lot of bonus
• 1:20:21
  content. Uh, this episode uh spawned
• 1:20:23
  from us talking about how we could talk
• 1:20:25
  more about Summer GameFest after going
• 1:20:27
  and doing our bonus episode, talking a
• 1:20:29
  little bit more about um some of the
• 1:20:31
  more like minute feelings about it as
• 1:20:32
  content creators, as uh members of Games
• 1:20:35
  Media ourselves, and what that was
• 1:20:37
  actually like. That's all that's all
• 1:20:39
  there. That episode's there. Uh that was
• 1:20:41
  a fun one recently. It's also that's the
• 1:20:43
  only episode we've ever done in person.
• 1:20:45
  >> You you Christian was there, which is a
• 1:20:47
  great time. Someone left a comment, by
• 1:20:48
  the way, on um my uh video that I made
• 1:20:52
  that same night for my YouTube channel,
• 1:20:54
  a bonus video. Someone was like, "These
• 1:20:55
  guys are fun. You should do more
• 1:20:56
  collaborations with them." And I was
• 1:20:58
  like, "Oh,
• 1:21:01
  oh yeah. Always all the time I'm doing
• 1:21:04
  collaborations with these two guys." Um
• 1:21:06
  yeah. So, if you want to see that,
• 1:21:07
  patreon.com/critical
• 1:21:09
  error. I would like to give a special
• 1:21:10
  shout out, however, to members of the
• 1:21:12
  Jake and Peter tier. This is the highest
• 1:21:14
  tier on our Patreon. This is Andrew
• 1:21:17
  Bulkar, Evan Snee, Mitch Dyer, and
• 1:21:19
  Robert Quesada. Thank you so much for
• 1:21:22
  supporting us monetarily. It's how we
• 1:21:24
  went. It's It's like literally how we
• 1:21:26
  went. It's how we were able to have
• 1:21:27
  Christian there with us who um if you
• 1:21:30
  didn't catch the the bonus episode, got
• 1:21:32
  a lot of uh uh flowers, not only for his
• 1:21:35
  uh I mean just great like takes.
• 1:21:37
  Christian's a very very intelligent guy.
• 1:21:39
  Um, but also he edited the the pod
• 1:21:42
  together and he did a lot of uh sort of
• 1:21:43
  extra, you know, additional stuff on top
• 1:21:45
  of it. Raise the bar. Raise the bar. And
• 1:21:48
  uh that's how we were able to do that
• 1:21:49
  through the support of people like our
• 1:21:51
  Jake and Peter tier as well as the
• 1:21:52
  members of the critical error nation at
• 1:21:54
  large.
• 1:21:55
  >> Yes. Thank you so much to the members
• 1:21:57
  specifically of the critical error
• 1:21:58
  royalty level as well. Um, as we do
• 1:22:01
  every week, we are going to play a sound
• 1:22:03
  thanking those members. Right now, I
• 1:22:05
  decided for this week's sound, I was
• 1:22:07
  going to spend a not insignificant
• 1:22:09
  amount of time trying to create like
• 1:22:12
  like a Windows screen saver with
• 1:22:15
  everybody's names bouncing around. I'm
• 1:22:17
  obviously recording this before I
• 1:22:18
  actually do that, so you will be able to
• 1:22:20
  see in the video uh how it turned out.
• 1:22:23
  And maybe it didn't turn out at all. Uh
• 1:22:25
  we'll see. We'll see. But thank you so
• 1:22:27
  much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to
• 1:22:28
  the members of Critical Air Royalty. I'm
• 1:22:30
  talking about Andrew Bulkar, Ancel,
• 1:22:32
  Trey, Evans, Snee, Mitch Dyer, Monero,
• 1:22:34
  Robert Kesada, Connor Trulof, Danny
• 1:22:36
  Disaster, James Pierre Reed, Jacob
• 1:22:38
  Richter, Jared Kuseno, Cold Ramen, Grig,
• 1:22:41
  Cole, Kalech, Chow, Shin, Pinky Oats,
• 1:22:44
  Thick Dick, Mystic, Alex Sims,
• 1:22:46
  Non-existent, Mgley, Josh Day, Robotsi,
• 1:22:49
  Teor Rio, and Barrett Courtourtney.
• 1:22:52
  Thank you so much everybody. The
• 1:22:54
  Critical Air Nation grows and grows
• 1:22:56
  every week. I would love to see you on
• 1:22:59
  there and read your name next time.
• 1:23:01
  Thank you so much.
• 1:23:02
  >> Got a pre-written piece for you.
• 1:23:03
  >> Oh, I can't wait.
• 1:23:04
  >> I was just in Las Vegas this week.
• 1:23:06
  >> Excellent.
• 1:23:08
  >> I know I'm supposed to hate you,
• 1:23:11
  but I'm standing
• 1:23:13
  frozen, marveling in the beauty of the
• 1:23:15
  distant sphere of Las Vegas. An enormous
• 1:23:18
  globe sitting on the horizon of the
• 1:23:20
  skyline. It lights up in a kaleidoscopic
• 1:23:23
  mosaic. Enamored, I pull out my phone to
• 1:23:25
  try and take a photograph. But like the
• 1:23:27
  moon, my camera can't quite seem to
• 1:23:29
  grasp it. Something's always wrong when
• 1:23:32
  I look back at the pictures. The
• 1:23:34
  beautiful go gold mosaic disappears
• 1:23:36
  before my eyes, and I stand watching as
• 1:23:39
  it transforms into
• 1:23:42
  an ad for a beer. I've never heard of.
• 1:23:44
  The name of the drink cut off by the
• 1:23:46
  magnitude of the slopes of the side of
• 1:23:47
  the sphere. A logo pulled too thinly
• 1:23:50
  across its hemisphere. I have no idea
• 1:23:52
  what it says, what product it is trying
• 1:23:55
  to blast into my face. I'm marveling at
• 1:23:58
  a billboard like an idiot. I know. I
• 1:24:02
  know. I'm supposed to hate the sphere.
• 1:24:04
  It is an affront to nature and the
• 1:24:06
  earth, consuming more power than a
• 1:24:07
  neighborhood block of houses polluting
• 1:24:09
  the light with its millions of
• 1:24:10
  microscopic bulbs. All in the name of a
• 1:24:13
  beer company I couldn't recognize. In
• 1:24:15
  the name of an ad for a band far past
• 1:24:17
  its prime, Metallica, it's an eyesore.
• 1:24:21
  nothing more than a thinly veiled
• 1:24:23
  billboard that sometimes looks like
• 1:24:24
  gorgeous green ocean water or what I
• 1:24:26
  could only describe as hundreds of
• 1:24:28
  purple and blue cells performing mitosis
• 1:24:30
  splitting apart from one another under
• 1:24:32
  the oppressive desert sun in fleeting
• 1:24:35
  moments the sphere is stunningly
• 1:24:37
  gorgeous.
• 1:24:38
  Am I looking at art or an ad or maybe
• 1:24:42
  both? Can I be let down by the artistic
• 1:24:46
  integrity of a billboard? I ask myself,
• 1:24:48
  watching the sphere illuminate into a
• 1:24:50
  soccer ball as it advertises the World
• 1:24:52
  Cup. At least I think from the fraction
• 1:24:55
  of its logo that faces me. It's
• 1:24:58
  complicated being drawn to a beauty that
• 1:25:00
  is keen to remind you that it is a
• 1:25:01
  product, a monument to greed, and not
• 1:25:04
  even an effective one. My father and I
• 1:25:07
  book tickets to see the Wizard of Oz
• 1:25:09
  inside the sphere.
• 1:25:11
  >> It grows larger and more magnificent as
• 1:25:13
  we walk to it. Inside the sphere is just
• 1:25:15
  as overwhelming as its exterior. It is a
• 1:25:17
  hollow globe filled with seeds.
• 1:25:20
  The film starts and is immediately
• 1:25:23
  impressive, filling up the entirety of
• 1:25:25
  the inside of the sphere with one of
• 1:25:27
  cinema's most important achievements.
• 1:25:29
  They blow wind inside the room as the
• 1:25:31
  tornado whisks past Dorothy and whisks
• 1:25:33
  her away. It swirls around its curled
• 1:25:35
  curved edges and blows my hair back. I
• 1:25:37
  am smiling, marveling at the experience
• 1:25:40
  of seeing something so novel.
• 1:25:42
  There's something behind my smile,
• 1:25:44
  however. Heartbreaking disappointment.
• 1:25:46
  You see, roughly two seconds into the
• 1:25:48
  film, I realized that it was leaning
• 1:25:50
  heavily on generative AI to upscale the
• 1:25:52
  image to project it onto such a massive
• 1:25:54
  three-dimensional screen. A classic film
• 1:25:56
  of integrity filtered through corporate
• 1:25:58
  garbage. Moments of artistic genius made
• 1:26:01
  fleeting by greed.
• 1:26:03
  I want to hate the experience of seeing
• 1:26:05
  a classic work of art bastardized by the
• 1:26:07
  inside of a billboard. But I would be
• 1:26:10
  lying to you if I said there weren't
• 1:26:11
  moments of marvel and joy despite its
• 1:26:13
  disposition. Leaves were thrown into the
• 1:26:15
  gusts of wind that filled the sphere as
• 1:26:17
  my father and I sat and watched a
• 1:26:18
  tornado projected onto a screen 10
• 1:26:20
  stories tall.
• 1:26:22
  But when I think about seeing the Wizard
• 1:26:24
  of Oz at the sphere, when I think of the
• 1:26:26
  sphere as it sits on the edge of the
• 1:26:28
  strip, I feel foolish for imagining that
• 1:26:30
  it might be something a little more pure
• 1:26:32
  of heart. A work of art that exists to
• 1:26:34
  shine something novel and stunning into
• 1:26:36
  the night. Not a billboard with ads I
• 1:26:39
  can't read and a hollow interior full of
• 1:26:41
  great films made a shell of their former
• 1:26:43
  glory. Maybe I'll just start staring up
• 1:26:47
  at the sun instead.
• 1:26:49
  Thank you.
• 1:26:50
  You ever seen the sphere?
• 1:26:52
  >> I know about the sphere.
• 1:26:54
  >> It's kind of cool and also
• 1:26:57
  >> kind of shitty in a lot of ways.
• 1:27:00
  >> Imagine explaining the sphere to an
• 1:27:02
  alien. So, I was actually as I was
• 1:27:04
  writing this, I was like trying to
• 1:27:06
  explain it more if someone didn't know
• 1:27:08
  what it was. And I'm like, you're just
• 1:27:09
  going to have to look this up. Like I
• 1:27:11
  >> like,
• 1:27:12
  >> if you don't know what the sphere is,
• 1:27:14
  you're just you just have to like look
• 1:27:15
  up what this is. Um,
• 1:27:16
  >> it's a really giant TV, but it's a
• 1:27:18
  sphere.
• 1:27:18
  >> But it's a sphere. And isn't that cool?
• 1:27:20
  But then also like what do they use it
• 1:27:22
  for cool stuff? Like no, it's like
• 1:27:25
  >> it's like beer logos.
• 1:27:27
  >> It's Yeah, it's just it's just ads. It's
• 1:27:28
  ads.
• 1:27:29
  >> It's ads. And I don't know. I felt
• 1:27:30
  stupid because I was like when I saw it
• 1:27:32
  for the first time it was doing an ad
• 1:27:33
  and I was like oh
• 1:27:35
  >> and I was like why did I even expect it
• 1:27:37
  wouldn't be like that's so stupid
• 1:27:38
  >> I guess so.
• 1:27:39
  >> Yeah. And then the Wizard of Oz man it
• 1:27:41
  was like what a crazy thing to be like
• 1:27:44
  oh this is really cool and also [ __ ]
• 1:27:46
  terrible like very bizarre. Very very
• 1:27:48
  bizarre.
• 1:27:49
  >> Both PlayStation and Microsoft have both
• 1:27:52
  taken over the sphere at some point in
• 1:27:53
  time. Nintendo has never taken over the
• 1:27:55
  sphere.
• 1:27:57
  >> I think that says something doesn't it?
• 1:27:59
  You think there's a bit of desperation
• 1:28:01
  around the sphere?
• 1:28:02
  >> I think that I think Okay, real quick.
• 1:28:04
  If Nintendo were to take over the
• 1:28:05
  sphere, what would they use it for?
• 1:28:07
  >> Kirby.
• 1:28:08
  >> Oh, that's better than mine. I was going
• 1:28:09
  to say a Goron.
• 1:28:10
  >> I mean I mean in for re for real, it
• 1:28:14
  would be like the Mario movie.
• 1:28:15
  >> Oh, yeah. 100%. Dude, this the sphere is
• 1:28:18
  the Mario movie of buildings. Uh
• 1:28:21
  >> yeah. Yeah, I think so. I think so.
• 1:28:24
  >> Yeah. Or maybe you have a giant
• 1:28:24
  Pokéball. I can see that too.
• 1:28:26
  >> Oh, yeah. Pokemon's good. Yeah, Pokemon
• 1:28:28
  on the sphere. Yeah,
• 1:28:28
  >> I could see Pokemon doing something on
• 1:28:30
  the sphere.
• 1:28:30
  >> Yeah, I think that's actually
• 1:28:33
  okay.
• 1:28:34
  >> Yeah, the sphere the sphere is um the
• 1:28:37
  sphere is dark.
• 1:28:39
  >> The sphere is kind of dark. There's like
• 1:28:40
  a like Whoa, that's kind of cool. And
• 1:28:42
  also just like this like pit in your
• 1:28:44
  stomach about it for me. Like
• 1:28:47
  >> I think somebody should write a movie
• 1:28:48
  about like the demon that lives in the
• 1:28:50
  sphere.
• 1:28:52
  >> Yeah, that's good. That's good. And the
• 1:28:54
  Yes. And there's an I was thinking about
• 1:28:57
  I was thinking about the other day. I
• 1:28:58
  said this is Sarah. Are you familiar
• 1:29:00
  with uh these rumors that Taylor Swift
• 1:29:02
  is having her wedding in Madison Square
• 1:29:03
  Garden?
• 1:29:04
  >> Is that true?
• 1:29:05
  >> That's the I I think it is, but I don't
• 1:29:07
  know.
• 1:29:08
  >> Crazy. Okay.
• 1:29:09
  >> Okay. I was telling Sarah that somebody
• 1:29:11
  needs to get on this immediately. And
• 1:29:13
  that should be the premise of the next
• 1:29:15
  Knives Out movie.
• 1:29:16
  >> Oh, that's so good.
• 1:29:18
  >> Somebody gets murdered in Madison Square
• 1:29:20
  Garden. Yes. During Taylor Swift's
• 1:29:22
  wedding, so they lock everybody in.
• 1:29:24
  >> Yes. in the middle of New York City.
• 1:29:26
  >> Oh, that's actually really, really good.
• 1:29:28
  >> I know. But now I'm thinking you could
• 1:29:30
  do something similar with
• 1:29:31
  >> the sphere. Yes. And I think this fear
• 1:29:34
  thing could actually happen because I
• 1:29:35
  have to imagine Taylor Swift does not
• 1:29:36
  want the story of her wedding to be
• 1:29:37
  like, "Oh, and it's also a murder
• 1:29:38
  mystery, right?"
• 1:29:39
  >> I don't think they could do anything to
• 1:29:41
  stop you from writing a movie in which
• 1:29:42
  they're like a blonde singer.
• 1:29:45
  >> Yeah. Taylor Swift specifically. Yeah.
• 1:29:47
  No, 100%.
• 1:29:48
  >> I think I think you could get right up
• 1:29:49
  to that where everybody would know
• 1:29:51
  exactly what you were doing and it would
• 1:29:52
  be awesome.
• 1:29:53
  >> Yeah, I agree. I uh
• 1:29:54
  >> in a big basketball arena. That'd be
• 1:29:56
  crazy.
• 1:29:57
  >> It's a It's very funny that she would
• 1:29:58
  get married there at all. What a what a
• 1:30:00
  like
• 1:30:01
  is she going to invite people? Like I
• 1:30:04
  >> can I tell you can I tell you the
• 1:30:05
  funniest part about this,
• 1:30:07
  >> please? The the first time I saw this
• 1:30:09
  news story, the reason that they were
• 1:30:12
  like she wants to get married at Madison
• 1:30:13
  Square Garden was for the top tier
• 1:30:15
  security and privacy.
• 1:30:17
  >> Is that so?
• 1:30:21
  I truly thought that that was so funny
• 1:30:25
  because I'm like, yeah, in the in the in
• 1:30:27
  the middle of the most populated city in
• 1:30:30
  America.
• 1:30:31
  >> Yeah. In an incredibly publicized place.
• 1:30:33
  So like public place. I guess it's a
• 1:30:35
  private place, but you know what I mean.
• 1:30:37
  I mean, my wedding felt private and
• 1:30:40
  secure. Like
• 1:30:42
  >> they're not going to take all the seats
• 1:30:43
  out.
• 1:30:43
  >> No. Right.
• 1:30:44
  >> SO THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING. So that's
• 1:30:45
  what I'm asking here. So, is she she's
• 1:30:47
  going to get married and like obviously
• 1:30:48
  people are going to come because you
• 1:30:49
  invite people to your wedding, but like
• 1:30:51
  >> is it an Madison Square Garden amount of
• 1:30:54
  people? Yeah, that's the question. Like,
• 1:30:56
  are they going to have like cameras on
• 1:30:57
  her to like project on the screens to
• 1:30:59
  see like
• 1:31:00
  >> I shouldn't have brought this up.
• 1:31:01
  >> This is insane.
• 1:31:02
  >> It's a similarly dark event. It's just
• 1:31:04
  like the sphere.
• 1:31:05
  >> Yes, it's the dark.
• 1:31:06
  >> It's just like the sphere. There's
• 1:31:07
  something about Madison Square Garden
• 1:31:09
  wedding that just that does like
• 1:31:10
  >> That's insane.
• 1:31:12
  >> It curdles the blood. It's It's
• 1:31:14
  >> It does.
• 1:31:16
  >> Yeah.
• 1:31:16
  >> Well,
• 1:31:17
  >> anyway. Hey.
• 1:31:18
  >> Anyways,
• 1:31:19
  >> like and subscribe. We don't say that
• 1:31:22
  enough, apparently.
• 1:31:24
  Yeah. Thank you to
• 1:31:25
  >> Oh, yeah. And and comment anything for
• 1:31:28
  the love of God. My goodness. Anything.
• 1:31:30
  Anything.
• 1:31:30
  >> PLEASE. PLEASE.
• 1:31:32
  >> I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.