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We Already Know How This Goes · Critical Error

• 0:00
  GTA release date discourse, GTA
• 0:04
  discourse,
• 0:05
  >> GTA satire discourse, GTA AI discourse,
• 0:10
  GTA physics. A critical error is an
• 0:14
  error which the OS cannot reasonably
• 0:16
  ignore. Shake Steinberg is a streamer
• 0:19
  and writer and certified yapper.
• 0:21
  Complimentary Peter Hunt spit tech is a
• 0:25
  YouTuber, journalist, and certified
• 0:27
  yapper. Derogatory. These are the things
• 0:30
  they cannot reasonably ignore. [music]
• 0:32
  >> Jake, a new year is upon us. 2026.
• 0:38
  I hear that date and I hear 2020
• 0:43
  critic.
• 0:45
  Uh it's a new year, which means that
• 0:47
  there's a whole lot of new video games
• 0:49
  that are coming out. And uh here's the
• 0:51
  thing, man. When I look ahead at all of
• 0:55
  the games that are coming out, I don't
• 0:57
  see games anymore.
• 0:59
  I see talking points online.
• 1:02
  [laughter]
• 1:03
  It's like at the end of the Matrix one
• 1:05
  where he sees the code. He sees it all
• 1:08
  in front of him. He can see past the
• 1:11
  facade.
• 1:12
  >> It's it's it's discourse, Jake.
• 1:15
  >> It's discourse. And I think right now
• 1:18
  would be a really good time for us to
• 1:21
  make some called shots. What do you
• 1:22
  think about that?
• 1:23
  >> I love this. You know, we've done six
• 1:25
  monthsish of critical error. We're
• 1:27
  familiar with the landscape. We've
• 1:29
  gotten our feet wet. Now, can we look
• 1:31
  out at the year ahead of us and almost
• 1:34
  try to predict what we will be forced to
• 1:37
  make episodes about in the coming year?
• 1:40
  What are the people going to be saying?
• 1:42
  Yes. What? Because that's the thing is
• 1:43
  is is every I mean this was one of the
• 1:45
  final episodes of the year that we did
• 1:46
  where it's like no I think there was
• 1:48
  like a lot like people cared more about
• 1:50
  talking like the discourse surrounding
• 1:51
  games all the time than like actually
• 1:53
  playing and talking about the games.
• 1:54
  >> And I think that uh if I had to guess
• 1:57
  that trend is going to continue.
• 1:58
  >> U we're going to take a look at at our
• 2:01
  predictions for the biggest discourses
• 2:03
  of 2026.
• 2:06
  Before we get to that though, I would
• 2:07
  like to tell the people listening to
• 2:09
  this episode, be it on YouTube, on uh a
• 2:11
  podcast player of your choice, wherever,
• 2:13
  that there is an additional bonus
• 2:16
  episode where instead of doing Discord
• 2:20
  predictions or discourse predictions, we
• 2:22
  do predictions for the games industry
• 2:24
  for 2026. I think it's pretty good,
• 2:26
  Jake. It is my understanding you have a
• 2:27
  highlight reel of that right now.
• 2:29
  >> Yeah, just general predictions. This is
• 2:30
  the stuff that the people want to know.
• 2:32
  What games are going to get announced?
• 2:33
  What surprises do all these video game
• 2:35
  companies have in store for $5 and up
• 2:38
  patrons? That is it. $5. You go to
• 2:40
  patreon.com/critical error right now.
• 2:43
  You can get this bonus podcast and every
• 2:45
  other bonus podcast we have ever
• 2:46
  recorded. You want a little taste of the
• 2:49
  kinds of stuff that we were predicting
• 2:50
  in that 2hour bonus episode?
• 2:53
  >> My mouth is watering.
• 2:54
  >> Here it is. Pokemon Generation 10
• 2:56
  receives the highest [music] meta score
• 2:59
  for a Pokémon game ever. Mario Kart/
• 3:02
  Mario Sports spin-off movie or TV show.
• 3:05
  >> Phil [music] Spencer resigns.
• 3:07
  >> That is actually permanent at the Game
• 3:09
  Awards.
• 3:09
  >> Masaherro Sakcharai is not involved in
• 3:12
  the new Super Smash Brothers.
• 3:13
  >> Xbox will cease the production of all of
• 3:15
  its games except for Call of Duty.
• 3:16
  >> Wario reveals himself in the Mario
• 3:19
  Galaxy movie.
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  >> Jake, we've made him wait for it long
• 3:22
  enough. We both have predictions for
• 3:24
  Discourse for 2026. Want to hit me with
• 3:26
  your first one?
• 3:27
  >> So, why do we look back at history? We
• 3:30
  study history so that we're not doomed
• 3:33
  to mis make the same mistakes in the
• 3:35
  future, right? And I think that there is
• 3:37
  like a song, there is a rhythm to to
• 3:40
  history. It is ongoing. History is with
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  us right now. It never ended. And I
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  think part of this song
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  >> that I saw in 2025 was that parrying,
• 3:51
  the concept of parrying.
• 3:53
  >> Yeah. I think that the monument of the
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  Perry is fully erect in 2025 and the
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  only direction it can go is down. I
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  think a huge discourse that will take
• 4:08
  place in 2026 is that the gamers will
• 4:12
  finally realize they will come to terms
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  with the fact that the Perry is
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  barbaric, uncivilized. It is but a
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  timing check that has been way too
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  powerful, way too unfettered in video
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  games. We are tired of the parry. We
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  want something new. I agree because I
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  think that we started to see the
• 4:33
  beginnings of this. This was like in
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  midway through the year this year. It
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  was after clear obscure and I think
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  there were like a few games that had
• 4:42
  pairing in them that was like why is
• 4:43
  there pairing in Doom? You know what I
• 4:45
  mean? like there were a handful of
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  things like that and it was like the big
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  conversation that was going on. Um and
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  so I think that like because the
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  beginnings of that conversation have
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  happened,
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  >> we are going to see the actual full like
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  not like backlash is too strong of a
• 4:59
  word. What game do you think is going to
• 5:00
  do it? Wow, that's a fascinating
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  question because there's [snorts] there
• 5:04
  are two ways that this could go. one,
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  there is a game that has extensive parry
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  use and like you said, after the the the
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  kind of Clare obscure of it all, maybe
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  there is this like, man, we're still
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  doing this. We're just we're fully
• 5:18
  saturated on the parry. Maybe we don't
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  want this. Or is it going to be a game
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  that doesn't use parries and people are
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  kind of like, oh, this is a better
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  alternative. There's there's something
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  in this game that I actually like
• 5:31
  deploying more than I like using the
• 5:34
  parry. And now there's in the way that
• 5:37
  Clare obscure was like the for a lot of
• 5:39
  people the perfect deployment of the
• 5:41
  parry. Maybe a new thing shows up and
• 5:43
  makes everybody go instead of parrying
• 5:45
  we should be doing this, right?
• 5:47
  >> Yes. I know. I I think that is that
• 5:49
  feels likely. Um,
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  >> yeah, cuz that's that's one of those
• 5:54
  discourses that has just like reared its
• 5:56
  head a lot over the past few years,
• 5:59
  which is, you know, how common it is.
• 6:00
  But
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  >> and I think it makes so much sense,
• 6:02
  right? Because I think that the
• 6:04
  popularity of the Perry has aligned with
• 6:07
  a video game zeitgeist and discourse
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  space that is dominated by social media
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  and particularly clips. Because you know
• 6:16
  what plays really well in a clip? A
• 6:18
  parry. Dude, parries have great travel.
• 6:21
  >> Yes, I made um back when I worked at the
• 6:24
  gamer, I made a video about parrying. Um
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  this is before all of the the big Perry
• 6:29
  discourse from this past year. Um but I
• 6:31
  talk about how like I think that a big
• 6:32
  part of its popularity in in the modern
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  sort of like gaming conscious comes from
• 6:37
  came from like also the rise in
• 6:38
  popularity of speedruns. Yeah. Um
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  because there would be like challenge
• 6:42
  runs where people would do Dark Souls
• 6:43
  like boss par like like they would like
• 6:46
  parry bosses and speedruns and stuff
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  like that and it was always like
• 6:49
  >> a show of like complete dominance over
• 6:51
  over an enemy that a lot of people think
• 6:53
  is really really difficult. Um
• 6:55
  >> and then now it has just turned into
• 6:57
  every video game all the time how you
• 6:59
  have to be pairing. If you're not
• 7:00
  pairing then it's like what what are we
• 7:02
  even doing here? Um you know what game I
• 7:04
  think might be the one to to break it.
• 7:06
  >> Oh my god. Tell me. I think if it comes
• 7:08
  out this year, which I would I doubt,
• 7:11
  but it could, that um the sequel to the
• 7:13
  Star Wars Jedi game,
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  >> Star Wars Jedi Fall Order Survivor.
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  Yeah, because that was a very very those
• 7:20
  are two very parryheavy games. And I
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  think that um
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  >> the that sequel upped the ante with a
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  lot of stuff um from that first one in a
• 7:29
  way that I think was really really good.
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  I think the if they do a third one it
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  will probably hopefully do a similar
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  thing in terms of just like upping the
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  the ante but I think it might come to a
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  point where it's like okay enough with
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  the parries I'm a Jedi I don't need
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  this.
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  >> That would be nice. I honestly I think I
• 7:46
  would like to give that that Jedi sequel
• 7:47
  game another shot. Um I never really
• 7:50
  liked that that kind of like Metroid
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  structure, but you know I think I would
• 7:53
  give it a shot if Switch 2. If it came
• 7:55
  to Switch 2, I'd think I'd like to try
• 7:56
  it again. Sure. Sure. Yeah, I think
• 7:58
  that'd be nice. I liked that game,
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  but I think it's it's story is like
• 8:05
  terrible.
• 8:06
  >> Listen, we
• 8:07
  >> which is a problem. Yeah. Yeah.
• 8:08
  >> We've talked about it on our bonus show
• 8:09
  that people already know the force have
• 8:12
  unleashed, dude. That's the ultimate
• 8:14
  dream of being a Jedi, but I do want to
• 8:16
  say just because of in regards to this
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  Perry prediction. Um something that I
• 8:20
  talk about in the uh college class about
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  social media that I teach is there's
• 8:25
  this guy uh Marshall McLuhan and he
• 8:27
  talks about um algorithmic culture which
• 8:29
  I think is something that we obviously
• 8:31
  live in but um it's this idea that the
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  medium that we are posting stuff to
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  actually reshapes the message that we
• 8:39
  bring. So, yeah, which totally makes
• 8:42
  sense, I think. And I feel like you can
• 8:44
  see how combat systems in video games
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  have to perform um not just for the
• 8:49
  player playing the video game, but they
• 8:51
  have to perform for the viewer on these
• 8:53
  platforms.
• 8:54
  >> Yeah.
• 8:54
  >> So, but I think something else that
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  we're seeing is that these social media
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  platforms that we've been so attached to
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  for so many years now are weakening for
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  the first time in like a decade. There
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  is a Yeah. there's I think like a very
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  palpable like man maybe we want to get
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  away from these things that we've been
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  so attached to for so long. Um so I kind
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  of see all of these things aligning to
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  create a culture that maybe is just less
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  interested in the parry.
• 9:19
  >> Do you think that quote tweeting or
• 9:20
  quote posting rather someone is the
• 9:22
  social media form of parrying?
• 9:25
  >> Oh my god. [laughter]
• 9:27
  Uh here's one here's one that I have.
• 9:29
  Uh, I it's not paired with any specific
• 9:31
  video game, but I do think that there's
• 9:34
  going to be some random indie game akin
• 9:36
  to something like Bologro.
• 9:38
  >> Okay.
• 9:38
  >> And I think a lot of reviews are going
• 9:40
  to use the word addictive, and I think
• 9:42
  we're going to have a discourse
• 9:43
  surrounding the use of that word and if
• 9:45
  we should be using it for video games.
• 9:48
  >> Wow. Okay. And I cuz I feel like I've
• 9:51
  kind of seen this here and there, but
• 9:54
  but you're telling me that this is going
• 9:55
  to this is going to come to the
• 9:56
  forefront. we're going to make a [ __ ]
• 9:57
  error episode about this in 2026.
• 9:59
  >> Yeah, I have I have shied away from
• 10:01
  using that word like addictive or
• 10:03
  addiction or like I'm addicted to this
• 10:05
  game or whatever. Um because there seems
• 10:06
  just a handful of people who have
• 10:08
  struggled with addiction in their lives
• 10:09
  being like hey uh
• 10:11
  >> this is not like what I have experienced
• 10:14
  like like you know I understand how like
• 10:16
  it is a sort of a shorthand for uh
• 10:19
  really engaging shorthand for like very
• 10:21
  very fun and stimulating and whatever um
• 10:24
  but uh that that by using the word
• 10:27
  addicted or like addiction or whatever
• 10:29
  um for these games it it sometimes uh
• 10:32
  maybe misaligned and maybe downplays the
• 10:35
  struggle of people with addiction. I
• 10:37
  think that seems prime for um a social
• 10:40
  media discourse.
• 10:42
  >> Yeah, it's funny. It's like it's one of
• 10:44
  these obviously this show and kind of
• 10:46
  the premise of it being concerned with
• 10:48
  how we talk about video games. I think a
• 10:50
  word like addictive is kind of like
• 10:52
  right in our crosshairs you know and we
• 10:55
  have we take issue with I should say a
• 10:57
  lot of kind of convenient shortorthhand
• 11:00
  that is that lacks precision and
• 11:04
  >> cuz what are we actually saying when we
• 11:06
  when we call a game addictive the it's
• 11:08
  it's almost like we are trying to if I
• 11:10
  could dig a little deeper here
• 11:13
  almost neutralize the enjoyment of a
• 11:16
  video game by framing it as pathology.
• 11:18
  It's almost like this way. Do you know
• 11:20
  what I mean? It's almost like this way
• 11:21
  out of saying you like a game and
• 11:24
  instead like
• 11:26
  >> it's more like saying like, well, I'm
• 11:27
  conditioned to like this as opposed to
• 11:29
  being like, oh, this was like
• 11:30
  meticulously crafted to make me like it.
• 11:32
  >> Yeah, that's Yeah, I think you're right.
• 11:34
  And and it's funny.
• 11:35
  on um
• 11:37
  >> I've been I've been playing Ball X Pit
• 11:40
  and and I've I've said to you that like
• 11:41
  one of my favorite things about that
• 11:42
  game is the kind of carrot in the stick
• 11:44
  of that game
• 11:45
  >> and how there's always this this new
• 11:47
  gamechanging reward around the corner
• 11:49
  and I want to go towards it. And I think
• 11:50
  if you hear me describe this a a kind of
• 11:54
  lazy shortorthhand if I may would be to
• 11:56
  say it's addicting. But even even saying
• 11:59
  that now I think you see how that
• 12:02
  depowers what I'm actually trying to say
• 12:04
  about the game. And there's almost like
• 12:06
  a if you are a fan if you are like a
• 12:08
  person and you're like just calling a
• 12:11
  game addictive. I don't know if I
• 12:13
  necessarily have like that big of a
• 12:15
  problem with it. But as a critic or as
• 12:17
  somebody that talks about games, you
• 12:19
  have a responsibility and your voice
• 12:20
  should matter more than some random
• 12:23
  person. And you maybe should practice
• 12:27
  being just more um you know specific
• 12:31
  about what it is you are saying and what
• 12:32
  it is that you are criticizing. Um it's
• 12:34
  for the same reason that I don't like
• 12:36
  when people write things like I can't
• 12:38
  even describe. I'm having a hard time
• 12:40
  describing. I'm having you know what I
• 12:42
  mean? That's the job. That's the job.
• 12:44
  That's your job. like start somewhere
• 12:46
  and build from there, you know. So,
• 12:47
  >> yeah. Um I can I actually
• 12:51
  piggyback off what you just said?
• 12:53
  >> I would love I would love that. Please
• 12:54
  >> with another one. Um this is as a result
• 12:56
  of recent um games writing that we have
• 12:59
  done some reading of. There's some
• 13:01
  previews of Romeo is a dead man, which
• 13:02
  is the next game from Pseudaf 51.
• 13:04
  >> And um Jake, you and I have talked about
• 13:07
  this idea about like calling games
• 13:08
  weird, saying this game is really weird.
• 13:10
  And so in there there were some previews
• 13:12
  for Rooney as a dead man where people
• 13:13
  are like I I don't even know how to tell
• 13:15
  you what's going on in this game and
• 13:17
  it's like you and I were talking about
• 13:19
  this uh not on the podcast and you said
• 13:21
  something about the like to the tune of
• 13:23
  like no like what does the X button do?
• 13:25
  >> That's I always start there. I go if you
• 13:27
  think you can't describe something start
• 13:29
  here. What does the X button do? You're
• 13:31
  halfway to describing what the game is.
• 13:34
  And it's funny too because so so many
• 13:35
  games that people are like so my my uh
• 13:37
  prediction is that like there's going to
• 13:38
  be a discourse potentially around like
• 13:41
  using the word weird. It's a really
• 13:43
  weird game.
• 13:45
  And usually what people mean by weird is
• 13:47
  they mean like quirky and not that the
• 13:50
  game itself is actually very weird
• 13:51
  because Romeo is a Dead Man to me it
• 13:53
  seems like it's a 3D action platformer
• 13:57
  with a bunch of mini games. So it's
• 13:59
  essentially Yakuza with jumping. uh
• 14:02
  [laughter] is like sort of what I what I
• 14:04
  see it as, but it's got like a a a
• 14:06
  unique visual style to it. Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:08
  And a unique uh way that its story is
• 14:11
  told and and tells a story that is
• 14:12
  quirky and and has these like sort of
• 14:14
  like loud big characters. Um but I think
• 14:17
  yeah, the word weird I think might might
• 14:19
  have a bit of a discourse surrounding
• 14:21
  it. Allow me to take aim at this because
• 14:22
  if anybody's going to start the stop
• 14:24
  using the term weird to describe video
• 14:26
  games discourse, it might be me. I've
• 14:28
  I've had issue with this for a while and
• 14:30
  uh it started when with that The Legend
• 14:33
  of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. I found that
• 14:36
  was a game that people were so attached
• 14:38
  to calling weird. You play as Zelda,
• 14:41
  your powers are like, "Oh my god, we've
• 14:43
  never had these kinds of powers in a
• 14:44
  Zelda game before." And I found in
• 14:47
  actually playing it that there was very
• 14:48
  little weird about that game. It was
• 14:51
  that the PR wanted you to think that it
• 14:53
  was new and weird and and and emergent
• 14:57
  in all of these ways, but really it was
• 15:00
  just
• 15:02
  Link's typical powers in a Zelda game
• 15:04
  presented in a new form. Yes.
• 15:06
  >> A new costume, a new outfit. And I think
• 15:10
  that when people use the word weird to
• 15:11
  describe video games, what they actually
• 15:13
  mean is what you said, quirky but
• 15:17
  sanctioned.
• 15:18
  >> Yep. extremely legible because the truth
• 15:21
  of the matter is most people who write
• 15:23
  about video games typically are not even
• 15:26
  looking at games that are truly weird.
• 15:29
  >> Yeah,
• 15:30
  >> these we are we are looking at
• 15:32
  mainstream video games. We are looking
• 15:34
  at games that have these wide PR pushes
• 15:38
  in Game Informer and Gamespot and all of
• 15:40
  these other huge outlets. Are we really
• 15:42
  in a position to say that this is a
• 15:44
  weird video game? It is a weird video
• 15:46
  game if all you play are two or three
• 15:48
  mainstream releases every single year.
• 15:51
  Um, and I think that we love using the
• 15:54
  term weird to describe games that come
• 15:56
  from known outurs. I'm talking Masahiro
• 16:00
  Sakcharai, Hideo Kojima, and now Romeo
• 16:03
  Suda 51.
• 16:04
  >> Suda 51. Yeah.
• 16:05
  >> And I think that the the what we are
• 16:07
  doing when we say a game is weird is
• 16:09
  that we are actually trying to signal
• 16:11
  something about the self in our writing.
• 16:13
  You might not get this. You might not
• 16:15
  appreciate this. You might not
• 16:16
  understand this, but I do. And then the
• 16:20
  next step is to list the lineage of that
• 16:22
  creator's games to kind of build up your
• 16:25
  own resume, your own authority, and
• 16:27
  being somebody who does understand this
• 16:29
  thing.
• 16:30
  >> I don't like it, Peter.
• 16:32
  >> I agree.
• 16:33
  >> I don't like it at all.
• 16:34
  >> What's another one you got?
• 16:35
  >> All right, let me tell you.
• 16:39
  A PlayStation 5 handheld is revealed
• 16:44
  and everyone calls it the Switch to
• 16:48
  killer. [snorts]
• 16:49
  >> Okay. So, I'm thinking about the way
• 16:53
  that I saw um discourse operate in the
• 16:57
  gaming space in 2025. I'm thinking about
• 17:00
  how sometimes there is a almost
• 17:04
  uncanny
• 17:06
  congealing of headlines of what everyone
• 17:08
  says. The one that comes to mind is
• 17:11
  Metroid Prime 4 previews and every
• 17:13
  single one said
• 17:16
  >> Miles McKenzie.
• 17:17
  >> Miles McKenzie is annoying. Miles
• 17:19
  McKenzie is annoying. And I just think
• 17:22
  you have this um PlayStation 5 handheld.
• 17:26
  Imagine I'm thinking about the
• 17:28
  PlayStation 5 Pro preview event. Yeah.
• 17:31
  And they and they go to this event. I
• 17:33
  thought this was the stupidest thing
• 17:34
  I've ever seen in my life where the
• 17:36
  people of the press play a PlayStation 5
• 17:38
  Pro and there are two TVs stacked on top
• 17:40
  of each other. One playing the PS5 Pro
• 17:42
  version, one playing the normal PS5
• 17:44
  version and a PR person behind their
• 17:46
  right shoulder telling them what the
• 17:47
  differences are. They come out of that
• 17:49
  event and they tell you the PS5 Pro
• 17:50
  makes such a big difference. And I'm
• 17:52
  [laughter] like, if you need a a PS5
• 17:57
  playing right next to it and you need to
• 17:59
  look between like you're playing Where's
• 18:01
  Waldo to know that it makes a huge
• 18:03
  difference, maybe something strange is
• 18:06
  happening there. So, with the
• 18:08
  PlayStation handheld, my prediction is
• 18:09
  this. The PlayStation 5 handheld is
• 18:11
  revealed. At this event, they have you
• 18:13
  play a very specific game,
• 18:16
  >> Cyberpunk 2077 on on the handheld. And
• 18:20
  what everyone says, what everyone thinks
• 18:22
  is this looks so much better than the
• 18:25
  Switch 2 version.
• 18:27
  >> And you know why I think this is
• 18:28
  actually legit is because the industry
• 18:31
  and the way like the sort of games media
• 18:34
  operates is it requires competition and
• 18:36
  it requires comparison. And um
• 18:41
  for the longest time
• 18:43
  uh Nintendo was kind of in its own camp
• 18:46
  and category, but now that Xbox has sort
• 18:50
  of like killed itself on live television
• 18:54
  in front of everyone,
• 18:55
  >> you know what I mean? It's like, well,
• 18:57
  what are we going to compare PlayStation
• 18:58
  to? And it's like, well, now it has now
• 19:00
  PlayStation's competing with Nintendo,
• 19:02
  right?
• 19:02
  >> Dude, can you not see? Okay, we we saw
• 19:05
  in 2025 that something that does really
• 19:07
  well
• 19:09
  uh what is it called? Console war.
• 19:11
  Console war stuff is still extremely
• 19:14
  clickable, extremely powerful. I saw so
• 19:16
  many console war headlines. And just
• 19:18
  just imagine this in your head. You go
• 19:20
  on to YouTube and you see
• 19:23
  >> Nintendo should be worried.
• 19:25
  [clears throat]
• 19:27
  >> What's What's Tim Do? [laughter]
• 19:31
  I don't know if he's still a person
• 19:33
  >> because there there is something about
• 19:34
  discourse that I think anybody who
• 19:36
  listens to this podcast will understand
• 19:37
  is almost ritualistic and is there is a
• 19:40
  there is a pattern to it.
• 19:42
  >> Yeah.
• 19:42
  >> But there is a Yeah. And there but there
• 19:44
  is this almost like sacrificial lamb.
• 19:47
  This thing that you're putting up that
• 19:48
  everybody can kind of like dunk on at
• 19:50
  the same time. And I just cannot imagine
• 19:53
  the reveal of a PlayStation 5 handheld
• 19:55
  that does not heavily involved the
• 19:58
  dunking on the Switch 2.
• 20:00
  >> Yes. Yes. Or vice versa if it if if it's
• 20:03
  terrible, which I imagine it wouldn't
• 20:05
  be, but um Yeah. No, I I think I think
• 20:09
  this is uh legit. Um
• 20:11
  >> and really quick, just the the the
• 20:13
  almost like I I switch to killer. That
• 20:16
  language is exactly what you said about
• 20:19
  this like you need competition, but it
• 20:21
  to me it is emblematic of this like
• 20:24
  platform wars are so much easier to talk
• 20:27
  about than any kind of like platform
• 20:29
  literacy because you and I know you and
• 20:32
  I know
• 20:34
  >> there is no universe in which a
• 20:36
  PlayStation 5 handheld is legitimately a
• 20:39
  Switch 2 killer. We know that. And but
• 20:41
  you know why that this thing could live
• 20:44
  as a as a genuine discourse is is
• 20:47
  because it's what you said. It's not
• 20:48
  about reading the games. It's not about
• 20:50
  talking about the things. It is about
• 20:51
  literally looking at numbers. It is
• 20:54
  about going well the PlayStation 5
• 20:56
  handheld has this resolution
• 20:59
  >> on its screen and the uh the Switch 2
• 21:03
  has this resolution. Switch one or
• 21:05
  Switch 2 has this amount of RAM or
• 21:07
  whatever. And PlayStation 5 handheld
• 21:09
  unfortunately has way more. And so
• 21:11
  because it has the numbers are bigger,
• 21:12
  it is better.
• 21:14
  >> Do you think that the the industry has
• 21:15
  almost trained us to think this way more
• 21:17
  in recent years in terms of the
• 21:20
  importance of the spec list, the
• 21:22
  importance of the digital foundry
• 21:24
  breakdown, the performance deltas? You
• 21:26
  know, I think that there's something
• 21:27
  here that this is more height. I don't
• 21:30
  I'm thinking about this thing, too. You
• 21:32
  know,
• 21:32
  >> I I'm I'm like thinking specifically
• 21:34
  about the PS5 Pro. They show it off and
• 21:36
  they just like list numbers at you and
• 21:38
  they go, "Look at this game that we made
• 21:39
  2 years ago. doesn't it look like dog
• 21:40
  [ __ ] And you're like, "What? No, it's
• 21:42
  Ratchet and Clank. It looks great." And
• 21:43
  then they're like, "No, no, no. You
• 21:44
  don't even understand this one." Now you
• 21:46
  see that the numbers are bigger
• 21:48
  >> and it looks better. And you're like,
• 21:52
  "Okay, but it's like the focus on
• 21:54
  numbers and and the heightened fidelity.
• 21:57
  Uh, not in any noticeable way that your
• 21:59
  human eyeball can detect. Not in any
• 22:02
  noticeable way that my television could
• 22:04
  even project. I have no idea if I'm
• 22:07
  Dude, can I be honest with you? Is this
• 22:08
  a safe place?" Yeah.
• 22:10
  >> Is any I you know I hope no one's
• 22:11
  listening to this. I don't even know if
• 22:13
  my PlayStation is projecting on my TV at
• 22:15
  4K or not. It might be at 1080. I have
• 22:18
  no way of knowing. I I don't know. How
• 22:20
  could I even tell?
• 22:22
  [laughter] I think you could tell. I
• 22:25
  don't know. I don't know. I I will say
• 22:27
  the one time we were playing a game and
• 22:29
  you you turned on the 120 frames per
• 22:32
  second mode and I did it too and I
• 22:33
  remember being like
• 22:34
  >> we kind of both had panic attacks.
• 22:35
  >> No, no. I remember. Well, no, but I
• 22:37
  remember being like, "Oh, my my
• 22:39
  resolution is definitely taking a little
• 22:40
  bit of a hit here." And you went,
• 22:42
  "Really?" No. And I And I just
• 22:44
  >> Yeah. So, maybe maybe I'm Dude, maybe
• 22:45
  I'm running at at 1080. I don't know.
• 22:48
  [laughter]
• 22:49
  I don't know.
• 22:50
  >> Hit me with your discourse, please. I'm
• 22:52
  dying here.
• 22:53
  >> Yeah. Okay. Uh uh Resident Evil 9. I
• 22:55
  think people are going to I think
• 22:56
  there's going to be pieces written about
• 22:57
  women's place in horror because I think
• 22:59
  based on the trailers I think that Leon
• 23:02
  is going to get to be an action hero who
• 23:04
  does roundhouse kicks and shoots guys
• 23:06
  with guns which is what he does and we
• 23:08
  love him for it but I think Grace the
• 23:10
  character that we've seen the most of so
• 23:11
  far. Uh her role is about running away
• 23:14
  from a big scary monster
• 23:17
  >> and being disempowered. I think that
• 23:19
  there is no shot that the game doesn't
• 23:23
  know this and subverts that before it's
• 23:26
  over. There's no shot.
• 23:27
  >> It's too It's too obvious. And I and I
• 23:30
  think that I'm so confident about this
• 23:32
  that I actually think that that
• 23:34
  subversion before the game is over. I
• 23:36
  think that's how Grace will start the
• 23:37
  game. But then I think you will almost
• 23:39
  see a role reversal between the two
• 23:41
  before the game is over. And I think
• 23:43
  that that is such an easy to consume
• 23:46
  empowering kind of um discourse that it
• 23:49
  will catapult that game into maybe game
• 23:53
  of the year discussion.
• 23:54
  >> You're correct. No, this is this is
• 23:56
  actually correct. No, 100%. Cuz I'm also
• 23:58
  thinking about like uh how how Resident
• 24:00
  Evil's handled women in the past, which
• 24:02
  is both good and bad. I think about Jill
• 24:04
  Valentine in Resident Evil 3. She starts
• 24:06
  the game being chased by a big monster
• 24:08
  with a bunch of tentacles and it is a
• 24:10
  little like uh and then it does end with
• 24:12
  her putting a giant cannon into that
• 24:15
  thing's mouth and saying I don't
• 24:17
  remember what she says but something
• 24:18
  cool and blows it up. So I I do think
• 24:22
  that that is that is um likely and
• 24:24
  possible. Wow.
• 24:26
  >> Another discourse. Jake, please. I'm
• 24:28
  hungry. I've been thinking about the
• 24:31
  kinds of video game experiences that I
• 24:34
  think have been quite popular as of
• 24:36
  late. And something that I've noticed a
• 24:39
  trend particularly in a lot of Nintendo
• 24:42
  games is this kind of like playerdriven
• 24:46
  experience or this playerdriven story.
• 24:49
  Um, obviously you see this in kind of
• 24:50
  the Breath of the Wilds and then the
• 24:52
  Tears of the Kingdoms. Uh, I think you
• 24:54
  even see it in like Donkey Kong Bonanza.
• 24:56
  It's kind of like the fun you make for
• 24:57
  yourself. And then I think we could even
• 24:59
  get away from Nintendo and say um maybe
• 25:01
  like a Balders's Gate is less in the
• 25:04
  vein of this kind of directed specific
• 25:06
  bespoke story and it's more about
• 25:08
  generating something on your own.
• 25:10
  >> I think
• 25:13
  we're this is on the way out. I think
• 25:16
  that we're actually going to say we want
• 25:18
  more authored railed funneled funneled
• 25:23
  experiences uh that are more like
• 25:26
  bespoke and and again like authorly. I
• 25:28
  think that something that's happening
• 25:30
  subtly in the culture right now is this
• 25:32
  kind of AI resentment.
• 25:35
  And I think that it is going to make
• 25:38
  people more wanting of art and media
• 25:42
  that has a more obvious authoral
• 25:44
  thumbrint. Um,
• 25:46
  >> yeah, cuz cuz I think I think to exactly
• 25:48
  what you're saying, like you can walk
• 25:50
  away from, let's say, like Tears of the
• 25:52
  Kingdom or Breath of the Wild, you know,
• 25:53
  one of those two games, uh, with with
• 25:55
  sort of like
• 25:56
  >> vastly different reads on maybe what
• 25:58
  it's trying to tell you and what it's
• 25:59
  trying to convey and all this sort of
• 26:01
  stuff based on your own,
• 26:03
  >> uh, ability to interface with those
• 26:05
  mechanics and and things like that and
• 26:06
  and your whether or not you succeed or
• 26:09
  fail with the things you're trying to do
• 26:11
  with with the sort of sandbox elements
• 26:13
  in those games. uh uh versus
• 26:18
  I think most people have a pretty
• 26:21
  straightforward read of what Ocarina of
• 26:23
  Time is trying to tell you.
• 26:25
  >> Definitely. And I'd say even um looking
• 26:27
  at something like Clare Obscure
• 26:28
  Expedition 33, I think one of the the
• 26:30
  real lessons to take from the success of
• 26:32
  that game is that um having clear arcs,
• 26:36
  emotional signposting, performative
• 26:38
  drama, an easily summarized theme. These
• 26:41
  are the lessons that people should
• 26:42
  really be internalizing about that game
• 26:44
  rather than whatever JRPG propaganda
• 26:46
  people are trying to push online. And I
• 26:49
  think um if you break this down between
• 26:51
  uh games that are readerly versus games
• 26:54
  that are writerly, I think games like
• 26:55
  Tears of the Kingdom, Balders's Gate,
• 26:57
  those are writerly games and that
• 26:59
  meaning is emerging through the
• 27:00
  participation. Whereas a readerly game,
• 27:02
  the meaning is more fixed and the
• 27:04
  interpretation, like you said, far more
• 27:06
  narrow. And I actually think that right
• 27:08
  now in our specific culture, we are
• 27:12
  looking more at a
• 27:16
  systems being able to carry a theme
• 27:18
  feels like too big of an ask. And I
• 27:20
  think for something to really pop
• 27:22
  online, for something to really have
• 27:24
  people talking about it, you cannot
• 27:26
  encode meaning into the experimentation.
• 27:29
  Um, the thing that people most often
• 27:31
  responded to about something like DK
• 27:33
  Bonanza, what I would say is the most
• 27:36
  narrow part of that game, the most on
• 27:38
  rails part of that game, the most the
• 27:40
  least up for discussion part of that
• 27:42
  game. There's less um curiosity or
• 27:45
  emergent gameplay informing that moment.
• 27:48
  And it's instead uh referring back to
• 27:50
  this author dialogue of what that finale
• 27:52
  is. And I think that that is something
• 27:53
  that you're going to see games go in
• 27:55
  that direction. And I think that games
• 27:57
  are easier to produce in that image than
• 27:59
  maybe these, you know,
• 28:00
  >> because also Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Because
• 28:02
  also you look at something like
• 28:03
  Assassin's Creed, right? Uh uh uh with
• 28:07
  in the sort of like PS4,
• 28:09
  Xbox One era of gaming, the the headline
• 28:13
  at every E3 for like 3 to 5 years was
• 28:16
  like this game series that has been
• 28:17
  traditionally like linear whatever
• 28:20
  >> gone open world. Final Fantasy uh 15
• 28:23
  open world. Metal Gear Solid 5 open
• 28:25
  world, right?
• 28:26
  >> Uh uh uh and then
• 28:28
  >> you look at something like Assassin's
• 28:30
  Creed, which has always been open world,
• 28:31
  but they're like bigger than we've ever
• 28:33
  done before.
• 28:34
  >> Con it's the size of the continental
• 28:36
  United States and it's like whoa that's
• 28:38
  a lot. And then like I think what we've
• 28:42
  seen, this is I guess my subjective
• 28:44
  experience of playing these sorts of
• 28:45
  games and and being online is that most
• 28:47
  people do not want that. Starfield is
• 28:50
  like we have a thousand planets and it's
• 28:52
  like yeah but if you play the outer
• 28:54
  world wilds it's got like five and those
• 28:58
  planets are way more interesting and and
• 29:00
  and well uh uh like they're handcrafted
• 29:04
  because the Outer Wilds that's the
• 29:06
  that's the one the time loop one um I
• 29:09
  confuse it with the other one that
• 29:11
  >> it's very confusing.
• 29:12
  >> You know what I'm saying? Uh but that is
• 29:14
  a game that is smaller and and much more
• 29:17
  like intentionally crafted and people
• 29:19
  respond to that. The Outer uh Wilds is a
• 29:22
  game that like consistently ends up on
• 29:25
  like the greatest games of all time ever
• 29:27
  made, right? And it is a much smaller in
• 29:30
  scope experience, but it feels so much
• 29:32
  bigger and so much more thoughtful and
• 29:33
  detailed and intentional because it's
• 29:35
  not doing that. that. So, I I agree 100%
• 29:37
  that I think returning [snorts] to
• 29:39
  smaller uh experiences, more funneled
• 29:41
  experiences is is um
• 29:45
  I I think a a solid prediction
• 29:47
  >> and think about I think the the critical
• 29:50
  success of games like this. I think that
• 29:52
  um critics will
• 29:55
  there's a degree to which the kind of
• 29:56
  games I'm describing are easier to
• 29:58
  summarize, easier to review, easier to
• 30:01
  kind of reach consensus on. And um like
• 30:05
  playerdriven meaning I think resists
• 30:07
  that in a way in a way that like I swear
• 30:10
  to God you can even like see in reviews
• 30:12
  for those kinds of player driven games
• 30:14
  where it is almost this like ineffable
• 30:17
  thing like a fighting game where where
• 30:19
  reviewers will be like it's there's
• 30:21
  meaning out there and the people really
• 30:24
  like it out there.
• 30:26
  >> Yeah. It's this thing though too where
• 30:27
  it's like in the a review for a game
• 30:29
  like Breath of the Wild or Donkey Kong
• 30:30
  Bonanza or whatever it's like they talk
• 30:32
  about oh the story is this.
• 30:35
  >> Yeah.
• 30:35
  >> And it's like and it's like this and by
• 30:37
  that they are referring to Ganondorf has
• 30:39
  done it once again and he's
• 30:41
  >> he's done it again. [laughter]
• 30:42
  >> You know what I mean? He's [ __ ]
• 30:43
  everything up again for everyone. And
• 30:45
  it's like yeah that is
• 30:47
  >> like the that's the script
• 30:51
  >> right?
• 30:51
  >> But what's the that's the story right?
• 30:53
  And that's that's I think a [ __ ] of
• 30:56
  course that's a future criteria episode
• 30:57
  of story versus
• 30:59
  >> script or whatever. But um
• 31:02
  >> uh Jake, let me hit you with one here.
• 31:04
  Uh I think Tomodachi Life living the
• 31:07
  dream.
• 31:08
  >> There's going to be a large discourse
• 31:10
  surrounding this game. This is the uh uh
• 31:12
  follow up to Tomodachi Life, which is a
• 31:14
  Nintendo game where you take the little
• 31:15
  mi and you make them live lives and it's
• 31:18
  like Sims almost. Um, and I think that
• 31:20
  there's going to be discourse
• 31:21
  surrounding its uh what I would call uh
• 31:25
  likely conservative worldview of various
• 31:27
  lifestyles. Um, [laughter]
• 31:31
  and that like the original Tomodachi
• 31:32
  life uh to my understanding like you
• 31:35
  couldn't be gay in Tomodachi life and
• 31:37
  it's supposed to be like oh you can live
• 31:39
  however you want and it's like but you
• 31:40
  can't but you know upwards of 10% of the
• 31:44
  population is not going to be able to
• 31:45
  live their honest true life. And I think
• 31:47
  that as um
• 31:50
  >> uh
• 31:51
  uh I guess I don't know how to say this
• 31:53
  like eloquently or or summarized largely
• 31:56
  like as
• 31:58
  more and more lifestyles and and uh uh
• 32:01
  like gender identity and and all that
• 32:03
  sort of stuff has come to the forefront
• 32:05
  of uh uh culture. I just don't think
• 32:08
  that a Nintendo game is going to be able
• 32:10
  to keep up with that. And I think that
• 32:11
  there's going to be a lot of discourse
• 32:12
  surrounding that. Uh, man, does this
• 32:16
  game I I 100% do. I also wrote some I
• 32:19
  wrote something down about this game as
• 32:21
  well because um I think that this game
• 32:24
  >> has quite the difficult road ahead of
• 32:28
  it.
• 32:28
  >> Um, so first off, something that that I
• 32:31
  am maybe more interested in than what
• 32:33
  you brought up, but I think this ties
• 32:35
  into it is that the original Tamachi
• 32:38
  Life game was on the 3DS. And I
• 32:41
  [clears throat] I think that right now
• 32:43
  there's a little bit of 3DS nostalgia
• 32:45
  peaking in the culture.
• 32:47
  >> Uh to the degree that I don't think no
• 32:50
  matter what this game does that it can
• 32:53
  live up to the partially nostalgia
• 32:57
  written, you know, thought of what the
• 32:59
  original 3DS game was. Because when you
• 33:01
  look back at that Tomodachi life, um I
• 33:04
  think you see a game that is the the joy
• 33:07
  of it is in its absurdity. This is the
• 33:09
  kind of game that you imagine would
• 33:10
  travel really well right now. Um, and
• 33:13
  it's the kind of game that I think a lot
• 33:14
  of people like because they project and
• 33:18
  ironize a little bit. They kind of like
• 33:20
  make it like, oh, isn't it weird that
• 33:22
  this is happening in a Nintendo game,
• 33:23
  that kind of thing. And I think any
• 33:26
  version of polishing this this this kind
• 33:29
  of messy weirdo thing is only going to
• 33:34
  weaken how it actually works here.
• 33:37
  because I don't know if I have a lot of
• 33:38
  confidence in Nintendo making something
• 33:42
  that is weird in a way that is that like
• 33:46
  works in 2026 rather than making
• 33:49
  something that's just like a new version
• 33:51
  of a thing that was weird 12 years ago.
• 33:54
  >> Yes, 100%. And and I I think that I do
• 33:58
  not envy the task, right, of being able
• 34:00
  to like create
• 34:02
  uh uh lifestyles that encapsulate
• 34:06
  everyone, you know what I mean? Like
• 34:08
  like I think that is a very unenviable
• 34:10
  task. Um and I I do sympathize with with
• 34:14
  that. Uh but I also think it's like well
• 34:17
  Nintendo, you have done this to yourself
• 34:19
  a little bit, you know. I wonder though
• 34:21
  like there is maybe a way to do it where
• 34:23
  you just like in that game maybe you
• 34:24
  just like eliminate the concept of
• 34:25
  gender.
• 34:28
  >> I mean that
• 34:31
  this
• 34:33
  >> even if they nail everything that you're
• 34:34
  talking about even if it's all there
• 34:37
  >> um I almost wonder if Tomodachi Life
• 34:39
  apologies to the room is too unimportant
• 34:43
  to generate any kind of meaningful
• 34:46
  discourse. This is a Switch Oneon game.
• 34:52
  Need I say more?
• 34:53
  >> Switch one only game.
• 34:54
  >> Yes.
• 34:57
  >> That's interesting. Well, okay. When I
• 34:58
  say discourse, I mean like
• 35:00
  it's a Nintendo game. It's a Nintendo
• 35:02
  game, so people are going to talk about
• 35:03
  it.
• 35:03
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 35:05
  >> But but like let me let me tell you
• 35:07
  something that I've been chewing on. A
• 35:08
  little discourse that I'm I'm a little
• 35:10
  too scared to introduce to the space
• 35:11
  myself. is that I think 2025 was um the
• 35:16
  first year for me that I felt uh that
• 35:20
  Nintendo produced slop
• 35:24
  and
• 35:25
  >> 2025 you said is the first year
• 35:27
  >> 2025 was the first year that Nintendo
• 35:30
  proved that it can produce slop. Um let
• 35:34
  me explain
• 35:34
  >> please.
• 35:37
  I
• 35:38
  watched with
• 35:42
  a overpowering
• 35:45
  feeling of despair washing over me as
• 35:50
  people laid praise at the feet of the
• 35:53
  Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.
• 35:57
  >> Yes.
• 35:58
  >> Um, this this is a a game that I think
• 36:00
  can only be described as slop. And I am
• 36:03
  not I am not referring to its price tag.
• 36:07
  I'm not referring to whether or not it
• 36:08
  should have been bundled in. This game
• 36:10
  could be free. You could hand it to me.
• 36:12
  I and I would still come to the same
• 36:14
  conclusion. Uh everything Nintendo is
• 36:17
  known for, the charm in their
• 36:19
  presentation, the extra level of
• 36:21
  thinking that they typically apply to
• 36:24
  simple subjects is not in this. The the
• 36:28
  only thing that makes this a Nintendo
• 36:29
  product is the appearance of the word
• 36:31
  Nintendo. Otherwise, these every single
• 36:34
  one of these stupid little mini games of
• 36:37
  generic spaceships and asteroids and
• 36:39
  navigating little mazes with the mouse
• 36:42
  controls, this is this is a game if not
• 36:44
  for the Nintendo branding, no one would
• 36:46
  blink twice at. It would be just as
• 36:48
  forgotten as launch title Survival Kids
• 36:51
  from Konami. And I but but yes, it did.
• 36:55
  Of course, it did. It was a launch It
• 36:56
  was a launch game. And um I and I just
• 37:01
  and I saw it. I saw it for the first
• 37:03
  time. I saw this this this eagerness to
• 37:07
  consume a Nintendo product and not only
• 37:11
  consume it, but react positively to it
• 37:15
  in a way that is like recognizing the
• 37:18
  thoughtfulness and the ingenuity of
• 37:21
  Nintendo. like going out of your way to
• 37:24
  say, "But actually this stuff is really
• 37:26
  interesting." And I just that one game,
• 37:30
  I cannot see it. I cannot see it with
• 37:33
  that game. That is like I I have tried
• 37:36
  my hardest. I have been extremely
• 37:37
  charitable. It is not fun to play. And
• 37:40
  most of the games are things that I
• 37:42
  could play in a with a with a computer
• 37:43
  and a mouse and did in the '9s. These
• 37:46
  are these are these are mini games that
• 37:48
  they produced that if you gave me a
• 37:50
  week, I think I could learn how to code
• 37:53
  them and make them myself. That is that
• 37:55
  is where these games are at.
• 37:57
  >> So like I just can't. And then and then
• 37:59
  if you point to like the the details
• 38:01
  about the sweet about the Joy-Con and
• 38:03
  the mechanics of the There's nothing
• 38:04
  There is nothing in there. There's
• 38:06
  nothing in there that could not have
• 38:07
  been a tweet. Not even an email, Peter.
• 38:10
  Not even an email. There's nothing in
• 38:11
  there that could not have been a tweet.
• 38:13
  This is the kind of throwaway gunk that
• 38:16
  Masaherro Sakcharai posted on the Smash
• 38:18
  dojo when he needed to kill some time.
• 38:20
  >> And then Yeah.
• 38:21
  >> So, do you think that then that there is
• 38:23
  going to be a discussion about this? Do
• 38:25
  you think people are going to like is
• 38:26
  there in terms of like predicting
• 38:28
  discourse like what do you think is the
• 38:29
  discourse surrounding
• 38:31
  >> No, no, no. My So, cuz my read is that I
• 38:35
  found that people were accepting of slop
• 38:39
  from Nintendo. So I think what the the
• 38:41
  discourse I'm going to see is phony
• 38:44
  baloney
• 38:46
  this this lifting this heightening
• 38:48
  continue as the trend continues itself
• 38:52
  of Nintendo for the first time ever
• 38:55
  producing what I would call slop and
• 38:57
  you're wondering Jake you're you're
• 38:59
  you're thinking there you're you're
• 39:00
  listening to the show and you're
• 39:01
  thinking but Jake surely surely you have
• 39:02
  something more than
• 39:06
  uh Nintendo Switch to Welcome Tour as as
• 39:08
  an example of um slop
• 39:12
  >> is that drag drive game? I mean,
• 39:13
  >> listen, I am 100% willing to point to um
• 39:19
  Drag Drive as slop drag drag x drive as
• 39:22
  slob. I would be more than happy to do
• 39:24
  that. I would love to point to the
• 39:26
  Nintendo today app as Nintendo slop. Um
• 39:30
  I would listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I
• 39:32
  would even point to um the Donkey Kong
• 39:34
  Returns HD released in January of 2025
• 39:38
  as um as slop, as content, as a a the
• 39:42
  kind of remake remaster thing that I
• 39:44
  look at and I go, "This is so dumb." Um,
• 39:48
  but and if and if you catch me on my
• 39:50
  worst of days, if you catch me at my
• 39:52
  most cynical, at my most uh willing to
• 39:55
  make people on the internet angry,
• 39:57
  [clears throat]
• 39:59
  >> Metroid Prime 4 Beyond,
• 40:02
  not good.
• 40:03
  >> I that no good. No good at all. Uh, you
• 40:09
  know what's interesting about Metroid
• 40:10
  Prime 4 and and this is not what the
• 40:12
  point of this episode is, but just
• 40:14
  Nintendo has proven that they're fine
• 40:16
  with like canning a game and just like
• 40:18
  sitting on it forever to release it when
• 40:20
  no one is going to look at it. Remember
• 40:22
  that like one two Switch sequel that
• 40:24
  they made
• 40:25
  >> everybody want two Switch
• 40:26
  >> of course.
• 40:27
  >> Uh they like apparently had that done
• 40:30
  >> for like 3 years and they were like this
• 40:32
  is not good and they just like sat on it
• 40:34
  and just like just threw it out when no
• 40:36
  one was looking. It feels like they
• 40:38
  maybe tried to do that with Metroid, but
• 40:39
  they were like, "We're not even gonna
• 40:40
  tell you when this game is coming out."
• 40:41
  Like, like, "It's coming out in three
• 40:43
  weeks, and we don't even have the date
• 40:44
  or whatever." But
• 40:45
  >> Peter, I would even say with games that
• 40:47
  I like, there is this injection of like
• 40:50
  heightened meaning in them when they
• 40:52
  come from Nintendo.
• 40:53
  >> Um, Kirby Air Riders, I think, suffers
• 40:55
  from this. A game that I like quite a
• 40:58
  lot, but I think the way that people
• 40:59
  talk about it is I'm I'm like, where are
• 41:02
  we playing the same game? I would even
• 41:04
  say as maybe the internet's number one
• 41:06
  Pokemon Legends ZA Pilled player, I love
• 41:10
  that game. That was number two on my
• 41:11
  game of the year list,
• 41:12
  jakeime.subzack.com.
• 41:15
  The the second anybody starts
• 41:16
  complimenting the story or characters of
• 41:18
  that game. I simply take a step back and
• 41:21
  have to make sure that I have not been
• 41:23
  transported to some parallel dimension
• 41:25
  because I just I like Yeah. Okay. I
• 41:29
  don't Jake, there are two games this
• 41:31
  year that are going to have difficulty
• 41:32
  discourse surrounding them.
• 41:34
  >> Okay.
• 41:34
  >> And it's gonna be the same [ __ ] It's
• 41:35
  gonna be boring. It's gonna be
• 41:36
  uninteresting. It's just going to be the
• 41:37
  same like literally like like second
• 41:41
  verse same as the first.
• 41:42
  >> You know what I mean? Kind of type
• 41:44
  situation.
• 41:44
  >> Nice.
• 41:45
  >> Um and that is going to be Sorrowos the
• 41:47
  game from Housemark, the follow-up to
• 41:49
  Returnal.
• 41:50
  >> Uh people are going to talk about it.
• 41:52
  And I think
• 41:54
  >> Oh god, I always forget. You said this
• 41:56
  to me like last week or something about
• 41:57
  how there was difficulty discourse with
• 42:00
  Returnal and I was like surprised to
• 42:01
  hear that because I never felt that that
• 42:03
  game was like egregiously difficult.
• 42:05
  >> I mean it's difficult but like the whole
• 42:07
  point like that whole game is just like
• 42:08
  this is hard you can do this.
• 42:10
  >> Play just play just do another run.
• 42:12
  >> Yeah. But it was also a thing where like
• 42:13
  because the runs were long there was
• 42:15
  like a lot of discourse about like you
• 42:17
  know I I finally have an hour to play
• 42:19
  this so I just have to what? keep my PS5
• 42:22
  on and hope the game doesn't update
• 42:24
  because if it already
• 42:25
  >> you can save. Yeah. Yeah.
• 42:26
  >> Yeah. And they ended up adding a an
• 42:28
  ability to like it's not like a save but
• 42:31
  it's like
• 42:32
  >> you can suspend the game and then Yeah.
• 42:34
  And then you can just it like when you
• 42:35
  reload it it like burns that save slot,
• 42:37
  whatever.
• 42:38
  >> Um
• 42:40
  >> so there is that. And so I think Saos is
• 42:42
  going to have a similar thing and it I
• 42:44
  think it's going to be designed maybe in
• 42:45
  response to the way that people sort of
• 42:47
  felt about the difficulty discourse
• 42:48
  surrounding Returnal. And then I also
• 42:50
  think that Phantom Blade Zero is going
• 42:51
  to have difficulty discourse, but I also
• 42:53
  think that it's going to be uh
• 42:54
  difficulty discourse and also the again
• 42:57
  same conversation we've had a billion
• 42:59
  times about like what counts as a Souls
• 43:01
  like cuz I played the demo of that at
• 43:03
  SGF and and it's like not a Soulslike at
• 43:06
  all, but I think people are going to
• 43:07
  call it that because it's um a difficult
• 43:10
  game with swords in it. Um I think it's
• 43:12
  going to be really boring and
• 43:13
  uninteresting and it's hardly even worth
• 43:14
  talking about on our podcast right now.
• 43:17
  >> [snorts]
• 43:18
  >> the Animal Crossing update will come
• 43:20
  out.
• 43:21
  >> Mhm.
• 43:22
  >> It will fail to generate a significant
• 43:25
  amount of enthusiasm for no reason other
• 43:28
  than it's hard to get back into those
• 43:31
  games after you bounce off them for the
• 43:33
  first time. But that is not my
• 43:35
  prediction. My prediction is in early
• 43:37
  March, Piccopia will release.
• 43:41
  [snorts]
• 43:42
  >> The Animal Crossing Killer reviews will
• 43:44
  call it.
• 43:44
  >> Oh my gosh. and Piccopia. Just a little
• 43:48
  general prediction with a side of the
• 43:49
  discourse. As I've said and I will
• 43:50
  continue to say, I think Picopia will be
• 43:53
  one of the biggest games of the year. I
• 43:55
  think people will be shocked at how
• 43:57
  successful this game is, how well it
• 43:59
  sells, how well it continues to sell
• 44:01
  month after month. I think it will have
• 44:02
  tremendous social media travel. I think
• 44:04
  it will be so successful that it will
• 44:06
  cause problems for future Animal
• 44:08
  Crossing games building an assumption of
• 44:10
  more content in them in the future. I
• 44:13
  have big big big expectations for that
• 44:17
  Popia game. I think a lot of people have
• 44:19
  no idea how wellbuilt and how content
• 44:24
  and feature complete these Dragon Quest
• 44:26
  Builder games are. And I think the only
• 44:27
  thing holding that back is uh you know
• 44:30
  being Dragon Quest who over here. You
• 44:32
  know what I'm saying? And now you got a
• 44:34
  little Yeah. You got a little little
• 44:36
  cuties over in the Pokemon hanging out
• 44:37
  with them. That's a little something
• 44:38
  something. Um, yeah, I think this game's
• 44:41
  going to be big and I think that there
• 44:42
  will be that the, you know, we we saw a
• 44:45
  lot of reviews come out in 2025 that
• 44:47
  were fixated on kind of comparing to
• 44:50
  another game. We we that was a trend
• 44:52
  that I think we can say emerged. And I
• 44:55
  think that Hopia reviews will be fixated
• 44:59
  on the comparisons to Animal Crossing.
• 45:02
  And I and I my prediction is that that
• 45:04
  will be he leaned heavily in favor of
• 45:07
  Popia.
• 45:09
  uh my how I I could s I can summarize
• 45:12
  how I feel about Poptopia in in a single
• 45:14
  sentence.
• 45:16
  I hope I'm wrong.
• 45:19
  I I think that game conceptually love
• 45:21
  the concept of it, but the more I think
• 45:24
  on it, the more I'm like, this is this
• 45:26
  is going to be bad because Pokemon games
• 45:28
  are have
• 45:31
  are bogged down by their inability to
• 45:34
  make anything feel seamless and quick.
• 45:36
  Everyone is constantly slinking into
• 45:39
  frame. Text boxes come up. I can't skip
• 45:41
  the dialogue. I can't skip the the
• 45:43
  information. Whatever. I'm being told
• 45:45
  the same information over and over and
• 45:48
  over again. I go to a a Pokemon center
• 45:51
  and they tell me, "Hi, this is a place
• 45:53
  where you CAN HEAL YOUR I KNOW YOU CAN
• 45:54
  HEAL YOUR POKEMON HERE. I KNOW
• 45:56
  >> Game Freak is just they're just My
• 45:59
  understanding is Game Freak doesn't
• 46:00
  really have anything to do with this.
• 46:01
  They're just looking over. They're just
• 46:03
  supervising because this is Dragon Quest
• 46:05
  Builders two people. Because because if
• 46:07
  it can get around the uh uh uh glacial
• 46:12
  pacing that all Pokemon products have,
• 46:14
  then it then I think it will be good.
• 46:16
  And if it cannot, then I think it is
• 46:19
  going to be it is going to die a slow
• 46:20
  and painful death.
• 46:21
  >> I almost see and I got to tell you, I
• 46:23
  almost think it doesn't matter because
• 46:24
  there is a you know this audience of
• 46:27
  people that play these cozy games, the
• 46:29
  people that play Stardew Valley and
• 46:30
  nothing else, the people that play
• 46:31
  Animal Crossing Sims and nothing else. I
• 46:33
  think that Piccopia is going to be such
• 46:34
  an overwhelming hit in those spaces. I
• 46:37
  think that it's going to dominate in
• 46:39
  like a crazy way. Every Disney
• 46:42
  Dreamlight Valley, get out.
• 46:44
  >> Yes. Well, but that's what I'm saying
• 46:46
  though is is I hope I'm wrong because I
• 46:47
  hope that it is that it is able to not
• 46:50
  have to have the big asterisk of like,
• 46:52
  well, it's good, but you got to deal
• 46:53
  with the [ __ ] Oh my gosh, the
• 46:55
  slinking around the glacial pace. I'm
• 46:58
  I'm hoping I'm wrong. I think it's
• 47:00
  possible that I'm wrong, but that's the
• 47:01
  one thing where I'm like, if it's able
• 47:03
  to get around that, I think it's gonna
• 47:04
  be great.
• 47:05
  >> Can I Can I the light one?
• 47:06
  >> Yeah, please.
• 47:08
  >> Okay, so as it stands, the Nintendo
• 47:10
  Switch 2 exists in one form. It looks
• 47:12
  like this.
• 47:13
  >> Yep. I've seen it. I've I've held it,
• 47:15
  played it.
• 47:16
  >> I I think uh in 2026, we will get new
• 47:19
  Joy-Con for the Nintendo Switch 2. And
• 47:21
  the discourse will be
• 47:24
  >> that the Joy-Con are incredibly ugly.
• 47:28
  So, do you think they're [laughter]
• 47:29
  do you think they're shaped different
• 47:31
  and that's why they're ugly? Like they
• 47:33
  have colors just be like So, let's talk
• 47:36
  a little bit about the the Switch 2
• 47:37
  situation. As you know, when you remove
• 47:39
  your Switch 2 Joy-Con, the inside of
• 47:41
  your Nintendo Switch console has the
• 47:44
  corresponding color of the Joy-Con. This
• 47:47
  is this is unchanging.
• 47:49
  >> Yeah. So, there's already this
• 47:51
  invitation to be uncomfortable with
• 47:54
  whatever it is that the Joy-Con do
• 47:56
  because you will be misman you will be
• 47:57
  mismatching. Now, could Nintendo release
• 48:00
  some kind of sticker that you attach to
• 48:03
  the inside?
• 48:03
  >> Oh my gosh, what a nightmare. What a
• 48:05
  nightmare. Yeah, have me get in there.
• 48:06
  Have me get in there with
• 48:07
  >> I could see them doing that, but then I
• 48:09
  find that to be another invitation to
• 48:11
  just think that it's stupid and ugly.
• 48:13
  Yes. No, I I almost think that they
• 48:14
  they've they've made the Switch 2 in a
• 48:16
  way that um could you imagine this
• 48:19
  alternative? Again, when you look at
• 48:21
  these Joy-Con, there is not really any
• 48:22
  color to them. You can barely see them
• 48:24
  on the camera, but the color that is
• 48:26
  it's it's around the stick, right?
• 48:28
  >> And then it's inside when you open them
• 48:30
  up.
• 48:30
  >> Exactly. Now, what if that's the only
• 48:32
  thing that new Joy-Con change?
• 48:35
  >> Oh, that's terrible.
• 48:36
  >> See, you see what I'm saying? Like,
• 48:37
  there's no universe. There's no universe
• 48:39
  in which they re they reveal new Joy-Con
• 48:42
  for this thing and everybody goes sick.
• 48:45
  No universe.
• 48:47
  >> I agree.
• 48:47
  >> Yeah. Okay.
• 48:48
  >> 100% agree. 100% agree.
• 48:49
  >> You heard it here first.
• 48:51
  >> Yes. I know I think that's fair because
• 48:52
  they will eventually
• 48:54
  have some kind of color change or some
• 48:56
  kind of whatever. Um
• 49:00
  can I say there's a lack of sort of like
• 49:02
  whimsy I think with the Switch 2 that
• 49:04
  the Switch One had with the Joycon.
• 49:06
  >> I'm happy with that. I don't I don't
• 49:08
  necessarily mind it, but it it feels
• 49:10
  like it's a a step more towards the
• 49:12
  PlayStation Xbox land as opposed to
• 49:14
  being like the fun like colorful like
• 49:17
  express yourself with with your Switch
• 49:18
  Joy-Con colors sort of situation. Yeah,
• 49:21
  I get that. I think that that has become
• 49:23
  less important for me as I in my head I
• 49:26
  have reframed the Switch 2 as not a
• 49:29
  handheld but a portable console, which
• 49:31
  is a slight difference.
• 49:32
  >> No, that's fair. And yeah, and I think
• 49:34
  that the whimsy that I get out of it is
• 49:37
  the greatness of using it to be honest
• 49:40
  with you that
• 49:41
  >> Yeah.
• 49:42
  >> Yeah. I don't know. I I just I just did,
• 49:44
  you know, the flights for your wedding
• 49:45
  and I can't I can't tell you the premium
• 49:48
  experience of sitting on a plane,
• 49:50
  putting that tray down,
• 49:52
  >> putting the kickstand up.
• 49:53
  >> It's a good kickstand kickstand.
• 49:55
  >> The Joy-Con, and just like letting my
• 49:57
  letting my body relax and playing
• 49:59
  Octopath Traveler Zero for the entirety
• 50:01
  of the flight. So, no, I get it.
• 50:04
  >> Um, I got two quick ones.
• 50:06
  >> Yeah.
• 50:06
  >> Uh, Lord of the Fallen 2 will come out
• 50:08
  and there will be woke discourse
• 50:09
  surrounding it because the their whole
• 50:12
  thing is that they're like an anti-woke
• 50:13
  whatever and it will be really boring
• 50:15
  and it will be one of those things where
• 50:16
  I'm like, why did we even need to
• 50:17
  comment on this? These people are are
• 50:20
  baboons.
• 50:20
  >> We will not be making an episode about
• 50:22
  that.
• 50:22
  >> No, certainly not. No, but it's
• 50:25
  >> Yes, that's what I'm saying. It's it's
• 50:26
  like
• 50:28
  >> it's that thing about like say something
• 50:30
  and then like people fall for it and
• 50:32
  like are quote tweeting this these
• 50:33
  people and it's like like what what do
• 50:35
  we gain here? So so that's going to be
• 50:37
  boring and terrible. There's also going
• 50:38
  to be discourse surrounding uh Laura
• 50:40
  Croft's body in the Tomb Raider games
• 50:42
  that are coming out.
• 50:44
  >> Yeah. Again, just stuff that we've we've
• 50:46
  been over and it's over and we've talked
• 50:48
  about these things and it's awkward and
• 50:49
  weird that we even need to bring them up
• 50:51
  anymore.
• 50:53
  Do you remember how there was this big
• 50:55
  kurfuffle when Team Cheree said that
• 50:59
  they were not going to be giving out
• 51:02
  review codes for holiday song?
• 51:04
  >> I I remember this well. Yes,
• 51:06
  >> man. I got to ask.
• 51:09
  Do you think there are review codes for
• 51:10
  GTA 6?
• 51:12
  >> No,
• 51:12
  >> I don't think so either.
• 51:14
  >> Nope. Not a single one.
• 51:15
  >> Not a single one. Right. because
• 51:18
  we that game is surely coming in hot in
• 51:21
  some respect.
• 51:24
  >> Yeah.
• 51:25
  >> Yeah. It's interesting that. So, is this
• 51:26
  your GTA 6 one? Cuz I also I have two
• 51:30
  >> GTA I have a list of GTA 6
• 51:32
  >> because there's going to be a lot, but I
• 51:33
  am trying to boil down like I'm trying
• 51:35
  to pick which ones I think are going to
• 51:36
  be the pervasive ones that we talk
• 51:38
  about, right? I think I think review
• 51:41
  like copies I agree. I don't think
• 51:43
  they're going to do it cuz they think
• 51:44
  their whole thing like every single time
• 51:46
  that like there were like Game Awards,
• 51:48
  like Summer Game Fest or whatever,
• 51:49
  people were like, "Oh my gosh, GTA 6,
• 51:50
  GTA 6, PlayStation showcases, oh, GTA 6
• 51:53
  is going to be here." It's like, no. Do
• 51:54
  we not understand that Rockstar is in a
• 51:56
  league of its own? Rockstar is has the
• 51:59
  same sway in terms of like attention
• 52:02
  that people are paying to it as
• 52:04
  PlayStation, the brand, the entirety of
• 52:07
  PlayStation.
• 52:08
  >> Let me demonstrate a little league of
• 52:09
  their own for you,
• 52:10
  >> please.
• 52:11
  As we know, GTA 6, um, it has a release
• 52:14
  date right now. It has one. We can,
• 52:16
  it's, uh, November 19th, I want to say,
• 52:19
  of 2026.
• 52:21
  >> A big game that we know is releasing in
• 52:23
  2026, more or less, is the generation 10
• 52:27
  games of Pokemon.
• 52:29
  >> Yep.
• 52:31
  >> These games will release on the same
• 52:33
  day.
• 52:34
  >> You think so?
• 52:35
  >> And there will be discourse. People will
• 52:36
  wonder, people will say, "Oh, is Pokemon
• 52:38
  going to get out of the way of GTA? Is
• 52:40
  Pokemon going to pick up? No. The answer
• 52:42
  is no. They will not. They don't care.
• 52:44
  These are two completely separate
• 52:45
  audiences. They are not even on the same
• 52:47
  platform. They are not competing with
• 52:48
  each other at all. Correct. This is uh
• 52:50
  and and there will be some uh
• 52:52
  Barbenheimer discourse if you will like
• 52:54
  that that will appear a kind of uh the
• 52:56
  the Doom Animal Crossing of your so that
• 53:00
  I think is a discourse that's going to
• 53:01
  pop up. But before that discourse
• 53:03
  cements, there will be discourse about
• 53:04
  well GTA release date discourse will
• 53:06
  last us all year. And I just want to say
• 53:09
  GTA obviously something we opened the
• 53:12
  show with a joke about. Um I hope that
• 53:14
  the nation is prepared because GTA
• 53:17
  clicks really well on video game
• 53:19
  websites. So you're going to see a lot
• 53:21
  of,
• 53:24
  you know, you're going to see a lot of
• 53:25
  people just kind of trying to make
• 53:27
  discourse out of GTA because you got to
• 53:29
  write about it and you got to write
• 53:30
  about it all year long and after it
• 53:33
  releases. So, you know, if you run a
• 53:35
  video game company and you're like,
• 53:36
  "Jake," or a video game review outlet, a
• 53:39
  a magazine or something, and you're
• 53:41
  like, "Jake, could you just write for me
• 53:42
  12 preackaged discourse pieces that we
• 53:46
  can release throughout the year to
• 53:48
  generate some enthusiasm for our website
• 53:50
  or whatever? I could I could do that for
• 53:52
  you right now. I've got more GTA. Do you
• 53:53
  have more GTA discourse?"
• 53:54
  >> Yeah. So, so my the two that I think are
• 53:56
  the big ones that I think are going to
• 53:57
  be like the things that people are like
• 53:58
  writing about a lot. And and I when I
• 54:00
  saw talk about like discourse for this,
• 54:02
  I'm speaking about like games media
• 54:04
  discourse. I don't think I think that a
• 54:05
  lot of times games media discourse is
• 54:06
  removed from the way that people are
• 54:08
  talking about video games.
• 54:09
  >> Of course,
• 54:09
  >> you know what I mean? It's like when I'm
• 54:10
  talking about I'm talking about like the
• 54:11
  things that like
• 54:13
  >> is is going to be like the big pieces
• 54:15
  that games media people share, but I
• 54:16
  think don't have much like actual
• 54:18
  cultural hold on the way people are
• 54:19
  actually talking about this thing.
• 54:20
  >> I think a big thing is going to be about
• 54:22
  and again these are like boring old
• 54:24
  things, but I think that we just recycle
• 54:26
  so much, right? Uh, do video games
• 54:28
  understand satire is going to be a big
• 54:30
  thing with GTA 6 or are we just doing
• 54:33
  the thing that we're pretending to
• 54:34
  satarize? Because that was a big thing
• 54:35
  with like cyberpunk, right? Like uh
• 54:37
  where a lot of cyberpunk stuff was like,
• 54:39
  oh, it's like taking a satirical look at
• 54:42
  um uh the way like bodies are are formed
• 54:46
  and understood and whatever. Um, but
• 54:48
  it's actually just making jokes. Do you
• 54:51
  know what I mean? Like it's actually
• 54:52
  just like not like saying anything. It's
• 54:53
  just it's just doing the thing that it's
• 54:54
  like like making fun of. Um, I think GTA
• 54:57
  6 is going to be probably guilty of that
• 54:58
  and people are going to talk about that.
• 55:00
  And then I also think that the other
• 55:02
  part of GTA 6 that people are going to
• 55:04
  talk about
• 55:05
  >> is removed from GTA 6 itself because as
• 55:08
  we've talked about, I think it is a lot
• 55:09
  easier to point to things that are
• 55:12
  quantifiable as opposed to having to
• 55:14
  come up with an interpretation of a
• 55:16
  piece of art. And I think the cost, the
• 55:18
  human cost of making GTA 6 is going to
• 55:21
  be a big thing that we talk about
• 55:23
  >> because it's a lot easier to talk about
• 55:24
  Crunch and and and like unions and stuff
• 55:26
  like that because it's it's uh more
• 55:28
  quantifiable than having to look at GTA
• 55:30
  6 and and say like, "Hey, I think it's
• 55:32
  saying this about
• 55:34
  >> the state of Florida or whatever, you
• 55:36
  know what I mean? than actually uh uh
• 55:38
  being able to look at, you know, union
• 55:40
  busting activity and and like corporate
• 55:42
  greed and stuff like that,
• 55:44
  >> especially since that kind of started
• 55:45
  with those the layoffs in 2025. I think
• 55:48
  that yeah, that that makes sense that
• 55:50
  discourse were queuing that up. Um I
• 55:53
  think after seeing
• 55:56
  when Silkong revealed its price and the
• 55:59
  way that people reacted to it,
• 56:01
  >> Yeah. Yeah.
• 56:02
  >> was a big one. Uh, a discourse I can see
• 56:05
  emerging is, uh, I think that GTA 6 will
• 56:08
  cost $70.
• 56:11
  And I think that that will
• 56:14
  generate
• 56:16
  positive discourse for the worst kind of
• 56:18
  people.
• 56:18
  >> I'm seeing the YouTube thumbnails
• 56:20
  >> for the gamers.
• 56:21
  >> It says like saved gaming. GTA 6 saved
• 56:25
  >> gaming. That's
• 56:27
  GTA 6 showed Nintendo, right? talking
• 56:31
  about
• 56:32
  >> whoever's listening. Whoever's
• 56:33
  listening, literally, if you work for a
• 56:34
  video game website, you should be typing
• 56:36
  this right now. You should [laughter]
• 56:37
  literally just be in the CMS just like
• 56:40
  writing this out right now. This is so
• 56:41
  good. Oh my god, they saved gaming.
• 56:44
  That's crazy.
• 56:45
  >> GTA 6. This one's for the gamers.
• 56:47
  >> For the gamers, dude, they did it for
• 56:48
  us. They did it for us. That's good.
• 56:50
  >> This is actually This is the a game
• 56:52
  that's for the gamers because it's it's
• 56:54
  got exactly what the gamers want.
• 56:57
  >> Uh uh guns. Hot babes. Yeah.
• 57:00
  >> Uh uh only cost $70 when they could have
• 57:04
  very easily made it cost $1,000. And
• 57:06
  it's like, okay, well now hold on
• 57:08
  >> now. Now, will there be a more expensive
• 57:11
  version of GTA 6 that unlocks a few days
• 57:14
  early? Sure. Will there be a $100
• 57:17
  version of GTA 6? Probably. I don't know
• 57:19
  how these things work.
• 57:20
  >> I think I think the $100 version is of
• 57:22
  course going to be like the digital
• 57:23
  deluxe one, and it's going to be much
• 57:24
  more difficult to find the $70 base
• 57:27
  version on digital storefronts. Um, but
• 57:30
  that's just how it all I mean that's
• 57:31
  what they do with Assassin's Creed,
• 57:32
  right? 100, you know, and because you
• 57:34
  get an additional 1,000 Assassin's Creed
• 57:36
  bucks, you're getting an additional
• 57:38
  1,000 GTA online dollars or whatever it
• 57:41
  is, you know? Um,
• 57:44
  >> yeah. No, I I think part of me is like
• 57:47
  worried about GTA because I just don't
• 57:49
  want to hear about it. Like, I bet it's
• 57:51
  going to be good. I bet I've never
• 57:52
  played any of uh uh the GTA games
• 57:55
  before. This seems like it seems kind of
• 57:56
  cool. I like Bonnie and Clyde as a
• 57:59
  movie. Uh, and that story is kind of
• 58:01
  interesting. That dynamic is neat. Um,
• 58:04
  but will this be the oh god, the
• 58:07
  discourse that I'm not interested in is
• 58:09
  the like actually Rockstar games and GTA
• 58:14
  games are quite smart and they're quite
• 58:17
  they're actually like I can't I can't
• 58:19
  deal with this. And if if this is the
• 58:21
  way that somebody out there listening
• 58:22
  feels, more power to you. My my personal
• 58:25
  take is that I've never felt these games
• 58:27
  to be um particularly fun to play or um
• 58:32
  particularly interesting. And I think
• 58:34
  that uh something that like goes a
• 58:36
  really long way with these games is that
• 58:38
  they're kind of like highfidelity porn.
• 58:41
  Just the like they thought of
• 58:42
  everything. They look at the details on
• 58:44
  the
• 58:45
  >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I
• 58:47
  just am that's just not something that
• 58:50
  um calls to me as a video game player
• 58:53
  that I think works for a lot of people.
• 58:55
  So
• 58:55
  >> someone showed a uh sideby-side
• 58:57
  comparison of Cyberpunk 2077 and uh Red
• 59:00
  Dead Redemption 2 where there's a guy
• 59:02
  eating I believe spaghetti.
• 59:04
  >> Okay. uh and a me and like a big
• 59:06
  meatball in uh Red Dead Redemption 2 and
• 59:10
  they did like the unique animations of
• 59:13
  how a person would eat spaghetti and cut
• 59:16
  up this meatball. I I don't know if it
• 59:17
  was spaghetti, but like they have like
• 59:20
  there's the animation a unique animation
• 59:22
  for exactly how a person would cut food
• 59:26
  up into small bites and eat the pieces
• 59:29
  of that and then get up and leave. And
• 59:31
  then it was like showing like Cyberpunk
• 59:32
  and it's just like a guy just sitting
• 59:34
  there with a big bowl of like ramen or
• 59:35
  whatever just like you know what I mean
• 59:37
  like pantomiming eating and everyone's
• 59:40
  like and so you can see obviously it is
• 59:44
  clear obviously Red Dead of Red Dead
• 59:46
  Redemption 2 is a superior video game.
• 59:49
  >> Yeah.
• 59:49
  >> And it's like it's like
• 59:52
  I don't know if that matters [laughter]
• 59:54
  guys. I don't know if that matters. I
• 59:56
  also find that a lot of that there's
• 59:57
  like a there's a there's a gamer culture
• 1:00:00
  right now who interprets that um I'm
• 1:00:03
  going to call it attention to detail
• 1:00:04
  even though that's what I even though I
• 1:00:06
  don't think that that's particularly
• 1:00:07
  accurate. Um they interpret that as care
• 1:00:11
  >> quality and care for the gamer like they
• 1:00:14
  look how much they care about their
• 1:00:16
  game. They did this for us
• 1:00:18
  >> when when again I I just don't know if
• 1:00:20
  that's
• 1:00:21
  >> really what's going on there. Yeah,
• 1:00:23
  >> it's
• 1:00:25
  uh horse balls all the way down.
• 1:00:27
  >> Horse balls all the way down.
• 1:00:28
  >> Where I'm like, I don't care about horse
• 1:00:30
  testicles and their physics and if it's
• 1:00:34
  cold and if the horse testicles are
• 1:00:35
  close to the horse's body or not. I know
• 1:00:38
  that some people think that that is the
• 1:00:40
  sign of a good video game. And I
• 1:00:43
  struggle to think of anything I would
• 1:00:45
  have in common with that person.
• 1:00:47
  >> Oh [laughter] god, everybody. There's
• 1:00:49
  just going to be so many pieces about
• 1:00:50
  GTA this year. And I I'm just I'm not
• 1:00:52
  I'm not looking forward to it. But I
• 1:00:54
  just hope that people do things more
• 1:00:55
  interesting or outright steal the ideas
• 1:00:57
  that we have suggested here because I I
• 1:00:59
  can't I can't deal with this like every
• 1:01:02
  day seeing let's look back at GTA 5 and
• 1:01:05
  talk about how great it was. Hey, didn't
• 1:01:07
  you love Vice City? Hey, didn't you just
• 1:01:09
  like I don't know this like
• 1:01:11
  uninteresting
• 1:01:12
  summary slash like retrospective thing
• 1:01:14
  that's like really popular right now
• 1:01:16
  that's just like it's just the same no
• 1:01:18
  matter who writes it. It's like you
• 1:01:20
  already know exactly what it's going to
• 1:01:21
  say beat by beat by beat. I hope people
• 1:01:22
  at least do something more interesting.
• 1:01:24
  You know what I mean? Like I I don't
• 1:01:25
  even
• 1:01:25
  >> got it. Dude, I've recommended him
• 1:01:27
  before. You got to watch Annie Austin.
• 1:01:30
  He's a guy on YouTube where he like
• 1:01:32
  looks out like uh uh
• 1:01:37
  he did like art like do the street signs
• 1:01:39
  in GTA 5 mean anything?
• 1:01:41
  >> I'm glad people like this kind of thing.
• 1:01:43
  To me it's so aimless. To me it's so
• 1:01:44
  like what are they doing? It's it's
• 1:01:46
  fascinating because it is looking at
• 1:01:48
  this. It is looking at the things that
• 1:01:50
  we are sort of like bemoning but in a
• 1:01:52
  interesting way because it's not just
• 1:01:54
  like like
• 1:01:57
  >> looking at it and going like that's a
• 1:01:58
  crazy good detail. It's like looking at
• 1:02:00
  it and saying like does this make sense?
• 1:02:03
  >> Do you know what I mean? In in a in a in
• 1:02:04
  a way that is like kind of fascinating.
• 1:02:06
  Uh Annie Austin, he's he's a trained
• 1:02:09
  pilot. He knows how to fly planes and so
• 1:02:10
  he has an analysis of GTA games airports
• 1:02:13
  and if they are functional or not.
• 1:02:15
  That's interesting, you know, like like
• 1:02:17
  because of of the the perspective on it,
• 1:02:19
  I think is the fascinating part. It is
• 1:02:21
  not the fact that the detail exists or
• 1:02:24
  not, [clears throat]
• 1:02:24
  >> right? Because people look at the the
• 1:02:25
  the eating the food and Red Dead and
• 1:02:28
  they just point at that and they say
• 1:02:29
  it's a superior game because it has food
• 1:02:31
  like this.
• 1:02:32
  >> Whereas the Any Austin stuff is like,
• 1:02:34
  "No, no, they put this in here and I'm
• 1:02:35
  going to look at it and see if it's re
• 1:02:37
  if it's real or not." And that's
• 1:02:39
  fascinating to me.
• 1:02:41
  >> As we wrap things up here,
• 1:02:42
  >> Yeah. I got one more good one that I
• 1:02:44
  think
• 1:02:44
  >> one more good one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:02:46
  >> Yeah. Um
• 1:02:48
  this is going to be I think a critical
• 1:02:50
  error episode.
• 1:02:51
  >> Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.
• 1:02:52
  >> I think I think this is um you we are
• 1:02:54
  uniquely positioned to talk about this.
• 1:02:55
  >> Oh my god. Okay.
• 1:02:59
  >> There is nothing new to say about
• 1:03:00
  superhero games. When Marvel's Wolverine
• 1:03:03
  comes out, they will tell you you feel
• 1:03:05
  like Wolverine. They will discuss um the
• 1:03:08
  multiverse and its connection to the
• 1:03:10
  Spider-Man games that Insomniac has
• 1:03:12
  made. They will talk about the fact that
• 1:03:13
  the end teaser sets up the X-Men game
• 1:03:15
  that they're going to make. It is all
• 1:03:17
  going to be the same beats we've heard
• 1:03:19
  there. No one is going to actually talk
• 1:03:21
  about the video game. It's going to be
• 1:03:25
  uh uh the Marvel movie of reviews, I
• 1:03:28
  think, is is how I'm looking at those
• 1:03:30
  reviews for that video game. a good
• 1:03:34
  candidate for our next Metroid Prime 4.
• 1:03:37
  >> Oh,
• 1:03:37
  >> fake review. I would say
• 1:03:39
  >> I would think that is that it would be
• 1:03:42
  good. That would be quite good actually.
• 1:03:45
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I see. I do.
• 1:03:49
  I think that that is something that you
• 1:03:50
  and I will talk about. I think that the
• 1:03:53
  general discourse will be
• 1:03:56
  >> Oh, no. No. That's not going to be
• 1:03:57
  discourse.
• 1:03:58
  >> Oh, that's going to be us. Yes, that's
• 1:04:00
  going to be a critical error episode
• 1:04:01
  because we're going to read a bunch of
• 1:04:03
  reviews and everyone's going to say the
• 1:04:04
  exact same things. Like, it's going to
• 1:04:06
  be uh you could control F and delete the
• 1:04:09
  words Ghost of of Yotay and put in
• 1:04:11
  Marvel's Wolverine and it will be the
• 1:04:13
  same reviews.
• 1:04:16
  >> Yeah, it's funny. I think the um the
• 1:04:18
  superhero game has
• 1:04:20
  >> or not Ghost Exactly, but you know what
• 1:04:22
  I mean. Like Spider-Man, it could be the
• 1:04:23
  same thing. Yeah, go on. these the
• 1:04:24
  superhero game as you've identified it I
• 1:04:26
  think is uh has coalesed into its own
• 1:04:30
  genre in certain ways and I think um
• 1:04:33
  genre
• 1:04:35
  it's almost like the set of of questions
• 1:04:37
  and people go into these games now being
• 1:04:40
  like do you feel like main character
• 1:04:44
  >> do like is the is the combat good in the
• 1:04:47
  way that like the Batman Arkham combat
• 1:04:50
  is good
• 1:04:50
  >> correct correct
• 1:04:51
  >> and there's there's stuff like that
• 1:04:52
  right there's the the
• 1:04:56
  that that open world in Spider-Man, the
• 1:04:58
  like looking into the windows and what
• 1:05:00
  that represents, the whether the
• 1:05:02
  traversal is good or not. Um, yeah, it's
• 1:05:07
  funny. It's
• 1:05:09
  Yeah, I see this very clearly. The the I
• 1:05:12
  feel like I don't even know anything
• 1:05:13
  about the Wolverine game and I'm all
• 1:05:14
  I've already written half of the
• 1:05:16
  >> reviews. No, the reviews are done.
• 1:05:18
  They're done. game outlet if you want to
• 1:05:20
  just [laughter]
• 1:05:21
  >> you want that if you want that quick and
• 1:05:23
  uh if you want that pre you know taken
• 1:05:25
  care of before uh we are we got you got
• 1:05:28
  you
• 1:05:28
  >> don't even have to get a code you could
• 1:05:31
  >> no show me the trailer I'll write about
• 1:05:32
  it I got it
• 1:05:33
  >> oh my god
• 1:05:35
  >> you have any last ones or do you do you
• 1:05:36
  want to read what you bring
• 1:05:38
  >> um yeah I've I've got just really quick
• 1:05:41
  um I wrote this down as the ultimate
• 1:05:44
  cursed timeline I I said this is the
• 1:05:47
  worst discourse course that I could
• 1:05:49
  imagine um emerging from 2026.
• 1:05:53
  GTA 6 has AI.
• 1:05:57
  >> Yeah, I'm throwing myself off off a
• 1:05:59
  bridge. I [laughter] like I just don't
• 1:06:01
  want to hear about it. Sorry.
• 1:06:02
  >> Because I think we did we did a year of
• 1:06:04
  2025 of people a lot of people online
• 1:06:07
  beating their chess doing the I'm not
• 1:06:10
  playing AI, I hate AI, Gen AI, bad bad
• 1:06:12
  bad. What happens when this immovable
• 1:06:16
  force meets the unstoppable object of
• 1:06:19
  their desire to play the GTA 6 video
• 1:06:22
  game?
• 1:06:23
  >> I get it. I think
• 1:06:24
  >> and and you know what's interesting is
• 1:06:26
  is uh people have pointed to me a lot uh
• 1:06:29
  because I made a video about Arc Raiders
• 1:06:30
  and AI
• 1:06:32
  >> and they're like, "Yeah, but you like
• 1:06:33
  Fortnite and Fortnite has AI in it." And
• 1:06:35
  I'm like, "I think that
• 1:06:38
  >> what's that?"
• 1:06:38
  >> I don't I don't know about that, but
• 1:06:40
  yeah.
• 1:06:41
  >> Is that Darth Vader AI thing? you talk
• 1:06:43
  about like
• 1:06:44
  >> like I don't know if it has it in it
• 1:06:46
  right now but like
• 1:06:47
  >> Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure.
• 1:06:48
  >> Um
• 1:06:49
  >> it's just one of those things that
• 1:06:50
  people point to
• 1:06:51
  >> and I'm like I get frustrated cuz I'm
• 1:06:53
  like that's not the point of that video.
• 1:06:55
  Point of that video is just to say like
• 1:06:57
  what do we do? I don't know.
• 1:06:58
  >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I think about
• 1:07:00
  it.
• 1:07:00
  >> Yeah. But for a lot of people that talk
• 1:07:02
  online, it's not really about
• 1:07:04
  understanding the circumstances that we
• 1:07:06
  live in and forming kind of like an
• 1:07:08
  adequate response or protest or
• 1:07:10
  understanding of those problems. It's
• 1:07:11
  about posturing and how can you posture
• 1:07:14
  about not liking AI if you're also
• 1:07:17
  playing the GTA 6 game? So, this is
• 1:07:19
  going to be a real problem for people
• 1:07:20
  that like take problems just seriously
• 1:07:23
  enough. Meanwhile, I you know, I don't
• 1:07:25
  know how much I would give a [ __ ] about,
• 1:07:27
  >> you know, it's actually worse than what
• 1:07:28
  you're talking about because it's not
• 1:07:29
  just going to be discourse surrounding
• 1:07:31
  GTA 5's inevitable the inevitable like
• 1:07:34
  rug pull that like no, they use some Gen
• 1:07:36
  AI in its development and like, you
• 1:07:38
  know, a poster like snuck its way in or
• 1:07:40
  whatever. It's like a asset. It is that
• 1:07:43
  GTA 6 has
• 1:07:47
  commentary on AI in it as well. And so
• 1:07:50
  it's going to be about
• 1:07:53
  GTA 6's ability to be satire and
• 1:07:56
  satarize AI while itself using AI. And
• 1:08:00
  oh man,
• 1:08:00
  >> I had a vision for the AI in GTA 6. I
• 1:08:03
  really thought to myself, I was like,
• 1:08:04
  what is a way that they could use it
• 1:08:05
  that would feel emergent and special?
• 1:08:08
  And I'm wondering if maybe this is
• 1:08:10
  stupid, but I'm like they have all the
• 1:08:11
  money in the world. Uh GTA 6 online,
• 1:08:15
  there are people you talk to that are
• 1:08:17
  AI.
• 1:08:18
  >> Oh, it's it's like AI uh like voice
• 1:08:20
  acted and and like written stuff. Yeah.
• 1:08:23
  Yeah.
• 1:08:23
  >> And they and they like go on a mission
• 1:08:24
  with you and you can like talk to them
• 1:08:25
  and they'll respond.
• 1:08:27
  >> Yeah.
• 1:08:28
  >> I could see them doing something like
• 1:08:29
  that, right?
• 1:08:30
  >> Yeah. Because we've already seen that
• 1:08:32
  like like the the AI in the Fortnite
• 1:08:34
  with Darth Vader.
• 1:08:35
  >> Like they did that.
• 1:08:36
  >> Yeah. Almost. Yeah. And cuz the other
• 1:08:39
  implementation of AI that I'm still
• 1:08:40
  waiting to see, I'm sure some game has
• 1:08:42
  done this already, but not not to a big
• 1:08:43
  scale in a noticeable way, is I'm
• 1:08:45
  waiting for the online multiplayer party
• 1:08:48
  of fake people. But you talk to them as
• 1:08:50
  if they are not characters in the in the
• 1:08:52
  game,
• 1:08:54
  you know, you know what I mean? I'm like
• 1:08:56
  surprised that that has not been like a
• 1:08:58
  big thing yet because to me that's like
• 1:09:00
  I don't even think that's that hard for
• 1:09:01
  them to do to be honest with you. I I
• 1:09:03
  feel like we have that technology
• 1:09:04
  already,
• 1:09:05
  >> right? Cuz it doesn't have to be good,
• 1:09:06
  right? What's that game where the
• 1:09:07
  friends meet? It's like some it's some
• 1:09:08
  like big MMO I think or something like
• 1:09:10
  that. And it's got like fully voiced AI
• 1:09:12
  like characters you can talk to and like
• 1:09:13
  be in your party and whatever. And like
• 1:09:15
  everyone's like uh uh speedrunning
• 1:09:17
  getting them to like call you like like
• 1:09:20
  uh names or or like
• 1:09:23
  you can convince them that that you are
• 1:09:25
  pregnant with their child. [laughter]
• 1:09:27
  It's like it's a like I saw some
• 1:09:28
  articles about that. Yeah. No, we have
• 1:09:30
  the technology. It's not good, you know,
• 1:09:32
  but we can definitely do that. I just
• 1:09:34
  think it'd be so much easier if they
• 1:09:36
  didn't have to be a character in the in
• 1:09:37
  the world of the game and it was like,
• 1:09:39
  "Hey, you're logging on to play with
• 1:09:41
  your literally voice chat."
• 1:09:42
  >> Your online friend Jerry and and then
• 1:09:44
  like every couple months they release a
• 1:09:46
  new one. Oh, now Cynthia's here,
• 1:09:48
  >> dude. And they have different
• 1:09:50
  personalities. They have different
• 1:09:51
  hobbies. It's like you talk to them
• 1:09:52
  about going to soccer practice
• 1:09:53
  >> and it's like a subscription that you
• 1:09:55
  have to pay for.
• 1:09:55
  >> Yeah, it's good actually. And see,
• 1:09:57
  that's what's in the $120
• 1:09:59
  version of GTA 6 is you can just get all
• 1:10:01
  the AI GTA online AI bots.
• 1:10:05
  >> Epic Games should hire us to sell our
• 1:10:07
  souls and just come up with like
• 1:10:09
  terrible ideas for them. That would
• 1:10:11
  actually make them a lot of money.
• 1:10:13
  >> Yeah, I don't even need that much money
• 1:10:14
  to just come up with those ideas.
• 1:10:16
  >> Okay.
• 1:10:16
  >> I need a modest living. I need a modest
• 1:10:18
  living. And I think they should buy us
• 1:10:23
  one of those attached houses that we
• 1:10:25
  would live in. Wherever Epic Games is.
• 1:10:28
  Where do you think Epic Games is?
• 1:10:30
  >> I'm going to say
• 1:10:32
  >> West.
• 1:10:32
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking I'm thinking
• 1:10:34
  somewhere over there, too. Washington
• 1:10:36
  State feels right. Where are
• 1:10:37
  >> They're in Maryland.
• 1:10:39
  >> Uh, wait. Headquarters in in North
• 1:10:41
  Carolina. They're actually all over the
• 1:10:42
  place. They're founded in Maryland, but
• 1:10:43
  they are currently in their HQ is in
• 1:10:45
  Kerry, North Carolina.
• 1:10:47
  >> Okay. And I think like there are like
• 1:10:49
  imagine we have our little business
• 1:10:50
  cards. It says like Jake Steinberg, it
• 1:10:52
  says Epic Games, bad idea guy.
• 1:10:56
  >> Yeah.
• 1:10:56
  >> And and it's like every time a new big
• 1:10:58
  thing comes to Fortnite like AI buddies.
• 1:11:01
  >> Yeah.
• 1:11:01
  >> People know they're like that was those
• 1:11:04
  guys. [laughter]
• 1:11:04
  >> It's like
• 1:11:06
  >> dang it's Jake and Peter.
• 1:11:08
  >> They used to they used to have a podcast
• 1:11:10
  and then now
• 1:11:11
  >> here's another here's another idea for
• 1:11:13
  that idea.
• 1:11:14
  >> Here's another idea. Okay. There's a
• 1:11:15
  there's a new location in Fortnite and
• 1:11:17
  it is a library.
• 1:11:19
  >> Okay.
• 1:11:20
  >> Complete books.
• 1:11:23
  >> I was thinking I was surprised that in
• 1:11:25
  the Quinton Tarantino update for
• 1:11:28
  whatever that the the movie theater in
• 1:11:30
  the world did not have
• 1:11:33
  like Kill Bill playing on it. It would
• 1:11:34
  have to be like a heavily censored
• 1:11:36
  version of Kill Bill. But I was so
• 1:11:37
  surprised or like there weren't like
• 1:11:39
  trailers just playing for those movies.
• 1:11:40
  >> Sure. Yeah. Sure.
• 1:11:42
  >> Yeah. No, 100%. Yeah. library full of
• 1:11:43
  real books. Real books are there.
• 1:11:45
  >> Yeah.
• 1:11:46
  >> And that creates discourse somehow. I'm
• 1:11:48
  almost there.
• 1:11:49
  >> Oh,
• 1:11:50
  >> we're so close. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:11:51
  >> In the middle in the middle of there's a
• 1:11:52
  bunch of real books. You you go down the
• 1:11:54
  Moby Dick, there's like Jane Austin, and
• 1:11:56
  then every so often you find a book
• 1:11:58
  >> completely AI generated [laughter]
• 1:12:04
  trying to sneak it in there.
• 1:12:06
  >> Yeah. No, it's [laughter] good. It's
• 1:12:07
  good. It's good. I mean, that's the
• 1:12:08
  thing is you just have to say like like
• 1:12:09
  how would we do this? Oh, just generate
• 1:12:11
  with AI. This is making it terrible.
• 1:12:12
  just terrible.
• 1:12:13
  >> New guns, just generate AI. Who cares?
• 1:12:16
  >> We're a little long. I'll say this.
• 1:12:17
  We've gone a little long, but it's the
• 1:12:19
  first episode of the year. I think we're
• 1:12:21
  feeling a little a little squirly
• 1:12:22
  because we didn't have an episode last
• 1:12:24
  week, right?
• 1:12:25
  >> Um
• 1:12:27
  and and
• 1:12:28
  I do, however, I want to hear the piece
• 1:12:30
  that you've prepared for us because it
• 1:12:32
  would be it just wouldn't be an episode
• 1:12:33
  of Critical Error if we skipped it. Uh
• 1:12:35
  and I'm I'm I'm going I'm curious. I
• 1:12:36
  want to hear what you got written. But
• 1:12:38
  before we get there, we should thank our
• 1:12:41
  Patreon subscribers. These with the the
• 1:12:44
  Critical Error Nation, of course. As we
• 1:12:47
  said at the beginning of the show, you
• 1:12:48
  can subscribe for $5 a month and get
• 1:12:51
  every single bonus episode that we put
• 1:12:53
  out. Uh there is one live right now.
• 1:12:55
  Again, our 2026 general video game
• 1:12:58
  predictions. But for the $10 and up
• 1:13:01
  subscribers, one of the the little
• 1:13:04
  treats that they get is that we shout
• 1:13:06
  them out in these podcasts in moments
• 1:13:09
  like right now. I would like to give a
• 1:13:12
  huge [snorts]
• 1:13:13
  thank you to members of the Critical
• 1:13:15
  Error Nation that are a part of the Jake
• 1:13:16
  and Peter tier. That is the highest tier
• 1:13:19
  on again patreon.com/critical
• 1:13:22
  error. I would like to say thank you to
• 1:13:25
  Andrew Bar, an upgraded member. I would
• 1:13:28
  like to say thank you to Evan Pon. I
• 1:13:30
  would like to say thank you to Reni, to
• 1:13:32
  Evan Snee, and to Merro, and as well to
• 1:13:37
  Robert Quesada. Thank you so much for
• 1:13:40
  supporting us on Patreon. It does mean
• 1:13:42
  the entire world to us. That said, Jake,
• 1:13:45
  you also do a sound effect for members
• 1:13:47
  of Critical Era Royalty, our $10 members
• 1:13:50
  on Patreon.
• 1:13:51
  >> Yes. So, thank you to the Jake and Peter
• 1:13:52
  tiers, of course. Here are our $10
• 1:13:54
  members. Let's play the sound. We've got
• 1:13:57
  Ancel, Trait, Andrew Bulkar, Evan Pon,
• 1:14:03
  Evan Snee, Merro,
• 1:14:07
  Rent,
• 1:14:09
  and Robert [music] Quesada. And thank
• 1:14:11
  you, of course, to our Critical Error
• 1:14:12
  Royalty members, Cole, Connor, True
• 1:14:14
  Love, Danny, Disaster, Jacob, Richtor,
• 1:14:16
  James, Pierre Reed, Jared Kuseno, Taylor
• 1:14:18
  Chow, Sam Cedar, Sam Woods, and Shin.
• 1:14:22
  What a time to be alive. Oh my gosh,
• 1:14:25
  Jake, you have a a written piece that
• 1:14:27
  you've prepared for us.
• 1:14:28
  >> I was inspired by Critical Error Nation
• 1:14:30
  me member Abram writing a blog about
• 1:14:32
  Donkey Kong Bonanza, their experience
• 1:14:34
  playing it. And I wanted to write about
• 1:14:36
  Octopath Traveler Zero. And I want to
• 1:14:38
  say upfront that if you're avoiding all
• 1:14:40
  spoilers for this game, I do write about
• 1:14:42
  in its completion uh like a chapter of
• 1:14:45
  this game. It's chapter 2 in the power
• 1:14:47
  quest line. So, really early in the
• 1:14:49
  game, but uh nonetheless, I just want
• 1:14:51
  everybody to be aware of exactly what's
• 1:14:53
  going on. Um, Peter, something I run
• 1:14:55
  into with games sometimes, especially
• 1:14:56
  games that are kind of like narrative or
• 1:14:58
  story focused, is this almost like I
• 1:15:01
  want to describe
• 1:15:04
  how I am appreciating these moments.
• 1:15:08
  And I know that it's as opposed to
• 1:15:10
  talking about other games that you are
• 1:15:11
  maybe more active in the controller.
• 1:15:14
  It's it's it's maybe easier to talk
• 1:15:15
  about playing the game and kind of like
• 1:15:18
  the actions you are doing. But instead,
• 1:15:20
  I wanted to try something here that was
• 1:15:21
  more a retelling of something that I saw
• 1:15:24
  that I viewed and appreciated through my
• 1:15:26
  own perspective. So that's what I'm
• 1:15:27
  doing.
• 1:15:28
  >> Okay.
• 1:15:32
  Renu's stew is the best in the realm.
• 1:15:37
  Velnor shouts. We eat the stew at their
• 1:15:40
  table. That is what they insist on. It's
• 1:15:44
  payment. Renu calls it. Though nothing
• 1:15:47
  about this meal feels transactional. The
• 1:15:49
  bull is set down with this practiced
• 1:15:52
  certainty. She does not hesitate. Her
• 1:15:54
  blindness.
• 1:15:56
  I almost forget it's part of her
• 1:15:58
  character.
• 1:15:59
  So earlier that day, a monster came out
• 1:16:01
  of the snow. I killed it because I
• 1:16:05
  could. because the game taught me how.
• 1:16:08
  Velnor and Renu would not have survived
• 1:16:10
  otherwise. The stew is their thanks. It
• 1:16:13
  is the reason that we are here together,
• 1:16:16
  seated at this table. As the light fades
• 1:16:18
  early outside the windows,
• 1:16:22
  Nort tells me who he is while Renu is
• 1:16:25
  clearing the bowls. He once belonged and
• 1:16:28
  unfortunately still does to the Scarlet
• 1:16:31
  Wing, a military order assembled from
• 1:16:34
  former criminals and held together by
• 1:16:37
  doctrine. They believe that people can
• 1:16:39
  be remade through this service. Leaving
• 1:16:42
  them is not a decision for Velnor. It is
• 1:16:47
  a condition imposed from the outside.
• 1:16:50
  See, Velnor is an alchemist. He is
• 1:16:52
  working on the scarlet elixir, a cure
• 1:16:55
  meant to end suffering, a panacea. Yet
• 1:16:59
  in its current state, it produces
• 1:17:02
  monsters.
• 1:17:04
  She is not from these parts, he tells
• 1:17:07
  me, nodding toward Renew. Her family is
• 1:17:11
  scattered across the continent. We live
• 1:17:13
  together as a couple now. But sometimes
• 1:17:16
  I wonder if I can truly make her happy.
• 1:17:21
  Renu learns the truth about Velnor
• 1:17:23
  later. The Scarlet Wing is controlling
• 1:17:27
  him. The Elixir is their leverage.
• 1:17:30
  She understands
• 1:17:33
  exactly what's going on. They have
• 1:17:35
  threatened the Scarlet Wing to end her
• 1:17:38
  life.
• 1:17:41
  If Veln stops working on this elixir,
• 1:17:46
  she loves him.
• 1:17:48
  She sells her body to the Scarlet Wing
• 1:17:51
  in exchange for his freedom. Without
• 1:17:53
  her, they have nothing left to threaten.
• 1:17:56
  So they take her. They use her as bait.
• 1:18:00
  She is left near the summit of a
• 1:18:02
  mountain. She is beaten badly enough
• 1:18:04
  that her breathing becomes work. Velnort
• 1:18:08
  and ourselves, we find her alive. We
• 1:18:11
  reach her just in time. And the scarlet
• 1:18:15
  the scarlet wing surrounds us. The fight
• 1:18:17
  is long. It is exhausting. It is a great
• 1:18:20
  boss fight, but we win because winning
• 1:18:22
  is the only outcome for this video game.
• 1:18:27
  The fight is over. The snow keeps
• 1:18:29
  falling. Afterward, Nort helps Renu
• 1:18:31
  stand. He tells her the truth, the
• 1:18:34
  elixir. It was a never just about saving
• 1:18:36
  lives. He wanted to give her sight, her
• 1:18:39
  blindness. Of course, I almost forgot.
• 1:18:42
  There was no version of his dream that
• 1:18:44
  did not begin and end with her. I want
• 1:18:48
  to be where you are. She says, "But one
• 1:18:51
  of the Scarlet Wing is still alive." He
• 1:18:54
  shouts after them, demanding to know why
• 1:18:57
  they should be forgiven. Demanding to
• 1:18:58
  know what happens to all of the people
• 1:19:00
  left behind. Don't you care about
• 1:19:01
  anybody other than yourselves? He
• 1:19:03
  charges forward. He shoves Nort. Renu is
• 1:19:06
  standing just behind him. She loses her
• 1:19:08
  footing and she falls
• 1:19:11
  off this snowy mountain.
• 1:19:13
  Velnor does not move.
• 1:19:18
  Then he screams her name.
• 1:19:21
  The game fades to black.
• 1:19:26
  When we return,
• 1:19:29
  we are welcomed into Velnor's house.
• 1:19:33
  He asks us to stay for dinner. He tells
• 1:19:36
  us that Renu has something on the stove.
• 1:19:39
  It's the best stew in the frost lands.
• 1:19:43
  He calls her name Renu.
• 1:19:48
  No one answers.
• 1:19:50
  Renew.
• 1:19:53
  The scene fades to black.
• 1:19:57
  I am not saying that Octopath Traveler
• 1:19:59
  Zero has a good story.
• 1:20:02
  When people talk about story in the
• 1:20:03
  series, they're usually talking about
• 1:20:05
  structure. They talk about convergence.
• 1:20:07
  Do the characters meet? Do their arcs
• 1:20:09
  cross over? Do all of these separate
• 1:20:11
  paths eventually lock into something
• 1:20:14
  more legible and singular? Octopath
• 1:20:17
  Traveler 2, it's widely regarded as a
• 1:20:19
  dramatic improvement over the first
• 1:20:21
  game, largely because it answers that
• 1:20:24
  exact demand directly. There are paired
• 1:20:27
  chapters. There are shared
• 1:20:28
  confrontations, a clear sense that these
• 1:20:30
  people exist in the same narrative space
• 1:20:33
  rather than just occupying the same
• 1:20:35
  world. That framing is the primary lens
• 1:20:39
  through which the series is evaluated.
• 1:20:42
  There's a book I really like called
• 1:20:44
  Winesburg, Ohio. Sherwood Anderson, the
• 1:20:47
  author, he gives us this town. It's
• 1:20:50
  defined by isolation. You've got George
• 1:20:54
  Willard. He moves among these other
• 1:20:57
  characters like Wing Bittlebomb and
• 1:21:00
  Elizabeth Willard brushing up against
• 1:21:04
  their inner lives. You see these
• 1:21:06
  characters, they pass sometimes very
• 1:21:09
  infrequently. They might interact with
• 1:21:10
  each other but they never fully enter
• 1:21:13
  each other's lives because their lives
• 1:21:15
  are inside of them. The book's beating
• 1:21:17
  heart is not revelation. It is
• 1:21:20
  containment. The knowledge that people
• 1:21:22
  can be profoundly shaped by one another
• 1:21:24
  without ever arriving at a mutual
• 1:21:26
  understanding. Weber, Ohio, ends so, so
• 1:21:31
  quietly like one falling off the edge of
• 1:21:34
  a snowy mountain, too stunned to scream.
• 1:21:36
  There is no grand coming together. There
• 1:21:38
  is no final accounting. And yet,
• 1:21:41
  shouldn't these people talk? Shouldn't
• 1:21:42
  they band together? Shouldn't there be a
• 1:21:44
  moment where everything finally clicks
• 1:21:46
  into place when their private griefs
• 1:21:47
  resolve into some shared meaning? But
• 1:21:50
  that demand completely misunderstands
• 1:21:52
  what the work is doing, what the book is
• 1:21:54
  doing, the pleasure it offers is not
• 1:21:57
  resolution. It is recognition. The
• 1:22:00
  recognition, the shock that you see over
• 1:22:03
  and over again when you experience
• 1:22:05
  something true about a life that is
• 1:22:08
  interior and a life that remains
• 1:22:10
  stubbornly separate from the ones around
• 1:22:12
  it. That
• 1:22:15
  is the register Octopath Traveler works
• 1:22:18
  in. That is why I told the story first.
• 1:22:22
  Were you confused when I started with
• 1:22:24
  Renu's stew. If I had begun instead with
• 1:22:27
  craft language or narrative theory, you
• 1:22:29
  would have prepared to argue with me.
• 1:22:31
  But story does something else. It wants
• 1:22:33
  you to remember and sit at a table and
• 1:22:36
  to stand on a mountain and watch as the
• 1:22:38
  person you love leaves.
• 1:22:42
  And then you go back home.
• 1:22:45
  There is a pleasure that comes from
• 1:22:47
  recognition.
• 1:22:48
  There is a pleasure that comes from
• 1:22:50
  being so close to a life that you cannot
• 1:22:53
  fix that you only watch. Octopath
• 1:22:55
  Traveler is not asking me to judge it by
• 1:22:58
  how cleanly its parts come together. It
• 1:23:01
  is asking me to be close and to live
• 1:23:05
  with what being close will inevitably
• 1:23:09
  cost me.
• 1:23:11
  Thank you.
• 1:23:15
  >> What a final line. What a good what a
• 1:23:17
  good line at the end there. Um,
• 1:23:21
  well,
• 1:23:23
  >> I was so taken aback by this scene
• 1:23:26
  >> because um
• 1:23:29
  to have this scene end with being
• 1:23:32
  victorious, being the final boss,
• 1:23:34
  getting these two um lovers who had
• 1:23:37
  miscommunications between them, getting
• 1:23:39
  them to see each other honestly and um
• 1:23:44
  to choose their happiness with each
• 1:23:46
  other and then for the next thing to
• 1:23:47
  happen to the this woman getting pushed
• 1:23:50
  off of a cliff and then I think there's
• 1:23:53
  a part of my brain that says they could
• 1:23:55
  still bring her back. I'm still early in
• 1:23:57
  this game. There's a way. There's a way.
• 1:24:00
  But then to go to that scene back in the
• 1:24:02
  house and that he's lost his mind and
• 1:24:06
  that he's calling her name saying that
• 1:24:08
  there's a stew that she makes on the
• 1:24:09
  stove and she's not there anymore. I I
• 1:24:12
  was really like affected by this.
• 1:24:14
  >> I it Yeah. and and and I want to say
• 1:24:17
  that the the vocal performances like the
• 1:24:19
  voiceovers, it was it was I don't know.
• 1:24:20
  So anyway, this was this was my attempt
• 1:24:22
  at just some um trying to for somebody
• 1:24:25
  that hasn't played that game. I feel
• 1:24:26
  like there's a lot of people who maybe
• 1:24:28
  are listening to this that would never
• 1:24:29
  play an Octopath Traveler game and I'm
• 1:24:31
  like maybe I can maybe I can entice you.
• 1:24:33
  Maybe I can get you in the door. But um
• 1:24:35
  but more importantly, I I I just wanted
• 1:24:37
  to try something a little experimental
• 1:24:40
  about this. I'm going to tell you a
• 1:24:41
  story
• 1:24:42
  >> and then I'm going to have the essay.
• 1:24:44
  >> Yeah. No. It's great. It's It's great
• 1:24:46
  because it's what you said at the end
• 1:24:48
  there too about like,
• 1:24:49
  >> you know, we could have started by
• 1:24:50
  talking about craft and and structure
• 1:24:52
  and this and that and whatever, but like
• 1:24:55
  >> if we start there, I I've lost you.
• 1:24:58
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right.
• 1:24:59
  >> You know, um No, that was that was
• 1:25:02
  phenomenal, Jake. Uh uh I am
• 1:25:05
  I'm open to Octopath Traveler Zero.
• 1:25:10
  My heart's open to it. I don't know if
• 1:25:11
  I'll pick it up. Um but I'll say this. I
• 1:25:14
  like hearing about it from you if
• 1:25:16
  >> that's that's all I want from people and
• 1:25:18
  and I got to say the way that this game
• 1:25:19
  works there's like these multiple little
• 1:25:21
  quest lines that you can do. So this was
• 1:25:22
  chapter two of of one of them and I
• 1:25:25
  specifically did not write about chapter
• 1:25:27
  two of another one of them because I
• 1:25:29
  actually like that one more than this
• 1:25:30
  one.
• 1:25:32
  >> And I was like damn there's actually a a
• 1:25:34
  really sick chapter 2. So I don't know.
• 1:25:36
  Um still really early in this game.
• 1:25:38
  Excited to excited to kind of see it
• 1:25:39
  through. And a little little book
• 1:25:41
  recommendation for anybody there that's
• 1:25:42
  interested. A little Winesburg, Ohio.
• 1:25:44
  >> Winesburg, Ohio.
• 1:25:45
  >> Little a little dark. A little dark.
• 1:25:46
  Just content warning. Just in case in
• 1:25:49
  case. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:25:50
  >> Sounds interesting.
• 1:25:50
  >> Yeah. Okay.
• 1:25:51
  >> Well, Jake, thank you so much for
• 1:25:53
  reading that and I would like to thank
• 1:25:55
  you, the person listening to this
• 1:25:56
  podcast, wherever you are consuming it,
• 1:25:59
  whether that is on YouTube or a podcast
• 1:26:01
  player of your choice. If you could
• 1:26:03
  subscribe, if you could follow, if you
• 1:26:05
  could like,
• 1:26:07
  >> if you have anything to say, anything
• 1:26:09
  any predictions for gaming discourse in
• 1:26:11
  2026, we want to hear about it. If
• 1:26:13
  you're interested in hearing our
• 1:26:15
  generalized predictions for the gaming
• 1:26:17
  industry and games in general for 2026,
• 1:26:20
  patreon.com/critical
• 1:26:23
  error. We'd love to hear you there. See
• 1:26:25
  you there. We'll catch you next week.
• 1:26:27
  Bye bye.