Game Scoop! 783: An Alarming Nintendo Development

Summary

Game Scoop! 783: An Alarming Nintendo Development Release Date: October 11, 2024

Hosts: Damon Hatfield, Nick Lamone, Justin Davis, Mark Medina
Produced by: IGN
Description: IGN.com delivers a week’s worth of gaming news directly to your ears!

---

1. Welcome and Recent Travels

Timestamp: 00:55 - 01:18

The episode kicks off with Damon Hatfield and Mark Medina welcoming listeners back, mentioning their recent short trip to Japan. They introduce the co-hosts Nick Lamone and Justin Davis, setting the stage for an engaging discussion on the latest in gaming.

---

2. Spotlight on Metaphor Refantazio

Timestamp: 01:09 - 05:02

Mark Medina introduces Metaphor Refantazio, a new JRPG from the Persona 5 development team.
Mark Medina (01:54):

“...a JRPG with just the coolest style and presentation that I've seen in a long time.”

Damon Hatfield praises the game’s turn-based mechanics and its fresh narrative framework.
Damon Hatfield (02:29):

“The beginning of the game opens and it just the setting of fantasy as reality and realizing what the goal of fantasy is from a literary pursuit is just such a refreshing framework for how the story set.”

Justin Davis compares it to Persona, highlighting its slice-of-life and time management elements.
Justin Davis (04:35):

“It's a Persona-like, it's not just like a turn-based fantasy RPG, but it has all of those kind of slice of life elements and sort of time management elements...”

The hosts unanimously commend the game for its style, storytelling, and innovative mechanics, positioning it as a strong contender in the RPG genre.

---

3. Exploring the UFO 50 Collection

Timestamp: 05:02 - 10:40

Mark Medina delves into the UFO 50 collection, discussing standout titles like Night Manor, Shadowgate, and various turn-based strategy games.
Mark Medina (05:08):

“...point and click adventure. The name escapes me. Night Manor is incredible.”

Damon Hatfield shares his appreciation for specific games within the collection, such as Ninpec and Seaside Drive Pin Golf, while Nick Lamone highlights the real-time strategy game.
Nick Lamone (07:32):

“...Nick's Game of the Year is a game inside UFO 50. I mean not even just UFO 50, just, I mean very specific.”

Justin Davis praises the collection’s value, emphasizing the variety and quality despite some personal preferences.
Justin Davis (08:19):

“...it's one of the best values ever, probably of all time.”

The discussion underscores the diverse range of games in the collection, celebrating both classic and modern titles that appeal to a wide audience.

---

4. Silent Hill 2 Remake: A Revival of a Classic

Timestamp: 10:40 - 15:21

Damon Hatfield shares his experience with the Silent Hill 2 remake by Bloober Team, highlighting its technical enhancements and faithful storytelling.
Damon Hatfield (11:00):

“There is like this level of clunkiness that I think is still present in the combat that feels evocative of the original game.”

Mark Medina asks about playing the remake without prior knowledge of the original, receiving affirmation from Nick Lamone and Damon Hatfield that the remake stands on its own.
Nick Lamone (12:45):

“Can you play Silent Hill 2 without playing the first one? Yes, 100%.”

The hosts commend the remake for preserving the essence of the original while enhancing graphics and story elements. They also address emerging controversies, noting fan apprehensions and the positive reception of updated designs.
Damon Hatfield (14:55):

“Bloober clearly is listening to the fans, which I think is very a nice thing to know that they are actively listening. And honestly, I think they knocked it out of the park.”

---

5. Nintendo Alarmo: Gaming Meets Daily Life

Timestamp: 25:22 - 31:15

Mark Medina unveils Nintendo Alarmo, a new $100 alarm clock featuring Nintendo characters and music, controlled via motion for single sleepers.
Mark Medina (25:22):

“Nintendo's new alarm clock that will wake you up with Nintendo characters and music and sound effects.”

The hosts express mixed feelings about the product's price and functionality. Damon Hatfield humorously contemplates using it as an office clock, while Justin Davis points out the limited usability for those sharing a bed.
Justin Davis (26:46):

“I couldn't justify it, you know? It does have a screen and a motion sensor, but $100 is just too much.”

They also discuss Nintendo’s broader strategy of integrating into lifestyle products, likening it to their historical roots as a toy manufacturer.
Damon Hatfield (29:37):

“It harkens back to when they were a toy manufacturer...”

---

6. Shinobi Movie Adaptation by Extraction's Director

Timestamp: 35:13 - 37:43

Mark Medina introduces the announcement of a Shinobi film adaptation helmed by the director of Extraction, known for its thrilling action sequences.
Mark Medina (35:13):

“Nintendo's new alarm clock... they're gonna make a Shinobi.”

Damon Hatfield and Nick Lamone discuss the potential of a ninja-focused action movie, drawing parallels to Extraction and classic Shinobi games.
Damon Hatfield (36:43):

“I just want to see a John Wick ninja game. That's what it is.”

The conversation highlights excitement for the blend of classic Sega action with modern filmmaking techniques.

---

7. Tetris Forever: A Comprehensive Collection

Timestamp: 45:38 - 48:06

Damon Hatfield introduces Tetris Forever, curated by Digital Eclipse, renowned for collections like Atari 50 and Making of Karateka.
Damon Hatfield (47:13):

“Tetris Forever, if you don't remember, this was just recently announced. It's coming from Digital Eclipse, which does just the best work with collecting old games.”

Mark Medina and Justin Davis discuss the extensive list of included Tetris titles, noting the absence of some popular versions due to licensing issues with Nintendo.
Mark Medina (46:11):

“They're just sort of working with the Tetris games that bulletproof software creates.”

Justin Davis laments the missing titles, emphasizing the collection’s archival value despite its limitations.
Justin Davis (48:06):

“It's a playable museum... but there is an element of archival. It's a bummer.”

The hosts appreciate the effort to preserve Tetris history, while acknowledging the challenges of comprehensive coverage due to licensing complexities.

---

8. 20 Questions: Game of the Year Discussions

Timestamp: 49:30 - 57:07

The hosts engage in a segment of 20 Questions, focusing on identifying a game suggested by listener Kevin Osborne in Detroit, Michigan. Through a series of yes/no questions, they narrow down to Yakuza: Infinite Wealth.
Mark Medina (63:43):

“...you think it's part of a series that has an upcoming game? Yes, that's 10.”

Mark Medina (69:03):

“Nicely. You found it.”

Damon Hatfield and Nick Lamone express strong preferences for Infinite Wealth, discussing its emotional impact and gameplay mechanics.
Damon Hatfield (69:14):

“Infinite Wealth. I cried multiple times playing Infinite Wealth. Outstanding game.”

The conversation transitions into a broader discussion on Game of the Year contenders, mentioning other titles like AstroBot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, highlighting the diverse range of games in contention.

---

9. The Future of the Gaming Industry: Potential Crash Ahead?

Timestamp: 58:34 - 62:39

The hosts delve into an analysis of the current state of the gaming industry, contemplating whether it is on the brink of another crash similar to the 1983 Atari meltdown.
Mark Medina (49:30):

“...with all the layoffs, cancellations, etc., within the gaming industry, do you think we are coming up on another gaming industry crash like the 1983 crash caused by E.T.? No, I don't think so, Tony. These are very different scenarios.”

Damon Hatfield (50:42):

“...the metric of success is so warped from what it used to be in the early 2000. There will be a reevaluation of how many publishers and how many developers are crafting AAA experiences due to budget constraints.”

Justin Davis (52:15):

“...when a game hits 6 million in sales and that's not deemed profitable, it's like, that's great. Like 6 million copies sold is not profitable. That's nuts, dude.”

The discussion highlights concerns over inflated budgets, unrealistic sales expectations, and the sustainability of the AAA model. The hosts reference recent game performances that were critically acclaimed but commercially underwhelming, underscoring the disconnect between quality and profitability.

---

10. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Timestamp: 63:43 - 78:22

The episode concludes with light-hearted interactions, listener engagements, and brief mentions of upcoming games and personal projects. Although several sponsor ads recede into the background, the core discussions leave listeners with insightful perspectives on the evolving gaming landscape and anticipation for future releases.

Damon Hatfield (75:00):

“...Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Mark.”

The hosts sign off, promising more engaging content and thanking the audience for their continued support.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Mark Medina (01:54):
  “...a JRPG with just the coolest style and presentation that I've seen in a long time.”

• Damon Hatfield (02:29):
  “...the setting of fantasy as reality and realizing what the goal of fantasy is from a literary pursuit is just such a refreshing framework for how the story set.”

• Justin Davis (04:35):
  “It's a Persona-like, it's not just like a turn-based fantasy RPG, but it has all of those kind of slice of life elements and sort of time management elements...”

• Damon Hatfield (11:00):
  “There is like this level of clunkiness that I think is still present in the combat that feels evocative of the original game.”

• Mark Medina (25:22):
  “Nintendo's new alarm clock that will wake you up with Nintendo characters and music and sound effects.”

• Damon Hatfield (29:37):
  “It harkens back to when they were a toy manufacturer...”

• Mark Medina (35:13):
  “...they're gonna make a Shinobi.”

• Damon Hatfield (69:14):
  “Infinite Wealth. I cried multiple times playing Infinite Wealth. Outstanding game.”

• Justin Davis (52:15):
  “...when a game hits 6 million in sales and that's not deemed profitable, it's like, that's great. Like 6 million copies sold is not profitable. That's nuts, dude.”

These quotes encapsulate the hosts' enthusiasm, critical analysis, and passion for the gaming industry, providing listeners with both entertainment and valuable insights.

---

Conclusion:

In this episode of Game Scoop!, IGN delivers a comprehensive overview of significant developments in the gaming world. From the exciting release of Metaphor Refantazio and the nostalgic UFO 50 collection to the much-anticipated Silent Hill 2 remake and Nintendo's quirky Alarmo, the hosts explore a wide array of topics. They also engage in thoughtful discussions on the industry's future, addressing concerns over financial sustainability and the evolving landscape of game development. Whether you're a fan of JRPGs, classic collections, or industry analysis, this episode offers something for every gaming enthusiast.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Damon Hatfield]

I'm back, baby.

[Mark Medina]

We are both back from a very quick trip to Japan. About 72 hours for me, a day or two more for Nick. That was fun. We had a good time together. Also joining us this week are Justin Davis, Scoop and Mark Medina.

[Nick Lamone]

I didn't hear Justin, but I'm here. Damon, take two.

[Mark Medina]

I didn't hear Justin either. Justin, say Scoop again one more time to make sure it's working.

[Justin Davis]

Scoop.

[Mark Medina]

There you go. There you go.

[Nick Lamone]

There he is.

[Mark Medina]

Now he's back. We've got a great show for you this week. We've got new Nintendo hardware to talk about. Not the Nintendo hardware we've been waiting to talk about, but interesting Nintendo Hardware nonetheless. We've got a shinobi movie coming from the director of Extraction. Extraction's a perfectly fun watch, so maybe that'll be okay. And we've got the full list of games in the Tetris Forever collection, which is a little bit eyebrow raising, but we'll get to that in a bit. But first, let's talk about all the new games we've been playing. There's so many games out now and one new game I'm playing. One of the many is metaphor. Refantazio. I say refantazio, you say refantazio.

[Damon Hatfield]

I say Fantasio, you say Fantasio. It's all the same.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. And this, I have to say, was not on my radar at all. I was not planning to play this game. I just knew it was a JRPG coming up. I'd seen a glimpse at a trailer or something. I did not know it was the next game from the Persona 5 team. But anyway, we got codes in the office and everyone was talking about how great it is. And everyone was like, you gotta play this. So I was like, okay, well, I'll check it out. And I'm glad I did because I played it three nights in a row now and it's very, very good. And since I went into this pretty blind. So anyone out there who's been looking forward to it, I'm not gonna tell you anything you don't know. I'm learning about it. But it's like it's a JRPG with just the coolest style and presentation that I've seen in a long time.

[Damon Hatfield]

I feel like we've chatted about it on Scoop all year long. How this is the year of the turn based RPG or just the evolution of traditional RPGs. And this is like, no, this is the purest distillation of turn based RPGs. Turned action RPG. If Yakuza, if like a Dragon Infinite wealth was this hybrid of action and turn based rpg. This is the like more turn based with action stuff. But it is just so cool. It is so good. The beginning of the game opens and it just the setting of fantasy as reality and realizing what the goal of fantasy is from a literary pursuit is just such a refreshing framework for how the story set. But I knew I was in for a banger of a time. When the, when your companion that you're with at the beginning of the game goes, I'm gonna use my magic to kick up some music while you walk through the desert and the music starts playing, I was like, woo, we're cooking now, baby. This is great. I love it. It just oozes style out of every crevice. It's so good.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's really. It's like it's constantly flowing from gameplay into like an anime cutscene or even just like a cool like stylized menu that's showing off, you know, how your relationships are increasing with different characters and it's just constantly flowing to different sort of like artistic scenes. And so it's very cool, very fun, cool experience. What's that?

[Justin Davis]

And it is a Persona like too. It is a Persona like it's not just like a turn based fantasy rpg, but it has all of those kind of like, you know, slice of life elements and sort of time management elements of like, what do you want to do with your off time? And you have these specific chunks of time where you can do things. Like in Persona, it's like water, a plan to rent a dvd and like, you know, this game has its own version of that. So it's not just like, oh, New game from the Persona developers. But it's like it's them actually making a new sort of. I was about to call it a sub franchise. That's not right. Because it's not connected to Persona or Shin Megami Tensei, but like, you know, something new in that. In that style.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I also really appreciate that it isn't set in a high school where it's just like.

[Justin Davis]

Exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's just in. I really enjoy the framework of you are someone who is trying to make the world a Ben. A better place from a. Like. Like a. Like a monarchy, a monarchic perspective. And I really just enjoy that the game is centered around. It is our duty to make the world a good place. And this is like one person's attempt at it. And I think it's really cool.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I do. It is the. It is tied with Astrobot as the best reviewed game of the year.

[Mark Medina]

Oh my gosh.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, wow.

[Justin Davis]

On, you know, whatever the Critic. Critic. You know, Metacritic or Open criticism.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. That was a really nice surprise for me. So I will continue playing that. I've also been playing UFO 50. Justin will be happy to hear. I know Nick has been playing that too. Yeah. So I like. I like it a lot. I may be a little bit softer on it than some other people, but I like it a lot and it's very cool. The ones that I've played, I've played maybe 20 of the games. The ones that really stick out to me are the point and click adventure. The name escapes me.

[Damon Hatfield]

Night Manor.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Night Manor is incredible.

[Mark Medina]

The horror theme.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, it's so good.

[Mark Medina]

Shadowgate. Like that one's really, really cool. And then whatever the one is where you. It's a turn based strategy game with the little discs. These slide around.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I forget what's bottom left. All the way on the bottom left.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Last row, furthest on the left.

[Mark Medina]

That one I got really into on our flight to Japan. I played it like the whole time there. Those are the two that really stuck out to me. I know they're supposed to be like a Ninja Gaiden one like. Or a ninja game. That's like the second game in the collection or something.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, my favorite one is the one that's on the screen there briefly. Oh, these. This one too. Ninpec. Ninpec is my favorite game in the series. It' from on the top row, second on the left. That game is just hard as hell. It's super fun. But once you get into the groove of it, you kind of Just lose yourself. It reminds me of Tetris in that you just kind of get locked, sucked in and you just are locked in the zone. But there's so many good. Like Seaside Drive Pin Golf is outstanding. Velgrass might be one of the all time greats. Honestly though, like, no joke. I do think Mortal might be one of the greatest 2D side scrollers ever made alongside Mooncat. Moon Cat's outstanding, but just I am. I want to play so many other games. I've got Silent Hill 2, it's just coming 2018. I've got metaphor. I've got Metaphor Refantasio. But I always find myself loading back into UFO 50 because I'm like, well, I should idle into Pilot Quest so I can start collecting resources while I do other stuff. But it's just something about the game just has me always going back in and I've beaten 20 games, I've cherried six of them and I honestly, I can't wait to continue. This game's hard as hell though. I. This one I'm like, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to let that one breathe for a bit.

[Nick Lamone]

Nick. Nick's Game of the Year is a game inside UFO 50. I mean not even just UFO 50, just, I mean very specific.

[Damon Hatfield]

The real time strategy one that we just saw where you're like sending units out. I thought I would hate it. I just. No life it on the plane to Japan and I loved it.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I like it too. I mean, you know, Damon, I don't know what your criticism is, if you even want to get into that. But like for me, I shared on the show that like I was a little bit soft on it at first because there's several of the games I don't like. But it's like I think the right approach is to take like a glass, glass half full approach and be like if there's, if there's 25 of the games you don't like, just pretend like they don't exist. And then you have a list of like 25 bangers that are amazing. Like you know, for me like Magic Garden, the little arcade game where you're gathering up slimes and like, I don't even know how to describe it. Like it feels like, you know, a weird abstract arcade game, you know, from the 80s. And like each evening I get sucked into a different rabbit hole of like it doesn't matter that for me a lot of the games I don't click with just because there's so many That I do click with that. Like I'm going to sit there and no life it and get the cherry on it, which is sort of this game's equivalent of kind of like 100% ing it or mastering it and like, you know, and then onto the next one. Right. Like, it's, it's. It's fantastic. It's so good. I would say the hit to miss ratio for me has been like, probably. Probably six out of ten. I've really loved.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Like, have you played all 50 games yet?

[Mark Medina]

No, I think I. So I start at the bottom row. So the. Whatever the supposedly the more recent games, I think Justin, you had said they tend to get better as you go along. So I started there. I did maybe working my way backwards, did maybe 20. I think most of them are like, this is cute and clever, but I don't really need to spend much time with this. But then you get to Night Manor and then the discs, the sliding discs. 1. I was like, well, these are really great. So that's all. There's like the game where you're the walrus and you have to like jump around.

[Damon Hatfield]

Waldorf's Journey. Dude, I love Waldorf's Journey.

[Nick Lamone]

I love that Nick knows the names of walls.

[Mark Medina]

I don't even know the names of any of them. No, it's like, I'm not a fan when just like traversal in the game is awkward. Like, that's what the game is. I'm never a real big fan of that game.

[Damon Hatfield]

It is very reminiscent of me back in middle school when I'm in computer lab and they're like, you can do whatever you want. And I'm like, flash games dot com. And I'm just loading up whatever, like whatever game somebody made on the Internet. And it's just. It feels like I'm doing that. But they're way more polished, way more interesting and just. I mean, for crying out loud, the dude who made spelunky made a reverse spelunky and it's incredible. Or I'm sorry, reverse down well, and.

[Justin Davis]

It'S incredible that bottom row has seaside driving.

[Damon Hatfield]

Dude, Seaside Drive is so sick. It's. You do you do drifting in order to build up your gun to shoot spaceships? Like, hell yeah.

[Mark Medina]

That rocks.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, stick with it. Like, I would. I would like if there's any game, there's 50 of them. Right? So if there's a game that you're not immediately vibing with, be like, nope, on to the next. And then like, you'll find a collection of like 10 that like, are worth, like the game is what, 25 bucks? Like, you know, on a pound for pound, like dollar for dollar basis, like, it's one of the best values ever, probably of all time.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. It's also just such a neat idea, right?

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. And then, Nick, you're also playing Silent Hill 2.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I think I'm about halfway through the Silent Hill 2 remake and I really enjoy Silent Hill 2. I. I only played it recently for the first time, the original game, during the pandemic, like just in the straight up work from home days. I played the Enhanced Edition that was on PC, which shout out to the people who did the fan mod of the original Silent Hill 2 on PC. That enhanced edition is the definitive way of playing that original game. But I'm really enjoying what Bloober team did with the Silent Hill 2 remake because I'll fully admit I was not a huge fan of the medium. I thought that game was gorgeous, but mostly boring. And I think that this game, this Silent Hill 2 remake, does a good job of kind of tuning into what made Silent Hill 2 Special. There is like this level of clunkiness that I think is still present in the combat that feels evocative of the original game. And I think bringing the game Into Unreal Engine 5 makes it like this is a technical showcase unto itself. The volumetric fog, the ray traced lighting and reflections are all stunning. But I think the big thing for me is just one, the additions to the story that don't feel like they are tacking on things for the sake of tacking on, they all feel additive and interesting. And also having Masahira Ito, the original creature designer, and Akira Yamaoka, the original composer, come back to kind of rework some of the stuff that they worked on in the game truly makes it like a definitive experience. And I'm really glad that it's a lot easier for people to play Silent Hill 2 now and experience, I think, this very important game that brought psychological horror and is, I think, directly responsible for why there's so many horror games nowadays that resonate with younger audiences. I think you can trace stuff like Five Nights at Freddy's all the way back to Silent Hill 2. So it's nice to see the game preserved in this way.

[Mark Medina]

Would you rec.

[Nick Lamone]

I have a question.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, go for it.

[Nick Lamone]

Sorry. Well, for one, I've also been described as gorgeous but boring. But my actual question is, can you play Silent Hill 2 without playing the first one?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, 100%.

[Nick Lamone]

Does that make sense?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's completely. Yes, they're all basically standalone. I believe there is some minor continuity, but you will get everything you need out of the story of each Silent Hill without any context from any other game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I've just got it. I've played every Resident Evil, but I've just never gotten into the Silent Hill series.

[Damon Hatfield]

I highly recommend. This is a great entryway, especially during Halloween time. It's just like the atmosphere is right. I would highly recommend throwing on some headphones while you're playing it. Dark Room. The game does a great use of 3D audio, like surround sound. And it's just. You kind of find yourself engrossed in it.

[Mark Medina]

Cool.

[Justin Davis]

So what is. I've seen that there is controversy around the Silent Hill 2 remake and we don't need to get into this if it's something weird and crappy. But, like, why? Like, I've only. I'm only dimly aware that, like, some corners of the Internet are not happy with this and I'm not sure why.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, there's two. There's unfortunately two different schools of thought there. There are the people who are unfortunately taking it from like, the. The people assume that they've made changes to modernize the. I guess the. The portrayal of women in a way that. Just disingenuous. It's like, oh, you just never played the original game, so you're just trying to, like, wage some sort of culture war that doesn't exist in this game. There's that, which again, I'm a little bit more dismissive of because that's, you know, grifting for the sake of grifting. But then there's other people, another camp, which I think there's a more interesting conversation to be had about Bloober's track record with horror games and kind of adopting this, you know, beloved title. And it's just, you know, a lot of people were a little bit worried because what they originally saw of Silent Hill 2 when Bloober first revealed it didn't quite look great. James's design has changed from that original reveal. So if you feel like taking a look at those trailers, it's worth taking a look just to see. Bloober clearly is listening to the fans, which I think is very. A nice thing to know that they are actively listening. And honestly, I think they knocked it out of the park. Hats off to them. I was in the camp that I was a little apprehensive because I don't really like how they handled a lot of the subject matter of the Psychological horror in the medium. And I think they did a much better job with preserving and adding stuff to Silent Hill 2.

[Justin Davis]

Got it.

[Mark Medina]

Cool. I'll have to check that out. Two more games I want to shout out. Shogun Showdown. I've been playing a lot of that. Anyone familiar with Shogun Showdown? Oh, it's a new roguelike where you're a shinobi or ninja. This is it. So turn based, it's like rogue, where the enemies only move when you move. And it's got pixel art, really cool soundtrack. And so you have single screen scenes where you have to defeat all the enemies using just a few turns.

[Damon Hatfield]

Why are you doing this to man?

[Mark Medina]

And the enemies? The enemies will move when you move. And you have a katana or throwing stars or bow and arrow and all these other weapons that you can go on runs, make it as far as you can. And each run you're finding new weapons, building out your arsenal. And then there's different types of ninja that you unlock and they have different abilities too. So firing on all cylinders as a Damie game.

[Damon Hatfield]

This looks tasty.

[Mark Medina]

It's really, really good. Shogun Showdown is that one. And then has anyone heard of Iron Meat?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Iron Meat. Iron Meat is a new Contralike. Plays like Contra pixel art, but it's super gory. It's just a super gory Contra.

[Damon Hatfield]

The art looks incredible.

[Nick Lamone]

If you showed me that game and told me to guess its name, I would have guessed Iron Meat. Yeah, right away.

[Mark Medina]

It's great. The gameplay is not doing anything different from Contra, but it's just super gory.

[Damon Hatfield]

You get a new Contra.

[Mark Medina]

I love it.

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

This looks sick. I'm gonna check this out for sure. Are you playing it on Steam Deck? Steam Deck, okay, great.

[Mark Medina]

All my PC gaming I do on my Steam deck now. Okay, Justin, mark any games to mention before we move on. I know, I know you're still playing World of Warcraft, Justin.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I mean, I'll spare. I'll spare people the soul spiel, but like, yeah, World of Warcraft is really, really good. Okay. Short spiel.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

No, the game introduced this feature called Chromie Time because Chromie, as everybody knows, is a member of the Bronze Dragonflight who can control time in the world of World of Warcraft, obviously. And so they do it. It's kind of a cutesy thing of like there's an in universe group of dragons who can control time and then out of universe, out of the game, they use this feature called Chromie Time to let you go back through and experience old expansions. And so it's like, it's this super like player friendly way of like every other mmo. If it's like I really liked the story in Northrend or I really like the story in Outland, it's like, well, okay, like that's in the middle of your questing, you know, so you'll need to play the game for 50 hours if you want to go back and experience that again. Whereas crummy time, you, you get to pick, you know, World of Warcraft has I think eight or nine expansions now and you get to, you know, go up to this character and pick which expansion you want to play through and then you can just level through that expansion and like it's timed out. The level ups are doled out in such a way that your character will exit that expansion and exit Kuromi time at the exact right time to go on and play the newest content that's in the game. Like level 70 to 80 is the new expansion and you'll exit at level 70. And so I am having the time of my life, Damon, just going through. I'm doing old stuff, I'm doing new stuff. I'm taking a different character through each expansion and just bouncing around between them. So it's like, do I want to be a mage? Do I want to be a warrior? Do I want to be a rogue? And like I'm taking a rogue through Legion these days where Legion had really good sort of the class fantasy was really, really strong in that role playing game where mages felt like mages and rogues felt like they were really sneaking around and like you'd have a quest to go into like an opposing faction's capital city and like assassinate one of the auctioneers is like the actual character that players interact with to access the auction house. And so like really, really strong class fantasy in that expansion. And so just that player friendliness and that opening up of the game of play, how you want, where you want, do whatever you want with whatever character you want is like really refreshing and interesting and has reinvigorated my interest in. Wow, that's cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's really cool. Especially like looking at stuff like Destiny 2 that tends to sunset content where like players jumping into Destiny 2 in 2024 can experience the original, what is it, Red dawn or Red Tide campaign that was based Destiny 2. So like the fact that World of Warcraft makes it so easy to play decades worth of content at the drop of a hat, that's preserving your legacy and Showcasing why this game is what it is nowadays. That's really cool.

[Justin Davis]

It's like the exact opposite. And it also solves the biggest problem that I have with every mmo, or the most important decision you ever have to make is what character class are you going to play? And you have to make that decision before you know anything about the game or how they play. And so the fact that you can just play every class and bounce between them and you're bouncing around between different storylines is like, it's ideal, it's really good, it's really smart.

[Nick Lamone]

And Wrath of the Lich King was my jam back in the day. That's like all I. That was during an era where I felt like I was wasting time playing any other game. I was like, I could be playing World of Warcraft right now. I'm glad I broke out of it, but those was a good time. I'll shout out my quick. I started playing satisfactory. Came out in 1.0. If anybody's played those kinds of games, you kind of know what you're in for. You reach this, like, you start it and it seems really fun and really easy to get into. And then you have a decision to make. Am I going to get into this? And I went for it. And that's when you start. I have a sketchbook down here where it's just like, we need to make rotors. And I'm like, let me do the math. Let me see if we can support this. Let me see how long it'll take to make it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I love it.

[Nick Lamone]

And I'll have. I'll literally be able to be like, hey, we'll have them in two hours if I do it this way. This sound good? All right, let's do it. I've now come out of that where it's kind of one of those things where it's like. Cause I didn't play for like a few days, and then you kind of forget everything. And now is like, we were trying to play the other day and all the game does this thing when the power management is just the toughest. And no matter where you are, if you blow a fuse, it just alerts everybody with this big like. And so I'm playing, everything's going good, the factory's working. And it was like. And I just turned it off. I was like, I cannot be bothered.

[Damon Hatfield]

So you did something wrong and then you force quit the game and they're forcing everyone else to deal with your mistakes.

[Nick Lamone]

I was like. I was like, yeah. And so I've been playing With Amanda. And Amanda was playing the other day, it was like hilarious thing because she's like, hey, I'm going to play satisfactory if you're going to go play whatever. And I'm like, I'm like, amanda, the base doesn't have power right now. You're not going to be able to figure out how to power it. And she's like, oh, it's fine. I'm going to do whatever. And I'm like, none of your hypertubes are going to work. We don't have power and I don't know how to fix it. And I don't feel like figuring this out right now as she played it anyways. But then I'm also. So that's fun, but I feel myself pulling out of it. You get super deep and then you just kind of get over it. And then I'm also. I'm at the end of Echoes of Wisdom.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Nick Lamone]

And that game is. That game is so good.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I forgot.

[Nick Lamone]

I don't know what else to say.

[Mark Medina]

I did actually start that game and that's also something that I want to play more too.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

You got your copy in Japan.

[Nick Lamone]

It's really fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I got a Japanese copy as a little way to commemorate our trip.

[Mark Medina]

Cool.

[Justin Davis]

I bounced off it a little bit. I made it. I'm going to. I mean, I don't know exactly how long the game is. I think I made it maybe 2/3 of the way through or maybe 3/4. And like we like. It made me really appreciate how a typical Zelda game is like almost exactly like half combat, half puzzle solving and exploration. And Echoes of Wisdom is not that like, it doesn't nudge it significantly in the other direction, but it's probably, I don't know, 70, 30, like 70, 30 puzzles, 30% exploration and combat. And it's just like it's a little puzzle heavy. Like, look, I completely agree with the game's 9 out of 10 review score. Like, it's fantastic. And I, and I, you know, I stand by the praise that I heaped on the game last week, but it's very much like, it's not me, it's not you, it's me sort of thing where like, I'm just not interested in like, you know, in a more puzzle heavy game at this moment in time.

[Damon Hatfield]

I find myself in that same vein, Justin, because I've only played probably about two hours of the game, but I noticed that fighting things is just a little too slow for my taste in the way that you have to send A creature out to fight for you. I dig it, I love it. But there's just something about it that's not quite scratching that itch for me. And I will dive back into this game. I will no life it at some point. I just, there's a reason why I haven't no lifed it yet. So.

[Nick Lamone]

Well, and that's kind of the thing is like, I actually find the game to be like 100% puzzles, because even the combat is a puzzle because if things aren't dying the way they're supposed to die and stuff like that, it's like, probably because you're using the wrong echo. But I was talking with one of my freelancers and we were talking about how certain things in the game just don't go how you want them to go because you're at the mercy of the echoes. And I, I thought about that. I, I, it made me, it made, it made me a little down on the game, only because I was like, that's true. It's really hard to get, like, good at a game when your job is to just choose the best echoes. And sometimes those, those guys, they just don't do what you need them. But I think it's, I think it's still really great and I, I hope you guys like it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, it's still just an immaculate showcase of why Nintendo is so good at what they do. It is still just a very infinitely clever game at how it goes about, you know, twisting things on the side of their head and just being cool and interesting.

[Nick Lamone]

It's got a lot of Switch stank on it, though. The fact that it runs at 60fps until you like swipe a bush and then it screeches down to 30. I'm like, dude, just lock it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Every, every time it stutters, I want to throw my credit card at the screen and be like, give me a Switch to.

[Nick Lamone]

Please just give me the Switch to you, man.

[Mark Medina]

Well, speaking of Nintendo, the Nintendo Alarmo was announced this week. Nintendo's new alarm clock that will wake you up with Nintendo characters and music and sound effects, and is also motion controlled if you sleep alone. Not if you sleep with another person, though. So not for.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sorry, babe, can't go to bed tonight. I gotta use my Nintendo alarm mode.

[Mark Medina]

It's either for single adults or kids, I guess. Although it's a little bit pricey. It's a hundred bucks.

[Nick Lamone]

It looks like it's for a single adult.

[Justin Davis]

So I woke up, there's a bunch of.

[Damon Hatfield]

Go ahead.

[Justin Davis]

Like, there's a bunch of cute stuff about it. Like, as I'm watching the video, I'm kind of being charmed by this quirky little Nintendo project product. It felt like Nintendo from, like, you know, 15 years ago. And I was thinking, I'm like, oh, okay, maybe I'll get one of these. And then I saw that it was $100.

[Mark Medina]

Like, what?

[Justin Davis]

It's, like, completely insane. Like, I've never closed, like, a browser tab faster. Like, nope, you also. And, like, I get. I get that it has a screen in it and a motion sensor, so it has to have a CPU to, like, power the motion sensor. Like, I understand that, but it's like, oh, no. Yeah. It is not for me.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, like, the Echo dot is, like, 30 bucks or something now.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's like, you also need to pay for Nintendo Switch online for the privilege of no way. In addition, right now, it's only available to you buy it. I don't have an active Nintendo Switch online, so I'm not gonna lie, guys. I paid the 3.99 to get it for a month so that I could.

[Mark Medina]

You bought it?

[Damon Hatfield]

I bought it.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, my.

[Damon Hatfield]

Wow. Well, I don't know. I think it's cute. I'm gonna. It's one of those things where I don't. I am not gonna be able to use this, like, to wake up, because, one, apparently, it doesn't work if you have two people in the bed. And I'm gonna be like, I'm sorry, babe, I gotta sleep on the couch tonight. I need to use the Nintendo alarm. I'm gonna use it as, like, my office clock.

[Mark Medina]

Can you even, like, sleep with your dog?

[Damon Hatfield]

I get that's a great question. All valid questions.

[Nick Lamone]

I love that the first thing you say about this alarm clock that you paid for a subscription for and then paid $100 for is, it doesn't work as an alarm clock.

[Damon Hatfield]

I want it because.

[Nick Lamone]

What is wrong with us?

[Damon Hatfield]

I want it because I think it's cute. And there's a potential that it could be, like, I don't know, like, a weird Nintendo Gadget that's looked back on. Like, remember when they did that?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, sure.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that's exactly. That was exactly my thought process. And I did consider getting it as a desk clock as well, but just eventually couldn't. Couldn't justify it, you know? It does. It's got a lot of cute stuff in it. Like, it's cute that, like, the Nintendo sounds and music get more and more urgent if you ignore it. Like, I think that that's kind of Clever. I think, you know, from a technology standpoint, I think it's interesting that you can just walk away and it'll turn itself off. You don't have to turn it off. Although that does seem to be the crux of the problem of, like, people that sleep with pets or with other people in the house. So, you know, like, I think it's cute. Like, I think it's interesting that Nintendo kind of quietly, you know, so they have Pokemon Sleep. They have the Nintendo Alarm Clock. They have Ring Fit.

[Damon Hatfield]

There's the Pokemon brush your teeth thing.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

There's the Pokemon brush your teeth thing. There is Pikmin Bloom for your commute. So it's like they're kind of slowly and steadily, like, everyone talks a lot about, like, the Mario movie and the Nintendo theme park is like, oh, Nintendo's diversifying away from being a video game company. But they're like, they're getting their tendrils into more and more aspects of, like, you know, kind of people's lifestyles away from video games.

[Damon Hatfield]

It harkens back. Back to when they were a toy manufacturer. Right. With the Ultra hand and stuff like that. And I don't know, I just like that it feels like all of their design ethos has never strayed that far from, hey, we used to make toys. And I just like that every now and then they're like, hey, we made a toy. There you go.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also, here's a free idea for you. I don't care what you're doing with Pikmin. When you wake up, the alarm should just be Pikmin drowning and more Pikmin die if you don't wake up fast enough. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Side note. Yeah, Justin, let's get. You couldn't. You couldn't justify it going, let's start. That started.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, I couldn't justify it.

[Nick Lamone]

Why did I think the exact same thing? I don't think me and Justin. Well, I don't think me and Justin are close enough for me to make that joke, but I also thought the exact same thing.

[Mark Medina]

So I think it's cute. The idea having Nintendo characters, you know, wake you up in the morning. And certainly with something like Breath of the Wild like that. Just like the nice little, like, piano, like sprinkles that are the soundtrack of that game. That would be nice. But in their trailer, the example that they show is Mario Odyssey. It's like immediately it's like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

[Damon Hatfield]

And you're rolling over.

[Mark Medina]

Mario's running around, he's collecting all the clones like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. I was like, oh my God.

[Justin Davis]

It's like a cacophony. The sound of. Yeah, it's obnoxious. Of like every time the character is rolling over, stretching, the coins are going h. Like, oh my God.

[Damon Hatfield]

Doesn't that only encourage you to stay in bed more the more coins you get?

[Justin Davis]

I'm like, I gotta stay still.

[Nick Lamone]

Well, and there's the whole thing where it's like alarm clock. Like you never set your favorite song as your alarm tone. Cause like that is a one way ticket to make it where you hate that song. And it's like, I don't want to like see my Mario Odyssey game case and just get like chills from it. Like also, I associate that with waking up.

[Damon Hatfield]

I hate that incredible fake out at the beginning of the trailer for this thing because it starts with Mario with Cappy on asleep. It's like, oh shoot, is this Odyssey too? No.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Nick Lamone]

Oh man. It's also tough because I think we, you know, like you've been hearing so much about Switch to stuff and it's like, here you go, here's your hardware draw.

[Damon Hatfield]

Was this like a rumored, like hardware reveal? Was there any indication that there would be some sort of hardware reveal? And then they're like, gotcha.

[Mark Medina]

I mean there's lots of rumors about the Switch 2.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. So it's just like that could come.

[Mark Medina]

Any day and it wouldn't be a surprise.

[Damon Hatfield]

A masterful troll.

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

It is interesting that they're gonna update.

[Mark Medina]

And add more games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

After launch they can update. They're gonna add Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing. But again, Mario Kart 8 sounds Animal Crossing.

[Justin Davis]

We've talked on Gamescoop before about how Nintendo will sit on ideas for sometimes decades. And it's like there's a really interesting story on ign. Some other places have wrote about this too of like they've dug up these patents, like, and they dug up an interview with Oata, you know, before he passed away where like he talked about wanting to do something like this. And so like you can see, you can follow the arc of like how this product came to be and how Nintendo just kind of sat on this concept and waited for like, I think it was like 10 years ago that the patent came out or something like that. And like the other example that springs to mind for me is that the Wiis on the Nintendo Wii, the Miis on the Nintendo Wii, like they were originally going to be way back in like the 90s, Nintendo was going to do an Avatar system like that. And so, you know, I don't know. Nintendo is just such a weird company of like, no, the time for this product isn't right. In 20 years, we will bring it back.

[Nick Lamone]

Well, you wonder if it's like, because we all thought the Switch 2 was going to be a fall release and it's kind of like, okay, well we know that we're delaying the Switch 2 until February. So what do we have? Because this is a really cool Christmas gift.

[Justin Davis]

There is no way that this has anything to do with the Switch 2. Well, yeah, in my opinion.

[Mark Medina]

And also Mark, it kind of limits it. You have to be a Nintendo online subscriber to buy it. It's not gonna be that popular Christmas gift, I don't think.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, I guess I love the font.

[Nick Lamone]

You're the one buying the gift. I can buy people the gift. It's.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're spending $100 on an alarm clock. That's for me, bucko.

[Nick Lamone]

I mean, I wouldn't.

[Mark Medina]

It doesn't fit into our. First of all, we don't really ever use an alarm clock. We just sort of like wake up in the morning or our kids wake us up in the morning. That's our alarm clock.

[Damon Hatfield]

I wake up naturally every day at 6:30 in the morning.

[Mark Medina]

Also we have. So there's a product called Hatch. It's just like a white noise machine intended for like babies and kids. And we got so used to it that when we moved our kids out of our room, we had to buy another one for us because we could like no longer sleep without this white noise sound. So we use this white noise machine anyway. That just wouldn't make sense. But since you bought one, please bring it in when it arrives next year.

[Damon Hatfield]

Should we do a let's play?

[Mark Medina]

We can use it to time game scoop. You can set an hour on the clock.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I'll tell you. I'll tell you what would make me buy this thing is if it had like Nintendo themed white noise. Oh, like ambient, like ambient noise from like Central Hyrule and like Zelda or like ambient Pikmin noises or like I don't like the city noises in New Donk City. If you take away all the sound effects and stuff are probably like pretty relaxing.

[Damon Hatfield]

I want Mario snoring dialogue from Super Mario 64.

[Nick Lamone]

There you go.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. And then I think that once a month when you're listening to the ambient Zelda sounds, there should just be a guardian that comes over. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. Nintendo Alarmo early 2025, $100 Sega's Shinobi is getting a film adaptation from the director of Extraction.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark.

[Mark Medina]

Have you seen Extraction?

[Justin Davis]

Good, good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Mark Medina]

They're on. I have two of them. They're on Netflix. They're perfectly fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Chris Hemsworth.

[Mark Medina]

Perfectly watchable, fun movies.

[Nick Lamone]

Oh, yeah. Okay. I've never seen him, but I've heard of it.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, Extraction One is like a legit, like, you know, modern action classic. Two is. I can't remember anything about it. Both movies are famous for having really long good one shots.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's Chris Hemsworth.

[Mark Medina]

They're a little bit. They're John Wick. Like, not quite as good as John Wick, but they're John Wick.

[Damon Hatfield]

They're like Call of Duty movies.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

Anyway, this director's gonna make a Shinobi. And, you know, Shinobi is a classic Sega franchise that started in arcades, and then I think the sequels ended up coming to Sega Genesis. And I actually looked it up. There's one on Sega Saturn, I think it's called Shinobi. The subtitle escapes me, but it's got, like, live action. It has live action scenes that they filmed of, like, ninjas running through the wood.

[Damon Hatfield]

It has, like, the Mortal Kombat, like, rotoscoping on it too, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

For, like, combat.

[Justin Davis]

Oh, wow.

[Mark Medina]

Well, yeah, that one. That one. The Sega Saturn one. But this is the original one that was in theaters or in arcades. Not much of a story to the Shinobi games, but not much of the story to the Extraction movies either. So that's fine.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think I saw the announcement of this in conjunction with the PS2 art for the Shinobi game that was on PS2.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Where the ninja has the giant red scarf. And that was my first exposure to Shinobi.

[Mark Medina]

Interesting.

[Damon Hatfield]

So I was like, oh, hell yeah. That sounds sick.

[Nick Lamone]

But.

[Damon Hatfield]

And I think that there is some novelty, too. It's a shinobi thing based on the game. Even though there's not much of a story, like his girlfriend gets kidnapped or something. I think that's in the games.

[Mark Medina]

You're rescuing these kids that are rescuing kids.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like, that's. That's a loose enough story that you can probably make some sort of story.

[Mark Medina]

That'S also kind of the story for Extraction. So it all kind of makes sense.

[Damon Hatfield]

I just want to see a John Wick ninja game. That's what it is. Well, that's a ninja movie.

[Mark Medina]

That was, like, the point I was gonna bring up. There are just. Aren't any really, like, ninja movies or anymore So I don't know what it looks like in Extraction. Chris Hemsworth is not like a mercenary, but he's like a guy you can hire to fly anywhere in the world and like extract someone.

[Nick Lamone]

Right, extract.

[Mark Medina]

So I could see, you know, Shinobi needs to go rescue someone who's been kidnapped.

[Damon Hatfield]

You know, it's a ripe setting for a cool action movie. Yeah, for sure.

[Justin Davis]

It's going to be his whole. His whole village burnt down and now he's on revenge and like, you know, look these things. Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

And he's got to have a giant. He's got to have the giant red scarf though.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's like the only iconic thing from the PS. The PS2 game is really good. It's very hard. But that giant red scarf looks so sick.

[Mark Medina]

I never played the PS2 games. There's shinobi on PS2 and then there was a sequel where you're a lady ninja.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, you were right.

[Mark Medina]

And I didn't even realize that ever existed until I was looking up all these Shinobi games. And then the third one for Sega Genesis has Godzilla and Spider man and Batman in it. I wouldn't expect them to show up in the movie.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's the post credits scene of Building a team.

[Nick Lamone]

It's the weirdest Avengers.

[Damon Hatfield]

But just like, look at this. This is PS2. Like that.

[Mark Medina]

This looks like a PS2.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is gorgeous, man. I love it.

[Mark Medina]

It's an action game.

[Damon Hatfield]

They don't make them like this anymore.

[Nick Lamone]

The red wedding veil just flowing behind.

[Damon Hatfield]

So sick.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, it's a really iconic bit of that game, by the way. I'm not going to spoil it here, but a really baffling and crazy thing happens at the end of Extraction two that like. I don't know, Mark, if you ever watch them, I'd be curious to get your take on.

[Nick Lamone]

All right.

[Mark Medina]

You should watch it, Mark. Remember last December SEGA announced new Shinobi Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio and Streets of Rage games. We're coming up on a year and I don't think we've gotten any updates on any of that business.

[Damon Hatfield]

Open world Crazy Taxi game is. I believe what I saw. I saw a jet set radio or Jet grind radio. I saw like leaks or something of something that looked impressive, but I don't know, man.

[Mark Medina]

I don't know what's going on with those. Did you know Cleopatra married not one, but two of her brothers? And police in Victorian London had to wear their uniforms all the time, even when off duty? If you're an assassin's Creed fan like me. Then you'll want to know everything about the real history that inspires the games. And I have a podcast recommendation for you. Echoes of History Echoes of History, a podcast brought to you by History Hit and Ubisoft, takes you back to the past to discover the real history behind the Assassin's Creed video games. Every three episodes they examine an era explored in the games. Historian and Assassin's Creed mega fan Matt Lewis talks to world leading experts to step into the shoes of the real historical people you meet in the games, to take an eagle eye view of iconic locations you can climb, and to reveal the causes and events of the epic historical moments you get to relive in Assassin's Creed. Find out the true history behind the Assassin's Creed games by following the Echoes of History podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Men when we leave the house, it's phone, wallet, keys and how's my hair look? But if you're experiencing hair loss, you may not be so confident when you step out your door. It's time to get that mojo back and restore your hair with himz. HIMS provides you with convenient access to a range of hair loss treatments that work all from the comfort of your couch, so you barely even have to pause whatever game you're playing. HIMS makes treating hair loss simple with doctor trusted options and clinically proven ingredients like finasteride and minoxidil that can regrow hair in as little as three to six months. The process is simple and 100% online so there are no uncomfortable doctor visits. Answer a few questions and a medical provider will determine if treatment is right for you. If prescribed, your treatment is sent directly to you in discreet packaging with free shipping. No insurance is needed and one low price covers everything. HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers and they can help you get your confidence back too, with visibly thicker and fuller hair. Start your free online Visit [e-mail] Gamescoop that's hims.com Gamescoop for your personalized hair loss treatment options. Hims.com Gamescoop results vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. I love a great deal as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to crawl through a bed of hot coals just to save a few bucks. It has to be easy. No hoops, no bs. So When Mint Mobile said it was easy to get wireless for just $15 a month with the purchase of a three month plan, I had to find out if it's too good to be true. Turns out it really is that easy to get wireless for 15 bucks a month. The longest part of the process will be the time you spend on hold waiting to break up with your old provider. Isn't that right Seth?

[Damon Hatfield]

I am not going to lie. I was very pleased and very excited to find out Mint Mobile works even for me in the middle of nowhere Maine. I was honestly expecting to be shut out from all the fun of Mint Mobile, but it worked.

[Mark Medina]

Awesome.

[Damon Hatfield]

I loaded in my code and to test it out I just drove out. I'm not even lying, it sounds like I'm making this up. I just drove out into the woods of Maine to see how far I could go without losing coverage. And I am happy to say I.

[Mark Medina]

Did not have any coverage interruptions whatsoever.

[Damon Hatfield]

That I would not have experienced with any of the other providers. That alone is enough to sell me. Because look, Maine is a big state. There's a lot of woods. Stephen King is here. So it's haunted, there's ghosts everywhere, and everyone knows that ghosts hate 5G. But I am happy to say I have literally no complaints. It's inexpensive, there's no contract, I don't have to have all these weird hidden fees. And you know, best of all, it works in spite of ghosts.

[Mark Medina]

Thanks Seth. Say goodbye to your overpriced wireless plans, jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages, all Mint Mobile plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Find out how easy it is to switch to Mint Mobile to get this new customer offer and your new 3 month premium wireless plan including the unlimited plan for just 15 bucks a month. Go to mintmobile.com gamescoop that's mintmobile.com gamescoop cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com gamescoop $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 a month new customers on first 3 month plan only speed slower above 40 gigs on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. This episode is brought to you by Dragon Ball Legends, the ultimate Dragon Ball experience on your mobile device. Dragon Ball Legends features action packed anime action RPG gameplay with Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and all your favorite Dragon Ball characters. Summon your favorite characters from popular Dragon Ball anime series such as Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT to Dragon Ball super fight in real time against friendly or rival Dragon Ball players from across the globe in live PvP battles. Enter ratings matches with your favorite Dragon Ball characters and earn rating points and rewards. Unite with friends to defeat powerful foes in co op. Dragon Ball Legends features the best anime fighting scenes on your mobile device. And now Legends Festival is on, so you can get up to 300 free Summon tickets. Are you ready? Download Dragon Ball Legends today. Available for free on both iOS and Android devices. Tetris Forever, if you don't remember, this was just recently announced. It's coming from Digital Eclipse, which does just the best work with collecting old games. They did Atari 50 and they did the making of Karateka, which is so good. But I haven't done the Jeff Minter one, the Llamasoft game yet. But anyway, they announced Tetris Forever, which is giving that sort of like museum treatment to Tetris. And now they've released. They've released the full list of games here. I think there are 15 games here. And let me know if anything seems to be missing from this list. So we begin with the original Tetris created by Alexey Pachitnov in 1984 on the electronica 60. And then the Spectrum, the Apple II version of Tetris. Then the Tetris for Famicom in 88. Then Hatris for Famicom. Then Tetris 2 bombless for the Famicom. Then Hatteras for Game boy. Hatcher's for NES. Super Tetris 2/ bomb list for Super Famicom. Tetris Battle Gaiden for Super famicom. Super Tetris 2 plus bombless Ginta Bon for Super Famicom. Super Tetris 3 for Super Famicom. Super Bombless for Game Boy, Super Bombless for Super Famicom. Super Bombless DX for the Game Boy. You know what's missing is just Tetris for Game Boy.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Or just Tetris for nes or things like Tetrasphere or Tetris ds or Tetch Puyo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Puyo.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think what's happened here, their deal is these are. All these games were developed by a bulletproof software which is Hank Rogers Company. Hank Rogers, if you've seen the Tetris movie, who is the one that was responsible for actually bringing Tetris to Nintendo and to the world? So it's just. It's like not a comprehensive collection. They're just sort of working with the Tetris games that bulletproof software creates.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, that's A shame. I mean, I don't really know enough about Tetris lore. I mean, I think you just kind of cracked it, Damon. Like, this is what all these games have in common. But, like, I know that, like, you know, Tetris 2 and, like, Tetris Attack, and there's this whole cottage industry of just dozens and dozens of puzzle games that have Tetris in the name, that don't actually have anything to do with Tetris. Sometimes literally, like, it's a completely different style of game. Or sometimes even if it is a Tetris. Like, you know, Alexei Pajitnov didn't have anything to do with it, nor did any of the other people that sort of originated Tetris. And so it's this weird sort of twisting web of, like, what is a Tetris game? Is it a Tetris game? Or, like, is it a game that the creator. A puzzle game that the creator of Tetris made? Like, if you want to sort of chart that legacy over time, which, you know, which thread should you tug on? It's not always clear. The omissions are a shame, especially because, I mean, look, like, I know Digital Eclipse is not a nonprofit. Like, these are for profit commercial releases that they're selling in order to sell copies and make money. But there is an element of sort of archival. Yeah. Like, there's an academic aspect. Yeah. The preservation aspect of what they're doing. It's a playable museum. That's what it is. And they've invented a new genre. Right. Like, it's a new way to sort of, you know, if people haven't played these before, it's more than just like, you know, play 10 old Tetris games. But, like, there's interviews with the creators, and then you can play a section of, like, exactly what they just talked about. Like, it was really hard to make X, Y and Z. And then you play that. Like, it's really cool. And it does feel like, you know, video games are an interactive medium. And so how do you. How do you sort of preserve and sort of respect that history? Like, so to have games missing from it, like, it's not Digital Eclipse's fault, I would imagine. I would imagine they tried very hard, but it is a bummer.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. And just after the original version of Tetris that Alexei created, I mean, I think the Game Boy version would be the most important version. Like, that's where most people played Tetris for the first time, right?

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Discovered it. But that version and the NES version were made by Nintendo, they were actually developed by Nintendo, so. But they just couldn't get Nintendo to play ball, I'm going to assume.

[Justin Davis]

Yep. Anyway, yeah, or who knows, maybe Nintendo doesn't have like we've talked about on Scoop before, like it gets really complicated. Like the rights to old games like that. Like goldeneye was always an example of that for many years of like Nintendo developed it, but then they didn't have the rights to make James Bond games anymore. So like Microsoft actually solved that and GoldenEye now has come back. But like, you know, if Nintendo doesn't have the rights to Tetris anymore, how does a game like Game Boy Tetris get resurfaced in a commercial context?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I'm still looking forward to checking out Tetris forever. It's supposed to be out sometime this year, although it doesn't have a release date yet. Let's check in with the listeners. Hey listeners, listeners, remember you can always reach us at the email address game [e-mail] just like Tony from Irvine, California did.

[Nick Lamone]

What?

[Mark Medina]

Not it's.

[Justin Davis]

Hey, is it him?

[Mark Medina]

It's not him, it's. Hi, Goose Cam counselors. I hope you are enjoying the end of summer. I have a thought exercise and a question for you all. First, a question. With all the layoffs, cancellations, et cetera, within the gaming industry, do you all think we are coming up on another gaming industry crash like the 1983 crash caused by E.T. no, I don't think so, Tony. These are very different scenarios. That crash was caused by an influx of, first of all, gaming still being in its infancy and not being, hadn't stood the test of time yet. And a lot of people thought it was just going to be a passing fad, a passing craze. And then the market was flooded with shovelware basically and people bought one too many bad games. And ET is sort of like the epitome of that, the symbol of that, especially because it was forced through development by one person in a short amount of time to just get it out on shelves by Christmas. And a lot of people bought it for Christmas and were disappointed with their purchase, so they stopped buying games and then the market crashed, whatever, blah, blah. That's a very different scenario from today, which I think is more of a contraction after developers and publishers hired a lot of people during the pandemic.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I think if anything we're the closest thing that I think we would ever get to is this sort of reconciliation of the AAA quadruple, a development space where there is this like offset of Scope versus budget versus what the expected return is and what a game needs to sell in order to be deemed profitable. At a certain point I just don't think that you will ever achieve the numbers that these AAA games will need to hit in order to be profitable. So I think that there will be a reevaluation of how many publishers and how many developers are crafting, you know, triple A experiences due to, you know, mostly just budget constraints. Because at a certain point not everything can hit Grand Theft Auto numbers. Like that's just not realistic. And I think when a game hits 6 million in sales and that's not deemed profitable, it's like, that's great. Like 6 million copies sold is not profitable. That's nuts, dude.

[Mark Medina]

Like this is a problem for Square Enix.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, the metric of success is so warped from what it used to be in the early 2000. And yeah, of course there's just a whole. I am not an economist, I am not a development person. I'm just coming from as a production person. There's very clearly a problem with budgeting versus scope versus what the actual ROI is in the long run. And there's smarter people than I who can dive into the logistics behind it. But I do think that we are in for a reckoning for the AAA space very soon.

[Justin Davis]

It's definitely, you know, video games are in a weird place. You know there's on the one hand the democratization of video games has never been more thorough and complete. You know, you can be one dude and release you know, a farming game and then it takes over the entire world and you make $100 million. Or you can make a conveyor belt game and then become overwhelmingly positive on Steam and have you know, Justin play it for 350 hours like. But on the other hand, you know, these quote unquote sure things like Star Wars Outlaws are like not sure things anymore. Like total slam dunks on paper. Right? Like so I think like The Space Marine 2 devs were talking about this of like the break even point for triple A games of like you said Nick, like they have to sell 6 million 10 million copies in order to be in the profit because of how many years and how expensive it was to make it. It's not sustainable. It has to change. I mean there's been a long list of the last two years of quote unquote sure things that ended up missing the mark. I don't know why this is one that pops into my head. But even a game like Halo Infinite, we're like that Game did everything right. Great reviews, great single player campaign, great multiplayer campaign, fantastic game and just didn't do what it needed to do from a commercial standpoint. And you could make a list of all kinds of games that are like that these days.

[Nick Lamone]

I mean, Even Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is one that is like they've said by almost every metric that game is fantastic and yet it sold short. Another very recent. And this isn't to come to this game's defense because I've never played a single second of this video game. But Conquered for most, like conquered by most metrics was a totally fine game. IGN gave it a 7 and yet that game came out and 1000 people played it right. I think, I think it, it was.

[Mark Medina]

Like 700 people count.

[Nick Lamone]

Was like 20. Well, yeah, on Steam, I think its peak point was like 20,000, which is like insane. But it's. We have what Damon described with ET is exactly right where it's like there's an alternate universe where video games just stop being made. And that was it. You just, you just didn't hear it about it again. I think they would have always come because people have that. That's just kind of what happens. But gaming has gone too far now. But I do believe that budgets are so inflated now. Like I saw a tweet the other day where somebody was like, it's just wild to me that the PlayStation 1 had like four Final Fantasy games and yet the PS5 is only going to have technically two with Rebirth and 16. And it's like, that's wild to you. Have you looked at those games? They're hand drawn backgrounds and stuff like that. That's beautiful. But that's not what people are, are expecting from Final Fantasy anymore. If that's what you wanted, Square Enix could pump those out every year. But that's not what you want. You want motion capture, you want. So all of that stuff comes with these insanely high budgets and they have to make that money back. And when they don't, that's when you get Horizon Dawn Remastered. Because it's like, well, this game needs to sell a little bit more for us to be happy with this. And Last of Us Part one and two Remastered, like that's just.

[Damon Hatfield]

And like I think that there is again, I'm not coming to Sony's defense here, but I do think that there's a world where again, I am not a developer, I am not a publisher, I don't actually make video games. But I would imagine that porting and remastering games like Horizon or the Last of Us. Everyone likes the clown on it because it's like, oh, it just came out. But I would imagine that requires more of a skeleton crew than, you know, a full, full fledged triple A game built from the ground up. It's probably someone did some back of the napkin math and I was like, yeah, we can remaster this game. It'll cost us X and we will be guaranteed at least Y in revenue. You can make fun of that for what you will, but I do understand some logistical thing behind it. But it's funny you bring up Final fantasy on the PS1 because I was rereading a book on the development of the Original Final Fantasy 7 on PlayStation 1 and Hironobu Sakaguchi and the team are high fiving and clapping themselves on a chat. You know, clapping them themselves on the back for just hitting a million in sales in the US and that being like an overwhelming success, let alone hitting another mil in Japan. 2 million for Final Fantasy 7 a game again. The game that made Blockbuster Video Games a thing. And now Rebirth sells however many millions. I was like, nah, guys, it's not successful enough. It's like something is wrong. There is a scope issue here.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, one of those has a.

[Nick Lamone]

Budget of a few hundred thousand and the other one has a budget of tens to hundreds of millions.

[Justin Davis]

It really is RGG Studios making the Yakuza games are the only people in video games that have this figured out right now. They're the only ones.

[Damon Hatfield]

And they've tapped into an audience that is okay with what they are doing.

[Justin Davis]

It's asset reuse, man. Right. Like, you know, it's like they set. They've set the game in the same city, same four or five cities over and over and over again. And not only do they not get criticized for that, but people actually love it because it's like, oh man, I'm back. Yay. We're back to this city again. I can finally enter building. Yeah. And like, you know, and look, I say this as a fan, I say it with love. I love those games. But they could at least like, dude, like there's been one parked car in Kamurocho for like literally like four games now. And it's like you could move the car, guys. Like, that doesn't need to be there anymore. Like, I get that the convenience store is still there.

[Nick Lamone]

I think that's why you see stuff like Halo going to Unreal. Because they say in that Vidoc that was released last week where they said we're not just A game developer. We're also a tech company because we have to work on Slipspace, but then we also have to work on Halo Infinite. And it's not that Unreal needs to make any more money than they already make, but I feel like companies are finally getting to this point where it's like, hey, it's cheaper to just cut a check to Unreal every month and us just focus on the game instead of also having to build an engine. And so. And theoretically, I guess we'll see. But theoretically that means we'll see a more steady cadence of Halo games coming out. And it's like that's. I think that's only a good thing.

[Damon Hatfield]

And we could dive down this rabbit hole forever because then that opens up the conversation. Well, if now most games are running on Unreal Engine, are they going to fix the Unreal Engine and Stutter problem? That's pretty persistently plaguing most games that come out nowadays, a LA Silent Hill 2. There's a pretty bad stutter on the game when you play on PC, even if you have a badass PC. It's just an Unreal Engine shader thing. And again, the Digital Foundry people, Blackmith Wukong, Black Myth Wukong, the Digital Foundry gang are way better at speaking about that than I am. But just it's when there is only one engine at a certain point, it's also not great too. So you say, I don't know, it's fine.

[Justin Davis]

We'll put them. Just put all those characters in Fortnite and then, you know, look, that's what video games are now. We're one step closer to ready player one.

[Mark Medina]

Tony says. Now for the thought exercise. If the 1983 crash never happened, where do you think gaming would be now? How would it have changed the current industry 20 plus years later? 20 plus years later? More like 40 years later.

[Nick Lamone]

40, yeah, yeah. 20 years ago wasn't the 80s anymore. I don't think it would have changed anything because, I mean, obviously I was not alive during that time, but Nintendo probably still would have made Mario in the nes, and I think we would still more or less just be on the same course.

[Mark Medina]

It would have had.

[Justin Davis]

I think Atari. Atari would be so popular.

[Mark Medina]

That's the difference. If Atari didn't crash, then when Nintendo arrived in 1985 in the States, they would have had to fight against Atari, the market leader. Whereas the way it actually happened, they arrived unchallenged. They arrived like a dead home video game scene. They had Mario. It was such a huge runaway hit that Then when Sega showed up, they were like, wow. Sega had no hope, we had no prayer. Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I don't think Nintendo has the same popularity that it does nowadays. If the video game crashed, I mean.

[Mark Medina]

They do have Mario. Yeah. Of course, Atari never had a Mario.

[Nick Lamone]

I think that I subscribe more to the idea that it's because revisionist history. There's the theory that no matter how many times history gets revised, it will course correct. And that's why I'm saying that even if the crash didn't happen, I think Nintendo would have still came. I think they still would have just dominated and we would just still be where we were.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark's more of a destiny guy, huh? I get it, I get it. Not a free will, but more of a. You are destined to. I appreciate it.

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know. I do think we would have a lot more experiences that feel a little more disposable from a video game perspective. Like a lot more shovelware I think would be pretty persistent. And I think, I don't think that you have the same popularity that a lot of Japanese games were able to enjoy in the early 90s, late 80s, early 90s, that kind of boom. I don't think Final Fantasy 7 has the same impact that it does. And I think it does change the way blockbuster video games are looked at nowadays. But I don't know. That's a weird butterfly effect. That would be fun to see an alternate history take on. I'd be curious.

[Justin Davis]

There's definitely a weird. You know, video games were invented in the United States. Right. But then when we were kids, video games came from Japan and you know, like, so the crash had this butterfly effect is a good way to put it. Like this weird kind of knock on effect of like the industry kind of moved in that direction because it never crashed in Japan. Yeah. And then like, you know, and then obviously it's shifted back and forth over the years. Right. Like then the United States dominated again. And now a lot of people think that the cultural center of video games has again shifted to Japan thanks to things like souls likes and things like that. So, you know, like how would that have changed, you know, culturally, you know, if Atari remained a dominant force? Like we think about these intractable, like you know what, Microsoft's the second biggest company on earth. You know, I think a couple trillion dollars in like that could be Atari. Like, you know, they were founded at like around the same time. Like that's, that's what it could be. You know, these things that we think are Permanent and forever, you know, are not and definitely wouldn't have had to be if things would have gone a slightly different way.

[Damon Hatfield]

We see Atari's Mario 3.

[Mark Medina]

It does seem like Japan is really. They figure something out that western developers haven't right now. Because think of this year. Astrobot, Final Fantasy 7, rebirth metaphor, even like a dragon. Infinite wealth and Tekken 8. There's just like so many great big games that came from Japan where I was like, western developers are a little bit quiet.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Nick Lamone]

Yep. Well, and then even beyond that, we have. We have China with Black Wukong, Korea with Stellar Blade.

[Mark Medina]

Exactly right.

[Damon Hatfield]

China and Korea are becoming huge players in the gaming industry where they hadn't been in the past. So it's going to be an exciting time in the next decade.

[Mark Medina]

Yep. Okay. Interesting thought experiment, regular Tony style. That brings us to video game 20 questions. And our suggestion this week comes from Kevin Osborne in Detroit, Michigan. And his suggestion this week is in. He says it's in honor of Redacted.

[Damon Hatfield]

We're celebrating something.

[Mark Medina]

So with that, let the questioning begin.

[Damon Hatfield]

This game made in the 70s, 80s or 90s?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Justin Davis]

What could it be in honor of? It could be in honor of Spooky Season. It's. It's fall.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's a pretty. I like that train of thought.

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this game. Go ahead, Mark.

[Nick Lamone]

So we're basically about to ask the same thing. Like, does it have like, is it a spooky game, Seasonal type of deal?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

Foiled.

[Justin Davis]

We're coming up on the one year anniversary of the 20 questions record that will probably never be broken.

[Mark Medina]

How many questions was.

[Justin Davis]

Well, I think it ended up being four, but it could have been two. We knew it was a spooky ish game. And then we zeroed in on Costume Quest immediately. Okay. Can you play this game on the Nintendo Switch?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Nick Lamone]

All right.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this considered an indie game?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Was this game made in Japan?

[Mark Medina]

Yes. That's five.

[Nick Lamone]

So PlayStation 30th anniversary is also kind of happening right now. So is this. Let's see. So no Switch?

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, is it a.

[Nick Lamone]

Is this game exclusive to one to one platform?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

Multi plat.

[Justin Davis]

Was this game developed by Konami, Capcom or Namco?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Justin Davis]

Same question. Square Enix FromSoft or. I don't know. I need a third one.

[Nick Lamone]

Square Enix from soft. Oh, the is. Wait, did we nail that? It was in Japan?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Nick Lamone]

Oh, okay. Can't be played on the Switch.

[Justin Davis]

So not Nintendo or Platinum games. Square Enix from Soft or Platinum?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, no.

[Nick Lamone]

Who made this game?

[Justin Davis]

Well, and it's not Sony or Nintendo because it's multiplied.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, just because it's not on the Nintendo Switch doesn't mean Nintendo couldn't have made it.

[Justin Davis]

Well, but we know it's a multi platform.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah, true.

[Nick Lamone]

That's not on Switch. So.

[Damon Hatfield]

So that means it's not Nintendo.

[Nick Lamone]

Well, also. Also that. Well, I mean, but we still have like two decades of games that it.

[Justin Davis]

Could be on it. And we know it's not indie.

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah. So it could be Nintendo because it could be a Wii U or a Wii U game.

[Justin Davis]

No, but one of the questions we asked was, is it a multiplatform game? And the answer was yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, Wii U had some third party support, as did the Wii.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. So yes, it could have appeared on a Nintendo platform, but it's not Nintendo made.

[Nick Lamone]

Got it.

[Justin Davis]

Okay. Did this game come out after 20, man? Did it come out in the last 10 years?

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, 2014 on.

[Nick Lamone]

Is it part of a series that has an upcoming game?

[Mark Medina]

Yes, that's 10.

[Justin Davis]

That's so good.

[Nick Lamone]

So it could be Sega and it could be like a drag, like one of those.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, that's good.

[Justin Davis]

That's pretty.

[Nick Lamone]

Or it could be Atlas.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this game from Sega Atlas or Nihon Falcom?

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. All right, so I think if it's.

[Nick Lamone]

The third one, I'm scared.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think it's Sega or Atlas. Because if you're throwing like, like Y's or something out there, then please.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, it could be Trails in the sky or there's an upcoming.

[Nick Lamone]

We should figure out if it's Sega or Atlas and that'll really set us on our path.

[Justin Davis]

It's probably Yakuza. I think you're probably onto something there. I don't know what this is in honor of, but, you know, irrelevant.

[Nick Lamone]

The pirate game.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Okay. Is this a. Is this a role playing game?

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Nick Lamone]

Is this. I'm just going to ask, is it sega?

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay.

[Nick Lamone]

Okay.

[Justin Davis]

So, okay, so they did a Sega role playing game released within the last 10 years.

[Nick Lamone]

Yeah. There's an upcoming sequel.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah. Which. So, you know, sadly it means it's not Skies of Arcadia. That was Sega. Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

That was. Is this game set in the Yakuza Slash like a Dragon universe?

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Nick Lamone]

Ah, there we go. So now we just got to figure out which. Which Yakuza slash like, because there's like a lot of.

[Damon Hatfield]

Does this game turn based combat?

[Mark Medina]

Yes. That's 15.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, so there's two games then.

[Justin Davis]

Mm.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like a dragon and then Infinite wealth.

[Nick Lamone]

Like A dragon.

[Damon Hatfield]

It. Since we're in honor, it makes me think it's the original. Is this game set in Hawaii at any point?

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right. Well, it's.

[Justin Davis]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is this game like a dragon? Infinite Wealth.

[Mark Medina]

In honor of my recent trip to Hawaii.

[Nick Lamone]

Nice.

[Mark Medina]

Yes.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Let's go. Well done, Mark. You found. You found it.

[Nick Lamone]

Oh, yep.

[Mark Medina]

Nicely. Job Infinite wealth, which I still only played a few hours of. So I want to get back to that at some point.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm still thinking potentially my game of the year this year.

[Mark Medina]

Really.

[Damon Hatfield]

Infinite Wealth. I cried multiple times playing Infinite Wealth. Outstanding game.

[Nick Lamone]

It's such a. It's such a tough one because it came out in February.

[Mark Medina]

No, it came out in January.

[Nick Lamone]

Recency bias. Oh my gosh. And so it's like recency bias. It does matter when it comes to 100%. And so it's like IGN is. We're about to do this really fun thing. I actually love this time of the year where like Dan and Tabel start just being like, who needs codes for these games? Because like we have to vote for these. You can't forget about things like a dragon.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nobody playing Infinite wealth in one month in December. Come on.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. That's true.

[Justin Davis]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

I would not be mad at all if Astrobot won game of the Year.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't think Astrobot so good Infinite wealth metaphor. I think Rebirth might get bumped down to three for me. So I got to finish metaphor. But there's a world where metaphor ekes out against Infinite Wealth. I don't know. This is an Infinite Wealth. I missed that minigame.

[Nick Lamone]

I want to say. Sorry just real quick. I want to say. I want to. I wish it was. Could be Hades too because damn. Hades 2 was.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm abstaining.

[Mark Medina]

There's Hades 2 and there's also Shadow of the Erdtree which. Oh man, that's better than most games anyway. Like on its own.

[Damon Hatfield]

UFO 50. How do you. What do you choose one game. And you. I think that there's a real. A real world where mortal could be game of the year if I fought hard enough.

[Mark Medina]

If you were picking a best minigame of the year, would it be something in UFO 50 or would it be Queen's blood?

[Damon Hatfield]

Something in UFO 50?

[Mark Medina]

100% okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

I love Queens blood.

[Justin Davis]

I mean, I don't know.

[Nick Lamone]

I don't think about Queensland.

[Justin Davis]

I don't think the stuff in UFO 50 counts as many games personally if I want to be.

[Damon Hatfield]

They are full ass games. Isn't there like a full on JRPG in there? Yes, I think I booted into it and I was like, no, I can't do this right now.

[Mark Medina]

I'm starting a full GRPG right now. Anyway, Yak is a dragon. Or like a dragon. Infinite Wealth. Thank you for the suggestion. Kevin osborne in Detroit, Michigan. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for 20 questions, email them to me at the email address gamescoopin.com that is all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Mark. I leave you this week with my first new song in three years. Cave Stories is very chill, ambient electronica. I'm heavily influenced by early Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada, and I'm always trying to create a very pleasant listening experience with electronics. Cave Stories is available now in every music service. If you like it, I would be pleased as punch if you saved it or liked it or any of that jazz. As always, thanks for listening to all my stuff. My name is Damon. This is IGN Games and Route.

[Justin Davis]

SA.

[Nick Lamone]

After credits scene. People are going to be pissed that we didn't mention Black Myth Wukong during that Game of the Year discussion, right?

[Mark Medina]

Hi, I'm Laura Cathcart Robbins, and I am the host and creator of the podcast Only One in the Room. Every week, my co host, Scott Slaughter.

[Damon Hatfield]

And I invite you to join us.

[Mark Medina]

And lose yourself in someone's incredible Only One story. We talk to real people dealing with issues like infertility, the death of a loved one, human trafficking, and women who fake it. Oh, and we want to be fair, so we talk to celebrities, too. Emmy winners like actor Jon Cryer, supermodels like Amber Valletta, and rock stars like Ryan Dusick. Everyone is invited to share their only one story with our listeners. With 21 seasons and counting, we guarantee you that only one in the room has a story that you'll connect with. This podcast is for anyone who has ever felt alone in a room full of people. Which is to say that this podcast is for everyone. Download Only One in the Room on Apple or Spotify today. What's up, everyone? It's Noah Daniels.

[Justin Davis]

Hey, y'all, I'm jj.

[Mark Medina]

Hey, guys, it's Kat. And we're your host of the Real Hauntings podcast, where we bring on guests to share their first firsthand encounter, ghost stories and supernatural experiences. Now on to the trailer.

[Justin Davis]

I've been warned to not tell this story, but I think because of the.

[Mark Medina]

Way it ends, it's okay to tell this story because some people say that with certain entities, to, like, speak of.

[Justin Davis]

Them or talk about them or in.

[Damon Hatfield]

Any way, like, portray them as powerful.

[Justin Davis]

Will attract them to other people.

[Nick Lamone]

The creepiest thing about it to me is a lot of times it would.

[Justin Davis]

Wait for me to notice it. Like, it would just lay its arm out like this, and then I'd be.

[Mark Medina]

Like, where is it?

[Nick Lamone]

Where is it?

[Justin Davis]

And then I'd see it, and then.

[Mark Medina]

It would just slither back. For more information on the Real Hauntings Real Ghost Stories podcast, make sure you check out Real FM to learn more about our podcast and many other amazing podcasts.