Game Scoop! 812: Real Fans, Uh, Find a Way

Summary

Game Scoop! Episode 812: "Real Fans, Uh, Find a Way"

Release Date: May 21, 2025
Hosts: Damon Hatfield, Sam Claiborne, Mark Medina
Produced by: IGN & Geek Media

---

1. Discussing Game Pricing and Industry Trends

Borderlands 4 Pricing Controversy
The episode kicks off with a heated discussion about the anticipated release of Borderlands 4. Mark Medina voices concerns from the community regarding the potential $80 price tag:

"Some fans were saying they hope Borderlands 4 is not $80."
[05:00]
Daemon Hatfield adds to the frustration about rising game prices and the perceived disconnect between developers and their fanbase:
"It's a weird thing to lump together real fans with their ability to pay."
[09:04]

Comparing Game Values
Mark draws parallels between Borderlands 4 and other titles like Doom and Oblivion, emphasizing the disparity in price versus gameplay hours:

"The gripe is coming from the fact that the game is $70 and it's a 10 to 15-hour game versus others that offer more bang for your buck."
[12:20]
Sam Claiborne highlights the inherent challenges in pricing games developed by smaller teams versus AAA titles:
"It's really an expensive calculation that everybody has to make here."
[13:17]

2. Deep Dive into Current Games

Stellar Blade 2 Excitement
Mark Medina shares his enthusiasm for the upcoming Stellar Blade 2, expressing his wishlist and anticipation:

"Just more costumes. All the costumes that I can possibly look at and make videos about."
[19:42]
He praises the original game for its solid action and compelling story, anticipating an engaging sequel.
"It is a super solid action game with a serviceable story and some of the best music in a video game that you'll ever listen to."
[20:31]

Monster Train 2 Release
Daemon Hatfield introduces Monster Train 2, a sequel to the acclaimed deck-building roguelike:

"Monster Train 2 is out now. It's on Steam for now. It has my highest recommendation for people who like those types of games."
[26:17]
Mark and Sam discuss the gameplay mechanics, comparing it to Slay the Spire, and highlighting the new features like room and equipment cards:
"Each clan has their own card set, and as you play, you unlock new cards for whichever clan you're playing."
[29:47]

3. Nostalgia and Classic Game Celebrations

Perfect Dark's 25th Anniversary
The hosts engage in a nostalgic conversation about the legendary Perfect Dark, celebrating its 25th anniversary:

"It was the gold standard for a console FPS for one year because Halo would be out the next year."
[37:00]
They reminisce about the game's innovative features, such as the voice acting stored on cartridges and memorable multiplayer hacks like the laptop gun:
"The laptop gun had a firing range hack where it could kill all the targets in it, which was such a good hack because it unlocked a bunch of stuff in multiplayer."
[36:12]
Mark Medina reflects on Rare's evolution post-Perfect Dark, discussing the company's transition and acquisition by Microsoft:
"Rare was known for 3D platformers and first-person shooters, but after key members left, the focus shifted."
[39:27]

4. Movie Discussions and Pop Culture

Thunderbolts Review
Daemon shares his unexpected enjoyment of the Thunderbolts movie, focusing on its action sequences:

"The action scenes are totally good. That's like the most important thing to me."
[44:59]
Sam and Mark discuss specific moments, such as the intense tower defense scene and character performances:
"Everyone's just coming at him and he's just flicking them away, which is really, really well done."
[45:30]
Mark expresses anticipation for upcoming superhero films like Fantastic Four and Superman, while Sam praises the Murderbot series for its unique storytelling:
"It's been one of my favorite reads the past 10 years, and I'm super happy this just came into existence."
[53:25]

5. Interactive Segments

Video Game 20 Questions: Perfect Dark's 25th Anniversary
In an engaging segment, the hosts participate in a game of "Video Game 20 Questions," aiming to guess a game celebrating its 25th anniversary. Through strategic questioning, they narrow down the options:

"Is it Pilot Wings for the Nintendo 3DS?"
[62:33]
The answer reveals Perfect Dark, tying back to the earlier discussion of its legacy and impact on the gaming industry.

6. Upcoming Events and Recommendations

IGN Live 25 Announcement
Mark Medina expresses excitement about hosting live developer reactions at IGN Live 25, hinting at special content related to Claire Obscure Expedition 33:

"It's going to be super fun."
[65:15]
Damon Hatfield invites listeners to join the event, emphasizing the collaborative and interactive nature of the live stream.
"Join us live and maybe, maybe Justin will be there. Who knows?"
[66:35]

Humble Bundle Shout-Out
The hosts briefly mention the Humble Bundle offers, encouraging listeners to support charity while grabbing game deals:

"Check out the Xbox Game Studio publisher bundle for just five bucks."
[53:59]

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Mark Medina: "Some fans were saying they hope Borderlands 4 is not $80."
  [05:00]

• Daemon Hatfield: "It's a weird thing to lump together real fans with their ability to pay."
  [09:04]

• Mark Medina: "The gripe is coming from the fact that the game is $70 and it's a 10 to 15-hour game versus others that offer more bang for your buck."
  [12:20]

• Sam Claiborne: "It's really the problem that game prices are increasing without adding proportional value."
  [13:17]

• Mark Medina: "I love Borderlands. Can't wait for that game."
  [25:11]

• Sam Claiborne: "It's not accurate to say Doom Eternal is not selling well because it's on Game Pass."
  [15:42]

• Sam Claiborne: "People need to vote with their wallets. If you feel games are too expensive, don't buy them."
  [15:50]

• Damon Hatfield: "Perfect Dark is turning 25 this week."
  [37:09]

• Mark Medina: "Superman looks great, I think they've got it right."
  [46:24]

---

Concluding Thoughts

Episode 812 of Game Scoop! delves deep into the pressing issue of game pricing in the modern industry, balancing the excitement for upcoming titles with nostalgia for timeless classics like Perfect Dark. The hosts engage in lively debates, share personal anecdotes, and involve listeners with interactive segments, all while maintaining their signature insightful and entertaining style. Whether discussing the merits of Stellar Blade 2 or reminiscing about the golden days of Rare, Damon, Sam, and Mark provide a comprehensive and engaging overview of the current gaming landscape.

For those who missed the episode, Game Scoop! continues to be a trusted source for the latest in gaming news, reviews, and discussions. Stay tuned for more expert insights and lively debates in future episodes.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

Planning any exciting trips this year. I bet something you might not be planning is learning the local language. Well, with Babbel you only need a few weeks to learn. This year, Speak like a whole new you with Babbel, the language learning app that gets you talking. Babbel's quick 10 minute lessons, handcrafted by over 200 language experts, get you to begin speaking your new language in three weeks or whatever pace you choose. And because conversing is the key to really understanding each other in new languages, Babbel is designed using practical real world conversations. Babbel's tips and tools are inspired by the real life stuff you actually need when communicating with a focus on conversation, you'll be ready to talk wherever you go. I took a trip to Mexico last year and used Babel to brush up on my Spanish. Babel is useful for learning an entirely new language, but also for those who, like me, hadn't used a second language in many years and needed some refreshers. Need proof that Babbel gets you talking? Studies from Yale, Michigan State and other leading universities continue to prove Babel works. One study found that using Babel for 15 hours is equivalent to a full semester at College. With over 16 million subscriptions sold, Babel's 14 award winning language courses are backed by a 20 day money back guarantee. This year I want you to learn an another language. So I'm teaming up with Babbel to gift you 55% off subscriptions, but only for our listeners at babbel.com Gamescoop get up to 55% off at babbel.com GamesCoop spelled B-A-B-B-E-L.com GamesCoop rules and restrictions may apply.

[Mark Medina]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime.

[Damon Hatfield]

From streaming to shopping, prime helps you.

[Mark Medina]

Get more out of your passions.

[Damon Hatfield]

So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time, with services like.

[Mark Medina]

Prime Video, Amazon Music and fast free.

[Damon Hatfield]

Delivery, prime makes it easy to get.

[Mark Medina]

More out of whatever you're into or getting into.

[Damon Hatfield]

Visit Amazon.comprime to learn more. What's up everybody? Welcome to IGN GamesCube. I'm your host, Damon Hatfield and joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey, it's just me and Mark here.

[Damon Hatfield]

Today and Mark Medina.

[Mark Medina]

Spoilers.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm here Damon, and if you're wondering where Justin is, I'm just. I don't know. I'm just as shocked as you are.

[Mark Medina]

I walked here until two minutes ago.

[Damon Hatfield]

I walked here into the studio fully expecting to see him on my monitor here.

[Mark Medina]

And.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope, I don't know. So I don't know where Justin is.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's a professional term for our little display up here. It's called a mortise. And we have three boxes. If you watch this in video with three faces right now, we could have left an empty box up there, but luckily we had. We had a three. One just.

[Damon Hatfield]

There it is.

[Sam Claiborne]

There we go. There we go.

[Damon Hatfield]

There it is.

[Sam Claiborne]

There we go. Perfect. We should have got that freeze frame from two weeks ago.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know, I know. Perfect freeze frame. Well, anyway, we've got a great show for you this week. The next great Roguelite card game is here. It's here now. I've been playing it. I can't recommend it enough. Good news for mark. Stellar Blade 2 is coming and I don't think you have to wait too long for it either, Mark. And it is one of ran out.

[Sam Claiborne]

Of finding swimming suits in his current game.

[Mark Medina]

Yep, yep. I'm ready to. I'm ready to hunt again.

[Damon Hatfield]

Lots of swimming. Swimming suits in Claire. Obscure Expedition 33. And one of my favorite games of all time, an absolute classic. Turned 25 this week. Do you know what of what game I speak?

[Sam Claiborne]

What game turned 25 this week?

[Damon Hatfield]

An all time classic. An all time classic.

[Sam Claiborne]

The year 2000.

[Damon Hatfield]

If you don't know, please be excited to find out later on this very show. But first, Borderlands 4 is coming later this late summer. Coming September 12th.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it sonic Adventure?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's not Sonic Adventure.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're gonna get in trouble now.

[Damon Hatfield]

I didn't say anything.

[Mark Medina]

I can't believe Damon hates Sonic Adventure.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think that was. That had to have been a launch game, right? 99. 99.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam, I do not know anything about Sonic the Hedgehog.

[Sam Claiborne]

Damn, you're digging the hole deeper and deeper, man.

[Damon Hatfield]

Gotta go fast.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was it. Was it 3D?

[Damon Hatfield]

Although I will say this, I've recently. I've now seen the Sonic movies one and two.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah?

[Damon Hatfield]

And they're not that bad. They're fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not that bad.

[Damon Hatfield]

Not that bad.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is the third one not out yet or is it already?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's out. It's out yet. And my son wants to watch that sometime soon.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I watched 30 minutes of those Paddington movies that everybody raves about on a plane. And they're pretty good.

[Damon Hatfield]

They are pretty good.

[Sam Claiborne]

But you can't stream them anywhere, so I can't finish them now.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's not true. I know that you can stream them somewhere. You know what you can't stream.

[Sam Claiborne]

I Desperately looked for this cute bear.

[Damon Hatfield]

You know what? You can't stream Ninja Scroll. That's what I wanted to watch Ninja Scrolls in streaming hell and is not available anywhere anyway.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it's too sexy for the screen, David. I've watched that at VHS in 1997.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I guess. I guess watching that on like a grimy VHS is really the intended way to watch Ninja scroll. Anyway. Anyway. Borderlands 4.

[Sam Claiborne]

What?

[Damon Hatfield]

The reason we're talking about this is because Randy, he's dug himself hole again. He's got himself in trouble again.

[Mark Medina]

Stop being poor.

[Damon Hatfield]

Some his fans were saying I. They hope Borderlands 4 is not $80. Someone tweeted @ him, randy, this game better not be $80. Don't take that risk. A lot of gamers aren't going to pay $80 and feed this notion of constant increasing price tags. Randy responds, A, not my call. B, I know.

[Mark Medina]

I love it.

[Damon Hatfield]

B, if you're a real fan, you'll find a way to make it happen.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know what? You could have said neither of those things exactly.

[Mark Medina]

Wouldn't be mad.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

The real answer there would have been to say nothing. Then he goes on this whole tangent about like I worked at an ice cream store in Pismo beach and games were 80 bucks back then. And I found a way. Shut up, dude. Houses were $60,000 back then as well.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, they're illusions, Michael.

[Damon Hatfield]

They're illusions.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, he pulled it out of his hat. He. Sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's just like, it's just surprising me. Like it's not 2012 anymore. Like, like people should know how to interact with fans on social media. Right? I mean, I don't. I don't know. It's like interacting with fans on social media. Media 101 is not being combative with them and saying things is gonna.

[Sam Claiborne]

People just don't know how to interact with fans, full stop. Right. I mean, that's, that's the issue. You know what would be, what would be really the year 2000 about this? If this just shipped as an extra disc inside GTA. I mean, they're both published by 2K, right. Or take two.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Keep on saying 2K for that. Yeah. So, you know, that's what we used to get.

[Damon Hatfield]

When did we used to get that?

[Sam Claiborne]

We got that. That was a thing. GameCube used to do that all the time.

[Damon Hatfield]

Just shipping a second game with the disc.

[Mark Medina]

What are you referring to demos?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, not only demos. There's a version of Wind Waker that just came with the two GameCube games. And 64 Zelda games.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I thought like, here's what was it? Was it crack? This was a demo, but it was a beta. I think Crackdown came with the Halo 3. Halo 3 beta, which was amazing.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I. I just remember I've talked about on the show before, Brave Fencer Musashi came with the Final Fantasy 8 demo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

And that's probably the only reason anybody bought that game was so they could play.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also, as we talked about, Brave Fencer Musashi is awesome.

[Mark Medina]

A great game. You should have just bought it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Even without the demo. But regardless, I digress. Here's the thing. Randy Randall, you're not wrong. He's not the publisher. Okay, that's fine. Shut up, dude. You don't have to say that though. Like, you don't have to say not my call. And too bad. If you like the game, make it happen. It's. I don't know, it's uncalled for.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Like, I mean, he's the CEO of Gearbox. He has some. He has some level of influence on what this game costs.

[Mark Medina]

He should. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is, is, like, he doesn't even need us to say anything. He's getting pretty trounced on social media.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I know.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, like, this isn't the first regrettable thing he's ever said on. On Twitter, you know, but now if.

[Sam Claiborne]

It'S not $80 and everybody will be celebrating.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, that's what I wondered, though. I wondered if there could be enough hub about. Hubbub about this to prevent it from being 80.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know, somebody, some, you know, bean counter over at take two is pushing up their glasses being. I guess 70 is the right price point.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I guess that's what's weird about it is I never saw that it was confirmed to be $80. No, no, no, it's not exactly. Sure. Right. So him saying, like, not my call, like, correct. Sure. But like, just the way he says it. I don't know, it just comes off as weird. I mean, about like. Like he could have just said not my call. But like this whole, like, when I was a kid, I bought a game for $80 and I made it happen. He like the whole. His second point. You're not a true fan if you don't buy, like.

[Damon Hatfield]

Exactly. Yeah, that's. Yeah. The response isn't to like gatekeep your own fandom. Like.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's the weirdest part of it to me.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just. It just seems weird to shame people out of not being able to afford the game that they want to play. And then they're not only poor, but they're, they're a. Not a real fan. Like that's just a weird, a weird thing to lump together.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a weird thing for a multimillionaire to say, right?

[Mark Medina]

Exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, we hear it all the time. Right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mark Medina]

It's a bit out of touch to be like, you know, I did it. Boomer mentality is what people would say, you know, I did it when I was a kid, so you should be able to do it.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's true that like all of Nintendo's responses about Mario Kart's price have been non answers. But a non answer is better than what Randy has said here.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, boy, those, those pre orders for Switch certainly happened anyway. Yeah, yeah, well, let's just like, let's just put this on the table. Neither Randy Pitchford nor Nintendo are going to solve expensive games. Like they're just, none of them are doing any, anything that's going to reduce the price of games. And games are never going down again. Like I don't know what's going to happen to people wanting to play games, but they're going to be more expensive. They're just going to be more expensive and it sucks.

[Damon Hatfield]

At least at that tier. You know, I think Clar obscure shows, there's still, there's room for mid tier games. Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well that's, that's kind of mid games cost mid prices.

[Mark Medina]

Oh boy, here we go. Third week in a row, Oblivion was the same price. That's, that's kind of happening with Doom.

[Sam Claiborne]

Why are you, why are you so rude every time you talk about Oblivion?

[Mark Medina]

I loved Oblivion. I think it's great. I. Of all the games that I've had to like stop playing, Oblivion is the one that I'm like most sad about because I discovered that there's a, a shack you can like just claim as your house outside of the main like city. And for some reason that has really made me want to play the game again because I'm like, I just want to live there.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's a shack you can try to claim, but then it turns out that the owner is right there and invisible.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, but they never try to kick you out, so it's fine. They just say mean things.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think you can sleep in the invisible people's bed though.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, maybe not. We were talking about Doom. How Doom. Even though Doom is on game pass, it seems to not be selling super well.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's not selling Super.

[Mark Medina]

Well, the. Not really. Not. I mean, they just. They just did the Assassin's Creed thing, right, where they just said that they.

[Damon Hatfield]

Surpassed 3 million players, seven times faster than Doom Eternal.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wasn't Steam numbers kind of low too?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, the Steam numbers were low. And the gripe is coming from the fact that the game is $70 a post, you know, and it's a 10 to 15 hour game versus, you know, Claire and Oblivion, that both are more bang for your buck as far as, like, gameplay time goes. And they're both $50. Claire also on Game Pass and still. Well, all three of these. All three of these games are on Game pass and had way higher Steam numbers than Doom did. So I'm not shaming Doom at all. I think Doom is great. But there is something to be said about the price of games versus, you know, value, like how much play time you're.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, what you just said is actually really interesting because you're talking about, first of all, like, you know, games that. So Claire Obscure and then Oblivion are small team games and that. And by nature, like Claire Obscure is made over a long period of time by just a few people. Right? Like, it's that we know that and then Oblivion, you know, like it. You don't need a big team to remake a game. You need a. You know, you need a lot of people, but you don't need the amount of people that it takes to make a Doom game. So then they do this Doom game with lots of people over like three years. And like, it's just expensive, you know, like, it's really interesting. So it has nothing to do with the end result and how long it takes to beat it. For them to price it. Right? Like, for them, it's like, well, we have to recoup our costs and we think people will pay. It's like such an interesting calculation that everybody has to make here. But I mean, like, it would be great if there's this giant backlash and games didn't sell and then everybody's like, well, we can't sell games for 70 anymore. We have to drop them to 50. Like that ain't gonna happen, though.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that. That is kind of the thing with Mario Kart is like, people. Because that is the one where it's.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, that one's insane. That is insane.

[Mark Medina]

For it to be $80.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's just. Yeah, I can't wait to see if it's justified, you know, but at $80, like, I don't even know what that looks like.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I mean, is it people free DLC.

[Sam Claiborne]

For life of like the best tracks ever made by human hands?

[Mark Medina]

No way.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right, Right. That would justify it though.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I'm just trying to think.

[Sam Claiborne]

Of ways to just.

[Mark Medina]

People need to vote with their wallets. I mean, I mean, and, and that's, you know, the, the consumer world, that's, that's since the beginning of time. That's how it's always been. But like, if you feel that games are getting too expensive, don't buy them.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like I just think like Damon kept on saying, like, well, you know, games of this caliber or whatever. Like that's the problem though. If you vote with your. I'm not saying like this is wrong to do or anything. If you go your wallet, stop buying those games, those games will just stop existing and we just won't have them. Right. Like, that's what we've been saying is that like it might be too expensive to make games that big and pretty. So I mean, indies will thrive. That's great. Mid, mid tier, like kind of like smaller development games. And then unfortunately though, like, that's all saying that the nice way, the, the mean way is that AI will just make all your games in the future and they'll be a lot cheaper.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then they won't. Then they'll. Then those will just be expensive too.

[Mark Medina]

And the earth will be on fire. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

These are all bad solutions to a bad problem, unfortunately.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, speaking of indies are a good solution though. Good transition.

[Damon Hatfield]

Speaking of Doom, I'm still playing Doom. I'm just loving it more and more the more I play.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I'm in such a good spot with it. I'm gonna, like, I'm. I've at the point where like, I'm in a good gameplay loop where I can play a level and I understand that sort of like visual language of the game. So I'm. I'm finding almost all secrets and levels. I'm exiting levels with like 90 or 94% of all secrets found. So it's.

[Sam Claiborne]

And I like having the little bit that, that kind of like trip you up too. Like, I'm okay with that. I think that's cool. Do you. Have you got to the. The. I know people were saying this about Claire Obscure, which I think is really smart for games that do this, but you almost get in like a rhythm with your counters and your dodges and. Well, and it's, it's almost like shield grind, Shield bash, weapon attack. Shield grind. Shield, bash weapon. Like, you can kind of do stuff like that. And it's really fun. And different enemies have different patterns.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Yeah. I love it.

[Mark Medina]

It is not inaccurate at all to say that Doom Eternal and now Dark Ages is a rhythm game. It 100% is. And that's when it's the best.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I think it might be my favorite Doom since the original. And I. And.

[Sam Claiborne]

And I. And I finally understand. It's a. I didn't like. I. It doesn't say this when you play the game. And I didn't bother to look it up until I was finishing some stuff in the guide. And it's a prequel. I didn't realize that. Prequel. Okay, that makes sense.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. I always kind of assume that. But I. I would not claim to know or understand anything about the story that's happening here.

[Mark Medina]

What?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I just like, at some point, Doom stopped being like the last marine surviving on Mars that enters a hellish, you know, like, portal and then is in hell. Like that. That was the premise of all Doom, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then now we're just at. That has nothing to do with what Doom is now. Now it's like this. This space marine was created by space people in the. In a long time ago. It defends space Vikings. Like, it's just.

[Mark Medina]

And they.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's just something else.

[Mark Medina]

They've zapped his brain to make it where he. His only emotion is a hatred for demons.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

What a badass.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, exactly. We must preserve his hatred for demons. It's so funny.

[Mark Medina]

That's all he feels. He has like a restraining bolt on him opening puzzles.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like a Star wars droid style restraining bolt.

[Sam Claiborne]

Exactly. A straining bolt. Yeah, exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

Here's a scoop for anyone who rents. Earning points on rent is now a reality. When you pay rent through bilt, you don't even have to check with your landlord to start earning points that you can use toward flights, hotel stays, fitness classes, or even your next rent payment. Let me break it down for you. There's no cost to join. And just by paying rent, you unlock flexible points that can be transferred to your favorite hotels and airlines, a future rent payment, your next Lyft ride, and more. When you pay rent through bilt, you unlock two powerful benefits. First, you earn one of the industry's most valuable points on rent every month. No matter where you live or who your landlord is, your rent now works for you. Second, you gain access to exclusive neighborhood benefits in your city. Bilt's neighborhood benefits are things like extra points on dining out, complimentary post workout, shakes, free mats or towels at your favorite fitness studios, and unique experiences that only BILT members can access. And when you're ready to travel, BILT points can be converted to your favorite miles and hotel points around the world and meaning your rent can literally take you places. So if you're not earning points on rent, my question is, what are you waiting for? Start paying rent through BILT and take advantage of your neighborhood benefits by going to joinbilt.com Gamescoop that's J-O-I-N B I L T.com Gamescoop make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Join bilt.com gamescoop to start earning points on your rent payments today. Spring is in the air. But you know what we don't want in the air of our homes? Litter Box Stink. That's where Pretty Litter comes in. It obliterates odors so you can enjoy all the wonderful scents of spring. Prettilitter's non clumping formula traps odor and moisture. It's ultra absorbent, it's lightweight, low dust and 16 pound bag works for up to a month. And Pretty Litter can give you peace of mind. It changes color to indicate early signs of potential illnesses in your cat like urinary tract infections, kidney issues, and more. Since Prettilitter ships free right to your door, you never run out and you don't have huge kitty litter bags taking up space. I currently have these huge bags of other kitty litter cluttering up my garage, but my first shipment of Pretty Litter is on the way to my front door and I'm excited to try it out. That cat litter smell is one of the only downsides to owning my cat. Same Pretty Litter helps keep your house smelling fresh and clean. Try it for yourself. Go to Pretty Litter.com Gamescoop to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy. That's PrettyLitter.com Gamescoop to Save 20% on your first order and Get a free cat toy. Prettylitter.com Gamescoop terms and conditions apply. See site for details. All right, Mark, Stellar Blade 2. What's your sort of so we know that it's coming and it's supposed to be here before 2027, so it should be less than two years away. What's your sort of wish list for Stellar Blade 2?

[Mark Medina]

Just more costumes. All the costumes that I can possibly look at and make videos about. That's all I need. No, this is not a surprise because the game ends with a Pretty cool ending where it's basically like there's these. These people in space and, you know, they're. They're eventually going to kind of invade. They. They kind of already do, you know, that's why Eve is there. And so the game ends. This is gonna be a little bit of a spoiler, but. Well, okay, it's coming out on PC, so I won't spoil it. But it does end in a way where you're like, yep, there's going to be a sequel. It basically tells you there's going to be a sequel. So I'm very excited. I love the first game. I. I always encourage people to look past the very exaggerated assets of Eve and the fact that this game got totally swept up in some weird.

[Damon Hatfield]

Or don't. Or don't look fast.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, you don't have to. But, like, beyond all that, it is a super solid action game with a serviceable story and some of the best music in a video game that you'll ever listen to. So just, you know, play stellar Blade if you haven't yet. It's real fun.

[Sam Claiborne]

Didn't it just get new costumes, too?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, the version has June 11th. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Mark Medina]

Yep. When the PC version comes out. Sam, cool about mods, guys. Just be cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

They're not. There's going to be no chill with mod. Sam, is there an example of, like, a character action game like this you enjoy like A Devil May Cry, Bayonetta.

[Sam Claiborne]

Ninja Guy seven, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Final Fantasy seven.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

And no. Kind of.

[Sam Claiborne]

You don't think so?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Too many numbers.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Not. That's not a. That's not like a bayonet alike or a.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about Castlevania 64?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, that would work.

[Mark Medina]

That's it. That's.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's the best one for.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. You didn't play, like, near anything like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Near. No, no.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I. I don't like. I don't dis. So I play. I played Ninja Gaiden.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

That counts for nes. I played. No, I played the Xbox Ones and like. Yeah, they're. Yeah, they're interesting games. I mean, I don't know. Like, I never. I played Bayonetta.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah. This game is like. It looks like Bayonetta. It doesn't actually play like that. This plays a lot more like a Souls, like, without the other souls. Like elements such as, like, you know, losing progress when you die and stuff like that. Like, there are bonfires and stuff, but the way the combat plays, it plays a lot more like Sekiro and stuff like that. You're like you're targeting enemies and it's a lot of 1v1 parrying stuff like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's some, there's some pretty funny like, like platformy things in it too. Right. You have to kind of like.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Figure out that stuff. See that, that kind of additive stuff is if it's just fight after fight and like, you, you're being ranked, you know, whatever F through S on your fights. Like, that's not super interesting to me, but I like them when they're, when they have a little bit more of a, some other gameplay element to work. To work towards.

[Mark Medina]

No, this game plays a lot like kind of like the first Dark Souls, where you're kind of going through streets and there's fights and stuff like that. And as long as you're not like resting at a bonfire in this game, they're. They're like little camps, you know, the enemies are just gone. There's no like ranking on anything like that. And like, as you're playing, what will happen is it's like you're exploring the areas kind of open up and then you'll like kick a ladder down and you'll go down the ladder and you're like, oh, I'm at the beginning again. It's kind of like that. But then there are two areas that are like open world. You can run around and explore and do a bunch of side quests and all that fun stuff. And then you get put in these like, again, like, kind of corridors, but they open up and you know, I, I It's fun. I I, it's structured. It takes a lot from a lot of other games, but it is not like anything else, I guess you could say.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it'd be cool if like you had a metal gear solid 5 type game where you're doing a bunch of things like building, you know, sneaking around, doing stuff. But you did the fighting was like this, you know, that'd be cool.

[Mark Medina]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is also an example of, you know, a smaller team that's able to create something. A very high visual fidelity.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

And get it out the door and charge 60 bucks for it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Where is this team based?

[Damon Hatfield]

Korea.

[Mark Medina]

This is Korea. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. They got lucky. So originally, when this game was announced, it was announced as Project Eve and if you look at those trailers, it says Xbox, PC and everything. And then Sony did the whole money hatting thing where they saw it and they went, Yep, that's a PlayStation game. And they gave them a bunch of budget to make it a PlayStation 5.

[Sam Claiborne]

Exclusive.

[Mark Medina]

So that's. That's where all their, you know, probably visual fidelity comes from. But I don't know. The game this really, really good.

[Damon Hatfield]

This game looks better than Doom. The dark ages on PS5. I can say that. I'm just.

[Mark Medina]

It's a really pretty.

[Sam Claiborne]

I really like. There's something strange about it, right? Like there's just something. There's. There's like a layer of texture missing. It's just. It's not as fidelity. High fidelity as I expect. It doesn't like, that doesn't affect.

[Damon Hatfield]

You're talking about Doom. You're talking about Doom.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Do.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's something about it. Like, it doesn't look.

[Damon Hatfield]

I still love it, though.

[Sam Claiborne]

We talked about it a couple weeks ago. Yeah, me too.

[Damon Hatfield]

Having a blast doesn't hurt the fun. And then I forgot I had one final question about Borderlands for you, Mark. Despite, you know, anything, any silly saying, silly things being said by the CEO of Gearbox. I thought you were excited for Borderlands 4. Is that not right?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, a hundred percent. Okay. I love Borderlands. Yeah, can't. Can't wait for that game. And, and they're saying all the right things. Like, I loved Borderlands 3, but like loot just was like so quick and you just. You. Nothing ever like felt super rewarding until you got to like the super, super legendary stuff. But it's like this game, they're making the loot grind a lot more like, rewarding and stuff like that. I am very, very excited for Borderlands 4. I think it's going to be great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool. Okay. As I was saying, I've been playing a lot of Doom, but there's another game I've been playing that's finally out now. By the time you're listening to or watching this, I can finally talk about. And that is a sequel to a game that I love that I've said on the show that is very similar to Slay the Spire, but I love it even more than Slay the Spire and it's Monster Train. Okay, Guess Monster Train 2 is out now. It's fantastic. It's so good. Uh, I know Sam would never play this game or Slay the Spire, but Mark, have you ever dabbled with Monster Train?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I love Slay the Spire and I love Monster Train. We actually have a devs react for both of those games. Um, yeah, no, I love Monster Train. It's great. I haven't played the second one though, because I. I didn't know it was out.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's out. It's out. It's out tomorrow, the 21st from when we're recording this. And it's so good. It's, it's, it's. It took five years to make. And they didn't reinvent the wheel. They didn't fix what wasn't broken. It's just more Monster Train. There are five new clans now. You know. Remember, the premise, Mark, is that you are demons escaping hell and you're being attacked by angels from heaven. That's the premise of the first one. In this one, you finally make it all the way up to heaven. And then this third threat, these Titans, emerge. And now the alien, the angels and the demons have to work together on the train to fight the Titans. So that's the whole premise this time around. Other than that, you know, there's new, new new cards, new clans to learn and unlock. They've added now room and equipment cards. You can equip characters with like weapons and armor, or you can equip rooms with something that, you know, one room of the train will have 15 + magic power in that room. That sort of thing. It's so good. They also, you know, so should I. Should I explain the premise of Monster Train, Mark? Should I try to. No, no, no. I'm talking too much. You explain the premise of Monster Train, please.

[Mark Medina]

Like the story or the gameplay?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, just. Yeah, the gameplay. I said it's very close to Slay the spire. So how would you let me try.

[Sam Claiborne]

To explain it here?

[Damon Hatfield]

Here we go. Here we go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so you have. So there's. There's a. There's a train and it's filled with rooms. And in each room, something gets more boring each time you pull out a card until you have so many cards and so many numbers that you just fall asleep and you have a great night. Night.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. So if you just like it, take the opposite of all that, that's Monster Train. It's great. It's super fun and you'll never go to sleep. But yeah, you're. You're going up on a board. It's. It's a lot like slay the spire in that sense. It's like you're going up on a board and then you're, you know, fighting enemies. It's a. It's a rog. Like you're using cards, you know, Is it first person?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, there's three hooking around arrows.

[Mark Medina]

That's. That's. Your cards are your moves and the arrows are what you're doing your moves towards. Wait, have you never played Slay the spire Mark.

[Sam Claiborne]

I've never even heard of that game.

[Mark Medina]

What is happening? What is happening?

[Damon Hatfield]

On this podcast, Sam is uninterested in cards. Sam's never played Balatro.

[Sam Claiborne]

What did the spire do to you?

[Mark Medina]

Gotta slay it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Balatro is great.

[Damon Hatfield]

It is.

[Mark Medina]

I don't, I. I believe. I don't know. I don't. I don't. I don't know why you wouldn't like these. These are, these are great. They're.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I'm still working my way through solitaire. I haven't got all the permutations yet. It's like free on my Windows PC from 1995.

[Mark Medina]

So they're not cards. Like, they're cards, but like, if you don't look at them that way, it is just, you know, it is a turn based roguelike game that just happens.

[Sam Claiborne]

So if you pretend the cards are pocket monsters, it's really fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, there, there are pocket monster roguelike games. Anyway, Monster Train, if you've never played it in your. During your run, there's three levels of your train in each turn. You can play cards to play unit, place units on your train wherever you like, but you have to prevent the enemy units from making it to the top where you're the. The heart of your train is. And destroying the heart, that's sort of the premise.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it's kind of like a turn based tactical strategy game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, that's accurate. And all the while it's a deck builder. So all the while you're. You're adding new cards to your deck and have more options are becoming available to you as you go along.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's the economy for cards? Like what, what do you like? Are there rare cards and can you trade them within the game? Can you trade them without the game? Like, is it like a Magic the Gathering type thing?

[Damon Hatfield]

Each clan has their own card set. And so and you. And as you play the game and win runs, you unlock new cards for each whichever clan you're playing.

[Sam Claiborne]

And it's random. Like a card pull.

[Damon Hatfield]

Like a. Yeah, exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

Box.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Well, the roguelike nature is that you're building your deck just like in like Blotro.

[Sam Claiborne]

And there's no economy where you can sell your best cards to mark, though.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, no, no, no, no. Not like that. It's not. Not. It's not a trading card game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, okay. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Thinking too much about the cards.

[Damon Hatfield]

He gets really hung up on cards.

[Sam Claiborne]

Trying not to. I'm just trying to get through this conversation. Well, getting a little bit snoozy over here. Now. I these I'm really happy that people like these games and I'm happy for everybody that plays them because they seem to really fulfill like an itch that is hard to scratch for a lot of people.

[Damon Hatfield]

Monster Train 2 is out now. It's on Steam for now. I'm sure it'll come to consoles eventually. It has my highest recommendation for people who like those types of games. The original is currently on Game Pass and Apple Arcade. If you want to check out the original Monster Train. Summer is just around the corner and the folks at Mint Mobile have a hot take. Getting a summer bod is out and getting your savings bod is in. This spring and summer we want skimpy wireless bills and fat wallets. And with premium wireless plans for just 15 bucks a month you can have both without breaking a sweat or the bank. Isn't that right Seth? Definitely going to be trying out Mint Mobile. Switching over. Get that three months for $15 a month. That is nothing. $15. You can't buy anything in this day and age for $15. It is pretty excellent deal especially for mobile service. You know, I mostly use it to just scroll on social media and click things that I like anyway. So why am I paying like several hundred dollars a month to do that? I'm going to be check it out. Mint Mobile Absolutely. This year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get your summer savings and shop Premium Wireless [e-mail] GamesCoop that's mintmobile.com GamesCoop Upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month. New customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Sam Claiborne]

You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice Progressive loves to help people make smart choices.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's why they offer a tool called.

[Sam Claiborne]

Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive Car Insurance quote with rates from other companies so you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Mark Medina]

Foreign.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's turning 25 this week. I think on the 22nd it's the Thursday of this week is when it's happening.

[Mark Medina]

Is it a Dreamcast game exclusive to PS2?

[Damon Hatfield]

It was not exclusive to PS2.

[Sam Claiborne]

It wasn't a Dreamcast game.

[Damon Hatfield]

It was not a Dreamcast game?

[Sam Claiborne]

Was it a Game Boy game?

[Damon Hatfield]

It was not a Game Boy game.

[Mark Medina]

It's turning 20. Oh, okay. Is it Open World?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, it is not Open World.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was it. Was it what?

[Damon Hatfield]

I didn't. Arcades, a trivia game. It was not in arcades.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow. So it's.

[Mark Medina]

Okay, I give up.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, no, I'm not quite.

[Mark Medina]

I'm doing now. I'm doing now what I wish I could do in every 20.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was it a PlayStation? PlayStation or N64 game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. Was it a PlayStation game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so it's an N64 games. And I know what it is.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, what is it? All right, this week, a two.

[Sam Claiborne]

So 2000 era.

[Damon Hatfield]

May 22, 2000.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Banta Tooie came out that year, but it was later in the year.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's correct.

[Sam Claiborne]

So what was I playing?

[Damon Hatfield]

Remember of 2000, I said, this is one of my favorite games of all time.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. So it has to have cards in it.

[Mark Medina]

But this is. But this is. It's gotta have cards.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it? Did you play ogre battle on 64?

[Damon Hatfield]

I did, but that's not this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. I would be. Yeah. That's surprising, though.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

There's supposedly. There's supposedly a reboot. Perfect dark, Perfect dark.

[Mark Medina]

Perfect Perfect Dark, dark.

[Damon Hatfield]

25 years old this week.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow. So all that. I remember playing this game over a summer too.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it was the summer of 2000.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. Yeah, I remember.

[Mark Medina]

So cheap.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, is that. Which one.

[Mark Medina]

I forget what it's called. It's. I think it's. It's like the periscope. I don't know. But you could just shoot.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's a farsight. Right. You can just shoot through farsight there. Great.

[Mark Medina]

You could just shoot enemies through walls.

[Sam Claiborne]

How do they program that?

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's so magical. On the Nintendo 64.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is one of my favorite games, this game.

[Mark Medina]

You had to have the expansion pack.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

To play this game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. You did.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

This is Elvis. Elvis, the alien who. I think I always thought his. He was wearing a good A suit and I thought it was supposed to be like an Elvis, like, whatever. But I think it's actually more of a nod to James Bond in goldeneye. I think it was supposed to be white.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I think it's just a little tux. For some reason. I don't think they were smart enough to put him in some kind of like velvet Las Vegas scout.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. But man. Yeah, I played this. I would have played this over the summer. And then this. This is like this Is like my friend and I's hangout game. Like AF after rival schools. It'd be perfect Dark. Just playing this, playing the multiplayer was so good. I loved how you could customize the weapon loadouts, add in bots. You mentioned the farsight. I always. What's up?

[Mark Medina]

The meat.

[Damon Hatfield]

The meat sims. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Is what the boss is what the bots were called.

[Damon Hatfield]

I love the laptop gun.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember, the laptop gun has had the. The firing range hack where you could bring in the laptop gun to the firing range and then you could do a different guns challenge. And the laptop gun would kill all the targets in it because it was. Because there's just a. Yeah, there it is. There's the target range. It was so funny and it worked. It was such a good hack because I think that unlocked a bunch of stuff in multiplayer. Something to like. You wanted to do the firing range for some reason that I can't remember. There it is. There's the hack.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, I. So for whatever reason, I never owned goldeneye. I don't know why, but I had this and I loved it when this came out.

[Sam Claiborne]

And either it was exactly the same. I only own Perfect Dark.

[Damon Hatfield]

This would have been like the gold standard for a console FPS for one year because Halo would be out the next year.

[Mark Medina]

Right. Look at that frame rate.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know. So, like, yeah, the original is very choppy and sometimes blurry, but they remastered this in 2010. I remastered that.

[Mark Medina]

I reviewed it for. For Xbox 360. Right. And it, like, actually had twin sticks and.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. And I think that version is still very playable and very fun today.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. So it'd be fun to play through the campaign of that. I. I mean, even. Even seeing the graphics of the original. And like, I remember the office building exterior and then the interior, like windows that shatter and stuff like that. It's just every once in a while there's a trick that you. You didn't remember that the Nintendo 64 could pull off, like, really good lighting sometimes, you know, and it's just great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Also, this had a lot of voice acting, which I think it must have taken up a lot of memory in that cartridge, because they're not just pulling it off of a CD like you would on PlayStation, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's actually taking up memory inside the cartridge.

[Sam Claiborne]

Big problem with those cartridges.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. This is like, rare at its peak. Two years. I think this is peak. Because also I think the. I forget the director of this game. I think he left either, like right at the end of Perfect Dark development. Or right afterwards. And then I think key members of Rare started to leave, and then they were acquired by Microsoft in 2002.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, and I mean, what I just say, like, the Banjo Tooie also came out this year. Like, what a role.

[Damon Hatfield]

Conquer and then Conquer.

[Sam Claiborne]

They were on.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then Conquer. Like, they. This is like one of those companies now where you're like the Yakuza creators, and then you're just like, well, there's still people that can make these crazy AAA games back to back to back.

[Mark Medina]

What's going on? Your lower third was up. I don't know what you're saying in the video. Third was.

[Damon Hatfield]

I said I reviewed the remastered version, so that's probably what this is.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

I gave it a nine out of ten.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I'm so excited for. For the.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, the. Yeah, the reboot. It's like, man, it was announced five years ago. I know. We saw it last summer, which is great. But nothing since then.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know if the Xbox game was fine. I mean, nobody ever plays it anymore, cares about it, but it was, you know, a launch. Xbox360 game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Perfect Dark Zero. There was a Game Boy color game that launched with the original.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's right.

[Damon Hatfield]

I never played that one, though.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's really funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

But Rare had been developing for Nintendo since the early NES days. They were very prolific on the nes, but they weren't. Nobody knew their name. It wasn't until Donkey Kong Country. Right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. Exactly.

[Damon Hatfield]

What else is there to say about Perfect Dark? Oh, yeah. Nintendo owned a 49 stake in Rare, and I don't. I just don't know. On one hand, I would think. I don't know what they were like, they were pumping out so many hits for Nintendo. Why wouldn't Nintendo just want to acquire them? But then again, like we were just saying, this seemed to be the kind of the beginning of the end for a Rare as people were leaving and.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, is that because. So you were saying already that, like, talent had left.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I didn't realize key talent was starting to leave. So what Microsoft acquired wasn't like the same team that was here for this for Perfect Dark or Banjo.

[Mark Medina]

This is not the same team that's making Sea of Thieves.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, but, man, I mean, they wouldn't really have another hit until Sea of Thieves.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. I mean, right then it was what, Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts.

[Damon Hatfield]

Which I like. Which I liked. I know it. It didn't really resonate, but I liked that game. And then they did a lot of Kinect stuff.

[Mark Medina]

That's right.

[Damon Hatfield]

They were assigned to do Kinect and then they did Rare replay in 2015 and then Sea of Thieves in 2016.

[Mark Medina]

Which had a rocky start and now is super beloved.

[Sam Claiborne]

I really do think they're like. Last few gamecube games tell an interesting story too, because of the Dinosaur Planet Star Fox game. But then there was also the one that was for kids. Was it grabbed by Ghoulies or one of those ones? Remember that?

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it was the.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, Jet jets at Gemini. What's happening here?

[Sam Claiborne]

No Gemini, but that game is great.

[Damon Hatfield]

I think this is from Packs. I think we were playing this. We got Marty Sliva Packs with someone.

[Mark Medina]

Is that a rare person, the fourth person, or is that. I don't know who that beer was.

[Sam Claiborne]

A death.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't remember. It's a YouTube gaming lounge at PAX, but I don't remember who we were playing with or what year this would have been.

[Mark Medina]

Wait, is that Fran? No, it's not Fran, is it? I can't tell. I can't tell. It's too small.

[Sam Claiborne]

Too small.

[Damon Hatfield]

Anyway. Oh, oh, yeah. And then do you remember that it was supposed to have Perfect Dark, was supposed to ship with like a face scan feature so you could scan your face into the game but didn't.

[Sam Claiborne]

Didn't ignore. Mess with that early and like scan in editors and take pictures.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, there are screenshots of like Matt Casa Messina, his face in Perfect Dark.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, but it's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Shortly before it shipped, Nintendo decided to remove that feature. Of course, other games would include that feature later on. I've. I have good memories of Rainbow Six Vegas and putting my face on my character in that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember they made that Mr. Pants game finally after Mr. Pants was an unlockable character or whatever in their games?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, I don't. I have no memory of Mr. Pants.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's. Let me look at the name of it. Mr. Pants is like a crappy drawing that actually got his own game at some point. Okay, so they did. In 2001, they did another game or in 2000 they did another game too called Mickey's Speedway USA. So that how that happened for Nintendo 64 by Rare also they made a racing game apparently. Well, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mr.

[Mark Medina]

Pants. Oh, there he is.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mr.

[Mark Medina]

Pants.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's Mr. Pants. Yeah. And this is for the game. It's for ds Game Boy Advance. It looks like Game Boy Advance, I think. Yeah, they. There was a game called Grabbed by the Ghoulies on Xbox that was kind of. Right. I thought it was going to be a GameCube game, but then I got ported to Xbox and it's not that interesting, but yeah, it's. Mr. Pants came out in 2005 for Game Boy advance and Banjo Pilot came out for Game Boy Advance. So they kept on making Nintendo games, but only on Game boy.

[Damon Hatfield]

So is Mr. Pants a Tetris?

[Mark Medina]

Like it's a puzzle game.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a puzzle game.

[Mark Medina]

Could have given me a million guesses on what the gameplay is for Mr. Pants, and I would have not guessed that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

And Mr. Pants doesn't wear pants. Right? That's. That's.

[Sam Claiborne]

He is. He is a big pair of pants.

[Damon Hatfield]

Basically is a pair of pants.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, look, this is kind of like vaguely Yoshi's, you know, kind of look, except with bad drawings. It's very strange. See those all underpants on the right there?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, I see it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember, pants means pants in England. Where Brer is from means underwear here.

[Mark Medina]

Oh.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's kind of like the whole fanny.

[Sam Claiborne]

Situation when you say like, I'm gonna go buy some more pants. Men laugh at you in England because it sounds like you're saying, I'm gonna go buy panties.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, it's the same word, which is hilarious.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it is pretty funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

Rare was known for what, 3D platformers and first person shooters, right? Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And underwear based puzzlers.

[Damon Hatfield]

Have we established? Not really, no.

[Mark Medina]

Robo Pants.

[Damon Hatfield]

And I was trying to think of another developer that's known for that and maybe Insomniac. I mean, because they had the Resistance games, right?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah. They kind of had the same thing, huh?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

They made first person shooters and now they make platformers.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, Retro made a platformer inside a first person shooter. This is Metroid prime reference.

[Damon Hatfield]

Ah, gotcha.

[Sam Claiborne]

As you can turn to a ball.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, yep, yep. Last week I said we were going to talk about Thunderbolts and then I completely forgot and we don't need to dwell on it. I know this movie's been out for several weeks now and. And Sam already covered everything, but just, just to bring it up, because I liked it. I liked it more than I thought I would. Mark, have you seen it?

[Mark Medina]

No. The comments were very upset that you did not talk about it though.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Oh, no, no, I liked it. Like I'm not invested in like the current state of the mcu, but you know, I like good movies and I especially like good action movies. And that's what it is. The action scenes are totally good. That's like the most important thing to me. Yeah, it totally Delivers.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you, did you think that that scene might have been one of the best, like, all powerful action combat scenes ever where it's just. What's his name? Just like, defending against the, the new, the, the thunderbolts.

[Damon Hatfield]

You mean towards the end there's a.

[Sam Claiborne]

Part where he's like, up in the, in the tower.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a great scene. Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

And, like, everybody's just coming at him and he's just flicking them, like bugs away, which is really, really well done. It's really fast.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

That is Bill Pullman's son, who plays.

[Damon Hatfield]

That character, who plays center.

[Mark Medina]

And it's funny. Yeah. And then it's funny because, you know, then Captain America in this movie is played by. What's his name? Kurt Russell, Son W. Russell.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's Kurt Russell. Yeah. White Russell babies. Yeah. I actually, like, you know, he's an ass. He's an, is an a hole in the movie. But, yeah, I like his performance. And he, he has a line in there that got a laugh out of me. On your left. Got a big laugh out of me in the theater. I thought that was great.

[Mark Medina]

That's good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I would like to see this. I, I would like to see Fantastic Four. I am super excited for Superman. Just. That's my.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really. You think it looks good?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I think it looks great. I think it looks.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's got to do a lot of work to make Superman cool.

[Mark Medina]

He did it. They got it.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean, they did it.

[Mark Medina]

Somebody.

[Damon Hatfield]

What? 1978. It's pretty cool. Back in the.

[Mark Medina]

The end. Never again.

[Sam Claiborne]

I, I actually think Superman 2 is very watchable and funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I love. Yeah. That. I don't know if there's a name for, you know, Zod and his crew, but, yeah, it's great.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm weird with superhero movies right now. Like, Thunderbolts is getting a lot of good, you know, acclaim. So it's like, I, I, I do want to watch it, but, like, I don't know. It's really hard to be excited for superhero movies right now.

[Damon Hatfield]

I totally.

[Mark Medina]

This one looks good.

[Damon Hatfield]

I totally get that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I'm neutral on Superman. I want Superman to wow me. I'm not brutin against it.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, I want it to work, but I just, I just have never really connected with that character. And I think it's kind of a ridiculous universe and it's gonna be tough, but James Gunn has done, I mean, very difficult tasks like this before.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nobody even knew who the Guardians of the galaxy were before he made that movie.

[Mark Medina]

Well. And he made Suicide Squad pretty good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Peacemaker is amazing. I cannot wait for Also good.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. And then I really liked Creature Commandos to show that he.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's good. A lot of characters in this. That's maybe my one concern. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of characters.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's a lot of dc.

[Damon Hatfield]

I actually haven't watched the second trailer either.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, man, it's. It's great. I had to have my friends explain to me. I was like, okay, so Nathan Fillion is the Green Lantern, but he's like a bad guy. And they're like, yeah, there's lots of Green Lanterns. And he's like, the asshole one. I was like, oh, okay. Okay. I don't know that much about comic books, so.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool. Anything else you are watching or playing that you want to shout out?

[Mark Medina]

I am loving Last of Us, season two.

[Damon Hatfield]

You said to bring that up, so.

[Mark Medina]

I don't know if that's an anti shout out, but I'm caught up, you know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I'm caught up to. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I just think I. I said this in our morning meeting today, and Mark City agreed. I just think with once. Once Pedro Pascal was not the lead. I just think it became glaringly clear that Bella Ramsey is just. Can't carry. Cannot carry the show.

[Mark Medina]

It's a bit tough. Dean is great. I. I think I also like the first game more than the second game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, yeah. For me, for sure.

[Mark Medina]

Just like. Yeah. So I just connected with that first season so well. They had the really great episode three with Nick Offerman. I don't know. And this is just kind of like, Yeah, I don't know. I'm just not loving it as much. I want to because I did love the first season so much, but I'm not loving it as much as I did the first one.

[Damon Hatfield]

Certain changes, I think they do a disservice to the source material. So here's a spoiler. So if you want to jump ahead, here's a spoiler for the most recent episode. Ellie asks Joel if. If it would have worked, if making the cure would have worked. And he says, yes, but, like, that's a big in. In the game. He says, you know, they don't know. And I actually think that's a big deal. It's a big. It means something that that's the whole.

[Mark Medina]

Reason he did what he did was because he wasn't willing to take the risk to exactly work. I think he would have Reacted differently if he knew it was going to work. But to him it was like, well, this is. There's only a chance this is going to work and they're going to kill Ellie in the process, so I'm not going to do it. So. Yeah, that is exactly what.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I thought it was interesting that they're like, we gotta put spores in it. It's just not working with the tentacles.

[Damon Hatfield]

You know, they did eventually put spores in it, but then they're introducing these other characters, like Jeffrey Wright. I don't. Like the season's over now. Like, they introduced this character, but, like, I don't know. Okay, I'll see him again in two years, maybe. Yeah, I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's. It's really like, hard to do the whole, like, you know, without Pedro Pascal. But I mean, I do think he's big right now and, and he is the reason a lot of people are watching the show so to suddenly just not, you know, everyone knew except for Nod, last of us fans. They knew what they were signing up for. Pedro knew too.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

That he was going to die very early in season two. But, like, it's. It's not working as well as I thought it would, unfortunately.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So I, I've been very much enjoying the studio, which is the Seth Rogen kind of curb you like show. But it's about. But it's about making movies and it's about making basically a knockoff of the Barbie movie about Kool Aid, which is really funny. Like, it's like everything is great. And they actually go to like, Cinemacon and they do a comic con and they do like these like, really big impressive crowd shoots at these like, fan conventions. And they, they do a lot of play with the fan conventions and it's just like, it's, it's very good. And like the type of comedy is very, as I said, like Curb or like Seinfeld. Like, it's. It's light and goofy and moves from joke to joke and the characters are all like, really likable. It's great. I can't recommend it more. I'm very excited to sit down and watch as much as I can. A Murderbot Chronicles or I get this just called Murderbot. I forget which thing it's called, but that's the new HBO series of the book series. I've talked about the show before that I love. It's. It's a really cool sci fi book series about kind of an Android programmed killer bot that has done Self. Self jailbreak. And then works for this. Like, it's super far in the future. And there's, like, humans that are spread. There's no. And there's like, remnants of alien civilization stuff, but there's. There's nothing else. It's just humans, and they're all corporate. And so it's like kind of a corporate cyberpunky thing. But he kind of works for these, like, kind of nicer professor people. It's of kind. It's an incredible, really funny book read. Because the robot only wants to watch TV once it's jailbroken. It doesn't want to do anything but watch tv. And it just gets itself in these encounters and starts, like, feeling for the humans and really liking them, but, like, not wanting to admit that. And it's told by. From its perspective, which I always. I always saw the character. It's written by a woman author. I always presumed the character was actually, like, a. A woman robot. So it's really interesting. They cast it as a man. I might have just missed that. But they don't. They make it very ambiguous in the book series.

[Damon Hatfield]

So the show's just called Murderbot.

[Sam Claiborne]

Also Murder by.

[Damon Hatfield]

And it's Alexander Skarsgard.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. It's. One of the stars. Guards is in it. They got one.

[Mark Medina]

I also just want to watch tv. Was that Catherine o' Hara in the studio?

[Sam Claiborne]

She. Yeah. She can't possibly be in more things.

[Damon Hatfield]

I know.

[Mark Medina]

She's everything.

[Sam Claiborne]

She's a main character in it.

[Mark Medina]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

Cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Isn't that crazy? She's probably in this too. I have no idea.

[Damon Hatfield]

I hadn't heard about this, but this looks great.

[Sam Claiborne]

We gave it a great score. I got an 8, I believe, for the season, I think. Is that. But yeah, I think. Yeah. Anyway.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, there he is.

[Sam Claiborne]

It couldn't be better source material. It's been, like, one of my favorite reads the past 10 years. I'm super happy this just came into existence. So it's good.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's. They got David Das Malchim in there.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

He's always a good interview at Comic Con. Okay, that brings us to video game 20 questions. Our suggestion this week comes from Todd from an undisclosed location. Let the questioning begin.

[Mark Medina]

That's it. We don't get any Todd backstory, huh? No, no. Todd Lore.

[Damon Hatfield]

He's a toddler. He says, what's up, everybody? I love the show. It never stops being exciting when a new episode comes out. And then he has a little bit more of a spiel that I can explain after we Reveal the game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Got it. If it's about me, I don't want to hear it. Okay. So. No, I'm just kidding. I'm fine hearing it. We. Let's do this. Did it come out before Perfect Dark?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

All right. 25 years of video games to go through. Let's see. Is this game. I want to narrow it down a little bit more. Did this come out after 2015? January 1, 2015.

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, okay. 15 years. We're in the PS2.

[Sam Claiborne]

This era can be tough for us. It can be tough.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Gamecube. Okay. Is this game exclusive to one platform?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Love that PlayStation.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nintendo.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep. That's five.

[Mark Medina]

All right, but which one? Because there's a lot. So there's late 64, GameCube and Wii.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it. Is it. Was this on one of the Wiis? No, the Wii consoles?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

All right, so hopefully GameCube.

[Sam Claiborne]

And there's the DS stuff, too. Was it a handheld?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

There we go. All right, let's see. Exclusive to that. Okay, so we got to figure out which handheld.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I like this for. And we can ask about. If it's 3Ds. You're welcome to do it online. But I ask, like, was this stylus. Was. Was the stylus the main way of controlling this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, you're welcome to narrow it down to three.

[Mark Medina]

What Was this on a. Was this on a DS that had a joystick on the left side? Was this on the 3Ds?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. 3Ds.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so the original one had a D pad on the left side. That's what you're saying?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, let's see.

[Damon Hatfield]

I never owned a 3Ds.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow. That's crazy. Well, they were all over the office.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

They're just sitting everywhere, street passing and whatnot. Being chained to desks. Okay, so not Style c, but for 3Ds. Was this developed or published by Nintendo?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's 10.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, okay. Well, we've made good headway. Let's.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this game primarily delivered in a downloadable format?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh. It's not pushmo. Remember pushmo?

[Mark Medina]

Does this game character. Yeah, I sure don't. I worked at a target when 3Ds came out. I didn't. I didn't ever have one either. I don't think. Did this game star a character that is on the Smash roster?

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark, come on. I don't know.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a tough question.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

I really need Damon to just get a poster of Smash ultimate so he could just be like huh, let's see. Oh, there's Mr. Game and Watch. That's okay. So. So let's see. Okay. Did this game star like a famous Nintendo mascot?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Still not pushmo because that's the most famous Nintendo mascot of all the.

[Mark Medina]

Push mode made but made by Nintendo. Pilot Wings. Could be Pilot wings.

[Damon Hatfield]

The question was developed or published by Nintendo.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, developer published by it. Okay, let's see here.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this was brain training was kind of before this. It's tough.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Brain Age. Yeah. I think that was regular DS.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm trying to think of what the 3ds game say.

[Mark Medina]

Could be a Pokemon. But that's an obvious.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's an obvious like mascot.

[Mark Medina]

You think I would consider them like a Nintendo Master.

[Sam Claiborne]

You could choose in it. Right?

[Mark Medina]

Let's see.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think there is a pilot. If there's a Pilot Wings. I always think of the.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it was a launch game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Launch Pilings.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was that the only other game to have Woohoo island in it of Wii Sports Resort fame? Does this game have a sequel and the Switch era?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Man. I still remember losing my mind over the fact that it was a 3D thing that you didn't need glasses for.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I. Did Nintendo develop this game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. I think it might be this Yokai Watch game which is like a Pokemon game that they published. But it's not starring Pokemon. Starring ghosts.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it could be something like that. Is this an RPG?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, that's 15.

[Sam Claiborne]

Not that.

[Mark Medina]

Man. I really don't. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Would you describe this? I mean I could throw out multiple genres, Mark. But I wanted to ask if it's a puzzle game.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it could be but we could.

[Sam Claiborne]

I could do puzzles.

[Mark Medina]

Let's. How do we narrow down Pilot Wings? How do we. How do we eliminate.

[Sam Claiborne]

They developed. So it's not going to be that.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know if they develop Picross for example. There's like the Meteos type games but I don't know if Those are on 3Ds. It's complicated. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

I just did not play this system. Really found the stick too slippery.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know where to go. I don't know. Let's do a genre one so we know it's not an RPG puzzle. Anything like puzzles we could throw in there because it's hard when we say platformers and stuff like that. I don't think Nintendo would have published a platformer. And it's not dlc. See, there's a lot of indie games. There was like the return of that game X and then there was like the wood Argonaut made. And then there was like, as I.

[Damon Hatfield]

Said.

[Sam Claiborne]

You know, like pet Picross and Pushpin. But I can't remember if those are only downloadable. It's really complicated.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's the published by Nintendo thing, but. Published but not published but not developed by.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know. Is this a puzzle driving or fighting game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

What? What are you doing this game? Is it a shooter?

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Mark Medina]

What. What do you do? What are you doing this game?

[Sam Claiborne]

How many questions do we have?

[Damon Hatfield]

Two questions and a guess.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, God. Oh, no.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, didn't tend to publish any games based on the license.

[Mark Medina]

Who knows, man?

[Sam Claiborne]

Have we mentioned the game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

Whoa. Okay, so could be the. Well, you said no RPGs, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

But I don't know if Yokai watches an RPG necessarily.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. What else have we mentioned? Well, we kind of. Kind of eliminated everything we mentioned.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I think we. We have one question and I guess.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this a. Is this like a Pokemon game with ghosts in it and stuff?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, so it's not. No, but we mentioned it.

[Mark Medina]

Okay, well, but we've mentioned it. I guess it's got to be Pilot Wings. That's the only answer.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think you're right.

[Mark Medina]

I will say when I. When I shouted Pilot Wing, Damon lit up.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's probably developed by like, how or something that, like, I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

I have no idea. Yeah. All right, so we have a guess.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

All right. Is it Pilot wings for the Nintendo 3DS?

[Damon Hatfield]

Do you know the name, the full name of the game?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes, it's called Pilot Wings Air Destroyer Unit.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, it's not.

[Mark Medina]

My guess is pilot wings 3Ds.

[Damon Hatfield]

That is not the name, but we will still allow it. Pilot wings resort or 3ds.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I was right. I was right about the Wuhu Island.

[Damon Hatfield]

It is Woohoo Island.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah. Because the Wii Sports Resort.

[Damon Hatfield]

Same as Wii Sports Resort. Developed by. Developed by Monster Games, which also did Excite Truck, ExciteBots, and there was an Excite Bike for Weware. They did all those.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. I played this game, but I don't. I have no memory of it. I love the Wii Sports Resort, though. I think that game's really. The exploring part of it is really fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. The island from Wii Sports Resort. And then I think there was a Wii Fit sequel that was also set here.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nice. I would hope so, because Woohoo island is amazing. And a character unto itself.

[Damon Hatfield]

And there's. There's a Mario Kart track too, right, for Woohoo Island.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, of course. Woohoo lives on Woohoo and never say die.

[Damon Hatfield]

Pilot Wings Resort was a launch game for the 3DS.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, Mark pointed that out somehow. Mark knew everything about this one 3ds game. And it happened to be the game that Todd picked.

[Damon Hatfield]

Who developed it. Monster Games.

[Mark Medina]

Monster Monster Games.

[Damon Hatfield]

They also did the 3Ds port of tropical Freeze, so. Oh, okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Do you remember Yokai Watch though?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I never played it, but I remember when that was coming out, there's like ghosts.

[Sam Claiborne]

They were cute.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Well, nicely done.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nicely job everybody.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nicely job. You got there, Mark got there. Thank you for the suggestion, Todd. In an undisclosed location. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for 20 questions, email them to me at the email address. Game [e-mail] and let's go see, let's see what we're going to shout out this week over at Humble. You may want to check out the Xbox Game Studio publisher bundle. For just five bucks you get Broken Age, Sunset Overdrive and battletoads. And for 10 bucks you get those three games plus Wasteland 3, Quantum Break, as Dusk Falls, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Age of Empires Definitive Edition. As always, proceeds go to charity. And we are less than three weeks away from IGN Live now. It's coming right up. Mark, what do you. What are you most excited for at IGN Live 25?

[Mark Medina]

The Live devs react that I'm hosting. Come watch it. It's gonna be super fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh my God. Can you share?

[Mark Medina]

I'm also nervous about it, but it's gonna be fun.

[Damon Hatfield]

Can you share what, what devs or what game or is that hush hush?

[Mark Medina]

Actually I have no idea. So I'm just gonna go with no. Well, because they're there for something else. And then I also just kind of like latched on and was like, hey, can they also do a desire act? And they were like, sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

What if Mark said what it was? Then he gets permission after we done taping and you bleep it if he doesn't get permission.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, let's do that. Say it and I will bleep it if we can't say it. Go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. It's for Clare Obscure Expedition 33 and it's going to be for the voice cast of the game.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, amazing. I wish.

[Sam Claiborne]

And I'll be there.

[Damon Hatfield]

I wish I could comment more.

[Mark Medina]

No, it's good.

[Damon Hatfield]

In all seriousness, IGN Live was so much fun last year. We will be doing GamesCube live. Mark will be on that. I'm a little bit hurt that he didn't say Game Scoop Live is the thing he's most looking forward to, but it's okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, that's what I'm looking forward to the most. By the way.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thank you.

[Mark Medina]

I have a custom. I have a custom shirt made.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh my gosh.

[Mark Medina]

That would prove that I'm excited for it. But I can't show you the shirt because I think you would prefer to just see it live. But your name is on it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Effort.

[Mark Medina]

You could probably call it effort.

[Damon Hatfield]

We'll do it live and maybe, maybe Justin will be there. Who knows? Justin will show up.

[Mark Medina]

You know, maybe he'll show up.

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

We'll make find out five. We'll find out five minutes.

[Sam Claiborne]

We'll get a four person couch. But if we need a three person couch, we'll just throw it out there.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yep, we can just.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, that's what mar Matt Scarpino's best at switching out couches.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes, the love sacks are. Are anyway. IG live.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, no.

[Damon Hatfield]

June 7th and 8th here in downtown Los Angeles. Go to ign.comlive use the code Scoop for a special discount. It's going to be a great weekend. That is all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you to both Sam and Mark. Thank you to the ghost of Justin. Thank you to Jobert and everyone else working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. We're gonna. We're gonna try to record a show next week. Everything is sort of like all hands on deck for IGN Live. But if as long as we can have, yeah, I think we can do it. And the Friday Scoop lovers rejoice. We'll have a Friday scoop for you next week too, because we'll be recording on Thursday. So. My name is Damon. This is IGN Game Soup. And we're out. This episode of Game Soup was produced by myself, Damon Hatfield and Gilbert Adienza. Technical direction is handled by Gilbert Atienza. Technical production is by Marian Franzen and Amir Akiv. Audio engineering is by Amir Akiv and post production editing is by yours truly, Damon Hatfield. Graphic design is by Nicole Kagempen. Gamescoop is an IGN production and part of the Geek Media Network Next Gen console Watch is the IGN show discussing the latest gaming hardware. Whether it's the PS5 Pro, Nintendo Switch 2 or something new from Xbox. It's all a fair game on Next Gen Console Watch hosted by me, Damon Hadfield, a 20 year IGN veteran. I'm joined by my co host, Ryan McCaffrey, host of Unlocked, IGN's Xbox podcast, and Max Scoville, host of IGN's PlayStation podcast Beyond. I'll try to keep those console war discussions civil, but no promises. Listen to Next Gen Console Watch on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every Friday. Next Gen Console Watch is produced by IGN and is part of the Geek Media Podcast Network. Junior yes sir, CineFix Top 100 is back. It's time to pick up our quest to watch 100 of the greatest movies of all time. If that sounds good to you. No. Good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Fine.

[Damon Hatfield]

Good. And Season four is taking some time to appreciate family. This season we're diving into movies about all the crazy things we do for family.

[Mark Medina]

About reconnecting, about fighting, and about finding.

[Damon Hatfield]

Family in unexpected places.

[Sam Claiborne]

I am your father.

[Damon Hatfield]

And what better place to start than.

[Mark Medina]

With a movie that does a little bit of all of that, starring our.

[Damon Hatfield]

Favorite archaeologist who named himself after the.

[Mark Medina]

Family dog named after the dog.

[Damon Hatfield]

And stay in touch with your Cinefix family every Sunday for more of our biggest list yet.

[Sam Claiborne]

See you little brother. Not a worry in the world.

[Damon Hatfield]

Tune in to the CineFix Top 100, part of the Geek Media Network on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.