Loading summary
Transcript674 lines
- [00:01]
Damon Hadfield
So I've got a question for all the gamers out there. Are you seriously going to miss out on Alienware's biggest gaming sale of the year? I mean, these are holiday prices we're talking about, so it's not just another sale. I took a look and this is some pretty big bang for your buck. You know, it's Alienware with some of the most advanced engineering out there with systems at the top of reviewers lists. And what about a gift for yourself? Gift yourself a new Alienware 16 Area 51 gaming laptop. This thing's got performance at the absolute next level with Intel Core Ultra processors. And even better, you can get it before the holidays. Plus you can save on all kinds of displays and accessories like the Alienware 32.4K QD OLED gaming monitor for ultimate visual fidelity. These really are incredible deals on PCs with otherworldly performance. So I'd visit alienware.com dealsoon and grab what you can before it's too late. So you want to learn a new language, but you're struggling to get beyond the basics. Stuck on free apps aimed at cheap dopamine highs. Well then it's time to try Babbel, the language app that makes grammar fun and is actually worth your time. Start speaking a new language with confidence thanks to Babbel's commentary technique that quickly teaches you useful words and phrases about the things you actually talk about in the real world. There's over a dozen languages available to learn at your own pace so you can achieve your goals with material tailored to your individual proficiency level, interests and time availability. Handcrafted by over 200 language experts, Babbel's lessons are voiced by real native speakers and built with science backed cognitive tools like spaced repetition and interactive features to fit any learning style. Babbel's tips and tools for learning a new language are approachable and accessible. It's like having a private tutor in your pocket. It's that time of year again and Gamescom is coming up, so I should probably use Babbel to brush up on my German. I love that it uses voice recognition to listen to my pronunciation and give feedback. I use Babbel and if you're looking to learn a new language, I think you'll dig it too. Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com Gamescoop Get 60% off at babbel.com GamesCoop spelled B A B B E L.com Gamescoop rules and restrictions may apply. What's up, everybody? Welcome to a very special episode of IGN gamescoop. I'm your host, Damon Hadfield. And joining me this week are Justin Davis. Scoop Nick Limone.
- [02:18]
Nick
I'm back, baby.
- [02:19]
Damon Hadfield
And Sam Claiborne joins us as well.
- [02:21]
Sam Claiborne
Oh, my. You've caught me in my study today. Damon, so good to see you. It's so good to be here. I wasn't expecting.
- [02:27]
Damon Hadfield
It does look very. Looks very cozy.
- [02:30]
Sam Claiborne
Yes. See the glow of the fire, the thrill of the recent adventures. Actually, I'm reporting live on the scene from outside Olathe, Kansas, which will tie into this episode's theme. Please take it away, Damon.
- [02:42]
Damon Hadfield
Olathe, Kansas, a birthplace of kings, they say. That's what they say about Olathe, Kansas. It's the most wonderful time of year. Everyone all year long around the world waits for for this moment. It is time for the Damie Awards. Everyone has just been waiting with to find out what was the kill gag of the year. People have to know. People have to know. So let's just get right into it. I'm revealing my top five games of the year. Damon Hatfield's top five video games of the year, 2025.
- [03:22]
Justin Davis
It's the one time of year that Damon gets to take over the show.
- [03:25]
Damon Hadfield
Y I let you guys talk all year long, and then there's one episode that's just about all the stuff that I like. Okay, here we go. My top five games of the year. Coming at number five is the Outer Worlds 2. A game I'm just about to wrap up at 50 hours.
- [03:39]
Sam Claiborne
I didn't know you got that far in that game.
- [03:41]
Damon Hadfield
I'm past the point of no return. I'm on the last sort of like final stretch. This was a slow burn. It really grew on me. It's like Outer worlds one, but it's so much bigger. It feels epic. It's like, you know, 20 hours. It felt like it could have wrapped up, but then it just launches off in this whole other story arc. It's all good. I'll describe one of my favorite missions in the game. So if you don't want to know about a mission that's about midway through the game, feel free to skip ahead. But in this one, you have to get to this supercomputer to analyze this data that you have. But the supercomputer is in a facility that's guarded by enemies of the Protectorate faction. And so you can call in another faction the order to help you clear out the base. But in return, they Want you to let them take control of the supercomputer when you're done with it. So I was like, whatever, that's fine. But then the supercomputer, when you get there, it sends you on this long quest all over this ice planet for stuff that it wants first. And you talk with the computer a lot. And by the end of the quest, I kind of liked the computer. It's an AI. And then it start, it started asking me like, what should we do next? What should we work on in the future? How can we collaborate? So when I walked out and the order was there and they wanted to take control of the computer, I was like, actually no, I think I'll keep the computer for myself. So I became their sworn enemy of the faction. They all attacked me. I had to kill everyone that helped me clear out the facility.
- [04:58]
Sam Claiborne
Oh my God.
- [04:59]
Damon Hadfield
And now I'm an enemy to that faction. If they ever see me, they're just going to attack me on site. So. Oh, he's my friend now.
- [05:08]
Justin Davis
Yeah, nice.
- [05:10]
Damon Hadfield
No, it's a giant supercomputer, but I can go visit him and there's some other side quests I can do with him. The game even warns you. The game warns you when this happens. It says you're an enemy of this faction now. They will attack you on site. You may want to reload a previous save or just enjoy the chaos. So I'm just enjoying the chaos.
- [05:24]
Justin Davis
Nice.
- [05:24]
Nick
Wow, that's awesome.
- [05:26]
Damon Hadfield
Also, I think the gunplay feels and sounds great. I don't play a lot of first person shooters, but to me they really put a lot of work into that and it shows.
- [05:33]
Sam Claiborne
It almost feels like a correction to Starfield.
- [05:36]
Damon Hadfield
I mean, yeah, God, it's, it's a much, much better game than Starfield.
- [05:40]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah. And how do you think it compared to Avowed, which I loved.
- [05:43]
Damon Hadfield
I liked about quite a bit, but I never finished. I just. Something else came along, probably Assassin's Creed or something and I bounced off about and never went back to it, but I did, I liked it.
- [05:53]
Sam Claiborne
What an endorsement. Made the top five damies crazy.
- [05:55]
Damon Hadfield
Top five. Moving right along. Coming in at number four is Ghost of Yote. This is a game I, you know, I, I was really, really hot on. I, I think I lost a little bit of steam on it right at the end. But it's probably tied with Assassin's Creed Shadows for the best looking game of the year. For me, I think combat in this game feels so good. I wish the side quest had more meaningful rewards. It's usually Just, oh, I got a different color hilt for my katana. Like, those are the worst rewards. Yeah, I don't care about that. But I think the bounty hunter missions are great and they. It's some of the best stuff in the game. I could just spend a whole evening just doing bounty hunter missions. There's usually a bit of a puzzle in finding them. They all have their own dialogue and the. Your bounties have their own backstories. That stuff is great.
- [06:38]
Sam Claiborne
I like the deceptive ones where they're like trying to be somebody else or they're helping you for a while. Then you're like, you're the person I'm looking for. Right. And they're like, yeah, let's.
- [06:47]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [06:48]
Nick
There is also like just really cool one off story mission or unrelated story missions that I really dig. Like there's a whole horror like J Horror, like ancient, like ghost mystery, like Qui Dawn. Very evocative of like some really cool Japanese horror cinema. Really fun stuff.
- [07:07]
Damon Hadfield
Surprisingly, bears play a surprisingly big role in this game. Both on submissions and also just roaming the countryside. You encounter a lot of bears.
- [07:13]
Nick
They're great at throwing you around.
- [07:15]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, you know, I like the just sort of like the way the campaign is built. You have a kill list and you. I like how you can basically take them in any order that you want to, but there is too much walking and talking. And that's a critique of PlayStation Studio games in general. You know, it's a big open world game, a sandbox. I want to be free to just play the game. But every time you want to do a story mission and the camera zooms in and the letterbox comes in, it's like, oh, okay, now all I can do is hold forward on the left stick.
- [07:42]
Sam Claiborne
You tell you the story of my people.
- [07:45]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, they got. They need to figure out a different way to deliver information than taking agency away from the player. But Ghost of Yote, very good.
- [07:54]
Sam Claiborne
Best hot springs in a video game this year. Better than Assassin's Creed Hot Springs.
- [07:58]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, I don't even remember the hot Springs in Shadows.
- [08:01]
Sam Claiborne
They were quite lovely.
- [08:04]
Damon Hadfield
Look how good this game looks. Okay, my top three, coming at number three is Shinobi Art of Vengeance.
- [08:10]
Gilbert
Cool.
- [08:10]
Justin Davis
Wow.
- [08:11]
Damon Hadfield
The top three, here's a ninja game with no walk and talks. It is the 13th shinobi game, but it is not an unlucky number. It reimagines Shinobi from a straightforward arcade action game into a hand drawn collection of mini Metroidvanias. So it's level based, but each level is kind of a mini Metroidvania developer Lizardcube did for Shinobi what they previously did for Streets of Rage 4. Adapts an old sort of arcade brawler and completely blows it up. Adds a bunch of modern features. It's a beautiful game. All the hand drawn artwork is really amazing to look at. Lots of each level kind of has its own set piece that's really nice. It's built for replayability. You can revisit levels. It'll tell you what secrets you haven't gotten yet, and as you proceed you'll find new traversal techniques so you can go back to the previous level, access new areas you hadn't before. It also has Shinobi executions, which is like I don't remember which splinter cell it was that added the point where you can tag enemies and then execute them like three at three at a time instantly. You can do that in Shinobi arteventions as well.
- [09:13]
Sam Claiborne
Conviction Walk and talk emphasis. It's a hop and chop.
- [09:19]
Damon Hadfield
Hop and chop. I would much rather hop and chop than walk and talk. AG1 is the daily health drink that combines your multivitamin free and probiotics, superfoods and antioxidants into one simple green scoop. It's one of the easiest things you can do to support your body every day, and this time of year, it's more important than ever to be proactive about supporting your immune health. Whether you're traveling over the holidays or going to large family gatherings, you'll feel more confident knowing you're giving your immune system the daily support it needs. AG1's got you covered with antioxidants, probiotics, and functional mushrooms that support immune resilience. Isn't that right Max? AG1 sent me some samples to try out, which I've been taking every day in lieu of my usual fistful of multivitamins that smell like a pet store. This is an infinitely preferable way of making sure I'm getting all the nutrients and gut stuff that I need. And AG1's got tropical berry and citrus.
- [10:06]
Sam Claiborne
Flavors which taste great mixed with water.
- [10:08]
Damon Hadfield
But you can also mix them with juice or throw them in a smoothie if you're feeling frisky. Thanks Max. AG1 has their best offer ever. If you head to drink ag1.com Gamescoop you'll get the welcome kit, a morning person hat, a bottle of vitamin D3 and K2, an AG1 flavor sampler, and you'll get to try their new sleep supplement AGZ for free. That's drink ag1.com Gamescoop for $126 in free gifts for new subscribers. If your cat could write a letter to Santa, Pretty Litter would be at the top of their list. They've been good all year long and they deserve a fresher, cleaner litter box this season. Give your cat the gift of comfort and yourself the gift of easy cleanup, odor control, and peace of mind. Pretty Litter is soft in their paws, easy to maintain, and it even helps you keep an eye on their health. It's like wrapping up care, comfort and convenience in one box. Pretty Litter ships free right to my door, so there are no heavy bags to carry and no last minute pet store runs. It's formulated with silica gel crystals that are safe for cats and people alike. Advanced odor control means your home smells like home, not a litter box. The ultra absorbent formula uses less material than clay litter, reducing waste and saving money. I like Pretty Litter a lot and I think you will too. It's really the best at eliminating litter box odors right now. Try your first bag for just $14.99 and get a free cat toy at prettylitter.com Gamescoop that's prettylitter.com Gamescooop to get your first bag for just $14.99. Prettylitter.com Gamescoop Pretty Litter cannot detect every feline health issue or prevent or diagnose diseases. A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian. Terms and conditions apply. Seaside for details. Coming in at number two is Donkey Kong Bonanza. Very, very close to the perfection that is Mario Odyssey. If Mario Odyssey's here, it's like Don Kong Bonanza.
- [11:52]
Sam Claiborne
It's like right there.
- [11:53]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, I like, I like, I like Donkey Kong's redesign a lot. I know some, maybe some original Donkey Kong country fans weren't a fan of it, but I think it looks great. You know, it's all about destroying the environments and all that. Feels really good. Super fun, satisfying. I like how, you know, you can just pick up the environment and maybe it's a means of traversal. Maybe it's a, maybe it's a weapon. Now the environment can be your weapon or your transportation. I also think this game has the best map of the year. Yeah, the maps look like really cool. It's gorgeous dioramas. Like, I want like a 3D print of just the maps in this totally good map game.
- [12:27]
Justin Davis
It's, I mean, the Nintendo, the Tokyo team just keeps going from strength to strength. They're getting very better. Like, this is a, this is a platformer. That has, you know, best of breed platforming and it has. It's doing really, really interesting stuff from like a terrain deformation standpoint. But like even just the puzzles, like the puzzles in this non puzzle game are better than the puzzles in many puzzle games. Like, it's just unbelievable what they accomplished.
- [12:50]
Sam Claiborne
And they don.
- [12:52]
Nick
Yes. And that's the best part. And I think one of my favorite things about this game like Odyssey is the movement. There's just this effortlessness that you don't need to master everything that Donkey Kong can do. But if you're a sicko like me, you can just really do insane things that get you to parts of the map that you shouldn't be able to access early. And the game does not punish you for it. It basically is like, great, good job, dude. Here's a bunch of coins or gold.
- [13:17]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I do think. I mean, I didn't. I didn't make a top five games of the year. If I did, Donkey Kong would definitely be on it would probably be top three. I do think this game is incredibly ugly. I don't. And I don't. I don't think that on a technical level. I just. Just the art palette and just the level design, it's just. It just is deeply unappealing to me. But I was able to get over it. As I said, I absolutely love the experience overall. But even just watching back this footage, I'm just not vibing with it at all. Just on a visual level, I wouldn't.
- [13:48]
Damon Hadfield
Call it ugly, but I do know what you mean. Maybe gaudy is a word I would use. It's a just.
- [13:54]
Justin Davis
It's.
- [13:54]
Damon Hadfield
It's an interesting color palette.
- [13:55]
Nick
You're right. It is a Game of the Year candidate. You're right.
- [14:00]
Sam Claiborne
I was explaining to somebody at work why this got nominated for music awards.
- [14:06]
Damon Hadfield
Oh, the music's great, but I'm like.
- [14:08]
Sam Claiborne
Oh, it's because of the transform music. That's what people like. Oh, I completely forgot about that. And a lot of the game has that type of, you know, a lot of them is music themed. Right. There's like these DJs in every level. And you do that cute little Yakuza dance things. That's really good. And so I would call this genre a Jig and Dig.
- [14:29]
Justin Davis
Jig and Dig. I wish the game awards. I wish the song they played there would have been the zebra song. That would have been Zebra. Zebra. Yeah.
- [14:40]
Sam Claiborne
That's pretty funny.
- [14:42]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, it's like a. It is. It's a choice to make Pauline Donkey on sidekick. But their Relationship is really cute. Charming.
- [14:48]
Nick
Yeah.
- [14:51]
Sam Claiborne
The timeline, y'. All.
- [14:52]
Damon Hadfield
Yep.
- [14:53]
Sam Claiborne
We're never recovering from this one.
- [14:55]
Nick
One of the hypest endings. Not quite Odyssey level ending, but very much up there. Bar for bar, I think.
- [15:01]
Justin Davis
Yep.
- [15:02]
Damon Hadfield
I agree.
- [15:02]
Sam Claiborne
Okay. So everybody was saying that originally and.
- [15:06]
Damon Hadfield
Oh no, he froze. We lost Sam again.
- [15:11]
Nick
He was about to unveil his undying love and passion for Donkey Kong bananas.
- [15:14]
Sam Claiborne
I think so.
- [15:15]
Damon Hadfield
I think he was gonna say he was wrong all along. He's just, just like Scrooge. He's seen the error in his ways.
- [15:21]
Sam Claiborne
I'm sorry. I'm using the benefits of Starlink at this location and I think it goes out every 15 minutes. What is the ending that you all love? There's a couple different endings, so I.
- [15:34]
Justin Davis
Just, I don't, I'm not gonna spoil it.
- [15:35]
Sam Claiborne
We should it.
- [15:36]
Damon Hadfield
Well, so let's just say if we're going to talk about the ending for a moment, people. If anyone wants to skip ahead, go ahead.
- [15:42]
Sam Claiborne
I'm just curious because, like there was a couple different ones and I don't know which one people were glomming on.
- [15:46]
Justin Davis
To because none of them are we talking about it. If we're talking about it. It's like the build up and eventual reveal of K Rool is incredible. And then the execution of the box boss fight is like. Although it is, it's like, you know, it's 10 times harder than anything else in the game.
- [16:02]
Nick
So yeah, Boss Rush.
- [16:04]
Justin Davis
I, I.
- [16:04]
Nick
It's also really cool, like him seeing him take away. It's not it. I forget is this new Donk City that.
- [16:10]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [16:10]
Justin Davis
And you go back to New don't. Like all of it is like 10 out of 10 stuff.
- [16:16]
Nick
It's like the reverse King Kong where he goes instead of going to New York to be the bad guy, he's like, oh, he gets to save New York this time. And it's from King K Roll with a very fun and really interesting set piece. And again, you know, King K rules gonna be showing up at the end. By the time you get to this point in the game. You're like, I, I've been reading the lore. I've been reading these little, these little tombstone things. And I'm like, okay, I see what you're doing.
- [16:37]
Justin Davis
All the writing with Cranky Kong works if he's talking about K Rule or if he's talking about the, the misdirect, you know, boss. And then you pull like his big golden belly in the ground. Like all that stuff's great.
- [16:50]
Nick
And I'm not going to be. I'm going to be a little bit controversial here. I don't know that it should have cost DLC money, but Emerald Rush is so much fun to play. I don't know if it's. It was what, 9.99 or 19.99. But regardless it was 1999.
- [17:04]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, I think it's 20. It.
- [17:06]
Nick
It is such a fun way of like re approaching this game from a roguelite experience and I think it's so clever and I really hope that we see more stuff like that from like the next Mario. Maybe don't charge money for it but.
- [17:18]
Sam Claiborne
Man, I think it's the best part of the game. I think it's really worth revisit if you, if you can spin those books. If you get a gift certificate for Nintendo points and want to spend it on something, it's great.
- [17:29]
Nick
And treat yourself and it's great.
- [17:31]
Sam Claiborne
The Donkey Kong island is really, really.
- [17:32]
Nick
Cool hearing like that DK theme too. And when you're in the side scrolling levels, when you hear the Donkey Kong country theme like reimagined in this game. Oh, it's delightful. Grant Kirk Cope. Like they did him justice.
- [17:44]
Damon Hadfield
I think Donkey on Bonanza. Great, great, incredible game. Okay, time for my number one game of the year. Anyone know what I'm gonna say?
- [17:54]
Sam Claiborne
Balachro.
- [17:55]
Nick
That was Ninja Gaiden Ragebound.
- [17:59]
Damon Hadfield
No, Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound is going to win an award later in the show. My number one game of 2025 is Monster Train 2, which is so good. And it's a little frustrating to me that I don't think anyone else has played this game. Even though Justin likes Monster Train 1 and this is totally this type of game. But he refuses to play Monster Train 2. It's on game pass.
- [18:19]
Nick
Is it good news. I've been waiting for a sale on this bad boy and it's finally 1999 on Steam. So papa's about to eat real good.
- [18:27]
Justin Davis
I didn't know it was a game pass game. Not that I mean, whatever. Like games are worthy of the 20, 30, $70 that we pay for them but you know. Yeah, I'll, I'll check it out.
- [18:36]
Damon Hadfield
This game is so good. It's a roguelike, it's a Rog Light deck builder. It's actually Rog Light deck builder perfection to me. The, the first game, you're. You're the denizens of hell and you have a train, a monster train. And you're battling the denizens of, of heaven in this game. Oh, they have to they have to collaborate. Whatever the story doesn't matter. They have to collaborate now because now there's these other Titans that are even worse. So that's what's going on. So in this game, you go on runs in your train. You pick two classes, and you pick a hero unit who has some special abilities. Each class has their own deck of cards. You mix the two decks together and then at each stop along your way or run, you fight waves of enemies and a boss. Your cards are your characters, spells and equipment. Your train has three levels and you can. You pick where you play your characters and then during each wave, the characters just smash into each other and you know, they fight. Each one has hit points. So hopefully you. You don't lose your characters. Hopefully you're killing the enemy characters, but it doesn't matter if your characters die. All you really need to do is keep the enemy from reaching your train's heart at the top of the train. So the fun comes from combining different classes and finding synergies between decks. Like any good Roguelite, it is possible if you are smart with your card draws and luck is on your side, you can just become totally op. Maybe one out of every 20 runs. You'll just totally op. Smash through the enemies, no problem. But like Balatro, you can't rely too much on one strategy. You have to have a contingency. Because Sam, you know, event like if. If you're playing, let's say you're. You're doing a. A streets run on Blacho, well then you. You're eventually going to hit the. The boss line. That's like you can't play more a hand. A hand more than once.
- [20:12]
Sam Claiborne
Thanks for trying to relate to me on card games. Really appreciate it.
- [20:17]
Damon Hadfield
So. And also, not only did they make an entire sequel here, a whole new game with new classes, new cards and bosses, they also put the entirety of Monster Train 1 in the game too. It's both games together. You can combine decks from both games.
- [20:31]
Justin Davis
Oh, that's what I. That's the. Like I haven't played two yet, but that's what I know everybody like that's the sort of oh, oh crap moment in Monster Train 2 is that it has this Smash Brothers ultimate sort of everyone is here thing of like, you know, they just. From a game design and balance standpoint of just piling all the new stuff in with the old stuff and you can remix it and combine it all in really interesting ways is this.
- [20:58]
Sam Claiborne
I've.
- [20:58]
Justin Davis
I've seen it getting a lot of praise from you know, from Roguelite Sickos for that.
- [21:03]
Nick
Is this game more difficult than the first one? Because I found the first one to be a little too easy.
- [21:10]
Damon Hadfield
I'd say it's on par. However, like Balatro, as you beat it, as you beat runs, you unlock higher difficulties.
- [21:17]
Nick
Okay, okay.
- [21:18]
Damon Hadfield
There are 10 difficulty levels. I am on 10. I'm on the final difficulty tier. And when I eventually beat that, then I feel like I'll be done with Monster Train 2. But I've been. I've been playing level 10. I've been trying this for weeks now.
- [21:31]
Nick
I'm buy this as soon as we're done. This looks great. You know, in video game form is the best way to play this because I don't want to spend all that time setting up the board game, man. I played, I played the Slay the Spire board game. Very, very fun. But oh my gosh, it takes forever to set up and then you got to put it away. It's like, well, we got to save our game and then put it away. Video games. Take all that out. This is great. I couldn't imagine having to play a train. Three floors of a train in a board game. Like, this is great. Do all the, do all the, like, easy stuff like that I don't want to do for me, please.
- [22:02]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, it's great.
- [22:04]
Sam Claiborne
What do you think? Train and maim.
- [22:06]
Damon Hadfield
Train and maim. That works.
- [22:09]
Nick
That works.
- [22:11]
Damon Hadfield
Monster Train 2. 11 out of 10. Off the charts. Off the charts for me.
- [22:27]
Gilbert
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies just to see if you could save some cash? While Progressive makes it easy, just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money. When you bundle your home and auto policies, the process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. What if I told you that 2026 is the year you launch your business? Maybe you've got an idea you just can't shake. Or that hobby that everyone in your life is telling you to sell. Taking that first step and finally taking action can feel impossible. But with Shopify, all you need to turn your dreams into your new future is at your fingertips. Make 2026 the year you transform into the entrepreneur, founder and boss you were meant to be. And the one powerful move to make it all happen is starting your business with Shopify. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person, giving you all the tools to easily build your dream store. Choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand and you can set up quickly with Shopify's built in AI tools that will help you write product descriptions and headlines as well as edit product photos. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household names like Gymshark and Mattel to first time business owners just getting started. Marketing is built in too. You can create email and social campaigns within Shopify to reach customers wherever they are. And as you grow, Shopify grows with you. The same dashboard that you start with will evolve as your business does to handle more orders and expand to new markets. In 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com realm. Go to shopify.com realm. That's shopify.com realm. Hear your first this new year with Shopify by your side.
- [24:43]
Damon Hadfield
That's mine. I want to hear your. Your games of the year. If you.
- [24:47]
Justin Davis
I didn't. I didn't know I was going to be asked. You didn't ask for that.
- [24:50]
Damon Hadfield
This is the dangers, okay?
- [24:51]
Sam Claiborne
Off the dome.
- [24:52]
Nick
Off the dome, dude. This is how you know it's real.
- [24:55]
Sam Claiborne
What?
- [24:55]
Nick
Okay, Nick, I'll start off number five. I'm gonna go Donkey Kong Bonanza. Number four, Ninja Gaiden, Rage Bound. Number three. I'm gonna go with. Well, let's do number one, Claire Obscure. Expedition 33. Number two. Oh, shoot. What else came out this year? Name a video game.
- [25:14]
Damon Hadfield
It could have been Ghost or Doom the Dark Ages. Or Silksong.
- [25:21]
Nick
We'll throw Silksong at number three. And two, we'll put Doom the Dark Ages. Yeah, there you go.
- [25:26]
Sam Claiborne
Did you like Hades?
- [25:28]
Nick
You know, I liked it a lot, but I liked it significantly less than the first one.
- [25:34]
Justin Davis
Gosh, I can't. I cannot do what you just did. I very much fall into. Look, this is my primary hobby. It's a thing that I spend every single night doing and thinking about. But if the way that my brain works, if someone says, justin, name a video game, I just can't do it, My mind goes completely blank.
- [25:53]
Nick
You gotta summon it.
- [25:55]
Justin Davis
It's got to be. I mean, Donkey Kong and Claire Obscure are the standouts for new releases this year. But I played and continue to play and enjoy a lot of kind of like old. Like I put a dozen hours into the Vampire Survivors DLC this year. I played a lot, a lot more of like I put 100 hours in a modded factorio this year. So it's like I'm very much a kind of like, you know, play what I want to play when I want to play it kind of guy. I played Kingdom Come Deliverance one and talked about it on Game School earlier this year. So those are like. Those are the most memorable standout video game moments for me this calendar year. But in terms of new releases, Donkey Kong and Claire obscure the two that are the top of my pile.
- [26:38]
Damon Hadfield
Sam, would it be Assassin's Creed Shadows for you?
- [26:42]
Sam Claiborne
No. So one surpassed that. So prime four. And I ended up. Or I'm playing it still and just try to 100 it. And I think it's really fun. I like every element of it. It's not my favorite Metroid. It's not my favorite Metroid prime, and it's not even close, but it's still, you know, a Metroid prime game is still pretty good no matter what. So I love that one. And then I have a tie for two. So this is my two and three place is going to be Assassin's Creed and Yote. I like them both a lot for different reasons. I won't go into that, but I think they're both great. And then my number one is Death Stranding 2 at the most.
- [27:16]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. Yep.
- [27:17]
Sam Claiborne
And I. I basically 100 of that game. Spent a lot of time in it. At the end, I just wanted to do more. I like everything about it. I love just connecting the world and seeing other players use my stuff. And I got in there early and was making sure I was really helpful. Had a great time.
- [27:33]
Justin Davis
Man, you just reminded me I played and loved the first six or eight hours of Death Stranding one. Oh, yeah. And then I was in London and Germany for like two weeks. And then I came back and just couldn't, you know, like, it's just that moment of just like, what? Like, where am I? And what was I doing?
- [27:53]
Damon Hadfield
And it's really hard to come back sometimes.
- [27:55]
Justin Davis
And like. And so I do, you know, I don't know if I'm actually going to be. I probably have to start over, which, like, then that's a whole pain. But, like, man, I was loving it. So I. I am interested in. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and watch a story recap and do two instead.
- [28:09]
Sam Claiborne
There were some smaller games that I did like. Like, I liked blueprints. And there was, you know, there's something that I'm missing that's just sitting on my Steam deck, which I wish I was shouting out right now, but, oh, man.
- [28:19]
Justin Davis
Ball Pit.
- [28:22]
Damon Hadfield
I've spent a lot of time with Ball Pit. I'm not. Not in my top five, but I like Ball Pit.
- [28:26]
Justin Davis
I'm looking at my. I'm looking at my Steam stats now to be like, oh, what else did I play? This.
- [28:29]
Nick
I'd like to swap Doom the Dark Ages with blueprints. There you go. Now my list is done.
- [28:36]
Damon Hadfield
I think runs take a little too long in Ball Pit, and I like the in between, like, the farming stuff. I'd rather do that a little bit more, have shorter runs and do the farming a little more.
- [28:44]
Justin Davis
I think the runs can be. I don't know what unlocks it or when, but I. I play everything on, like, double speed. Like, there's a. There's a fast mode, maybe.
- [28:52]
Damon Hadfield
Is that just in the settings?
- [28:54]
Justin Davis
I don't have to look. No, it's a. It's an unlockable. I. I don't quite remember what triggers it, but, like, yeah, you don't have to play it on the normal speed very much.
- [29:04]
Damon Hadfield
All right now, time for some more awards. Here we go. We're still sticking with games here. So the.
- [29:10]
Justin Davis
The.
- [29:11]
Damon Hadfield
Hey, this actually turned out pretty great. Award goes to Avowed, which is like, I just had no hype for that game before release and we talked about it. Didn't seem to have. It looks generic, didn't seem to have a personality. It really bugged me that no one had a British accent. But, no, the game is. Is really, really fun. It's right up there with, you know. You know, it's like. It's like a. It's like a Skyrim. Like, I think it's very close to Skyrim quality.
- [29:33]
Justin Davis
I don't know how Obsidian did what they did this year.
- [29:35]
Damon Hadfield
I know.
- [29:36]
Nick
I think that it. This is like, I think, for me, better than Outer Worlds one, which I cannot wait to see what a Vow two is. And hopefully that'll push it past Outer Worlds too. You know, like, just the baseline is a little stronger for me on this one.
- [29:51]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. The. I really like this when I played it for preview, but never got around to playing the final version. Award goes to Ninja Gaiden Rage Bound. But since it's in. Since it's in Nick's top five, I guess I really got to make. Make time for it.
- [30:02]
Nick
Dude. I. 100% of this game. It is so fun. The art is gorgeous, it's challenging, and it's just. Just a. Such a fun and good feeling game. Like, it takes everything that you expect about how good Ninja gaiden feels in 3D. And just like, yeah, we just did that in 2D. It's from the blasphemous folks, I believe, and just some really fun hardcore platforming and action. Cool stuff. Love the designs in this game. And I do love the. The opening boss fight. Spoilers for the opening, like, tutorial boss. But the tutorial boss is Ryu and he's borderline impossible. And it's so sick.
- [30:38]
Damon Hadfield
Are you.
- [30:39]
Nick
Games make you fight. You. I think you're supposed to lose, but I do think that there is an achievement for beating him.
- [30:44]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah, I love that.
- [30:45]
Justin Davis
Love it.
- [30:45]
Damon Hadfield
I mean, even before that, the prologue is so cool because you play as Ryu's father in the moments that lead up to the opening cutscene from the original Ninja Gaiden on nes. Very smart. Yeah, it's so cool.
- [30:56]
Nick
Beautiful game.
- [30:57]
Damon Hadfield
I'll play this. And Nick, you play shinobi if you haven't played that one yet.
- [31:00]
Sam Claiborne
So that's my. That's like a good pitch for how to save Metroid is like, don't use Samus. Don't make Samus silent. Use some, like, cool character that leads up to the point where Samus, like, you know, first starts a mission. That's the end of your game. Like, come on, we got to fix. We got to fix Metroid, everybody.
- [31:17]
Damon Hadfield
Samus has gone missing and her daughter is searching for her.
- [31:22]
Nick
Miles McKenzie is back and he's there to rescue Samus.
- [31:29]
Sam Claiborne
Oh, Samus is not a name I've heard in a long time. Let me tell you about her.
- [31:33]
Damon Hadfield
For two hours, the most questionable cooperative game to play with a five year old award goes to Split Fiction. Great game. It's fun. It's not that bad, but there's some comical violence and some, like, swear words. I think they use the S word in there one time, but I don't think Kingo even noticed. He doesn't know that word.
- [31:51]
Justin Davis
I think there's a lot of S words in that game, if I remember right.
- [31:54]
Damon Hadfield
Well, I did turn the language to Japanese, which is really. It makes it really fun to play.
- [31:59]
Sam Claiborne
That's really cool.
- [32:00]
Nick
That's a clever workaround. I like that. That's smart.
- [32:04]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [32:05]
Justin Davis
Okay.
- [32:05]
Sam Claiborne
This is a hit in my house too. Just a really great game all around.
- [32:09]
Justin Davis
Yeah, Split Fiction. I see. This is why I don't. I can't do off the Dump. Because, like, yeah, this is absolutely one of my top five games of the. And in the IGN meetings where you're discussing our official awards, I was really advocating for Split Fiction. I am convinced a lot of people that don't rate it more highly didn't finish it. Didn't finish it because just the stuff that it's doing in the back quarter of that game are just absolutely incredible.
- [32:37]
Nick
Yeah, the mechanics, the mechanics the game introduces in the last two worlds. I was like, I would play an entire game of just these two mechanics alone and you could see the last levels like, oh, this is why this game was concepted of like this is. This is why this game exists. Is that last level is incredibly good.
- [32:58]
Justin Davis
That's exactly. That's exactly right. And I played it with my 11 year old and it was a good family bonding time.
- [33:04]
Damon Hadfield
Same. This came out earlier this year, like February or something. And Kingo still talks about it. He's like, daddy, remember when we were hot dogs and then we were the pigs that farted?
- [33:12]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [33:13]
Nick
See, as he gets a little older, you can get him to play a way out with you and then you can play that.
- [33:19]
Damon Hadfield
We started that, but it didn't. Didn't grab. Like this one.
- [33:22]
Nick
Yeah.
- [33:23]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah. I don't like the other games as much as this one.
- [33:25]
Justin Davis
Same.
- [33:26]
Nick
Oh, I like the previous one way better. It takes two. I think it takes you as bar for bar a better game.
- [33:31]
Justin Davis
No.
- [33:32]
Nick
Yeah. I think it's only the last two levels, the last two worlds of this game that are good. The rest is kind of boring, but clever.
- [33:40]
Damon Hadfield
Did Sam gone?
- [33:44]
Nick
I'm feeling a little intimidated by this rage.
- [33:47]
Damon Hadfield
This is no longer a bug. This is a feature of the episode.
- [33:51]
Justin Davis
He's back.
- [33:52]
Sam Claiborne
Country 11.
- [33:53]
Nick
I'm so sorry, Sam, please.
- [33:56]
Damon Hadfield
Okay, moving on. See, Justin, you can come up in the top five, but then you can also just make up awards for any other game that you want to mention. The densest foliage award goes to Assassin's Creed Shadows, which. Oh, my God, if you go off the path there, you're going to end up in the bushes and the weeds and you just can't see anything in front of you.
- [34:13]
Justin Davis
It is very dense foliage.
- [34:15]
Sam Claiborne
Unlike Yotei, you can get to the top of the mountains in this game if you want to go in whatever direction you want, which I tremendously respect in a video game.
- [34:22]
Damon Hadfield
I've actually been thinking about going. I haven't played this since, you know, March probably, but I've been thinking about maybe trying to pick this up again. But maybe I'll run into the same problem that Justin did and I'll just be like, okay, what? How do I do anything? How do I assassinate?
- [34:33]
Sam Claiborne
But you can turn it to winter and enjoy a completely different game. And how cool is that? This game has every season in it. I mean, that is a remarkable feat of game.
- [34:41]
Justin Davis
Yes.
- [34:42]
Damon Hadfield
We should also mention that it. It allows you to turn on instant kills assassinations, which is the way I think the game should be anyway. I'm just. I love that they add. They just let you do that if you want to. Makes the game much more fun for me.
- [34:55]
Nick
Smart.
- [34:56]
Damon Hadfield
Because if you sneak up behind someone and stab them in the neck, they're not going to just lose half their health.
- [35:01]
Sam Claiborne
Right.
- [35:02]
Nick
That's what happens to me, though. So don't try it.
- [35:04]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. All right. Okay. The. This is all really weird, but I'm not mad about it award goes to Death Stranding 2. Yeah, that's.
- [35:16]
Sam Claiborne
That's just the box quote for that game, basically.
- [35:19]
Damon Hadfield
Feel free for the director's cut. Kojima, feel free to use that box quote from me. The most disappointing game that is still pretty great award goes to Mario Kart World.
- [35:31]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I agree with that.
- [35:32]
Sam Claiborne
Good assessment.
- [35:33]
Damon Hadfield
It's just, you know, as a follow. As a follow up to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and as the first open world Mario Kart game where that was touted as a big feature, I think it's a failure on both of those levels. And yet it's still Mario Kart. It's still great, still super fun to play. And I love the, whatever the battle royale mode is called.
- [35:49]
Nick
I forget knockout.
- [35:51]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, the knockout mode is super fun.
- [35:53]
Sam Claiborne
This game is foundationally there. It could be a great game. You could, you could just add a bunch of open world shit. That's so fun in this. They just didn't do it.
- [36:01]
Justin Davis
I mean, they might like, look like Mario Kart 8 became, you know, Nintendo's first game as a service. Almost like they, you know, they updated it for years and years and years and added 50 plus new courses to it. So it's like maybe world's going to be, you know, around for the lifespan of the switch too. Who knows? I mean, I know they've been patching it. They didn't. Did they patch in a map for the open world yet where you can see where the P switches are?
- [36:25]
Damon Hadfield
I don't think so. Not that I've heard.
- [36:29]
Justin Davis
I talked about it when the game was new, so I don't necessarily need to re litigate the whole thing, but it just. I cannot fathom that they put 500p switches in this game. And no, like this region has 18 and you found 16 of them or put them on a map or let you buy A map, like, it completely kills it for me personally.
- [36:50]
Sam Claiborne
I mean, it completely killed it for our dang guides team. It was one of the hardest games ever to cover. Like, the open world map is just not. It's just a drawing. And it's just impossible to get this game completed. You know, we did it eventually, but, boy. And there's, like, 1200 stickers, right.
- [37:07]
Nick
I'm praying that this game has a Cyberpunk 2.0 moment.
- [37:10]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [37:11]
Nick
Where they just, like, you know what? We. We injected a full story mode into the open world. Everybody have fun. I'm not holding my breath for it, but, man, that'd be really nice. That'd be really sick. Nintendo. Oh, no. I'm sorry, Sam.
- [37:28]
Damon Hadfield
It's gonna be fun editing this episode.
- [37:31]
Nick
There, he's back.
- [37:37]
Damon Hadfield
Kraft Mac and Cheese is the best thing ever. It's even better than pop music. You look just as natural enjoying us at age 13 as you do 55. Kraft Mac and Cheese. Best thing ever. This episode is brought to you by Casamigos Tequila.
- [37:56]
Justin Davis
What do you bring to a holiday party? Simple. A bottle of Casamigos. Because nothing gets the party started like a Casamigos margarita, which isn't just for summer. In fact, it's the perfect pour all year round.
- [38:09]
Damon Hadfield
Casamigos is the gift that always feels right.
- [38:12]
Justin Davis
Because anything goes with my Casamigos. Please drink responsibly. Imported by Casamigos Spirits Company, White Plains, New York.
- [38:19]
Damon Hadfield
Casamigos Tequila.
- [38:20]
Justin Davis
40 alcohol by volume.
- [38:23]
Damon Hadfield
Okay, the I really wish I didn't spend $40 on this award goes to everybody's Golf Hot Shots.
- [38:30]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [38:30]
Damon Hadfield
That was a big bummer. I love video game golf. I love Hotshots golf. I love Mario Golf. It just feels like. It feels like. I mean, it is 40, but it feels budget. It feels really cheap. It's ugly. It doesn't have any personality. It's generic and has really annoying voiceovers in it, too.
- [38:48]
Justin Davis
Yeah, and. And what a. What a miss. Like, Hot shots. Golf's whole thing is that, you know, it's personality and it's. And it's silly and it's over the top. And so if you remove all the elements that are over the top, what are you left with? Like, just a mediocre golf game.
- [39:04]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, that's what that is.
- [39:05]
Sam Claiborne
40 bucks, too.
- [39:06]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [39:07]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. Okay. The best Sega Genesis game released in 2025.
- [39:11]
Justin Davis
What?
- [39:12]
Damon Hadfield
Does everyone know what this is?
- [39:14]
Sam Claiborne
I wish it was Josh.
- [39:15]
Nick
Oh, is it Earthion? Earthion.
- [39:17]
Damon Hadfield
Earthion. Yeah, I've been pronouncing it Eartheon. This is a New Sega Genesis game, a 16 bit shmup, runs on actual Genesis hardware. But it looks like it shouldn't. It feels. Wow.
- [39:27]
Sam Claiborne
That 3D effect was crazy.
- [39:28]
Nick
Yeah, this is gorgeous.
- [39:30]
Damon Hadfield
And it's made by like the team that worked on Streets of Rage and Shadow, some of the Sonic the Hedgehog games. So it's like OG Sega Genesis Sega developers.
- [39:41]
Sam Claiborne
Amazing.
- [39:42]
Damon Hadfield
You can also play it on PS5 or PC, but everything you see happening here actually runs on a Sega Genesis.
- [39:48]
Sam Claiborne
That's incredible.
- [39:48]
Damon Hadfield
Crazy.
- [39:49]
Nick
It's incredible.
- [39:50]
Justin Davis
Yeah. Cool.
- [39:50]
Nick
The sprite works. Gorgeous. Oh my gosh.
- [39:54]
Damon Hadfield
Pseudo 3D effects, massive multi sprite bosses. The soundtrack is by Yuzo Koshiro, who did some of the flicks of rage in Sonic the Hedgehog games.
- [40:01]
Sam Claiborne
And then it's also that only the Genesis could do and it's really taking advantage of those versus like a game that has to be on Super Nintendo also.
- [40:08]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, it's so cool. There's also an audio filter to make it sound like if you're playing on your tv, you can make it sound like it's coming out of a TV in the 90s. That's the idea.
- [40:19]
Justin Davis
Does it add an audio filter where your mom's like shouting at you from downstairs? You gotta turn that off. You're gonna be late for your band concert. You're like, no, mom, I've never made it this far. But for I can't save in the middle.
- [40:31]
Sam Claiborne
Genesis was a mono channel output too. So, you know, that's probably part of it is that they probably maybe released it in stereo. I don't know. But like the mono mix is how it's supposed to sound.
- [40:43]
Nick
Adding to the Steam wish list.
- [40:45]
Damon Hadfield
Now it's a really good time. Okay, those are the. Those are my gaming awards. Let's give out some movie awards. The best time I had with my kids at the theater this year was for Dogman, which is a DreamWorks movie. This movie is. It's fantastic. But my recommendation comes with a giant asterisk in that if you haven't read the books, you're going to be like, what the hell is this? But if you read the books and you know the characters and the jokes, it's a really good time.
- [41:13]
Nick
If I'm not mistaken, isn't he a cop who was like killed in the line of duty and then he gets brought back to life as a dog man.
- [41:20]
Justin Davis
A bomb goes off and it's a dog's head put onto the cop.
- [41:24]
Nick
That's kind of dark.
- [41:25]
Damon Hadfield
No, it's great. It's like the doctor the doctor's like, oh, no, cop. Your.
- [41:29]
Sam Claiborne
Your.
- [41:30]
Damon Hadfield
Your body. Your head is dying.
- [41:32]
Justin Davis
Oh, no, dog.
- [41:32]
Damon Hadfield
Your body is dying. And the nurse is like, I got an idea. Yeah, that's great.
- [41:37]
Nick
They need to be tried for malpractice. That's horrific.
- [41:41]
Justin Davis
Yeah, we. My kids outgrew the books, you know, over the course of the last year or so, but they were very beloved when they were a couple of years younger.
- [41:50]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, it is. It's usually a pet peeve of mine when a movie is made for people who know the books, the source material, and ignores people who haven't. But in this case, I know the source material, so works okay for me.
- [42:03]
Sam Claiborne
This is available on the flight I'm taking. Coming up. Should I watch it?
- [42:07]
Damon Hadfield
I don't know that I would recommend you watch it, Sam, but I had a great time. Also, shout out to Lyne. There's a giant. The fish is a bad guy. The bad guy's a fish played by Ricky Gervais. And at the very end that, one of our main characters gets in a giant mech suit and has delivers the line, get away from him, you fish. Which I laughed. I think I laughed louder than anyone else in the theater.
- [42:33]
Justin Davis
Yeah, that's great.
- [42:36]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. The best movie I don't think anyone else saw is Black Bag.
- [42:40]
Nick
I love Black Bag.
- [42:42]
Damon Hadfield
So you both saw that. Okay, that's great. It's not a movie that we talked about this year.
- [42:45]
Sam Claiborne
Spy movie.
- [42:46]
Damon Hadfield
It's kind of a subtle spy movie. Yeah. With Michael Fassbender and who plays Galadriel.
- [42:53]
Nick
Cate Blanchett.
- [42:54]
Damon Hadfield
Yes. Cate Blanchett. Yeah.
- [42:56]
Nick
It's like Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy, but not boring.
- [43:00]
Damon Hadfield
That's a great way to put it. That's a great way to put it.
- [43:03]
Sam Claiborne
Cate Blanchett also seems like pretty ageless and remarkable in this role.
- [43:06]
Justin Davis
She's just very elf like, generally very elf like.
- [43:10]
Damon Hadfield
Exactly. Okay, Best subverted callback line is on your left from Thunderbolts. Yeah, I got a kick out of that.
- [43:19]
Justin Davis
That's pretty good. Yeah, you're right. That's a good call.
- [43:23]
Damon Hadfield
This is an award that there's a lot of contention for this award every year. Best dreamlike Musical Mashup sequence. This year, I'll go to Sinners.
- [43:31]
Nick
Yeah, that part was sick. That was incredible.
- [43:35]
Damon Hadfield
The. So we're going to go these pretty fast, Gilbert. We don't need to stop and talk about each one. But the. Seriously, maybe you should just make the RAID 3 award goes to Gareth Evans, who I think is a super talented director to Raid. Raid 2. But then he's made two bad movies since then for Netflix. Havoc was this year. It's. It's tried to be like a hard boiled cop movie, but it sucks. And I don't even remember Apostle, I think, was the other one kind of a horror movie for Netflix. Anyway, they're both bad. So come on, just. Just make. Get back to it. Get back to work. Let's do the Raid three.
- [44:08]
Justin Davis
Just make the Raid three. DC Comics got me because I did a free trial of DC Infinity where you can download comics. And then I didn't cancel the free trial. So now I've paid for a month of DC Infinity. And anyway, I've been reading a lot of DC comics and there's a Batman run that's basically the Raid, but Batman, he's trapped in this building with a bunch of goons.
- [44:30]
Nick
What's it called? Do you know?
- [44:33]
Justin Davis
Oh, gosh. No, that's all right.
- [44:37]
Nick
That's all right. You can slack me later.
- [44:39]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah.
- [44:40]
Nick
Because I've been loving absolute Batman. Sorry. Sidetracked.
- [44:43]
Sam Claiborne
That's kind of like the Judge Dredd movie. That was really good.
- [44:46]
Damon Hadfield
Oh, yeah, it's exactly right. The. I forget Judge. I forget which came first, Judge Red or the Raid. But yeah, they've always been compared.
- [44:54]
Nick
I believe they released the same year.
- [44:55]
Damon Hadfield
Okay.
- [44:56]
Nick
I believe they released the same year.
- [44:57]
Sam Claiborne
Crazy.
- [44:58]
Justin Davis
It's the Raid.
- [45:00]
Damon Hadfield
Sam is also a double dragon.
- [45:02]
Sam Claiborne
Like, yeah, I've seen the Raid. My wife did not like it. And I blame you, Damon.
- [45:08]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. The best movie that also might have killed the franchise, Ballerina, which is a totally fun movie. I don't. No one saw this movie, but it's totally fun. It's kind of like Donkey Kong bonanza to Mario Odyssey. Like, John Wick is here. Ballerina is right there. It's almost as good.
- [45:25]
Nick
Man, I fell asleep during this. I'm sorry.
- [45:29]
Damon Hadfield
I had fun the whole way through. This movie also has the best kill gags of the year. Norman Reedus is in this movie. Oh, God, look at this.
- [45:36]
Justin Davis
Wow. All right. That's kind of cool, actually.
- [45:39]
Damon Hadfield
Maybe we're going to show. Maybe we're going to see the best kill gag of the year. But there's one where Norman Reedus wraps this guy in a plastic tarp, a clear plastic tarp, and then blasts him with a shotgun blast at close range. And then the blood just splatters on the inside the tarp.
- [45:53]
Nick
That's great.
- [45:54]
Damon Hadfield
But then this is the best one, I think. Sor.
- [45:56]
Justin Davis
Sorry.
- [45:56]
Damon Hadfield
For the listeners, we're actually watching the scene in the video Here. But yeah, she's got this strap with grenades on it. Just around the neck. Pull the clip and this is so good. How Nick can fall asleep in this movie, I'm not sure.
- [46:12]
Nick
It seems like I fell asleep before this stuff happened, if I'm being honest.
- [46:17]
Justin Davis
Midway through, I looked up the Batman. It's Batman dark patterns, by the way. And it's a collection of. It's three comic arcs. So he's solving four cases across 12 issues.
- [46:29]
Nick
Hell yeah. Thanks.
- [46:30]
Damon Hadfield
Pretty cool. Okay, the we need one of these guys for every 80s movie franchise award goes to Dan Trachtenberg. Yeah. Not only has he done three great Predator movies in a row, he released two this year. It's insane. Just find this guy for Terminator. Find this guy for Alien. Guy or girl.
- [46:53]
Justin Davis
Yep.
- [46:54]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. The. I was very dismissive at first, but oh my God, this movie is incredible award goes to K Pop Demon Hunters.
- [47:02]
Justin Davis
Yeah, that's great.
- [47:04]
Damon Hadfield
Great movie. Really important movie for my family now. And like we listen to the songs all the time. I use Apple Music as a music service and I have a playlist of just songs from the year and that I rank by most played. And my most played songs this year are golden, your Idol and Free, I think all from this movie. Yeah, this is a movie. I would be interested to know what Sam thought of it.
- [47:27]
Sam Claiborne
If you ever watched K Pop Demon Hunters. I haven't seen it. I will. I'll totally watch it.
- [47:32]
Damon Hadfield
So great. First of all, it's Sony and it's like the studio that did the spider verse movies. The animation is incredible.
- [47:40]
Justin Davis
It's great. That's what stands out to me about it is like, it's a kids movie, so. But. But the animation. Absolutely. And we don't need to make this a one studio versus another. But it does embarrass like Pixar a little bit of like it's the same. It's the same narrative that's been developing for a few years now with the spider verse movies of like driving the medium of animation forward and like movies that, you know, I know they are making live action K Pop Demon Hunters, but I think could really only work as an animated picture. Like make such good use of that medium for sort of what it's trying to do from a storytelling and gag standpoint. Like, I loved it.
- [48:16]
Sam Claiborne
I have just added it to my holiday watch list.
- [48:19]
Damon Hadfield
Great animation. It's, it's, it's. Even though it's a kids, there's also like well composed action scenes too. Like, you know, I love action. It's Good. It's actually good stuff. The characters are super likable. Oh, what are you gonna say, Nick?
- [48:29]
Nick
It's a kids movie that isn't just for kids. Like, it's one of those things that treats everyone who watches it like, you know, we trust you to interpret the story and get what we're going for from it, which I really appreciate. It's very evocative of early pictures.
- [48:42]
Sam Claiborne
There's going to be so many sequels to this we're going to die on. Like K Pop Demon Hunters 90.
- [48:47]
Justin Davis
Yep.
- [48:47]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, I mean, they announced a sequel for 2029, so it's a little bit of ways off, but Netflix was totally caught by surprise, did not know what they had. There was no merchandise available. When this movie came out on Halloween, everyone was wearing bootleg K Pop Demon Hunters costumes.
- [49:02]
Justin Davis
That happened. Including my daughter.
- [49:04]
Damon Hadfield
My daughter.
- [49:08]
Sam Claiborne
Well.
- [49:11]
Damon Hadfield
We keep getting these good freeze frames, though. Close your eyes, exhale.
- [49:20]
Justin Davis
Feel your body relax, and let go.
- [49:22]
Damon Hadfield
Of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry.
- [49:27]
Gilbert
That I wouldn't get my new contacts.
- [49:28]
Damon Hadfield
In time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe.
- [49:35]
Nick
Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw.
- [49:37]
Justin Davis
The discount they gave me on my first order.
- [49:40]
Damon Hadfield
Oh, sorry. Namaste.
- [49:42]
Gilbert
Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.
- [49:46]
Nick
1-800-Contacts.
- [49:48]
Justin Davis
This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast. Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move.
- [49:58]
Gilbert
Having State Farm help you create a.
- [50:00]
Justin Davis
Competitive price when you choose to bundle.
- [50:02]
Gilbert
Home and auto bundling.
- [50:04]
Justin Davis
Just another way to save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility vary by state.
- [50:18]
Damon Hadfield
Finally, two movies I wanted to call out that I didn't have dumb awards for. One Battle After Another and Weapons, One Battle After Another, I'd probably say is the best movie I saw this year. And Weapons is probably my favorite that. So.
- [50:31]
Justin Davis
Wait a second.
- [50:33]
Damon Hadfield
Best and favorite can be different, right?
- [50:35]
Justin Davis
Okay, I just. Can you unpack that for me briefly?
- [50:39]
Damon Hadfield
If I say, like, what is the movie that's like, you know, the best made movie?
- [50:43]
Justin Davis
Sure.
- [50:45]
Damon Hadfield
I would say One better after another, but Weapons, you know, so like, they're both very tense movies. One Battle is more of like a thriller action, and Weapons is a little bit more spooky horror. And I think that just. I just Leaned a little bit more into that.
- [50:56]
Sam Claiborne
Weapons is on my top one to watch list too.
- [50:58]
Nick
It's very good.
- [50:59]
Damon Hadfield
You will like Weapons a lot.
- [51:01]
Sam Claiborne
One battle is amazing. It's streaming already, I think, too.
- [51:04]
Nick
Correct.
- [51:05]
Damon Hadfield
Is it now? I don't know.
- [51:06]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah.
- [51:06]
Justin Davis
So.
- [51:07]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. Okay. A few TV awards. Moving on to the TV shows from this year. The holy crap, that is actually terrifying award goes to episode seven of paradise, which is when they showed the events of the day.
- [51:25]
Justin Davis
That.
- [51:25]
Damon Hadfield
That destroyed the world and sent a few thousand people to live in that bunker.
- [51:29]
Sam Claiborne
I think about that wave a lot. It's so corny.
- [51:31]
Damon Hadfield
That's what I'm talking about. The way the reporter on top of the building. It's nighttime. We lost Sam.
- [51:37]
Justin Davis
I haven't seen it. I'm making my holiday watch list too. It's already quite. It's already shockingly long, but I'm adding Paradise to it. Yeah. Set. James Marsden.
- [51:47]
Damon Hadfield
James Martin plays the president.
- [51:48]
Justin Davis
Oh, man. I was already in. Now I'm double in.
- [51:51]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, he's great.
- [51:52]
Sam Claiborne
Great.
- [51:52]
Damon Hadfield
He's great. Yeah. So episode, you know, the premise is that there was. Well, do you know. Do you know the. The hook of the show, Justin?
- [52:00]
Justin Davis
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
- [52:01]
Damon Hadfield
You don't know until episode seven. Like, what actually happened on that day. And there's a scene with a reporter on a rooftop at night. And when the tsunami shows up and it's like, oh, my God, it's harrowing. It's crazy. Okay, so that was great. Also, I could. It needs some sort of award for the most surprising use of. Of a Nintendo console as a plot device.
- [52:20]
Sam Claiborne
Oh, yeah. A big one.
- [52:22]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [52:24]
Nick
Saves a day.
- [52:26]
Sam Claiborne
No, it doesn't.
- [52:26]
Justin Davis
Virtual Boy.
- [52:28]
Damon Hadfield
Not the Virtual Boy. Okay. The. No Scavenger. No Scavengers Reign Season 2 consolation prize goes to common side effects.
- [52:36]
Sam Claiborne
Great.
- [52:36]
Damon Hadfield
Another animated show from some of the same people that made Scavengers Reign. And it's fantastic. Very similar animation.
- [52:44]
Justin Davis
Did you watch?
- [52:46]
Damon Hadfield
No.
- [52:46]
Nick
This is the Mike Judge one, though, right?
- [52:49]
Justin Davis
I don't think so. Yeah.
- [52:50]
Sam Claiborne
He was involved.
- [52:50]
Damon Hadfield
Yes, he was involved.
- [52:51]
Sam Claiborne
He's a producer.
- [52:52]
Damon Hadfield
Really?
- [52:53]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah.
- [52:53]
Nick
Check this out.
- [52:54]
Sam Claiborne
It's really good.
- [52:56]
Damon Hadfield
A guy finds these magic mushrooms that will cure literally anything. And obviously the pharmaceutical companies are not too happy about that. So he's on the run. He wants to try and, you know, figure out how to make more of it, and they want to, you know, track him down. And then he makes friends with an old high school acquaintance, little known to him. She works for one of the pharmaceutical companies. And there's lots of great characters, great Writing. Very funny. It's great. That's on hbo. The funniest show. I don't have a. A. A clever award for this. The funniest show I watched this year was the Studio. That's Apple TV Plus. So good. Also, like, it's a really. It's a funny show that's also just incredibly well made, and there's an incredible long shot in every episode.
- [53:35]
Sam Claiborne
It's great and I think a little bit educational about Hollywood in a. Even though it's a parody, it tells you about it.
- [53:41]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. It makes working at a movie studio look really fun with your friends. The right turn at Albuquerque award goes to Pluribus.
- [53:54]
Sam Claiborne
Fantastic.
- [53:55]
Damon Hadfield
Which. So I watched the most recent. So episode eight. So it's not over yet. There. Are there, like, 10 episodes? Do we know Sam?
- [54:00]
Sam Claiborne
I think so. There's 10.
- [54:01]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. Okay. Well, I was shocked to find out that some of our co workers are not into this show.
- [54:06]
Justin Davis
What? What?
- [54:07]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah.
- [54:08]
Damon Hadfield
I won't name names, but to me, this is just another banger from Vince Gilligan.
- [54:14]
Sam Claiborne
Oh, my God.
- [54:14]
Justin Davis
Yeah. I mean, I like, you know, My God, I'm gonna get crucified in the comments. Is. I don't like Breaking Bad as much as, like, most people do. I don't think it's. I think it's a good show. It feels a lot like other sort of, like, family crime drama shows to me. But Vince Gilligan, like, he did X Files, like, that's where he came from. And so the kind of marriage of, like, you know, his Breaking Bad sensibilities with, like, his X Files, like, you know, sort of building up this deep lore and, like, unsettling kind of like sci Fi stuff. Like, it's just. It's great to see, like, him back in that form again, I think.
- [54:51]
Nick
Master storyteller.
- [54:52]
Damon Hadfield
You're watching this, Nick?
- [54:53]
Nick
Yeah, I'm. I'm, like, only four episodes in. I think I'm gonna wait till it's all done because I do think it's a show that'll benefit for me, watching all of it at once because I just, like. I think he's an excellent storyteller, and it just makes waiting for it a little less painful when it's.
- [55:08]
Sam Claiborne
Conversely, I'd like to talk about it every week with stuff. I know.
- [55:11]
Damon Hadfield
It's the show. I look forward to it every week. It's like, I'm just enthralled. It's such a cool premise.
- [55:18]
Sam Claiborne
Rhea Seehorn is amazing.
- [55:19]
Damon Hadfield
Yep.
- [55:20]
Nick
Yeah. I'd watch Rhea Seward, like, in anything. She's fantastic.
- [55:24]
Sam Claiborne
So good.
- [55:24]
Damon Hadfield
This is also a really well shot show. Lots of crazy, incredible shots. He's using as little CGI as possible.
- [55:30]
Sam Claiborne
You'd think you'd be sick of boring ass Albuquerque by now, but nope, here we are back in.
- [55:36]
Damon Hadfield
Back in Albuquerque. I do have. You know, it starts out scary and then it's not scary.
- [55:43]
Justin Davis
Yeah. Yeah.
- [55:44]
Damon Hadfield
There's. I really want to see where it goes because this just some. What the others are doing doesn't. It actually doesn't make sense. I don't think so. If the whole idea is to become a hive mind and where, you know, everyone is working in harmony, you would think they would have more reason and more common sense, but they don't seem to. So I don't know.
- [56:05]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah, it's like becoming one mind gets like this encyclopedic amount of knowledge, but it doesn't get the reasoning right.
- [56:11]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [56:11]
Sam Claiborne
It just doesn't work that way. I. I don't know. So much of it is thought through too, and they play off of it and everybody thinks of things before you do. Like, it's just that type of show where you're like, these writers had so much fun making a world.
- [56:22]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [56:22]
Sam Claiborne
You can just feel it.
- [56:23]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. Some people will say it's. It's slow, but Vince Galligan is all about show. Don't tell. You watch characters doing something and they don't explain what they're doing until eventually it's revealed. That's. That's how these, that's how they work.
- [56:35]
Sam Claiborne
Isn't everybody on their phone while watching TV now? Get over yourselves.
- [56:38]
Nick
Yeah. This is what we call good storytelling, folks.
- [56:42]
Damon Hadfield
Yep. And the final Damie award of the year. The. The. I cannot believe how good this is. We do not deserve this award goes to andor. Andor Season 2.
- [56:55]
Justin Davis
Yep. Also IGN's TV show of the year.
- [56:59]
Damon Hadfield
Another one that started out a little slow, but then, God, at least the last four episodes are just incredible.
- [57:05]
Justin Davis
Yep. I kind of forgot that was this year. I guess like really early in the year. Right.
- [57:12]
Damon Hadfield
I mean, you're talking before like, you know, watching the Force Awakens last night. Like this show is, it's. It's a whole other level of Star wars.
- [57:21]
Sam Claiborne
Like, and how it plugs into the movie. Right.
- [57:26]
Damon Hadfield
It makes Rogue One a better movie.
- [57:28]
Sam Claiborne
Exactly.
- [57:28]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [57:30]
Nick
I mean, we've. I'm sure it's been said a billion times, but recontextually Star wars as like, oh, no, the Empire is committing like war crimes here. Like it really does. Like. Oh yeah. They're like cartoon bad guys. No. They are very, very bad, fascist bad guys.
- [57:47]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I mean, we, we talked about, you know, premise versus plot earlier, and it's like there's. There's just. There's never been a bigger mismatch between, like, they're making a television show out of him.
- [57:59]
Gilbert
That guy.
- [57:59]
Justin Davis
Yeah, that guy's getting his own Star wars show, you know, and then it's like, it's one of the greatest things. Not just one of the greatest Star wars things, but just one of the greatest things, you know, on television in like the last decade.
- [58:10]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, yeah, it's true. And Tony Gilroy, the showrunner is like, not even a Star wars, like hardcore Star wars guy. So maybe there's something there.
- [58:17]
Justin Davis
Maybe that's the.
- [58:18]
Damon Hadfield
Maybe there's something there.
- [58:19]
Sam Claiborne
I heard about this with the Penguin where it's like these great show creators were very aware that five years ago they had to pitch a superhero or Star wars show to get a show that they wanted to make made. So if you wanted to make a show, an anti fascist crazy war documentary in space, you just had to pitch it to Star Wars. If you wanted to make a mob movie, you had to make it set in the Batman universe. And that's where we're at right now.
- [58:44]
Damon Hadfield
All right, Those are the 2025 Jamie Awards. Thank you for humoring me, everyone, both on the show and out there in scoop nation. And that brings us to video game 20 questions. And our suggestion this week comes from Mav from Oregon. Although I don't believe there's an antidote to go along with that, so.
- [59:01]
Justin Davis
Oh, no.
- [59:01]
Damon Hadfield
Let the questioning begin.
- [59:04]
Justin Davis
I'm so. I've been adding things to my. To watch list, guys, and it's. I don't. I got bad news. I don't think I am going to get through like eight episodes of television in the, in the, in the break that we have available to us. But I'm going to do my best. Okay. Did this game come out in the 70s, 80s or 90s?
- [59:22]
Sam Claiborne
No, not Oregon Trail, which would have been a good match.
- [59:30]
Damon Hadfield
I think we have had Oregon Trail before.
- [59:32]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah. Was this a disc based medium at launch on a dis.
- [59:37]
Nick
No cartridge at launch.
- [59:40]
Justin Davis
Okay.
- [59:40]
Nick
Downloadies or download? Yeah. Is this a downloadable game or. I'm sorry, at the time of its release, was it a downloadable game?
- [59:51]
Damon Hadfield
Okay, so do you want to ask that question?
- [59:54]
Justin Davis
Was it exclusively a downloadable game at the time of its release?
- [59:58]
Nick
No, it's Castlevania, Symphony of the Night.
- [60:04]
Justin Davis
No, it's not a. It's not a disk based game.
- [60:06]
Sam Claiborne
Aria of Sorrow.
- [60:09]
Justin Davis
So it's probably a Switch game. A Switch or Switch or Nintendo DS or 3DS. Did this game originally come out on the Switch?
- [60:16]
Damon Hadfield
Yes.
- [60:17]
Nick
Okay.
- [60:18]
Justin Davis
Original Switch and not on PS5 or Xbox.
- [60:23]
Sam Claiborne
Nintendo develop game.
- [60:27]
Damon Hadfield
Nintendo was one of the developers on this game. And that's fine.
- [60:33]
Justin Davis
Could be. Could be Super Smash Brothers, ultimately. Yeah.
- [60:35]
Sam Claiborne
Does this have characters from the Mushroom Kingdom in it?
- [60:39]
Damon Hadfield
No.
- [60:40]
Sam Claiborne
Does this have Showtime?
- [60:42]
Nick
It could also be a Zelda game because that's Nintendo and Monolith.
- [60:45]
Sam Claiborne
Soft for the echoes.
- [60:49]
Nick
Yeah. Or. Yeah. Is this game set in the Zelda universe?
- [60:54]
Damon Hadfield
No.
- [60:54]
Nick
Oh, sorry, guys.
- [60:59]
Sam Claiborne
Maybe it's just Metroid Prime 4. Why not?
- [61:02]
Justin Davis
That's Retro is Nintendo though, aren't they?
- [61:06]
Sam Claiborne
I just think it'd be. Nintendo had Retro developed it. That's how they seem to present themselves.
- [61:11]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I guess that's true. Okay. Okay. I mean, there's lots of co developed. I'm having trouble thinking of them because I'm rapidly slipping into vacation mode in real time as this podcast goes on.
- [61:23]
Nick
Does it like feature iconic Nintendo characters?
- [61:27]
Damon Hadfield
I don't. I wouldn't say.
- [61:28]
Sam Claiborne
Whoa.
- [61:29]
Nick
Okay.
- [61:29]
Sam Claiborne
That's a good question. I like that one.
- [61:31]
Justin Davis
Yeah. So I'm just trying to remember, like. So there's snipper clips. No, but like, for real. One, two.
- [61:39]
Nick
Switch.
- [61:40]
Justin Davis
Yeah, one, two, Switch. I'm trying to think of those games that, you know, they. They partner with third parties.
- [61:46]
Sam Claiborne
You're saying you don't have the full 30 packaged Amiibo run of the Snipperclips characters.
- [61:51]
Damon Hadfield
They're all worth it.
- [61:53]
Justin Davis
I heard that. I got so sad. But I found out Pear is not trying to collect every Amiibo anymore.
- [61:57]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [62:00]
Justin Davis
Although I kind of don't believe him, actually. He's like, I'm not. He's like, I'm out. And I'm like, you're gonna. You're in a. There's gonna be some late night where he's gonna order.
- [62:08]
Nick
He has all the Metroid prime four ones that he let me scan.
- [62:10]
Sam Claiborne
So maybe he's waiting to buy the tariff dip.
- [62:13]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I think so. Okay. I don't know where to go from here.
- [62:20]
Sam Claiborne
Was this game multiplayer focused in any way?
- [62:23]
Damon Hadfield
No, not multiplayer.
- [62:25]
Justin Davis
Okay, so it's not. Not Splatoon, not Snipperclips, not Arms.
- [62:30]
Sam Claiborne
It's got some weirdo characters in it.
- [62:32]
Justin Davis
Maybe it is Arms. Is Arms multiplayer focused?
- [62:35]
Nick
Yes, it is. Yeah.
- [62:38]
Justin Davis
What about the. What about the. The wheelchair basketball game?
- [62:44]
Sam Claiborne
Well, it's just Switch one or two though, right?
- [62:46]
Justin Davis
We don't know. I Mean, I did the same in my head. What else did they partner? You know, so that's like they like Sega made F0. But that was obviously way before Switch. And like I'm just thinking about them farming out their franchises. Like they had. They had Namco make Star Fox. Yeah.
- [63:09]
Nick
What was it? You asked Sam if it was a sports game.
- [63:11]
Damon Hadfield
It is not a sports game. That's 10.
- [63:16]
Nick
Did this game review well at IGN?
- [63:19]
Damon Hadfield
Yes.
- [63:22]
Sam Claiborne
Should we ask like when this came out? I'm curious if it came out five.
- [63:25]
Justin Davis
Years ago, what it could be? Because Hal's not Nintendo, so it could be Kirby.
- [63:29]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah. Air writers or something.
- [63:33]
Justin Davis
Yeah, air writers. Well, except that's multiple.
- [63:35]
Sam Claiborne
That's iconic Nintendo character. Character.
- [63:37]
Justin Davis
Kirby's an iconic Nintendo character for sure. Yeah. Not doesn't star an iconic Nintendo character, but is on the Switch is coded like what? I don't know, Tomodachi life. Like something.
- [63:54]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah. I was thinking Miis. That's why I went for the sport direction.
- [63:57]
Nick
Yeah.
- [63:59]
Justin Davis
But not, but not multiplayer focus does eliminate a lot of the kind of like, you know, experimental stuff Nintendo's tried to get up to.
- [64:11]
Nick
Is this game, when this game came out, was it Nintendo Switch 1 exclusive?
- [64:17]
Damon Hadfield
Yes.
- [64:19]
Nick
Okay, so it's pre Nintendo Switch 2.
- [64:27]
Sam Claiborne
Maybe it's like a more adult skewed game, horror stuff.
- [64:34]
Nick
So we got like from 2016 to.
- [64:35]
Justin Davis
2025, not adult skewed. Like like half of my. The games on sale on.
- [64:40]
Nick
Is it. Is this game an RPG of a sort?
- [64:46]
Justin Davis
Could be Xenoblade, Xenoblade Chronicles.
- [64:49]
Sam Claiborne
But those are just RPGs.
- [64:50]
Nick
Yeah, I would say those are just straight up because that's where I was going.
- [64:52]
Sam Claiborne
Is it just advance wars, that sequel.
- [64:55]
Nick
Or the Advance Wars 1 and 2 remake?
- [64:59]
Justin Davis
That's pretty good. That's a pretty good question. Or even, even, even Fire Emblem. Although that's made by. That's made by Nintendo. As far as I know, they're not co developed.
- [65:08]
Sam Claiborne
Oh no, it does have a co developer on it.
- [65:11]
Justin Davis
Maybe they do. I mean, but Intelligent Systems is the lead developer. Is this a strategy game?
- [65:16]
Damon Hadfield
Yes.
- [65:17]
Nick
Okay, so it's either Fire Emblem OR Advance Wars 1 and 2 Boot Camp Remake or whatever it's called.
- [65:24]
Justin Davis
Is this, is this the remake or update of an older game?
- [65:27]
Damon Hadfield
No, that's 15.
- [65:31]
Nick
Is this game set in an academy?
- [65:33]
Damon Hadfield
Yes.
- [65:34]
Justin Davis
Nice.
- [65:35]
Nick
Fire. Fire Emblem three houses. Okay. Is the game Fire Emblem three houses?
- [65:39]
Sam Claiborne
Yes, it is. Rounded out the year.
- [65:43]
Damon Hadfield
Co developed with Nintendo and Koei Tecmo.
- [65:46]
Justin Davis
Oh, I didn't remember that at all.
- [65:48]
Damon Hadfield
I didn't know that either.
- [65:49]
Sam Claiborne
I did know that. I was trying to come up with who was the co developer. But yeah, that's been a thing. It's interesting.
- [65:56]
Nick
I'm excited for the new one.
- [65:58]
Justin Davis
You remember when this game came out and they sold millions and millions and millions of them and it took over and there was all the memes and jokes about Claude and the other characters and then they made a sequel and nobody cared.
- [66:08]
Damon Hadfield
Wait, Engage. Oh and yeah, I liked Engage. I like it. I actually liked English.
- [66:12]
Justin Davis
I mean I just. It didn't make us.
- [66:13]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. It did not make a similar splash. You're right about that.
- [66:16]
Sam Claiborne
If you had to say. Or you know how there's always been like Marth and Roy and stuff. Those are our iconic Nintendo characters because of Smash Brothers. And then I guess maybe the last game that iconic ones were like Awakening because people knows those, those ones.
- [66:28]
Justin Davis
What's it.
- [66:28]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah, you know.
- [66:30]
Justin Davis
Yeah, it's.
- [66:30]
Nick
I mean with these games, if you had a dating simulator to your strategy game, I think that's, you know, that's a gold mine.
- [66:36]
Justin Davis
They also didn't. They. I didn't play Engagement, didn't engage. Take all that stuff out.
- [66:40]
Nick
Correct. It's focused on combat.
- [66:42]
Justin Davis
Just Nintendo. And look, I say this with love and as someone that loves Nintendo games, it's like, like hey, the part that everybody loved about the last Fire Emblem game and made it a cultural phenomenon. Should we do that again? Nah.
- [66:54]
Nick
I mean that's what I said about Awakening. I was like, let my units have a kid and pass off their attributes. That's so sick. That's so fun.
- [67:01]
Sam Claiborne
Oh totally. That's my favorite part. I really think like just general advice for young game developers out there. If you add anime dating to your game, no matter what it is, it's going to work 100%. Go for it. I'm not saying I want that. I'm just giving you advice as a young adult.
- [67:20]
Justin Davis
I mean we're saying this 40% is a goof. Like 40% for real. Of like you will attract a different audience to your game.
- [67:28]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah, yeah.
- [67:28]
Sam Claiborne
You make it a dual purpose game.
- [67:31]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [67:31]
Sam Claiborne
Better than adding say a city simulator to your, you know.
- [67:34]
Justin Davis
Well, hold on now, hold on.
- [67:37]
Nick
What if he had a side scrolling action platformer?
- [67:40]
Sam Claiborne
Vulpit exclusively.
- [67:42]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [67:42]
Nick
What if we had a side scrolling action game where you had a real time strategy element a la Actraiser. Let's do that again.
- [67:48]
Justin Davis
Now we're cooking with gas. I just. But like. And the anime sexy stuff, a Fire Emblem that's also like a city Simulator just sounds dope, that's all.
- [67:57]
Nick
I'm like, you get to build the battlefield that you fight on.
- [68:00]
Justin Davis
Oh, yeah, Justin. Throwing up in the corner. You get to date all the buildings. Yeah, that's great, Sam. Yeah.
- [68:11]
Damon Hadfield
Well, nicely job and thank you for the suggestion, Mav from Oregon. That almost wraps up our scoops for the show. We're gonna be taking the next week off for the holiday, but then we will be back with more and more scoop of the year we're gonna record on Tuesday, December 30th. So please, everyone, please be excited for that. But while we're off next week, everyone, let's share what your sort of like Christmas gaming plans are. Sam, I know you're in Kansas.
- [68:36]
Sam Claiborne
Yes, I'm playing a game for the show. Should I mention that or is that a secret?
- [68:40]
Damon Hadfield
We'll save that one for a little bit later. Okay.
- [68:42]
Sam Claiborne
Okay. Then I'm gonna finish the stuff, my tasks in Metroid prime and then I have a date with I believe Ball Pit. But now Outer Worlds is really shining through.
- [68:55]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah. I don't know how it runs on Steam Deck, but it's a very fun.
- [68:59]
Sam Claiborne
Plenty to play though. Especially after the show. You all reminded me of a bunch of games that I get excited. Back to our trap.
- [69:05]
Damon Hadfield
Justin, how about you?
- [69:06]
Justin Davis
I have a few things. One, I promised my kids that we're going to. And I'm actually really looking forward to it. We're going to start a family Minecraft world.
- [69:13]
Gilbert
Okay.
- [69:14]
Justin Davis
And then I'm going to, we're going to teach my wife to play too, who, you know, she's not a gamer in the way I'm a gamer, but she does play, you know, she dabbles. And so this is someone who's beaten.
- [69:23]
Damon Hadfield
Sky Skyrim multiple times, right?
- [69:25]
Justin Davis
Yeah, that's my, that's my, that's my anecdote about my wife is she's a schoolteacher and every summer she has a summer game and so she does not play video games, doesn't follow video games, doesn't care about them. But like one summer, it's just like it's the summer of Skyrim and then it was Resident Evil and it's been some different stuff over the years. So we're all gonna, we're all gonna play family Minecraft together. And then personally I, I haven't started Metroid prime yet. So I'm gonna get into, you know, I'm looking forward to, you know, the, the, the criticism of like, oh, it's kind of old school and it feels like a video game from 15 or 20 years ago. Like, look, that's a legitimate criticism, but that also appeals to certain people in a certain way of like, yeah, like, I want to play just a little bit more old school feeling action adventure. And so I think that's going to be a perfect.
- [70:10]
Sam Claiborne
Even if there's really, like, one of those situations where this is. It's not a bad start to the game, but it does get better. Like, it's not bad. I'm not saying, like, get through the first four hours, but, like, the game becomes more of what you expect it to be later, so it's not surprising. But it's, like, great. I mean, Ice World, it's gorgeous. It is so awesome looking.
- [70:31]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I totally get it. And I just. We don't. It's that feeling of like, you know, this type of game just goes away before you know it. Like, you know, a decade ago, everything was open world action adventure, RPGs. And now those are actually kind of not around that much anymore, you know? Right. So, you know, the ground shifts under your feet, and I am excited to.
- [70:50]
Sam Claiborne
Get into Metroid western bioware style. RPGs. Just went away.
- [70:54]
Nick
Yep.
- [70:57]
Damon Hadfield
Nick, what are your plans?
- [71:00]
Nick
I just finished Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3. I'm at 84 hours right now, so I'm hopefully gonna try and roll credits on that game by the time.
- [71:07]
Justin Davis
Is this your first time going through it?
- [71:09]
Nick
So I only got to act one when I played the game at one point.
- [71:13]
Justin Davis
Oh, bro.
- [71:14]
Nick
So. And I didn't. Yeah, I know. So now I'm like, I'm all in. I'm. I got my Forgotten Realms books behind me. I'm learning about the monster. A monster of the day. And apart from that, though, I'm gonna try and roll credits on Metroid Prime 4, as well as the secret game that we're all playing.
- [71:31]
Justin Davis
I will have to tell after the show. Tell me. I don't know what you're referring to.
- [71:35]
Damon Hadfield
It's not gonna be that impressive.
- [71:37]
Justin Davis
Nick, act three. Oh, man.
- [71:40]
Sam Claiborne
Whenever you get that show greenlit, send me.
- [71:43]
Justin Davis
Send me messages, because I just. I can't, like. Well, first of all, Act 3 is also another hundred hours, just a long way. Like, it's so. It's almost like it is kind of a criticism. Like, it's too big. It's too big and too long. I love it.
- [71:56]
Nick
I don't want it to end, man.
- [71:57]
Justin Davis
I love it. So, I mean, you're. You're gonna be. It's like every single house has, you know, a murder in the basement and a side quest. Like, it's a giant city that takes no shortcuts and no. Like, it's unbelievable how big it is. And, like, that's why it broke everybody's. You know, that's why act three was broken for, like, a year and a half.
- [72:17]
Nick
Like, I assume this is the city of its namesake, Baldur's Gate.
- [72:22]
Justin Davis
Well, yeah. Yes. Although, you know, I mean. Yes.
- [72:29]
Sam Claiborne
You get an airship in Act 3 and get to cruise around.
- [72:32]
Nick
Dude, that'd be sick.
- [72:36]
Damon Hadfield
I will be home for the holidays here in la, and my wife's family is coming here, so we'll have a full house. And I'm making the ham, which really just means warming up the ham. And then Kingo is getting Mario Galaxy 1 and 2. And I. I'm actually looking forward to that because I've never played Galaxy 2.
- [72:51]
Sam Claiborne
Hey, I. I just redid the guide for those, and they're really nice now.
- [72:56]
Damon Hadfield
Cool.
- [72:56]
Sam Claiborne
And. And they have sortable tables for getting all of the. The stars. And those are, like, not straightforward in those games, so recommend checking those out. Introduce strategy guides.
- [73:07]
Damon Hadfield
He is also getting the limited edition Astrobot PS5 controller. He's gonna be really stoked about that.
- [73:13]
Nick
Nice.
- [73:14]
Damon Hadfield
And then every year, I like to spend at least one evening playing games that I got for Christmas as a kid.
- [73:20]
Nick
Oh, that's cute.
- [73:21]
Damon Hadfield
Curl up on the sofa with one of my retro gaming handhelds and play Super Mario Bros. 2 and Akari warriors and Festus Quest and Bad Dudes and of course, Splatterhouse. All the fun. But everyone out there in Scoop Nation, I hope you have very happy holidays. Thanks for hanging out with us all year long. We're only taking one week off next week. We'll be back the week after that. But. But everybody stay safe and play lots of really fun games over the holidays. That is all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Gilbert. Working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop. And we're out. Perfect timing.
- [74:24]
Justin Davis
Man. I can. I can smell that book that Sam's holding in his hands. 100%.
- [74:29]
Sam Claiborne
The pipe actually tastes spicy from, like, ancient nicotine in it, I believe it was.
- [74:34]
Damon Hadfield
That's cool, Justin. We're all playing the original bruh. Is it still fun today?
- [74:39]
Justin Davis
Okay, I got it. Got it, got it. Yeah. That's rad.
- [74:41]
Sam Claiborne
That was really fun. Happy, happy Christmas, everybody.
- [74:44]
Damon Hadfield
Have a good time.
- [74:45]
Nick
Yeah. Happy Christmas, y'.
- [74:46]
Damon Hadfield
All.
- [74:46]
Sam Claiborne
I'm gonna Head to Love Garden right now. Damon.
- [74:48]
Damon Hadfield
Oh, my gosh. Jealous?
- [74:50]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah.
- [74:51]
Justin Davis
See you guys later.
- [74:52]
Sam Claiborne
Bye.
- [75:00]
Damon Hadfield
Since Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of Force Awakens, I watched it with the kids.
- [75:06]
Justin Davis
It's a great movie.
- [75:07]
Damon Hadfield
I would not say that it's fundamentally flawed. It gets the whole trilogy off on the wrong foot. Because right from the get go, there's just another empire, just another rebellion.
- [75:16]
Sam Claiborne
It's like, well, the remake stuff is so bad. Why are we just retreading all this stuff? It starts on a desert planet, like, why did we do this?
- [75:24]
Damon Hadfield
But it moves along at a great pace, especially that first hour. It's just like you never get a chance to catch your breath in a good way. This is bouncing from Kylo to Poe to Rey to Finn. And there are really great moments sprinkled throughout the movie.
- [75:37]
Sam Claiborne
So I just got, like, on Facebook memories like all of the Alamo Drafthouse marquee and shit show up from seeing that.
- [75:43]
Justin Davis
Yeah, we were all there. That was. That might have been the last time Jamie hung out with any IGN people. Because it was all like, we had kids. And then it was like, I'm never going to see these people again. Do you. So McCaffrey, name dropped this game, Gate Guard Simulator. Did you watch that trailer yet?
- [76:02]
Sam Claiborne
I can't wait. It sounds awesome.
- [76:04]
Justin Davis
It's pretty funny. The trailer is pretty funny. So the gameplay seems like based off the trailer that it's like, papers, please. Where you are a gate guard of a medieval castle. And then people are coming in and trying to get in the castle, except it's like, silly and like someone's trying to, like, smuggle, you know? Wow. Someone. There's a clip in the trailer where someone's trying to smuggle, like, rabbits in. And then you can take the bribe or not take the bribe to, like, let him let the rabbits.
- [76:32]
Sam Claiborne
I hope there's dialogue options. Like, who goes there?
- [76:37]
Nick
What the heck were knights fist bumping.
- [76:38]
Damon Hadfield
Back in the day?
- [76:39]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [76:41]
Damon Hadfield
It's like the poor gate guard at the village of Bree.
- [76:43]
Justin Davis
Yeah.
- [76:46]
Damon Hadfield
Smashed by the gate.
- [76:47]
Nick
Yeah.
- [76:47]
Sam Claiborne
When the hobby starts yelling at him, he's like, all right, little yes.
- [76:51]
Justin Davis
I'm sorry, Master Hobbit.
- [76:53]
Sam Claiborne
Don't feel no offense.
- [76:57]
Justin Davis
I like the second little door. The little hobbit door.
- [76:59]
Sam Claiborne
That's such a Peter Jackson thing. It's so.
- [77:01]
Justin Davis
Yeah. Yeah. This game looks great.
- [77:05]
Damon Hadfield
Yeah.
- [77:05]
Justin Davis
No, no. Get out of here. Duck.
- [77:08]
Damon Hadfield
Oh, my gosh, she's got a pucks.
- [77:11]
Nick
Then he punches her in the face. Jesus.
- [77:13]
Sam Claiborne
Rabbit smoke.
- [77:14]
Nick
No rabbits.
- [77:14]
Sam Claiborne
No rabbits. I like.
- [77:16]
Justin Davis
If you check.
- [77:17]
Sam Claiborne
King said no rabbits.
- [77:19]
Justin Davis
Yeah, I know. And, like, this trailer went totally viral on ig.
- [77:24]
Sam Claiborne
A big hit.
- [77:24]
Justin Davis
Yep. I mean, maybe, but, like, it's a good. It's a good, like, I'll play it for one evening game.
- [77:30]
Sam Claiborne
Yeah, this is one where, like, it really depends on if the people, like, wrote this that know English really well, too.
- [77:36]
Damon Hadfield
Oh, do you guys want to know the. The top five most popular IGN reviews of the year are. I just put this together. This is a combination of O and O and YouTube numbers. So number five is Donkey Kong Bonanza. Number four is Assassin's Creed Shadows. Three is Doom, the Dark Ages. Two is Kingdom Come, Deliverance, and one is Clear Obscure.
- [77:58]
Justin Davis
Yep.
- [77:59]
Sam Claiborne
Is this the show are we doing?
- [78:00]
Damon Hadfield
I was gonna say. What happened? What happened to Joe Robert? I did a 10 count, and then we didn't hear from him. It's okay. You were enthralled with our small talk, with our chit chat.
- [78:09]
Nick
This is our Zip Zap Zop, dude. This is how we. This is how we get loose.
- [78:14]
Justin Davis
Wibble, Bibble, bam.
- [78:16]
Sam Claiborne
Okay, I'm gonna start in character, so you could either go to a wide or wait for me, but introduce me last, please.
- [78:22]
Damon Hadfield
Okay. And, Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
- [78:47]
Sam Claiborne
Uh, limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?
- [78:50]
Damon Hadfield
Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty, Liberty. Liberty Savings Fairy, Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates, excludes Massachusetts.
- [79:00]
Gilbert
VRBO makes it easy to claim your dream summer spot with early booking deals. From homes with pools to poolside loungers. When you book a vrbo, you don't have to reserve any loungers.
- [79:10]
Damon Hadfield
They're all yours.
- [79:12]
Gilbert
Get that early booking deal@vrbo.com.