Game Scoop! 864: Death By 3,200 Cuts

Summary

Game Scoop! 864: Death By 3,200 Cuts

Date: July 10, 2026
Host: Daemon Hatfield
Guests: Paris Schneider, Nick Limone, Sam Claiborne

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Overview

This episode of Game Scoop! dives into the state of the gaming industry, focusing on the major layoffs sweeping Xbox and Microsoft Studios. The hosts discuss the ongoing consequences for the creative ecosystem, the fate of iconic franchises, and the complex realities of modern game development. The IGN crew also shares nostalgia for classic games via a vintage 1991 EGM magazine, debates the merits of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, and tackles another wild round of Video Game 20 Questions. There’s plenty of retro fun, lively banter, and moments of sharp insight for both industry veterans and casual listeners.

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Main Discussion: The Xbox Layoffs and Industry Shifts

Starts: 04:24

1. Microsoft/Xbox Layoffs

• 3200 jobs cut total: 1,600 this week, another 1,600 over the next year.
  • Daemon Hatfield (04:01): “A total of 3200 jobs. 1600 jobs this week alone, and then another 1600 over the next year... I don't know what that does for morale at Xbox.”
• No major studio shutdowns yet, but several teams being spun off or allowed independence (e.g., Double Fine, Compulsion, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs)—with most keeping their IPs.
• Massive layoffs at id Software, notably the engine team that created DOOM’s core tech, as Microsoft pushes its internal studios toward Unreal Engine.
  • Nick Limone (12:21): “They laid off their entire engine development team... They are being encouraged to adopt Unreal Engine for all games moving forward. It’s like we’re getting to this point in the gaming industry where everything’s going to start using Unreal Engine and nothing’s going to feel unique. And that worries me.”

2. Morale, Studio Identity, and Industry Cycles

• Paris Schneider: Points out the challenge of keeping teams cohesive after losing key creative staff:
  • (07:29): “It takes a long time to come back from that and reset—or you don't, right? This is why games like Mass Effect go away forever. You're like, well, that team is just not the team that made Mass Effect.”
• Ongoing comparison to Hollywood: Studios disband after projects, but for games, the cycles are longer, and upheaval has greater personal impact.
• Discussion on subscription models (Game Pass/Netflix model) and the failure to attract enough subscribers to justify massive content bets.
  • Sam Claiborne (09:23): “How good and bad the strategy was that everybody copied from Netflix... Xbox just modeled themselves in that exact thing... But the length of time to make a game, the expense of it, and then how few subscriptions they apparently got—it was not even close.”

3. Franchise Futures & Strategic Identity

• Uncertainty about the future of Halo, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and other flagship series.
  • Reports that Obsidian has cancelled Avowed 2 to focus on Fallout.
  • Discussion of missed opportunities to synergize game launches with the popular Fallout TV show.
• Challenges unique to Xbox versus Sony and Nintendo:
  • Paris Schneider (16:38): “All these cuts will save them some money, but it doesn’t solve Xbox’s main problem, which is nobody wants to buy an Xbox.”
  • Sega/Nintendo/Sony comparisons on brand strength, hardware, and loyalty.
  • Noted difference in staff retention and company culture at Nintendo.
    • Nick Limone (19:43): “For the most part people who work at a Nintendo-owned company stay there until they retire... The people and knowledge is still there at Nintendo. And I think therein lies the difference between stuff that we’re seeing at Microsoft and Sony.”

4. Broader Industry Trends

• Changing strategies: Game studios shifting to stabilize costs, the attempt to balance passion, nostalgia, and innovation.
• Walled gardens and the potential loss of “third pillar” brands.
• The possible reasons for Phil Spencer’s departure and speculation about the business realities at Microsoft.

Notable Quotes:

• Sam Claiborne (13:39): “I want people to have jobs, I want to play cool games. But it seems we can't have both.”
• Paris Schneider (24:33): “It’s a freaking monkey’s paw.”

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Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced: Impressions & Nostalgia

Starts: 28:30

1. Mixed Feelings on the Resynced Remaster

• Daemon felt the remaster didn't click, preferring the newer entries (Odyssey, Shadows) for their improved mechanics, characters, and settings.
  • Daemon Hatfield (28:31): “It did not take me very long to realize I would really rather be playing Odyssey or Shadows... I just like the more modern games more.”
• Nick and Paris are partial to the transformation the series underwent starting with Origins, but appreciate the beauty and atmosphere of Black Flag Resynced.
• Sam is especially fond of the simplicity and “video game-ness” of Black Flag and raves about the beloved ship battles.
  • Sam Claiborne (33:47): “Who cares about all that crap you do? Ship battles in this game. None of this matters... That first broadside that you're doing... It’s so cool.”
• General consensus: The remaster is beautiful, and ship combat remains a highlight, but the formulaic content and oddball story turns prompt debates about which Assassin’s Creed entries have aged best.

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Retro Corner: EGM July 1991 Issue

Starts: 40:26

1. Classic Magazine Walkthrough

• The IGN crew flips through a 1991 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, sparking talk about:
  • Ad design blunders (Renovation’s “does what nine year olds want”),
  • The history of video games debate (Bushnell, Baer, Higginbotham),
  • The late-stage NES library (Adventure Island 2, Base Wars, SCAT, etc.),
  • The launch buzz surrounding Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Nintendo,
  • Bullshots and misleading game ads ("bullshots" term traced back to IGN boards/Killzone 2 era).

2. Memorable Moments & Banter

• Running jokes about 90s advertising, odd box art (“Valis III mom”), and fond memories of ill-fated consoles and peripherals.
• Notable Quote (52:51):
  • Sam Claiborne: “Do you know how great this summer was when Sonic and Terminator 2 were out at the same time... and the Super Nintendo was imminent?”
• The group swoons over the “blue sky” art and map graphics of old platformers, and laments the cost of CDROM add-ons for the TurboGrafx.

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Random Fun: Amiibo Mania & Offbeat Collectibles

Starts: 36:33

• Pear shows off the new King Dedede Amiibo (“ginormous!”), which launches a discussion about Amiibo variants, Nintendo’s deep bench of toy designs, and the odd economics of retro collector culture.

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Extracurricular Activities

Starts: 66:07

What the Hosts Are Watching/Reading/Playing:

• Obsession (film): Damon and crew highly recommend this breakout indie hit.
• Game of Thrones (Season 2): General approval for the latest episodes.
• The Bear (Season 3): Paris found it had some “really cool moments.”
• Dungeon Crawler Carl (Book): Sam is engrossed, loving its blend of RPG meta-narrative and page-turner plotting.
• Widow’s Bay (Apple TV show): The entire panel is deeply entertained; “Stephen King and Jaws” vibe with a horror mystery bent.

Notable Quote (69:55):

• Sam Claiborne: “It's not overly clever and it’s not stupid and it’s plot driven and that's what makes it fun. It’s a perfect summer book.”

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Video Game 20 Questions

Starts: 72:13

• Game Chosen: Apex Legends
• Memorable moment: The panel gets thrown off by early license-related questions (due to Apex’s Titanfall universe roots), uses up extra questions, and ultimately misses the answer (“It’s Apex Legends!” at 82:04).
• Notable Quote:
  • Damon Hatfield (82:08): “It’s Apex Legends.”
  • Paris Schneider: “What was the license confusion?”
  • Damon: “I mean, it’s based on Titanfall. That’s why I was like, I regret it. I immediately regret it. I should have just said no.”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Daemon Hatfield (16:38): “All these cuts will save them some money, but it doesn’t solve Xbox’s main problem, which is nobody wants to buy an Xbox.”
• Paris Schneider (24:33): “It’s a freaking monkey’s paw.”
• Nick Limone (12:21): “It’s like we’re getting to this point in the gaming industry where everything’s going to start using Unreal Engine and nothing’s going to feel unique.”
• Sam Claiborne (33:47): “You do ship battles in this game. None of this matters.”
• Sam Claiborne (52:51): “Do you know how great this summer was when Sonic and Terminator 2 were out at the same time?”
• Damon Hatfield (82:08): “It’s Apex Legends.”

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Timestamps by Segment

• 00:00-01:28 – Introduction and crew catch-up
• 04:24-28:30 – Microsoft/Xbox layoffs and industry analysis
• 28:30-36:38 – Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced discussion
• 36:33-40:26 – Amiibo and offbeat collectibles
• 40:26-66:07 – 1991 EGM magazine walkthrough/retro gaming memories
• 66:07-72:13 – Extracurricular activities (films, TV, books)
• 72:13-83:50 – Video Game 20 Questions (Apex Legends answer)

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Tone & Style

The panel delivers information with a blend of heartfelt industry critique, deep nostalgia, friendly roasting, and classic IGN wit—offering valuable context for ongoing industry shifts while keeping things accessible and entertaining.

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Summary

Game Scoop! 864 is a can’t-miss episode for gamers tracking both the industry’s biggest headlines and its most cherished old-school treasures. The crew breaks down the serious impact of Xbox’s new era, asks tough questions about the future of gaming giants, and wraps it all in a blanket of retro joy and playful bickering. Whether you’re a veteran or casual gamer, this episode is both a warning and a love letter to the games industry.

Transcript

[Damon Hadfield]

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[Paris Schneider]

Hello, Damon.

[Damon Hadfield]

And Nick Limone.

[Nick Limone]

I'm back baby.

[Damon Hadfield]

And Sam Claiborne returns to us after a two episode hiatus. Welcome back, Sam.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it's been two whole episodes.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes, it has been two episodes.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm so happy to be back.

[Damon Hadfield]

We got a great show for you this week. We can finally talk about Assassin's Creed, Black Flag resynced and I have the July 1991 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, wow.

[Nick Limone]

Oh no.

[Damon Hadfield]

But first, Sam, you've missed a couple episodes. Do you have any questions about anything that happened in your absence?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, boy, Damon, I'm glad you asked because news has been really rough, right? It's been bad. So I've been trying to avoid all the headlines, but keeping up with the scoops. But all this crazy darkness at Microsoft has got me thinking. At the very least, Sony and other companies will be making games for a long time. And I can't wait to crack open each box and pull out those physical discs and put those in my system. That's not going away anytime soon.

[Nick Limone]

I have some bad news.

[Paris Schneider]

Are you looking forward to smelling the manuals?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes, exactly. Well, so if there's no more physical dis in the future, that's a tomorrow problem. Right. But at least this fall, my pre order of Grand Theft Auto will be able to one last time.

[Damon Hadfield]

Right? That's going to be one last big game. No.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, wait, he's got more.

[Sam Claiborne]

I have more jokes. But I just had one other thing I wanted to say. And at least they won 20 questions last week. Great.

[Paris Schneider]

We did.

[Damon Hadfield]

No, you did.

[Sam Claiborne]

Didn't we?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, we did. Yeah, we got it like pretty quick.

[Paris Schneider]

It was futsa.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, okay.

[Nick Limone]

People were mad that we didn't know which country the Forza original Forza.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's really difficult.

[Paris Schneider]

I totally forgot about the Mediterranean Forza.

[Nick Limone]

Totally. Like Lost.

[Sam Claiborne]

Are you a. Are you a human in Forza?

[Paris Schneider]

Yes.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

You play as a human in Forza Horizon specifically.

[Nick Limone]

Yes, you are.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's right. That's true. Well, it's good to be back.

[Damon Hadfield]

Although in the most recent forces, it's possible to play as a human that's more machine than man now.

[Paris Schneider]

That's right.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. The physical disc issue was last week's. That's old scoop. That's last week's scoops. This week we've got the layoffs at Xbox that we've been waiting for.

[Nick Limone]

It was the quote unquote bloodbath that they had mentioned.

[Damon Hadfield]

But their words does sound like a blood. I don't think it's their words.

[Nick Limone]

I think someone said their bloodbath. I was like, that feels like a crazy thing.

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't think Asha's.

[Nick Limone]

I believe they gotta be a bloodbath sometimes. The way they treat these PR blasts, I'm like, yeah, I probably wouldn't have said it that way.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's like corporate letterhead. It says re bloodbath.

[Damon Hadfield]

So a total of 3200 jobs. 1600 jobs this week alone, and then another 1600 over the next year, which I don't know what that. What that does for morale at Xbox. People have to come into work at for a day and they're like, is today the day? I don't know. Today the day me and my friends get laid off? I don't know. We'll see.

[Sam Claiborne]

So awful. I mean, there's nothing. There's just so much negativity that I can throw at this. We know they're focusing on AAA games, which is something that I think we want. Right. That's something they want to focus on the Elders Scrolls and Fallouts, stuff like that. Nobody wants that to be expensive, small games. But also they have these giant, huge successful games like Doom. That should be fine, right? You would think.

[Damon Hadfield]

One would think.

[Sam Claiborne]

But no, true from.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, from a famous. Also, apart from being a game developer, an actual software engine developer, you know, famous for the ID software. Just the technology that Doom runs on. It runs on everything. What if we made them transition over Unreal Engine? Yeah, that's the plan, apparently. That's nuts. That's crazy.

[Sam Claiborne]

Making killer games just perfect games all the time.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's worth noting they have. They have not shut down any studios in spite of the fact that they're laying off a lot of people. They're saying goodbye to four or five studios, letting them become independent again. So that's Double F Compulsion, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs for.

[Paris Schneider]

And they get to keep their ip.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Except for a club.

[Damon Hadfield]

Those all make sense. None of those developers were making games that were making any money for Xbox. That makes total sense. But then like you, like you said, Sam, they didn't close ID Software, but they apparently laid off more than half of the team. Yeah, more than half the team that did the Doom trilogy, which everybody loves.

[Sam Claiborne]

And the people sometimes we talk about like the magic of the team is like, what's important here, right? It's like they have this gel that's like made these crazy cool games and they're putting out DLC for them and they're doing all this stuff and it's just crazy. It's a crazy twist in this Doom.

[Nick Limone]

The Dark Ages also just got DLC yesterday at the beginning of the day and then this news hit at the tail. It's nuts.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, look, it's really good too.

[Paris Schneider]

I think it's all about sort of resetting and balancing the books and then hopefully building a newer company. Right. Like, I. I would not know what I would do if I were in charge of this behemoth. Right? There's so many studios, so many projects, there's hardware, all of that stuff. And then the world around this company and the studios is changing constantly. Right? Like there's. There's this sort of the AI Apocalypse encoding as well. There's, you know, the hardware cost rising and shortages and all of this stuff. It's. It's difficult. Like, I can only imagine that with a company of this scale, it's not about like, oh, we don't need that person right now, or, you know, maybe that we can table this project. It's more about got to bring the cost down and we got to reset, we got to restart. And I think the unfortunate thing with this is, first of all, obviously it's real people affected by this, you know, and who are worried about their future and finding another job. But then it becomes this sort of like the teams have to figure out how to actually do the things they want to do, right? And so everything is like disrupted and like the sort of game creation engine, like sometimes there's an amazing level designer now missing or somebody who knows how to solve technical hurdles and there are these gaps now in the team and it takes a long time to come

[Sam Claiborne]

back from that and reset or you don't, right? This is why the games like Mass Effect go away forever. You're like, well, that team is just not the team that made Mass Effect.

[Paris Schneider]

And I will no hate or shade here, but it's like Rare. The company. Rare is very different today from what it was back in the days, right? They were key people who exited and it took them afterwards much longer to make games than they used to. Obviously, lots of things changed. It's like some of these studios may never be the same because that sort of balance has been upset. And you got sometimes you got to trust that maybe the studio leads know, you know, how to downsize and how to kind of preserve what made these companies special. But like at this scale, well, they

[Sam Claiborne]

know because that's like a cyclical problem in the game industry, right? Like, that's the unfortunate thing is that the series of like build the team, put out the game, lay off the team is like this awful.

[Paris Schneider]

True, true. But think of Hollywood where it's crash and burn after every movie, right? Like everybody.

[Sam Claiborne]

Exactly, exactly. But that's. And that's become a. The difference is that you find a new project every six months in Hollywood or every year. And in game industry, it's really hard to do that every seven years. That's just different, right? Like you've moved and had a cat, a kid or two by then. Like, it just sucks.

[Paris Schneider]

Hollywood literally plays the tax game where they create companies. Like if you ever watch the, you know, whatever, like Samuel R. Brankovich presents, right? Like that company exists for that movie when it's a loss leader is gone, right? Like it's, it's, it's a very different business. And like, you know, I'd like to think that the games industry is better, but obviously it's coping with some challenges.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're talking about this like going forward, like challenge for Xbox. And that's what Ash is facing down. The thing that I cannot unstick myself, like I always think about it, is how good and bad the strategy was that everybody copied from Netflix, which is we need content for a subscription platform. So what are we going to do? We're going to give all of these creative people blank checks and then what happens? Well, that actually could have worked for Netflix if Amazon hadn't done the same thing. Disney, NBC and everybody tried that. And then there was just like a streaming subscription war. We all know that story. Xbox just modeled themselves in that exact thing. They said, let's buy a bunch of studios, let's do these games. But the length of time to make a game, the expense of it, and then how few subscriptions they apparently got was not even close to being the same business. And we're not. Netflix is fine. You know, they, they.

[Paris Schneider]

But I also think they're fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

But like they killed a bunch of people's careers though by hiring them and then, you know, killing the projects and all that stuff.

[Paris Schneider]

Netflix will, same effect, kill a show that you like after a season as well. Right. Like there's a lot of sort of heartache there where creative projects are not finished. I do think, you know, within the Xbox umbrella, as they bought all these different studios, you literally had an indie studio that makes a game with a walking lighthouse sitting next to the people making the biggest shooter on the planet.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

And like what are the expectations when you release these games into. Into a subscription network and you still sell them and all of that. And like, you know, a studio that makes the walking lighthouse game may have been better off as an indie where people rally behind the project because it's so crazy and unusual and, and they're seeing as, as, you know, not basically not being triple A.

[Joe]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

And like, I think all of that that changed. This is interesting that we just saw a glimpse of, you know, like avowed and stuff and it's like, yeah, I know.

[Damon Hadfield]

We'll talk about Avowed in just a minute, but another detail in this, the ID software layoffs, a detail that seems specifically designed to punish me that apparently they're prototyping a new perfect dark game.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, it's. Once again,

[Paris Schneider]

it's cursed to be.

[Damon Hadfield]

To be a perfect dark fan is to know pain.

[Nick Limone]

To know pain and be alone. But they're also workshopping a co op Doom game.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

And there was one other title, I

[Damon Hadfield]

believe, something they said, John Wick inspired where have gunplay and martial arts. So it's like they're working on all this cool stuff. They're a super talented team. Gutted. Right.

[Paris Schneider]

But.

[Sam Claiborne]

And a team that's like original creators from back to in the day that have somehow carried this brand and this team through all these eras of games. And it feels like the setback wasn't done by them, it was done by their owner to them. And that's what makes it feel so much more icky to me.

[Nick Limone]

I think an especially painful part of the thing that I mentioned a little bit earlier is that they laid off their entire engine development team. So the thing that it is basically known for and they are being encouraged to adopt Unreal Engine for all games moving forward. It's like we're getting to this point in the gaming industry where everything's going to start using Unreal Engine and nothing's going to feel unique. And that worries me.

[Paris Schneider]

Well, and the engines are going to be AI coded.

[Nick Limone]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

And it's the reality. Right. And so that is leveling the playing field. But I mean it's unfortunately a dollars and cents decision where they go. Does all that R and D work in the end give us an advantage. Right. It's a little bit like NASA. Is our R and D into rockets going to pay off? And they said no, we'll use a private company instead.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right?

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, it is a bummer.

[Sam Claiborne]

So you think that because of the choice to focus the layoffs on that team or whatever and then some of these other. Well, I'm answering my own question. I was hoping, are we still going to get video games out of this company? Because they're going to be able to switch to Unreal and then put out whatever they want. But no, not if they're not. If there's like these games that they were prototyping that are definitely gone now. Right. Like that just means we're getting three fewer games from the company.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, it is going to make the next Halo game because they were exploring a possibility where Halo or was going to be made by Activision at some point. So like, is this what's going to happen? Do I want that? Does anyone want that? I don't know. I want people to have jobs, I want to play cool games. But it seems we can't have both.

[Damon Hadfield]

I mean, there's layoffs at Bethesda, which calls into question. They're supposed to be making Elder Scrolls. You would think that would be one of the largest teams that they needed. And then at Obsidian, they've reportedly canceled a vowed two and now we'll focus on a New Fallout game, which, you know, we. This is something we've said for a long time. The top.

[Nick Limone]

Not.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, yeah. The top comment on this article on IGN is something like, a new Fallout game should have started the moment the contract was signed. And now it's like, six years later and they're just starting it now. Avowed 2, the game that got decent reviews but nobody bought. They're like, all right, let's see. Start Avowed two.

[Paris Schneider]

I know it's a Fallout.

[Sam Claiborne]

Who's even available to say, like. Who has the authority to even say, like, we'll do a Fallout, but, like, let's wait till about 2.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like, that's just weird to me.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

It's on the one hand, obviously, we want new IP, but it's like, you know, AVOW did that.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's been over 10 years since the last Fallout game.

[Paris Schneider]

I know. And that's confusing when you have, like, the people who made one of the most beloved Fallout games entering the family, and they're like, let's not put them on that.

[Nick Limone]

And not just too busy to make. Fallout Brands love the word synergy, as any company loves the word synergy. And they've put out two seasons of a Fallout TV show with no game to align with the subsequent release of those very critically acclaimed, beloved TV shows. So what's going on? How many games has Bethesda actually put out? Like, Bethesda Softworks put out since they were acquired by Microsoft?

[Paris Schneider]

Well, it's live service. Right. It's the curse of Fallout 76, Fallout

[Nick Limone]

76, and Elder Scrolls Online.

[Paris Schneider]

It's a lot of work to keep those going. Is a little lucrative, paying audiences, so I. I totally get it. Yeah. But, like. Yeah. Okay, so this is Arcade to Arcane is out there.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Is Blade ever going to happen?

[Damon Hadfield]

That one's up in the air because it's a French company and there's, like, legal stuff they have to go through.

[Sam Claiborne]

So there's no dishonored news right now?

[Nick Limone]

No, I don't think we're ever working on Blade again.

[Damon Hadfield]

Who knows if we'll even get that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, Blade. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. What about Starfield? Was there Starfield stuff in here?

[Damon Hadfield]

That would be a Bethesda, I think. Starfield done.

[Nick Limone]

I think they've finished up with Starfield with that latest expansion.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. I just thought, like, it'd be funny if we heard that the Starfield 2 was put on hold just so they could get back to Elder Scrolls now, because that sounds about, like, what's been happening.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay, so the reset has begun. Although I don't really know. We know what's happening, but I don't know what the end game is. Like you were just saying, what's the near term. Like you don't know what you would do if you were the head of Xbox right now. Like all these cuts will save them some money, but it doesn't solve Xbox's main problem, which is nobody wants to buy an Xbox.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

How do they solve that problem?

[Paris Schneider]

Well, look, they had a very successful platform with 360 and I think Sony smartly eroded the software advantage that Microsoft had with that hardware and obviously hardware advantages with later consoles too. So yeah, it's a tough one, right. When you're the third player and Nintendo has like that casual audience locked down, hybrid, handheld audience locked on. And then PlayStation is like power Machine, cool machine, awesome brand and lots of good first party games. I was like before PS4, like the PS3 age, I was completely Xbox same.

[Damon Hadfield]

I was 100%. I never owned a PS3.

[Paris Schneider]

I bought every game in it and I was like there was a bit of a sense of loyalty, but it was more about like I firmly believe the games were best and the online experiences was better on it.

[Nick Limone]

Yes.

[Paris Schneider]

And then it completely changed with PS4 and I sort of, you know, that became my number one console. So that said though, if you go back and you look at the gaming industry, for every Nintendo Switch and a Wii, there was a Wii U and a virtual boy, right. And like just, just because they were number three here and they're sort of struggling to catch up with the other two, doesn't mean that it has to be like that. If they come up with the right concepts, the right price and the right software lineup, I think there, everything is. An Xbox obviously eroded that sort of advantage where people said, oh, I love these games, so I'm going to play it on PC, I'm going to play it on another console. And I think secretly in the very beginning, Microsoft was hoping that one day you could do Xbox game Pass on a PlayStation. Right? And those walled gardens did not open up. Certainly the Apple App store did not open up the way that Epic wanted it to open up too. And so I think that

[Sam Claiborne]

the problem with your framing of that, Damon, is that they didn't ask that question for a couple years. They asked how do we get more subscribers? And instead of asking how do we sell Xboxes, those became at odds. I didn't expect them to become at odds that, that extremely. But they are. And, and they're still Putting out game pass games. Right. And like it's not, that's not going away. But if you wanted to like get at selling Xboxes, then you have to do the PS2 strategy, which is as many exclusives as possible. And as we said on the show before, they're so made in the shade to do that if they wanted to. And again like you have to like calculate like is this going to piss people off more than anything. Then they begrudgingly all buy Xbox. Then Xbox has a great console generation maybe. But like they can certainly wall it all off, like Paris saying, and just go completely, you know, Nintendo. Right. And that's not a bad model. This is working for Nintendo.

[Damon Hadfield]

They have the franchises just go back to actual exclusives.

[Sam Claiborne]

Absolutely.

[Damon Hadfield]

You want to play Elder Scrolls Fallout, it's on Xbox. But they also have to solve the affordability issue. They have to get the price back

[Sam Claiborne]

down, which is a big mess.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

But I mean to Paris, previous note, like we are losing so many people from these teams that made the games so special. So they are kind of a bit of a shambling corpse of what they once were. Unlike Nintendo, which you know, Nintendo has had issues in the past with terms of like reducing company or reducing smaller teams, getting rid of people. But it's very few and far between. And for the most part people who work at a Nintendo owned company stay there until they retire. Ala Koizumi, I believe, just retired and he's been at the company for years. Takashi Tezuka, all of them. So it's like the people and the knowledge is still there at Nintendo. And I think therein lies the difference between stuff that we're seeing at Microsoft and Sony that you are now that's

[Sam Claiborne]

a very good point.

[Paris Schneider]

Now you're okay.

[Nick Limone]

Now you're getting a halo potentially made by people who have never had their hands on a Halo before.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, no, but the creator, the lead on Fire Emblem obviously is no longer with a company. Right. They were just really good at adapting to things as well. Right. And they brought in Retro to take over the Metroid franchise. Right. Like because Mr. Yokoi died.

[Nick Limone]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

So there are changes that they're able to adapt to. And I will say, you know, obviously Bethesda is proof that you can do the same with franchise like Fallout.

[Nick Limone]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

Like it's not the original creators making that game and even Obsidian were not the, you know, the original team coming in to continue it. So I think all of that is doable. I think you just have to find the purpose. Like what is this brand supposed to be in the future. And I think this sort of knee jerk reaction to we gotta shift gears and do something new is always, well, let's play on nostalgia and bring back the green logo and go back to that. And it's like Atari tried that too a couple of times and it didn't work. Right. Because this sort of nostalgia is a fickle beast. And when people feel like, I love the Nintendo brand and I love the PlayStation 5, I love the PlayStation brand, is there room for a third thing, a third brand in gaming that people rally around the same way and you know, like you don't see a lot of people wearing Steam shirts. And it's an incredibly popular company. Right. Huge platform. Will there be utility and great gaming experience or will they be passion brand in the future? And I don't know, doesn't everything that.

[Damon Hadfield]

What's that? I would just say everything that Ash is doing, doesn't it paint Phil Spencer's mysterious exit in a different light? Like, I think I always thought it was weird that he just was gone one day. He's so visible to Xbox fans, always speaking to them at their conferences and showcases. And then one day he's just gone without making any sort of announcement, thanking the fans, anything like that. So it seems like eventually the other shoe dropped and Microsoft just said to him, look, everything you've tried with Xbox over the years, it's not working.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

So either you have to try completely different things. And he was just like, I'm out. And we know what, I'm out.

[Paris Schneider]

I mean, we don't know how much of that is. Phil wants to do this versus leadership, saying like, hey, this didn't work. Let's try something different.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Do a subscription service.

[Paris Schneider]

It's an expensive business within Microsoft. Right. And we've heard rumors a couple of times in the past where they're like, maybe we're not going to do another Xbox.

[Nick Limone]

Right. Like, or selling that earlier.

[Damon Hadfield]

I want, this is. I wanted to bring this up to you. You talk about it's an expensive business. Yeah. Selling the Xbox brand. Who they spent just 70 billion on Activision. Just Activision. So it's gonna be like well over $100 billion to buy Xbox. Who's buying Xbox? I don't, I don't really see that as a. Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

It seems like a thing that they just have no buyer for a couple of things.

[Paris Schneider]

And you know what Asha shared that make me hopeful that there is an understanding. Like for example, King. King is a company just like when EA bought the makers of plants versus zombies. Sometimes these great casual companies that have something figured out are being put in the umbrella of something of a company that makes games, but it's a completely different animal of games. And taking King out of the Activision umbrella and giving it room to grow and breathe, I think is a smart thing. And so de nesting some of that stuff is smart. But yeah, I don't, I don't know, I don't know what any of this means. And like, the funny thing is, whenever we're talking about it, like, we're like armchair CEOs, right? Like, we all love the concept of game pass. Like, sure, not having to buy games and you get these games day one as part of this affordable subscription that is heaven. And there were a couple of people out there who said, well, as a business model, that can't possibly work, but we're approaching it from a consumer angle and do gamers as well.

[Damon Hadfield]

Good for me.

[Paris Schneider]

Justified. Like, for me, this was awesome. Just like in the beginning when I didn't have to pay for satellite TV anymore, was like 300 bucks a month to get HBO and all of that. I'm like, ooh, a la carte. A la carte sounds awesome, right? And then it bites us in the butt because a la carte for like 10 different channels all going up in cost is obviously not the solution that

[Damon Hadfield]

we were hoped for.

[Paris Schneider]

It's freaking monkey's paw.

[Damon Hadfield]

When Disney launched, they locked me in with $4 a month for a three year contract to Disney. And now I'm what? It's like over $100 a year for that and Hulu and you can watch

[Paris Schneider]

every Disney movie and every Simpsons EP episode and every Star wars and all of that. That sounded heavenly. And then you have watched them all and you're like, where's my new stuff?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, what else is it? What else is there?

[Paris Schneider]

Where's my new stuff? So anyway, like I, I would never count any, any company out. Like the games industry has gone up and down and like different company has been on top. It's hard to imagine how it could ever change. But I mean, we heard rumblings that maybe the next PlayStation is going to be a switch, like console, right? Like they're constantly changing. There was a huge disruptive with the pandemic where everybody said, oh my God, gaming is gonna be so huge.

[Damon Hadfield]

They thought that was the new normal.

[Paris Schneider]

We cannot, we, we have to keep investing and feed the beast and it's gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger and then, you know, fun's over, dream's gone.

[Nick Limone]

Staff size is gone, Animal Crossing is

[Paris Schneider]

over, Pokemon Go is over. And it's like everything gets reset. And you see companies like Nintendo dealing with that too. They invested heavily in mobile games and now they're very, very quiet about that stuff.

[Damon Hadfield]

They actually just announced they're shutting down Mario Kart Tour.

[Paris Schneider]

There you go. Right, and so they announced a Zelda mobile game.

[Damon Hadfield]

They announced a Zelda mobile game.

[Paris Schneider]

Yes, they did. There was even a logo for it.

[Nick Limone]

I don't remember.

[Paris Schneider]

Stuff just goes up and comes down and they adjust. And maybe Microsoft wasn't fast enough to rein in things after that bubble.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay, well, the great Xbox reset has begun. Details continue to emerge about that, so we'll probably be talking about that for a while. Alienware's back to School event is the perfect time to score top gaming gear with incredible features and Intel Core processors to go beyond performance, save big on gaming desktops, laptops and more. Start your Alienware journey with the Alienware 15 gaming laptop, featuring Intel Core processors. Smoothly game livestream and multitask for hours on end. Plus play through every game exactly how you want with customizable AlienFX lighting across your Alienware ecosystem and creating your very own gaming profile and more. Finally, pair your incredibly smooth gaming experience with immersive visuals and sound by saving on sleek Alienware monitors, headsets and more. This limited time sale awaits you [e-mail] deals. That's alienware.com deals Car shopping shouldn't be a game of 20 questions. Is this the right price? Am I making the right choice? With Cargurus, you don't have to question yourself. Cargurus has the most inventory, transparent deal ratings and real time price drop alerts. Plus, with CarGurus app, you can access dealership mode, which gives you everything you need to navigate the dealership with confidence. With Cargurus, you can describe what you're looking for in your own words. With the new search feature Guru, simply type what you want and Guru instantly shows you real available listings that match your exact needs. Dealership mode on the Cargurus app puts you in control. You can compare cars side by side, check pricing and estimate your final costs so you can navigate the dealership with confidence. With more than 4 million listings, CarGurus has the biggest selection of cars, so it's easier than ever to find the right car and the right deal. It's no wonder that Cargurus is the number one most visited car shopping site according to SimilarWeb's estimated traffic data. Buy or sell your next car today with [e-mail] Go to CarGurus.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal. That's C-A-R G U R U S.com cargurus.com but let's move on to Assassin's Creed. Black Flag resynced. I think that should be out there by now. We give it a nine out of 10 and it's getting great reviews across the board. I think it has an 84 on open critic. And it's also off to a strong start on steam with around 100,000 concurrent players, more than any other Assassin's Creed in the franchise to date. So, wow. Really doing very, very well there. Which is why I feel a little bit like I'm on crazy pills with this one, because this one did not click with me.

[Nick Limone]

What?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Why?

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, like many people, I have great memories of playing Black Flag 13 years ago, but I haven't played it since. And I've played a lot of Assassin's Creeds since. So I sat down with my copy of resynced. I was all excited, but it did not take me very long to realize I, I would really rather be playing Odyssey or Shadows. I just, I feel like this was a big step forward for the franchise at the time, but it's taken additional big steps since then. And I just, I like the more modern games more.

[Sam Claiborne]

You don't think the adaptations, the modernizations are apparent to you to make it a little bit more like those games, like you're using the trigger buttons to fight? You know, it is a little bit

[Damon Hadfield]

more like those games. But Sam, I just like the settings of Odyssey and Shadows more. I like those protagonists more. Cassandra and now Cube is a little different variety of weapons more like, yeah,

[Paris Schneider]

the Caribbean is awesome. So I, I had a little bit of that experience with Mirage when it came out and lots of people were saying like, hey, these games, these turned into the Witcher 3 rather than being like, you know, Assassin's Creed, the original, and, and, and, and two, they became true open world games with just lots of stuff to do. And not everything is very unique that you do and gets kind of boring, right? Like, and I saw that criticism and I was like, yeah, you know what? I don't have that much time. I always play these games, spend way north of 100 hours on a new Assassin's Creed game every, every time. And I was like, I'm ready for a smaller one. And then I played Mirage.

[Nick Limone]

I'm like, yeah, it doesn't overstay its welcome. But it's very much like a. Oh, yeah. I was already tired of this formula by the time Assassin's Creed 4 came out.

[Paris Schneider]

But it was, it was very. It was competent and I liked the setting, but it just didn't click to me. Like, first of all, Origins is the pyramid you can't beat.

[Nick Limone]

I think Origins is my favorite of

[Damon Hadfield]

the modern trilogy and the characters is my personal favorite.

[Paris Schneider]

And the Greek. The Greek islands, it was. I loved that setting and especially the characters and like this sort of twinkle and like, sense of humor about, you know, the. Are the creatures real or not? Like, it played it really well.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was super cool.

[Paris Schneider]

And those two games are my highs. And so I have not been able to play this yet. I'm gonna download it tonight when I get home.

[Damon Hadfield]

I mean, I'm in the minority on this one.

[Nick Limone]

It's a gorgeous looking game. It's so vibrant. It's definitely one of those, like, I just want to let it run on my TV and my computer and just like, wow, this looks really damn good.

[Sam Claiborne]

But yeah, the water and beaches and trees are amazing.

[Nick Limone]

Back when this came out during the PS4 generation, I was already kind of over the Assassin's Creed formula. Up at that point, I had played through every single Assassin's Creed game and I was like, all right, I think I'm ready for something new. And then I finally played Origins and that was the great reset that I was like, okay, I'm back in. This is all really cool. But revisiting for now with this resync version, I do lament some of the changes, like the removal of the, you know, not Ubisoft game developer modern day storyline. I think that was such a unique, interesting thing. I'm a sucker for the modern day storyline. I do.

[Paris Schneider]

But I think you remember it as being something cool and you forgot that it was literally just walking and looking at somebody's computer.

[Nick Limone]

It's walking and looking at people's computer. But there's like, I don't know, it's just. It changes up the pace of the game and in the way that every time I go back to Kenway, I'm like, oh, it's a breath of fresh air again. Because I'm doing something a little bit different. And I think you need those pace breakers in games.

[Paris Schneider]

No cutscenes that do this. This sort of.

[Nick Limone]

When you, when you load into the game, they do like the. What is it? The animus. What is that? What do they call it now? It's like the Heel Helix system or whatever. But Basically the catch all launcher for every Assassin's Creed game. And it's framing it as you are launching this launcher where you can. If you have other Assassin's Creed games installed, you can launch them from within here. Because Infinity. That's what it's called.

[Paris Schneider]

I love the concept of it being this sort of like a meta textual story. Meta story. But like every time you had to in the modern world.

[Nick Limone]

I like National Treasure. I'm a sucker for. I think the Dan Brown books are terrible, but I can't help but read, you know, lost symbol angels and demons. Like I devour them. I know they're not great, but I enjoy them.

[Paris Schneider]

But if it had been. If the modern age had been like this whole thing is about DNA, right? Like, if it had been about like leading a dig into a temple and finding the remnants of a character and then you get to play at that character like something more meaningful. It was. Would have been way more fun than the constantly walking around in these sterile office buildings and looking at somebody's emails.

[Nick Limone]

Very fair. Very fair.

[Paris Schneider]

Which is what happened in this game like multiple times, right? Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Sam, have you spent any time with resynced yet?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I have. So my favorite Assassin's Creed game is Shadows and I think it improved the formula and I love the setting and it was tied for my favorite game last year, so. Love that game. And I'm also like a little bit tired of that formula now. I think it's so relieving to go back to game where you just click a button and everybody's just read that you can assassinate and you always know you can be above them and kill them without any consequences. You always know you can hide behind things. You always know you can be in bushes. There's nothing. You don't send an eagle up in the air to scan everybody. Nothing like that. It's just all just video game. You're just playing a video game. So I like that about it. And then also who cares about all that crap you do? Ship battles in this game. None of this matters.

[Paris Schneider]

The ship battles.

[Sam Claiborne]

Why are we even talking? We just spent five minutes not talking about ship battles. That is insane. And that's a problem with this because you do have to play a lot of this game before you get to them. But it does start with them. And that first broadside that you're doing where it's like just click this button and sync these ships. It's so cool.

[Nick Limone]

It's just.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, the audio is amazing. Yep.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. So I just can't wait to get back into that part of it. And the rest of it is just bubblegum popcorn, easy video game stuff to me. Totally happy with it. But I totally get why it's weird to compare to the other games now. But I'm fine going back. And I didn't like Mirage. That game sucks.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, wow.

[Paris Schneider]

It sucks.

[Nick Limone]

I wouldn't say it sucks. It's like the best version of the old formula.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, this is the best version of the old formula.

[Nick Limone]

All right, well, Kenway is a good protagonist. I think him and Ezio are tied for some of my favorites.

[Sam Claiborne]

That storytelling is kind of funny. He's like, well, I'm gonna. He's like. First he's like, I'm leaving my wife to go to be a pirate for two years. And then he's like, but maybe if I steal this Assassin's Cube, I'll be able to trick a governor in some money. But he killed an assassin. Aren't these assassins supposed to be the biggest badasses in the world?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then. Then he kills, like, 70 of them.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, right.

[Sam Claiborne]

In a row. He's walking through the town with Templars, and all the assassins are just like, ow, you stabbed me in the face.

[Paris Schneider]

You guys are misunderstanding that this is not real life. This is somebody jumps into the DNA code memories.

[Damon Hadfield]

Why, from the very beginning, can Edward Kenway do the eagle drop?

[Nick Limone]

How does he know that's what pirates do?

[Damon Hadfield]

He's not even an assassin at that point. He can just do it right from the beginning of the game.

[Sam Claiborne]

And then they're like, we're gonna test you because you have your Assassin's Daggers now. And we're gonna do a little test to make sure you're an actual Templar. And then, of course, you just can do everything perfectly. Like, you get inside hay Bale and then do an X. It's just so stupid.

[Paris Schneider]

Speak for yourself. My characters always fall off stuff.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, this is also coming from the same organization that approached a random bartender in New York in Assassin's Creed 1. Desmond. Like, hey, you're actually a super important part of this Assassin's Templar situation. Come with us. And he's like, all right, Sounds good.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, man.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, when they were like, well, the Templars are the good guys. That happened in one of these games.

[Nick Limone]

Was that Assassin's Creed Rogue? I think that was Rogue three.

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe a rogue. Maybe it was Rogue.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, I'm not trying to yuck anyone's. Yum. I hope scoop nation is enjoying the game. It did not click for me, so I'll just Be over here playing something else.

[Paris Schneider]

I'm looking forward to it.

[Nick Limone]

Surely you have some more shadows to play.

[Damon Hadfield]

Right? I actually was thinking about I should just place. I never finished Shadows, so I should just play that.

[Nick Limone]

No one's. No one's finished that game.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

But of course I will have no idea what I was doing or how the controls work.

[Paris Schneider]

Hey, David, can I show you the other big news?

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Pear had the show and tell.

[Paris Schneider]

Biggest news of the week. You guys completely ignored.

[Nick Limone]

We had a goodie.

[Paris Schneider]

Do you guys remember amiibos?

[Damon Hadfield]

So there's a new king.

[Paris Schneider]

No, no, no, no. You don't want to get too close.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, my God.

[Paris Schneider]

So King ddd. This is the Smash Brothers version.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Paris Schneider]

Thank you for zooming in.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is your.

[Paris Schneider]

I just want your camera.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, wow.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Paris Schneider]

Size differences. Now wait here, we'll do the Lord of the Rings thing. Oh, it's next to the other thing. No, he's ginormous. Like, I don't know. You can definitely tell.

[Damon Hadfield]

Is this. But so what?

[Sam Claiborne]

When did he get the tank treads? What's happening?

[Paris Schneider]

Who cares? Kirby Air Riders. Kirby Air Rider. So it comes apart.

[Joe]

Look.

[Paris Schneider]

It's. It's. It's two toys in one. And so it costs three times what the other toy costs. Yeah, these are. These cost as much as freaking video games now. But yeah, Nintendo still keeps making these.

[Sam Claiborne]

Isn't there a dedede variant where this. The hammer has like a sparkle coating on it?

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, there's. There's more dd, something like that.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, you know what I'm talking about. They're like the actual manufacturing of it. Change.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, I see. I see. I don't know about that.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's a variant.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Anyway, these are huge, right?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that's. I mean, it's very impressive.

[Sam Claiborne]

More about Amiibo.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, that's it. Let's see a new Amiibo for the month.

[Nick Limone]

But what does it get you though?

[Paris Schneider]

A hole of $50 in your wallet. Oh, wait, these do something. What do they do?

[Nick Limone]

I think you're supposed to use them in Kirby's Air Riders, right?

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, that's right.

[Nick Limone]

Foreign.

[Damon Hadfield]

There are things in life that you don't want to be transparent, like your swimsuit or your search history. But when it comes to your wireless build, transparency is everything. That's why Mint Mobile's wireless plans have no gimmicks and no gotchas. Just high speed data and reliable coverage on the T Mobile 5G network. And right now, all plans are $15 per month, even unlimited. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless? And made it right with Premium Wireless for 15 bucks a month. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the largest 5G network. Choose from 3, 6 or 12 month plans and say goodbye to a monthly bill. Ditched overpriced wireless with Mint Mobile it's so easy. Sign up online and get three months of premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com gamescoop that's mintmobile.com Gamescoop cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com Gamescoop that's it. There's no catch. Upfront payment of 45 dollars for three months, 90 for six months or 180 for 12 months. Plan required 15 dollars per month equivalent taxes and fees Extra initial plan term Only greater than 50 gigs may slow when network is busy. Includes up to 20 gigs Hotspot capable device required availability, speed and coverage varies. Cmitmobile.com When I'm traveling, I find that learning a few real phrases in the local language really changes the experience in a good way. If you're traveling this summer, here's a real travel hack. Don't wait until you land to start learning the language. Instead, try babbel. Even just 10 minutes a day with Babbel can help you start having real conversations in as little as three weeks. It helps you learn phrases you'd use ordering dinner, asking for directions, or talking with locals. Lessons are quick, practical and built by more than 200 language experts. They have interactive dialogue and even podcasts. It's all designed to get you speaking quickly and confidently. Babbel fits into your schedule. A coffee break, a commute, or a few minutes before bed. Babbel's award winning app has sold over 25 million subscriptions and is backed by a 14 day money back guarantee. If you've got summer travel coming up, now's the time to start so you can actually use what you learn on the trip. Right now, Babbel is offering listeners up to 60% off. Go to Babbel.com Gamescoop that's Babbel B A B B E L.com Gamescoop for up to 60% off. Rules and restrictions may apply. Okay Jobber, let's bring up our magazine for the month. This is the July 1991 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. What movie was the biggest movie in the world in summer of 1991?

[Sam Claiborne]

I hope it was Street Fighter 2,

[Damon Hadfield]

the movie it wasn't. It wasn't that Judge Dredd. There you go. It did have Judge in the title, Sam.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes, it did.

[Damon Hadfield]

Which we're coming up on the 35th anniversary of it and then putting it back in theaters. I'm definitely gonna try to see.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, nice.

[Damon Hadfield]

Later this summer.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, I would love to go see that in the theater. That's.

[Damon Hadfield]

I think it's late August.

[Sam Claiborne]

My wife's favorite movie. I want to go see this. So do you Remember Clay Fighter 2, Judgment Clay, though?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, Yep, I remember that one, Sam. They've got first picks of Castlevania 4 in this issue. New for Nintendo.

[Nick Limone]

That's super Castlevania, right?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, super Castlevania 4.

[Paris Schneider]

I already had my. My copy editor brain back then, and I cannot tell you how many times I've seen judgment spelled with an e incorrectly. Oh, they have so many Judgment Days with an e in it.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right, Contra force is covered here. This is going to be a good issue.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, there's some good.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, this is a great cover.

[Damon Hadfield]

All right, Joe, let's. Let's get into the issue. Now. This is a two page spread for this publisher. Renovation. Renovation does what nine year olds want. So they're playing on the Genesis does what Nintendon ad campaign, but it doesn't really work. Nine year olds, one word. Genesis does what? Ninja.

[Sam Claiborne]

You put that together.

[Damon Hadfield]

Revelation does what nine year olds want.

[Paris Schneider]

Like that's really bad. Like it sounded like a good idea to somebody taking a shower in the morning. People are gonna love this.

[Damon Hadfield]

And look at this kid. Nine year olds. Like, I thought the whole thing with the Sega Genesis, they're. They're trying to say that Nintendo's for babies. This is the, this is the cool system for. For grownups and teenagers.

[Paris Schneider]

That looks like the. Looks like the farmer from Cluxon's farm.

[Damon Hadfield]

This doesn't really work. This ad does not work.

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe this was a cooler kid.

[Damon Hadfield]

I don't know.

[Nick Limone]

What. What were. What do the kids want?

[Damon Hadfield]

Guy eras.

[Sam Claiborne]

Gain ground.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, Gain ground.

[Sam Claiborne]

Valis.

[Nick Limone]

Three kids want valis. All right, maybe the kids are cooler than I thought.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay, we get into the letters.

[Sam Claiborne]

I like their inclusion of the Game Pro and EGM scales. Yeah, though that looks cool.

[Damon Hadfield]

I would imagine that we're in egm, so I think including Game Pro in there probably was annoying to them back then. So getting into the letters. Who invented video games? Help. I am working on a research paper and I am stuck. It is on the history of video games. I have been able to obtain info on all the older Systems and their games. But I want to go back even further. That's my problem. I can't find any information on the history of video games. One source talks about Nolan Bushnell, Another mentions Ralph Baer. Who are these people?

[Paris Schneider]

They're the inventor of video games.

[Damon Hadfield]

This is the best part. Remember, this is the July issue. Since you are the authority on video games, can you help me? Hurry. The paper is due May 31st.

[Paris Schneider]

Leave time.

[Sam Claiborne]

Fatality.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, that's so good.

[Damon Hadfield]

They came up with someone that I actually had never heard of. They said it was this guy that helped build the atomic bomb. Yeah. Willie Higginbotham. And I had never. He actually made the first, like, tennis for two. I. I would have thought it was Ralph Bear.

[Paris Schneider]

He made an oscilloscope space war game.

[Damon Hadfield]

And he works.

[Paris Schneider]

And Nolan made the sort of arcade concept.

[Nick Limone]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

Like. So it depends on what. What you define as the first game.

[Sam Claiborne]

But yeah. And there's even word games and Tic Tac Toe that are not. So there's not a first to anything. Right?

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, but, yeah, and then. Yeah, they're little toys with lights that light up, that predate them and. Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

All right, the next stage, we have an ad for Adventure Island 2. And remember, this is 1991, so it's pretty late for the NES, so, Sam, I just would have thought we'd be on Adventure Island 4 by.

[Nick Limone]

What? Beautiful.

[Sam Claiborne]

That is weird that it's so late, but I think the ad is running late. I think this was out already. But this game is fantastic. And you can actually do the thing that Miyamoto couldn't figure out in Super Mario Brothers is why they needed to make the Super Nintendo, which is you can ride a dinosaur in it. You ride all these dinosaurs and you collect them, and it's really great. Plus, this has this really interesting origin. And that being, you know, basically a Hudson. A real person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that. That we called Master Higgins here, but in Japan was a celebrity who could hit a video game button very fast.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

I like how in the corner it says Enjoy Hudson.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah. I was just trying to figure this out if this was like their. Their US brand at the time or. No, they just. This is their. Their sort of corporate slogan. Right.

[Nick Limone]

What a chill ad, though.

[Damon Hadfield]

This also. The box.

[Sam Claiborne]

The Island.

[Damon Hadfield]

The logo is so good. The Island. I love the clouds and the gradient in the clouds. That's so.

[Nick Limone]

That's that blue sky.

[Damon Hadfield]

That's good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it is so clean. And then if you see the game map for this too, it's like kind of Mario World. Like also like, I think this game was a pretty big inspiration.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah. That looks world.

[Nick Limone]

That would have me hyped if I got this in the mail. Yeah, that little world map screen is incredible. I'm also still recovering from that previous letter. I just saw the word S dash NES and I'm like still stun locked from it. Sorry.

[Paris Schneider]

It's your judgment.

[Sam Claiborne]

And look, it's called Dinosaur Kingdom in this copy too. Cool.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. More letters. Two people write in asking how they can hook their genesis up with. With rgb.

[Nick Limone]

Dang, these kids are cool, man.

[Damon Hadfield]

What instead of that is composite.

[Paris Schneider]

You can't, right?

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Instead of composite,

[Sam Claiborne]

an RF switch.

[Nick Limone]

Rf. There you go.

[Damon Hadfield]

And then they have a little side by side comparison about how the text in this Batman game is easier to read with rgb. That's pretty cool for the time.

[Nick Limone]

That's really neat. Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Talking about composite, right?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Composite. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. And then someone writes in, said, I just had a chance to see Sega's new Game Gear. The unit that was set up for play in the store had a different screen image than what I saw in their advertising in all the magazines. Sega in their Game Gear ads shows a game screen that is much clearer than what it actually is. How do they do it and why? EGM says, you're right. The screen image is different than that in the ads. But SEGA is not alone in this practice. Thumb through all the Game Boy ads and you'll see the same thing. The Game Boy picks are taking off special industrial Wide Boy systems. The Game Gear photos are taking off similarly complex development systems. The companies do this in order to be able to clearly show the details in the game.

[Paris Schneider]

And sometimes they're just made up.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

That screenshot looks fantastic of Mappy Land, by the way.

[Damon Hadfield]

Mappy Land.

[Sam Claiborne]

That is not nearly what Mappy Land probably ended up looking like. And we call those bullshots now, which I think is one of the funniest terms that was ever invented. And I hope IGN invented it, but I'm not sure. Do you think it was one of y' all fair?

[Nick Limone]

It was when Killzone 2 was first shown. Right. I thought bullshots came from that. Yeah. Because it was like a super impressive cinematic where it was like, this is real gameplay. It wasn't.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, it came from the IGN boards.

[Damon Hadfield]

Probably.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember my favorite bullshots of all time must be Red Steel because it led us all to believe that like Ubisoft was making like a 360 quality for the Wii. Wii Game before launch and it looked amazing. I believe EGM carried those screenshots. It was a fantastic era.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep. Someone with the name 0 to 30 bit MC wrote an EGM rap which I won't. I won't actually.

[Nick Limone]

Oh man.

[Damon Hadfield]

But then below that there's this weird ad. Are you game for this? Start your own used video game mail order company. The Home Arcade International Exchange makes it as easy as selling magazine subscriptions. This is like some weird like, like pyramid scheme.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, this is 100% a pyramid scheme.

[Paris Schneider]

We will sell you the first 12 games.

[Damon Hadfield]

All right. Then we get into review crew. They did not like Bill and Ted on Nes Sam 4:5 3:3 but then do you know Bogus they said

[Nick Limone]

then.

[Damon Hadfield]

Do you know this pinball game? It's an NES pinball game called High Speed. I don't know this.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah. So there's High Speed and Pinbot are actual Williams Midway arcade games. Valley Midway, Williams that were the same at the time. But they're. Yeah, they're actual arcade machines that they, you know, were able to digitally recreate on the nes. They're not well done. But it's just interesting that they're trying to co market them on the nes. These are pretty good scores too. I have for the play choice in here that my friend Scott gave me. But it's sealed in the box. The original like play choice, like swap out. So I've never taken it out because it has like the manuals and how to install and stuff. It's all. But it's just really cool.

[Damon Hadfield]

Cool. Next phase, they did smash TV for the NES 6645. They said. Oh yeah. Wait, first of all, have you played this one Sam with the two controller setup?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very confusing.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. They say Smash TV is pretty good translation of the arcade. My main complaint is that the graphics seem like they've been shrunk down to microscopic size. The gameplay is almost intact. Using two pads gives it better control. A good two player game if you have four controllers. What a wild like. Yeah. Wait.

[Sam Claiborne]

Crazy thing because you use the D pads also they were wrong.

[Nick Limone]

This is not a good version of Smash tv. I guess if that's all you had at the time then that's fair.

[Sam Claiborne]

But there is a good the super nes. If there's a Genesis one, I'm sure it's good too.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, the 16 bit ones are pretty okay. Then they liked two other sort of like cult classic NES games, Base wars and Scats.

[Nick Limone]

They got to have a better name

[Damon Hadfield]

than Sketch, you know Special cybernetic attack team.

[Nick Limone]

Got it.

[Paris Schneider]

What do you call it?

[Nick Limone]

Got it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Space wars is the robot baseball game where the robots can overheat and explode on the field. It's great.

[Nick Limone]

Base war is sick.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. It's great music just like every ultra game.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think Damon and I share an obsession for this game's just look and feel. And the robot designs. We used to put this on.

[Damon Hadfield]

We played it in the old iPhone.

[Nick Limone]

This feels like. Like it would have been like a Stuart Gordon like robot jocks era style. Like cheesy sci fi movie. Like it needed to happen.

[Sam Claiborne]

You beat each other up.

[Nick Limone]

That rules.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like you can. Like it's like hockey where you can go at each other and stuff.

[Nick Limone]

And.

[Damon Hadfield]

And then.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

And then Scat is like a. A shooter.

[Paris Schneider]

It's called.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, it's good. It's kind of like for. I think it's called Forbidden Worlds. The. The Capcom game. You're like. You're like floating and it's two player. And it's from Natsume.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Which at the time they also had like Shadow of the Ninjas. They were doing good stuff on the NES at this time.

[Nick Limone]

I know this one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Well, they're different. Natsume. Right. There was the actual developer and then there's the publishing house in the us the tiny publishing house.

[Damon Hadfield]

The one that we used to have to go to their holiday party every year.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And.

[Paris Schneider]

But the developer that's to me was behind. Behind Harvest Moon. Yeah. The original team.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, exactly. And here it is.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm looking at a. Oh, wait. Because in Japan it must. It must be an adaptation of like a. Like an anime or something. Right. That they covered up here. It's called Final Mission, though. I don't know.

[Nick Limone]

Okay, never mind.

[Damon Hadfield]

Next page. Here it is. It's EGM's review of Sonic the Hedgehog, which they don't think they even mentioned on the COVID Yeah, there was.

[Nick Limone]

There was no mention of Sonic.

[Paris Schneider]

Probably too late.

[Damon Hadfield]

Sonic the Hedgehog got in too late. Straight nines or it was old.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think Sonic actually remember from Console Wars. I think Sonic, like it came out and then they spent some time hyping it and then it took off like it wasn't a out the gate hit. I think.

[Damon Hadfield]

I think they've been hyping it up in the magazine for months. Yeah. But they say maybe, definitely, without a doubt, positively the most incredible action game ever created for the Genesis. Sonic is the best game ever. Cut into the Genesis. Genesis has been hit by Sonic. Boom.

[Paris Schneider]

Looks like Sonic was always Good.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, I was just gonna say this is how we know EGM never had good taste in games.

[Sam Claiborne]

Each person. So it's nines across the board, everybody docked a point. And that was clearly because you couldn't play as tails in this game. Right?

[Joe]

That's right.

[Nick Limone]

Great screen, great music in Sonic. Great music, great music, great sprites. It is a little bit bs. You get all the kit, you got to get all the emeralds to get the real ending. That it's not fun. Especially the. The tilting levels. Oh my gosh, this vomit city.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Next page is an ad for software, etc. Which I just think is interesting. They're offering like a $10 rebate on Genesis systems and $5 on games. So it's just like, hey, The Genesis is $10 cheaper at our store. I thought that was kind of interesting. Someone has written a phone number down here. Maybe that's their local software, et cetera.

[Sam Claiborne]

Do you know how great this summer was when Sonic and Terminator 2 were out at the same time and the

[Damon Hadfield]

Super Nintendo was like, it was awesome. Imminent.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that's hype right there. That's hype.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was a great summer.

[Damon Hadfield]

On the next page, they review Ninja Gaiden for the Atari Lynx. And this is based on the arcade version, which I actually like.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

I like this game. They give it straight eights and that's a pretty good port. That's a bullshot on the Atari Lynx. I don't think so.

[Nick Limone]

They explained it earlier in the letter section, Sam, how they got such good screenshots.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it's from a wide boy. It's a wide boy.

[Nick Limone]

Did it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. And Quarterman's gaming gossip, they talk about how the Genesis. They're dropping the price of the Genesis down to 150 bucks.

[Nick Limone]

Was this true? Did they end up doing this?

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, yeah. Because they did it before the Super Nintendo came out, which I was probably going to launch it for $200. But then they also say in the Nintendo camp the decision has been made to place Mario in charge of leading their 16 bidders move into the market. Super Mario world, the awesome 16 bit Super Mario adventure that the head ed terminated on the last page of EGM's June issue. I don't know what that means. Will come in each and every box. Just that it'll be a pack in game for Super Nintendo.

[Nick Limone]

Man, if you're a kid in 91, this is great. Video games just get cheaper and cheaper. I can't wait for video games 30 years from now.

[Damon Hadfield]

Graphics 16 was $99 at this time. And I love that system now.

[Nick Limone]

It's the inverse.

[Damon Hadfield]

That is a great system. Yeah. Next page There. Talk about the Super Nintendo is going to be making its debut at the summer ces.

[Paris Schneider]

That's right.

[Nick Limone]

Summer quarter.

[Paris Schneider]

That used to.

[Damon Hadfield]

Did you ever go to CES?

[Paris Schneider]

No. Well, I've been to modern CES. Not the classics.

[Damon Hadfield]

Not the pre E3.

[Paris Schneider]

E3 started as a corner of CES.

[Nick Limone]

Got it.

[Paris Schneider]

I've seen photos, but I've never been.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's an airbrushed mock up. It's so cool.

[Damon Hadfield]

Look how bright the super is.

[Nick Limone]

It's also like curved on the top, which is a little unusual. That's kind of sick.

[Sam Claiborne]

More like the Famicom.

[Paris Schneider]

That looks like the redesigned Super NES almost.

[Sam Claiborne]

Right.

[Paris Schneider]

Like with a rounded corners.

[Damon Hadfield]

Dude. The Super Nintendo will be in stores this fall.

[Paris Schneider]

God.

[Damon Hadfield]

What. What a time. Take me back.

[Nick Limone]

I do think the Super Famicom has the superior design, but like I still. Just the nostalgia. Seeing that gray and purple still hits me.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

And when it was still gray and not.

[Nick Limone]

And weird yellow and not tan. Smoker's tan.

[Sam Claiborne]

Smoker's tan, Exactly.

[Damon Hadfield]

They show like pictures of like all the chips and the sound chip and the memory chip and all this stuff. It's really interesting that they would want to show that. And then there's one Screenshot of Zelda 3, the long rumored Zelda 3 NES.

[Nick Limone]

It's a crazy way of saying it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Mario World Super Mario.

[Paris Schneider]

It says Mario 4.

[Damon Hadfield]

There's that hyphenated.

[Sam Claiborne]

That screenshot looks great.

[Nick Limone]

Dude, that trips me up. That's. I'm so glad they got rid of that dash. I know.

[Paris Schneider]

It's so fun when you go back and like Paper Mario was Super Mario rpg.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay.

[Paris Schneider]

All these names.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, if you guys like airbrushed images, check out the next one for Robocop on Game Boy. You know, it's just the familiar RoboCop poster with some screens. But then what is this on the Game Boy art that they've added here with this giant Mario skidding image in the middle of the screen? It's so. It's like weird. Why is this here?

[Nick Limone]

This is also probably old news by now, and I think everyone knows this, but RoboCop has incredible. On the Game Boy, specifically incredible title music on its. It's so good.

[Damon Hadfield]

I'll put it in this. I'll put it in this episode.

[Nick Limone]

It's so good that they stole it for a commercial for like a. A washing machine, I believe. Yeah. Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. I'll put in this episode. Also, this Game Boy has, like, headphones plugged into it. I just don't know why it's here. It's just a strange thing to include in their ad.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that's a. That's a weird. That's because I want to listen to that badass title song from Robocop foreshadowing somewhere else.

[Sam Claiborne]

Also, that again, to your logo. Love that ocean logo is really.

[Nick Limone]

It's so.

[Paris Schneider]

I love the old ocean logo. I mean, it literally looks like something sprayed on the side of a van in Venice beach.

[Nick Limone]

Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yeah. And it has a little bit of a tinge of colored pencil. It's not perfect, it's just great.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep.

[Nick Limone]

Good.

[Damon Hadfield]

So next page is all about how they. They're lowering the price of the TurboGrafx. So the Turbographics was 99 now, but the CD ROM, it had been 400. Wasn't that crazy, the CD ROM? A peripheral cost four times as much as the base.

[Sam Claiborne]

God.

[Damon Hadfield]

But they're even dropping that $100.

[Nick Limone]

Is that where you could only play. What is it? The Castlevania Dracula X on the CD version of it? Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Dang. I would have wanted that.

[Damon Hadfield]

Damn. Actually, yeah. I had a friend who had like, a. An older brother who was already, like, working and unmarried, so he had lots of disposable income and he had the CD drive.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, that's so cool. You always got to find one of those friends when you're a kid.

[Damon Hadfield]

The next page.

[Sam Claiborne]

Never saw that back in the day.

[Damon Hadfield]

Next page is an ad for Vice, Project Doom on nes. This is infamous box art. Because, look, this lady, she. I'm sorry. Apparently she's been rescued, but the lights are on and nobody's home. She's already been converted to the. The lizard people.

[Paris Schneider]

It's because one eye is slightly off too, right? She's like, look. Looking for a fly to catch.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes, exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

It turns out the Project Doom was inside us all.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Yeah. That's true.

[Nick Limone]

Shoot to thrill.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep. That's a great. This is also a great game. It's on Nintendo Switch Online. This game has a cold open. You play through a whole segment before the title screen.

[Nick Limone]

Nice cinematic storyteller Bond.

[Damon Hadfield]

Very cool. The. The next page is their Preview of Castlevania 4. Very glowing. This is a hot one. Will probably be one of the best Super Famicom titles of the year in Japan and the US as well. That is a great game.

[Nick Limone]

What an opening grid.

[Damon Hadfield]

Sam. What?

[Nick Limone]

So good it does.

[Damon Hadfield]

So many cool visual.

[Sam Claiborne]

I like how you can dangle the whip and it does nothing. That's funny.

[Paris Schneider]

The can deflect shots. You take that back, sir.

[Nick Limone]

The opening of the title, like where you walk up to the castle and then the music hits once you're in one one. Oh my

[Joe]

God.

[Paris Schneider]

Mode 7. They're like, We've got Mode 7.

[Nick Limone]

You get to hear all the Super Nintendo audio channels. Oh, it's so sick.

[Damon Hadfield]

The organ.

[Sam Claiborne]

So Simon's too big. It makes it difficult to move around in the game because they've tried to make. Castlevania 3 was so much better.

[Paris Schneider]

These screenshots are all wrong.

[Damon Hadfield]

I'm not going to argue it's better.

[Paris Schneider]

Colors are completely wrong.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, the colors are completely wrong. And also I agree with Sam in that point. Castlevania 3 is the better game.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was a bummer. It was kind of like going back to the one model. And I thought it was a little too Ghosts and Goblins for me.

[Damon Hadfield]

Me.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's what I think.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, speaking of, the next page is Super Ghouls and Ghosts. Oh. Which they say definitely a candidate for Game of the year.

[Nick Limone]

I love super times when a game

[Damon Hadfield]

like Golden Ghost could be definitely a candidate for a game of the year.

[Nick Limone]

What a game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Really cool.

[Nick Limone]

This game's so hard. I love it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, it's so hard.

[Nick Limone]

But you gotta beat it twice.

[Paris Schneider]

Some incredible music. The.

[Damon Hadfield]

The ship music.

[Paris Schneider]

The ghost ship is so good.

[Nick Limone]

And the sprites too. They're just gorgeous.

[Damon Hadfield]

Look at that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yes. I can hardly believe it.

[Paris Schneider]

How that sound chip could make bone sounds like the rattling bones.

[Sam Claiborne]

Sounds so good. I love that.

[Damon Hadfield]

Everything's a sample.

[Sam Claiborne]

Joe and Mac was a really good arcade port from the Sarah too. Remember how good Joe and Mac was?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

But screw this game. It makes me so mad.

[Damon Hadfield]

The next page has Super Adventure Island. But then what I wanted to point out is they have SimCity in the corner and they say Nintendo is bringing out a 60 minute version of the popular computer and NES Cart tag. That's such a weird. Like it never came to nes. Why would they call it a popular NES card? I know there was like a. It's like unreleased.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's box art. Yeah, it's very strange. So they must have played the Famicom maybe like prototype or something ahead of time. Yeah, it's weird.

[Damon Hadfield]

I just thought that was weird. Okay. Speaking of VALIS 3, the next ad, who's this mom that they got to play the title character in Valis 3?

[Nick Limone]

That's pretty good cosplay.

[Paris Schneider]

I don't know.

[Damon Hadfield]

This is like. This is renovation again. It's like, oh, we forgot to take the photo for our ad. Courtney and reception, can you just come in here, put on this outfit?

[Sam Claiborne]

You know what? Keep the scarf.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, the scarf works. Let's do that. She looks so, like, awkward. Like she doesn't know how to. What do I do with my hands?

[Paris Schneider]

I don't know.

[Damon Hadfield]

It's great. I love it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Clearly she's never had a halberd before.

[Nick Limone]

I like the music in the Vallis games. I think they put out a collection of this semi recently of like the first three or four games.

[Paris Schneider]

I have no memory of this game. I know the name.

[Damon Hadfield]

I have no memory of this.

[Sam Claiborne]

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

[Nick Limone]

They're kind of boring. Side scroller that you're just kind of

[Damon Hadfield]

like a hack and slash game.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. It's pretty straightforward and kind of boring, but it's. It's got its charm.

[Sam Claiborne]

The sword popping out of that box. Art is just. That's the bee's knees, though.

[Nick Limone]

That's.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, that's pretty.

[Nick Limone]

I would have been into that sword.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay, the next page is a full page ad for. It's crazy black and white ad for Verdict Telereviews Incorporated. They proudly present eyewitness news from the summer Consumer Electronics show in Chicago. If you want the latest news on what happened in Chicago, you've got to call vtr. We've got reports on all the systems, all the games, all the coming attractions in the video gaming world, and it's available today. You can be among the first to know the hottest gaming info in the world. So don't waste another minute or another second. Call VTR right now. And there's a 900 number and then all these codes that you can put in to learn about NES action games or Genesis hot rumors.

[Paris Schneider]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

So like, like the Internet ruined everything.

[Damon Hadfield]

Is what that is. EGM would be reporting on CES in three issues, but Verdict Teller review said you can learn about whatever's happening right now. Right now?

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah. Zoom in on the eyes for a second next to the headline. Fantastic.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's all from like, print shop. It's like these elements of like, like maybe a layout program.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, then joa Go to the train at the bottom. It says the vtr.

[Sam Claiborne]

So good.

[Damon Hadfield]

Catch it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I love that.

[Nick Limone]

That's just the Monopoly train.

[Sam Claiborne]

Catch it.

[Damon Hadfield]

They need to work on their tagline.

[Sam Claiborne]

They. All right, we got this. We got to make a show. It says the game Scoop News Train.

[Damon Hadfield]

Catch it.

[Paris Schneider]

It's like a buck for a minute of listening to this.

[Damon Hadfield]

That's brutal for the first minute.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

95 cents for each additional over $10 now, right. Like it's crazy.

[Nick Limone]

I would have gotten in so much trouble if I called a 1900 number.

[Paris Schneider]

Jesus.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

All right. And the final image from this issue is for Sam. It's for Burger Time Deluxe on Game Boy.

[Nick Limone]

That's an ad right there.

[Sam Claiborne]

Good version of Burger Time. But it's a great ad.

[Nick Limone]

That's such a good ad.

[Damon Hadfield]

Look at that angry weenie.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, that's a good looking burger too.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, I, I, I, I've never played this Burger Time on Game Boy.

[Sam Claiborne]

Me neither. But it looks good. That egg is pissed.

[Nick Limone]

Game Link compatible, two players. Whoa.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

All right. That was the July.

[Sam Claiborne]

Unusual to have a fried egg on a burger back then and I must be a Japanese thing, but it's really, really good.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Now I have those. It's great.

[Damon Hadfield]

That was the July. Sorry, it's too 1991 issue.

[Joe]

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[Damon Hadfield]

That was a good one. Okay, real quick, extracurricular activities before we get into video game 20 Questions. I finally saw Obsession and I loved it. I loved it. You've. You've not seen it, Sam.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't wait to see it. I'll go see it right now.

[Damon Hadfield]

You should go see it right now. It's so good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

It's excellent.

[Sam Claiborne]

I really like streaming right away too.

[Nick Limone]

It's. It's on demand now.

[Damon Hadfield]

You can pay 20 bucks.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, I'll watch it tomorrow. That's. I can't wait. We'll make a Friday night movie at home because I'm so jet lagged.

[Paris Schneider]

Yep. David already warned me that my wife would probably not take this movie. So I'm gonna have to.

[Sam Claiborne]

I won't even say anything. I'll just be like, you like this movie?

[Damon Hadfield]

It's about a guy who has a crush on a girl and he makes a wish that she falls in love with him and his wish comes true.

[Nick Limone]

Romantic movie. Really romantic.

[Sam Claiborne]

My wife's already wanting to watch this. We had to choose between this and back rooms. And we saw back rooms, but it was great too.

[Joe]

So.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, I still need to see back rooms. Yeah. This movie is. Is so good. No, I'm not gonna. We just won't get into it. But I was supposed to take the family. It was last Friday. With Friday off for the 4th, I was gonna take the family to see the Minions in Monsters movie. But then we woke up that day and my wife was like, let's take them to Chuck E. Cheese instead. And I was like, no, how about you go to Chuck E. Cheese and I'm gonna go see something in the movies? And I went. I ended up seeing Obsession and it was great.

[Joe]

Wow.

[Damon Hadfield]

Very, very good.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's great. Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

I also just like the story of the movie. 26 year old first feature film, no big stars, made for less than a million dollars. Now I think it's over 400 million now. So it's. I just amazing. Like I love when Hollywood is just completely embarrassed.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, great.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Great script.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think Hollywood likes it.

[Damon Hadfield]

It is a great script. And also, although there are no big stars, the girl, the main girl in here, Indy Navarretta, think she's going to be a big star now.

[Nick Limone]

She was a twitch streamer and stuff like beforehand. Yeah, yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

She's incredible.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wow.

[Damon Hadfield]

Excellent. And I am actually going to take my wife to see it tomorrow night, so I'll go see it a second time.

[Nick Limone]

It's just like. It's like exactly what you want from a Twilight Zone esque movie. It's so good.

[Damon Hadfield]

Can't recommend it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, I know we have to move fast here, but Game of Thrones is pretty good.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, it's three good episodes.

[Damon Hadfield]

A lot of this has been said, but it's like season two was only eight episodes, right? So it's kind of like, yeah, they should have been episodes 9 and 10. Season 2.

[Paris Schneider]

I enjoyed the bear too. I know the bear did not get the highest reviews, but I thought it had some really cool moments halfway through it right now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I saw the roof episode, which was pretty funny. And then on Damon's recommendation, I am more than halfway through Dungeon Crawler Carl's first book. And it is so good.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, I'm so halfway through as well.

[Sam Claiborne]

Sam.

[Damon Hadfield]

I'm so glad you like it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nice. That's great. Yeah, I'm just past the interview segment, which is a cool reveal.

[Damon Hadfield]

That is a cool thing.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's like a good. The premise is not what I expected and I won't go into it. And it's totally worth it. And everybody that listens to this show will understand this book much more than anybody in my adult life because I would not recommend this to any of my friends. But it works so well for what I know in my life.

[Damon Hadfield]

I mean, isn't it so cool? They really get into the nitty gritty of their stats and experience and what they're going to spend their skill points on. But it's not boring. It's crazy.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's presented well whenever it's introduced. You think like, oh, how are they going to use this and why is it in there? And then there's some reveals about like why some of that stuff's happening, which is cool. But yeah, I don't. It's not. It's not overly clever and it's not stupid and it's plot driven and that's what makes it fun. Fun. It's like, even though It's a video, like a video game RPG esque, like, like, you know, thing. It's just still. It's still like a thing happens all the time over and over again. And that's what makes it better. That's what makes Game of Thrones fun to read too. It's a perfect summer book. I read it on the beach, I read it on the plane. I read it to fall asleep with jet lag and it was like so perfect, so. And I bought it in the plain bookstore on the way out of town.

[Nick Limone]

Hey, there you go.

[Sam Claiborne]

Just like always a good sign. There's, I mean, there's. It, you know, it's just sitting there on the shelf. So it's blowing up. Yeah, we all need that.

[Damon Hadfield]

I'm just about to wrap up the third audiobook and I'd heard from like Justin that it's considered the weakest one. But I still really enjoyed it. So if that's the weak one.

[Nick Limone]

Okay, I'm good to go.

[Damon Hadfield]

Excited to keep going. Great moments in there. And finally I am watching Widow's Bay, which I think you talked about earlier, Sam.

[Nick Limone]

So good.

[Sam Claiborne]

I love it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah, it's very good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

I just did the sticks to land. I just did like the origin episode where they show like whatever hundreds of years ago, what happened. That was good. Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

About halfway through.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that one's really cool. That a little bit lost like at that point. I love the main. He's so the main guy. Yeah, he's like charismatic in the most like opposite way possible. And all his like decision making and faces and everything are just so funny.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. For anyone. It's on Apple tv. Like there's so many great shows on Apple TV but no one watches them. This is like kind of a horror mystery about an island called Widow's Bay. That something's wrong on the island and. But it's like a little bit of a monster of the week. But it's all. There is a through line. And it's funny too.

[Paris Schneider]

It feels really Stephen King. King, like said.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, Stephen King and Jaws. That's the influences and that's what makes it so good. And they nail the Jaws part because the setting is so cute and there's these great wood paneled rooms and nice locals and kids that are drinking and it's just so fun. It's.

[Nick Limone]

It's the next Martha's Vineyard.

[Paris Schneider]

Yep.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'll tell you what, it's the best. Like, like it's almost like it is Stranger Things. Like when that first Stranger Things season came out. And it felt fresh. Right. And then stranger things did stranger things too hard for so long. Get sick of it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay. And that brings us to video game 20 questions. Our suggestion this week comes from Blake Walsh, who says, Scoop. Greetings from South Dakota. My reckon. Right. My recommendation for video game 20 questions is redacted. The redacted in that game has spoiled every game for me since. My friends call me crazy for having in my top 10 top 5 games of all time, but I stand by it.

[Nick Limone]

The twist in that game, multiplayer in that game. Oh, okay.

[Paris Schneider]

The soundtrack, the music in that game, the voice acting in that game.

[Nick Limone]

It's the Banjo 2e multiplayer. There we go. That's. We nailed it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, yeah. Mayan kickball did. Was there a. So last week it was Forza, so we know it's not that.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, I mean, it could be a Forza Horizon 6.

[Paris Schneider]

He's not gonna do another race.

[Sam Claiborne]

No, it's not. The. The, you know, the. The. The Ford pickup really messed me up in that game.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, I see.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Paris Schneider]

Maybe it was a boss battle. It was hard.

[Damon Hadfield]

Let the questioning begin.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah. Was this released in the 70s, 80s, or 90s?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Paris Schneider]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

Okay. More contemporary maybe? Is this exclusive to its console at launch?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Nick Limone]

Okay. Multi plat.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this based on a licensed property? Oh, boy. We already got a glitch in the Matrix.

[Damon Hadfield]

Oh, shoes. Well, let's just. Let's. Let's just have you reword it, like, ask it. Is it based on a licensed property from, like, movies or.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, it's a sports game. NFL. NHL license.

[Nick Limone]

Angels in the outfield for the. No, wait.

[Sam Claiborne]

See you. What you're asking me to do is waste five questions instead of asking one.

[Paris Schneider]

One or no.

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Paris Schneider]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this based on a movie?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, great. Thank you.

[Paris Schneider]

Is this based on a popular consumer product that you can buy in a supermarket?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Paris Schneider]

No. Okay.

[Nick Limone]

All right.

[Paris Schneider]

I just want to make sure we're not going the seven UP and Coca Cola game.

[Nick Limone]

Gotcha.

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess we're just gonna go for these six questions. All right. Is this based on, like a comic book, Book series type situation?

[Damon Hadfield]

No, that's five.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Great, Great. Okay.

[Nick Limone]

TV show.

[Paris Schneider]

No, it's not gonna be anything like that. It's gonna be like NFL license.

[Nick Limone]

Got it. Okay. Or.

[Sam Claiborne]

Or maybe we give up. What's the game?

[Paris Schneider]

Maybe it's Ford Racing Challenge.

[Nick Limone]

Gotcha. Okay. Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

I told you that truck. That truck changed this guy.

[Damon Hadfield]

Let's just say. No. What is license name? Let's just say.

[Nick Limone]

What is it? Beetle Bug.

[Damon Hadfield]

Do not Beetle Bug. As you proceed, do not assume that this is a licensed game. Don't. Don't even think about that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Four questions. And have me ask that question that I asked, man.

[Nick Limone]

All right. Is this in the Xbox 360 generation of consoles? No, man. So 2006 to 2015. 2012 eliminated.

[Paris Schneider]

Wow.

[Sam Claiborne]

Was this out on a Nintendo platform?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Nick Limone]

Okay. Multi plat. But also on Nintendo.

[Sam Claiborne]

That was rare.

[Paris Schneider]

Well, maybe it's modern.

[Nick Limone]

Is this. Is this in the current line of consoles?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes. Okay,

[Nick Limone]

Hua. And how many questions are we at right now? That's nine.

[Damon Hadfield]

But we can be. We can be a little fuzzy.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, boy.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think this is gonna go down as the fuzzy episode now. I can already feeling it.

[Nick Limone]

Was it released for this generation of colonial consoles?

[Sam Claiborne]

I'll get it, though.

[Damon Hadfield]

Not originally, no. Okay, that's 10.

[Nick Limone]

So maybe it's like a PS4 remaster kind of thing.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, maybe it's like this. Destroy all humans or something.

[Nick Limone]

Reproved edition.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah,

[Sam Claiborne]

maybe this became a license.

[Paris Schneider]

Should we try genre?

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe this.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, genre.

[Sam Claiborne]

Maybe this has a movie, TV show, or series based on it. Thoughts?

[Paris Schneider]

Is this a shooter or an action game?

[Nick Limone]

Yes, shooter and. Or action. Great. Do you play as a human?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Nick Limone]

Okay, so it's not destroy all humans. Sad. Play as a human. It's an action shooter. Released roughly PS4 generation, but also available on modern consoles. Is this game made in Japan?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is multiplayer a main focus of this game?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

I think it's a battlefield or Call of Duty.

[Nick Limone]

But it's something that's crazy for him to be in his top five. That his friend said. What? That's why.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's probably like Kevin Spacey's in a Call of Duty.

[Nick Limone]

He's just a big fan of Nevermind. Let's see.

[Sam Claiborne]

We don't need to carry that joke any further. But it would be surprise. It was surprising.

[Nick Limone]

I do like that. Call of Duty. Let's see.

[Paris Schneider]

It seems so obvious and big for a game to guess, but I. I

[Nick Limone]

mean, it is technically becoming a movie. Right? Maybe that's where Damon was getting at with the licensing stuff of it. Is this a. Is this a triple A video game?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes. That's 15.

[Nick Limone]

So it's a big expensive one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, there's one of those. Does one of those games stand for Activ? Developed or published?

[Damon Hadfield]

Does one of those games stand for Is this.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is this an Activision game?

[Nick Limone]

No, not Call of Duty. Okay. Or Spyro.

[Paris Schneider]

Then we can go to ea.

[Nick Limone]

And EA is not a Japanese company, so that would Star wars, you know, battlefronts Battlefront, Jedi, Fallen Order.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not. It's not based on a license.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. Oh, but weirdly.

[Paris Schneider]

Well, no, you didn't say it's not.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, we used five questions to get at that. It's not a goddamn Star wars game. And we just asked if it was a Star wars game.

[Nick Limone]

So EA Ubisoft, who else is putting out AAA games?

[Paris Schneider]

It's better not be black again.

[Nick Limone]

Is the environment fully destructible with my gun? No, I'm not asking that.

[Paris Schneider]

But that could be Red Faction.

[Nick Limone]

That is true Red Faction. Armageddon.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. If only they had become a AAA game, then there would be a lot of people.

[Paris Schneider]

Is it a Sci Fi themed game?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Paris Schneider]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

Sci Fi themed. Okay, Maybe it's just Bungie. Is this.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's Destiny.

[Nick Limone]

Is this from.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's no twist.

[Nick Limone]

Is this from Electronic Arts?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Paris Schneider]

Battlefield. Battlefront. But they had a couple more. They had Mirror's Edge and stuff. That's not a sh. Shooter.

[Nick Limone]

No, Multiplayer. And, oh, Anthem would be a crazy one to be a top five. You do play as a human.

[Paris Schneider]

Which one?

[Nick Limone]

In Anthem.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

You can play as like a really big human.

[Nick Limone]

I like. I like flying around in Anthem.

[Paris Schneider]

And we had Titanfall already once as

[Nick Limone]

a. Yeah, but the big. No, it can't be Anthem because it's not playable on modern consoles

[Sam Claiborne]

anymore.

[Nick Limone]

Correct. And that was like a big point. So I don't think Damon would do that.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's the problem with Titanfall?

[Nick Limone]

Oh, no, there's no with Anthem.

[Paris Schneider]

With Anthem. He was talking about Titanfall.

[Sam Claiborne]

I heard you. Yeah. Titanfall can't speed Titan.

[Paris Schneider]

I thought we had Titanfall once.

[Nick Limone]

No, that is ea Titanfall, Titanfall 2. And then there's Apex Legends.

[Joe]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Which are playable on modern consoles.

[Paris Schneider]

Battlefield and Battlefront. And Battlefield. Is it Sci Fi, though? I guess Titanfall is definitely. And Battlefront is, too.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, is this game in a.

[Sam Claiborne]

Have we mentioned this game yet?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Nick Limone]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like. Like a thousand times.

[Nick Limone]

How many questions are we at?

[Damon Hadfield]

This is your 20th question, but let's just call it 21 questions this week.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, I think it's just.

[Damon Hadfield]

You can ask one more question.

[Nick Limone]

Is it a Battlefield game you can get?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yes.

[Nick Limone]

Or is it Titanfall?

[Sam Claiborne]

I guess it's not Battlefield because it's not Sci Fi. I mean, there is a Sci Fi battlefield.

[Nick Limone]

There's battlefield 2142 and then also Battlefield. The previous Battlefield was a feature.

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't think Damon knows that.

[Paris Schneider]

2142.

[Nick Limone]

Let's see, how do we. Does this game feature mechs?

[Damon Hadfield]

No.

[Nick Limone]

So it's not Titanfall.

[Paris Schneider]

It isn't?

[Sam Claiborne]

No.

[Paris Schneider]

All right.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, no.

[Paris Schneider]

We have a guest. So should we ask if it's battlefield 2142?

[Nick Limone]

Well, there's mechs in that one, I think.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, is there? I think so, but Damon wouldn't know.

[Nick Limone]

So it's. It's an EA game you play as a human. It's still playable on modern consoles, but it didn't originally release.

[Sam Claiborne]

Player focused.

[Nick Limone]

Multiplayer focus. There's Battlefield four. Five. Well, Battlefield five, Battlefield one.

[Paris Schneider]

Are there any weirdo games like Haze or something like that, like sci fi shooters that are.

[Sam Claiborne]

You're forgetting a crucial piece of this puzzle, and that's that somebody at one point mentioned a license near it or something.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah,

[Nick Limone]

he doesn't want to send us down that path anymore. He's recanted.

[Damon Hadfield]

I should have just.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right, let me rephrase that.

[Damon Hadfield]

No,

[Sam Claiborne]

we. We're missing a crucial bit of information. We'll just edit this.

[Damon Hadfield]

Just remember, you've said this game We.

[Sam Claiborne]

If there's a license in this, nobody knows.

[Nick Limone]

We have said the name of the game. So it can't be like Battlefield one or Battlefield.

[Damon Hadfield]

Say it again. That's all you have to do.

[Nick Limone]

Do we. It's Battlefield, right? Like, it's got to be Battlefield.

[Sam Claiborne]

And they re. Did they read?

[Nick Limone]

It's a modern one. So there's battlefield 4, 5 and 1.

[Sam Claiborne]

Only. Only the ones you mentioned 4, 5, and 1.

[Joe]

That.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, those are the only modern ones, apart from six.

[Sam Claiborne]

Did you mention one? I don't think you mentioned one.

[Nick Limone]

I don't think I mentioned one. By the time he said we had mentioned it, so. Oh, man.

[Paris Schneider]

Just pick one. Take us home.

[Nick Limone]

Is. I mean, I like the campaign in Battlefield 1. Is it Battlefield 1?

[Damon Hadfield]

It's Apex Legends.

[Paris Schneider]

What was the license? Confusion.

[Damon Hadfield]

I mean, it's based on Titanfall. That's why. That's why I was like, I regret it. I immediately regret it. I should have just said no.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Damon Hadfield]

Should have said no.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, my God.

[Joe]

Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah. Apex Legends.

[Nick Limone]

I do love Apex Legends.

[Sam Claiborne]

What's the letter about this?

[Damon Hadfield]

He loved the movement in this game.

[Paris Schneider]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

That's not a crazy thing to like.

[Paris Schneider]

That's a normal thing to like.

[Damon Hadfield]

But it's in his top five games of all time.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah, that's appropriate. I feel like that's all right. That just means you're a hardcore gamer, dude.

[Damon Hadfield]

Dude.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay.

[Damon Hadfield]

Apex Legends.

[Nick Limone]

Apex Legends rules. Man, this game's so good.

[Damon Hadfield]

First release in 2019. It's available on everything.

[Nick Limone]

Shadow Drop, too.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right.

[Damon Hadfield]

So that's why they're not Mexicans.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Damn it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that is weird. Yeah, that is weird. So next week, if Pear or Nick are on this and we have, you know, Justin on or Mark or something, and they ask, did you get 20 questions last week? Week, Just say yes.

[Damon Hadfield]

Okay.

[Nick Limone]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, okay. Or you can say they would have gotten it, but I kind of screwed them over.

[Nick Limone]

But Sam really messed us up.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Look, I knew you hadn't mentioned Battlefield 1. I knew it couldn't have been that.

[Damon Hadfield]

Well, nicely attempt, and thank you for the suggestion. Blake Walsh in South Dakota. Viewers, listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address gamescoopgn.com and that's all the scoops that we have for you this week. Thank you, Per. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, King dedede, for joining us. Thank you, Sam. Thank you to Joe for working behind the scenes to make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is IGN gamescoop. And we're out.

[Paris Schneider]

Sam, I forgot. Donkey Kong 64 ends in a boxing match with K Rool, and you have to fight him with every single Kong as everything in that game. And each. Each fight is a different puzzle. Each one of them feels like they could have worked on it a little longer.

[Nick Limone]

Is the end of Bonanza a callback to Donkey Kong 64, then? Yeah, that's nuts.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Because I recently replayed Donkey Kong country one and two, and you don't. You just fight them on a ship.

[Paris Schneider]

And those Bonanza choice definitely much more baked.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, it's way more fun. I don't think that's a game I will replay at some point.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yep.

[Nick Limone]

Not quite the same with Donkey Kong 64.

[Paris Schneider]

No, it's. I go between a six and a seven out of 10, though. They're like some really good things in it.

[Nick Limone]

But then I like the 3D world. Like, that feel of it is just a thing that you don't really get anymore. Same with, like, Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie.

[Paris Schneider]

So it's. But it's such a huge step down from Banjo.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

That's the frustrating part. It's like they did it. They did it better before. Oh, my God, Look. Look at Andy Richter.

[Nick Limone]

He's all.

[Paris Schneider]

Is there. Is there an angle where you.

[Nick Limone]

We.

[Paris Schneider]

Where you see what's on the table?

[Sam Claiborne]

Can you all hear me? I've been here.

[Paris Schneider]

If I were to show we can hear you now, I Want to show an Amiibo? I can also hold it up. I'll hold it.

[Nick Limone]

I can also. I can also get up and zoom in on it.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh, no, that's just silly.

[Nick Limone]

That's fine. It's all informal.

[Paris Schneider]

It's more to see what you guys

[Sam Claiborne]

think Damon was giving me for not being here. But I just been here just listening to you guys talk about Donkey Kong 64. Torturously unable to answer.

[Nick Limone]

He's the Walter White trapped in the.

[Paris Schneider]

Remember the final boss battle. I'm doing that one now.

[Sam Claiborne]

Do you know what's more popular than Donkey Kong 64? I mean. Sorry. Well, I fucked that up. Is more popular than the new Star Fox Game and guides.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah.

[Joe]

Whoa.

[Nick Limone]

Everyone's got to find those bananas.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. They're going absolutely Donkey Kong for bananas.

[Paris Schneider]

Oh my God. Sam, what was the. The pinball side scrolling Metroidvania game again?

[Nick Limone]

Oh, dude.

[Sam Claiborne]

Time on Game Scoop each week I

[Paris Schneider]

played that and my. My dogs were just standing in front of the TV and their heads just go. They just follow the small animal the

[Nick Limone]

entire time for like an hour. That's so cute.

[Sam Claiborne]

That does seem like a really good cat game.

[Paris Schneider]

It is. Yeah. They're basically cats.

[Joe]

Dang.

[Nick Limone]

That game needs a sequel. That game is so good nobody played it.

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Paris Schneider]

I hope they're doing okay, everybody. I'm sure everybody got laid off.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. We did our best to sell Yoku's Island Express.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah, we did. And. And that Legend of Zelda shooter. The crossbow training that Damon ignored.

[Sam Claiborne]

Mini shoot.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, Mini shoot's great.

[Damon Hadfield]

I played that.

[Paris Schneider]

You played that? Sam, can you believe Damon is ignoring Star Fox because it feels like he would love it? Because it's just a shmup.

[Sam Claiborne]

Look, Damon hates frogs. In any game with a frog. Ever since Blaster Master.

[Paris Schneider]

I did not know this Damon.

[Sam Claiborne]

Look at that one's called the slaw dog.

[Nick Limone]

I don't want a slaw dog. That does not sound appetizing.

[Paris Schneider]

I want a slaw dog.

[Nick Limone]

I love hot dogs. Don't get me wrong.

[Sam Claiborne]

Slaw is great. You're not a coleslaw fan?

[Nick Limone]

No, I'm not a coleslaw fan.

[Damon Hadfield]

Neither am I.

[Sam Claiborne]

What about. I mean, I guess I like it on this. The. It has to be really, really sauerkrautty for me to like it.

[Paris Schneider]

Coleslaw is great. Put a little limon in it.

[Nick Limone]

I mean, that does make it a little better.

[Damon Hadfield]

Like sauerkraut.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Nick Limone]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

There. They just call it, I don't know, salad.

[Damon Hadfield]

We're all trying to find the guy who did this?

[Sam Claiborne]

That's a good point, Pear. Donkey Kong was never a good.

[Nick Limone]

Oh, wow.

[Paris Schneider]

I love. I actually love the arcade game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, everybody does.

[Damon Hadfield]

We will talk about a game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Perfect.

[Damon Hadfield]

We will talk about a game that was never good.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, no.

[Nick Limone]

Oh. So which Sonic game? I'm sorry?

[Sam Claiborne]

That Pico fart game?

[Paris Schneider]

Yep.

[Nick Limone]

Wait, wait. You're not rolling on this, right? Please don't. Please don't publish this.

[Damon Hadfield]

This.

[Nick Limone]

I like Sonic Adventure too.

[Paris Schneider]

We can always do a Face of game now. We can do a face replace with Justin's face on.

[Joe]

Damn.

[Sam Claiborne]

Are they going to keep making physical copies of Amiibo?

[Paris Schneider]

45 bucks.

[Nick Limone]

That's the most physical an object can be. If.

[Paris Schneider]

If people are buying this, then yeah, they should keep making them.

[Nick Limone]

A Metro won't be sick with the. With Samus's ship. But that would be.

[Paris Schneider]

I mean, yeah. I mean, they didn't make a Star Fox R Wing or something.

[Nick Limone]

You think they would.

[Paris Schneider]

Why are they making ddd?

[Nick Limone]

Wasn't that a prototype to the R Wing?

[Damon Hadfield]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Isn't Kirby like huge in Japan? Like, I think it's a Nintendo of Japan thing, right? Because Kirby is just such a popular cute character there that everybody loves.

[Paris Schneider]

I think it's whoever is influential at. At Nintendo and they like.

[Nick Limone]

They just like King Dedede.

[Paris Schneider]

No, they got. They like this. Maybe the Smash Brothers creator said, I will make another game if you give me more DDD toys.

[Nick Limone]

Fair enough.

[Paris Schneider]

Yeah. This seems like. I don't know who's gonna buy this. Like, I only bought it because I bought everything.

[Nick Limone]

You. You're committed at this point? Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right. We can't even get Damon to buy Star.

[Paris Schneider]

Bye.

[Damon Hadfield]

Welcome back, Sam.

[Paris Schneider]

Hi, Sam.

[Damon Hadfield]

Thank you.

[Sam Claiborne]

It was my pleasure to be back. Thank you. Thanks for be mind scenes. Bye.

[Nick Limone]

Bye, y'.

[Damon Hadfield]

All.