Game Scoop! Gaiden: Death Stranding 2, DK Bananza, & More

Summary

Podcast Summary: Game Scoop! Gaiden: Death Stranding 2, DK Bananza, & More

Episode Information:

• Title: Game Scoop! Gaiden: Death Stranding 2, DK Bananza, & More
• Release Date: June 27, 2025
• Hosts: Daemon Hatfield, Sam Claiborne, Mark Medina
• Location: Recording from London, UK

---

1. Special Recording from London

In this special episode, host Daemon Hatfield records from London, navigating through jet lag and managing family travel logistics. The dynamic among the hosts sets a casual and engaging tone for the episode.

• Daemon Hatfield [05:25]: "What's up everybody? Welcome to a very special episode of IGN Game Scoop. I'm Damon Hatfield, coming to you from London."

The hosts share anecdotes about their recent 10-hour flight, highlighting strategies to keep their children entertained during long travels. Daemon mentions using separate rows for his kids to minimize their energy transfer, which proved effective as his son was able to sleep throughout the journey.

---

2. Death Stranding 2: A Stellar Sequel

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing Death Stranding 2, a highly anticipated sequel that has garnered a 9 out of 10 rating from IGN's Simon. The hosts delve into various aspects of the game, sharing their personal experiences and insights.

• Daemon Hatfield [05:30]: "Our review is out. I believe Simon gave it a nine. Is that right? Nine out of ten. Liked it a fair bit."

Gameplay Enhancements: The sequel builds upon the original by introducing more polished mechanics, a deeper skill tree, and enhanced combat systems. Mark Medina highlights the improved platforming and the introduction of a "surfing" mechanic that adds a dynamic layer to the gameplay.

• Mark Medina [22:08]: "What starting moment, right? It's like, that's unbelievable."

Graphics and Performance: Daemon praises the game's photorealistic environments, noting that it rivals larger studio productions despite having a smaller team.

• Daemon Hatfield [22:04]: "I mean, part of it, you know, these days for me, I get a lot of excitement about playing games with my son and he's super excited about it."

Story and World-Building: Sam Claiborne appreciates the expanded story elements and the unique quirks of each character, which add depth and personality to the game world.

• Sam Claiborne [31:03]: "It's everything I wanted from a sequel. They took every mechanic that you thought this could be a little bit better, and they're like, okay, we made it better."

The hosts discuss the seamless integration of new features and how the game encourages cooperative play, enhancing the overall experience.

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3. Donkey Kong Bonanza: Excitement and Nostalgia

The conversation shifts to Donkey Kong Bonanza, which the hosts are enthusiastic about. They share personal stories and discuss the game's potential appeal to both younger audiences and longtime fans.

• Daemon Hatfield [06:10]: "We should talk about Donkey Kong Bonanza because we didn't get to talk about it last week, so."

Family Appeal: Daemon recounts how his son has watched the game trailer multiple times and is excited to play it, indicating its strong appeal to children.

• Daemon Hatfield [06:27]: "My son Kingo has watched that direct six times now. He, he. It's entertainment for him just to watch it over and over again."

Gameplay Features: Mark Medina expresses cautious optimism, comparing the game to previous Donkey Kong titles and highlighting concerns about maintaining variety in gameplay environments.

• Mark Medina [09:24]: "But that's a good thing to me."

Sam Claiborne adds that the game incorporates destructible environments and dynamic elements that hark back to classic titles like Red Faction, enhancing its fun factor.

• Sam Claiborne [11:40]: "It's a voxel game, but where it just seems like everything is destructible you could do. And this is what I would do when I was a kid."

Overall, the hosts are excited about the blend of nostalgia and new features, anticipating a successful release.

---

4. Night Rain: Steady Progress in a Niche Market

The hosts touch upon Night Rain, a game that, while not as universally appealing as Elden Ring, is making strides within its specific niche. They discuss the game's robust online community and ongoing updates.

• Daemon Hatfield [18:13]: "I'm just curious to see how Night Rain is doing. I know they reported some, you know, some strong early initial sales."

Community and Updates: Sam Claiborne shares his positive experiences with the game's challenging boss fights and the excitement around weekly live updates, which keep the gameplay fresh and engaging.

• Sam Claiborne [16:10]: "They were like, hey, there's more runes now. And I'm like, well, that would have helped me 30 hours ago, but okay. Yeah, I'm happy it's here now."

Mark Medina notes the game's impressive Steam numbers and the dedication of its seasoned players, contributing to its steady popularity.

• Mark Medina [19:09]: "I think it's been pretty good."

---

5. Video Game 20 Questions: A Challenging Guessing Game

In a lighter segment, the hosts engage in a game of Video Game 20 Questions, attempting to guess a 2009 Xbox Live game show. Despite their efforts, they ultimately struggle to identify the game, demonstrating the challenges of recalling niche or defunct titles.

• Daemon Hatfield [50:27]: "Neither of you remembers 1 versus 100? It was."

The segment underscores the vast and sometimes obscure landscape of video games, even for seasoned gamers.

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6. Closing Remarks and Upcoming Plans

As the episode wraps up, Daemon Hatfield shares his upcoming travel plans to Greece with his family, signaling a brief hiatus from recording. The other hosts, Sam and Mark, take the lead for future episodes, ensuring the show's continuity.

• Daemon Hatfield [51:59]: "This is released in 2009. Yep, yep."

The hosts express gratitude towards their team and listeners, maintaining a warm and community-focused atmosphere.

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Notable Quotes:

• Daemon Hatfield [05:25]: "What's up everybody? Welcome to a very special episode of IGN Game Scoop."
• Mark Medina [09:24]: "But that's a good thing to me."
• Sam Claiborne [16:10]: "They were like, hey, there's more runes now. And I'm like, well, that would have helped me 30 hours ago, but okay."
• Daemon Hatfield [22:04]: "It's like, this is a fraction of the team size of a Ubisoft game like Assassin's Creed Shadows. And it's looking amazing."

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Conclusion: This episode of Game Scoop! offers an in-depth exploration of Death Stranding 2 and Donkey Kong Bonanza, enriched by personal anecdotes and thoughtful analysis from the hosts. The discussion on Night Rain provides insight into successful niche gaming markets, while the Video Game 20 Questions segment adds a playful touch. With Daemon Hatfield's temporary relocation to Greece, listeners can look forward to continued engaging content from Sam Claiborne and Mark Medina in upcoming episodes.

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For more information, visit Geek.com.

Transcript

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Mark Medina]

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[Damon Hatfield]

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[Mark Medina]

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[Sam Claiborne]

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[Damon Hatfield]

What's up everybody? Welcome to a very special episode of ign gamescoop. I'm Damon Hatfield. I'm your host, Damon Hatfield coming to you from the London. The London. And to prove it, I'm enjoying a Coke Zero. Sugar Lemon.

[Mark Medina]

Can't get those here.

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope, cannot get those here and prove it even further. Once that's done, I'm looking forward to my Dr. Pepper. Zero. It says zero sugar extra.

[Mark Medina]

Ooh, that looks pretty good.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's all there is to do in London is drink sodas.

[Mark Medina]

Is the lemon coke good?

[Sam Claiborne]

Mm.

[Mark Medina]

Wow. Why don't we have that?

[Damon Hatfield]

It's got a nice lemony flavor. Joining me this week are Sam Claiborne.

[Mark Medina]

Jolly good scoop. Damon.

[Damon Hatfield]

And Mark Medina.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, man. I didn't come up with a British.

[Mark Medina]

You say tally ho.

[Sam Claiborne]

Tally ho, Damon.

[Damon Hatfield]

Governor, Honestly, I am present. Okay, so this is gonna be an unusual episode. I don't think I'm gonna make this a regular numbered episode. It's 5:25pm here in London. It's 9:25am back in California where Sam and Mark are. So thank you to them for signing on a little bit early.

[Mark Medina]

Thank you for staying up all night basically, Damon.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, my family, we are experiencing some jet lag, but I got a nap in this afternoon, so I feel okay right now. But we'll see how this goes. Yeah, we did the 10 hour flight with the kids and the whole family's here. The flight was actually not too bad because we split up. My wife took our daughter and I took my son into different rows. It's better to keep them separated because they gain energy from each other. And then he, My son ended up just sleeping the whole time, so that was easy.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, you picked the right one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah. What did she have to deal with?

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, yeah, my daughter was not really sleeping, but she just, you know, will sit there and watch an iPad or play or whatever.

[Mark Medina]

Did you watch some bad movies?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, I watched some good tv, which we can talk about a little bit later on. I've been watching your Friends and neighbors on Apple tv.

[Mark Medina]

Plus I watched the first episode of that. It didn't draw me in, but I'll watch the rest.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's good. It's good. It's totally worthwhile watching and. I know.

[Mark Medina]

Not good.

[Damon Hatfield]

You know, I know Mark would like it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Your Friends and Neighbors. That's the Jon Hamm one, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

That's the Jon Hamm one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I've watched it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, okay. You already did. Well, was I right? Did you like it?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it's great.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay. Yeah, I thought so.

[Mark Medina]

You should both watch this. The Fletch reboot with Jon Hamm. I'm not joking. It is a great movie. It is really fun. It's a good, good movie. Jon Hamm is great in it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I've heard that before. I haven't watched it.

[Mark Medina]

Oh. And it takes place in Italy and it's beautiful because like, everywhere they are in Italy is like, why am I not in Italy right now? Right. Oh, no. There we go. Ready for Fletch?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, I need to. I have my picture in. Picture on here. That's distracting for Medallions.

[Mark Medina]

Call him Flesh.

[Damon Hatfield]

If I do this, it's because it's very warm here in the IGN office.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. You're missing the US heat wave, which Mark and I are surprisingly not in, even though Mark's always in a heat wave.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, no, I'm in a heat wave. It's 103 here.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, well, that's what it's supposed to be. New York City right now.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not. It's not a heat wave. It's just. It's normal hot.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

It'll cool down in October.

[Mark Medina]

Or what you call pool weather.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it's actually not as hot here as it was supposed to be, so I appreciate that.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I've ridden the tube in London when it's really hot, and that's an experience. Everybody, those windows down. Don't do anything.

[Damon Hatfield]

No, it's kind of hot in the tube. And so I'm here in the studio in the UK office, and there just wasn't anything set up. So I've just cobbled together. There's. I found a microphone, and I got a little coffee table to put my laptop on, and here we are.

[Mark Medina]

So, yeah, just. Just turn on the mic and think of England.

[Damon Hatfield]

So, yeah, this will be a little bit of a more casual. Even more casual than usual episode, but it'll be fun. So we'll talk about Death Stranding game. Casual game. Casual. We'll talk about Death Stranding 2, which. Our review is out. I believe Simon gave it a nine. Is that right? Nine out of ten. Liked it a fair bit. And I know both Sam and Mark have been playing a lot of that. I played a little bit of it and then got distracted with other games.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, nice. I'm glad you started. The heck is Happening Play Quake.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then I have a little. A little game slash experiment that I've thought about trying for a while now, and now is as good a time as any, so we'll see how that goes. That may be successful. It may not be, but it'll be fun to find out.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. Casual at first.

[Damon Hatfield]

We should talk about Donkey Kong Bonanza because we didn't get to talk about it last week, so. And I think there's a lot of positive sentiment around that right now. I think the game is shaping up to be really big and exciting and lots of Stuff going on. I want to get Sam's thoughts, but just as a little.

[Mark Medina]

Mark's thoughts.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, just a little anecdote. My son Kingo has watched that direct six times now. He, he. It's entertainment for him just to watch it over and over again.

[Mark Medina]

That's actually really cool. I mean it's, it has a lot of cartoonish appeal to watch. Right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

He's very excited to play next month.

[Mark Medina]

It looks like he'll like, that's a game that like can skew young. Like, it looks like it'll be maybe complicated and fun for older people. But like it looks like if you just want to dig around and do stuff, it'll probably be pretty fun as it, you know, as a kid kiddo game. Right.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean it looks like a lot going on a lot to the environmental destruction and also building and transforming and you know, lots of different characters. A surprise return of a character who's young now and used to be frenemies with Donkey Kong.

[Mark Medina]

So weird.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam, you were a little. You're one of the people that have been a little soft on Donkey Kong in the past. Did this direct do anything to change your mind, get more excited for it?

[Mark Medina]

So remember, the operating issue here is that I'm not. I mean, first of all, Donkey Kong's always been bad. Like, it's like you have Donkey Kong is just a great game. Donkey Kong Jr. Is like meh. Donkey Kong 3 is meh. And then you have Donkey Kong 94, which is really cool. And then all the spin off Mario game shows are fine, but boy, like those rare era games like, were not as good as Mario games. They just weren't. They looked amazing and I loved them as a kid, but they weren't fun to play. So then that, when that was happening, I was like, well, this is taking away from Mario and why are they doing these games? It'd be great to get Mario games instead. But we got like one and six years later we got another Yoshi's island in Mario World. Anyway, so I always feel like the Duncan is detracting. And then Donkey 64 wasn't very good compared to Mario 64. And then the Tropical Freeze era. Like people love Tropical Freeze now, but when that game came out, nobody loved Tropical Freeze. It was a fine game. Right? But people were like, oh, you know, the second retro game. Why are they not making Metroids? Like that was the story, you know. And so still, and this is a long preamble, I'm still a little bit worried that this is a Donkey Kong game that we're getting that won't be as good as a Mario sequel. But I don't know who's making this game because it's. It's just as likely that it's the ead. Whatever they're called, though they're not called the AD anymore. The. The. The Mario Odyssey team making this as it is that it's the Splatoon team or even another team, it kind of looks like the Splatoon single player stuff. So if it's that, I'm not as mad at Donkey Kong. And remember, all of this is just to say the history of Donkey Kong is like, okay for platforming but not amazing. And this is a platforming game. So does it look still okay for platforming? Yeah, it looks okay. You know, it doesn't look like. It looks digging. Like there's the surfing. This. This trailer shows a lot more stuff. It could be fine. It has a lot of, like, character. It doesn't. It just. It doesn't really congeal to me into a game I'm excited about. But like, Nintendo, you know, probably made a quality game here. It looks like a solid seven or eight, you know.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, one thing that's assuring to me is that, you know, Odyssey is just an enormous game with a million things to do. A game you can play for dozens and dozens of hours. Even more dozens than that, probably. And this is starting to look like that. There's like lots of layers, huge worlds, lots to explore, lots of secrets to find. He has a skill tree, you know, it seems like there's a lot going on.

[Mark Medina]

That is a point of my worry is that if it's about digging and you go down like, yes, there's a beach area you dig down to and a snow area and stuff like that. Like, that's all cool. But they all kind of look the same because they all have to deform in the same way. Whereas, like, Mario Odyssey, like, has a. A freaking moon level that has nothing like the rest of the levels. Right? Or it has like, New Donk City, which is absolutely nothing like the Lost Kingdom or the Dragon. Like the, the creativity of the variety. Now, again, I don't need to expect that from a Donkey Kong game about digging, like, whatever, you know, I just like. But if we are going to favorably, favorably compare it to Mario Odyssey, I would do it in maybe, you know, the variety of, I guess, platformy moves and stuff like that, but not in, like, the environments. Looks like you're always digging for the same bananas in every place. Whatever it looks like a rare 64 game. That's what it looks like to me.

[Damon Hatfield]

But that's. That's a good thing to me.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Like what? We need those. Like, I've. I've. I'm on record saying we need more Banjo Kazooie. And this has that type of transformation with the worst part of Banjo Kazooie. I wouldn't take that lesson away from it. But, yeah, this building and stuff, like, it's all. It all looks fine. It looks fine.

[Damon Hatfield]

All right, Mark, how are you feeling about Bonanza?

[Sam Claiborne]

Well, so, first off, donkey Kong Country 2 is one of my favorite Super Nintendo games. Some of the best music on the Super Nintendo, so just need to throw that out there. For the record, I think the game does like. I can see why your child. Like, this is a game that I would want to play as a kid. It's a voxel game, but where it just seems like everything is destructible you could do. And this is what I would do when I was a kid. I would just see if I could just destroy the whole world. And so I can. I can see why kids are going to like this game a lot because they just want to smash stuff. I remember back in the day, like, one of the first games where you could do stuff like this is a game called Red Faction, where you could just, like, blow holes through walls. And it was the coolest thing ever. And now you could do that in this game. You could, like, tunnel through things.

[Mark Medina]

How about that square watermelon? That looks great.

[Sam Claiborne]

It does almost lean a little. A little too. Younger audience. That's. That's where I get a little, like, we'll see. But it looks fun. And I know that switch. Two owners like myself are just ready to play anything other than Mario Kart. So I'm excited for it. For that reason alone, I think it looks cool. I. I agree that I wish it was Odyssey. Like, I. I'm again agreeing with Sam that we don't know if this is in place of a new 3D Mario. Probably not, but who knows? I would prefer Odyssey 2 over this. But I think this looks cool, and I'm excited to play something. My Switch is already collecting dust because I haven't played Mario Kart in a couple weeks, so.

[Damon Hatfield]

Or collecting dust. Wow.

[Mark Medina]

The mashup of the historical Donkey Kong elements, which is like Pauline from, you know, Donkey Kong one, and then the. The. All the rare stuff is crazy. Like, it actually has, like, you know, the ostrich and the rhino and stuff like that. Did you see that arrow shaped sign? That is the most rare looking thing I've ever seen in my life. It's got like little droopy eyelids and it's just like, it's just, you know, it's like a cartoon arrow and it's like, wow, that, that feels so, you know, Banjo Kazooie. It's really funny.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah. Well, to Mark's point about the difficulty, hopefully it's not like, like the most kidding Nintendo games. Some of the Yoshis and the Kirbys are. They're definitely like on the very, very easy side. Right. I hope that's not what we're getting here.

[Sam Claiborne]

If this game has like fun collectibles and stuff, that'll be fun, like actually fun. Like not just dig in random parts of the earth and hope you find something, but like actually some sort of, you know, indication on where I should be digging and stuff like that. And yeah, if the later levels get hard, that'll be fun too. I'm excited for it, but I wouldn't say it's the game I'm most excited for this year.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Where are you at with it, Damon?

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm feeling like, I'm feeling really good about it. I'm excited about it. I mean, part of it, you know, these days for me, I get a lot of excitement about playing games with my son and he's super excited about it. So we, I think we have good times ahead playing this together. Right?

[Mark Medina]

I would completely expect that.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark, you put down Mario Kart World is because you did everything you got.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, like, I did not get all the stickers and stuff, but yeah, we, we unlocked a ton of characters. There are so many costumes and stuff in that game. So that's fun. Got through Rainbow Road. The issue is that there is just way too many games right now. Way too many games. And so I did basically, I did every race in Mario Kart World and was like, that's fine. I don't find the open world very fun. I'm just driving around, just kind of doing whatever. Yeah. So I've done all the races, I did all the knockout tour stuff and I'm like, this is great, but like my life has been switching between Night Rain, which I have 120 hours in now still playing Marvel Rivals. Jeff the Landshark needs a Nerf. And then I'm playing Death Training two. So there's just no room right now for just racing over and over the same courses.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, I want to talk about Death Training too, but I guess before That I don't know if we've gotten your post release thoughts on Night Rain. Sounds like you like it.

[Sam Claiborne]

I like Night Rain quite a bit. Yeah, it's fun. I. We played it a bunch pre launch and that was with like an Elden Ring Speedrunner and Mitchell and so it was just like blasting through everything. And now I've been playing with my friends who are like not the most souls like people ever. And so they're the like kind of flask hungry group because they don't know how to dodge. I love you guys but it's circle on the controller anyways. And so. But yeah, we've been having a lot of fun. We're just going. We're. We're starting. We started from the top and we're just moving our way down. We're at Libra Equilibrious Beast and he's got us in quite a pickle because again, my friends, they don't know how to dodge so. And he's like a bullet hell boss. But yeah, I like the game quite a bit. Every time you get bored of a character, you just start a new, you know, you just play as one of the other classes and you're like, oh, never mind. I'm excited to play this again. It's. It's definitely like. Because it's like I have the Elden Ring Platinum. I've done everything in shadow of the Erdtree and so it's like it's giving me a reason to play Elden Ring in a new way that I enjoy because Elden Ring is one of my favorite games of all time, clearly. So yeah, I like it quite a bit.

[Mark Medina]

Mark, are you excited about the. What was it the kind of the live update stuff they just announced? What?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, so I be gaping jaw on.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, that they already launched one of those bosses.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. You can find the video of me and a duo on IGN.com beating gaping John hard mode. He gets a tornado. I. The timestamps are really funny because it's just my internal monologue as I fight this boss. He was incredibly hard, but it was.

[Mark Medina]

What's the delivery schedule for that? They're doing them monthly.

[Sam Claiborne]

Weekly. Weekly.

[Mark Medina]

That's a lot of boss design.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're about to just do the next one which is the. The like Centaur Night boss. So they'll just kind of switch those out and you get. Obviously you get the. The bigger relics but then you also get a new currency to buy more.

[Mark Medina]

Chalices and it's a new boss design entirely Every week.

[Sam Claiborne]

So it's like. So it's Gaping Jaw is this week, which is Adol. And he is like, he looks the same, but then he just, like, he starts instantly in his phase two.

[Mark Medina]

He does all his face challenges, basically.

[Sam Claiborne]

Exactly. It's just hard mode for the boss.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, yeah. Okay, that makes more sense.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. But, yeah, I like it. And you can play solo now as well. They up the runes you get from playing solo. It's still hard, but it's viable now. And so I play a lot by myself as well.

[Mark Medina]

This is the latest game that we got, the journalism mode, which is harder than what the public got.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep. I played so much solo and then they were like, hey, by the way, there's more runes now. And I'm like, well, that would have helped me 30 hours ago, but okay. Yeah, I'm happy it's here now.

[Mark Medina]

We're also playing and we'll get to this when we get to it. But, you know, Death Stranding. We've been playing in journalism mode too, because you turn off the servers and nobody's building roads but you, and you're like, well, that costs a lot of. A lot of ceramics.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm just seeing if we got may, you know, MPD slash circana numbers. I don't remember seeing them, but now we're pretty late in June.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it wouldn't quite have switched yet either. Just curious to see about Night Rain, though.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it wouldn't have switched because that was June, obviously.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

I'm just curious to see how Night Rain is doing. I know they reported some, you know, some strong early initial sales. Like, Elden Ring was a really huge game with pretty mass market appeal as far as that sort of game goes. And Night Rain seems to be, like, hitting a very. A little bit more of a specific niche, which is fine, obviously. But, like, as much as I like Elden Ring, Night Rain is not my thing, you know?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I'm still curious. I'm still finding matches, like, very easily. Like, because I. I play with randos a lot and I just, you know, I queue up for whatever boss I want and I'm still finding matches pretty quick. It's actually getting a lot better now because the people that are still playing and enjoying the game are all people that know what to do. So it's not just people that are like, I like Elden Ring. I'm going to pick this up now. It's like, actually experienced players. So I'm actually enjoying the game more now than when it first launched. Because the only people that are remaining are people like me that are know what they're doing.

[Mark Medina]

Well, there's a pretty good Steam number still, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

I haven't checked.

[Mark Medina]

I think it's been pretty good.

[Damon Hatfield]

I mean confirming we have not gotten Circana's May numbers yet, so our guide does.

[Sam Claiborne]

Well. A lot of people look at our guide.

[Mark Medina]

It really does. Yeah, cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

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[Mark Medina]

That starting moment, right? It's like, that's unbelievable.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's like, wow. Like, this is, you know, this is a fraction of the team size of a Ubisoft game like Assassin's Creed Shadows. And it's looking amazing. Some. There's even an intro segment that like, is this, is this just film?

[Mark Medina]

Like it's PS5 vanilla that I'm playing on too? Like I'm not playing on a pro.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, same. It has, you know, it's. It's weird. I didn't, I didn't play much of the first one, but it's like, you know, it's weird and I don't really know what's going on. But that also doesn't really bother me because it has a lot of like, charm and personality and it's just like unique and weird and cool. So I liked it. And then I got. I distracted, basically. This, the launch of the Switch 2 just kind of got me distracted. And it happened at a time when I got my office back because we moved my daughter's crib out of there finally. So I have my office back. I've got this new console. So I've just been down in the office playing Mario Kart World. And then after I win a few Matches of that, I'll switch over to Ocarina of Time through Nintendo Switch Online, which we've alluded to before, that we're playing for a reason. And I've just been having so much fun with that. It's been keeping me from playing new games. Anyway, that's my experience with Death Stranding 2 so far. But Sam, I want to hear yours because you're. Well, Mark, obviously you're both big fans of the first one. Mark has a tattoo of it so much. But we're going to start with Sam.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I mean, my gaming experience is almost exactly like yours as of recent. That's funny, except I played like 40 more hours of this game. I've not beat it. And Mark and I were just talking about where I'm at, but basically I. I've, you know, I probably threw half of the game, if not three quarters. And. Okay. So, you know, there's a. There's a preamble that's set in Mexico and at that point they really throw you in and they do. Cardi talks about this in his review. What they do that's great is that, like, if you. If you haven't played desk training in five years, it basically comes back like riding a bike. Like, it's funny, like, all the systems that. That work, but then work a little bit easier this time or a little bit more easy to manage and so you can really slide back into it. Like, I was really 10, like, worried about fighting enemies. But this game really makes you fight enemies because I remember in Death Stranding you're like, avoid fights at all costs. But in this game you fight more. So it kind of, kind of forces you into that and then it. It kind of has you doing your delivery, so it gives you a vehicle really fast. Like, there's just things that happen in succession where you're like, oh, this is a it. It lends itself to being picked up again without having played this training in a long time. So I like that about it. And then the rest of it proceeds to be this, you know, improvement on Death Stranding, where it's just like, everything's a little bit more polished, a little bit more fun, a lot weirder, I would say, which is a stretch because death Training, you're like, you're learning this, you know, world that's like on top of a black ooze and in this game and, like, you know, there's monsters that come out of it. Like, you're like, what. What is all this? What's happening here? This game, like, has more of that type of stuff and then like, just introduces a bunch of other stuff. Like you have a ventriloquist dummy stuck on your hip the whole time. And you know, every, everybody, every character has some like, weird quirk about them. Like you know, a missing arm and a. A flying cat. And like, it's just. It's just crazy. And, and I respect so much the creativity of making a world that is that loony and that is that like. Like nothing else. And then to return to it and have it be expanded on is really cool. And it's like, I get why people like the Metal Gear games. Like, I. I get it because it's that. That stuff, right? But I think Death Stranding does crazy combat and military lunacy better than Metal Gear does. I mean, I love metal gear solid 5. That game is a perfect game. And. But this is a different type of game and I think it's just as fun. And I think this is Kojima's. Like, I think he's getting better. Like, I think this is better than anything he's made so far on a lot of different levels. Not on these kind of compact, like Metal Gear Solid one will always be this legendary invention of a genre and so perfect. But like the Kojima ness of this is not like he hasn't jumped the shark in that way where you're like, he's just being like too much or annoying or people are saying yes to all his bad ideas. Like that happens, right? It happens with Wes Anderson, for example. Right? Like, Wes Anderson goes like a little bit too Wes Anderson, you know. And like, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But Kojima, like, for these last two games, I think like him Unleashed has been awesome. And I, I should not be saying that because like, I've been really skeptical of his career. And like, I think this is just it really, really impressive. And I can't wait to play more. It's just one of those games where my hands hurt. I've been playing so much, like I've been surfing instead of like using the. The cargo delivery truck recently. And it like, it's super platformy and fast and crazy. I don't think Mark's got to that part yet. I'm not sure.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wait, are you talking about riding a cargo rider like a skateboard?

[Mark Medina]

No, no. You get a different surfy device and it's so much easier and better and it's really, really funny.

[Sam Claiborne]

I can't wait.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. Anyway, I have a lot more to say about it, but let's have Mark Give his initials.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, one of the. My initials are mtm. Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

So wait, what's your middle name?

[Sam Claiborne]

Thomas. Yeah. Tiberius Tyrannosaurus.

[Mark Medina]

That'd be cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

The first thing I was going to mention is something Sam mentioned, which is how easy it is to get back into this game. So I have the destroying one, Platinum, but I have the platinum for the Director's Cut, which came out two years after the first game. And I remember going into the Director's Cut and I just took, you know, where my save left off and I was like, I'm not going to know how to do anything. And I was just back in. And that's how this game feels as well. And so like I'm the one that covers all the stellar blade like DLCs for IGN and that game. When I jump back in, I never know what I'm doing. I don't know how anything works. I don't know how to fight anything. And it takes me like a good hour to figure out how to control Eve again. This game, I'm just back in the moment I start playing. It's super fun story wise, not going to spoil anything. I will say I think the story is a tad weaker than the first one only because the first one had so much world building to do and you had such a purpose to do what you were doing. This game doesn't have the, you know, four hours of cutscenes at the beginning. It has a few long ones, but not like the first game. And that's because the first game had to introduce you to this world where the second game is. There are some personal Sam stuff that you have to, you know, that he has to. To go through. But also, but as far as the world goes, it's very much, hey, you did this in the uca. We need you to just keep doing this. So do it in Mexico and then do it in Australia. And there's an explanation, of course, how you get from Mexico to Australia as well. And. And there's an explanation, a good explanation of why you're doing it. But that's it. It's just we need you to keep doing your thing. It's fine. A tad weaker, the gameplay. They took everything that they added in the Director's Cut and put it in this game and then improved a million other things as well. They have streamlined so much when it comes to like in the first game you could ride a cargo rider, but. Or the cargo loader loader, but you had to, you know, be on a hill. And it's like now you can ride it like an actual skateboard. And I'm like, why was not. Why was this not a thing? In the first game, the way cargo management is. Is so much more smooth. You get. You're constantly getting upgrades, and every single one of them seems cool. It's like you'll get a pistol, and then an hour later you'll get a lightweight version of that pistol. Then you'll get an ammo pouch and stuff like that. And it's like, they seem small, but just like the first one. The game does a really good job at making you suffer through something and then being like, now you don't have to anymore. Here's this. So it's like after you walk for a bit and then they're like, here's a motorcycle. And then you're like, the motorcycle can't carry that much. And they're like, okay, fine, here's a truck. And then so it's like. It does a really good job at that stuff. Graphically. I am playing on PS5 Pro. It looks amazing. Decima is the best video game engine there is out there as far as graphics. Unreal Engine 5 can suck it. It's got nothing on Decima. Yeah. I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

Is that the Koji Pro custom engine?

[Sam Claiborne]

It is Gorilla's custom engine that they Gorillas Horizon on. And then Kojima and Mark Cerny went shopping for engines to make destroying one and they chose Decima.

[Mark Medina]

Interesting.

[Sam Claiborne]

Decima just. Man, it shines. When this game does hit PC, which, you know, could be in a. You know, the last game, it took eight months or so. It's gonna look insane. But right now it already looks insane on Pro it and it runs super smooth. I never see any lag spikes or anything. Anything. Yeah, it's great. I like it a lot. It's everything I wanted from a sequel. They took every, like, mechanic that you thought this could be a little bit better, and they're like, okay, we made it better. So, yeah, I like it quite a bit. Is it my game of the year? I still love Claire quite a bit. So let me let the recency biase bias wear off and. And I'll let you know.

[Mark Medina]

Oh, also, which nobody said about Expedition 33. I just want to add, nobody said.

[Sam Claiborne]

That Troy Baker once again steals the show.

[Damon Hatfield]

I was just gonna ask if either you have encountered that character.

[Sam Claiborne]

I have a few times. And he. He steals the show every time. He.

[Mark Medina]

Al Fanning certainly doesn't. That's a weird character.

[Sam Claiborne]

She unfortunately does not. And I love El Fanning so much.

[Mark Medina]

I think George Miller is a great character in it.

[Sam Claiborne]

When he's cool.

[Mark Medina]

When you start reading the book and like he starts telling a story, it's really cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is it actually George Miller doing the voice work?

[Sam Claiborne]

Nope.

[Damon Hatfield]

No. So it's like Guillermo.

[Sam Claiborne]

Like Guillermo. It's just somebody else. Yep. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Also, the ventriloquist is a great character. Doll Man. Doll man is like. Everybody compares him to. What is his name?

[Sam Claiborne]

Not Nornir Mimir.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Just because he's hanging there. But he's a Navi.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

You want to solve this mission, you're gonna have to actually do this very different thing.

[Sam Claiborne]

He actually. They actually make a Mimir joke when you first get him because Sam goes out of the butt and where Mimir is and he's like, don't put me there. I don't. I don't want the butt seat. I want. I want. I want a front. The front seat. You know, I want to ride shotgun.

[Mark Medina]

Fake Snake is a great character.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. I. I've only say.

[Damon Hatfield]

Is that Snake.

[Mark Medina]

It's amazing. That's like. They do all these like, just Metal Gear little reference y things and these dream sequences that you have to fight out and it's great.

[Sam Claiborne]

That first dream sequence is by far the prettiest thing I've ever seen in a video game ever.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, well.

[Sam Claiborne]

Insane.

[Mark Medina]

He's kind of like that character in those scenes. That's like what Mads Mikkelsen's scenes were like in the previous game. Right. Which. Which also looked amazing. Like the Vietnam one was really cool. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

They're similar to that.

[Mark Medina]

This game, like, does this sandbox thing that I think Kojima plus Sandbox, which is what Metal Gear Solid 5 is, is like really cool because there's. There's things that happen where everything is so physics based and so. So tweaked. That's like if you're, you know, if you have too tall of a stack of like, boxes in your back and you're fighting people, they can shoot one off. Like, it's just physics. It's just like it gets knocked off, you know? Or like if you're drawing something by a line and the line gets hung up on something, like it'll pull off. It'll like stop working. And like there's like things like that where. I can't believe this is in there. So many times. You're like, I'm gonna solve this. I'm too lazy to go back and get the right equipment to solve this problem. And you can figure it out in a different way. Like a really stupid way where you damage all your stuff. It just lets you do it, you know? I love it. It's so sandboxy and fun. And then, you know, most of this game, I've. I've forced myself to try different things because I remember in the previous game, like, oh, once you get to the mountains, then you get ziplines and you want to do everything with zip lines. And it's so great. Yes, that happens in this game. But, like, I was like, I'm not just going to try to drive my van that has all my favorite stuff in it to this place. And I did. It probably took four times as long. It was very stupid, but I did it, you know, like, it allows you to do stuff, and it's just it. That's what makes it feel so good so many of the times. And, you know, so I have so many goals all the time. It's like, I really want to build these roads now. The servers are going to be on again. I'm so excited because people can freaking buy ceramics and put them in the damn roads. But, you know, doing that was like, I love obsessing over rebuilding instructions, stuff like that, and then using them to do a bunch of deliveries back and forth. Right. Like, that stuff's still all there, but this world is built a little bit better where there's a lot more. Kind of like things that you get to later end up being closer to early things because it's almost like you're building in a circle instead of a line. And it becomes really interesting. Late game to be like, oh, I'm going to do all the stuff that I really should have done earlier in the game. And now I have a reason to because it's nearby. It's hard to explain, but you'll see when you get there. Great open world, though, just to say the least.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And they give you some stuff to do. Like, if you want to do missions, they actually give you a music player now, which is awesome. I don't know why that wasn't in the first game. So you can. And it's super dynamic. If you leave the Chiral Network, it turns off. If you're in combat, it turns off. Or if it's one of those moments where Kojima wants you to listen to a song. So missing anything.

[Mark Medina]

You're coming over a hill, and then that landscape, there's some, like, quiet.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yep.

[Mark Medina]

Euro indie rock that comes on, starts playing.

[Sam Claiborne]

The camera zooms way out.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. And then you have doll man who will Kind of talk to you. And he's helped quite a bit. Like, he'll. He's very helpful hit. Like, you have to take something somewhere, and if you get out of your vehicle, you sometimes you don't know if it's. If the thing that you need to carry is on your back or if it's in the vehicle. And, like, you'll get just a few steps and be like, sam, I think you forgot the thing. And you're like, oh, shoot. Thanks, doll man. But also, you could just chuck him in the air and do, like, reconnaissance and you could throw him at enemies, which is great.

[Mark Medina]

That's an example of, like, sometimes there's multiple ways to do things and convenient. Like, the towers, I don't think are any different than throwing him in the air. So, like, why do you need to build a tower? Well, just because you kind of learn about how those existed before you get him. Am I right about that, Mark? Like, I think they do exactly.

[Sam Claiborne]

They are different. So the towers, you can mark enemies through walls, and you don't have to be really good. I only directly at the enemy where, doll man, you have to be looking directly. And it can't do that.

[Mark Medina]

I never used all that for that. But it's. It's a funny thing when you learn how to do it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, cool. You guys are so positive on it. I'll definitely have to get back into.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, obviously a game of the year contender. Like, that's. We're talking about it in that way, especially with a high score. So I think that's really cool.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, we really didn't cover it. So just real quick, the combat and stealth is a much bigger thing here. There's tall grass now there's this APASS enhancements thing that makes it where you could basically have skill trees.

[Damon Hatfield]

And.

[Sam Claiborne]

And so they. They did so much more to make it where it's like, combat isn't an inconvenience. It's actually something you want to do now. So.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah. And the. The. The skill tree is easy and really, really, like, in a complex game, it's so nice to like, pause a menu and be like, everything in this menu is, like, very easy to figure out, even though there's complexity elsewhere. Like, that's what I respect that. Like, take the complexity out of the menu. We need a D Starfield games. Right? Like, there is no reason for Starfield to have so much menu stuff. When Skyrim had all this stuff fixed, like, please take me out of the menu. So I think that's strange. Which is not to say when you're setting up a mission, you're going to be drawing on the map and you're going to be doing your cargo obsession and stuff like that. You can just buy stuff and leave though, you know, you could. Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Great game.

[Damon Hatfield]

There is also a nice little recap at the beginning if you haven't played the first one that was useful for me. Yeah, I can't say that I fully understand everything that happened in the first game, but at least I have some idea of what's going on and who everyone is.

[Mark Medina]

Listen, like we don't, we won't go into it or anything either, but like there's a total. I guess I'd really, it's, there's a Last of Us 2 level twist in this game and like it's gonna split people, right?

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, interesting. Okay, that'll be interesting to see how that plays out this summer. We want skimpy wireless bills and fat wallets. And with premium wireless plans for just 15 bucks a month, you can have both without breaking a sweat or the bank. Isn't that right, Seth? I don't know about you, but my local cell phone provider always has signs.

[Mark Medina]

Out in front that says get 45.

[Damon Hatfield]

New phones for $1 when you sign up with eight new lines for free. And then you go in there and.

[Mark Medina]

They'Re like, yeah, here's your dollar.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then there's also this delivery fee and then there's state taxes and then it comes out to being exactly how much you were paying before and then even more because they tacked on another.

[Mark Medina]

One for like the phone.

[Damon Hatfield]

But that is not going to happen with Mint Mobile this year. Skip breaking a sweat and break get your summer savings and shop premium Wireless [e-mail] GamesCoop that's mintmobile.com GamesCoop Upfront payment of $45 for 3 month 5 gigabyte plan required equivalent to $15 a month New customer offer for first 3 months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

[Mark Medina]

You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, I Actually have a dinner reservation in 45 minutes with former game scooper Ryan Geddes. It's gonna be a pizza party. So that brings us to video game 20 questions. Our suggestion this week came from. Let me pull up my email. Who'd this come from? The original Frostbite says they're from Indy. From Indianapolis, I think is what that means. So with all that said, let the questioning begin.

[Sam Claiborne]

Frostbite, also a pretty good video game engine. Anyways.

[Mark Medina]

Okay, Is this from this century?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay. Is this game exclusive to one platform?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey, where did my camera go?

[Mark Medina]

No.

[Damon Hatfield]

Mark, where did your camera go?

[Sam Claiborne]

It's not dead. What?

[Damon Hatfield]

No. There's no signal.

[Sam Claiborne]

It might be dead. You know what? These cameras.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, my gosh.

[Sam Claiborne]

Just full screen.

[Damon Hatfield]

That's why this is game Scoop, Gaiden.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, exactly. I think we're reaching that point where we all the hosts need new cameras.

[Mark Medina]

I mean, my camera is broken. Your cameras have a camera today?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I checked last night, and this thing was plugged in and good to go. I think we are reaching the end of the lifespan.

[Mark Medina]

We all got these Sony's at the same time, and they all die at the same time.

[Sam Claiborne]

March.

[Damon Hatfield]

March 2000.

[Mark Medina]

All right, get it, get it. Get a snapshot of Mark just in case we use it. Yeah. So is this a Nintendo exclusive?

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Sam Claiborne]

Is it a PlayStation exclusive?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, interesting. Xbox. Is it an Xbox exclusive?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

All right, fine. We made it. Okay.

[Mark Medina]

This come out in the Xbox 360 era to begin with?

[Sam Claiborne]

With, yes. Oh, okay.

[Mark Medina]

Did it use the Kinect in any way? Oh, wait, no. That was the next era. I retract that question.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Yep. Oh, no. Kinect was in 360.

[Mark Medina]

No, no, it was 360. It launched with one.

[Sam Claiborne]

Okay, well, is this game first party for Xbox?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it's easy. It's Halo. Okay. Is this game played in the third person?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Mark Medina]

It sounds like Viva Pinata.

[Sam Claiborne]

If it's hard to answer that, it might be Viva Pinata.

[Mark Medina]

Is this a kind of a. Is this game about pinatas?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Sam Claiborne]

Nope. Okay, we're back to Gears of War. Let's see here.

[Mark Medina]

Was First Dark. First person.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, it is. What about. It's such a. It's such a shaky.

[Mark Medina]

Well, I mean, who. Who remembers any moments from Perfect Dark 360?

[Damon Hatfield]

I do.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Oh, no, that's fine.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's gonna be dead.

[Mark Medina]

Was this game developed by rare?

[Damon Hatfield]

No. That's 10.

[Sam Claiborne]

Let's see.

[Damon Hatfield]

Jobber can get a image up there.

[Sam Claiborne]

That's just the shirt I'M wearing. I'm wearing a no single shirt.

[Mark Medina]

I can't think of the names of the other studios. Is it coalition that makes Gears?

[Sam Claiborne]

That's who makes Gears now.

[Mark Medina]

They never made anything back then.

[Sam Claiborne]

Back then. It was epic or something. Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Was it epic? That's funny.

[Sam Claiborne]

Shoot.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. Is this game, you know, violent and rated accordingly?

[Damon Hatfield]

Nope.

[Sam Claiborne]

No. Okay, so no Gears, no Halo.

[Mark Medina]

Was this game mainly a digital download?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, it could be like Bastion or Super Meat Boy.

[Mark Medina]

So many, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

Wait, but those aren't Geometry Wars. It's first party though.

[Mark Medina]

Well, we asked if it was an exclusive. I don't know if we asked if it was first party. Right.

[Sam Claiborne]

I did.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. Microsoft downloadable. What were they making?

[Sam Claiborne]

I don't know.

[Damon Hatfield]

What were they making?

[Sam Claiborne]

Like Halo Wars. Because that's kind of, you know, that's.

[Mark Medina]

That wasn't downloadable. That was a full on game. But maybe like Zune or something like that. Is that what it's called also?

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah. Well, Zune. Wasn't that a music player?

[Mark Medina]

What? Not. What is it called? Zuma.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh yeah.

[Mark Medina]

Isn't that a Microsoft game?

[Sam Claiborne]

I have no idea.

[Mark Medina]

Is this a puzzle or strategy game?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

What about Ori?

[Sam Claiborne]

Is Moon Studios first party? Those aren't 360 games though.

[Mark Medina]

I don't know when the first one was probably Xbox One, right?

[Sam Claiborne]

I think those are Xbox One.

[Mark Medina]

Wow, this is hard. I'm trying to think of like Xbox Live kind of phenomena.

[Sam Claiborne]

You said no gore, so it's not like Killer Instinct. Well, I think that's Xbox one as well. 360. Hey, it's me.

[Mark Medina]

There he is.

[Sam Claiborne]

It's a thirst trap. Dang it.

[Mark Medina]

Is this a.

[Sam Claiborne]

I was such a 360 kid back then too.

[Mark Medina]

Maybe it's like a really arcade game. Like with, you know, were leaderboards a big part of this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Because what's the one? What's the puzzle game? I think that's Xbox One as well. But that's the game where you shoot the ball and it hits the things.

[Mark Medina]

Pinball talking.

[Sam Claiborne]

No. Yeah, I guess I did describe Pinball.

[Mark Medina]

I think you're just. Well, the game with the spirals that was free was Zoom. What about like, you know there was like a. There's games on Xbox Live Arcade that were like. Yeah, like the underwater one that was free. I don't know if we're going in the right direction with this, but a downloadable Xbox published game is correct. Right. So maybe there's a spin off that they made of something else.

[Sam Claiborne]

I'm stumped.

[Mark Medina]

Me too.

[Sam Claiborne]

There's a lot of great Xbox live arcade games, but, man, they. I can't think of any that were public, like, made by Microsoft Studios.

[Mark Medina]

Is this a. A sports platformer rpg?

[Damon Hatfield]

No, dude.

[Sam Claiborne]

What do you do?

[Mark Medina]

Oh, there's quiz games. What are the. What's the famous quiz game?

[Sam Claiborne]

Quiz game.

[Mark Medina]

There's like, ones with, like. It had its own controller and you'd buzz in. There's like, quiz games like that. Do you know I'm talking about.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I know Jackbox.

[Mark Medina]

There was one before that that was trivia based, and it had an Xbox buzzer controller. That was great. Was online play a main component of this?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes. That's 15 online play main components.

[Sam Claiborne]

Digging deep. Wait, Castle Crashers. Was that Microsoft Studios?

[Mark Medina]

No, that was Alien Hominid Studio, which is what they're called. And that game was on everything. Not Castle Crashers initially. I mean, Alien Hominid. Is this more of a game? Is this a game show or trivia game?

[Damon Hatfield]

Yes.

[Sam Claiborne]

Hey. Okay, so you're on the. Right. Yeah, Yeah, I don't. I don't know.

[Mark Medina]

It's gonna be really hard for me to come up with the title of this game.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I. I can't. A trivia smart.

[Mark Medina]

Something or. I can picture the. I can picture the controller.

[Sam Claiborne]

Wait, was it that Connect game where it's, like, almost. No, it's not a Connect game.

[Mark Medina]

I might be thinking of the wrong game, too.

[Sam Claiborne]

So there was that Connect game where it was like, you were kind of on a game show, but I have no idea what it was called.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I thought you both were much more familiar with this.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, I mean, I can think of a couple of things about this. Like, did this have a custom controller?

[Damon Hatfield]

No.

[Mark Medina]

Okay. It didn't. All right. Yeah, I remember this game. Like, I remember the Office liking it, but I never played it. I don't remember the name of it. I think we're gonna have to give up on it, but.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, in the interest of time, a hint is that there is no way to play this game today.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh, wow. No idea. Nope. Maybe it was called, like, South park chef's love shack. 360.

[Mark Medina]

360 trivia.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I got. I got nothing. No way to play this game. Huh? Why? What happened?

[Damon Hatfield]

Impossible.

[Sam Claiborne]

They took the servers down.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, I. I give up.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, it's like, maybe.

[Sam Claiborne]

I mean, I gave up, like, 10 questions ago.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, you're both giving up?

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

Neither of you remembers 1 versus 100?

[Sam Claiborne]

Nope. Nope.

[Damon Hatfield]

It was. It was awesome. It was amazing. Live game show on Xbox.

[Mark Medina]

Live arcade with it was a live game show and I remember like a battle royale. I remember. Yeah. I just wouldn't be able to with real prices. What's the game that had the buzzer though?

[Damon Hatfield]

I think you're thinking of the one for PlayStation which I can't even remember that name.

[Mark Medina]

Oh yeah. 1 versus 100. That's so cool then it's based on TV show.

[Sam Claiborne]

But yeah, I've never seen this and so why can't you play it? It's just because there's no.

[Mark Medina]

They took it up.

[Damon Hatfield]

They just took it. They just took it down.

[Sam Claiborne]

Got it. Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Never brought it to Xbox again.

[Mark Medina]

That's almost a bummer.

[Damon Hatfield]

Almost everyone used their Xbox avatars. It was great.

[Mark Medina]

I was thinking of Seen it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Remember seen it, the PlayStation 1. Okay, I do remember seeing it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah.

[Mark Medina]

No, it had a360 version. 4. Four big button gamepads could come with it.

[Damon Hatfield]

Cool.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, seen it.

[Damon Hatfield]

And then Zuma was popcap and Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid are Behemoth.

[Mark Medina]

This has a. So this was on at a time of night and it had a host?

[Damon Hatfield]

I don't really remember a host but yeah, it was like it happened during certain like a time window.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah.

[Sam Claiborne]

Oh wow.

[Damon Hatfield]

And the winner would actually win something.

[Sam Claiborne]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, it was really cool.

[Mark Medina]

And wait, what's the TV tie in?

[Damon Hatfield]

It was also a TV show.

[Mark Medina]

Oh just. But that wasn't that they didn't just broadcast an Xbox thing. It was just like a tie in TV show.

[Damon Hatfield]

Yeah, I think this was based on a TV show.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Love it, love it.

[Sam Claiborne]

Cool.

[Damon Hatfield]

1 versus 100. And again, I'm never trying to stump you. I thought you both were more familiar with.

[Mark Medina]

No, it's fine. Maybe would remember it but ask Ryan get us if he would have gotten it because I bet he played this while he. That was his era when he was working.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's actually that's true because this is released in 2009.

[Mark Medina]

Yep, yep.

[Damon Hatfield]

Well, nicely attempt. Thank you for the suggestion. Who was it from? Someone from indie viewers listeners. If you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions email them to me at the email address game scoop.com and that will include conclude this game scoop guy den where I'm calling in from London. I'm going to be here the rest of the week and then I'm actually going to Greece with the family for another week.

[Mark Medina]

Hell yeah.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's going to be very nice but I will not be signing in to host Gamescape from there. So Sam will be taking the lead.

[Mark Medina]

I'll do my best.

[Damon Hatfield]

Sam, just a reminder to when you know your topic to request art.

[Mark Medina]

Okay.

[Damon Hatfield]

Just to dumb.

[Mark Medina]

Yeah, you got it. I'll make the art. I got a napkin right here.

[Damon Hatfield]

Okay, perfect.

[Mark Medina]

It says call me after talk.

[Damon Hatfield]

Thank you to Sam and Mark. Thank you to Jober and Amir and everyone else for signing on early and getting this working. Thank you to Dale for I think he left this microphone here for me in the studio. And thank you to my wife for letting me use her laptop here so I wouldn't have to bring my laptop all the way across the Atlantic just for this one recording event. My name is Damon. I will see everyone in two weeks. You're in very capable hands. My name is Damon. This is IGN GameSuke and we're out. Get great games every month with Humble Choice. Every month you get a hand picked mix of awesome PC games. And this month's lineup is stacked with Warhammer 40K, Boltgun, Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver 1 and 2. Nobody wants to Die, Dungeons of Hinterberg and Tchia. Plus, your Humble Choice membership gets you up to 20% off in the humble store, including big new releases. And 5% of your membership goes to charity every month, all for just $11.99. So if you love discovering great games and doing a little good while you're at it, check out humble choice today, Junior. Yes, sir.

[Sam Claiborne]

CineFix Top 100 is back.

[Damon Hatfield]

It's time to pick up our quest to watch 100 of the greatest movies of all time.

[Sam Claiborne]

If that sounds good to you. No.

[Damon Hatfield]

Good.

[Mark Medina]

Fine.

[Damon Hatfield]

Good.

[Sam Claiborne]

And season four is taking some time to appreciate family.

[Damon Hatfield]

This season we're diving into movies about.

[Sam Claiborne]

All the crazy things we do for family, about reconnecting, about fighting, and about finding family in unexpected places.

[Mark Medina]

I am your father.

[Sam Claiborne]

And what better place to start than with a movie that does a little bit of all of that, starring our favorite archaeologist who named himself after the family dog. Named after the dog. And stay in touch with your Cinefix family every Sunday for more of our biggest list yet.

[Mark Medina]

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

[Damon Hatfield]

Tune in to the CineFix Top 100.

[Sam Claiborne]

Part of the Geek Media Network on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

[Damon Hatfield]

Christian Bale was preparing for his role.

[Mark Medina]

In American Psycho, dressing the part, hitting.

[Damon Hatfield]

The gym for the first time in.

[Mark Medina]

His life, even getting his teeth redone.

[Damon Hatfield]

There was just one problem.

[Mark Medina]

He didn't actually have the part. Leonardo DiCaprio did.

[Damon Hatfield]

Listen to our podcast.

[Mark Medina]

What went wrong every other week as.

[Damon Hatfield]

We unearth the chaos behind Hollywood's biggest movie flops and most shocking successes available.

[Mark Medina]

Wherever you get your podcasts.