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Episode 162 - Apple Fritter Pinball

Eclectic Gamers Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 14m·held·Mar 6, 2022
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Pinball industry updates: Barry Osler passes, Jersey Jack delays Toy Story, Stern sacrifices cornerstone for backlog relief.

Summary

Tony and Dennis discuss recent pinball industry news including Barry Osler's death, Jersey Jack's delayed Toy Story reveal, Homepins' Spinal Tap production updates, and Stern's decision to drop a cornerstone game to address manufacturing backlog. They also cover game reviews, their personal collections, and community feedback on their recent podcast game episode.

Key Claims

  • Barry Osler passed away from bone cancer after fighting it for a long time

    high confidence · Direct statement by Tony about recent pinball community loss

  • Toy Story reveal will not happen at TPF, likely pushed to later date due to production readiness

    medium confidence · Dennis: 'what I've been hearing from multiple sources...they have been stockpiling games...don't expect to play that TPF'

  • Stern dropped a cornerstone game (May release) to address manufacturing backlog on Godzilla, Rush, Mandalorian, Deadpool

    high confidence · Tony: 'they are so horribly backlogged trying to make Godzillas, Rushes, Mandalorians, Deadpools'

  • Dropping the cornerstone will only result in 10-15% more backlog orders being filled

    medium confidence · Tony: 'distributors are only to expect about 10% to 15% more orders being filled out of their backlog'

  • Godzilla Premium is superior to Pro version due to toys and playfield variety from building mechanics

    high confidence · Dennis: 'with the building, and it changes the levels, it changes all the ball pathing...the premium's better'

  • Pat Lawler's Toy Story may be his final game, with possible transition to oversight role like George Gomez

    low confidence · Dennis speculation: 'this has been a long-standing rumor that this is Pat Lawler's last game'

  • Homepins' Spinal Tap game will have DMD display and 27-inch backglass LCD monitor

    high confidence · Dennis citing distributor information: 'This game is going to have a DMD display And also a 27 inch Back glass LCD monitor'

  • Jersey Jack has been doing the best job with game reveals compared to other manufacturers

    medium confidence · Tony: 'I would give Jersey Jack out of all the companies...they have lately...been doing the best job'

Notable Quotes

  • “Godzilla, it's awesome. That's my Godzilla roar. It's an awesome game”

    Dennis @ Early segment — Personal endorsement of Godzilla Premium as worthwhile purchase

  • “Godzilla, I think, is the first Stern game I can think of or remember that I feel like the premium is, like, very important to have over a pro”

    Tony @ Collection discussion — Establishes Godzilla Premium as exceptional value differentiation vs typical Stern tier structure

  • “They have more than one line at their facility, and they've been building Toy Story”

    Dennis @ Jersey Jack section — Indicates Jersey Jack has parallel production capacity for multiple games

  • “I personally fully expect that they will have at least three games out this year. They just won't be three cornerstones”

    Tony @ Stern backlog discussion — Prediction about Stern's alternative release strategy including vaults

  • “Their backlog is so big, should they really be doing a vault right now? I would say no, they shouldn't”

    Tony @ Vault discussion — Assessment of Stern's manufacturing constraints vs vault desires

  • “This is a smart move. And I expressed that when I was on the pinball show last week when this was discussed”

    Tony @ Stern cornerstone drop discussion — Endorsement of Stern's production prioritization strategy

Entities

Barry OslerpersonTonypersonDennispersonKeith ElwinpersonLyman SheetspersonDwight SullivanpersonRick NagelpersonLonnie RopppersonPat LawlerpersonGeorge Gomez

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Stern Pinball sacrificing cornerstone release to address manufacturing backlog; strategic prioritization of existing orders

    high · Tony: 'they are so horribly backlogged...they have dropped that in order to help catch up'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Stern backlog relief decision perceived as smart strategic move by podcast hosts; some distributors may divert funds to alternative purchases

    medium · Tony: 'I do think that it's one of those things where I think this is the right move' but noting some may 'buy something else instead'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Jersey Jack emphasizing successful reveal strategy and execution across GNR, Walker, and upcoming Toy Story; differentiator vs other manufacturers

    medium · Tony: 'I would give Jersey Jack out of all the companies...they have been doing the best job'

  • $

    market_signal: Backlog relief from cornerstone sacrifice only yielding 10-15% additional filled orders; indicates depth of demand exceeds production capacity

    medium · Tony: 'distributors are only to expect about 10% to 15% more orders being filled'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Barry Osler picked up by American Pinball weeks before his death; represents design resource acquisition despite industry challenges

    high · Direct statement: 'he had only like a couple of weeks before his passing been picked up by American Pinball'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.224

0:00
Welcome to the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. Today is Saturday, March 5th. This is episode 162, and my name is Tony. I'm Dennis. Why are we so early? Because reasons It's my fault I was like can we record Saturday And Tony's like yeah That's my impression of you Yeah whatever you want So yeah I'm cool bro Whatever you want man let's go Saturday Sunday Friday I don't care So listeners need an update So what have you been doing and don't say SnowRunner I have been playing Rogue Tower Oh Oh. Rogue Tower is a roguelike tower defense game. That is close. And it's enjoyable. It has flaws. Most roguelikes do. Right. I mean, at this point, I've gone through, I've played enough of it that I've unlocked all of the purchasable unlocks. So all I'm really doing at this point is doing achievement hunting. Okay. But it's fun because the maps are generated. Each one is different. You add a tile. To start a wave, you add a tile that has shapes on it or has the terrain on it. But you can choose where the tile starts at so you get to build it out and stretch things and turn things to make the routes longer or shorter. And they branch. And you change the branches. You add tiles to the branches to make each individual branch longer And it's fun My biggest problem with it is I've got a strategy That I would call 75-80% effective With pretty much any turret combination That I have The problem is that There's no way to, you know, most tower defense games There's like a fast button which speeds everything up. Right, yeah. This game doesn't have it. So to get through all 45 levels and beat the game with my strategy, which seems to work most of the time, takes like two hours. Whoa.
2:35
That's long for Tower of Defense. I have been not playing it as much. I played a whole bunch at first, and then after I got the strategy figured out and got a bunch of the achievements unlocked, I've gone back and been doing other games and hunting around for other stuff.
2:54
Good. Well, something new. It's something new. It wasn't work. It wasn't SnowRunner. I mean, I've still played SnowRunner. We can't talk about that. But not nearly as much because, like I said, Rogue Tower took up most of my time for the last week or so, really. A little over a week. Well I sadly would be Completely repetitive because I'm still doing Yakuza I am in the finale chapter That's the number, the number is finale So I must be close So maybe by next episode I'll be done with that And then I did get Godzilla Pinball Machine So that arrived On Thursday And you played it I played it It's much like you probably remember Godzilla being It's Godzilla, it's awesome That's my Godzilla roar It's an awesome game And you got the premium. Yes. So. That's the first premium I've ever had. New or used. Very. With Godzilla, honestly, I think it's, I think the premium's better. Well, you know, we played both at Expo. Right. Actually, we played the LE, too. And it was like, the toys are so cool in the premium. But the thing is, with the building, and it changes the levels, it changes all the ball pathing. It just feels like there's a lot more variety in the shots because of the feeds. So, anyway. Yeah, it feels like, to me, Godzilla, I think, is the first Stern game I can think of or remember that I feel like the premium is, like, very important to have over a pro. Uh-huh. And so, Super Orbit's out, actually. Bye-bye, Super Orbit. Yeah, the person buying it actually already gave me the money. that will be officially leaving the house probably on Tuesday. And so I'll be back at the seven games again. And I won't reveal anything yet, but I've got another game, I think, in the works. A much older game than Godzilla. A 1936 something. Not that old.
person
Marcoperson
Brettperson
Stern Pinballcompany
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Homepinscompany
Deep Root Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
Godzilla Pinballgame
Toy Storygame
This Is Spinal Tapgame

announcement: Homepins Spinal Tap technical specifications confirmed: DMD display + 27-inch backglass LCD; original Spinal Tap soundtrack and movie video scenes

high · Dennis citing distributor: 'game is going to have a DMD display And also a 27 inch Back glass LCD monitor'

  • ?

    product_strategy: Jersey Jack Toy Story announcement delayed from March/TPF; strategic reveal timing rather than production readiness issue

    medium · Dennis: 'I'm going to guess that it's the production side...strategically, they really want to be able to put games in people's hands...as soon as they're ready'

  • ?

    product_concern: Godzilla Premium establishes superior playfield variety and toy implementation vs Pro tier; represents meaningful mechanical differentiation

    high · Dennis: 'the toys are so cool in the premium...the building...changes all the ball pathing...much more variety'

    • 4:54
    You're getting Knight Rider. I may need to clear even more room. I haven't decided exactly what to get rid of next.
    5:01
    I've got plenty of stuff I've owned for years, though, that could go on. Star Trek. You know, I could do Star Trek. I don't know. Because the thing is, with Godzilla and Walking Dead and Star Trek, I'm just under half the collection Stern now, and that's a little imbalanced. It is, but Star Trek, Walking Dead, and Godzilla are just such good games. I mean, they were all different designers. They all had different people on software. Lonnie Ropp is primarily responsible for Star Trek. Dwight Sullivan helped a bit. Lyman Sheets did Walking Dead. And then Keith Elwin's really responsible for the rule set that's in his Godzilla design. Rick Nagel's the chief coder for it. So, yeah, so they do feel different, which is what, you know, I like that because I only have so much room in that game room that I like the games to feel different. It's kind of where I've been at for a number of years now with the collection. So, but yeah, we'll see. We'll just have to wait and see. Now, we have a ton of stuff to go over. A ton. Now, before we – I have an email that I do want to go into, but I do think we should go ahead and open with right after we wrapped up our last episode, we found out that Barry Osler, famed pinball designer, had passed away from bone cancer. Apparently, he'd been fighting bone cancer for a really long time. I wasn't aware of that, but a lot of people were. I'd heard in the past that he was fighting cancer. I didn't know what it was, but I heard that in the past. And so I have a link in the show notes to a pinball news article if anyone's interested in reading more about Barry and his career. He didn't have a lot in the way of games out recently on IPDB, the Internet Pinball Database. His last credited game is Junkyard from the 90s. But he had been working on so many things that just didn't see fruition. He had been with Deep Root where he had been doing design. Food Truck, I believe, was his game. But obviously nothing came out of Deep Root, so we didn't see that. Well, there's an auction coming out of Deep Root. He had some designs with Highway. In fact, I believe I read that ideally he should probably get credit for Pinball Brothers' Queen Bisons. That that layout was his. By all accounts, it looks like it still remains primarily his. Right. So there's that. And then we had noted, I believe we had noted he had only like a couple of weeks before his passing been picked up by American Pinball. So it's just it was very sudden. I do also have a link to a GoFundMe that was set up for Barry Osler as a memorial fund. So if people are interested in contributing to that, you could go ahead and click there. And so just, you know, it feels like it was just the other day where we talked about Lyman Sheets passing away. And now we've got Barry Osler, Marco with Marco Specialties also recently died. So there have been some losses lately. And we can only hope that the rest of the year is a little less tragic.
    8:04
    Yeah. But you never know. All right. On to other news. Well, before the news, I noted emails. So, Tony, you might remember that on the last episode, we played a game. We did play a game. The game 2.0. I think we did much better than I thought we were going to going in. I felt very happy with how well we managed that game. I would agree with you. And I will also say that the listeners don't care. The only thing that stood out to them, and this was anyone who gave me feedback except for the email I'm about to read and an email that we got from the person who created the game who gave us a debrief on it I haven't replied to him but he did a breakdown based off his listening of things to improve, things that could be done better because he's really into this game crafting sort of stuff but the number one feedback we got was how could we forget about the T2 canon and here I am sitting there like, we got that one right. Now, that may have been because I insisted on staying with canon because I couldn't think of anything else that Black Rose had to do with ACDC. But regardless, the answer was right. So, move on.
    9:25
    And in our defense, T2, that canon's like a canon for ants. It's like a baby-sized canon. Very easy to forget. Especially if you haven't played a lot of T2, and I haven't. You know what I remember? I know you'll know this. Oh, yeah. You know what I remember about T2? We were at a show, and someone walked away with a ball in the shooter lane, and the beeping. I will never own that game because of that sound. We were at a machine next to it, and all we heard the whole time was that da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And so we don't have fond memories of T2, okay? We've purged as much of it as we can. Unfortunately, the sound still haunts us. It's there. it's in my dreams but T3 is awesome I love T3 yeah shoot the end here perfect rendition I'm getting better so we got an email Tony from Brett Brett's email subject is shall we not play a game 2.0 because if you didn't know I named the episode shall we play a game 2.0 so I'm going to read this email aloud I'm going to read it a certain way and that will become clear at the end.
    10:40
    Dear Tony and Dennis, long time listener, first time emailing. I think I've listened to every one of your podcasts. I can honestly say that this was one of the hardest to get through. Harder than the one Tony did the show from in the bathroom.
    10:59
    I'm sorry. I still remember the person who wrote in. It must have been someone else because this is the first email. It was like, why is Tony recording from inside a bathroom? Because it was the echo. It was the echo with the snowball. That was the first time I put on the Windows 11 on this computer. Right, yeah. It was all bad. Yeah, I remember.
    11:21
    But not bad enough for me not to publish it. Well, that's true. I was the one who looked bad. I have no class. Not you. Well, yes. But they all know that I do the editing. So they're like, you let that through? I'm like, yes, I did. We were done. I didn't catch it until he was gone This episode is done We're done Continuing on I'll come for the pinball And stay for the video games But this time I could not wait For the inevitable Activision Blizzard Update Obviously I'm not Obviously I'm referring to the pinball game Played in the last episode I know this was a test for you In my opinion it failed That being said, the game could work with some tweaks. 1. Reduce the number of rounds to 10 or less. I typically like it when episodes run long, but this time it was long.
    12:19
    2. Read the answers after each round, not wait until the very end. Oh, that's not a bad idea. I completely forgot everything by the time the answers came around. That's a good idea. Three Introduce Laflons See a playfield Add a machine Phone a Zach Etc Never use that one Just some ideas If you plan to play this game again Love the show Both pinball and video games Keep up the good work Brett P.S. You can read this on the air But only if you do Generic cowboy accent Nice That was Brett I apologize For that really Poor Generic That was okay. All right. That was a little more gone with the wind dish. That was a little. That was odd, dude. Mr. Clamp. Mr. Britson Clamp.
    13:13
    Look, it's Saturday. We're recording in the evening. This is all very atypical. I thought it was tying back to our Huntsville discussion from last episode. No, I know. It was all a trap. I was waiting for Atlanta to burn. No, he was going back to the old Roanoke Pinball Museum sponsorships because there was generic cowboy. Generic cowboy. But now generic cowboy is a little more Southern Belle and a little less 10-gallon hat. That's how it works. This is why I don't do the voices in the pinball machines. Mark Silk does. But, all right, so, yes. And as I noted, there's been an intensive autopsy conducted by the creator of the game, but now he can hear these remarks. I do agree that the rounds ran Really really long That being said in our defense Because the emails instructed me Not to open them until we were playing the game I didn't know how many questions there were And that also feeds into number two About saying the answer after each round In order for us to not see the answers Ahead of time We were sent the answers in a separate email So we'd have to try and manage But then we'd see all the answers That might be something interesting That might go back to requiring just one of us to run the other Or to bring in a third party That's true It's been a long time since we've had a third party The third idea on that game Yeah, there's certain ways to work it I don't ever really see Tony calling Zach ever But some of the other ones maybe I mean, what would Zach know anyway? Unless we were talking about an LCD game What's he really going to know? I can think of a lot of people I'm just trying to imagine him explaining the nuances of all those EM questions we had. Well, and the thing is, the answer is like, what do these all have in common? Toppers. And then, yeah, he gets stuck for 45 minutes on the topper choice. Now, to be fair, we had to cut out a lot of dead air with us, too. Yeah. So we got stuck more than the listeners would have us believe. Than the listeners would have? No, I didn't say it right. I'm not editing it because this ain't the pinball show. This is a collective game. This is clean. You get it. You get it as we say it. We don't play them their games. You get it. You know what? You get clunky. You get it as it is. That's right. We drop it. We're honest, pure pinballers. We're just dropping it like it's hot. Yeah. Not everything's going to be like a Spider-Man or a Star Trek. You know what? There's going to be some clunk. Some of these things, we're going to be like Twilight Zone. Yeah. Occasionally, every once in a while, we try to avoid it. But like when I recorded from the bathroom, occasionally you get an Oktoberfest.
    15:59
    Yes. You know, I actually had, this is not related to Collective Gamers at all, other than that I'm on this show as well. I was walking through how I tier themes on the last Pinball Show episode. And I was talking about an F tier, what I consider F tier, which would be a theme that could actually hurt your sales. And so I gave a hypothetical to Zach of Hitler the pin. but I also said Oktoberfest would be another example and I had someone up inside take issue with me putting Oktoberfest as a D tier title because of the alcohol in it and I was like he brought some fair points but I didn't put it as a D tier I put it as an F tier he's like you always throw Oktoberfest under the bus and you know what he's right I do well here's the thing here's what's very important to remember both of those pens are terrible one of them is just the most terrible idea for a pen ever and the other is a pen about Hitler now you see the thing was where he was different than the usual argument was he was totally okay with any stance I would have that the game was bad, the sound was bad the art was bad, the rules was bad he just wanted me to acknowledge that the theme wasn't no, no, no, no It's a terrible thing. Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously, it's my opinion, so it's not changing. But he did raise some good points about wish lists and stuff, and that it might actually be more popular than I gave it credit for. Like I said, when it came out, if I'm going to make a pinball theme that is themed around a drinking holiday, it has to be St. Patrick's Day, or else you're done. And I think I actually posted that. I was like, I still, if you're doing an alcohol-themed pen, St. Patrick's Day has got broader appeal. Yeah. In my opinion. Unless you're from, like, the Northeast, maybe? Well, and it's argument, actually, was, like, Midwest Oktoberfest. It must not be our Midwest, because Oktoberfest is not big here. No. Even though we do have a sizable German Mennonite population in Kansas. Yeah. Maybe the Mennonite side blocks the Oktoberfest side. I think it's pretty big up in, like, Minnesota. And Wisconsin, I'm sure. Oh, I'm sure. Like, northern Midwest. I don't know I had somebody argue with me That us in Kansas are not the Midwest And people from Eastern Missouri Oh okay Oktoberfest is real big In Eastern misery That's going to be a long episode Okay The people are like what are they talking about You guys don understand So let move on to some news because that not news Here some news Jersey Jack pinball Toy Story. Failed company. No. Okay. No. Oh, so they're announcing the pinball machine. We're finally getting a new Jersey Jack game. No. Oh. No. So they're a failed company. No. What is the timer since the last Jersey Jack release? A year and a half? I think that's about right. Okay. I think so. I mean, it's not the worst. I mean We're getting there By all reports they are in the final stages Of the Guns N' Roses run They have Rejected playfields for sale for people that Want them for a wall art and stuff up From their Good idea And I was hearing In fact we talked about it On a rumor corner the rumor corner where you Judged it as not a worthy enough rumor For rumor corner was Was that the rumor corner where every rumor has already been proven false that was that's the one before no it was the one before okay last week's rumor last episode's rumor quarter was the one that was proven all the way wrong which for the listeners that don't want to go back and listen was that rumor corner was that multimorphic was going to be revealing beetlejuice as their pen and the next stern cornerstone would be out in april or no i think our rumor was may i was also hearing possibly april but and both of those are now not true and we'll be talking about that but um oh well rumor corner is you know rumors yes rumor it's about being rumored and that's i heard a rumor yeah it's about what i heard and so anyway so toy story no we have been hearing i've been hearing from multiple sources not only was the reveal happening in march that they have been stockpiling games that while they're wrapping up the GNR run, I mean, they have more than one line at their facility, and they've been building Toy Story. And that the plan would be that they would have, in the triple digits, ready to give to people, well, to sell to people.
    20:44
    All I've heard now is that it's not at TPF, but the way everyone's saying it is, it's also not going to be revealed before TPF. So March is just out. But I haven't heard why. like I haven't even heard a rumor why like did they not get as many built as they wanted and so they're stalling on the sale you know the announcement because they want to be able to ship immediately a sizable quantity you know this rumor was out ever since that disgruntled employee left and like leaked everything everything's been true that's why everyone's so sure it's Toy Story but anyway don't expect to play that TPF. The thing is, Toy Story, as I recall, was originally being talked about as the release a couple months after Wonka?
    21:35
    I mean, yes. And Wonka was how many years ago now? Several. I mean, the logic was at the time when GNR was revealed, Toy Story seemed to be better fit in the sense that Toy Story 4 had come out not all that long ago, and now we are years after the last Toy Story movie. That's why I wonder if we're not running into a licensing problem. I mean, it could be. I personally am going to guess that it's the production side. They thought they would have more games ready to go. And for whatever reason, like strategically, they really want to be able to put games in people's hands or on location or something as soon as they're ready to do the announcement. Which is smart. And I think that does make a lot of sense. In fact, I would give Jersey Jack out of all the companies. I think they have lately, when it's come to reveals, been doing the best job of anyone. I would agree. I thought the GNR reveal was very well done. I didn't really have too many complaints about the Walker reveal either. No, no. I think they've been doing a very good job on reveals. So based off of that, I'm guessing it's reveal-oriented is why they're waiting, because they want their reveal to be perfect. Because they stick the landing on these reveals. Right, but at this point, where do you go without a TPF? TPF would have been a perfect hit. Well, you know, most of the other companies aren't doing reveals at shows. And that's my guess is they'll just avoid a show altogether. Yeah, I mean, if they don't, I mean, what else is, I don't know the date, so I'm just going to throw out things and act like they're coming up, and I don't know. Like Free Play Florida.
    23:12
    You know, surely they're not going to wait until Expo. The tournament at Matt's Burger Hut. Yeah Allentown there that sounds like one That's real When's MGC is that what's going on now No the Louisville show is going down In early March They're not going to do it at Louisville Nope I don't know Anyway this is probably There were probably people going to TPF specifically because they Wanted to play this And no Jersey Jack didn't promise Or say anything about it being there It's been so long and so reported, and now I think a lot of people are going to be sad. Sad pandas. We'll see. I don't know. Yeah. I think they have the chance to still hit it out of the park. They have a chance to get a good launch. Good word of mouth. This isn't like the Pirates debacle where they announced the game and they threw prototypes out there with mechs that were then deleted because they didn't bloody work. and well all reports are that toy story is lawler and jersey jack's best games wonka and dialed in are lawler games and so given that i think there's a high degree of confidence that the game will be a good game because of who designed it and assuming he's using the same rules team his rules team is really popular like it's less multi-ball heavy and right and just more whatever Lawler likes. So if you're into Lawler, you'll be into it.
    24:42
    I'm not going to rumor, according to this, but this has been a long-standing rumor that this is Pat Lawler's last game. And that he's if not retiring, retiring from game design. I've been hearing some stuff that maybe he's going to stay and oversee the game team, maybe a la George Gomez, who on occasion will pick up his drafting pen and come up with a layout, but by and large, he's just running the teams and not making games. So there's that.
    25:12
    Next item. Here's one we haven't talked about in a long time. HomePen and Spinal Tap. You might vaguely remember it. I know we talked about it. We have talked about it. I think we last talked about it briefly on our year-end review. Yeah, I think you're right. I think we gave it less than five minutes. It might not get more than that here. I don't think it needs more than that. But according to Nap Arcade, which Nap is like everywhere. Well, his website now, he's like the pinball news site at this stage. It's the one I turn to the most now. It's the most active one that I'm aware of. So anyway, I have a link in the show notes to this for those that want to read up. But there was some information that came out about Homepins' This Is Spinal Tap game from one of their distributors. So I haven't listed all the details here for us to go over. But supposedly, per the distributor, Smile Tap is already in production.
    26:08
    They're going to fill the pre-orders first, unsurprising in my view. And then it's going to be just a standard first-come, first-serve on sales. And it's anticipated that that will begin in May. Impressive. Okay. In terms of some game features, because we still haven't seen much other than, like, close-ups of the drop targets and a few little things. We still haven't gotten a good sense of what the game looks like. Here's an interesting thing It's listed as this game is going to have a DMD display And also a 27 inch Back glass LCD monitor Interesting Yeah I don't know why I'm not The game will feature Original Spinal Tap soundtracks And it will also have video scenes From the original movie So fans I'm sure will be ecstatic about that Yes I mean it's not my cult hit thing I have no interest, but I can understand. Yeah, it's not really my thing. You know, every time I think of pinball and Spinal Tap, I always think of the Flash Gordon re-theme that I think one of the Ozark folks has brought to TBF several times. And I've played that a few times.
    27:13
    There are more details than this. People can go and read the article. They like other things that were indicated. I thought this was the main stuff, though, the major stuff that most people would appreciate. So I wanted to share it here. So let's move to Stern. Now I mentioned one of our rumor corner rumors Was wrong last time And that was about the next cornerstone So Alright Stern apparently has informed Their distributor network That what would normally be the second cornerstone Which typically comes out in that Kind of April May period What we noted we were hearing was coming out In May Not happening Not going to happen My understanding is This is not that the game's not ready. It is they are so horribly backlogged trying to make Godzillas, Rushes, Mandalorians, Deadpools, and other games, not Led Zeppelin, but other games, that they have dropped that in order to help catch up on the sheer backlog of orders that they have. Now, because of that, that sounds like, in my view, this is a smart move. And I expressed that when I was on the pinball show last week when this was discussed. However, I have also heard that distributors are only to expect about 10% to 15% more orders being filled out of their backlog because of that sacrifice, which bluntly is lower than I thought giving up a cornerstone would position. You would think. It would position that. That's a little low. I mean, I know they have a lot of distributors, but it's like, and I guess the backlog is just that deep. I think it's a smart move We've talked about it in multiple previous episodes That they needed to do something We talked about them dropping a game So they could get caught up I mean this is something That it doesn't hurt them I mean there are people out there who are going to be like Oh Stern's over They're done I think this is the right choice by them I haven't seen too many people Go that extreme though I do know there are some people based off of the you know never-ending cycle of rumors in terms of what's in production at Stern right that I know and this is like a you know a handful of people but that because they so want to buy stuff they may buy something else instead of holding the funds to get what they really want from Stern so weird yeah I never have understood it but I I'm a terrible model. I mean, as expensive as buying a Godzilla Premium was, I had not bought a new in-box game for over three years. And I hadn't even bought a used game in over two and a half. So it's like I just don't move games much. So I'm not the right person to talk to about that. But anyway, so that's what we've now heard about Stern. I do think that it's one of those things where I think this is the right move. And hopefully it'll work out. and they will get caught up on the backlog and all these people that are waiting for the games will get their games.
    30:18
    But I still wonder if there's not something else coming. Right. And from what I've heard, they were very clear about cornerstones.
    30:30
    So there has been a long-running rumor. Again, I won't rumor corner it, but Back to the Future has been rumored for at least since some point in 2021. Being a boutique A Kapow boutique So that they could still do a Kapow boutique Be it Back to the Future Or whatever else They might do another home pin Remember they put out Jack Danger's first game Was a Jurassic Park home pin version They might have another home pin in the works That could come out this year And of course Vaults WWE Vault I'm not quite sure we're to that point yet However I'm pretty sure there's probably new and boxed WWE sitting in a warehouse somewhere. That being said, you know, especially I could really see with possibly due to the loss of Lyman Sheets, maybe some demand for ACDC or Metallica again. Yeah, those have had long – I mean, ACDC had so many volts, it felt like, or whatever. But again, if there's the demand, there's the demand. They did only recently, I believe, end their final run of Iron Man Vault. So they might go ahead and do something else.
    31:47
    Maybe it's a vault that's not a DMD, but I still always think of Sam's as a vault. But we'll see. Anyway, so all that stuff still. My point is, I personally fully expect that they will have at least three games out this year. They just won't be three cornerstones. You know, there is a Lord of the Rings TV show coming. Perfect time to vault Lord of the Rings. And there are a lot of people that want it. In fact, I would say I would want it. The thing is, Lord of the Rings, being a white star game, I still just don't see it. I get it's not impossible. I'm not even going to say it's necessarily hard to do. But you have to ask yourself, they're not going to build new white star boards. So it's either move that onto a new system or nothing. Emulate it. Or nothing. No. Or nothing. Those are the options. They don't do anything else. So, converting it to Spike, because I can't imagine they'd convert it to Sam.
    32:45
    Maybe, though, for the DMD. I just don't see it, unfortunately. Because that would be arguably their best vault seller if they were to vault anything. Now, the other one, which is more conceivable, would be Tron. Yes. Which is a Sam.
    33:01
    And people have clamored for that for years. I like Tron. But again, the thing is, their backlog is so big, should they really be doing a vault right now? I would say no, they shouldn't. They should be dedicating all their lines to catching up on Spike 2 games. But I think they're coming to a point. I think a vault in the next couple of years would probably be a good idea for some of these games. Yeah, they're going to catch up eventually. As people go out more, you know, there's been a lot of people. So there was the, I mean, you know, it was a mix of stuff. There was the pandemic monies that people got from the government that not everyone needed. There were a lot of people that just didn't travel, and they put that money into their game rooms. But those people are going to start traveling again. So they'll be able to catch up, is my point. And then, yes, I think not only will we see more vaults, we deserve to see more vaults. I think it's a good idea to vault. But I just don't think this year's a good year for it. Yet, at least.
    34:04
    All right. Let's move from Stern and our rumor corner being wrong to Multimorphic and our rumor corner being wrong. So last episode's Multimorphic rumor corner was, hey, the new licensed game, Beetlejuice.
    34:19
    Oops. I was arguably not remotely close. Arguably. I mean, yeah, no. Well Weird Al has a Hollywood Walk of Fame star And so does Alec Baldwin And Michael Keaton And that was a hint On the thing You get it That's basically the same Rumor Corner Last time was rough Yeah it was Well our sources are garbage I don't know what else to say It's their fault That's why it's rumors Rumors aren't always true. Our sources were wrong. We did not. We're not talking. We don't have like the high end sources. This is like Billy who wants you to slip him a pack of smoke. Okay. So because I feel like every other podcast has covered this because this announcement was like the day after we dropped our episode. Oh, man. You know how rough that is. It seems like that always falls that way. It's sort of because of our weekend schedule. But so because of that, I don't want to spend a ton of time going over the specifics. But but in case people are listening to us and not the other shows, I think we need to give a little bit of something. So. All right. Here are the details. And I do have a link in the show notes to an article Pinball News has, which is like a deeper examination of all of this. If you want to see pictures and learn more. So FYI. But so the game will have 17 songs. There is a limited edition version Which is capped at 227 units That comes with special cabinet art It comes with a topper It comes with a Translight signed by Weird Al And it also has a few other things as well The response to the game itself Has been very good Multimorphic has reported that they sold out Of their LE add-on packages I don't know if any are left with distributors when Multimorphic announced they were sold out I saw something saying that some of the distributors at least still had them but those at this point may be sold out as well I think it's hard to know unless you check with all of them but anyway FYI for those who might be after it the pricing so the price of a P3 base system with no modules to play is $8,300. Weird Al as a module, which you need the base station to play, is another $3,000. So if you want to play Weird Al without any LE stuff and you don't own a P3 platform already, it's $11,300. The LE package, which again is by and large moot for people at this point because they sold out but it was another on top of it So it kind of been interesting as I tried to follow all this because uh especially between the announcement of the game and the sales there were changes Right So one of the changes was and this was sort of interesting timing and by interesting timing I understand the flow of events quite clearly. You, Tony, had a video on the gram. Yes, I put some videos on the gram talking about this because, well, like I said, It seems like everything drops Immediately after we put out an episode So it's two weeks before we talk about stuff So I'm starting to use the gram for that And to talk about some other Just random things that pop into my head I find it's been a useful Way for me to get Thoughts out of my head That would otherwise go away before we actually get around to recording Yeah and I would describe it For folks is Have you ever seen like comedians in cars Getting coffee It says Tony in a car without coffee. That would be my description. It's basically the same thing, though. You get to listen to my car whine in the background and see me occasionally wave at people as I pass them while I talk about stuff. Yes. So you had several videos, but one of them was actually you had seen the Multimorphic website. Yeah. And you had seen under their buy page for Weird Al a picture of the platform with the LE art and everything. And it said P3 machine $8,300. And I know your video was critical saying it's not $8,300 for what you see in the picture. You brought up some false advertising concerns. And I went when I was recording with Zach for the pinball show to the page And they had updated it Yeah To declare that the picture conveyed a machine that was $13,100 Addressing the concern you had discussed in the video And that had been a comment put on the video the day after I'd made it Oh, okay That it had been updated And that it had been It was changed basically to like I said It should be just to Cover everything So that was good I was glad to see that I was really happy to see them To see it change that fast Because I was I might have Ranted a little I did watch that video It was not aggressive Your first version might have been Because you noted at the start of that one you had re-uploaded it Well, I hadn't even uploaded the first one. I recorded it, and then after I got done recording it while I was driving home, I hit the play to let it start playing so I could make sure that the sound was okay. And all you could hear was the heater and see my mouth moving because I had the heater turned up too high. So it was just my lips moving and loud heater noises. So I re-recorded it. So my first vent of emotion had already been wasted. By a vent in your car. By a vent. And so it was the – so the second one wasn't nearly as bad. It was much more going on a date with an unloaded gun as opposed to a loaded gun.
    40:51
    Something about Mary Style type of. Okay. So, yeah, no. But, no, I'm glad they changed it. That was a thing that I was a little surprised. But I never assume that manufacturers listen to podcasts, quite frankly. I know some people with them do.
    41:12
    And I don't think they listen to us. I know for a fact that that information was given to them by a listener that made the comment. I'll have to look it back up. But it was Nick from the EM. Well, he makes games for them, like third-party games. Yeah. And so thank you for passing that information along, Nick, and getting everything worked on. Because that's one of those things. I mean, I've talked about it in the past, the whole transparency when you get free stuff and transparency when somebody's paying you and how that is one of my...
    41:53
    I mentioned this to Zach on the TPS episode after I saw that. And I know you don't listen to that podcast, but I mentioned that I thought I was being fair in saying that it triggers you when those things are not respected. I don't like use of that word, but the truth, but it's no, you're just like a shaky Jeff. It's true. I, I, I, I, I will, I will admit those are some of those things that really get my goat. So no, no goats. Well, that was another one. Not related to your video, but actually when I was doing that episode of TPS, we were looking through and going through the website and discussing. And one of the things I had noted was, though Multimorphic had announced you could also buy the game and the LE kits through the distributors, I couldn't find the distributors on their website. And they're not the only one. I couldn't find the distributors on Spooky's website either, but I could on Chicago Gaming, Jersey Jack, and Stern, which were the only other ones. Oh, and I think I checked American Pinball as well. So I found them on 4, but I couldn't find them on Spooky or Multimorphic. after that episode was first uploaded the next day I went and looked and the distributors are also now listed on Multimarket's page so you can find them in an easy way to find them so there have been changes since that video and that podcast have gone on the air so FYI this is something we knew that we can report versus what everyone else who was ahead of us might have said if they discussed those items I listen to so few pinball podcasts I listen to none anymore.
    43:38
    It was also indicated by Multimorphic that Weird Al will be available for play at Texas Pen Ball Festival. Which I'm a Weird Al fan, and I'm really looking forward to trying it. I think a five-flipper layout is a little weird, but yeah, why not? We'll give it a shot. We'll see how it goes. But like I said In one of the other Instagram videos I recorded I'm looking forward to trying I did have a thought that I shared with you And some others but I've not shared anywhere else When we're talking about the 17 songs On the game list Is I had the thought that they missed the chance To have the Longest mode in pinball Oh yeah If they could have gotten Albuquerque They could have had an 11 and a half minute mode Think how amazing that would be In tournament play Yes, I'm just wondering If people just trap up and listen to the whole thing Or what, I don't know It'd have to be like a wizard mode I mean, it couldn't even be like a mini wizard mode It'd have to be a wizard mode And then it's just 11 and a half minutes of making shots Well, I have played like When I had to add East Jurassic Park The final wizard mode was a timed mode And then the flippers die after the time set So I guess you could say, hey, you earned the wizard mode In Weird Al, here's your 11 and a half minutes Of infinite ball save There you go, wouldn't that be Just go at it, yeah I could see people Rage forfeiting in tournaments Well, I guess it depends how easy or hard it is To get to the wizard mode It comes down to bowing and calling and what they come up with When you're sitting there and one of the guys you're playing against enters wizard mode on ball one, it's just like, you know what? I just quit. I'm just – he can have it. I'm done. Mercy roll. Sometimes I think we need one. Have mercy, my lord. My lord, please have mercy.
    45:42
    So – and then the only other thing is information from those who have already bought. They were getting their emails Because Multimorphic had a setup Regarding that they would tell you You pay a deposit And then you'd be given a time frame And then they have like six months Within that time frame Like they can't overshoot by more than six months Otherwise you're entitled to a refund Of the deposit So Multimorphic has conveyed that Their intention is everyone who orders Will get the game within a year Holy monkeys And so far, all of the example dates that people have been willing to share that I've read have been within that year. But yes, some of them are like March of 2023.
    46:28
    That's still impressive to me. It's right in line with, I mean, Spooky's done longer. Rick and Morty's went out. What I mean by saying that's impressive to me is it's impressive to me that it's set up, that it's looking like it'll all be that soon. Yeah, no, that's what I meant as well. That year long is not the longest we see in pinball. Yeah. Spooky's announcement, I remember with Rick and Morty, some people were 18 months. Right. Because they were the end of the run. And I mean, that's a long way. A year is long too, but I'm just saying that they aren't setting a new weight.
    47:07
    Right. Even from being on schedule, we've seen worse. Yeah, and that's just what surprises me is because, I mean, just mentally in my own head, knowing that there are people who ordered P3s back in, like, September and August and October last year who still don't have any, I was figuring 24 months. Yeah, yeah, I guess. I mean, I know there's been discussion about that Multimorphic's going to be ramping up production. I guess we'll see. they must have to there's no way they could build a year at their current production rate so they have to be upping it but I haven't heard that that's actually operational yet so that's the part that I'm curious about we'll have to see obviously they've built in a safety net I should say a safety trigger for people like if it's 18 months past or I shouldn't say 18 months if it's 6 months past whenever you were supposed to get yours and you still don't have it you can get out of it Which would move it up to 18 months for the people getting March of next year. Right, right. Yes, but that's just a few. I mean, I don't know the order. I know they're building, like, it's not just, like, wait for all the P3 platforms, and then they're doing all the modules separate, so everyone who just needs a module would be stuck at the back of the liner, and they're doing something more tandem-ish. So anyway, so that's the information we have on that.
    48:33
    All right. And last pinball item, other than Room or Corner, is the Deep Root auction. Da-na-na, da-na-na, da-na-na. So I have another link in the show notes to Nap Arcade again. His coverage of this topic also includes some photos from the Deep Root headquarters, if you're curious about it. So Mel Davis Auctions has said that they will be conducting an auction. It will be online only and is going to start on March 14th. So looking at the images that they have, it appears that most of the stuff up for auction is industrial equipment, furniture, gym equipment, that sort of stuff. Not the sort of stuff I think a lot of people, pinball people, were thinking like drawings, whitewoods, sample rejected trans lights. It's not a lot of pinball collectible stuff. I think there's like one lot of just random pinball stuff. Yeah, there was an interesting, it looked like a Luchador-themed game, which I don't believe was ever mentioned in the slide deck when the Deep Six went out and all the upcoming titles. Yeah, I don't recall one. Unless that was... And it looked like there might be like a partial whitewood of fire and brimstone or whatever. Yeah, there was one of those. But most of it was just parts. Yeah, it's just a lot of equipment that didn't look like it had been used or even hooked up properly, maybe. Yeah. Maybe plenty of stadium seating from the Deep Root Auditorium. What was interesting when I looked through the lots is there were several lots that had toolboxes, like your normal craftsman toolbox, your stand-up one. But it looked like those toolboxes were full of a combination of tools. And a lot of the pictures looked like they had little Rubbermaid tubs, like they had parts or something in them. I don't know. but yeah it is not what I think a lot of pinball people were hoping to see out of such a thing the pin side thread about Deep Root has been a buzz lately because separate from the auction that got shared there was they had one of the attorney court virtual sessions and like 80 some people dialed in to listen to it and someone more than one person actually including Blueberry Johnson who is like the top source of sleuthing up information on on deep root he's like taking that mantle on he uh he and then others because he had to work because it went so long uh we're like doing running commentary of this hearing i don't remember it was like a deposition or what was going on exactly robert muller pleaded the fifth someone said he quit counting after 150 wow i mean it was like who is this person the fifth what do these initials mean the fifth like what are your initials but uh rjm like it was it was a lot of the fifth i guess according to the running i didn't listen in but according to the running commentary it was bad it was just like that was i mean i don't know what i'm trying to think of any other highlights the only other I really remember is apparently he tried to, as this was going on, he tried to say that he needed to do something. I think he has a little kid and he was like, you need to do something with the baby. There was like a child care issue and the judge was like, I don't care. We've got a lot of people on. We're going to keep going. And his lawyers were like, we need to take a break for a child care issue. I guess the judge said denied.
    52:12
    So anyway, I don't know. I feel kind of bad. For the child Yeah yeah First word's gonna be Fifth I plead the fifth Mama Fifth Okay So uh Finally rumor corner Dun dun dun dun So many rumors have fallen Maybe this rumor will fall maybe not We don't know yet. But, okay. Stern Pinball. We discussed the dropping of the second cornerstone. Correct. What I have been hearing through the rumors. Hopefully from different sources. Because those last sources. Yes. These are new sources. They're going to be executed. They're bad sources. Those are the bad sources. They're gone. We're cutting them off. They don't get any more smokes. We're going to have to find somebody else to give smokes to. But thankfully there are always plenty of people willing to trade a rumor for what they need to get their fix on. So, okay. The rumor had been that Cornerstone number two, and for those that don't know, even though it was announced in December, Rush is considered Cornerstone one of 2022.
    53:29
    Cornerstone two purportedly was Venom. Yes. The Sony films hit Venom. Yes. That's why Venom hits. Okay. So, but what the rumor is indicating is that with the canceling of the second Cornerstone, the third Cornerstone is not becoming Venom. Venom will now be delayed. I mean, not delayed to be Cornerstone number three. Venom will be delayed into 2023. Cornerstone three supposedly is James Bond, and it will remain James Bond.
    54:05
    Okay. That's the current. Who knows? Because purportedly they're both done. So they can do whatever they want. So this rumor could be like quicksand. But, you know, I only ask one thing. Are you not rumor tamed?
    54:22
    I'd be okay with a James Bond machine. I can't bring myself. I know people in pinball who are super excited about James Bond. Is it like all James Bond? I do not have a rumor On what that What it is I don't know if it's Daniel Craig I don't know if it's just Gennaro Bond Because everybody's got their favorite Bond But I mean we've got what like Showa era Godzilla came out It could be Connery Bond I wouldn't put it past them to be willing to take something that historic And say you know this will sell Of course it would Especially if Elwynn's on Bond And there were some rumors that Elwynn was on Bond But I also hear rumors that Gomez is on Venom And coming off of Deadpool As his last game Well maybe it was Beatles after that It doesn't matter Beatles got no ramps A lot of people love Deadpool And Gomez has a ton of fans And wish he was still a full time designer I understand Because Borg just finished Rush But we've also got Eddie And we've got Jack Danger And my guess is Jack doesn't have a game this year? I wouldn't think so. He was kind of contracted for Jurassic Park the pin and it's like, okay, well he's new. I would think that would be a pretty fast turn. Yeah, yeah. I just think they'll give him... I mean, Eddie got time after he was brought in. That's my guess, but I don't know. I don't feel confident on any of those designer things. I not counting those as rumor corners Those are guesses Those are my guesses Those are wags right there I heard a few but I think it just people speculating It not real rumors I like the idea of a James Bond pen. A pen. A new one. I like it much more than the idea of a new Back to the Future. And I love Back to the Future, but I like the idea of a James Bond pen. I do not like the idea of a Back to the Future pen. I mean, it won't hurt my feelings.
    56:22
    I'm not a fan of it. It's such a dead license. I just don't care. Yeah, it's the nostalgia hit thing. I guess, but you know, I never loved it even as a child. I never loved Back to the Future. A lot of people did.
    56:37
    Zach Minney, who I podcast with on the Pinball Show, he loves Back to the Future. So I get it. I know some people are really, really excited. But James Bond spans far more generations than Back to the Future does. It does. Very much so. You know, I think other than Disney and Stern are tight as all get out, Venom does not make sense to me.
    57:00
    Is it going to be comic Venom? I don't know. The second one reviewed really well. But the movies are Sonys, not Disneys. I don't know.
    57:13
    I really don't know on that. But I think Bond would be a good one. Personally, I'd be more excited about Bond than Venom. Or Back to the Future.
    57:23
    And those are the only ones I've been hearing lately, like themes that they've got that they're working on. Of course, I assume anything that Disney's got, Stern could probably have. Now, to be fair, Stern isn't, like, Disney doesn't just work with Stern. True. Obviously, they've worked with Pirates of the Caribbean, with Jersey Jack, with Disney.
    57:44
    So, you know. I mean, Toy Story's Pixar, which is Disney. Yeah. So, I mean, it's understood that Disney will play with at least J.J.P. as well. I don't know if they'll play with anyone else. Especially if you come in with enough money, they will.
    57:59
    It'll be interesting. All right. We'll see how the rumors hold up. We will. This one shouldn't fall quite so fast. Yeah, we should have a few months, thanks to the cancellation of the normal second Cornerstone release. But video games, Tony. Video games. Not a whole lot It looks like a lot in the notes It looks huge Most of it's really fast stuff I think the big thing in video games Right now Is Elden Ring Everyone I've spoken with who's played Elden Ring Enjoys it But it runs up against the problem It's a Souls game Have you ever played a Souls game? I've played one And I've played Saqqara which is also Soul Star. You know, I feel so weak, I guess is the word, because I got the Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, and I thought, I'll give it a chance, because, well, I won Dark Souls. I played Dark Souls about two and a half times to get all the achievements in it. I didn't have the DLC. Yeah.
    59:05
    And Dark Souls, as someone told me, it was better as of New Game Plus. Of course, you're so much more leveled than the early characters that it's no longer the chore that it was is why i think it gets better but um you know i heard sekiro is different but i could not mentally like the in dark souls i dodged everything yeah when it became oh you have to parry to beat bosses i just never got anywhere and i probably gave up before i like but i just tell myself i'm just too old to have the reflexes yeah it's probably not true they're not people probably play it on guitar hero controllers oh i'm sure I'm pretty I'm absolutely positive I've seen video Of a guy playing it with One of those ring controllers already So yeah There's just crazy people out there But it's going It's reviewing well It is the biggest video game launch In the United Kingdom Since Red Dead 2 came out I read that It blew Horizon New West out of the water I don't know if it was in the U.S. or not. I thought it was better than anything since Red Dead 2 with the exception of like FIFAs and Call of Duties. It was a qualifier. Yeah. I mean, it's one of those things. It was huge.
    60:29
    There have been a fairly large number of issues on the PC port that I've been seeing. A lot of people are having stuttering issues with it.
    60:38
    I'm probably not going to play it. It's probably one of those games that, because I've heard so many good things about the story, I know several streamers that I follow are playing it, so I might just watch their plays. Well, is the story told in this one? Because in Dark Souls, yeah, there was a story, but it was all in item descriptions. You just had to sit there and read it. Yeah, and I don't know. I know there's this whole story that was written by George R.R. Martin, which means it's probably not complete and it will never be because he gets writer's block and he doesn't know how to finish his own stuff.
    61:14
    But we'll see. It's interesting. I did find it funny when I was looking at when I was reading reviews on Steam. On Steam there's user generated tags. So two of the highest rated user generated tags on this game on Steam is Souls-like, obviously. Right. And the other one was relaxing.
    61:38
    That's got to be a troll tag. It's got to be a troll tag. Yeah. Something's dead about losing to the boss over and over.
    61:49
    Also, the big thing is a new Street Fighter is coming. What we know is it's still that giant, over-muscled, weird Street Fighter art that they've been going with lately. And we'll find out more this summer Not at E3 obviously Because there is no E3 What about Evo? Maybe at Evo? They do Capcom Championship Series Probably still there That would be a good place for them to release more information But we'll see Otherwise That's all we really know There's a short trailer but it's nothing Just a couple interesting quick tidbits It's on everybody's favorite. Well, this is the thing. People are like, I long for this segment versus the game. Yes. The Activision Blizzard.
    62:41
    Activision Blizzard is now being sued by two shareholders claiming that the buyout by Microsoft is unfair and not in the best interest of Activision Blizzard or of the shareholders. They are claiming that it is being done By Bobby and the board Specifically for their own Uh Game And it is a net negative for the company Okay I'll be honest Honestly I think they're going to get thrown out I don't think these go anywhere I think they get thrown out But it'll be interesting to see Uh they also have been getting Tagged because they don't have enough females on the board. They're supposed to have three because they're a California company and the law in California for a board of six or more is to have three females. They don't have three, but they're claiming they can't find one because since the buyout and the board's going to go away as soon as the buyout's completed that they can't get anybody to fill the thing, which is interesting.
    63:46
    And now we're going to touch on something that we normally avoid, like the third rail. Yeah. Uh-oh. Religion. politics. Oh, no.
    63:57
    Just a little bit. Do it. I am the Senate. I don't think I need to explain to anybody what is going on between Russia and the Ukraine.
    64:09
    There has been an extremely large amount of sanctions put on Russia by the world. A lot of video game companies are getting in on it.
    64:19
    Nintendo has temporarily put their eShop into maintenance mode because the ruble is so valueless they can't figure out enough they don't have enough fields to let people buy something basically their service provider for the eShop in Russia does not accept rubles as payment anymore so they just shut the eShop down EA has pulled all games and virtual currency bundles from sale in Russia and Belarus Activision Blizzard has pulled all sales out of Russia I mean, Blizzard hasn't put anything out in five years So it's not like anybody was buying anything anyway But Microsoft has suspended all new sales of products and services PlayStation did a soft What do you want to call it? A soft stop of Gran Turismo 7 That's very specific The Russian release of Gran Turismo 7 went from having the date of this week to no date, to be determined.
    65:31
    So nothing else has been stopped off PlayStation that was straight theirs, but that's all that. CD Projekt Red, obviously a Polish-based company. They've halted all game sales, digital and physical. EA Removed Russia from FIFA 22 Like just pulled the whole Russian team Out of FIFA Did you see what the FIFA Real FIFA organization Was trying to do Yes FIFA can't do anything right No they can't I've never seen such a poorly run Sports thing as FIFA Well The IOC is right up there Well, that's amateurish competing. Compared to FIFA, though. Holy cow. Okay. Anyway. FIFA's like, what? The new World Cup stadium was built. It looks beautiful. You know, like 12,000 people died making it. It's a beautiful stadium. You know, they used literal slave labor. Here's the video of it. That stadium is beautiful. I mean, yeah, it's FIFA.
    66:41
    Okay. Valve has reportedly suspended all payment methods in Russia Except for the Steam wallet and PayPal And PayPal has now suspended all payments in Russia So unless you have something built up in your Steam wallet And you're in Russia You're not going to be buying anything from Steam And in a thing that I actually spoke about In one of the Instagram videos I made Yeah, I saw that one The War Gaming is a Belarus-based company. They were started in Belarus. Now they're based in Cyprus for, you know, reasons. But most of their people are in Belarus and Kiev in Ukraine, actually. Most of their designers.
    67:27
    Their creative director, Sergei Berkatovsky, he was known as Serby, and he was a massive troll. but he's been their creative director for as long as I've followed war gaming. And that includes when I first started playing world of tanks, when it was in beta, um, he's been there and he's been one of their big high up things. Uh, he posted on social media, very positive pro supporting stuff for Russia and, pulled it down pretty quick and no longer works for war gaming. Uh, when they were, uh, asked about it, They said that he has been let go and is no longer at the company.
    68:09
    So we'll see how all that works out. And then I think the last thing we're going to talk about today, we're going to do something we haven't done in a long time. We're going to bring a guest in. Guest voices. Eldest. Come, Eldest. Summon the Eldest. I'm summoning the Eldest. The Elden Ring. I mean, Eldest Ring. The Eldest Ring. Pokemon has announced a new game.
    68:38
    It's called Scarlet and Violet because Pokemon has their color weird thing. And sometimes gems, rubies, and diamonds. It's coming out in 2022. That's this year. Arceus just came out. Yes. Why are there so many Pokemon games now? Because they sell like a bajillion of them. Squirtle. But since I haven't played a Pokemon game since Sun and Moon Was that Sun and Moon? X and Y I haven't played a Pokemon game since X and Y I thought I'd bring the eldest daughter Who's here with us while we're recording To tell us what she has seen And loves About the new Pokemon game So eldest Talk into here And tell them what you love about Pokemon Pokemon. Everything.
    69:33
    Every. That's everything. You love everything. So was this show, did they show, I haven't seen the Nintendo Direct, so was there, did they show footage from the new games coming up, or? Yeah, they showed a little bit of it. Not too much to spoil everything. Yeah, they don't, so what's the difference between the two colors?
    69:52
    One is red, and one is a purple. Okay. I don't think we know which Pokemon. That won't be known until like right at release. Yeah, we only really know the starters currently. What are the starters? I found an official art on... Is Squirtle a starter? Squirtle's not a starter. Squirtle! Oh no, they have... Squirtle. Name the starters and describe them for our listeners. Okay, um, the grass one from what I can find its official name is Spring I Got Dio? Spaghetti-o? By the time it comes to the US That'll be renamed to like Spaghetti-o It's the grass type And what's it look like? It looks like It's light A light mossy Ish green Cat looking thing Skitty, green skitty That's what it is It looks like the other The cat one that was the fire one Liddon Which means it's going to be Grass fighting Because that's what they do to all cats At least it's not fire fighting The water one's name is Quacksley Yes It's Wario It's Duck Wario Quack It's actually very beautiful After I'm re-watching the trailer Like a hundred times So um Yeah I kind of want all the starters If I get that one I'm going to name it Donald Duck I can't do Donald Duck And the best one for last Flee Coco What type is the Fooey Coco? Water type? That's Fooey Coco, yeah. It's a fire type. Fire type. It looks like an apple. It looks like an apple slash crocodile. A fire apple. Yeah. It looks like a crapple.
    72:09
    That's what I would name one if I had one. I would name it crapple. I wouldn't name it. When I get it, I'm going to choose Firestar. I'm going to name it Apple Fritter. That's a good one, too. Let's just hope it's not firefighting. Hopefully. I think we've had enough firefighting. Yeah. So this comes out this year. This year. They say fourth quarter. Okay. So it's probably, which means. Christmas. They always come out. They always drop in November, typically. Okay. So my guess would be it'll be a November drop. So thank you very much, Elvis, for describing the new Pokemons. I'm telling you, man, I almost want to get the game down just to name a crapple. I just, oh, crapple. But you don't have a Switch anymore. No, I don't have a Switch anymore. My Switch has been claimed by my better half.
    73:00
    Those things happen. That happens. Yep. It's okay. That's what we've got. Thank you, Eldest. Thank you, Dennis. I'm not your eldest, but I am your elder. You are my elder. I'm old. Six months. It's been 84 years. Leo, don't let me go. Water's so cold.
    73:22
    I guess you let him go. I don't know why I shifted it. Oh, weird, Dale. I don't know. That's so weird. I don't know. How did you go from old man Mr. Hankey to Rose?
    73:36
    Don't let me go. It's cold, Rose. I don't have a good... That's a huge, huge... That's a huge door, Rose. You know, there's probably room up there for me, Rose. Dale, stay away. I don't have a good Rose accent. You sure smell like medicine though You smell like coffee I like to rub the Vicks All over You smell like the Vicks VapoRub You smell like a crapple With Vicks VapoRub on it I don't want you to firefight Oh Peeka Peeka Isn't that, that's what the kids say Alright, we'll be back In a couple of weeks But in the meantime, people can reach out to us You can email eclecticgamerspodcast at gmail.com Or you can go to facebook.com slash eclecticgamerspodcast And shoot us a message We're at Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram Getting more active on Instagram I know Because I'm attempting to do this social media thing That I'm so terrible at That's what the kids are doing As eclectic underscore gamers And until next time My name is Dennis I'm Tony Goodbye everybody See ya