Welcome to the Collective Gamers Podcast. Today is Sunday, May 11th. This is episode 245. Do you like how I made it like a question on the May 11th? I actually didn't pick up on that. Okay. But I had my sound turned down a little bit. I think it is. Yeah, it is May 11th. It is. May the 11th be with you. May the 11th be with you. Elevenzies. It's Elevenzies. Oh, the afternoon tea of days. Yes. So I'm Tony. I'm Dennis. Tony, this one might not be particularly long, but maybe the listeners will be grateful because of that. But we have to do our introductions. We are. Introductions. Let's see here. I had a bad medicine interaction and spent most of the time since the last episode super sick due to a new medication and I'm now off new medication and I feel much better and I'm not going into any more detail because it was bad yes yes but at least you're better now I'm better now and that is that is the key and I have been just busy with work because as Tony knows we had an incident at a nearby city yeah and it required a response and i actually thought i would be working even yesterday on part of the weekend uh originally when it all started up but things are relatively in hand at this point so and i won't it's i mean it's out in the public but i won't go into any more detail because unfortunately none of it had anything to do with pinball or video games right and so i don't want to bore folks i have been uh continuing to work on yakuza oh my gosh that game it just won't end tony there's so much stuff to do in it I mean, that's like most of the Yakuza. Yeah, but now I'm playing a different main character, and I'm back in Japan. It's like, I don't know what's going on. I thought I was supposed to be in Hawaii. I don't know. It's very confusing. Also, we have a new Patreon member to thank. So Darby S. joined our Patreon. Thank you, Darby. Thank you. Yeah, we do very much appreciate it. And we'd appreciate it if more of you would join. It can be done for as little as a dollar a month at patreon.com slash eclectic underscore gamers. Okay, enough of the commercial plugs. we gotta start with pinball because that's the one we like to start with I was so hoping that they would do it Harry Potter come on guys, yeah, that they would do it that JJP would be like, here do it do it have I ever told you about Darth Jack the Wise that said he could change the release schedule with the midichlorians to accommodate Eclectic Gamers Podcast's release schedule It's not a tale Stern would tell you. No. No. No. Some would say altering the schedule to be unnatural. But no, he didn't use his dark forest powers to help us with anything. So I'm stuck with basically zero pinball news. So basically we have what? Two months ago now, he's like, don't buy any other games. Don't spend your money. Save your money. Save it. Save your money. It's coming out soon. Save your money. Are you saving your money? I'm almost out of paper towels and stuff. This is getting dire. It is definitely getting really rough. I mean, my pinball fund is just quaking and shivering, and it's 48 cents waiting to go. Okay. Well, so what I do have for you. It's not a lot. King Kong, been getting around. Game's been going out. There was an issue with the log diverter. It's an easy fix, apparently. and they fixed it now in code. I think the new code has fixed it where it just needed to have the power up. It wasn't quite moving the ball quite right with the diversion. It wasn't. However it works. More power! Yeah, more power. I'm so weak. Okay, no one ever was like, quit doing the prequels and no one likes them. I mean, I guess we could jump it around this time and we could, let's see, something else that has a power related thing. Well, there was always the power needs from the end of Howard the Duck. I don't even remember that movie. And I've seen it more than once, which is unfortunate. Where's our Howard the Duck pinball machine, Dennis? Maybe there's a homebrew. I mean, let's be fair. It's a better thing than some themes people have chosen. Oh, no, it is. And obviously Marvel's tried to retcon that movie by trying to make Howard cool and stuff. Right. But this is different now. Anyway, overall though, reports are that King Kong's been well received, selling decently I believe, not a surprise as an Elwynn title. Dune also, I've heard pretty good reactions so far from people who have been able to get their hands on Dune. I still remain skeptical that they're actually going to sell out of that, but they've got plenty of time to try to. It doesn't have to sell out day one to ultimately do really well for them. But I think we'll see more as more people get hands on it. And that one really needs to get to a show. Kong will benefit just because it's Elwynn. Yeah, that alone is all being. And it'll be in a lot of arcade that arcade or arcade equivalent locations like bars and such anyway, because it's, you know, the Stern Pro option. Oh, yeah. So anyway, other than that, we continue, as does the entire community, to wait to see something meaningful out of JJP regarding Harry Potter. But I have nothing new to share there. We do have a couple of pinball-related emails, though. So, Lewis, he wrote in to us and said, Hey, guys. Really enjoy the show. Question for you guys. I'm a Kong LE buyer, but was contemplating if perhaps overhyped subconsciously. I.e., would I and other buyers like it as much if it was not an Elwynn? What if it was the same game from another designer? Is it just Elton John if it didn't have the Elwynn brand? good shooter, bad theme, polarizing art leading to a mediocre selling machine? Would love to hear what you think. Cheers, Lewis in Houston. Well, thank you, Lewis, for writing in. We do appreciate that. Tony, what are your thoughts? The Elwynn effect. I don't know if I would say Elton John's a bad theme, but other than that little section, I know 100%. I don't think King Kong would probably have sold nearly as well if it wasn't an Elwynn. I don't think it would be bad, but I'm also firmly of the – I know there's a subsection of kaiju fans out there who really love King Kong. I'm not one of them. For me, I've always been like a Godzilla and Gamera guy, the old school type of Japanese kaiju. But, yeah, I don't know. Kong itself for theme is interesting, but it doesn't grab me. But I think it being a L1 is a reason to play it because, let's face it, even the themes I've not liked out of L1 have been good games. But what do you think? Let's take it where I think he wants to go with it. So, you know, noting that, and I agree broadly with what you've just said, but let's assume it is literally the exact game that it is, but we were told John Borg made it. Oh, in that case, I'm sure it would probably sell less at the beginning, and when it's found to be a good player, sales would pick up more. But it's definitely not going to be the out-the-gate smash that it is. Yeah, and that's where I'm at, too. So I think that's where maybe he was going with this question. Would the game be as popular as it is if it didn't say Elwynn as the designer? No, it wouldn't. I mean, Elwynn's name sells games. It does, 100%. And he's not the only one. It was interesting he brought up Elton John because there was a time, and that time may be past, but there was a time when Steve Ritchie's name sold games. Like, it was, I mean, like, Elwynn's not the first designer rock star. No. There was a time where Steve Ritchie and Pat Lawler's name alone could get someone interested into a game. And so given that, but I agree with you. If it said Borg and – okay, so it's a theme and you've addressed the popularity of where Kong may exist in the pantheon of theming. But if it's exactly the same game, exactly the same rules, ultimately, I don't think people are so subconscious as – it varies by person. Maybe there are a few. But ultimately, if the game wasn't good, the sales would dry up. Like, if Elwynn earned his name not just as a high-level competitive player and that people like him or anything, it's – the games are really good. If Borg puts out a really good game and the theme's meh, it'll sell. That's what ultimately, in theory, should have happened with Walking Dead, not the best theme in the world. It took too long to get its rules under its feet, but it's a very well-respected game. But again, we've seen this before, and I'll use Steve Ritchie as the example. When he started to have a few games that weren't very good, that ability to just move units because it's a Steve Ritchie went away. And that could happen to Elwynn at some point if he gets off of his game. Likewise, you could start seeing a designer that maybe you didn't think a lot of in terms of their games, and maybe they change something up and you start liking them a lot more. I will say I like basically everything Pat Lawler did at JJP better than his old stuff. Like I was never into his stop and go style of gameplay. But in terms of like what he did with Dialed In, as a case in point, up until Elton John, I thought that was and still think it's JJP's now second best game. It's impressive. And so, yeah, I do think in terms of sales, Elwyn's name moves the units. There will be people that will give the game a chance I would not have otherwise just because of his name. But I do think for the vast majority of people, it doesn't really matter whose name is on the side of the tin. Once they taste it, if the taste is good, then the game will be respected. Right. You'd have to be a total poison pill where someone would, like a Trudeau. Like if Trudeau got homepinned to bring him back, given all the jail time related to sexual abuse and all of that. Like that could be one where you'd be like maybe people would say the game is bad even if the layout actually was okay because the person is bad. But broadly speaking, in terms of good stuff and not factoring in things like that, I don't really see a scenario where if it said Balser made Kong and it shoots exactly what it is right now, I think people would end up really liking it. I haven't tried it yet myself. But it would – yeah. No, it would just – it would take time. But the sales thing is a good point because there are – I know collectors that buy all the Elwins. Yes. And they would not buy this if it wasn't an Elwin. And it doesn't have anything to do with how good it is per se. It's like if you collected Star Trek games or how many people are going to buy Harry Potter even if it's crap. Oh, yeah. They're going to buy it because they buy off of certain themes or must-buys. There are some people that the designers must buy, and Elwin has gotten that status. And he might not be the only one with that status, but he's the one we all talk about now. Yeah, I think he's the – He's the new hotness. Yeah, he's the new hotness. Even though he's been at it for years now. He's the current big rock star. He's the rock star designer currently. Who else has the success record of him? I mean, so Jack Danger has done very well with Stern, but he's only got two main titles. There was also the Jurassic Park home pin, which people said sold really well, but they discontinued it pretty quick for being a quote-unquote good seller. So I don't know that that one actually did all that well. And unfortunately even though it was hot out of the gate people are dumping X Now that not Jack fault It that the code is terrible Yeah But they dumping it And his brand gets tarnished by that because the designer the lead designer basically gets stuck owning the entire thing for good or for ill That's what happens for having your name on it as a lead designer. Even if it's been out of your hands forever and the problem is they completely changed the code or they didn't finish the code or they did something, it's still your name. Yeah. You're still considered a primary. Yeah. Okay. We had a second email. This one is from Brian J. Who wrote in saying, What do you make of the center post that Stern has put in the two of the last three cornerstones? I wouldn't mind seeing games bring back the outlane kicker as a ball save feature. Foo Fighters had a different and very good take on an outlane save. I just noticed with Kong that Stern is now putting on very basic side armor on the premium machines that looks to start with Jaws. why would they start to add this i like it but just wondering if this is a function or value addition brian well thank you brian tony center post thoughts on those i mean they're fine but i'm i mean i like them i think they give you some interesting options in gameplay especially uh for if you really want to toughen something up in tournament by taking it out when people are used to it being there uh i think it's fine because it's removable and it's a it's a choice that you can make and you can have it in or take it out i like it i like it as an option yeah um um sam as boring as to say same boat uh i think nothing on center post because they're removable so who cares yeah um i mean it's like uh deadpool stock settings the outlines are like super open it's a very aggressive game you don't like that close them up that's what they're there for um So, yeah, I haven't really put much thought into it. If you want me to give an opinion on it, not about because I clearly don't care if they're there or not. The idea, I think, is driven by these games are mostly in the home environment. People want long ball times. They're trying to accommodate who most of the buyers are at this stage. Whereas if this was a game that was 90% in arcades, that center post would never have been in that game because the goal would have been for you to die. Not for you to go on an epic journey in the concrete jungle and the regular jungle. Right. Side armor, I hadn't noticed so much myself. Do I think it's a function or a value addition? I assume a value addition. I would assume. I have no idea. I hadn't noticed, quite frankly. I just don't shop it or look around in terms of what's going on there. I have no idea. I have no idea. I don't know. I will say, I will say, with your – like talking about center post and talking about bringing back an outlane kicker as a ball safe feature and this and that, I know I'll never see it. It'll never happen. Never? Man, I would love to see a modern take on a center pop game. That would be interesting. The last center pop game I don't think I've ever seen. I know I've never seen it. It's the one I'm thinking of, which was one of the not Sega that everyone on this podcast is going to think of. But there was a Sega, like a Sega Electronics, basically, that was Tokyo built. Oh, yeah. It was for the Japanese market. I think it's the only solid state game that I've seen that had a center pop beneath the flippers. And I really wanted to try it. But I don't even know if it's at the Pinball Museum in Tokyo. I've not seen good photos of it or anything. I don't know if it was got beyond prototype or not. It's hard to say. That stuff is very murky. That would be very interesting as a feature to want to – it would be – I'd be very curious. That is – Oh, it'll never happen. I'm trying to think I would even attempt it. And I'm just like, because now that Gary Stern not running Stern, they've gotten more accommodating. Designers aren't forced to have a three-pop cluster and all this other stuff. But that, again, I don't know. Jack Danger got away with doing that gold wings or whatever offset play field to have the danger room added in. Yeah. Or whichever. I forget which pin it was. He did it first. And that's a pretty bold look. yeah but yeah i don't think we'll i don't think i would be i would be interested it would be very what an interesting idea um people just want pop bumpers to be safe now though so i don't know of course that's that one's weird because the pop bumper is kind of there to help you um but the flipper gap you get with it i don't know it's with modern code and the journey people want to go on i just i don't know if they'd be able to to uh to tolerate it or not what i'd like to see which is much more realistic is return of paddle boat ball locks that take forever to lock the one tick tick tick tick maybe not maybe don't maybe don't do that maybe don't do that one do the center pop instead uh last thing for pinball because there's not really any news i i wanted to just bring up with you just a fun little discussion topic and the idea of stern remasters so metallica was really the first uh stern remaster and it's done well like people love it They love the additional songs. They love the LCD. They love that there are new modes added into it. So if you could remaster anything in the Stern catalog, let's do five games. Okay. No, only the Stern catalog. Don't go back to Sega or earlier. Well, that's why I'm pulling my thing up to be sure. But I'm not going to say it has to be like a Sam game or a Spike game or anything like that. It can be anything that was Stern brand. So basically, you've got like Harley Davidson on or whatever. I would like to know what you would pick. I'll go ahead and start. And I'll say I've mentioned this one before. And it could be ones that you just really want to see or it could be ones that you just think make a lot of sense. I'll start with one that I think makes a lot of sense. And that's ACDC. I know they vaulted ACDC like constantly. But ACDC is the pinball machine that put Stern back on the map as I mean, it it Steve Ritchie came back. They did it. It sold great. And that was like to me, that's really the start of when Stern started to have these great successes with with really popular machines that were seen as being arguably better than what Bally Williams had done in the 90s. And they had struggled to get there. So I would go ahead and say that for commercial reasons, I I won't say it would necessarily do as well as Metallica. There are a lot of people that prefer the – I'd say the rule set is stronger on Metallica. I personally prefer the layout to ACDC, and I think it's off that ground that it may hold up really well. Not to mention that's a game that, broadly speaking, depending on which version you saw, some of the art packages were pretty bad, especially the playfield art. So it wouldn't hurt to get a facelift. Very true. In that one's case. So that would be one of mine that I would name. Do you have one in mind, Tony? I do. In all honesty, my issue with it as a putting it back out is that it would almost require a full re-theme, but World Poker Tour. I really enjoy World Poker Tour overall, the way it plays and the drops and everything on that game. But I have a real hard time seeing it without a full re-theme. is my concern. I know the world of Procure Tour still kind of exists, but we're not in that world where people cared about it like it used to be. So I just don't know how well it would do in that case. But it's a game that I've always enjoyed. Okay. Another one for me, Lord of the Rings. Commercial and personal pick. I mean, White Star game definitely, definitely could warrant a facelift on that one, not to mention improved sound quality. However, the callouts are awesome. Incorporating moving clips instead of the DMD. That game does have a few rules that weren't being tweaked, and you could do that on the remaster. Like maybe the golem multiball needs to be rethought. The game is a little – actually, the game is very multiball heavy in terms of how you try and progress. So maybe restructuring the progression of the game itself could make a lot of sense. But it's got fun toys. It's an iconic movie. We're just past the 20th anniversary of it, and it still remains a favorite of many people in terms of filmography. So I would say that one definitely warrants it. And it's been a game that people have been begging just for a vault of. So this one would do gangbusters. This one would do better than Metallica. Yeah, it would. I think it would be the best-selling remaster that Stern could possibly do in their catalog. All right, so that's my number two. You got a second one? I do. It's one that people have talked about for a while, I think, but Tron. Yeah, I think that would sell a lot. I think Tron would sell a lot. getting a new version of Tron out there would definitely be something that would be popular overall. Because, I mean, that game, it's fun. And it's got, up until like the last three or four years, Tron has one of the best light shows there was. And until the insanity of light shows that we've started seeing in the last couple years. But I think it was so great. Okay. uh third one i'll go and pick is game of thrones so interesting yes that one i know felt like it was out left field a lot of people would argue that that was the last really great layout Steve Ritchie did for stern um i would tend to agree with that uh obviously we're ways away from the show however the show itself was very popular the dmd never felt like it worked very good to me on Game of Thrones. So I think putting that as an LCD and doing more with clips from the show. Just don't focus too much on the last season because nobody likes it. But the rest of the show, pretty popular. So especially if you could remaster it and maybe get some of the cast to come in and do voice work. That would be good. That would be a good opportunity there. But Battering Ram, Toy, The Dragon, all of that. And again, given how they've done the remaster before, there probably wouldn't be a pro version. Maybe they could do some tweaking to the upper playfield on the premium LE approach, which I assume they'd take to make it. That one was actually a decent upper playfield. I preferred how the pro played overall because it was much more fast and flowy. But that was actually an upper playfield that I did enjoy doing. If I had to pick pro or premium, I'd pick pro. But it was one of the best done upper playfields. You weren't up there very much. There was actual stuff to shoot for. I do think the theme is beloved enough. you could argue House of the Dragon has kept it in the mind's eye of a lot of people, not just those waiting for George R.R. Martin to finish his books yeah, like that's going to happen so anyway, I think it's strong and you could build on the code set there but overall it's in a pretty good spot so yeah, it's not going to sell as well as the ones we've been discussing, I mean it'll sell better than your World Poker Tour, that was a terrible pick but it's not going to sell as well as our other options So that's my third. What's your number three? Star Trek. Rethemed to Strange New Worlds. Okay. Get Anson Mount in to do some voice calls or one of the other actors. I just think Anson Mount's the obvious one to me. About all you would really have to change would be, like, swapping the Vengeance out for a different model to stand in place of the Vengeance. And you could do a Klingon D7 or a model of one of the Gorn ships from the big Gorn cruisers from the last season finale type thing Something along those lines. And I think most of the other stuff you could play around with leaving the modes about the same and not being a huge deal with just slight name changes or something. Right, right. Because it's rarely just shoot the, you know, they have certain sections lit for whatever. Yeah, because that's an interesting rule set that it has. Because then that would route you into what's current in Star Trek right now. You get to save a good layout, a fun game, and still keep the overall theme. Okay. I will do Ghostbusters as my number four. So the only thing with Ghostbusters where I hedge is because it's a Trudeau game, whether or not what people's reaction might be. But a lot of people in the hobby now don't know about his background. but it's a layout that and because remasters are willing to make adjustment well with a vault i would never and i often argued against it but it's a game that people have wanted a vault of a remaster means we could address the flipper gap which makes people very frustrated when they play the game i also think a couple of the shots could use a little bit of tweaking the right ramp in particular comes to mind uh the rules could definitely use a it got rebalanced um and it's in a much better state than where it was when we first played it competitively however i think like doing away with lottery pop bumpers which is something i don't think anyone likes yeah wouldn't be a bad a bad thing uh you could definitely put in more modes from the movie and actually do clips from the movie in fact maybe get rid of the scolari brothers and make it fully just the first ghostbusters and not but like they're the one thing from ghostbusters 2 in that game which is good because ghostbusters 2 compared to ghostbusters is not very good movie but right but or you need to like you need to go all in and we need vigo and i want and i want call outs with like vigo so um but i think it would sell very well uh so and it's a fun game uh don't need to change the call outs though you've it's got some of the best call outs in all of pinball as it is like it and go and lord of the rings i think are right there neck and neck for great call out packages out of stern but that's my uh my number four do you have a number four oh i'm starting to scrape barrels here for well maybe do a dark horse something that you maybe you wouldn't normally pick but you just think it would be weird to see i i mean like like like do we do we need a new simpsons pinball party i almost i thought about putting that as a number five but yeah okay i mean the show's still going the show i mean yes the show is still going I'm sure it would find a few sales here and there. You don't think it would find a lot of sales? I don't think it would find a lot of sales in this day and age. Okay. But, I mean, it is something I think would be better than some of the others. I mean, like, wow, I might like a new Elvis. Oh, that was another one I was about to say, too. It's like, I thought, for a dark horse one, come on, Elvis. Like, the hound dog shot. You love play notes. I love Elvis. I think Elvis is better than Pet Simpsons' Pinball Party. Oh, that was an interesting take. Go ahead and send those emails in here. I'm just going to let you know right off the bat that I prefer Elvis to Simpsons. Sorry. I enjoy Elvis. It's a fun game. So are those your fourth and fifth? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Why not? I stole your thunder. You did. Now I'm like, okay, well, what weird one I'm going to be like just because I want to see him try. All right. All right. I'll give you it. I'll give you it. World's Wheel of Fortune. I almost said World's Wheel of Fortune. The code never got finished. I've played it one time. It's a weird layout. Just modernize the art. Give it, like, I don't know, get Pat. Pat's retired now. He ain't doing anything. Have him do some call outs for it. Throw in some shots from actual contested stuff from the show. and maybe redo the entire rule set or something, but finish it. And there you go. Come on, it's an evergreen game show. Everyone knows the wheel. They do. It was a key plot point in Arachnophobia. Option two, change Wheel of Fortune to Arachnophobia and have Wheel of Fortune just be a part of it. That's always an option. I will say, I had to look up stuff because my very first thought, it's a Sega game so it fell outside. That's why I had to look it up. But with all of the talk of an X-Files reboot X-Files was my thought. But it fell outside the window. I said no, you can't have it. Let's do Let's go with James Bond. Gomez or the Elwynn? Yeah, like straight up go with the new James Bond, but rethemed Austin Powers. So you're bringing back Austin Powers, but with a good layout. Okay, well, that's extreme. I mean, another option I could have thrown out would say they could remaster John Wick and just say try again. Just start over. Just start over. Just start over. Just completely. Just, yeah, try again. You have a theme that should work. Just try again. I mean, now we're just being mean. I mean, if we were being mean, we'd be like, let's take Avengers, but re-theme it to the old Avengers TV show. Okay. Video games. We did actually have an email come in from Derek S. that I stuck in here because I know you'd appreciate this one. No, it's because you appreciate it. It's because it makes you feel good. Expert Derek, knowledgeable, objective, analytical skill on all video games, Derek, wrote in and said the subject matter was Brotato. Of course it was. I know you can tell from the body. And Derek wrote in and he goes, I finally tried this game. I'm old enough to remember when it was called Robotron and you could actually shoot when you wanted. This game sucks. Regards, Derek. Thank you, Derek. Congratulations, Dennis. You got the email you wanted. What? This is. I'm just a truth seeker. I'm just a truth seeker. And Derek is just a truth teller. This is the thing where one email counters all of the other emails. It's basically proof. One negative email counteracts. Negative? I found this email to be very positive, balanced, fair. It's like if you're looking at the reviews of something and you're like, oh, one person had it not work when it was delivered. There's 15,000 reviews and one negative one. I can't. I mean, I think the gun not letting you shoot when you want it to shoot seems like pretty broken. It seems pretty broken. I guess it's baby's first machine gun. That's not how it works at all But I do remember Robotron And Ikara Warriors And all the other games like that Remember the arcades when they had the Joysticks that you rotated To control the direction you were So you could move one way But the joystick would rotate And click into position To let you control the direction you were shooting I don't think I've played any of those Sounds terrible Sounds like a rotator Remember Smash TV and Super Smash TV on the Super Nintendo. Yes, yes, yes. Where you'd use both controllers, one in each hand to control everything. Yeah. Not like Rotator. They're better. That's what Derek has basically said. Thank you, Derek. Tony is very grateful that you wrote this in. Yes, I'm the grateful one. I feel the appreciation from across the card table. I 100% accept his belief. It's your inherent joy at somebody not liking Brotato. What? You won't even try the game. What joy? I've got Yakuza to play. You've got Yakuza to play. I still have Alan Wake 2 I haven't started, and I've owned it like eight months now. And I wanted that game, but I can't justify it until I get through Yakuza. I've let Tunic go. I'm just like, furry Zelda is too hard, and I've abandoned it. You're done with furry Zelda. I mean, he's still on the install, and he's still on my home screen, but I'm just like, you're going to die to these explodey drones again, aren't you, furry Zelda? And he's like, yep. I'm like, we're not going to play then. But you haven't quite taken the steps to just delete. I know. You know how it is. You know what it is. It's like with Battletech. He's basically furry Battletech. No, no, because I still play that game. Yeah, well, I mean, I could still play this. once I get done with the Oculus, and maybe I'll let him die again. I don't know. Yeah, maybe. Anyway, we have some video game news. Yeah, there's some video game news. 200 Overwatch developers voted to unionize and join the Communication Workers of America. So we've been talking off and on about the unionization that's been kind of overtaking video games, and there's been a lot of them, but since the, even within like the whole Activision Blizzard group, there's been a bunch, but this is the first big group of Overwatch being actual developers to step up and fully unionize, which could be an interesting run. I hear good things about the direction Overwatch is moving right now. Have you tried Stadium yet? I've not. Has your eldest tried it? She loves it. It's awesome. Yeah. It is. Except when I lose. I still get mad when I lose. She loves it so much. It's just, I don't know. It just adds all this flexibility. Yeah, she keeps going on about how much better Overwatch has gotten. So it's great. And interestingly enough, I took my dog to get her vaccinations. Yes. And the lady who was checking us in at the vet asked me where we got the name from. And I said, oh, yeah, I named her after the Overwatch character. And she, like, squeed. And she's like, I love Overwatch so much. So I told her about our other dog named after an Overwatch character. And she squeed again. And she was just like, I'm going to name my dogs after Overwatch characters. Just don't name it McCree or Cassidy or whatever it is now. You have to change your dog's name. Right. Imagine the dog's trauma, a five-year-old dog. Your name is Cassidy now, dog. Your name is Cassidy now. So also big news here is Nintendo has had a whole bunch of stuff come out. Yes. They updated their account agreement with a warning against unauthorized use. It says, and I quote, you acknowledge that if you fail to comply with the foregoing restrictions, Nintendo may render the Nintendo account services and or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or part oh you were giving them permission to brick it so yes by agreeing with your account agreement you give them the permission to brick your switch just straight up if they find you like cheating or pirating games or whatever else they you straight up give them permission to brick your machine. So that's very aggressive. That is super aggressive. I mean, it's one thing to like ban your account and say, well, you can't, you can't go online anymore. Your Nintendo accounts banned, but you can still play games, but it's a whole nother creature to say, Oh, we clicked the off button and your hardware that you bought is now dead So yeah I curious to see how long it takes for the first legal file. Yeah, because that was where I'm at with it. It's you, you're not leasing the device, you own it. And it gets into what you're allowed to do with your own property sort of thing. I get the, all right, if you're cheating in a game, you're not allowed to play that game online, for example. Right. But if you were to, like, that's modding culture. Like, if you were to mod your stuff where it doesn't hurt anyone else or you're doing a single-player thing, I guess they could brick your system for if you had a way to mod on Nintendo by accessing the device. Right. And that's a concern. It's how far will they take this kind of ability. It's Nintendo. They'll take it all the way. I know. Nintendo who goes, hey look here's these really popular channels that have been playing our music, so why don't we generate our own music app cancel, like copyright strike, all those other channels and then charge like $10 a month to listen to Palette Town. This is the same Nintendo that for Switch 2 decided that you had to pay for the tutorial. Right. You want to learn how to use your machine? $10. I still don't get it. That is so weird. They've also announced that they are going to be considering Switch 2 price changes after launch if there's any significant changes in the tariffs. Not surprising there. Yeah. I wasn't overly surprised by that myself. I figured they'd lock everything in for launch and then just see what happens after. Yeah. I went and bought my couple. You bought your Switch 2? No. I went and bought my Pixel 9A. Oh, yeah. Because I was like, I think the price might go up, and it just came out. I've considered. I wanted to go ahead and get it because that's three generations now. My 6A wasn't having problems, but I was just like, I'll take the additional battery life, and I don't want to worry about it with the tariff because I won't want to buy it once the tariff drives it up 50 or 100 bucks. Right. I have a 5A, and I've been considering the exact same thing just because it's like, maybe I'll just grab it because I've had this phone for a long time, and I can keep my current phone as a backup. I went and traded mine. I tried to order it off Amazon, and then they delayed it, and I saw the place I ordered it from no longer had them, and I just canceled it, and I checked with T-Mobile, and they were like, we'll give you $50 for the 6. I was like, okay. With two children, I like to have a backup phone for when they do something dumb and break it. Yeah. I still have my 3A as a backup. Right, yeah, because that's what it's always been. Typically what we've done is when they break a phone, it's like, I guess Daddy gets a new phone, and then you can have my old phone as your new phone, and I've got a new one, new one. Clever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. EA has continued their layoffs. they laid off another 300 staff and have cancelled several in development projects including a new Titanfall game Titanfall was a lot of fun and Titanfall 2 had a really good single player campaign and that's been the big kickback I've been getting online is that nobody can understand why they would cancel a Titanfall game maybe it was too far out to be a short term investment satisfaction and that would make sense that it It was too early development, and they want to wait and start again with another team. But we'll see how that goes. Xbox put out a whole bunch of announcements that they are increasing hardware costs worldwide. Because, you know, that's what you expect is for the prices to increase on old game systems that are only a couple years from being replaced. The Series X is going to go up to $600 That's up $100 The 2TB version is going to go up to $730 That's up $130 And makes it more expensive than the most expensive PS5 And they also announced that The new first party games that will start coming out in the holiday season Are going to be priced at $80 That's Nintendo's fault But the rest of this I'm guessing is tariff That would be my guess, except for it's worldwide. They're increasing the prices in the UK and Europe as well. Maybe they're using the rest of the world to subsidize some of what they would have had to increase on us. It could be, but still, it is one of those things that it's just like increasing the game when the game is like just a couple of years from being obsolete. It's a bad move. Their sales are going to collapse. There's no way. their sales are going to completely collapse. Well, they're so low already. That's true. Maybe it doesn't really matter. Maybe this is to try and goose some last sales. They make the announcement hoping to sell a few last ones before the price change takes place. I heard on a podcast there was a wristwatch company, Seagull, the Chinese manufacturer, and they had apparently a sale on their website saying, like, buy now before the tariffs. Like any watch ordered before May 1st would be tariff free. And the tariffs are now in and a watch that that had been reviewed. And it was like I don't remember how much they said it was. I think it was in the neighborhood of like eight hundred dollars or something went up to twelve hundred. Oh, my God. OK. Crazy. Yep. And the last thing I have. No, I looked ahead. No, I'm not. So. So the world is waiting. Everybody's sad. The world is closed to us. Except anyone who is going to have a game come out this year is probably pretty happy now. Yeah. Rockstar has announced that they are delaying GTA 6 until May of next year. So happy holiday season to all of the holiday season games who no longer have to play GTA 6. Yes. No. This is a boon for so many companies. It's pretty big. And they're releasing it literally, like, I think it was May 26th of 2026 or something. It's right at the end of May, so it's just as summer vacation starts. Okay. So they totally know their target audience. Yes. Yep. They do. So GTA will be dropping just before summer vacation starts. And, no, at least everybody knows not to have any games drop in May next year, basically. You don't have to save your money right now, though, guys. It's like the opposite of a Harry Potter. But it's going to be $80 or $100, guaranteed. Oh, sure. Guaranteed. I guarantee. But the hardcore fans will play it for a decade, so it's probably pretty good. It's probably a pretty safe buy. Your price per day is pretty solid. Yeah, that is true. You probably have a very, very solid price, provided it's got the same kind of life that the last one did. But that's what I have. things are more expensive things are delayed people have been fired and Nintendo owns your soul and they'll brick it if they don't like it they'll brick your soul what happened? mommy why has daddy's eyes gone white? he cheated he cheated in Splatoon and Nintendo took his soul it's a brick now it won't work right he doesn't quite work right anymore he's a good paperweight Soul's now powering Nintendo's creation machine. They just have a giant crystal surrounded by black energy in their offices that are making their games at this point. They just feed it souls. Just think of wherever you currently imagine Disney is, and that's what Tony's describing. Nintendo's like, you know what? People really love us. How evil can we get and still be beloved? Yeah, it's interesting because they do walk that line. They are beloved. They are. And you can say the same thing about Disney. Oh, sure. Disney is beloved. Happiest place on earth. I know some hardcore Disney people. Oh, yeah? Disney is beloved. That's like Zach from the pinball show's favorite Antonio Cruz are the Disney cruises. I think he goes on like two or three a year. That's insane. I mean. Well, if you were a powerful pinball distributor, you could go on cruises too. No, that's true. I could go on cruises. Here's the thing is I would go on like I think it's Viking where there's like no one under like 18 or 20 allowed. Okay. That makes sense. Because for some reason, the thought of being on a Antonio Cruz filled with screaming children does not seem like vacation to me. It seems like the opposite of vacation. I've actually I've never had an attraction to a Antonio Cruz. I'd rather like just like go up to Alaska again or something instead of riding on a boat. I don't mind a boat tour, but I don't really want to be on just a floating thing for an extended period of time. Yeah, I don't know. It just never clicked with me. I don't know. I've not done one. I would like to do one, but I've not done one. Okay. I do plan on some point, at some point, returning to Alaska, and I'm driving it. I want to make the drive. Canadians aren't happy right now, though. You've got to be careful. That's true. I got to watch out for the wild Canadians and stuff, but I really – that is like a bucket list item for me because I enjoyed Alaska so much when I went with you and visited it back in the 90s, and I want to go again, but I really badly want to make the drive just because I've heard the route is so pretty and it's such an interesting drive. And I'm very much a journey before destination kind of guy. The journey is a huge part of the trip for me. That's why I don't like necessarily flying to stuff. I have no problem with flying. Actually, I actively enjoy the act of flying. I just always feel like I've missed so much of the journey that it makes the trip less special to me. Makes sense. I can see it. With certain things, like if I'm going specifically for a convention or for a work convention or some very specific thing, I understand it. But it's still not the same to me as if I get in a car and I drive to the destination. Like I have flown to Baltimore and I have driven to Baltimore. And I enjoyed my time in Baltimore on both of those occasions. but I feel like the drive to Baltimore, even with the bad stuff that happened in the drive to Baltimore is more special to me than when I flip. Okay. Well, what's special for our listeners right now is we're at the end of the show. We are. Again, I could have shut it off and stop listening to the rant about driving. They could have, but they didn't. Uh, so if they want to write in about driving versus flying, they can at the collective gamers podcast at gmail.com or they go to Facebook patreon.com slash eclecticgamerspodcast and talk to us there. Also, if they want to support the show, patreon.com slash eclectic underscore gamers. We're available on Twitch and Instagram as eclectic underscore gamers. And we'll be back in a couple weeks. Will Harry Potter finally be out? No, no, no. Maybe. No, no. No, no, no. Maybe. People have been saying in demand. They've been saying be out. Be out. Be out. Be out like the trailer be out. Okay. Now, like the trailer be out, but the game be out. This is JJP we're talking about. I mean, maybe they've been building them in the shadows. Maybe. Maybe they have. Maybe they've got Dementors assembling them. I haven't been there. I haven't taken a tour. I don't know. Dementors assembling them in the darkness. That could be. Well, anyway, until the next episode, my name is Dennis. I've been Tony. I say goodbye. Bye.