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Episode 144 - The E3 of Silver Falls

Eclectic Gamers Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 1m·analyzed·Jun 28, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Silver Falls P3 pinball announced; hosts debate P3 viability and market positioning.

Summary

Eclectic Gamers discusses the announcement of Silver Falls, a P3 pinball game by Nick Baldridge with music by Scott Denisey, launching June 28, 2021. The hosts analyze P3's market challenges, the appeal and limitations of the platform for collectors vs. traditional pinball players, and speculate on whether licensing deals could drive adoption. The episode also covers E3 2021 video game announcements.

Key Claims

  • Silver Falls is a P3 game by Nick Baldridge in collaboration with his daughter, featuring music by Scott Denisey

    high confidence · Official announcement via website; launching June 28, 2021 at 8 p.m. Eastern on Buffalo Pinball's Twitch channel

  • Silver Falls is a pinball simulation where players choose avatars, earn points, and spend them improving their home while meeting avatar needs

    high confidence · Direct description from game's website as cited by hosts

  • Silver Falls priced at $150 but requires P3 platform and Heist module (significant additional investment)

    high confidence · Dennis explicitly states pricing and platform requirements

  • The next official P3 game also features Scott Denisey on music and is licensed IP

    medium confidence · Tony mentions 'the next official P3 game, which I believe has also got Scott Denisey on music, so that's kind of interesting, is supposed to be licensed'

  • P3 adoption is limited by platform cost and library depth, not individual game pricing

    medium confidence · Tony and Dennis discuss cost barriers to P3 adoption and compare module pricing favorably to traditional pinball prices

  • Lumber prices recently dropped after rising, helping traditional pinball maintain competitive pricing vs. P3

    medium confidence · Dennis notes futures are already coming down and prices are already starting to drop in lumber market

  • P3's all-or-nothing resale model creates friction for traditional pinball collectors who want to exit the platform

    high confidence · Extended discussion of module resale complications and lack of secondary market viability

  • Multimorphic's first licensed game (Hot Wheels) was a smarter move than American Pinball's recent licensed releases

    medium confidence · Tony: 'Hot Wheels was still a smarter move than all the other moves American people have been doing'

Notable Quotes

  • “I think if you're bought into the platform, it's a no-brainer. Sure. Oh, yeah. At $150, I mean, I can't imagine not.”

    Tony @ mid-episode pinball discussion — Crystallizes the P3 value proposition for existing platform owners despite high entry cost

  • “The license thing is their best bet. The license thing with the right license will be huge.”

    Dennis @ P3 future outlook — Identifies licensing as critical to P3's commercial viability and market expansion

  • “You can't take a module that you can. I understand. You can technically, but practically, you can't find someone to buy your Lexi module. Because why would they buy the module from you? They've already bought into this system.”

    Dennis @ P3 resale discussion — Articulates the structural problem preventing P3 secondary market liquidity

  • “The trick with the license is the game doesn't have to be good. You'll get the sale. Right. And remember, the goal is the sale. The goal isn't to make people happy.”

    Tony @ P3 licensing strategy — Cynical but realistic assessment of IP-driven sales dynamics in pinball market

  • “It seems much more oriented to a new market, but it's clearly not found that new market in terms of the volume that I think they were hoping for.”

    Tony @ P3 market analysis — Suggests Multimorphic's market expansion strategy has underperformed expectations

  • “I think it would be mighty tempting if I wanted to develop a game to do it on P3 it solves so many issues it's just like I can use an existing module I'm not messing around making cabinets”

    Dennis @ P3 development appeal — Notes P3's technical advantages for independent developers despite small addressable market

  • “But probably aren't going to be inclined to do anything other than an original just because, I mean, how many standalone individuals are equipped to deal with the licensing department?”

    Dennis @ P3 homebrew licensing barriers — Identifies licensing complexity as barrier preventing P3 homebrew from reaching commercial scale

Entities

Silver FallsgameNick BaldridgepersonScott DeniseypersonMultimorphiccompanyP3 platformproductHeistgameHot WheelsgameRanger in the RuinsgameDennisperson

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Multimorphic pursuing licensed IP strategy for P3 future; next official game is licensed and features Scott Denisey

    medium · Tony: 'the next official P3 game, which I believe has also got Scott Denisey on music, so that's kind of interesting, is supposed to be licensed. And to me, that's the big thing that might move.'

  • ?

    community_signal: P3 enthusiast community demonstrates sixth-sense complaint response to insufficient podcast coverage; implies engaged but potentially demanding user base

    low · Dennis jokes: 'It's the same way all the P3 owners know in their bones before we even release an episode if we're not going to give adequate coverage to the platform and write in to complain. It's like that.'

  • ?

    product_concern: P3 resale/secondary market friction: modular structure prevents traditional pinball collector exit strategy; modules cannot be sold independently or transferred with downloadables

    high · Dennis: 'You can't take a module that you can... practically, you can't find someone to buy your Lexi module. Because why would they buy the module from you? They've already bought into this system.'

  • $

    market_signal: P3 volume expectations not met; platform has not achieved critical mass in traditional pinball market despite years of development

    medium · Tony: 'It seems much more oriented to a new market, but it's clearly not found that new market in terms of the volume that I think they were hoping for.'

  • $

    market_signal: Lumber prices declining from recent highs, improving traditional pinball pricing competitiveness vs. P3

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.185

0:00
Welcome to the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. Today is Sunday, June 27th. This is episode 144. Mm-hmm. I'm Tony. I'm Dennis. There was a weird pause in there because I was looking back up the 144th thing because I was remembering when we had the misnumbered episode several episodes ago and everything. So I was just kind of staring at the notes for a second. I'm like, oh, wait, I'm supposed to introduce myself. Oops. Those were the dark times. The dark times of like a month ago. Yes. So what's been going on? So that's not for the whole month, but obviously. For the last couple of weeks.
0:52
The last of my expected retirements at work have happened. So we are in the joy of hunting for new employees and being shorthanded because it's the summer and everybody's going on vacation and stuff like that. So things have gotten crazy but expected crazy. So it's not like it's like, oh, no. Yeah, we knew it was coming. It's just it's one of those things. It's like I knew it was coming, but it didn't seem real. because I mean I'm talking about people who have been there for 37 years they gotta retire at some point and it's like you know it's the last day and they're gathering everything up and leaving it's like get out of here it's weird now so yeah I'm working on that which has directly translated to the most common thing for me to do after work when I get home yeah I fall asleep on my couch I've been falling asleep on the couch About half this week I fell asleep on the couch Not as bad as a couple weeks ago But yeah But I have been playing still Final Fantasy XIV Blah blah blah, greatest MMO Of all time I saw a headline I didn't read the article but I saw a headline that was saying Blizzard better take notes and pay attention Because Final Fantasy XIV is a threat to World of Warcraft Well Final Fantasy XIV According to a lot of stuff now has taken over and is now the number one MMO. That's because of the dual cast that Red Mage gets. Dual cast Red Mage. I think it's more because of the enormous free trial and everything you can do. So it's just that it gets people hooked, and then they start actually paying for it. But no, Red Mage does. I've completely abandoned the class I started with, because since you can change classes at will, I found I like playing Red Mage a lot more once I unlocked Red Mage so now I've just been playing Red Mage but that game still, I'm still having fun with it so that's good I'm glad I got in on that sale and picked up everything with that 50 some odd percent off sale they had back at the beginning of June so that helped offset the fact that it's expensive that'll buy me at least two months of game time with what I saved off just buying it straight. I haven't even actually purchased game time yet because you get a free month and I still have 18 days left in my free month before I have to actually pay for a month.
Tony
person
Buffalo Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
Spooky Pinballcompany

medium · Dennis: 'futures are already coming down, prices are already starting to drop... whereas this game is much more electronic... traditional pinball prices go up while the P3 has held'

  • $

    market_signal: P3 adoption barrier: high platform entry cost ($2,500-$3,000+ for base system plus modules) limits addressable market despite attractive per-game pricing

    high · Extended discussion comparing $150 game cost to $2,500+ module/platform cost and comparing unfavorably to $5,500 traditional games with established IP like TMNT

  • ?

    announcement: Silver Falls P3 game officially announced by Nick Baldridge; launching June 28, 2021 with live stream on Buffalo Pinball Twitch

    high · Dennis states: 'the game is $150... supposed to go on sale tomorrow. That would be Monday, June 28th, 2021 at 8 p.m. Eastern. I believe Buffalo Pinball's Twitch channel will be streaming the game.'

  • ?

    business_signal: P3 development focus shifting toward licensed IP as core growth driver; original/homebrew content positioned as insufficient for adoption acceleration

    medium · Tony: 'The license thing is their best bet. The license thing with the right license will be huge... even a dog of a license is probably better than original.'

    • 3:38
    But I never thought I'd be paying for monthly MMO fees again. Here I am. Well, there are worse things to spend all the money on There are Like what? I don't know Drugs and stuff Drugs are bad Okay Yeah, okay Wow, I have not seen South Park in a long time Speaking of South Park, I've been playing Gears 5 still Yeah, how does that segue? It's the South Park of all the Gears games It's the Because I'm like in this winter wonderland. They always seem to have a lot of snow out in the Colorado South Park. So I'm off. Have you modded it so your partner is Mr. Hankey? No. He's like, hi.
    4:29
    Chainsaw bandit. Grind. They're coming through the walls. Oh. Okay. So anyway, I'm still working on that. I played a little bit of it yesterday for about an hour or so. But I've been busy with work stuff. So I've mostly been sitting and either watching real-time police cams on YouTube, mostly of drunk stops, because I like to watch them struggle with the test. and it's you know you always think of it so they can't walk on the line and in reality it's they can't ever remember the instructions and they're constantly and they're so focused on getting like their footing right they don't realize like they're screwing up how many steps they were supposed to take and they keep asking and they they can't keep their hands to their sides and they they're told to follow the light with their eyes and they move their head and there's this they're very just and then they're they're trying to be super sweet until they get cuffed. And then they get me. So there's that.
    5:36
    Hoarding shows. Hoarding shows are always an excellent And it's so weird. I guess these must be later season ones because now they're like some of the, they're just like, we failed. We couldn't stop them. They're probably dead now. I'm like, yes, make it bleak. The only problem is I have to do those in a short burst or else I feel the urge to have to clean something to prove to myself that I'm not a hoarder. Right.
    6:04
    And the last season of Bosch just came out, so I started that late last night, and I'm probably about halfway through. Yeah, I'm halfway through it at this stage, because I think it's only eight episodes. Right. Because I used to read those books, some of them at least.
    6:19
    Anyway, so that's what I've been up to. So now we are up to... We're going to have a lot of E3 stuff, as we warned everyone, because we only had E2.5, really. Yeah, we had the light weeks. We actually finished the recording and then went and started to watch E3 coverage right after. Yeah. But now that's all done. But before that, we do have one pinball topic. There's yet another game that has been announced.
    6:46
    So this is Silver Falls. It always makes me... Did you ever play Alan Wake? I did. Okay. Do you remember the little TV things where you'd be able to watch Night Falls? Mm-hmm. That's what I think of when I hear Silver Falls. It's like, welcome to, you know, for those that don't know, it's sort of like a Twilight Zone. It's like, welcome to Silver Falls, where things are not as they appear. Everything that glitters as gold is actually just silver, except for strangely 24-karat-wrapped foil toppers.
    7:17
    And I said we weren't even going to bring that up. And you brought it up anyway. I'm a liar. Don't touch it. Don't clean it. Oh, no, you rubbed the stuff off. Oh, I didn't think it through. I'm so sorry. All right. So this is a game by Nick Baldridge that he did in collaboration with his daughter. This is a P3 game. I have a link to the games. He's got a website for the game on the Internet, which is where websites usually are. Yes. So if you go to our link section in our show notes, you'll be able to go and read up all about it. But just some really quick summary stuff. The game is described as a pinball simulation where you choose an avatar and you're spending points that you earn while playing to improve your home while meeting the needs of the avatar. And I believe once you meet the needs of the avatar, you move to the next level. So you make progress. The big thing that's been getting a lot of buzz Online has been That the soundtrack is done by Scott Denisey who is of course Well known for designing both Rick and Morty and Total Nuclear Annihilation for Spooky Pinball And doing the soundtracks for those games This is a genre I don't know though it's described as Chill Hop Do you know Chill Hop? I've not gone and Even heard of it I'm assuming that it's like the yeah there's on YouTube I'm assuming it's similar to all the channels that have just like chill music that are kind of lo-fi yeah like the lo-fi they're playing lo-fi with Overwatch League now I'm like oh what is this lo-fi it's not bad I'm just like but it doesn't have anything to do with the game yeah they're pretty common I mean I have listened to several of them I'm a big fan of Critical Role. Obviously, I've talked about it before. And they put out last year, they put out a bunch of lo-fi things just that they played during the pandemic and everything.
    9:23
    That was just a scene just like the lo-fi girl that's all over YouTube and everywhere. So I don't know. It's maybe something like that. I don't understand. I mean, like, I know what chap hop is, but this is most definitely not that. Okay. Well, it was new to me, but whatever. So anyway, and I don't know if chill hop's the same or not. I don't know. It says chill. I haven't. I just thought it was like a low-key sock hop. No, I think it's. No, I think I'm right. I think you're very wrong. I think you're so very wrong. I hope I'm right. I hope I am very right. And Scott, I'm sure he's listening avidly, and he's like, Dennis is so right. He probably pioneered chill hop. We didn't even know it. It's probably being said.
    10:12
    You're saying it right now. They're probably saying it in the Multimorphic Factory right now. I doubt it. They don't know because we haven't even finished recording. They can feel it. They get the time travel version of the podcast. It's not going to have anything to do with time. It's the same way all the P3 owners know in their bones before we even release an episode if we're not going to give adequate coverage to the platform and write in to complain. It's like that. It's like a hive. It's a sixth sense. I don't think it's a hive. I just think it's a sixth sense. A sixth one. Because we have another five that all mortals have. I sense a disturbance. Well, I shouldn't say that because there are people who are blind and people who can't taste things. So, I guess we don't all have all five. But, regardless. The game has team play, according to the website. So that's nice. And it's supposed to go on sale tomorrow. That would be Monday, June 28th, 2021 at 8 p.m. Eastern. I believe Buffalo Pinball's Twitch channel will be streaming the game. So that will be the first look for most. And the game is $150. But as we have to note, you have to have the P3 platform to run the game. and you have to have the heist module because it's specific to that module. So those are additional high-dollar purchases that you would need to be able to buy this relatively low-cost game by comparison. So, Tony, obviously we haven't seen the game yet. We're only giving announcements about it. I guess the only thing I would really discuss about this is sort of a thing that comes up any time we talk about P3 and there being a new module or a new downloadable game or really just anything that our new feature that's incorporated is. So does this move the needle, air quoting, does this move the needle and get them the sales that they want? No, I don't think it does. I think it's an interesting idea, and I think it's one of the things that will, if anything is ever going to move the needle on P3, it's having the ability, having this ability, like we've talked about in the past. To use modules, you already have to play different games. That's what's going to do it. I don't think the library is deep enough yet, and I think that the cost to get into it isn't to a point yet where you'll start seeing more of it happen. Yeah. I mean, this is obviously, I think, an attractive – I think that people who already have Heist most likely will end up buying this. It makes sense. Because, well, everyone who's in on P3, in my view, has already bought into the concept that this all revolves around, which is you own the platform, and then at a lower cost than traditional pinball, you can add more and more stuff to it. And the big issue has been, in my view, the speed at which the new stuff has been coming out,
    13:23
    and I guess I'm going to loosely say the quality. But I don't mean like the build quality and stuff, but this gets more into the whole realm of licensors and just like what people expect versus their, okay, well, it's, am I going to pay $3,000 or $2,500 for this new module? Or would I rather pay $5,500 and get Turtles?
    13:46
    Right. Or Avengers. That's the thing. I think if you're bought into the platform, it's a no-brainer. Sure. Oh, yeah. At $150, I mean, I can't imagine not. Right. I mean, that's less than a topper. Well, it's not less than a topper anymore. There are games less than toppers at this point. That's fair. That's very fair. Even with how prices have gone in pinball lately, there are games cheaper than toppers at this point. There are still a few. There are years, but they exist.
    14:17
    But I think if you're already in the platform, it's a no-brainer. Why wouldn't you? Right. That's just the problem is getting enough people on the platform that we start getting more and more development. It's kind of like an avalanche that starts slowly rolling as it builds and builds and builds. And it's entirely possible we'll hit a point where it reaches a critical mass and just goes and we start seeing it become more common. Do you think so? It's been years. I think it's possible. Do I think it's going to happen?
    14:50
    We'll see. I think it'd be much more likely if, say, the lumber prices stayed where they were, but the futures are already coming down, prices are already starting to drop. That's a good point. That's been helping make, whereas this game is much more electronic in its screen and all that. We have been seeing traditional pinball prices go up while the P3 has held which has been good for P3 It very good for P3 And I think it something that I don think it going to ever be huge but I think it could very well hit that point where there are still a lot of things being developed for it comparatively, just because there'll be enough people out there to support it, considering maybe not a ton of new modules, but a lot of things that utilize the existing modules, much like this utilizes the heist module. Right, right. I mean, I think we'll see some third-party development on modules. I don't think it'll ever be a lot. There's not enough critical. Who would want to invest? That's the issue. Outside of a passion project,
    16:02
    I think we're still at a point where multimorphic needs to be doing the modules because there's just not a big enough market for a lot of people to want to go and do a design to sell a couple dozen modules. I don't even know what share they get. It all gets complicated. This is getting into the market stuff that we don't know. I think you're right. I think that if the next official P3 game, which I believe has also got Scott Denisey on music, so that's kind of interesting, is supposed to be licensed. And to me, that's the big thing that might move. With the right license, that could be huge. Right. Now, the part of the thing is the appeal of P3, of course, and we've touched on this before, so I don't want to go ad nauseum about it, but it's also like its biggest detriment. And that is all the traditional pinball machines, because they're so standalone, when you're done with it, you sell it on. Right. With P3, it's an all or nothing, obviously, because I can't keep the heist module without the P3 and play the heist module. So if you're getting tired of it and you need the space and all the Lexis and Cosmic Carnivals, or Cosmic Kart Racing, not Cosmic Carnival, let me not stick that on.
    17:18
    You know, all those in the world, though, are not the same as Guns N' Roses and a Mandalorian and a Led Zeppelin. Right. But as we've talked in the past, when you sell it with your modules, the new owner doesn't get the extras. Right. Like these downloadables have to be re-bought. Granted, they're relatively low price so far. Right. So, you know, it's not the biggest barrier in the world. But because of the need of the P3, of course, being the attractiveness of it, look at all the savings that you get buying these modules and games. It's like, how many people can you sell your heist module to that didn't already buy one? You know, go direct. Right. And why would. It's hard to get out of it without getting all the way out of it. You can't take a module that you can. I understand. You can technically, but practically, you can't find someone to buy your Lexi module. Because why would they buy the module from you? They've already bought into this system. They support P3. Why would they give you the money? Exactly. Giving P3 the money. And the model for Monk to Morphic is not to encourage selling modules amongst each other. And I wouldn't do it that way either. It's not that they made a bad decision. It's just the nature of this approach puts it in a position that is unattractive, I think, to a lot of people who traditionally buy pinball. Because they're used to everything being, I want a game, I get it. When I don't want the game, I easily get rid of it. And here, it's all integrated. So it's just a big struggle. Highway, had they been able to pull off what they wanted, would have had a similar issue. They would have. Oh, well, I've got – let's see. I want to get rid of the full throttle, but I want to keep it. No, you've got to get rid of the whole thing because you only bought one cabinet.
    19:13
    And who are you going to be able to just sell the play field to of full throttle? No one because, I mean, it's just – that's the thing. No, and that's where the problem is on this type of thing. Now, I can see where it might work with a co-op type thing where maybe you and a couple friends each have a P3, so maybe you'll buy the heist module and I'll buy the kart racing module, and every once in a while we'll trade them back and forth because we want to just change something up.
    19:48
    But otherwise, you're pretty much going to be buying just everything for yourself. Well, and that's where, of course, they've got it set up so that the price on those individual modules from Multimorphic is so attractive compared to the traditional new game. Because, I mean, I get it. It's just that's where I think it falls down in regards to the traditional pinball market. It seems much more oriented to a new market, but it's clearly not found that new market in terms of the volume that I think they were hoping for. Right. And as we noted the last time when we talked about heist and the multiball, that's not going to get you sticking in. Like 14 multiball, multiball is not. A gimmick isn't going to win over the pinheads. No, the thing that's going to work best for them. The license thing is their best bet. The license thing with the right license will be huge. Also the fact that pinball is a niche hobby. it's a niche hobby that attracts people with a lot of disposable income and it's a niche hobby that attracts people who aren't unknown to have giant passion projects where they just pour everything out into something and those are the exact type of people that p3 actually means that's that that's the type of person that i think will move them forward the best and have the best chances for the expansion. And like I said, it's pinball. Those type of people are fairly prevalent in pinball compared to video games or other things where they still have people who are deep into that kind of thing, but it's not the core because they tend to have a larger overall audience. well I mean like for example I think it would be mighty tempting if I wanted to develop a game to do it on P3 it solves so many issues it's just like I can use an existing module I'm not messing around making cabinets and all of that but if I wanted a commercial like if I thought I could be the next Scott Denise and do a TNA and build like the market the audience The audience for it currently is not big. So would I sell 550 TNAs that have been built on P3? No, I would not. Right. But who does that? How many people are in that boat? Right. Like even Scott didn't expect TNA to become what it became. Yeah. And then we run into the issue is like with many homebrewers and homebrews overall is that a lot of people, But when they homebrew something, they create it for themselves, maybe a few friends, and it's almost always a license title that they don't actually have a license for, which won't work in this thing because it's got to be held on a server somewhere where it can be purchased and downloaded. Right. So it doesn't help out for people who are looking to do that kind of homebrew. Yeah, it would be.
    22:52
    And even saying inside the homebrew, that's one of the, unfortunately, I think, You know, it's one of the biggest problems with the downloadable scape.
    23:01
    Most of the downloadable folks, people that might make a Ranger in the Ruins or a Silver Falls or whatever, like probably aren't going to be inclined to do anything other than an original just because, I mean, how many standalone individuals are equipped to deal with the licensing department? Right. Or will Multimorphic deal with it for them? probably not. I don't know, though. I wouldn't think so. But clearly, we've never seen them do anything licensed before. We know Multimorphic is, and that, as again, smart move, makes sense, should have happened years ago. If you got the right license. Well, of course, but baby steps. Baby steps. It was even as bad of a license as I thought it was. Hot Wheels was still a smarter move than all the other moves American people have been doing. Very true. So, I mean, even a dog of a license is probably better than original. As sad as that is to say, and as hard as it is for some people to hear, it's just because there's someone out there that just absolutely loved Hot Tub Time Machine and was just waiting. It's somebody. And it's a take my money. And that's the whole thing, because the trick with the license is the game doesn't have to be good. You'll get the sale. Right. And remember, the goal is the sale. The goal isn't to make people happy. The goal is the sale. Who cares what they do afterwards, in a way? Because, yeah, no, that's an all other thing is obviously when P3 announces its license, we'll need to see how good of a license that is. And then, of course, people will also eventually, depending on the excitement of the hype of it, is going to be judging what the module is like and how good is the game. Because that does ultimately come up. Right. I know people that would probably own... I definitely know people that were going to buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, regardless if it sucked. Right. Now, would they have kept it? That's another... But again, the main goal is to get the sale. After that... Well, we need to go with the obvious. Whatever.
    25:13
    Ancient World, Vikings, stuff like that. That's super popular. So, obviously, it's going to be Hagar the Horrible, the video... Or the pinball machine. Because, you know, that's a comic strip that died. Did that comic strip die? I don't know. I think it died in terms of quality long ago. Or Garfield, the pinball machine. Oh, Garfield. No, don't do Garfield. Do Heathcliff if you're going to do a cat. Do Heathcliff.
    25:43
    Anyway, but congratulations to Nick. Yes. And congratulations to Multimorphic. And I don't know if I'll be able to catch the live stream, but I do look forward to at least looking at the VOD and seeing about it and hopefully getting a chance to play this at a show because I still need to try Ranger in the Ruins. Yeah, I haven't had a chance to try that or Heist. Yeah, you know, pandemic screwed everything up on that. Everything's screwed. Yes. Well, but what isn't screwed is our massive video game content, Connie. Yeah, there's a pretty large chunk of it. And even saying that, this is not anywhere near everything. This is just the stuff that jumped out that was worse, I thought, talking about. Okay. And maybe a few extra things that probably aren't actually worth talking about. Well, I'll let you know if anything stands out to me that you missed. Okay. I'll be judgmental, don't worry. That's fine. That's perfectly acceptable to be judgmental. We're going to open up with the one that we watched Immediately after recording the last episode The Xbox show With Bethesda Obviously they won E3 And it's really easy to do When there's no actual competition Some people think Nintendo won E3 You know what I can't say that This is a family friendly show Alright so you sound like What's that meme with the Bugs Bunny You sound like a Yeah Alright so Xbox Starfield They did they opened with Starfield Did you see the thing where someone changed Starfield To Garfield Yes the head I like that I still wish that that I hope there's a mod on the PC version for that So that the moon looks like Seeing as there's a mod for Skyrim Where you get to fight Thomas the Tank Engine I'm sure there will be The most important mod ever was the one for Fallout. What was it for? Where What's-His-Name would quit sending you to a new settlement.
    27:50
    That's the greatest mod of all time. Preston. Get Preston. Oh, Preston. The Starfield. There was nothing to it. No. We know a name. We know a name, which we've known for a while. And we know there's a spaceship. And we know it's exclusive to Xbox and PC. Yes. So it's exclusive to Xbox and console. I have absolutely no hype for this because I can't even tell you what genre of the gameplay is. The closest I heard it described is Han Solo Skyrim is what I've heard somebody say it as. But let's be honest. There's no gameplay. This thing doesn't exist. It's got a release date in November of 22. So there's a year and a half before this thing. this is not quite as bad as was it two years ago when they went ahead and said, Elder Scrolls VI. Right, right. We're going to make it someday. It's weirder here to me because Starfield's not like an existing IP. So who cares? At least with Elder Scrolls, you're telling the Elder Scrolls fan, don't worry, it's coming. The dragons are coming. Yeah. You'll eventually get to a point where you won't have to just keep replaying Skyrim on every device ever. I know. I'm fine about upgrading my fridge to getting the screen one so I can play Fridge Scrim.
    29:12
    Fridge Scrim. They showed some interesting looking footage for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. I never actually played the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Nor did I. But I'd always heard it was pretty good. It was just one of those games that it came out in a point when I wasn't doing a ton of gaming like that, and I've never gone back to it.
    29:33
    They announced, like with the most no-gameplay, no-nothing, no-frills trailer ever, a co-op open-world game called Contraband that deals with smugglers in Southeast Asia in the 70s. I don't know. the fact that there were other games with trailers that we'll talk about later that basically made fun of exactly what they did in this trailer just made it perfect to me the trailer was, there was nothing there at all it's like, this game will happen eventually ok, yeah, because I don't actually remember this one the only reason I remember it is because and I probably wouldn't have remembered it except for the trailer we'll talk about later, that point made it seem so blatantly obvious. But yeah.
    30:30
    We got some gameplay and stuff from 12 Minutes. That one looks interesting to me. And we'd seen that one teased before. Yes. And it was talked about a little last year. That's the single room time loop game about a home invasion where a guy and his wife or a guy and his girlfriend are in the room and all this stuff going on And it got like voice acting from William Dafoe and Daisy Ridley
    30:57
    So am I the last Skywalker? No. Spider-Man, die. Sorry. I'm trying to think of all these William Dafoe things. They're all mean and evil. I've only ever seen him play a good guy once And I don't even remember the name of the movie It was that unmemorable Okay, sorry Hey, Disney owns them all We might see that crossover It's entirely possible There is It's out now Because it came out the day after the trailer dropped an expansion for Sea of Thieves that nobody cares about. But it brings in the obvious thing to bring in Pirates of the Caribbean. The trailer made the whole trailer an announcement. I gagged a little. I'm just I've tried not to be too harsh about it. I've not played Sea of Thieves. It's just not my type of game. But I just know so many people were So it's like, hey, look, Rare is out of Kinect's prison and can finally do real games again. And then they do that, and it just wasn't what people wanted. And when I think Sea of Thieves, I always remember that terrible trailer when they made the first announcement before the release. And it was all the people sitting and playing and supposedly talking to each other and all their – it's like, I've done raids. I've played with friends. Nobody is this tactical and exacting without cracking jokes. and it was so bad. It was so unrealistic.
    32:39
    Yeah, it's sort of like when they do the fake smack talk in fighting games for E3's of yesteryear. Yeah.
    32:49
    Psychonauts 2. I've never played a Psychonauts. I've never played Psychonauts. It's super popular, so I think that will go over well. I would call, based upon everything I've heard and people talk about it, they consider it a modern classic. and I've seen people super excited for the sequel for several years now because it's been out there as a thing for a long time. Well, it's finally coming out in August. Will it live up to the hype? No, God, no. They never do, but maybe people enjoy it.
    33:19
    Hades, a game I've spoken about a lot. Speaking of the modern classic. It's finally coming out on something other than PC and Switch because it's coming to Xbox Game Pass. It's coming to all the PlayStations.
    33:34
    Play it. I think Hades was the best game of last year that I played. It was incredibly fun. The trailer we were talking about, the announcement trailer for Outer Worlds 2. I really liked Outer Worlds. It was so much fun. Outer Worlds was a ton of fun. Outer Worlds 2, they pulled the fun into the trailer because they full-on had it going with the stuff's happening. It's like, here's things that probably won't be in the game and stuff. There's no gameplay here. And here's a generic silhouette of what the main character looks like because we haven't even started designing them yet. And here's, we have no idea who the bad guys are, but this game's coming. I mean, that was funny. That's what made me think about the Contraband and some of the other trailers we ended up seeing is because he just basically took the whole thing and went like, yeah. But still, even with setting all the humor aside, that sort of tease at least makes a little sense because there was an Outer Worlds and people liked it. So letting us know that there's another one coming some point was still exciting. Yes, it was.
    34:42
    They gave an actual halfway decent look at Halo Infinite, the Xbox Series XS launch title that is still not out. How long are we from launch? Oh gosh, half a year at least But they're saying It's due out holiday of 21 So maybe We'll see what happens It'll be a fun New Year's Eve Martin Luther King Day is still Holiday of 21, right? Wait, no So, we'll see what happens I don't know, I'm not Halo games are fun yeah I mean I still need to finish the last one was the thing the campaign I just I didn't get through it and I didn't like what they did but I mean it wasn't the gameplay was still good it was just the story was so weird you've not played it so they split between different groups and it's a sort of it just is it just isn't what I wanted and apparently it wasn't what a lot of people wanted like the multiplayer was very popular But that campaign was not good for 343. Yeah.
    35:56
    So it wasn't Master Chief-centric enough is the issue. And that's what people expect out of most Halos. Yeah. Now, they have been good non- ODST is my favorite Halo. ODST, sure. Reach was very popular as well and is not a Master Chief-focused thing. Yeah. I think the problem there was they use Master Chief as off and on. Right. It's weird. Anyway. Yeah, because I say my favorite Halo is ODST. Yeah, yeah, it's really good.
    36:23
    They announced another sequel, Age of Empires IV. Yeah. I mean, Age of Empires II was great. Age of Empires III wasn't. Age of Empires IV, okay. I don't know if we're, we'll see. That's all I can say, so we'll see. It looked okay. It looked like an Age of Empires game. Yeah. Well they had a cartoony one For Games for Windows Live That I played a bit of Which the gameplay was alright But it was weird It was like really stripped down It was initially designed as a mobile game No I think the stripped down-edness Of it was because There was the base vanilla game And they were trying to get You had to buy additional civilizations And stuff Like it was a la carte style Wow It's like the Train conductor game Where it comes with like one train And you can buy other trains And if you look at the thing It's actually the buy all for that game Is the most expensive thing on Steam And it's like $27,000 I've heard of that Yes it was like that but not the most expensive Right Left 4 Dead 3 Back 4 Blood Oh yes Well, it looked like Left 4 Dead. Yeah, well, it's made by the Left 4 Dead people who left Steam. So, and that's good. I mean, I like Left 4 Dead. Unfortunately, since E3 it has come out that this game will be always online, even if you're playing by yourself with AI players on your console. Why?
    38:00
    Because they hate making money. Because I've seen a lot of hard passes on this game now because the always online thing has been found in the past that people don't like it. And once it stops making enough money, the servers shut down, and suddenly people have games they can't even play by themselves anymore. Yeah, that part, I do sympathize with that because it's just annoying. It's like, well, but I'm not buying a game that's only for online play, so why is it sunset and I can't play it anymore? Right. I mean, that's a game that you should be able to play with friends, couch co-op, or however. So, yeah, we'll see if they repair that or not. Supposedly, they're looking at changing the online-only requirements, which translates to, oh, wow, this feedback is really bad. We should probably say something. Somerville is an interesting-looking little – it kind of came off as a side-scroller, but it was a – that was the apocalypse, the sci-fi apocalypse where you're like the family. where it's like the dad and the mom and the kid. Yeah, that was sort of interesting. Yeah, the trailer looked interesting.
    39:14
    I'm kind of interested to see how that actually looks. My only issue is I like the idea. Looking at the gameplay, it doesn't really look like my type of game. But the whole concept I enjoyed. We'll see how that turns out. It kind of looked to me like a limbo. Yeah. Or inside, which I did enjoy playing. It's a little wonky at first, but... I'm pretty sure the guy who did those two did this one. Oh, okay.
    39:41
    If I remember reading right, that, yeah, he's the one who did that. Yeah, so it's like that'll end up being basically sort of a puzzle game. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see. I liked those.
    39:53
    Of course, they announced that Diablo II Resurrected is coming to the Xbox and all that stuff. will... I like the concept of Diablo 2 resurrected. I really do. But Warcraft 3 Reforged bombed hard. Did they learn anything? That's the question. We'll find out.
    40:17
    Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to Xbox. I find it weird to take a game that's... The whole point of the game is just how simulator it gets and just how granular it gets and putting it on a controller.
    40:33
    A lot of people like to fly with flight sticks. It's weird to me, but we'll see how it does. They are giving a Top Gun crossover because Microsoft Flight Simulator later didn't have enough Tom Cruise in it.
    40:50
    There's a Forza game coming out. Yeah, we knew that. Of course we knew that. The world hasn't ended. There's a Forza game coming. And the last thing they showed was Redfall, which is like a co-op anti-vampire hunting game, open world game. I thought it looked pretty cool. Yeah, I wish I'd gotten a little bit better feel about how it all works exactly, but I enjoyed the presentation. I thought the presentation was good, but yeah, like you, it's one of those where it felt like they mixed the trailer. Yeah, like trailer and gameplay. I mean, there was some gameplay, so it was just like, I can't really tell where, like, I'm sure there's not this many cut scenes when we're actually playing it, though. Yeah, but it had, but I'm interested. Teak or mahogany? Mahogany. Okay.
    41:43
    Square have their thing. Guardians of the Galaxy. That looked okay. Yeah, it looked like. It looked funny. It looked funny, which a Guardians of the Galaxy game needs to be. most importantly is it's single player with no DLC no microtransactions and hopefully it'll do better than Avengers and if not you will definitely bring it up I will as you love to talk about Avengers is just one of those live games that failed so horribly didn't they show some stuff for Avengers they did but I don't you want to talk about it I don't see it in your notes it's not in my notes because I don't care they showed Black Panther and they talked about some other I don't care They're going to keep Linting that thing along Trying to recoup their enormous cost I would like if you would start to care Sorry I don't Not about that Now for something I do care about Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Which is a collection Of the first six Final Fantasy games In all of their pixel glory I'm trying to think If I've played them all or not I have played but not finished one. I cannot recall if I played two. I've played U.S. two. Which is three. Or four. It's four. Which is four. I don't know if I've done four or three. And I've played and beat five and six. I've beaten one, four, and six. I've played five. But, yeah, the Japanese two and three, I don't. Yeah, I don't think I have. for a while they were available they had them on phones I was playing 5 on a mobile port I had 5 and 6 on PS1 yeah and 4 I believe as well but I don't think I finished it, I think I got to moon again and quit playing stupid moon, I always get tilted tides go in, the tides go out quit causing tides Stupid Moon.
    43:49
    So, yes. So that's pretty exciting, because those are fun. At least the ones I finished were. Right. Well, and 6 is considered a classic. Oh, yeah. I mean, everyone loves Kefka. Some say he's the greatest villain. You know, there's a debate with, for those that don't know, there's a debate amongst old school Final Fantasy fans whether 6 or 7 is actually the best Final Fantasy. I know I have my opinion. You know, there are a lot of people that feel that there's just almost like a snobbishness in a way. I'm going to say, like, I actually favor Seven, but I think a lot of people just – there's some stuff about the writing in Six that's really strong. Yes. But that being said, I really, really, really liked Seven. In a way, we saw the same thing with Fallout when Three came out. Right. Some of them are like, you have betrayed us. You changed the genre of the gameplay. And I thought it worked. Yes, and I thought it worked in Fallout, and I thought it worked here, too. Yeah. And it's like, some people just... I think I prefer VII, but I will admit that part of that is because the materia system in VII is like my favorite. It's neat. And actually, while I like the writing and story better in VI than V, I actually liked how V handled the character stuff better. Right, like how you could do the party building and stuff. Anyway, they're all three of those. Five, six, and seven are all good. Yeah, they're all good. We're not saying, oh, this is a terrible. They're all good games. They're just strong in different ways. I mean, the material system, just like some people, for whatever reason that I'll never understand, love eight with its draw system. Eight's so terrible. And the story's terrible. And the guy who eats all the hot dogs. Yeah, it's dumb. Now, I was a huge fan of nine. 9 was not a popular Final Fantasy But I really enjoyed 9 Where I wasn't a fan of 10 Though some people love 10 I didn't play 10 either You wore hot pants And swam in a ball I played 13 it was okay It was so linear Which really annoyed people But the gameplay was okay And then there one with the bros in a car That okay yeah I didn love it like else I actually didn like the combat in that one as much I never really felt like they tutorialed me properly But I somehow muddled through it So whatever And they also announced Final Fantasy Origin Stranger of Paradise Which is a Action RPG In the Final Fantasy realm Done by Team Ninja Yeah, did you like how everyone looked? No. Oh, man. It was so bad. It's like, here are these characters with the, I mean, just scream Final Fantasy. And then here's the main character, and he's in jeans and a polo. All these other people in these weird clothes or massive silly armor, and then it's like, it's business casual day at work. Give me my giant sword. Let's get the day going. Devil May Final Fantasy. I mean, we'll see. There is a demo available for it on PS5. It was broken at first, and they fixed it, and the reviews still are kind of eh. But the game's not due out until 22, so we'll see what happens. But, you know, Square having a good idea and then just crapping the bed is not unheard of. Right. See Avengers. Yeah, see Avengers. just a couple other miscellaneous things that came out during the PC show or some of the other little things was Orcs Must Die 3 it's finished its Stadia exclusivity so people are actually going to play well they had an exclusive I'm glad I never actually said Stadia has no exclusives because I thought they didn't have any apparently they had the hit licensed game Orcs Must Die 3 is an exclusive for a year the Orcs Must Die series if you've not played it I think I've played one, and it was fun. So I don't want to make fun of it too much. Yeah, I've played one and two extensively. They're a fun little tower defense game. They're really enjoyable. So I like the concept of the third one coming out. And now it will be played. I will actually play it. Let's see. I crapped on Stadia. I crapped on Avengers. Is there anything else I've been crapping on lately for people to complain about that I need to bring up? Well, you did crap on Contraband pretty heavily a little bit ago. A little bit ago. But, I mean, that's just the concept is we'll see. It could turn out to be a game of the year. Who knows? Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah.
    48:40
    Niantic, creators of Pokemon Go, their original Ingress, which is I actually started playing Ingress long before they announced Pokemon Go. I don't know if you discussed it much on the podcast. Yeah, because that was like before the podcast. Yeah, that might be it. I forget we haven't actually been doing this forever. Yeah, because I stopped playing it before the podcast. Okay, that would explain why you didn't cover it. Yeah, and I've not played it in years. I've not played Pokemon Go in years, but I've heard about it because I know people who do.
    49:13
    And they do the Harry Potter Wizards United game. Yeah, I've heard about that one. But now they're putting together a Transformers game.
    49:24
    So I probably won't play it either. I don't. Maybe you'll play for a little bit. Maybe for a little bit. I've kind of lost my taste for that kind of game. There's still some people out there who hardcore, especially Pokemon Go. I still usually log in and spin my PokeStop. Well, yeah, but you've got a PokeStop literally in your front yard. Yeah, I am the Poke. It's like, oh. Yeah, like, oh, I guess I get my seven-day bonus. Yeah. And then Nintendo people The winners of E3 maybe According to some people Don't get me wrong Nintendo had a strong showing They needed a strong showing Why? Why do they need one? They're Nintendo They're going to win no matter what But it didn't hurt them to have an actual strong Lineup showing at an E3 for once You know the main thing I know going in, a lot of people were really expecting that there was going to be an announcement of a new Switch before even this was to happen. And then there has been no announcement of a new Switch. It's weird. I mean, the rumor mill was, there was enough talk in the rumor mill, I thought it was a real thing. And it could still be a real thing, but nothing happened that was expected. But, I mean, Metroid happened. Metroid 5 for Dread, because they named it both in the trailer for it.
    50:57
    It launches in October, and it's a side-scrolling Metroid, which means I might actually like it. Some of you think that Ripley is the Metroid.
    51:05
    I'm the Metroid. Hot shot. Now that would be the game right there. I never really liked the Prime-style Metroid games. I don't hate them. I don't think Metroid transitioned as well to first person as Fallout did.
    51:27
    So having it being back to a side-scroller I think will be a really good thing. I mean, I'm not going to play it. I don't have the Switch anymore. Yes. You have described how it has been taken. It has been subsumed by other members of the family. Nom.
    51:45
    The Super Smash Ultimate, they announced yet another character. Yeah. Kazuya from Tekken And I think they added a sentient pot roast And John Madden Are coming I want to play as pot roast We're just getting to We're getting to the point With Smash Ultimate That I'm waiting to find out that I'm a character That'd be fun Your Super Ball Ultimate is going to be playing Final Fantasy XIV in the game.
    52:24
    It's just like, I'm using Red Mage. What are you talking about? To be fair, it would be fun. Well, I have talked about Final Fantasy XIV a bunch over the last several episodes because I've been playing... Alternative Ultimate. You just rag on Avengers and they kill themselves. They jump off the back, rather than hear you yet again do a lecture about what's wrong with Square Enix's Avengers game. Captain Falcon drops in front of me, and my anti-Captain Falcon attack is like, are you ever going to get your own game again?
    53:01
    I'm just imagining you doing the arm gestures from Phoenix, right? Objection! Yes, objection! No, you're Square Enix game! You don't belong here unless you're Final Fantasy XIV. Get out of here, Avengers. Take your microtransactions with you. see that would be fun there's a new WarioWare kind of game I haven't played WarioWare in a long time I liked it but they were always fun I've never not enjoyed a WarioWare game so I'm sure it will be enjoyable they also announced the remakes of Advanced Wars 1 and 2 which are amazing games I don't know that they necessarily needed the art style change that it looked like but that's okay. As long as they keep the gameplay, they're going to be great fun.
    53:52
    Just in for if somehow somebody from Nintendo happens to be out there, if you want to keep recreating old Game Boy games for the Switch,
    54:04
    Golden Sun would be really good because the Golden Sun games were great also. There was, you know, Breath of the Wild trailer, which wasn't a secret. I mean, we'd known it was coming. It was pretty.
    54:22
    We knew it would be pretty. We'll see how it translates into if it's as popular as Breath of the Wild. It probably will be. What Zelda game is it? It's a Zelda game. Well, that archery one for Wii, Link's Archery Adventure, was very good. Right. But, I mean, Zelda games are always huge. And Breath of the Wild was super popular. I mean, Wind Waker was super popular. and I thought it was the dumbest looking Zelda game ever. Yeah, but Breath of the Wild was a... Because that was like a launch title. Yeah. It was a really good way to help sell the Switch. Right. And I think Breath of the Sequel will be huge. Yes, Breath of the Sequel. And they also announced Mario Party Superstars. Mario Party. Because some people have friends currently and they don't want to have friends. So they'll play Mario Party with them. sometimes I hear people say they like Mario Party and I'm always like have you actually played it? competitively? now I do have there is a group I have watched on YouTube who will play Mario Party drunk or as a drinking game which might be the only way you can enjoy it and possibly still come out with friends because you're like, I was drunk. I don't remember. Okay.
    55:50
    It's like watching people play Mario Kart and get drunk while they're playing it. Which is also fun. How would I remember to bring my blue sparks? That's the problem. The thing is Mario Kart's actually enjoyable.
    56:05
    And Mario Party's just like the giant... Because so much of Mario Party is like random. It's completely random. and even if you're doing good it's Candyland it doesn't matter how good of a player you are it's just nonsense so that kids can win right and it's got the Bugs Bunny pinball game thing where occasionally you just swap scores yes oh that was so fun funny the one time yeah I guess a couple of things I would touch on separately what were your thoughts just overall of Devolver oh I thought the Devolver thing was hilarious and I will probably not play any other games because I almost never do yeah I don't usually think much but yeah they tend to have one of the more fun maybe the most fun I would say they have the most fun So there's that. My low light was Gearbox. I don't know if you watched the Gearbox presentation. It, so much of it was about Terry or whoever his name is who runs Gearbox and he's hanging out about the live action movie version of Borderlands. And it just, it was both not about gaming, coupled with the whole vibe to me was, here he is trying to leverage his gaming company so that he can rub elbows with Hollywood elite. Like, he really wants to be a movie star. Right. Because it seemed all about him. And I'm just like, it's so sycophantic. And I just, I thought it was disgusting. I just, it was like everything I hate about Ego was just like encapsulated in that. plus there were outside of like the new Tiny Tina thing which was already known there wasn't anything that interesting and when they were talking about their remakes of the Homeworld games it wasn't just one consistent thing they kept interspersing it throughout so it was just disjointed it was a slop it was really sloppy so they were I felt the worst they were the E3 loser Yeah I mean Tiny Teen is like An interesting concept The last Borderlands game Was no fun The only other Thing Was it already out Did we cover it last episode The Ubisoft We did talk Ubisoft Okay Because it felt like Yeah Like surely we were With Avatar And Mario Rabbids Yeah And Elden Ring Which After we did talk about that I saw the The greatest thing talking about Elden Ring and how you're going to get to a certain you're going to play Elden Ring and you're going to get to a certain point and then you have to wait for the DLC to finish the game and it'll come out in 15 or 20 years.
    59:12
    Just like the books. Yeah, I love it when they more succulently mimic the books because most of the time people say the book is better, but now you can say they're the same.
    59:25
    Well, what is also the same is we have once again reached the end of the podcast episode. So, as we often do, I will say that if you want to reach out to us, you can email us at eclecticgamerspodcasts.gmail.com or you can go to facebook.com slash eclecticgamerspodcasts and send a message or post there. We're available at Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram as eclectic underscore gamers. And we will be back in a couple of weeks. We won't have any E3 to talk about because E3 is done. Will there be another pinball reveal? I don't know. Rumor mills are Spooky's announcement is imminent. They've been teasy, teasy, teasing. So it could be. Could be. Also, American Pinball might be close as well.
    60:07
    Chicago Gaming. It's just right there. It's right on the edge. Chicago Gaming sounds like it's at least another month out. That's what my sources say. But would American release, or would they release, or would they push back if Spooky makes an announcement? but I, it's an interesting question. I would say my guess would be they would still go ahead and do it. And I don't think they'd change up their plan. Maybe they should, but I don't think they would because supposedly they want to release another game. And that's that expo. So they got to get it in at some point here. I just like, how much longer can you wait?
    60:45
    I'm skeptical. They announced to that. I would say two games in a year would be amazing. That's what they want to do. David. Lots of people say they want to release two games in a year, and if they're not named Stern, how often does it happen? That's true. It doesn't. I mean, they always say about, we're going to have two games.
    61:04
    JJP's been saying it as well, and they don't. So you're right. What's going to end up happening is one of these days, someone's going to go, we're going to have two games this year. We released one in January and one in December. I'd take it. I'd count it. It's going to be two games in a year. I'd count it. Of course, then they would end up not releasing the game the following year at all. Baby steps.
    61:27
    Anyway, until next time, my name is Dennis. I'm Tony. And I will say goodbye. See ya.