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Episode 214 - The Princess Drive

Eclectic Gamers Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 4m·held·Mar 3, 2024
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Jaws shark toy debate reveals pinball design principles; The Princess Bride P3 module announced.

Summary

Eclectic Gamers hosts Tony and Dennis discuss listener emails about game design philosophy, focusing on Jaws pinball and whether the shark toy should eat the ball. They explore the broader principle that good pinball design depends on geometry and rules rather than obvious toys. They also cover Haggis Pinball recapitalization challenges and the reveal of Multimorphic P3's The Princess Bride module with three pricing tiers and modular options.

Key Claims

  • The majority of great basketball-themed pinball games (Hoops, Harlem Globetrotters) do not have ball-through-basket toys, suggesting toy presence can detract from game quality

    high confidence · Dennis's campfire story comparing basketball pinball games and arguing that iconic games succeeded without obvious toys

  • Haggis Pinball deposits are non-refundable, so customers cannot pull deposits despite recapitalization announcement

    high confidence · Dennis explaining legal structure of non-refundable deposits and exception for Flipping Out Pinball distributorship refund guarantee

  • Princess Bride P3 module limited edition capped at 750 units, collector's edition at 500 units

    high confidence · Dennis citing official Multimorphic pricing and production limits

  • Princess Bride P3 standard system priced at $11,500; LE at $12,750; Collector's at $13,750

    high confidence · Dennis stating official pricing structure

  • The Princess Bride P3 game includes all major scenes and quotes from the film integrated into modes and gameplay

    medium confidence · Dennis citing Steven Silver's indication that every major scene and memorable quote is represented

  • Princess Bride P3 uses a relatively subdued toy approach compared to other P3 games, with Cliffs of Insanity as main feature

    high confidence · Dennis's direct observation from Buffalo Pinball stream and game analysis

Notable Quotes

  • “What makes a game is not the toys. It's the geometry and the rules that implement around that geometry.”

    Dennis @ ~23:45 — Core design philosophy argument about pinball, directly challenging Steve's premise that Jaws needs shark-eating-ball toy

  • “So they're all basketball, but two of these games don't actually go, hey, you know what we should do, guys? We need to put the ball into the basket as a toy. And then there are a whole host of crappy ones that did.”

    Dennis @ ~21:30 — Examples (Hoops, Harlem Globetrotters vs NBA Fastbreak) supporting thesis that obvious toys can harm games

  • “You were so busy to see if you could you didn't stop to ask if you should.”

    Dennis @ ~24:15 — Jurassic Park reference used to critique design-by-obvious-toy philosophy

  • “I would be pulling my deposit immediately.”

    Doug (via email) @ ~37:00 — Listener concern about Haggis recapitalization announcement's impact on deposit holders

  • “I don't think overall it's going to matter. Yeah, I think this – given what they wanted to do for CEs, I think this made sense.”

    Tony @ ~48:30 — Affirmation that Multimorphic's collector's edition full-system-only requirement is justified despite P3 owner frustration

  • “Every like major scene that you can remember every quote that anyone ever bothers with from the film it's in the game in some place.”

    Dennis (paraphrasing Steven Silver) @ ~53:00 — Assessment of Princess Bride's completeness in adapting IP to pinball mechanics

Entities

StevepersonDennispersonTonypersonDougpersonGlennpersonZachpersonSteven SilverpersonHaggis Pinballcompany

Signals

  • ?

    business_signal: Haggis Pinball recapitalization announcement has triggered customer concern about deposit safety and company viability. Non-refundable deposit structure means customers cannot recover funds even if company fails (except through distributor protections like Flipping Out).

    high · Doug's email predicting customer deposit withdrawals and speculating about liquidation/IP acquisition; Dennis explaining non-refundable deposit legal structure

  • ?

    business_signal: Dennis suggests American Pinball may have excess manufacturing capacity ('don't think they're busy enough making Galactic Tank Force') and proposes contract manufacturing arrangement with Haggis as solution to supply chain problems.

    low · Dennis's speculation about American Pinball contract manufacturing potential and Haggis's lack of financial capacity for such arrangements

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Strong player debate about Jaws shark toy, with some players dismissing the game for not including shark-eating-ball mechanic. Dennis characterizes this as childish toy obsession conflicting with mature game design appreciation.

    high · Steve's email arguing shark should eat ball; Dennis's response dismissing this as obvious toy addiction

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Multimorphic adopting Jersey Jack Pinball's proven three-tier pricing model (Standard/LE/Collector) with dual limited run caps, indicating strategic emulation of successful premium pricing strategy in market.

    medium · Dennis explicitly noting JJP comparison: 'kind of a la JJP, because Jersey Jack used to do this tri-tier approach'

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.194

0:00
Welcome to the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. Today is Sunday, March 3rd. This is episode 214. My name is Tony. My name is Dennis. Welcome back, Tony. We've only seen each other a day ago. Less than a day ago. Because we had to go see Dean. The sleeper has awoken. I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death. I was the sleeper because I went to bed like 5.30 last night and I didn't wake up until 5 a.m. this morning.
0:48
I don't know what happened. You were exhausted. After I got home last night, I was just – It's from that Five Guys. Probably. You looked again at your receipt and passed out from how expensive it is to get a burger and fries now. No kidding. I mean, what is this, a Wendy's?
1:08
Search pricing. Not a topic of today's episode, but timely nonetheless. Last night I got home. I played with the dog for like an hour or so, and then I was like, I'm going to lay here on the couch for a little bit and read. Yeah, and then it was like 11.30 at night. Then it was like, oh, I should go to bed. And then it was like 5.30 in the morning. I'm like, wow, I slept like 12 hours.
1:38
So you slept yesterday, but you've done more than just sleep over the last couple weeks. I have. As part of my continuing saga of finding and playing games that don't involve Battletech, I even had a mental argument with myself. It's like I uninstalled Battletech. So if I reinstalled MechWarrior, would that still – but I decided that that would count because it's still a Battletech property. Yeah, that feels almost cheating. Right. So I didn't. Instead, I bought some games. Actually, I bought a Pacific Drive, which I'll talk about more in the video game segment. But just as a – it feels very much like an X-Files, Twilight Zone, Subnautica. Okay, I've played a little bit of Subnautica. Except for I've got a station wagon instead of a submarine. Okay, well, I mean, that's more land-based. It's very land-based, but it's very kind of spooky. I'll talk about it more in the video game segment. I'm not terribly far into it, but I've played for a number of hours now. I also picked up Bellatro, which is a roguelike deck builder based around like an actual deck of cards and building poker hands to earn points to reach point goals. Okay. It's simple. It's mindless. It is surprisingly fun and deep. Pacific Drive I can't like watch a show or video or YouTube videos and stuff and play Pacific Drive there's too much going on in Pacific Drive it is a game where when you play that game that's what you're doing is playing that game but Baltro however you pronounce it that game I can same thing I also bought a game called Nebula which is a rogue-like bullet hell. So I'm not great at it, but it's kind of fun too. Okay. So it was like $1.99. I was just like, oh, I'll just grab that. Someone's been in the discount bin. Discount bin. So, yeah. But I'll talk about Pacific Drive more in the video game. Okay. Good. That'll give us something to talk about. There's not a whole lot here. We do have a new pinball release, though, so that'll be a good chunk of our pinball time. That'll be a good chunk, yeah. I was going to say, yeah, what have you been up to? Not a whole lot. I still haven't finished I Am Fish.
Multimorphic
company
Jersey Jack Pinballcompany
Stern Pinballcompany
American Pinballcompany
Flipping Out Pinballcompany
Dutch Pinballcompany
The Princess Bridegame
Jawsgame
Pulp Fictiongame
Hoopsgame
Harlem Globetrottersgame
Centaurgame
Fathomgame
Weird Al Museum of Natural Hilaritygame
Galactic Tank Forcegame
Buffalo Pinballevent
Eclectic Gamers Podcastorganization

design_philosophy: Dennis skeptical of Princess Bride's prominent movie playfield integration—takes up screen space like Final Resistance but creates overly static, generic map backdrop that doesn't appear in film. Questions whether making it feel less 'phone game-like' sacrificed thematic coherence.

medium · Dennis's critique of main playfield screen design showing static map and river imagery not from movie source material

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Dennis argues that pinball quality derives from geometry and rules, not prominent toy mechanics. Cites basketball games (Hoops, Harlem Globetrotters) as proof that omitting obvious toys can produce superior games, while games with basketball hoops (NBA Fastbreak) are inferior despite having the toy.

    high · Extended campfire story comparing basketball-themed games and their design approaches

  • ?

    licensing_signal: Princess Bride P3 includes comprehensive IP integration—every major film scene and memorable quote represented in game modes per Steven Silver. Suggests strong creative freedom from licensing holder or deliberate completeness strategy.

    medium · Dennis citing Steven Silver's indication that 'every quote that anyone ever bothers with from the film it's in the game in some place'

  • $

    market_signal: Pulp Fiction pinball units increasingly available in secondary market and community play locations, suggesting production ramp-up and wider distribution post-release.

    medium · Dennis noting 'more and more Pulp Fictions are getting out into the wild' and Kansas City Discord discussing hands-on experiences

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Steven Silver confirmed as developer/designer on Princess Bride P3, indicating Multimorphic's in-house development or close partnership on first-party licensed title.

    medium · Dennis identifying Steven Silver as having worked on the game and made specific design communication about scene inclusion

  • ?

    announcement: Multimorphic P3 Princess Bride module revealed with three-tier pricing strategy (Standard $11.5k-$13.75k system price; $3.75k-$5k modules for existing P3 owners). Limited editions capped at 750 units; Collector's edition at 500 units with full-system-only purchase requirement.

    high · Dennis providing official pricing, production limits, and system/module tier breakdowns

  • ?

    product_strategy: Princess Bride P3 Collector's Edition requires full system purchase (not module-only option like LE/Standard) due to cabinet-mounted cosmetic features (decorative swords, special powder coat). Multimorphic deliberately restricting upgrade path.

    high · Dennis explaining CE cosmetic additions and decision to require full system rather than sell parts separately

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Tony more pragmatic and accepting about Princess Bride CE full-system requirement than some expected P3 owners might be, suggesting potential community resistance underestimated but tolerance exists for justified cosmetic differentiation.

    medium · Tony: 'I would not be surprised to see a few P3 people angry about it, but the thing is I don't think overall it's going to matter'

    • 4:15
    Over the last week, instead, one of the Game Pass, because I do have Core Game Pass, because I got rid of Xbox Go and switched it to Game Pass Core, which doesn't have nearly as many games, but does have some. So they had Power Wash Simulator. So I got that. However, it makes me motion sick, so I don't think I'll be continuing. It's been a long time since a game's done that to you. Most modern graphics don't. And oftentimes in game settings on a lot of shooters, I can turn off like Bob, like where you're not Bob, like the guy, Bob, Bob. I can't just delete Bob. I can't just get Bob out of the game, folks. It's not going to work like that.
    4:50
    But a lot of times there'll be like a shake, you know, to make it more realistic. So sometimes when you run and stuff, they'll have your weapon Bob in front of you and things like that. I can usually reduce or turn that off, which can help if I run into like the last game. I remember, and it was, I think, an Xbox 360 game was, what was it Bethesda did? No, not Bethesda. It was id when id was id. It was, I want to say Rust, but Rust is a different game. That's a survival game. Anyway, it was a shooter. It was a shooter, and it caused the same thing. Now, I do actually, it's probably long expired. I do, in the cabinet, keep Dramamine, which used to be what I would, that will work. If I take Dramamine about a half hour before I play, but I don't like to drug myself in order to play video games i would usually just move on to another so i'm pretty sure they do that stuff in patches now that's how long ago that's just probably expired okay i'm pretty certain now it's a patch you just slap a whole patch on you because i used to get motion sick when i was a kid and we would be on a road trip and i would try and read in the car so i had to take dramamine if i wanted to read because i would get nauseous that way otherwise but i've never gotten sick like on a boat or anything not that i'm out on the high seas i'm like on a lake i'm on a lake poseidon where are you you don't govern lakes maybe he does i don't remember anyway so i've done a little bit of that but i i need to start something else up i'm still in my post golem uh recovery period and i was thinking about finishing i am fish but but uh that game doesn't like it doesn't seem to it checkpoints while i play but if i don't finish the level and the game closes out, I seem to have to restart the entire level. And so I only play I Am Fish if I have enough time to get through a level, which should take under an hour, but it just depends how hard they are. So anyway, so that is that. And so that concludes our updates. So let's go ahead and jump right in. We actually did receive a few emails, Tony, and I'm going to go ahead and cover them at the start of the pinball segment, because most of them are pinball-oriented. And this is when I usually cover them. So thank you everyone who emailed. And a reminder, you can email in to us by writing to eclecticgamerspodcast.gmail.com. The first email is from Glenn. I can't tell you much about the email. All it really was was an image of Gollum.
    7:12
    It's an inappropriate image of Gollum. I don't know if you've seen it. All right. I'll probably load it up here on my phone so you can see it because I did not delete the email. However, I just wanted to note because Glenn was, I suppose, maybe kind enough to send in an email. So that was nice of him. But the problem is I can't describe it without beeping myself. It's completely inappropriate. Oh, Glenn. Oh, Glenn, that's precious. It's completely – precious is kind of you to say, Tony. I don't know how to feel about it, but it's definitely wholly inappropriate to, like, I can't describe it. Yeah.
    7:56
    I can understand that. It is very hilarious. I find it quite funny. Okay. Well, thank you, Glenn, for writing in with your inappropriate golem. Yeah. That made Dennis feel funny things.
    8:13
    Okay, well, you want to talk about feelings. Let's have a discussion about what Steve wrote. So Steve wrote in, this is mostly aimed at me, and I told Steve we'd discuss this one on this episode. So here's what he wrote. Dennis, my friend, why does it baffle you that people want Jaws to eat the pinball? It is literally the only thing it does in the movie. That's like having a music theme where the musicians don't play music but sit around on a porch. If they made a Doom-themed pin, it would be as if you'd never shoot anyone. If you had a Back to the Future pin, but you never actually time-traveled, ever. Dennis, you're a smart man. Please stop feigning confusion as to why people wanted Jaws to eat the pinball. The pinball, of course, is a representation of many things in games. In this case, it would be a person. All that many of us expected from the game was that the big fishy do the thing. Nothing more. But instead, we get to tie knots. White-knuckle knot tying action. Other than that, keep up the good work. Thank you, Steve, for writing in. We appreciate it. Tony is laughing quite a bit because I did not show him these ahead of time. So he's finding out about these emails.
    9:25
    I obviously need to check emails more often. Well, I paste them in here or I show them to you on my phone if they're inappropriate to go into the OneNote. Obvious reasons like Golem is not going into the OneNote. But so this is a good – all right. Let me start with the feigning confusion because he is right. I've only feigned confusion. I know exactly why people want the shark to eat the ball. It's because it's the most obvious toy in the history of obvious. I mean it is. Am I wrong? No, no. You're correct. And I'm saying it that way to be playfully patronizing because it's the concept a child would come up with. and I'm not five and I don't need children to come up with ideas. And I'm just as guilty of it, Tony. How many games have we talked about where it's like, oh, like Die Hard. Well, I mean, well, they got to have Nakatomi Tower, right? I mean, they got to. They got it. Well, what if they don't? Did it ruin the game?
    10:25
    Probably not is where I'm coming in at. And Steve might be coming in at a different direction. I want to give him an extra A-plus for the not tying burn because actually I wish I had come up with that because that's a pretty good burn and I'm a little jealous that I did not come up with that.
    10:43
    So back to the future and time traveling and Doom and shooting. Let's draw a line though. I have only played Jaws a few times at this point. But the sharks do eat things in the game. It's just there's not a toy. I mean, there was a Back to the Future game. It starred a potato as Marty McFly. And I think there was time travel in it, but you didn't literally put the ball in the DeLorean and watch it move on the play field. That would be cool. Yeah. Except for it wouldn't because it would probably be like Maverick, and it would get in there, and it would take two and a half minutes to make the turn and then drop the ball back out. If you want me to be super literal with what Steve's proposing, if the shark is trying to eat the ball because the ball is a person, then the only time it really primarily would make sense is when you drain. Because if you're playing the person, when the person dies, shouldn't you lose your turn? I mean, you shouldn't just be like loading a shark with a ball in the mouth. But if you're playing the shark. If you're playing the shark. and in the end they did when the game came out i don't know if a lot of people remember this because i don't think these rules are out yet but they said you're going to be able to play the game both ways one way as the shark but currently you are like as quint you're the shark hunter or quinn or whatever is i forget his character's name and i so i i get it i so get it but here i'm trying to figure out a way to say it that doesn't sound super mean oh no you you you already crossed that You crossed that bridge earlier.
    12:23
    Steve and everyone else. Not just you, Steve. All the Steves. All the listeners. I want you to gather around. Gather around the campfire. Pull up your stool. No, not the metal stools. This is an old-timey story. It needs old-timey wood stools. Pull up your stool. Gather around the fire. Let me tell you a tale. Let me tell you a tale about a game called pinball. And let me tell you a tale about a game of pinball themed around another game, basketball. Now, there have been a lot of different basketball games that have come out over time, Tony. I'm kind of curious. What's your favorite basketball game, pinball game that you've ever played? Hoops. Okay. Gottlieb game. I have it. It's downstairs. It's a tournament darling.
    13:06
    I think a lot of other people would agree with you. I think a lot of people might say Harlem Globetrotters. They would. An excellent early solid state game. You know what? There's also NBA Fastbreak. There's the Shaq game. There was the new Super Hoop that came out of Europe. Here's the thing.
    13:24
    Objectively, I'm going to say it objectively, and you can decide if it's objective or not. This is my campfire story. Objectively, the majority of people are going to say Harlem Globetrotters or Hoops is the greatest basketball-themed pinball game ever. What do those two games lack that all the other ones have? Putting the ball through a stupid hoop. I want to make a basket.
    13:51
    So they're all basketball, but two of these games don't actually go, hey, you know what we should do, guys? We need to put the ball into the basket as a toy. And then there are a whole host of crappy ones that did, including NBA Fastbreak, which is not a good game. And if you do not believe me, just see how many are out there still because they got parted out to fix good things like Attack from Mars. They did. That's how it was back in the day until new people came into the hobby and pretended every pinball game that was ever made was good and worthy of life when they're not. Now, obviously, stepping away from the campfire, you can like whatever game you want, and you can want whatever toy you want. And I totally stand behind all the Steves in the world who go and look at that game and say, that shark does not eat that ball. I am not paying $7,000. I have dismissed pinball games for far less than that. This is serious money. It takes up serious space. Judge it on whatever reason you want. However, what makes a game is not the toys. It's the geometry and the rules that implement around that geometry. and if you don't believe me just ask carlom globetrotters and hoops because we've seen plenty of history where the decision to do the thing ruined a game i'm gonna go ahead and say those baskets ruined the game because why have none of these other basketball games risen to the level of a couple of single level titles because they're inferior for some reason and i'm gonna say it was the addiction to that toy you were so busy to see if you could you didn't stop to ask if you should So that's why I push back against this notion of just making things do the thing, because it can actually make a worse game. Maybe not visually. Right. But I don't own games because they look nice. I own games because I play when I do play, which I haven't played for like a week. But if I was, that would be what I would say. So anyway, that's my soapbox rant in terms of my response to what Steve has to say. What do you think? Should the shark just have eaten the ball? I mean, I think it's an obvious toy. But I don think it not being there means it a game that should just be you know shuttered I mean we seen this on plenty of other things aside from basketball Remember when Mandalorian came out, and this one was less obvious, so I think this one is fair to – I'd actually be – my confusion was actually more genuine with it than this, which was indeed feigned. I thought I had made it really obvious that I was doing that in the whole – I know all about you pinball collectors at this point and what little silly things you become addicted to. But Mandalorian and the insistence that Grogu actually wave or move in some capacity, that one was out of left field. It was just – I think it was because it was so big. When the game got – people didn't know what to expect with the layout. And then when it came out, you had this – especially on the Premium LE, you had this moving upper play field that was supposed to mimic the Mando ship. but over on the left is baby yoda grogu and grogu is a static and everyone got really hung up about it remember i do remember why does he move his arm well yeah he had that one scene where you know carl weathers said something and he waved his hand at him which was an adorable scene in the in the first season but it's like i don't i don't know did we did we really need him to wave and then people made mods which was fine and if you wanted to spend 21 pages of installation to install the mod i mean hey it's your game do what you want but wow did it make the game any better not really not from a playing standpoint maybe visually you might have thought it was worth it that's up to you anyway thank you again steve for writing and got us a compelling discussion we do have one final email another one that also has to do with pinball this is from doug doug writes in and says hi tony and dennis sorry doug this is the voice i've decided to give you you had mentioned the low possibility of Centaur deposits sitting in escrow. Even if that was the case and those deposits were sitting in a CD instead of their accounts payable checking, after that announcement, I would imagine that balance would be drained soon due to the reaction to the press release, leaving Haggis with even less cash. I know if I had a deposit on a Centaur right now, after reading that press release, as transparent as it was, I would be pulling my deposit immediately. My prediction is far-fetched, but it is this. haggis shutters either cgc or pedretti buys the ip buy the ips and any existing parts to build fathom and centaur in a down under liquidation sale and either sell the parts as spares or build the games complete okay well thank you doug for bringing in and for those that aren't familiar on the last episode we talked about the letter that haggis had released regarding recapitalization and a shift in their manufacturing processes because their just-in-time approach has not been uh in time yeah so what do you think of doug's thoughts here tony i mean i think he's right i would be pulling my money but i would but then i'm pretty against the pre-order model anyway so i don't i don't do pre-orders especially of something of that size uh so i wouldn't be in that situation yeah i think it's it's more complicated i believe than than doug's approach is considering and i don't know where doug lives because different nations have different rules on this see these are non-refundable deposits so you can't even if they were in escrow so they're gone gone you you can't pull them back out because you agreed when you put in the deposit that there would be no refund of the deposit now the reason why i mentioned i don't know where Doug lives in some countries, that sort of provision, as I understand it, I am not a lawyer, especially international lawyers. And I think I say on this episode is to be construed as legal advice there with that out of the way. I believe in some countries you cannot you cannot legally enforce a non-refundable deposit provision. I had a discussion with someone, I believe he was in Brazil, who had mentioned that in his country, if you want a refund on something and you haven't been delivered the product, there is no non-refundable. So it may not be the way it is here. And my understanding in the United States is non-refundable means non-refundable. Now, for those, for example, because I am familiar with flipping out pinball because I do the pinball show with Zach, who owns flipping out pinball with his wife. They had promised to do refunds of the deposits if Haggis failed. So in that regard, if you bought through that distributor, my understanding is you can get your deposit back if and only if Haggis actually goes under. Pun not intended.
    20:44
    So it's not a, oh, yeah, this is a refundable deposit in the sense like if you want to change your mind on the non-refundable deposit, you can do some mind changing and get your money back. It was a, hey, if you're unsure about this new company, I get it. If it goes away, I'm going to make you whole. But the deposits are at haggis, like how Doug thinks, because everyone, like if it went through a distributor or you went through haggis directly, they still required the money to start the build. So they, and this is standard, like all these other companies asking for deposits, they're using this deposit money for some purpose. It's generally not sitting in an account. The only instance I knew of where I had a sense of something escrow-like happening was when Dutch Pinball started building Big Lebowski's without the contract manufacturer. I think Cointaker did something like this where they saved the whole amount of the game or something in essentially escrow. It might have literally been escrow. I don't know. Legally, they set it up that way. And then the money was only shipped over, sent over to Dutch when Dutch said, we have the game. It's in the box ready to go because no one trusted Dutch after what happened with ARA and the early adopters.
    21:56
    So I think it's a – I would agree with Doug if they weren't nonrefundable. But since they are nonrefundable, even with protections like flipping out, has told buyers, it's not a, oh, you're scared now. You get your deposit back. No, I mean, Haggis has to basically collapse. They have to be saying it has to be at the point where you are not getting your game, so you get your deposit back. And that's not going to be a refund, as near as I know, from Haggis to Flippin' Out. It's going to be Zach's going to have to take that out of his profit, out of his company. Because he sent the money over to Haggis. They all do. When deposits are due, Stern's the same way. When the distributors need to send in deposits for all those games they're supposed to get, and then they get the balance of the money in when the game is ready to go to the customer. Because I bought a couple of games and it's like, you know, I didn't do the pre-order thing, but at some stage I have to send the full money over and then they, you know, they make their share and Stern gets their balance and however they want to do it. So, but thank you, Doug, for writing. And it was interesting. Regarding his prediction, what'd you think about that?
    23:03
    I, I don't, I don't know about them going under. I can completely see the CGC Pedretti thing. I don't know. I would, it's one of those things I would classify as a very unlikely possibility. And he noted farfetched. So I, I agree with you, Doug, about it being pretty farfetched. I would say, I don't think, I do not think it's at all fathomable pun intended this time that CGC moves in for this old of a game to do as a remake, especially with their build speed. Pedretti, maybe. Maybe Pedretti, but not CTC. But what I would like to see happen, because it could be a twist on this. It doesn't have to be this one way, obviously. But I would like to see Haggis maybe open up discussions with a company like American Pinball, which probably could use some building contracting work because I don't think they're busy enough making Galactic Tank Force. and see about shifting the games that need to be sold to the U.S. over to a U.S. producer. And I think it's just easiest to go ahead and contract manufacture that. And we do have entities here in the States that know how to build. So given that, I think that would maybe help with some of their supply chain stuff. The problem is I just don't think they've got the finances in place to be able to enter into that level of agreement right now. It should have been done before. But it's all speculation. So anyway, thanks again, Doug, for writing in. Quick little note. I'm hearing that more and more Pulp Fictions are getting out into the wild. I actually saw in our Kansas City Pinball Discord group that some people were talking about their experiences playing it. So more and more people are actually getting to lay hands on it, which is great. And our last pinball thing, Tony, is we're going to talk a little bit about The Princess Bride because we knew it was going to be revealed just after our last episode. And it was truly done, as you would expect. So this is the latest first-party title for the P3 and the second licensed game, the first being the Weird Al Museum of Natural Hilarity. And so I do have a link in the show notes to Pinball News. They have, I think, a nice article summarizing the various levels and what's in the game with a lot of photos. So you can go and check that out if you want to really look at it. Quick highlights in terms of the approach. Since this is a P3, this is a modular game. So you have a couple of options. If you already own a P3, you can either get a module standard edition or a module limited edition. Or if you don't have a P3 or one another P3 for some reason, you can get the full system with module as the standard edition, limited edition or collector's edition. There's a limit of 750 on the limited edition and a limit of 500 on the collector's edition. So try and keep it straight, kind of a la JJP, because Jersey Jack used to do this tri-tier approach with two different limited runs, one called Collectors. The price, if you do not own the system, it's $11,500 for a standard, $12,750 for an LE, $13,750 for Collectors. And if you own a P3, you can get the standard edition module as a kit for $3,750 or $5,000 if you want the LE version.
    26:34
    And you have to buy, if you want collector's edition, it has to be the whole system. Yes, because some of the add-ons, like they have decorative cabinet-mounted swords and stuff and special powder coat on the legs where they've decided. I mean, they're doing stuff to the entire machine. Right. So basically the decision was made that they need to – if you want it, they're not going to let you get all the parts and install it yourself. You need to buy a system. What do you think of that choice? It makes sense for what they're doing. I think that – I would not be surprised to see a few P3 people angry about it, but the thing is I don't think overall it's going to matter. Yeah, I think this – given what they wanted to do for CEs, I think this made sense. Do you think they sell out of CEs or LEs? No. I agree. I don't either. This is expensive. If you don't own the system already, this is expensive. I mean, $11,500 for a standard, it's a lot of money. So that's something people are going to have to factor in. The module – so for those not familiar with P3, basically the first – the lower two-thirds is a screen. There's a scoop wall that can come up, and it sort of segregates out where the modules go in, and then the back third-ish of the game is a module. The layout of the module is, I think, fair to say, quite fan-ish. I did watch some of the Buffalo Pinball stream. It looked relatively safe as a shooter. This is not a fan layout in the sense that I believe it uses the upper flippers for some stuff still, so I don't classify it as a true fan layout, but it's still a very familiar approach. I'd say the neatest toy on it is the Cliffs of Insanity on the upper right because the ball, it magnetizes there, and you can make progress, and the ball sort of slowly climbs up the cliff. As you make a shot, it goes a little bit further up. So I think that's pretty neat. That's the main toy, though. I would agree with those that would say it's relatively subdued compared to some of the other toys that we've come to know P3 for, but very thematically appropriate. It is. I think it was a good choice. kind of a assembled plastic castle in the upper left they got a couple of mechanized swords for sword fighting up over in that section and you know you have habit trails and some ramps and I think they got Optus Spinner going on on that module as well so they got some stuff lots and lots of theme integration though not just in terms of the way that back module looks but they've got modes so like I watched part of the battle of wits but they also have the battle of steel and battle of strength as most they got the fire swamp i think it was uh steven silver i believe who i saw indicate that who worked on the game uh that while it doesn't have the entire movie in the game every like major scene that you can remember every quote that anyone ever bothers with from the film it's in the game in some place and from what i've seen of it i agree i think they got all of that in there in fact on the pinball show when we talked about this game I was a little critical of the battle of wits because the clip scenes were they're not those little vignette little snaps like we've seen out of JJP and Stern this was like was watching the entire scene while you were making the shots which I thought was a little non pinball-y but Zach loved it because he's like well I that's what I want I want to see and hear the movie and oh they've got the movie And they put it front and center. It is a nice change from the early Halloween.
    30:13
    Well, that, yeah. I don't know what Spooky was thinking with the PowerPoint flash animation. The animation here looks better than what I've typically associated with P3. Now, that's partly just screen layout, like back glass translate area where they have a screen in the back box. I think that part looks well integrated. It kind of reminds me of something like J.J.P. would do from Hobbit. I've seen others make that comparison. The main playfield screen, I like how they put the rules down by the slings, like in a little book area will pop up. However, they also like to play the movie down there, in addition to being on the back box, and it takes up a lot of space, which I understand why they're doing, because if you take a look at some of the photos of the screen, it basically, it's sort of a page out of Final Resistance, where it's static, but instead of looking like a static playfield, it's like a map this is like a map a backdrop with like rivers and stuff like what but i don't remember a map in the movie like i don't remember that it's just i get it because it looks kind of fantastical it reminds me of something of like king's quest from sierra or something but it so they the solution to not having it feel overly like a phone game down there was to make it really static but it's very generic because of that because they also didn't go with the direction of making it look like with shot progression like you look at the module i love the arrow inserts on the module like the shots are clearly identified very pinball once you get into the screen there's some stuff there's some labeling but a lot of it just feels like this map until you get the pop-ups and the pop-ups do take up most of the screen so most of the time you're going to be seeing the movie like up at the in the middle third like that's a movie that's it's just a framed movie just watching the movie yep yeah that's how it came across to me watching the Buffalo stream.
    32:04
    But anyway, I mean, what are your thoughts? I think this is a great theme for them. I do think it's a good thing. This is a good theme for pinball in general So I agree I know I when the announcement was made I heard a number of people who were very disappointed because it was P3. Oh. I mean, I understand that. Because, I mean, you have to get the platform if you want it. And that's what it is. And most of them were people who've had less than stellar interactions with the P3 platform. So there are people who have played it before. Yes.
    32:45
    But I think overall, it's a great theme for them. It's a great theme for pinball. And hopefully it goes well. I think they're doing a lot of really interesting things with it.
    33:01
    I think it kind of hurts them, in my opinion, to have this kind of theme following so close behind Labyrinth because Labyrinth was just so beautiful. I don't know how it plays, I've not played it but I think Labyrinth is overall the better looking machine yeah, I mean Labyrinth did rely on a lot of 3D sculpts whereas you can see here, it's a lot of flat plastics which is a criticism we've seen come at that's what Stern loves to do on their pros a lot of flat plastics to save money it makes sense so we'll see overall I know I'm just going to assume that this is going to be playable at Texas in two weeks. So, yes, I believe they have indicated there will be a number. There are always a number of P3s at Texas and that not all of them, but a set number of them will be featuring this game. Right. So hopefully we'll have more thoughts on it then. But overall, I mean, I think it's a great theme. I love the movie and we'll see how it actually plays. And I think they've got some interesting ideas on here, like you said, but it'll just be a matter of how does it actually play? Yeah, I think this will do decent for them.
    34:18
    How it plays, it'll be interesting. I think Texas could be a really good opportunity for them to get a lot of attention to it. And if it holds up and plays well, there may be some individuals that'll pull the trigger on it. The price – and this is true for any pinball machine. The price is such a barrier, especially given you cannot – unless you already own a P3, you cannot get into this under five figures. Right.
    34:45
    That's going to be the big question is people are going to look at that and ask whether or not they see five figures worth of value, just like what's happening with Jersey Jack right now. Where people look and say, is there – it's got more than a Stern premium, yes, but does Elton John have $12,000 worth of stuff in it? Right. I think pinball has been slow to realize that what worked in 2020, 2021 does not work now financially. And just because there's been inflation doesn't mean everyone's cool with the inflation going into their toys. Coupled with, I think on the pinball side, they don't know how to like financially how they could survive going down in price. So I think a lot of them are in a bind where it's like we can't really drop prices for a variety of reasons. Maybe not even just survival, but what it would do to past buyers and that sort of thing. Right, but at the same time, sales are obviously going down. Yeah. I mean, I knew opportunities well after a week that you could still get a Jaws LE. So it's not just the more fringe manufacturers like Multimortem. No, it's everybody. It's everyone. And so I just – it's going to be – I mean, $11,500 is – that is some pretty big money. Princess Bride fans might be sorely tempted to do it, but, I mean, it's just – it's so much. It's just so much. If you already have the P3, it's probably a no-brainer for most people then. Like if you're going to just pay the $3,750. But, you know, I mean, those modules have gone up as well over time. So it's – a Stern Pro is about $7,000 now, for example. So it's going to be just a little bit under $4,000 to get just the module. That's a pretty decent difference. So I think for people who own the platform, to me, the answer still seems relatively easy that if you're remotely interested in this, you might as well buy it versus like saving up for a pro. Those that don't, that's the thing is I think they've done some adjustment on the pricing on the platform because I assume the hope is to get more people to adopt the platform. but it's just it's a lot it is and it still comes with the same baggage that P3 always comes with that once you're done playing it you can't just sell the module a lot of people might not think about that though unless they're already independent yeah because I mean when you're done with Jaws you can turn around and sell Jaws when you're done with the Princess Bride you can't turn around and sell just the Princess Bride now for me like if I were If I were in the market for this, I wouldn't really see a good – the idea of doing the limited and the collectors makes sense. And the collectors, they've done a lot of cabinet stuff to really distinguish it. The LE, I'm not – it's like it's the topper, and that's like it. So I know it's not literally the only thing. Like they've got their digital – limited edition digital Translight, and it comes with a standard as well, so you can do that. But other than that, it's just the topper. What I think might have made sense, just a spitballing, would have been kind of like looking over at Labyrinth and going, okay, if you get the standard edition, like you get the flat plastic castle, you get a 3D sculpted castle on the module if you get the LE. Kind of pulling a page out of Stern and being like, okay, what are the toys in the back that we maybe could invest a little bit more in if people are willing to pay another $1,200 or whatever the price differential ends up being? So that's – this is an aside. I don't think they expect – I assume they don't expect to sell out of the LEs either. I think they just wanted to give a middle-tier option for people that maybe liked the alternate art package. The art package is pretty good. So – It is. I could see why people might – maybe they would prefer the LeArt and be like, you know what, at $1,200. Plus, you do get the topper, and given what toppers are costing nowadays, this isn't, like, ridiculous on the range of – Oh, it hurts to say that. It hurts. Yeah, I know, and I still don't really get it, but that's a dentist thing. That's not a normal person thing. So anyway, that's all I have for pinball.
    39:01
    All righty. I guess we'll try and try this in a couple weeks. Yeah, we'll see how it is. and let you know afterwards because that's going to be another one of those recording.
    39:14
    We'll probably record there. Yeah, recording there. I might just pack this stuff up. Well, see, that's what I was actually thinking about that since our new recording setup is so portable as opposed to our old one.
    39:26
    I think I might need to give a preemptive warning, though, that the episode might drop Monday instead of Sunday. That's probably the only thing because I – depending on – well, we probably won't get back super late.
    39:39
    I don't know that I'll actually get it compiled because I do have to work with multiple tracks and stuff. So just FYI for folks, well, it might be a day later than normal because of just travel. Yeah, because we've adjusted our – like when we leave Texas based upon being old men compared to what we used to because we used to always get home around midnight or 1 in the morning. And that's just not tenable It's not worth it for the additional A couple hours of play So we shift our Leave time earlier But alright Video games First off One of the new games I've been playing Balotro It is a roguelike deck building game Where you literally Start off with a thing of 52 cards. It's a normal, uh, poker deck. You build poker hands, you get points based upon your, whatever your hand is and multipliers, uh, that you get for depending upon how difficult it is to get the hand. But then there's other modifiers you can build, uh, get through the game, uh, like jokers and new versions of cards and adjustments that you can get because, again, it's a roguelike, so you just kind of build up and make changes to each playthrough. And the goal is to always just beat a certain score. You have a certain number of hands to beat a certain score. Simple, fun, enjoyable. But what's interesting is actually nothing about that. This game came out, and it went huge because it just released. I mean, I got it immediately after it came out. and it went huge. It sold a lot when it first came out. It was very popular. But after release, it has been removed from several digital stores, primarily console-related worldwide, because one of the rating companies, which has not been said which rating company it is, but one of the rating companies changed its rating from 3-plus to 18-plus due to having prominent gambling imagery and instructions about gambling. And anti-gambling regulations in a lot of countries have gotten really large and are noticeable to the point where a lot of games are affected by them, even if they just have characters playing poker during the gameplay. they will fall under gambling regulations because they show gambling.
    42:27
    So it was just an interesting change that was unexpected because the producers weren't told about it. It just happened. They were rated three plus. They'd been out for almost a month. And then all of a sudden they became 18 plus and got pulled from stores worldwide. So it was just an interesting little change They're expecting to get back into a lot of the stores But not necessarily all of them Just depending upon the regulations Now, the other game I've been playing a bunch of, Pacific Drive We talked about it a little bit at the beginning This game is it has given me one of the biggest scares I've ever had playing a video game ever.
    43:22
    I kind of mentioned it gave me one of those moments on the Discord last week right after it happened. So in this game, there is a section of land that has been like walled off by the government for years and years and years, and you get pulled into it. And it's very spooky things going on and anomalies and weird things happening. And you're trapped in it, and you're trying to get out. And it's one of those games where people can talk to you, but you can't talk back to them because they're like over a radio. So they're kind of trying to guide you and help you find things you need. But there's a lot of, you know, going out and collecting material and refuse and looting stuff, trying to build up your station wagon to make it better and to get the stuff you need to escape. So I'm off on one of these collecting runs and I don't have any. I don't know. It's night. It's dark. So I'm walking around with a road flare to light my way because I don't have a flashlight because I haven't researched how to make flashlights yet. I haven't found any flash. Yeah, you don't want to know how. So I've got a road flare, and I've been exploring. I'm a ways from my car, and I'm sitting in some little one-room storage building, and I'm going to go start cutting some stuff up, but I need my hands free. So I turn around, and I toss the road flare behind me so I've got light while I start cutting all this stuff free. And as soon as I toss the road flare, I get an achievement. He goes, bloop, anomaly distracted by light source.
    45:04
    And I'm like, what anomaly? And I'm like searching. I mean, this is literally a one-room shed. I'm looking around everywhere. It's like there is nothing here. I don't see anything. What anomaly was distracted by my – I mean, I am freaking out.
    45:22
    So I grab the stuff real quick, light a new road flare just because the other one is starting to go out. And I walk out the door of the building. The building is completely surrounded by mannequins that were not there when I came in. There is a ring of mannequins surrounding the building. And I'd seen a mannequin earlier. Yeah, but just one. Just one. And it was a long way away. Yeah. And I like, we've got like, you've got this thing so you can scan anomalies. And it's like, oh, it's a traveler. And they're just appearing random places and nobody knows why they're there. And there's this weird comment about what happens if you touch one. So it doesn't tell you what happens. It's just like, have you seen? Oh, yeah, I've seen. So I assume I don't want to touch them. The building is surrounded by them. I'm looking around. They are everywhere, like a ring of them. And I have to pick my way through around them. And I start running back to the car. And as I'm running back to the car, I see another single mannequin out on the road, not too far from the car. So I'm like, okay, no big deal. I'm running, running, running, running back to the car.
    46:28
    Drop my road flare. To keep everything lit up, I unload everything into the back of the station wagon. And then I turn around.
    46:39
    That mannequin is five freaking feet away from me staring straight at me. Because the torch had gone out while I was doing it. So it's just like right there. And it's like, okay, if there's no light and I'm not looking at these things, these things move. So I have a new flare going, and I'm like spinning around. All of the mannequins that were around the building are like 40 feet away between the building and me, almost to me in the car. So I realize what my problem is. So I drop the road flare. I jump into the car, and I start the car, and I start to drive. And I'm like, screw this mannequin. I'm going to run him over. They explode.
    47:19
    I hit it, and it exploded. My car went flying. and then I ran away from this giant line of mannequins chasing behind. Everywhere on that map, I would turn around. I would be tracking through a yard, and there'd be a mannequin that's just from the waist up, half hidden in the grass that I almost ran into. Everywhere I turned around, there were mannequins everywhere. I wouldn't see them. I'd run into a building. I'd come out, and there'd be five mannequins out. They were everywhere. Oh, man, I was just freaking. Every time I turned around, there was a mannequin. Oh, I'm working on tearing apart an old car to get parts to fix my car. And I turn around, there's a mannequin. There was nobody around me just like five minutes ago. Now there's a mannequin right next to the car.
    48:08
    Scared the bejesus out of me. Having a good time, though. That's good. Okay, I did not actually enjoy. I was glad when I got out of that. Yeah, right, right, right. The next section I went into had no mannequins It had other anomalies that were annoying but not as terrifying Okay there was one that has a magnet thing and it will grab your car and it will just tow you And it towed me off the road and through the woods, and it was slamming me from tree to tree to tree in the car. I could do nothing about it for a while. And then I had to drive back out. I don't have off-road tires on the car. so it was not great. My car was very beat up by the time I got done with that one. So your car survived the explosion?
    48:56
    Yes. Yes. No, your car survived the explosion. There's some implication that your car might be an anomaly itself but I don't know. I'm not far enough in the game to really know that yet.
    49:12
    Not to have it confirmed that it's something special. I was waiting for you to say that. drive through it and the mannequin was in the passenger seat with you.
    49:23
    I mean, every time I turned around and looked behind me to back up, I always expected to see one sitting in the back seat. But, yeah. No, it's freaked me out. So, other than that, that's really, those video games, those two games are the ones I've been playing almost continuously since last time we talked. otherwise in video games. No surprise for what's been happening in the last several months. Layoffs continue.
    49:55
    Sony laid off 900. That's 8% of their total workforce. They completely closed their London studio, including the game that they were working on.
    50:06
    And there's an unknown number. They have confirmed that they have shuttered many projects. They won't say how many projects, But several projects have been completely ended. The layoffs include Insomniac and Guerrilla Games. Both have had major layoffs within them. Guerrilla Games is who did the Horizon Forbidden West.
    50:30
    Yeah, the hide-in-the-tall-grass specialists. Yes. The EA also laid off another 670. their streamlining operations, sunsetting a bunch of games, and moving away from development of future licensed IP that they do not think will be successful in changing the industry, whatever that means. But what that does mean is they canceled Respawn's first-person Star Wars game,
    50:57
    which means EA has canceled so many Star Wars games. It's bad. I mean That's why a lot of people have been like Once the 10 year deal was up Is EA going to get to continue And a lot of people are like they better not Because they don't do half or maybe even over half Of what they said they were going to They keep announcing games and half producing them And then cancelling them They also Are winding down Ridgeline Games is making the single player Battlefield game that's being moved to Criterion So Lost Battlefield 24-2 was so bad. I was mad I bought it. It was so bad. It's one of those where it's like, I have regrets. I tried. They changed the game so much, and they made so many mistakes with it. Anyway, I don't want to whine about it.
    51:48
    It's almost like when you start going that far in the future with those games, it starts to become a problem. Because Call of Duty had the same issue when they went with their very future one. It wasn't so much like the tech stuff. Anyway, now I am whining about it. It was more they made a big shift to these operators. They looked over at Rainbow Six Siege and were like, let's do this thing instead of what Battlefield was known for. And it got overly complicated because of that. And you were really limited in your loadout choices because they were split amongst all these operator types. And then the map sizes. They were so, you know, talking back to Sharky Ball, could versus should. They made these huge worlds. And then it's like, but the vehicles weren't working the same way in terms of where and how they spawned. So there were plenty of instances where I would have to spawn somewhere and I would be like running for three or four minutes to get back to the combat because I didn't have a vehicle. And then I get headshot from a sniper before I'm even in a fight. And it's like getting headshot from a sniper was common in Battlefield, but I wouldn't have to. If you weren't in a vehicle, it wasn't a big problem to go and engage and do something fun. And there was an awful lot of, let's just be by myself out in the grass.
    53:06
    Anyway, so it was stuff like that. CIG, the Star Citizen developers. Final release? No. Oh, gosh, no. No, they're doing a large number of layoffs. Really? They have infinite money, though. Basically, they've raised over half a billion dollars. But their layoffs aren't – they're not officially doing layoffs. I don't understand. They are playing the game.
    53:36
    They had announced that they are doing a full return to office. But when they announced the full return to office, one of the things they did was they decided to relocate and co-locate teams from where they were originally to new areas or to new places. which would have required a lot of their people to move. Okay. And then thus, that's not a layoff because those people chose not to uproot their entire lives to move to be able to continue this job. So they didn't lay those people off. They just could no longer work here. Yeah. Okay. I get it. Yeah. Clever. so there have been a lot of complaints coming out from people who have been who have been caught by this uh for the simple fact they are saying it's a toxic work environment and that people were calling this out as what was going to happen and and the the upper management was like no that's not what's going to happen and then that's 100 what happened i mean i'm and i am in no way going to dispute the toxicity of the environment, but what work? Well, yeah. Because they ain't ever getting anything done. Hey, this isn't like pre-alpha, alpha, alpha. I mean, I understand why they're angry, but hey, silver linings. Maybe they could work on a game that the public will actually get to play. I mean, because they're getting to the point where some of their game designers are going to start dying of old age before the games actually come out. A lot of times you see the little list of production babies. There's going to be production deaths on this one. Probably both. And production grandbabies who will also be working on the game.
    55:30
    Rockstar, speaking of return to office. Grand Theft Hype. Grand Theft Hype, indeed. They went ahead and ordered a full return to work for GTA 6 developers. They all have to return to the office for security and productivity reasons. Security, stuff leaking. I'm thinking that's what it has to do is because they've had so many high-profile leaks that they're wanting to pull stuff back and keep them on internal servers. And productivity equals Star Citizen-ing. Right. They're not working hard enough. Yeah, because that's the ongoing thing.
    56:15
    Nintendo not doing layoffs. Mario hype. But instead they're suing, which they're also very good at. It's true. They're suing the creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu, and they claim that more than a million copies of Tears of the Kingdom were pirated. I wouldn't be surprised at either stat I wouldn't be surprised I'm not surprised at them suing Yuzu because it's what they do and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a million copies pirated that does feel a bit high but apparently Yuzu had access to Tears of the Kingdom and they had it on their emulator a week before the launch date that would explain a lot of it because who doesn't want to play the demo early right so So they're claiming the game was unlawfully distributed a week and a half before its official release, and they're seeking damages and for the emulator to be shut down.
    57:16
    So, yeah, that's... Well, you know, with Nintendo, it's more about them always telling you Nintendo don't. Yeah, they are very much, I mean, they are not... I can understand them in this specific case. I can understand, especially an emulator for your modern machine. I have less sympathy for companies going against emulators for machines that they haven't supported in 40 years than I do for them. I mean, I understand why they have to. I just have less sympathy for it. Yeah, that's fine. Than people going for like this right here. But Nintendo has been very big into, because remember, there's a point in time where you couldn't even stream yourself playing a Nintendo game because they would come after streamers.
    58:05
    So they still very much have that going on. Toys for Bob is leaving Activision Blizzard after the buyout. They're the studio behind Crash Bandicoot 4, Skylanders, the Spyro remasters. so they're becoming an independent company again though they are putting together a deal to continue to work with microsoft but they're pulling away to become an independent company i mean i i think i've played a crash game i i played spyro okay yeah i am yeah they're my i mean And if they've got enough known IP, it's niche, but they might be OK. They might feel OK not having the support of the same level of support of being like fully beholden to Microsoft. So my assumption is that they don't fit very well into Microsoft's ecosystem. And they probably had concerns about their team being reassigned or laid off is what my guess would be. So they are taking the opportunity provided them to exit and maintain their own individuality.
    59:25
    And the last thing, because I didn't have a whole lot for this week either. Pal World. Pokemon wannabe hype. Pokemon wannabe that hasn't been sued yet, somehow.
    59:37
    Partedly, they did a lot of checking before they came out. All of their ducks in a row. All of their ducks armed with guns. Yes, like modders have been sued.
    59:51
    Sure, because they're putting Pokemon in it. Right. Because modder going to mod. Right, but the actual company itself did the work right that they're not crossed that line. They're probably dancing on the edge of that cliff right there, but they're still on the edge. But they exceeded 25 million players in the first month. 10 million of them I'm sorry 15 million of them were on Steam 10 million of them were on Microsoft I have it written wrong in the notes 10 million of them were from Microsoft but they don't know how many of those from Microsoft were people who got it from Game Pass and how many people who paid directly for it but 15 million of their 25 million users were from Steam so uh they currently have a major cheating problem from what i've heard that they're working on uh but that's pretty impressive and they're also doing a collaboration with microsoft um a giveaway collaboration for a customized xbox series s and four controllers where the Series S is going to have the box art of the game on it, and then the controllers are each going to be individually themed around one of the pals.
    61:19
    What's your favorite pal? No, no, I've never touched it. I think mine is Science Bass. He turns into Jerry Yost and uses a Gatling gun. Dennis, my favorite pal is you. You're my favorite pal. But when he's in his science bass form, his only attack is squirt.
    61:45
    Yeah, squirt. That's what it is. It's ineffective. Excuse me. It is not effective. There. That way you're not suable. We should make our own. We could call it like buddy planet. I mean to be fair I bet you a power we could probably talk to power or make a power world pinball machine yeah but which pal would have to eat the ball I don't know see the thing is I think there should be a giant ball that eats the ball because you can make stuff be cannibalistic do you think that multimorphic made a mistake not having an R.O.U.S. eat the ball in the module I think they made a mistake not having Andre the Giant eat the ball in the module.
    62:38
    I am the Brute Squad. It would be funny if they could. It's too bad that he passed away because it would be funny to get him to do the call-outs. It would be like, I am the Dread Pie.
    62:50
    It just gets even more mumbly. When the ball is in his mouth, he has to mumble even more. All of his dialogue was redubbed with mumble mode because they have those long scenes.
    63:03
    Since it's going to be mumbly, does that mean that when we eventually get to a point where we get a Nirvana music pin, that Kurt Cobain's head will swallow the ball and all the lyrics will go mumbly? Honestly, if Multimorphic did it, they probably have the rights to do the Weird Al version, and it could just start playing that version whenever the ball is in Cobain's mouth. But it is kind of interesting that there's not been a Nirvana pin. I suppose it's still a little too modern maybe.
    63:33
    Maybe, but there's Foo Fighters now. Yeah, that's where I pause a little bit. So – But – I mean – I don't know. It could be because the rights and everything are weird with Nirvana. Yeah, that's – licensing is always a mess. Always a mess. But you know what isn't a mess? the end of our episodes. And you can reach out to us at eclecticgamerspodcast.gmail.com. If you have any comments, we are also accessible at facebook.com slash eclectic gamers podcast, though we do prefer messaging not be sent through there. It's easier for us. You do it through email. And if you want to support the show for as little as a dollar a month, which reminds me, I need to get the March babies first up. It is created guys. I just haven't uploaded it yet, but I do have a March babies first ready to go. You can support us at patreon.com slash eclectic underscore gamers. we're available on twitch and instagram as a collective underscore gamers as well and uh our next episode will be the tpf episode so until then my name is dennis i'm tony goodbye see ya