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Episode 156 - Games Games Games

Eclectic Gamers Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 20m·analyzed·Dec 12, 2021
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.031

TL;DR

Pinball quality debate + James Bond/Pierce Brosnan rumor; industry criticism of Activision QA layoffs.

Summary

Eclectic Gamers discusses recent pinball community sentiment about game quality, arguing that while Stern has improved consistency, there are still notable misses like Halloween and Rob Zombie. The hosts also share an exclusive rumor about Stern's James Bond pinball potentially featuring Pierce Brosnan as voice talent and covering multiple Bond eras. The episode pivots to video game industry news, primarily covering Activision Blizzard's problematic QA restructuring at Raven Software.

Key Claims

  • WWE is the most recent major layout miss from Stern in the LCD era

    high confidence · Dennis and Tony agree WWE was the last real Stern layout failure, with Tony stating 'WWE was the last really big stern miss in the layout sense'

  • Stern has become the dominant force in pinball with improved code consistency and experienced tournament players working on design

    high confidence · Tony credits Tim Sexton, Raymond Davidson, and Stern's design teams for stepping up quality; notes they haven't had major layout misses aside from WWE

  • Halloween pinball is disliked by competitive players and is considered a layout miss

    medium confidence · Tony: 'Most of the high-end competitive players I have known have universally hated this game. They have all sold it or want to sell it'

  • Rob Zombie pinball is ranked 162 on Pinside Top 100 despite being considered a poor game

    high confidence · Dennis looks up the ranking and confirms Rob Zombie is 162, questions accuracy given surrounding games like F-14 Tomcat (159) and Terminator 3 (161)

  • Pierce Brosnan is rumored to be in talks with Stern to do James Bond pinball call-outs

    medium confidence · Dennis presents as exclusive rumor: 'My freshest rumor indicates that Stern is in talks with Pierce Brosnan to do the call-outs for it'

Notable Quotes

  • “Pinball has become really good now... there aren't really any quote unquote misses anymore. That all pinball is winning pinball.”

    Dennis @ ~23:00 — Sets up discussion topic about whether perception of universal game quality is accurate

  • “You've got newbies, these pleads... Your smart move was you took nothing older than D&D. I took Firepower and I took Dr. Do. And those things are too old for these newbies”

    Dennis @ ~8:00 — Self-reflective analysis of why older games don't resonate in community voting

  • “Most of the high-end competitive players I have known have universally hated this game. They have all sold it or want to sell it and are afraid of just taking too big of a bath in the market.”

    Tony @ ~32:00 — Key evidence for Halloween being a genuine market miss despite strong sales

  • “My freshest rumor indicates that Stern is in talks with Pierce Brosnan to do the call-outs for it.”

    Dennis @ ~54:00 — Exclusive James Bond/Pierce Brosnan rumor presented to listeners

  • “If we were in the era of Goldeneye, having him do call-outs... makes total sense. We're just now wrapped up with the Daniel Craig Bond. So now, having Pierce, we could be talking about the whole series.”

    Dennis @ ~55:30 — Reasoning for why Pierce Brosnan casting would indicate multi-era Bond theme coverage

Entities

DennispersonTonypersonStern PinballcompanyTim SextonpersonRaymond DavidsonpersonGeorge GomezpersonGodzillagameHalloweengame

Signals

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Stern's dominance in market and consistent quality creates perception of universal game quality, masking actual misses at other manufacturers

    high · Tony: 'Because Stern has gotten their consistency so much better and they're such a dominating force of the market. That's where this perception comes from'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Halloween pinball criticized for layout choices; competitive players universally dislike it and are attempting to sell despite market depreciation concerns

    high · Tony: 'Most of the high-end competitive players I have known have universally hated this game. They have all sold it or want to sell it and are afraid of just taking too big of a bath in the market'

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Modern pinball art/visual design has universally improved as differentiator, allowing weaker gameplay to still achieve collector appeal and sales

    high · Dennis: 'One area where we've seen pretty much universal improvement is the art and that's probably helped it... Even some games that miss in other ways, visually... they want them'

  • $

    market_signal: Despite poor gameplay reception, Halloween remains visually appealing and commands sales; indicates art package can drive demand independent of mechanical quality

    high · Dennis notes 'Even some games that miss in other ways, visually I totally understand why when people see them, they want them in the collection... Rob Zombie... Horrid game, terrible game... Looks amazing'

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Stern's code quality improvements linked to hiring tournament-experienced designers (Tim Sexton, Raymond Davidson) into code positions

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.243

0:00
Welcome to the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. Today is Saturday, December 11th. This is episode 156. I'm Tony. I'm Dennis. What? This is a day too soon. It is a day too soon I have family stuff going tomorrow That would have pushed our record time to like In the evening And I'd probably be asleep by then Yeah, you're very tired lately So tired I've literally fallen asleep on the couch multiple times After work in the last couple weeks That doesn't sound like you've been getting a lot of gaming done then Not a lot I successfully finished my Battletech My modded Battletech campaign last weekend, and that's about all I've heard of it. I played a little Space Marine, too.
1:07
There'll be some timely reference to that later on. Yeah, I didn't play Space Marine 2, I played Space Marine as well. Right, yeah. T-O-O-2. Yeah. Well, I can't say, other than I've not fallen asleep on the couch. In fact, I don't remember the last time I had fallen asleep on the couch, but I've not been accomplishing very much. I had a, you know, as you know, I had a medical procedure come up, so I couldn't go to the 403 Club tournament because they required me to COVID test before the procedure. And then they were like, OK, between now and the procedure, you have to self quarantine because we don't want you to get COVID in the meantime. So I was like, OK, so I'll honor that. So I couldn't go and play pinball like I planned on Saturday because that was like rapid. They were like on Thursday. They're like, we want to do this on Monday.
1:52
I'd planned on going and then I took a nap and then I woke up on the couch. On the couch. Okay, good. As long as it's on the couch, that makes it okay. And then I woke up from the nap, and I was like, oh, it's like 30-some-odd minutes up there, and it's like 4.10. I hope Will and Mary Kay didn't message you being like, where are you? No. I got no messages. No one cared about me. I said, it was on my list. I was going to. I was like, yeah, I think I'm going to do that, but I'm going to take a little nap because I'm kind of sleepy today. And then I woke up, and it was like 4 o'clock. I was like, yeah, no, not going to make that. So I haven't been doing a ton of gaming the last couple of weeks, especially the last week. A little bit. I've done a few, like, four to six runs on Hades. I'll do, like, one or two a night on some nights. And then a little bit of Battlefield 2042. I think I did one night of Halo. Have you learned to fly a jet yet? No. I already can fly. I have evidence on Facebook.com, so they'll ask you to click their gamers podcast. Just only watch the first five seconds of the video.
Rob Zombie
game
WWEgame
James Bondgame
Pierce Brosnanperson
Judi Denchperson
Jurassic Parkgame
Deadpoolgame
Ghostbustersgame
Led Zeppelingame
Raven Softwarecompany
Activision Blizzardcompany
collectivegamers.comorganization

high · Tony: 'Stern has stepped up its game... brought in a lot of people that are Tournament experienced who work on code at this point Like Tim Sexton, Raymond Davidson'

  • ?

    product_concern: Pinside Top 100 rankings unreliable due to recency bias and potential voter manipulation (selling inventory)

    medium · Dennis questions Rob Zombie's 162 ranking; notes 'how many people voted Rob Zombie because they bought it... You want it to look good'

  • ?

    rumor_hype: James Bond pinball in development with potential Pierce Brosnan voice talent; would indicate multi-era Bond theme coverage

    medium · Dennis presents exclusive rumor: 'My freshest rumor indicates that Stern is in talks with Pierce Brosnan to do the call-outs for it... multiple films because there's no logical reason'

  • ~

    sentiment_shift: Perception that 'all pinball is winning pinball' masks continued existence of poor-quality releases; community overrates new games due to hype and FOMO

    high · Dennis: 'There are all these modes, and they all feel the same' regarding JJP games; notes that market hotness masks actual quality misses

    • 2:54
    And that's all you need to know. Now, if you'd actually crashed and killed a bunch of guys, you could have been sent totally on purpose. You know, that was back when I was still playing against PC people, so they were cheating and probably shot me down. I just didn't realize it. It was very unfair, which is the way Battlefield is.
    3:11
    So, now that's it for intro, so I think we can go ahead. We're going to actually have quite a bit of video game stuff. I'm so sorry. So I'm going to keep the – well, it's not all bad, because the Game Awards. Right. It's going to give us some, I think, some fun fodder. I think it'll be fun. Yeah. Actually, I'll ask about it. Well, no, I'll ask now even though we're going to the pinball. Did you watch the Game Awards when it was on? Not when it was on. Okay. Also, not after it was on. I watched all the major reveals because I don't actually care about the Game Awards.
    3:42
    It's so funny to me at this point because I don't know if I've seen it every year. I think so. And I watched it live three hours. Well, it ran about ten minutes long, which wasn't as bad as it sometimes is. Right. they have de-emphasized the awards so much. It's like Jeff Keighley goes out there and in a few instances would run through multiple awards in under 60 seconds, and then it's all – it's really just – it's like our new E3. It is. It's just a bunch of trailers. Which is fun. It's actually the part I like. It's the only thing I care about. That's why I'm watching, too. I think it's funny because – and this has come up a little bit in pinball, like with the planning. I've been working on the planning for the Pinball Industry Awards again, and sometimes there have been comparisons to our desire to do things like the Game Awards has been a concept, and it's an okay concept, except I don't see how you do it in pinball because you'd have to get all these manufacturers to be willing to reveal new stuff at your show, and we don't have that. No one has that pool in pinball. The shows can't even, Expo can't even do that. You get a first look of Cactus Canyon, which we already had announced before that. That's the best they could do. The biggest, most prestigious show of all time. There's no way an awards show in pinball has the strength to actually pull the power it would take. The unlimited power.
    5:06
    I don't have that power. It's because pinball is still such a small group with such a limited number of releases that they don't want to share the limelight or the space with anybody else. Well, and so the thing is that the awards just need to celebrate the awards, and you just have to accept it's not going to be this event. Because, as you noted, the irony of calling it the Game Awards is most of the people there don't care at all about the awards. We're just wanting to watch trailers. That's what we want to see new stuff. And we're going to get into that because there was some pretty exciting new stuff. There was some really exciting stuff. So let's do pinball where there's not exciting stuff. There's so much exciting stuff at pinball. There is for the first thing. So congratulations to Tony, who annihilated me. Yeah, I jammed it in and broke it off. Yes, it's still in there. It hurts. It's wrong. But I personally would like to thank Godzilla.
    6:05
    That's my angry Godzilla roar. You know, I don't know if it was that, but it may have been. Obviously, we alternate on the selections for a reason, because otherwise I wanted Godzilla. I also wanted Demolition Man. Doesn't matter. That's not how it works. So Tony won with 76% of the vote.
    6:27
    And for a reminder, his bill to bank was Stern Godzilla, Getaway, Demolition Man, and World Poker Tour. And mine was Jurassic Park by Stern, BSD, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Firepower, and Dr. Do.
    6:44
    I was thinking about this. after the last episode, and after I saw the opening of the poll, I think I know what your mistake was. What was my mistake? I think it was Jurassic Park. That was my Godzilla roar, but pretend it was a raptor. I think... I think they go... Sorry.
    7:06
    Go on. I think it was too close of a title to Godzilla, where Godzilla is so obviously... I think if you'd gone something slightly older or something slightly different in the top ten, maybe not another L1, it would have worked out a little better for you. Maybe? Maybe. I'm not sold that that's right. Well, I hadn't thought about... I had not thought about that.
    7:35
    My theory is different. Because I also looked... Because I got... Early on, I was just like, oh, yeah, no. Yeah, yeah. After the first two days, it was... I knew after the first two hours when I saw the initial. My percentage did. And incidentally, I was a little surprised. This is not the biggest margin ever. I did one time win, what, 80%. Right. And I don't remember what bank. These are all, and I actually already have updated our collectivegamers.com. We do have a page of Build-A-Bank results, so people can go and look at all the past ones. And this one's already in there. I put that up, actually, before we started recording yesterday. So, two things. One would be, it's possible, though I'm not sure, that Godzilla alone, maybe. Maybe. In which case, there would be nothing I could do. So, let's set that aside, because I'm not sure that's the case. Right. Well, I didn't see that thing. I don't think it was just Godzilla. I think it was a good, solid bank. Your bank was very good. In fact, all of the games you named, I would enjoy owning them. Yes. In fact, I think they're all on my wish list. and I probably made a blunder. I mean, there were a couple of blunders I could think I made. I agree with my BSD pick over getaway still.
    8:47
    Here's where I think I made a mistake. I have forgotten my audience. Tony, I'm going to blame the people. I'm going to blame the voters. That's what I did. Blame the voters. Well, they're the ones who made the choice. I didn't vote. So here's what happened. I come from a world, Tony, and that, remember a world. I come from a world of real pinball people that appreciate the history of pinball. Your smart move was you took nothing older than D&D. I took Firepower and I took Dr. Do. And those things are too old for these newbies, these pleads, and they're... I would have taken Firepower. It was on my short list. Well, you took Demoman, and I would have taken Demoman over Firepower. Yeah. And here it is. So here we are. You've got, I mean, plus you had the Stallone. I mean, someone commented that the reason alone to support you. So they voted for you for Demoman. And that sort of stuff happens. But I'm just like, nope, System 11, numeric games. What was I thinking? That's not what these people just buy new in box $20 billion games now. They don't want old stuff. They don't actually play. They don't care about the cast. That was my mistake. I didn't pander. I should have full on pandered. I should have pandered. And that's on me. Because I used to. I used to pander with the best of you. That used to be your number one criticism of my Build-A-Base. Dennis, you were just picking stuff that the lowest common denominator is going to support. You're like, these aren't games you would buy. This is paint-by-numbers winning. I'm like, no, I love these games. I love them. I love these games. But I actually really liked your bank. Your bank's not. Your bank, the only thing. I like my bank, but I would. I mean, if I was like, Dennis, would you rather own the bank you picked or would you rather own the bank Tony picked? I would rather own the bank you picked. I would have had to have voted for you if I had voted. That's the sad irony of the whole thing. That is the sad irony. It was a really good bank. But I'm going to blame the people not liking older games. And I've learned my lesson. If at all possible, LCD. And if I can't do that, DMD. And if I can't do that, give up.
    10:55
    That's what I've learned here. And we're not playing Build-A-Bank today. We've got too much gaming stuff. So what are you going to do when we do an EM Build-A-Bank again?
    11:05
    I'm going to have to get the ones that are moddable I don't know People won't vote in the EM ones The tourney people will vote and go Why didn't you pick Doodlebug? Everyone says Doodlebug is the Doodlebug You got Doodlebug I like Doodlebug Everyone likes Doodlebug It's so It's like It's just I respect that choice a little bit more than Oh, what's your favorite EM? Oh, Grand Prix oh way to put no thought in spinners wow it is but now I don't want to like it though because everyone's like that's the one thing they recently oh so now you're hipster Dennis oh I don't like this because other people like this don't you dare call me hipster Dennis other people like this so I don't like this I'm too good for Grand Prix never mind that it is such a I mean it's not it's just spinners Any game can be a spinner. It's a symmetrical spinner layout game. It's like, don't pretend. Next thing you're going to do is you're going to tell me that you're a fan of Cinegrade. Half the thing's not even a machine.
    12:12
    It's just there. Why do I buy it? I liked Pinball before it was popular. It's just so burned out now. I did, though.
    12:24
    Gosh darn it, I did. I was there before it was cool. all y'all came in and ruined it. Ruined it. Now the games are too expensive. Damn it, now I need to find an artist to do your picture with a man bun. No, don't talk about that. I'm a samurai. He's got the man bun. I'm a samurai. This is horrible. We're moving on. I liked pinball before it was cool.
    12:53
    You leave me and my skinny jeans alone. Okay. We need to go get you an earring and a tattoo. We need to get you, it looks like a pinball machine, but it's all done in just the tribal designs. So it doesn't look like it recognizes, it's just like a tribal pinball machine on your arm. You don't think I should get like a kanji character that just says air?
    13:18
    I can say it's a reference to air. Airball. No, we need to get the kanji version that just says tilt.
    13:27
    Okay. All right. There isn't really any pinball news, as you can probably tell. So, and we've got a lot of video game stuff, so I'm going to spend a lot of time. I did want to have something with some substance. So I tried to come up with a discussion topic, and I think I have one. It won't take us very long, but it was something that I've been seeing a lot lately in discussions about pinball. And I somewhat agree with it, in a way, is there's been a refrain that, you know, pinball has become really good now. Like the quality of the games, the quality of the rules, quality of the layouts has stepped up more than a notch at this point to such a degree that there aren't really any quote unquote misses anymore. That all pinball is winning pinball. That's why it's all selling out. That's why when people give reviews, they all give a bunch of B pluses, you know, and that's like it's just everything is above. It's weird because it's way like the average is increased, but we treat it all as above average. Is that really true, though? what are your thoughts? I think the stuff that's big and it's popular now, it's popular because it's new I agree, I agree that drives a lot of it and theme has been driving a lot of it too there are good quality games there are totally good quality games there are good themes, there's also crap games and some of them are still incredibly popular and it's because they're the current new hotness, it's one of the reasons I have issues with like the top 100 lists.
    14:57
    And it's not just like in pinball. It's top 100 movies, top 100 video games. If they don't include a weighting system that basically reduces the impact of votes for something that just came out, I consider it less realistic because so much of it is the right now, oh, this is the new hotness, this is the hype thing. So I don't think that I don't think it's a problem that there's That pinball has become Really good I think that there's a pretty much no matter What it is is seen as Great Even when it's not Yeah that's an interesting theory I think it definitely has a play in it I'm going to go a little more simplistic I guess In how I think this view is I think the main thing is That Stern has stepped up its game And is the largest They're coming out with better developed code They brought in a lot of people that are Tournament experienced who work on code at this point Like Tim Sexton, Raymond Davidson Adding that voice And then of course their design teams They haven't had a big layout miss So the biggest layout miss That they had in recent memory was WWE I would say Nothing else in my mind The biggest criticism of a game like Led Zeppelin Is it's so barren But not that the layout itself is garbage Can you think of a more recent Like Those can't Because it's a podcast You can't see Tony's face is such that He's thinking there is I'm thinking there is That there is a clunker There's More recent But he's not sure what it was I'm not I'm trying to I mean Guardians layout was good I liked Guardians layout It started with bad code But once it had the code Yeah It got there The You know I don't care for the layout Of Led Zeppelin But mostly just because I feel like there's nothing to do except fan out. But Deadpool is a great layout. You know, I think it was really well respected what Gomez did with that design.
    17:03
    You know, Ghostbusters had some criticism of the flipper gap, but it was a very popular game. Yeah, for me, WWE was the last really big stern miss in the layout sense. and rules wise I can't remember the last game that, I mean even WWE ended up as I understand, I didn't play it with this latest code but it even ended up with decent rules so I think the code in the end once you get to 1.0 has even been more consistent than the layouts were but WWE was the, I can't think of any LCD era game where the layout was like, oh my gosh you know, there are little things like there were issues with the Demogorgon toys initially. Right. And again, we can cite things like that. There are issues with the Premium LE Turtles games and the gliders. I've seen multiple people saying they've had to either reattach or try and spot weld their glider back together. So there's still points of failure, but it is a physical game.
    18:06
    So looking at it, I think you're right. I think WWE is the newest because the ones that I was thinking of predate WWE. And so here to kind of finish up that thought is because Stern has gotten their consistency so much better and they're such a dominating force of the market. That's where this perception comes from. Now, let's set them aside and remember, like the mafia game from Team Pinball, which people looked at and were like, at least at the price point, there was like zero interest. Right. it. Cosmic Carnival, that company folded their pinball side of their division because that game was, as I understand, an abomination in terms of operation. Plus, the layout didn't make a ton of sense. We know that Thunderbirds has gotten a lot of criticism for some of its layout choices. Some people are supportive of it, but other people are judgmental. Some people are supportive of everything. Sure, and there are also a lot of people that will jump on it and have not done, haven't really played Thunderbirds and they just say because they've heard it too. So I want to factor that in. And very, very recently, Halloween.
    19:10
    I mean, I know some diehards who are diamond-handing that, either over theme or they're not. This is a little judgmental, but we're a podcast. They're not real players. Most of the high-end competitive players I have known have universally hated this game. They have all sold it or want to sell it and are afraid of just taking too big of a bath in the market. That's a miss. We don't see that happen with Godzilla No We didn't see that happen with Aerosmith But we see that happen with this game That means there's something up with the layout In my view, having not played it So I'm not saying, maybe it would appeal to me From the video of it I don't think so So I think there are still misses That are going on I think Spooky's had several misses In their Lineup I think JJP's had several It's sort of a Yeah, and for me it's mostly In particular layout But you know it depends I mean that one of the criticisms some people have with JJP and the rules and some of the games feel like it all multiball city Now obviously that a big GNR complaint but I know some people said the same about Hobbit. Like, they like the layout, but it's just like multiball into multiball into multiball. There are all these modes, and they all feel the same.
    20:31
    And we've seen that. Again, it depends what you want from code. That was a complaint from Star Trek code, too, is it's all chase the blinky lights. but you know relatively respected layout i think it's steve's best but so anyway yeah so there i so my my take on that is it seems like i do think the quality overall has improved from say a decade ago in terms of rules layout overall game but there still are misses i'd say one area where we've seen pretty much universal improvement is the art and that's probably helped it that has helped. I agree with that. Halloween looks good. Cosmic Carnival looked great. So even some games that miss in other ways, visually I totally understand why when people see them, they want them in the collection. There are plenty of games out there that are subpar players but look so good.
    21:28
    I've heard pretty good things about the gameplay of Lebowski, but problems with the company aside, great art package. Aliens, even the new Pinball Brothers Alien A lot of complaints about them going down all the time Looks great though Rob Zombie Looks amazing Horrid game, terrible game So that's what I think it is I think some of the quality things have stepped up But there are still misses But the market's so hot right now It's really hard to see it initially Unless you do like the Mafia thing You just go way on the extreme Most of the stuff is instantly selling out Mostly. Not always. I mean, they're still making Beatles, because I guess there's finally more demand, and they didn't finish the runoff initially.
    22:10
    And that's a fun game. Or is this too much? Yeah, I think it was just too much for what it was. I mean, I enjoyed the game. Just out of curiosity, I looked it up. Rob Zombie is 162 on Pensize rankings. That seems very generous. That was my... I mean, it literally... I mean, let's look at it. I never played the latest code on it. I think I played the prior to final code, but it was not, in my opinion, it was not fun. Let's just go with a few games on either side of it. 159, Tie, F-14 Tomcat into Star Trek Data East from 91.
    22:46
    161, Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines. Oh, I put that way higher than that. 162, Breakshot and Rob Zombie.
    22:53
    164, Frontier. 165, Phantom of the Opera. 166, Gorgon Every single one of those games Is better than Rob Zombie I'd say most of them are I don't have enough time on Star Trek Data East to say on it Because I've only played it like three times And I don't think I've played Phantom But I have played the rest There's no way, I mean honestly I think Frontier That's my cricket sound Being any higher than like the 131-40 range is kind of wrong. It's a really good game. It's such a good game. But again, part of it is we look at it from a competitive lens. Right. And part of it is that it only has 60 ratings as opposed to Rob Zombie's 140 ratings. Yeah, but how many people voted Rob Zombie because they bought it? And this is where the suspicions come in on the pin-side ratings. Bought it and then voted up because they needed to try and move it. And that could be. You want it to look good. You know, that's one thing. I have never gone into the Pinside's Top 100 and rated a single game. I have. It's been a long time since I've done so. But I used to go, and actually I have a few under my user handle. I have a few fairly detailed reviews. I tried to write up, like, detailed reviews of them. So I think I've only ever, I don't know if I've done any that I didn't own. But I've done several games that I've owned and tried to provide some, I hoped, quality feedback. But, yeah, that's interesting. Okay, well, that was it for the discussion topic. So before we move on, I only have one more thing. Our very popular rumor corner. Rumor corner.
    24:32
    I'm dancing. Yeah, they don't see it, but he is. They can't see it, but I'm dancing. That's right. It's the new Britney. Does she dance? I don't know. We leave her alone now. We leave Britney alone now. Finally. She's allowed to decide if she can buy makeup at Target or not. Yes.
    24:50
    A ride I've had forever. So, okay, there's been a lot of discussion in the realm of rumors. There's been a lot of discussion lately that just recently, at least what I heard recently, coming up about that Stern's next game, not Rush, but the game after Rush, because Rush is expected to be announced any day now. I keep hearing December. I'm not counting that as we're in rumor corner, but that's not the big rumor I'm giving people, that the game after that is Venom, comic book-themed Venom, not based off the Sony movies. Okay I'm like Yeah Well It probably will do fine It's a pretty popular character I It's Yeah It's a super popular character It'll sell off of art And But that's not the rumor I'm mentioning here either That's been We want I'm trying to I can't always do it But I'm trying to give people The juiciest Rumors The from the chicky nuggy tree, because I'm pretty sure that those are vegan, and they grow via tree. So, here's the thing, here's the rumor, that I think is the juicy one, that's an exclusive for EGP to offer up to our listeners. There is a rumor circulating that James Bond for Stern. Now, that's not new either. That's not a new rumor. The rumor is, not only is it still in the works, supposedly, and also supposedly 2022. So maybe after Venom, maybe after the Kapow, and then be the December cornerstone. Who knows? I don't know. Again, it's a rumor. Could very well not be true. Here's the juicy part of James Bond, though. My freshest rumor indicates that Stern is in talks with Pierce Brosnan to do the call-outs for it.
    26:37
    I would be very okay with that. I think a lot of people will. So, and the reason why I think that's exciting Especially for people that Really want a James Bond pinball machine Is one, actually getting An actor who played James Bond Is huge, it's so rare that we actually Get a, we get Excited when some side character does the Game of Thrones call out or Who's the biggest call out I mean, getting the actual comic Or video game voice actor to do Deadpool was a pretty big deal For Stern, you know, they got They didn't get Chris Pine to do Star Trek It was cool that they got McCoy to do Star Trek Carl Urban It's usually like a side Supporting character Like John Rhys-Davies doing Lord of the Rings And on some of these other ones Cooper or whoever doing it I don't watch Stranger Things The Sheriff did the Stranger Things I'm pretty sure he's not the star I know he's some people's favorite I know but that's just like well we'll touch on the video games with The Expanse one of my favorite characters is getting a video game but she's not seen as the main character so I think the more well that's exciting because people love that I think what is more telling is if Pierce is doing the call outs I think this indicates that the Bond pinball machine covers multiple films because there's no logical reason the last James Bond game was Goldeneye. Okay, yeah. If we were in the era of Goldeneye, having him do call-outs and it be about Goldeneye makes total sense. We're just now wrapped up with the Daniel Craig Bond, though. So now, having Pierce, we could be talking about the whole series. It's certainly got to be multi-generational, if this rumor is true, because why else go back to Pierce? If you want to do all the Craig Bonds, you'd want Craig. Or you get some side character, most likely. So, anyway. Just a rumor. I don't. I really like it. It'd be really nice. I think it would be awesome.
    28:48
    But if they were to get a side character instead of Pierce Brosnan, I can think of one that I would very much almost prefer to having a Bond that would let you go across multiple James Bonds. Judi Dench? Judi Dench. Probably too hard to get. Oh, I know. Pierce Brosnan's going to be way cheaper to get than Judy Dench. I think so. I haven't heard any Judy Dench rumors. But that's a good point because she played M for Pierce and for Daniel. Yeah. So, yeah, that would be pretty cool. But anyway, so that's Rumor Corner. Are you not rumor-tained? I'm rumor-tained.
    29:27
    Throwback. There you go, Chris. All right, Tony. Video games. Surely this time. We had fun. No. We had fun. No, surely this time there's nothing in the realm of Activision that we have to talk about. Yeah, you couldn't even say that with a straight face. Aw.
    29:48
    Oh, Activision Blizzard. I actually can't read my initial notes because this is a child-friendly. Yeah, your initial notes. Tony's probably seeing. I've had my pen in my hand for a while now because I thought, oh, dear. The censorship beep is going to have to get deployed. Yeah, no, I can't. extensively. Oh, yeah. It's bad. It's so bad.
    30:15
    I'm just hitting a few of the... This has been a really bad couple of weeks in the video game stuff overall. I'm basically just going to hit some of the Activision Blizzard because it's what we've been covering. I consider it the current biggest ongoing thing. We'll see what comes out of it. Then we'll talk about happy stuff. Okay. So, first, Raven Software, one of the Call of Duty developers, part of Activision, for a long time, since like the 90s, I think, is when they got picked up by Activision. I think you may be right, though. They're much more recent to working on Call of Duty. They weren't doing Call of Duty originally, but I mean, they're a long-time Activision studio. But they've just become one of the trio of Call of Duty people. has apparently been telling their quality assurance team that there were raises coming. And they were right. They are giving raises. But they're also laying off like a third of the team. Oh. To give the others a raise, though. Oh. And they're bringing them on full time. It's great. Oh. Some of them are going to be absorbed by Activision, and Raven's going to be hiring some of them permanently. According to the initial reports from the first week, about 30% of the QA staff is being let go. That's a lot. And, I mean, it's a lot. In the grand scheme of things, the numbers aren't like when they released, you know, 1,000 people after having their greatest year ever in 2019, 2020, when they did that. Right, right. But it's still, yeah. No, for a small team, we're dumping a third of them.
    31:58
    But at least the ones that stay on will be rich, right? They're going to be rich, right, Tony? Those that are remaining are receiving raises. You said, yes. That take them from $17 an hour to $18.50 an hour. Oh. I mean, okay, here's the thing. What's the thing, Tony?
    32:23
    We hire people straight out of high school with zero experience for $20 an hour. You can go get a job for $20 an hour driving a forklift or throwing packages at an Amazon warehouse. And that's about $41,500 a month. Right.
    32:46
    So for these people, with the kind of crunch time that they go under, where they're sometimes spending months of 60 and 80 hour weeks and being treated like crap for what amounts to nothing. Yeah. I mean, they worked 20, 80 hours a year, standard 40-hour week. That would be about $38,500. Yeah. According to my calc. So I'm just, when I saw the numbers floating around, I was kind of shocked. You know, we can't, I mean, even at $20 an hour, we used to start people, When I started, it was $15 an hour. Right. But that was years ago. And we had to increase it because you couldn't hire anybody at that. Even at $20 an hour, most of the applicants we put in for, we get a bunch of people that say no because they won't work for less than $25 an hour.
    33:46
    That's been happening a lot lately. So it's just a matter of I just cannot believe that all of this And the kind of crunch time and overtime And stuff they're working for For that little of money So even though they showed great You know they had their best third quarter They had a better third quarter than 2020 This year They're still going through this Doing layoffs The QA testers and some of the other developers At Raven have started staging a walkout and a strike. Hmm. I know there have been a number of walkouts lately at Activision. Yeah. Various elements of it. Right. And so this is another ongoing one, which leads into the fact that there is an Indiegogo out there now raising money to help pay these people that are on strike, since they're obviously not getting paid since they're not working. Right. And they're not in a union. But there's also what was a quiet behind-the-scenes push for unionization has come to the forefront with it being actively talked about both internally and in public now about putting together a union support by the Communications Workers of America union, tying them in. And it's gotten to be big enough that Activision Blizzard has gone out and they've done the obvious thing for a major company that finds out that large numbers of their people are talking about unionizing. It's time to start union busting. So this week, they released, you know, an email to the entire workforce. that's a flat-out union-busting email that they put out. Because, you know, Bobby Kotick is working on filling in his evil bingo card. He's got to just tick all the boxes. He's got to be getting close to this. I mean, threatening to kill employees, ignoring sexual harassment. I wonder if he wrote this email and then had this other employee send it out. I've wondered because that's what it turned out that other one was. I'm going to read this email real quick. It's long. I apologize, but I just can't bring myself not to put this out. It's the text of the email is as follows. Everyone. Such a great opening. Just everyone. Yeah, I went to all of them. Everyone. At Activision Blizzard, we are working hard to create a more inclusive, supportive, and rewarding environment. And thanks to your input, we are making progress. In the past few months, we've announced that we are converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees at Activision Publishing Studios, and we have increased wages for a large portion of temporary workers and added paid time off benefits. We introduced a zero-tolerance harassment policy and waived required arbitration of sexual harassment and discrimination claims. We have made significant commitments to increase gender diversity and are dedicating $250 million to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent across the industry. We have more to do, and we believe that direct dialogue between management and employees is essential to the success of Activision Blizzard. As you may have seen yesterday, there was a communication supported by the Communication Workers of America that asked employees to sign and submit union authorization cards. I want to be clear about this, and this is in bold in the email. The leadership of Activision Blizzard supports your right under the National Labor Relations Act to make your own decision about whether or not to join a union.
    37:29
    So we totally say this is your right. I added that last little part. They clearly want to make clear that they're not trying to say they want to be a, they don't want to break the law. They don't want to break the law.
    37:42
    The email continues. As you make this decision for your future, we ask only that you take time to consider the consequences of your signature on the binding legal document presented to you by the CWA.
    37:55
    Once you sign that document, you will have signed over to CWA the exclusive right to represent you for the purpose of collective bargaining concern concerning all terms and conditions of employment.
    38:06
    That means that your ability to negotiate all of your own working conditions will be turned over to the CWA, just as the document says. Achieving our workplace culture aspirations will best occur through active, transparent dialogue between leaders and employees that we can act upon quickly. That is the better path than simply signing an electronic form offered to you by a CWA or awaiting the outcome of a legally mandated and regulated bargaining process sometime in the future. If we fail to achieve the workplace goals that we have set forth, if we fail to do the things we've committed to doing, then of course you will still always have the right to engage with and vote for CWA. But we are confident that we will make the progress we've previously pledged to make and create a workplace for you that we all can be proud of. As always, we welcome outreach with concerns or ideas to help make improvements. And there are multiple avenues internally for dialogue, both direct and anonymous.
    39:02
    Yay. So it's totally like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we said we'd do things, and even though there's no visible movement on any of the things we said we'd do and all these stories keep coming out about all these bad things,
    39:16
    don't look after your own rights. Just trust us. Trust Bobby. I always enjoy the strategy, which they, you know, there are a few different strategies I've seen, and I'm not unionized. I've never been in a union. but I always enjoy seeing the strategies that corporate takes that try to dissuade employees that it's a mistake. Oh, yeah. There are usually a couple of big angles I see. One of them is trying to tell them that, oh, well, you're going to lose all this money paying dues. That's one strategy. They've gone with the other strategy, which is, oh, but your ability to self-negotiate is going to go away. For most people who are employees, they are terrible at self-negotiation. Yeah. I'm not good at self-negotiation. I think I've only ever flat out asked for a raise in my life twice. Once when I was an hourly worker at a bank when I was in high school, and only because I found out someone else was making more than me. And back then they told me I wasn't supposed to know that, which is also about it. Which is also illegal. And then at my old job at one point when I did some checking around and saw that I was making below market and I went and I said I want more money because it wasn happening without me doing it But most people they are not negotiators That's not what their jobs are. And so this notion that somehow they're going to get a worse deal with the union collectively bargaining is, quite frankly, regardless of your position on unions, I feel laughable. The collective strength of it always gives the better position. Always. So it's just how it works. Which, like currently, Activision's the collective. They have the advantage.
    40:57
    Right, because when they're dealing directly with a single person and negotiating with a single person, they can find reasons to get rid of that single person, and then they don't have to worry about it. They've always got the bigger hammer. They can always do whatever they want.
    41:12
    When you're negotiating against everybody, it's a level playing field. and the ability for a union which is what part of the dues are for to say hey if you don't agree to our terms we're going to strike and we have funds to pay people so they can survive through the strike what would you do you couldn't even strike if you could try it probably won't work you wouldn't get enough people unified for it because the only people that can strike are those that have the savings to do it hence the indiegogos and such this is the only other way you'd need outside support you can only last it's like a siege on a castle your supplies determine how long you can weather that siege at your castle.
    41:54
    And that's one of the whole things. Not the best looking email to send out. As if that wasn't enough a female Activision Blizzard employee held a press conference with her lawyer earlier this week describing some of the sexual harassment at the company.
    42:18
    She describes groping and requests for sex from her supervisors, frequent comments about her body. And when she went to management with the complaints, she was told, don't go to HR.
    42:29
    And nothing illegal has actually been done here. Okay. Huh. So, which is the same kind of thing we've been hearing. Right. That's from the start of the initial suit. But this is from an actual, this is more than just the suit. This is an actual person stepping forward with the claims.
    42:55
    She claims after reporting the harassment to the company, she was demoted, denied profit sharing and stock opportunities, and received minimal raises in her four years there after filing the complaints. She has demanded an extension An expansion to the Activision Blizzard settlement With the federal government Which created, we spoke about the $18 million Plus fund To $100 million And has also requested that victim advocates Be included in the organization And distribution process Yeah You know what I mean Disbursement process, thank you She has also called for an apology From the company to victims and she's called for a neutral third party to be brought in to assess career damages caused by the company's practices with those damages to be properly compensated. Hmm. So it's just another bit of the ongoing saga that is building up. Yeah. And it just continues to paint a terrible, terrible picture of Activision Blizzard. And it's not in the notes here because I saw it this morning after I wrote my notes, but I never punched it in. There has been a call from the SOC investment group. They advise union pension funds has asked Coca-Cola to not renominate Bobby Kotick to its board.
    44:22
    Oh, is he on their governing board? He's on their governing board as well. So in a letter to their board on Thursday, the SOC said Kotick bears primary responsibility for the longstanding frat boy corporate culture at Activision. But basically, yeah, they don't want him to continue to be part of Coca-Cola's board. I think it's something that would be very realistically possible for him to be pulled from the Coca-Cola board. He's been a director for Coca-Cola since 2012.
    44:51
    Well, if they need someone, I'm available to serve on the Coca-Cola board. I drink a lot of Coke Zero. Don't tell them I'm drinking the Dr. Pepper right now. Yeah, we won't. I'm drinking Coke. That's true. You could be on the board. I could be on the board. I would accept more money. Yes. I think they do pay their board members I would hope so Most non-profits don't All my boards I've ever worked with are full And it's like But Coca-Cola is not a non-profit So I would hope they pay their board I'm sure they do So we did receive an email Updating Me and Dennis About the press conference With a link to the press conference when it first happened From Chris But later in the interview or later in the interview, later in the email, he included some questions that I rather felt were kind of important. I think we should probably talk about it real quick. And I'm just going to read that little portion of the email.
    45:47
    Serious question. Does Activision Blizzard's cesspool culture make you want to swear off their products, or do you abhor their horribleness but still buy their wares anyway?
    45:57
    And I'm really struggling with supporting them going forward, given that they don't seem to take all of this as a teaching moment in improving. Do I need to throw out all of Blizzard on what might be a few bad apples? Will taking my dollars elsewhere actually make them drive change? So, I think taking your dollars elsewhere will always drive change.
    46:18
    But I also think it's a decision that everybody has to make for themselves, how they feel on things. But this is just me being cynical.
    46:27
    I don't think enough people care to take enough money away from Activision Blizzard. to make it matter.
    46:36
    Logistically, I think you're correct. So, I mean, that pragmatism needs to be, you know, that's part of the factor. My statement would be I would not feel guilty playing Blizzard games if you enjoy them. And to me, it kind of goes back to pinball and John Trudeau. It's like, these are teams. Do you punish an entire group over the bad apple scenario that Chris laid out? And for some people, they have to. Right. I knew people who had, they sold their creatures and their Trudeau games because they're like, he was the main designer. I don't, I just can't own it anymore. And I get that. I totally understand. And for me, like, I haven't been playing Blizzard games lately, but it's not because of this.
    47:22
    Will I not buy Blizzard games in the future because of what's going on? Maybe, but currently I'm not committing to that. Yeah. Because in my mind, the people that work there, it's like a catch-22. It's like, if you don't, do we just want Activision to fail and go away? Is that the goal? Because if so, then don't bop. If the goal is reform, I'm not sure that we can really have much of a say on it. In part because there's no organized boycott that I'm aware of. To seriously put a big deal. Right. What I think in this case, specific to Activision Blizzard, is there are legal issues regarding the harassment that have come up. That is what's going to affect the change. It is. Those lawsuits, the governmental interventions, that's where the change will come from. And their stock price has already suffered. That can help put pressure as well. But given the nature of the board and everything else and their support for Bobby, Like, if your goal is to get rid of Bobby, I don't think we ultimately will get – we can't put a thumb on the scale enough to do it. Their games are too popular for most people. And again, going back to pinball, there are plenty of people who have done some pretty negative things in the hobby, and they get a pass because people in the end want their game also that are still involved. And so as long as humans are always willing to look past stuff because they want to play, it is what it is. And I can't say I'm above it. Oh, I know I'm not. There are plenty of game studios that have probably done some bad things that I don't even know about, and I still play their games. I just don't know. And part of that's on me because I don't research it. But, yeah, it's an interesting thing, and it's come across – I've thought about it, too. And it's like, when there's a special event, should I play Overwatch to let them know I still care and I want an Overwatch 2? Because I do, and I want to enjoy this world and what they've tried to do and all the good things that came out of it. But on the flip side, it's like, you guys are moving your change really slow here. And I feel like I should be kicking you in the seat of your pants to help get you to go along. But I don't feel like I have any strength to do it. Right. So, yeah, it's a struggle. It's just an individual decision that people Like I don't judge people one way or the other on it Yeah it's completely You can buy and say you're still supporting The good people that work there You can not buy and say you're punishing the company Because they're not making effective change And you're right in both instances And that's the weird reality that we live in Yeah and that's kind of where it is Because there's Outside the video game industry I mean there are authors And actors and actresses And musicians that are bad people. I won't say they're bad people. I disagree with their personal beliefs and stances on certain things. And some of them, especially on social media, have said stuff that I consider to be very horrendous. At the same time, I still enjoy their music. Some of them have still written book series that I consider some of my favorite book series of all time. Some of them are still in movies that I love. And I have a hard time ignoring that because of that person's steaming pile of garbage. Right. It's one of the, they call it separating the art from the artist. Right. And I think people usually are on a scale about, like, when can they no longer do that and when can they do that? Right. Because I think it depends on a lot of various factors. So, yeah, that's a really good point. One of the things I guess I would suggest to Chris and others, though, if you feel, you can do the meme of why not both? You buy a game and then kick in money into the Indiegogo to support the striking employees and say, you know what? I really want to play this. I think it shows that I still care, but I'm going to put money where my mouth is. And that's one of my, I'm not going to get on my big soapbox, but here's to me the least helpful thing, and I don't mean it's not harmful, but is the old, and a lot of people do it now. I used to call it plastic patriotism back during the Gulf War when you'd see people that put on the little yellow ribbon stickers on their bums and stuff. I remember that. And that acted like it was some big... It was nothing. You basically paid nothing and you're just doing this. It's just a show you care. I think they call it virtue. It's putting that little filter over your Facebook profile picture that says, I stand with whatever. Sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. And we see that now It's usually on social media. People will make the tweet or the post, the Facebook message going, there needs to be no sexual harassment.
    52:11
    I agree with you, but your statement does nothing. You've done nothing. You contributed nothing. You've not actually advanced the conversation, in fact. You didn't hurt anything, but you didn't help anything, in my view. You didn't help anything either. You want to help something? Give some money to some victim groups. That's all. Yeah. I'm not saying you need to go out and protest and hold up a sign in front of Activision Blizzard, but you can put your money where your mouth is if you want change. Honestly, in my view, that's the biggest thing you can do is you have means, put money to it. If you don't have means, do in kind. And otherwise, you can be supportive and not take any of those steps.
    52:49
    I've known people that have bogged themselves down in almost like this guilt that they're not doing enough. There are so many good causes in the world. You cannot service them all No Literally in emotional pain Over this Tearing their hair out This came up with a streamer I know When Twitch was doing the boycott And someone had criticized They didn't do any streaming on the boycott day But someone had criticized them For announcing a stream The day of the boycott they announced That in a couple days they were doing a stream And that got criticized and the person was second guessing themselves and they're like was that wrong? was I too callous? and my kind of flippant and unrelated response was well you know I could have looked and said when you promoted all that about the boycott because you did, you promoted taking part in the boycott, I could have just as easily come in and said why did you spend that time fighting global warming? and I did right, you didn't do anything to help the environment during that entire period. And if you had done that, I'd get you on something else. Because there's always something. There's always something. Don't bury yourself so deep into trying to right all the world's wrongs. You are, not to be negative, you are incapable of solving all the world's problems as an individual. And in fact, you are incapable of even involving yourself in all of those causes. There's not enough time. And if you gave it all up, you would burn yourself out and you would hate your life. Because you would have, sort of like, one of the things is, Sometimes I've had people ask, like, why do I not weigh in more on pinball controversies? I think we kind of do quite a bit, honestly, on the podcast. I always thought we did pretty good on it. But, you know, like on the social media, I've had that. Right. Like, why don't you say it more publicly? And it's like, it's a hobby for me. And at the end of the day, you take too much fun out of it. I'm not going to do it anymore. Right. I, we both actually do public service as our careers. Yes. You know what? I think, to be selfish, I think we give enough already. I think we do enough for the people. So I need some me time So in all of this Evaluate all that, you feel strongly There are things you can do to help And just consider doing that And you can still buy stuff, would be my answer Yeah, and that's the thing And I consider it, yeah, my job Is entirely about the environment My job is 100% About the environment, that's my entire career Is about the environment And So when like When I do donate money I don't donate it to environmental causes for the most part because I'm doing my part for the environment in my mind I'm doing my part so I donate my money to other causes that I feel are important that I don't directly affect already on a day to day basis you just you have to pick your battles and I think that's the important part is pick the battles do what's important to you shouldn't feel guilty about playing games that you enjoy just because they came from Activision Blizzard or some other company that's terrible. Now, if you feel bad, I mean, you shouldn't feel guilty because you enjoy the games. If you feel guilty and you don't want to play the games because of it, that is perfectly okay. Vote with your wallet. That is perfectly okay. But at no point should you be like, I'm really having fun with this, but I shouldn't be having fun with this. Don't hate yourself for enjoying a good game. Don't do that. All you'll do is make yourself miserable and you won't affect any change. Yeah.
    56:30
    Now that we've solved the world's problems, we're really good. I think you'll definitely be on the Coke world. I think so. After that, I think we'll definitely be on the Coke world. Both of us will be on the Coke world together. First thing I'm doing is getting rid of the polar bear commercials. Those are vicious animals and they shouldn't be made adorable. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to push on bringing back the cinnamon Coke they had for one Christmas year, and it was amazing. I never tried it. I never had it again. Never tried it. It was amazing. Maybe it's good that I don't know the true joy. I'm sad. I look for it every Christmas now, and it's never there because it died. Okay, let's talk about happy video game things. Okay, well, now we can go on and talk about happier things.
    57:11
    Happy. The big thing to talk about, like we alluded to at the beginning of the episode, is the 2021 Video Game Awards.
    57:20
    Video Game Awards are not necessarily happy and fun. I'm not a big fan, and I've not watched them in years. They could get through the awards in ten minutes, and most of that is actually the acceptance speeches. Yeah. They go that quick. That's good. That means it's gotten a lot better, because I just never cared before. The only thing I care about are the reveals, because it's all about the reveals. So, let's talk about some of the reviews. I don't know that I have all of them in here. I'll name any that you didn't list that I want to talk about. I've already looked through it. You've got almost all of the ones I wanted to touch on. Okay. Well, that's good. So, I'm going to open with my second favorite out of the whole thing. Homeworld 3. And when it came up, I actually said, that's a Tony game if I remember. Very much a Tony game. It looks somewhat familiar to me, but I don't think I ever played it. Yes. I've played Homeworld. I played the Homeworld DLC. I played Homeworld 2.
    58:16
    I've played Homeworld with lots of heavy modding. I love the Homeworld games. Homeworld 3 looks amazing. The game footage, it looks like Homeworld. I'm excited for it. It's a game that, since its initial announcement, I've been looking forward to. So having actual gameplay footage just helps because you watch it and it's just like, that's Homeworld. And that makes me happy. Yay.
    58:44
    Also, there was a release from Quantic Dreams. They're the developers of Detroit Become Human and Heavy Rain. I've not played Heavy Rain. I did play Detroit Become Human. It was a very interesting game. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Considering I was of the opinion That it was just a Show off the PS Oh, you saw it like a tech demo? Yeah, I considered it a tech demo Which it was very much a tech demo But it was an enjoyable tech demo In my opinion It was just a cinematic trailer But they put out a cinematic trailer for Star Wars Eclipse Now part of my concern with this Is I've seen plenty of really good cinematic trailers For Star Wars games And this did look great It looked great No gameplay because it's just a cinematic trailer But High Republic period That puts it a couple hundred years before The prequel games or prequel movies Is the typically considered The High Republic I think for their current They're releasing books and comic books now In what they call the High Republic And I think it's at 200 years before The prequel movies So that's where their current High Republic settings are.
    60:02
    But the Cinematic Trailer is awesome. Yeah, no. And we saw like two other Star Wars trailers as well, and this was easily the most impressive. Oh yeah, this was the one that's why, this is the one I wanted to bring up. This is the one that I would like. As you've noted, we've seen so many great looking Star Wars things get cancelled. Yeah. But this is the one I'm hopeful for.
    60:23
    Sonic Frontiers? It's an open world Sonic game. Yeah, no, it was like, okay, someone was taking notes during Breath of the Wild and was like, we got it. And actually I wondered and did Mario Odyssey because it always seems like Sonic always chasing Mario Right right And that the thing that got me was when they started I like well I not a big fan of Sonic so it doesn really matter to me And then they started showing the stuff and I like this is Breath of the Wild Did they just mod Breath of the Wild and put Sonic in it? Why?
    60:54
    Just wait for him to ride a horse at the end of Fight Robotnik. And for them to get crazy power-ups. That's right. and spend his whole time throwing stuff in the campfire to cook his feed food.
    61:08
    So, I mean, it looked like Breath of the Wild. It looked like Breath of the Wild. Probably not a game I'm going to want. I wouldn't get it. I'm not a huge Sonic person. But some people are. I'm actually more excited about the Sonic 2 movie trailer than the game. I've not seen the first one. I heard it was actually really good for a video game movie. I think you'd like it. I've just not had a chance to watch it. There's a lot of scenery chewing in it.
    61:33
    I don't think a movie like that could work without the scenery. And I did like the voice actor for the, for the Sonic movie character who did come out and, and he's part of his little spiel he was doing to the audience did say, Oh, and thank you guys for like writing into us about the teeth and stuff. Cause I think we made some good, I think those were good changes. You had some good ideas. Cause it's like, I don't know. Just the fact that he looks like Sonic helps it so much versus whatever that, whatever that original thing was that looked like they were doing, It was like an early tech Where they just had to do the half done thing Why did they give him the chattery teeth though Yeah It was weird Another one that I was very excited for Not because of what it is but because of what it uses Yes Because we didn't see much We didn't see much It was just basically the super teaser teaser trailer For Wonder Woman But the thing is it was done by Monolith Productions Who did Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War Very good games. I've really enjoyed them. Part of it is, yes, I am a Lord of the Rings fanboy. We all know this.
    62:40
    Chop off my man, buddy. I'm back. I'm back, baby. But the game mechanics of it in and of itself are really interesting. Yes. And I loved the Nemesis system. And they have said Wonder Woman will have the Nemesis system. I've been surprised. The Nemesis system, to me, was so innovative, I'm surprised we haven't seen anything other than those two Mordor games. Yeah, and I've never understood that. It is such, it gives you so much buy-in. When you're in the middle of a fight, and this character that you know you kill shows up, scarred as heck, missing an arm, and pissed off, and way stronger than he was, comes after you. is a whole other level because you never know what guy you killed will come back. And I've had guys pop up in the Nemesis system where I was sure I had that guy killed like three times. And he just comes back and is like wearing a mask and half his face gone and an arm missing. And he shows up with like 70 guys. And it's just insane. And it's such an innovative and interesting thing that the fact that it's not used more. There's a lot of single player games I've played Where I think the use of the Nemesis system Would make them even better Than they already are And though While I love the system Much like Lord of the Rings and the Mordor games Wonder Woman is my favorite DC character So this resonates as well So this is going to be a buy Yeah I can understand I will wait to see how it is Because I'm not a huge DC person And even in DC I'm not a huge Wonder Woman person I was always more of a Green Lantern person.
    64:27
    Hey, there's a movie you should see. I've seen it. Okay. I've seen it. I seem to recall seeing it in theaters with you. Oh, that's true.
    64:39
    I hope maybe your memory wasn't quite that good. I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but I can remember that. But what about Second Wonder Woman breakfast? Soul. Yes.
    64:50
    Oh. So sad. Alan Wake. Who was announced? This is the game I'm most excited for. I'm not surprised. I'm just calling it E3. Of the Game Awards.
    65:04
    Alan Wake was a game. I got it. I loved that it was a survival horror look. And when I got it, I was really nervous that I was going to find the flashlight thing. Because you have to shine your flashlight to weaken the guys so you could actually kill them. I thought I was going to find it too gimmicky and stupid and frustrating. And actually, I really liked the whole game. It had weird humor in it. It had the survival horror stuff. The flashlight mechanic was really well integrated. And I, like many people, aside from some arcade stuff, like Xbox 360 Arcade had some spinoff things, was convinced that we would never get another Alan Wake. Right. Well, see, Alan Wake is one of those games that I slept on until after you talked so highly about it. Then I picked it up and I played it when I got it on a Steam sale. And I agree with you. That game was way more fun than it had any right to be.
    65:55
    I enjoyed it a lot more than I ever thought I would. I'm not a huge survival horror type guy. I know you're like a big Resident Evil person. I'm not a huge Resident Evil. The new ones. I know. Right. I'm not a huge. I like survival. Yeah. I'm not huge. I don't hate it. It doesn't bother me. Survival horrors don't necessarily resonate with me. Fear is the only emotion I know anymore.
    66:17
    Fear is all that I have left. It's the only way I can feel. sometimes I just stab my hand just to feel something. To feel something.
    66:28
    Just to have a little feeling. So, yeah. So, anyway. Yeah. This was a nice surprise. It was a very... I think it blindsided a lot of people. Definitely me. I had not heard any rumors about it or anything. It was completely out of left field to me.
    66:44
    We got the first trailer for the Halo live action TV show. I still have no idea if it's going to be good or not. Who knows? If they're going to cowboy bebop this and kill it after a season They might Probably not It is on Paramount Plus So they'll put terrible stuff together And just roll with it for four or five seasons Because they've got nothing else They have to have something other than Star Trek To get people to buy into Paramount Plus Because nothing else is worthwhile Not that the Star Trek show is worthwhile But We'll see I'm hoping that they polish up some of the effects a little better. The suits looked a little rough to me. But overall, it's a TV series with a budget that you have to expect. We'll see. I'm not a huge Halo lore person, so I'm not deeply invested in this one. But knowing how big Halo is with so many people, this has a chance to be massive. Yeah.
    67:44
    We already kind of talked about it. We got the trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie. Knuckles looked awesome The scene they showed with Knuckles My only disappointment was Knuckles didn't say I'm here to cancel the Sonicpocalypse Because Idris Elba's voicing him I just That's like his best line from one of his movies I just wanted it Yeah no I think it would be funny Idris Elba is honestly One of my favorite actors Out there right now And he's starting to be In a lot of stuff Which is good, because I think he's really good. Actually, I went back and saw his work on The Wire, which is the earliest work of his I've seen. Yeah. Which is really impressive. I liked him on, oh, what was that British show? Oh, yeah, Luther. That's really good. That was a really good show. Very atypical police style show. Very much. That was the first place that I really saw him, because I was watching a bunch of British, different British shows on Netflix at one time, and that came up as one of them. When I watched it. And that's where he first really popped onto my radar. I think I watched that after I watched The Wire. Because I said, oh, wait, he's got this British show. Yeah. And it was on Amazon Prime for a while. So I was able to see all of it. Yeah. Yeah, that's good, too. That's a really good show. I really enjoyed that. Anyway. No, Idris is awesome. So I'm sure Knuckles is awesome by default. Just by default. Yep. They're putting out a 4X Dune game. Again, blindsided by this. Though, in a way, it makes sense. It makes total sense. The old Dune RTS was seen as a pioneer of the genre. It was. It was very much. And I remember playing it. It was a good game.
    69:19
    Dune and Dune 2. And I think I remember Dune 2. And then there was Dune 2000, which we don't really like. Right, we don't like that. But they were. They were pioneers. Stuff that became common, especially with Command & Conquer and the Warcraft games. A lot of that stuff started in Dune. A lot of the RTS tropes you know today Come from Dune So them moving With the political level of Dune and everything Them moving it into a 4X type game Makes total sense We'll see how it goes I'm really Interested in it It is from some of the stuff I've seen and from reading online Since some of the Symbology and stuff They think it's the Dune license But not the movie license. I mean, I'm okay with that. Which is fine. I think that's absolutely fine. There's no problem with that. And again, it's mostly controlling units. Right, so it doesn't matter. It's not an FPS. You don't need to look at Lola's face.
    70:22
    And then another thing that came out to me was also out of left field for me. Dramatic Labs, who I'd never heard of before, but they're apparently a new studio made up of a bunch of old Telltale people, are making a Star Trek game. And when I saw this, I said, oh, wow, I really would like to play a Star Trek game. Yeah. Because the only one I've really known about is that VR one. Right. There's the VR one. There's been a couple others in the last, like, 20-ish years, Star Trek games, but almost all of them have been either RTSs. Right. That's all I could think of. Right. Or there was one, Dark Frontiers. It was an FPS, so it was all combat heavy. And this seems kind of more like a throwback to some of the old, like the Star Trek 25th Anniversary Edition back in the mid-90s, where it was more, you know, you're exploring stuff and, you know, studying civilizations, and it's less about the just straight combat all the time. Yeah, this seemed to really be emphasizing your, like, leadership decisions in the X-Guns. Which, again, being ex-telltale would make sense. Makes total sense. They're very decision tree style game. So, yeah, I'm really interested for that one.
    71:41
    And then the most important one to me. Fascists get ready. For the fascists to get ready, yeah. They announced Space Marine 2. And we were just recently talking about Space Marine. Like last episode. because we all played it on 360 and you've been, you've got it again for PC I've got it again for PC because it was on sale on Steam's autumn sale it was on sale, like really cheap, the anniversary edition that comes with everything I mean cheap for what it is because it is way overpriced, the anniversary edition is like 50 bucks but on sale they brought it down to like 20 but still it's just a really good game it is my favorite 40k game yeah I played like an RTS 40K game and I played that. And it was just, you got all the cool, you know, space marine combat sets and stuff. Right. And it had a story to it that even as someone who doesn't know 40K, I was able to follow. Right. And very much in the vein of the things we've seen with the new Doom games, it had, oh, you need health. You do executions to get health. so it very much has some of the things that have become really popular with the new Doom games in it wrapped in the 40k lore and it's just yeah I'm super excited it looked really good and I am looking forward to seeing it I'll probably want to play that one just because I enjoyed the first one so much so those were what you highlighted in the notes so I said I only had a couple other ones I was going to throw out. So one was and I mentioned it a little bit before. Telltale, which has also been revived itself as a studio, has an Expanse game coming out where you play as, what's her name? Bobby?
    73:30
    No, it's the boomer, the belter lady. Oh, yeah. Yeah, her. She actually was in the audience and came up and spoke about, she didn't do her belter accent, but She's my favorite character I completely missed that She's my favorite side character She's not on the Yeah The What's it The Rosanate Am I saying it right? The Rosanate Yeah She's not on the Rosanate crew She's known for being The You know With At the space station Really Right But then her role Has really increased As it's gone along Yeah I totally When I was looking At the list of stuff Announcements I totally missed that Yeah So you'll probably Want to go and check it out Because yeah It's a telltale like that's part of when she was doing the stuff, I think before the setting of the, right. She was doing her dark belter work. And that would be a really good type story for a telltale. I want to see, I want to see what the new telltale is like. Yeah. Hopefully with, with expanse wrapping up now and it's just started its final season. Right. I, I'm looking forward to just enjoying a character like that. And I was, you know, I was really disappointed when, when telltale went away. because I enjoyed so many, other than the need for them to just finally move on to a new engine. That was, I think, their biggest problem. And they kind of sat, they carpet bombed the gaming world with too many, it's almost like people felt like there were just too many Telltale games constantly coming out, because they could turn them out pretty quick. Right. But some of them, like Tales from the Borderlands, it's hilarious. It's really worth playing. The very first Walking Dead one is a really good storytelling. Yes, it is. That was my first Telltale game. And, in fact, I think both of the Batmans are really strong. I've not played the Batmans. And let us not forget the fairy tale one. That's pretty good, too. Yeah.
    75:24
    Whatever the wolf. Yeah, yeah. I keep wanting to say the Wolf of Wall Street, but I know it's not right. Yeah. So that was one of the highlights. And then another one that stood out to me is, I don't remember the name of it. I'm going to call it Assassin's Creed Golem.
    75:40
    I don't know if you saw the trailer. I did. Okay. There is a game where it appears you play as Golem, and you're, like, killing orcs and stuff. And he's just, like, going, and I don't, it's sort of like, these filthy orcs, I must kill them! And then he, like, pours a forge of liquid hot metal on one, and it's just like, yes, that just kills them all! And I was like, I don't know if that's the whole game. I want it to be. I want to be Golem, and I want to just kill.
    76:11
    Pull Golem. Full on Golem. We must find the princess, yes. No, it freezes us. No, it freezes you. You never go full Golem.
    76:23
    We'll see if it works or not. Graphically, it looked pretty cool. And it's kind of like, okay, well, if I'm not getting more Nemesis system in Mordor, then let me just be Golem. What we all know Golem was, a big old murderer. Yeah, a big old murderer. Okay, make it the orc so we don't feel bad, but whatever. Well, that's the prologue. In the prologue, you kill your friend. Yeah, my first friend.
    76:46
    It's my birthday, precious. She has it. So those were a couple others that just kind of stood out to me. Oh, I guess the third one I'd mentioned, but we'd seen it before, so it wasn't a big one. Again, I should have wrote down the names. Furry Zelda. They opened with Furry Zelda, which I hadn't heard anything from in a while. I hadn't heard anything from it. That's like an indie, little small team thing. Yeah, I did see stuff about that. I just didn't. That's coming out. It didn't trip my... Yeah. And there was another, I don't know if I'll get it or not, there was a DLC island announced for Cuphead, which is supposed to be the last, I guess, of the stuff for Cuphead. Again, the animation looks awesome. Cuphead is so brutal. It is, yeah. I cleared the first island, and I think it's too hard probably for me to finish. Yeah, I never finished it, and I don't think I will. But it's beautiful. Yeah, it's incredible. It's beautiful. It's incredible. It's just I don't have the skill set for it anymore. I think I'm too slow.
    77:45
    And then the last thing I wanted to talk about was just pointing out that Final Fantasy XIV has, like, doubled its player base since July. Won a game award. I think for best ongoing support. Yes, for best ongoing support of the game. Endwalker expansion came out and they're having like login time problems, login queue problems. This has probably been terribly impactful on you. No. Oh.
    78:13
    It would have been terribly. I actually I played Final Fantasy 14 so hardcore from when I started in like the end of May up until like October. It was about all I played that I've taken a break since just before we went to Chicago where I've just logged in a couple of times. I haven't played real hardcore like I was. And I've just played other things because I was getting burned out. Right. I was powering through storylines and doing stuff, and I was just getting to a point where it was just like, ah, I'm just, I'm burned out. I want to play some other games. But within walk around, I'm going to be going back into it. I've just basically been waiting for this giant surge. When I first started hearing about all of the problems with the login lines, it's like, I'll just wait for the surge to end. and for them to get this problem corrected. So I'll be going back to it. I just, yeah, I needed to take a break before I just burnt out completely and just, ah, goodbye. Yep. That happens. But I think it's awesome that it's, coming from where Final Fantasy XIV started to the point where they had to pretty much recode and make a new game and release it with the same name to become what it is is amazing. It's probably the greatest turnaround story in gaming that I know of. I can't think of a better one.
    79:30
    Yeah, especially with just how popular it has gotten in the last year. It's just amazing. So, but I think that's it. All right. We did it. We talked about a lot. Yeah, we should be just after Christmas. So, like, two weeks in a day, I think. And we'll probably have a little bit more. We might have a pinball announcement by then if the Rush rumors are true. I keep hearing December. It wouldn't be the first time they did a weird release Right at the end of the year like that But if people want to reach out to us with any questions or comments You can always email eclecticgamerspodcast At gmail.com or go to facebook.com Slash eclecticgamerspodcast and shoot us a message We're available on Twitch, Twitter And Instagram as eclectic underscore gamers We don't do a lot there Because we're not huge social media people Yeah we're for minor social media people Now I Might start looking into some stuff and posting some stuff on the Grams about for Hipster Dennis. Maybe I'll find some man bun hairstyle. Maybe we'll start putting out some stuff about some clothing options to properly outfit Hipster Dennis. I don't think this is going to be a thing. I don't think this will be a thing.
    80:40
    Maybe a nice shooter rod on the inside of the arm. Just, you know. We'll look into it. Sure. Sure you will.
    80:50
    Until next time, my name is Dennis. I'm Tony. Goodbye, everybody. See ya.