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Episode 271 - Big Bang Bar Remake Remake

Eclectic Gamers Podcast·podcast_episode·1h 2m·analyzed·May 10, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.033

TL;DR

Team Pinball alleges Pedretti wrongfully retained €90K Big Bang Bar remake; Spooky's scarcity model creates collector backlash.

Summary

Eclectic Gamers Podcast discusses a major dispute between Team Pinball and Pedretti Gaming over a Big Bang Bar remake prototype worth approximately €90,000, where Pedretti refused to return the machine despite prior agreements. The hosts also examine Spooky Pinball aggressive limited-release model and its impact on collector satisfaction, noting the tension between scarcity-driven demand and customer alienation when games sell out before announcement.

Key Claims

  • Team Pinball purchased an original Big Bang Bar prototype from Melvin Williams in October 2024 with Pedretti's agreement, but Pedretti later refused to return it, citing it as their property, contradicting earlier negotiations.

    high confidence · Dennis reads from Team Pinball's Facebook post detailing the dispute

  • Team Pinball's estimated financial loss from the Big Bang Bar remake project is approximately €90,000, including prototype purchase, development, PCBs, and custom electronics.

    high confidence · Team Pinball Facebook post quoted directly by Dennis

  • Team Pinball decided against pursuing legal action despite the €90,000 loss, citing concerns about litigation costs potentially exceeding the machine's value and unwillingness to engage in expensive legal proceedings.

    high confidence · Team Pinball Facebook post; Dennis and Tony discuss legal calculus

  • Stern has scheduled an exclusive Pinball Media showing of their upcoming game titled 'Cornerstone' for Wednesday, May 20th.

    high confidence · Dennis mentions receiving email from Stern with invitation details

  • Dennis predicts Stern will reveal the Cornerstone game title publicly within the month before Jersey Jack announces their next title.

    medium confidence · Dennis's prediction based on the May 20th media showing date

  • Transformers is rumored to be the theme for Stern's Cornerstone game based on 80s toy line licensing trends.

    medium confidence · Dennis speculates on 80s toy line wave and mentions Transformers as rumored Stern title

  • Spooky Pinball's Beetlejuice sold out so quickly that customers had to commit to purchase before the game was officially announced.

    high confidence · Email from Doug M. and discussion referencing Pinball Show episode with Zach Minnie

  • Spooky brought 20 games to TPF (Pinball Expo?) that nobody could purchase, creating perception of intentional gatekeeping.

    medium confidence · Doug M.'s email to hosts

Notable Quotes

  • “After careful consideration, we believe we owe it to the pinball community to publicly explain what happened with the Big Bang Bar remake project from our perspective.”

    Team Pinball (via Facebook post read by Dennis) @ ~13:00 — Opens Team Pinball's formal dispute disclosure, framing it as community transparency rather than personal grievance

  • “Our estimated loss is approximately 90,000 euros. At this point, we do not intend to continue with expensive legal action. However, we believe the community deserves to know our experience.”

    Team Pinball (via Facebook post) @ ~15:30 — Core claim of financial loss and decision to pursue public accountability over litigation

  • “This post is not about creating drama, directly translates to this post is about creating drama. It's one of those things where...that phrase has the same connotations in my mind as you being in a conversation with someone and they just open up with, 'Now, I'm not racist, but...'”

    Dennis @ ~17:30 — Meta-commentary on how Team Pinball's disclaimer undermines their stated intentions, indicating dramatic intent beneath surface

  • “Today, at least for some games with highly desirable themes, see Beetlejuice, you can no longer do that. You must commit before the game is even officially announced.”

    Doug M. (email) @ ~35:00 — Encapsulates the core complaint about Spooky's pre-announcement sales model alienating casual buyers

  • “Spooky has got a problem. The reason I say they have a problem is my understanding is spooky based off their behavior and things I've heard. People have had discussions with them. They really, really do care what the customers think. The problem is the customers think I can't buy games from you unless I pay overpriced secondhand.”

    Dennis @ ~42:00 — Core thesis: Spooky's scarcity model contradicts their stated values around customer relationships

  • “If Spooky continues to want to care what the pinball community writ large thinks about them, this model is not going to be conducive to it. It's just not. They're too popular now.”

    Dennis @ ~58:00 — Predicts long-term community backlash if Spooky maintains current limited-release strategy

Entities

Team PinballcompanyPedretti GamingcompanyStern PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyJersey Jack PinballcompanyMelvin WilliamspersonBig Bang Bargame

Signals

  • ?

    industry_signal: Team Pinball publicly disputes Pedretti Gaming's retention of Big Bang Bar remake prototype, alleging breach of prior agreements and €90,000 in uncompensated losses. Signals potential deterioration of trust in collaborative relationships within pinball hardware/software ecosystem.

    high · Team Pinball Facebook post detailing dispute, decision against litigation, public disclosure of financial loss

  • ?

    community_signal: Growing collector backlash against Spooky Pinball's limited-release model; customers forced to pre-commit to unannounced games, creating perception of gatekeeping and alienating buyers who prefer to evaluate before purchase.

    high · Doug M.'s email expressing frustration; Dennis notes 3-page Pinside thread with mixed but polarized opinions; discussion of FOMO-driven model contradicting customer satisfaction goals

  • $

    market_signal: Spooky Pinball employs aggressive scarcity model (limited unit production, pre-announcement pre-orders) to maintain resale value and FOMO-driven demand. Model works operationally but creates long-term community perception risk.

    high · Beetlejuice sold out before public announcement; 20 units at TPF unsellable; Dennis predicts model unsustainable at scale; comparison to Rolex/Ferrari luxury strategies

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Observable wave of video game IP pinball licenses (Pokemon, Fallout, Cuphead) followed by predicted 80s toy line licensing rush (He-Man, Transformers, TMNT, Power Rangers).

    medium · Butts' Patreon observation of thematic waves; Dennis confirms Transformers rumored for Stern Cornerstone; American Pinball alleged former He-Man license holder

  • ?

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.186

0:00
Welcome to the Eclectic Gamers Podcast. Today is Sunday, May 10th. This is episode 271. I'm Tony. I'm Dennis. Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day. Yes. To all the mothers listening. Yes. All one of you. I'm sure there's plenty more than that. All two of you. We appreciate it. I know there's plenty more than that. What's going on, Tony? It has been an absolutely bog-standard, normal, nothing special kind of two weeks, really.
0:47
Most of my time has been spent playing on the rare bits that I've been playing. I've been playing the same things I've been playing. Right. So there's really been nothing new. In any of that going on, it's mainly been end of the school year type, you know, ceremonies and concerts and all of that stuff.
1:09
Sure. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Yeah, I haven't done much either. It's been, you know, just I think last. Yeah. Now last week, every work day I got home late except one. Like I only left on time one day. I went straight to sleep. Yeah, but it wasn't like anything was like dramatically bad or anything. It was just stuff was just kind of been a long week. I haven't played Outer Worlds 2 this weekend. However, last weekend I was able or earlier in the week I was able to finally get to the next planet. So I have made progress. So maybe steps.
1:45
But that's been pretty much it. So good news is we actually have some pinball topics. I know we have video game topics. And, of course, we have a few listener emails that have come in to give us the content that plants crave, like electrolytes. Yes, electrolytes. That's right. Very tasty. So speaking of tasty, we actually got an email, Tony. I didn't tell you about this, but I'm telling you now. We got an email from Stern inviting us for the exclusive Pinball Media showing of their upcoming Cornerstone.

  • “Unlike Ferrari, they don't lead in anything except maybe the theme. And that's fine...but Spooky isn't Ferrari. It's not – Ferrari has other things going for it.”

    Dennis @ ~78:00 — Argues Spooky lacks luxury brand equivalence to justify scarcity pricing model, undermining their strategy

  • “I can't think of a single year that I ever thought Spooky's gameplay played the best. They have some that I really like. I think Texas plays good. I think Evil Dead plays very good...But again, compared to like the Elwins of the world, Harry Potter, like we played Beetlejuice and we didn't favor its gameplay over Harry Potter.”

    Dennis @ ~75:00 — Directly challenges Spooky's competitive advantages in gameplay, suggesting theme is their sole differentiation

    • Dennis
    person
    Tonyperson
    Zach Minnieperson
    Doug M.person
    Buttsperson
    Keith Elwinperson
    American Pinballcompany
    Godzillagame
    Beetlejuicegame
    Cornerstonegame
    Scooby-Doogame
    Halloweengame
    Evil Deadgame

    announcement: Stern Pinball scheduled exclusive media showing for upcoming 'Cornerstone' game on May 20th, 2025. Dennis predicts public title reveal will follow before month-end and precede Jersey Jack's next announcement.

    high · Email invitation to Eclectic Gamers for May 20th exclusive media showing

  • ?

    product_concern: Pedretti Gaming allegedly retained Big Bang Bar remake prototype despite prior agreements to return it for continued development. Team Pinball elected not to pursue litigation due to cost-benefit analysis.

    high · Team Pinball Facebook post; Dennis and Tony discuss legal calculus; €90,000 loss includes sunk R&D, not just hardware value

  • ?

    design_philosophy: Spooky Pinball uses safe, fan-style layouts combined with hot themes to minimize gameplay risk while maximizing theme-driven demand. Differs from Stern/JJP willingness to experiment with novel layouts.

    high · Dennis notes Spooky uses 'safe layouts, fan style layouts' and scores on 'theme immersion' rather than gameplay innovation; acknowledges gameplay doesn't lead industry

  • ?

    business_signal: Spooky Pinball identified as having 'glass jaw' due to reliance on theme-driven instant sellouts. Economic downturn or string of poor game reception would disproportionately impact smaller manufacturer vs. Stern/JJP.

    high · Dennis notes Spooky 'can only take so many big losses'; economic sensitivity to recession cycles; unlike Ferrari, lacks other competitive advantages

  • ?

    competitive_signal: Dennis evaluates Spooky's gameplay as not leading industry; peers favorably compare Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre to genre standards but rank below Keith Elwin designs and Harry Potter.

    medium · Dennis statement: 'I can't think of a single year that I ever thought Spooky's gameplay played the best'; comparison to Elwin and Harry Potter as benchmarks

  • $

    market_signal: Limited Spooky releases command premium secondary-market prices; scarcity supports value retention but restricts access. Comparison to Rolex model noted but questioned for pinball context.

    high · Doug M. references overpriced secondhand market; Dennis notes Rolex keeps making models (unlike pinball); scarcity model prevents natural price decline

  • ?

    content_signal: Team Pinball's Facebook post framed as community transparency but perceived as drama-creation by hosts. Disclaimer 'this post is not about creating drama' flagged as indicating opposite intent.

    medium · Dennis's commentary on disclaimers analogous to 'I'm not racist, but...'; acknowledgment that post generated significant discussion despite framing

  • ?

    rumor_hype: Rumored Spooky Pinball upcoming themes include Goonies and Gremlins in unspecified order. These properties represent major IP with broad appeal in horror/comedy genre.

    medium · Dennis mentions 'rumored next two themes have been Goonies and Gremlins in whatever order it is' without source attribution

    • 2:17
    That's my news, breaking news. So, yes, they can't see your impression of what's that movie that Michael Jackson based some of his smooth criminal moves on. The Prince, I think it was, with the guy. I don't know. It's been showing up in Reddit lately. So, anyway, Wednesday, May 20th. The reason I bring this up is I, now knowing this, fully expect that Stern will reveal the title of the game publicly this month at some point. I don't know. There's 10 more days after that. There is, but 10 more days feels like plenty of time to at least do a teaser. Maybe. So I think we're going to see the official announcement of the next game before JJP's. I already thought that, but this gives me even more confidence. We can see the announcement of the announcement for the next game. Now, I could be wrong. JJP tomorrow could go ahead and announce what their next game is to get out in front of this. That would be par for the course. But if it's not ready, then I don't know why you would. But I guess Stealing Thunder is a big part. Yeah, that's their new game, Ready Player One. There it is. Would that be a good game? No, it would be god-awful. Yeah, I would struggle with that. We actually have an interesting topic we'll get to later asking us about themes and whether they would be good pinball machines or not. But before that, next piece of news. This one was really interesting when I saw it and went to the Facebook and read this, but Team Pinball, which, if I remember correctly, Team Pinball is the one that did the Mafia game way back, you know, like the EMC. I think that was Team Pinball. They've been involved in doing pinball stuff for quite a while, actually, since those early days. But they put out a Facebook post, I think it was about three days ago now, regarding issues with Pedretti Gaming. So in our internal notes, Tony, I have the entire Facebook post, all of it. So I'm just going to read some highlights from this Facebook post. For many years, Team Pinball has worked with Pedretti Gaming to provide hardware and software solutions for their Funhaus and Whirlwind 2.0 kits and for the Funhaus remake machine. Team Pinball has also been working on several upcoming titles, including a remake of Capcom's Big Bang Bar. After careful consideration, we believe we owe it to the pinball community to publicly explain what happened with the Big Bang Bar remake project from our perspective. In October 2024, Team Pinball purchased one of the original prototypes from Melvin Williams with the agreement and knowledge of Pedretti. In 2025, we shipped our prototype to Pedretti and traveled there personally to finalize the machine using version 2 PCBs. During this process, Pedretti updated several physical elements of the machine, including the cabinet and replacing the blank whitewood playfield with the final printed version, which had also been designed in collaboration with Melvin Williams back in 2022.
    5:12
    Afterward, we continued working remotely together until communication suddenly stopped. Initially, we believed this delay was related to Predator production. Later, we were informed that the Big Bang Bar remake would be postponed for to 2026, which we accepted as additional time for refinement was not a problem for us. Following this, we requested the return of our prototype so we could continue polishing and finalizing the software ourselves to prepare the machine for production. Our intention was always to return the machine to Pedretti afterward, exactly as we had done during normal business cooperation. The answer regarding the return of our prototype was no.
    5:53
    After another period of silence, we were ultimately informed that the prototype would not be returned because it was considered Pedretti's property. This directly contradicted the previous statement that they wanted some kind of contributions for the cost they spent on modification on our prototype in order to return it. Our estimated loss is approximately 90,000 euros. At this point, we do not intend to continue with expensive legal action. However, we believe the community deserves to know our experience and why we are no longer involved in this project as well as other Pedretti branded projects. So those are the highlights I wanted to note. The post itself is massive. I'm not including a link in the show notes because the Facebook linking I always feel is really weird. You guys can just search for it if you want to want to read the whole thing. But OK, I didn't know about this relationship. I'm sure it's been in stuff that I've not read closely or didn't, you know, completely went in one ear and out the other. Because like the remake kits or the Funhouse remake, those aren't – that's not like Team Pinball has been selling those. But what do you make of all of this?
    7:03
    I don't even know where to start. Right. But it was weird. And I was like, what the – It is a very large level of strange. There is so many facets to it and so many possible different directions it could be coming from. I'm with you. I don't know where to start other than it seems like poor business interactions between companies leaving bad taste in people's mouth. But it's pinball, so everybody will glom on to their favorite, whichever group is their favorite or whichever group gives them the stuff they want. And they will be the ultimately perfect angels who did nothing wrong.
    7:45
    Yeah. Now, I want to ask you kind of like as as a hypothetical. So they've noted in their statement, Team Pinball did, that their loss was approximately 90,000 euro. Now, that's not the prototype is worth like right, like as a machine is worth 90. Like it wasn't a $90,000 prototype. It was that that includes the purchase price of the prototype. It also includes like the DMV frames, the custom electronics, the development of the PCB. Right. So, again, I can kind of see it because I don't know how exactly it would shake out. But like if you were considering we poured all of this in and your decision has cost us 90,000 euro. So when is it big enough that you would actually do a lawsuit? Because that seems like a lot. It does seem like a lot. I wonder, though, if it's not one of those things where my assumption, and this is purely just me speculating, is that they talk to lawyers and lawyers are like, this is going to cost more than that to litigate, even if you win. I have one of two guesses. My first guess is they didn't talk to any lawyers and they just decided they don't want to enter into legal action. And it makes me wonder whether they actually they even feel like this is this is PR that they put out. Right. Do they actually feel they have a legitimate case or were they like, we don't even have anything in writing that says we own this and that Pedretti doesn't. Or maybe they had something where there was some fine print that said that you're giving this to Pedretti. I don't know. That's one option that came to my mind. Another was they may have thought, again, yeah, we've sunk €90,000 into this, but the best that would happen if we would win is we'll just get the machine.
    9:41
    And the value of the actual box without any ability to bring it to market is not €90,000. We're talking about all our sunk R&D costs. Like this thing, this prototype is probably between $10,000 and $20,000, in which case that makes a lot more sense being like, I don't know if it's worth the time and money. Which kind of gets back to where you were at. But I just thought it was interesting because I've actually had this conversation a couple of times with Zach Minnie, my co-host on the Pinball Show, because he's had instances with customers where they've basically resisted returning a game. And then there's the question of, OK, well, what what do you do? Because in theory, if they're keeping something that doesn't belong to them, like they've done a credit card chargeback, it's like then they've stolen and you could sue to get the game back. But the question of, all right, but one it's one it's always one game. So if it's one game, like, do you want to bring in a lawyer for one game to like how much what's the end loss look like at that point? Is it worth the time sink on top of everything else? Right. Sort of thing. Well, not to mention the PR.
    10:53
    Yeah, that's something he brings up a lot is the concern about the PR. I'm like, I don't know. I get it. But I also think that someone stealing from you is probably pretty easy to win the PR role, but war. But maybe not. I don't know. I mean, it probably depends on the circumstance. I realize I'm not actually good at that kind of thing.
    11:17
    I will note, though, again, this was already, as people could probably tell, I didn't even highlight half of the stuff. Oh, no, there is so much more.
    11:28
    Pet peeve, this is just a dentist's pet peeve. You don't need to write into a collective image podcast at gmail.com and tell me that my pet peeve is stupid. It's a pet peeve. Of course it's stupid.
    11:38
    They really should be calling this the Big Bang Bar remake remake. Because there already was a remake. Quit acting like you're the first remake. You're not. You're not the first remake. You're not the second remake now. But you're not the first.
    11:53
    Just like, come on. The one everyone thinks about is a remake. Hardly anyone has the original. I don't know.
    12:03
    This was interesting from a drama standpoint. I'm going to throw this out. Again, people, you don't need to write in.
    12:10
    Yes, Tony. I see you're excited. I do. I do. I do. Also, utilizing the phrase, this post is not about creating drama, directly translates to this post is about creating drama. It's one of those things where I don't – and you know what? And that's fine. I don't love drama being the hobby, but granted it gave us something to talk about, so I can't say I totally dislike it. Right, right. It's just that phrase has the same connotations in my mind as you being in a conversation with someone and they just open up with, Now, I'm not racist, but it punches all the same buttons. Yes, yes, that's true. You know what it kind of reminds me of, though, in this instance, is this. Remember way back when Spooky got super pissed that Stern got Godzilla? Yes, I do remember that. Yes, I remember that vividly. And people were so mad at Stern until Keith Elwin made the greatest game in the history of pinball and then everyone shut up about it, including them. Right. Well, that's the thing is because there was all the drama and it was all over the forums and everywhere and everyone was all like – And I got it. I understood them being mad. This is right up Spooky's alley and this is Spooky's kind of thing and this is their whole niche and this and that. But the way they told it, just like how this has a way it comes across. I've shared this before, but the way I'd say Spooky wove it a lot better than this, because at least like I had a real visual image. Like I imagined this giant conference room with a mahogany table and like Gary Stern, Sparta 300 kicked that door open through a pile of cash in front of Toho and just stole it, like literally stole it while they were about to sign. Like that's how it is in my head. And for this purpose, he grew an old tiny tie-you-to-the-ray-wheel track villain mustache and twirled it. Literally twirled it. Yes, while he cackled and walked out. That's how it is in my head as to how it happened through the spooky lens. And it's such a good visual. I'm glad that they complained about it. Ultimately, at this stage, I'm glad they threw a fit about that. Because it was it just it entertains me as I think back on the nastiness of man, deep, dank darkness of Stern coming in and do it. My other option was putting him in a Vader outfit while he went in it and did it and just would look over at the spooky crew and go all too easy. No, no, no, no. To fit with theme, the door kicks open, but he walks in and he's in the black suit with the little visor thing like the aliens from the one like a. The monster X from outer space. Oh, yeah. The evil one where it's like, ah, and he's like, that's what he's got going on because then he's in theme. That's true. I just don't know the Godzilla movies enough to have thought of that.
    15:22
    Now I've just got a crazy idea. Perfectly Gary Stern perfectly normal Looks just like a normal nice person Him and his entourage walk in Entourage yes Right But the entourage is Jet Jaguar and a pair of twins that they hired specifically to dress up like the Mothra girls and sing like his name while he making his pitch That's very Shark Tank-y kind of. Very. He said, Gary!
    15:59
    Gary! Gary Stern! This is Godzilla! It's too early in the morning, apparently. It's too early in the morning. What are some main news items in Pinball? We did, as I mentioned, we had some emails. Actually, the first thing was from Butts, our Patreon supporter. Butts posted this on Patreon, but I thought it would be nice to share this here. And Butts said, it's funny how certain themes come in waves all at once. Seems like we're getting a tidal wave of video games, e.g. Pokemon, Fallout. I should have said Pokemon. I got to say that right. Pokemon, Fallout, Portal, Halo, Sonic, Almost Cuphead. Next will be 80s toy lines, e.g. He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, TMNT and Hot Wheels were ahead of their time. In a couple more years, Power Rangers nostalgia will be ripe for the picking. But thank you, Butts. Man. It does seem like a wave. It does. There is a serious wave. I kind of... What's the... There's a certain phrase they use in Hollywood when a lot of movies come up about the same time that are all very similar, but I don't remember it off the top of my head. But it's not uncommon to see movies with similar themes come out real close together like Armageddon and Deep Impact. Volcano. Volcano and Dante's Peak. Thank you. Yeah, I just had it in my head. All that stuck in my head was Peak. Yeah. It was something Peak. Yeah. Dante's Peak. Yeah, no, they're very – but they're not like so close that they're straight up stolen. Right, but people will see it and be like, well, the theme's volcanoes. They must have stolen something, right? And it's like, well, the development cycles and all that are so long. Right, right. It's not like the company that kicked out Atlantic Rim straight to DVD like the week after Pacific Rim came out.
    17:58
    But, yeah, I do think, I think 80s toys could be, I mean. Well, yeah, that's being driven from there were the rumors of American Pinball having at one point had the license to do He-Man and then didn't. Transformers is what is rumored to be the stern cornerstone we're going to see later this month. I think we need Thundercats.
    18:20
    I like Thundercats as a kid, but at some point, and this was, I don't know, maybe it was in high school, I re-saw an episode. Oh, it's so bad. This is terrible. It's so terrible. This is so terrible. What was wrong with me? Or Silverhawks. I don't remember. Silverhawks. I had a similar reaction when I rewatched the Bruce Willis film Hudson Hawk. What's your favorite movie?
    18:47
    I like Hudson Hawk as a kid, and then I rewatched it. I thought, oh, Bruce, this is really bad. There are still some parts I still really appreciate about it, like what's her name doing dolphin sounds. This is the one I've already blanked on.
    19:04
    There's somebody. It's got David Caruso in it. Right. He played Kit Kat. Yeah, he was Kit Kat. They were all named after candy bars.
    19:14
    Oh, man. Yeah, that was. Better. Yeah. One of those things. Email. This one is from Doug M. I want to give some context before I read it because not everyone who listens to this show listens to the Pinball show. But he wrote in because Zach and I on the latest episode of the Pinball Show had a discussion where we talked about Spooky's limited release model and how quickly Beetlejuice sold out and all of that. That's that's plenty of context for just for you to kind of know where this is coming from.
    19:43
    But Doug writes as follows. Hi, guys. Touching on a topic you discussed earlier in the week, Dennis, in regard to Spooky making games that are unobtainable to the enthusiast. There was a time when you could go to a pinball show or on location and play a machine. If you decide you liked it enough, you could contact your distributor and buy one for your home. Today, at least for some games with highly desirable themes, see Beetlejuice, you can no longer do that. You must commit before the game is even officially announced. And you are absolutely right. That upsets collectors to the point where they don't even consider buying from that manufacturer anymore. I suppose it would be slightly better if after the game sold out, the manufacturer featured a prototype of the next game that they are going to produce at a show. But no, instead, they brought 20 games to TPS. I think it meant TPF. TPF that nobody could even buy. I don't think they did that to rub it in our faces, but man, it sure felt that way. Came across to me like this. Spooky. Hey, look, come play our cool game. Customer plays game. Customer. Amazing. I love it. How much? I want one. Spooky. Sorry, we sold out before you knew it even existed. Customer. So why are you here promoting the game? Spooky. You want to buy a Scooby-Doo? At least with wristwatches, Rolex keeps making the model. If you wait long enough, you can get one. Pinball? Not so much. I did a watchument and we also did a car argument when we did the discussion. Yeah. That's why those are the Rolex line. Doug. All right. Thank you, Doug, for that statement. Yeah, actually, someone who listened to the Pinball show, Zach had just told me about this yesterday, made a thread on Pinside talking about his and I having our discussion about Spooky. It was actually a very tame, like there are plenty of people who disagreed with my perspective, but it seemed like a pretty polite discussion. I read through wherever the thread was yesterday. I read through it. It was like three pages of just people with – they're all over the place. Like some people are like, this is – Spooky is doing the right thing. Like the next downturn is whenever they can't my so, you know, Tony, because I know you don't listen to the pinball show. My argument was basically spooky has got a problem. And the reason I say they have a problem is my understanding is spooky based off their behavior and things I've heard. People have had discussions with them. They really, really do care what the customers think. The problem is the customers think I can't buy games from you unless I pay overpriced secondhand because this speculative LE limited based model is screwing me over when you're doing themes as popular as Beetlejuice and making so few units.
    22:25
    I didn't have a solution. I gave a couple. Spooky can keep doing this. It's working just fine for them. But my argument was Spooky has a choice. If they want to keep people happy, they can do one of two strategies. The less popular strategy, in my opinion, is just raise the prices on your games to try and well, now it's Tony. Tony had the immediate reaction, but I mean, OK, if you've got a if you're going to be like rare, why let the flippers make all this money? Some people feel that this will just mean the flippers will just raise their prices. But honestly, there are breaking points. What's $1,000 more is an argument sometimes I hear people make. Well, what's $5,000 more? We know at some point it's serious to people. So you either just raise the prices up and then the demand is going to go down. That's my point about it is it forces demand to go down because it's overpriced basically. Right. No, no, I can see the argument. So that's one argument. The other argument, which I think makes more sense from a consumer standpoint, is I think Spooky needs to seriously consider expanding their capabilities to produce. We know they can build more. They did with Scooby-Doo. But I totally understand. Zach's point was more along the lines of the scarcity is helping drive things. It helps people want to get spookies because they know, as we've talked about in Pinball in general, you're not going to take a huge loss if the game is popular and there aren't very many. And we know spookies run into problems before. Like if you want a Halloween or an Ultraman, can you get a deal? So and it's not really all that long ago. So for Zach, he you know, his argument has been that this the fear of missing out is in part what's keeping the values higher. And maybe like that's part of why the demand is the way it is, which I do think is true. That's how I would summarize his argument. So I don't disagree. It's a question. My point and what Doug was kind of addressing is long term, Spooky continuing to do it the way they are doing, assuming the themes remain killer. And the rumored next two themes have been Goonies and Gremlins in whatever order it is. It's like if you're only going to make 900 and some of them, they're going to be a lot of pissed off people, especially when through no fault of Spooky, other than setting their limit, there's no choice. But to buy it before you like the next game, as I understand it, is sold out. We don't even know the name of it. Yeah. And this is my problem with anything is the whole spending so much money and purchasing something sight unseen, just purchasing a slot for something. It doesn't matter if it's a pinball or if it's a video game or it's a watch or it's anything sight unseen. I have a hard time justifying something along those lines. Going, oh, I don't even know what it is, but I'm already in. I'm guaranteed in. I'm locked in on it. I have no idea what it's going to be.
    25:33
    It could be killer tomatoes from outer space, but I'm locked in. Yeah, and with Beetlejuice, Zach, with his distribution company Flippin' Out Pinball, tried to deal with that aspect Because he doesn't love this idea of people buying things that they haven't seen. So he tried to accommodate and let people get on the interested list. And then he went down the interested list after the game was revealed and said, hey, do you want to keep your spot or not now that you've had a chance to see it? Except because to his knowledge, none of the other large spooky distributors or any of them that I'm aware of did this. Only Spooky had some that they directly sold, which went instantly.
    26:22
    It was a lot of work, and he only gave them 30 minutes. So again, it was like, because, well, the issue was managing the volume of people that were then calling him saying, do you have a game available? And he can't say yes or no, because he hasn't worked his way down the list to see if they wanted to keep their spot or not. So he couldn't say, you know, it just created a lot of work for him. I told him he shouldn't do that again. I get what he was going for. He wanted to give people a fair shake, but it was like – because no one else does it, it just doesn't work that way. But yeah, back to your point. My main thing that I wanted to say is if Spooky continues to want to care what the pinball community writ large thinks about them, this model is not going to be conducive to it. It's just not. They're too popular now. Will it sink again in the future? Maybe, but I don't know. We clearly have seen that in today's pinball market, the collector market, having decent art on a hot theme is enough to get you a certain place. It doesn't matter. It can play terribly, but if the art is even decent and the theme is hot, it'll sell. Now, the value retention side, because again, this whole selling out, some people point to Scooby as a seaster. You can still buy Texas Chainsaw Massacres and you can still buy Scoobys from Spooky.
    27:53
    They're right that this is a more recent phenomenon. Evil Dead did take a few months to sell out. Here's the thing. In the history of Spooky, lots of stuff sold out. They had to work to sell America's Most Haunted. They did not have to work to sell Rob Zombie. I think Alice Cooper's Nightmare's Castle sold out right away. I mean, there were a lot of, maybe not like day one right away, but like they've been selling out of most of their stuff in the history. Again, Halloween and Ultraman, they sold out. Oops. But that's where the value retention side, that's why I think Spooky's been so smart playing it safe. Like safe layouts, fan style layouts, stuff like that, which normally if it was like a Stern, I would criticize for going back to the well. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love shooting a fan layout, but I also don't need every single game to be that. But with Spooky, it's better than taking a chance because they're scoring points on theme immersion. They are. And I think unlike Stern or JJP, I think Spooky can only take so many big losses. Yes, that is definitely key.
    29:03
    I very much think Spooky has a glass jaw just because of their model and how niche, even in a niche hobby, so much of what they do is. So if they start losing that instant sellout and it starts becoming more and more and they start getting slower and slower from having one or two bad games in a row, it's going to very severely hurt them and impact them a lot more than JJP or Stern having a bad game or two. I think that's why a lot of the smaller manufacturers do. This false scarcity thing is not new. Barrels does it. Lots of small players do it. And then the whole other thing that we've not even touched on is just as the economy softens, these are naturally going to be some of the first things to take the hits. Yeah, it will be interesting to see if the main buyer, how recession-proof they are, assuming we finally see a recession. Again, we've been hearing that we would see a recession for the last two years, and it still hasn't technically triggered yet. Right. There are more signs now than there were, absolutely. So I do think – and eventually a recession is inevitable. Like there's a cyclic nature to the economy. It's just how it is.
    30:29
    You mean things can't go straight up forever? Amazingly not. Just ask everyone who's got a bored ape. But yeah, it's just one of those. It's interesting. I mean, I don't envy their predicament. And again, they could just choose not to care what the community writ large thinks and accept that and just operate their model and be just fine. Like, I don't think they're going to be broadly punished. But one of my points was at some point you not going to you not going to even try to get on the spooky list because you don want to play the game like what we seen with watches Zach kind of made a argument about trying to like the Ferrari argument about how Ferraris break down and such They're not the best built car, but they're still – like people really strive to get on the list and be able to buy a Ferrari. And my argument is Spooky is not Ferrari. It's not – Ferrari has other things going for it. But Spooky doesn't – they get a theme that you want that no one else currently has the theme for but could eventually get the theme. All the other companies have shown that they're – most of the other companies, let me qualify that – have shown they're perfectly capable of having great art. So Spooky having great art isn't something special. That's pretty common now actually to have great art. Yes, we've left the thumbnail, the Photoshop thumbnail art time behind it. And Spooky's had great art, I feel, for a long time. I agree. But again, now, yeah, we've left the other brands like Stern. Like when was the last time they had a – I mean people have criticized certain art packages, but they – like bad, like 24 bad? No. They walked away from that a long time ago. Gameplay? It's not the – generally, they're – actually, I can't think of a single year that I ever thought Spooky's gameplay played the best. They have some that I really like. I think Texas plays good. I think Evil Dead plays very good. And TNA plays great if you want to give them credit for that one. But again, compared to like the Elwins of the world, Harry Potter, like we played Beetlejuice and we didn't favor its gameplay over Harry Potter or many of the other games. No. Build quality, they're better than they were, but they're still not at the top of the list. See, my point is, unlike Ferrari, they don't lead in anything except maybe the theme. And that's fine because this isn't an echelon of like – it's not like the car industry where there's like, okay, there's Ferraris up here and then maybe there's Lamborghini right beneath it and then further down it's going to be like Porsche. Even the emails. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't.
    33:04
    But with Pinball, it's all kind of just like, okay, it's just sort of like they're all – it's like a flat hierarchy. Maybe you try and argue that JJPs have the highest BOM and that's why they have the highest baseline price. It's not much of a market. No, I don't think that really works in pinball like it does in cars or watches or several other things where there's the giant difference from the luxury to the economy and in between. I don't feel like that really works in Pinball. No. The thing I would point to as the key example of that is what are the MSRPs? So we start with the Stern Pro, generally the most affordable at about $7,000 US, and then JJPCE, generally the most expensive at $15,000. Right. So it's slightly more than a 2X difference in the range. Then you think about cars and like a Mercedes and then a Ferrari. That's more than a 2X. And that Mercedes ain't exactly like the bottom of the barrel. Right. Well, and the thing is, is you can get a 2X difference between just models of Mercedes. Sure. But we see that with some of the pinball manufacturers, like maybe not quite to the 2X extreme, but Stern LE versus pro prices. I mean, there's a decent spread, not 2X though. But yeah, no, it's just, they're just not the same. Right. But again, that's why they're just arguments and not perfect analogies. Last email. This is a bit of a I was going to use the word game. I don't know if that's really right. But it's a journey. It's a journey. Richard, I submitted this discussion topic.
    34:53
    We as a community talk about tables we would like to see. I thought I would combine that topic with Pinball FX tables. I'm going to supply a licensed theme or set of tables Zen has done. You two can give your thoughts on having that be a real table. I'm not saying recreate the Zen table, just if you think it would be a good theme for a real world game. I will give you some table packs and if you could chime in on the best theme to be made. Of all of these, he would want Knight Rider, but he thinks in reality Battlestar Galactica would be the better theme. He's right. Okay. So he's right. So, all right. Here we go. So I think the best way, rather than just me read down this, I'm going to – I'll do it by the number and we can just have a quick discussion on if we think it would be a good one or not. So he started with Tomb Raider. I think Tomb Raider could arguably be a good theme. I agree. I would want to lean into the video game, though, and not any of the movies. Yeah. Unless the new movie turns out to be something really special. Yeah. Right. Since I haven't seen it, I can't say. Well, it's because it's still filming. Right. Oh, well, that's why I haven't seen it. A Goat Simulator. No. That is such a niche comedy thing. It's not. There's not. What would you do?
    36:07
    Again, in the real world, the whole thing with Goat Simulator is the stupid physics engine. Yes. Which you can't. We have real world physics in Pinball. Pacific Rim. I actually think it has an argument could be made that would be pretty good. I would personally enjoy it. I would as well. Only the first movie. Yes. No, don't touch the second one. Don't even. Just the first movie. But it would also be a ton of fun to have it sitting in a lineup beside Godzilla. Yes. I'm trying to figure out the best way when to use. I'm wondering if maybe the start of Multiball where like Addams Family has the it's showtime and the whole thing. Like, I think you could do that with Pacific Rim with Idris saying we're canceling the apocalypse. I want something like there. It has to be a moment, a pinball moment. We're canceling the apocalypse. That's right. That's what happens when you launch the ball. Just every time. Just see how long it takes for that to get old.
    37:02
    All right. So then he noted Zen had the Universal TV Classics pack, which was Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, and Xena Warrior Princess. Honestly, Battlestar Galactica I think would be great. I've talked for years about it. I remember years and years and years ago when we'd been talking about doing like a conversion of a table. I talked about converting F-14 Tomcat into a Battlestar Galactica.
    37:30
    But I think Battlestar Galactica would be a great theme. I do as well. Personally, though, I would theme it off of the remake show, which is the one I saw. Right, which is – I think it would resonate better with people nowadays because that's the one everybody knows. Do you think it resonates – I think Knight Rider sells better in the community at large. I think the nostalgia is stronger for Knight Rider than Battlestar. I don't. I don't.
    37:57
    And here's the thing is we're not talking about it, but I could see Xena being a sleeper. See, it's tough for me because I didn't watch Hercules or Xena, either of them. Right. I've seen occasional episodes, but I didn't watch them. But I think there is a very real argument to be made about it being a more popular show than the original Battlestar. Galactica or Knight Rider. I think there's a decent argument. I know it did better than Hercules did with Kevin Sorbo. Right. So, you know, it would definitely be better than that.
    38:32
    The Universal Classics pack, he noted, Back to the Future and Jaws both are in that, but they've already been done.
    38:39
    E.T.'s also in that. That would be a good nostalgia one. Yeah, I just... I mean, I'm not excited for it. I was going to say, it doesn't do anything for me. It's like the spooky rumor about Gremlins. Like, I don't, I don't, I haven't cared about gremlins since ever. I mean, I think maybe I had a gizmo toy as a kid. I don't know. Maybe it glowed in the dark or something. I don't remember. No, I think I had those shrinky dink things or what, not shrinky dinks, but the ones, the little toys where you put them in water and then they'd get really big. So I had like gizmos and scar or whatever. Anyway, it was. Right. Yeah. This is what we had in the 80s, guys. We didn't have money. We didn't. We had sponge toys that would get real big if you left them in a cup of water overnight. We had the little sparker things that you'd push them and they'd spin around and the pedals would open up and it would stir sparks and you could look at a thing. Yeah, the spark.
    39:32
    He noted Princess Bride, but that's come out with P3. Charlie Brown Christmas. No. No way. Come on. I mean, he's listing pack. I know. It's not him. But. No, this is more towards Zen. You know what? This is. This is me giving Zin the look.
    39:50
    Here's the thing. It's almost a hypocrisy, as I would describe it. But this is if there was Charlie Brown Christmas, that little sad Christmas tree would be in the game and people would mod it with a real like a full Christmas tree, completely defeating the entire point of the story. But that's just how Pinball is. You guys would gaudy it up. A Charlie Brown Christmas. My God. Everyone knows if you're going to do a pinball theme around Charlie Brown, it's going to be Great Pumpkin. No, it's not. Yes. No. Yes, Great Pumpkin. No. I want it. It's the summer camp, the road trip where they're taking the boats down the river and life is a highway with Snoopy right in his chopper. That's just a spiritual successor to Whitewater and we can't. No, the Great Pumpkin. It would be better than Halloween. No, it wouldn't. Yes, it would. It probably would. You're right. I think of that. Your desire to win. Keep sanity. No, that's going to be realistic. Now, this one. All right. Star Trek. The packs that they did were the Kelvin Universe, which, of course, Stern did a Kelvin Universe game based off the first two movies, Deep Space Nine and Discovery. Discovery, absolutely not. No. God, no. Maybe if you somehow kept it to the first two seasons. No. Why would you? Just don't bother. Deep Space Nine is such a great idea. It would be a great idea. Yeah. Especially if you could get get one or two of the cast to do some call outs for it. Right. But I'm going to I'm going to play my game. Oh, no, not the game. Hear me out. All right. Hear me out. Hyper ring.
    41:30
    The whole table is covered by what looks like a model of DS9. And the main ring is a hyper ring that when you shoot into it, it does. It's awesome. Pretty cool. And in the back, you've got like a wormhole. So as it spins around, it launches into the wormhole and then it shoots out one of a bunch of different exits. It's just awesome. Okay. Done. I think you've won everyone over with that. I win.
    41:56
    You did win. Because, well, we have a few more, but probably did win. I knew you'd like the Star Trek one.
    42:02
    There's a pack called Game Night. Are these actual games? They are. Terraforming Mars, Gloomhaven, and Exploding Kittens. I've only heard of Exploding Kittens. No. All right, yeah, I agree. No, they would never. They would never.
    42:19
    Well, Grim Tales, based off of the Grim Fairy Tales. I wouldn't do a collection of fairy tales. Just do one. Right. If there's a good one, like Hansel and Gretel, do I get? But can I actually open the glass and eat the house? Well, here's the problem. I don't think I can. Here's the problem. Nobody cares. Right, but it's Pinball. They're going to turn it into this sexy evil witch in her sexy gingerbread house. I don't know how that works. Yeah, very naughty. It'll have legs like Baba Yaga's. That's why I was thinking of the Baba Yaga. But it'll be like sexy legs. Sexy chicken legs. Isn't Baba Yaga's Persef chicken legs? It is, it is. But sexy. But just because that's what they'll do. Yes. It's just like the – Yeah. Apparently we've decided Dutch is doing this if it gets done.
    43:09
    And maybe because they did Alice, so it'd be right up their alley to do more fairy tales. Okay. Garfield. God, no.
    43:18
    It could work. The whole back third of the playfield is just a tray of lasagna. I was thinking it only works if you get Bill Murray to do the call-outs and there has to be like secret call-outs that just occasionally pop up that says, paychecks a paycheck.
    43:43
    20 bucks is 20 bucks. Yeah, no, actually, I don't think Garfield would be a good idea. My Little Pony. It would sell gangbusters. I know it would. It would sell enormous. All right. It's going to sell primarily, I feel, to two audiences. One, do not underestimate bronies. Not at all. In fact, I've played competitive pinball with people that I heard having conversations and they were bronies for sure. So there is an audience there. Oh, yeah. And then, of course, dads trying to justify their next pinball machine saying they bought it for their kids. Yes. Which that's a powerful marketing force. Here's the thing is My Little Pony is not a target the nostalgia by dropping the 80s ponies. It's the new My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. Yes. Now, would you be interested if there was a limited, I know you're not normally into limited editions, but if there was a limited run inspired by Robot Chicken with the ponies of the apocalypse. Or a pony. Apocalypse pony. Oh no, it's Pestulance pony. I would be tempted. Apocalypse pony is my favorite. Apocalypse pony. Until he gets canceled by Idris Elba and I'll put Pacific Rim beside it. Godzilla, Pacific Rim, Apocalypse Pound. I really want Pacific Rim now. Borderlands. I'm going to say no. I'm going to go with no just because of the general conceit of that game being the classic looter shooter. I don't know how it translates. I don't think the story of Borderlands is good enough to translate into being anything fun because the joy of the looter shooter, I can't see coming into Pinball.
    45:23
    Homeworld. I would love this game so much. Journey to Hilgara. It would be so bad. It would sell nothing. But it would be so cool. I love Homeworld. I know you played Homeworld. I played all of the Homeworlds except for the newest one that everything came out. They're like, this is barely even Homeworld. I even played the Desert of Kashyyyk that came out. They literally tagged Homeworld on it and changed the assets to make it look like a prequel to Homeworld just to get it to sell better.
    45:57
    Brothers in Arms. No. I played one of them. I don't think it's popular enough. I think something along those lines would be better would be like Payday. Yes. Yeah. I mean, doing Brothers in Arms, you might as well do Kane and Lynch. Right. Which I like. Don't get me wrong. Actually, I like that better than the Brothers in Arms game I played. But yeah there are plenty of other shooters I would do before this Do Killzone You don even have to be the huge stuff but the huge stuff is the low Battlefield Call of Duty Halo all that sort of stuff Like do the that all first This is like a company – Titanfall. Titanfall?
    46:41
    People love the story in the second Titanfall. Last one he had suggested was the Dream – based off the DreamWorks pack, which was Trolls, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon. They would all sell. I think so. I think Trolls would do the worst. It would.
    46:56
    Yeah. And Panda would do the best. I agree. I think that I think that's all very true. I would balance all of it with Trolls would have the best soundtrack. I agree.
    47:07
    All right. That's it. Garfield. Yeah. OK. What? But there are these mean Garfield comics going around. There's a whole bunch of them. One of them is Garfield without Garfield, which is literally comics, but Garfield doesn't actually exist, and it just shows that John is insane. Oh, okay. And then there's another one going around out there where Garfield is actually like a great old one. He's like an eldritch abomination. So in the one where Garfrail doesn't exist, does OD exist? I don't remember.
    47:51
    All right. Moving into video games, Richard also did supply a couple of virtual Pinball news updates that I wanted to touch on real quick for the transition here. One is that Pinball FX3 is now delisted from Xbox and PlayStation, so that's been completed. And Zacharia has a few releases. They released a new three-pack of EM Plus games. They released a new Primal Carnage pack which has four games and they put out a deluxe table. Primal Carnage. Now, speaking of Primal, tell me about Primal Under the Sea, Under the Water, Down where it's hotter. Under the sea. Yes. Everything's scary, Down where you're dairy, Under the Sea. So, yeah, Subnautica 2, they put out their gameplay trailer because it releases on the 14th. So, four days from now. Into early access. Right.
    48:39
    Not full access. It is a four-player co-op. The trailer looks interesting, and I've already been told that I'm purchasing it so that we can play co-op per my daughter. Yay! But she wants to wait until it's out of early access or almost out of early access. I'm kind of that way, too. I agree with her. I had proud father moments when she's like, I don't do early access, Dad. Oh. Oh, you just won at parenting. I was just like, oh.
    49:13
    Pre-order? How about now? We don't do that here. So, yeah, no, that's coming. It'll be interesting. I will say it is going to be early access purchased out the wazoo. And the question is how many people are buying it because they want to have it and play it and try it and be part of all of that and how many people are doing it because they want to see the funny of basically making a company go out of business by having to pay a bonus that they tried to break the law to get out of. Probably more the latter than I would normally expect. I'll be honest. I mean, I'm not 100% no early access. I have several early access games, but my purchase into early access games, they have to be very cheap or I have to be not expecting a lot from them. Things that I'm really excited for and I really expect a lot for, I will not get early access because I want to play the finished game, not the as things change stuff. So we'll see how it goes, but the irony of big sales to do the funny, I can see happening. It's like meme stocks. People will do it. People will. Activision put out a note confirming something that had been thought to be happening for a while. The next Call of Duty will not be released on the PS4 or Xbox One. Finally. Yeah, I was like, I'm a little surprised. Well, and that was the thing is the last Call of Duty from everything I heard ran so bad on the last generation machines that it's not a surprise other than the fact that it came out. But so the number of people or the number of game developers that are still kicking out games for last generation machines has surprised me how many games come out for last generation and this generation. I mean, when I think about it, I get it because there are a lot of people like buying a console is a very, very big deal financially. And it's a it's a huge franchise. So they probably got quite a few sales by doing that. Right, and we'll rearrange a little bit here.
    51:31
    It used to be you did not buy a console at launch if you were trying to be fiscally responsible. You waited for the game to get cheaper. That doesn't happen now. Xbox costs more than it cost when it launched. PlayStation 5 costs more than it did when it launched. And starting September 1st, the Switch 2 will be costing more than it did at launch. I saw the headline. Because, yeah, they've announced they're raising the prices, but they're not doing it until the 1st of September. My guess is that's when they run out of their pre-stored RAM. So that the games that start coming out after September will be ones coming out after the RAM price increase. Thanks, AI. Yay, AI.
    52:19
    It's bad. It is. It is actually. It's a big problem. It is getting bigger. And worse, I saw a meme thing where somebody posted, he's like, this is why Ram costs $900.
    52:35
    And then it was the scene from Aquaman when Aquaman puts on his suit in the middle of a huge fight and all that stuff and has his Trident and all that. Except for AI went through and redid it, so instead of his Trident, he had the Sailor Moon staff. And it was a whole transformation sequence where he went into the Sailor Moon outfit.
    52:59
    Thanks, AI. So it's a, yeah, it's a thing. Valve's Steam controllers were on sale because those didn't get time delayed when everything else did due to the cost and lack of ability to get ram. They sold out instantly and huge swaths of them were picked up by scalpers and are going straight on to the secondary markets. Thanks, scalpers. The scalper issue has gotten so bad. This is only tangentially related to video games, but my daughters went. There was a Target had a big Pokemon release with a bunch of Pokemon collaboration stuff. And they wanted to get some of it.
    53:50
    The line was nothing but scalpers. There's like 40 scalpers ahead of them. Everybody was like maxing out on all of the stuff. They saw people taking stuff out of other people's carts. It was like the bad days of like Friday of scalpers grabbing stuff. I've heard stories of the same thing at other targets happening where there were fistfights and literally people throwing children out of the way because they were trying to look at stuff. They were just sweeping stuff into a cart. The scalper issue has gotten so bad that in Japan, certain big game stores, when people buy Pokemon cards, their rules now require them to open the Pokemon cards in the store before they can leave the store. They have to open the packs and take the cards out. But they can't buy and leave with sealed packs just to try and break the scalper issue and slow it down. They also put limits on how much you can buy. Right. I figured they'd do that. So, yeah, scalpers have gotten really kind of crazy on a lot. And it's not just Pokemon stuff. It is, again, these controllers, it's everything. Anything, really, you can see it's becoming a bigger and bigger issue. It's such a trash way to make money. It is. Then Valve has set up, since all of their first round of stock is sold out, they're letting people sign up on waiting lists to get signed up for the next rounds when they come in stock. But they don't have a date when that will be.
    55:32
    Xbox is continuing their big shakeups. They are doing a huge change in upper management, bringing in a whole bunch of new staff members. And the old people, the old staff members are either leaving Xbox or being transitioned to other positions. And most of these new managers that are coming up are coming out of, most but not all, are coming out of the AI world. There's people coming from OpenAI and Meta and other AI groups within Xbox that are being brought in. So there's a lot of AI experienced people coming into the upper management levels of Xbox as they're doing their shakeup, moving into the next generation to try and give themselves a better leg up. But at the same time, they shut down their co-pilot AI tool that everybody hated. And they said that it doesn't align with the new direction they're going and that there are other things in the Xbox area that don't align with their new direction and they're all being looked at to see if they're going to be continued or not. I did also read about Microsoft broadly is doing a massive severance offer to get a bunch of people out to pay for their new AI efforts and everything. I heard that I heard that was rumored. I don't I did. It may still be a rumor. I didn't I hadn't heard anything yet. But the other rumor was they were going to be offering a major buyout for people moving up towards retirement. Yeah, it was. Yeah. What I saw was, yes, for I don't I don't recall seeing like what the like number of years that you were there or what the what the seniority thing like what the trigger was to qualify. But the proposal I had seen was that it would be, I believe, nine months of pay and five years of health insurance. That's huge. It is. Actually, it's one of the biggest things I've ever expressed on the health insurance. The health insurance for sure. I was like, wow, that's actually a pretty powerful incentive to get people. It is, especially for people that are close. Because I work with people that are working because of the health insurance. That's why they're still working. I know several people in my groups that I talk to and who I work with that a lot of them are working until 65 just because of the insurance. Yeah. So this would get a lot of people who are nearing retirement there. I mean, five years. Wow. Anyway, neither here nor there.
    58:18
    Pragmata, which is the backpack kiddo. I heard it the best. My best description I've heard is Dad Simulator 2026. Okay.
    58:30
    Came out and in its first 16 days, it sold 2 million copies. Oh, wow. I've never heard of this. Oh, you've not heard of Pragmata. Pragmata is – they're calling it Dad Simulator 2026. It's the game where the guy is running around in a space suit with like a little robot AI girl hanging on his back and you're like – Oh, okay. I've seen some clips of it. I didn't remember the name. Yeah. So it is – it launched huge and word of mouth blew it up. It is incredibly popular. Everybody is talking about it. But it has taken off, which makes two major, enormous games for Capcom in the last, what, six months?
    59:12
    Less than a year for sure because the new Resident Evil is still blowing up. Leon has become more of a meme than he was before. Yeah. We talked a little bit about him last time. We did. But this has turned into what's looking to be another enormous hit for Capcom. Good for them. Yeah.
    59:35
    We already talked about Nintendo's price increase. They did announce in their quarterly report that 19.86 million Switch 2s have been sold as of the end of quarter one. Okay. Wow. So, wow. And they'll probably get a spike here with the price increase. That's my guess. I think part of me almost wonders if that's not part of the reason they put the data out there so much. Because where Xbox's price increase and PlayStation's price increases were effective immediately.
    60:07
    Nintendo's like, oh, you've got five months. And everybody's like, I guess I better go buy a Switch 2 before it's $50 more expensive.
    60:18
    Also, Pocopia hit 4 million units sold and is continuing to be incredibly popular. People love it. They love being a ditto. Yeah. You can change anything you want. You just always have freaky little eyes. Freaky little eyes.
    60:37
    That's all I've really got today. There's a lot of games and stuff have been coming out. I've just been so busy. I've not played them. I've not had time to really look too deeply into anything. And, of course, your longstanding rule not to discuss Donkey Kong. What? Yeah. Never heard of it.
    60:53
    Well, if you have heard of it and you want to let us know about it, you can always email us at eclecticgamerspodcast.gmail.com or go to facebook.com slash eclecticgamerspodcast. I haven't mentioned Patreon at all today. I got to mention it now, patreon.com slash eclectic underscore gamers. That's where you can go if you want to provide some financial support to the show. We have three tiers for the lowest being a dollar a month. We're available on Twitch and Instagram as eclectic underscore gamers. We will be planning to be back in two weeks. Will we finally have the Stern Cornerstone reveal? Well, I think the title may be known by then. That's what my tummy is telling me, but I'm not completely positive. Maybe. But until then, my name is Dennis. It'll be My Little Pony. War Pony.
    61:38
    Swag. Swag Pony. My Little 40K. Oh, that would be so cool. We said 40K. We need that. That would be a good... 40K would be a good... It would be. I'm not even that steeped in it, but I like the games I play. Yeah, that would actually be a really good one. That would be a good one. But until next week, you're Dennis. I am. I'm Tony. Goodbye, everybody. See ya.