Tomb Raider Review

This we got off the cuff we attempt to go from

segment to segment without having to restart

from the beginning I was kind of hoping that

would be a lot better for a DS reference. Considering

anything you do on the Nintendo DS, it has to

restart itself. What do you mean? When you go

into the settings, you can't go into the settings

and then, like, if you go from anything in the

settings, the system has to restart. Constantly.

It's amazing how obscure of a reference that

was. I just thought you guys would get it. Because

it's one of the - I - Sorry. It's one of the

- Now that you've explained it to me. It's one

of the most annoying things about the DS. That's

one of the most annoying things? Okay. Well.

Anyways. Anyways. Moving right along here. As

usual, I'm your host, Michael Powers. You've

heard Art Danner. Hi. And you've heard Sean Z.

Brigado! And we found Joe. Hey, I'm back. And

he is still Joe. Yes. I'm never going to live

that down. You will. But like two years after

you die. He was Joe Reed. He was Joe Reed. So

we're going to do a little bit about what we've

been playing. And the second segment is a retrospective.

We're gonna be talking about the Nintendo DS

and the PSP Yep So who wants to go first? Which

one of what wait which one of us or which one

of the systems no no no no no what we've been

doing Joe what have you been? Yes, Joe I've been

in The wood shop downtown at my college grinding

cutting wood measuring things until we remove

college sounds real dirty Have you been making

Tetris blocks No, but I want to do that someday

I made a Tetris quilt a couple of years ago out

of denim that was a lot of fun That makes you

sound manly hey. Hey, I like quilting Good it's

full of quilts. Can I hire there Joe what? I

was acting too much like a girl guy. It's joking

Joe doesn't you all in the vaginas Okay, let's

not run wild with it. I didn't mean to do that

No, I did something video game related that was

moderately interesting. I poke around on Reddit

every once in a while and I've very fortunately

managed to avoid the nasty, disgusting, depressing

part of Reddit. And anyway, I found a subgroup

of game collectors and I trolled on there for

a couple of days looking at these people post...

uh, hey look what I found for this much at a

at a garage sale and it's Like ha ha ha that's

quaint. I have one of those and every once in

a while something would pop up and it'd be like

dang I really do want that and I was starting

to feel that junksy Of like man, these guys are

finding stuff. I don't have and uh, it motivated

me to just quickly snap some shots of things

that I hadn't put up in my uh, On my album and

I went and created an imager account and loaded

the whole collection on there and decided you

know what enough trolling and I shared it and

it ended up being a very uplifting thing for

me because when you're down here in the basement

looking at stuff it's very easy to just kind

of not realize how cool it all is and hearing

all of these anonymous people say wonderful things

it really kind of made me realize how lucky and

blessed I am to have had so many good connections

and happy friends I'm sure At least well yeah

art you've you've presented to the collection

and Mike you've gotten stuff in here and Sean

you're I just and that's why I appreciate good

friends and being blessed and having all of this

and That was a very good thing So what you're

saying is you went on the internet got upset

that people were had stuff You didn't and then

flaunted everything you do have yeah It put it

in perspective and I realized how lucky I am

and how much I should not complain or feel that

way you just wanted the adoration of strangers

yeah it felt really good you know i got like

300 imaginary internet points and and uh that

was good and i had like 15 minutes of internet

fame they're like quick come to our internet

relay chat website we want to talk to you and

and i did that and and for 10 or so minutes it's

like hey it's that dude with that huge collection

and then the next day i popped on there and it's

like who's that guy doesn't matter anymore and

my my 15 minutes of internet fame are gone but

it felt it was neat Well, you still have fame

here. That's awesome, thank you. Have you played

any games? Oh, did I, did I? Good Lord, I know

I did. I tried to play Far Cry again, and I determined

that after you unlock everything, the story mode

is kind of not so enticing anymore. They added

a feature where after you beat the game, you

can re - You can reset all of the outposts. Oh,

that's awesome. You still have all of your stuff,

but it resets all the outposts so they get populated

with guards again. I would just stand many, many

yards away with my 50 cal. Keep resetting it.

Like bang, bang, bang. Oh, that's nice. Reset.

Bang, bang, bang, bang. Oh, I can do that faster.

Oh, and I finally bought Walking Dead and I'm

on episode two. Nice still enjoying it. Yes Became

my wife's watch they just released the other

walking dead game, which I hear is fucking terrible

Oh, I was assuming it was gonna. I already figured

the ones they go. It's based off the TV shows

like dumb Okay, it's More importantly they tell

tale games announced that we will see walking

dead season 2 out by September Yes Yeah, I didn't

see that but I That sounds like you Well, I have

plenty of time to beat it then I think they're

going to be they're going to make an announcement.

I think in e3 or possibly it packs Those packs

is like what this week? Yes Season two or is

it the stuff that Gary widow was talking about

season two. They said season two That's cool

I mean, I don't know. They they tweetered, tweetered.

Then there would be news about season two. So.

I think I think I'll do what I did with The Walking

Dead and wait until it's all out. Yeah, that's

I mean, you were talking about like with the

first one, I was like, you couldn't be able to

play one and then wait a month. I might actually

start it on day one just because I enjoyed the

first one so much. And there's something to be

said about that wait that that pause like uh

when they did the green mile book serialized

Waiting that month or what is is part of the

experience of that anticipation. There's there's

gotta be something It's like you know being a

comic book collector versus buying graphic novels

indeed But see the the whole thing with the walking

dead like even waiting a day to from between

episode four and five like ruin well didn't ruin

the game for me, but like Any tension that four

had built took away some of the Anticity yes

way intensity intensity exactly it's like I'm

making up words it gave me It gave me a chance

to think about the decisions I had made Versus

just yeah, just like reflecting on what I had

done where the character you wouldn't actually

have time to reflect on your decisions in that.

I don't think I could have played multiple episodes

back to back because I think my nerves were way

too frazzled and I needed a day to recover between

episodes. Yeah, but you want to wait especially

after episode 2 I think episode 2 ruined me a

little bit as a human being I'm I just I do not

want to go into that barn door. I don't know

dear lord. Why are they making me do that decision?

I don't want to do it. Oh dear lord you have

no idea Or maybe he does I mean you know I have

an idea and I don't want to do it But they're

making me the story is telling it gets worse

There's a you think it you think it's gonna be

bad, and then it gets worse That's all I remember

that's the main thing I remembered about episode

2 is I was like Because Mike was like I know

where I have a good idea where this is going

I was like yeah, it seems obvious and then the

obvious like oh, I wish it had gone there Yeah,

I wish it happens, and then somehow they make

the obvious even worse than you could have imagined

Yeah Something's kind of telling me I should

have gone back and and I should play it again

and befriend the Angry old man from the first

no Don't get attached Well, I don't know yeah,

okay I Wanted to say something, but I was like

I know I don't want to He gets what's coming

to him real fast Just yeah, does he get it like

wholesale um awesome. No. It's one of those.

It's like it was He'll find out it's really Off

at least the way it went down in the game that

me and Mike were playing I know it can go a different

way, but holy crap Because I think me and Mike

both kind of like jumped backwards when it happened

because we weren't expecting it to go down the

way it did Yeah, it was very Because me and Mike

were just like, what the fuck? Well, yeah, it's

two paths to the same thing, but the one that

we went down, yeah, it was like a jump moment,

like startling, like, what the hell just happened?

So. So good. So good. Yeah. And I'm glad I picked

it up. So. I'm glad I made you pick it up. I'm

glad it was my game of the year even though I

hadn't played it all the way through. Yeah You'd

played like a fifth of it It was amazing. You

know I was thinking just just based off of you

know just Talking early game of the year stuff.

I was thinking again today that Tomb Raider is

the best game. I've played this year. I was easily

gonna say that yeah if If Tomb Raider is not

on my top five for this game that came out this

year, I will be pleasantly surprised with all

the games that come up this year because it was

really good. But yeah, well, because I was thinking

about this, I said, you know, it's probably going

to come down to it's going to come down to Tomb

Raider and Last of Us. And it's probably going

to end up wimping out again and doing best, you

know, best game of the year from Crystal Dynamic.

Tomb Raider and then I have a feeling that's

how I feel about Saints Row 4 I have a feeling

that's gonna be on my list when I come I haven't

watched the trailer but all I heard was the premise

and I was like sold yeah there I mean it sucks

that look Grand Theft Auto 5 yeah cuz I'm waiting

for a very specific piece of information drop

before I get excited about that game go on I

want to hear three pair three player heist co

-op Yeah, I hear those words. I'm instantly sold

on that did anybody else besides me and Sean

here with the premises for Saints for isn't it

aliens attacking the White House? Kind of what

the one one of these Saints becomes president

of the United States, okay? Yeah, and They were

gonna release this DLC for Saints the third cult

enter the dominatrix Yeah, and it's it's the

matrix. They pulled that they started rowified.

Yeah They pulled that and were actually they

had that enter the dominatrix turned into Saints

for yeah They rolled it into the first game.

I guess it I guess they're like their ambition

for it was gonna be so huge They were like this

is too big for DLC. They just pushed it to the

next game I'm I'm wondering because it's like

one of the first games that that's been announced

so far that doesn't have a next -gen release

Yep I'm I'm wondering if it will Well, same with

Grand Theft 5, though. Grand Theft 5, they announced,

will not have a next -gen release. But Grand

Theft 5 was announced before the next -gen console

releases. They asked them, they're like, you

guys are gonna do next -gen release, right? And

they're like, no. Well, I understand that, but

what I'm saying is, since we've had the announcement

of the PlayStation 4... Yeah, everything has

been announcing multiple... Yeah, Saints Row

is the first game where it's like, no, we're

not next -gen. We're not I don't think we're

gonna get a we're gonna get a lot of you know

multi -release platform, but if you if Let's

let's go back for a second Let's go back to the

end of the ps2 in the Xbox and think about the

multi -release stuff that came out a lot of it

was Bullshit garbage. Oh, I got a gun Yeah, like

the the gun which was basically Want to say that

the 360 version was worse than the ps2 version

it wasn't the wasn't the rainbow six game that

came out or the Splinter Cell game wasn't that

better on the Xbox than on the 360 I think was

actually better on the Gamecube Well, but it

was better on past gen than current then yeah

that point was the next one I mean I get I get

what you're saying. I'm not I just found it interesting

that they're not even Like they're not even trying

to port especially yeah, or Tony Hawk's American

It was a Tony Hawk's American Wasteland was a

launch title for yes the 360 and for some reason

there was less content in the 360 version than

there was in the ps2 version I Think it's one

of those things that I get I get nervous about

those cusp titles Yeah, it's like a good game

can get lost in that transition version is gonna

suffer and it's one of those like They're like,

well, we're going to make this stuff look really

good. But it's like they concentrate so much

on making it look good on the next system that

they sacrifice content. Yeah. Well, are they

going to make a next gen game that? that they

dumbed down and put on current -gen or they're

going to make a current -gen game that they try

to polish up and make pretty enough for the next

gen. And some of them have been developing it

so long that it's been on the old technology.

Yeah. I think we're going to see some decent

ports this time because of how easy the PS4 is

to program for. So I'm a little more hopeful

that actually the PS4 versions are going to be

better than the PS3 versions of stuff that are

coming out because... It's because he uses like

the off -the -shelf kind of stuff and not you

don't have to write yourself. Yeah put an emulator

in it Yeah, well that well, that's what I was

that's kind of what I was getting at with Saints

Row is that it's coming out for the PC too So

it's like why not just with the hardware in the

ps3 and presumably the hardware in the next Xbox

being so close There are architectural differences,

of course Well, the other thing you got to think

about is the fact of because of the THU sale

That game could be way more done than you actually

anticipated it to be and because of the sale

This thing may be so completely close to gold

but because of the transitions and all that stuff

Push it big it just they must just push the release

back They could be way more done with this and

you possibly think they are because I think the

THQ sale are going is It screwed up a lot of

the timetables on a lot of those games that got

sold All I mean that's completely valid. I've

just just make it a thing that you know It's

interesting that it's the first one there was

another one to someone Was it someone else it

was a game that I didn't really care about I

can't remember the name It was Capcom announced

a game for February. That's on current stuff

and not next -gen Yeah, there was some some other

game out there, but I like I said no or is it

okay? Let's not remember me because memories

is June It's coming out, remember me scheduled

for the same day as Last of Us now, isn't it?

No, June 4th. I thought it was June 17th. That's

Last of Us. When you said it was delayed, I went

and looked, it was originally May and got delayed

to June 4th. That game already looks like it's

totally worth 20 bucks. It doesn't look like

a 60 dollar game. I didn't know until I went

and dug into it a little more that it was originally

supposed to be a Sony exclusive. Yeah. So the

stuff I saw looks OK. It looks like Oni. It does

look like Oni. So I didn't mind Oni, but that

was a long time ago. I say I say that having

played Oni, you know, what, 12 years ago. So

yeah. All right, Danner, I know you've been playing

a whole heap. Are you sure you want me to go

now? Okay, um I Number one it's a couple dangerous

things. I got a Sony. I got a PlayStation credit

card. Oh God, yeah So I'm currently kind of have

a specific card that I just put my video game

purchases on so I can track my video game purchases

better But now I'm also ordering getting bonus

points for buying video games on top of already

getting bonus points at Best Buy. So it's just

I'm racking up points for free crap to buy more

free games. Anyways, regardless, I already got

$50, $50 PSN credit and then used 18 of that

to buy a three month PlayStation Plus subscription

to See if I was going to enjoy that and like

that and and so far since you know the PlayStation

Plus is Now providing free games to the Vita

and the ps3 I went Pretty much close to insane

and just downloaded a ton of stuff played a ton

of shit this week I didn't on Saturday somehow.

I don't even know how I basically spent 10 hours

playing games Well, it's which for me is insane,

but because I had so many new things to play

I Was like a kid with ADHD the entire time because

I one of those ones where you stopped You're

like, oh my god, it's dark out now It was one

of those like I got to the end of the day and

I was like, oh my god I haven't game this long

in a long Long time my ask her from sitting at

the couch feels good though, doesn't it? Amazing

It's like stretching a muscle you haven't used

in a long time and I mean I've downloaded So

much of the free games that I haven't actually

played all of them yet So I won't even go into

everything that I've downloaded. I'll just go

into what I've actually played so far but first

off Tomb Raider I beat Tomb Raider. Yeah, finally

I probably could have beaten it like on Saturday

because I was close enough to the end. But for

some reason, I decided to go all the way back

to the beginning of the game and go through and

collect all the collectibles because unlike Mike,

I was enjoying the books and the audio logs because

it was adding so much more to the game. And I

don't want to go into too much about the story

because I'm going to let Joe borrow it and I

know he's going to play it and I don't want to

ruin anything. But I know Joe also gave told

me to give them the sales pitch earlier when

we were talking on the phone, which is tell me

the three best things about the game and then

tell me the worst thing about the game. So. There

is a few like, like I said, the thing that all

together after playing it all the way through

and feeling like I can, you know, form a solid,

you know, review and opinion of the game. Probably

the most fun and most one of the most solid through

and through games. I've played in a while like

it didn't if Trying to say the think of the best

way to describe it wasn't bloated Yeah, it didn't

like it didn't feel like there was unnecessary

portions things that drug out too long it was

really well it was even keeled and paced throughout

the entire game I didn't feel like there was

a whole lot of unnecessary things like I would

go as far to say that probably the challenges

were a little unnecessary yeah I can agree with

that like I I guess that's what I was trying

to say like I didn't find a whole lot of I found

the game didn't even know there was challenges

in the area until I went and I looked at the

map I was like oh fuck these challenges here,

okay? And literally the challenges are there's

like some stuff spread out in the area that if

you find them and you shoot them You complete

the challenges The one I will say is the most

annoying the shipwreck beach and the minesweeper

challenge. There's ten old Ocean mines there's

tents yes Some are washed up on the shore summer

in the ocean and you have to shoot all of them

I shot all of them, but my Game says that I've

only found nine out of the ten it didn't register

one of the ones I shot and Now I'm sitting at

99 % completion on the game and it's crazy because

there's a small bug in the game I've I've spent

two and a half hours looking for the mine I Supposedly

missed but it finally after searching the forums

and everything online It's it's a bug that they

haven't fixed because I I didn't must be a ps3

thing because the three I found I 100 % of the

game on the 360 there was one mine that I went

looking around for and It was almost It was it

was almost in a spot that I could not see it.

It was almost it's actually out past almost out

past the draw distance Okay, and it's when you're

going out towards the When you there's two of

them out there. Yeah, there's the there's there's

one on the right and there's one on the left

Yeah, the one on the left was almost out in the

draw distance Really? Yeah, it was really far

out there Mine wasn't mine was right by the rocks.

Maybe I would start the ones in the ocean. That's

where the bug is. The ones in the ocean can move.

Well, I would I would actually just go out, go

try again, like just load it up. I got both of

those ones. I know for sure I got both of those

ones. The one that I'm not positive on is, you

know, we're like the wrecked portion of the ship

is. When you're going over to the tower. Yes.

That's right there. There's one like that's in

front of a hull. Yeah. That one I can't guarantee

that I got. And supposedly that's the one that

glitches out the most. Oh. Well, have you...

Have you tried just like... I know you tried...

I shot explosive arrows everywhere into that

water. I didn't mean that. Did you try... Did

you try two separate... On two separate occasions

to try and find that, right? Four separate occasions

now. With like completely shutting the game off

and turning it back on? Yeah. Okay, because I

ran into an issue on the 360 where I was trying

to find a GPS cache. Yeah. And I was using the

marker on the map to lead me to where it was

and it was on top of a hut. Well, the problem

is with the challenge stuff, you can't mark those

on your... Well, no, it wasn't one of the challenge

ones, though. I went to where the little beacon

was telling me that it was, and it wasn't there.

And I looked underneath the hut, I looked on

top of the hut, I looked all over the place,

and I stopped, and went about and found something

else, and I stopped the game, and I came back,

and I loaded it back up, and the thing magically

appeared where it was supposed to be. Like it

glitched out, but then when I restarted the game

it loaded back up That's the only reason I asked

but I honestly I I think you should just try

going and looking out on the horizon Okay That

was gonna be when you said that you were looking

for him and you couldn't find one That's the

advice I was gonna give cuz it was almost you

almost even can't when you do the little pulse

thing Yeah, you almost can't even see it with

the pulse Hmm. It's just and I had to I shot

it with the the m16 It's just frustrating to

not get a hundred percent I was frustrated trying

to find it. I was like this is so this is so

stupid I'm sitting there going I don't even want

to do this like but I did it so yeah, it's Anyways,

I just I just really appreciate what crystal

dynamics finally managed to do with the series

Because I think from legend and underworld that

was obvious that they had a grander scope for

the game but it was it was like a lot of the

ideas were you know It's like they wanted to

do something but their hands were tied the entire

time and I don't know how much Square Enix had

to do with What went down or because I think

this has been in production For I almost think

before the Eidos Square Enix merger Yes, okay,

I was about to ask what Square Enix had to do

with Tomb Raider, but that answers that they

published it. They published it But I just it

was impressive at the fact that they they kept

a lot of Characters and interesting things. I

think the best way described it to Joe earlier

is it's like it's like Star Trek The characters

are there, but they're not necessarily who they

were before exactly it's It's like the original

Star Trek versus the JJ Abrams reboot where it's

All the characters that you expect to be there

there but Everything goes completely topsy -turvy

and nothing's exactly the same as it was before

which is awesome, which I mean it's The fact

that it seems like every single major character

that was in the old series shows up in This game,

but they don't make it so Which isn't gonna be

a spoiler for Joe at all because Joe doesn't

know who to fuck anybody is in the old series

besides Lara Croft So I've ruined nothing for

him So when when somebody dies and it goes, huh?

That dude's dead and he won't know any of the

history of them or what? Sort of purpose they

go that guy was kind of important in the old

series now he's dead The one thing that I thought

was really really interesting which I kind of

don't want to get into because Joe's here But

the at the very end of the game when the dual

pistols both show up Finally, I thought that

was awesome. Oh, yeah, I that was really funny.

It was also really funny when I went that was

cool Don't get me wrong, but it was it was also

really funny because I didn't realize what it

was telling me to do Yeah, so I was only pulling

one trigger And I was like, oh wait, it's both

Well, the thing that I thought was interesting

Was Joe plug your ears The fact that she got

one of her gum guns from her mentor and one of

her guns from her enemy but that's not is the

gun that you upgrade in the game is that the

gun she got from her mentor because yeah okay

because it didn't they didn't look the same to

me well i think she she eventually gets his gun

or you switch over okay unless i miss something

but i thought okay i may have read that wrong

then because I thought it was a nice a balance

between light and dark type of a very Like I

thought one was just her upgrading her stuff

because I didn't see her take her mentors. I

saw the mentors pistols I'm fairly certain she

took her mentors pistol. Okay, I Just you know,

I I did like that by the time by the end of the

game that gun was basically the gun from Robocop

Nice, and it's like oh, and you're just gonna

open up your hip and pull it out. I see so the

but I I Thought there was some very interesting

story There was some good storytelling going

on and that was one of the things I was concerned

about because a few the reviews said that like

the story starts out strong But then it goes

flat, and I never really felt that way I thought

the story was pretty consistent, and I thought

a lot of the audio logs kind of helped build

the mythos of what was going on in the island,

which I know you didn't really pay any attention

to those. I don't think they're completely necessary

to the plot, but I think it just gives you way

more background information. You know what, I

will say this, I disagree with what the reviewer

said about the story. No, I completely agree.

I completely disagree with what the reviewers

are saying about this story also. Like what I

got, I got what happened. They did a good job

of relaying the information you need to know

what's going on in game. I felt like they did

such a good job of that. But like I said, one

of the audio logs, she finds out very early on

that the guy she's with is a complete hack and

is going to steal her work. But she doesn't really...

Act that like she doesn't the the game doesn't

address that she knows this The thing so it's

like you know as the player of the game, but

she doesn't know even though you or her Yeah,

the thing that I thought was really interesting

was the fact that Lair doesn't realize what's

going on with Sam until like the last 45 minutes

of the game And I knew exactly what was happening

in the first hour. Yeah, you do the moment Mathias

takes off with Sam I was like, I got a really

good idea of what's going on, and like 20 minutes

later I was like, yeah, that's definitely what's

happening here. And then when he gets to the

end of the game, and Largo, like, puts all the

pieces together, I was like, seriously? You just

fucking got that now? Yeah, no kidding. Cause

that was probably my biggest complaint about

the game, is the fact that it was like, I knew

really, really, very early on exactly what was

going on. And... Laura did. Lord didn't which

is fine. I'm okay with that I can get past that

type of stuff because that happens with movies

all the time where I was like I'm pretty sure

what's going on and then they don't reveal until

like The beginning of the third act what's actually

happening, and you figured it out ten minutes

into the first act yeah, and it's one of those

things that it's just it's It's fine. It was

more fun getting there than anything else. I

mean it was just And like like I said the one

the issues that I have with For some reason this

game made me realize more issues that I have

with uncharted than I originally thought I did

Which was a Lot of the the gunfights just seemed,

you know Seemed to drag on a little too long

and like in like the first uncharted game. Mm

-hmm I still the end in in tomb Raiders case.

I think tomb Raider was better than uncharted

1 I almost want to say it's on par. It's pretty

much the same or maybe a little bit better than

three, but there's no way it's better than two.

Well, when I compare it to Uncharted, I enjoy

the shooting in Tomb Raider way more than Uncharted.

No, the combat was incredibly solid. That is

definitely the one thing I will say the combat

was very, very solid. And I felt like the encounters,

like I do agree with you about the encounters

in Tomb Raider being more realistic. Than the

ones in in uncharted, but I mean that's that's

issues that everyone's had with uncharted Like

as good as uncharted is the combat is usually

people's worst Yeah, I always wonder about that

Is it that the combat itself or is the fact that

the guys you're fighting can apparently throw

10 ,000 guys at you? It's that it's that it's

the waves of it's like the the amount of people

that you're murdering Is unrealistic it's I believe

the guys on rebel FM called it called both Laura

and Drake a murdering murderer who murders And

and yeah the encounters are far less and I did

appreciate when going back in the game and doing

Catching you know finding all the extra stuff

that there. I only found like ten guys The world

doesn't really repopulate after you finish the

game I was I was laughing about some of the dialogue

after the games beat and you go back to some

of the areas because like even Even the guys

that are still on the island are all like happy

that the weather's gone are talking about like

what they're having for dinner and then I sneak

up on them and put an arrow between their eyes

while they're talking about how much better things

are and how the island's normal and how they're

going to get off the island and how optimistic

they are and then I just go through and fucking

kill every single one of them. The one bummer

I think at the end of the day that kind of irks

me more than anything else like is she earns

the trademark pistols. Yeah. But you don't have

them after the game ends. I was hoping that there

was a point where the costume changes and I was

kind of hoping that she would get the trademark

look. Yeah. Because she starts off with two tank

tops. We probably won't see that too. Yeah, well

she starts off with the two tank tops and the...

the pants, the cargo pants. And the suit, the

tank tops get worn out in such a way, and the

pants get worn out in such a way that I was like,

you know, I think, I honestly thought for a little

bit, I was like, at some point, she's just gonna,

like, tear, you know, the rest of the pants off,

and the shorts. Her, like, cargo shorts. Yeah,

but then again, that's not the Tomb Raider they

were trying to... to evoke, and that's fine,

I got that. I like the new character and stuff

like that, but I was like, that's... I was very

hung up by the way, the final sequence at the

end, and the final journal entry, and the last

line of the game. I was like, perfect. That was

just the perfect way to end the game. So, and

I think if we've talked about this, is that we

can get a Tomb Raider in the years when Uncharted

isn't out. That would be awesome. That's yeah,

and I I almost don't want them to come out at

the same time. Like if that ever happened, you

don't want them to compete against each other.

But I know, like I said, I don't want to. Yeah,

it's one of those. I don't want it to be like

Call of Duty in Battlefield. But at the same

time, like I said in the last show, I don't really

think I can compare it to Uncharted anymore.

Yeah, it's it's fundamentally monster. Well,

no, it's it's it's. Fundamentally different game

at least this one was who knows yes No, I think

in this you could compare the old ones together

and just how uncharted out tomb raidered yes

It back in the day, but it's I think they've

changed the formula enough For a tomb raider

that it's something they got under uncharted

shadow. Yeah, um Until you play the multiplayer

I will say This real quick and then we can move

on from Tomb Raider because we've talked about

it for two weeks now three weeks now We'll probably

talk about it again when Joe has played it and

Sean's he's played it but I Just on a whim I

went back and finished Tomb Raider underworld

That game made me appreciate the new Tomb Raider

so much more Because it's terrible it no yes,

it is freaking Terrible I gotta say you were

even able to play because I thought for sure

you would load it up and go that fuck it I almost

I almost was I was almost gonna give up on it

I was like you know what no this is what the

internet is for I Any puzzle that I came up with

like any and they weren't even puzzles it was

traversal like That's the one thing maybe it's

kind of been dumbed down or babied by by by Tomb

Raider by newer games and like the way they show

you where you can go and stuff like that. But

this game, there's like nothing to indicate what

you can do. And I stopped at the worst possible

place where it's all platforming. And I just

had to get a guide and the guide had to tell

me which way I can go. She controls like a freaking

sloth still. I didn't like, but you know what?

She can run at an angle. It's not, you know,

straightforward and back and left and right.

She can actually run in eight directions. The

one thing I found that was funny was the the

the combat was completely different you can I

missed I almost combat's terrible I almost missed

in the new Tomb Raider being able to just hold

down the trigger and flip all over the place

like a crazy mad person and still hit your target

yeah, I just I but I finished it, I beat my head

against the wall, I died more times in the last

two chapters of Underworld, just trying to finish

it, than I did in all of Tomb Raider. Not only

that, you were talking about the scope of the

previous games? Yeah. She becomes Thor. She gets

these gloves and a belt, kind of like Thor in

the Marvel Universe has, or in the Ultimates

Universe had. And then she actually gets Thor's

hammer and you spend like the last two acts of

the game Just you don't even use your guns anymore.

You just walk around Electrocuting people with

an electric bolt that comes out of your your

hammer And that sounds and then you use it underwater

fire electricity underwater And they also trying

to say that that's not feasible Well the other

part was funny too when you start a new level.

They let you pick your outfit And she had, the

last level takes place in Antarctica. And I put

on this little, this, you get like a full, a

full suit, you know, a full person wetsuit or

whatever. And then you get like this wetsuit

speedo kind of thing going on. I was like, I'm

going to put that on. So she's swimming in like,

you know, under an Antarctic ice shelf. We'll

just switch it to an Arctic ice shelf. And she's

swimming underwater. and she's in one of those

wetsuits that just covers like the top of your

body like your legs are bare and she doesn't

have on she's not she's swimming without flippers

and i'm like are you this is this is really happening

i'm really watching this um but yeah i was the

other thing i kind of wish they had in the new

tomb raider was skins like i want to be able

to play as like a polygon just walking around

the screen i just think it'd be fun i just think

it'd be fun um But yeah, we can it took me four

and a half years to beat that game Yeah And I

didn't get half the trophies at all I finished

it and had 17 % of the trophies and I was like

what the hell happened here and I went and looked

and apparently is one of the games that was released

right before Sony made it mandatory for trophies

and It got patched in later So I only got the

trophies for like the last two chapters So and

I'm not replaying that shit Why not so besides

Tomb Raider I also played a closure Which is

a PSN like puzzle game The best way I'm trying

to think of the best way to describe it. It's

a light light and dark game. Everything's black

and white And wherever there's light the world

exists, but wherever there's darkness. It's a

Void and you'll fall off the world So you have

to manipulate the light in order to get through

the platform stages So basically you can't step

into shadows and you have to move Yeah, if you

step into a shadow you fall off the world and

you die. This sounds like echo chrome 2 I haven't

played echo chrome 2 It has a It kind of looks

a little bit like a man. I can't think of any

game all of a sudden limbo Looks like limbo a

little bit, but with an art direction kind of

like pat upon All right, I see that especially

since I just Grab pat upon because it was on

the was free on the PlayStation Plus. Yeah, so

it's I Played it for like 30 minutes, but it's

kind of one of those it seems addictive that

if you could sit down and just tear through the

levels it's i mean it's fun um would i be playing

it if it wasn't free right now probably not um

but i'm enjoying it it's it's not bad for what

it is it's not bad for a puzzle or i'd rather

it it's one of the for every single time i play

a puzzle game on the ps3 i keep wishing it's

on the vita because for some reason puzzle games

are more of a handheld system thing to me Because

I like to be able to you know, sit down do like

six or seven puzzles and then put it down and

walk away from it I wonder if that's like walk

away from the toilet. Yeah, exactly. I wonder

if that's the old crossword mentality Yeah, maybe

Um, so that that's good. Um, I Started playing

plants versus zombies on Vita because that was

also a free game You've played that before though,

right? I've played that ton. I've played it on

the Kindle. I've played it on The MacBook, I've

played it in like three or four different systems.

The only thing I like more about this one is

the fact that I get to play it and I get trophies

at the same time. I know, right? Which is awesome

because I would gladly play that game any day

of the week and now I get trophies for it, which

makes me actually want to play it more. I like

the shake to collect the sun. Yeah. Oh, that'd

be so much smoother. Oh, no the the the It really

they did a good job of adapting it for the Vita.

It's nice and then Uncharted Golden Abyss is

also a free game right now with PlayStation Plus

So I downloaded that so I've been I was technically

I was played Tomb Raider and Uncharted at the

exact same time And it's Like I said, playing

Tomb Raider at the same time while I was playing

an Uncharted game just brought out all the issues

I had with Uncharted because the gunfighting

portions of Golden Abyss are just as awesome

as they are in the council versions. But it's

a little bit more clunky until you get an automatic

weapon and that gets a little bit easier to do.

And it's just trying to get used to how the Vita

controls work in with the game. There's a lot

of really, really good uses of the Vita controls

with Uncharted. Isn't that the game they use

to show off some of the new Vita controls? Me

and Mike have talked about this before and I'm

sure we'll talk about this when we get to the

Vita next week also. Especially with... even

with the DS and with the PSP how with the new

system the launch titles for a system tend to

super hardcore push all the features of the system

so you'll know that they're there and then usually

after you get to the launch window and they don't

really have those well you need to show this

this and this off and then they can actually

you know really design functional games for the

system Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2 yeah exactly

where the uncharted Golden Abyss suffers from

that, you know, the system does this, this and

this and this. So we need the system to do this,

this, this and this and this and this. And it's

one of those like you could really see that there

would be a lot better game there if it wasn't

a launch system. But I don't mind some of the

functionality. I think actually some of it's

cool. Like instead of having to climb through

terrain and stuff like that, I draw a line, right?

You could draw a line and in Have him traverse

the line that you drew. So go along that path

that you drew with your finger. Climbing a rope

using the back of the back touchpad to climb.

That doesn't bother me any. Throwing grenades

sucks. Throwing grenades fucking blows in that

game. Do you find it easier to climb a rope with

the touch than it is to just push up on the stick?

Think it's more interesting I don't I don't necessarily

say that stuff snaps me out of the game see that

doesn't really bother me like the Use the back

just the shake a rusty door and having to swipe

your finger three times until they open the fucking

door is annoying to me When's that oh, it's happened

three times already. I'm at a chapter 9 you've

I think you've played longer than I have Trust

me, it's coming and it happens twice and it happens

within a 20 minute period. Doing the rubbings

is cool because you literally put a piece of

paper there and then you take the charcoal and

then you rub on the paper to do the rubbings.

I know there's a part later in the game that

I haven't gotten to that you get a piece of paper

that's blank. there's nothing on it and then

you take your Vita and with the rear camera you

hold it up to a light and then you can see through

the piece of paper that's like all this I like

all that stuff that they did and I like that

kind of stuff I just wish it didn't have the

everything that they added that and I'm pretty

sure you're gonna talk about something else here

too I wish they didn't put percentages Yeah,

I wish it was like you're wiping off like pickaxes

and shovels and stuff yeah that stuff or Or taking

the pictures. Oh the pictures. I don't The helmet

the helmet was the most annoying part for me

because it was like I found the logo or whatever

And he's like this is what this is and it's okay

number one. That's the first of many to come

yeah, I know But he's like, you find what he's

looking for, right? But then they're still like,

you can't leave this screen until you scrape

it all off. What the hell? My biggest issue so

far with the game is I don't like how they've

incorporated the card game into it. Isn't that

just the wanted stuff? Yeah, because everything

you collect, you build up cards and then the

cards can be used to go into the Fight for Fortune

card game. which is like a Magic the Gathering

type of a Uncharted card game that you buy separately

for like five bucks. Regardless, that's fine.

And it's not something you have to utilize. But

anything you're collecting in the levels helps

build up the stats for those cards. So it makes

me feel like I'm collecting things in a level

for absolutely no fucking reason whatsoever because

I have no plans of playing the Uncharted card

game. I play the demo and I get everything I

needed to get out of the Uncharted card game.

That was it. I don't need to buy the game. It

doesn't seem that intriguing to me and honestly

if I was going to do that I would get back into

something like Uncharted, I'm sorry, like Magic

the Gathering, which number one is a money suck

and it's total bullshit. Just so you know, you

could do exactly the same thing by spending $14

.99 on Xbox Live and just buying the Tournament

Edition. Then you don't have to go out and spend

thousands of thousands of dollars building a

deck you can for 15 bucks you could just Create

a deck digitally instead of you know wasting

your life's money And plus you should really

see the people that play that game, so it's quite

sad I'd like magic the gathering guy to come

to the geek garage sale There's a certain I mean

I know we're a geeky podcast and don't get me

wrong, but there's there's there's our types

of geeks. And then they're perpetuating the bad

stereotype of geeks. Yes. They captain's sweatpants

off of Big Bang Theory. Yeah. Yeah. It's really

it's really sad. But. The bigger issue like like

Uncharted like Golden Abyss is really good. when

you're doing the looking for artifacts and you're

climbing around and you're Looking for things

and doing the archaeologists portion of the game

or the archaeology part of it Fighting in the

gum play just seems so boring Now I'm wondering

is that because of Tomb Raider or do you think

I think I honestly do think it is because of

Tomb Raider I do think that's a portion of it

um and it doesn't it's the longer the game goes

the less i mind the combat in the game but there

was a few instances where like you get into a

fight there's like four guys there and he killed

those four guys and like 12 guys show up and

it's like fucking seriously i'm playing it on

hard so yeah i'm not because i i figured i would

get way too annoyed because of um playing Tomb

Raider at the same time and just already kind

of feel like, man, they do combat way better

than Uncharted. And I was I was kind of fearful

of that. That's why I didn't go for. Well, I

didn't go for a harder mode. Here's an example

of I I I realized this because I was so irritated

when I died, I killed. From when I started the

game to the first time I died, I killed 70 people.

bastard and I'm only on I think I'm either on

chapter 4 or chapter 6 Okay, and I killed 70

people it's gonna get worse There's a ton of

guys in chapter 8. Well, that's that's fine Even

one of the trophies is kill so many got to kill

like 80 guys or something like that already got

it Yeah, it well it's in a row without dying

No, I don't think I've gotten so and I I've been

playing on hard because well, I've played all

the Uncharted games on hard But the one thing

I did notice that I kind of wish they would have

left in for the hard mode was auto aim. Yeah

Yeah, they removed auto aim if you play on hard

and I was like this is so stupid. I Don't even

think there's an auto aim on normal dude that

Can you it's in the options? There's no checkbox

I should I should do that because the aiming

is super dumb on this one Yeah, did you turn

off the aiming with the control like did? Are

you still aiming by moving the Vita? No. God,

no. You turned that off? I didn't know I could

do that. That sounds dangerously tough. That's

actually the default. Huh. That might be why

you're having such a hard time. It could be.

The default aim is aiming with the Vita, like

moving it around in front of you, tipping it

and stuff like that. See, now you do that with

the camera, but it doesn't do that with... At

least I haven't noticed. Maybe that explains

a few things. Well, I would imagine like when

you're doing the camera, you're actually like,

it tells you to like move the... you know move

it um like i turned all that stuff off so i was

aiming with the with the analog sticks instead

of moving the whole thing around yeah so when

you turn on um yeah aiming is tied to actually

moving the system around unless you turn it off

and yeah well it's not dumb or anything yeah

i just i i felt like I get that it's a launch

game and they needed to put all that stuff in

there But it was just at some point it became

it became too much stuff like you could have

just made an uncharted game And it would have

been awesome that said I do like the way it looks

I do like I still think the at least what I've

played I don't know what I've played the it's

still Drake The the of my other issues so far

which I don't know if you've noticed this yet

I'm at Chapter 9, and we're still in the same

country. The lookout, yeah. Like it just seems,

it seems like such a smaller scope. Right. Compared

to the other games. Right. Because we talked

about that, like the Uncharted games are globe

trotting events. Exactly. And this one isn't

so far. I'm not saying that it's not yet. And

I don't know how many chapters there are. I just

know typically in the other games, we're talking

like 26 chapters. Yes, I think it's the same.

So it's one of those like I'm almost at the halfway

point. We haven't gone anywhere. So it leads

to believe you're not going to be going anywhere.

I have that feeling that we might never leave

Venezuela. Wherever such a lovely country um

But not when you're done with it because you

killed half the populace, but yeah, but they

probably had it coming The other games I played

Which two of them all will touch on very briefly

I played Mega Man 9 which is still balls ass

hard And that's how I'm gonna leave it. It's

a fucking awesome game, but it's still insanely

fucking hard. How is it too hard? Or is it like

the appropriate amount like it's I don't I don't

think it's like old school Nintendo like the

old games it like takes skill to play a Mega

Man game Yeah, I don't think that it's it's too

hard. I just it's not one of those games Yeah,

I think it does point out how bad we've all gotten

at games because I don't think they've really

changed the design I also played a Mega Man X

maverick hunter today For the first time and

I love Mega Man X on the Super Nintendo. It's

one of my favorite Super Nintendo games but holy

fuck this game is very different from the because

I knew where everything was in Mega Man X and

They've changed the levels designs just a little

bit and I don't know where to fuck anything is

anymore because they pulled all the suit upgrades

I think they moved them to different areas and

there's different ways to access them now Which

is completely annoying I'm not I'm not gonna

disagree with you. But the last time I I got

I don't know. It was when you were still working

at GameStop I don't know if you remember I came

I came through there and I bought the Mega Man

X collection. Yeah I played Mega Man X on there

and then shortly After that I got Maverick Hunter

on the on Allison's PSP. Yeah, and it was Pretty

much the same it's pretty much the same But there's

some they there's a they've tweaked it and these

they said it's a little bit different of a game

It's based off of Mega Man X. I like the way

it looks though. I Still prefer the Super Nintendo

version graphically. Well, I the other the other

problem I think they added a plot a more of a

plot well more story because there's cutscenes

and there's video and I feel like Because even

playing Pat upon on the Vita, that game looks

like ass. It did not look like ass on the PSP.

Well, it's all emulated. Well, it's emulated.

It's also the screen. The screen is it's not

the same. The resolution isn't compatible. Yeah.

So it's like it's everything looks muddy. So

I would imagine that Maverick Hunter doesn't

look as good as it should. Yeah. So. and the

other game I played was Darksiders was free to

download and play and I know me and Mike have

talked a little about this earlier today about

my feelings about this game and I'm enjoying

it I think it's interesting so far but it I compared

it to Devil May Cry and The God of War And Mike,

I know, doesn't see my Devil May Cry connection.

And I meant the Devil May Cry connection in the

way that when the rooms lock off and the barriers

go up and they do that swooping camera thing

like Devil May Cry does, like the original, the

first game. I just thought that was like it made

me giggle because I was like, oh, that's such

a Devil May Cry thing to do. I see that. I understand

what you're talking about, because I saw it when

I was playing it today. I saw it once. I think

that happens less. Unless as the game goes on

because well it was just it was the first time

I it happened I was just like man, that's like

and the the collecting orbs and collecting souls

thing is kind of similar well, I Now like obviously

like we said when we're on Twitter like talking

about it and like this yeah I I see what you're

saying, but I got the I get the god of war probably

because I It's way more like God of War than

anything else. It's so much like God of War.

What I was gonna say is God of War does all the

stuff that you were talking about Devil May Cry

doing. God of War does that too. So it's like

it was I guess it was more Because the game as

a whole has more in common with God of War. Yeah,

I guess it was one of those things when I was

looking at I was like elements I mean, technically,

they're all the same kind of genre of games or

those hack and slash action adventure games.

So there are going to be similarities across

the board between all of them. What I'm interested

in in seeing is because you said you played for

an hour, right? Yeah. The one thing I like so

far is the fact that it's got a. Open world,

but closed off type of a feel to it. What I get

so far what I can tell it just seems like you

have areas that you can kind of have a leeway

around of traversing around at points. Well I

have the one the one the two comparisons I've

heard with Darksiders is God of War and I'm really

interested in you playing this game. I'm interested

too because I could really give two craps about

God of War. I would like to have a hack and slash

type of a game that I could actually get into.

I want to see if you, when you play this game,

if you agree with this. I've heard from many

sources they've thrown out God of War from a

combat standpoint, but from a world mission structure,

dungeon stuff, it's been likened to Zelda. Because

you go into a dungeon correct me if I'm wrong

because I've never I'll keep in a mind while

I'm playing I'm just saying I've never played

a Zelda game Okay, but I get the when you guys

have explained it to me It's you go into a dungeon

you get you work your way in you get a self you

get yourself a new toy There's usually like a

boss or a mini boss that you use the toy on the

toy is useless for the rest Well, well this toy

gets you into the next dungeon. Yes, and then

God don't really use it again. God of not God

of War darksiders. Yeah, exact same thing. Huh?

I can I would be okay with that. So I I'm wondering

like as you as you play it if you'll notice that

if you'll agree with it because like even today

when I like I started playing it again today

because I wanted to be able to because last time

I played was like around November or something

and I wanted to be able to talk about it. Having

just played it and I went into a dungeon. And

I could see all these grapple points all over

the place, but they were all inaccessible because

I didn't have the toy. But the world, the level,

I was fighting spider monsters and there's spider

webs all over the place. So you work your way

down into the dungeon and sure enough, there's

a giant spider down at the bottom. And when you

kill the giant spider, you get the grapple hook.

And all of a sudden, all those points become

usable and you can traverse all over this little

area. And then you move on, you go and fight

the final boss. In that area then you go back

and then the guy sends you on another quest into

another dungeon where you get another toy So

I'm just I'm just interested to see if you Get

that analogy like I've only gotten an hour into

it so far right and I have a feeling I'm probably

not going to get I think I've basically gone

as far as I'm probably gonna go with it over

the next couple weeks Because I mean next week's

Bioshock and pretty much fuck everything once

that game comes out kids. That is all I'm doing

Yeah, I won't have anything pertinent to give

you at all next week except for my opening impressions

of Bioshock Also, my goal is as I kind of want

to see if I can knock another game out between

now and Tuesday And I really really want to get

assassins three off my plate. Well, you know

what we can do What part of assassins are you

on? Do you remember? No, we're close. OK, I am.

I am. Right now, I'm swimming out to not decommission

those two boats that are out in the harbor. That

are firing into the city. If you just do story,

you can probably knock that out. Like if you've

just seen everything else, do story in these

games. I like the collect the collect the. junkie

Heroine addict portion of the games where they

just shine put shiny things in front of your

face. I was like ooh You go to do something?

Meaningless crap in a game see I can do that

like anything that comes across my path I will

collect if it's like if I'm like Assassin's Creed

for example if there's like a Journal page and

it's on my way to my destination. Yeah, I'll

chase it But if it veers if I lose it or whatever,

I won't like sit there and wait for it to respond

I'll just see sometimes like I'll be I'll be

running like oh I hear a feather I go find it.

I'm like, you know what I should do. I should

get all the feathers And it's like two hours

there. I'm like, what was I doing before I was

doing something before it was very important

pretty sure I was saving, you know the Union

You know what I just learned about Assassin's

Creed 3 today That you can build a team of assassins

and have them on your left bumper. I got that

one butcher and that was the only other assassin

that I ever encountered. Like I didn't find how

to recruit any others. Oh my God. I never presented

itself to me. I have the full thing that was

ever since. I've only found three so far. Ever

since I have all of them. Ever since Brotherhood,

I get those guys first as fast as possible because

I love using them. I have them because Shunzi

told me about them. Didn't at all tell me that

was a game mechanic like I don't I don't even

know how to find the rest of them um You do like

if you go into a town and like say it'll like

you'll see a bunch of soldiers escorting a prisoner

And it'll be like oh free so many prisoners Okay,

that is is a challenge you have to complete in

order to unlock the guy in that area the resistance

fighter in that area Like later like in the New

York City some of them are freaking annoying

like kill rabid dogs Fine, you just got to run

into him. I guess they released a Patch and it

made those things easier to find Because I guess

there was a bunch of people going like where's

like I only have half the assassins I Found the

rest I told you where they were well, but I found

the missions likely story What have you been

doing? Nothing new but like me and booth had

been getting back into wool now. It's called

iron brigade. It was trenched On Xbox live on

Xbox Xbox live, okay, and it's such a fun game

For I mean for it's there's nothing really too

complicated concept. You're in like basically

a Mac that is powered with like you know, World

War Two technology. There's like an engine strapped

on the back. And you can choose different weapons.

You can choose different chassis and stuff, and

you can choose. You have the ability to place

in place emplacements, place emplacements. Yeah,

sure. That works. It's and it's like a tower

defense game. Yeah. But you're but you can run

around. and shoot yourself like you can make

this big awesome huge mech that has tons of firepower

but you can't play shit for turrets or you can

put this little speedy dude who can put a bunch

of different turrets but he himself is weak and

you know wave after you know different maps different

enemy types different ways you have to play A

console it'll like every couple levels. It'll

throw a new guy at you like oh that that gun

you love using Yeah, doesn't work on this guy

because there's a guy in the back who protects

everyone in front of him and makes him immortal

Until you kill that guy right in the back But

we've been playing through that and it's you

can play up to four people co -op So it's just

really fun and me and Mike are just waiting to

start the they had a DLC for it And we're gonna

start that pretty soon Yeah, it came out like

a year ago a while ago demo for it a while back.

Yeah get into it It's the game gets better. Yeah,

it's tough to get into like it I we start you

start unlocking new toys in the game it becomes

instantly more fun But even then it's kind of

like the loot in Borderlands Where better gotta

get better? It's well. It's it's that whole I

want to find something better, but then even

then Even if you find something it's like it's

might not necessarily be better like stats might

be better, but it might not work Yeah, it's like

you want it to and it took oh Maybe it's just

like the the time of year like I just needed

something to play or I wanted something to play

with with Chauncey online But it you know we

we started it up again, and we started from the

beginning So that I could you know throw in the

ropes again, and yeah It's not it's not overly

complicated game, but it's like one of those

I had so many parts in my Inventory when I started

up that I just sold no how things worked anymore.

I didn't know what was good So I just sold everything

and then I had enough money in my bank from selling

all the crap that I had that I could just buy

what I wanted so like money became Useless at

that point much like Borderlands, but it's a

lot of fun. I guess you have to like tower defense

games To some degree, I mean, there is a whole

third -person shooter -esque thing to it, but

I kinda, it reminds me, or really makes me want

a four -player co -op Armored Core. But then

again, I haven't played an Armored Core that

I liked since, I think, Armored Core 2 on the

PlayStation, so... I remember, like, I got three

when it came out on the PlayStation 2 and...

It felt like they slowed everything way down

And I was just dying constantly so I was like

this isn't fun anymore, but Yeah fun playing

that reminds me of I was telling Mike about this

Chrome hounds I was like a very early release

for the 360 I remember that yeah and The the

single player of it sucked, but the multiplayer

was so fun because you'd get guys that would

build these Abnormous obnoxious things that like

it's basically just a good like a big triple

barrel You know gun with tiny little legs can't

move, but if he somehow manages to shoot you

you're screwed And it's made by double fine.

Yeah, so I think that's actually one of the only

reasons it showed up on my radars because it

was It's part of Double Fine's little, we're

going to make little downloadable games. Yeah,

so. There's that. What was it last week, Mike,

that we played Marvel Ultimate Alliance? Well,

we tried to play Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Hey,

we had fun. Until it crashed. No, we had fun

until we actually tried to play the story. And

then it was like, nope. I couldn't figure out

what to do. I'm fine with starting over. I just

have to figure out how to start over with New

Game Plus. So I think if you start a new game,

It gives you the option to load a save file.

I'll have to, I'll have to try that. I think

I haven't done that in like, I don't know how

long. Cause I got Ali on board to sit down on

the couch next to me and play it. So maybe we

can get Dan or to find some free time and be

the fourth person or Joe. That's a possibility.

So, but I didn't know it. I did show Sean's either

glitch or not really the glitch with the leveling

the characters up. The, uh, the Thor and storm.

Ice man in the ice stuff. Yeah, that was just

really funny He's like do it and like until and

like it took me a while to get going cuz I don't

ever I don't ever use that and then I did it

like this is awesome Like what do I do? I'm like

my thumbs hurting. I can't do it It's like that

one episode of South Park when they're playing

work on put them Ben gay on it But we took Hawk

Hulk and Hawkeye from level one to 15 or something.

I was like 25. Did it get up the high? Yeah,

because we did maybe 15 minutes. Yeah, so And

then we were gonna go and just start playing

and we were gonna game Well, first of all, we

couldn't even figure out how to get to where

we needed to go Yeah cool cuz I don't blame the

game I played that in forever. Yeah, I was like,

what are we gonna do? I had no idea. Just keep

going to the red does it arrows? It doesn't help

that I was like skip the cutscenes. Yeah, you're

skipping everything. Yeah, I don't know what

we're doing I don't think the story would have

I don't think the cutscenes would have pointed

us in the right direction anyways But they're

so cool and I really want to play Earth Defense

Force again. Yes, definitely That I picked up

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, I found one, so I

got it. So I'm waiting because that's a good

co -op game I could play through with my girlfriend.

Because like we played through Halo 4 together,

and I love her to death, but oh my god was that

excruciating. I felt so bad. Because she has

never in her life played first person shooter

that involved two analog sticks. It's funny now.

like Like she's she's like how do I how do I

aim up and down? And then I look over and she's

a man her feet holding down the trigger I remember

Jason and his wife Katie were over when orange

box had just come out and We were playing Team

Fortress 2 she was like here. I want to try so

we handed her the controller and she chose the

medic and She's bought she spawns into the game

and she's she's standing there And you know everyone's

like pushing up on the d -pad or whatever and

they're yelling help I need help over here And

she's like where are they and she spins around

in a circle and points at the ceiling and then

darts come flying out of her God And she's she's

painting everything but anyone that's asking

for help and she's got no clue what's going on

and Jason I just like in the fetal position laughing

so hard. And she's like, stop laughing at me.

And then, you know, they're like, we need a medic

over here. And she's like, I don't know where

you are. It was fun to watch her flail around.

So there's that. I've also been playing through

Saints the third again, just because watching

the trailer for Saints Row four has like re inspired

how. how just fun that game is to just go in

and just mess around, not even do anything. Just

go like I forgot some of the controls like I

forget what it's called. It's like the extreme

button. When you hold it down, you do whatever

whatever action you do extremely. And I ran over

and kicked a guy's balls into his throat like

I was like, oh, oh, that's why I like this game

ball kicking. So there's that I'm playing a little

bit more battlefield not much though. It's that's

a I love that game I just wish more people played

it that I know cuz no one talks in that game

except in party chat No one and every once in

a while you will hear a voice and it just got

like Preppy white boys going come on or someone

playing music. Yes, somebody playing really loud

Really shitty music like if it was a good song.

I'll be totally fine with it But it's like like

I wonder a game the other day someone's playing

dubstep That doesn't match with battlefield at

all No, that's a Call of Duty thing. Yeah, of

course Um, so that's about it. I've been playing

plants versus zombies on the Xbox I Downloaded

it a long time ago and then for some reason never

played it So I was looking through my my games

one day when I was getting I was gonna play some

Iron Brigade by myself And I was like, oh my

god, I forgot I did this so I start playing through

it I'm like up to the part where it's like, um,

they're giving you all the shrooms because it's

nighttime. God, that's annoying. I do like give

them the trippy shrooms that turn them like onto

your side. That's funny. All right. Well, we

can take a break for a grand con ad and we can

come back on the other side and get the retrospective

part. Finally. I blame Daner. I blame myself.

Coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan on September

21st and 22nd is Grand Con Gaming and Comics

Convention presented by Celebration Cinemas.

Join us in playing or chatting it up with fellow

enthusiasts in a community that understands your

passions. Get lost in the adventure of your favorite

role playing game. Admire costumes and art from

vendors and attendees. Meet the creators behind

your favorite mainstream and independent games

and comic books. Check out unpublished games

and sneak peek at things to come. You can get

all this and more at GrandCon. For more information,

please visit www .grand -con .com. Welcome back!

Are we recording? Yeah, I didn't stop. He doesn't

stop. Okay. Welcome back. We will now be going

into part three of our evolution of handheld

gaming. Tonight is to dual screen or not to dual

screen? That is the question. That is the question.

Our list has grown quite short because the releases

of systems have dwindled the further down the

list we get. And then we'll start with November

21st, 2004. Nintendo introduces us to dual screens

and touch controls with the Nintendo DS. Hits

the market at $149 .99. And nobody knows what

to do with it. And nobody knows what to do with

it. I was going to say, I know... This is the

to me. This is going to be the far more interesting

portion of these discussions because both me

and Joe were working at GameStop when these systems

came out and were there for the launches. And

so you got like your fingers on the pulse of

what actually happened. Now, Joe, did you retail

wise a DS at launch? Yeah, I know I got a day

one. Yes. Yep, I was I remember that day very

clearly because. everybody who worked there got

one and As soon as anybody came in we immediately

went back opened it up and plugged it in to charge

it in the back room Was the first color were

they all silver? I they were all silver. Okay

at lunch. I Hated the launch DS and the launch

DS was fucking terrible We didn't know any better.

Well, yeah, that's all we knew and the what was

it? What was the first game that you bought for

your DS? Did I buy one? What was the first game

you got? When you got a DS, what was the first

or what was the first game that you wanted to

play on the DS? Man, that's a tie. I have to

look at a list. I know I was excited about Yoshi

Touch and Go even though I knew it was a tech

demo. I wanted to see it. The first two games

actually three games I bought were Mr. Drill

or Drill Spirits. That's worth a lot of money

now. I have no it's not. It goes for absolutely

nothing on eBay. I've checked. I have two copies.

I might need one. I couldn't find mine. Nintendogs.

Yep, I did buy Nintendogs. And Trauma Center.

Gosh. The dating simulator that came out for

it, that was weird. That's, that's creepy. Whoa,

oh god, what was the name of that? The minigame

one. Touch the magic? Feel the magic. That was

awesome. That was a different game. Feel the

magic was fucking creepy. In a very Japanese

demeaning woman type of a way. What the hell

was that noise? That was the noise from the game.

That was the noise from the game. Whenever you're

like a little... god my memory of this is so

vague I need to go dig it out and see if I still

have it but you were a little black polygon man

and you were dating this girl and you at one

point were bringing her goldfish and you tripped

and you swallowed the goldfish and so you had

to rub the touchscreen you had to puke up the

goldfish by rubbing them out your esophagus and

there was one you were unicycling across a roof

and you had to balance on this little line and

if you got too close to the edge he'd make the

sound It was the only time he made that noise

It made to black I think the Nintendo DS was

also my first True Introduction to how bad shovelware

could be Because at the time the ps2 was the

king of shovelware at the time Because everybody

could develop for the ps2 and push it out for

the ps2 and I didn't realize how bad it could

get until the DS came came out Because I think

that was the worst Amount of shovel water I've

ever seen for a system until the we came I was

gonna say we says hi. Yeah Trust me. It was something

It really was epitomize For the DS, but it was

taken took on a whole new meaning for low low

price D list titles for the Wii, but it was I

think the DS was the originator of Nintendo kind

of taking over the shovelware version of Things

taking it away from the ps2. I think a lot of

that was People not knowing what to do with it

and just throwing shit at the wall. Oh, yeah,

and it was like Rancid. Yo, God, that's that

was a problem. There were so many games that

came out for the system and so many of them were

bad. Like the way to find the worthy ones. It

wasn't that hard because it was in the game store.

You could tell what was good and what wasn't

because. Or what they I should say what they

anticipated to be good because. If you knew it

was going to be crap on lunch day, you got one

to two copies of the game. If it was going to

anticipate it to be good, you would get six copies

of the game. And most likely the game wasn't

going to be good if you got six. Now, if you

got like 15 or 20 copies of the game when it

came out, that was going to be a hot seller.

But every time we got 15 or 20 games with it,

the publisher on the box was Nintendo. So they're

pushing them. But it was it is one of those things

that has been it's been the case for a lot of

Nintendo systems Especially for the Wii if Nintendo's

name is on the box. There's a really good chance.

There's gonna be a much higher quality game there

But there's very few third parties that you could

trust on the DS system I'm gonna say the the

worst major um Company I can think of is a developer

that was the worst with the DS but made a really

good effort of putting out a bunch of games But

every single one of them were terrible was Ubisoft.

I was good. Yeah I was gonna say Ubisoft put

out a lot of really good looking games and they

were Nintendo's but buddy for a long Yeah, the

packaging was nice. It looked nice the moment

you put in your system. You're like, oh my god

What's wrong with these people? Every single

Ubisoft game I think I ever played on the DS

was just fucking atrocious. The Splinter Cell

games, the Ghost Recon, I think there was a Ghost

Recon. I just remember the Ubisoft ones being,

and then the Ubisoft got into the, what was it,

the Pets? And the dogs oh, yeah cats and then

goldfish, and then it was like fucking stop.

Why why do we? Need a fucking part that's ever

been created in the history of the world I was

waiting for the camels game though because I

would have totally bought that if you could spin

it people I Didn't buy a DS until summer of 2006

The DS light was announced Was gonna say the

moment the DS light came out I traded in our

me and Janelle's old system and we bought a Pink

and a white one, which I still have till to this

day. I I actually I Pre -ordered the DS light

from your GameStop Danner. Yes, you did and I

had moved back home and I it was it had come

out and I was like, you know I don't even know

if I really freaking want it. I was like, you

know what? No, I can drive over there and get

it and Maybe Danner will be there I remember

you came and you bought it, and then I believe

you bought Star Fox. Yes, I did. I was going

to. That was my first game. I think my second

game was Clubhouse Games. Clubhouse. I enjoyed

Clubhouse Games. I recently went back and played

Clubhouse Games a month ago, and it is the worst

fucking looking piece of shit I have ever seen

on a DS. I don't know if it's because it's been

so long since I played a DS game, but I. I could

not get over how bad the graphics were. I was

going to say, I don't remember it looking especially

good, I just remember it being fun. All I could

do while looking at it was think of how atrocious

it looked. I just remember it was just a whole

bunch of games. I liked the bowling and the darts.

It was also a lot of fun to play those games

multiplayer over Nintendo's network after you

exchanged your friend codes. Yup. I still hate

friend codes. Yeah, that's stupid. Star Fox,

you know, Star Fox was the first one. I really

enjoyed that. I didn't finish it. And then I

had Harvest Moon, which was fun. I bought Final

Fantasy 3, which I also pre -ordered at your

store. Final Fantasy 3 is another game I bought

for the system. I pre -ordered at your store,

but I didn't pick it up at your store. I picked

it up at the store here, and I were being really

irritated with the guy because he wouldn't transfer

my pre -order. He couldn't. He said he couldn't

I thought I could do it over the phone. Yeah,

but most games employees are If it involves doing

more work than they're willing to do which is

most things They'll be douchey about it. Yeah.

Well see I was irritated about that, but I still

picked it up anyways They're not known for going

above and beyond I think the last Joe was Joe

was one of the few people that I would say like

I like the one I have near me just has like a

bunch of awesome guys working at it. So they

they've gone like way out. Like I've had like

cop brand new copies of games where I've fucked

the disc up. And they just like they go, huh,

open up another copy and switch the cases because

I had the collector's edition or whatever. The

game stuff I used to go to that's now closed.

I used to have a bunch of awesome people. But

they they slowly started sending those people

to other stores instead of having like a collection

of them in one So they're like you guys have

raised the bar too high Windows what you all

up and spread you out because you make us all

look bad The last game I bought for my DS was

radiant Historia I bought it because it was likened

to Chrono trigger and is It's not. I don't want

to say it's a lot like Chrono Trigger, but it's

spiritually. Yes, it's spiritually like Chrono

Trigger and the combat was a lot of fun. It deals

with time travel like Chrono Trigger, only it

deals more in the parallel universe aspects of

time travel than linear time travel. So you jump

to the side. It's like sliders. I guess I've

never seen sliders. Ah, you're missing out. How

do you not see sliders? It operates on that principle

that time, like every time you make a decision,

time splits as a new universe made. So you can...

There's a universe for every outcome of every

decision. Yes. So you jump across to one and

you might move a rock in that one and then you

can jump back and the rock will be moved in your

story or something. I played it... I mean the

game came out February of 2011 and that's about

the last time I've played my DS. Allison has

been playing it a lot though she's been playing

Pokemon. I want to say the last game I bought

was Dementium which is super super creepy it

takes place in like an insane asylum and all's

you have is like a flashlight to traverse the

entire place. Oh it's fucking fantastic. I will

say like the Super Nintendo, the best game I

think I played on the DS was actually Chrono

Trigger. Yeah. Chrono Trigger on the DS is amazing.

And also I enjoyed, I also own the first Professor

Layton game. Those are great. Which I really

enjoyed the first one. I didn't finish it. But

I did enjoy that. Like the games, I kind of,

and Scribblenauts, I kind of paid attention to

the games that came out like later when people

were figuring out what type of things to do with

the touch screen yeah um and the ones that i

thought were doing like innovative stuff like

the puzzles you know uh i thought those were

the ones that that that were the best um but

it was good one of the interesting things that

the uh the ds did uh well Two things, I guess,

that I would like to discuss. The accidental

resemblance or intentional resemblance to the

Game & Watch games, where those had the dual

screens and the D -pads on either side, the DS

kind of brought that back, even the clamshell

closing thing that was kind of an interesting

throwback to something they did in the 80s. Don't

know what you guys want to address the dual screen

part of it besides the fact that developers had

no idea what to do with it in the beginning I

Because I mean that was like I remember when

the thing was coming out Thinking they said it

was going to do something that nobody had ever

done before and so we're all trying to figure

out is it gonna be 3d Hey, wait a minute the

3ds came out it What is it gonna do that? It

has these two screens and and well, and then

they came out with the two screens where he was

what's so innovative about that and Indeed, I

think, well, one, to answer the initial question

about all the crappy shovelware at launch, I

think that system got launched about six months

to a year earlier than the developers had anticipated

and that there was a lot of tech demos that got

wrongly stretched into complete but still managed

to be incomplete games. And I think that accounted

for a lot of the shovelware in the beginning.

after that, just with Nintendo's relaxing their,

their standards for what can get on the system

that encouraged grandmas buying games for their

sons and daughters and granddaughters and grandsons

to. Isn't the DS when Nintendo changed their

seal of quality? It was before that. I think

that the GameCube was where they were. Starting

to relax again and developers were still scared

of them, but well that's because the quality

I think in the GameCube Joe you can correct me

if I'm wrong, but isn't in the GameCube generation

when the Nintendo quality seal moved from being

on the front of the games to being on the back

It didn't even say quality seal doesn't say quality

seal anymore But let me go grab a GameCube game

here because I want to say like on the back of

Smash Brothers melee I Could have swore that

there's a seal on the back of melee It's a Nintendo

official seal to let you know that it's an actual

game, but it's not the seal of quality actual

game This is not a fake game it happens But I

don't know what keeps people from just not printing

that seal on it, but I was gonna say I remember

with the original DS is the microphone Especially

for the voice -activated games like Nintendo's

was so bad On the original systems that like

it made Yeah, it made nintendogs really difficult

to play. I think that was more the voice Voice

recognition software. I remember trying to get

in brain age when blue came on the screen It

had a hard time understanding what you know who

was so you had to end up doing it with Horribly

racist accent brew Big brain was another game.

I really liked yeah, I was really impressed with

them Cuz I think later in the life and I think

Joel agree with this one once people knew what

to do with the system that Everybody at GameStop

was playing cooking mama when it first came out

Remember going over to James's house and like

me Chad and James all sitting there just playing

cooking mama were you at the James apartment

that first night at launch At the party he threw

no, I only heard about the the thing that Tim

did When they were all doing picked out chat,

yeah Well So we all have our DS is charged. It's

930 at night and we closed the store and we all

go to James's apartment and at At one point in

the evening after the guys got smashed and and

I'm just sitting there not getting smashed We're

all we all networked on picto chat and we're

in the room together But we're typing and sending

and drawing pictures and every once in a while

the crude elementary school penis would get sent

out everybody and everybody. And I decide since

I have, you know, a reasonably developed skill

at drawing, I spend some time doing some rendering

on my little Picto chat screen. And so I fully

render as much as you can with. the Picto chat

screen send out a drawing of spread legs hairy

vagina out Everybody in the room it gets if it

wasn't quite before it got silent before the

rest Everybody just started laughing out there,

and I think I labeled it Chad's mom or something

They're like ha ha ha we were what somebody said

Joe you were awfully quiet over there I knew

you were up to something and just what was capable

on of on that and I think the whole PictoChat

thing was something that maybe would have taken

off more in Japan. I don't think the those Americans

really got that. We don't have a lot of public

transportation where people are walking around

with their systems on looking for chat people.

They kind of merged that into the Miiverse on

the Wii U. Yeah. When you. When you're posting

on the forum for a particular game and in the

Miiverse or you're just chatting, you can write

out your question or you can send out a picture

or you can, you know, you can use the keyboard

and type something out. You don't have to, um,

you know, it's just another way to use the touch

screen on the Wii U, but you can, um, you can

do like diagrams of a map if you to point out

like an exact spot you're having problems with

or, you know, you can try and throw the picture

of the penis of the vagina up there. It'll probably

get flagged, but and some people were doing some

really impressive artwork on there. It was kind

of neat. But I think, yeah, I think that the

PictoChat idea got merged into the Miiverse.

Hmm. Yeah, yeah. And I think once the. Well,

I don't remember. You can edit that part. Or

not. No, that's staying. So. Anyone else have

anything? I mean, I like the DS. I didn't like

the first one. I've liked all the models after.

I think the DS was pretty much responsible for

killing any love I really had that was left for

handheld gaming. Because I just felt like there

was so much. Garbage that kind of came out for

the system. It kind of got really difficult to

weed out What was good and what was terrible

and there was way more terrible than there was

good on the system That's what I would say about

the ps2, but I think and and I say this as a

reasonably educated Person who worked at the

retail place I could find the good stuff through

all the garbage and I helped many of mothers

find the good stuff through the garbage Yeah

system, but it was if something was good It was

pretty well known and like I said a lot of my

biggest issues were is anything that came out

on the system and If you went out and spent the

35 bucks on it when he came out you were dumb

Because everything was down to 20 bucks within

three to four months with the exception of the

Nintendo games on that system Like the prices

dropped on those games so fast because there

was there was such a saturated market. But yeah,

it's a third party development. I just it kind

of killed it for me for that system because it

was just so there's so much coming out for that

system. I think it was a seriously strong system

for a lot of the. Japanese RPG type games, I

think Chrono Trigger got remade for that and

yep that was a division with the video and it

that was incredible that and I think they redid

the soundtrack to They remastered it from they

used the same audio from the PlayStation version

awesome Yeah, it was a good system for like RPG

fans because there was a lot of really Puzzle

a lot of good re issues. They came out for that

system Like a radiant Historia like you know

talk about that earlier. That's another great

RPG so Final Fantasy 3 That was good the redo

of that was good although. I wish it had been

actually It was kind of bummed that was actually

Final Fantasy 3 and not 6 ah you don't preach

into the choir man I've been waiting for like

that would be if because they rumored that that

was gonna be on 3ds And they still have yet to

release it because that would be one of the few

things that might get me to buy a 3ds I Want

one of those, but I don't have a good reason

It's same here. It's we'll get there next week

or two weeks from now So any any final closing

thoughts on the DS are you including the DSI?

Wasn't there ridiculously idiotic DSI XL? Oh,

we can we can talk about the DSI and the DSI

XL I don't really see a point of talking about

camera Software and a larger screen and a larger

screen My favorite part were all the little children

that would come in crying saying I want the DSI

XL and the parents who had no clue that it was

the exact same system for Just bigger old people

in nursing homes who were playing brain age Yep,

I like the bigger screen. I Don't care because

it's the same resolution Yeah, no I get I get

that I just I don't know So at that point I'm

not really it's not really making it any bigger

because I just hold it further away from me So

the graphics don't look like crap But yeah, and

I think that was a sign of Nintendo starting

to do some shady things that have made me have

much much less respect for them are re -releasing

the same system with tiny tiny iteration differences

surprised we haven't seen six versions of the

3DS yet oh well they came out with the big one

I think they took a page I mean even since N64

they've been kind of aping Apple yeah So it's

I mean, Apple does that. I mean, they've got

small minor differences between different models

and they have different drastically different

price points. I mean, at least Nintendo doesn't

really do the drastically different price points,

but they you know, it is it's the same thing.

It's just slightly tweaked. Colors annoy me as

a collector, but I think it's a good idea to

do that. I mean, the play it loud series of Gameboys

really showed them how beneficial that can be

to business. I get that. I just see it as like

a huge waste of resources. Yeah, like you have

to imagine like what how many of each one do

they have to make and with the one that doesn't

sell like that's just waste I It's just like

I'm not even saying like I'm like I'm not exactly

eco -friendly I'm just saying like that's one

of the things that sometimes I think about when

people are like Why don't they produce like all

these different colors for the iPhones? Why are

they only white and black? Well, because if you

how many millions of people buy those devices?

And how many cases are there? Yeah, I mean...

And how many people didn't buy the brown Zune?

Yeah, but I just... I like my brown Zune. I like

my brown Zune, too. So, but no, I agree, but

like I said, I have actually had two DSs. I had

a white one, and then I got the... I think I

either traded it in, because I was like done,

or... I gave it to my little brother, but when

I got Chrono Trigger, I also bought a brand new

DS. I got the silver one, because that was the

new color for that year. I need two white DS's

for my store display kiosk that I have. I can

get you a white DS. I have a white DS. I will

do whatever I have to to get those. No, no, no,

no. Yeah, oh yeah, it's free that way It only

cost your dignity I'm a school teacher. I have

no dignity all right What it does have is access

to kids all right? All right, so we come out

in relation to On March 24th, 2005, Sony enters

the handheld market with, for the first time

introducing us to the PSP, UMDs, and a cartridge

that most small children are too dumb to figure

out, for the price of $249 .99. Hey, Seanzy,

along with those dumb children, why don't you

share your story? Oh, please tell me you're one

of those idiots that peel apart the plastic and

then put the disc in. No, no, it's better than

that actually because we had we had plenty of

those art arts come into the store I had a kid

I had a kid buy a PSP the moment he walked out

of the store. He bought Some I think was like

Daxter or something like that brand new game

Literally walks out the store for five minutes

comes back and goes I can't get this to work

I was like, well, let me take a look at pop open

the back and then in the disk It's just a disc

because he cracked the UMD case open and grabbed

the disc and tossed it in the back of the system.

And I was like, dude, they're cartridges. You

just pop them in. Well, but it was a disc. I

was like, yeah, you you're not supposed to peel

that apart. Well, they say not to do that, but

it didn't say to do that, did it? I guess I the

whole year you replace this no man. It was a

brand new game. It was the last copy you're screwed

Have a nice day Yeah, my instance of idiocy was

um Back when gaming magazines actually came with

demo discs. I had a copy of PlayStation magazine

that came with instead of a playstation. I was

playing playstation 2 at that time Instead of

a PlayStation demo disc it came with a demo disc

for some Killzone game for PSP I had never played

a PSP. I didn't own one. Nobody I knew had one

I'd never held one in my hands. So I look at

it. I see this little white case. I'm like, huh

Instantly put my fingernails on top and just

ripped it in half like like, huh That's kind

of like thinking of myself like god. This could

get scratched so easy. I don't understand how

they keep now Like like I broke the case to it

And it wasn't till like, you know, I think like

a year later where I actually got my hands on

a PSP and I was like oh Like I was like wow,

I'm so glad I did that to that demo disc like

a year ago I'm glad you never had a mini disc

player Yeah, I had one I liked it it was neat

Now Who who here owned a PSP I did I own one

now I did for bow Well, Allison did so so I did

for probably six months. Yeah Now I had a PSP

1000 when the original models Also, I remember

like I enjoyed it and I almost enjoyed it I don't

know if I enjoyed it. I would say I go as far

to say I enjoyed it more than the Yes, then the

DS It was a decent system. I mean I enjoyed some

of the games for it But the the PSP I was gonna

say as far as game games went um had a ton of

games come out like in the first two years of

the system and then just games stopped coming

out um and then it was like you'd get one or

two releases like every month for the system

but once like the crap stopped coming out in

the first two years then there was only like

one or two releases a month for the system the

games that came out were actually pretty pretty

good like the quality went up um Some people

argue that the PSP system actually has the best

God of War games I Chains of Olympus was really

good. Yes change of Olympus is good. I like that

a lot I have both of them on the ps3. I've I

have not played the second one So but I did I

did play Chains of Olympus on a PSP Yeah, I thoroughly

enjoyed that game there was a Was the other one

the Final Fantasy crisis core? Yep played that

too. That was good. That was good except for

the stupid squatting parts I Got a squat now

and I got to beat them with this umbrella stick

You know monster monster hunters freedom the

you know what I liked about the PSP that the

Vita doesn't do The I can't hook it to my TV

You couldn't hook it to the TV at launch either

they that was a later. That was a yeah Yeah,

I think that was a 3 ,000. Well, that's that's

the one I had things. I'm glad that I had that

was also lightweight. Yeah, I Like I played crisis

core on a 55 inch TV that looked she that looks

like shit No offense to anyone here. It was a

55 inch rear projection TV. So it looked really

bad. Oh I like my rear projection TV. Um, I Don't

have a rear protector. I say no offense to anyone

here. Just you just didn't want to say Danner's

name There was a lot of really good I think innovative

interesting games I think that was one of the

nice things about the PSP was the fact that It

was almost like The main people from Sony weren't

paying attention and we're controlling the content

that was coming out to the system as much so

more interesting innovative games I think or

more indie feeling games came out to the system

Like I can't think of another system. You would

get a game like Pat upon on I Agree, I think

that's that's kind of carried over to their current

handheld too. Yeah, and I think it's like Think

there was a very interesting kind of quirkiness

that came along with that system That like you

said has I believe has carried over to the Vita

which is Was one of the selling points to me

was that knowing that quirkiness was there and

coming down the line? The I'm trying to think

of the One thing that the system does do that

I fucking drives me insane about all the Sony

handheld systems would be proprietary memory

Yeah The pro stick duos and how fucking expensive

they were I mean like three four years into the

system the memory pricing was not Bad, but it

was a matter of finding them at that point in

time because it was like the longer the system

was out. The smaller. They realized the smaller

memory cards were completely completely useful,

so we just dropped them. And I know the nice

thing about working at GameStop was the fact

that the moment something went discontinued,

we could put a slap a discount on it to get it

out of the store. And I know that's how most

of us got our bigger memory cards. Was we I I

fucking use that system for everything that it

was worth Yeah, and by that system, I of course

mean GameStop and I abused the shit out of With

the moment something went Discontinued I discounted

it and I was like, you know, I don't I don't

care if it goes to a customer I don't care if

it goes to employee. I just wanted out the store

Cuz I knew the quicker we got that crap out the

sooner we get new shit Oh, and it was the PSP

2000 and 3000 that connected the TVs It was not

the 1000 was the only one that did not connect

to you. That's the one I have yeah Do you remember

all of the the the terrible time we had with

the launch units and the dead pixels? Yeah, lots

of dead on arrival systems all over the place.

We had a we had a lot of One to two pixels being

out in a lot of the launch systems a lot of pixel

issues They uh There's a quirk with the PSP Maybe

you guys I I don't remember because like I said

it was it's been Five years since I've actually

played with one it wouldn't like when the battery

went you call I hate this you couldn't update

it without it being connected to power or it

wouldn't like if it What happens is if your system

sits for a month the battery dies like okay I

have a DS over there that I haven't turned not

a DS a Game Boy Advance SP that I haven't turned

on for three years if I go over there and turn

that on it'll still have a charge but the PSP

will die in a week or two and What'll happen

isn't I'll find a game that I want to play and

I'll buy it and I'll take it home And I'll put

it in the PSP all my PSP is dead, so I'll plug

in the charger so that I can play it But and

it'll turn on when you plug it in, but it won't

Do the system install an update until it has

a charge? And so I'm really excited to play the

thing, but it says I'm sorry. You can't and you

can't install the update Because the battery

is almost dead and it it just that Frustrated

me every time I bought a game for that thing

because I don't play it enough to keep it charged

and I Can't play the game when I buy it because

it needs to do a system install. I don't remember

It wouldn't turn on for a little bit either would

it? I don't remember turning right No, it had

to get like and need to be in the church for

10 or 15 minutes if the battery was completely

dead You can put on the charger, but it wasn't

gonna go on until I had enough of a charge to

boot now And then even when it goes on it won't

you can't do a system install until the batteries

got sufficient charge I think that is so that

if you unplug it while it's in the following

the thing I made update That's that's a problem.

You've got to fix before the system launches

so that that's not a problem that you have well

sometimes all the other problem is sometimes

Even my my Macbook does this when I'm playing

when I'm running on Windows to play SimCity the

battery won't charge Because it's using too much

power that it'll just switch to the actual power

supply and bypass all together So then you unplug

it and your battery's still dead? Like what the

fuck? Well, yeah, I'll leave it plugged in and

the light will stay orange for like, you know,

the 9, 10, 15 hours I'm playing the game and

I'll You know, it'll be orange that entire time

saying that it's charging I'm like what this

is stupid if I was on the other side and I was

doing something it would be charged, you know

like 10 hours ago, but So but what's weird is

I bring that up You know, that bothered me five

years ago. But now almost every electronic device

does that. My phone does that. My iPad does that.

The new Vita does that. It's just becoming something.

Yeah, I think it's just something I've gotten

used to. No, you're playing those ignorantly

designed systems. Jenny's Android doesn't do

that. When the battery's completely dead, she

can plug it in and turn it right back on. Yes.

Because that's how a system should be I Don't

even remember the Windows phone or the Nexus

phone being that way, but okay. I mean I believe

you I'm just I every device I have doesn't it

needs to get to 5 % before it'll even turn back

on So but the thing is that's dangerous on a

phone Not like if I go off on a ditch and I'm

bleeding to death and I plug it into the cigarette

lighter to get a charge and I have to wait five

minutes for it before I can pick it up and make

a phone call, that will kill people. Why are

you driving with a dead phone anyways? I don't

know, maybe it died. Why weren't you charging

it in the car? I don't know. Maybe that's why

he swerved off the road, he tried to plug it

in. That sounds like a personal problem. But

I guess now it's just kind of, it's one of those

things, like every device I notice that, and

it's weird, I guess it's because it's the way

some Some batteries are designed now, even I

notice on my phone, if I take, there's a point

where I can take it off and I'll stay at 100

% for like two or three hours. And there's a

point where I can take it off and it'll be at

99 % before I walk out the door. Yeah. It's because

the battery will charge and then discharge and

then charge again. Yeah. I think it does it just

so it doesn't overcharge the battery. Yeah. It's

a safety reason. Yeah. But I guess I just noticed

that because I'm using more devices that have

non -replaceable batteries. But I think it's

just become accepted. But when I say it has to

get to 5%, I mean the phone's only off for like

two minutes. And it comes right back. Plus it

turns on by itself. You don't have to power it

on. It will come back on when it has the power

to come back on. So if you go off the road and

in a ditch then you can just like you could plug

it in and then wait for it to come on It'll come

on for you and then you can be like Siri 9 -1

-1 Did you say 4 -1 -1? Hey if I can ask her

if I can tell her I'm feeling lonely and she'll

find me some escort services I'm sure she can

find 9 -1 -1 for me Did you say escort services?

But I think I like the PSP when I played it when

Ali had it and then she traded it And I got interested

in it again when they brought about the PSP go

But I never I never bought one no thank God I

like the whole Digital only thing. In fact, I've

gone digital only with the Vita. I don't think

I'll ever buy a physical copy for it But that's

because, like, with handhelds I've gotten used

to not having to carry around games with me.

Yeah, it still scares me. Yeah. As a collector

of physical things. Yeah, I was talking to Mike

about this here, and it's like, I don't know,

I like having it in my hands. Like, I still don't

know how bummed I am, like, at the slow die of

in -game manuals. I just like having things in

my hand. It's not that I like it. Yeah, buddy.

You see that's worse Anyways We could talk about

all that stuff after we didn't hear about the

new Xbox which Supposedly still has the always

-on shit flying around it I'm I'm kind of until

I hear whenever they do their conference. I'm

just kind of letting whatever people say so whatever

they say this Anything they want to say about

the PSP? I got a story. I used to have the original

I first had the original one and then I later

had the 3000 now with the original on my buddy

showed me this interesting way to hack it which

you needed One of the Grand Theft Auto games

to do it. I can't remember which one now that

I'm sure I think And he had we had emulators

on ours Like I was playing old like super NES

games on my PSP That didn't take the modding

community long to figure out how to get into

the p. No it was it was nice I had also like

I could I had uh, then I had him download Or

he said he sent me email with a file in it one

day. I like open up He's like, what's this? He's

like, oh, that's every comic that's ever been

digitally uploaded from Marvel Like sweet so

just like I'd be like, you know, I'd plug my

thing into the adapter into my computer and pick,

OK, I'm going to move all of the Spider -Man

ones in and then I could read them on a PSP networks.

It worked almost like. The. Comic book readers

for phones now work where it's like it'll show

you a panel and then when you hit the button,

it moves to the next panel. Then it was the next

panel that it zooms out, shows you the whole

page, then it goes to the next page, zooms in

first panel, second panel out whole page. It

was freaking awesome. Did Okay, I didn't care

for the nub This this nub was stupid. That's

why I don't even know yeah, the nub is piece

of crap. Yeah Now you're talking the analog stick

on the no that's that's call it. It's not a stick.

It's a nub Nubbin well it was better than the

little thumb button that strapped onto your thumb

and then you reached all the way around the d

-pad and onto the touchscreen to do your analog

movement on the DS for Metroid Prime Hunters.

Never, never got, never did that. Never played

that game though, so. Actually, well, the Mario

64 that came out at launch, I bought that, I

remember that. That had a feature where the original

wrist strap for the DS had a thumb pad, a little

plastic round thing that you could strap onto

your thumb and then you reached around the d

-pad and it gave you analog input by touching

the screen and Man, that was a great idea in

the beginning and then I realized how incredibly

uncomfortable that was pretty quick because you

had to stretch to reach it Boy am I glad I missed

the first year and a half of the DS Yeah, they

thought that was a good idea Yeah, the one things

I remember is I'm trying to remember what game

I was playing on it I want to say it was a siphon

filter game and a holy shit were the controls

for aiming and shooting God awful because you

used X square triangle circle as Dumb directional

pads and use the two directional pads. They didn't

use the nub for aiming You use those as analog

sticks. It was really weird. It's like turot

controls. I don't like that That's just silly

to me. I always preferred the turot controls

on the N64. Well, you're entitled to be wrong

I'm often wrong so Anyone else have anything

they want to add oh There's so much more, but

I'm tired Nice. I will say, like, it was as far

as I know, I can't remember any other handheld

that had non -gaming media like that, like the

UMD discs, like the movies that would come out.

The Game Boy Advance had just, I mean, digitally.

Oh, did it have cartoon cartridges? Yeah, it

had a couple of cartoons, like two or three episodes

on a cart. SpongeBob SquarePants. I wish I'd

have bought some of those. I think I have one.

Somewhere, a whole bunch of stuff I need to buy

from you. That's gonna say that's the sound.

I wouldn't charge you for any of it, right? That's

what I said when I told him about the Samus statue

He's like let please let me pay you for that.

I'm like put your dick away It's it's yeah people

like you why my collection is so big and I really

appreciate it. Thank you guys Well, it's like

if you've got a place for it. I don't so yeah,

it's like I would rather you will take much better

care of it than I ever will so Are you kidding

me? How many times I've shot nerf arrows at that

guy. All right. Well, Dan, you got anything you

want to say? No, I'm good. I thought you fell

asleep there, man. I was like, Andy's asleep,

ladies and gentlemen. Sorry, I just I. Microsoft

is dumb. OK, then. They auto -renewed my Xbox

Live and I haven't been on Xbox Live in like

three months and now I'm trying to cancel my

auto -renew thing right now. Usually they send

you an email like a month or two before. They

did and I was they it wasn't supposed to renew

till tomorrow and I just got a confirmation email

that says they just renewed it and I was like

it's a day early. The next day's business on

whatever account you use it on. As far as the

bank's concerned it is tomorrow. Well fucking

hell I I that's fantastic. That's the first thing

That's the first thing I did when I signed up

for for live is how do I not have this auto renew?

Yeah, well well I figured I'd let it do this

one and then I took I took it off as soon as

my Xbox for nude just because I need to see the

time frame of when stuff's coming out I can't

I can't let it auto renew because I'm never paying

$60 for Xbox live Nope me neither unless unless

unless I can flip it around And I can get Call

of Duty Black Ops and a 12 -month subscription

of Xbox Live for $70. Then I can be like, I got

it. Then I can at least go, hey, look, I got

Call of Duty for $10. And he played it once.

Yes. I played it for like two days and then I

hated it. Yeah, I know. I was there. And boy,

it was a horrible two days for the community.

All right. Well, we're going to shut this down.

We're going to shut this down so some people

can go get some sleep. If you want to get in

touch with us, you can comment on our parent

site at geekcastradio .com or send us emails

at feedback at geekcastradio .com. I would like

to read some emails. Well, we haven't gotten

any yet, so maybe we will now. Send us some.

You can find myself, Michael Powers on Twitter,

Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network by finding

BoothNinja81. You can find Danner on Twitter

at Art Danner. You can find on an Xbox Live,

Wippen space 12. I could have done that. You

didn't have to do it for me. I'm trying something

new. He's trying something new. Okay, shh. Shut

your mouth. And on the PlayStation Network at

X51 the Machine Man. You can find Shaunzy on

Twitter at Shaunzy Brown and Xbox Live at Wippen87.

You can find Joe on Facebook by searching for

the Geek Garage Sale. You can also find them

on live and the PlayStation Network. No you can't

at Wildfire 405 with two V's for the W so the

wildfire So maybe it was a German accent yeah,

I highly doubt it, but maybe we'll have some

irate emails to read on the next show I Can always

dream right? I would love to do you dream of

irate. I'd rather get a male than no male It

means people actually listen to the show exactly

So screw those people until next week We'll be

talking about current events probably maybe it'll

just be another two hours of what we've been

playing who knows Depends on if anything materializes

All right, we will see you guys next week I'm

assuming you can hear me. Barely. Barely. Barely?

Yeah. Are you running with the right microphone?

Should be. Hello? Well, that's a lot better.

That's because I'm literally on top of it. Oh,

I like it when you talk dirty. It shouldn't be

like that. Was one of the was one of the toggles

on the back flipped? It's just a three. Because

one of them adds a like a negative 10 decibel

pad on top of it. How about now? How about now?

Worse? Not good? Worse? Let me look up this stuff

real quick. How about now? That sounds better.

Better? Yeah. Are you right on top of it again?

No. Weird. Kids have been screwing around with

that most likely. How dare they? I was gonna

say you probably just - You're in favor of beating,

right? Well only if it were And from what I've

learned it works It's gonna say I was most I

was very impressed when Graydon was very young

He did something naughty and you told him to

go sit on the stair for a timeout and he did

You didn't have to put your hands on him touch

him or yell at him or anything and I can't believe

I just that was so cool to see him do that himself

and and Xander doesn't have to that's awesome.

You tell Xander no and he'll put himself in time

out Oliver's done that a couple times put himself

in time out, but it just blows my mind that he

has that kind of self -control Yeah, Xander started

seeing what's this today? He hasn't done like

any talking at all and now that's every time

he'll point to something goes what's this? What's

this? It's adorable Oh It is now like a month

now. He's like it's a fucking chair kid. I've

told you a hundred Did you guys get the script

Mm -hmm, they literally sent out 15 20 minutes

ago. Did it go to Facebook? Yeah, yes Where else

I said I love it, and it's like just please take

the 30 minutes if I take the 30 minutes of the

podcast I know 30 minutes this podcast is already

over. Yeah, right No, it won't be, you liar.

It could be. It won't be at all. It could be

over very quickly. It can't be. If you freaking

boot me from this call right now. This conversation

could be over for you very quickly. You guys

ready to get this started? Sure. Wow, you sound

so thrilled. Well, I'm just preparing myself

to be attacked. Oh, I'm not going to say anything

today. I'm bullcrap. No, I'm letting you I'm

letting you say whatever you want to say it.

I'm gonna keep my mouth shut No, you're not.

Oh, yes. I was taking bets on this It's not gonna

make for compelling podcasts unless you you know

make your questions. I promise to be you know

less What did you text me today less like a girl

yeah, yeah Alright So you're blaming like cuz

Mike's not you What the hell is that Don't be

that guy hang on I'm gonna go run to the bathroom

really quick For a second I thought that was

Rob Zombie It's the Saints Row 4 trailer. Oh,

I thought that was Dragula for a second. They

the I was sold a rocket launching guitar cases

I wish I that's one of those games that I wish

I liked Gonna say you could borrow three for

me. I haven't been able to get into them until

The only thing that gets me into three was the

fact that I designed Bruce Willis is my main

character And for some reason it just add something

playing as Bruce Willis being the boss of the

Saints It touches me on many levels. I like it

So I guess I don't I don't in that type of world,

I guess I don't like being the bad guy You're

not the bad guy. Yes, you are You're a gang leader

Joe, it's so unrealistic and it knows it. It

like is just parroting every single everything.

What is what? Saints Row the third. Oh, God.

So good. Like I remember when the was it for

Saints Row two or three when they were like when

they were really ripping into GTA 4 it was to

I think to they're like you can go bowling with

your friend or You can pull your friend into

traffic And it shows you grab into your teammate.

Just throwing them in front of a bus which ones

has the sewage truck both Okay, who has it too?

I don't know if the first one does I never put

I never played the first two I? Played all of

them. Does it have co -op? Yes Yep, you just

load it like say you're in your game. It doesn't

really make sense But it's just you're in your

game. I just load it in with my character Well,

that's fine Yeah, I haven't heard you say anything

about the Veronica Mars movie No, I can't wait.

I know I don't understand that Kickstarter thing

I don't understand it either, but they don't

get anything like water brothers just walked

away with like two million dollars huh, like

I don't understand like I Usually with a Kickstarter

thing you get something like knowing no one's

getting like a free movie ticket to it or a free

copy of the movie or anything like that it's

just like really are Did you did you look at

the Kickstarter and look at the rewards for donations?

I read the slash film article about it saying

that they weren't getting anything sure they

are they're getting The day after the movie you

get a digital copy of it, and if you donate more

you get the physical copy when it comes out Yeah,

there's a if you go to the Kickstarter website.

There's an entire list of stuff on there. I Don't

know where the slide where slash film got their

info, but it's on the Kickstarter page That's

just I don't know. I don't know how I feel about

that I don't know if I trust Warner Brothers

to actually make the movie and thereby I don't

think Warner Brothers is making I thought They

said they're not putting anything towards it

though. Like they'll distribute it. I think Warner

Brothers is gonna distribute it. I think that's

about it though. But they're not gonna market

it or anything like that. No they said they said

if you raise if you prove that there's fan interest

in it with this Kickstarter thing then we'll

put our support behind it and I assumed that

that meant financial support once the demand

is there and they met a million dollars and doubled

it. Did anybody read the synopsis that released

for transformers for today? No, not I read your

reactions to it too vague you read Did you see

my reaction on Twitter to it? No? Just go transformers

for it looks sounds fucking terrible It takes

place four years after Dark of the moon and The

trip the Autobots and Decepticons have pretty

much disappeared from earth and a new ancient

Decepticon evils coming towards the earth and

so I was just like reading the description I

was like this sounds fucking dumb like really

dumb like even dumber than I thought it could

have possibly yeah doesn't sound any dumber than

the other transformers it basically sounds like

they're scrapping everybody from the first three

movies and going with entirely new transformers

yeah that seems a little Bizarre. Well, how do

you how do you make a Transformers movie without

Optimus Prime wasn't that simple Rodimus Prime

wasn't that one of wasn't that one of our Hasbro's?

Problems with the movie was they had no way of

marketing anything Because it was the same characters

over and over and over again in the same car

They did they just they just they just took the

toys that didn't sell and repainted them why

I know but it's like you have Optimus didn't

change from So if you had one Optimus he was

the same Thing I don't know they had an optimist

from the first movie the second movie. They had

an optimist they combined with jet fire or Yeah,

jet whatever his name was I could be wrong I

thought I heard and then they had in the third

one They had like him with his trailer because

his trailer was like a weapons. Yeah, okay type

thing I think they did a fairly decent job of

redesign, and then they redesigned Megatron too,

so... Yeah, I laughed so hard at that part in

the third movie. I was like, oh, I need my weapons

trailer. Really? You made it through two movies

without it. Like, I think you're good. I was

like, the only thing that could have been worse

for Transformers 4 if they announced that it

was a return of the twins and it was just a buddy

cop movie. with the twins bad boys three bad

boys three with the twins oh my god only if it's

voiced by martin lawrence and will smith it would

have been awesome i would have watched that i

would have got i would have totally gone to see

that i wish that i that's one of the things i

wish about transformers too is that the twins

had been martin lawrence and will smith oh my

gosh it would it would have been less racist

it would have been more of an in -joke too which

would have been great i how did they get away

with that like they had gold teeth like So I

don't understand if I gotta with being that racist,

but just in robot form So anyway, some of us

have to work tomorrow like Joe and me so we should

probably get going. Yeah I gotta be up at six