Evolution of Our Personal Gaming Habits

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please visit www .grand -con .com. This week

on Off the Cuff, I decided to stop being lazy

and record an episode. it's on back yeah we kind

of delayed there uh for a few weeks waiting for

the stars to line up and then shaunzy wasn't

available to record so we all decided to record

a podcast without him that's how that works sucker

apparently he's the only one that's expendable

oh that's sad oh sorry shaunzy but you're not

here um As always, I am your host, Michael Powers.

You heard Art Danner. Hi! And you heard Joe Reed.

Hello! And as previously stated, Shauncey Brown

is nowhere to be found. What's for the best?

Let's just keep piling on. It's the pile on Shauncey

hour. This is going to be the best episode ever.

Oh, it is. Probably off somewhere doing motivational

speaking Living in a van down by the river No,

he's working. Okay All right, so um Since let's

see There hasn't been a whole lot of gaming stuff

since the last time we recorded a podcast I don't

what are you talking about? Are you trying to

say that nothing's happened to her in the dead

zone after e3? Yeah, pretty much I mean, I don't

really think any of our opinions have changed,

have they? Still feeling good on the PS4 and

Microsoft just can't make up their mind? Well,

Microsoft backpedaled again today, so. They are

completely leaving things open -ended now for

indie developers. Self -publishing. Self -publishing.

They officially just are giving in absolutely

everything that the... Fans one so it's pretty

much everything the ps4 did out of the box the

Xbox one now does So they're still not ditching

that connect nope nope. That's the only thing

that they haven't done yet That's us. That's

the thing that they have to do Well, they don't

have to do anything. We just have to not buy

it yep Well, yeah, if they want me to buy it.

That's what they have to do and I won't buy it

or Cut the cost so I don't feel like I'm paying

for the connect That's that's pretty much my

only issue is I don't want to I don't want to

feel like I'm paying for something that I'm not

going to use so In light of kind of a news -free

era Of after e3 stuff. We're just going to talk

about how our Gaming habits have changed from

when we were younger to how we are now And since

this was Danner's idea I just want to go ahead

and hand this off to him. Okay. Fantastic. I

mean, I am the man with the plan here. You are.

Most of the time. I have this completely scripted

out and this will go completely smoothly without

any sort of issue whatsoever. What's a script?

I don't know. I've heard TGF did... TFG1 Mike

mentioned scripts before, and Steve mentioned

scripts before, but I myself don't remember what

they are. And I went to film school. So, you

know, never heard of the term before. So anyways,

so basically the question I have raised is that

I'm interested to see how... when you first you

know really got into gaming kind of you know

what what types of games you were into and what

kind of gaming habits you had and and How those

evolved or changed over the years with you know?

Getting older and you know getting a life and

that kind of stuff I was gonna say I mean what

I guess the the first question I would pose is

you know what what games did you know you you

start off playing that you know Are games that

you don't really Put that much stock into anymore

or something that you would have played when

you were younger that you just now you don't

really you kind of avoid those types of games

or Do you still play the exact same types of

games you played when you were a kid? Which I

believe that's true for Joe Yep Well for me the

lineage went I had access to, I think it was

an Atari 2600, was my first experience with video

games, and then the next door neighbor had an

NES, and eventually I did, and then from there

was the Super Nintendo N64, PlayStation, PS2,

to the 360 and PlayStation 3, but I guess my

gaming habits have changed. Kind of in line with

the the way the consoles have changed Like the

the 2600 and the NES and the super NES pretty

much everything up to You know the latest hardware

all those all the games I played were massive

single -player games like RPGs Some racing games

here and there I didn't really do a whole lot

of first -person shooter type stuff. It was all

platformers and third -person adventures But

just like an overall brushstroke before we go

before we dive into Talking more in depth about

it though is I think for me. It's just now I

prefer my games to be more social but I don't

know if that's if that's just because that's

all that infrastructure is built into the systems

or if It's because I have friends that are now

on you know, they're all over the place. They're

not down the street You know, they can't come

over and sit on my couch and play it's One of

the selling points for me is a game that has

some kind of multiplayer in it, whereas before,

without having that infrastructure in place,

it didn't really matter to me if a game had multiplayer.

I just wanted to sit down and play like, you

know, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, you know,

Mario, those types of games, where I could just

play them by myself. I mean, I wasn't an anti

-social kid by any means, but... When it came

time to play games, I wasn't really interested

in playing them with anybody else. Joe? Yeah,

I think my first video game experience, man,

I had to been about two or three, but I played

my uncle's Odyssey 2 in the upstairs bedroom

of my grandma and grandpa's mobile home. And

I remember being terrified of those weird little

glowing sprites moving around on the screen.

Beyond that it was my Mom's friend who had a

Coleco vision playing Donkey Kong and pitfall

Harry and I think maybe that's Where it really

started out most of my big video game memories.

My early video game memories are social experiences

It was playing with my uncle Alan it was playing

with my mom's friend Lois and my mom with pitfall

Harry and Donkey Kong and After that I got my

NES and yeah I played the big single -player

games like Zelda but there was lots of friends

come over after school because I live two blocks

from from there and we'd play Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles 2 the arcade game on the Nintendo

and every day after school we'd do the code to

get infinite lives or 99 lives and we'd beat

the game every single day and I remember also

beating Dragon Warrior 1 in a basement full of

other kids from school we were all like getting

into that last fight together my friends were

banging on the television they're the little

pink fingers banging on that glass tube trying

to score critical hits on them for me and uh

i mean even further than that n64 golden eye

fest with everybody in the neighborhood coming

over force player spritz split screen uh combat

that was that was really They really are all

kind of social memories in my head. I don't really

remember sitting there playing them alone Even

though I know I did Hmm Well, I mean I I had

though I mean I had the you know your cousins

come over I never really had the big like neighbor

all the neighborhood kids coming over to my house

to play anything I think like my first I remember

sitting around my cousins and you know taking

turns handing off the controller and stuff like

that, but I think even on the N64 when multiplayer

became like a real thing and not, you know, you

need another add -on to get more controllers

into the system, my only cooperative experience

on that system is Mario Kart 64 and Star Fox

64. I mean, I played GoldenEye, but that wasn't

my thing. I didn't get into first -person shooters

anything until the current generation of systems,

when that's all there was. I think GoldenEye

is why I can't get into other first person shooters

because I'm weird. I haven't seen anything different

from that. And I guess I take that back. I want

to play some Bioshock because it has, you know,

a story and a couple other things, but I can't

get into the first person shooters because I

look at it and it's a glorified GoldenEye. Started

off with the Atari 2600. I mean mostly for me

it was Qbert and centipede when I first started

playing. Is that on 2600? Qbert? Was it 2600?

I don't know. I'm gonna go look in my bin. It's

right here. Then maybe I didn't have the 2600.

Liars! Lies! It's all based on lies. Speaking

of the Atari, there's a game that I've heard

about recently. And a survival horror podcast

that I want to see if joe has because I really

want to try it What game is it? I can't think

of the name right now But I will get it to you.

I will find out what it is and talk to you about

it this weekend If I don't have it, I will buy

it You won't talk to me this weekend because

i'll be in baltimore. Oh fine. You'll be in baltimore,

but i'll find out what it is regardless i'll

Regardless it was an atari system. I know that

much So I had a joystick and one button Yes,

I mean, it was Qbert and Centipede. I mean, that's

pretty much what I started on. And then, I mean,

I got a Nintendo entertainment system and it

was pretty much Mario games, platformer games,

Mighty Bomb Jack, Mega Man. So, I mean, primarily

platformers. When I was younger, Super Nintendo

came along. And that's, I think, when my gaming

habits changed quite a bit. Because of a link

to the past Which was kind of like my Well, I

shouldn't say it with the Nintendo I had a there

was a lot of friends that had gaming systems

that that I had and and through them I Got to

experience a lot of games that I wouldn't normally

played mainly Final Fantasy And I I when I got

the Super Nintendo that was kind of the big thing

for me was that's what I you know purchased and

actually owned my first Final Fantasy games before

then I just played them at a friend's house and

I that kind of got me I was still kind of big

into platformers but then I got you know big

into the RPGs like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy

3 and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and um those

games. The other thing I think was big for me

as well is growing up in a neighborhood where

somebody's dad owns a pinball supply company

that supplies pinball machines and arcade machines

to all the local businesses. That's when we get

home from school, we don't go hang out and play

games in somebody's room. We go over to Jeff's

house, we play the Soul Blade machine that's,

you know, in his living room, or we go to his

room and play his Galaga or Ms. Pac -Man tabletop

game that's in his bedroom. Or we go to the garage

where there's the Indiana Jones. Pinball machine

or where there's the Adams family pinball machine

or there's the Mars attacks pinball machine or

the Terminator pinball machine or where there's

Street Fighter 2 Tournament Edition or Mortal

Kombat or and it's like it was like pinball in

fighting games Tons of arcade games and literally

that's what we did after school. We went over

to Jeff's house We played the arcade games for

hours on end No, no coin ups didn't cost us any

money. It was basically his dad, you know had

us break in the machines So that they were good

to go. I mean we get to play these things brand

new Never touched by another human being We'd

break them in so that the buttons weren't stiff

anymore. And then once the buttons weren't stiff

anymore He would put him in a play somewhere

and, you know, rent them out to the local bowling

alley or whatever. So, I mean, that's... My incredibly

spoiled video gaming childhood was that. I mean,

that's kind of a lot of how... That was pretty

much most of elementary, middle school and high

school was, I mean, always hanging out at Jeff's

house, always playing video games. So, I mean,

he had a Popeye machine down in his basement.

His dad, when Showbiz Pizza closed, got all the

animatronic puppets, so all the animatronic puppets

from Showbiz Pizza were lining the basement.

That's interesting. Those were all supposed to

have been destroyed. Oh, they so weren't because

there's a set of them. The entire Showbiz band

is sitting in Jeff's dad's basement, along with

all the animatronic hooves. They were on the

wall at the entrance. Oh, yeah. Yeah, those those

are lining the basement also I knew a guy who

worked at the data showbiz pizza up on Alpine

from the showbiz to Chuck E. Cheese thing and

he said that the order came down from corporate

that they were to take all those out and back

smashing with sledgehammers Photograph the destruction

and then send those photographs to corporate

You could easily make those I'm pretty sure Yeah,

I think so, too. And a lot of these. But you

got to get a look at it this way, though. When

the Ann Arbor showbiz pizza closed, they did

not switch to Chuck E. Cheese. They closed. So

all those people had absolutely no obligation.

Yeah. To do what corporate wanted them to do.

So they made quick bucks and they sold everything

out of that place. So I mean they hightailed

it and ran when that place closed down and the

managers there just gutted the place and sold

off everything so When I was gonna say Jeff's

dad bought a lot of the animatronic stuff out

of there, so it was awesome pretty sweet So I

mean like when I was younger I was I did a lot

of I not only do we play a lot of arcade fighters

Also tended to play a lot of fighters back then

too because that was our that was our social

gaming for us was Mortal Kombat 2 Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles tournament fighters Rival schools

on the PlayStation was a big one for I was gonna

say end of the figures my last year of high school

first year of college We played the shit Out

of rival schools like to the point where we wore

a ring into the game and had to buy a new copy

we were playing it so And then we The the thing

with like for us like the fighting game thing

kind of evolved because we kind of got out of

the arcade fighters and eventually we moved into

ECW anarchy rules WWF war zone um and got into

the the slightly more technical fighting games

because it wasn't just mashing a bunch of button

combinations there actually was a little more

well i guess it's not fair to say there's a technique

to fighting games you need to learn the move

sets you need to learn the power moves i was

not one of those guys wrestling games are much

easier for me because there's you hit a direction

you hit a certain button and you perform a certain

move depending on where you're facing them and

for some reason the sequences sequences made

sense to me like that but button combinations

didn't make any sense to me and I just couldn't

if for some reason my brain didn't work that

way that let me to being good at arcade fighting

style games just never was able to get into it

I could Easily pick up a wrestling game and figure

out you know the techniques and the counters

and stuff like that that made sense to me but

for some reason arcade fighters have never been

something I can Wrap my head around the button

combinations for Never been able to do it And

I think it's because of the fact that it requires

so much sitting down and playing it just to get

to know it that just bores the hell out of me

um Just can't do it That's the biggest change

I've noticed getting older is that I don't I

don't Feel like I have the time to sit down and

learn anything anymore And it's really depressing

because there's games that I want to play that

I'm missing because I just don't want to sit

down to learn them Yeah, well I was gonna say

that's my I would say my biggest change in my

gaming habits for the fact that I was so RPG

heavy when I was younger I will say probably

up until the birth of my kids I played RPGs and

then the moment they arrived I just didn't have

the time to pour into it. I don't have the time

to devote to a hundred and thirty hours to a

game. How the heck did we fit in Fallout? You

and I both did that. The only explanation I have

is I was unemployed. came out that was the only

explanation because like I think I lost my job

the day fallout 3 came out because that was the

last game I really bought I don't even think

I bought it I think I borrowed it for somebody

and then eventually I did buy it but I was I

sunk so much time I you can easily say I sunk

probably a hundred 80 hours maybe 140 somewhere

probably somewhere between a 140 and 180 it's

in there With all the expansion packs and everything.

I sunk a ton of time in anything. I want to say

that's probably the last game I've really sunk

a ton of time into And Yeah, I was gonna say

I think that's the biggest gaming change for

me is the fact that I used to be so heavily in

the RPGs and just RPGs gave way to first -person

shooters and do action games just because they

were easier to pick up and play and put down

again and not feel like you're really missing

out on some super involved storyline unless it's

Assassin's Creed or Infamous And those are easy

enough to pick up and put down and come back

to I can't pick up I have to when I start infamous

I have to play through to the end otherwise It's

a front it's a front charted. I I forget it because

Infamous has such a unique control scheme. It

doesn't play like anything else. I The one thing

I've noticed In listening you guys described

like the gaming when when you were kids is that

and I'm slowly starting to remember certain things

about my childhood that I would rather forget,

is that I, although I was an average student,

that was not good enough for my parents, so I

was perpetually grounded all through the school

year. Plus I lived in a subdivision like on the

opposite side of town. from a school, so it wasn't

like I got to walk home from school with a group

of kids and go to someone's house and play video

games. It was, you ride the bus home, you come

home, and you are grounded. However, the one

thing I'm kinda, I also am starting to realize

is how weird my parents were about my grounding.

While I was grounded from going outside and playing

with my friends, they always made sure that,

you know, they bought me the NES, they bought

me the Super Nintendo, they bought me my games.

But it was it was you're grounded, but here's

here's some games to play So I never really had

the social experiences that you guys are talking

about Which is probably like it got you know,

my life got a little easier About around the

time the N64 came out. That's probably why I

started doing a lot of group stuff playing with

that But I you know my first introduction to

I never got I never understood RPGs I couldn't.

I watched my cousin play Final Fantasy three,

which is, you know, Final Fantasy six. I never

got it. I couldn't. You know, I was like, I was

like, this just seems so boring to me what you're

doing. You're not in it at all. It's kind of

like the way Ali looks at those games right now.

It's like she what's weird about that is she

can play Pokemon, but she can't play a role playing

game. But I I never got in. I didn't get into

RPGs or anything that heavy until Chrono Trigger.

That was like, my gateway drug. Still the only

RPG I can play. I can still play that one today,

too. I think that's one of the only games that

I can pick up and play, you know, 20 years later,

almost now. And, I don't know, I just... I don't

have those wonderful, fantastic childhood experiences

that you guys do. What's No want to say that

they were all fantastic well But I like I never

got with you know a group of guys and one of

my parents did buy me Jurassic Park for Super

Nintendo And that wasn't super stellar, so sorry

I Had something I forgot what it was, but I can

remember the other thing I guess if we just want

to kind of Keep it rolling. What was the longest

time? You guys went without playing games. Is

there like a period in your life where you either

had like a significant other or job or anything

that just got in the way where you didn't buy

a game, play a game, you didn't follow gaming?

Right now. And I say that and I'm not kidding.

I'm and it depresses the snot out of me because

I want to be playing something right now. I have

the time. I have a couple of free days a week

when I'm not painting my house that I'd like

to be sitting in front of the television playing

a game, but I I it's like my Sensibilities have

changed. So this is a very appropriate topic

for Me right now because I want to play something

but I can't find anything I want to play I ended

up picking up sim city creator for the DS which

has filled a small part of that hole, but My

god, I'd be willing to drop $30 on something

awesome right now if I could find out what it

is I wanted. I mean, back in the old days, I

guess my biggest memories are of those social

people coming over and playing games, but probably

I think during the Super Nintendo when I had

the subscription to Nintendo Power, so I knew

about the new technology, weird things that were

on the horizon, so... when they announced the

FX chip and 3D gear, three -dimensional gaming,

three -dimensional things, I said, ooh, I'm gonna

buy that game because it's the first thing with

3D stuff in it. And I bought Donkey Kong because

it was computer -generated critters and the first

time they've done that. Well, the Rumble Pak

came out and I bought, oh, God, what was the

first Rumble Pak game? Star Fox. Yeah, that awesome

game. Whenever Nintendo did something first,

I went and got it. And that's really where my

collecting started. was with Nintendo collecting

the firsts and That developed and that that really

drove my playing and my habits for a very long

time But yeah, just nowadays with Nintendo You

know, I don't need to go get that new Mario game

because it's either a rehash or something. That's

so different I don't care and how do you dance

that line between too similar and Totally different,

you know, I don't Don't know how I different

enough to be exciting but similar enough to still

care about it The last Mario game I cared about

was Mario 64 Yeah, and unfortunately okay See

I like sunshine a lot. I don't hate it, and I

really loved the The weird platforming levels

that happened in Mario Galaxy, those were fun.

I didn't exactly care too much for the rest of

the game, but... I was gonna say, I think the

last Mario game I really cared for was Super

Mario World. Because I played that one snot out

of that game. I loved that game. It was one of

the two games on that system that I just played.

Actually one of the four games on that system.

I played just the crap out of Mega Man X. Oh,

yeah, Super Mario World Final Fantasy 3 or you

know nowadays names Final Fantasy 6 and They

give Final Fantasy mystic less Which if you don't

aren't familiar with the mystic quest it's like

the beginners RPG It was like they made a dumbed

down version of Final Fantasy for people that

had never played RPGs before and it was kind

of like for, you know, younger kids, like an

intro to RPGs essentially. It's a fun game and

it's for people who've never, you know, really

played an RPGs. It was a pretty brilliant idea.

It was just a two -party system instead of, you

know, Final Fantasy can get a little heavy sometimes

where some of the games you can have like...

eight people in your party at any given time

in some of the games most of the times is four

but uh so have you had any droughts daner that's

what i was trying to remember like i've had i

could specifically remember my droughts in like

comic books and where i kind of stopped paying

attention to like comics but i don't recall a

time that i've ever Really stopped paying attention

to what's been going on in video gaming I'm like

if it any like the older I got the more hyper

aware I became of things as Everything was so

like narrow for me when I started out Because

it was just like I have a Nintendo So this is

the only thing I care about right now when I

got my original NES system. I mean I got I immediately

got a subscription to Nintendo Power. And Red

Nintendo Power, I mean, up until pretty much

the day I got rid of my Super Nintendo before

the PlayStation came out. I never thought to

ask, do you have any year old Nintendo powers?

I would have to check with my parents because

I don't think I kept any of them. But that's

not to say that there aren't any at my parents'

house. I do. I have a whole box of them in the

garage. the us and I was gonna say and for me

it was I wasn't it's kind of like The best way

I could also you know kind of compare it to is

with Much like with comics I was a guy that was

very much into I wasn't aware of the writers

I wasn't aware of the artists I was cared more

about the characters. I've always cared more

about the characters I was never loyal to any

particular Company I've never claimed to be loyal

to any particular company. I've liked particular

companies systems over other companies But I

was loyal to characters or the franchises and

for me my My Ten year with Nintendo ended because

of the fact that Final Fantasy moved in Sony

systems That most the PlayStation came out and

they announced the Final Fantasy 7 was going

to be on the PlayStation I jumped to Sony does

it I think I might have it but Joe Do you have

the Nintendo power that has Final Fantasy 7 on

the Super Nintendo or the N64? No, that would

be awesome. I I have that I think I can find

it. I'd like to find out what issue that I have

a lot of them I don't know what issue that one

is, but I wouldn't be surprised if I have it

I'd like to go see that it looked like a completely

different game Like I think it was if I remember

correctly the The the photo they showed was a

first it was like you were going to play if it

was going to be a first -person game So you were

actually playing as one of the characters in

first person and then you had your other I think

there are three other party members because you

were the camera And obviously that's not how

Final Fantasy 7 is yeah, I yeah Dan are like

you I followed I jumped when Final Fantasy 7

was announced for the PlayStation as well. Yeah,

and I mean it was and that was I was Legitimately

Final Fantasy 7 is the only reason I ever jump

systems. That was I was big enough into Final

Fantasy 6 had such an impact on me because of

how how well thought out it was, how interesting

the characters were, how well the story developed,

and how everything just flowed. It was one of

those games. I'd never played anything like that

up until that point, and it just impacted me

so much as a young gamer that I was like, this

is my series. I was like, this is the one thing

that I hold above all else. And that was the

deciding factor for me. There just wasn't any

there was absolutely zero deciding factor outside

of the fact of Final Fantasy That was my deciding

factor. That was that was the the pony I backed

And because I mean continuing for that's I mean,

that's why I got a PlayStation 2 at launch Was

the fact that I knew Sony was continuing that

partnership was with Square Enix Or square soft

at the time And I continued to, you know, be,

continue to support the Sony systems because

of the fact that I knew Final Fantasy was on

there. And I much like, you know, other people,

I enjoyed Final Fantasy VII. I liked Final Fantasy

VIII more than I liked Final Fantasy VII. And

I liked Final Fantasy IX more than I liked VII

or I liked it. I love IX. I love 9 -2, I don't

think it gets the recognition that it deserves,

and I liked 8 because I liked the whole gunblade

dynamic, which some people love it or hate it.

Now, what cured me of my obsession with Final

Fantasy would be Final Fantasy X. That was pretty

much when I... That game... The moment Final

Fantasy X completely failed me... I bought an

Xbox. And then shortly after that, I bought a

GameCube. And that generation was the first generation

where I owned all the systems. It was the first

time that happened for me. It was also the first

time, you know, I had gone back to Nintendo.

N64 was the only system in that period of time

for Nintendo I'd never played. I played it when

I went over to my cousin's house. I played...

I realized I played so much GoldenEye over at

people's houses that when I picked it up recently,

I realized I played the entire game. And I didn't

realize I played it that much at other people's

houses, but surprisingly enough, I guess I had.

Same thing with Mario 64. Never owned the game,

but I played it so much at my cousin's. That

I didn't really need to play it anymore and then

you know when I got a I was always a big legend

as all the fan because I still Hold a link to

the past is one of the greatest games of all

time in my opinion I Love that game. I Love pretty

much all the top -down style zeldas that are

like that. I like the Gameboy Vance ones. I like

And it's pretty much the Gameboy Vance ones or

the Gameboy color ones like seasons and colors

But I I played Which I'll catch some flack for

this I'm sure not from you guys though, but I

played a What's the name of the game Legend of

Zelda what was the N64 one Majora's Mask not

Majora's Mask. It's just Legend of Zelda. Oh,

yeah Ocarina of Time. I played Ocarina of Time

on the GameCube when I pre -ordered Wind Waker.

And that was such a pain in the neck. And I gotta

say, I've never been so bored and disinterested

with a Zelda game in my entire life, and I know

some people hold it as probably one of the greatest

things since Slice of Bread. I find the Ocarina

of Time to be the low point of the entire series.

For me. I've also never played Majora's Mask

so that may not be completely true I might find

that to be the lowest thing of the entire series,

but I've heard good things about that But I also

hear ton of good things about Ocarina of Time.

I just don't see it. I don't get it. I wonder

if that's one of those things where right place,

right time, right controller? And I think that

has to be it, but I played it over at my cousin's

house, and I still couldn't get into it there

I was like I didn't see what the big deal was

Just it didn't it felt clunky to me It didn't

feel and it could have been the fact that I was

so far into the Final Fantasy hole at that time

that I just couldn't get under I Couldn't get

with an action RPG because I was so used to the

turn base at that point in time Because that

was like the only thing I was playing at that

point in time It's completely true because I

was playing vagrant story also It's a beautiful

game beautiful story But you one it can't be

played with the GameCube controller the the music

stuff that it relied on those C buttons But I

think right time has a lot to do with it, too.

I don't believe that Ocarina of Time holds up

As well as we all think it does and I don't like

I could still sit down and play like for the

past all the way through Oh yeah. But I think

that's one of those, I think that goes back to

being able to replay Chrono Trigger. I think

that is an advantage. Chrono Trigger, also completely

replayable. But I think that, I think what that

is, that is the, the um, there's probably another

word for this, but the pixel art is a lot easier

to deal with playing an older game than it is

to play something that was made in 3D. with horrible,

horrible anti -aliasing. Yes, like, that's what

I'm saying. Like, those, like, the pixel art

is always gonna look the same, you know, pretty

much, unless, like, the DS and Nintendo's, like,

handhelds are, like, perfect for playing those

old games. Like, Chrono Trigger looks amazing

on the DS. And I would imagine a link to the

pa... Excuse me, a link to the Passport as well,

but, like... Chrono Trigger looks good on the

Vita, too. The old stuff doesn't... It doesn't

stack up, you know, it won't look good. And I

think there's something about that Super Nintendo

generation of games that I think that just I

think those graphics translate better to It's

kind of I think it's still an art style that's

kind of held onto by a lot of the independent

game companies and indie game companies because

it it looks good and it looks polished and it

still looks good on screens today where I mean

I think if they started doing like designing

everything in a way that you know the N64 did

with the blocky character designs I probably

wouldn't have as much love for indie games as

Do now I think it's just they embrace that Super

Nintendo era graphic style because of the fact

that it's easy to program for unlike tablets

and handhelds and stuff like that and that that

kind of graphics interfaces kind of embrace a

little bit more and what we're seeing on those

types of portable handheld tablet and phone systems

And that kind of art style still embrace Because

it was It's cartoony, but it's it looks good

still That that said I don't I can't play Chrono

Trigger on my TV. I can't I could play it on

my Vita Yeah, I don't I can't imagine I'd be

able to sit down and play it on my TV, but but

for me. That's a matter of That's a that's a

graphical issue. I don't want to see the sprites

that big Whereas the sprites are nice and small

and actually looked really good on you know on

the DS on the on the Vita I would love a copy

of chrono trigger to play on the big TV just

to see I Don't have a way to get it on a big

screen right now. There's this version Well,

there's the you can get the PlayStation version

on your ps3 And if Dan if Dan are bought it you

can download it. Yeah, you could just jump on

my account download it It's the PlayStation version

which means it's gonna play horribly, but It'll

give you a good idea. Yeah So no drought I don't

like I Can't recall one. I mean I don't I I want

to say that there's you know Like that was my

thing to do in like middle school and high school

when you got to the end of the day I had a monitor

and and my video game system like Built onto

a shelf that literally went over the edge of

my bed, so I would pop in the bed Play for like

a half an hour 45 minutes before bed and then

go to sleep I mean it was always that I always

had a TV and a video game system directly in

my room always So it was one of those things

it was always there and I never would I Can't

think I can't think of a time where it didn't

Where you were in it where I wasn't like I mean

there's times where I was like I may not like

now I don't think I think it follows Stuff a

little more closely, but I like I don't sit around

and read the magazines like it used to when I

was a kid I mean, there's I don't think a printed

form of I don't think there is currently a printed

form of video game media that I think is worth

sitting down and wasting my time reading. Unfortunately

I think Game Informer is a joke because of working

at GameStop and with Best Buy's Gamer Magazine

I literally pick it up and I look at the coupons

and then I'll flip through and see if there's

anything remotely interesting usually by the

time I get Paragraph into an article. I find

interesting. I was like these guys are fucking

retarded and then I'm done I just don't I Know

you you digest most of your information through

like podcasts Podcasts Twitter and Twitter and

I was gonna say most of my information I get

through through Twitter or I'll go to GameSpot

and just check out, you know, whatever Whatever,

you know titles to articles, you know Fancy me

but I was like I won't I won't go out and seek

out Information if it comes across me I'll read

it but it's like I don't know if it's something

if it involves a company I'm interested in or

if it involves a game franchise I'm interested

in I'll sit down and read it but I won't just

Sit the flip through crap just because I just

I don't have the time and I'm just not I'm interested

in essentially I guess what it comes down to

I'm interested in stuff that I'm interested in

and I'm not gonna go out and seek out new shit.

I guess is what it really comes down to. My problem

with print media is by the time I have a copy

of it in my hand that news is a month old and

I saw it on the internet. Exactly and it's kind

of gotten to the point where it's kind of a joke.

Print media is because yeah the moment I get

like a gamer magazine from Best Buy it's the

reviews feel so old to me and it was like yeah

it released like two or three weeks ago but it

was like i've read like five articles about this

online already it's like this is just this is

old hat to me i mean literally literally the

only reason i even get that is because in the

hopes of getting a decent coupon once a month

and i it's been a good three months since there's

been a decent coupon in that magazine well for

me I remember it's it's my I used to see when

I worked at Blockbuster back in 2000 I used to

buy electronic gaming monthly and the PlayStation

magazine Monthly from them. I never had a subscription

to it never and I also bought next gen and There's

like three or four different video game magazines.

I was buying monthly off of the newsstand and

I would digest everything about them and you

know really I would really follow games and that

that I actually pretty much did up until about

like late 2003 early 2004 and then my gaming

just stopped and I think that's because I spent

a lot of time in my car back driving back and

forth across the state to visit friends and go

to school and You know visit girlfriends and

stuff like that and I It was like almost a two

-year period where I Didn't buy a single game

I Remember the Xbox 360 announcement came and

went and I didn't even know it I didn't I wouldn't

even be I wouldn't even have been aware of the

Xbox 360 if it wasn't for Working at Cinemark

with Danner And I remember vaguely following

anything having to do with like the ps3 and stuff

like that but like nothing until I moved back

home and I started to hang out with Jason again

and When I moved back home, I found myself, you

know flush with cash with the job. I have now

and I was like, I'm going to buy a new TV. So

I went and bought a new TV and I hooked up my

PlayStation 2 to it and it looked like ass. And

I was like, and I tried. I went out and bought

component cables for it. And I was like, you

know what? No, we have to do something. And it

was 2006. That's when the PS3 was coming out.

The 360 had been out for a year. And on Black

Friday, I went and got the 20 gig 360. With Gears

of War and NHL07 with like a three -year warranty

from Circuit City for like 250 bucks And I took

that home and that I mean that's really the only

reason I even bought a 360 was because it was

cheaper than the PlayStation 3 and it was HD

and I bought it with the intention of oh, I'm

never gonna use the online stuff that's stupid

blah blah blah and then Dan I had to go and have

a kid and Somehow I got invited to that diaper

party, and I'm not entirely sure how I did Keep

I keep trying to figure that one out but basically

I went out there I played you know Gears of War

and Call of Duty 2 and I came home and signed

up for Xbox live the minute I got home I was

at that party that was before I knew you and

I don't remember meeting you at all You're one

of those people I didn't know same likewise amazing

But yeah, there was really a two -year period

right it by a single magazine nothing and when

I moved back home I that's I dove headlong back

into it Because I was working like doubles and

stuff at the movie theater, and I didn't have

you know internet on the phone wasn't a thing

At the time and so it was like every Every Saturday

I go into on my way into work. I go into the

grocery store and I had like a path that I followed

and it was like, okay I'm going down the magazine

aisle. Is there a new electronic gaming monthly?

No, is there a new PlayStation magazine? Yes

buy it, you know get to the store. I read that

thing cover to cover In half my shift and then

you know, I'd sit I'd start watching my my TV

shows and stuff like that, but Yeah magazines

have pretty much gone away The print media I

kind of you know, I watched that dissolve because

at that same time I was watching was listening

to a lot of the the podcast that one up comm

was putting out and They have a lot of good ones

And it kind of felt like and at that time I didn't

really have a lot of people to talk about games

with When I started getting into it again, I

mean Jason, you know like to talk about games

but he more or less was just would react to what

I told him about stuff and So I got to listen

to other people talk about it and you know read

their reviews in the magazine So it's kind of

like it was weird to have like this I I've been

listening to these guys talk about video games

for like seven years seven eight years almost

So like I know like who has similar taste to

mine and who doesn't and they became my gaming

friends when I didn't have gaming friends But

yeah, that was that was my the drought that I

had and I've just I've pretty much been in it

and I've since and I've kind of kept myself in

everything and Slowly I've started to thin out

where I actually go for my sources. I don't really

go to look for it anymore If it shows up across

my Twitter feed and I'm able to like catch it

maybe I'll check it out and stuff like that,

but So at what point In your gaming life, and

I think Dan are kind of answered this With him,

but we'll see what what Joe what Joe says? At

what point did you become because like we said

at first it was all we were all about Nintendo

is Nintendo Power was telling us what we should

buy What we should play what was the new hotness?

You know school school school chat about what

game was cool and Dan's you know Dan brought

up the fact that you know It was all about the

the game the the title the franchise um the characters

exclusives at what point did you become aware

of stu what what at what point did the studio

matter to you more than the game or did you become

aware of more aware of the studio or publisher

than the game like uh like for daner for example

i think his was yeah his was square soft with

you know the final fantasy series when Square

jumped from Nintendo to the PlayStation, he followed

them. Do you have a moment like that, Joe? I

have... I was loyal to Nintendo for a very long

time and when I'd go over to the friend's house

who had the Sega or who had the games on their

Nintendos that weren't made by Nintendo, it...

The weird little things that were different and

annoying stood out to me and annoyed me. The

way menus work for Nintendo branded games were

beautiful and it worked. The buttons did the

same things from game to game and you could kind

of follow it. The graphics were consistent and

you'd go to these other things and the play control

felt weird with the Sega Genesis and Sonic the

Hedgehog. I never liked the way... Sonic responded

to the controller or how he couldn't jump walking

slowly going up a hill He'd jump back, you know

that weird little stuff. It's something always

felt terrible Sega games to me toe jamming and

Sonic the Hedgehog and yeah, and I developed

with the turbo graphics 16. I That's one of the

reasons I want to get that Ninja Turtles game

that was ported to Sega. I want to see how that

plays compared to the Super Nintendo version

Hyperstone heist the one thing I never got about

the Sega was the button layout Is the three buttons

just Yeah, that never clicked with me That's

something where Nintendo also always I think

even that weird ugly N64 controller that that

thing's functional It works. I love the N64 controller.

It fits. It's beautiful. And so I had all this

loyalty built up in the Xbox's coming out and

the PlayStation 2's coming out. And the graphics

on the PS2 were hideous compared to what I was

playing on... I'm jumping a generation GameCube,

I guess. Even then I liked what they were doing.

When I got the job at GameStop, I started becoming

aware of more developers and what things were

going on, but it didn't matter because I still

like Nintendo. When the Wii came out, I think

that's really when gaming started to die for

me because the thing that I had grown up with

was starting to change. It wasn't catering to

me anymore. The care and love that I saw going

into Nintendo branded games started to disappear

and turn into shovelware. quickly hashed together

garbage and I honestly are I think the diaper

party and me playing Gears of War and finding

out that I was like a prodigy at it was probably

the moment where I started to consider Xbox and

the other things and also those those parties

that James used to to have at his house the Halo

land parties before there was real internet and

everybody had it we'd all network cable those

things together those were transformative moments

from like wow this is This is actually kind of

cool. I changed there, but even even then, Nintendo

died for me and I really don't enjoy those Halo

type Gears of War type games. There's the single

player stuff is missing that I used to get from

other places. I want to play a game. So, Dan,

was your Squaresoft? I wonder that I think square

was with the first time I really know I I want

to say Hudson soft was probably the first time

I really Paid attention to a game company back

on the Nintendo Because I was for some reason

Very much aware of what they were doing and I

have no idea why Hudson software was stuck out

in my mind, but they did But I would say Square

is probably one of the ones where I became really

into what they were doing and very loyal to them,

more so over Nintendo or Sony. But I think outside

of that, I think I've become more and more company

focused the longer. I have far more loyalty towards

certain game developers than I do towards the

systems. especially BioWare. BioWare would definitely

be this generation's... I didn't even... I would

go as far back to say once I felt completely

burned by Square after Final Fantasy X, I think

BioWare was there. It was that company that I

kind of latched onto after that with Nicely Old

Republic and they were just kind of that company

that I think I just started to pay a lot of attention

to. Mean I there was other companies. I paid

attention to over the years, but I think it's

more so Because personalities, I I've never paid

attention much attention or rare so I Mean I

paid a lot of attention to uh Crap I can see

their logo in my mind and I just can't Cliff

Blazinski epic epic um like I've started to get

you know kind of behind you know epic and id

and Bethesda Bethesda and and those those companies

and High Moon Studio High Moon Studios on the

Xbox with you know Whatever the hell game they

did Dark Watch and Capcom. I mean, Capcom's iconic

to me. There's certain companies, yes, you're

always aware that they're going to be there,

but you're just like EA and Capcom are just like

staples of the industry, so you're always aware

of them, but I wouldn't necessarily say that

I follow everything that they do. Like you didn't

buy Mega Man because it was a Capcom game, you

bought Mega Man because it was Mega Man. But

I mean, I bought Final Fantasy because I love

Final Fantasy, but because I liked Final Fantasy,

I liked Square and I bought Vagrant Story, I

bought Legend of Dragoon, I bought, you know,

those types of games that came from Square. Legend

of Dragoon was Sony, not Square. Fuck you. Okay,

the moment I said it I knew I was wrong The reason

you know, it wasn't squares because it's not

Final Fantasy. Yeah Vagrant stories was square

That one I know for sure was yes But I mean there's

there was certain RPGs that square put out and

I mean I bought the bouncer because it was a

square title Oh man, I played that thing like

12 times Because it was short But it was a terrible

game I can acknowledge that now that it was a

terrible game And I kept playing it over and

over and over again in the hopes that it was

gonna get something out of it That was never

coming better than that Earth guys or guys that

fighting game the square fighting game Energies

in is that what it is? Yeah, energize or energies.

It looks like it's supposed to be energized or

energies in but I swear It's like her guys or

something like something stupid probably like

EHR No, I felt I fell in that trap ago. Oh Sephiroth

and clouds in it. I'll buy it. Yeah, so yeah

Just like Final Fantasy 10 wasn't bad enough.

Let's try Final Fantasy X 2. Oh my god. What

is this? It's Barbie dress up final. Ah, ah,

that's the only game I bought it the day it came

out and sold it back to GameStop by the end of

the day. Like, I spent three hours with the game

and I went, fuck it, I'm done. I can't do this.

Well, this is terrible. For me, I was in the

same boat as you, Danner. It was Squaresoft was

the first, I think the first developer or publisher

that I became aware of. But even before that,

I think it the one that the name that I knew

before was Rare. Because the you know they sent

out those treehouse videos and Nintendo made

that big push It was kind of like it was very

hard not to know who rare was if you were a Nintendo

fan One of my favorite things that happened with

rare was you know because of Nintendo power I

knew that all of the people who made rare what

it was Ken lob and Oh god, that's the only name

that's coming to head now. But either way, a

lot of those guys who made GoldenEye and who

did the Donkey Kong stuff and who did the Perfect

Dark stuff, they had left that company. And when

the announcement got made that Rare was going

to Microsoft, everybody was like, oh my god,

Rare is going away. Oh, it's going to Microsoft.

I can't believe what they're doing to Nintendo.

And the whole time I'm going. Nintendo knows

what's going on. They saw Rare going downhill

and got rid of it when everybody still thought

it was awesome. And they got out. They got the

better end of that deal by letting them go because

a lot of garbage came out after those guys left

and went to Microsoft, unfortunately. But it

was. I was one of those guys because I was not

aware of free radical free radical. for me it

was it was square soft and what got me hooked

on square soft like i said you know was my my

window to um rpg's which was chrono trigger and

it's mainly because i like the setting i love

the time travel i love the futuristic aspects

you know all that stuff and one of the things

that made me jump ship you know i i said that

i never got the appeal of final fantasy 6 still

haven't played final fantasy 6 don't want to

play final fantasy 6 not forever buddy i i'm

not gonna knock it Because for me it's up there

with Resident Evil and Zelda. I know what those

franchises have done for gaming. I'm just not

going to play it. And the best way I can describe

Final Fantasy 6 now, and I don't know why I just

thought about this. Final Fantasy 6 is like the

fringe of Final Fantasy games because it deals

with two alternative realities. So if that doesn't

intrigue you at all then go fuck yourself see

I didn't get that watching my cousin play it

at all Um, but like I said, I didn't play it.

So that's probably why I didn't pick that up

And one of the things that you know Maybe I followed

square when they announced Final Fantasy 7 because

I probably like a lot of other people saw that

first picture of cloud With this sword on the

motorcycle and I was like, holy crap Motorcycles

in a Final Fantasy game. I'm there like I like

the high -tech Vibe that they were that they

put in, you know the opening of Final Fantasy

7 and all the stuff that they showed for it I

was like, I'm I'm sold. I mean that was one of

the games I bought that, you know for about the

game when it came out that September You know

three months before I even got a PlayStation.

I had a memory card before I had a PlayStation

I was ready to go Christmas Day because I had

the game in the memory card I just didn't have

a way of playing it until then and I I followed

square a wholeheartedly in Right up until it

was shortly after the ps2 came out and it became

very apparent to me that They I mean obviously

from a business standpoint I understand why they

did it but from a gamer and from a guy that liked

secret of mana that liked Chrono trigger that

liked Xeno gears You know even kind of like vagrant

story Square was switching into this mode where

it was like if we're going to sell it it's going

to have Final Fantasy in front of it and I did

not like that at all. I felt like there were

games like Kingdom Hearts. I like Kingdom Hearts,

but Kingdom Hearts is a 3D version of Secret

of Mana, or the Mana series. That's what that

is to me, and it almost feels like a travesty

that we never got a Secret of Mana game that

was as good as the Kingdom Hearts games. And

when they decided to let the team that made Xenogears

go or fall apart, So they formed Monolithsoft.

I was like, okay, so we're not gonna get Xenogears

1 through 4, so screw you, I don't really care

about this. And then they did Final Fantasy X,

and then they did X2, and I was like, oh, now

you're making sequels of your own damn games.

I'm done. And in that period I became aware of

other studios, like Rockstar for Grand Theft

Auto. And I think Retro Studios with Metroid

Prime. Yeah, I became aware of them What else

did they do? Well now they've done nothing else

except that I know of other than the the most

recent Donkey Kong games But I you know, that's

that's when I really started getting into following

it became more important to me who was making

the game rather than what the game actually was

because it was kind of like It's weird. This

is kind of like a weird I'm not saying this would

actually happen, but I'm saying like okay if

If rock star all of a sudden just up and said

they wanted to make a my little pony game Just

saying I would probably try it Because it's rock

star making a my little pony game. I you know,

it's It's kind of like it's also the same thing

of saying like, you know, Dana brought up high

moon studios It's okay. High Moon, you know,

they make the Transformers games. Not a big Transformers

fan, but High Moon, you know, has a good reputation,

so I'll try out their Transformers games. And

look, they made a good game. Two of them. Those

were fun. Same thing can be said for Bizarre

Studios. The guys that started, I could be wrong,

but didn't they get their start making Geometry

Wars and Project Gotham? Yeah. And it was Geometry

Wars that sold me on them. And because of that,

I bought Blur. Love. Blur I wish I played more

of it, but It's just you know nowadays. It's

more about who's making it rather than what the

game actually is And I get really ticked off.

I'm starting to get more ticked off by publishers

more and more You know because it closed the

studio because that game didn't sell 12 million

copies Whatever terrible trend at least we're

getting Tomb Raider 2. Yay Hey guys, there's

breaking news Legend of Zelda Symphony of the

Goddess live concert at DeVos Hall is coming

to Grand Rapids. What? Yep, I'm looking at it

right now. Where are we going? Let's find out.

Oh God, no dates? What the frick, dude? Oh, wait

here. Okay. Mezzanine. Oh. want to buy tickets

anyway no dates not yet but I'm looking um I

don't know this this this is but a great discussion

I think we should continue this again maybe with

John Z yeah October 19th will suck over night

that when we're doing our next podcast October

19th is our next podcast So until then, if you

want to get in touch with us, you can comment

on our parent site at geekcastradio .com or send

us emails to us at feedback at geekcastradio

.com. Just put the show title in the subject

line. So for this week's Off the Cuff, I've been

Michael Powers. You can find me on Twitter, Xbox

Live and the PlayStation Network at Booth Ninja

81. Danner? You can find me on Twitter at our

Danner. and on PlayStation Network at X51 The

Machine Man. If you find me on Xbox Live, that's

a joke you want. Joe? I've been Joe Reed, and

you can find me probably the best ways through

Facebook still at the Geek Stuff Garage Sale

Facebook page. All right, so until October 19th,

I still can't find a way to end this thing. That'll

work.