Discussion on Zelda, Assassin’s Creed 4, and Telltale Games

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Hello and welcome everyone to Off the Cuff episode

41. I am your host as always, Michael Powers.

I'm joined this week by Art Danner. Hi. Was there

actual audio lag or were you just being dumb?

I was reading Twitter, I'm sorry. And you've

heard Sean Z Brown. Hello. And the chuckle you

heard, ladies and gentlemen, was the return of

the Joe. I'm back! The once and future Joe. The

prodigal son returns? Yeah, you would not. I'm

in my basement and I am sitting in front of three

computers, two hard drives and a 15 year old

laptop. I finally wired something together that

works. Wait, they made laptops 15 years ago?

This is ancient. Yeah. Was it made out of stone?

No, it was two tablets. It's like... It's like

to turn it on, you have to hit the little, it's

a sun over a pyramid with a guy with a bird head

next to it, you gotta hit that button to turn

it on. Well, I should clarify, maybe 15 -year

-old desktops, yes, but this laptop is at least

seven to 10 years old, yeah, I would say. You're

only off by five years, that's half a decade.

Well, yeah, you know. My dad had a laptop and

like... No, he carried the table that had the

computer on it No, I mean, yeah, this thing was

huge compared to today's standards, but it wasn't

that huge I just remember the battery pack was

bigger than most laptops today. That's true And

my cell phone lasts longer than that battery

did But yes, Joe is back and a question that

I've been waiting to ask Joe since he stopped

showing up I am going to purchase the game because

I've gotten an answer from someone else already

about my question, but I want to hear it from

a friend about a link between worlds. Yes. Now,

I don't want the question I'm asking. I don't

really want you to call back to a link to the

past so much. I just want to know is A Link Between

Worlds, a good Zelda game for someone that's

never played a Zelda game. That is honestly a

topic that I think we could blow an hour on.

But let's not. I know, I know. It's very difficult

to tell. It's hard to tell. I mean, I blasted

through that game. It was definitely one of the

best experiences of this year in gaming. Uh,

but uh, the question that I kept asking myself

as soon as I accomplished something new is Could

I give this game to my wife who's never played

the legend of zelda? And and would she be able

to get it or would she need to play linked to

the past? there are We we've we've it's come

up in our conversations before like where do

you teach somebody to play video games? How do

you start them off? There are things that occur

in this game that Might maybe have counted on

something that I picked up 20 years ago playing

a game that I've since forgotten I had to learn

and just did it and where it's really difficult

with link between worlds is We all know Dungeon

treasure treasure does things in the dungeon

and kills the boss But they add like this weird

fourth dimensional twist to a lot of different

things but mostly it's tied to how the weapons

and tools are used in conjunction with latch

onto the walls and become a flat two -dimensional

thing, that it requires this kind of compound

thinking that I don't think people who haven't

played Legend of Zelda would find as easy to

figure out. I think that, yeah, I guess here's

my answer. I think a non -Legend of Zelda player

would spend three times as long on the same puzzles

because they have to work out both halves. Of

the puzzle and not only do they need to work

out both halves, but they need to then use them

in conjunction with each other to solve the puzzle

It's it's uh It but it was that's one of the

reasons that I liked it so much. It was that

it broke a lot of Legend of Zelda conventions

But you had to know what the rules were rules

are to break them And so when I did it was like,

oh my goodness. It's like I can see the matrix

now I can see the code and now I get it and then

it oh Very satisfying experience though, but

don't so you're saying the game does nothing

to teach you this stuff as it goes Like it expects

you to have played Like it expects you to have

played the link to the past like you can't Like

there's no tutorial phase or they don't show

you how to do anything in this game It's just

a Zelda game and you go well the Zelda never

Well, they've never really done it. There's no

yeah been a tutorial. It's more so been a Off

you go and you get a new weapon and we'll teach

you how to use the new weapon They never really

teach you the basics except for the end separate

say the only game I remember them doing teaching

the basics was um What's the? Yeah, the overrated

one that one so I mean The Zelda formula isn't

unique to Zelda I mean it seems like there are

other games that you could have played that would

have helped you figure out this game and we've

talked before about how um we talked before about

playing um what is it dust and Elysian tale um

being that it's a metroidvania style game you

know you there are certain things that you learned

in the in the language of the game, like playing

a Metroid game where it's like, oh, this walkway

goes a little bit farther this way. Oh, I'll

follow it around. Or, you know, this elevator

goes off screen. But, you know, the main screen

doesn't go there. It's like, I'm going to follow

this elevator down. Oh, look, I found a hidden

area. Like the the the level language is is all

there. You're saying that. I mean, is that the

kind of stuff that you're talking about with

this game? It's like it's just a language that,

you know, if you're not familiar with those type

of like those types of games. But it's more than

that. It's how the tools work. And in one way,

the new formula, the big thing that everybody

is really excited about is that all the treasures

you can buy immediately. If you have enough rupees,

you can buy every treasure in the game from this

dude. You rent them. Yeah. But there's also a

point where you get to buy them about a third

the way through the game, halfway through the

game. You can actually buy them and he doesn't

snatch them back when you die. And when because

of that, you get I mean, you get the hook shot.

But because it's not happening at a scripted

moment in the game You don't learn how to use

it really you don't figure out that oh when I

latch on to wooden things It'll pull me when

I hit them with when I hit coins with them rupees

with them I get to suck the the rupee back to

me. So it's the events aren't as scripted as

They would be if you found it in a dungeon and

okay now I have the hook shot But I'm standing

on this pedestal now I need to use it on those

statues to latch me around and then the hook

shot does new things this time, too It doesn't

only pull you toward things or stun enemies now

You can use it to hook on to levers that are

super far away and pull them toward you which

is something it didn't do before and so Would

my wife have known to even select the hook shot

from her inventory to do that? You know, well,

yeah after 45 minutes of trying everything in

her inventory, but you know what? That's what

Zelda was about back in What 80s 90s when that

first one came out? They didn't tell you where

the dungeon was you took your candle and you

burnt every frickin bush on every friggin screen

so you could find the tunnels and I Think that

was that's more about what Zelda was and it returns

to that The games were different back then you

could get away with a game being like that before

Sounds like I think it's less forgiving look

for games now. It sounds like this game is not

for Like what you're saying. It's not yeah, it's

not for new gamers But it's so tough. I mean

this maybe this is I need to see it I need to

put Jenny in front of it and watch I need to

see what it looks like but well I don't know

is there I'm not because we've talked about how

your wife is really good at Sonic the Hedgehog

Oh, yeah, but Sonic the Hedgehog shares Next

to no mechanics with any other game. Yep, so

Versus someone like us who we have lots of that.

There's lots of different game languages out

there I mean, yeah, I think Jenny would be one

side of the coin but I'm interested to see what

I get out of the game because me too. I'm I'm

Because I'm torn because like yeah Jenny's like

one Jenny's like Jenny and my wife they're like

one way of looking at it like can they can they

are they patient enough to suss this out do they

have the the uh the language to know the language

enough to be able to figure this stuff out or

is it um or is it not for them like or you know

do i so i'm actually kind of i'll probably end

up picking it up this weekend because i want

to play it before we do our game of the year

awards because i'm still trying to figure out

what my fifth game is um but uh i don't even

think i played five games this year I knew that

was going to be his problem. Well, that's why

that's why you and Sean Z are only doing fives.

So we're me and we're me and Mike are doing tens.

So, um, well, you can do 10 if you want, Sean

Z. Do you play? OK, five of those spaces are

going to be since row four. Yeah. As long as

that's as long as that's six through 10, because

those won't count towards your voting. What?

It seems a bit. Game racist. You know what? You're

racist, sir. It's not game racist because it

is game. We don't. We only count real games,

not reskins. And Far Cry 3 can't be on there.

Or Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon can't be on there.

Nope. Reskin. It's on my top 10, so it's not

like it counts for points. That means I need

to play that. I can download that somewhere.

Yes. Everywhere, Joe, download them everywhere.

So, yeah, it's only like. three hours long maybe

and it's oh god it's delicious. I'll pick it

up this weekend so we can talk about it some

more on the next show. I asked another person

on Twitter yesterday I was gushing about the

game and I asked if it was good for a first person's

first time out with Zelda and they said absolutely

so we'll see. I mean I'm familiar with games

like Zelda and I'm okay with like the whole trial

and error aspect of it. that I'm not above asking

for help. I mean, the other thing is, were you

a Nintendo Power subscriber when you were playing,

like, A Link to the Past? Yes, A Link to the

Past, yes. Do you think that helped you at all,

like, with that game, or did you actually play

that game without a Nintendo Power? I think I

played that without a Nintendo Power. It was...

Don't remember seeing a strategy guide and if

they covered it in the magazine it was only a

two page three page thing It was a whole it was

a thing for a while. I Remember the thing I remember

most is the the manga cartoon that came out which

was amazing in the Nintendo power the Legend

of Zelda one No, I remember that's where I've

gotten most of my Zelda stuff from was the the

previews and the strategy the help stuff that

they did for link to the past I remember a lot

of that stuff in Nintendo Power But no, I'm I'm

yeah, I'll try and snag it this weekend so we

can talk more about it Next week. Have you been

playing anything else? A little bit of GTA here

and there lots of Netflix, but that doesn't count

Lots of Netflix Star Galactica, okay, I got to

finish that series Yeah, that's it who wants

to go next to Danner he's sleeping I'm not sleeping

yet Just tweeting away. Yes I see this Jesus

man. Stop blowing my phone up. I Man I've played

a poop ton of Assassin's Creed 4 was so good,

right? Without really doing anything. I think

maybe since the last time we recorded, I've probably

put 35 hours into the game and I'm still only

like 65 percent of the way through the game.

That's the same story I hear from everybody.

It's like. Hey, I'm going to go do the story

mode now. Wait, that thing's carrying a whole

bunch of rum. Yeah. The second you get out into

the world, you'll be going like, oh, I'm just

going, oh, wait, there's a whaling event. Oh,

shit. There's a, you know, a convoy. Got to the

point where I couldn't. I couldn't upgrade my

ship anymore without going further into the story.

So I started doing story missions and then unlocking

more of the map. And then I was like. Well, I'm

sailing along here and there's an animus piece

over here I'll just stop on this island real

quick and then I get off on the island I go there's

a treasure chest of this next island over here

and ooh I can I can kill a humpback whale over

here. Oh I could kill a shark over here. Oh convoy

over here and it just devolves into oh my god,

I spent the three hours three hours just going

after mana wars and adding them to my fleet.

What the hell happened? All right. If I want

to give this game a shot, is it a dumbed down

version on PS3? No, it's no graphic graphically.

Yeah. The only thing that's going to change between

things is graphics and your load times are going

to be slightly longer. Actually, that's not necessarily

true from what I've heard. Really? Yeah. From

what I've heard it's just basically a graphical

difference. Yeah, but it's a major graphical

difference Yeah, yeah, but the even still current

gen still is pretty it well if I haven't and

I haven't Seen that much of it besides what I

watched at your house and played art I think

I think I'll be okay. Yeah, it's you're not losing

dollars in like three months anyway it it is

so So much better than Assassin's 3 Would you

say that even if I say I did not care for the

ship parts of Assassin's 3? Yes, because I didn't

really care for the ship parts. Even my wife

didn't like the ship stuff in Assassin's 3 and

she says she likes the ship stuff in Assassin's

4. It's not as bad. It was a pain in the neck

to control. Kenway is a way, way, way better

main character than Contra. I've heard from some

people that this is what they wanted after Assassin's

Creed 2. Yes. So to me, it washes all the bad

taste out of my mouth from. Your last customer.

I can I can just bounce. I could just bounce

from Revelations. I could just bounce from Revelations

straight into four and not even. Even linger

on the fact of three. I mean the only thing you

need to know about three for this game And even

if you even care about the real world stuff is

what happened in the real world in three It makes

no there's no connection to Connor really. I

mean besides the fact that you know, he's related

It happens in the real world and four is 20 times

more interesting than oh, yeah Just make making

it that own little metagame of you being a dove

anyone has played your developer working at Um,

Abstergo. Yay. Um, doing all this stuff. And

it's just really, I think it's really cool the

way they did that. Yeah. Like how, have you tried

like finding all like the QR code post -it notes

and stuff? Yes. I'm addicted to that shit. Every

time I look at the mini -map and I see a computer

or a note that I've done like, Ooh. Yeah. I'm

a level. I have level three clearance now or

whatever. So I got to go to all those rooms that

were level three before I got to do them. I don't

have level three yet. I don't either. I have

level two. I just use three as an example. Well,

I like to talk a big game. Think I'm a big man.

I thought you were further than I was. So Daner.

Yeah, it's me smarter than anyone. Good job.

Is this I'm just asking, is this going to be

on your game of the year list? No, not even in

the top 10. It'll be in my top 10. OK. It'll

it won't be in my top five. I've just been trying

to trying to judge what I should try and like

you're trying to gauge of how excited I am about

it. No, like I like I think I think we mentioned

this on the last podcast or actually I think

you I mentioned it to you while I was where we're

playing Ghost one time. We can confirm just did

their top 10 for 2013. And basically what I was

doing is I was listening to what they were playing.

to see if there's anything that maybe I should

check out before I finalize a list, which is

how I ended up playing Brothers, Tale of Two

Sons, which is amazing. It's definitely in my

top five. Was just I was just wondering because

I was gonna play it's on my list to start playing

it says this tree because everybody is talking

about it and we do own a copy of it here except

for When I was getting ready to go and start

playing it Danner started talking about being

human on Twitter So I started once I started

watching that instead of playing video games.

I ended up Burning through all of that your fault.

Yes. He isn't keeping to his resolutions about

video gaming I haven't we haven't made any gamer

gamer Lucian's yet. You still haven't completed

the one from last year I didn't buy Assassin's

Creed 4 though Ali did so loophole Terrible terrible

loophole in my the only way that Assassin's 4

will Jump into my top five is if I manage to

actually finish the story mode and it doesn't

crap all over itself And it doesn't crap all

over itself Because that that could technically

get it into my Maybe fifth or fourth position.

If you're crying at the end of that like I cried

at the end of the situation number two series

Yeah, then it's gonna count. Did you get the

the the the movie Joe? Yes, we Spoiler alert

plug your ears where he dies on the bench and

the square where his father and brothers were

assassinated You told us about that already on

the podcast. Yeah. Well, I was wondering I'm

listening. So what the what's it called? legacy

Many you mean the live -action one or the CG

one know the live -action one. Oh the live -action

the CG one was one where I cried that was uh

There's a girl assassin that kind of came up

behind him He was kind of training her and he

was an old man and not really doing anything

I can't remember what that was called, but that

was where his story actually ends You got to

see him at the end from birth to death So good,

I bought her the Assassin's Creed lineage Yeah,

I like that was about his dad. Okay. Yeah, I

Like that all right anything else you've been

playing dinner um I've been playing Like a probably

like for a half an hour before bed every single

night. I've been slowly going through rainbow

mode on the Vita and I just it's just fun. It's

just a Pick it up, put it down RPG game. It's

kind of a grid based fighting system. The more

levels you get, the more turns you get. Like

every time you hit like like level five, you

get two turns per turn or two moves, two moves

per turn level 10. You get three moves per turn

in the level 15. So you and then you keep getting

like in the first two hours, they gave your by

yourself then you finally get a party member

the next two hours of the game it's you and a

party member and then you pick up another guy

and then it just keeps building and it gets bigger

and bigger and bigger it's just like a slow a

slow build and it it doesn't really it doesn't

really hold your hand it kind of eases you into

it but it also kind of It has a sense of humor

to itself and kind of pokes fun at like some

of the regular RPG elements and basically Realizes

that if you're playing this game, we know you

like, you know RPG games and we're not gonna

dumb it down for you So it's kind of it doesn't

take itself too seriously, which has been kind

of nice And it's just fun game. I'm really enjoying

it. I'm excited that they're gonna be doing a

There's a sequel that'll be coming out next year

also for it. I think it's called Rainbow Star,

I believe. So it's just a fun game. East Asia

Soft did a really good job with it. It kind of

has a lot of old school RPG elements to it. So

it's fun. I'm enjoying it. I feel so disconnected

probably since like November. Oh. Is it because

you haven't been talking with us? That has a

lot to do with it and I think just generally

then I've been away from the video game systems

so I haven't been able to play them even if I

wanted to and that's I yeah I think it might

be helpful for me to look at some top 10 of the

year lists to make sure that I played everything

that I wanted to. Well you can go to Danners

and play Gone Home. Yes, and to brother our brothers

is like you said is coming to PlayStation Network

this month We're not doing the game of the years

until like the end of this month. They're like

early February So that's good. Just be glad that

we're not including Incomplete games on the list

because that can make it Not including complete

good. That means you can't say anything. You

can't use walking dead Can't use Walking Dead,

can't use Wolf Among Us, can't use Kentucky Route

Zero. None of those games I've touched. I was

telling somebody about Walking Dead. I'm still

on episode two of the the first one, part one,

whatever season one, because I don't want to

play it, because if I don't play it, nobody dies.

Because there's a lot of people that are going

to die. I know. That's just one of those games.

I really wish I cared about that and I just couldn't

be bothered Episode one of season two is okay

And that's the only that I mean I not that I

I value your opinion But you're the only that's

the only you're the only like dissenting opinion

I've heard about it so far and I bite by dissenting.

I know that you're saying it's okay versus Everyone

else just like falling over themselves for it.

So They just all over it because it's more walking

dead or because it's actually good a Lot of people

saying it's actually good Like they like what

they've they like the changes that were made

because the character that you play as is different

So I think those people are policies I Okay,

let's get into it. I you're the only one that's

played this I know I'm the only one who's played

it so The elements of the other walking dead

game are there it does play differently because

you're playing as the little girl now Clementine

you're playing as Clementine You are joined by

other characters from the first game In the very

beginning of the first episode and shit gets

out of hand very very quickly It snowballs and

Clementine's beginning to get a very She seems

really really really sweet and innocent in the

first game and As I played the game and I finished

the game, I didn't make her sweet and innocent,

but the choices I made her have to go. I made

her kill. What's his name in the game at the

end? Before he turned to tell me. So I specifically

played it in mind with the decisions I made in

the first game and the fact that I've kind of

pushed her into that. She's aware of the world

and push her very much into the In my eyes of

how the game is progressing that she's getting

into that Carl role that he that Carl has in

The Walking Dead were Maybe a kid, but this is

a different world and kids have different roles

now right and then they have to grow up and get

in line with the world and I think it's interesting

that in Episode one and it'll be I think it's

interesting. I'm interested to see how it progresses

there is a girl in Episode one that you you initially

meet but she has not developed or flushed out

but you come to learn of the fact that they keep

her in the house and She has absolutely no idea

what's happening out in the world She doesn't

know there's a zombie outbreak. They're keeping

her very sheltered and her dad will not let anybody

tell her what's going on so there's this girl

in the game that has no concept of what's going

on in the outside world and then you have Clementine

who has literally been through hell and back

and Just I'm very interested to see how the dynamics

of those two play. Are they around the same age?

They're very close to the same age So to me I

think that dynamics interesting is something

that's hinted at in episode one and then hinted

at further in the preview for episode two So

I'm really interested in the dynamic of that

because to me that sounds like something interesting

to fun with because that's an opportunity for

me playing as Clementine to completely destroy

her world and wreck that girl and I'm looking

forward to that because I'm a sadistic son of

a bitch You know. But as far but as far as like.

I will say that for me and for Mike as well,

we jumped on the walking dead bandwagon late

because all the episodes were out when we bought

it. Yes, which I appreciate it was going to be

on sale. yeah it wasn't on sale though it was

when i bought it it was 20 bucks when i bought

it so i think we bought it because everybody

was talking about it and we wanted to play it

before the game of the year last year yes exactly

um so for us i mean we could go from We could

play a chapter after chapter, which I didn't.

I literally took the opportunity to do. I'm going

to sit down and I'm going to play an episode

and see that as a stopping point. And then I'll

sit down and play the next episode and then get

through that and then come back to the next one

a couple of days later. But it constantly was

fresh in my mind. I think the last two episodes

I played back to back, though, in one sitting.

But. See, I think I be getting the the first

episode of season two just doesn't have the pacing

that I felt that the first episode of season

one did and I think a lot of it was a seasonal

Season one episode one felt longer to me because

I was getting used to the controls and I think

with season one episode two I already know the

controls so it didn't seem like It seemed like

I picked it up a lot faster and it seems like

I got through it way quicker It just seemed shorter

and it doesn't feel like they covered nearly

as much ground as they did in the first episode

and I think a lot of it has to do is a Portion

of the characters were already established so

they didn't have to establish some of the characters

so it just kind of pick up a wint and it just

didn't it didn't feel as immersive as the beginning

of season one to me. See I episode one in the

first in the first season I didn't really care

for um and I think I ended up playing through

it I played the demo was the first episode yeah

the episode played that the demo was just the

first the house when you met Clementine that

was really the the demo okay well there's that

then I did it then I played it on the Vita I

played it myself I I think I did it with you?

Me and you played episode one together, I think.

I think that was Joe. And then you and I started

with episode two. Well, maybe that's what it

was. Episode two's amazing. It was so good. But

that's what I'm getting at. For me, The Walking

Dead, the first season did not get its hooks

into me until I was sitting there on the couch

with you and I was just like, oh, I know where

this is going. It was just genuinely creepy.

I appreciated the first episode for what it was,

but for me, there was too much winking to the

comic with the farm and Glenn and some other

things. And yes, it was a little slow to get

started because you're trying to get used to

the controls and everything like that. But I

felt like it was... It moved from place to place

to place really quick. I think you're in three

different locations in the entire... Episode

whereas the other ones are you're kind of in

one location for the most part for the duration

of an episode And I Having just replayed the

walking, you know season one again on the Vita.

I didn't care I still didn't care for the first

episode so I'm wondering if you know, the second

the second season suffers from the same problem

that Season one did where the first episodes

just not There it's all like character introductions

and introducing people introducing new people

to the gameplay and introducing new characters

and so and settings And then you know, they're

gonna hit the ground running in like the second

episode which is generally what happens with

like sequels to anything or like the second episode

is something is You've wasted the first episode

introducing people to everything because like

it or not There are people that are gonna play

season two without playing a season one and yeah

morons I think for me, like, I think the same

issue is the fact that, yeah, I realized episode

one in the first game was kind of meh. And much

like in the second game, I find the first episode

to be, eh, it was okay. But I know there's something

better coming. Because I think it's just like

like you said the first chapter in the first

one was kind of so so and the second chapter

is where Just holy crap when you realize how

far I'm expecting But I think the problem was

is that I bought wolf among us the week before

and I was so impressed with how Well that first

episode flowed and how well that storytelling

was and how cool everything that was going on

in there was that. I mean, in Wolf Among Us,

instead of. Life and death decisions. In Wolf

Among Us, it's are you going to be a super dick

or a regular dick? But do you think do you think

that's because of what the Wolf Among Us is?

Because they're not the same thing. I know they're

not the same thing, and I think that's where

it's. Walking dead is life and death decisions

who lives who's who dies type of a thing wolf

among us is Am I gonna be a nice guy or am I

gonna rip this dude's arm out of a socket and

then beat the fuck out of them with it? Um, oh

god the bar sequence in that game is so awesome

I actually just I recently downloaded that the

episode of Wolf among us because the first episode

was free. Oh, it's I bought the season pass and

I'm very there's something to do after I'm done

recording tonight. Yeah. Wolf Among Us is great.

I recommend it. And if it's free, definitely

download the first episode. And if you aren't

hooked afterwards, something's seriously wrong

with you because it is just the fables world

is just a very. Rich. Interesting. take. It's

one of the best way I could describe fables to

you is if you watch once upon a time and you

just don't feel like there's they're fully going

for it, which I usually feel with once upon a

time. Fables does that. You said it was. Yeah,

I said it last time. And I mentioned Grimm because

I think Grimm is more along the lines of what

what Fables is than Fables is like the HBO version

of Once upon a time. And I've been told I need

to read the second trade paperback. I read the

first trade of it and. The second trade paperback

is actually on sale for Kindle for $3 .99 this

week. Oh, I don't have a. Well, yeah, I'm a Nook

guy. Nooks suck. Speaking as an owner of a Nook,

Nook sucks. I have a Kindle and I have a Nook.

And an iPad. And an iPad. And a nose. And he

only has the one set of eyes. Yeah. I only have

eyes for you. That wasn't weird. My Wild West

is better than that. So, yeah, I may be one of

the few people that kind of pan the first episode

of season two of Walking Dead, but that's because

I. I expect more and I know more is coming down

the pipeline and it's one of those I prefer to

judge the game on a whole as Instead of per episode

right now now does it also? Maybe that you look

down on a little bit more because of how coming

off of how good you thought found wolf among

us was That could definitely be it But that but

that's what I even made I made that comment though

last When I talked about fables though, but that's

what I was getting at was, you know, it's it's

you're dealing with two different types of material

like Just because just because it's the same

studio and one one comes off as awesome and the

other one comes off as meh But I mean like it's

like a base Episode one of fables The way I felt

after playing episode 1 of Fables was exactly

the same way I felt after playing episode 2 of

Walking Dead. So yes, the subject matter was

different, and yes, the stakes were different,

but ultimately I'm going with the emotional response

that it evoked from me. And the episode 2 of

Walking Dead evoked the same emotional response

as the first episode of Wolf Among Us. Well,

I'm sure we'll be talking more about these as

they as I come along because I'm I well I have

the season pass for walking dead season two because

They made an error and they actually made it

up They made an error and they made it up to

consumers by giving away the season pass for

$15 instead of the normal 20 so Sony people So

I grabbed it for 15, so I wouldn't have to pay

$20 for it later. But I am waiting for the complete,

the complete thing to hit. So before I actually

have an opinion on it, I was just trying to play

devil's advocate here, as I like to do with Danner.

It's going better and better every time we play

there. It is, it is. Because now now you're now

you're playing the games and you're paying attention

to this stuff. I'm not being lazy about it. Which

doesn't make it as much fun for me. Good. That

was my main goal. Anyways. So slack off a little

bit, Dan and Jesus. I'm slacking off on the fact

that I haven't beat AC4 yet. If you don't have

anything else you want to share, we can go ahead

and give Seanzy a turn. The only other thing

I did was I picked up World of Goo for my Mac.

I love that game. Because it was such a good

game. It was 99 cents. I beat it in a day. So

I've yet to play it yet. Really? Yep. All the

levels. Every level I beat it in a day. Well,

I did also download Dota 2 and started. I did

the first tutorial video. Wait, does that stand

for something? Dota? Yeah, it used to and it

doesn't anymore. I heard I've heard that name

so many times and I have no idea what it means.

Every time I hear it, like every other time I

hear it, I go and look it up. It's like Defense

of the Ancients. Yeah, Defense of the Ancients.

Well, yeah, it was it was a mod. It was originally

a mod for Warcraft. And somehow Valve ended up

picking it up. And no, it was they they bought

it from the creators, didn't they? Or so are

they? No, no, they brought it. I think they brought

the creators into Valve and then. Yeah. Started

supporting them and helping them and then they

it was it used to be called defense of the ancients

and everybody would just call it though That's

like everybody calls, you know call duty cod

Yeah, and then and then they eventually just

like wolf fuck. We'll just call it Dota But Dota

is also a genre like now. That's how It's also

yes. Now there's Dota like games. Yeah, there's

like there's like, you know, there's Metroidvania

now There's Dota. So it's a it's a style of gameplay,

which I'm not quite which in its fact is a mod

of yet another game So yeah, I've gotten like

I said, I've gotten through the first tutorial

and there's like 12 tutorials You have to get

through before I can even play the game full

force tutorials before No, there's 12 like forced

tutorials like they make you do them. That sucks.

Well, it's Super complicated. I don't think I'm

yeah, but even if even if I mean I always play

tutorials always do no matter What but I still

think it should be an option if I want to go

out there and learn By messing up. That should

be my right. All right. Me. Me. Sean Z, what

do you got for us before we move on to new, more

interesting things? Well, OK, so I've been playing

play. Screw you. I've been playing a little bit

of ghosts on current, which is I mean, it's OK.

It's just another call it a game. I'm enjoying

it. I will say the idea of what do they call

them? Orders or whatever. Or it's like you'll

kill a guy and you'll see he'll drop like it

looks like a floating briefcase or whatever.

You'll pick it up and like, oh, get three kills

with a secondary weapon. It's all fun until you

get the one where they tell you you have to teabag

your guy. Is there one? Oh, I got to look for

that one. Yeah, it's humiliated down to enemy

or something like that. You basically have to

teabag them. And it's fantastic. No, no, no,

no, it gives you it just gives you but what bonus

XP isn't it? Or does it give you it gives you

a care package or some kind of yeah thing? Which

is which is actually really cool. Although I

will admit the first two care packages I got

in that game that I earned for myself I was very

upset because people killed me and then were

stolen. They were both kind of gunships I was

like, I'll never get another gunship in that

goddamn game and They got stolen from me. It

was gypped Anyways, so I'm playing that it's

been really fun. I beat the I beat the single

player which Mike carries nothing about so doesn't

matter anyways They actually come with a single

player game attached to the multiplayer game

Mike and what you do is you actually go through

a somewhat of a story and kill people Crazy the

X what is it called extinction the replacement

for zombies extinction, right? That's actually

quite entertaining Yeah, that's that is fun I

like the fact that being able to somewhat level

up your guy and change the way his, you know,

his perks almost to be able to play that, which

is really cool. I like that a lot, actually.

Is there still just the one map for it? Yeah,

but I think it goes it changes the farther you

get, right? Yeah, yeah. You it's like progressive.

You like you get there, then you go there, then

you go there. But there's still just the one

place, right? Think so. I've only played it though.

I've played it the once and actually that's one

of the things I've actually been thinking about

Lately is cuz I I've really gotten into the whole

streaming thing Yeah, and that would be if I

get four people in that that's a good one. You

can that's that's what I was thinking cuz I can't

Like I'm not you know, it wouldn't be any fun

to watch me play a It wouldn't be any fun to

watch me play Call of Duty because you Oh look

he's in a bush everyone. He's laying down in

a bush. Oh, let me ask you I don't know. Did

I ask you this Tanner? Because the new thing

is with the sniper rifles or any kind of with

the sniper rifles and in particular when you

pull up the scope The surrounding doesn't go

black on the next gen stuff Does it do that on

the current gen? I haven't does it get like smudged

out? I don't snipe so Yeah, I won't make you

feel like Like as much of a jerk as I usually

do again, so it's okay. I mean, it's ah God ps3

just Call of Duty so terrible that's i i think

honestly tomb raider is going to be my first

uh foray into that i wish i would have i wish

i would have pulled the trigger and done it more

like i would have done like the the upgrade path

for certain games so i could see it but tomb

raider will be my first experience with uh current

gen versus next gen titles so So I've been playing

that, and I know I've been talking about it for

weeks, and I finally got XCOM Enemy Within, which

is the expanded game of XCOM Enemy Unknown. None

of you people really care about it. And it's

got the same kind of, I think I said this before

when I was talking about the vanilla game, is

that it's got the fun of you can, you know, name

your squad guys, whatever you want. So I have

a Mike Powers. I have a Joe Reed. I have an Art

Danner. Art Danner, you died. Your guy got shot

in the face. He's dead. It was hysterical. Oh,

I tried to save him. I honestly did. And then

in the next game, Joe, Joe, you failed at throwing

a grenade. It bounced off of a wall into your

own face. That's exactly. I think I did that

exact thing when I played like five minutes of

XCOM once I threw the grenade and it bounced

at my feet like, OK, I'm done with this. It was

funny because I because my Xbox froze. So I had

to go back. So you're still alive, but Art, you're

still dead. Sorry. I'm not dead in FTL. Now I'm

dead in X cam. It's not my fault. Your guy sucks

no matter what game it is. It's air support.

But for anyone who's played the game, it's got

new. That's a lot of new stuff you get to there's

a third faction now. There's the XCOM soldiers,

which is you there's the alien guys It's obviously

the aliens of these gays guys called exalt There

there another human faction. You're not quite

sure what's going on with them and ever you would

get to do these special missions where you send

one of your guys undercover to to do it and to

into to infiltrate one of their cells and after

so many You know, in day, you know, in game days

go by, you get to do a special, a special mission

or you have to go rescue them and fighting them

as you have to fight them completely different

than you fight aliens because they have all the

same kind of stuff you do. So like you may face

a heavy trooper and heavy troopers have rockets.

None of the aliens have rockets. So you might

be facing against a guy and like he has a machine

and you're like, fine, whatever, I'll hide behind

this building. He shoots a rocket and blows the

goddamn building up. So you get the play a little

different. Upgrade you guys a little different.

You can also Right now my guy that I labeled

me because he's awesome. I had him Okay, wait,

you know the guy that's labeled me, you know,

because He's awesome. Well, he just it's not

my fault. He just happened to be awesome I'm

not saying it's cuz his name was me, but I mean,

that's how it is So like the two new things that

they got is you have this new resource called

meld and you can use it one of two ways You can

use either genetic modifications for you guys

Like I can make give them a bone marrow implants

that they could heal themselves during turn self

-healing without having to use a med pack or

anything or Stuff that turns their skin into

like active camouflage kind of thing stuff like

that or you do mechanical upgrades So I put my

guy into it. I'm like, sweet. He's going to be

awesome. And it comes out in the thing. It's

cut off his legs and his arms and replace them

with like these really shitty looking robotic

ones. But he then gets to go inside this giant

power suit that makes him look like Ed 209. That's

interesting. Yeah. But it's funny because if

you don't have a helmet on, you have this big

mechanical body and a little bit of human head

in the middle of it. So it looks kind of goofy.

So it's like it forces you to wear a helmet.

for your guy but um it's really fun because like

i said anyone's playing the game it changes a

lot actually more than i thought it was gonna

the way you have to play the game i'm sinking

money into things i never sunk money in before

just because the way all this new shit's falling

down so it's actually really fun anybody who's

into those strategy type games which is none

of you savages savages savages dirty savages

i'm gonna buy a tower defense game for my 3ds

soon Does that count? What tower? Which one?

Oh, there's some one you can. It's like five

bucks on their store, but I have enough coins

from registering my games to get it for free,

and I'm going to do that before the weekend.

I can't remember what it's called. Starship something.

It's kind of like Galaga meets a tower defense

thing. You've got the big capital ship and the

little guys are kind of buzzing around you and

you have to build up your little defense platforms.

Looks OK, but it's free. I'll give it a shot.

I'll never have enough coins to buy anything

cool All right, but um, yeah, I I mean anyway

anyone who liked That last, you know last not

the shitty XCOM first person sure that game doesn't

exist the XCOM enemy unknown You'll love this

game and it's it's just it's more of the same

and more All right, anything else Still playing

GTA online. Did any of you guys that play it

play during Christmas time? No. They covered

the entire map in snow. Oh, and I missed that.

And it wasn't just a skin. It affected it. If

your car's on roads, they were snowy roads. You'd

slip and slide all over the place. I will say

you'd be good. Go ahead. Sorry. No, I was gonna

say. So you'd be going and it makes cop. Like

a cop chases instantly more fun because you'll

be going like, you know, 100 miles an hour and

he touches you and you just start spinning in

place while going still forward, like completely

out of control or not a damn thing you can do

about it. Also, it like it added these were all

timed things, so they're all done with now. But

they also in everyone's inventory, they gave

like Santa masks and snowman Matt just stuffed

him, you know, make it seasonally. But so for

a while a bunch of assholes that look like Santa

would attack you because everyone changed to

look into those things But it was fun, so I'm

Seeing how they did that and it wasn't a download.

It was just in game It was and it wasn't even

an update. It just did it. Well that game does

take like 10 minutes to load So yes, I mean this

was a hot fix or whatever Yeah, but I'm saying

is that if they're doing that for that. I'm excited

to see what else they'll do Halloween next year

will be interesting. Maybe if we get a hurricane.

I will say this. Yeah, the the one thing I did

find interesting because I did dive a little

bit into the story for GTA. I decided that it

might be fun to stream some of that. Oh, my God.

I played it a little bit. The single player like

chugs compared to the online game. like frame

rate wise it's it's atrocious i think i think

the reason being is that the world is less populated

when you're playing online than it is when you're

actually playing the single player game less

cars less pedestrians yeah yep less just less

going on overall in the world which to me is

just a clear sign that they really were pushing

the limits of what these systems could do because

obviously when there's far less on on screen

it works a lot a lot better Dan or Jesus with

a twittering. So, um, all right. Anything else,

Chonzie? Um, not especially, which I think not

really more Diablos. Nothing, nothing really

new besides those couple things. Oh, I did want

to say one thing I forgot to say while Dan was

talking. Have you hunted a white whale yet in

Assassin's Creed? Oh, God, there's white whales.

Oh, there are these things called community events.

It only happens if you have it linked up to you

play and friends of yours. What happens is like

it's kind of like a viral thing. If the white

whale pop pops up in one of my friends games,

it then gets shared to all of his friends games.

So I see it. And it's like a normal whale, huge

white and takes. Oh, my God, so many harpoons.

Mean I have elite harpoons and I I think I had

to shank it like 25 times I was gonna say I just

killed a white Jaguar, but those things are annoying

too Also, they do um special convoys that have

like double the gold or the reels or whatever

they're called Yeah, they mentioned link up with

friends, but yes, if you look on your map It'll

be like the normal symbol for something, but

it'll be like a blue instead of a white Okay,

and that means it's a you play thing also sometimes

random chests will pop up like towns and you

go to it. Are we talking about treasure chest

or boobs? Treasure chest and focus, focus. If

you weren't Twitter painting over there, you'd

be you'd be able to keep up with the conversation.

Say Twitter mating. Yes, I did. I'm paying plenty

of attention or at least enough that your voice.

Oh, really? Listeners, review back to the intro

when it took him 30 seconds to introduce himself.

I'm multitasking now. The caffeine is kicking

in. Good. Good. Nine o 'clock at night. Good

time for caffeine to kick in. But yeah, so like

you sometimes you'll get just it sometimes will

just be cash. Sometimes it'd be like those collectibles

for your pirate fortress place. But I did get

like a like a different kind of sail or something.

So, I mean, the sales don't really change how

your ship. moves or anything, but it does change

what your ship looks like. I think I got diamond

sales. I just gave it to him, gave him to me.

So, I mean, there is benefits to being connected

to you, but also you can have friends help with

your ships during the fleet stuff. They can heal

your ships and or speed them up. Which is what

I mean, it's worth it. Hmm. I've never. Figured

what the reason was for signing up to you play

it just seemed like another password to remember

and forget on the old ones like I This sounds

like it's actually doing things for you. I used

to get used to get free in -game stuff all the

time with it Upgrades to your pouches and stuff

for free new weapons. Did it happen automatically

or did I need to log in somewhere? You'd have

to go into you play and do it. Yes. See I Nothing

ever told me I should go log into you play besides

Hey, you play it's this totally new thing that

we can collect your data from and figure out

your play habits. So I like it. No, I Don't trust

people like that. I should it sounds like Wow,

it's kind of it's just kind of the way games

are going Yeah, like in the Rockstar Social Club,

like I don't have time for that I don't have

any clue what that is and I'm sure I'm missing

out Huge features of the game Wait, can you even

be in a crew without Social Club? Yeah, I mean,

I did something to make that happen, but yeah,

I couldn't figure the rest of that out. If there's

more. Which there probably is. This is just the

two people in the crew. It's not like a crew.

You're like a weird buddy cop movie. Got three

news things to cover quickly if you guys want

to do that and then we can wrap this up Oh boy

news that'll keep me awake Let's see first things

up yesterday while I was at work Came over I

got I found out about the story from polygon

comm The developers behind left for dead Turtle

Rock Studios They have a new game coming out

this fall, it's called Evolve. It is a co -op

shooter along the same lines as Left 4 Dead.

It's a hybrid co -op slash multiplayer, which

you and four friends go after a monster who is

actually played by... Your fifth friend. Yeah,

by your fifth friend, and he gets bigger and

stronger every round. um whether or not it's

like kind of like a he has to survive or like

at the end of the round he just responds to something

bigger and badder um remains to be seen but it

sounds like it's um it sounds like the uh what

is the mode in Left 4 Dead where you play as

the uh infected in the versus mode but it was

versus you played against humans while you were

in it's versus the infected okay i thought there

might have been an actual name for it it's just

versus okay I'm sorry. It's called Get Your Dead.

Yeah, you're dead, you dick. So I missed that

game. I need to. It does not hold up well, though.

Yeah. I know I could probably still play the

first one if I had Xbox Live. Oh, shit. Probably

still have the first play the first one also,

if I had given the Xbox 360 away to the children.

Anyways, this kids take it back this very quickly,

you know, you mentioned turtle rock co -op shooter

I This very quickly became just I'm just just

take my money. So um interesting note This was

supposed to be a 2k game or a thq game And they

tried to Turtle rock tried to buy it because

they were developing it for thq Excuse me. They

tried to buy it back from them They bid like

two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it

But 2k came into the auction. Yeah paid ten point

eight million dollars for it luckily Turtle Rock

was able to keep working on it. So it's not like

2k just took it from them and said, uh -huh.

It's ours and you can't have it 2k bought the

game and then said hey Turtle Rock come and finish

this for us So hey you We'll pay you. How about

ten point eight million dollars? And it sounds

awesome. It sounds really, really awesome. So

yeah. When you told me about that and I went

online and started looking at stuff, I was like,

yes, I'm very hopeful for that game. Well, what's

really interesting is this kind of dovetails

into the next news story I have is that the evolve

stuff kind of started hitting the Internet at

the same time as the alien isolation. Tid news

started hit the Internet. So I was kind of like

is it the at first I was I was unaware of the

isolation sub name so I wasn't sure if like Evolve

was the subtitle for the alien game or it was

alien evolve. Yeah, so I was kind of like what

are people talking about? I realized it was two

different games One has me excited and the other

one has me going to people not remember alien

colonial Marines Yeah, because alien isolation

the trailer is okay Freaking gorgeous. The light

effects in the game are insane. But then in my

back of my mind, I was like. The videos for Colonial

Marines were good, too, though. Yeah, the videos

for Colonial Marines were good, too. Alien Isolation

trailer wise looks amazing. I'm not going to

buy it when it comes out because of Marines,

though, because I am super, super hesitant just

because it looks good doesn't mean anything to

me anymore. Just because it looks good. I mean

unfortunately because of colonel Marines and

games like Colonial not colonel. No, I'm pretty

sure it was colonial That you're that you're

saying colonel Colonel it's it's a bunch of colonels.

It's just a bunch of colonels in the Marines

It's a whole group of colonels and then when

you pop them They turn into popcorn Uh -huh Anyways

Well, it reminds me of the Dead Island syndrome.

The putting out a trailer that's super, super

awesome and then getting a subpar result. I agree

with that. What really gets me about the whole

thing is that that trailer really, really does

look like the like the teaser videos that they

that 2K put out for that. Yeah. Yeah, that 2K

put out your gear box put out for Colonial Marines.

So it's like I'm just like, oh, people like that

was my that was my first reaction to it was,

do people not remember the last time an aliens

game looked this good? Has it? And then I'm just

kind of like, has anyone played it? And then

I was laughing because I was like, hey, look,

no HUD, just like they originally tease in the

other aliens game. Because that's what they teased

when they released the Game Informer article.

We're going all gaga about, hey, look at this

aliens game that we're making. There's going

to be no HUD, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And

then by the time the game came out, it was absolutely

nothing like what they said it was going to be.

So my question is, is how far into development

is this game? When are we going to see it? Is

this even this year or is this going to be in

development hell for the next two to three years?

development hell for the next two or three years.

Yeah, that's my guess. And it'll come out. Nobody

will play it. Actually, it'll know a bit. Well,

actually, if I'm not mistaken, it's due tonight.

It's due this fall. Yeah, that's what you say

tonight. I was like, wow, that's a pretty speed

development. It's coming out next week. Yeah,

that's. Yeah, that's not going to happen. It's

going to it's a wait and see for me. I mean,

it's. If it's coming out in the fall, I'm sure

it's coming out when nothing else is coming out

at all So I'll probably just have to buy it because

there's no other games coming out in the fall.

Oh darn You'll just have to buy it. Yeah The

one last thing that I have that I think is kind

of a big big ish deal Because it was one of you

Hope I don't know if we're talking about the

same thing. I'm joking They were You know it

was announced last February that this was coming

and there are a lot of people that thought maybe

this Wouldn't happen you know could they actually

pull it off? Well a year after it was announced

and actually right on time with when they said

it would be available Sony has announced PlayStation

now Which is basically they they relabeled their

Gaikai game game streaming services PlayStation

now there is a rental model, and there's a subscription

model, but the pricing and information about

that stuff is not yet available. One million

dollars. There's a there's a beta that's I don't

know if it's open or closed beta starting at

the end of this month or in February and the

service is actually supposed to go live sometime

this summer which of course the summer ends in

like September so we've got like a long way to

go. It's going to launch with PS3 games to start

and then they're going to add PS2 and X and I

said Xbox, PS2 and PlayStation one games. Like,

wow, how much they pay for those rights. Jesus.

At this point in time, my only thing that I want

to say about this that will make me happy, which

isn't going to happen. I want to say that right

now. Yeah, Dan is never going to anything that

you've bought digitally from Sony. I think should

be available for you to have through this service

without a subscription fee. That is what everybody

is saying. And that is what is never going to

happen. So because if I can access any of the

stuff I've downloaded digitally or had the rights

to digitally through PlayStation Plus on my Vita,

I will be super excited. This is exactly why

I don't trust any kind of digital download anything

I mean because you know there will be games out

there that they'll expect me to pay for again

even though I've already downloaded them and

Until they work this stuff out until they assure

me that I'll be able to play that game that I

bought if I wanted to 25 years later on whatever

new system they have Even even then I just it

just it scares me every there's gonna be a whole

generation of people who say who? Digital was

cool who are gonna get screwed out of playing

their games, and then that's when they'll fix

the problem Nobody ever who owns steam 25 years

from now that you know what the big game you're

gonna be playing 25 years from now PlayStation

plug there's gonna be a USB plug in the back

of your head Jack the bug in with the oculus

rift on your face and and Steve I'm If somebody's

going to do it right, it's going to be steam.

But, you know, I'm. I don't know, I can't complain

about my crappy computers just because I don't

have money enough to go buy a nice seven hundred

dollar gaming PC. But this is the guy who's running

Linux on. I know I'm so bent over right now.

Last thing I knew that ran Linux was a PlayStation

three before they got fixed. I bought it from

a weird place. So But yeah, I'm I'm looking forward

to it like I want to know more about the pricing

model and stuff like that I in what's really

kind of What's kind of crazy about it as they

said even PlayStation 4 games are gonna come

to this service eventually, too They've said

that it will stream to tablets the Vita Sony

Bravia TVs. So Eventually at some point in time,

you'll be able to if as long as you invest in

a Sony TV You'll actually be able to play console,

you know PlayStation games without having to

actually buy a console Which I think is really

interesting I mean some of the minimum system

requirements for this kind of thing Sony has

said like five megabits per second but people

that have used like on live and Gaikai before

it was purchased by Sony have said that you need

like high latency For it to be really good, you

need it to be north of 30, and it needs to be

low latency. Oh, yeah. Thank you. High latency

is what you're trying to avoid. Yes, lots of

time between I hit the button and he jumps. Yes.

And there were some people have said that they've

CES. They were people are able to play it. There's

one website that I. that I've seen that actually

came forward and actually said what they were

actually playing. Some people are just saying,

yeah, it's awesome. It works. And at least one

website actually said, yeah, it's great. But

in our test environment, which is a set of servers

right here next to a TV that are basically glorified

PS3s, yes, they are streaming the game, but it's

in a closed environment. So it's kind of like

one of those, you have to wait and see how it's

actually going to play out. before you can get

excited for it. And they did say that you could

see some artifacting going on and that there

was some controller lag, although they said that

they were playing God of War, which God of War

is, you need not to have controller lag with

God of War. They did say that. A hack and slash

game? That's not a good game to have latency

in. They said they found it, you know, perfectly

playable, but I can only imagine a game like

that would be very frustrating because you wouldn't

know if it was your timing or your internet connection.

Oh boy. So. Does anyone else have anything they

want to throw in here that they may have heard

about in the last, you know, since December something?

The 17 steam machines that there are now? I don't

want. I don't want to get started. I thought

there was 18. There's a lot. Those were like

what? $400 to $1800. Yeah, OK, I'm going to say,

OK, I'll just say this. The steam machines are

to Android. as Apple is to, you know, Microsoft

and Sony consoles. Yeah. It's like, oh, you can

get, okay, think of it like a, like an Android

tablet versus an iPad. You can get an iPad or

you can get one of 32 Android tablets, all slightly

different than the other one. And not everything

is going to work on it because. Yes. And they

might, you know, something might work on this

one, not on that one might, this one's working

jelly bean. This one's running in some kind of

ice cream sandwich. This is, this one's running

hop. We're running butterscotch, whatever. Kit

Kat. Kit Kat. Some weird thing. It's it's weird.

Oh, my God. I saw a photograph. Those are different

systems. I thought those were like every company

is making their own. No, Alienware has a steam

machine. Whatever company makes their own way.

Don't I have steam machines? They're called computers.

Yes. Yep. Yes, what you're buying basic Okay,

here's the thing steam the steam machines are

basically built to run the steam OS and Basically,

all it's gonna do is turn that box into another

console, which is another ecosystem Which is

going to have to be support like it's It's a

Roku for games. No, okay. Whoa, it's way more

than that It's what for games. I miss Roku box

for games. I don't even know what that is. Oh

my god But anyway, it's it's more like it's basically

it's steam it's valve making a console only they

don't want to make it themselves They're taking

the they're taking the Google approach that Google

did with Android. They're gonna make the software

like that the operating system there's a an actual

valve one two no there isn't not yet oh there

is there though the it's gonna be it's gonna

be well here's the thing There aren't there are

official Google phones, but they're not made

by Google. They just they're any Google on them.

Well, they they're Nexus devices. Anything that

has Nexus in the title is Jen. Generally, I'm

98 percent sure that anything that says Nexus

in the title is an actual like official Google

phone, which means they are not skinned in any

way, shape or form. That is the operating system

as Google intends it. I had a friend with one

of those that I got to fiddle with and it it.

Ridiculously better than any kind of go to Verizon

buy an Android phone. Oh, yeah, they are This

coming from the guy who doesn't have a smart

phone. I don't have a smartphone because I would

abuse it I love I don't want one I will say this

penis and you abuse that get man up get a smartphone

I am an I I love Apple, but I Android the actual

pure Android experience is really nice. It's

just it's too It's too much like Apple but it

doesn't have the polish that iOS does that it

drives me crazy. Anyways, basically what's going

to happen is Valve is making the Steam OS and

these people are making the hardware to run those.

And it sounds like the first official Nexus Steam

OS device is going to be made by Alienware. And

it's going to be priced competitively with the...

Xbox one and the ps4 the only problem is is that

Steam os runs on it's a it is a Linux distro

and games have to be custom made for for Linux

Ported over to it much the same way that they

needed to be ported to consoles and everything

like that and it's not as simple there's a There's

a weird API for computers. It's called direct

X It's a graphical API and that's what a lot

of games used to run on Windows And that's why

you can't just it's not like a straight -up port

because direct X is not well It has been hacked

into Linux. It's not like you can't legally put

it in Linux without paying royalties to Microsoft

So basically they made a new console that they

have to look for support for And it's Linux,

which means it can be hacked, which means things

can be pirated. They're going to end up being

in the same boat that Sony and Microsoft are

in, although Sony and Microsoft's systems are

much more closed down than a Steam box would

be. It's going to be just like any other PC game

where you can go online and get a thousand different

just download copies that are all pirated. They're

gonna be fishing for support and it's gonna be

a very long road It's I don't know. I just I

don't When they announce the steam box, I thought

it was an incredible idea I was gonna be great

and now this whole how everyone's making their

own thing It's just gonna be a huge pain in the

ass because I mean imagine you go out and spend

800 bucks on a brand new steam machine because

the game you want and That's gonna come out in

a couple months. It's coming. You're just getting

ready for her that game comes out Oh, it's not

compatible with your version Well, it'll be compatible

but it won't run it's gonna be like it's gonna

it might maybe it's designed for you know, the

So it's gonna run like a piece of crap on yours

and you know crash your box Basically, it's gonna

be the Android of the consoles because it's there

isn't going to be it's really annoying It's not

gonna be optimized for that experience General

generally console games are optimized for that

experience. And yeah, Gabe makes even valve has

written off the steam machines as being kind

of a Can't remember what Gabe actually said,

but they're kind of like an annoyance like they're

just putting it out there to put it out there

To kind of see what happens with it, but it's

like I Don't know they don't have I Just see

it being much more of a hassle Especially since

there isn't like a dedicated they don't have

valve hasn't said. This is the baseline every

steam box needs to do this going forward at least

The one thing that Microsoft did with their with

their Windows phones is they told hardware manufacturers

that every phone had to have this as a baseline.

Like you cannot go any lower than this hardware

wise. At least they did that. I mean... And then

you can go to software designers and say, this

is the bare minimum that you have to work with.

Make it work on this and it'll work on everything.

Yes. Whereas Android was just like, here's the

software. If everything has the same baseline,

you know, stuff that's used to work, that baseline

works on everything. Yeah. And whereas they went...

Whereas Android and Google just went, okay, here's

the software. Go. Put it on whatever you want

to put it on. Now, how is that helping anybody?

Why would anybody want this when they can just

go buy a computer? That's the quest. That's here's

the thing is that say say you have a computer.

It's good for the purposes you have. You don't

game on it. Is it for business? Whatever. Clearly

not a gaming computer. Now you can go either

upgrade your computer for, you know, five, six

hundred dollars or go buy a brand new gaming

computer for even more. Or you could buy a eight

hundred dollar little cube that you can just

plug into your TV and use it for those things.

That is why I like your head. You're going. That

is a great idea. That's why I like console gaming.

That's why I like console gaming. I have a thing

designed for playing games. That's why I play

games on Go. I don't like having a tower in my

family room. And I've tried the whole, I'm going

to build my own computer. And the first thing

I do is I go look at a case that I'd want to

see in my entertainment center. And I can't find

one. I can't find one that looks... pleasing

enough for me to actually want to build. And

if I do, it can't use the components that I want

to put in it, which means I have to leave it

to Microsoft or Sony to design a box that with

the hardware in it, with the cooling, with their

engineering teams and stuff like that, for me

to actually be able to use it. Not to mention

they have the install base. They have the loyalty

in the... the way of controlling the system in

such a way that developers want to support those

platforms. The thing that I've heard time and

time again about the PC console argument is that

while PC gamers may be out there yelling the

loudest, their voices aren't heard as much as

console gamers' voices are heard. They're there

the the PC gamer opinion does not matter as much

as the console gamer opinion because They at

least on the console they can they can own they're

almost guaranteed a sale of a game on a console

versus on a on a PC Their game could be stolen

just as easily as it could be purchased I do

get it wrong. I mean, I'm I knew plenty of people

that used to steal games for ps3 And I've never

once stolen and pirated a video game like that

in my life But I would know how on a I it's beyond

me how they do it. Sure, if I really wanted to

figure it out, I'm sure I could Google it and

find out in. But why just like it's counter for

that's counter in my mind, it's counterproductive.

I like this game, so I want to play it. I want

to give them money so they continue to maybe

make more of those games, just like I could go

online and download movies. I just don't believe

in doing it. Yeah, that's that's kind of where

I draw the line. I won't anything that for me,

it's There's a line where it's like if it's free,

like if I can hook an antenna to my TV and I

can get it, I'll probably just. Steal it. I granted

that doesn't translate to all the TV that I watch,

but I do have a cable package, so. I'll just

I pretty much stick to if I can. I don't download

anything. If I can stream it, then I'm good.

Yeah, I've gotten a little more into the the

the streaming side of things like that But yeah,

we're going back to the whole steam box thing

I mean, it's gonna be really interesting to see

how it plays out But it's gonna be it's gonna

be like the Android devices all over again It's

gonna know can you and then when valve goes and

upgrades their software. It's like what devices

are they gonna support? Like that is the problem.

Hope you don't have the shitty one. That's the

problem that Android has is that they're There's

phones out there and not ranging from you know

40 bucks to 400 at least Apple can come out and

at least the nice thing about iOS is that when

Apple releases a new new software like they just

released iOS 7 in September they can at least

go out to their developers and they can say okay

75 % of the iOS install base is now running iOS

7 75 % of all active iOS devices are running

iOS 7, so on March 1st, every app in the app

store has to be compatible with iOS 7, otherwise

we're not going to allow you in the store. Apple

has safeguards in place to curate the experience

that way, and so does Sony and Microsoft, whereas

Android can't do that. There's too many variables.

Doing that might eliminate a third of your populace.

Yep. It's also why apps don't look as finished

as they do on Android devices, because who knows

what the screen resolution is of a given Android

device, what the system resources are of a given

Android device. It's a mess, man. And I see that

translating over to the Steam box. So whatever.

It doesn't matter to me. I still can't afford

one. Or a computer. Let's just get you a smartphone

for reals. All right. Really quickly, just to

kind of wrap this up, we had on the last episode

we posted. What would you like us to see? What

would you like to see us do for our 50th episode?

The best one, I think, in my opinion, came home.

I have this is all new to me, so I haven't heard

so I'm from Dragono. No, he says. I say in episode

50, Sean and Art make it official and finally

tie the knot. That is great. Oh, Danny, you're

so going to be the woman. No. Oh, yes. Oh, really?

You want me to rub your neck for you? I'm sorry.

I'm multitasking right now and probably tweeting.

No, actually, the the WWE went alive with a worldwide

announcement at nine thirty tonight. Well, that's

not overcompensating at all. They just announced

the WWE Network. Interesting. Well, we're going

to go ahead and wrap this up so Danner can go

watch that and I can fix my phone that I appear

to have bricked. What? Good job. That's what

you get. So I run Skype and update at the same

time. That's what you get, man. That's what I

that's what I get. So if you have any thoughts

about the various things that we've talked about

here today, you can get in touch with us and

comment on our parent site at GeekCastRadio .com

or you can send emails to us at feedback at GeekCastRadio

.com. If you listen to us on iTunes, please leave

us a review and you can also give us five stars,

one star if you really have to. Although most

of our reviews have been fairly positive all

six of them Hell yeah You can find myself Michael

powers on Twitter and the PlayStation Network

at booth ninja 81 Danner You can find me on Twitter

at art Danner or on PlayStation Network at x51

the machine man Shonzi I've been Sean Z Brown.

You can find me on Twitter at at Sean Z Brown.

You can still find that Xbox. I'm Current Janet

for all of you people that can't afford new systems

like these two, you know, unlike these two assholes.

Joe, you know what I'm talking about? You can

find out about Joe doesn't sound as happy about

it as you do about working the street to make

the money. Please, I don't work the street. They

come to me. I run a very elegant call in phone

service. All right, Joe. You can find me best

by going to Facebook and Liking the geek stuff

garage sale page. That's probably the best way

you told me Otherwise, you might be able to find

me on the PlayStation Network at Wildfire 405

or wait, am I two V's there? It's two V's you're

v -viled fire the vile fire Stutter cuz he's

so awesome ladies I have to stutter because they

could wouldn't let me have my old gamer ID from

some other service I had signed up for a long

time ago at this point You are of a wildfire

you've been of a wildfire more than you've been

wildfire Wow, everything else in the world is

actually spelled wildfire. It's PlayStation Network.

That's weird or but here And and don't even look

for me on Twitter because I forgot how to work

it That's OK, because we've been adding you.

Yeah, because you do it on your computer. That

doesn't work. All right. It's the weirdest thing.

I didn't even know you could do that. That's

it for episode 41. We are out.