Get Played - 20 Years of Xbox 360 + Console Draft

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Nick and Matt look back on the Xbox 360 for its 20th anniversary and also draft games from its library. Check out our brand new merch at kinshipgoods.com/getplayed Follow us on social media @getplayedpod Music by Ben Prunty benpruntymusic.com Art by Duck Brigade duckbrigade.com For ad-free main feed episodes, our complete back catalogue including How Did This Get Played? and our Premium DLC episodes and our exclusive show Get Anime'd where we're currently watching Serial Experiments Lain go to patreon.com/getplayed Join us on our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/getplayed Wanna leave us a voicemail? Call 616-2-PLAYED (616-275-2933) or write us an email at [e-mail] Advertise on Get Played via Gumball.fm All of our links can be found at linktree.com/getplayedpodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a headgum podcast. Extra value meals are back. That means 10 tender juicy McNuggets and medium fries and a drink are just $8. Only at McDonald's. For limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California, and for delivery. Hey, guys.

I know Heather's not here, but... Yeah. I feel like I have to tell you guys something. Ranch, this includes you too. I just feel like I have to tell you guys. I got some news this week, and it's not great news. Yeah, I wasn't liking your tone here.

I was going to get out with it right now. I have the red ring of death. Oh my God, Matt. I'm so sorry. Yeah, it was not news I was ready to hear or anything like that, but apparently there's nothing they can do about it. Um, but I decided that I think I'm just going to, I'm just going to just do my best to sort of like keep on keeping on, you know? What happened? Like, you know, you get up in the morning and you sort of notice the three parts of the circle on your chest are lit up in red and you're just like, I got to get this thing checked out.

I hope it's not the worst. It's basically exactly that. I woke up one morning and just did everything that I normally do. Right. Every single morning. Brush your teeth. Brush your teeth. Well, you floss, of course

Well, I floss, a floss. Probably do a little face wash. Do a little face wash. I've been trying to do that a little bit more recently, actually. A cup of coffee? Yeah, and here's the thing I want to really emphasize this part,

not necessarily in this order. Okay, yeah, I got it. But I am doing all these things at some point in my morning. Yeah. Maybe do a little stretch. I mean, honestly, should be doing that a little bit more.

Yeah, I've been doing that. It's actually like a good thing to do as you get older. I heard about this thing. You're a little younger than me, but I guess you'll kind of just be stuck here. Yeah, I'm hoping to... Not going to get to my age, are you?

Not getting any older, I guess. Sort of a... Sorry, buddy. It's okay. No, no, no, it's fine. You know... We laugh so we do not cry. You gotta laugh.

Here's the thing. I knew coming in that it was going to be a little bit funny. Yeah. Because, you know, I am sort of famously the Xbox kid. Right. Of course this would happen to me. What an ironic death for the Xbox kid. Yeah.

Yeah. But anyway. Anyway, rest in power. Matt up at Dock. Who should we replace you on the show? Probably just, like, my brother, maybe. Okay, great. My twin brother.

Yeah, give me his contact info. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going to say no. But anyway, yeah, I guess you guys, um... That will just end it. I ran out of juice in the tank. It was just like, actually, why bother? We ended on a laugh.

That's fine. with our connects and attach our HD DVD drives as we discuss the 20th anniversary of the Xbox 360. 20th anniversary, Jesus Christ, this week on Get Played. Wow, it's Get Played, your one-stop show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, Tiger Wiger, along with my co-host, the Xbox Kid, Matt Apodaca.

Hello, everyone. Ooh, Dustin off, an old one. That's right. You are Mr. Games, but you are also the finisher. Yeah. And you are also the Xbox Kid. There's more in there, right? Give me, Lord, it's time to go back to the old me.

Xbox Kid, the correct, like a, like a, like a, like a, like a wrestler bringing back their old gimmick like mankind deciding to be a cactus jack you know it's it's it's it's that sort of environment Hollywood Hulk Hogan going back to regular Hulk Hogan that's right yes rest in power rest and power famed racist yeah yeah destroyer of the one true evil

the website Gocker railed his buddy's wife on camera and set a racial slur how much sushi do you think he had to eat to be that full. I, you know, I will say this. It is the one piece of media, the Hulk Hogan sex tape, which I never watched in its entirety. Yeah. But

I do know that clip where... You just like scrubbed to the end? Yeah. See, this thing finish up. I got to know how it ends. What the hell? What the hell? Where'd all that stuff come from? It's the one piece of media I'd ever see engage with the idea of being

too full to fuck. Yeah. Which is like, oh, that's an interesting thing about having a body that, you know. It's like, you can identify the feeling, like, but like, I guess you've never seen it in a, you've never seen it in a film. You'd never see like a, like a rom-com that had that. Or maybe you, maybe there is a rom-com where that happens, but I don't think so. It's an deleted scene of when Harry met Sally, I think, actually. I had too much of what she was having. I can't.

But I guess you could eat enough sushi to become full, like too full. I've gotten full off of sushi. Let me tell you. That's a bad fool. You don't want to get stuffed off of sushi. Because your mind doesn't stop at the time your stomach does. No, yes, yeah. So, like, you kind of think you're just putting them away because they're little.

And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, no, I'm like completely round now from eating this many. You don't want to over order at a sushi restaurant or you're at one of those places where it's coming by on the boats or whatever the fuck. And it's just like then all of a sudden you're overindulging. That's a bad situation. Heather and Campbell is out this week. Yes. Everything is fine. She just had a scheduling conflict.

Yes. It's just the boys and ranch. It's just the boys and ranch. And you know what? Ranch is one of the boys. Hey. That was cool as hell. Yeah, that was way cooler than us.

I think, and maybe this is like a crazy take. Yeah. I think, and I think Heather would have a lot to say about this, actually, if you were here. I think when the roles are too crazy, we're not having, we're not really, like, having fun anymore. Totally agree. It's, you end up a situation where it should. just like, okay, well, I got, you know, it's got crab in here and shrimp tempura, and then there's salmon row on top.

There's, like, cream cheese. The spicy mayo drizzle. Yeah, we get a spicy mayo, like, Peter North on there. I'm reaching the point. It's like, this is uncapachka. There's, like, too many things, too many components. And it's just because you're trying to, like, one up the, the craziest role at some other competing place.

Yes. Or, and I just don't need it. No. Like, like, like, like, like, keep it simple. I'd always, I'd always like a nagiri or even a sashimi over a roll in general. But if I am going to get a roll, I want something like, I want one of the classics. Give me a spicy tuna roll. Yeah, salmon avocado, like something like just like plain.

I'll go a little crazy with like a Philadelphia role, but that's like maybe as far as I need to go. Yeah. We went to a place, we all went to a place that had like interesting roles. And I would qualify interesting over crazy. Well, so this is the thing. Yes, this is a, this is a, this is a, a style of, there's Peruvian sushi, which is a style. There's a lot, there's a big Japanese expat population in Peru. And so they have, like, you know, they're kind of in sushi culture.

There are some Peruvian sushi restaurants in, I mean, I imagine everywhere, but there's a, you'll run into them in Southern California. Yeah. And it is just like a different style. It's a different approach. But this is one of those places. And it's, yeah, I agree. There's some novelty to it, but they're not throwing in so many components where

I'm just, like, overwhelmed by a bunch of flavors. They don't even know what I'm eating anymore. Because, like, if you have to, like, really widen your bite to take a bite of sushi, we lost, we lost the plot completely. 100%. No, I, I fully agree. I'm trying to look at a, look at a menu for one of these, like, kind of more chainy fast food places to see, like, get a sense of, of some of the things that we're dealing with here.

You ever been to Kabuki? Oh, yeah, Kabuki is a lot of fun. Yeah, you can do that. It's fun. And I'm not, I'm not trying to, to. go against kabuki specifically, but I'm just kind of looking for an instance of the kind of thing. See, shrimp roll, California roll, okay, fine. Philadelphia roll I mentioned, yeah, that's fine. Salmon skin roll, yeah, okay, we're not doing anything too crazy here.

It doesn't look like they actually have the, the completely wild and crazy. Could you like, roll. Oh, here we go. Specialty roll. It's a different category. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, here we go. Kabuki roll, spicy crunch roll topped with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, spicy albacore, spicy tuna, smelt egg, salmon egg, and crab. That's just

like all the kinds. We got five different types of fish. We've got two different kinds of row, and then we've also got some shell shellfish on there, whether we've got the crab meat. What are we doing? I was like get a burger. If I want to eat something like that big, what are we doing? Salancho albacore roll. Shrimp tempura, cream cheese, albacore,

crab meat, cilantro, vinaigrette, red onion, and soy paper. No, no, no, no. Yeah, that's not, I'm not going to order that. I want, like, I want a couple of just, like, normal rolls for, like, the table. We're all picking at it. And then I kind of want, like, a side thing of, like, my own little, like, miso soup. And then maybe as another small, other little thing.

And then I'm, like, the happiest guy you've ever seen in one of these restaurants. Here we go. Aladdin roll. Spicy albacore, shrimp tempura, lettuce and smelt egg. Lettuce in this roll? Lettuce? I got a wish. Make this roll go away.

The way I was hoping you'd say that. Uh-huh. It was as if I made a wish of my very own. A lava roll. Now, you know, I'm a bit of a heat seeker. I like things spicy. Salmon, cream cheese, spicy tuna, crab, avocado, deep fried jalapenos, spicy male eel sauce. Just too many components.

You just start getting like three sauces in there. I'm just like, I'm out. You just hit this with a lava. Yeah, I'll do a lava sometimes. I just, I don't have like an issue. I just kind of wanted to, I feel like that's the type of thing that, like, the people online will be like, nobody said anything what he said that

and I kind of just like I'm putting it out but like I have no issue I'm not I'm not upset with you commenting on it I think it needed to be acknowledged and this is how normal people converse

we're sort of like I had to say something but I don't care and I'm actually not upset that you said something okay I feel like this is a fixture you'll see on like

this is not specific to Kabuki I've seen this in a lot of different places the rainbow roll which is again similar similar to kabbuki roll tuna salmon yellow tail halibut shrimp

avocado and California roll I just don't I just Like, I don't know why we're good doing all these fish. We don't got to do all that. Yeah. Just, like, one fish and, like, one vegetable ingredient. That's it. Well, I really think a lot of these two are for, and it's, hey, it's fine.

I know those, I know this segment exists where there are people who are, like, maybe, like, a little bit less into raw dishes or they just, like, they don't really necessarily like sushi, but they're at a sushi restaurant. So, like, what's something I can order that's more like an app out of chilies? So that's why you end up with these ones that are, like, like, deep fried and, like, like, you know, doused in eel sauce or whatever. I don't need a baked roll ever. Like, that to me, like, I don't like that at all.

Yeah. Yeah, no, thank you. Kind of get something that's covered in sauce. Grow up. You're going to eat it with a fork, you fucking freak. Rancher producer, Richel Chen. Where are you with, where are you with sushi? Do you have any favorites?

I usually just usually go for nigeri. Yeah, yeah. The rainbow roll pisses me off so much. because mostly it's like fish you don't really want on top of it and it looks pretty but then you always get left with like the shitty fish.

Yeah. For sure, yeah. But yeah, usually Nagiri or a California roll is also I always like. But yeah, simple. I feel like you'll sometimes see like a rainbow roll and it like it's like a Chinese restaurant but they also serve sushi for some restaurant

or something like that. A place that's trying like the P.F. Chang sort of Pan-Asian sort of approximation. And, yeah, it never really satisfies. And then, like, it'll be, like, a piece of, like, tempera shrimp, but it'll be, like, just like the shrimp tail. And, like, well, I can't eat this. Yeah.

Like, I have to pull this out to eat this. What the hell? This is just a garnish. I actually do eat the shrimp tail. Do people eat the shrimp tail? I just, like, I'm scared about it. Really? I don't know.

When I was little, she was like, you should eat, you can eat it. It makes sense that you could eat it. It doesn't taste good. No. It didn't seem like a pleasant bite. Yeah. We find out, Ranch also eats the bones. You can eat some bones.

Yeah. I guess we should, this will be a week late, but we should probably talk about the Game Awards nominees. Yeah. And once again, the premiere video game podcast was fucking spot on across the goddamn board, weren't we? The Game Awards streaming on, we absolutely were, 20 for 25 streaming on Thursday, December. 11th. They revealed the nominees as of the day of this record, recording pretty early this week.

Yes. That's how the schedule worked out. Game of the year. Just to give you an idea of when we're recording, Garfield not happy with us right now. And I'll just leave it at that. I was certainly not happy when this episode comes out either. Garfield our least biggest fan.

Kind of an enemy of the podcast. Game of the year, Claire Obscure Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2 on the beach. Donkey Kong Bonanza. Hades 2, Hollow Night Silk Song, King and Come Deliverance 2. That's maybe the one that's kind of,

I think Hades 2 probably a little bit, perhaps a little bit of a surprise, mild surprise, though it came out recently enough. But King and Come Deliverance 2 coming at the start of the year and I think there was a fear that it might be forgotten

or could be overshadowed by a more recent game like Ghost of Yote. I think people were kind of surprised by that. Also just the absence of blueprints from game of the year actually was separately talking to Heather off pod and she was she was pretty struck by that did Heather say anything about me uh she asked if you were going to be at the record and I said yes and then she said she couldn't make oh interesting yeah I'll just like

think about that instead of sleeping tonight it did get blueprints did get a nominee for debut indie game along with Claire Obscure yeah and a few other ones including Megabond kind of crazy I know and it's like I know that Claire Obscure is technically, is an indie game. Right. But kind of weird to think of it as that, kind of, to me, for some reason. It feels like it's, like, so robust and so, like,

not that indie games aren't robust. It just kind of feels more AAA than what you would come to expect from an indie studio. I'm kind of surprised under indie game, we didn't see a nominee for Indiana Jones in the Great Circle. He's fucking back. I was talking to somebody over the weekend

and they were saying that they had just gone to the Vatican and they were looking up at the, what is it called? The Sistine Chapel. Oh, yeah. And they were not very impressed with it because they had seen it in really great detail in Indiana Jones in the Great Circle. They were kind of just like, it was okay.

Yeah, yeah. That's really funny. How far did you get in that game? Not very far. I, you know, I kind of just, I didn't love that it was, it didn't seem to me that it was necessary for it to be in first person. Oh, sure. Because, like, the experience of playing an Indiana Jones game to me isn't that I'm Indiana Jones. I kind of just want to, like, see him doing cool stuff.

And I, so I'm not getting the satisfaction of, like, watching a, you know, fist come in and punching, like, you know, this guy. Yeah. Or whatever, like, cracking a whip or anything like that. I want to see my guy. It's kind of the issue, and I heard these games are good, and I haven't played either of the Robo. Actually, I don't know if the second one's out yet. I think it is.

It's like a standalone DLC. But the Robocop games, it's the same sort of thing. It's just like, I don't want to have Robocop's POV. I want to, like, I want a character action game, a third person game where I'm seeing the Robocop character model. And see, that's where you and I differ. I do want the Robocop POV because. You're sitting there right now, you'd be looking like a slice of Swiss cheese, my man.

Blast my dick off. Just like too much. Everyone's like, what the? Robocoff went a little too hard, actually. It rocks. I still have never seen it. I got to watch it. Matt, treat yourself.

It's fucking awesome. You know what I watched this weekend? There was a criterion sale. There's a criterion sale going on right now, so I treated myself to some discs. I might get back in there actually before the end of the sale. I got one of my favorite movies I think I've ever seen Perfect Days which we've talked about a bit

I got Sorcerer which I hadn't seen so I'm excited to watch that but this weekend I watched I rewatched No Country for Old Men which I hadn't seen in a long time just an absolute Ripper just great stuff and then I had I watched Thief for the first time of it

Oh sure yeah thief James Kahn Whips ass Yeah my letterbox review of that movie was when I was when I was a courtesy clerk at Albertsons when I was 19 years old one of the old ladies that I used to hang out with

when I worked there you know how like you had your first job and you just kind of like hung out with like old people like when you work there you're like my best friend at work is like an old person Yeah I mean it's just like you're just like kind of an adult and he's like oh wait we're all we're all just adults So the 60 year old woman

told me when I was a 19 year old that I had the shoulders of a young James Con and I've been haunted by this thought ever since Wanted. It was very, it was too flattering. It was very, very nice. Because I hadn't seen really, I hadn't, my only experience of James Con was an older man. So watching him be a little bit younger in this movie, I was kind of like, oh, she was,

this lady was flirting with James Conn was like an athlete. No, he was like, he would, he looked great when he was young. I mean, he, I think he looked great all the whole way. But like, like, when he's younger, he had a very, very, like, you know, athletic, but in that, like, classic sort of like, 70s sort of guy. but before everyone got on steroids, HGH. He was just, like, cut. Yeah.

Just a guy who was just in good shape. But I brought those up to be like, I am watching movies that I hadn't seen before. But so I got to bump Robocop up until the list because it should be, it should be in my letterbox top four. I just saw the, the Edgar Wright remake of Running Man with Glenn Powell, which I was like, okay, on. I mean, it's closer to the source, but not really. And then the- And you're a big kinghead. I'm a kinghead. Yeah, yeah. I've, you know, I'll listen to The Just King Things podcast.

Yeah. And, you know, been reading, been reading a lot of his bibliography. But the, the, the, so I rewatched last night, the 1987, Shortsenegger, Running Man, which is deviates wildly from the source, but I think is just such a more successful movie. And it's so fun. The thing it has that Robocop is way better at, but running man still is pretty good. good at it. It's kind of satirizing 80s consumer culture and then also just in a way that's just like a little too on the nose talking about like, you know, like it's set in 2017, so it's 30 years in the future. And it's like, you know, income inequality has created a world of halves and have nots. People live in tents outside of skyscrapers. It's just like a police state has outlawed much media. It's like, oh, yeah, okay.

Okay, so when's the fucking movie started? And no disrespect to Glenn, the real thing that that movie's got that the new one doesn't have, Arnie, baby, Arnie's good. Arnie's fun to watch. Yeah, I love Glenn Powell. I think he's a great actor.

I think he's a legit movie star. It's a little bit of a tough bit of casting for him because he's such like an angry sort of like asshole character. He's trying to evoke. And I'm just like, I don't buy this from this guy. You kind of want to see him having a little fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Being a charming guy. He should be Indiana Jones anyway. Oh. Boy, are they going to have another Indiana Jones? They had the young Indiana Jones Chronicles. They did. They cast some few different actors. I think of the options we have, I think he would be the best at it.

I wonder if they'll continue that franchise. It feels so... They'll do one more with Harrison when he's fucking 90. Goes back to see Archimedes again I have to stop 9-11 He's just like this ancient man Wait you're past 2001 now The movie takes place in 2004

And he's fucking like 103 or some shit I have to stop 9-11 to prevent the re-election of George W. Bush He knows time travel is real So he's going to go back It's taking him in my minute He's like I have one last job fucking gets the whip fucking cinches his spine so he's standing

up straight time to get to work and Chewbacca's in the movie too he's like let's go Chewy yeah Chewbacca is of course in the movie finally crossover we demanded build out the Fordverse

what's his name I almost called him Deckered Kane but that's not his name from Blade Runner Oh yeah yeah yeah it is Deckered though It's Decker Yeah that's a name

that should come back I think It's a great name I mean, Decker Cain, obviously, a reference. Yeah, well? Rick Deckerdick. Rick Decker. Yeah. Anyway, he gets in there.

He gets in there. Of course, they take a trip to the mosquito coast. Should we talk about some video games on this video game podcast? I think so. Congratulations to all the nominees, by the way. It feels it's clear obscure race to lose, right? I really do think it's that or Silk Song, but I think the difficulty. discourse of Silk's song is maybe going to do more harm than good for it.

And I also kind of feel like that's a similar sort of thing. I have not played Kingdom Come Deliverance, too. Heather has. Heather loves it. But I mean, that's another game that's like a little bit less, quite a bit less accessible than some of these other ones. So I can see that one also being, you know, not quite having the push from voters to put it over the top.

Then again, the Game Awards will surprise you sometimes. It takes two getting the statue. a few years ago so who knows maybe you could have a dark horse in there but I think

if there's gonna be a dark horse I'd actually probably go with death stranding too I think that would be kind of like

the surprise resurgence and like a Kojima reappreciation It would be nice I do think that that game did a lot

of really great things very well but it's you know I think it sold well too but I just don't know

if it like had the it didn't have the like staying power in the discourse that Claire Obscure

seem to have But I would love it. I would love Death Stranding to bring home the hardware. Yes. So I've got a question for all the gamers out there. Are you seriously, seriously going to miss out on Alienware's biggest gaming sale of the year? I mean, these are Black Friday prices we're talking about. So it's not just another sale.

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These really are incredible deals on PCs with otherworldly performance. So, I'd visit alienware.com slash deals soon and grab what you. can before their biggest sale of the year goes dark. The countdown is on. Holiday shopping season is officially here. Uncommon goods takes the stress out of gifting with thousands of unique high-quality fines you won't see anywhere else.

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What's the clock? It's like a clock that tells the time. by using quotes from books. It's called the author's clock. And the clock, instead of a, like a screen that shows the time, it shows the full paragraph with the time bolded in the paragraph. So you get like every minute of the day, you get a new quote from a book.

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I got myself one of them Mongolian cashmere sweaters. It's a crew neck and let me tell you, really comfortable and looks pretty flattering too. Got a nice compliment for my wife. Pretty cool. Doesn't happen every day. In fact, I'd say it rarely happens. Also got myself a nice shirt. It's kind of a shirt jacket hybrid.

It's actually a suede over shirt, and it is really, really comfortable, and again, a flattering fit. And Quince has gifting covered beyond clothing, too, if you need anything for home, bath, kitchen, or travel. Give and get timeless holiday staples that last this season with Quince. Go to quince.com slash get played for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash get played. Free shipping and 365-day returns, quince.com slash get played. You know, Matt, we ask a question every week on the podcast, and I think it's time to ask that question, that question pertaining to any video games that we have played since the last time we recorded.

No, yeah, and it's interesting. It's a good question to get into. It's a good general topic. We've always got something to talk about, and that question is, what are you playing? What are you playing? Curse you Bail! Oh, God, no, it's... It is I, Egon!

Yeah, that's right. Your fears made flesh. Solid of scale, you may be foul dragon, but I will riddle with holes your rotten hide with a hail of hapoons, with every last drop of my being. Hey, Matt. Hey, Egon, how's it going, man?

Ah, it's going pretty good. I'm hanging in there. You're hanging in there. I know that, uh, you know, that bail seems to be given. you a lot of trouble. Bail! Vile! Bail! Oh, terror and card it! Can I ask? You know what? You're here to ask us a question. You parked in front of my driveway for the last time, Bail! I wonder if I could ask you a couple questions, actually. Who's your favorite Batman?

Ah, favorite Batman. Why, that would have to be Christian Bail! All right, that's my only question, I think. But, like, he's parked in front of your driveway. All these offenses sort of don't really seem to be, no offense. That big a deal, honestly. I know that he fucked your wife, I think. You really are minimizing the damage done to me, Egon, by Bale the Dread, who has haunted me? You know, I saw him last week at Handel's ice cream parlor.

You saw him at Handles? I was there to get myself a treat. Yeah. I wanted to have a scoop of blue. monster in a cone and bail was in front of me in line of course doesn't even say hello okay yeah and that's always so awkward when you run into somebody you don't really like and they're just like right in front of you he asked for 14 samples i thought there was a limit of three and then he

didn't even get a scoop he left without paying curse you bail all right you know what i wasn't i wasn't really sure before i'm on your side now because that is, I think that's rude. I think no matter what, if you get a sample, you're buying a scoop. You got to buy a scoop, I think. Thank you, Matt. Thank you for agreeing with me. And I have to ask you here before I go, before I go to hopefully no longer be haunted by the curse

of bail the dread, Matt Apodaka, what are you playing? Thank you so much, Egan. Wow. I feel sort of different when he comes around. Yeah, I mean, he brings a lot of a pizzazz, I guess you call it. Flair, certainly. Attitude. Attitude.

So I'm playing Ghost of Yote pretty much exclusively right now. Wow. And it is just an incredible, incredible experience. I'm almost not doing any story things. I am just following the wind and discovering, you know, little foxholes and, you know, happening upon settlers who need help and things like that and just like destroying. I did complete one major side quest, which was leveling up an entire weapon, just like one skill tree, like weapon. And I think I'm going to do that for the other weapons as well, of course. but which weapon

or is that are we is it too much of a spoiler no it's not too much of a spoiler it's more that I like don't know how to say it got it but it is like it's like one end of it is like a heavy spike ball and in the other hand it is like a blade so you're kind of like it's almost the same it's like almost the equivalent of like Cratos's like blades kind of

where it has like that kind of gameplay I really like that you use the the heavy ball to like break shields and then the the knife to like slash and stuff It rocks. But I leveled that up and I got like the best one in the game from like the guy who teaches you how to use it. And I, you know, Erica was here. Their performance is so fucking good in this game. Erica Ishi, a recent podcast guest who was also nominated for a game award.

Incredible. Congratulations of them. Really well deserved. Just truly just like an insane performance. Also gets to be like kind of funny. Like it gets like a lot of serious stuff. but there is some, like, very, like, light humor throughout the game where, like, Atsu will just be, like, obviously, like, very annoyed with somebody.

It's so good. Weird, I think they were doing that bit when I was here. Hi, buddy, I'm Weiger. But the gameplay is just so good. And, you know, this is such a small thing. I had it on the PlayStation 5 menu screen, and like the cursor was like on the game like on the Ghost of Yote icon

and I was just like listening to the music that was playing like in the menu and was just like this is like the most beautiful music I've ever heard it's just it's so so great the score is really wonderful a lot of like flutes and stuff a lot of like wind like wind instruments

and then of course the um what is the one that Heather got called um the shamisen the shamisen that's a great instrument as well um but i'm just having a blast with it i think i'm like 50 hours in and i think i'm only well i'm less than like halfway done with the story because i'm just going in like just uh you know defeating camps and stuff that's like the that's the really really fun stuff i got like the upgraded uh heavy bow so I'm able to just like snipe guys with like huge armor from like far away and just like kill them it rocks it's so good I love the bow hearing the bow sound

sound design goes such a long way for me yeah hearing the like the stretch of the that's good shit man that's good good stuff yeah and there's like there's four weapons that you can choose from or like that you can switch through in each weapon is, like, better against the other, um, you know, there's certain weapons that are better against other weapons. Yeah. And, like, sometimes that can, uh, not frustrate me, but sometimes I want to just be able to just use the one thing that I'm using instead of switching back and forth in between stuff. But the variety, I think they all do things so differently that the variety does make it a little

more fun. Yeah. Ranch, are you still playing Yote? Um, not as much because me and Marks share our PlayStation time. Got it. Um, so I haven't played in a few, like a week, but I did play five ever as a player of a scare last night. Oh, wow. What do you think?

I love it. I think it might be the best game I've ever played. Hell yeah, that's amazing. Um, you got to tell Mark to hop off the damn game. He's busy riding segues on a Final Fantasy. There are, yeah, you can just like ride segways in that game. it's good it's good it that game is incredible the amount of content and rebirth is overwhelming yes I mean this is the whole issue with the with any sort of open world game but in particular

rebirth and I haven't gotten into Yote yet but my I'm understanding similarly dense with content there's a lot like I was like not I was on my way to a side thing today yeah and then stumbled upon a different side thing I was like well I'm gonna go help this guy get his horses like he was like I need my horses are lost can you help me get them I'm like, I'll do anything for these horses. I'm already on a tangent, and I'm going to do another tangent. Exactly.

It's like, yeah. At a certain point, I do tire of doing that, though, and then I will get, you know, follow the story a little bit more. But the fast traveling just makes it so easy to be like, just to get off the beaten path or whatever. And then once you're, like, done doing that, like, okay, I'm just going to fast travel back to the main story area and, like, then do that stuff.

So, like, I look forward to, like, seeing more of that, but I was on a journey with one of the Yote 6th, the Kitsune, and I really thought that story was so satisfied, but it's sort of making me hungry for the other stories within the game. It's kind of like, I feel like maybe the feeling in these games sometimes is like, like, okay, I'm going to Target, and then I was like, oh, I'll stop by the GameStop. Yeah. And then you go to the complex or the GameStop, it's like, well, I'll grab a Cinnabon.

Yeah, yeah. You know, he's just like, like, you get so distracted by shiz. Like, I've lost the plot. I forgot about the original objective. And then you never get to target. I never actually got to target. Um, yeah, that's what I'm playing. I'm looking forward to spending more time with it.

I think it'll be, because we got some games coming out that I'm like, I got it, I can't. They never stop. They never stop. And I'm like, I sort of have decided, I think, I'm going to cave on this. Yeah. I kind of don't think I can get Metroid Prime 4 until I'm done with at least Yote, if not that and silk song i think there there are certain games where i'm like i will get this regardless and there are other ones where yeah i will instill a similar sort of restriction yeah

and what will oftentimes happen is that i just never play that game yeah i just never get to it yeah someday never comes i got it someday never comes and then you live in the long shadow of regret that that that's life isn't it man yeah that's what frank sinatra used to say that's life Right, that was him? Yeah, that's a song. That's what all the people say. Yeah, I think that was Sinatra. He said a lot of crazy stuff.

I don't listen to everything, he said. Just that. What are you playing, Nick? Matt, thank you so much for asking. I end up play a game that was not on my radar, but that it read about and it heard some really good things, and it felt like something that had appealed me specifically. Oh.

So I bought it, and I played it, and I 100% of it over the week. weekend. Oh. In a total playtime about four hours. It's a particularly slight game. The game is called Strange Jigsaws. Two words. Strange Jigsaws. It is developed by Solo Dev Fleb, who previously did the free game, 20 small mazes. I read a profile of Fleb as I, after I finish Strange Jigsaws. You see what's going on with this guy. Um, an engineer, uh, who lives in North Carolina, a hobbyist puzzler, who I guess has been involved in like some MIT puzzles in the past contests and makes them on his own.

Also, as five kids, which is wild. They're just like, oh, I've got this other career, but I'm also going to make this full game in my save, my spare time and the Godot engine as a solo dev. And then I've also going to raise five children. Also, I have to make five PB&Js every morning for their school lunches and, you know, wipe five asses or something. I got no kids. And I'm like, I don't know if I can do two podcasts.

A lot. This is a lot of stuff. Got to come to the studio twice. week. I can't talk and have fun. Do you think strange jigsaw is inspired by his victims being like, this guy's fucking strange? Hopefully not, because I don't think Flegb is particularly twisted in the way of jigsaw from the Saw franchise.

Okay, thank God. It seems like Fleb is a little bit more wholesome, although there is kind of like a, you know, very fun, all age is appropriate. It's sort of a dad sort of vibe sense of humor to everything in it. It's just it's got a little bit of light absurdism, but in a very fun, accessible way. This design is so compelling. This is such a cool game. It's basically, I'll just read verbatim the steam description because this will set it up a little bit.

Solve around 50 or so strange jigsaws, each with their own surprising way of being solved. Enter the jigsawvers, maybe, because yes, as you start to expand. on this, as you start to solve the puzzles, it starts to lead to a larger, I'd say kind of pseudo-narrative, but more largely kind of like a meta sort of aspect to it. For instance, very early on, one of the first things you do is it opens like a fake U.S where you've got like a bunch of different, the way the connective tissue between the different games is that they are all apps on like a, you know, like a Windows 98 kind of sort of throwback OS. Yeah. And then you will play through all of them and all those get

completed it goes to a different way where you've got a different sort of layer to how you are stepping through this and this continues all the way to the post game where there are a you know like like you're playing through um prototypes of a previous versions or whatever what are ostensibly prototypes so it really sort of expands the whole world of this of this thing that lives entirely within you know menus it lives with entirely within uh the the sort of more abstract graphical elements and and is just purely just an interactive puzzle book, but in a really, really much, much bolder and more expansive way than you might expect. And it's also like a game that I didn't, you know, I use any of the accessibility functions, but it seems like it's got

colorblind friendly mode built in, which is like, you know, there are some puzzles that are color contingent, one of which I'll talk about. And, you know, it's got stuff for for people who are hard of hearing as well, because some of them do involve some sort of voice or music and and and as as clues so it's kind of helpful in that standpoint but if you like like the lateral thinking of puzzle parts of like blueprints for instance which I know some people who are playing that game there's like that's what they really responded to more than the roguelight element yeah more than the story is just like oh these puzzles are cool it's just the puzzles it's really just that it's yeah as I mentioned is divided into layers as you progress through

each of the different aspects of it each of kind of like the different like hub worlds that all have sort of different framing devices. I'll just talk about a few of the specific puzzles. One, you know, you may know me in my other life as the Burger Boy. That's right. We're talking food earlier. That's right. This is a hamburgers are my thing.

And there's a game called Hamburger Maestro, which is just basically like kind of like burger time. You're assembling hamburgers in order. But they are just sort of presented with clues of like above and next to. So it'll be like like patty above cheese. cheese next to bacon bacon not next to onion you know like it'll be a bunch of different clues like that and as such there's one specific pattern that satisfies all of these requirements and you just kind of have to like use your

methods of deduction to sort of figure it out yeah and it's it's just like it's you start with that it's really really simple but then it heightens a few different times and then it reaches like a kind of a logical endpoint it was like okay you've taken this as far as it could go uh there's one that's called jigsaw mountain, which is, like, you've got a bunch of jigsaw pieces, but they're like, we don't have enough pieces. Some of these are from a different puzzle, so you've got to recolor them so they fit in. So it's like the shape sort of determines where they fit into, but then you have to use

paint tools to recolor them so that the pattern of the piece, the jigsaw piece, fits into the overall picture, but because it's a different image on it, you have to choose like how you're going to color it so that it corresponds, so it's a little bit more abstract than it sounds. but it's just like really cool and it's just like oh this is the thing i wasn't expecting for before uh there's there's also just solves for things like there's a puzzle and the jigsaw piece you need happens to be part of the uh of a ux element that you weren't you would not think was like an interactive part of the play space there's continually things like that there's another one

this is a very minor spoiler but there's like a part where it's like there's some text that says x marks the spot and what you're actually looking for is the physical is the letter x you know i mean so it's it's things like that where it's just like this isn't part of what i the play space was or actually the play space is the entire everything that I could possibly interact with yeah and so it just kind of expands how you're thinking about everything there's a really awesome couple of of brain busters uh one in the post game which is a just a big blue uh sort of like like like a completely blue sort of thing that you're looking on like like like a like basically a children's drawing that's just a big scribble of blue

all over uh one surface and i won't dig into that one any for any bit any further but it's one more challenging puzzles the game. I found it like super duper satisfying to solve and the way it heightened was really cool. There's a time machine puzzle that involves sort of like recursively zooming into and out of different phases of the puzzle and then like, you know, kind of like rotating objects as well to change different elements that affect other aspects of it. There's a rope puzzle, which is basically a bunch of different, you're trying to recreate the, the image of a rope that you're seeing, you're trying to like, but, but it's a

a bunch of different tiles that are all tilted in different directions that you have to connect with physical rope to get them to stitch together into one into a cohesive picture

that is what you're like what it represented what you're I'm explaining this really clunkily but it is a it's just one of those things where it's like oh it's kind of a brain buster and I'm just like I'm essentially

just arranging six tiles but the way that is presented is just kind of making me think about this in a completely different way. But it's $5. I saw that. I think I'm just going to get it.

It's $5 on Steam. Yeah. What can you get with $5? Almost nothing. Not much these days. You can get, well, two hot dogs at Costco and still have a little money left over. Well, I mean, Costco is a special case.

Yeah. It's still $1.50 at hot dog and soda combo at Costco. Yeah. The departing CEO, of course, saying it, you know, if you change the price of the hot dog, it will fucking kill you. I got to tell somebody that, anecdote over the weekend and was thrilled by their

reaction. They thought it was everybody rightfully thinks it's great. There's these puzzle boxes in Ghost of Yote actually that you might enjoy. You find them at various different shrines and stuff and they are in like a 3D space so you're like

moving the box on all sides to figure out what tabs to pull out so you can slide the top of the box off. And I was actually pretty impressed. Yeah. I was working my way through these like nothing kind of and then I got to this one that I can't fucking open and I try it every time I play the game at least once just to be like let's see if I maybe go this way uh nope and I just like close that menu and just be like I'll come back to

it but it's it's that one is on my back right now it that one's tough I will say that this this is for anyone who loves puzzle games because I and I'll say this as someone who this is ostensibly my job to talk about this sort of shit. This game was completely not on my radar. I somehow completely missed this game. I think it's been really, really, you know, a low-key release, obviously coming from a solo dev

who did not have a big, did not have a bunch of support systems to promote themselves, to promote their project. I think it's been like kind of word of mouth that's driving this, but I would encourage anyone who likes puzzle games to check this out if you haven't already played it and again five dollars i brought up the del taco app uh bean and cheese burrito with red sauce 229 so you get two of those your budget is busted yeah trying to get

that for five bucks yeah i guess you you throw in the crunch todda toast tot or maybe the mini cheddar cassidia although the mini cheddar cassidia is like 149 and it's just yeah like like like what like i don't know it's such a such a paltry amount like we're like we're taking like a mini flour tortilla with a little bit of shredded cheddar in there. I, like you, a SoCal kid, used to be sort of more Del Taco. Yeah. Like Taco Bell fine for like their crazier stuff. But for like the basics, that being like bean in cheese burrito, like crunchy taco type

stuff, I would be like actually Dell's where it's at. Yeah. These days I'm sort of thinking there's no reason to go to Dell. I think Dell is done. I think the bell rung it for the last time I wouldn't I wouldn't go that far but I have been I'm perpetually disappointed by Del Taco It's tough

They keep excising menu items That don't need to be excised And they like they have Their promotions are weird It's like what the fuck you're doing Pazole What are you talking about? See now this is like I might get in there for that Because that's interesting

It's like crazy It's not By any means something that you should come to expect from a drive-through place at all. Yeah. That's sit-down food. I don't know if they've specifically done that, but that's why I feel like they're always doing. They're always throwing some sort of experiment on there.

It's just like, I don't know why you're trying Ropa Vieha or whatever. I mean, like, just do what you do, do tacos and burritos and fries. Jacob Wysaki and I will often talk about the strange offerings at Del Taco. We'll, like, text each other a new one to be like, basically like, do you dare me to get this? and I got there one of the last ones he did this was maybe a couple years ago they had like two for six

like bean cheese and carnitas burritos and I was like there's no way these carnitas are going to be any good at Del Taco and I got them and was like you gotta get to Del this Dell immediately because they were dare I say busing. Wow. They were good

that was good stuff somebody back there had the wrist I never sampled their their carnitas the last time I get Del Taco because I always get their fries there and as far as what it offers over Taco Bell for people who aren't familiar with Del Taco Fries is the main thing

that fact that you can get a burger and fries at a place that you can also get tacos and burritos. And the burger is just small enough that you could, I feel like this is get ready for some big boy math real quick. You get a burger and fries and still be like I have a little room for a little bean and cheese burrito.

I'll do that all the time. a perfect trio. It's a, it's a perfect trio. I mean, also that double del cheeseburger is pretty substantial if you go all the way. It's not nothing. It's not nothing. Anyway, the last time I got Del Taco, I got, and also Taco Bell a lot of times has fries these days. So again, that that sort of edge has kind of been smoothed over. But the del Taco fries are plainer in a way that is more satisfied. They're a lot like shake shack fries. They're the crinkle cut and they're very satisfying. Yeah. Usually well fried. But unfortunately last time I got them I was like these taste sweet and I looked it up as like

they have a they had a funnel cake fries promotion which is all these chain restaurants are doing funnel cake fries these days they're all sourced from Cisco it's all the same fucking product but they were they were sharing fry oil with their dessert and it tainted the flavor of their fries which is one of the reasons I go there I was like this sucks that's shut it down yeah that's get John Taffer in there Shut it down. Also, Funnel Cake, sorry to say, has never been it. That we can't, I can't get there with it.

I don't, I like Funnel Cake, the funnel, and I think there is a version of a funnel cake sort of mall restaurant that could prosper if they did it, they did it right. Again, I mentioned Cineban earlier. If they're doing it like Cineban or like Nothing Bunch Cakes, they're like, we're going to have a focus concept that is going to have a good version of this. Funnel cake fries are definitely not it. Get it out of there. I don't, I don't need those. Anyway, I was just going to say to put a bow on this, the two del tacos meal, which is two tacos, fries, and a soda. $9.79 for regular.

That's not even anything. That's not even anything. And that's not, let me just say, that's not getting my fat ass full. You'd be better served with the aforementioned $1.50 hot dog soda combo. One hot dog, you're kind of good. Well, obviously, yeah. That's a much better. But, you know, you have to have a Costco warehouse with a food court that you can.

you get it and you're going to battle that parking lot i mean it's like a whole thing and you gotta yeah you can't just get the hot dog anymore yeah although i did i think i saw somebody maybe in the discord say you can order Costco postmates but there's like a it's like a or uh one of those apps but it's like a pre there's like a premium oh i'm sure for not having the membership yeah which i'm like not not that worth it but i'm there i'm get i'll get myself a hot hot dog in a double chunk every time oh man how many booms um probably five. Five big booms.

Probably big ones, huh? Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. To each their own. They go.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

Really, really can't say enough about strange jigsaws. One of the, absolutely delightful gaming experience. The most pleasant surprise of the year for me. Wow. I'm happy that you found that. That's great. And hey, you know.

No matter to the, the, what am I trying to say? Just because you knocked it out in a couple hours, that still adds to the total of how many games you completed this year. You got one in the can. It's true. That's not nothing. Adds to the tally. I mean, and then you're the finisher, so you're the authority. My numbers are low this year.

Don't give me start on my numbers. My numbers are paltry. But I've added other stuff going on. Yeah, you got other stuff going on. I can barely get over here. It has to do two podcasts a week if you can believe it. I don't hear anybody fucking banging their pots and pans

for this guy Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Hey guys, I've talked about this on the show before I use NordVPN and now we're doing ads for it. So I feel like I am specifically qualified to talk about using NordVPN. Look, there are stores you can only shop at. you have a Japanese address or a Japanese like IP address, and if you want to get these goods, these Gundam goods, the only way you can access the website in order to buy the item is to go

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get played to snag $250 off your cabin. Matt, it is the 20th anniversary of the Xbox 360. Wow. Where do the years go?

Launched on November 22nd, 2005, but was officially unveiled on a special that aired on May 12th, 2005, MTV presents Xbox, the next generation, revealed. Let's watch a little bit of this. Welcome to the Avalon in Hollywood, California. I'm Elijah Wood, and MTV is here to bring you an exclusive look at the new Xbox, a console that's about to change digital entertainment forever. Tonight we will learn tricks from pro gamers

as they take a look inside the studios of Rare in London. Then we're going four-on-four showdown style with some of your favorite celebs and gamers and the ultimate celebrity death match. Also tonight, Sway will take us to the Xbox Design Lab in Seattle and visit with the Pimp My Ride guys to get their take on the Xbox.

But tonight, the next Xbox isn't the only thing that looks cool, as we have a special performance from the killers like you've never seen before. Oh, my God. Let's kick it down to MTV 2, Jim Shearer, for a look at the phenomenon that is the digital revolution.

Thank you, Elijah. Pretty, really could not be more anchored in the year 2005. Truly alarming. A murderer's row of 2005. I will say, within the last three or four years or so, I saw The Killers, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

Wow, okay. It was unbelievable. Yeah. Um, it was like my first concert after COVID, uh, and, um, they did allude to that and that we probably all shouldn't be there. But it was great. It was, it was, it was really great. Um, gosh, it is, I forget that Elijah Wood is like a huge gamer actually and not just like a lit service like, oh yeah, I play games type of thing. Like, he gets in there.

Uh, he was like very big on Animal Crossing when the new one came out and stuff. and I recently saw a post online when the analog pocket was like new he like couldn't get one like he like responded to like a tweet from like the analog company and was like I had one in a car and it escaped and I was like damn fucking Frodo can't nail down

a goddamn analog pocket Elijah would very like I feel like just like a very wholesome social media Unless I could be, I could be missing something, but, but like from what I've seen. But the one I remember is when, because Denny's had the, the tie-in meals for the first two Hobbit movies, and then they didn't do it for Battle of the Five Armies, the third one. And he just was like, Denny's no, no tie-in menu? What's going on?

To me, yeah, my reading of him is he absolutely gets it. And he likes to have a little bit of fun. And God bless him. Yeah. We love, we love Elijah here. Yeah. Anyway, he was part of the marketing campaign, the push back when MTV was airing something other than ridiculousness. Yeah.

It's so weird to think about... Now a dated reference, by the way. Is it really? Ridiculousness as of like last week has been canceled? It's not on anymore. That's wild. So, but like 20 years ago, was MTV still part of the Zite guy, still part of the youth culture, which is weird to think about in this era. I guess YouTube existed then, but it was just like.

still not as prominent people were still watching cable TV yeah it is I mean I used to like if I like was turning on my TV at this time it was probably straight to MTV actually like just like like see music videos and obviously like check out the honeies see what's going on sure and then also maybe I guess watch whatever this was it's also interesting to think that this is right after like Return of the King just like sweeps at the Academy Awards yeah a year or two are moved yeah i think yeah but it's it's it's definitely like right there is king kong out by now oh it's king kong out by this point it must be yeah man that king kong is good i like the guy i like the peter jackson king kong it is the seventh console generation

that it is a part of is this the weirdest generation because we got the xbox 360 the ps3 which is a a very quirky piece of hardware and of course the we yes which is its own thing and then everyone was trying motion control in response to the Wii remote, so we had the PS3, uh, six axis and then also the Xbox three Xbox Connect, which we'll talk about a little bit. Yeah, I do think this is probably the weirdest cause and also just like of the the other accessories, not just connect, but like I don't know if you remember the PlayStation home. Oh sure. Yeah, of course. Which was like the streaming, uh, like box for playing Vita games on a television. Is that the one where the guy immediately like,

his wife like day one? Was that a different thing? That was... I mean, I think that might have also been called PlayStation Home, but there was like a...

That was like a streaming platform of some kind, but this was like a... I can't remember what the box was called. PlayStation TV is that's what I was thinking of, actually. Which you would think

would have been the other thing. But yeah, the Xbox, very interesting, Xbox 360, interesting console. I was not an Xbox kid when I was young I became Xbox kid

when I got the series S and I was like sort of making up for lost time and playing my Xbox and like seeing what seeing what I was missing as far as like the various console exclusives were

but I had a lot of friends that had the 360 over the PlayStation 3 instead the Xbox the original Xbox got me with Halo which I've mentioned before is like playing through Halo 1, co-op the entire campaign, one of my favorite experiences, game experiences

of my life. And there was just enough on the original Xbox for me to justify purchasing it and using the big honk and Duke controller. The Xbox 360, however, launched only four years after the original Xbox in North America, November 15th, 2001, which is crazy to think about. It is really not. It's basically like if the PlayStation 6 had come out a year ago. You know what I mean?

it's it's it's just just that they would iterate that quickly and basically what it was is that they were third in the previous generation i believe they might have been ahead of the game cube but they certainly were worried about their relevance going in the next generation so what they did instead is they're like we're going to be first to market and they were Xbox 360 came out before the PlayStation 3 and the we the i i don't think i don't believe this is apocryphal i think this is true that the name Xbox 360 partly became came out because they were and anticipating the PlayStation 3, and it was what tested better than 3, or like, what tested as more powerful than 3 is 360.

That is interesting, because, like, yeah, they would have been, they would have been the Xbox 2, which doesn't sound as good as PlayStation 3. No, yeah, yeah, it sounds like you're going back in time. You're behind. Yeah. But it's interesting because I sort of forgot that the 360 was contemporary with the PlayStation 3 because I guess I got my PlayStation 3. pretty late in its run actually

because I had the PlayStation 2 up until I graduated high school I had I think I got my PlayStation 3 with my first job like when I was in 2009 so like pretty pretty steady into its lifespan I think the slim is what I got but yeah

I was interested in the 360 but just was like not really familiar with like not interested in Halo and I knew that was like the main thing that they had and like some of the other games was like that really into like shooting games

really like that like Gears of War which I then played Gears 5 on my series S and I loved that but I was more into like baby games like my PlayStation 3

or you know like your ratchet and clanks and your stuff that PlayStation had there for me your kingdom arts of course the PlayStation 3 which we're not talking about in depth today but it just remains

you know because obviously the Wii was so so unique and but the what they did with the PS3 like going so heavily into Blu-ray and then it's just having such

a bizarre architecture yes such a like like the most console kind of specific development you know that that like of the 21st century basically

just just so such a fucking weird piece of hardware but it's it's like it's kind of crazy that they had the PlayStation 2 they had just like the market completely locked down.

They just had utter dominance and then they just opted to go in this direction of just being a little bit more I guess Sony-like with the next generation and alienating some of their consumers. I remember now that my uncle

had, my uncle who played games always had both. Didn't you ever really, I don't think he was like he didn't have GameCube but he had Xbox and PlayStation kind of just like stuck with that stuff

and I remember he bought the disc drive for Xbox 360 that would play the HD DVDs Yes so there was a format war That people may or may not remember Blu-ray but the other The competing format was HD DVD

Blu-ray was Sony's format So Microsoft was like well we'll compete With a built-in Blu-ray the PlayStation 3 By having an expansion drive Which plays like HD DVDs Yes but I remember him having Like a stack of The Blu-ray

Like cases are blue on the outside for the most part and now like the 4K ones are black and then they have specialized ones for you know like criterion or whatever but the HD DVD cases were red and I just remember him having like a big stack of the red ones

and not really like thinking anything of it at the time not realizing that we'd been through this before with VHS and in Betamax and stuff like that I kind of just thought that maybe both would exist at one point but obviously like Blu-ray like really like cleaned house immediately and became the dominant format. And he just then had all these DVDs or these HD DVDs that like can't watch.

You can't watch them now. Yeah, it's like having a UMD of like wedding crashers. It's like, you know, this-man, I fucking wish. Laughing my ass off with my PSP in my hands. That's another thing. I guess if we if we consider this generation also encompassing the Nintendo DS and the PSP, it's like that shit was also weird there on the handheld side. What was?

What was going on? Can you guess, Matt, the best-selling game on the Xbox 360? Now, number two is a lot easier. You might get number two. It's a multi-platform game, one of the biggest franchises in gaming. I'm going to have to guess then number two. I think number two is like Grand Theft Auto 4. It's actually five, but I'll give it to, yeah.

Of course, that makes sense because that's the biggest thing ever. But for number one... Number one is a first-party game, and I was surprised. by this. I'm guessing you might not get it. Is it not a halo? It is linked, no, it's not a halo. It is linked to a peripheral, it's linked to a piece of hardware. Oh. Is it

a connect game? Yes. Is it Star Wars Connect? It's not Star Wars Connect. It's connected. It's connected Ventures, which came bundled with a connect, so it's a little bit of a cheat. But it's kind of like Wii Sports. It was just their equivalent of just everyone had it. And again, just speaks to the weirdness of this generation

of everyone was buying these gimmick games. you know like we sports and we fit like that we're just again we don't we don't really see games like this being made as often anymore this is absolute news to me never heard of this I'm now going to solicit the listeners in our discord you do not have to

at me do not tag me I want to you just respond in the correct channel in the get played channel if you were into that at all if you liked what is it called Connected Ventures if you're like I love Connected Adventures. I played Connected Adventures because I've never heard of this. Let us know if you were into that shit. Let us know if you're fucking into that shit,

you sick little fuckers. Star Wars Connect, though, was so fucking weird too, because you're like, you're Han Solo and you're like dancing to... Yeah, like, hollow back girl. Exactly. What the hell is this? What is going on? Yeah, yeah, and like that was just like the meme, like the meme potential of that stuff, like really, I think is the thing that we remember. Yeah. Of that, but I don't know if you ever saw I think it's Paranormal Activity 4. The Xbox Connect is like a big part of... Wait, really?

Yeah, there's like a big part. I love the paranormal activity movies like a lot, actually. And they're always right outside of actually being fully good. Shout out to Dan Lippert. It's in one of them. Dan Lippert is in a great one and he's the best thing in it. He gets to be so funny in the way that Dan is funny in this movie in a way that they were like surely

thinking about cutting but like they like he's there's like I almost even don't want to spoil it it's so funny he um they're at like a spooky cabin and it's like in the sort of like Amish like area and he like comes out and he like has the

clothes on and he like does the thing with like the hat like sliding it down his arm like he's Michael Jackson and he says he I love it It's so fucking funny and so great But those movies are always so interesting to me And you see like the ghost

In one of them like appear in the like fuzzy screen Of like calibrating your body for connect or something And it's like ah what the fuck I'll fucking kill you Wow What a cultural artifact that is You mentioned Grand Theft Auto 4 And that was a seismic game for the Xbox because it was when this franchise became multi-platform, which obviously we know that

that's just how all games ended up being. Yes. But this was, there was a reveal at E3, I think 2007 by Peter Moore. And we'll play a little bit of this and I'll describe what's going on as we go. Some guys do rubber ducks. Some guys do tattoos. Referencing a PlayStation tech demo with the rubber ducks. So what I'd like to show you is my view of this. So Peter Moore just pulled up his shirt to show on his left bicep,

a Grand Theft Auto 4 tattoo. Microsoft and Rockstar Games are bringing Grand Theft Auto 4 the next generation of the wildly successful Grand Theft Auto series to Xbox 360 on October the 16th, 2007 in North America. on October the 19th, 2007 in Europe.

The first date, it's available. So, yeah, it was not just that it was, there was not even, it was not even a timed exclusive. It was just available. Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately, the most riseless thing I've ever seen. It's, so I think he previously gotten a Halo 2 tattoo if memory serves. So this was like kind of the second beat of that.

The, here's the thing. It's the Grand Theft Auto 4 logo and hey, whatever, I'm not going to criticize whatever. and anyone wants to do with their body. But I do think that the white is a weird choice. Yeah. I know the actual logo has a white color, but I feel like if you just did the black outline, it would probably be a little bit more flattering.

Or like did GTA 4. Yeah, GTA 4. Yeah, it's too much words. I ain't reading all that. But does you think he still got him? I bet he hasn't gotten a lasered off. Yeah, you got to commit to it. Explain you that to your grandkids.

So I was on stage, I was wearing the greenest shirt you've ever seen. I had the look at my eye like I was seeing a thousand spirits in front of me. It's really, like, I guess this was kind of the beginning of the end of exclusivity. Like it's just, once this happened, the expectation started to be that the games were just going to be multi-platform. And now we've got the thing where, you know, we're seeing even Game Pass is going to be on everything that the Sony games are going to be, you know, they're games that are, that are from Activision. This is ostensibly owned by Microsoft or is owned by Microsoft that are coming to, that are on Sony platforms. Sony games are on PC. It's just that the number of actual of true exclusives is dwindling.

Interesting that it sort of started and stopped with Xbox, right? Because that's like, that's a huge one. PlayStation obviously was like the Grand The Auto console. And now they're like, you can play gears on whatever or on, on, and Halo on whatever you want. We're sorry. We're so fucking sorry. Including your phone, I guess, if you want to. Play it on your phone.

Played on the cloud. I'm sorry. We're sorry. We fucked up. We don't make consoles anymore. Yeah, this is an Xbox and they're like pointing at themselves. And I'm like, wait, stop. You're an Xbox?

Yeah, I don't know. A guy? Get out of here, dude. The thing that I sort of think of. the most when I think about the Xbox 360, and maybe the reason I ultimately never got one, is the Red Ring of Death. Yeah, the R-R-O-D, the R-R-R-R-D, the R-R-R-R-D.

And yes, I thankfully never encountered the Red Ring of Death on my near-launch 360. I didn't get it right at launch, but I got it pretty soon thereafter, and a lot of these were failing, and basically what this was was, I'm sure we have some listeners. Again, chime in the Discord.

Yeah. Let us know if you got the red ring of death. And let us know if you were into that shit. Let us know you liked the red ring, actually. Famously, people did not like it, but if you liked it, let us know. And don't tag me. But, but yeah, it was just, it was an alarming number of consoles were failing. And if you saw that, you saw three different, among the four different lights that would glow in a circle around the power slash reset button.

If three of them were red, then it was just basically indicating a critical. failure have you ever had like a console or like you know uh like actual console or handheld or anything like that that was like busted like when you got it my my launch playstation two actually i did have to send into sony and they sent me a new one wow okay it was a it had a problem with the the disc drive okay you uh were you putting like too many discs in at one yeah this thing won't read all four discs at once i put in the entire austin power trilogy and watch them all in a row and the special features disc um you know that's a supplementary disc i got to see there's probably hours of bloopers and i'm watching um my playstation two my

original playstation two died out but i think it was just because of like my brothers and i just playing it every single day and never dusting our room um but then and also i just actually learned because i have to actually you know what i'm remembering right now in this moment i owe liby Watson a text because I lent her my PlayStation 2 for a stream she was doing and we learned together that my PlayStation 2 actually does not work and she still has it. I got to get my trash back. I guess it's why I haven't been in a rush to get it back because it don't work. But I'll get that back from you. Libby, I owe you text. My launch, not launch, I guess close to launch Nintendo DS had a dead pixel in it. Oh, wow. That I just

dealt with because I didn't I just didn't know what to do and it was so small I mean I guess not really you could see a dead pixel pretty good on a screen with that like fidelity yeah

but I just dealt with it because I just didn't I couldn't stand to the thought of being away from my beloved chunky DS I loved it I certainly couldn't buy another one that was like a like I had to have that right for forever yeah

And I still have it, actually. The thing I associate most strongly with the Xbox 360 is Xbox Live Arcade. And that, I think, is maybe its actual legacy, I think, is perhaps the most impactful part of the Xbox 360 is introducing digital distribution and widespread acceptance and appreciation for indie games and indie publishing. platform on console and now obviously a standard feature of all of these you know so many indie games people including myself i've played on switch or switch two yeah and maybe it was inevitable anyway but certainly xbox 360 by by presenting that platform accelerated it it becoming standardized uh previously everything like living on on pc only living on steam but it being accessible to console players was was so huge yeah i remember

probably, I mean, I remember hearing about Xbox, like, live arcade and stuff, like going to my friend's house and playing some of those games, but then also just like the idea of downloading a video game was like such a concept to me that, like, I remember being over at a friend's house and like downloading one and it just took forever because it was such a new, relatively new thing that we just had to

wait hours for a game to download. Were on dial-up? Yeah, he was on dial-up. Yeah, he was on dial-old. He had like a 14-4 modem. His modem was outside. Oh, boy. The whole thing. The, yeah, I mean, like, the Xbox 360s all shipped with a built-in hard drive. Yeah.

So I think there was, I think one of them was 20 gigs and one of them was 60 gigs if memory serves. I should have this in front of me. But it was just a standard thing where you, like, they, again, a thing that's, that's become an expectation for any sort of console. But certainly the, you know, the, the, uh, it wasn't present in the, the previous generation, the PlayStation 2 hard drive was a piece of expansion hardware. Yeah, Xbox Live Arcade just had so many games that were worth playing, and again, just its existence really sort of changed people's calculation of what they'd expect from a console experience.

Is it possible that the Xbox 360 has more console revisions than any console? Good question. I have in front of me, the Xbox. Xbox 360 core, the main one, the pro, the elite, the 360s, the slim, and then the 360E, which was basically that looked exactly like the Xbox one, but was the 360, which is not confusing at all. The start of their troubles, maybe. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it could be.

I wonder. They certainly had a bunch of different iterations of it. um yes it was 20 and 60 yeah i just had the 60 i believe and that was the one that got me through the entire generation and it it was in production uh for over a decade like until like 2015 i think they were still making them which is kind of crazy yeah considering how quickly they they abandoned the original x-box yeah it certainly had a longer tail with the 360, which speaks to

its general larger success, which they then squandered with the Xbox one such a bizarre console in its aftermath and then, you know, obviously the Series S

and Series X thing is so... Then they just got so confusing with the letters where people didn't even know what they were buying anymore. It's kind of crazy to think about I feel like the original Xbox

and the 360 which we're talking about now will be the ones, I don't know if they're like people are like, the Xbox One actually fucks. It's like actually really great. I think those first two are going to be the ones that people remember and the ones that people think back on fondly

versus the ones that are, no one's going to be like man, the Xbox Series S, that was my console, that was it. I don't think anyone has, yeah, I could be wrong, but I don't know if anyone has any fondness for the Xbox one specifically as a piece of hardware. I say this is someone who

had an Xbox one. I think it's more just like... You get the Taco Bell one, right? I did, yeah. I did have the one that played Taco Bell bong every time you loaded it up. And I actually take back what I just said. The Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, I think,

where people probably have more fondness with PlayStation 4. But anyway, like, I think that's more just like whatever ecosystem you were in was going to become your primary gaming. platform. And so it was more like, what am I choosing to buy, you know, the handful of exclusives that still exist and then also the third party games because the console gaming became increasingly

platform neutral in subsequent generations. Should we do a little, maybe a little draft, a console draft? Sure. We could come up with a roster of some games here. Yeah, let's do it. All right, great. You want a rock paper scissors to see you guys first? Yeah, sure.

All right. One, two, three. Okay, okay, we fucked that up really badly So I was saying one, two, three And then throw... Yeah, which I think we can all agree is not how you play You said rock paper and then threw on scissors I threw on scissors and you also threw scissors I drew it's a bit of a tell

I also did throw out scissors so I will say that it's a tie Why don't you just go first? Okay, I'll go first Thanks Matt I'm thinking of being a little cheeky here No, don't No, I could I could have there's I'm just thinking of this draft and how it could play out. And I was like, I could get a little cheeky here.

He's going to, he's going to be the freaking sun bum kid. I just don't, I like, I don't want to, like, this, there were a lot of great games that were released on this platform. So I, but, but I don't know. I think, I think I might get a little cheeky. My man's freaking hauling around a BBL right now. He's getting cheeky with it. I'm going to start with a game that I really like, but that I, and that I associate very strongly with, with the Xbox 360

because of the aforementioned Xbox Live Arcade but I actually did never never finished until we covered it on the podcast and then it's one of those monkeys I got off my back when we were in the get played era and monkeys all over your back right now Matt Good Eye

I am wearing a sweater with monkeys on it I was not even thinking about that when I said that but yes there's egg on my face because I'm not getting these literal monkeys off my back as easily as you can get them off, you can put them back on. The quarter zip, that's a good, that's good.

Yeah, I like the little quarter zip. Yeah. The game I'm going to pick is Super Meat Boy. Okay, yeah, no. The Tough as Nails, Precision Platformer, featured in Indie Game, the movie. And again, I just like very strongly associated with a platform. And I also just like, I think it's a really,

a game that sort of set up a subgenre that would become one of my favorites over the years. Yeah, you don't have like, you probably don't have Celeste without Super Meat Boy, right? I think so. Yeah. I think there's definitely like a pretty direct line there.

I like the squish sound like from that game. Just like hugging the wall, there's like a little bit of a squish. Really fun, really fun sound design. Yeah. I mean like, some of that, some of the humor is like a little edge lord I don't like how Dr. Fetus you know is a punch in the heroin repeatedly but still overall like I do

I like it is kind of like anchored in that time and place the year came out but it is still a really really fun playable game and a really impressive design okay so in in prepping for this it's my turn yeah I was looking at I was trying to look at the like exclusives yeah for Xbox 360 and I just want to say, right? I just want to put this out right now.

Are you sticking to exclusives? I was thinking about doing that, but I'm going to pivot. But I just want to just point out, I'm not trying to be a hater. I'm absolutely not trying to be a hater. I was looking at the exclusives, and I was like, that's it. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing.

Sorry. It's dominated by the Halo and Gears of War franchises and Forza. It's basically that. Yeah. And then it depends on how you feel about I guess Alan Wake was a console exclusive. Yes, and that's my first pick actually is Alan Wake. Wow. Okay. Because I obviously played it on, you know, famously, a game I played exclusively on my PlayStation Portal for some reason. Right. Um, but a game that I, I, I really

love, and it's a game that, uh, without it, I wouldn't have other games that I love, like Control or Allen Wake 2. Yeah. So that's, that is my first pick. The birth of the Remedyverse. That's right. Man, Alan Wake 2 is so good. I love that game. I've been thinking about replaying it, but I just am like, when could, when could I do that? Yeah. When? Your first pick is Alan Wake. Here's where maybe I'm going to stick to being a little, stick to being a little cheap. Oh my God, this guy, he won't stop. And maybe, you know, a moth-eared listeners will, Moth's famously have very good hearing.

I've heard all about this. A moth-eared listeners, the podcast equivalent of eagle-eyed viewers, will maybe figure out what the theme is as we go. but this was a game that I've bought on multiple platforms but the original way I played it was on Xbox 360 Season 1 of the Walking Dead Oh wow That's right telltales the Walking Dead Wow

This guy's getting cheeky with it over here Yeah we get a little cheeky He's talking about Clementine and Lee over here And he's getting he's a little cheeky Not an exclusive no but again it's just like in terms of the distribution platform it was a way you could get a seasonal game like this by the way have you checked have you investigated dispatch at all no i think for my next just like don't follow up on it uh i've been curious about it i know a lot of people are talking

about it and seeing its praises and it's uh selling like hot like hot cakes no people like it's had really i mean i bet i bet i will really enjoy it i definitely really respond to the art style and it seems really cool but um I heard it's a little horny any amount of horny I'm in but yeah supposedly consequential choices as well so I hopefully

one of those games will get around to playing at some point yeah hopefully it doesn't end up on my you missed out list because I do want to I do want to check it out and it's former developers from tell tell so I want to toss them some support because they've made some great games in the past As I said earlier, that's it. That's all they got. And it kind of, it doesn't feel right necessarily to, like, pick something that I played

on something else already. You know what I mean? Like, so, like, to me, that excludes, like, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto 4, Grand Theft Auto 5. I play those on other ones. I can't pick that for this, I think. So I am going to play a game that I absolutely love, and I've talked about a lot on this show already.

But Halo Reach is my second thing. Because I think it's the only Halo I've finished, and I have to have Halo something on my draft, and I think that's a great one to have. The Halo Reach is my pick. Now, let me guess. Yeah. You're going to be cheeky again. I'm going to be a little cheeky. How many were we doing?

I think we just do four. Okay, we're doing four. Kind of a mount 360 more. Yeah, Mount 360 more. Okay. That definitely changes the calculus a little bit, because if we're going to do five, I might go to slightly different direction. Wait, hold on. Ranch is going to get this.

You're not going to maybe get this so much. This one's for Ranch. Okay. You know whose favorite console is the Xbox 360? Who's that? Charlie X-E-X. All right, Branch did get that. Got a 360 song?

Oh, yeah. Okay, I pieced it together. I figured it out from context clues. There's a game that, again, is featured in Indie Game, the movie. and is a little bit up its own ass, but it's still a very good experience. Much like the creator of the game. You may be thinking I'm thinking of Jonathan blows braid,

but I'm actually not thinking of grade. I'm thinking of the other one, Fez. A game I really ended up liking. And again, that it was exposed to via Xbox live arcade. I love the soundtrack, which is by disaster piece,

remains in my rotation. But Phil Fish, the developer, who has a really fascinating arc in indie game, the movie, and another Xbox Live Arcade game that was on my radar because of it. I don't think, so what games are in, is Super Meat Boy is in that documentary? We watch this documentary for the show. It's Super Meat Boy, Fez, and Braide. It's those three games. I kind of feel like I would love Fez and Brade.

I just have never investigated. They're both cool. I like Fez a little bit more, even though braid, I guess, is perhaps a little bit more artful. But I just like what Fez does in terms of it. It's a platformer, but also a big part of it is just, is a puzzle platformer, but a big part of it is also shifting perspectives, which just gets you thinking about environments in a different way. Sort of Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. A little bit, yeah.

And it also has just like a, like I, I mean, you can get a sense of the visuals from looking at it. It's kind of spare and minimalist. But the score, as I mentioned, is so, so cool by Disaster Piece, who obviously also moved on to scoring films. Hell, yeah. I'm going to check it out. I have to see it. Okay, my next pick.

I've played the remake of this game on modern Xbox console on Game Pass. So I think I have to claim it for my own. Ninja Guideon 2. Wow. Ninja Guideon 2, a game I didn't finish. I'd like to get back in there actually If I can Should I start a fucking GoFund me

To get a Xbox GamePass subscription again? Good grief Ninja Guiding 2 So far what I had played of it Rocked and I think I would like to have it In my In my library here as it were

So I could finish it off Being a ninja is just cool actually Being a ninja is cool And you know The Ninja Guiding games were actually pretty rad Xbox exclusives. And as like a PlayStation boy,

God of War guy, those games, the Ninja Guiding games on Xbox are sort of their God of War, I feel like, combat-wise. So I think having one of those ain't so bad for me. There was a time they were,

Microsoft was really putting effort into getting Japanese exclusives. Team Ninja was part of that. But then also, you know, the, uh, the, uh, the Sakaguchi games, you know,

You lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon as well. I'm guessing those aren't on your list. You cheeky bastard? No, I am referring to, not to the Heronobu Sakaguchi developed creator Final Fantasy JRP's. I am instead continuing to be a little cheeky. Oh my God, this guy, he won't stop.

Here's the thing. If I had five slots, one of them would be Castlevania Symphony Night, which I originally played on PlayStation 1, but it being a part of the, being on Xbox Live Arcade, allowed a lot of new people to play it and appreciate this game

and ultimately led to it being a staple multi-platform release. I was ready to not allow it, but I will allow it. I'm not, I'm not picking that. Instead, what I'm picking is, outside of him is Pac-Man, the best Pac-Man game, and certainly the most playable in a contemporary context.

Pac-Man Championship Edition, D-X. Absolutely awesome experience. Oh, hell, yeah. So fun, so cool. And for me, so strongly associated with the Xbox 360. Matt, did you figure out what I did? Super Meat Boy. The Walking Dead.

I kind of already said it. Fez, Pac-Man, D-X. I picked all Xbox live arcade games. Oh my God. It was just being a little cheeky. He did it. But you go through it.

Like, like Pagel was an option. Ikaruga, another game that was even more of a limited release than Symphony of the Night that was like a suddenly available. Res, same sort of thing. These games all became... Rez and Fez?

Rez and Fez were on there. I should have. on both. That would have been nice synergy. But also, like, limbo's on there, Matt. Yeah, yeah. The Spolunky. My favorite part of the game Limbo is when you have to walk under that crazy pole. It's so low.

And then the, you know, some of the rare classics like Banjo Guzooey and Banjo Tuey were on Xbox Live Arcade. Banjo Hoc Tooie, of course. Yeah. All right. Let's clean it up. Well, I'm not going to do that by spinning on that thing Okay, so now I'm sort of in a bit of a pickle I have one more pick and the other

I've been checking out the exclusives And I'm just sort of not into them I'm just like don't really want it don't I have a halo You know what I don't have though? I don't have a Gears Wow Gears of War the Gears of War that I played Gears of War 5 is among some of my favorite gaming on Xbox I loved it

So I haven't played any other one, so why not start the first one? Gears of War, because that commercial, iconic. Yes. And really drove me to wanting an Xbox 360 actually. It was like the thing that was getting me interested in playing it because the commercial featuring that song. All around me are familiar faces, worn out places. What's the name of the band?

I mean, Tears for Fears is the original artist, but it's a cover. It's a cover. Anyway. That's in Donnie Darko, yeah. I'm watching this commercial, and I'm like, can they fucking do that? Mad World. Mad World. That's the song.

Can they do that, actually? This is crazy stuff. Commercial's really good, and, look, commercials work on me. I love commercials. Directed by Joseph Kaczynski of that commercial of Top Gun Maverick and F1 fame. Man, I sort of knew when I saw that that he was going to do big tent pole blockbusters going forward. So yeah, my draft here, Alan Wake, Halo Reach, Ninja Guiding 2, and Gears of War. Honestly, that's a fun day of gaming.

That's good stuff. Great games. And I've got Super Meat Boy, Walking Dead, Fez, and Pac-Man Championship Edition, DX. Anyway, a lot of good games left on the board. Xbox 360, a very important system. Yes. A very consequential system. And again, a very odd generation.

Shall we do a segment? Let's do a segment. It's time for another edition of Segma Dreamcast. Segma. Remind me what Segment is. It is your invention. Oh, right. We're going to take the cast of a video game and cast it like we would be, you know, two Hollywood big shots casting a movie.

I love it. And the game that I picked is Baldersgate 3. Wow, Balders Gate 3. This will be a bit of a challenge. Yeah, because the characters are already so, you know, they're so sort of ingrained in certainly our consciousness. And so strongly associated with the actors who bring them to life in video game form. However, we understand how these things are going to be cast. They're not going to get a Neil Nuban to play Asterian. Yeah, they're lost, by the way.

They're lost because that's an incredible performance. But, yeah, they will get some known Hollywood quantity. Yeah. So let's start with first with Shadowheart. Now, I don't know if it's because of the bangs. I'm going Dakota Johnson. Dakota Johnson is a great pick. Kind of a dead ringer for her look.

kind of yeah it has the same sort of like could do maybe both you know she could somebody who is like a spell user in the in the games

not a stranger to Jesus Ranch Michelle is bringing up pictures of potential cast members and I guess clicked on a fairly risque Google image there

I was going to say, not a stranger to saying strange dialogue, such as my mother went to the rainforest where she and was killed by spider, or investigating spiders before she died or whatever she said in that movie. I could say something like that. But honestly, this could go

a number of directions. Yeah, I mean, that's a great call. I'm just thinking of maybe someone who actually hails from across the pond. Oh. And my pick is an actor who I think is very good

and I always am a fan of Mia Goth. Oh, Mia Goth? Well, here's the thing. Mia Goth might be good for a lot of these characters. That's the whole thing. You got to fit in wherever. You catch Frankenstein yet? I didn't watch it yet.

She's great in it. I heard she's very good in Frankenstein. Now I watched it. I haven't gotten to. chance to check it out yet man also i mean i'm a i'm a jacob a lordy guy anyway he's really good yeah what he does with the monster is unbelievable yeah i do that's what that's what dally was saying is like her or his performance is really the yeah known steam deck user jacob a lordy um yeah those the pictures you sent in the to the group chat him in the makeup chair using the steam

deck just straight chad behavior i like to think that that's how i look when i'm playing my Steam death. We got allied characters to get through. So I think let's just do one pick a piece. I think that's the way to do it. One pick a piece is good. Yeah. So we got Mia Goth and Dakota Johnson.

Now for Lazel. Oh, boy. Wow. This is tricky. Laisel such specific energy. So alpha. So like, I mean, my favorite. Bezell, they call it.

Bezell, I think I got an answer that we're both going to be really happy with, actually. And, you know, I'm thinking about sort of a tough exterior, somebody who, you know, is strong in her own right, doesn't necessarily suffer any BS from anybody willingly. Perhaps the actor who best portrayed Lydia Tar, Kate Blanchett. Wow, Kate Blanchett is an interesting pick. I love Kate Blanchett, an incredible actor, and certainly I would be very scared of her, as I am of Blazell. Yes, absolutely.

So evokes that, which is a real asset for the performance. Yeah. I feel like I say Kate Blanchett for a lot of these, because I just want her in more movies. Very versatile actor. And deserves a redemptive role in a video game adaptation after the debacle that was Borderland. That's right. A truly wretched movie. How could they do that to her?

You know, I mean, she also decided to do it. I guess it's that old adage, right, of, you know, what do they say? For a movie to go well, a million things have to go right on set. Right. For a movie to go poorly, one thing has to go wrong. I am going to pick an actor. who I think is also someone who I think could

definitely sell Lazel's energy. Someone who's already been associated with a sci-fi property, with a sci-fi fantasy property. Oh. Of course, I'm referring to Star Wars. I'm talking about Rosario Dawson.

Oh, now that's that's putting butts in seats. That's good. Yeah. That's real good. I love Rosario. I was thinking Michelle Rodriguez, but she was in Michelle Rodriguez would also be great. Great, great, but so for me, so strongly associated

with Dungeons and Dragons on her movies, great movie. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, let's do a little bit of a swerve there. Yeah, that's really fun. Those are two good options. Great options. Love the board so far. Let's move on. Also, who's going to be willing to put on that makeup? Are they going to CG it? I feel like you probably do the makeup

with Laisel, right? You got to do the makeup, yeah, yeah. Next, we have Carlax. Speaking of spending time in the makeup chair. Yeah. I got I got one pick for this Yeah I'm just gonna put it out there

There's a chance that I think I maybe know where you're going And there's a chance that it would also be my pick In which case we can just keep move we can just move on Is it Katie O'Brien It's Katie O'Brien Because this is a whole thing with Carlock is And I like it's my I like the actor they cast as an actor Yes

For for Abby in The Last of Us But Abby's a fucking tank Yes You're going to try to bring that character to the screen. You've got to have someone with a little bit of meat on the bone, someone who's got that more muscular build. And Katie O'Brien absolutely can evoke that. Wow.

Hideo Brian in one of the highlights of the movie, I didn't really much care for, the remake of Running Man. Oh, okay. I'm going to have to go see this thing maybe. Yeah, Katie O'Brien, that's going to be great. We can move on to the next one. We could just, we could put her on there twice if we wanted to do. Yeah, we just put her on twice, I guess.

Let's just double her up. Yeah, yeah. Just for synergy. Yeah. Okay, great, perfect. Okay, that's good. That works for me. Seeing double here.

Four Katie O'Brien's. Will. Wow. Will is a great character. I kind of, I, you know, there's so many characters in the game, actually, that I cut down quite a, quite a few of them. Yeah, it's like getting a minute. You're kind of going with core party members. Yeah.

Yeah, some of the, like, Minsk, who is a great character, but does not come around until the third act of the game, pretty far in. Yeah. What would be fun to cast? Who is, oh, shoot. I have to look up the name of this guy. Matt is looking up a name. Because I think he would be great for this. And I don't remember the name of the movie I liked of it.

So I got two things working against me currently. Oh, it was Tom Hanks. Okay, I have it actually And actually I'm actually really upset That I've looked up this man's name Yeah Because I did not realize he was Not just younger than me

Much younger than me But my selection for Will Because I think he's got to have a big career ahead of him right now From the film Rebel Ridge Aaron Pierre Oh man, Aaron Pierre What a hunk Yeah

He's got it He's got it for Will for sure kind of like doesn't it might not well might not even I was going to say might not even the contacts or the eyes you got to have one of them yeah one of them is obviously it's its own thing

and you could just see him being a guy who wants to like avenge his dad yeah doesn't really know what's going on yeah wow he's great and he's great in Rebel Ridge 31 years old this guy I really liked Rebel Ridge me too I thought that was a hoot did you uh ranch you see Rebel Ridge Real fun

I usually Like kind of The Netflix exclusive movies I'm kind of like Whatever Maybe if it's in a theater I'll go see it And it's obviously something like

Frankenstein I'm going to see Gerald Toro But yeah Rebel Ridge From the director of Green Room Yes Great horror movie

Really really great And so I was like I'll check this thing out And I watch it I was like this is fucking great This should have been in theaters It's an awesome action movie It's the exact top

of what you want From one of those types of movie right like it and i it's it really is a lot of fun great uh david denman performance uh it's it's got a lot going for is that don johnson too don johnson rocks anyway that's my that's that's my that's my pick for will ranch was going to put it on now wow ranch about to press play uh my pick is a a very versatile actor who I've really enjoyed in a number of things

may know him from Straight Outta Compton, may know him from Black Adam. The actor is Aldous Hodge. Oh, yeah. Aldous Hodge has a part of an acting family of brother Edwin Hodge who's also very good. But Aldous Hodge

I think it absolutely pulled this character off. He's great. I like this exercise course like, they're good. That guy's good. good that they're hot they're good i like them uh no those are great those are great picks uh i think this one this next one's gonna be maybe the hardest one to cast asterian sterian is tough i mean he's like uh you know just so he's just such a he's so astirian he's so astirian he's so strongly associated again with the performance that uh we know from the game you want somebody

who is like like who's not afraid to go big maybe right yeah like you're You want somebody who can sort of do that sort of, like, alluring vampire type thing. But you also want somebody who's going to have a little bit of fun. Yeah, I mean, I have a choice right away. And this is definitely an older actor than maybe might be cast. But then again, Asterian as a vampiric character is kind of like, you know, could be locked in at any age. He's got gray hair. He's got gray hair.

And you know what? So does my pick. Alan Cumming. I was literally thinking Alan Cumming. Are we going to double up Alan Cummings here? We're going to double up Alan Cumming. God. Wow, Ranch found a pick where he's kind of making the same face.

That's pretty good. That's it. Yeah. And he has to wear decidedly less makeup than he did for Nightcrawler, but just give him some point of ears and we're set. Yeah. He's so good. Yeah, he's really good.

I love watching him on Traders, just pronounce words in the most fun ways he can. Well, it's also, like, funny, which is, like, to me, such a big part of this character, staring, like, one of the funniest characters in the game. Yeah, he really, he really rocks. I am a huge out-and-coming fan. I think he's, yeah, he's fantastic. It's always, when you're doing these, it's always like, especially when you're dealing

with a character model, it's how much are you casting for physical resemblance? Yeah. You know, some of these were getting closer than others, but ultimately, I feel like it's more about, like, what the, what the actor's essence and what they bring. You ever see? Traders? No, I've never, I've never watched Traders. People love Traders. Ranch you see Traders? Yeah, I love traders. His outfits. His outfits are

unbelievable. I'm aware of his wardrobe and traders. I've seen some stills. It'll be like, we'll be watching it. It's the thing that elicits the most gasps in our household. Because we're both just like, oh my God. Look, there he is. As a beautiful bride, he looks great. Looks like a million bucks. I forgot about Allen Cummings rolling golden eye. Man. Oh, yeah. We'll put him on the map, I guess.

Are you aware of his involvement in the documentary Chimp Crazy? He's in Chimp Crazy? He's in Chimp Crazy because the monkey that goes missing, he worked with on a movie. So he's, like, extremely connected to this monkey. Wow. And his arc in the documentary is, like, actually, like, extremely touching and emotional. Wow. Yeah, it's great.

The documentary is insane, but every time Alan Cuffin comes on, you're like, oh, yeah, I forgot he's part of this. All right, who's next? Next we have Gail. Gail, my husband and my second play-through. Yeah. I really have a strong connection with Gail. Again, a very funny character, a very specific character. And a little bit of a tough casting lift here.

I kind of got somebody, I think, for this. Lee Pace. Wow, Lee Pace. Pretty good. I think if you're just going to, like, get somebody for this, might as well just get the handsomest person that's ever lived. Tim Downey plays Gale in Baldersgate 3, and it's a very good performance.

Universally, just such an excellent cast. Yeah. One reason the story is so effective in that game. We're scrolling through a few different lead-paced pictures, and every single one of them is incredible. Yeah. Photographs extremely well He could be a great gale

I think he could be a great gale I think he could play sort of like needy partner well Yeah I totally It totally could get that vibe Because he's like He's cool but he's also like

A little bit desperate So you kind of have that Kind of have that side of it as well Yeah He's a little sweaty I am worried about getting a little bit too close to another, let's just say,

wizardly role with one of my picks. So I'm actually going to pivot here. Okay. Because I think it's maybe just a little bit too on the nose and too strongly of an association to just put Daniel Radcliffe as Gale. Kind of good. You think it's good?

Should we just do it? Because you know what? I think you'd give him the hair. He could, like, embody it. I think he could do it. And also, I know that he probably would think twice about it, right? Like, it's like a pretty big consideration to play, like, a whiz, another wizard. Because the people, that's going to be what he'll talk about the entire press tour.

Yeah. So you're playing a wizard? Yeah. You've done that before? You did that before, didn't you? But I think he's, you know, he's like, made very interesting choices post the Harry Potter movies

and he's a really good actor so I think he would like to you know maybe show what else he's got and bring something else to it all right great let's toss his ass in there get him in there ranch found a long hair pick so that works out great there he go and he's you know he he wears a beard

yeah he wears a beard so that's like to just show that he's not no little kid no more god Lee Pace is such a great physical match though you really you really pulled that one off I was thinking about it ever since I decided we were doing this today like before I even said

like Balders Gate through I was like Gail is Lee Pace okay let's I think with these next ones we can go through them kind of quick Catholic Thorm from the like

I guess one of the main antagonists of the game famously played by J.K. Simmons in the in the game yeah and I have kind of like an offbeat pitch here but I was thinking

a J.K. Simmons. I kind of do think that like if they were going to get somebody who's already in it like how they got a fuck, what's his fuck from uh, gotta give me a little bit more.

Uh, the guy? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. What's his fuck the guy? The guy from who was Commissioner Gordon and he was in American fiction. Oh, right, right. Jeffrey Wright, how they brought him back to reprise his character in the last of us, season two.

Right. from his character in The Last of Us, too. Yeah, it's kind of fun to do one to one of those. Yeah. So I feel like maybe Kethrick Thorne could, as J.K. Simmons, that feels like a natural sort. Yeah, I feel like that's, we don't have to think too much on that anymore. Yeah. Now, Lord Enver Gortas.

Wow, Gortash. One of the other villains in the, in the, in the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, this is kind of actually, actually, I think you could maybe even toss a Daniel Radcliff. here. Oh, interesting. Give him a little something, something meaty. It doesn't have him be a little bit of a villain. Or actually, no, I take it back. We're not putting him. We're putting Robert Pattinson. Oh, Robert Pattinson's a pretty good physical match. Sorry, Daniel.

We're getting Robert Pattinson in there. And he gets to be a fucking freak. He gets to be just like a nasty bug man. I was going to toss in there someone who, uh, I don't like to have some fun. I know likes to play it pretty big. Yeah. and certainly has gotten this characterization for their role in Frankenstein.

Oscar Isaac. Oh, Oscar Isaac. He's funny as a big scenery chewing villain. He's playing a goddamn cartoon character in the Frankenstein movie, but it fucking rocks. Give him another go. It's so good.

Let him riff with Gortash. He's great. I said out loud while I was watching this with Isabel and my in-law. Can you imagine walking around being that handsome? It's kind of impossible to consider. Yeah, he would be really, really great. You get it like a guy who's that hot.

Yeah. Just like. Let him do whatever they want in the damn movie. Well, yeah. But it's also like I don't like you, but you get, you do another thing. Yeah. Like it's like you're a good actor,

but then you're also like this good looking. Yes. It's like I feel like you should get one of those. thing. Yeah, you shouldn't be able to be both. Like if you're, if you're that good looking, you should be like a hot guy with a mugshot or something like that, you know? It's like, okay, well, yeah, you're a good looking guy, but your life didn't really

know the way you want. You should be the hottest guy that's ever worked at a bank. Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, and he's also, like, funny, like, in interviews and there's like a charming guy. Kind of sucks. Incredible beard, actually. We're seeing this bearded pick of him. Looks really good. Yeah. Yeah, he's great. I love him.

I love him for this. But one more crucial role to cast or in the red or in the the the the female villain the most kind of like I mean I just just outright menacing slash sort of loose cannon

unpredictable erratic of the of the triumvirate yeah this is a little bit of a casting challenge if you hadn't already thrown Blanchet in there I feel like that's good that that could be one direction to go but i was thinking this would be an alley-up for me a goth oh sure just like pearl style like just go crazy with it but i kind of think i haven't seen this from her yet and i think she could do it though emma stone emma stone did you see bagonia i loved bagonia

yeah bologna is a hoot um i think she could i think she could get in there i think she could access this side of her and be just an absolute maniac and something that's a lot of fun because you just kind of wouldn't see it coming from her kind of yeah

I have a pitch for this and not someone who does a lot of movie roles someone who's very selective I can see it I think he's being cheeky but when they do they make interesting choices and they're not afraid to go big.

Maybe she could bust out her pu-p-p-pup-p-poker face. Lady Gaga. He's always got one of these ready to go. The thing that's different about this one is that it's kind of not a bad pick. I think she'd be pretty good.

It'd be kind of good. She's basically wearing something she'd wear on stage. Yeah, yeah. So she could just like get her between shows. Just photograph her on a red carpet And she's ready to go Yeah, I do like her in movies I think she's like a talented actor

Such a waste in Joker too Because that movie sucks so fucking bad And she's still good in it But it's just like she has nothing to do My request for her casting this movie though Is that Gotta sing a couple songs Well I mean this is the thing

We have there is the big musical number Yeah In it but it's not associated with aura. Yeah, she has no reason to sing. But that's actually, maybe that's good. Maybe just give her something that, you know, she'll have to stretch a little bit.

She sings in a lot of these movies. Yeah, I think that's great. That's great. We cast the movie. We did it. Yeah, pretty good. That was a lot of fun. And that's this week's get played.

A real challenge to try to do that. Because he's just like, yeah, you want to honor the game. You want to make sure, you know, you really hit on all the, the main characters. Yeah, and with the segment like this, I never know how much of a heads-up is required. Yeah. Because, like, it might be beneficial to, you know,

have a couple names locked and loaded just for this. No, I like kind of going in cold and figuring it out. Yeah. I just like it. You go just on gut instinct. Yeah, Raphael, of course, has the song, Raphael's final act. Raphael, another villain that we did not choose to cast here.

Javier Bardem, easy. Oh, my God. God, let that guy belt it out. Yeah, and he's a good singer. Like it's Lyle Lyle Crocodile. Fucking go for it. I think our best casting in this is we, I think we did snap on Katie O'Brien and Allen Cumming, actually.

Yeah, the places are great. The places we saw eye to eye were, you know, maybe some of the more obvious were superficial picks, but sometimes that's the way to get. Yeah. I would like, imagine you saw on deadline Alan Cumming circling the role of Asterian in the video game film adaptation of Baldur's Gate 3, you'd be so excited. Like, okay, all right.

Yeah, you're like, oh, yeah, I see it actually. I remember when I saw, I don't remember, fuck, it must have been one of the Lord of the Rings movies where they had a teaser for the Pirates of the Caribbean. And this was like, when it was, and it was like, this was back in the era where it was like, they're going to make a ride, a movie, what the fuck? They're like, what is this?

Yeah, now it's like they're going to make an app a movie. Yeah, exactly. People were kind of skeptical about it. Yeah, exactly. People, people were kind of skeptical about it. I mean, then they're making, like, the Luboo movie, right? Are they going to? Yeah, I think that's the thing that just got announced.

Anyway, whatever. They made the emoji movie. Who gives a shit? But I remember that teaser was the sort of thing where they showed that. And then when they started, like, people were like, eh. And then when they started showing the cast, they'd be like Johnny Depp, you know, in a different era. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Jeffrey Rush. I was like, oh, okay, all right.

It got people on board just seeing who was cast. I think it would be a similar sort of thing. Jeffrey Rush used to be able to open a movie. He's great. A better world. Yeah. Our producers, Rochelle Chen, Ranch, Yard, underscore, underscore Sard, Silent Hill F, still streaming? Yeah, yes.

Awesome. People would check that out. Twitch.tv.tv slash yard underscore underscore sard. Our music is by Ben Pronti. Ben Prunty.com. Our art by Duck Brigade Design, duck brigade.com. Merch at kinshipgoods.com. And check out Get Animate over on Patreon.

We're still watching Serial Experiments Lane. And let me tell you something, it's getting freaky-diki up in there. It's getting nuts, actually. Fantastic show from basically the turn of the millennium. come take a trip back in time with us and spend a little time in that dial punk aesthetic, patreon.com slash get played. It was a simpler time. It was a simpler time. It was a better time when Jeffrey Rush could open a movie.

But unfortunately, we don't live in those times. We live in a time where we got played. That was a headgum podcast. What's going on? It's Lamarne Morris. And Hannah Simone. And we host The Mess Around, a new girl rewatch podcast. on HeadGum. Now here's the thing. Every single week, we chat about an episode of New Girl,

and we really get into it. Like, we get up in there. We get up in there. You know, we reminisce about our time is on set. We share behind-the-scenes tea. We react to re-watching episodes that we haven't seen in years. We talk about how Jake Johnson is dog. That's not true. We talk about so many memories we have of working with the biggest stars on the planet. I'm talking Prince, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodriguez. We're just two BFFs having a good old time, okay? Sometimes we even talk to other co-stars like Zoe Day Chanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, and Damon Wayne's Jr.

And your dad. We talk to your dad on this show as well. Make sure you subscribe to the mess around wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop every single Tuesday.