Get Played - Games of 2025 Part 2

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Heather, Nick and Matt discuss the rest of the new video game releases coming in 2025, speculate on games with nebulous release dates and debut a new segment: Segma Dream Cast. 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 Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye 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. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle III, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview's shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in the supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Guys, guys, guys, I don't know if you heard the news, but Grand Theft Auto 6 was just delayed. Oh no. It's not coming out this fall. We have a massive hole for releases for video games in the second half of this year. Well, this is an incredible opportunity for us as a games publisher. Like, we just have, we, this is, the slate is cleared.

We'll have no competition. We just gotta churn out some games fast. When we previously thought it was coming out this year, we were like, we better step back and let that thing do what it's gonna do, because if we put out a game when that game's coming out, we're cooked. But now that we have a chance to strike a light on top.

We laid off so many people, but with the skeleton crew we have remaining, we can work them to the bone and make sure we have some games for this fall and winter. Speaking of bone, that's actually gonna be my first game pitch. It's Cook the Bones. It's a cooking simulator,

and you've got a bunch of crazy ingredients and you've gotta make meals out of it. Cook the Bones, Switch one, switch one release, not coming over switch two. Switch one release. That's the first thing off the top of my head. What do you guys got, what do you guys got? Yeah, I thought we'd defer, this could be multi-platform,

we'll put this on everything, we'll put this on Steam, we'll put this on Xbox, we'll put this on PS5, we'll put this on Switch two. Real easy concept, it's a, hey you been shittin'? And the way the game works is that you walk up to people, NPCs and you're like, hey you been shittin'? And if they have taken a shit within the last hour, and they say yes, you get an apple pie.

Sounds good, sounds good. That's really, really good. I'm putting it on the board, I'm putting it on the board. Okay, okay, okay, okay, I got something, I got board. I'm putting it on the board. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I got something I got something. Yeah Chair racing Okay, it's a kart racer where your chair where your the cars are chairs the different chairs But the chairs have wheels on them So they go really fast like a car does but their chairs still and they can only seat the one

The one person sitting on the chair and then so they there so it's a chair and it's going on the regular road. Everything else is normal, but the cars are chairs. I ship it. Honestly, it's fucking great. Greenlit. It sounds fucking great. Thank God. Go anchor Christmas.

Okay, okay. I've got a dating sim called My Prince is a Cheese. Oh, it's like an ancient kingdom, and you can date all the different people in the court at the castle, but everybody's really suspicious that the prince is just a slice of cheese that has been left on the throne,

and so there's kind of a mystery element. My prince is a cheese coming straight to Wii U and the Switch One. Hey, you know what? I think we should mine some public domain IP. You know, Cinderella is out there. People know it because of the Disney franchise, but Disney doesn't own Cinderella.

Anyone can make a Cinderella. I think we should make a new Cinderella game. I think we should lean to the dating sim side. Yeah. And as part of courting Cinderella as Prince Charming, at a certain point, once you have developed enough of a bond, you can turn to the princess and say, have you been shit?

And if she's taken a shit in the past hour or so, that increases your level, but if she is not, she's embarrassed by the accusation and it docks you some points. I actually think we should go in a different direction with Cinderella. We saw this work with Lies with P. I think we should go into a sort of

gothic horror action adventure, souls-like game where you play Cinderella, Cinderella Glass Requiem we'll call it. Great, okay great. Fuck that's good. Okay I've got a racing game idea. It's called Indy 500 I'm the Road and it's, instead of playing as the cars you control the road. So you know how like when you're playing a racing game the road like all your like the car is pretty stationary on the screen

Yeah, it's like centered on the screen because you're playing the car, but in this you're playing the road Yeah, the cars are going by real fast, and you're trying to drive underneath them as the road, okay? Fuck that's really good. If we can put my chair as a DLC chair. There it is, there it is. There it is. It's natural synergy. I've also got an idea for a race game. What's the best race? And we'll let the user try to figure out what the best race or ethnicity is. No, no, no, you're fired. You're fired. And there is a right answer. You're fired. You're fired. Oh, that's the line? That's the line? That's where I can't go? That's the taboo? You're fired. Okay, well fine, I guess I am fired.

And you know what? I got something to tell all of you, everyone in this conference room. I've been shitting. I've been shitting this whole time. I just hope you know, he's about to leave and make a billion dollars. We go bonanza and disbelieve ambiguous release dates

as we discuss the remaining upcoming games of 2025 this week on 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, Heather Ann Campbell, along with my fellow host, Tiger Weiger. That's me, Tiger Weiger, along with our third host, Matt Apodaca. Hello, everyone. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the premiere video game podcast where Nick began the show

by extending both of his legs straight out in front of him and doing some kind of, like, stress test? Is that an issue? No, I just didn't know what you were doing. I don't know, just getting to try to get the energy up a little bit. I had another pot earlier, so I'm like, like, I'll just sort of, you know.

He's flexing. There's something about stretching out that I'm just kind of like I'm out there You know what I mean with the physicality is like manifesting what I want my yeah, I'm not the couch I'm like a mouth. I'm out there. Yeah, I'm a separate man from the couch. Yeah, okay Great, it was clearly distracting, so I'll try to rein it in I can do it more I just didn't know what the fuck you were doing man. Could you be the fucking couch instead please? It's weird to start speaking and have somebody near you basically going to like some kind of default polygon pose. I think This doing the show this long. I saw it and it didn't it didn't faze me at all.

You just sailed right through. I just took it in stride. I was like why you're doing something that's that's fine. Yeah, I mean it's always fine. There's no judgment. I just took it in stride. I was like, why are you doing something? That's fine. Yeah, I mean, it's always fine. There's no judgment. I just didn't know what was happening. I hated it, but I was okay with it. Here's how you would describe it. He became the letter C.

That's what happened. Yeah. Arms straight, legs straight as we began the show. Part of the way to becoming the letter O. Yeah. Which he has done. Oh no. How alarming would it be in the real world

if you came across someone T-posing? I'd be so fucking scared. Wouldn't that freak you out? In the same way that, you know the viral marketing for the smile movies? Yeah, just people smiling, like sitting behind a home plate just smiling. A fucking nightmare. It was really smart though. Really, I mean it's great.

We're talking about it. That's the thing, you get to be the we're talking about it guy, we're talking about it. Hey, we. It's great. We're talking about that's the thing you get to be we're talking about it We're talking about hey, we're talking about it. We're talking about it. There's a video game about Somebody stuck in the T-pose. Oh, yes. It's by the guy who created Katamari Damacy I forget the name of it, but I think it might just be called like life is a tea or something Yeah, and apparently it's a really sweet lovely children's game Wow. It's kind of like a light afternoon show. Maybe I'll mess around with it.

I think I might. I love that guy. I have his art on my wall. Yeah. He had an art gallery exhibition here in Los Angeles where he was selling his own original art. And my wife and I bought two pieces. Wow.

One that shows a guy with a tiny apple on his head and the title is No Ideas. And then another one where a guy has a huge apple on his head and it says Big Idea. That's really good. That's really, really good. I had to look up his name, which I've known before, but Kata Takahashi.

Is that the creator and I guess also the artist behind it. What Tom we covered on the podcast, which is the genesis of your former catchphrase? Welcome back, Bucket. Welcome back, Bucket. That's right. I always love when you bust out a welcome back, Bucket. It was good times.

Yeah, a lot of fun. It was good times. Man, and then we did the... One catchphrase stuck. Yours. Yes. Yeah. Well, a lot of fun. It was good times. Man, and then we did the... One catchphrase stuck, yours. Yes, yeah. Well, I mean, come on. That was gonna stick, okay? Guys, it's been a fun week in games.

Has it? But some sad news has happened to the industry. I guess the highlight of which is that Microsoft terminated what I will call the Perfect Dark team. Perfect Dark was an extraordinarily important video game for me when I was young. And I used to, I think I've told this story on the show before, I used to play rounds and rounds

and rounds of Perfect Dark with Marco Paglia, who was a musician I knew, and Marco just won the Tony for Buena Vista Social Club. Wow. Yeah. That's amazing. Isn't that wild? Yeah. It's just neat to see somebody you know, like who's like, you know, I'm a musician.

I'm going off into the world. And then years later, it's like, holy shit, he really did it. Yeah, that's really, really cool. But he can say he used to play perfect dark with you and that's pretty cool He didn't say that anybody I used to play perfect dark. I used to play perfect dark dark with this dog shit lesbian Like you're bad at it? I even got ranch on that one.

We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild, which was a rare game that was in development, as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio. As part of this, we're closing one of studios the initiative which is where the perfect art development was primarily located I it's just it's just such a I just always hate like the kind of shit they say because they land here is like we did not make these choices lightly as each project

and team represents years of effort, imagination and commitment like it's just like we seriously considered whether or not this would like slightly increase our profit margin. You know what I mean? It's like, always like it's so, it's like as if that makes things any better that you're laying off all these talented workers and then this game that has been promised since,

it was like 2020 when we first got the reveal, like is now never gonna see the light of day. One of the people who was working at that company, I believe, has been in the industry so long that they worked on the Super Nintendo Star Wars games. Wow. That's wild. That is a legacy of talent that has been let go. Yeah, when I worked on the video game industry

in the early 2000s, the mid-aughts, I guess you'd call it, there were some older developers who like worked on Command and Conquer in the, you know, these Totemic PC game series from like the 90s. And it's just like, oh, it's kind of amazing that a career can be that long. And we are kind of at the point where a developer's career could encompass basically the history of gaming

as we know it. Like you started working at some place in the 80s, we certainly saw the Super Mario Wonder, where some of the development team members who were working on that, you know, working for Nintendo in the 80s were still there in the 2020s, and that was part of why that game had such a unique charm. But yeah, that's such a fucking bummer. Yeah.

Do you think we'll ever, I know the answer is no. Will there ever be a company that will try, just try laying off the CEO instead and then seeing if that fucking fixes anything? That might solve the same problem and it's one guy instead of hundreds to thousands of people. I think you wanna live in a different world than the real world, man.

I don't know. Maybe, oh yeah, maybe my world's just so crazy. Oh my God. Like would we fire Nick to make our lives better? Yes. The CEO of the podcast? No, the show would not function without Nick. Absolutely not.

The CEO of the podcast? What are we talking about? Are we kidding? Who would be if not you? Yeah. I think it's you. No. No. No fucking way. We know not you? Yeah, I think it's you. No, no fucking way. We know it's not Matt. No, it's not.

Hey, wait a second. I make a lot of really important decisions around here. Actually it might be Matt. Cause Matt has a, you started the show with a producer role. Yeah, he's the- Now occupied by Rochelle Chan Ranch of course. He's the CEO and Ranch is the CFO.

We're just idiots. Yeah. But so actually, what do we know CEOs do? Nothing. Ranch and I do too much. That's true. To be the CEO. True.

So it might be me. No, no. We all need to be here for this to work. Yeah. Wow, you're right. And someday it will work. Yeah, one day we'll get it right. There is a universe where we're doing the show perfectly

every single week. Yeah. That's true. Perfect dark, perfect pod. Oh, boy, that's the dream. Being laid off from head to toe. We really tried to make this work, but we just needed 10 more celebrities.

We really tried to make this work, but we just needed 10 more celebrities here. That's twice for ranching the show. Remember, my so-called life, someone wants to do my so-called pod who's on the show. We're bringing them in, so you guys gotta go. It just, I feel like, I'm not saying anything new here. I feel like the way I see these big companies and just not even video game companies,

just like big companies in general, where you see the way that they operate. I obviously don't have a fundamental understanding. They must see something that I don't because in the business that I'm in, where I've seen this happen before, where they lay off hundreds of people, hundreds of staff from a company

and then give celebrities with podcasts hundreds of millions of dollars. I'm just like, do you know something that I don't, that that makes more sense? Like, I just don't, I don't get it. Yeah, explain how, and I actually don't think it makes sense. I think it's just like, no, we just are,

the goal of our current economy is to transfer wealth upward. And so we're just gonna try to do that at every opportunity. I need to get upward. I know. Yeah, it'd be really nice if, you know what, if somebody wanted to do that to us instead, I'd be, that's when I'm okay with it actually. That's fine.

If Headgun wants to come to us and say, you guys should have a mobile phone company, I'm a hundred percent here. Hahahaha! Hahahaha! Instead, we read ads that are morally questionable. Hahahaha! So I could have electricity in my apartment. Hahahaha!

Let me tell you folks about our friends at Raytheon. Hahahaha! Let me tell you folks about our friends at Raytheon. This bladed drone is so deadly, but it doesn't blow up the car so it damages other vehicles. It just kills the inhabitants of a single vehicle. Cut to us reading a smartless mobile ad. No way. That's the one we won't do. We won't do it.

I'm not lining the pocket to those three guys. New from the...never mind. With new McValue and McDonald's you get more than you expect. So after a long day, buy a double cheeseburger and add a McChicken for a dollar. Because saving with deals is always on the menu. With new McValue. Prices and participation may vary valid for item of equal or lesser value. With a $5 meal deal with new McValue, you pick a McDouble or a McChicken then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of

money. Prices and participation may vary. McD meals $6 in some markets for a limited time only. Hey, on a more positive note, we have a wonderful fan community that sometimes will send gifts to us here at Headcome. We're always happy to receive them. And we got a nice one we wanted to acknowledge real quick. Yeah, let's see. We got a little letter here that says,

so times are tough and I recently had to take a job as a porter. Loved the pod and was pleasantly surprised to get this delivery at all to all of you today. Not sure what it is, but the guy was odd and smelled like marinara. Okay, enjoy. Your friend and fan, Adam Cattino. Wow. The guy was odd and smelled like marinara. Okay, enjoy your friend and fan, Adam Katino. Wow. Wow. It is a box that has the Death Stranding logo on it. Ooh. Ooh.

We know that that's what we like. We do like that. Shout out to Adam, lovely human being, very active in our Discord. And opening it up and we've got, oh, two pieces of paper here. Ooh, I like the inside of the box. I think I know what this is. The inside of the box is really nice.

Yeah. Ooh. Don't give it to Nick, he'll destroy it, trying to open it, which is already open. Yeah, I've seen this guy with a box before. Dearest Get Players, congratulations on 300 plus episodes. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the four of you devoting a combined 20 years into this labor of love than with a box of socks for you to share

plus one extra pair for you to compete over. I hope you are enjoying your return to Porter life and when the time is right, I know you'll choose the right side. Peter Englert. There's another one. It's a quiz. What percentage of Steam users have attained the childminder achievement,

which is to reach maximum connection level with BB? Unfold for answer. Anybody got a guess? I'll just say right now, I didn't do this. So I don't... I'm not one of this percentage. I'll guess 12.5%. Alright, the answer is 14.5%. Wow. Fun fact, it's 27.12% on PSN. And we got these lovely...

Wait, so the first one was a Steam stat. Interesting. Steam people hate their babies. PSN, 30% love the baby. You know what, that kind of does track with PC gamers a little bit. I say this as a PC gamer. I'm not doing this with this fucking baby. I wonder if there's a correlation between the track with PC gamers a little bit. I say this as a PC gamer. I'm not doing this with this fucking baby.

I wonder if there's a correlation between the controller. Because it's nice to play with BB by rocking the controller up and down. That's a nice little bit of interaction. Very generous read, Heather. No, the dual sense not being fully supported on the the ps5 so we've got socks and they are Porter socks yeah, I went away. I saw the box. I thought I knew what this was because I saw this on the Kojima website These are rad yeah, wow these are great. Wow these are fantastic

I can't wait to ruin these later Are you gonna fucking do to them? Sorry These later are you gonna fucking do to them? Sorry? Nick they're not gonna support the weight of your fucking neck Don't you just love a fun pair of socks? I love them. I also really like the box The wait look how could the boxes it's got like a little logos. I love that. Yeah, I love that little box Maybe I can figure out a thing to put in this spot. Thanks Adam. Thanks for saying so much Adam You know, this might be mini disc sized You got to take that that. That's really, yeah.

It might be mini disc sized. You gotta really do it. That would be really nice. I already, if that doesn't fit, I have a suggestion. Okay. Different socks. Cigarettes. Oh, okay. It could be your sock box.

Great. Thank you so much, Adam. That was really, really kind of you. We do get gifts and often we open them off pod just because we get them when we're not recording, but um, it was nice to come in and get this. So if you if you just blank it Thank you to anyone who has sent a gift. Yeah And we're very grateful and we treasure them. We do like the gifts. Okay. Can I just say one thing? Oh my god, what a few times people have sent me some version of a no spill cup now look

You want to send me a yeti, I'm gonna use it. But the Amazon Basics Child's Cup, maybe I don't need more of those. And they don't fucking work. I'm not gonna use that. They don't work and I'm not gonna use it. But thank you, it's very funny. I think there is a solution. I think there is like a like, like I was saying,

either the hat with the two little cup holders. The foam dome. The foam dome could work for you, or you could become a camelback guy. And then just like have like a camelback. It is very death stranding to be like a camelback guy, but I also feel like that's a different kind of guy. And it's water only really, you can't do like fun drinks. What are you talking about?

You can put cola in a camel back. Oh, you should be the cola camel back guy. It all comes out all fizzy because you're just shaking around in your back. He sits enough that he'd have to wear it on his front. Yeah. He'd have like a liquid stomach that then went into his actual stomach. Camel front.

He'd just be walking around looking like a pregnant zangief. If you could put a soda in a camel back, which soda are you going with? Well, here's the thing, I love Coke Zero, but I think it would go with a clear soda. Cause you know the straw, so you don't have to worry about tea standing. But I just worry about drinking that much of a of a of a you know, like a darker soda Yeah, I think it probably I might go with like a sprite zero. Mm-hmm

I had a sprite zero recently and I didn't I Didn't love it only because regular sprite is so good. You know, it might be fun as a Gatorade honestly, Oh Get like a Gatorade, you know, like Like a Gatorade, like a fierce Strawberry Zero or something like that. Yeah. I recently had a little red Gatorade. Yeah. It fucking brought me back to life.

It was incredible. I am really into the Gator lights, if you can find them. Oh, yeah. Specifically, the Gator Light Zero, it's like their Pedialight simulacrum. And those are limited in terms of what Specifically the Gator Light Zero, it's like their PDA light, you know, simulacrum, and those are limited in terms of what, you know, what varietals they come in, but yeah, sometimes you'll go with the right flavor, and those are really hitting.

Yeah, they're not going to do like the cucumber lime. Yeah, you won't get that necessarily, but they're also like a really fun, they're kind of like a Fiji water bottle, like a square, hefty bottle. My favorite Gatorade flavor is Mango Extremo. Okay. Is that like spicy mango? like a square bottle. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite Gatorade flavor is Mango Extremo. OK. So like spicy mango. No, it's just like. I only I've only ever found it like in stores in sort of like, quote unquote, like Hispanic areas.

I've never seen it at like a Vons. Yeah, I feel like I've never encountered that flavor, but I will look for it in the wild. It fucking rocks. Wow. It is so good. I love it. I love Gatorade. Ranch, you ever have a Gatorade? Yeah, it's one of my favorite drinks.

Wait, is it really? Oh, just the lime, cucumber. Lime, cucumber is good, yeah. Lime, cucumber is good, yeah. I'm not a huge Gatorade person. The bottle looks like a penis. Hmm. Yeah.

It's direct- it directly looks like a penis. I've said it before. I just have to get in front of this. I love Gatorade Now I can see it, you know, like a really like meaty girthy shaft Top yeah and flat completely flat end Yeah, yeah, and it's the color of The piss inside your body. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's clear so you could see the color of the I'm just like I just I

Don't crave or not crave Gatorade. It's I'm with you. I'm extremely neutral on it It's very situational for me, but I but there are times when I absolutely it's what I want the most propel Get the fuck out of here. We don't need that Absolutely, it's what I want the most. Propel, get the fuck out of here. Yeah, no, we don't need that. Hey buddy, is the state of the US making you want to escape? Can't imagine why. Take the first step and learn the language before you go.

Babbel makes it easy. Play the sound effect. Start speaking a new language with confidence thanks to Babbel's conversation-based technique that quickly teaches you the things you actually talk about in the real world. There's over a dozen languages available to learn at your own pace so you can achieve your goals on material tailored to your individual proficiency level, interests, and time availability. You know, I've been using Babbel.

I've been using it to learn some Spanish, aka español, which means Spanish in Spanish, which is one of the many things you'll learn if you're using Babbel. Lessons are very easy and they're straightforward and best of all, they're effective. Handcrafted by over 200 language experts, Babbel's lessons are voiced by real native speakers and built with science-based cognitive tools to fit any learning style. Babbel's tips and tools for learning a new language are approachable and accessible. It's like having a private tutor in your pocket. That'd be cute though, wouldn't it be? A little tutor down there tucked away. What'd you like to learn your languages right now? Not now buddy, why don't you get yourself some sleep? Oh your voice is so loud, so loud for my tiny ears! Okay, Private Tutor. You just catch some Z's.

Ugh, that smells in here! Well, look, I'm sorry, alright? It's a hot day. I'm perspiring. Alright, it's human function. Well, little people don't perspire. Wait, really? Is that true? Tiny people don't perspire? I didn't know this about your anatomy. It's amazing. Hey, get back to the ad- Oh yeah, sorry, sorry, I forgot. I got distracted by your presence.

Studies from Yale, Michigan State, and other leading universities continue to prove Babbel works. One study found that using Babbel for 15 hours is equivalent to a full semester at college. Babbel's 14 award-winning language courses are backed by a 20 day money back guarantee. So get talking with Babbel. I want you to learn a new language.

So I'm teamed up with Babbel to give you 55% off subscriptions, but only for our listeners at babbel.com slash played. That's right. Get up to 55% off at babbel.com slash played spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash played babbel.com slash played rules and restrictions may apply. Okay. So often when we do these commercials, we'll get sent product or whatever and we'll eat it for a week or a month,

and then we'll be able to talk about it and say, hey, you know, I did this, and that's part of the advertisement. For this next ad, they want me to talk about why I use NordVPN, and I lit up because that's literally the company that I use as my VPN. Years ago, I discovered that there were exclusive releases of certain Gundam Gunpla kits that

were only available in Japan that could not be sent outside of the country and could not be purchased. They were like blocked on the web. You couldn't even access the website. And so I investigated VPNs and if there was any way around this, and sure enough, I downloaded NordVPN, and that allowed me to use a proxy shipping service to get Gundam that wasn't available in the United States. I've been using NordVPN for, I don't know, five, 10 years, something like that,

as long as I've been shopping internationally. NordVPN is a way that you can do stuff that I've just described, but you can also shield your online activities from your ISP or hackers monitoring your connection. You can encrypt your connection to make public wifi networks safer to use, and you can use Threat Protection Pro

to scan files you download, block ads, and avoid malicious links. You can get alerts from the dark web monitor if your credentials are discovered in hackers' hands, and NordVPN can switch your virtual location, allowing you to save money by purchasing flights, hotels, and subscriptions from other countries at a cheaper price. Or, like I just said, you can get, like,

limited edition drops from other countries that you can't get here in the United States or wherever it is that you're listening. You can get access to social media and other services not available due to censorship, which might be something we'll be suffering from soon. And it's amazing speed. NordVPN is one of the fastest VPNs out there.

It's premium cybersecurity for the price of a cup of coffee per month. And also, I don't know if this is legal or not, but you can also use it to watch like Netflix and other countries. So like, it's pretty great. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash get played.

Our link will also give you four extra months on the two year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee. Click the link in the podcast episode description box. You know what doesn't belong in your epic summer plans? Getting burned by your old wireless bill. While you're planning beach trips, BBQs and three day weekends,

your wireless bill should be the last thing holding you back. That's why I made the switch to Mint Mobile. With Mint, you can get the coverage and speed you're used to, but for way less money and for a limited time Mint Mobile is offering three months of unlimited premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. So while your friends are sweating over dated overages and surprise charges you'll be chilling literally and financially. Say bye-bye to your overpriced wireless plans, jaw-dropping monthly bills, and unexpected overages. Mint Mobile is here to rescue you.

All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text, delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone, not somebody else's phone. Use your own phone, not somebody else's phone, Use your own phone, not somebody else's phone, but your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. Ditch overpriced wireless and get three months of unlimited service

from Mint Mobile for 15 bucks a month. You know, they let us do whatever we want here. They tell us you have free reign and they give us these things to try and so we've gotten to try Mint Mobile and you know what? It works. It's a phone. It's cheap. You're making your calls. You're sending your texts. What is there not to know? your calls? You're sending your texts? What is there not to know? No, unless you just crawled out of a cave and you're like, oh my god, why are you handing me this tiny little square of glass? What am I supposed to do with it? You understand what a phone is? This is a phone plan and it's cheap. This year, skip breaking the sweat and breaking the bank.

Get this new customer offer and your three month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash get played. That's mintmobile.com slash get played. Upfront payment of $45 required equivalent to $15 a month. Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on Unlimited Plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

Uh, hey, let's talk about some video games that we've been playing lately. The question for the room is, what are you playing? What are you playing? What are you playing? It's me, the resident evil merchant, and I'm here to ask my friend what they're playing. And I want to know what you're playing. Playing. That was a great little ditty. Yeah. Thank you very much.

I could see you kind of nervously practicing something under your breath before we got started. Yeah. I was just worried. That's a speech I'm working on that. I can see you kind of nervously practicing something under your breath before we got started. Yeah. Oh, that's a speech I'm working on. Oh, so that wasn't this? No, no, no, no. Okay. Unrelated. Okay, so that's something we can look forward to in the future. Yeah, I got it. I'm doing a TED Talk. Oh, that's fun. What is the subject? Well, it's how long is too long to eat something. That's actually pretty interesting. That is interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Is everybody has a different eating pace at the table. And some some people are like you you eat too fast and you make everybody uncomfortable. But if you eat too slow, you same thing. So it's how long can a person eat?

And if it be the right time? It is interesting that there are people that sort of do pay attention to this. If you go in like a group setting and you're sitting down at a restaurant, people for some reason feel very comfortable telling you you either eat fast or slow. What is wrong with that?

Why do you, why pay attention? You eat. Mind your own business. Mind is wrong with that? Why are you, why? Pay attention, you eat. Mind your own business. Mind your own business. It's true, yeah. Yeah, so anyway, that's, that's why I'm working on a TED Talk about it. I'm really interested to why. Now is this a proper TED Talk

or is this one of those TEDx Talks that's kind of like, you know. And you're not talking to, I just wanna get this out of the way. You're not talking to the Bear Ted, are you? No, no, I'm not talking to the bear Ted. Okay, I just had to check Uh, I think question. I'm not aware of the difference between Ted and Ted X It's it's it's Ted X. I think is is to Ted talk as

Hot one as hot ones versus is to hot ones. I don't follow I don't know any of those references. Hot ones versus is still technically the same thing. Okay, but of a sub label It's kind of it's yeah, it's not as good because I mean look you need yeah, you need Sean Evans They let let the audience decide. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Anyway, thanks. I wish you break a leg, I should say, regardless. Thank you. You too.

No, leg, why, what are you playing? You know, I actually think that my friends, Matt and Heather, should start here because I know you've been spending a lot of time with Death Stranding 2. Yes. Yes. Let's fucking go. Let's Yes. Let's fucking go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's fucking go. Thank you, Sam. Hey, I'm Sam too. What a treat. What a fucking treat this game is. You know, I'm busier than I'd like to be. The last time a Stranding game came out, it happened to be in a pocket of time

where I was a little less preoccupied. And there was also a point in that journey where I was recovering from a knee surgery. That's right. So it was really, really pleasurable to drop 10 hours at a time in a stranding two, or stranding one. I haven't had that luxury on stranding two.

I think Matt and I are kind of in the same area-ish? Yeah, what chapter are you on? I'm four. Okay, I've surpassed you. Okay, he has surpassed me. Yeah. Not too deep into the story yet. Still don't know, you know, the antagonist has arrived.

You're introducing some new characters. The thing I wanna talk about is sequence breaking, which is one of my favorite things to do in a video game. And in Stranding, I haven't had a lot of time where I've been punished for doing something. I think I spoke about that maybe last week. I have arrived to two places on the map where I'm not allowed to do anything. One you know I you get a monorail right and I'm like well if I'm fucking if I got a monorail

I got to keep building the monorail. What's it called? Monorail. Where's it go? Monorail They say it's Springfield's only choice throw up your hands and read your voice monorail monorail monorail, monorail. What an enduring piece of television and comedy. It's perfect, because as soon as I saw the monorail, I did say, what's that word?

I was so excited. Also, as sort of just like a puzzle piece that fits together, Conan O'Brien, writer of that sequence, is in the first game. That's right. The wandering MC. Yeah, so you got a little monorail, little loop. Yeah, I think he's in the second one. Oh, is he really?

I think so. Wow. They get on great, these two, Conan and Kojima. I feel like Wandering MC is where you get the Otter suit in the first game, is that right? I never found much utility for the Otter suit, but it was kind of fun. No, but the interactions you have with the man are very funny. I have found where you get the Otter suit. It was kind of fun. No, but the interactions you have with the man are very funny.

I have found where you get the Otter suit in the second game, and it came from an area that I wasn't supposed to be in. Interesting. But yeah, so I extend the monorail all the way as far as it goes, and you can't do anything in those areas. Kind of a bummer, because I'm like, fuck you. If I was living in the middle of nowhere and somebody paved a highway all the way up to my door,

I'd come out and say hi. The second thing is there's an island out in the tar. And maybe you're supposed to get an object later to be able to get to this island when you're supposed to get an object later to be able to get to this island when you're supposed to get there. Maybe there's a boat you unlock, I don't know. Maybe there's floating tires. What I decided to do was take one of the floating carriers

present in the first game, Nick. Yes. Trek it all the way up a mountain nearby and then hop on it at the top of the mountain and race as fast as I could down the mountain and scoot out over the water. So I do that. And I arrive about halfway between where I am in the island.

And I'm like, okay. So I hop off the carrier and start treading my way to the rest of the island. Sam saying, oh no, uh oh, I'm sinking. I'm sinking fast. And I'm like, fuck, I'm gonna fucking die in this tar. But right before I'm gonna drop dead, I arrive on the island.

Wow. Wow. And a scan gives me a package on the island, like a random package to deliver to the person on the island. And I was like, perfect, I can unlock the island. I unlock the island, the guy's there, and he's like, hey, no, I don't get a lot of visitors out here, why don't, he gives me the Otter helmet,

and I'm like, oh fuck, this is great, it's gonna help me get back, cause it helps you swim. Yeah. So I'm like, oh fuck, this is great. It's gonna help me get back. Cause it helps you swim. Yeah. So I'm like, thank you so much. I have nothing else to deliver. Put on the Otter helmet, head back into the tar and drop dead.

And I was like, okay. And I had not planned anything. So I had an important delivery on my back. So I load the game again. Cause I'm like, well, I can't, I don't wanna fuck up my entire game because I was stupid. So what I eventually do is I step into the water and there are places where you step into the water

where you don't start sinking. And I very, very slowly just stepped forward, step by step. And anytime he'd go, oh, I'm sinking, I'd step backwards. And I discovered that there's essentially an invisible sandbar underneath the tar that you can walk all the way back across this entire body of water to get back to shore. And I survived and it felt as good as a delivery.

That's awesome. That was my experience this week in Stranding 2. Matt, how's your experience been? I've developed an illness, and I believe it's called Death Stranding 2 madness. Yep. All of my free time has been... So, okay.

I'm in chapter six. Holy shit! And that was not from... going straight toward story stuff. I went back... to the first area. Yep. And was like, I'm gonna five star all of the delivery places here.

Love it. And you get pretty consequential upgrades doing this. You get a lot of weapon upgrades that I'm sort of like, if you don't get those here, can you even get them later? Who knows? But I five starred all of those, and then deliveries kept coming, so I was like, I don't know how many of these there are.

I did what I wanted to do, I got a bunch of stuff, I'm just gonna now go back to the other area to then progress the story a little further, which I have done now and have done this. the other area to then progress the story a little further, which I have done now and have done this. But doing the deliveries, because I mean, I liked doing it in the first game, but I didn't have this like,

I have to five star all the things the first time, during my first foray with Death Stranding. And now I'm sort of like, I think I have to do it a lot and So I well first of all I've clocked at about Let's see you I took a screenshot of my stats here so far I thought it told me the time I know that the time is like 32 hours Holy shit, I've clocked 32 hours in this game my Porter grade is 159. Wow! And I have 51 Legends of Legends evaluations. Love to hear it.

Which is you get from doing standard orders at the different places. I've met one of the new characters in the game. I met a lot of the new characters in the game actually. I love Doll Man. Doll Man's great. There was a piece of dialogue in the game that is, I think, missable that then I texted Heather about.

Yeah, and then we had a conversation about it. Yes. I think we can talk about it. You think so? Okay. I think we can talk about it. Go for it. So, Tar Man, who is George Miller.

Yes. Director George Miller. It's his likeness. it's his likeness. It's his likeness. He gives you a book. And one of the books that he gives you. He gives you a couple books. He gives you a couple of books,

but one of the ones is Moby Dick. And you can go to your cabin and read the book. And Doll Man sort of narrates Norman Reedus reading the book and he starts, well first of all, there are two things that happen. You open Moby Dick, there's a photo in the book and you have the option of taking it to Tar Man immediately

or saving it for later. I did it immediately. I did it immediately. And so you get a cut scene. Significant cut scene. That is like, you could miss it. Like it's not mandatory for you to do this at all. It is a big chunky bit of emotional backstory.

Yes. And so you get that, then you go back. I was like, I wanna read the book. I wanna see what's going on. Who knows what's going on? You read it a couple, you can read it a couple of times in different prompts. Like Doll Man says kind of a couple different things.

There's like, I think maybe three things that he could say, and then every time you pick it up after that, it's just Sam looks at the book, puts it down, and that's it. The first time I gassed in this game, well, I gassed a few times, but in the first time I gassed, reading this book in this game,

Doll Man refers to something in the text of Moby Dick as a phantom pain. And I said, this motherfucker, this guy's a, this guy, what is he doing? What is he doing? But then... He talks about how Capahab loses a limb. And we all know that the origin of the phrase,

the phantom, like a phantom pain, is usually from when you lose a limb. Like you have phantom pain in that limb. So when it happens, you can kind of excuse it as like a wink on a wink. You know, him talking about Ahab missing a limb, having a phantom pain, you're like, kind of excuse it as like a wink on a wink. Yes. You know, him talking about Ahab missing a limb, having a phantom pain, you're like,

oh, of course you would take that opportunity to use the phrase, but Matt continued. Well, you had the good observation. Well, so. I was like, that's really good. So, the, you know, Dollman continues, Dollman continues to talk about Moby Dick with you and he says, hey Sam, you know, the ship that they're on,

the ship that they're hunting, the white whale, the monster that took something that Ahab can't stop missing, his phantom pain. This ship is full of people from all over the world. It's a very unique ship. It's kind of like Kojima Productions. And Sam looks at him and he's like, I can tell from your face that you have never heard

of Kojima Productions. Well, it's just like the ship. So you've suddenly been told that Kojima Productions is the ship that Ahab is on. Ahab, who is obsessed with healing this phantom pain in his body by attacking the monster that took it from him, this motherfucker has just said that Moby Dick is about him and Konami.

Wow. Yes. And I was like, God damn, this is awesome. And I sort of have a broader theory about this as well that I feel like is then Spoilery based on one of the other characters that is introduced in this game. Oh that will have to talk about later We're gonna do five episodes about Death Stranding too Exactly, but I I I love it so much and you know I've been making a lot of deliveries mm-hmm. I've been fucking Driving around and I know the game's a lot of deliveries. I've been fucking driving around.

And I know the game's a walking game. You're supposed to be walking around. Let me tell you something. The driving's good. Driving's good in the game. I drove a big truck up a mountain, which was very hard to do, but it was extremely funny. And you took a picture of it, and it's awesome.

Yeah, it looked like a car commercial. Like, what's a fucking truck doing at the tip of a mountain? It was extremely hard and the game some the game pretty much doesn't want you to do this You can do it and it's fine, but it's very very difficult, right? I have a car souped up with six batteries on it So I'm just like just driving around but now I got some news I I got some new car stuff now So I think the the car the truck is gonna then lose some battery

because I'm gonna need to add components that I just got, which I'm very excited about. We talked also about how when we made our top 10 games of all time, that there was some conversation on and off the pod about how Death Stranding didn't make our top 10s. Yeah. And I think how Death Stranding didn't make our top tens. Yeah.

And I think that playing Stranding 2 and immediately having this game rocket to the top of any list that I have in my head, I think part of the problem is that what you are experiencing is so ephemeral that it doesn't... It's like a dream that you've had, where when you're in it, it's so awesome, and it is so satisfying.

But as soon as you step away from the game, which honestly is similar to whenever you travel to Japan. When you're in Japan, you're like, this is the greatest place on earth, why wouldn't I live here? And then the longer you spend not in the country, the more you lose that sort of ephemeral sense of place, space, and like the environment,

the feeling of the environment. In the same way, Death Stranding is a game about your relationship to an environment. It's a vibes game. It's got great music drops of songs that you've never heard that are then so important to you that they become permanent parts of your life in your playlists.

Like, I've listened to Low Roar for years because of Death Stranding 1. But when you think about the game and you're not playing it, you're like, but was it really good? Yeah. Because you lost that need to build, like... It's so satisfying to build a highway

and to describe that to somebody who doesn't play the game sounds like you're the dumbest person who's ever played games. Yeah, when I place a bridge somewhere that I just know is a good spot for a bridge, I'm like, this is the fucking game. This is it, baby. I wanted to, I put a ladder someplace that I was like,

this is the best place I've ever put a ladder. And so many people are gonna benefit from this ladder. So then I went and made a highway of icons with the forward arrow to bring people to where the ladder was that would give them an enormous shortcut. And I logged off on the game, and the next time I logged on I got 30,000 like

Thousand yeah, that's incredible. I've got like I don't know 80,000 like Jesus. Yeah Wow I Was saying to you that I think? So far and just not you know I'm not I'm not very deep into the story. Yeah still I'm not I'm not very deep into the story. Yeah still I do feel like after chapter 3 of the story starts to pick up like it really like things You know start going you know in a certain direction But because Death Stranding 1 Prior to Death Stranding 2 was a very singular experience, right? There's not another game really like that at all.

A word that I certainly myself, but in general is overused as singular, but it really does apply to Death Stranding. There's nothing else like it when it came out. So now that Death Stranding 2 is out, there are two of these, and this one has iterated on the first one and improved a lot of the things in the first one. Where for me, this game now is, I could see it being on the list and Death Stranding 1 not being there.

Because of what it's doing and how it's fixed, fixed, quote unquote fixed, the things from Death Stranding 1 that were maybe a little irksome or you know tedious but I think this game so far is as good as Rebirth is in terms of it being a direct follow-up to a previous thing yeah we're like Rebirth obviously is like there's so much more going it's like it's a completely like different thing, but it took what was great about Remake and then just like what if it was just more and more fun, too And similarly like I think this is a good comparison

As someone who finished both remake and and death stranding one and is like, you know Still pretty early on to both Rebirth, which I abandoned and Death Stranding 2, which I have ongoing. Did you at least make it to the Gunghaga region? Look, we'll talk off the hot. I think this is a good comparison because it's also like you're playing remake for the first time and like I played Final Fantasy 7 back in the day and PlayStation as a kid. And I'm just trying to wrap my head around remake because it's such a weird approach to a

Yeah, a second version of a game. You know, I mean like like like it's it's it's so It's like real. It's just the combat system is so Bizarre but also like works really well and then you get into rebirth and it's like really feels like it's clicking So yeah, I think that's a good comparison Yeah Cuz like you could just like the thing that's great is that there's sort of so much to do in both games, Rebirth and in Death Stranding 2, there's so much that you can do.

You can do so many different things in any time, but you could also just do the story and have a perfectly balanced and fun experience, which is great. I love video games. I love video games. If you, that's just like the The dream for me is a game. You could just mainline you don't have to grind

You could just mainline but all the optional stuff is so engaging that you choose to do it Yeah, and you just want you just get to spend more time in this This virtual world that's been created. That's just so satisfying. I think in the 32 hours I've clocked so far, four of them have been story, like the rest of it has been, I have to make these deliveries. Oh, a package, I better pick that up.

Right. And then just like doing bulk deliveries, which is not ideal. I was reading some stuff about, you gotta, to really maximize the number of likes and like points you're getting on these deliveries, you gotta do them one at a time. Oh, interesting.

Not for me. I'm gonna play my way. Yeah, it's a thing. You can do it however you want. I'm gonna take that fucking not a surfboard and surf halfway out to that island. You gotta get in one of these big trucks. I've been playing on,

I've been driving around a big truck. I've got a big truck. You gotta get in the big. Oh, yeah, we talked about how we made ours One color scheme did that independently I Want to I want to show you? Because I have I have a game capture from From where I was stuck on this island So here's the island I was on.

And then if you zoom out, that's how far. That's actually really, that's further away than I re-watched. That's how far I had to go get back. A lot of map you're showing there. Yeah. But you can also see me, that track. That's so funny. That's me surfing all the way all the way there on the carrier

Wow from the top of the mountain. I've been taking a lot of photos in photo mode But I had to take this screenshot because I noticed that my Sam's Little bladder was pretty full and he had to go pee pee Oh sure, and I had just taken out some some brigands at a at a base And I was like I'm gonna fucking piss on this guy. Oh wow, the gravest insult. Yeah, but the game won't let you do it. The game won't let you do it.

Sam said, you gonna whip it out with them just looking right at you? Yeah, like fuck you are. I accidentally did that to a porter. I was like, oh, I haven't peed once in this game. I should probably do it. I don't know what benefits or negatives there are, like detriments there are.

And I tried to do it and he's like, said that to me. And I was like, what? And then I look out and there's like two porters, like off in the distance. Just shaking their head. That guy was gonna piss. What a video game. It's an extraordinary video game.

I have a slightly different take on it, how it re-ranks Stranding 1 for me. And it's that I think it puts Stranding 1 on my top 10 because it made me appreciate how much of the world and how much of the vibe had just become like invisible to me and integrated into things that I love. Like I have the fucking Death Stranding windows in my windowless garage.

And now the window is in the, yeah, the window is like in the game. Yeah, it is. I hope they update it. I hope there's stuff from Stranding too on the windows. Nick, we've talked about Stranding. What are you playing? Heather, thank you so much for asking.

A new game appeared on Game Pass, new to me rather, it was released in 2023, but Game Pass is, what put it in front of my face? And I looked it up because I was like, it's from the description, it seemed like something that would hook me. It was developed and published by Egg Hatcher, which is a Chinese indie developer.

I believe it's a two person team. And the game is called Volcano Princess. I'll just read the copy that they have in Game Pass. Prepare the next monarch by finding her hobbies, training her for battle, and befriending the citizens she'll one day protect. Dive into an all-new parenting simulator RPG adventure where every decision you make

will not only affect the future of your daughter, but that of an entire empire. So this is a parenting sim, but specifically coded as a father of daughters sim, because... It's a girl dad game? It's a girl dad game. It starts off and then there's a little cinematic

and then there's a time with you and you, the player character, you, the player character. You name the player character and your daughter in creation, and then you also put in things like blood type and a handful of other birthdays, et cetera. I mean, my daughter's birthday, January 6th, which I thought was funny. Anyway. Anyway, the- You should have made it nine months from January 6.

September 6. So you have a little cutscene with you, the player character, the dad, and the mom, and then there's a time jump, and the daughter is six, and the mom has passed away, you're visiting her grave. And so you're a single dad, you're a single girl dad raising this girl in this crazy world. It's got this really like charming aesthetic.

The thing is, there are a lot of localization issues and it's a game where you can overlook some of those but this is a game that's mostly text driven. Like there is so much dialogue with other characters, there's so much text in menus, there's so many descriptions of different activities you can do with your daughter, different abilities she can learn. And so it is a pretty, it first was the sort of thing when I see like, oh, it says your daughter decided

and it's with a T instead of a D, you know, to do blank. I was like, okay, well, that's a sort of minor thing I can overlook. But then as it progresses, there were just more and more of those where like, I'm really having to parse sentences to try and make out what they, you know, what they mean. And, you know, again, a small team.

I don't know who's doing the localization. Hopefully this game being a little more visible and giving them a little more revenue or maybe a major publisher or partner with them to have it be a proper localization in English. I'm not sure how the localization is in other languages, but I imagine it has similar issues. Also the UX is just like a little clunky. It's like you can play it with a controller, but I don't think it really works. I think you really need a mouse and it's even saying with the controller that like you should that it keeps encouraging you to go into virtual mouse mode where you're basically just using

the analog stick as a cursor. So I was just playing that sumbitch with my mouse and it was actually working fine. There's a bunch of, so there's, a lot of it is just like time management. And this is the aspect of the game that I really like because, you know, Citizen Sleeper is a game I talked about that I had a lot of enthusiasm for.

It's basically a game where you're just like managing your time. Certainly the Atlas RPGs, I think we've talked about extensively on the podcast. So much of that is just managing your time, figuring out what am I going to do because there's a limited number of days. There's a ticker that's in the corner the whole time which is like months until your daughter reaches adulthood. It's kind of crazy to think about parenting in such

discrete, you know, mathematical terms. So it's like, oh, am I gonna take my daughter to the riverfront and let her practice drawing, which will improve her imagination, or am I going to have her plant vegetables, which will improve her skill at domestic tasks, or am I going to go have her like, like a study and enter, you know, in a room like I'm ever play with blocks or play a game with her to improve her intellect and or

improve her, you know, her emotional skills. There's all sorts of these decisions that are made that are really fun. I was trying to guide my daughter towards being a, you know, worldly, someone who's focusing on intellect and emotion, someone who's maybe going to be a creative type. Then there's a time jump. And your daughter is six, you go through, you know, like a year's worth of months. Then all of a sudden your daughter is Matt.

I think she's actually 13, but it is that sort of it is that sort of jump. And she's 12 or 13. So she's at that age, different character model, different activities you can do. There is a really nice moment that I actually thought was very effective, which is you have, when your daughter's very young, you can chat with her. And then you progress to a certain point, and then you can talk with her.

Because it's like, oh, she has a little bit more personality, a little bit more self-identity. And I was like, oh, that's a nice little choice. But she's 12. And a night arrives and says, your daughter wants to go to night school with a K. And I had a moment honestly, or I'm like, well, if it's what she wants to do, you know, get her some archery lessons. Take her over the river. She can improve her strength by doing the rowboat, you know? And I just shifted full on into like,

let's support her getting like better at combat skills. The thing is then the game has some combat elements, which I don't think you can opt out of. And I just find it a little bit less interesting. It's also like, again, where the UX kind of gets in the way, like it's just a little bit clunky, a little bit hard to figure out. There's also like a hard fail at your first combat, which is not signposted at all as

what it's going to be. So it just feels like you're doing things completely wrong. And it's, it's the kind of thing where I just like looked at some community forums to see if other people are in the same response and they were, it's just like, it's very, it's just, it's just kind of a little bit of a bewildering experience. There's also some mini games that I mentioned that are like not super satisfying. There's a debate game that I couldn't quite figure out exactly how it works and it's not well explained to you.

There was one point where it's just like, it was just like straight up an arithmetic quiz, which is like, I need some more layers of abstraction. I can't just be solving for nine times three equals blank. You know what I mean? It's like- Yeah, I mean either, cause it's too easy. 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha storytelling and the world has so many NPCs and continues to grow and there's so many choices there's so much optionality you really do get analysis paralysis in terms of how you want to manage your daughter's time and it is written in a way in a very effective

way where despite the localization issues you do start to feel a bond to this other character and so on that level it really works. I'm not sure how much more I'm going gonna stick with it just because there are just so many stumbling blocks. For instance, in the aforementioned arithmetic mini game, for whatever reason, the input is left click to change options. So it's like a multiple choice test. Left click to change options, right click to confirm.

It's like, this is such a confounding way to input this. You know, like, why am I not just moving my cursor to the answer I think is correct, or hitting something on a keyboard or whatever the fuck. The other thing is, there are some weird, that I think just maybe just different cultural, you know, bits of conflict or whatever. Like your daughter starts getting letters from suitors

and you can respond to some of those and again I guess we're kind of in a vaguely medieval pastiche. So that would be a reality characters do You know when people would get get married at younger ages and and be in that there was all that sort of the stuff that was happening for political convenience It is from what I've read and there it is in game. It does seem to be like pretty, you know, it does seem to be like you can open in terms of gender, in terms of relationships. Like there's a point where it's like, oh, if you, if you do this at the night, all the, all the aspiring knights are vying to complete this task because they'll get the princess's

hand in marriage. And then your, your daughter is is like, well, maybe I'll marry the princess. And the game doesn't seem to be like, it seems like that's a thing you can actually do. So that's kind of nice. There is a thing in this game, which is a stat called darkness, which is just if you do things that might influence your daughter in a negative way or she does, she makes choices of her own, her darkness goes up. So for instance, an example is your daughter may be having like some sort of tantrum, some sort of emotional problem, and it will take a substantial chunk of your limited time that you could be using for her studies, for her sword fighting lessons,

or her, you know, her oration lessons or whatever the fuck. And, but you'll need to take that time to converse with her and like listen to her and understand her problem and reassure her, but you can instead choose to ignore her, which just saves all that time, but then just shoots her darkness level up. And then also there is a bath house in the game and you can get, your daughter can get jobs,

part-time jobs, and so she can work as a bookkeeper at the bath house, she can work as a cleaner at the bath house and make a little bit of money. Or she can work more money by working as a bath house attendant, which again, a very strange thing to be sending your 12, 13 year old daughter to work as a bathhouse attendant, which again, a very strange thing to be sending your 12, 13 year old daughter

to work as a bathhouse attendant. And when she works a shift there, that increases her darkness. It's like, Jesus Christ. And again, part of one thing that made me be a little bit of a roadblock for me in this game is just like, I'm sure to min max this, part of what you wanna do is accumulate some darkness

in terms of playing it more efficiently, in terms of managing your time correctly. But I was just like, I just don't wanna get into this situation, I don't wanna be ignoring my daughter when she's sad, I don't wanna be dispatching her to work, like rubbing guys down in a bathhouse. That's so crazy. So fucking weird. But it is a pretty cool design.

You just have to overlook a lot. You have to really get past, especially those stumbling blocks with UX and localization. But I did enjoy my time with Volcano Princess and it's on Game Pass. Wow. Yeah. Lovely. Shall we talk about the games of 2025, part two?

That's right. I think we should get into those. We took a first crack at this in January. Now we're gonna look at the backend of this year. So, I mean, it's been a pretty good year for games so far, I will say. I'd say so. I also think like, look,

predictably Death Stranding 2 is for all of us and we were all pretty excited about it. I don't think anyone anticipated to be so rapturously received by the gaming press and by everyone, gamers at large that this, for this to achieve universal acclaim, thought it might be like, hey, a better version or on the same level of this kind of really interesting but kind of niche experience that was Death

Stranding 1. Despite its commercial success, it still was kind of like a, I thought it could still be just like another quirky one of these, but that's become like this huge mainstream game. But certainly, Claire Obscure is like, in terms of just like a game that came out of nowhere that I'm sure we didn't even mention when we did our original version of this and has been one of the games of the year. And Blueprints, which was on our radar,

but another game that is, I'm less enthused about, but is also a game that's absorbed a lot of mindshare this year. Yeah. And the Switch 2 has come out. Switch 2, yeah. So big stuff. A lot has happened. A lot's happened. How do we do this? Do we just get into it? Well, I just want to open up the conversation by saying there aren't a ton of games that I'm looking forward to in the next six months. Yeah. Okay. One of them does come out this month though,

and that's Donkey Kong Bonanza. Can't fucking wait for Donkey Kong Bonanza. I'm fucking pumped. Occupies all, like so many of my thoughts. I think that, you know, I'm not sure that I'm going to complete that game because I have limited time and Stranding is so important to me.

Yeah. But I am really happy and excited that there's going to be a new Nintendo platformer because they are always a good feeling. Yeah. You know, it's gonna be a happy time. I have a plan for the day. Bananas?

I'm gonna eat a hundred bananas. No, some friends of mine and I, sometimes when there's a new Nintendo release, we go pick it up at our local store. Fun. But before that, we all go get breakfast burritos too. So we go get breakfast burrito, we have a nice little chat. Yeah. Then we go, okay, now it's time to go to the second location, go get our game.

And then we go get our game and then we disperse and go home and play it separately. That sounds like a really good time. It's great. It's like a fun ritual. Yeah. Is there, is it always the same breakfast burrito place? Yes. Oh wow, okay. Yeah, I'll tell you, I'll tell you where after. I'm very excited. Yeah. But yeah, I mean when I looked over the list of the big releases for the next six months, I was a little bit like, Huh, there's not a lot for me left in this year. Silent Hill F, sure, I'm curious about a new Silent Hill game. I have mixed feelings about the Metal Gear reboot

because I feel like he's so straightforwardly said what a betrayal this is, that I feel a little shitty being curious about it. So I don't know that I'm gonna play it. I feel like maybe I would rather go play the original again. There's not, yeah, there's not a ton on my radar for the next six months. I did make a list though of the most video games

sounding video games of the next six months. Would you guys like to hear it? Yeah, sure. All right. If I was going to hear it? Yeah, sure. All right. If I was going to make a list of the games that sound the most like video games, and perhaps I should be excited about them because they sound the most like video games,

this would be my list. Eric's home, colon, the stolen dream. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Kunitsugami, colon, path of the goddess. Moonlighter 2, colon path of the goddess. Moonlighter two colon the endless vault. Damon Machina colon Titanic Scion. And Eden's Zero.

All sound like video games to me. They really do. It's crazy how much the word salad subtitle is a staple of video game. I mean, like even the the the new Naughty Doc game that Neil Druckmann is returning to the studio to work on is like, what is that called? Intergalactic, the heretic prophet. Yeah. Yeah. It's just all nonsense.

Sounds like nothing. Inter you could you could you could have me look, I'm going to play it. I'll play it. Yeah. You could you could have something if it was just intergalactic, very generic, but you could sort of make that a thing. The heretic prophet is nonsense. Well, how about this one? No sleep for Konami Date from AI colon the Somnium Files.

Now that I'm into. Yeah, that sounds cool. You pushed it just far enough where I'm intrigued. You know, I never got into... What happened to Pong? Pong's a great title. You know exactly what's going on. Did we ever do a title episode where we just talk about titles aside from, like game content aside, what are the best titles? We could do it. That sounds fun.

That's a big, like, I mean, Zombies A the best titles? We could do it. That sounds fun. That's a big, like, I mean, Zombies Ate My Neighbors at all times. Donkey Kong Country? Pretty good title, yeah. But what does Donkey Kong mean outside of... Donkey Kong, you need the context of King Kong to understand that it means kind of like... On that level... Stupid Kong or silly Kong.

It's a little hard, for sure. We're doing the episode. It's true. We gotta hold on to that. That's a different episode. It's a little hard. Yeah, we're see we're doing the episode. It's true Yeah, hold we got to hold on to that. That's a different episode That's a different thing silent hill is a great title. It really is. I don't know great. You know, it's a better title What's that? I'm in hill 2. I mean better game. I don't know if it's a better title Chicago 2 It's interesting because sometimes you like a title we're just doing the episode We can't do that, it's a different thing

We're not doing this, we're not shifting formats It's a really good idea, that's how good of an idea it is, we want to immediately do it We can't do that, it's for a different episode But it was just like also it's like a game like Tetris It's like it's kind of a good title even though tetris doesn't seem to me it mean anything on Its own but then I'm like do I think it's a good title because I know what tetris is for the context of having played The game I just picked up that Tetris connected again man. That's a fucking great tetris

Playing it on my switch to I love every version of Tetris I still have so much fondness for the NES, which is what they they play competitively But that was the one I played the most as a kid I can I have a few games in July July is kind of a packed month for me So don't get going when answer we all touched on but I can't wait to rate it be that big bastard run around smash And shit looks fun as fuck We're on the we're not on the eve, but we're getting very very close The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4.

And I'm having a crisis actually, because I don't know what platform I want to get this on. What are your options? Well, it's free on Game Pass, but I've historically only ever really played Tony Hawk games on PlayStation. Despite being the Xbox kid. Despite being the Xbox kid. I did try the demo on Game Pass and it feels good.

It's feeling good. So I'm very excited about it. But it's coming to Switch 2. And I'm sort of kind of thinking, wow, could I, if I want the high powered version, be playing that on my Series X on Game Pass, and then to take it around wherever I want, get it on Switch 2. There's no, nobody knows what the specs are

for the Switch 2 version or if it even runs well. So I'm sort of like waiting until I can hear about it. But I have, cause I have, I double dipped on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 remake right on Switch on sale. Like I got it for like 15 bucks and I was like I'll take that's like I love the game on 15 bucks on Switch. How bad could it be? And it I feel like it plays great. Yeah, it feels good. It looks a little less good. Yeah. Right. But I'm thinking I'm thinking about I might get it on switch to at

Launch do it if they're all like reviewed and roughly that like all the ports are of equal quality Then that might make sense for you. Yeah, it's also the device that looks the most like a skateboard Yeah, I might try to I might try to do a kickflip on it. I think the reason that the year is pretty empty Is that on until recently it was the year of Grand Theft Auto VI. No, that's a great point. They were clearing the decks because they were worried about that just eating everyone's lunch.

I also think that because VI has been pushed and Stranding II has been met with such worldwide critical acclaim, there's a possibility Stranding II will be game of the year. Oh, yeah. Oh, I think it's in pole position right now. I think it's that or Claire Obscure. You know it's I think I think it's one of those two. By the way speaking of nonsense subtitles, Claire Obscure colon Expedition 33. I know what it means because they play the game but also it's like maybe don't need the Expedition 33. I think everybody should do it. I think Expedition 33 on its own is a good title. Maybe one or the other, yes.

I think everybody in gaming and in film should do their best to eliminate colons from the titles of their things. I see. Yeah. Like, I don't know, I know that Death Stranding 2 colon on the beach is technically the title.

Yes. But does it need the colon? I don't think so. Could it just be called Death Stranding on the beach. Yes. But does it need the colon? I don't think so. Could it just be called Death Stranding on the beach? Yeah. I mean, I guess we'll have to see. Maybe by the end of the game, we'll learn that there was a grammatical necessity

for the colon. Could be. Could be. I wouldn't put it past them to make it important for some reason. Death Stranding itself was such a mocked title when it was announced, because there's always, do they mean death standing?

Do they make like is that is that the right like stranding it felt like very awkward? But then of course now it makes complete sense and it sounds right. Oh, it doesn't make complete sense It's it's it's referenced within the game. Yes. Yeah, there was a you know a cataclysmic event called the death stranding And that's why it's titled this and the things that were from the world of the beyond have become stranded in ours. So it is a death stranding. Yes. And you also have strands that connect with other people.

And your name is Sam Porter Bridges, and you work for Bridges as a porter. Yes. I love this song. It's good shit, it's really good Of the word salad the best the best most leafiest green second best to Kingdom Hearts 368 Whatever the fuck that was I think for my money the inscrutable

King is The inscrutable king is all the Kojima stuff for me. I love Kingdom Hearts, but I like, Kojima does it better than anybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you gotta give it up. Are we going month by month here or are we just jumping all over the place? I think so, cause I have a couple more in July.

I don't know how excited I am about this game, but I am interested. Well, hit me with it. Shadow Labyrinth. Oh, interesting. The Pac-Man Metroidvania. Yeah, I wonder. I wonder how that is.

I mean, like, that'll be a big one where just I'll see what the community thinks when it comes out. Because it's one I've been just like sort of observing from a distance and keeping my eye on. Yeah. It doesn't look particularly good. No, I mean, but it might be. Like, any roguelike I'm always just like kind of intrigued by any any metro

It's more of a metroidvania right so yeah metroidvania though another like another genre that like I'm always Always kind of intrigued by every take on it even if I don't play all of them And I don't get my not they don't all get my hooks their hooks in me But I will definitely keep an eye on that one. I am interested in that and in Ninja Gaiden rage bound the the pixel art Ninja Gaiden that's coming out soon. Yeah, I mean I hope that one plays well and succeeds Yeah, I like that franchise, but I also just like more of those kind of games being made It was they and I know it's part of the problem But the Prince of Persia 2d game 3d 2d game that came out and then you know again they

Depressingingly another studio that was shuttered. But that was a game that I was like, it's cool that they're doing this with the Prince of Persia property. Yeah, if we're talking July, the other one that caught my eye is a standalone adventure expansion to Robocop Rogue City.

I guess a semi-sequel slash DLC you can play on your own, Rogue City, unfinished business. I just heard a lot of things over time of like how RoboCop was like a really good, like B game or double A game, however you want to classify it. I played some of it, it was fun. Yeah, and I love RoboCop in general. I mean, the RoboCop one one is they had you a cop, right?

Who's the Robo it's cleaner Movie she's called cop. This is my shit God if you just made a movie called cop. Yeah, how big of a hit would it be in this dumbass country? We're gonna go see cop. Yeah, it's the number one movie on planet Earth. Our whole church is buying out a theater to go see Cop. Well, there was this, Stallone made Cop Land. He did make Cop Land. Hey, Cop Land, good movie.

People were actually upset about that because it did not deliver on what they thought the premise was. John Hammond at a gate being like, welcome to Copland. Yeah, just a bunch of cops running around eating grass. But I didn't mess around with Robocop Rogue City, and this one looks like, ah, maybe if reviews are good, maybe I'll put some time into this one.

Yeah, I could check that out. I've been interested in Rogue City. I do think it would be kind of fun for all of us to be like, we love Rogue City. That could be kind of fun. I'll us to be like, we love Rogue City. That could be kind of fun. I'll try it. Yeah, it could be cool. Jumping, did you have anything else in July, anyone? I mean, no. Mario Party Chambery, Bowser TV.

I don't need another Mario Party. Well, it's the expanded version of the one that came out for Switch with new Switch 2 stuff. I just, like, those are games where someone maybe invites me on their Twitch stream is the only context I'm gonna play a Mario party. Yeah. I just, I'm just kind of past that.

Hey, people love the Mario parties, God bless you. Yeah. It's just not a thing I make time for in my life anymore. I feel like this group that I go with, somebody's gonna get it and I'll play it at their house. You know what I'm definitely gonna play on my Switch 2 coming in August, Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Let's fucking go.

The Nintendo Switch 2 edition plus Star-Crossed World which is like a whole other biome an extended DLC. Yeah, I'm really really excited about that. I loved the Forgotten Land so much. I loved Mouthful Mode, Kirby, I loved Swallowing Cars. I was gonna say, which one is your favorite?

I like being in the car, I think. Car's very fun. Yeah. But just, I'd have to think back through everything in that game. You know, I finished that game, I did some of the post-game content. It's just so charming.

It's what Heather was saying about Bonanza earlier. Like, just like Nintendo platformers, they feel like a hug. Yeah, they're really, really great. That one was really good. I'm interested in, look, I've never played a Shinobi, but there's a new Shinobi coming out too, and I think I'm gonna make a big declaration.

Yeah. This new ninja Gaiden, this new Shinobi, ninjas are back. I mean, let's not forget Assassin's Creed Shadows, and of course the upcoming Ghost of Yote, which we'll talk about. That's right, ninjas are back. Ninjas are back. Ninjas are back. It's pretty cool. I feel like ninjas used to be everywhere,

and now they're back. Yeah, the 80s was a big time for ninjas. Yeah, 80s was a big time for unironic ninjas. They kind of went away. Then we had like, I feel like an early 2000s, like, you know, internet irony, ninja pirate, you know. Yeah. They kind of went away then we had like I feel like an early 2000s like You know internet irony ninja pirate You know cowboy whatever the fuck that was like a big thing and then then that kind of people got that got oversaturated

But now it feels like unironic ninjas are back which I mean to I'm stoked for all the the ninja content That's coming my way. Yeah, I Did play shinobi back then, and Revenge of Shinobi specifically on Sega Genesis slash Mega Drive, which Heather, I'm not sure if that was a game you played as a kid, but that was a game I played on my friend's console.

We were a Nintendo family, but I always thought it was such a cool game. And it's also one of those things where I have a specific attachment to Shinobi because you know when you're a kid and there's just like another kid who's just like a liar like he just like makes shit up. He's just like fucking lying for no reason. Like some liar kid was like, like was like, yeah, shinobi is going to come to Nintendo. I just like, I just heard it. I was like, what really? Yeah, just me just my dumb ass just believing this kid saying some bullshit. But then the first party Sega- And it's the first party Sega game, it's not gonna come to a Nintendo platform. Like why even lie about that? Maybe he was talking about this.

Wow. That's what he meant. Cause this is on all platforms. Told ya. He calls you, fucking kicks your ass. I heard you were talking shit. Called me a liar, oh guess what bitch? Gives you an atomic wedgie. Yeah. Are we still talking August? You're talking shit. Called me a liar, oh guess what, bitch?

Gives you an atomic wedgie. Are we still talking August? Yeah. I'm excited about Super Robot Wars Y in August. Super Robot Wars is a tactical RPG where you take big mechs from all different anime and they're in a, they're fighting one another. big mechs from all different anime, and they're in a, they're in a, like a fighting, they're fighting one another. So you'll have like Gundam,

but you'll also have Evangelions. You'll also have, it's all real proper licensed mechs. Wow. Wow. And it's a tactical RPG. I've played one Super Robot Wars and had a very pleasant time doing it. It might just be a nice breakfast game. You know, like a game where you drop in,

you aren't like, this is going to be the only thing I play right now, but you spend a little time after a cup of coffee playing a little bit of Super Robot Wars, why? Do you think they'll have Gurren Lagann in there? Not big enough with the other ones? You know, they could. I think maybe Gurren Lagann has been in a Super Robot with the other ones? You know they could.

I think maybe Gurren Lagann has been in a Super Robot Wars. I'm not sure. I'm gonna have to check it out. It's a Bandai, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I can't answer that question. And while we're here in August,

and I know it came up already, I think I am gonna check out Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater Delta. I just have to see. Yeah, is the Delta before the Snake Eater or is it after the snake? It's actually it's before Metal Gear Solid Delta snake eater. Yeah It's just my favorite. It's like I mean Kingdom Hearts 2 is my favorite game Metal Gear Solid 3 snake ears probably this like well, it's I think it's three on the list if Pokemon gold is number two

Yeah, so it's like it's my third favorite game I gotta see what's going on phenomenal game when we did it an episode about it I mean it's just like we all just raved about the experience and I Hope I want the remake to be good. Yeah, I I'm worried it might Suck it bums me out that Kojima does not seem pleased by it. Yes. I guess I'm just gonna-

And as my new friend, I hate to go against him in this way, actually. To me, it's just like one to keep an eye on, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna buy it right at launch. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think that's a safe place to be. Just, I'm gonna be, if I don't get it at launch, I'll be at least, I'll be checking it.

I'll be observing what the people are saying. Did they do it? But they brought back the Aposcape mode. That's fun. And then I think on other platforms, it's something else. I think on Xbox, it's Mega Man or something. Okay. Matt, Gern Lagann is in Super Robot Wars X.

Great, so now this is actually my most anticipated game of the rest of this year. This is huge. I don't know if it's in Y, but it is in X. Okay, okay. Well, moving forward to, and since we're just talking about tactical RPGs, I think that naturally segues into September's Final Fantasy Tactics, the Ivalice Chronicles,

the extended remake of the original. Now here's the thing. Here it is. This is a remake of the PlayStation game that came out in 1997, but it does not have the additional content that is in the, what fans consider to be the definitive version, the PSP game, which I'd never played. I played the original on PlayStation 1. I never played the Game Boy Advance game that is your, Heather, your white whale. That's my, yeah, that's my white whale.

Your phantom pain. That's the one that took my leg. Yeah. But I know the fan reaction, the community reaction when they said that, like, no, this is going to be focused on what's in the original game. It's not going to be that expanded,'s in the original game It's not gonna be that expanded You know

Stuff from the from that finalizing tactics a PSP game. Did you play that one Heather? Not only did I play it. I still own it on UMD Wow Trying to be quiet in a library. Playing with headphones. Everyone's scared. The PSP game, they had to look up the subtitle, Final Fantasy Tactics, The War of the Lions. And The War of the Lions is, you know, it came out with the PSP, it came out 10 years after the original game,

but it does not have, that stuff has not been retained in this new remake that's coming. And... I don't know, it doesn't bump me necessarily, because, bump me necessarily, just because I don't have the familiarity with the PSP version, but it does seem like kind of an odd decision. To do like an, you know, essentially an HD 2D remake and amid all that stuff.

Yeah, I've not ever played a Final Fantasy Tactics. I was interested in this one, but knowing that there's a better version that they're not remaking sort of makes me want to dust off the Vita and play War of the Lions on my Vita. I absolutely think you should do that. Yeah. Because the Vita screen is gorgeous. The Vita screen is... Nick, have you seen a Vita screen before? Have you looked at how it's an OLED screen from like, what, 20 years ago now?

And the Switch 2 doesn't have an OLED screen? Gosh, is the Vita 20 years old? No. No, it's not quite. You scared me. I think the PSPita 20 years old? No, it's not quite. You scared me. I think the PSP is 21 years old now? That sounds about right, yeah. Vita, a gorgeous piece of hardware. God, it's so pretty.

Really nice. Really, really nice. I just want them to announce. Do it again. Just announce a handheld, like a real handheld Sony. Do it. Give it to me. I want a separate library of exclusive weird games. You know what?

I'm down if the PlayStation 6 takes on the Switch form factor and concept. Sure, why not? Like give us a fucking, like an $800 Sony system. And make sure it gets really hot. Yeah. I'd like to shout out two other games in September if we're in danger of moving on.

Sure. You know, I already mentioned Silent Hill F of course. But the other game I am lightly interested in, Terminator 2D No Fate. Oh yes. Which feels like classic Contra. If you watch the gameplay, it's like big bullets on screen

and you're moving sideways. And like, look, I don't know. Maybe I'll try it. If a game like that has a great score, that might just be enough to push me over the edge. You mean beyond? Choon-choon, choon-choon, choon-choon, choon-choon. You mean beyond. Chunchun, chunchun, chunchun. Chunchun, chunchun, chunchun.

I mean, they have to put that in. They gotta put it in. I hope they do. They have to put you in doing it. That does seem cool. Yeah, I like that there has been this sort of, I don't even really know, there's been like a wave of this type of thing happening

because there was a, there was like, sometime in the last couple years, there was a 2D Evil Dead slash, like Halloween packaged game or something, and now there's this Terminator one coming out. I don't know, it's cool. I, I'm, for the last season of Fortnite, Yeah.

have been maining Sarah Connor as my skin. Specifically the outfit that she wears when she goes to murder Miles Dyson in front of his family, because I think it's the funniest skin you can possibly wear in Fortnite. Because it's also, it's not, like you can be like, oh, it's Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He's just a bad guy all the time.

Yeah, yeah. But to have one of the outfit options be, I'm gonna go kill a man in front of his family. Yes, yeah. Until his son begs me not to, is a great, like a great skin in Fortnite. One of her iconic looks. It is an iconic look.

Anyway, I like Terminator. We watched Terminator on the anime show, our sister show, Get Animated. That's right. Oh yeah, we did. And, you know, I'll play a Terminator game. The Terminator anime started and I thought like, oh my God, did they do it?

And then it didn't. They did not. It kind of dissipated, yeah. I think it's tough because Terminator 2 just casts such a long shadow, you know? It's just so good. Terminator 1 is great, but Terminator 2. Is one of the best ever. Yeah, it's just so good it's Terminator 1 is great but Terminator 2 is one of the best ever yeah it's insane yeah if we're going in October the big one there the big boy wait no I'm scared those were spooky noises it's a door opening oh I thought that was just you making that noise. Yeah, this is my new character, weird man.

No, but you're doing like a spooky door. A spooky door. Sometimes Halloween doors make too much noise. They really do, yeah. Yep. So you were saying? Let's keep doing it. Ghost of Yotay, the follow up to Ghost of Tsuchima, a game I 100%ed during the pandemic and absolutely loved.

And while I was playing Assassin's Creed Shadows, a game I fell off of, but I initially enjoyed, I did kind of have the feeling of, is this, is what, is my enthusiasm for this game initially before the Ubisoft of it all kind of like it makes me bounce off of it as those games tend to do because I know Ghost of Yote is coming and is that part of what's going on?

And I hope that this game just iterates upon the first one, you know, in the same way that Death Stranding 2 did upon Death Stranding 1, but I loved Ghost of Tsushima and I'm very, very excited to play the follow-up. Yeah, I'm super stoked. Everything I've seen thus far, which is not much, looks promising, looks cool. And yeah, I agree.

Like, look, I said earlier, ninjas are back. Ninjas are back. And this is different. This is not exactly that, but I'm just excited to be riding around on a horse, doing crazy stuff, sneaking, being sneaky. I hope I get to have more interactions with an uncle, because as we know, Gus is Tsushima, one of the rare works of fiction that explores the uncle-nephew relationship. Yes, not since the band LMFAO has there been a stronger uncle nephew.

And that of course, then Scrooge McDuck and Huey Dewey and Louie, those are the- That's a big one. I think those are the big three. Those are the three, that's the triforce of uncle nephew. The Fresh Prince and Uncle Phil. That's a big one. If we wanna extend it.

Actually, that's a big one. Yeah, put that up there. And gosh, I think that's probably it. That might be the full list. Yeah. Yeah, do people know- The man from Uncle? The man from Uncle probably, yeah, I think that's probably it. That might be the full list. Yeah. The man from Uncle? The man from Uncle probably, yeah. He had a nephew for sure.

Do people know the LMFAO thing? That the one guy is the other guy's uncle? Red Fu and, oh man, I wish I knew the other one's name. I wish I knew. Red Fu, do you, Rich, do you know that about LMFAO? I think I heard it on this podcast. It's just fascinating to me that they're just like,

we're like an uncle nephew duo and we like to party and sing songs about partying. Sky blue. Sky blue and Red Fu, yeah. Imagine if, and look, they're roughly the same age. It's one of those things. I know that can happen with, you know. That can happen with uncles.

Yeah, that can happen, but Red Fu, his sky blues uncle. Just imagine, I'm just trying to think of my uncle being like, hey man, you wanna go rap? Yeah, you wanna go maybe like- You wanna do some party anthems? Yeah, do you wanna like, I don't know, party rock? Yeah, right, why the fuck not? And then conversely, do you wanna do another song

called Sorry for Party Rocking? That's yeah, right? Why the fuck not? And then conversely, do you want to do another song called, Sorry for Party Rockin'? And then it works and you and your uncle are like, you just play video games together when you're a kid. Yeah, and you just smoke weed and bang chicks and it makes songs about it. And then our songs will be played in stadiums till the end of time.

We'll be rich beyond any measure. Me and you, nephew. My nephew. My sibling's son. We don't know if it's by marriage or by blood. You know what? It does change a little bit. If it's by marriage, it's funnier.

Because there's no reason that these people should even be talking. It's also like that everyone I feel like who knows Party Rock knows Red Fu, but like Sky Blue is like somehow a much harder poll. Yes, Sky Blue is tough to remember for some reason. No disrespect, of course. Yeah, no disrespect. There are a couple of games that I'm looking forward to in October.

In fact, I think October might be my most stacked month of the year. Yeah, I mean, like also in terms of actual announced release dates, because after that we get into a lot of ambiguous 2025 holiday. Yes. Right, in large part because of the behemoth that left the room.

Behemoth? Of Grand Theft Auto VI. Behemoth. Behemoth? Behemoth. Behemoth. I was like, is behemoth an alternate pronunciation? No, it's behemoth.

Behemoth. Behemoth. So we've got, I'm gonna shout this one out first because I wrote an episode for the Amazon TV show Secret Level based on the Outer Worlds One and played a significant portion of Outer Worlds One as a result of doing the research

and trying to get invested in the world and it got its hooks in me. It's kind of got that like fallout, libertarianism gone amok. Like, you know, every planet is so capitalist and like it has that tone to it, that sort of winky tone. And I don't know, I enjoyed it. And maybe that deep into the end of the year,

I'm gonna want another chunky sort of action RPG. But. Wait, can you just comment on this one? Cause that one was on my list too, Outer Worlds sort of action RPG, but. Wait, can you just comment on this one? Cause that one was on my list too, Outer Worlds. Oh, okay, great. I played Outer Worlds one. I did really like it at the level, the quality of writing was very high

and it does have like a cheeky sort of sensibility. I think it's like, you know, Fallout is funny, but this was, it's leaning more into comedy and really leaning more into just the idea of basically what if Amazon.com and its competitors are just like the most powerful entities in some sort of future society? And we're all just-

Yeah, what if? Yeah. It'd be so crazy. This weird, wild, speculative sci-fi fiction. No, it's a- It's snowfi fiction. No, it's a... It's Snow Crash adjacent. Yeah, it's very much like Snow Crash. But like, it's...

But the thing I will say about Outer Worlds 1 is it does feel a little bit like the demo for Outer Worlds 1. It's kind of, you know, the scope is maybe a little bit limited. There are some really cool quests, but it does feel perhaps a little bit less cohesive. And I feel like outer worlds to obsidian, who's a developer who you know, you mentioned Fallout, and they of course, are responsible for a new Vegas is there's so many talented people at obsidian, and I'm hoping with a little bit

more time and with a little bit more resources now with with Microsoft behind them, as we've learned, it can only be a positive influence that Outer Worlds 2 will really, really come together. So I am definitely excited for this game. I also want to shout out another RPG coming out that month, which is Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2. Okay, this is on my list, but I have this list as I don't think

it's coming out this year. I don't think it's coming out this year either. Blood, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines came out, what, 20 years ago? Yes, I worked with some, when I worked in video game development, which I'm mentioning for the second time today, I worked with- Get over it.

I worked with some people who worked on Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 1. That's wild. And it was interesting to hear about. 21 years ago. Yeah, it was interesting to hear about that development process and how they had, you know, less resources than they would have liked. And that game came out and was kind of buggy, but they also just seemed to have a lot of creative freedom and a lot of internal support for what they were doing. I used to play tabletop Vampire the Masquerade and really liked the systems, really liked all the lore. And I didn't dip into Bloodlines 1

because it was so notoriously buggy. And I was like, I don't really want to spend my, at that point, extremely hard-earned money playing a game that was reviewed as technically diminished. So now that I have a tiny bit more disposable income, I'm like, man, maybe I'll give Bloodlines 2 a shot and play some of my old vampire characters. That might be fun.

That does sound cool. I've never messed with either tabletop or video game Vampire the Masquerade at all. So I could get into this one. Matt, can I tell you a crazy story about how I used to play Vampire the Masquerade in Chicago? I'd love nothing more. Vampire the Masquerade had a scene in Chicago

that was a live action role playing version of Vampire the Masquerade had a scene in Chicago that was a live-action role-playing version of Vampire the Masquerade. Okay. And I only attended a few times, but it was in a warehouse downtown that somebody had purchased or rented. Yeah. And each floor was broken off,

this huge, huge fucking warehouse, was broken off into individual sections, like, sort of like, theatrically staged. So, like, on one floor off into individual sections, like sort of like theatrically staged. So like on one floor you would have like a bar, but you would also have like a library area or you would also have like what felt like, you know, today would be a cell phone store.

And the building was so many floors that one of them was underground and had access to the old Chicago sewer system, which was cleaned out because it was not like currently functioning. And you would go and play live action, Vampire the Masquerade in costumes. And if there was combat that happened on any floor, all the combat was solved with weighted games of Rochambeau

because you couldn't do dice while doing live action stuff, right? But you could do like, oh, you have seven throws and this person has two throws, is how you would weight the stuff. But in order to make it into a real time slash turn-based combat system, there were all of these handlers on the floors

and they would have walkie talkies and they would be like, okay, pause on the floor. If any of you have alacrity level seven or your senses of blah, blah, blah, raise your hand. And so you would raise your hand and they'd come over and they'd whisper in your ear, you are aware that combat is taking place. And so your character had the option,

because you're vampires, to move to the floor where the combat was happening in case somebody was in your group or your coven or whatever, and was engaged in combat. Because if you were a vampire in Chicago, you would technically be able to like fly across the city or whatever. So you would technically be able to like fly across the city or whatever.

So you would have like all of this like. Get on public transit as well. They can travel kind of anyway. Yeah, sure. It was like a fucking wild, immense production. Yeah. And was handled extremely well and was a very pleasurable experience.

I love. How much are you going in for to do one of these runs? I think you would pay like $25 or something. Wow. How much of your time? It's like probably hours and hours, right? Hours and hours of your time. And if there's like, I don't know,

I bet there were like 300 people there, right? So 300 times 25 and you pay all the people on different floors and there's nothing else. Like there's no, you know, the bar was paid was paid so you had to like if you were buying a drink or coke or whatever You'd have to pay money for it. Yeah, so like I don't know It was a pretty cool thing that people were doing and that sounds amazing I do love stuff like that because like I like hearing stuff like that exists like that larking Because it's all just driven by enthusiasm.

And that to me, I think is, I think there was a time, and maybe still now, where people think enthusiasm is corny, kind of. And it can, it can bleed into being a little corny. But I just think it's cool that people want to get together and do the same thing with each other. Yeah, and it's also playing a game. Yes.

Like, human beings, like we have like fuckin' chips of bone from like five million years ago. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, oh, we've always been game players. Yeah, I love that. From Sapiens to Ludens. God damn. Anyway, so I'm- What you just described sounds like some shit that ranch would tell us she did over the weekend

That's just a Tuesday for me She'd be like oh, yeah, I did that too Wow, that's great. She'd be like, wait, game? Mine had a real vampire in it. Yeah. We both knew. So yeah, lightly excited for Bloodlines 2. Also hyped for Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD 2D remake. Yes, I hope that that comes together. I mean, like, you know, hey, look, I played Dragon Quest, localized as, hey, look, I played Dragon Quest localized as Dragon Warrior on my NES, I maybe said

in the podcast before, one of like maybe six games my dad actually has played in his like he played my dad finished Dragon Warrior for NES. He was so engrossed by it. But it's it's that and Final Fantasy one or what got me into JRPGs, which, hey, as far as an entry point, you know, those are probably the two... I mean, what kind of fucking observation is this? Final Fantasy 1 and Dragon Quest 1 were two of the two most important JRPGs. Of the games that are still in that genre and being produced today.

Yes, yeah. So, like, the original is a very important game to me and I hope the HD 2D remake lets me relive that. People seem to like Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D. Yes, so I hope it's in the same tier. I got a big one and a small one. I'm gonna start with the small one for October Mina the Hollower Okay, Mina the Hollower is the team that did the team behind shovel knight and

it's a Isometric a little action game sort of like the Gameboy advanced not the Gameboy advanced the Gameboy color Zelda games And it's you play as like a little mouse. She's an inventor. I'll just read you the synopsis here. The game revolves around Mina, a skilled inventor and holower who travels the Ten Burrows Isle to discover why her spark generators,

which she invented to power the island, have gone out. And it takes place in a 1700s gothic horror inspired world and there's a bunch of tiny little animals, anthropomorphic animals. And that seems, look, that's like, that's my whole thing. Hasn't been on my radar, but that sound, you got me intrigued. It's like this little cute little art,

like that looks great. Yeah, it looks fun. That looks like a lot of fun. So I'm checking that out for sure. Lovely. When that comes out. And then the big one. Uh-oh.

Pokemon Legend ZA, of course. I've already pre-ordered it. And I'm going to get a mystery plush. And whatever plush comes is the starter that I'm going to pick. Oh, I love it. So that's pretty exciting for me. And I'm encouraged by the performance of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet on the Switch 2. Just from the Switch 1 version of the game. That's the only one that exists.

Runs better on Switch 2. So I'm hopeful that the Switch 2 version of Pokemon ZA is going to be looking real nice. And performing nice You know as somebody still deeply addicted to Pokemon the card game pocket Part of me wonders if I might I might dip in a ZA I Would love the more the merrier I would love to be able to battle with and trade with you got a Trubbish sticker right there I got a Trubbish sticker right here in hand, and I love my boy. That's right I got a Trubbish sticker right here in hand, and I love my boy. That's right.

And I wonder if there will be a card event within the game to tie in with the new Pokemon coming out. Could be. That could be interesting. Could be. But that's kind of, yeah, that's kind of it for me for October. And then the rest of the ones are sort of TBD 2025. I'll give a quick shout out to a game I expected you to mention,

Matt, especially because ninjas are back. I know you played Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, which was a surprise announcement. They also announced at the same time Ninja Gaiden 4, which is coming out, I believe it has an October 21st release date, as Pen sold him. Yeah, October 21st. And I am... And Team Ninja, Platinum Games, CoLab, I just, those games, the, I played 2D games back in the game, the 3D games were very fun and challenging, and I just, I hope this is a modern version of that,

is like more of an action combat game, as opposed to, you know, this sort of like 3D character action thing. I'm sorry, rather, as part of something that's like a little bit more expensive, I hope it is a little bit more limited and action focused and scope. I should get back to Ninja Gaiden

Tube black because it was it's so fucking good And it looks great and the new one ninja gotten four looks fucking fantastic. It looks really really fun It looks like it has like more of a a futuristic slant too, which is kind of interesting the rest of the year has a few games, and I'm just going to speed through these because Vampire of the Masquerade's Bloodlines 2, as Heather mentioned, I kind of feel like, because that's going to be pushed into 2026,

but that may be just me thinking about the original game and how, you know, the state it shipped in and then just wanting to make sure that it's, everything is buttoned up before it's to make sure that it's it's everything is buttoned up before. Well, it's officially released before and it's been postponed. Yeah. But I do think Metroid Prime 4 Beyond which right now just has a 2025 release date will be released this year. I do think that is going to happen around the

holidays. I think so too. I also think Halle Hades too, especially after messing around with the version that came on their the most recent update, I forget what it was called, but they think it was such a major update, they gave it some sort of, some sort of name. I think it's going to officially emerge from early access. And that could be, you know, another challenger for the game of the year. Slay the Spire 2. I mean, look, look, very, gonna be very much my shit could ruin my life. I do, I do think that will come out this year. Wolf Among Us 2, I'm also just like a little bit,

that's another one where it's just like, the release date has been so ambiguous and I figure I want to get that game right. And I love Wolf Among Us 1. It's such an awesome game that I'm excited for the sequel. But I think it's going to come out in 2026 and I hope they take all the time they need. Some ones that I'm looking forward to

Everybody's golf hotshots. Okay, I really liked hot shots golf on the PlayStation 2 specifically hot shots golf for fo re yeah, and I'm not even like a golf guy, but I've kind of it's been coming up a little bit more in my life Yeah, and like some friends are starting to like get into it. I was like, should I become a golf guy? I love golf. Do we golf? Let's golf. Everybody's golf.

If you love golf, I have an anime for you. Oh, yeah. Help, I woke up as a golf ball. And I've lived 1000 years. My dad is a washing machine. Overleveled golf ball life. Help, I'm a level 99 golf ball. This is TVMA?

Yeah. Golf ball fucks? Yeah. The golf ball has a visible dick. So I'm interested in that. Look, I'm playing Hollow Knight right now. Hollow Knight Silksong coming out this year. It's been promised forever.

I don't think it's coming out this year. You don't think so? I mean, that's a game that just like, I feel like that's been teased for like five years now. I feel like they keep talking about Silksong. I feel like that's just a... I feel like they have said, I mean, here's the thing, you could just say something. Sure.

But I feel like I've heard definitively that it's coming out in 2025. All right, we'll see. And I'd love to, look, would I love a delay because am I confident that I'm gonna finish it this year? Who could say? Well, I'd like to finish it before silk song comes out

but I'm interested in that and Marvel cosmic invasion the 2d Like side-scrolling Marvel beat-em-up that they they showed at a some event One of you know one of the year's events looks cool Looks like it looks like it could be a cool game And then there's this sort of like cyber punky game that I've had on my radar for like four years That's supposedly coming out this year, but it's been delayed like twice called replaced

Okay, and I just I just wanted to shout it out because I think it looks really cool But I just don't I don't know if it's coming out this year It but I but I would like to, because I want to play it. I've had it on my wish list for, I think, yeah, like four years. Just still, even with the way you were saying, Heather, just like, things are being delayed or held back because they were worried about Grand Theft Auto 6, which of course now isn't coming out this year.

It's too much fucking shit. I gotta stop, I just, I gotta stop doing other stuff. It's too much fucking shit. I gotta stop doing other stuff. There's too much shit. I'm gonna play these fucking games. That's why I sort of... I sort of had given up, like there's no more books, I'm not doing any of that. Like games and like movies and like maybe like a new like sauce. Yeah. Volunteering, that's out.

That's out. Voting, that's out out. That's out. Voting that's out. Voting's out, well they won't let us. But like they took that, gosh, being neighborly, forget that. No time for that shit. No, no way.

Yeah, we gotta hole up in our below ground shelters and get deliveries. Yeah. You know, for some reason the shelters in the first game seemed sadder to me for some reason. They did. But in this one, I'm sort of like, it seems kind of nice. I think I could fuck with having a shelter like this that's kind of far away from everybody.

I think that's also just like a nod to everything is improving. It's kind of the state you're in, and Death Stranding too, is like things are in the process of being rebuilt. New infrastructure is coming online. But yeah, it is. I'm with you. There's like a coziness to it, where it's more sterile in the first game.

Yeah, your shower and toilet's not in your bedroom. That's like a big upgrade. I do miss the advertising, though. I do. in the first game. Yeah, like your shower and toilets not in your bedroom. Right. That's like a big upgrade. I do miss the advertising though. I do. I do too. I want to hear about Norman Reedus's motorcycle show. I'm dropping a deuce.

And then that like big mascot that they put in there too. I was like, who is that? I have no information about what that is. I'll never investigate it either. I'll be like confused by that for the rest of my life. As I'm taking my final breath, so I'll be like, what the fuck was that? Who was that guy? Shall we do a segment?

Let's do it. Let's do a segment. Hey, I got a new segment. With all the casting announcements of the new Street Fighter movie, we thought we could wish cast another video game IP and a new segment we're calling Segment dream cast segment being short for segment This is Segment dream cast Street Fighter. Of course. Yeah, I like that

You just immediately were like I have to get ahead of this and I have to explain what? Segment is what cake if I call it segment dreamcast it doesn't sound enough like Sega well What if you just said segment dreamcast? Oh fuck that's good. That's pretty good. Well. I would just an alt say I do have to say segment sounds bad Yeah, it sounds disgusting. So I thought Street Fighter, big Capcom IP, why don't we pivot to another Capcom IP that has yet to be adapted into a live action feature film? We're doing Mega Man, aka Rockman. This is actually good because I do think, I think I've said this on the show.

Yeah. They're not doing enough with Mega Man. Mega Man should have the visibility that Sonic has. Yes. Where like there should be TV shows, there should be movies of Mega Man, and at the very least new Mega Man games as well. So this is actually very exciting. Gosh, who who who would you even who could even portray the blue bomber himself?

So I have a bit of a disclosure here, which is that I don't know a lot of actors. I'm not good with actors. I don't know them. So I'll do my best to participate in this segment, but I might be a little short. My list might be a little short. Okay. RC, if you got any pitches based on likeness, feel free to chime in as well. You gotta just go on, you have vibe alone.

I do actually have a pitch for Mega Man. That's the longest list of child actors I've ever seen, Nick, handwritten. Okay. Why is it handwritten? Yeah. I don't know Mega Man's canonical age, but he reads as young to me, right? Yeah.

He feels like Astro Boy. Yes. And there's a film that came out this year, which I loved and is really effective and is centered on a child actor. The film is 28 years later. And the actor is Alfie Williams. This is, I think, this movie is Alfie Williams'

third credit, so he is very much at the start of his career. But I just feel like he's got so much charisma and he just displays such an incredible emotional range in 28 years later. I think he'd be a good Mega Man. That's a good, that's really good, Nick. Who's laughing at the handwritten list now? I didn't handwrite it because I didn't, I came to fucking play. All right, I came to win

Um, that's a really good pitch Um, and certainly if I would I would imagine that mega man does skew a little bit younger in age So they're gonna want somebody young so they could have them for a few pictures. How old is this guy? How old is how old is mega man? I'm gonna look it up. 31. His name is not Mega Boy is it? It's Mega Man. I had a pitch for who Mega Man would be. Or have we already settled on it? No, no, no, please. We can pay. We don't have to make an official decision. We just... Mine was from the series Adolescents on Netflix. Yeah. The young man Owen Cooper.

Because I like when an anime protagonist has a little bit of darkness, and they've gotta keep that darkness at bay in order to succeed. Now, I don't know if you guys saw Adolescence. It is an extremely disturbing piece of media, but also extraordinarily acted. And it's only because of the acting

that it is truly disturbing. Like, otherwise it would have been like something that people would have just passed over. But as a threatening presence, Owen Cooper is excellent, but he can also play sweet. Wow, okay. So, you know, I like the idea of Mega Man being like, well, you know, I've gotta go out there and fight. And then he sees somebody die and he's like, no!

And you're like, oh shit, Mega Man's about to go off. That is really good. Also, these two boys kinda look the same. They kinda look the same, they both look extremely English And look I think these are great pitches we'll get to remember yeah, this is a Hollywood, baby That's that's a good point. This is Hollywood and we want to get this thing made and I know I just know that whatever Whoever's desk this is going across ain't casting some little English kid they're gonna do they want a movie star to be Mega Man and

they're gonna go on the younger side of things but they're gonna they're gonna go for a household name for this and you know, they're going Tom Holland a Different English boy. Oh, it's a pretty good pitch. Tom Holland is Mega Man. Could be. It's not bad. Tom Holland could be Mega Man. He's been in Uncharted. He's been in Uncharted. You could see him in the blue suit is the thing. He's used to wearing a suit. And I know it's like, he's obviously Spider-Man, so there's a lot of baggage with that. But he is a man. He is a man. So if you want to go man, lean into the man side of Mega Man. Yes. It's not, I don't think it's like, it's a basic pitch.

It's a studio safe pitch. Right. But it's not a bad one. Can I make one more pitch? Yeah. Make it Jack Black. Yeah, I mean, no. I think we could get Jack Black in here and we can get him in later.

I just want to say before we move off Owen Cooper that his most recent promo photos, he looks like Mega Man. He's got like the same haircut with the little tuft in the middle. Makes him look like Mega Man. Alright, let's move on. Imagine Jack Black with an arm cannon. I was gonna say, it'd be very funny. All right, we got Roll. Roll is Mega Man's sister. Now I'm not sure if Roll would factor

into the Mega Man, first Mega Man film, but I feel like there's a chance that she might. I got one. And this is going, so I'm sort of casting the movie as starring Tom Holland, okay? Okay. So you don't necessarily always have to then, you know, keep in with your casting, but this is what I think.

If they're going for Tom Holland for Mega Man, they're going to also go for an equally big star for role, but they're going to think outside the box, they're not going with necessarily somebody who's known as an actor first. They've done acting, but they're not an actor first. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, as role in the Mega Man movie, Sabrina Carpenter. Wow. I think if they're going to make it a meaty character, that would make some sense.

Jesus, Matt, have you just cracked it wide open? I kind of... Look! Unfortunately, I think like a suit, baby. I just think it's not a bad idea if they're going to go with this age range, I think. And she's popular. I'm kind of thinking, I'm drawing on bad ideas I've heard in my life. Do I hate the game we're playing right now,

or do I love it? It's really fun, I'm having a great time. Sabrina Carpenter could be good. If they wanna make it a big, they wanna give her a lot to do certainly Yeah, you know the other Maybe write the song for the movie mega man song. I mean that makes a lot of sense the other the other actor I'm thinking of is

You know it has been some studio films of former child actor But I feel like Kiernan Shipka also was kind of like in that roll wheelhouse if you're going to skew an actor in their 20s. That's really good. And has been doing great work recently. I mean the last thing I think you saw her in was Red One. So oh, well she was well and she was in Twister briefly, Twisters briefly. I mean very good actor.

And in Long Legs she was great as well. Oh, she was good in Long Legs. Yeah. And now here's the thing the the thing I don't actually I was trying to think of like hey if it's gonna be a kid Who would it be? Yeah, I'm having trouble pulling like child actresses Yeah, that's okay I you know what cuz like Kiernan Shipka could be Mega Man's older sister is the thing Yeah, do doesn't necessarily they don't to be yeah, well doesn't have to be younger You know what? Because Kiernan Shipka could be Mega Man's older sister, is the thing, too.

They don't have to be the same age. Yeah, the role doesn't have to be younger. Let's immediately start compromising the vision of the game. That's what I wonder. Because the other thing, you don't want to alienate the fan base. The movies here that haven't worked

have been ones where they just kind of completely defy the source material or change it arbitrarily. You could do, I mean... Maybe there's a new kid. Like if I'm the suit, I'd be like, what about Millie Bobby Brown? That's been there. Millie Bobby Brown is very savvy.

She's got that stranger things in her, she's in Godzilla, you know, like, what about Millie? Well, Millie on the board. Yeah, MBB's not a bad call. I'm actually, I think I have it cracked. I think this is one, you put out an open casting call and the actual role is going to be TBD mystery kid. So I put like a question mark and TBD Mystery Kid

because they cast an unknown and that unknown and people are like, where did this kid come from? This kid is good. This kid is good. And then you start seeing that kid in other things. But it's also like, it's not a thankless role either. No, no, it's like a real- This kid's gonna have to really be a good actor.

Yeah. Like the Harry Potter kids. Like those kids were nobody. No, I think that's what it's gonna be. I think. Like the Harry Potter kids. Like those kids were nobody. No, I think that's what it's going to be. I think it's going to be New Kid. So I'm going to say role, New Kid. New Kid.

New Kid just dropped. New Kid is role. Yeah. Okay, I love that. New Kid. And then just one more option, I think. Make a Jack Black. Jack Black can't play. Here's the thing, he can play all the characters,

but we don't have to cast Jack Black as all the characters. But we could. Yeah, well, here's the thing, he's a fucking star. I do think he might be the right actor for the next role. I think so too. All right, so next up, Dr. Light. It's really good. It'd be a good Jack Black. up, Dr. Light. It's really good. It'd be a good Jack Black.

If it's Jack Black, it's really good. Give him a big white beard. No, it's Jack Black. We're done. All right, we're done. Let's move on. It's done. Jack Black is gonna be in all these movies.

Any video game adaptation has gotta have a Jack Black. And he's Dr. Light in the Mega Man movie. Yeah. Yeah. He is. He is. He is Dr. Light. And that Man movie. Yeah. Is Dr. Light. And that's what they'll say on the poster. That is, so Ranjit just put Jack Black's picture over the Dr. Light image and it lines up.

Yeah. Like his beard is the same. It's fucking weird. Yeah, that's insane. Next time I see him walking around my neighborhood, I'm gonna tell him, you have to be Dr. Light. Let's go to the film's antagonist, Dr. Wily. This could also be Jack.

No, you know what? It's a dual role. It worked well in the third Sonic. It's true. I think, I actually think third, I think third Sonic is where you pull the inspiration for this. I think Dr. Wily is Jim Carrey. You think you'd get James Carrey in here?

I think it's just, he's making a Jim Carrey face. Yeah. You know, there'd be like, like Winky Press where he'd be like, I guess I just played doctors in video game movies now. Is it too- It's not bad. Here's the thing. Is it too similar to what he's doing in,

cause he's playing so big and broad. Yeah. That I like, I wonder if he's, if it would be just like too much like, just remind us of Sonic. Okay, well then. The pictures that Ranch is sourcing for this are very funny.

Yeah. But I mean it would be good. Yeah, like I wouldn't, it's not gonna deter me from seeing it if Jim Carrey is Dr. Wily. I think. Fuck, I thought of another good doctor, but we don't have to go back. John Goodman?

No, Stephen McKinley Henderson. He's a Thufir Hawat in Dune. He's one of those like that guy actors who you've seen as a character actor in a million things. But he has like such gravity and such presence that you could totally see him pulling off like the kindly sort of Dr. Light sort of vibes. Well, if he's Dr. Light,

then you have Jack Black is Dr. Wiley. I agree, we settled it. Then Jack Black is unavailable for Dr. Wiley, yeah. I can also see, gosh, I feel like you get somebody in there that wants to stretch a little bit. Yeah, sure. And you get like, if I'm casting the movie and it's Tom Holland,

I didn't have a populist pick for Dr. Light, I guess. We went with Jack Black, I suppose. But Dr. Wiley, you get somebody who doesn't necessarily do this. You do like, I think you might go Momoa. He can be so broad. He plays very, he's like very goofy. What about like a deeply tortured Paul Giamatti?

Yeah, fuck, Giamatti. Giamatti's great. I think Giamatti's it, I think he cracked it. It's Giamatti. I put my hands up, I have to say this one. Okay. Willem Dafoe. Dafoe would be great too.

Yeah. Dafoe would be pretty good. Dafoe would be great. I think that's the right ballpark. Playing it as a genuine heavy as opposed to like the goofball energy that Cary brings to a company robotnik. Yeah. Dafoe with his distractingly long penis. as opposed to like the goofball energy that Carrie brings to a robotnik. Defeo with his distractingly long penis.

Well that won't come up in this PG children's movie. But you sort of know about it. So like go again, it's like the baggage you have with him as an actor. Well that's just like something for mom and dad. There's this statistic that I read and I think that one of those like internet webcomics It's just like something for mom and dad. There's this statistic that I read, and I think that one of those internet web comics

about how every day, if when you're zero, you haven't learned anything, and by the time you're 30, you've learned like 100% of the things, then every day there are 10,000 people, statistically, who are learning about something for the first time, right? Somebody listening to this podcast is like, wait, what? They are today's 10,000.

And it's Willem Dafoe has an enormous penis. A penis so problematic that it fell out of his costume during the last temptation of Christ. A penis so large that they had to get a different person to play his penis in the beginning of Antichrist. That's right. Because his penis was so big that they were like, nobody will believe this.

No one's gonna believe it. This can't be true. Defoe as Wily is good. I can really see it. He's got the sort of long face to go with it. Yep. And Dr. Wily has kind of a Green Goblin mask as a face currently.

Yeah, that's true. Who's next? All right, let's skip ahead. Let's go to the end. And the last one we have is Protoman. And I visioned Protoman in the Mega Man movie and the first Mega Man movie is like the mid credits or post credits tease.

Like, holy shit, it's Protoman, Protoman's here. So like someone who can make a splash, but also someone who could be a big element in the second movie. Give it to Michael B. Jordan. That's fun. Is he too big now? To be Proto Man?

Imagine if, okay, like hold on a second. Let's say that we cast one of those little British kids as like Mega Man, and then the mid credits fucking Michael B Jordan shows up as Proto Man What is the next movie going to be yeah that adult is going to kill that Because you can't put like new kid in here. It's gotta be something that pops. Wait, I thought Proto Man was his ally. He is.

Oh, okay, great. Great, yeah. Yeah, so you can't, you have to stunt cast. Proto Man's got like that sort of weird, like is he, you know what, it's kind of a shadow of the hedgehog. It's like, is he on his side or not? Ultimately he is, but there's times where he's like,

he's kind of a rival as much as a as a Is someone who's working with him? you go I Mean gosh, there's so many do you go Glenn Powell? Does Glenn Powell sign on to be a mid credits tease? You mean Glenn Powell is proto man. I don't know I was spitballing here. I'm tired now. I'm just looking at him. It doesn't work.

It's not as good as Tom Holland as Mega Man, certainly. You know what I think you could do is like, if Tom Holland could be the guy who ends up as, if he's not Mega Man, maybe he ends up as proto-man. Maybe that's the reveal you have. That could be cool. Oh, okay, there you go. Let's get an enemy. I want one of cool. Oh, okay, there you go. Let's get an enemy.

I want one of the bad men. Let's do one robot master. I mean, we got Dr. Wily Cass, but like, let's say we got one robot master. We got Elec Man, we got Fire Man, we got Bomb Man, we got Ice Man, we got Guts Man, we got Cut Man. Who do we wanna go with?

Guts Man is a big guy. Cut Man's kind of fun, because he's like a little guy with like some scissors is a big guy. Cut Man's kind of fun because he's like a little guy with like some scissors on his head. Yeah, that's kind of fun. You kind of want somebody, maybe he's like, that's a stunt cast where he's, Mega Man makes short work of Cut Man,

like pretty easily in the movie. Well, I mean, if you are going through the standard path, he is the first one you go after with your Mega Buster to accumulate his weapon that you subsequently use to take down the next bosses in sequence. The next robot masters in sequence. So you get an actor who's gonna have a lot of fun, but you're only gonna have for like a day, right?

Yeah, I have a pitch. Chuck Tingle. Chuck Tingle as Cut Man? No. One little cameo. For who? For me. He wears a mask, he hides his identity, as Cut Man? No. Fun little cameo. For who? For me.

He wears a mask. He hides his identity. Yeah. He knows how to act in a suit. I would like to pitch somebody else who's often acting inside of a mask. Yeah. Because what it would set up is kind of like in those 90s

movies where you would have like a major actor and that they would die like almost immediately or like the other guys, you know? Yes. What if Cut Man was Adam Driver? So you're like, oh shit, this is gonna be a big fight. And then Mega Man just cuts through him immediately. Cause yeah, Driver has the gravitas to read as a heavy for sure.

Yeah, you'd be like, oh no, the first one is that guy? Yeah. And then Mega Man dispenses with him, disposes of him very quickly. And then you're like, oh, oh, Mega Man might be good. I have a radical pitch as well. Yeah. I think Driver might be a good Dr. Wiley. Kind of fun.

Little bit younger, but it's kind of a fun way to go. Like I think he could do it. He could do it. Our Dr. Wiley page is awesome. The Dr. Wiley page is in a studio exec's office right now. 100%. My Steve McGillie Anderson pitch, by the way, was for Dr. Light, not Dr. Wiley. He's too gentle to be that evil.

He's too gentle. I would love to see it. Yeah, I mean, he could pull it off. Yeah, he's great. He has got a range. Look, his shirt lines up. It kind of works. What the fuck?

I was ranching doing this. What the fuck? Okay, actually, my casting choice is ranch has cut, man. It kinda works. What the fuck? It's good. How does Ranch keep doing this? What the fuck? Okay, actually my casting choice is uh, Ranch as Cut Man. All right, I think we solved it. We did it. Great. I can't wait to see this movie.

Yeah. Well, one more Cut Man pitch. Kid Cuddy. It's right there kid Cuddy Okay, honestly He would be pretty good You would have a lot of fun with it. He was great in trap a good actor. He's good. Yeah, he played big Yeah, yeah, he cut he is cut man. Okay, then they can just have a lot of fun with that in the press to us They can just have a lot of fun with that in the press tour

It's good. You're playing cut man. I could see the man if this was 15 years ago, and this movie was coming out in the funny or die era. It's cutty not cutty. That's the video I Have made it for $150 Diet dr. Pepper I have a pitch. You got a diet Dr. Pepper? I have a pitch for Cut Man. You know how sometimes you'll hear the casting announcement for like Street Fighter the movie or whatever and you'll be like, what? You know, you kind of like, I don't even know how that works. So my pitch for Cut Man is Jeremy Allen White from The Bear.

Yeah, because that makes about as much sense as him playing like Zorba the Hutt's son or whatever the fuck. Great, I love it. And if you look at his muscles, he is a cut man. Wow. Wow. That's our show. Our producer is Rochelle Chen Ranch. Yard underscore underscore star.

That could have been the lowest of the low. Rochelle, you back to streaming? Yeah. Awesome. Still on Silent Hill too. How's it going? It's fun. I really like it. Twitch.tv slash yard underscore underscore sard

to watch along. Your music is by Ben Prunty, benpruntymusic.com. Our art is by Duck Brigade Design, duckbrigade.com. Get played merch, kinshipgoods.com. Link in the show description. Also check out Get Animated, our sister show on Patreon. Matt, what's this week? This week we're watching Dandidand, The Evil Eye,

the film that was in theaters that is the first three episodes of the newest season of Dandidand, which is, I think, out now. Very fun show. Really enjoyed the first season. Very fun to talk about the movie and looking forward to the second season proper let's go Dan to Dan Dan to Dan Dan to Dan Dan to Dan Dan to Dan Dan to Dan and

You know who got played all the all the games that are coming out, but that's featured It's like this future in the future It doesn't really make sense to be using past tense and say they get they got played because they're gonna get I guess they're gonna Get played. I'm and say they got played because they're gonna get I guess they're gonna get played. I'm Sam. I got played too. That was a hate gum podcast. Hi there. My name is Allison Williams. If you know who I am at all, it would probably be thanks to my job as an actress on shows like Girls and in movies like Megan. Recently, when I was having a moment of gratitude for

my group chat, I thought, I wish everyone could have these geniuses at their fingertips like I do. Well, now you do. Hi, hi, it's Hope. Hey babe, it's Jamie. Welcome to our podcast, Landlines, where we share our life-sustaining and shame-extinguishing friendship. We have known each other and we've been friends for a very long time. Hope was my first best friend, but it wasn't mutual. I mean, it wasn't the story of my life. I distinctly remember calling her on the phone and asking if she'd sit next to me on the bus, and she said maybe.

At least she didn't say no. She always said maybe. Maybe it was meaner. She wasn't sure. Maybe it was like discerning. When I was pregnant, I started this group chat to prepare and crowd source and it's been such a delight to troubleshoot with our friend group. And we just had this thought, should we invite other people into our group chat?

I'm a therapist. I'm a trained early childhood educator. And I'm well, you know, whatever I am, I guess someone who has the vibe of having it all together. And still the three of us find it hard to be moms, partners, friends, family members, professional women, and just, you know, adults. The stuff we're talking about, whatever the recent fight was with our partner

or the parenting concern we have or a funny thing with our kids, or it's like, what's going on with my body? I feel like I have like a family of squirrels living in my lower abdomen. Like I feel affirmed, I feel normalized. I feel like I'm not going fucking crazy. And I had to talk it out with you guys with different perspectives and different identities

that you're juggling. Totally. Lifelong friendship has been our lifeline. We sincerely hope our conversation makes you feel less alone in whatever you're going through. So subscribe to Landlines on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are out now on Headcom. Love you!