Get Played - Holiday Draft

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is a HeadGum Podcast. People throwing parties, ugly sweaters everywhere, stockings hung up by the chimney with care. It could only mean one thing. McRib is here. At Participating McDonald's for a limited time. Okay, I hope you kids are excited for your Christmas present cuz I think I got you exactly what you wanted. What? Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, what is it?

Starting point is 00:00:51 What is it? Open it up, open it up! Okay, okay, okay. Nintendo 64! Nintendo 64! Nintendo 64! Oh my god! Nintendo 64!

Starting point is 00:00:59 Nintendo 64! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! Look out, look out! I'm losing people! Oh my god! I'm losing people! I'm losing people! I don't know what to do!

Starting point is 00:01:10 I don't know what to do! I don't know what to do! Calm down, just take it easy. Take it easy! I'm losing people! I'm losing people! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! Yes!

Starting point is 00:01:25 Yes! You're hurting me! You're hurting me! You're hurting me! You're hurting me! You're hurting your dad! Why? Why? Why did you do this to your father? I just wanted to make you happy! I don't even... Do you see any games?

Starting point is 00:01:47 There aren't any games. There are no games for it? You didn't get us any games? You dumb asshole! You stupid dad! I thought there was a packet. We make our lists and check them twice as we draft video game Christmases this week on Get Played! Let's fucking go!

Starting point is 00:02:30 Welcome to Get Played, your one-stop show of- The hell? Keep going. Welcome to 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, Nick Weiger. show for good games, bad games, and every game in between. It's time to get played. I'm your host, Heather Ann Campbell,

Starting point is 00:02:46 along with my fellow host, Nick Weiger. Let's fucking go, I guess. I'm Nick Weiger, along with our third host, Matt Abadaka. Let's fucking go! Hello, everyone. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the premiere video game podcast, where this week we are talking Christmas time. Ho, ho, ho.

Starting point is 00:03:03 Ho, ho, ho! Santa. Santa. Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho. Santa. Santa. We love you, Santa. Santa Claus. What do you want under your tree? Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho.

Starting point is 00:03:17 I like this Santa because in most, in the media's portrayal of Santa, he's more of a guy, right? He's sort of, he seems like a guy. He's a magical guy, but he's a guy. He's like a magical man. This Santa, our Santa, is creature-esque. Yeah, more of a cryptid. It's interesting.

Starting point is 00:03:41 I think the, yeah, cause like the portrayal of, like Santa for so long was just like this like jolly genteel like you know a fatherly figure and then we had like the I feel like the phase where we kind of had like the Tim Allen Santa or the Paul Giamatti Santa or the Billy Bob Thornton Santa was kind of like like Santa's just like he's just a Dude, you know, yeah, and that's its own thing. Yeah, we're gonna have He's just a dude, you know. He's just a dude. Yeah, and that's its own thing. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:04:03 We're gonna have ripped Santa, JK Simmons. JK Simmons is jacked. Have you ever seen him working out with a sleeveless shirt? He's got some guns. It's kinda nasty. Too much for me, I don't want that. No.

Starting point is 00:04:16 I don't want that guy to be that jacked. Uh, yeah. It works for me. I'd add an A and a C to his name, and an E, D at the end. end Jack Simmons is what I would call him He looks like if a pencil worked out Like he looks this guy's a buff like he's a buff Intense number three pencil

Starting point is 00:04:39 It's an immediate pivot from the long road that Matt went down I forgot that kind of made sense from the long road that Matt went down. For something that kinda made sense. Jack Simmons life. I forgot that. I guess you fill in the J and the K with an AC and an EDA. I get what you're saying. You fill out the initials. I fucked up, okay?

Starting point is 00:04:55 No, it's fine. We don't need to dwell on it. Just like, what the hell are you talking about? I just thought you were right. So I just went forward because I was like, oh yeah, that sounds good to me. I know that I made a mistake, and all I can do is say I'm sorry.

Starting point is 00:05:10 Not in my eyes you didn't. Then this is rare. But also, what you basically did was start a video game puzzle, and I was like, I'm tuning out of this. Okay, great. And so when you were like Jack Simmons, I was like, okay, sounds good.

Starting point is 00:05:22 But then Nick was like, excuse me, the A and the CK. Like L, L, L. And it doesn't matter. Look, let's fucking go, all right? Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Ho, ho, ho! Wow, Santa!

Starting point is 00:05:34 Ho, ho, ho! Santa, we have milk and cookies for you, enjoy! Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! Jesus Christ! Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho Enjoy Like a pig at a trough I hope that Santa crumbs and milk all over the floor look I Just hope that Santa He's drinking lactate or he's doing He taking some sort of you think that Santa's allergic to milk He's a man of a certain age.

Starting point is 00:06:05 He absolutely is. He's also just ingesting a lot of it if he's going from house to house. And drinking it every, I mean, how much milk is one sip at each house? But he's the thing, he's drinking the whole fucking glass, this guy. When you would leave milk and cookies for Santa,

Starting point is 00:06:19 and I don't know if everyone did this, but there would always be a cookie with a bite out of it. The implication was that Santa did not finish the cookie. Did you get a full plate of crumbs? What happened in your house? We put out a few cookies, and we're eating some of those too. They're Santa's cookies,

Starting point is 00:06:36 but we made them so we could also have some cookies. And then we'd wake up and we'd be like, they're gone. Somebody ate all the cookies. Yeah, I think the idea was like, I think that my dad or whatever was leaving a smoking gun of like, look, there's a cookie with a bite out of it. That means Santa came as opposed to

Starting point is 00:06:53 the cookies are just absent. Yeah. I have a story about Santa, which is that my dad, don't put your hand over your face. I just know that, I'm just like mentally preparing myself for new Heather Ann Campbell lore. I met Santa. Santa worked with my dad.

Starting point is 00:07:15 No, my dad, so my dad had a construction business and he had a shop full of like stuff, right? And I was determined to find evidence of Santa. So after the cookies and milk were laid out, before breakfast or whatever, before the gifts are under the tree, I went out to the garage and I got a carpet tape and I took the plate and I put carpet tape,

Starting point is 00:07:38 two-sided carpet tape on the plate, because I was like, I'm gonna catch one of his fucking beard hairs and I'm gonna have proof of Santa, and I'm gonna have it. And the next day, of course, there's no hairs. And I was just like, Santa doesn't exist. And my parents were like, why?

Starting point is 00:07:57 What are you talking about? I'm like, because I set up a trap, and there's no hairs. Like his beard is so big big it had to shed hairs. And they were like, oh, okay sweetie. They're like, oh, so you came to that conclusion the weirdest way? I remember remembering, I remember the moment when I realized Santa wasn't real.

Starting point is 00:08:22 It was when I was old enough to recognize, this pretty early I never had a conversation about this okay as far as I know my mom still thinks I believe in Santa Claus oh never told me okay otherwise okay I just recognized that like my mom and Santa had the same handwriting and just like never said anything about it I was like oh my mom writes like Santa wait a minute that's how I found out too. This is my mom's handwriting. Oh wow. Wait, so, a producer of Shell Chen Ranch, you grew up partly in Thailand.

Starting point is 00:08:52 Was this when you were in Thailand? No, this was when I was still on the States. You were still in the States, okay. Do you have any like memories of Christmas's past where you ever like laying out milk and cookies for Santa? I think they were milk and cookies one year. Yeah, but not like a common tradition necessarily in your house.

Starting point is 00:09:10 I think we had the Christmas tree and stuff like that, but also my mom's very Christian, so also, Santa isn't really supposed to exist. He's not right, he's not foregrounded. You celebrate the real reason of the season. What you were saying about the, and because this is a video game podcast, this actually ties in nicely. What you're talking about of trying to trap Santa's beard hair reminded me of an infamous

Starting point is 00:09:37 puzzle in video game history. You maybe heard about this. This is the cat hair mustache puzzle from Gabriel Knight 3, which the Gabriel Knight games were decently well-regarded adventure games. The first and second one were better. The third one is kind of a mess. Actually, this puzzle has its own Wikipedia page. It is that infamous.

Starting point is 00:10:00 But I'll just read from the Wikipedia. It has frequently been identified as one of the worst puzzles in the adventure game genre, with one writer going so far as to call it partly responsible for the decline in the overall popularity of the genre. So here's what the puzzle is. So Gabriel Knight, the title character, has to impersonate a detective named Detective Mosley

Starting point is 00:10:21 to take his motorcycle. But he has to do that. He has to create a fake mustache. I'll just read this again from the Wikipedia. One of the requirements of the puzzle is to create a fake mustache using cat hair. The cat hair is acquired by first attaching a strip of masking tape to a small opening at the bottom of a shed door. Then a water bottle sprayer is used to spray a cat, causing it to run through the shed

Starting point is 00:10:44 door opening, leaving some of the cat's fur stuck to the tape, which Gabriel then retrieves. Gabriel then uses a packet of maple syrup to attach the cat hair to his face, creating a fake mustache. Gabriel must also steal Mosley's passport to use his ID. Here's the thing. Mosley, the guy you're impersonating, doesn't have a mustache. So you also have to steal his passport and then draw a mustache onto it. Do you ever make a fake mustache out of cat hair stuck to your face with maple syrup

Starting point is 00:11:14 to impersonate a man who does not have a mustache? It's complete nonsense. I need to bookmark that link so I have it at the ready when people ask me why do I hate that genre? Yeah, real real real bad puzzle all right hey We're gonna talk about some games that we we played throughout the year since we are approaching the end of the year since we are Here in the Christmas season since we are here in the Christmas season. Ho, ho, ho! ALL LAUGH

Starting point is 00:11:46 As far as catchphrases go, I gotta say ho, ho, ho up there. It's great. It's really good. It's an all-timer. You instantly know what you're getting. You're like, oh, Santa's coming. Didn't Santa say... Didn't Santa say... Santa says Feliz Navidad, perhaps. Oh, no, I remember what he said.

Starting point is 00:12:00 He said, when you look up in the sky, remember that's where I'm trapped. That was his first episode with us. That's what he said. That's right. I'm so trapped up here. He's paying for his past misdeeds. We don't know exactly what's going on.

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Starting point is 00:15:50 This holiday season enhance your everyday with Viya. So since we're approaching the end of the year, we thought we'd look back on some games we enjoyed in 2024. It's time for What Were You Playing? What Were You Playing? Hi, it's me, the Resident Evil Merchant, and I'm here to ask my friends about their year in review. What Were You Playing?

Starting point is 00:16:18 I don't think it's possible the Resident Evil Merchant is Santa. And also, that's the kind of thing neither of them might know that. These might be just two different personalities. You think that like on Christmas Eve I lose consciousness and then ride around in a sleigh? I think it may be a Joker Folly-a-doo situation. I think you may have. I haven't seen it. Oh yeah, don't bother.

Starting point is 00:16:37 No, nobody saw it. Is Joker Santa? No, Joker is not Santa. Well then who is Santa, is Harley? No, Joker is not Santa. Well, then who is is Harley? No, there's no Santa in that I confused things by bringing it up forget about that There's no real reference to Christmas inside the Joker see in the in the world I have seen in the world of just to go back to the Tim Allen Santa Yeah, Santa is almost like an it follows kind of it is a Santa's a curse that you get Yeah, like you because you kill, then you become the new Santa.

Starting point is 00:17:07 Oh really? Yeah. What are the bonuses? Like you think you get boons? Yeah, I guess you're kind of the beloved. Yeah, yeah, like what are your plus ones? You're the beloved figure of, you know, the representative of Christmas.

Starting point is 00:17:20 I want it. You have a bunch of elves who work for you. I want it, I want to do it. You get to live in the North Pole. I want to do it. Look, all you gotta do is kill Santa, apparently. If that's- I'm gonna fuck him up.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Oh my God. It's on site with that guy. Oh my God, Santa. I want to be Santa! I would love to be Santa Claus. You know what, you are something of a Santa, because you have a bunch of gifts that you are offered to the player player underneath your trench coat. Wait, Santa sells gifts?

Starting point is 00:17:47 No, he gives them away, but it's the same sort of principle. That's a different, those are two different things. Okay. At your fair prices, it's practically like you are giving them away. Well said. Right, because I do buy. Yeah, you buy too.

Starting point is 00:17:59 It's almost like a bartering system. Yeah. I'll buy that for a high price. I'll buy that for a high price. He said it! We said it exactly the same way. I love it, I'll buy that for a high price. I'll buy that for a high price. He said it. We said it exactly the same way. I love it. I love saying it.

Starting point is 00:18:08 We sounded the same. I love saying it so much. Anyway, you know, it's been a big year for video games, and there's been a lot of hits here and there, a lot of failures, a lot of flops. There's a couple of games that you can't even play. And I don't know how often that happens. That's true.

Starting point is 00:18:29 Things that were pulled from digital stores that are no longer available. Reverse Santa! So I wanna know what it is that you guys were playing. Nick, what were you playing? Thanks so much for asking me, Resident Evil Merchant. I was thinking back on this year in gaming, in a game that we talked about in the early part.

Starting point is 00:18:50 And I think it's one of those games that, like always happens, this is one of the things I love about this medium, is that sometimes a new game just comes out of nowhere, and it's a brilliant design, and a bunch of people play it and play it for a long, long time and it ends up having a long tail of influence.

Starting point is 00:19:09 This year, that was Bellatro. Bellatro comes out on February 20th of 2024, this past year for windows and consoles. It gets ported to mobile on September 26th. It is actually included with Apple Arcade. You can just buy it outright for like 10 bucks. But this was designed by a solo dev, Local Thunk, in Canada. And it's a great game.

Starting point is 00:19:33 It's a life-ruiner, but it's great. It's a game that just sort of like takes over. And I kind of had to create some distance for myself from it, as I've said previously. But now I do have it on my phone, because I have Apple Arcade, and you know what? Plays pretty well on mobile. I'm not gonna have it on my phone forever. Like I didn't have Slay the Spire on my phone for very long,

Starting point is 00:19:54 because again, it just takes over your life. But it is just, it is such a cool game, and you know, it's kind of like Vampire Survivors in the sense that it's a new approach to a rogue light that's just kind of like scrambles what everyone can kind of think about it. Here specifically a deck builder. There's something so brilliant about a deck builder that just uses cards that we know, standard playing cards and gameplay mechanics we already know from poker.

Starting point is 00:20:18 In fact, the game I found was originally titled Joker Poker, which makes sense because so much of what makes it compelling and what makes each run Distinct is the gameplay altering jokers which change, you know Change how the rule sets are and and allow you to target Individual hands over others. So is it is it called Santa poker now? No, it's not called Santa poker It's called Bellatro Bellatro is the name or balutro. I it called both pronounced both ways. I'm not sure there's a canonical pronunciation Bellatro yeah, I've been saying Bellatro people have been saying Bellatro I also heard that Joker

Starting point is 00:20:56 Folly a dude was gonna be called Joker poker They thought about Joker po you know Joker poker might have performed better at the box office. That certainly sounds like a more compelling movie. It also kind of clues you into the fact that Lady Gaga is in it and she has a song called Poker Face. Matt, this is well argued. Joker Poker Face. Yeah, that's what we almost called it. I read this, I didn't make it up.

Starting point is 00:21:17 It is one of the best indie games of the year. It's one of the best games period of the year. It will be on my best of list. It's another incredible solo dev release. And you can say, well. Wait, best of for the year or for all time? For the year, I think so. Okay, okay, great.

Starting point is 00:21:30 Did I say, did I say best of games of all time? No, you just said it's gonna be on my best of list. And I was like, how much did you like it? My best of the year list. It doesn't quite reach that threshold for me personally, but it does for some people. I have friends that have put hundreds of hours into this game.

Starting point is 00:21:43 Yeah, wow. And it's a game that people will play forever hours into this game. Yeah. Wow. And it's a game that people will play forever and I think it's really cool. One thing I think that we should play real quick is just the, for anyone who hasn't experienced this game, part of what's great about it is that it's got this great retro sort of feeling art that's kind of trippy as well and then it's got this just driving music soundtrack behind it that's one composition that's that's that's looping but it's so good that you're playing this game for

Starting point is 00:22:09 dozens of hours and you still want to keep the music playing. Ranch can we play a little bit of this song? It's kind of like got like, you know, it's it's kind of like the the We Shop music but with some menace to it, you know? It sounds like Snatcher music to me. It is very Snatcher. Yeah, very much like like Kojima Snatcher. It's rad though. And it's again, it's just a big part of like every element of this package works and it's an

Starting point is 00:23:07 awesome game. All right. I've heard enough about Bolatro that I'm going to try it. Yeah, I think you should. That was my tipping point was that moment. I don't know if you'd respond to it just knowing your taste in games, but I don't know. I love poker more than any. Oh, then you might be addicted to it.

Starting point is 00:23:23 I will say I've triple dipped on this game. I originally got it on my Steam Deck. I then bought it on my Switch because the Switch is more portable than my Steam Deck. So I was like, I need this on my Switch. And now that it's on mobile, I did buy it on mobile. And now I just have it with me at all times. And it's just, I have the ability to be able to stop.

Starting point is 00:23:47 I like will do a run and then just stop. I'm not like a start another run type of guy, like immediately, but like once I get a run done, I'm like, okay, do I have time to do another one? I can if I want, but it's easy for me to put down. So I think it's gonna be firmly on my phone for some time. Can I ask a question, being that I immediately looked it up on my phone.

Starting point is 00:24:08 So it comes free with Apple Arcade. That's right. But there's two versions here, Bellatro Plus, which is the one for Apple Arcade, and Bellatro. Yes. Are they the same game? They're the same.

Starting point is 00:24:20 The Bellatro Plus is the official game. So like, yeah, you can just download that. You don't have to pay for the $10. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm downloading it right now. Wow, we're witnessing it in real time. I can't wait. Yeah. Let's know what you think. Heather doesn't talk the rest of the episode.

Starting point is 00:24:33 Just gets obsessed with the Blacho on your phone. I can step in. That's okay. I think Heather's gonna be okay. Matt, what were you playing? Well, I keep a list Of games that I've beaten during this calendar year of 2024 I've been doing this now since The year 2020 for no particular reason I will say

Starting point is 00:24:58 There's nothing there's nothing going on in the world that made me keep a list of the things that I was doing I didn't and I didn't create a list to feel like I had some semblance of control of what was going on. Yeah, of course. I just happened to make a list and now I keep doing it because I do like looking at the list. It's good to look at a list. It's an interesting list. In this year... I've got a list. Oh, God.

Starting point is 00:25:25 I already take into the role. We've got a list. Oh God. Already taken to the role, or were you even security? No, no, no, no, no. Wait, oh, Santa's got a list. That's kind of his like- Oh, you didn't know that. It's kind of one of his main things. You just have a different list.

Starting point is 00:25:36 Yeah, I have a list. Okay. But I wanna hear about your list. How many times you checking that list? The list? Yeah. Twice. This is what Santa does.

Starting point is 00:25:45 Santa does do this. Am I Santa Claus? I mean, I don't know. It might fit naturally for you. Let me try it out. It could be. Ha ha ha! Okay.

Starting point is 00:25:53 Yeah, I like the way that feels. You can work on that. See, but like this gets the thing going back to the point. Is Santa the Joker? Cause the Joker laughs. But like this thing going back to the point, is Santa the Joker? Because the Joker laughs. Look, Santa Joker, Resident Evil Merchant

Starting point is 00:26:09 kind of represent a Trinity, if you will. Yeah. A Bermuda Triangle. Yeah, a Triforce. That's right. A Triforce of what? Yeah. Oh.

Starting point is 00:26:23 So, you know, I usually have like a, I'll have an end of year tally of how many games I've beaten this year. The list is shorter this year, but the games I feel like were bigger. There were some big boys. There were some big boys and there were some games that really took over my brain. And this game really took over my brain. Animal Well, we did an episode about it. Animal Well is a... Another solo dev game. Another solo dev game.

Starting point is 00:26:47 It's, you know what? I don't know if this is the year of the solo dev, but it's certainly a year of the solo dev. But there are so many great solo dev games that came out this year. And Animal Well came out in May of this year, 2024. And you just play like a little blob guy, and it's a Metroidvania you you explore this labyrinth

Starting point is 00:27:06 filled with animals and it's just it's it's a puzzle game where the mysteries aren't necessarily obvious to you and You kind of just go around trying to figure out what the hell's going on and there are multiple layers to it So there's like a base level Of puzzles that you can solve that are that, and that's what most people would solve if they completed the game. Then after you do that, there's more to it. And then beyond that, there's more than that too. So you start playing it and if you're like me, it scratches this part of your brain that

Starting point is 00:27:39 had been inactive. I would say it was like the same thing that made me that that scratched this particular itch was like when I when Lost was on TV and I was watching Lost and getting in chat rooms and like figuring out stuff as a community. Wait, are you wearing a Lost hat right now? Actually, yeah, very on. Dharma Dharma initiative. That's right. The numbers are on the back of the hat. Very good. I got a Greg hat I like to wear. What? A great hat? A Greg hat. Greg. You know go with your Dharma hat. Darman Greg was a Chuck Lorre sitcom of the 90s. No one remembers Darman Greg? I just want you to apologize to me about my J.K. Simmons thing from earlier. Five seasons Thomas Gibson, Jenna Elfman. I want you guys to apologize to me about my JK Simmons thing from earlier. Five seasons! Thomas Gibson, Jenna Elfman! I want you guys to apologize for years of the podcast. 119 episodes of Dharma and Greg, isn't that wild?

Starting point is 00:28:35 And where is it streaming? Probably nowhere, right? Probably nowhere. Gosh. I stand corrected. It's on Prime Video. Oh good. my favorite service I love that one You were talking about lost why is why is and I don't want to lose future advertising or anything But it feels like all of the streaming services are kind of welcoming, except Amazon,

Starting point is 00:29:07 which feels slightly antagonistic. It feels like, oh, you wanna watch TV? Good fucking luck. Yeah. Good, good, good. Try finding it through this UI. It has, it's a horrible interface. It's awful, I hate it.

Starting point is 00:29:20 Which is also wild, because Amazon, Amazon created the click to buy. Yes. Which it's the idea that the internet existed before that, before somebody was like click to buy is nuts. It's really crazy. How could they invent click to buy and also invent like the hardest television to use?

Starting point is 00:29:42 I heard a wild thing. This is like a a millennial Slash Gen X or divide with with zoomers Which is I guess apparently zoomers because this is a thing I still that this I'm very old But I like if I'm making like a major purchase I do that through a computer I guess a zoomer will just like buy a car like through their phone Is that wild? Yeah, I guess like on Carvana or something. I mean, I think the best way to buy a car is in person.

Starting point is 00:30:11 You got to get it in the car. Yeah, right, for sure. You got to test drive it. But I sometimes... But even if I'm buying like, oh, I'm going to buy, I'm going to order the, make a major purchase. I'm going to buy like a new flat panel TV or something like that.

Starting point is 00:30:26 That's the thing I'm doing through a browser tab. Oh. On my computer. Do you do that through your phone? That's interesting. I do that through my phone. I wouldn't know if I would do that through my phone, but like I got Oasis tickets on my phone. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:38 Like I was on my phone and I did it. I find the phone more reliable than the browser. Interesting. Because I feel like browsers have all of this other bullshit that slows them down. And when, especially when you're trying to get like, like a shoe drop or like, like any kind of a thing where it's like time sensitive,

Starting point is 00:30:57 use the phone. That's what I feel. The phone is good. I like, or I will say I like ordering food from apps more than I do like ordering it on a browser So I will definitely do that God a good food app. Yeah, man. I mean That's a different that's for something else Topic for another day. Wait, wait, say we went on a huge tangent that was needless because I talked about your Dharma hat

Starting point is 00:31:19 I'm sorry Is this this game scratched the same itch that lost it when it was on, which was just the itch of what the hell is going on? And how do I solve it so I know? And this game, I loved it so much and I just thought it was so well designed, so fun and just interesting. I don't know, I feel like games come out and they're often fun and they're good,

Starting point is 00:31:47 but I feel like few games are as interesting as Animal Well was to me when it came out. So that's what I was playing. Animal Well, awesome game. The solo dev Billy Basso worked on it for many, many years, and it is just like a real labor of love. The other thing, another game that's one of my favorites of this year, but it's just like the, again, just incredible vibes.

Starting point is 00:32:18 Yes. And it's got gorgeous aesthetics, and it's both retro and next gen at once in terms of how it looks and feels. It's really really really awesome I read something about Billy Bass so that I don't think a lot of people know What's that that his dad was? big mouth Billy Bass and Then he added the oh they had just to create some separation. Yeah, I seem like a nipple, baby

Starting point is 00:32:38 Yeah, that big thing out that tracks. Oh I heard it. Yeah, I'm glad to know that Go Nick your your Greg hat fell off It's a kind of quirky behavior to expect from Dharma the free spirit Greg the buttoned-up guy we think would have his hat on a little bit of a reversal Greg, the buttoned up guy, we think would have his hat on. It's a little bit of a reversal. ["Dreams of a New World"] Thank you to Aura Frames for sponsoring this podcast.

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Starting point is 00:34:16 Thank you. Aura frames. Uh, Heather, what were you playing? Wait, wait, wait. I want to interrupt for a second. Yeah, please. I'm a fe- what? I was just going to say, as far as interruptions go, that was a horrible one because you waited

Starting point is 00:34:33 your turn. No, I interrupted Heather. Oh, that's true. I see. I guess you're right. You're right. She's not- she's waiting her turn now. Matt, I'm upset.

Starting point is 00:34:45 We heard about your list. You never asked me what was on my list. What was on your list? I'll hand it to you. Okay, Resident Evil Merchant handed their phone to Matt? Yeah, that's my phone. Okay. Okay, so this list says,

Starting point is 00:35:03 the list is titled some animals, and the list includes six animals, and here they are. Fish. Fish. Dog. Bug. Giraffe. Mr. Bird.

Starting point is 00:35:23 And Long One. Kind of the big six animals. You got them. giraffe Mr.. Bird and long one kind of the big six animals Big one yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the long one, but you know it could be any any other one of my list Yeah, that's what's just one of the list. Yeah, there's one of the lists. I keep It's helpful for keeping track of stuff. You know, it was weirdly on topic Resident Evil Merchant, because there are a lot of animals in Animal Well. That is a big part of the gameplay.

Starting point is 00:35:53 Unintended. Can I go? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead. So I guess one of the games that I was playing this year, that I absolutely loved was Astro Bot. Yes. I know we fucking covered it for the show and it hasn't really been that long since we covered it,

Starting point is 00:36:11 but one of the warmest feelings I had all year round or all year long was, and also I didn't go into Astro Bot season thinking I'm gonna pick up astrobot. It was only after the avalanche of positive reviews that I was like, should I try astrobot? And the moment you start playing that game, you're like, oh, it's so good.

Starting point is 00:36:36 It feels good. It is lightly challenging most of the time. And then like there are a couple bumps of decent challenges, and then one nightmarish course at the end. Yeah, the master challenge. And it's like, that's what a pleasant experience. All the way through, I also still play the music. Great soundtrack.

Starting point is 00:37:01 I play that music on my home pods. I'll play just that fucking title track and bop around my house singing I Am Astrobot. I loved it. I fucking loved it. Yeah, incredible game. Really, really well done platformer. And if we're talking about the games

Starting point is 00:37:16 we were playing this year, just like Bull Outro was for you, I think this is one of my top, best of the year games. It was so fantastic and I loved it so very much. I wish, I know that they've dropped a couple of DLCs, they've dropped some speed run courses. Like I just, I wish there was more. I would love theme packs of Astro Bot,

Starting point is 00:37:42 I would love Astro, Astro, just right now, I'm in an Astro bottleneck. I think. I liked it. That's good. I think we're gonna be getting more Astro Bots, for sure. You know, down the line for sure,

Starting point is 00:37:58 because as we talked about in our We Play, You Play of Astro Bot, Sony maybe has their guy. Yeah. This is the guy. Sony's got their guy. They. This is the guy. Sony's got their guy. They got their guy. This is... This is Sony's guy.

Starting point is 00:38:11 There are not, there are a paltry number of PlayStation 5 exclusives, especially with so many of them coming to PC now, but this is one of those ones that makes owning the console worthwhile, especially the way how it interfaces with the DualSense. It also fills a quadrant on there. Like, you know, they've got that Marvel style opening

Starting point is 00:38:30 on their games now where you see like all of their highlight characters, like Kratos and the Last of Us people. Almost all of those people look photorealistic. And it's a little weird to just have like humans like on there like rotating triangle and X and stuff or cross um and I feel like You know you've got Jack and Dexter right? That's those the guys like and Daxter Daxter you got those guys but for

Starting point is 00:38:59 Most of it. It's just humans and astrobot feels like the the final piece in that Visual puzzle the ratchet and clank in that tableau and I can't I cannot a rachie and clank is probably now in the tag I mean Jack and Daxter That's it Whatever the fuck those ratchet and clank are the ones that are still going yeah And you know if there was gonna be because cause in the PS2 era, they had all those guys, Jack and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and his friends.

Starting point is 00:39:31 Bandicoot, Crash, Spyro. Spyro's still hanging around. It's great that Ratchet and Clank is the one that, That's the one I meant. That is carrying on, because I felt like the gameplay in those games may be the strongest of all of those. Rift Apart is awesome, and Rift Apart was like hey that's the 3D platformer on the PlayStation 5 until Astro Bot which is such a triumph. The thing about Astro Bot that's so great is that

Starting point is 00:39:56 it's so good that it makes you wish there were five of them out immediately. Yeah. Like you're like oh I can't believe I missed this I'm gonna go back and check out all these other ones and of course there's the VR one and the one that was packed in with the PS5. But I will say, I didn't finish the pack-in PS5 one when it came out, and I wish I had, because going back to it kind of feels like, it's like a little less.

Starting point is 00:40:19 Well, it's like, it's kind of a tutorial sort of feel to it. That was an awesome experience. It's not called Astro's Playroom, that's an awesome experience. It's not called Astro's Playroom That's a VR one or is it called Astro? I think it is called Astro's Playroom. What's the VR one? Astro bot Astro bot rescue mission. Oh, okay. Okay. So yeah Astro's Playroom. It's it's a little it's a cute little thing But this is a full a full a full ass game. Yeah, I loved I think we're gonna get liquid weed We have divergent taste. That's part of what makes talking to We're gonna, we have divergent tastes, that's part of what makes talking to y'all interesting,

Starting point is 00:40:47 about video games, that we like different things, but I feel like there's a lot of overlap so far, because all three of these games are somewhere on my year-end top 10 list. Well, when a game is such high quality that it sort of transcends genre, you don't have to love platform, I'm not a platformer head.

Starting point is 00:41:05 Like I don't fucking go out and buy platformers. And I do. And I do too. But these games are so good that they're like becoming universal, they're transcended experiences, which is why I'm really excited to try Bellatro. I think you're gonna like Bellatro. I'm excited about Bellatro.

Starting point is 00:41:23 And also I need a phone game. I don't have a phone game. I don't have a phone game. I was playing Bolotro on an airplane this year, and my wife looked over and said, not that crazy poker game again. I love it. Love it.

Starting point is 00:41:43 And I was like, I think if I could just explain to you how to play, I was like, I think she could get on board with this, because it's an easy enough game that I think, because all you have to have is a basic level of understanding of poker hands. That's all you need to have, and those are easy enough. And then once you get into the, like, trying to build a deck around a certain suit or a certain

Starting point is 00:42:09 Or certain joker that you can get it becomes a completely different like experience It's awesome look the part of the fun of having an on gaming spouse is there a dismissive descriptions of your Whenever I'm playing if I happen to have been playing Kingdom Hearts She does always think it's hentai for some reason. And I'm like, it's not that. She's like, oh great, you're a jack-off game. I was like, no! Jesus! She roasts me.

Starting point is 00:42:33 That's why I love her. I was playing Elden Ring, and Natalie was trying to talk to me like what we were gonna have for dinner or whatever. And I was like, hold on one second, I'm fighting a flower. She was like, fuck you, talk to me. You're fighting a flower? or whatever the and I was like hold on one second. I'm fighting a flower Fuck you Fighting a flower and then like for like a week. She's like did you kill the flower?

Starting point is 00:42:59 For all of us is we all have partners that are absolute savages My wife my wife while she can tear me down, is becoming a gamer. This is true. Like she is- It can happen. She's replaying Disco Elysium. Oh.

Starting point is 00:43:17 She is, I mean, like she wants to replay through Last of Us Part II. Like she's become a gamer. And that's been kind of a, like she had enough of a gaming experience in her youth. Like she cites Super Nintendo games that she loved. So she's always, I think, been on the, like the Jupiter orbit to our Mercury, you know?

Starting point is 00:43:42 Like she's in the solar system. She's not all the way out at Pluto, but she's still orbiting the same sun. Yeah. Natalie actually did end up playing some Astro Bot because that was one of the games that she was watching me play. She was like, she does not really play,

Starting point is 00:43:59 she does play games, but you know, she plays a lot of like puzzle games and stuffs that are more, I think a lot of people would characterize as like kind of like distractions or, you know she plays a lot of like puzzle games and and and stuffs that are more I think a lot of people would characterize as like kind of like distractions or you know, not like full-fledged games, you know, yeah and She would but no like she was just she was watching and she was just like oh, it's so charming and it's so cute and like, you know loved all the little robots or whatever and was just like it just looked fun to play and so she was messing around with it and Yeah, having a good time. What I was gonna say when I was playing

Starting point is 00:44:31 Shadow of the Erd tree and I was dying a bunch of times. Yeah sitting on the couch next to me dying dying. She goes I Bet you I can do it. Let me try I was like you don't I said you have no actual concept of like how to actually do this. I was like, I would like to, it'd be funny to watch you do it. So here, I can give you the controller and then she does it and just gets like killed immediately. And she was like, this game is really, really hard.

Starting point is 00:45:00 Mary did the same thing for, not for Erd Tree, but for the base game for Elden Ring, and managed to score a hit on the tree sentinel. Oh wow. While riding the, while riding Torrent around. The best part of it though was the moment she started playing and it looked at her, she just in real life started screaming at the top of her head. So the experience of her, she was just like,

Starting point is 00:45:31 ah, ah, ah! As she runs around and managed to score one hit on him and I was like, I can't believe you hit that fucking guy. Yeah. The aggro in Souls games feels so different than the aggro in other video games. Even in God ofgro and like other video games like even in like a god of War or something like it feels like yeah, of course those enemies are gonna get you but like in in Elden Ring It feels like they're gonna get you for real

Starting point is 00:45:53 Yeah, it feels like they're gonna kill it like they like it's not like oh the the monsters are coming out of the haunted house This is like the girl in the rings gonna come out of the television, right? haunted house, this is like the girl in the ring is gonna come out of the television. Right. Hey, let's do this Christmas draft, shall we? Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho! So Heather, this was your idea.

Starting point is 00:46:16 I mean, like, do you wanna kind of set up what we're gonna be doing exactly here? I will, I will, I will. So here's the concept. You get to choose a year from gaming history and you get to put underneath your conceptual Christmas tree five items. Your budget is unlimited,

Starting point is 00:46:38 but these five items have to be things that you could purchase at Toys R Us, Sears, GameStop, etc. It's not a game of, oh, it's the year 2024 and the Nintendo came out 40 years ago, so of course I can buy Nintendo games. That's not how Christmas works. Your parents have to go to a store and they got to buy those games for you. We're just going to imagine that we have the richest parents ever and they are going to go to a store and get us everything we want

Starting point is 00:47:10 from a particular year. You've been a good little boy or a good little girl, a good little kid, and so you're getting everything on your Christmas list. And maybe you're also not someone who is like liquid and super liquid and could have bought everything throughout the course of the year. So maybe this is like, you know,

Starting point is 00:47:28 hey, I'm finally getting all these things I've been craving. And I think that it's important to say that there are a lot of years that sort of straddle two generations of games. Like I'm not saying, oh, if you're buying Super Nintendo games, you can't buy NES games. Because if you're launch, if you're buying the launch year of Super Nintendo, there's not gonna be a ton of games for you to buy

Starting point is 00:47:52 on the Super Nintendo that year, so you might get a couple of greatest hits from the NES, but you'll still have to buy the NES to have it underneath your tree. So that's the way the game works. It's called Christmas Draft, and we're gonna draft the best possible year and best possible gifts of Christmas for each of us.

Starting point is 00:48:12 Okay. So I thought we were doing something a little bit different. Oh no. No, no, no, no. What I thought we were doing is that we were each drafting a roster of different years. So we were drafting the best Christmas years from different years.

Starting point is 00:48:26 But if we're each picking our own individual year, then we can just pick our own year and we don't have to worry about what anyone else is doing. Well, somebody could want the same year as you. Yeah. Right. But the only draft, there's only one pick in this draft, which is the year.

Starting point is 00:48:40 Right, but then you defend your year. But then you defend your year afterwards. With how great your Christmas tree is, or how personal it is. You know, like maybe I want five VMUs. So this is a pretty pivotal horrible draft. Horrible draft. This is a pretty-

Starting point is 00:48:56 You can't play any games. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have you unwrapped? Good luck, have fun looking at all that stuff. This is a pretty, so this one pick that we get is pretty pivotal. Yeah. So to determine the order, it's time for us

Starting point is 00:49:11 to employ something that we've used behind the paywall over at Get Animated. RNG, the ranch number generator. Rochelle, are you willing to, able to help us out with, by generating a number? Okay, great. Oh my God. Wow.

Starting point is 00:49:27 Not only that. Holy shit. Rochelle has put together a picker wheel with our faces on it. That is a nightmare to look at. I know. This is like, I feel like Ranch has one of these on her dartboard at home. This is terrifying. So this will determine the order we go in,

Starting point is 00:49:45 which will also determine the year that you get to bank for your Christmas draft. Okay, great. Let's spin. All right. Maybe we should be inclusive and call it holodraft. All right, holodraft. Holodraft is great.

Starting point is 00:50:00 Yeah. So this is for first or third? This is for first. This is for first. Let? This is for, this is for first. This is for first. Let's see who goes first. All right, we're spinning the nightmare wheel. And the first person who gets to go is Matt. Matt's face, wow.

Starting point is 00:50:17 Fucking go. Wow. Matt goes first. Hell yes. So he'll get to pick the best year, or hopefully none of us will have overlap. I wonder. Hell yes. So he'll get to pick the best year, or hopefully none of us will have overlap. We'll see.

Starting point is 00:50:27 I wonder. I mean, there's certainly some big years that I thought of, but we'll see. Three. Year three. Year three. All right, it's down to me and Nick. Who goes second?

Starting point is 00:50:41 All right, it's spinning. Ranch is spinning. RNG is working. I swear to fucking God. Looks like it's headed towards Heather. All right, I have the third pick is spinning. RNG is working. Looks like it's headed towards Heather. All right, I have the third pick. Ah, yes, let's fucking go! Okay, so I'm first.

Starting point is 00:50:52 And are we gonna do this draft? I guess we can do it snake style, right, afterward. Well, it doesn't matter because we're only getting one. We're all getting, yeah, there's not gonna be overlap like that. Okay, so since I'm going first, I'm drafting the year 2001. Wow. Wow, quite a year.

Starting point is 00:51:13 Great year. This is a great year. Uh, and then, should I make my first pick? No, let's just do the years first and then we'll go back. So 2001 is your year. It's Christmas 2001. Oh man. You're getting everything you want. I love this fucking game.

Starting point is 00:51:27 I'm 10. No, I'm 11. Stop it. Just fucking why would you do that? I'm 11 years old. Why would you do that? You don't need to add that. I'm 11. We're all children in this concept. We're all kids.

Starting point is 00:51:38 Yeah, we're all kids in this concept, but in 2001 I was 11 years old. That's not true. That's horrible. Yeah. That's horrible. I had a job in the World Trade Center that year. Uh. Jesus. Okay, okay, okay.

Starting point is 00:51:56 That's not true, but I could have. All right, I'm going second. Don't Renazzi yourself. What? I was 10 when that happened. All right. When the rent-a-ZZ scandal broke, lost his Buffalo Wild Wings sponsorship.

Starting point is 00:52:11 You are young. I'm so young. You're young. My Christmas, my dream Christmas is the year 2005. Wow! 2005 is my dream Christmas! That's pretty good. Let's fucking go!

Starting point is 00:52:27 It was on my list. Whoa. I was so scared you were gonna choose it. No, I went with a one. Yeah. All right. 2001, 2005. Here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:52:38 Oh no. This is a hypothetical, right? I mean, no, you can never have another Christmas ever again in your life. But I'm a child in this exercise. So I think part of this is, as opposed to looking back towards my actual youth, I can imagine a different reality where I'm a much younger person. And also I think I wanted to get away from the early 2000s

Starting point is 00:53:06 and from the 90s, because my instinct would have been 1998, great year in games, right? Maybe the best year in gaming history is 1998. 1998, I mean, what do we have in 1998? Half-Life 1, right? We had, Ocarina of Time was at that year. It's just like, it's some of the best games ever made.

Starting point is 00:53:27 It came out in 1998. And they were all concentrated. GoldenEye, I think, is 98. Yeah, it was Banjo-Kazooie, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid 1, Pokemon Red and Blue, Ocarina of Time, among many others. A lot of great games. Oh yeah, and StarCraft also came out that year.

Starting point is 00:53:43 So a great year for video games. But I'm gonna go towards the present. We had a pretty awesome year in recent memory. But you're just gonna be this year. Ha ha ha ha. 2022. Whoa! I'm taking 2022.

Starting point is 00:53:57 Nick is a child in 2022. I'm a little baby. I love to hear it. His biggest dream. My diapy's full. He wants a full diap. Is there like oh my god Stop you want one stop it Stop it. Is there like a good change? I don't want to hear it

Starting point is 00:54:20 Is there like a license a license free Christmas sound bed we could put underneath this whole thing? Like we're having a hot cocoa and we're listening to some Christmas tunes? We're unwrapping our presents. Yeah, maybe for, and fits and starts. We could have a little bit of ambiance. That's nice. I like this Christmas music.

Starting point is 00:54:40 Certainly a fire crackling. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good time. Right. I love having that U log on, can I say? Like on the TV? Yeah. Yeah, that's a lot of fun. It is fun. Yeah. That's pretty good. One of the great logs. Yeah, I mean, among our top logs. What else is up there? Captains. Is he gonna say captains? I think it's just those two. Lincoln? Lincoln logs? Those are good.

Starting point is 00:55:04 Hmm. I think that's it I think it's those three what about shit Matt you're up first what do you have in the year is 2001 what are you putting under your Christmas so what are you putting on your Christmas list that's gonna end up under and I also want to clarify a rule you can't you can't just assume you have the system. So you have to draft the console if you want the game? I think a corollary for that would be, if it's a new system, let's say one of us had drafted 1999,

Starting point is 00:55:38 we can't just assume we have a Sega Dreamcast. But if it's 2001, I think it's fair that maybe you have a Nintendo 64. But I think that this is part of the fun, because you can't just assume that you have PlayStation, N64, and the Saturn. Like, that doesn't make sense. So this is Christmas, you have to get the system and the games you're going to play that day, which also forces you into some choices. How many picks do we get? Five. We get five picks.

Starting point is 00:56:07 Five picks. Five DS lights. OK, so you have a TV with hookups in the back. And a little bit of a little bit of a fortress. No hardware. Yeah. OK, got it. OK, so I think for my, and if there's overlap.

Starting point is 00:56:23 Overlap? In the hardware in the years. Cause ours are pretty close. If I draft something that is hardware, does that preclude you from? No, I don't think so. Okay. I don't think so.

Starting point is 00:56:38 It's Christmas. There's more than one PlayStation in the world. Okay. I guess that's fair. Then for my first draft, I'm going to, for my first pick, I'm going to draft the PlayStation 2. Nice, excellent, great, let's fucking go. Heather, that falls to you. All right.

Starting point is 00:57:00 Remind us your year again. Mine's 2005 and I'm also unwrapping the presents. I'm digging through, what did I find? I found a PlayStation 2 as well. Hell yeah. Wow. I got mine first. Now I wanna know if I fucked up. It's 2022.

Starting point is 00:57:21 The year is 2022. I don't have to worry about a bunch of exclusives as much anymore, because you know what? A lot of great games come to every platform. And so I'm gonna pick my primary platform of choice. I'm taking a gaming PC. Give me a big super powered gaming rig. This is bullshit. Give me all the horsepower you got, mom and dad.

Starting point is 00:57:45 I love it. Load that sum bitch up. I fucking love it, I love it. This guy's asking for fucking Microsoft Word. Well no, I don't need that, I need productivity apps. I want spreadsheets. No, I don't know. No.

Starting point is 00:57:59 I want like a G-Force. Oh yeah, give me the whole Adobe suite, please. Thank you, mommy. I Don't need any of that just gonna be gaming on this thing. I love I love it out all that bloatware I love that you got you got a giant PC that makes me that makes me really happy the loudest hottest tower You can get let's fucking go. How much what's the what do you think the price is on this this dream computer? Well, I mean look if the you could this is the thing with with gaming PC is is that there is that there is no ceiling I will say I'm going to go for I'm not gonna say like I'm gonna spend five figures on an insane

Starting point is 00:58:35 Liquid cooled rig with just a you know Like like like the the absolute top-the-line shit at a time where people were still mining crypto And so there was still a bit of a premium on on graphics cards I will say I will go for like a a Like a like a why don't I just say I'll spend $2,000 a lot of money on a nice PC a good quality gaming PC a towards the high-end PC But not an absolute state-of-the-art machine. I Love it.

Starting point is 00:59:06 Okay. Now we're at, now we're at, I have the hardware. I kind of opened the big, I kind of opened my big present first. Yep. But that's okay. I think we kind of have to do that, right? Yeah, cause you'd be, it'd be kind of like,

Starting point is 00:59:21 oh man, I opened this and I don't even have the thing. But then you open the big present last, and you're just like, wow, I got now I can play. It's like when I worked at a video game store and the moms would come in and buy a... Ranch is cooking up. Ranch has a degree in graphic design that I just didn't, didn't even, I'm not even aware of this.

Starting point is 00:59:45 The ranch has a degree in graphic design that I'm not even aware of this. So you're making a bit of a graphic in real time. You've got each of our headshots there, each of our years, and then whatever hardware we have picked is underneath it, along with some really keen clip art of a Christmas tree and Santa. That's a lot of fun. I love the Santa, can I say? That's a nice Santa. Just a classic Santa. Yeah, go ahead and make that guy bigger. And big in the Santa can I say that's a that's a classic Santa yeah go ahead make that guy bigger in the Santa please yeah yeah that's good look how happy the Santa is this he's a happy man I mean I guess he is huh jolly old Saint Nick they call him so my first pick of of games that I can play now

Starting point is 01:00:25 on my PlayStation 2. Anything that came out from 2001 or earlier. I'm going with Grand Theft Auto 3. Nicely done. Cause I'm a bad 11 year old. I'm not supposed to be playing that. Yeah, that's a game for big boys. Crazy game for me to be playing.

Starting point is 01:00:44 That's great though. Imagine how exciting. like this is also one of my favorite things about yeah you know being a kid and getting a gift is that you have the rest of the day to play with it I love it the best we did a thing in our house you'll get to open one at night one Christmas Eve so Christmas Eve into Christmas Day, you're already one gift up. So you're playing with a new gift. Hopefully it's not the best one. That's a lot of fun.

Starting point is 01:01:13 It's pretty fun. Little appetizer for the main course the next day. I think just a reason to get us to go away. Get these fucking kids out of here. So that's my pick, Grand Theft Auto 3. All right, GTA 3. Merry Christmas. An incredible, a great, great video game.

Starting point is 01:01:35 Roar, roar, roar! Heather, what's next on your list? All right, so on my list, the next thing I open is the Final Fantasy XI with hard drive single box. Okay, that's huge. Yeah, so I've got Final Fantasy XI with the pack-in hard drive,

Starting point is 01:01:58 which I think was like a 40 gigabyte hard drive, so I can slam that motherfucker right into the back of my PS2. And I can play a game that would ruin my life for years and years. I haven't seen this box in a long time and looking at it now, it is bringing back memories of this was coveted. I wanted this just because of the size of the box. Yeah. It's an enormous box.

Starting point is 01:02:26 It's got a ton of stuff in it. And it also was the first perpetual Final Fantasy game. So it's a Final Fantasy game that I'd be able to play for the rest of the year, starting on Christmas in 2005. So yeah, I'm getting that Final Fantasy XI with hard drive pack in for the PS2. Now Nick might be thinking, why didn't she just get a top-of-the-line PC for the year 2005 and play Final Fantasy 11 on that, on that, on a nice PC. But that's not me, because the rest of the things I want

Starting point is 01:03:06 are exclusive to the PlayStation 2, but I wanna get this one out of the way. I unwrap this, and it's making me real happy. Here on Christmas morning. Nick. Look, what's the point of having this, you know, mid to high range rig, but get nothing to play on it, right?

Starting point is 01:03:21 It's where it got. What's the point? I'm gonna go. but get nothing to play on it, right? What's the point? I'm glad you're a child in this Christmas, because I'm terrified of what you might find under your tree. What? No, I'm a good little boy. Okay.

Starting point is 01:03:36 Do you think? I'm on the nice list. Are you one of these like, Gen Alpha kids that's like, watching like bad YouTube. Is there? No, I gotta, I get YouTube kids. You got, you got, you have a YouTube kids account.

Starting point is 01:03:52 Yeah, so I'm watching AI generated children's entertainment. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Matt laughs Made in a bot farm. Batman and Shrek. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, wheels on the bus. Matt laughs I gotta play some games on this sum bitch. I'm gonna get myself the best value in gaming. PC Game Pass. I'm getting Game Pass.

Starting point is 01:04:21 Matt laughs God damn it. So, what a huge catalog I have available to me. With the one year subscription to Game Pass. God damn it. So. What a huge catalog I have available to me with the one year subscription to Game Pass I got via a gift card. How exciting is that? The thing about this is I feel like of course you were like this as a kid. Well dad I'm just trying to get the most bang for my buck. Huge library I have access to including some 2022 releases I played on Game Pass.

Starting point is 01:04:48 This is a fucking loophole. I was like, so you can't get an NES game? This, you got like 30 years of gaming already. I have an endless catalog. They can be occupied. You're explaining this to your parents and they're just like, picturing themselves with like a gun in their own mouth. Thinking, why did I have to get this kid? This bums me out.

Starting point is 01:05:10 You might as well have gotten fucking word, you dork. I also like that Nick's fantasy of unwrapping presents is his second present is a card from like a gas station. I'm thinking this would be the kind of thing where it'd be a misdirect, where you from like a gas station. I'm thinking this would be the kind of thing where it'd be a misdirect, where you get like a big box, right? You're like, oh, what's in here? And you're shaking it and then you open it up.

Starting point is 01:05:32 It's just like a whole bunch of tissue paper. And then you get like, wow, it's what I wanted. A gift card for Xbox Game Pass. I'm also irritated. I'm irritated that listeners are siding with him. They're like, oh, yeah, yeah. Nick won. Nick won Christmas already.

Starting point is 01:05:47 So Ranches. It's not a comp. It's not a contest. Yes, it is. Everything's a contest. Ranches put a big cardboard box on the thing. And I feel like knowing Nick and these choices so far, he'd be just as happy with this fucking box.

Starting point is 01:06:02 He gave Passes an incredible value. He's like, oh, cool. I can put the computer in the box. I can play in the box I can't believe I can't believe I can't believe Rage made game pass small and put it in the box. That's your gift. Look at look at how bad he gets sucks Thrill oh my kidding me This is the I can't imagine. I mean like this is the most mad I've ever been Like I was I was like oh, you know if I could have anything in the whole world I could like pick a system and like two or three very weird peripherals and have those waiting for me

Starting point is 01:06:40 I like how fun that would be and Nick's like Nick's ass is like I'll wish for more wish I want to I want to maximize all the game pass you just need to know that this was an insane choice you won Christmas because a savvy choice it's a savvy it's savvy yeah uh you know and and probably something that a child in the year 2022 would want. Yeah. Yeah, and then please, can I get Riz for Christmas? Probably gonna ask for next. Probably Riz. All right, Matt, back to 2001. Okay.

Starting point is 01:07:14 What are you getting on your Christmas list? I'm gonna ask for shares in IBM. No, just kidding. What the hell? All right. Uh, shares in IBM. No, just kidding. The hell? Alright. I'm gonna go for one of my favorite- this is actually tough because there's just so

Starting point is 01:07:33 many great games from this year. I'm gonna ask for one that I did get for Christmas and absolutely loved and it's probably not come up that much on the show for how much I love it. SSX Tricky. Oh yeah. The second entry in the snowboarding SSX franchise. Wait, wait, wait.

Starting point is 01:07:57 I just saw the label for what this box is. It's a double wall Gaylord box. And I get to say it. I get to say it as a gay. I can say it as a pejorative. 48 by 40 by 48. That is a huge box. There's a man standing next to it for scale

Starting point is 01:08:16 and he could, I'll say, fit comfortably in the box. He could fit in the box, yeah. Like you could fit like maybe two guys in that box. All right, let's talk about this SSX Tricky. So SSX Tricky is in the tradition of, you know, like a cool boarders or a snowboard 1080 video game. It's a downhill racer type game. The sequel to SSX, which was a launch title

Starting point is 01:08:41 for the PlayStation 2, I believe. Correct. Which was like one of the only worthwhile PlayStation 2 launch games. It's a great game in its own right. So SSX Tricky is like, what if we can make that game, but make it really cool? Like make it really, really cool.

Starting point is 01:08:59 They licensed the run DMC song, It's Tricky, and that plays on a fucking' loop in the entire game, and it's a good song, so it doesn't even really, you don't really get sick of it. It's good. Like the Blacho theme. Yeah, it kinda is like that good, where you're sort of like,

Starting point is 01:09:15 you're just hearing this on a loop over and over again. It's fantastic, really great game. I remember it being one of the first video games that I was like surprised that had Actors I knew in it like David Arquette is one of the voice actors in one of the games and I was and you know at this time He was like he was like sort of a more prominent Actor yeah, I mean you may be a Grand Theft Auto 3. Maybe you're you're too young to recognize like Joe Pantoliano or whatever. Exactly, yeah.

Starting point is 01:09:45 I wouldn't have clocked him, for example. But, you know, David Arquette had made movies I'd seen at this point in my life. You know what? I probably had seen The Matrix. Oh yeah. By this point. I probably had seen it at least once by then.

Starting point is 01:10:04 Well, I gotta say, this young Matt playing Grand Theft Auto 3, seeing the Matrix, these downhill snowboarding in SSX Tricky, I'm worried you're gonna join a violence gang. I might join one of these violence gangs. You might be a bad kid. Yeah, as opposed to one of the other non-violence gangs. Just one of those groups of friends, I guess you call it. Yeah. This SSX tricky is a lot of fun.

Starting point is 01:10:30 You do, you have like a skill points, like meter for like when you, you can do like special tricks and stuff like that. You can do like the worm on your snowboard and seeing a character do the worm, just at all actually is extremely fun. Like the worm, and you know what? If somebody did the worm in front of me this year,

Starting point is 01:10:47 I'd be like, this rocks, this is really, really fun. I should learn to do the worm. It'd be really, you know what, you are the funniest possible person to do the worm. If you could do it in earnest and do it extremely well, it would be the funniest fucking thing on earth. If you're okay, so if you came in one time, like, hey guys, when I see something I learned,

Starting point is 01:11:05 drop some cardboard down, and did the worm. I'd be like, Nick's the coolest guy alive. This rock. This is- And Ryger did the worm. You heard about this? Yeah, and he did it better

Starting point is 01:11:13 than I've ever seen anyone do it before. It's amazing. You gotta see Nick do the worm. He also, he got so much elevation. Yeah, he was going high up. Like, he had like, insane core strength. He was like, three feet off the ground on the worm They handed him a trophy for highest worm

Starting point is 01:11:33 So that's my pick SSX tricky a great a great game a game that I Cove it. I wish it was available to play on like the switch or something. I think it's a fantastic game I'm loving wait wait way your roster so far. It's looking very, very solid. Heather, falls to you, 2005. I just want to say I realized something about Nick's year. Which he's a child in 2022, right? So the good thing for us is like, yeah, sure,

Starting point is 01:12:00 he got game passed, man. He got game passed. But he has so many emotional developmental issues from having been raised during COVID that he's not able to enjoy anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're just like in Roblox lobbies, like saying stuff, like saying bad stuff. Being radicalized by Twitch streamers.

Starting point is 01:12:25 Yeah, we've got like a, if we're, assuming we're all 10 at this, I mean, we wanna just like pick an age. Yeah, but a 10 year old in 2022 has had a rough go of it so far. Yeah, it's tough, it's fucking tough as shit. At the same time, they know no other world, do they? Doesn't remember the Obama presidency.

Starting point is 01:12:40 No. You know, it's a normal president to Trump or Biden. That's a person who to to Trump or Biden It's a person who leads the country to a 10 year old God I'm so sorry for you kids. I really I really wish you all the best All right. So my second game under the Christmas tree in 2005. I've got my fingers crossed I'm hoping I unwrap it and sure enough do, it's Resident Evil 4 for the PlayStation 2. Fuck.

Starting point is 01:13:06 And that game. Impeccable choice. That fucking game is so good that one of the characters in it has maintained to join us on this podcast, you know, 20 years later. Remains in the zeitgeist, remains a beloved NPC. Yeah, yeah. yeah iconic NPC I get that game so fucking good ranch you ranch has been playing it you know as as she's talked about in recent episodes but the plane the remake and an

Starting point is 01:13:34 incredible remake about but the base game was so revolutionary yeah so great I own the original version on my switch and like I could just now play it whenever yeah it's so good now here my whole thing is I think of this as a GameCube game, cause this is the big thing that Shinji Mikami was like, I want this to be on GameCube and that was the initial platform, but obviously it's ported to everything.

Starting point is 01:13:54 And so it, yeah, it's also a platform game. I also think of it as a GameCube game, but I was like, I can't have GameCube be my system, because like I only want to take up one of my slots with this system, right? So I do, I don't, I think that Resident Evil 4 on the PlayStation 2 is just slightly inferior to the original release on the GameCube, but if I'm maxing out my Christmas experience, I'm playing it on the PlayStation 2 in 2005 as a 10 year old, and I'm fucked up from it. I'm ruined. Station 2 in 2005 as a 10 year old and I'm fucked up from it. I'm ruined.

Starting point is 01:14:25 When I first time I see that dude take a chainsaw to the neck. I'm having nightmares that night. What a horrible time to be a child. How wild it was to witness your character player character being decapitated. Yeah, it was just a thing that was just you just not see happen. Yeah. Okay, it's 2022.

Starting point is 01:14:43 I'm 10 years old. You just do not see happen. Yeah, okay. It's 2022. I'm 10 years old And You know what I'll never know what winter is But uh, but I do have a lot of great games that I could pick from but I got a gaming PC And maybe I can assume that I'll get like a standard keyboard and mouse comes packed in with this thing. But if I actually want to play some console ports on this thing. Even games on Game Pass, I'm gonna need myself a controller. And I don't think we can assume it is a given that a gaming PC will come with a controller,

Starting point is 01:15:16 even a pre-build. So I am going to pick an Xbox wireless controller, and I want the purple one. Because that's the one I have for my computer at home. You have a purple one for your computer. Yeah, I love the color purple purple Xbox purple Xbox wireless controller That's a nice purple. That's cool looking right? Yeah, that's a good looking. That's a good looking Eat your heart out Alice Walker I'm bummed out for you that you did have to waste one of these on a controller But I'm also I'm thinking about you having to use a keyboard to play most of game paths. Yeah, and I do think it's fair

Starting point is 01:15:52 I Waited my turn. I like to go back to something Nick just said If you don't mind Heather, yeah sure go. I think Nick said eat your heart out Alice Walker Nick I have a question for you. Yeah, what the fuck are you talking about the author of the great novel the color purple of course? later adapted into two hit movies Well you do think I've hey, I mean he was 10 in 2022, but I'm getting a good education Hey, I mean, I was 10 in 2022, but I'm getting a good education. Reading some of the classics. No, you're not.

Starting point is 01:16:27 You were homeschooled for two years for sure. Yeah, because because you just watch the movie. OK, so pardon my. One movie. I watched the movie in 40 parts on TikTok. The Quibi version yeah Gosh Okay, now I understand but you can't just say stuff. I'll stop. Okay. I'll stop saying stuff Matt it's 2001 you're 10 years old. What's the next thing you're picking? Okay, so this is where things get really tough for me because on the board right now

Starting point is 01:17:00 I have a PlayStation 2 Grand Theft Auto 3 3, and SSX Tricky. Three of my five picks. Yep. Now if I was a more conservative drafter I would stay in this lane. I would I would stay in the PlayStation 2 library. Yeah. Instead of drafting an additional piece of hardware. Oh shit! Wow. Wow! Wow! Wow, is he gonna do it? He goes, he goes under the tree! He unwraps a present! And that present is a motherfucking Game Boy Advance. Holy shit wow Wow a second system. This is the best Christmas. I've ever had yeah Have you got a ps2 and a Game Boy Advance under your Christmas tree? You're doing pretty good fucking spoil it little brat You know I think I could have I think I could have

Starting point is 01:17:58 wasted all of the presents on Crystal Chronicles yeah, I would have had to have gotten the GameCube, the multi, a Game Boy Advance, another Game Boy Advance, another Game Boy Advance, and the game. Except I wouldn't have had any way to plug it in. Oh my God. That would have been tough.

Starting point is 01:18:22 Yeah, you'd have had to wait until next Christmas for your birthday. I love this. I love that you got a Game Boy face. And you know, this is tough. I'll say this would never have happened in my life. Because I have three brothers. So maybe we could have all gotten the PlayStation 2 as a group gift. But this would have been an extremely

Starting point is 01:18:46 fortunate Christmas and also my birthday is in the same month as Christmas and all of my brother's birthdays are actually are. So it would have been, this would have been damn near impossible. It's a good, I mean like I've never received two consoles for Christmas. I'm just making the Christmas that I wanted. Incredible. Like this would have been the best day of my life. Incredible. Christmas 2001.

Starting point is 01:19:12 December 25th, 2001 could have potentially been the greatest day I've ever had. So 2001 is the year the Game Boy Advance comes out, so you are just getting the base model. I'm getting the base model. I had, I'll say the one that I had was, we had a silver one first that we all shared and fought over and then I bought with my own money that I saved, I think from two Christmases, possibly. Maybe a Christmas and birthday situation. I got the Toys R Us exclusive black Game Boy Advance

Starting point is 01:19:42 and that is the one I still have. Wow. Wow. And I actually looked it up on eBay just moments ago to see how much that one is going for. And in box, $500. Woof. Wow. Used, open box. Wow.

Starting point is 01:20:00 And it, well, I'll save it for my next pick. Okay. Heather, on to you. Heather, 2005. It's 2005. Under my tree I've got that PS2, I've got that Final Fantasy XI hard drive combo, I've got Resident Evil 4.

Starting point is 01:20:18 The next game that I am getting when I unwrap my Christmas is Katamari Damacy. Wow. So I've got role playing covered, I've got action covered, now I've got just pure gaming joy covered. So those are my first four presents of the five. I only have one left.

Starting point is 01:20:45 It's 2005. What am I gonna get? What am I gonna get when I open my final present? Oh no, I'm already having the best Christmas of my life. That's pretty good. Katamari Damacy, really a great game. Katamari Damacy, 2005, PS2. Nick, tell us about your Pornhub subscription. I'm not getting it. your hornhub subscription.

Starting point is 01:21:05 I'm not getting your hornhub subscription. Oh, so he's just getting it for free, how bad? I'm 10, that's gross. No, I'm going a different direction here. So I got my controller and yeah, I got my game pass subscription. There's plenty of stuff I can dig around with on there, but I'm getting an ergonomic chair

Starting point is 01:21:26 I'm not getting an ergonomic chair. Do I already have one of those I? Am I am getting one of the best games ever made that came out in 2022 and I'm getting it for PC And I'm playing the shit out of it Elden ring whoa a great pic a ten-year-old Playing Elden Ring. That kid's going to grow up right. Probably better than any of us. Yeah, absolutely.

Starting point is 01:21:50 There was a kid when I did the gosh, what the fuck's it called? The eSim racing that I did earlier this year. Oh, yeah. Where you're getting an F1 rig, like a PC hooked up to a monitor. It feels extremely real and it made me very, very ill. Oh, when I did it, there was a kid there and I was like, this kid's gonna be all right.

Starting point is 01:22:12 This kid is doing great, great work here. And he was incredible on the track. I wanna say that these, these look like us. I don't know how to explain it. But like, even- I thought you meant the photographs, and I was like, that's Heather. Even the color palette,

Starting point is 01:22:33 the color palette of the thing, like, you have like a huge amount of orange, blue, and like purple in your Christmas presents, just like visually. And then like, I don't know, I feel like the Katamari Damacy and the Final Fantasy XI box kind of look the same in some strange way.

Starting point is 01:22:53 They're like kind of minimalist. Yeah, and I think I could picture Nick standing next to a big box like that pretty proudly, honestly. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. All right, Matt. It's your final Christmas present. You're probably sweating because it's

Starting point is 01:23:10 been such a good Christmas. I'm like passed out. Well, you know what I mean? You know that video of the kid opening the present for the N64? And he's like screaming. It's like a huge video. Nintendo 64. I'm like this.

Starting point is 01:23:22 In the classics. Times four so far. Like, this is great. I'm like this... On the classics. Times four so far. Like this is great. I'm out of energy. I have one final pick. And I think I have to... Because now I have the Game Boy Advance, I need something to play on. You gotta get a piece of software.

Starting point is 01:23:44 I gotta get something. So my final pick. Possibly one of the greatest games of all time. Certainly one of the great games you can play on the Game Boy Advance. I'm talking Super Mario Advance 2 Super Mario World. Wow. Super Mario Advance 2 Super Mario World is out in 2001. That's right. Wow.

Starting point is 01:24:11 One of the highest selling games of the year. Wow. I love this. I fucking love this Christmas we're all having. Super Mario Advance was Super Mario USA, AKA Super Mario Brothers 2. So that was a launch title and this comes out shortly thereafter. This was a pretty pretty bang bang

Starting point is 01:24:27 Yeah, I think Super Mario advanced like one is top of the year, and I think this one launches like in Toward the end in the holiday window exactly yeah the great Like not only do you have games at home, but you have games on the go. Yeah. What a ten-year-old. But I didn't get any batteries for Christmas.

Starting point is 01:24:51 Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! So those batteries are gonna last me, you know, a couple days, maybe a week perhaps. Does it not have an AC adapter in the box, the Game Boy? No, you can buy one. But I remember the one that I had had to be plugged into the wall at all times. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:25:09 Woof. Um, but that's, this is, I mean here's the thing, this is all stuff that I had, right? So like this is, that's a Christmas. Yeah. That's a nice Christmas. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I love it.

Starting point is 01:25:23 You're sitting pretty. I've got my final present that I'm opening here on Christmas Day 2005. And there's a lot of games in 2005 that I want. But the one that I'm getting is Kingdom Hearts 2. Wow. That's fucking good. Because I loved Kingdom Hearts 2

Starting point is 01:25:47 and I didn't play it as a 10 year old. So the idea that I could have played it as a 10 year old, I would have had the time of my fucking life with that game. So this covers all of my bases. I've got my hardcore action game. I've got my bonkers, like, I wouldn't call it platformer, but like platform puzzle roll-up simulator. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:26:12 I've got my MMO, where I'm probably going to make online friends. And then I've got one of the best sort of like classic action role-playing games of all time in Kingdom Hearts 2. And it will be decades before I'm disappointed in its sequel. So I'm having a really good Christmas day. I probably won't even come downstairs for dinner.

Starting point is 01:26:41 You're gonna want something though. Yeah, you're gonna want something. You're gonna be hungry. What do you're gonna want something. You're gonna be hungry. What do you guys do? Like a little Christmas ham? No. I think we get chicken. A lot. Like a big chicken. Just like a chicken. A regular chicken.

Starting point is 01:26:58 I think I'm gonna just do a turkey. I feel like that's a very common. Yeah. In recent years my family has been doing prime rib. That's fun. Pretty fun. We'd usually have a huge Christmas the night before with my extended family. Mm-hmm. And it was all Swedish food and so we wouldn't like there'd be a lot of leftovers and so I think a lot of the time on Christmas Day we would have like a like a leftovers meal or a chicken. That's pretty good. Yeah. Nick, as the sort of the 10 year old in the playground.

Starting point is 01:27:31 Yes. With some of the strangest gifts, what is your final Christmas present that you get in 2020? A VPN. Look, I got. I'm trying to remember what was on Game Pass in 2022. My memory is that a game I really enjoyed that year, Neon White, I played on Game Pass. I could be wrong.

Starting point is 01:27:51 Maybe I did buy that on Steam. So maybe I don't have that. Norco, I remember playing on Game Pass. I, you know, Vampire Survivors, a game that came out that year that I really, really love and can play endlessly, was not yet on Game Pass. That's free, isn't it? No, Vampire Survivors cost money. It did? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like 2.99.

Starting point is 01:28:10 And you can buy all the expansions, yeah. No, it's not just free. No, it's like a straight up, it's not like a, like a, you know, it's just a straight up, like retail game. Yeah, you just buy it and then you can buy DLC. Anyway, some games I really loved came out that year. You know, Case of the Golden Idol,

Starting point is 01:28:33 I've talked about it length. Citizen Sleeper, talked about it length. Amazing games. But I gotta pick a port that came to PC in 2022. What's it gonna be? A game that I loved. It's stranding? Now it could be, it's possible that this game was already on Game Pass,

Starting point is 01:28:53 but I don't remember it being in. Either way, I don't want to leave that to chance, because this one, like Elden Ring, is gonna give me hundreds of hours of entertainment in a different genre. Very compelling. A great story told in a very different way. Persona 5 Royal. Wow.

Starting point is 01:29:09 Wow. Let's fucking go. Wow. I think it might have been on Game Pass already then, but I don't give a shit. I'm taking it. But you could buy something that's still on Game Pass. I'm buying it. I'm buying it.

Starting point is 01:29:19 I want to make sure I have it. And because you have Game Pass, you can get it for a slight discount as well. That's true. I'm getting it just to make sure I have it. That's the thing. I was like, you know, some of these games, maybe I'm already getting Neon White on Game Pass. I think I'm getting Cuphead, the delicious last course as part of Game Pass, if memory serves.

Starting point is 01:29:37 But for Center 5 Royal, I don't wanna leave it a chance. I love this. I love your Christmas, Nick, even though I gave it a lot of shit. That is pretty good. Yeah, it's like doing all right We fun. Yeah, you're a very mature 10 year old boy. You pick sure am and it sure was I know you probably Yikes reading the newspaper while you're installing this stuff Those look good you picked two games I mean obviously you have the incredible library that's available to you on Game Pass.

Starting point is 01:30:07 But the two games that you picked are games that you could conceivably play forever. Me not having finished Persona 5. I assume there is an end to it at some point. Big, huge, meaty games. Yeah, Persona 5 I believe took me 150 hours to play all the way through a percentified royal including the the you know the extra season that's added on to the end of the game yeah Elden Ring I didn't finish until this year and then now that now I

Starting point is 01:30:35 finished Elden Ring plus the DLC which is obviously not in 2022 but that's another game that took me over a hundred hours and I could certainly put hundreds of more hours into replays of both. So those would be my my two big tent pole narrative games and then I'll have a bunch of other stuff I can mess around with on Game Pass. Let's recap, Matt the year is 2001 you've picked the PlayStation 2, Grand Theft Auto 3, SSX

Starting point is 01:30:59 Tricky, Game Boy Advance and Super Mario World for Game Boy Advance, aka Super Mario Advance 2. Heather, it's 2005. You've also picked a PlayStation 2. You've picked Final Fantasy XI with the included hard drive. You have picked Resident Evil 4. You have picked Katamari Damacy and Kingdom Hearts. Two. Oh, it's two.

Starting point is 01:31:22 Yeah, Kingdom Hearts 2. Kingdom Hearts 2. And then finally, me, it's 2022, just a couple years ago, and I've got myself a mid to high range, high end gaming rig. I've got myself a mid range to high end gaming rig. I've got myself a subscription to PC Game Pass for one year. I have an Xbox wireless controller, and then an Elden Ring and Persona 5 Royal.

Starting point is 01:31:48 What fun we had. What fun, I loved doing that. That was really fun to do. I also feel like it's the kind of thing that people listening would probably be like, oh, you know what I would pick is this year, and I'd pick this year. And there was a big argument made for 1998,

Starting point is 01:32:04 and it was almost my my year of choice Yeah, 1998 is like a hit look. That's a that's a big one I think the other one was thinking of was like you know 2004. I remember being a big year for games There there are a lot of good options here I also I I like that we all kind of went in different directions. I also thought really hard about like I like that we all kind of went in different directions. I also thought really hard about like, what if I just got weird shit? Yeah.

Starting point is 01:32:29 Like what if, because in no world would I have ever gotten the Game Boy sewing machine, you know? Like that would have never been under my Christmas tree. Right. But like how crazy would it be if I had gotten the sewing machine? I thought about, I honestly gave some thought until I decided to mix it up to doing 1999. I mentioned 98 earlier but 1999 of course

Starting point is 01:32:50 the year that the Dreamcast came out in the US and had a spectacular launch you know that that was like a very oftentimes console launches are pretty underwhelming but that was great launch titles I think you could take a Dreamcast and four launch titles and be sitting pretty And of course ranch we know that you would pick 2002 pick a GameCube and Mary Kate and Ashley sweet 16 license to drive Or copies I almost thought about drafting the Xbox and the first halo For 2000 yeah, that'd keep you occupied.

Starting point is 01:33:25 But I was like, then I had to draft, what, three controllers and three friends? Gamecube, Multitap, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance, and the Crystal Chronicles. That's all five slots for one game that's pretty good to play with one friend yeah not even playing it at full not even pull it yeah full power rancher putting this together in keynote yeah Wow pretty adept with keynote and it's an app I never think about yeah it's easy easy up there you go I didn't even know it. Yeah, it's easy. Easy app. There you go.

Starting point is 01:34:05 I didn't even know it existed. I think it's included as part of the suite of Apple apps, right? Just like you just have it. Do I have Keynote just on this computer? You probably do, man. I think I do, yeah. That's nice.

Starting point is 01:34:18 Great, now Nick's gonna start making little presentations. You know what? I would love it, actually. Make me a little presentation. I'd like to go back and draft keynote, please All right, that was our Christmas draft it's time for the question block All right, this first one is from and this is we say you should say this is a special holiday question block.

Starting point is 01:34:45 Holiday slash like end of year question block. This first one is from Captain Buzzerbeater. Hey! And Captain Buzzerbeater writes, what's a game you wish you played this year? This is a great question. I'm going back to the start of the year and you I just wanted to play like a dragon, infinite wealth. I mean, the other one that comes to mind is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,

Starting point is 01:35:11 but also the scope of that is just so daunting. And I also kind of felt like it got what I wanted out of the experience with Final Fantasy VII Remake, even though everyone, including Matt, you've talked about how great Rebirth is. So maybe I will, I do want to play that at some point. But I think it's like a dragon in infinite wealth.

Starting point is 01:35:27 I think that was the one I know I would absolutely love, and I just have not gotten a chance to play. My answer is Rebirth. I know I played the first like 20 minutes or something, and then I was like, okay, I want to dedicate time to this. I have to put it aside until I have time to play it. I wish somehow I was able to section off an extra time external layer of time

Starting point is 01:35:54 where I was able to play Rebirth to 100% completion. I think I would have really loved it, but I just didn't have the outrage there. And for me so far, I mean, there's so many games that came out this year that I just didn't get a chance to get to. There's, I'm sure there are games that I bought this year that I didn't play that I just can't even think about right now.

Starting point is 01:36:20 But so the answer that's coming to me though is Dragon Dog Dragon's Dogma 2 actually It seemed like that You know, I know that it had its issues at launch, but it kind of seems like I would have enjoyed it Probably I I wish I could have gotten in there But it's not a game that I had time for at all It was so pleasurable for that window of time when I was playing it. And there was a robust community playing it. I feel like all that's died out now. But it was charming.

Starting point is 01:36:52 It was really charming. It seemed cool. Maybe if there's an expansion released for it, maybe that's when I'll jump in and see what's going on with that. But right now, that was the first thing that came to mind. Wow. I love it.

Starting point is 01:37:06 This next one is from Synchronic. Synchronic writes, best game you ever received as a gift. I have an immediate answer to this. Okay, I have two answers for this actually. Wow. I remember the year jack 2 came out being a sort of like bummer year in In my household for whatever reason I just remember opening jack 2 on Christmas Day and being like this

Starting point is 01:37:35 Just turned the whole year around this is so excited because also a lot of a lot of the games I was getting at that time for PlayStation 2 were Greatest hits so they were like, you know at a discounted price, but I was playing them, you know, way later after all my friends. Jack 2 had come out very close to the Christmas window. So I got that was to me like a brand new game and I was so excited to have, you know, you care about these things when you're a kid, you don't care about them so much when you're an adult, but I remember the idea of having

Starting point is 01:38:09 a game at full price was such a rare concept to me that it was so cool that I had a game that came out before it was a greatest hit. So Jack Two was one of them, and then I remember later on, I can't remember if this was a birthday or a Christmas, but I'm counting it in Christmas because it's so close I Remember opening I really wanted guitar hero 2 and I wanted it I only had I had guitar hero 1 and I had a 1 controller for it

Starting point is 01:38:36 But I was like I can't play this with anybody because I only have one controller guitar hero 2 comes with a controller I need this please and I remember opening a box and it was just the game Guitar Hero 2 and I was like Excited because I was like, oh, it's still a new game But you know, you're always just a little bit disappointed right when you don't get the full thing and then my mom goes You thought that was it, huh or something and she pulls out a long box from behind the couch Or something and she pulls out a long box from behind the couch. Wow Controller very exciting and so fun

Starting point is 01:39:15 And that was a really fun surprise and then I remember playing it all damn day Gotta love it when a when a parent pulls out the prestige for the yeah, it's a lot of fun I would a strong stern talk after that. I was like, you never trick me. You never trick me again. This is all we have. Heather, you have a memorable game gift you received. My parents got me a Sega Saturn and Panzer Dragoon. Wow. And I thought it was transformative.

Starting point is 01:39:43 Like I was like, I can't believe that I am looking at what I'm looking at on my television. It had some of the best music I had ever heard in a video game. And like, it was also, it was so far, because the PlayStation doesn't come out for like a few more months. So the thing that had happened previous to this

Starting point is 01:40:07 was the Genesis, you know? So like to suddenly be flying on the back of a dragon with a full orchestral score and like simulated reflections in the water. Cause the first level of that game is you're flying over water and you're seeing reflections for the first time in a video game. Even though they're like, they look like shit.

Starting point is 01:40:30 At the time they looked real. And I was like, this is one of the greatest things that has ever been given to me by anybody. Wow. Wow. I fucking loved, had the music for that. Can we just, can we play just a snippet of the Panzer Dragoon level one sound, the score? Actually, I pulled it up here.

Starting point is 01:40:51 I can play it from my laptop real quick. Nick. What is this? Not it. Nick. Nick, you tricked me. I thought you had it. That wasn't it.

Starting point is 01:41:05 I was being a scamp. Nick. That ruined my life. I'm not playing the Panzer Dragoon games, but I have heard this before. The lovely composition. Extremely pleasant. Like, I mean, this again was a time when,

Starting point is 01:41:28 unless you had a Sega CD, the idea of this coming out of your television while you were playing a video game was crazy. Yeah. I remember Panzer Dragoon's Sega was a really, the RPG was a really well-regarded game that I think became extremely rare. Yes, this is true.

Starting point is 01:41:48 And I don't have the Panzer Dragoon RPG. And it is one of the glaring omissions in my collection. Kind of a white whale for a lot of collectors. Yeah. Best gaming gift I ever received. I mean, look, and I've mentioned it before, but I did get a surprise Super Nintendo for my birthday upon returning from summer camp. And that was an amazing gift that my dad got for me, presented it again in a very surprising

Starting point is 01:42:18 way. Like, oh, there's something, I think I forgot something on your bed. You thought you were going to get like, yelled or something? I thought like yeah That's what I wanted No, I think it was like it was like I like he'd forgotten like a sweater on my bed or something like that I went to retrieve it and it was like oh wait. No, that's much. That's a there's a super Nintendo there It was like very very you know again again the prestige

Starting point is 01:42:44 but Nintendo there. It was like very, very, you know, again, again, the prestige. But the pack-in game that came with the Super Mario World was, remains on my best games of all time list. So I guess that has to be that for GIFs overall. But if we're talking specifically of the holidays, I think about just again, how much work my dad had to do to get me and my brother, Zelda II, the Adventures of Link for the original Nintendo for the NES. Because that game came out on December 1st of 1988, so it was like this was the hot holiday gift at a time when the NES was like the dominant ubiquitous console, the one that every kid either had or coveted.

Starting point is 01:43:30 This was the piece of hardware for it. There was a chip or part of piece of software for it rather. There was a chip shortage. This game was really was rare and there was some price gouging that was going on. This is a pre-internet era where you're not just gonna be able to find like an eBay listing or whatever, even if you wanna pay through the nose, you gotta like go try to find it. So I remember him saying that he ultimately

Starting point is 01:43:51 when we ended up getting the gift, but it was like when he talked about like how all the places he had to go to. And I think that game also retailed for $70 in 1988, to which I think if you do the math, that is like way too much money for a, you know. 170, right? Yeah, it's $70 in 1988 is $186.57 today.

Starting point is 01:44:14 Holy shit. So, you know, insane. Maybe like a full day's worth of wages that my dad spent on a video game for the two of us. Ended up being kind of an underwhelming game, but was an amazing to have. You know what I mean like to receive it. It's just like this is the game I want holy shit. It's the new Zelda game loved Zelda one and You know it's it's a little bit different, but it's still was still was an amazing gift love it this next one's from

Starting point is 01:44:39 Jackal now more demon parentheses Eric great love that a lot going on there more demon parentheses Eric great love that what going on there what holiday character Santa Frosty the snowman would you like to see star in a new video game now I do think I do think Santa should be in a game yes and a game is a no-brainer I mean there I think of bad mr. frosty from clay fighter that was the only I think kind of edge Lord snowman we got but yeah holiday I mean, I think of Bad Mr. Frosty from Clay Fighter. That was the only, I think, kind of edgelord snowman we got. But yeah, holiday, I mean, what is the roster? Check out my snowballs, bitch. I mean, into that.

Starting point is 01:45:13 Okay, I want a first-person shooter, but it's Star Santa Claus, and what you do is you throw gifts at children as hard as you can. So often they're knocked out, but it's not like they explode or nothing. But like the game is a speed runner, because you're Santa,

Starting point is 01:45:31 so you've got to get a lot of gifts out. Oh. And you're just blazing past houses, launching gifts at kids, paper boy style, trying to hit as many of them as you can before you get to the end of the block. That's a lot of fun. I just think Santa is a good character.

Starting point is 01:45:50 Yeah. Like I think he's funny. Yeah, Santa's a good character. I mean, I'm just thinking through the whole roster. Like who else do we have in the holiday roster, right? Rudolph. Rudolph. There's Santa, there's Rudolph, there's Mrs. Claus,

Starting point is 01:46:02 there's Krampus. You could personify a gingerbread man, perhaps? Frosty. Yeah, frosty gingerbread man. There's,. Claus. There's a gingerbread man for half Yeah frosty gingerbread man. There's um Who else the nutcracker? Yeah nutcracker? Nutcracker is not bad cuz he's at least got a blade. Yeah Well, you know the first thing you think of when you think of the nutcracker. He's a soldier He could go in there and he could fuck shit up in a toy world. That could be fun. could be fun. He could I mean it could be like lies of pee, but it's the nutcracker. Yeah Did that come out this year sure did I think I think did the start of the year? Yeah

Starting point is 01:46:33 You got Scrooge of course Scrooge would be a great and then the ghosts yeah, you get the ghost. Yeah, that's pretty good What about wonderful life man? George Bailey? Yeah. I don't have your money. It's Mr. Potter. He's who did it. I've never seen the movie, but I know that he sounds like that, but what I know about the movie is that he's

Starting point is 01:46:58 gonna kill himself, and it's just so crazy to me that he talks like that. I'm with the end of the wire under my rope. I'm gonna end it all. You know what might be a fun video game is a- Something more like Seinfeld. Is a Christmas vacation game. That's fun.

Starting point is 01:47:14 Like National Lampoon Christmas vacation? Yeah, National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, the game. I mean, I think I've actually got a pretty obvious answer looking through all of these characters here I'm gonna play a game where I'm John McClane in the Christmas movie die hard Yeah, there are two die hard games maybe three there is diet there's die hard was die hard trilogy arcade Is that what it is? Die hard trilogy. trilogy the two separate games

Starting point is 01:47:47 I conflated them. Yeah. Oh well hell. Yeah, I Being a Grinch would be good. Okay. Oh, yeah Grinch Grinch would be good. It's pretty fun little dog I just want like a Santa metroidvania Yeah, Santa metroidvania is pretty fun Well, you know you're, you're retrieving reindeer as you go through. Maybe you get more reindeer, you can access more of the map.

Starting point is 01:48:09 You just got various, you know, Santa skills that you can attain. You can throw snowballs. Throwing snowballs is a key mechanic, for sure. This next one is from Juke13, and they write, I love when games can read the date and have custom events. My favorite is the Animal Crossing New Year's countdown,

Starting point is 01:48:33 even though I've never been online to see it. Do you have a favorite game date event? I can think of a couple. In Simpsons Hit and Run, the Simpsons Grand Theft Auto-like, if you play the game on Christmas, you start up the game Homer wearing Santa hat. Pretty good. That's pretty fun.

Starting point is 01:48:56 Pretty good. That's just, and I feel like other games do a similar type of thing. I think they wish you Merry Christmas in Death Stranding, if you play it on Christmas. And also, if you sign on on your birthday, Mads Mikkelsen says happy birthday to you and gives you a little cake or something.

Starting point is 01:49:15 Yeah, that was gonna be my Death Stranding birthday, just because it's just a fun thing, that fun bit of payoff, and then a fun bit of fourth and then you know fun bit of kind of fourth wall breaking which I always appreciate in in in Animal Crossing by the way on your birthday the residents of your island throw you a surprise party and I remember logging on to Animal Crossing the you know on my birthday, the year that this game came out, and it was a tough time. Yeah, sure.

Starting point is 01:49:51 When I saw all my friends in my little house wishing me happy birthday, I cried. That's adorable. It was just so sweet and so good and needed. No friends had been in my house in a long time at that point. So it was wonderful to see Dom and all the, Quilson was there unfortunately. You know what, I did, yeah, sorry about Quilson. Can't be rid of that guy. I do think the, you know, I do think of my time and wow,

Starting point is 01:50:18 and just like kind of like the, you know, the sort of Christmassy sort of vibes there, the feast of winter veil, all that shit's kind of fun. Like the whole, especially in an MMO, it feels particularly seasonal. If you played Christmas Nights into Dreams on Christmas Day, here are the changes that would happen in the game.

Starting point is 01:50:39 You'd get a brighter sun, a rain of purple gems, a full moon, a lunar eclipse, and a rain of stars were all randomized occurrences. Christmas Nights mode would activate, which would replace all the item boxes with Christmas presents. All of the greenery would be replaced with snow and gumdrops.

Starting point is 01:50:58 All of the rings you would fly through would become Christmas wreaths. And one of the characters would capture, capture with Christmas trees instead of their normal beam. All of the nightopians in the game would suddenly be wearing elf costumes, and the music itself would change to jingle bells and an acapella version of the night's theme song.

Starting point is 01:51:20 Oh my God. All on Christmas day. What I love about that is how much work it is for something that a lot of people are just never gonna see yeah I think I always love in games especially since Christmas nights into dreams was only available if you bought the Sega Saturn Magazine because it came free with the magazine right so it wasn't even like something you could go to the store and buy Yeah, like you would and also also, I mean, like, I didn't know anybody with a Saturn, so I wasn't, it was, I couldn't even share like, hey,

Starting point is 01:51:50 the variant on my game, Nights into Dreams, already have lost them. The variant that came packed in with the Sega Saturn magazine, which was Christmas Nights, now I've modified a thing they don't know. Yeah. On Christmas Day does all of these changes? I've double modified. Nobody cares. Yeah. But I cared and it was really special to me. Oh I'm glad. And finally from TMac. What's up TMac?-Mac writes, what are your favorite winter or snow-themed levels from video games?

Starting point is 01:52:27 Ooh, this is a great question and a loaded one. And it's like, it was the kind of thing where I feel like I'm gonna forget things. You know what I mean? Like, you're trying to think of through all the ice levels you've played. And I was like, I feel like I'm gonna forget some big ones. But what immediately comes to mind,

Starting point is 01:52:44 a lot of Diablo 4 is in ice, is in snow, it's like one of the central biomes. In Diablo 2, the Lord of Destruction expansion comes out, the DLC for that game before we called it DLC when you'd physically buy an extra CD that had the additional content on it. When that came out, it added a fifth act, and the fifth act was a snow realm. This was something that had not been explored in the rest of the game. You had kind of like your ruined sort of town and a grassland slash forest.

Starting point is 01:53:21 You had a desert. You had a jungle, and then you had the depths of hell itself. To have snow, it was like, oh, we went from fire to ice. It was also just an awesome map, just a really, really cool design for the environment and some really like... It's a procedurally generated game, but there are some dungeons that are completely set, and those dungeons were, the ones that were fixed were really, really well designed. And just the feeling of snow and the feeling

Starting point is 01:53:52 of that environment is so omnipresent and kind of defines the whole look and feel of that final act. So that's what I think of. The first thing that came to mind for me was the snow levels you play as Ellie in The Last of Us. Those are really cool. And I guess the blizzard that you play as Joel

Starting point is 01:54:14 is also really cool. So those are my favorite snow levels. Those are great. I'm immediately thinking of God of War Ragnarok. A lot of it is in the snow. Yeah, good answer But then something I thought about too is that I in a game that I don't think either of you guys have played Have either of you played gears five? No no gears five is fucking excellent. It is a really really great game and

Starting point is 01:54:40 It has the the open world map oh It has the open world map is in the snow. And so you're just traversing snow until you get to the other parts of where you're supposed to go. And I don't know what it was about traversing the snow, but I loved it. You're on a sled type of thing that goes around

Starting point is 01:55:01 and it becomes very snowy at times, too. It's great. And then sliding around in the ice is really fun. Any game where the ice physics are accounted for, I think, is good and fun. I like that. Yeah, as long as they're not annoying. Because we were talking about the Super Mario advances earlier. Super Mario 2, the ice stuff, you're just so skitty in that.

Starting point is 01:55:18 It feels like you can't, you could lose complete control of your character. They went a little too far with it. But some of the other Mario games have much better ice physics. I gotta mention, first off, I do want to shout out Uncharted 2 as another game with just a lot of great ice, a lot of great snow. But a game we talked about when we did the remaster on the show, Metroid Prime, Phendro and Drifts, of course like just like one of the coolest the coolest snow levels ever

Starting point is 01:55:52 Man, I love Metroid Prime, and I hope that two and three Eventually make it to the switch so I can play those in preparation for Metroid Prime Beyond I believe is called Wow And those are the, that's the question blog. Thank you guys so much for writing in. And of course, those are sourced from our Discord, discord.gg slash get played. Hop on in. Hop on in and be cool.

Starting point is 01:56:14 Yeah, spread some holiday cheer. Ho ho ho. Cheer to our fellow listeners. That's this week's get play. Whoa! Jesus Christ. That's this week's get play. He's face down on the floor. Yeah, that was pretty brutal.

Starting point is 01:56:30 Make sure he's okay. That's this week's Get Played. Our producer is Rachelle Chen. Ranch yard underscore underscore sard. Our music is by Ben Prunty. BenPruntyMusic.com. Our art is by Duck Brigade Design. DuckBrigade.com. And while you're at it, if you want to check out our merch, go to kinshipgoods.com. We've got all sorts of things over there for you so you can get all nice and dressed up snazzy and all your favorite get played gear. And hey, check out our Patreon, patreon.com slash get played where

Starting point is 01:56:53 you can find our entire pre headgum back catalog plus ad free main feed episodes. And you know, this is over there, our Patreon exclusive show, Get Animated, here in December, Matt. What are we watching? Well, what we're watching is that we're actually doing something a little different. We're doing a little bit of a pilot program. Heather, what did you call this thing? This is called Pilot Presentation.

Starting point is 01:57:15 That's right. And the way this works is that for the next few weeks, I'm going to show a show that I love to Matt and Nick and see if they love it too. That's right. And so we're kicking things off, you and I, and you showed me Gurren Lagann, and I watched the pilot episode of Gurren Lagann, and we talked about that, so check that out.

Starting point is 01:57:33 And then watch it, watch it also, because it, I'm just gonna tell you right now, it's pretty cool. Yeah, you can watch Gurren Lagann on, I believe on Crunchyroll and all the other anime streaming services of your choice. We'll see if Matt liked it as I present pilot episodes of different anime to my boys. I was gonna say it sounds like another good candidate for all the great logs,

Starting point is 01:57:58 but it sounds like that's not the pronunciation, so. I know, remember the log thing? Yeah, Yule log. Yule log thing yeah, you'll log You log Lincoln Lincoln long captain captain's log yeah log of shit But that's not how you say currently no so yes, I got played what ho ho ho to me That was a hate gum podcast

Get Played - Holiday Draft

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