Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - 2015 Delays, VR, and Nintendo's Future - Kinda Funny Gamescast Ep. 28

Episode Date: July 23, 2015

We discuss the implications Iwata's unfortunate passing has on Nintendo's future, although we still don't know what happened, we give our two cents on the Konami vs. Kojima situation, at San Diego Comic-Con we got to play with PlayStation's Project Morpheus, and what 2015 games do we think will get delayed into 2016? (Released 07.17.15) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up guys, welcome to the first ever episode 28 of the Kind of Funny Games cast. As always, I'm Tim Gettys. I'm joined by the coolest dudes in video games, Colin Moriarty, and Greg Miller. Good evening. I'm excited for this. A lot of cool shit to talk about today. Some sad stuff to talk about today. Some interesting things to talk about today.

Some experiences that we've had. You take the good, you take the bad. Yeah. Most thing you have. Facts alive. Facts alive. So, before we... Who had the world.

No, see. To believe it. Give me the beat. Give me the beat. Up to your knees. Come on, Colin. And the facts of life are all about you. All about you.

All right. So, I won't need this anymore. What? The wallet? Yeah. You done? No, I think after, I mean, with pipes like that, I can go anywhere in this country. So you just don't need your wallet.

Drink for free. Okay. Didn't know that's how anything worked, really. So this episode, I want to give a shout out to Leaping Tiger. Oh, yes. Our friends over there. So it's an app that lets you, or a website too. So it's iOS only right now.

But if you go to leaping dash tiger.com, you can, if you're an Android user, you can do that there and it'll be fine. It allows you to meet up with other gamers to play online. Right. Specific times and all this stuff. Like, it's a social gaming thing. Right. It's pretty cool. And we're doing something called game nights.

Right. Because right now the thing is only kind of funny people are using this app If you haven't been keeping up with this, Leaving Tiger went to patreon.com slash kind of funny games sponsored us for the month. So they get the month of shoutouts. Thank you for your support. So yeah,

what they're doing is since they were already kind of funny fans. They were like, I think honestly, when we launched Kind of Funny Games, they were the first people to buy, or, you know, buy the sponsorship from Patreon. Yeah.

So like they've been with us the whole time. They're real fans. They're real cool folks. Their deal is, yeah, that they soft launched this app. So if you download this app, or you use the website, you use it to match it make with other people.

You get to go hang out with the kind of funny people. But the cool thing is that every Wednesday right now, for this month, what they're doing is you go there 7 o'clock Pacific time. You can play for two hours. Again, we're doing Rocket League. It was such a success last week. Doing Rocket League. You go on there, you find other Rocket League players. You exchange your information.

You go play. Yada, yada, yeah. That's great. You make friends. You play a cool game made by Jeremy Dunham, which we love. However, to sweeten the deal, they're giving one person a PlayStation Vita every one of these Wednesday meetups. It's good. Yeah.

I really like it a lot. I like definitely check them out. Leaping dash tiger.com. there's the app that you can go get on iOS. So, guys, first topic of order today, future Nintendo. So last week, Awadasan passed away. Yeah. We were all very sad, and there's all this stuff.

And me and Colin did a little Kirby's Adventure Let's Play, where we kind of gave our thoughts on the whole thing and I just wanted to kind of celebrate his life and all the things that he's done. And we talked a bit about how the Internet, like, I'm happy with the Internet and how it's, handled some of these, like, deaths recently, where it's,

I mean, of course, there's going to be negative people. Sure, there's a way to go. But overall, it was overwhelmingly positive. People really kind of stood together to remember Awada, there was the hashtag, thank you, Awada, and it was a real big thing. A lot of people making tribute videos, a lot of people doing lets plays of the various games that he played, they were very

influential on all of us and like all the people out there and all that stuff. So, having said all that, this is less a topic about all that, and just more where does this leave Nintendo you know if you have anything to say about him for sure feel free

but this is more about where do you where do we see Nintendo going from here now that they're they don't have their leader you know I feel I mean like Nintendo's been on the precipice of change for a while and everything we talk about

with the NX and why they're not putting up more games on the Wii you right now right like they they always talks about it their hands are tied right they can't they can't put stuff out on the Wii you to not sell, so they have to wait to try to get it to the Annex, so they, you know, it's like this double-edged sword kind of thing

they're dealing with, right? And so what's going to be interesting is, what is the annex, how revolutionary is it, how different is it, is it this handheld console, bundled in one, and then how will they talk,

when they talk about messaging, about what Oada's role was in that? Because if it comes out and it is, hey, we've learned from all of our mistakes, this is how it looks, this is what it's going to be, it's going to be easy for third parties. We're competing with PlayStation Xbox,

whatever you want to say. People are going to be knee-jerk reaction of like, oh, man, this is the new Nintendo, all because there's new people in charge now and this is the change. When in reality, you have to imagine those choices have been made for a while. They're on this path.

Oada was part of that. So it's interesting. I don't know what, you know, I hope, and when we talk about the NX, throw it up, that the NX is something different. It is, you know, Nintendo making something again for hardcore game or whatever you want to call us.

You know what I mean? The core. And that is different in and amongst itself. So I don't know already. I always talk about how I'd love to be a fly on the wall who speaks Japanese and know what's going on in Nintendo to begin with. I feel like they've been on the road to change. And now that there's such a tragic change to be had, I don't know how much that influences

who you bring in and how it molds the company going forward. Yeah, I mean, there's a few things to say, I think. First is that, you know, to Oada himself, what I always respected about Satoro O'Wada compared to a lot of other executives, in the industry, and it's not to say I don't respect to any other executives in industry, it's just to say, what I respect about him is he was a game creator that was a businessman.

He's not, you know, more like the Peter Moore Mold where it's like he's a businessman that understands games. And I always respected how Awada really started at the very lowest rungs and worked his way all the way up to the very top of the company. And that was the first at Hal Laboratory, who worked intimately, of course,

with the Nintendo crew in the mid-80s, and then when he joined Nintendo properly, and then he became president of Nintendo in 2002. So I just want to throw that out that I have a lot of respect for that. That's an awesome like bootstraps story. Yeah. 100%. And as you said, we played Kirby's Adventure and stuff and he was one of

the people instrumental behind that series, but he was also one of the instrumental forces behind, you know, really beloved series like Mother, which is Earthbound. And, you know, other things to me, then there's all these great stories about him, him kind of like helping them finish balloon fight and how he did. Pokemon Gold and Silver. Pokemon Stadium, Smash Brothers, like all, like all of these

crazy things. Yeah, so he, so I just have a create a great amount of respect for him because I think he was a game creator first and a businessman second. That said, I think that there's a lot of unknowns. This seems, and I don't presume to know anything about, you know, his illness and stuff like that, but it seems like it was very sudden when he passed away. But I wonder if it was really sudden for the people that were most in the know. In other words, I wonder if they might have suspected that they need to, in the behind the scenes, like start thinking about a future without him.

him. Fortifying themselves for the inevitable right? Exactly. This was the second e-3 that he had missed? Yeah, exactly.

So I mean, like, he was sicker, I think, than we realized. And maybe I'm sure that the board and Nintendo and his colleagues and his peers and Nintendo probably knew way, way, way more than we did.

And so I just wonder if this was like, I'm sure it was shocking and it's awful and it's sad, but I'm wondering if there was a contingency that they might expect that this might have to, you know, might have happened

and they might have to move on without him. So I'm wondering if the trajectory has, it will change or if it's just like, you know, Awada's been driving the car forward, and someone else just now has to just put his foot on the gas pedal, and we are already steering in the direction we need to go.

Sure, exactly. The ship's been turned, and now it's on this path. But what's so fascinating about Awadda is, A, he was the first president of Nintendo really outside of the very inner circle of the founding, like, you know, the families and the names that were really important to Nintendo for a very long time. He was really the first new crew, like new outsider to kind of come in, not to say he was outside, he was with Nintendo, but, you know, like a guy that was younger, a younger guy,

a guy that was put in an install to turn the ship during the early GameCube years when it was clear that Nintendo was in a lot of trouble. And he reigned over a Nintendo that was both its most successful and it's, I don't want to say it's most unsuccessful because that's not true. But the first time we had seen a Nintendo that was like really

in trouble, like really was in trouble. Yeah, exactly. And so his whole leadership is a story of great decisions and some poor decisions. And that's going to be the case with anyone that takes over for him. You know, so he ruled, he kind of just had to go through the GameCube and the GBA,

but the DS and the Wii were massive successes, the biggest success in the handheld and the biggest success in home console than Nintendo's ever had. He should be given a lot of credit for that, because he was there from, you know, from inception all the way through execution. But the same thing can be set for the Wii, and so there's a sorted kind of legacy there with his leadership.

But I think that he deserves a lot of credit because it was largely successful. and this whole pivot towards mobile and things that they need to do, and I think ultimately with the NX and then maybe even third-party development eventually probably has begun under his leadership as well, so he deserves a lot of credit. This opens the question of who will take over, and I don't presume to know names.

I'm sure there's a short list of names there if they've not already made their decision internally of people that can take over. The one thing that came to mind for me is, like, is it possible that the person who takes over is not Japanese? And if that would be a good thing for them or a bad thing for them in terms of just that corporate culture and the corporate structure there to shake things up and find their success overseas. I mean, that's the interesting thing there

because, you know, the faces of Nintendo, at least in the last couple years, have always been Awada, Reggie, and Miyamoto. And we constantly see those three together. They are the group, you know? And it really makes you think, like, will Miyamoto step in that role?

And then he's not necessarily, I mean, again, I don't know too much of the details on this, but I would assume that he's not exactly the CEO business type, you know? I don't think so. I think he's like the little kitten in a old's body. And it's been the best way possible. In the best way, yeah.

It's like he needs to make games. He's the artist. He's the same way, though. Awada would do that too, but he did have that business mind and how it would make everything work. But then Reggie is the other side of that, that Reggie obviously understands the games, understands what gamers want, and he understands all those things. But he is a business guy.

But it's interesting because he is the American, you know, and like could Reggie be the CEO of Nintendo? Maybe, I mean, it's possible. It's something I've thought about. I just wonder if it's necessary or pertinent for them to look in a more Western style. It reminds me what Sony do with PlayStation 4 when they realize we only have a limited stock of this console. And Japan is a shrinking market and not really a super important market for us, even though we are a Japanese company. It's still not that important.

Even though there's 130 million people there, they don't play consoles the way we do. Our money and our bed is going to be made in the West. and we need to have a Western audience. So when they made their first couple million PlayStation 4th, they gave them all to the United States. And I wonder if that was clearly a smart move. Now, I wonder if the Nintendo has to do that in a more systemic way to be like, we need a more Western influence than, you know,

much like Sony, Nintendo, I'm sure, in Japan really is the core of the leadership. Like, everything has to go through them. And I wonder if they want to kind of shake up the structure a little bit and say, like, well, consoles are still strong in the United States. They're still strong in Canada. They're strong in Latin America. They're strong in Europe. we need to find someone from these

places to talk to that audience. It reminds me of almost like what the Catholic Church is with the new Pope, where the new Pope's a Latino guy to speak to a huge Latino Catholic audience that was never really felt like they were being spoken to in their own language by someone that understands them better. And I wonder if it's almost a kind of a similar thing

where it's like, well, maybe we do need to tap Redger or we need to tap an unknown person, a great business mind. In unknown one, I think is the most interesting choice. You know what I mean? Of like what we're talking about of like, we are at this precipice of something new, a different Nintendo, a different look for them.

So yeah, they understand that, not that they've made bad decisions, but they've made traditional decisions. They want to break the mold of who they are. You bring someone else in to help do that, a trusted person. Yeah, they're very insular, so I don't know, you know. But it seems like the whole direction they're going in now

is just radically different. And that's why I was saying, I give a lot of credit for that because he clearly, behind the scenes, admitted that they made, they did make huge mistakes. And the Wii was a huge mistake. And they have to deal with it, and they'll deal with it,

they have the money to deal with it and the means and the time. It's not a Sega Saturn or Sega Dreamcast situation where they're just fucking out of money. It's not like that at all. So they have to eat it and they did and they are and they'll move forward.

And he did himself too. And like that's like one of the most, you hear all these stories now. And like I remember over time we've heard them but like to get them all collected into one thing like all the things that Awada did. Like when he took the pay cut like what was it

a 50% pay cut when the when they started when they started losing one and all stuff. Like that's like that says a lot you know about like the type of person that he was. And it's definitely interesting to think about, like, who could step into those shoes. Those are big shoes to fill, you know, for someone that obviously gets it, at least gets what's important. And he understood that it was important to keep the Nintendo employees happy because there's one thing that Nintendo has never done wrong and that's make good games.

You know, so whether or not their business decisions and, like, the hardware and all that stuff, like, nailed it. Their games always did. So it's like him doing that meant that people making the games that aren't the one thing Nintendo has going for it. They're not leaving, which would make worse games and all that stuff. And so it's like those are the important decisions. So we need someone to kind of step up and make sure that that stuff's still happening, but then also nail the business aspects. Absolutely.

And that was what was so interesting about a lot of to me was that he did have a business mind clearly. And I discussed this with people too, but what I always liked about him too is that he, in gaming, we often give a lot of the personal credit towards the artists or the visionaries, and I don't think that he was necessarily a visionary. He was a... He's not a Miyamoto guy that's a character that's kind of like creating the game

from the base floor necessarily, although he did help produce and create some of these great franchises. He was a programmer and a technical person, and with the exception of, like, Carmack and a few other people, like those kinds of people don't get... They get very short shrift in the industry,

and yet they're an essential cog in the wheel. And I liked to have... unlike Kojima, who's more of like a director and a visionary or a Miamoto or whatever, like Awada was a programmer and a talented, you know, scriptor and stuff like that. Yeah, exactly.

It's so essential to have that kind of person. So I wonder if they want to stay in a similar vein like that, that someone that understands games, you know, yeah, at the Nuts and Bolt's level like that, which I think some people that even just design and animate games don't quite understand like that. They're necessary. Like those are the always,

people that make your engines and make the game run and so like that. I always really enjoyed that about him as well. So yeah, I think that they have decisions to be made. My assumption is that the decisions are already made, have already been made, and depending on how much they knew about his illness and how serious it was,

the decision might have been made before he even passed away. But they're going to obviously give a time and flesh things out. There's no reason for them to say anything quickly. I'm sure their stockholders are interested, but, yeah, I think the future Nintendo is going, it's going to be different because he's not going to be there, but I think it'll be uninterrupted.

I think the vision's laid out, This is their last chance at console supremacy, I think, and or handheld supremacy, depending on what the hell the NX even is. And then they'll go from there. But with their move with DNA, and then, you know, my frank hope is that, you know, eventually they just get into making awesome Mario games and awesome Zelda games for everyone. But that remains to be seen. But I don't know. You know, it's disruptive from a cultural level, but I don't know if it's disruptive from a strategic level for them. Yeah, I mean, I think, so speaking more just elaborating on that, like what the actually.

future of Nintendo is as products and stuff. We've talked about this a million times, but I think all of us agree that the NX is probably going to be some type of hybrids that combines the handheld and the console stuff. And that eventually Nintendo will just go third party or whatever for

software and just make games for everyone. Unless this blows up. Yes, NX is super successful. And then brings everything back and all that. But it's like, do you think that with all of this there's a chance for some other option? Like something else that with now, with New leadership coming in, do you think

there's any way that someone could come in that would change the path that they're on right now? No, I don't think you can. I mean, the console R&D is probably worth tens of millions of dollars that the systems probably if the rumors are true, the systems are going to be ready to be manufactured by the end of the year, which means they already have a form factor,

the internal guts are already there, the controller's done, people are making games for it. So, and the rumor was that they were talking to people that shows for a while about it. So it's the console, what whatever the NX is, whatever that initiative or that hardware, that movement is, is done, like, or being done, and it can't, that you can't not go forward with that. And the DNA deal with mobile games, A, their first mobile game will be out by the end of the year. And there was a cross-pollination of real capital between those two companies. So you can't go back on it either. So I think, again, I don't, you can't have someone, you know, take a while this place in the car driving and they just fucking swerve off the road because I just don't think there's anything there for them, but complete desolation. But they have to, they chose their path. I think it's a smart path. try one more time with hardware, listen and figure this shit out that your competitors have figured out a long time ago and make your great games and get your shit on mobile for your home market at the very least.

You figure it's not a monarchy, right? It's not like the new president comes in and then it's just like anything I say goes now. There are stockholders. There are all these different people. Right now as they try to figure out who is on that short list, who they're going to go with, they're going to be looking at, we want person X because they're going to be ready to go with what we already are talking about. They understand what our future is and that's what it's going to be. Yeah. So, guys, leave a comment down below about your favorite,

Oada memories, whether it's a game or things that he's done, or there's wonderful speeches that he's given and all that stuff. I forgot to do this earlier, but this is the Kind of Funny Games cast. Every week, day by day, it's broken up topic by topic over on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. You can get the whole thing earlier at patreon.com slash kind of funny games. This one's worth a dollar. You should definitely, definitely do that if you haven't already.

So, topic two, a little bit of that. Metal Gear action. Oh, all right. So there's been a lot going on with Kojima and Konami and all the stuff for the last couple months. We've talked about this ad nauseum. We did some kind of funny reacts on it. Colin did a really, really, really amazing piece on it that if you haven't checked out, you definitely should over on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games.

And now the story continues. Sure. And I feel like this might be like one of the final things that could possibly happen with this whole, you know, hubbababoo. of uh coima's name being taken off of the box art of middle gear solid five what are you guys thoughts on this I was surprised anybody was surprised by it

I thought with this I thought people had their expectation set that this is what was happening right this all remember our first like canary in the coal mine that something was wrong was when they started removing his name from the websites and the posters that were up in stores for promotion his own studio yeah exactly that was like well that was like the that was like the flare in the night but yeah

that you know so you knew this was back and this is where it's been, it seems like going. So for it to come out and then people would be so surprised, it didn't say a Hideo-Kajima game at the top and it didn't have the Kajima Productions logo down the corner. I was like, I didn't know what you're expecting. Like, this is bad. It has been a bad breakup.

They're in a very, very bad breakup. And as much as they dance around it in terms of Konami statements or whatever, or Kajima, you know, not even having one statement and then never addressing it again, like you can read between the lines that shit's gone south. It sucks. And it really, really, really sucks. You know what I mean? because you figure, from what I've played of it at that two-day event,

like, this is the Magnum Opus. This is, like, the Metal Gear game he's probably always wanted to make. It's, you know, X times bigger than this and the other end. And it's like, now it's, I'm sure for him, it's this, he, I've seen a lot of gamers commenting about this and talking to me about it on Twitter of, like, they feel torn of this is a shitty fucking move by Konami, but they're still excited for the game. So do they buy the game and support Konami and still,

support kajima or like it's like Kajima can't be like I love this game everyone go by you because he does love the game but he also it's this weird totally fucked up situation right of how do you even voice your anger about this without screwing over him you know what I mean like it comes down to him

at the end of the day in terms of like why people are offended right now and going forward what it means you know what I mean it'd be awesome to say you always talk about speak with your wallet's like what do you so want to buy this game because it's still his game even if they've removed his name and I'm sure it's all screwed up on the inside.

You know what I mean? I mean, that's my thing is like, do you, the last final straw, and I don't know if they've confirmed this one way or the other, but in game. Like,

is his name all over the place like it normally is? Or are they just kind of scaling that back a bit or is it gone? Yeah, those are the questions. Like, that's why I'm so anxious to get a final copy of that game

and see what exactly it looks like. You know what I mean? How? Because everything begins with credits. You know what I mean? Every one of the story missions opens like a TV episode with credits rolling.

Oh, really? Yeah. Like, Every mission. Yeah. Every story mission. Not just like side ops, but like a main op opened and it says, you know, written direct about Hideo Kijima, da, blah, blah. But we were told when we played, like, that's going to change.

This isn't the final game in that obviously things have happened. Things are going to change. But it wasn't like a line. But that was told to you in the context of this stuff going on or just in the context of the game being developed? In the context of the stuff going on, that things are going to change. Yeah. That's really interesting. What are your thoughts of the whole, like, the boycott situation?

It's tough. I agree. reminds me most of affinity to sports teams. What I mean by that is I'm an Islanders fan for a long time. We had a really bad general management. We were awful team. And the idea was like, well, what do you do about it? Do you, do you stop going to games and stop buying merch and then they have less money and then the team

becomes fucking worse and then they become more relevant and then they can't hire? Like it's tough. You know, like sometimes people like I'm loyal to the Islanders and the Jets regardless. So people are just loyal to that franchise. But I don't, I don't think they give a fuck about Konami anymore than I gave a fuck about Woody Johnson who owns the Jets. Like, I don't care about him. You know, like, I'm sure he's a very nice man or whatever, but I'm not, I don't care.

If he didn't own the team, someone else would own the team and it would still exist. And so I think that that's the best analogy I can give is that like you're, it's the perfect catch-22. It's the same thing of like when people go to games with fucking paper bags over their heads and they're like, well, they're still there and you're still paying them. You know, it's like how do you voice that? You're not happy with these decisions. Yeah. Like, it's always like people put like brown bags from like supermarkets over their heads and like cut aisle all. It's like it's a show like you're embarrassed to be a fan of this team or whatever.

You're still like you want them to be better. It's an old, very old symbol in sports. And it's been done for decades and decades. So that's like the best analogy I can come up with is that like there's a, there's always going to be an internal conflict between things that are associated with each other. You know, I love the Jets because I love the organization. I love the players. But I don't necessarily love the coaches.

I don't necessarily love the owners. So what does Kojima fit into that then? So to me it's like, it's tough because the owner is like Kanami and Kojima is like the fucking baseball manager that you love, but they're going to fire. at the end of the year and you know it, you know, but do you go to the last game anyway? And you know that that money's not going to him, but you want to kind of support him and see it.

You want to see what it's going to be. I think it's actually a pretty spot-on analogy, like in the sense that it's like, this is a shitty situation. And the way I put it, I was talking to some people on Twitter, Alexa Ray, from GameSpot was one of him, and I was just like, here's the thing.

Kojima's going to be very relevant after this. Konami, not so much. And Konami will be fine because as people know, we've talked about, again, ad nauseum is there's so much more than a games developer

and a games publisher. They just, like, they could not do that anymore and be fine. They'll exist. They're not like, you know,

deep silver or something that they're just a game publisher. But it's, Konami has burned such goodwill with so many different people over the last year and a half with both Castlevania first and now,

especially with Metal Gear, which I think is fucking way worse for them, that it says a lot about the quality of the game and the caliber of Kojima that people are still interested in it because I think, if it was more of a run-of-the-mill game and people saw it one of their beloved

what's a good example? Like, the way in Afunay was treated by Capcom, like, people were fucking furious about that. Yeah. Like, people were really upset about that. And I think Capcom did pay a financial price for it. But the fact that Konami is not going to pay a financial price for it, I understand. I'm not one of these people that's going to be like, you shouldn't buy Metal Gear Solid Fod because it's, it's like, fuck that. Like, I know you're excited about it. My whole personal

opinion on it is that I can give a fuck and a half less about that game right now. What I want to know is what the fuck happened. Sure. You know, like, and if someone was, like you can either play Metal Gear Solid 5 or find out what happened. I'd be like, I'll find out what happened. I don't ever have to see that game. Like I am so it's the same thing with the last guardian night. I want

to know what happened. Something awful happened. And no one knows what it is. It can't just be like a thing of like, oh, we had disagreements. No, something bad happened. Clearly. And what could it have been? Is there any like idea? Budgets, right? Money. It's got to be money. Salaries.

Back end points. Like there's a million you have to imagine it comes down to something like he Kajima wanted more money You know what I mean And it's not that that's wrong, right? Yeah, no. You know how much this franchise means to Konami. Konami doesn't want to give it.

But then even like, it seems like, I can't imagine that it was one event. It wasn't one nuclear bomb moment. It was building, building, building, and then there was like this release of whatever, of how this was dealt with. And you have no idea. And that's why we're in the situation.

I honestly think, it's funny because the way it's gone down, right, is they've, I think, I think if you talk to people in the video game industry, most respect Hideo Kajima, right? This has made him a folk hero. He is going to leave, and he is going to make this game

that is going to get nines and tens from what I played, right? It'll be in running for game of the year, I'm sure, for a lot of sites and win a lot of things from different people. And the story surrounding it, it's this great game and it's an amazing thing, and they totally fuck the creator

and tried to whitewash his name out. And now we're saying his name, more than ever. You know what I mean? People are talking about him more than ever. And like Colin's saying, there's tons of people out there

who don't give a flying fuck about Metal Gear the Phantom Pain. We're never going to play it. But now they know a whole bunch about it. And they know Kajima's involved. And it's like, it's going to be this, I think, amazing swan song to this career with Konami,

right? Making this friend. It's swan song to Konami, to Metal Gear, to everything he's done, the Fox Engine that we've heard about for years and years and years. It's going to be this thing

where it's like, I bet he comes out to, it'll be one. of those things I bet at, I can, you can envision it right now at the video game awards or the game awards this year, the Jeff Keeley thing, right? Like, it's already announced that he's gone, as you imagine, as soon as this game comes out, two, three weeks from then, there's a, he, Kajima can finally say, hey, I'm gone or whatever, maybe it's a month, you know what I mean? But his first public appearance, whether it be at E3, whether it be at the game, I mean, it's going to be

raucous applause and standing ovation. Yeah. Like, this guy is a fucking hero right now, and you don't even know what's happening. We, he, maybe he was a total dick. Maybe it was a Seriously. I mean, I could have been it. I mean, but the way Konami has played this publicly, they look like such jerks.

Yeah, and that's the thing is that I don't, again, it's all conjecture. We don't know. We're not going to know for a while. We have no idea. You will know.

But I, I'm confident that we will know. I'm sure he's bound by his contract. He hasn't said anything. He hasn't said anything. He hasn't said a fucking word. Yeah. About anything.

And I'm sure that they were not going to put him on the press. You know, no. No. So, because he know he's just going to fucking blow up. So, But I don't think it was coincidence

He wasn't at E3 No, no It wasn't like Because he's working hard on the game It's because Konami I'm sure Was like No, we're just not gonna have you there Yeah, the games

I'm sure the game's been done for a while I think they're probably polishing And getting ready for cert Or going in to probably insert But to me The way Konami's dealt with it And again, not knowing anything factually about it But just kind of reading into it

Is that it was something big And it could have been Yeah, a bunch of you know, little It could have been a bunch of you know, a hundred stabs, or it could have been a fucking bullet wound into the head. There was a straw that broke the camel's back for sure. But something definitely went wrong between them. My

assumption is that this game took way too long to make, and it was way too expensive, and that was probably it. My assumption, this game's been development forever. You know, like, a really long time. So I don't, I would understand why Konami would get mad at that. Here's the fucking fallacy in Konami's thinking, though, and they've done it now

twice, is that they remove Igashi, or Oigarashi leaves, we don't really know what happened there, but they think they can do Castlevania without the man who was associated with it and produced it and was the visionary behind it for like 15 or 20 years. And Casabiani ended up being just shit upon, right? And now they think that they're going to create Metal Gear games without Kojima and that people are going to fucking allow that to happen on a commercial level and a critical success level. And those are big fucking shoes to fill. I think they are delusional.

They were delusional with Castlevania and it blew up in their faces. And now they're going to be delusional with Metal Gear. And it's, it's, you can't have Metal Gear without Kojima. It's not possible. I don't understand how he is he has been there the entire time yeah you know yeah since the very since the 80s everyone thinks it started with metal gear solid it started with metal gear on msx and that and he was there for that yeah you can't just it's you can't just walk away from that like it's talking about like you know canami talking about their you know restructuring and

moving away from consoles and everything and we still go with that thing that that's fine and that's all well and good but if that doesn't pan out or metal gear grounds or fan of pain sells a gazillions of copies. They're going to start thinking about, well, you know, at some point either we need to go back and make that easy money

or fuck it, we'll do another one. And that's, annualize metal game. That's when people can actually stand up and be like, well, fuck no. Fuck this shit.

Yeah, that's the one. I mean, because like, right now, there's no, there's no easy way to punish Konami for the way they're handing.

By the game, because this guy, this is the culmination of, like you're saying, all this man's career. And that's the way I see it is. It's just like,

you know, not buying it isn't really going to hurt Konami that much. Yeah. Like at the end of the day, because there's going to be so many people. It's just, it's such as,

it's a, not a united front of a boycott. On the other hand, doing that is hurting the creator of this game. It's like, I'm sure he wants the money. I'm sure like it sucks that we can't just buy it from him and have him get the money because I'm sure people would want to do that.

That's not how business works and that's not how things are. But it's like, as a creator, like we are creators. We know this. Like, we want, if we did something that we believe is the best thing we've ever

done. We would want as many people to be a part of it as possible. I'm sure that he wants this game to be played by everyone. I'm sure that if the quality of the game is as high as you say that it is and that he feels that way, that he wants everyone to experience it and let it speak for itself in just

the sense of like, this is an amazing game. This game might win game of the year awards. It's going to be talked about for decades, you know, all this stuff. Like, the way we talk about Metal Gear Solid 3, or Metal Gear Solid 3, or Metal Gear Solid, all of them, really, except for 4. I like for a lot. But that's the thing is, like, it's,

it's silly to me to think about not buying this game to, like, say fuck you to someone. Yeah. Because really, everyone that cares about, uh, Kojima needs to play this game. You know, needs to talk about this game and needs to talk about why they liked it. And it's not because of Konami, you know?

Right. And that's unfair to say, too, because I'm sure, like, it's not just Kojima. They paid the tickets. Yeah, like they made it happen. Yeah. So whether, and that's why this is so weird. to get in the middle of somebody else's breakup like this, right?

Like, your friends are splitting up and one's being publicly weird about it, but the other's being silenced. So it's like, well, how do you don't even know what happened? No one's telling you exactly what happened. You're like, I don't know what to do with any of this information. Yeah, I think that's the thing is that that was the calculation. They, Konami knew, they're not stupid.

They knew that they have everyone by the balls. What are you going to do? We own the game, we own the IP, and you're going to buy it. So, you know, this might affect 1% of sales or something if that. I don't think so. I think it's actually going to increase the game's sales. from the more organic nature it was going to have to begin with.

I think it was all calculated. Again, they're not stupid, they're delusional. And they're not hurting themselves now. They're hurting themselves later. You know, as was shown with bloodstain, when Ega showed, you know,

revealed bloodstain, it's not about the fucking name. Castlevania isn't, doesn't matter. Metal Gear doesn't matter. It's the fucking people behind it, you know, that make the game what it is. You can stamp Castlevania or Metal Gear and fucking anything.

It doesn't make it a Castlevania game or a Metal Gear game. The next Metal Gear game after this is going to be by Kojima, at another publisher for someone else. with his own studio. And they've already said that they're going to continue Metal Gear without him, you know,

in the AAA space. And what's going to be funny about that is that when he fucking leaves and gets his inevitable millions of dollar offer from every fucking publisher under the sun is he's going to take everyone with them.

Who the fuck's going to make the game? You know? Yeah. Like, you could look at it in a way of like we talk about with Star Wars where it's finally in a good place because it's the people

that understand Star Wars and it's the people that grew up playing it and watching it and enjoying it. And so they understand it's a good hands. And you could find the same thing about Metal Gear.

I'm sure there's people that are fans or in the industry that can treat Metal Gear with care. Of course. It's just, it's not quite the same. You're going to be in that shadow forever. And when you're in that shadow, Konami looks bad.

They look evil, right? That they took this away and drove him away and this is what it is. And so, yeah, it's a no... It's also just like, a Metal Gear game without Kajima isn't a Metal Gear game. Like, Revengeance came out, right?

And it was like, oh, that's a cool action game, but I don't like that action game. It's like, I won't play that. I'm not going to play that. You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. to me it's it's they've Konami's never been

you know good at PR and they their silence is very loud with this they don't say anything they haven't said a word really about what the hell is going on like there's a million different ways

you can spin the PR to make it better for you and the fact that they don't even want to do that says at all to me it's like they just the bridges have been burned we're going to find out what happened when Kanima is able to talk and he will talk

you know whether it was after the game comes out whatever. It's the same thing with In Afune. Inafune fucking left, and then a few months later, he just said everything he needed to say. Ega said everything he needed to say. Kojima's going to be no different.

The exception, even though I love those guys more than I love Kojima, the thing is that Kojima is way bigger, and what he's going to say has way more resonance, and it's not going to be about the nature of Japanese games or the nature of publishing games or anything that's the nature of what the fuck Konami, what happened in Konami. That's what's so sad to me as someone who grew up as an NES gamer,

and, you know, an SNS gamer, is that Konami has fallen from grace in such a tragic and significant way. They were responsible for a lot of awesome games back in the day. And they are just a shadow of their former selves. And it's so sad to watch it happen. I wish that they would just give some of these IP to someone else and just fucking go away. You know, like I like, who could treat Castlevania and Contra and Metal Gear with care and just fucking leave? I mean, that's such a weird thing.

Like that, what you just said sounds so negative and it sounds so like just mean, really, where it's just like, Just fucking stop. We don't like you is what it sounds like. And it's like, I don't like that that's the feeling we all have, that these people that have created Metal Grisola, which is one of my favorite franchises of all time. Like,

it's weird the way I feel going into five. Hearing all this stuff doesn't make me feel good. It makes me feel super mean-spirited and super like, fuck you about stuff instead of thank you for allowing this game to happen, which is how I felt for so long, you know? And it's hard. On top of like just what's happening with,

Kajima is that it's being paired with the announcement of Konami, I feel like saying like we're done with console games. Like we're moved, that's not our focus. We're going forward, we're taking our foot off that gas. So it's almost like you already know they're leaving. They're already ejecting out of the realm I deal with Konami. Like, when am I going to talk to them about their

Pachinko machines and stuff like that? And I'm not insulting that business. It's just not my business. So it's like, it's the thumb in the eye over this Metal Gear stuff and it's also the flick of the cigarette you have like, fuck it. We're just out of here anyway, so what does it matter? patchwork. And you have to understand that the reason might sound mean or like personal

is because they've done, they already did this with another franchise and another creator. And it's like, this is already happened. You know, why are they doing this? Yeah. You know, like, why are they doing this? And that's the big question I have. And of course, it's dollars and cents and that makes sense to me. But you know, it just sucks that

it has to be, it has to be this way. And it's a timing thing. I mean, like, the reason I feel so weird is it's before the game's out. It's like, this happened months before the game came out. There was an E3, that Metal Gear stuff happened, and it felt weird. Yeah, this was a weird. It was weird having Kojima not there.

It was weird not seeing Metal Gear on one of the conferences. And it's like, yeah, we've seen it before, so maybe it didn't necessarily need to be there, but it's got to be tied to this though, right? You know what I mean? Like, how was that, how did that trailer not debut on the PlayStation? Yeah, the stage, have a lot demo or something. And it's like, that's weird.

And it all feels wrong. It feels dirty, and it just feels, it makes us not feel good about, what we love. Yeah. And I don't like that. I don't like that one bit. Yeah, it's not, it's not personal on a level of,

like, we're going to judge the game based on the way we feel about the publisher. But of course, it's not personal in that way. It's personal because we're gamers and we have ownership in some way over these franchises. And Konami's gotten thousands of dollars for me,

you know? Like, it's, I bought every fucking Castlevania game, every one of them, basically. You know, like I, I, you know, Metal Gear was, you know, Zone of the Enders, like Contra, lots of, you know,

blades of steel, there's a fucking million games that, You know, I loved growing up that were theirs. And so it's personal on that level where it's like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you allowing this to happen to your legacy and to the great games and the great creators that helped you make these games?

And why are you making these weird decisions? Even if it's a financial way, there's a more elegant way to do it. If you want to get out of it or you don't want, there's an elegant way to handle this. It should have never been handled like this. The Igarashi situation was much more behind closed doors, but, you know, clearly they just locked them away and fucking wouldn't. to make any games that he wanted to make. And then, you know, with this situation, it's just like, you know, again, the Igrashi situation is

all anecdotal. And so is this. It's just because we've still not heard from the horse's mouth himself about what the hell happened. But that's why it's, that's why it's, it's, it sounds mean-spirited. And it's like, the way I put it is way nicer than a lot of people fucking put in. Yeah, no. I'm not saying that you're being mean.

I'm saying that it's like, no, I know that. But I'm saying, like, there are some people that are like, end to the end-degree fucking upset about this. I'm big outlets. And I understand because it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, meltdown. You know, it's a total meltdown. And it's a shitty situation that it, it, like, we're talking about, you know, we're throwing on like, you know, Konami and like, what they're doing and stuff. And really, like, how many people they are making those decisions and doing

those things, right? There's so many people who work at Konami and probably are fucking fucking Kajima fanboys and they hate what's going on for themselves, you know what do you do? Like, you know what I mean? Like, this is just so messy right now. It's exactly what you talk about, right? Like, you feel gross having to deal with it, right? We just want to fucking talk about this awesome video game and Diamond Dogs and D-D-D. You know what I mean?

There's so much good fucking shit to talk about that game. But it's so weird when you go and you want to play the game and they're like, oh, this is going to change and things are going to be removed. It's like, why? What could he have possibly done?

Like, and that's why I'm not and to your point, like, I'm not wholly convinced that he's not responsible for this problem. But still, it's just an, it seems, but yeah, there's a level of immaturity about the way it's being done. I mean, now how.

Having said that, there's not many directors of movies that their name gets put on the poster. Like, huge. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's not many games that have... Is there any game besides Guzheimer? Sid Meyer. Oh, Sid Meyer. And, like,

I mean, not even Tom Clancy. There's just his name there. I want to go back to movies because there are plenty of movies that get promoted that way from the creator of the Walking Dead or whatever in the trailer and then it'll say that on the poster and stuff too. But I think that's a little bit different though. Like, that's less about the director. and more about you liked this thing,

you'll like this thing. It's not so much the name, you know. But there are, I mean, there are, but there's not, when you think about how many movies are being made,

all this stuff, there's only a couple guys, right? When you think of the games, games, it's smaller than movies, and there's only a couple guys the mainstream even knows,

right? You got the Miyamoto, you got Kajima. There's not many others. I know, I'm with you. I'm just saying, but I think it's small as that,

that pool you want to make, Kajima's in it. Well, Kojima is the dude. Yeah. I think he is the only one that I can think of that I can really remember games

where besides Siddmeyer, but it's like his name's just all over that game. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And for him, for his name not to be on the box, it's one of those things where for it to be taken off is like,

that sounds immature and that's bad. Did his name need to be on the box in the first place? I mean, tradition says yes. You know what I mean? It's like, it's his thing. We do all love this game because it's his game. But it's like,

I don't think his name being on the box is that big of a deal to begin with. But the fact that it was there and was taken away. The way it's being done dirty is why it's a big deal. Yeah. If they would have released the first shot of posters and materials, and it didn't say a Hadeo-Kajima game, or Fox Engine right by Kajima Studios. Different story.

But now that they're like subtly erasing this stuff and acting like you won't notice or that it shouldn't matter, that's the weird part. Yeah, I mean, it is weird because really who, is that sending what message to? What's the point? And that's what I'm saying about the folk hero, man. Like, I think he is going to be, like, we're talking, like, just the way that was all presented, Konami looks bad and he looks good.

And whether, maybe we're going to find out that, yeah, he fucking punched somebody at Konami, said he was bigger than this whole fucking publisher himself and he was a total dick and diva about it. Oh, fuck. We read this one wrong, but like, it doesn't matter for now because this is what's happening. And like, the game's going to come out and it's going to be great. And he's going to, everyone who, everyone who, everyone who was going to play Metal Gear

and knew that Kajima was behind it was going to have known whether the name was on the box or not and if the name wasn't on the box and you didn't notice or care then you just that person but now it's one of those things yeah if you don't even care about the Metal Gear franchise you're well aware

of what's happening and that it also killed PT and it also did this and it's all you know what I mean like Oh yeah Silent Hills I told it that's what I'm saying it's like I totally haven't even thought about that yeah it's unbelievable what the hell is going on over there yeah yeah yeah

hey here's this thing you all fucking love, you know what I mean? And like, yeah, now it's all fucked up. Fucking A, dude. Yeah. That makes even worse. All right, guys. Moving on to topic three.

Morpheus. Morpheus. What if I told you? Oh, that, that Morphus. Yeah, not the major. It's not, not the major. It's Morpheus. No.

So, Greg. Yeah. We did a little San Diego Comic Con last week. We did a little San Diego Comic Con. We had ran around and a whole bunch of different stuff and a whole bunch of different people. Didn't play too many games. We did have one little opportunity to play some stuff.

We played with the Morpheus, and we played with the Morphias. played a little bit of Battlefront. Did you get to play Battlefront at all? I didn't play Battlefront. I played for like five minutes. Okay. It looks awesome. Yeah, did it. Yeah, we did a little split screen. Nick had a problem. Yeah, me and Nick did it. Yeah, Nick didn't invert. You couldn't invert. I hate it. I didn't know. I wouldn't even. You could, you be all right. Yeah. Remember that one day where you started thinking inverted? Just out of the blue? Anyways, that was cool and all. But Morpheus was the thing that I was like, oh shit. Right. This is awesome. Right.

Have you played it before, Colin? Yes. Okay. Several times. Have you played it before? Yes. Okay. This is my first time playing it since New York Comic Con.

So I've missed a lot of stuff. This is my first time using Morpheus. I've used Oculus before. And what's that other one? There's another one, but I don't remember it. There's another big one. Gear VR headset? Yeah, I've never used, never used that one.

Okay. HoloLens. And then Brandon, Brandon Loddy. Oh, yeah, yeah. He has his whole thing going. So me and Nick did a demo with Out of D3 last year. So I'm familiar enough with all this VR stuff, and we've talked about VR a million times

in the sense that it's, you know, more gimmicky than gamer-e. Sure. Like, what are the real applications for all this and all that? Having said that, we played it, and all of us had huge smiles on our faces and we're in love with it. Yeah. Thought it was super fun, and then we all left it. We talked about it for a bit and we're like,

oh, this is so great. And that was cool. And this is cool. Yeah, but do you want one? No, not really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Let me know your experiences. Well, here's what I want to lay out that I, it's a golden tidbit that I mentioned to you guys, and I heard Nick say, even though I had headphones on, we can't see what you're seeing. And I never told you. And then this is one of those things that, don't get me wrong, maybe this is just in there to begin with. But we have something to do with this. So we sit down to do the first one, playroom VR. And I'm basically a monster calling in the Morpheus that's chasing them down the street.

And I got to smash my head into buildings and stuff to try to. to knock down there. It's just fun. It's just a stupid on the rails thing where I'm smashing my head into things. Great. But in the part where I'm just waiting for the game to start right,

you're in this area and you're looking around and there's all the buildings with the little dudes. You remember these guys that are in the controller? They're in the playroom thing doing their thing. And I shit you not. I look over here, Colin. And there's a little dude watching TV

and on his nightstand is a frame that framed photo. This frame photo of Shue He Yoshita. And like, granted, this is the shoe photo you see all the time everywhere. But like in a frame, sitting right there. And we were the ones who brought that into the public consciousness of having it around. But Morpheus.

Outside of just the shoe hay Easter. But I mean, I think that's cool, though. Like, it's things like that that make Morpheus cool that make it go like from, all right, whatever. I just, I'm in this video game into this is a world. I'm in a world. There's all these cool little things to look at. I think the funnest part is there's that moment when you put it on and it's just like, oh, God, I don't like this. It's not in focus.

Things don't look quite quite right. Quite right. It's just all kind of weird. And then once you're in the world and once you're over that and you stop thinking about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, shit, I'm just in this world. Right. So looking over and seeing pictures, looking over and seeing all this different stuff, it's giving you things to focus on and make you forget that you have this stupid thing.

For me, it's whenever you take, when you take the time off between Morpheus demos and you put it on and you start. You're like, okay, cool. And then you're like, oh, right. And like, I got all in close on the Shuhay photo and looked around. And then I'm like, oh, yeah, and I turned around and see what's behind me and above me. And you're looking all over. that immersion moment, right? And then, like, in the demo where I'm chasing you guys,

this weird, snakey, lizardy creature, right? You're on rails going down the street, smashing the buildings with your head and stuff. And I'm a little hungover, so I'm like, I don't want to really move my head too frantically. But you're knocking stuff down, and it's fun. And, you know, I'm coming low, and there was, like, a light post,

and I'm, like, lifted my hand. I was like, all right, that doesn't do anything. It's not going to hit my hand or whatever. And then, you know, you get into you, and you guys are shooting at me, and I'm trying to dodge all your projectiles. And eventually, you know, no matter what you're going to lose, and you get thrown out into space.

And as I'm in space, I'm looking out towards, I think the moon or whatever. And then I look back and I can see my own tail and stuff. Like, if I could finally see my body and it was like,

that's awesome. That's a fun experience. You know, I mean? Like, I don't play play play play room other than when we did it for the trophies with the PlayStation 4. So I want to play Playroom VR. But it's like,

it is one of those scenarios of like, oh, this is how the tech can work. All these are tech demos, right, to show you how cool this could be and what it could do. Yeah. So we did that demo. And then I,

I didn't get to use the VR for that. I just used the PS4 controller. Because I was chasing your character. Yeah, you were chasing us. And it was fun, but it just felt like a Mario Party mini game that you don't really want to play. You're just kind of like, all right, I can do this, and it's fine.

But then the next demo we did was called London Heist. Yeah, getaway London Heist. And you're in a car. And so how this was set up was there was a TV in front of us so that the guys that weren't playing could see what we saw. and we just had the thing on it.

We had two move controllers in our hands. And the triggers would act as your fingers. So if you would turn your hands, like whatever way you turned your hand, it would move. And if you moved the trigger, it would like have your finger do an action. So you're in this car.

There's a guy driving. Just, yeah, London High, sorry. Yeah, on the wrong side because it's London. Yeah. So he's all driving and stuff. And then you're just in this car and the first maybe two minutes of it, or maybe minute,

you're just kind of driving. And he's just saying all this stuff. and you can kind of just freeform explore what you're doing. Yeah, you pick up a soda, you open the glove box, you can open the door and look out and stuff. Yeah, like you can actually open the door, lean out and like see, move your head around, see like the, you know, ground speed and buy and stuff. Nick Scarpeon, you can adjust the mirror, you can pull the windshield down and there's a soda that you can pick up and start drinking and all that stuff. And something that was really interesting to me is all three of us did the exact same thing, which was we did all this. like we opened up the, what's it called the drawer?

The glove box, yes. And we were opening up that, we like move some things, and then we look over at the guy and we instantly try to start hitting him. Yeah. We instantly start, like, hitting him in the dick and fucking just like doing all this stuff, you know? I didn't remember the dick.

I think I tried to pet his face. Whatever it was, everyone's trying to mess with this dude and grab the steering wheel and mess it up. Yeah. But it's like, that's a testament to two things to me. One, how immersive the experience was where we thought that would actually affect something. Yeah.

Because everything else felt so right. and two, to the fact that we are gamers, and this is a gaming thing. What we were doing right there was testing the rules of this. We wanted to know the rules of the world, how this game worked, what we were doing, and what we couldn't do. Because that works with our arsenal of how do we play this game?

How can we problem solve the problems that are going to come to us? And it's almost as if that was timed for all of this, because right then, motorcycles kind of come by, and there's gunners on it shooting at you, and the guy hands you a gun and you grab it and from then your right hand always just has the gun and he's like there's clips in the glove box, you open up the box

and you have the clips and you slam your hands together and you start shooting from the moment you first do that it's just like you just feel like you're in it like it was like I'm in a fast and furious movie I've been here before I know what I'm doing you just start shooting all these fools and it's just intuitive just like doing it's like I've never been in a gunfight you know what I mean why is that intuitive but it's just it felt right because in the world I was

in an action movie. That to me is another key point that goes directly against what I was saying a second ago. That moment that said this is a game. I'm now using my gamer skills. Went away when I realized I'm just in an interactive movie. This is not a game.

This is a video that is playing and when I shoot something, a video happens and occurs. It triggers an animation. And it just kept going. And it was damn fun. Seeing guys fall and hit the windshield and making you jump back and all the stuff.

It was awesome. blow up the cars or shoot the drivers to have them lose control. Yeah, it was super great. I finished the demo. You did it. Nick did it. All three of us were like, no, you got to try this. You got to try this.

Even though after the first time, because we all'd seen it, we're like, I get it. I get it. But it's like, no, no, no. You need to do this. This is actually cool. But then my takeaway from it is, it reminds me a lot of time crisis, like the arcade game, which is awesome fun, and it's a great game. I don't need every game to be like that. And guess what?

time crisis is an experience you play for two hours, you're done. Never need to do it again. You know, like, it's just like, it's a, it's a thing and it's over with. Right. Also, there's, it reminded me a lot of, like, Disneyland rides or just like those, like, those old, like, 4D rides where it's like, the escape from Dinosaur Island or, you know, whatever it is, you're sitting in the seat watching a movie and you feel really immersed in, like, in this experience.

The winds in your face. But that's it. Yeah. You know, it's like, that's, it's more of a movie than a game. Sure, but I mean, it's, it's being unfair, right? because it's just a tech demo. You have to imagine that being part of a game and then expand it on elsewhere.

Because we're in God mode. We're getting shot a bunch and we're not having to worry about our health, right, or how we're doing that. I believe in, like, if they want Morpheus to be success, right, they have to be committing to you. All right, that's part of this game.

That's like, you know, uncharted when you're, they showed like at E3, Drake and slowly going down the hill, right? And the Jeep, like the whole thing isn't driving. That's just a section you're in. And you can't stop the Jeep and get out or you fail the mission, right?

Same kind of thing. that there has to be those moments where that's happening. Yeah. You know, hopefully the rest of the game wouldn't be like that. You know, there's more sneaking, hiding, doing whatever. I mean, see, that's the interesting thing to me. It's like, I don't know if then it would be fun.

Sure. Like, then all of a sudden, the things that I liked about it are gone, and it's no longer immersive. And the moment you add more rules to it, besides that you just can't hit this ball to do next to you, when it's, you can't do this, you can't do this, then becomes, well, what can I do? What's the point?

What was cool about this is the fact that I could drink the soda, I dropped the soda and I tried to pick it up later. like opening the thing, moving the windshields. Who the fuck cares about moving windshields? Everything I just describes is not thrilling stuff. It's just the fact that I could do all these minimal things that doesn't matter. I mean, that's the problem with... I mean, that's the thing you run into all the time with games, period, right?

You're playing Spider-Man, but you can't go in any of the buildings in New York. You know what I mean? Or you can only go into these buildings or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, I was playing the Batgirl d'LC last night, right? And you get to... I clean out this one room of bad guys, and I'm going to go out and do the next thing. It's a small amusement mile kind of map.

And there's one door that's locked. And I'm like, oh, I wonder if that's the one door that'll come in, sure enough, then, you know, towards the climax. Like, go to this place. Like, okay, the door's unlocked now magically. You know what I mean? Like, that's the thing about games is that always have to suspend your disbelief. The problem with Morpheus is what you're saying is, like,

the first time you do this, you're like, holy shit, that was awesome. It feels so real. And then, yeah, there's the moment of, like, fucking rubbing your hand on this guy's face and he's not even commenting on it. You're like, well, that's, you know what I mean, there's going to be those moments of where you butt up. against the reality of what's happening. So then,

so we did that demo. And then the last demo we got, no, you did one more. I did a puzzle game demo, right? It was like Tetris in 3D where you, your perspective,

you were the block falling forward towards the thing. And it's kind of like those like Japanese game shows, like wipe out or whatever. Exactly. There's the, you see the shape.

D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-w- What's the one I'm thinking of, I think of it. I think of it, I think, you and I used to make fun of this one, I thought, Colin, the one where it was on Fox really briefly, where the cutout is coming.

Oh yeah, that's a hole in the wall. Hole in the wall. It's time to face the hole. This was hole in the wall of the game. It was like you're, as you went through, like, you start with a very simple square and it goes through that you have to, you're moving, like, since you're back behind the square,

you have to move your head around to see what the hole's going to be. You're not moving to hit the hole. You always see the hole. You're always coming right at the hole. But as you go, more squares start to come on. So, like, you know, if you rotate it one way, It looks like an everlasting gobstop, and it's all fucked up.

And if you rotate it the other way, it looks like a perfect tee, and you have to go through the perfect tee hole and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. It was fun. It was interesting.

It was another puzzly game. But I mean, see, that's a game, you know? But to me, that was just more about the 3D aspect instead of the VR aspect. But still, cool. That's a usage for an actual video game. So that's exciting. Then the last demo we saw,

I think, was most interesting to all of us. It wasn't the most fun. Definitely the getaway one was the, or the London one of the game was the most fun. But I think the most interesting was this last one, called The Kitchen Yep where it was a

Capcom game that they turned off the TV so the other people not playing couldn't see it have you done this one yet so it was a horror game and when you go into it

it was really interesting because Greg was the first one to play then Nick and then me so I'm kind of sitting there watching their experiences not knowing what's happening to them

and they handed the people handed them a PS4 controller so they're holding it and as they were going on like pretty much as soon as it started, I noticed that they went like this and they put their like forearms close together

and they started pulling it really close to their body. And it's like, that wasn't doing anything really with the controller. So I was like, why the fuck are they doing it? Like, there's no way that it's going to get their elbows. Like, why are they moving that way? And they just looked really kind of like compact and like they felt stressed

and like what we're trying to be as small as possible. And I was like, what the hell is happening? And then when I played it, it's essentially saw the video game. you wake up and you're just tied down to a chair and your hands are tied together. So instantly I felt myself doing it too and I was like, oh, this felt so real to them

and to me that when I look down to see my hands are tied together, I'm acting like my hands are tied together. And that was a cool moment because I was definitely like, oh shit, like this game is affecting me in real life. Yeah. Then you're sitting there and there's this dude in front of you who's laying down who looks like he's dead.

He gets up and he's like, oh shit, you're okay, okay. I'm going to try to help you. grabs like a saw and he comes and like start sawing the thing in front of you and it gets really close to you and you start moving back naturally like avoid the saw and it's like fuck this is really cool then this like grudge girl comes running up and like kills him and it's super graphic and gory and scary then there's like you have 3D headphones on so she like runs around you and you start like looking around following her and you just see little like the pitter patters of like where she was and stuff and it gets like really scary and freaky then she goes away and this whole thing you don't know where she's at. And eventually, after a while, I look up, like straight up from the roof and she comes down and, like, kills you. And like, that's it. And after that, I was like, whoa, that was an awesome experience. But again, it was a movie.

Sure. I just played through a movie. That one was for sure the movie. And it's interesting to hear your thoughts on it because mine were completely different of, like, the saw stuff. Yeah. When she disappeared, I was just, like, looking at the door where she left and I never looked to the side or done or up. so I just like heard her moving around and when's she gonna come

and then finally like her hand came over my face I was like oh hey oh really and that was the end of my devil see but that's thing like and that again we we are critics and we think about these things in different ways than I think a lot of people do so as it was and I'm a video guy so I'm definitely thinking

about this from a video perspective of oh how are they doing this like what would be cool if they did this and I look at them like up they're doing it you know stuff like that but yeah sitting there I was definitely thinking I was like okay so there's sound over here what if I just look over here Is anything going to happen? Yeah. Oh, no.

Nothing's happening. Okay. I guess I'm supposed to... Yep, there she is. You know? Yeah. It's like things like that were going on. And it was weird

because she was gone in that room for an extended period of time. And you can't move. Like, there's no way to get out of the chat. I was waiting to like rocket back and forth or something. Yeah, and it didn't happen. But they did that on purpose for you to start looking around stuff.

And it's funny that you just didn't do it. It just didn't look the right ways, I guess. Yeah. But it's like, yeah, because if you did look when you heard the sounds, like you would just catch her feet at the last seconds. Gotcha. Like running away, which is cool.

Yeah. But yeah, then the final thing is like, I guess for her, she just put the hands over. Yeah, it was like she came over the back of my head. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for me it was definitely more of like a dropping down from the roof hands over. Gotcha.

And I pull up. So it's cool. What demos did you do? The underwater one. The deep or whatever. E. Valky is still like my jam. And a couple of others. But you guys didn't play rig?

No, they didn't have rigs there. Riggs is the one I think that's going to maybe be their biggest one. Just basically, I didn't get to play it when we were at E3, but people just talking about it. I was like, this sounds fucking awesome. A good studio did it too. But yeah, one thing resonated with me that you said very early on, which is that

like, you know, everyone's like, oh, it's fun. Do you want one? No. Like, I am all in on Morpius. Like, I don't know if it's going to be commercial. We've talked about it so much. There's going to be quality problems with some of the games and there's going to be likely commercial problems for it as well, but I think it's going to be good.

And you have to remember, like, you're criticizing the games. You guys have things to say about the games. Of course, I mean, as we all should, they're learning. They're not going to know what works until people start playing these games. And because they're all insular, they're going to play test and stuff like that, but once Morpheus is in the wild than a few million people

have one and they're playing these games, then they'll figure out what works and what doesn't. And that's why I feel like they don't really, it reminds you little bit of what we were saying about Batman, where I was like, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. They should have to just made more Batman, right? Like, they didn't have to go crazy with like the drone shit, just to make something different. It's not necessary. I think the obvious solutions are going to be the right solutions for Game, for Morpheus and for Oculus, which is, what can I do in third, like, in first person rather?

Like, for instance, that E3, I thought your comment about how they thought they were going to say everything was on Morpheus made sense to me until I was like, well, but how and why? like how would Horizon be in Morpheus? It doesn't make any sense. Like, so you're gonna, it's third person. So the game's gonna be first person for you and what I mean? So I was like... Oh, I just meant it's like a cinematic view.

No, I understand that, but I was just like, but I was starting to think about it because I think you, I thought you were right at the time, but then I started to really think about it more critically and I'm like, that doesn't... You don't have to go crazy with it. Something like E Valcary makes... Evalcary, man, I'm gonna be,

if they really said they're going to as a real game, I'm gonna be obsessed with that fucking game. See, I wanted to try that one. I was upset they didn't have it. No, it's the, it's a, you're like a space pilot, like a fighter pilot in space. It's fucking, that was the, as I said before, that's cool. That's the game that made me a believer in VR when I play it. That was on, that was a, as people have said before, and I put it before, it was a religious experience when I played that game.

I was like, I can't believe this. I can't believe this is real. I can't believe you're doing, this is what you're doing. This is unbelievable. And, uh, I think that if we want to see a future of VR, unfortunately, we're going to have to, even people that are skeptical, we're going to have to make the plunge, make the commercial plunge. for it. Exactly. We have to, we'll figure this out together. I believe in VR. I think that, I don't believe in motion controls. I don't believe in Connect and all this shit.

I believe that VR could be a very viable thing and it will be a very viable thing. I think it's here to stay and I think they just have to figure things out. That's it. But I think the motion controls are such a big part of this and I think that it's, I mean, from a commercial standpoint, like one of my first thoughts was, great. So I need two move controllers for this in addition to the thing. That's going to make an even bigger commercial. Sure. The camera. and the light bar and the move controllers are all intimately intertwined with each other which makes a lot more sense from the design aesthetic

of the controller when you really think about it. But I'm not saying that. I'm saying like waggle and all that kind of stuff on its own is dumb. Waggle because your hands are in the fucking game is a totally different thing and that is going to be the kind of by which you play them. I hope that they figure out a more elegant solution

than the move, but I wonder if some of those schematics we saw a long time ago about the controller that breaks apart. and stuff like that is actually going to be a real thing. It's interesting you say this, because you make a point about they just need to go for the easy wins, and they just need to do the things where it works, just to do that.

But I feel like the same could be said about motion control never happened. Like, where's the lightsaber game that we wanted on Wii? You know, like, why did that never happen? Why did the, why was Zelda never exactly what we wanted it to be? I don't think, Motion Plus made it a little bit better, but I just don't think we was

capable of doing what we wanted to do. I think that Morpheus and and maybe to a bigger extent of Oculus because it can run on more powerful rigs is the realization of what we hoped VR would be for 25 years because VR has been banging around forever but it's now here to stay because they've made

people with money are behind it and the technical limitations of it are being lifted every day and I just think that they have to look at the heist, the London Heist which is by London Studio I think right and I think that you guys did get away.

Like that sounds fun and that sounds interesting and I'd like to play that. But to me, when I sat and played Eve Alcor for the first time, I'm like, this is so obvious. This is exactly what you should be doing with VR. I'm a fucking fighter pilot. You know, this is fantastic.

I'm sitting down. It already makes sense. I'm sitting. And I can see my hands and I look down on my legs wherever, but it's a first person game. And this makes perfect sense. You know, and they have, so that is an easy win in the sense that it takes thought and it takes time,

but it's obvious. So people have to look at these games and be like, not everything's going to work as a VR experience. So what will work as a VR experience. experience and then let's do those things. And they have to be less of these, like, I wonder, like, how these are going to translate in the games and if they're all going to be games or some of them are going to be games.

The only things that I've seen that Sony has done with Morpheus, that seems like it's going to be a full-fledged game is Riggs, which is why I was curious about if you played it or not. Yeah, they didn't have one unit. But even then, like, are the, like, if London Heist is a game, what is it? Or is it that experience, you pay five bucks for it? And it's something that you show your friends or something like that.

See, that's my thing is it's like, if they were to go that approach and just, make a ton of these cool little experiences, I'm in it. Like, it doesn't need to be a game. It doesn't need to be a full-fledged thing. And, like, I guess my worry is I experience all this stuff, and I'm like, these are tech demos.

Like, I don't see them as experiences. I'm like, these are tech demos for things they're going to force into games that aren't going to work because it's just a part of the game and it's just not going to be as good as this, this vertical slice of what we're getting. But if instead of that, they just, it is more of like a app-based thing

or like a Netflix style, like just... But it was. won't be. Buy what you want. I know exactly. It won't be. But if it was just the kitchen demo or the, I don't know, demo, the kitchen experience or the getaway experience or the fighter pilot thing, whatever,

it's like, give me a super awesome small thing, a bunch of little of those. Because I don't know that it necessarily warrants an eight-hour game experience, you know? Yeah. These, give me a super awesome one-hour experience. I feel like that'd be super great, you know? That's not going to happen, though. No, and I mean, I think we can have the best of both worlds. I think you can have an 100-hour immersive game on Oculus, and you're going to have

Valkyrie, which is going to be also, and I feel like that's going to be a really big game. And, yeah, I don't know. I'm interested to see how the whole ecosystem works out. Unfortunately, again, like, they have to make capital investment early on, and then they have to pay very close attention to the way, like, almost heat mapping games to figure out what people are doing in them and how they're playing them, and then get that bullshit out and start focusing on the things that matter. My instinct, though, is that they don't know what matters. And they're not going to know until it's too late for them to do anything about that first generation of games. It's the second generation of games that will make or break Morpheus and will make or break Oculus. But I do believe VR's here to stay.

Absolutely. I am not a believer in a lot of ancillary tech and stuff like that, but I am on board with Morpheus. I'll have a Morpheus that day it comes out. There's no doubt about it. Playing it, like, doing the getaway demo, like one thing I was thinking about almost the entire time was how ridiculous would be if there was a steering wheel for all in front. of me and I was actually driving. Like, I feel like that would just be insane. And so there is opportunities for it to fit

into real games, but I just, I think it's just going to be an investment for so many people that they need, you need, it can't just be a controller because a controller is not going to feel right for so many of these experiences. You need to be able to use your hands, and that means whatever, the move thing, which just has weird lobster claw stuff, or

steering wheels, or, you know what I mean? It needs to be stuff that works for the thing, and if the last thing I want is a million peripherals in my house, but it's like, if the game comes with a specific peripheral that is made for that game, that could be good. You know, make it

the experience for the specific thing. Not a chance at hell. Not a chance of no. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. We'll see how it all goes down. All I know is that I think there's promise here. I think there's reason to be optimistic. They just have to get over the bullshit and

do the proper investments in making these things worthwhile for consumers to own, and then they will, and then they'll have they'll have the room to maneuver, but I'm just more excited to see how much it's going to cost and what it's going to come out. I don't have faith in the proper investments

to be made, and so that's why I don't think necessarily it's here to stay. I think it's really cool and really exciting right now. I think Sony will do a move with it, though, and then it'll not sell and it won't go. And then Oculus's penetration

is up to Oculus. There you go. All right, guys, final topic of the day. As always, user questions. Go over to kind of funny.com slash forums. Go into the kind of funny gamescast topic, or um thread thread no it's not thread it's the

it's a sub form the board the board yeah then there is a thread there's a thread about the kind of funny games cast topics submit some there just like all these people did and we will read them on the show starting with jacks eighty one X which fall 2015 games are most likely to be delayed until 2016

Tomb Raider yeah that's the one I was thinking too oh and you think do you think that because of fallout yeah I think it'll be ready I just think it's a huge blended to release that game at the same time. Now, some people say, well, with different audiences, I'm like, I don't think so. You know, everyone on your Xbox One playlist that day is going to be playing fallout for. It's November 10, I think.

I don't, I don't see why. The only reason that they would release it then is because Uncharted is not coming out, so they can at least do that adventure, that adventure, you know, action adventure kind of thing. Yeah, but I think that game, it doesn't, it might be ready, and I'm sure it will probably be ready, but I don't think it makes sense. They should just sit on it, you know. Of course my pick is Personafo. Because there's not a chance in hell that coming out in North America,

2015. Take it to the bank. I don't care what the website says. And although I think it's somewhat suicidal to guess this now, because it seems obvious with IGN-first, No Man Sky, I think that they're going to announce the date at the end of it. But I still don't understand how it's coming out this year. Like, I don't get it. Yeah, I don't get anything about that game. I mean, that's not so much until...

Did they announce that it's coming this year? Yeah, they've been saying that. A lot of people have been saying that about that game, too, and then I saw the other. I think it's them that's saying it. I hope it does come out this year. I want to play it, but I don't understand

how the game could possibly be that done. But we'll see. Yeah, Persona 5 is a good guest, too. Gazaka 3K11. Kazaka. Kazaka. Where is a GTA5 story

DLC? And when do you think it'll come? It's a great question. Do they promise that ever? No, I don't know if they did, but I think they might have, but there's assumptions that they should have done. And I think that they will.

I think what they were seeing was that they can extract as much blood from a stone as they want with GTA online, and it makes most sense for them to to focus on that. My other assumption, because we talk about how they treat their IP with care

and they do, is I'm wondering if they're just going to make GTA 6 or something like that, or not 6, but like a Vice City or something like that on that engine, which would be the exact opposite of what they've been doing

because they realize that they can make a fucking shit ton of money by doing that. They'll sell another 30 million copies. What do you think is more likely for us to get Vice City or for us to get a loss in the damned? I think it's more likely

we get a loss in the damned. I'm just wondering if the delay on or a ballad of gay Tony like I'm wondering but by this point in the life cycle those had come out already yeah I think they're on to the next one I think they're on to six I don't think they're worrying about DLC for the sky other than online

which sucks I'd love more story DLC I love Lost in the Dam yeah Lossonet was good I thought Palletone was even better so yeah it's weird I just think that they're looking at it yeah I think there's business decisions that have to be made for them I hope that I would allow them do story DLC and really take their time again on GTA 6 but they were looking at this they made a fucking assinite amount of money They made hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. So it's like, why not?

They're like, even if we sold half as many copies of the next game, the engine's done, so we can just still make hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, even selling 20 million instead of 40 or whatever. But they'll sell, you know. They can annualize that series. I'm surprised they don't, but I'm glad that they don't. Do you think it would be a better idea for them to come out with the story DLC or for them to just focus on six and get that out earlier in the life cycle,

the next console? I'd like to think that Take 2 and Rockstar are readily cognizant that they could make more money and do more with grand depth auto but choose not to and I think it gives them a mystique and I respect them for it.

So I would, I don't want to say I'd lose respect for them because I don't. I think those guys are great, but I like the idea that in a world of annualization, a world of shoving shit down your throat over and over again that they choose not to

with the IP that could be annualized the easiest. And there's something to be said about the way the houseers and all those, like they just, I appreciate that. that. I think it's so different. It's so unactivision. It's so un-Ubysoft. And I like that. I like the idea that we will not see Grand Theft Auto until 2020, but I just don't think that that that's true, you know, but I think that in the law, I think treating the IP in the long

run is something sacred like that is going to pay dividends for them as opposed to running it into the ground, which is possible. They're not immune to it. You know, they haven't done it yet because they've treated it with care. If they kept releasing the games at the clip that they were with the PS2 games and the Liberty, the Liberty City stories and so like that, like, it was starting to get to that point where I'm like, ah, when I play those games on PSP, I'm like, these kind of suck. Yeah. You know, like, like, what's, and that's when I, you know, so they already started going down that road, and so I don't know. I, I, I, I, I'm, it's like six of one a half dozen of the other. I don't know what the answer is. Six. So the half dozen the other

needs to do you. Well, good you do. All right. So, try to be funny, are you? Yeah. Funny guy over there. Carly's chill. What game genres do you guys tend to stay away from? Mobas. Mobas, MMOs, driving games, fighting games. Most sports games. I mean, we have an exception here or there, but we're not usually stoked. Fighting games for sure. I just don't like fighting games.

Yeah, besides smash. I mean, I enjoy fighting games, but I'm not going to like buy one. I don't enjoy that. It sounds like I'm isolating a lot of genres where when you really think about the genres I do play, I play. First person shooters, third person shooters,

action games, adventure games, role-playing games, you know, puzzle games, visual novels. So there's a lot. of shit that I fuck with, but it's easy to mark off the thing. Like, I don't give a fuck about, you know, driving games. You're talking about VR, like,

the obvious VR win for Sony is Grand Turismo, but it's, which I think is certainly going to be a Morpheus game, but I, I, uh, don't care, you know, I wouldn't even, even though I'm in the VR, I'm still not going to play Grand Tourism. Yeah, I think for me, like Western RPGs, it's never clicked with one. Wow, really.

Yeah. Like, I mean, like, Mass Effects and, you know, fallouts and all that stuff. That's unbelievable, because that's such a... Everyone loves them. So much, I just, and there's so many great, games that people love so much, but it doesn't click with me. It always just feels too big

and it doesn't feel as tight as I want it to. It's always a little too open. And there's too many mechanics. But I'm open to changing that. And I hope that someday something happens where... Mass Effect, I think it's a great place to start, but the first

Mass Effect is a way to start, yeah? Yeah, I mean, I love the first one, but they're radically different games. They really, like, stripped... By Mass Effect 2, they really stripped everything out of it. And by Mass Effect 3... They made it really good. They... I think Mass Effect 2 is definitely bad at the Mass Effect,

but I like Mass Effect 1 a lot. And by Mass Effect 3, it's like basically a shooter. Yeah, no, that's true. So... Oscar on the couch asks, Would you like to see a Ghostbusters game like the Rock City Batman games or any other movie or TV show franchise?

Like the Ghostbusters are going around beating up 12 ghosts at once, hopping around and reversing? Yeah. No, I don't want to see that. No. No. So, I mean, a long time ago,

There was rumors, and I think they were just entirely unfounded, but that Rock City was going to make a Nens turtles. That would have been perfect. And to me, oh, my God, that was the most excited I've ever been for a game that it ended up not being real. Yeah. Because it looked like it was real. There was so many rumors about it.

I really thought that was really going to be the thing. Yeah, and I mean, that just sounds so perfect. Like, it just makes sense, you know, and like, it makes sense for the characters. It makes sense for the enemies. It makes sense for just the gameplay and, like, the way that the fighting sounds. Especially the way that you see what they're doing with Arkham Knight with that whole dual team-up stuff.

Jumping around between them using special moves to switch off having tons of foot soldiers to beat the shit out of yeah, that'd be rad. And then we saw that a Ninja Turtle game last gen, the DLC, downloadable one that was out of the shadows or whatever. Yeah, yeah. I remember this, yes. And it was just a very thinly veiled attempt at making that game without Rock City. Yeah. You know, and it just didn't work as well. It wasn't a bad game.

Sure. But it definitely wasn't what we wanted exactly in that weird faces. Yeah. I don't know why they had such weird faces, Greg. Turtles are hard to make faces for. They just have beats you have faces. Yeah, exactly. All right.

Superhero JAR 26. Do we think Tony Hawk's pro skater is dead for good if this game tanks? Honestly, it's such... Dead is such an unquantifiable thing in this, where it's like, this game's going to be fine. It's going to, I mean, it's going to do fine. Like, I don't think that... They said about Tony Hawk ride.

Well, but I don't think that the quality of this game is going to affect its sales. Like, I think that... You really don't? No, I think the people that are buying it are going to buy it, and no one else was going to anyways. I don't think this is going to be like a super huge success. It's just like we're just making it. Will we see another Tony Hawk game?

Like in this style? Probably not after this. And that upsets me because that is a quality thing. Had the quality been better, I think it would, you know, someone would be like, let's do, let's try it again. Yeah, yeah. Now will Tony Hawk live? Probably.

It's going to be more, not ride, but like stuff like that where it's like mobile games and like just. Oh, if you count mobile games, then yeah, you'd be fine. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be. I think this could be. last gasp for Tony Hawk on a console. For Tony Hawk Pro Skater. That series, it might be the last one. And it's like, man, that sucks.

That sucks so much ass. Like, did you guys see the trailer yesterday? No, no. It came out for it? It's bad? Man, man. It's really bad, guys. Like, it sucks.

I believe it. Like, it's, I mean, it's like... The studio that made those games doesn't exist anymore. You know? Oh, yeah. But that's the thing, though.

Like, having said that, like, the Tony Hockechator, HD that's being made with the same people that made this that came out on PS3 and Xbox 360 definitely did not nail Tony Hawk. It definitely wasn't perfect at all. But it was fun. I still enjoyed it. I still liked it.

And it didn't look horrible. Yeah. This is a PS4 game. And it, like to say it looks like a PS2 game, a lot of people insults things by like throwing around insults like that. Sure. When you look at this, you're like, this is a widescreen PS2 game. Holy crap. Everything is so bare

and so empty. There's just shapes everywhere. It's like what's happening? Like, why are the animations so bad? Like, why is all this stuff? Now, the thing is, I haven't played it yet. Yeah. So that's going to be my one thing because I don't give you crap how it looks. It's Tony Hawk. Like, give me places

to combo off of and whatever, I'll be fine. That still scares me that it looks that bad though. And like seeing all the, like, it's not even just a graphic thing when I'm talking about. It looks bad. Like, the animations of the moves look bad, which makes it look less fun.

You know, like that changes the experience. Get your board lights on fire, and it causes all those things to light on fire. Cool idea, except no one really cares about that. And when you look at it, you're like, why? Why is this happening? It looks dumb. And then there's sparks being shot out. God damn it, guys, why are you doing this?

Yeah, what's interesting to me is the inverse relationship between the ubiquity of skateboarding and society and the downfall of Tony Hawk, because, as a skating, and not Tony Hawk, the person. Because skating really entered the mainstream, and I skated when I was, kid. My brother was really, it still skates to this day. So I grew up around it, I grew up around that culture, like, very much. And it entered the mainstream in the

early 90s, but it's ubiquitous and socially accepted now more than it's ever been, and yet, the relevance of skating games is like zero. Meanwhile, in 99 or 98, when Tony Hawk's bro skater came out, that was huge at a time when skating was still rebellious and different.

And so I always thought that was weird. You would think that Tony Hawk would be fucking huge today. But it's not. I mean, well, that's the thing, though, is it's like, I don't think it's so much the idea of skateboarding games as much as it's, Tony Hawk kind of had its own genre of just the, like, arcadey sports title, you know? And, like, we saw that genre come and go.

The NBA Streets and, like, all that stuff that was like, we didn't take the idea of this sport, but we're going to, like, 90s 5. Yeah, like NBA Jam. NBA Jam, NBA Street, Blitz, all this different stuff, you know. Tony Hawk was definitely more that than a skateboarding game. Yeah, well, because the skateballing game. skateboarding game like Thrasher, which came out a couple years after Tony Hawk was like a simulation skateboarding game and it was awful. But then skate came out and people love skate.

I never got into it because I wasn't into it for the skateboarding and I was into it for the gameplay and for the like the presentation of the game, the soundtrack and the culture of it, you know? But it's just like that genre is dead. Which brings me to my next question from Adam Murphy who just wants to know about video game mascots. It's just like, is that still a thing? He wants to know about him? Yeah, that was his question. No, it's not a thing at all anymore. Yeah, it's like, you know, you got Mario and stuff,

but I think Mario at this point has transcended being a mascot for Nintendo. He's just a character. He is Nintendo. Yeah, everyone knows it. You know, it's like, Mickey isn't the mascot. It's the face. Mario is the face of Nintendo. That's a better way to put it, right?

Yeah. Master Chief is the face of Xbox. Drake or Sackboy is the face of PlayStation. I mean, it's weird to say this because this sounds stupid, but I think PlayStation's, the sacred symbols, and the PS logo, that's the face of PlayStation, you know? It doesn't necessarily need to be a character. When people see that, they know what it is.

Sure. When they see the X of the Xbox, I don't think they're like, Xbox, when they see the Nintendo logo, that's a little too obvious, obviously, it's Nintendo. But it's like, PlayStation, I think that's the thing that identifies it. Sure. But, yeah, Crash Bandicoot, Sonic, like, those days are gone when I don't think we'll ever see one game to find a system

that much. Absolutely. I agree. Then, final question comes from my boy, Zach Edwards. Shout out the Houston's. Why do games stray away from poop?

I can be mistaken, but is the Sims the only game where a character can drop a deuce? No, you're totally mistaken. And when we were talking about Duke Nicar earlier? You pick up a turd out of it. You poop out of a turd and then pick it up

and draw the thing with it. Yeah, South Park, you poop out and you can use that in battle and stuff like that. Digimon World on PS1. If you didn't take character, Digimon, he would poop, and if you poop too many times, he died. Oh, my God. Just like real life.

It's just like real life. Ladies and gentlemen, that has been the first ever episode 28 of the Kind of Funny Games cast. As always, I'm Tim Geddy's coolest dudes in video games, Colin and Greg. Please go to kind of funny.com slash forums. Leave your topics for this show over on the Kind of Funny Gamescast board. Until next time, I love you. I love your body. I love all the things you do with it.