Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Game Awards 2021 Predictions RESULTS! - Kinda Funny Gamescast- Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

Mike joins us to go over all of Blessing's Game Awards Adventures and the results of our predictions. Time Stamps - 00:00:00 - Start 00:03:40 - New Halo Playlists 00:15:00 - Fortnite 00:28:20 - Sifu 00:40:45 - ADS 00:43:44 - Mike’s Thoughts on Metal Gear Solid 00:49:40 - Game Awards Predictions Results Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome back to the last kind of funny games cast of this blessed year, 2021. As always, I'm Tim Getty's joined by the nitro rifle, Andy Cortez. There's no more video games, Tim. They're over. Oh, no. That's so sad.

How does that make you feel, Mr. 30 under 30 blessing at aioia Jr.? It makes me sad, man, because I was looking forward to video games happening in February, but apparently they're over now. So I guess you're packing it up. Go home, everybody. It's a bust, hit the burst and bust your bubble. every year on games cast at the beginning of the year we usually have an episode

with like a host and that host ends up leaving who's that going to be next year? We're like a month away now. It's going to be Tim. It's going to be me. It's going to me. I'm over. This whole thing, Eddie, brings up a good point. There's no games to talk about it. I'm not here. I don't want to do it. But you know, if we're going to celebrate the end of video

games, there's only one man that can bring the right level of hype and that man, of course is the one and only snow bike, Mike. Hey, thanks, Tim. And if video games are done tomorrow, guess what? I'm happy I ended with the Metal Gear solid franchise. Some say 10 out of 10 video games is blessing. And I would say, you know, 10 out of 10s 10 out of 10s.

10 out of 10. It's hard to rank four 10 out of 10 video games. It's soon to be 5 10 out of 10 video games once you play the next one. God, I'm so excited. We're going to talk about that a little bit later in the show. Of course, this is the Kind of Funny Games cast where every single week right here on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. We get together to talk about video games and all the things that we love about them.

You can get it on YouTube or roosterteeth.com, but you could also get it. as a podcast by searching your favorite podcast service for Kind of Funny Gamescast and we'll be right there for you. If you wanted to get the show ad free, if you want to watch live as we're recording it, and if you want the exclusive post show, you've got to go to patreon.com slash kind of funny games, just like who do we got here. Pranksy, Tyler Ross, Delaney, Twining, Julian the gluten-free gamer, Alex Jay Sanneval, James Hastings, Casey Andrew, and Greg Miller returns to content next month.

Nick should quit now. you are the best around. If you don't have money to toss their way, that's fine. You can use the Epic creator code. Kind of funny on all Epic Store and Epic in-game purchases like Rocket League and Fortnite to help support Kind of Funny. Final Fantasy 7 remake is coming out this Friday on Epic Game Store. So hey, if you're going to buy it there, use our code.

And then come over to Twitch.comTV slash Kind of Funny Games. Randy Cortez is going to play it on PC for the first time. That's so exciting. Nothing better than replaying an old game that you play it already with a fresh coat of paint, Tim. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I hope that every Ray will be traced in your honor, Andy.

Let's see. Let's see. I don't even know if it has Ray. I don't even know if it does either. Yeah. You'll have something for sure. Yeah. Shout out to Ray J.

Today we're brought to you by Upstart Native and Green Chef. I wish there was a better transition there. Bless just for you. There isn't. Fuck it. Let's give a shout to RayCon as well. Why not? Oh, Ray.

They're not sponsoring us today, but who cares? Tim, do you not know the joke that Ray tracing was made by Ray? No, he was there. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's layers to this shit. But it's all good.

Layers to this show as well. We're going to talk about a whole bunch of things. The main big topic of the day is going to be Blessings Game Award Adventures. We sent him down there. I can't wait to hear all about it. We're also going to take a look back at our predictions of all the award winners and who out of the three of us, Andy, Bless and me, one. Who got the most right? Who got the most wrong?

We'll have to wait and find out because I want to talk about some games first with these beautiful boys. Andy Cortez, some new Halo playlist dropped. Tell me all about them. Yeah, we got new Halo playlist ahead of schedule. They kind of went into overdrive and understood a lot of the issues that people were having with multiplayer. I don't think everything is fixed yet,

but I am super thankful that the 343 team is seemingly working their asses off and still trying to put new content out there. So new playlist dropped. one of the biggest issues, Tim, is everybody loves getting these challenges. Everybody loves trying to achieve and get these challenges done so that they could rank up in their battle pass and unlock more gear. And one of the bigger problems is that you might have a challenge that says, you know, kill this many people and Slayer. And the unfortunate thing is that you would play your little playlist and you may not get a Slayer game for about seven games or eight games in my case the other day when we played rank.

with Snowbike Mike and the crew. And that was not a great experience. So there is now a social Slayer playlist where you just get all Slayer matches on different sort of maps. So you can get that Slayer experience if you prefer that. They also added tactical Slayer,

which is SWAT, which we know as SWAT. Why don't they just call it SWAT? I got to say in legal terms, Tim. Click eight. My problem with it is, I think Splitgate does SWAT better. And I did not expect to feel that way.

I loved SWAT back in the day. And man, it was a camp fest. Me and Mike played a bit of it yesterday. And it straight up became just, I was playing Valerant. I was playing like a Rainbow Six Seed shooter where your people are just camping on opposite ends, trying to peak corners. And you see it a little tiny head pop up. And you don't even see a pixel of them, Tim.

They're just peeking at the right corner. It became very stale, very fast. and I hope that there are newer maps added in the future that can kind of enhance the experience to make it more fast pace. The thing about Splitgate with SWAT, Tim, it's like you're flying across all these portals and getting mid-air headshots.

It's a much funner time, in my opinion. They also added... Can you explain what SWAT is in case people might not know? Because I know a lot of people are new to Halo multiplayer with this one. SWAT is a type of Slayer mode where it's all kills. You start off with a battle rifle. There are no shields, and there's no radar. No shields, meaning you get one headshot, the person's dead.

There are no, you don't, there's no real long time to kill. The TTK isn't there. It's just one headshot they're done for. And it's a game mode that a lot of us really adore. And it just kind of felt a little stale and slow playing it yesterday, unfortunately. Mike had a not so great experience on one of the bigger maps. Mike, do you want to talk about that? Yeah, I'll talk about that.

I think that comes down to maps. And I think that's one of the big frustrations that we see with. with Halo, infinite multiplayer, there is only 10 maps. Five of them are truly dedicated to the smaller size. Two of them are just in random limbo, and then the three are for the big team battles. And I think really what's going on is there's a lot of game modes that they're trying that don't fit the map well.

And for us, when you're playing SWATs, you want a smaller map, something that encourages people to move and kind of run around and have some fun with it. We got stuck on Behemoth into launch sites, into Bazaar, and all of a sudden, it was just too big, right? That's not how these game modes are supposed to be. And also, launch side and bizarre, it's just a weird map.

Truly the black sheep of the family. Yeah, they don't know what they're doing with these two maps. They're not built for 4 v4. They're just a little too big for that kind of gameplay. And they're too small for 12v, and there's just lost here. Are one of those the big, like, capsule flag? There's two launchers on each side of the, like, yes.

So you're thinking of a behemoth, the big sand map. Yeah, but he means, this is the one with the sand. The other one you're thinking of Bless, I think, has a, as the more forest sort of type-looking one. Yeah, it's one, like, it has a structure built kind of in the middle on the way to the other flag. And then you can either go under or you can launch yourself to the sides. And then launch yourself again.

Is the he, you sure? I mean, I don't want to them again. No, he's right with you, Mike. Yeah, he's right with you, Mike. Yeah, he's thinking of behemith. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's just, I think it comes down to maps. And a lot of these game modes don't fit the map blend well.

well, tactical SWAT is definitely meant for more of the 4V4 maps. If you put us on Aquarius, that would have been a great one. If you put us on recharge, that would have been a great one. Live fire, those are the maps that you want to see. But then the issue becomes, now there's only three maps that fit this game mode, and you're going to play them over and over again. And so this team right now at 3,43, really has a big balancing act and a juggling act, in my opinion, to try to figure out how they implement new game modes and keep things fresh

and fun and also find a good balance. but at the same time, we only have 10 maps, and only a few of them are truly being played. And so when is the next step? What do they do? And it is pretty interesting to see the frustrations come out of me when I thought this would be the one to really elevate the gameplay there. May it also didn't help that your KD wasn't great.

I don't want to call you out, Mike. Yeah, yeah. I need you to step it up a little tiny day. My KD was not strong is right, guys. That's an issue. But I am having a ton of fun. I'm still, I don't want to say a ton of fun. Because I am hitting the mode where I've played all these maps too many times,

and I am looking for something more. But, you know, Rank's keeps me coming back, which is good. And big team keeps me coming back. I think they need to add some more game modes like one bomb assault. I think they need to put in Fiesta or infection into one of the just, hey, here's a week-long game mode, right? I know they're not trying to overdo it, but also there are some really tried and two formulas that they have not put in,

which is surprising to think about. Yeah, I ended up looking up Behemoth and LaunchSight. And yeah, those are the two that I'm right there with you when you talk about those is the black sheep, right? I do not like those maps at all. And it's the exact thing of those maps are too big. And then even for, I believe launch site is one that has one capture, right? Where it is one flag. You take turns to try and capture that one flag, which feels like it belongs a little bit more in Overwatch than in Halo.

Or at least I wish it was better implemented in Halo because like playing it on that map just isn't fun. And I've, I've not hit a wall with Halo Infinite, but I think I've hit the point where I'm not as addicted to it anymore. I still plan to go back to it. I just started campaign for the first time this last week, and I enjoyed the couple of hours I put in the campaign already. But I think from what I played a campaign so far, I think I do prefer the multiplayer. And with the multiplayer, I think I have hit my wall in terms of I need more content for this thing. I'm excited that they added back in Fiesta and the other modes. And I think I am going to go back, want to try out SWAT. And then also to play Fiesta again, because Fiesta, I think, is just a fantastic time. That has been my favorite

mode in multiplayer so far. But yeah, like I'm with you that I want them to start adding things in a faster cadence. I think specifically Maps is what the game needs right now. I just want to say, you just brought moose in, he just got a haircut, they gave him a little bow tie. Oh my God. That dog looks good. Audio listeners, you don't know what you're missing out on right now.

That's a good looking dog. That's a thing though. He can have a formal tie. No, I like that. I like the tie. I my gosh launch site I cannot hate this map enough Mike I there was a night

where because of people's frustrations trying to level up their battle pass and how shallow the battle pass already is the amount of time I was just wanted to play for fun I really have a reason to level up I just kind of wanted to hop in I didn't have a big goal in mine necessarily

but I spawned in to three straight games of one capture on launch site because when other people quit, you usually sort of fill that void. And there were three straight games where I am, I'm starting in a game that's already begun, that's already 30 seconds in or two rounds in or a round in. And it was one of the most frustrating things ever in Halo so far, multiplayer, where nobody wants to play this mode nobody wants to play this map

nobody wants to play this mode on this map more importantly and I just kept on spawning into the games that were already going and it was kind of unfortunate but I mean I look you gotta give it a 343 I do think that they are working diligently to try to fix

a lot of these issues in hopes to keep the player base happy and I think right now they are needing to right now we kind of see them prioritizing certain issues and right now I think the battle pass and the monetization and the shop are kind of the bigger things that they are targeting to make that a better experience.

They already in some ways put a Band-Aid on getting XP and making that a more favorable experience. So that's great. Now it's just more of let's see the content start to roll out a bit more. Let's start to see. I want shoddy snipers. I love that mode. I want to see there's apparently a new Slayer mode that has already been data mined that is

elimination. elimination where your whole team has a set number of lives. I love that. And it runs out. If your team has a set number of lives and then you're done for, if you die, then you're out for a good, you know,

and then the rest of your team kind of has to pick up the slack. I love modes like that. I love sort of that added amount of tension. So I hope to continue seeing, you know, more and more additions to Halo multiplayer because I still love it. I still hop in every night. It's one reason why I haven't been playing the campaign because I just, I mean, I got an hour

and a half, do I really want to, is that really enough to start a campaign to put time into a campaign? I could just play a couple multiplayer matches and be done with it. Yeah, I'm glad that you're saying all that. And I totally agree. I think there's a bigger discussion to be had about these multiplayer games and when we have the discussion of content and really when it comes down to us maps because that's what you're playing the most of.

And when you look back on, you know, the life cycle of this, this has been six years in the making. And yeah, they haven't done all six years just for development. But six years and only 10 maps and five of them are truly arena maps, right? That's a big question there. And usually games of this kind of caliber will kind of put a band-aid on that situation and put on like older remastered maps, right? To be like, hey, here's five maps to add to that 10, but like their old maps. And you kind of like, I don't like that, but like I like that, you know. here it's like man was 10 maps enough and in my opinion it was not and so it is interesting that's a

bigger discussion one day to have of like what do you need to launch with in 2021 content wise to keep the player base here because we're almost heading into the week number five of halo infinite since the multiplayer dropped early and i think it's it's run its course now of content and we need to see more of it pretty quick here that's really surprising to be you say that because 10 maps sounds like a sizable amount for any game, but specifically a Halo game, that seems right in range. And I get that 2021 is a difference from 2001.

But how many more do you think you would kind of want to fit into that? I think you need to add five as soon as possible. I would think you would need at least one big team map, and then anywhere from three to four smaller arena maps. And if they are remasters of old maps, you think of some of the classic ones that you love, midship, lockout, Beaver Creek, and beyond, right? I think you could really answer quickly and add those in and kind of just keep the content flowing here.

But in all honesty, when you say 10, you think it's a large number, but really when I break it down for you like I did, it's only five arena maps. And there's two in the middle that we don't know what they're doing because they don't know what to do it. They don't even know what they're doing with it. It's not I don't know what they're doing. It's they seem to not know what they're doing with it. And then there's three big team maps. And so you only have five that you're actually playing in rotation. unless you go to big team and that's only three.

And then there's two in the middle that just don't feel right. What's the one with the big kind of gunner in the middle, Mike, that goes off whenever you do. That's like probably my least map. That's my least favorite. But it is kind of one of those mid-sized ones, in my opinion. It does kind of feel like one of those mid-sized maps that doesn't really have a footing or a place in the game. And I got to hope and assume that they are aware of that. that because they've got analytics and data on all of these and they've got to see which are the

maps that people are quitting the most on and the modes that people are quitting the most on. And you got to assume it's that one with the big gunner and launch site. I just don't think they fit this mode. Perhaps we do like a 6 to be 6 sort of thing in a similar way where when Fortnite would sometimes do its limited time games where it's 20 v. 20 or whatever. I could see a time where they release a 6 v6 Slayer mode on one of those sort of mid-sized maps where it isn't a 4V4 in your sort of spread out

but it's also not trying to pack in 12v12 in such a tight area. Yeah, very interesting stuff. Still loving it though. Speaking of Fortnite though, moving on to that, Andy, you played a little bit of a new chapter? I played a tiny bit not as much as Mike and Kevin. So I don't have a whole lot to say on it other than I really dig,

the map, I feel like not only, it sort of reminds me of Halo where we start playing the multi-where we go, man, this feels like an old-school Halo game. And then sort of seeing the echoes of everybody else on social media saying, God damn, this reminds me of season one of Fortnite. This reminds you of the old school, like, season one episode or chapter, whatever the hell they're calling it, chapter four, chapter three, those sort of moments where all of us were really getting into the Fortnite meta, it feels. feels really good to play. I love the added ADS, Mike. I think that's like, it feels great. The slide has been added, Tim. You can slide in the game night. You're not just kind of running around and jump in. The slide maneuver feels really good to do. I don't know if I'm going to stick with it. I think maybe if Kevin and Joey need a fourth or a third or whatever, I'm down to hop in now. But I feel a lot more willing to play four than I did in the past. And I think a lot of it is due to the map, the mechanics. And yeah, I'd say,

say that's about it. It seems really excited to be in right now. Spider-Man seems great. Mike, have you used Spider-Man yet? I've used the Spider-Gauntlets, and I really, really love what they added with that. It just seems like a half-second to a millisecond too slow on when you try to click the trigger and actually use it. It seems like you click it and then you wait a second and then he shoots it. I'd like that to be a little sped up. But yeah, Andy, you're so right. I'm having a lot of fun returning to Fortnite. I like that we have a new map, right? And what I really enjoy as a former Fortnite player now doesn't play Fortnite but wants to jump back in. I love what they've done.

And I know we've had this discussion before about adding bots into the game and having real players mixed with that and making sure your MMR is at the correct level. Right. When I play with Joey and Kevin and the kind of funny crew here, it feels right. Like I like the mix of what we're feeling like people on my level, people just a little above my level. And then there's bots mixed in between that makes you feel good, get some engagements under your belt and gets you kind of steamrolling into the final circle.

When I play with my friends, though, it is a different story. We are playing against kids that are cracked out of their minds, and it's demoralizing, right? It's like, oh, wow, this is what Fortnite can be, should be, right? Because that's what it looks like at the high level. But it beats you down where you're like, I don't want to play that. But I think they've done a really good job as opposed to call of duty, right? On the flip side, when you jump into the war zone, there is no really like kind of skill gap there where you can truly feel two different lobbies.

When you jump into war zone, you're playing with the ultimate sweats. And you're either going to battle it or you're going to lose, right? And then on the flip side, Fortnite has done a great job of like, hey, have you not played in months, years? Jump in, you're going to find people a very similar skill and you're going to have some fun win or lose. And so I got to give it to Fortnite of like really being welcoming in a situation like that where this game has gone on for years and there is truly the diehards and there's

people that just jump in as casuals. And that's what I really like about it the most right now. Kev, can you pop on a little mini-kev there? Give your thoughts on playing some Fortnite? Yeah, I mean, I had taken a break from playing last season. It was the last chapter of it. And I played maybe like a, I don't know, just a couple days and stopped. It felt stale and old.

They added a bunch of like features that had compiled on top of each other. and it wasn't doing it for us. And then this season came around and, man, like changing up the map to the extent that they have, because they always change up just a couple areas, but now it almost feels like an entirely different map. And I guess it's like the flip side of it. So there's some areas that kind of make sense or are similar to areas we've seen before. It's just been a lot of fun. I like all the stuff they've added.

The aim-down sites is not very popular. anyone that I play with, but like I personally like it because it gives me an in-between, like I'm not using a sniper where that's way closer, really slow shots, but the, the aim-down-sights gun that we have is a cool way to be like, hey, that person's like 30 feet away, I can aim down sights and like kind of hold into the right place to actually do some damage without needing the time the sniper takes. So that's been a really fun thing. Also, like Mike was saying the sliding traversal edition has been phenomenal. It, like, makes things way smoother and quicker.

And, like, that's hopefully something that stays along. They also added some, like, the tents, which we haven't really used. But, like, there's a lot of potential there. If you're just a little bit better than we are in, like, planning. Because what you can do with these tents is you can grab a tent, make it yours, and then put stuff in it and then close it. And if you die in the next game, you claim a tent, it'll have the stuff that you put it in there already,

which is really cool. And if you've got a lot of really good gear and time to prep it, can be really, really helpful. But, like, we're still moment to moment right now. And me and Joey have definitely gotten back in. We're not, it's not every night, but it's like every two to three nights or two to three nights a week. And like we're playing for several hours,

and we've been playing on stream as well a couple times, and that's been incredibly fun. Remember, use code epic. No, wait, what is it? Kind of funny. Yeah, I think it could a code. Which is surreal to put in our own branding on that code. I'm terrified to see what the really good lobbies look like

with the sliding mechanic added to not only the crazy building abilities, but having that added in's got to be a goddamn nightmare. The real problem is like when you get really high level, like because two seasons or two chapters ago, we got to like, I think Joey was like level 140 and I was like level 130 and it maxed out at 160 or something. Because we were playing a lot. And when you get like that high level, like it really suddenly becomes about the building. And everyone you're fighting at the end, like, because right now it's hit or me. miss whether the last like last three people or three groups up there are going to be builders but um yeah man once once it starts getting like more narrowed down and you're not fighting

with a bunch of people that it just started for the first time or have you know are jumping in for the season and don't really know the mechanics super well the building just gets insane like we've already had instance where we're like or um you turn off the computer yeah we're just like there's nothing I can do. There's nothing you do. Every once in a while, we'll have a Lauren come help us and she's a great builder so like she can hold it down for a minute. We just stay there and watch. We all get S&Gs and just take down the other buildings and like we're scared. I love that y'all have played for this long and like there hasn't been a whole lot of development in your skills. Not exactly. We've gotten a lot better at shooting though.

They've found one. Yeah, exactly. yeah so like it's interesting because we uh maybe two days ago joey and i maybe it was yesterday joey and i were playing a game and it was um duos me and her and one other dude and he had fucking spider web spider man arms or whatever like the gotlets and that son of a bitch was swinging around it was just like oh man i wish we could build we can't so we just had to like he just took us like picked us off one at a time. Oh, God. Yeah, we tried our hardest.

He was so fast. So, yeah, like, the movement mechanics do really come into play, like, especially when you're down there to last, like, couple people. Just take some extra time, you know? Crank them soggy 90s, you know? I can't. I see Mike do it sometimes. He's just mashing buttons.

Yeah, I'm mashing buttons. I have that builder pro. Making it look good, though. Shout out to Fortnite for really growing and evolving over the years, right? Like, you think back and it's just like, man. they've done a lot to that game. And the cool part is if you don't play much, jumping in and seeing all the different characters, skins, and emotes,

it's like, it's truly a wow factor to be like, oh man, that's Deadpool next to Superman. There's Spider-Man. I'm Master Chief over here. Like, this is crazy right now,

and it's a fun time. And it's also obvious that they don't always 100% nail it. But I love, I mean, I love a good underdog story, you know, Epic, they're just such a small company to see them on the upswing is great.

No, but I do like, I do like that. Every once in a while a game will do so poorly in terms of user engagement and in terms of approval from the regular players that are always on there every night. And he's hard to see that fall off and he's hard to see people grow, their frustrations grow. And then to kind of understand, listen to feedback and change things around, like they're not always going to nail it with what they add to the game.

I know people didn't always love the mech that they added a couple of seasons ago. or the airplanes. Like there's always wacky shit that they're trying out. But I do like that they will listen to feedback and try to adjust things in the game in order to make the player base happy. And it seems like right now this is one of those times where a lot of the regulars that had fallen off over the years are kind of finally starting to trickle back in and say, oh shit, this is actually fun again. This feels like the old days. So it's pretty neat. Andy, I've been reading a lot about Unreal Engine 5 that Fortnite is making the switch.

Has that happened with this or is that still down the line? I thought it made the switch already. Has that affected your experience at all? I don't know. I can't really say, honestly, it looks the same to me. I haven't seen a whole lot of differences. But I'm also, the game for some reason runs like garbage on my machine. And I don't know why.

Like I have DLSS all the way on. Yeah, on my PC. It makes no sense because like every other game I can get, you know, plus a hundred and 44 Hertz and up, frames per second and up. For whatever reason, I'll get like 140 frames and I get massive drops to like noticeable hitches to the point where it's noticeable sort of stutters here and there. And I'm not entirely sure why I've tried to do, I've done everything in the book in terms of updating drivers, going to certain settings.

So I really need to get to the bottom of it because it's really frustrating. and I hope to get that issue fixed. Moving on from Fortnite and Leskamp, did you have one more thing to say? No, I'm good. Moving on. Bless, you are a lucky bastard. You got to play Seifu.

I did. Oh. I did. Yeah, I got to play a preview build of Seafood. It was a very short build, but I got to play it multiple times. And so I played it through twice. And it's about a 25-minute chunk of the game in Chapter 2.

was the first half of chapter two. And that game seems really good. And I think that game is good. I think it's going to be something special when it eventually comes out. Right now, slated for February 8th. I don't even know where to start with it. You know, I think my main takeaways are how good the combat feels and how good the game looks and presents.

Starting with the combat, right? Like, for people who've seen the trailer, I think it is what you see. It is what you expect. It is a beat-em-up style game action, third-person action. You're going through, you're kicking ass, you're throwing hands, you're doing all that stuff. And the animation in the combat is as good as it looks in the trailers, which isn't completely surprising because it's slow clap and they did Absolver back in 2017. And Absolver is the game that I played, right? It's a similar third-person action game, similar martial arts style, has a very stylized presentation to it as well.

But I think Sifu, from what I played so far, has elevated all of those elements in Absolver. And if you remember those Obsolver, right, it was multiplayer as well. And them switching to single player for Sifu, I think, has done so much for the game. Just in terms of tightening things up and giving it the TLC that it needs to feel like something and play like something that feels like a special, like, single player action game. And so, like, when you start off in Chapter 2, you start off in the club that I believe people have seen in the trailers. You're, like, on your way walking into the club.

And, like, on, in that path leading up, you, like, come across, like, you know, a dude who's, like, leaning outside and he's like, they're not going to let you in there, right? And you get to the door and there's like a bouncer. You have to fight the bouncer to get in. It's like a quick, quick fight like you would get in a beat him up game. But like from the get go, presentation-wise, it was already like there's like neon signs and like the way that like the light shine and the alley and all this stuff just looked really good off off the bat. And then you get in and that stuff continues. Like it continues to look really good, really colorful, really vibrant, just in the ways that they decide to like make certain colors pop,

both in the lighting and in the environment itself, looks really good. Talking about combat again for a second, right? Like the combat system feels to me like a almost like a finding game adjacent style combat system where it is stringing together combos. It is when you open up your menu, you see your control scheme, like your fighting options similar to a fighting game, right? Where it is, here's your light combo, here's your heavy combo, here's your heavy, heavy light heavy combo here is you press up down a triangle it is like a sweep move that you can do to

take down opponents if you press up down square it's like a like a palm hit on your opponent right it's like that level of control for the the combat which i really like because that gave me options and for a for a game that in its combat feels very difficult in a lot of moments because you're dying a lot in this game, they gave you enough options to feel like it, I always felt like, oh, man, I could have done something better in any moment where I died, where I was like, cool, I could have managed the space better. Oh, man, I know I'm fighting five people at the same time. I need to figure out how to take one at a time and isolate them, or I need to know how to manage the room, because, like, as well as like the fighting combo options you have, you also have like

environmental stuff that you can pick up, you know, much like a double dragon or whatever beat them up game you played. You can pick up shit on the ground, like a staff or like a sword or whatever to use to beat people's asses. Or you can, like, there's a command to, like, kick shit at people. And so, like, if you see a bottle on the ground or if you see, like, a small stool or something, you can press right bumper and I'll just, like, kick it right toward the opponent. And, like, that stuns them. And it makes it feel like, like a John Wick adjacent game, except John Wick uses guns, right? And this is all your fists. Like, it feels like like that, where you're kind of managing it in that way. And I just had such a good time with this

demo. And one more thing I want to shout out, right, is like the aging system as well, which I'm sure you guys are seen in the trailers where each time you die, you age up. And so the first time I died in the game, I died and I was already 20 years old. I aged up to 21. And the second time I died, I aged up to 23. And then the third time I aged up 26. And that goes. And when I was playing a hit all the way up till 70, and I think that was like, that was possibly the last, like my last life. If I died at 70, I think I died for good and I had to restart the run. I, it's a really cool mechanic. because not only does it show on your character physically that they're getting older,

it also will, in some instances, lower your health, but then raise your damage because your character is getting older, so their body is deteriorating, but then also, I think they're getting wiser and they're fighting, and, like, they, like, they just become a better fighter, so your damage goes up because of that. And so there's kind of like this give and take of, oh, man, I got to stay, I got to stay alive, but as I'm dying, I'm getting benefits at the same time. The way I play kind of changes based on, all right, I'm old, so I need to be really careful now. Like, it's come down to the wire.

I need to be really careful. But I need to make sure I choose my strikes correctly because I can do damage. That system seemed really cool, and I can't wait to see where it goes. Andy? Were you able to replay the demo at all? Because I wonder how encountering, I think in that demo there's sort of a boss character, maybe a mini boss of some sort. But I wonder how that changes, depending on age.

whether there's any like contextual dialogue based on what age you are. I wonder if they're going that far with it. Because I do love the idea that Absolver is that this fighting game that you really love. And now this is sort of their, this is their time to sort of widen that scope and say like, let's make this game a bigger, better version of that. Like I wonder if they do have any sort of those cool Easter eggy type moments in the game. So I played through twice.

And I got to the final boss each of those times. First time I beat the final boss. second time I lost the final boss. And I lost at my final age. So I got a game over there. I didn't really get any sort of like, oh, who's the 70 year old man? Or oh, man, like, you look so old. But I did get a lot of, oh, he's back up.

Like, after I die and then I do the thing where I age up and I get back up again, they're like, oh, he's, what the fuck's happening? And there was a lot of, like, there was a lot of dialogue where I didn't expect dialogue to be. When I first entered in the club, one of the things that, like, there was a receptionist that was standing there, right? None of this is in cutscene. All this is me walking around and all of it happening in real time. Where I walk in and they're like, oh, the club is closed.

You can't come in here. And I'm sitting there like, like, all right, what do I want to do? And there's like a, on the D-pad options, they have like a dialogue thing that pops up where I can say, where's this person or I can, like, there was like another option. I can't remember off the top. Or I can just like ignore that and start beating people's asses. And like, you know, the first time I said something and they're like, well, like, you know, get out of here.

And then I started fighting. And then another time I said a thing that then provoked the other person to then like start a fight with me. Or actually they didn't even start a fight with me. They told their buddies like the other guards in the room. So like, hey, this guy's fucking round. Go get them. And then I fought the guards. But I thought it was cool because like also not everybody in every environment is like trying to fight you.

Not everybody is equipped to fight. There are times where I would enter a room and I would see a room full of people. And I assumed that like one of them was going to fight me. But like there were a few people that were just there to be. either. And so when I went like to try and square up with them, I like would hit punch and then they're out in like one punch because they're not there to fight. They're just at the club. And like when you get closer to somebody who's trying to fight, they'll then activate, right? It's that video game blood-borne thing of like, oh, you're close enough. All right, like, let's square up.

You have, you have those moments that feel a little bit dynamic in that sense. And you have like a lot of good dialogue that feels like it is, it's happening in the moment. It is linear, right? Like, it is a thing where the second time I played the game was the exact same, it was the exact same route and the exact same thing that happened the first time I played. And so it felt very planned in terms of the dialogue that was happening in terms of the things that they were saying. That said, there also, there also seem like there are moments where you can veer off the path. And, like, there was a locked door that I came across in my playthrough where it was locked and I was like, all right, how do I get in there? And even my character was like, all right, this is a locked door. How do I get in?

And it seems like if I searched around enough, I could find a code or a key that would get me into that door. I don't know what would have been behind that door if it would have been a different path or it would have been a clue to add to like my, like my character kind of has like a string like trying to solve like who the fuck murdered my family type of shit. He has he has that thing. I don't know if you would have found a clue or like an upgrade or more XP in there or whatever. But it seems like there's options to kind of explore around in that sense as well. Here's an automatic weapon. There's no more fighting. Watching on the trailers, the thing that I've been most excited about is the momentum the game seems to have.

And especially with the combat that you've been talking about, that kind of seems to be the core of it. But I'm interested, how is the music and like, does it kind of like have a rhythm and vibe that's like pushing you forward? And on top of that, in between the combat moments when you're just walking to the next combat encounter, is the in between fun? and do you kind of feel like you're you're constantly moving forward or is it kind of just a standstill to get to the next fight? So I'll start with that part. I think it's all action in terms of when

you're in the levels because I believe you like you can hop out the levels and it is like this like hub like you're in your apartment and it is I can go and I can like upgrade or I can go into the practice area and practice my moves or I can jump to the next mission. When you're in the actual levels, it's very beat-em-up game where the only thing you're really doing, is fighting. Like you're either fighting or you're exploring and looking around to see what you can pick up or what you can like kind of glean from the world. But for the most part, it is fighting. In terms of the music, from the one level, the music seems like it's going to be off the chain in this game. That said, like, it is a club level. And so like, of course, like the club level is going to have dope music. And like, there are when I open up the room to, or when I open up a door to go into a different room or a hallway, there are moments where it's like, cool. I can tell that the music is like muted a little bit because I'm outside of the, the actual like, club room. And so I'm hearing the same dope-ass music, but it's like, there's less trouble and it's more bass to it, because I can only hear like the base of the music now. Like it did that stuff well enough to where I was like, all right, this seems like even in

the other levels, I assume there's going to be great music. And so like, that's a good thing. And um, diageetic sound. Mike, word of the day. Diagetic. Diagetic. The presentation of the game reminds me a lot of Katana Zero, even though Katana Zero is a 2D pixel art action. What a game. What a game. And it's a dope-ass game. I think there's a level of like, like, you know the vibes of Catana Zero. Flash. Yeah.

It's like flashy. There's like a lot of neon colors. It's stylistic. The music is dope as hell. And like, I'm sure that game as well has moments where you walk into a room. And like the music is like, oh,

the trouble falls out. And it's like all base because they like, because of where you are. I got a lot of those vibes out of Cifu, which is the best thing I can say about it. Hell yeah, man. I can't wait. Yeah.

I was already sold. But you got to be like looking to the calendar. Like, damn, February seems far away. That's awesome. We get to be John Wick, dude. Basically, and to answer your question to about, like, the flow of it, um, the, the thing, one of the things that impressed me the most was, like,

hitting a character or character hitting me and seeing how they reacted to getting hit. Like, it'd be like, I do a combo and, and, and they would fall into, like, a wall or some shit. Or they'd fall, like, into a couch and, like, their back would hit off the couch and they hit the ground. It seems like there was a lot of, um, work and, like, a lot of TLC put into, all right, we got to have an animation for everything. Like, we got to make sure that, like, this thing, flows and it feels right. And in the moment, you legitimately feel like you are Jackie Chan or you are in a martial arts movie of like, all right, cool. I got, I got my bat, hit this guy three times

to my bat, drop my bat, kick a bottle at somebody. Okay, there's a guy that's about to get me. Let me, you know, do my five hit combo on this guy. And it all feels so, like, it all flows so well. It all feels like, like, so well animated and all like, it all just works in a way that looks really good. And so I'm very, I'm very impressed with it by in that, in that stance. Speaking to being impressed, I want to ask Mike his thoughts on Metal Gear Solid. But before we get there, let me tell you about our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Upstart. What would it feel like if you were finally free of high interest loans or credit card debt?

Well, Upstart can help you make that final payment so you can get ahead. Upstart is the fast and easy way to pay off your debt with a personal loan all online. Whether you're looking to pay off credit cards, consolidate high interest debt or fund some personal expenses. Upstart can help you get one. fixed monthly payment with a clear payoff date. Rather than looking at only your credit score, Upstart considers other factors like your income, current employment, and credit history to find you a smarter rate.

Find out how Upstart can lower your monthly payments today. When you go to upstart.com slash kind of funny, that's upstart.com slash kind of funny. Don't forget to use our URL to let them know we sent you. Loan amounts will be determined based on your credit, income, and certain other information provided in your loan application. that's U-P-S-T-A-R-T-com slash Kind of Funny. Next up, shout-out to Native.

I love the smells of the season, and thanks to Native's new seasonal sense, my favorites are with me, wherever I go. We're talking about deodorant, a deodorant that Gia Tapp Harris uses all the time, and it smells so, so good. Native deodorant is formulated with ingredients you've actually heard of, like coconut oil and shay butter. Native deodorant never uses aluminum, parabins, or sulfates, but it still keeps you smelling amazingly fresh all day long.

With classics and rotating seasonals, Native has a deodorant scent for everyone, including their new holiday-inspired collection, which includes candy cane, sugar cookie, and fresh mistletoe. So there you go. You can keep the sense of the season with you with natives limited time holiday scented deodorants. Go to nativedo.com slash KF games or use promo code KF games at checkout and get 20% off your first order. That's N-A-T-I-E-D-O.com slash KF games or use promo code KF games at checkout for 20. percent off your first order. Native-D-E-O.com slash KF Games. Promocode KF games. And finally, shout out to Green Chef. Green Chef is America's number one meal kit for eating well with dinners that work for you,

not the other way around. Green Chef's pre-made and pre-measured sauces, dressings, and spices get you more chef-cureated flavor in less time. Green Chef's wide array of easy-to-follow recipes means there's something new to discover each week, so you never get bored. Plus, they make eating well easy with plans to fit every lifestyle, whether you're keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or just look and eat more balanced meals. Green Chef offers a range of recipes to suit your preferences, including all of those things. And as the first ever and only keto meal kit on the market, Green Chef makes sticking to a carb conscious lifestyle easy. This has been something that a lot of members of the team have been enjoying, including Blessing and Kevin.

And it's great. Go check it out. Go to greenchef.com slash kind of funny 10. and use code Kind of Funny 10 to get 10 free meals, including free shipping. That's 10 free meals, including free shipping at greenchef.com slash kind of funny 10 and using code kind of funny 10. Greenchef.com slash kind of funny 10. Use code kind of funny 10. Mike, minutes ago before we started recording

the Kind of Funny Games cast, you and Barrett Courtney beat Metal Gear Solid 4 for the very first time. I just want to ask you, where's your head at? It's all downhill from here, Mike. I am impressed, Tim, as you said before the ad break right there. I'm truly impressed with that franchise. I had so much fun going on this ride alongside Barrett and Tam

and Blessing and the gang that joined us each and every week, right? This was something that I had only heard the name Hideo Kajima, and we talked about this before, right, of being an Xbox guy and not really ever playing Metal Gear thinking about it. I've only heard the name, the legacy, right? And so going through one all the way through four, it has been an awesome ride. And where I am right now is I'm stunned.

I'm in disbelief. I'm left wondering, just like Andy said, like, what's next? Right. Where do I find that next Kajima High? Because that was awesome. That is the finale is what it felt like, right? I know there's five and so on. But like when we break up just one through four,

that felt like a great way to end the series right there. That was a great way to end the story to give, me everything that I wanted. There was awesome parts of music that gave you callback to different games and also really great new beats that you're going to want to love for the rest of your time playing video games. I think of all the callbacks to the different characters and the different moments within there, the showdowns that we got to see between Riden and Vamp part two that you've always wanted, right? I think you think of where we were at the beginning of one to two to three and then all of a sudden here we are with Liquid Snake now inside of Oslo's body and

Like, what could he really do next? And Kajima somehow tells a story and just makes it awesome. Like, what more could they really do? Well, we found out he's controlling the system. And the system really is everything. And that's awesome to see. And I loved my favorite part 10 that I keep saying is I loved that this story felt like it went around the globe.

It truly felt like it was worldwide. Like Snake had a purpose. He had a plan. And he had to go shut shit down. And it was cool to start off in the desert. Then all of a sudden go to something. South America, then all of a sudden go to Europe. And then all of a sudden, we're in Shadow Moses and we're getting callbacks to that.

Now all of a sudden, we're in a whole other location. And I really loved the globe trotting aspect because that's something we never got in one through three. So I like that, Kajima really elevated this one. And it felt like a great finale. So me right now, I'm impressed. I'm stunned. And I'm a little worried of like, man, what's next? Because that might be one of the best video game franchises I've ever been a part of.

That was awesome. So I want to know your thoughts on a couple key moments that are some of my favorite gaming memories, period. The return to Shadow Moses, the Rex versus Ray fight, the microwave scene, and that final battle, the fist fight between Liquid and Snake. Let me know your thoughts on all four of those. Let's talk with Shadow Moses, right? I talk about globe trotting. And that was the last place I ever thought we would return. Right?

Like, that is wild to cut back to that. And then the way he cut in the flashbacks and the sounds and the looks of the first ever metal gear into that was really, really cool and super well done. And then you get into the Rex versus Ray fight, right? We just came hot off of an incredible showdown between Ryan and Vamp. We go through the corridors inside of Rex to get outside. Then to showdown with Ray was really, really cool. And something that's never been done in the game franchise so far through one through four of like having a, true metal gear fight where you're in control of one of the metal gears that's never happened and that was a

really cool scene and then the ending of that of like oh see you bro i got other things to do and he's like on the end of the pier and you're like oh my god like this is going to continue this is crazy and then to the microwave scene of like that was a big moment because it's funny blessing was with me right there and i know andy was watching but like that whole sequence up to the microwave was insane right like We just got done fighting, screaming, mantis. Then all of a sudden, we get the showdown of like, we see everybody. The whole team is now involved, right? Like, the world is in peril.

We're not going to make this happen. And it's the balance between May Ling out on the Navy ship. And they're getting blasted by metal rays. And they're like, it's about to be shooting off. Then you get inside and you look at Merrill and Johnny. And like, they're having this weird love sequence, but also this really dope Mr. and Mrs. Smith action sequence of just shooting people. and like hugging each other and making out doing the same thing.

And then you flip on over and there's riding who's like, hey, I got you, bro. Like one last ride, let's go. And now of a sudden he's got lightning. He's holding the sword in his mouth. And then Snake is fighting through microwaves about to explode from the inside. And he just makes it right. And like, that was the moment, right?

Blows chunks in the end of it. Like, he did it, right? And so, yeah, I mean, Tim, you and I talk about hype. And I know the whole team loves hype and excitement, but like this dude figured out a way to really nail hype in all of his video games. Like that moment, it felt like a movie. It felt like peak entertainment where you're on the edge of your seats.

And you're like, oh, man, like, is he just going to die in this microwave? Because he totally could have done that. But the way it ended, yeah, all of those scenes were really, really special throughout Metal Gear Solid 4. Well, I'm so, so excited that you finally got to experience those games. And for everybody else, the videos are all live now, YouTube.com slash kind of funny plays. You can watch the experience from the beginning of Mike and Barrett and Blessing and

Kevin Tam, the whole crew playing through Metal Gear 1, 2, 3, and 4. I think that those are going to be some videos that I look back on for years to come, just like skimming through finding those moments because seeing you guys lose your mind at so many of the most iconic moments in video game history was so fun to see. Oh, man. But moving on from that, the Game Awards were last week. they were a big deal. They were a lot of fun.

We reacted to them live here on Twitch.tv.TV slash kind of funny games. YouTube.com slash kind of funny games. But we predicted all of the winners on this here, Kind of Funny Games cast a couple days before that. And the results are in. Final scores.

Blessing. 11 points. Andy. 11 points. Wow. Wow. Tim Gettys. 11 points.

Oh my God. It was a perfect tie. No way. Now here's the thing. Barrett wasn't officially playing on the show, but he... He got negative five points. So he gets complicated because Barrett skipped a bunch of them. He only guessed 15, but he got seven right of the 15.

So we're not going to even talk about Barrett in this. But we skipped six categories. So we scored 24 out of 30. We skipped Best E-Sports event, coach, team. athlete, content creator, and best VR slash AR. Good, I got them all wrong. There are only five categories that weren't guessed correctly by at least one of us, including Game of the Year.

Yeah, none of us would have guessed it takes to. This, of course, is from CNN, the amazing best friend out there that put this over on Reddit. So thank you so much for doing that all the time. And yeah, we would have never got it takes two. What a crazy underdog moment there. Some bonus predictions here for which CNN, did give Tip of the Hat awards. Ah, nice.

All right. Now, I'm going to read them all, and y'all can be the judge. At the end of the day, I don't care. I love these. I love these. Tip of the hats,

two go. It's a blessing. I'll take it. Take them both cherished. One goes to Andy. Oh, bullshit. Come on. And none.

Go to me. Not a single one. Not a single one. Now, let me tell you what the bonus prediction, tip of the hat, points are four. And he says, I'll beat the final Sekiro boss within two to three hours.

He beat in another one hour. Holy shit. So shout out to bonermonger.com. Wait, you actually beat it in 12 tries? Yeah. I thought you were joking. No. What the fuck?

Dude, like, what's the name of the big fiery boss that you beat before that? Demon of hatred. Demon of hatred must have been like a training for that. Because like, I was struggling so hard on that final boss fight.

Dude, it's different shows to different posts because I had people in my comments being like, Andy, you thought this guy was hard, wait till you fight the final boss. Like, you're fucked. And some people were like, really? I don't know the final boss is a lot easier.

So going into the final boss, we do the Twitch predictions. And Melissa with the Y and Tucker were like, Andy, you got this in less than 20. And I was like, y'all, no shot. Like, it took me 200,

it took me close to five hours for a demon hatred, no fucking way. And they were like, Andy, you got this in lesson 20, trust me. So I told him to put the over under at 35 and a half, 34 and a half for the over under, 12 attempts, baby.

Dude, that's blessing. Because that has four phases to it. Yeah. And one of them, blessing, I jumped off the edge, like really early in the fight. I didn't know you could jump off the cliff and die.

So, like, I did that a few times. Basically, 11 tries, dude. I don't even know. Like that one out. So that got,

Andy, a tip of the hat there. Thank you. Appreciate that. Andy says, tens, who's popular in, TikTok and dating a content creator.

Those were his reasons. We'll win best ESports athlete. Nope. Simple one. Crazy. How the fuck. And then I said there will be something insomniac. EG. Ratchet D.L.C. Spider-Man coming to PC. New Spider-Man 2 trailer.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Timbo was wrong. On PSI Love You, recorded on Tuesday the 7th. Blessing said, we'll see Returnal DLC. Blessing said, we will not see Last of Us Factions. So he gets a point for that. I'll take that.

Congratulations. It's a safe bet and feeling. It's going to happen someday. We're going to see Last Was Factions at some point. We won't see the PS6. And he also says, we will see more Horizon Forbidden West gameplay. Oh we did we did we did you got there there's those are the two bonus points that you got right would I go bless me I thought I thought I thought Andy goes here or he got to the hat I got he did got one he beat the final

second row boss within two to three hours oh but you got nothing for horizon no that was yours no wait oh I said we'll see her right yeah oh I think he said okay okay I might have to say sorry I meant bless yeah it's all good oh so that's later so there you have it folks I guess the winner's blessing because of that and second up as Andy because he's really good at Sekiro. This continues. I stuck. Kind of funny games daily post show on Wednesday, Barrett said there'll be a new Bioshock tease. The Rock will be there.

And Bethleheld 2 will get an official title. None of that happened. Andy said something from Bloodborn or Jedi Fall in Order 2. Those did not happen, although we did get some Star Wars with Eclipse. That's right. That's right. And then Blessing said, we will see something about Bioshock and we did not.

Yeah. That's crazy. That's the wild. me that we got nothing on that. So like after the Game Awards, I actually did talk to Jeff and I was like, hey, so what was the announcement that you said was two and a half years in the making? And I forget what he said.

I was very drunk. I was very drunk. I was very drunk. Useless. That was the worst story I have ever heard. You drink a lot. You drink a lot during Game Wars that, you know. You gotta be kidding me.

Like, you're not joking. I want to knock that I'm not that Muggette in your face right now you remember asking him that I remember asking him I don't remember what he said because he was also like

oh yeah it was like he was going through some games in his head I forget which one he landed on hold on let me look at all the games announced and maybe if I see it can you set a time code up right now to Roger we got to get this clip down

I hate you oh my lord Tim's one of the worst stories I've ever Like that's something interesting tidbit. Like I feel like having that knowledge would give us like a seed of something next year where it's like, well, last time you said this, it actually was this. Like we could predict something from that. No, no, we just have drunk bless over here. Tag, tag, Jeff, when you tweeted out and like maybe he'll respond.

No, no, no, here's the thing. Well, speaking of all this, I want to talk about your adventures in L.A. You went to the Game Awards. This is the first time we've sent somebody that wasn't Greg Miller down to the game. game awards to rep kind of funny. Uh, you did the damn thing, got to hang out with future class people. You got to go see a tour of the new G4 studios. I want to hear it all. Where do you want to start? I guess I can start with the game awards since that's what happened first, right? Like this was not only my first game awards, but it was my first, I guess, physical event that I've been to as

part of kind of funny, like a big like outside of like a small preview event. This is my first time going to something where there's like people and I'm like kind of reping the company in a really cool, fun way. And so with that, like, that alone was pretty wild in itself, but then actually going to game awards and actually meeting people and talking to people. I met multiple best friends, you know, which surprised me a little bit because the game awards is very close this year. Like it was invite only. They're keeping the numbers down. But with that, I think that there was still quite a few people that were able to make it out because, you know, people have their own content. So like people like, Nano does his own thing in terms of content creation.

And so he was down there. I was able to meet him along with a few other people. Wait, nano biologist? Nina biologist, yeah. He was at the Game Awards? He was at the Game Awards, yeah, yeah. He, like, introduced himself. He didn't introduce himself. He was like, hey, bless him, what's up?

And I was like, is that Nano? Like, everybody has their masks on, so it's hard to, like, recognize people. But, like, I shook his hand or whatever, like, hugged him. And I was like, is that Nano? And, like, he had to piece out real quick. But I was like, I'm pretty sure that was Nano. And then, sure enough, I saw him again later in the night. And I was like, oh, yeah, it is Nana.

Holy cow. He walks up on stage, presents. He walks up on stage, I could have been Nano. I don't know. Maybe it's not him. But like I, so I met him. I met a lot of people, like a lot of people for the first time who, you know, like, I either know from online or listen to their content or like, you know, I just, I've either been

a fan of or I read their writing. There are so many names that people will be like, oh, yeah, I'm this person. I'm like, holy shit. I can't believe you're this person. And even, let me back a bit. Even before the game awards, I went to like a couple of like hangouts and mixers. And so it was like an Xbox mixer that I went to with like Paris and a lot of other folks. It was my first time meeting Paris, which was absolutely wild.

That's so crazy to think of. Yeah. Yeah. First time meeting him in real life. He is way taller than I thought he was going to be. And he had a mustache, which threw me off for some reason. Yeah, he looked great. He had the mustache on our Halo review and I was like, keep that, keep that. Yeah, dude, he's looking good. I just love that you got to go to the game awards fresh off the 30 under 30. Like that must have been like you riding this damn high street through this thing, man. It's beautiful. The first thing somebody said to me, like when I, uh, got to the Xbox mixer. There was like a person that was like leading people in. And they're like, hey, like, I'm XYZ. Oh, your blessing. Or no, I introduced myself.

I was like, hey, I'm blessing from kind of funny. And she was like, hey, like, congrats on 30 under 30. And immediately, I was like, oh my God. It's like, I can't believe he will actually like, you know, recognize me for a thing, which felt really surreal. You should have started a ruckus at the airport and be like, you know who I am. Like, you know, I'm 30 under 30. As soon as I lost my switch, I should have been like, oh, do you know who I am? I'm going to, I'm going to fine. But yeah, I went to the mixer, hung out with people. Again, met Paris for the first time, met like Sarah Bond for the first time and quite a few people. Phil Spencer remembered me and like got me a drink, which was super random and super awesome. Hell yeah. But that shit like from the

and that was the first thing I did. And that from the get go like blew me away. And then right after that, like right next door, there was a different mixer for a different company. I can't remember which company it is, but it was a different company. Went to that. that one and I was hanging out with like Lucy and Tam the whole time pretty much. And as I was hanging out with Lucy and Tam, there are a few people that we would recognize. Right. And like, one of them was like, oh, yeah, I think that's Chris, Chris Plant over there from Polygon. I was like, oh, Chris Plant from like, he's on the besties.

Like, I know Chris Plant. Maybe I should go say what's up to him. And it's like, right after I say that Chris Plant walks over. And he's like, hey, you're blessing, right? And I'm like, what the fuck is happening? Uh, and it's like, oh, yeah, kind of funny, whatever, whatever. And I'm like, oh, dude, Chris, plane. I love you.

I love your work. And I was able to say all that stuff. and after Game Awards itself was dope as fuck to actually see in real life. I think for me, I was... How hard did you pop off for those Sonic? Yeah, it is. Not only the movie, but the game. By that point, I was already a little bit tired because it was going on for a while,

but I popped off real hard for persona at the very beginning because that was as soon as I walked in, because I was toward the end of the pre-show, I believe. And, you know, I get there as the pre-show's ending, sit down, and I'm sitting next to, like, Andrea and, like, Lauren and them. And like as soon as I sit down, persona comes, persona four comes on screen. And I start flipping out. And I'm sure like, like, Andrea and them are like, what the fuck is going on with, with Bless?

But I'm like, what the fuck is happening? I see persona four. What is this? And it was Ultimax, which is still exciting for me because I really want to play Ultimax on PS4. But yeah, like the actual production itself was super cool to see in real life. I'm so used to watching it streaming. And I've always thought that it was just made for streaming.

I didn't know how the in real life experience. would compare to the, like, watching, or compared to watching it on a computer screen just because, you know, this is the way we've consumed it, right? Most people who are watching the Game Awards are watching it via Twitch, or I've watched it on, like, Spike TV or whatever,

wherever the Game Awards was a decade ago. And that's always how I've consumed it. Being in the audience, the theater that it's in, super impressive, super cool. Oh, yeah, Microsoft Theater. Yeah, Microsoft Theater, off the chain. The production of it in person was off the chain. the sound, like, there's so much, like, good sound, you know what I mean?

Like, the bass, like, when everything hit, it really hit in terms of how things sounded. And then also in terms of the decor and, like, the screen and how the screen would lift up to reveal the Game Awards orchestra and the old play shit. And then the screen would come back down. All that shit was mind-blowing in real life to the point where, you know, afterwards, I was like, damn, I was a banger game awards. I don't know if I loved it so much because of the content or because I was just here in person. I think it's probably half and half because I look back to the content. I really like the content as well, right? Like I did pop off for Sonic Frontiers.

I was into the movie trailer. The special guests, like seeing Ming Nguyen and like Simulieu and like Joseph Ferris win and give a speech and all this stuff was super cool to see in real life. And the show itself I just really enjoyed. I thought it was a really fun, awesome time to be there. But yeah, from there afterwards hung out of all people at like the like after parties. where people are after party like mixers. It's not really a party party party.

It's more of like a hangout at a bar kind of thing. Talking to people, meaning so many people met Anthony Carbone in real life, which is really cool. Hell yeah, Spider Boys, baby. I met the Spider Boys in real life, which is really fun. And I met like so many people.

I can't even list them all because I'd be here. But like that was really cool, really surreal and like really humbling just because like, again, I've been here for two years and I've not met anybody pretty much. And so like, you know, being able to be like, like I read your stories on KFD or hey like I've seen you on this or I've listened to you or whatever was a really cool thing.

The day after I visited G4 and I was through the homies, Rihanna and Danny Pena, aka Godfrey, who people know, right? Both Rihanna and Godfrey actually work at G4 and they were able to pull me in to like give me the office slash studio tour because it's a new facility because G4 just launched. And that was also very surreal just in terms of when I walk in the first thing First things first is they have like a team dedicated to like COVID testing. And so like I walk in. It's me Lucy and Tam still. We walk in like we meet a guy. He's like, hey, you know, I'm going to give you guys your COVID test.

Like I'm part of the COVID testing team here at G4. And I was like, they have a whole team dedicated to COVID testing. That's wild and that's really really awesome. Production is required to in. Oh, yeah. Well, in anywhere. But like a production of a certain size. you have to do that.

Gotcha. And that makes a lot of sense because a lot of people come in and out. Did that. Went through the offices. The offices look really cool. Like, they have in the lobby area.

They have a gigantic NES controller that I have a picture of on my Instagram. You scroll through my G4 picks. And the big ass controller is fully functional. Like, if you hit like the A or the B buttons, like all that shit works

and you can actually play games with this gigantic ass NES controller, which is super dope. Got to go around, got to, check out the studios and like the actual like i forget if it's studio a or studio b but one of them is a studio with like four different studio sets in it um and it's like where they have x play it's where they have attack of the show and a couple of other shows and i got to stand in and watch

them do xplay live and it was like it was a it was a few people it was it was gerard the completionist interviewing uh some folks and it was also adam sessler interviewing um uh iron Galaxy for their brawl game, the battle real game that they announced at the game awards. And like watching that was really awesome. Like G4 just as a as an outlet and like as a, you know, production seems like they've really figured out like what the vision and voice of G4 is over the years, like since they went away for a long time. And even like, OGG4, I was a fan of, but I wouldn't describe like, you know, original G4 is like, you know, modern buttoned up, like games journalism slash games media.

Like they existed in like 2008 and shit, right? And like I feel like the voice they had then was very, I don't know, like, not juvenile, but also not like super mature and buttoned up in a way where watching them now and actually visiting the sets and meeting people, I'm like, man, you guys are, you guys, you guys have this figured out, like in the way that the hosts are diverse, right? Like you got, not only do you have Adam Sessor, not only do you have Gerard, you have the black Hokage, you have Ifi, you have Fiona, you have such a good, like, such a good group. Austin Creed, right? Like, you have such a good group of hosts there. And the content, even though it is month two of G4,

the new launch of G4, the content seems like it's really good and really thoughtful and really buttoned up in a way that is really impressive, especially in the way that they're adapting to streaming, right? Because I think the way they do it is that all their stuff, they're streaming to Twitch, and then the actual stuff that premieres on television is, are the editing. down version i did a down polished versions of that uh and so i kind of got to like hang out see them record that in real time and then like meet um some of the hosts there and like again it was super awesome like i can't say enough good things about my my time at g4 man they hired awesome before we could motherfuckers mother fuckers man i'm so jealousy man i can't wait to see that facility one day in real

life and honestly the game awards like that's something that i don't think i'm ever actually going to see in real life and that pains me to stay yeah because I like reacting to do it so much. You know, and I like kind of... Maybe it feels like the red carpet. You got to go to the game ward. You were stunting down on the red carpet. You got to go to the game wards and do the same thing, bro.

Yeah, I don't know. I just, I really do like reacting to content. I feel like the game wards is one of the most fun things to react to. So it's that push and pull of like one thing I love versus another thing I love. But yeah, being there, man, I'm so happy you got to go down there and experience that. Andy and Mike one day, I hope. We'll get you guys down there too because like, dude, good Lord. It just seems like such a party.

Honestly, I'm more jealous of you just being able to hang out with people and drink with all these people you're talking about. Like it's been too long. I mean, that was a better thing, honestly. Like, that was the better part of it. Like, being at the Game Awards was cool. But actually meeting people and, like, actually, like, being able to feed off people's energy and, like, talk to people and shit and, like, not. Like, I've interacted with, like, Ifie and Fiona all the time on social media. And I've done content with them, like, through, like, RTX or, like, roost teeth, like, on stream stuff.

but because of work from home, it is, you know, we come in, we sit down, we join a Discord call, we do the, you know, hour-long show that we do, and then we say bye afterwards because there's not really an opportunity to pull aside and hang out with people. Actually getting to hang out with people is like, like, it was, like was awesome, just in the sense of what this has been in the last few years, people who I would have been able to chop it up with or hang out with and all that stuff. Yeah, like, Blessing basically went from like just no interaction, no but no like in-person interaction in two years of working at kind of funny and your first sort of exposure to it all is the game awards and checking out a studio like G4 and like seeing

all that in action is always really really neat but that's it is wild to think about this is your first time doing that because yeah quarantine hit two months after you got hired so it's it's it's really really fucking cool yeah and I and I also do feel the thing in terms of reacting as well because during Sonic, I was like, man, I wish I could be on content to talk about this Sonic thing because I have so many thoughts regarding Sonic Frontiers. And even like during like, I by the end when they announced the arc game, I forget what the full title is. But like, I had so many thoughts. I was like, man, I really want to know what other people think about this thing right now because I'm in the audience and I have like, I'm like, this looks cool.

But what the fuck is this? Like this looks different. And I wish I could have been like around y'all to bounce off of and be like, oh, yeah, like, you know, the mechanics look cool. but this world looks, oh man, and I haven't had that reaction to it. It wasn't that fun, it was fun. It looked fun. I went into the VR world. It was a blast.

Yeah. Mike was in the metaverse. I ate pizza. It was great. Did Mike have on his turtleneck during? I think I saw it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Of course, bro. Come on, with a turtleneck boys. We're the T-boys. Mike went through three wardrobe changes. I did start wheeling metal gear into existence. I didn't get an out of the cap to that one. No, I love it. I love it so much.

I miss that. Mike, do you have any final questions for Bless about his experience? Yeah, Bless. I mean, I have a bunch. I want to focus more on the Game Awards itself, uh, talking to you about that. Of course, I don't know, Tim, we haven't done the pre show in a couple of years, like reacting to that. But if you remember, you know, Sydney Goodman started doing the pre show like red carpet walks. And that's what I want to ask blessing first off, because you're coming hot off of a red carpet experience of like, what was that like, bless?

Did you see a lot of photos being taken? Were they doing interviews with people walking in the door? Did it feel like, hey, we just went into the lobby, we started drinking, then we sat in our seats. Does he still do that? Sadly, there wasn't really a red carpet experience at all. Yeah, it was straight to the lobby into the seats. And like the thing that kind of sucks a little bit about the theater is that they don't

let you take drinks into the theater. And so, like, I didn't even have enough time because we got there a little late, just in terms of like if he wanted to watch the pre-show. Like, I got there about like the time of it starting. And so I didn't even have time to like get, like buy drinks or whatever, both before the show. Like I went into the show and was sitting there and I was like, man, I could be slightly less sober right now. You know what I mean? Like I had like a few sips or something, you know.

But yeah, no, there wasn't really an opportunity to take like red carpet photos at all or like, you know, see the celebrities like walk in. Because again, they're like being to win and like all these all these folks there. Like Laura Bailey and all these folks were there. There wasn't really that at all. But there were the like, again, the after parties. that people would end up taking pictures together at anyway. But yeah, like sadly, I wish they had that because, yeah, I wanted that experience as well. Being inside the venue then as well, of course, we know we're coming hot off of COVID.

We still have a lot of regulations. And you could see everybody wearing masks kind of spread out as well. What did that feel like? Did it feel empty to you? Did it feel lifeless? Or did you feel like, oh, there is some energy here. People are clapping or getting excited. Or like when a music artist came on, did everybody stand up and start, you know,

jiving it all and dancing or did it just all sit down it was it you could tell uh that it was at a lower capacity um like there are so many seats that were open i think people were fairly fairly well like spread out and like there the amount of applause that i think you would expect for some big announcements just didn't get like it all all felt like chill like you know applause almost like golf claps um and like you know that is that kind of the name of the game right like that's kind of how it has to be and i'm good with it being that because if it was a full ass theater where everybody's shoulder to shoulder, I would feel way more uncomfortable in there. There's a lot of canned laughter on our end plus.

Was there really? Yeah. Are you serious? No way. Was there? Was there? Oh my God. Yeah.

There wasn't really like any, you know, anything like that, right? There wasn't any, like even laughter. I don't remember people laughing at any moment. So they're being came laughter is really funny, actually. Yeah, it was very. Greg kept calling it out and I was like, oh, yeah. You're right. Yeah, Greg broke the immersion for us.

Because at first I didn't, I didn't catch it all. It's like, oh, man, people are clapping. They're having a fun time. And Greg was like, oh man, it really ruins the atmosphere when they're putting this in. It's like, damn it, Greg, like, now I just lost it all. Like, now does it feel right. Yeah, now all the clapping, like any, at any moment where there was applause, it was very much like muted, like golf golf caps. It was like, oh, yeah.

Yeah. Okay, okay. It was still fun. It was still fun. Well, that's awesome. I'll go for a mic. One final question. When you left to the mixers afterwards, right, was like Joseph Fares walking around shaking

hands, walking with the award. Did you see award winners? Did you see a Tim Shaker? for in his school suit and we're like, yo, bro, great game on Psychonauts too. Like, what was those mixers like? Did you notice kind of the higher end people there? There were some folks there and also some, like a lot of folks that weren't there. And I think it's part of it is like where you go.

Like I was at the JW, which is like right next to the theater and that's where a lot of people go. So I was hanging out there. Not blessed. Just to, you know. What's up? Welcome to the rest of your life. The JW is it's the spot.

Like that is, that's where you go. That is where the games industry just knows. Like that's where you go to hang out after any of these events. But like that was a fun time. And I like there were folks there like, you know, Phil, Phil was there. Like Tim Schaefer was there. I didn't see Tim Schaefer. But I saw a guy that looked a lot like Tim Schaefer.

And as I was hanging out with some, I was hanging out with somebody else who's like a journalist in the industry. And she saw the dude walk up. And I saw him. And I was like, that looks a lot like Tim Schaefer. But I don't think that's Tim Schaefer. And then she says, oh, hey Tim. And so I'm like, oh, that's probably. And the dude like pause was like, huh?

And she's like, oh, Tim's like, I'm this person. And he's like, I'm not Tim Schaefer. And I've never seen, I've never seen somebody is so broken up. Put her on blast right now. Put her on blast. So bad. But she was so, she felt so bad. But it was also really funny in real time to see because I was about to make the same

mistake. That was about to be like, hey, are you Tim Schaefer? Because you look just like. That's so funny. But yeah, like a lot. Have you not met Tim Schaefer? No, I've not met Tim Schaefer. him shaper that is insane that that is at our office at least once a year and like it is not a small

he's just always there yeah that's really funny that's really funny but i was in like my first two weeks of i also did i also met like a like a couple folks from from naughty dog who said that they listened to the podcast and immediately as he said that i was like all right how often do you laugh at like the shit that we predict about last with factions all this stuff and they're always like oh no it's all good like we enjoy hearing the theories on us. So even like those moments where like those were dudes who I didn't know personally. I didn't know before that moment, but it was really cool actually meeting developers in real life

and being like, oh shit, like, you know, you listen to the content. I play your game. Like that's fucking wild that like we have that you know, exchange in experience. Dude, no, that's awesome. And honestly, that's kind of like how it goes. Like I remember being at the JW Marriott and running into

a best friend that was, and still does work at respawn. And this was before Jedi Fallen Order was officially out and he was just like, Tim, you're going to love this game. Like I know that I watched your content. I know you didn't really love the gameplay that they first showed. Like, trust me. Like this game is awesome and it's exactly what you've been talking about wanting. And he was so fucking right. But it's just so cool to have these moments of connection with people that are making these things that we love so much. And the fact that they're all, it's like the cycle where they're like, we listen to you all day while we're making these games.

It's just so cool to put a face to a name, you know. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, my favorite was when somebody would say their, like say their name. And I'm like, I reference you on KFD all the time. Like I know your work. Yeah, like I know your work. You work at the verge or you work at like Axiosi, work at this place. Like I know who you are. Those are those were my favorite moments for sure by far. Well, that is awesome. I hope that you have many, many more of those moments in your future blessed when we hopefully get back to events. Hopefully E3 is the thing next year. Who knows where we'll be. But this is our final games cast of this year. Thank you all for rocking with us for another amazing year here on Kind of Funny Games.

We appreciate you all. This is Andy's first full year on this show. So congratulations. You did it. Thank you. It was an amazing, amazing showing from you. I can't wait to keep you on next year.

We're not going to switch up the games cast at all. I don't think going into it. So this might be like a... I feel like we say that every time. And then January happens. Yeah, you know what? It's always January that the changes happen. So you motherfuckers better not pulling you last ones.

I'm going to miss Mike, you know? It was nice happen. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. It's been great having you. Make some appearances on the show over the year as well. And bless, of course. Thank you for being such a great partner and killing it. Hey, Tim.

Hey, Tim. You did a great job this year, Tim. They did a great job. You're a great leader for all of us. I will ask, though, because I know the audience is wondering, because not everybody kind of keeps up with us every year. When are Game of the Year? A podcast happening?

That's a great question. It'll be early 2022. Usually we found that we like to kind of have the break to be able to play a couple more games and really kind of get that whole year in there. So if you look at last year's early episodes of Gamescast, you can probably expect something similar next year. We'll probably do some Metacritic predictions. We'll probably do some predictions of announcements throughout the year.

Look back. What's our game of the year? All that stuff. It's going to be a good time. Really excited. I always really love the first couple of games cast of the year. I feel like they really set the tone and cadence of what we're expecting from the year. So stay tuned for that.

Let us know in the comments below what your face. favorite episode of the Kind of Funny Games cast was this year. We appreciate you very much. And if you are at patreon.com slash kind of funny games supporter, stay tuned for the final. Bless Who of the year. Until next time, I love you. Goodbye.