Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - What Was The Most Hype Game Launch? - Kinda Funny Gamescast Ep. 19

Episode Date: May 6, 2020

Tim, Greg, Blessing, and Imran talk about all of their favorite game launch memories. Time Stamps - What have you been playing? 00:04:40 - Streets of Rage 4 00:08:50 - Supernatural VR 00:15:00 - Persona 5 Royale 00:23:40 - Game Launches We Were Most Hyped For Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up guys? Welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast. As always, I'm Tim Geddes. He's joined by one of the coolest dudes in video games, Greg Miller. What's you playing right now? I thought I could clear out this Borderlands DLC room before the show started. I could not. They're all over me. All right. And I got these cartel thugs coming at me too. I'll ever be down. And now Hela from Thor Ragnarok's going to be in the Borderlands movie. Yeah, it's pretty exciting, huh? Lilith. Eli Roth plus, Kate Blanchett, Signature.

Where could you go wrong? Where could you go wrong? The first two parts of it. I got a borderlands gun and everything, huh? Wow. You don't miss. Don't miss. We also got the former, informer, Imran Khan.

Howdy. And, round us out. The new face of video games, blessing at Ae Oye Jr. Kevin bought me this Sonic, the Hedgehog mug. Oh, my God. And we talked about it on the post show for Games Daily earlier this week, but we haven't talked about it on any official show.

The way you're holding it makes it look like your head, which is hilarious. Yeah. Oh, yeah. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Gamescast. I want to say that thing is bulbous. It's, dude, it's huge, but then, like, also the top is just like, like, look at this. How am I supposed to wrap my mouth around?

It's an homage to the gamescast intro. That's a nice gift. We're not coming into the quality of the gift. We're probably on the quality of the mug here as a coffee. It's a coffee mug and also doesn't have a handle. And so I just had to like grip Sonic's hairs if I want to drink out of it. Also, when I got it, like part of the back is like broken off. Look at this.

You know, weird thing I've never thought about. And this is going to sound stupid, but I've never thought about that as Sonic's hair. Like quills, I guess. Yeah. For some reason, I always, I always jump for it to being more like accurate. Like his head is shaped like that? Even though, yeah, I always thought it was more like. And I know the original design for the movie, that was clearly hair.

That was clearly fur. But we all know that was an abomination. You look at Sonic, you're like, his head's just shaped that way. I always thought it was hair. No, I think about Bart Simpson. That's also fair. Remember what he does? He parts it.

He brings it down. Jesus, man. He also gets a shaved off. You can bring your head down if your head was shaped weird. Dinosaurs did that too in Land Before Time and we didn't say they didn't have hair. It's true. Think about it. it. I remember that one. I don't remember that movie.

I remember, I remember Landward before time. I don't remember any of the dinosaurs having like that. Oh, you're talking about like the jackets. That's a dinosaur, though. That's a dinosaur. That's a whole different species. Everybody. The old dinosaurs have those, like the sphinies. Oh, man, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Kind of Funny Games cast each and every 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 the show. ad free by going to patreon.com slash kind of funny games just like our patreon producers did Muhammad Mohammed al tribesman James Hastings Sancho West gaming uh Cody banks Trent Barry Julian the gluten free gamer Joseph Ousuf and Scott Radloff we love and appreciate it each and every one of you very very much um you can be like them get the show ad free over at patreon you can get it with ads later on youtube.com slash kind of funny games or roosterteeth.com

where you can watch this show if you want to to listen to it, search for your kind of funny games cast on your favorite podcast service. It's that damn easy. You can be a part of the show. Also, if you go to patreon.com slash kind of funny games, it's a lot of fun for everybody. Greg, how's that feel in your hand? This Malawan gun feels pretty good. I'm excited to bring it back in the office.

It's from PDP. So it's got that like quality construction of it. Before we jump in TV. I can hit buzzing in the fucking head with this thing and he would be in pain. Oh, no. Before we jump into the big time. topic today. It's been a while since we've kind of given an update on what we've been playing. Any highlights from you guys?

I've only existed in the streets of rage for shaped hole these days. Like at some point I'm just going to get bored of that game. It's like it's going to be fine, but I've been playing that. I think I needed a break from Dishonor 2 for a little while, but I really do enjoy that game. It's just the way I'm playing it non-letally is frustrating in a lot of ways. Are you making it a thing not to kill anybody? I mean, that's what I wanted to do originally, but I see, like, every time I finish a level, I'll see, like, the death camera tick up because, like, I left somebody on a table with their leg dangling slightly down, and thus the rats got it. Or I watched someone for a little while, and then they kill themselves by falling off a cliff or dropping a candle on themselves and burned to death. It's like, how am I supposed to play non-letally when everyone in this game is suicidal as hell?

I'm more interested in talking about Street Street Street H-H-4, because, like, Obviously, the reviews were all good for it. I played it for PSI Love You. I enjoyed what I played, but like I was, I'm not the biggest side scroll and beat him, beat him up fan. Like, usually that was, uh, I played streets for age one and two back in the day. Um, uh, like final, final fight a lot and then reviewed it for IGN back in the day. But like, you're super addicted to it, right?

Imron, I saw your tweets about it over the weekend where you're like, I sat down to play it for a little bit and I ended up beating it three times and I've done all this. I've done this. Yeah, I was like, I was running a thing and I was having Writers Block and I was like, I need to play something for a few minutes. I figured Streets of Rage is a good thing where I could play a level and get out. Then I ended up finishing it that's like that session. Then I was like-

Consternation at its best. You'll love to see it. I kind of just kept playing. Like I started to play as the other characters and then I checked out online mode and started jumping into people's games. It's really fun and I can't pinpoint exactly why otherwise. Other than just like as somebody that really makes character action but never really got that into beat em-ups as a kid.

Yeah. I think I'm like whatever needed to click has just clicked. And now I'm actually really. enjoying it. Well, I feel like there's just enough to it, if that makes sense, right? Especially for what you're talking about it. Like you want to get into it, but you don't want something super deep and you don't need to, it's not a story game, right? It is like, learn the character you're playing as, what's their back attack? What's their, what's their special? And then use all that as you get introduced to new enemies on how to beat them, right? And how to get through it flawlessly

and how to, you know, when to get health, when to get a weapon. Yeah, it's pretty much that. And like, as I'm playing, I'm understanding more of the game, too. Like, oh, the defensive special is like there are bosses that I absolutely hated the first time around and now I was like oh I'm just clowning on them because now I understand what the game actually wants for me. So it's one of those like and it's a very easy to like skate on top of the ice thing. But once you actually dive in, it's way deeper than I thought it was going to be. And that's what I was seeing early on right. Like when you fight through the police station and I got to the commissioner the first time, he just fucking owned my ass. And I was like, all right, that's enough for tonight.

And I came back to it days later and I was like, oh wait, if I do this when he does that, you know what I mean? Like you put it together the language of it of what it wants to do and how it wants you to fight. And when you get into it, it almost becomes not a rhythm game, but you do feel in the groove of it. Yeah. And also speaking of which, all the music is amazing. Oh, yeah. Sound like it's slapped in ways that like I did not expect from a modern Streets of Rage game because they got like the original composers back, but a bunch of other composers as well. And that plus I think I really, I really dig the graphics.

Like I'm a big pixel art fan, but the way this, everything jails together. in terms of like aesthetically works out so well in this game. Yeah. Before we started the show, you were saying that you played about 30 hours and the game takes about an hour and a half to beat. Like that, that math doesn't add up to me. That's insane. Like, have you platinum it already?

Not yet. One of the trophies is incredibly difficult. It's getting S ranks on everything on hard, which is, like, I've gotten S rings on easy. Getting S ranks on hard seems very difficult to do. I might need to, like, solicit a co-op partner somewhere along the lines. but like yeah it's they have the original characters are the streets of rage four characters which are like the new hand drawn characters and then they have like every character that's ever been in the game so far like in the previous streets of rage games and they are broken as hell in different ways so i've been like some of the trophies are go through the game as a street to rage one character like go through that so like even though it's only an hour and a half to play through is one there's a trophy for pretty much every character in the game it's awesome what about you guys an i nia and thing people should be looking into.

I've been doing, this is something we mentioned a long time ago on a post show, Mea Blessing, but I've been doing a supernatural VR and Quest VR, or Oculus Quest. I'd say if not every other day super consistently, you know what I mean?

Because if you're unfamiliar, Supernatural, is that Oculus Quest exclusive workout program VR game they put out, where it's a subscription-based thing. You get your first month free when you sign up, you also get a Silicon Sweatline. or for your Oculus Quest. But then you go into it and there's workouts there that are been put up by trainers.

They give you a little intro in the beginning about what you're about to do, get you to stretch out, and then they coach you through it and talk to you. It's dynamic difficulty. So if it starts getting, if you start really fucking up, they dial it back down. They'll give you words of encouragement and stuff like that. You're playing in basically all these like, basically three, I think it's like 360 photos of like really nice places in Iceland or whatever. The Bahamas are, you know, beautiful. things and then they've animated on top of it to kind of do it. But the actual gameplay of it is like

Beat Saber. I still have not and I went into Quest Beat Saber thinking it was there and it wasn't. I haven't done Beat Saber 360, but it's that idea where you have black and white blocks coming at you with triangles on them and you need to hit them in different orders. But sometimes you'll get ones that come at you. You have to swing through them to spin to the next like radio part of the 360, the 360 degrees and they come at you that way in line with the music. music stuff like Lizzo and 21 pilots. And it's like music you would know from top 40s radio. Workouts get uploaded.

I think they have them on there as daily stuff, but I usually see a couple, maybe every other day there's a new drop of them, but I might just be looking at trainers a different way. And then, oh, the big thing about it that separates it from Beat Sabre. Because when I started it, and I did the first playthier, I was like, oh, this must be what Beat Saber 360 is like.

I'm going to go back to Beat Saber in general. It didn't have 360 on the Quest version. but I played beat saber. Huh? Beat Sabers on the Oculus Quest. Beat Sabre 360. Where you can play it in 360 degrees? Yeah, I did it.

I couldn't find it. Is it in Beat Sabre or is it in Beat Sabre or is it in a beat saber on its own? It's in Beat Sabre. It's just one of the options when you go through the difficulties of like, you know, there's the ones where it's like you can, you choose it where it's no colors or whatever. Yeah, 360 is an option for some of the songs. Gotcha. I couldn't find it on the songs I was looking at.

So I thought it was a different mode or a different thing or whatever. It didn't have it. It's pretty cool. Yeah. Like doing it. It's like the few songs I did because I'm also not that great at Beat Sabre, but I'm still kind of like working my way up. But it is very like you're working this way and there's like lines coming at you. And sometimes like the tracks to the left or right will come up. But then it starts going. You just start spinning around by the end of it. I'm like I have no orientation. I'd be terrified. I feel like I'd be terrified. I feel like I'd bellow down. Yeah. But with the quest, you're totally fine. Yeah. Because there's like nothing holding you back. I feel like that's like they'll find me dead in my apartment from like beat saber like hitting my head on the couch or something. I hit the wall. I hit the wall when I was doing Supernatural where I punched the wall on the side because I wasn't paying attention

to my own boundary guidelines. But the way that it separated itself when I went back and did Beat Sabre from it is how I felt even playing normal Beat Sabre with like the walls coming at you or you got a side step or whatever, go low. Like I felt like I was standing in concrete whereas supernatural is triangles come at you

and tell you to either do a squat or do a lunch, just either one of the sides or whatever and you have to go in and you have to maintain and you rise up, come down, do these kind of things. things. And so that's where it's gone. And again, I can't compare it to 360 off. Do you, you know, I'll look it up what songs I can actually use it on and give you more impressions later on. Um, but that's where it separates itself from normal beat saber, where it is this rhythm, almost dance,

workout, aerobics exercise where it is jumping all around and spinning around, you know, going around like you're talking about in 360 degrees. But it's been crazy that every day I do it, it feels more and more natural. And I get like a different part of the rhythm too of how I'm supposed do it of follow they have these like ghost trails on it to show you like when you hit one one of the white or black tiles that you're supposed to you know bring it up and coming back on the other one and the coach will be in your ear about like you know opening up your arms like I you know I don't want you just using your wrists I want this like are you feeling at your shoulders or your biceps and before I've been like no I'm feeling it in my wrist and then today I think I was actually

low on my knees staying loose jumping around you know here and there using the the the lunges to get me to one side and then reaching up and crossing my body for the other one and stuff like that. It's really interesting. I still don't know, like when the free month's up, is it worth 20 bucks a month in terms of this? Not great. It's a lot of people I've seen call out that, oh, well, you know, it's like a gym membership or whatever, but I still don't know if that's work while. Yeah, exactly. It's like fitness is like 10 bucks a month, right? Yeah, but it is that thing of I really enjoy it. Like I do look forward to it. I do sweat. Like, you know what I mean? I, you wear the Apple Watch obviously and set the workout for that and like it tracks it and

it's giving me a workout. It's actually accomplishing what it's out to. I do feel good when I do it. I thought, you know, like, as somebody who doesn't like exercising with people, period and having them correct your form, like when Jen's taking me to yoga or something like that, like, greats on me. I don't want to feel like the center of attention in this one where it is the, you know, machine coaching you or telling you it's okay to do this or you're starting to miss stuff. Like, you know, don't focus on that.

Focus on this. Like, okay, on these, you know, this is your final stretch of notes. Like, I want to see power from you, right? Like, it actually works and I do like it and I do enjoy it. Okay. So it's an AI coach. just not like a Peloton kind of thing where there's an actual person there correcting you. No, no, no.

It's not like Peloton. Wait, is that how Peloton works? Theoretically. Yeah, for Peloton, you're like live streaming into class, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's hilarious. But yeah, you actually are doing stuff too where I think it'll be the coach.

We'll be like, all right, Merck City 64. Give me 50% more. Like that kind of thing. Yeah, this is all the AI. And I think, I think COVID might have thrown off their plans for how they were going to upload because the first time I ever. put it on and did it, it was a welcome message from the coach of the day being like, hey, you know, we're a sheltering at home too.

So usually I'd be there to show you this out or the other, but today we're just going in this way. And so they've been opening with, you know, the coach in front of me doing the strategy, coaching you out and then at the end during the cool down and saying the same stuff. But it's cool. Like I like it a lot. And I'm actually enjoying it. And I look forward to doing it every morning.

Anything else, guys? I'm playing a lot of personify Royal. Last episode, Barrett mentioned during our whole, like, what is that game of the year so far, right? Barrett wax poetic about Persona 5 Royal and made me really want to check it out because I played through the original Persona 5 loved it. Had like slight issues with like some of the dungeons and stuff

but overall like had a fantastic experience with Persona 5 and like I've been wanting an excuse to kind of go back to Persona 5. Persona 5 Royal being like a longer version of Persona 5 was kind of a thing that made me go like I don't know if I want to play

120 hours again. Yeah like because like it's a Persona 5 is such a long game but it's also one of those things where you just want to exist in that world like you want to keep just playing in that world and so when Barrett gave his pitch on it and when he said I asked my question I think I asked him a question along the lines of like

when do you start getting introduced to like new elements or like does the game feel fresh like as you're playing through like all the same dungeons in the same areas again and he essentially was like yeah and so I went back because of that. And I've actually been having a blast. I'm about 20 something hours in now. I've just finished the second palace, which is, which is Matarama's palace. And yeah, like all the small tweaks and changes that they've made to it, I think all seem to make the the dungeons and stuff more dynamic, the combat system more dynamic. There are a couple new characters

that I met so far that seem really awesome. And overall, I've been having a blast with it. like I can't wait to get to the new semester, which now at this point is like still a hundred hours away. But we're like strangely enough though, like my second time through this game, I'm having a better time than my first time through this game. And I think it is because like I am seeing seeds get sown for what is going to happen later later on in the game.

I'm seeing like characters developed again. And also I'm like the way, the ways in which they're presenting situations have already been in, feel new in like small but cool and unique ways like with your when you're when you're uh talking to any of your confidants right which are like the special relationships that you that you have in the game right there are characters that you can actually like level up your relationship all the way to level 10 um in the original game you would like hang out with them you would have like a couple of dialogue choices with them and you'd level up and that'd be it right now after pretty much every

confident level or at least most of them once you get at home from like your activity, they'll then call you up and check on you and be like, hey, like, you know, thanks for helping me out today. Or hey, like, how are you doing? Or hey, like, Kobe got home safe. And small tweaks like that, I think have gone like a long way into developing developing these characters even more in a way where, uh, this character Ryuji, who's one of the first characters he meet in the game. His character, my first time around, I, like, I thought he was like fine, but I didn't necessarily like love him. Like he very much struck me as like, kind of like that that like annoying dude that kind of just like I don't know kind of gets on your nerve sometimes

but you hang around you hang around him because he's cool you know he's like he's still friendly he's still the homie but like sometimes he just needs to shut up um Nick this time this time around some of that extra dialogue I was wondering who you're going to insult I didn't know who I feel like Nick was the safest answer I didn't have anybody in mind as I was saying in fact like I feel like I feel like he's kind of the the trope of like like Saka in the last year I vendor which I'm also watching right now, but like he's that kind of character where it's like, we love you, but at the same time, like, you're that annoying dude. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. This time around, like, there were certain, there's certain new dialogue that was added that made me go like, you know what, man, this guy's pretty cool. I kind of like this guy. Like, he's the homie. Like, of course, like, he gets on my nerves right now and then, but like, overall, like, he's the homie. He's chill.

He's here for me. He's all that stuff. And so, you know, I've been really enjoying that aspect. And I think that I found to be interesting while playing the game that I didn't necessarily foresee is that it's it's been a great game to play as an escape, right, as we're all kind of trapped at home. Because the whole point, or a large part of the game is being social, exploring Tokyo, like building relationships, building friendships, building friendships, talking to people. And I feel like this, this game has been not necessarily like replacing that for me by any means. but it's been like it's been a breath of fresh air right almost i mean not literally but almost literally in the sense that like i get to just hang out you know and be outside and and and

see my relationship develop with all these different characters and so it's been that for me in the way that i also played telling lies last week and telling lies is the game that is all about building relations or not building relationships but like seeing people's relationships play out via phone calls and webcams and all that stuff like these two games have been kind of of the opposite side of the same coin in some ways, you know, given the lockdown situation that we're in. And, you know, both of them, I, like, I enjoyed my experience with telling lies very much. But it's been, it's been a cool, like, dynamic thing to see, like, oh, yeah, as I'm playing telling lies, like, I'm starting to feel away because, like,

yeah, all this is going on through video chat. And, like, I don't know, it's hidden close to home in a way that I didn't foresee. And then persona 5, I'm like, oh, yeah, I get to kind of get out and hang out. It's been a really fun experience through that. And so both telling lies, Persona 5, played, enjoyed, recommend, obviously. One of the things I was thinking about when Barrett was talking about last week was like, an issue I had with Persona 5 was it the pacing of the villains was kind of off? Because, like, you had Kamashita, who is a teacher raping his students.

And then you have the next guy is like, oh, he steals painting from his students. Like, that's bad. I agree. You want to say as the first guy. That's my thing too. Kamashita is the most villainous character in Persona 5, and he's like the first one you encounter. He's your starter palace. Yeah, he's your starter villain. And like, I feel like most of the villains in Persona 5 don't hold a candle to Kamashita.

Because you feel away about Kamashita because he has a direct impact on basically like all of your starting party. And so by the time you get past him and by the time you're meeting all these different villains, it's like, yeah, like you steal paintings, but this guy is an asshole over here. Like that guy beat up like my friend. Like, you know, like it's different. But yeah, I'm with you in terms of the pacing of the villains is kind of off in a way where I kind of wish Camashita kind of came back around to be the last villain. I understand why he didn't because that would necessarily make sense. But I was going to have it the other time.

I was like, no, no, they're bringing him back. They can't just like have that guy as a starter. No. Like, it's the perfect asshole. Like, because he's just like, he's, he's that buff dude, like that buff jock who you're like, man, fuck this guy. And like, obviously like, he's an, he's an, he's an. asshole, but you get rid of them pretty early. And so it's like, you know, I guess I did the job.

I guess, like, I guess, you know, what we're doing. That's why I never got too much further, right? And that's why at 35 hours, I was like, I'm done. I stopped at him. And then I stopped the guy who stole paintings. And I was like, you know what? Peace out. Too many freaking stopping bank robbers every day. Stopping Lex Luther after a while. Speaking to that, like, bless, you also like Greg, prefer persona four over Persona 5. Do you think that playing through Royale might change that? it's hard because persona four is literally like like like my second favorite game of all time and I think a lot of that comes down to the characters and the story like I I feel like there's

the characters in persona four uh they do such a good job of making you really connect with those stories like I don't know like not like you know notico and uh uh I think his name is Dojima, Narniko's dad. And, like, and Yoske and Chia and all of them. I feel like those characters are so unique and dynamic in a way where I just don't, I love the cast of Persona 5. I just don't love them as much as the cast in Persona 4, where that definitely is, like, a big reason why I prefer persona 4.

But as I'm playing through Persona 5 Royal now, like, like, I am starting to grow fonder of it and, like, appreciate all of the small details and the visual style of it, obviously being incredible. Like the second time around, I'm enjoying that stuff a lot more in a way where if they really do stick the landing, the way that I've heard people talk about it in that last semester and in the new content, then, you know, possibly, yeah, I could take the place of persona four for me, but it's, it's hard. Persona of Four is just so unique and, like, holds such a special place in my heart as a game. There you go.

So now, guys, I want to move on. to the topic of the show. That being, what game launches were we most hyped for? Now, let's start this off. Because I've been thinking a lot, you know, we're in a weird place right now where I think for the first time ever in video games, we're at this point where, with the exception, I guess, of The Last of Us, all the big releases that are imminent are out now. And we don't really have too many things that we're looking forward to.

There's like ideas of things we're looking forward to. But there's not like the hype that we saw the last couple of, months of release, release, release, release, release, right? Sure. So looking back on, on our lives and how video games have changed so much to jump this off, I want to talk about midnight releases, right? We've all been to a couple in our lives, correct? Oh, yeah.

Yep. My question is, what was the last midnight release you went to? When you say midnight release, are you talking about just picking up a physical game at midnight or like it's an event going on? I'm talking about going somewhere to physically get a game at midnight. Because I'm struggling to remember the last time I actually did that. I think it might have been Street Fighter 4. I think if we count alongside the console, for me, it was like Breath of the Wild and the Switch.

Because granted, I was working that night too. So I was also like at the Best Buy just there. And I was like, all right, I'm just going to take this home. but like I can't think of another one I've done since then because I'm even then though did you have one pre-ordered or? I had one pre-rored yeah and were you picking up your pre-order at that time as well

or are you just covering it? I was there at Best Buy working at Best Buy. Like I was selling people switches and I was like when that was all over I got it picked up or picked up my switch and also picked up my brothers and sent it to him. But yeah. Greg Miller.

I see you. thinking. Yeah, well, it's not a, I'm, I'm in Imron's boat of like, so growing up in the Burbs of Chicago, Glen Island DuPage County represent, obviously I was going over to Stratford Square Mall all the time getting my games. And the EB in the mall, which would later become, obviously, a game stop, and the Funkolan over there, they didn't do midnight releases. So growing up, it wasn't something I was doing often, right? And so then I start racking my, brain to figure out what it was. And obviously, like, I think of the PlayStation 2, obviously, which I've told the story a million times or ever of lining up for it. But as I even go back,

and I think you include working stuff when we worked, events or whatever, I want to say it might have been the launch of the PlayStation 3 covering it for the newspaper for the Tribune that it was the last time I was at a store for a midnight release. And then I'm hazy on that because there was definitely some time when we were working at IGN that I went downtown for some release. But it wasn't a game. It might even just been a halo. It might have been a halo where we were down there for some Halo event that IGN wanted people. Well, I mean, like clearly I'm not the guy for that, right?

Like I just went because it was like, I'd forget if IGN was partnered with something. But why I started thinking is that I think I have a video of me working. It's from my perspective, but escorting out the person's first PlayStation 3. that's awesome on YouTube and it's going to take me here we go here we go

Kevin I'm going to send you this video on Slack here and this is yeah this is me at midnight in Columbia Missouri illegally recording inside a Walmart from a stupid blog

Kevin I'm saying it to your personal one not asking I'll grab in a second oh almost crashed slack there it is it went twice but yeah this is honestly blowing my mind

It's been so long for you guys. Like PS. I mean, like, here's the thing is I feel like, obviously for me it stops at what, 2007, because I went to work at IGN, where it was suddenly we were reviewing stuff. So I think we were getting things ahead of time. And if you were,

even if, no, I think we got everything ahead of time, right? Because even if it was you're waiting for, I'm trying to think at IGN, what's the last game? I remember being an event where we all went to the mall and bought it or all did whatever. And like, I think of the original Red Dead

where we were at Judges Week. and I remember me, Damon, and Tyroot weren't allowed into whatever judge thing they were. So we drove to an L.A. area, Best Buy and went in there and all bought Red Dead and left. And I think the only reason we didn't get it, it was that, you know, obviously there was a shipment from Rockstar that came to IGN, but it was that we were already down here doing our thing. So it might as well just get it. So we had it for the weekend and we're ready to go. And so, yeah, like in terms of a personal thing, I think I was always as a kid, not having been that release is number one.

But as a kid who was like so I felt ahead. of the curve on what video games were. I was always looking for people to break street dates and you always found people who broke street dates. Like that's where it goes back to, you know what I mean? Like when you ask the question of like video game launches, I'm sure, you know, people would think of me tell my stupid PlayStation 2 story again, but I go back to WrestleMania 2000, where I was just so obsessed about it and old enough to have a car that I could drive my car

or, you know, the family car. And I remember every day after school at high school, calling through the lineup of stores asking if people had it out early if they were whatever. And I'll never forget calling that Walmart. and being like, hey, yeah, you know, electronic department, get transferred to electronics department. Some person picks up who has no idea what the fuck they're talking about. Like, yeah, do you have Russellmania on in 64, totally ready for them to say no? And they're like, yeah.

And it was like three days ahead of launch. I'm like, I'm sorry, what, did you say you have it? And like, yeah. And I'm like, and it's out right now. Go, good, go. Yeah, it was. I ran to the car. I jumped in the car, drove very crazily and stupidly to get there.

And I'll never forget. I've told the story on IG in pockets. I think you can probably even around. It's just a blur. But driving so fucking excited. and driving and I was driving along the road the Walmart's over here and it's the side of it

just the brick side of Walmart and I looked at my mirror and there was two kids running like but they were like kids like 13, 12 or whatever I was like oh that's cool and I looked over and one of them was wearing a cactus jack shirt like a Mick Foley shirt and I was like holy fuck like I'm gonna I am not losing to these fucking kids like slid up and legally turned and ran

in there like yeah and they had like a million that were out and they just gave me one I went home and I remember it was that that was the one where I went home and I I I it would have been it would have been a Thursday where I'd gone from high school to pick up the school newspaper that I would have put on the lunch tables in Friday morning and I got that game and I went back home I picked up the papers I drove to Poe's house and I was like hey you need to put these out because I'm not coming to school tomorrow you need to I know you don't give me shit about newspaper he's like what how do you do it I'm like well I go in there between every lunch break he's like I'm just going to put them all

the first lunch break. I'm like, good enough. See you later. It's all we did. I went home and just fucked off and played a WrestleMania 2000. It was like that thing where I, you know, dragged my comforter and pillows downstairs and like literally played like couldn't keep my eyes open, slept, I woke up, played the rest of the day, just fucking playing WrestleMania 2000 because it was so goddamn good. I love it, man.

931-8-8-96. 9-3-1-8-6. Yeah, he played in the background. Was the phone number for Toys R Us where I would call religiously about any game release, trying to get that day, trying to break that street day. My favorite breaking of the date story I have is I went to get a, I was at the midnight release for Soul Calibur 2 on GameCube.

It was one of the first times I ever went out for one of these things that they had. It was over at Stonestown at EB. And eventually, like, I was there. We were waiting in line or whatever. And the guy came out and was like, hey, does anyone in this line also want to get F0 GX on GameCube? And I was like, fuck yeah. But that game didn't come out for another like,

20 days. Oh, wow. And he's like, you guys can buy it now. And I remember having to call my mom and being like, hey, I need you to figure out a way to like get me money right now. Because like, I need this. And she said like her friend who lived kind of in the area literally drove to me to give me money. That's awesome. Because my mom didn't have a car.

And it was like, fine. Fuck it. We'll do this. And the guy got me a copy of F0. So I got home with Soul Calibur and F0. I was so excited for Soul Calibur that going into this. But then I had a zero. I'm like, well, fuck it, I'm playing that first.

So I played that. I'll never forget, they're going back in a couple weeks to like, whatever, buy another game, look at some shit. And the guy who's fired because totally. Wow. I mean, he broke that street day by so much. And I was like, oh, what the fuck happened to that guy? I was like, oh, yeah, no, he totally fucked up.

He said he was allowed to sell it. He was not. So I had a zero. It was great. that's funny can we see that video of the PS3 with the sound up i haven't watched it since i recorded it in 2006 yeah sorry

i'm moving things around give me one second okay moving them around there it is let's take the mute on you oh you guys can't hear it can you no no sorry wasn't equipped

for sound give me one second it's garbage shark on five people wanted to get what they got that's how it is people that's what eventually Greg what was your first thing Midnight watch midnight launch. Hold on, let's see this.

The wall world. What's you like? Oh man, it feels great. I almost felt like crap though. Yeah, I know, what did you think when the check got to clock? I was like, what? And then I thought about it, we'd never had to write a check before ever. Yeah.

Like, brought it and like like the bills. Oh, yeah. Oh, I couldn't tell you until I opened. They don't know. About to get layered. Yeah, exactly. What did you buy that $600 system for? You fucking did nothing for it.

So what was my first midnight launch then? Probably the PS2. It probably was where, yeah, you remember. Yeah, that was, yeah, I'm thinking of my head, right? It's got to be right, because I remember it being a rare thing back when I was growing up that, that video game stores or any store would do that and make a big deal about selling something at midnight. Usually, like I said, it was a Walmart or a Target not understanding what they had or not giving a shit if it said don't sell before and just putting it out because games weren't where they are now. I don't think there was as many eyes on them, but attention on it,

and it wasn't as big of a business. And so, yeah, I think it was PS2 where, you know, I had known I wanted a PS2 from the jump, and I forget why, but I didn't get my pre-ordered in early enough.

So I got a pre-order at Funkoland, but it was very much like, you're not getting it on launch date. Like, you're not getting it October 26. I was like, fuck, all right. And so my friend,

Adam Brown, worked, I went to high school with him. He worked at Meyer, which if you don't know, is like a Walmart superstore, right, that does a whole much different he worked there and was like i checked with the electronics department

they're staying you know they were 24 hours which again you know we're talking 2000 right was a rarity in the burbs of chicago in a lot of ways and he was like they are staying open so like i remember like you know you're a kid i remember driving to st charles where this was or batavia maybe which isn't that far but was far enough that it was a weird thing to do on a school night to go over there and you know fucking drive to the middle of nowhere and it was that we uh went to school and then I went right from school straight to there. And Adam couldn't come for whatever reason. I forget if he had practiced or maybe he was working in a different department.

But it was me with two folding chairs, my backpack with the EGM PlayStation 2 guide, a bunch of other stuff. It's like that damn thick. Yeah, it's what's at the office, I guess. I do. I still have them. Or maybe it's in, actually, it's in there in Lucy's room on the bookshelf. I'll never get rid of it.

And it was that, yeah, drove over there, walked in, walked in the electronics department where Adam swore they were going to resell it at midnight and walked in. no nothing there's two clerks there talking at the cash register and they looked at me with my chair and bag and i was just like i'm here for the playstation two launch i'm i'm not a loser i'm like i don't ever get like i just rolled his eyes like all right sit here and i fold it up the little chair sat there and about 20 30 minutes later somebody else showed up and i was like this is my friend adam seat and he's like all right no big deal and then throughout the night more and more people came and it was that weird electricity and energy that again like i i i don't

know there it is good job kept bringing it up um it's a weird of energy that if you've never done a midnight release or haven't done one or a while or maybe you don't remember your first ones as i did so few of them because they were so few and far between growing up like it was this energy this excitement this nervousness you know what i mean like i that stupid i was a kid so i you know in high school i had no credit card or anything like that so i had three hundred and seventy dollars in cash on me in a money belt that i had from france and i was wearing underneath my shirt like a you know, the lines gets there and then people start milling about. And I remember getting super defensive about like, well, I'm number one in line.

Like, Adams number two. Like don't, you know what the fuck's going on? There was an argument of how many people actually, how many systems there actually were. And I remember like, so stressful. Every 45 minutes with the, they're like, you're number one. Like, we got one. You're going to get it. Calm down.

You know what I mean? And then finally at midnight, which of course felt like the end of, you know, nine hours is how long I waited for that thing. It felt like this incredibly long time when in reality it wasn't at all. you finally got my hands on it right and got it it was so excited and went back to adam's house and uh you know we plugged his in and played like SSX for like two seconds and then as mom was like you guys should really go to bed because it was a school night we were going to school next day and i remember going to sleep in the basement or whatever and like not being able to sleep and

waking up and turning it on and like just pulling it out of the box and holding it just like i fucking have it because i you know this is the story of course you know that i've gotten the job at walmart uh being a cashier for the summer and I told my mom like you know point blank like I'm doing this but I'm doing this mainly to buy this PlayStation thing in October and like I'm not you know she's like whatever like be able to pay these bills but do that whatever and I remember hating that job at Walmart so much that on my lunch break I'd go out to uh not FYE what was it back in the day one of those DVD stores that was in the mall street mall no it wasn't same good it doesn't matter but those kind of stores where I bought like Ghostbusters in mall rats DVDs because we didn't have have a DVD player, but the PS2. So I'm buying DVDs in like June. And then on my lunch break, I'm sitting there reading the back of the box while I sit in my car dreading going back and believing. Yeah, you're watching the deleted scenes, listen to the commentaries. Bless, I'm interested in yours. What is your first and last midnight launch? So my last one is honestly probably Red Dead Redemption 2, right? Like I didn't stop. Yeah,

like I didn't stop doing midnight launches until, oh, I mean, midnight lunch in the sense that it was like a 9 p.m. launch because I read Dead 2 came out when I was in Seattle. But I didn't stop doing that until my Best Buy Gamer Club unlock like went up. And then that's when I was like, well, I guess I'm going to buy games on Amazon and you get Amazon Prime. But like, yeah, like midnight launches have been like a regular thing for me over the last like, I guess seven or so years. Like the first one I could remember and this is probably going to shock y'all is probably GTA 5. like, five.

Yeah. Oh my God. I remember seven dreams. Yeah. And I think it comes down to kind of like where I was at at the time because in 2013 I was in college. And for the most part up to up to that point, like if I was buying a game, I'd usually be buying it cheap. Like I'd be buying like the $10 games at GameStop because I just didn't have the disposable income to be buying games at full price. Or like even earlier than that.

like I would borrow games from friends. Like I never really, I was never really like on time when it came to games coming out because I was always, I never had that disposable income. And my parents weren't actually that huge on buying games for me. They were always like of the mind of like, we're not going to let this kid get distracted from like his studies in high school

and all that stuff. I worked out great. Yeah, no, yeah, exactly. That worked out perfect. And so like I would always have to find ways to either buy games that are like $10 or $15 or find some sort of deal where it's like game stop. Like I could get like the buy two get one free that they do all the time. And so GTA5 was probably the first game where I did the midnight release because that was

the first instance I remember being like I have to I have to have this game. Like I can't not have this game. But then also like I was at a point where I had the disposable income to to buy that game. Right. Like I couldn't buy games regularly. but I could set aside some money to get this one game because I need it. And so I remember going to GameStop that midnight. It was like the college campus game spot at the University of Illinois on Green Street.

And I remember being shocked because the line was out of this world. Like the line went down the block. And in the GameStop, they're basically like having a party where they had like the, and I hope I'm not snitching on this GameStop. I don't even know if this GameStop is still there anyway. But, you know, they set up like Street Fighter. people were playing Street Fighter 4 on PS3 people were having a good time I think that

I don't think in my mind or remember they're being ping pong but that that has to be impossible it must have impossible where the fuck you put the table in this game stuff it must have had some other like

it might have been like the sandbag game where you're like throwing the bag of sand into like is it just called bags is bag is cornhole I could believe they had ping pong because Rockstar didn't make table tennis so I could see like

game top manager going like well these people like rock star stuff let's have some table let's bust out table tennis it must have been uh been bags because that was definitely like a popular thing to do in champagne Illinois um and so but like they had activities going on people were chilling and hanging out on all that stuff and i remember that i remember that night being crazy to you because like like there are quite a few people where i was like oh snap like sam what are you doing here and he was like oh there was enough people to where like there were multiple instances of me like recognizing folks and being like oh and like not even just folks from college but like folks from high school and being like oh snap what's up man i haven't seen you a minute and so that the gta 5 launch

was the cultural event of your town honestly honestly yes like it i mean at least for my age bracket like it felt that way it felt like a huge event um because gta 5 was really that game where it was like like everybody was showing up for it everybody needed that game and that's the first one i remember then yeah like midnight launches especially when i when i got that disposable income to mess around with and was able to like got to a point where I was able to kind of attend those regularly especially for games that I really wanted physical like you know midnight midnight releases became somewhat of a regular thing um because I'll prefer physical over digital um and so yeah I up until very recently like I did quite a few of them that's so cool yeah man

Imrah. What was your first? My first ever. I don't know if this counts because I was like four years old, but like, because remember NES games were real fuzzy about when they actually came out? Oh, yeah. So, like, they was the Nintendo Zone inside Toys R Us. I remember having the direct line for whatever reason to the Nintendo Zone.

And my mom had just taught me how to use the phone. So I think I was calling, like, about Castlevania 3, every day because it was like a weird cartridge shortage is going on around at the time and like

at some point the guy would just like look I will tell you if we have some I was like I don't believe you I'm gonna

you're trying to play me man dude the idea of a four year old Imran sitting there with why I assume they're the exact same glasses you're wearing

now on the phone to have a very serious conversation with this dude being like no no no you're not gonna call me and I know that

believe you. But I didn't call at some point, I remember saying like, can you kick me to the Nintendo Zone or something like that? And they did, and it was like, and the guy immediately just knew, it was to me, he's like, you're calling about Kusapania, right? It's like, yeah. It's like, yeah, we have some.

So I'd like smash the phone into the thing and like go to my mom. It's like, mom, we have to go to TwizerRust right. I'm not in Twasuras because TwyzerRust would have been in Memphis and that was probably too far I drive, but it was like it was close to closing for already before we even left.

But I was like, we need to do this right now. If we wait till tomorrow, I will die. So she, we did up some like, might have been a Walmart because I think we got groceries at the same time or whatever. But like some reason for it to make sense for us to leave the house and go get this. We go there and I go to like, we go to the Nintendo Zone to like Cassavania 3 right now. And as I pulls it out of the thing or pulls it from underneath the counter, puts it on the thing, starts ringing it up.

And then in this moment of like, I don't have any money. How do people pay for things? So I just got to like wait at that counter and like until, because my mom was in eyesight, like she sees me and like waving her down. But she's like, I'm doing groceries. I don't care. And does like, like grabs all her stuff and comes over. Like, hey, this costs $50.

Please pay that. And then she just says no. And we try to leave. Like, wait, wait, wait, let me explain to you why this is so important. I forget what the actual reasoning was. I think I told her if I didn't get this now I would never have another chance

to get it like never in my life so she I guess not knowing enough about video games or just thought that I was if I'm willing to lie to that extent then surely I should get this like we go back we pick it up we buy the thing

we go home I fall asleep in the car and do not like she just puts me in bed and like whatever I wake up the next day convinced that entire thing was a dream.

Oh, that's awesome. I don't know where the thing is until, like, at some point, I think my brother tells me, like, or says something about it, I was like, that must have actually happened. So I go to my mom and actually trying to find it. She's like, yeah, I hid that until you grades get better. Or not grades get better. Oh, man. That's a move my parents would make.

Yeah, that was my first one. That was, yeah, if that counts as a midnight launch. The only other one I can remember, like, being a physical part like going there specifically for a midnight launch at midnight was the game I was probably the most hype for in my life was super Smash Brothers Brawl I love that you brought this up

please tell your story so I usually not much for a midnight launch guy I could wait until next day or you know I would find the people who like it fell off the back of a truck and they were selling it a little bit early whatever this one I was so desperate

to have, like, if you weren't around at that time, the Smash Brothers Brawl hype cycle was the most insane thing in the world. Like, Japan time, dude, let's go. I remember staying up to like 3 a.m. to see, like... Every night. Yeah, and the update would be like, Bowser has claws now and like, holy shit, he's got claws. And then, like, I remember working like a job that required me to go sleep at a certain time,

so I would wake up an hour earlier, so I could wake up, see the thing on my laptop, freak out, and, like, message all my friends, like, oh my god i can't believe this and that was basically for like a year and a half of that happening what a moment yeah it was the most hyped like I'm not even kidding the most type I've ever been for a video game

yeah so when I went to the midnight launch it was at a game stop I typically went reserved it at a game stop that was not part of a mall because they didn't want to risk the mall being close the mall being close yeah yeah so like this one just part of a strip mall like on its own outside when I got there at like 7 p.m.

there were already people like waiting outside. In Ironhead, I had a pre-order, I was safe, but I still wanted to be as early in the picking up process as I could. So I was like four or fifth people and I was willing to wait five hours something that happened. And this game stop had like, like, like, lesson described like that party kind of atmosphere. They had like sandwiches. There was a tournament of people playing Sestler's melee. And at some point they move us from the outside into the like inside of the store to like, you know, because they want us to buy more stuff. They want us to not just be waiting outside the bitter cold.

I remember overhearing someone say, oh yeah, they call this guy's name, but he wasn't around, so they gave away his copy. And I know in retrospect that cannot possibly be true, because they haven't called anyone's name yet. But in my head, I'm like, fuck that.

If I'm not there to pick up my copy, then whatever. So I'm sitting there, they're holding out like a specialer's melee tournament. And I'm not, there's obviously better specials on those melee players in the world, but I'm not that bad at that game. So playing that and while the tournament was going on they were calling names i hear them i think call my name and there's a thought process of should i finish this match or should i just go do that and that

thought about just lasted a second i just literally drop the controller on the ground and just walk away oh my god it's just go to the counter like me that's me giving me my copy so i picked it up and they're like yeah we're gonna we're gonna play some together if you guys want to if you want to hang out I don't know how I was laughing and like walking back to my car and like literally speeding, breaking the law on the way home to just... That's the best. Yeah, to put that disc in my way and just start playing that game. I think I play like the adventure mode for about two hours. And some part of me was like, yeah, this is kind of boring.

But then the other hand was like, no, this game rocks. But this is hype though. The hype was still like alive. But yeah, that was, I think that was like my first real midnight launch. I love that. man, I will never forget my Smash Brothers Brawl launch experience. So parts of the story are not true.

I was just like you, and I could not wait to get my hands on this game. And I will never forget the day that it leaked. And I was like, I will move hell in high water to get this game, however

the fuck I can get this game. and there was these things called Torrance, you may or may not. I don't know if this happened. I don't know if this bit happened or not. Of course it didn't happen. This would never happen. I don't know about this whole thing. But if it were to have happened, it would have been the first time ever that a Wii game required a dual layered Blu-ray disc.

And good Lord, finding one of those was so hard to do at the time. But I eventually found one with Kevin, went to a Best Buy, not the Best Buy, not the Best Buy. it was like three best buys away. We got these verbatim Blu-ray discs or not. I'm not sure if we did or not. Nobody knows if this actually nobody knows.

This may or may not be a story. But we got it home and was able to get it on the disc and play this game. And it was the entire game with the exception of cutscenes. They were the one thing that had not leaked.

So we had Smash Bros. Brawl approximately a month and a half before the game came out. Wow. and if I remember correctly it was a worldwide launch because it got delayed from November or whatever to March and we had this game we're freaking the fuck out obviously but the thing we were freaking out the most about

was that before the launch happened to this game there was a tournament Nintendo was doing a tournament where they were going to come and preview the game in San Francisco and there was a Smash Brothers brawl tournament No one's played brawl. We've played brawl. So we're like, oh shit. So me and Curran waited in line for like 12 hours to get into this tournament.

Because, of course, everyone's trying to get their hands on the game for the first time. We're there talking so much shit to everyone in lie because we're like, we're about to fuck y'all up. Because a lot of it was metanite was playable. Ike was playable. It's like, these people don't know how to play them. We have so much experience now from playing this game. And I'll never fucking forget us getting in that tournament. We kicked so much ass.

Like so much. I eventually ended up getting killed. Curran kept going, kept winning. And the dude that he ended up beaten was so good at melee and so like appalled that he lost. This dude named Simon, who was probably 10 years older than us at the time. This sounds like a movie. You might know him better as Hungry Box. No, this dude Simon.

Never lose again, he said. We were like 17 and 18, and he was definitely closer to 30. And he was there with this girlfriend. And he lost to Kerr and was so fucking mad. He was just like, how did you know how to do that? Like what, how did you play Meta Knight that well? Because he's doing the thing like flying under the stage. Like, dodge and all that.

It was, it was offensive, like what we did for sure. Was it cheating? I don't know. We didn't do it. But my favorite part of the story is, is that the Simon guy was just like, no, for reals, what the fuck? And we ended up telling him. And he's like, look, I need to play this game.

If I pay you guys, can I come over and play it? Oh, my God. Me and Kurt are like, yeah. Oh, my God. So this grown ass man who's my age now, but to me being a teenager and was an adult, was going to pay, we charged him $60. Jesus Christ.

And he came to my mom's house. And it was just me, him and Currie, play, smash with his bra. And we ended up playing all night. We became friends with this dude. We ended up playing with him for years to come. That's awesome. That's awesome.

That's a beautiful story. This leads into us going into the brawl midnight lodge that also had a tournament at GameStop. And me, Simon and Curran, fucked people up. We didn't even have. a copy pre-ordered. We just went to look. It was awesome. That's awesome.

Yeah. So, yeah, I think like for, again, I mean, it's different stories or whatever, but like, uh, for the brawl launch, right? Like that, I remember that I just started IG and I was looking around and trying to find it, but I can't. Uh, but I remember having like a party at my house. Yeah. And when I made my house, I mean, I'm the first place we lived.

Am I like, um, my, with my ex-wife and I'm this fucking shitty ass attic apartment and like, Craig was there and Andre was there and I remember for some reason Craig Baradon? No no, Craig Harris Oh Harris. Yeah, okay. Too cool to fucking play smash. He's out there working out drinking a protein shake.

No, but we were there and I remember for some reason maybe Bozon was in town too. I think Bozahn might have been there. And I'm also probably confusing this with the Mario Kart launch party. Maybe I'm thinking the Mario Car launch party. But I forget, I remember having this weird Nintendo thing there because it was one of my franchises. It must have been Cart on my birthday.

And somebody brought the Budweiser mixed with Clombo. Like that was like their joke that we all took shots of because like we're celebrating the release of this game. We were all so hyped for. Like that's it for me is like I don't have many midnight release stories, but I have so many stories attached to the release of a video game game game. And why it mattered to me and what it actually, you know, meant to me. And so like, you know, for this thing or for the title of the show or whatever being like, you know, your most hype you've been for a game launch, right? Like I think that list is so much longer than midnight releases. And I think.

Same. Granted, it's just, I think, you know, how you're raised or where you are. Like, you know, the burbs of Chicago at the time weren't doing this. So there was no angle. And even Columbia, I think about, I think about the release of GTA 3. And I remember being out with antlers. And it was one of our friends was going to perform that night at a bar or whatever. And they could get everybody in.

And they asked me, are you coming? And I'm like, oh, man, I might have Vice City. And I was like, are you coming? And I'm like, no, GTA Vice City is coming on. And if it's really good, I'm not going out. And one of the guys who I was with just turns to the other guy's like, he's not coming. out. Like that's, I guarantee that game's great. And it was that thing of like, it was. But it was, I, you know, I would always go pre-order the games and then get them when the stores opened or when

I could get over there. It was never, like I, it was always, you know, regular business hours that I remember going over for stuff growing up or getting games. It was just the how it was run. I remember being late for a job interview because Marvel versus Capcom 3 was out and I wanted to go pick it up. So like, I arranged the like schedule. So I figured, okay, maybe I could drive there, but if I take the bus, I can take the bus back. At the mall, it would give me an excuse to buy Marvel versus Capcom 3. So I did that, but the bus was late, so I ended up being late for the job interview itself.

I got the job anyway. But it was a thing of like the main calculus was if I could end up in a situation where I can buy Marvel versus Capcom 3, I will buy that game. So I'm going to engineer a situation regardless of what else happens to end up there. I love it. Yeah, I'm looking at it too. Like, I think it was, if I'm right. Oh, God, which one was it?

No, it would win the other one. It was when, same deal. When I had one of my summer jobs, I think it is. I'm looking, trying to find the, the things are all the YouTube videos, of course. But one of the ECW wrestling games came out, because, of course, this is all that my life ran around, right? 2,000. Video games wrestling, you're there. ECW, Anarchy Rules, right?

When did it come out? August 15th, 2000. So let me run that through in my head real quick. think that's the job I'm thinking of. Yes. Yes. Yes. And it was that this game was coming out and I was so fucking hype for it. And I was working at Petland, the pet shop I worked at. And it was that thing where I couldn't get the day off work. And I was like, all right, no big deal. And so then like the August 15th came around. I went and bought the fucking game and then just called him sick. I was like, I can't come. Don't feel good or whatever. And then like a moron, like I told one of our coworkers who was the son

of like our boss. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking. I mentioned that to him weeks later. then I fucking quit the job anyways, who cares? But it was this whole thing. I'm like, what the fuck was I thinking? Why would I do that? But I had to be there for the hot ECW Anarchy Rules, a claim action. The last one, I've told this story before,

so I'm going to keep it quick, but I got to talk about Halo 2. Like, Smash Bros. Brawl is undeniably my number one most hyped game that, like, I was aware of leaning up to the launch and being there for the launch, and it got a little weird because I got it early. But Halo 2 was definitely the game

that I was looking forward to the most and like counting down the days to November 9th of being able to go for the midnight release. And I've told the story before on podcast where it was me, Kurt and Alfred of them, both way better at Halo, way more into Halo than I was, but I was still in the zeitgeist with them. And they were fighting over who was going to get to be first in line, to be the first person to get that beautiful steel case box. You know, you guys don't know what I'm talking about that. It was the silver with just the blue two on it.

Yeah, absolutely. So nice. Um, and for out, we were there for hours. And I was third in line, the two of them fighting constantly over who got to play, who got to get it first. And by the time we went in, both of their pre-orders had weird issues. So I got it first. It was just like the best fucking thing ever.

But that night was so memorable because we were young as kids. We were like probably all 13 at that point. And we're at this, this game stop, the one at Lake Shore, uh, right near our office currently. and it was just us for so long, but eventually the line starts getting longer and longer and went around the block. And they were holding to that midnight release. They're like, no matter what,

we're not opening before midnight, like, whatever. But they opened copies of the game inside the store and we saw them playing multiplayer from outside the window. And they were totally taunting us. Like it was so fucked up. But it just built the hype even more. But the hype was ruined. when the blockbuster across the street like literally and when I say across the street I mean across the

parking lot and when I say parking lot I mean it is two lanes it is like it is like 20 feet away um at 9 p.m. some dude casually just walks in walks out like like did you just get halo it's like oh yeah they're saying they're they've been selling it all day. Our whole line was freaking out but it's a bunch of kids so all this were like well we can't like we don't have the money yeah what are we gonna do we invest it whatever yeah so yeah we had three more hours this way we're like big they're they're selling it there and they're like we don't care and they just kept playing yeah yeah the other one again not at midnight launch but like a launch memory i won't forget is when i wanted to when i went all in on the we and like when you know

it was that thing of i have all these plays the videos uh the video i sent the video i sent kevin has a much other videos up there of me covering both the PlayStation 3 launch and then the Wii launch. I remember a PS3 launch, so many people were at. And we did not have the same buzz, at least in Columbia, Missouri. And it was that when they, I didn't line up to get the Wii. I lined up to get the Wii pre-order at the game stop in the mall or EB, whatever it was at the time. And I remember similar thing of like, is the mall going to be open? Like, I know that I've read online that like, you know, mall is open at this time. GameStop is opening at this time. And I remember walking into this desolate dead mall surprised I could get in.

And there being one other dude just sitting in front of GameStop and whatever. I'm like, you're here for a Wii pre-order? He's like, yeah, like, oh, I need to. And I sat down and I struck up a conversation with them. This is when, you know, I blew my mind that he had my DS and I forget what I was playing, but he was playing Mario Card on DS and how you could share the entire game, right? And we just sat there for hours and played Mario Card on DS. And then like, so I went on I walked in hours later, it was like, I'm here to pre-order the Wii.

And please give me Mario Card D. That was fucking awesome, man. I need that. And I bought that. And it was that thing of, I went and covered the midnight launch of the PS3 at Walmart. And then it was, I don't think I'm confusing this, Best Buy then the next morning was they didn't do a midnight release, but they had a line in front that they did when they opened the doors there. I went and covered that for the paper. And then when I was done at the Best Buy, it was right across the street from the mall.

And I drove over, walked into the game stop and got my Wii. That at the time, nobody gave a shit about it. I remember in the line at Best Buy, there was, it was like 19 or 20 people there for PS3 and one person for Wii. And then in the same thing, all the people there that were there for PS3 with the exception of one person was only buying it to flip it on eBay. Everybody thought it was going to be the PS2 situation again where they could get it and flip it and make a lot of money off of it. I had done that with that Funko land preorder I talked about where I bought it. I bought my PS2 on launch night and then never canceled the Funko preorder. And then when I got it, I put out a not an ad.

the paper, I guess, but some kind of, maybe it were very, very early online message board, not at Craigslist or anything like that. Anyways, sold it in a parking lot of a Best Buy, or of a Blockbuster. But then you jump ahead to PS3's launch and so many people thought it was going to be the same situation when, in fact, it was obviously the exact reverse where nobody gave a shit about PS3, but the Wii was suddenly the hottest fucking thing. But it was funny that the line for Wii pre-orders never got insane. Then then both lines that I was covering, nobody was there at midnight to buy the Wii.

They were all there to buy the PS3. Granted, these were different days or whatever. That's so weird, though, because here it was, I mean, I can't say the exact opposite because the PS3 was also selling out and like insanely hot. But like the Wii was like levels that I've never seen a way. I mean, Kevin and I waited legitimately 16 hours. Yeah. It was pretty wild. And we were like 60th in line.

It was crazy. The line was huge. At one point, one of our friends got in a sleeping bag and just got naked. No, hold on. You need to give a little more context for this. One of our friends was hanging out with this just because he wanted to be a part of this. I think he did it for a pizza slice. And somebody, no, it wasn't even that.

Like someone else, he looked cold because he didn't have a jacket or anything. Yeah. Because he was cold. Some other family. Some mom was like, hey, like, we have an extra sleeping bag. Do you want to use it? And he was like, oh, thank you. And he goes in the sleeping bag.

And like 20 minutes passed and eventually he starts taking it, like throwing his clothes out of it. Like, what are you doing? he's just like, oh, like, I sleep naked. And it's like, what? I don't think context. Dude, it's like, no, you don't get to me. It's like, what the fuck? I'm going to sleep.

I mean, it was nighttime at this point because we're there 16 hours. He's like, I'm going to sleep. It's like, yeah, you're in someone else's sleeping. Yeah, he's not naked, man. That's how it is, man. That's how it goes. I hate it so much. That's funny.

Well, we went only you wanted to buy a wee, right? But by the end, I think I got one and maybe you got one as well. Yeah. Yeah. It was good, man. It's good. I waited for one at a Walmart and it was like that thing of they put you in the garden center and like, yeah, we'll put you in the electronic section when you're like when we get closer to the launch. I remember when they actually moved us to the electronic section, there was all these demo TVs. So people were just like in the people in the line were buying DVDs on the electronics section. So we just watched them while we were in line.

So I think we ended up watching like all the Indiana Jones movies while we just waited for the way to come out, which actually made it. They're like, Walmart's a pretty good place to wait for a console. Oh, if you can get inside one of these super standards, that's definitely a way to do it instead of the outside. Because that was the thing of the videos I'm looking at from my, the Best Buy thing, right, where I had the video of the people leaving Walmart with their PS3. But then you look at the kids who were, yeah, bundled up and outside of the cold in November or Missouri outside of a Best Buy. I need to correct myself because I was like, wait, that doesn't line up. It was that everybody was in line.

One person was there to actually enjoy the PS3. And every time I talked, I asked about the Wii, nobody was coming back to buy the Wii. because of course that there was a day between them. I'm like, wait, but this doesn't line up. And so I never did a story. I never did a story about midnight launches for week because there was not. No, I was very bottom at midnight.

I have one launch today's story where I preordered the band kit for Beatles rock band on the day of launch. Because I was like, I'm a big Beatles fan. I was really looking forward to this game. I don't know if they put the pre-order in wrong or I said the wrong thing, but they just handed me the game, not the band kit. They're like, we don't have any band kit.

like they didn't send us any or we sold out or whatever. So I'm like, okay, I don't have a band kit from rock band. So this is not going to do me a whole lot of good. So I went across the street to the mall. And by this point, I think I did this after work. So it was like stuff was closing already. And I'd go up there. It's like, hey, do you have like a rock band two kit or something?

Like, yeah, actually, we have one left. You can feel free to get it. But like, this was deep into the mall. And a rock band kit is big. I, not that big. I'm pretty small. I'm like, I'm trying to carry this giant

ass rock band kit through this closing mall and all these security guards are like watching me. I'm like, I just need to get out like my car's out that way. And at this point in retrospect, I'm like, why the fuck did not just help me carry the thing? Yeah, why don't they give me here?

But like, I'm like dragging it across. It's like making this scratching sound across the ground. And as I'd look like bringing it across, I'm seeing it's making marks on the actual like J.C. Penny Lenoleum. And like, I'm like, I don't care. I have to just get this thing out of here.

I started moving it. And there's a point where I'm like, this is too much. I don't think I can carry this the rest of the way. So I like, sit down, sit on top of the kit. And like, this is where I die. I have to reconsider this plan. And so, like, a lady who worked at JC Petty came over with just like a bottle of water

and gave it to me. Oh, man. I don't know what that was about, but that's hilarious. I eventually did get it out and get it to my car. like it's it's fine but that that was one of the more strenuous things I ever had to do to get a game home bless you got anything else I'm sorry uh I mean as far as like midnight launches like I feel like the ones that I've been to aside from that GTA one have all been pretty standard as far as like going to a Best Buy lining up you know receiving your game making a few buds along the way and then

and or not like or just like getting your game and then peace and out um And so, like, you know, the ones I remember, like, vividly are the, are probably the games I was most excited about, which were, like, fought for. I was extremely excited to play. And I had, like, an excellent time with it. But, like, that was, that's one of the games where I was like, it was a GTA-5 situation of, like, I need to play this game. I need to be there to get this game at launch as it's launching. There was that. There was, I guess Redid Redid Redemption 2 was kind of that, too.

I took the day off from work the day after that game came out so I could just spend the whole day playing Red Dead Redemption 2. And like, yeah, like that that was a game I ended up not loving compared to like what my expectation for it was. But yeah, like overall like midnight launches for me have been pretty standard. Greg, you're about to say some? So I think when you were in the bathroom I was talking about, you know, like being more of the kind of who would pre-order it and then just pick it up on the day, right? Then these midnight launches that we didn't really have.

I love, obviously, now the ability just to get things delivered day and date. I love the idea of digital and everything else. But I do want to give a shout out in terms of, I think, really ridiculous memories to when the PlayStation 4 launched. And I'd never seen so many Amazon boxes come to IGN. Like, I just thank Kevin the unboxing video. I don't know if you remember this, where everybody unboxed their PlayStation 4 together. It's because we already done it.

Me and Scott had gone to New York and covered the, PlayStation 4 launch event thing they were doing or whatever. And so when we had whatever it was, I say in the video, but it's like 19 or whatever PlayStation 4 is coming in. I remember taking photos like laying on them, which now we would compare it to when the breaking bad thing happens where they lay on a pile of money. But I remember doing that and then when the Xbox ones came in

in the exact same way, Kevin, yeah, if you can play this or whatever, just like how cool that was and ridiculous that was. And also like you talk about a shared moment. Because like, you know, Imran talking about Beatles, Rock Band reminds me of original rock band where that was one with that we all got into the our cars and went to the ceremony mall and you know perked up our pre-orders for rock band and for whatever guitar hero came out at the same time because we wanted that guitar and everybody was coming

out with those giant packages or whatever but to have them all here and like you look at this and see everybody just unboxing their play edition four and acting like a complete moron I remember how ridiculous it was and how not pissed UPS was to be dragging them all up there but how like what the fuck is happening. Why did you all you all, you guys always get a lot of fucking frad with the game queue. Oh, I love it so much. In the US actually lost

my P, no, they gave it to the wrong person. So I remember being like, spending a week just being incredibly pissed and like calling like Amazon, UPS, like emailing Jeff Bezos, being like, where the fuck is my PS4? I, in a similar vein, the switch launch, I think, was something special to

like that was, that was one where I got it delivered via Amazon and I think they're actually a day late in delivering it like there was like that whole issue of like Amazon for a while with Nintendo games just were not reliable and so I got my switch and breath of a while to day late but the electricity

like online which feels like a weird thing to say but like you know that kind of shared experience everybody was having at the same time of like oh dude you got the new the new Nintendo console that's not the Wii and this Zelda game that's a 10 out of 10 from everybody and people are saying that it's one of the greatest games ever made.

Like, you know, that was, that felt like a, like a magic time, like a magical time. And like booting that game up, uh, booting up the switch, booting the game up in and having the first experience with it, I thought was something very special. Yeah, that's the thing I think that I don't like not, you know, woe was us or anything. But like, I do miss sometimes being part of that when I see people even now with their digital clock counting down of like they're so excited to jump into stuff. Because there is always that thing of whether we've played it or reviewed it ahead of time, you know, it's getting ready to release out there and everybody's having it.

And that's why Animal Crossing's been such a fun ride here. You know, we talked about I didn't want to bore you with what I've been playing, but like still super addicted to Animal Crossing. Still super addicted to predator. But Animal Crossing is another level where, you know, like Saturday, you know, Jen and I woke up, you know, in the afterglow of our anniversary or whatever. And it was like, what do we want to do? We went and got coffee and, like, came back and made breakfast.

And then it was like, let's just play a little Animal Crossing. And then like six hours later, right? Like I had gotten a new thing and I wanted to go do a thing. And like the wave of Animal Crossing at launch of people being incredibly stoked for that release and then them, you know, seeing their midnight or whatever 9 p.m. reactions to it. And then beyond that, the fact that it's maintained and still seeing people do amazing stuff in there you wouldn't expect. It's so cool. You can go to patreon.com slash kind of funny games to write in your responses to the show,

just like Phantom 2-3-001 did. He writes in, urgent. This is for May 5th Gamescast. I'm writing this as I am watching the show. This is the story of a missed midnight release party. It was the Thursday night of the Switch release. I planned to go with my friends to get the Switch and Breath of the Wild at our Princeton Best Bies, New Jersey, represent.

Unfortunately, as soon as I got home from school, I came down with a horrible stomach bug and spent the night sick in the bathroom, spending some of it watching a clock or orange. I haven't watched it since. And I got the system in early March as a birthday gift. Love the show. I hope this response gets in. did Phantom 2-3-0-1. It did. A couple other fun ones you guys wrote in. Dalton F says,

the game launch I was most hyped for was Halo Reach. Halo 3 was my introduction to the franchise, and my friends and I played it almost every night for years. It's probably the game I've played the most of my life. The double announcement of Reach and Bungee leaving once it was finished made me believe we were in for something special. It's still my favorite Halo multiplayer suite as it struck a great balance of pushing the franchise forward, but also keeping the hallmarks intact. the campaign was dope, especially the last mission. It was one of the last games that my entire high school friend group played together regularly, so it will always be special to me.

And then I think I had one more. While you're looking, I remember that I was at the Wii U launch. Because I pre-uried and I went to pick it up the day of. That's when I knew that thing was going to fail because the court told me, like, she set up a big table of like, we use. And she's like, yeah, we said this big thing thinking people would come get it. But like, you're the first one here to grab it. And I came like an hour after they opened.

So it was like, yeah, that's probably not a good sign for it. There were 13 people in line at the place I went to. And Kevin, don't say anything else about the story of the Wii U's, okay? I did get a girl's number that day in that line. Nice. So that was the, that was a fun. I'm not saying anything else. Tim Tammy.

That was a fun of me. Thank you. I appreciate you, Kevin. The nato biologist has the last one. I honestly felt the most hype for two long, two game launches, kingdom hearts three in World of Warcraft, warlords of Draynor. Kingdom Hearts 3

One game, Kingdom Hearts 3, still had a great time with, but Warlords was during my heyday of wild love. Sadly, that expansion was a buggy mess and ruined the night for me because of their big idea. Garrisons didn't work. Of course, it went down as the second worst expansion ever made. Yeah, King of March 3 is,

that's an example what Greg was talking about. Like, I got that game early, so my hype was expended by the time the game actually came out. So, like, I was very into the game, and I liked it a decent bit, but I had finished it by that point. It was like, yeah, this doesn't go exactly where I wanted it to go or like parts of this were actually pretty bad.

I didn't want to like rain on anyone's parade that was like, oh, yeah, I can't watch three finally. God, yeah, I mean, in a similar vein of that, right? Not that it was bad at all. And I know that I just loaded the statement. And you all laugh when I said. But uncharted three, that was in terms of an early release that we would never forget.

I remember hounding archivalry. on our PR person at PlayStation about that thing of just like when are you going to get it when you're going to get it when can we have and this is one they used to still look about burn discs you know what I mean to play on your test kits or whatever for PS3 and I remember the day they were like all right we just got it we're burning discs now and I remember me and Colin I was on the it must have an aim or whatever but being like all right cool we're on our way and they're like no we didn't like we're in the car we'll see in a second and we fucking drove down there and they're like fucking here's your game get the fuck out of our hair

I like, see you later. Oh, man, ladies and gentlemen, this has, I know, right? This has been the kind of funny games cast. We'll be back next week. But if you want more of this, we're about to do a post show. We'll be diving into some of your questions that you sent us. If you want to be a part of that, go to patreon.com slash kind of funny games. You know what's up.

If you don't, it's all good, too. Until next time.