The Besties - The Besties Podcast III (from the archive)

Episode Date: March 9, 2012

This episode of The Besties was recorded in a hotel room in San Francisco (hence the garbage audio). But hey, that's what happens when we all (except for Griffin) have to travel for GDC 2012! Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Besties! Besties! Besties. F***ed up! It's in the outro! We recorded it in the outro, didn't we? And you yelled it. Music Music

Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Hello everyone and welcome to the very special GDC edition of The Besties. I'm Vox Games Managing Editor Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week. I'm Russ Frustick, Senior Editor of Vox Games and I know the best game of the week. I'm Russ Frustick, senior editor of Vox Games, and I know the best game of the week.

I'm Christopher Plant, also a senior editor of Vox Games, and my game's really good. Did you say your name was really good or your game? My game is really good. My name's Chris Grant, and it rhymes with Chris Plant, and so my name is really good or your game? My game is really good. My name is Chris Grant and it rhymes with Chris Blatt. My name is really good but also I've got a really good game

to share with you guys on this week's The Besties. And what do you do here? Sorry, I'm the energy. Bye. Chris is a guestie this week. We have him flown in specifically because Griffin could not be here He's in Austin

We're in beautiful San Fran Riding a trolley together Just four friends We're on the trolley right now Earthquake We did Did you guys wake up from the earthquake? It was pretty jacked right?

Two earthquakes back to back Size 4 I didn't feel it guys I was busy handling it with Danny Tanner It was pretty jacked, right? There were two earthquakes, back to back. Yeah. Size four. I didn't feel it, guys. I was busy handling it with Danny Tanner and DJ and the guys. Yeah, in the house. Yeah, we were just having a good time. Comet was being a silly dog. Running around.

So every week on the Besties, we talk about the best games we played that week. We try to make them new, ideally, new games. Fresh. Fresh. And once we've selected our favorite, then we pit that game against the current Bestie. Chris, what is the current best game of the year? The current Bestie is SSX, the game in which you snowboard down a hill with the ghost of your dead father.

Okay, that's good. So it's kind of like the Hamlet of snowboarding. Or the Ghost Dad of snowboarding. Ghost Dad of snowboarding. Both classics. Both written by Shakespeare. We actually, so two notes this week. One, we have a new wrinkle to our voting system

At the end of the week Players can no longer vote for their own game When we're choosing the game of the week Why was I not informed of this? I just came up with it Someone suggested it on Twitter And I think it's a hell of a idea And also no politicking allowed

Which would be to try to Game the system Or rig future votes. You mean survivor style. Yeah, you can't promise a vote down the line. Okay. Actually, that is still under debate with the Rules Council. What? Yeah, I'm sorry.

The Swedish judge came in very late in the process. Wow. He vetoed, so we're still debating oh great yeah it's it's the besties council there are of course besties branches in in most of the countries across this great land in 48 states the other hiccup this week is we are here at gdc so we thought that instead of talking about the new games that are released that are coming out that are that we're playing that you can buy on retail shelves right this second. We'll talk about the games that we played.

And the GDC is an acronym for the Game Developers Conference, which not everyone knows about, which is a place where game developers come from around the world, show their wares to each other. Some of them are great. Most of them are not as great. The game developers? Or do you mean the game themselves? Both.

Okay. No, the game developers tend to be pretty friendly. Some of the games tend to be incredible. And those are going to be the ones that we're going to be talking about. Because each of us has played a game that we feel deserves to be the bestie. Even though some of these haven't been released.

We are bending the rules a little bit. As a matter of fact, I don't think any of these have been released. I'll also say, I'm pretty sure, I don't even think my game is coming out this year. Right. You know, some of these might never come out. So we're going to give you recommendations for games you'll never play. Ghost games.

These are games for... Ghost games for ghost dads. Yeah. So in the past, we've done three minutes. I feel like that felt a little lugubrious. I think we need to trim it down to two minutes. Okay, that sounds good. Two minute pitches?

How's that sound? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who wants to kick it off? I think the winner should kick it off. The winner should start, yes. I'm more than happy. Are you ready to time me? Go!

Okay, my game of the week is called Showdown Effect. And here's kind of the elevator pitch. Take Super Smash Brothers showdown effect and here here's kind of the elevator pitch take uh super smash brothers and then combine it with like 1980s 1990s action movies so you have these big giant open worlds based off of these classic set pieces like kind of neo tokyo from blade runner uh and then the characters up to eight online are kind of uh trop from other movies. Not tropes, but kind of stock characters. So you have, like, the hard-boiled New York cop, and then the man who has lost his identity and lost his wife, too.

And each one has their own abilities and kind of one-liners that they give, which are kind of your taunts in Super Smash Bros. The difference being, obviously, that there's a lot more weapons. So instead of it being close combat, it's kind of ranged combat with shotguns and rocket launchers and machine guns. And the block move, instead of just being like a fucking orb around their head, is these kind of like Matrix-style or Hong Kong-style dodge moves. So the game comes down to using these dodges,

where you're bending reality and like falling out of windows and stuff to evade bullets just long enough to shoot someone in the face. And to share a little moment out of it, because I think it's important to show what you can have done in the game. I played this for like 30 seconds and within those 30 seconds I was already dodging bullets, grabbed a man, shoved him out of an eight-story uh office complex onto the floor through a glass ceiling and then onto a subway pulled out a shotgun and blasted him in the face and you can pick that up all in like 30 seconds uh of time there's like no difficulty of learning the controls which i think is pretty pretty damn amazing uh

so you get you get familiar gameplay, Super Smash Bros., you get familiar characters from every movie that you've ever loved, and you get all these badass things that ideally you'll be able to load up onto YouTube and make yourself a little action star. And it's pretty damn good. Time. We're done. Chris, that sounds interesting.

What is the graphic sort of aesthetic it's two dimensional but it's 3D graphics and there's lots of bloom lighting it's lots of bloom lighting JJ Abrams is going to love this one it's really pretty it kind of looks like an Unreal game which is a weird thing to say

it looks like almost a 2D version of Shadow Complex I remember there was a game on Xbox Live Arcade where you played as, like, furries, basically, with guns. I think it was called Small Arms. I also remember that it sounded a little bit like that, and it was also terrible. Yes, no, no, I will give you that.

The difference being this is developed by Europeans. What was Small Arms developed by? I don't know. Probably some people in Miami. Furries? I don't know. Definitely. So who's the developer of this new?

I know it's being released by Paradox Interactive. Clearly you've done your research because you don't know the name of the developer. So wait. If it's Paradox, is it going to be a PC game? It is a PC game. Only? A Smash Brothers style game only on the PC? No, that's perfect because it's the year

1996, so we're going to love this one. It's also on Mac. I believe it will be coming to Mac also. Oh good, the gaming gamers are going to flock to that. The people love the Mac games. And you'll be able to play it with friends on your work computer.

Which, hey, what else are you playing on your work computer? At least that'll make the voting easy. They did say there may come a time where it's released on Xbox. Yeah, when Quetzalcoatl comes back it's probably going to be... Russ, what is your game?

Okay. My game is a little game called Spelunky. You may know this game if you're a fan of indie games because it actually, in a way, came out several years ago. In a way. It came out on PC several years ago. As we all know, PC does not count. You're right. That's why I'm ignoring that release and only talking about the Xbox Live Arcade game,

which is what I played this week for the first time. Spelunky is a 2D platforming game where you control... He looks like Indiana Jones, a little cartoony style, but he's cute, He's got a whip. He's got a hat. He's got a rope. And your objective is basically to explore caves looking for treasure, saving ladies, if you will, killing bats that fly at you randomly.

Now, the twist here is that you only get one life if you die, that's it you start from the beginning so it's brutally difficult, but rewarding now there's some X-Factors that they've thrown into the

Xbox Live Arcade game that wasn't in the PC one, which we're ignoring first of all, obviously the graphics much improved. They're HD. They're very pretty. The more interesting thing is that it has co-op multiplayer for up to four people where you can basically journey for as long as you can with

four other people. If they die, you gotta ditch them. Or you can carry their bodies for extra points. How many games out there let you carry bodies for extra points? You can even out there let you carry bodies for extra points? You can even revive them if you find a casket. Let's see. You can break into stores and steal jetpacks from stores

because there are stores in the caves. And, um... Yeah. Oh, there's deathmatch, too. Four-player deathmatch. It's like Bomberman. How much time do I have? Six seconds? Penises. Okay.

There's no bearing. First question. What would stop me from killing you in Spelunky and carrying your body around for all those extra points? Okay. Because I feel motivated to get some mad points. Here's the thing. You can do that. How would you you would never play again then no well you won't get as high score uh if you'll work if you work together you'll get a better chance than me but but i

wouldn't get all the points no but you would lose overall it's it's more of a war it's not a battle so it's teaching you to work together but if you don't want to work together you want to be a jerk you can do that too it's up to you so it's got flexibility flexibility flexibility yes what is the time waste factor and by that i mean how many hours of time could i put into it then die and then lose feasibly your entire life so you could play this game forever and then die and lose and lose. Feasibly your entire life. So you could play this game forever, and then die and lose and have to start from scratch.

Oh. So is there any persistence? Yes, there is. There are certain points that you can unlock that are like checkpoints where you can skip sort of ahead. But I don't know that that's true. That was in the PC one. The PC one had persistence. I just made that up.

But there's probably some persistence. So it's like a roguelike. It is absolutely a roguelike. It's inspired by roguelikes. A rogue, if you will. That's why it's like a rogue. Can you beat this game? Yes, there is an end.

How long do I have to play this game? I don't know. I haven't beaten it yet. It doesn't sound like we have an expert in the room. I just played a half hour. How long did you play your game that you don't know the developer of? I know. I beat it.

I shot the guy. He said. I'm sure somewhere in Poland they're crying over the fact that you don't know their name. And they said, you win the round. You kill this guy. And I got five to four. Done. Well, you can play Deathmatch.

I won several matches of Deathmatch. Sounds like dog crap. It's terrific. It sounds to four. Done. Well, you can play Deathmatch. I won several matches of Deathmatch. Sounds like dog crap. It's terrific. It sounds pretty good. Chris. Guest. Guesty. Chris Grant.

Chris Grant. Give me a taste. So my game is The Witness by, what is it, Thecla, I think, which is Jonathan Blow's new development studio. Since, unlike Brave, which was made with two people for a long time,

just him and then an artist, this game's been made by something like 15 people with a pretty healthy-sized budget, like $2 million to $3 million. It's a fully 3D puzzle game. Think basically Myst, or probably more realistically, like real Myst, where you can actually walk around. And you walk around and you walk around this island it's all very mysterious and very solitary and you you solve these puzzles

that are on panels and even in the short time I played it which is about 30 or 40 minutes you start to see the complexity of the puzzles really increasing and and you know you start learning and the game kind of teaches you in a very elegant way how to solve more and more complicated puzzles and you use those to sort of stack them to solve and kind of gain entry to new parts of the island. So in the short time I played it, I learned a bunch of different puzzle mechanics, I found a bunch of different areas and then when Mr. Blow came back in and sort of gave me a tour of the full island and pulled up and showed me all these different areas,

he said it was about a 10- to 20-hour game, depending on how good you were at puzzles, basically. Shorter if you're better at puzzles or longer? I think shorter if you're better at puzzles because you'll beat them quicker. I'm going to ask the judges for an extra 10 seconds. So it was it was uh it was it was interesting it was very much like a distillation of a kind of classic adventure game um mechanics uh something like miss but you know the puzzles are almost um you know overtly expressed as actual

puzzles in the real world uh your inventory is removed and you're using puzzles as the means of kind of access to new areas and getting past things. And it seemed like a very interesting, you know, sophomore effort follow-up to Braid. So, The Witness. Okay, interesting. I feel like we should kick back, though. We've been talking about games for a little while.

Yeah, it's three games in a row. First off, off a little follow-up on witness let's talk about witness okay fine we'll take a little break good thinking um sounds whack yeah i was i'll be honest really really like tired before you started describing that and now i might be dead it's like what's more than tired it's like a bunch of puzzles. I can get you my Gammy Sudoku, but my Nani Sudoku is like $3.99 at Rite Aid, so I can just get you that, and you can be puzzling the night away.

No, but think about it. 15 people made these puzzles. It doesn't matter. My boy Will Schwartz cranks out 15 of those motherfuckers every week. He doesn't give a shit. He'll crank out puzzles. The puzzles are... It's interesting.

There's a sort of story that's being layered on top of the gameplay. So you find a little book. There's the mystery of the island itself, which was sort of the curiosity of mist. Wait, wait. You just sidestepped something. Am I going to have to read? No, no, no. You're going to have to find a book.

Wait, wait, wait. I mean, there's a mystery of the island. No, I said you find audio recorders. It's like Neverhood. You have to walk past an 80 screen long wall and read the whole story. No, there's audio recorders that deliver a story to you. Ooh, like audio? I like that.

I like hearing. Yeah, I like listening. There's mutant freaks that you shoot. Really? Yeah, you didn't get that part? No, I didn't get to that part. Are you a laser beam? I think he's lying.

Are you a laser beam? So it was a, if you're into, if you like the cut of Miss Jib, but think, you know, what would Miss look like today if it was updated and if it was an art game? Which is more fascinating, this game or a sensory deprivation tank? So basically this game or nothing. Literally nothing. The absence

of stimuli. I'm going to go with this game. I know it's a controversial pick but I really enjoyed it. I didn't know what to expect and I found myself enjoying it. Guys, guys I do want to be fair here. This game has a lot of things going enjoyed it. I didn't know what to expect, and I found myself enjoying it a lot. Guys, guys, I do want to be fair here. This game has a lot of thing going for it.

It's got puzzles. It's got a lot of thing going for it. It's got a lot of thing going for it. It's got puzzles. It's got puzzles. It's got the up-to-date gameplay of Myst. Cutting edge. It has the combination of red, red yellow and blue to create a

sensory of colors on the screen that's all three primary colors there's no more primary colors to stick in there three primary i do want to bring up one other point though yes um i know the name of the developer that's do you really that's just an interesting point i also know the name of the developer worth noting no you. I also know the name of the developer. Worth noting. No, you know the name of the man who's developing the game. No, I know the name of my game's developer. Oh, okay. It's called Mosmite. You're like two people. And you're Googling it. No, I'm not. He needs to

Google to find out who made his pick. I also found the name of the studio that made Small Arms out. Do you know what it is? Oh, I don't actually. It's Gastronaut Studios. They're in Washington. Oh, they're in Washington. It's funny. They were founded in Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. and they relocated to Capitol Hill, Seattle. That's weird. How many Capitol Hills

are there? Also, furries. How's your guys' second time out? How's your week been? It's been busy. I was a little scared about the earthquake but since then it's been okay. Yeah. Yeah.

I had some really good salads. Can we talk about those? Absolutely we can. There's a really good salad place. I guess it's a chain in San Francisco called Specialties. By the way, this show is sponsored by Specialties. And what's their specialty? Salads.

And they also make a really good semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie. That's good. I don't like too much sweet because I'm 90. When I want a cookie, I want it to be bland. This cookie is just the right amount of bitter. I would hate to be too happy. I don't want to have too much fun. I'm on vacation after all. I'm not.

When I was in high school, we would sell candy, and I once sold my Spanish teacher a bag of Skittles. Three months later, she said, I still have half the bag of Skittles you gave me. You sold me. I was like, oh, really? She's like, yeah, I have to cut them in half. They're too small.

So she opened the bag of Skittles and left it open for three months? I'm sure she wrapped it up maybe with like a... Oh, yeah. Anybody who's cutting Skittles in half knows how to use tinfoil. Yeah, you're vacuum sealing that ass. It also doesn't make them less sweet to cut them in half. Well, no. I know, but it's like she couldn't handle the rush.

She probably actually let it sit in a glass of water and then she drank it. So it's funny you joke about it, but what if she actually had a super advanced, almost evolved sugar intake mechanism? You're saying that what if she was a super taster? Wait, no, no, no, you didn't even say taste. You said intake mechanism, which makes me think. Like a brimiscus? Yeah, maybe that she has pressed it against her forehead and then just absorbs by her skin. Yeah, well, I'm saying like what if your body processes sugar in such a way that you're like,

I give you a lot of Skittles, no big deal. What if a single skill from her gave it the strength to flip a bus? Does sugar do that? Hey, it doesn't for you or I. I'm trying to bring up, I'm trying to ask you to expand your horizons. Yeah. And think about what... You think she's an X-Men.

I hate to poke a hole in this logic, but what does super taste have to do with super strength? No, I'm saying... You're not saying it's taste. I'm saying it's how your... I didn't say taste. I said intake. It's how your body tastes.

Now you're talking about how she metabolizes. Exactly. You nailed it. Yeah. Metabolize. Yeah, but it has to do with the way your body takes that sugar into it and then uses it, I guess. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Guys, but it has to do with the way your body takes that sugar into it and then uses it, I guess. I don't know.

I'm not a doctor. Guys, I write about video games. It's like doing a show with Phil K. Dick. It's amazing. What I'm asking you to do is just consider that Justin's teacher was probably a superhero. By the way, everyone, Arrowhead is the name of the development studio. Oh, that's great. You remembered it

and didn't Google it at all. They made Magica, which is a game I love, which makes it even worse that I had any delay. And then they also, I think, partnered with another studio called Pixel Diet. Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure. Is Google sure?

Count on Arrowhead. Semi-count on Pixel Diet. Okay. So I, this week, first off, I wanted to say that my game last week was Code Runner, and I had a meeting. I had the, hold on. I had a meeting with the entire Code Runner development team today. I had lunch with, well, not lunch.

They hadn't had lunch, and I was just sitting at the table. All three guys, all three with well, not lunch. They had to have lunch and I was just sitting at the table. All three guys, all three of the Rocket Chicken development team. And they listened to the show and they were honestly a little hurt. That little hurt? It lost? It lost and

everyone was so dismissive. Just reminding everybody to go out and buy Code Runner. It's $1.99 this week. I'm going to try it out. I'm going to give it a shot. They deserve a fair shot. I spoke to the Waking Mars people today. I met their audio guy outside of the Noodle Box.

Oh, you did. Bobby. Their programmer, David Kalina, had not listened to the show and sort of mocked me for everything that I did. Oh, that's not very nice. I know. But he made a great game, so check it out. So check it out.

What do you got this week, J-Mo? I'm trying to remember. You don't even remember what game you're bringing. This is really a dynamite pick you got here. It's riveting. The only game I played is like... What? What?

Can't talk about Spider-Man. Can't talk about Katara. So... Okay, so... I saw Sorcery. That looks... Wow. Sorcery is a game where you cast spells with the move

and you... Like... We can just have you stop there. Let me get something better than that. I can't think of anything really fun I played. You already started on sorcery.

Sorcery is a game where you cast spells with the move. So they've aged up the hero. It's been a hiatus, basically. It's been a hibernation. So they aged up the character. He's now like the sorcerer, the titular sorcerer. He's now a teenager.

And the combat system is actually fairly deep. You have five different spells. You have lightning, fire, ice, earth, and there's like a basic arc. Heart. Wind, actually. And first there's different spells called for different situations. If you come up against an enemy with a shield, for example, you can cast an earth spell at the minute.

Casting is basically just to flick your wrist. for example you can cast an earth spell at the minute casting is basically just to flick your wrist and and most spells have an area of effect attack where you can swipe it across the ground like if you're if you've got the fire selected you can swipe across the ground create a line of fire that enemies have to walk through there's also a with the wind spell you can layer the different spells so if you cast the area of effect with the wind spell, it makes a tornado. You cast fire into it, it creates a fire tornado, and that you can actually blow around

and end enemies. So there is a certain level of like, and you can, there's levels of strategy, like you can freeze an enemy, and then fire your basic arcane bolts out of him, and they will ricochet away. So a game that wasn't super interesting before

now looks like it has an interesting combat system and the aesthetics are much improved and it doesn't look nearly as kiddy as it used to. Oh god, it's over. Question about the game. I actually think the way you pitched it sounded interesting. Okay.

How absent of joy is it to actually play it? No, it's fun. I actually had a good time. The only thing that is kind of weird is in the actual casting of spells

there's not a targeting mechanism per se. So if there's a guy up high, like he has the height advantage on you, you kind of cast overhand to try to hit him. And sometimes the angles on it just did not work very well. Do you think maybe because you don't enjoy sport? No, I love sport.

I'm Mr. Sports. Mr. Sports. Hoops is what I call you. And you can do trick shots, for example. So if you do an overhand or around the side, you can loop. What you're saying is that this is bowling for nerdy kids with PlayStation Moves. No, there's a lot of... You can do a hook.

It's on your wrist. There's a lot of depth to the combat. Oh, there's an alchemy system that's actually kind of neat. That sounds neat. It's what you use for leveling. So you get three ingredients, and you mix them in a bottle, and you drink the bottle, and you actually have to shake it up. Oh, yeah?

And it changes the color indicator. So it was like a motion. Wait, wait. You shake it up, and the top turns red, and then you break it. Oh, wow. I wish you could see what just went down. This is like a shake weight, guys. The shaking was going down by his ding dong.

And then the drinking was going a little side of his mouth. Alright. The red top on your PlayStation move. What I'm saying is, it's coming out May 22nd, and everybody should tune in. I think it's going to shock the world. Your enthusiasm did graze over the course

of this. While talking. Remember how fun it was. Justin's a consummate performer. Yeah. Yeah. And he knew that he had to pull something. Build to a climax, if you will. The color of the smooth.

Come on, come on, come on. Come here. I've got some sorcery for you. I'll turn your move nozzle from green to red. It's neat. What'd it happen? Maybe if you slurp it down, it'll make you feel all better. No? Well, it's worked for the old people down in Shuffletown.

Hell no, that doesn't sound good at all. It sounds like I'm getting duped. I just think it's gonna be speaking of PC games, it's a small platform. Yeah. Why? Because it's on the move? Lots of people have moves.

Yeah, I mean, lots. Yeah, lots of people. They just announced 10 million move devices sold here at GDC. And that 10 million includes... Here's another one of the last ones. That 10 million included the navigation controller. Oh, shit. So, double. here's the other level also that 10 million included the navigation controller so double so but there's many people just buying the navigation controller alone is what they're like trying to oh yeah yeah yeah sure and of

course like it's like you have a move control and navigation and a second move control it's three devices per person yeah and if you want to do like archery for two people that's for me it's just kind of I don't know so I think it's time to take a preliminary vote okay Russ let's start with you what's your gut and I can't vote for myself no more

of the games that I've heard I guess Chris Plant's game probably sounds the best. Yeah. What the hell? It's coming out on PC. Oh shit,

I forgot about that. No, no, no, no, no. All of these are coming out on PC. That's not true. Mine's X-PoA. Mine's X-PoA. Mine's a PS3 game. I have played The Witness

and I actually do really like The Witness. Yeah, yeah. Even though I made fun of it earlier. What did you make fun of then? I think you should go with what you got. Go with your gut. Go with your gut. No, I hated small arms so much and I think it's like small arms. No, no, no.

Sorcery. No, no, no. Yes! What? No way. It's still not the Witness? What? You actually did it.

The Witness might never come out. Chris Plant, your turn. Don't be political. I was really happy to give it to Spelunky. You should. Don't be political.

I really do think that's the game. It is. That is the best game of this week. I really do. Here's the thing. No.

Last minute rule change. The judges in Sweden, they messed it all up. Yeah. Now I'm deeply concerned about my chances for winning. So I think I'm going to have to just split the vote and give it to Witness. Whoa. Well, Witness A, that's a good game.

Whoa. Did I tell you that it's a lot like missed? Whoa. That's good. Chris. Chris. Did I tell you that it's a lot like Myst? Whoa. That's good.

Chris. So, if I vote for Chris Grant's game, it rhymes with Chris Plant. No, unacceptable. Sorry. Oh, interesting. Go on gut. Go on your gut. On quality feeling.

I'm going on gut. And here's the thing. I think, I'm not a Smash Brothers guy. So, you say Smash Brothers, and I say, meh. Yeah. I'm not a not a Smash Brothers guy so you say Smash Brothers and I say meh yeah I'm interested um I think Sorcery

sounds like a train wreck oh okay every part of it sounds like the the the worst idea

um Spelunky sounds like it might not be my kind of game oh I hear like roguelike and you die and you start from the beginning not be my kind of game. Oh. I hear, like, roguelike, and you die, and you start from the beginning. I'm kind of like, well, I'm a busy man.

I'm jet-setting, globe-trotting. There's Deathmatch, too. You can play that in five minutes. Here's the things I know. I know that everyone who wants to run off fresh is like, yeah, try this game. And I'm like, fresh, that sounds stupid. Because trust me, it's a solitaire game that you play,

but it's, like, with golf. And I'm like, that sounds like those are my two least favorite things in the world, but it's pretty good. So I think if he's going to say that this stupid game where you die and you have to die in real life is the best game of the week, I'm inclined to agree with him. So

my vote is Spelunky. I think I see where this is going. I think I'm seeing the first ever four-way tie. Who did you pick? I picked the witness. Now witness sounds pretty good. What? Yeah, witness.

No. Sounds pretty good. Woo! Yeah, congratulations to our very first ever guesty winner, Chris Grant. I'm, like, crushed. I pulled it out. The witness. It sounds fun. It's cool. I did not see this coming.

Why'd you pick the witness? It's cut. It looks good. I mix my ones and my twos. Plus, what if John LeBleu hears about it? He's like, good job. He'll be very staid when he tells us how much he's happy. Now, here's the real question. Is is the witness better than the ability to keep your dead dad alive?

You know what's a shame? Is that in Spelunky, you can play with people on multiplayer, as I've mentioned. But you could also... They can die, and... In real life. They can be brought back to life. Here's a good thing. Here's a good thing for grumpy fans over here.

Little big baby. The game is coming out in months. Maybe it'll make a comeback appearance. Here's the other thing I'll say about The Witness. It's a mystery. If it will ever come out.

There's tape recorders with somebody's voice talking to you on it. Who's to say that's not somebody's dead dad? Uh, that's a stretch. SSX literally lets you have your dad play, save his ghost times,

and then race against him after he passes away. That's not something the witness can live up to. That's legit. That's legit. And you can do it while listening to the song

Tricky. Okay, so how about this? The Witness is a really sad game, maybe, because it seems like it might be, and so maybe it's about somebody's dad dying. There are a lot of maybes. Yeah. I just don't know, because it's a mystery, guys. That's the whole point. It sounds neat, but unfortunately I have to stick with SSX.

Yeah, I'm going to go with SSX. I think, yeah, I think it's SSX. Alright, so our still reigning game of the year Sorry, J-Blo, I tried. with SSX. I think, yeah, I think it's SSX. All right, so our still-reigning game of the year... Sorry, Jay Blow, I tried. ...is SSX. Chris Grant, thank you so much for joining us on the Besties. Thank you, gentlemen. Polite clapping.

And for next week, I'm sure there are a few people listening who are going, uh, this game came out this week from BioWare named Mass Effect. It was supposed to crush us. And for you, what I want you to know is don't worry. I Am Alive is coming next week. We're going to bring some gems. We're bringing back the best stuff next week. You're going to have to listen in.

Have you guys heard of P-Knuckle? Well, what if I mixed it with golf? fresh sticks back next week with backgammon check it out backgammon hockey it's a fresh stick joint it's actually a first person shooter

it's excellent if you want some actual real insightful analysis and critique and news about games you can go to theverge.com forward slash gaming. That is the

temporary Vox Games home. We will have our own home later this year. And we'd ask that you follow us on Vox Games on Twitter. It's at Vox Games. And we're on Facebook too. Forward slash Vox Games. But thank you guys so much for listening. And we'll be back

next Friday on Besties, because shouldn't the world's best friends choose the world's best games? Besties!