The Besties - These Games Will Win at The Game Awards – Maybe!

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Ahead of the annual Game Awards spectacle, Frushtick and Griffin make their predictions on which games will take home statues. Does Balatro really have a chance to win it all? 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!

Have we talked about the actual game award? Have we talked about the award, the physical tangible thing you get? I don't think we have and I have strong feelings about it. Do you have an initial thought? Yeah, sure. Here's my first sort of thought. It doesn't make any fucking sense. What do you mean by a flying lady? It's an angel lady, done in a sort of like, I don't know, Gatsby-esque art deco, Yeah, sure.

Sort of minimalist style. One could argue that there is a polygonal sort of thing going on and the angel is flying out of a bunch of pixels. That is the silver statue that we are describing. Apparently it's a Weta Workshop joint. So like, that's great. Did they need to go to Weta really?

They're gonna go to the cream of the crop for that guy? This is a great, don't get me wrong. It's a great statue. It is iconic, it looks amazing. Is it a game award? I don't know. So what do you want ideally? Like you want some hands covered in Dorito dust or?

What you've just said is reductive to a degree that is offensive to me, but mostly I think our listeners, which is more offensive to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, not hands covered in Cheeto dust, but like. I said Doritos, but yeah. Like, you know, the Triforce. Oh, you want the Triforce?

Wouldn't that be cool? You get the Triforce. And you fucking hold it Triforce. Wouldn't that be cool? You get the Triforce. And you fucking hold it up like Link holds it up. What if it's a sword? What if the game award is a sword? Wait, it's one sword or everyone gets their own sword? What if it's a ribbon? What if we do ribbons or plaques for this one?

You know, it doesn't always have to be a big trophy. How cool would it be if, and the Academy Award for best supporting actor goes to Matthew McConaughey, you get up there and it's a bowl. It's like a little, an orb. You get a sphere. No, here's the thing.

I like the ribbon idea. Because what's cool about ribbons is they get pinned onto the winner. Cool. So by the end, if you're fucking Matthew Bacanahe and you're taking it all in, if you're Elden Ring, you end up looking like a, you know. Like a decorated war hero.

Yeah, you're like a general. Oh, why not? War hero badges. What do they call those? Like the purple badge? The purple badge you get when you get hurt. Medals, yes, medals! There's so many incredible ways to congratulate someone for excellence.

Achievements. That is it, isn't it? We did it. Just a big cutout cardboard of an Xbox 360 UI prompt. And it makes the noise. Poodle boop, poodle boop. Cool. We came full circle back to gamership.

We did. My name is Griffin McElroy and I know the games, the best games of the year as according to the game awards happening tomorrow. My name is Russ Roschegada, the best game of the week. And this is the besties you don't need for on a podcast. No. Sometimes- You don't even need three. No, I do a podcast, Russ, with my wife, and that's two. And you're not my wife. No matter how bad the internet wants that to be true,

you're not my wife. We've made that mistake so be true, you're not my wife. We've made that mistake so many times. You're not my wife, but we are going to do a two-hander because both of our boys are out on assignment and the holidays get crazy for everybody, don't they? This week, we're going to be talking about the Game Awards. We're going to be talking about who's going to win all the different nominees. Who's not going to win as By as a result of that.

And what are some of the big ananserinos we are expecting to come down the pipeline? There have been so many leaks. Keely's trying to keep his fingers plugged in all the holes, isn't he? But it keeps on juicing out. He's got some big fingers. He does have big meaty paws.

We're gonna talk about Jeff Keely's huge hands and the Game Award nominees and who we think's gonna win right after this short break. So I think last week when we were talking about this, we implied that the episode would go up the day after the Game Awards. That's not true. It's actually going up several days before. The Game Awards are on Saturday, aren't they?

No, it's December 12th. Oh, shoot. Okay, well then it's not tomorrow. So we are, this is genuinely gonna be a predictive thing No, it's December 12th. Oh, shoot. Okay, well then it's not tomorrow. So we are, this is genuinely gonna be a predictive thing and you will be able to follow along to see how right we are after we determine all the award winners. And just to start off with, Griff and I,

if you could do me a favor, if you could read every category as quickly as possible, that'd be great. You want me to read every category of award? Yeah, it's one award show. How many categories could there be? Oh, I'm so glad you asked. For this fucking four hour long award show,

we've got player's voice, a strong start. Player's voice, best esports team, best esports athlete, best esports game, content creator of the year, most anticipated game, best multiplayer, best sports slash racing, best sim slash strategy, Player's Voice. Best esports team. Best esports athlete. Best esports game. Content creator of the year. Most anticipated game. Best multiplayer. Best sports slash racing. Best sim slash strategy.

Best family game. Best fighting game. Best RPG. Best action adventure game. Best action game. Best VR slash AR game. Best mobile game. Best debut indie.

Best indie. Best community support. Best ongoing game. Best games for impact. Innovation and accessibility. Best performance. Best audio design. Best score and music. Best art direction. best narrative, best adaptation, best game direction, best game of the year.

It's probably not best game of the year, is it? Someone went a little bit best crazy there. That's all of them, though. You might be right. That is all of them, and people give the Game Awards a lot of shit for being just like a bunch of trailers, but that is a lot of awards, too. It's not the problem isn't that there's a lot of trailers. I love trailers. Me too. It's that there's a lot of everything, but that is a lot of awards too. It's not the problem isn't that there's a lot of trailers.

I love trailers. Me too. It's that there's a lot of everything, isn't there? There's a lot of everything. There's a lot of all of it. It is a buffet of video game award giving. Yeah, and a lot of this stuff I don't care about. And that's fine, like it's not all have to be catered to me.

But I mean, if you wanna start at the bottom and go up. No, no, no, no. You wanna start at the bottom and go up. No, no, no, no. You want to start at the top and go down. The bottom is the juicy stuff. We gotta save that, yeah. Yeah, we gotta save the juicy stuff. But like Russ, I'll be honest with you, I have, I think at this point, 17 years experience

in the games industry, covering it in various ways. I don't even know how to begin deliberating if the best esports team is gonna be Billy Billy Gaming or Na'Vi or Team Liquid. Team Liquid is the one I recognize. I also recognize T1 so it could be one of those two. Do you have any thoughts? Well we should be very clear. For one thing these are not, because I don't want to spoil the besties game of the year. So what we're saying here is not what our picks are for each of these categories. No. So when we do the besties game of the year. So what we're saying here is not what our picks are for each of these categories. No.

So when we do the besties game of the year specifically for best Esports team, it might not be Billy Billy Gaming. No. So like just to have that upfront, which is to say best Esports team, I'm gonna have to go by funniest name, which is Billy Billy Gaming.

I think, yeah, I don't even know if we're pronouncing that right. It's entirely possible we are not. Spelled that way. Can I just, maybe we should skip some of the ones that we aren't gonna be able to say anything about. Content creator of the year, again, no one I know got the nom for that one.

Wait, wait, wait, let's see, let's see. Because again, we could, okay, so we have Keso, Illuan, Technogamers with's see, because again, okay, so we have Kso, Iluan, Technogamers with a Z, Typical Gamer, and Usada Pecora. Yeah, I don't, apologies, this is not a read on any of these people, I don't follow anything, so I don't know. I like the Z in Technogamers, that's my immediate thought.

I do like the Z in Technogamers. So I think Technogamers is gonna take it, but just because of the Z. Let's do most anticipated game. This is the one that maybe we can apply some level of logic to. We've got Death Stranding 2 on the beach, Ghost of Yote, we've got Grand Theft Auto 6,

we've got Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, and we've got Monster Hunter Wilds. Okay, this is probably the funniest category of all of them, because as we all know, Jeff Keighley has a buddy. He has a pal. He has a compatriot in arms. Yeah. Oh, you're saying that there's no way Keighley can... Well, first of all, there's a jury, I think, who decides the award winners. It's not just Keighley himself.

No, no, I know, I know. I do love the conspiracy theorizing that this one's gonna be the Kojima. It's not even a conspiracy.. No, no, I know, I know. I do love the conspiracy theorizing that this one's gonna be Kojima. It's not even a conspiracy, I'm just saying, you know, I don't know, man. He's there, like Kojima's gonna be there. And if you were to look at best, most anticipated games of years past,

I'm sure there's been some Kojima shit in there. And I would say, like, I'm excited for that game. It's probably number two on this list of most anticipated for me. Number one being? Grand Theft Auto VI. Yeah, so that's the one that's gonna win this award because it's Grand Theft Auto VI.

The only reason I think that is because it's Grand Theft Auto VI. Yeah. Is the only reason why. I mean, it's not coming out in 2025 despite the- Not gonna come out in 25, no, but it is, we are anticipating it. It should win, although if there's, if it's, okay, if it's Death Stranding though,

we're all gonna look a little side eye, a little bit, right? Well, especially if it is followed by him coming on stage and debuting a trailer for, exclusive trailer for Death Stranding 2 on the beach. I would love a new Kojima trailer. We're due for one. We are due. I mean, it was this time last year that we got, I feel like a glut of the last VGS.

Isn't that when he announced the project with Jordan Peele? Yeah, the like OT or whatever that was called. Yeah. Like PT follow-up, yeah. Let me see some of that. Let me get some of that, please. Yeah, that'd be great.

Best multiplayer. Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Tekken 8, Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2. A wild list. It's maybe the most diverse list in the bunch. Thinking about it, I did not play a lot of multiplayer this year.

The stuff I got into was like Sea of Thieves, that game is very old and not a ton of people play it. I was swept up in the Helldivers 2 Zeitgeist for a couple weeks there, for a few weeks there. But I did not pick up the new Call of Duty. Great campaign, but I did not play the multiplayer. I think it's gonna go to Helldivers 2 because I think everyone voting at least had a moment

where they experienced it. Yeah, it is definitely the most, it is the most zeitgeisty of all of these, I would say. And it is the one that I think people are the most sort of familiar with. I also don't know if Helldivers 2 is going to thrive in any other categories. Probably not.

So this would probably be the one. I don't even know if it shows up in any other categories. I think it does, we'll see though. Best sports slash racing, we're not gonna be able to. F1 24, EA Sports FC 25. I don't even know what sport that is. FC is probably football club. Football club.

EA Sports Football Club 25. Which football though? Probably, I mean, I don't know. They don't call American football teams football clubs. I think it's FIFA. I think it what used to be FIFA is now FC 25. Okay, I'm so far. And you listen to this podcast for our video game expertise

and now we just don't even know what the names of the games. Yeah, there's the, I do love, there's a new expansion team in the NHL, it's in Salt Lake City and it's the Utah Hockey Club, there's a new expansion team in the NHL, it's in Salt Lake City, and it's the Utah Hockey Club, which I do. I like the simplicity and the cleanliness of that. Yeah, man, that's the name. NBA 2K25, Topspin 2K25, WWE 2K24.

Now, Topspin 2K25 did have that new backspin system for when you're like doing like a really powerful backspin shot, and I think that alone might take it. Agreed, Russ. Some of the greatest a really powerful backspin shot and I think that alone might take it. Agreed Russ, some of the greatest advancements in backspin technology, also a recognition of what a landmark year it's been in the sport of tennis. Big names stepping down, big names stepping up, we got challengers which was so horny

and made everyone so horny. Yeah, big time. Which I don't actually know if that came out this year. Yeah, I think that Spider-Man was in it. Yep. No, he wasn't. Best Sim slash strategy game. Age of Mythology retold, Frostpunk 2,

Konnitsugami, Path of the Goddess. I know our own Chris Plant was a big fan of that. He loved that game. Manor Lords and Unicorn Overlord. I played Unicorn Overlord. Yeah, we played that for a besties. I've heard great things about Manor Lords. I know that our sort of merch lead, McKay,

got into Manor Lords if memory serves. I don't know. We're pretty far outside of our, I would say, we don't have like a big strategy fan in the show. No, we don't. It's usually one of the genres we have to reach outside the show to get somebody to talk about. I mean, I like, I mean, you know,

if Matterlords gets the nod from the only person that seemingly cares about strategy games, it's not gonna go to Kunitugami because that game is too frigging weird. I played it, it was weird as hell. It might go to, I mean, Unicorn Overlord. Beloved by people who love those games. Beloved by people who love those games

and I don't know if Vanillaware has like a winning track record in the VGAs. Oh, so you think people are gonna look back and be like, they're due. Maybe, but Frostpunk was such a big ground break. It was like a big ground break. It was like a big strategy game when that dropped. And I feel like I didn't hear as much about Frostpunk too,

but again, I don't work for Polygon anymore. And so my exposure to the day to day fucking heartbeat of this industry is so disconnected. I think it's fair to say we should just skip this category because we've been fucking around day over time. Skip it on over to Best Family Game. We have families, we are a family, best family game. Astro Bot, Princess Peach Showtime,

Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, or The Plucky Squire. Now I will say that my son fucking loves Echoes of Wisdom because you can summon like 16 crows. Henry finished it. Henry finished that shit. Henry cut his teeth on that game.

I was so proud of him. He really stuck with it, even though it was quite, quite difficult at times. Did Henry play Astrobot? I think the Astrobot and Echoes of Wisdom are like the two that have the best shot. Absolutely, of these five. He has not played Astrobot.

He has asked about it, but Daddy's PlayStation 5 is on the third floor. Yeah. And he doesn't go up there. The no-go floor. It's like that in Beauty and the Beast when he's not allowed to go to that wing. Yeah. And he doesn't go up there. The no-go floor. The no-go floor. It's like that in Beauty and the Beast when he's not allowed to go to that wing.

Yeah, Daddy's encased rose, magic rose, is in his office. I have been going back and playing Astrobot. We have started the process of kind of like sharing our own personal top tens to each other, not anything set in stone, but just so we know that- With Henry? No, me and you and Chris and Justin

have started sharing our top tens with each other so that we know there's no big gaps in our stuff. If one person loved one game, everybody wants to make sure they've had a chance to play it. So I've been going back and actually playing some more Astrobot and I've been very much enjoying it. What game fucking rules?

I will say this, one of these games is nominated for Goaty, and one of them is not. And the game that is nominated for Goaty is Astrobot. Yeah, there have been weird moments of like split votes, but I think Astrobot is gonna take it. I think Astrobot wins it, yeah. Yeah, I think so too. Best fighting game, should we just keep on going?

Yeah, looking at this list, yes we should keep on going. I'm looking at this list. Yes, we should keep on going. Wait, Multiverses still exists. Multiverses is still going. Still trekking. Still going. It's nominated for a couple things, I think. Maybe.

Tekken has a panda. Tekken does have a panda. Best RPG. Now we are fucking talking. We are talking. Dragon Stagma 2. Maybe the most competitive category in the entire. Five hot ones.

Five hot little guys. Dragon's Dogma 2, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erd Tree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Metaphor Rifuntasio. Three of these are nominated for Godi. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erd Tree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Metaphor are all nominated for Godi.

What a fucking banger year it's been for my favorite genre of video games. It's crazy. I have been eating so good this year, it's insane. But I don't- I don't really understand the difference between action adventure and like where that line gets drawn. It's getting blurrier and blurrier.

Very confusing to me, but that's okay. I mean, my, I'm not gonna get into my druthers. We'll get into my druthers when we do our goatee list. Uh, I don't think it goes to Dragon's Dogma 2. I don't think it'll go to infinite wealth as tragic. Oh, that's interesting. Why do you, why do you not think infinite wealth? Um, I think that that series is, uh, is beloved by many, including myself.

But I also think given the sort of like jury nature of how these things are selected, it is going to go to either probably Elden Ring or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Interesting. Yeah, I don't know. I think Elden Ring with the DLC nature of it all, I think will hinder Elden Ring.

I think it goes to Rebirth then. Yeah, just a process of elimination. I feel like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to win the Game Award for best RPG. It does not win that in my heart, but you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles. I think that's a good assumption to make. Now, best action adventure game.

Again, Astro Bot, Prince of Persia the Lost Crown, okay. Silent Hill 2, okay. Star Wars Outlaws and The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. Now what is the unifying characteristic of all these games? Nothing, there's fucking no. You can see a character.

There's no unifying. Between Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom and Silent Hill 2, there is nothing. There is nothing. Yeah. Does Astro Bot kind of run the tables a little bit, do you think? I mean, in this category, I think it fucking cruises.

There's some great games in this category. Well, there's- Again, it's Echoes of Wisdom and Astro Bot, right? Like two games- I think Prince of Persia is up there in terms of quality. I don't know about voting. In my book, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think that it's going to,

I don't think it's gonna get up over Astrobot and Echoes of Wisdom, though. Yeah, I think Astrobot's gonna take this one as well. We could be so right, we are basing these guesses entirely on how the VGAs have operated in previous years and like. Well, but we can also narrow down, Outlaws is not taking it, not a chance. Silent Hill 2, a remake, probably not gonna take it.

And Principles of the Lost Crown, I love, but it's not fucking Astro Bot. Astro Bot, or... And it's not a Zelda game. I don't know that the Zelda name is going to be enough to get over... I think Astro Bot is a better game than Echoes of Wisdom. Agreed. I think Echoes of Wisdom, you know, it's not Breath of the Wild, it's not Tears of the Kingdom,

it's not some man-victory. I mean, I can tell you, it's not in our top whatever. Yeah, I don't think any of us sort of had it up in our top 10. I think Astro Bot takes it. Yeah. Best action game, Black Myth Wukong, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Helldivers 2,

Stellar Blade, Warhammer 40,000 Space Wars. Stellar Blade's surprising entry in here. I didn't know that there was a lot of support for Stellar Blade, but. Yeah, I don't think it's gonna win it. I think this one maybe is Black Myth Wukong. So there is a very large contingent of Black Myth Wukong folks out there.

Yes. You know, and we've seen its appearance in a number of different categories. And this is, I think, gonna determine a lot about whether it's gonna run the table in the categories is how unified that the voting block is for people that love Wukong. Is Wukong in the goatee category?

It is? Yes. Yeah, I think it's gonna take this. I don't think there's anything else in here that... Yeah, I think so too. I think you could maybe Helldivers 2, but I don't know. I feel like Black Myth Wukong has a much larger footprint. No, I think it's gonna take it.

I think Wukong is gonna end up taking that one. Let's go past best VR AR game. Yeah, I haven't played Batman Arkham Shadow yet, but I really, really want to, because it got great reviews. Oh, did it? I just did Asgard's Wrath 2. I love the first Asgard's Wrath.

Yeah, people love both of them. I just haven't played my headset since we did that, whatever that Dungeons of... Oh yeah, I like that. Whatever game was. I really like that one, but it's not nominated. Best mobile game. This one's interesting.

AFK Journey, Bellatro, Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket, Wuthering Waves, and Zenless Zone Zero. Bellatro being on here, I think is a bit- Unfair? Unfair, yeah. I don't think it's fair, because Bellatro came to mobile, you know, seven months, eight months, after it first came out.

Sure. And there's, if we're considering all ports, like, I don't know, I think Bellatro makes this list because it's a smaller indie game, right? And so like it fits. I mean it's a really fucking good mobile game. It's a really good mobile port, yeah I guess so. I don't know that we can like knock it

because it came out on other platforms first necessarily, like it came out before the voting happened on mobile. Yeah, I would say it's either Bellatro. I think it's almost definitely Bellatro. I think Zenless Zone Zero maybe has a chance this week. You don't think, Pokemon. I think Pokemon is a shot. No, I don't think Pokemon.

Really? I enjoy the Pokemon Triddy card game Pocket. I've collected them all. I feel good about that. Sure, yeah. And it's a good thing they're not releasing any more cards. So you'll always have them all. That's it.

I might just delete the game now. So I don't have to keep pursuing it. I got my rare chase animated Mew card, I'm not looking to lose my shirt. Okay, best debut indie game. Animal Well, Bellatro, Manor Lords, Pacific Drive, The Plucky Squire. Let's talk about Bellatro. Bellatro's up for a lot of stuff, including Game of the Year. And I feel like this has happened a lot of times where there has been a game that has been nominated

for a bunch of stuff, including Game of the Year, an indie game that also is nominated for Best Indie Game, that is also nominated for Best Debut Indie Game, and it gets all of them, right? That is the precedent that has been set by the Game Awards. It does happen usually, because people just like, oh, I've locked into this pick, so I'm gonna pick it every time that category shows up.

Yes. I was reading the Polygon sort of guess on some of these. Oh yeah, we've been doing, yeah, Ollie has been writing a great article series about predicting winners for each of the categories. Yeah, so Cuphead won an independent game and then won debut as well. So did Disco Elysium, Keen Up,

Bridge of Spirits, and Stray. So like, this has happened quite a bit. So to hop up to best independent game, because it's somewhat, I mean, it's quite similar. It's Animal Well, Bellatro, Lorelai, and the Laser Eyes, Neyva, and UFO 50. So I really think there's a good chance of Bellatro just going ham. Yeah, I think so too.

As much as I would want to see a split vote here and do like debut indie to Animal Well and best indie to Bellatro, something like that, or UFO 50 for that matter. I'd love a UFO 50 win, but I don't think it is going to happen, I think Bellatro wins best independent game, definitely. Yes.

I think best debut indie game. I think it's gonna be Bellatro as well. I think it's gonna be Bellatro, I would love an Animal Well win. Yeah. Okay, best community support. Okay, so the category name is kind of funny because it sounds like we're just like,

which community manager was doing the best job? But I think this is just like updating games. Yeah, which is different from best ongoing game in no way at all. Yeah, I don't know how, wait, are the category? These are two different categories. I don't get it. I don't know. I don't know why.

Why is this show so long? Why does the show have to be so long? It is literally, it is unwatchable in a literal sense for me. I can't sit and watch a three and a half hour long award show. I simply can't. I mean, here's what I'm gonna say.

Epic gave its community, with its support for its community, Godzilla. Yeah. So, I think that's pretty clear. Yeah, I mean, of these, it's Baldur's Gate 3. I don't know what Baldur's Gate 3 is doing on there. They've been doing free updates, basically, the whole year. That's cool. Why not in best ongoing game?

Okay, Final Fantasy XIV, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, No Man's Sky, yes, Fortnite, I think. Best ongoing game, Destiny 2, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy XIV, Fortnite, Helldivers 2. I wanna, you know, I think here, I'm gonna take a step back. Here's what I think the difference is. I think community support is free updates,

constantly updating the game. I think best ongoing game is the game itself, is the game fun. That's my personal definition of it. And if that's the definition, I think it's No Man's Sky for best community support and probably Fortnite. For best ongoing game? For best ongoing game, that'd be my.

Yeah, I mean, this is the, I feel, Destiny 2 has never won this category and has been nominated for it, I think, most years. Yeah, do you think it's, I feel, Destiny 2 has never won this category and has been nominated for it I think most years. Yeah, you think it's gonna be like the Emeritus? No, I don't. I don't think the VGAs work like that. Yeah, probably. I feel like there's usually not an Emeritus chip in.

But this was a good year for Destiny 2, at least a good first half of the year when Final Shape dropped. Yeah. Now they're just taking naps. Bungie's having a big old nap. I don't know what's going on over there. I feel like sometimes I get-

They've got a new game. They're working on it. I get glanced off of the side of that community and it's like, I see people get angry and I'm like, okay, okay. So much has changed over the years. I think maybe Diablo 4 could take it just because a Diablo expansion is such a big fucking deal.

Yeah. But yeah, my guess is either that or Fortnite. Games for impact, I don't have much to say about. Not sure what the intent is, so let's go ahead and skip. Yeah, that one's just a guess. Accessibility. Yes. Also, I don't know the list of the accessibility features

for all of these games. I know they all included a lot of accessibility features, but I don't feel qualified to determine which was the best. The most accessible, yeah, that's fair. I'm just glad they all tried. Sure. Best performance, Brianna White, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

Who was that? Who did Brianna White play? Brianna White played Eris, I believe, or Aerith, if you will. Hannah Tell, Life is Strange, double exposure. Humberly Gonzalez for Star Wars Outlaws. Luke Roberts, Silent Hill 2, I'm imagining is the lead of that.

And Melina Juergens for Sinwa's Saga Hellblade 2. I mean, she was very good. Of what I played, I didn't like the game at all, but her performance in Hellblade 2 was pretty through the roof great. Yeah, yeah. I think that that is a game that showcases performance, maybe more than any other.

So I think that that is very likely to. I guess as someone who has played Final Fantasy VII all the way through, which I haven't re-burnt all the way through, does Aerith bring it at one point? I mean, always. She's very good. It's a fantastic performance.

And I think that that is a hard role to nail the kind of like etherealness, but also like, you know. She's gotta get pissed sometimes. What? She's gotta get pissed sometimes. Yeah, like, yeah, there's quite a bit of depth there. And I think that that's, I think that she does a great job with it.

But I don't know, I think Sin was Saga, it's like how there's Oscar bait movies. I feel like this is sort of like that in terms of these type of VGAs. Best audio design. It's Astrobot, Call of Duty Black Ops 6, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Sin was Saga, Hellblade 2, or Silent Hill 2.

I think Astrobot is fucking gorgeously designed. Oh, that is true. I also think Silent Hill II is a game that is maybe exclusively about audio design, and not at all about visual design. But how much of that was like majorly different from the audio design that was in the original game?

Well, I mean, you gotta think about like the audio of the original game was like produced on a fucking eight track. No, I'm sure they had to redo it. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't. like the audio of the original game was like produced on a fucking 8-track. No, I'm sure they had to redo it. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I think that the, I think audio design when one is having to like, uh, update it over, uh, you know, 20 years of hardware changes, I think it, I think that it counts again.

Yeah. Best score and music. Astro Bot, fucking great. Fucking awesome. Bionic C-67 Rebirth, also pretty good. Metaphor Refantazio. I really like the music in that game. Fucking great.

Silent Hill 2 has music? Too scary. Jesus Christ, man. That battle theme of Metaphor Refantazio slaps pretty hard. Yeah, it's pretty great. But every level I play an Astro Bot, every level I play an Astro Bot is like pretty funky. So good. It's pretty good stuff.

And I do think for rebirth, I think they probably, to correct me if I'm wrong, lean a lot on the score that was introduced in the first game. It is very, very, very much so. They do a lot of, it may be rebirth just in how clever they get with those adaptations sometimes. Like the main battle theme is not the, da da da da da da da da,

it is a, it's like a battle version of the main Final Fantasy VII theme. It's like a, da da, da, da, da. And you're gonna be on stage, correct? And I'll be on stage and I'll be doing that. Okay, cool. So, I don't know, probably Astro Bot. I think Astro Bot.

Best art direction, Astro Bot, Astro Bot, Black Myth, Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Earth Tree, Metaphor, Rief, and Tazio, or Neva? Black Myth Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erd Tree, Metaphor Refinitazio, or Neva? I think, I mean, Astrobot is my, probably, art direction. It has a lot of art in it. Although Shadow of the Erd Tree, I mean,

if it can't get this one, like, all their games look so fucking sick, man. Yeah. Black Myth Wukong was a very visually striking game, but I don't know if it is of the kind of scale of Astrobot or Elden Ring. So I'd say it's one of those two. Best narrative, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

I fucking hope not. Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth. Yeah, dog. I love it. Metaphor Reventazio, yeah. Senua's Saga Hellblade II and Silent Hill II. Okay, so I think it's down to the top three, Final Fantasy VII, Like a Dragon, and Metaphor.

Man, is there anyone who liked where the story of Final Fantasy VII went? I've spoken to a lot of people that are diehard Final Fantasy people, not just Griffin McElroy, and it seems like none of them like the ending. Nobody likes it. They're doing too much multiverse bullshit

and no one likes that. So I don't even understand what it's doing here. Man, this would be great for like a Dragon Infinite Well to get in there, cause it has my favorite story. It does have a great story. I am completely enraptured by that story. So that would be my pick for this. Yeah.

Best adaptation, real quick. It's going to be Arcane or Fallout. It's not going to be. I gotta be real. Let's take a second to give some props to Knuckles, which is legit. Knuckles, great. Great. Fun, a lot of fun.

Like a Dragon, Yakuza, I haven't watched it yet. Tomb Raider, Legend of Lara Croft, I haven't watched that yet. Arcane, Fallout, it's one of those two. Fallout was such a big deal, but Arcane. Yeah, I think it's gonna be Fallout. Arcane, people love Arcane, Fallout, it's one of those two. Fallout was such a big deal. But Arcane- Yeah, I think it's going to be Fallout. Arcane, people love Arcane, but I think, I feel like this season came pretty late in the voting process, like last month or so, and Fallout

just like dropped a, sorry, a bomb. Fallout, yeah, yikes. Fallout like got its hooks in people outside of the usual realm of people who would watch a video game adaptation. I have heard Arcane is excellent. I've watched half the first season and did not finish it. But I hear the second season is excellent. Best game direction, we're coming down to the final two. Home stretch. Okay, this is the dumbest category

in the entire list. Yes, of course, of course. Best game direction, Astrobot, Bellatro, Black Myth, Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Earth Tree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, or Metaphor, Riffentazio. It's literally gang. It is literally gang. The same exact nominees this game of the year. So let's just do both of those, huh?

Okay, and what is, I even wanna know what is game direction. What does that even mean? We crank them on this every year, Russ, because it don't make no sense. And we're going to crank them one last time. What the fuck do you mean, Jeff? Tell us what you mean.

To think of it as a- It should just be complicated games at that point. Yes. Just based on how big your studio was and how many HR meetings you had to have. That's what it should be. We should get a list of like a total head count at each studio and be like,

the fact that you all managed to, Bellatro, get the fuck out of here. You're like one guy. Come on, stop it. Yeah, I don't, let's skip best game direction. Game of the Year. Astrobot, Bellatro, Black Myth, Wukong, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erd Tree,

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Metaphor, Rief, and Tazio. Okay, let's lose the ones that we think have no shot. I think Erd Tree has no shot. I think Erd Tree has no shot either. It is the one that people are most fussy about its inclusion being here. It's a very good game, but. Bellatria would be a big upset, I think.

Yes, I think so too. I love that it's here. Don't get me wrong. I love that a game like Bellatro has been considered for game of the year. I think if you look at sheer time spent playing games this year, Bellatro would rank pretty high for me, and so I do love it being here. I don't think it's gonna take it.

That leaves, I don't think metaphor, Rifantazio. Yeah, I don't think so either. I think that those are a little bit too niche. That leaves Astrobot, Black Myth, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I think of those Astrobot probably takes it. Yeah, I think it comes down to Astrobot and Black Myth, honestly, because I think Final Fantasy VII,

whatever the remake, I think got the nod that year, if I recall correctly. And I think got the nod that year, if I recall correctly. And I think people wanna mix it up. And it's really just- It would be surprising for me. I don't understand the, you know, we're trying to guess at this point, the kind of like how the jury will vote.

And that is a really abstract concept. So yeah, I- There's just a lot of people that considered Black Myth to be a fine game, but not a great game. And I think every single person that played Astrobot was like, oh, this is a great fucking game. Yes. Yeah, I think Astrobot's gonna win it.

I think maybe there's a chance FF7 Rebirth sneaks in there. The VGAs, you can never really guess what the game of the year is going to be. That fucking divorce game won. You remember that divorce game? It takes two? They turn into little dolls, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. That one. That was a good game, but like, game of the year? I don't know about that. I wanna look at previous year winners. We get Game Award for Game of the Year on Wikipedia. Last year it was Baldur's Gate, three. Great pick. Great pick.

And then year before that, Elden Ring, sure. 2021, It Takes Two, beats Deathloop, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet and Clank, Rift Apart, and Resident Evil Village. Weird year, 2021. That was a weird year. 2020, Last of Us Part Two. 2019, Sekiro, shadows die twice, fuck yeah.

2018 God of War, 2017 Breath of the Wild, of course. 2016 Overwatch, 2015 Witcher 3, and 2014 Dragon Age Inquisition. So I don't know, that didn't really help. No, it didn't. It didn't really help. I think Astrobot. But it is wild to think that Dragon Age

got blanked in this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Given the fact that the previous game. No noms for Veil Guard whatsoever. There's, I didn't care for it, but there's other games on this whole list that I didn't care for that did get nominated for stuff. Super Mario Party Jamboree is nominated for two categories.

Cool. Yeah. Okay. All right, I'm so tired. We did it. We guessed all the right answers. Before we end this segment, I have a quick question for you, Griffin. Sure. What is gonna open the show?

It's probably gonna be a trailer. What trailer is it gonna be? Urgh! I don't know. So Henry, we went to a toy store this past weekend, and Henry bought a Magic 8-Ball, and I grabbed it and brought it up to my office. So I thought if we wanted like just check and see,

you know, like Hollow Knight Silksong, are we gonna get any Hollow Knight Silksong updates? Don't count on it. Yeah, yeah. That one's obvious. New GTA six trailer, that's not gonna fucking happen. But yes, definitely according to the eight ball. Whoa, confirmed.

I don't think that they would do that, so. No, they're not going to, the eight ball is wrong. The credibility on that one is incorrect. I think, here's my prediction. Okay. Death Stranding 2 is gonna open the show with a weird ass fucking trailer. That would be great.

I would love that. I would love the tone of the show to be set by a baby climbing out of someone's throat or whatever the fuck. Let's take a break break and I wanna hear about what it's like to actually be at one of these things, Russ. Oh boy. We'll be right back.

Okay, so for the people listening at home and maybe watch, you know, maybe they watch the Game Awards every year. Maybe they get excited and they see all the announcements and they see all the people having such a good time in the audience. I thought that I would share as someone who's attended the Game Awards once, what it is like to be in the audience of the Game Awards.

What was this, what year? Last year. Okay. I was there. So this is very recent. So here's the thing about the Game Awards. The Game Awards happen, I think they start at like 4.30 or 5 p. 5pm Pacific time, which is smack dab in the

middle of dinner. And you should know if you happen to have tickets and plan on going, please for the love of God, eat something before you go because there is very, very little sustenance in that theater. So you've watched a lot of trailers and you got no anything in your stomach. Yeah, I mean, there's not, I imagine, a snack booth. Unless they have like a collab with Taco Bell where they're like handing chalupas out, like, you're going to be really hard up. So like as much as thrilled as someone might be to win an award, they'd probably be more thrilled to be handed out like a cup full of nuts.

Yeah, that would be cool. They should have, you know, Paul Rudd running down the aisle tending people bottles of water, as he loves to do. That would be sick. It's a, I don't know if it's because I'm jaded and I've been to award shows before, not the Game Awards. That was my first time at the Game Awards,

but I've been to like GDC Awards, which is fun, but there's just like a ton of downtime when it's something that is broadcast. Cause you have to run ads and you have to whatever. So it's not an experience that I would, you would have to be like really a die hard fan to wanna be in the room itself, because if you're not, you would be so much happier

at home just watching a stream. Yeah. Who's it for? Who's that for? The people that are in the audience, you mean? Yeah. I think it's industry audience, a lot of people that were like nominated

for awards or companies. You know, it's like a networking, rah rah us kind of night, which is nice. There aren't many of those. I don't, I mean, again, the public can go, as far as I'm aware, they sell tickets. I don't think they sell as many tickets

that they used to to the public. I think a lot of that room is sold, but I don't know, man. If you're in the back of the LA Live, wherever it happens, and you're just watching Jeff Keighley on a big screen, like you could be watching Jeff Keighley on your big screen at home having a nice steak dinner. So please don't do that.

We used to live blog these things. Back when people live blogged these things, does Polygon still do live blogs? Well, I wouldn't describe it as live blogging per se, but we'll certainly have reporters all night covering, you know, it's a huge news night. It's probably the biggest news night of the year at this point, given that E3 has like gotten weird.

God, that's fucking weird, man. Yeah. So what was that experience like when you were live blogging it? It was always pretty intense. I remember there was one year Justin was visiting Austin and we live blogged it together from his Airbnb that he was staying in. We got a bunch of burgers and fries from P. Terry's and tore those up and I got a tummy ache

and then the show never ended. My wife at the time, she's still my wife, I don't know why I said it at the time. Well, she was at the time too. Rachel was like, this is outrageous. Cause she watched it with us and she was like, why is it so, I don't understand why it is still going. It's always been pretty long, it has only gotten longer.

I would love a tight two hour game award show. Here's the slight edit that I would make, and maybe if Jeff is listening and he can slot this in. If we could know the amount of money that changed hands for the placement of a given trailer, that'd be really helpful. Because sometimes you know, like, oh, this is not a trailer that they wanted in there

just because editorially, this is like a great moment for a trailer. This is like, we're paying some bills right here. And knowing, hey, this game is so shitty that they needed to pay $300,000 for a trailer, this is like, we're paying some bills right here. And knowing, hey, this game is so shitty that they needed to pay $300,000 for a placement would kinda help. Just from a watching standpoint, I'd kinda like to know that.

That's interesting. I've seen some lists of supposed leaked announcements that are coming. Oh. I mean, I don't like talking about those things because it seems like just complete. You think it's spoilies? Some spoilies, but I didn't see anything on there

that really blew me away. Apparently, Keely, what has Keely said about, I feel like Keely usually does try to couch the Game War announcements. He does, he tends to be like, we're gonna have a good night versus we've got 37 world exclusives. Sometimes it's that, but the whole industry

is in a kind of weird waiting period, right? Like you're not gonna see a bunch of Nintendo stuff, you usually don't at the Game Awards, but you're not gonna see any now, I feel like until the Switch 2 gets announced. Can you fucking believe if Keely pulled such a coup that like the thing starts and big fucking Mario's face shows up on the screen and you're pinching it

like in Mario 64? That's the Switch 2 announcement? Yes. Can you fucking believe if he pulled that off? No, Russ! He would be unstoppable. He would be Thanos. He would be Thanos, but he's not.

There's not gonna be a Switch 2 announcement at the Game Awards that is absolute poppycock. And there won't be party to it. I know, Half Life 3 though. Half Life 3 for sure. What else we got going on? We've got some reader mail. Do we wanna do some reader mail real quick?

JD Cohen says, damn it Russ, they're peppercorns. Okay, so the pickle shapes that we discussed last week, JD is saying that they're peppercorns. Mm, mm, mm. I don't think, I mean, one of them might be, the ball, the hard ball might be a peppercorn. That sounds like a peppercorn, yeah. But peppercorns are rectangles.

Um, yeah, no, not traditionally. No. So- Most, most like, you know, stuff that grows in nature is not a rectangle naturally. There's very few natural rectangles. What about those, those watermelons in Japan? Most stuff that grows in nature is not a rectangle naturally. There's very few natural rectangles. What about those watermelons in Japan?

Yeah, again, not a natural shape in nature, are the cubed watermelons. This is from... Slypherjam. Thank you. For anyone who enjoys the new Half-Life 2 commentary, Valve also has full commentaries for Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2, Portal, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life Alex.

So everything else. Basically. Basically everything else. Are they missing anything at this? I guess Half-Life 1 does not have commentary. Probably, technologically speaking, they couldn't pull it off. No. Wild, that Half-Life 2 was last sort of on the list. Um... Well, they needed a justification for why they should spend time. Wild, that Half-Life 2 was last sort of on the list.

Well, they needed a justification for why they should spend time. I do like the idea that someone would play through Half-Life Alex with commentary and just like you're slamming the VR headset on and you're like, I'm just gonna listen to this guy talk about fucking shaders for a while. Mmm, okay, interesting. That's the dream.

Tim B, my big heads up for the UFO 50 on retro handhelds question. Some of the games included in UFO 50 have slowdown, even on the better Linux based devices. I bought an RGB 10 Max 3 as my dedicated UFO 50 handheld and games like NINPEC and the towns in Grimstone run very slowly. The developer of the port has confirmed

that there's no slowdown on the new retro pocket devices that support port master, but at that point you're spending like $200. Russ, those new Retroid Pocket 5s look pretty hot. Yeah, they do look very good. I would say that it's probably not worth spending $200 just to play UFO 50 on one of those devices. No.

I, what I played, I didn't play all the games, I just played a couple, and what I played on the RG35XXH was playable, but I did notice a little bit of slowdown. So if you're looking for a fully perfect experience, yeah, you should do rural research. I think this is probably right. The Retro Pocket devices can do it, but you would have to probably install Linux.

Those are Android based, right? Well, you can install Linux on those devices, but it just adds to the complexity of it at a certain point. You know, I've said this to you, Griffin, my dream, small or handheld at this point is something that can run SteamOS. And right now Valve does not allow third party devices to run SteamOS. There are some workarounds and some shells that you can do that allow you to kind of do it.

But my hope is that like, look, a fucking Switch Lite form factor running Steam games, like bring it on. Oh man, that Odin 2, and the Odin 2, I think Portal is the new one? That's the big one. It's like a bigger one? Yeah, those are big. The Odin Pro, I think, is the one one? Yeah, that's the big one. It's like a bigger one? Yeah, those look, those, my, the Odin Pro,

I think is the one that I have now, that I like, when I got the hankering to play, like Dark Cloud 2, I went into like, get into PS2 games, and it knocked those out pretty well. Did it, it require like a lot of tinkering to get those? Quite a bit of tinkering to get some of those PS2 games to work, yeah. I just don't have the time, man,

to do that tinkering stuff. Yeah, I don't know that I'm at the, to do that tinkering stuff. Yeah. I don't know that I'm at the point where I want a new retro handheld bad enough to actually go out and buy it, but it's getting close. This is, you're experiencing it. This is how you should experience it,

which is just like, oh, that looks really cool, and then wait two weeks. Literally, they are only getting cooler and stronger and better and smaller and whatever. It's moving very quickly. So yeah, I think there's no big rush in buying anything at the moment. Hey, let's do honorable mentions.

Let's do it. You been playing anything? Yeah, so I've been playing through the GTA trilogy. I've talked about it a few times. This is the remastered trilogy. I'm playing it on Steam Deck. I am on to Vice City. Okay.

To beat GTA 3, which still holds up in my opinion. It's a little rough. I think the nostalgia was carrying GTA 3 a little bit, but it is fucking wild how much of a leap Vice City is over GTA 3. It's insane, yeah. And that game came out one year after GTA 3 came out. Well, I think they learned a lot from GTA 3, right?

But a fucking year? Yeah, I don't know. Five to six has been, what has it been, 10 years? It's been a million, billion years. I realize the scale is a little bit different, but like, there is so much that they like, just quality of life improvements and gameplay features. Sure.

That only one person could drive a car in GTA 3. You can never have more than one person in a car. That's that's bonkers. I didn't realize that. Yeah. Yeah, man. I remember when Vice City came out, it like took me by surprise. I was pretty plugged into like I read most gaming mags. But still Vice City came out and I remember seeing it playable at like a demo station at EB and thinking like, what the fuck? Like, how did this happen?

Yeah, I just- Well, cause the game, GTA 3 came out in October of 2021. No. 2001, October. And then in May was when Vice City got announced. So imagine GTA 3 wins all these game of year awards, blows everyone away, how the fuck is this possible? And four months later, there's a fucking follow-up

that's like dramatic. I mean, it didn't come out then, but like one year later it was out. A lot of that has to do with the fact that they started development, obviously while GTA 3 was in development. But I think it was initially planned as an expansion pack, and they were like, fuck it, we can blow this out.

And they did. It was great. Anything else? It's pretty much it for us. There's been a lot of illness in the household, so we're just kinda hanging in and hunkering. I finished Dragon Quest III HD 2D remake. Oh my God.

What's your playtime like? How long that thing? Oh, like 15 hours. It's quick. Oh, that's not too bad. You can truck through that thing. Yeah, that's not bad. I, it's fine, it's good, it looks good. It's again, comfort food.

It is not gonna crack my goatee list, I don't think, but I enjoyed my time with it. It chilled me out. It was very much a vibe, but I don't think it really. Maybe we'll have an honorable mention category for whatever was the most vibe of the year. Yeah, that one's gonna be up there. Still, I'm going to be playing UFO 50 for a long time,

and I want people to go ahead and get used to that. Just a quick cherry update, Seaside Drive, got that cherry just barely. That's tough, that's a tough one. That is a tough one, that is a hard one. I think you have to get 30,000, I got like 30,100. Oh my God, I didn't realize there was a score requirement. There's a score requirement on that one.

And a Tactics, cherry that. I'm nearly done with Warp Tank, which I really have been enjoying. Warp Tank's cool. Warp Tank is very, very cool. Let me ask you, are you guiding a lot of this stuff before you start playing, or how are you doing it? Not from the most of them.

Well, because like Valbrace, for example, I know the cherry in that is a little esoteric. Yes, I did look up the cherry on Valbrace because I did not want to get 10 hours into it. It's one of the few games, they call it an epic play, where it has save states, essentially, and I did not want to, you can fuck yourself over in Vile Brace where you get to the last level

and it's too late for you to do the things you need to do to get the cherry. But no, for the most part, like a tactics is just, you've got to get pretty good at it pretty fast and seaside drivers, you just got to fucking do it. I have been kind of like going back and forth between games that are easier to complete and get the cherry on, because it's just about persistence and knowledge.

And like a block koala is just, you have to beat every level, right? You don't have to beat every level to beat the game. You only have to beat like 40. But if you want the cherry, you have to beat all 50 levels. That's like doable, because you just have to solve more puzzles. Whereas in Seaside Drive it's like,

or Velgress I think is another one, or any of the like bullet hell shooters are like you actually just have to be very good. So I've been kind of like going back and forth between games like Knight Manor, which is pretty easy to cherry and then like a more twitchy game. I still have not done an In Peck.

I have also been replaying with Henry, Super Mario Odyssey. Whoa. What a good game. What a very good game. They should make another one of those. Yeah, they should probably make another one. It's been interesting,

and maybe I'll talk about this here, because I don't want it, it'll be so non-helpful in a game of the year discussion. I really enjoy Astro Bot, I enjoy the design of it and the tone of it and how lighthearted and clever it is. It has been unable to hook me in a way where I am eager to go back and play more of it.

Sure. Which is, for me, kind of like a huge thing. It's kind of like a huge motivator is to feel this hook to keep coming back and playing more of it. And playing Odyssey has kind of illuminated, I think, a little bit kind of what I am not getting totally stuck in with. And in Odyssey, just the sheer amount of tech

and discovery in each of those gigantic worlds is so exciting to me in a way that like hunting down all the little bots in each, you know, linear level of Astro Bot has not. It is entirely, this is not to denigrate Astro Bot as a game as much as it is a sort of structural preference. Yeah. And like, I love that Mario Odyssey is just,

this world's fucking huge and if you find something, that's cool and exciting. Whereas an Astro Bot, if I find an astro bot and then I see that when it joins the line, there's like two or three missing and I can't go back. I'm like, fuck. And I also just enjoy the tech of Mario movement of just like the hat dive and all that being sort of like,

really, you can get so nasty with that. Yeah, that was the, I think the one area that it's very clear, like Astro Bot, I mean, they're gonna make a fucking sequel. And the one area that I could see them expanding on is like the Astro Bot, just their movement options. It feels good to move around an Astro Bot. It feels good, that laser hover jump, like it feels good.

It does not feel like I am the world's greatest platforming gamer. And I can turn into a fucking ball whenever I want. Yeah, exactly. Or a slope or whatever it is. Henry beat Odyssey. Now we're going back and playing all the, going back and looking for more moons. But I showed him in that final Mushroom Kingdom level,

actually you can do this. And I showed him the hat dive down a hill into a ball super speed roll. And he was like, what in the world? There's like, I don't know. There's so much- Yeah, there's a skill ceiling. There's a skill ceiling, I don't know. There's so much. There's a skill ceiling. There's a skill ceiling, I don't know. All that stuff to me is sort of like very, very exciting.

And that game is just, I can't believe how good that game is. It will never not be astonishing to me that that game and Breath of the Wild came out in the same year. Same, same, yeah, same few months span. Insane, totally insane. I think that's probably gonna do it for us. Yeah, I think we did it.

I want to thank the patrons over at patreon.com slash the besties We have a new bracket battles episode up. It is for best food in video games That's a good one. Hey gang. It's a good one that actually what we can give you a clip right here. Here's a clip Who put in boiled crab cuz that one was early on the list and like it's, that seems like a pretty outside choice. Okay. It's such a funny icon. I put both of them in.

I entered both of them. And if you've played Elden Ring and you're a min max or like I am, you would probably know that boiled crab as an item is one of the best items in Elden Ring as a consumable. It provides a huge benefit to your damage reduction for a full 60 seconds,

which is usually enough for a boss fight. And if you don't have 99 of them, you're doing it wrong. Yeah, how do you get 99? You just buy them in a crab store? Yeah, there's a guy, he's a vendor. I killed him so that I could buy them from my main hub. That's cool. I killed him so that I could buy them from my main hub. It was cool. I felt bad about it.

But it's like you- It's one of the top. Men have died for many worse reasons, Russ. It's like you murdered Trader Joe's so that you could get his stuff on Amazon. You became a traitor to Trader Joe. Yeah, we had fun with that one. It just adds up.

If you have someone in your life that loves the Besties but can't necessarily afford the Patreon, you can gift Patreons to people. We have a link. It's patreon.com slash the besties slash gift and you can, you know, give a month or a full year subscription to Besties content, which is great. I also wanted to thank the following patrons. We have Finian, we have Mike S, we have Brent, and we have Little Mel. Thank you for being patrons. Thank you to everyone else for being patrons.

Y'all are awesome. Thank you all so much for joining us. And by us, I mean just me and Russ, an intimate time for you, the listener. Next week though, next week though? The gang is going down for real. The gang is gonna be back. We're gonna be all four of us duking it out

for part one of our game of the year. Spectacular. We're doing some different stuff with it. We've discussed doing some different stuff with it. I think, yeah, we change it a little bit every year and I think this year is no different. Just looking at sort of our personal faves, we're having listeners pick the final four? Yeah, so we've, I think, shared the listeners, our 12, which was determined off looking at our top 10 lists. Okay.

And then the final four will be a listener picks that we will discuss, which is not a different thing. We've done that several years in the past. So yeah, Goaty, part one next week. Join us as the battle begins. And it's gonna be a fun one, I think, just looking at the games we're all excited about. It's a big range.

Looking at all of our top 10s is like not, there's definitely crossover, but not as much crossover as there usually is. No clear winner, not like in years past. So it'll be a fun discussion, I think. I don't think it'll get nasty this year. No, it'll be nice. Because we're all adults.

We'll hug. We'll be great. So join us next week for the besties, because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games? Besties!