Triple Click - How Old is Link? (And Other Important Questions, LIVE from Portland)

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

LIVE from Portland, it's Triple Click! Kirk, Maddy, and Jason reach into the Gamer hat and answer some audience questions. It gets a little off the rails. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointripleclick 🚀  SUPPORT TRIPLE CLICK:Join Maximum Fun | Buy TC Merch💬 JOIN THE TRIPLE CLICK DISCORD🎮 Triple Click Ethics Policy📱 SOCIALS | @tripleclickpodInstagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

Hello everyone, Kirk here with just a bit of preamble for this episode. You're about to listen to our live show recorded on Friday, July 11th at the Alberta Rose Theater in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. This is the main feed version, which means you'll get a regular episode of Triple Click, more or less, just recorded on a stage in front of people and with a lot more energy. So you'll get our discussion topics, which were chosen by the audience, and you'll get our one more things as usual. However, the show was a full two hours long and it had a lot more going on than a regular episode of Triple Click. And if you'd like to hear that full two-hour show, all the songs we sang, the games we played, some sax solo, some bonus topics, some extra discussion of games we've been playing well. You can listen to that if you go and become a maximum fun member because that version is live right now in the maximum fun bonus feed. And if you're already a member, go listen to that version to get the full show. We had such a great time at this live show. I can't get over it. It was much more of a production than past live performances,

and I really just couldn't have had a better time on stage. Thanks to everyone at the Alberta Rose Theater for making it all so easy for us, and a huge thank you to everyone out there who came out to the show. Rest assured, we will be back. All right, I hope you enjoy this recording of our live show. Thanks, as always, for listening. I'm Kirkhamelg gamers in Portland, Oregon. Welcome to Triple Twitter.

I'm Kirk Hamilton. I'm Maddie Myers. And I'm Jason Shrier. Hello. What a crowd. We made it. Pacific Northwest is pretty cool. It is.

I'm telling you guys, I'm always saying. Yeah, I mean, usually you don't believe anything you say. All your New York supremacy is just misguided. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's nice. All right. It's nice here.

You said it. Like a distant, like, third or fourth. For New Yorker, that's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, it's like New York and then New York again. Then Queens. No, Satin Islands on the bottom. Okay, no offense to Queens.

Satin Island jokes, like, really play in the Pacific Northwest. Yeah, they really do. They love it. So what are we doing tonight, Jason? What are we doing? Well, we're playing a live show in Berlin, Oregon. We all flew out here. Kirk drove the 10 minutes.

from his house. That's true. That's true. I did carry all the stuff, though. How about Kirk Campbellton on the guitar? On the singing. How about Maddie Myers? This guy can play the guitar.

All right. So we got a lot to get through tonight. We do. It's a big show. People are to get through. It's a super size show. It sounds so fun. Well, yeah.

We got to ground down. We got this. We got, who you guys. I got places to be. I got stories to break. We have some topics to discuss. We ask some of you to write some down on index cards as you came in. But you know what?

That box is a little hard to get stuff out of. It's a little big. Give us your hat. Hmm. Okay. Give us your video games hat, you mean? This hat? Yeah.

This hat that I'm wearing only for this purpose. So what we're going to do tonight is we are going to take the hat and we're going to pick out some topics and questions and things to discuss. us. We did not read these in advance, so we're just going to see how this goes. This is our first time. We're trusting you guys to keep it. This is our first time ever answering a question before. Okay. Well, this one's tough. How old is Link? Okay, well, first clarifying question, Ocarina of Time or a different Zol-Dakene? It doesn't say. We have to decide the answer. Oh, okay. All of that. How, like, Breath of the Wild link? Twink link. He's over 100 years old.

I feel like, I feel like this is written by someone who's like, over 18. Well, we haven't started playing O'Carrina of Time Out on the podcast, so I would say Link is still legal. Oh, so we don't know the answer. Well, I just mean he's a kid in that game. I was talking literally here. He's a kid and he's an adult. Yeah, but then he comes an adult later. He's over 100 years old in Breath of the Oh, that's a good point. He's quite true. Because of the mystical sleeping beauty coma. The cryos sleep that he was in. Does that count?

I think so, yeah. If you're cryogenically frozen. It's a little bit like one of those technicalities. Like, Your Honor, she was an 18,000-year-old dragon. That's called the anime defense. So he's 118 years old. Okay, that's how old is. I'm putting these on the floor.

We didn't plan this part. We needed a second half. Mattie, pass the hat around. Pass the hat. Am I right? All right. Let's get a good one. Yeah, don't take it from the top.

The bottom ones are the good ones. I feel like we've answered this on the show before, but I'll read it anyway. And the triple-click logo, which controller belongs to which person. Oh, yeah. Do we remember? I remember. Yeah. Do you?

What was it? Yes. I think Jason is the Nintendo. Yeah. The Super Nintendo. I am the PS-4 and you're the Xbox. I know I'm the Xbox. Because you're the hardest core gamer of all of us.

Oh, well, it's true. It's true. That's the answer. That's the answer. Okay. Oh, wow. Okay. This is a nice question.

Did you all intentionally set out to connect with a wider community via the podcast, the triple-click Discord, etc.? or was that an accident? How do you feel about having the following that you do now? It was a total accident. Actually, we didn't mean to publish this show. It was just going to be a fun thing that we were going to do to practice podcasting, and then, like, someone leaked it, and then here we are. No, I think we sent, yeah, I mean, if you make a podcast, you set out to connect to a wider audience, I don't think we could have, you know, imagine that it would be quite like this.

But then again, you never know where something is going to go. But I think we're also okay with it not being the biggest thing in the world. We talked a lot about what success means to each of us and what makes us feel good about the show, where it is. Do we want to be playing stadiums? Obviously. and we're working towards that every day because that's what success is. But no, for real.

I think we feel really good about where it is and we do try to intentionally reach more people. I do think that the triple-click Discord is a very special place. That was kind of, and that wasn't intentional exactly because we didn't do that. That's not our doing.

This is our, for anyone here who doesn't use our Discord, it's the server where people who listen to the show can hang out. Some people hang out there who don't listen to the show and they just, they're in there like to talk about video games because it's a nice place to be. And we didn't really have much to do with that, aside from maybe setting the tone with the show. So that was not intentional exactly. We're like,

let's just have a discord. I don't know. We'll see what happens. And now there's like thousands of people in there having a great time. So that's just a very cool, unexpected side effect, I would say. Yeah, just no gamers. That was the one rule. No capital G gamers. If you'd ever played a video game, you're not welcome here. Yeah, and that's still true. Okay, favorite video game tree. Oh, man. That's a good one. Got to think of a tree, guys.

It's not the dayku tree. Fuck that guy. He can fix his own problems. He's always asking me to go inside and deal with the spiders. No. Got to say it's also not that tree that spits at Kirby. That guy. No.

A lot of bad trees and gates. That one's pretty cute. What's his problem, you know? I've been playing a lot of fantasy life. I, and they have a lot of trees in that game. They're like all sorts of trees. You can chop. So I guess they're not your favorites

if you're just cutting them down constantly. I mean, it could still be your favorite. What's your favorite tree to chop? The cherry tree is fun to chop. Yeah. You go full George Washington. Yeah, do you lie about it? Does it make like a satisfying sound

when you chop it down? They all do. It's like a mini game. You have to like walk in it. I'm going to spoil the fantasy life section on this podcast. You like walk around in a circle, like looking for the sweet spot, which does extra damage to the tree. Oh, okay.

And then you chop it. It's very addictive. Extra damage to the tree. So that's your answer is the cherry tree. All right. There are more in the box, right? Oh, yeah. There's so many.

We're going to run out in a second. We might not get to them all, but that's okay. We're going to go as fast as we can. I'm putting in a- Hurry. Get a timer going here. Jason's already rejecting some of us. How can I support Game Studio unionization from outside of the video game industry?

It's a popular question. Unions, who knew? Actually, a lot of people knew, I think. I think changing public opinion about unions is something that we all participate in together all the time, and I feel like we've watched it change just in our media careers. Like, when I was starting out,

I don't think people were as pro-union just among journalists and reporters that I know. And now it's like, well, you really need to be in one. And that word of mouth is really strong. spread. So I think there's something to just sharing articles about it and changing public opinion among people you know, whether it's related to games or not. I think that makes a difference. Jason, you gave a GDC talk about this. Well, it was less of talking, me interviewing something. You asked a guy questions who had things to say about it. You talked. I was there though. It was great. I don't know.

What would you say? Yeah, I don't know because I don't feel like there's really anything that people outside of a workplace can do to like impact. Like, it's ultimately up to the work. I feel like. I would say... They have to decide if a union works for them and why and what that union looks like. Because the union can take so many different forms, right? That's true. Like, so the current presidential administration has gutted the NLRB.

And so I was wondering if there would be some hisses. Yeah, we... Not huge fans up on the stage. And they've gutted national labor protections in the NLRB. And I think that is something, I mean, it's pretty tangential or you're pretty removed from it. If you're voting for people who are pro-levels, who are pro-labor, they're not going to get the NLRB and other union, you know, national union protection.

So that's something, but a lot of it, yeah, is just sort of being cool and, you know, talking, being pro-union. There's not a whole lot that a just lay person or someone who plays video games can do directly. Also true, join a different union. Oh, wow. Multiple people are asking about the controllers and the logo. The people want to know. Okay, well, that person got their answer already.

They must feel so happy. Okay. Do video game companies coerce players to play and pay attention to games that are easiest to profit from? Sometimes. Do video game companies coerce? I'm imagining like a slave labor camp of gamers. Yeah, we're all being taken advantage of.

I mean, I think there's a certain kind of game we might imagine. Yeah, I think if you think of a type of design, right, the really sticky design that sucks you in. Yes, I think that is totally, it's the same as designing a casino or gambling apps. You know, they designed to be frictionless and really sticky and to pull you in, and then you give you this big reward every so often

and keep you in the zone, so you're just kind of cruising, like, yeah, absolutely, game companies do that. It's pretty scummy. It's like not the kind of video. We also design this podcast so that people keep listening. That's a separate question. To answer the first question, that's how we built our audience.

is through. Gotcha mechanics. Coercion. Targeted friction list. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Next question. Oh. This is a variation on the show logo question. Okay. It's just pure logo

all night. It is. This is logo three. If you remade your show logo but with foods, who would be holding what? I would be holding a burrito because we always talk about how I like burritos. Like Jason got a burrito with me once in like 2019 and then he talks about me eating burritos. It's like 2014.

So I would be holding a burrito. I would be holding chicken wings. Okay. Like they kind of be on your fingers. Oh yeah, all over. All over. Yeah, I think I'd be holding a little container of popcorn because it's sort of multifaceted. It's like, I'm just I'm having a good time like in the memes. But also I legitimately really like popcorn. Okay.

So it plays both ways. No, Kirk, you would be holding potato chips. You're like a potato chips. Feined. The jalapeno kettle chips. Chip beans. Oh, we're going to need to do a refill of all time. There's more.

Oh, Kirk. This is for you. Kirk. If Krodo Trigger is on the table as a payoff for this year's predictions, if I went, does that mean we might also get a Yostunori Mitsuda episode of strong songs? Oh, man. I think I wouldn't commit to an episode of StrongSugs right now because I'm still planning out the next season.

But I would love to talk about that music because I do love Massuda's music. I think that's one of the best video games soundtracks in all the time. That would be real good. And so there would be at least some kind of short feature on Triple Click or something about it. Because, yeah, one of the great soundtracks. One time you did like a strong songs on Triple Click called,

Hey, Listen. And then you just stopped doing those. Yeah, because I was like, I have another show. It's a lot of work. Cannibalizing yourself. Yeah, I was feeling very ambitious at that time, I think. This will be fine. I'll just do like five episodes of strong songs every month.

Okay, what do we got? What's the deal with the Metroid Prime 2 and 3 remasters? Right. I only have a switch, and I need to play them. We were just talking about this last night, right? We were. Yeah, we were sitting around playing the switch. It seems like they're not going to do it.

it, doesn't it? It does kind of seem that way. I'm looking at Jason like he has secret information. Like, even I do this. Like, Jason, do you? I'll just call Doug Bowser. Yeah, call Doug. You know what's funny about saying Doug Bowser is that it sounds like you're making a joke?

Like, I'll just call Doug Bowser, but that's actually the president of Nintendo. Yeah. It does seem like they're not going to do it, though. And I feel for this person, because they only have a switch, which I assume is them referring to the fact that they can't, you know, play them via prime hack or some other methodology. because there are good ways to play remastered versions of those games, but I guess you have to play the originals. I mean, I feel like those games don't get a lot of love.

They're not as beloved as the first Metroid Prime. I think we can all admit that. Even me, I'll admit it. But it's sad because four is going to come out. It's got a four right there in the title. Doesn't that kind of make everybody feel like you're supposed to play two and three? But yeah, they're just not going to do it. I've given up hope.

Can I ask is one of them has like a lot of, light and dark. There's like a shadow. You're in the sun and you're getting burned. Like that one destiny level. That's my only frame of reference. What's the other one? Is there a gimmick in the other one? Well, the third one is corruption, so it's about like a virus. Okay. Well, the gimmick also is the we don't use to shoot. Yes, the motion controls are in the third one. Oh, motion controls. I know people didn't like that one. I read that one, so I think you're up. Okay, great. is this Maddie and Jason's first time in Portland and have you guys done anything fun while you're in town?

Well, we've been saying at Kirk's house, so nothing fun. No fun. We have a strict no fun policy. Kirk's house is actually lovely, and she has a giant golden retriever, Appa. And she is. We almost brought her to the show. It would have been really fun to bring up. When you say almost?

Almost is maybe overseas. Yeah, no, you did not. Emily and I talked about possibly bringing Apa to a show. I don't think animals are allowed in here. Maybe not, and we didn't even ask the other guys. But we almost didn't. You're getting death stairs from the stage. No, we didn't even ask, but I think she would have,

I think it would have blown her mind so hard she never would have recovered to get this much, because all she wants in the world is attention. And to get this much attention, it would be too much for her little brain. It has been fun to play. I know, I've been here a few times. Yeah. I think this is my third or fourth time. Portland. Yeah, I've been here a couple times as well. But never before have I gotten to play

Mario Kart World in Kirk's home. That's true. We got to do that last night. So pretty fun. We have a good time in my house. Play Mario Kart. We did. We went to Pal's this morning. We did go to Powell's. Yeah, of course. Jason likes to go to Powell's and check to see where all his books have been sorted. I'm not kidding. And it is kind of important because sometimes they miscategorize them and they file them as video game guides. Yeah. Which is only true in the loosest sense of the Pals didn't do that.

Pals didn't do that. Pals put the book in the business section. No, they nailed it. They're good. Yep. They had a... Yeah, I signed a bunch of copies. It was actually sophisticated

business is what it said. That's sophisticated. For sophisticated business books. It was mostly leather-bound tones. It was all alone. If you want to go and do a business, this is our use. Exactly.

And then they've got play nice right there. Kirk. Hey. What eatery in Portland do you have to take the others too. Well, we didn't go here. My favorite pizza place is a pizza shoals.

Kind of an easy answer. It's like saying you like Blue Star Donuts. You're really going to... I come here from New York and you really would take me to pizza. It is very good. A pizza sholes is great. Don't get all New York weird... Save that stuff.

But we went to LaRange last night. Has anyone here eaten there? That place is good. This is not a sponsored post. Lorange is very, very good. And they were just really nice, and the food was delicious. Yeah, am I out? So that was the eater, I suppose.

Oh, I see. Okay. Just silent. What are your favorite games that no one would call one of the greats? This is like a common forum thread topic. Right. Like a game we like, but what seven out of tens do you just love? I'm trying to think. It's tough because I have such good taste.

I know. I'm my favorite answers. I'm just objectively great. We have to think of a bad game that we like. Yeah. Or kind of a seven out of ten game that we like. I really like Far Cry 5. That's the one where you're in Montana.

Oh yeah. And there's like a cult leader named Joseph Seed. And he's the Messiah or whatever. And then it has a really dark and horrible ending. and it's a very nihilistic and kind of unfortunate game. It's very weird. But it's pretty fun and I liked it. So there's one that I liked.

Do you have one, Jason? I mean, all of my games are like terrible, all my favorite games. You guys have had to play some of my favorite games. I would say that people call Final Fantasy Six one of the great. And I think they'd say that about Sweetodin 2 as well. But like other just like trashy JRPs. Yeah. Hmm.

Okay. What about you, Maddie? Oh, boy. I mean, I like all the dragon ages, even the ones that didn't review that well. The Dragon's Age. The Dragon's Age. I feel like it's sort of misremembered now. People think of Inquisition as like, it was lauded upon release, but it really wasn't,

and I liked it even at the time. Yeah, I gave it a good review. Yeah. Well, you're right. Yeah. Well, we have great taste. It's the whole problem with this question. Yeah, this is why it's so hard.

But I know that at the time, people were like, what's up with the hinterlands and all that. That's true. All right, it's my turn. This says Dunkfest and then it's got a little scrawl of a basketball. Just the kind of intro what the questions vibes are. Y'all appreciate the creative process and have compassion for creatives. What's a piece you find irredeemable, bankrupt? Oh, man, I mean...

I actually have an answer to this. Yeah, I do too. Duke Nukem 3D. That is a pretty irredeemable game, I would say. That's a good answer. So my answer, there is a game that is called the C word. But it's all spelled out in that game, and it's made my Edmund McMillan, and people probably know him because he made the Meat Boy games.

And most people don't know that he made a game that is a graphic depiction of, like, a penis attacking a vagina. I know. Way back in the day. So I interviewed him about it when Meat Boy was getting really popular. And people can dig this interview up on the Boston Phoenix archives if they want to find it. I'm really proud of it because it was like one of my early interviews I did where I was like, I'm going to challenge this guy.

And he was, it's Edmund McBillen. So he was a super good sport. And he was like, yeah, the game was really messed up. I was going through some stuff at the time. That's funny. It was a weird decision I made. And I was like, yeah, it was really weird. Why?

So we just like had a fun conversation about it. So everyone agrees. Yeah. Even he was like, I don't know. I'm sorry. But, yeah, it was kind of like the Newgrounds era where you made a lot of edge lordy games that would just be shock, shock, jock kind of games,

and you'd play for free, that sort of thing. But yeah, I do think that game's just really bad. It's bad. I just realized I should clarify, I meant Duke Nukem Forever. Duke Nukem 3D is fine. Duke Nukem Forever, Irideon. Duke Numer is really.

Really bad. The Pits. Destiny. Also, maybe our favorite 7 out of 10. Yeah, well. Pre or post-dinkage. My favorite game ever and also my least favorite game ever. Every time I played Destiny, Amanda would just, like, she would come to me afterwards,

and she would be like, why do you play that game? Or all you do is talk about how much you hate that game. Just complain. All right. Oh, another Metroid question. playing Metroid Zero Mission on Maddie's suggestion, and it is so good. What Metroid do I play next? Already played Prime and Super.

Dread is too hard for me. Oh, okay. Okay. Fusion is what I would say next. Metroid Fusion is the next one. So it's a little easier than Dread, but it also comes story-wise right before Dread. And I will say Dred has an easy mode now, that I've heard is all right. And no shame.

Easy modes, it's all good. It's a hard game. Yeah, it's a hard game. It's a hard game. Didn't have an easy mode when I was playing it, and there were certainly some moments where I was like, really? Even me.

All right, this is sweet. The Bad Feeling Remix with Kirk is my fave. How did this person know I was going to be reading this question? I don't know. About a song I wrote that there's a remix featuring Kirk on the saxophone and check it out. Any chance we hear it, not tonight, but we are going to play a different song of mine.

That's true. We got more songs to play. come. And I will be playing some saxophone, though not on that song. Not on that song. That was very fun. This was a producer, I guess, came to me saying, hey, I want to remix Maddie's song. Do you want to play a sax solo? And I was like, yes. And I think we surprised you with it, right? You did. Bitculture is the name of the remix. Yes, bit culture. Thank you. And the two of you just came to me and were like, we made this incredible remix of your song. Yeah, it was really fun. And I still listened to it. And I'm like, this is really good. And I wrote it. I didn't write that

Exact solo, though. That's all, that's all like, the whole time I'm like, Mattie doesn't hate this solo. Yeah, it would be funny if I was like, what did you do? Okay. Oh, we have a very straightforward one here.

Best DLC that enhances the original games experience. Hmm. I mean, I guess while we're talking about destiny, I will say the Taken King for Destiny was an expansion that enhanced the original games experience. Did it make it a good game?

At the time. Yeah, it was great. Good is a relative term. Enhanced. Enhanced is true. That's factual. That's the LLC then. Hollow Night Silk Song?

It did. I feel like it just totally... Yeah, it just totally overhauled. Yeah, in a way it enhanced Hollow Night because it just increased the anticipation that we all feel about Silk Song. That is true. And it made Hollow Night a better game.

Can you think of one? Oh, actually. That actually is a good answer. That's a good answer. Are we going to separate the 2.0 update from the Phantom Liberty D.L. Because they're asking about DLC. But they came so close together. Yeah, it's true.

That's true. That's like, I feel like they're one of the same. I still feel like it's a fair answer. That's a very good. That's a very good. It's a good DLC of its own with its own story. That's fun. It was very good answer.

Oh, is it my turn? I guess so. Wait. Or it's Jason's. It's Jason's turn. I think we got the order off at some point. This is a problem. Vaporware

What the hell happened with little devil inside Little Devil Inside? Remember that game? It had a cool trailer that we talked about on the show What is it? It was like a few years ago Describe the trailer to me It was a few years ago

What was in the trailer? I don't remember but I could just make things up Yeah All right so it's inside of someone's body There's a devil Sorry, Maddie. Forget what I said. Do you remember what it actually was?

Because I was just going to make things up. Yeah, they kind of looked like little wooden guys, and they were running through a really hyper-styled world. It looked like a sort of 3-D puzzle platformer type of a situation. Is any of this ringing a bell? You know that episode of Magic School Bus, where they go inside? It's like that. Okay.

Well, no, I don't know. That was the whole question was just Little Devil Inside. And I don't know what happened to it. No. Sorry. If anyone out there knows. Yeah, speak up. Let this anonymous ask her, no. Yeah, some people have signed their names, but very few have.

All right, this person is just doing bits, but I'm still going to humor them. When Jonathan Blow streamed blueprints and complained that it actively hates the player, quote, do you think Bennett Fottie felt a disturbance in the force? Did that really happen? Did that really happen? I assume, yes. I'm hearing enough yeses, but I believe that. Wow, that's funny.

Bennett Fahdi, though, king of making games that do, quote, actively hate the player, but that's part of the joy of the job. Well, and Jonathan, below, the master of telling people, just be patient. Like, I don't know, do you guys, you guys remember the walkthrough for Braid that you could look up? Did anybody here look up the walkthrough for Braid? When Braid first came out in 2008, this was like, the Internet had just been invented. So, you know. Maybe a couple people had. Right.

There were just a couple websites. One of them was a walkthrough for Braid. and if you Googled a walkthrough for Braille, Google was like a search engine that worked. You would type in Braide Walkthrough, and like a relevant website would come up, and you would click on it, and it was like braidwalkthrough.com,

and you would go to this page. Is this real? Yes. You would go to a page that was, I think, made by Jonathan Blow. And it was a, you know, you see the beautiful braid art in the background, and it says, here's the braid walkthrough. Don't look up hints for this game. And that's what it said on the website.

And then you read a whole thing and he's like, just be stuck for a little while. It's going to be okay, take your time, think about the puzzle, and you'll solve it. It was really cool at the time just because it was kind of a clever way of telling people, you know, don't just rush through the game and if you feel stuck, you have to be in the stuckness.

And then the witness was all about that. That was like the philosophy of that game. There were all these kind of ponderous recordings of a guy being like, I like being stuck, it's great. or something like that. I don't know. You played the whole game. I actually never finished it.

Didn't Jonathan Blow once tweet like a picture of a bottle full of pee and he was like working hard and something like that? Like he didn't want to get up from his desk to pee? Is that? I don't know if that was him. Anyways, he was feeling stuck in the moment

and living in the suck. So anyhow, I don't know, it's funny that he would be frustrated by a game like Blueprints. That's what I'm saying. It is ironic. Yeah. Maybe he should have just read a walkthrough. I mean, I know that's sort of against his MO, but there are walkthroughs. It's true. As far as I know, Tonda didn't put up a Blueprints

walkthrough website. It's like, don't look stuff up here. And if anything, I think he was okay with people using walkthroughs, maybe more than you or I. I guess it's your turn because I just read that one. Cool. Oh, geez. What is the best movie sequel? And why is it Terminator 2? I mean Terminator 2 is a really good sequel. The Terminator 2 is really good. And Sarah Connor looks great in it. She does.

Those guns. They motivate us all. It's true. When she does a pull-up, I'm like, I can't do a pull-up. What is another great movie sequel? I mean, the two towers. That's the sequel. That's a movie sequel kind of counts.

I like that better than fellowship. What else? Yeah, Empire Shire. Empire is a great example as well. I feel like the answer really is why sometimes sequels better. Evil dead too. People just call them out.

We'll agree with you probably. It's because for a sci-fi or a fantasy world, you've already set up all the constraints. You've introduced all your proper names. Back in the helmet. Like, you know, a science fiction movie, like sister act, for example. You've set up all your proper nouns.

Everybody knows what's going on. Oh, I know. I know. I know one. Rise of Sky. Walker. Sorry, next question. There's more in there. Oh yeah, we got one left. But we don't.

But we actually have dozens left. Can you grab a refill? We need to refill some. Get some more. Thanks to everyone who wrote in these questions. Yeah. We'll hang on to the ones we don't answer. Maybe we'll do an episode later.

Yeah, I think we'll do a few more and then we'll do one more things. one more things. They'll all get answered someday. Will they, though? You'll never know. Okay. If you could choose any other company

to manufacture a console now or in the past, who would you choose? Hmm. Okay, Taco Bell. That's a good one. That would be like a gordita-cunch console. It's like a fourth meal, but it's a console. It's like you already have the main three, but what's the fourth console?

Taco Bell. I just think they have it. They've got something there. Fender. They probably make a kind of a cool console. It sounds great. Guitar Hero. I can work with harmonics on all the places of guitar hero.

You'd have to tune it up before you play it. Uh-huh. Oh, they should make a console. Oh, they show. It should, like, stream over the internet. Yeah. That would be amazing. I was actually kind of rooting for me.

And it's just, it just, it just is broken all the, it just tells you the wrong things. It's just like, you're, you did a great job. You won, you're the best. Or you put it in Mario and it's like, oh, you would like to play Sonic. I think Taco Bell is the real, in the way. Yeah, thanks. What's your favorite I think you should leave sketch? Oh, man.

We do talk about this on the show a lot. It's really hard to narrow them. Mine is coffin flop. Puffin Puffin' Popper's good. I've watched it so many times. I mean, there's so many. But I know there's so many good ones. Loaded nachos is up there. I like where he's really into his phone, and he updates his phone all the time. And whenever he feels weird, he gets on his phone.

That is one of my favorites. And sloppy steaks. If I feel weird, I just get on it. I use it. Triples. Triples. Little buff voice. Little buff voice is a good one. The zip line. The zip line wants really. The zipline one's iconic now.

Talking about Death Stranding and the ziplines. Sam Bridges really is the guy from that sketch. He's just here for the zipline. He really is. He really is. Hmm. Let's see. I don't have a...

Well, we're running out of time, so... Okay. Oh. Really not. Well, this just asks, have any of you played the kid amnesia game that radio had made? And what did you think of it? I haven't played it. And that's the side answer is no, but this reminds me that that happened.

Has anybody played it? This one is blank. I think this is just a moment that we should all sit in silence. And we should think about ourselves and our lives and our place in those lives. Do you think that was an accident or like a Nathan Fielder like? Oh. Do you see him with his laptop? Like a prank on us.

Is he watching us? I want to read one that we can actually answer. Okay. Ooh. I like Kirk's little reactions before telling any of us. What are the economics for creators of games that are available on Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation subscriptions? That's a big question. What are economics?

A few of the study. I guess the question is sort of how do you make money? Is that a sustainable model? And also maybe are you aware of what the split is when you make that deal or the deal is different for everyone? Again, we're looking at Jason. I'm going to look at the crowd and hope someone has an answer. No, well, there's a split. I mean, if you're like, you're some developer and Xbox is like, hey, we want you on GamePass, then they pay you and you put your thing on Game Pass.

Is the split the same for everyone? But there's no split because it's not, there's a revenue. It's not like they're giving you a percentage of each subscription or something like that. The question is, like, you have to do some forecasts of like how much am I going to miss out on? in terms of sales if I put it on there. And for some companies, it's been really lucrative. Remember, at least in the past, like Rocket League was on PlayStation Plus when it launched, and that's one of the reasons it got really big.

So sometimes for multiplayer games, it can be really successful because it builds this massive player race and everyone's talking about it. But then other times, it's like, oh, we just gave up all of our potential sales. I was thinking about how a lot of games launch on PlayStation Plus or on Xbox GamePass, but they just added cyberpunk to PlayStation Plus like last month. And that's another approach that I never really see people talk about, that your game has been out for a long time, and it's already sold like, Cyberpunk sold a Jillian copies.

And now they're just like, well, what the hell? We'll put the base game on a subscription service. That seems like it may be a different approach. But I could see why someone would do that, maybe more than launching a new game on it. All right When will we get a new 3D Mario for the Switch 2 Exact date please

Kirk you first Take a shot If you're right it's gonna be crazy October 21st 2026 Maddie I'm gonna go later than that I'm gonna go

November 3rd 2027 The Year of Mario 2027 October 3rd 2035 but weirdly we're going to get a lot of 2D Mario before that

that's true we do know the Odyssey team is making Donkey Kong banana it's a Donkey Kong Bonanza 2 Donkey Kong Galaxy and then maybe some Mario that actually kind of own though that would be very fun

all right when you're gaming are your music ears on and you're thinking about the composition or can you turn that off? Speaking for myself, I can't turn it off. But I don't think it's a bad thing. No, sometimes the music is distracting

or especially if it's really kind of bad or if it doesn't fit the scene. Well, of course. And then, yeah, a lot of times I think I'm just noticing it. Once I've heard it a million times, it does kind of fade into the background, I guess. I do find that when I'm really struggling with a very difficult boss, I have to not listen at all

and then I play a lot better. Once I know the fight really well, I take my headphones off and turn the volume off and then just go off the visuals. Yeah, I do that. Kirk is like doing strong songs in his head, just like talking through each of that. Sometimes, yeah. A lot of times I'll have like an instrument nearby

so I can be like, oh, what? I don't do that. I do turn off the music sometimes for a hard boss, though, which is sometimes feels like the wrong thing to do because those audio cues can be paramount. Right. I guess turning it down helps. Yeah, turning it down, but sometimes also,

it's almost like how changing environments helps you focus more. Just like playing with no sound and just watching, you notice more things, turn the sound back on. Play with only sound. Yeah, play only sound. You're not playing. You just kind of see if the boss kills you or not.

I only play games all watching TV, so I don't listen to. Okay, this is if you had to recommend a podcast that covers RTS games, real-time strategy games, or something like Factorio, what would it be? I actually don't have. an answer for this. I don't listen, but isn't three moves ahead? Oh, I guess three moves ahead. Yeah, they definitely cover strategy games anyways. I hope they're good because I don't know. Why would anyone listen to a video game podcast? That's a fair question. Did you put that question in here?

We can answer it. All right. Let's do one more question. All right. It's all on you, Jason. We'll do some one more things. Okay. He just starts rejecting every single one. He's like, no, no, no. He's got to find a really good closer. Oh, not good enough. Yeah. He looks disappointed. You're going to find a good one. Oh, we kind of answered. Some of these are a little bit... Okay, here's a good one. In Pixar's cars, what happens if you open their doors? Is it just organs in there?

I think the car organ looks like the parts of a car. Like Lightning McQueen's pancreas looks like a steering wheel. Yeah, there's sentient android almost, but they're a car. But they're in the hood? Or the hood is the mouse, so it can't be in the hood. Well, I guess the hood... Well, right. No, they talk to the grill.

The grill is the mouth. Yeah. The hood is like the nose, I guess, or the top of the head. Well, but I mean our brains are behind our hood, as it were. Right, right. Behind our grill, as it were. And then in the trunks, that's where they keep the bodies of all the people in the world that they have killed because there are no people left.

The drivers that they got sick of have been stuffed in the trunk. That's true. Yeah, that is true. Yep, that's true. Great question to end on. Yeah, good question to end on. Thanks for all your questions. for the video games have.

Are you a celebrity? Are you searching for meaning, connection, and a little levity these days? Hi, Uncle Melanjiani, actor, writer, and yes, a celebrity too. And I've got four words for you. Bullseye with Jesse Thorne. Are you tired of junkets?

Red carpets, sick of the endless spicy snacks you have to eat? Do you want to connect with someone who gets your work and laugh with you a little? Join me. Andre 3000, Tom Hanks, Tina Faye, and many more and become a guest on Bullseye with Jesse Thorne from NPR and Maximum Fun. Walking About is the podcast about walking. It's a walkie series where I, Alan McLeod, and a fun friendly guest go for a walkabout. You'll learn about interesting people and places and have the kind of conversations you can only have on foot.

We've got guests like Lauren Lapkis I figured something out about this map Like how to read it Betsy Sidero I had no key That's awesome and nuts John Gabris

This is like great first date For like broke 20 something You know And more Check out walking about With Alan McLeod On Maximum Fun And yeah we have so many left over

We'll probably We'll hang on to them And we'll maybe answer All right Kirk And Maddie And it's time for one more thing. It is.

Kirk, when do you go first? All right. My one more thing is both a TV show and a book series because I had to do two more things. Classic.

It is actually a book series that I have talked about before that has been adapted into a TV show. It is called MurderBot. I thought there might be some fans. So this is Martha Welles wonderful book series

that I have talked about on the show. I have devoured, love them, dearly. They're really, really good books. I just found out there's a new murderbot story coming out. I think it just came out. It's like today, right? The finale went up. Yeah, so there's a new murderbot story, which is very exciting. And it's partly exciting because I didn't love the Apple TV show. How did everybody out here who watched the show feel about it? Yeah, people like, it wasn't bad. When I say I didn't love it. It wasn't that I was like,

oh, this is terrible. I just think that they kind of made some missteps, even though they got some things right. So this show is an adaptation of a book series. Like I said, the book series is about a cyborg. It's technically a construct that is not a bot, which is sort of just a robot, and obviously not a human. It has organ as like organic parts. Right, like in cars. Like a car. Yes. It's about Lightning McQueen. It's a car's prequel. Yes. So Murderbot, as it calls itself, is a rogue sec unit, security unit that has hacked its governor module so that it can be totally free. And no one really knows that it's free because if they did, they would destroy it.

It's like a piece of corporate technology. It's owned by a corporation. But then it goes on a job with these very nice people from an independent sort of planet system or I guess star system, whatever, a group of independent people who are very nice, and it realizes that it kind of likes them. And then over the course of the books, it develops a relationship with them. And it's really sweet. It's like a very nice, very action-packed, very fun series of books with a really distinct

protagonist, with a very distinct voice. And they're all narrated in the first person by Murderbot, by Secunit, who sees the world in a very particular way and doesn't really understand humans and doesn't understand how things work. So as a result, you get this very narrow view of things, and you have to do a lot of decoding, and that's what's so fun in the book. You see these characters like Mensa and Pin Lee, who are over the course of the books, you really get to know what they're like. Because you're kind of guessing because MurderBot doesn't pay a lot of attention to them and you only get a few lines.

So they develop really slowly. So on a TV show, it's just totally different because you have an actor playing each character and you're just going to see this actor. And they're going to be doing all these lines and acting and you just get a way stronger sense of all the characters. And so as a result, for me at least, you have to be really careful with the characters when you're doing that. And I think they just didn't quite nail some of the characters. Pinley is like a little not how I picture her. Mensa is kind of like a nervous wreck in a way that I just like didn't seem to fit with the story and I don't know why they changed that.

Alexander Scarsgard plays MurderBot. He is very good. I think he does a very good job. And so it's good. The actors are all good. I don't mind the changed characters that much, but I'm just a little, I'm so precious with the stories because you become so familiar with MurderBot's point of view that seeing the show it's just, it's been very hard to separate them out.

And the last critique I will make for the show is that they release it in half-hour episodes, and that's a huge problem, I think. Like, every week, Emily and I, Emily also loves the MurderBot books, and we would watch an episode, and it would be like 23 minutes long. And it's just not enough time, and it's the first book, which is a very short book. You could read the book in about the time it would take to, like, watch two episodes or something of the show, and so it's drawing it out over so much time, and every time an episode would end we'd be like,

okay, so we just wait till next week for like the next extremely brief series of events. And I think that was a mistake on Apple's part. It should have been 45-minute episodes. Maybe just make it like five episodes in a season or something. That would have worked better. So I will definitely watch the next season. I haven't seen the finale.

And, you know, I'm excited that they're making a show and I think it's getting more people to read the books. But I wasn't wild about this show. It was a little bit disappointing for me. Bing! Kirk here, editing the episode. I bet you didn't think that I would bing into a live episode, but here I am. Binging into my own one more thing.

To add a couple little things about the Murder Bot show, for starters, after our live show, I watched the finale, and I actually thought it was really good. It changed a lot of stuff. It just invented a whole new little mini storyline compared to the book, but it was actually really a good storyline. I thought it was well done. It was more tonally consistent than a lot of the rest of the show,

and I really liked the finale, so it made me feel more positively about the show overall, or at least about the finale. also just wanted to shout out David Dasmalchian, I think is how you pronounce his last name. He is a character actor who has been in everything. You've definitely seen him in things, in Ant Man, if nothing else, but he's in a ton of different things. And he plays Garathan in the show, and I forgot to mention him on stage, but he is really a highlight. As much as some of the other character interpretations aren't quite right to me, they nailed Garathan, and they actually

gave him a lot more to do. And I just think that Desmalshian is a fantastic actor. And he really kills it. His scenes with Scars Guard are terrific. So anyways, yeah, just wanted to add that. Okay, back to the live show. Bing! So, good to know. That's my one more thing. So if you're me, and you haven't read the book yet, but you heard your glowing recommendation,

would you still recommend that I would read the book and watch the show, or should I don't want to watch? I think read the book, if you want to watch the show, fine. Get the version of MurderBot and the version of the characters in your head that the book will give you. So ruin the show for myself the exact same way that you did. Yes, exactly. Because the books are where it's at.

Martha Wells is awesome. And I say start with the books for sure. This is like a classic problem, though. You read the book and then you're like, but I already know all the characters in my head. And I've cast them as specific actors. Well, and it'll be hard now. I would think it would be hard not to see Alexander Scar Scar Scarkeard as Murder Bot,

even if you haven't seen the show. Just because you've seen the promotional art and you know what he looks like, which isn't the worst thing in the world. Murderbot is very undefined in the books. It's an interesting thing. You never get a description, really, of what Murder Bot looks like, other than like I looked normal or I looked average, you know, which is kind of fun.

Like you can kind of imagine murder about however you want. Quick digression. When we were at Powell's this morning, we found what might be the best book title. We did. That we've ever seen. It is murder at Sex Island. Which I think we were talking about how like if someone went to a book publisher

with that, they would be like $1 million. Like normally you have to write the book and send it to them. With that book, you only need a title. Bing, Kirk here, binging in again with some extra information about this book that I feel I have to share. Murder on Sex Island, a Luella Van Horn mystery, was written by the great Joe Firestone, a comedian who, among other things, co-hosts Doctor Game Show, right on our own network on Maximum Fun. So I thought that was pretty cool and thought we should shout her out by name since she did write the book.

And it looks like a lot of fun. I really am going to read it. Okay, anyways, back to the show. Bing. Maddie, what's your one more thing and why is it not murder at Sex Island? I just haven't read it yet, but I am thinking about it. So, Dean and I watched all of the studio,

which was recommended on this show, and I'm recommending it again. So I think it was both of you who had seen it when we talked about it. And you both were like, it's not quite a comedy. It's like uncut gems, which... At times.

I agree with. But I will say, it's a comedy for sure. and we were laughing the whole way through. But I don't want to spoil any part of it, but I'll just describe it in brief. So Seth Rogen stars. He sort of plays against type by playing a Hollywood movie executive

and kind of being on the other side of the camera, as it were, and probably including his own informed experiences of what it's like to talk to people like that. But it's also a very loving representation of this type of person, even though he's also unbearable to be around at certain points in the show. but he loves movies and yet is also making a movie about Kool-Aid man and there's a really great

episode about whether Kool-Aid man should be portrayed by a black actor or not and is that racist that's like in the entire plot of an entire episode it's it's wild but there's one moment that I thought was really fascinating where Seth Rogen's character gets into an argument with some doctors about which of their jobs is more important. And I've just still been thinking about it because I'm kind of like, well, they're both important and they're just not comfortable, but it's really stayed with me as a sort of riddle

as like how important is art. And I think we all agree. We're here talking about art today at the end of the day. We all agree it's important, but also, you know, doctors and what they do is pretty important too. So yeah, it's a comedy. It's a really good show, a good funny show. So I recommend it.

It's called The Studio. It's on Apple TV plus, whatever. We hadn't talked about the finale. I think we hadn't seen the finale when Jason and I talked about it. Two-part. You forget that Brian Cranston is like one of the funniest actors because he was so intense on Breaking Bad. He gets to do comedy on the show and he's hilarious.

Yeah. Man, yeah. I laughed harder in the finale than I have in the show. More than one Pratt Fall per episode sometimes. sometimes. A lot of crap falls. Maddie, you should listen to the town, which is the podcast, Matt Bologna of the town is on the show. And then he interviewed. As himself. So he interviewed Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the creators of the show, like, on his podcast. That's great. They talk about behind the scenes. That's like, that's like one of the fun things

about the show is that they'll be like, oh, the characters will be talking about Matt Bolloney, you know, entertainment reporter. And I'll be like, you know, that's a real guy in my head. And then Matt Bellany will appear in the show and I'll be like, whoa, what's going on? The whole show is like that. Well, what's really funny is that Matt, his regular co-host, Lucas, who is on The Town on Mondays, is my editor. So, a little bit of a small world. So are you going to be in the studio? Yeah.

I would like to. Season two. Jason Treyer, cameo. We'll see if they can afford me. My one more thing is also a TV show. Nice. It is called The Four Seasons. So if you guys watch the show?

No. I'm curious about it. It's fascinating. Okay. So this is a show. it's kind of like a reimagined version of a movie from the 80s with Alinalda. And it's about these three couples. And it's got Tina Faye.

It's got Will Forte. It's got Stephen Corral. And a couple of other actors. Stephen Carroll. He's Stephen Noreau. He's become a more serious actor. Stefan. It's got Stefan Corral.

And it's really wild. I thought it was going to be funnier than it was. It's very dramatic. And it's about all these couples on the, these four different seasonal vacations. They're all in their 50s and they're all going through midlife crises and watching their relationships fall apart. And it's really interesting for a few reasons. One is that I kept turning to my wife and being like, oh my God, we can never be like these people. But two is what I thought was really cool about it is that always in shows and on movies,

we see a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, like living life in their 20s and 30s, like Seinfeld and how I met your mother and friends and like I don't know the league and some of my favorite shows are all about people in their 20s and the 30s but it's very rare to see people in their 50s like straight up like full on gen Xers who like have kids who are now in college and are all just miserable all the time yeah you never see shows about that it's very interesting to watch it's like a perspective of people very clearly like Tina phase like the position of the stage in life that she is in and it's really interesting to see that era of one's life portrayed in a way that I haven't really seen it portrayed much on TV shows before. Very entertaining show. Very good show.

The four seasons. I recommend it. You guys should check it out. Only eight episodes, so easy to watch. I think of the characters on Seinfeld as being older than me and friends. Yeah, because it was the night. Right. And also they were wearing like big pleaded pants. Right. You watch that show now and you're like, they're 45. Right. Look at how they're dressed. Yeah, obviously. Right. George Cassanza, it's like he's 25.

I know. It's why. You're like, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Well, that's, I mean, if you guys ever watch, I was watching Curb on the flight here, actually, Curvy Enthusiasm. And Larry David, they talk about him as like a guy in his 40s when he looks like he's 70. His dad, like, he has a dad on the show who's like in his 70s. And it's very strange the way that age is a funny thing, it turns out. All right. So for those of you out there, like, listening at home on the audio feed.

This is where we say goodbye. Maddie, give us a bye. For everybody here in this theater, we are not going away. We are taking a little break. We're going to go take an intermission, and then we'll be back. In the meantime, go grab a drink, go buy some merch, hang out,

make yourselves comfortable, do whatever it is people do during intermissions. Look at your phone, whatever. Pull out your switch, whatever. We're going to go take a little break, And then we'll be back. Yeah, we'll be right back. Triple Click is produced by Jason Schreier, Maddie Myers, and me, Kirk Hamilton.

I edit and mix the show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom DJ. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy in the show notes. Triple Click is a proud member of the Maximum Fun podcast network. And if you like our show, we hope you'll consider supporting us by becoming a member at maximumfun.org slash join. Find us on Twitter at triple clickpod, send email the triple click at maximumfund.org and find a link to our Discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time.

Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network of artists-owned shows. Supported directly by you.