The 3DO Experience - Episode 66: Return Fire: Maps O' Death: Mid 90s DLC!

[00:00:00] Have you experienced the awesome power of the Panasonic Real 3DO System? Obviously.

[00:00:06] Presenting 3DO, the most advanced home gaming system in the universe. It's time to put away your toys.

[00:00:17] 3DO from Panasonic, Gold Star and Creative Labs. Anuril Pais and 3DO.

[00:00:22] The graphics of Panasonic Real 3DO.

[00:00:29] 3DO.

[00:00:36] Hello everybody and welcome back to the 3DO Experience, the 3DO Retrospective Podcast where we talk about all things 3DO, the company and everything in between. I'm Bill and this is Thrak. How you doing, Thrak?

[00:00:47] I'm hanging in there, Bill. How you doing?

[00:00:50] I'm doing alright. I just realized this is actually the first solo episode we've done in a while. I think like, I think the last one we did was Sherlock Holmes.

[00:00:58] Like, five episodes ago.

[00:01:00] Yeah, yeah. We were just constantly bringing in other people because you know the marriage was getting boring.

[00:01:07] We just had a lot of friends showing up for the chaos.

[00:01:11] Yeah, yeah. It's always fun. So, and we have some other guest appearances scheduled and lining them up. So stay tuned for those folks.

[00:01:21] Oh boy. It's been a... Today was a busy day in gaming though, that's for sure. A lot of...

[00:01:27] There was quite a bit that happened. Yeah, since last week. I was gonna say we probably won't discuss everything but you know, before we get to the big stuff.

[00:01:39] One thing I wanted to cover, because you know, this is one of my favorite games of all time. Half-Life 2 got a 20th anniversary documentary officially from Valve. I recommend everybody watch it. It's about, I think it's about two hours and it's really, really good.

[00:01:53] But the highlight of it is at the very end when they discuss episode three. They bring it up because you know, it's been so long and the original idea when they were doing the episodes was to do it in threes. That was the original idea.

[00:02:11] And at the end of the documentary, we see some test footage from episode three where they, there was like a blob like enemy. There was going to be like an ice weapon that you could like freeze enemies and use it to like traverse over, you know, boundaries.

[00:02:24] And it was going to be in the Arctic with the Borealis, you know, if you follow the Half-Life 2 lore, you know about like the Borealis and everything.

[00:02:32] And it was shaping up to like be something. And they were talking about how like, it would probably would have taken them maybe two, two and a half years to get it done and get it out.

[00:02:42] But why they stopped working on it was Left 4 Dead, because Left 4 Dead was being developed around the same time.

[00:02:49] And that IP turned into like all hands on deck type of situation to get that done.

[00:02:56] And at that, and at that time, you know, they had done episode one and episode two, and the devs felt like they were getting a little Half-Life out.

[00:03:04] So they were kind of wanting to maybe give it a little break, go do Left 4 Dead, and then we'll come back to it.

[00:03:10] And then when they got back to it, they kind of weighed the idea of wanting to finish it or not.

[00:03:16] And they decided against it because they, you know, had put so much work in the like Half-Life 2 and the episodes and everything that had been years that like, for a lot of them, all they had worked on was Half-Life.

[00:03:29] And they were ready to do some new stuff. And because of that, Half-Life 2 episode three kind of got put on the back burner.

[00:03:36] Yeah, due to that, and also they felt by the third episode, they were struggling to find new ways to innovate on the gameplay.

[00:03:45] Like there were some ideas there, but it wasn't like episode one and episode two for Half-Life 2 do slightly different things to the Half-Life 2 gameplay.

[00:03:56] They find ways to innovate on it.

[00:03:57] And I think three probably would have and would have been like a nice definitive conclusion to the story.

[00:04:04] But unfortunately, it didn't happen because they just, you know, it felt like they kind of missed the window.

[00:04:13] You know what I mean?

[00:04:15] Because they said, you know, looking back, we probably could have just spent two years, finished it, and then, you know, moved on.

[00:04:20] And it wouldn't have become a thing at all.

[00:04:24] You know what I mean?

[00:04:24] Like, think about it.

[00:04:25] The meme wouldn't exist if they had just spent the two years, finished it, and put it out there.

[00:04:31] And then that would have been that.

[00:04:34] Especially because Half-Life, because episode two ends on such a heavy cliffhanger.

[00:04:40] Yeah.

[00:04:40] Is really what hurts.

[00:04:42] But Gabe talked about in the documentary how he didn't want to continue it just for the story.

[00:04:47] He finds that to be lazy.

[00:04:49] Because he's like, there needs to be more than just the story for why we're still doing things.

[00:04:54] There needs to be, like, gameplay reasons.

[00:04:57] Which, I get him.

[00:04:58] I get where he's coming from.

[00:05:00] Though I think story matters as well.

[00:05:03] But, you know, it's kind of, I guess, weighing them or whatever.

[00:05:07] But there is a quote from Gabe saying,

[00:05:10] My personal failure with it was being stumped.

[00:05:12] I couldn't figure out why doing episode three was pushing anything forward.

[00:05:18] So that's part of why it just never came out, unfortunately.

[00:05:23] And most likely never will.

[00:05:24] But we did get that leaked story script.

[00:05:27] What was it?

[00:05:28] A year or two ago?

[00:05:30] Where somebody, you know, leaked the Half-Life episode three script.

[00:05:33] And I read through it.

[00:05:34] And it's kind of what I expected it to be.

[00:05:37] You know?

[00:05:38] About, like, them going to the Borealis and all that stuff.

[00:05:42] But, yeah, it's a shame that never happened.

[00:05:44] And most likely never will happen.

[00:05:47] Because the documentary feels like they're like,

[00:05:49] Yeah, here's what we had.

[00:05:50] Here's why it didn't happen.

[00:05:52] And at this rate, especially after Half-Life Alyx,

[00:05:55] there's no real reason to do episode three.

[00:05:58] So.

[00:05:59] And I've not played Half-Life Alyx,

[00:06:01] but I've seen the ending.

[00:06:03] And the ending is another, like,

[00:06:05] Are you fucking kidding me?

[00:06:07] Kind of ending.

[00:06:08] Not in a bad way.

[00:06:11] Just in a way of, like,

[00:06:13] Fuck, they're going to keep me stringed into this, aren't they?

[00:06:15] They're going to string me along.

[00:06:17] They didn't necessarily put away the idea of a Half-Life 3 existing.

[00:06:23] They're like, you know, maybe.

[00:06:25] So it basically ends with, like,

[00:06:27] Will we do more Half-Life in the future?

[00:06:29] Maybe.

[00:06:30] That's all it kind of sits at right now.

[00:06:32] Which is about what I expected.

[00:06:34] So.

[00:06:36] It's about as much of a conclusion to the Half-Life episode three,

[00:06:40] Half-Life three story that there is, you know?

[00:06:44] Yeah.

[00:06:45] It's.

[00:06:46] There's, like, so many games that have just ended on cliffhangers.

[00:06:49] And it always, like, drives me nuts.

[00:06:52] Like.

[00:06:53] Especially one from such an acclaimed game that has really good storytelling in it

[00:06:57] and characters that I genuinely liked.

[00:06:59] To see it end that way really disappoints me.

[00:07:01] But you have to think with a lot of the more, like, PC-centric devs.

[00:07:06] Especially from, like, that.

[00:07:07] Like, from, like, Gabe Newell's generation.

[00:07:10] Like, not all of them view story as, like, the most crucial element.

[00:07:15] You know what I mean?

[00:07:16] Like, there's that famous John Carmack quote about video game stories.

[00:07:19] You know?

[00:07:20] So I.

[00:07:21] You know, I can understand his viewpoint even if I disagree with it.

[00:07:24] Because I think it would have been easy to just knock it out and just be done with it.

[00:07:28] But, you know, like, if they wanted to stop Half-Life right there, that probably would have been a good conclusion.

[00:07:33] And then.

[00:07:34] And everyone would have moved on.

[00:07:36] It wouldn't have been a big deal.

[00:07:37] But.

[00:07:38] Yeah.

[00:07:38] People wouldn't be salty about it to this day.

[00:07:41] Yeah.

[00:07:41] I'm not salty about it anymore.

[00:07:43] Because I think.

[00:07:44] I mean, it's been almost 20 fucking years, man.

[00:07:47] Like, you know.

[00:07:48] You can't let that shit still linger.

[00:07:51] You know what I mean?

[00:07:52] Like, it's really dumb.

[00:07:53] I mean, I was a big Siphon Filter fan back in the day.

[00:07:56] And I'm still.

[00:07:57] I'm not really mad about it anymore.

[00:07:59] But I'm always like, you never got a conclusion.

[00:08:02] Yeah.

[00:08:03] The last PSP game, Logan Shadow, literally ends with both your main characters, like, dying.

[00:08:11] And it just kind of ends.

[00:08:12] And you're like, what happened?

[00:08:14] And then they.

[00:08:15] Their.

[00:08:16] The explanation we got from Sony Bend was literally.

[00:08:20] The games didn't sell well enough on PSP to justify continuing the series.

[00:08:24] Sorry.

[00:08:25] And that's it.

[00:08:27] It's a shame that that tends to be the reason a lot of the time.

[00:08:30] I know.

[00:08:31] It's a bummer, too.

[00:08:32] Because the two Siphon Filters on PSP, I think it were two of the best in the series.

[00:08:36] Because they really figured the gameplay out.

[00:08:38] Because they would later use that gameplay engine to make the Resistance game on PSP.

[00:08:43] Which was pretty solid.

[00:08:44] Or from what I remember.

[00:08:47] Yeah.

[00:08:48] And I don't think Siphon Filters ever going to make a comeback.

[00:08:51] At all.

[00:08:52] Is it.

[00:08:52] Does it even make a cameo in Astro Bot?

[00:08:55] Yeah.

[00:08:56] Or no.

[00:08:56] Because I don't think so.

[00:08:57] I think they used the Days Gone guy instead.

[00:08:59] Yeah.

[00:09:00] If they can't make a fucking cameo in Astro Bot for Siphon Filter, then I don't know what to tell you.

[00:09:06] You know?

[00:09:07] It's weird it's not there.

[00:09:08] Because that is like a staple PlayStation franchise.

[00:09:10] Especially from like the PS1 days.

[00:09:13] It is.

[00:09:14] Like I heard about Simon Filters.

[00:09:15] I heard about Siphon Filter back in the day.

[00:09:17] You know?

[00:09:18] It was one of the.

[00:09:20] Well, because it was designed to be Sony's answer to GoldenEye.

[00:09:24] Which is hilarious in hindsight.

[00:09:25] Because it's nothing like GoldenEye.

[00:09:27] Yeah.

[00:09:27] That is weird when you think about it.

[00:09:28] Yeah.

[00:09:31] Honestly, to me, it's most interesting piece of history is the fact that it was made by the Bubsy 3D team.

[00:09:37] Runs off the Bubsy 3D engine and somehow ended up being a big enough hit to justify becoming a series.

[00:09:44] And then Sony ended up buying them.

[00:09:45] And now they're one of Sony's oldest developers.

[00:09:48] Does Sony Ben still exist?

[00:09:49] Yeah.

[00:09:50] They're still around.

[00:09:51] What do they do these days?

[00:09:53] Nothing?

[00:09:54] They haven't done anything since Days Gone.

[00:09:57] Oh, they were the Days Gone guys.

[00:10:00] Oh, man.

[00:10:01] They had a huge.

[00:10:03] It sucks, too.

[00:10:04] Because that's a decent game.

[00:10:05] It just came out.

[00:10:07] At the.

[00:10:08] It came out at the height of where we were fucking tired of zombie games.

[00:10:11] So no one cared.

[00:10:12] Yeah.

[00:10:13] Oh, they also did the Vita Uncharted games.

[00:10:15] Yep.

[00:10:16] Oh, yeah.

[00:10:17] Yeah.

[00:10:17] Golden Abyss was really good.

[00:10:18] It was.

[00:10:20] They're a really good dev.

[00:10:21] They just they kind of fly under the radar.

[00:10:24] Yeah.

[00:10:25] I can kind of see why.

[00:10:27] Yeah.

[00:10:27] And didn't.

[00:10:29] Who is the main designer on Days Gone?

[00:10:31] Didn't he have a fit on social media about this game's sales or something?

[00:10:34] So he's no longer affiliated with Bend Studio.

[00:10:38] He left shortly after Days Gone.

[00:10:39] But that would be John Garvin.

[00:10:40] And I remember because he threw a bitch fit on Twitter because they because he was mad

[00:10:45] about the cameos in Astro Bot.

[00:10:48] I was just like, Jesus, man.

[00:10:50] Well, was it he wasn't getting paid for it or something?

[00:10:53] No, he was just mad that that was what his character was reduced to.

[00:10:56] He's one of those weird artsy farts.

[00:10:58] He kind of goes.

[00:10:59] Yeah.

[00:11:00] It is what it is, I guess.

[00:11:02] But like once you let it go and it's not in your control anymore, you just kind of

[00:11:07] have to.

[00:11:08] It is what it is.

[00:11:09] You know?

[00:11:09] Yeah.

[00:11:10] I know that apparently they're trying to make a Days Gone movie.

[00:11:13] I get the idea.

[00:11:14] But like, no one's going to give a shit.

[00:11:17] No, we're kind of zombie.

[00:11:19] People are just tired of zombies at this point.

[00:11:22] Yeah.

[00:11:23] It has to be done right.

[00:11:26] But speaking of but speaking of Sony.

[00:11:31] This news dropped.

[00:11:32] I think it dropped today, didn't it?

[00:11:33] It did.

[00:11:34] Yeah.

[00:11:34] And it put the put the Internet in a tizzy.

[00:11:37] It's interesting.

[00:11:38] It's interesting because I thought I had heard something about this a while ago.

[00:11:45] But it was very but it was very like rumor mill type stuff, you know?

[00:11:50] So the thing, too, that a lot of people don't.

[00:11:53] I've noticed a lot of people don't seem to get is a lot of people think this has already

[00:11:56] happened.

[00:11:57] This is still kind of in the talks phase.

[00:12:00] So like nothing's actually confirmed yet.

[00:12:02] But essentially, it's been confirmed that Sony is currently in talks with Keito Kawa, the

[00:12:09] company that owns a number of video game studios, most notably FromSoft.

[00:12:15] They also own other studios like Spike Chunsoft and Acquire.

[00:12:23] So they own a few pretty high profile game studios.

[00:12:28] They really want that Octopath Traveler IP.

[00:12:35] They want to take Dragon Ball Sparking Zero off of Xbox.

[00:12:39] That's what they really care about.

[00:12:41] I don't think it works that way.

[00:12:43] They want they want Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, damn it.

[00:12:48] Astro Bot Mystery Dungeon.

[00:12:50] Get on it.

[00:12:51] I'd be down for that.

[00:12:53] So you like Mystery Dungeon.

[00:12:54] The Internet really isn't reacting kindly to this.

[00:12:59] And I'm kind of sitting here going like, is it really that bad?

[00:13:05] I mean, we'll see what happens.

[00:13:07] I mean, I feel like Sony to a degree regrets buying Bungie.

[00:13:12] They probably do.

[00:13:13] Because it felt like they bought Bungie to be like a middle finger to Microsoft.

[00:13:18] Like, oh, we own the Halo dev, right?

[00:13:20] And it did cause some confusion because I think some people were like, wait, does Sony own Halo now?

[00:13:25] And it's like, no.

[00:13:26] That's not how it works.

[00:13:27] No, exactly.

[00:13:29] But it feels like ever since Bungie's been there, it's been nothing but like Sony bitching about them.

[00:13:35] Because, you know, but Bungie are infamous for being assholes.

[00:13:41] They're difficult.

[00:13:42] Difficult is probably a better way to put it.

[00:13:46] And yeah, because there's been a lot of just like, oh, they just spend money and don't do anything.

[00:13:50] And it's like, that sounds like Bungie.

[00:13:51] For years, people used to always say like Bungie was the triumphant company that escaped the evil Microsoft.

[00:13:57] Now I'm starting to think Microsoft was tired of them and were like, go.

[00:14:00] Be gone.

[00:14:01] We're done with you.

[00:14:02] Yeah.

[00:14:02] Though apparently in that buyout, Microsoft did make an offer to Bungie.

[00:14:07] And they turned him down.

[00:14:09] So, which, I mean, it's not the first time they've tried to buy him.

[00:14:14] Yeah.

[00:14:15] You know, because they thought, you know, maybe we'll just secure him.

[00:14:17] But Bungie just never wanted to do it.

[00:14:19] They didn't.

[00:14:19] No.

[00:14:19] Yeah.

[00:14:20] They just didn't have that desire because they didn't want to stick with Halo because they knew if they were bought by Microsoft, they were just going to be stuck with Halo for the rest of their lives.

[00:14:28] And they didn't want to be that, you know, which I understand that.

[00:14:32] Yeah, because it's like the thing I always noticed with Bungie was they are stubbornly independent and they kind of will do.

[00:14:40] They do basically everything their way, which is novel.

[00:14:43] And I do admire to a degree.

[00:14:46] But when you do it the way Bungie does, it just doesn't work.

[00:14:48] And they seem to get wrapped up with, like, publishers who, like, either treat them like shit or just, like, cause problems.

[00:14:58] Cause, like, you know, when they had Activision publish the first Destiny, that was a whole kerfuffle.

[00:15:02] And now with Sony buying them, all Sony does is complain about them.

[00:15:06] And it's like, hmm, maybe Bungie's the problem child here.

[00:15:10] I think it's funny.

[00:15:11] Cause, like, I guess it's like they don't just want to be fully independent.

[00:15:15] Cause with the success of Destiny 2, you think that would be enough to be, like, for them to be, like, we're just our own people.

[00:15:20] And Sony tries to say they're their own people and they can do what they want, which, I mean, fair.

[00:15:25] But, like, is Marathon gonna be on Xbox?

[00:15:30] I have no idea.

[00:15:31] Yeah.

[00:15:32] What's really funny about Bungie, I've noticed this, is, like, they had their previous two, like, publishers before Sony, Microsoft and Activision, were very, like, kind of, like, I'm not gonna say controlling, but they were very much, like, we'd appreciate it if you did this.

[00:15:49] It was that era where Microsoft, like, micromanaged everybody, you know?

[00:15:54] And it feels like they've gone in the opposite direction where they try to be almost too hands-off.

[00:16:00] Yeah.

[00:16:00] You know, and Activision has always had a history of being tough.

[00:16:05] Activision.

[00:16:05] Yeah, exactly.

[00:16:06] So I don't blame them on the Activision front, you know?

[00:16:09] But with Microsoft, you know, again, it's a whole thing.

[00:16:13] And again, I don't blame Bungie for wanting to be, like, solo and independent, you know?

[00:16:17] It's just interesting to think they didn't do, like, the Toys for Bob thing.

[00:16:21] Oh, yeah.

[00:16:22] You know what I mean?

[00:16:22] We're there, an independent company, but they'll make deals with the other publishers to, you know, get something going.

[00:16:29] So...

[00:16:30] Well, it's funny to me because...

[00:16:31] I still don't know why they didn't do that.

[00:16:33] Yeah.

[00:16:33] You'll never know.

[00:16:34] What's funny with Bungie, though, is, like, they get bought by Sony.

[00:16:38] And Sony...

[00:16:39] Say all you want about Sony.

[00:16:41] They have a very big tendency of they let their studios kind of do what they want.

[00:16:45] And they're very not controlling.

[00:16:48] To a degree.

[00:16:50] That's what I'm saying.

[00:16:51] Like, the problem is, though, they're kind of, like, a little too lax sometimes.

[00:16:54] And I guarantee you Bungie was like, oh, you're going to let us just do whatever we want?

[00:16:57] Oh, fuck yeah.

[00:16:59] And they basically just did whatever they wanted.

[00:17:01] The only thing I would push back on that is after Uncharted, or more specifically The Last of Us,

[00:17:07] it felt like every first-party PlayStation game was trying to be another version of that.

[00:17:13] So it wouldn't be surprised if Sony was saying to all their studios, like, hey, maybe try to have your game resemble this, like, huge success that we had.

[00:17:23] In terms of, like, having some repeating things, you know?

[00:17:26] Probably not directly forcing, you know, God of War and all this other stuff.

[00:17:31] They are different games, for sure.

[00:17:33] But when they all have a very similar, when they have the same camera perspective and, like, similar story beats and all of that,

[00:17:40] it's like you can't help but think that there's maybe a little bit of internal being like, hey, you should probably do that.

[00:17:45] I wonder about that, because, like, the studio in particular is Santa Monica, which is hilarious because they're not even from Santa Monica anymore,

[00:17:52] but that's besides the point.

[00:17:54] They're, like, a Sony, like, direct studio.

[00:17:57] Like, their official title is Sony Computer Interactive or Sony Interactive Entertainment Santa Monica Studio.

[00:18:05] So I wonder if because they're, like, one of those kind of, like, ingrained studios like them, like Sony Bend, like, the, like, OG studios.

[00:18:13] I wonder if because of that they're more direct.

[00:18:17] They're a bit later on the leash.

[00:18:18] Because, you know, just, like, Sucker Punch.

[00:18:19] Sucker Punch just does whatever and always comes to the great.

[00:18:23] Yeah, Sucker Punch kind of, yeah, Sucker Punch kind of does whatever, Sony Japan or Team Asobi or whomever.

[00:18:29] For sure.

[00:18:29] For sure.

[00:18:31] It's an interesting dynamic I've noticed.

[00:18:33] And I think with Bungie, they kind of let them go a little too far and then they realize they're kind of a pain in the ass.

[00:18:39] Yeah, and they don't really want to sell them.

[00:18:41] Or maybe Bungie just doesn't want to be sold.

[00:18:43] I don't know.

[00:18:44] It's a whole mess.

[00:18:46] Bungie's probably like, this is great.

[00:18:48] We get funded for everything and they let us do whatever.

[00:18:50] And we get to take our time with Marathon.

[00:18:52] It can be a marathon of a development.

[00:18:55] As long as it's a good shooter, I'm fine.

[00:18:58] I just, I want them to, like, make a good game.

[00:18:59] I'm probably not going to play it.

[00:19:01] I'll be honest.

[00:19:01] I've never played Destiny.

[00:19:02] It's never been anything I was interested in.

[00:19:05] That's fair.

[00:19:05] I'm not going to play Marathon.

[00:19:07] So it doesn't bother me one way or the other.

[00:19:10] But this whole, like, Sony buying FromSoft thing is interesting.

[00:19:14] Because I could have swore I heard this, like, in a rumor mill a while ago.

[00:19:18] But it only could have been, like, people making it up because it was during the whole ABK thing with Microsoft.

[00:19:25] You know?

[00:19:25] Where I think some people are probably theorizing that Sony is doing this in, like, a response to ABK.

[00:19:32] Which I don't know if that's necessarily accurate.

[00:19:37] And, yeah.

[00:19:38] Like, and again, like, people trying to do the whole, like, blaming Microsoft for this.

[00:19:42] It's like, guys, you really need to, you know, calm your hate bones for this.

[00:19:46] I love how you'll get the sensible people who just kind of look at this and go, that's interesting.

[00:19:51] And then you'll get the rabid console fanboys.

[00:19:54] It's on both sides.

[00:19:55] Both sides are just as bad as each other.

[00:19:57] Like, the Microsoft fans are obnoxious.

[00:19:59] The Sony fans are obnoxious.

[00:20:00] I'm so glad I left Twitter because now I don't see it anymore.

[00:20:04] And it's great.

[00:20:14] I don't frequent Blue Sky as much.

[00:20:17] But, yeah, I don't really see that stuff.

[00:20:19] Which is nice.

[00:20:21] And, yeah, again, the whole console war thing with it is really dumb.

[00:20:24] Because I guess the idea, people think, is that if Sony buys FromSoft, then, like, all FromSoft games are going to be PlayStation exclusive.

[00:20:32] Or, at the very least, PlayStation and PC.

[00:20:35] Like, no more Xbox, right?

[00:20:36] That's sort of the idea.

[00:20:37] Because Sony has that precedent of if they buy something, they're just going to keep it on their console.

[00:20:42] Because why would they put it on the other console, right?

[00:20:46] That's what people think.

[00:20:47] Because they're like, oh, their hardware is selling really good.

[00:20:49] And it's like, yeah, their hardware is selling really good.

[00:20:51] But if you look at, say, their game sales for the first party stuff, they're not making the numbers that they want them to make.

[00:20:57] Even if, say, like, Spider-Man 2 does really well or Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

[00:21:01] You know, like, they're not selling the numbers that even Sony would like.

[00:21:05] You know what I mean?

[00:21:05] Not even necessarily, like, Square or whatever.

[00:21:08] So, and would FromSoft want to cut off that, you know, cut off putting their games on Xbox?

[00:21:17] Again, I don't know how well, like, say, the Dark Souls games or Sekiro or Elden Ring sell on there.

[00:21:23] I have them.

[00:21:24] Like, I have the Dark Souls trilogy.

[00:21:26] I have Sekiro.

[00:21:27] I'll probably buy Elden Ring on it at some point.

[00:21:29] Like, I'm sure there are enough sales on there to warrant keeping it.

[00:21:34] You know what I mean?

[00:21:35] It could be, like, FromSoft is one of those devs where it's like, it could be like a Minecraft thing.

[00:21:41] Where it's like, hey, they do so well multi-plat.

[00:21:46] It would be kind of dumb to leave it just on their own system.

[00:21:50] You know what I mean?

[00:21:51] We've been getting a lot of that recently.

[00:21:53] Like, this is a very small one, but that Lego Horizon thing, that still fascinates me.

[00:22:00] Like, I feel like that is, Sony's playing with some ideas here.

[00:22:05] But again, that didn't come to Xbox either, which is interesting.

[00:22:10] It's on Switch.

[00:22:10] It's on PC.

[00:22:12] It's on PlayStation, but it's not on Xbox.

[00:22:14] I mean, I wouldn't have bought it.

[00:22:16] But, like, to me, that's probably a caveat some people are thinking is that they will try to circumvent that.

[00:22:22] Which, you know, who knows if they will or not.

[00:22:25] I mean, this is all speculation, though.

[00:22:27] It is.

[00:22:28] And I'll hear from Will about this in the Discord tomorrow.

[00:22:32] Hi, Will.

[00:22:34] What's funny, though, is, like, the thing that I thought was really hilarious about this was,

[00:22:38] I saw some people that were all like, this is outrageous.

[00:22:41] How can Sony do this?

[00:22:42] And I'm like, so they're going, like, Microsoft just bought two of the biggest publishers, like, not that long ago.

[00:22:47] Like, is it really?

[00:22:48] But they're not keeping their stuff off the other competitors' hardware.

[00:22:53] They're not.

[00:22:54] According to them, everything's a fucking Xbox now, which I think is, I don't like that.

[00:23:00] But, you know, whatever.

[00:23:03] I just like, because I saw some people were like, Sony's starting a monopoly.

[00:23:06] I'm like, this is not a monopoly, people.

[00:23:07] Microsoft is closer to a monopoly than Sony is.

[00:23:10] Yeah, yeah.

[00:23:11] And even then, it's not that bad.

[00:23:13] Yeah, and you get the sense with Microsoft, yeah, they're buying a bunch of stuff, but they're not hoarding it for themselves.

[00:23:18] No, they're not.

[00:23:18] It would be different if, say, they bought all the ABK stuff, and they're just like, okay, that's all on our platform now.

[00:23:25] You have to buy an Xbox to play Call of Duty.

[00:23:28] You know, like, then you could be like, yeah, that's pushing it.

[00:23:32] That's taking it too far.

[00:23:33] But they clearly don't want to do that because, yeah, their hardware sales may be down, but everything else is doing really well.

[00:23:39] So they're like, what the fuck's the problem, right?

[00:23:42] And then there was that Phil Spencer interview recently where he's like, you know, no red line on anything coming to PlayStation or whatever.

[00:23:48] And then doing the whole like, oh, we're still making hardware, you know, because they're probably like, yeah, why the fuck not?

[00:23:54] Because, like, it probably sells enough to be like, yeah, you might as well just keep making it because weirdos like me will buy them.

[00:24:01] Oh, yeah.

[00:24:02] You know, and that's the thing.

[00:24:03] When you have people like me baked into the ecosystem who already have like a library of hundreds of games, like, you're not going to shut us off from it.

[00:24:13] So, you know, again, it's all really weird.

[00:24:16] But like Sony buying FromSoft, I don't know, because, you know, that's the only reason why they're buying them is for that if they were to do it.

[00:24:24] It would be sort of like if Sony were going to buy Square, it would be just for Final Fantasy.

[00:24:29] And my issue with that would be like, what about everything else?

[00:24:32] Is everything else just going to go away?

[00:24:34] And with Sony trying to buy them, I mean, again, they're like a conglomerate.

[00:24:38] They don't just do video games.

[00:24:39] They do other stuff.

[00:24:40] Yeah.

[00:24:40] I mean, I know what didn't Sony was it?

[00:24:42] Sony bought Crunchyroll.

[00:24:43] Was that it?

[00:24:44] Sony bought.

[00:24:45] This is it's confusing.

[00:24:47] The people I'll give the cliff notes on this just because it's confusing and people still don't quite understand.

[00:24:52] Sony bought Funimation.

[00:24:54] And they bought Crunchyroll.

[00:24:56] Then they decided to merge the two, which in essentially meant Funimation essentially just absorbed Crunchyroll.

[00:25:05] But because the Crunchyroll name at this point is much more well known, they just kind of rebranded Funimation as Crunchyroll.

[00:25:11] So the original Crunchyroll is gone.

[00:25:13] That's no longer a thing.

[00:25:14] That's absorbed into Funimation.

[00:25:15] But the Funimation name has been retired.

[00:25:17] And now they just use Crunchyroll as the name.

[00:25:20] So it's one entity now.

[00:25:24] And so Sony merged the animation studio and the streaming platform together.

[00:25:30] Well, what's funny is Funimation had its own streaming platform as well.

[00:25:34] Has that stuff been moved over?

[00:25:36] It's completely gone now.

[00:25:38] They finally phased it out.

[00:25:40] Okay.

[00:25:40] But I assume Crunchyroll now just has all of that stuff.

[00:25:43] Yeah.

[00:25:43] They basically took two doving companies and two streaming companies and just merged them together.

[00:25:48] But Funimation has been around longer.

[00:25:50] So they kind of are the dominant people in charge.

[00:25:54] But they just used Crunchyroll's name because it's more well known worldwide.

[00:25:58] Yeah.

[00:25:58] Yeah.

[00:25:58] So Crunchyroll basically is now Funimation, what Funimation was and Crunchyroll was, but together.

[00:26:05] Like it's just one big thing now.

[00:26:08] Okay.

[00:26:08] So it's basically their anime division.

[00:26:10] Which is hilarious.

[00:26:11] Basically.

[00:26:12] They own another anime publisher called Aniplex as well, but they're a separate thing.

[00:26:18] I'm surprised they merged them in the Crunchyroll.

[00:26:20] Well, they don't have a...

[00:26:21] They could have the Sony Crunchyroll division.

[00:26:24] Aniplex is different because they're not a streaming platform.

[00:26:27] They're just a distributor.

[00:26:29] Yeah.

[00:26:29] They don't dub anything.

[00:26:31] They just distribute.

[00:26:32] So I guess they're kind of their own thing.

[00:26:34] Okay.

[00:26:34] Okay.

[00:26:35] Because yeah, looking at them, yeah, they own like manga publishing.

[00:26:39] They do film production, DVD sales.

[00:26:42] Yeah.

[00:26:42] The video game stuff.

[00:26:43] So it's like, you know, again, that seems like a lot to take on.

[00:26:48] You know what I mean?

[00:26:49] If Sony were to buy that, it'd be...

[00:26:51] Oh, I can't stop the recording.

[00:27:00] Did I do something?

[00:27:02] I don't think so.

[00:27:04] Uh-oh.

[00:27:05] This is not good.

[00:27:08] What the...

[00:27:09] Are you okay?

[00:27:10] I don't know.

[00:27:12] I thought I did something wrong.

[00:27:13] So I was like, wait a minute.

[00:27:15] But no, I didn't.

[00:27:16] No, you froze on my end.

[00:27:17] I was like, oh shit.

[00:27:18] And then all of a sudden I turned it.

[00:27:19] My entire thing just went, nope.

[00:27:20] And I was like, oh shit.

[00:27:23] Thankfully, the recording did not stop.

[00:27:25] So we're all good.

[00:27:26] Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:26] So that'll be funny.

[00:27:28] That'll be funny to hear in the playback.

[00:27:30] Oh, you're going to have to edit.

[00:27:33] It's funnier.

[00:27:34] Because you'll just look at the...

[00:27:35] You're like, oh no.

[00:27:36] Like the audio version.

[00:27:38] Oh, it's great.

[00:27:39] Because this happened on GNC a while back.

[00:27:41] And there's an entire segment where Alex is like, I don't know what to do.

[00:27:44] And she starts singing the song about not knowing what to do.

[00:27:47] And I left it in.

[00:27:48] Oh, nice.

[00:27:49] I got to listen to that now.

[00:27:50] I don't know which episode it was.

[00:27:53] But anyways, back to this.

[00:27:55] It's like, I feel like this would be a lot for Sony to take on.

[00:27:58] Like essentially it's them requiring like a mid to high tier like Japanese company basically.

[00:28:05] That like handles a lot more than just video games.

[00:28:08] And even more than just like FromSoft and video games as well.

[00:28:11] So it's, you know, it's one of those things where it's like, like maybe it's like a bigger strategy.

[00:28:18] Like maybe they're not necessarily buying them just so they could like have Elden Ring or whatever.

[00:28:22] Like maybe there's more to it than that.

[00:28:24] That's my theory because I know all the articles are highlighting the FromSoft and ignoring the fact that there's a lot more to hear going on than people think.

[00:28:34] I don't know, honestly.

[00:28:35] I'm very intrigued by it.

[00:28:37] I mean, for all we know, this might not even happen.

[00:28:39] This is still just.

[00:28:40] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:41] Yeah.

[00:28:41] To be fair, the sort of company acquisition talks happen all the time.

[00:28:47] Like a lot of times these happen like under the table.

[00:28:51] We don't know about them until like years later.

[00:28:53] You know, so these things are happening like crazy.

[00:28:56] Like I guarantee you Microsoft has talked to so many different companies about acquiring them that we've not known about or won't hear about for another like couple of years.

[00:29:05] You know what I mean?

[00:29:06] Like say when they tried to buy Nintendo, we didn't know about that right away.

[00:29:10] Or I'm sure and I'm pretty sure I'll know if it's ever been confirmed, but I'm pretty sure they've talked to Sega about acquiring them before.

[00:29:16] Like, you know, that that rumor that'll never go away.

[00:29:20] Right.

[00:29:21] The thing is, the Sega one to me is always interesting just because like people think like say there's always this weird mystique that people have that Sega is constantly like financially in trouble.

[00:29:32] But like when you look at Sega, they are like one of they're healthier than they've ever been.

[00:29:36] I know.

[00:29:37] Like I've always like, what do you talk?

[00:29:38] Because there there is still a certain degree of people when they think Sega, they go herder, Sonic company.

[00:29:44] That's all they do.

[00:29:45] And I'm always like, I mean, Sonic's been doing pretty well recently with the movie and Shadow Generations and all that.

[00:29:52] So Sonic's a decently healthy place too.

[00:29:54] And even even the most recent games.

[00:29:56] Yeah.

[00:29:56] Not all of them have been like the greatest ever, but Frontiers did pretty well.

[00:30:00] Superstars did pretty well.

[00:30:01] Shadow Generations is done really well.

[00:30:04] Like it's one of the more well-received Sonic games in recent memory.

[00:30:07] I believe it sold like a million in its first day or something.

[00:30:10] It's like, holy shit.

[00:30:11] Like that doesn't happen even with Sonic, you know, which is always a steady, consistent seller, you know.

[00:30:16] But outside of that, you have like the the like Dragon series and the Atlas stuff also doing really well.

[00:30:21] So, yeah, Sega's in a healthy spot.

[00:30:23] And and I'm sure, yeah, the Microsoft talks happened.

[00:30:26] I think it was around like the OG Xbox.

[00:30:29] Like I remember I read somewhere.

[00:30:31] It could be not true, but it makes a little bit of sense.

[00:30:34] And that was the idea of Microsoft getting Sega involved in the marketing of the Xbox in Japan.

[00:30:41] So like in Japan, it would be the Sega Xbox.

[00:30:44] You know what I mean?

[00:30:45] Which sounds gross saying it out loud.

[00:30:49] Like, you know, you know, like I mean, that's up there with a Dreamcast, too.

[00:30:54] You know, that's honestly as weird to say as Nintendo PlayStation.

[00:30:58] That rolls off the tongue a little bit better.

[00:31:01] You know, that actually was a thing.

[00:31:03] Like there was.

[00:31:04] Yeah, like, but just the idea of Microsoft being like, oh, let's take the Xbox and let's just slap Sega's name on it in Japan.

[00:31:11] That'll sell it.

[00:31:12] Which is hilarious.

[00:31:13] Because Sega has Sega never sold well in Japan except for the Saturn.

[00:31:17] Yeah.

[00:31:18] Yeah.

[00:31:19] Like, weirdly enough, if they did it everywhere, probably.

[00:31:21] I mean, honestly, probably wouldn't hurt the sales.

[00:31:24] You know?

[00:31:25] Yeah.

[00:31:26] Honestly.

[00:31:26] Like, because there was also supposed to be like, if the Dreamcast hadn't failed, there was going to be crossplay like between Xbox and Dreamcast.

[00:31:33] Oh, crossbreeding?

[00:31:34] Yeah.

[00:31:34] It would have been crossplay in the early 2000s.

[00:31:36] It would have been cool as shit.

[00:31:38] Honestly, that's like one of those weird headcanons that I was like, this would have been so interesting.

[00:31:43] Yeah.

[00:31:43] I mean, I imagine if those two stayed in the hardware business, I have a feeling they would have merged.

[00:31:48] Probably.

[00:31:49] Yeah.

[00:31:50] But it feels like that boat, the whole Microsoft Sega boat, like that's gone.

[00:31:55] You know?

[00:31:55] I don't think it'll ever happen at this point.

[00:31:57] And it's fine.

[00:31:58] It doesn't have to.

[00:31:59] So this whole like Sony buying them, it's probably, I imagine FromSoft is one of the big reasons why they're going for it.

[00:32:06] But again, it's a...

[00:32:07] I don't really think they're that desperate to get Acquire.

[00:32:11] No, no.

[00:32:13] And it's not like they need FromSoft exclusivity because their stuff sells just fine on there.

[00:32:19] You know?

[00:32:19] And I don't think it's them being like, oh, we need to take away Xbox sales.

[00:32:23] I mean, if that is, then that's a really dumb, petty move.

[00:32:26] You know?

[00:32:26] And if I were Microsoft, I would stop giving them the shit they have on PlayStation if they're going to be that way.

[00:32:32] That's how I would do it.

[00:32:34] I'd be like, if you're going to be a petty bitch, then I'm going to be a petty bitch.

[00:32:37] You know what I mean?

[00:32:39] But that's all hypotheticals.

[00:32:42] And we'll see what happens.

[00:32:43] I mean, their share price shot up when this news happened.

[00:32:46] But again, it's all speculation.

[00:32:48] We'll see if anything actually happens with it.

[00:32:51] Because, you know...

[00:32:52] I will say the funniest fucking article I saw, because this was such a clickbait bullshit article,

[00:32:57] was it was because Mario and the Ouija Brothership had just came out.

[00:33:00] And it's actually been made by Acquire.

[00:33:03] Yeah, that is true.

[00:33:04] I saw an article being like, bad news for the Super Mario and the Ouija series.

[00:33:08] I'm like, guys, Acquire didn't even make the damn series.

[00:33:12] I think that it'll be fine.

[00:33:15] And Brothership reviewed okay.

[00:33:17] Yeah, they were all acting like...

[00:33:19] It reviewed fine.

[00:33:20] They're like, Sony's taking away the Mario and the Ouija developer.

[00:33:23] No more Mario and the Ouija.

[00:33:24] I'm like, you guys realize that Acquire only made this one game.

[00:33:28] The rest of the series was made by an entirely different studio.

[00:33:30] And Nintendo owns it and can get someone else.

[00:33:32] It's not that big a deal.

[00:33:33] Yeah, exactly.

[00:33:36] And yeah, looking through some stuff, apparently, yeah, the Aniplex that you mentioned,

[00:33:41] a lot of the anime is IP from Katakawa.

[00:33:45] So it could be more of a play for the anime stuff than anything else.

[00:33:51] Which, that's very possible, you know?

[00:33:54] Oh, yeah.

[00:33:55] It's so...

[00:33:56] And plus, yeah, it's like a Japanese company trying to acquire another Japanese company.

[00:34:00] Which, you know, Japan has different laws about the business merging.

[00:34:05] You know, I mean, they do happen.

[00:34:07] But it's not as, like, easy peasy as it is, say, in the West.

[00:34:11] So...

[00:34:11] Oh, yeah.

[00:34:11] I mean, we'll see if anything happens with it.

[00:34:14] It might not be that big of a deal.

[00:34:15] You know what I mean?

[00:34:16] This isn't going to be like Bandai Namco or Square Enix or anything.

[00:34:19] No, this is a small, to be fair, a relatively smaller corporation.

[00:34:24] I mean, plus when...

[00:34:25] Yeah, I mean, when those two happened, those were, like, years in the making.

[00:34:29] And I think they had to get through a lot of government dealings to finally happen.

[00:34:34] And now we're used to them.

[00:34:35] So whatever.

[00:34:36] Yeah.

[00:34:37] Yeah, I think people are just...

[00:34:38] It was a slower news day and people needed something to be angry about.

[00:34:41] So they just...

[00:34:44] They took this and they run a little wild with it.

[00:34:47] But...

[00:34:48] And...

[00:34:48] Yeah.

[00:34:49] I mean, it seems like if Sony were to do this, it would just be, like, a why not?

[00:34:56] Apparently, again, they already have...

[00:34:58] Sony already has a 14% share in FromSoft and a 2% interest in Katakawa, respectively.

[00:35:03] So going for a full acquisition is the logical next step.

[00:35:07] So they've already, like...

[00:35:09] They already have some dealings.

[00:35:11] So it could be that or it could just be they get...

[00:35:13] They want, like, majority share in both companies.

[00:35:16] You know?

[00:35:17] Maybe it's they end up getting, like, 51%.

[00:35:20] And that would be an interesting...

[00:35:22] Still allowed to be their own thing, but they have, like, majority stake.

[00:35:25] Kind of like a...

[00:35:26] Kind of like a Psygnosis kind of situation where, like...

[00:35:28] Yeah.

[00:35:28] They own them, but they're still independent in a sense.

[00:35:33] Yeah.

[00:35:33] Which is kind of what they tried to do with Bungie.

[00:35:36] Kind of.

[00:35:37] Yeah.

[00:35:38] You know?

[00:35:39] And plus, they do know they would get a lot of bad press if they were just like,

[00:35:43] Yeah, we own FromSoft.

[00:35:44] All their shit is PlayStation exclusive now.

[00:35:46] Like, suck it, nerd.

[00:35:47] Like, people would get mad.

[00:35:49] They would.

[00:35:49] And they would have a right to be.

[00:35:51] So...

[00:35:51] I...

[00:35:52] But I doubt that would happen.

[00:35:54] I'm kind of with you on this.

[00:35:55] I think it's a lot deeper than we know right now.

[00:35:57] And we have to wait and see.

[00:35:59] Yeah.

[00:36:00] Yeah.

[00:36:00] So...

[00:36:00] And again, it's, you know, as I've...

[00:36:02] As I usually joke about, you know, oh, if Sony's acquiring it, nobody cares.

[00:36:06] But if Microsoft does, then everybody gets fucking mad.

[00:36:08] Which is...

[00:36:09] Weirdly enough, though, people care this time because it's FromSoft.

[00:36:12] Because it's FromSoft.

[00:36:13] Yeah.

[00:36:13] I mean, from what I'm seeing, I'm seeing some people saying, like, oh, Sony should totally

[00:36:17] do this because Microsoft's been going crazy with the acquisitions.

[00:36:21] That's...

[00:36:21] And I'm like, that's not...

[00:36:22] It's not the same thing.

[00:36:23] It's not the same thing.

[00:36:25] And again, it's probably more than just wanting, like, FromSoft.

[00:36:28] They probably want...

[00:36:30] Like, the anime section of it is probably a big deal to them.

[00:36:33] And I imagine, like, Chunsoft and Acquire would just be, like, you know...

[00:36:37] Those good developers.

[00:36:39] Yeah.

[00:36:39] I mean, always the issue with these acquisitions, I mean, it happened with ABK, is that some

[00:36:44] of the lesser stuff kind of gets forgotten and thrown to the side.

[00:36:47] Which I have a feeling those two maybe would be victims of that.

[00:36:50] Which would be unfortunate.

[00:36:52] So...

[00:36:53] Who the fuck knows?

[00:36:54] If anything happens, we'll talk about it.

[00:36:56] But I wouldn't worry about it.

[00:36:59] I don't care that much.

[00:37:00] I have Sekiro on the Xbox.

[00:37:02] It's a great fucking game.

[00:37:03] Y'all should play it.

[00:37:03] How about that?

[00:37:04] Yeah.

[00:37:05] So...

[00:37:05] The other thing we can talk about is the Game Awards.

[00:37:08] Speaking of people getting mad, the Game Awards, it's that time again.

[00:37:12] Did you see that Keely's trying to trademark the fucking Game Awards name?

[00:37:18] I thought he already did.

[00:37:20] Well, I guess he's trying to, like, trademark Game Awards, which a lot of people are like...

[00:37:25] Maybe the Game Awards would be fine.

[00:37:28] You gotta add the the.

[00:37:30] I don't know.

[00:37:31] Maybe the trademark office has an issue with, like, trademarking the word the.

[00:37:35] Yeah.

[00:37:35] Because it's the most commonly used word in the English language.

[00:37:39] I didn't really look deep into it, so it might just be, like, a whole lot of nothing.

[00:37:42] Well, I know the big thing right before it was them basically saying, like, expansions

[00:37:47] or DLC can potentially be, like, Game of the Year, as well as, like, remasters and remakes

[00:37:52] kind of a thing.

[00:37:53] And that was a whole thing.

[00:37:55] And that's one of those, like...

[00:37:56] And then you see, like, the list come out.

[00:37:59] And it's like, oh, Shatters of Erd Tree is in the Game of the Year talk.

[00:38:01] And it's like, and I have a bad feeling it's gonna fucking win because it's Elden Ring.

[00:38:06] It's FromSoft, you know?

[00:38:08] And it's like, I just...

[00:38:10] I personally, I think expansions and DLC should get their own separate category, you know?

[00:38:16] Because they're definitely worth talking about.

[00:38:18] But it's like, you already...

[00:38:20] You need the base game to play it.

[00:38:22] You know what I mean?

[00:38:22] It's not the same thing.

[00:38:24] It's like, the comparison I made was, say, like, Alan Wake 2's The Lakehouse.

[00:38:29] Like, that big DLC.

[00:38:30] Imagine if that was in Game of the Year.

[00:38:31] People would be like, why the fuck is that there?

[00:38:33] It's a DLC.

[00:38:34] You know what I mean?

[00:38:35] So, I feel like it's unfair to compare an expansion for a game that's a couple years old

[00:38:41] to a brand new full-ass video game.

[00:38:44] You know what I mean?

[00:38:45] Like, I think they're different.

[00:38:46] And the remake remasters, they definitely need their own category.

[00:38:50] Like, we get so many of them now, they desperately need their own category.

[00:38:54] I think if you want to say, throw, like, say, like, Resident Evil 2 Remake

[00:38:58] in for Game of the Year talk.

[00:39:00] I think that's fair.

[00:39:00] That's a new...

[00:39:01] That, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, that's a new game.

[00:39:04] Yeah.

[00:39:05] Yeah, exactly.

[00:39:06] I mean, if, like, throwing that in a remake remaster category is like, eh, that's different.

[00:39:12] You know what I mean?

[00:39:13] But say, like, Resident Evil 2 Remake.

[00:39:15] You could put that in, like, the best remake category as well as Game of the Year.

[00:39:19] Because it's like, it checks both boxes.

[00:39:21] But, like, Shadows of Erdtree, I didn't play it.

[00:39:25] I still haven't played Elden Ring.

[00:39:26] And I know Erdtree is good.

[00:39:28] I'm sure it's from Soft.

[00:39:30] But, like, I don't know.

[00:39:31] I feel like having that there feels like it's taking away from, like, an original game that could be there.

[00:39:36] Yeah.

[00:39:37] And I saw the nominees, and I was like, the only two games on the list that I have any interest in are...

[00:39:45] A2, I haven't played yet because of money, but also it was Astro Bot and Metaphor.

[00:39:50] And I'm just kind of like, I don't think either of these are going to win.

[00:39:54] It's another year where I didn't play any of these games.

[00:39:58] So, I mean, I have...

[00:39:59] I mean, Astro Bot, I'll play eventually.

[00:40:02] Bellatro, I've been...

[00:40:04] I mean, it's cool.

[00:40:05] They always throw an indie game in there, which I, you know, which I respect, even though it feels almost like a...

[00:40:10] Like a...

[00:40:11] I hate to say, like a DEI thing, where it's like, eh, we need an indie game in here.

[00:40:14] But Bellatro is very popular.

[00:40:18] People love it.

[00:40:18] People have been begging me to fucking play it.

[00:40:20] I just haven't gotten around to it.

[00:40:21] It looks like a game I would like, though.

[00:40:24] Like, Black Myth, Wukong, I don't know.

[00:40:26] I feel like there's a lot of weird controversy about that game, but I don't know.

[00:40:32] Like, Erd Tree already said.

[00:40:34] Rebirth, I'm not surprised Rebirth is there.

[00:40:37] I'm glad Metaphor is there, because Metaphor seemed to, like, really pop off in terms of it being fantastic.

[00:40:42] And it's cool to see, like, Sega up there.

[00:40:44] You know what I mean?

[00:40:45] Yeah.

[00:40:46] As a diehard Sega boy, it feels like representation.

[00:40:49] As a Sega fan and an Atlus fan, it's like, yay.

[00:40:52] Yeah, yeah.

[00:40:53] And it's cool to see, like, Atlus is at that point now.

[00:40:56] You know?

[00:40:57] Oh, yeah.

[00:40:57] It's like...

[00:40:58] Because I don't think...

[00:40:59] Was Persona 5 in the Game of the Year talk when that came out?

[00:41:02] I don't think it was.

[00:41:04] Which is crazy to think that, like, in 2017, because the Game Awards were going on in 2017,

[00:41:09] that, like...

[00:41:10] Hold on, I got to check.

[00:41:11] Was it even nominated?

[00:41:13] Okay, it was.

[00:41:14] Never mind.

[00:41:15] Okay.

[00:41:15] Yeah.

[00:41:15] For 2017, it was Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, PUBG, and Mario Odyssey.

[00:41:21] That is a weird set of games, just having PUBG in there.

[00:41:26] PUBG, that's a...

[00:41:27] It's still a thing, but...

[00:41:28] It's still very much a thing, yeah.

[00:41:30] But, yeah, it's cool to see that stuff there.

[00:41:33] If I had to guess what's going to win, I would say Shadows of Virtue, because...

[00:41:37] Because I had said it before, and that's, like, I think the issue a lot of people have

[00:41:41] with the Game Awards is it feels too much like Jeff Keighley's thing and not, like, the

[00:41:47] game industry's thing.

[00:41:49] You know what I mean?

[00:41:50] It's, like...

[00:41:52] Like, the DICE Awards are, like...

[00:41:54] That feels more like the game industry handing out awards kind of a thing.

[00:41:59] You know what I mean?

[00:41:59] And those are handled really well, but they don't have, like, the presentation of the

[00:42:04] Game Awards, which the Game Awards are trying to be, like, the Oscars.

[00:42:07] Which, you know, I think the game industry having that is cool.

[00:42:11] At the end of the day, yeah, it doesn't mean shit, but, like, it's cool to have.

[00:42:15] You know?

[00:42:16] It's just...

[00:42:17] I wish it was less of, like, oh, it's Jeff...

[00:42:20] The Keighley's.

[00:42:21] You know, that's the joke.

[00:42:22] It's just the Keighley's.

[00:42:23] And you know his personal...

[00:42:24] Who's gonna play?

[00:42:29] It comes in every time.

[00:42:31] You watch it every year, and you're like, who's gonna break on stage this year?

[00:42:35] You're like, here's the part where he sucks off Kojima.

[00:42:40] You know, there's the part where he, like, downplays, you know, certain companies he doesn't

[00:42:45] like.

[00:42:45] You know, that whole thing.

[00:42:46] All the anime games out the window.

[00:42:48] Fuck that.

[00:42:49] I mean, metaphor's up there.

[00:42:51] I know.

[00:42:51] That's why I was surprised.

[00:42:53] I'm not surprised.

[00:42:54] Not surprised at all, because when I saw that game come in with a super high Metacritic

[00:42:58] and people were digging the shit out of it, I'm like, oh yeah, it's gonna be there for

[00:43:01] sure.

[00:43:01] It was too powerful to be suppressed.

[00:43:05] Exactly.

[00:43:05] And it'll win.

[00:43:06] At the very least, it'll win Best RPG.

[00:43:09] Most likely.

[00:43:09] Well, does that count as an RPG?

[00:43:12] Shadows of Virtue?

[00:43:13] I don't even think it's in there for RPG.

[00:43:15] Oh, maybe.

[00:43:16] For Best RPG, it's Dragon's Dogma 2.

[00:43:19] Oh, Shadows of Virtue is in it.

[00:43:21] Rebirth, Infinite Wealth, and Metaphor Re-Fantasio.

[00:43:24] And I think Metaphor will be the one that wins that.

[00:43:26] That is a strong category.

[00:43:29] Yeah.

[00:43:29] I mean, Infinite Wealth is mine, obviously, because it's the one I played.

[00:43:34] And it's technically my game of the year.

[00:43:38] So, because it's like, of the games I've played this year, it's like, yeah, that came

[00:43:42] out this year.

[00:43:42] I'm like, yeah, that was probably the best one.

[00:43:44] That was probably the best one.

[00:43:45] It's kind of funny.

[00:43:46] Like, there's been a controversy I saw going around online.

[00:43:50] Well, not a controversy, but just a discussion I've seen.

[00:43:52] Our friend of the show, Dave Jackson, he had made a comment online that I really agreed

[00:43:58] with.

[00:43:58] He made a point where, like, he said he was tired of people saying, like, this has been

[00:44:02] such a mid-year of games.

[00:44:04] Because, like, he pointed out, he's like, we've not had a mid-year of games in, like,

[00:44:08] a long time.

[00:44:09] I feel like we're due for a mid-year for games, you know?

[00:44:14] And that's like, when you go on YouTube and you see, like, all these videos of people saying,

[00:44:19] like, gaming's boring now.

[00:44:20] Or, you know, gaming's not as good as it used to be.

[00:44:23] And it's all these fuckers who all they do is play, like, online shooters.

[00:44:26] And they're bitching about it.

[00:44:27] And it's like, bro, play another fucking game.

[00:44:30] How about that?

[00:44:31] Like, if you want to enjoy gaming again, it's so easy.

[00:44:36] You don't even have to play shit that came out this year, you know?

[00:44:38] You can, like, just, like, whatever you play games on, just go into the store and deep dive

[00:44:43] a little bit.

[00:44:44] Look at the games that are, like, 10 years old.

[00:44:47] Or, you know, or just, you know, retro game.

[00:44:49] Or, you know, like, there's so many great fucking games out there that it's, like, it's

[00:44:54] hard to say, like, gaming isn't good.

[00:44:55] Like, gaming is better than it's ever been.

[00:44:57] Just in terms of the accessibility of games.

[00:45:02] You know what I mean?

[00:45:02] Like, it's so easy to get, like, a half-decent PC or just buy a fucking Switch.

[00:45:08] And, like, and there's just so many games for that that you can play that are fantastic.

[00:45:13] Honestly, you know what I mean?

[00:45:14] The way it is right now, there's too many good games coming out.

[00:45:17] Oh, yeah.

[00:45:18] We always talk.

[00:45:19] That's the joke we got.

[00:45:20] We have is there's too many fun games to play.

[00:45:22] Like, the problem I have is, like, there's so many games.

[00:45:25] I can't afford to pay $70 for all of these games.

[00:45:28] Like, yeah.

[00:45:29] Like, I don't pay 70 bucks unless it's, like, like, I did for Infinite Wealth because I

[00:45:33] love that series now.

[00:45:36] Like, every once in a while, you'll find a game that's worth spending the 70 bucks on.

[00:45:39] But, yeah, like, in your situation or in a lot of other people's situations, they can't

[00:45:43] afford it.

[00:45:43] And I totally get that, you know?

[00:45:45] Which, hey, right now, there's the big Black Friday sale.

[00:45:48] I think it's on, like, all the consoles and maybe on PC.

[00:45:51] So, if you're if you are gaming on a budget, now's the time to go find some cheap games.

[00:45:57] Now's the time.

[00:45:58] Like, I mean, I want to play Metaphor, but, like, I just can't.

[00:46:02] It looks great.

[00:46:02] I'd love to play it.

[00:46:03] I don't have the fucking time.

[00:46:05] And plus, I started playing Dragon Quest 3 HD 2D Remake, obviously.

[00:46:09] I'm about 10 hours in and it's very good.

[00:46:12] It is a fantastic.

[00:46:14] It's a JRPG-ass JRPG.

[00:46:16] They didn't change a huge amount of stuff.

[00:46:18] It's still very what you expect from Dragon Quest 3, pretty much.

[00:46:25] There are some quality of life features I like.

[00:46:28] Like, you can, there's an option to recall where you can save, like, dialogue interactions

[00:46:32] with characters and you can refer to them later on, which is really cool.

[00:46:36] There's objective markers.

[00:46:37] I think level grinding has been streamlined a little bit.

[00:46:41] But at the end of the day, it's still Dragon Quest 3.

[00:46:44] So it's not like, I've been saying it's not a beginner-friendly game.

[00:46:48] I would say, like, 11 is probably your better bet if you want to get into the series and

[00:46:53] you're brand new to it.

[00:46:55] But if you don't mind all the old shit, you know, 3 is, it's a beautiful old game.

[00:47:01] Oh, yeah.

[00:47:02] That's what I'd say.

[00:47:02] A beautiful old game.

[00:47:03] I'll be getting it eventually.

[00:47:06] And that game was $60.

[00:47:09] It was $60, which is hard.

[00:47:12] It's not easy to justify a $60 game that's like a remake of, like, a 30-year-old game.

[00:47:17] But, you know.

[00:47:18] Yeah.

[00:47:18] You know me.

[00:47:19] I had to buy it.

[00:47:21] Speaking of old games, I did want to just share that I've acquired the Holy Grail of Sega

[00:47:27] Dreamcast collecting a few days ago.

[00:47:31] I got that fucking, oh, yeah.

[00:47:35] And that shitty DVD case.

[00:47:37] I hate that.

[00:47:38] I hate it so much.

[00:47:40] So for those who aren't watching on video, I got a copy of Spirit of Speed 1937.

[00:47:46] One of the most critically panned games on Sega Dreamcast.

[00:47:50] It's also the final game to use the LJN logo because Acclaim had such little faith in it.

[00:47:55] They said, fuck it.

[00:47:56] We're not putting our name on this.

[00:47:59] We'll slap a quality name on it.

[00:48:01] LJN.

[00:48:02] They still owned it.

[00:48:03] So they were like, fuck it.

[00:48:05] LJN.

[00:48:05] It's really weird booting this up and seeing, like, a high-quality version of the LJN logo

[00:48:09] pop up.

[00:48:10] And it's like, that's weird.

[00:48:12] Yeah.

[00:48:12] That is weird as hell.

[00:48:13] So I had seen this game on the shelf for, like, a couple months at the retro store.

[00:48:18] And nobody was interested.

[00:48:21] And I passed because I didn't want this dumb DVD case.

[00:48:25] But I eventually kind of hit the point.

[00:48:27] It was like $20.

[00:48:28] I was like, you know.

[00:48:30] That's still too much for that game.

[00:48:32] Yeah, I know.

[00:48:33] But the jewel case is worse.

[00:48:34] So it's like, I was like, fuck it.

[00:48:37] I need to complete my racing game collection on Dreamcast anyways.

[00:48:41] And I want to experience it.

[00:48:42] And I will say, this game is a weird case of, like, it's not, like, bad in the sense of,

[00:48:49] like, it's unplayable.

[00:48:50] It's just the most boring fucking game.

[00:48:53] Like, it just, it's so mid.

[00:48:56] It's so mid-mediocre that it just becomes the worst thing ever because it is so boring.

[00:49:02] Yeah, it's not that interesting.

[00:49:08] Like, conceptually, the idea of, like, a racer from, like, the early 20th century when, like,

[00:49:14] racing, like, just started.

[00:49:15] Like, that's a fucking cool concept.

[00:49:18] I'm surprised that it hasn't been attempted again since.

[00:49:20] Like, the most is if you buy the Mafia remake, the Mafia 1 remake, there's a little bit of that in there.

[00:49:26] Which is cool.

[00:49:27] But that's about the extent of it, you know.

[00:49:30] And there's, like, that hard drive article where they ranked every Dreamcast game.

[00:49:33] And this game is at the dead bottom.

[00:49:36] At 244.

[00:49:38] Which is kind of funny because I think there is actually worse Dreamcast games.

[00:49:41] Like, this one is just so, it's so unremarkable.

[00:49:44] That's, like, why it's so bad.

[00:49:45] Like, it's, like, not even, like, there's so many worse games out there.

[00:49:49] But this one is just, it's just so mediocre.

[00:49:52] It's, like.

[00:49:53] It is.

[00:49:53] It's a rough go.

[00:49:55] So, and it's just, like, it's just, like, not a great racing game.

[00:49:59] Like, the races are, goes way too long.

[00:50:01] And, like, the physics aren't great.

[00:50:03] It's just, it's a mess.

[00:50:05] But by all means, try it out.

[00:50:07] It's just, we need a good historical racing game.

[00:50:10] I know.

[00:50:11] That's what we need.

[00:50:12] But we don't have it.

[00:50:13] And Codemasters is too busy.

[00:50:15] So, fuck.

[00:50:16] They're forever going to make F1 games for the rest of time.

[00:50:19] If it sells.

[00:50:22] Now, before we get into our game, there was one last piece of housekeeping I wanted to bring up.

[00:50:27] We got another new entry into the Nintendo Music selection.

[00:50:31] Oh, we did?

[00:50:32] Hold on.

[00:50:34] Don't tell me.

[00:50:36] I'm going to look it up.

[00:50:39] For some reason on the app, I don't know if it's you, but when I pull up the app on my phone,

[00:50:44] the first time I do it, it'll stay in loading.

[00:50:47] But if I immediately close it and open it again, it's fine.

[00:50:51] I don't know why.

[00:50:53] But anyways, let me see.

[00:51:02] F-Zero X?

[00:51:03] You got boost power.

[00:51:05] Yes.

[00:51:05] I mean, that's a good soundtrack.

[00:51:07] It is.

[00:51:08] That's a good one.

[00:51:08] Yeah.

[00:51:09] That version of Big Blue is pretty good.

[00:51:12] It is.

[00:51:13] I really want F-Zero GX's soundtrack up there at some point.

[00:51:16] Oh, it's so good.

[00:51:18] It's so good.

[00:51:19] There's so many great songs.

[00:51:21] All the F-Zero games have great soundtracks.

[00:51:23] I saw that, though, today, and I was just like, oh, good.

[00:51:27] Hell yeah.

[00:51:29] Fuck you, Nintendo.

[00:51:30] That's all you're getting.

[00:51:32] Anytime I see F-Zero X come up, I just think of all the freaking sound clips and stuff like,

[00:51:39] you got boost power.

[00:51:40] Oh, yeah.

[00:51:42] X is another example I've mentioned about the N64 where I feel like the GameCube counterpart overshadows it completely.

[00:51:51] You know?

[00:51:52] Yeah.

[00:51:52] Like, in my eyes, like, GX is so much better than X.

[00:51:56] Both are great games.

[00:51:57] But GX feels like it's what X wanted to be.

[00:52:01] You know what I mean?

[00:52:02] That people forget about X because GX was such a fucking monster of a game.

[00:52:06] The problem with X is, like, the fact that it runs at, like, 60 is fucking amazing.

[00:52:12] Oh, yeah.

[00:52:12] Yeah, it's, like, the best performing N64 game of all of them.

[00:52:16] It's kind of amazing.

[00:52:16] Which is hilarious because the menus run, like, shit for some reason.

[00:52:20] Yeah, but who cares?

[00:52:21] They're menus.

[00:52:22] Like, the gameplay is what matters, man.

[00:52:23] I just find it hilarious that the game runs so fucking smooth, but the menus are laggy and, like, fucking glitchy.

[00:52:30] And I'm like, that's fun.

[00:52:30] Yeah, it is funny.

[00:52:32] Yeah, I agree with that.

[00:52:33] But, like, the trade-off to the 60 is the graphics are so, like, basic, which is fine.

[00:52:38] I mean, it looks like...

[00:52:39] Very blocky.

[00:52:39] Very blocky.

[00:52:40] But when it comes to a racing game, I think the performance is much more important than the quality.

[00:52:45] Oh, yeah.

[00:52:46] You know what I mean?

[00:52:46] Like, a racing game is the prime example of a, oh, do you want optimized quality or optimized frame rate?

[00:52:54] And it's, like, frame rate every goddamn time.

[00:52:57] Oh, yeah.

[00:52:57] Because racing games need that, you know?

[00:53:00] Did you see they also put F-Zero Climax on the Switch app?

[00:53:07] Oh, the GBA one.

[00:53:09] Yeah, Climax is the...

[00:53:10] That's the one that was based on the show that released here.

[00:53:15] No.

[00:53:16] No, it was the one that we didn't get.

[00:53:17] We got GP Legend.

[00:53:19] That's right.

[00:53:19] Yes, GP Legend.

[00:53:20] They also put that on.

[00:53:22] Yeah, and then there was the other F-Zero on GBA.

[00:53:25] That was its own thing.

[00:53:25] Maximum Velocity.

[00:53:27] Velocity, yes.

[00:53:28] Do we have that one, too?

[00:53:29] We have all three of the GBA ones now.

[00:53:31] But the big thing was we have Climax now.

[00:53:34] So it's, like, we officially have every F-Zero game now available over here in some form.

[00:53:42] Obviously...

[00:53:42] Well, we're still missing GX.

[00:53:44] Well, I meant just the series has official releases in America now.

[00:53:48] Okay.

[00:53:50] Because, yeah, is F-Zero X on N64?

[00:53:52] I believe it is.

[00:53:53] Yeah, it is, because I was playing it.

[00:53:56] I was playing it with Nave, actually.

[00:53:59] For gaming and co-

[00:54:00] For cooperative, whatever.

[00:54:03] No, we were actually doing something with Aaron, and Aaron was late, so we were just playing F-Zero X.

[00:54:10] That's so funny how, like, Nave has, like, become a Nintendo guy.

[00:54:13] I think that's adorable.

[00:54:16] Oh, yeah.

[00:54:16] There it is.

[00:54:19] There it is.

[00:54:20] So, yeah, so we got that.

[00:54:22] And then, yeah, like, of course, F-Zero is on the SNES one.

[00:54:25] And, yeah, now we have the GBA ones.

[00:54:27] We just need fucking GX, baby.

[00:54:29] That's all we need.

[00:54:30] That'll probably be Switch 2, hopefully.

[00:54:33] I imagine if they end up doing GameCube NSO for Switch 2, that will be, like, one of the games they have for it.

[00:54:43] Because at this point, I don't see them doing a full-on remaster of it.

[00:54:47] Because I feel they would have done it by now if they wanted to.

[00:54:49] I wonder if it's a licensing issue, because Sega technically made it.

[00:54:53] I don't think it would be.

[00:54:54] Sega seems very cooperative.

[00:54:56] Yeah, I don't think Sega would be a dick about it.

[00:54:58] But I just, I wonder if there's, like, some tape in the background they have to go through just to get it that's taking some time.

[00:55:04] It's possible.

[00:55:05] I mean, think about it.

[00:55:06] We still haven't gotten, like, a new Genesis NSO update in, like, a year.

[00:55:12] Yeah.

[00:55:13] Which, I mean, they gave us the...

[00:55:15] Which weirds me the hell out.

[00:55:16] They gave us literally the Holy Grail of Genesis.

[00:55:19] And then they just said, that's good enough.

[00:55:22] What?

[00:55:24] Fantasy Star 4?

[00:55:25] No, Crusaders of Senti.

[00:55:26] Fantasy.

[00:55:27] Oh, yeah, that one, too.

[00:55:28] That was great that it's there.

[00:55:29] Oh, yeah.

[00:55:30] Just to play it.

[00:55:31] Yeah.

[00:55:32] Oh, yeah, Climax is the Japanese box.

[00:55:34] It's really cool.

[00:55:35] But, yeah.

[00:55:36] Oh, yeah, we got all the Starfy games, which is fucking awesome.

[00:55:39] Oh, yeah.

[00:55:39] We still need that other...

[00:55:41] The one on DS.

[00:55:43] Not the one we got.

[00:55:43] That was the fourth one.

[00:55:44] Yeah.

[00:55:45] But, yeah, GBA NSO is...

[00:55:46] It's getting better.

[00:55:47] It's still not where it should be.

[00:55:49] But it's getting there.

[00:55:51] There's still some noticeable missing.

[00:55:54] But, you know, it is what it is.

[00:55:56] Yeah.

[00:55:57] So, we've spent almost...

[00:55:59] This is a fucking chat episode, isn't it?

[00:56:01] We're not talking about the game.

[00:56:02] We've spent almost an hour waffling.

[00:56:05] I think it's time we move on to the game itself.

[00:56:07] Not that there's much to say.

[00:56:09] There's really...

[00:56:10] Yeah, there's really not.

[00:56:11] But we'll do the rigmarole anyway.

[00:56:15] So, for this episode, we...

[00:56:18] If you couldn't tell by Thrak's little banner down there for our video watchers,

[00:56:22] we're actually covering...

[00:56:24] We're revisiting this gem right here.

[00:56:26] Return Fire.

[00:56:28] Because there actually is, on the 3DO, DLC.

[00:56:34] Not DLC, but like an expansion.

[00:56:37] Yeah.

[00:56:38] It's like a primitive DLC, in a sense.

[00:56:42] Like a...

[00:56:43] Fuck.

[00:56:44] Like a Return of the Lich King.

[00:56:46] Did I say it right?

[00:56:47] That World of Warcraft one?

[00:56:48] Yeah.

[00:56:49] Yeah.

[00:56:49] Or like a Sims expansion pack or something.

[00:56:52] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:56:53] Sims Pets.

[00:56:54] This is the Sims Pets of the 3DO.

[00:56:57] Bon Voyage.

[00:56:59] Night Out.

[00:56:59] Hot Date.

[00:57:00] This is the...

[00:57:01] Yeah.

[00:57:02] This is a hot...

[00:57:03] Emphasis on hot.

[00:57:05] Yeah.

[00:57:06] So, yeah.

[00:57:07] We're talking about Return Fire.

[00:57:08] Maps O Death.

[00:57:10] I love the fact it's Maps O Death.

[00:57:12] I kept saying Maze is a death.

[00:57:15] I was...

[00:57:15] Maps a death makes so much more sense.

[00:57:18] I thought it was Maps of Doom for a while, and then I realized...

[00:57:21] Maps of Doom.

[00:57:21] I like that.

[00:57:23] Maps...

[00:57:23] I thought that it was Maps of Death, and I read it.

[00:57:25] I was like, oh no, it's Maps O Death.

[00:57:28] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:57:29] It's easy to get it mixed up, so...

[00:57:31] Don't feel too bad.

[00:57:33] So, this is an interesting one.

[00:57:35] This expansion pack is exclusive to the 3DO version of this game.

[00:57:40] That is interesting.

[00:57:42] I don't believe any of this bonus content was included on the later PlayStation and Saturn releases.

[00:57:50] Not that you could tell.

[00:57:53] No.

[00:57:55] It's...

[00:57:55] So, the back of this box is great.

[00:57:58] There's some awesome buzzwords here.

[00:58:02] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[00:58:03] The Return Fire artwork is fantastic for both of them.

[00:58:06] So, on the back of the box, we get...

[00:58:09] More, more, more.

[00:58:10] This game is so addictive, you might have to go to rehab.

[00:58:14] From Electric Game.

[00:58:17] From EGM.

[00:58:19] Rehab from blowing up guard towers.

[00:58:21] I just can't fucking stop killing guard towers.

[00:58:25] The graphic detail is astounding.

[00:58:27] A must-have 3DO.

[00:58:30] Oh, I must have a 3DO.

[00:58:33] It could just be that, like, I played the original Return Fire on 3DO, and then I played this on emulator.

[00:58:38] But it does look a little better.

[00:58:40] Not, like, as significant, but it looks, like, a little cleaner.

[00:58:45] Yeah.

[00:58:46] I also love...

[00:58:48] So, it basically explains that all this is really...

[00:58:51] It's essentially a bonus pack of more levels.

[00:58:54] Yeah, that's basically...

[00:58:55] It gives you...

[00:58:57] Yeah, more levels.

[00:58:58] The password system has changed from, like, letters to characters.

[00:59:04] And there's some, like, slight UI changes.

[00:59:07] In terms of, like...

[00:59:09] You get a better sense of, like, how many of each vehicle you get.

[00:59:14] Um...

[00:59:15] And the controls feel maybe a tad tighter.

[00:59:19] A tad.

[00:59:20] But it's, like...

[00:59:22] I'm really, like, struggling to think of, like, new things to say other than just...

[00:59:27] It's more Return Fire.

[00:59:28] And I really liked Return Fire.

[00:59:30] So, it's, like...

[00:59:32] There's just more of it with maps that are different.

[00:59:35] But I feel like that game, like, the map design isn't really a highlight.

[00:59:40] No.

[00:59:41] So, it's not that big of a deal.

[00:59:43] It's just basically, like...

[00:59:44] If you want to...

[00:59:45] Like, if you played so much of original Return Fire that you want more.

[00:59:49] Like, here you go.

[00:59:51] But what's interesting is if you try to load this in an emulator or just, say, a physical copy by itself...

[00:59:57] Without the original Return Fire, it will...

[00:59:59] It won't let you.

[01:00:02] And basically, all it needs is, like, a save file for the original Return Fire to work.

[01:00:07] Like, you don't really have to play the original Return Fire.

[01:00:09] They just want a...

[01:00:11] They just want a save file, basically.

[01:00:14] Yeah.

[01:00:14] It's...

[01:00:14] It's real.

[01:00:15] It's a really weird way of doing that.

[01:00:18] Like, because when I first bought this...

[01:00:20] Because I had seen on the back, the little happy skull there, it says, warning, you need a copy of the original game to play.

[01:00:27] And I was like, oh, you're going to have to disc swap?

[01:00:29] That's going to be weird.

[01:00:31] Disc swapping would have been a nightmare.

[01:00:33] Oh, especially on a fucking FC1.

[01:00:37] That thing would have been like, what are you doing?

[01:00:38] Don't do this.

[01:00:39] I mean, to be fair, I hate disc swapping on any fucking console.

[01:00:43] Like, whatever.

[01:00:43] I've had multi-disc games, and they're like, insert disc 2.

[01:00:46] And I'm like, I don't want to.

[01:00:48] So I feel like I'm going to ruin it.

[01:00:49] Originally, I was thinking it was going to be kind of like how, like, the Sims do it, where you put in the expansion disc.

[01:00:55] And then it will, like, download the data, like, say, to RAM.

[01:00:59] And then you'll swap into the main disc.

[01:01:02] But no, it's literally just, it just wants a save file.

[01:01:05] And it's like, oh, it's good.

[01:01:07] And for emulator, all you have to do is just load the game up.

[01:01:10] You don't even have to play a level.

[01:01:11] You just load it up, and then it'll, like, just say, like, oh, I'm going to play it.

[01:01:16] And then you just turn it off, and then you're fine.

[01:01:18] Like, it's amazing how far, like, save files have gotten in emulators to where now it's like you can save them and treat them just like any other, like, say, the OG save files.

[01:01:29] You know what I mean?

[01:01:29] Like, you don't have to save state to, like, save your progress in general, which is cool.

[01:01:34] Yeah.

[01:01:35] I do, I will say, too, I do like the box art.

[01:01:38] It's kind of fun.

[01:01:39] I think it's better than the original.

[01:01:41] Well, the original is just this guy's face.

[01:01:42] Yeah, I mean, I like the dude's face, but I think the maps of death is a better example of what Return to Fire is.

[01:01:51] Yeah, just chaos.

[01:01:55] Yeah, other than that, though, like, when I was playing it, I'm not going to lie, half the time I couldn't tell if it was a new map or a map from the original game.

[01:02:03] I think, like, the skull in the little corner is meant to distinguish it's a new map, I think.

[01:02:08] I think so.

[01:02:09] Did you ever die during gameplay?

[01:02:12] Oh, yeah.

[01:02:13] Did you like the skull laughing at you?

[01:02:15] Yes, that was probably the best new edition.

[01:02:18] I love that little guy.

[01:02:19] It's the skull.

[01:02:19] It feels like they were trying to make him, like, the Return to Fire mascot.

[01:02:23] You know what I mean?

[01:02:24] Yeah, I like him.

[01:02:25] He's cute.

[01:02:27] He's fun.

[01:02:27] He's cute.

[01:02:28] But, yeah, it's just, like, it's just more Return to Fire.

[01:02:31] And, you know, like, the same things I liked and disliked about the original Return to Fire still apply here.

[01:02:38] See, I low-key really like when games insult you when you lose.

[01:02:41] Like, that's always just funny to me.

[01:02:44] Yeah, yeah.

[01:02:45] The one I always remember is in Sunshine, where you hear the clown horn.

[01:02:49] Yeah.

[01:02:50] Which always pissed me off.

[01:02:52] In, like, a Crash Bandicoot game, like, whenever you game over, you just got Uka Uka or, like, Cortex laughing at you.

[01:02:57] It's like, that's fun.

[01:02:58] Yeah, yeah.

[01:02:59] Yeah.

[01:03:00] We don't get that anymore.

[01:03:01] No, because games are too nice now.

[01:03:03] We can't insult our players.

[01:03:05] They just put you right where you are and just say, go for it again.

[01:03:09] Don't worry, kid.

[01:03:11] Which, honestly, I like that, though.

[01:03:14] I hate having to, like, shreds all the way fucking back from where I started.

[01:03:18] You know?

[01:03:19] See, I miss just, like, the shit talk era of gaming, though.

[01:03:22] Like, I still always think, like, Duke Nukem, the Manhattan Project on a PC mobile.

[01:03:28] I think it was on 360 Arcade for a while.

[01:03:30] It's the one that was, like, the 3D side-scroller.

[01:03:33] Like, one of the many games that was coming out before, during the, it was the Hold Us Over Until Forever came out.

[01:03:41] Yeah, there was a lot of weird Duke Nukem side games.

[01:03:43] I've never played any of them.

[01:03:47] Manhattan Project's pretty good.

[01:03:49] Unfortunately, it doesn't work on modern PCs anymore.

[01:03:52] Oh, well.

[01:03:53] I like that game, though, because if you're playing it and you pick very easy mode, it literally just has John St. John screaming, pussy, in the background.

[01:04:04] Or, like, in Doom, where you select, like, the don't hurt me, please, and it's just, like, a baby with a pinky and all that.

[01:04:10] Yeah.

[01:04:10] Or you get your pink gun, and I think it's in Doom.

[01:04:16] It might be, yeah.

[01:04:17] Yeah.

[01:04:17] It might be.

[01:04:18] There's an FPS where, like, if you pick easy mode, it turns the gun pink.

[01:04:22] I mean, that's kind of cool, you know?

[01:04:24] Like, hell yeah.

[01:04:26] I'm blowing up devils with a pink gun.

[01:04:28] This is fucking sick as hell.

[01:04:31] It's like in the original Alan Wake, if you bought, like, a pirated version, they gave Alan Wake, like, an eyepatch.

[01:04:39] And people are like, no, that's cool.

[01:04:40] I want the eyepatch.

[01:04:42] Yeah.

[01:04:43] See, we live in a day now where, like, the insults, just people are like, that's kind of cool, though.

[01:04:47] Yeah, I want that.

[01:04:48] Yeah.

[01:04:49] So it's, like, it's harder to insult people, because now it's, like, they're like, no, I actually like that.

[01:04:53] Yeah.

[01:04:56] Yeah, it's kind of, I was looking forward to adding more, but, like, there's really not a ton to Return Fire.

[01:05:02] It just kind of exists.

[01:05:04] Like, it's just, if you liked Return Fire, here's more.

[01:05:08] Yeah, basically.

[01:05:09] That's all really I have.

[01:05:11] Like, it doesn't change that.

[01:05:13] I mean, I didn't, like, play through the whole thing like I did the original Return Fire.

[01:05:16] So, I mean, I doubt the levels get that much more interesting, but.

[01:05:22] I mean, there's over a hundred new levels on this disc, and I'm like, I don't have time for that.

[01:05:26] I didn't play all the fucking levels in the original.

[01:05:29] No, I was like, yeah, no.

[01:05:32] Music still slaps, like, it's still the same music.

[01:05:34] Oh, yeah, yeah, it's still the same, like, classical music, which, you know, is always easy to get again, because, you know, it doesn't cost anything.

[01:05:41] I do find it interesting, like I mentioned earlier, the, I'm pretty sure this is all 3D exclusive content.

[01:05:49] I forgot doing research, too.

[01:05:51] Like, this is, there is a Return Fire 2, but it's only on PC.

[01:05:57] There is, yeah.

[01:05:59] I completely forgot about it until you said something.

[01:06:02] But I noticed it when I was trying to do research on this one.

[01:06:05] I was like, oh, Return Fire 2, PC only.

[01:06:09] And it, I don't know much about that one other than it kind of just existed.

[01:06:13] It looks like it's more just straight up 3D.

[01:06:17] Like, it goes away from the overhead view and tries to be, like, a little bit closer to the ground.

[01:06:22] You know?

[01:06:23] Which, I mean, sure.

[01:06:24] I mean, I could, you could probably play this game on, like, my abandoned wear.

[01:06:28] Probably.

[01:06:30] Probably.

[01:06:30] I was interested.

[01:06:31] I'm going to look it up real quick.

[01:06:33] Yeah, because, like, Silent Software, the developer for this game, they literally only would make, like, two more games after Return Fire.

[01:06:43] They made Return Fire 2, and then they made the greatest game in their category, Walt Disney World Magical Racing Tour.

[01:06:52] Is that the PS1?

[01:06:55] Dreamcast, PS1, and Windows.

[01:06:59] I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, if that game's actually good.

[01:07:02] I have no idea.

[01:07:03] I've never played it.

[01:07:04] You're the racing game guy, though.

[01:07:08] I'll get to it eventually.

[01:07:09] I have the Looney Tunes racer.

[01:07:11] That one's pretty good.

[01:07:13] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[01:07:14] I've heard about that one.

[01:07:16] It looks like every kart racing game is on that era, so it might be all right.

[01:07:22] Oh, yeah, that one has credit to Crystal Dynamics, though.

[01:07:25] Magical Racing Tour.

[01:07:27] Oh, yeah, it does.

[01:07:28] Oh, yeah, because I think Eidos...

[01:07:31] Eidos published it.

[01:07:32] Yeah, so it was co-developed by Silent Software.

[01:07:34] Crystal did the rest of it.

[01:07:36] It's weird.

[01:07:37] They're not credited on that page, though.

[01:07:40] Hmm.

[01:07:41] Man, I wouldn't be surprised if they did help out on it, though.

[01:07:45] But there's a couple screenshots of Return of Fire 2 on here, and it looks really bland in comparison to the original, which doesn't surprise me at all.

[01:07:58] Yeah, so I think that was the shortest game discussion I think we've ever had.

[01:08:03] I mean, there wasn't much to say.

[01:08:06] There isn't even any fun, like, review stuff, because I can't find any, like, hide to the windows.

[01:08:13] I mean, to the Wikipedia page, because it only goes to the original game.

[01:08:17] Yeah.

[01:08:18] I mean, we did get the whole, this game is so addictive you might have to go to rehab from EGM, so there's that, I guess.

[01:08:24] Yeah, it's funny.

[01:08:27] So, apparently, most people's perception was it was fun to have more Return of Fire, but that was really all anyone cared about.

[01:08:37] Yeah, it's just, it's a glorified level pack, and you know what?

[01:08:41] There's nothing wrong with that.

[01:08:43] Yeah, it's just one of those games that exists.

[01:08:47] It was fine for what it was, and that's all we can really say about it.

[01:08:53] And that's, there's nothing wrong with that.

[01:08:56] No.

[01:08:56] So, call me crazy.

[01:08:58] This is going to be the most bland must-play of all time, because I think I said must-play on Return of Fire, and this is just more of that.

[01:09:07] So, by association, I'd be like, yeah, it's a must-play, because it's just more Return of Fire.

[01:09:13] And if you really liked Return of Fire, you'll like this.

[01:09:15] Like, the bit of it I played, I did like.

[01:09:18] You know, I'm like, it's more Return of Fire, but I liked it, and that's fine.

[01:09:22] Yeah, I will say, if you like Return of Fire, definitely a must-play.

[01:09:26] My one caveat will be, if you're not emulating, this is one of the more expensive games to find.

[01:09:34] That's why I didn't buy it.

[01:09:35] So, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go out of your way to play these, because it literally is just more maps.

[01:09:41] Like, if you're a diehard Return of Fire fan, by all means.

[01:09:45] But if you're just kind of like.

[01:09:46] If you want to be that guy, go for it.

[01:09:48] Yeah.

[01:09:49] But if you just enjoy Return of Fire, and you're perfectly content with the base game.

[01:09:55] Eh.

[01:09:56] I'd emulate it.

[01:09:58] It's fine.

[01:09:58] There's more Return of Fire.

[01:10:00] It's, you like Return of Fire, you'll like this.

[01:10:02] Yeah.

[01:10:03] And that's fine, you know?

[01:10:04] Like, it's not amazing, but, you know, it doesn't have to be.

[01:10:09] Like, Return of Fire already, like, did all the groundwork to be, like, a solid game.

[01:10:13] So, this just does more of that.

[01:10:16] Yeah.

[01:10:16] And that's fine with me.

[01:10:18] So, it gets a pass.

[01:10:20] Yeah.

[01:10:21] I mean, I paid a pretty reduced price for this, because I bought it at a con.

[01:10:25] But, yeah, I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it, for a physical.

[01:10:30] Yeah.

[01:10:33] So, yeah.

[01:10:34] Return of Fire.

[01:10:35] I don't know if we'll ever cover Return of Fire 2 down the line, because that'd probably

[01:10:39] be a lot of work, but we'll see.

[01:10:41] I mean, we could always do, say, like, a weird, like, roundup episode in the future where we

[01:10:47] just cover a lot of little games, and we're like, eh, let's see what this thing is.

[01:10:51] And then we do, like, we talk about, like, four or five games just kind of quickly or

[01:10:55] something.

[01:10:56] Yeah.

[01:10:57] Yeah.

[01:10:57] Honestly, that might make sense.

[01:10:59] Yeah.

[01:11:00] And Return of Fire 2 would absolutely be in that.

[01:11:02] I would download it off my Abandonware, play it for, like, two hours, and be like, all right,

[01:11:06] that's all I got.

[01:11:07] Maybe, like, an episode of games that were supposed to come out on M2, because Return of Fire 2

[01:11:12] was apparently, at one point, an M2 game.

[01:11:14] That would be a good idea.

[01:11:16] I'd like that.

[01:11:17] So, we'll add that one to our back burner for whenever we get to that down the line.

[01:11:23] Yeah.

[01:11:24] Yeah.

[01:11:25] So, I guess that should be it.

[01:11:29] Once again, guys, thank you for joining us on the 3DO Experience.

[01:11:34] The 3DO Experience can be found on all the major podcasting platforms, particularly Apple

[01:11:38] Podcast and Spotify.

[01:11:40] And be sure to check us out over on the SuperPod Network.

[01:11:43] That's superpodnetwork.com.

[01:11:45] We're currently going through a series of blogs over on the site of our favorite Super

[01:11:51] Nintendo games that we've all played.

[01:11:54] We've got some cool stuff.

[01:11:55] I put out my article on SOS, probably the most obscure game anyone's bringing up.

[01:12:00] There is no shot that is your favorite SNES game.

[01:12:05] No, but people already picked some of the ones I wanted to talk about.

[01:12:10] Let's be real.

[01:12:11] I just wanted to talk about that one because it's so obscure.

[01:12:13] That's fair.

[01:12:13] That's fair.

[01:12:14] Yeah.

[01:12:15] I didn't want to write a blog about Spanky's Quest.

[01:12:17] So, instead, I finished my blog on Chrono Trigger.

[01:12:21] So, it should be out by the end of this week.

[01:12:25] So, yeah.

[01:12:27] It's...

[01:12:27] I go a little bit into how it's like...

[01:12:32] The title is it was almost the JRPG standard because I think that was sort of the idea

[01:12:38] behind Chrono Trigger and then I discussed that and why it didn't happen.

[01:12:42] But, you know, read it and find out.

[01:12:46] Nice.

[01:12:47] But, yeah.

[01:12:48] You can also find all sorts of different shows, videos, blogs.

[01:12:52] You can also check out the other shows on the network including Super Pod Saga, Super

[01:12:56] Ghost Radio, Retro Rehab, Tommy's Video Game Ride Along, A Novel Console, Bar Silence,

[01:13:02] Find Time, The Elder Trolls Gaming Podcast, Remember 64, Gaming Together, Friday Night

[01:13:08] Gamecast, our three shows, Gaming and Collecting, The 3DO Experience, Geek Addicts,

[01:13:16] and we've been getting some new members to the network recently.

[01:13:20] We got the Retro Wildlands, Press B to Cancel, and the newest member, the Pre-Order Bonus.

[01:13:26] Yay!

[01:13:27] And with that, everybody, once again, thank you for joining us and we will see you all later.

[01:13:34] Bye-bye.

[01:13:40] And on a 3DO system.