Gamers Week Podcast

Episode 4 - Video Games Do What The Metaverse Don't

January 14, 2022 Gamers Week Podcast
Gamers Week Podcast
Episode 4 - Video Games Do What The Metaverse Don't
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

The metaverse is being touted as the do-all, be-all platform of the future where we will work, play, live, and get married. There's only one problem -- video games have already been offering all of that for years. So what's left for the metaverse to give us? Or better yet, do we really need a metaverse at all?

We're also discussing the new Sega Sapporo studio led by the former Phantasy Star Online 2 producer, how Xbox's Phil Spencer is calling for a cross-platform ban program, why Take-Two wants to pay nearly $13 billion for Zynga (the maker of FarmVille), and the Bob Saget video game you didn't know you needed in your life.

Finally, class is in session with Professor Ryebread in our Gaming History 101 segment. In this episode, we're looking back at the strange hybrid console known as the Nintendo Playstation.

This episode has been proudly sponsored by the Retro Game Club Podcast! Please visit them at linktr.ee/retrogameclub.

Hosts: @wrytersview, @retrogamebrews@donniegretro
Opening theme: "Gamers Week Theme" by Akseli Takanen
Patron theme: "Chiptune Boss" by @donniegretro
Closing theme: "Neon City" by @donniegretro
Merch: gamers-week-podcast.creator-spring.com

Support the show
Blue:

This time on Gamers Week Podcast...

Donnie:

and there's always a way around a different IP address. Just contact your ISP and say hey, just for whatever reasons I can I get a new IP address.

Blue:

Yeah, no reason just another new IP address. This is your fourth one,

Donnie:

right? I'm gonna start fresh. What can I say?

Ryan:

Reminds me of that scene in the movie Don't Be A Menace where he's like, don't ask no questions.

Donnie:

I'll tell you no lies

Ryan:

I am ready.

Donnie:

I am ready. I got my Bud Light seltzer here.

Blue:

Ooo, how fancy

Donnie:

Cherry Limeade and twisted berry

Blue:

greetings everyone and welcome to Gamers Week Podcast. Like the name says we analyze the best, the worst and the weirdest headlines of the past week in the video game industry. This is Episode Four and today is Wednesday, January 12 2021, uh 2022. Frick. I've done so well all year. 2022. I hope everybody knows what year it is.

Donnie:

You're still writing 2021 on your checks aren't you.

Blue:

Actually, I did have to write a check. It was so weird. Hello, everyone. My name is Blue Williams. I will be your host for this evening and I am here with my two wonderful co hosts. I have a Ryan Payne aka retro game brews. And the one and only DonnieG. How are you guys?

Ryan:

I'm doing great.

Donnie:

Excellent. And you hear that? It's only it's the one and only. there's not another one.

Ryan:

There are several of me by the way.

Blue:

Ryan is a dime a dozen. But there's one and only DonnieG, and we have him here. All right. Today's episode is proudly sponsored by the Retro Game Club podcast. And we will tell you more about them in just a little bit. But first, everybody knows that we launched our podcast last Friday. And it was crazy. Like I don't know how to describe it. It was freakin Crazy, right?

Donnie:

Nuts

Ryan:

absolutely nuts.

Blue:

We were not expecting like in any way shape or form. The wonderful response all the encouragement all the messages all the congratulations that we got it. It was insane. So we want to share a couple of highlights of our week we want to send out some thank yous to some people and then we will get on with the show. So first off, here are some of our highlights of our week, we had over 400 downloads just in our first week. Now that may not sound like a lot to you. But before we started, we were like, gosh, we hope we get 50 downloads. Those of you who have started a podcast know how hard it is to start a brand new podcast completely from scratch. And we weren't expecting much. And then we were just so grateful and thrilled to see how many people were interested in hearing what we had to say. We had so many shadows and messages that for a brief shining moment we were actually trending on Twitter. How nuts is that?

Donnie:

We were trending

Blue:

maybe for like 10 minutes, but it was there. We have photographic proof.

Donnie:

It's something

Blue:

it's something and then finally Leroy Patterson the Sneak King collecting wrestler said that if we ever want him on the podcast, he'd be happy to pop in

Ryan:

which we will definitely take you up on that

Blue:

we would totally take him up because we want to hear all about those 2,706 Sneak Kings

Donnie:

Thedon't forget the six don't forget that

Blue:

The six is very important.

Ryan:

So we also got a ton of feedback on the show and there's way too many comments to share them all but here kind of a few of them that stuck out to us. So first of all from Steve Rangle said, "Finishing up the first episode of Gamers Week Podcast and I'm looking forward to future episodes. Loving everything about it. Go check it out if you haven't already." Thank you Steve that is awesome.

Blue:

Thank you Steve.

Ryan:

Yes next up from Caedus,"Awesome job, easily a top five podcast for me without a doubt." which first week that's that's saying something right, so I'll take it. next up from sPexXy is"Nice podcast. You guys seem to have the right balance of informative and fun. You sound like you're a bunch of cool nerdy and in parentheses. Yes, you can be both friends having a good laugh chatting about the gameverse. good work and keep it up." From FatalVision, "These guys nailed it. Want to see a gaming podcast done right? look no further." can't disagree with you there. And lastly, from Doongie4ever, "I never found a video game podcast. I liked til this one. I love the hosts. And just overall it's a great show. I'll be listening to this when I'm level grinding in my RPGs." So we are happy.

Blue:

Aw shucks.

Ryan:

Yeah. So we're also getting a ton of compliments on our theme, which is admittedly lit can't can't disagree with that. So what do we want to do is give a special shout out to our composer which by the way, he is from Finland. So if I mispronounce this, I apologize. Akseli Takanen. Akseli Takanen. I tried. I

Blue:

Yeah, we tried.

Ryan:

If you want to check out more of his work, you can visit him at @Aksetaka on Twitter or follow the link in the show notes.

Donnie:

And just let you guys know, we didn't have to pay anybody for those nice reviews.

Blue:

Is that a thing people do?

Donnie:

I think so.

Blue:

Okay,

Ryan:

if you're running a Mattress Company.

Donnie:

Say it's soft, say it's soft. And finally, we need to say thank you to two wonderful podcast who shared our launch with their audiences. New Dad Gaming, a show about dads figuring out their gaming lives. And each week, Trevor and Jeff walk through their experiences both as fathers and gamers with precious limited time for gaming. They talk about what games are playing and what fatherhood is thrown at them this week. These are great guys. And we can confirm that you don't need to be a dad to enjoy their show. Visit NewDadGaming.com to check them out. And I only wish this podcast was around about 10 years ago whenever I became a new dad and was still a gamer. We also want to thank A Gamer Looks at 40. A Gamer Looks at 40 is a podcast exploration of the history of video games is told from the recollections and stories of the everyday people who lived it. Bill Tucker decided to celebrate his 40th birthday by looking back at his life through the lens of the games he has loved. This show is a fun nostalgia trip, you should definitely check out you can find bill on Twitter at@agamerlooksat40.

Ryan:

And I was actually on the most recent show. So definitely check that out.

Blue:

I listened to it. He got called a rabble rouser.

Ryan:

I did. But he's not wrong.

Blue:

I don't know about that. But I'll defer to Bill I guess on the matter. It's his show. Alright, so I know we've kind of been going on and on about it. But really, we are just overwhelmed and humbled by the response to the show, we can't thank everyone enough for their kind words. And we we really, really hope that we can continue to provide a fun show for you all for a really long time to come. Because we're having a blast doing it. And to know that people are enjoying what we're doing makes it even that much better.

Ryan:

For sure. It's not always easy to kind of put ourselves out there and the response that we've gotten really provides us with motivation to keep going so thank you all.

Blue:

Alright, now let's get into the meat of the show and it is now time for the very important poll. On Twitter, we post our VIP, that is a very important poll. And if you'd like to participate Be sure to follow us on Twitter at@GamersWeekPC. So our question this week was What is your favorite fighting game franchise that is not Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Our choices were in third place SoulCalibur with 22.5% of the vote. Super Smash Brothers came in second with 27.3% of the vote and Tekken was the winner of the day with 31.2% of the vote. We also had 12% of people voted other and so let's take a look at some of their answers. @BlazeKnight0923 said,"Injustice is hands down the best non Mortal Kombat fighting game series as it's made by the same developer. It's the DC Comics Universe fighting game I never knew I wanted Plus, you get some awesome guest characters like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."@smbflurry says, "King of Fighters. There are so many great NeoGeo fighters like Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown and last blade." @MadMan2170 says,"Marvel vs Capcom. I love that series way more than both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. And that's because it's a series that cemented my love for the fighting game genre. It's literally the only fighting game where I love to just discover things for myself."@BogusMeatFactor says, "Virtual fighter is the jazz of fighting games. You play at the rhythm and pace customed to you and it's a complex art form. A lot of folks refuse to understand it is the best without question." And finally @Antzmaybecool says,"Granblue Fantasy Versus is a very easily find a game to get into. Anyone can throw a fireball even my mom."

Donnie:

Hey mom, give me a hadouken

Blue:

like maybe I need to look up that one. So, Donnie, how did you answer?

Donnie:

So my first answer was going to be virtual fighter. Even though I picked Tekken. For me it was virtual fighter. And so my recollection back from the early days of the arcade is that Mortal Kombat came out first 92 Mortal Kombat two came out in 93. And right after that, virtual fighter jumped on the scene. And it was one of the very first fighting games that I noticed that had the run feature where you could actually sprint at your opponent. And I just remember there was what it was one of the first polygonal or polygonal however we pronounce that word I don't want people think I'm stupid. But that's okay Donnie, we already do.

Ryan:

You said it not me.

Donnie:

From my own mouth. It was one of the very first polygonal fighting games around and it was very different than what we were used to as far as the the Mortal Kombat craze with the the love the live motion capture. So you had you had street fighter with the with its 2d sprites you add Mortal Kombat with its its motion capture. And then now you have virtual fighter, which was like the kind of like very first 3d fighting game. I spent a lot of time on virtual fighter aside from Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat two. And then when Tekken came along, Tekken kind of took over because it had a more in depth storyline, they they really created the universe of tech and got behind the characters and whatnot that they like, kind of didn't really do with virtual fighter. So I'm sticking with virtual fighter overtaking.

Ryan:

I love virtual fighter. I remember going to the arcade and be like, Wow, look at this. It's in 3d. And the whole map actually, you know, spins around and caters to your movements and stuff. That was such an advance as far as gaming was concerned. And I remember people piling around watching that game when you know, Mortal Kombat was when it first came out where everybody was putting an order up virtual fighter was like that. That nice second game that everybody wanted to play. The whole I got next. Yep.

Blue:

My quarter was the fourth one. No, mine was the fourth one.

Donnie:

Right, right. It was such a it was a daunting task, trying to keep eyes on your quarter. And if you stepped away from that machine, or split second, you you run the risk of somebody just taking your quarter like, okay, it's my turn, you're like, whoa

Blue:

No, you're not going to go get a soda. You're not going to go to the restroom, you put your quarter down and you're committed. You stay there,

Donnie:

right. Might as well pee in your pants.

Blue:

There you go.

Ryan:

So why didn't we bring like a Sharpie? Nobody thought of that.

Blue:

What was your answer, Ryan.

Ryan:

So this one was a recent discovery of mine. I had been doing some research for games for an RGB high score for the Genesis. So I had an ever drive cart of all of the Sega Genesis as well as Mega Drive games. started this one up to see how it played. And I found myself playing this game for about two hours. I didn't even realize it was about two hours in. But that is Samurai Showdown. Right? What a great take on the fighting game genre, too. Instead of making it something that's a little bit more futuristic and modern, and they took it back to feudal Japan, where of course, you're a samurai, you've got a whole bunch of different weapons, a lot of gore and blood. So that was in there so that I'm sure I would have loved as a kids. But just a really fun game and the type of the controls are really tight. And I know that they've gotten a few different renditions. I think they're up to five and then they recently last June came out with a compilation version of it as well. So it's still out there and it's still popular. And my goodness, it's it's a lot of fun.

Donnie:

I can confirm

Blue:

I have like a bargain basement Everdrive I should see if it's on there because

Donnie:

you get that at Big Lots?

Blue:

I got it for Christmas. My sister's like Hey, I know you... like she doesn't know any better. She's like, I know you like video games. So here's one of those like 999 games in one carts

Ryan:

Gotcha.

Blue:

Thank you, it's the thought that counts. But I'll see if it's on there because I don't think I've spent any significant time with it. So

Ryan:

oh, you definitely go check it out. Yeah,

Donnie:

yeah. What was your choice?

Blue:

My choice was Tekken. I'm not the biggest fighting game fan ever. I to be honest, I really completely suck at them. I'm so bad. I love Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat is like the coolest series ever. Even when I was a kid. Like when it first came out. And I remember looking at the kids who could play Mortal Kombat and just being like, oh my god, it's so cool. And I just can't do it. I'm so bad at it. But for some reason I can play tech in so I don't know why. Maybe Tekken is just a bit easier. I don't know enough about the mechanics to tell you why I can play Tekken and not Mortal Kombat but freakin heck. I will take it

Donnie:

So let me tell you a little story. Every year around Christmas or Thanksgiving when we have family over or we go down to see my wife's family, we have a Tekken tournament.

Blue:

Okay,

Ryan:

no kidding you guys, that's awesome

Donnie:

It's a Tekken tournament,

Blue:

the whole family?

Donnie:

Well, my wife's family so like her, her brother, her brothers, their spouses, their kids and whatnot. We all get together and we just play

Blue:

Mom and dad don't?

Donnie:

Mother mom and dad do not they don't partake in time. They sit there and watch and have a good time.

Ryan:

I was just envisioning grandma being like, "Take that!"

Donnie:

But my wife will sit there. So we've played Tekken um ever since we were dating when I would bring my PlayStation over to her house, and she would pick Eddie Gordo, and

Blue:

It's easy to spam Eddie's moves

Donnie:

It is so easy and you would not believe how upset and pissed off I would get when I would lose because you just constantly spam the same button. He's doing a little breakdancing disco moves. No, no, couldn't do anything. So over the years, I've grown more knowledgeable and more seasoned with Tekken to where I can fend off her attacks. And just like kind of look over and say, "you're messing with the best son. What are you going to do?" The the entire family? It's their goal to try and take me down for my throne.

Ryan:

Love that. That is awesome.

Blue:

I can't wait till next Christmas. You have to update us on how it went

Donnie:

Yes. Absolutely.

Ryan:

Do you guys have like a trophy that you hand off every single year for the winner?

Donnie:

No, but that's a good idea. But then again, I'd be the one carrying the trophy every single year. So

Ryan:

what you should do is get a trophy for the worst like a toilet trophy?

Donnie:

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Blue:

All right. Well, thanks everyone who voted. And again, be sure to follow us on Twitter at @GamersWeekPC. And we will be posting our next very important poll on Monday. So if you want to participate, you can check it out. And now it's time to thank our wonderful patrons. So Ryan queue the music.

Ryan:

So you wouldn't think a brand new podcast would already have patrons and frankly, no one is more surprised than us. Here are the generous folks supporting Gamers Week on Patreon. So we have four new patrons to announce.

Blue:

Wow,

Ryan:

I know right. So our first patron is RedAuxPDX. And by the way, special greetings to Shannon and Luke who also listen to the show and we've been told our fans of the show so thank you guys for listening.

Blue:

Thank you.

Donnie:

Thank you.

Ryan:

Zach Hugethanks, Random Retro Dude, and Mikael Lundin join Princess Kitty Mew Mew, MegaRetroMan, EMOesque, Ryebreads #1 Fan, Fruitcakes#1 Stan, The Wizard of Zardoz, Kleyman71, GreatSaiyaman81, bntzillaguy, Crunchy Kong, ShrfSnax, Frank Grande, ProducerBTW, Ducks in Disguise, Games with Coffee, and DavyPGH. If you like what you hear today, and I really hope that you do, please consider joining us on Patreon. Your support helps cover the cost of producing the show as well as other cool stuff we'll be doing like prizes and giveaways visit patreon.com/gamersweek or follow the link in the show notes to learn more

Blue:

All right, let's move on to our headlines for the evening.

Donnie:

First up from Game Informer: Sega opens new studio led by former fantasy star to online to producer. What did I tell you? Sega is coming back

Blue:

You said hardware. You said hardware.

Donnie:

Yeah, yeah, I know but this is baby steps baby steps.

Ryan:

As soon as I saw this, I was like Donnie was right, oh my God

Blue:

He's not right yet

Ryan:

it's gonna happen.

Donnie:

What are the winning lottery numbers? So Sega has announced that it has established a new studio called Sega Sapporo Studio. This studio was formally created on December 1 2021. As a second development base in Japan, as first reported by Gemamatsu, Sapporo was established to focus on new software development and debugging. It will be led by former Fantasy Star Online 2 chief producer Takaya Segawa, who was promoted to a senior corporate position for Sega in April of last year. As the name suggests, Sapporo is located in the city of Sapporo, and the studio will hire locally to build a staff dedicated to designing, programming and debugging game software. As expected with the creation of a new studio Sapporo already has a website which can be viewed here. VGC notes that Sega has multiple in house development studios like Sonic Team and Ryu Ga Gotoku studio, makers of titles like Yakuza and Judgment, but that they all work out of Sega his main development base in Tokyo, Sapporo will serve as another development base akin to the original.

Blue:

So Sega has opened yet another development house. While I'm not sure that this points to the hardware that Donnie was wishfully hoping for

Donnie:

its baby steps

Blue:

it probably means so they're going to increase their game output, which could be cool.

Donnie:

I hope so because this is just a game debugging studio. So I'm assuming they'll get titles in that they're responsible for, you know, testing and debugging and whatnot. But maybe, maybe this is all the guise of building up your own in house talent. So they can they can identify certain things and get better at, you know, building a specific type of game. And then all of a sudden, this is going to switch to something else to where they'll actually actually be putting out their own titles. But who knows?

Ryan:

So dream scenario, what are the Sega titles that you would love to see Sega release?

Donnie:

I don't know. That's a loaded question. I can't really answer that question right now. Because do I want something new? Absolutely. Do I want something old? From their their countless titles in their library app? Yes, yes, yes. Yes. A million times? Yes. I? I don't know. I? That's a very good question. I can't answer that.

Blue:

Right. Like how is voice keeps going in and out because he's looking over at his shelves, trying to see what to say and then he comes back.

Ryan:

So I will go down first, if that makes it easier? Sure. So I would love another Phantasy Star Online. I think that would be awesome to bring that back. As I understand. That community is still very vibrant online. So I would love to see another edition of that. I'd also like to see some old titles like for example, bring out another gun star heroes. That would be awesome. Who

Donnie:

There you go. Yeah, yep.

Ryan:

And if they could bring like a remastered version of the Genesis and I guess that's it was also on Super Nintendo probably super nintendo with the better version of it, but fix all the issues that was with the second version, Sunset Riders bring another Sunset Riders, I would love them.

Donnie:

The Super Nintendo is the de facto standard for the sunset cruisers. I do have the Sega Genesis version I have yet to try it out. I know that's kind of people like what you have that game and you haven't played it? Yes, I have a lot of games that I haven't played that I've just received in collections that I've bought and whatnot. It just it's taking some time.

Ryan:

And then Mutant League Football. Yeah, certainly hockey. I know that they have released recent versions of that. But above official release from Sega I think it would be cool.

Donnie:

Like I still haven't played the the newer version of Toejam and Earl that came out a couple years ago.

Ryan:

Oh, yeah. I still haven't played that either. I wanted to but I still haven't. But they've done an amazing

Blue:

I played it

Ryan:

Oh, did you I was it?

Blue:

Um, I feel like some of the magic was gone. Gotcha. But if you like the first one, you'll probably like this one.

Donnie:

Good to know.

Ryan:

So it's more like the first one rather than the second one with Planet Funk-o-tron or whatever it was, right?

Blue:

Yeah, it's the same thing where you play the different levels of Earth looking for your spaceship, except for there's all new kinds of presents that you can get, all new kinds of enemies and all that kind of stuff. It's been updated, you know, for the times, because it's not the '90s anymore. Sad to say.

Donnie:

It's not? I sure dress like it is

Ryan:

I think you just ruined Donnie's day.

Blue:

Sorry, I know we agreed not to tell him.

Donnie:

What year is it?

Blue:

All right, next up from GameSpot. Xbox boss, Phil Spencer calls for cross platform ban program. Xbox boss, that is such a difficult tongue twister of a phrase. Xbox boss. Xbox Boss, boss, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed that Microsoft would like to help get rid of bad actors in the online gaming landscape by creating a multi network program whereby bans that apply to Xbox, for example, might also carry over to networks from other companies. Speaking to The New York Times, Spencer acknowledged that this would be a hard one to achieve. But it's something he hopes to see someday. Something I would love us to be able to do. And this is a hard one as an industry is when somebody gets banned in one of our networks. Is there a way for us to ban them across other networks, he said, alternatively, Spencer said he would embrace a system that allows players to bring their banned user list to them on another platform. I'd love to be able to bring them to other networks where I play. So this is the group of people that I choose not to play with, because I don't want to have to recreate that in every platform that I play video games on, he said. Also, in the interview, Spencer spoke about how Microsoft uses AI on Xbox to monitor the sentiment of a conversation to detect when a conversation is getting to a destructive point. There is also a report a user button in the Xbox UI to report bad behavior.

Donnie:

So are you saying that Xbox monitors our conversations

Blue:

sounds that way. And that's actually really funny because I've heard you guys play Call of Duty. And I'm not sure how an AI is gonna know that you are not being completely abusive to one another.

Donnie:

Blue, You be quiet, we do not delve into secrets for Call of Duty talk.

Ryan:

So what happens in Warzone stays in Warzone

Blue:

Yeah, not suitable for work

Donnie:

I think this is interesting. I don't know how they could sell this for one particular user to bring their banned list because A, the names are different. My my Xbox gamer ID is different from that of my PS. My PlayStation Network ID so

Blue:

I had that same question. Actually. I don't know the answer. I just had the same question.

Donnie:

Right. Okay. And another thing is, how do they keep track of? So let's just say a user? Are they talking about the people who actually do something nefarious or malicious? Like is running a cheat program? or what have you, and they get themselves banned by the the company that makes the game? And how long do you ban this person for? Because let's just say it's some young kid who just wants to show off or impress some people and whatnot. He's like, Oh, look, I'm the best COD player around, but he's using a cheat program, he gets banned. Would you want to give that person a chance at redemption later on life instead of having them perma banned?

Ryan:

That's a great question. And one of the other things that I was thinking about too, about this is, from the perspective of being able to accomplish this, in order to do that, you would need every single company who's utilizing this cross platform plan to have the same rules and policies, right, because if you're gonna bend for one thing, that's not against the rules on another one, you're gonna run into a lot of trouble with that. And the only way I can think of as well as if for banning somebody with different usernames is to ban their IP, which means that everyone in that household would also be potentially somebody did something. So if you got like a hothead little brother that would suck. Right? Right. So that's the only solution. So I mean, there's obviously a lot of unintended consequences for doing this. But I get the sentiment, I get the desire to want to make this a better gaming community that removes some of that toxicity that people are trying to avoid. But it would be far too difficult to try to figure that out. Especially, you know, with the different naming conventions that you'd see me platforms.

Donnie:

And there's always a way around a different IP address, just contact your ISP and say, hey, just for whatever reason I can I get a new IP address? Okay,

Blue:

no reason, just another new IP address. That's your fourth One,

Donnie:

right, I'm gonna start fresh, what can I say?

Ryan:

Reminds me of that scene in the movie, Don't Be a Menace, where he's like, don't ask no question.

Donnie:

I'll tell you no lies

Ryan:

You know, I but I agree with the desire for this, I think that again, at the end of the day, making every single effort to try to remove some of the bad experiences that people have run into, because of people working nefariously and what sounds like to me is that his more of his focus is the behavior piece to it, cuz he was talking about the fact that it can, you know, the UI can detect if something is getting to a destructive point. That also brings up a crap ton of subjectivity though. So you would have to have some really hard rules, you would have to have some really hard examples of policies and procedures and all those companies would have to agree upon them.

Blue:

Well, it could be something like how you can randomly get your YouTube channel banned or you can lose your Twitter account. Almost every day I'm hearing about somebody who has had or some company or somebody has had their YouTube account, shut down frozen, whatever, for some sort of violation and because it's an automated process that does it they can never get an answer on what it is that they've done right never have an opportunity to remedy it. You know, it's gonna be a give and take if this is the direction like if the Xbox community and I'm gonna guess a large part of it is also the first person shooter community care so much about stomping out cheaters at any cost, then maybe that is perfectly acceptable. Those kinds of casualties are perfectly acceptable to that community. I don't know I'm not part of it. So right, right.

Ryan:

All right. Next up from the Verge: Why Take Two wants to pay nearly $13 billion dollars. That's billion with a B for the maker of Farmville. So Take Two Interactive just announced its intent to buy Farmville developer Zynga for $12.7 billion in what could be the biggest acquisition in video game history. It's an absolutely massive deal. To put into perspective, the acquisition would be $5 billion more than Microsoft's $7.5 billion purchase of the parent company of Skyrim maker, Bethesda Softworks. You can throw in the money Disney paid for Lucasfilms and still have cash left over wow

Blue:

That really does put it in perspective holy crap

Ryan:

right so what is Take Two getting its money for yes big Zynga games like Farmville Words with Friends, and High Heels will join Take Two's own roster of franchises that include Grand Theft Auto, NBA2K, and Civilization, but perhaps more importantly to will now be able to using his expertise building hugely popular free to play mobile titles, so it can make a new hit games based on its own property. In fact, Zynga will be the new brand for the take to mobile efforts occurring Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau will lead that organization indicating the potential direction of Take Two's mobile future. The deal isn't just about turning Take Two's games into mobile hits. Take Two highlighted how its expertise in console PC can be applied to Zynga's crossplay ambitions. Zynga is set to put its toe into the console gaming waters with Star Wars Hunters, which is coming to Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android sometime this year. Take Two plans to using his Chartboost ad platform to acquire new users more efficiently and optimize mobile ad inventory. And yes, there is something with NF T's in the future. Gibeau said during Monday's investor call that the idea that players will play to earn or play to own is very compelling idea that we think will have legs as the industry develops.

Blue:

Has there ever been a more business-y menacing sentence then "acquire new users more efficiently and optimized mobile ad inventory"?

Donnie:

No, there has not.

Blue:

We talked in episode two, I think it was about the crazy revenue being brought in by mobile and free to play. And the fact that Take Two is willing to put down this much money - more than the entirety of Lucasfilm, more than the entirety of Bethesda - for freakin mobile games and a mobile game maker.

Donnie:

It? It makes sense, doesn't it? Because of what we touched on in our previous episode on how much money mobile games are bringing in? This makes sense.

Blue:

It does it that the math checks out, even if I have a tough time wrapping my head around it.

Ryan:

Because we were saying that what some of the top mobile games were making upwards of $2 billion. So if we're talking, they're able to add a whole bunch of extra properties as well as build some additional I mean, you're talking to a break even point of a matter of a few years on one of the biggest deals of all time in gaming history. That is that's a promising prospect for them. For sure.

Donnie:

Agreed. Who plays Words with Friends still?

Ryan:

I do. Which it's funny, the only person I play against is my mother in law.

Blue:

Hey, sometimes those channels you gotta keep them open, you gotta keep some goodwill flowing

Ryan:

so she is somebody who plays the to the max right? I'm almost fairly certain don't not 100% Sure, but almost fairly certain that she has at least spent some money to get some of those coins and stuff that you can get with Words with Friends in order to play more games or more rounds and matches and stuff because I will play against her. And then I will go check like the friends leaderboard. And she has like, like 30,000 points more than me. So wow, she's climbing the ladder right and so it's impressive. She She must be playing that at every moment. Outside of you know, obviously when she's working but my goodness, it's impressive. Her level of dedication to that game.

Blue:

Wow, she sounds like those old ladies at bingo who have like six cards spread out in front of them.

Donnie:

Right Right

Ryan:

She does play a bingo game.

Donnie: From Looper.com:

The video game you never knew Bob Saget was in rest in peace. Bob Saget was a comedy icon and many people express just how devastating his death was When news of it broke on January 9. Of course, Sagat has been immortalized through his stand up in numerous appearances in film and television. But fans may not realize he also had a place in the video game community. His solo video game role was as Barry Tuttle in the Tuttles Madcap Misadventures. I don't think I've ever heard of this one.

Blue:

Then keep reading.

Ryan:

Literally,

Donnie:

if you've never I'm ahead of my time. If you've never heard of the game, don't worry. Released back in 2007. For the PC, The game follows a family of four with Bob Saget voicing the father of the group. While on a road trip, the titular Tuttle's get completely derailed, leading to a number of wild encounters on land and under the sea under the sea. The single player side scroller controlled very similarly to classic Mario games, but it also featured some really wacky elements like Saget's character whipping out a gas canister to attack enemies. Though relatively obscure now, the game was well received for its wholesome atmosphere and fun mechanic. In addition to the presence of Saget and solid reviews, the Tuttles Madcap Misadventures also boasted more A-list stars and supported an excellent charity. The characters of Barbara, Jess and Zack were voiced by Jamie Lee Curtis, Ashley Tisdale, and Dominic Scott Kay, respectively. Rounding out the group of talent is William Shatner, Dave Thomas and Saget's Full House co star, Dave Coulier, cut it out. The Tuttle's Madcap Misadventures was created to raise money for Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.

Ryan:

That's a fantastic thing to hear. I mean, I know that it is it was kind of devastated by the passing of Bob, myself included I that was a show full house was something that was a part of my childhood and Bob was the Danny Tanner character. And of course, he was the wholesome, you know, father figure for that come to find out his comedy is anything but wholesome, which so in a way made him and during the fact that he could play such a wholesome guy on Full House and then through comedy that we can't repeat here.

Donnie:

We could, but

Blue:

no,

Ryan:

but Blue would have a hard time editing.

Donnie:

Right, right.

Blue:

There are not that many beeps

Ryan:

just a lot of Mario sound pieces there. Nice. But you know, it's great to hear that he was involved in the gaming community. And the fact that this game was intended to help out children of you know, for good cause. So thank you, Bob.

Donnie:

Thank you.

Blue:

And apparently this game is no longer available for sale, which is a shame because it would make a great stream, I think,

Ryan:

absolutely. What we should do is start a Kickstarter

Donnie:

to get it ported to like the Switch.

Ryan:

Yes, please.

Donnie:

Tuttle's madcap. Let's see what eBay has,

Ryan:

but also Dave Thomas. William Shatner, Jamie Lee Curtis. Dave Coulier, that sounds like an awesome game. This needs to be a thing we can play.

Blue:

How did we not ever hear about this?

Donnie:

Bob, please get your gas canister so we can attack the enemy.

Blue:

Okay,

Ryan:

that's a good Shatner. High five there. Yeah.

Blue:

E for every effort,

Donnie:

Virtual high five. So if you're looking for the madcap the Tuttle's Madcap Misadventures right now, it's currently you can find it on eBay. There are several different auctions to be had. And it doesn't look like any one of these are over $10. So go out, pay your respects to Bob and pick up this game.

Blue:

Yeah, grab it. I'm sure our patrons will be happy to hear that their money is going towards Bob Saget game and that we can stream.

Ryan:

So one of the things that we do do Tuttle's Madcap Misadventures we need to put on there for a reward for people during the stream is that we all sing the theme song to Full House

Blue:

I don 't know the theme song to Full House.

Donnie:

Everywhere you look, there's a heart, there's a what, a way to come find you

Ryan:

We'll look up the lyrics

Blue:

it's almost funnier if you don't know them.

Ryan:

Just make them up as you go along. Right right, the karaoke version of it in the background. So we at least have the beat right.

Blue:

All right. Well, if you listened last week, you know that we have a giveaway going So Ryan, let us know who won the big giveaway?

Ryan:

Give me one second here while I pull up the names because I didn't actually save them on my computer.

Donnie:

Amateur

Ryan:

amateur I suck

Blue:

like you've ever run a giveaway before, geez

Ryan:

Oh **** where is it? I can't find the [elevator music] oh, there we go. Got it, our winners got it. Okay. All right, everybody, as Blue said we were doing a giveaway here. On behalf of Gamers Week Podcast, we started off on Friday, ask people to take a screenshot or a picture of them listening to one of our three episodes. And we are super excited to announce who is going to be our winner of one of our three excellent prizes, which of course is a Yoshi crocheted doll thing. Still haven't decided what it is. it's not an action figure, which was very popular, people love that. We also have a repo copy of the game, Earthbound Zero, which was the Famicom Mother. First Mother game, which has an English translation patch to it, so you'll be able to actually read it. And then we've got a copy of the homebrew game Lizard for the NES, too. So super excited to provide these prizes to you folks. We're going to be announcing it here on the podcast. So if you're listening on Friday, do us a favor. Don't look at one of the winners until they at least announce it. Right exactly. So one of the people that was like, hey, look, I want to listen to this episode. I want by all means tell him congratulations, but at least wait until we announce it on Saturday. So it's out there on the public on Twitter. But here are our three winners and the way it's gonna work out is that since we have three of them, the person in first position gets the first choice second, get second choice and third gets third choice. So we will announce them in order. So drumroll please.

Donnie:

[drumroll noise]

Ryan:

Aging drumroll Alright, so our third place winner is going to be Rudy Bagels, Rudy, congratulations. Our second place is going to be Wizard of Zardoz. And lastly, number one is going to be Closable8. So congratulations, Closable. Which he had expressed yesterday that he really wanted that Yoshi crochet. So I'm assuming that's probably gonna be his choice. But congratulations to you all. We are excited to really do these giveaways. It's a great opportunity for us to say thank you to the community that has provided us with so much support and and feedback. So by all means, we will be doing these again, we do them pretty much on a monthly basis. So we will announce them right here on the podcast every time we are about to run a new contest. So congratulations to the winners. And thank you all.

Blue:

Indeed, congraduations to the winners. Thank you everyone who entered and this was fun. Let's do it again. Definitely. All right. Moving on. As we mentioned earlier, this episode of Gamers Week is sponsored. You heard it right, folks, we have a sponsor, and we are proud to announce the name of our new sponsor. It is Retro Game Club Podcast. They are a fantastic family friendly, retro gaming podcast in each episode, Rob and Hughes pick two games to play and discuss. They also have news interviews and other special topics. One of the hosts even ran a podcast a few years ago. And that was the podcast that actually influenced Ryan to get into podcasting.

Donnie:

What

Blue:

we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for these guys. Maybe. Maybe,

Ryan:

No, probably not. Because they they were very encouraging. Especially Hughes about one of the first podcasts we ever released and they said hey, you know keep going. This is some quality stuff. So keep going. Otherwise it probably want to quit.

Blue:

This is all so touching. Retro Game Club Podcast just started their fourth season actually today, and they have released episode 112. We're on episode four. So I we've got a ways to catch up. But we'll get there though. We'll get there. So definitely visit RetroGameClub.net to check them out or follow the link in the show notes. And now let's move on to our main topic for the evening.

Donnie: From Wired:

video games already do what the metaverse just promises. Last month, the New York Times wrote about something that was hardly new or newsworthy, a wedding in the metaverse instead of a church or Hall. Their wedding took place in the metaverse specifically an unknown Lo Fi virtual world called Virbela, an outgrowth of realty company eXp World Holdings, which employs both halves of the couple. So let's be clear about one thing. There is no metaverse. At least not yet. No one really agrees on what a Metaverse is, but averaging together, the more credible definitions yields a persistent social cyberspace that intersects with the IRL economy and integrates with other online platforms. Right now, nothing is doing this at any notable scale. Instead, we have a couple of well attended virtual worlds like Second Life, a handful of popular massively multiplayer online role playing games like World of Warcraft, and a lot of tech companies salivating over a new way to brand their sprawl of digital products and services. Tech companies have discovered the benefits of characterizing a Metaverse as a continuation of their own products or services. Meta, for example, has decided that virtual reality integration is important to a Metaverse And conveniently, its horizon worlds runs on the company's Oculus quest headset. Then there are the blockchain companies preaching the essentiality of their own coins to their own cyber spaces. Now, after almost a year of hype, it has become marginally easier to separate meat from Metaverse fat. What we're dealing with here is cyberspace connected, incarnated and economized. There's still just one problem. Everything actually desirable about this Metaverse resembles a pared down version of the online games millions have been playing for decades.

Ryan:

It's been 20 years since wedding bells were first rang in Second Life. Game Developer Square Enix included mechanics for sending out invitations, composing vows and exchanging rings in 2002 Final Fantasy 11. Outside nuptials, online games already provide the most compelling functions associated with the metaverse, often with greater graphic fidelity, more complex social systems, and at a significantly larger scale. What are Decentraland or Horizon Worlds giving us that Second Life did not? More barriers to entry, it seems. To access Horizon Worlds, users must purchase a $300 Oculus headset from Meta. In Decentraland, users need crypto wallets for the game's proprietary ERC20 toke, and In it's most popular experience, avatars mill around in a low poly field next to a coin cart selling the proprietary cryptocurrency

Blue:

Whoo. Even if video games do start looking more like meta verses and vice versa, it will still be a long time before even the most advanced virtual worlds reach any kind of Snow Crash-ian level of functionality or usefulness. For a Metaverse to be truly interoperable, change-leading companies like Meta will have to work with other technology companies like Epic Games or Square Enix to stitch together their platforms and services. This seems unlikely considering the past decades have shown tech companies are more inclined to consolidate than cooperate. It worked when big fish like Meta(then Facebook) were buying smaller ones like Oculus, but getting all the big fish into one happy pond seems doubtful, and would produce a whole new set of problems. The things that make the promise of a Metaverse intriguing for the most part, already exist in online games, and much of what remains of that promise is unappealing, impossible, or greedy. That's why over the last year plus of lockdown, not one existing virtual world has been in a position to capture corporate meetings and e-commerce. Online games in the meantime, bloated to accommodate a baser and more prevalent desire -- to be together and relate as people, not as workers or consumers.

Ryan:

So before we start talking about this, I have one question for you. Have you started calling it Meta? Or is it still Facebook to you?

Blue:

It's still Facebook. Are you kidding me? Meta is a stupid name.

Donnie:

Can I friend you on Meta?

Ryan:

I'm reminded of the movie Coming to America where the guy's like, "If they want to be called Meta, you should respect their wishes and call them Meta."

Donnie:

Goddamit, this is a free country. If he wants to be known as Muhammad Ali. I'll be calling him Muhammad Ali.

Ryan:

That was perfect. Spot on. We might get DMCA'd

Donnie:

No way.

Ryan:

It was pretty good. I'll give you that.

Donnie:

Thank you.

Ryan:

Alright, so it's talking about the fact that obviously we aren't where we want to be in this space. When it comes to the metaverse. What are your thoughts on this?

Blue:

I don't know if it's not that we're, we're not where we want to be. It seems to me that they're trying to shove something down our throats that we never asked for.

Ryan:

Right, right.

Blue:

Kind of like NFT's. But isn't it funny how this goes hand in hand.

Donnie:

Do we really even need though the Oasis? Does the collective people want the Oasis?

Ryan:

I do. Though, admittedly,

Donnie:

the I think the idea of the Oasis is great, you know, a place you can go in it's a hub for you to visit with friends and actually interact with them. But what does that do eventually for your your real life persona. Because we know there are addictions to feed, like the dual song says, and people can and do get evicted or not evicted, get addicted to video games. So if you if your real personal life is not what it should be, or what you want to be, the easiest scape is to put on that, that headset and go into your, your oasis, so to speak. And that I think can be detrimental to society.

Ryan:

I agree in that sense that, you know, this is something that will that has the potential and the likelihood to become something that's addicting. The other side of that, that I think though from that point of view is, you know, often in real life, there's certain things that people have to deal with that they will be able to avoid in that space. So for example, let's say you're somebody who recognizes that you're somebody say that's trans and you don't feel comfortable kind of coming out to your family, or you're struggling to find a group of friends. Essentially, what you could do is create an avatar and be able to feel more comfortable in your own skin.

Donnie:

Right. And I didn't think about the the topic that you just touched on. That is one of the good things about this is that it gives you an avenue to be to open up and be yourself Be who you really want to be Be true to yourself.

Blue:

But I think the thing to keep in mind about all this is that none of the companies interested in the metaverse care about that.

Ryan:

No, that's a good point.

Blue:

That's not why they're making the metaverse. That's not what their plans are for the metaverse. Their plans are to get every single penny out of us that they can whether we want to or not, by somehow convincing us to buy all these services that will be associated with the metaverse that that we're perfectly fine with without now, perhaps this is just my perspective, because I'm super old. But I mean, like to me, this just kind of seems like a joke. I don't know how else you can take it. Like they really think that we are going to live and work and marry and do all these things in the metaverse and ignore what they call the meat verse, the real life. I mean, yeah, that's the stuff out of books like Snow Crash and Ready Player One, but I'll believe it when I see it. But I also kind of hope that all this hullabaloo around the metaverse, and all these big plans and all this marketing, and they're already counting their money. Even before the metaverse is a thing yet, they're deciding how much they're going to get out of us. And they hope the whole thing just turns into a giant dumpster fire that like five years from now we're all laughing about. Remember when they were going to do the metaverse

Donnie:

meta will become a meme.

Blue:

Yep, hopefully, it's already kind of a meme.

Ryan:

And if you think about it, too, like, again, back to Ready Player One, that whole universe was created by a bunch of guys who were game developers and passionate about gaming. And this version is created by

Blue:

By Facebook, the most transparent and moral company that has ever been

Donnie:

truth.

Ryan:

So we will basically never get the oasis that we want, right? We'll just get and not.

Blue:

Not if Zuckerberg is the one doing it, or any of these. It's never going to happen unless online worlds can cooperate with each other

Ryan:

until the corporate wars in which they start to.

Blue:

And they were only left with Taco Bell. Exactly. Wow. All right. Well, let's move on from the metaverse looking in the future to the past. Class is now in session with Professor Ryebread

Ryan:

All right, thank you for coming students. Please take your seats. Welcome back to Professor Ryebread's Gaming History 101. And today's lesson is how Nintendo inadvertently helped create a competitor that has turned into the one of the largest gaming companies in the world. And I'm of course talking about the Super NES CD ROM. Or many of you may know it the Nintendo PlayStation. So, you know, one of the interesting arguments that I heard growing up is kind of a veteran, if you will of the Sega Nintendo console wars of the 90s. I would hear fanboys say for Nintendo, like, "well, Nintendo would never be dumb enough to make a CD and for the Super Nintendo." I've heard that.

Blue:

I did not hear that on the playground. Wow. The console wars were different than I remember.

Ryan:

I may have said it, I don't know whatever. But the interesting part is that they were actually looking to kind of undermine the Sega slash Mega CD. But the truth is that Nintendo was developing one in partnership with Sony even before the Nintendo or Super Nintendo was released. So take that Super Nintendo fanboy, even if I'm one. Wow. So the question is, why cover this. So for one at the time, Nintendo was king in the marketplace and through poor business practice actually ended up leading to a kind of their fall from grace, if you will. And Sony in the 80s had absolutely no interest in getting into the video game market. And this obviously changed quite a bit of it. This story isn't just speculation or legend, there is a prototype out there of the standalone Nintendo PlayStation, that has recently surfaced a couple years ago. So this is real folks. But just bear in mind that all the research that has been done for this is based off of internet research, a lot of Wikipedia a lot of Nintendo life.com. So if I didn't get it right, please do not sue me. Alright, so if we start at the beginning, it starts with Sony engineer, Ken Kutaragi, who first became interested in working on video games, when he witnessed his daughter. And she owned her own Nintendo Famicom system. So she he saw the interest that she had in it and the addictive nature to it. So he started to push to drive a project which would develop the audio system for the Super Nintendo. He said, Hey, let's get into this. This is a good market. Look how well it's selling. Now, at Sony, it wasn't exactly a popular project, and it likely wouldn't have seen the light of day if it weren't for the support of executive Norio Ohga, who is credited with spurring the development for the compact disc so guy knew what he was doing. But without his help, this probably would have never come to fruition so he saw the value of it and continue to push for the project to get off the ground. So come to find out though, that the project was so successful that it actually opened up talks and an eventual partnership with Nintendo for Sony to develop the CD ROM add on for the Super Nintendo that would both play SNES carts as well as Sony's proprietary format called Super disks, which I was yeah, love this. Everyone likes to add the word super to something so especially back in the 90s you know, partnering with other companies, though at the time is not something that was new for Nintendo, as they previously worked with sharp to create the Twin Famicom as well is the Sharp Nintendo Television, which the latter was actually released in North America in the late 80s. Donnie, have you ever run across either Twin Famicom or a Sharp Nintendo TV?

Donnie:

Yes, my aunt actually had a Sharp Nintendo TV.

Ryan:

No kidding, that's awesome.

Donnie:

Yes, when I was a kid, I have very fond memories of it. And right about the time that I kind of started my retro game collecting. That was one of the first things that I thought about. But I knew that that that thing had gone, it was long gone by then

Ryan:

can we get a little playing of Taps for this?

Donnie:

I'm pouring a virtual 40 out right now for it.

Ryan:

There you go. So for those of you don't know, Twin Famicom was a system that would use would allow you to play Famicom carts and Famicom Disk System game. So it was all in one. Sharp Nintendo TV was television with a built in NES or a Famicom it so kind of cool stuff. So in 1988 development for the add on as well as a standalone system began, but it wasn't without its skeptics again. So from Nintendo's point of view, Sony had a little bit more control than they liked over the licensing agreement for the system, which leads to a whole bunch of extra drama, that we'll get a chance to kind of cover here. But under the agreement for Sony, basically, they would retain full control over this super Disk Format. So that was theirs. They own the private proprietary information for that so that they would, you know, sell that to developers and publishing companies, which was kind of countered to Nintendo's business model at the time, Nintendo at the time, would actually sign agreements with game publishers for a set number of carts per year that they had to buy straight from Nintendo. So in a way, you were kind of forced to buy the technology they were used. So they were making money at the before you started selling the game, and then when you sell it with them, so as well, they also had to pass these quality tests before earning the official seal of approval, which I question sometimes web games actually did past that. But I digress. But lastly, they would actually limit how many games your company could release each year under their name. So it was five you could only release five under your name, which actually forced companies to create shell corporations to release more games. popular example of that is with Konami releasing games under the Ultra name in North America, or the Palcom name in Europe. So if you've got a Palcom or an Ultra game, that's actually Konami. And it's because they couldn't sell under the Konami name. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 the arcade is I remember, this is an Ultra game

Donnie:

It's an Ultra game. Yes, it is.

Ryan:

So with Sony, under the agreement, they would be the sole benefactor of the licensing related to music movie software. Similar to what Nintendo was doing with other providers, they were kind of taking control right over that entire process. So they would have all of those rights available to them. Which Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi was already kind of worried at Sony at that point. And he looked at the contract. So this is unacceptable, like we can't do this. So if Sony was the sole provider of the audio chip, used in the Super Nintendo and require developers to pay for an expensive development tool, Sony, that also kind of turned off Nintendo because they were renowned for their development tools being very, fairly inexpensive. So smaller companies could, you know, work with them as long as they got permission from Nintendo. So Yamauchi did something very interesting. So he decided that the partnership with Sony was something that he wanted more control over. So he did a little bit of shady dealing in the background, if you will, and ended up trying to create a partnership with Sony's biggest competitor in the marketplace, which is Philips. So he actually sent Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln to the Netherlands to say, hey, Philips, if you work with us, we'll provide or what we'll do that the CD add on with you, is almost like kind of a way to bluff out Sony for them. And Sony wasn't having it. But the interesting part is that in the book by David Sheff, which chronicles kind of this entire experience, he was quoted as saying the Philips deal was

meant to do two things at once:

Give Nintendo back its stranglehold on software, and gracefully **** Sony.

Blue:

Whoa.

Ryan:

Yes. Yes. So sadly, for Nintendo, the failure of the Sega CD essentially killed the project. And overall, they saw it No, no, we don't want any of this. So really, the only remaining remnants of the partnership was the failed CDI console with Philips. The problem though, with this is that Nintendo essentially gave Sony a roadmap into getting to the video game marketplace. And with all this time and investment underway, it was kind of a no brainer for Sony to say hey, it's time to sell our own console. And if we look at it, that's that's where they ended up. They became the biggest company as far as video games are concerned, especially from a console standpoint, the PS1 was extremely popular. PS2 even more popular than that, and PS4 and PS5 have also been extremely popular as well. So they've led the marketplace for all those consoles. PS3 got overtaken I think a little bit by the Xbox 360. But for the most part Sony has been in the driver's seat when it comes to the video game industry ever since.

Donnie:

Now be careful when you say PS1 Because most people will contribute the ps1 the mini white Yeah, the one with I think the one with the flip up LCD screen, or what have you, or maybe even just like the little the smaller, more compact version of the PlayStation, the gray one, they say it's the PlayStation.

Blue:

We don't want to get the"ackchually" police all over us, right.

Ryan:

I've heard it called the TSX. But that's also something different too. So it is Yep. But I appreciate I appreciate you making sure that

Blue:

we're looking out for you.

Donnie:

You're welcome. I got you, dawg.

Ryan:

I appreciate it. So let's actually take a look at some of the numbers that came out as a result of this partnership. So for one Sony's new console, the PlayStation would release first versus Nintendo's eventual release of the N64, which would be its main competitor. It was released in December of 94. And, you know, one and a half years before the next gen console, which of course, like I said, is the N64. PlayStation essentially crushed the numbers when it comes to the 64. PlayStation sold 102 million units and the 64 sold a meager 32.9 million worldwide. So if you look at the prototype, though, that think that's one of the more interesting parts of this history. There were at least 300 prototypes for the Nintendo PlayStation. So think about this. It's a standalone, Nintendo PlayStation consoles, so it would play both PlayStation games. So there was a front spot where you would put the CDs in. And then the back was a cartridge slot. So you could put Super Nintendo games in similar to the way the Sega CD was that there were plans for games that would use both or what have you. So that was a big push for them. But they originally created these prototypes as an opportunity to kind of see how it looked and how it would play. But all of them were thought to be destroyed. So that was a thing. But in 2015, one surfaced into the public eyes. The the owner of it, prior to its recent sale was bringing it around to a bunch of conventions. I think it was actually at the PRGE convention that you went to Donnie.

Donnie:

I'm not sure if it was at the PRGE one I know it was at the MO game con that I went to a couple years ago in 2019. It was there I saw it I have a picture of it actually.

Blue:

Obligatory "it belongs in a museum" reference

Donnie:

So do you.

Ryan:

Well, the interesting part is if we cover it in just a moment, you will be happy to the it surfaced in 2015. But that's not when it was purchased. It was actually purchased by an employee of the company Advanta as part of their bankruptcy opposite auction in 2009. So they were selling off a bunch of property apparently one of the owners of advanta got their their hands on it and it was became company property. But in 2020, the prototype was sold to Greg McLemore, founder of Pets.com for $360,000. And he plans to establish a museum for this type of hardware so it will be in a museum. But summation of this kind of the lesson for today is for one always read your contracts before you sign them Nintendo tisk tisk on that one. And shady business tactics might have a tendency to have a double edged sword. So

Blue:

Yes, there were consequences. Nintendo has a Grendel now, like if you remember the story Beowulf, there's now a monster as a direct result of Nintendo's missteps.

Donnie:

Yep. And that that monster is sitting at the top if I'm not mistaken,

Ryan:

he's taking over the hall. It's an ugly it's an ugly experience.

Blue:

What are you guys talking about? Where are you going with that? I'm saying the Zelda CDi games.

Donnie:

Oh no, I thought we're just talking about like PlayStation in general is on top of the video game

Blue:

No, that's different entirely

Ryan:

Oh I see. What you're saying is Grendel because Grendel was such a deformed nasty version of...got it. Okay, now I get the reference.

Blue:

I'm trying to bring some literary credibility to the podcast, and it is not working. the point is that because Nintendo did this is why the horrible Zelda CDi games exist.

Ryan:

And they are. You're being nice by calling them horrible.

Blue:

Yeah.

Ryan:

Donnie, don't you have a CDI?

Donnie:

No, I do not. I would love to.

Ryan:

You got to 3DO, then

Donnie:

I do. I have a two versions of the 3DO, the Panasonic 3DO, and the Goldstar I would love to have a CDI. I'm not sure I'm not on the up and up about the library. But I wouldn't mind having one.

Ryan:

So Plumbers Don't Wear Ties.

Donnie:

That's also for the 3DO.

Ryan:

Oh, is it okay then. The Flowers of Robert Mapplethorpe is 3DO then too

Donnie:

not sure about that one.

Ryan:

I think it is. I think it is. It's you get to go through a museum of flowers.

Donnie:

It's fun and riveting.

Ryan:

Right,

Blue:

I give up.

Ryan:

Well, thank you all for taking the time to attend another Gaming History 101. So just as a reminder, if you do have ideas for stories and you'd like to hear them here on the podcast, send us a message at gamersweekpodcast@gmail.com and we might feature your suggestion.

Blue:

All right, well, thank you, Professor Ryebread and let's go ahead and wrap up this episode. Thanks, everyone for listening to episode four of Gamers Week Podcast and a great big thank you to the Retro Game Club Podcast for sponsoring this episode. Be sure to check out their links in our show notes. If you want to connect with Gamers Week, follow us on Twitter at @GamersWeekPC. You can also email us at gamersweekpodcast@gmail.com Check us out on Twitch at Twitch.tv/gamersweekpodcast. Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/gamersweek and a big new announcement we have a merch store.

Donnie:

Yeah baby.

Blue:

Visit gamers-week-podcast.creator-spring.com or if want to do it the easy way. Follow the link in the show notes. And finally, since you've made it all the way to the end of this episode, please leave us a review. Let us know how we did we really do want to know and while you're there consider subscribing on iTunes or your podcast platform of choice. That's it for us tonight. Thank you everyone and we'll see you next week.

Ryan:

Thank you Good night.

Donnie:

I thought you're about ready to pull an Evan Baxter

Ryan:

definitely keep that in

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