Larry Hyrb: Show time. Hey, it's Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. Welcome to the show. We're doing a video podcast today. I'm here with Jeffrey. Hi Jeff.

Jeffrey: Hello. You're all the way over there. We have so much room.

Larry Hyrb: And we have over there, way over to your left is James Monto Smith. He's gonna be talking about Xbox Gear. Hi James?

James M. S.: Hey guys. How you doing?

Larry Hyrb: We're doing great man. Into the microphone. You wanna [crosstalk 00:00:18].

James M. S.: Oh yeah, into the microphone. You've gotta talk to it.

Larry Hyrb: You guys let's start the show off. I've been talking about this. I talked about it yesterday. We're gonna world premier. This is a day, I mean, I'm gonna feel like Jeff Kelly. This is a day of world premiers. Here's why. This is the very first time we're doing the show from this brand new studio. It's very refined.

Jeffrey: So spacious.

Larry Hyrb: Seeing this set-

Jeffrey: Use the whole space.

Larry Hyrb: ... James has got some stuff that no one else has seen before.

James M. S.: No one.

Jeffrey: Not even you. We designed them in the dark, and now we're just gonna [crosstalk 00:00:45]-

James M. S.: Exactly. [crosstalk 00:00:45]. I don't know what were gonna show.

Larry Hyrb: Anyway. If you're watching us on Facebook, you wanna head over to mixer.com/majornelson. We have got some stuff to give away in the chat. Make sure the chat, come on, don't be Internet chappy, cool chat, so hang on.

Jeffrey: And we have the chat here going.

Larry Hyrb: You do? Okay, I don't have it up yet.

Jeffrey: Well, I've got it so I'm keeping an eye on it. If you have anything interesting to say, we'll repeat it here.

Larry Hyrb: Just going through. We've got some stuff we're gonna show. I don't know where this came from, this was in my shirt Jeff, do you know anything about that?

Jeffrey: Bring it back soon. It's in horrible flashbacks of about 10,000 of these in the mail.

Larry Hyrb: We did Inside Xbox earlier this week, it was a great show. We announced Rocket League is coming to game pad. It came to game pad.

Jeffrey: Yes, that's right. It's there. Now. People are playing it. It's a lot of fun. And you have to get those Major Nelson Flags [crosstalk 00:01:30].

Larry Hyrb: It's free.

Jeffrey: Although without this beautiful spinning logo.

Larry Hyrb: It doesn't rotate.

Jeffrey: It does 60 FPS Larry?

Larry Hyrb: That's real [crosstalk 00:01:37].

Jeffrey: 4K HDR we've got it all.

Larry Hyrb: [crosstalk 00:01:37] the real thing right there.

Jeffrey: Your logo is enhanced for Xbox One X.

Larry Hyrb: It is a lot of fun here. So we're really excited to do the show today. It's a new place for us, a new location. We're back from E3. What an E3, we had Jeff, I mean we talked about it in the last podcast with Graham and a lot of the excitement was, you know, we had a new venue, James, your team was there.

James M. S.: Yeah.

Larry Hyrb: We're gonna talk, show this stuff later on, right at the top of the show. I wanna talk about the gear store and what you guys are doing because it's really exciting.

James M. S.: Yeah, for sure. You know, this is something that, I think we've all been wanting to happen here at Xbox for like forever. So we finally figured out a way to make it work within what we're doing. And I think a big part of that actually was being able to create the Xbox Experience at the Microsoft Theater. And that gave us an opening to look at how we bring merchandise to our fans.

James M. S.: Basically, the higher ups gave me permission to go, "Go ahead and see if you can figure out a way to bringing, on a store and bring new merchandise to the fans." So we just went after it. So what we're doing is, we went ahead and created what we call Xbox Official Gear. Which is an initiative across multiple fronts. The big part of it, one, we're finally making Xbox brand and merchandise for the very first time. It's the first time we're creating it, all new looks, all new products, everything that we're bringing out to retail.

James M. S.: And the second and we did at E3, is we launched event based stores.

Larry Hyrb: Popups.

James M. S.: Popups as we call them.

Jeffrey: Event focused gear.

James M. S.: Yeah. Event focused gear and also like, you know, I know and I've been to countless conventions and different shows and it's really fun to buy stuff when you're at them. It's a transactional adventure for yourself. And we wanted to take advantage of that, take advantage of the fact that our fans are in one place and create a larger experience. Like, you know, Xbox is more than just gaming, it's a lifestyle for us.

Larry Hyrb: It's a whole community.

James M. S.: It's a whole community, right. Totally.

Larry Hyrb: And we saw that with Fan Fest, we saw that with, everything we do is about our fans. And we saw that with, you know, bringing the fans in there and this is just part of that story and the hub of excitement.

James M. S.: Yeah, I mean it's an extension of what we do. I mean, we've been doing it a lot with our IPs for a long time. Obviously Halo and Minecraft and Gears have great products that are out there. Especially when we launch new titles, they have great stores. But we're like, "Why don't we bring it all together under our banner of Xbox? And bringing it to our fans, and bring people together with it."

James M. S.: So yeah, we were able to launch at E3 with our official store and it's our first pop-up. And the first of many to come. Our goal is to have these pop-up shops at every one of our major events. Not only in the US but globally. So we're kind of in the crawl, walk, run phase of it but, we're definitely ramping up to being more.

Larry Hyrb: We'd love to talk about the designs.

James M. S.: Sure.

Larry Hyrb: About a month or two before E3, you had shown us like a catalog of what's in there. And I was looking at it, and it's not what I expected. Everything being green and like just logo on shirt, which is kind of like standard merch fair, but more like artistic takes on the brand. And So, and how was that received?

James M. S.: Yeah, I mean, the way that we kind of approached it is, we didn't wanna create ... the word that I hate more than anything, which is swag. I don't wanna create swag. We're tired of swag. I don't want [crosstalk 00:04:49]-

Larry Hyrb: And so just to be clear, swag in the games industry or frankly in any industry ... I've been working in the broadcast industry for a long time, is that cheap stuff.

James M. S.: Cheap stuff you just give away, right? You throw it out.

Larry Hyrb: And all of a sudden in six months, you're like, I don't need this anymore.

Jeffrey: It's like 80% of my entire wardrobe [crosstalk 00:05:04].

Larry Hyrb: And I can confirm. I've been to Jeff's house. It's nothing but gaming T-shirts.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

James M. S.: We know we wanted to create apparel that people are proud to wear too. They wanna wear out, generally speaking, that they can wear to the office, they can wear out and not just be something that they were at a convention and never wear again.

James M. S.: And with the Xbox and the way that we looked at it, is we wanted to embrace gamers and gaming culture. And gaming culture isn't just about E VIP or actually playing a game. There's a lifestyle around it. And so we worked and teamed up with a company called Meta Threads on our initial Xbox designs. Meta Threads is kind of known for combining e-sports, gaming culture and street wear until I kind of one mesh, which to be honest, a lot of gamers kind of relate to.

Jeffrey: Huge crossover.

James M. S.: Huge crossover. Even like amongst sneakerheads, in hip hop and street wear. And we kind of took a look at that and looked at what is fashionable, what is stuff that we would like to wear out. And that's kind of where we came out. I actually brought, I mean I know we see all like inside of the catalogs on the web store, but I brought some of the samples so we can actually see what it looks like in person.

Jeffrey: We have a visual podcast.

James M. S.: Yeah, we have a visual podcast.

Larry Hyrb: What do we do all this?

James M. S.: So I mean we're sitting right here, I'm wearing one of our hoodie which are Linear Hoodie, which I personally love this. This is a different kind of cut, different look to it. But what else I got here? I've got our ... you know, this is kind of standard fare. We have our flat bill snapback. You can't have a collection without a flat bill snapback [crosstalk 00:06:25].

Jeffrey: Well Larry loves the flat bill. Every weekend, I'm like, "I'm not brushing my hair." I debatably did not brush my hair today. But I'm wearing a hat and he just is like, "Can I just grab that and bend it," you actually did that once and I was very upset.

Larry Hyrb: I'm curious of what the chat thinks is the hat flat or do you wanna have a little bit of English to it?

Jeffrey: Look, I don't like that you do, "Oh I have everything too." I think just different looks for different styles.

Larry Hyrb: I don't know, when I see the flat hat, there's a dad that, right? There's a time for a dad hat.

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:06:53].

James M. S.: here we go.

Jeffrey: I mean it's what it what is, it's a dad hat.

James M. S.: You have athletic hats. When I go camping or I play softball or baseball, I have a curved bill but when I'm just wanna throw something on to go out, you go with the flat bill.

Jeffrey: I think looking at the chat, it's pretty close to 50:50. Bend is for fishermen, [crosstalk 00:07:10], I agree.

James M. S.: Bend is for fishermen.

Jeffrey: Yeah, it's like trying to keep the lawyers from hitting you in the eye, wow.

Larry Hyrb: [crosstalk 00:07:16].

James M. S.: I mean it's also helpful to keep the sun out of your eyes anyway.

Jeffrey: I guess.

Larry Hyrb: Now let's be clear. There's only one hat skew, you're responsible for bending it yourself.

James M. S.: Well, no, we do have a dad hat.

Larry Hyrb: Okay. Here we go.

James M. S.: So if you wanna pre-curved, there is the white dad hat which we have available right now as well.

Jeffrey: Our Dad Shoes are coming back Kanye?" Basically when Kanye was [crosstalk 00:07:41]-

James M. S.: Kanye did it from [crosstalk 00:07:41].

Jeffrey: Yeah, exactly. I mean it's like he gained weight. He's older now. He's in his forties now. He's now sweatpants [crosstalk 00:07:49].

Larry Hyrb: Right. Let's keep going with the gear.

Jeffrey: Let's see what else we got here.

Larry Hyrb: Larry is not interested in that.

James M. S.: This here is our ... it's just a simple crew shirt. White, which is ... I love it. I know you gotta be careful when you wear this out to dinner or else it's gonna get ruined very, very quickly.

Jeffrey: Who wants pasta?

James M. S.: Yeah, exactly.

Jeffrey: What's up with [crosstalk 00:08:09]. I haven't seen them. [crosstalk 00:08:10] really nice.

Larry Hyrb: It was awesome.

Jeffrey: What is that tag on the back, that's like a billboard.

James M. S.: You're right, that's a huge tag, but here press a little on it.

Jeffrey: It feels like a 7.11 receipt.

James M. S.: But it's so fluffy and soft. It feels like wearing mush mellow.

Larry Hyrb: Oh this is great.

Jeffrey: You're not getting that back.

James M. S.: yeah, I know that's gone.

Jeffrey: So this is part of the Meta Gear, right?

James M. S.: Yeah, that's part of the Meta Gear collection. See this one I love too, so I know it's July, but I'm bringing when it's over sweaters 'cause I just think they're awesome.

Larry Hyrb: are offices in Seattle. It's not exactly hot.

James M. S.: It's true, but this one is awesome. This is like the camo pullover windbreaker. So this thing is very much on trend with the front pocket, but it just looks awesome a really cool cuts, zippers on the side. I love this thing. It's just a kind of a cool fashion statement. And from Xbox, we actually pull design from one of our most popular controllers that we [crosstalk 00:08:57].

Jeffrey: Oh yeah, there's one of the forces controlling.

James M. S.: Yeah, exactly. And so we pulled that camo design from it, to bring it into this collection, which I love. And then final thing I brought this to kind of show off from, from this collection is our best selling item and the thing I love.

Jeffrey: Darn it.

James M. S.: Okay. Second best selling item.

Jeffrey: Okay. Larry, if you don't always referring to the Major Nelson approved pin [crosstalk 00:09:22].

James M. S.: Now I have to say that this is sold out.

Larry Hyrb: Jeff and I have worked together for a long time. James, you and I have worked together is that whenever I would go out and do events, and usually I don't have one on right now because we're casual today. But people would ask me, "Where do I get the pin?" And you guys came to me months ago and said, "Hey, could we sell the pin?" And we struck a deal. I said, "You can sell this type of pin," you kind of touched up the design, a beautiful card on it. And I remember when we announced everything at E3, I told James. I said, "James, I wanna sell out of them." And with your help, we did.

James M. S.: Yeah, we did. And maybe it can comeback again though too, for the fans that missed out.

Larry Hyrb: Stay tuned.

Jeffrey: The fans in West Edmonton would like you to have a pop up in the mall there. I hear that's huge mall. Is that the mall where BioWare is connected to that mall.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, I opened that store. Anyway, so this is one of the top selling items.

James M. S.: This is one of top selling items. And I love it. I know Jeff loves it too, which is our Xbox Bomber Jacket. I mean this thing is just kind of a really cool take on some fashion items we have. One of the cool things that I love about this is, Meta always includes these velcro patch sections on the side of the jacket and we actually released some Xbox patches, but yeah also, we're gonna be doing other patches as well. The idea is you can form your own identity, so you'll see stuff coming out from IPs. You'll see Gears of War, you'll see Halo patches that you can then put on this jacket. So this is a piece that you'll have for a long time.

Larry Hyrb: I think we need a Major Nelson Radio Patch, right Jeff? I love touch it.

Jeffrey: It's bad idea.

Larry Hyrb: Can we just ... I just wanna take a look at it.

James M. S.: Yeah, touch it. It's great.

Larry Hyrb: Members only.

James M. S.: Now it's going away.

Larry Hyrb: We got some stuff we're gonna show up later on, but we wanna thank everybody. Jeff, I wanna talk about some of the headlines in some of the news and then we're gonna show later on-

Jeffrey: We could do that, we can talk about what we're playing.

Larry Hyrb: What we're playing, yeah. We can do that.

Jeffrey: Actually, actually before we go, before we leave the store, if we can bring up the console right here. This is actually really important. James, you guys worked with the console team, is that you showed off some of the stuff, you can actually buy it right on your Xbox one.

James M. S.: That's right, yeah.

Jeffrey: So if you go over to the store tab and then you scroll down all the way to the bottom right here, there it is. And this will actually go into the store and you can browse on it and see all of the stuff that James was talking about and you can buy it on your console. Look at that, the T's out of stock, the destination T's out of stock,

James M. S.: The destination T is out of stock. People who have been looking and keeping an eye out, we have a lot bunch of stuff out of stock, but we'll see a new surge of product coming in online by the end of the month. It is hitting the DCs next week.

Larry Hyrb: So one of the differences between swag and I'm wearing ... look I'm a big Overwatch fan and Overwatch playoffs are going on. I'm wearing a [crosstalk 00:11:53]. But it's like a guild band shirt, which are not necessarily Egyptian cotton or anything like that. I'm having abrasions as we speak but worth it. But these, the Meta Threads really nice quality shirts.

Jeffrey: This is really nice.

James M. S.: It's super high end quality. We have sown on labels, but you know, the idea behind Gear is it's just a higher quality product and something that you wanna pay money for.

Larry Hyrb: I feel like I should be saying, "And today's extra value, but we're not selling them here. Go to your console. You don't need me to sell you anything.

James M. S.: Well and also wanna say other than the Xbox Gear, we also have the stuff from our other brands as you can see, we have stuff from Mixer, from a Pudgy, from Halo, all kinds of really cool items across all of our main IPs. And even some third party stuff. I believe we have some items from The Division 2 and Tomb Raider and some more things coming.

Larry Hyrb: I went to the Halo gear because I wanna just point out for a moment that James has been working on Halo merchandise for years. Yes. So this is whence you come from.

James M. S.: Now this whence I come from.

Larry Hyrb: So to your point a little bit earlier on when we were talking about, "Hey, we wanna do Xbox merchandise," we looked around and realized we already have experts and that's you.

James M. S.: Yeah, my team, we've been working on the Halo merchandise for six, seven years now, multiple launches and it's something that's a big passion for us. But you know why we're looking at the Funko Pops, I actually did bring in for you guys, you can do it as you will.

Larry Hyrb: Oh look at this.

James M. S.: Two exclusive Halo Funko Pops.

Larry Hyrb: Look at this.

Jeffrey: It's got a [crosstalk 00:13:20].

James M. S.: So I have the Best Buy Only Gold Arbiter, right? Which is awesome. And then the Game Stop Only Chief with Energy Sword.

Jeffrey: Oh that's awesome.

Larry Hyrb: Nice.

James M. S.: So these are exclusive items just released.

Larry Hyrb: Thank you.

James M. S.: You guys can keep them. You can give them away.

Larry Hyrb: I think we have to give them away.

Jeffrey: I think we need to.

Larry Hyrb: We're not allowed to keep them on the show. But these look good man.

Jeffrey: They're just supercool.

Larry Hyrb: But yeah, Halo has a long history of doing amazing merchandise. I mean, God, I remember having a bag from like Halo 2.

Jeffrey: Yeah, back in the day, I still have it.

Larry Hyrb: Halo 2, it was the first title where we actually launched major merchandise for. Halo 1, we didn't do anything. I think the only thing we released was that the consult [crosstalk 00:14:00]-

Jeffrey: Can we talk about the premium or the object that we never released. Do know, which one it is.

Larry Hyrb: Which one, the shoe.

Jeffrey: No, this was back in the day at least I don't think it was ever released. We had key chains and they were shotgun shell key chains, remember that?

Larry Hyrb: Oh yeah.

Jeffrey: [inaudible 00:14:18]. I got one.

James M. S.: We also got one of these a pair of Gilbert Arenas, Halo Three Adidas shoes. So there was a collab there, but then Gilbert Arenas, the great Hibachi got into some trouble in the MBA. And the shoes ended up-

Jeffrey: Good all number zero.

James M. S.: Yeah, the number got pulled. But we still have a pair of them on display in our museum at Three for Three right now.

Jeffrey: That museum by the way is amazing videos out there. I think Jeff Easter landing pretty recently.

James M. S.: Yeah, he just did a new one.

Jeffrey: Those are worth watching. Well, you know what, I'm gonna link out to that.

Larry Hyrb: All right, James you're gonna [crosstalk 00:14:49] we're gonna show some stuff later on. We're gonna talk about what we're playing. We're gonna talk about some news. We got a whole ... What time is it? It's 11.

Jeffrey: We got time.

Larry Hyrb: It's 15 minutes [crosstalk 00:14:56]. Let's jump into what we're playing right now. Jeff, this is actually, if we can bring up my console. This is actually my console here. We can actually bring up what ... look at all these achievements. We'll bring up the achievements. I wanna talk about Vermintide, because I know that you're applying. You're playing Vermintide.

James M. S.: Yeah. I started playing this last night. So Warhammer 2 Vermintide. This is part of the uh, Xbox Game Pass that just, I guess two days ago or yesterday, it went in the Game Pass, which is great. So this is a really elaborate first person, cooperative dungeon crawler.

Jeffrey: Booting up right now.

James M. S.: It almost feels like if they had made the old gauntlet games into a first person type of game with the different classes, you have your brawler, you have your sort of Elf rogue, you have a magic user, have a dwarf with a crossbow. There's one other class as well. But there's a lot of character and personality and what you do after you go through the prologue, which I highly recommend you start with the prologue. It sort of establishes these vermin that you have to turn the tide on. I guess I sort of like rat soldiers and let's you get a hold of like what the gameplay is like.

James M. S.: And then you go into quick play. You have sort of a hub town. And from there you sort of jump in and you match up with other folks. You can play offline. But I think this is a game you're not gonna wanna solo. You're gonna wanna just go into that matchmaking or set up a private match where you're playing with friends and since it's on Game Pass, it should be no problem to get everybody together and to get this game. So it's a game we need to play. I'm looking forward to getting some more folks in there. I'm already calling, I'm gonna use the, the El Faro character. I feel like Hamza. Oh, running around there.

James M. S.: But there's some really good voice acting in there as well. The Warhammer universe is pretty rich. I've played a couple of games, I've very varying sort of types. There was a top down strategy RPG I played on an iPad a few years ago. I don't know everything that's happening and you know what, that's fine. You're gonna go through, you're gonna bash some rats in the head with a massive hammer. And that's what you care about, right?

Jeffrey: Yeah. That's all you really care about.

Larry Hyrb: Bashing.

James M. S.: Yeah. I mean it's important.

Jeffrey: They're vectors vectors for disease.

Larry Hyrb: We're talking here about what we're flying. What else you played? Do you wanna talk about this guy right down here?

James M. S.: What are we looking at?

Larry Hyrb: Bomber Crew.

James M. S.: Bomber crew, yes.

Larry Hyrb: That was a game that we announced it early in the week, right?

Jeffrey: Yeah, this is another game that came straight out that debuted into Xbox Game Pass. We're seeing a lot more of that, which is really cool. So it's not just games that you may have played in the past or missed in the past and this has access to that, but actually this is a brand new game and you get to play it on day one through Xbox Game Pass, which I really love.

Jeffrey: So Bomber Crew, if you ever played FTL, it's very similar to that, but that is sort of like ... it's a game where you're controlling a plane. FTL was a game you're controlling a ship and space and you're sort of managing the activities of all these different crew on this bomber in a very cartoony World War II and you're running sorties out of an air base a little bit North of London. And so you're flying over to Belgium and you're taking out a bomb factory.

James M. S.: Can I show my plane? I sent you my plane, didn't I?

Jeffrey: I think you did. Yeah, just RV one more time.

James M. S.: Here it is. So this is the-

Jeffrey: This is the best price. You can totally re-skin it and you can re-skin. You can put the logo as your gamer pick.

Larry Hyrb: It's the death mobile and it automatically picks up your gamer picture on it.

Jeffrey: I think I made mine Virgin America. But yeah, you can as you play through, you get to customize it more and more. But if you go through and if you wanna launch one of the missions, you're telling your different characters what to do so you're not actually in control directly of the throttle of the plane. It's not like a normal flight sim type of game rather this is like a game that challenges you to how well can you manage stress in like a crazy situation.

Jeffrey: So like if give you an example, once you get a hold of it. And I was flying, I was like, "I'm doing really good at this game." And then I did like a tougher mission and at all at once, I'm trying to take out a bombing target. I'm escorting a ship. So I'm keeping subs off of it. We're getting strafed by flat guns and my radio person was hit and one of my engines was on fire and my electrical system went down. All of this was at once.

Larry Hyrb: Chaos.

Jeffrey: So how do I prioritize that? Well, I still have to hit this bombing run. I can't take a second run at it because I'm not gonna be able to survive. But I got to bring my ... I gotta fix my electrical system. I have to send someone out on the wing to put this fire out. I only have one first aid kit. So you're just like, all of these things are happening. I think I was saying on a Inside Xbox, like, "This should be part of getting a management degree." Like, "If you wanna get your MBA, you should have to be able to successfully do this because at the end it's like, all right, we finished the mission for my crew, did not make it back, which is unfortunate. But Hey, we finished the mission and that's what really mattered."

Jeffrey: And so it gets more and more complicated, but it's really fun and it's own Xbox Game Pass. So get in there.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah. What are you waiting for?

Jeffrey: You have no reason not to play.

Larry Hyrb: It's one of those games that I was like, 'cause you and I were texting back and forth and I just sent you the photo of my death mobile.

Jeffrey: I was like seeing your playing, it was a lot of fun.

Larry Hyrb: I'm looking at my friend's list, a lot of people are giving this a shot. So I had never played a game by Kerb Digital or by this team before, but I really liked what they did with this and it's really fun. So, it's on Game Pass. Give it a shot.

Jeffrey: I'm looking at my achievements right now to see what I'm playing. I'm playing a little bit ... Who's that ... apparently, yeah, you're right behind me in gamer score.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it does range [crosstalk 00:20:32].

Jeffrey: Who's that guy that's ahead of me?

Larry Hyrb: ... 74, 75. Who's that guy?

Jeffrey: He's one of the mods, so we have to be very nice.

Larry Hyrb: But we got Bomber Crew-

Jeffrey: Are you playing Overwatch as well?

Larry Hyrb: Played Overwatch a little bit. Just 'causes is a game I keep going back to. James, have you played that?

James M. S.: Yeah, just 'cause it's awesome.

Larry Hyrb: It's just crazy fun to run around. Halo MCC Insider, which a lot of insiders. We'll talk about that later. Playing on a public test server went online last night. They're tweaking some weapon balance and doing some other stuff as well. So I'm Overlord. I love those. The overlord series came to back and pad. This is not a back and pad game. Came to that vigor. I mean this one, 911 operator. Did I tell you about this one Jeff?

Jeffrey: How did I miss this game?

Larry Hyrb: I was playing it over the weekend and it's ... James, have you seen this game?

James M. S.: I haven't.

Larry Hyrb: So this game, you can go download it now. What's interesting is, it's exactly what you think it is. It's a top-down view of a map.

Jeffrey: You don't know where my head is 'cause I'm like, "Does this have William Shatner from Rescue 911?"

Larry Hyrb: No, but what it's interesting is, it detects where you are. It says, "Oh, I see you're in Seattle. Do you wanna download the Seattle map?" So it downloads the Seattle map from Bing Maps, Google Maps, whatever maps and it starts during the game. It's calling out different ambulance and a heart attack and baby being born and what not, around town at real address.

Jeffrey: All right, well now I'm actually gonna have to do this.

Larry Hyrb: So I was like, "Well, that's kinda cool." And then I was like, "Wait a minute." And I switched out to my little town that I grew up in Connecticut with 10,000 people and sure enough it had it and sure enough it starts calling out like a car fire down here on Flanders Road. I'm like, "Yeah, that would happen."

Jeffrey: "Paula had her baby. I didn't think I'd find out this way."

Larry Hyrb: Exactly, so it's just a fun game to kind of play around. So check that out. Hey, we're watching the chat right now. If you're over on Facebook, go to mixer.com/majornelson. Couple of questions in the chat. Wanna answer them right now. Number one question that I'm seeing James.

James M. S.: Yes.

Larry Hyrb: The international audience wants to know-

James M. S.: They do I'm sure.

Larry Hyrb: ... when can they buy their stuff internationally? Right now it's US only the Gear [crosstalk 00:22:28].

James M. S.: It is us only the store. So we do have a five to six month roadmap right now. We're going to be igniting these up soon. Canada is the next up. I'm hoping to have that up and going within a month. Then we should be going live in Canada after that. We're going to be targeting UK, Germany and the Greater EMEA European area.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it's gonna make a lot of people happy.

James M. S.: Yeah, it is. That'll happen. We're working on it for it to happen this year by holiday time so people can get it. That being said, XOG shop will be at Gamescom. So if you're gonna Gamescom this is an exclusive-

Larry Hyrb: I'm going to Gamescom.

James M. S.: ... debut to let you know now we will be at Gamescom in the merch hall selling our official lines there. So that will be the first-

Larry Hyrb: You've been to Gamescom, right?

James M. S.: I haven't. This will be the first time ever.

Larry Hyrb: Well, Jeff and I are going.

Jeffrey: We're gonna take you under our wing.

Larry Hyrb: We're gonna go some kolsching.

Jeffrey: We will definitely be coalshing. Kolsch is the sort of local brew that is only ... in Cologne, they love it. Anywhere else, they hate it. But you know what, I'm a big fan. It's a great summer drink.

Larry Hyrb: You know what they don't have.

James M. S.: What?

Larry Hyrb: You know what they don't ... Jeff and I have learned this after going for salad, they don't have air conditioning or they don't have American air conditioning. So I'll just say that.

James M. S.: They give you a fan with a spritzer bottle on.

Larry Hyrb: They have it but it doesn't go any lower than about 80 degrees.

Jeffrey: It's lovely so.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, the days of it being like this where it's like 65-

Jeffrey: Have you ever heard of [Carriverse 00:23:50]?

James M. S.: Carriverse, yeah.

Jeffrey: Yeah more like carry best, Am I right?

James M. S.: Good night everybody.

Larry Hyrb: Thank you very much. Anyway-

Jeffrey: Oh and the Gummy Bears.

Larry Hyrb: We got a lot to talk about. So that's good to know is that you are ... So it's not that the team doesn't wanna roll out the gear store, but there's a lot you gotta make sure you have fulfillment in the region. You got all the right licenses to sell. I mean there's all sorts of stuff.

James M. S.: A lot of that is compliance. What we can get away with in the US is not necessarily okay with everywhere around the world.

Larry Hyrb: All of a sudden you know, so like Xcel. What does that mean to you folks in the media? It doesn't mean anything.

Jeffrey: Have you gone to Zara because sizes are a little different there. I'm like a 3X European size here. I'm just, I'm a roomy medium. They make you feel good here in America.

Larry Hyrb: So there's a lot. But I know you guys wanna bring it out to as many-

James M. S.: We do, I mean we want-

Larry Hyrb: ... all the Xboxes.

James M. S.: ... everywhere we're at, we wanna do it.

Larry Hyrb: People want watches, people want kids sizes, people want big boy sizes. I'm just, I'm just working on some stuff with you guys.

James M. S.: Yeah, so big boy sizes, people know we are working to make sure our lines are up to 4X-

Larry Hyrb: What big sizes?

James M. S.: ... and big girl sizes. We wanna make sure that we have female cuts for most of our product lines. So we are working on that as well. I think we are already up to almost 40% to 50% of our lines have female cuts as well, at least with the Xbox lines. So we are taking care of that and try and get up to four x. So these are ... you know, we're definitely aware of the issues we need to solve for. We definitely sprinted with our hair on fire to get out in time for [crosstalk 00:25:15] and I'm just now putting it out. So now the next step is how do we make this a better service for our fans.

Larry Hyrb: I feel like the sky's the limit here.

James M. S.: It totally ... we're just, just, just started there.

Larry Hyrb: There's nowhere to go without-

James M. S.: There's so much more there.

Larry Hyrb: There's nowhere to ... a lot of stuff there. All right we're getting back to what we're playing, thank you for joining us there. So, that was kind of crazy, wasn't it?

Jeffrey: Yeah, You're, you're, you're playing the World Cup watching game Larry?

Larry Hyrb: All the time.

Jeffrey: I think actually you're, you're playing it whether you want to or not because we've had it on in the office all month long.

Larry Hyrb: Who do we have now? [crosstalk 00:25:44] Really? All right.

Jeffrey: I'm just trying to see what I'm unlocking, I'm trying to get ... [crosstalk 00:25:47]-

Larry Hyrb: The second smallest country to be in the World Cup finals.

Jeffrey: The second only to Iceland, yes, that's a good call.

Larry Hyrb: Let's see if I have anything else here. I think that's pretty much all the sports as well.

Jeffrey: Larry doesn't like talking about sports as well I think-

Larry Hyrb: I'm listening to you. You see Flame in the Flood up here, the reason you see Flame in the Flood up here is because A because it's a good game and, and B, look at that gamer score, it supports fast start, which is a brand new feature that we shipped last week with the [crosstalk 00:26:13] with the most recent update.

Larry Hyrb: There's some other cool features in there including ... I don't have it on here, but we also have groups so you can create your groups here and decide what games you want. I'll show you my group. for some reason my groups aren't on here, but Flame in the Flood and I just ... this is just in, breaking news as the internet likes to say. We have two more titles, a bunch are already in there, but we added fast start support today for Neverwinter and Fable Fortune. So this is a brand new technology that's going to allow you to play your games faster and that's what people want.

Jeffrey: That's what people want, they want their game's faster, more games, faster games, better games and extra large-

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, with the groups like you were talking about. I know we can demo it right there, but you can ... Previously he had pins and pins kind of became like a one size fit all, people would use it in different ways. I actually would use it in games that ... to remind myself, hey, there's this sort of my like stack of shame if you will. Like I gotta go back and play this game and finish this game, but now I can actually make a stack of pile.

Jeffrey: You know what I can have online is ... I don't have it here, but I have a folder that says cross play, right? Because we can do that, so-

James M. S.: And you can very soon add a Rocket League to that list, [crosstalk 00:27:21] will be pretty cool. We'll get more on that once we have the details.

Jeffrey: We should probably go through ... Do you want to talk about ... James-

Larry Hyrb: We'd like to ask our guests what they're playing and you're our guest so-

James M. S.: Oh yeah, so, what am I playing right now? I am currently playing Destiny 2 again. I'm jumping back in with with the expansion happening in September, I felt like I needed to kind of get through and get my characters leveled up.

Jeffrey: Did you play when it first came out?

James M. S.: Yeah, I'm a huge Destiny fan. Destiny 2, I love that, played a lot and then like everything else, a bajillion games came out and I kind of put it to the side and I only played the first ... I bought the whole thing. I only played the first DLC. I didn't even play the second one. And then I'm like, "You know what, I need to get back in."

James M. S.: And like any game like that that's big, as soon as you go back in, you're like, "I do not remember at all what I'm supposed to do and this is almost overwhelming." But for a little bit, given the mechanics back into place, I was like, "Oh yeah, that's right, there's a grind loop that I thoroughly enjoy and the destiny franchise." I'm excited about expansion. So, I'm in there. I'm trying to level up my character to get ready for, for it go.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, I-

James M. S.: I actually think Larry's in my clan that I started.

Larry Hyrb: I am, I am in your clan.

James M. S.: Yeah, which is awesome. You haven't been in awhile, but we keep you there just in case you want to jump back-

Larry Hyrb: I do. I need to go in there when we're not traveling and doing all sorts of other fun stuff. Anyway, so, we're talking about some news, wanna go through some headlines Jeffrey?

Jeffrey: Yeah, why don't we do that? Why don't we [crosstalk 00:28:45], we needed a full screen here. We need a lighting change for the news. You know, the news comes in different colors.

Larry Hyrb: It does.

Jeffrey: So let's do a rainbow of colors here and let's see if that'll work.

Larry Hyrb: Did we pre-

Jeffrey: I think it works [crosstalk 00:28:58] look at that.

Larry Hyrb: Look at that, so it's amazing. [crosstalk 00:29:02]-

James M. S.: Jeff should get a jacket so when the news happens, you can just put it on there if you like-

Jeffrey: I can put on a jacket and then-

Larry Hyrb: A lot of money went into that queue, so let's go through-

Jeffrey: It wasn't at all underwhelming either.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: So we've already talked about Rocket League, but yes, now available on Xbox game pass. A game that I'm really looking forward to that's less than a month out now that has had a lot of buzz Dead Cells.

Jeffrey: So this is a game that's like a Roguevania, so you of course know the Metrovania sort of genre and this sort of adds a Roguelite sort of element to that. A lot of people have been talking about Dead Cells looking forward to it's coming out, August 7th on Xbox One. So, we have a story up there, uh, on Xbox Wire, which I can link out to. And it sort of talks about how this game had evolved over time. We're taking a look at it now, had evolved.

Jeffrey: It originally was planned to be like a tower defense game and they ended up finding by, you know, sort of testing out in the fly like what people are into and, and the things that stuck with it. So this game, uh, we're seeing a lot of like really good 2D ... I think the days of like, hey it's retro for retro's sake has gone away and I think that it's just now, hey, we can use these mechanics and add modern gameplay twists to a sort of classic looks and make a really good game.

Jeffrey: So anyway, that's coming out less than a month from now. Talk about Minecraft. Minecraft never stops. It's only just a couple weeks ago that we first were able to unlock achievements on Nintendo-

Larry Hyrb: On a switch, did you do that?

Jeffrey: Of course I did.

Larry Hyrb: I did too. And it's got this weird like @ sign, I mean, it's a cool.

Jeffrey: It doesn't sound, right?

Larry Hyrb: You know what? The fact that I worked on that sound back in the day and that it's now on Nintendo, it just-

Jeffrey: Warms my heart. You worked on the rare achievement sound as well

Larry Hyrb: I worked on the original achievement, I worked on the especially the rare tune with the flourish, so, that was awesome.

Jeffrey: Yeah, so, on Minecraft, the update aquatic phase two is out and-

Larry Hyrb: More fish.

Jeffrey: Well, there's really a lot of stuff in here because it used to be you'd go under water. There wasn't a ton to do, but now there's like sea turtles, which that alone-

Larry Hyrb: They can be mean, I'm a scuba diver, you avoid sea turtles, and you can't touch them because they're a protected species, but when they come after you, they can hurt.

Jeffrey: This is one of the many reasons that the only way I'd go in the water is probably in Minecraft.

Larry Hyrb: All right.

Jeffrey: Yeah, not doing it. Anyway, there's new mobs. There's really a lot. They've added skeleton horses. There's a lot of stuff, dolphins.

James M. S.: Very west world of them with their skeleton horses.

Jeffrey: Yeah, thestrals I think they're called in Harry Potter, really showed my nerd side. Not everyone can see them, you have to have experienced death. I've seen things, seen things. A lot of stuff there and we'll link off to minecraft.net, but really a ton of new stuff there. And I mean the game just keeps on going and you can play it.

Jeffrey: And it's coming of course to Xbox One. It's coming to Switch, coming to windows 10, coming to VR and your mobile devices everywhere-

James M. S.: Wherever you are-

Larry Hyrb: Minecraft will be.

Jeffrey: So James, you were talking about getting back into Destiny very recently. We got back into playing the Division, after division 2 got announced and there was a lot of stuff waiting for us. Well, Battlefield 5-

Larry Hyrb: There's a crazy amount of stuff waiting for us.

Jeffrey: So Battlefield 5, uh, people are excited about that and they're doing something similar with Battlefield 1. So if you go back into battlefield 1, they're throwing a ton of content at you, there's a lot of challenges which is also seems like sort of reminiscent of how the Division is doing some stuff with Division 1 that goes into 2.

Jeffrey: So, there's a great story up on Xbox Wire which we can link into that just sort of lets you know, like if you're, if you're jonesing for Battlefield 5 and it looks really good a that if you go back into Battlefield 1 right now, there are things and even in Battlefield 4 actually that are waiting for you that are free, that maybe weren't-

Larry Hyrb: At the end of the day, I need to find my helicopters, you know, that on a helicopter.

Jeffrey: And I'd like to repair them.

Larry Hyrb: We're a great team.

Jeffrey: It's like we're a couple of support guys.

Larry Hyrb: Exactly.

Jeffrey: We will leave the headshots.

Larry Hyrb: There's actually a funny thread on Reddit that popped up last week and it was talking about how ... I don't know, I was playing. Somebody played this in Overwatch and they said they used to play ... this person came up against ... I think it was you and I in Battlefield and how they were surprised because I was, I guess it was you and I, we were ferrying people to and from the point. We were playing the objective.

Jeffrey: Exactly.

Larry Hyrb: Right? And that's what the game is all about. It's not about the KD in Battlefield.

Jeffrey: Well, look, sometimes the adults need to come into the room and actually manage our way through.

Larry Hyrb: Right, it was a lot of fun.

Jeffrey: Well, that's good. So, uh, that is pretty much ... oh one last thing. And actually we have something visual, this is something beautiful. You may or may not have seen our episode of inside Xbox this week, but you revealed it.

Larry Hyrb: Yes [crosstalk 00:33:50],I can just do it again, you ready? Can we go with the two shot? Here we go, you're ready? Dun Dun, Dun Dun Dun. There it is.

Jeffrey: Wow.

James M. S.: This is beautiful.

Jeffrey: Wow, it's gorgeous. Look at this thing. This is the ... hey, you need white gloves.

Larry Hyrb: I don't have them, nevermind.

Jeffrey: You don't have them.

Larry Hyrb: I don't them.

Jeffrey: I'll leave it there. That is the sport white controller. It is a-

Larry Hyrb: Hold it up.

Jeffrey: I'm afraid, I can't touch things without-

Larry Hyrb: You need the white gloves.

Jeffrey: So it's got the design, which looks really nice, obviously looking for the camera to see if we're on it, but I really love the back specifically. I mean that is a beautiful color. It has the gray offside rubberized grips which are particularly nice, but it's just a very nice looking controller.

Jeffrey: And you were talking about like an overlap in like snicker culture and gaming culture and street culture and we see this with controls as well, like always on Instagram, we're seeing people that are showing off their collection of controllers. And I think this is one that will be particularly-

James M. S.: It's beautiful. [crosstalk 00:34:52] '70s that you have.

Jeffrey: It does look ... yeah. I have the-

James M. S.: Those are snickers.

Jeffrey: ... 70s but the 2 70s, the tier one-

Larry Hyrb: Those are snickers.

James M. S.: Those are snickers, so, if we're trying to fill people in [crosstalk 00:35:00], this is gorgeous.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah. What's interesting is I look at that color and I love that color. Um, but it's, it's one of those ones where you look at it, Is it going to be like, you know, avocado was in the '70s where it was all hip and then all of a sudden we're looking at it and now going, "Oh, no."

Jeffrey: Well this is why you have the rainbow colored, the chroma-

Larry Hyrb: Cover everything [crosstalk 00:35:20].

Jeffrey: We're hitting 4028 colors, whatever number it is, I don't know what DGA is.

Larry Hyrb: 4096, do we have more?

Jeffrey: I just want to really quickly go through ... this was a pretty busy week for releases especially on the Xbox side. So we talked about Bomber Crew, Defiance 2050, Hotel Transylvania 3, this is obviously a tie in with the Adam Sandler movie. MXGP pro a sort of a BMX or a motocross sort of game. Kids like the JRPGs, Shining Resonance Refrain, I think it's from Sega, one of the shinning series, 20XX, so, that is a reference that will be familiar to anyone who played like the old Mega Man games, always took place in the year 20XX, and this is a sort of a Mega Man inspired game.

James M. S.: What's the number-

Jeffrey: 20XX.

James M. S.: I don't see that on here, I'm looking-

Jeffrey: It's there.

Larry Hyrb: I'm looking at the ... if you pull up, you can just go to the store and it's got all the new releases right here.

Jeffrey: There were so many that you may have missed it.

Larry Hyrb: There it is.

Jeffrey: There we go. Ghost 1.0 point, Super Destronaut DX, which is like sort of like an old school Space Invaders retro shooter. We talked about Warhammer Vermintide 2 game that I'm really looking forward to on Friday. We have a couple more games coming out later this week, actually for games coming out this week, but the one that I'm most excited for is Earth Fall. Have you seen this?

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it looks awesome-

Jeffrey: It's actually made like right down the street from here.

Larry Hyrb: I did the interview with the guys on [crosstalk 00:36:48] the Zombie game or ... I'm sorry, the alien game.

Jeffrey: The alien game, but it is very much reminiscent, I would say if you were a fan of Left For Dead, four player co-op game where you're tackling more that-

Larry Hyrb: We never played that, did we?

Jeffrey: No, 'cause I was working Sony at the time.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it was me and Laura and Jeff and Steptoe and there was a famous story about the gnome so.

Jeffrey: Well anyway, uh, why don't we make our own stories, starting this week, we'll support local business because that ... again, that team is literally right down the street. I think I saw some references in the game to Pacific Northwest-

Larry Hyrb: They're actually down the street?

Jeffrey: Well, I mean it depends on which street, but-

Larry Hyrb: But they're actually down the street.

Jeffrey: They're actually down the street. And then there's a couple of, there's three more games and Insane Robots, the [inaudible 00:37:33] and Kintaro's Revenge. So that's a pretty big week. People talk about the Summer being sort of dead, but there's a lot to play.

Larry Hyrb: Can you hold that controller up one more time?

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hyrb: I want to just remind people tomorrow, I will be giving a couple of these away on my twitter account, yeah, just got a free code Friday, we're going to do free controller Friday. We got some games [crosstalk 00:37:52], but we're going to have this lovely controller right here, you're gonna get your very own version of it. So, just follow me on Major Nelson, @majornelson on Twitter, you can't miss it. So, it's all for the follower.

Jeffrey: It is.

Larry Hyrb: Well, no, it's all for the people [crosstalk 00:38:05].

Jeffrey: All right. So that's the news we have. You know what else we have here and we're kind of ... just so you know, it's a 39 minutes after the hour.

Larry Hyrb: Oh yeah, we have to do our station identification Major Nelson television network [crosstalk 00:38:19].

James M. S.: So, there's a brand new studio [crosstalk 00:38:21]-

Jeffrey: Together every 10 minutes.

Larry Hyrb: There's no clock in here. So, [crosstalk 00:38:25].

Jeffrey: But I wanna show something, can you pull those down, I wanna bring up something that's interesting. It was also announced this week for some folks that may, like, and this is an amazing-

James M. S.: Wow, he has everything.

Jeffrey: This is the new surface go. So this device was announced earlier this week.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, like 36 hours ago.

Jeffrey: 36 hours ago. A lot of folks have seen it. This is actually the first time that the entire ... everyone in the room has seen it. The first one I had, I saw was was about an hour ago, but this is a surface book two and I just want to put this in [inaudible 00:39:01].

Larry Hyrb: You have the biggest and the smallest look out, look at the size on that thing. It is. It is so small ... let me line up here so you can see it. It's so small and it's amazing. So I tweeted out a link earlier to a great video where one of the engineer's shows this thing out here. Go ahead and show it Jeff, and it's really fun.

Larry Hyrb: So if you're in the surface ecosystem, you're looking to get a little something. This is kind of the tablet that thinks it's a laptop that thinks it's a tablet and I haven't tested it, but I imagine if you have an Xbox One X in your house or an Xbox One, you want to stream to this thing and when you're in the other room, it'll work just fine.

Jeffrey: And I'd imagine there's a number of like Xbox play anywhere games that theoretically ... how they'll run, obviously your mileage may vary from computer to computer, but it has all of the features of its big brother.

Larry Hyrb: You got Lucas'-

Jeffrey: Yeah, Lucas works on that. It has the sensor for Windows Hello which I'm a big fan of. You sign in with your face. I don't even know what my password is. Occasionally I get asked for my password and I'm like-

Larry Hyrb: See my windows Hello, when I get up in the morning, the first thing I do when I sign in, it looks at me, says "Really? You're going to go to work like that?"

Jeffrey: And then yeah, it lets you know. It recognizes me with a flat bill cap.

Larry Hyrb: Oh, there you go.

Jeffrey: If I had a bent one, it would think that I was-

Larry Hyrb: It's a security issue.

Jeffrey: But it has the pen compatibility, which is cool. I can wake it, but I think it has some-

Larry Hyrb: Wakey Wakey.

Jeffrey: But it has the same form factor, the same shape. So, it has a special keyboard which is the same size, but the keyboard is the same sort of [crosstalk 00:40:26]-

Larry Hyrb: Keyboard off.

Jeffrey: Oh yeah. Well obviously yes this comes up, you don't need it. So, this is my favorite thing to do on a plane when they're like, "Oh, you cannot have a laptop on the plane." And I'm just like, "Uh-huh(affirmative). Anymore questions? And then you can just take this and you can watch Netflix [crosstalk 00:40:42], no, they let me do it.

Jeffrey: And then it's always a conversation piece, but obviously you can use it in vertical or horizontal orientation, but as the pen, everything that the-

Larry Hyrb: USBC on the side for charging.

Jeffrey: Yeah, we can look at the ports and as the kickstand. The kickstand goes down I think 165 degrees so you can bring this thing all the way down. Well, we got the better visual, all the way down there and that's really a great angle for drawing or for pen or for note taking and something that a lot of I would say tablets don't necessarily have, is cameras on the inside and on the outside. And I always think about like, if I'd had this when I was taking notes at school, is you can ... because it has this outside camera with a microphone as well, when you're in class and you want to take notes, you can go into something like one note and you could start recording video.

Jeffrey: And so if your teacher goes too fast or professor goes too fast, you can just record the entire session while you're taking notes and then go back through and like double ... I mean man-

Larry Hyrb: Anyway, Surface Go, I think it's gonna be presale pretty soon goes on sale. They got an LTE version coming out later this month.

Jeffrey: I know, later this year.

Larry Hyrb: Later this year. We're kind of getting towards the end of the show here. And I promised we were going to show some stuff that's never before been seen. So James Monto Smith is who works on the gear store. You're going to show some stuff here that no one's seen, brand new things. So, tell us what we got.

James M. S.: Okay. So first of all, what we're going to show off is, so next week, San Diego Comic-Con. Sure, you guys are aware of it, very large show. At Comic-con, next week, Xbox will have a presence there as we always do, but in lieu of our standard fare, this year we're going to have an amazing store at Comic-con with a whole slew of new merchandise. Because it's Comic-con, and because we have the store, we decided to introduce some really amazing Comic-con exclusive items-

Larry Hyrb: So, these are only things that you will be able to purchase onsite in San Diego at Comic-con?

James M. S.: Yes.

Larry Hyrb: Okay.

James M. S.: That's exactly right. So the first thing is the one I'm the most excited for. So I'm going to go with my big thing first. We work with a partnership with Bethesda to release and exclusive fall out 76 Xbox shirt. This is exclusive to San Diego Comic-con. It's got a gold foil volt 76 logo on the front-

Larry Hyrb: So, it's reflective.

James M. S.: Yeah, it's reflective, and so it will only be available at the show. We also have female cuts as well. So we have a men's version and a female version, extremely limited available at our store at Comic-con, super excited about that.

James M. S.: Second thing we have up is to follow up our very successful E3 exclusive Xbox shirt, we have the Comic-con exclusive Xbox shirt. We have a white on white design with a white sphere-

Larry Hyrb: Oh, look at that.

James M. S.: ... shirt and our black tag, it says STCC 2K18 underneath that sphere. That is a very limited shirt for those who want a little bit of memento for being at Comic-con.

Jeffrey: I think it was a men's and a women's shirt-

James M. S.: Yeah, so, a men's and women's shared available for that one as well, super excited about that. The next thing, if you want something a little bit more collectible, a little more tangible, we have the Gears of War mystery box. So this is a special box. I'm not going to tell you what's inside of it-

Jeffrey: Because then it wouldn't be a mystery.

James M. S.: Right, but it's filled with a whole slew of amazing things. All kinds of different collectibles and accessories and things that you'll only be able to get inside this box, that is exclusive to the show that it's all themed around being inside the cog. So it's kind of like your ordinance pack and so that'll be there at the booth. Extremely limited quantities as well. A couple of other things we have which are event exclusives for us, they're not true Comic-con exclusive meaning we have them at our different events where our pop up show will be at is with [sieffies 00:44:35].

James M. S.: So we have the silver variant coin which is, if you guys are familiar with sieffies, this is the currency inside of the game that you hunt for and we have the silver version that we'll be selling at the show. It was very popular at E3 and so we're bringing it back for Comic-con.

James M. S.: As well as that, we have the black heart, captain black heart shadow variant figure. This is the shadow variant figure of the one they released in the full color in [inaudible 00:45:02]. This was also at E3 in very limited quantities. We're bringing it back for Comic-con as well, only available at the show. So, super excited to have those five items SEC exclusive-

Jeffrey: So, if you're coming to San Diego Comic-con, when you come into the-

James M. S.: I'll tell them where we are.

Larry Hyrb: Yes, when you come into the main venue and unfortunately you do need a ticket for this, you just go all the way to the right and they're kind of this little kitty corner wall. We're going to be up against the wall. You can't miss it.

James M. S.: Booth 100 I believe.

Larry Hyrb: Booth 100 number.

James M. S.: It's a good number, but because you know, this is Comic-con, it's a big deal, we're also debuting some items that we'll also be releasing on gear.xbox.com as well.

Larry Hyrb: Do we have pictures of those too?

James M. S.: Oh yeah.

Larry Hyrb: Bring them up.

James M. S.: So, we do have a new fallout shirt that was not exclusive of Comic-con, but it is exclusive to gear.xbox.com.

Larry Hyrb: Will this be while supplies or?

James M. S.: While supplies last. We'll be launching it on the 19th on gear.xbox.com. Brand new fallout 76 Xbox branded shirt, excited about that. Next up we have is, our first halo shirt under the new banner of gear.xbox.com.

Larry Hyrb: Okay, show us that, here it is.

James M. S.: This one is ... I love a classic design, yeah, everybody knows the needler. This will be available same time debuting at Comic-con, available at the store, but also online as well.

Larry Hyrb: So good looking at it.

James M. S.: And for you Larry, because we talked about it earlier, a new Xbox dad hat, we're going to be releasing that.

Jeffrey: That was something that was a very quick poll, like you knew he was going to want that.

Larry Hyrb: They put that into production at the beginning of the show and here we are at the end of the show-

James M. S.: [crosstalk 00:46:36] earlier all leading up to this moment where we have a new black with white logo dad hat which will be available in the store at the same time.

Jeffrey: I expect to see you wearing that fishing. I want to just do a quick shout out to Mikey Barr who has joined us in the chat. So, hello Mike, we're busting in the new studio. We'll have you on the next show, Mike, I promise. Do you have any more?

James M. S.: No, that was it- [crosstalk 00:46:57] it's a lot.

Jeffrey: It is a lot. I know we went real quick-

James M. S.: Only had five weeks in between shows here.

Larry Hyrb: By the way you got Gamescom coming-

Jeffrey: You're gonna have more stuff for Gamescom?

James M. S.: We have more stuff and new stuff-

Jeffrey: More exclusive stuff for Gamescom? Wow. [crosstalk 00:47:11]. We may have to have you as a regular on this show [crosstalk 00:47:15] just to talk about the exclusives, yeah.

Larry Hyrb: Now. I know there's some folks that may have missed it or they're trying to go back in the VOD to figure it out. Don't worry about it. Go over to my blog later today, I will have a blog post up that has all of these items and when they're coming and what's going on.

Jeffrey: And you'll be at Comic-con too, right?

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, I'll be Comic-con for a couple of days, I'll be hanging out with you guys. So you're going have pins there, right?

James M. S.: We're gonna have pins, that's the other announcement we are bringing back the major nelson pin will be available at Comic-con and small quantity online, so that will go live as well when that does, we'll let you know.

Larry Hyrb: Second printing.

James M. S.: Second printing.

Larry Hyrb: Well, I don't even know what to say. This is a lot of fun. So I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys ... you're going to love ... you've been to Comic-con, yeah, Comic-con's a lot of fun.

James M. S.: Yeah, it's on the 15th actually.

Larry Hyrb: Is it?

James M. S.: Yeah.

Larry Hyrb: So we're gonna have some fun if you're down at Comic-con will be there next week. Booth 100 all the way to the right. I'll have a blog post up later today on majornelson.com with just all the pictures of the stuff we went through and a few of the other things, right?

James M. S.: Awesome, yeah, totally, this is exciting. It's cool. This is just the start man. We're gonna have some really cool stuff coming out too for holiday season next year. It's just gonna keep ramping up.

Larry Hyrb: Fun, all right Jeff, got anything else? Because we're gonna-

Jeffrey: No, get me that white on white shirt.

Larry Hyrb: We gotta get this sweatshirt up. What size is this?

James M. S.: That's an XL.

Larry Hyrb: It is an XL, okay.

Jeffrey: Yeah, but they shrink like your mom always, says it's going to shrink a little, get all-

James M. S.: That's the size I wear. It fits snugly on me.

Jeffrey: Imagine you're going out for like Spaghetti Marinara, you know, having to take that off in the restaurant, you gotta be real careful. I would spill coffee on that in a sec.

Larry Hyrb: We've got a little few more new things to talk about. We talked a little bit earlier about a fast start in groups, brand new system update that came out earlier this week, while she was probably late last week. So make sure you pick that up. Uh, we talked about the Pub G, the test server's now open. They're rebalancing some weapons. Uh, what else did I not cover?

Jeffrey: I think you covered everything. It's been a pretty busy middle of July.

Larry Hyrb: For the Summer doldrums, that nothing's ever dull about this business.

Jeffrey: No.

Larry Hyrb: We're always moving.

Jeffrey: We we're only not even two weeks away from No Man's Sky and just seeing all the things they've added that I cannot wait. We were talking about it right before the show, cannot wait for that to-

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, [crosstalk 00:49:24].Well, you know what I was thinking we were talking about this yesterday, Jeff, is, we are only a month after E3 and it feels like it was an age ago, right?

Jeffrey: Yeah, before we know, we'll we're talking about planning for the next one.

Larry Hyrb: Yeah, well we do, 'cause I remember when ... do you remember that meeting we were at when James, when you and your team came in and you guys were talking about your merchandise, that was ages ago.

James M. S.: That was ... four years ago.

Larry Hyrb: And you had like paper mock-ups and little pictures, like, "We're going to do this." I'm like, "They don't have a lot of time," but you did it, congratulations, so, a lot of fun there.

Larry Hyrb: So, all right, well, we're going to wrap things up here. Thanks everybody for coming by. We're going to be doing ... we've got some more giveaways happening in the chat. Of course, we'll have free code Friday tomorrow with that controller. Jeff's gonna hold it up now, Jeff's gonna hold it up now, it's right there, [crosstalk 00:50:11], thank you.

Jeffrey: It's a big set, I'm getting lost in this-

Larry Hyrb: Could you move the coffee? There you go, [crosstalk 00:50:17] coffee, there you go. So, we're gonna give that away tomorrow, a lot of stuff going on and we have a brand new ... by the way, no episode of this week on Xbox tomorrow.

Jeffrey: Why not?

Larry Hyrb: Because we did IX earlier in the week.

Jeffrey: I guess that's true.

Larry Hyrb: So, I did that and that's why we're doing this.

Jeffrey: We could do a clip show.

Larry Hyrb: You got enough of me. You really don't want to see any more of me. You have enough of me. I'm on your console, I'm in your face. I'm on your-

Jeffrey: This is where he wants you to say, "More Larry," [crosstalk 00:50:37].

Larry Hyrb: not at all, that's good enough for me. Anyway, Jeff, I want to thank you for coming on.

Jeffrey: Thank you, happy to be here.

Larry Hyrb: As always. James, really appreciate coming you by.

James M. S.: Yeah, thanks guys for having me.

Larry Hyrb: I want to thank everybody at home-

Jeffrey: I think they're all saying, "More Larry." [crosstalk 00:50:48].

Larry Hyrb: I wanna thank everybody's who's watching us to break in, our brand new studio crew did a great job. We've taken your feedback. They wanna tweak some of the camera angles guys and some of the lighting. They're working on it, so with your help, we're going to do a real time. We're going to figure it out. We'll be back ... Jeff, you and I may be back next month. Maybe we'll have James-

James M. S.: We should do it, yeah.

Larry Hyrb: ... before Gamescom.

Jeffrey: I think that's a great idea.

Larry Hyrb: Guess what? I think you may be a regular guest.

James M. S.: Awesome, I'll be here.

Larry Hyrb: So, all right, thanks. All right guys, we'll let you go. Have a great day. On behalf of Jeff and James, we will see you next time. Bye-bye everybody.

Jeffrey: Bye.

Larry Hryb: Welcome to June, everybody. My name's Larry Hyrb, XBOX Live's, Major Nelson.
Larry Hryb: Depending on when you're listening to this, it is definitely probably June, 2018, June first.
Larry Hryb: My name's Larry Hyrb, XBOX Live's, Major Nelson, I said that twice already. I'm here with the team -
Jeff Rubenstein: Do you just do that automatically?
Larry Hryb: I do. It's just, "Hello?" It's how I answer my phone too.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's a real joke here [inaudible 00:00:43]
Larry Hryb: Here with Jeff Rubenstein, hello Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hi, I'm Jeff Rubenstein, Xbox Live's ... No, I can't do it.
Larry Hryb: You're the -
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't have that moniker.
Larry Hryb: Complaint desk. And then, sitting across from me is the lovely and talented Laura Massey -
Laura Massey: Hello!
Larry Hryb: How are you? It's nice to see -
Laura Massey: Doing well.
Larry Hryb: It's nice to see.
Larry Hryb: We were originally not going to do a show.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: But we're getting ready for E3, I've been in E3 rehearsals, and meetings, and all this other stuff, and I was like, "You know what?" We kind of looked at each other and said, "Hey, let's go do a show."
Larry Hryb: It's like ... We're like the Little Rascals. "Let's go ... Hey, we got a barn! Let's go do show!"
Jeff Rubenstein: And then, you put your eye up to a tailpipe of a car, and it backfired.
Larry Hryb: Gee willikers! Anyway, here we are, we're getting ready to do the show. We've got lots to talk about. We've got some news later on, which is one of reasons we're doing the show. We're less than two weeks away. E3 briefing is out. I know we announced some details on that. Jeff, I don't know if you have them handy there or-
Jeff Rubenstein: As a matter of fact, I do.
Larry Hryb: What you need to know.
Jeff Rubenstein: Everything you need to know, we can make-
Larry Hryb: Well, not everything, 'cause we're not gonna tell you what's in the show.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right.
Larry Hryb: You gotta tune in for that.
Jeff Rubenstein: But the first thing you want to start with, and this is the thing that I've always loved about the timing of our briefing: We kind of get to kick off E3. Things have gotten earlier and earlier. I feel like EA probably starts in about 10 minutes now.
Larry Hryb: I think they started in January.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, exactly. But, we get to kick off with our briefing on Sunday, and that's June 10th.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's like a week and a half away from now. And maybe less, god. At one o' clock. And there's a number of different ways to be able to watch that. Of course, you can watch it on Mixer. You can watch it on Twitch. You can watch it on all of your favorite online-
Larry Hryb: Streaming areas.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. You know, whatever. You can watch it on anything. And of course, you want to do that. You can actually go to the Microsoft store and watch it on the big screen. They always have some really nice-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:02:30]
Larry Hryb: The big screen. All the stores, not one store.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Any store.
Jeff Rubenstein: Any store. Whatever your favorite store is. You can go there and do it. And, if you'd rather, like, lean back on your sofa ... and most people have apps and stuff, but if you to watch it-
Larry Hryb: Or sleep.
Jeff Rubenstein: Through broadcast. Why would you sleep? There'll be so many exciting things.
Larry Hryb: I'm just saying, [crosstalk 00:02:48] lie down on the couch.
Jeff Rubenstein: Sure. Have a lie down. You can watch it on Fuse, which I feel like they're Canadian, but they're in America. Yeah, it's like an entertainment and music channel.
Larry Hryb: And now gaming!
Laura Massey: There you go.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so you can stream it online with them. If you go to Fuse.tv, you can see how you can watch it there. And I'm going to link out to the story on majornelson.com that-
Larry Hryb: Has all the details.
Jeff Rubenstein: All the details. But basically, you get to watch it.
Larry Hryb: We'll be down there. What time's the kickoff, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: One pm.
Larry Hryb: That's 1 pm Pacific. Now, for those of you out there on the East Coast, that's four o' clock.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's true.
Larry Hryb: And then, over in London, I don't have Graham here to tell me.
Jeff Rubenstein: Nine pm British Summer Time.
Larry Hryb: British BST. Not PST, but BST.
Jeff Rubenstein: I always liked that, Summer Time. Anyway-
Larry Hryb: (singing) Summer, summer time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Of course, then, that's just the start. And all throughout the week, like literally from like Saturday up to Friday, Mixer's gonna be broadcasting a ton of stuff, so if you go to Mixer.com, you're gonna see ... And they're gonna be covering, not just Xbox, but like the broader E3 everything. And so, you know, if you're a gamer and you're interested in all sorts of games, Mixer's got you covered there. We'll of course ... We're located in the Microsoft theater, so there's gonna be a lot folks coming in if you're attending, because fans can come to E3 now.
Jeff Rubenstein: You'll be able to come to the Microsoft theater. It's sort of like an extension of the E3 show floor. And you'll be able to come, play our wares, which is always a fun thing to do.
Larry Hryb: This is the Microsoft theater, which is a ... I've talked about it before. It's a world-class theater in L.A.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's amazing.
Larry Hryb: The Grammy's have been there. I think the B.E.T.s are right after us.
Jeff Rubenstein: They're right after us.
Larry Hryb: This is a big deal. In fact, this is where the VGAs were last year.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, the TGAs.
Larry Hryb: Well, yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: The TGAs.
Larry Hryb: The Game Awards. The Game Awards. Or, as we call them in the industry, the [Keelies 00:04:33.
Jeff Rubenstein: The golden Keelies.
Larry Hryb: The golden Keelies.
Jeff Rubenstein: You want a golden-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:04:41]
Jeff Rubenstein: You should be a trending gamer. I want you to be trending gamer next year.
Larry Hryb: You know, he always disqualifies me because I work here at Microsoft.
Jeff Rubenstein: Still trending
Laura Massey: You are trending.
Larry Hryb: I don't know. I'm not trendy, I'm trending. Very different.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. No, trendy gamer would not be you.
Larry Hryb: No, it would not be me.
Jeff Rubenstein: Not in that shirt.
Larry Hryb: Thank you.
Laura Massey: Ouch.
Larry Hryb: I'm not wearing a shirt.
Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly.
Laura Massey: Yes you are. You're wearing a shirt. Just for the listeners out there who're trying something ... It's- You've got a what? A green and red and-
Larry Hryb: It's called plaid.
Laura Massey: Blue. Plaid.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's very Pacific Northwest. In fact, in looks like the Cascadia. It's all the colors of Cascadia.
Larry Hryb: It's from the Pendleton collection.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh. [inaudible 00:05:14]
Larry Hryb: Anyway.
Jeff Rubenstein: We'll have a gear shop, which is something we've never done before.
Larry Hryb: A gear shop? I don't even know what that is.
Jeff Rubenstein: So basically, it would be sort of like an Xbox gear shop that's sort of done by Microsoft stores, and we're gonna have all kinds of stuff that you can wear. Wearable-type things.
Larry Hryb: Like merch?
Jeff Rubenstein: Merch. Let's say it's merch. You know, you go to a concert? I went to Taylor Swift last week-
Larry Hryb: By the way, that's a funny story into itself.
Laura Massey: Did you? Did you actually go?
Larry Hryb: Did you buy the tee shirt?
Jeff Rubenstein: No. Like, we-
Larry Hryb: Now, when i remember going to show when I was in high school and I was a younger lad. Laura, I don't know if you did the same thing.
Laura Massey: I did go to shows.
Larry Hryb: But when you went to the show, you wore the tee shirt the next day at school, right?
Laura Massey: Yes, you did.
Larry Hryb: Right?
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative), that's what you do.
Larry Hryb: I know, 'cause I know when I came in the next day, there were people around the office that had their tee shirts on.
Jeff Rubenstein: Now here's the difference between getting, like, a concert tee shirt and like the type of merch ... 'Cause I've seen some of the gear that this team's putting together and it's great. That stuff I wear all the time. I'm constantly wearing ... I think at this point, my wardrobe is 75% swag.
Larry Hryb: You have one on now.
Laura Massey: What are you wearing now?
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, I'm wearing an Arsenal, which is a football jacket. And underneath, that's a Philly shirt. I'm mixing my sports, but the colors go together; they're all red.
Larry Hryb: You're so cheap.
Jeff Rubenstein: I am. I will sell out to anybody. But anyway, I've seen it. It's, like, very fashionable stuff. It's stuff that's for a long time. Whereas, if I got, like a Taylor Swift concert shirt, it would have her on the front and on the back it would have a list of cities.
Larry Hryb: It would be like a black tee shirt with a face and the dates and-
Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly. And it'd be low quality. I'd wash it once.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:06:48]
Jeff Rubenstein: It would shrink. This is good stuff.
Larry Hryb: I see. This is fashion stuff.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've seen it. I hope to be wearing it.
Larry Hryb: Fashion forward.
Jeff Rubenstein: It is. It is. Anyway, so we'll have some cool stuff there that I'm really excited about. And then the Microsoft store, specifically in L.A. at Century City, is gonna have some cool stuff going on.
Larry Hryb: We've been there.
Jeff Rubenstein: I have.
Larry Hryb: We've done a lot of stuff there.
Jeff Rubenstein: We have.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:07:12]
Larry Hryb: I wonder if it moved again.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:07:14]
Larry Hryb: Remember, that mall's always under construction and they move from one side to-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:07:18]
Jeff Rubenstein: Nicer and nicer.
Jeff Rubenstein: You just like it because it's near the Nakatomi Building.
Larry Hryb: That's right, from Diehard. You can stare at it. It's great.
Jeff Rubenstein: Every time we're coming in for a landing, you fly right over it.
Larry Hryb: I know.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think about it. I always think of you, Larry.
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway, so head on over to the Xbox E3 online experience. There's all kinds of info. I'm linking out to it in the show notes. But if you can't be there, this way you can sort of virtually be there.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. We would love for you to join us. We've got a big week. And not only that, we're doing an episode of Inside Xbox.
Jeff Rubenstein: We are doing that.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: Jeff and I, and the rest of the gang will be there. We're gonna be doing our show. I believe that's on Monday, right Jeff?
Jeff Rubenstein: It is Monday.
Larry Hryb: So we'll be doing that the day after so we have a whole day to catch up.
Jeff Rubenstein: We'll have more information, I think they're cutting a trailer for that now.
Larry Hryb: I don't know what they're going to say in the trailer. There's nothing we can say.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's just gonna show how we are actually going-
Larry Hryb: Date and time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Inside the Xbox.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: And how we're shrunk down.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, we gotta a lot going on. It's E3 season, and how!
Laura Massey: It's very busy.
Jeff Rubenstein: I have not slept in weeks.
Larry Hryb: I just tweeted out, did you see the tweet? I tweeted out the photo of what I was having for lunch. I don't know if you saw that.
Laura Massey: Really? I didn't see that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I didn't have lunch.
Larry Hryb: It was a gl-
Jeff Rubenstein: I was too busy working.
Larry Hryb: Exactly. It was a glass of water and cup of Trail Mix.
Laura Massey: That was your lunch?
Larry Hryb: That was my lunch.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's hydration. It's fiber.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Everything is just gonna work out fine.
Larry Hryb: I always try to go on a little bit of a slimming diet before we do the show, Jeff, because we do have two or three cameras on.
Jeff Rubenstein: The cameras-
Larry Hryb: They add 20 pounds.
Jeff Rubenstein: Each one. Each one of them.
Larry Hryb: Adds 20 pounds.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I'm up to 450.
Larry Hryb: 450.
Laura Massey: Oh goodness.
Jeff Rubenstein: We've lost it. It's the lack of sleep.
Larry Hryb: Should we talk about what we're playing, what's going on? I mean, we've got PUBG, the new map is out, the desert map.
Jeff Rubenstein: The desert map.
Larry Hryb: Known as the Miramar. I finished Hellblade, which I know you started playing, Jeff Witch. Have you played Hellblade yet, Laura?
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: Ohhhh.
Laura Massey: Tell me about it.
Larry Hryb: Binaural audio, that's all you need to know.
Laura Massey: Oh. That's the one you were talking about on the live show last time.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, I tweeted about this. So, I finished up God of War and ... We can talk about that in a minute.
Laura Massey: I just bought that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay, it's great.
Laura Massey: I haven't played it yet.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was on a bit of a Norse mythology kick and two things: 1. Do I watch Thor Ragnarok, or do I play this-
Laura Massey: I think you're always on a Norse kick.
Jeff Rubenstein: Am I?
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Sometimes I go through other deities kicks.
Laura Massey: I feel like you talk about it all the time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe. Maybe I'm getting pigeonholed as the Thor-
Laura Massey: And the Vikings.
Jeff Rubenstein: Loki. Vikings. I guess so.
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway, I was like, 'Hellblade is a different view point than that game.' And everyone said one thing. They said, "Put headphones on."
Larry Hryb: I told you that.
Laura Massey: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: You told me that. I tweeted. I got double-digit responses, 'Hey, put on headphones.'
Jeff Rubenstein: Which made me think the good folks at Astro had, like, put these people up to that. So I started last night.
Larry Hryb: Uh-oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: And oh my god. It is creepy. Like the way they use the binaural. More than once, I had to pause it, take my headphones off, I thought someone was calling me. I thought a thunderstorm had erupted.
Larry Hryb: 'Cause later on, there was a baby crying and I thought it was our baby in the other room. It's bizarre.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. So, their use of audio, like, needs to win a BAFTA or something if it hasn't.
Larry Hryb: I think it did.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm pretty early on, but it is creepy.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it gets better.
Laura Massey: It's pretty awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: You've beaten the game.
Larry Hryb: I have completed the game, yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's awesome. I need to.
Larry Hryb: It is one of my favorite games of the year.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really? Okay. Well, my goal is to finish it up by the time we speak again.
Larry Hryb: I think you can do that. I think you can do that.
Laura Massey: I'd love to give it a try. That sounds pretty awesome.
Larry Hryb: You know what we're doing ... So we talked about doing Inside Xbox. I hate to go back to the E3 but we're actually doing a Podcast down there as well. We're gonna do it on Wednesday, I think at one o'clock Pacific, four o'clock Eastern. We're gonna do it on Mixer, like we've normally done in the past.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, that'd be fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:10:55]
Jeff Rubenstein: We'll just get down there, we'll-
Larry Hryb: Gotta couple of special guests that I'm lining up.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's good.
Larry Hryb: I hope.
Jeff Rubenstein: And hopefully by then, we'll have had the chance to play a bunch of stuff. We can talk about the cool newness, the new hotness, whatever it would be.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, I'll give you details on that as we get closer.
Jeff Rubenstein: Nothing like a bunch of teases.
Larry Hryb: I know. It's just nothing but that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Let's put a countdown time.
Larry Hryb: Talking about what we're playing: Hellblade.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah?
Larry Hryb: You're talking about Hellblade.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well I just started. I'm just ... It's just a very different take on things. Like, coming out of God of War, where you're Kratos and you have an ax and you can just chop anything to bits.
Larry Hryb: So, let's talk about God of War. I mean, that's on PlayStation, which is a great game. It's getting very highly rated.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:11:33]
Jeff Rubenstein: I have a long history with that series and so...
Larry Hryb: That's true with Sony. You know people that worked on the game.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, of course. And God of War II was my favorite one, prior to this. Now, this one is my favorite one.
Laura Massey: Oh, really?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. As a parent, there's a lot of parenting themes, and it made me think about how I yell at my kid, you know.
Larry Hryb: And I've heard it. He does.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:12:03]
Jeff Rubenstein: When she should be in bed and we're playing Overwatch-
Larry Hryb: No, I'm talking like, "Use your [inaudible 00:12:02]." That's what he's yelling when we're playing games together. I don't even know about that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, that's true. I mean, we gotta communicate.
Larry Hryb: I agree.
Jeff Rubenstein: She lands that diva alt like nobody's business. We won that game.
Larry Hryb: I've seen her play the game.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, anyway. That was really cool. It got me thinking, having watched Thor Ragnarok recently, and then that ... And I'm like, you know, about the nine realms and the different gods and all that. So they have their take, and now I'm really interested to see how these things ... I'm already hearing a lot of the same names now in Hellblade, and then everyone's saying, "You need to pick up this Norse mythology book by Neil Gaiman," and so I'm gonna buy that. And apparently, that's like a really interesting take. And then I'll have been Norsed out-
Laura Massey: I don't think you will.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll move on to, like, Aztec gods or Egyptians or something.
Laura Massey: You'll be looking for the next big Norse thing.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I didn't realize from my deep Norse-Scandinavian roots ... You know, there's a huge Scandinavian museum in my neighborhood, so maybe that's it.
Larry Hryb: Seattle has a lot of Scandinavian residents and influence. I remember when I did some stuff with ... Who was that group? Oh, remember when I went out on the boat with The Deadliest Catch guys?
Laura Massey: Oh, that's right.
Larry Hryb: Many years ago. Did you ever hear that story?
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Laura Massey: Larry's been on some adventures, let me tell you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Was it for the game that they did a long time ago?
Larry Hryb: Yes. Yes. We shot a whole video. In fact, I've got a video.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've gotta see this video.
Larry Hryb: I just remember those guys. These are real fishermen. This is what they do.
Jeff Rubenstein: I eat the things that they catch.
Laura Massey: Is that a Major's Minute, you think?
Larry Hryb: I don't know.
Laura Massey: We'll make a note of it in the show notes.
Larry Hryb: I know I have all of them on my hard drive. Laura and I were just talking about this off the air. I have like all my Major's Minutes from, past years, and I think I have that song.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did you get all done up in like your Gorton's fisherman, I Know What You Did Last Summer, yellow outfit?
Larry Hryb: No, what we did was we had to haul out a crate out of the water of the game cases.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ahh.
Larry Hryb: And they dumped out onto the-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:14:02]
Laura Massey: That sounds like a Major's Minute.
Jeff Rubenstein: Plastic pollution in the ocean is really-
Larry Hryb: It's a thing.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's bad.
Larry Hryb: Back then it wasn't. Anyway.
Jeff Rubenstein: I wanna eat the fish that you catch. Or what do they have, king crabs? [crosstalk 00:14:14]
Larry Hryb: I don't know. Something like that.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's good stuff. You don't eat seafood. You're the worst person for that. Did they not know that?
Larry Hryb: I was okay. I had a great chat with them. Anyway. How did we get here, Laura?
Laura Massey: Deadliest Catch.
Larry Hryb: Deadliest Catch, that's right. They came out with a game many years ago.
Jeff Rubenstein: We should look for that one.
Laura Massey: Yep, I made a note. See if we could find it, put it in the show notes.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:14:36]
Larry Hryb: This show has certainly done some crazy things.
Laura Massey: It has.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is what happens when we don't do a show that often. We're off our rockers.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:14:43]
Larry Hryb: Let's talk about what we're playing. Can we get back on track, please?
Jeff Rubenstein: Laura-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:14:44]
Larry Hryb: Laura-[crosstalk 00:14:46]
Jeff Rubenstein: Laura, you go.
Larry Hryb: Laura, help.
Laura Massey: So, I haven't been playing too much. We had a holiday weekend here in the U.S. It was Memorial Day weekend and it was fantastic weather, so I spent the weekend doing the play outside game.
Larry Hryb: Also, it's a good one. I like that.
Laura Massey: I do want to share our funny story. We've been doing some gardening and we went to the trailer. And, apparently, the moment we rented the trailer, I had a Texas accent. For some reason.
Larry Hryb: Really?
Laura Massey: Yes, it just popped out. We were talking Texas accents before we started.
Larry Hryb: That's right.
Laura Massey: And for some reason-
Larry Hryb: All the sudden, "Y'all."
Laura Massey: Exactly. When you're that strap there hooked up on the trailer. It's like, "Where did that come from?" What are you talking about?
Larry Hryb: Well, it's young Laura. It's young Laura coming in.
Laura Massey: I know. So apparently, the farming influence and the trailers and-
Larry Hryb: Now, now.
Laura Massey: It just brings the Texas out of me.
Larry Hryb: Now, I can understand that because you haven't had the opportunity, but Jeff and I have traveled globally together. And I have a very bad habit when I'm some place, I tend to adopt an accent of that-
Laura Massey: You told me that story.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've seen when he's ordering soda.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:15:54]
Larry Hryb: So, it is ... And I don't even know it.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:15:58]
Laura Massey: No, it's not conscious.
Larry Hryb: Until Jeff starts kicking me under the table or laughing hysterically.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, well your Italian accent that you pull out in Germany is phenomenal.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:16:10]
Jeff Rubenstein: All the people want to know what part of [inaudible 00:16:10] you're from.
Larry Hryb: Yes, anyway. 'Cause I look Italian. When you think of Italian, you think of this guy.
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, yeah. You're turning red right now, actually. That's like the one-
Larry Hryb: That's [inaudible 00:16:17] funny.
Laura Massey: No, the accents, they just pop out. You just don't even know.
Jeff Rubenstein: No. I mean, when I'm ordering a cheese steak-
Laura Massey: Does the Philly come out?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, the Philly comes out. And instantly, it's not like a professorial accent. People don't go, "Oh you're..." You're in America when people are speaking to you in an English, like posh, like London accent or something. People are like, "Oh, this person's very smart." Like, you could sell anything ... The Philly accent is like the opposite of that. It's Rocky.
Laura Massey: It's a little rough.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it doesn't sound like a city that has an Ivy League school in it.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: You know. And that's what happens when I'm ordering a Whiz plain or a Logger.
Larry Hryb: And I do adopt the 'wicked awesome' when we go to Boston.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: You do.
Jeff Rubenstein: When you're getting your a-pizza?
Larry Hryb: When I'mma getting a-pizza.
Jeff Rubenstein: See? It's there.
Laura Massey: It's coming back. It's coming back.
Larry Hryb: All right. So we're talking about what we're playing and you're telling me-
Jeff Rubenstein: No, we're not. We're talking about anything but.
Larry Hryb: Laura's playing Trailer Simulator 20-
Laura Massey: I'm Trailer Simulator, and yes the farming simulator game that I played definitely helped with renting of the trailer and backing it up and things like that. But I did get a chance to play a few arcade games, you know, dive back into the old catalog. And I was playing Geometry Wars for a few hours over the weekend.
Larry Hryb: Still good.
Laura Massey: Yes, it's still such a good game. Beautiful, really fun. You can jump in and out.
Larry Hryb: Speaking of arcade games-
Laura Massey: 1943!
Larry Hryb: Battlefield 1943, which Laura and I and I think [inaudible 00:17:42] played a lot of that. Our crew played a lot of that back in the day. Do you remember that one?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, I do.
Larry Hryb: Because that was such a battlefield game.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:17:48]
Larry Hryb: 'Cause it was four classes ... Or three classes, I think. And you had fixed weapons, and that was it. You didn't have to worry about attachments or any of that nonsense.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:17:58]
Jeff Rubenstein: Back in my day.
Larry Hryb: But it was fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, that's like a good segue into Battlefield 5-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:18:02]
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.
Jeff Rubenstein: Like, you saw that review. We all watched that and-
Larry Hryb: Yes we did.
Jeff Rubenstein: And I'm very excited for us to jump back into that.
Laura Massey: Oh yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think it looks really interesting. And I like the customization. And I'm very exciting to play, I'm hoping I get to play D3.
Larry Hryb: I have to apologize, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: What?
Larry Hryb: You and I spoke earlier this week, and we were gonna play some games.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And I have to apologize because I've been playing and I forgot I was just offline. So every time you logged in, I'd see you log in and I figured you were gonna text me. But you don't see me online.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, because that's what I do. The first thing I do, and I think a lot of people do this, they look and see who's on.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, who's on, what's up?
Jeff Rubenstein: And if they're playing something I want to play, I'll just jump in the game-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:18:44]
Larry Hryb: Yeah, because I do that with you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, all the time. And I have not seen you on for a while-
Larry Hryb: That's why I forgot.
Jeff Rubenstein: And so I just-
Larry Hryb: 'Cause I was looking at some things that people couldn't see.
Laura Massey: Oh, secret games.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so I was offline and dun, dun, dun.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, fair enough.
Laura Massey: Unfortunately, that strategy doesn't work very well for me.
Larry Hryb: Why?
Laura Massey: Because usually when I jump online and see Larry playing, he's [inaudible 00:19:01] and he tells me no.
Larry Hryb: Oh stop. I did that once in ten years.
Laura Massey: You did it twice!
Larry Hryb: Did I do it twice?
Laura Massey: Yes, you did.
Larry Hryb: I'm such a fool.
Jeff Rubenstein: These are the things that you look back on.
Laura Massey: I know.
Larry Hryb: Mistakes were made.
Laura Massey: Regrets.
Jeff Rubenstein: (singing) Cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Larry Hryb: (singing) Cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Larry Hryb: Anyway, where are we?
Laura Massey: What else do you play? Oh, we were talking about 1943, and it just came back on BackCompat Xbox One, and I'm definitely looking forward to jumping back into that game.
Larry Hryb: Did you see the news that came out this week about what's coming to BackCompat next week?
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Jeffrey.
Laura Massey: Segue.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, no. A trio of Rockstar games are coming out. 1. GTA San Andreas.
Larry Hryb: Which you love the soundtrack of that. That soundtrack is so you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, it was very like 90s rap, and I'd have to go back and look at the soundtrack and see what particular stuff is on there. But it was amaz- I mean, that game was so expansive. Love that one.
Larry Hryb: Midnight Club L.A.?
Jeff Rubenstein: Midnight Club L.A. and then,
Larry Hryb: And then?
Laura Massey: And then?
Larry Hryb: Sit down, folks.
Jeff Rubenstein: Perhaps the best table tennis simulator ever released on the Xbox 360
Larry Hryb: Yep, table tennis.
Jeff Rubenstein: Rockstar's Table Tennis.
Larry Hryb: I played a lot of that too.
Laura Massey: Is that good?
Jeff Rubenstein: You know, I never really ... I don't know if I've ever played it.
Larry Hryb: I remember when I was in ... It was like 2008 or 9, before they announced it, I know they were telling me in a meeting that Rockstar was coming out with a new game. Really, what is it? Table Tennis. No, no. Really, what is it?
Jeff Rubenstein: 'Cause I feel like that was their first game that came out on that generation. And then, GTA 4 was afterwards. That was probably like oh-six, maybe oh-seven.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I don't know. That was a long time ago.
Jeff Rubenstein: A very long time ago. Wooh. With that being said, we should play it.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, we should.
Larry Hryb: That was my [crosstalk 00:20:44]
Jeff Rubenstein: The sound was right-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:20:43]
Larry Hryb: You know, the way you're dressed right now, you do have kind of a ping pong-esque uniform on, doesn't he?
Laura Massey: He does. [crosstalk 00:20:51] He could just roll up to a ping pong table.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:20:52]
Jeff Rubenstein: With my table tennis-chic, I look like I could just ... I'm so terrible.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:20:56]
Larry Hryb: Or you look like you're hanging out with Neetho in Grand Theft Auto 4.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, that's actually more like what I was going for, was like Brighton Beach, Russian mobster.
Larry Hryb: All right, what else are we playing? We got some other stuff we want to talk about here? It is peculiar because we're so close to the show.
Jeff Rubenstein: Let's see. Actually I finished up Final Fantasy 15.
Larry Hryb: Ah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've been playing that for, well, like 60 hours or something like that. That was a great game. I would say it's my favorite Final Fantasy, probably since 10 or something like that. I actually got really invested ... Like the characters, when you first look at it, if you look at a screenshot of the cast of characters. They look like a K-Pop band. Oh, BTS starring in Final Fantasy.
Jeff Rubenstein: But the characters really end up growing on you. And in fact, the most annoying seeming character, Prompto, was actually my favorite by the end of the game. I just really enjoyed it, and I thought it looked great. I played the Windows edition, of course it also upgraded Xbox One X. I think that it was great returned form for Final Fantasy.
Larry Hryb: Delightful.
Jeff Rubenstein: I liked it.
Larry Hryb: Just real quick, what I've been doing, checking out State of Decay 2.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: You and I played a little bit of that, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, quite a bit. We need to go back and do-
Larry Hryb: We need to do that. If you got a chance to check that out, Laura, you should. Although, I'm finding my settlement is getting a little whiny, so I gotta deal with that.
Jeff Rubenstein: One of my friends, he just expels anyone who complains, they're gone. Out!
Larry Hryb: Sea of Thieves has an update out, you can read more about that, so check that out. Jeff and I've been back in Overwatch for a while, so it's just catching up on a lot of little things here. I checked out World of Warships. I don't know why, I started playing that-
Laura Massey: Oh, really? Is that like World of Tanks, but with ships?
Larry Hryb: You got it. You got it, Laura.
Jeff Rubenstein: Actually, I got into some Twitch broadcasters that are just really ... they play a lot of World of Tanks, and I just watched a ton of it, and you just sort of lose yourself in it. I was fine watching it, but-
Larry Hryb: But no interest for you to play.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, watching is fun too.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:23:08]
Jeff Rubenstein: Gamers watch as much as they play these days.
Larry Hryb: Will you play World of Tanks?
Jeff Rubenstein: I would play with you, if you were to get on there. We need to play that, we definitely need to play Hungering Deep Sea of Thieves. Trying to get some time on your calender.
Larry Hryb: We're gonna look at doing that this weekend.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay.
Larry Hryb: One of the guys ... You guys know Sketch. He's [BrianGarrard0343 00:23:26] I've known Sketch for, boy, 15 years. We were playing ... Did I tell this story on the air?
Laura Massey: No, I don't think so.
Larry Hryb: We were playing when Sea of Thieves came out. I remember, we were playing and we get him there and we're showing him what's going on and okay, we gotta go swim ashore to an island. And he's on the ship and says, "Is that a shark?" And he wouldn't jump off the ship. He has a huge shark-phobia.
Laura Massey: Oh really?
Jeff Rubenstein: Really?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so it's ...
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll tell you what, though. I'm sorta like a little bit afraid of the ocean, like being out on the open ocean, and that's why I never do that. And that game sort of like freaks me out when you fall off the boat.
Larry Hryb: And rightfully so, but I don't ... You don't have a problem with that, do you Laura?
Laura Massey: No, I don't think so.
Larry Hryb: You and I have separately gone scuba diving, and so I spend a lot of time underwater, and so do you.
Laura Massey: I do get motion sick pretty easily, but I haven't felt motion sick by playing Sea of Thieves yet.
Jeff Rubenstein: Fine on a boat, but it's [crosstalk 00:24:25] to being in the water.
Larry Hryb: It's not.
Jeff Rubenstein: It creeps me out.
Larry Hryb: That's fair.
Jeff Rubenstein: I face up to my fears.
Laura Massey: Okay, well then that movie Adrift is not for you.
Jeff Rubenstein: No. Or Dead Calm or-
Larry Hryb: You know what I should do, Laura? I should just throw Jeff in the car one day, and we'll get on the ferry in Seattle going to the other side.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, I'm fine with that. I don't mind being on a boat. I think that's fun. But if I fell off, then no.
Larry Hryb: Did you ever see some of the ferries? Apparently Washington state has the largest ferry system in the country, and I remember there's a video ... I think it was two winters ago when one of the ferries was going over to the other side of Seattle. Not Seattle, but what's the other ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Like [inaudible 00:25:04]?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, like over in that direction. And the seas were rough, and the water's coming in ...
Laura Massey: That would be really bad.
Larry Hryb: It was terrifying. 'Cause you're in your car. On a boat. And the waves are coming at you.
Jeff Rubenstein: By the way, if you want to go into like a YouTube hole, you can watch videos of people ... at any moment, there's thousands and thousands of container ships going back and forth, and they go through some pretty rough water. There's some videos of just like giant waves and stuff like that and these guys are fine, but watching the videos is really interesting.
Larry Hryb: So you're telling me-
Laura Massey: Terrifying.
Larry Hryb: That you don't mind being out on a boat-
Jeff Rubenstein: Right.
Larry Hryb: Laura, you get sea sick, but you don't mind on the water? I'm trying to understand this.
Laura Massey: That's correct.
Jeff Rubenstein: Between the two of us, we're either the worst person on the ocean or the best.
Laura Massey: Or the best. Or the best. Let's shoot for the best.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:25:54]
Larry Hryb: Actually I found it. I'm gonna throw it in our joint notes here, and I think you guys'll get a kick out of that. The one ... the ferry. It was from the local news stations.
Laura Massey: Nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: We have all kinds of weird stuff. Didn't we have that bridge, like the worst suspension bridge ever, where it like fell down?
Laura Massey: The Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
Jeff Rubenstein: That's the one.
Laura Massey: Yes. Yeah, that was something that was probably taught in all physics classes about resident frequencies and how the wind was blowing past that bridge and [inaudible 00:26:23] I think is the other name of it.
Larry Hryb: It's in the notes if you want to scroll down there and take a look and you'll see the water coming up out of the ... Anyway, I'll put this in the show-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh my god.
Larry Hryb: Are you watching it, Jeff?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: Oh my gosh, no thank you.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, right? Anyway, I don't ... Where are we?
Laura Massey: We're off the rails. Should we talk about movies?
Larry Hryb: Oh. Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: Look, if we're off the rails, let's stay off the rails.
Laura Massey: Yeah, let's stay off the rails.
Larry Hryb: All right, we've got 60 seconds, so if you haven't seen Solo, then skip ahead 60 seconds or so, 'cause-
Jeff Rubenstein: I haven't seen it, so I'll see you guys in a minute.
Larry Hryb: Oh! Then we can't talk about it.
Laura Massey: You haven't seen it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Or you could talk about it. Just don't spoil it. All right, I'm fine.
Larry Hryb: No. No spoilers, 'cause you're gonna-
Laura Massey: Yes, spoilers.
Jeff Rubenstein: Are you telling me Hans getting with Princess Leia?
Larry Hryb: I'm not gonna say anything.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well obviously you know how it ends.
Larry Hryb: Laura, I'll let you talk about it.
Laura Massey: Oh, okay. So I got a chance to see Solo over the weekend. No spoilers, but I'll just say that I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it.
Larry Hryb: It was a little bit more fun than you thought?
Laura Massey: I enjoyed it.
Larry Hryb: I put a Twitter poll up ... I don't know if you saw that earlier in the week?
Laura Massey: No, I missed the poll.
Larry Hryb: Where I was asking, "Of the Star Wars movies in the last 4 years," by the way the fact we've had Star Wars movies for the last four years-
Laura Massey: Pretty awesome.
Larry Hryb: You know, what was the ranking, and most people liked The Force Awakens, followed by Rogue One, followed by Solo, and then The Last Jedi was kind of at the bottom. And this is again, unscientific polling, but I kinda felt like that's about accurate, for me.
Laura Massey: Oh, I probably switch Solo and Rogue One.
Larry Hryb: That's right. You didn't like Rogue One.
Laura Massey: Not too much. I enjoyed it. I had a good time watching it. But I think I enjoyed Solo more. Yeah, it's pretty fun.
Larry Hryb: Jeff, you need to go see this.
Laura Massey: You need to see it. It's definitely worth it.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right.
Larry Hryb: You know what I really want to see? That I was invited to his press screening, but I couldn't go, was The Mister Rogers Story. There's a movie-
Laura Massey: Oh, is that coming out?
Larry Hryb: If it's not out, it's coming out very soon. I know it's in the Seattle Film Festival.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is it like sordid tales that we don't know about?
Larry Hryb: No. Why must you make it so dark?
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:28:21]
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm just saying, a lot of these biopics ... is just like, "Well, we didn't secretly know that whatever, you know."
Larry Hryb: It turns out he's actually a better person than you thought.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh.
Larry Hryb: So, that's ... Plot twist.
Jeff Rubenstein: I always thought it was interesting that he changed his shoes when he would come into the house.
Laura Massey: [inaudible 00:28:40]
Jeff Rubenstein: I never had ... I was like, "I only had one pair of shoes at a time growing up," and a lot of times they were pretty worn out and I was like, "This guy's got two shoes."
Larry Hryb: And a sweater.
Laura Massey: And an inside sweater.
Jeff Rubenstein: And an inside sweater.
Laura Massey: I've watched many of those shows.
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know why that stuck with me.
Larry Hryb: I met him once.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really?
Laura Massey: You did?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, we was doing something in Massachusetts and my wife had to do and I tagged along.
Jeff Rubenstein: Was there a Mister Rogers video game that you were-
Larry Hryb: No, no. He was doing ... I think it was [Eric Arthur 00:29:04]. Eric, what was his name? Anyway, he illustrates children's books and my wife had to go over and talk to them, and it was very strange.
Laura Massey: How was meeting him?
Larry Hryb: Oh, it was exactly what you'd think it was. It was fantastic. So, anyway, I want to see that movie. What else haven't you seen, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: I haven't seen Deadpool 2.
Larry Hryb: Nor have I .
Laura Massey: I haven't seen that one yet.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've heard great things.
Larry Hryb: We don't really have much more to say about games because we're gonna have a lot to say in about a week and a half-
Jeff Rubenstein: There's still some news and other things-
Larry Hryb: All right, why don't you peck through the news and then we'll get over to-
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay, real quickly at the news desk here. Games with gold were just announced, and in fact, they're already live.
Larry Hryb: It's June.
Jeff Rubenstein: It is June. So for this month-
Larry Hryb: P.S. June. P.S. 2018 is half over.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, half over at the end of the month.
Larry Hryb: Eh, it's half over now.
Jeff Rubenstein: Fair enough. We'll just write [crosstalk 00:30:04]
Larry Hryb: It's my show. I'm saying it's half over now.
Laura Massey: The glass is half empty.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay, well this is why it's your show.
Jeff Rubenstein: Assassin's Creed Chronicles Russia, which is now available, and in 15 days give or take, Smite, sort of the deluxe edition, will be ready as well. Which is, I want to get the exact right wording of it. The gold bundle. That will be available. The retail value on that is like $99. So if you haven't gotten into Smite, that would be the perfect time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Backward Compatible: Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, now available. And later on in the month will be Indiana Jones 2. In fact, by that goes live, on June 16, E3 will be over. Can you believe it?
Larry Hryb: That's crazy.
Jeff Rubenstein: We build and we build and we build, and it just washes over us like a wave over a ferry.
Larry Hryb: Nice segue.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. If you haven't picked up an Xbox One X yet, there's never been a better time.
Larry Hryb: That's what they tell me.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's what they said. Because if you get one between now and June 2, you will get a copy of State of Decay 2 for free. Let's say you missed the 2nd. Oh my god, it's okay. You'll get a copy of Red Dead Redemption with your Xbox One X purchase through June 9th. And of course, that is, why would you want a Backward Compatible 360 title with your Xbox One X? Because it uprezzes into 4K and looks phenomenal.
Larry Hryb: And it's Red Dead Redemption.
Jeff Rubenstein: And it's Red Dead ... Well, obviously, yes. But you get to enjoy it in a way that you've never seen it before.
Jeff Rubenstein: A few quick releases that I want to touch on real quickly.
Larry Hryb: Please, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Number one: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. Can you believe it's been 30 years of Ryu and Ken?
Laura Massey: Wow. No way. 30 years.
Jeff Rubenstein: 30 years.
Jeff Rubenstein: Now, I don't know anyone who's played Street Fighter 1, but if you wanted to play it and see what it looked like, it is part of this Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. There's a dozen games on there that encompass everything from Street Fighter 1 through the Street Fighter Alpha Series. So basically taking you up to the 360 generation, when Street Fighter 4 came out. And all the many incarnations of Street Fighter 2.
Jeff Rubenstein: Sega Genesis Classics Collection. Doesn't have Collection, but I'm putting it there. Fifty titles. I think we talked about this on the last live video podcast, but there's darn near every good game for Genesis was on this, so this is sort of the ultimate final word on Genesis games. It's $29, there's 50 games on there. It has the [inaudible 00:32:25] games, it has the Fantasy Star games, it has the Shining [inaudible 00:32:27] games. There's like a billion hours of gameplay on there.
Jeff Rubenstein: Another game actually that might sate my Norse-
Laura Massey: Hmm, there's the next Norse thing?
Larry Hryb: We're going back to that?
Jeff Rubenstein: It's called Die for Valhalla. I don't know a ton about it, other than you're Valkyrie, and you can play with friends locally. And people are always asking, "What's a good couch co-op game?" Well, this is sort of a beat 'em up game there. And it's only like, if you're a gold member, nine-fifty-nine right now.
Jeff Rubenstein: And a couple of other games real quick. Moonlighter and Knights of Pen and Paper, another couple of RPG Indie games. And Bird Cakes, which has a funny name. Someone said it must be from Game of Thrones, which if you think about it ...
Larry Hryb: Heard about it.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's only four-ninety-nine as an Xbox plate [inaudible 00:33:12].
Jeff Rubenstein: And the last thing, Madden NFL 19, we're already talking about football again. We're still over 100 days from the first kickoff. But you can now pre-order it, and they haven't announce who's gonna be on the cover, but they did announce the cover of the Hall of Fame edition, which is Terrell Owens. Which you want a lightning rod.
Laura Massey: Seriously?
Jeff Rubenstein: And he's wearing a Cowboys uniform. Do you think of Terrell Owens as a Cowboy?
Laura Massey: Kind of, actually.
Jeff Rubenstein: I mean, he was there for three years. He was with the Niners for like 8 years. He was with the Eagles for 2 years. And a couple of other teams. When I think back, I don't think of him as a Cowboy. I think of him as a Niner. And then, briefly on the Eagles. What did he do? He stood on the star and angered all the Cowboys fans.
Laura Massey: He did. He did anger all the Cowboys fans. But I think his most famous moment was the [inaudible 00:33:57] camera motion behind the goal posts? That's what I remember.
Jeff Rubenstein: I feel like he was definitely a love or hate. Or, in the case of the Eagles fans, a love and hate character, so. Anyway, he's on the cover-
Laura Massey: Love and hate at the same time
Jeff Rubenstein: But, we'll all have to stay tune to see who's on the cover-
Larry Hryb: All right. We're gonna take a break and go to commercials. After this, ESPN will be right back with the MLB rundown.
Jeff Rubenstein: You know we're gonna end up playing. We'll have to play again. We always play a couple times a year. Eagles versus Patriots. You throw to [inaudible 00:34:28] over the middle and-
Larry Hryb: Again and again. And again and again. Hail Mary! Hey, you know what I forgot to mention, I finished the Gorogoa.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, you finished it?
Larry Hryb: Remember you and I talked about it last week?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it's a great game.
Larry Hryb: And it was just phenomenal. Laura, you would love this game.
Laura Massey: Tell me about it.
Larry Hryb: It is an award-winning game. It came out last year, on I think, IOS and Windows and Switch. It's a puzzle game. Your ears are perked up already, but it's a puzzle game where you move pieces of paper around and like they create portals and it's hard to describe. Watch some of the videos because the art style is phenomenal.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: As good as Hellblade is for audio and the art is good in Hellblade as well, this game for its art is amazing.
Laura Massey: That's awesome. What was the name again?
Larry Hryb: Gorogoa.
Laura Massey: Gorogoa?
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: G-o-r-o-g-o-a. There's nothing like it. It's definitely a unique ... I don't think I've ever played anything quite like it.
Larry Hryb: No. It just kept going and I loved it. And I wanted to ...
Jeff Rubenstein: No words. No voice acting.
Larry Hryb: No. Just phenomenal art.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Larry Hryb: So, Laura, I need you to play that game-
Laura Massey: I'm looking it up now.
Larry Hryb: And report back.
Laura Massey: 'An ingenious, perfectly-grafted puzzler.'
Larry Hryb: Yep. I would ... I can't-
Jeff Rubenstein: That was a [crosstalk 00:35:44]
Laura Massey: Yeah. Looking at the video now. It looks awesome.
Larry Hryb: So, it's ... If you get a chance to play this on Xbox One, I highly, highly recommend it. I mean ... Anyway.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did the gamers score [inaudible 00:36:00]?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I missed three or four moments 'cause there's only certain things you can do in the story. See, so that's your place-base, Laura. Your head will explode, but you'll love it.
Laura Massey: It looks awesome.
Laura Massey: 'A truly beautiful experience.'
Larry Hryb: Out of period and of conversation. So, anyway. All right. Want to 'Name the Game' so we can wrap it up, 'cause we gotta get ready for E3.
Laura Massey: Yeah, let's do 'Name the Game.'
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:36:20]
Larry Hryb: All right, here's the 'Name the Game.' It was a video. Do you remember this?
Laura Massey: It was a video. Yes, I do. I remember it, of course. But, do the listeners?
Larry Hryb: I don't know. Let's play the audio now and find out.
Larry Hryb: (mechanical acceleration)
Laura Massey: So that was 'Name the Game' from last time. And, again, those who tuned in and watched us on Mixer-
Larry Hryb: On Mixer. Or watched Video-on-Demand later.
Laura Massey: Yeah. Video-on-Demand, got an extra little hint so they could see some of these clips, as well as hear them. But that game was Assetto Corsa.
Larry Hryb: Which was a racing game. Everyone thought it was like a [inaudible 00:37:26] or something ... Nope.
Laura Massey: Nope.
Larry Hryb: Assetto Corsa.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's a different Italian word.
Larry Hryb: It's a different Italian word, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: You need to see the hand gestures to really know how much he sold that.
Laura Massey: So I'm sure listeners would love to know who has won.
Larry Hryb: I would love to know-
Laura Massey: Would you like to know who's won?
Larry Hryb: Yes I would, please.
Laura Massey: The winner this time is Andy from Northern Ireland.
Larry Hryb: Oh, hi Andy.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh.
Laura Massey: Yes, his gamer tag is [inaudible 00:37:46].
Larry Hryb: Cool gamertag.
Laura Massey: Nice job, Andy. Congratulations on winning.
Larry Hryb: Congratulations.
Laura Massey: We have a ton of great prizes for you.
Larry Hryb: All right.
Laura Massey: So I'll just list them off really quickly, since there's quite a few.
Larry Hryb: All right.
Laura Massey: You get a copy of Bird Cakes, which we talked about earlier.
Larry Hryb: Bird Cakes, possibly from the Game of Thrones.
Laura Massey: ID Xbox game. You also get a copy of the game we just talked about: Gorogoa.
Larry Hryb: Which I said when we were playing the clip back, I love this game so much I just want to lick the screen. It's so beautiful.
Laura Massey: Gross.
Jeff Rubenstein: We can all picture that.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: All right. And you also get a copy of Descenders, which is in game preview.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: A copy of Divinity, the Original Sin 2, definitive edition, also in game preview.
Larry Hryb: Oh, Jeff loves that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Laura Massey: And that's not all. You get a copy of Dark Souls, Remastered. Good luck with that.
Larry Hryb: No, no, no, no. What, do we hate him?
Jeff Rubenstein: He might be really into it.
Laura Massey: You know, there are a lot of people who are.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: And for good reason.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Yep. And you get a copy of Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection edition.
Larry Hryb: Yes!
Laura Massey: And not only that, but State of Decay 2 Ultimate edition.
Larry Hryb: That's a lot of games.
Laura Massey: That's a lot of games.
Larry Hryb: That's like six or eight games right there.
Laura Massey: That is a ton of games.
Larry Hryb: All for 'Name the Game.' So congratulations to Andy from Northern Ireland.
Laura Massey: Congratulations.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well done.
Larry Hryb: All right. Here we are.
Laura Massey: Yep, here we are.
Larry Hryb: All right, listeners, I have some sad news to share with you. We are not gonna do a 'Name the Game' this week, Laura, because you have some news to share.
Laura Massey: I do.
Larry Hryb: Why don't you go ahead and share that with the listeners.
Laura Massey: Yeah, it's really hard to say. It was a really hard decision. But I've decided to leave the show.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: And I'm also leaving Microsoft as well.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It's that time in my career. I'm taking the next step and moving on. And it's a really, really hard decision. And it makes me feel really sad saying that 'cause some of my fondest memories are with you guys on the show and with listeners.
Larry Hryb: Absolutely.
Laura Massey: We've had a fantastic, like, nine years now?
Larry Hryb: It's been over a decade.
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:39:46]
Larry Hryb: I mean, you started ... You and I met when you were an intern in 2006?
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: Was it 2006 or 7? So you and I met ... I remember .. You and I talked about this.
Laura Massey: I was on the show then. I was an intern.
Larry Hryb: Yep. So then you ... So it's one of those things where ... Yeah, I wasn't very happy when we discussed this-
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: But I'm very happy for you because I know you want some new challenges and you're gonna go out and ... You haven't decided ... You're gonna take some time off, right?
Laura Massey: I am gonna take some time off.
Larry Hryb: Good for you.
Laura Massey: That's my next step, to relax and recharge and recover.
Larry Hryb: I recommend Maui.
Laura Massey: Me too. That's a great place. And I'll be sharing more about my next adventure pretty soon.
Larry Hryb: I can't wait, but you are, as I say ... I tell [inaudible 00:40:24] this, as somebody who was on the show, and I'm gonna tell you, you are welcome to come back any time.
Laura Massey: That's very kind.
Larry Hryb: Hopefully you can join us at the very least ... Maybe we can walk the show floor at [inaudible 00:40:33]. But I'm sad to see you leave.
Laura Massey: Yeah, I'm sad to go. I'll definitely miss all the listeners and all the fantastic emails that I got. It was really one of my favorite parts, just reading about the reactions of listeners and how I can inspire them and especially the young ones, too. The coders and programmers.
Larry Hryb: Can I have one request on behalf of the listeners, the listeners who've been listening to you for a long time and will probably know where I'm going with this? In the time you're not working, could you Nerd Trivia back?
Laura Massey: Yeah, I do like the support the listeners gave for Nerd Trivia. It was just heartwarming and overwhelming. Like, really, really positive. Thank you very much for all the support out there.
Larry Hryb: So you're not ... This is, this is ...
Laura Massey: I considered it. It might take a lot more time to bring it back-
Larry Hryb: You got nothing. What do you mean? You got nothing but time now.
Jeff Rubenstein: You can code in Maui. I've checked into it.
Larry Hryb: I've heard that. I've heard that.
Laura Massey: You have heard that? I need to look into it.
Larry Hryb: You know, in between your taking it easy and taking time off into the backyard ... Yeah, it's good for you. Well, on behalf of listeners, I want to thank you for being part of the show. I know, I've always said ... Jeff, I've told you this, and Laura I've told you this, and listeners ... We can't decide ... I don't decide who's on the show. The show has to choose you, and the show chose you, and the show's going to miss you.
Laura Massey: That's very kind.
Larry Hryb: So hopefully we will ... Not only am I sad that you're leaving the show, but we don't get to work together all the time, and so I am terrible at saying goodbyes, so I don't want to say goodbye.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, it doesn't have to be goodbye.
Larry Hryb: No, it doesn't.
Laura Massey: I'll definitely still be on Twitter.
Larry Hryb: Will you?
Laura Massey: Yeah. Listeners can DM me or at me at lauralollipop.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: And, of course, you guys, I'll see you hopefully-
Larry Hryb: And if you don't remember where to follow Laura, just go over to me at MajorNelson and she's one of the eight people I follow.
Laura Massey: Will you still follow me?
Jeff Rubenstein: I was just wondering [crosstalk 00:42:25]
Larry Hryb: I don't know. Listeners ... You know what, I'm gonna ask the listeners, what should I do? What should I do?
Laura Massey: Well, Jeff does get the promotion for the number two slot on your [crosstalk 00:42:37]
Jeff Rubenstein: My bad b.o. has chased off yet another participant.
Larry Hryb: My lord, Jeff. I'm happy for you, as you know. It is bittersweet and it is very difficult to have this conversation 'cause I never wanted to have this conversation. When you told me, I was not very happy, but I'm happy for you.
Laura Massey: Well, this is one of the hardest parts. But I'm excited about my future.
Larry Hryb: Now you have plenty of time to finish Gorogoa and get Nerd Trivia back online.
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness, yes. Send me game recommendations, what should I do? I definitely have the time to catch up on the things I just didn't have time to do.
Larry Hryb: So yeah, this is your official last show because you're wrapping things up here.
Laura Massey: That's why we're doing 'Name the Game.'
Larry Hryb: Will 'Name the Game' continue? I hope so. So maybe ... We're gonna give it a little break to let you out of respect because you have been the steward of that for so many years.
Jeff Rubenstein: We have to retire your jersey.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. We're gonna haul it up to the ceiling or something like that.
Laura Massey: Frame it?
Larry Hryb: And play the 'Yellow Rose of Texas.' Isn't that the Texas state song?
Jeff Rubenstein: Why are you looking at me? This is what's gonna happen, is I'm gonna be expected to know things. It's a lot of pressure.
Larry Hryb: You've got Wikipedia in front of you. Anyway. I want to thank you for everything, and I don't want to get too emotional because I'm going to get very upset, so ... You're the best. And you've added a lot of fun to this show.
Laura Massey: I've had a lot of fun.
Larry Hryb: The bad news is ... And dear listeners, again I apologize, is with this one stroke, the IQ of the show goes down about 300 points.
Jeff Rubenstein: The average ... The bottom fell out.
Larry Hryb: So definitely this show now goes to the back of the class, where Jeff and I-
Jeff Rubenstein: There's just gonna be a bunch of us grunting.
Laura Massey: I'm sure you guys can hold it together.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, we've just ... No. Just like the shows that you're not on, they go to weird places.
Larry Hryb: And I'm sure that will happen again. Will you come be a guest on sometime?
Laura Massey: I'll come any time you want me to.
Larry Hryb: Maybe after you do something different or whatever you decide what you're gonna do in your professional life. Maybe you can come tell us, or I'm sure, at the very least, I'll congratulate you on Twitter. So make sure you follow me or follow Laura. Will you make it publicly known when you-
Laura Massey: I will.
Larry Hryb: Good to know.
Laura Massey: I'll definitely let everybody know on Twitter when it's time to share.
Larry Hryb: Well you've done so much for the Xbox fans, with all the work you've done on Xbox back in the day. You just shipped another product this... What was it?
Laura Massey: For Hollowlands.
Larry Hryb: The Hollowlands.
Laura Massey: Yeah. An application for enterprises on Hollowlands.
Larry Hryb: And you can also use, if you don't have Hollowlands, right?
Laura Massey: If you have a mixed reality device on your PC.
Larry Hryb: Right, so those of you that have Oculus and ... No, it's mixed reality, right?
Laura Massey: Just mixed reality.
Larry Hryb: So it's all the stuff that we were talking about last year. So anyway, you can download that. But hit Laura up on Twitter.
Laura Massey: Yeah. Say hello on Twitter.
Larry Hryb: And I'm going to follow her. I'm not going to unfollow.
Laura Massey: Thank you, at least for the short term.
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 00:45:17]
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:45:21]
Laura Massey: Out of respect.
Larry Hryb: Well, it's a sad show, but Jeff and I will be back after E3.
Jeff Rubenstein: And at E3.
Larry Hryb: And at E3. So we're gonna be back ... We're looking forward to that. We're gonna have this moment of silence for Laura. And we want to thank you for ... You know, I'm going to let you choose. What music would you like to have play you out at the end of the show?
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.
Larry Hryb: Do you have any specific? If not-
Laura Massey: I'll have to think really hard about that.
Jeff Rubenstein: AC/DC.
Larry Hryb: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know. Thinking, like-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:45:51]
Larry Hryb: What's your favorite Dance Central song, if you have one?
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness. Poison.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, that's a good one.
Larry Hryb: Well, which one?
Laura Massey: [inaudible 00:46:02]
Larry Hryb: Oh really? BBD? Really?
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:46:04]
Laura Massey: That was the jam and that was-
Larry Hryb: I think that was a cold open, so I don't know if I ... Anyway.
Laura Massey: It does have a cold open.
Jeff Rubenstein: But you can still ride up the bridge. We're hearing it now. We're hearing it now.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:46:17]
Laura Massey: You can start in the middle.
Larry Hryb: I'll use it for a few seconds, so we don't get ... flagged or in trouble.
Laura Massey: That one has a good history.
Larry Hryb: All right.
Laura Massey: That was the jam that we all practiced when we only had four songs to play. That was the hardest one, back when we were doing Beta testing for Kinect and Dance Central.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: And that's how I know you, from E3 2009. I was sitting there in the stands-
Laura Massey: Oh, that's right, when I was on the stage.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:46:37]
Larry Hryb: All right, all right. We're not gonna do Memory Lane here. This is ... I'm getting angry. I'm getting sad.
Jeff Rubenstein: So many emotions.
Larry Hryb: Thank you.
Laura Massey: You're very welcome, Larry. Thanks for having me. It's been fun.
Larry Hryb: You are welcome back. Good luck to you.
Laura Massey: Thank you very much.
Larry Hryb: Good luck to you. In that note, we're gonna wrap things up here. Jeff and I will be back in a couple of weeks to look forward to E3, which starts June 10th. Laura, you gonna watch E3.
Laura Massey: Yes, I will.
Larry Hryb: All right. We'll be thinking-
Laura Massey: I'll watch you guys on stage and be thinking of you.
Larry Hryb: We'll be somewhere. I don't know what-
Jeff Rubenstein: They don't let me on stage.
Larry Hryb: All right, because ... Do you know why?
Jeff Rubenstein: Why?
Larry Hryb: Because we're poison.
Jeff Rubenstein: And that's how we get out of the show.

Larry Hryb: Welcome to the show. My name's Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. According to the document on my screen, this is show number 619, and we're all back in the studio. I've got Jeffrey over there.

Jeffrey: Hi.

Larry Hryb: Hi, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey: I had the craziest dream. We used to get together ...

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: ... every week and talk about games.

Larry Hryb: And do a little audio showgram.

Jeffrey: Yeah, it's deja vu.

Larry Hryb: Sitting across from you is Laura.

Laura: Hello.

Larry Hryb: Hello, Laura Lollipop. Nice to see you.

Laura: Good to see you.

Larry Hryb: It's a pleasure. We're all back in the studio. You were just commenting before we started rolling tape that we haven't been in here in a while.

Laura: It's been a long time.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. In fact, it's been so long that I put this on Twitter. We actually have new microphones. I ordered a whole set of new microphones.

Laura: You did?

Jeffrey: They evolved while we were gone. They've molted their skin.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, these are ... Laura, you pegged them. They're RE-30s

Laura: Yes.

Larry Hryb: ... which are the Electro Voice. I used to use the little brother of these in radio, RE-20, so hopefully our voice sounds better.

Jeffrey: The show is already 30% better.

Larry Hryb: Can you feel it?

Jeffrey: I think everyone out there can feel it.

Larry Hryb: Can you feel it? We're great to be back. It's been a crazy ... boy, when's the last time we did the last show?

Laura: I can't even remember.

Larry Hryb: It was actually a video show that we did back in March.

Jeffrey: Oh my God.

Larry Hryb: So we were gone all in April because I was on holiday.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I was on annual leave.

Laura: I was on holiday.

Larry Hryb: Jeff was ...

Jeffrey: I was going around the world ...

Larry Hryb: You were too busy.

Jeffrey: ... showing off. Well, I was working on State of Decay 2, showing it off.

Larry Hryb: That was important, but that wasn't the real reason what you were doing. You were busy with This Week on Xbox.

Jeffrey: Oh, well.

Laura: Yes.

Jeffrey: Every time Larry leaves ...

Laura: I saw.

Jeffrey: I did it. And then the first week, everyone's like, "Oh, Larry's on break," and then the second week everyone's like, "What did you do with Larry? You think you're replacing him, you've got another thing coming."

Larry Hryb: Now I will say this is an internet. I apologize in advance for this, Jeffrey. If Jeff is not available, and I'm not asking the internet to take a hit out on him. Then Laura, we're gonna put you in the show.

Laura: Ooh.

Larry Hryb: And you're gonna do Inside Xbox. All right?

Laura: I'm on the bench.

Jeffrey: This is like in Far Cry. It's like, "You've been marked."

Larry Hryb: Yeah, exactly.

Jeffrey: They're coming for me.

Larry Hryb: So, anyway, great to see everybody. We'll talk about what we did during April. We did PAX.

Laura: That's right. I missed that.

Larry Hryb: Wow, we did PAX. Wow, we're all the way back at PAX.

Jeffrey: I don't even barely remember that anymore.

Larry Hryb: We were snowed and Jeffrey and I had terrible bagels.

Laura: You had terrible bagels?

Jeffrey: Oh, the worst.

Laura: What?

Jeffrey: From a place called, wait for it, Better Bagels. Better than what?

Laura: Better than not much.

Jeffrey: Better than Dante's Inferno.

Laura: Oh, no.

Larry Hryb: Do we wanna do news first? Do we wanna go into some of the stuff we've been up to? How do we wanna do this?

Jeffrey: Let's cut chop. Everyone wants to know where you were.

Larry Hryb: Okay. First of all, we did PAX. We talked about PAX, which was great. Laura, you were missed.

Laura: I don't care.

Jeffrey: You got to play PUBG with deadmau5.

Larry Hryb: And Brendan Greene.

Jeffrey: And Brendan Greene.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: It's deadmau, so I know that. I just like to say that.

Larry Hryb: So we did that.

Jeffrey: It's what I do. It's what-

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:03:22] We did that. We had a great time there. We talked about the bagels. So, Laura, we waited 20 minutes at this Better Bagel place.

Laura: 20 minutes for not great bagels.

Larry Hryb: Which is fine. No, which is fine. We're like, "Okay, get a bagel." And then we get the bagel, it's not even toasted.

Jeffrey: They got literally everything wrong.

Laura: Oh, no.

Jeffrey: I had to break it down in a series of Instagram stories.

Larry Hryb: Jeff has a violent dislike for onions.

Jeffrey: That's accurate.

Laura: Really?

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: And he had onions on his.

Jeffrey: The devil's herb.

Laura: Oh really? They're so good.

Larry Hryb: So anyway, I agree with you, Laura.

Jeffrey: I was in your town.

Laura: Have you had them caramelized? Caramelized onions?

Jeffrey: I do not like them in a box. I do not like them with a fox.

Larry Hryb: Do not like them anywhere he goes.

Jeffrey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: So anyway, so we did that. And then I came back. We did Inside Xbox ...

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: ... in early March, April.

Laura: Yes, I watched that.

Larry Hryb: Which was our great show. Jeffrey and I hosted. We have another one coming up in a few weeks.

Jeffrey: Yeah, I can't wait.

Larry Hryb: We'll have details on that next week.

Laura: That's pretty cool.

Larry Hryb: We can't talk about that. And then I said, "You know what. I'm going away."

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: Should I tell everybody where I went?

Jeffrey: Sailing.

Laura: Well, you tweeted it, didn't you?

Larry Hryb: Did I? Kind of. I was kind of a little ... wasn't real clear. I went to Maui.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I was in Hawaii with my wife and daughter. I took paternity leave for a few weeks in Maui. We got a lot of paternity leave to take and I only took a little bit of it so went over there and lived on Maui for a week or two weeks, three weeks, and had some fun.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: Right? You wanna talk about what you did or you don't wanna talk about that?

Laura: Yeah, I can say that I also saw you in Maui.

Jeffrey: What?

Laura: Yeah.

Jeffrey: Hey, guys. Let me check my spam filter. I didn't get the invitation.

Larry Hryb: Laura and I ...

Laura: It just happened, the schedule.

Larry Hryb: ... just happened to be over there at the same time. We're like, "Wait, what?"

Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Happened to schedule around the same time.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: So we met up.

Jeffrey: Meanwhile, I've never even been there.

Laura: I got to meet the little one.

Jeffrey: Oh, really?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, got to meet my daughter.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: So, it was a lot of fun.

Jeffrey: And The Rock, I'm like waiting for a picture of you with the entire cast of Moana.

Larry Hryb: Well, it was funny. Laura and I were on the island at the same time and we saw each other only for that 20 minutes or so.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I mean, it was 'cause you were doing your thing and I was doing my thing. But let's be clear. We had quite the conversation going back and forth about various things.

Jeffrey: Like, "Have you gotten the shrimp outta this truck?"

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeffrey: Or, "Have you had the kalua pork over here?"

Laura: Have you had the pie at this place? Yeah.

Larry Hryb: As, where is the sun? I'm going scuba diving. Do you wanna go. You know, all of that kind of stuff. I did scuba dive. It was great.

Jeffrey: Really?

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: How far down did you go?

Larry Hryb: I think I dropped down to about 85.

Jeffrey: Oh my. There's no way.

Laura: What?

Jeffrey: Just like thinking about that makes me sweat.

Larry Hryb: The scuba diving is phenomenal in Maui 'cause it's Maui.

Jeffrey: Right.

Larry Hryb: We went to Molokini. What's funny is I told Laura ... should I tell the, I'll tell the story.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: I told Laura this story. We went down to Molokini, which is a crater off of part of Maui and you could go down and dive and it's beautiful. And you come up and then you get the boat and you go to the next location, which is probably about half hour or 40 minutes away and your body's kind of getting ready. And so we pull up, we drop anchor and there's a bunch of paddlers, canoers out there. You know, probably like probably 200 feet off the boat. And the lead comes over, this woman, she paddles over says, "Hey, guys. I know you're going diving, but just a heads up, we were just over there," and she points over to this reef. She says, "We just saw a shark over there, a tiger shark."

Jeffrey: A tiger shark.

Larry Hryb: "But it shouldn't bother you because it was busy eating another shark." Why? Why would you do this?

Jeffrey: The ocean is for them. Not for us.

Larry Hryb: So I get in there.

Jeffrey: You still went in?

Laura: Yeah, so they still went in. My response was, "Yeah, let's jump in."

Jeffrey: See, at that point I would've had a wet suit from the inside.

Larry Hryb: Now I jump in and it was, I was like, "Okay." 'Cause I've been in the water with sharks before.

Jeffrey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: That was the first time where I had a panic attack.

Jeffrey: Yeah, exactly.

Larry Hryb: But I get in the water and we go down and it was all turtles and sea rays and quickly you forgot about the fact that you could be dinner.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: But it was nice to be in Maui. It was great to see Laura, of course.

Laura: Yes, it was great to see you and your daughter.

Larry Hryb: And it was a lot of fun and my wife ...

Jeffrey: Yeah, but, what did you play while you were there? Games? Did you bring anything.

Larry Hryb: No. I did not play.

Jeffrey: A lifeline.

Larry Hryb: Nothing.

Jeffrey: Did you bring a switch?

Larry Hryb: Nothing.

Jeffrey: A phone?

Larry Hryb: Although what was interesting is where we were staying is the lifeguards were Xbox fans.

Jeffrey: Ah, that's [inaudible 00:07:23].

Larry Hryb: So every day we went out to the pool with my daughter and we talked video games and Far Cry, 'cause I had started that. I hadn't finished it, but it was just a lovely time out there. Anytime, I highly recommend it. Right, Laura?

Laura: Yeah, it's great.

Larry Hryb: It's Laura and Larry.

Laura: I recommend it as well.

Larry Hryb: Laura approves it. Larry approves it. Jeff, you've been to Maui.

Jeffrey: No.

Laura: What?

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:07:39] been the first ... uh, what do you mean, what?

Laura: Have you been to Hawaii?

Jeffrey: That's not a thing like everybody does.

Larry Hryb: He's been to Oahu.

Laura: Okay.

Jeffrey: I did, and I went to Kauai once, but, yeah, I've only been out there twice.

Larry Hryb: Well, it's funny 'cause Laura and I were just texting this morning because Hawaii, the Big Island just erupted.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: What was it?

Laura: Kilauea.

Larry Hryb: Kilauea. So I've not been to the-

Jeffrey: I think they're killing Kilauea, apparently.

Larry Hryb: I'd love to-

Laura: I've been there a few times and every time I'm there it's not erupting.

Larry Hryb: Well, it's-

Laura: Now it's erupting.

Larry Hryb: It's awake.

Laura: It's awake.

Larry Hryb: I would love to go diving there 'cause I wanna go diving where the lava comes into the ocean.

Laura: That would be amazing.

Larry Hryb: Shh.

Laura: Oh my gosh, that would be amazing.

Larry Hryb: Why are you looking at me with such horror?

Jeffrey: I don't know. Maybe it's just like, it's not for me. That just freaks me out.

Laura: Have you tried it?

Jeffrey: I've been snorkeling and that was like a bit much. I almost drowned once.

Larry Hryb: Let's be clear. You don't prefer the water sports. You prefer the mountain sports, the snow.

Jeffrey: Yeah, that's true.

Larry Hryb: Which is fine.

Jeffrey: I do. I enjoy snowboards.

Larry Hryb: We all have our different things.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Anyway.

Jeffrey: If you froze the ocean and then piled it up into a pile and I could go down it reasonably quickly, I'm in.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, I don't wanna talk too much about that 'cause you guys wanna hear about games.

Laura: Yes.

Larry Hryb: But if you wanna hear anymore, if you have any questions about that, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @majornelson and I will-

Jeffrey: All your recommendations.

Larry Hryb: I will say this.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: If you can, and Laura knows this, if you can, go to Haleakala.

Jeffrey: Can you spell that?

Larry Hryb: It is the tallest mountain in Maui.

Jeffrey: Ah, I did see the pictures for that.

Laura: Yes.

Larry Hryb: It's like 10,000 feet, and it's a National Park.

Laura: It is.

Jeffrey: You know what? I'm gonna link out to that.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Could you please?

Jeffrey: Yes.

Laura: There's this-

Jeffrey: As soon as I can figure out how to spell it.

Laura: Isn't there a plant that only grows on that mountain?

Larry Hryb: Oh, there may be, I don't know.

Laura: I think it's called the silversword or something like that. I can't remember exactly what it's called.

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's right. That's right.

Jeffrey: You have to bring it-

Laura: And all the lands are protected. You can only walk in certain areas.

Larry Hryb: And there's a whole series, there's some astronomy gear up there.

Laura: Yes.

Larry Hryb: What's interesting is I was reading about this. I don't know when was the last time you were up there, Laura, 'cause I don't think you went up this trip, did you?

Laura: Mm-mm (negative), no.

Larry Hryb: There's actually one of the buildings up there, its main job is to track all the stuff in space, all the space junk.

Laura: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: So, I was like, "That's kind of cool."

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: I mean, I'm sure it gets boring after a while.

Jeffrey: I was gonna say, that's gotta be the most exciting job in Hawaii. It's like everyone else is like surf instructor. "Oh, I look at shards of debris 13 miles up in space."

Larry Hryb: Or maybe there's people that are looking for sharks.

Jeffrey: Yeah? I could do that part.

Larry Hryb: Okay, yes you could. Stay out.

Jeffrey: And then it would be like, "It's not worth it."

Larry Hryb: Although I will tell you this funny story, I'm sorry, and then we'll move on.

Laura: Okay.

Larry Hryb: South of where we where, you know where we were.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: There's this area that you drive. Did you drive down to that area, down south of kind of near Little Beach?

Laura: I don't think so. No.

Larry Hryb: We get out there in the car and it looks like the moon.

Laura: You mean the lava fields that's down there?

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura: I've been there once. Yeah.

Larry Hryb: And then we go out there and my wife and I look at the lava field, it's like, "What is going on here?" And there's the sign that I sent you and I think I tweeted this was that sharks, you know.

Laura: Oh, that ...

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: You tweeted that once.

Larry Hryb: And then we turn around and there's these gentlemen in military gear with automatic weapons.

Laura: What?

Larry Hryb: I was like, "This is like some Jurassic Park crazy stuff going on down there."

Laura: Had the sharks made it onto land?

Larry Hryb: Apparently they were animal control for some animals.

Laura: Oh, I see.

Larry Hryb: I don't know what they ... I think they were shooting goats 'cause they eat chickens, or chickens 'cause they eat goats, or something.

Jeffrey: That's a little anti-climatic. I'll take your land sharks please.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Anyway, all right, let's get back. If you have any questions about that, let me know.

Jeffrey: I'll link out to Haleakala.

Larry Hryb: Haleakala.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). You're getting there.

Larry Hryb: I need you to go to Maui, Jeffrey.

Laura: Yes.

Jeffrey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: Okay?

Jeffrey: All right.

Laura: You will really like it.

Larry Hryb: Is there skiing in the mountain? Is there skiing in the mountain? I don't know if there is, or snowboarding.

Laura: I don't know.

Larry Hryb: There may be somewhere in Hawaii. I mean, there's a mountain.

Laura: There may be.

Larry Hryb: And it's cold enough.

Laura: And it's high enough.

Jeffrey: It looks really cold. It does not look like what you expect. It looks like the moon or Mars.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: It does. When you get up to the top you're like ... and I read somewhere that on one of the islands in Hawaii 'cause some of them do have mountains, unlike this. There actually is an outpost where people are living as if they're on Mars.

Laura: Yep.

Larry Hryb: Do you know where that is?

Laura: No, I don't know which island that is.

Larry Hryb: But you've heard of that, right?

Laura: But I have, yes, and it is one of the mountains on the Hawaiian Islands where they're pretending to be on Mars.

Larry Hryb: Right. We need to go find that.

Laura: We do.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I wanna know where that is. So, anyway, here we are. So, yeah, we've had a busy April, came back, just back a few days ago. Laura, I don't know when you got back, but I got back, here we are. We're getting ready for E3.

Jeffrey: Oh, yes we are.

Larry Hryb: We've got a lot going on. Jeff, do you wanna go through some of the headlines 'cause we've got E3 coming up. We have an Inside Xbox show coming up in a few weeks. Next week, next Friday ...

Jeffrey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: ... which is, what is the date?

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: What is the date?

Laura: The 11th.

Larry Hryb: The date is the 11th. We are gonna bring this show, this very show back to Mixer.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: So you can see us.

Laura: A live show.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Now I'm gonna share this with you in the room and the audience. I like to have guests. We've had Graham on. We've had Phil Spencer on.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I have reached out to Mike Ybarra. He has not responded yet.

Laura: Mmm.

Jeffrey: Mmm.

Larry Hryb: So if you're listening to this and you want Mike to come on the show, let him know that I mentioned it. I'll reach out to him again. So I'm putting a little community pressure on him.

Laura: I see.

Jeffrey: It's called using the bully pulpit.

Larry Hryb: Is it?

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Is it? Okay.

Jeffrey: If you were the President.

Larry Hryb: If I was.

Jeffrey: It's the same principle.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeffrey: It's a thing.

Larry Hryb: Okay. I don't know where to take it from there, but I'm gonna hand it over to you and you're gonna-

Jeffrey: Clear segway.

Larry Hryb: ... read some of the headlines.

Jeffrey: Oh my God.

Larry Hryb: And we'll talk about what we're planning in a minute too.

Jeffrey: All right. So, I took a trip this week.

Larry Hryb: Where'd you go?

Jeffrey: Back in time, time, time, time to the old west where I saw-

Larry Hryb: Red Dead Redemption 2.

Jeffrey: ... the Red Dead Redemption 2 official trailer #3. This is something you wanna watch if you haven't seen it. It does appear there is a person in there that you will be very familiar from the original Red Dead Redemption.

Laura: Ooh.

Jeffrey: If you're staying spoiler free, then I won't go any further than that. But, it definitely is-

Larry Hryb: Seth?

Jeffrey: Seth. It's definitely something else in there. I gotta go back and play it through. I mean, that was-

Larry Hryb: Now that it's enhanced.

Jeffrey: Yes, I know. And it looks beautiful. We talked about this.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: And I really need to go back through 'cause clearly this takes place before the events of Red Dead Redemption 1, and so there's a lot of familiar names, you're hearing things like, Dutch and Dutch's gang, so it looks like there's a lot of that. So, obviously, it looks incredible. It looks beautiful. There's a story I've been reading on IGN where it appears they got to play or at least got to see an extended segment. There's no video of it, but even their descriptions are ... that's what they do. It's the written word.

Larry Hryb: Well, I think I said this on one of my other ones, a friend of mine, a longtime friend of mine who, Jeff you've met.

Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Laura, you haven't. He's actually, he did the audio for the game and he is in the game.

Laura: Oh, really?

Larry Hryb: Yeah. I can't really say too much, and I've seen a lot of that.

Laura: Is his audio in the game or is this-

Larry Hryb: Oh, yeah.

Laura: ... it his, his persona is in the game?

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura: All of the things?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura: Okay.

Larry Hryb: So we'll talk more about that when we get closer to the Red Dead Redemption 2 launch.

Laura: Cool.

Larry Hryb: I can't tell you much more, but I'm just as excited. You have every reason to be excited. I'll just say that.

Jeffrey: And we all know that team delivers. So, before we get to E3, and before we get to Red Dead Redemption-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: ... which is coming out in October.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: I think it's the 26th. What about this weekend? What are you doing this weekend?

Larry Hryb: What are you doing this weekend because-

Jeffrey: Do you have money?

Larry Hryb: Do you?

Jeffrey: Are you out of money? That's okay because there's never been-

Larry Hryb: You waiting for payday, Jeffrey?

Jeffrey: Oh, you better believe it.

Larry Hryb: Living paycheck to paycheck again, are you?

Jeffrey: Well, you know, not for the last time. This is a great weekend to not spend any money. This is your value conscience. This is your deal corner. Crazy Larry might've had something to do with this.

Larry Hryb: Maybe.

Jeffrey: Three games, three count 'em, three games ...

Larry Hryb: Un, deux, trois.

Jeffrey: ... that are free for just this weekend if you are a member of Xbox Live Gold, and of course you are if you're listening to the show. One of them is XCOM 2, one of my absolute favorite games of the last few years.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: If you've been wanting to try it out, if you've heard about it, you should try it out. Make sure you name all of the characters on your team after your friends. And you wanna keep them alive.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: And then when they don't, you call them and you say, "You died because you got shot by a brut. It happens." Another game also free this weekend, For Honor.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: So, if that's a game that you've been thinking about, you've looked at, you've heard at because they've kept that game going, Ubisoft has really continued to support it. This is the time to jump in and try it. And one more game. They're all three very different Just Cause 3. So, this is a game that has been enhanced for Xbox One.

Larry Hryb: I love that game.

Jeffrey: There's a lot of craziness. Yeah, this is exactly the type of game that you ... you love open world games.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: This is just chaos.

Jeffrey: And you love games-

Larry Hryb: Raw chaos.

Laura: He loves the oceans.

Jeffrey: You can surf on a car that's going through the air and jump off to a helicopter and grapple to something else and then blow a bunch of stuff up.

Larry Hryb: Another day at the office.

Jeffrey: That's this game. That's this game and you can try it out for free over this weekend if you're on Xbox Live Gold.

Larry Hryb: Now I've got a post on majornelson.com that has all this, right? Have you seen it?

Jeffrey: Yeah, there's one that sums up all three.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Jeffrey: Has all the links.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Jeffrey: I'll link to that.

Larry Hryb: It's just one stop because I know that people ... they used to ... I don't know whether they're called lazy links, they used to call them back in the day. I don't know if they do that anymore.

Jeffrey: No.

Larry Hryb: Can we bring it back?

Jeffrey: The links started complaining.

Larry Hryb: Right, of course.

Jeffrey: They're not lazy. They're just-

Larry Hryb: Oh, so that's politically incorrect?

Jeffrey: It's possible that there's a good medical reason why they don't have ...

Larry Hryb: Okay, I understand.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: They have a note from home.

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:16:21] be that way.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeffrey: Another thing that you should jump onto very quickly if you're listening to this before May 8th and you're interested in Dark Souls, of course, you are.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: There is a Dark Souls Remastered, so you know that's coming out pretty soon and network test. And the way that's gonna work, the game itself is coming out May 25th, but there's going to be a network test that's happening next on the 11th and on the 12th. But you can't just say, "Oh, it's happening today. Let me download it." Nope.

Larry Hryb: No.

Jeffrey: They want only the ... in true Dark Souls fashion, it is gonna be a little bit complicated. You want to download it now between now and May 8th at 11:59 Pacific Time. So you've got a few days. You can download the Dark Souls Remastered Network Test Client on the Microsoft Store. You can probably just pop that into your search engine of choice or onto your Xbox One. You download it. Then, when ... What are you watching? Are you that bored, Larry?

Larry Hryb: No, I opened a page up here.

Jeffrey: Geez.

Larry Hryb: A video-

Jeffrey: He's just starting to watch YouTube.

Larry Hryb: You know, which is great. I can just click on-

Jeffrey: Not a big Dark Souls fan, Larry is.

Larry Hryb: I can just click on this here to mute that tab.

Jeffrey: That's a new feature on the April update, which I had yesterday.

Laura: Nice.

Jeffrey: Way to bring that in. So anyway, the network test itself is gonna run on May 11th and 12th from like 6:00 to midnight each day Pacific Time, so anyway, if it's something you're looking into, you wanna know how good does Dark Souls look now. It's been like close to 10 years I think since it first debuted on Xbox 360. Well, you're gonna get to find out, and you don't have to pay a penny. One last free thing because I told you it really is the deal corner.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: What about your Xbox Live games with Gold? Well, we're into May. It's gonna be May.

Larry Hryb: What about them, Jeffrey?

Laura: It's gonna be May.

Jeffrey: It's gonna be May. It is May, though, so I'm too late. We should've done a show last week. The games with Gold so live now, Super Mega Baseball 2.

Larry Hryb: Rah.

Jeffrey: Look at that. Whitey Ford? Hall of Famer Whitey Ford.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:18:13] Going, going, gone, it's outta here.

Jeffrey: What team do you like? There's no team. Oh, are you a Sox fan?

Larry Hryb: Well, no, no. What happened was when I was growing up in Connecticut, 'cause Connecticut's halfway between New York and Boston.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: My dad was a Yankees fan and my grandfather was a Red Sox fan.

Laura: Oh.

Jeffrey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: So when I was a little boy they're like, "Well, which one do you like," and I said, "The Mets."

Jeffrey: Did you really?

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: That's a good answer, I think.

Laura: Oh, man.

Jeffrey: So, you're a Mets fan?

Larry Hryb: I actually have been a Mets fan.

Jeffrey: Have you ever been to Citi Field?

Larry Hryb: I have not been to City, but I have spent a lot of time out at Shea under the flight path.

Jeffrey: Oh, in Flushing, New York.

Larry Hryb: In Flushing, New York.

Jeffrey: People, Flushing. Yeah, Citi Field looks nice. I've never been there. We always, whenever we go to New York and you fly into JFK, you drive right by it.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, right, right, right, right, yeah.

Jeffrey: But I've never been there. Anyway. So, needless to say-

Larry Hryb: Random.

Jeffrey: Super Mega Baseball 2.

Larry Hryb: Have you been to Citi Field, Laura.

Laura: No. I have not.

Larry Hryb: Okay. Who are you a fan of in baseball? Are you a baseball ...?

Laura: Growing up it was the Texas Rangers.

Larry Hryb: Of course it was. Of course it was. I figured [inaudible 00:19:12]

Laura: That was the closest.

Jeffrey: Mmm. Big Rafael Palmeiro fan?

Laura: No.

Jeffrey: Trying to think of who was on the Rangers when you were a kid.

Laura: Rodriguez.

Jeffrey: Oh, A-Rod.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Jeffrey: Hey, you know, a troubled soul, A-Rod.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: And then the free Xbox 360 title, which of course is playable on Xbox One through the magic of backward compatibility.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: Streets of Rage, and this version has multiple Streets of Rage games. They actually conjugated that properly. It's not Streets of Rages, Street of Rages. It's Streets of Rage. Streets of Rage 2 was my favorite game growing up, or one of my favorite. I love a good beat-'em-up. That one was really fun.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: And actually I think you do go into a baseball stadium at one point.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura: Interesting.

Jeffrey: Yeah, it's very today. I recommend checking it out. It costs you nothing if you're a Gold member. So, get on it.

Larry Hryb: The baseball game has Home Run Derby. Did you play that as a kid?

Jeffrey: Uh, like, when you, how, how, wait, what?

Larry Hryb: All you're doing is trying to get home runs.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Just swinging and swinging and swinging.

Laura: It's ...

Larry Hryb: You played it, right, Laura?

Laura: Oh, yeah.

Jeffrey: Kind of like A-Rod.

Larry Hryb: Laura played Home Run Derby.

Laura: Of course I did.

Jeffrey: Is that like a video game?

Laura: That's a really-

Larry Hryb: No, it's a mode. Like if you-

Laura: It's a mode where you're just trying to shoot for the fences.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, doomp.

Jeffrey: Oh. Okay. I thought it was like ...

Laura: You just try and hit 'em.

Jeffrey: ... some sort of like board game you were talking about Strat-O-Matic baseball type.

Larry Hryb: No.

Laura: Oh, no.

Larry Hryb: I had friends of mine that played that ...

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: ... in high school, and they would laugh at me 'cause I was playing D&D. I'm like, "It's the same thing."

Jeffrey: It's D&D for baseball.

Larry Hryb: It's D&D for baseball.

Jeffrey: Yeah. I had that when I was like 12, but I couldn't get anyone to play with me.

Laura: Nice.

Larry Hryb: Did you play Strat-O-Matic?

Laura: No, I didn't.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause I'd think you'd love that because it's all filled with stats and numbers.

Laura: I probably would.

Larry Hryb: And you should try that.

Jeffrey: It's like a baseball RPG.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's exactly-

Laura: I love RPGs.

Larry Hryb: ... that's exactly, that's exactly what it is.

Jeffrey: I should've said it's a baseball Diablo and then you would get it right now.

Laura: Oh, I'm in.

Jeffrey: But that's not [crosstalk 00:20:48] exactly right.

Larry Hryb: That's not what it is at all.

Laura: [crosstalk 00:20:49] I'd buy it.

Jeffrey: One last game that I wanted to talk about was Paladins, and this is a game that's made from the good people at Hi-Rez, and this looks really cool. It is coming out of the game preview program. Or it's leaving open beta on May 8th. So, about the time we're listening to that. It's a game that is like become like a really cool competitive league and looks really ... As someone who plays a ton of Overwatch, including this morning during a conference call, my boss probably not listening. Then, this looks like a game I would wanna get into. Similar aesthetic and obviously very popular. So, you can check that out. Paladins May 8th 1.0.

Jeffrey: And, oh, God, yet another free game.

Laura: Really? There's more?

Jeffrey: Man, this is really ... your new currency is time.

Laura: Interesting.

Jeffrey: It's not money anymore. It's time.

Larry Hryb: It's always been that. That is the most, the most valuable thing in the world is time.

Jeffrey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause you can never get it back.

Laura: That's true.

Jeffrey: That's true. Fortnite Season 4. I'm sure if you play Fortnite you know that.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: And so, hopefully the time that which I'm getting killed by John Wicks is soon replaced by getting killed by whatever the other new popular Skin is from Season 4. Usually get killed by a John Wick looking character.

Laura: I see.

Jeffrey: Yes. Anyway, that's pretty popular right now. And then just one other game, DOC looks pretty interesting. Super Lucky's Tale, of course Xbox Play Anywhere title.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: They were released last fall from Platformer. There is a new like kind of '80s themed DOC. The Guardian Trials is now available.

Larry Hryb: You know I love my '80s.

Jeffrey: Yes. And, of course, Super Lucky's Tale is part of Xbox Game Pass if you play it, you enjoy it, and you decide you want the Guardian Trials, it's just $4.99. And after that, really just a lot of other ID@Xbox titles. I could just rattle through those if you'd like.

Larry Hryb: Why not?

Jeffrey: Why not.

Larry Hryb: Quickly.

Jeffrey: You thought about it. Okay.

Larry Hryb: You have 60 seconds. Go.

Jeffrey: [inaudible 00:22:49] Rescue. Oh, man, I really scrolled wrong. Drive on Moscow.

Larry Hryb: 45 seconds.

Jeffrey: You've been to Moscow. City of Brass. Aqua Moto Racing Utopia. Dungeon Rushers Crawler RPG.

Larry Hryb: Just go over to my blog and check it out.

Jeffrey: All of those. InkSplosion. Outbreak: The Nightmare. Those are the games.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:23:08] You know what I love? I love when we travel, you travel, I travel, Laura travels.

Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Usually when Laura travels, she'll go like home and she'll bring back barbecue.

Laura: Dump dives.

Larry Hryb: Right? When you go down to Austin, Texas.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: What?

Larry Hryb: You didn't bring us barbecue.

Jeffrey: I didn't bring back barbecue 'cause-

Larry Hryb: He was in Austin.

Laura: You were in Austin?

Larry Hryb: Last week.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Laura: And you didn't bring back-

Jeffrey: I was literally there for less than 24 hours.

Laura: It's in the airport.

Jeffrey: I brought barbecue back ...

Laura: It's in the airport.

Jeffrey: ... in my tummy. It was so good. We went to Rudy's.

Larry Hryb: Was there any room considering you spent so much time at Torchy's?

Jeffrey: Here's what I did. There's three things you have to have, actually four, when you go to Austin.

Laura: There are many things. Okay.

Jeffrey: This is mine. I need to get Tex-Mex from some place good.

Laura: Where'd you go?

Jeffrey: Went to a place called La Condesa.

Laura: Okay.

Jeffrey: It was all okay.

Laura: I've been there. But I can give you some good restaurant recommendations.

Jeffrey: Yes, please.

Larry Hryb: Yes, she can.

Jeffrey: Then, you have to get breakfast tacos at Torchy's.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura: Yes, you do.

Jeffrey: You need to get barbecue.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: And on the flight home I need to just anger the entire plane.

Larry Hryb: Oh, here he goes. Here he goes. Here he goes.

Jeffrey: Because there is nothing better ...

Larry Hryb: Schlotzky's.

Jeffrey: ... at 38,000 feet ...

Larry Hryb: Schlotzky's.

Jeffrey: ... than a Schlotzky's turkey original.

Laura: No.

Jeffrey: So, I flew in at night. I met some friends for dinner at La Condesa, then the next morning I was there with Richard Foge, who's the design director from Undead Labs.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: And we were there. We were down at Rooster Teeth showing off, and I can link to that video actually, which went up at 90 minutes.

Larry Hryb: Please do.

Jeffrey: You wanna see 90 minutes of game play with Ashley and Bernie playing co-op. It's a really fun-

Larry Hryb: How are those guys. I haven't seen them in a while.

Jeffrey: They're great. They're just some of my favorite people.

Larry Hryb: I haven't had ... when was the last time I had Bernie on the show like three years ago, remember?

Laura: Ages, ages.

Jeffrey: Did you? That was before I was working here.

Larry Hryb: No, was it?

Laura: Yes.

Jeffrey: Yep.

Laura: It was ages ago.

Larry Hryb: Really?

Jeffrey: Yep.

Larry Hryb: Oh, Bernie. We gotta get you.

Laura: It's been too long.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, we gotta get you on again.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Jeffrey: So, obviously I love going down and seeing those folks. A lotta great people down there are huge fans of State of Decay.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: So it was a great interview. And again, I'll link out to that. But, then we went out for ... every time I go down to visit those guys they're like, "Let's go for barbecue." And so we went to Rudy's and then I got to the airport and I had just eaten but I got Schlotzky's anyway.

Laura: Well-

Larry Hryb: See, I could live down there because-

Jeffrey: I could die down there.

Larry Hryb: ... it's the exact opposite for Seattle. When people go into Seattle they're like, "Oh, we wanna go out for sushi and Asian food."

Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: And I don't do that. I do not prefer that type of culinary.

Jeffrey: That's fine.

Laura: Well, you would eat very well in Texas.

Larry Hryb: In Texas ...

Laura: You would.

Jeffrey: I think it's the best food city.

Laura: It is.

Jeffrey: Obviously New York has everything and L.A. does as well, but I would say outside of those two Austin is just the best.

Laura: Yes it is.

Jeffrey: I would ...

Laura: I can definitely give you some better recommendations of places to go.

Jeffrey: Did you ever see that episode Futurama where Bender becomes like a human?

Laura: No.

Jeffrey: And for like a day and in that day he completely wrecks his body because he's just smoking, and drinking, and eating everything. That would be me in Austin. If I lived there I would not do so well.

Laura: Well, I could give you a pro-tip for next time you go to the Austin Airport.

Jeffrey: Yeah. Yes.

Laura: The Salt Lick Barbecue ...

Jeffrey: Oh, I know.

Laura: ... sells frozen briskets there.

Jeffrey: I have brought one back in the past.

Laura: Good.

Jeffrey: I brought one back for E. and he smoked it and it looked amazing.

Laura: But then you should've brought us one.

Jeffrey: I know.

Laura: There's no excuse.

Larry Hryb: Nothing.

Jeffrey: I know. You were gone. I haven't seen you in a long time.

Larry Hryb: Laura, nothing. I know, all right, all right, whatever, whatever, yeah.

Laura: Yeah. Yeah.

Jeffrey: All right. I'll just have to go back.

Larry Hryb: We are kind of chugging through the show. Laura, have you had a chance ... I know you were out. Did you get a chance to play anything?

Laura: I played a few things.

Larry Hryb: Tell me.

Laura: But I do wanna talk about some news ...

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura: ... that I'm excited about, which is Dragon Age II ...

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: Yes.

Laura: ... is now backwards compatible ...

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura: ... which is super exciting. A very, very good game. So if you missed it, I didn't get a chance to finish it.

Larry Hryb: I never finished it either.

Laura: Now you can play it ...

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: ... backwards compatible on Xbox One.

Larry Hryb: Yes. So good.

Jeffrey: And that was something people have been asking for, for quite a while.

Laura: Yes.

Jeffrey: 'Cause I believe the first Dragon Age was already there.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Dragon Age II.

Jeffrey: And people have been asking it, and you know what? It's there.

Larry Hryb: It's there.

Jeffrey: Play it.

Laura: Hooray.

Jeffrey: Enjoy.

Laura: Okay, so what I've been playing, I have played three games. I haven't had too much time to play as I've been traveling, but the three I'll talk about is one, continuing to play Sea of Thieves.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: Mmm.

Laura: Someone gave me a great tip on Twitter about how to find the map when you're sailing the small version of the ship. No, you don't go climbing up the [inaudible 00:27:10]. That's really ...

Larry Hryb: No, you turn around and look down.

Laura: Yes. I know. You do have a lot to look for there. When you're at the wheel ...

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: ... you know, steering the ship ...

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: ... if you need to know where you're going, you can just turn it 180 degrees around, walk a few steps backwards, and look down.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura: And you'll see the map table.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura: But what you have to do is you have to orient the map so that you can see it from that angle.

Larry Hryb: Right, of course.

Laura: So you have to get the map ready and then you can see the map when you're steering the ship. So that helps out best.

Larry Hryb: My niece, when my niece and I were playing last month, she showed me that. And I was like, "Oh, wow. That's actually a great tip."

Laura: It is.

Larry Hryb: And the Rare guys, I mean, the Rare guys obviously know.

Laura: Of course.

Larry Hryb: But they didn't mention it to me when I was over there.

Laura: No, I'm sure they designed it that way.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I'm sure they did.

Laura: But yeah, collecting more treasure chests, unlocking more missions, doing the different types of quests.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura: It's pretty fun.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: We should get together.

Laura: We should. We have not played ...

Jeffrey: I wanna coast off of you because you're way further in, you know, in terms of your ratings than I am. And you have access, I'm sure, to some good [crosstalk 00:28:07]

Laura: Some good quests?

Larry Hryb: What level are you? What level are you, do you know?

Laura: I don't remember.

Larry Hryb: I'm like 15, 11, 12.

Laura: Have you unlocked like all of them, the different types of missions?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura: Okay.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

Laura: So we should play together.

Jeffrey: If you wanna play this weekend, I'm bringing my laptop. I'm gonna be out of town, but I'm bringing my laptop with me.

Laura: We can play together.

Jeffrey: And we can jump on. I have it downloaded. It runs beautifully on my Surface Book 2.

Larry Hryb: Yes, it does.

Laura: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: Yes it does. In fact I'm playing it right now in front of his ... no, I'm not.

Jeffrey: I would believe it.

Laura: I would believe it too.

Larry Hryb: No I'm not. Anyway, that's a good tip. Thank you, Laura.

Laura: Yep. And the other game I've been playing is Fortnite's Battle Royale Season 3 and now Season 4 is out.

Jeffrey: Yep.

Laura: So, can jump back into that.

Larry Hryb: You got sucked into the Fortnite phenomenon?

Laura: I've been playing it a little bit.

Larry Hryb: A little bit?

Laura: I'm still doing my skillsets. Slowly catching up with the rest of the world.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, well it's-

Laura: I got number six.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Jeffrey: That's good.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Laura: Which is not too bad.

Larry Hryb: Well done. Well done.

Laura: That's not too bad. That's my highest in the past couple weeks.

Larry Hryb: I played the new ... speaking of PUBG has the Miramar map. It's on the game preview.

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:29:01] Yes they do.

Laura: Yes.

Jeffrey: It's in the test server.

Larry Hryb: Test server. That's what it is.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: So I got number two on that.

Laura: Awesome. Nice job.

Larry Hryb: Wait a minute. Stop that, Larry. I don't wanna be Mr. One Up. That's not what I meant by this. I just wanted to say that Miramar is out or it's in test server.

Jeffrey: What you meant to say is you finished in sixth and I'm the one who killed you.

Larry Hryb: No.

Jeffrey: Laura.

Laura: That would be hilarious if all of a sudden Major Nelson comes around the corner and shoots me.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: No.

Jeffrey: And then he-

Laura: I would-

Jeffrey: Oh, and then he's-

Laura: There would be some text messages.

Larry Hryb: Yes there would be.

Jeffrey: He has a animation glitch.

Larry Hryb: No.

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:29:28] There was a controversy in that. Like someone did that in an Overwatch league match.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeffrey: It's just part of the game.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeffrey: And he got booed.

Larry Hryb: Did he?

Jeffrey: That's when you have a live studio audience.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: My favorite player, [Carpe 00:29:38], and I was like, "Guuhh." Go [inaudible 00:29:41] people.

Larry Hryb: Oops, oops.

Laura: Whoops.

Larry Hryb: Ouch. ouch.

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: What else you got?

Laura: And the other game I jumped back into was Halo Wars 2.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: Oh, yeah.

Laura: Yeah, if you remember that game.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Looking great.

Laura: It still is. Yeah. I needed to scratch the RTS itch.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.

Laura: And that one does it really well.

Larry Hryb: Good.

Laura: It's really, really fun.

Larry Hryb: Good.

Jeffrey: I should down that to my laptop as well.

Laura: Yep, so I've been playing more of the campaign there. I haven't finished the campaign yet, but really getting into it.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Laura: So if you need your real time strategy fix ...

Larry Hryb: Then that's the way to do it.

Laura: I highly recommend Halo Wars 2.

Larry Hryb: That is the exact way to do it.

Jeffrey: And, of course, because it's Xbox Play Anywhere, if you're one of these people that says, "I can only play an RTS on a computer."

Larry Hryb: Done.

Jeffrey: And I kind of agree with you. We all have our preferences. Although actually the controls are really good on Xbox.

Laura: Yep.

Jeffrey: You can do that. You just take your pick. Whatever you like. We're here for you.

Larry Hryb: What else you play?

Jeffrey: Larry's just rolling his eyes.

Larry Hryb: No, not at all. I love it. I love the program. I love the fact I've got Sea of Thieves on here.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I was working through Voodoo Vince on here ...

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: ... on my Surface Book 2, so I love it.

Laura: That's all I've been playing.

Larry Hryb: Thank you for that. For me, I finished up Far Cry 5.

Jeffrey: So did I.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, without me.

Jeffrey: Yeah, without me.

Laura: I saw that tweet.

Jeffrey: God, we've gotten real ... just call me, Larry.

Larry Hryb: No, I was like, 'cause you and I, "Oh, we can play this together." Okay now ...

Jeffrey: And we did.

Larry Hryb: ... to be fair ...

Jeffrey: We did some crazy stuff together. We punched a bull to death with our bare hands ...

Laura: Wow.

Larry Hryb: ... and-

Jeffrey: ... together.

Larry Hryb: ... and-

Laura: That's bonding.

Larry Hryb: ... and Jeffrey was mauled by a turkey.

Jeffrey: They actually had to Nerf the turkeys. And you know what, it was way overdue. Those turkeys were OP.

Laura: Oh my goodness.

Larry Hryb: There's actually a mission that you have to do with the turkeys and that you understand why they were so OP.

Laura: So powerful.

Jeffrey: There's a turkey mission?

Larry Hryb: That's all I'm gonna say.

Jeffrey: No. I didn't do that mission. All right. Now I gotta go back.

Laura: You missed the turkey mission.

Jeffrey: I, too, beat it, and I didn't know the mysteries of the OP turkeys.

Laura: You need your revenge is what you need.

Jeffrey: That's exact ... it's called Thanksgiving.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: But yes.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, so I finished that. Lotta fun. Like I said, I've been playing a little bit of PUBG, getting back into a few other things. But I'm looking for that next single player experience.

Jeffrey: Well, you know what, it's coming up.

Larry Hryb: I know. I know that you're in the middle of God of War.

Jeffrey: Oh, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: It's good. So I got to work to help promote three or four of the God of War titles back when I was over at Sony. I think I might be in the credits on a few of them.

Larry Hryb: Back in the day.

Jeffrey: Back in the day, in the ancient past. So I'm very invested in that world and in Kratos, you know, and I've gotten now really into Norse mythology between catching up on Thor.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: Just catching up on all the Marvel movies I hadn't seen before. I've seen Infinity War.

Laura: Have you seen Infinity War?

Jeffrey: I have, of course.

Laura: Okay. We didn't see it.

Larry Hryb: You've always been a little bit of a Viking guy.

Jeffrey: Have I?

Laura: Yes, you watched that Viking program.

Jeffrey: Only when the Eagles are beating them in the playoffs, yeah.

Laura: You watched that Viking program, didn't you?

Jeffrey: No.

Larry Hryb: You went to Iceland.

Jeffrey: I did go to Iceland.

Laura: That's true.

Jeffrey: That's true.

Laura: And you told us about the different traditions that the Iceland people have about Christmas.

Jeffrey: Oh, yeah, about the Christmas dwarfs, the elves.

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's right, the Christmas thing. That's right.

Laura: Yes.

Jeffrey: Yeah, which is amazing.

Larry Hryb: So, yeah, you do.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: Oh, I guess I didn't realize it. It's one of those things until you pointed it out, I'm super into Viking culture. And we do the clap, we do the clap at the sounders matches like the ,"Hey." Anyway you have to be there. It doesn't really work when you don't have the video.

Laura: It's only one person.

Jeffrey: Yeah, one person does not a Viking clap make. Anyway, a lot of the things that are mentioned in Thor Ragnarok, like with the bi-frost and the whatever, the different gods and all these things and realms are mentioned in a lot of different places and it's just a very different take on it. So I'm enjoying that. I'm also trying to plow through it really quickly 'cause I'm super excited for State of Decay 2. I've gotten to play a bunch of it. We played at PAX.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: And then I-

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's my next one, yeah.

Jeffrey: ... got to play during a ...

Larry Hryb: That's co-op.

Jeffrey: We did an event where a lot of media and creators got to play, and so I played quite a bit there, and also in the livestream on Mixture on the Xbox Mixture Channel. I just love State of Decay. I love that it's not a zombie basher.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: It's a how do you survive and the zombies are, they're an impediment to long-term survival. And of course if you're careless you're gonna get ripped limb from limb. But I just love the idea of it's not about one person going through and headshotting their way through the Apocalypse, but rather what's the sustainable way to keep as many people alive as possible. And there's some just really cool mechanics. And so, if you liked the original State of Decay, if you like Sims ...

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: Not The ... well, maybe if you like The Sims ... then it's just, I really love what the team has done. The game has come a long way. I'm gonna link out in the show notes to the play through with Ashley and Bernie from Rooster Teeth along with Richard Foge, the Design Director from Undead Labs.

Larry Hryb: I may stream it when it comes out next week.

Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah. Well the game comes out if you get the deluxe edition, which includes your DLCs, they've already announced two updates. That'll be on May 18th.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeffrey: But if you're picking up the standard edition, which is only $29.99, or if you have Xbox Game Pass, May 22nd it'll be when you get to play that. You'll start to see media and creators put some footage out on some live shoots and stuff probably a week before that. So, you'll get a hold of it sooner rather than later.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: It looks really good. Oh, Far Cry, of course, we've ... be it not, and I'm playing ... oh, I forgot to tell you, while you were gone I sort of pretended I was you.

Larry Hryb: I know. You were on the show.

Jeffrey: I put on a paisley shirt.

Larry Hryb: Did you?

Jeffrey: And I put on some Allbirds.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeffrey: And I snuck my way into the Shadow of the Tomb Raider reveal event.

Larry Hryb: That's right.

Laura: Hmm.

Larry Hryb: That's right. It was on the show.

Jeffrey: And so I got to go in and I got to play about an hour.

Larry Hryb: That was down in L.A.

Jeffrey: In L.A.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: Nice.

Jeffrey: Shadow of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One X, which was awesome, and you know me. I like the Tomb Raider games. I know you enjoyed, really enjoyed Rise of the Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider.

Larry Hryb: I did, yeah.

Jeffrey: I've actually started playing through it again on Windows 10 just to sort of get a feel for it. Now I'm like hooked back into it again. Shadow looked really cool. There's some new mechanics. If you just tell me you're giving me more Tomb Raider, that sounds cool, but they're taking ... there's sort of like a three game arc that is like getting Lara to the Lara we know.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: Like the first Tomb Raider 2013 was sort of like here's a fresh faced young college student that is put into crazy circumstances and she was lucky to get out alive. And then Rise of the Tomb Raider she started getting a little more like wanting to take ownership of her family's legacy.

Larry Hryb: It's called character development.

Jeffrey: Yeah. I'm not good with that, or brevity for that matter, but, and then in this game now I'm like, "Whoa, Lara. You need to slow your roll a little bit."

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeffrey: Like some of the stuff that happens in this ...

Larry Hryb: No spoilers.

Jeffrey: I'm not sure ... yeah, well I mean, a lot of people talked about it, but I think, is she going too far? I'm very curious to see like ...

Larry Hryb: Oh my.

Jeffrey: ... where Lara like is her pursuit of raiding tombs consuming her? I don't know. I'm concerned.

Larry Hryb: We'll find out.

Laura: Yes, we should.

Jeffrey: But it was fun and I can't wait to play more, and that game is coming out this Fall. I think we said September. So, very much looking forward to Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: I played it.

Larry Hryb: E3's coming up [crosstalk 00:37:02]. E3's coming up.

Jeffrey: Oh, I know. I'm hoping I get to play [crosstalk 00:37:05]

Larry Hryb: We're just a little bit over a month away, Laura.

Laura: Wow.

Larry Hryb: I'll be there. Jeff will be there. We actually announced details while you and I were gone.

Laura: Oh, really?

Larry Hryb: We've got it at the Microsoft Theater.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: Right?

Laura: Yep.

Larry Hryb: Which is right in L.A. Live.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Which is where the Video Game Awards were last year. Geoff Keighley's, I call them the Keighley's.

Jeffrey: The Golden Keighley's?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, the Golden Keighley Awards. So, we're excited that. Jeff will be there, I'll be there, Laura, you may or may not be there. It doesn't look like you are. Sad face.

Laura: I am working out details. We'll see.

Larry Hryb: Hopefully you'll be there. And you, you dear folks, 'cause there's a lot of folks that are chosen for Fan Fest. All the Fan Fest details were revealed. Most of them were revealed I should say.

Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: So we're looking forward to seeing a bunch of you guys there. We'll be doing a episode of Inside Xbox down there, Jeff and I.

Jeffrey: That's gonna be fun.

Larry Hryb: Oh, we love that on-site stuff.

Jeffrey: Yeah. Especially, yeah, there'll be a bunch of people around.

Larry Hryb: I'm gonna bring my microphone.

Jeffrey: There's so much to talk about.

Laura: Are you? You're special.

Larry Hryb: I had it on the last show. People seemed to like it.

Laura: That's so cool.

Jeffrey: It's you. It's very you.

Larry Hryb: Thank you.

Jeffrey: Plus you've got that Major's Minute in. You did it.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: That was hard to ... I like the fact that you were able to do that live, and nail it in 60 seconds.

Larry Hryb: Well, yeah. It's funny that we brought Major's Minute back in such a interesting way. When they told me that, "Hey, let's do Major Minute." I'm like, "Okay, why not?" So, it was fun to do that. But, there we go. There we go.

Laura: Some exciting stuff coming up.

Larry Hryb: E3's coming up and I can't tell you ... we can't say more about that but, of course, it'll be on Mixer and all of you can watch it at home and stream it. I'm actually working on something cool for it that I can't talk about right now.

Laura: Of course you are.

Larry Hryb: Oh, wait a minute.

Laura: Of course you are.

Larry Hryb: Oh, there's the headline, dammit.

Jeffrey: No, it's fine. If people know that you're not gonna, you know ...

Larry Hryb: Go ahead.

Jeffrey: Your talking about the things that you're doing.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I've got a little project that I'm working on ...

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: ... that is kind of cool. Anyway, always working on something new, something different, something borrowed, something blue. What, wait, what?

Laura: Where'd you get here?

Jeffrey: I know, where are we?

Laura: I don't know.

Larry Hryb: All right, we're gonna continue going along on the show here. We're rapidly closing towards the end of our time together in terms of this hour because ...

Jeffrey: Oh, just this hour. I was like, "Wait. What do I not know?"

Larry Hryb: ... just this hour. Now we've gotta Name the Game.

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:39:07] anyway.

Laura: We do.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, which is really bizarre because the Name the Game was like done ...

Laura: Over a month ago.

Larry Hryb: It was back in March ...

Laura: Yes.

Larry Hryb: ... which seems so far away. You've got the details from the Name the Game, right?

Laura: Right.

Jeffrey: Have the prizes like collected interest while they were sitting in escrow.

Larry Hryb: They possibly have.

Laura: Possibly.

Larry Hryb: All right, so why don't we-

Laura: You can find out later.

Larry Hryb: We've got the last one that we played here. So why don't we go ahead and play that, and then you can tell us who won, Laura.

Laura: That's right. Okay, let's play the Name the Game from last time. So that was Name the Game from last time.

Larry Hryb: March-ish.

Laura: But to be clear, it was our last audio only podcast.

Larry Hryb: Right, right.

Laura: It wasn't the video podcast.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, 'cause we didn't do one then.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: In fact, we told you during the show we weren't doing one.

Laura: That's correct. We did remind you.

Larry Hryb: Should we do one in the next video podcast?

Laura: We should talk about that.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura: We'll see.

Larry Hryb: We'll figure that out. All right, so anyway, go ahead.

Laura: Okay. Yeah, so [inaudible 00:40:18] from last time was Surviving Mars.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura: Which I have not played yet, but I hear is really cool.

Jeffrey: And it looks like Haleakala.

Larry Hryb: Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Jeffrey: That's all I can [crosstalk 00:40:27]

Larry Hryb: Is it Surviving Mars or Surviving a Volcano on Hawaii?

Jeffrey: I just beat you to that joke, Larry.

Larry Hryb: Dot, dot, dot.

Jeffrey: It's like I'm not even here.

Larry Hryb: Oh, hi, Jeffrey.

Laura: All right, so, bringing us back on track here. Who won?

Larry Hryb: Yes, who won?

Laura: Thank you very much for all of your entries, but we have one winner, and his name is Don from Tempe, Arizona.

Larry Hryb: Tempe, Arizona. Also, look similar to Mars, I'm sure.

Laura: Possibly. Maybe it's firsthand experience.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: His gamer tag is odst1x.

Jeffrey: That's a fantastic name.

Larry Hryb: That is a good tag. That is a good tag.

Laura: Pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good. All right, Don, what have you won?

Larry Hryb: What have you won, Don?

Laura: We've got a big basket of prizes for you.

Larry Hryb: Oh.

Laura: That's right. They come in baskets these days.

Larry Hryb: They do.

Laura: I've got a copy of TERA Supreme: Founder's Pack.

Larry Hryb: Does it have all that stuff in it like paper, when you get a ...

Laura: Like a cellophane?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, like a cell phone.

Laura: Of course it does. It's got a big bow.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's gonna make all these crinkly noises.

Laura: Those crinkly noises is what sells the whole thing. All right, you also get a copy of Battlezone, and City of Brass, plus, you get a copy of Super Lucky's Tale, plus the Gilly Island DOC, and the new Guardian's Trials DOC.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: So all of it together.

Larry Hryb: Altogether.

Jeffrey: Literally, if we'd talked about it, it seems to be here in the pile.

Laura: Hmm, possibly.

Larry Hryb: How does that work?

Laura: I don't know. I might have some connections.

Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura: All right. Well, you also get a copy of Impact Winter, Extinction, MX vs ATV All Out.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura: That's not all. You also get a copy of Batman: The Enemy Within.

Larry Hryb: Wait a minute. How many games is this?

Laura: The complete season.

Larry Hryb: They really did acquire interest.

Laura: They might have acquired interest indeed.

Larry Hryb: This is like a dozen games.

Laura: This is a big basket of games.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura: Forgot to mention the big part, the basket.

Larry Hryb: The big part, the big part.

Jeffrey: Wait, it's getting bigger?

Laura: It gets bigger.

Larry Hryb: Wait, what?

Laura: You also get a copy of Sea of Thieves.

Larry Hryb: Yes. Play Anywhere title.

Jeffrey: Ooh.

Laura: And ...

Larry Hryb: And.

Jeffrey: What?

Laura: A copy of Far Cry 5.

Larry Hryb: What?

Laura: I know.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Laura: Your next couple of months are sorted out here.

Jeffrey: Pretty much locked up here.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Laura: But that's not all.

Larry Hryb: There's even more?

Laura: Included in all of this ...

Jeffrey: Yes?

Laura: ... in the very bottom of that basket is an Xbox wireless controller.

Jeffrey: Yes.

Laura: The Combat Tech Special Edition.

Larry Hryb: Had to make sure we're taking care of you.

Jeffrey: Somebody named odst1x is going to like that controller.

Larry Hryb: That is perfect.

Laura: Absolutely.

Larry Hryb: That is perfect. Thank you, Laura.

Laura: Congratulations, Don. You hit the big basket.

Larry Hryb: And then there's people listening right now that are saying, "Gee whiz, how do I win?"

Laura: Exactly. How do you win the big basket of prizes?

Larry Hryb: So we're gonna ... well, you know what? The good news is Laura is going to tell you right now.

Laura: That's right. We're gonna do another Name the Game and it is really easy to play this game. All you have to do is listen to the sound effects that I'm about to play and then send us an email with what game you think those sounds are from. Pretty simple, right?

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: Cool. So, shall we roll the tape?

Larry Hryb: Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I was trying to get my computer connected here. Yes, I'm ready, I'm ready.

Laura: Larry's all ready to hit the button.

Larry Hryb: Okay, you ready?

Laura: Here we go. All right, so that was Name the Game for this week.

Jeffrey: Yay.

Laura: If you think you know what game those sounds are from ...

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: ... just send us an email.

Larry Hryb: And you could win.

Laura: And you could win the big basket of prizes.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura: Send us an email lollipop@xbox.com, and cc: major@xbox.com.

Larry Hryb: Hello.

Laura: It's that easy.

Larry Hryb: Hello.

Laura: If you can hear our voice, you can enter the game.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. That's all you need to do.

Laura: That's all you need to do.

Larry Hryb: That's all you need to do. Don't hit us up on Twitter because that doesn't count.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: The only way you can enter is sending us an email.

Laura: That's right. We don't accept entries over Twitter or on Xbox Live.

Larry Hryb: Or via the U.S. mail system.

Laura: That's correct.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: Physical mail.

Larry Hryb: Physical mail, no.

Laura: No. But email, that's the way.

Larry Hryb: That's the way.

Laura: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: A lot of people don't even use email anymore.

Laura: What do they use?

Larry Hryb: I don't know, a lot of the younger ...

Jeffrey: Telepathy.

Larry Hryb: They text. Snapchat. Don't send it to us on Snapchat.

Laura: No.

Jeffrey: Are you on Snapchat, Larry?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura: Oh, yeah, Larry is.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah. I'm on Snapchat. Although I enjoy it less and less because I enjoy ...

Jeffrey: Instagram stories?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeffrey: I only use Snapchat, believe it or not, to talk to my mom. That's how we talk back and forth in my whole family.

Laura: Oh, really?

Jeffrey: We have a little group one, and it's mostly just sending rude bitmojis back and forth, but I talk to my mom now more than I ever have just because.

Larry Hryb: My mom has mastered animated GIFs ...

Jeffrey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: ... which is ...

Jeffrey: Mine's not on that.

Laura: Wow.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura: That's great.

Jeffrey: Occasionally they'll send something.

Larry Hryb: Yes. I don't understand how she's doing this.

Jeffrey: Yeah. Good for her.

Larry Hryb: Does your mom text you and send you animated GIFs and whatnot?

Laura: She texts me and then she taught me how to use WhatsApp.

Larry Hryb: What do you mean she taught you?

Laura: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: What does that mean?

Laura: I hadn't used WhatsApp before.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura: And then she and my father went to China on a trip ...

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: ... and she's like, "We're gonna communicate with you over WhatsApp."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: I was like, "I don't have WhatsApp."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: How do I use this?

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura: And so she had to give me instructions about how we could communicate over WhatsApp.

Larry Hryb: And did it work?

Laura: It did, but it turns out they just used text message from over there.

Larry Hryb: Right, yeah, it turns out that you don't need that.

Laura: Yeah. So now I'm on WhatsApp.

Larry Hryb: But?

Laura: I don't use it.

Larry Hryb: Delete.

Laura: We'll see.

Larry Hryb: Right. Delete. All right. Jeffrey, you okay over there? Looks like you're ...

Jeffrey: I'm doing fine.

Larry Hryb: You're checking your phone. It looks like you're ready to to ...

Jeffrey: I'm downloading WhatsApp. I want these barbecue picks.

Laura: That's right. [crosstalk 00:45:53]

Larry Hryb: I'm downloading WhatsApp too, and ask your mom to give me China updates. Is she still there?

Laura: No.

Larry Hryb: Oh, okay.

Laura: They're back.

Jeffrey: Yeah, my in-laws use WhatsApp too. They go to China all the time.

Larry Hryb: Do they?

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeffrey: Just for fun.

Larry Hryb: Actually, one of the problems I'm running into, and it happens with people that I deal with at a regular basis like you, Jeff, especially you, Laura, 'cause you and I have known each other so long is you and I have way too many communication touch points.

Laura: Yeah, we do.

Larry Hryb: Right? Jeff, even you and I, we go to text but ...

Jeffrey: Except that when you don't text me and then you later complain like, "Uh, I wanted to play Far Cry with you."

Larry Hryb: So maybe it's not enough.

Jeffrey: I'm like, "Well, why didn't you text me?"

Larry Hryb: Well, I mean, like I was telling Laura, we've got the Facebook.

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Gmail, Outlook. Just every, every possibly ... Skype for Business. Text messaging and then the list goes on and on.

Jeffrey: It's unheard of.

Laura: Yep. Instagram, Snapchat.

Jeffrey: It's untenable.

Larry Hryb: It is. It just doesn't scale.

Laura: Too many.

Larry Hryb: It doesn't scale. All right, if you guys don't have anything else, we're gonna wrap the show up 'cause ...

Jeffrey: And on that note.

Larry Hryb: well, no, so we gotta get ready.

Jeffrey: We're all doomed.

Larry Hryb: We have to get ready 'cause we have to go and do make-up 'cause we have a live show next week, next Friday.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: We're gonna do the show live in Mixer.

Laura: Doing it live.

Jeffrey: I should probably get a haircut. I've resorted to hats.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, we'll talk about that off the air.

Jeffrey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: We'll talk about that off. What is that with Washington you're wearing?

Jeffrey: It's a Seattle Sounders hat. It was like a limited.

Larry Hryb: Oh, you're sort of sideways too.

Jeffrey: No, I was showing you the side.

Larry Hryb: How great.

Jeffrey: I was showing you the side.

Larry Hryb: Did you see that little ... ?

Laura: Yes, yes.

Jeffrey: I wasn't going for like Fresh Prince of Bel Air ...

Larry Hryb: Oh yes. Well too late, too late.

Jeffrey: ... opening credits. All right.

Larry Hryb: Too late.

Jeffrey: I [crosstalk 00:47:17] Philadelphia.

Larry Hryb: Can you just bend that brim for me just a little?

Jeffrey: I won't do it.

Larry Hryb: Just a little bit.

Jeffrey: I won't do it. I took the sticker off just for you. No sticker.

Larry Hryb: All right, we'll see you. We're gonna do the show next ... when are we doing it? Like 10:00 a.m. or 10:30 or 8:30? Do we know yet/

Jeffrey: Let me bring that up real quick.

Laura: I'll check my calendar.

Larry Hryb: We're gonna do the show next Friday. That's May 11th on Mixer. Go to mixer.com/majornelson. It's a live show.

Jeffrey: 10:00 a.m. Pacific.

Larry Hryb: 10:00 a.m. Pacific. That's 1:00 Eastern, and that's sometime later in the day UK.

Jeffrey: It's earlier. It's really early in Australia and Japan.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: It is very early.

Jeffrey: If you stay up late-

Larry Hryb: But don't worry about it if you miss the show. I pull off the video, or I put the video up as video on demand. I take the audio, slap it into my podcast.

Jeffrey: We come to you.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's wherever you are or whatever you wanna do we'll be there.

Jeffrey: WhatsApp, Snapchat.

Larry Hryb: And remember, hit up Xbox Quik on Twitter and tell me you want him to be on the show because ...

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: ... we've asked him to be on the show and he hasn't responded to me in email. So, mmm.

Laura: Mmm.

Larry Hryb: Bully pulpit?

Jeffrey: Yeah, there, see. I taught you something.

Larry Hryb: All right, gang, we'll talk to you next time. Laura, if they can find Laura on social media at ...

Laura: You can find me on Twitter @lauralollipop.

Larry Hryb: That's really the only way you need to find her. Don't text her.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: Don't WhatsApp her.

Laura: I don't know how to use WhatsApp so I wouldn't respond.

Larry Hryb: If you have any complaints about the show or anything Xbox related feel free to [crosstalk 00:48:30]

Jeffrey: [crosstalk 00:48:32] @jeffrubenstein. It's funny 'cause it's really starting to happen. I've solved a couple issues this week.

Larry Hryb: Have you?

Jeffrey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Thank you for calling tech support. My name is Jeffrey. How can I help you?

Jeffrey: Yeah. I'm just waiting by the phone.

Larry Hryb: All right, we'll talk to you guys. We'll see you next week on Mixer.

Laura: That's right.

Larry Hryb: We'll bring our very best selves to you. We'll talk to you next week. Bye-bye everybody.

Jeffrey: Bye.

Laura: Bye.

Larry: Hi, it's Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. Welcome to the show, great to see everybody. Thank you for joining us here at the studio. We're live in Seattle. We're doing the show live today for you. We're on mixer, we're on Facebook, and we're trying something new. We are on Twitter. So, if you're following me on Twitter, you probably saw that pop up. We've got the crew in here. We've got Laura to my right. Hi, Laura.
Laura: Hello, hey, good to see you guys.
Larry: Who's that over to your right? Oh, it's Jeff. Hi, Jeff.
Jeff: You can't tell because I got all make-up-
Larry: You got all make-up and you're all showbiz-ied here and we're ready to go. We didn't do a podcast last week so I said, "You know what guys, let's do a video one this week." We love doing a video one, we love coming into the mixer studio. If you're watching us on Mixer, we may have stuff to give away. I don't know if we do. I haven't talked to the producers.
Jeff: We should probably figure that out.
Laura: I hope so.
Larry: We'll find something out, but we got a fun show going on today. We got a lot to go over. We got some news, what we're playing. We're going to talk about PAX. You and I will be at PAX, Laura's not going to join us to PAX-
Jeff: Oh you're not going?
Laura: Unfortunately I'm not able to make it this year.
Larry: And we are tell you about the next episode of Inside Xbox.
Laura: Hmm, exclusive?
Jeff: So there's a next episode?
Larry: There's a next episode.
Jeff: That's all we're saying then?
Larry: Why don't we talk about what we are playing, because that's usually how we usually start the show.
Jeff: We should do that.
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: Actually, if we can bring up ... I've got the console here, Lenox. If we can bring that up on the air would be great because it's ... There we go. This is what I'm playing. Oh, it's so dark of course.
Laura: It happens to be nighttime.
Larry: We're playing Sea of Thieves aren't we?
Laura: We are.
Jeff: You are.
Laura: I've been playing a lot of Sea of Thieves-
Larry: That's actually a pretty boring screenshot, you can take that away, cause it's dark out. Sorry Lenox.-
Laura: Hopefully the sunrise will-
Larry: I'll wait til the sun comes up-
Jeff: Not so easy to direct, is it Larry?
Larry: No it's not. No, I should just stick to hosting. I can barely do that. Anyway, what are you playing?
Laura: So I have been playing exclusively Sea of Thieves, and oh my goodness am I enjoying it.
Larry: Are you?
Laura: It is super fun, yes!
Larry: Do you have a pirate name?
Laura: I do.
Larry: What is it?
Laura: I have a pirate name that was given to me by Rare.
Larry: Yeah, I have one as well.
Laura: In a ceremony, which was really cool.
Larry: I thought the ceremony was supposed to be secret.
Jeff: You're out of the virtual pirate club!
Laura: Whoops, sorry I talked about-
Larry: What was yours?
Laura: Mine is Ten-Lashes Laura.
Larry: I do remember that.
Laura: Thanks Craig Dunkin.
Larry: Yeah, so.
Jeff: Your lashes look great, by the way, today.
Larry: Yes your lashes very-
Laura: I only have ten of them.
Larry: You only have ten lashes. Yeah, most people think it's lashes.
Jeff: No no.
Laura: No.
Larry: Do you know the story of the pirate names?
Laura: No, tell us.
Larry: So for those of you who don't know what we're talking about, when working on Sea of Thieves ... Jeff and I have been aware of this title for many years. You know they've been working on it. And when we saw the game, we played a rough, a very rough version-
Laura: Very, very early prototype right?
Larry: And when you played it you got a pirate name. Everybody internally got a pirate name. But apparently there's only one person at Rare who's allowed to give the pirate names. It's not even Craig.
Laura: It's not Craig?
Larry: The head of the studio, like gammer boss.
Jeff: It's probably Joe Neat, right?
Larry: I don't know who it was.
Laura: No, it's not Joe, I think it's the creative director, maybe.
Larry: It's somebody else. But all I know is, so mine was Admiral Nelson. Which-
Laura: Yes, fitting, you got a little promo there.
Larry: Yeah a little promotion, thank you very much. Jeff did you get one?
Jeff: Rum Rubinstein.
Larry: That actually falls-
Laura: Oh that's great!
Larry: That actually falls right in.
Laura: That's a good one!
Jeff: It fits in pretty good.
Laura: That's a great pirate name.
Jeff: I approved.
Larry: So anyway, lets tell us about your Sea of Thieves pirating, Laura.
Laura: Yes, so I decided to jump in on my own to try and get a feel of how the finally released game worked. So I played with a small ship. You guys probably know you can choose between a big ship, which requires four people to operate, and a small ship that can have one or two. And I decided to go it solo.
Jeff: Yeah you did.
Laura: I did. Sailed a whole ship by myself and let me tell you that is difficult.
Larry: Well it is difficult cause you've got to set the sail left, the direction, bring the anchor up-
Laura: And then you have to figure out your direction by running across the ship and looking at the map, and then coming back up the stairs onto the captain's deck and piloting the ship.
Larry: Right, we call it Captaining.
Jeff: It's like putting a GPS in the trunk and having to keep running back to the trunk to, "Oh, I gotta make a left here."
Laura: So I was able to actually successfully complete a few missions. I know there were some doubters out there, if I could use a compass. Hey, I can, I think they fixed-
Larry: They fixed the Laura lollipop compass bug.
Laura: They fixed the compass bug, thank you. And I was able to collect some chests and then return them, which was really, really great. So super satisfying.
But I have a really funny story to tell, when I was on my own.
Jeff: Do tell.
Laura: When I was coming back to the outpost, with my chest, [crosstalk 00:04:33]
Larry: Laden with gold.
Laura: Yes, I was laden with gold, and I had spent probably twenty minutes getting this one, because I hit a storm on the way back. And let me tell you, storms are hard to get through, and it threw me off track. And because you have to keep running up and down the stairs to look to see which direction you should be heading, it took me a while to get back home, so-
Larry: Because the compass is spinning. Did you get struck by lightning?
Laura: No, I didn't. Fortunately I avoided the lightning, and I was able to avoid being capsized by some pretty good maneuvering on my part. Not getting completely turned over. But it did take me about twenty minutes, so I was really excited about-
Larry: The sun's coming up if we wanna take a look at the sun coming up.
Laura: I was really excited about delivering my treasure chest, and turning it in, and getting ... Oh, that's beautiful, that's lovely. The mist rising-
Larry: There's an update out today, you should head over to @seaoftheives on Twitter for all of that. So I know a lot of people are playing it, so that's a lot of fun.
Laura: So when I got back to the outpost, there was somebody else.
Larry: That's how it works.
Jeff: Uh-oh.
Laura: There was another ship, and they were docked, next to where I docked. So I carefully snuck out of my boat, took my chest, tried to sneak in to turn it in. I was able to avoid detection, but what do I do after that? I decide I would go onto this person's ship-
Jeff: That's how you do it.
Laura: And see if there was anything there for me to plunder. And when I got onto the ship, I was looking around, didn't see any treasure to grab, but they found me.
Larry: And what did they find? What were you doing?
Laura: They found me, in their ship, looking around the hold, and they had a gun on me. They had already gotten the jump on me, and they had a gun on me ... Well what do you do in that situation? You've been caught red-handed.
Larry: Run. You run.
Jeff: I would have shot. I would have pulled the trigger.
Laura: You would have brought out your gun?
Jeff: Yeah, bye. Bye, Laura. Get off my boat!
Laura: Yeah, that's what the ... I imagined that person would do. So I decided to pull out my hurdy-gurdy and play him a shanty.
Jeff: Ah, very good. Very good.
Laura: So I was playing, I think it was probably some pirate themed song, and he looked at me, and he still had a gun pointed at me, and then what did he do?
Larry: Did you soothe the savage beast? Did he put his weapon away?
Laura: I did! He pulled out a plank of wood, 'cause that makes sense.
Jeff: Of course.
Laura: So we stood staring at each other for a few minutes. He's got his plank of wood, I've got my hurdy-gurdy and I'm doing a little jig for him, and sorta skirted my way back to the stairs, and ran away. I just bolted out of there, and he didn't follow.
Jeff: That's good, and you lived to tell the tale.
Laura: And I lived to tell the tale, and he didn't follow, so I ran back to my ship and took off.
Larry: That is ... There are a lot of stories like that.
Jeff: Much like PUBG, playing solo is harrowing. I've had times where I was ... So I was at GDC last week. So I brought my laptop, I fired it up on launch night, on Monday night, whatever it was, and ... You know I ran a couple of missions, and then one time I was on an island, I was digging it up, and I heard noise, and I was like, 'Eh, I'm sure it's nothing.' Then I come back to see my boat being sunk and someone sailing off. And by the way, in that situation best thing to do; find a very conspicuous point on that island, drop the treasure chest there. Find the mermaid, the merman, the merthing, and head on back, get the ship. Come back, and that chest should still be waiting for you. That's what happened for me.
Well, anyway, that was kind of my only experience until two nights ago. I got invited soon as I logged on, I jump in with a couple of friends, and we're sailing off in the galley and we see in the horizon, no fewer than three other ships, all heading towards a skull cloud, where-
Laura: I've seen the skull clouds, and the skull cloud is really ominous, because his eyes blink.
Jeff: Yeah, it's really cool. So we head there, and we see a ship break off to us, and we sort of get into this stand off. And we decided, the three of us, we're not gonna shoot first. We know we're outnumbered three to four, because we can see them, and we're not gonna shoot first. Then this other ship came in, and started firing on them. Then we say, 'You know what? We're gonna help them.' So we went in, and we fired on the ship that fired on them. We sort of had an unwritten truce.
All of them ended up sinking, we took the stuff and we ran off, and then we started off on sequence where we ended up with eight or nine chests, and a couple of skulls. And we are just cruising, and we wanted to pick up one more to finish a voyage-
Laura: That is so risky. You went with nine chests, unturned in?
Jeff: What happened? The damn kraken showed up.
Laura: No!
Larry: Oh, the sea turned black.
Jeff: That was the first time we had ever encountered it in person, and it was really frighting. Somehow we made it out of there.
Laura: You did?
Jeff: Somehow, I don't know. We got out, we cashed everything out, went up so many levels ... It was like and emergent ... Sorta like all of those things happen over the corse of probably two and a half hours. Where it was just like, wow, how is it one in the morning? But it was just an amazing experience, so thanks to Rare for ... The rules of engagement in that game are just so different. If I'm in PUBG, I'm gonna shoot you every time. That's most games. In this, there's shifting alliances.
Larry: There are shifting alliances, and constantly changing social contracts.
Jeff: That's a good way of putting it.
Laura: And choices that matter.
Larry: Choices that matter. So thank you ... As I said earlier, there's an update out for today, I know a lot of people are playing.
If you're just tuning in, thank you for joining us on Mixer, we're also on Twitter and Facebook. This is Major Nelson Radio, the Major Nelson Radio Hour, cause we're doing it for an hour today.
Jeff: I love that. Someone was asking about what you got there on the desk.
Larry: So this is actually, if you take a look here. Can we zoom in on this? This is the Duke controller. This is the limited edition Duke controller. In fact if I push this on the top there you'll see it'll boot up.
Jeff: Which is awesome.
Larry: We talked about this at the last episode of Inside Xbox, this is pre-release, this is not final, but I've got this hooked up to the consol right now and I'm playing it, and I'm really enjoying it. So it's great to see this ... I know that I talked to ... You talked to Seamus, he's a great guy.
Laura: Yeah, interviewed him.
Jeff: Yeah, did an interview for Inside Xbox, great guy. Tons of stories, that guy. We were doing the interview, and he's holding it, and he goes, 'Well, who's is this?' I'm like, 'Mine now?' And he's like, 'Go for it!' And I'm like, 'Yes!'
Laura: Gave it to you on air?
Jeff: So we do the show, we're packing up, and then I run into Larry who's like, 'Still have my Duke controller?' And I'm like-
Larry: Yeah, that was mine, that was this one.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. No, I'm not crying.
Larry: Now there was some questions, I know that we saw them, and we see them in the chat right now. Can we zoom in on this again? Lot of folks were asking about the bumper buttons, and if you look here you can see that the black and the red, which were on the original Xbox, those are the bumper buttons. But also, in the back here, these are also bumpers. These were not on the original Duke, but you can see they've added bumpers back here. LB and RB.
Jeff: Which makes it so it's playable not just with OG Xbox.
Larry: So we're just trying to make it a little bit better for yah. So yeah, that's the one I'm using today. Looks like a 360 Controller, alright, well there you go.
Jeff: Well, I mean, you can definitely trace the lineage.
Larry: So Laura, you're playing Sea of Thieves. Lot of people are playing that. I've been playing that. Jeff and I have cracked open Farcry 5.
Laura: How special is that?
Jeff: Oh, it's so good.
Larry: I didn't tell you what happened this morning when I was playing, before I came on the show.
Jeff: When do you have time in the morning to play games? How early do wake up?
Larry: I was up this morning at five thirty.
Jeff: Fair enough, you can have that.
Larry: If this is a spoiler, you might want to shut off for the next thirty seconds. I unlocked Hurk. Do you remember Hurk?
Jeff: Yeah, 'course I remember Hurk from Farcry 4, and he may have been in three. Definitely in four, I think he was in three.
Larry: He was a lot of fun. Somebody says they're taking your nerd card away, because you play every time you can.
Jeff: What does that mean?
Laura: As much as you can.
Larry: As much as you can, whenever you can.
Laura: Any spare moment.
Jeff: Well you do, but I don't want to wake up at five thirty-
Larry: Anyway, Farcry 5, out today, Xbox One X. Looks phenomenal on Xbox One X. If you have an Xbox one it looks great, if you have Xbox One X, looks even better.
Jeff: So we did a bit of co-op, which was fun. It works very similar to Farcry 4, in that whoever's hosting the game, it's in their world the things they've unlocked, or the missions they've done, or whatever are there. But the person who comes into that world can still unlock perks, can get new weapons, things like that. Actually, I think we did that in Farcry 4, now that I'm thinking about it. You had unlocked the silent sniper rifle, I came into your world, you threw it onto the ground-
Larry: I dropped it.
Jeff: And I brought it back. Let me tell you, I wish I had that right now, 'cause I'm early on in Farcry 5-
Larry: I don't know ... Does that ... Cause I have it.
Jeff: It worked in four.
Larry: I have it in five.
Jeff: Share and share alike. [crosstalk 00:12:59] Let's try this out tonight, but man it's just a really fun world. And they've made a number of ... I feel like there's less of an emphasis on skinning animals. I always felt like national geographic public enemy number one in those games. I'm like, 'There's only eight tigers left in the world and I've killed seven of them!' You know?
Here, actually, I got into a nasty fight with the turkey, and-
Larry: I remember, I was watching. I spawned in and I looked down the street, and there's Jeff standing there and this killer turkey [crosstalk 00:13:27]
Laura: How big was this turkey?
Larry: It was a big boy, or girl, I don't know.
Laura: How big was it?
Larry: Turkey sized.
Jeff: It was a tom turkey. It was a butterball, alright?
Larry: You were swinging at it.
Jeff: I was swinging at it with a bat.
Larry: And its feathers kept getting larger, and it kept coming at you.
Jeff: Come thanksgiving, there will be no remorse. Turkeys, they're getting what they deserve if this game is any indication.
Larry: The turkeys are ... If you're watching us on Twitter, Facebook, we're reading the chat over on Mixer.com/MajorNelson. People are saying the turkeys are vicious. [crosstalk 00:13:59] There's a honey badger in there too.
Laura: What?
Jeff: I ran afoul of a wolverine, that went very poorly.
Larry: Yeah, so Farcry 5, it's out on Xbox this week. So there's some cool stuff going on. I'm playing that. I'm playing PUBG, I carry around-
Laura: This is the map we had last show, that I struggled to fold.
Larry: This is the map that [inaudible 00:14:18] I carry with me all the times. I mean look at this, here's Farcry ... Pegi 18, here's Farcry 5, it's got a lot of crazy stuff going on.
Jeff: The character models are phenomenal. The people look really good in there. They really did a fantastic job, Ubi, and I don't think that's surprising to anyone, but it's always nice when something lives up to what your expectations are.
Larry: Yeah, rollback to the last episode of This Week on Xbox, I had an interview with some of the guys from-
Jeff: With him, with Mr. Seed, Joseph Seed.
Larry: Yeah, Mr. Seed himself, so it was really great to meet the actor who not only did the voice, but also did the body, the mocap.
Jeff: Yeah, he reminds me just a little bit of Matthew McConaughey. I don't know why.
Larry: Alright, alright, alright.
Jeff: Yeah, just a little bit, but wearing gunner glasses.
Larry: I was thinking of you, because I was watching that movie, Laura ... 'Cause you grew up in Austin.
Laura: Yes I did, and he lives there.
Larry: And that's where the movie is from, but I was just thinking, but we should talk about that off the air.
Laura: Yeah, we should.
Larry: Anyway, sorry Jeff.
Jeff: Oh, I didn't know if there's a good Matthew McConaughey story here.
Larry: Well there's always.
Jeff: Actually I wanted to talk about something I got to do last weekend, which is ... I'm a big Overwatch fan, and I know you are too, Larry and gotta get you in.
Laura: I know.
Jeff: I feel like in the early stages you got in a few matches, but we haven't played in a while. And I went down to Burbank to the studios there, the Blizzard Arena, to see some late season stage two matches for Overwatch League, and it was unbelievable. A lot of times you go to a sport ... I love sports, I go to a lot of sporting events. A lot of times it's actually a better experience at home in some ways. You know what's going on, you can hear the commentators.
Larry: Well you have the best seat in the house.
Jeff: Exactly, you see the replays, you see all of that stuff. But it's nice when you go into a match, especially if there's a close call in a football game or in a soccer match. They don't even show the replays, 'cause they don't want you throwing beer bottles, not that I would do that, onto the field.
Just the once.
Larry: This is Jeff's days at the Philadelphia Veterans Stadium talking.
Jeff: We've earned that reputation. But going to this, I had never been to an E-Sports dedicated arena like this. It was unbelievable. Actually used to be, as we talked about, the tonight show. There was, like, murals of Jay Leno in the field. Here we're seeing a bit of it. Actually, that's the merch booth when you walk in-
Larry: That's where they used to queue people up for The Tonight Show. I recognize that.
Jeff: Yeah, they have special merch there, we bought a few things, but then, man, we went right on up there. It's an incredible venue to enjoy the sport, 'cause you hear all the commentators. You can actually see more when you're there than you do on a normal broadcast, in terms of if they're alting, who's re-spawning, if they're switching. A lot of the mind games that happen early on, when they're switching around different characters to fool people. It was an incredible experience. I got to see Malik Forte, he does a lot of the intros at the beginning and he's good friend, and he got to sorta show us around how they produce it. It's an incredible production, I highly recommend it. You can just buy tickets if you are in SoCal, it's down in Burbank.
Larry: Beautiful downtown Burbank.
Jeff: It wasn't maybe downtown, but anyway. It's right near where all the other, like the Disney-
Larry: The theme park, and Universal.
Jeff: Yeah, you go right past Universal Studios, but this was just an incredible experience. If you like Overwatch at all, this is something you gotta see. You're about to see they're probably gonna turn over and you can see the screen. It was just really, really cool, and Philly won. Which is why I was there. They did really well in the playoffs as well. So I won't ... This isn't the E-Sports Hour, I know we have a show on that here on Mixer. But this was, again, if you even have a passing interest, it's a really easy to follow type of thing to be able to get on. I don't know MOBAs from nothing. I can watch highlights from League, or DOTA and I have no idea what's happening. I feel like in a shooter, you kinda know. Like, that was a great headshot.
Larry: We also play the heck out of Overwatch.
Jeff: Also, we've played hundreds of hours of Overwatch.
Larry: We've gotta get moving alone here, we don't have a lot of time. We're twenty minutes in, but I wanna talk about some of the headlines. Big sale kicked off today, Jeffrey.
Jeff: Yeah, so the Spring Sale is going on right now. This is ... Basically I would say all of the big titles, or many of the big titles that came out last fall, Call Of Duty World War II, FIFA 18, Star Wars Battlefront 2, NBA 2K18, all of these major games. Cuphead, Assassins Creed Origins, Forza Motersport 7. So all of these titles are up to-
Larry: There's over three-hundred and fifty games.
Jeff: Yes, as you can see there. If you have Xbox Live Gold, which I'm imagining most of you do, you can save anther ten percent. You can get on the gold for buck. Basically I should just ... Oh yeah, Xbox Design Lab is on sale as well.
Laura: Oh my goodness.
Jeff: I'm just doing the play by play on this.
Larry: All you need to do is go to my blog, at MajorNelson.com, and there's a whole list of sales that are there. You can sort them by all sorts of things. But head over there and you'll get the whole list, and have fun.
Jeff: And if you're looking for a new Xbox One X, there a discount, I think a free game as well. There's a whole bunch of stuff there, but like you said, go to Majornelson.com.
Larry: Yeah, and I've got the blog there that tells you when how long the sale is. Usually about a week.
Jeff: Ah yes, give or take.
Larry: Give or take-ish, so.
Jeff: It's spring.
Laura: Wow those are really good discounts.
Larry: It is spring! It's officially spring here in the northern hemisphere. That is fall down in the southern hemisphere.
Jeff: Do they call if fall down in Australia, or do they call it spring and it's just spring is colder?
Larry: Mixer chat, could you help us out with that?
Jeff: I was always curious about that.
Larry: We need to know.
Jeff: Like do you say that Christmas is in the middle of summer down there?
Larry: I don't think so.
Jeff: Or does winter ... Oh, they say autumn. Asher, I'm gonna go ahead and trust you.
Larry: Yeah, autumn, okay. So anyway, we're excited that we've got next week [crosstalk 00:19:55] Actually keep going through the news, then we gotta go to PAX, we got a whole bunch of other stuff to talk about.
Laura: Still have the story of that map, which is really awesome.
Larry: Here, I'll let you play with the map.
Laura: Yeah, thank you.
Jeff: I think you had folding issues last time.
Laura: I did. I did have folding issues.
Jeff: Last time you brought that out was during Inside Xbox, and we revealed on Inside Xbox the first title for Xbox Game Pass coming in April.
Larry: Sorry, the two week sale ends April ninth.
Jeff: April ninth you've got about ten days.
Larry: There's so much stuff, we're gonna allow you to work another week to earn money to buy the games.
Jeff: I don't know if that's the official messaging, but yeah, that's good. We can go with that.
We announced City Skylines was gonna be a marquee title for April's new editions to Xbox Game Pass, and I know that went over really well. Number of other games that we just in the past couple of days ... Yesterday, actually, announced the rest of the titles. I think the most exciting one is actually a title that is debuting on Xbox Game Pass.
Larry: And which one would that be, Jeffery?
Jeff: That would be Robocraft Infinity. So this is a game that's only available on Xbox One, and if you're a fan of the Robocraft series this is a special game made for Xbox, made for controller, and if you've got Game Pass you can try it out.
I spent some time with another one of these titles, Portal Knights. It's a great game for kids, I would say. Actually, I had a good time myself, and racked up a number of achievements. It's sort of a more ... There's elements from builder games like Minecraft, but there was sort of an emphasis on going from island to island through these portals and some good emphasis on combat. There's sort of a lock-on button so you can get into more of a Zelda-esc melee with folks where you're having your shield and attacking and jumping in and dodging, things like that. I had a pretty good time with it. You get to try it out.
Another title that looked really interesting that I hadn't got a chance to try was Late Shift. Sort of a throw back to full motion video narrative titles, and you get to try it out, and that's one of the benefits of Game Pass, with well over a hundred titles.
Larry: There you go. [crosstalk 00:22:02] There's actually a little side note, since we're recording this live, it's currently one twenty-two pacific, that's four twenty-two east. There is an issue with Sea Of Thieves in Game pass that's happening, actually, right now. Apparently some people aren't seeing it. Support team's on it, Sea of Thieves team is on it, it's getting fixed, don't worry about it.
Jeff: Okay.
Larry: That's all. By the time people watch this on video on demand [crosstalk 00:22:22] On video on demand, that doesn't mean anything, but right now, it does.
Jeff: Okay, cool. Keep an eye on @seaofthieves, they've been really good at updating folks. They just released a video this morning, I think, talking about a number of-
Larry: I'm actually getting emails from Craig in right now.
Jeff: Oh, really?
Larry: And Joe!
Laura: And Joe, there they are.
Larry: You see them popping up here.
Jeff: Well then you should be watching this on Mixer.
Larry: Those guys are working. Hi Joe, hi Craig!
Jeff: Hey!
Laura: Hello.
Jeff: I hope they heard the part where we're having a good time.
Larry: They know that, they're heads down working.
Jeff: Of course.
Larry: More news headlines.
Jeff: So last week I was at GDC-
Larry: Game Developer Conference.
Jeff: In San Francisco, and what we do every year, for the last four five years now, we host a number of independent games though our ID Xbox program. And a lot of those are revealed for the first time, and it's definitely first hand on for folks for a lot of these titles. I just want to call a couple of titles that I got-
Larry: You had hands on.
Jeff: Yes! They're all hands on, there's a lot of footage that was coming out-
Larry: Do we have any video?
Jeff: There should be for games like, Wargroove or Black Desert, whatever shows up first I'll just go ahead and I'll talk to that one.
Larry: Spin the wheel.
Jeff: I know, right? Here we go, come on. Big money, no whammies, and it's Wargroove.Alright, good, this one was my absolute favorite title that we got to see.
The folks working on this, Chucklefish, you may know them from Stardew Valley.
Laura: Yes, yeah.
Jeff: And this game is ... If you liked Advanced Wars back in the day on the Game Boy Advance, and I think there may have been on DS. There's probably a couple of 'em actually. This team said, 'We want to make a game like that.' And I love that genre, so it's strategic tactics, but they made it like a very modern type of game. One, it has a tremendous map generate ... You can make your own levels, so you can play endlessly and share those. Two, some of the enemy types and the troop types you have ... So there's a series of attack corgis that you can have.
Larry: Attack corgis.
Laura: The dogs?
Jeff: Yes!
Larry: Dogs. Corgi dogs. [crosstalk 00:24:24]
Jeff: And it has sort of very Fire Emblem-y rock paper scissors [crosstalk 00:24:27]
Larry: Just like turkeys are cute?
Jeff: No, I wish ... Yes. If the turkey was as cute as these dogs, I wouldn't have clubbed it with an aluminum bat. Virtually, of course. It was just for the achievement. But it's just a really excellent game for people that like that sort of tactical stuff. They're working on the game, it's gonna be an Xbox play anywhere game. I feel like this is a game that's gonna be really good on a laptop or on the go. I ran there and I played for, like, thirty minutes., and it was definitely challenging.
That same group, Chucklefish, who made Stardew also is making another title that is coming to Xbox One and Xbox play anywhere, which is Starbound.
Larry: And what is that all about?
Jeff: It's sort of a 2D, crafting ... sorta like, I'd say, echoes of Terraria in a way. So if you're into that game, that was a very popular game also available through the ID at Xbox program, Starbound had a lot of things in common with that. And so that one, I think is probably gonna be pretty popular on the system.
And the last one I wanted to mention, actually two more, one called Harold Halibut. Now if I say that ... The look at your face is the face most people make with halibut. Halibut's pretty tasty.
Laura: It's a pretty tasty fish.
Jeff: Needs branding, I gotta be honest, but it's a good fish.
This game, it looks like it's claymation. [crosstalk 00:25:48]
Larry: Grouper?
Jeff: Grouper, another good fish with a bad name. Maybe fish really don't have good names.
Anyway, so-
Larry: Skuttlefish?
Laura: Monkfish.
Larry: Monkfish.
Jeff: This game looks like it was made by the people who made ... Aardman Studios, the claymation and stuff like that. Everyone that walked by-
Larry: Like Chicken run?
Jeff: Like Chicken Run, yeah. Everyone was like, show me [crosstalk 00:26:12]
Larry: Wait a minute, wait a minute, stop the presses. It looks like fun.
Jeff: We're not talking cut scenes or anything like that, like this obviously is a cut scene here, but this is what the game looks like. And it is just ... I mean, it's incredible, because you're actually controlling it. I remember back in the day you'd be like, 'Oh, I want to play a game that looks like a cartoon.' And I feel like we've achieved that on a number of different series, but we've never seen a game that really ... I mean there was Clay Fighter back in the day, but that was running at, like, five frames a second or whatever. It's pretty impressive. Definitely worth looking up videos, I don't know if there's a release date yet. This is the main character you control. Appears to be, again, sort of a story-driven narrative game. I guess that was just the reveal trailer there, but footage was being recorded at this event, so I bet if you look up Harold Halibut you'll be able to see it [crosstalk 00:27:01]
Larry: Harold Halibut.
Jeff: Everyone's heads were turning for this game.
Larry: George the Grouper.
Jeff: Yes. George the-
Larry: Manny the Monkfish.
Jeff: You're really ... These are spoilers, Larry.
Larry: Should we keep going?
Jeff: All these are spoilers.
Larry: Should we keep going-
Jeff: We should not keep going. Tommy Tuna.
Last one I wanna talk about was Black Desert Online. This is a game, this is existing, PC MMO that I got to play on Xbox One. It looks really good. We showed a trailer for this back at E3 2017, and it was a game where people were ... Before they revealed what it was, it was like, whoa, looks kinda Souls-y, it looks kind of like a open world adventure. Looked pretty interesting. And so I got to play that, it had tight controls, it looked really fun. So Black Desert Online, I think that's a game that we'll be hearing quite a bit about.
Larry: Good, fun stuff.
Jeff: That's it for GDC, just wanna ... Just really quickly mention a title that got announced on Sunday night, that is coming to Xbox One. This is a game that-
Larry: I'm sorry, the chat room is ... We have Freddy the Fish, Carrie the Clownfish, Barry Barracuda. They're having a great time with it.
Laura: Angela the angelfish.
Jeff: They really got the ball rolling there Larry.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice-
Larry: No, no, not Billy the Fish. That doesn't work.
Jeff: That doesn't work. Freddie, it's Freddie.
Yeah, so here we go, here's the video for Senua's Sacrifice. So this is a game that won a number of game awards, especially for the mocap. This is Ninja Theory, you might know them from ... They made DMC, which was like a, sort of a spin-off from the Devil May Cry series. I don't know if spin-off's the right word, but it wasn't once of the numbered games. They make really cinematic games, and this game looks really interesting, and it will be a ... I wanna say twenty-nine ninety-nine. And if you get it in the first ... I think there's a pre-order now, which knocks the price down even further. But the person who did the acting and the mocap for this, the actress, she actually was a video editor on the Ninja Theory team-
Larry: Down in Australia.
Jeff: I think they're in the UK.
Larry: I thought they were in Australia.
Jeff: Uh, sure, maybe. I think she's Dutch, so it's a real international melange. It's a real banneton that way. And so, she [crosstalk 00:29:07]
Larry: Won an award!
Jeff: And she did a fantastic job, so I'm really looking forward to playing this on Xbox One.
Larry: She won a major award.
Jeff: Yes, Jeff Keele handed it to her. That's as high as it gets, Larry.
April eleventh, so we're just two weeks out. I think two weeks from today we'll be playing this game, so yeah, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.
Larry: Thank you, Rogue, for getting that joke.
Laura: Was it Fred-gi-lay?
Larry: It was Frad-gile.
Jeff: That's Italian, like coca-lite. A coca-like.
Larry: We're just doing the show live, it's currently bottom of the hour, we've about thirty more minutes. Thank you for joining us on Twitter, we're doing a first time on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Mixer.
Couple weeks ago I had the chance to go down to Burbank as well, Jeffrey.
Laura: Yes, I'd love to hear about this.
Larry: Well I can't talk too much about it, 'cause it's gonna come out later this week, but I had the chance to interview Jeff Goldblum.
Laura: Yes! So cool.
Jeff: Clearly a better Jeff, I'll give it-
Larry: It was one of the most ... You'll see that on This Week On Xbox this Friday. I will say it was a fascinating experience.
Laura: I can imagine. He's so eccentric, you never really know what gonna come out of his mouth, so [inaudible 00:30:11] an adventure.
Jeff: Can we share some of this?
Larry: Which one do you want me to tell?
Jeff: Where he starts singing?
Larry: Oh, okay, so this is a funny story. As you may or may not know, about six months ago my wife and I had a lovely daughter, and our first. So when Jeff Goldblum and I sat down, I'm getting my mic and they're setting some stuff up, and I introduce myself. And I said, 'Oh, we've got something in common, we're both recent fathers.' He says, 'Oh, really?' Cause he has a couple of kids, and he said, 'Well, did you have a boy or girl?' I said, 'Well, we had a baby girl.' And he started singing Isn't She Lovely, like under his breath for about two straight minutes.
Laura: Oh my goodness.
Larry: It was exactly what you would expect outta Jeff Goldblum, it was phenomenal.
Laura: Did you try and have a conversation with him while he was singing?
Larry: Oh, yeah, and then when I would talk to him, he was like, 'Isn't she ... ' It was like this whole soundtrack in his head going on.
Laura: Oh my goodness. That's amazing.
Larry: It was kinda spectacular. But you'll see that whole interview this week on This week On Xbox, which is our weekly show.
Jeff: I look forward to seeing it.
Larry: So, actually, a couple of the programming notes, this is a good time to point it out. We have PAX next week, Penny Arcade Expo in Boston. Normal we do the show, we're not doing the show this year because of schedules and all sorts of stuff. Jeff and I will be there, Laura unfortunately will not-
Laura: Sorry about that guys.
Larry: But we'll be out there doing a bunch of stuff, so maybe we should do something, Jeff. Maybe we should go down to the Shake Shack and we should ring up the corporate Amex.
Jeff: Yeah, who wants a milkshake? You really get a concrete. I don't know why it's called that, but it's darn good.
Larry: So we've got that coming up, and then I'm gonna be off the grid for a couple weeks. I'm taking ... I talked about my daughter-
Jeff: You and Jeff Goldblum are vacationing.
Larry: We're vacationing, so I'm gonna be offline from right after PAX until the beginning of May with my new daughter. So I'm gonna be doing some daughter stuff, but don't worry, if you follow me on Twitter, nothing will change.
Jeff: So who's doing Inside Xbox?
Larry: You're gonna be doing it, and maybe Laura.
Laura: We'll see.
Larry: So, the chatroom, it's up to you! Would you like to have Laura do it or Jeffrey?
Jeff: We know where this is gonna land, Laura.
Laura: Well, you have the face for weather.
Larry: Actually people- You have the face for weather. Yes, it's cold front.
Jeff: Yup.
Larry: It's an occluded front.
Jeff: Aa couple people said both, maybe we should do a tag-team.
Laura: Yeah, we can high-five it.
Larry: Anyway we got a lot going on, if you're at PAX East, we'd love to see you. 'Course there'll be the Xbox booth there, we got a lotta really cool stuff planned. But then I come back from PAX, and before I go away on, what is it, annual leave?
Jeff: Yeah.
Larry: On annual leave.
Jeff: I feel bad for Graham.
Larry: Ah, yeah, he should be here to defend himself.
Laura: Well he can't have as much annual leave.
Larry: But before we do that, we are doing the live show for Inside Xbox. We did one last month, it's gonna be a monthly event, and we're gonna do one. And we can't tell you what it is, but I have seen a little bit of the show run down and I'm really excited about the show. We're gonna see it later today.
Laura: Oh really?
Larry: Yeah, so, anyway, Inside Xbox. You'll hear all about that coming up next week.
Jeff: Thanks for watching if you watch that, by the way. The feedback was great, in that people gave us feedback. Some people, they were like, 'Well I like this, but I don't like this.' And believe me, we heard all of that. We shared all that with the producers.
Larry: Now what you don't know is, we had ... I had the parrots, those crazy parrots. Which, by the way, birds smell.
Laura: Mm, they do.
Larry: Terrible. And you got to play with the birds.
Jeff: I didn't want to. They just put it on my shoulder and I freaked out.
Larry: Oh, yeah, you did. But I actually ... Laura was backstage, with us.
Laura: I was. I was watching from backstage.
Larry: So there's the promo right there.
Laura: And I got to play with the birds as well. I did.
Larry: We didn't have ... Contractually we couldn't bring her on set, but we actually brought her, she was backstage and got to play with all the birds and it was a lot of fun.
Laura: I did, I got to hang out with the guys backstage, see all the secrets.
Larry: It was a lot of fun, we're looking forward to bringing the show back. It's a-
Jeff: Look at those gloves.
Laura: You had the glove.
Larry: Should I bring my gloves back for the next show?
Laura: Goodness gracious.
Jeff: I don't know.
Larry: I don't know.
Laura: Should you have been using the gloves with that controller?
Larry: Oh yeah, absolutely. I should have my gloves with me.
Jeff: You know people really liked the segment where you were playing music with Rare. We should send you off someplace and tech you an instrument next month. You can play the-
Laura: Hurdy-gurdy.
Jeff: The didgeridoo.
Larry: No, the hurdy-gurdy and the concertina.
Jeff: The concertina.
Larry: That's what looks like an accordion, it's a baby accordion. [crosstalk 00:34:18]
Laura: There it is, that's it.
Jeff: That was a very entertaining segment.
Larry: Yeah, apparently everyone seems to like the photo I took of Graham.
Jeff: I haven't seen this cut down, this is funny.
Larry: Remember that disturbing panorama that I took of Graham? [crosstalk 00:34:32] Scroll back on my Twitter-
Jeff: It was really disturbing, but very funny.
Larry: But anyway, alright, so there's a lot going on. We're gonna be at PAX, we have another episode of Inside Xbox coming out. Jeff, and maybe Laura are gonna be hosting This Week on Xbox. We have a ton of stuff, and even more stuff as we get ready for E3.
Laura: E3.
Jeff: Stuff, we got it.
Laura: Oh my goodness, is it E3 season already?
Larry: It is, kind of. It's been our E3 since January? December? We started planning for it.
Laura: Wow, that's right. You been preparing for months already.
Larry: Yeah, it's ... Seventy-five days, thank you Rob [crosstalk 00:35:09] Clammer Rob's in the room.
Jeff: Rob is ... Thank you Rob.
Laura: Got the countdown on, thank you.
Jeff: Keeping us honest.
Larry: Hey, how about April's games with gold? Hey, we'll announce them when we're ready. You can ask them as many times as you want-
Jeff: It's almost as if you've been asked this before, Larry.
Laura: Almost everyday I imagine.
Jeff: I think we can confidently say we'll announce them before April.
Larry: Yeah, that's the way it works.
Jeff: And that's pretty soon.
Laura: There's still a few more days left before April.
Larry: It is. Today's only the twenty-seventh or the twenty-eighth, depending upon where you are.
Jeff: And this is one of them thirty-one, yeah.
Laura: And then we have a few more days until April First, which is Larry's favorite day.
Larry: I stay off the internet April First.
Laura: I do too.
Larry: 'Cause it's just shenanigans.
Laura: I can't stand April.
Jeff: I like getting fooled.
Laura: Do you?
Larry: See now, you like that. Laura and I, have had this ... And Laura, you've known me a little bit longer than Jeff, but you guys know that I just don't have time for ... Don't do that to me, don't play with my emotions.
Laura: I think I've been able to narrow down why I don't like April Fools. It's because when I was a kid, I did like April Fools, and I would try and play pranks on my family. And one of the pranks I decided to play was to put a rubber band around the kitchen sink sprayer. So if you remember, back in the day, the kitchen sink sprayers used to be like a little gun.
Larry: Oh, which you would pull up and shh.
Laura: You'd pull it up, and then you would press the trigger, and it would spray. And we had one of those at the house, so I thought it would be really funny if I put a rubber band around the trigger, so that when you went to go wash your hands, you'd flip on the switch to turn the water on and it would spray you in the chest.
Jeff: That a phenomenal prank.
Laura: Yeah, and unfortunately I forgot that I had done that, and then went to wash my hands-
Jeff: You played yourself.
Larry: You backfired yourself.
Laura: So that's why I don't like April Fools Day.
Jeff: I just think it needs some work shopping. That's a good prank.
Laura: I was a creative prankster back in the day
Larry: Wait, so caffeinated dad in the chat says it happens to fall on Easter this year.
Laura: Oh, that's not a great day.
Larry: Oh.
Laura: Not the best timing.
Jeff: Well, we'll see.
Larry: Anyway, do we have anymore news to go through? Cause we're kinda cooking along here. It's one thirty-seven, that's four thirty-seven. You know people think, well this isn't live. Well of course it's live. We're looking at the chat. You have any questions in the chat, drop them in the chat on Mixer. If you're watching us on twitter, or on Facebook, thanks for joining us. Swing over to Mixer.com/MajorNelson, that's where we'll take your Q and A.
Jeff: Well there's one other game that we haven't gotten to play yet, that I was hoping we'd have a chance to play that is out now, and that I've heard amazing things bout. And that is A Way Out.
Laura: Oh.
Jeff: So this was a game, I feel like it was announced around E3 ... Or, no, it was at the Game Awards, I want to say. By EA and the Hazelight folks, who made Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons. Now this is a team that knows how to make a couch co-op game, and I heard that's a phenomenal way to play this sort of prison break game.
I wanna say it's twenty-nine dollars, and there may even be a demo for it. I've just heard just amazing stuff about it ... A game you don't wanna play by yourself, you wanna sit down, you wanna play with someone else, with a good friend. It is twenty-nine ninety-nine, and another three bucks off if you have EA Access, which of course you do.
And I ... We just need to sit down and play through this. We should stream it. That's what we should do.
Larry: Alright, we can do it. Maybe Laura.
Laura: I might be able to help with this one.
Larry: Okay, might be able to help. Alright, well-
Laura: I thought at the beginning that they were farming, and I was like, 'Oh, they're farming, I'm in.' But it's actually, he was cleaning the floor. So I'm like, hmm, maybe not.
Larry: I'm looking at the chat here, there's so many ... I don't know who asked the question. Hey, I see Green Skull in here, he's a big fan-
Laura: Hello!
Jeff: He's literally downstairs.
Larry: Yeah, he is. Somebody asked, I don't see it in here, but I did see the question go by. Are we gonna get Xbox quick on Mikey Barhan? I've asked him for two months straight-
Laura: He's a busy guy. [crosstalk 00:38:54]
Larry: It's not that he doesn't want to do it, he just ... I think he's got a meeting with Phil right now.
Jeff: He's on the Twitters though.
Larry: Considering I'm Phil's boss-
Laura: That's right, you should tell him what to do. You should be able to tell him what to do.
Larry: Yeah, so, we're definitely gonna get him on in the future. I've got him coming on, I've got Albert Penello coming.
Laura: We're getting Al on? Oh, good.
Larry: I've got ... We've got some guests coming on. We got a bunch of shows, we're gonna try make this format live in video on a monthly bases. But it's just a matter of me getting schedules with all the traveling, what we're doing, and I'm going ... You know you guys can do a show when I'm away.
Jeff: No we can't.
Laura: This isn't a show without you. It's the Major Nelson Radio Hour.
Larry: You could just leave this seat empty and give away all of my stuff, Laura.
Jeff: That part is actually ... That sounds like a good offer. I would do that.
Laura: Just kinda raid your office and just give stuff out.
Jeff: Sorry we gave your chair away Larry.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeff: Someone got a Herman Miller.
Larry: Now I actually want to point out something, is normally we do Name The Game. We're not doing Name The Game this show, you can go back and listen to the audio from the last show, so ... We'll give you another chance at that.
Laura: That's right, we'll give you some more time to send us your guesses.
Larry: I don't know when we're gonna have another show to do, because-
Laura: Because you're out April-
Larry: And we got PAX, we've got Inside Xbox, we've got a lot going on. We'll figure it out.
Jeff: When you get from Hawaii, that'll be a good time. We'll have a lot of pent up anger.
Larry: Did I just see ... You just gave away where I was going, 'cause I never said where I was going.
Laura: Yeah, whoops.
Jeff: Is that a problem?
Larry: No, I'm just merely saying, 'cause-
Jeff: Spoiler alert! Everybody stay out of Hawaii, Larry's closing it down.
Larry: I'll be on a private island. No I'm not. Alright, so, here we go-
Jeff: Couple of people asking about PixARK. That was a game that we talked about, had an interview actually during Inside Xbox, and that's out this week. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, so I don't have any opinion on it. Other than I thought ARK was really cool. And they're local folks, they live right down the street from us. Well, they work right down the street from us. Yeah, worth giving a shot.
Larry: Quick note, in the chatroom it was mentioned A Way Out is Co-Op only.
Laura: Oh, it is.
Larry: That was what the chat was saying, I believe it is, but I haven't had a chance-
Jeff: I didn't know if they did it sort of like ... Because with Brothers I feel like you could control both of them. I forget how they did that.
Larry: Wasn't it left stick, right stick? [crosstalk 00:41:05] And your head was like, BOOM.
Laura: It was crazy, that's how I played it.
Jeff: Or there might be something where like a-
Larry: Mr. Cozo, yes, this is a Duke sitting on a chest. Can we zoom in on that a little bit?
Laura: Oh, another mention of the Duke.
Larry: Some new folks joining in want us to take a look at the Duke. This is the Limited Edition Duke that you can see. In fact, watch this. That's the original Xbox boot-up animation. That's on an LCD screen there, so it's kinda awesome. This in a limited edition green, that I think only fifteen of these were made, so there's fourteen floating around out there somewhere.
Jeff: Ryan McCaffrey got one.
Larry: Does he? Does Ryan have one?
Jeff: Oh, he does.
Larry: I'll have to go talk to Ryan. I need to go back on that show. He wants to have me on that show-
Jeff: Podcast unlocked.
Larry: He's got two podcasts that he wants me on.
Jeff: Oh, the Tesla one.
Laura: Awesome.
Jeff: He's an industrious man.
Larry: He is, he's busy busy. Ryan's a good guy. Looking forward to ... I don't know if he's gonna be at PAX. Are you gonna be at PAX? If you're gonna be at PAX, drop a note in the chat, we'd love to know.
Laura: I see a question in the chat about Name The Game. Someone is asking if they can enter again from last show, and please don't. We're just giving people some extra time if you didn't get a chance to listen to the last show. Go back and listen to the last show, and do the Name The Game there and send us an email. If you already gave us your guess, that's great, you've already entered for this time. Thank you very much, and we will pay it off in a future show.
Larry: Yeah, we'll choose a winner and ... In fact, I'll make a commitment. We'll choose a winner, whenever we do the next time, but we'll double down on the prizes.
Laura: Extra prizes?
Larry: Extra prizes.
Laura: We already gave a ton of prizes away.
Larry: We're gonna do tons more.
Laura: Oh my goodness, tons more. I wonder if we'll be able to carry them to the next show. We'll have to get a little wagon, pull them along.
Larry: Maybe we should just pile them up here, instead of Graham or our guest. We'll just kind of leave them right here.
Jeff: So I love this chat, the people that are in there right now. It's very like, someone asked a question, then someone else answers it, and generally pretty accurately. I've seen now three questions on when are Black Desert Online coming out, when are Starbound coming out? Is Harold Halibut out? We didn't have release dates on any of those titles, so ... I asked the Wargroove team, 'cause I want it, and they're like, 'It's done when it's done.' But when they do have a release dat, it'll be on Xbox Wire, it'll be on Major Nelson, and we'll of course be talking about those games. 'Cause want to play them.
Larry: HaloExpert70 wants to know if we've played Farcry 5 yet. We talked about that at the top of the show. What else we got going on here. We're just kinda going through the chat. If you're watching us on Twitter, Facebook, thank you, but we're looking at the chat over on Mixer.com/MajorNelson.
Laura: Yup, if you have a question please drop it on in the chat.
Larry: Yeah, 'cause in lieu of Mikey Bar being here ... Hit him up on Twitter and tell him he was missed on the show today. He'll love that. What? I'm Twitter brigading people.
Laura: You are!
Larry: I know, I shouldn't be doing this. Sending people after-
Jeff: That's a ... There should be a law.
Larry: Hey, if you're watching this on Twitter, let us know what you think. It's the first time we've done it on Twitter, and hopefully it's in line. In fact, I don't even know, is it in line? Did you check to see if it's on your phone?
Laura: I'll check now.
Larry: So we wanna see what that looks like.
So where's my ... Daft wants to know where my Xbox Nexus button pin is. Uh, it's in my bag. I don't wear it. What am I gonna wear it here, like this?
Jeff: Well it's sort of like if a Politian doesn't wear their flag pin, it's like-
Larry: They're not American?
Jeff: Well, maybe. So, maybe do you even still work here anymore?
Larry: Oh, here we go. Here we go, see this is ... Okay, there's the headline at Kotaku.
Jeff: I don't ... I think you're in the building, you do work ... Let's see your badge, Lar.
Something else I actually played this weekend, I hear the kids are playin' it. Fortnight Battle Royal, have you played this at all?
Laura: Oh yeah. I have.
Larry: Yeah, I've played it mobile too.
Laura: You can play it on mobile?
Jeff: The mobile version's really cool.
Laura: How did it work on mobile?
Larry: Uh, I died at ninety-eight. With ninety-eight left.
Jeff: I made it to thirteen, the first time I ... You know what, it comes out really good, and the PUBG mobile is really good too. The team did a really good job.
Larry: PUBG is really, it's really ... Oh that's nice, I'm sorry, I'm looking at the ... Oh, this is kinda cool. We're actually live on the camera, you can see us right on the Twitters.
Jeff: There's not much about Fortnight that hasn't been said, I think it's just really interesting to compare and contrast the experience with PUBG, because on the surface obviously their similar, but everything about it is so different. Especially when you get into the end game. Personally I find that In Fortnight it's easier for me to make it into the top ten or fifteen, but then it becomes really building heavy, which is a skill that we're seeing right here that I just don't have. Actually, it's really useful to watch the Hype Zone for Fortnight-
Larry: Right here on Mixer.
Jeff: Yeah, just to see how people handle it at the end. Because that's where it starts to become a completely different game.
Laura: Absolutely.
Jeff: I mean, obviously plenty of people are playing it, including Drake.
Laura: Is he?
Jeff: Drake's a fan. Yeah.
Laura: I saw he was streaming, was it last week [crosstalk 00:45:56]
Larry: Yeah, it was a couple weeks ago. [crosstalk 00:45:58]
Laura: Pretty cool.
Larry: I'm just looking this through if we have any other-
Jeff: Lot of requests for Terry Crews on the show. Can we get Terry Crews-
Larry: Yeah, for Crackdown. You know, maybe I'll work on getting Terry. I had a great chat with he and his wife when we were at Comic-Con last year. So I'll see if I can get him on.
Laura: That's pretty awesome.
Larry: I was actually trying to get Zak on. Zak Penn.
Laura: Oh, really?
Larry: So we'll talk about that. I had a chance to go screen the new movie Ready player One last night.
Laura: Yeah, you did.
Jeff: Tell us what you can tell us without spoiling.
Larry: It opens this week in the United States. I think it opens globally with everywhere else, and it was a lot of fun. I mean it is a kaleidoscope for the eyes. It is very beautiful. The way I described it to Jeff was, it's Willy Wonka meets The Goonies. So there you go.
Laura: Is that ... That's interesting, because I read the book. I haven't seen the movie myself. I'm trying to think about Willy Wonka and the Goonies. Yeah, maybe.
Larry: So the connection we have to that movie is, when Jeff and I went to Alamogordo, New Mexico, to dig up the ET cartridges.
Jeff: Four years ago.
Larry: Four years ago-
Laura: Wow, was it that long.
Larry: We were out there in the desert, and Zak Penn was directing and shooting and doing this whole documentary. And I'll never forget this, 'cause you and I were there in the stench of garbage in the middle of the New Mexican desert.
Jeff: You wouldn't believe, it smelled like a dump.
Larry: Who knew? And all of a sudden I hear the ... It was Huey Lewis, wasn't it?
Jeff: No, no it was either the Star Wars theme or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Larry: And here comes Ernie Cline [crosstalk 00:47:33] in a Delorean.
Jeff: With the Wing doors up.
Larry: By the way, it wasn't his Delorean.
Laura: What?
Larry: Do you know who's Delorean it was?
Jeff: I do.
Larry: Jeff?
Jeff: George R. R. Martian.
Laura: What?
Larry: He borrowed George R. R. Martian's Delorean, drove it to Alamogordo, New Mexico, and brings it into a landfill.
Laura: Wow.
Jeff: And you know what, back then, Winds of Winter was still years away.
Larry: That's right.
Jeff: And today, still waiting.
Larry: Still waiting.
So anyway, so Zak is there, and that's when they met. Now fast forward a few years later, or maybe a year or two later, and Ready Player One is now opted to become a major motion picture, as they say in Hollywood. Steven Spielberg is directing it, and apparently, because of that meeting, Zak, who had met Ernie Cline, the author, they now get connected. So Zak ... There's the trailer for the film right here. Zak is the screen writer for Ready Player One. All because of us, Jeff.
Jeff: Can I tell you about a regret from that trip?
Larry: Yes.
Jeff: So I had not yet Ready Player One. I ended up reading-
Laura: You haven't read it yet?
Jeff: No, I have now. But back in 2014 I hadn't, and I think it was right around the time that his new book had just got the release date announced, whatever it was. Can't remember the name of it. And Ernie Cline ended up throwing a party, while we were there at the local mini golf [inaudible 00:48:58] Alamogordo, New Mexico. You know, it's a small down.
Laura: Not many choices.
Jeff: And I got invited to that.
Larry: I don't remember that.
Jeff: And I didn't go, because-
Laura: Did you go?
Larry: No, I didn't get an invite.
Jeff: No. I would have brought you.
Larry: No, who knew?
Jeff: I think he said plus one. And I didn't go, 'cause I was tired. We were ... I mean you've never been dirtier.
Larry: We stunk.
Jeff: We looked we had been crawling around in landfill all day.
Larry: And we were.
Jeff: And we had. So I'm just not feeling it, and I wanna say there was someone there that I had known, and anyway somehow got an invitation, and I didn't go. Then I read Ready Player One, and then it blew up-
Larry: And then you're [crosstalk 00:49:29]
Laura: Oh, I missed out. [crosstalk 00:49:33]
Larry: So anyway, Ready Player One, I had a chance to see it last night and it was a lot of fun. I will say this, and obviously I'm not gonna give away spoilers, there are quite a few references to Xbox characters in the game. You'll see some.
Laura: Awesome, I'm looking forward to it.
Larry: I shared some at lunch today with Jeff and he was yelling at me for spoilers.
Jeff: Oh yeah, you ruined half the movie.
Larry: I did not! Ah, but it's a lot of fun, and there's a lot of ... For those of us that, like I'm sure a lot of the viewers are, we work in games, we love games, we're in that culture. This is for you. You will love this. I mean they even bring up Gamer-Tech?
Laura: Really? Awesome.
Larry: Yeah, it's actually a pivotal plot point, that's all I'm gonna say.
Laura: I tweeted out a question about two or three months ago about what are the top three books that a gamer should read, and almost every response that I got had Ready Player One as one of those three.
Larry: Really?
Laura: Yes, so it is a highly recommended book from you, the community.
Larry: What were the other two, do you remember?
Jeff: Ender's Game or something like that?
Laura: Ender's Game was popular ... I can't remember off the top of my head. I should prepare a report.
Larry: Yes, Laura will do so.
Laura: I can report back next week, but Ready Player One was definitely ... Nearly the top of the list.
Jeff: Yeah his second book, Armada was what it was called, was also very video game-y in a way.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: Anyway, so I saw that. If you get a chance to see it this weekend, no spoilers, hit me up on Twitter @MajorNelson, let me know what you think. When does the film open, is it Friday or Thursday?
Jeff: It's Wednesday, I wanna say. Isn't that tomorrow night?
Larry: Nothing says Easter weekend like a tach film.
Jeff: I'm sure it's gonna do fine.
Larry: No, it's just ... I actually thought it was summer blockbuster, it was coming out later this year.
Laura: Oh, right.
Larry: Then all of a sudden I was like, oh. Oh, oh!
Jeff: No, everyone's gotta get out of the way for Avengers.
Laura: Yeah, that's true.
Jeff: Which is not that far off either.
Larry: Or Solo.
Jeff: Someone just asked, are you team Cap or team Iron Man?
Larry: I'm gonna have to decline to comment, 'cause it'll be polarizing. We don't talk politics or comic book heroes on this.
Laura: Favorite, a favorite super hero.
Jeff: I didn't say DC or Marvel, you're allowed to choose between the two.
Larry: So anyway, a lot of fun there, that was ... It was an interesting movie, so I know you're gonna see it, probably this weekend, Laura?
Laura: I'm seeing it this weekend, yes.
Larry: So next time we get together we can talk about it.
Laura: We can talk spoilers.
Larry: Jeff is gonna se it as well, and-
Jeff: Oh yeah, probably this weekend.
Larry: What is [inaudible 00:51:49] what have you started? Yeah, I don't know what you started.
Jeff: Because I asked you to answer polarizing questions. Cats or dogs, Larry?
Larry: Alright, so Star Trek or Star Wars?
Laura: Oh man, that's rough. Oh that is really rough.
Jeff: Star Wars, although I like Next Generation, but I haven't ... Yeah, that's fine.
Laura: I have seen every episode of TNG, twice.
Jeff: I'll live with it. Don't at me.
Laura: I'm gonna at you.
Larry: At him! @jeffrubenstein, he's also the complaint department for the show. Thanks for tuning in guys, we're just kinda wrapping up the show here, 'cause we're getting ready. Something's going on at two o'clock today, right Jeff?
Jeff: Yeah. So Desiigner, the rapper who had a song Panda, one of the most downloaded songs of last year, if not the most downloaded song of last year? At least the video. Is gonna be playing Farcry 5 on Mixer.com/Xbox-
Larry: In just about ten minutes.
Jeff: Yeah, so you should see him. He's famous.
Larry: We're essentially the lead in for that show.
Laura: We're the opening act?
Larry: I don't know-
Jeff: Larry, once you're nominated for a Teen Choice award, then you know-
Larry: Again?
Jeff: We'll lead into you.
Larry: Again?
Jeff: Were you? You might have been.
Laura: That would have backfired on you, wouldn't it if it was actually true.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, three time winner, and I have 'em with me.
Larry: Not so much.
Alright, so we're wrapping up the show here. We're getting you ready so you can go watch him play Farcry 5, or yourself, play Farcry 5.
Jeff: You can do both, that's the good thing about streaming.
Larry: Yeah, and I wish we knew when we were gonna be on ... Hold on a second. 'Major Nelson, why are you talking about movies and games, Worcester no games to play?' I don't know what that means.
Jeff: What about Worcester?
Larry: What about Worcester?
Jeff: Worcester, Mass?
Larry: I've been there.
Jeff: I know, that's why you're reading that comment.
Larry: My sister lives out there.
Jeff: Yeah, but it might have been a typo on a phone.
Laura: [crosstalk 00:53:26] Maybe it auto-completes.
Larry: That's a weird ... Instead of ... Anyway, I don't even know what that means. Alright, so anything you wan to say Laura, before we wrap up? 'Cause I wanna get the guys ready, cause they've gotta get on. We've got another show coming up today at three. Oh Lenox, he's our director, do we have a show coming up at three today?
Lenox: Yeah, tips and tricks.
Larry: Tips and Tricks, right on the Xbox channel, starting today at six o'clock eastern, that is three o'clock pacific. It's us, and then, Jeff? The rapper?
Jeff: Oh, Desiigner, he's next, in six minutes.
Larry: He's in six minutes. So we have you covered right here on Mixer. If you're watching on Twitter and Facebook, head over to Mixer.com/Xbox for all of the fun, and that's where it's gonna be.
Alright, we're gonna wrap it up so you guys can take, what we call in the games business, a bio-break. So you can get ready for the next hour, right Jeff?
Jeff: You're really letting everyone in, the curtain's been raised. [crosstalk 00:54:16] Bio-breaks.
Larry: Alright, Laura, any final words before we wrap up?
Laura: Thanks guys for watching, we appreciate you tuning in.
Larry: Alright, Jeff?
Jeff: Yeah, thanks, continue watching-
Larry: You can follow Laura on Twitter, you can follow her at.
Laura: You can find me @lauralollipop.
Larry: All complaints and foul language, please direct to,
Laura: @jeffrubenstein, you're going to at me.
Larry: My name's Larry Hryb, @MajorNelson, you can see me online, of course on your twitter and on your Xbox every Friday.
Jeff: So the other six days, please enjoy your Xbox.
Larry: Alright guys, we'll talk to you next time. Thanks for watching. Bu-bye everybody!
Laura: Bu-bye.

Larry: Hello, podcast listeners. Welcome to the show, number 617. My name is Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. We're back in the studio.
Jeff: We didn't forget about you.
Larry: We didn't forget about you. You may have thought we had, but we've been doing video. We've been doing Inside Xbox. Laura is here. Hi, Laura.
Laura: Hello.
Larry: It's nice to have the gang is back. It's just the three of us. And we don't have any special guests. We're just doing a nice, kind of old school show here.
Laura: That's right. I'm glad to be back in front of a microphone, not in front of a camera.
Larry: In front a camera, which people enjoy. We're not. We're in your ears and not in your face and your ears.
Jeff: Yeah, so stop looking around, like where are they? I hear their voice. I know they're here somewhere.
Larry: We are, we're right here.
Jeff: It's just this.
Larry: The most surprising thing when we do these mixer video podcast, you know what it is, Laura?
Laura: What is the most surprising thing?
Larry: The number of people who are like "That's what Jeff looks like?"
Jeff: Why does that keep happening? What do you all think I ... What am I supposed to look like?
Larry: I've just -, I don't -, I've known you for a long time and I just don't know. People have this mental image of you.
Jeff: What is that image? That's the thing? Is real life better or worse? It seems really unclear.
Laura: Surely there is an artist out there that has this impression of you. Maybe that artist could draw what they think you look like.
Jeff: That's not such a bad idea.
Larry: It's gonna look like one of those weird midway caricatures.
Jeff: Oh, my God.
Laura: Send us your pictures.
Jeff: No.
Larry: Send us your pictures to the show.
Laura: What is Jeff supposed to look like? What do you think his voice means translated into a picture?
Jeff: There was even a YouTube comment that just said, "He does not look like what I expected. It's very disturbing."
Larry: I didn't see that one.
Jeff: Oh, I did, because I sent it to the show producer and I'm like, "If you don't want me back in episode two, I understand."
Larry: Speaking of, we did an episode of Inside Xbox.
Laura: We did.
Larry: We brought it back, which it's now back as a monthly live show, Laura, used to be a pre-recorded show. We have This Week on Xbox, and we have Inside Xbox. The difference is simple. This Week on Xbox is like the new show, and Inside Xbox is like, you know, 20/20 or 60 Minutes, it's a news magazine.
Jeff: Nobody knows what that means. Too many numbers.
Larry: It's a news magazine, meaning we go more in depth.
Laura: No one knows what that means either, Larry, no one gets magazines anymore.
Jeff: It means you talk with the music guy on air.
Larry: Here, you want to know what it means, it means I have parrots, okay.
Laura: Okay, cool.
Larry: Although they weren't parrots.
Jeff: Macaws.
Larry: No, they weren't Macaws either, someone corrected me. They are apparently a type of bird from Brazil.
Laura: Oh.
Jeff: Oh.
Larry: I didn't know that either, so I apologize to all the Ornithologists.
Jeff: They were very intelligent. They could do a lot of things.
Larry: They actually commented to me that you didn't look anything like you sound.
Jeff: They did? The birds said that too?
Larry: They actually, we had a good time. We did Xbox Live last week, you came by the set, Laura, so good to see you.
Laura: I did. Thank you for inviting me.
Larry: You're like, "hey, let's come by." We did that live on Saturday, Jeff and I were there. We had Rakori and Graham who of course have been on the show, we had Alex, we had quite the gang there. It was a lot of fun, wasn't it?
Jeff: We actually had a really good time. If you have to work on a Saturday, y'all are the people I want to have to work with.
Larry: It was a ton of fun and we got some great feedback. We gave some stuff away and we'll do it again next month. I don't know when it is next month, I don't know what we're talking about next month, but we're doing a show next month. That's the good news, Laura.
Laura: Good for that good news.
Larry: You want the bad news?
Laura: What is the bad news?
Larry: The bad news is unfortunately, speaking of next month, we will not be doing a podcast at Pack East this year. Unfortunately, it just did not work out. I apologize. I will be there. I'll be on site. Jeff, you'll be on site. Laura you're not going to join us this year, unfortunately.
Laura: Unfortunately, not, no.
Larry: We couldn't do a podcast, unfortunately, it did not come together this year, but don't worry about it. We'll be there, Jeff and I.
Jeff: There's always Prime, right?
Larry: There's always, what? Yes.
Laura: West Prime.
Larry: West.
Laura: Tech West.
Larry: When you said Prime, I was like, "We're on Amazon Prime, now?" I don't know what I was thinking.
Jeff: You didn't realize that?
Laura: I was thinking, Amazon?
Larry: We'll be in your ears in two days or less. Free shipping.
Jeff: Yes.
Larry: Anyways, that's a little programming note along that and then we've got some other programming notes coming up, but we'll talk about those later.
Laura: Do you know when your next Inside Xbox is going to be?
Larry: We don't. We just know it's next month. They haven't told Jeff. I think it's got to be before the 14th or 15th because I'm headed out. I'm going to be taking holiday.
Jeff: There's no show without you.
Larry: Well, there is.
Jeff: There is, it's just not a good one.
Larry: No, that's not true.
Jeff: We need the, "This is Inside Xbox." That pause. You know, it's just great. I expected it to be longer and longer each episode.
Larry: Did you hear me working on the pause when you were back because you were behind me. Do you remember the dramatic open, Laura? With the thing and the whole-. I'll tell you the funny behind the scenes story, that is, so we get into our positions, do the show open, Jeff does his speech, and then Graham, and then Jeff, and then Alex, and Rikari. They have to come to me, I'm standing at the front of the stage, if you go back and watch the tape. I have to step in front of the camera, the lights turn on and then the boom, the frame is in my, it does everything to frighten the hell out of, not just one bird, but two birds.
Laura: Two birds on your shoulders.
Larry: They were like, wait a minute the lights just went on, wait a minute the camera's moving, what's going on? They kind of panicked a little, but then they settled down.
Jeff: It could have went awry in many, many ways, but did not.
Larry: They did tell me, The Parrot Lady, and that is her name.
Jeff: Yes.
Laura: Yes.
Jeff: Doc Caw.
Larry: The Parrot Lady.
Laura: I saw her van. The Parrot Lady.
Larry: Theparrotlady.com. She, the pet wrangler, she was very nice, she told me that, because we were talking about Sea of Thieves and pirates. That's why pirates have eye patches because apparently the parrots would, or the birds, Macaws, or Brazilian, they would peck the pirate's eyes out.
Jeff: They called that one on your right shoulder the Widow maker.
Laura: Oh, God.
Larry: Thank you. I had one on each shoulder. I could have been dead.
Jeff: She put it on my shoulder later and I didn't like it.
Laura: Did you put your hands over your eyes while the camera rolled?
Larry: No, Laura, I did not. I'll tell you what I did keep my hands on. My nose.
Jeff: They smell great.
Larry: They did not smell, they smelled like the wrong part of the jungle.
Jeff: It's an animal.
Larry: Yeah, it's an animal precisely. Alright, well we're getting along there. Inside Xbox, that will come up next month, we'll have you, you know what, maybe we'll have you on a show, Laura.
Laura: I'd love to be on a show.
Larry: What would you like to do for a segment? I'll talk to the show producers.
Laura: I'd love to be.
Larry: Our show producers watch our podcast and listen to this show so their always like, "Hey, maybe we can get Jeff on, maybe we can get Laura on."
Laura: Yeah, happy to help.
Larry: I said, I'm easy, Jeff's easy, Laura's a little bit of a diva. NO, that's not true.
Laura: I'll at least ask for an eye patch.
Larry: Yeah, an eye patch.
Jeff: Only green M&M's, in the green room.
Larry: Anyway, let's jump into the show.
Jeff: Let's do it.
Larry: Do you want to go into what we're playing? I mean, I haven't had a chance to play much of anything lately.
Laura: What? You've been on the road.
Larry: I was on the road. I was taking a look at the new Jurassic Park game.
Laura: Amazing.
Larry: Looks.
Jeff: It's like a park builder, right?
Larry: It's a SIM game. Yeah.
Jeff: I'm all about that.
Laura: Oh my gosh, that sounds super fun.
Larry: We're going to have more details the week on Xbox. Later on this month, I happened to spend a couple days in L.A.
Jeff: Down there in Island Nublar?
Larry: That's exactly where I was.
Laura: Nice.
Larry: It was a lot of fun.
Jeff: Of the coast of Chile.
Larry: We have a special guest coming up On Xbox in the future. You can probably figure out who that is. He's going to cause chaos.
Jeff: Will he find a way?
Larry: He will find a way. It's a delightful talk about that in the future. Yeah, I haven't really been able to play that much other than I've been playing a little bit of Fortnite, just like a couple of friends of mine.
Jeff: Your good friend Drizzy?
Larry: Drizzy.
Laura: Tell it. I saw this on Twitter last night and I had no idea what was happening.
Larry: Why didn't you text us? We would have explained it to you.
Laura: I had no idea, tell me what happened.
Jeff: Basically, Ninja is a major streamer, he plays Fortnite and he's been enjoying quite a lot of success. At some point, a couple of weeks ago, Drake followed him on Instagram and everybody noticed this. They were playing, they were running duos and what is that sound? Basically, everyone started watching. Kim.com showed up and a player from the Steelers showed up. Rappers showed up.
Larry: It turned into the weird pop-up event.
Jeff: It was insane.
Laura: It wasn't a scheduled thing?
Jeff: It wasn't a scheduled thing, it was just a thing. It ended up, everyone was watching. It was pretty entertaining.
Laura: Yeah, I saw Twitter explode. I was like, what is this? If I knew it was going to happen, I would have tuned it. It sounds pretty entertaining.
Larry: I was on a plane back from L.A. or I would have joined as well. Oh well.
Jeff: It was crazy. It was just one of those things.
Larry: Have you had a chance to check Fortnite out?
Laura: Oh, yeah. I've played Battle Royale.
Larry: Do you build? I'm sorry.
Laura: I do enjoy the building.
Larry: Are we going to play together some time?
Laura: We should. I'm much better at this than Pub G.
Larry: You are? Okay. I'm much better at Pub G than this.
Laura: I know. Maybe-.
Larry: Jeff, you're the tie breaker on this.
Jeff: Right. I have not played Fortnite Battle Royale. I've played a lot of Pub. I'm happy to come in there and jump in with you. I've played the original version.
Larry: Hello, fellow kids, we'll play.
Jeff: Exactly. Maybe Drake will show up. Or maybe Young MC. We're not going to get top echelon rappers joining us.
Larry: Nor do we want that.
Jeff: No, well, you know.
Larry: What are you playing Laura? Other than Fortnite? You said you've been playing.
Laura: I haven't had too much of a chance to play either, this week. It's been a busy one for me, as well, but I do want to jump back into Fortnite, it looks like they've made some updates and it's been.
Larry: The guys at Epic, we've known the guys at Epic for years and they're doing great work down there. They just, whatever kind of Battle Royale game, we got you covered.
Laura: I've played both Pub G and Fortnite and they differ in a few ways. The big thing's that you can do some building in Fortnite. You can construct things around you to help you with your mission, or you can construct ramps to get from one place to the other, but you have to collect materials. It's a little bit Mindcraftesque, that you have to break down things and collect materials so you can go build and so something else. I really love that component of it.
Larry: There's another game you may like. Jeff and I played it. The Darwin Project.
Laura: No, what is it?
Jeff: Yeah, so it is a much smaller Battle Royale, ten people, but the defining characteristic is it's got a live director. This person is observing everything that's happening and can help or hinder play.
Larry: I'm sorry, I'm laughing because of-.
Jeff: We'll talk about that.
Larry: We'll talk about that.
Jeff: It makes it a lot more Hunger Gamesy. It's not random, where's the circle going to happen next, or where is the red zone or something like that. It's like no, it is deliberate. Hey, we're going to remove gravity in this section and then craziness happens. Or we're going to drop Health, this person was daring, we'll give them a little bit of a bonus. There's some minor crafting and you can get better shoes, cold is a persistent thing and over time you will get cold if you don't build fires. You can actually craft a coat that makes that happen less often.
Laura: If you craft a fire, does that make you more visible to others?
Jeff: Yes, people will see the fire.
Laura: This is really close to the Hunger Games. It sounds really good.
Jeff: It's really enter-, we had a great time playing it. We were playing it the night before it went live, we were just helping to test out the dotting of the lower case j's and the crossing of the t's. We ended up in a game and Larry was the director and I was in the game. Let's just say-.
Laura: You were the director?
Larry: Yeah, I was the director.
Jeff: Let's just say I won that game handedly.
Laura: Really?
Larry: As the director you have this super god view and you're able to zoom around and look at people and you can see the whole playing field. You can decide what zones to close, what impacts the game. You can't do everything at once. I think you have to build up, I think they're called action points. At one point you can buff people or give them shields. Jeff's in the field, I'm buffing him. Jeff's in a battle, I'm giving him a shield.
Jeff: The odds were in my favor.
Laura: They were ever in your favor.
Jeff: Ever in my favor, thank you.
Larry: It tells you don't do that, so we kind of.
Jeff: We were just-. It's probably bankable in real life.
Larry: We were just testing. It was in the name of testing.
Jeff: It's really fun. It has just a different feel than any other Battle Royal game I've played. I definitely recommend giving it a go. It's in game preview right now and it's relatively affordable. At least watching some videos on it and see if it fits your speed.
Laura: For sure. How does the director win? Is there a way?
Larry: There isn't really a way for the director to win. You just are, Laura.
Laura: You just happen to be there.
Larry: You happen to be there and you're part of the game flow, but there's no, not that I saw, but again, Jeff and I were playing some of the pre-release so there may have been some win state that I'm unaware of.
Jeff: It's game preview so it will change. It will take your feedback and it will get better and they love that. Developers are, I think they're from Montreal. Good people.
Larry: I believe that, yeah. In fact, that's right, because remember, when we were playing in your game, one of the other guys was a developer.
Laura: Oh, that's cool.
Larry: I was buffing you, much to the chagrin of the developer.
Jeff: I beat him.
Larry: That's right, I do remember this now.
Jeff: You won the first game, so we did alright.
Larry: We did alright. Without any extracurricular assistance.
Jeff: You killed me. The first game I ever had they just threw up a big screen and said, "Major Nelson killed you."
Larry: Bam.
Jeff: Not for the last time I'm sure.
Larry: It was fun.
Jeff: Anyway.
Larry: What else are we playing? Jeffrey?
Jeff: My in-laws are in town, which is just phenomenal. Good people, they're just really good people. Quiet, don't take up a lot of space.
Laura: I'm sure they love you.
Jeff: I'm being totally honest right now. Anyway, they're staying in my game room. In the room where I play all of my games, so I've been on the laptop and fortunately Final Fantasy, I'm playing a lot of it.
Larry: That explains that.
Jeff: It came out and I picked that up and I've been playing on my laptop. You know, it looks phenomenal. It looks really good. It's also been updated on Xbox One and Xbox One in hand. I imagine it looks great there too, I just can't have access to my Xbox right now. I've been playing a lot of City Skyline, which is something we talked about. The Windows 10 edition of that. The Xbox One edition will be coming too Xbox GamePass in April. Absolutely keep you eyes out for that. Actually had time to sit down and play Age of Empires Definitive Edition.
Larry: That's what you were playing.
Jeff: I played a lot of it. You know what, there's a lot of game there. It took me way back and after a match or two. It's a game from 1997, essentially, getting used to the mechanics of it. After a round, I was like oh I am totally back into this. I just enjoy building up the cities and advancing the tech. Running around with Hoplite and elephants and stomping.
Laura: That sounds super fun.
Jeff: Catapults and things like that. It's a good time. The announcer's just so over the, he should have done something else. The announcer is very over the top. I don't know if it's the original, because-.
Larry: Are you implying I'm over the top?
Laura: I think that's what he was implying.
Jeff: I don't think I'm implying, I think I'm pretty much talking about it.
Larry: I can take it down a notch, if you want.
Jeff: Nobody wants that.
Larry: I can be relaxed.
Jeff: No, just do it.
Laura: If he had a range.
Jeff: He does. This, dot, dot, dot, is Inside Xbox. I love that. I was back there. I laugh, if you see the retake, I'm just laughing.
Larry: Why are you laughing at me?
Jeff: It's just so you, that it was great.
Larry: Okay. This ... is Inside Xbox.
Jeff: The pause was pregnant with silence.
Larry: You remember I was deciding where to put the pause in. I was, in the beginning, anyway.
Laura: This ... is.
Larry: I think I say this, and then I think I look at the two parrots and-.
Jeff: Yeah, maybe that was it.
Larry: I don't know. Whatever.
Jeff: It was great.
Larry: Go back and watch. The VOD is on Youtube.comXbox.
Jeff: And Mixxer and other places.
Larry: We've got to do another video podcast, speaking of that Laura.
Laura: We should. Do we have one on the schedule?
Larry: We don't.
Laura: April's a bit crazy.
Larry: April's a bit crazy because we've got PACS, of which we just talked about, and then we come back and then we do an Inside Xbox I think sometime, then I'm out. We'll do one in early May, I promise. That will be the next time we do it. It's tough to think about May when we're in March, but we got to do what we got to do. What else we got Jeffrey? We got some headlines?
Jeff: Let's get into some headlines. Actually one place that would be awesome to do a live podcast, obviously we're not committing to this because we have to talk to people, would be E3.
Larry: Oh, E3.
Jeff: That would be fun.
Laura: That would be fun.
Larry: Not only could we do it at E3, but have you seen the news? Laura?
Laura: I haven't see the news.
Larry: We're going to E3. Well, Jeffrey.
Jeff: Well, in what I feel is a really fun and appropriate move, Xbox's E3 presence will be centered at the Microsoft Theater. It's really, if you know the L.A. library, it's a stone's throw from the convention center, like literally. Across Chacurn Street, or whatever it's called.
Larry: It's like 50 feet behind the Marriott.
Jeff: Yeah, it's good for a lot of the people that ended up staying there. It's a wonderful facility. I got to visit down there during the game awards.
Larry: I was at the game awards.
Jeff: Yes, I know, and it was a huge stage. I think that will empower more people to come and be in our briefing. You know, it's essentially going to be our booth as well. We'll of course have a booth in the convention center and that will be focused on Mixxer. We're going to be in more places than ever.
Larry: It's going to be great to be at the Microsoft Theater, as Jeff said, we were down there for the game awards. This is, I don't know if you know this Laura ...
Laura: Nope.
Larry: This is a world-class theater. I think they have the Grammy awards there.
Jeff: The B.E.T. awards are there.
Larry: This is legit.
Laura: Why is it called the Microsoft Theater?
Larry: Because we have naming rights.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: It's almost like why is it called Century Field, or why is it called-?
Laura: Has it always been called Microsoft Theater?
Larry: It used to be called Nokia, and then we bought Nokia, and then apparently part of that deal we got phones and names. I think, I don't actually know all the details. That's what it seems like.
Laura: It's called the Microsoft Theater outside of E3.
Larry: Yes.
Laura: Okay, that I was unclear on. That's pretty cool.
Larry: Yeah, if you go look you'll see there's a lot going on with the Microsoft Theater.
Jeff: It's just a wonderful, it's just really nice. I'm very excited to see what we do with it.
Larry: I can't wait to see what my green room looks like.
Laura: Will there be green M&M's?
Larry: No. Maybe. Anyway, excited about that. What else you got there, Jeff?
Jeff: Alright, we were talking about Pub G and we were talking about Fortnite, and actually news on both sides there. Pub G has now reached 5 million players on Xbox One.
Laura: Wow.
Jeff: That's crazy. The game only came out in December?
Larry: December, right.
Jeff: Not even four months.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeff: Obviously we are three of those 5 million people. We inspired 1.6 million and that's how many people are playing. That's pretty great.
Larry: We had a great interview with Niko who works in the Microsoft side, go ahead and take a look at that at Inside Xbox. Go take a look at that interview and you'll see Jeff and I. He talks about the road map coming up. A lot going on.
Jeff: A literal map because you pulled that out of your pocket.
Larry: I did, I had a real live map, Laura, of Arendahl. I've got it right here actually.
Laura: You've got it in your bag?
Larry: I do actually.
Laura: Do you carry it around with you?
Jeff: He does, in case he should happen to be in Delta randomly.
Laura: At a moment's notice.
Larry: Here it is, Laura, here's the map.
Laura: It's like a map that you would pick up at a visitor's center.
Larry: Right.
Laura: When you're on vacation and you have to figure out-.
Larry: When you're on a holiday and you go to Disney or Universal. That's the theme park map.
Jeff: Disney Gapga, which is opening up.
Larry: There is no gift shop, and there is no rest room, Laura, you are on your own.
Laura: Yeah.
Jeff: There's pain killers left all over the place.
Laura: It's made of the material that you would expect of a high quality waterproof map.
Larry: Anyway, if you want to see that map, just tune into the VOD of Inside Xbox. You'll see me pull it out of my pocket.
Laura: That's really funny.
Jeff: We did talk about Fornite Battle Royal and some big news that came out earlier this week and that's Xbox cross-platform play is coming to Fortnite.
Laura: Woo Hoo.
Larry: Woo Hoo.
Jeff: People playing on Xbox One will also be able to play against people on PC, Bobo, which is coming out and there will also be progressions. Presumably, the way this would work out, you're playing at home. You're leveling up your character and unlocking stuff, but then you can play mobiley or you can play on your laptop.
Larry: I'm going to say that I'm really enjoying this because Laura is trying to fold the map.
Jeff: It's not easy.
Laura: It's not.
Jeff: How many engineers does it take to fold a map?
Laura: It's definitely not in half.
Larry: I can see her using her analytic mind to try to figure out, okay, how does this go together.
Laura: I don't want to, you know if you fold a map wrong.
Larry: You just did, it's inside out.
Laura: If it's inside out, you can ruin it. This is a nice, quality piece of swag.
Larry: Not anymore.
Laura: I tried not to.
Larry: Not with all the folds going the wrong way, my friend.
Laura: I apologize.
Jeff: No, don't bend it like that.
Laura: It's just not intuitive.
Larry: Give it to me.
Jeff: There, you got it, you got it. She's got it. I think. No, you don't have it.
Laura: Nope.
Jeff: This week, coming up, is one of my favorite events of the year, which is GDC, the Game Developers Conference.
Laura: There, I did it.
Larry: Thank you, Laura.
Jeff: Look at that. Wonderful.
Laura: There is tape on it, by the way, somebody else folded it wrong.
Jeff: A plus, plus.
Larry: GDC, Game Developer Conference.
Jeff: It's always just a good time because you run into developers from all over the world and you end up having good conversations and everyone's not as worked up as they are at E3. Something that we've done for, the last four years, at GDC, is have this IDA Xbox reveal media event. We've announced and this is on Xbox Wire, I'll link to it in the show notes, 17 new games at the IDA at Xbox program.
You'll look at it and be like I don't recognize any of these games. That's kind of how it works. At this point, very likely, it's the first time you've heard of any of them. The only one that really jumped out at me as being super familiar was Black Dessert. Which we announced, I want to say, at E3 last year. These are games that undoubtedly, six months from now, a year from now, whatever it might be. You're going to be like oh my god, this game is an Indy game I'm super looking forward to.
I think we had Cup Head at this thing at one point. This is where we'll get an idea of what's good. I'm going to be down there. I'm going to play these game and how about next show we talk about which ones I think you should be looking forward to.
Larry: Unfortunately, I am not going and Laura is not going. Actually, you're not going, are you, I don't want to speak for you.
Laura: No, unfortunately.
Larry: I'm not able to go this year, but-.
Jeff: Starbound is coming. Alright, that's a cool game. Actually, there's some familiar games. There's actually a lot of names. War Groove. I really want to play this.
Larry: I need a full report back.
Jeff: Alright, I'll tell you all about it. It's sort of, we'll talk about it later. This is interesting, it's coming out for pre-order and pre-download on Xbox One. I just thought it was interesting. The Crash Band Acoustic Insane Trilogy.
Laura: Insane.
Jeff: It is insane.
Larry: Crash on Xbox.
Jeff: I mean, why not.
Larry: Why not?
Jeff: Those are the several games coming up.
Larry: Up is down, down is up. Who knows what's going on?
Jeff: Here's another thing that happened this week. You have GDC, the other thing I am really looking forward to is, by the way, Sea of Thieves, have you heard of it?
Larry: Oh, I have.
Jeff: Coming out on the 20th and we'll of course be playing it. I should bring my laptop down so I can play against you.
Larry: Cross-play.
Jeff: I will do that, but in honor of that, we of course did the very predictable and rational thing that you would expect any marketing campaign to do for a game. We launched a man out of a canon for a world record distance in Ramond James Stadium in Tampa. Where, at first, I was like why are we in Tampa and then I realized that every time they score a touchdown, they have a pirate ship there, they are the Buccaneers, which is super loud, by the way, if you are ever at a game. Don't sit near the cannon.
Anyway, it was successful. I watched it live. I'm not going to lie, my heart was in my throat, when this happened. They started counting down, I'm like, what is going on?
Larry: Right.
Jeff: This is risky stuff, you know. When he was in the air, he was flapping like a bird. Of course he had no wings, which is a bit of a problem when you're that high.
Larry: Easy.
Jeff: You should watch it.
Larry: It's probably an animated GIF, for Pete's sake. It's so quick.
Jeff: I'll link out to it. It was pretty impressive and they did set the world record. This is probably my favorite news that came out this week, it was something I did not expect.
Larry: Better than a human cannonball breaking a record? How can that be?
Jeff: Because it's just that good. Early this week, the Witcher, or CD Project Red tweeted something about Kara Moran and we're like, I thought they were done with the Witcher. Didn't they say they weren't going to be doing the Witcher anymore? Garrel, in Sole Caliber Six, and they released a trailer today when they sent me this. I got chills watching this trailer. It's so good.
Larry: Link in the show notes.
Jeff: Yes, link in the show notes, but it's you know, Sole Caliber's a game I've always enjoyed since the first one on Dreamcast. I am so hyped for this now. They've historically put a lot of characters from other places in, but Garrell, he just fits.
Larry: The voice. Some of his moves are from the game.
Jeff: Exactly, he's got his signs. Anyway, it's awesome. You should watch it. Another big reveal this week, as well, the announcement of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It was just about 20 seconds of footage.
Larry: It was an announcement of an upcoming announcement.
Jeff: Yes, well, but we have a release date. Which, the game is coming September 14th of this year. As folks, we enjoyed the Tomb Raider reboot.
Larry: Yes we did.
Jeff: Rise of the Tomb Raider. It's the same team, so I'm sure we will enjoy Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Larry: Do the math people.
Jeff: It's going to be good. Once again, linked out to the show notes, there. Couple real quick points, Super Hot, have you not played it?
Laura: I've played
Larry: Super Hot.
Jeff: No excuse because it's free right now with Gold.
Laura: No way.
Larry: Super Hot.
Jeff: Please go get it. It's waiting for it.
Laura: Super Hot. It's really fun in VR too. Have you had a chance to play it in VR?
Jeff: I did and it is phenomenal. It's really good. There's a couple of games that came out, this is actually a pretty good release week. One, Pure Farming 2018.
Larry: I think I've played that.
Jeff: I bet you have. The Devil May Cry HD collection. I know a lot of DMC fans out there. This is one we talked about on Inside Xbox. Surviving Mars. This game looks really good. A lot of the guys that worked on City Skylines.
Larry: We showed that on Inside Xbox.
Jeff: That's what I just said, Larry, oh my god.
Larry: Hey, didn't we show that on Inside Xbox?
Jeff: No, you're hallucinating. Anyway, Surviving Mars looks really good. I'll be jumping on that. That comes out this week and then Burnout Paradise Remastered. That was a game that everyone got really excited about. I think it was trending worldwide when it was first announced and if you have EA Access, you can just jump in and try it out.
Larry: Go.
Jeff: Just go, why are you listening.
Larry: Just go.
Jeff: Just go, do it.
Larry: Press pause, go download. Go play.
Jeff: Yes, and we're going to press pause on the news because that is it.
Larry: That's it. Those are just the headlines.
Jeff: That's a lot. I am out of breath. I need to go have oxygen.
Larry: There's a lot more going on, but you can just go over to my blog at majornelson.com. We're going to do, this show is a little bit abbreviated. Jeff has to run in a few minutes.
Jeff: I've got 15 minutes.
Laura: Oh, I'm sorry about that Jeff.
Larry: He's, we're always just running around.
Jeff: I'm out of breath and I have to run. It's terrible.
Larry: We've got, we talked about just some of the housekeeping rules. We've got PACS coming up, which we will not be doing a show, but we will have Jeff and I on site doing a bunch of stuff. We'll have, of course, the Xbox booth will be there.
Now, I know you're probably not too disappointed. Last time we went to PACS, Laura, it was a little chilly.
Laura: It was really cold. It was snowing.
Larry: I remember, I think I still have some of those texts you sent me of the plane landing about how cold it was.
Laura: Okay, this is bringing back memories that I was hoping to bury. I was stuck on the runway for hours because it was snowing.
Jeff: Oh, that's right.
Larry: Even in Boston, even in Logan.
Laura: I was stuck on the runway at Boston.
Larry: Right.
Laura: Come on guys, you're used to this right?
Larry: Right.
Laura: After a six hour flight.
Larry: The last thing you want to do is spend any more time on the plane. We'll do that. Inside Xbox. Keep an eye on my blog and my Twitter what the dates are for those. Let's do a Name The Game. The last Name The Game we did was video.
Laura: That's right, we did a video Name The Game last time.
Larry: Yes, which we played during our live show. That was a live show. We pulled the audio out and put it on here. There was some people who were able to use the images to guess right. You want to go ahead and roll that toward my people.
Laura: This is the sound effects from last time's Name the Game.
That was Name the Game from last time and it was Soma. It's a space game. Of course the people who watched, either the Live Mixxer cast or video on demand.
Larry: Or re-watched it in VOD, yeah.
Laura: Video on demand afterwards got the extra help guess that. This time we have a random winner from the man responses we got that were correct. The winner this week is Tim, from Iowa.
Larry: Hi, Tim.
Laura: Yep, and his gamer tag is Comb filtered.
Larry: What did he win?
Laura: Tim, we have lots of prizes for you.
Larry: Do you think that's a rooster reference?
Laura: It could be.
Larry: Isn't that what they call the thing that goes over their head a comb?
Jeff: Yeah, I was think like coarse comb filtered.
Laura: Maybe.
Jeff: I don't know.
Laura: Well, Tim, if you want to send us an email about your gamer tag, we're curious.
Larry: That says a lot about each of us. I'm curious to what you think it is. Go ahead.
Laura: You were thinking of chickens and you were thinking of-.
Larry: It's 1:06pm, I'm ready.
Laura: Oh, very good. Tim, you won a lot of games here. You've won a copy of Soma, you've won a copy of Train SIM World: Founder's Edition...
Larry: I've played it.
Laura: It sounds pretty fun. Tim, you'll get to play this wonderful train game too. You also get a copy of The Darwin Project, that you talked about earlier.
Larry: Yeah. A lot of fun.
Laura: You get a copy of Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
Larry: You'll love that one.
Laura: I loved Life is Strange. It's a really good story. You also get a copy of Scribble Knots: Showdown.
Larry: Scribble Knots, now on Xbox.
Laura: Exactly. That's not all.
Larry: No.
Laura: We're going to give you a copy of Pure Farming '18.
Larry: Fun.
Jeff: Yes.
Laura: And a copy of Burnout Paradise Remastered. A good game haul for you Tim.
Jeff: Wow, what a variety.
Laura: I know.
Larry: Excellent, excellent work. For those of you just tuning in, if you're wondering how you get in on the winning, Laura's going to tell you now.
Laura: That's exactly right. If you too would like to win a lot of fabulous prizes, all you have to do is listen to some sound effects I'm about to play and then send us an email with what game you think those sounds are from.
Larry: Now, it's going to be a little harder this week because you don't have the visuals of a live show to go back and take a look at. You're welcome to listen to this as many times as you want, but we're not giving you visuals this time.
Laura: That's right. Let's roll the sound effects.
Alright, so those are the sounds. If you think you know what game those sounds are form, send us an email. Lollypop@xbox.com and ccmajor@xbox.com. It's that easy. It's good, pretty easy. I have lots of questions on Twitter about who can enter this contest.
Larry: Who can?
Laura: Who can enter this contest?
Larry: Well?
Laura: It's really simple. If you can hear our voice, you can enter this game.
Larry: Simple as that.
Laura: Simple as that.
Larry: Unless you work for Microsoft. Don't do that.
Laura: Reminder, please send us email. We don't take entries over Twitter. Email only.
Larry: Or over Xbox Live.
Laura: Or messages on Xbox Live, exactly. Please send us email and only one please.
Larry: One per person.
Laura: Yeah, only one per person.
Larry: Good luck.
Laura: That's right.
Larry: Good luck. Alright, where were we?
Jeff: Good luck on your bracket's by the way.
Larry: That would be, that's a reference Jeff is making to the college football games that are happening.
Laura: No.
Jeff: Really? Football, Larry?
Laura: No.
Jeff: Was that on purpose or not? You never know with this guy.
Larry: No, I know it was college basketball. College basketball.
Jeff: Go Gators.
Larry: College basketball, I know that. There's a lot of people outside the country. We have an international listenership. They may not known what that means, Jeff.
Jeff: Everyone knows the international language of work-place gambling and that's what brackets are all about.
Larry: That's not what we're doing.
Jeff: No, that's not. I don't know. It may or may not be legal, I don't know.
Larry: At Jeff Rubenstein on Twitter.
Jeff: The complaint desk. I'm just saying all of the orange teams I'll be rooting for. I don't now if Texas.
Larry: That's right, we all went to orange schools.
Laura: We all went to orange schools.
Jeff: Wearing. Oh, Texas, they're a number ten seed. Syracuse has an eleven seed and the Gators are a six seed.
Laura: We're all really close.
Jeff: Let us all get in there. Let's all get in the Final Four.
Larry: Wow.
Laura: I like how you're color coordinated today. You are wearing orange and blue. Oh my goodness.
Jeff: Look at those.
Laura: The socks are also orange and blue.
Larry: That orange top you have on, that sweatshirt, that's kind of UT orange.
Laura: Texas orange.
Jeff: It's faded. It's more of a Texas orange, but you can't beat it.
Laura: It's not faded.
Jeff: I've got my shirt. I went all out today.
Laura: Oh my goodness, his shirt has UF on it.
Larry: Could you put that down for a minute? Why is there a space needle?
Laura: Seattle on it.
Jeff: It's the Seattle Gator Club, so the U in the UF is the space needle.
Larry: That's right.
Jeff: That's what we do.
Laura: That's nice.
Larry: My wife can never remember the name of it.
Jeff: Of the Space Needle, or Florida?
Larry: No, the Space Needle. She always calls it Skycap.
Jeff: Like people that take your-.
Larry: I don't know, she always calls it Skycap. I love my wife, she's so funny. She can't remember the name of Godzilla so you know what she calls it? Tokyo dinosaur.
Jeff: I support that's not inaccurate.
Larry: That's not inaccurate.
Laura: Good.
Larry: Tokyo dinosaur. Right. I'm like, you know what, you're right, honey. Alright, so Name the Game. What else do we need to go over this time? Should we go over some new stuff in our life? You have anything?
Jeff: Just crushing sorrow and loneliness.
Larry: Oh, that's not true.
Jeff: No.
Larry: That's not true.
Jeff: I mean, no more, it's not new.
Larry: No.
Jeff: Yeah. I was just-.
Laura: That just made me feel sad.
Jeff: I shouldn't have said that. I don't know, it just sort of came out of my mouth. Which is what we're used to. Maybe I have been drinking the cold filtered at 106.
Laura: You need some more of that, it sounds like. Well, I am looking to get a new laptop. I have nothing to share at the moment, but I am on the market for a new one.
Larry: Yeah, give me some new hardware. I've actually got a new one coming in, I can't talk about it, yet, because it's TBD. Right?
Jeff: You always get the good stuff.
Larry: Well, you know.
Jeff: I spend a lot of money because of you.
Larry: Well, thank you, but I'll share that in a future show. Next month, as I said, we've got PACS, which we'll be at no show. We've got the live show and then, you guys are welcome to do a show, but I'm going to be off the last half of April. I'll be on Holiday.
Laura: I'll be off on Holiday.
Larry: Jeff you're on your own.
Jeff: I'm on my own, party of one. About that crushing loneliness. You are not helping.
Larry: Rubenstein, party of, oh one. Would you like-? I don't know, it's funny. I travel a lot by myself. Jeff I know you travel by yourself, Laura you travel yourself. There's nothing more depressing then when you go into a restaurant, "Oh, one, would you like to sit at the bar?"
Jeff: Yep.
Larry: No, I don't want to sit at the bar.
Laura: Table please.
Jeff: I'm just like, can you put me in view of a TV? You know, then I don't have to remember that I'm by myself.
Laura: I think at this point I've embraced eating by myself and actually enjoy it.
Larry: Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy it. I just don't want to sit at the bar. I want to go sit somewhere else. Anyway. I don't know why I'm cranky.
Jeff: This is what happens when you travel and I'm not there.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeff: Bring me with you to meet famous people. We've done that.
Larry: Listen, I'm going to let you guys go. You, listeners, I'm going to let you go. Laura, you're going to get to work. Jeff, you're going to get to your next appointment on time. You can follow us on Twitter. Laura, how do they find you?
Laura: At Laura Lollipop.
Larry: Then, Jeffrey?
Jeff: All complaints do at Jeff Rubenstein.
Larry: At Major Nelson, if you'd like, but you can also find me other places as well. Anyway, we'll be back. We may be back next week. We'll probably have a longer show next week. There's a couple things I'm working on. I'm always working on something, Jeff.
Laura: You are.
Jeff: You're a busy man.
Larry: We'll hopefully, yes.
Jeff: We'll have Sea of Thieves to talk about.
Larry: We'll have Sea of Thieves to talk about.
Laura: Exciting.
Larry: We're going to do Sea of Thieves and we're going to get ready for PACS. The march is on towards E3 at the Microsoft Theater. If you want to catch all that news head over to news.xbox.com. Alright gang, we will talk to you next time. Say goodbye everybody.
Laura: Goodbye.
Jeff: Bye everybody.

Larry Hyrb: Hi, Larry Hyrb with Xbox Live's Major Nelson. Welcome to the show! We're here, we're live, we're on mixed air, we're having a great time. The entire gang is here. Check this out. Let's go show everybody. Let's go. Cameraman, show everybody. Two.
Graham: Hey!
Larry Hyrb: There we go. Hey!
Laura Massey: Hey everybody.
Larry Hyrb: We've got Jeff Rubinstein down there on the end. Hi, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hi. They love it when you direct the show for me.
Larry Hyrb: [inaudible 00:00:31] Next to you, of course, is Laura. Hi, Laura.
Laura Massey: Hello. Good to see everybody.
Larry Hyrb: Remember Laura? And we have sitting with us is Graham. Graham and I have done a lot of live shows together. YOu've heard him on the audio podcast in the past, and now he's here in person.
Graham: Yeah. Thanks very much for asking me along. This is great.
Larry Hyrb: Well, this is a little bit of fun. This-
Graham: Live and in person.
Larry Hyrb: ... is live and to be clear, it's February 28. It's 2:01 Pacific. That's 5:01-
Jeff Rubenstein: They could've staged that.
Larry Hyrb: No, it's true. And I can tell you this is live. I mean, this isn't like a YouTube channel where it's nothing but jump cuts, right? Like back and forth and back and forth an back. Like that, right?
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.
Larry Hyrb: No, no, this is real.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Larry Hyrb: This is real, so-
Graham: So you can't edit out all the things that I'm not supposed to say-
Larry Hyrb: Precisely.
Graham: ... on the Podcast.
Larry Hyrb: Precisely. We can't.
Laura Massey: The pressure's on.
Larry Hyrb: And the one thing we can do and we have not experimented with this, nor have we talked about this with the crew, is when I realized we were gonna have Graham on I was like, "Maybe we should put subtitles 'cause of that accent?"
Laura Massey: Ah, it's not that bad.
Jeff Rubenstein: I look at him and I just hear Scrooge McDuck. About me money [crosstalk 00:01:30].
Graham: Oh, my God! [crosstalk 00:01:32]
Laura Massey: That's horrible!
Graham: I was looking to you for help. [crosstalk 00:01:34] Unbelievable!
Larry Hyrb: There'll be dragons over here. [crosstalk 00:01:38]
Graham: This is shocking.
Laura Massey: I hear every word you say-
Larry Hyrb: There you go, Lad.
Laura Massey: ... I understand it.
Graham: ... Knew I could rely on you. It shouldn't be like that.
Larry Hyrb: Thank you, lassie.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:02:05] No, this is nice, isn't it? Nice setup. Usually when I come and do the podcast with you it's in a basement [crosstalk 00:01:50]-
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, we're actually in a basement, but we've got Chad. If you're watching this on Facebook, you're watching this on Twitch, I think you're watching this on, of course, on Mixer, we're giving stuff away in the Mixer chat. Just go to mixer.com/majornelson. You can watch the same show there with lower latency.
Laura Massey: Pretty awesome [crosstalk 00:02:05].
Larry Hyrb: This low latency thing is big. Anyway, how you guys doing? We've actually ... I was on he road. I was at Rare a couple of weeks ago. We had Craig, you and I had Craig on the show two weeks ago?
Jeff Rubenstein: It was a good time.
Larry Hyrb: A couple weeks ago, and-
Graham: You know you've just missed the snow-pocalypse in the UK.
Larry Hyrb: Oh, what happened?
Graham: It's just ... it's snowing like everywhere. My Twitter today, because obviously I follow a ton of people in the UK-
Larry Hyrb: Right, right.
Graham: ... everyone's just telling me that it's snowing.
Larry Hyrb: Okay, well, if you-
Graham: Snow, snow, snow.
Larry Hyrb: ... if it's snowing there in the UK stay inside-
Graham: But there's a lot of it.
Larry Hyrb: ... stay safe, stay on XBOX live. Watch the stream.
Laura Massey: I saw-
Graham: Even Aberdine's football match was called off because of the snow, yeah. So, that was gonna be my lunch time, and-
Laura Massey: Not anymore.
Larry Hyrb: Not anymore.
Laura Massey: I saw it snowing in London.
Graham: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And someone actually went to do cross country skiing in London. Did you see that?
Graham: [crosstalk 00:02:45] Yeah, I think it was [seven O 00:02:45] Compton Street in SoHo, or whatever, yeah.
Laura Massey: It was pretty funny.
Larry Hyrb: Do you know where that is?
Graham: What?
Larry Hyrb: Isn't that where your office used to be down there in Soho?
Graham: Originally-
Larry Hyrb: Back in the day?
Graham: ... the XBOX office way back in the day was in Soho, yeah, but yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: And that wraps up London weather hour.
Larry Hyrb: All right, thank you for that weather. All right-
Laura Massey: He was a weather man.
Larry Hyrb: ... let's talk about-
Jeff Rubenstein: That's true.
Larry Hyrb: By the way, did anybody find that clip?
Jeff Rubenstein: Nobody's gonna find that footage.
Laura Massey: Community.
Jeff Rubenstein: It is buried.
Larry Hyrb: So, for those of you that don't know, Jeff-
Laura Massey: Find it!
Larry Hyrb: ... in his former life, one of his roles was a weather man somewhere in a television station here in the U.S.
Graham: Is that true?
Laura Massey: Yes!
Larry Hyrb: Yes, and he used to do this [inaudible 00:03:16] on the green screen. So we could do the weather up here.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, I'd do a lot of this stuff.
Larry Hyrb: Can we bring up the U.S. weather map here? I'd like to see Jeff just kind of walk us through-
Jeff Rubenstein: I'd already be [crosstalk 00:03:27] there's no microphone.
Larry Hyrb: Well, you know what? We'll bring this microphone over and we will hold it.
Graham: That's so good. We need to find that. What was your thing?
Jeff Rubenstein: We're doubling down on weather on this show.
Graham: Yeah. Jeff what was your thing? Because you know all weather men and girls have a thing, right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah-
Graham: Did you always have a little place you'd refer to, or-
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, so, I would just talk about what you should be wearing. So, this was in Florida, so, and-
Graham: Right, okay.
Laura Massey: That narrows it down, community.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's basically-
Larry Hyrb: Florida!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... flip-flops or not. You probably would have guessed that, right? The problem is, is the very first day I took over, literally, my first day, there was a hurricane bearing down on the state, and they were like, "Cool. You're on four out of the thirty minutes of the newscast. You're on for fourteen minutes. Go." And I was like, "Just board up your windows and run! It's fine! It's fine!"
Larry Hyrb: Run for the hills!
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm like, "I am not qualified to be giving you emergency advice." And that holds true to this day.
Larry Hyrb: Okay, thank you very much for that.
Graham: That's so cool. I'd love to see that.
Larry Hyrb: Well, hopefully the internet will find that clip-
Laura Massey: Yes, community out there.
Larry Hyrb: ... sometime soon. We've narrowed it down to Florida.
Laura Massey: It's Florida-
Larry Hyrb: You know more than you knew before
Laura Massey: ... a weather station. Find the clip for us.
Larry Hyrb: We're gonna talk about what we're playing. We've got the console up here. I'm playing a lot of PUBG Can we bring the console up here on the screen? 'Cause this is something really disturbing. First of all-
Laura Massey: Disturbing?
Larry Hyrb: ... I want to welcome everybody who is joining us. People are watching us on the console right now. They can see us right here. I'm there with a dog. Do you see the dog?
Laura Massey: What?
Larry Hyrb: See, look-
Graham: Oh, yeah!
Larry Hyrb: ... look, look! We're there, and we're there!
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: What part of the movie are we on now, Larry?
Laura Massey: It's inception.
Larry Hyrb: But here's what's really interesting. I don' know if we can go full screen on this. Did you see the little part that tells you who's ahead of you in gamerscore? What's going on here?
Laura Massey: Yes!
Larry Hyrb: LollipOp is five ahead of me!
Laura Massey: Yes!
Larry Hyrb: I don't understand this.
Laura Massey: Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: You need to play and take that back.
Laura Massey: I was like, "How are you ahead of me?" So, that's my segue into what are you playing, Laura?
Graham: How have you done that?
Laura Massey: That's never happened before!
Larry Hyrb: I know! That's why-
Laura Massey: How am I ahead of you?
Jeff Rubenstein: It's because you're playing so much PUBG.
Larry Hyrb: It could be that. There's no achievements.
Laura Massey: Yeah, there's no achievements.
Larry Hyrb: So what are you playing that got what ... we can dig in. Why don't you talk about it and we'll-
Laura Massey: Okay.
Larry Hyrb: ... We'll dig in here.
Laura Massey: Yeah, you can probably dig in and see what happened, but I've been busy playing Dance-
Larry Hyrb: Look at that! Look, it's got you with your hololens on and your little Xbox. And it's got me with my mean face.
Jeff Rubenstein: By the way, 15 to 20, this isn't exactly Stallion83 here.
Laura Massey: It isn't. It's maybe one achievement.
Larry Hyrb: But, look at this. Now it's your-
Laura Massey: Why am I sad? Oh, I'm sad because I think it's 42 versus 102.
Larry Hyrb: Oh, I see. So it's an overall [crosstalk 00:05:50].
Jeff Rubenstein: But you shook it off.
Laura Massey: Overall, you're still doing much better.
Graham: Well, you're closing the gap.
Laura Massey: I know! Five points at a time! Oh, my goodness.
Larry Hyrb: By the way, you might want to play some Overwatch.
Laura Massey: Yeah, you're really beating me on the achievements there in Overwatch.
Larry Hyrb: Anyway, but we'll ... So, what are you playing, Laura? This is our segue into what we're playing section.
Laura Massey: Yeah, for sure. So, the past couple weeks I've been off the show. I've been on vacation. But, I have had a chance to really-
Larry Hyrb: You call it holiday.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, we call it annual leave.
Graham: Yes, thanks very much.
Laura Massey: That's what Graham calls it. I got the chance to-
Graham: [inaudible 00:06:28] As much over here.
Laura Massey: ... dig into Dance Central 3 and get some achievements there. There's a story mode in Dance Central 3 where you are a time traveling dance agent.
Graham: Sure.
Laura Massey: Like you usually are.
Graham: Based on a true story?
Laura Massey: And I completed the 80s, the 80s rounds and-
Larry Hyrb: What was your favorite ... 'Cause, I mean, I ... You know I love my 80s music.
Laura Massey: You do love your 80s music.
Larry Hyrb: My pop synths. So tell me what were you dancing to?
Laura Massey: So, the goal of the 80s section is to unlock the dance craze of the 80s-
Larry Hyrb: Break dancing.
Laura Massey: ... and can you guess what the ... Can anybody-
Larry Hyrb: Break dancing.
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, my God.
Laura Massey: It's not.
Graham: Oh, oh, oh.
Laura Massey: Can you guess?
Jeff Rubenstein: Now, the Macarena was the 90s.
Laura Massey: That's the 90s.
Larry Hyrb: The Lambada?
Laura Massey: No. Any guesses?
Larry Hyrb: What was it?
Laura Massey: The Electric Slide.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh!
Graham: Electric Slide?
Laura Massey: That was the 80s.
Jeff Rubenstein: I should have gotten that.
Laura Massey: So you have to unlock the Electric Slide.
Larry Hyrb: Electric Slide was early 90s. Can we check-
Jeff Rubenstein: No, no, I think she's right. Look, let's not impune the good folks at Harmonix.
Larry Hyrb: So this is you right here, right?
Laura Massey: That's me. Yeah, you have to play actually that character there, and in the 80s section, and you ... The final dance of the 80s section is to nail the Electric Slide while dancing to "Electric Boogie."
Larry Hyrb: Okay.
Graham: Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: At a wedding.
Laura Massey: So, pretty cool.
Larry Hyrb: I stand corrected. This is 1988-
Laura Massey: Yeah!
Larry Hyrb: ... When it came out by Marcia Griffiths.
Laura Massey: Yeah. There you go.
Jeff Rubenstein: You were already living in the 90s.
Larry Hyrb: So you were all about the music?
Laura Massey: I was all about the music.
Larry Hyrb: Now, it's interesting. Before I forget, thank you for reminding me, and we'll get back to you in just a second, Laura. Top of the show, actually, leading into the show, you heard some music, you heard the Halo theme, you heard some Mozart. That was from my personalized playlist that's on Spotify that you can subscribe to.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hyrb: It's music inspired from games. I think the Mozart was some of the music playing in one of the levels of an old Castle Wolfenstein.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Graham: Cool.
Larry Hyrb: So, anyway, I want to make sure I give my shout out to my friends at Spotify. I'll be updating my list soon. Anyway, Laura, so, you're playing dance music? There's some 80s tunes on there.
Jeff Rubenstein: I would laugh at him, but he's got 5000 subscribers to that playlist, so.
Graham: Nice work!
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hyrb: Hey, you know, people ... The hits are the hits.
Jeff Rubenstein: Like and subscribe.
Larry Hyrb: The hits speak for themselves.
Graham: There you go.
Laura Massey: You could put some Dance Central music on your list.
Larry Hyrb: I can do that.
Laura Massey: You could. It's some good stuff.
Larry Hyrb: Would you help me curate that?
Laura Massey: I can.
Larry Hyrb: Laura will help, so, Laura's gonna help us curate the next version. Go ahead.
Laura Massey: Yeah, for sure. So, I've got the 90s left to do. We started unlocking some of the 90s songs. But that's probably contributing to some of my achievements. But last night I was scrolling through my hard drive to see if there was any games-
Larry Hyrb: Like you do.
Laura Massey: ... like you do on Xbox. See if there's any games that I had downloaded but hadn't had a chance to actually play.
Jeff Rubenstein: A stack of shame. The virtual stack of shame.
Laura Massey: For sure.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: And it turns out I had downloaded a game a long time ago called "KINGDOM: New Lands." Have you guys heard of this one?
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: I think it came out in 2015.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it's an older game.
Laura Massey: And its actually been sitting on my hard drive for forever not being played. So, I wanted to jump in and see what it was like.
Larry Hyrb: Yep.
Laura Massey: So, it's an 8 bit game. It's an economy building game, and it's completely different than any other economy building game I've played.
Larry Hyrb: What makes it different?
Laura Massey: There's no UI. So, you are a person riding on a horse, and you can go left ... it's 2D ... you can go left and right.
Larry Hyrb: Tootie the horse?
Laura Massey: No. It's 2D.
Larry Hyrb: Oh, I'm sorry!
Laura Massey: Two dimensional.
Jeff Rubenstein: Tootie, you know, from The Facts of Life? 80s! We got all this down.
Laura Massey: Tootie the horse! That's your horses' name now is Tootie.
Graham: That's good. It's a good horse name.
Laura Massey: Oh, my goodness.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay.
Laura Massey: Okay, so, you ride Tootie the horse to build a new-
Larry Hyrb: Here's Tootie the horse.
Laura Massey: Yeah, great. Yep. There you are. So-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, I do remember this.
Laura Massey: ... you're a queen, you're on a horse, you go left and right, and you build a kingdom. And it's the simplest UI I've ever seen. Simplest interaction model I've ever seen, but you just hold the A button. So, you can see there that horse is in front of a building, and there's little dots that indicate how much money it costs to upgrade that building, and you've got your little money bag. And so, you just hold A and it puts money in the building and then the builders come and built it. And then, at night, you get attacked by hooligans I guess it is. So, you have to upgrade your defenses, and upgrade your armies, but it is really relaxing. I'm glad you're here, Graham, because I was thinking about you when I was playing this.
Graham: Cup of tea?
Laura Massey: We can play the cup of tea game!
Graham: Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: Hooligans. The hooligan part.
Graham: Oh, yeah, exactly. I was thinking it's like going to see a football match back in Scotland. No, you can have a cup of tea when you do-
Laura Massey: But I think it's a cup of tea game because you really only need-
Graham: Amazing.
Laura Massey: ... one hand to play it-
Graham: Great.
Laura Massey: ... 'cause you just go left and right and the A button's all you need.
Larry Hyrb: That's your kind of game.
Laura Massey: So it was really relaxing. It's got some really good music. The music is what really takes you through the day 'cause you play the day and the night. And there's different tracks for the day and the night. So, it's really relaxing, and it's super fun. So, I recommend it if you're looking for a cup of tea game. Maybe give this one a try.
Graham: Excellent.
Larry Hyrb: And it comes with Tootie the horse.
Graham: I wish I could write it down on a note.
Laura Massey: And the achievements, the achievements-
Larry Hyrb: They'll put you ahead of me.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: You only need one.
Laura Massey: Just a couple.
Larry Hyrb: So, that's why it's funny 'cause in the ... We were talking to ... That was over in the engineering team a couple weeks ago, and I'll talk about that tweet later on, but I was looking at some of the new features. And if you bring up the new console here we were talking about the section here that shows you where you're ahead and who's ahead of you, and whatnot. And in this case you're ahead of me, and I called that the "you suck" section because it reminds you that you suck because someone's ahead of you all the time.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hyrb: So, that's-
Laura Massey: Maybe it should be who you are ahead of.
Larry Hyrb: Right. Make me feel a little bit better.
Laura Massey: Yeah, a little bit better.
Graham: Keeps you grounded, doesn't it.
Laura Massey: Yeah, it does.
Graham: Maybe there's that.
Larry Hyrb: You should change it like ... Do you use CARROT Weather on your phone?
Laura Massey: No, what's that?
Larry Hyrb: Oh, CARROT Weather is a weather app that you can get on your phone that you buy, and it's got an attitude. It talks. Anyway, so maybe we should set it up so this can have a little attitude with me. But anyway, I digress.
Graham: Nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: You want to feel bad about yourself follow Stallion83. He's the world's gamerscore leader. Really good guy. It's the last day of the month so the gap is as yawning as it will ever get even though it's February, short month.
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: He's 13660 gamerscore ahead of me this month.
Larry Hyrb: Good for him.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Larry Hyrb: It's always good to-
Laura Massey: So if you want-
Jeff Rubenstein: And I've played games!
Laura Massey: Yeah, if you wanna feel bad about yourself, follow-
Jeff Rubenstein: There you go.
Laura Massey: Stallion83.
Larry Hyrb: Anyway, but here we are. So, Laura, do you have any other games you want to play before we roll-
Laura Massey: Only other game I've got a chance to check out is Fable Fortune.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Which came out yesterday.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Was it yesterday? I think I saw you tweet it yesterday-
Graham: Last week, I think.
Laura Massey: ... or last week?
Graham: Yeah. Well-
Laura Massey: Okay, so it's free on Xbox. It's an Xbox Play Anywhere title. So you can play it on Windows 10 as well. And it is a card game set in the Fable universe.
Larry Hyrb: Yep.
Laura Massey: So, if you like the Fable universe and you want to check out a card game, it's pretty fun.
Larry Hyrb: Here it is. I've got it up here on the console right now.
Laura Massey: Oh, very good.
Larry Hyrb: It's got all your details here and it's as you said, Laura, it is a card game.
Laura Massey: And it's free.
Graham: [Free to play 00:12:22].
Laura Massey: Which is fantastic.
Larry Hyrb: Now, do you like those types of card games? 'Cause there's a lot of those types of card games out right now. We can see it right here, and I just didn't know if you were that Hearth Stone kind of-
Laura Massey: I'm getting into it. It requires a bunch of strategy which I really, really enjoy-
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Laura Massey: ... I love strategy games.
Larry Hyrb: It's a beautiful looking game, isn't it?
Laura Massey: It's a beautiful game; really well polished. It does take awhile to get into because the strategy is ... it's a ramp. And I jumped right into the hopper there. You can see it. Yeah, there's a bunch of training which is great. You have to go through three tutorials to teach you about the mechanics, and what makes this game unique from all the other card games out there.
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Laura Massey: And I jumped into the multiplayer ring with plenty of experienced people. But I won one which was great!
Larry Hyrb: Great, good for you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Nice.
Graham: Well done.
Laura Massey: I played three games, won one. And there are a bunch of different roles there. You can see some roles there that are starter decks. You can be the Alchemist, or you can be the Knight which is my favorite at the moment. And there's different cards that come along with that, and different strategies that each of those roles play. So, you can try out different roles, and find one that suits you, and, yeah. See if you can win.
Larry Hyrb: Thank you.
Graham: Nice.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:13:37].
Graham: They just added achievements to it as well.
Larry Hyrb: Oh, did they?
Laura Massey: So, there wasn't achievements when I was playing.
Graham: Okay.
Laura Massey: I was so upset.
Graham: Yeah-
Larry Hyrb: Now there are, now there are.
Graham: Well, they just started them.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, yeah, I think it just sort of finalized the game.
Graham: Yeah, exactly.
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:13:37] graduated from Xbox game preview and I believe it's an Xbox game pass ... I'm sorry, an Xbox Play Anywhere title-
Laura Massey: It is.
Graham: Correct.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... so, you can play it-
Larry Hyrb: THat's what she just said.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... if you're more. I was looking at achievements.
Larry Hyrb: Even I'm listening and I'm hosting this thing.
Laura Massey: Thank you for listening. It is hard.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's live, it's live, yeah.
Graham: How's the weather, Jeff?
Larry Hyrb: How's that weather doing?
Jeff Rubenstein: There's this cold front coming in-
Larry Hyrb: Run for the hills, everybody.
Jeff Rubenstein: ...that's really got me distracted.
Larry Hyrb: Run for the hills.
Laura Massey: Cold front.
Graham: The achievement names are great as well.
Laura Massey: I gotta look at them.
Graham: We put a tweet on Xbox. We listed some of them, and every single achievement sounds like a sort of 80s fantasy metal album-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Graham: ... or track. So, they've done some nice work there.
Larry Hyrb: 80s fantasy metal.
Graham: My favorite genre.
Laura Massey: But, I didn't get any achievements so, that didn't sum up to my score-
Larry Hyrb: Right, that's good to know.
Laura Massey: ... unfortunately. But, I'm looking forward to the achievements.
Larry Hyrb: What do you ... Thank you, thank you Laura. What are you playing, Graham?
Laura Massey: Oh-
Larry Hyrb: You so seldom ... The story is: Graham always shows up to the podcast-
Laura Massey: With note-
Larry Hyrb: ... incredibly well prepared with a notebook, and he has nothing. If you look here, you'll see nothing. He's got a glass of water.
Graham: I'm flying blind, but I always panic if I don't have my little notebook with me.
Larry Hyrb: So, do your best.
Jeff Rubenstein: You've been playing. I've got your achievements up here.
Graham: Yeah, that'll help. 'Cause I been dipping in and out of a lot of stuff over the past month, and the thing that's been on the most has been Disney Infinity.
Laura Massey: Oh, yes.
Graham: A bit of a throw back because the boys have been on school holiday.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Graham: And they discovered our massive stash of Disney Infinity characters. Disney-
Laura Massey: Have you been collecting?
Graham: Well, yeah. I mean, we were made about Disney Infinity, and then it's no longer, God rest its soul.
Larry Hyrb: They're collector items.
Graham: Yeah, they really, genuinely, are.
Jeff Rubenstein: Go ahead and take that.
Graham: Oh, thanks [inaudible 00:15:04]. So, yeah, we've had that one a lot, and I really miss that game. That was a beautiful game.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Graham: And all the figures are great and stuff. So, we've had that on. Cracked Down.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, I did a little co-op of that last night.
Graham: Nice.
Larry Hyrb: Cracked Down is now [4kified 00:15:18].
Graham: Yes.
Larry Hyrb: It looks phenomenal. Jefferey, Laura, we should try this.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Is it Cracked Down 1?
Graham: Cracked Down 1.
Larry Hyrb: Yes.
Laura Massey: And Cracked Down 3.
Larry Hyrb: Cracked Down 1.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Graham: Cracked Down 1, back compatible, and it's enhanced for X as well.
Larry Hyrb: That's right.
Graham: So, it looks absolutely amazing.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah. It looks [crosstalk 00:15:31].
Graham: And that game is just so many fond memories. Do you know when that game came out?
Larry Hyrb: 2007
Jeff Rubenstein: It came out in time for ... wow, you remember.
Laura Massey: Well-
Graham: February 20, 2007.
Jeff Rubenstein: Wow, I just remember-
Graham: 11 years ago.
Laura Massey: Anniversary!
Graham: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Oh, 11 years.
Graham: 11 years.
Jeff Rubenstein: Crazy.
Graham: That makes me feel so old.
Laura Massey: Same.
Jeff Rubenstein: I do you remember coming out with ... and I was a media gentleman at that time, and it came out as-
Graham: A media gentleman?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I was a gentleman in the media.
Larry Hyrb: I can confirm.
Graham: Top hat?
Jeff Rubenstein: Actually, I met you in 2007 for the first time.
Larry Hyrb: That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein: It was ... It came with a beta or a demo for Halo 3. And so,-
Laura Massey: That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I remember that getting announced. It was like, "Oh, they must have ... There's probably no confidence in this Cracked Down game. Everyone's gonna get it just to play Halo 3 demo."
Laura Massey: Yes, I remember this.
Larry Hyrb: Remember that, Laura?
Laura Massey: Yes, I do.
Larry Hyrb: Could not have been more wrong about that.
Laura Massey: That's when I first started.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, 'cause the game itself was amazing, and I remember writing an article to the effective of like, "If you must, but it for the Halo 3 access, but stay for the Cracked Down."
Graham: Well, see, it's so funny that you say this because-
Larry Hyrb: Look at this game. It looks so good.
Graham: I'd only been at Xbox for maybe six months when it came out.
Larry Hyrb: THat's right.
Graham: And that is actually my memory.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Graham: I think ... I remember, I was obviously in the European Office. I don't know what it was like over here, but we were approaching it at the time kind of like a way to get the Halo beta.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Graham: And we were so ... We didn't have high hopes for it. And then, we saw the reviews start to come in, and I got my copy at launch day and was playing, and I was like, "This game is amazing!"
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it's great, it's-
Graham: And I was obsessed with it for months after this-
Larry Hyrb: Of course, E, who's in the show for many years, he was orb hunting. If you go to my blog at majornelson.com I've got a post up there from 10 years ago, 11 years ago-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hyrb: I got the original source file-
Graham: I remember this, yeah.
Larry Hyrb: ... Of the orb sound. And you're welcome to download that and make it into a ringtone or what have you.
Graham: Yeah, so it was-
Jeff Rubenstein: Your text notification.
Larry Hyrb: Your text notifications. Textual.
Graham: It was great to fire that up again. And, of course, born in Scotland.
Larry Hyrb: That's right.
Graham: Just like me.
Laura Massey: You have to like it.
Graham: You know, you know. Also amazing.
Larry Hyrb: That's right.
Graham: So, yeah. Happy Days. It was nice to get back into Cracked Down.
Larry Hyrb: I think Cracked Down ... Looking at Cracked Down I think it's aging a little bit better-
Graham: Yeah.
Larry Hyrb: ... Than you.
Graham: Thanks very much.
Laura Massey: Oh, wow. Larry!
Jeff Rubenstein: Can we look at ... Yeah, Cracked Down 2007. Cracked Down 2018. We should do the Graham [crosstalk 00:17:39].
Graham: To be honest, I wasn't at the peak of my physical fitness in 2007.
Larry Hyrb: You know what? You're right. You're probably right.
Graham: I might look better now than I did. I was a bigger boy back then.
Larry Hyrb: Anyway-
Graham: But it does look great. And I think I was looking at some screenshots. I took some screenshots last night because it's been up-resed for X.
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Graham: It's got all the neon, right, at night. All the neon now looks so sharp.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Graham: It's got really cool blade runner kind of cyber punk vibe-
Larry Hyrb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Graham: ... that I don't really remember from before.
Larry Hyrb: You may not have been playing on HD.
Laura Massey: Yeah, 'cause back int he day there wasn't much HD. You were probably playing on a [crosstalk 00:18:10].
Graham: And it was all diffused and kind of like a bit, what's the word, cloudier.
Jeff Rubenstein: You were playing on a TV with wood paneling on it, or something.
Graham: Yeah, that's right, yeah.
Larry Hyrb: Clong, clong clong. Got the RF switch turned to Channel Two in the back. Maybe three.
Graham: There you go. It's nice to have Cracked Down back.
Larry Hyrb: [Yenser 00:18:22] who's in the chat here, [Yenser 00:18:22] good to see you. He reminds everybody: if you want to play Cracked Down, make sure you fire up your 360 and save your game to the Cloud.
Graham: I didn't do that.
Larry Hyrb: So, that when you open it up on the Xbox One, boom, Cloud save.
Laura Massey: That is a great tip.
Larry Hyrb: So, thank you [Yenser 00:18:35].
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:18:36] for that tip.
Graham: Yeah, 'cause what I wanted to do was nip on last night, climb up the agency tour, the keep, and take a screenshot from the top. But, obviously, when I went in I hadn't saved my progress, so-
Larry Hyrb: You have no power.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah.
Larry Hyrb: You're a mere mortal.
Jeff Rubenstein: You can jump one foot up, yeah.
Larry Hyrb: You're mere mortal. So anyway, yeah I'm playing that as well. It's a lot of fun.
Graham: Good.
Larry Hyrb: What else you find?
Graham: This isn't exactly a hot take, but Ori and the Blind Forest.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really? Tell me more about this.
Graham: Oh, me?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah!
Graham: I have slept on that game so badly.
Larry Hyrb: Really?
Graham: When it first came out, obviously, all the hype and the ... We worked on it a lot. I was really excited. I maybe played the first hour. For whatever reason, never went back to it.
Larry Hyrb: Did you get to the-
Jeff Rubenstein: The tree, the-
Larry Hyrb: ... Did you get to the tree yet?
Graham: So, I did it last night.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh? You-
Graham: And I got-
Larry Hyrb: You finished it?
Graham: Oh, yeah. I got-
Jeff Rubenstein: All right.
Graham: There was ... The last thing I did last night before we played Cracked Down.
Larry Hyrb: How many times did it take you?
Graham: I would say maybe ... Yeah, this is it here, isn't it? This is the section. Maybe 10?
Larry Hyrb: Oh, I think I lapped you easily on that. Maybe 20, maybe 30 for me.
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe 300.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, I just kept going.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Graham: I was at the point where I was like I knew I was coming on here today, and I was like, "I have to finish this before I go on Larry's show tomorrow. So, I just kept at it.
Laura Massey: And you did.
Larry Hyrb: And you did, thank you.
Graham: Oh, no, my God. The feeling when you get out because you have to chain everything pretty perfectly
Jeff Rubenstein: Perfect.
Laura Massey: Yep.
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Graham: ... way up that tree right? It's the Ginso tree?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ginso tree?
Larry Hyrb: Ginso tree.
Graham: And it's ... But, that's the thing I love about the game is ... And I never appreciated when I played it briefly before hand is that-
Larry Hyrb: Look at this, look it's so beautiful.
Graham: ... You get so dialed into those controls, and their so perfect.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Graham: Like pixel perfect controls-
Larry Hyrb: Here we go.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, this is it.
Graham: ... That when you start unlocking the abilities and chaining those things together like the bash and the double jump-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, my God.
Graham: ... You look at it. There's parts of the game where I look at it, and you know what you're supposed to do, and you're like, "I'm never gonna be able to do that.
Larry Hyrb: But you do it.
Graham: And then all of a sudden you're fingers are just like-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, just wait. There-
Graham: And Oh, my God! This is amazing!
Jeff Rubenstein: THere's two more sort of set pieces similar to the Ginso tree that I look forward to hearing [crosstalk 00:20:26].
Larry Hyrb: This is a fantastic ... I mean it's beautiful game. It's emotional, it's fun, it's-
Graham: Gorgeous.
Larry Hyrb: ... just everything.
Graham: And it was one of these random ones on Saturday night. I didn't know what to play.
Laura Massey: Through the back log.
Graham: I was looking through my list of installed games, and it was there. And I was like, " Do you know what? I've got an hour. Let's just [crosstalk 00:20:39].
Larry Hyrb: What I love about that game is also, it's an interesting story that we've told in the past, but it's worth repeating, is that this game was developed distributed.
Laura Massey: Yes, it was.
Larry Hyrb: Meaning the team that worked on it, they don't have an office. They're around the world. So, this was really ... You know this, Laura-
Laura Massey: I do.
Larry Hyrb: It was globally created and developed and worked from people around the world.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, Germany and Israel and the United States, and I think like four or five [crosstalk 00:21:03].
Larry Hyrb: It was a regular United Nations.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Graham: Which is incredible when you see how together that game is.
Larry Hyrb: Right, that's what I'm saying.
Graham: How tight it all is. They've done an amazing job on it.
Larry Hyrb: It feels like it was made by one person with a single vision, but man they just ... Anyway.
Graham: So I want to apologize to Moon for sleeping on that game for so long. If you've been daft like me, and you haven't played that game, then definitely get on it. It's amazing.
Larry Hyrb: Daft means crazy.
Graham: And then, just to finish up, I've been ... Yeah, sorry, daft. On the gamerscore thing, right? I kind of came to a realization over Christmas that I actually set myself a challenge to get 10,000 additional gamerscore by the end of the year, right? So it will get me to 80,000.
Laura Massey: That's reasonable, yeah.
Graham: Right? So ... And I realized the Xbox Game Pass is like a treasure trove of gamerscore and achievements. It's beautiful. So, I've been dipping into that, picking a few games, making sure I can get some good gamerscore. And it's been brilliant because I've discovered some stuff that I never got around to playing the first time. And I'm having a blast with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
Jeff Rubenstein: You never played that the first time?
Graham: I never played it, I know! It's like Ori, right? This is one of those games that I know I was supposed to play and I'm really sad that I didn't.
Larry Hyrb: In fact, speaking of Game Pass, some new titles went in!
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah!
Larry Hyrb: Should we talk about that?
Graham: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, these are the March titles.
Larry Hyrb: These are the March titles.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, some of the biggest titles, I think, this is easily the biggest month. This'll be the first time we have a new Microsoft Studios release directly going in, and that'll be Sea of Thieves-
Graham: Sea of Thieves, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... on March 20. But, Rise of the Tomb Raider obviously huge. Super Lucky's Tale. I gotta tell you, Oxenfree-
Laura Massey: So good!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... is absolutely one of my favorite games from-
Laura Massey: It's so good.
Larry Hyrb: Oh, I did that one!
Laura Massey: That's the conversational one.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I think the early [2016s 00:22:32]?
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, that's the one that you and I talked about that one.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:22:35] 2016.
Larry Hyrb: Did you finish it?
Laura Massey: No, I got stuck right at the end.
Larry Hyrb: You got stuck?
Laura Massey: Yeah. I couldn't figure out-
Larry Hyrb: With a decision, or-
Laura Massey: ... how to [cast 00:22:40]. I couldn't figure-
Larry Hyrb: Oh, okay, puzzle.
Laura Massey: ... Yeah, a puzzle.
Larry Hyrb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: There were some real ... So, it's a game that-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:22:46] hero.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... there's not any battling per se-
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... it's so creepy.
Laura Massey: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: And there is so many ending tot hat game. That was one of those ones where you beat it. And I'm like, "Oh, I kind of like how that ended." And then went back to YouTube and was like, "Oh, my God. That could've happened." Or, "This horrible thing could've happened."
Laura Massey: So, now I remember. That was the game where I felt like for the first time my decisions actually mattered. The conversations felt almost real, and the choices that you make, it felt like-
Larry Hyrb: It impacted the gameplay, yeah.
Laura Massey: ... it actually mattered. 'Cause there's so many different ending to it. So many different paths you can take.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, I think that-
Laura Massey: Feels like it matters.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... the conversation engine that they have in there is better than any game I've ever ... because at any point you can interrupt. And that will plan to how they feel about you. And there's sometimes where you need to interrupt before someone says the wrong thing or something. So, it's really ... Man, I love that-
Larry Hyrb: Oxenfree-
Jeff Rubenstein: Go do it.
Larry Hyrb: ... in Game Pass.
Graham: Olly, olly.
Larry Hyrb: Also, we've got the rest of these in here. Sea of Thieves will be in Game Pass when it launches next month, middle of March. Very excited about that.
Jeff Rubenstein: And I've heard good things about Final Station but I haven't played that one-
Larry Hyrb: I gotta ask you a question, though. As a former resident of Europe, what makes Euro fishing European? 'Cause that is in Game Pass.
Graham: Yeah, I guess it's all the lakes and waterways are based in Europe.
Larry Hyrb: I don't know.
Graham: Some of the best in the world I would say.
Jeff Rubenstein: Do we get an appearance from the Loch Ness Monster in the game?
Graham: Yes, probably, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did I just spoil the game?
Graham: All the fish have accents.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Graham: Stuff like that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oy, put me back.
Graham: That's actually ... I spent time with Dovetail that made that game.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really?
Larry Hyrb: What else did they do?
Graham: The train sim game.
Larry Hyrb: Oh, the train sim, yeah.
Graham: Which I think comes out next month.
Laura Massey: Cool.
Graham: Yeah, their whole business is built on these incredibly hardcore niche simulations, and they, as a business, totally live it.
Larry Hyrb: Right.
Graham: They are ... It is ... They are staffed with ... Everyone's who's working on the train sim game loves trains. Incredibly loves trains. Everyone's working-
Larry Hyrb: The right people to be working on games.
Graham: Exactly, yeah. And they've got huge audiences and huge communities built around those titles, so.
Jeff Rubenstein: Next Gamescom I think we should do a ... We should go a couple days early and do a little Euro fishing.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Graham: There you go.
Larry Hyrb: Whatever that is, I'm in.
Jeff Rubenstein: We're gonna find out.
Larry Hyrb: I'm in. Anyway-
Graham: So, that's Game Pass for me.
Larry Hyrb: ... back [crosstalk 00:24:45] Jeff did you talk about what you were playing?
Jeff Rubenstein: I haven't yet, yeah.
Larry Hyrb: Because we gotta get the rest of the show. We're almost ... we're running-
Laura Massey: Here, I'll give you your laptop back.
Jeff Rubenstein: Sure.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:24:51] sorry.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, one thing that I finally had to put to bed: I finished Blood and Wine from the Witcher 3.
Graham: Oh, nice.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: I am bereft. I have ... there is nothing left inside me. Now that I'm done with the Witcher 3, I don't know how to move on with the rest of my life. If I could like tasse the part of my hippocampus that made me remember the Witcher 3 so that I could do it again, I would do that. I would take that.
Laura Massey: You're saying you would earache your memory to do it again?
Jeff Rubenstein: That part of it if they could do that precisely like Spotless Mind.
Laura Massey: Just that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I might forget my kids' birthday-
Graham: I'd like that.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Let's be honest, I do that anyway. So, anyway, that game was so good. It's cemented itself. It's my favorite game of all time.
Larry Hyrb: Not only is it good, Jefferey. It is Xbox One X enhanced.
Jeff Rubenstein: It is. Well that's what I was waiting for. So I went and I played it-
Larry Hyrb: I do remember this.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... over the course of the last month and a half: Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. And just these stand-alones would be Game of the Year contenders. They were that good. Moved me that much. And, the thing specifically about Blood and Wine that really put it above and beyond was this whole new world, a whole new map, that sort of evoked maybe Southern France or Italy. Everything had a French name, but everyone had an Italian accent. That's fine, let's ... It was like Force Horizon 2, it was a little bit of ... It's the best of both-
Larry Hyrb: Little of column A, little of column B.
Jeff Rubenstein: But there was a whole ... They have new monsters. They actually added new components, ways that you could mutate a Geralt. So, there was a whole new stuff there. I ended up ... I wanted to do all the side missions. I must've spent probably close to 30 hours just on Blood and Wine. It was just phenomenal. And so, after that, I finished that. I was like, "Well, there's still things I have to jump into. There's probably a million independent games that I've missed since I started getting back into this.
So, I started playing a couple of games. And the one I want to talk about the most is a game called "Samsara." It came out pretty recently. This is a [98 00:26:36] Xbox title, and it is a Xbox Play Anywhere title. So, I was actually playing it on my sofa, on my laptop. And it's a sort of a puzzle platformer, if you will, where you're basically just helping a little girl in a hoodie make it from one side of each level to the other by placing, ingeniously, placing blocks in a way that she won't fall. And there's no crazy hard jumps. It's completely cerebral, but I found it both relaxing and challenging at the same time. So, "Samsara" is a game that I would definitely take a look at.
Another one I just want to mention real quick is ... we've talked about is Okami HD.
Larry Hyrb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: I finally had the time to sit down and jump into it, and oh, my God. It's beautiful. This is and enhanced title. It is just, it is a game that I feel like everybody should play. It's from Clover which was some studio that worked closely with Konami, I'm sorry, with Capcom, in the last decade that has amazing people like Kami Asan and Shenshi Makami. And made some just amazing games. I think they made ... they might have made Bayonetta as well, but it looks so-
Graham: "Beautiful Joe." Did they do it?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I think they did do "Beautiful Joe." This was a team just known for making games that had excellent story but also had visuals to match. And one of the key things here is the celestial brush where you can ... you sort of break the fourth wall and are able to paint these glyphs onto the screen that actually impact gameplay.
Larry Hyrb: Look at the art style in this game.
Laura Massey: It's gorgeous.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's no game that look like this.
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's just ... it's just ... There's no other way to put it. And it's on sale incredibly affordably very recently. I'd have to check and see what it is right now, but I picked it up when it first came out on Xbox One in December. Can't recommend this game enough.
Graham: You know what?
Larry Hyrb: All right, thank you, Jefferey.
Graham: I look at it now, and I hadn't thought of this before, but it looks like it's influenced Zelda. You know? Zelda on the Switch
Jeff Rubenstein: It is very ... the gameplay is very Zelda-esque where I don't have the ability to affect this and then later, Oh, I've gotten a ... there's 13 different brush arts that allow you to do ... that bring things back to life. And all of a sudden this pathway is now open to me. So there is a ... I would say is a very Zelda-esque type of experience.
Graham: Nice.
Laura Massey: I'm looking forward to trying that. It's on my list of things to go play.
Jeff Rubenstein: Make some time. The first 20 minutes is just a cut scene, so, let it play out for a bit. But once you get a feel for it ... plus the dog is adorable. I don' even like animals and Amerterasu is-
Larry Hyrb: That's true, he doesn't.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, I really don't.
Laura Massey: That's really sad.
Jeff Rubenstein: But this one?
Larry Hyrb: It doesn't make any sense.
Jeff Rubenstein: If I could adopt a celestial God dog I would do it.
Larry Hyrb: All right, we're getting close here. It's 29 minutes after the hour, Jeff, just to prove that we are live. We're getting ... What I'm playing ... We kind of talked about everything I'm playing. We talked about PUBG. Still playing a little bit of Overwatch. The Lunar New Year is coming to a close very soon. Maybe it's over already. PUBG. Playing a lot of Sea of Thieves. WE have the scale test so I've been out on the high seas doing that. Getting my pirate on. Where's my shirt?
Laura Massey: Did you capture any chests?
Larry Hyrb: Oh, boy, did we capture chests. Holy cow. Look at this, look at this great-
Jeff Rubenstein: What is this?
Larry Hyrb: Look at this great shirt I picked up when I was over at Rare. Oops, oops, sorry audio guy.
Graham: Oh, here. Got it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Not compatible with microphones.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, so this is-
Graham: Look at that!
Larry Hyrb: Look at that thing, huh?
Laura Massey: That is flashy.
Graham: That is pirate gold right there.
Laura Massey: Love it.
Larry Hyrb: That is, it's almost too much.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:29:43] on the back?
Jeff Rubenstein: You brought one back for the whole class, right?
Larry Hyrb: Did not, but thank you for asking.
Laura Massey: What's on the back, Larry?
Larry Hyrb: It's basically ... it's for ... They got it for their insiders. The Sea of Thieves-
Laura Massey: Oh, so, if you're an insider, you also got one?
Larry Hyrb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Oh, awesome.
Graham: That's a good shirt.
Laura Massey: It is.
Graham: Definitely.
Larry Hyrb: [I can't even 00:29:57]see it, so.
Graham: I would say that's the shirt that more people have asked me to try and get them one of those shirts-
Larry Hyrb: Really?
Graham: ... than any other merch shirt I've ever seen in-
Larry Hyrb: Who asked you?
Graham: ... my time at Xbox.
Larry Hyrb: Who asked you this?
Graham: You know Mark?
Larry Hyrb: Yeah.
Graham: People at agencies and community, and that's the one that everyone [crosstalk 00:30:12]-
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sure I've asked you at least once.
Graham: Well, there you go. See? Jeff.
Larry Hyrb: In fact, the chat-
Graham: Blaggerts, basically.
Larry Hyrb: I'm looking at the Mixer chat right here and they seem to like it. So, that's good. Good for you guys. Anyway, we're gonna role through the headlines. We've got a "Name the Game." We've got some other cool stuff coming up, so, why don't we get to that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Sure.
Larry Hyrb: LEt's look at some of the news.
Jeff Rubenstein: Get to the news desk.
Larry Hyrb: To the news desk.
Jeff Rubenstein: To the news.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:30:30] the news.
Larry Hyrb: Okay, pull down the weather and put up news.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, Lenux, we've got the videos ready to go. Okay, so, actually quite a bit of news, and perfect segue with your t-shirt. We have just announced the Xbox 1S Sea of Thieves bundle. So, if you're like me, we're probably in my house going to be playing on multiple ... multiple people playing in one crew at the same time. If you need another Xbox there is-
Larry Hyrb: No, that's not this.
Graham: No, that's not it.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's not that one.
Graham: But that is beautiful.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I would love that one.
Larry Hyrb: We'll talk about that one in a minute.
Jeff Rubenstein: Whoa, someone must have customed that out. That looks like a Jordy Tommy special.
Larry Hyrb: No, that's actually the Coco one. We'll talk about that one-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, sure.
Larry Hyrb: ... in a minute.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, well, there's that. But, there is ... and you can check on Xbox Wire. We'll link to it, and it's basically an Xbox 1S that includes ... that's a 1 terabyte hard drive, and it does come with Sea of Thieves. Some new enhanced title. I know we've talked about Cracked Down looking beautiful on Xbox One X that is not the only one.
Graham: There you go.
Jeff Rubenstein: There it is.
Graham: THere's your Sea of Thieves console.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's the one.
Larry Hyrb: There she blows.
Laura Massey: Yar!
Jeff Rubenstein: Just edit it out, right? We'll edit that one out from before. That's ... We're good.
Larry Hyrb: No, see, if it wasn't live, we would fix it, but it's not so we can't, and here we are.
Jeff Rubenstein: Here we are, that's the one. You want that one. So, some new Xbox 360 titles which are new to backward compatibility but also enhanced. And one of them is ... we were talking about Witcher, Witcher 2: Assassins and Kings. So, that was a game ... You might even have it because I want to say a year, maybe two years ago, it was part of games with gold. So, you may have it in your library somewhere. It's now backward compatible ... I think it may have been backward compatible, but now it's enhanced for Xbox One X-
Larry Hyrb: Can I just ... can we pull up the console in a minute? LEt's ... look who's playing.
Laura Massey: What?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah. There we go.
Larry Hyrb: I'm gonna have to talk to him. One of my employees is playing with a Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings-
Laura Massey: There it is.
Larry Hyrb: So-
Laura Massey: Can you guys see it?
Larry Hyrb: It's Phil Spencer. Phil Spencer is playing this.
Graham: Nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: Assassins of Kings.
Larry Hyrb: So, he's actually playing it right now.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, anyway. And I've seen some screenshots on the ... big fan of the Xbox One subreddit/r/xboxone. Keep up the good work, guys.
Larry Hyrb: I've been there.
Jeff Rubenstein: They had a great screenshot of showing Geralt from what it looked like on the 360 with what it looks like now, and oh, my God.
Larry Hyrb: He's buffer like you.
Graham: Thanks.
Jeff Rubenstein: He's aged well as well.
Laura Massey: There you go Larry. Very good.
Graham: He's definitely got more hair than me, though, I'll say that.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is very true.
Graham: God bless him. That's lovely hair he's got, isn't it?
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: He's got that silver fox thing going on. Larry, if you grew your hair out, you would look like Geralt.
Graham: Just like him.
Laura Massey: Maybe a little bit. Just a little bit longer.
Jeff Rubenstein: If you start now, by Halloween-
Larry Hyrb: I need some more scars. Should I, internet? Should I do it?
Graham: Do a photo shoot and [crosstalk 00:32:46].
Larry Hyrb: [crosstalk 00:32:48] the answer's going to be yes.
Graham: Your [crosstalk 00:32:49].
Jeff Rubenstein: Two other titles besides Crackdown that we had mentioned is Fable Anniversary and also the original Force of Horizon.
Graham: Yay.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, they've all been enhanced. You may own these games. Go play them. And they've never ... they've, literally, never looked better.
Larry Hyrb: Never looked better.
Graham: Force Horizon looks amazing.
Jeff Rubenstein: We talked about Xbox Game Pass. Those games that are gonna be coming in March. I have no problem in saying that it is the best addition, the best month of additions, to Xbox Game Pass ever. New update, too. You may have this already, again. Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite is now an Xbox Play Anywhere title.
Larry Hyrb: Delightful.
Jeff Rubenstein: And with cross play so you can play against someone on Windows 10 versus someone on Xbox. So, I gotta go check my library. I may have a portable version now-
Larry Hyrb: That's the beautiful thing about it.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:33:32] last year.
Larry Hyrb: You open your Windows 10 and all of a sudden, hey, there's a game.
Laura Massey: Exactly. There it is.
Larry Hyrb: Fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: Wanted to talk about a few things that are coming out this week.
Larry Hyrb: Please.
Jeff Rubenstein: This was a very big idea at Xbox release week. And I think you know what title I'm talking about.
Larry Hyrb: That would be, of course.
Jeff Rubenstein: That would be, of course, Immortal Redneck.
Laura Massey: Oh, really?
Jeff Rubenstein: This is a title ... There's a game called Immortal Redneck, and I was like, "That's interesting." I actually got a couple requests for this. A couple people-
Laura Massey: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: Blaine was asking me do you have codes for Immortal Redneck? And I'm like, "I'm sorry, what?" And so, I looked at the description, and I was like, "Oh, this makes sense now." Immortal Redneck is an FPS set in Egypt.
Graham: Right.
Laura Massey: Well, that makes sense.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was like, "Okay."
Laura Massey: Redneck in Egypt. They go hand in hand.
Jeff Rubenstein: You have my attention. How the redneck is immortal, got into Egypt. Play the game. But that was one ... I have to play this game now. There's actually a tips and tricks post on how to survive in Immortal Redneck 'cause, despite being immortal, apparently you have to survive. There's a lot of questions here. But I'm very interested. I'm very piqued.
Graham: There we go, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: We're seeing a look at it, it looks like it's pretty fast paced. Clearly takes place in Egypt.
Larry Hyrb: Does it?
Jeff Rubenstein: As, again-
Laura Massey: Are you inside pyramids? Who knows. Gotta play the game.
Jeff Rubenstein: You name your title that you have my attention.
Graham: Is the character a stereotypical redneck?
Jeff Rubenstein: Well-
Graham: IS that what we're seeing?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... he's in Egypt so maybe not.
Graham: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: And he's immortal so I think-
Larry Hyrb: There are more questions than we have answers right now.
Laura Massey: There are.
Jeff Rubenstein: [That's why I'm here 00:34:54].
Graham: But you don't have to answer them.
Jeff Rubenstein: I inform, you decide.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:34:58].
Jeff Rubenstein: So, couple other really ... Gravel and Deblob 2 are out. It's a racing game and Deblob was a pretty popular game that came out a few years ago [crosstalk 00:35:06]-
Larry Hyrb: I'm sorry, they're claiming ... in the chat they're claiming it has Mixer integration. Is that true?
Laura Massey: Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, my God, really?
Laura Massey: That's great!
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, well, now this is something ... Let me dig into that while we're doing one of the other segments, and I'll look into it.
Larry Hyrb: All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: But three titles I really want to call out-
Larry Hyrb: Please.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... is really pretty ... Titles that are gonna [inaudible 00:35:22] a lot of people here. So, one is Deep Rockalactic. It is part of Xbox game previews. This is the type of game where, much like PUBG, you're feedback is very welcome as the team continues-
Larry Hyrb: You're part of the development process.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... to develop the game. But this is a game that is an Xbox Play Anywhere game that is already Xbox One X enhanced. And this is a game that we showed ... I think it made a world wide debut during our E3 briefing last year. And it looked really interesting. Four players playing at once as dwarfs, mining. It had a very ... it's a co-op FPS. It looked like some really interesting things happening. There was some ... to me it sort of evoked a little bit of Left For Dead. And so, anyway, I'm very interested in this. It is out now. It actually became available just a couple of hours ago. So, Deep Rockalactic. Definitely worth taking a look at. Both on, again, Xbox One and on Windows 10.
Graham: I've heard good things about it. There's some good buzz about. It looks a wee bit like Left for Dead.
Larry Hyrb: Look at this weapon.
Graham: Like Minecraft sort of.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so yeah.
Graham: Minecrafty-
Jeff Rubenstein: Mine-y.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:36:17]
Jeff Rubenstein: There's a lot going on here.
Larry Hyrb: You remember this from E3, right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. It's what I just said, Larry.
Larry Hyrb: I know.
Jeff Rubenstein: We're even now.
Graham: There was a cool trailer at E3, so, that was a good moment.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, this was a game that a lot of people ... Who was talking about this? Who was interested in this game? And it was actually ... it definitely caught a lot of eyes.
Larry Hyrb: Also, Deep Rock has Mixer integration.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, cool.
Graham: Woo hoo.
Larry Hyrb: So-
Jeff Rubenstein: Man, the Mixer team. Very busy.
Larry Hyrb: Actually, we're giving away-
Jeff Rubenstein: And they're always [crosstalk 00:36:41] with us.
Larry Hyrb: ... codes in the Mixer chat right now.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, good.
Graham: Cool.
Larry Hyrb: To the game, so.
Jeff Rubenstein: Nice.
Larry Hyrb: Be cool, and maybe you'll win.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, so, here's another game I want to talk about. It's something I've been looking forward to ... dabbled with in [inaudible 00:36:52] is Darkest Dungeon. So, this is a game that is a sort of a term based RPG, but is like where you go in and-
Larry Hyrb: Is that this one right here?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, that's the one. We have to make a lot of interesting, tough-
Graham: Cool.
Larry Hyrb: Well, that looks complicated.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's definitely not ... It is hard core.
Larry Hyrb: This is like-
Jeff Rubenstein: You are going to lose, you are going to die.
Larry Hyrb: ... 80s style UI.
Jeff Rubenstein: But it is a game that is punishing, but I think the type of people who enjoy a game like Excom and enjoy tough strategy games are really gonna be into this game. So, this one also just went live on Xbox One in the store just a couple of hours ago, and I really plan on sinking a number of hours into this game, and then probably being beaten down pretty hard.
Larry Hyrb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. One last game.
Larry Hyrb: Please.
Jeff Rubenstein: I saved this one for last because Larry, you're going to love this.
Larry Hyrb: Yes.
Laura Massey: And I will love this one too.
Jeff Rubenstein: Bridge Constructor Portal.
Laura Massey: Portal!
Graham: And I saw this last night.
Laura Massey: Portal.
Graham: I was like, "Whoa."
Jeff Rubenstein: You, oh, my God. So-
Larry Hyrb: You and I did that co-op, didn't we? Did we do the whole game co-op?
Laura Massey: We did Portal 2 co-op.
Larry Hyrb: We did Portal 2 co-op. I'm sorry.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hyrb: I'm sorry, you're right.
Laura Massey: Bridge Constructor has co-op.
Larry Hyrb: That was ... I gotta tell you, that was most humbling experience playing Portal with you. 'Cause I'm like, "I don't know these puzzles." And Laura's like-
Laura Massey: Just here. Do this here and here.
Larry Hyrb: "Doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing." Okay, I'll follow you, and do exactly what she's says. Shut up.
Laura Massey: We help you get some good achievements too.
Larry Hyrb: Thank you.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, as you can see here, it's exactly what you think it is which is taking bridge constructor ... like the physics based. You're building bridges to try and get across-
Larry Hyrb: The game you didn't know you wanted, but you have to have.
Jeff Rubenstein: But with portals. And I cannot wait to play this. I mean, I think the title itself sells the game. Bridge Constructor Portal.
Larry Hyrb: What's wrong with that?
Graham: It's nice to see-
Jeff Rubenstein: Buy now, buy now.
Graham: ... something with portal on it again, isn't it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hyrb: I agree. I love-
Jeff Rubenstein: And it's very surprising, and it takes place in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. It's the-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hyrb: So good.
Graham: Nice.
Larry Hyrb: All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right.
Larry Hyrb: I do owe the audience an apology.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Larry Hyrb: I do. I just noticed some-
Graham: It's about time.
Larry Hyrb: I just ... thank you ... I just noticed something terrible here. I was on the dashboard and over on the Mixer tab there's a promotional spot for the show, and it has a dog in it. We do not have a dog during the show today.
Laura Massey: Not today.
Graham: Is everyone disappointing?
Jeff Rubenstein: That's what we call bait and switch.
Larry Hyrb: I don' know if you're disappointed, but we do not have a Pug G with us today. You can see him right there in the center. And that's my ugly mug.
Jeff Rubenstein: People are logging out in droves right now, Larry.
Larry Hyrb: Yes, so, I apologize. This, unfortunately, because Jeff is here-
Laura Massey: That's super cute.
Larry Hyrb: ... a dog free show.
Graham: Is that why you asked me here? Because you couldn't get the dog?
Larry Hyrb: Well-
Laura Massey: Well-
Graham: Was I second place?
Larry Hyrb: Now that you look at it, I did actually. No, I did ask him to wear the brown tie and he came up empty.
Graham: It's hilarious, though, isn't it? [inaudible 00:39:26]
Laura Massey: I know, it's uncanny.
Larry Hyrb: So, anyway.
Graham: There was just one other little piece of news I saw this morning. Well, quite big piece of news that I just wanted to add on. So, new Overwatch character reveal today.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, my God! Did I miss that?
Larry Hyrb: Yes, you did.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, come on. Why was I [going to meetings 00:39:37]?
Larry Hyrb: You're gonna pull it up right now.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hyrb: I saw that 'cause we find out most think the way you do, and that's the internet.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is it Torbjorns daughter?
Graham: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: 'Cause that's where the rumors were.
Graham: Brigitte.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay, yes. That's where the rumors ... I'm very, I'm ... It's live!
Graham: I'm not up-
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm finding this out now.
Graham: ... on the Swedish pronunciation of-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Graham: ... of Brigette.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, very cool.
Graham: But, yeah. She looks great.
Jeff Rubenstein: No they ... She has a whole origin story. All right, this is gonna be good.
Graham: She got big old shield-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Graham: Looks super tough.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, they had been really teasing hard-
Larry Hyrb: When's she coming?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... on Twitter.com/playoverwatch.
Graham: I don't know actually. I didn't see that.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right.
Laura Massey: It's hard to find from just scanning the Twitter feed.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: But it looks really interesting.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, this is the-
Laura Massey: There's a couple of videos there.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... 27th character.
Larry Hyrb: I wonder if it's Brigitte or I have a-
Jeff Rubenstein: Brigetta.
Larry Hyrb: ... my nieces name is Brigetta.
Graham: Brigeta.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, that's right.
Larry Hyrb: Right? So I wonder if it's [crosstalk 00:40:20].
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:40:20] start playing the game.
Larry Hyrb: [She's going to get 00:40:21] really excited!
Graham: Get the chat to give it to us phonetically.
Larry Hyrb: Hey-
Graham: Look at the fan art-
Larry Hyrb: Chad, can you-
Graham: ... coming in already.
Larry Hyrb: ... can you help us out and let us know is it Brigitte, is it Brigetta, is it Brigette?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, here we go.
Laura Massey: And when does she come out?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Graham: Oh, there's footage of her. Look.
Jeff Rubenstein: The youngest of Torbjorn's daughters.
Larry Hyrb: Look at that shield.
Laura Massey: That's great.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, wow. Great job pulling the ... yeah, it's much smaller than mine was.
Larry Hyrb: Okay, we're seeing phonetics. Say Brigette.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay. So I heard that she has some sort of range closing ... like a grappling hook, or something, but who the heck knows. She has a rocket flail. She swings a right arc in front of her to smash multiple enemies at once. And whip shot, which enables her to fling her flail forward striking enemies at a distance, and knocking them backward.
Larry Hyrb: All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, the internet rumor mill has been really good.
Larry Hyrb: We are ... so that's ... you can check that out. Of course, you can find all this information if you follow me on Twitter @majornelson. I have tweets up there and retweets. We'll give you everyone's Twitter handles later on in the show when we're wrapping things up. It's ... we have about fifteen minutes left.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Wow, it's really packed with news.
Laura Massey: This is going really fast.
Larry Hyrb: This show blows by really quickly. But, Jeff, you got some more stuff?
Jeff Rubenstein: No, no, just Brigitte is on the PTR which means she'll probably be showing up relatively soon. This is where Blizzard tests things on some PC servers. So, I'd imagine in the next couple of weeks we're gonna be playing with Brigitte. All right, thank you. You really did me a solid-
Graham: You're welcome. No problem.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sorry I threw you under the bus earlier.
Graham: No, don't worry. I'm used to that.
Larry Hyrb: We're cooking a long here. We do "Name the Game" which is-
Laura Massey: Is it time?
Larry Hyrb: ... a contest that we do-
Laura Massey: Is it time for Name the Game?"
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, it is. It's ... Chad, is it time? Mixer Chad, is it time for "Name the Game," 'cause I think it is. If the studio ... if the control room's ready, I think-
Graham: Can confirm. Yes it is.
Larry Hyrb: ... we are ready. All right, so-
Laura Massey: Chat is ready. Good.
Larry Hyrb: ... the way it works ... we've already given away some stuff in chat, and, Laura, why don't you explain how this part of the contest works. Maybe for some new viewers, or listeners.
Laura Massey: For sure. So, we love to give away awesome stuff here on the Major Nelson podcast. And when we do that is through a contest called "Name the Game." It's a really, really simple contest. It's usually where I play sound clips from a mystery game, and then you just send an email and guess what game that is from. But, when we do live podcasts, like today, we sometimes give you video to look as well.
Larry Hyrb: To help.
Laura Massey: To help. It's like a little hint. So, for the people who tune in live, they get a little extra incentive to win-
Larry Hyrb: And, if you're listening, maybe after the show ...'cause I take the audio track and post that in my podcast feed ... if you're listening to this and you're like, "I need a hint," just go over to my Mixer channel and you can scroll ... you can scrub forward and find the video, right?
Laura Massey: Exactly. And I helps you out to figure out what game those sounds are from. So we do it every week, and we have one to pay off, I believe. Is that right? Do we have the clip from last time?
Larry Hyrb: Oh yeah, we have a clip. So, if we can get the clip ready in the studio. This is an audio only clip. This was the last time when we did the show when you were in the studio with us.
Laura Massey: So, we'll play a little bit of it.
Larry Hyrb: So, go ahead and play that and we'll show you what it was. Or, let you hear.
Graham: Whoa, sorry about that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I feel like we should be doing a Star Trek...
Larry Hyrb: All right, so-
Laura Massey: All right, so that was last time's "Name the Game" and you could hear that was a difficult one.
Larry Hyrb: That was a difficult one.
Laura Massey: So, what happens is we get a bunch of emails. Some of them are, unfortunately, incorrect, but we take the correct ones and we put them in a hat and then draw out a random correct winner, and-
Larry Hyrb: R and G.
Laura Massey: ... award prices. Yeah, exactly. So, there's not actually a physical hat. I've gotten that question before. We don't have a physical hat. It's a virtual hat. And we pick a random winner. So, this week's random winner is Quentin from Flint, Michigan. Congratulations, Quentin. His gamer tag is pretty awesome. It's jollyarmadillo.
Graham: Nice.
Larry Hyrb: Jollyarmadillo. Quentin. Where's he from? Michigan?
Laura Massey: Flint, Michigan.
Larry Hyrb: Flint, Michigan.
Laura Massey: Yep.
Larry Hyrb: Good for him. Hopefully he's-
Laura Massey: Congratulations, Quesntin.
Larry Hyrb: Congratulations. Now, if you're tuning in and you're trying to say, "Wait a minute. I want free prices. I want free stuff." Laura! We can help them out, right?
Laura Massey: We can. So, Quentin is gonna win a massive bag of awesomeness. I'll go through what Quentin has won.
Larry Hyrb: Okay, go through that and then we'll maybe make you a winner.
Laura Massey: And then we'll give you an opportunity to win these awesome prizes. So, Quentin, you've won an Xbox Game Pass subscription for three months. So, you can take advantage of all those awesome games we were talking about before.
Larry Hyrb: All you can eat.
Laura Massey: All you can eat, exactly.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:44:48] gamerscore.
Laura Massey: But we also have tons of games for you as well. We have a copy of Terraria, a copy of Deep Rockalactic, which is what Jeff was just talking about-
Jeff Rubenstein: Just fresh out of the oven.
Laura Massey: We have a copy of Age of Empires: The Definitive Addition-
Larry Hyrb: For PC>
Laura Massey: For Windows 10, yep. Which is an amazing game. So, if you get a chance to try that out the blast from the past is great. We also have a copy of Metal Gear Survive, a copy of Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullets, and a copy of Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm hearing a lot about that game.
Larry Hyrb: So many games!
Laura Massey: That's not all.
Larry Hyrb: Congratulations! Well-
Laura Massey: That's not all, Larry.
Larry Hyrb: That's not all? But wait, there's-
Laura Massey: I always like to throw something in and the end.
Larry Hyrb: ... more.
Laura Massey: We also have a copy of Coco which is a new Disney Pixar movie now available [crosstalk 00:45:32]. It's a movie, which is pretty cool.
Graham: Yeah, 'cause we didn't talk to that Coco console-
Laura Massey: We didn't.
Graham: A minute ago, did we? Yeah.
Laura Massey: We just teased it.
Graham: You can win that, can't you?
Larry Hyrb: Yeah. In fact-
Graham: Coco custom console.
Larry Hyrb: ... Do we have the Coco custom console?I don't remember how you win it.
Graham: You should show it 'cause it's gorgeous. Just look at that.
Laura Massey: Oh, it's gorgeous.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, look at that thing. We're giving that away. We're giving that away. I think the Xbox ... You guys are giving that away?
Graham: Yeah, I think ... Well, it's linked on the Xbox Twitter feed. I think you tweeted it yesterday, or the day before as well. So, you-
Larry Hyrb: 'Cause Coco's on Microsoft movies and TV.
Graham: That's right.
Larry Hyrb: Have you seen it?
Graham: I haven't seen it yet.
Larry Hyrb: So what's funny is I remember when we were at the Star Wars screening in December the ... I was sitting with the guy who did the sound designer for Star Wars also was the sound designer for this movie. And he told me-
Jeff Rubenstein: No big deal.
Larry Hyrb: And it was interesting because I remember he told me ... I said, "Wow, you got to work with Star Wars. That must have been really hard." He's like, "Oh, no, it was actually a lot of fun. The real hard movie was working on Coco."
Graham: Really?
Laura Massey: Really?
Larry Hyrb: Really? This was hard? Anyway, so, but, it's a great film.
Graham: I hear amazing things about it. I hear it's a proper weepy as well, right?
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, all you need to do is enter for a chance to win. Now if you want to win that console, you just need to go to cocoxboxsweeps.com.
Graham: There you go.
Laura Massey: There you go.
Larry Hyrb: So that's how you get in with that.
Graham: Can I just say as well, just while we're on that. Sorry, I know I'm going in. Did you see the Jordan consoles?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, of course, yeah, yeah.
Graham: Custom Xbox One's we did? Oh, my God.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, they were so nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, these were a trio of consoles that matched the re released the Air Jordan 3s. There was the cement, the tinker hat field, and the-
Graham: Free throw line, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Free throw line one. This was a very popular shoe, and matching it in time for the MBA All star Game. And there's a really cool unboxing I can link out to in the show notes-
Graham: Yeah, Chris did that one, didn't he? Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, there's been a few ... we work with someone named Jacques [Slades 00:47:06] here.
Larry Hyrb: Here it is right here on screen.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep, there we go. And-
Graham: Yeah, look at that.
Larry Hyrb: I had all those back in the day.
Graham: Did you?
Jeff Rubenstein: Did you really?
Larry Hyrb: Come on, yeah. Of course I did.
Jeff Rubenstein: I have no idea if you're being serious right now.
Larry Hyrb: Why wouldn't I?
Laura Massey: No, no.
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know. [crosstalk 00:47:18]
Laura Massey: I can't see you in them.
Larry Hyrb: You outgrow it, though.
Jeff Rubenstein: I just think of these kids back in-
Graham: [crosstalk 00:47:22] that cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was in elementary school and we couldn't afford those but Eric Winger could. Don't think I haven't forgotten about it, Eric.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, Eric.
Jeff Rubenstein: If I'm walking around-
Larry Hyrb: Wherever you are.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... in Target brand shoes.
Graham: Eric Winger sounds pretty cool. I mean, that's a good sir name, isn't it?
Jeff Rubenstein: He was pretty cool.
Larry Hyrb: He had the kicks. He obviously was.
Graham: Eric Winger.
Jeff Rubenstein: I need to go. I think we need a break through here.
Larry Hyrb: Sorry about that, Laura.
Laura Massey: There's been multiple break throughs today.
Graham: [crosstalk 00:47:47] interrupted. Sorry, my fault.
Larry Hyrb: Anyway.
Laura Massey: So, Chad just reminded me, I actually didn't tell you what game-
Graham: Yeah, that was my fault. Sorry, Chad.
Larry Hyrb: Thanks, Chad. Keeping us honest. Again, a benefit of doing a show live.
Laura Massey: Exactly. I'm sorry I got super distracted by all the awesome games that Quentin won. But the "Name the Game" answer from last time was Albert and Otto.
Larry Hyrb: Yep. Albert and Otto.
Laura Massey: Yes, so, congratulations to all the people who guessed that correct, and extra congratulations to Quentin-
Larry Hyrb: From Flint, Michigan.
Laura Massey: ... who is our random winner. All right, so now-
Larry Hyrb: Quentin from Flintin.
Laura Massey: Are we ready for "Name the Game" for this week?
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, well, we're doing it a little differently because you can see us. We are going to give you-
Jeff Rubenstein: Sorry about that, by the way.
Larry Hyrb: ... a visual "Name the Game." So, we're gonna role the video. It's about a 30 second video clip from a game. And if you're listening to this pod ... audio only version of the podcast, we're gonna give you, obviously, the soundtrack. So if you want a little extra help then come dig up the VOD.
Laura Massey: Right. And reminder: please do not answer in the chat.
Larry Hyrb: If you answer in the chat, you'll ... bad things will happen.
Laura Massey: It's only to your disadvantage to answer it in the chat.
Jeff Rubenstein: It happens anyway.
Graham: Don't do it. It's not cool
Larry Hyrb: Do not upset Laura. All right, so, why don't we go ahead and ... ready to roll that video?
Laura Massey: Yeah, let's roll the video.
Larry Hyrb: All right, if you guys have I ready, go ahead and roll it. [inaudible 00:49:11]
Laura Massey: So, that was "Name the Game" for this time.
Graham: Oh, creepy.
Laura Massey: It was super creepy, yeah. So, again, don't answer in the chat. They way that you enter is by sending us email. You can email me at lollipop@xbox.com and ccmajor@xbox.com, and let us know what game that's from. And I saw in the chat ... this is open to anyone worldwide. If you're watching us, if you're hearing our voice from the audio podcast, you can enter and you can win. So, good luck to everybody out there.
Jeff Rubenstein: I can't believe someone put the right title in there. Barbie Horse Adventure, I ... [crosstalk 00:49:55] can't have nice things.
Larry Hyrb: Is that still a punch line?
Jeff Rubenstein: It's always a punch line
Laura Massey: It's always a punch line.
Larry Hyrb: Barbie Horse Adventure. There's gonna be a whole generation that doesn't get that joke.
Laura Massey: Yeah, thank you. [crosstalk 00:50:05] made me laugh. Thank you very much, yeah. It's very good.
Larry Hyrb: All right, well. I'm just looking. I'm reading the chat right now. If you're just tuning in we're doing the show. We started about 51 minutes ago, but who's counting?
Laura Massey: You are.
Larry Hyrb: No, I've got the clock here, so I gotta respect studio time is expensive-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, but it's your time.
Larry Hyrb: ... people watching. Their time is expensive.
Jeff Rubenstein: We wasted that.
Larry Hyrb: Laura, I owe you some Sea of Thieves time when the game comes out, right?
Laura Massey: Yes, we should play. [crosstalk 00:50:30] It comes out soon.
Larry Hyrb: We have four people we can play a four person-
Laura Massey: Yes, we can have you in!
Graham: That'd be great.
Laura Massey: Yeah, that completes the boat. [crosstalk 00:50:37]
Larry Hyrb: What's your specialty?
Graham: Pretty good at falling off the edge of the ship.
Larry Hyrb: Okay, that's-
Graham: And then being abandoned.
Larry Hyrb: Okay.
Graham: I'm a good shot. I usually play solo, so I'm like a one man-
Larry Hyrb: You can do it all.
Laura Massey: You can do it all. A one man band.
Larry Hyrb: A one man wrecking machine.
Graham: Like steering, though. Steering's the best.
Laura Massey: Steering's really fun. [crosstalk 00:50:56]
Graham: Tell me more about your visit to Rare.
Larry Hyrb: Well, first of all, Rare was ... I had Craig on the show last week when Laura was out and Jeff was with me. It's just a delightful studio, and it's great to be ... to see some of the works they're doing. It is, and I tweeted this, and I said it last time, and I'll say it again. It is the single most beautiful studio I've ever been to.
Graham: Absolutely.
Larry Hyrb: I've been to a lot of game studios. Not all of them, but a lot of them. This is absolutely at the top of the list. And they're just wonderful people too.
Graham: So true.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really?
Graham: Yeah.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah. I mean, you spend so much time out there when you were living in New England-
Graham: I used to go up there quite a lot, yeah. It was nice to just drive up there and have a couple of meetings, and then work from there for the rest of the day 'cause it was so-
Larry Hyrb: Chill.
Laura Massey: It's serene.
Graham: Yeah, it's beautiful. [crosstalk 00:51:37] If they've got snow, it's gonna look beautiful. [crosstalk 00:51:39] That's right, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:51:45][crosstalk 00:51:45]
Larry Hyrb: It was supposed to snow when we were out there and we had ... I told the camera crew, 'cause this is what you can do, I'm like, "Guys, I really want to have the sun rise up in the morning with the snow so we can include that in the pieces." And the sunrise was at 6:15. So, these guys had to get up at 4:00 to drive out there and get all set up.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Larry Hyrb: And then it was overcast.
Laura Massey: Very demanding. [crosstalk 00:52:01]
Jeff Rubenstein: You're like, "I'll see you after lunch."
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, exactly. They were not pleased. But the videos ... we'll have some videos that we shot there. I can't tell you when they're coming out. We know when they're coming out. We'll let you know. They're coming out closer to launch.
Jeff Rubenstein: Just taking a look at the content-
Larry Hyrb: Maybe we're going to be doing something special for the launch.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, there goes the spoilers. A lot of people are asking about you, Graham. Maybe 'cause you're special. Maybe 'cause, I don't know. People are asking about Arson Finger. They should be asking me about that. Oh, but they're asking about ... Why are you in the U.S. right now? I think maybe they didn't get the message.
Graham: Yeah, I've been here for almost six months now.
Laura Massey: Has it been that long? [crosstalk 00:52:37]
Graham: This is my new home. Yeah, no, I came out, what? September it was, wasn't it? And now I work in Redmond at Xbox HQ
Jeff Rubenstein: He works ... His desk is about 100 feet from mine and I see him less than I-
Graham: It's true, isn't it?
Laura Massey: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... did when you were [crosstalk 00:52:49]. Yeah.
Graham: Yeah. Sorry about that. Well, I was busy. I have to actually go to meetings now. I can't just sit [crosstalk 00:52:54].
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, I come see you, right?
Graham: That's so true. No, you're very good at that.
Larry Hyrb: I like to make sure I see you, buddy. [crosstalk 00:53:00]
Jeff Rubenstein: We need to Americanize you. Take you to a baseball game.
Graham: Yeah. Well, [crosstalk 00:53:02] I'm ready. Let's go. Let's do it.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Graham: I want a hotdog and-
Jeff Rubenstein: Can we have a baseball team here?
Laura Massey: Some nachos?
Larry Hyrb: Yes.
Graham: Yeah, I guess. [crosstalk 00:53:10]
Larry Hyrb: Laura, I'm sorry, I'm just being reminded here. I'm getting some IMs here that apparently I don't know if it's confirmed ... jollyarmadillo is in the chat.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:53:18] Really?
Larry Hyrb: I don't know if it's just a dog posing as jollyarmadillo because on the internet nobody knows.
Laura Massey: Yeah, that's true.
Larry Hyrb: But, if it is, then I believe it's you, so-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, there he is, yeah. Yeah absolutely.
Laura Massey: Awesome. Congratulations, jollyarmadillo. Great job guessing the game.
Jeff Rubenstein: Jollier than ever. [crosstalk 00:53:33]
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:53:35] extra jolly.
Larry Hyrb: Extra jolly armadillo. We've got a busy few weeks coming up here. I may be in New York for the Sea of Thieves launch. We're working on our [Packs East 00:53:44] plan in Boston. We're very excited about that. YOu're welcome to join us if you can make your way to Boston.
Graham: Sounds nice. I'd love to that. I've never been before.
Larry Hyrb: Be careful. It snowed a lot last year. [crosstalk 00:53:54] Remember how cold it was, Laura?
Laura Massey: So-
Larry Hyrb: I just remember you coming into the hotel and you were angry as a wet cat.
Laura Massey: It was 10 degrees. [crosstalk 00:54:06] Fahrenheit. That is really cold.
Graham: Can we not move it to San Diego, or-
Laura Massey: Good suggestion.
Larry Hyrb: Well, there is one-
Laura Massey: Hawaii?
Larry Hyrb: ... in Texas.
Graham: Oh, okay.
Laura Massey: But it's in July.
Larry Hyrb: No, it's in January.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's in January.
Laura Massey: Did they move it to January?
Larry Hyrb: It's always been in January.
Laura Massey: Okay. I thought it was in July. No, my bad.
Larry Hyrb: You're thinking, probably-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:54:23] RTX, maybe?
Larry Hyrb: Oh, yeah, maybe that's what you're thinking. Couple folks were asking. I tweeted out a few weeks ago about some features I had seen. The platform team, so, I go over to work on the platform team and talk to them about some of the features that are coming soon to you guys and girls. I think you'll be really excited. That's all I can say. I don' wanna say anything more. Maybe I've said too much. 'Cause I know there's people watching what I say.
Laura Massey: Very closely.
Larry Hyrb: All the time if that makes any sense. So what are you looking forward to playing in the ... I mean, we're gonna play Sea of Thieves, right guys?
Graham: Sea of Thieves, yeah.
Laura Massey: Absolutely. That one should be super fun. Pillaging the high seas. See if I can get my cardinal direction correct. See that the compass works.
Larry Hyrb: Well, I saw Joe, 'cause that happened to us. You were claiming your compass was broken. They added some neat features that I'm sure you picked up on when you're doing the steps you're controller vibrates.
Laura Massey: Yes, it does. To let you know how many steps that you've made. [crosstalk 00:55:12]
Larry Hyrb: They re calibrated all the compasses.
Laura Massey: They did. Very good.
Jeff Rubenstein: Or you hold your compass out while you're trying to go x amount of steps. [crosstalk 00:55:20] You really feel that you're taking those paces. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Laura Massey: It's okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: You put makeup on me today, and I talked over you.
Laura Massey: It's okay. [crosstalk 00:55:27]
Graham: That's off camera talk. [crosstalk 00:55:31]
Larry Hyrb: Do you have any more you'd like to share or overshare about your relationship here. Oh boy, anyway, so-
Graham: Far Cry 5 as well. I'm excited about Far Cry 5.
Larry Hyrb: Yeah, actually, can I talk a little bit about that?
Graham: Absolutely.
Larry Hyrb: I went down to San Francisco last week, saw Far Cry. Got to play Far Cry. Saw Boomer. Yes, Jefferey.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, I'm excited.
Larry Hyrb: The dog. [crosstalk 00:55:48] Far Cry 5 release cited it's fully playable in co-op. Jeff and I played Far Cry 4 as much as we could in co-op.
Jeff Rubenstein: So much, yeah.
Larry Hyrb: 'Cause you had to hit a certain point.
Jeff Rubenstein: You mut have played like 20 ... When are they putting you back ... 'Cause I felt you ... Pagan Min was a young Major Nelson, and maybe it's Far Cry 6 you'll be the big bad.
Larry Hyrb: Maybe I'm in it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe.
Laura Massey: What?
Graham: What?
Larry Hyrb: Do you know where this one takes place, Laura? This one takes place in Montana.
Laura Massey: Okay. [crosstalk 00:56:17]
Larry Hyrb: There's a little bit of redneck action going on in there. You'll hear all about that. [crosstalk 00:56:22] So, who knows? You'll find out. So-
Graham: Every time I bristle whenever we say redneck because I watched Ozark recently. It's a Netflix original series and there's an amazing scene in there where the word redneck is used in [crosstalk 00:56:35] it does not end well. So yeah. But yeah. It looks great.
Larry Hyrb: Anyway, Far Cry 5 coming to Xbox One X. I gotta say this. I talked with some of the team down at Ubisoft. They said, and I may be talking out of school here ... quote, "This will be one of the best looking games on Xbox One X. [crosstalk 00:56:54] So-
Laura Massey: They have some stiff competition.
Larry Hyrb: I know. I know. We saw Assassin's Creed and what happens with [crosstalk 00:57:01].
Jeff Rubenstein: That comes out pretty soon, too, doesn't it?
Larry Hyrb: [crosstalk 00:57:04] March 27 is Far Cry 5.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, wow, really. We have a month to clear out our back logs.
Laura Massey: Yeah, I know. [crosstalk 00:57:10]
Larry Hyrb: So this is ... Is this it here? Yeah I guess this may be it.
Jeff Rubenstein: It looks like it. Now, here's the thing. I mean, I feel like every time there was a component where we were flying ... and this even goes back to Battlefield 3 [crosstalk 00:57:21] ... Larry always wants to be the pilot-
Larry Hyrb: I can't help it.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is professional gameplay here. It would be us flying in to that building, or something like that [crosstalk 00:57:31].
Larry Hyrb: This comes from my frustrated ... I think this is ... My frustrated desire to be a helicopter pilot. I've talked about it. I should just go up and get my pilot's license and call it a day and none of you would go up with me again. I actually don't trust myself to do that.
Laura Massey: I definitely would not fly with you in real life. I'm sorry, Larry.
Larry Hyrb: Thank you, Laura [crosstalk 00:57:47].
Laura Massey: Too many accidents.
Jeff Rubenstein: You don't get to reboot that one.
Larry Hyrb: Yep, all right. Well, we are at the end of the hour here. It's been an incredible time for you guys. Thank you for sharing, and sharing with everyone at home. And everybody at home and wherever you are, thank you for sharing your time with us. Really excited to share some news with you. Jefferey, thank you for that. Thank you for the news and weather.
Jeff Rubenstein: News and weather together. [crosstalk 00:58:11]
Larry Hyrb: Internet, you need to find Jefferey on his weather.
Graham: Please, please. [crosstalk 00:58:13]
Larry Hyrb: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Did you have an on-air name? Like Lightening McQueen or something?
Graham: I was trying to think of one earlier and was truly striking out.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, 'cause, the guy in Miami where my folks live is Steve Hurricane Schwartz. I'm there in Philly, and I'm like, "There's no hurricanes in Philly." [crosstalk 00:58:31] But it just sounds better-
Larry Hyrb: It sounds better.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... than Steve Schwartz [crosstalk 00:58:33]. I'm, yeah, Jeff Low Pressure System Rubenstein with you-
Larry Hyrb: Anyway, so, you can follow Jeff on Twitter. Jeff, what's your Twitter handle?
Jeff Rubenstein: @jeffrubenstein.
Larry Hyrb: You can follow Graham here at-
Graham: @acbongos.
Larry Hyrb: Laura.
Laura Massey: You can find me on Twitter @lauralollipop.
Larry Hyrb: And I'm Larry Hyrb. Xbox Live's Major Nelson saying thank you, guys. We will talk to you next time. Bye bye everybody!
Laura Massey: Thanks for joining.
Graham: Bye bye!