Larry: (intro music)
Hello and welcome to the program. I'm your host, Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. You've downloaded the podcast. Show number, I believe, it's 588, Laura. Hi, Laura.
Laura: 588.
Larry: 588. (laughs) What?
Laura: That's a big number.
Larry: Now, you know ... I want to know this. Hello, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: Hi!
Larry: When I'm doing, I'm doing the math. When I started (laughs) ... Wow. When I started doing this podcast, you were still in college.
Laura: Is that true? What, what year did you start the podcast?
Larry: 2004?
Laura: I was.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: I was in college.
Larry: Jeff-
Jeffrey: I was merely underemployed.
Larry: You were, you were really, you were really underemployed and, and so I was, uh, so it's ... what, it, what, my my my ... What a, what a long road it's been. We'll say that.
Laura: It's been more than-
Jeffrey: I do not want to go back to 2004. Those were dark days. What was I doing?
Larry: Oh, 2 ... Now I actually enjoyed it, because 2004 was such a great time. I mean, Laura, you sa-, you were in, I don't know-
Laura: I was in college.
Larry: You were in college which is always a great time, so enough said.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative), always a good time.
Larry: If you, if you've had the, uh, the opportunity to go to college, you probably have fond memories. Uh, but 2004, we were deep in the thicks of planning Xbox 360.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: Working on the achievements, uh, structure. Um, what do you ... What?
Jeffrey: I'm trying to think. When did, um, oh, it was an OG Xbox game, Jade Empire. What did that come out? I feel like it was around that time.
Larry: Uh, that sounds about right. Um-
Jeffrey: I sat at home all day playing Jade Empire.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: But anyway, and, you know-
Jeffrey: 2005.
Larry: Well, you know, it all, it all mattered because you were in the process of ... You were, you were being groomed. Little did you know! [crosstalk 00:01:53]
Jeffrey: I had no idea-
Larry: That you were being groomed-
Laura: Practicing.
Jeffrey: The long and winding road that would take me here.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, so if you're sitting there at home, dear listener, and you're saying, "How do I get into, uh, the video game industry?" Well, there's a couple ways. We have three different vectors-
Laura: We do.
Larry: Sitting right here at this very table. Of course, mine, you could say ... I, I put that up on YouTube. Jeff, you could stay at home and play Jade Empire and-
Jeffrey: And then, and, and then write a blog. [crosstalk 00:02:13] And then get ... And that's how I got started.
Larry: That's how you got started? Which was back before blogs were even blogs. And then Laura, Laura was-
Laura: I got a degree in computer science.
Larry: You got a degree-
Laura: At my school [crosstalk 00:02:22]
Larry: You did the work, we didn't.
Laura: (laughs) And then I got an internship.
Larry: Yes.
Laura: During my college career.
Larry: That's right.
Laura: It opened the door.
Larry: And then here we are. So, anyway. Thanks for, uh, thanks for joining us this week. We are now, uh ... We're doing pretty well. Two, two shows in a row.
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: When we're all together, so, it's, uh-
Laura: 2017's going well.
Larry: 2017 is off to a great start in some ways and not so in others, so.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: So ... (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs)
Larry: Um, anyway-
Jeffrey: One of our favorite Yule Lads, uh-
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: You know, did you get any feed back on the Yule Lads story last week?
Jeffrey: I got a little bit.
Larry: I got a little bit on Twitter.
Laura: I got some suggestions.
Larry: Did you?
Laura: I can't remember what they are though. I apologize, people who e-mailed me. I apologize. I can't remember your suggestions. They were really good.
Larry: So, can-
Jeffrey: Press conference crasher, or something?
Larry: Correct me if-
Laura: There was a DDOSer-
Larry: Can I, can I, can I tell this story, Laura? If you indulge me?
Laura: Which one?
Larry: So, I don't know, listeners, uh, here's a little, here's ... I've known Laura a long time, which we've talked about. And, you know, (pauses) she has the worst memory (laughs)-
Laura: I don't have a bad memory-
Larry: (laughs) You have a very, you, you, you're memory is not ... You, you ... Let me put it this way. You're brain is so filled up with so amazing smart things, you've just deprioritized that part of it.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Or she's distracted by Mini Metro.
Larry: Right. [crosstalk 00:03:31] How's Mini Metro treating you? Let's segue right into what you're playing.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: You having fun with it?
Laura: Oh my gosh, am I? I have not put it down since-
Larry: I told you, right?
Laura: Since you talked about it last week.
Larry: I told you.
Laura: I wanted to know what your most number of passengers are.
Larry: Uh, I think I got it up to about 1400.
Laura: Okay. I am-
Larry: Don't, just stop it, overachiever. Come on, what did you get?
Laura: I haven't gotten there yet.
Larry: Okay. (laughs)
Laura: I am just about to hit a thousand. I think that's my highest.
Larry: Mkay.
Laura: I am currently at 982 with this particular layout.
Larry: Let me see.
Laura: But I knew nothing about subway layouts.
Jeffrey: Is that London?
Laura: No.
Jeffrey: Oh. (laughs)
Laura: (laughs) I, I knew nothing about subway layouts.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: I grew up in Texas
Larry: Right.
Laura: There are no subways in Texas, as far as I know.
Larry: Well, there's transit routes.
Laura: There's, there's buses-
Larry: Right. Right
Laura: And transit routes, but subways ... So, I have been learning from trial and error and I've currently ... It's, it's fun really watching, like, okay, maybe this strategy is different than this strategy.
Larry: Right.
Laura: Or, I had tried the hub strategy that didn't work-
Larry: Right.
Laura: Then I tried a multiple hub strategy-
Larry: Well, you did have an OMFG moment that you texted me-
Laura: Yes! Because-
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, so, I don't know if you know this, Jeff, but I'm on, I'm on, on, on Mini Metro. You can send, it'll do like an animated GIF of your build.
Jeffrey: Really?
Larry: And so I had a great build where you kinda see all the maps-
Jeffrey: Right.
Larry: It's not real time, it's, like, compressed.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: And I had sent it to Laura and she ... Forget about that features thing, like, "Oh my God, I didn't realize you could make," what did you call?-
Laura: Circular-
Larry: Circular loops-
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Which is the way I did everything. On that particular map.
Jeffrey: I was thinking London because London has, they, they've, I mean ... The Tube was the first, like, underground train and it ... They have the Circle Line, which is a circle.
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: They have, like, lines that just cut through the middle-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Like the Central Line-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Like, a largely vertical like the Northern Line and then they have ones that just sort of go all over the place, like the Piccadilly Line. So, I sort of, like, try to keep that in mind generally and then not go on strike, like-
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Like, like the, like TFL did this week.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: So, um, yeah, it's, uh ... I don't know, I just love ... It's just such a great game.
Larry: I know, like I said, and are ... Do, so do you play it with the music on?
Laura: I do-
Larry: Because it's-
Laura: When I can.
Larry: When you can? Sure, of course.
Laura: And it's very relaxing.
Larry: Isn't it nice? It's just very zen.
Laura: Very zen. And when, you know, the little people pop up-
Larry: How many lines do you have there? Can I see it?
Laura: I have almost all the lines. So this is a hybrid strategy where there are many circular routes and circular routes, it turns out, are really strong because the trains don't go back and forth, up and down the line. They just go around the line.
Larry: Right.
Laura: So people at the ends don't have to wait that long.
Jeffrey: Look at you, mini-maxing Mini Metro.
Laura: (laughs) I know.
Larry: Now, listen. So, you ... Are you playing this ... How long have you been playing this one?
Laura: That particular one is, maybe, 20 minutes.
Larry: Okay. Okay. So, I didn't know if you were ... I have to get back to you ... I didn't know if you were playing it, like, paused, because you can pause it and-
Laura: You can pause it.
Larry: You can pause it which is super. Now, have you paused it and destroyed-
Laura: Yes.
Larry: Any lines and rebuilt them.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: That's the secret, isn't it?
Laura: Yes, it is.
Larry: Anyway.
Laura: Because they, they pop up more stations and then, then your circular routes need to change-
Larry: Right.
Laura: Because they're too big.
Larry: It's very dynamic.
Laura: It's very dynamic.
Larry: Anyway.
Laura: And it's just so much fun.
Larry: I'm glad you're having fun with it.
Laura: Oh, yes. Thanks for the recommendation.
Larry: Well, you know, you can actually play, I think it was E on Twitter who was talking about it over the holiday.
Laura: Oh, really? Thanks, E.
Larry: So, we have ... We actually got him in here to ... But, yeah, we star-, we started on that one. And I did the same thing when I was on, away on, when I was on my holiday. It was just, like, I started playing and playing. Anyway, so, Mini Metro. We put a link to it in last week's show.
Laura: Oh gosh. It's so much fun.
Larry: What else are you playing?
Laura: I'm also playing Diablo.
Larry: Oh! There's a surprise.
Laura: Surprise.
Larry: Good for you. Are you surprised?
Jeffrey: Wait, what? Uh, is this a new game?
Larry: She's playing Diablo. Interesting.
Laura: I tried out the new patch.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: We'd talked about it, talked about it last time.
Larry: You know what? Research, it's for the show. I appreciate it.
Laura: It is. It's for the show.
Larry: Is it, is it living up to your expectations?
Laura: It was really fun.
Larry: Good.
Laura: So, as you guys know, there is a version of Diablo I then recreated in Diablo III.
Larry: Yeah, we'd talked about it on the show last week.
Laura: I checked it out. Uh, there is, it's pretty faithful. (laughs) There's the same number of labyrinths, same type of structure. Um, they tried to recreate the art style. Uh, the good news is you can take your Diablo III characters in.
Larry: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura: You can take any character that you want in but they recommend that you start with a level one character and jump straight in-
Larry: Right.
Laura: To that, to that particular level.
Larry: Right.
Laura: The reason is because you get a pet at the end of it.
Larry: What's the pet?
Laura: You a get a little Butcher.
Larry: Oh, you do?
Laura: A mini little Butcher that follows you around-
Larry: Sweet.
Laura: And picks up your gold.
Larry: Sweet.
Laura: And there is another pet that you can get in that level.
Larry: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Laura: It is a little cow.
Larry: Oh, what does the cow do?
Laura: A mini little cow. Same thing.
Jeffrey: Is it on two legs? Like in, uh, Killer Cow level-
Laura: Of Diablo II?
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Laura: The cow level?
Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Laura: No, it's on four legs.
Jeffrey: (sighs)
Larry: Is there a cowbell?
Laura: I haven't heard one.
Larry: Okay, well-
Laura: But that would have been a good addition.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs) You get a cow and you have to do the work's leg, uh, deal to get the-
Larry: I'm s-, I'm sorry, I have to ask.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: We're gonna take a little detour here.
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: Did you have a pet cow when you were growing up in Texas?
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Is that, is that rude to ask? I doubt everyone had steer.
Larry: Well, no. I know that La-, Laura, Laura, was, was big in, she did some agriculture stuff. You know you have to, kind of have to in Texas.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Do you mind me bringing that up? Do you mind me bringing that up?
Laura: No! It's hilarious.
Larry: Is the ... Did you have a cow that ... I mean, I know you, your family didn't have any-
Laura: Me, personally?
Larry: You, personally, okay.
Laura: No.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: I did not have a, a cow pet.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: I did, I was in 4-H for a semester-
Larry: Sure.
Laura: In high school.
Larry: Sure.
Laura: I wanted to raise-
Jeffrey: What does that stand for, by the way?
Laura: Um, health, heart, hands, and something else.
Larry: Hamburger.
Laura: Hamburger? (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs)
Larry: (laughs) Sorry. Anyway.
Laura: Something and I wanted to raise a goat but that didn't work out-
Larry: Okay.
Laura: For obvious reasons.
Larry: Why not?
Laura: Uh, there wasn't enough space in the high school's-
Larry: I see.
Laura: Uh-
Larry: I see.
Laura: farm land-
Larry: I see.
Laura: To host a goat and I wasn't about to host it-
Larry: At home.
Laura: In town.
Larry: Well, you couldn't of had it at home. I don't think your mother would have liked that. Right?
Laura: No, not at all.
Larry: Because they eat, like, everything.
Laura: As far as I know, yeah.
Larry: Yeah? Yeah. So.
Laura: I just think baby kid goats are super cute.
Larry: True.
Laura: And I wanted to raise baby goats.
Larry: Yes, well you know you can rent them here in Seattle?
Laura: You what?
Larry: Yeah, in fact, I remember reading this-
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Laura: You can what?
Larry: You can rent, Amazon, if you want to rent them on Amazon they'll-
Laura: You can rent goats?
Jeffrey: There's a purpose for it.
Larry: Yes. You, so if you have some prop-, if you have property and you need it cleared, you can ... They'll show up and you ... They'll, I don't know how, I don't know how it works ...
Jeffrey: They're more efficient to just let the goats go because they, like, eat all the grass-
Laura: Have you rented the goats?
Jeffrey: Uh, I've seen them-
Laura: Oh.
Jeffrey: They put them on, like overpa- ... Oh, you've rented the goats?
Larry: No, we have- ... My, my wife is threatening to rent them because a lot of our, some of our property has blackberry bushes-
Laura: Oh, those are awful.
Larry: And apparently that's like
Jeffrey: Oh, so-
Larry: That's like goat crack.
Laura: Oh!
Jeffrey: I've done community service, like, trying to get blackberry bushes-
Laura: Oh, yes. That is awful.
Jeffrey: Like, that is ridiculous.
Laura: All the thorns.
Larry: Wait, is this, is this when ... 2005?
Jeffrey: No.
Larry: During your dark period.
Jeffrey: (laughs)
Larry: When you were out on the side of the road-
Jeffrey: Hey!
Larry: in an orange jumpsuit?
Jeffrey: You want to-
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: You want to get a community service battle? I know where you've been.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs)
Larry: Uncle. Uncle.
Jeffrey: Yeah, so moving on. No, uh, we do a lot of charity work, you know, at, at, Microsoft-
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: In general. They, they offer a bolster of opportunities to volunteer and so, once or twice a year, I'll end up going out. I like environmental stuff, and so I'll go out and we'll, sometimes we'll harvest fruit in the city.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: It's amazing how many fruit trees there are-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I've done a few of those.
Jeffrey: In Seattle.
Laura: And packing.
Jeffrey: And then they'll, like-
Laura: Packing peas.
Jeffrey: Send the food off to, you know, like, a, a food bank or whatever. So, I ended up doing one a couple of months ago and it was basically, uh-
Larry: I remember this. (laughs)
Jeffrey: "Guess what, buddy?" You're ... I, I was ... There was something about a park. Oh, yeah. And it was-
Larry: I remember this park.
Jeffrey: I remember being in a nice neighborhood. I was, like, "Do they really need help here?"
Larry: Yeah. Exactly.
Jeffrey: But, um ... And then I was like, "Watch. It's gonna be blackberry bushes." And it's exactly what-
Laura: Oh.
Jeffrey: It was like, like, eight or nine feet high.
Larry: Oh, wow.
Laura: Ugh.
Jeffrey: And I, I think at the end of Splash Mountain, they talk about, like, going into the blackberry bush-
Larry: The bramble bushes, yeah.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Yeah. Now, I know where that came from. They will cut right through your clothes.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Cut right through heavy gardening gloves. They have the sharpest sort of thorns.
Larry: So, this, then I don't understand how goats can eat these.
Laura: Yeah.
Jeffrey: They're tough, man. Didn't you play Goat Simulator?
Larry: I ...
Laura: Sure did.
Larry: Of course, I did. Yeah.
Jeffrey: They can just on trampolines. They can skate board.
Laura: They can play soccer.
Larry: So, true story. We were actually ... When we ... So this is a little behind the scenes. When we were doing, when Goat Simulator came out on Xbox 1, we actually ... I was lined up to get to rent a bunch of goats for the shoot.
Laura: Oh!
Larry: So we were going to rent a whole, um, uh-
Laura: That would have been awesome.
Larry: What's a, what's a pile of ... What are all the goats called?
Laura: A herd?
Larry: Is it a herd? Is it a-
Laura: Herd?
Larry: It's not a murder. That's crows.
Laura: Uh.
Larry: Jeffrey? To the internet.
Laura: [inaudible 00:11:30]
Larry: So anyway, we were going to rent a, a, a stack of goats. (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: A group of goats is a, is just a, a, oh, there's a couple of different names.
Larry: Okay.
Jeffrey: Um, but it can be a drove, a flock, or a herd.
Larry: Okay. Well, we, we, we were trying to do each one of those, but anyway. So, yeah, you can rent them. Uh-
Laura: That's amazing to me.
Larry: So if you need them then ... I, I agree with you.
Jeffrey: Oh, I'm sorry I read it wrong. Uh, they were talking about sheep. In that case, a group of goats is called a tribe.
Larry: A tribe?
Laura: Oh.
Larry: A tribe of goats. Thank you very much.
Laura: Very good.
Larry: Anyway. So I'm sorry. I swear-
Laura: So back to the previous conversation.
Larry: Where were we?
Laura: Pet cow.
Larry: Oh! Your pet cow! That's right.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Sorry.
Laura: I didn't have a pet cow, but I had a friend who raised a cow-
Larry: Oh.
Laura: To show at 4-H.
Larry: Right. Which was a big deal.
Laura: Which is ... Yeah, it's a big deal. And so it was her pet for a while.
Larry: And what was the name?
Laura: I don't remember what the name was, but she did have a name for it.
Larry: It's that memory thing again we talked about.
Laura: Oh, come on.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: I remember important things. Not, like, my pet cow.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: My friends pet cow's name.
Larry: Your friend's, your friends pet cow's name. Yeah.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Okay.
Laura: Uh, but I ... So I didn't get to raise a cow in 4-H or a goat, but my friend did and we'd go with her to the shows.
Larry: What does that other H stand for?
Laura: Let's look it up.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Hey.
Laura: Hey.
Larry: Hey, go ahead and, uh-
Laura: And at the end of it she did not sell her cow. Because the goal is to raise a cow, show it, win blue ribbons, and win shows, and then sell, auction off your cow.
Larry: Sure. Sure.
Laura: And she was unable to sell the cow. So she got to eat the cow.
Larry: Oh! Whoa!
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Wow! That's dark. That took a dark turn. (laughs)
Jeffrey: I did take a class in college called The Meat We Eat and, like, the final, literally the final, it was, like, "Here's of a picture of, uh, a sheep and a pig and a-
Laura: Draw cutlets?
Jeffrey: And it was, like, lines, and it was like, "Here's all the cutlets."
Laura: Oh my gosh.
Jeffrey: And that's when I learned that-
Larry: You know, you know what's interesting is there's this place in Seattle, there's this company ... We're way, we're way out of the line here.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: But there's this place in Seattle that, uh, and it's a company down in Texas that makes these patties, these hamburger patties-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: That are all plant-based.
Jeffrey: Oh, so it's like Seitan or-
Larry: And they, so apparently Bill Gates is invested in this company. The company's goal was to create a, uh, uh, I don't want to say meel, or a sub ... It's a substance that's ... Sounds weird, but this food that's essentially mimicked all of the properties of a hamburger.
Laura: Oh really?
Larry: Like, it's got the taste, the sizzle. There's, there's, there's a redness to it-
Laura: A texture?
Larry: That, that's-
Laura: Wow.
Larry: apparently beets. And people can't tell the difference. What's it called, Jeff?
Jeffrey: Is it the Beyond Burger?
Larry: Beyond Burger. That's it.
Laura: (gasps)
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: And they sell them, there's a place in Seattle here that sells them [crosstalk 00:14:01]
Jeffrey: It actually looks like real meat.
Larry: It's for ... The place is right near you.
Jeffrey: Really?
Larry: It's that, uh, it's that healthy place down in U Village.
Jeffrey: Oh, yeah!
Larry: The Grill?
Jeffrey: I thought that was owned by Starbucks.
Larry: So anyway.
Jeffrey: Anyway.
Larry: So, So-
Laura: We'll have to give that a try.
Larry: Right? Because I was, like, hamburger? Wait a minute, it's meat ba-, it's plant based and it tastes like meat? And everyone says it's-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Here's the thing. Like, like, as a, as a red-blooded American, like, there's something about it, like, where you're like, "Eh." But if you ever watch any scifi in the future?
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: If there's like nine or ten or twenty billion people on this planet we ain't all able gonna be able to eat hamburgers.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: Well, the, the whole thing was is the reason they created this company and Bill Gates and a bunch of people invested in it was that um, the, the, uh, and I don't, I'm not an expert, but the food chain is incredibly inefficient.
Laura: I imagine so.
Jeffrey: Well, yeah. Like, if you eat a vegetable, and I can't believe we're getting into this, because I'm, I, nobody [crosstalk 00:14:51]
Larry: This is a gaming podcast. We'll get back to that in a minute.
Jeffrey: But, like, if you eat a vegetable, they grow it and then you eat it. But you eat, like, a cow, they have to grow vegetables for that cow for, like, years.
Laura: Yeah, then it-
Jeffrey: And then you still might only get a meal out of it.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: So ...
Larry: It's very ... Anyway ...
Jeffrey: It's interesting.
Larry: All right, let's get to gaming, shall we, Laura?
Laura: Okay. [crosstalk 00:15:05]
Jeffrey: 4-H. Let's wrap it up.
Larry: Yes, 4-H.
Laura: Okay, 4-H.
Larry: 4-H, there's-
Jeffrey: 4-H stands for, and you were very close: head, heart, hands, and health.
Laura: Oh, it's head. That's the other one.
Jeffrey: So The Head and the Heart, I guess that band, they must have been in 4-H. [crosstalk 00:15:16]
Larry: So, so, so, Laura, so you were in the 4-H. Now, Jeff, if you and I were in the 4-H, what would those H's stand for?
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs) Uh, Hefeweizen, uh-
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (sighs)
Laura: Holidays.
Larry: Gotta think about that.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Holidays, yes. That would be Graham's 4-H.
Jeffrey: Yes. (laughs)
Larry: Graham's 4 H's are holiday, holiday, holiday, holiday.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (laughs) All right, anyway, let's go to, uh, let's go finish up what you're playing.
Laura: And the other game is just Mini Metro constantly.
Larry: Yes.
Laura: Every free moment.
Larry: Yeah, we talked about that.
Laura: I have to plan a subway.
Larry: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura: So.
Larry: Good.
Laura: That's it for me.
Larry: I'm playing, um, you know, Jeff and I have been playing Overwatch quite a bit lately. We-
Jeffrey: Let's, let's dive into this.
Larry: Oh, oh sure.
Jeffrey: To our discovery today.
Larry: Sure. Absolutely.
Jeffrey: Not ... discovery makes us feel like Magellan, but somebody told us.
Larry: So, Laura, I don't know if you know this. You've, you've played Overwatch a little.
Laura: I have. I have.
Larry: Okay. So you won't play with us for some reason but I'll just let that-
Laura: Because I'm no good. (laughs)
Larry: That's, that's (pauses). Look, like I'm any good?
Laura: (sighs)
Larry: Look, I'll just say this. You, you, to, you typically play the healer?
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: The healer classes in this game are fun.
Laura: I know because you've been playing it and-
Larry: Fun. But I would give up my healer class. Anyway, um, Jeff and I have been playing the game and we're having some fun with it, but, you know, Overwatch, it's not about the KD. It's not about the kill/death ratio.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: Um, it's, you know, but there's a lot of stats that are collected and, and the internet has informed Jeff and I of some sites. Jeffrey, right?
Jeffrey: Yeah. So, uh, MasterOverwatch.com. I'm sure if you're deep into Overwatch you probably already know about this site or other sites like it. Um, someone let us know about OverBuff. Uh, but it does is it breaks down your performance with different characters versus the average and all you do is you just drop in your gamer tag-
Laura: Yay.
Jeffrey: Or if you're playing on Blizzard, like, through that account. Um, and it's really really interesting to see where you're at. Like, in healing I'm top 8% in the world.
Larry: Yeah, you are.
Laura: What?
Jeffrey: Um-
Laura: So, he gets the healer class. (laughs)
Jeffrey: Well, I think it's because I use Lucio a lot.
Larry: Did you look, did you look me up? I think I'm on there-
Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah. I'm looking you up too. So, uh-
Larry: Am I in the top 10%?
Jeffrey: You're, you're top 29%.
Larry: What? With my Mercy?
Jeffrey: We can that a Gentleman's C.
Larry: Yeah, that's ... Wow.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Story of my life.
Jeffrey: So, what's interesting to see is what the win rate is with each character. So with Lucio, who I've played, by far, the most, um, we win 57% of the time. Um, with Torbjorn, where, uh, is apparently where I'm the best, uh, uh, compared to, like, my other characters. We win almost 70% of the time. And it shows, like, on average, like compared, like all kinds of stats, like eliminations, KDR, uh, accuracy. Um, in his case, turret kills.
Larry: Put a link off to that.
Jeffrey: It's, it's really really cool. And characters who I thought I was pretty good with I realized, no, I should. I should not be using Bastion very often. And I should stay the heck away from Pharah.
Larry: I also think it's important to point out that, you know, we'd talk about these choices, "You should play so-and-so more often." But it's also, you know, when that map comes up, you're like, "Okay, what are we gonna do here?"
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Like, some maps I don't play Symmetra at all because there's no reason to and some I do, in some modes.
Jeffrey: Yeah. And if you play to your strengths-
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: And I think you would show that you have high stats, so I, I don't think it's to main somebody but rather to say, "Okay, these are the three or four characters with whom I, I play the best."
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: It's also good to look at, like, with Diva, um, my objective kills are, like, in the 90th percentile and, uh, 95 percentile in terms of objective time. My KDR is trash.
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: So, I'm like, "All right, well, you know, am I doing this right or not?"
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Anyway, it's really, it's really-
Larry: Put a little, put a little link to this in the show.
Jeffrey: Put a link to it and you can look up anyone else's, as well.
Larry: Why don't you look up Laura Lollipop?
Jeffrey: Let me-
Laura: I just looked online and it looks like they stopped, they didn't collect the data from the match that I played. So, it finds me but it doesn't have any data for me.
Jeffrey: So you-
Laura: Which is too bad.
Jeffrey: La-, uh, Laura, you're actually ... So, when it comes to Symmetra, you're best at ... you're KDR's well above average. You're in the 75th percentile and you're almost to 80th percentile with, uh, sentry kills.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: You're really good with putting-
Larry: Yeah, yeah I know where to hide those little buggers. (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, yeah.
Jeffrey: So, and then, you know what? With, uh ... Let's see. Your win rate is also pretty good with, well, with Mercy. And I've noticed when you use Mercy we tend to win.
Larry: Yeah, well it all depends who we're playing ... yeah. So anyway. It all depends who we're playing with. Like, when, when Lith and I play-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: He tends to be DPS and I'm annoying the heck out of him.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: You're almost an 80% win rate with Torbjorn. And you've played enou-
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Enough games ... Uh, hey, maybe, uh, jump back on that. Just stay away from Bastion.
Larry: All right. So, anyway, we're playing, we're playing Overwatch, as I said. We're also, uh, um, I'm, I got sucked back in hard to The Witcher.
Laura: Oh, you're still there.
Larry: Yeah. I just-
Laura: You're still there.
Larry: Well, what happened was is I did this quest, Laura, which I thought was broken.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: And I like, "Why do I keep getting the same quest again?"
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: "I keep completing it and it does, it doesn't check the box."
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: Well, it turns out I was ... There's a per, part of a dialogue I had to listen to to complete it. To really complete it, I had to do a specific set of things. Anyway, so I-
Laura: User error.
Larry: Yeah. One hu- ... You know what that's like. (laughs)
Laura: Yeah, I know what that's like. (laughs)
Larry: (laughs). Um, so, it's, uh, it's ... So, I'm playing that and then there's, they have inside, there's, there's, witcher armor. So I went off and I collected the, the feline armor, the bear armor, the wolf armor. I'm just, I'm just crazy. I'm just having fun.
Laura: Are you just lost inside of-
Larry: Yeah, the world, the world is, I'm just having a great time screwing around and talking to people.
Jeffrey: Yeah. Best side missions in any game I've ever-
Larry: Yeah, you completely ... They're, they're just, they're just, they go on and on and there are stories and sometimes the wrap back around to the main ... It's just, they're unbelievable. So, great writing. So, I'm playing that and then, of course, we got a lot of other stuff coming out. We've got, uh, we'll talk about that later in the show what's coming out but we, we ... Jeff, why don't you talk about what you're taking a, what you're playing and then I want to take a break because I have an interview this week, so.
Jeffrey: All right.
Laura: Great.
Jeffrey: Sounds good. So, uh, finally finished Dead, Dead Rising 4.
Larry: Oh.
Laura: All right. Congrats.
Jeffrey: That came out on Windows 10. That's a really fun game.
Larry: Now you can take your Christmas lights down, finally?
Jeffrey: Yes. Uh, we kind of leave them up all the time.
Larry: You do not. You're not those people.
Jeffrey: We have ... So we have, like, white ones that sort of have, like, a nice glow, and we have ... and, so, like, when you're watching a movie, it's not completely dark in the living room.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: But, anyway. It's [crosstalk 00:20:58]
Larry: I respect that.
Jeffrey: Thank you.
Larry: We have-
Jeffrey: What are those lights that go behind your TV?
Larry: Oh the-
Jeffrey: That give, like, the good, um, contrast?
Larry: Yeah, the, uh, the uh, they used to be called ... Philips used to call it The Ambilight.
Jeffrey: Yeah, something that's supposed to be good for-
Larry: We ... I have that at my-
Laura: I should try it. Yeah.
Larry: behind my game room. I have the hue lights-
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Behind my TV so depending upon what we're playing it'll light it up-
Jeffrey: Oh, nice.
Larry: red, green, blue, purple.
Laura: That's great.
Larry: Anyway.
Laura: Super fancy.
Larry: Just for mood.
Jeffrey: Uh-
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: And then after finishing that, I jumped into Halo Wars Definitive Edition [crosstalk 00:21:25]
Larry: I saw you playing that.
Jeffrey: Yeah. So I jumped on last night and if you buy the, uh, ultimate edition of Halo Wars 2, then you get Hal Wars Definitive Edition and it's the only to acquire it, uh, on Xbox 1 and Windows 10. So, um, I ... Halo is just one of those games when I was on the other side of the fence I looked over there and I was like, "Man, that's ... That looks like a pretty cool game. But, uh-
Laura: I loved Halo Wars.
Jeffrey: "I've got other stuff. Other responsibilities." I never got to it. So I started it yesterday. I had no idea Nolan North is, like, the main-
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Voice actor in that game. And, uh, they did a good job with the, with the remastering. It's, like, super buttery smooth. So I'm playing-
Laura: Awesome.
Jeffrey: On my, my PC with a mouse, um, which I'm glad that I get to do that with an RTS.
Larry: That always helps.
Jeffrey: Yeah. It's, uh-
Laura: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Pretty good. So I'll be playing through the campaign on that and getting myself ready for Halo Wars 2.
Laura: So good. I loved it, on Xbox 360.
Jeffrey: Okay.
Laura: It was really well done. [crosstalk 00:22:14].
Larry: We played a little bit of that. I remember that.
Laura: Yeah, I got really into it.
Larry: And I was ter-, I'm terrible at it for some reason.
Laura: It takes a while to get good-
Larry: I get nervous because there's so much going on and I'm like, "Oh, we gotta go over here. Oh, I gotta go over here," I get, I get overwhelmed.
Laura: It's a very well balanced game.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: They balanced it like Rock, Paper, Scissors. And once you, once you realize that and which one's rock, which one's paper, which one's scissors-
Larry: Oh.
Laura: Then it's much easier.
Larry: Right.
Laura: Because then you're like, "That person's building rock. I should build-
Larry: Right.
Laura: "Paper."
Larry: Right.
Laura: That type of thing.
Jeffrey: Yeah, I'm not amazing at it. I know multi-player I'd probably just get destroyed.
Larry: Maybe you should go Rock, Paper, Scissors style?
Jeffrey: Maybe I should.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: I will look out for that. And then, uh, Final Fantasy XV, I put-
Larry: That's right.
Jeffrey: A ton of time into that.
Larry: Nononononononononono. Nononono. You've put a ton of miles into- (laughs).
Jeffrey: Just driving around.
Larry: Driving around (laughs).
Jeffrey: In the regalia. Um, it's just, like, it's a cool game. It's a ... It just feels so different. And as someone whose played, like, ten of the Final Fantasies or more over the past 20, geez, 20 years. It just feels so different.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: It's kinda ... The weird mix of, like, fantasy and, like, 50's era technology. It's kinda cool.
Larry: It is. It's weird. It is this weird fusion, isn't it?
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: So, I played it for a couple of hours.
Jeffrey: I'll keep going with that.
Larry: And then I got back into The Witcher and ... I tell you-
Jeffrey: Well, I think you made a good choice.
Larry: Yeah. I, uh, I, I, anyway.
Jeffrey: The Witcher is just ... Everyone should finish that game.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: Laura, I think you should finish this game.
Laura: I should. As long as I can stop playing the card game. In The Witcher.
Larry: Oh.
Jeffrey: GWENT.
Larry: Well GWENT'S coming out, you know, standalone.
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: When is that coming out?
Jeffrey: When is that coming out?
Larry: I think they had- [crosstalk 00:23:40] They had a beta.
Jeffrey: They did have a beta. You're right.
Larry: They did have a beta a couple of months ago, so-
Laura: Hopefully soon then.
Larry: I, I actually, I, I gotta go back because I, I ... The problem, you know, when you ... Witcher, which is such an incredibly, incredibly rich game.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: And there's a lot of complexities and nuances to it. So, it took me ... Laura, it must have taken me two or three hours just to relearn everything again. "Okay, these are the potions. Okay, that's GWENT. Okay, this is how I do that. How do I ... Oh, that's how I fast traveler. Oh, that's how my armor's loaded out and then I gotta put the runes in and the stones."
So I ... You just get ... I get ... That's the problem is that now I'm reinvested in it, for lack of a better term.
Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: So it looks like the, the beta is still going. I'm gonna link over to the GWENT page, PlayGWENT.com.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: If you want to take a look, um, it says register for their beta, so it's possible. Uh, don't quote me on this but you might be able to still potentially get into that.
Larry: Maybe.
Jeffrey: And, um, it's got more data and just, like, what's going on in the world of GWENT. It's such a well-developed side game.
Laura: It is. I was really impressed with it.
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Yeah, that was one of-
Laura: Balanced, as well.
Larry: Where, where's my tablet version, right?
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: Right, because it just lends itself to touch and drag-
Laura: It does.
Larry: and drag and touch and all that other stuff, so-
Jeffrey: Well, GWENT will be coming out for Windows 10, so-
Larry: There you go.
Jeffrey: You'll be able to play it. [crosstalk 00:24:45]
Larry: I can scratch that GWENT itch.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: All right. All right. We're gonna take a break now. We've got, uh, an interview with, uh, Rise and the, uh, well, the, the, artist and game designer for Rise and Shine, which is, uh, well, as we will call it. This is, it's, it's out now.
Laura: Great.
Larry: On Xbox 1 and Steam, so, let's, uh, let's do that and we'll come back on the other side and we'll continue the show.
Joining me is Enrique Corts. He's the artist and game designer on Rise and Shine from SuperMegaTeam. Enrique, thank you for joining us.
Enrique: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
Larry: Yeah, pleasure's all mine. It's great to see you. First of all, I want to congratulate you. Rise and Shine is now available on Xbox 1 and, of course, over on Steam. Uh, a fun, fun little game. It came out. Let's talk about what the game is, because the artwork is really very interesting. Tell us a little about the game.
Enrique: Sure, yeah. Uh, we tried to make it, uh, kind of like a mix of different genres here. Like, uh, platformers, like puzzlers, like, uh, a little bit of [inaudible 00:25:38]. Uh, we mix in some mechanics from games like Game of War, like in the core mechanics and mixed in, mixing it up with, like in the story. So, it's a very strange mix that sounds kind of awkward at first sight, but, uh, I assure you it works really well and, uh, it's something that you haven't played before.
Larry: (laughs) I want to talk about ... You guys from Super Awesome Hyperdimensional Mega Team, I love that name of the, uh, of your company, by the way. You've had a few games in the past. Walk us through some of the games that you've had before and what the path is that led you to Rise and Shine.
Enrique: Sure, yeah. We made a couple of games for some a while. Uh, first one was Pro Zombie Soccer. What's kind of, uh ... It was the first game, of course, and it was very, a very punk game, you know. We ba- (laughs) We told everyone that it was a very hardcore experience for a [inaudible 00:26:24] game.
Larry: Yeah.
Enrique: It was a, it was, thankfully it was, uh, one of the best games of the year. Selected by Apple and the App Store.
Larry: Yep.
Enrique: Game of the Week, too. and from that one, uh, we went to our second play as a team. It was called Supermagical. Uh, I would say it was, uh, a far more ambitious play compared to Pro Zombie Soccer. It was, uh, some had a hardcore experience. Also was selected by Apple as one of the 30 best games of the year on the App Store.
Larry: Wow.
Enrique: It was the Game of the Week. of the week. Yeah, we were proud of that fact. It was pretty awesome (laughs).
Larry: You had, you guys have ... That's a, that's quite a, quite a ... I mean, you've had a very short history, but it's, it's been very rich. I will say that.
Enrique: Oh, thank you. Yeah. Yeah, we don't like to put out working projects. We only release them when they are completely ready. Uh, so, maybe that's why. They say hard work pays off, so (laughs) hopefully it's just because that, I think.
Larry: Now I want, I want to focus on Rise and Shine, which, as I said, is available right now on Xbox 1 and PC. What ... The, the artwork of this game and, frankly, all of your games, very stylized. I want to talk about what, what that is and, you know, as, as an artist and a game designer, what was your approach to Rise and Shine and, frankly, some of your other games for your very unique looking art style?
Enrique: Sure, yeah. Uh, actually my girlfriend and me, which are both the two artists in the team. We come from the, from comics, before starting video games sixteen years ago. That's a lot of time.
Larry: (laughs)
Enrique: I'm too old now. (laughs)
Larry: (laughs)
Enrique: Yeah, we come from comics, yes. So, we had, like a big cartooning style and that's what, uh, we translated into our style making our games. Uh, and maybe that's why. We love to have all this cartoony looking games, very colorful and that. But at same time, they can be, perhaps it be like a, very adult and, uh, and dark and grim experiences in many ways. Yeah, so. Yeah, that's why.
Larry: Yeah, I mean, the colors are very vibrant and, I was reading, apparently, uh, in this game, you know, you, eh, everything, is it hand drawn? I mean tell me about how you, how you, how you produce the game.
Enrique: Yeah, exactly. It's, it's, it's, uh, hand drawn. Even we approach the making at each level with, eh, like, uh, it was like a giant 3 meter wide illustration. You should see our Photoshop files, man. They are crazy. (laughs)
Larry: Oh, I can imagine. You know, they must, you must have to zoom so far in to, kind of, get to the, to get to the regular level. And when you zoom out it must be just ginormous.
Enrique: Exactly, yeah, it's like that, you know. It's incredibly tough to make. But I think it pays off. Every step, every step that players take into the game is a different one. You see that tree over there? Or that collapsed building there? You won't see that any, anymore, anywhere else in the game, you know? It's, it's all made for that part of the screen that you're seeing at the moment. It's a big illustration, yeah. We are not repeating elements like, uh, usually you make games like that you make, like, a couple of trees, couple of rocks-
Larry: And you're done? [crosstalk 00:29:10]
Enrique: Yeah.
Larry: And then, you know, you know, Control+C, Control+V, Control+C, Control+V, right? (laughs)
Enrique: Exactly. Exactly. Something there, yeah. Which is fine, which is fine.
Larry: Right.
Enrique: I understand, yeah? But the technology, technology is there already, you know? You can, you can make gigantic backgrounds that you want to and, uh, I think, uh, nobody's crazy enough to make, to do it, actually. This is only ... I think that the reason why nobody does that, you know, nobody's that crazy. But I think it's, it's, it's definitely worth it, yeah.
Larry: Yeah, it's a ha-, like we talked about, it's a hand crafted game. Now, let's talk about the game play itself, because it's, uh, you know, for Rise and Shine, we've got, you've got a character and tell us a little bit about the character and what the game ... You talked about the game play earlier, but tell us about the character in the story.
Enrique: Sure, yeah. Uh, the story's kind of, uh, a little bit [inaudible 00:29:50]. We are, uh, kid. Eleven year old kid, eh, named Rise. And, uh, he's living in Gameearth, which is the world where all the retro game characters live. And it gets invaded by this, like a big Space Grunt, as we call them in the game. Like, big muscular guys with big guns and, uh, space armor. Which is kind of, uh, you know, recently, or recent years, all two play games seem to have this character, you know, with big guys, eh, high tech armors and big guns, and all that.
Larry: Right.
Enrique: So you wanted them, this time, to be the bad guys and [inaudible 00:30:24] game, yeah? It's kind of making that, that little joke about the next gen practice, embedding the retro gaming world in something like that. And, uh, yeah, he get, he, this kid, Rise, uh, eh, by accident, uh, is given Ri-, uh, Shine. Sorry. Which is the, the talking gun. (laughs)
Larry: Hmm.
Enrique: And, uh, yeah you see all the different bullets the talking gun can shoot. You can, you have to actually keep pushing through the game, you're just holding all these situations if you can find.
Larry: Yeah, I mean. That's, that's what's interesting is that you've got this boss with this massive gun. The sacred gun called Shine. Um, and then, and then there's, there's, there's puzzles. You talked a little bit of platforming and there's, there's a lot of stories going on there. What are some of the games that you used for inspiration for your platforming puzzles?
Enrique: Yeah, I, uh, I love games like, uh, like Inside or, or, uh, Limbo, also, and [inaudible 00:31:13]. Big fan of [inaudible 00:31:14]. They, they are fantastic. (laughs)
Larry: Yeah.
Enrique: We want to like that, yeah. (laughs) They're incredible. Want to be like them when we grow up. (laughs)
Larry: Yeah, that ... Well, they, you know, they, that's certainly a great set of puzzles and games to model yourself after. But you, you also wanted to bring your own voice to it and your own puzzles to it, which you did artistically. How have you done that with some of the puzzles?
Enrique: Yeah, yeah. I, uh, what we did there was, uh, you know, taking inspiration from, from these games that, that we love. The thing I like about these games that they keep you interested all the time. You know, every step you take is different. You never encounter the same intuition twice. Uh, that's why I love how Inside or, or, or Limbo, yeah? It's a different ... You surprise the player every step, you know? And that's something we wanted to, to do here. That's, uh ... it's a very difficult way of approaching game design, because it takes a lot of work, lot of people typing. Compared to usual thing where just keep running and keep shooting whatever you, you know, we throw at the player.
But, uh, yeah, it's kind of, uh ... We like this kind of game. You know? Like a big ... Well, not big but, uh, short, uh, eh, close really polished experience, yeah? Where you keep surpassing the player at every step.
Larry: Now, I want to point out that I, I should have mentioned this earlier, but, you know, we looked at the artwork and some of the design and it's, it's beautiful, and when you talk about he heritage of some of your team members, it kind of makes sense. You had team members that work at your company from, uh, they used to work on Plants Vs. Zombies and Worms, right?
Enrique: Yeah, that was me. Yeah, yeah.
Larry: (laughs)
Enrique: (laughs)
Larry: So, so, yeah. So, so, you ... That's ... You, you ... If people look back now like, "Wait a minute." So they may not know you, Enrique, but I'm sure they know, they know some of your artwork.
Enrique: (laughs) Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Uh, when we made, you know, we made our first game, Pro Zombie Soccer, people were telling me that exactly. "Oh, this looks like Plants vs. Zombies," and I like, "Yeah, well. I (laughs) I work there, sorry." Yeah.
Larry: (laughs)
Enrique: (laughs) "That's my, that's my style, man. Sorry."
Larry: So it kind of comes through. Well, listen. I'm gonna let you go. I appreciate you taking the time, Enrique, this morning. I want to make sure that people know that Rise and Shine is available now on Xbox 1 and Steam. So be sure to check it out and hit up @SuperMegaTeam on Twitter. I'll put a link in the show notes and, uh, Enrique, congratulations to you and the team on the launch. And, uh, good luck.
Jeffrey: Thank you, Larry and Enrique. Rise and Shine is out now on Xbox 1.
Larry: Yep.
Jeffrey: And, also, another game that hit, uh, this week. Same day. Uh, Pit People.
Larry: That's right.
Laura: Oh, right.
Jeffrey: Came to Xbox Game Preview. [crosstalk 00:33:37] This is the fourth game from the good folks at The Behemoth. And I love everything that they do. I'm sure you've played Castle Crashers.
Laura: Oh, yes.
Jeffrey: And might have gone back to, you might have played Alien Hominid.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: BattleBlock Theater.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: This game, we, we ... I've played it a couple times. We had it at PAX. We had it at our open house. It's just, uh, it's just sort of like a strategy RPG, but it, it's, I would say it's a little more, sort of, simplified at the top. It has co-op. The thing that sets it apart is this voice over that is really funny.
Laura: Oh, awesome.
Jeffrey: And, it, it's sort of Bastion-esque, if you remember-
Laura: Hmm? Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: Where you, you know, you're constantly-
Laura: Narrated?
Jeffrey: Getting narrated.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: The difference is, the narrator is against you.
Laura: (gasps)
Jeffrey: And is-
Larry: Oh.
Jeffrey: Sort of downplaying-
Larry: So it's an antagonist?
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Yes. And sounds like a little bit like Doctor Evil-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: A little bit.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: So, he ... At some point I'm waiting for him to proclaim that he invented the question mark.
Larry: Here's another, here's another thing that you don't know. We talked about Castle Crashers? One year, Laura was dressed up as a castle crasher-
Laura: I was.
Larry: for Halloween. I remember that.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Were you the red one or the orange one?
Laura: I was the green one.
Larry: Green. I wasn't even close.
Jeffrey: So close.
Laura: And I had a lollipop sword.
Larry: That's right. I do remember that.
Laura: Which I still have. By the way.
Larry: You do?
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: Where's that?
Laura: My office.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: It's my little trophy from that, that time period.
Larry: I don't think I've, I don't think I've been to your office in, like, ten years.
Laura: Five years.
Larry: Has it? Oh, anyway.
Laura: And then next month is my ten years anniversary.
Larry: That's right-
Jeffrey: Oh my God.
Larry: We gotta celebrate that.
Jeffrey: I know.
Larry: I have one coming up.
Laura: What? That's right, you just passed fifteen?-
Larry: Sixteen.
Laura: Fifteen?-
Larry: Si-, six- ... Yeah.
Jeffrey: Your job can drive now, Larry.
Larry: Six-, eh, my, my been sixteen years, which is weirder. But, okay, I don't want to talk about that now.
Laura: Yeah, no.
Larry: I feel old.
Laura: I feel old too.
Larry: Jeffrey, we're gonna go to the headlines.
Jeffrey: Yeah!
Larry: You've got a couple things going on there. We got, uh, you know, it's a quiet release, but, uh, quiet release in terms of games. We got a lot going on.
Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah. I actually spoke about green and orange and that happens to me, and I'm really stretching this segue. Uh-
Larry: Look, I have, I have somethings to show you.
Laura: (gasps)
Jeffrey: Exactly, uh, we have two-
Laura: Yes! I saw the tweets and you were in Tweeter, Twitter Moments. [crosstalk 00:35:31]
Jeffrey: Oh, yeah, I was in Twitter Moments from the controllers.
Laura: From the controllers.
Larry: So why don't you show, I'll let you, uh-
Jeffrey: Yeah, we have new controllers. Uh, one is, and I got ... I want to get the colors right. Um, green and orange.
Laura: Ooh. Aah.
Jeffrey: I think it has a Halo thing going.
Laura: It does feel like a Halo Green. Like a dark Halo green.
Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah. Olive green plus, like, a fluorescent orange. It almost looks like a [pair of geesies? [00:35:51]], I guess.
Larry: Oh.
Jeffrey: Like the new ones with the boost, with like the orange stripe, almost? Anyway.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: I feel like, geesies? maybe this is your controller.
Laura: This is beautiful.
Jeffrey: We'll link to it. And then also a just straight up red one, red across the board. Um-
Larry: Now, this one's a little different, Laura. Because, uh, I want you to see the red one. Because it's got, certainly it's got that red-
Laura: Oh, it's got dark red, as well.
Larry: Yeah, so flip it over and it's got, it's more like the Gears of Blood red-
Laura: It's two-toned red.
Larry: I brought those, I brought those over just so you could see them.
Laura: Thanks, Larry. You did great.
Larry: I just wanted to show this.
Jeffrey: I don't, I don't think, I don't you're getting them back, Larry.
Laura: No. So this is a red, like a red red, cherry red on the front.
Larry: Yeah, and of course-
Laura: And then a dark red-
Larry: Yeah, kind of on the underside of the triggers.
Laura: The underside and the inside of the-
Larry: The accent of the sticks.
Laura: Yeah, they got cool sticks.
Larry: Now these, of course, they have the blue tooth on them, Jeffrey. So they work with your PC.
Laura: Awesome.
Jeffrey: Yes, they do.
Larry: Yeah, so-
Jeffrey: And, you know, actually, I was reading something. This isn't exactly an Xbox 101. Um, but I had saw someone on Twitter saying, "Hey, my, my Bluetooth controller, when I pair it to the computer, it's dropping it sometimes."
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: And, and so I looked into that, just to see and um I think on the the delightful Xbox One subreddit, which is my favorite subreddit on the internet.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Um- [crosstalk 00:37:00]
We'll come back to that.
Larry: Please, it's embarrassing.
Jeffrey: But there's two things that you, if you're, if you're encountering this, two things I would recommend. One would be to download the Xbox accessories app-
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: On Windows 10. It's a free app.
Larry: It's a free app in the store.
Jeffrey: And then if you, if you just, uh, hard wire, one time, your controller to the um to, through USB to your computer, it'll see it and you can update the firmware on the controller.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: That will help.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: If you're still encountering some issues, it might be in your power save, um, you know, setting. So if you go into Device Manager and you go into Bluetooth. Just look for ones that say, like, Power or Energy Saver Controller and then, and then certain configurations to save energy, it'll sometimes shut off Bluetooth and that will make it so that your controller won't pair. Or other things as well. So you can just uncheck that and, um, and that should be able to help you out.
Larry: Thank you for calling Microsoft Technical Support. After this call there will be a survey.
Jeffrey: You did I did tech support.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: That was one of my first jobs. On Gateway computers.
Larry: Gateway computers?
Laura: Oh my gosh.
Larry: Speaking of cows!
Laura: Yes.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: We've come full circle.
Jeffrey: I was saying, "Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again," before it was cool.
Larry: Really?
Laura: Wow.
Larry: Well, it's okay then.
Jeffrey: And then, and then I was like, "You reboot it and I'm gonna hang up now."
Larry: Are you taking pictures of that, Laura?
Laura: Can I?
Larry: Yeah, yeah absolutely.
Laura: They're very pretty.
Larry: Yeah. So we're.
Jeffrey: You know, you can just go to MajorNelson.com?
Larry: Uh, I also have-
Laura: Yeah, but they don't have my fingers in them.
Larry: I have-
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Truths.
Larry: You didn't ask.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Uh, other new. Uh, some new Gears of War 4: Series Two cards.
Larry: Wow, yes. This is big.
Jeffrey: It's new maps were announced. Um, so, 280 new cards. I ended up playing another 50 rounds of Hoard this weekend and there's some really really cool skins for weapons. So, uh, some new characters as well as zombie men, there's a gear corps, armor [and anya? 00:38:46]. Um, anyway, there's a bunch of stuff and, and, and a touch of, uh, a bunch of both animated and static weapon skins out there. So, um, if you're playing Gears, you'll be able to find those-
Larry: You'll-
Jeffrey: And then you'll win the game.
Larry: Yeah, if you want to check that out, uh, I do a little show on the console called This Week On Xbox, Lau-
Laura: You do?
Jeffrey: The kids call it TWOX.
Larry: We did. Internally we call it TWOX.
Laura: The kids?
Larry: Yeah, T-W-O-X. Uh, so, uh, I actually cover a lot of this in that as well. So, if you, if you wanna hear me, you can hear us here, you want to see me, and really you don't want to see me, you can look on your console and usually I'm in the right lower ... I'm sure you've tuned in and seen me, Laura.
Laura: I've seen you.
Larry: Oh you have?
Laura: I have seen you.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: Many times.
Larry: Yeah, it's funny. When I was out at the holiday, when I was out with my family, I've my nieces and they were like, "Uncle Larry, why, why are you on the TV?"
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: They, they're like, "Oh! With you ... How did you get yourself there?" "Well, it's what I do." "Why, why?" It was a weird conversation.
Laura: Right. (laughs)
Larry: Anyway, you can find me there.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: We were talking about Halo Wars.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Uh, Halo Wars 2. Uh, there will be a multiplayer beta available, January 20th. So if you want to give the new blitz mode, which is the one that I can tell you ... we show it to media, um, you know, I think there's actually a tour going on right now. People really like this blitz mode. And I think it's brings people in who maybe think, uh, "RTC is not for me." Definitely makes it very interesting and balanced in, in, in, in a good way. So, you can try it out.
You know what? Don't take my word for it. Um, that's a LeVar Burton.
Larry: Yes.
Jeffrey: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um-
Larry: Thank you.
Jeffrey: Thanks, yeah.
Laura: (sings) Reading Rainbow.
Jeffrey: Thank you. Uh, or Geordi La Forge.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Anyway. You can try it out yourself and that will begin on Jan-
Larry: Did I tell you about the time I met him in Las Vegas?
Jeffrey: I met him in Las Vegas, too.
Laura: You what?
Larry: We were at that Capcom thing, right?
Jeffrey: No, so that Capcom ... Were you at that Capcom thing?
Larry: Yes, I was at-
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Remember that? Street Fighter 4?
Larry: Yeah, that was up in-
Jeffrey: That was LA?
Larry: No, there was one in a hotel.
Jeffrey: Oh my God. Yes-
Larry: Remember that?
Jeffrey: So LeVar Burton-
Larry: Chris Kramer brought us there.
Jeffrey: He did.
Larry: And he brought, and LeVar Burton walked in.
Laura: Really?
Jeffrey: Wow, really? [crosstalk 00:40:35] I was there.
Larry: Yeah, I was there too.
Jeffrey: That's crazy.
Larry: Anyway.
Laura: What is he like? [crosstalk 00:40:43]
Jeffrey: ... when it first opened up.
Larry: He's very nice.
Jeffrey: Um-
Laura: Was he like his character on Reading Rainbow? Was he very friendly?
Larry: Uh-
Jeffrey: Oh, yeah. I got a picture with him [crosstalk 00:40:51] I ending up doing a panel with him at E3. Uh, at CES.
Larry: About what?
Jeffrey: About social medias or something like that. It was him-
Larry: What's that?
Jeffrey: And it was ... I know, right? Um, you have to understand in the 2000s that was a big deal, and um it was someone from Zappos because they did some interesting stuff and I was like, "I can't believe I'm sitting next to LeVar." I was basically fanboy ed out the entire panel.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: Real good for the people watching the panel. They were like, "Yeah, we get it. You like La Forge. Yeah." Um.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: But it was cool. Then saw him again at Street Fighter 4.
Larry: (laughs) I remember that fest.
Jeffrey: That was a crazy-
Larry: That was a bizarre event. Anyway.
Jeffrey: Anyway, yeah.
Larry: Sorry, Laura, we just-
Laura: Very interesting story-
Larry: But Jeff, Jeff and I have, have, like, have, like, have, have, have crossed paths unknowingly a few times. [crosstalk 00:41:35]
Jeffrey: Although I didn't know you were in that ... Oh! The madcavs guy was there at, at, in that hotel. That was when I met the, the controller people.
Larry: That's right.
Jeffrey: I got a modded controller. I got ... Someone gave me a, uh, a modded Street Fighter stick for my wedding.
Larry: Oh.
Jeffrey: That's an unusual, that's an unusual wedding gift.
Laura: It is an unusual wedding gift.
Jeffrey: But it was ... I appreciate it.
Larry: The gift that keeps on giving.
Jeffrey: Exactly.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: So, um, the beta for, uh, Halo Wars 2 next week. And then, I'm very excited about this, now available for pre-order and pre-download digitally on Xbox One-
Larry: That's right.
Jeffrey: Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Laura: (gasps) [crosstalk 00:42:08]
Jeffrey: I cannot wait. Actually, some new ... There's supposed to be some new information coming out, some new trailers coming out this weekend.
Larry: I hope so.
Jeffrey: So, I'll keeping an eye out for that. But, they are coming down the homestretch. That game comes out on May, on March 21st.
Laura: Wow.
Jeffrey: So we're just a couple months out. I'm in furious backlog mode.
Larry: I know, you try ... You won't even play Overwatch with me, like, "I gotta get through. I gotta get through this."
Jeffrey: I gotta finish everything because once Andromeda comes out, that is where I'm going to be.
Larry: I understand.
Jeffrey: I'm so excited.
Larry: I understand.
Jeffrey: Uh, a couple of other games now available. Nevermind, um, which is an adventure/thriller game. I don't know too much about it other than the cover looks like it's from The Moth Man Prophecies. I don't know if you ever saw that.
Larry: Oh yeah-
Jeffrey: That was a creepy movie.
Larry: Very creepy.
Jeffrey: And then, uh, Acorn Assault. Um, uh, squirrels are involved.
Larry: That sounds like, that sounds like-
Laura: Sounds like squirrels are involved.
Jeffrey: Squirrels are involved.
Larry: Do you have squirrels in Texas, Laura?
Laura: Oh, yes. Lots of them.
Larry: I used to have a squirrel, it was a family of squirrels that lived in our trees near our house and they would throw acorns at our cars.
Laura: No, really? That's just mean.
Larry: I know.
Jeffrey: They would throw them?
Larry: Oh, that was-
Jeffrey: Like in-
Larry: Oh no, they were walnuts. They were walnuts, because we lived down a-
Laura: Bigger ones.
Larry: Yeah. I remember.
Laura: Ugh.
Larry: Because they're kind of squishy-
Jeffrey: What did you do to upset the squirrels?
Larry: I have no idea. I have no ... To this day I don't know.
Laura: Oh, no.
Jeffrey: Hmm.
Larry: Must have been all the dogs we had.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs)
Laura: That would be it.
Larry: Ugh. All right. You know what else is news this week that we-
Laura: What's that?
Larry: We can't really talk about because we're recording this right before the announcement, is Nintendo Switch stuff.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: That's happening so we'll have details on that-
Jeffrey: Yeah. I actually excited to see that.
Larry: Those good guys at Nintendo-
Laura: Yeah, what they're up to.
Larry: Always up to something over there. Those guys.
Laura: You could throw an acorn or a walnut at them.
Larry: I could, you're right. I could whip it over there.
Laura: (laughs) Where we are, we could hit them with an acorn.
Larry: Look out, Reggie!
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, um, all right. So, we're cooking along. Oh! You know what we have to do?
Laura: We haven't named the game.
Larry: We haven't named the game.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: I keep forgetting that, uh,
Laura: You do.
Larry: I do. So, uh. Are you ready with that?
Laura: I am. Let's roll the name the game.
So, that was name the game from last time. And it was Stardew Valley.
Larry: Have you played it?
Laura: I have not played it, but it's on my list of things to play very soon.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: I'm very interested in it.
Larry: Because it's got, you know-
Laura: It's an economy game.
Larry: Those four H's.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: The Head and the Heart approve.
Larry: There may be a car-, there may be a cow in there. Anyway, so what do we got?
Laura: So the winner this week who got it correct is Jack from Cambridge, England. But tell Jeff he's originally from the Red Half of North London.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Well, I appreciate that.
Laura: (laughs) [crosstalk 00:45:02]
Larry: Oh, I see. I see.
Jeffrey: I'm going to another map soon.
Larry: I know you are.
Jeffrey: I'm going over there for a meeting, uh, we tend to schedule them around our small home match.
Larry: I think you, you probably won't be able to see Graham, because, again, he'll be on holiday.
Jeffrey: Well-
Laura: True.
Jeffrey: Graham, you're welcome to come join us. Although I, I think he likes another team.
Larry: I'm sure he, I'm sure our friend in the UK would like to know what they won, Laura.
Laura: (laughs) I'm sure.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: He's more interested in that.
Larry: Yes, than-
Laura: And, Jack, this is what you've won. You've won a copy of Silvio, which is an ID Xbox title that released this week.
Larry: Yep.
Laura: Friday Night Bullet Arena, also an ID Xbox title that released this week.
Larry: Yep.
Laura: Dead Effect 2. Pit People, which we talked about earlier.
Larry: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Wow.
Laura: Nevermind.
Larry: Wow.
Laura: Acorn Assault.
Larry: Look at this.
Laura: And that's not all.
Larry: Wait, what?
Laura: A copy of Rise and Shine, which we heard about, uh, previously.
Larry: We heard about earlier on the show. Yep.
Laura: And-
Larry: Yes?
Laura: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition.
Larry: Oh, that's a good one.
Jeffrey: Oh.
Larry: That's a good one
Jeffrey: I haven't played that.
Laura: And, again, that's not all.
Larry: Oh, come on.
Laura: That's not all.
Larry: No
Laura: He's gonna win-
Larry: Yes.
Laura: That controller.
Larry: This red one.
Laura: The Xbox box controller red.
Jeffrey: You gotta give it back now.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: I know. I have to-
Larry: It has Laura's finger prints on it.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, be warned. No, it doesn't we'll give you a new one.
Laura: That's right-
Larry: So, congratulations.
Laura: Yep, way to go, Jack from Cambridge.
Larry: Jack, congratulations. Thank you for tuning in and listening to the show. You, dear listener, it's now your chance to win. Laura, how do they win?
Laura: That's right. If you two would like to win all kinds of fabulous prizes, it's very simple. All you have to do is listen to the sounds affects that I'm just about to play.
Larry: Yes.
Laura: And then send me an e-mail with what game that's fun.
Larry: Are you ready?
Laura: Yes, let's roll the sound.
Larry: Are you ready?
Laura: Let's roll the sound.
(video game sounds)
So, if you think you know what game those sound effects are from, all you have to do is send me an e-mail, lollipop@xbox.com, and CC major@xbox.com.
Larry: Yep.
Laura: It's that simple.
Larry: You know, when I used to do this, um, do this, uh, feature, you know, I would go on and record it. And people could tell on Xbox Live, because I record it from what I'm playing, they could tell what my previous games were. And so they were all on there [inaudible 00:47:53]. Now I do it under a separate account.
Laura: I see.
Larry: It's because-
Laura: That's very smart.
Larry: They were, they were wise.
Laura: (laughs) Very wise.
Larry: They were wise.
Laura: Uh, do you want to let listeners know, if you do want to participate in this game, please do. It is from released games only. I had some people guess some unreleased games, like Sea of Thieves, things like that. Those are not released yet, so, we are only choosing-
Larry: Released games.
Laura: The games-
Jeffrey: Now, let's be clear. It could be in game preview.
Laura: It could be in game preview.
Larry: Right, but it, it is-
Laura: That's true. You could download yourself and play it at home.
Larry: Right, right. It's just no betas and none of that.
Laura: Yeah, yeah.
Larry: None of that stuff.
Laura: No betas. No unreleased games.
Larry: All right, Jeffrey. You seem to be, uh, puzzled over there, looking at your computer.
Jeffrey: Oh, uh, I'm just, uh, I should stay off Reddit-
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: While we're doing a podcast.
Larry: We're not gonna talk about Reddit are we? I really don't want to talk-
Jeffrey: Oh! Yeah, let's talk about that. So-
Laura: What happened?
Jeffrey: You know, Reddit is the one site, like ... I try not to look at e-mail on the weekends but I always like to see, you know, "Is everything all right with Xbox Live? Anything I need to be aware of?" There's-
Larry: But I'll text you if that, if there's a problem. You know that.
Jeffrey: I know, but I just ... I, I probably, like, three or four times a day on the weekends and more on the weekdays, I'll head over to the Reddit, the Xbox One subreddit. Which, again, I think is, like, very ... One of the ... A good level of decorum.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Jeffrey: I would say, it's better than-
Larry: The mods do a good job over there.
Jeffrey: Uh, yeah.
Laura: Yes.
Jeffrey: Very good job. So, um, I noticed a couple of threads about you.
Larry: Me?
Jeffrey: Specifically, like-
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: Specifically Larry?
Jeffrey: Yes. And one was, I think, the Major Nelson Appreciation Thread.
Laura: Oh, that's a nice thread.
Larry: It was, it was highly embarrassing. I just, I mean, I wouldn't even comment. It was very nice of them but I just ... You know, Laura, you, you, you, you know, because we've worked together a long time.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: And, and Jeff as well. I, I just happened to be in the fortunate, or sometimes unfortunate, position of being one of the public faces of Xbox.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: I mean I love my job and I love it. But, there's thousands of men and women and people that are, that are behind me and, but, with me, and they're doing, they're frankly much smarter than me that are doing harder work than me. So, I always want to remember those guys.
Jeffrey: You're really looking at, looking at Laura a lot.
Larry: I-
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: I-
Jeffrey: Through all of those things. I'm, like, over here, like, "Praise me. Notice me, Senpai."
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: And it's not happening.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, anyway. I always-, I want to be very clear that it's not just, I'm not a one man show and I just happen to be in the, and I'm fortunate enough to do that.
Jeffrey: That was, though, however, like, the equivalent of the Reddit Lifetime Achievement Award, I feel like you just won.
Laura: Oh.
Larry: Yeah, it was. It was, it was very nice.
Laura: That's great.
Larry: I mean, I, I, I, I'm, I hang out there frequently because there's a lot of questions that I can quickly answer. I just don't, you know, I don't have a lot of time-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: During the day that just kind of browse the internet.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: Because the internet can waste your time.
Laura: (laughs) Sometimes.
Larry: So, I, uh, but anyway. That was, uh, yes. So wha-, what else did you pick over there, Jeffrey?
Jeffrey: Now I'm looking, uh, people are actually talking about the GWENT beta and, and, and who's in it. So, um, yeah. It's just, uh, you know, I'll just link to it. It's a, it's a good resource. I would say when ... Look, like any non-affiliated website, occasionally it'll traffic in rumors. The thing I do like about this thread is the mods will, if it's false they will quick it, quickly mark something false or opinion or unsubstantiated or whatever. So, it's just a nice, uh, way to find out a ... It's a good aggregator of, like, all the stuff.
Larry: Yeah, they do good work over there. They do really good work over there.
Laura: They sure do.
Larry: So, anyway. Uh, what else you got there, Jeffrey? Because, otherwise we'll, uh, we'll wrap this puppy up and-
Jeffrey: You can wrap it.
Larry: All right. We can wrap it up. Laura, you gotta get back to work, right?
Laura: As usual.
Larry: To your mysterious office. With your lollipop.
Laura: With my lollipop sword.
Larry: (sighs) All right gang.
Laura: That's how you can always find me. (laughs)
Larry: Yes.
Laura: Looking for the lollipop.
Larry: Look for the lollipop. You can also find her on Twitter at-
Laura: @LauraLollipop
Larry: Find Jeffrey at
Jeffrey: @JeffRubenstein
Larry: And again, we've, we talked about it last time. Just go, go find me @MajorNelson and they're, they're, they're the p-, they're part of the small troupe of individuals that I follow.
Laura: That's true.
Larry: Because I-
Laura: The special individuals.
Larry: I, I handle it through lists and what not. So no one every got back to me on whether I should unfollow E or not.
Jeffrey: You shou-
Larry: Remember we talked about that last week?
Jeffrey: Again, I feel like he's, he's had his jersey retired.
Larry: Now, I gotta tell you this, Jeff. You don't remember this, because you weren't with us yet. But, Laura remembers this. When Twitter first started coming out?
Laura: Yes!
Larry: And he was so-
Laura: He was so against it.
Larry: Violently opposed to it.
Laura: He was so against it.
Larry: He was like, "I don't understand why anybody would want that." Right? Do you remember that?
Laura: Yes, I remember that-
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: Very clearly.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: He was so against it.
Larry: He was so against it.
Laura: And then we did make fun of him for a little while after he signed off.
Larry: And then, then, then he, not only did he embrace it, he wrapped his arms around it and brought home and tucked it in bed.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: I mean he just ... (laughs)
Jeffrey: (laughs) Good one.
Laura: I know.
Larry: So, he, uh, anyway ... I don't know, I don't, so that's why, that's why I kind of feel like I should follow him, because, because-
Laura: You got him into it.
Larry: Because we got him into it. That's-
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: That's kind of what I'm getting at here, so-
Laura: Yeah.
Jeffrey: You're responsible for what happened-
Larry: I'm responsible for that whole thing.
Jeffrey: Plus you can harass him about Pokemon Go stuff.
Larry: Yeah, now that he's over-
Jeffrey: Like, why is it so hard to find Kabuto.
Larry: I, I don't really care.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: But thanks. Is this an issue for you?
Jeffrey: Some people do. Yeah, I have, I, I, uh, the whole nest thing is very complicated.
Larry: Okay.
Jeffrey: There's a Pokemon Go Seattle subreddit. That's another one.
Laura: Nice.
Jeffrey: Where we're just-
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: We're hanging on ... We're looking, we're reading the tea leaves and augering the goats and-
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Grabbing on to everything to, like, figure it out.
Larry: Finger in the wind.
Jeffrey: I just, I-
Laura: Are you renting the goats?
Jeffrey: Uh, I want to.
Laura: Yeah. That could help.
Jeffrey: If they can-
Larry: Huh.
Jeffrey: I can put a tracker on them and they can rack up some candy for me.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Anyway, that's Po-, #PokemonGoProblems.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: I may have, uh, uh, Graham may be joining us in a couple of weeks.
Laura: That's be great.
Larry: I think I mentioned that earlier.
Laura: Looking forward to seeing him.
Larry: Gonna hopefully join us, he's gonna be over here and I've, I, I-
Jeffrey: On, uh, annual leave, right?
Larry: On annual leave.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: I've extended his, uh, extended an invite.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry: To him to join us because he's always welcome on the show and he's, uh, I get a lot of people that want to be in the show and I decline them all. You have to meet a certain bar here.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Part of this be able to walk with-
Jeffrey: I-
Laura: I don't know if I meet that bar.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Yeah, is that what I tripped over when I walked in here?
Larry: Can you fog a mirror? So, uh, no, no, no. It's, uh ... All right. We're, uh, we're gonna let you guys go and we will, um, we will talk to you guys next time. All right, Laura?
Laura: Sounds good.
Larry: Thanks, guys. We'll see you next week. Bye bye.
Jeffrey: See you online.
Laura: Bye.
(outro music)
💬 Larry Hryb 
