Larry Hryb: (music)
Hi. It’s Larry here with Xbox Live’s Major Nelson. Thank you for joining us this week. Doing something a little different, uh, joining us in the studio right now is Scott Henson from the Xbox platform team, Scott, hello.
Scott Henson: Good to see you again, sir.
Larry Hryb: Nice to see you. And then of course, joining uh, joining you is Mr. Mike Ybarra, Xbox Quick on Twitter. Hi, Mike.
Mike Ybarra: Hello, everybody.
Larry Hryb: Nice to see you.
Mike Ybarra: Nice to see you.
Larry Hryb: You- you’ve be- you’ve been a busy man this month. I want to talk to you about that.
Mike Ybarra: We are all very busy.
Larry Hryb: Well no, no, no, no, we’re going to talk about some cool stuff that’s coming to Xbox 1, but I gotta ask you a question.
Mike Ybarra: Oh, okay.
Larry Hryb: Do you sleep at all? Because I just see you unlocking achievements like a maniac.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, I’ve known to play at random hours for sure.
Larry Hryb: Well that’s random hours is being kind, but anyway ... Uh, we got you guys- what you got, what are you playing now actually? Let’s talk about that because we usually talk about that in the show at this point.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, you know, it’s funny. I went back to Destiny to play a couple of Raids-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And it’s been probably three months, two months since I’ve played.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And so I was learning, you know, how to throw grenades and things like that again.
Larry Hryb: Don’t you hate that? Where you’re like, where you haven’t played the game for a while and all of a sudden, you- you’re gonna multiplayer game and yup, you’re that guy or girl. (Laughs)
Mike Ybarra: Well, I follow you on Twitter saying you went back to Witcher?
Larry Hryb: Right. (Laughs)
Mike Ybarra: And, uh, you were like, "Wow, how do I do this?"
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: It takes a little while. For sure with the story.
Larry Hryb: Sure, it took- it took me, uh, probably two, two and a half hours to kinda get my legs under me again, but now I’m okay.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah they- we- we did fairly well. I broadcasted it on Beam and so people were watching it-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: -and it was really cool.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, it was really fun to go back to Destiny, but you know the game that surprised me the most is a game called Rise & Shine. Have you tried that yet?
Larry Hryb: No, I’ve got [inaudible 00:01:48], uh, do you-, are you familiar with that one Scott?
Scott Henson: I am not.
Larry Hryb: What is- what is that about?
Scott Henson: Uh.
Larry Hryb: I know it came out, I saw and Tweeted about it.
Mike Ybarra: It’s a- it’s a kind of side scrolling shooter.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: It’s designed really well. The achievements are really good, some of them are really hard. It makes you really want to play through.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: I’m only through one and a half of the levels and so I’m not too far in, but I’m having a good time with that.
Larry Hryb: Well, let’s be clear, I- I actually interviewed one of the guys from the team last week, so ... (laughs)
Mike Ybarra: Oh, okay.
Larry Hryb: Yeah they- so go back and listen to that interview. The, the guys have worked on a, a bunch of different games, yeah, they really, really did a nice job with that. So, I’m glad you’re enjoying that.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, it's fun. And then I’m catching up on some Telltale games that I- I skipped out on. Uh, that you know, The Wolf Among Us I had never played. Some The Walking Dead stuff I had skipped and so-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: I'm catching up on that.
Larry Hryb: Did you-
Mike Ybarra: Yeah?
Larry Hryb: Did you- I’m sorry, did you finish the Witcher or did you just play the Witcher?
Mike Ybarra: No, you know, I, I played for probably 10 minutes. Those of you that, that know me know that if there’s a game that’s going to require a hundred hours-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, yes.
Mike Ybarra: -some little RPG.
Larry Hryb: No Fallout. (Laughs)
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, it’s hard for me to ... The last game I put in over 100 hours in, that’s like that was Skyrim, I really enjoyed that but it was because I was on a plane and so I had it on my PC.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: It was just eight-hour chunks-
Larry Hryb: What are you doing on that plane for 100 hours? (laughs)
Mike Ybarra: Well this was when I was doing the publishing. (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Uh, sorry, so that’s what you’re playing. Um, uh, Scott what are you playing? Y- you’ve ...
Scott Henson: Well, you- as you know, I had lots of couch co-op with the- with the fam.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: Um, the new Tristram Update came out for Diablo 3 and so we-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, we talked about that [crosstalk 00:03:07] ... (laughter)
Scott Henson: I’ve been playing lot, and lots of Diablo 3 again, uh, and I think, you probably know probably one of my favorite games of all time. Um, and then a lot of overcooked, um, we went back to Trails HD, um, and Trials Fusion as well, um, which the- the, the girls love. Um, so that’s mostly couch co-op, um, probably for the last month.
Larry Hryb: And I think you- you were also playing- I don’t know if you’ve played this, Mike, but what- something I play with my family when I was- over the holiday. And I was streaming it on Beam last week was, uh, the Jackbox Party Pack.
Scott Henson: Oh, I love that game.
Larry Hryb: Which is- which is- Hmm. Hmm.
Scott Henson: Lots of fun.
Larry Hryb: It was just complete fun with the family, right? Anybody.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, well, I- I played that, uh, in fact over the holidays. We had people log in with their phones.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And play some of the games and that's with those easy achievements.
Larry Hryb: That’s the beau-, I did that as well.
Mike Ybarra: I saw.
Larry Hryb: That’s the beauty of it. It was, it was my niece getting those achievements. She happened on be unlocking them. But anyway ... But I want ... You guys are here today because we’re talking about, uh, the- the- the, I guess we can call it, what was called the Xbox Preview Program it’s now the Xbox Insider Program. They had to bring it in line with the rest of the company efforts. But the Insider Program we- we- we have an update that went out and we've got a lot of new stuff in it. A lot of really cool stuff in there and I thought I’d have you guys in here because you both work on the engineering team it kind of go through it and Mike, you had a blog post last week that kind of outlined where we’re headed, right?
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, that’s right. If- if you haven’t seen it, it’s on Xbox Wire and it outlines directionally how we think about 2017 from a, a released standpoint, listening to the bans. You know, we have the best bands in the world because they are loud and very clear on what they want and what they do not want.
Larry Hryb: Yes, they are, yes they are.
Mike Ybarra: Yes, they are. And we look at those lists all the time. So, you know, before we dive into some of this, a- a good about out to all of our Xbox Insiders on desktop and on console for all the work they do. They really help us create this product and- and you know, there- they are a key part of what Team Xbox is.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and there’s a lot. I mean people go over there and they’re- they’re- they’re not, as you say they're not shy about telling us about what they'd like. And we want to make sure we can give them the best experience. But let’s, uh, let’s jump in and talk about ... Scott, you and I did a video, um, I think- I think the videos out already, right? And there’s a blog post that you put up?
Scott Henson: Sho- should be, it should be.
Larry Hryb: It should be [crosstalk 00:05:01] ... I hope so, um, awkward but you’ve, uh ... We- we talked about a lot of stuff ... Let’s walk through some of the high level changes of what you and Mike and the rest of the Xbox team were thinking about when you made some of these changes.
Scott Henson: Well, all of this is centered around the Creators Update.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: And, uh, you know we have several themes around that. Um, the first really big theme is around performance and getting you to the things that you care about most, the quickest.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, and so you know, the center piece of that on a console, um, is the guide. Um, and we’re now making the guide one button press away and the most common things that you want to get to, um, instantly accessible. And, you know, we talked through that and walked through all of those features, um, in the video. But we should talk about that here, too. Right?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I mean I want to be- I, I don’t want to unders- I don’t want to undersell us because one more, what internally people have been calling one button the guide is- is a big deal.
Mike Ybarra: It is.
Larry Hryb: In terms of- for the past ... Since 2013, we’ve- we’ve taught people that double tap on the Xbox button and it- and it brings up, uh, you know, it brings up the guide or single tap we'll reduce it to home. Te- tell us about what has changed a, and kind of why, and why it’s faster.
Scott Henson: Well, the- the guide is that, you know, piece of the user interface, it's always there, right?
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, that’s- that’s what it’s intended to be and that’s kind of the spirit of it. Um, the big change is instead of double tapping, which a lot of people, uh, frankly had a challenge with. You know, it’s just a single tap now.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: Um, okay. So that’s- that’s pretty straight forward. Um, but you know it’s one button press way to get to home as well from the guide.
Larry Hryb: Right. Right.
Scott Henson: Uh, but the other thing is we’ve redesigned the landing page in the guide. So that start page, the very first thing that you see, um, and in there we put the most common tasks that, um, you’re going to want to get to. Like getting home, going to the store-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Getting to your my games and apps of course.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, and then the most –
Larry Hryb: Your stuff.
Scott Henson: Your stuff.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: That’s right. Um, including your pins and your MRU. Um, and we’ll talk about some of the other stuff, too. But the- conceptually, that’s kind of, kind of the high level.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I mean, it’s interesting because then- if you look at some of the screenshot ... And we’ve got some screenshots we’ll include in this- in this Podcast. You put home- you put Xbox, uh, you know, obviously the top is home and when you click on that it’s no longer telling where you are but it actually brings you to a formerly, w- what people know as kind of when you would press the guide once. Is that right?
Scott Henson: Yeah, the home page of dashboard and that you boot up every time you turn on your Xbox.
Larry Hryb: Right, so there’s- you’ll see that and then next you’ll see games and apps and storage, your recent. It’s really cool because on recent, shows your one, two, three, four, four recent, um, things whether it’s a game or an app. But you can actually ... Here’s a little- here's a little user tip people may not know this, is you can actually hit the- the, the menu button which some people call the hamburger button, and there’s options there. You can quit the game and go to the game hub and things like that. So it’s a nice design there.
Scott Henson: Yeah, exactly like what you see in the dashboard today.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and then below that I know some- I know there’s been some questions about how background audio is going to work and- and how does that- how was that handled Scott, in terms of- or Mike because I know you guys both worked on this?
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, I mean, we’ve been working on the guide for probably the last 18 months. And so, the real focus of guide is, uh, how long it takes a user to get to get into the experience that they want to. And one button, the guide, is the, the basic philosophy of reducing that time as much as possible.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And letting users truly leverage the multitasking capabilities of Xbox 1.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, which is super important and one, and one of our top goals. And so, when you look at guide, you’ve got all your recents, you’ve got your- your pins there so that I can switch between apps really easily.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm. (Affirmative)
Mike Ybarra: But also things like, uh, background audio-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm. (Affirmative)
Mike Ybarra: Uh, you know, that’s gonna be one built into the guide, uh, so that I can easily, uh, have background audio playing while I play my games, I can control it. You look at the screenshots that we have included in this podcast-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: You’ll see some examples of that, but it’s really about making guide as usable as possible. You know, when we first came out with the guide, it was about, uh, it was step one in terms of giving users that timed task goal that we have and now, it’s really about, uh, giving them the MRU, their pins, and everything to get to the content that they want.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it’s- I mean, there’s- there’s some ... You guys have made some interesting decisions here because you’ve got the you know, the, the left hand side of guide now has settings. Now there’s a new icon that some people may have noticed in some of these videos. Can we talk about that? It’s above settings.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you'll- you’ll notice, uh, a satellite-like icon that, uh, is about broadcasting.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And so one of the big investments, uh, you know broadcasting in general, people watch more than they play now in gaming, uh, which is really amazing.
Larry Hryb: Does that- does that surprise you Scott, or- or- or- or- or- or Mike? Because I mean, that’s a weird thing that didn’t happen when we were growing up.
Scott Henson: No, I think, um, I- I- think that over the last 10 years, if you look at how things have blown up, um, on the internet. You know, there’s just so many things on social media that allow you to get better at what you do.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, and so people watching games makes tons of sense. One, it’s competitive-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Right? So it’s actually a sport now. Um, and there’s lots of tips and tricks and I mean there’s all kinds of things that it makes total sense.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I mean I noticed that when I was over the holiday, I- I have a couple of nieces and, um, my sister only lets the girls play a little bit of gaming. Hence, they were doing, they were doing their homework or something and she had her, um, tablet open watching gameplay. So, it’s kind of like I can still play games and mom doesn’t know. (laughs)
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, I mean, even myself, I find myself sitting watching games, uh, when I just don’t feel like you know, immersing myself into an experience. That- the amount of time that I personally spent watching versus playing has dramatically shifted, uh, too.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: So, we wanted to make it easy for everybody to be able to broadcast their gameplay to their friends and to the world. And so that’s a broadcast button. It also has to be incredibly simple.
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Mike Ybarra: When you click on that, you’ll hit Start Stream- Start Broadcasting. And instantly you’re broadcasting across Beam with low latency so people can interact through chat and you can engage with your community really s- easily. The same can be done on Windows desktop. So, of course we have the Creators Update which expands all Windows releases.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And, uh, bring up the game bar, hit the broadcast button and you’re immediately broadcasting on Windows.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm. (Affirmative)
Mike Ybarra: A lot of, uh, uh, broadcasters are challenged with the extra software you have to download, you have to get capture cards, all this [crosstalk 00:10:40] ...
Larry Hryb: And then you've-, then you get it working and you do install something else or come back a week later and it’s not working.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah. (laughs) Yeah, and so, we want to make everybody famous on Xbox Live.
Larry Hryb: Right, right, right.
Mike Ybarra: And that broadcast button is exactly for that.
Larry Hryb: The other thing that’s interesting around that broadcast button is, um, and I think we’ll have some screenshots to support this, is when you're broadcasting to Beam, you can actually move around the window of interactivity, right? Which has a-, a be-, been a huge request.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, that’s right. Uh, you know, one of the complexities people have today is, "Hey, I finally got all this working now, where am I? And how do I move that out of the way so, uh, it’s not in my gameplay?"
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Ours are across PC and across, it goes across Xbox one console, you’ll be able to move your video window, your chat window around, almost anywhere on the screen.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, to make sure that, uh, it works for whatever game you’re making, making the HUDs in the way ...
Larry Hryb: Every game’s different.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, absolutely.
Larry Hryb: Every game’s different so that’s good.
Mike Ybarra: So we’re really excited. Like, the Beam Team, you know we acquired them, uh, what was it? A year ago?
Larry Hryb: Not even a year ago.
Mike Ybarra: A year ago.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: The acceleration and the thought leadership they’re providing that we believe will fundamentally change the way people watch and interact with games.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: It’s phenomenal.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: It's such a great road map coming. Beyond this release that I- I’m really excited about but we’re not going to talk about.
Larry Hryb: But we’ve got uh- So we've got- we got a new little broadcast like on of course a rest things are the same. The- the- the minor difference of course, is that, uh, as we said as that with one button you’re now at the guide, right Scott?
Scott Henson: That’s right. Um, and you know, we’ve- you’ve kind of alluded to this a little bit. Um, but, uh, we’ve enhanced the multitasking around the guide now too. So the guide’s sort of your epicenter for all things multitasking. We talked about that a little bit with background music, talked about that a little bit with, uh, with broadcasting. But we added some new things, too.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: Like at the top, you know, you’ll- you’ll see that familiar icon for achievements, um, but we now have a new feature in there.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: And probably something that Mr. Ybarra, it’s probably one of his favorite features.
Larry Hryb: Why don’t you ... Would you- would you like to talk about that feature Mike?
Mike Ybarra: Well you know, my achievements are close to my heart.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Mike Ybarra: Like many people on Xbox Live. Uh, the- the Gamerscore leaderboard, today, is a little bit, uh, hard to get to I would say, because you-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: -have to go, uh, into your profile through achievements and then you see it. It’s now built into the guide. And so if I go up to the achievements, uh, icon, I can see the achievements for my game, and there’s an option that says Switch to Gamerscore Leaderboard. There I can see the leaderboard really fast, it- it- it loads right there and I can see where my friends are and how I’m doing, uh, this month which I think is a- a really great utility to have.
Larry Hryb: Uh, and I think in one of the screenshots, um, and I don’t- I don’t know if I can call it up, I don’t have it handy right now. One of the screenshots that we took, um, you’re- you’re actually at the top of the leaderboard and I think Phil was number two. (laughter)
Mike Ybarra: Well, it’s just who ...
Larry Hryb: You have on your friend lists. (laughter)
Mike Ybarra: To our people but are always way ahead of me on those lists. That's for sure.
Larry Hryb: But, yeah, the achievements are in there now, um, so you’re making things much ... uh, to your point, and this is how we started the- the- the- the- the podcast is that you were trying to get people where they want to go faster. I mean, in this world that you’re creating where the MRU is on the guides or some people may not even get back to home.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, it’s a- it’s a good point, like when- as you’re multitasking between games or apps or- or loading up your greatest- uh, your good audio to play. Uh, home is still a base for people um ...
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: We think home will always be critical and important.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And so we expect people to go to home which is why we put home at the top of the guide.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, you basically hit, uh, the Xbox button A and then A again and you’re right at home.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, there was- there was actually a quite- there was a thread on Reddit where somebody was really concerned because they saw that we were talking about it and I actually jumped in there. They were concerned that, uh, the game- I think Scott, you and I talked about this, "The game wouldn’t pause and what do I do, oh my God, they’re changing ..." We’re not really changing any of the architecture, right? So if a game paused when you hit the guide button or go home, it’s still going to do that, right Scott?
Scott Henson: That’s right. Yeah, same- same behavior as what you saw before and a lot of games, as you know, and we talked about this. Um, they’ll pause or a lot of games when you’re in multiplayer of course, you’re going to keep going.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Because you know and there's multiplayer going.
Larry Hryb: Multiplayer’s going. (laughter)
Scott Henson: That’s right.
Larry Hryb: So, so it’s not like we’re changing that and then-
Scott Henson: Nope.
Larry Hryb: -and, and actually you’re- you’re right, uh, um, Mike is that, that ability to go quickly to home, you know, guide button A, A, boom, done. And it’s fast.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah. Now I would say from an architectural standpoint, the one change we are making is just about multitasking.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, let’s talk about that.
Mike Ybarra: We are really working to improve multitasking to make the experience better and easier for people. Let me give you one example-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Mike Ybarra: -because we talk about achievements in the guide.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: There’s another option in there, uh, which, uh, to show the, uh, Achievement Hunter-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Mike Ybarra: -menu.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: That will actually show up as an overlay over your game now.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Instead of shrinking the size of your game and snapping it to the right.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And so we have a screenshot up on- on this podcast as well so you can see it.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so what this will do is there’s a couple- actually there’s a couple things that’s cool about achievements I noticed. A, you can tag one as a favorite.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Right? So you tag it as a favorite and then when- when you track it, it’ll your- to your point, it will show up as a small overlay so you can kind of see, "What am I doing? How am I doing?"
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, that’s right. And then in the overlay, you can see in the screenshot it looks really nice. It- it you know, it isn’t gonna be in the way of your UI. You can move it, which is always nice.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, and as you said, you can favorite achievements you know, if you’re tracking a certain one and you really want that one to be the- the one you’re watching, you favorite that and it automatically shows up in that- in that bar. But we think the overlay just, uh, showcases the, the multitasking power of the system and also the experience goals that we want. We don’t want anything to change the size of your games-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: -or your experience is not as immersive as it possibly can be.
Larry Hryb: In the- in the- in the blog post that you put up, you talked about changing to, the game DVR options and- and would that really just means surfacing it up to the top. Tell us- tell us, explain to folks what that means. And again, you- you can see in the video that Scott and I did but I kind of wanted to ask you what it means.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, well Scott does a good job in the video, uh, of talking through it. Why don’t you go ahead and take this one?
Scott Henson: Sure, um, so the first thing is you know, the Creators Updates, so making everyone a creator, whether they’re broadcasting, taking a screenshot or DVR. It’s certainly a key theme so one button press to take a screenshot, one button press you’re recording or if you want to change those options, we’ve put that in the View menu. Um, in the View menu just like what, what you’ve had previously, you can set the recording length for things that have happened prior.
Mike Ybarra: Sure.
Scott Henson: Or you can start recording now, um, and just record for you know, several minutes.
Mike Ybarra: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, and, uh, and then stop it at your leisure.
Larry Hryb: So what- what Scott’s referring to in this screenshot, you’ll see, is if you hit the Guide button and then you’ll notice kind off on the right-hand side you’ll see save the screenshot, record that, or, um, of course, more recording options. The other thing that’s big that a lot of people were requesting, um, Mike, is in the upper right-hand corner.
Mike Ybarra: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: You know, the clock and the battery which is cool, right?
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, I mean a lot of little touches in this release.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: You know, you- you mentioned the- the recording. There’s a lot of feedback on while we want to be able to record longer and ...
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: So we’re looking at that.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Not in this release, but we certainly hear that feedback.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: But there’s a lot of nice touches in this release about my batteries, my microphone on, uh, and indicators for that which I think, uh, make this release really good.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, which was persistent the fact that you could press the Guide button, uh, now the Guide slides out you’ll see, all you see what time it is, what you-re what you’re you know, to your point, is the microphone connected, the battery level. And, uh, again, quickly, quickly-
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, absolutely.
Larry Hryb: Getting- getting- getting to where you need to go.
Mike Ybarra: I think one other thing people are gonna notice is you know, home is changing.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: People are gonna-, people are gonna go to Home, uh, probably just as, as much as they do, uh, today with this update. And, and we’ve changed Home fundamentally.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, let’s talk about that.
Mike Ybarra: You know, when you used to go ... When you go to Home today, you see a big screen, uh-
Larry Hryb: Let’s see, can we tell people what we call it?
Mike Ybarra: Yeah. We call that the bat.
Larry Hryb: Which is the- the- the big art tile.
Scott Henson: Yeah, the big art tile. (laughter) Yes, that’s right. That's right. Exactly, that’s what it stands for.
Mike Ybarra: Now you know how we name things. Uh, but that big bat is now gone.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: One of the challenges with that was you know, people engage with a title that they’re playing with a lot.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm. (Affirmative)
Mike Ybarra: And with the- with a big screen, with the bat, you couldn’t hit the contextual items, and when I say contextual items I mean the game hub, the share, the friends, uh, the clubs.
Larry Hryb: The clubs.
Mike Ybarra: The clubs.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And items like that.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, all the things that are kind of related to that game.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, totally. And so people want to engage with that. And so we’ve, uh, reduced the size dramatically, there will be a screenshot here you can see it. Basically the box art, the title. And then those contextual items. So you can go to the game hub easy. You can go to your latest screenshots and achievements and share those easily, right there, just like you can on the MRU items.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Um, before. And a lot of people say, well why, why change that? One reason was to get to those items. The other is, uh, we’re doing a end-to-end pass through on performance. And what we can do to increase performance all up of the system. And there’s decisions like this that make usability easier and also increase our system performance.
Larry Hryb: And also with this new design Scott, with that your team worked on, is since it’s- since the the- the- the bat, um, is a little bit smaller. It’s no longer ... We need a new name for that. I call it the active tile. Um, but now that it’s smaller, is it- it kind of brings, “The Fold-Up,” right?
Scott Henson: That’s right. Maybe we should just call it the game you’re playing.
Larry Hryb: Okay. (laughter)
Scott Henson: Um, you know, uh, [crosstalk 00:19:18] ...
Larry Hryb: Well because sometimes it’s not a game.
Scott Henson: Yeah, that’s right or the app that- that you’re playing. That’s right. So, um, correct. Now, one of the things that I wanted to add in there too, we got a lot of feedback last year at the end of last year, around, uh, clubs and LFGs and making-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: -sure that people knew how to get to those. Uh, those will also be, um, in the same area where-, where Mike was talking about. And because, you know at the end of the day, the reason we’re all here is because we love games.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: So we’re going to celebrate the game, um, that is active or the app that’s active, uh, with the hero art, assuming that you don’t have background, um, art set up on- on your system.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so how does that-, how does that work? Because I know that I’ve- I was confused. I called you one night and I’m like, what’s going on?
Scott Henson: Yeah, um, if you've set it up, if you’re one of the people that have set up your console with no custom background and it’s just-
Larry Hryb: It’s just maybe a color, a custom color.
Scott Henson: That’s right, and we’ll- we’ll- we’ll take that hero art for the title and we’ll make that-
Larry Hryb: Kind of put it in there.
Scott Henson: -put it in there and make it, it’s beautiful. It looks great. Um, but if you use your custom, uh, background, a lot of folks like to have achievements or what have you as a-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: -background. I do. Uh, then we’ll put that in there as well.
Larry Hryb: Right. And your color is still there.
Scott Henson: Yup, of course.
Larry Hryb: You know, I wanted to kind of, I don’t want to say too much about it Mike, that you mentioned something that I don’t know if we can or cannot say. There’s been a lot of questions about, um, gamer pics. (laughter)
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, you know, everybody wants custom gamer pics.
Larry Hryb: Because we’re kind of talking about in that area. So let’s talk about that.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, you know, w- we’ve ... There’s a lot of challenges with custom gamer pics.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Mike Ybarra: As what people create as their picture-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: -sometimes horrifies you, makes you not sleep and other times, hey that’s a great gamer pic.
Larry Hryb: Right. Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, yeah, we- we’ll allow, uh, custom gamer pics, uh, soon after we’ve released the, uh, Creators Update.
Larry Hryb: So that’s some- something we’re actively working on?
Mike Ybarra: It is something we are actively working on.
Larry Hryb: Maybe before- maybe before E3?
Mike Ybarra: Certainly before E3.
Larry Hryb: That’s- that’s what we like to hear because we got a lot that’s going on at E3.
Mike Ybarra: See I just found Scott up.
Scott Henson: He did. [Amen 00:21:01] (laughter)
Mike Ybarra: Right now.
Scott Henson: In the same sort of vein, we’re looking at the same thing for clubs.
Mike Ybarra: Okay,
Scott Henson: If you would imagine. Uh, because we-
Larry Hryb: Because we are working a club and what not.
Scott Henson: Yeah, right. Um, so I think people you know, when you’re a creator, however you create, you want maximum flexibility around that.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: So, uh, we aim to please and are looking at, uh, at bringing that as soon as we can.
Larry Hryb: So there’s a lot of, lot of things to go over here. We can kind of- we’ve been kind of been going through quite a few of them. One of the other areas is, um, you’ve done some work around Cortana because-
Mike Ybarra: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Tell us about how Cortana will reveal herself now.
Mike Ybarra: Well much like the Achievement Hunter dialogue, Cortana will be an overlay instead of, uh, taking up you know, part of the real estate of your screen.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And so form a visual standpoint, it’s a lot easier to interact and engage, uh, with Cortana.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And we’re also adding some features.
Larry Hryb: Ooh.
Mike Ybarra: And so things like, uh, reminders and alarms. For example, when I’m playing a game and you know, some of my friends, we know we’re going to raid at 7:00 P.M., I can say, "Hey Cortana, remind me, uh, to start the raid at 7 P.M."
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And then Cortana will register that and I go back and play in my game. And when it’s almost 7 P.M., Cortana will say, "Hey reminder, you gotta start the raid. Your buds are waiting for you."
Larry Hryb: Now you can do that on your- on your PC as well, right?
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, you can do it on any device. Even your iOS-
Larry Hryb: As long as you have Cortana?
Mike Ybarra: As long as you have Cortana.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And those reminders will scale across all those platforms.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: So it works really well. I, I think you know, we’re getting to some of these scenarios where I think gamers will leverage Cortana, uh, to help them, uh, with their overall experience.
Larry Hryb: Now this is- this is- this is this next feature I want to talk about is the one that people were like, "Well, is that really a feature?" But, you’ve- in order to update the update, you've actually changed the update. (laughter)
Mike Ybarra: I don’t know if I would explain it that way. But there’s, there's a couple of things that we’ve done with system update, uh, to make this better. One is the UI when you do an update, is a lot clearer.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Mike Ybarra: For example, today most people see one status bar and sometimes that hangs at a certain percent for 10 minutes.
Larry Hryb: So this is the one where you have the console at the top and it says Preparing for Update, and it’s going across.
Mike Ybarra: And it’s the green bar that goes across.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And it stops and people are like, should I reset?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, what’s going on?
Mike Ybarra: What happens if I reset? Ah, ah, you know, and so we’ve broken that down to three steps. One is where it downloads the update.
Larry Hryb: Right and pretty straight forward.
Mike Ybarra: Pretty straight forward. You're downloading the update. The next is verifying the update. Making sure the integrity of the update is 100% solid. Nothing was corrupt as you downloaded it.
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Mike Ybarra: Because that would be a- put you in a bad ...
Larry Hryb: Yeah, we don’t want to do that.
Mike Ybarra: And then we applied the update and when we applied the update, we actually store the current, uh, system update, good state just in case something happens.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: We have that. And then we applied the update. So those will be three different bars to give you more visibility into what’s happening and how that’s working.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: The other thing about a system update that, that we’ve heard a lot of feedback from, uh, especially for people who do not use connected standby is, "Hey, I’m gaming and my gaming session at the middle of the, my gaming session, the system just rebooted and applied an update. Uh, maybe I was in a big multiplayer match, or I didn’t get the exact save point, in a single player game, that can be incredibly frustrating."
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: We understand that.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: We all, as gamers, would be, yeah, that would not be a great thing.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, not cool, not cool.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, and so now if you're not in connected standby and there’s an update, uh, in the settings icon, both on Home, which is bottom left-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Mike Ybarra: And in the guides.
Larry Hryb: So when you- when you press the Guide, then the Guide button and it slides out.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah. The settings icon will have a one next to it.
Larry Hryb: A little badge.
Mike Ybarra: It’s an update. A little badge.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And if there’s an update pending. So you sort of know, "Hey I can manually go apply that."
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, we’ll also put some intelligence in there so that if there’s a- if there’s a badge there and you go to shut down, uh, the option will be there to apply the update and then completely shut down.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: So it just automatically does it and you know you got your- your systems going all the way to a low power state to save power, which is really important.
Larry Hryb: SO the badges are similar you get on Windows today or your, the ... your mobile devices where it’s got a little red one or, or something like that.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah. Definitely.
Larry Hryb: And then the- the- the what you just described is similar to the way Windows handles it today where it’s like, "Hey, do you want to take this update and shut down, or do you want to restart or what do you want to do?" So we’re kind of giving some folks some options again, to not interrupt their gaming.
Mike Ybarra: That’s right, yup.
Larry Hryb: Um, so, all right, moving along. What- what else do we have. There's quite a big update coming in here.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, I mean i- i- yo- ... Assessability is really important. I Tweeted something out about assessability because people were asking questions about, "Hey, uh, is gaming going to be easier for us?" Uh, assessability falls into a lot of buckets.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: There’s people with disabilities that love this- this hobby and, and want to engage, and we want to make it as inclusive as possible with everything we do on Xbox.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: To just- kids who don’t have the dexterity yet to handle a controller with you know, 13 buttons-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: In- in ...
Larry Hryb: It’s scary. It’s huge for little hands.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, and you know games aren’t super easy.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, and so there’s a host of you know, six or seven key assessability features that I think you guys talk about in your video.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, one of them that’s exciting me a lot is something we’re calling CoPilot.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, this is the ability for two people to, uh, share the controller responsibilities on a game.
Larry Hryb: So what does that mean?
Mike Ybarra: For example, if you- you and I are- are playing CoPilot, Larry.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm. (Affirmative)
Mike Ybarra: You can drive the left stick, I’ll drive the right stick a- and the buttons.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm. (Affirmative)
Mike Ybarra: Uh, and we can play the game at the same time together.
Larry Hryb: So essentially we’re singular- it’s- it’s ... Our two controllers are becoming one.
Mike Ybarra: That’s right.
Larry Hryb: And so the games, what’s great about this is, because Scott and- and Mike that you- your engineering teams have worked at the system level, games don’t care. They don’t have to do anything. Right? We handle this- the system level, is that right, Scott?
Scott Henson: That’s right, yeah. And, uh, it opens up so many scenarios, uh, for both people that need help and that sounds like what Mike was talking about and people with disabilities-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: -um, as well. So we’re pretty excited to see how people use that, um, a- as an enabling tech.
Mike Ybarra: And another thing people have asked for is we want to turn of, uh, Rumble.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: From an assessability standpoint. So those options will be there as well. Um, magnifier improvements, and narrow door improvements, uh, dictation, elements that you guys talk about in the video that, uh, you know, we want to make, again, Xbox, uh, available to everybody.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: These are important features.
Larry Hryb: I just want to point out that- that what we’re talking about today with the video that Scott and I did, and- and so forth, the blog post that went out, is that’s going to Xbox Insiders, formerly Preview. Xbox Insiders, um, to a sm- to a small group originally. And then it’ll- it’ll- it’ll broaden as- as you guys decide that, "Hey, this feels good. Because you don’t want to, you- you- you’re really, um, leaning on the community for the feedback and testing." Is that, is that accurate?
Scott Henson: That’s right. Yeah, so we’ll- we’ll start, um, with the people that are really giving us the most active feedback.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, we’ll continue to roll out features in the weeks ahead.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Uh, and then that’ll get larger and larger as we go, um, through the weeks and months.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and then eventually when it gets to the final release which is you- when- whenever, when it’s done. (laughs)
Scott Henson: That’s right.
Larry Hryb: And then maybe beyond that we’ll have some- some custom gamer pictures.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah-
Larry Hryb: That’s not this release, I want to be clear.
Mike Ybarra: Another big one is arenas.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, arenas! You talked about that in your blog post last week.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, and we announced it at E3. Uh, you know, shortly after the- the Creators Update goes out, uh, we’ll have arena, uh, full support in, uh, a couple of the games where user generated tournaments can happen and people can start competing at a- at a pretty awesome level. Scott and I reviewed the UI designs of that, uh, almost on a daily basis. It’s really coming together. Uh, I think people are going to be, you know, re- really pleased with what they see. We did KI for a while.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And a few tournaments.
Larry Hryb: And you gotta capture a lot of information of what work and what doesn’t.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, we captured so much good feedback on that from- from users playing where there were frustrations where people didn’t show up. What are we going to do about that?
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: And then we think about, you know, disqualifications and elements like that. The KI team has been a wonderful partner, there’s third party partners that have helped us here and-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: -we’re really excited to- to- to bring out Arena to people.
Larry Hryb: Just to refresh people what arena is. Can- Scott, can you explain it, because I mean we talked about it a few months ago but the means wouldn't working on it and collecting data, but let's refresh some people.
Scott Henson: Right. So for people in the Preview they would think of arena as the- the- the tournaments and brackets they've been playing in Killer Instinct, um, that we set up, right, that we- we put out there and we talked about it at the end of last year that we want to take that vision further and- and allow people to actually create their own tournaments. Um, and you know, this Click Clubs have come online we're thinking about, "Well, how was the club?" And- and user generated tournaments come together and so-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Arena is kind of that collection of things where competitive play happens.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: I mean overtime, you know, we'll move from this, you know, very-, this- this focus on tournaments, um, to also watching these competitive play elements as well.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Scott Henson: Um, but the key part of it right now that we're focused on is getting more and more games, um, into the, uh, arena, um, system, so that people can, you know, create those custom tournaments, compete those custom tournaments, compete for prizes, um, or just recreation.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: Um, and so we talked about Killer Instinct, just see some more tournaments, um, coming out to Preview in the weeks ahead.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Scott Henson: Um, we're excited to, in- invite and welcome, uh, war gaming, um, ESL and face it, um, end of the fall as well. Mike mentioned that in his blog.
Larry Hryb: Yup.
Scott Henson: Um, so you'll see those experiences come online as well, and we have some exciting new things that we're not going to talk about today but they'll be coming out the weeks ahead.
Larry Hryb: Okay, more stuff.
Scott Henson: Yeah, more stuff.
Larry Hryb: Wow. We've covered a lot of stuff today Mike.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, it- it- it is a pretty big, uh, update for us, and so as you said we're roll it out to Preview. So on day one not everybody is going to get it, I know Mike Twitter will fill up with, "Why am I not in Preview?"
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, we'll roll it out, uh, overtime pretty aggressive schedule, uh, for us to get people engaging with the feedback. But, uh, really proud of the team and the work they're doing here, um, very happy with the feedback, the fans have given us and how we've, uh, I tried to address some of those things.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I want to talk about that for a minute because we talked about, we have, we have our user voice, you know, we have feedback at Xbox.com. That's a huge area where we collect a lot of data and your team goes in there and it's looking it. So, uh, tell us how your team uses that?
Mike Ybarra: Well, when we do planning, um, month to month on features for Xbox, uh, one of the input, one of the main input channels is, uh, from the fans.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: And so it's not you know, "Tweeting me a feature that you want," or ...
Larry Hryb: That's not the best way. That's not the best way to do.
Mike Ybarra: That's not the best way to do, I get there everybody still does that-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: -but it's not the best way to do it.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, userboard is really is where we go, every feature that we look at has a number next to it and that's the number of votes people have gone up and said, "Hey, I would like this too."
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: It does help us prioritize, it's not the only thing of course, yeah, no engineering are uses one channel of feedback for what they want to do but this is a very critical one for us.
Scott Henson: And it's also that it doesn't mean that, "Hey, this is the highest vote one," "Hey, I need you to make, uh, Xbox one, um, you know, do my laundry and make my bed and- and let's order pizza." You know, it's- it's things that we can that technically can be done and maybe there's other reasons why it can't be done whether it's legal or otherwise.
Mike Ybarra: That's right. I mean, well, there are some up there that has thousands of votes and I always get the, "This is number one on this right, X, Y, or Z."
Larry Hryb: Right.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, we certainly there's a lot of inputs to go into, uh, when we deliver something but please use the site, give us all the feedback you can.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Trust that we all look at it and read it, and, and it helps prioritize what we deliver, uh, and we can't think that the fans enough to help us in Preview. Uh, we know that that's, you know, uh, something that they love to engage in, but also can be something that, uh, takes a little bit of time.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Uh, because we find bugs and certain things may or may not work, and, uh, likely we have, we have fans that understand that and help us make the best product possible.
Larry Hryb: You know what always is, is frustrating for me because I've been working on the team for a long time like, like you have Scott is. You always see the people, "Why can't they do this? It's so easy." (laughs) And I learned a long time ago that, uh, you know, if it was easy we would have done it already. There's a, there's probably some reason why whatever this feature is isn't done, is that accurate?
Scott Henson: Yeah, and I think, uh, you know, we're building this for you with you, right? So keep the feedback coming.
Larry Hryb: And, uh, and I want to be clear because that maybe the audience doesn't know this, I know that Mike you know this, and, and, and he said, "I, I, every single day, I've, uh, either talk to you Mike or definitely you Scott ..."
Mike Ybarra: For sure.
Larry Hryb: And I am giving feedback I'm like, "This is not good, we need to change this. How does this work? Why are we doing this? What was the decision here? Why- why are we not, why- why are we doing Twitter like this Mike?" (laughs)
Mike Ybarra: It could be known Larry, just not follow the user voice Skype.
Larry Hryb: Yes. I, I, I have, I have a different, I can, I can have kind of help but I, I do look at user voice and I go, "Hey," and I use that. When I'm talking I was like, "Hey guys, I'm seeing this problem too, and frankly it's also my number seven thing on user voice."
Mike Ybarra: So I think you just opened yourself up to the opportunity for people to put future request for you.
Larry Hryb: No, no, no, no, no I can't do all of them. I can't do all of them. I'm just saying is that, you know, Scott, you use the system heavily, Mike certainly you do I certainly do. We all are, and we know that everyone who listens this podcast are really, um, heavy gamers, whether it's on Windows 10, PC, or, um, or Console. And we want to make, you know, Phil talked about it, he pretty much sure, Xbox is the best place for gaming. Right, Mike?
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, that's right. No matter where you play, uh, and how you engage for that network, right?
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: We're really excited about what the future of Windows and gaming integration looks like, there are some big plans that were storing up there too.
Scott Henson: Oh, I know. The choice I'm doing is going to be a crazy year, we have some hardware that we're not going to talk about here coming out.
Larry Hryb: We got score look Scorpio come out later this year.
Mike Ybarra: Scorpio. Yeah, well so the team's hard at work on that and also on some pretty innovative, uh, work for Windows desktop for PC gamers.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: That play all types of games.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: Release there, to- to get the time to talk about that.
Larry Hryb: A lot of the stuff there. All right, gentlemen. I appreciate, Scott, thank you for joining me.
Scott Henson: Great to be here.
Larry Hryb: All right. Now, I'm going it to you, I'm going to make it uncomfortable. We'll work in people find you on Twitter or on Xbox. Scott?
Scott Henson: Well, Twitters, Xbox, uh, 360, uh ... [crosstalk 00:33:52] 360.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, 360.
Scott Henson: That's right. [crosstalk 00:33:54] Xbox 360, they're 360.
Larry Hryb: And your, and your gamer tracklist?
Scott Henson: And my gamer tracklist is there.
Larry Hryb: That's right. That's right. And, uh, and- and Mike, how can they find you?
Mike Ybarra: Um, in Xbox, click on Twitter and click on Xbox Live.
Larry Hryb: I'll put a link in the show notes guys. Thank you for joining us, I'm looking forward to seeing what people saying about that. I mean, I may stream this. Let me just do's-, UI walk through of, you know ...
Mike Ybarra: That'd be great. You should do that.
Larry Hryb: Right, you know, I'd be on time. Yeah, I- I really enjoy with the Beam audience because especially with the low latency it's so great to have those conversations.
Mike Ybarra: Yeah, it's funny. We created a- a Beam team a couple days ago and so people that I game with are on there and we're all streaming as part of that team which is really great.
Larry Hryb: Am I on that team? I don't think you've invited me. Yeah, apparently not. Awkward. Awkward.
Mike Ybarra: (laughter) You can create your own team.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I guess I will.
Mike Ybarra: But, uh, people should go engage with me man-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: -and, and start broadcasting it, it's really fun and engaging and with the interactivity model that we have come in-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Mike Ybarra: -uh, it's going to be pretty innovative.
Larry Hryb: You're gonna want to check it out. All right, thank you gentlemen. We'll talk to everybody next week. Thanks for listening. Bye-bye. All righty.
(music)

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: Happy New Year everybody. It's a-
Laura Massey: Happy New Year.
Jeff Rubenstein: Happy New Year.
Larry Hryb: Happy New Year Laura. Happy New Year Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: I forgot to bring my vuvuzela.
Larry Hryb: Y-your what?
Jeff Rubenstein: The horn thing.
Laura Massey: I remember the horn thing.
Jeff Rubenstein: The vuvuzela, horn thing, thank you.
Laura Massey: Yes, it's from the World Cup.
Jeff Rubenstein: You know you blow it ..
Larry Hryb: So, welcome back. We're already sidetracked. Welcome back.
Jeff Rubenstein: 2017 gonna be way better than '16.
Larry Hryb: Welcome back to, uh, welcome back to the show. My name is Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. As we just said, it's tw- 2017. We're here with you. Laura's here.
Laura Massey: Yes, I am.
Larry Hryb: Jeff is wearing his feathers. He's back from his Mummers Day Parade.
Jeff Rubenstein: From the Mummers Parade. Ah, there were some pretty good Mummers ...
Laura Massey: Did you go?
Jeff Rubenstein: No. I didn't go when I lived there. I did go to the Mummers Museum once though. It's a weird thing.
Larry Hryb: We talk about this every year. It's the most bizarre thing because I, I remember going when I was a kid and Jeff grew up in Ph-. Jeff and I, you know we grew up kind of near each other in Philadelph- no we didn't. I was on the New Jersey side of the Schuylkill.
Jeff Rubenstein: I couldn't afford to go there 'cause the bridge, like, like every year they would make the bridge-
Larry Hryb: Is that the Walt Whitman?
Jeff Rubenstein: It's Tacony-Palmyra-
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: -where occasionally the Betsy Ross, if we were rolling in it, because that costs a dollar to cross.
Larry Hryb: That's right.
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's only a quarter for the-
Larry Hryb: Right. Now bu- at- that crosses, it's the Philadelphia River, is that what it is?
Jeff Rubenstein: That's the, uh, Dela-
Larry Hryb: Delaware.
Jeff Rubenstein: The Delaware River.
Larry Hryb: Which of course-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative), it's a famous river.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is it? Oh, that's Washington's Cross.
Larry Hryb: The George Washington Cross.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so is you ever seen that painting where, and I'll put it in the show notes, where he's very regally standing up on a boat-
Laura Massey: Which you don't do.
Jeff Rubenstein: -which I would not do, with a flag waving that may not be an accurate representation, and then they went over and uh-
Larry Hryb: They were headed to the Mummers Day Parade.
Jeff Rubenstein: -the Haitians.
Larry Hryb: Yes, exactly. So anyway, welcome back. It's great to have everybody here. We did a show before the holiday. We had a great holiday. Was your, was your holiday okay, Laura?
Laura Massey: It was great.
Larry Hryb: You want to talk about it at all, what you di-
Laura Massey: I had a good break.
Larry Hryb: You had a good break, okay.
Laura Massey: Yeah, it was- did lots of traveling. Saw family, did some relaxing, it was really good. It was one of those breaks where it felt like it was longer than it actually was, which never happens. I think I know the secret. I was in a different place almost every day and that makes it seem really long.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Laura Massey: When you're in the same place, repetition-
Larry Hryb: I was uh-
Laura Massey: different to go much faster.
Larry Hryb: Yeah I- I understand that. I was- I went back East. I did an event at the Microsoft store in Danbury, had a few hundred people show up. Thank you if you showed up that evening and braved ... yeah, I don't know what I was thinking, Laura.
Laura Massey: How cold was it?
Larry Hryb: It wasn't, it actually was colder here than it was there, but I don't know what I was thinking, doing an event on the 23rd of December at a mall.
Laura Massey: Oh. You ... What? Are you crazy?
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I showed up and I'm- I'm looking around for parking going "Okay, I'm an idiot-"
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: "-I'm an absolute idiot". But anyway, it was a lot of fun. Everybody showed up and, uh, was out there. I stayed out with my sisters, uh, in, in, in na- in New England in Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Had a great time, so.
Laura Massey: Good.
Jeff Rubenstein: Was it as cold there as it is here?
Larry Hryb: No, I just said ...
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Did you not listen?
Laura Massey: He's not listening.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, I'm looking out for the best ...
Larry Hryb: The listeners even know.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm looking out for the best picture of Washington crossing the Delaware.
Larry Hryb: Ah, no, it was- it was not as cold as it was here, but now apparently it is. But we're back. Jeffrey, you- you want to talk about you- you were on holiday, as- as they like to day.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, yeah, as they, they say on any relieved.
Larry Hryb: On any (laughs)-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Should I- did I tell that story?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't think you have.
Larry Hryb: So the fi- I don't know if you know this story, Laura.
Laura Massey: Go- from Graham?
Larry Hryb: Graham.
Laura Massey: That's right, okay.
Larry Hryb: Who, who we've had on the show-
Laura Massey: Oh yes.
Larry Hryb: -he- you know, so he's a wonderful, you love him, he's, he works closely, you know we work on the same team. Whenever Jeff and I- or I seem to send him an email, which is not frequently, but it's not infrequently, we always get what we call in Microsoft an oof or an out of facil-, out of facility, that's why it's called O-O-F.
Laura Massey: I was always wondering why the "f" was there.
Larry Hryb: Out of facility ... Right, it's not out of office.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's not like oof, I just walked into a wall of you not being there.
Larry Hryb: So y-
Laura Massey: I just thought it was a horrible [inaudible 00:03:45] of out of office.
Larry Hryb: No, it is out of facility.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Larry Hryb: And it was- we get an out of office, but it's called out- we got a reply saying "Hey, I'm on annual leave" and it feels like he's always on annual leave. And it's, so, we, we joked about it and the funny thing was is we were at- where were we? Where were we? Graham? I think it was maybe the E3 and we were talking to somebody and some fans came up and they were, we were chatting with them-
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: -and um, one of the fans says to Graham, "Yeah, I emailed you but we got a, got a note that said you weren't coming back until the end of the year". It just was a perfect setup. So anyway, it was ah- it was ah, you know Graham is always on a holiday. You know the Europeans, they are not shy about, uh, being aggressive in taking all of every last ounce of their holiday, the way they should.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, and you can't even send an email after five o'clock in France.
Larry Hryb: In France now.
Laura Massey: It's right, I saw that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so BRB, moving to OOF, moving to France. 9laughs)
Laura Massey: A-okay.
Larry Hryb: Not mentioned there is text messages.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh.
Laura Massey: Loop hole. Loop hole.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right? Right, right? So I know I've gotten text messages from people at the office.
Laura Massey: As have I.
Larry Hryb: Including people here at the- this table.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, we're different.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's more usually are you playing Overwatch?
Larry Hryb: Well is- although- although I must tell you this story, Laura. And I, you and I haven't chatted that much.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: So to your point of it felt longer than it should be, I'm like "Okay, I'm gonna go, I'm getting ready to get back to the office". So I wake up Monday morning, take a shower at 6 a.m.
Laura Massey: You did that on Monday?
Larry Hryb: On Monday. I- I take my shower, I get in there, I get all changed, I'm all out the door and I get my coffee and I'm on my way to the office. There's not a lot of traffic-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -so I text Jeff. "Hey Jeff, am I, you gonna see you at the office today?" I should show you the ah- I should show you the text exchange because it was rather curt, wasn't it? (laughs) No. It was like no, national holiday. Oh.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Larry Hryb: Never mind.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Larry Hryb: So we, we quickly as we say in the business, re-pivoted and went to lunch. (laughs) So we- we made a lunch date.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I do this thing where when I'm on vacation, which I always- I do not check emails. So you got me nervous. I was like maybe it isn't-
Larry Hryb: No, I me- I'm an idiot.
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe it is a work day.
Larry Hryb: I'm a ... Once again, i'm an idiot.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Yeah.
Larry Hryb: So I started 2017, I didn't even Tweet it. I jus- unfortunately I was only about a mile away from home.
Laura Massey: Okay, when you figured out ...
Larry Hryb: But I turned around, but it's now seven o'clock in the morning, I'm ...
Laura Massey: You're ready to go.
Larry Hryb: I'm ready to go.
Laura Massey: You have a full day now.
Larry Hryb: Right, I ca- you can't go back to bed.
Laura Massey: No, you can't.
Larry Hryb: So I've got my- so I went in and played like three hours of the Witcher. (laughs) So-
Jeff Rubenstein: Productive.
Larry Hryb: Productive. Anyway um, yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: So I was in ah, I went to Iceland.
Larry Hryb: Iceland?
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, and then ah ...
Laura Massey: How cold was it there?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, it is well named. I will say that. There's ice, there's land. Ah, it was blizzarding like nonstop. It was pretty awesome. It's a great place. Super pricey, so I'm glad we were only there for about three days. Ah, and then we went on to London, which if you ever want London to feel cheap, you go to Iceland first.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, but the dollar's like super strong so actually, it was- it was pretty good. Went to see my soccer team play Aresenal and, uh, sort of just hang out. Kind of wanted to be off the grid for a little bit. Like when, when you work in games, and you know this-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -it's really hard to take a vacation-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -because we- and we work on all of the games, so it's like-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -when you know gears shift. It's like well that's not it for us, we're- we're here for Dead Rising now-
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -and it's uh- like you don't you know. I'm not complaining because we all love what we do. But the only time I know that I can take a vacation is typically after Thanksgiving.
Larry Hryb: Now, I'll tell you this, um, something I learned a long time ago is a friend of mine who had been in the game industry for a long time, like old, older folks that have been in the game industry for a long time know the secret. Here's the secret. Do you want to tell it, Laura?
Laura Massey: I didn't know we had secrets.
Larry Hryb: I don't know if I ever told you this. I'm going to share it with ever- all the listeners.
Laura Massey: This will be a surprise to me.
Larry Hryb: What- people that have worked in the game industry, that work on individual games-
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -so obviously you're working hard and the last few months before the game, you're trying to ship it. When you ship it, it's like, Hey, this is great." You know, it's- but nowad- it used to be okay, we're done. But now it's like you're, you've got a patch that comes out, you've got downloadable content, you've got why know maybe the servers are wor-- There could be any number of things.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: So what I've noticed is, and talked to a lot of my friends in the industry, what they do now is when the game ships, they have booked a cruise-
Laura Massey: (sharp inhale)
Larry Hryb: -because they can't come back from a cruise.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Larry Hryb: So, sorry, on a cruise. Sorry, on a cruise 'cause you're on a boat. You know it's not like you can fly back or you can-
Laura Massey: Exactly.
Jeff Rubenstein: Can you turn this thing around.
Larry Hryb: Could you work, you-
Laura Massey: You can't change the schedule.
Larry Hryb: And you can't work remotely because you're on hol- you on a vacation at Disney Land.
Laura Massey: You're on vacation.
Larry Hryb: Right, but you're on the ocean, so the smarter ... I don't want to say smarter, but the, those who have kn- know the, the gig, go, go on a cruise. So, anyway.
Jeff Rubenstein: Noted.
Laura Massey: Yeah, do we note it.
Larry Hryb: That's my- that's my gaming secret of the year that I've learned. I- although I haven't been on that many cruises.
Jeff Rubenstein: No one takes less vacation than you, by the way.
Laura Massey: He does that.
Larry Hryb: Well, you know I, I, um, I, I en- this is, this is the point of you know I enjoy my job.
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: I love my job. I- I spent it you know when I, when I, even when I go on "vacation or holiday" like when I was with my family back East ...
Laura Massey: You still work.
Larry Hryb: I'd go to the store because I love going to, especially then because I love going to see areas that I've nev- we've never been to. We always to go L.A. We always go to London, we always go to New York when doing events. I like to go, "Oh, I'm down here, let me, let me go to the store." So I always contact the store and we try to spend up on- on these events so I can go meet people that normally I would never get to meet. And I met, I met the most amazing, uh, amazing people when I was in Connecticut, just these people that, that um, you know that didn't even know the store was there and they came in to see me. We had a great chat about what they were playing. It was just, it was great.
They- and they, not only that, but Laura, and you and I have talked about this a lot, these people, everyone listens to the show-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -and we have people that come up to us and remember. They ask how you are, Jeff. They ask how, uh, Laura is. They ask how E and Steph are. These are people who have listened to the show for a long time. So to be able to meet with them and chat with them in a, in a, in a you know in an place we normally wouldn't be, that, that to me is really special.
Laura Massey: Oh, yeah.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, I love doing that.
Jeff Rubenstein: We need to still, we need to do that. I- I need to visit my grandma in South Florida. We need to go down together.
Larry Hryb: We need to do the Microsoft store in Miami.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Yep, I'll be up to that.
Larry Hryb: Although I do have a little bit of a, a little bit of guidelines, which is I- I'm not, I'm not going to Miami or to visit our store in Honolulu or San Diego unless it's like December, January, February.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I am going to do this for slightly selfish reasons.
Laura Massey: Do we have a store in Hollywood?
Larry Hryb: We do. We do. It's really nice, ah and they have been after me to do an event and maybe you know what Honolulu, maybe I need to come see you.
Jeff Rubenstein: The Ala Moana Mall.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and apparently it's rather upscale and very nice.
Laura Massey: Oh, well the whole show should go.
Larry Hryb: Oh, ah- really?
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: I think that's a great idea.
Laura Massey: (laughs).
Larry Hryb: We could stay at the big pink hotel there right in Waikiki Beach, which I've stayed at.
Laura Massey: Cool.
Larry Hryb: Which is uh-
Laura Massey: I didn't know there was a big pink hotel.
Larry Hryb: There is, and apparently the reason it's pink-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -is it was dur- it was painted during World War II and it was only the- that was the only paint that was available because things were, things were limited supply at that point so they just painted it pink. I don't know if that's true. That's what somebody told me when I was there.
Jeff Rubenstein: Let's just go with it.
Larry Hryb: That sounds good so. They certainly aren't gonna paint it battleship gray.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: That's the- noth- nothing that says fun resort like battleship gray. (laughs). Anyway ah, let's jump into what we're playing, Laura. We'll start with you and I want to talk about a great game that I found over the holiday.
Laura Massey: Oh, you found a great game?
Larry Hryb: I did, and Jeff knows what it is.
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: So, I haven't been doing like too much playing because I've been on the road and traveling.
Larry Hryb: See earlier conversation.
Laura Massey: But I have been playing Dota a little bit here and there, but I think I've, I've come to the end of my Dota playing
Larry Hryb: You're like okay, did it, done.
Laura Massey: So I'm ready to move on-
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: -to my next thing. I'm looking forward to playing-
Larry Hryb: How convenient.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:10:40] Four and other games that have come out recently.
Larry Hryb: And how convenient that ah, that Diablo's getting a-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -massive update so that you-
Jeff Rubenstein: Perfect timing.
Larry Hryb: -can get sucked back into it.
Laura Massey: Yes, I have not had a chance to check out Diablo yet.
Larry Hryb: Did you- I Tweeted, I Tweeted that to you.
Laura Massey: Yes, did you see my response?
Larry Hryb: Yes, I did.
Laura Massey: So, I am looking forward to trying that out. I watched their video where they're explaining the anniversary.
Larry Hryb: Where they don't even say the name of it, [inaudible 00:11:01]. They don't even say the name of it. I watched that whole video and they don't say the name.
Laura Massey: Of the update?
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: Oh, the anniversary update.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: Oh, yeah. They didn't.
Larry Hryb: It was weird. I'm like why aren't you- why isn't anyone saying the name? (laughs)
Laura Massey: So, for those that have no idea what we're talking about, it's Diablo's 20th anniversary. If you can believe it-
Larry Hryb: Of the, of the, of the franchise.
Laura Massey: Of the franchise, Diablo has been out for 20 years-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: -which I can't believe. Maybe I'll refuse to believe that.
Larry Hryb: Laura, that is uh, that is two-thirds of your age-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: -a little more than two-thirds of your age.
Laura Massey: Thank you, thank you for um, reminding me. Ah, they wanted to celebrate in Diablo 3 and it started out with just wanting to change the music in Diablo 3, but it became a labor of love.
Larry Hryb: No, no, you can't do that.
Laura Massey: It became a labor of love and they ended up building the entirety of Diablo 1 ...
Larry Hryb: Which is crazy.
Laura Massey: In Diablo 3, in the Dungeon of Diablo 3, the entirety of it, which is nuts because that's a huge undertaking and it was a labor of love.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: I'm really looking forward to jumping in and seeing that labor of love because there's nothing, there's nothing as amazing as when a game over does it out of love-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: -and great things come out of that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I loved the first Diablo. I mean they're all great.
Larry Hryb: Without wha- what character, what level is your character?
Laura Massey: I have a bunch of different characters at level 70.
Larry Hryb: Okay, 'cause I know Ryan, you know Ryan Shar, our, one of our video producers? He played it the other night and he's got a couple of level 70s so maybe you should roll with him because you don't want to roll with me.
Laura Massey: (laughs) No, apparently the way they recommend you playing it is to role a new character and to play Diablo 1 with level one character and get the full experience as if [crosstalk 00:12:27]. So, so, so.
Larry Hryb: Why, thank you for inviting me, Laura. I'd love to join you.
Laura Massey: (laughs). No, it's open to everyone of all levels and experiences. So I hear Diablo 1 is, it's similarly hard as it originally was. They changed it back to the typical type of difficult [crosstalk 00:12:43].
Larry Hryb: So you're looking forward to that?
Laura Massey: Yeah, I'm looking forward to jumping in and seeing how, seeing how it goes.
Larry Hryb: So, that's a trip line?
Laura Massey: I will play that.
Larry Hryb: We'll play that.
Laura Massey: Probably this weekend.
Larry Hryb: I ah, I played ah, of course we played Overwatch.
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: It was the Holiday Overwatch. It was delightful Jeffrey. You missed it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, I love it when the new kids come in though.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's true-
Jeff Rubenstein: I missed the- I missed those packs.
Larry Hryb: You missed your loot boxes.
Laura Massey: Oh, that's so true. The the holiday inflected new players.
Larry Hryb: You have the holiday loops, uh
Jeff Rubenstein: When you go 27 and 1 with Devo in your first match in a month, you know there's new [crosstalk 00:13:09].
Larry Hryb: Merry Christmas. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: The greatest gift I received.
Larry Hryb: Uh, so, I played that. I got- you know, we talked about the lur- I got back into the Witcher. I know-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -I never finished it-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -and I just for some reason, I saw it, it was pinned in my pins-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -and I booted it up and five hours later I'm still playing it, so. Now Jeff, you finished it-
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -and so I'm not even in Act 3, based on what I understand. I just get so sidetracked.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's a lot to do. The one thing I will say, like what you, you, 'cause you start to feel like you're, you're going towards the end game-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -but the end game-
Larry Hryb: Is long.
Jeff Rubenstein: -of the Witcher is longer than most games.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Oh. (laughs) My goodness.
Jeff Rubenstein: But it's all really good, really impactful.
Larry Hryb: Oh, it's excellent.
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, I will say this.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Because at some point I was like you know what, I'm going to just finish this game. I'm not doing any more side missions. I'm just-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -plowing through towards the end. There will be someone, a, a character will come to you when you feel like you're just about to wrap it up, with an, with another side mission. Take that side mission.
Larry Hryb: Noted.
Jeff Rubenstein: It does have an impact on it. I was just like yeah, yeah, I'll come back to you later buddy, I'm- I'm about to go. You know, slay Bowzer and ah, and then I severely regretted it.
Larry Hryb: Okay. Noted. Well anyway, so I'm playing that, of course Overwatch. The game that I, uh, found, Laura, is and you, you, since you were traveling-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -you probably didn't see this chatter Jeff and I and, and E were talking about, was Mini Metro.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was just going to talk about that.
Laura Massey: Haven't heard of it. Tell me, tell me.
Larry Hryb: So Mini Metro, Mini Metro is a, it's a- it's a game for your phones and your iPads and essentially what it is, Jeff, you have it there right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Larry Hryb: How would you describe it, Jeff?
Jeff Rubenstein: So, if you've ever looked at like a subway map in New York or London-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: -or something like that, imagine if you got to, if you were the urban planner-
Laura Massey: (inhale)
Jeff Rubenstein: -and you drew that on the map so it's shaped like this and it's like okay, there's like new stops pop up and you have different lines and then you can connect them, like, "Oh, how are we going to get to there." And so you see where people want to go and it's very simply- it's very simple look.
Larry Hryb: And the people get on the right trains. You just need to make sure that the lines are properly-
Laura Massey: Going in the right direction. Oh my gosh. Brilliant.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, that they can get there. And then, and then after every week, depending on how well you do-
Larry Hryb: Buy it.
Jeff Rubenstein: -you get to add another train car so it has bigger capacity.
Larry Hryb: Another line.
Jeff Rubenstein: Or another tunnel because they all have rivers or something. So there's something that limits you. You can't endlessly go back and forth across rivers.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, and the music is procedural. Um, so it's-
Laura Massey: [Neatly 00:15:17]
Larry Hryb: -and it's very sooth- It's interesting because you get stressed out-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -but it's soothing.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Um, but I'm serious, I- I bought it because E and I, E and I and Jeff were chatting about it on Twitter. I was like let me check this out and I was like oh my God, it was like six hours later, I was playing it like all night. It was jus- I got my sister into it.
Laura Massey: Oh, my gosh. I must have.
Jeff Rubenstein: And they're based on real cities.
Laura Massey: I need it.
Jeff Rubenstein: So like uh, with New York, I was like okay, I, I more or less know what the New York subway system looks like-
Laura Massey: I think.
Jeff Rubenstein: -or at least the- the main lines that they go north and south and where it goes over to Queens and Brooklyn-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -and so I was trying to do that, and but the game doesn't always, you know, cooperate like the demand might be different-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -and so it was like you, you see like how like the logic came together for a kind of like subways. Um, like how it came together and, and like how difficult it must have been to like do it. Here, you can just re-route it real quickly, yeah.
Laura Massey: To do proper cival city planning.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It reminds me a bit of Bridge Constructor, would you say?
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Laura Massey: Where you're doing-
Jeff Rubenstein: It's more like Sims City, but only with trains-
Laura Massey: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: -and I mean I guess, it's very basic and very simple but you, there's a lot of depth to it.
Larry Hryb: I'll, I'll, I'll fire it up on my phone if you want to play it later-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -but I'm serious, it's, it's, it's a lot of fun. Speaking of subways, do you know a new Subway opened in New York, the first one since 1920?
Laura Massey: What?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, the Second Avenue.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, the Second Avenue. You're right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Well done, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Finally.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I know my public transits.
Larry Hryb: Three, three stops finally opened up over there on the East Side, so it's uh, it's anyway, I don't know why. We're talking about subways and you talk about New York.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, we're going to be getting one here in Seattle in like 2037, you know. I'm hopefully-
Laura Massey: Hopefully, crossing fingers.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hopefully, hopefully one day I won't have to take the, the bus. I'll be able to take a train.
Larry Hryb: Good for you.
Jeff Rubenstein: One day.
Larry Hryb: I like my electric cars so. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: You're part of the, you're part of the solution.
Larry Hryb: I am. I am. I'm trying to be so. Anyway, so that's all you have. So Mini Metro, Laura. Uh, could we get a link to that, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, can do.
Larry Hryb: Um, 'cause I think it's, it's something that you, you would enjoy and I think it's on multiple ah, multiple platforms so. They need to get that on Windows.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: The bigger screen, the better.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Larry Hryb: Um, I finally played it on a small screen, at least, look, I got big fat hands.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's on Steam, so it- ah, there's a number of ways you can play it.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's on Steam. Yeah, so, but I, but I found that it- it works better for touch.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, I have a touchscreen surface.
Larry Hryb: Well tho- what?
Jeff Rubenstein: That should work great.
Laura Massey: I see.
Jeff Rubenstein: I may just go ahead and do that.
Larry Hryb: Good point. So anyway, that's what I'm playing. Jeffrey, what are you playing?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so while I was traveling, uh-
Larry Hryb: By the way, bri- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry to cut you off.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, No, no
Larry Hryb: I get yelled for all this. I did play some of the new Bridge Constructor.
Laura Massey: You did?
Larry Hryb: Yeah. So it's, it's hard. (laughs) Because you mentioned that earlier, I'm sorry. I couldn't even finish the first one.
Laura Massey: Oh, how hard is it compared to the first one?
Larry Hryb: It's significantly harder because you have to do a lot more.
Laura Massey: Do they always teach you about bridges in Bridge Constructor?
Larry Hryb: I don't think they did this time.
Laura Massey: Okay, because that's my one piece of advice for Bridge Constructor, is make it be a bit more educational. Like this is a suspension bridge-
Larry Hryb: Right-
Laura Massey: and here's why it's strong.
Larry Hryb: and here's why it's strong. It's because of these things. Because we talked about triangles-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -remember-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -originally.
Laura Massey: And so it did teach you about triangles, but then that's the only teaching they did.
Larry Hryb: So, no.
Laura Massey: I love learning about bridges and play a game at the same time.
Larry Hryb: Speaking of that, you know what I- and I'm sorry, Jeff. I know I, I interrupted you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Please go on.
Larry Hryb: You know something we played all over the holiday with my family was Jackbox Party Pack. That is the best.
Laura Massey: Really?
Larry Hryb: Because you know, you can play with your devices. We had people on laptops and tablets and PCs and MACs and iPhones and Androids and Windows. We had any, all these devices going. We were just having the greatest time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Drawful.
Larry Hryb: Like my- my- ah we did Drawful. My sister, who is- she always, you know she looks at me sideways when we talk video games because I'm her brother. Ah, she was totally- so can we play it again? Sure, we can play it again. So we played it for hours. Highly recommend for-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: -it for fi- if your family, you know that way you don't have to- you can- it just works with any device. It just works great.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: There you go, Laura. It's Mini Metro
Jeff Rubenstein: I think we're up to volume, we're up to like Volume 3 now-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -I want to say, on Xbox.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and there is- here is a pro tip. We played with some kids. There is a family friendly filter you can turn on-
Laura Massey: Oh, that's great.
Larry Hryb: -in the options.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's generally pretty- it's not, you know, it, it's not bad.
Larry Hryb: Well, there is one, there is one there that was like we- we, yeah, it was, it was a little ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Carded against Humanity S?
Larry Hryb: No, it wasn't that bad. We had to explain what happens when a male or female human gets excited.
Jeff Rubenstein: Got it.
Larry Hryb: So, it was very strange. All right, (laughs) now Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, yeah, on that note, um, I've a, um, so while I was traveling I was testing out a new Razer laptop, um, because I- there's like, you know there's a lot of games that I just haven't finished.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: So I spent a lot of time when I had down time, uh playing Dead Rising 4-
Laura Massey: All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: -on Windows 10 and that's a a great game. I just, I love it. There's constant, um, sort of progression. You're always unlocking new abilities and the, the game is just sort of like uh, it's sort of like, uh, a slot machine and every time you pull the handle, like something good comes out. So like every time you play for ten minutes-
Larry Hryb: It's more like a gumball machine.
Jeff Rubenstein: I suppose, like gumb-
Larry Hryb: Because slot machines, sometimes you lose.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, but it's a slo- like a slot machine you always win on.
Larry Hryb: Oh, I see.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. Whereas gumballs will just give you cavities. They'll, they're never show your list.
Larry Hryb: Do they even have gumball machines any more?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, yeah. Like at Walmart, I feel like they always have like a bank of 'em and the little eggs.
Laura Massey: Yeah, some places.
Larry Hryb: Of all the places I'm gonna have a gumball, Walmart is the absolute dead last.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: It's the only reason I go to Walmart. I love to get the gumballs. Um, yeah, so um, yeah because there was like 21 hours of night in Iceland. It was like super dark.
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness, that's so true.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it was really hard to get out of bed. Um, the sun would rise around 10:30 or 11.
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.
Jeff Rubenstein: So I was like, every time I got home I was like "Yeah, I'm gonna fire up Dead Rising". Ah, also, then when I got back, um, I got ... I'd been saving this and it's Final Fantasy XV, and I've played, I think most of the Final Fantasy(s).
Larry Hryb: Yes, you have.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, over the last like 15 years. Um, this is the best one since X. Uh, like I'm maybe, I don't know 10 hours in.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: It's really really good. The production values are just like stratospherically high. Um, but-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I started playing, I think I'm two hours in.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's, I- like the combat is both strategic and action-based so, it, there's just like a a lot there and uh, I kind of love that it's, it's the first Final Fantasy I can think of that's not, with the exception of like the beginning of VII, that is in like a less fantastical, more like a real world scenario. Like you have a car and you're like driving around.
Larry Hryb: That drives crazy with the suicide doors.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it looks-
Laura Massey: Interesting.
Jeff Rubenstein: -like a super expensive Bentley or something like that.
Larry Hryb: Right. Well, you know people want to have that in Forza. They're asking for that car in Forza.
Jeff Rubenstein: We need to have that in Forza.
Larry Hryb: I know. I know. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: That would be amazing.
Larry Hryb: So.
Jeff Rubenstein: We have the Warthog, which is like the best car in Forza Rising 3, by the way.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so it's, uh, I, well, the design of the characters, which looks like a boy band, like at first I was like "Eh, it's not for me". They quickly grow on you.
Larry Hryb: And nobody, nobody's really an expert on boy bands than Jeffrey from Central Florida.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: It's true. It's true. I- I did see Joey Fatone once at a restaurant in Downtown Orlando.
Larry Hryb: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Hm.
Larry Hryb: Good for you. Was he waiting tables? (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: He's from N'Sync. Ouch. Uh, he did not pick up the tab, so ah, you know. Anyway, um, I guess I am the expert. So it was uh, anyway Final Fantasy XV, if- if you- if XIII like wasn't really your jam, um, and uh, it- this may be ah the one that brings you back.
Laura Massey: Hm.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll put it that way.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: So ah yeah, that's pretty awesome. And then I guess while I was ... Besides Mini Metro when I was on uh, on the flight, I played a lot of Pokemon Moon-
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: -which is also really good. I hadn't played like, I hadn't really gotten into a Pokemon, like a full main line Pokemon game in since like silver or pearl, diamond or pearl, I think.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Obviously, a long time. Um, this one's really good. Like a lot of the annoyances or whatever, it just, it does a lot of like user-friendly things for an RPG, so um, I guess E, I'll credit E. He obviously must have contributed in some way.
Laura Massey: I'm sure [crosstalk 00:22:57].
Jeff Rubenstein: But ah, it's definitely the best Pokemon game in, in many years.
Laura Massey: Oh, maybe I should check it out.
Jeff Rubenstein: You're just looking at me. It's like an RPG, Larry.
Larry Hryb: No, I-
Jeff Rubenstein: It is,
Larry Hryb: I'm, I'm-
Laura Massey: Collecting RPGs.
Jeff Rubenstein: You got catch, oh okay.
Laura Massey: (laughs).
Larry Hryb: I know, so.
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Larry Hryb: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: Just-
Larry Hryb: Dear listener, it's very good. If you ever liked the Pokemon game. So I just want to point out, while in between when I started talking about when I'm playing and what you're playing, Laura has downloaded then started playing Subway Lines.
Laura Massey: Yes, (laughs) I'm playing Mini Metro.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's really cool.
Laura Massey: I just added a locomotive to one of my lines.
Larry Hryb: Good
Jeff Rubenstein: The circle people are missing out, they're waiting.
Larry Hryb: I know you've got, I know you have your devi- your device muted, but the music's actually part of the fun.
Laura Massey: I agree.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've only played it on mute, so I'll have to start.
Larry Hryb: No, it is. It's just, it's soothing, it's relaxing, it's kind of-
Jeff Rubenstein: Does it make little whistle stop noises?
Larry Hryb: It doesn't do that. Maybe they'll update it. They're listening right now, Mini Metro people.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Mini Metro, all right so. We're kind of, you know, it's kind of a weird time because it's after the holiday. Releases are kind of quiet. Consumer electronic show is on this week, Laura. I'm not down there.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: You've never been.
Laura Massey: I've never been to see it yet.
Larry Hryb: I've been a few times. Jeff, you've been too.
Jeff Rubenstein: Five times.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I think that's as many times as I've been.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think like ComiCon, like one is the sweet spot. You should see it once, you shouldn't have to go every year.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Is it always in Las Vegas?
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Yes, it is. Yeah, it's just, it's massive.
Jeff Rubenstein: I will say this, this year, um, it seems like the rebirth of the gaming laptop and the gaming PC.
Larry Hryb: And how, yeah.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Like a lot of companies that previously didn't have, uh, laptop lines, or gaming laptop lines-
Larry Hryb: Are getting into it.
Jeff Rubenstein: -like Samsung-
Larry Hryb: Lenovo, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -Lenovo ... There is some really really cool hardware and ever since like, uh, the 1080 line, the pascal chips came out from NVIDIA, the prices have gone down significantly. I mean there was a time when you had to pay like that laptop tax and it wasn't even that long ago where to get something that could play, um, something like Gears 4 or something like that, would cost thousands more than the desktop equivalent. And now it's, it's significantly more affordable, so-
Larry Hryb: Now ha- ha- have you seen the Razer announcement?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, my God. The Project, uh, Valerie.
Larry Hryb: Have you seen this, Laura?
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: So this is a laptop that-
Laura Massey: Three screens.
Larry Hryb: Three screens, yes.
Laura Massey: I didn't see that.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Yes. I didn't know it was called the Project Valerie, but ...
Larry Hryb: Yeah, whatev- whatever it is, it was ... it's jus-
Laura Massey: Oh, my God.
Larry Hryb: Apparently it weighs 12 pounds.
Laura Massey: Yes! Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll put a link. This thing is amazing. I just love that it exists.
Laura Massey: Portal computing.
Jeff Rubenstein: And did you see the 21 inch curved laptop.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think it was from, it might be HP?
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: This thing is ridiculous.
Larry Hryb: So there's a lot of laptops.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll link to the craziest ones in the show notes [crosstalk 00:25:31].
Larry Hryb: I think the Windows blog has a bunch of the stuff up there, right Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Why yes, yes they do.
Larry Hryb: Doesn't it? Yeah, so we should put a link off to that. So uh, anyway, CES is this week, haven't been in a long time. It's a- it's, you know, it's a show you don't-
Laura Massey: Could you imagine using that laptop with three screens on a plane?
Larry Hryb: No, you'd have to- you'd actually have to buy the seats-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -the seat in the middle and buy the seats on either side of you. (laughs)
Laura Massey: And then sit in the middle.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: I know, and hope and cross your fingers that person in front of you does not lean his seat back.
Jeff Rubenstein: You'd have to like board with a 2X4 and lay it across the row and that would support it because it would probably break the seat table, the tray.
Larry Hryb: Crazy stuff, crazy. Crazy stuff, I'll tell you.
Laura Massey: I love it.
Larry Hryb: So yeah, so we got ah, we got CES this week. We got a little bit of news, right Jeffrey, you got-
Jeff Rubenstein: Well so, basically ...
Larry Hryb: Let's go over to the news desk.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hey, so ah, wall- it- I would say it's a little, a little bit slow on the uh, on the news front. There's a lot of ... I think there's a lot of games that are now available for preor- pre-order in the last week. So I things are sort of like getting ready. Um, so Styx, Shards of Darkness, Rise and Shine, Metrical Plus, this is another game that I feel like since I liked Mini Metro, it seems to be based on the graphing-
Laura Massey: Hm.
Jeff Rubenstein: -and stuff. There's ... it's sort of like a platform-ish type of thing. Doodle God, Ultimate Addition, Eight Days, Kill the Bad Guy, all these games are now available for pre-order. The best place to find, um, just basically as list of those would be on majornelson.com-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: -as it were.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's a pretty good site. You should check it out there, Larry.
Larry Hryb: I try to do what I can do.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, uh, other than that, um, really just looking forward to towards the end of the month, the Resident Evil 7.
Laura Massey: Hm.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is a good time to catch up on those other games.
Laura Massey: It is.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: Hopefully you got a stack of games under your Christmas tree or, um, do you put them under the Menorah? I don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well- I- ah- we had to come up with a, uh, like a weird ... did I tell you about the Hanukkah Hawk?
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, well obviously this is something that-
Larry Hryb: What?
Jeff Rubenstein: -doesn't exist in any real life scenario.
Larry Hryb: Hold on a minute, hold on a minute. Should we tell the younger listeners to tune out or are you going to ruin some illusion?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't want to ruin the- the thing that I made up? Yeah, so um usually most years we have a Christmas tree. We did not have a Christmas-
Laura Massey: Hm.
Jeff Rubenstein: -tree this year because we were traveling-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -the whole time. Um, ah- so, but last year, so we tri- we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. uh, it's sort of the highlights.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: We have a Christmas tree, ah, we have hot cocoa, we have stockings up and we light a menorah.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's about as, as far as it goes. Um, but last year, um, so we, we ... I have a 7-year-old, so last year she was six and we had sort of like a currency in the house.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Like I- she's a little spoiled and so I want to make sure that she had to like earn her toys.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And she wanted this Lego set. She's using the legos and has been for a while and she wanted like a really nice one. Ans so we had- every time she was good, she would earn a couple of marbles and if she was bad, I would t- make a big show of taking one away-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -and man, did that work. Um, so but then we want to, she was a little bit short and we had bought it for her and it was like the first night of Hanukkah-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -which was a little early last year. And so, she had, we- we- we made made show of her earning just enough and I was like uh, I hadn't really thought through how the marbles would then turn into how she gets the present-
Laura Massey: Oh, I see.
Jeff Rubenstein: -which we had already bought. And so I made up that I was going to go, um, make an offering of the marbles to the Hanukkah Hawk-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -which in my mind was something like out of the Lord of the Rings-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -and would then take the marbles and drop off the legos.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: I mean, it's the most absurd thing possible and somehow, she like bought into it.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And um, and so, now the Hanukkah Hawk brings her legos-
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: -every year (laughs) on Hanukkah, apparently. Um, but this actually reminds me, this is an amazing thing.
Larry Hryb: (laughs) Reminds you of what?
Jeff Rubenstein: So while we were in Iceland, they don't do Santa Claus because she was wondering like how is Santa going to find me? And I did not have an answer to that. Um, but then we found out all about the Yule lads.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: So they do not have Santa Claus in Iceland, but they have the Yule lads, which is like 12 or 13 elves who, um, basically cause mischief. So their names are stuff like Spoon Licker, Door Slammer, Window Peeper.
Laura Massey: What.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's one that, like every day-
Larry Hryb: Bed wetter. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, there's one, th- like every day one of 'em comes into town and causes mischief.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: But and- if you're good, they'll leave you a present. Oh, you're supposed to leave your shoe-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -on the window seal. If you're good, they'll drop a present in your shoe. If you're bad, they will put a potato in it.
Laura Massey: (gasps)
Jeff Rubenstein: And-
Larry Hryb: No coal.
Laura Massey: That's more useful than coal.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it is.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, you can actually ... but if you're bad for a week, you can ah, you can make your own french fries. So, what we did is we ended up putting a shoe out for ... Like they're everywhere like throughout Reykjavik.
Laura Massey: Interesting.
Jeff Rubenstein: Like they have um projections onto walls like holograms-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -of like one of each of the Yule lads.
Larry Hryb: So how many, how many are there?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, 12 or 13. I'll link. It's kind of interesting and kind of weird. They're all kind of like creepy. Like one of 'em just sort of hands out in this awkward-
Larry Hryb: Not as creepy as Krampus?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, I feel like, no. They're not as, they're not as overtly frightening as Krampus-
Larry Hryb: Christ.
Jeff Rubenstein: -but they're all kind of like unwanted guests, I feel like in a way. Um, one of them steals the ham out of your sandwich with a fishing line. I'm like-
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: -you cannot make this stuff up.
Laura Massey: That's amazing. I've never heard of the Yule lads.
Jeff Rubenstein: But like they're everywhere. And so like, I like went to like the equivalent of a 7-11-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: -and like I was handed a magnet and it was like the counter and he was like "Which Yule lad was going to show up on which day".
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, and apparently, if you're badly dressed, then a, I think a cat, a giant cat will kill you. So you have to buy new clothes for Christmas. This, Iceland's pretty awesome. Like I was totally on board with this. Anyway, we had her put a, her shoes out-
Laura Massey: Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: -and I got her a tender egg and the I put a potato in the other one because she's not that good.
Larry Hryb: Okay, okay.
Laura Massey: Oh, no, she got a potato.
Larry Hryb: All right then.
Jeff Rubenstein: She was very excited to get that potato. Let me just tell you because it meant the Yule lads were real.
Larry Hryb: So we learned about the Hanukkah Hawk and the uh-
Jeff Rubenstein: The Hanukkah Hawk-
Larry Hryb: and the ma- McCaugh menorah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. Yes. Yule lads, the Yule lads I will link too because it's, it's kind of amazing.
Laura Massey: Well hopefully, listeners, you got games in your shoe or a-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: -one for the holiday-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: -so you can then, you know play your game.
Larry Hryb: There needs to be, we- so here's what I want li- dear listeners, because you're a creative lot. Send us an email, Laura or myself, major@xbox.com or lollipop@xbox and let us know what should be the 13th Yule lad that's based around games. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: I, you're, there's Pot Scraper, Spoon licker-
Larry Hryb: Is it the Game Spoiler?
Jeff Rubenstein: The hot tub one by the way is Sausage Swiper-
Larry Hryb: Hey, oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: -Window Peeper, Doorway Sniffer, Meat Hook-
Laura Massey: Sniffer.
Jeff Rubenstein: Candle Stealer. I'm linking to you to Yulelads.com.
Larry Hryb: Wait a minute, wait a minute. How has no one done a video game with all these characters?
Jeff Rubenstein: This is-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: How has no one done a video game? (laughs)
Laura Massey: Just amazing amount of creativity.
Larry Hryb: So anyway, let's put a link to that there.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: But I'd love ta- I'd love for you to know, we should have one based around video games.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Right? Is it Disc Stealer, Disc Scratcher.
Laura Massey: Disc Scratcher.
Larry Hryb: Right? (laughs).
Laura Massey: Or Internet Cutter.
Larry Hryb: It, Internet Cap Breaker.
Jeff Rubenstein: Cartridge Blower.
Laura Massey: Internet Capper.
Larry Hryb: Oh, and don't get me star-
Jeff Rubenstein: He uses up all your, all of your bandwidth.
Larry Hryb: Don't get me started on that, people. You seen me [cavetch 00:32:24] about that haven't you.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Password Changer.
Larry Hryb: Ah boy. Yeah, we ne- we ne- we need ah Yule lads for the digital age.
Laura Massey: Profile Picture Switcher. (laughs).
Larry Hryb: Right. Ah, Password Re-Setter.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. We can just go on and on.
Laura Massey: We could.
Larry Hryb: This is delightful. This is why you download the show dear listeners,-
Laura Massey: (laughs) Yeah.
Larry Hryb: -isn't it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Just to hear about the imaginary Yule lads.
Larry Hryb: All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: There must be something with the, that, someone that trips the cir-circuit breaker-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right be- before you save.
Larry Hryb: That sounds like- that sounds like a, that sounds like a Batman arch-villain circuit breaker.
Laura Massey: (laughs) Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, maybe, maybe it will just be um Power-
Larry Hryb: You re- you realize that-
Jeff Rubenstein: -Strip tripper.
Larry Hryb: -there's some, there's some desperate screen writers in Hollywood right now, just siphoning off-
Laura Massey: All of our idead.
Larry Hryb: -all of our creativity.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is gold Larry, gold!
Larry Hryb: This is gold! I'm telling you, Jeffrey, it's gold! All right uh, we're going to move along to some of the news headlines, which we started to go to the news desk, but then we got, uh-
Laura Massey: Distracted.
Larry Hryb: -distracted-
Jeff Rubenstein: There's no news Larry.
Larry Hryb: -by the Yule ... yeah, there really isn't.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's nothing.
Larry Hryb: There really isn't, is there.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, I guess, this- I would say this, if you had been away from your Xbox for a little bit and you forgot, don't forget Come Back games with gold are waiting for you right now.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, Van Helsing, uh, er, one of the Van Helsing games, a new one-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -actually debuted as a game with gold. That's available right now.
Larry Hryb: Yes, it is.
Jeff Rubenstein: World of Van Helsing Death Trap.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, and I don't have the Xbox uh One handy. Wait ...
Larry Hryb: It's on my blog-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it is.
Larry Hryb: -majornelson.com at the very top.
Jeff Rubenstein: For the Xbox 360.
Larry Hryb: It will say game- games with gold link, click on.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, it's right at the top.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's good. When did you put that there?
Larry Hryb: It's what we do here. We- we put the information where people want it.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, I wish I had known about that. Uh, Uh, The Cave, oh, which is kind of cool.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, the talking one.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: From ah, Ron.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, Ron uh-
Larry Hryb: I interviewed him. I have a show. I think I have an interview about the Cave. I should wri- I should pick that up.
Jeff Rubenstein: He has another game coming out this year too.
Larry Hryb: Does he?
Jeff Rubenstein: I feel like. Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I gotta find out where that show is. Put a note in there that I want to link to the Cave interview because that would actually probably be a good one to interview too, uh, to link off to. I do remember doing that one.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: All right, what part of the show are we in?
Larry Hryb: I don't know, what part of the show are we at? We're, we're unfortunately, we are in an uncharted territory right now. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Podcast stumper has come into the studio.
Larry Hryb: Exactly. I guess we're, we're-
Laura Massey: Should we do Name the Game?
Larry Hryb: You know we should do Name the Game and I- I think people have figured out that when I, when we, when we recorded the last show, we knew we were going to be on holiday.
Laura Massey: Yeah, for a couple weeks.
Larry Hryb: Uh, apparently some people were embracing the holiday a little bit more than others, Laura?
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: And uh, so we- it was extra difficult. It was extra difficult.
Laura Massey: Uh-huh.
Larry Hryb: It was extra difficult. So why don't, are you ready to play it?
Laura Massey: Yeah, let's roll the Name the Game from last time. So again, that was Name the Game from last time, and as Larry mentioned, it was a hard one.
Larry Hryb: It was a- it was- it was a tough one.
Laura Massey: It was a tough one, ah, but there was one person-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: -probably a few more than just one that actually got it right and it was, the game was Don Bradman Cricket 17.
Larry Hryb: Yay.
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know what cricket sounds like. Does it sound like baseball?
Larry Hryb: It does.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: There was- I believe there was a crack of the bat.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Um-
Jeff Rubenstein: And then who swarms out of that.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, exactly so.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's way back.
Laura Massey: (laughs).
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so that was uh-
Laura Massey: Is that supposed to get it?
Jeff Rubenstein: That's really awful.
Laura Massey: All right, so from the pool of winners, we chose a random one.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: And the winner this week is Scott from South Australia.
Larry Hryb: And they know they're, they know their Cricket-
Laura Massey: They play cricket.
Larry Hryb: -down there so congratulations. I was recently in South Australia.
Laura Massey: You were?
Larry Hryb: Well, I don't know if- were-
Laura Massey: Doing an amazing talk.
Larry Hryb: I don't know, were. You're so kind, Laura. Thank you.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's good.
Larry Hryb: Um, I should, we should- did we link to that last show?
Jeff Rubenstein: We did.
Larry Hryb: Okay good, okay. Uh, so this is actually, this was a hard one-
Laura Massey: Yep.
Larry Hryb: -Cricket, but, but-
Laura Massey: Congratulations again.
Larry Hryb: But it was worth it, right Scott?
Laura Massey: It is. He'll please Scott, you will receive a huge, awesome bag of prizes. Up first we have a copy of Astroneer.
Larry Hryb: Yay.
Laura Massey: Then after that, Shantae: Hal-, Half Genie, excuse me, Shantae: Half Genie Hero.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: A copy of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: The complete season-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: Assassins Creed: The Ezio Collection.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: Watch Dogs 2.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: And that's not all.
Larry Hryb: That's not all?
Laura Massey: Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition.
Larry Hryb: So many, many games.
Laura Massey: So, Scott from South Australia, you have a ton of games to go check out and try.
Larry Hryb: I also want to point out that Scott, uh, also has a lot of great karma coming his way, Laura.
Laura Massey: He does?
Larry Hryb: Yes, I was reading in his email and I think he's okay if we share this, he- he takes in rescue cats.
Laura Massey: Oh. That's great.
Larry Hryb: We- two, two-thirds of us on this show love animals.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: That would be you and I, Laura. Sideways glance at Jeff.
Laura Massey: Evil stare back from Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Just because I don't invite them into my house.
Larry Hryb: You love animals, you just, you are not, you don't ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Look, I love that other people love animals.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Save the Rain Forest, that's great.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: I just don't want to go there.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I understand.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, thank you for that.
Laura Massey: Well congratulations Scott from South Australia.
Larry Hryb: Congratulations Scott. Now you probably hears all those great prizes that Laura stole out of my office to give away, which is up- which is fine. This is why I have those things in that pile.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Uh, but that means we're really for a brand new Name the Game.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: The first one of 2017!
Laura Massey: So excited. The first Name the Game of 2017. Let's roll the tape. So that was the first Name the Game for 2017. If you too would like to win fabulous prizes-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: -it's super easy. All you have to do it listen to the sound effects-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: -send me an email, lollipop@xbox.com and CC major@xbox.com and just let us know what game that is.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It's super easy.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, what- why- why aren't you doing it already?
Laura Massey: Exactly. Just send us an email.
Larry Hryb: Why aren't you doing it, Laura. No, not you.
Laura Massey: Not me.
Larry Hryb: Not you.
Laura Massey: I'm not eligible the win.
Larry Hryb: Uh, so we've got-
Laura Massey: But anybody who's listening who's not an Xbox employee-
Larry Hryb: But anybody who's listening, yep.
Laura Massey: -can win fabulous prizes.
Larry Hryb: Yep. Actually, you know what, I'm going to add on to that. You can't be a Microsoft employee or I'm looking at you Steptonie, former co-host on the show. (laughs). So, so anyway. Um, there you go.
Laura Massey: Great.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: So that's Name the Game. Good luck to all our listeners.
Larry Hryb: Brings us kind of towards the end of the show. We usually talk about cool stuff. Did you get any presents for the holiday? Was Christmas a big deal for you, Laura?
Laura Massey: I did. I got, Santa brought me a new gaming mouse for my PC.
Larry Hryb: Hm.
Laura Massey: I got a Razer Mamba.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I have one of those.
Jeff Rubenstein: Those are nice.
Laura Massey: Those are really nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: Everything lights up on the side.
Larry Hryb: That's what I use.
Laura Massey: It lights up and it's got great DPI.
Larry Hryb: Did you- did you um, did you like customize it?
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: For all- it's got like pulsating and ripple.
Laura Massey: I changed the colors. I didn't-
Larry Hryb: To what colors?
Laura Massey: Um, a purple kind of like the shirt that you're wearing.
Larry Hryb: Oh, okay. All right.
Laura Massey: Yeah, and you can change it based on the game that you're playing.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It's very, very customizable.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.
Laura Massey: It's very sophisticated.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: But I haven't gotten into all the finer details of the settings in there, but-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: -I was able to adjust the DPI and it's amazing.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: The button action on that is fantastic.
Larry Hryb: Clicky, clicky, clicky.
Laura Massey: Oh yeah.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it feels good, feels good.
Laura Massey: Feels really good.
Larry Hryb: I don't know if I have anything to share. Um, yeah, I don't think, I think I'm kind of dry right now.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Larry Hryb: It was just a busy holiday, um-
Laura Massey: No new gadgets for your holiday?
Larry Hryb: No, I was busy traveling and buying stuff for my sisters-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -and my mom. I was helping my mom out with her stuff, you know. It's always great when you go home for your family and you're the tech support guy.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: You know so-
Laura Massey: My grandmother does that-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: -and she keeps a list.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, my mom does too.
Laura Massey: She writes it down and says "Hey, Laura, can you help me with my list?"
Larry Hryb: I gotta tell you this funny one. I love my mother, but I'm gonna share this little pe- funny story. So, we g- she has the same exact list. So I go to here house, uh, and we're sitting down. I said "Okay, mom, what do we got today?" So, she says okay, she pulls out her little ... she has a steno pad. She loves steno pads.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Do you know what a steno pad is?
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Okay. She opens up her steno pad and she's wri- she says "Okay". It's in all different pens, because obviously she wrote it over the series of months-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: -when I haven't seen her last. And we go through and we're working on this, working on that, and then one of the items, like the fourth one down is like Facebook ads. I'm like-
Laura Massey: What does that mean?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I said "Mom, what's going on here?" She said "Well, I don't like it when I search for things and then I go to Facebook and then there's things that I searched for in the ads".
Laura Massey: (laughs) Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: How about that?
Larry Hryb: I said, "Well mom, that, that's kind of their business model." She said "I know, but I don't like it".
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I don't like it either.
Larry Hryb: So I, you know, uh, I showed her kind of how to solve that problem.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: So anyway, it was j- it was just this funny thing. She was, she is very, she was very crisp and clear exactly what she didn't like. She said "I don't like going to Facebook and seeing those ads of things that I searched for recently".
Laura Massey: That's great.
Larry Hryb: Okay mom. So anyway, so I tried to help her with that.
Laura Massey: That's great. You're being the helpful son.
Larry Hryb: But yeah, no it was ...
Laura Massey: The tech support son.
Larry Hryb: There was not a lot of ah, not a lot of time that I uh, I had to go out and catch up with new stuff. I mean I've got a few things, still working on some networking gear. You know I have my Eros at home, which I love and you know-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -my home, my home networking stuff, but it's, it's uh, the other thing is just the irritation of my, my Comcast data cap, which I was Tweeting about.
Laura Massey: Yeah, I saw that.
Larry Hryb: Did you see how close I got? did you see how close I got?
Jeff Rubenstein: You were, you were on the razor's edge, Larry.
Laura Massey: Very funny.
Jeff Rubenstein: You're playing a dangerous game.
Larry Hryb: Yes, I tell you, it's, it's like playing the price- a crazy version of the Price is Right and you'll get as close as you can without going over. Ah, but it was, it was pretty darn close. Uh, but yeah, I just, I haven't had a chance to do that. I've gotten a bunch of new gear for the next uh, for the, for the next few months. I'm going to be working on. So, so, we're now, I think I tweeted it out earlier and we're like 154 days away from E3 Jeffrey?
Laura Massey: Oh, (laughs) no, the countdown's started already.
Larry Hryb: Oh, not only countdown Laura, but we've had multiple emails and email conversations on this over the holiday.
Laura Massey: Oh my god. Aww.
Larry Hryb: We've made some decisions and we're doing some cool stuff, so.
Laura Massey: Important meetings.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, a lot of important meetings, so J- Jeff and I are heavily involved with that and Laura, we need to have you down, back down again.
Laura Massey: That'd be great.
Larry Hryb: Did- Did a story just get written?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, this-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: -you just, you can, you can hear someone madly typing away on it, their-
Laura Massey: It is a slow news week.
Larry Hryb: You- That's why I ... I'm, you know, whenever we say anything, they pick-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -they pick apart this show Laura-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: -don't they? So anyway, whatever you guys think.
Jeff Rubenstein: Look for the expose on the Yule lads.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: There gonna ... There's going to be a movie next Christmas-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: -here.
Larry Hryb: The Yule lads.
Laura Massey: (laughs).
Larry Hryb: We should write up a film treatment for that, screenplay, the Yule Labs.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Which one would you play?
Larry Hryb: Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's 12 of 'em?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, yeah.
Larry Hryb: You know-
Jeff Rubenstein: Plus the cat, plus, oh, and there's like a-
Larry Hryb: Hold, hold on a minute
Jeff Rubenstein: -there's like a witch as well.
Larry Hryb: We just, we just need to do an episode for each one.
Laura Massey: Mm. The 12 Yule lads of-
Jeff Rubenstein: Ra, ra-
Larry Hryb: Right
Laura Massey: -spring?
Jeff Rubenstein: Welcome, uh, welcome to pot scraper.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: This, I mean, it could, it could be like the, you know, there's how many, there's 20. There's 18 or 20 James Bond films. It could be, you know, this ... It could be a, a 30 year franchise, the Yule lads.
Laura Massey: (laughs). Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I kind of like that.
Larry Hryb: I don't know. There's something there.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's, there's definitely something there.
Larry Hryb: Are they licensed?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh-
Larry Hryb: Or are they just-
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know, I think it's just more of a p, property of Iceland.
Laura Massey: I love how, actually considering this you are. (laughs).
Jeff Rubenstein: It just, It's, it's, it's right to be pick-, isn't it Laura?
Laura Massey: It would make for an amazing game.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right.
Laura Massey: I've got to say, there's some crazy characters-
Jeff Rubenstein: Right. There's the-
Laura Massey: -that I would love to understand and do it.
Jeff Rubenstein: You've got to dodge the cat. That will kill you.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: If you don't have new clothes.
Larry Hryb: Right. I need, I need to figure this out. I need to work this up in a treatment. I need to get my screenplay buddies on my line. I've got a movie here.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: A super-
Larry Hryb: And what, what's the superhero? Is there ... Now, are these bad? Are they good?
Jeff Rubenstein: No, I think it needs to, we need to empower, like some, some children, like, out of like Spy Kids-
Larry Hryb: Oh.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: -or-
Larry Hryb: Ooh.
Jeff Rubenstein: --or Home Alone or something like that. And they have to-
Larry Hryb: Stranger Things style.
Jeff Rubenstein: They're dodging the cat. The cat is the, is the the monster from the upside down.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: And then the Yule lads ... I feel like they're, they're they're neither ... They're like Tom Bombadil. They're neither-
Laura Massey: Mm.
Jeff Rubenstein: -good nor evil.
Laura Massey: And you don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein: They're just a force of nature.
Laura Massey: Ahh.
Larry Hryb: Ahh.
Jeff Rubenstein: But, maybe they, they band together.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: -to [crosstalk 00:44:09]-
Larry Hryb: We all have a screenplay-
Laura Massey: We all have the- (laughs)
Larry Hryb: We all have a screenplay inside of us.
Laura Massey: The children win thought, right?
Jeff Rubenstein: This is good. This is-
Laura Massey: (laugh)
Jeff Rubenstein: This is ... Let's meet up after this.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, let's.
Laura Massey: They're like the Ents. You have to win them over anyway.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Ah.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: The just are. The just a are.
Laura Massey: They just are. I don't know (laughs).
Larry Hryb: All right. You know what we're going to do? We are gonna, we are going to go work on this idea.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I'm going to let everybody wrap up there. I want to thank everybody for coming, uh, for coming in. Laura, I want to thank you. Welcome back. Welcome to 2017.
Laura Massey: Welcome to you as well.
Larry Hryb: I hope 2017 is going to be better than 2016. Man-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -we lost a lot of celebrities-
Laura Massey: We did.
Larry Hryb: -and, and notable people and that whole, that whole ... We didn't even get to talk about-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah.
Larry Hryb: By the way, we didn't even talk about Star Wars.
Laura Massey: Yeah. That's true.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right, we under-
Laura Massey: We still have to do our [smaller 00:44:45] cast.
Larry Hryb: We've all seen ... Maybe we should do ... Do we have a few minutes? Maybe we do it after, I don't know.
Laura Massey: I do.
Larry Hryb: Uh, but you know, the whole Carrie Fisher thing. The terrible story.
Laura Massey: Yeah, it's just-
Jeff Rubenstein: I, I, I don't know. I th- someone told me, I heard, I read this week there's a, a, um, I don't want to say it. It's a, it's more of a biography of she and her mom that's coming out later this year, posthumously.
Laura Massey: Oh, really?
Larry Hryb: Hm.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, really disturbing. [crosstalk 00:45:07]. Anyway, what I didn't know about Carrie Fisher is that she has done like a ton of like script work.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: She's punched up scripts and, and a lot of things that I think, um, that we know that have nothing to do with Star Wars. That she's had a, a hand in.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: She's, um, you know, very funny.
Laura Massey: I also didn't know that she had a special on HBO. Did you know that?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, that I knew.
Larry Hryb: Hm.
Laura Massey: I hadn't seen it and so it's on my list of things to watch. I saw a few clips of people, they would edited it and put it up social media-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: -of different and important moments in her life, but it's very interesting.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. There's just so much, so much, we ... I guess one of the biggest loss, I mean there's a lot of losses unfortunately in 2016-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: -the, the, the creator of the red Solo cup died.
Laura Massey: I saw that.
Larry Hryb: Frat boys everywhere are sad (laughs).
Jeff Rubenstein: The red Solo cl- cup has, is more than it appears?
Larry Hryb: Oh, go on Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did you notice? So, um, there's, it's not just a straight up and down cup.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: There's a lot of different-
Laura Massey: It's, there is-
Jeff Rubenstein: -ridges and lots ... Those-
Laura Massey: A good place for your hands.
Jeff Rubenstein: -those things ... Well, no, those lines mean something. And so you can actually mix a drink by looking at the lines like a certain one like, the, the first-
Laura Massey: Oh, really?
Jeff Rubenstein: -ridge is like half a shot and then as it goes up, the, the second ridge is like, you know, um, a, you know, an American pint and the second one is like an English pint or whatever. The lines actually ... There's something diagram-
Laura Massey: Mm.
Jeff Rubenstein: -what each line on that solo cup means.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Larry Hryb: This the secret language of the Solo cup.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-.
Jeff Rubenstein: Didn't get ... I am [crosstalk 00:46:25]
Larry Hryb: Are you going to get a link to that too.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's kind of amazing.
Larry Hryb: The see-
Laura Massey: Did you know that there's a country song about the red Solo cup?
Larry Hryb: Yes, there is. Yes, there is.
Laura Massey: We can use that to end the show. (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I, uh, if, if I ... I don't know if I'm licensed to use it, Laura. I would love to. I don't know if there's, if there's a public domain version of it-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -I will be happy, happy to include it. So-
Jeff Rubenstein: That first line is one ounce of liquor.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: The second line is five ounces of wine. Uh, and then the third line's 12 ounces of beer.
Laura Massey: Interesting.
Jeff Rubenstein: So-
Laura Massey: -had no idea.
Jeff Rubenstein: And you were just putting Natty Lite in them.
Laura Massey: I had no idea.
Larry Hryb: You had no idea.
Laura Massey: No idea.
Jeff Rubenstein: She had no idea.
Laura Massey: Well, the more you-
Larry Hryb: Sw-
Laura Massey: -know.
Larry Hryb: Red Solo cups.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: And you see, see ... Dear listeners, you have learned a lot this show.
Laura Massey: Yes (laughs). It's been a very educational show.
Larry Hryb: Not much to talk about with gaming, but you learned a lot this show so, but thank you for tuning in and, uh, like I said, Laura, thank you for joining us after your long holiday and it was tough getting back up to speed.
Laura Massey: Happy to be here.
Larry Hryb: Least you didn't make an idiot out of yourself and show up for work on a national holiday, like I almost did. (laughs)
Laura Massey: It's been a good day. Sounds like you played Witcher most of the day.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, played Witcher. Jeff and I-
Laura Massey: Great day.
Larry Hryb: -went and had a nice, delightful lunch.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Right, didn't we Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: We did. Now, I (laughs) just looked on Snopes and those lines fairly mean nothing.
Laura Massey: Aww.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: So forget I said anything.
Laura Massey: Oh no.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is, this is how, this is how rumors start.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Man, well, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to [crosstalk 00:47:36]
Larry Hryb: Now I'm, now I'm going to have to go see if the 12 ev-, the 12 elves are actually real.
Laura Massey: Yeah. Snope those guys and see if they're real.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, they're, they're real.
Larry Hryb: Okay, all right.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've seen them.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've seen window peeper.
Larry Hryb: Yes. By the way-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I want, what you just witnessed here is something we highly recommend you do in your life which is when you hear something, go double-check it, just don't take news for face value.
Laura Massey: I ... Yes, go fact check.
Larry Hryb: Jeffrey thought he had something and he went and checked it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Jeff, you're going to get an A+ and a gold star today.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I've-
Jeff Rubenstein: Of course, for all the people that shut the show of after I-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: -said the-
Larry Hryb: Fair point.
Jeff Rubenstein: -the ... No one ever reads the retraction.
Larry Hryb: They'll be, they'll be a half of something in your, extra something in your pay bucket this week. So-
Laura Massey: Mm, hmm, hmm. (laughs)
Larry Hryb: All right gang, we'll talk to you guys next time. Have a great, uh, have a great week and make sure you follow is on Twitter. You can find me, @majornelson. You can find Jeffrey @jeffrubenstein
Jeff Rubenstein: @jeffrubenstein. Thank you.
Larry Hryb: Laura, they can find the lovely Laura lollipop at-
Laura Massey: @lauralollipop.
Larry Hryb: That's exactly where it is.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly
Larry Hryb: So, and if you get confused at all, just find me and [inaudible 00:48:28] there, they are two thirds of the people-
Laura Massey: Easily findable
Larry Hryb: -that I follow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I think-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: -you are two thirds of the people that I follow are in this room.
Laura Massey: Thank you for following me, Larry.
Jeff Rubenstein: So I need to ask ... So thank you-
Larry Hryb: Of course, Laura, you're part of the show. Now it's funny because I, I follow a few people and I'm going to need to ask you, dear listeners, what should I do here? Because I followed E because we work together. I mean, he was on the show-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: -but he's no longer on the show and I'm still following him. So, what do I do? Awkward moment. I going to-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: I, if you unfollow him, that will be a Reddit threat, so.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: (laughs).
Jeff Rubenstein: It'll be a news headline, yeah. It'll be right under Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill breakup.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: All right. So we're, we'll, uh, we'll figure that one out. Let me know what you guys think and we'll, uh, we'll talk to you guys next time. Bye, bye everybody.
Laura Massey: Bye, bye. Happy New Year.
Jeff Rubenstein: Bye.

Larry Hryb:​Got a little jazz lick going on there, Laura.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, it's very festive.
Larry Hryb:​It is very festive.
Laura Massey:​[inaudible 00:00:24] I like a lot.
Larry Hryb:​Some of you may recognize that as the menu music from Dead Rising 4.
Laura Massey:​That's great.
Larry Hryb:​I thought it was appropriate because here we are on the precipice of the holiday.
Laura Massey:​That's right.
Larry Hryb:​We have you here, Laura. Nice to see you.
Laura Massey:​Good to see you.
Larry Hryb:​And sitting -
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh we've started.
Larry Hryb:​And sitting across from you is [Jeffery 00:00:39].
Jeff Rubenstein:​Hi. Good morning.
Larry Hryb:​Yes, we have started.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Happy Holidays.
Larry Hryb:​You've got your head in the laptop over there.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I gotta get the news ready.
Larry Hryb:​It is. We've got a lot to cover this week. This probably is going to be our final show of 2016.
Laura Massey:​It will be. Yeah.
Larry Hryb:​Laura's headed out. Jeffery's headed out. Actually I'm headed out too.
Laura Massey:​Very good.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Where you going?
Larry Hryb:​I'm headed to the east coast. I'm going to go see some family, but that also means I'm going to go do a couple Microsoft store appearances. I'm going to be at the Danbury store, Danbury, CT. I owe them an appearance. I'll be there on the 23rd of ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​Let me take a note here, Larry.
Larry Hryb:​... December. Then maybe at the Boston store on the 26th or the 27th, and I may drag my sister with me.
Laura Massey:​That would be fun.
Larry Hryb:​To go up and do one of the events. Anyway, I'll be going back east to enjoy, because you know it's not cold enough here. I need to go where it's even colder.
Laura Massey:​It is so cold.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It is so cold.
Laura Massey:​It is so cold.
Larry Hryb:​You've seen the news, right Laura, that it's colder in the northern half of the United States and most of Canada, it's colder here, than on Mars. Did you know that?
Laura Massey:​During the night?
Larry Hryb:​I don't know. I just saw this.
Laura Massey:​Maybe during the day.
Larry Hryb:​I saw this infographic with the rover with like a scarf on it. I was like, "Oh, that's cute."
Laura Massey:​Cute. Yeah, maybe during the day, but not during night.
Larry Hryb:​Anyway, it's been a busy week. Boy, I got to tell you something.
Laura Massey:​What can you say?
Larry Hryb:​I wake up every day and I marvel that I get to work in such a great industry with people like yourself, and the developers, and whatnot, and everyone here at Xbox, and this week was a high point for me. Do you know why?
Laura Massey:​Was it because of the [back compat 00:02:05] stuff?
Larry Hryb:​Well, no, besides that.
Laura Massey:​Okay, but we know that you love mirrors.
Jeff Rubenstein:​You do love [bullies 00:02:08]
Larry Hryb:​Monday I was in New York, screening the Assassin's Creed movie.
Laura Massey:​That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh, I know where this is going.
Laura Massey:​I know where it's going, too.
Larry Hryb:​Then I'm spending Monday afternoon, and a little bit of Tuesday, with the cast, with Michael Fassbender and the rest of the gang, which I'll tell you a story -
Jeff Rubenstein:​Like you do.
Larry Hryb:​Like you do.
Laura Massey:​Like normal.
Larry Hryb:​I'll talk to you about that in a second.
Laura Massey:​Just a normal Tuesday.
Larry Hryb:​Then I fly home, and then Wednesday, I go see Rogue One.
Laura Massey:​What a week.
Larry Hryb:​Then of course we release all the back compat titles.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Must be nice.
Laura Massey:​Where are all the things to throw at Larry?
Larry Hryb:​Now as we record this Friday morning, you have not seen Rogue One, yet?
Laura Massey:​No.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery hasn't seen it yet.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Literally as soon as we are done.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein:​So let's wrap it up.
Larry Hryb:​So we got to rush quickly because you are running out the door to see a special screening. Laura, you see it tonight?
Laura Massey:​I see it tonight, as well.
Larry Hryb:​You see it tonight.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, opening night when normal people see it.
Larry Hryb:​Right.
Laura Massey:​You got to see it two days early.
Larry Hryb:​I did.
Laura Massey:​On Wednesday.
Larry Hryb:​I did. I was actually invited to see it earlier this week, but I was in New York.
Laura Massey:​Oh my goodness.
Larry Hryb:​I had to pass on that one.
Laura Massey:​Come on, Larry.
Larry Hryb:​I'm just telling you. Anyway, let's talk about Assassin's Creed for a minute. The movie is a lot of fun. I think anybody who plays the games is really going to enjoy. You can watch my interviews, or I'll have the interviews with the stars up.
​I got invited to host their Facebook Live event. Now I've done a lot of Facebook Live, so Facebook and 20th Century Fox, this movie studio say, "Hey, would you host this for us?" I'm like, wow this is ...
Laura Massey:​That was pretty cool.
Larry Hryb:​Right? I was like, "Okay." We go to Facebook's office in SoHo, in New York City, which is, if you've watch Silicon Valley, you've seen the way they do, you know the dot-coms, it's kind of exactly that.
Laura Massey:​It's exactly that?
Larry Hryb:​It's exactly that.
Laura Massey:​Are there segways or scooters?
Larry Hryb:​There's segways. There's all these candy in the kitchen, and all that other.
Laura Massey:​Beanbags?
Larry Hryb:​Beanbags.
Jeff Rubenstein:​People walking up like teleconference robots, sort of thing?
Larry Hryb:​It was bizarre. Anyway, we go to Facebook, and everyone's really nice at Facebook. They have a set set-up in the corner where they bring in their talent. We go there and we're preparing, and all of a sudden all of the talent starts streaming in. Now, Laura have you seen anything about this movie?
Laura Massey:​I've seen very little.
Larry Hryb:​Okay. You've played the games, though, right?
Laura Massey:​Oh yes.
Larry Hryb:​Okay. Hold on a minute here. I'm getting a note.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's Michael Fassbender. He's saying don't spoil the movie.
Larry Hryb:​Well, I think that's exactly what he's saying. Michael Fassbender's in it. Now Laura, you've seen him in other things, right?
Laura Massey:​Of course.
Larry Hryb:​What've you seen him in?
Laura Massey:​I can't recall at this moment. It's early.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Magneto. He's Magneto.
Laura Massey:​Yeah he is. My brain is just ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​Like the best scene in all of the X-Men movies put together, the old ones and the new ones, is that scene where he's in the bar in Argentina. He realizes that there's escaped Nazis in that bar, and he just does this thing where he makes the knife move around. It's a very awesome scene.
Laura Massey:​Yes.
Larry Hryb:​Anyway so I've got Michael Fassbender. We're getting ready. All the stars come in. They've got all their handlers, their agents, and their PR people. It's the whole Hollywood scene. And there's just me. I don't have anybody with me.
Laura Massey:​You don't have any handlers, or agents?
Larry Hryb:​I don't have anybody. I don't have anybody, because I don't need that.
Laura Massey:​Assistants?
Larry Hryb:​I don't need that. Because, not only do I present on camera and whatnot, but I'm also kind of a production nerd, so I'm actually working with the production team trying to, "Hey, why don't we do this? Why don't we do that?" They're really not TV production people, but anyway. I have Michael on the couch. Sitting next to me is Justin Kurzel, who is the director. I'm on the couch at one end, in the middle is Justin, on the far end is Jeremy Irons.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Scar.
Larry Hryb:​That's on the couch. Now on the other couch to my right is Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, who you're a big fan of.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah, yeah.
Larry Hryb:​She was delightful. We had a wonderful conversation.
Jeff Rubenstein:​You remember her from Inception.
Laura Massey:​Oh yes.
Larry Hryb:​Then at the other end is Michael K. Williams, who's in The Wire. You may know him from The Wire.
Laura Massey:​Yes.
Larry Hryb:​So he's in there, and then I've got gentlemen from Moviesoft at the other end.
Laura Massey:​My goodness. Star studded couch.
Larry Hryb:​Anyway, so we're all in there. We're getting ready to go on the air, this is about five minutes before, and we're kind of just talking. I'm telling them who I am, and they play games. They know. Jeremy Irons doesn't really play video games. We're going through the whole test, and you guys know they're doing the audio test. They're, "Hey, we need to hear your mic." Just to make sure everything's working.
Laura Massey:​You're good at this because we do this every week.
Larry Hryb:​Right. We do this every week.
Laura Massey:​So you can nail this thing.
Larry Hryb:​It comes to me and they're like, "Larry, will you give us an audio." I say, and usually you guys know what I do, because when you're doing an audio test you want to give kind of the range of how you're going to be speaking. So I go, "Hi, I'm Larry Hyrb. Xbox Live's Major Nelson." Because that's what everybody expects me to say. Jeremy Irons, is to my left, turns to me, and says, "My you have the radio voice." Now let's be clear. This is Scar. I turn to him and go, "Me? You're Scar."
Jeff Rubenstein:​That made your year, your life.
Larry Hryb:​Right, exactly.
Laura Massey:​Kind of life.
Larry Hryb:​I was out of my mind. We had a great conversation. We do the whole Facebook things. It was great. I could have gone an hour with these guys; we only went about 20 minutes. It was just great. Now the next day, I'm now interviewing individually them, and I'm doing the standard press interviews where they have them in a room. I walk in. I sit down, and talk to them. Very quick. I think I'll put those interviews up on my Youtube channel. I'm getting ready to go in. I see Michael, and we have a great chat. "Hey, thanks for all the stuff the other day." We start talking about bunch of stuff.
​Anyway, they introduce you to the talent. Now they already known me because I worked with them the day before. I walk in, and they say, "Oh this is Larry, Major Nelson, for Xbox." And Jeremy Irons, with the voice, says, "Larry, Larry, Larry. Mr. Xbox." And I lose it all over again. He's got such a wonderful voice. Michael Fassbender was just delightful. The whole cast was great, and we had a great conversation about the Animus, and how it's not just a chair, for those of you who's played Assassin's Creed. I know you're going to see a couple movies this holiday. You're going to see Star Wars, and you have to go see Assassin's Creed.
Laura Massey:​Awesome. Definitely. I'm biased.
Larry Hryb:​I don't want any spoilers, but the funny thing was, I don't know if I told you this Laura, because it was early. I flew in Sunday night, and the studio was like, look, you'll have to see the movie before you interview them. I know, so where am I going to see it? Don't worry about it. We're going to arrange a special screening for you, so they basically tell me at 10 o'clock on Monday morning I have to go to Fox Studios in New York City, in their private screening room. So yeah, life doesn't suck.
Laura Massey:​Right.
Jeff Rubenstein:​The looks coming from this side of the table are [crosstalk 00:08:34]
Larry Hryb:​I was like, again, this is talking about this whole week I've had.
Laura Massey:​Typical Monday, you know. Private screening.
Larry Hryb:​I go to Fox Studios. I'm in this theater by myself, which is -
Laura Massey:​Wait, wait. It was by yourself, that whole theater?
Larry Hryb:​No, let's be clear. It was a small theater. It's kind of like these movie theaters you see in ... I think I have a photo of it here, Laura hold on.
Laura Massey:​Very exclusive.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah.
Laura Massey:​I think you showed me the picture. Yes, and it reminds me of like box seats. It's the most expensive seats you can buy at stadiums to watch really expensive football games.
Larry Hryb:​This is where Fox obviously uses it to preview films. I sit down, and next to me is a consul. Not a gaming consul, but a communications consul to the projectionist, so that you can stop and rewind and play things over again, because that's what they do in movies.
Laura Massey:​You could stop a movie?
Larry Hryb:​I didn't do that, but I was feeling rather full of myself because I felt very Hollywood in there. It was delightful. I saw the film. Had a great time, and then rushed downtown to interview everybody. You know, there's these moments, Jeff you and I have shared a lot of these moments when we were out in New Mexico, we're out there in New Hampshire. This was a heck of a week, so it was a delightful.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Sorry I missed that.
Larry Hryb:​Enough about me. Laura, how was your week?
Laura Massey:​Not nearly as eventful as your week, but it was good. Had a good work week. You know, worked on Monday. Worked on Tuesday.
Larry Hryb:​I did, too.
Laura Massey:​Your definition of work, though. I would much prefer. I would much prefer.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Is better than most people's.
Larry Hryb:​I put this up on, when I went to Australia, I did my, you know, you watched my thing. Did you ever end up finishing it? I know you were going to.
Laura Massey:​I did finish it.
Larry Hryb:​I get a lot of question about how I got in this industry, and what I do. Jeff, we should put a link to this, because I basically did a whole 45 minute presentation on how I got to where I am.
Laura Massey:​And how to get your job.
Larry Hryb:​Which is a question that I get all the time. Now, Laura, not only do you know may of those stories that I told, but you're actually part of many of them, as well, right?
Laura Massey:​Yeah, I was part of the setting you on fire.
Larry Hryb:​Right, setting me on fire. You were there for that.
Laura Massey:​I took a bunch of pictures. I took all the picture of you being set on fire.
Larry Hryb:​Do you remember that?
Laura Massey:​Yes, I do.
Larry Hryb:​Did you ever hear that story, Jeff, when I got set on fire for ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​I have. I heard it in the story time, but then I heard it before that, actually.
Larry Hryb:​I didn't know how much I went into this, but they cover me in this goo. Remember that goo, Laura? It was so hot that day.
Laura Massey:​It was all over you. It was really hot. Weren't you on top of a roof?
Larry Hryb:​I was on top of a roof. I had long underwear on, so this is the most ...
Laura Massey:​In July or something.
Larry Hryb:​Right. I'm in July, and they've got the stunt people working on me, and I'm telling Laura, like, "Laura turn around. I'm hideous."
Laura Massey:​He's covered in goo.
Larry Hryb:​Standing there in long underwear with goo.
Laura Massey:​You are shivering because it is cold. The goo is cold.
Larry Hryb:​They light me on fire, Jeff, and we'll after they get everything on, and they put this protection stuff on. They light me on fire, but they missed.
Laura Massey:​They forgot the back of your neck.
Larry Hryb:​They missed a spot on my neck, remember?
Laura Massey:​It was burnt.
Larry Hryb:​It was charred. I was charred. It was the weirdest thing. Anyway, go watch. If you want to see it, it's about 45 minutes.
Jeff Rubenstein:​The links are in the notes.
Larry Hryb:​There's a Q&A up there, but yeah. I wake up every day and I pinch myself, because I get to work with people like you, Laura. I get to work with people like Jeff, and I get to have these amazing experiences. Talk to this incredible community. All right I'm done. I'm done [velling 00:11:42].
Jeff Rubenstein:​This is very reflective. This is the final show of the year, not the final show ever.
Larry Hryb:​I don't know. I'm happy to be here.
Laura Massey:​Year in review.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Very maudlin.
Larry Hryb:​It's really. I don't want to be maudlin. I just want to, you know.
Jeff Rubenstein:​No, no. I just thankful.
Larry Hryb:​I'm very thankful.
Jeff Rubenstein:​This is like the Thanksgiving episode.
Larry Hryb:​I'm very thankful. I'm very thankful. So anyway, you had a nice week, Laura?
Laura Massey:​I did. It was a good week.
Larry Hryb:​Did you play any Diablo?
Laura Massey:​Nope. Not this week. I played other games, though.
Larry Hryb:​What did you play?
Laura Massey:​I've started to get into Dota 2. Have you guys played that one yet?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I don't think I'm ever going to. There's not enough time.
Larry Hryb:​Why are you getting into that? I'm a little puzzled? What is the force that's bringing you into that?
Laura Massey:​I wanted to try out the game from Valve, and it's got really good reviews. People seem to love it. They update it all the time, so I wanted to try it out and see what it was all about. There is so much to know. There is so much to get involved in.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I think I saw Gabe Newell in a restaurant this week.
Laura Massey:​Cool.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's close.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery, we're losing her, Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I know.
Larry Hryb:​We're losing her. I can feel it. We're going to look back ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​This has been a process for a long time.
Larry Hryb:​We're losing her.
Laura Massey:​I also have good news to report.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh.
Larry Hryb:​Please.
Laura Massey:​I finally beat a Solitaire game.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh well done. Well done.
Laura Massey:​I know. I finally go the achievement.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Probably got like a hundred gamer score, like in all the ...
Larry Hryb:​Wow, good for you.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, I know right. I can't believe it took another 10 or 15 games.
Larry Hryb:​What was the problem?
Laura Massey:​It's just the odds.
Larry Hryb:​I'm going to tell you what the problem is.
Laura Massey:​What's that?
Larry Hryb:​Can I tell you what the problem is? Jeffery, I think you'll back me up on this. I can play Solitaire and beat it pretty quickly, because I'm an idiot. You're smart. You're over thinking it.
Laura Massey:​No.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Like chess rules.
Larry Hryb:​You are, I'm telling you, because you're one of the smartest people I know, Laura, and you are over thinking it.
Laura Massey:​Possibly, but I think it is all something to do with the odds of the cards, because I was playing draw three and you only get three turns of it. It's all about what kind of cards are in the stack.
Larry Hryb:​The other thing is you are going for these harder modes; I just play the easy mode.
Laura Massey:​You play the single card?
Larry Hryb:​I just play the single card.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh, Larry. Well that doesn't count.
Larry Hryb:​I need it. I need it. For my ego.
Laura Massey:​Right, so I do the daily challenges, too.
Larry Hryb:​I do. I do them, too. I just did one this morning.
Laura Massey:​Well dang it. I haven't done them all.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah.
Laura Massey:​There's one that's super hard that I haven't been able to do.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, I tried that three times. I tried it on the airplane. I finally gave up.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, it was one of the spider solitaire ones, where you have to get the sevens into the top. I can't get that one. That one's so hard. In 65 moves I can't get ...
Larry Hryb:​So congratulations, you beat it. You beat a game of Solitaire. Let's take a moment and reflect on that hooray.
Laura Massey:​Hooray. So good.
Larry Hryb:​All right. What else you got? We're kind of segueing into what you're playing, and there you go.
Laura Massey:​That's true. We are kind of segueing into that. I probably did play Diablo this week, but can't talk about it.
Larry Hryb:​Dota.
Laura Massey:​Yeah. Totally.
Larry Hryb:​We're going to remember this date, Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's when we hit rock bottom.
Laura Massey:​The day everything ...
Larry Hryb:​It's the beginning of the end.
Laura Massey:​[crosstalk 00:14:28] goes to the end. There's lots of good MOBAs on Xbox. Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Smite being pretty popular.
Laura Massey:​Smite being very, very popular. I know we're playing that one, and of course good friend [E 00:14:37]. He used to play that one always.
Jeff Rubenstein:​He was huge on Smite.
Larry Hryb:​Oh he was all into that for awhile.
Laura Massey:​He was all into that. Yeah.
Larry Hryb:​By the way, speaking of E, I don't think I told you this. I'm working, you know you're headed out on your holiday. What is it, six or eight week holiday?
Laura Massey:​No. I wish it was eight weeks. That would be amazing.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Sabbatical.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery's going to be gone for a couple weeks. While you guys are gone, when I get back from New England, I think I may have a special show with E and [Stepto 00:15:00].
Laura Massey:​What?
Larry Hryb:​Yeah.
Laura Massey:​Without me?
Larry Hryb:​I'm happy to join you, but you're going to be a woman of leisure.
Laura Massey:​Hell yes. I had no idea that -
Larry Hryb:​Well it came together. He and I were talking, because I called Stepto before Rogue One, or before he saw Rogue One, because he's a huge Star Wars fan. Turns out actually he knows one of the writers, Gary Whitta, who replied to me on Twitter.
Laura Massey:​What?
Larry Hryb:​Right.
Laura Massey:​Did this happen this week?
Larry Hryb:​Yes, it happened this week.
Laura Massey:​Oh my gosh!
Larry Hryb:​So this is the week of awesome.
Laura Massey:​This is the week of Larry awesome.
Larry Hryb:​I totally forgot to mention that.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I know.
Larry Hryb:​One of the writers of Rogue One happened to reply to me on Twitter. It still nerds me out. I was talking with Stepto, and he called me last night actually because he saw it, and I expect the same type of communication from you Laura and Jeffery. I was talking to him, and I was like, "You know, we should do a podcast." He's like, "I'd love to do." Because he and I go on about films, and he and I were talking about networking stuff. I'm like, guys, we got to get together, and they signed in, so we're trying to. We don't have a date yet, but they have signed on to do it. If you guys are around, I'll get another couple of microphones, and we can roll big.
Laura Massey:​That would be an amazing show. The reunion show.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, it would be. It would be.
Jeff Rubenstein:​We just need to get E to spill how do you get a togepi out of Pokemon Go, out of an egg.
Larry Hryb:​Because he's a Pokemon, of course.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There's a way. He's got to know.
Larry Hryb:​Anyway. Back to you.
Laura Massey:​I'm just trying to think about my best tweet ever. Your tweet from the writers of Star Wars. I think mine is probably when [Brent Spiner 00:16:33] tweeted at Nerd Trivia.
Larry Hryb:​Oh that's right. Nerd Trivia. When is Nerd Trivia coming back? You reactivated that term. I miss Nerd Trivia.
Laura Massey:​I think I got a tweet today someone saying, "I miss Nerd Trivia. When's it coming back."
Larry Hryb:​We all do. The internet does.
Laura Massey:​The internet misses it, and I miss it, too.
Larry Hryb:​All right.
Laura Massey:​But no one else does.
Larry Hryb:​Okay.
Laura Massey:​I know.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Data needs it.
Laura Massey:​It was a question about Data. It was asking what is the name of Data's cat, in Star Trek.
Larry Hryb:​Right, and what's the answer? I don't know.
Laura Massey:​Spot.
Larry Hryb:​Okay. All right.
Laura Massey:​Data, or Brent Spiner, retweeted the question, and made a joke about it. He answered incorrectly. I thought that was the best thing I'd ever seen.
Larry Hryb:​Wow. Your eyes kind of popped out of your head at that point.
Laura Massey:​That was my best tweet.
Larry Hryb:​Now Jeffery, what are you playing this week? I know you've been on the road, as well.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah, so I've been testing out a new gaming laptop.
Larry Hryb:​Oh you have? What are you testing out? Do tell.
Jeff Rubenstein:​All right. I managed to get a hold of the Razor Blade Pro 2016.
Larry Hryb:​That's the big boy.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's the big boy.
Laura Massey:​How heavy is it?
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's actually thinner and lighter than my previous gaming laptop. I actually broke the strap on my backpack from that one. From a thinness prospective, it's rather thin, but it does take up the entirety of an airplane, like standard coach class ...
Larry Hryb:​Tray.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Tray. I'm a little worried that it may break it with repetitive use. With that being said, it's got a beautiful 4K screen. It's got a 1080 desktop version in it for a laptop, which is -
Larry Hryb:​The GPU?
Jeff Rubenstein:​- unheard of. Yes. I mean I'm just mostly transfixed by the keyboard, which changes colors. I should have brought it in, but I thought it would be distracting.
Laura Massey:​What color is your keyboard now?
Jeff Rubenstein:​It constantly changes, but there's like all these different ways you can make it change.
Laura Massey:​Does it cycle through?
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh yeah.
Larry Hryb:​See I have one of those at home, the Razor keyboards with the colors. It's funny because I have it all, like my arrow keys are red, like the arrow keys, escape, delete, I have in LED red. The main is like blue, other keys are green. It's a rainbow.
Laura Massey:​Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein:​You can make it so that your WASD and your arrow keys are different colors so when you're playing in the dark you can always see everything, and your function keys ...
Larry Hryb:​Don't give her any ideas. We're losing her to Dota.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh yeah. This is only going to make it worse. That being said, I've been just sort of testing all these Windows 10 games this week. We had a couple games hit Game Preview on both Xbox One and Windows 10 recently, including Astroneer this week, which is-
Larry Hryb:​Oh I need to check that out.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's an interesting game. It's going to inevitably draw comparisons to No Man's Sky. It is not exactly like No Man's Sky, but you can land on planets, and you can harvest materials and use that to craft other things, so in that way, but there's multiplayer, which I haven't gotten to try out yet. It's very cartoony looking. It's kind of cool looking. That's a game I'll be spending more with. The team is very clear, like when you load the game up, and when you go back to the menu, "We want your feedback, and here's exactly how you give it to us." That's what Game Preview is all about, and you'll be able to try that out. Actually, it comes out today on both Xbox One and Windows 10.
Larry Hryb:​Let's put a link to that in the notes.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah. Can do, and also Everspace.
Larry Hryb:​I'm sorry and the link to the device you have, the Razor.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah, definitely. It's kind of crazy. Then also Everspace, which is an idea Xbox game, that's also in Game Preview, and has been out for Xbox One for a little bit, but I knew it was coming out for Windows 10, and I had been waiting. It's out now. It is a space shooter, with some mining components. It's really pretty, though. I'll be getting into that as well. Actually the Gigantic closed beta, also, [crosstalk 00:20:29]
Larry Hryb:​I'm sorry. I was just laughing here, because I just remembered last week we had [Albert 00:20:32] on.
Laura Massey:​Yes.
Larry Hryb:​I follow Albert on Xbox Live, and he's unlocking Solitaire achievements now. There were just streaming it, so apologies.
Jeff Rubenstein:​No, no. We started that. I'm glad. We closed the loop. People have been asking.
Larry Hryb:​I got to get him back on. We had a lot of questions about 4K, and we'll continue to do that on the road to Scorpio release in 2017. Albert'll come back on, so don't worry about that. Save up all your 4K questions. Go ahead, Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Also, I beat Steep. Not Steep. I beat Watch Dogs 2.
Larry Hryb:​You did?
Laura Massey:​Oh, very good.
Larry Hryb:​That's right, you did.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That was a great game.
Larry Hryb:​I got to ask you. I just finished. I had to go into the [Nugle 00:21:10] campus.
Jeff Rubenstein:​You had the Nudle campus on Palo Alto?
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, the Nudle campus. How far am I in? Am I almost done?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I would say you're about half way.
Larry Hryb:​Wow. Okay, good.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I really, really liked that game.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah you did.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I enjoyed that game.
Laura Massey:​Good.
Larry Hryb:​We need to go in and hack each other again.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah. That was probably some of the most fun I've had in that game. I started Steep after that, because I like the odd snowboarding, and it was more like me IRL. There's like a wingsuit thing, and I immediately jumped and fell on the deck. Just sort of flopped.
Larry Hryb:​You face-planted?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I face-planted.
Laura Massey:​Oh no.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I've recorded it. It was pretty funny.
Laura Massey:​Did you upload it?
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's sitting in Xbox Live. I need to just upload it to Twitter.
Laura Massey:​Nah.
Larry Hryb:​Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It makes snowboarding look so easy. It's not. I'm sitting there the whole time, I'm like, one I wish I could ski on this mountain, and two I wish I could crash like that and get right back up.
Larry Hryb:​This says a lot about us.
Jeff Rubenstein:​What?
Larry Hryb:​Because you went that direction to snowboard. You know what I played, was ABZU, which is a diving game.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh yeah. That's a beautiful game. It's the same artist as Journey, and I want to say Flower from that game company back in the day.
Larry Hryb:​You should check it out Laura.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It definitely has that feel to it. Really pretty.
Larry Hryb:​I'm sorry. I didn't mean to t-bone your conversation.
Jeff Rubenstein:​No, that just hit Xbox One last week. ABZU, A-B-Z-U.
Larry Hryb:​It popped up. It was like, this is ready to play. You know I get home at night, Laura, and all the games that were released during the day, show up on my consul, because, again, I have a great life.
Laura Massey:​You do. It's a great life
Jeff Rubenstein:​You got to be able to talk about them.
Larry Hryb:​Right, and so I was sitting at my desk, and noticed out of the corner of my eye that it was ready. I was like, "Oh, that's the diving game." I fired it up, and an hour and a half later I was just having a great time.
Laura Massey:​Having a good time.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah I was having a great time with that.
Laura Massey:​Where did you go diving?
Larry Hryb:​I don't know.
Laura Massey:​Okay.
Larry Hryb:​I grabbed a dolphin and we did a flip in the air.
Laura Massey:​Cool.
Larry Hryb:​I got achievement for that.
Laura Massey:​Very good.
Larry Hryb:​You'll see that. It is a lot of fun. Anything else, Jeffery?
Jeff Rubenstein:​Nah. I'm bringing this laptop with me. I'm going to be playing Call of Duty, I'm going to be beating Dead Rising.
Laura Massey:​Oh I did forget.
Larry Hryb:​You're doing some single player stuff.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah.
Larry Hryb:​Are we playing Overwatch whilst you're gone? The game that Laura refuses to play?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I don't think I'm going to be able, because I'm going to bring the laptop, I'm not going to bring ...
Larry Hryb:​Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I know that I would just get owned in a keyboard and mouse situation.
Larry Hryb:​Right, right, right. Fair point. Fair point. All right. That's noted. We'll look forward to hearing when you get back, and Laura when you get back. You know maybe I'll just wait and do this show with Stepto. Do you want to see the guys?
Laura Massey:​I do want to see them.
Larry Hryb:​Okay. They specifically asked if you were going to be around.
Laura Massey:​I would love to.
Larry Hryb:​They didn't really care about Jeff, because they see him all the time.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I saw E recently.
Larry Hryb:​Although, he said he wanted to commiserate about some Eagles stuff with you.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's been a lost season, Larry.
Larry Hryb:​Yes it has.
Jeff Rubenstein:​They're not getting this one back.
Larry Hryb:​We talked about I'm playing Watch Dogs 2, Overwatch. The holiday stuff dropped this week.
Laura Massey:​Oh go ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​First of all, some of the skins are amazing.
Larry Hryb:​I've got a couple of them.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Especially the Zenyatta one where he's dressed like a nutcracker. That's just so well done. We're not really diving into game of the year, but I think we both agree.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, Overwatch is ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​Overwatch is the game of the year.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, on a lot of levels.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's just such a great game.
Larry Hryb:​It's not Diablo, Laura, but it is from Blizzard.
Laura Massey:​It is from Blizzard. That's true.
Larry Hryb:​So, something there. Something special happened this week.
Laura Massey:​More things special happened?
Larry Hryb:​It snowed in Forza Horizon 3.
Laura Massey:​Oh yeah, I saw that.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Blizzard Mountain, now available.
Larry Hryb:​Did you see the video I did?
Laura Massey:​I think I saw the beginning of it.
Larry Hryb:​Oh, I did the promo. We made it snow in the promo, and it looks real, but it's not real. People are like, "How are you not cold." I'm like, "Because it's digital."
Laura Massey:​That's what I saw, was snowing in the promo.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There are a few noteworthy things if you want to drive through.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, let's go through those, because again, if it feels like we're in a rush, we kind of are, because Jeff is running out to see-
Jeff Rubenstein:​Don't put this on me. We got time.
Larry Hryb:​We don't, though.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's only Star Wars. It's not like a Star Wars movie comes out every year.
Larry Hryb:​There's a lot that happens in the first few minutes. Although, I will tell you this, and this is not a spoiler.
Laura Massey:​Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein:​You told me this, yeah.
Laura Massey:​This is very serious stuff.
Larry Hryb:​This is not a spoiler. There's no crawl.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, I'd heard that. I'd heard there's no crawl.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Like the words at the beginning?
Larry Hryb:​The ones that aren't part of the original ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​Canon? Trilogies?
Laura Massey:​I imagine it's part of canon.
Larry Hryb:​It is, but whatever. There's no crawl. In the first five minutes, I think you're on eight different planets. It's pretty fast.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's got Forest Whitaker in it, though, so that sold me immediately.
Larry Hryb:​It does.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I'm big fan.
Larry Hryb:​Anyways, sorry.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There was actually quite a bit here this week.
Larry Hryb:​Let's [tap 00:25:41] through the news.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Let's start with something that, I think, a lot of us can benefit from, and that is Lost Odyssey. The Japanese RPG classic is now available for free, for a limited time.
Larry Hryb:​Did you play that Jeff?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I never did. This was back, I want to say this came out when I'd just started at Playstation. This and Eternal Sonata were two of those games where I was sort of looking over the fence going, you know, I would love to get a chance to play that.
Larry Hryb:​Guess what? Now you can.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Now I can. It all has worked out for me. I played the long game on this one.
Larry Hryb:​You sure did.
Jeff Rubenstein:​We'll put a link in the notes for you to be able to download Lost Odyssey, which was generally very well regarded. You had mentioned Forza Horizon 3's Blizzard Mountain expansion, which is now out. For back compatibility, Lost Odyssey is one of those games, but there's a number of other games that have become available in the last few days. The BioShock series. We were talking about what would have been a good headline for that blog post, and we had landed on, You Know the Drill.
Larry Hryb:​There you go. I like that.
Laura Massey:​I have no idea.
Jeff Rubenstein:​We rejected that one.
Larry Hryb:​Why would you reject? If you rejected it, what did you replace it with, because it had better be good.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It wasn't as funny. It was like You Can Get the BioShock Series.
Larry Hryb:​Boo. Hiss.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I didn't make the call on that one.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, before we move on, I want say, if Larry's week had not gotten awesome enough, you made my Twitter Moments with your back compat tweet.
Larry Hryb:​I did?
Laura Massey:​Yeah. If you're not familiar with Moments, if you look at Twitter.com there is a section for Moments. It shows you trending news, what's trending on Twitter, as well, and you are on my Twitter Moments.
Larry Hryb:​I think I know why.
Laura Massey:​It does say "from my network." But it's all formatted, just like a Twitter Moment.
Larry Hryb:​What happened was I realized, to your point about Twitter Moments, I started assembling -
Laura Massey:​Look, see.
Larry Hryb:​I started adding back compats to Twitter Moments. I created a Twitter Moments.
Laura Massey:​So you created this.
Larry Hryb:​Yes, yes. So that's why.
Laura Massey:​How do you create one?
Larry Hryb:​I think most people should be able to do this. You can basically add to a Moment, which is a collection of tweets, so that's probably why.
Laura Massey:​It is with all the pictures.
Larry Hryb:​I want to see something of yours in my Moments, since I only follow six people it should be pretty easily to populate.
Laura Massey:​Right, just six people.
Larry Hryb:​I actually had somebody on one of the, was it Michael? Somebody, one of the stars was asking me about Twitter, and why I only follow six people. It was a very interesting conversation. All right, Jeffery, I'm sorry.
Jeff Rubenstein:​And now Jeremy Irons sees it. Larry, follow me on Twitter.
Larry Hryb:​I told him I got to send him a consul.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's the circle of Twitter, Larry.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, lots of good back compat.
Larry Hryb:​Did you ever see the Lion King, Laura?
Laura Massey:​Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Come on.
Larry Hryb:​I just got to ask.
Laura Massey:​[inaudible 00:28:23] this is the second time I want to throw things at Larry today.
Jeff Rubenstein:​BioShock to back compat, but then a couple of titles that may be slightly more niche, but that I think some people will be very excited about. One of them is Bully: Scholarship Edition. Bully originally came out the generation before, but then was re-released on Xbox 360, and now you can play it on Xbox One, and Catherine. Did you ever play Catherine?
Larry Hryb:​I did.
Laura Massey:​I played the beginning of it.
Larry Hryb:​It was uniquely Japanese.
Laura Massey:​It is unique.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I love this game. It was like a weird, Cubert, puzzle, death simulator slash relationship builder thing.
Laura Massey:​So yeah, kind of weird.
Jeff Rubenstein:​One of my favorite games from last gen.
Larry Hryb:​[Flash floor wax 00:29:06]
Jeff Rubenstein:​I beat it on normal, which I -
Larry Hryb:​You did?
Jeff Rubenstein:​Which I hold up there as a testament that I will not go back and try to play it on normal again. Normal was like ridiculously hard, even easy is a challenge. I think I'm going to have to go back through and play that one again.
​One of my very, very, very favorite games of last gen, is now available for free for games with gold members.
Larry Hryb:​Which is?
Jeff Rubenstein:​That is, or for Xbox Live Gold Members, Burnout Paradise. I feel like in some ways it's the spiritual successor to the Forza Horizon games that I love, but Burnout Paradise was so good. That is now available for free for those of you who have gold. We'll drop a link in the notes, but you should not sleep on this one. You shouldn't.
Larry Hryb:​No.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Please don't.
Larry Hryb:​Go on.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Again, a lot of folks have been waiting for. We talked a little bit about it last week, Stardew Valley is now available on Xbox One.
Larry Hryb:​That's the one I wanted to look at. I was sitting at home last night, and I was scrolling through my games, and I was like, "Which one did I want to play." I want to play that one.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There's something coming out today, as we record this, that I don't know if you all had on your radar, but I think may take over your holidays.
Laura Massey:​Uh-oh.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There's a new Bridge Constructor.
Larry Hryb:​Yes there is.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Bridge Constructor Stunts.
Laura Massey:​What?
Larry Hryb:​Yeah I talked about it in This Week On Xbox.
Jeff Rubenstein:​We played a ton of that game, the original one. That was such a great one.
Larry Hryb:​Did you finish that Laura?
Laura Massey:​I haven't finished it, no.
Larry Hryb:​I finished the main, but there's a little stunty part.
Laura Massey:​There's the hard levels, which I just jumped right into.
Larry Hryb:​Again. See this is the difference between Laura and I. I need it for my ego boost to just kind of get through the easy stuff, and Laura's like, "Screw it. I know how to do this. I'm going right to the hard stuff."
Laura Massey:​Going right to the hard.
Larry Hryb:​Did you ever take a 100 level class in college, Laura?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I took only 100. My senior year I was taking 100 level classes.
Laura Massey:​I don't know. I placed out of a lot of them.
Larry Hryb:​Placed out?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I took Psych 101 my last semester.
Larry Hryb:​Did you?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I took an acting class my last semester.
Laura Massey:​I took Dance 101.
Larry Hryb:​I took dancing, too.
Laura Massey:​You mean ballroom dancing?
Larry Hryb:​Ballroom dancing, yeah.
Laura Massey:​You did? I didn't know that.
Larry Hryb:​I should have told this story. I took it for two weeks.
Laura Massey:​Did you dropout?
Larry Hryb:​Yeah.
Laura Massey:​Larry. What happened?
Larry Hryb:​There was this girl I wanted to meet in it. I took the class just to meet her, and then she dropped out, and I dropped out, too.
Jeff Rubenstein:​And fast forward you're married, 20 years and counting.
Larry Hryb:​I had a good time with that. You need to learn how to dance.
Laura Massey:​Absolutely.
Larry Hryb:​There's certain things in life. You need to learn how to use utensils.
Laura Massey:​You need table manners.
Larry Hryb:​You need table manners. You need to learn how to dance.
Jeff Rubenstein:​You need to know that the gas is on the right, the brakes on the left.
Laura Massey:​Yep, also good to know.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Did you ever drop a class?
Laura Massey:​No.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's what I expected.
Larry Hryb:​Really?
Laura Massey:​No. I was a very good student.
Larry Hryb:​Did you have to take a lot of liberal arts classes?
Laura Massey:​Not too many, I had to take some.
Larry Hryb:​See at Syracuse, I had to take nutrition.
Laura Massey:​My goodness.
Larry Hryb:​The best one was sex ed.
Laura Massey:​In college?
Larry Hryb:​In college.
Laura Massey:​Weird.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah.
Laura Massey:​I didn't have to do any of that.
Larry Hryb:​It was a Wednesday night at 7 o'clock. I'll never forget that.
Laura Massey:​Oh my goodness. That was a late class.
Larry Hryb:​Never mind about that.
Laura Massey:​I love ballroom dancing so much that I became a TA in ballroom dancing.
Larry Hryb:​Really?
Laura Massey:​Yeah.
Larry Hryb:​Now Laura, if you had a Wikipedia page, that would be on it.
Laura Massey:​I know. If only. If only I had a Wikipedia page.
Larry Hryb:​You were a teaching assistant in?
Laura Massey:​Ballroom dancing.
Larry Hryb:​Ballroom dancing. Did you ever take square dancing?
Laura Massey:​No, that's not a course.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, a friend of mine, her dad was a caller. That's the term for somebody who's -
Jeff Rubenstein:​Swing your partner round and round.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah. Yeah.
Laura Massey:​That's cool.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's all I know.
Laura Massey:​There was country and western dancing in ballroom dancing.
Larry Hryb:​Both kind, country and western?
Laura Massey:​Both kinds.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Thank you, Larry.
Larry Hryb:​Oh, Jeffery.
Laura Massey:​That was a good, I don't know, rabbit hole, I guess.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah I don't know how we ended up down it. Jeffery, let's get back to the news.
Jeff Rubenstein:​One last thing.
Larry Hryb:​Yes, yes.
Jeff Rubenstein:​One last thing.
Larry Hryb:​Many last things.
Jeff Rubenstein:​This is something that an audiophile, like yourself, would appreciate.
Larry Hryb:​Oh yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein:​The soothing voice of Jeremy Irons coming through with powerful Dolby Atmos sound, which is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10.
Larry Hryb:​It's coming to Preview, and it's coming to everyone else in ... It's interesting now, Laura, because we're sitting in a studio, and this studio is used for demoing Atmos equipment.
Laura Massey:​Oh is it?
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, so if you look at these speakers.
Laura Massey:​That's the reason why there's a big Dolby sign next to it.
Larry Hryb:​That's why it says Atmos behind you. Other way, see, said so.
Laura Massey:​It does.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Can we get that receiver? To test out?
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, it's right down there. These speakers, you know what Jeff, when it comes to audio gear, doesn't matter if they give you that, because you ain't going to need all this.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah, true enough.
Laura Massey:​Yeah that be neat.
Larry Hryb:​These speakers are actually are top-firing.
Laura Massey:​These are real speakers.
Larry Hryb:​That's kind of what Dolby Atmos. It creates kind of an envelope.
Laura Massey:​What do you mean by top-firing?
Larry Hryb:​Go look at the top.
Laura Massey:​[inaudible 00:33:50]
Jeff Rubenstein:​Is there flamethrower jets, like when the Sounders score a goal, the championships?
Larry Hryb:​Maybe those aren't. Let me just double check. I think these are. Yeah see, they got a speaker up top.
Laura Massey:​Okay. This one doesn't.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah the rear does. See how it's got the curl up here?
Laura Massey:​The one that I looked at didn't have it.
Larry Hryb:​The only one, to the left and right, but the rear front and the rears have, so they can basically create this envelope of sound. Atmos will put it's arms around you, Laura.
Jeff Rubenstein:​If I was to sit on a sofa, with, let's see, like a scarf and some sunglasses, would the scarf blow?
Larry Hryb:​It would blow you back.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It would blow me back. Okay, cool. So let my hair grow out.
Larry Hryb:​Maxwell ad from the 80's. You want to put a link to that.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah, I'll find that.
Larry Hryb:​With your martini going backwards, too.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Oh it slides back on the table and he catches it.
Larry Hryb:​We are definitely out of the woods. I don't know where we are on this show.
Jeff Rubenstein:​No, we're deep, deep in the woods right now.
Larry Hryb:​What else do we have here? Xbox One. Lot of deals. Lot of deals Xbox One S.
Laura Massey:​Holiday deals.
Larry Hryb:​We got game deals coming up. Follow me on Twitter. I'm going to be sharing the spoils with you.
Laura Massey:​And creating Moments.
Larry Hryb:​Creating Moments, Laura. Yeah.
Laura Massey:​Is that it for the news?
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery?
Jeff Rubenstein:​Yeah, that's it.
Larry Hryb:​That means we are going to do a Name the Game, Laura.
Laura Massey:​Oh, it's time for Name the Game.
Larry Hryb:​It is.
Laura Massey:​Great. Let's pay it off.
Game-Speaker 4:​[00:35:06]
​Attention. This shelter has been breached. If you are bitten, please observer the quarantine rules.
​[00:35:26]
Laura Massey:​That was Name the Game from last week, and it was a pretty easy one. It was Dead Rising 4.
Larry Hryb:​Also, that was the last set of prizes we were giving away for 2016.
Laura Massey:​That's true. The last Name the Game for 2016.
Larry Hryb:​Who was the winner, Laura?
Laura Massey:​The winner is Adam from Florida.
Larry Hryb:​Hello Adam.
Laura Massey:​Hello. You're gamertag is [CarpeAdam79 00:35:43]. Very good. Congratulations.
Larry Hryb:​You've been there before Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​To CarpeAdam's house? We go way back.
Larry Hryb:​Florida. How's Florida Man been?
Jeff Rubenstein:​Busy. Should not surprise you. Florida Man takes no days off. In fact, sometimes he's in multiple parts of the state, panhandle to the Keys in the same day.
Laura Massey:​[crosstalk 00:36:03]
Larry Hryb:​What are we going to be sending down to Florida, Laura?
Laura Massey:​That's right. We need to send Adam some prizes, and we have a bunch for Adam. The first thing he'll get is a copy of Astroneer, which we talked about earlier, in Game Preview.
Larry Hryb:​Sweet.
Laura Massey:​He also get a copy of The Little Acre, which is also an idea Xbox game, as well as Stardew Valley, idea Xbox game, but that's not all.
Larry Hryb:​Wait.
Laura Massey:​He'll also get a copy of Forza Horizon 3 Ultimate Edition, plus the Blizzard Mountain expansion so it can snow in Florida. Very good sound effects there.
Larry Hryb:​Thank you. Have you ever been there when it snows, Jeffery?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I saw snow flurries in Gainesville once, but it didn't stick.
Laura Massey:​Is that just a rumor?
Larry Hryb:​What? Did it snow in Texas for you, Laura?
Laura Massey:​Yeah, it did.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There's parts of it, Larry.
Laura Massey:​But very rarely.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Amarillo, again.
Laura Massey:​Oh yeah. Amarillo usually gets lots of snow. Maybe once or twice a year.
Larry Hryb:​When I was at Syracuse, man, as Jeffery can tell you.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I was there for 36 hours, and four of those hours were spent delayed because of snow.
Laura Massey:​Oh no.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It came out of nowhere.
Laura Massey:​Wait. There's more prizes.
Larry Hryb:​Wait a minute there's more prizes.
Laura Massey:​I forgot a few ones.
Larry Hryb:​Go.
Laura Massey:​He also gets a copy of Dead Rising 4, and the Xbox One Special Edition Covert Forces wireless controller.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's a very nice controller.
Larry Hryb:​It's a nice controller.
Laura Massey:​It's a really, really nice controller.
Larry Hryb:​So congratulations. We'll send all those details to you. Does anybody have the gamertag FlordiaMan, because they need to. Somebody needs to get that.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Someone does.
Laura Massey:​Somebody needs to grab that one if not.
Larry Hryb:​That's the Name the Game for ...
Laura Massey:​For 2016. The last one.
Larry Hryb:​We're going to do one now.
Laura Massey:​The first one for 2017.
Larry Hryb:​Might as well do the first one for 2017.
Laura Massey:​That sounds great.
Larry Hryb:​I don't know when we're going to get back together.
Laura Massey:​Yeah, may be a couple weeks.
Larry Hryb:​Are you ready?
Laura Massey:​Yeah, let's do Name the Game.
Game-Speaker 5:​[inaudible 00:37:43-00:38:10]
Laura Massey:​So if you would like to win fabulous prizes, it's very simple. All you have to do is enter our competition called Name the Game. Those sound effects you just heard, all you have to do, guess what game that is and send me an e-mail. Lollipop@xbox.com, CC major@xbox.com.
Larry Hryb:​That's right.
Laura Massey:​Anybody who here's our voice can enter.
Larry Hryb:​I just noticed you're looking holiday like with your red shirt on.
Laura Massey:​Thank you. You were also talking about holiday gear, I was like, I might as well have my holiday red shirt on.
Larry Hryb:​It's not a holiday sweater.
Laura Massey:​I wore that yesterday.
Larry Hryb:​Oh I missed it.
Laura Massey:​I know.
Larry Hryb:​Photos?
Laura Massey:​My festive holiday sweater.
Larry Hryb:​You didn't take a photo?
Laura Massey:​No.
Larry Hryb:​Boo.
Laura Massey:​My holiday sweater has Rudolph driving a motorcycle, and on the bottom it says "Oh deer."
Larry Hryb:​Oh deer.
Laura Massey:​Oh deer.
Larry Hryb:​Oh deer.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I didn't want to say it, but your Jeremy Irons is very close to your Captain Sulu.
Larry Hryb:​Oh my. Anyway, well yes. There you go, Name the Game. Send us an e-mail. You guess. Let us know where you're from. You folks should know the drill.
Laura Massey:​Yep, exactly.
Larry Hryb:​We're winding things up here, Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That was a good headline: You Know the Drill. We're changing it back.
Larry Hryb:​Could you please? Do we have anything else to go over before we get you out the door to see Rogue One, Jeffery, and Laura see it -
Jeff Rubenstein:​No, just no spoilers. I only have to go one more hour without spoilers. Don't do it.
Laura Massey:​I have to go the whole day. It's going to be hard.
Larry Hryb:​I'm so bummed we're not recording this tomorrow, because there's actually people on Twitter asking us if we're going to do a spoiler cast, so we should do one.
Laura Massey:​We did one for The Force Awakens.
Jeff Rubenstein:​How about our first one back?
Laura Massey:​That was really good.
Larry Hryb:​My gut tells me I want to get Stepto and E here for everybody.
Jeff Rubenstein:​My gut tells me Stepto and E will have plenty of opinions about this Star Wars.
Larry Hryb:​Well Stepto and I have already gone. We spent a half hour on the phone last night. He called me. He called me on his way home from the theater.
Laura Massey:​It's that good that you were chatting about it for 30 minutes.
Larry Hryb:​We dissected a lot of parts of it, and we talked about the universe.
Laura Massey:​Theories.
Larry Hryb:​Theories and whatnot.
Laura Massey:​Very good. Looking forward to seeing it.
Larry Hryb:​Lots of nerd talk, Laura, lots of nerd talk.
Laura Massey:​I like it.
Larry Hryb:​You got your holiday shopping done?
Laura Massey:​No. I am close, though.
Larry Hryb:​Really?
Laura Massey:​I've got [Loi 00:40:13] done, though.
Larry Hryb:​Okay. You know I'm a size large shirt, right? Just in case. No, no you don't owe me anything. After all you do for me.
Laura Massey:​I don't know if I could get a shirt that you don't already have, because you have a wide variety of good looking shirts.
Larry Hryb:​I do have quite the wardrobe. Well that's what happens when you're on TV. Jeffery, is all your holiday shopping done?
Jeff Rubenstein:​No, not even close.
Laura Massey:​Oh no.
Larry Hryb:​I got to tell you. I don't normally see Jeffery wearing camouflage.
Laura Massey:​That's true.
Jeff Rubenstein:​This is a Gears thing.
Larry Hryb:​There's no camouflage in Gears.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There was a line of Gears of War for plus undefeated, and I sat next to the guy that gets that deal, and I was like, "I'll just take one of everything, please." I haven't done laundry in awhile, so I'm walking around in camo today.
Laura Massey:​Okay, kind of make sense.
Larry Hryb:​Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Can you even see me, or is it just my head floating?
Larry Hryb:​I'm not judging.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I've been around this week, sort of working with reviewers for Surface Studio.
Laura Massey:​Oh cool.
Jeff Rubenstein:​There's a little tidbit. The goal of what the team was trying to build like a giant, floating panel of pixels, and the arms that sort of contain the springs where you can lift. You should try it out, by the way. The screen is 13 lbs., and yet you can move it with one finger and it feels like it's nothing. They're reflective, they're like chrome, and the goal was if it's on a wooden table, it looks like it's just floating there, you know, it's more wood. If it's on a white table, the arms tend to disappear a little bit.
Larry Hryb:​I see, active camo.
Jeff Rubenstein:​That's what I'm imagining my camo right now. You're just seeing my head floating above the screen.
Laura Massey:​As you walk around.
Jeff Rubenstein:​A panel of beautiful pixels.
Larry Hryb:​I prefer to see you in a chrome sweatshirt.
Jeff Rubenstein:​All right. Where do you get one? In the future we'll have chrome sweatshirts. People are working on it right now, I'm sure.
Laura Massey:​I'm sure they are.
Larry Hryb:​Maybe somewhere here. I don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Maybe. We are just steps away from where HoloLens was invented, right?
Larry Hryb:​That's right.
Laura Massey:​That's true it's just right behind that wall.
Larry Hryb:​Laura worked in this building quite frequently, as I recall.
Laura Massey:​Close to my heart, this building.
Larry Hryb:​All right, we're going to wrap it up so we can get Jeffery to the screening, and Laura you're going to finish your work day because you have to go to the screening.
Laura Massey:​Exactly.
Larry Hryb:​Now you're going to let me know tonight what you think?
Laura Massey:​I will.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery you're going to let me know?
Jeff Rubenstein:​You and the world, yes.
Larry Hryb:​I will say this. It's long.
Laura Massey:​Oh is it? Two hours?
Larry Hryb:​138 minutes I believe.
Laura Massey:​Okay, so 2 hours, 18 minutes.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I had a request for a shout-out from someone we work with quite a bit on the Youtuber space, and that's [Jajova 00:42:39], jahovaswitnis. He's a pretty big Youtuber we had him down to the space, and I happened to tweet that we were coming out here, and he goes, "Can we get a shout-out." I think he was joking, but you know what? It just happened. Merry Christmas.
Larry Hryb:​Why does he need a shout-out?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I don't know. We were still doing that. You worked in radio, Larry. You were there for the first shout-out.
Laura Massey:​You probably did the first shout-out. Probably invented it.
Jeff Rubenstein:​First achievement, first shout-out.
Laura Massey:​First live-streaming on the web.
Larry Hryb:​I don't know. I just do my thing.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's true.
Laura Massey:​Music internet streaming.
Larry Hryb:​You know what I need to do a presentation on, Laura? All the stuff I've done that failed.
Laura Massey:​There's a lot to learn form things that fail.
Larry Hryb:​That list is long and sordid, I'll say.
Laura Massey:​We have a philosophy here, especially in the incubation world, it's called, fail fast, and fail often. If you're not failing ....
Jeff Rubenstein:​I'm so good at that, by the way.
Larry Hryb:​By the way I had that same tact when I was in college and high school.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Fail fast, drop the class.
Larry Hryb:​See, Laura, that's why I was dropping. Now you know.
Laura Massey:​Know I know.
Larry Hryb:​When I was down in New York, I went to see a friend of mine at 30 Rock.
Laura Massey:​That's right, and you got to see the Christmas tree form the top.
Larry Hryb:​From the backside, which is very rare. I was up in the commissary, and then he brought me through the news room, and then the set of Saturday Night Live.
Laura Massey:​What? You saw the set of SNL?
Larry Hryb:​And Jimmy Fallon's space. It's nice. I mean I know a lot of people there because I've been in the industry for awhile. It's like going home there for me when I go to 30 Rock, because I spent so much time in studios. A studio's a studio. Anyway, enough about me.
Laura Massey:​And your amazing week.
Larry Hryb:​I hope everybody out there has a great week, as well.
Laura Massey:​Thank you, Larry.
Larry Hryb:​I hope everybody has a great holiday. Laura, my best to you, and Jeffery, my best to you, as well. I'm going to miss you guys and girls, a lot.
Laura Massey:​We'll see you in a couple weeks.
Jeff Rubenstein:​We'll be back.
Larry Hryb:​Yeah, we'll be back. I'll be back in New England, so keep an eye on my Twitter for where I'm going to be, and hopefully we can see out there. I call it running amok with my sisters. We go and get into all sort of trouble, so I'm going to run amok.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Last time you ran amok with your sister, I feel like you delivered a baby dog or something. Cats.
Larry Hryb:​Oh that's right. I remember my sister [Carolyn 00:44:47], she's like, "Hey, I have to go deliver some dogs. Do you want to go with me?" I'm like, "I got nothing else to do. Let's go." Yeah, that was a mistake.
Jeff Rubenstein:​I expect some stories. Cannot un-see.
Larry Hryb:​Well it's funny I called my sister, the vet Carolyn, who you haven't met Laura.
Laura Massey:​I think I have.
Larry Hryb:​Have you?
Laura Massey:​Yeah, I think I've met her.
Larry Hryb:​I called her last week to tell her I was coming home, and she was like, "Okay. Hey, I got to go." I'm like, "Why, I'm just talking to you." She's so busy I never get to talk to her. I talk to her maybe once a month. I talk to you guys more than I talk to her, and she's like, "Well, I've got to go because I've got three dead carcasses in my car that I have to ..." I was like, "Okay, go." She's a veterinarian, this is the veterinarian. This is what they do.
Jeff Rubenstein:​It's quite the cover, or it could be. I don't know.
Larry Hryb:​There could be a treatment in here for a good TV show. I got to talk to her about that. Undercover vet. Laura, again, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Laura Massey:​Happy Holidays to you, too.
Larry Hryb:​Jeffery, Happy Hanukkah.
Jeff Rubenstein:​Thank you very much.
Larry Hryb:​Happy Hanukkah. Is that with a c or an h?
Jeff Rubenstein:​I guess, theoretically it's in another language that has neither C's nor H's, so whatever works for you.
Larry Hryb:​Happy Kwanzaa and whatever holiday you schedule or you celebrate, I wish you well with that. Again, keep an eye on Twitter. I tell you guys when we have game deals. We have a bunch of game deals coming for Xbox over the holidays. I'll be tweeting those out. You can find me @MajorNelson. You can find Jeffery over there at ...
Jeff Rubenstein:​JeffRubenstein.
Larry Hryb:​Laura, if you want to follow her and her Moments, you can find her ...
Laura Massey:​@Lauralollipop.
Larry Hryb:​All right, happy holidays everyone. We will talk to you next year. Good-bye everybody.
Jeff Rubenstein:​See you in 2017.
Laura Massey:​Buh-bye

Larry Hryb: (music) Hi there, folks! Show number 585, my name is Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, um ... and that means that it's, uh, that tone either means one of two things: I have Outlook open or, in this case, the show has started!
Laura Massey: Yay!
Group: Yay!
Larry Hryb: Yay! Those voices you hear, that's right, we have Laura with me. Hi Laura!
Laura Massey: Hello Larry.
Larry Hryb: And then sitting across from you, thank you for finding time in your day to join us-
Laura Massey: You're welcome.
Larry Hryb: - and, uh, sitting across from you is Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubestein: It's been a dog's age, Larry.
Larry Hryb: This is actually-
Laura Massey: It's been a long time.
Jeff Rubestein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: This is actually a critical show, okay? Go to Snopes right now and fill out the page cause here's what I'm gonna tell you.
Jeff Rubestein: (gasp)
Larry Hryb: You know, you know good old Albert Penello who we've had on the show in the past.
Jeff Rubestein: Don't know.
Larry Hryb: There's a lot of concern that he and Laura are the same person.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Well, joining us in studio live with Laura is Albert Penello! Hi Albert.
Albert Penello: Hi, I'm not Laura.
Larry Hryb: It's nice to see you. Now you guys seriously, you haven't been on the sh-, you haven't been together in ...
Laura Massey: We've never been on the show together.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: You always seem to come on the show when I'm on vacation or something-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: - like that.
Albert Penello: I would argue that you always seem to avoid the show when I come on-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Albert Penello: - so I think it's all a matter of perspective.
Larry Hryb: Either way, either way it's been remedied.
Laura Massey: It has.
Albert Penello: Same place at the same time.
Larry Hryb: Couple things going on here, we have, uh, we, we've moved. We are now in a, they've built me this studio.
Albert Penello: Storage C.
Jeff Rubestein: So if you have it in your mind that Major Nelson radio is created in a-a-a studio worthy of Larry's radio heritage, um ... it is now.
Larry Hryb: It is now.
Jeff Rubestein: Before that it was filmed in a, in a broom closet-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: - a glorified broom closet.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. My kitchen table.
Laura Massey: Conference rooms.
Larry Hryb: Conference room.
Laura Massey: Normal conference rooms.
Larry Hryb: I've done it in a closet. Pretty much anywhere on the planet.
Jeff Rubestein: We're finally in a room that actually has proper sound isolation.
Larry Hryb: S-sound proofing that we got, we're all good to go. Anyway, we're so thrilled to have me back on the air with you guys. Laura and I did a show a couple of weeks ago with, uh, Bill Stillwell.
Laura Massey: We did.
Larry Hryb: Back Compat show, which-
Laura Massey: It was a good show.
Larry Hryb: - was a huge show.
Albert Penello: Fine gentleman.
Jeff Rubestein: It was a good show.
Larry Hryb: Right, a fine gentleman so if you're, if you're sitting there on Twitter and you have this itch to type in the letters C-O-D-3, then, uh, feel free to go ahead and, or any Call of Duty, go listen to the Back Compat and that will explain it to you right.
Jeff Rubestein: Was that big red one?
Larry Hryb: Black Ops 3, that's what they want. Black Ops 3.
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, Black Ops 3,-
Larry Hryb: They want Black Ops 3.
Jeff Rubestein: - nevermind.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, uh, Laura?
Laura Massey: Hello.
Larry Hryb: H-how was your, how was your Thanksgiving?
Laura Massey: It was good.
Larry Hryb: Your American Thanksgiving? Was it?
Laura Massey: Yes, it was, a great meal
Larry Hryb: Okay, did you go anywhere?
Laura Massey: No, stayed home.
Larry Hryb: Okay, what about you, uh, Albert?
Albert Penello: I went to Hawaii.
Laura Massey: (groan)
Larry Hryb: Guess what? No, we don't need to go any further. Jeffrey-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Albert Penello: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: - unless you went to, like, Maui or ...
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, also Hawaii. No, uh, I-I brined that bird and it was tender and juicy-
Laura Massey: Nice.
Jeff Rubestein: - and flavorful. Nailed it.
Laura Massey: How long did you brine it?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh ... about 12 hours. You don't wanna go anymore than that, it's just ... it's bad news.
Larry Hryb: It turns into a salt lick.
Group: (laughs)
Laura Massey: Hey, I don't mind the salt lick.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I know you don't. I know you don't. A woman from the South, so. All right, we're gonna jump in and we're gonna talk about, we got so much business to do, Laura. We're gonna talk about-
Laura Massey: I know.
Larry Hryb: - what we're playing, we gotta talk about the Xbox news, there's so much to go over. We've gotta talk, Albert's gonna tell us-
Laura Massey: Al's here!
Larry Hryb: Albert's here is gonna talk us about, uh,
Albert Penello: Talk us.
Larry Hryb: Talk us through ... h-huge, huge thing Xbox One S has been on sale, it was doing gangbusters over the holiday, it's still doing very well. A lot of people having questions "Hey, Albert," I see them tweeting to you. "Hey Albert, is this a good 4K TV?" And they're tweeting you while they're shopping at like Best Buy or something.
Albert Penello: I should get, like, a spiff.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Albert Penello: Like I should get a cut when I sell a TV.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Albert Penello 4K Help Desk.
Laura Massey: Yes! (laughs)
Albert Penello: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Uh, but you, you're just kinda catch us up on the status, we had you on probably right after we announced Xbox One S.
Albert Penello: So, yeah. You and I were talking a little bit about-
Larry Hryb: Yeah. So we're gonna, we're gonna figure we'd have you on again A) to dispel this myth that you and Laura-
Laura Massey: Yes!
Larry Hryb: - are the same person.
Albert Penello: Not the same person.
Larry Hryb: And B) to talk about, uh, t-that kind of stuff. Let's go through what we're playing, as a guest, you get to go first.
Albert Penello: I knew you were gonna ask me this.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Albert Penello: I'm not playing anything, I'm testing things right now.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: I am in technology test mode, right now.
Larry Hryb: Like what are you testing?
Albert Penello: Well, you know, there's a bunch of new devices that are out from us and from others and-
Larry Hryb: I see.
Albert Penello: - now's the time to go and sort of, like, plug things in and do a plugfest and figure out how things work. You know, we might be launching something next year too and so it's fun to look and see what ... what our friends are doing.
Larry Hryb: So, now people, people, people are stuck cause they, they didn't hear anything past the word "plugfest".
Albert Penello: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: They don't know what that is.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Albert Penello: It doesn't sound good.
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, is that, is that like a super Microsoft-y term?
Larry Hryb: I-I think Laura [crosstalk 00:04:26]
Laura Massey: I've never heard it.
Albert Penello: Uh, it can go a lot of bad directions.
Larry Hryb: I-I-I've only heard it because when I joined the Xbox team with 360 back in the day, before we launched 360 we did a plugfest. Which is, why don't you explain what it is.
Albert Penello: Well, i-it, uh, basically y-you know the, as you guys know there's lots and lots of different TV's and lots and lots of different devices and to buy all that stuff would be very, very difficult and very costly and so what we had historically done was cut deals with retailers to come in at night-
Larry Hryb: After hours.
Albert Penello: - after hours-
Larry Hryb: And plug our stuff in.
Albert Penello: - and just plug our stuff into all the TV's and devices that they had and see if it worked.
Larry Hryb: And take notes.
Albert Penello: And, uh, now I don't think we do that quite as much anymore as we used to but back in the scrappy days of-
Larry Hryb: I remember that.
Albert Penello: - OG Xbox and 360 we would like go to Best Buy and [bell-view 00:05:09] at like one in the morning and just, like, turn on all the TV's and plug in and see what happened.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Right, that's a true story.
Jeff Rubestein: That sounds fun.
Laura Massey: Great.
Albert Penello: We called those the "plugfest's".
Laura Massey: Yeah, very creative use.
Larry Hryb: So, you're doing a plugfest.
Albert Penello: So, it was not a good of a joke as I thought it was.
Jeff Rubestein: I thought it was like a hair club for men thing, I didn't-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: - yeah, that's where, that's where I got it from. That's where I went.
Albert Penello: There's been an increasing number of people who could have that kind of plugfest here as well.
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: So, so y-you're playing the plugfest game.
Albert Penello: I'm having, I-I'm have a plugfest at my house.
Jeff Rubestein: Zero Gamerscore for that.
Albert Penello: That's right, it doesn't show up.
Larry Hryb: Do you want to talk anything else you're playing?
Albert Penello: Uh ... between that and vacation, no I have not-
Larry Hryb: Okay, that's fair-
Albert Penello: - touched any.
Larry Hryb: - you know, when you're on vacation t-that's totally understandable cause you're enjoying, in that case, you're soaking up the beautiful sun of the tropical islands.
Albert Penello: That's right. Getting my vitamin, what is it? B? Or-
Larry Hryb: D.
Jeff Rubestein: D. [crosstalk 00:05:53]
Larry Hryb: That's the one we're all lacking.
Jeff Rubestein: Very, very much so.
Laura Massey: Very much at this point.
Larry Hryb: We're all pasty white. Uh, what about you Laura? What are you playing? I know, I know one of the ones you're continuing to play.
Laura Massey: Yes, uh, so it's probably no surprise to any listener or long-time listener that I'm still playing Diablo.
Group: (gasp)
Laura Massey: (gasp) What?!
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I know, right? Gasp.
Laura Massey: I know, they've ... they continue to make that game fun. Like they just squeeze the, the life out of it and, well for me I-I squeeze the life out of it as they try and drain or get every last drop of fun out of it.
Larry Hryb: You do.
Laura Massey: And I do. I still find it fun and like I can actually do that-
Larry Hryb: Oh, I know. I know.
Laura Massey: - it's a really fun game and ... I was able to find something for you.
Larry Hryb: You did.
Laura Massey: Have you opened it?
Larry Hryb: I haven't so-
Laura Massey: What?!
Larry Hryb: Why don't you explain this mechanic in what happened.
Laura Massey: Yes, so one of the best things about, uh, Diablo on the Xbox is the ability to gift things to your friends. You can gift things but more importantly the game embraces this and drops legendary gifts for your friends.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: And everybody wants a legendary-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: - in Diablo and-
Larry Hryb: I didn't know it was legendary!
Laura Massey: Yes!
Larry Hryb: Oh, I didn't know this.
Laura Massey: Every gift is a legendary gift.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: So they don't tell me what it is, it's just a little present-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: - that pops onto the screen and you pick it up and it says "This is a gift for Major Nelson-"
Larry Hryb: Which it was.
Laura Massey: - "Would you like to send it to Major Nelson?" And I was like "Yes, I would!"
Larry Hryb: So, I will, by the next show I will retrieve my, I-I apologize, I've been travelling, as you know and-
Laura Massey: I'm disappointed.
Jeff Rubestein: Maybe it's a purple microphone.
Larry Hryb: I hope so!
Jeff Rubestein: Like the, like straight out of, uh, the Price is Right.
Larry Hryb: I hope so.
Jeff Rubestein: The Sony, whatever that is.
Larry Hryb: ECM-50.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, that's the one (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I'm a microphone nerd, Albert, I'm sorry!
Albert Penello: Really?
Jeff Rubestein: How great of a weapon would that be, by the way?
Larry Hryb: Um, so that's, I do need to find that. So, you're playing Diablo, you playing Solitaire?
Jeff Rubestein: Yes. I am.
Larry Hryb: Sol-solitaire on iOS, Android ...
Jeff Rubestein: What's your Solitaire Gamerscore?
Larry Hryb: You can get achievements.
Laura Massey: Oh, my gosh. Solitaire is hard, y'all (laughing) I have not won a single-
Larry Hryb: So, it's-
Laura Massey: - game yet and I've played 10.
Larry Hryb: All right, now let me-
Jeff Rubestein: What?!
Laura Massey: I know!
Larry Hryb: - so now, w-which version are you playing? Just straight up-
Laura Massey: Classic.
Larry Hryb: Classic,-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: - cause here's the problem, I mean, I've been playing Solitaire like many of you and the listeners for many years. I only, I don't understand Klondike or Freecell or any of that.
Jeff Rubestein: Well, Klondike is your basic one-
Albert Penello: Okay, Klondike's a base-
Jeff Rubestein: - but you gotta play Vegas Cumulative to get yourself into a big hole and imagine how you're gonna-
Albert Penello: Can I just tell you? It is also a lie. There is no Vegas Solitaire. I have been to Vegas-
Jeff Rubestein: (laughs)
Albert Penello: - I'm like practicing to go to Vegas to win at Solitaire, there is no Solitaire in Vegas.
Group: (laughing)
Albert Penello: I've been lied to by Microsoft-
Jeff Rubestein: Oh no.
Albert Penello: - for years!
Jeff Rubestein: That's upsetting cause I've gotten really good at that and I'm like ready to, I don't go to Vegas very often but I'm ready to go and just take that town and everything they're worth.
Albert Penello: If you find Solitaire in Vegas, call me and I will fly there immediately.
Larry Hryb: Attention, attention. Anyone in Clark County,-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: It's probably like the golden nugget.
Larry Hryb: - please report back if you find it. So, so I, you're playing Solitaire?
Laura Massey: So, I wouldn't go to Vegas to play Solitaire. I am terrible at it, apparently.
Larry Hryb: Are you doing the daily challenges?
Laura Massey: I am not.
Larry Hryb: I am.
Jeff Rubestein: That's where you get your big Gamerscore.
Larry Hryb: I got the coins, yeah. Every night before I go to bed.
Laura Massey: Nice.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Though I do play Spider Solitaire and that-
Larry Hryb: See, I don't understand that.
Jeff Rubestein: It's m-much harder, so Klondike is very ba-, I've played them all to get the Gamerscore. I've got about, uh, 385 right now, um, and many more to go.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubestein: But, um, Spider Solitaire you only have like two, um, suits I guess-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubestein: - and then you have to like be a little more careful [crosstalk 00:08:51] and then with Freecell is sort of like-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubestein: - a little bit different than that, but then the pyramid or tri-peaks, whatever it's called-
Laura Massey: I haven't tried that one yet.
Jeff Rubestein: - it's actually really fun.
Laura Massey: Okay, I should give that a try.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, they're all reasonably easy-
Larry Hryb: So wait a minute, Laura-
Jeff Rubestein: and the gamer, and the-
Larry Hryb: So, Laura you know, you obviously know all these different versions of Solitaire cause y-you're taking-
Laura Massey: I've never played the, the pyramid one though.
Jeff Rubestein: Tri-peaks.
Laura Massey: Tri-peaks? I never played that one.
Larry Hryb: All right, so anyway, so-
Laura Massey: Freecell, spider solitaire, that's where it's at.
Larry Hryb: Here's the deal, on Android and iOS and, of course, Windows 10 and you download the app, you can sign in on your Android phone or iOS phone and, and you sign into Xbox Live, you get achievements and Gamerscore!
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: So, that's, that's kinda, it's free. That's, that's kinda the take away here.
Laura Massey: Free Gamerscore.
Larry Hryb: Free Gamerscore.
Laura Massey: As long as you can actually get it, unlike me-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: - who's still trying.
Larry Hryb: I've actually been getting it with, cause I'm playing, like, see I'm playing the Daily Challenges-
Laura Massey: The daily challenges?
Larry Hryb: For the, for the basic, you know, game.
Laura Massey: Very good.
Larry Hryb: Can't cheat at it.
Albert Penello: I'm gonna start it right now-
Larry Hryb: Go ahead.
Albert Penello: - and play it during the show.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Go ahead, you're welcome to do that, Albert. Until we call on you.
Albert Penello: That's right I will wait-
Laura Massey: Aw-
Albert Penello: - until asked.
Laura Massey: - I see, he's check out now he's just playing solitaire.
Larry Hryb: I know. Thanks for coming on the show, Albert.
Laura Massey: Thanks, thanks, Al.
Group: (laughs)
Albert Penello: Keeping you guys company, adding value.
Laura Massey: (laughs) And then the rest of my holiday was very relaxed-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: - so I didn't get the chance to play too much more than that-
Larry Hryb: All right, all right.
Laura Massey: - and I've been decorating for the holidays and getting ready, it's fun, fun stuff.
Larry Hryb: Jeffrey!
Jeff Rubestein: So, it's been a while.
Larry Hryb: Ah, yes it has.
Laura Massey: It has!
Larry Hryb: Laura and I did a show last time where-
Laura Massey: I think your hair is twice as long and it's-
Jeff Rubestein: I'm getting it cut, like, immediately after here. It's, uh, it's a problem. So-
Larry Hryb: That is long.
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, thanks.
Laura Massey: It looks twice as long than when I saw him last.
Larry Hryb: I just noticed it when he turned his head he's got that big, that big thing sloping, going down on the side there.
Jeff Rubestein: You know, I gotta, I gotta appeal to Generation Z.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: That's what I'm told.
Larry Hryb: Well, in this case put your hoodie up.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, [crosstalk 00:10:25] that's probably for the best.
Larry Hryb: Okay, you gotta put your hoodie up. There you go. That's all right, right there. (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: Now I look like, uh, the dude from Watch Dogs! Segway!
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: Um ... so, after beating Titanfall 2, which is one of my favorite shooter campaigns maybe ever, uh-
Laura Massey: Really?
Jeff Rubestein: Yes. Like, Titanfall 1 you played it for multiplayer because, you know, that's what it was, uh, and then you heard, I heard they were coming out with a campaign for 2 and I was like "How good can it be?" Well it turns out really great.
Laura Massey: Awesome
Jeff Rubestein: It's, it's an excellent shooter campaign. As is Battlefield, as well and I was waiting for Dishonored 2 to come out and in that meantime I was like "Well, you know, maybe I'll," I used to live in San Francisco. "I'm just gonna load up Watch Dogs 2 and I'm just gonna drive around, see if I can find my old house, see how, you know, different, uh, landmarks and things are." I haven't put it down since.
Laura Massey: Did you find the house?
Jeff Rubestein: What?
Laura Massey: Did you find your house?
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, so my, so the neighborhood I lived in-
Larry Hryb: The one you took me to?
Jeff Rubestein: What? Oh yeah, to the, so the mission is there-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubestein: - but n-not my particular street. Some of the streets I'm like "Oh, I know exactly, I'm going down Delores Street." And certain intersections-
Larry Hryb: Delores!
Jeff Rubestein: - even, yes.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: Well, there's also a Westworld thing here, it really works on so many levels.
Laura Massey: Yes, that's, that's what I connected with.
Jeff Rubestein: And like where my wife used to work, like that building, like the parking, e-everything is exactly there-
Larry Hryb: Is the ice cream place there that you took me to?
Jeff Rubestein: Um, they, so the mission does not extend east of, uh, Mission Street, unfortunately.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubestein: Um, so they just have the gentrified part of the mission, but anyway, um ... it's, it's, I got so hooked on it because I-I played the whole-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubestein: - first Watch Dogs. Actually, I was in Chicago last week for the first time since then-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubestein: - and, um, y-you, I was playing with my phone, you can't just lift [inaudible 00:11:57] everywhere and make the street explode.
Laura Massey: (laughing)
Jeff Rubestein: Um, I tried. So, uh, but it's so much lighthearted and just fun, like there's a lot of things that are really wrapped up, uh, amazingly so in like current events, like, uh ... Martin Shkreli is kind of almost in that game and-
Larry Hryb: You hack Ubisoft, do you go into Ubisoft, you have to hack Ubisoft?
Jeff Rubestein: Yes, you hack into Ubisoft-
Larry Hryb: Wow.
Jeff Rubestein: - which is exactly where-
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubestein: - it's supposed to be-
Laura Massey: That's amazing.
Jeff Rubestein: - on Third Street, I wanna say? And Bryant? So-
Larry Hryb: I didn't come across Stone when I got in that.
Jeff Rubestein: I was very upset that, that Stone Jim was not in the game.
Laura Massey: Missed opportunity.
Albert Penello: He's gotta be in the game.
Jeff Rubestein: He's not!
Laura Massey: He's somewhere.
Jeff Rubestein: I looked.
Albert Penello: Come on.
Larry Hryb: I know, I agree.
Jeff Rubestein: But, anyway.
Albert Penello: Stone, if you're listening, can you please tell us where you are in the game?
Jeff Rubestein: Please?
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: I, there it's, it is a very fun game and so, I-I have like 815 Gamerscore. I'll beat it, probably, in the next day or so. I'm very close. It just has a lot of heart whereas the first one was very technically cool, um, this one takes that and just adds like really likable characters.
Larry Hryb: So, we were playing it the other night, Jeff was playing it and I saw, I had fired it up as well, and I saw that he was playing and they have this mechanic where you can go into someone else's game and hack them.
Laura Massey: What?!
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: Yes, and so what happens is-
Laura Massey: What?
Jeff Rubestein: - if you know the hacker's there but you can't see them and what happens is then, uh, they have to stay a certain distance from you and they're downloading data off of your, your phone cause-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubestein: - so you have to try and find them before they finish the hack and then escape. And, um ... Larry, I couldn't find him.
Larry Hryb: (laughing)
Jeff Rubestein: We're, we're hanging out in the Alamo Square-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: - and I'm like looking everywhere so I end up-
Larry Hryb: And the little thing on my screen is going up, it's like 20%,-
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: - 25%, 26, 28-
Laura Massey: This is right up your street.
Larry Hryb: Right, right? Thank you.
Jeff Rubestein: So, I sent up like a drone and I'm flying it all over and it turns out Larry was just sitting 10 feet away from me on the other side of a tree-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubestein: - that I didn't see, and I found him and, uh-
Larry Hryb: I made a fatal mistake.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, very fatal.
Laura Massey: What happened?
Larry Hryb: Well, you, I had to get away. So I run around the corner, I can see him on my mini map, he's coming after me and I jump in a car ... and I take off.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: (laughing) This was great. So, there y-, there's a, you can hack cars in this game, they're all smart cars so he starts to speed off, I'm standing in the middle of the street like "Oh, no you don't."
Larry Hryb: (laughing)
Laura Massey: Oh no!
Jeff Rubestein: And I hold down, I hold down like the left bumper and I hit, ah, I think the A button and immediately he starts rolling-
Larry Hryb: It backs up! (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: - backwards, he gets out of the car and goodnight-
Larry Hryb: He guns me down.
Jeff Rubestein: -ah, goodnight Major Nelson.
Group: (sad sigh)
Larry Hryb: A lot of fun though, a lot of fun.
Jeff Rubestein: I, it's, that is a very fun mechanic and to have like, uh, these cat and mouses with it where you just go on forever. Another game that actually we were playing together is Dead Rising 4-
Larry Hryb: Oh, yeah!
Jeff Rubestein: - last week.
Laura Massey: Yeah, that just came out.
Jeff Rubestein: And it's got a separate, uh, co-op mode and we were playing the four player co-op where, it's just you're in the mall and you have a-a few object, uh, objectives to do but it's just, it's just-
Larry Hryb: Mad cap fun. If you like killing zombies it's just stupid, silly fun.
Laura Massey: Oh, yeah.
Larry Hryb: That's it.
Jeff Rubestein: You wanna bash them with a ... you know, nerf guns or, uh-
Larry Hryb: I had, I had this weird ping pong gun (pop sounds)-
Jeff Rubestein: Yes!
Larry Hryb: I was shooting ping pong balls at zombies.
Laura Massey: Was that effective?
Jeff Rubestein: That's a good sound effect.
Larry Hryb: Not at all.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Not at all, it was the worst weapon in the entire game.
Laura Massey: I could imagine (laughing), just-
Larry Hryb: (pop sounds) and it made that sound, you know, d-shooting anyway, so it was a, it was fun though. We did that good co-op.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, we did. So, uh, highly recommend the co-op, I'm still playing through, actually playing the campaign on Windows 10 and we were playing on a Xbox on multiplayer.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. We had a lot of fun with that, so um, is that all you got? Cause I got a couple things I gotta-
Jeff Rubestein: That's all I've got.
Larry Hryb: - of course I'm playing, we talked about Watch Dogs, I'm chipping away at that. The single player, doing a little co-op,-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: - a little Dead Rising 4, um, I'm playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered on my Windows 10 PC. Looks great and, uh-
Laura Massey: Right.
Jeff Rubestein: It does look good.
Larry Hryb: - a-and I think it's 4K, it looks fantastic. Final Fantasy, Jeffrey?
Laura Massey: That just came out.
Jeff Rubestein: I-I-I'm saving that, I'm saving that?
Larry Hryb: Uh, that one's, uh, that one's special.
Laura Massey: Did you start it?
Larry Hryb: Uh, yeah. I did.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Larry Hryb: I started, I'm probably about two and a half hours in.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: So, it's-
Jeff Rubestein: I'm very impressed that you're playing that game. It just doesn't feel-
Larry Hryb: The writing's actually-
Jeff Rubestein: - like a Larry game.
Larry Hryb: The writing is actually very good. The voice acting is very good, the writing is very good, the combat is. I-I made a mistake, though, in the game, you know, it's, if you go out at night the enemies are very difficult and I just, I was like "Ah, it's nighttime what could go wrong?" Well, a lot.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Larry Hryb: It goes back to my old adage that I'm pretty convinced that nothing good ever happens after midnight. Yeah, it actually carries over into video games.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I would like to point out that as we go through this I look across to the end of the table and Albert is still playing solitaire.
Laura Massey: Yes, he is.
Jeff Rubestein: He is.
Larry Hryb: (laughing)
Laura Massey: Have you won yet?
Albert Penello: Are you talking to me?
Group: Yeah (laughs).
Larry Hryb: So, uh, so anyway, that's kinda what I'm playing but I figured we'd have a chance to go through the news. I wanna talk about a couple of things I'm gonna be doing, uh, I just got, of course, Laura when you joined the show, or when you and I did the show last time we talked about my, my time in Australia-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: - and Mexico, uh, I'm headed to New York next week. I haven't even told you this, Laura.
Laura Massey: What?
Larry Hryb: I don't think Jeffrey or-
Laura Massey: More travel for Larry?
Larry Hryb: I am headed to New York, I was invited by Fox Pictures to go interview the stars for Assassin's Creed, for the film.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubestein: Michael Fassbender.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so, I'm gonna go in-
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, ask him about Alien.
Larry Hryb: I'm going to.
Jeff Rubestein: He would love that.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: So I'm gonna talk, we're gonna talk to him about that, um, I'm actually doing two things on Monday, so, we're recording this and posting this on Friday. On Monday I'm doing a Facebook Live stream, so we'll do Q&A on Facebook Live. Just follow me, I'm Major Nelson I'll tell you all the details and then I'll be gone, I'll go hang out with the stars the next day and so forth.
Jeff Rubestein: Say hi to Marion Cotillard for me.
Larry Hryb: I will do that. You seem to be very enamored with this young woman.
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, yeah, oui?
Group: (laughs)
Laura Massey: Was that French? Or something?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, yeah. That's obviously French.
Larry Hryb: Do you mean "we" as in "we"-
Albert Penello: As in both of you?
Larry Hryb: - all of us or-
Albert Penello: That's the way I took it.
Larry Hryb: - or "oui" as in "yes"?
Jeff Rubestein: All of the above.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Anyways, so it's, uh, I'll be in New York on Monday and Tuesday so look for my Tweets from that and hopefully you guys and girls can tune in on that Facebook, or do you have any questions you'd like to ask Michael Fassbender? Laura?
Laura Massey: I'll have to think about that one.
Larry Hryb: Okay. Are you a Michael Fassbender fan? You know who else is in it? Is a, is, um, Jeremy Irons, who I just-
Jeff Rubestein: Let me guess! He's the bad guy.
Group: (laughing)
Larry Hryb: I don't know but I just, I-I, he's got such a great voice.
Laura Massey: Oh, yeah.
Albert Penello: He was Alfred in, in Batman Superman so maybe he's trying to change his image.
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, I didn't see Batman and Superman.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I didn't either-
Jeff Rubestein: Versus Superman.
Larry Hryb: - so, I don't think many people did, so [inaudible 00:17:36]
Albert Penello: Anyway, yeah, it only made like 2 billion dollars [inaudible 00:17:39]
Jeff Rubestein: Why don't you ask him about that.
Larry Hryb: So I'll be in, uh-
Jeff Rubestein: I wanna, I wanna know if Fassbender, uh, if he had to cut his finger off for the role-
Larry Hryb: I will, uh, I'll-
Jeff Rubestein: - he seems very dedicated to the craft.
Larry Hryb: - I'll do a full report back, hopefully we can do a show next week cause I've got a lot of travel going on, I'm gonna be doing that, come back and then we hit right into, cause next week Albert-
Albert Penello: Yes.
Larry Hryb: - next week.
Albert Penello: Next week.
Larry Hryb: Next week.
Albert Penello: Next week.
Larry Hryb: Star Wars.
Group: (gasp)
Laura Massey: So excited.
Albert Penello: That is, huh?
Larry Hryb: Do you have-
Group: Do you have tickets?
Albert Penello: Never heard of it, never heard of it.
Larry Hryb: (laughs) S-so do you have your Rogue One tickets? Cause I know-
Albert Penello: Of course I've got my Rogue One tickets!
Larry Hryb: Okay, I know L-Laura, Laura and I were chat, ch-chatting, she has hers, Jeffrey you have yours?
Jeff Rubestein: Yep, we're seeing it, uh, at 10AM on Friday.
Larry Hryb: And, uh, so when are you gonna see it?
Albert Penello: Uh, one.
Larry Hryb: One o'clock, okay. On Thursday or Friday?
Albert Penello: Friday.
Jeff Rubestein: I won't come out spoiling it.
Larry Hryb: So, I think I see it earliest-
Laura Massey: Yes, you're the first.
Larry Hryb: - cause I see it 7 o'clock-
Laura Massey: On Thursday.
Larry Hryb: - Thursday night. Although I think-
Jeff Rubestein: Thursday?!
Larry Hryb: - I think ... I may or may not have a screening before that. That's all I can say.
Laura Massey: How special.
Albert Penello: And who are you taking to that screening with on Thursday? Albert who?
Larry Hryb: And?
Albert Penello: Yes?
Jeff Rubestein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: So I'll let you know about that, but yeah so we got a lot to talk about next week, hopefully.
Laura Massey: Yeah and yeah, Larry and I [inaudible 00:18:39] together on text messages like "Have you gotten tickets yet?" "Is anything working for you?"
Larry Hryb: Yeah, cause everything kinda went crazy with that-
Laura Massey: We were both trying to get-
Larry Hryb: - the internet melted down-
Laura Massey: [inaudible 00:18:47]
Larry Hryb: Where are you seeing it, Albert?
Albert Penello: Uh, I'm just seeing it at Crossroads.
Larry Hryb: Okay. I think, uh, I think it was mostly around people who aren't like us and can't get off in the middle of the day to go see movies-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: - so if you try to go that night-
Albert Penello: Right.
Larry Hryb: - or the night before you're stuck.
Albert Penello: Right, but I didn't have any problems going in the afternoon, so.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's
Jeff Rubestein: All right, whatever.
Albert Penello: Or, uh, sorry, uh, I am working from home that day.
Laura Massey: (laughs) [crosstalk 00:19:07]
Larry Hryb: At plugfest, plugfest!
Albert Penello: Also, also (coughs). Yeah, I think I'm coming up with something.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so we're down with that [crosstalk 00:19:13]
Jeff Rubestein: Edit that down and just go straight to the part where you're not feeling well.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Star Wars will be next week, we'll have a full report, anyway I just wanted to let folks know I'll be in, I'll be in, uh, I'll be in New York next week. Very, very quick turn, I leave on Sunday, Monday, back Tuesday night, so.
Laura Massey: That is a quick turn.
Larry Hryb: So, hope, hopefully you guys can, uh, have some good questions for that. I'll hit you up on Twitter, everyone listening, for your questions if you have any specific questions for them around the movie.
I'm just excited to talk to them about Assassin's Creed, I mean-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: - who hasn't played that franchise, right? And talk about what they're gonna do there.
Jeff Rubestein: Is it, uh ... is Fassbender, is he Altaïr or Ezio?
Larry Hryb: We will find out.
Jeff Rubestein: Okay.
Larry Hryb: So, we'll find out. Uh, anyway, a-and apparently like, they invited me to go to, uh, Good Morning America, which is a big TV show-
Laura Massey: Are you gonna be on Good Morning America?!
Larry Hryb: Well, no I'm not gonna be on it but they're doing something with a stuntman where they're gonna be have him do the leap of faith. Like I don't know how high up he's gonna be in Times Square, cause you know where-
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, yeah.
Larry Hryb: - Good Morning America's right in Times Square in New York City so-
Albert Penello: There's a lot of tall buildings there.
Larry Hryb: There's a lot of tall buildings there-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: - b-but there, a lot of tall buildings, very few haystacks.
Group: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: Remember the year that they did like the biggest live-
Laura Massey: Yes!
Jeff Rubestein: - jump like of all time? It was like the tallest stunt ever, right?
Laura Massey: Yeah, the, before the leap of faith.
Larry Hryb: Oh my god.
Laura Massey: That was, most of it's real.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, now I wanna see it.
Laura Massey: I know!
Larry Hryb: Anyway, so more details on that but we've got a lot of Xbox news. Jeffrey, you have some things in front of you you wanna go through.
Jeff Rubestein: I-I do indeed.
Larry Hryb: Awesome, why don't we tap through those cause we, we're a little bit of tight on time but I wanna, after this we're gonna get to Albert to talk about 4K and then Laura, we've gotta name the give-
Laura Massey: We do,-
Larry Hryb: - we got so much.
Laura Massey: - so many things.
Larry Hryb: - we have so much to do.
Jeff Rubestein: So the big release for the week, uh, as you well know was, uh, Dead Rising 4.
Larry Hryb: Dead Rising 4.
Jeff Rubestein: On Xbox One and Windows 10.
Larry Hryb: Did you see the video I did?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, I haven't watched that yet.
Larry Hryb: I did a video where I interviewed, Laura you didn't see this-
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: - you don't have any time. Uh, I interviewed, uh, a zombie expert.
Laura Massey: There's such a thing?
Jeff Rubestein: What?
Larry Hryb: Yes, it's all, all linked to [inaudible 00:20:52] Jeffrey, if-
Jeff Rubestein: I'll drop that in the notes.
Larry Hryb: - it was, uh, it was an interview I did with a actual, th-this gentleman prepares people for zombie attacks and I interviewed him.
Laura Massey: I would love to see that.
Larry Hryb: Thank you.
Laura Massey: Very interesting.
Larry Hryb: I will, I will make sure I put that up.
Jeff Rubestein: Ten tips to survive the zombie apocalypse.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's it.
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, another big update, uh, and that would be for Halo 5 Forge. Um, so, as you know this is something that is available for free on Windows 10 and, uh, it's something that I thought was, uh, really interesting is that, and I-I'll just read the quote here "With this powerful new feature, Halo 5 Forge on Windows 10 graduates to a full fledged Halo Arena multiplayer experience letting you search find to join games to play, at 4K, for free."
Larry Hryb: Yup.
Jeff Rubestein: So, if you've got a Windows 10, uh, computer with, uh-
Larry Hryb: What are you waiting for?
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, exactly.
Laura Massey: There should be nothing holding you back. It's free!
Jeff Rubestein: Big update there. Uh, another game that, uh, hadn't heard, uh, in a little while now available also for Xbox One and Windows 10-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubestein: - uh, it's part of Game Previews Gigantic-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: (gasp)
Jeff Rubestein: So, this is sort of a MOBA shooter and, uh, you can play it right now for free.
Larry Hryb: What are you waiting for? Xbox and Windows 10.
Jeff Rubestein: Yes, get those downloads going. Uh, Bethesda Pinball, um, so, for Zen Pinball, the Pinball FX people-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubestein: - um, they tend to make really-
Larry Hryb: They're the only ones that do pinball games, really.
Jeff Rubestein: Well, like you have like the real pinball games from the Pinball Arcade which is, uh, ID@Xbox game which is great if you want to play ... really, like, pixel perfect rep-replications of real pinball tables, uh, which is actually really fun. If you want the fantasy side, Pinball FX, uh, also, uh, available for ID@Xbox. Uh, I really love their Plants Vs. Zombies table-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubestein: - um, but now there are tables for Skyrim, for, um, Fallout and for Doom.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubestein: So, um, very ... anxious to see those.
Laura Massey: Larry did you and I do a stream on one of their tables?
Larry Hryb: We did, was that the Star Wars table?
Laura Massey: I-I don't know which table it was.
Jeff Rubestein: I think they do a bunch of Star Wars ones.
Laura Massey: Was it Portal? Was it a Portal table?
Larry Hryb: I think it was Portal, that's right.
Laura Massey: It was a Portal table.
Larry Hryb: Good memory, Laura. Good memory.
Laura Massey: That was a really fun one.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that was a really good, good tables.
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, Goat Simulator: PAYDAY.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, Goat Simulator.
Laura Massey: Love Goat Simulator.
Jeff Rubestein: And you have PAYDAY.
Laura Massey: That's a great game.
Jeff Rubestein: I have no idea how the two of those go together-
Laura Massey: We don't either.
Jeff Rubestein: I think both the developers are Swedish, there's a good ... Zlatan reference-
Larry Hryb: Okay, there you go.
Jeff Rubestein: - in there. Anyway-
Larry Hryb: They me-met at a coffee shop and now they're trying to do work together.
Jeff Rubestein: Yes and then, um, We Happy Few had a big update.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: So, you remember that hit, uh, Xbox game preview, right around E3 or just after E3? Um, they have been listening and they have made a significant update called the Clockwork Update which is now available.
Larry Hryb: Delightful. Delightful!
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: So, lots going on now. He-here's something you need to know, look, don't worry about it. You missed something now, you're confused, you're hurt, you're scared, you're huddling in a corner, you're like "I don't know [inaudible 00:23:25]." Tune in every Friday on your Xbox console, I'll tell you what to play with This Week on Xbox. You can see it on your Xbox console, Youtube, on Twitter, pretty much, pretty much everywhere, Laura.
Laura Massey: Yeah, pretty much everywhere.
Larry Hryb: Pretty much everywheres, so you can't swing a dead cat without missing This Week on Xbox.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I'll make sure you see it. Um, so there's a lot going on there, a lot of game releases but Albert's joining us, after he's gonna finish solitaire.
Laura Massey: Yep, have you won yet?
Albert Penello: I'm that close.
Larry Hryb: Look, y-you are close.
Laura Massey: Oh, you are close.
Albert Penello: Yeah, I told ya.
Larry Hryb: Uh, but Albert, so let's, I want to get you on because, uh, Xbox One S, of course, is, is the only console that has a 4K, uh, Blu-ray player.
Albert Penello: That's correct.
Larry Hryb: Are you surprised by that?
Albert Penello: Uh,-
Group: (laughing)
Albert Penello: I was shocked!
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Albert Penello: Actually- (laughs)
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Albert Penello: But pleased!
Larry Hryb: Good, so, so what else would you like to tell us? I mean I wanted to get you on to talk about, there's people that are out going now, certainly they're picking up an Xbox One S, they're talking about the games, you know, which games are in HDR, what TV do I get, what's the state of it? You know, those kinds of things and I figured you can kinda, kinda recap what's going on.
Now you have a, you have this crazy banana crazy HDR TV at home, you were telling me about that-
Jeff Rubestein: I wanna hear about this.
Larry Hryb: - I think you mortgaged the house for this thing.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Again, plugfest.
Albert Penello: Yeah, exactly. Um, so I obviously had a little bit of a heads-up that we might be doing some stuff with some 4K things on hardware-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - so, I actually jumped the gun and bought my TV ... uh, a lot earlier, actually I think I bought it late last year.
Larry Hryb: I think you did.
Albert Penello: Bought it late last year, and so, uh, I'm, I'm a, I-I'm super early adopter, pre-gen but I bought an LG OLED-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - because, uh, I also watch a lot of movies and things like that, so, um-
Larry Hryb: What are you watching now?
Albert Penello: Uh, well now I'm going back and watching a bunch of cool stuff. They're, they're just releasing a bunch of 4K, um, s-some of the older stuff, so-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Albert Penello: - it's fun to watch, like, kinda modern movies like the Star Trek's they did-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Albert Penello: - the '09 Star Trek they did in 4K and obviously Deadpool, Mad Max, and [inaudible 00:25:17]
Laura Massey: Nice.
Larry Hryb: Wait a minute, '09, '09 is old? I mean-
Albert Penello: Well, I mean the old, the old new Star Trek's. The new Star Treks. Old movies, new Star Treks.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: The JJ verse ones?
Albert Penello: The JJ verse ones. Which look great in 4K and, uh, Deadpool, Mad Max which is like one of my favorite movies in the last few years-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Albert Penello: - looks awesome. So, uh ... yeah, um, it's been fun watching people, it's, t-the thing that's interesting about this to me is that when we did 360 in HD, kinda that stuff was already in market when we launched.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and-
Albert Penello: We went right cresting it a little bit before, maybe, it depends on the way you looked at it.
Jeff Rubestein: I bought an HD TV just for my Xbox 360.
Albert Penello: There was actually 720p TV-
Laura Massey: As did I, yeah. (laughs)
Albert Penello: Yeah. But t-there was 720p TV's out in the OG Xbox, so-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - So that had-
Larry Hryb: We had the HD pack, right?
Albert Penello: Yeah, that's right, well we had the ... adapter for it and, so ... it was possible to be, cause we had like, there was DVI back then it was all before HDMI so it was different with VGA to get into that, but the point is is that a lot of that stuff that kind of worked out and here we're really on the cusp of 4K kinda coming out-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - so, there's just, I-I see a lot more confusion with customers and-
Larry Hryb: What are some of the things you see that you wanna, that you'd like to talk about?
Albert Penello: Well, the ... the first thing is the, is that you've got, um, the different technologies, right, so you, so you have OLED and you have LED sort of so there's questions about that, there's, people are more tuned to input latency for their gaming-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - so it's not really a question, you never had to ask that question in the CRT days-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - people didn't know to ask the question and sort of the early [inaudible 00:26:47]
Larry Hryb: I-I had a 16 x 9, uh, CRT, a Toshiba. This thing was, this thing had to weigh 300 pounds.
Laura Massey: Oh, I bet.
Albert Penello: Oh, yeah those were enormous.
Larry Hryb: It was ginormous and it was probably about 4 feet deep.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: It was huge.
Albert Penello: Yeah, and now you've got a flat panel that you can sorta pick up with your pinky.
Larry Hryb: Right, it's crazy.
Albert Penello: It is so thin. Uh, so, I think there's questions about that, there's questions about input latency. HDR continues to be a big question-
Larry Hryb: High Dynamic Range.
Albert Penello: Right, High Dynamic Range continues to be a question and I think that the industry hasn't sorted out you've got the HD Premium Certification and-
Laura Massey: Oh, yes.
Albert Penello: - you've got Dolby Vision and you've got, um-
Larry Hryb: And Xbox One has supports what?
Albert Penello: - so, HDR10 is the, um, t-the movie standard-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - sort of the baseline.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: Um, of, uh, HDR support. So, if your TV supports HDR it supports HDR10.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Albert Penello: You can think of Dolby Vision of kinda like THX, like it would, it would have additional requirements on top of that.
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Albert Penello: Um-
Larry Hryb: But those are the two main, I mean, anything else you hear out there, that's just kinda noise.
Albert Penello: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Those are, those are the two standards.
Albert Penello: Those are the two main standards.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Albert Penello: A-and so if it's, it's almost certain that if you're buying a, uh ... a Dolby Vision set it supports HDR10 but it might not necessarily be the, the other case. And then there's just silly things like not every TV calls these features the same things-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - and have them on by default, some have them off, some require specific ports-
Larry Hryb: That's, that's the, that's the one thing I noticed, I remember from last time and a lot of people hit me up on Twitter and sent emails is like, is like, you know, yeah you may have an HDR TV but maybe it only has input 1 and you have your console in input 2 so you're like "Why isn't it working?"
Albert Penello: So my set for instance is that way.
Larry Hryb: Oh, really? Okay.
Albert Penello: My set only has one input that supports HDR.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: Even though three of them support 4K-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - only one of them supports HDR.
Larry Hryb: So you gotta kinda have to read the fine print.
Albert Penello: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Albert Penello: And there's AV, a lot of people have AV receivers, AVR's in between them that might not support passing 4K so it's, uh, it's kinda complicated and I, I feel bad for customers because, you know, it's very easy to think like did I buy the TV's fault or is it Xbox's did something wrong?
Larry Hryb: What's going on here?
Albert Penello: Yeah
Larry Hryb: That's why, that's why if you, when you buy your Xbox One S we've got this nifty little screen in display that assuming everything works you get green check marks all the way down the line.
Laura Massey: Oh, that's good.
Larry Hryb: It's like check, check, check, check, check and it kind of, you know, so, you don't have to keep firing up a game "Does it look good? I don't know!" "Does the TV say? I don't-" we, we kinda take care of that for you.
Albert Penello: And then you can sorta work your way through the, the problem from there but there's some good sets of basics, so, um, you know ... I would say from a TV buying perspective, if you're buying something this year, you're in good shape. Like, you're gonna go with Samsung, you're gonna go with Sony, you're gonna go with LG, you're gonna go with Vizio, these are all names you know. What can you afford-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - what do you care about for a future perspective?
Larry Hryb: How big do you need it, et cetera.
Albert Penello: So, it's like I'm not really gonna say there's a, there's a good one or a bad one-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - um, there are actually really good things about all of them and there's generally some thing you wish was better on all of them, as well.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I ran into a problem cause I-I, my TV is at home, I was, I was [con-vetching 00:29:38] about this on Twitter earlier in the week, is, uh, I had to do, m-my TV doesn't do pass-through for 5:1. So I plug my HDMI's into my TV and it's a Samsung TV-
Albert Penello: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry Hryb: - and output of my output optical out into my soundbar and it's like "No, I'm not gonna pass 5:1."
Albert Penello: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry Hryb: So I'm trying to figure that fiasco out. It's just, this is, and then I went down the rabbit hole of "Oh, I wonder why this doesn't work? Let me go to AVS forum." Yeah, okay. Two and a half hours later I still don't have an answer, but I had some great reading.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Albert Penello: Yeah, and there's also, there's also this thing called ARC which is called Audio Return Channel-
Larry Hryb: Yes, yeah.
Albert Penello: - which will then go back into the receiver so everybody that's used to plugging into the receiver at the end of the TV, you can actually make it go the other way now.
Larry Hryb: But why?
Albert Penello: Which is, uh, so anyway. There's a lot there.
Jeff Rubestein: What's your best source? If I, you know, if the listeners wanna know where should I go?
Larry Hryb: Twitter.com/albertpenello
Jeff Rubestein: I'm sure he'd love that.
Group: (laughs)
Albert Penello: Ah, you know, honestly I, y-you really have got to read a lot of different sources. I think, I think the answer to that question is what do you, what are you trying to optimize for? If you're trying to optimize for games, go to the games forums. Um, the games forums have really good threads about buying TV's for gaming.
If you care about video primarily then I would go to something like AVS forum, um, that'll help you pick something that's more optimized for movie watching and video watching because they are different activities and the TV's have to compromise, um, which is why you have things like vivid mode and cinema mode and game mode because, um, you know, TV's and DVDs and animation and games all have slightly different, um, requirements.
So, it's complicated.
Larry Hryb: Right and we also wanna point out that there's, um, there's a lot of games on Xbox One that support HDR.
Albert Penello: Yes.
Larry Hryb: You know, we've got, uh, I know that Forza Horizon 3 looks delightful, delightful. Gears of War 4, breathtaking if you have an Xbox One S or a PC in HDR, well actually, so the PC side, what's going on there with HDR?
Albert Penello: Uh-
Larry Hryb: That's even more confusing, isn't it?
Albert Penello: Yeah, that's probably s-, you're gonna start seeing that stuff probably next year.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Albert Penello: Again, um, it's very easy to think that all these things do the same thing-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: - but, like, it's, oh it's a screen with pixels and so, but, uh, you know, you don't need HDR in desktop productivity software-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Albert Penello: - and so the drive to do HDR-
Larry Hryb: Nothing looks better than my pivot table in (laughs)
Group: (laughing)
Albert Penello: That's right.
Jeff Rubestein: Excel in HDR!
Albert Penello: PowerPoint is the most vivid it's ever been! And so, there's pro-, there's a lot of questions about, um, the [inaudible 00:31:58] have to be a lot different. The PC Cards have to support a lot more-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Albert Penello: - different cards.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Albert Penello: So, they're gonna be probably a little slower to adopt HDR but, um, from our conversations with them that's probably something you're gonna start to see end of 2017.
Larry Hryb: Gotta figure that out, yeah.
Albert Penello: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Albert Penello: But, uh, yeah there's games coming out, and again this is a thing I kinda like to remind peoples when everybody asks when we're just in the beginning of this, so games and game developers and TV manufacturers, we all have to sort of get used to-
Larry Hryb: We figure it out.
Albert Penello: - figure this out, what works, what do customers want-
Larry Hryb: This reminds me a little but, and I know it's not the same in terms of technology, but it reminds me a little bit of the early days of Achievements.
Albert Penello: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Where people, you know, Xbox 360 brought on this concept of Achievements and we all had those games like "Well, that does Achievements weird," or, so then the, t-then the game developers started having fun with it and figuring it out and now they're kinda got into this rhythm, right, so, you just like gotta figure it out. There's this new, it's a new tool in the toolbox and they gotta figure it out.
Albert Penello: And showing it to people is really hard because showing people what 4K and HDR looks like, um, is really hard when you're not watching the thing in 4K or in HDR
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: So, you know, how do, how do we market that and be honest? You have, you have to, um ... you have to [fledge 00:33:13] things a little bit to show the differences but you want to do it in a way that's honest-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Albert Penello: So, even telling customers what it looks like, you know, we have to go through that journey of like-
Larry Hryb: It's like describing the smell, you can't really describe a smell, right?
Laura Massey: Right, you just have to smell it.
Larry Hryb: Right, you gotta smell it.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: What does HDR smell like, Albert?
Albert Penello: Delicious.
Group: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: L-like muffins coming out of the oven on a ... warm-
Albert Penello: Like a crisp, spring day.
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah.
Group: (laughing)
Albert Penello: Uh, so yeah. It's, there, again I would just say there's a couple basic things I wanna just sorta remind everybody as they're going through this which is like, there's lots of great TVs and I wouldn't be afraid to jump in, uh, no pun intended, to buying a TV because I think, uh, you can wait forever but there's plenty of good options out there. Um, we have two things that I always point people towards and, Larry, you pointed out one of them which is we have the 4K, uh, um, troubleshooter-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Albert Penello: - that goes through-
Larry Hryb: On your console.
Albert Penello: - on the console and we have also have, um, a HD calibration utility that's in the video settings and both of those things are super important, um, to make sure not only that you have everything actually in 4K but most people don't know that the TV's, um, the way they're default set up are not really actually the best picture quality. They're brighter, they're sharper than they need to be, um, they look a little unnatural and so we have a great calibration utility that people can go through and really, and Larry I've done this to your TV's, you always see when I walk into a room-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, walk into our studios-
Albert Penello: - I complain about the sharpness on your television-
Larry Hryb: And then we get into this two hour slippery slope conversation. Once you leave then everyone is like "Well, what about this? What about?" Anyway.
Jeff Rubestein: This is like when I go home and my Mom's watching SD stuff in, in stretched out to 16 x 9.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's right.
Jeff Rubestein: And the VCR light's blinking.
Albert Penello: There's a whole in-laws thing.
Larry Hryb: Do you remember, by the way are we finally past this full screen video thing? Remember that was in the 90's when you get a video and it was like "Do you want, do you want [inaudible 00:34:55] or full screen?" Right?
Albert Penello: Now the TVs are in the right aspect ratio, so-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, right.
Albert Penello: - uh, but again, so I remind people like use the HDMI cable that comes in our box. There really is a difference in what formats the HDMI can support.
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Albert Penello: There is a quality of cable difference, um ... when you're first getting started plug it right into your television, don't go through an AV receiver, um, because that will eliminate a lot of issues that we see customers have. That doesn't mean you can't try later but start in your-
Larry Hryb: Remove as many, as many variables as you can and just get the signal straight and get it working the way you want it first and then start slowly adding in components or variables, so that you don't have to, like, unwind it.
Albert Penello: Yeah, and, uh, and look when you get it running it's really, uh, you know, we've all seen stuff in 4K and HDR and we don't, you know, I think historically we don't always support every single format war that comes out or every single industry standard, but I think this is one of those cases where I think 4K, personally, is really awesome. I know the team's really behind it, um ... I know we're listening to a lot of feedback online-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Albert Penello: - um, as people are having set-up issues. The TV manufacturers are being way better about responding and doing patches and updates.
Larry Hryb: Well, that's also the bonus of the fact that we live in this connected world-
Albert Penello: World, yeah.
Larry Hryb: - where your TV's online, it's taken, it's taken a firmware update-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative)
Larry Hryb: - and it's doing all that stuff, so, yeah. It's good stuff.
Albert Penello: It's a good time. It's good time, good, good Christmas gift. Put it on your Santa list.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I mean, I need to go out and get a new TV cause I bought mine before the HDR thing ... revolution for lack of a better term, so I'm-
Albert Penello: Do you have a 4K set?
Larry Hryb: I-I have two. I have two.
Albert Penello: But they're pre-HDR.
Larry Hryb: But they're pre-, they were right before HD and some of them are even trying to, uh, super HD, they're trying to pawn them off as like HDR but they're not. I know they're not, come on. (whispers) Come on, don't do that to me.
Albert Penello: That's, yeah.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: So, uh, anyway, so yeah we-we'll, that's good stuff now there's another great resource, uh, which Jeff will put a link to in the show notes which is, uh, there's a great article on Xbox Wire. It kinda preps you for, uh, HDR and w-we, t-the team has updated that haven't they?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, yes they have.
Larry Hryb: Recently, so, that's good to know. So that's something you need to-
Jeff Rubestein: It has, it lists out, uh, the different games that are already supporting HDR and mentions a few we know going forward are going to, so.
Albert Penello: Yeah, we're gonna have some big app announcements coming up soon. We're always adding new, uh, new 4K content, so there's gonna be more game releases and app releases coming up.
Jeff Rubestein: I need to see NBA 2K17 in HDR. That's always, like, the NBA series has-
Larry Hryb: Jeffrey Dean Chamillionaire
Laura Massey: Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask "What's your name again?"
Group: (laughing)
Jeff Rubestein: Jeffrey Dean Chamillionaire. Uh, which I feel a little weird because now Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the, the uber bad guy on, uh, Walking Dead right now, but whatever.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: There's nothing I can do with my basketball career, but that's always the game I would showoff in HD cause it, this gen, it's one of the consistently best looking games-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubestein: - like the one where people walk by and go "Who's playing?" And then you realize "Oh wait, you are."
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubestein: Not the real [inaudible 00:37:43]
Larry Hryb: But it's really, I, you know, first of all, Albert that's really good information and you're always welcome to come on the show, you know, to talk about and give us a state of the state of the HDR. Now, now of course one of the main reasons you came on the show is to really give up all the new Scorpio news. No, no, no.
Group: (laughs)
Albert Penello: Oh, you're killing me, dude.
Larry Hryb: We'll have news on that in 2017 people, people. But it's always, it's always great to have you on the show.
Albert Penello: Scorpio? Never heard of it.
Larry Hryb: It's good. Never, never, what is, what is that?
Jeff Rubestein: What is that?
Larry Hryb: I don't know what that is. Um, you got all those notes there, Jeffrey? You gonna throw in there?
Jeff Rubestein: Oh, yeah.
Larry Hryb: All right, we're gonna, we're gonna stop and do a, a Name the Game, Laura.
Laura Massey: With [inaudible 00:38:12]
Larry Hryb: Cause we really c-, cause I got a bunch of stuff I gotta do some TV, I gotta, I gotta prep for Michael Fassbender.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: Okay?
Jeff Rubestein: He seems like ... you better give him a good question or he's just gonna throw right back at you. He doesn't have time for a, you know, what's your favorite holiday recipe? He wa-, he wants the real questions.
Larry Hryb: I don't, I, I ask thoughtful-
Jeff Rubestein: I know you do, I'm just saying-
Larry Hryb: - intense,-
Laura Massey: It takes time to prepare.
Larry Hryb: All right, so Laura you ready for Name the Game?
Laura Massey: I am ready. (audio clip)
So those sounds were from Name the Game from last time-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: - and it was Farming Simular-, let me try that again.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Farming Simulator '17.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Love that game.
Larry Hryb: I know you do and you and I have yet to do in multiplayer.
Laura Massey: We have not done multiplayer yet.
Larry Hryb: Apparently because-
Laura Massey: We need-
Larry Hryb: - there's no dungeons to raid.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: They should add that as a content pack-
Larry Hryb: Yes I know, I know they should-
Laura Massey: - Farming Simulator.
Larry Hryb: - content, yeah, okay.
Laura Massey: Raid the dungeons (laughs) All right, I'm sure you don't care about o-our, our banter.
Larry Hryb: Go raid the pig sty, yeah.
Laura Massey: You want to hear who had won?
Larry Hryb: Yeah who's the winner?! Who's the winner?!
Laura Massey: The winner is John from Iowa.
Larry Hryb: Okay, that's good to know.
Laura Massey: His gamertag is Wafflehouseninja.
Jeff Rubestein: That's a great gamertag.
Laura Massey: (laughing)
Larry Hryb: That is very good.
Laura Massey: Very good!
Larry Hryb: You've been, you've been to Waffle House, haven't you?
Laura Massey: I have, yeah.
Larry Hryb: I have too, Lau-, Jeffrey I've gone to, I've been ... You haven't been to a Waffle House until you've been to a Waffle House in Florida.
Jeff Rubestein: You, you mentioned that nothing good happens after midnight. I've never been to a Waffle House before midnight.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: And am I right?
Laura Massey: Look who's won-
Albert Penello: Yes!
Laura Massey: look who's about to win.
Larry Hryb: What, h-hold on second, s-stop-
Laura Massey: Hold the presses
Larry Hryb: - a-are you gonna, you, y-you wanna win right-
Albert Penello: Yeah, this is, this is totally legit.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Albert Penello: So, I-I've fired it up-
Larry Hryb: You started a [inaudible 00:40:31] game-
Laura Massey: His first game.
Albert Penello: Laura said this is, this is-
Laura Massey: It's hard.
Albert Penello: - this is technically, I did not beat the first one, I played, this is my second game of mine. I'm gonna press the King of Diamonds-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Albert Penello: - and then I'm gonna win my first solitaire game.
Larry Hryb: And I think, and I, then you, I think you have to set, don't you have to approve a winner? Oh, look [crosstalk 00:40:46]
Laura Massey: Oh, it's got the cards!
Larry Hryb: It's even doing the animation.
Albert Penello: So there you go, number two, second game played, won it.
Laura Massey: (sighs)
Larry Hryb: Congratulations.
Albert Penello: Real time.
Laura Massey: Maybe I should give you my phone so you can win (laughs), get me the gamerscore.
Albert Penello: I also spillin' mad info, but-
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Albert Penello: - beatin' Klondike-
Larry Hryb: You wanna take that one again?
Albert Penello: - at the same time.
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: All right now, Laura, we, we, we named the winner but we didn't tell him what they won.
Laura Massey: Yes, John is very curious about what he has won.
Larry Hryb: So now you've, you went into my, I saw you rustling around in my office the other day-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: - so you must've found some good stuff cause you were in there giggling for quite some time.
Laura Massey: You have a lot of good stuff in your office.
Larry Hryb: Yes. What, w-what-
Laura Massey: I'm sure you won't-
Larry Hryb: - what did you find-
Laura Massey: - notice the things that is missing.
Larry Hryb: What did you find for wafflehouse?
Laura Massey: (laughs) So, wafflehouse has won a copy of Headlander-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: - which is a new Double Fine game.
Larry Hryb: Have you seen this? Where you have to be the head off one, ah, you take the head of him and you b-be a robot.
Laura Massey: Oh my gosh, it's just a brilliant concept.
Larry Hryb: All right.
Laura Massey: And also a new game called ABZÛ-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: - which is ...
Jeff Rubestein: Really good.
Larry Hryb: Oh?
Jeff Rubestein: It's really good.
Laura Massey: Oh, you played it?
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah, uh, it's, uh, it's sorta like an underwater exploration game-
Larry Hryb: All the words I love to hear.
Jeff Rubestein: - but it's totally trippy.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubestein: It's great.
Larry Hryb: ABZÛ.
Laura Massey: All right and that's not all.
Larry Hryb: But what?
Laura Massey: I know.
Larry Hryb: What did you get?
Laura Massey: He also gets a copy of Dishonored 2.
Larry Hryb: Right. Dishonored 2, Jeffrey you playing that?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, soon.
Larry Hryb: Soon.
Jeff Rubestein: When I'm done Watch Dogs.
Laura Massey: And-
Larry Hryb: Yes?
Laura Massey: - and-
Larry Hryb: And?
Laura Massey: - a copy of Dead Rising 4.
Larry Hryb: That's right! Cause you need to kill some zombies.
Laura Massey: Exactly, and that's not all.
Larry Hryb: Wait!
Laura Massey: John also gets a Xbox wireless controller ... the blue version.
Larry Hryb: See? See what we're doing here?
Laura Massey: Yeah!
Larry Hryb: This show, this show gives away big stuff.
Jeff Rubestein: Big prizes!
Albert Penello: Big prizes.
Jeff Rubestein: Can we throw in a copy of, uh, the Microsoft Solitaire collection?
Larry Hryb: Oh, that's for free.
Jeff Rubestein: We're, we're looking at Albert's activity feed. He's just, he's unlocked, since the, the cast started, since the show started, 65 Gamerscore.
Larry Hryb: Oh really?!
Laura Massey: What?
Albert Penello: Boom.
Larry Hryb: Well done.
Albert Penello: Can we go back to the beginning? "What are you playing?" I'm playing Solitaire.
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Uh, anyway, so that's, um-
Laura Massey: Should we do another Name the Game?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, we, well you tell me. You have one ready?
Laura Massey: Yeah. All right, let's roll the next Name the Game. (audio of a video game) So that was Name the Game for this week. If you would like to win fabulous prizes, it's super easy. All you have to do is send me an email lollipop@xbox.com and CC major@xbox.com-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: - and just tell us what game that's from.
Larry Hryb: And if you don't know what it is and you're frustrated, just send us an email and say "Hello."
Laura Massey: That's true. We always like to hear-
Larry Hryb: We won't enter you but we love to say hello.
Laura Massey: Yes, we love to hear from our listeners.
Larry Hryb: If you have any questions about, uh, about, uh, HDR and 4K, uh, we'll link to Albert. Now usually when I have you on the show I link to your, uh, your Twitter profile.
Albert Penello: Sure.
Larry Hryb: Is that okay? (laughs) Do you even read-
Albert Penello: Better than my, of course! Absolutely, all the time.
Larry Hryb: Okay, okay. I didn't-
Albert Penello: Yeah, like when we launched Xbox One S I really was, like ... you know, twit albertpenello was the, like, 4K set up source.
Larry Hryb: Yeah (laughs)
Group: (laughs) [crosstalk 00:43:34]
Albert Penello: I spent like two days responding to people.
Larry Hryb: Thank you for calling help desk (laughs) .
Albert Penello: That's right (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Anyway, all right, so that's, we-we're doing Name the Game. So did you tell people-
Laura Massey: I did.
Larry Hryb: - to call and all that stuff?
Laura Massey: Yes I did, I told them to call, yeah they have all the instructions.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubestein: Don't worry Larry, you'll listen to the show later.
Laura Massey: Yeah, you'll figure it out.
Larry Hryb: W-what?
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I'm trying to keep the train on the tracks here. What do you got over there, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubestein: Well, I just have, I'm looking at the fact that, uh, i-it jogged my memory, uh, Farming Simulator-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubestein: - that Stardew Valley is out next week on Xbox One.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, now that's a gaming, game similar to Farming Simulator, is it not?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, it's, it's more fantastical. It's sort of a ...
Larry Hryb: Are there unicorns?
Jeff Rubestein: Reminiscent of Harvest Moon, in a way.
Laura Massey: Interesting.
Larry Hryb: Are there dungeons?
Jeff Rubestein: Um-
Laura Massey: I'd be good for dungeons.
Jeff Rubestein: - possibly. I actually haven't played it yet, but it's like a farming RPG and it's very popular a-and, and we'll have it next week.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: I'll have to give that a try.
Jeff Rubestein: No, it's gonna be-
Larry Hryb: No-
Jeff Rubestein: - y-you're gonna be playing this game, this is your next jam.
Larry Hryb: - so I don't know what our, I gotta tell ya I don't know what our schedule is next week, ou-our recording schedule ... because I go to-
Laura Massey: Because you have the trip.
Larry Hryb: - New York. I've got New York, I've gotta come home, we gotta shoot a couple weeks of This Week on Xbox, are you available next week Laura?
Laura Massey: I am.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: It's on my calendar.
Larry Hryb: Albert? Would you like to join us? Okay, here's the deal Albert, you are welcome to join us if you can unlock another 65 Gamerscore in a week.
Albert Penello: Easy.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Albert Penello: That's so many, isn't it?
Jeff Rubestein: Not in Solitaire.
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: It's so many-
Jeff Rubestein: In Jeffrey's cell, you're there.
Larry Hryb: - Jeffrey, Jeff you'll be here next week, right?
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, little bit, so hopefully if we keep it where we normally record I-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubestein: - I'm good.
Larry Hryb: You're good, that's right cause you're headed, you got some holiday plans. Laura, I know you, you're, you've got some,-
Laura Massey: I do.
Larry Hryb: - a busy holiday schedule. Oh, actually what about you, what are you gonna be doing, uh, Albert? You gonna stay here or you gonna go to Hawaii again?
Albert Penello: Uh, nah (laughs). I wish, I wish I could be going to Hawaii. No, we're gonna do the family thing here.
Larry Hryb: What about you Jeffrey, you're headed back-
Jeff Rubestein: Uh, headed to Europe.
Larry Hryb: You're headed overseas-
Jeff Rubestein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: - that's exciting.
Laura Massey: Oh, that's fun.
Jeff Rubestein: I'm doing the anti-family thing and, uh, we're going, going to Iceland.
Larry Hryb: I actually just booked it, I'm gonna be headed back East. I'm gonna go see my family, I'm gonna be doing a couple appearances at some Microsoft stores.
Laura Massey: All right.
Larry Hryb: So, uh, Danbury, Connecticut I'm coming your way. I owe you, I've told yeah for three years I'm coming your way. We're gonna do it!
Laura Massey: Awesome!
Larry Hryb: Danbury's in the middle of nowhere, Laura.
Albert Penello: There's a Microsoft store in Danbury, Connecticut?
Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.
Albert Penello: Wow.
Larry Hryb: It's a, it's kinda on the west, right on the border to New York State, it's out on 84 and it's a, I've been there quite a few times but it's a, it's a, it's a schlep as we say.
Albert Penello: Do they have like a, like a Kramer of you on the wall?
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Albert Penello: I sort of envision that you would be like the Patron Saint of that store.
Jeff Rubestein: Th-there's a sandwich, there's a sandwich named after him.
Laura Massey: I bet!
Larry Hryb: Th-there isn't but they do take, a lot of the stores take This Week on Xbox and they roll it on a loop so when I go into a store I see myself.
Albert Penello: Terrifying.
Laura Massey: Are you serious?
Jeff Rubestein: It's the number one complaint from the employees.
Group: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: That's a, if you want to sell more stuff, get, press pause! Don't show me! Uh, anyway so we-we've got busy, busy holiday. Hopefully we're gonna do an end of year, um, end of year show. I don't know when, I don't know how, I don't know where but we're still here. The good news is, uh, we have to keep doing this show cause we have this brand new, beautiful studio. So I guess-
Laura Massey: We do.
Larry Hryb: - that means we're gonna be in business for a while.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: So, anyway. Do you have anything else you wanna add before we wrap up here? I know I'm kinda rushing people along, but we've got a lot to do.
Jeff Rubestein: All right, well let's do those things and we'll catch up later on devices.
Larry Hryb: Albert, thank you so much for, uh, joining us, and-
Albert Penello: Thank you for having me, I love coming here! And Laura and I are not the same person!
Laura Massey: We're not!
Albert Penello: She decided to show up when I show up.
Laura Massey: We are different people.
Albert Penello: I took a shower last-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, you look-
Albert Penello: night, smell okay, I got my best Batman shirt on.
Larry Hryb: Well, actually we have a little bit of a problem cause Laura and I go back and forth who's Batman and now you, now you're, no.
Albert Penello: I'm Batman.
Laura Massey: He's entered his hat into the ring.
Larry Hryb: I know, he has, hasn't he?
Laura Massey: Sorta push that hat back out.
Larry Hryb: That was accidentally-
Laura Massey: I'm Batman.
Larry Hryb: I'm Batman. Uh, but thank you guys. For Laura, I want to thank you for joining us as always-
Laura Massey: You're welcome.
Larry Hryb: - and you dear listener, I wanna thank you for finding the time for downloading the show and taking the time out of your busy day to listen to this and, uh, thank you for all your support of Xbox and we'll see you guys next time. You can follow us on Twitter, uh, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubestein: @jeffrubenstein
Larry Hryb: Albert?
Albert Penello: @albertpenello
Larry Hryb: And?
Albert Penello: @lauralollipop
Larry Hryb: Find me @majornelson we'll talk to you guys next time. Buh-bye everybody.
Laura Massey: Buh-bye.
Albert Penello: Bye! (music)

Larry Hryb: Hi. It's Larry here at Xbox Live's Major Nelson, and, uh, wow, we're back. We're back. It's been, it's been almost a month. Actually, I think it's been more than a month Laura.

Laura Massey: It's been forever.

Larry Hryb: Hi La-Laura. Nice to see you.

Laura Massey: Hello. Nice to see you Larry. And wow.

Larry Hryb: You're with me, but for some reason, Jeff now-

Laura Massey: We haven't found Jeff.

Larry Hryb: Uh, that's quite all right. Jeff is, Jeff is globe trotting, but I remember, I told you. I said, "Laura, we've got to do a show." 'cause I hate going such a long time without doing a show.

Laura Massey: Yes. I can't even remember the last time we had a show. Do you?

Larry Hryb: Well, I was ... yeah, I can tell you. It was, uh, no ... Thursday, November, uh, Friday, November 21st. So it was before I left for Australia.

Laura Massey: Friday, November 21st is in the future.

Larry Hryb: Uh, Friday, October 21st.

Laura Massey: Okay. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs) I don't know what's wrong ... wow, I'm really a mess. I still have jet lag. We'll talk about-

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: My trip to. We'll talk about my trip to, uh, I was in Mexico. I was in Australia. I went to Pax Australia.

Laura Massey: You've literally gone around the world.

Larry Hryb: I have. I have. And, I, uh-

Laura Massey: Is it more than around the world?

Larry Hryb: Uh, I think it's pretty close. I flew over 56,000 air miles.

Laura Massey: That's forever.

Larry Hryb: And spent over 70 hours in an airplane seat in 14 days.

Laura Massey: Jeez, that's amazing.

Larry Hryb: Uh-

Laura Massey: Just amazing.

Larry Hryb: But we're ... I'm sure we're excited because we're now sitting here, you know, we talked earlier this week, we celebrated the 15th anniversary of Xbox.

Laura Massey: That's right. Horray!

Larry Hryb: Woo!

Laura Massey: Happy birthday Xbox!

Larry Hryb: And also, another milestone ... we passed the one year anniversary of backward compatibility on Xbox One.

Laura Massey: Right.

Larry Hryb: Did you know that?

Laura Massey: I did.

Larry Hryb: And sitting with us in the studio today, joining us from his backward compatibility laboratory, Bill Stillwell. Hi Bill!

Bill Stillwell: Hi Larry. How are you?

Larry Hryb: Now your team is responsible for running the backward compatibility program.

Bill Stillwell: Yes, the team that I work on runs all compatibility efforts for the platform, as well as also 360.

Larry Hryb: So, I want to welcome you to the show!

Laura Massey: Yes, welcome!

Bill Stillwell: Thank you.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, we're really excited to have you in here because you and I have been working together. Well, I first ... well, I've known you for awhile, but when you told me about ... I want to go back in time. Because you know, I'll never forget this. You were in a different building, and I remember I came to see you in your different building, which is a little bit off-campus in the secret hider bunk-out, bunker. And somebody told me you were working Xbox 360 games coming to Xbox One. This is before we announced it.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: And I was like, "Bill, are we going to do this?" And you were like, "Yeah." and you shut the door, and I remember you brought up on your, on your, uh, on your DevKit how it was working, and it was, it, my mind was blown.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, we, we had it running for a fair amount of time.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: In the begin- in the concept phase. We were really just working with prototypes.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And mostly, we had a group of engineers who were just really passionate about gaming and the kind of engineers that when you tell them you can't do something-

Larry Hryb: Oh yeah.

Bill Stillwell: They sort of take it as a dare.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: They went off, and they went, "Well, we've got some of this here. We've got some of this here." And they put it together and then eventually we got a game running.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Um, and the-

Larry Hryb: Can you say what the first game was?

Laura Massey: Yeah, can you share?

Bill Stillwell: Um (laughs) I will say that one of the first games that we demoed-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Internally was actually Castle Crashers.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Um-

Larry Hryb: Laura, you're a big fan-

Laura Massey: I'm a big fan obviously. (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Yep. It's a great game too, and it's nice because it gives us the ability to look at things like multi-player, multi ... local co-op, all sorts of different-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Game modes.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: Um, also not a huge system taxing game-

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Because we're trying to work through ... 'cause there's not a ton of overhead for the emulator to run on the console itself.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: But we, we started with that, and then we tried a couple other games as well, some I can't talk about.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: But, uh, had it running, and then they showed it to the leadership team.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: Showed it to Phil and the whole team, and it was just, "Hey! Just, just so you know, we've done it." And, uh, that-

Larry Hryb: What was that like? Presenting that? That must've been pretty amazing.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, it's, uh, when you work really close with something, sometimes you forget just sort of the big picture around what you do 'cause-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: You're dealing in the minutia-

Laura Massey: Every single day.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, just all the time, and so, um, you lose sort of that experience of the very first time you saw it.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: 'Cause it's been months and then you show it to someone and then you see it again, you sort of get to relive that moment where they realize the impact of what you're potentially doing.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: But even then, we were still looking at it as a technical problem.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And until you start to see user interactions with it, you're not really sure what you have.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Other than you've done something technically difficult, and you've made it successful, um, that's always rewarding. Just from a career perspective but not necessarily from a, uh, just fan enthusiasm.

Larry Hryb: I got to tell you ... this is, this is actually my, kind of my second time around this, this track because here's why. I remember when I was working on the Xbox 360, and there was a team downstairs. I think that it was the fusion team.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: The fusion team.

Laura Massey: I remember them.

Larry Hryb: And do you remember them?

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: And they were running ... they were working on backward compatibility for original Xbox games, so I remember some of the things ... I would go down and stop by their offices everyday, and I don't know if you remember this Laura, but they had a number on the door.

Laura Massey: Really?

Larry Hryb: They had a number on the door, and the number on the door was how many frames they were running at 'cause they were trying to get to-

Laura Massey: Oh. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: 30 frames.

Laura Massey: I think-

Larry Hryb: I'd go by, and it was five, and then it was seven.

Laura Massey: (laughs) Well, that's-

Larry Hryb: Then it was 12. Then it was 18. It stayed 18 or 20 for a long time. So, I'm, I remember seeing that small team back then doing it and obviously in original Xbox games to Xbox 360, there was an architecture change for those of you who remember that. And it's similar to what happened now. Was another architecture change from the Xbox 360 to Xbox One.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, we, we had to take effectively power PC code and translate it to X- X84.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And there's a whole bunch of other things that have to go into that. And one the things that's different from what we do; we call it the project Fision, which was different than Fusion.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Uh...

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: From Fusion to Fision.

Laura Massey: That's amazing.

Bill Stillwell: Was the focus was more on getting the base Xbox 360 to run and getting that instruction set to consistently reproduce, and then we did that, we're still doing the same thing. I mean, even today, we're still going through looking at games, looking at frame rates-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And looking at where, uh, the emulator's able to handle load or handle physics engines or where accuracy is done. It does add new challenges. Um, when you change the size of the memory address space, you have to do translations and so maybe floating point calculations don't come out exactly the same.

Larry Hryb: You with this Laura?

Laura Massey: Yes, I am.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Bill Stillwell: Collisions based-

Laura Massey: I'm over there.

Larry Hryb: Engineer talk. (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Right, we had a, we had a period of time where we had Fortune Horizon running great. Looked flawless. It just didn't have any collisions in it.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: So you just drive right through a regular car. Then you go through and whenever you work on correctness or you work on precision, that takes away from performance.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: And so it's striking, striking the balance-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And making sure that it all runs the way it did on the 360.

Larry Hryb: I want to go back to, to early 2015, mid-2015, when, when I saw it before E3 announced it 20 ... at E3 2015. 'Cause there was, there was this moment where we were like, "Wow, we're really going to do this! We're going to announce it." But there was like ... what was that like-

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:06:43]

Larry Hryb: Before, before, before, um, it was announced.

Bill Stillwell: Two things. Two things stand out before E3.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: The first was we were terrified it was going to leak.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: And because you don't think about it when you first start building the prototype, you're showing everybody. "Hey! Look what we've done!"

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: "Look what we've done! People walking by the halls, and you're showing them these games playing-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And they're like, "Oh, that's really cool." And then you're like, "Oh no, we don't want anybody to know we're doing this."

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Bill Stillwell: Oh, oh, who saw this? Um ... did this ... and as excitement builds for E3, you see all this speculation on Reddit and [inaudible 00:07:11] and others.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, of course.

Bill Stillwell: And the best part about it was every time somebody said, "I bet you they're going to announce 360 games they're running." Somebody else would just say, "There's no way. They already said it was impossible."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: And so we had this sort of built-in safety valve where people that got it right-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Were just shouted down. "No, you're too ... you're completely wrong!"

Larry Hryb: They can't do it.

Bill Stillwell: "There's no way they can do that."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: So that was, that was pretty awesome to see. The other part was we, we did Mass Effect as our first game.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: That was the big reveal, and partly that was chosen because it ran.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: It was also ... it's an iconic game.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: It sort of represents the console in a way. And for ... there was a number of things that came together on licensing, et cetera.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: So, we picked that game.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: I love the series.

Larry Hryb: Who doesn't?

Bill Stillwell: But I will also acknowledge that it isn't the cleanest running game. Even on the 360.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: And so then we, we sort of backed ourselves into this weird space where as we were trying to get ready to do the show, and we're doing the videos, and you know how you build the videos up and they go through the demos-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, you're getting ready, and you're rehearsing.

Bill Stillwell: "This doesn't look right!" Or "Why does it look so jerky?"

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: "What's wrong with the emulators?"

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Well, it's actually game.

Larry Hryb: That's actually the game, guys.

Laura Massey: That's a way around 360.

Bill Stillwell: Right, and that's, and people forget that. And we still, we still see that today right?

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: We release a game, and people are like, "I don't like how this looks." or "It doesn't play as good."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And it's like, "No, it plays exactly the same."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: "You just don't remember it because it was eight years ago."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: So, we had endless practice sessions on-

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Getting that game running on the stage.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Like, "I don't think it looks right! What's wrong with the system?"

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

Bill Stillwell: Nothing's wrong. It's just we picked-

Larry Hryb: Do you ever want to just bust out an old 360 and put it in there and go, "Guys, so ... Look!"

Bill Stillwell: We actually talked about just swapping out an Xbox One under the covers with a 360-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And see if anybody would notice.

Larry Hryb: Right. right.

Bill Stillwell: So when they still said, "It still looks horrible." Well, it turns out you're on the 360.

Larry Hryb: Exactly.

Bill Stillwell: But we didn't do it. So-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: See, that was probably the best reaction to any of the announcements that year for E3, uh, in the crowd.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: I remember the crowd just erupted in huge cheers.

Bill Stillwell: It was, it was super humbling.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Um, I've been to E3 before, but it's always been sort of I go there, and I go meet with partners in the back room.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, you're doing your business.

Bill Stillwell: And I never really go out on the show floor. I've never gone to the briefing live. We had gone to the mall the night before.

Larry Hryb: That's right.

Bill Stillwell: We decided to give the fans-

Larry Hryb: That's right. You and I were out there, and, and, 'cause of course, I knew that it was coming the next day. And we-

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: And I couldn't introduce Bill and say, "Hey-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Here's the guy's that's going to-" So, yo were just kind of in there-

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, I was just some guy that was following him around.

Larry Hryb: Right. I remember.

Bill Stillwell: And Phil was there, and people were like, "Well, he's with them, so maybe he does something."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: But they had no idea who I was.

Larry Hryb: And we couldn't say who he was. (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: And, and, so, so I, but I, at the time I also, I still do [inaudible 00:09:35] for the 360 console itself, and so there was-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Some people that when I started talking to them, told them what I did do-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: They were allowed to know about. Um, "Oh, you know, I still love my 360! I still play this game." and you'd hear things like, "I wish they would do Mass Effect again"-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: "Because I love that game, and I still want to play that game."

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And we would, and they would go through the list of things that they still play, and there's still an emotional attachment to these things.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Even though they're moved on.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Or they're moving onto the Xbox One, so then we go to the actual show-

Larry Hryb: The briefing.

Bill Stillwell: And I get to sit there and it was awesome that they brought all of them to sit on the show floor.

Larry Hryb: Right. Right. Right.

Bill Stillwell: Remember-

And then when they announced it, um, you could ... there's a teleprompter that's up and so some of the press are reading ahead a little bit.

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: And you ... all of a sudden, there's just this massive intake of breath.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Because it says "360 Backward Compatibility".

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And then everybody pauses and then the place just erupted.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: And that's where you start to feel the impact of what you do.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And that's one of the things that's more rewarding than just about anything else because I'm, I'm a gamer. I play games all the time.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: My son plays games with me.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: This is an art form that we're just immersed in, and then you see how what you're working on brings that reaction to other people. And it's very rewarding.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I remember, I remember it was a wonderful year that year. Of course now we've ... we announced in 2015, we launched it, and as I said, a year ago, uh, 20 ... November 2015, and here we are in November 2016 ... wow! What a year it's been!

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, it's been a big, it's been a big year for us.

Larry Hryb: Now you've got ... you brought some stats, right?

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: You've got a few stats you want to share with us.

Bill Stillwell: Uh, well, well, we're over 280 games.

Larry Hryb: 280 games.

Laura Massey: Wow.

Bill Stillwell: We're, uh, I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but we're going to try to get 300 as quick as possible.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Bill Stillwell: May get it in by the end of the calendar year. We'll see.

Larry Hryb: Maybe not. We'll see.

Bill Stillwell: Maybe not. Be close. And we've done, and we've launched with 100 games.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: Over 100 games. I've done 170 plus games since the launch.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: One of the other things that, uh, a large part of what we work on, um, just from a mechanics physics of releasing a game is we republish everything, so we have ... we're effectively the largest publishing studio-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: At Microsoft. We publish more than anyone else.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: So that also means that a lot of these games, when they came out, they released the game and then a DLC pack came out a few months later-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: And then another Mac pack came out. We have to do it all at one time, and we have to do it all for all regions.

Larry Hryb: All over again.

Bill Stillwell: Every time. Yes.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: And so, we've released a ton of content. Um, the other thing that's really rewarding is we know now we're over 210 million hours of game play.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Bill Stillwell: From-

Laura Massey: You have played the game 210-

Bill Stillwell: Playing these games again on their consoles.

Laura Massey: Wow.

Bill Stillwell: Or you don't think about this as much 'cause I've been playing games for so long, but for a lot of people, Mass Effect's a good example. The trilogy's out-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: A lot of people are playing it for the first time.

Laura Massey: Yes, that's right.

Bill Stillwell: Because when it came out, they were-

Laura Massey: It was eight years ago.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah. They were too young to play it.

Larry Hryb: Sure. Right.

Bill Stillwell: Or had never played a game, and now for them, and I'm sort of jealous they get to experience that whole trilogy again.

Laura Massey: Yeah. All-

Bill Stillwell: For the first time.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: They can binge.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, they play, they play all-

Laura Massey: Binge play.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, they can play all three of them.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Um, [inaudible 00:12:24] coming out or whatever it is.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: So, right-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I mean there's been so much, you guy's have done so much incredible work. And I think that people forget that it's not like you just take ... you go out to, uh, you know, wherever and buy a ... go to someone's house, say, "Oh, we've got this Xbox 360 disc," and hand it to Bill and say, "Hey Bill, can you convert this?"

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: No, that's not the way it works.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Um, we, we haven't talked a lot about the tech-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And, and we will at some point go more in detail-

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: We're not ready to really expose all of it, but we do still have to do work on every game. Uh, one of the things that happens is when we get a game, we, we have everything ranked-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And when something comes up, it's the rank, it's time for this game ... the first thing they do is they put it through, um, a full play-through just to collect, collect enlightenment data to collect shaders and make it so we can package the game and make it run effectively.

Larry Hryb: Now when you say "rank", what does that mean?

Bill Stillwell: Um, well, so, uh, user voice-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: The, uh, website that we have up on the forum, where users can vote for the tiles that they want-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: That is actually our primary, uh, ranking-

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Really if you will. We look at other things. We look at the popularity of the game.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: How well it sold. And then from there, we started ingesting those games into our system and running them through testing passes.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Not every, every game comes in in that rank order.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: So the ones that are the top of the user voice are the first games that we look at, but they don't come out in that order because we don't hold anything-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And so, we'll get a game that just happens to be ready to go, it'll come through, it'll ingest quickly, it's a short game. It takes, you know, a tester for hours to get through it or six hours to get through it.

Larry Hryb: And you have to play ... and let's be clear, you have to play every single game again.

Bill Stillwell: We play every single game. We play it multiple times.

Larry Hryb: Multiple times. So when you guys make a ... so, you're like, "Okay, we're going to play the game. This worked okay. The shaders, the collisions were wrong, okay - play it again!"

Bill Stillwell: Yep.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: And, and it's not the, it's not, "Oh Man, I wish I could play games for a living." Um-

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: It turns out that it's not the fun way to play a game.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: It's, "Hey, just run into this wall 400 times."

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: Until we know it works.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Um, but we go through all of that and then in some cases, we'll have issues come up and we'll realize that we're not handling a condition correctly in the emulator.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And so we'll take or change the emulator to make the game run better.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: But that may require it maybe destabilizing or it may be a type of change that requires us to do another full play-through again.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: So we do continue to work, um, it's important, I think, for people to realize that when a game like Omega 5, which is a fun [inaudible 00:14:36] game that came out today.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: We didn't like stop working on a title that you really wanted that was higher in user voice.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: To go do this instead.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Um, we, we pay a lot of attention to what the ranks are and what people want.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: We try to deliver them as fast as we can.

Larry Hryb: But there's also something to point out. You know, you talked about that ... you paying attention to the ranks, it's not just like, "Oh, hey! This particular title is rank number one. It's working. Let's go release it." Because we work in an IP based industry, intellectual property-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: We don't ... you need to go find out who owns the rights to the game. And can you in fact release it?

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, that, that happens a fair amount. Um, a lot of time, we have another part of the team, they only interface with the publisher's third party publishers.

Larry Hryb: So, the business side-

Bill Stillwell: The business side of it.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And they look to collect, you know, do you still have the rights to this game. Um, it ... in some cases, it may just be the music.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Um, one of the things with Xbox One, the ability to game DVR and broadcast-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: That's a different music license.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And so, nobody-

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Did their 360 contracts with that license in mind.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: They bought the, the single use or the limited use license.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Laura Massey: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Which is not for distribution.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And so they'll have to consider, you know, what's the financial impact or will the licensing company ... the company that licensed from give me a waiver.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And sometimes they actually-

Larry Hryb: So, there's work that needs to be done.

Bill Stillwell: They pursue all that and then at the same time, IP changes hands, people buy rights, people buy studios-

Laura Massey: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Studios go bankrupt.

Larry Hryb: Yep. Yeah, there's ... I can think of a handful of studios that were big back in 360 that don't even exist anymore.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, um, one that we, that we've gotten pretty good at tracking down. Uh, THQ-

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Obviously released a ton of great 360 games.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And now all their IP's been scattered and bought by various companies.

Larry Hryb: And I, like, "Okay, we want to find this THQ game was X ... " Now you've got to [inaudible 00:16:17] and go, "Gee, who owns the rights to that?"

Laura Massey: Right. A lot of legwork.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, it takes a long time. Um, and also, there's a little bit of the Wild West in some of these areas.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: Around [inaudible 00:16:27] contracts and so you'll find just really strange, like, one of the things we've learned-

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: Is no matter how logical it would seem to write a contract with a company-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Somebody has written one that you're like, "There's no way anybody would ever do that."

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Oh yeah-

Larry Hryb: They did it. They did it.

Bill Stillwell: Um, you know, where they've said very specifically a date or they've said very specifically a console brand or something like that.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, something like that.

Bill Stillwell: Something ... just like weird stuff.

Larry Hryb: And because we, we respect all the IP right's holders, we have to share it down, and we have to do our due diligence and make sure we get clearance so that we can do this.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, exactly, and, and, and I, I want to say; the third party support we've gotten for the program's been amazing.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: The great partners. They all want to be a part of this.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: It just ... it's hard to figure out sometimes.

Larry Hryb: You have to untangle that mess that happened 10 years ago.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Or, or we'll find something like, uh, a disc that was part of pack-in for some other promotion that had nothing to do with the actual game-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: But now is also how you could play the game, and we have to find that disc and make sure that it's the same image.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Um, and then the various ... the other thing that we'll go through is particularly for big games-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: They'll have a game of the year, and then maybe they'll have had a platinum hits, and then sometimes they'll actually include different DLC or something with it-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And we have to figure out all of those because we have to map that structure.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Before we can publish the game too.

Larry Hryb: Are we, oh, can I make a request?

Bill Stillwell: Yes, go ahead.

Larry Hryb: I mean, I, I could go over to user voice-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Are we going to get Sneaking? (laughs)

Laura Massey: Sneaking.

Bill Stillwell: Uh-

Laura Massey: I remember that game. Yeah! Burger King game!

Larry Hryb: You're still having nightmares, are ya?

Bill Stillwell: [crosstalk 00:17:51] The Burger King games. Uh, so-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Interesting fact about those games. When they were shipped, they were shipped ... as a, as a promotional game for Burger King.

Larry Hryb: Right. You had to go to Burger King.

Bill Stillwell: They weren't on our traditional encrypted discs that we use, which we used as the identifier.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: So, I actually have no way of knowing-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: If I get all those games working, I don't actually know when you put the disc in-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: That you've installed that disc.

Larry Hryb: Oh, interesting!

Bill Stillwell: So because of the way we work, we look up the ID-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: The security process or we just decrypt and we go, "This is this game."

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And then we can push the [inaudible 00:18:23] not in the box.

Laura Massey: Oh, I see. Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: I can't tell you what-

Laura Massey: What game that is.

Bill Stillwell: You could've just put in any disc. I have no idea what it is.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Right. Right. You put in Thriller.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: We absolutely want to ship them and so we're still looking in-

Larry Hryb: Trying to figure that out.

Bill Stillwell: Creative ways we can-

Larry Hryb: I'm sure Burger King would be like, "Yeah, bring them back! I don't care!" (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Maybe we'll do a promotion with Burger King and get them all back out.

Larry Hryb: It's, uh, you know, so, so the good thing ... the good news is, is ... or not the good news is just to be clear is that there's a, there's a, there's, you know, User Voice is what you guys use, but there's a lot of other things. It's not just the publisher saying, "Yeah, you want to do ... we want to work with you." It's actually doing all the due diligence and getting all, making sure legally we're all set.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, absolutely.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so there's a lot of working going on there. What's, um, what's been your favorite game that you guys have worked on? Do you have one? I mean, it's tough to choose, I'm sure.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, I mean, uh, I play a lot of different games. Sometimes it just depends on what, what I'm feeling that day.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: I've always been a huge fan of Borderlands.

Laura Massey: Mmm. [crosstalk 00:19:15] this podcast. Yes.

Bill Stillwell: It's, uh, it's, I, I still play, and I, I think I bought every version of Borderlands they've shipped. Whether it's PC or 360.

Larry Hryb: Whatever.

Bill Stillwell: Or One directly. And that was one of our first games. They were one of our big partners right off the bat, like, "Hey, how can we be involved? How can we help?" Um, so that's absolutely one of them.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And then I think that, uh, Reach.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Bill Stillwell: Especially now that we've gotten the new update out. We do update the emulator pretty frequently.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I want to talk about that is that a lot of people may not know this is you guys don't just fire and forget.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah, we, we, we run it. Every time we do an update, we run through the back catalog a bit. There's a set of ... a key set of games that we test play for compatibility.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: And make sure it still works. And also, when we do discover that we had something that we could do better-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: Um, and it will materially impact one of the games we've already shipped, we'll just, we'll just rerun that game through a mini test pass-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Put the update on it. And then push it back out.

Larry Hryb: And then re-release it.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Finish your update.

Bill Stillwell: And that was what we just did with Reach. We did it ... we did get some feedback that the performance was not where people wanted it, so-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: So we pushed the update out. And I've always loved that series, particularly the end of it because-

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: You knew it going into the game what the story was, right?

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Bill Stillwell: You knew what was going to happen at the end, and I loved the way that they did it where I must've just played that last bit over and over to see how long I could survive.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: 'Cause you're picking up enemy weapons and then more keep coming down.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: And they're all coming down.

Bill Stillwell: And you just, you just keep going as long as you can.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And it's inevitable it's going to happen, but-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: I always liked that story.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: I liked that part of the universe.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's such, it's such a great program. The, the backward compatibility and what you guys have done. I mean 200 ... hopefully you can get to 280 games or 300 maybe. Maybe. I'm, I'm not telling you when or how or what those titles should be, but I also want to point out that, um, for those of you that don't know, you know, to find out what titles are being released, just follow me on Twitter. Or, when you guys, when you guys send me an email saying, "Hey, we're going to release these today!" Boom! I put them out, so we work ... I want to say, as you would say in the software industry, very nimble.

Bill Stillwell: Yes.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: Yes, you've been a great partner for this too, and I appreciate it.

Larry Hryb: Well, you guys have been great. It's great too that we have such a great partnership, you know, so I tweet them out the moment that they're available, and people just go download them and pop the disc in and away they go. Or if they have the digital copy, they just go ahead and grab it.

Bill Stillwell: Just shows up and ready to install.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, just shows up and ready to install. So, I mean, that's ... we're going to continue to do that. Of course, I'll, you know, it's, it's the big ones, we'll do blog posts for them. And I'm sure you got some other big ones you're working on that you can't talk about.

Bill Stillwell: Yes, we're not done for the holiday season yet.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. That's the most important thing. Now, now what's interesting is the, the Xbox 360 has a fairly finite ... you know, it has a finite catalog.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Right, so, how many games was there? Was there 1500?

Bill Stillwell: Uh, closer to 1800.

Larry Hryb: Oh.

Bill Stillwell: 1800. It's tough to get an exact count because early on, we didn't have digital, and so we can always go back and look at the digital inventory.

Larry Hryb: Well, and there's different regions.

Bill Stillwell: And regions. Right, exactly. But there's roughly 1800. There's a set of them we know we can't do because they use accessories.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: That aren't able to be imported over.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: Or they use the connect. Connect V1.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: But, um, we're still chugging away at it.

Larry Hryb: You got ... there's plenty of titles there for you.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Bill Stillwell: Lots to pick from.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's going, it's going ... it's really, it's really ... I want to thank you. I want to thank you and the entire team.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: On behalf of the gamers because you guys have done such amazing work, and you had to work so quietly and then obviously you had your moment in the sun and then, it, and then we made the announcement. Then, of course, for the past year, you guys have just been busy chipping away, so just, just do me a favor Bill. Make sure you tell your team, "Just don't, don't read the Youtube comments."

Bill Stillwell: Yes.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: Don't read the comments.

Bill Stillwell: Read some of them.

Larry Hryb: Read some of them, right.

Bill Stillwell: Um, yeah, they, they ... the team's a great team. It's some of the smartest people I've worked with at Microsoft.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Bill Stillwell: And they care about this product. They do.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: They, they look at all the feedback.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: And I'll get frequently, "Hey, did you see this?" "Hey, did you see this?" "What are we doing about this?"

Larry Hryb: Yeah, and you guys will email ... what's great is you guys will email me, like, "Hey, you know, can you post on Reddit about this has been updated or confirm this." So I'm ... we're partners.

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Everybody across the team is partners. And I want to do what I can to help talk about the incredible work that you and your engineers and the business folks are doing because it really is ... it's, it's phenomenal. There's nothing like it in the industry. Right?

Bill Stillwell: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: If you think about it.

Bill Stillwell: It's, uh, we love the leadership support we get from Phil and his, and his [inaudible 00:23:09] to drive this program.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Bill Stillwell: Independent of anything other than just sort of fan enthusiasm.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I was talking ... I spent the past, uh, last weekend with Phil, and we were down in Mexico. And we had a long conversation 'cause we, you know, we were talking about Skate 3 because you just released Skate 3.

Bill Stillwell: Yes, we did.

Larry Hryb: Matter of fact, I was going to ask you, when's Skate 3 coming out, and I realized it's out-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Bill Stillwell: Just old habit, right?

Larry Hryb: Old habit. You just, "Okay, where's Skate 3?"

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Um, but you know, it's, it's, he's so excited about the work that you guys have done and just the fact that you ... we talked about, we didn't think ... you know, I want to be clear. We didn't think it could be done, and you guys ... i don't know how, you guys, you know, the engineers went off and figured it out, so, God bless you.

Laura Massey: Yeah. Well done.

Larry Hryb: Well done.

Bill Stillwell: It's, it's a good group of ...

Larry Hryb: Well, hopefully I can have you on in another year, and you can talk about some more stories.

Bill Stillwell: Some more of the, more of the games that we've put out and some of the other things-

Larry Hryb: All right, Bill. Well, I'll let you go. Bill Stillwell from the backward compatibility team. Bill, thank you so much for your time today Man.

Bill Stillwell: Thank you.

Laura Massey: And thanks again to Bill Stillwell for stopping by and giving us that great in depth view on backward compatibility.

Larry Hryb: That was, that was the, I think, the most in depth he's ever gone publicly.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause you know, this is, this is, it's kind of those guys work, uh, you know behind curtain.

Laura Massey: They do. They're a very secret area.

Larry Hryb: They have secret sauce, and they're working on cool stuff, and I ... I've been working for awhile, and I said, "All right, it's been a year, so let's see if we can Bill out here."

Laura Massey: Yeah it's great.

Larry Hryb: So I'm thrilled Bill was able to join us.

Laura Massey: Yeah, and during the interview, I had thought to myself, "I have a game that I might want to suggest."

Larry Hryb: Which is it ... do you know what it is? Do you want to tell us?

Laura Massey: But I don't ... I don't want to suggest it now.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. So-

Laura Massey: And if you listener also have a game you want to suggest-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: We talked a bit about during the interview that there is a way to give us that feedback.

Larry Hryb: How is that?

Laura Massey: You can go to feedback to Xbox dot com. Under the "Give Feedback" section, there's backwards compatibility.

Larry Hryb: Over on the right hand side?

Laura Massey: Yep, over on the right hand side. Click "Backwards compatibility" and boom! You're there. You can leave your feedback there.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura Massey: You can vote ones that are there, like right now; Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is the top voted one.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura Massey: With almost 200,000 votes. If you want to suggest your own, you can do that there, or you can vote on others to bubble them up to the top.

Larry Hryb: And as you heard from Bill, it's not that they look at that ... that's what they use to kind of get them started, and then they go off and do some work, so some things take a little bit more work than others. That's, that's the reality as you just heard.

Laura Massey: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: So-

Laura Massey: All right.

Larry Hryb: All right.

Laura Massey: That's the public announcement.

Larry Hryb: See, it's interesting because I got that question ... we're going to talk a little bit about my trip to Australia.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: I got the question, um, down when I was in Australia during the Q&A about what backwards compatibility game would I like to see. And I, I'm sure you didn't have a chance to watch the stream, but for those of you who did, you saw me answer it, and I said ... 'cause I set you up with that question about what ... and you, you dodged it.

Laura Massey: I did.

Larry Hryb: Which is exactly what I did.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Because I looked at the person in the audience, and I said, "I'm not going to answer that because I'm not going to make a headline for some gaming sites."

Laura Massey: Right.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause they were like, "Oh! Major Nelson's favorite game! Is it coming soon?" And I'm not playing a game.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: So, we're, we're not doing that, so, um, 'cause for some reason, people-

Laura Massey: And plus it's not, like, our voice is not as valuable as your-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Voice.

Larry Hryb: We have one vote just like you!

Laura Massey: (laughs) Exactly.

Larry Hryb: So-

Laura Massey: We want to hear from you. That's more important than what we could say.

Larry Hryb: Did I mention I went to Australia? Did I mention I went to Mexico?

Laura Massey: You've been all around the world.

Larry Hryb: I have been around the world. I've been ... if somebody did the math, and I think, did ... I think you did it. That I've actually been around the world if you add all the, all the miles up, I would've circled the globe.

Laura Massey: That's just nuts.

Larry Hryb: It is bananas.

Laura Massey: But the good news is that you survived Australia.

Larry Hryb: Barely.

Laura Massey: Even though there was a spider on your window.

Larry Hryb: Did you see that?

Laura Massey: Yes!

Larry Hryb: I swear to God. I lost ... I checked into the hotel, and I was like, "Oh, this is beautiful! Let me see what..." 'cause you know, when you get into a hotel, you like open the window-

Laura Massey: Yeah, let's see what the view is. What is this place-

Larry Hryb: And then, then right there in my face, right on the other side of the glass is this spider.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: Hello Australia! Hello!

Laura Massey: It's like the spider knew.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Knew that you were there. That we've been talking about spiders for the past two months.

Larry Hryb: And of course the joke is that everybody, uh, every, everything down in Australia, all the wildlife wants to kill you.

Laura Massey: Yes, exactly.

Larry Hryb: As a human.

Laura Massey: Well, I'm glad you survived.

Larry Hryb: Yes. Have you been to Australia?

Laura Massey: No, I haven't.

Larry Hryb: Oh, Laura. What a beautiful country.

Laura Massey: Yes. I would love to go.

Larry Hryb: And I'll tell you ... here, the most beautiful country, I'll tell you Laura, my God is it far away.

Laura Massey: It is far away.

Larry Hryb: It is so far away.

Laura Massey: Did you look in the toilets? To see if the water spins the other direction?

Larry Hryb: You know, I remember thinking that, and I flushed, and then I forgot.

Laura Massey: Oh!

Larry Hryb: Oh, I know why! I know why! We're going to talk about toilets, aren't we? Because the water, for some reason in the hotel room and every place that I used the water closet, it didn't like flush, it like ... the water like gushed down.

Laura Massey: Oh, it doesn't spin?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it doesn't spin.

Laura Massey: It goes straight down.

Larry Hryb: Yeah!

Laura Massey: Isn't that disappointing?

Larry Hryb: And you know what I mean? You know what I'm talking about where it's like ... and then I was like, "Okay." And then I forgot. Then I forgot about it. So I don't know.

Laura Massey: I see.

Larry Hryb: Um, but it was great to be down there.

Laura Massey: Still a mystery.

Larry Hryb: Great to be down there. Pax, I thoroughly enjoyed my, um, my keynote that I did and I should have the file for the keynote up on, um, I'm going to put it up on my ... I'm-

Laura Massey: Yeah, so-

Larry Hryb: I'm getting the file. I'll have it on my Youtube channel.

Laura Massey: So, if you missed it like myself, I also missed it. I want to see this keynote.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: It's a big moment.

Larry Hryb: This keynote.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: I thought it was a big moment.

Laura Massey: When's it, when's it going to be online? When are you going to share it?

Larry Hryb: Well as soon as they're ... they're, they're getting me the high-def file 'cause the file they showed on Pax ... on the Pax Twitch stream, it was, that was good, but they had ads all over it.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: So I'm getting the clean file, and I'm going to put it up on my Youtube channel, and I'll link out to it, so I'll-

Laura Massey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: I want you to see that version. So, it was a lot of stories. Um, you ... many of which, Laura, since you and I are good friends, you know most of these.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Um, I think there may be one or two in there that you don't know.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: So-

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: There's a little bit something for you, so it was great to be down there. We spent ... I spent a few days by myself, uh, on the show floor hanging out with everybody doing a meet and greet. It was, it was just, it was great. And it was Pax. Imagine Pax in Australia. Enough said.

Laura Massey: Wow. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Right, the weather was delightful. Melbourne is just unbelievably beautiful.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: Um, but my God, is it far away.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: I hate to keep saying that, but it was, it was ... a lot of people ask me about the flight. I went Seattle-LA, LA-Sidney, Sydney onto, Sydney onto Melbourne.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Well, that flight from LA to Sydney is, I think, it's 14-17 hours depending on the tail winds or head winds.

Laura Massey: Right. That's a long time.

Larry Hryb: So, I get onboard at 10 o'clock at night.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: You eat. I take a sleeping pill. I go to sleep. They give you pajamas.

Laura Massey: They did? (laughs)

Larry Hryb: They gave me pajamas.

Laura Massey: Like full pajamas?

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: Not just socks?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, not just socks. I had the ... what am I going to sleep just in my socks Laura?

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Please! I'll get thrown off in Mex ... in, in, in Hawaii. Uh, no, so I slept, woke up, ate again-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Slept another six hours.

Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.

Larry Hryb: Woke up eight and then we landed.

Laura Massey: What time did you land?

Larry Hryb: I think we landed about eight o'clock in the morning Sydney time.

Laura Massey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: A day ahead.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause they lost a whole day and then I have to go to another terminal, another basically another part of the airport to get on a Melbourne flight.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: 'Cause Melbourne's another hour away, so it was just a lot of schlepping. A lot of schlepping.

Laura Massey: That's a lot.

Larry Hryb: So, anyway, so I did that, and it was a lot, and of course I came home. Now it's interesting because I came back to Seattle and then was here Friday. I don't even think I saw you.

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: I was in town for 48 hours.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: And then turned around (sighs) and went to Mexico.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Now, on top of all this, but when I left, I don't know if you remember this, but before I left for Australia, I was coming down with a little bit of a cold.

Laura Massey: Yeah. It's that time of the year.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so it was exaggerated by my trip. I got back. I got jet lag. I've got a cold. I have ... I may have the flu. I don't know.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: And now I have to go to Mexico, so I have to get on a plane again. And I, I had never ... have you been to Mexico?

Laura Massey: I've been to Mexico, but not the inland part. [crosstalk 00:30:24]

Larry Hryb: I've never been to any part of Mexico. It was just wonderful, so we flew down, Phil and I, and some of the other folks were on the same flight. We flew down via Atlanta down to Mexico City, which seems like it's farther because you're going to the other side of the United States and then back, but it's not really.

Laura Massey: Oh okay. That's good.

Larry Hryb: It's not really because most ... anyway, so we get there, and now I have never been ... I said, I've never been to Mexico, certainly never Mexico City. It is, I believe, it's the high ... it's the, the capitol of the country is the highest capitol in the world. In other words, it's got the most altitude.

Laura Massey: Okay. So, it's the highest above sea level?

Larry Hryb: Yes, thank you. Thank you for correctly stating what I can't. Uh, and so it's like 8,000 plus feet. And it is, and you mentioned, you have ... your brother lives in Colorado in the United States.

Laura Massey: He lives up the mountains. It's about 9,000.

Larry Hryb: And I, I had a lot of problems with that.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: I just didn't ... I was like, "I'm not going to have a problem." I didn't even think ... to be honest, I didn't even think about it.

Laura Massey: Right. You don't. Like that's not something on your list of things to think about when you're flying to Mexico City is the altitude, like I didn't know it was that high.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: So, yeah, it's ... 8,000 is a significant difference.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: When we're used to, what are we, 100 here?

Larry Hryb: I think my house is 200 feet above sea level if that.

Laura Massey: Yes, exactly. And that's a big difference for your body.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: You process oxygen differently at that point.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: People have to bake differently because it's just, it's just-

Larry Hryb: How does, how does your brother bake? Like is it longer? Is it-

Laura Massey: You have to-

Larry Hryb: Is it more water? Is it less water? What do you do?

Laura Massey: There's a little more water and a little longer.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: I think.

Larry Hryb: I remember, I remember when I was growing up, and I remember-

Laura Massey: Yeah, on the back of the box-

Larry Hryb: I remember on the back of boxes.

Laura Massey: High altitude suggestions.

Larry Hryb: Like on that back of that, it was, it was like, what does that mean? So, anyway, but what was interesting is I landed late in the evening, and I had to take a car to the hotel, and it took us, I think it was 20 miles Laura-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: It took us almost three hours.

Laura Massey: There's a lot of traffic.

Larry Hryb: The traffic was in Mexico City was unbelievable. I fell asleep in the back of the car.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Um-

Laura Massey: I suppose you have to. It's three hours.

Larry Hryb: Three hours. What am I going to do? I don't even think I was bothering you. Usually when I land, I'll text you. And if you notice, if you go scroll back and look at your texts I was sending you-

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:32:22]

Larry Hryb: I was sending you pin drops of ... I wasn't even like, "Hey, I'm here!" I was just, I'm just like, here's the pin drop. Here's where I am.

Laura Massey: Just, just different places all the time.

Larry Hryb: And it was like, and all of a sudden, so, so it was Melbourne, Sydney, LA, Seattle, Mexico City, some place ... I was ... you got pins, pins like crazy.

Laura Massey: Pins around the world.

Larry Hryb: But yeah, we, we, we went and did, uh, we did fan fests, uh-

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: I was there Thursday. We did, we opened it up Friday night, Phil and I and Aaron Greenberg was there.

Laura Massey: Right. I saw lots of pictures of a ton of fans.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it was ... well, I got to tell you something, I have never ... the fans in Mexico were incredible. I've never met passion like this.

Laura Massey: Right.

Larry Hryb: They were excited. They were wond ... I wanted to spend time with each one of them. We had a great time there.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I have to be honest with you. I'm not, I'm not just telling you this Laura. People were asking about you.

Laura Massey: Really?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, they wanted to know if you were there. If Jeff was going to be there. They even asked about E; they haven't listened to the show in awhile.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Um, but it was, it was, there was a lot of passion. They listen to the show down there.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: So, so hello to all our listeners in Mexico, especially. Shout-out to you guys and girls.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Um, but it was really nice to be onstage and talk to folks. Now if you go back and watch that stream, I was in a really bad way.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Really, really bad way. Like so I had jet lag.

Laura Massey: Jet lag.

Larry Hryb: Jet lag from Australia. I had some, some form of the flu or some cold. I had altitude sickness.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Which was the most terrifying thing in the world. For those of you that haven't been up that high, and I explained this to you before Laura, is, uh, I, I didn't really think about it, I was just like, "I don't know if I'm jet lagged, if I'm sick." I didn't know what, I didn't know what I was feeling 'cause I was a whole collection of things. And we get back ... I think I got back the first, it was the second night after the Friday night, and I, I was exhausted, you know, yawning, and "I'm going to go to bed. I can't wait to go to bed." And one of the things I do when I travel, I'm going to tell you this, I don't think I've ever told you this before - when I travel, um, I usually take a shower before I go to bed.

Because when you take a shower, you're mentally and figuratively kind of cleaning yourself off.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Okay, so I never just get into the bed. I just ... so, I took a nice, warm shower.

Laura Massey: Do you just do this when you're traveling? Not normally?

Larry Hryb: Usually at home, actually, believe it or not, I do it as well, come to think of it.

Laura Massey: I read some studies that say warm showers relax you a lot more so you go to sleep faster.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah. Right, so-

Laura Massey: So can a hot tub. Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's also part of it, so I take the shower, and I get in bed Laura, and I never fall asleep. Now I had taken a sleeping pill.

Laura Massey: That's awful.

Larry Hryb: So, I'm like, "I'm just going to go to sleep."

Laura Massey: What I think is the most surprising is that a sleeping pill didn't knock you out.

Larry Hryb: Nothing. So what happened was because the altitude sickness impacted my sleep-

Laura Massey: Your breathing.

Larry Hryb: And essentially I was a prisoner in my own body.

Laura Massey: That's just awful.

Larry Hryb: So I'm lying there, and I'm like, "Please, let me go to sleep. Please let me sleep. I'm tired!" And I would not fall asleep.

Laura Massey: Oh, you poor thing.

Larry Hryb: So I got like maybe ... I think I dosed off for an hour before the alarm went off, and you know, the most terrifying thing, I'm sure this has happened to you, anybody, listeners, this has happened to you where you can't sleep and you're having a rough night, and you're like, "Oh, I'm finally getting to sleep." and then you kind of look at the windows and you see the sun coming up, and you're like, "Ah! No! Not now!"

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: "I'm just getting to sleep!"

Laura Massey: Yes. I've had jet lag bad one-

Larry Hryb: (coughs)

Laura Massey: Night when I was in Denmark visiting people over there.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: And I stayed up the entire night 'cause I couldn't fall asleep.

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

Laura Massey: I didn't ... I was ... I didn't have any sleeping pills with me, which was just a horrible-

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's a mess.

Laura Massey: Oversight.

Larry Hryb: That's a mess.

Laura Massey: And I was just starting to fall asleep. Exactly that moment-

Larry Hryb: When you're like-

Laura Massey: You look out the window, and you're like, "No!"

Larry Hryb: "Oh no!"

Laura Massey: "I've missed my chance!"

Larry Hryb: "I'm done!" So, anyway, and of course, we had the two days of, I was, I did some streams, I signed a bunch of autographs. It was just a lot of fun but came back, it was ... I love Mexico. I would love to go back. The food was incredible. The people were incredible. The fans were unbelievable. Uh, it was a wonderful time. I don't think it was sunny a moment I was there.

Laura Massey: Really?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it was all-

Laura Massey: Was it rainy?

Larry Hryb: It was cloudy. A little bit of rain, but it was cool. Much cooler than I expected. It was actually warmer here in Seattle than it was in Mexico.

Laura Massey: That's super surprising.

Larry Hryb: Right?

Laura Massey: Yeah. Yeah, it's really surprising.

Larry Hryb: No, um, so it was a little bit, a little bit crazy there. So, anyway, I want to thank everybody that I saw in my, uh, two weeks and 70,000 or 56,000 miles trip around the world.

Laura Massey: Crazy trip.

Larry Hryb: I'm going to be here for awhile Laura, so-

Laura Massey: Yes, I'm glad you're going to stay put and get some rest.

Larry Hryb: Stay put and get a bit of rest. Let my body get back in action because my body is very angry with me.

Laura Massey: I bet it doesn't know what time it is.

Larry Hryb: I need to play some games. Um, have you played any games? Usually we talk about what we're playing. I haven't really had a chance to play anything. Have you played anything?

Laura Massey: I play ... I've played a few things.

Larry Hryb: What have you played?

Laura Massey: Uh, I think the biggest one I want to talk about is probably Battlefield One. I had a chance to try that out and play it.

Larry Hryb: Did you play multi or single?

Laura Massey: Single.

Larry Hryb: Single.

Laura Massey: The campaign is, is a little different this time.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: They've got the different cam- ... different styles of play.

Larry Hryb: Which, which, which 'cause I think there's six stories-

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: Which ones did you look at or were there-

Laura Massey: I immediately jumped to the second story.

Larry Hryb: Which is?

Laura Massey: Which is the pilot.

Larry Hryb: That's the one I did.

Laura Massey: Yes!

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Uh, I love line play, and-

Larry Hryb: Were you, were you, were you out on a, on a, on the blimp? Did you finish it?

Laura Massey: I didn't get there.

Larry Hryb: Oh no! I'm sorry.

Laura Massey: It's okay.That's okay. That's all right. I got to three. I think three, three of the-

Larry Hryb: Oh, it's fun. Isn't it?

Laura Massey: It's so much fun. I absolutely love flying around in planes. They did a great job with the feel of it and the pacing-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Of the campaign.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: And then it's just a gorgeous game. Like it is, by far-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: The most beautiful game I've seen on this duration so far.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Battlefield.

Laura Massey: Wonderful game.

Larry Hryb: You want to play multi-player with us? I've ... to be honest with you, I haven't even ... I've had zero time to play multi-player. Zero!

Laura Massey: How much of the campaign have you gotten through?

Larry Hryb: I think I'm through three of the six stories. I think I'm ... actually, I think, oh, no I think I'm through four of the six. I think I'm through four of the six right now.

Laura Massey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: So, almost done.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, do the one with Lawrence of Arabia. That one's really good. That's the very, the right-hand one, way down.

Laura Massey: Yeah, for this one. This one?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, oh God, that's so good.

Laura Massey: That sounds really fun.

Larry Hryb: Anyway.

Laura Massey: Yep, I also played a bit of Costume Quest too.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: Because it's been a long time since I had a show and it was Halloween.

Larry Hryb: Oh right. It was Halloween. (laughs)

Laura Massey: Yeah. Remember that?

Larry Hryb: It was Halloween. Yeah I do.

Laura Massey: Yeah, it's a long time ago.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Halloween.

Laura Massey: Uh, I just, I love Tim Schafer games. They are just so-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, well, yeah.

Laura Massey: So funny. The best part that I, I got through was, um, so in Costume Quest, you're a kid who is trying to defeat these time lords that have come to try and steal all your candy and banish, uh, basically banished Halloween-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: 'Cause it's, it's a great story, uh, super cute, but the funniest thing is when you go to battle one of the, the time lords, it then turns into a turn-based game.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Laura Massey: And there's you and your party, it's you who's dressed up as super hero-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: It's your brother who's dressed up as candy corn-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Which I know is your favorite.

Larry Hryb: No, oh yeah, woo-

Laura Massey: It's your favorite Halloween-

Larry Hryb: Who doesn't love good candy corn?

Laura Massey: And you meet in-

Larry Hryb: Corn syrup based.

Laura Massey: You meet with [inaudible 00:38:44] to be part of your party, but the funniest thing are all the jokes.

Larry Hryb: Oh yeah.

Laura Massey: You hear ... you're a superhero, you can fight these time lords, but your brother is just candy corn, and candy corn can't fight anything.

Larry Hryb: Right. Candy corn's nothing.

Laura Massey: (laughs) Candy corn isn't anything.

Larry Hryb: It's not even a candy. (laughs) Can't even fight.

Laura Massey: Exactly. So every time it's Candy Corn's turn, it's just ... it pops up a little text above the candy corn making some kind of joke.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Or some kind of statement. "Candy Corn is resting on his haunches." "The rate that the stripe of candy corn is a racing stripe." (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Yeah. (laughs) Exactly. How fun. Did you know-

Laura Massey: "Candy Corn ponders its existence." (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Well, that's great.

Laura Massey: Every time, it's a different little-

Larry Hryb: Did you, did you dress up this Halloween Laura?

Laura Massey: No, I didn't.

Larry Hryb: Oh, no!

Laura Massey: I was, I was away for Halloween, so I didn't have a chance to dress up.

Larry Hryb: No! No!

Laura Massey: Next year's going to be great. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Okay. You promise?

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Okay. I'm going to hold you up to that.

Laura Massey: We'll see what I can conjure up next year.

Larry Hryb: So, that's what you've been playing.

Laura Massey: Yep, I've been playing other things that we've already talked about, like Diablo.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I ... like I say, I'm trying ... I've got so much to catch up on. Bla .. uh, Battlefield of course, um, I finished-

Laura Massey: Titan Fall 2 campaign-

Larry Hryb: I finished the Titan Fall 2 campaign. Haven't played any of the multi-player. Um, I've been kind of checking off because I haven't had a lot of time, and I've had weird, weird time when most of my people aren't on to play.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Um-

Laura Massey: Different time zones.

Larry Hryb: Different time zones, so I've been playing, you know, chipping away at some campaigns.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: So that's what I ... that's really what I've been doing. But I know ... you know, Hallo- excuse me, Thanksgiving here in the United States is next week, which reminds me, we may not have a show again 'cause Thanksgiving, unless we record early. I'll have to talk to ... we'll have to figure that out.

Laura Massey: We'll have to figure that out.

Larry Hryb: Uh, but we'll, uh, we got Thanksgiving coming, so I'm really just going to stay home in my boxer shorts and play games.

Laura Massey: And rest.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:40:22] Yeah exactly. Chip, chip through that and do that. Looking forward to that. You know, I want to point, uh, I'm sure you know this by now, but we also issued the system update.

Laura Massey: That's right.

Larry Hryb: The Xbox One system update which had a bunch of really great stuff and including the looking for group, clubs, and the, the rare ... have you seen the rare achievement stuff?

Laura Massey: Yes I have.

Larry Hryb: Did you know I worked on that?

Laura Massey: I heard that you did.

Larry Hryb: I did. I did the, uh, I worked with the team on the audio.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I worked with the team on the animation, so I'm very proud of that, so-

Laura Massey: I think I got a rare achievement.

Larry Hryb: You did? Tell us!

Laura Massey: I don't remember what, what it was. But I remember play ... seeing it pop up, thinking, "Ooh!"

Larry Hryb: And it made the sound.

Laura Massey: It made a different sound. It had different animation. I was like, "It happened!"

Larry Hryb: Yes, that did happen.

Laura Massey: It happened!

Larry Hryb: So, good. I'm glad you got one. Glad you enjoyed that.

Laura Massey: Yeah, I can't remember what it was. Probably Diablo. Probably some game [crosstalk 00:41:08].

Larry Hryb: I'll take a look on your profile.

Laura Massey: Yep.

Larry Hryb: So that happened. Um, we've got a lot of stuff going on. Black Friday's coming up which is a big sales time in the US and frankly around the world. Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so that'll be coming up, uh, after Thanksgiving and to be honest with you, I'm going to be posting them a little early, so keep an eye on Major Nelson.

Laura Massey: Oh!

Larry Hryb: I'm going to have the whole list over there sortable for you. You can buy as many ... one or buy them all! And gold members will save additional ... of course, if you're a gold member, you save additional monies.

Laura Massey: That's great.

Larry Hryb: Right! So, we got a lot-

Laura Massey: Pro tip there.

Larry Hryb: We got a lot going on Laura. (sighs) Oh boy.

Laura Massey: Can you talk about your, this week at Xbox?

Larry Hryb: Oh. Haha! Yeah, this week on Xbox, so this hilar ... we're posting this show on Friday, and this week on Xbox for today or, or depending upon when you're looking at this on the 18th of November is a special crazy Larry edition.

Laura Massey: Crazy Larry.

Larry Hryb: Which always, people always seem to like it. And, um, those ... I've talked about those people always ask for those. Now this is a different crazy Larry. Instead of, look at this one closely, 'cause instead of crazy Larry going crazy, this is more in the mind.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: It's inside the mind of crazy Larry. It's a little more abstract.

Laura Massey: A little more cerebral.

Larry Hryb: A little more abstract, so that was a lot of fun. You saw that one, and you, you enjoyed it.

Laura Massey: Did you get that I was doing a play-by-play?

Larry Hryb: Yes you were.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: When I sent you an IM, and you were, "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" and I've done something in this one that I have never done in, uh, any other, any other-

Laura Massey: In a video recording.

Larry Hryb: Xbox. In fact, there's only, and that is, of course, I'm dancing a slightly. A little bit.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Last time, the last time I danced publicly was when I was shamed by you at Pax-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: About how many years ago?

Laura Massey: I somehow tricked you in-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: To doing a dance battle-

Larry Hryb: Yes. That's right.

Laura Massey: In Dance Central.

Larry Hryb: You, you, you lured me in, you black widow.

Laura Massey: At that point- (laughs)

Larry Hryb: You, black widow, you.

Laura Massey: You had said at that point, you'd promised that you would never do that again.

Larry Hryb: I know, and I, and I, so the, but the dancing I'm putting in the, in the, in the latest Crazy Larry is not, it's kind of, uh, it's kind of a jig. (laughs)

Laura Massey: A jig.

Larry Hryb: You'll have to take a look at it, but anyway-

Laura Massey: At least you're in there for people to look for.

Larry Hryb: It's available, it's available on, uh, on the Youtube cha- .. Xbox channel. You can also find it if you scroll back on my Twitter. You'll see it there as well.

Laura Massey: You can also see it on your Xbox dashboard.

Larry Hryb: Yeah!

Laura Massey: If you are listening to the show on Friday-

Larry Hryb: Or Saturday-

Laura Massey: Or Saturday-

Larry Hryb: Or Sunday-

Laura Massey: It should be there.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's usually there. It's in the, it's in the ... scroll to the right, and you'll see in the community section, the right-hand side there. I don't know what image they're going to use.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: I hate ... I just, I hate that. I don't know what image they're going to use.

Laura Massey: You talk about the last week on Xbox?

Larry Hryb: Oh, the one where I had to wear farming stuff?

Laura Massey: Yes!

Larry Hryb: Now that was a funny story because the farming simulator came out and our producer, who, uh, is very creative, came out and said, "We're going to have you wear these things." You know, I'm ... I'll try anything.

Laura Massey: You try it.

Larry Hryb: I'll try anything once. And I threw it on, and it was ... it actually, I pulled it off, but I remember, without any context at all, I sent you the photo.

Laura Massey: Yeah! (laughs)

Larry Hryb: 'Cause I figured you'd appreciate it. So I text you the photo, no, "Hey Laura. What's up?" I just sent you the photo blindly, because we're at that point now in our relationship where I don't need to tell you. I'm just sending you stuff.

Laura Massey: No! It's just shock value at this point. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Right. And-

Laura Massey: I'm just like (gasps).

Larry Hryb: Did you drop the phone?

Laura Massey: What is this?

Larry Hryb: You're like, "What the ... what?" And it was the pink oxford shirt.

Laura Massey: The tee shirt, the farming fork-

Larry Hryb: The hat.

Laura Massey: The hat. The animals in your pocket.

Larry Hryb: Yep, the pitch fork.

Laura Massey: The cow, the pig.

Larry Hryb: And the milk.

Laura Massey: Oh, I didn't know ... I was too distracted.

Larry Hryb: A little bottle o' milk.

Laura Massey: I was too distracted by the hat and the fork. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it was a little too much for you.

Laura Massey: To see that there was a bottle of milk.

Larry Hryb: I can farm. I mean, I'm not, uh ... I don't have as much experience as you do.

Laura Massey: (laughs) Maybe not. But I hear there's multi-player.

Larry Hryb: Oh, there is multi-player in the farming simulator.

Laura Massey: In the farming simulator.

Larry Hryb: So, we need to (breathes), we need to investigate that.

Laura Massey: We do.

Larry Hryb: We need to investigate that.

Laura Massey: We need to do some co-op farming.

Larry Hryb: Can I ... maybe I'll wear my overalls and my pink shirt and bring my-

Laura Massey: You have the outfit all ready.

Larry Hryb: And see, I put them up there. See, the pig's over there.

Laura Massey: Oh, there he is!

Larry Hryb: Yeah, and there's, there's the puppet, so-

Laura Massey: The cow over there!

Larry Hryb: And the pig is ... you can't see him, he's around [inaudible 00:44:49], so we got this wall in, uh, the studio here, um, in our workspace where we just put up the "best of". Right?

Laura Massey: Right. The best of your "This Week on Xbox". I see [inaudible 00:44:58] up there.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I should take a picture, I should take a, I should take a picture of this and then, I mean, you could see, you could see-

Laura Massey: You can see the catalog.

Larry Hryb: You can see the Chef Boyardee stuff from when we launched Xbox One.

Laura Massey: A-ha! There's, uh, the Plants Vs. Zombies sunflower from Garden Warfare.

Larry Hryb: There's the bourbon they gave me from Mafia 3, so there's a lot of stuff up here.

Laura Massey: (laughs) The wall-

Larry Hryb: I should, I should take a photo of that. There's, and this is, this isn't me ... this is probably less than a third of it. Maybe even a quarter of it.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: We got a lot of stuff coming in here.

Laura Massey: We sure do.

Larry Hryb: Um, anyway, so we got that. Black Friday - be sure to keep an eye on my Twitter and my, uh, and my blog. I'll have, I'll have, uh, deals for Xbox One and any other deals that I come across 'cause you know I like to keep you guys up to, up to speed on what's going on there.

Laura Massey: That's right. Keep an eye on Larry's Twitter.

Larry Hryb: Oh, you know what you need to do Laura? I was thinking about this.

Laura Massey: What's this?

Larry Hryb: You need to pay off an award and name the gamer.

Laura Massey: That's right. It's been a month.

Larry Hryb: It has been months. It's been a month!

Laura Massey: It's ... maybe even over a month.

Larry Hryb: It's maybe even over a month, so we apologize ... well, you know, I'm not ... Laura, you don't need to apologize, you've been here. I'm the, I'm the bozo that's been all over the country and all over the world, it's not your fault.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Um, but, let's, uh, let's take a moment and we'll, we'll, we'll do the name the-

Laura Massey: Let's wrap that up.

Larry Hryb: Here we go!

Laura Massey: So that was the last Name the Game we had, and it was Horse Racing 2016.

Larry Hryb: (neighs)

Laura Massey: Probably an easy one.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, probably an easy one.

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:46:45] All right, and now, for the winner-

Larry Hryb: Yes! The winner is ...

Laura Massey: The winner is Joshua from Philly.

Larry Hryb: Joshua from Philly, aw, too bad Jeff isn't here. I know he's a Phillies f- He's a Phillies fan.

Laura Massey: Right. So, the gamer tag of Joshua is sauce4117.

Larry Hryb: All right, Sauce4-

Laura Massey: Congratulations. You've won a lot of awesome stuff.

Larry Hryb: You know, I don't even know because you work, you go, you kind of go into my office or my desk, I don't even know which one it is ...

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Uh, and you collect a bunch of stuff. What'd you collect this week while I was away Laura?

Laura Massey: A lot of awesome stuff. Oh my goodness. I haven't given a prize pack away like this in awhile.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: First off, you get a copy of Horse Racing 2016.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, of course 'cause you need that.

Laura Massey: 'Cause you need that. You know, obviously, and then, after that, Skate 3.

Larry Hryb: Yes!

Laura Massey: Which has just come back for back compat.

Larry Hryb: Backwards compatibility.

Laura Massey: And-

Larry Hryb: Yes?

Laura Massey: Gears of War 4.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura Massey: Ultimate edition.

Larry Hryb: You ... ultimate edition!

Laura Massey: Not only that-

Larry Hryb: But wait, there's more!

Laura Massey: Watch Dogs 2.

Larry Hryb: Right. Just out now. I'm playing that-

Laura Massey: Which just came out.

Larry Hryb: I just started playing that.

Laura Massey: Just started playing that?

Larry Hryb: I'm so ... I'm hacking my way through it.

Laura Massey: Oh my goodness. I've heard good things.

Larry Hryb: You know, 'cause I ... you know, I, go ahead. Continue.

Laura Massey: (laughs) We should talk about that afterwards.

Larry Hryb: Yes, exactly.

Laura Massey: And-

Larry Hryb: Yes?

Laura Massey: An Xbox stereo headset.

Larry Hryb: Yes!

Laura Massey: Which is a special edition.

Larry Hryb: The new one that, that-

Laura Massey: There's a new one that just came out.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, the arctic white or polar white.

Laura Massey: That was beautiful.

Larry Hryb: Whatever white they're called. Yeah.

Laura Massey: It's wonderful.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it really is.

Laura Massey: And that's not all!

Larry Hryb: What?

Laura Massey: You also get a code to create your own xbox controller.

Larry Hryb: Yeah!

Laura Massey: So, you get an Xbox design lab code.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, you're going to go to designlab.xbox.com and we're going to make, create your own controller. I know you did Laura.

Laura Massey: I did. Yes I did.

Larry Hryb: I happened to see it.

Laura Massey: You did?

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Where'd you see it?

Larry Hryb: I saw it on the photo you posted.

Laura Massey: (laughs) You saw my Xbox [inaudible 00:48:29] day post.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: Well, I was also wearing a very special present.

Larry Hryb: People seem to like that.

Laura Massey: (laughs) I know. People seem to like it.

Larry Hryb: You, you have one of the very rare, very rare personalized-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Xbox onesies.

Laura Massey: And I love it.

Larry Hryb: Is it comfortable?

Laura Massey: It's super comfortable.

Larry Hryb: Good.

Laura Massey: I wore it while I was playing.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Kept me really toasty.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: All the pockets-

Larry Hryb: Have all the right stuff.

Laura Massey: Have all the right stuff.

Larry Hryb: Can put your phone up here, you know, on your shoulder-

Laura Massey: Yeah, on the shoulder. There's a shoulder pocket.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yep.

Laura Massey: I didn't realize it had so many pockets.

Larry Hryb: Right. It's got pockets everywhere.

Laura Massey: It's great.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Fantastic. Really special gift there.

Larry Hryb: Good. Well, I'm glad you like it.

Laura Massey: Okay, so do we do another name game?

Larry Hryb: I don't know. (laughs) Do I have anything left?

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: I don't even know if I have anything left.

Laura Massey: Well, I'm sure we can find something.

Larry Hryb: All right, go ahead, and you got another sound clip ready?

Laura Massey: Yep. Let's roll the next name game.

So, that was our new "Name The Game". If you too would like to win some fabulous prizes, it's really simple. All you have to do is send me an email with what game those sound effects are from. Very easy.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: It's going to be from an Xbox One game. It could be from an Xbox one back compat game.

Larry Hryb: It could be.

Laura Massey: That's true.

Larry Hryb: That's true.

Laura Massey: All you have to do again; send me an email, lollypop at Xbox ... I just messed that one up.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Lollypop at xbox dot com.

Larry Hryb: You sure?

Laura Massey: I'm sure this time.

Larry Hryb: Or major at xbox dot com.

Laura Massey: And you can also send it to major at xbox dot com. We will ... if you send it to either of us, we'll make sure it gets into the same pile.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: And of all the correct answers, we'll choose a random winner.

Larry Hryb: Random winner!

Laura Massey: That's right.

Larry Hryb: R-N-D parenthesis ... I'm channeling my inner basic for random numbers-

Laura Massey: Oh!

Larry Hryb: For random number generators. You guys, I was like, why-

Laura Massey: R-D parenthesis ... what's going on here? Not sure.

Larry Hryb: It's my terrible, terrible attempt at verbalizing code.

Laura Massey: That's great.

Larry Hryb: So (clears throat)-

Laura Massey: The inner nerd in me is happy.

Larry Hryb: Somebody, somebody got it somewhere. That's all that matters. Anyway, congratulations to that, to that winner, and, uh, you could be our next winner. Hopefully you will just drop us an email, and if you think you know what that is, it's, it's real simple. Don't hit us up on Twitter because that's not how you enter.

Laura Massey: That's not the best way.

Larry Hryb: That's not how you enter. You can, but it doesn't count.

Laura Massey: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: You can always say hello to us on Twitter.

Laura Massey: You can.

Larry Hryb: Speaking of that, do you know what happened? Did we talk about my million followers?

Laura Massey: (gasps)

Larry Hryb: A million plus followers?

Laura Massey: Yes, let's talk about it.

Larry Hryb: Uh, that's all. That's all. No big deal.

Laura Massey: How many are you at now?

Larry Hryb: I think 1.1.

Laura Massey: Congratulations.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. You're a ... you, you are in a very small group of people-

Laura Massey: Yes, your follower to followee count?

Larry Hryb: Six.

Laura Massey: Right.

Larry Hryb: I think it's six.

Laura Massey: It's astronomical.

Larry Hryb: It's act- ... small. I still have E on there. When should I take him off? Should I take him off?

Laura Massey: I don't know. You were long-time friends.

Larry Hryb: He was! He ... absolutely!

Laura Massey: He is.

Larry Hryb: He is. He still is a friend. Although I, I haven't seen him in awhile.

Laura Massey: I haven't seen him in awhile either.

Larry Hryb: Do you want to go see him over at Pokemon?

Laura Massey: We should.

Larry Hryb: Would you like to-

Laura Massey: We should make a little field trip.

Larry Hryb: We should do ... you know, one of those holiday, mid-holiday three hour lunch field trips-

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Would you like to do that sometime?

Laura Massey: That sounds great.

Larry Hryb: I think I know-

Laura Massey: We can bring the-

Larry Hryb: I think I know where his office is.

Laura Massey: We can bring microphones.

Larry Hryb: We can bring microphones. Oh!

Laura Massey: Little field trip.

Larry Hryb: Take the show on the road!

Laura Massey: Yeah!

Larry Hryb: I like your thinking Laura! Wow, let's just talk to Ian and see if he wants to do that.

Laura Massey: Yeah, see what he's doing.

Larry Hryb: All right, we're going to wrap things up here. I don't really have much more to add. We've had a great, uh, great show. I want to thank Bill Stillwell for coming by and kind of pulling back the curtain on the secret that is backwards compatibility.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: On Xbox One.

Laura Massey: Very interesting.

Larry Hryb: So, keep, uh, I want to thank him for that. That was a lot of fun there. Keep those suggestions flowing at feedback.xbox dot com.

Laura Massey: Yep, definitely.

Larry Hryb: All right, Laura. What are you, what are you going to play this weekend?

Laura Massey: I have so many things to choose from.

Larry Hryb: Going to do some Battlefield?

Laura Massey: Yeah. I want to do some Titan Fall too.

Larry Hryb: Titan Fall 2. Good, yeah, do that campaign. It's a good campaign.

Laura Massey: Yeah. Very good things.

Larry Hryb: Hope you like [inaudible 00:52:44].

Laura Massey: Who doesn't? Who doesn't love [inaudible 00:52:46].

Larry Hryb: Oh, uh, that's fine. I'm ... I'm not saying nobody does. I'm just saying hope you like it.

Laura Massey: Oh. I definitely love it. I loved it in Titan Fall 1.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: And I hear it's just so much better in Titan Fall 2. I don't know how they can make it better, but happy to try it.

Larry Hryb: But check that out.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: You know what I was thinking? Is it-

Laura Massey: Is that-

Larry Hryb: Is it, is it me ... go ahead.

Laura Massey: No, no. No, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt.

Larry Hryb: Is it me or are we like a month away from the new Star Wars movie and tickets aren't on sale yet?

Laura Massey: Yes! I've been checking every single day!

Larry Hryb: Yes!

Laura Massey: I've been checking every single day.

Larry Hryb: I know.

Laura Massey: I've been calling almost every single day.

Larry Hryb: Why, who are you calling? Who uses the phone anymore?

Laura Massey: Right!

Larry Hryb: I don't think in the long ... in the years I've known you, you've been on the phone maybe twice.

Laura Massey: I know! That should tell you-

Larry Hryb: You never pick up the phone.

Laura Massey: How much, how weird it is to [inaudible 00:53:24] 'cause I can't believe it. You know, I'm searching the internet-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: And I'm like, "This is impossible."

Larry Hryb: What is it, when-

Laura Massey: "I'm going to call!"

Larry Hryb: When do they go on sale?

Laura Massey: Nobody knows.

Larry Hryb: Nobody knows.

Laura Massey: Not even the theaters that I call know.

Larry Hryb: It's mysterious.

Laura Massey: They say that they're still waiting to hear [crosstalk 00:53:35].

Larry Hryb: All right, well, we got to figure that out.

Laura Massey: I know, so keep checking every day.

Larry Hryb: (sighs)

Laura Massey: I wanted to do gadgets. Do we have time for gadgets?

Larry Hryb: Yes, of course!

Laura Massey: I really-

Larry Hryb: Oh, oh, yeah! Talk about that one. I totally forgot about this crazy, crazy gadget you have.

Laura Massey: Yes!

Larry Hryb: Which I think I know about, but I really don't because I've only seen clips of it.

Laura Massey: Only seen little pictures here and there.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. The ... once again, in the similar vein of me sending you random photos, you send them to me and I have to decode what they ... what is going on here-

Laura Massey: (laughs) Random photos back. So, I'm really excited about my latest gadget.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: I've gotten a, a electric smoker.

Larry Hryb: Electric smoker because it's for smoking meat.

Laura Massey: For smoking meats.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: As we all know, and we've talked about for a ... you know, for hours on the show-

Larry Hryb: Forevers.

Laura Massey: Seattle-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Just doesn't have great barbecue.

Larry Hryb: And as someone who grew up in Connecticut where there was no barbecue, and somebody, you, Laura, grew up in Texas-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: I trust you implicitly and blindly when it comes to this.

Laura Massey: (laughs) So the solution that I found that's really awesome is to make my own.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: So I am now a barbecue smoker in training.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: So, I got ahold of a, the Franklin barbecue book.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: It's ... Franklin is the famous barbecuist from Austin.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: He has a whole book about how to cook barbecue.

Larry Hryb: Does he have a restaurant?

Laura Massey: Yes, yes.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Yes, yes, so, this is, this is the-

Larry Hryb: Is that his first name or last name? (laughs) Let's just say Franklin.

Laura Massey: Where-

Franklin's barby ... the name of his restaurant is Franklin's Barbecue.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: It's his last name, I think. I can't remember. I read his whole book, and I can't even remember.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Uh, his ... he's famous for selling out ver- of meat very quickly.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Because in barbecues, in barbecue, you have to prepare it. You can prepare ... it takes hours.

Laura Massey: It takes, in some cases, you know, over night.

Larry Hryb: So, it's like when you run out, you can't just make more.

Laura Massey: Right.

Larry Hryb: Right, so it's out.

Laura Massey: Wait for the next day.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: So, it's famous for having an incredibly long line. People will stand in line starting at six a.m.

Larry Hryb: So, you've been there?

Laura Massey: I've not been there.

Larry Hryb: Oh. What?

Laura Massey: He opened his restaurant two years after I left.

Larry Hryb: You're getting old Laura.

Laura Massey: I know.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: Right. It's been almost ten years.

Larry Hryb: What?

Laura Massey: Can you believe that?

Larry Hryb: Wow, stop this. Stop this.

Laura Massey: No. January of next year.

Larry Hryb: Stop this!

Laura Massey: It'll be 10 years.

Larry Hryb: Stop this!

Laura Massey: I know. It's crazy. Craziness. But he's famous for having an incredibly long line. People standing in line for over five hours to eat lunch.

Larry Hryb: And is that ... it's downtown?

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: It's Austin. Anyway, so I have his book-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Secrets of one of the best barbecue restaurants, in my opinion, probably in the world because I grew up in central Texas.

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

Laura Massey: Um, I actually grew up in the town where Franklin got his first job.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Uh, cutting meat.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: I didn't realize that the town I grew up in was one of the best barbecue restaurants in the world, so I, that probably tells you where my standards are.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Normal barbecue, for me, like all the events I would go to growing up, they were catered.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: With barbecue from this restaurant, and that's just normal barbecue for me. And that's the top of the world-

Larry Hryb: So, Laura's had the best.

Laura Massey: I had no idea until I read this book.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, you're like-

Laura Massey: I was like, "Oh, really? My standards are really way too-"

Larry Hryb: They're not, they're not high. They're just, um, yeah, okay, they are.

Laura Massey: They're just astronomical. That just makes me, you know, sad not living in that place anymore. Not able to eat that kind of barbecue 'cause barbecue's very regional. And Central Texas is different-

Larry Hryb: We've talked about that.

Laura Massey: Than different parts of Texas and, you know, different in Carolina-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: And Louisiana ... see all different types of styles. And Franklin, of course, is right at my heart, so I have his book, and I'm trying out his methods.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: In my new electric smoker.

Larry Hryb: So, you've got this book, but you need the smoker.

Laura Massey: Yes. So, the gadget I have is an electric smoker and it's, it's, it's really cool. It's got a blue tooth, uh, thermometer in it, and it, you can connect your phone to the smoker-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: And control the temperature, control the time-

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

Laura Massey: Control the lights. And it reports back and sends you notifications when it's reached its temperature or lets you know when it's done.

Larry Hryb: So, you need to give me a link to this, so I can ... like on Amazon, so that I can put a link to it in the show notes.

Laura Massey: Yes! Yep, so it's a master built, uh, electric smoker-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: You can name it.

Larry Hryb: What did you name yours?

Laura Massey: Can you see it?

Larry Hryb: Oh! May, may I say what it is?

Laura Massey: Yes, you can!

Larry Hryb: It is, uh, Smokey McSmokeFace ... my God, that thing's huge!

Laura Massey: It's a big smoker. Yeah, it's Smokey McSmokeFace.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: He's cooked ribs and brisket for me so far.

Larry Hryb: Where does he sit? Outside?

Laura Massey: Yeah, he's definitely ... it's an outdoor thing.

Larry Hryb: Put it on your back, put it on your back patio? Wow.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Definitely an outdoor thing. Uh, I smoked the ribs for five hours and the brisket for eight.

Larry Hryb: Where do you get the stuff to smoke it with?

Laura Massey: The wood?

Larry Hryb: The wood, yeah.

Laura Massey: Uh, I got wood chips from a local supermarket.

Larry Hryb: I see.

Laura Massey: I ... this, the thing actually uses very few wood chips.

Larry Hryb: Oh, so it's efficient.

Laura Massey: It's very efficient, yeah, because it's all just built around lo- and cooking low and slow.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: So, the temperature in it never really gets above 250.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: And it is got very efficient ways to smoke, like get smoke out of wood chips.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: And you just fill the whole chamber with smoke.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Looks like a little refrigerator.

Laura Massey: Yeah, it looks like a little fridge.

Larry Hryb: Uh-huh (affirmative).

Laura Massey: And you put some wood chips in the side.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura Massey: And you drop them down.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Laura Massey: And it starts heating them up, and as soon as it does, it just fills the whole chamber with smoke.

Larry Hryb: What else can you smoke?

Laura Massey: You can smoke any meat. Any meat. I haven't, I've only tried ribs and brisket.

Larry Hryb: You ever going to smoke cheese?

Laura Massey: I have had them. I have not smoked it myself.

Larry Hryb: I just don't know if it would work. See, I mean-

Laura Massey: It would. It would. Oh yeah.

Larry Hryb: Well, it would melt 'cause of the temperature.

Laura Massey: Uh, it depends on the cheese. [crosstalk 00:59:03]

Larry Hryb: Let's have a smoke fondue.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Hmm.

Laura Massey: Cheeses can ... some cheese can stand up to-

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: 'Cause the lowest temperature it does is 225 or like 200.

Larry Hryb: Okay. Right.

Laura Massey: So, I can, I can experiment and see if I can get-

Larry Hryb: Right below boiling.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Right. Anyway, that's, that's delightful.

Laura Massey: Yep! So, it's super fun-

Larry Hryb: So, you're pleased with it.

Laura Massey: I'm having a ton of fun.

Larry Hryb: See, now too bad E wasn't here 'cause I know, you remember, he was always smoking stuff and-

Laura Massey: Yes, we could have a great conversation.

Larry Hryb: He, we ... now, now we really need to have a road trip to go see him in Pokemon.

Laura Massey: Yep, talk about cooking, cooking things on a smoker.

Larry Hryb: Right, right. That's cool.

Laura Massey: Yeah. So, it's super fun.

Larry Hryb: Good for you.

Laura Massey: That's, uh, my way to bring Texas to Seattle.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Little bit of home cooking.

Larry Hryb: Love the way the boys have started to talk in this room while we're still trying to do a show. Did you notice that?

Laura Massey: Do they know we're wrapping up?

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Yeah, we hear you. We're-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: We hear you on the microphones. So, let me turn this microphone down.

Laura Massey: Well, thank you for letting me indulge in my smoker stories.

Larry Hryb: Well, it was a lot of fun. Anyway, well, we'll be back next time, maybe next week, maybe not. We'll have ... I want to make sure you and I and Jeffrey here, we're going to start doing, getting ready for the holidays-

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: And maybe we can even make that trip out to see E and get him back-

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: On the show.

Laura Massey: We'll say hello.

Larry Hryb: Awesome. I think we're overdue with that. All right. Laura, thank you for taking the time for coming out.

Laura Massey: You're welcome.

Larry Hryb: Uh, dear listener, thank you for taking us the time out of your day. Uh, Christmas and the holidays are coming up, so whatever you do, be safe, have fun. See you online. Keep it on my blog at majornelson dot com for all the deals or on Twitter dot com. Laura, how do they find you on Twitter?

Laura Massey: They can find me at Laura Lollipop.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, or you just go find me at Major Nelson, look at one of the six people I'm following.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: She's easier ... probably easier to find there.

Laura Massey: That's the other way to do it.

Larry Hryb: All right, guys. We'll see you next time. Buh-bye.

Laura Massey: Buh-bye.

Major Nelson: (music)

Hi, it's Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. Welcome to the show. Show number 583. We're sitting here, it's uh, it's my good friend Laura and I. Hello Laura.

Laura: Hello.

Major Nelson: Nice to see you.

Laura: Great to see you too.

Major Nelson: Uh, Jeffery is here. Not here. Not here. Why did I say here?

Laura: He's not here. His chair is empty.

Major Nelson: Well, you want to know why I said that? His chair is empty. Uh, he's here in spirit. Uh, Jeff couldn't join us. He's on the road today. He's got a lot going on, and uh ...

Laura: He sure does.

Major Nelson: In fact, I have a lot going on and you have a lot going on but I was like, [Laura 00:00:47] we need to do a show -

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: - because we haven't done one since, like, early October and it's almost end of October now.

Laura: I know.

Major Nelson: So, we've got, uh, we've got a name the game to pay off on, we've got a bunch of other stuff, but, what's really great is we're here doing the show and we actually have, I'm really excited, because we have a special guest.

Laura: We do. I'm excited too.

Major Nelson: We have a special guest who's going to join us, he's, he's been on the show before.

Laura: He has.

Major Nelson: And now I'll have him step up to the microphone in just a minute and you'll probably recognize his, his delightfully romantic brogue.

Laura: Brogue?

Major Nelson: I, I guess that's the best way to say ... Get over here, will you already? I'm vamping as fast as I can. Get over here.

Laura: (laughs) Come! I'm trying to extend as much as possible but it has been a while since he's been on the show.

Major Nelson: So here he is. [crosstalk 00:01:24]

Laura: I'm excited to see you again.[crosstalk 00:01:24]

Major Nelson: So here he is, direct from Xbox Europe is Mr. Graeme [crosstalk 00:01:27] Hi Graeme.

Graeme: Hello!

Laura: Woo! Good to see you!

Major Nelson: Let's turn your mic up, there we go.

Graeme: Thanks, yeah, should sit better as well.

Major Nelson: There you go, nice to see you.

Graeme: (sigh) Gosh, I'm always running in here at the last minute now, so. [crosstalk 00:01:36]

Major Nelson: You are, why, you know we've got meetings all over. You were in town, you know, I don't know if you know this Laura, but Graeme and I were down in uh, Los Angeles last week for a Battlefield stream.

Laura: Oh I didn't know you were there too.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Graeme: Yeah. Why not?

Laura: Well.

Graeme: Were you not watching?

Laura: I wasn't.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: (laughs) It was embarrassing because I love Battlefield but I was busy that day.

Major Nelson: Well it was [crosstalk 00:01:55]

Graeme: It was fun.

Major Nelson: We, so, so, uh, we'll go into that a little bit. We'll tell you a little bit of the behind the scenes uh story.

Graeme: Yes.

Major Nelson: We've got many behind the scenes stories.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: But Jeff isn't here and Graeme, I knew he was in town doing some work.

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: And I asked, before he heads back to Europe- You're headed back soon right?

Graeme: Tomorrow.

Major Nelson: Tomorrow.

Graeme: Yep.

Major Nelson: So I said why don't you come sit in on the show and you gracefully found time your schedule.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: It's always a pleasure to be asked.

Major Nelson: It is.

Graeme: But I've had to run half-way across campus to get here.

Major Nelson: Yeah, we're just ...

Graeme: Almost in time.

Major Nelson: Almost in time. [crosstalk 00:02:21]

Graeme: [inaudible 00:02:21]

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Well I didn't know where you were and Laura was really busy and I said let's get started and you can just join mid-stream and you happened to join us in the first 15 seconds. So you made it.

Laura: Yes.

Graeme: Did you hear me knocking on the door? I'm sorry about that.

Major Nelson: Yeah somebody did, somebody did.

Graeme: Okay.

Major Nelson: But it's okay.

Graeme: This is the only time I ever get to see Laura.

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: That's right.

Laura: [crosstalk 00:02:33] Yeah, that's true.

Graeme: So I have to.

Major Nelson: You know, hey, guess what Graeme? The only time I get to see her too.

Graeme: Oh great. (laugh) Yeah.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Laura: It's not that bad.

Graeme: You're busy.

Major Nelson: Uh, yeah no, it's nice. We've got, we've got a busy week with a Battlefield's out. We've had ah Nintendo announced a new ah, console.

Laura: Yes, I saw that.

Graeme: Yeah, yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah, we saw that. We'll go over that. We've got a lot going on with uh, pre-sales. New Red Dead trailer.

Laura: Yeah!

Major Nelson: Did you see the new Red Dead trailer?

Graeme: I did, of course.

Laura: Who hasn't?

Graeme: Of course I did!

Major Nelson: You know, let's get into that news in a minute.

Laura: Okay.

Major Nelson: Let's talk about what we're playing first.

Graeme: Yes.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: And as a guest is it okay if we have Graeme up first?

Laura: Yes. Absolutely.

Major Nelson: And as our guest we'd like you to fill us in on what you're playing? I mean-

Graeme: As I always say, when I'm on here.

Major Nelson: Yeah?

Graeme: I've been traveling.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: So I haven't been playing anything!

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: But I'm, Forza Horizon 3.

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: Still absolutely in love with that game. And yeah. On Friday night last week when we were still in LA I went and, the production team had an Air BnB. It was beautiful, in Venice. It was a really nice place they were staying'. And they actually had a Xbox One S.

Major Nelson: Oh good!

Graeme: So I basically went over there, we had a BBQ. And we, we only had one controller. So we did that really old-school thing of actually passing it around.

Major Nelson: Passing it around.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Graeme: Just playing one controller.

Major Nelson: You know what, it's simple but effective.

Graeme: It was great.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Because we were just going around the whole map doing um, the PR stunts in that way.

Major Nelson: Yeah, yeah.

Graeme: And just passing the controller until we completed it then moving on to the next one. We had such a good time.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: It was lovely to actually be traveling, be somewhere different, be able to sit down and play Xbox.

Major Nelson: In Venice Beach none the less which is quite delightful.

Graeme: Yeah. It was really nice.

Major Nelson: The weather was behaved, didn't it?

Graeme: Ye- It was so, uh, you know this morning,

Major Nelson: Yes.

Graeme: It was absolutely tipping it down with rain here.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: And it felt so weird to me.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: I looked out the window and was like what is that?

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: After being in LA for a week [crosstalk 00:04:07] and then Seattle.

Major Nelson: Oh, that's Seattle baby, that's Seattle.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Yeah, I never come prepared for rain here as well which is just a ridiculous thing.

Major Nelson: Really?

Graeme: So um, but yeah no last week was just-

Major Nelson: Do you need to borrow some Wellies or something?

Graeme: I think I'm over-doing it.

Laura: Like a raincoat.

Graeme: Yeah, a sewester.

Major Nelson: Oh, I don't know what that is but okay. (laughs)

Graeme: Well isn't that a thing over here?

Laura: No.

Major Nelson: No.

Graeme: Like a big yellow, like a fisherman's ...

Major Nelson: Oh yeah.

Graeme: You know, waterproofs. Ah so far it's all right. I'm just absolutely, I just love that game so much. And the one that I'm looking forward to playing a lot of.

Major Nelson: Yes.

Graeme: Which comes out tomorrow.

Major Nelson: Yes.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: Is Civilization VI.

Laura: Oh!

Major Nelson: The six, yeah, you know. I, I knew you were going to bring that up.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Because it does come out tomorrow.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So you're going to play that probably on the way back aren't you?

Graeme: Yes, that's the idea.

Major Nelson: You're going to try to do that.

Graeme: I'm going to try to pre-download it. Over night tonight, and then have it ready for the plane tomorrow.

Laura: Mmm. It's a perfect plane game.

Graeme: It's a 10 hour flight.

Laura: Yeah. Plenty of time.

Major Nelson: So you'll, when do you land? Saturday morning right?

Graeme: Yeah it's like 7am, Saturday morning

Major Nelson: And then, then how far away are you from the airport in London?

Graeme: Uh, about an hour?

Major Nelson: Oh boy.

Laura: That'll be a long travel day.

Major Nelson: We he had quite the, quite the problem coming out here.

Laura: Really?

Major Nelson: His car broke down on, was it the M4?

Laura: (gasp)

Graeme: Let's not do that again. It was the M4, yeah.

Laura: Oh no!

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Graeme: The actually closed the whole M4.

Laura: For you?

Graeme: No I wish it was.

Laura: Okay. (laughs)

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Graeme: I left my house at six o'clock in the morning so I thought, this'll be great. I'll just shoot along the M4.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: It'll take me like 45 minutes to get to the airport, and then it was closed. And then all the warning lights on my car started blinking.

Laura: Oh no.

Graeme: As I was sitting in steady traffic. Not steady traffic, stopped traffic. Um. So yeah, I had to pull off the road and ...

Major Nelson: He missed his flight.

Graeme: I missed my flight.

Laura: You missed it?

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Oh no!

Graeme: Had to like reschedule the flight.

Major Nelson: [inaudible 00:05:37][crosstalk 00:05:37]

Laura: Oh no.

Graeme: It was so much [crosstalk 00:05:38] but you know, I got there in the end so it's all right.

Major Nelson: Well I'm so glad you made it.

Graeme: Fun and games.

Laura: Yes.

Graeme: But Battlefield was the other one right?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: We work these events right? And it's so much fun.

Major Nelson: Yeah. It's a ton of fun.

Graeme: It's a real privileged.

Major Nelson: We, we're privileged to be able to play games and, and, just talk about the games and have fun.

Graeme: But there's always a frustration right? That we are, we have the game in front of us.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Graeme: We're talking about it the whole time, and you just like.

Major Nelson: Want to play it.

Graeme: Even, even we got to play it on stream a few times, but you just like. And then they're like, okay, on to the next thing and you're like-

Laura: Yeah.

Graeme: Can't I just play for another four hours? (laughs)

Laura: Exactly.

Major Nelson: We just want to play a match, and just really-

Graeme: Exactly.

Laura: Get into it.

Major Nelson: Invest in our characters.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: We just, we just didn't have time. I mean, this is, this is, this is part of the problem.

Graeme: And it was a good opportunity for us to like, renew our Battlefield rivalry.

Major Nelson: Right.

Graeme: And we didn't really get a chance.

Major Nelson: No, we didn't.

Graeme: Every time we played, was, they put us on the same team.

Major Nelson: So [crosstalk 00:06:20] why don't-

Laura: [inaudible 00:06:20]

Major Nelson: Why don't, let's talk about this a little bit. So Graeme and I go down to LA.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: We go to DICE in Los Angeles.

Laura: Right.

Major Nelson: To do the stream.

Graeme: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Major Nelson: And we're doing, we did two streams, two different days. I have to apologize I've, I got a cold since I was down there.

Graeme: Well do you know what, I'm suffering a little bit.

Laura: Ah.

Graeme: So, I think we've shh ...

Major Nelson: So that's why we need to keep Laura away.

Laura: Yes, I'll scoot further away.

Graeme: We've both got it from somewhere.

Major Nelson: Well, so.

Graeme: Further away.

Major Nelson: We go down to LA and we're doing the stream. And the first stream we showed off um, what did we do? I don't even remember the first day. It seems so long-

Graeme: The first day we were really introducing the streams.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Graeme: And EXS and preview.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Graeme: And the [inaudible 00:06:51][crosstalk 00:06:52]

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: The console.

Major Nelson: And then the next day, Laura.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: We have Snoop Dog on.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: (gasp) Awesome.

Major Nelson: Well, I don't think he'd agree with you on that one but. (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: (laughs) Oh, Snoop.

Major Nelson: So what happens was, is, during the stream, before Snoop shows up.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Graeme and I are playing.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: You know, he's got his, I, I have my monitor, Graeme has his monitor, our two controllers, we're kind of talking, we're showing off the map. We're going through it. (clears throat) And, it's a very small studio. I mean tiny. Like probably a quarter of the size of this room. So we've got four people packed in, plus the gear, plus the cameras, plus the crew, it's bananas, isn't it?

Graeme: Yeah. It's always tight like that.

Major Nelson: And. It's, it is.

Graeme: It's part of the glamour of it.

Major Nelson: It's never, it's never, yeah. Behind the scenes is very, very, uh, glamorous. So-

Laura: Is this the behind-the-scenes story?

Major Nelson: Oh yeah.

Laura: That you were hinting about earlier?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: Okay.

Major Nelson: So-

Laura: I'm really looking forward to this.

Major Nelson: So Snoop shows up and he, you know. They bring him onto the stream. We didn't even get to see him before hand. He just, on the air, walks right into stream. So we didn't get-

Laura: Wow, so you didn't even get to meet him properly?

Major Nelson: Properly, precisely.

Laura: Right.

Major Nelson: So and I, I, of course I've known, because we did a stream together in Los Angeles, and I've run into Snoop [crosstalk 00:07:54] [inaudible 00:07:54]

Graeme: You go way back.

Major Nelson: Yeah. So, he's-

Graeme: You've recorded with him before, yeah.

Major Nelson: He sits down.

Graeme: Dropped a few verses.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: They got cut from the album. Thanks for reminding me.

Laura: Yeah. (laughs)

Major Nelson: Ah, we, we, and so Snoop comes in and she starts playing Battlefield. And in a word.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Major Nelson: He's terrible.

Laura: Oh no!

Major Nelson: He just was having a really hard time. He's like, spawning in and he's dying and ...

Graeme: It was, painful.

Major Nelson: It was very painful.

Graeme: I mean I really felt for him. I mean one of the first things he said was, "Someone's just shot me in the back. How do I stop them from shooting me in the back?" And I was, you know, I was sort of like well, turn around?

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: But you know, I didn't want to like, he's, he's just turned up, it's Snoop Dog, and it's like-

Laura: Right.

Graeme: I, you know, how, how should I address, Mr. Dog in this instance.

Laura: Because he, he didn't even get to do the tutorial, did he, he just-

Major Nelson: No! No, he just, here's the controller and he's mid-match.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Wow.

Major Nelson: And he was-

Laura: That's rough.

Major Nelson: I mean, for anybody that's hard.

Laura: Yes, that's rough.

Major Nelson: So he was, he was, so we were trying to help him out a little bit and we got him, you know, in the right squad. Well. So after about an hour of this, um. We were, because it was so small, like, I had to step out for a minute.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: And then Graeme stepped out and a couple, anyway. Graeme comes back in towards the end of the stream and we realize, he was playing with Graeme's controller and Graeme was using inverted controls.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: Oh no.

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Graeme: As you should.

Laura: What?

Graeme: I, I had so much respect for Snoop that I assumed that he would play ...

Laura: Normal, all the way.

Major Nelson: Up is up, down is down.

Laura: Up is up, down is down.

Graeme: No, I don't play like that.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So ...

Laura: It's normal.

Graeme: Inverted is truth.

Laura: Why is it called normal?

Graeme: So let's move on from that.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Well that, because that's a conspiracy by the way. I don't want to get into that but, it does disgust me that often it seems to be labelled as some kind of perversion, almost, to play inverted.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: (laughs) That's right.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: It's uh ...

Graeme: It's not right, it's not right. It's a life choice.

Laura: You're upside down.

Major Nelson: So if you, if you were watching the stream last week you saw Snoop, he was struggling.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Thanks to Graeme's poor choice of controller schemas.

Laura: Because he was inverted.

Graeme: I apologized to him on Twitter.

Major Nelson: (laughs) You did?

Graeme: He, he didn't tweet me back.

Laura: He didn't respond?

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Was he burned?

Graeme: I think there is, beef between me and sort of, inverted beef.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Ugh, ugh. Anyways so I was up, otherwise it was lot of fun and I mean a lot of people are playing the game and tonight-

Graeme: You know the other dude he had with him though, Jesse.

Major Nelson: Yeah, Jesse was legit.

Graeme: Jesse as well was just, was like, he's Prank vs. Prank on YouTube?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: He's got like 10 million YouTube subscribers.

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: He was legit. He knew what he was doing.

Major Nelson: He sniped a couple there which were like what?

Graeme: And as the stream went on he just kept getting better and better and better.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: So there was one point where me and Alex, Goldenboy, were sitting next to Jesse, and we were like, let's just adopt Jesse.

Laura: Yeah. (laughs)

Graeme: As our guy, and we'll leave Larry and Jose with him.

Major Nelson: And Snoop.

Graeme: C'mon Jesse do this!

Major Nelson: We're trying to upright that one.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: It was hard.

Graeme: Yeah, it was fun though man.

Major Nelson: So what else are you playing other than not-Battlefield?

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: Uh, so not Battlefield... So XCOM 2 was the other one I kicked off just before I left.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Okay, did you name, did you name your char- You know

Graeme: I was, I didn't really get there yet.

Major Nelson: All right.

Graeme: Because I've been waiting on that to come to Xbox One for the longest time. I'm so delighted it has. I played like the first couple of tutorial missions. So I'm just going to get into it. But that's, you know, that's top of the list when I get back.

Major Nelson: Right.

Graeme: And Gears.

Major Nelson: Gears of War.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: I want to get through Gears, play through the first couple of acts on that. Um, there's just so much at this time of year.

Laura: There is. This time of year is the game season.

Graeme: And the other one that, that weirdly, I got hooked into about four weeks ago, which is like the worst timing, is The Witcher 3.

Major Nelson: Oh boy.

Laura: Oh, what?

Graeme: Yeah. Because I started it when it came out, you know. Played for a couple of weeks. Maybe, sort of 10, 15 hours in. Was absolutely loving it.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: And then other things happened and I was pulled away from it.

Major Nelson: That game, that game is, that's that's one of the finest so far, this generation.

Graeme: It, oh, it's so good. It's so good, and still, you know, even a year on. Every time I boot it up, and your game loads in, and you're in, anywhere in the map.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: It just looks so unbelievably, it's just-

Major Nelson: You just have to stop for a moment.

Laura: Beautiful game, yeah.

Graeme: Yeah. But it was because of GWENT, uh.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: Because I'm doing some work on GWENT at the moment.

Major Nelson: Right. It's coming out as a stand-alone game later.

Graeme: Uh, absolutely.

Major Nelson: I don't know when it's coming out.

Graeme: Yeah, it's, well. I think um, betas are kicking in quite soon, stuff as well.

Major Nelson: Yeah, yeah.

Graeme: So that's exciting. And I thought well, that reminded me that I needed to go back to The Witcher 3 and play it.

Major Nelson: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: But also learn more about GWENT and The Witcher 3 as well.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: And I went and did a bit of GWENT and then I was like, oh right. I better just get back into this. So yeah. So. Basically what I'm saying is I need about 9 weeks off.

Laura: Yes.

Graeme: When I go back.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: And that's not going to happen.

Laura: I feel the same way.

Major Nelson: Well you're, you're not shy about taking you time off.

Graeme: Don't be like that.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Have you heard this story?

Laura: Yes!

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Laura: I think he told it on the show last time.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Oh, what! Don't tell her that story!

Major Nelson: I told her how a guy came up to us and said, at gamescom, he's like "I emailed you but I got, you said you were out of office."

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: You paid him significant amounts of money.

Major Nelson: I, I, it was the funniest moment.

Graeme: It was just, the time was so, it was like out of a sitcom wasn't it?

Major Nelson: (laughs) Right.

Graeme: The timing could not have been more perfect. Because we were literally just talking about it in private.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Oh boy.

Graeme: Who says that. And it's Christmas soon is it? So I'll get some, some time then.

Laura: It is.

Major Nelson: Are you, do you have any more travel? I mean is this your last big trip for the year?

Graeme: I think this is the last one for the year actually yes.

Major Nelson: Good.

Graeme: Because things, you know, from an event point of view are settling down now right? And launches and things.

Major Nelson: Oh please.

Graeme: So uh, so yeah. We'll get home and um, you know. Do some planning for the start of next year.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: The end of year, and, uh, yeah.

Major Nelson: Well that's kind of why you're in town right now, you know. A lot of people, you know, forget, that, you know. Sure holiday 2016, that planning started for us in Xbox months and months ago.

Graeme: Oh yeah.

Laura: Mhmm

Major Nelson: So you're actually planning next year. And, I don't know about you but, I was in a meeting the other day about E3.

Graeme: Mmm.

Major Nelson: Right?

Graeme: I've started here, we've talked about it, yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Thing's mentioned, so.

Major Nelson: So it's um ...

Graeme: That's a scary thought, isn't it?

Major Nelson: I already know one thing that's coming out at E3. I'm really excited.

Graeme: What is it?

Major Nelson: I'm, I, (laughs)

Laura: (laughs) Ah ha, almost. Really close.

Major Nelson: Nope, nope nope nope. Really excited. That's all I can say.

Graeme: Yes.

Major Nelson: All right Laura, what are you playing.

Laura: So, I've had, a, a few hours to dedicate to gaming this week. Which is very exciting.

Major Nelson: I'm looking over here at your gamer card.

Laura: Oh you are?

Major Nelson: Yeah we're, we're just comparing. So that's-

Laura: Which, which scores are you comparing?

Major Nelson: You're, you're over here.

Laura: Well, I mean my gamer score's not the best. I'll say that.

Major Nelson: That's fine.

Laura: But at least I have, all like, I'm getting pretty close on the Turing Test. Which I am really enjoying. It's, again, fantastic puzzle game.

Major Nelson: You, I, I'm really ahead of you on Bridge Constructor. That's just wrong.

Laura: What?! How's that possible?

Major Nelson: I don't know. You've got 7% I've got 52.

Laura: I didn't get much achiev- I mean, what? What?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: Okay, I need to go back into that game.

Major Nelson: And now conversely, you're smoking me in Diablo. You're 71% I'm 52. I actually thought you'd be higher than that.

Laura: Yeah, you'd think so too.

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Laura: Some of those achievements are pretty hard.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: They are pretty, pretty difficult but, still really fun. Maybe I'll go back one day.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: And actually get the, the hard ones. Make a mission of it.

Major Nelson: Um, anyways I'm sorry. So other than-

Laura: Yeah, you're completely distracting me.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: Talking about and comparing gamer scores. You have 100% on Inside?

Major Nelson: Well who doesn't?

Graeme: I didn't know I can do the uh, get all the secrets things.

Major Nelson: Yeah, yeah. I had to. I had to do that.

Laura: Yeah, you can do secrets.

Graeme: So I haven't seen the alternate ending.

Laura: Because it's very similar to Limbo.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Where Limbo is all about finding the eggs.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: With Inside you have to find all the secret areas.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: And I've only found a few.

Graeme: So good.

Laura: Looks like, four.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: And there are 14?

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: Yeah. I have some, some exploring to go to.

Major Nelson: Yes you do. I'm not judging.

Laura: But I'm beating you on threes.

Major Nelson: You are, you are beating me on threes, 27 of them. Anyway.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So, what else are you-

Laura: I'm good at some things.

Major Nelson: What are you, what are you playing that's not captured here? You got any, any ...

Laura: So, everything is captured there.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: So I've got The Turing Test which I'm almost done with.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: You've got 100%. Way to go.

Graeme: I need to play that.

Laura: It's really fun. If you like puzzle games it's, it's a really really really good one.

Major Nelson: So Laura, I'm actually, you are the in-house, resident, puzzle expert.

Laura: Thank you.

Major Nelson: I, I am a puzzle hack.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Like I'm one of those guys who's looking around like "I don't understand it", you know. Like if we were in school together Laura, I'd be coming up to you going "How do you do this?"

Laura: Ah, I see.

Major Nelson: You would've, you would've been the smart girl in class.

Laura: You got through it. Did you have to do any ... Tutorials?

Major Nelson: It was a little frustrating, I mean, some of them. It was a classic, good puzzle game, where it's like, you have to go away and then you wake up at four o'clock in the morning; "I got it!"

Laura: Okay. (laughs)

Major Nelson: You know, and you've gotta run down and turn the console on.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So, it's, it's got those moments.

Laura: Yeah. One thing that I usually do and I found myself doing this, was I always have to go walk the entire puzzle, before I do anything. Do you do that Larry?

Major Nelson: What do you mean "walk" the entire?

Laura: Like, look at all the rooms.

Major Nelson: Oh yeah.

Laura: And see where all the switches are.

Major Nelson: Yeah, no, you have to understand what all of the, what, what's you're tool box with.

Laura: Yeah, before you go and switch the switches.

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: And things like that because-

Graeme: You're like a racing driver, walking the track.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Before the race.

Laura: Visualize yourself, driving the curves. Flipping the switches.

Graeme: I really like the, the team that worked on Turing Test are great. Based in Darby in the UK.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: I've been up to see them a couple of times.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah they're great guys up there. [crosstalk 00:15:59]

Graeme: [inaudible 00:15:58]

Laura: Oh cool.

Major Nelson: I remember I see them, uh, usually at uh, at gamescom and whatnot.

Graeme: Yeah, yeah.

Major Nelson: And of course they've done- What did they did, uh ...

Graeme: Pneuma.

Major Nelson: Pneuma.

Laura: Pneuma: Breath of Life.

Major Nelson: Breath of Life, which I also finished.

Laura: Yes.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: And I got 100% on game. Did you get 100%?

Major Nelson: I did. I did Laura, so.

Laura: There it is.

Major Nelson: Hmm.

Laura: So getting close on The Turing Test. The other one I tried out this week was ReCore.

Major Nelson: Hmm.

Laura: Have you guys played it yet?

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: I haven't played it yet, no.

Laura: Oh.

Major Nelson: Yeah, I've, I need to go back and finish that.

Laura: So I really enjoy it because it just scratches that itch for me. Because it's a first person shooter, RPG.

Major Nelson: Yeah, you know, it's funny. I was talking to, I was in Phil Spencer's office the other day. He was showing me some stuff, and he loved- He had it up because he's, he said "It's a gamer's game."

Laura: Hmm.

Major Nelson: Which is exactly right.

Laura: For me it's, there's a crafting element to it. So you can go around collecting materials, and collecting cores, and upgrading your bots. And, I find myself, similar, similar to how we think of Fallout where I had to go (laughs) and just farm for things.

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: I found myself doing that as well. Just going around, killing bots to farm for their materials and other cores.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Laura: So I can upgrade my, my dog, you know.

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: My little dog-bot. He's so cute.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: I really, you know, it's fun. It's super-super fun.

And then I popped in Forza Horizon but I haven't gotten too far into it yet.

Graeme: Oh, it's amazing.

Laura: I know. It's beautiful.

Major Nelson: (laughs) [crosstalk 00:17:09]

Graeme: (laughs) I think the way I said that I was an idiot.

Laura: It's just beautiful.

Graeme: Yeah, it's-

Major Nelson: Appropriate though.

Laura: It's such a gorgeous game.

Graeme: Yeah, yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Graeme: It is. I genuinely think it's the, possibly the best looking game on Xbox One at the moment?

Laura: Yep.

Graeme: Gears is, is up there as well.

Major Nelson: Let's talk about Gears.

Laura: I haven't, I don't have it yet.

Graeme: Oof.

Laura: I'm really looking forward to it.

Major Nelson: So I did the, I did the live event two wee- Jeez, two weeks ago already.

Graeme: Yeah ...

Laura: Oh.

Graeme: Time flies.

Major Nelson: I did the live stream which was cra-zy.

Laura: It was.

Major Nelson: You didn't watch it did you?

Laura: I saw pictures.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Yeah, it was, it was bananas. So we did the live stream. It was uh, a lot of fun down there in LA and, it's, it's- As you said it's a great looking game. I'm kind of a, you know, I'm using the play-anywhere to it's fullest extent. I'm playing on my PC, I'm playing on my console, going back and forth.

Graeme: Ah.

Major Nelson: Completely seamless. Doing hoard mode. Bunch of us were on PC, a bunch were on console. Didn't matter.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: We were just having fun.

Graeme: That's really good.

Major Nelson: We should play sometime.

Graeme: I'd love to.

Major Nelson: Hoard mode.

Graeme: We always say that don't we.

Major Nelson: Well, well the problem is, is we would, but the reality is that because of the time zone difference its-

Laura: It's a little difficult.

Major Nelson: It's very- Eight hour, are you, what's, what time is it right now? (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Eight hours plus, so, oh god. I don't know. After ten isn't it?

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah you're, you're starting to fade aren't you?

Graeme: Ten pm. No, I feel a bit, I've been out here for so long that I feel good. I'm going to suffer more when I go back.

Major Nelson: Have you, have you- That's right after it's been two weeks. That's right.

Graeme: Yeah, but. Uh, yeah. The time difference is a challenge for us though. And then like, my time is still a little bit limited with the, the two wee boys at home. You know?

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Major Nelson: Unless it's Lego which I see you playing all the time.

Graeme: Yeah ... Well, Disney Infinity is still the one. I mean, I, I would love to know how many hours I've got logged on Xbox Live on Disney Infinity.

Major Nelson: Ugh.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Major Nelson: It's just ...

Graeme: It must be an insane number now. And then you see these people talking about how many hours they've put on World of Warcraft.

Major Nelson: Yeah. That's you on Infinity?

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Graeme: That's me for Disney Infinity. Well it's mostly Finn.

Major Nelson: Right.

Graeme: Uh, my son. But uh, yeah. I'm not even joking. He literally, (laughs) I'll back track. That's not what literally means.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: He almost has every single Disney Infinity figurine. Ever produced.

Major Nelson: Really?

Laura: Wow.

Graeme: Like we're getting to the end of a very long list now. And of course, you know, they've stopped production.

Major Nelson: Well, right.

Graeme: Um, which is a heart-breaker. Uh, so yeah we're almost there.

Major Nelson: All right then.

Laura: Does he get you the achievements?

Graeme: It's, you know what-

Major Nelson: Yes.

Graeme: Yeah, some of them.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: I, I have you on my friends list I see it.

Graeme: It's not as good for achievements as you'd think it would.

Major Nelson: No, it's really not.

Graeme: It really isn't. Um. Uh, but yeah. He gets a few on there for me.

Laura: I see.

Graeme: I try and like, mold him to- Wouldn't it be good if you start doing that thing? Rather than that random thing?

Laura: Collecting all of these things. (laughs)

Major Nelson: Point him in the right direction.

Graeme: Start farming coins or whatever.

Major Nelson: I'm sorry Laura, we got away from what, what else you're playing.

Laura: Oh that's it. That was it for me.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: Forza Horizon.

Major Nelson: So I'll just quickly tick through what I'm playing; Battlefield, ah, dipped, kinda went back into Red Dead because that was announced.

Graeme: Oh yeah.

Laura: Yeah, yes.

Major Nelson: Coming to Xbox, in late 2017.

Laura: Next year.

Major Nelson: So excited about that. So I have a friend of mine who I worked in radio, many many years ago, who is scoring it, and he's been texting me.

Laura: *gasp*

Major Nelson: And I, I can't really share the texts but he was, he's very excited.

Graeme: He's got insider information.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: Wow.

Major Nelson: Uh.

Laura: I'm jealous.

Major Nelson: Uh, Gears of War I'm about 3/4 of the way done with that campaign. I've been playing Forza Horizon. Mafia 3 is a game that I just keep going back to.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Major Nelson: Of course I did the press event last year. It was a year and a half ago and uh, at gamescom. Did that. Firewatch.

Laura: Oh.

Major Nelson: Checking out The Witness.

Laura: You've been playing Firewatch.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: What do you think?

Major Nelson: I, I'm having a great time with it.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Major Nelson: It's just, it's, I need to get back to it.

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: There's just too little time and so many games right now.

Laura: So many game's you're playing.

Major Nelson: Yeah, so.

Graeme: I've played day one of Firewatch and loved it, yeah.

Major Nelson: Did you?

Graeme: Yeah, I'm quite surprised at how much I liked it, actually.

Major Nelson: Yeah,

Graeme: You know, I was expecting it to be good but, yeah, so atmospheric.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: Yes it is.

Graeme: Different.

Laura: It's gorgeous.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah, of course The Witness, again, another puzzle game.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: Did you finish The Witness?

Laura: I have not finished it.

Major Nelson: So you didn't finish it on console or PC right?

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: Right.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: I got half-way through on PC and then things got in the way.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: Like real-

Major Nelson: Life?

Laura: Yeah, life got in the way. Itching to get back though.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: Super fun.

Major Nelson: Anyways.

Laura: I love puzzle games.

Major Nelson: That's kinda what we're playing. We've got a bunch going on. A bunch of stuff is out now uh, I mean. It's been, it's been a real crazy time in terms of what we've, what we've got out now. We talked about Battlefield 1 is out, Hopiko, I mean, just go to my blog. The Big Butcher is out, Team 17 Indie Collection is out, which is huge. Rockband Rivals bundle is out.

Graeme: Oh yeah.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Major Nelson: Batman: Return To Arkham, I mean.

Laura: Yes, I saw that.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: The Batman bundle.

Major Nelson: It, look, all you need to do is follow me on Twitter. I'm @majornelson, follow my blog, MajorNelson.com, or, This Week On Xbox. You've seen this show Graem?

Graeme: Yeah, in fact I've seen the latest one before it goes live.

Major Nelson: That's right, because you help us. We have different people look at it just to make sure that I've-

Graeme: Yeah and I've put some UK eyes on it.

Major Nelson: Yeah you do.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Which is good.

Graeme: I've tried to, edit you out of it as much as I can.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: You know, you know- You know there was-

Graeme: That's not true.

Laura: Edit you in.

Graeme: (laughs) Yeah!

Major Nelson: There was, it was a-

Graeme: Try to find some stills of me

Laura: Some green screen. (laughs)

Major Nelson: We, I would like to have you, I would love to have you sit in on the show sometime.

Graeme: I know. Well, we did it at gamescom didn't we?

Major Nelson: Yeah, we did it at gamescom and that was a lot of fun.

Graeme: That was fun, yeah.

Major Nelson: We need to do that, more of that.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: But anyway, so yeah, just, you know how to find out what's going on. We certainly have much going on for the holiday, we have a bunch of great bundles that are out.

Graeme: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Major Nelson: You know these wonderful Battlefield bundles.

Graeme: Oh my gosh.

Laura: Oh yes.

Graeme: So many.

Major Nelson: The green?

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: What color green is it?

Graeme: Eh, it's kind of a dark green?

Major Nelson: It's a dark green.

Graeme: Yep.

Major Nelson: It's a dark green camouflage.

Graeme: It's almost like what you might see, sort of, with the armed forces, kind of.

Major Nelson: Precisely.

Graeme: Kind of that color?

Laura: Mmm.

Major Nelson: Yeah. And there's-

Graeme: It's really nice.

Major Nelson: Yep. And, and sales are going, you know. I, I wanted to get you in here because one of the things is with the Xbox One S, I'm sure you read this Laura, a lot of the listeners have read this. Xbox One S is selling quite well in the UK.

Graeme: Uh, indeed it is.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: As it is over here as well.

Major Nelson: Yeah, you know.

Graeme: I was looking at, we were doing some social post yesterday and, best selling console in America.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: All right.

Graeme: But yeah, doing really well in the UK as well, so.

Laura: Very good.

Major Nelson: You kinda need, you kinda need to be waiving a flag when you say that.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: (laughs) Well the, we were talking about it yesterday. We wanted to do like a Born In The USA sort of pastiche.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: With the American flag in the back and the Xbox Ones.

Major Nelson: American eagle-

Graeme: I'm not sure we'd get that signed off, but, yeah. It's a cool message. But yeah, it's, things are going really well in uh, in the UK and Europe just now as well. And I think it's Xbox One S is just-

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Captured people's imaginations right? I mean it looks beautiful.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: It's got great features in there and 4k is amazing.

Laura: Mm-hmm. (affirmative)

Graeme: Ah, yeah, so it's good times. It's like, you know it feels like there's real sort of energy and excitement in the community and momentum.

Major Nelson: There's always energy and excitement and just, feel, you know, there's even more so which is great stuff to talk about.

Graeme: Yeah. It's great.

Laura: All kinds of games to play, especially this holiday season.

Graeme: Well that's the other thing as well right? It's one thing having the hardware but the lineup of games is great as well.

Laura: Yes. It's incredible.

Major Nelson: It's relentless.

Laura: It's relentless, it's almost stressful, today.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Well, we are getting into a, you know, we're now in about another two or three weeks it kinda peters out in terms of game releases that doesn't, you know, the backlog is, will be officially there.

Laura: It will be very high.

Major Nelson: You know next week is going to be difficult because I'm headed to New York. We've got a big event in New York.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: Not an Xbox, more of a Microsoft thing I was asked to attend so um, I'm going to go there and uh, see what we got to announce. I don't know. I honestly don't know.

Laura: All right.

Major Nelson: I'm, I'm going in with open eyes and blind.

Laura: I hear there's cool stuff.

Major Nelson: And then I come back, and, I go to Australia.

Laura: That's right.

Graeme: Wow.

Major Nelson: I'll be doing story time for PAX Australia. Very excited to go down to Melbourne. Um, I've got a bunch of stories. Some of, some of the stories you've probably heard me tell on the air here but there's some that have never before been told, that I'll be telling.

Laura: Oh, during your keynote?

Major Nelson: Yes, during the keynote, some of those.

Laura: Oh.

Major Nelson: Ah, and then I come back and then I'm going to Mexico.

Graeme: Wow.

Major Nelson: We have a Mexico fan event coming up in mid-November.

Laura: That's right.

Major Nelson: So, so that's kind of my travel schedule for [crosstalk 00:24:00]

Graeme: A lot of travels, definitely.

Laura: Is that, is that the first time we've talked about it?

Major Nelson: Uh, I believe so. Yeah.

Laura: All right.

Major Nelson: I think I tweeted out that I was going to go and Phil, he's like yeah, you need to go. Okay Phil!

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: On it, booking now.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So, uh, yeah. So Phil and I are going to be down there and some of the other members of the team as well, so.

Laura: That's very exciting.

Major Nelson: So I've never, I've never been to Mexico.

Graeme: Neither have I.

Major Nelson: Have you been?

Laura: I've been. Yes, a few times.

Major Nelson: [inaudible 00:24:19]

Laura: But only to the coastal areas.

Major Nelson: Yeah, you've only been to the resort areas right?

Laura: Right.

Major Nelson: You haven't been to Mexico City.

Laura: Right.

Graeme: Maybe I should drop [inaudible 00:24:26] and the team down there as well so.

Major Nelson: Yeah, why don't you come join us.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: You know Phil, just email him.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Maybe I should drop my wife a note first.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Yeah exactly, yeah.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Well as we know, we must approve these things by the higher authorities.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Isn't that, that's quite a good one as well, isn't it, because it's mid-November.

Major Nelson: Yeah, it's mid November. I think like the 11th or 12th.

Graeme: Which is very close to the 15th year anniversary-

Major Nelson: Of Xbox.

Graeme: Of Xbox.

Major Nelson: Yeah. That's coming up.

Graeme: So that's quite a celebration.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: That's cool.

Major Nelson: Fifteen years.

Graeme: Fifteen years.

Major Nelson: To think that I've been here for over 13 of them.

Graeme: (whistles)

Major Nelson: So. Anyway.

Graeme: Wow.

Laura: Wow.

Major Nelson: Enough of that.

Graeme: You don't look a day older.

Major Nelson: Thank you.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Hmm. I don't-

Graeme: I mean, you look 13 years older but, not a day older.

Laura: (laughs) Not a day older than that.

Major Nelson: (sighs) Anything else you want to say there Graeme?

Graeme: I've, I mean I've been here 10 years. I don't know why I'm throwing shade on ye. (laughs)

Laura: Longer than 10 years.

Major Nelson: And Laura's been here longer than that.

Laura: I've been, I'm coming up on my 10 year.

Major Nelson: Are you?

Laura: Yep. In February.

Major Nelson: My lord.

Graeme: Congratulations.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: I remember, I remember when Laura-

Laura: Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Major Nelson: I remember, I remember a very young Laura when she's walking by our office going, "And you are ...?"

Graeme: We're the old ones.

Laura: Who are you?

Major Nelson: You are, what do you do?

Laura: Wha- What's your name?

Major Nelson: Developer what?

Laura: Oh, I was asking you those questions. Who are you/

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Oh exactly. I still get asked that question here.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: It like, I still get asked- We were kinda looking at each other like wait a minute.

Laura: What do you do? (laughs

Major Nelson: It's a weird story isn't it? It's a weird story.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: It is.

Major Nelson: We could tell stories.[crosstalk 00:25:43]

Graeme: [inaudible 00:25:43]

Major Nelson: Anyway, we've got a lot of games coming up, a lot of travel coming up.

Graeme: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: So I just want to make sure people that the, the store, our or excuse me. The ah, the shows are going to be a little bit sporadic as the often are during these travel times of the year.

Laura: They are.

Major Nelson: Like I say, Jeff is traveling. That's why I was so thrilled that uh, well that uh, you know. You- It's not even a replacement I mean it's an upgrade. We get Graeme.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: It did sound like you were going towards last minute, desperation.

Major Nelson: No! No we moved heaven and Earth to get you on.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: Okay.

Major Nelson: We, we, we accommodated your schedule, because we know how busy you are.

Graeme: That is true actually, yeah. I appreciate that.

Major Nelson: So you know what we're going to do right now is we have a Name The Game Laura.

Laura: That's right, we still have to pay that off.

Major Nelson: We said, that we would Name The Game which is, you know, it's a, it's a feature we do here. You know that right?

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Okay, just want to make sure, you know, Graeme.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Come on.

Major Nelson: We do feature Name The Game, and Laura, you have the Name The Game from last time right?

Laura: I do.

(fast car sounds)

(Male Voice: Left! Left! Right! Watch out for that, argh!)

(helicopter sounds and car sounds)

(sounds fade, slow-motion helicopter sound remains)

(car sounds fade back in)

So that was Name The Game from last time. And it was a pretty easy one.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: It was Forza Horizon 3.

Graeme: Hey!

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Hey! Hmm, maybe it was the revving engines that was the give away.

Laura: Yeah, it could've been, maybe. Pretty simple one, but ...

Major Nelson: Well we also, well that means we have a winner!

Laura: We do have a winner, and the winner is, gamertag: patworks89, and he is from Syracuse, New York.

Major Nelson: Syracuse, my old stomping ground.

Laura: That's right.

Major Nelson: Upstate in the uh, uh the what was that 315 area code? Great.

Laura: Yeah.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: So congratulations to patworks, we have a big back of prizes for you.

Major Nelson: What do we have? What, what did you, where, so I don't know how this works because every week we come in, and some how you have access to my prizes and like-

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: I think you go to my desk when I'm not there and just, we're going to use this, we're going to use this, we're going to use this.

Laura: Exactly, and just pilfer. Now this.

Major Nelson: What'd you pull out this week Laura?

Laura: So this week we have a WW3 2K17 full game, a copy of that for PatWorks

Major Nelson: Wrestling is big over there in the UK isn't it?

Graeme: Yeah it is, it is, it's a big deal.

Laura: It is. Not only that we have a Just Dance 2017, so if wrestling's not your thing, and maybe dancing is?

Major Nelson: Maybe dancing is.

Laura: Enjoy, Just Dance 2017.

Major Nelson: Different type of dancing.

Laura: And that's not all, we also have a full copy of Gears of War 4 Ultimate Edition.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Whoa.

Laura: And-

Major Nelson: Wait, what more?

Laura: And-

Major Nelson: You're cleaning me out, Laura!

Laura: All right, all right, Forza Horizon 3 Ultimate Edition as well.

Major Nelson: Woo!

Graeme: What a line up.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: That's brilliant.

Laura: Look here. That's not all.

Graeme: What?

Major Nelson: Wait a minute-

Laura: Patworks, you also get a Xbox wireless controller, the blue version.

Major Nelson: Yes, you found that did you, huh?

Graeme: Nice.

Laura: I did.

Major Nelson: It was in my desk.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: Well congratulations ah, when you play Name The Game you could win all sorts of cool stuff.

Laura: You can.

Major Nelson: Including just like Laura said, so.

Laura: All kinds of things that I find.

Major Nelson: So, so we're going to do one right now ah, but. I have no idea. You're going to have a long time because we're not going to be doing a show for a few weeks.

Laura: Yes. That's true.

Major Nelson: So you're going, you're going to have quite a while. So it's gonna be, let's make it exceptionally difficult.

Laura: Yeah. You'll need to do your research for this one.

Major Nelson: Okay. You ready?

Laura: Yeah. Let's roll it.

(gunshot, then rock music, crowd sounds)

So that was Name The Game. If you too would love to win fabulous prizes-

Major Nelson: And who wouldn't?

Laura: Who wouldn't, exactly. All you have to do is send us an email with what game you think those sounds are from.

Major Nelson: Yes.

Laura: Our email addresses are lollipop@xbox.com and major@xbox.com.

Major Nelson: Yup. Send it to both of us.

Laura: It's easy as that.

Major Nelson: Yeah, let us know. One entry, one entry per person please. Let us know uh, where you're from, what your guess is, and any, you know, tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

Laura: That'll be fun.

Major Nelson: Right?

Laura: Perfect. We always love learning about our listeners.

Major Nelson: Right.

Laura: Where they're from, about their lives.

Major Nelson: We have so many listeners, and they're from all over the world.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: What's an interesting fact about you, Graeme?

Graeme: When we did, we did one of those ice breakers at a meeting the other day.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: And the one we had to do was, ah, your first concert you went to.

Laura: Hmm.

Graeme: So that's quite a good one. Do that.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: What was it?

Graeme: Um, mine's actually not that embarrassing.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Graeme: Uh, it's a band called Biffy Clyro. Who, I don't think, I think they've done alright over here but I think they're a bit, a bit more indie over here.

Laura: I haven't heard of them.

Major Nelson: Nope, not, not with these two demographics.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: And yours is pretty good, being from radio.

Graeme: Ah he's going to show off aren't you?

Major Nelson: Right. So, well let's do yours first.

Laura: My first concert?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: Oh my goodness.

Major Nelson: Come on. How do you, I mean, you know.

Laura: Uh, Yellowcard?

Graeme: Yellowcard?

Major Nelson: Yellowcard?

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Okay. That's a good one. Well, you know mine.

Laura: No I don't.

Major Nelson: You don't know what mine is? Oh.

Laura: No.

Major Nelson: Mine is, this is actually really embarrassing. Um. It's Bruce Springsteen.

Graeme: How, what is embarrassing about Bruce Springsteen?!

Laura: How is that embarrassing?! It's Springsteen!

Major Nelson: Because, it was, it was, I I I, I'll never forget this. It was in uh, when I was, it was a girlfriend, a former girlfriend, she said "Hey, I want to go see Bruce Springsteen." I was like "I don't know, I'm not a Bruce Springsteen, I'll go see him, whatever". You know, I wanted to be with her. So we go.

Graeme: That's nice. Smoke in my eye.

Laura: I know! (laughs)

Major Nelson: And my very first concert. And Bruce, I think he went six hours.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Wow.

Major Nelson: Because he plays these legendary ...

Laura: What?

Major Nelson: And I was like, is this the way all concerts are?!

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: No, they're not. Um, but it was an amazing, amazing, amazing experience. So.

Laura: Is that what got you hooked into radio?

Major Nelson: Uh, (laughs) you know what got me hooked into radio, you know that story. Uh, no, that just I mean, I've always, I've always, I mean, who doesn't love music? I like, I'm a pop music guy.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: So, um, but that, that didn't, that really wasn't it. I mean, I love going to conc- When I worked in radio I did a lot of different concerts.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: I mean you name anybody in the 90s I did the show.

Laura: Okay.

Major Nelson: Um, so.

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Yes I did Robbie Williams' shows.

Graeme: Did you?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Very good. He puts on a good show.

Major Nelson: Big in the UK, not so much in the US.

Graeme: Did you let him entertain you?

Major Nelson: Yes.

Graeme: Oh good.

Major Nelson: Precisely.

Graeme: I'm reading Bruce Springsteen's autobiography just now.

Major Nelson: Oh, is it good?

Graeme: It's amazing.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Graeme: It's so good, yeah.

Major Nelson: All right.

Graeme: I'm about half-way through it at the moment. So I've been reading it on my trip and it's really good. I love it.

Major Nelson: So anyway, if you're a listener, if you want to tell us what your first concert is, we'd love to hear.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: [inaudible 00:32:41]

Major Nelson: I'm sorry Springsteen.

Laura: Bringing it back.

Graeme: I'm still confused about who Yellowcard are.

Major Nelson: Yeah, what is-

Laura: There is, they were a smaller band, and I lived in Austin so music-

Major Nelson: Oh-

Graeme: Oh, so yeah.

Major Nelson: Yeah, yeah.

Graeme: It's a hipster band.

Major Nelson: Did they, did, although Laura doesn't really strike you as a hipster does she?

Graeme: Laura's him.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: I didn't say that she wasn't him!

Graeme: Come on.

Major Nelson: I said she's not a hipster. Hipsters are a little different.

Graeme: I think, I think if you're automatically him aren't you?

Laura: Thank you. I would agree with you.

Graeme: Swept up with the hip wave.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I would agree with that.

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Laura: Well anyway, you can look them up on the internet.

Graeme: (laughs) You don't look convinced.

Major Nelson: Oh boy, oh boy. That's uh, anyway, so what else do we have? Wow!

Laura: Where are we?

Major Nelson: I don't even know how we could top that. I'm looking forward to seeing uh, what we've got next week.

Laura: Exactly.

Major Nelson: You want to talk about the Nintendo announcement? They-

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: What, what's the name? What was it?

Laura: Switch, isn't it?

Major Nelson: Switch, that's right.

Graeme: Switch.

Laura: Yup.

Major Nelson: Did you watch their trailer?

Graeme: I, uh ... It was a bit of uh, sorry. It was a bit of a strange one, because it was 7am time here.

Major Nelson: Locally, here, Pacific, yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Graeme: So I got out of bed for it.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: Literally.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: Um, yeah. Really, really, uh, intrigued. I think, I, I love the way that they are going after the audience that they already kind of know and love.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: You know, and they're bringing the two parts of what they're already doing together in such a seamless way.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: And like, for, for people who travel a lot like for you for instance, right, over the next two months?

Major Nelson: Forever.

Laura: Yeah. (laughs)

Graeme: That's an interesting proposition.

Major Nelson: Yeah, yeah.

Graeme: To be able to do that.

Laura: Take your console with you.

Major Nelson: To actually travel-

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Amazing.

Graeme: And of course we've got Xbox Play Anywhere which give you some of that.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Graeme: Um, in a really compelling way. But yeah, no, I thought it was great and nicely, nicely put together trailer. The one thing that I just can't stop thinking about is that poor dog. You know, the dog.

Laura: Which one?

Graeme: The guy's playing Zeldah.

Major Nelson: Yeah, yeah.

Graeme: And it's like dawn, in his apartment, he's obviously been playing it all night and this big dog wanders over and barks at him, like "Can I get some attention?" So he takes, he takes the Switch and he goes out to the park with the dog, but then he's just sitting on a park bench, playing Zeldah.

Major Nelson: And the dog disappears?

Graeme: And the dog's not there!

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Laura: Oh no!

Graeme: I'm worried about this dog everyone. Is the dog okay? Is it getting the attention he needs?

Major Nelson: Has anybody seen the dog from the Switch spot? Please speak up.

Graeme: So as excited as I am about it that's my over-riding concern.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: So Laura, you saw it right?

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: I love that, they're willing to try things that are new.

Graeme: Yeah.

Laura: Right? They are still trying to innovate.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: And not follow along with the way the industry is going. They're trying things that are really new.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: And I really respect that. Out of, you know, out of a company.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: Taking risks like that is really difficult.

Major Nelson: And that's fun, that's why I, I was very excited to see what they do. Then of course we talked about it earlier in the show, Red Dead Redemption 2, that trailer dropped an hour later. What a crazy, we're recording this right now on a Thursday, what a crazy day in the middle of October. We have these big pieces of news, right?

Laura: Right?

Major Nelson: And there's even more.

Graeme: It's just brilliant. Yeah.

Laura: Ah. There's just so much happening. So many things to keep on top of.

Graeme: It's been fun watching what Rockstar's done over the past few days.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: They really built it up.

Graeme: Yeah, they literally just put up, you know, a red image with they're logo on it on Sunday afternoon-

Major Nelson: And the internet melted, it caved it.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: It just absolutely broke the internet.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: And it's uh, but you know, it's incredible. As a, as a company, as a developer and publisher, have that power. But they deserve it, right?

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: Because, I, you know I love the way that they just manage everything so closely in their communication of new stuff like this.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: You know, its, they don't need to do a lot because they can just do something like that.

Laura: Right?

Graeme: And just (makes explosion noise), it just explodes.

Laura: Just put out a red picture.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: Yeah and then the beautiful art the next day.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). The silhouettes.

Graeme: And then all these spin offs, did you see all of the sort of memes of, of that piece of art?

Major Nelson: Yes. (laughs)

Laura: Yes, yeah.

Graeme: I thought is was pretty cool. I think Recore did one actually.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Which was nice.

Laura: I saw that.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Um, yeah, and then the trailer this morning right?

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: You saw that right?

Major Nelson: Looked delightful.

Laura: Yeah that was, wasn't that your favorite game of the year when that came out?

Major Nelson: Oh yeah. In fact Red Dead was one of my favorite games of last generation.

Laura: Oh man.

Major Nelson: I mean, I've, I make no, no bones about the fact that at the end of that game, I cried. It was emotional.

Graeme: Well, I was talking to someone about this the other day, like it had quite a strange pacing that game right? You know, quite, ah, deliberate start to the game.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Graeme: And then there was that section when you're at the, the McFarland ranch I think it was?

Major Nelson: Yep, yep.

Graeme: And it's quite, it's quite slow.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Graeme: But really compelling.

Major Nelson: Right.

Graeme: And, and then sort of interesting pacing at the end. But the result of that I think was like a much more, like um, sophisticated narrative right?

Laura: Mmm.

Graeme: At the end, it was a real gut-punch right?

Major Nelson: Well that's, that's-

Graeme: Like proper emotional stuff.

Major Nelson: To that point, I mean, you know, when it came to back ward compatibility in August, I fired up my con- my Xbox One and started, and I went like, I wonder where my game save is? And apparently I never saved my game to the cloud, because if you saved on your Xbox 360 you would just pull them down.

Graeme: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Major Nelson: So I started playing and I was like oh, I guess I don't have my game save here, never mind.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Six and a half hours later ...

Graeme: (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: That's how powerful it is. And there's just something, the characters are so well defined. Nigel West Dickens is just so brilliant.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: All of the single characters, the voice work is, everything about that game, is just top-notch class.

Graeme: Yeah, it's beautiful.

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: Beautiful, beautiful game. What did you read into the new trailer?

Major Nelson: You know, I don't want to, I don't really want to say anything.

Graeme: Right.

Major Nelson: Because I kind of know a little bit more than I should.

Graeme: (gasp)

Laura: (gasp)

Major Nelson: I, so, I'm not going to say anything.

Laura: Oh, insider knowledge.

Major Nelson: I'll just say that I'm, I'm, I'm very excited.

Laura: Oh. I'm jealous.

Graeme: The one thing I'll say, I mean I don't know anymore than I should.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: So I'm just coming to it completely fresh. I, the vibe I got from it was quite Revenant-y.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: You know The Revenant?

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: There's a couple of shots in it where there's like embers, you know.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Graeme: Swirling into the sky. That really reminded me of the cinematography in that film, and I think, so that's exciting. I think that, you know, the, it's a slightly different part of America by the looks of things. It's more this kind of heartland, like the middle of America rather than the extreme, wild, West? The frontier, West? Um, so I think that's an interesting one to-

Major Nelson: Well, what, it's interesting you bring that up because Laura, you know. I grew up in New England, and Laura grew up in Texas, which is kind of the West.

Laura: Kind of?

Major Nelson: Kind of more, more so that I grew up.

Laura: Maybe? I suppose so, that's true.

Major Nelson: So obviously the West has an appeal outside of the United States.

Laura: It does, really?

Graeme: Absolutely, yeah.

Laura: Huh.

Graeme: I mean Westerns are, yeah, I've run, in the UK everyone's always loved Westerns. And I think even if you go into, like, countries like maybe Germany?

Major Nelson: Yup.

Graeme: There's a real kind of passion for the idea of the cowboy and the-

Major Nelson: I wonder why that is?

Graeme: Well, it's just a romantic notion isn't it?

Laura: I think so.

Graeme: I mean that's why Star Wars is, is universal right? Because it's essentially a Western in space.

Major Nelson: You know Laura has cowboy boots right?

Graeme: Is that right?

Laura: Yep, and a hat.

Major Nelson: I was getting to that!

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: That's Texas isn't it?

Laura: I have to.

Major Nelson: I don't know this Laura, because I'm known you for a long time, I don't think she has a six-shooter...

Graeme: Hmm.

Laura: Well not me, not me, my family does.

Major Nelson: Oh.

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: There's, there's a family six-shooter?

Laura: Yeah.

Major Nelson: Wow.

Graeme: That's cool.

Major Nelson: Yeah, so.

Graeme: So what you're saying is you could get a loan of it if you needed to.

Laura: If I needed to, for you know, a photo shoot or something.

Graeme: Watch out.

Major Nelson: Yeah, look, watch it.

Graeme: Can you do that fanning? The bang-bang-bang-bang?

Laura: No.

Major Nelson: Have you ever tried?

Laura: No. (laughs)

Major Nelson: No?

Laura: That's really dangerous.

Graeme: That was always one of my, like, the, the um, they call it dead eye in the- ?

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: In Red Dead Redemption.

Major Nelson: Yeah.

Graeme: Where it's slow-mo'd and you can tag your targets. What an amazing mechanic that was.

Major Nelson: Yep.

Laura: Yep.

Graeme: So satisfying, every single time.

Major Nelson: Anyways, so, that's, that's out, we talked about that. Of course Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, that beta is out this week.

Graeme: Mm-hmm (affirmative)..

Laura: It is?

Major Nelson: So, you know, can always play Call of Duty on Xbox, it's uh- You know, here's what you need to do. I talked about this at the top of the show. You can go to my blog, you can follow me on twitter, or just watch This Week On Xbox, on your console, on YouTube. It's all there, I'll tell you everything you need to know, in like 10 minutes.

Graeme: This is a good episode this week, as well.

Major Nelson: Did you like the episode?

Graeme: I did, I really liked it, yeah.

Major Nelson: [inaudible 00:40:05]

Graeme: I gave you a good review.

Major Nelson: Did you?

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: I never tag you on the email.

Major Nelson: Right.

Graeme: I always just send it straight to Brady.

Major Nelson: That's right, the producer.

Graeme: But I'm like, you know, it's a good one.

Major Nelson: You gonna, you gonna give me the thumbs up? You gonna thumbs up and subscribe? (laughs)

Graeme: Three and a half stars. (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: Is that Brady there?

Major Nelson: That's Brady!

Graeme: Oh my god!

Major Nelson: That's Brady right there!

Graeme: Sitting right next to me and I've never met him before.

Major Nelson: You've really? Oh well we'll do that after we've gotten off the air. So ...

Graeme: Well I'm glad I emailed him today, because, I've been a slack on my feedback for a few weeks.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: Yeah. You have been that would've been, talked about that so.

Graeme: So that would've been embarrassing. Whoa.

Major Nelson: Okay we're going to wrap up the show here. I want to thank you Graeme for coming and sitting in.

Laura: Yes.

Major Nelson: And thank you listeners for joining us, and Laura, thank you.

Laura: You're welcome.

Major Nelson: Graeme, how do people find you on social media?

Graeme: Uh, I'm at aceybongos on Twitter and aceybongos on Instagram as well. And of course, on Xbox Live.

Major Nelson: Yes.

Graeme: Aceybongos.

Major Nelson: You can find Laura at:

Laura: At lauralollipop on Twitter.

Major Nelson: You just look for the cute kittens.

Laura: That's right. I didn't put up the kittens.

Major Nelson: Did you hear about this?

Graeme: No?

Laura: Did you hear the story about the kittens?

Graeme: You've got kittens?

Laura: Okay, so, October for Microsoft is the giving campaign month. Microsoft's really big into charity and encourages employees to donate money to charity, Microsoft matches one-to-one, you know, donations of money and of time, which is really awesome. And, so all of our co-workers try and generate excitement for different activities to raise money and one of our co-workers organized the, Seattle Humane Society to visit our building.

Graeme: Nice.

Laura: Brought three kittens.

Graeme: Oh no.

Laura: And was saying donate you know $5, $10, whatever you'd like to the Seattle Humane Society, and you can snuggle with a kitten for five minutes.

Graeme: Oh my goodness.

Major Nelson: Just five minutes?

Laura: Yeah, just like five minutes.

Graeme: That's not bad.

Laura: You could sign up for multiples, but, because it was just so much demand for the kittens, they had to-

Major Nelson: That's good news.

Laura: They had to cut it into five minutes slots.

Major Nelson: Sure.

Laura: So you could sign up for multiple slots and donate multiple times.

Major Nelson: So there's a photo of Laura playing with kittens on her Twitter.

Laura: So I got to play with kites today.

Major Nelson: Now you don't have a cat?

Laura: I don't.

Major Nelson: Have you ever had a cat?

Laura: No. I've only had a dog, growing up.

Major Nelson: Okay.

Laura: But not a cat.

Major Nelson: All right, so do you self identify with dogs or cats?

Laura: I'm a dog person.

Major Nelson: I am too.

Laura: Yeah. But kittens are still super cute.

Major Nelson: Of course they are.

Laura: Fluffy, cuddly. Fun way to spend five minutes.

Major Nelson: I have a, um, my cat story isn't, I've told, I don't think I've ever told this one here. My sister's a veterinarian. Um, I don't know if I've ever told you this. My sister's a veterinarian and she, uh, she has like three or four dogs, she's got a couple of cats, and this one particular cat she has is a Savannah cat.

Graeme: Okay.

Major Nelson: Which is about two steps removed from a wild animal. Laura's showing Graeme-

Laura: I'm showing Graeme the picture of the kittens.

Graeme: Yeah sorry. You might have heard me mouthing oh my god.

Laura: (laughs) They are so cute!

Graeme: So cute.

Major Nelson: So this, so this Savannah cat is a, a very, it was essentially almost a wild animal. So I go visit my sister when I go home to Massachusetts, um, like I won't sleep at my sister's house because I'm pretty sure this cat's going to kill me in my sleep.

Laura: Wow. (laughs)

Graeme: (laughs)

Major Nelson: It just looks at me sideways.

Graeme: Yeah.

Major Nelson: It's like I know what you're up to, I'll get you.

Graeme: (laughs) All cats are like that.

Laura: All cats are like that.

Graeme: That's what cat's do.

Major Nelson: Yeah, cat's, they all, they all give you the sideways glance.

Graeme: Oh yeah.

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: You've never met my cat before right?

Major Nelson: No!

Graeme: I think I told you about it last time I was on here actually.

Major Nelson: No, maybe you did.

Graeme: It's not a big deal actually he's just called Boba Fett.

Laura: That's pretty good.

Major Nelson: Oh yeah, I do, I do recall that.

Laura: That's a great name.

Major Nelson: So you only, you don't have a dog?

Graeme: We're going to get one next year I think.

Major Nelson: Good.

Laura: Oh.

Graeme: Yeah. I haven't told Boba Fett that yet.

Laura: Uh oh.

Major Nelson: Well that, that'll be a fun conversation.

Graeme: So uh, he might jump into a sarlacc pit before that happens.

Major Nelson: (laughs)

Laura: (laughs)

Graeme: But um, yeah, I think we're going to get one.

Laura: Have you planned a name for the dog?

Graeme: Uh, I didn't think about that. We're going to have to stick with the theme aren't we?

Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Graeme: What's a good name for a dog?

Major Nelson: Well if you ah, if you have any great names for the dog send it to major@xbox and I'll forward it. Or hit up Graeme on Twitter.

Graeme: Chewie is quite good

Laura: Yes it is.

Graeme: Or Jango.

Laura: Mmm.

Major Nelson: There's a, there's a great, there's a lot of great names to choose from.

Graeme: Uh yeah.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So, you've already taken, you've already taken-

Graeme: Is that like your way of telling me to stop listing off potential dog names?

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: You've already taken the name Finn.

Graeme: Yeah that's true. Yeah.

Laura: (laughs)

Major Nelson: So, anyways. So that's how you find Laura on Twitter again at:

Laura: Lauralollipop

Major Nelson: And you find me at majornelson, they've got to find me. All right gang, we'll see you when we see you. We don't know when it is, but we'll see you next time. Graeme thanks for stopping by, Laura, thank you for finding time.

Laura: You're welcome.

Major Nelson: And you dear listener, thank you. We'll see you guys next time. Bye bye everybody!

Laura: Bye bye!

(music swells)