Pokemon's Patent Problem, Virtual Boy Returns, and Borderlands 4's PC Launch | Games For Breakfast

[Applause] [Music] Good morning, Matt.
Oh, good morning, Will.
Good morning to all of you.
Welcome to Games for Breakfast, the only internet talk show where we talk about this week's gaming and tech news, but where we've also patently patented my idea of depriving myself of coffee until we start this show. I think I'm going to challenge my own patent because I've realized that for the first 15 minutes of this show, I do struggle bus a little bit and then I realize after a bit I like kick in and it like goes hard. So maybe I'll revisit that patent or change that patent, you know, if that office worked in the way that it was intended. Um,
that's a big if, Matt.
Yeah. What are you talking about?
That's a real big if. Uh oh, we'll get to it later.
How you doing, Will? I'm hanging in there, Matt.
You got You got your shades on.
I do. I have uh It's real gross, chat. I've having a

sinus thing. It's like my one of my eyes do real gross things, and y'all don't need to see that. So, we're we're just going to go with this to protect your own sensibilities.
Solidarity.
Yeah, I'm I'm fine. It just It looks real bad. Um
Sorry, buddy.
Yeah. Uh
that's no good.
It's okay. It happens. is life.
But you know, you your your future's so bright,
you got to wear those shades.
Yeah. Actually, um what was it?
All I can think of all I can think of now is the um Be Your Idol Asoja Boys. Uh okay. uh about the Saja Boys. Uh because that for some reason has showed up more than any of the other tracks from K-pop Demon Hunters in recent memory just like in random places.
Uh because it's the sleeper hit. That's
It is actually really good.
It's the sleeper hit.
They're all like, let me be clear. All of tracks from K-pop Demon Hunter slap.

That one slaps in a way that like gets you in two weeks.
Yeah.
Right. Yeah.
Agreed. Agreed. Um, hey Janet. Hello. Welcome YouTube. Uh, we were just hanging out over on Twitch right beforehand giving uh talking about some Twitch stuff, but now we're here with all of you
and we are very happy to be here. We have
a show of shows.
No lies were detected. Annie, that's correct.
Annies. Yeah, that's a good statement.
Yeah. The last uh the the last Disney song that I would consider a great villain song uh is full of slurs. So,
yeah. Oh yeah, Disney Disney
Yeah,
Disney was all about that life for a minute.
Hellfire is a great villain song if you ignore like the lyrics like just the tone of Hellfire is great, but like that did not age well. That aged kind of like someone was trying to cultivate yogurt and mist. Um listen, uh there is a uh I'm just seeing

some some Saja Boy love in in the chats. Um, both of the tracks that they have uh in this are a thousand% fire. Soda Pop is great because it's like poppy and joyous, but it's also evil. Uh, and so it still works in in line with what the villains are trying to do. And then of course, Idol is just um truth.
Yeah. Well, it's it it uh not to completely derail us, but I think one of the reasons that it's really great is it follows one of the most interesting villain arcs, which is um that a hero would sacrifice you to save the world and a villain would sacrifice the world to save you,
right?
And that feeling is one of the things that makes like compelling villains. Uh, and it's not exactly that in the story, but it gives the listener that impression.
Yeah. No, I agree.
Yeah, it's very Yeah.

The only thing that has been able to not not this is not the uh this is not music for breakfast and yet here we are. Um, the only thing that's been able to unseat K-pop demon hunters in my uh repertoire in in the earworm uh playlist that goes on continually in my head has actually been a few tracks off Sabrina Carpenters's album. There's one there's one called GoGo Juice which is like lightly country and hilarious and u of country sprinkled on the top if you want.
It's pretty good and if you're looking it it will it will get stuck if you are interested in that.
Yeah.
Um but anywh who we're not here to talk about chart toppers.
No, we're here to talk about other chart toppers. Silk song returns this week on uh over on the Twitch channel. If you're interested in watching me play through Silkong, my goal is 100%. I've so far uh gotten through a fair amount. I have lots of thoughts, feelings, opinions, and I am in the process of, as the kids would say, getting good. Um, we'll talk

about it more right after this. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, Thursday, no Silk Song, but there is design club and me and Matt doing stuff on Thursday. That's your schedule update for this week in brief.
In brief. But another thing we want to talk about, because this actually this got me excited. I knew we were going to talk about this one way or the other and I don't think we did before, but if we did, oh well, you get it twice.
Um,
what? I I don't think we did either. Remember back in May, uh, I think the birthday stream where we played Fallout 4 and we modded Zoe in and the community showed up and raised a bunch of money for Best Friends Animal Society. We had a bunch of our cool internet friends show up and then we got really stuck in a lot of Fallout 4 because the level of jank with crowd control engaged really does affect the way that that game functions.
Yeah. Well, all of that nonsense was in fact for a good cause. Uh, obviously we're raising money for Best Friends Animal Society, and that's great. But one of our goals was that if we hit I forget what which goal it was, but if we hit a certain goal, which you all did,

uh, you all got to name a pet and we came up with roughly essentially three pet names.
Three.
Uh, and and here's one of them that got named from best friends. This is Bandit. I was trying to remember why we named why we named this dog Bandit.
So, it was the it was it was the uh it was a breakfast following the stream.
Yeah.
And we named all of them after various things that related to stories that like we were talking about that week. And I don't remember where Bandit was from, but I believe
But it's a great it's a great name for a dog. And this dog looks awesome. Uh, Bandit, I believe, has been adopted, which is wonderful.
I believe all of these dogs, in fact, have been adopted by this point. Best
So, Best Friends let us do three names. That was something that we weren't expecting. Um, so this is Bandit.
Yeah.
Um, this is Wallpole.
I I feel like this is an illegal picture

because Walpole is so cute. Like, this is the these are unfair because there's no way they don't get adopted after this. This counts as like a form of like hypnosis, right? Cuz like look at that dog.
Look at look at look at that dog. Tell me that that dog does not deserve all of your love and attention and a home forever.
You know what's cool? That dog when it grows up, you have no idea what Walpole's beard and face will be like. Like it's just a mystery right now. It's going to be a Chia pet of adorableness.
That's correct. Uh, and then the last one, uh, I remember that it was story names because we named this one, uh, in honor of the current, uh, Kurfuffle, uh, centered largely around Subnotica 2 because this is Leviathan.
Leviathan. He looks like a Leviathan.
Does he?
Yeah.
Can you tell me what constitutes looking like a Leviathan real quick?
Uh, this Will. Will this little guy? Oh,

that's what that's what constitutes it.
When I think of Leviathans, I think of this little guy.
Yeah, a little guy. He's just a little guy. Leviathan is just a little guy.
Okay, that Yeah, that seems correct. Unlike Hobbs and also Subnotica and also Yeah, sure.
Yeah. How big are Leviathan's paws? You know, I I only see one of them there. Looks about the size of a normal Leviathan.
I don't know. I I think Oh, behemoth Kyle. Anyway, we were very happy to raise money for Best Friends Animal Society. We realized we didn't share those picture. I was going through like old emails and Ash over there sent these forever ago and this was on me that I just forgot to share them. So, I wanted to uh get those in at the top of the show because they're adorable and these animals got helped and you all did it. So, thank you very much.
It's a picture from real far away.
That Thunder, see Thunder knows. We don't even have to explain it because Thunder just explains it.

All right. Uh, bringing us to the first story of today,
last week's direct. So, uh, this was on Friday. Yeah, this was Friday. Friday's direct, bright and early. I watched this on double speed the first time because I, uh, was prepping for a collab and, uh, didn't have enough time to watch it on normal speed, but I went back and watched it later. Uh, chat, how many of you Okay, so I I also want to like bring this up as we go. How many of you when Nintendo like says, "Hey, there's going to be a direct." Do you actually watch them or do you watch them with a content creator? Because I know a lot of people co-stream them. Or do you just kind of get the highlights later? Because I'm kind of I'm kind of curious where our audience falls on this, right? Because like I try and watch them right away because it is inevitable. It is inevitable that at least one person comes into stream. It's like, "Hey, what do you think about the direct?" And I'm like, "I don't want to. It looks bad if I go, man, I don't know."
Right.
Stop making Will look bad,

right? No, it it looks bad if I'm behind on if I'm negligent on my keeping be like my terminally online duties, right? Yeah.
So,
so let's see what do we got here. Uh Annie likes watching them with the folks at Second Wind. We're getting a lot of them coming in here. I watched the direct with my daughter while working. Um
highlights. oop what I did I find them premium first
first y
as ditto child yep
y
uh there's a lot sorry you guys are going quick but
these are really good
but this is actually uh quite excellent because it at least means that like everyone is engaging with them one way or another like which means they're worthy of talking about so I appreciate that
um
watched them live once in a blue moon usually jump around between a few Yeah. So,
well, this one was chalk full of stuff. Uh, obviously it was Mario's 40th birthday. Uh, which was uh
can't wait until we get the 65th birthday of Mario and they have to announce that Mario is going to begin

begin collecting social security and AP benefits. I'm looking forward to it.
How bold of you to believe those would be still going when Mario hits 65. Um, but regardless, uh, although, you know, actually New York City has some decent programs regard he's in Brooklyn. It doesn't matter. Um, I was really pumped about this. Here's here's a dark a deep dark secret of mine. Will, are you ready for this? I don't know if I've ever said this in a in a public forum. Uh, I've actually never really played Mario Galaxy or Mario Galaxy 2.
Interesting. Um, you're definitely not alone in that for one very simple reason.
The Wii.
No,
I was going to say what what is it?
The concept of down. One of the problems with Galaxy and Galaxy 2 is that down is all very extremely relative and it makes some people extremely motion sick
because the idea like there are points

where you have to like jump between planets and just down changes midway through. Yeah,
it does make some people incredibly motion sick. So, you're definitely not alone in that.
It's funny. I I I don't know
that. You're all very good. Yes. Down is the enemy's gate. Yes, I know. I'm You're so proud of all of you. Pat, pat.
What? Now, is that the same if you're going down down down by the river?
Uh, you know, it's kind of like if you're going down in an earlier round,
right?
Cuz sugar were going down swinging.
What if there's Okay, hold on. What if though there's a system of the down?
That's a really great question. Yeah, I I don't I don't really know. Is that like dropping the beat because the beat goes down? Is that like that or
uh Well, it's it's okay. It's like that if you go down down down in a burning ring of fire,
you know, I feel like that's true. I'm just kind of trying to keep up with

chat during all of this and trying to respond to Matt and watch chat. Very difficult.
Sorry. We'll we'll actually talk about some stuff. Um, no. I I um I I guess I kind of realized that, but I didn't. That's not why I didn't. It's just I I feel like at that time in my life, I was not playing a lot of Mario games. No,
I
And uh I'm quite excited to uh play both of these when they drop uh for the Switch and Switch 2. Again, it'd be nice to uh play it in 4K res, which will be lovely. And um I'm curious if the physical versions will be on the carts or not. We'll find out.
I believe they so when I believe the first party Nintendo games are likely to be on cartridge.
Okay,
that is my understanding. And it is interesting however that the physical release of many of these Nintendo games will be delayed by at least a month from the digital release.
Right. Which is fine with name like it.
Okay.

I that's a that's an interesting thing. thing we should talk about at a different week when we have a lighter week.
The the difference between
the release dates for a digital property and a physical version of that property because I have
thoughts.
Yeah. No, I think I do too.
Uh but we should we should stay on we should stay on target. Yeah.
Uh I was excited to see that. Um also I I didn't understand I they're releasing like a physical story book uh about Roselina's story book which I guess is an element in the game and I'm like That's cool. Is that a big deal?
Yeah. So, okay. So, these are the games that Rosalina was introduced in. And this is sort of like
you remember Mario 64?
Yeah.
You remember Peach's Letter?
Yeah.
At the very beginning of Mario 64, imagine if like that framing device was more present throughout the entire game
and the game was longer, right? Because 64 is not exactly terribly long all

things considered,
right?
Yeah. You can kind of if you want,
right? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
There we go.
On my cable.
Um yeah, I think uh I think this is very cool. I I know that that felt like a big deal that I didn't understand if it was a big deal or not. Um obviously the thing that would that got me pumped was what if Metroid but on motorcycle?
Metroid on motorcycle does look very good. Uh, I know that it only served to deepen Samus' appeal to uh the lesbians. Um, because the number of women I saw absolutely losing their minds over Samus on a motorcycle was very high. It was very good, big approve um uh that was a big one. I I also think that they've got a very tricky line to hit with Metroid Prime 4, which is that It has been a myth as long as Silk Song has. And much like Silkong, they need to

just say less and release it, right? Um I think that that's kind of a that's kind of a thing, right? That like they're just going to keep teasing it, but like stop stop just just show us the game and we'll decide for ourselves if it's good or not.
Yeah. I uh we the trailer that they showed what I really appreciated from it was it didn't just it's not like all on the bike like the bike is just a part of it like you still go into a ball you still run around when you're running around it's in first person like they're not changing like a ton of things. I just I liked that they sort of tacked it on and look sometimes those tackons go really really well. See Black Flag. Um but sometimes those tackons do not go very well. See many other games that are not Black Flag. That's true.
Um, so we'll see. I again I'm psyched for it. I need to go back and finish the that when they shadow dropped um Metroid Prime 1. I got about halfway through.
Yeah, the first ones. Yeah. Um I thought

for me um Mario Tennis Fever.
Sure.
Okay. So, so, so hear me out. Mario Tennis has a very weird habit of doing important things to the Mario franchises. For instance, Waluigi exists because of Mario Tennis. I'm not kidding. The original place that Waluigi showed up was because Wario needed a doubles partner and that's where Waluigi came from. That's where he's from. And the internet loves Waluigi, right? And so that's really cool. I also just like the tennis games as like something very different. Very different, right, than any of the other sports games or the like the the main games, but they they do have a story mode here. They do have a bunch of other stuff. The fever racket system looks kind of cool and that yeah, it gives you sort of that cart plus rider customization that Mario Kart really thrives off of. I think that's really good. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm I think the

Fever uh Mario Tennis Fever is going to be good.
Yeah. And I also was actually quite impressed with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. I just really like the art style of it. Um I'm curious. I want to see more gameplay of it to see if it's something that I would actually play through or do I just like the pretty pictures.
So So you know what it has big shades of, right?
Yeah.
It has big Yoshi story energy. Yeah.
Absolutely massive Yoshi Story energy. And Yoshi Story was pretty good, right? Like, yeah,
it it had good music. It had good um
I apologize for everyone who played Yoshi Story. The that right the thing that's now playing in your head and will be there for the rest of the day. I'm sorry. Go listen to some Saja Boys and you'll get it out in a second. But like that like the the musiccape, the different Yoshis, the vibe, all immaculate. I'm looking forward to that.
Yeah.
Uh I'll I'll ping off this because I was excited about this as well. Dragon Quest 7 reimagining. Uh generic is saying

that'll be a gift that they their partner will give to each other on Valentine's Day, which is very lovely. Uh I'm psyched for that. I'm also psyched, and I know this is not like new news, but I'm still very excited for um what's it called? For the Dragon, uh Dragon Warrior 1 and two uh Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD 2D remake or whatever the heck that is. Those games are the game that was my the Dragon Warrior was the first RPG I ever played and that will be very fun. I think I'll probably do a stream of that. Um because that seems like a slow enough burn of a game with new fun visuals that would be fun to discuss and like read while it's going. Yeah. Um and it'd be cool to take something that essentially I haven't touched since I was 12
and like see what what I think of it now. Um I don't know. I think that'd be very fun. They're they're also doing the uh they also officially announced that the uh FF7 remakes are making it to Switch 2, which we kind of knew, but

it's nice to see them confirm.
Yeah, I think I would like to do again so many stories like mixed in with the story. Like Nintend the Switch 2 and the Nintendo Direct is just like for a lot of it is like it's the year of the port, right? Like I think Nintendo with the Switch 2 has I mean they have their few first few first party games of course but like and outside of the other big you know property that we'll talk about later. We're we're not saying the P word until we get there but the um everything is being ported and that seems to be their like actual business model at this point which I'm not necessarily mad at.
Right. And and next year with the release of Galaxy and everything else it'll be the year of Starboard. So,
right. Of course. Of course.
No, I do think I like there there were a bunch of firstp party titles that were like launching Friday or over the weekend or in the upcoming future as third party titles, excuse me, that were launching as well. Um, there were a bunch of rogue likes. There are a bunch of other games that are like coming to

um to the Switch and the Switch 2, which I thought was good. Um, it it is kind of interesting though. I did want to comment on this. The direct feels a little bit like breakfast. Okay, hear me out on this.
Go on. So, the direct starts with completely off-topic, barely relevant rambling for a couple of minutes with, "Hey, we're we're sponsoring a marathon," which is cool and like a neat thing for them to do, but it doesn't really reach the American audience as like a relevant thing that like their corporate culture is strong enough in Japan that sponsoring a marathon in Japan is just a cool thing that they get to do, Right. So, like that thing and then a bunch of other stuff about like, you know, we we'll say the words. Matt, I'm sure, has thoughts on the Super Mario Galaxy movie.

Um,
I'm just I'm just so thankful that Chris Pratt is still getting work, you know? I think um I was really worried about him,
right? Yeah. That they were gonna Yeah. It would be really funny if they just wrote Mario out. Is everyone? No, no, not everyone. Just rope Mario out. Chris Fred is still theoret again and you're like, uh, what?
Yeah, it's just it's just it's not Mario's not there. It's everyone else. Mario falls into a black hole in the first five minutes of the movie and they never see him again. The end. Um, no. Uh, and then getting into like the Mario anniversary thing. I think it's really cool they like spent so much time on that, but also it feels like when they do that, it undercuts a lot of the other stuff that they're trying to do with the direct.
So, weirdly, I agree and disagree. I think what I what I like about the directs is how not

US focused they feel. Like I feel like every direct or award show or anything we get is like you know because the mid been me'd on so hard it's not like world premiere like the entire time but it's still big and flashy and like does the very
uh current social media American thing of like big thing big thing big thing big thing big thing slow down first big thing big thing big thing like and I really wanted I I like that they're like hey by the way um so like we really appreciate marathons and we're really proud that this particular bear and I was like like it's not why I clicked it again as someone who does this show with you will and we go off on nine different tangents about whatever K-pop demon hunter story we want to do
right exactly
uh on a video game talk show I I can't help but feel like a kindred spirit of just being like this is we are we are tiny we are very games for breakfast extra credits in the grand scheme of things tiny tiny tiny tiny right
uh it's kind of cool to see

the giant corporation just be like, "And by the way, uh, we we're super honored to be helping out with this marathon." And you're like, "What?" I don't know. I just I liked it. I get why it does not feel right because all of the stuff that we ingest is very like immediate and fast and flashy.
Yeah, I think it's
But um, it it feels very very gooberish. It's a bunch of people doing bits between trailers. They're not extensive or long, but like even just the I can't There we go. Uh like that is
I weirdly like that as like a consistent recurring bit like the snap to trailer thing. I like that. Um, but but we should probably talk about the weirdest announcement that came out of the Nintendo Direct, which I don't think literally anyone had on their bingo cards for Nintendo Direct anytime soon.

No.
Um, which is uh that they announced that coming soon there will be on the Nintendo Switch 2 a Virtual Boy Virtual Console. Now, you might think to yourself, Will and Matt, how could that possibly work? The Virtual Boy depended on a big clunky piece of hardware because it used like the two eye system to like mimic 3D and it gave everyone migraines and like how would that work? Don't worry. Don't worry. They've got two solutions for you. One of them is a big plastic thing that's like a shell of the Virtual Boy that you can put your Switch to in order to make it work. And the other one's a cardboard thing that you can put your face on. I don't So, okay, there I think are there 20. I

just counted them. I think there's 22 Virtual Boy games. They said they're bringing 14 of them out. Um, I look I I'm a sucker for defunct technology and I'm I don't think I'll ever have the funds to like actually get a Virtual Boy that's in working order and like using it.
Um, I think that Am I chopping?
Yeah, you're chopping real hard.
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can. Can you hear me?
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm back. Maybe. Who the hell knows? That dipped hard. It's climbing up again. Um, I think that
the way that this is being done, Nintendo,
a lot of people I've seen sort of like postulating that this is Nintendo's like kind of want a second dip into what is essentially like a VR system.
Yeah.
Because they kind of did it with the

cardboard stuff for the Switch One,
right? and Labo and they're this is sort of playing more nostalgia thing and I think that like maybe this is testing those waters. I don't really think so because uh it's so okay I would get this if it was whatever it costs plus you get all 14 games with that when when you buy the hard shell.
Yeah. 100 bucks for the hard shell. Yeah.
Yeah. If but if that hundred bucks also had the 14 games in it, day one purchase, I would have it on my shelf. Jamie would get mad at me. Like I I And that's fine, but that's not what they're doing,
right?
Uh what they're doing is you have to have uh Nintendo online plus expansion pack to get the games.
Sure.
And I'm not doing that.
Sure.
I'm just not.
That's that's fair. I I do want uh I do want to uh clarify chat corrected me on this. It's important to note that it is

on the Switch one and the Switch 2. So that's nice.
But
yes,
I also think that there is another reason for this, by the way, besides like the money grab and the and the the
I don't know if it's a money grab. I don't think this is going to make money. Like that's the thing.
I think it'll make a bunch of money off a bunch of content creators who are like, I'm going to get it and try it and see how it streams. But to manufacture something even though there's no hardware in it, the plastic shell of this thing, it's not exactly a simple shape like
Yeah. No, that's fair. Um, I think that they are they have a internal goal and it is that they would like the entire Nintendo library to be available on the Switch, too. I think that that's their goal because
you're probably not wrong.
They've done a lot of the Game Boy stuff. They've done a lot of the Nintendo stuff and the SNES stuff and the 64 stuff and the Cube stuff and the the with the arrival of Tennis and a bunch of the other games that have

traditionally been motion controlled and with the camera, they're slowly working towards complete compatibility with the Wii and the Wii U. So, this does feel like it's sort of not really for its own sake, but sort of a we had to do this in order for us to say that you can buy every Nintendo game ever made on the Switch 2.
And listen, what a herculean task if that is the where they're going. Like, I think that is very, very cool. I like the offering. Um, I don't particularly like the the business model behind it,
but I think Will I think honestly that's the best read I've seen. I think I I agree with that even more than uh dabbling into VR stuff because like VR stuff isn't really profitable, so why would they want to do it other than it's neat? And Nintendo does that stuff all the time. But I think another thing that feels far more Nintendo for this entire thing is the thing that Will just said. say every game is on the Switch 2
or the Switch or whatever you want to do. I guess it would have to be the

Switch 2 if there was Switch.
And at that point, right, if it's the Nintendo library is available at like if they can just say the complete Nintendo catalog is available as part of Nintendo Switch online plus expansion pass, more people will buy it.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Right. And it doesn't cost like other than the upfront, right, of getting it all to work on the Switch 2. At that point, it's sort of just futureproofed, right? And you just keep going with it, right? Which, I mean, makes them more money long run.
Thousand%.
Yeah.
Um, yeah. I don't know. This was not I It's uh It's wacky. Uh I initially was like when I first saw it, I didn't uh register how the games would be distributed because this is something again for like a $100 price point. You get the shell, you get the 14 games. That seems like I I don't need to spend $100 for a paper weight that then I have to uh pay a a service continually to use a thing for

games that let's be frank outside of two or three of them aren't like awesome. Like they're they're fine.
Maybe if you if you do it without getting a headache. If I can't play Waterworld on the Nintendo Virtual Boy, uh I don't know. I don't want to do anything. I I quit.
Yeah.
Yeah. Uh Wolf, that's only the the um that's been less true with the move to the Switch 2, right? Historically, up till this point, I would have agreed with you. But the move from the Switch One to the Switch 2 has been different in kind of their other ones, right? Like the compatibility rates about 99% and the only things that aren't are things that relied on the IR sensor on the um Switch One Wii modes.
Yeah.
Right. So, yeah.
Yeah. I I it it feels like un like

if they can say that you can get every game on a Nintendo online plus expansion pack, every first party game, right? Then they kind of they've kind of done it. Again, I don't even know if that's the best business move, but it feels like a very Nintendo move.
I agree.
Anyway, what a wacky thing. Did not expect to see it. Um, actually real quick before we move on or maybe as we move on to the next story, show of hands in Brad and Janet chats. Um, who is actually going to get this? Is there anybody? Cuz like I was there until the the pricing model sort of came out and now I've fallen off.
Is anyone super hyped to relive the golden days of the Virtual Boy by spending money?
I also, not to be too silly about it, like I'm not trying to shame anyone who wants to do it. Like I I it's a silly thing, but we drop bank on silly things

all the damn time. So like I want to know if this is a silly thing that you are actually interested in.
I'm sitting next to a bunch of Magic cards.
Yeah. Like this is this is everyone's silly thing is a different silly thing. I I I just You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Um some collectors maybe. Not me. No boop. No, know a person.
Yeah. Another thing, Sir Nope's got it. Like it's it's kind of the pricing thing, right? Like that's kind of the interesting thing here.
Yeah.
Actually, oopsie, I'm with you here. Buy a real one. I just don't know how much they are or how hard it is to get.
I like almost watchables. Uh, no, but I might splurge for the talking flower.
There was a talking flower. Yeah,
Nintendo is going hard on weird physical items.
Alarmo, anybody? Any everybody wake up

today with their alarm?
I'm not I again, all these things are not terribly for me, but I'm not against them existing.
Yeah.
Oh man, it's a way for parents to force their childhood on their kids.
That's in bright red. Uh three screens deep. Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah. I Oh, m you know, maybe I'll I'll No, it's not even a fun I was like, maybe I'll do this for like a white elephant gift. It's not even a fun one. It's You're like locking someone into a system that they might not want to be locked into.
Yeah. Yeah. Correct.
Anyho,
yeah. Uh
seems like not a terribly popular thing in the games for breakfast crowd.
Yeah. Um, next up, I don't know how much this gets outside the rogike bubble, but one of the best and most influential rogue likes of the past decade. Um, so Spire's sequel has

been delayed. And the way that they did it was phenomenal. They're like, "Hey, we have overreached. Meitrit is two people plus contractors." Um, and uh, they were like, "Yeah, we need a little more time to get this done." So, it's going to be sometime 2026 instead of sometime 2025. And they ended their announcement with with, "And no, before you ask, it's not Silk Song's fault." And I was like,
"Well played."
Yeah,
well played. I think I think we're actually going to see a lot of this. Um, particularly because I I think it is related to Silkong, but not because of Silkong's release. I think that they saw the public response to the Shrier article about how they just took so long because they were making the game they wanted to make and they saw the general public acclaim for that and were like, "Oh yeah, we should do that, right? We should make the game we want to make instead of like feeling bound to an artificial release schedule." Um, again, Slay the Spire is one of those they've made enough money that they can take as

long as they want to make the sequel um games. Slay the Spire's millions and millions of copies. um it sort of kickstarted the cardbased like dungeoncwler rogike um in a lot of ways uh in the same way that Isaac did for the isometric shooter rogike. Um and so it's kind of interesting to see that I'm and I bring this up mostly because this does feel like the first of many major delays in indie space for hey we can take more time. I also think good I mean that's not a controversial thing to say. I I the secret sauce to making the best game you possibly can is take as much time as you need and as as your resources can allow.
Yes. Like the reason why games release broken is arbitrarily selected release dates, especially from larger publishers that need to hit it to fill Q2's slot in whatever month that they're in to make sure that the parent company's video

game division has enough profits to go into Q3 and Q4 to justify its existence. That's not what Slay the Spire is. That's not what Hollow Knight or Silkong is. And again, Silkong and and Slay the Spire 2 are, as you said, Will, sort of like they're they're in the second round of this, which is like, oh, we have all the money, we can do this. If that is the case, and that case is rare, um, yeah, there's there's literally no need to to rush out a thing like at that level at and and and these are high levels of Hollow Night to Silkong or Slave Spire 1 to Slave Spire 2. There's no level even at the highest echelons of this sort of indie space where like you got to get it out in the next three or four years because like name brand recognition like that's not where that's not the wheelhouse that these are operating in. like you will get way more purchasers if you wait the longest you can possibly survive while making it the

best game you possibly can rather than like oh well people really uh people are really searching for Slay the Spire uh you know and that that's slowly dropping off in the SEO so we better get it out quick. It's like that's not going to be the thing that does it in your space. large companies are built because they kind of have to do that because they're, you know, engaged in a different kind of war. Um, but that very rarely leads to the best possible product for us to be playing.
Yeah. So, uh, I also want to point out that there's another weird, um, thing that is very true of both, um, Hollow Knight and Spire, and Isaac is in this, too, except Isaac's decided to go the DLC route rather than the new game route. Um, and that is there are entire channels whose entire content base is those games. There are people who still routinely get thousands of viewers across multiple platforms. Yeah.
To play Slay the Spire in goofy, weird

ways. They exist. I've watched some of them. They make great content. Right. for a game that hasn't significantly changed since The Watcher released largely because releasing The Watcher was a mistake. I will fight people about this later. Um, right. And so that's a thing that a lot of mainstream games don't get quite as much. Nintendo get Nintendo games get the closest, right? But even um, we were looking at this last week. Even Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have kind of fallen off uh in comparison to where they were at their heyday when they were pulling in thousands of viewers for like speedruns or challenge runs or completionism stuff or whatever, right? So, yeah, it's uh I'm I'm happy that they are delaying it.
Delay more games so long as it does not tank your company andor your workers. Give them more time. Plan for a longer

planning period than you think you will need and and make sure your resources can support that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cool.
Again, in this space, there are I I want to make it very clear there are versions of when you release a product where you need to hit at a certain date because of X, Y, and Z. I'm saying things in the genre that Slay the Spire 2 is in and and the situation that delay uh Slay the Spire 2 is in, they don't have to do that and they've realized that.
Yep.
Which is great.
Correct. Uh all right, speaking of things that came out maybe a little underbaked on some platforms, let's talk Borderlands 4.
Borderlands 4. Will we were talking about if we wanted to play this last Thursday?
Yeah.
Um I really want to be hyped for Borderlands 4,
right?
Cuz it's B the Borderlands series, especially one and two, are games that I played through with a bunch of my friends. Uh, you know, obviously uh I'm

friends with uh Mikey, movies with Mikey, Mikey Newman, who was instrumental in those games and uh his writing and everything has been phenomenal in those. Um he was the voice of Scooter as well, I believe. Um, but I feel like post I mean the Telltale Game had a good story too. Um, I felt like with Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina's Adventure Land, which had many elements that I thought I would really like be vibing with, I just sort of fell off the train. Um, and so when Borderlands 4 rolled around, despite the fact that I have many friends who are playing it, I didn't really jump on it. Will, how were you in the Borderlands franchise in general before we kind of
uh I was good on one, two, and Tiny Tina's and then no real interest in the pre-sequel. I tried three and found it lacking uh in anything that might draw me in. And um then for I was like, "Oh,

it releases." I didn't know that four released last Thursday until Twitch sent me a notification last Wednesday that I could join a waiting room stream and get special emotes by waiting for Borderlands to announce live on stream or waiting for Borderlands to release live on stream. And I was like, why would I do that? Um, so yeah, like it it doesn't I miss Blood Gulch. I miss OG Borderlands. Like before we got into all of the intergalactic stuff and the everything. No, I just want to be like a drifter who shows up, gets a gets a deck from Clap Trap and then is off to Pandora where like we don't know anything about the larger world and we're not having inter company zybasatu style conflict or whatever, right? And so for me, I think Borderlands outgrew what I loved about it. And that's okay,

right? That's not to say it's bad. It's just not for me as much anymore. I hear the gunplay in this ver in four is like second to like the the the thing I'd heard even pre-release from some folks was that like it rivals Destiny's gunplay which I was like oo you had my interest and now you have my attention. Um and so I will get to it eventually. Uh just my dance card is quite full. Um and it's funny if the if the Steam reviews are to be believed it seems as though PC is not the place to play it.
That is correct. Uh the I have watched content from content creators who tried to purchase and launch the game only to have it blue screen computers that are well in excess of the listed specifications for Borderlands 4. They are in not only in excess of the minimum specifications but in excess of the recommended specifications and it just crashes or blue screens or like like not even gets through compiling shaders like

launches and then crashes over and and and there does not seem to be terribly much rhyme or reason to whether or not uh a um a particular computer is capable of running Borderlands 4. Um, and the instructions that are given by the support team in the Steam reviews are pretty worthless in my opinion. Um, they're like, "Yeah, you should change to these settings." Not acknowledging that you can't change the settings if the game won't launch.
Oh, so
yeah. I mean, like, it's it's always hard to see. I I did see though, I mean, on the contrary, I did see tons of people playing and streaming this streaming this game. Like, there's still people that it's working for. I it's just there's also what is is it mid now? Is it mid-rated on Steam at this point? Like it's kind of like a do we know the actual uh
uh I can look
ratings thing. Also, while you're looking, Swiper Hello, no swiping.
Um
Borderlands 4, by the way, it came out

again $70 game, right? Pitchford said it was it was supposed to be more. It is currently 65% positive after 21,773 reviews as of time of recording.
Yeah.
So, yeah. Um that there's there's a bunch of um there's a bunch of different reasons. Lots of people have said it must be drivers, it must be processor, it must be this, it must be that. Nobody knows for sure. No one's given anyone any concrete explanations. We've got a bunch of theorizing. Um and it just isn't I I'm going to say for me it's not worth 70 bucks, right? Like as a PC gamer, right? Why
why would I? Right? like it. I was sort of tenuous on the idea of playing Borderlands 4 at best, but then 70 bucks and a bunch of work to make it run. No, I'm good.
Yeah, a lot of people in in the chat are saying just going to play it when it's optimized. And I think that's kind of

the the vibe here. I I I know I will play this game at some point. Um, it will most likely be in in, you know, whenever it gets uh cleaned up. Although, even I think I would probably cuz there is crossplay. Uh, I would probably get it on PS5 regardless. Um,
I just I'm used to playing Borderlands on consoles.
Um,
so I don't know. I
I think I I'll sort of end this story with this. I really want Borderlands to succeed. Um, and look, from a an overall launch, uh, it's going fine, but they definitely need to address the the PC stuff and stuff. I will say this, at PAX, they had a giant booth with gorgeous statuettes and you could play it and whatever. Did I talk about the the Smash booth, Will? Did I talk about this in the show?
No. They had a rage room and essentially

what the rage room was is you could go in it and for 30 seconds break a bunch of stuff and smash things and hit barrels with a bat and like go nuts. And on the surface, wow, what a cool thing. In actuality, if I was a paying booth uh haver in literally within 10 booths of that booth, I would have raged and asked for my money back or or like cuz it's literally just sm like the loudest smashing noises you've heard. I actually when we Jeff and I walked into the convention center for the first time, we heard it for the first time. We thought something went horribly wrong.
Yeah. like um so marketing side of things that's not the best but uh I do wish the game uh all the best that it possibly can and hopefully it gets fixed soon because at the end of the day when you're running around with your friends in these games so long as you know the the gameplay is is solid they have been some of my favorite times gaming has been playing like a Borderlands or a Borderlands 2.
Yep. So,
yay. And of course, by the way,

Borderland's always better with friends. Like, always 100%. Like, it's not
This is an interesting thing. So, writing a story for a game that you're playing with four people running around like psychopaths at the same time.
Yes.
Has to be so difficult. And not even just like from a structural like what's happening perspective, but how that information is being not only exposited to you, but how important that information actually has to be to moving the game forward.
Yes.
So when people are like, "Oh, like the gameplay is really good, but the story's like whatever." I'm like, I mean, I guess for Borderlands, I'd be okay with that if like if I was having so much fun with my friends, you know?
Um anyway.
Yeah. Uh
yeah, actually oopsie, you bring up a great point. I bought the the Borderlands collection or whatever on PS4, I think when it was four player split screen. Like that to me

phenomenal. Like just really really cool.
Yeah. There's also, by the way, a whole bunch of um other stuff about Borderlands we won't get into because I don't find it nearly as relevant, but I am aware that they changed the terms of service and did a bunch of stuff with um antiche and it's got denuvo and a bunch of other problems on PC. I am aware. I just it's not
I'm not convinced that Denuvo is the problem here. Um this
I I think there's a plethora of problems, one of which might be Denuvo, but it's impossible to say for certain.
I feel like while Denuvo is a problem in many places, it has become the the sort of like, oh well, it has this, so this is the thing. It's like we don't know. Like
I need someone better at computers than me to pick it apart and tell me why it's happening.
It's not the smoking gun of it. Um, it's a dumb thing that shouldn't be needed and if you're providing a good enough service with your product, you will still make more money than trying to protect against the piracy of it, etc., etc., and so on and so forth. Um, piracy is a distribution problem.

Yep.
Anywh who,
all right, we got time for this short story and then we'll do ads and then we'll come back.
Uh, we have a new a new champion, a new hero, a new leader. I just thought this was fun and interesting and cool. Um, the Screen Actors Guild ZAG After had their uh elections and Shan Aston is the new leader of the Screen Actors Guild. Cool. Great. Awesome. I love I love the idea that we've gone from Fran Treasure to Shawn Aston leading the Screen Actors Guild. Um, and this, you know, you might be like, "But but Will, this is like a gaming show. Why are you talking about this?" A reminder that the Screen Actors Guild does represent an awful lot of people in the video game industry, both in motion capture and voice capture. Um, this is a relevant change to the leadership of uh a union that does influence the way that video games get made quite a lot. Um, I'm I'm I'm real

excited by this. Uh, it was kind of funny though. Uh, there was a comment in the Discord that Sean Aton looked significantly older than the last time anyone had seen him. Uh, and for everyone who hasn't watched Stranger Things, that's true because the last time you saw him, he looked like this, and that was 20 some odd years ago.
But it is. Yeah.
Um, the No, I'm I'm happy with this. I think um, how old is Sean Aston? Let's just look that up very quickly. Sean Aston, age
54. Great. Okay. So, Sean Aston is of the age that uh I feel like might have and I'm not saying Fran Dresser didn't have this. I'm just saying like um I like it that actors in this sort of range or people in this sort of range are now taking leadership roles in the Screen Actors Guild.
Yeah.
Because it's not just going to be movies

and television. It's going to be new media. It's going to be internet. It's going to be gaming. going to be a bunch of things that I feel like if you've grown up with them, you will have a easier time getting a good handle on. And we'll see how his policy does and we'll see how his negotiation goes when when contracts go up and and all that jazz. But overall, from what I've heard from folks in the industry is people are very happy with this. And um I guess it's just second breakfast for everyone. Uh yeah,
I I I think the important thing too about the Screen Actors Guild is that you need an effective communicator because the Screen Actors Guild is a union that is very forwardfacing because it is made up of a lot of people whose names and faces you likely rec and voices you likely recognize from media that has influenced you, right? Yeah. They may have not been responsible for the entirety of the words that they said, but they were responsible for the performance, and it's likely influenced you in the way you think about the world. And so having an effective communicator in charge of SAG is a big deal, and I think good.
Um,

and also, yes, uh, uh, you brought up in chat, D, uh, Darth, that, uh, Patty Duke, his mother, served as the Screen Actor Guild's president from 1985 to 1988. So, family business.
Yeah. Long time ago. Um, all right. Uh, now it is time for advertisements. We're going to do fake ads while you get real ads. Uh, or while you part of Twitch Tech gets real ads for things you can buy. We're going to do some fake ads for things that you can't buy. Uh, and we'll be back in like three minutes.
Will, would you like to go first?
Uh, sure.
Okay, here we go. Three, two, one, let's jam.
Hi there, Will from Rex Credits here. Have you felt like crap recently? Consider actually going to sleep. That's right. Instead of doing the thing that you've been doing, which is staying awake doom scrolling or staying awake staring at the wall or staying awake playing too many video games in a futile attempt to feel something again as the world

collapses around you. Go to sleep. That's right. Actually sleep. Actually rest yourself. close your eyes and have dreams about weird feverish things. It's fine. But like go to sleep. Stop trying to do all the other stuff and like actually sleep. I I I promise.
Well, I think that's a very important thing you just sold our community. Um how much does sleep cost?
Uh is is free.
Excellent. Wonderful. Um okay. Well, uh, so I'll sell something else that is. Okay. Hi everyone, Matt from Extra Credits here. My uh, friend Will here just sold you the concept of sleep, which is very good for your health, but also, have you tried going outside? And the reason I say that, it does the same thing as sleep. And if you use it in

moderation with sleep, it's actually really good. Case in point, I played about 5 hours of Night Rain this weekend. And then I felt really good about myself in one way, but bad about myself in another. So, what did I do? I went out with uh Jamie the Goblin Queen herself and some friends and we went hiking. And then we went for the woods for about four or five hours, climbed a mountain, and guess what? Found a real life ever jail. I have a picture. It's real. Uh and it felt like I was exploring in a different way. So I think that while you should also sleep for your mental health, definitely also go outside. I couldn't hear the music end. I would have
No, no, it's good. Going outside also good. Uh what about sleeping outside? Uh great question. Probably don't.
Uh it depends where you are.
Yeah,
if you're a camper, if you like camping, I think sleeping outside is dope. It's just a matter of It's just a matter of um Bye. It's just a matter of uh safety and preparation.

Yeah. What I'm hearing is I should sleep outside. You know what? Sure. Great. You know what? You all you all do that. You don't want to go to the woods there. That's where Shia Labuff lives.
Actual Shia above. I will say this. One of my I'm going to tie this back to gaming. One of my core memories growing up was uh when I was real real real young, my dad was trying to get me into camping and he did succeed. Spoiler alert. But before that uh it was really hard for me to go do this. So what he did was he set up a tent in the backyard and then I kid you not ran an extension cord and brought our TV outside so we could play Nintendo in the tent.
Yep. Uh, and that was like a real gateway for like little baby me to like be like, "Oh, wait. This is cool." Like, so I have a fond memory of that in a gaming context as well.
Good. Excellent. Excellent. All right.
Yeah.
Uh,

let's move on. Everyone's back from ads.
Hooray. All right, everybody get your screaming voice on.
So So to be clear, um, real quick, these this these critters are not the technically the critters we're talking about. The critters we're talking about is critters with a Z, so you know they're good. Uh, this is from the 1986 film Critters, uh, which the Internet Movie Database states is a film about, quote, "A group of small but vicious alien creatures called Critties escape from an alien prison transport vessel and land near a small farm town on Earth pursued by two shape-shifting bounty hunters. That is not what we will be talking about today." Uh, but when I when I Googled critters trying to figure out what to do for this graphic and also not wanting to reward anything in this uh experiment in any

way, shape, or form by showing the actual thing we're talking about, this was the closest thing I could come up with.
That seems fair. So will yeah
Open AI is backing is quote backing whatever that means the creation of a new animated film called Critters that will be made largely in their own words with AI in the hopes of convincing Hollywood that it's time to go allin on AI content creation tools. coming to us from a report from PC Gamer talking about a report from Wall Street Journal and with some original uh diving of their own.
Yeah. So, uh essentially uh there is a short you can go look at right now if you'd like. Uh
but don't
called Critters with a Z and look there's
upfront I don't like this. Let's just put that on the table. Um, however,

as we've discussed before, this AI garbage is not going away. So, what is the best way to engage with it? I mean, hopefully the bubble bursts and that actually answers a lot of questions, but until then, here we are. Um, essentially, if you read and you can look in the show notes for this article, but uh, essentially, and this, it's funny, this is a PC gamer article. It's referencing a Wall Street Journal article and the Wall Street Journal I believe is by the payw wall. So you have to, you know, deal with that as you will.
Um, essentially what Critters did was they made an to celebrate a new version of u Open AI. They made essentially like a little fiveminute minort movie with all these creatures that were uh generated by Open AI. And from what I understand, it was scripted by a real person and that it was voiced by a real person, but the art and the imagery that you saw was all AI. And you can kind of tell just the way it the way it looks,

right? Um, and now they're trying to make it into a feature film. Uh, and they're spending roughly $30 million on it, which is far below what you typically spend on an animated film when you pay actual people to do the work.
Right. And by far below, Matt means that uh that by by comparison, Toy Story 4 had a budget of about $200 million.
But Toy Story 4 will, to be fair and balanced, had a soul. Um,
you know, okay, cool. So, we have the price on a soul and it's about roughly roughly $170 million, I think. So, we're all rich.
Great. Yeah. I'm not using mine. Anybody want it? Cool. 170 mil. I tell you what, it's slightly used. 150.
Yeah. Yeah. To be fair, mine is not in the best shape. I would go down to 130 if anyone if we have any buyers,
right? Yeah. 130 mil. Yeah.
Are you there? It's me, Virginia. Anyway,
um so

the story does the the the end of the or in the middle of this article, it reads, "The presence of humans in the in the production is expected to serve a purpose." This is what I hate about this. This is the this is the worst part about not the worst, it's one of the worst is uh the the presence of humans in the production is expected to serve a purpose merely beyond merely ensuring that the film isn't complete gibberish. Okay, that's a low bar, but let's continue. Okay. Uh uh Nick Cle clever uh co-founder of the production company Native Foreign and co-creator of Critters said AAI generated content can't be copyrighted, but the use of humans to create images and voices of the film's creatures will be ba it will be based on should make it eligible for copyright protections. Now, yay on AI stuff not being able to be copyritten that will cause uh that will make it so humans will have to be involved. But with that quote, it does kind of say the quiet part loud.

Very loud.
Yeah. In the sense of this is made essentially solely for profit.
Yes. like because there's nothing stopping any creator from doing a small project uh about an IP that they've developed and created and and done. It's it's the AI of it all is making this thing balloon into swinging with the big guns by taking away again you're taking away cost. it's going to be cheaper, but you're also taking away the actual human element of what makes a film a film.
Like, and you're kind of just skipping that and saying it's not needed,
right?
I would posit to succeed it is. Maybe I have too much hope for society at this point, but I don't know.
Okay. So, I've realized something as

we've had this conversation, and I feel like it's an apt comparison that I'd like to pitch to all of you. Are you ready?
Let's go. AI or consumable copywritten productions. I hesitate to call it art. Um, AI schlock that is being copywritten and sold to an audience for money is the new version of a perpetual motion machine. That is to say, it by definition cannot exist, right? Because that's not how those things work. And yet large numbers of people have spent a large amount of time and money and effort trying to convince people that not only do they exist, but they exist for a reason and that you should spend money. But if we peel back the curtain, we'll always find something that needs to be put into the system, right? To fix the problems, right? Because perpetual motion doesn't exist. So you'll always find like an electromagnet with a battery hidden

below something that doesn't look like it have an electromagnet in it in an attempt to make it look like perpetual motion in the same way that we're they're trying to make it look like AI, but they know they can't, right? Because like exactly what Matt said. Not only can they not make money off it if it's purely AI, but also it doesn't work because it could just be gibberish, right? They have to hammer the prompt so many times to make it not gibberish that like there has to be human element which makes it lose the virtue and I'm huge scare quoting the idea of virtue right there of being an AI generated thing.
What what it's doing is making it so they have to pay less humans. They're paying the minimal amount of humans in order to make money off of it. I mean that's kind of what it is. And like so the original Critters trailer, which I did watch, this is not for the film.

It's what the film is going to be based on. And I watched it before the show cuz I wanted to know kind of what it was. Is a serviceable jokey uh David Addedboroesque kind of like narration thing that kind of collapses in on itself uh about wildlife they find in a forest that with critters that um that essentially uh start talking back to the narrator and doing silly things like what if we're critters with the Z that's not copywritten. And they they wear like merch and stuff and like they do like and and and and truly it is a serviceable YouTube video. It really is. It wow. AI built this. Great. I'm I'm sure the the thousands upon thousands of people whose uh art and information was scraped in order to make this happen are really happy about it. But what it does and like even it's funny even in its writing actually I would almost encourage you to watch this the short from a uh in more of an

academic sense not like is this entertaining sense because the way the script is is built it hits all of the kind of easy tropes that things like this do like the critters start becoming a little bit more self-aware like they they start talking about like oh we could do merch we got to do it with a Z then they're wearing a hat and then they they they talk about like needing therapy and like it's all very like it's all very like you scanned the internet for phrases that some that seem to come up a lot in content and a script was built by a human or no like just putting all those things in one thing together and they're not they it makes sense and some of the jokes the simpler ones are funny but it has no nothing memorable about it because every idea that it's saying has been done before. And that's not to say you can't take an idea and make it better. That has been done

before, of course, but I've yet to see a machine do it. Um,
so I guess my my my point behind this whole story, and this does sort of affect because and actually um I don't know if you all saw across the um the interwebs, uh there was a a small uh HTML game uh that was sort of going around Blue Sky called Doom Scrolling. Did you see that pop up at all, Will?
I don't think I did. I think I heard about it, but I didn't see it.
It's a picture of a demon at a computer. Um, a person I follow made it and then um a couple stories picked up on it and then I played it once. It's it's serviceable. It's fun. It's a little thing. Uh, that was a thing that was like basically totally vibescoded. Like it was it was coded with AI and you get into the sort of idea of like and again in that specific case because it is not a thing that is made to be making money. It is not a thing that um that like the developer of that is not profiting in a in a very direct way off of that

doing an HTML game and just sort of like someone who is not a coder coding that way not for profit or taking away an actual code like actual coders jobs or people in the space or whatever I have no problem with. But it's something that we're going to have to as these conversations get more complex kind of deal with in the game space. Obviously, AI slop is everywhere on Steam and and a bunch of other spots,
PlayStation
and it's coming to film and it's always a tricky conversation because you don't want to limit an actual artist's tools, but you want to also make sure that those tools are not taking away artists ability to do work and those tools are not directly like the people who make those tools are not directly profiting off of people's work that they are not paying.
Yeah.
Does that make sense? And that's a hard as all this stuff because the gamut of what AI is is vast,
right?
Um

so like
like there's there's all different levels of it, right?
Yeah. because it continues to be to be uh one of the greatest disservices that uh generative AI has pulled that it's poisoned the idea of all expert systems, right? Because there are precisely trained expert systems that would be dope for use in gaming that aren't consuming tons of power or stealing copywritten material or or or right. There are there are some very silver bullet uses of a good well-designed expert analytical system in gaming that are now being poisoned because people are like, "Oh, we should use generative AI instead."
Right? So, it's either it's either getting yanked in the direction of generative AI or you have to pitch it in a way that makes it clear it's not generative AI. But generative AI has kind of co-opted all of the language around expert systems in coding to such an extent that like it's not possible to

have that space for like an actual useful tool.
Yeah.
Uh also I want to make it clear we've been talking about the story longer than I thought we would. Critters the 1986 film has nothing to do with AI. This is a graphic I put on here to not use the graphic that Critters with a Z uses. We are talking with Critters with a Z. Critters with an S is a beloved schlocky film from the 80s. Um that to the best of my knowledge, uh unless they had a time machine, used no AI.
Excellent. All right. Are you ready to talk about other companies that are doing things that probably shouldn't be doing that make
What are you talking about? Is there something else going on in the industry that is um being a little bit more Oh,
all right. So, let's talk about the rest of the Nintendo Direct. So, the other part of the direct that happened felt an awful lot like Nintendo and the Pokemon Company

giving up or like I don't even know. So, they pitched So, let's be very clear, Pokemon ZA, which will probably be one of the biggest sellers of the Nintendo Switch 2, is not out yet.
Yes. And yet the release information for this Nintendo Direct for Pokemon ZA was that there would be Raichu based DLC for Pokemon ZA. It's not out yet. Why are you telling me that there will be addition but it's not out? Like if it's done and like why didn't I'm so confused. Why? Right. Like why are you doing this? What it
is this true? Neck. Is this true?
I believe this is correct. That that
Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right.
Okay.
Right. Okay. Cool. So that's that's one

whole thing, right? Is now Pokemon has already decided. So not okay. Let's look at this. So ZA will not only be in the new price bracket, but also demands that you own a Switch 2, I believe. Unless ZA is magically on the Switch one, and I missed it, but I'm reasonably confident Switch to exclusive. Chat, correct me if I'm wrong on that, please. And thank you.
Oh, yeah. I Yeah, I
It's funny. Pro and con to both of those things, I suppose.
Okay, it is on switch one. Okay, good, good, good.
Yeah, I figured it. I figured they weren't leaving that money on the table.
Good, good, good, good, good, good. I missed that bit. Thank you. Um, that's very important to know. Okay, so you don't necessarily need to buy a new system, but it is going to be in the new price bracket and it's going to have $30 day one DLC and then
Well, hold on. Let's All right. Let's let's before and then let's let's talk I Okay,

at what this is just I want to talk about just this story. We're going to get to the patent thing. promise. But for the terminology of this conversation, chat, I need uh I I just want to focus down on this. At what point does the Pokemon community a little bit like the magic community does sometimes start sort of like being like no,
right?
Like is there one? Because like from a business perspective and again not from a consumer care perspective, this will probably work well for them.
Correct. So,
there's an entire group of people that will buy every Pokemon game and only the Pokemon games.
Yeah. Like, what's the what's the what's the breaking point here? Because I'm not I am not in the Pokemon honestly like community. I fell off Go. I started Scarlet but could not really get into it to continue it. I

know this the ZA and and sorry for my ignorance here. Is is this more like it's more of an actionoriented one, right? It's like Articus in a way. Is that correct or am I completely off?
Yeah, this is this is more Yes. And Chad Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, and and Chad has a very relevant point that I want to interject back in here. Right. It may not be available day one, but if they're asking for your money for it to pre-order a thing on day one, then I'm not sure that's really a difference.
Yeah, it's just it's a bad it's a bad look. Um
like it doesn't really matter when it's delivered. If they're asking for you to pony up for the base game and the DLC at the same time, it sort of serves moni like functionally the same system. You know what would be an interesting Wow. You know what would be insidious, but I find a less insidious version of this?

What if a game Pokemon otherwise did this? What if if you buy the game within the first week, you get the DLC for free?
Oh, like an early adopter bonus.
That's awful. But is it is it less awful? No.
If with enough time to tell the I'm just trying to think of like, okay, companies, if you're going to be greedy and and and shortsighted, is there a better way to be greedy and shortsighted and and hurt less people? I don't know if I believe my that is even a solution. I just sort of thought of it on the whim. Right.
Right. Well, and and pre-order bonuses are generally much much much much smaller than
smaller. Yeah. Like it's like get this skin or you get the the the the gobbledegook gun pack or whatever, right?
Like
and and and uh this is a great question as well from Pixie, right? Isn't this the same as game launch with other editions that include future DLCs like Borderlands 4?

Yes,
the the additions.
Yeah, the additions are the different thing, right? like you buy you but like I'm saying what if this game was $70 or $80 and if you bought like this isn't selling you like the $120 version of the game and you get the DLC's. This is what if it just like gave you it in the first week. Again, that would be a confusing thing to the more I'm talking about it the less I think it works. But this from from what they are actually doing and not my madlad mind. Um this is essentially no difference except it's two purchases. I don't know. I mean maybe they will have a thing where like you buy the whole thing for 120.
Yeah. I I feel like Pokemon the way that this feels to the consumer base feels a little different because of how old the Pokemon franchise is. Right.

So Red and Blue I played on a black and white Game Boy. They had the notch a reminder and and this may all like if you remember this, you're old. Sorry. Take your ibuprofen.
Remember that red and uh uh blue had the notch so you could play it on the OG black and white big gray chunky Game Boy because it had the little thing to keep the cartridge in, right? And so it had to have the notch. And it wasn't until later that they got the non-notch versions that you could only play on the Game Boy Color, which didn't have the Switch thing, right? Okay, great. Awesome. So, like
this has been around for a really long time and we've seen this progression, right? And it feels worse and worse and every time they do this, it feels like a depart a further departure from its roots, right? Versus other games which have come into prominence in the era of DLC, right? or in like the more modern

era of DLC ver like where we sort of expect it because that's in its DNA from like the generation in which it was formed. But like Pokemon I remember Blue and Red. I remember those. I think I have my copy of Blue somewhere if my brother didn't swipe it and sell it. But like also I don't have a problem with the concept of DLC. Hell, you want to be like real sort of like skevie about it?
Keep developing it. Cut the like, okay, I think I found my problem. Hold on. I got it. Games have been doing this for years now. They they either don't have it it depends on the company. It's either they don't have the budget to make the DLC right away and then they release DLC later or they're making the game and they chop off a chunk of it to sell later as DLC. However you want to, whatever you want to do. But it seems like for a while at least companies had the the courtesy

of not talking about that before the game launched or around exactly when the game launched if it wasn't a live service game. I think it used to be that's just something that happens happens later. Then with the prominence of like road maps of things for that are more live servicey or something along those lines or sometimes there's not like Borderlands 4 has a road map to to its DLC etc that you're selling at the same time but now it's gotten so brazen and they know that the majority of the consumer base is going to pay for it that they don't even pretend. They don't even pretend or obuscate to like act like this isn't in fact a problem. It's just like no this is what we're doing. Ha. And like I think there's a level of disrespect that I think gets me like it's like the little bit over the edge that kind of pisses me off the most about this. Does that make sense?
Yeah, I I think it does. It feels like

it feels like it lacks even the barest hint of the like fake slash pseudo genenuine excitement that Nintendo normally has about its expansions, right? You're undercutting the literally the act of being excited
for the act of hype.
That's a weird broad sentence, but I think like excitement versus hype. This is the difference. You are trying to generate hype to make more money as quickly as you can without even pretending to give a [ __ ] about the actual excitement a game will provide.
Yes. If you cared about that, you would want people to have that excitement for the longest period of time. And that you don't you shouldn't eat the whole tub of ice cream at the same time when you crack it open. You just probably shouldn't do that,

right?
Like you get enjoyment of it continually. Uh like, and again, I know you buy a carton of ice cream once, my analogy is not perfect. I'm hungry. The point is that this just throws that decorum kind of out the window. And that feels bad. If I was a member of the Pokemon community, this would be a thing that would would buck me the heck off. But I also understand that is a very privileged place to come at. A lot of people, parents and their kids, kids love this stuff. You want to make sure your kid can play this game. Uh there's the FOMO of it all. like uh you know you and again these are small problems but like small problems can feel big to kids like oh well your parents bought you the Pokemon game well everyone else at school has the freaking mega evolution of Raichu or whatever and like they don't and now your kid feels bad
right
like and I I know I'm talking about like weird specifics but like
well and this this is a specific case

right it's not um chat asked like are we upset that they're catching up with the industry Yeah, because they're one of the LA. This is okay. The Pokemon for better or worse has to be regarded in a category of its own. It is the most expensive and profitable IP in the world, right? And it's also one of the longest running game series, right? That still receives regular primary um titles, right? And so those things mean that we feel it keenly when they begin to do this because even if the rest of the industry is doing it, when they do it, it's a more obvious departure from the way things used to be, right? Like it seems like it's the last vestage of a tipping point that they're just like, "Cool, great." Like,
and I think Enclave brings up a really,

really excellent point that I wasn't able to articulate. I'm feeling absolutely zero FOMO, which is remarkable since I used to love Pokemon. I just have zero drive to own this game. I don't think that's just you aging out. It could be. I don't think it's like, you know, you moving on to different things. Also, I mean, it could be, but I think what's going to happen, and I think what companies don't realize, especially when there are so many different choices of media and and your free time is shrinking and shrinking, that when you shotgun blast this stuff out at the at this cadence and price and do sell a DLC before the game is released, right, or the pre-order or whatever, you're generating what would be considered like overall hype, I suppose, for the game. Heck, we're talking about it, but it's not going to give that excitement. It's not going to give the positivity that it actually needs. It's like a it's like um it's like noise, but it's not going to give substance. And I think more and more people will just

start seeing like, and again, someone brought up Magic the Gathering sets, other things, etc. You're going to start being like, "Ah, this is too much. I'm kind of done."
Yep. Okay. So, people Sorry. No, I I I think we've got a we've got a perfect part into the next part of this, which is FOMO. So, people are talking about FOMO, and some people are saying that, you know, uh FOMO is a thing that they're experiencing, and some people are saying that FOMO is um you know, not a thing with Pokemon because it'll always be there. Except they also announced, and this one went slightly under the radar because a lot of people were annoyed that they pre-announced premium DLC for a game that isn't out yet. um that the Palos starter trio will have mega evolutions. So that's cool, right? That mega evolution is the gimmick for this game. It's a return of a previous gimmick. Just know that each Pokemon that's going to mega evolve

needs a specific item to do so called the mega stone.
Obviously.
Obviously that's a thing. You need a McGuffin. All right, great. Excellent. So, the starter trio of a beloved series of Pokemon games are getting new forms and everyone's super hype. But, and here's the big old butt, you have to play and win online ranked games in specific seasons to earn the Mega Stones to evolve those specific beloved starters. which means that not only are you buying the game and paying for the premium DLC, you need to pay for a online subscription in order to play online to get all of the content that should probably have been in the base game.
Well, um, as a McGuffin scientist, I

would say that that sucks real hard.
It does. it do. Correct.
I'm glad I went to six years of McGuffin school to be able to figure that out.
Correct. So, uh, yeah, that's so that's huge FOMO. Um, according to the gamers, um, reporting, season 1, which starts October 16th, will only be Mega Greninjas Greninjite,
of course.
Right. Uh Dell Del Dell Foxes is after season 1 and Chestnut is after season two. So that's cool, I guess. So now not only are we gating we're now like they're turning into wizards, right? And like I I am already sunk costed from high heaven to low hell on magic, right? I am not a reliable witness when it comes to magic things, but I don't want to see

another game go down this thing where you need a chart to figure out which products you need to buy to get which specific evolutions for Pokemon you already have. That also seems weird. And people may be like, "Yeah, well, the two versions thing, yeah, but the two versions didn't come with a subscription." Now, there's the Pokemon Home thing, and that's a whole separate issue, right? But that is also a service that has other value given Pokemon Go and uh all of the other games that you can connect through Pokemon Home and trade your Pokemon back and forth and all that.
It it it does really show that again it's it's there is a social contract.
Yeah.
Uh where we pretend like corporations don't actively hate us and we give them money for products that they lie and say they care about. Y
and that's a that's a dismissive very uh you know boiled down nonsense take on it but at the same time like that that the

social contract is like we ignore a thing and you keep kind of doing things that are bad for us.
Yeah.
This is something that is again another maskoff moment of oh this actually really isn't about the game being fun online.
Correct. This is about making people feel like they need to be online to experience all of the content that the game that they bought has.
And that's not to say that other games haven't done it. That's not to say that, you know, all you know that that is a good thing anywhere else. That is to say, um, like sort of like announcing that this was a kind of a thing again for a game that is not out yet. Like, and announcing it like it's something to be excited about,
right?
Feels off. But all of that may simply be a smokeokc screen because the real Pokemon news this week is neither of those hideous stink bombs

of FOMO and peace meal purchasing. No, the big Pokemon stink bomb this week is this diagram.
One of many diagrams, not just this diagram.
I think this diagram is pretty emblematic of it. So, Pokemon was uh granted a patent number uh 12,43,397 by the US Patent and Trademark Office without objection.
Okay, good number. Really great number.
First off, first off, US Patent Trademark Office. Shame on you. Shame on you. We're going to yell at Pokemon for a whole bunch of this, but really it's your fault because you should have objected for like a whole bunch of reasons we'll talk about. So, let me be clear that while we're upset with the Pokemon Company for filing this patent, under no circumstances should the US patented trademark office have granted the

patent, let alone granted the patent without objection.
Now, before we go into the nightmare that this sort of patent could turn into, there's a couple different things, too. Just so we're very clear. uh the US patent office due to other things we're not going to be talking about today.
Correct.
Uh is completely underfunded and since I think February until May or June, again, this could be conflicted, but I know this happened uh for a fact in different places, had a pure hiring freeze that they could not hire new people and they desperately needed more people to go over patents and applications because there was a backlog for years. But the the in February they froze it. they let them not hire people even though they're not a taxpayer funded uh institution and the entirety of their the way that the patent office makes money is through patent applications. I don't understand why that makes it so the government can tell that business uh that government business who's not being paid by them that they can't hire people if they need people. Again, I'm not uh a government

business scientist, but the that that particular group for various reasons uh is completely underfunded and understaffed.
True.
Um it is under the current stewardship of Kat Morgan Stewart who used to be the deputy and now is the acting like main secretary as of uh February I believe. And um so at the end of the day, the buck stops with uh her. Uh, but there are like it's not just like shame on you office. It's the office itself is kind of broken for reasons beyond the office's control. I'm not saying that they're like warriors fighting for a good thing or whatever. I'm just saying much like everything else, there are complications beyond just Pokeballs here, right?
That is a good that is
context, but we can continue with our little video game show.
Correct. Okay. So the patent uh

suggests the following seven points. Okay, we're going to go over them and in brief and then we'll summarize. There must be a PC, console, other computing device that the game is stored on a drive or similar storage medium you are playing a video game. You must be able to move a character in a virtual space. So a video game. You must be able to summon a character. They call it a sub character, by which they mean it's not the player character, but for example, little monster such as a Pokemon the player character has at their disposal or ashes, an Elden Ring or or or you can fill in all of those ores. Um they uh then there's a logic branch. Um, they could have a character, the sub character um be summoned to fight a specific enemy in a location or uh summoning the sub character to just wander around and potentially get in a fight. And then um the final step is in actually getting

the sub character to get in a fight with another like NPC character in the game. So basically the patent is if you're playing a video game and you have a summon and it gets in fights with things that's covered by this patent now. That's the patent. So it's funny. I was just I just looked into the more So I'm going to go back to the com like the actual the patent office, the United States patent office. Uh so there was high rig freezes their backlogs that used to take around uh you know 2.5 years and now up to like 3 3.5. There's also a bunch of retirings and like leadership departures that have happened during this time and during the hiring freeze they couldn't they could only like bring up and not replace the lower people and there were return to office mandates uh that uh basically forcing the return uh forcing a return like that is seen throughout institutions to cause sort of mass exoduses of people anyway. Um so they got a whole bunch of problems there. Going back to the Pokemons,

uh, not the streamer, the actual creatures in the in the balls. Um, so, okay, this went through, but many people, and I I actually want to get Jonathan's take, our lawyer friend Jonathan. I'd love to get uh Devon's take. I'd love to get sort of a bunch of people's takes on this that are like familiar with the law, but my my layman brain looks at this and says, "Okay, cool. You have this patent." This isn't something that's actually going to be enforcable because you could just show literally any work from any time before this patent that you had on something that is a system like this and essentially win. The issue is and what this is setting up in a in a dangerous precedent again in my unlearned non-legal advice opinion because I am not a lawyer. I am not a law boy. Um maybe we could ask Arthur. I

don't know. Um, what this does is sets up the ability that Nintendo could do to sue a game, let's say like PAL World, even if they know that this patent won't hold up in court because it will take millions of dollars to defend, right? Like it it's it's not a slap lawsuit like that, but it's sort of like the the tone and tenor, the vibe of it. uh feel similar. I don't know. Am I chat? Let me know if and when I am feeling wrong here.
No, this this sounds correct, right? that the purpose of this is that it they are aware that it won't hold up to a test of prior art in court, but as long as they hold it, they get to spend Pokemon money on Pokemon lawyers and they get to just try and hold it,

right? which means that no one who's not the size of a significantly large company that has money that could be spent on AAA games uh really has a chance right like the like this should be the way the legal system probably should work in this case is someone goes I challenge this patent there's prior art here's the example of prior art I have filed the patent there's no chance for a lawyer to be like well actually but that's not how it works right now that gets to be a The best you can do is say, "I challenged this and now there's a law fight." Right. And like that's the hard part because you're going up against Pokemon lawyers with Pokemon money.
Yeah. Like and there's the there's the other element of this which is just patenting essentially dancing around the idea of a of a of a a game mechanic.

um which in general will stifle uh creativity etc. Like there
you remember you remember the patent on uh playing games on loading screens?
Yeah. Bandai Bandai Namco. Uh
right. And that's why our loading screens have sucked.
Yeah.
Cuz there's every reason to believe that you could have a little miniame on a loading screen. But there was a patent that said you couldn't.
Yeah. 20-year patent. Uh oh, actually, does it actually did it run out?
I believe it ran out recently, but no one's really uh started doing it because it's not industry standard because industry development was stifled by the presence of the patent.
Right.
Right. Yeah. Right. It doesn't matter if it wore off, chat. The industry's patterns are now have been altered by the presence of it. So the way that those things flow and the accepted um

ways of doing business have been altered by the presence of that patent potentially irrevocably. Right. Could they do it now? Yes. Are they gonna I don't know. Right. Yeah. Or shadow Mordor or or or Yep. It just feels uh like in a way going down this path of oh well now companies or you know not now but like this is a very broad like the Nemesis system is probably the closer to this than the Bandai Namco load screen thing. Um, the more of these we see, the less companies will be able to innovate. And the thing that in my opinion, other than nostalgia and brand recognition that actually keeps Nintendo alive, maybe not on the regular, but like in

the full long term, like when we're talking decades, is innovation. There is no way that given a long enough timeline, having this happen will also hurt Nintendo because they won't be allowed to do X because Microsoft patented a thing. like it's like I I am I am being a bit um probably overly alarmist for you know my gaming lifetime but I I think that there's some truth to just the idea that normalizing this kind of thing will inevitably stagnate an industry.
Yes.
Given the long enough timeline.
Correct. Um, I don't like I was trying to think when we were when I we were sort of researching this topic about like what's the what's the fight back here? Like what could companies do? Um, especially small ones, right? like

uh and it would have to be something like I I don't know what the essentially like it's not like class action but it would have to be like a bunch of small groups coming together with a bunch of examples or something like again I'd like to talk to a lawyer specifically about like uh hypothetical recourse.
Yeah. I I also think that this is another great example of a way in which the patent system just completely falls apart in the presence of software. Right? Again, a reminder that copyright and trademarks uh and patents don't work with software like at the most basic level.
Yeah. like copyright on uh the copyright is a uh has a there there are several legal fictions that are required to make a computer function with material that is copywritten by the way like it just

doesn't work right like at all. Um and this is sort of emblematic of that.
Yeah. And uh people are saying like they know some folks like legal legal video game folks. We have contacts there too. We're I I'm going to reach out to some folks to see if they want to do an episode or do something on it because
uh you know and again it's not like this was a fast patent either. This is something that's been I'm sure in the system for ages and finally got approved. Again, they are slow rolling. They're not this this is not a thing that they did last month and all of a sudden it got approved. At least from my limited knowledge. This still needs to roll through a system. Um, yeah, De Devin Legal Eagle probably will not be whom I call considering uh I don't know if you've seen his release cadence, but he's dealing with much other large things right now uh in the world.
Yeah.
Um yeah, it's not I I wish sort of uh this story had a bit more of a of a happy ending for it, but sadly I think this is just the beginning of this story.
Yep. Um,

and yeah, also Legal Eagle is not a patent lawyer. Um,
I I I wish there was a better take other than this is bad for industry. Oops. Um, but we'll see how this shakes out. I think that the first the first tenant that will have to be tested is like if a large enough company goes after Nintendo with this or if like it oh god every time I think of a solution it brings up another problem. Like what this will essentially do is stifle small creative industries not the large ones. Because if Microsoft like if Microsoft did a monster battler
Nintendo's right but Nintendo's probably not going to go after like specifically Microsoft's monster battler. They're going to go after smaller companies that they can't they know they can outspend in court.
I also do want to just uh real quick just inject this note. We've been saying Nintendo a lot because they're the

primary driver of this. The Pokemon company jointly holds this patent. They are also listed as a holder of the patent. So this does mean that for freezes they get to use Pokemon money to fight whatever they want. So, like, and remember, we were talking about Pokemon earlier being the most valuable IP in the world, and they have more money than all of the gods that you can possibly imagine put together. So, just keep that in mind when we're talking about fighting this. It's not merely fighting Nintendo. It is both fighting Nintendo first party and the Pokemon Company, right? That's important. It
is interesting. Uh, Kenchi, honestly, US patents are not reviewed for fairness to my knowledge, and that's why they're not honored in any other country. The courts decide if it's fair. And I I believe Nintendo also holds this patent in Japan.
That is all. Yes, Nintendo has held a Pokemon company,
right? Yeah. They they have held very similar patents in Japan. Japan's patent system, however, is something that I'm even less familiar with.
Oh, yeah. I'm not going to pretend to know anything.
Yeah.
But in the two countries, the one I live in and the one where this is from.

Yeah. Yeah.
They have it.
Yeah. So, like it really it's not gonna someone's gonna have to choose to take on Nintendo over this I think and it's not going to be anyone small.
And also this is the other thing too like Nintendo obviously and Pokemon company huge dogs etc. But like if this actually got into like a thing versus a Microsoft like which I don't think it will. I think I think this is made to stifle smaller things and not let things uh grow big. Um, the gamble that Nintendo is taking is that no one big enough to beat them will ever
Well, it's funny.
It's actually a pretty good gamble because the only way that this would be challenged in a court is if Nintendo brought up the patent, but then actually I'm not familiar enough with patent law to know like if you don't defend a patent, does it weaken? I guess it doesn't, right? Like no, it it can get struck if you so if there's a I believe and chat please as always

correct wrongness. I believe that the way it works is if someone issues a challenge and says hey we did this thing before they issued that patent we have done a similar thing before there was a patent in the way that they were doing it and it covers exactly the same thing and we can show that it came out before their patent did. Yeah.
Then that can erase the patent. Um, which is where the legal challenge comes in, I believe.
Okay.
Yeah. Trademark is the one you actively have to defend. Patents are a little different. Um, yeah.
Yay.
Yeah. Super great. So, um, this again in like one week ZA went from being a thing that I was like, "Oh, this is cool and great to like what? It's dead to me." Um, very
Yeah, I'm not buying that thing. I'm not even buy Like it's funny sometimes, you know, uh, back in the day I tried Scarlet because we were doing a panel on it. Like now I'm not ever going to think

about doing a Pokemon thing at one of our panels again. Like it's just why,
right? Exactly. Um, so yeah, let us let us know what you think uh in you know,
also seriously and and uh obviously in chat now in Brad and Janet or if you're on Nebula, let us know on Blue Sky. Uh, Rocky, uh, but in the comments on the YouTube one, leave some stuff if you if you if you work in this industry or you have thoughts about it, like from a professional standpoint, if you're uh involved in patent law, etc. I'd love to hear what folks are saying about this. Um, because in the and you'll see in our show notes like the different people that they've quoted in in a couple different articles from either IGN or PC Gamer or, you know, uh, any of that stuff. Um, people have been saying like people in the business have been saying how ridiculous this is and the basically what we're paring is like this is to deter smaller groups from being able to survive a patent a a challenge from

Nintendo even if they know even if Nintendo and Pokemon Company know that they couldn't actually defend this in court given inst uh infinite time and money.
Yeah.
Thanks. I hate it. All right.
Yeah. Are you ready for a little scoop of good news? Little little scoop of good news.
Just a dollop.
Just a dollop. Hades 2's leaving early access finally uh later this month. Uh good stuff. Um if you like me were waiting and not playing Hades 2 in early access because playing Hades 1 in early access was one of the best ways to ruin Hades 1, right?
It'll finally be out. Uh and you can play it. Uh I'm super excited for it. I'm looking uh forward to playing it here on stream on the Rug Review and other places. Um, yeah. I'm gonna get like a day with it between when I finish Silk Song and when the Tactics reboot comes out.
Oh, yeah. I have like very little time, so I'm gonna need to uh, you know, keep my controller hands limber and chase after this. But, I'm I'm super excited.

Super Giants's long been a favorite studio of mine. Uh, and I am really excited to see what they do uh, with this iteration in the thing.
I'm pumped for it. I think I'm probably going to wait for a physical edition of it on the 20th. I have too much to play um and not enough time. So, I think uh that's what I'll be waiting for. But I too am very excited that it's dropping. I again, much like Silk Song and Hollow Night before it, I was not on board right away with Hades. I just didn't play it until like a year or some change after the fact. So, it'll be really fun to like be a part of the community of figuring stuff out, learning, etc. I know it's been out in uh in early access, but
yeah,
still really fun.
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's everything we've got for today.
I think so. Thanks so much for joining us.
Yeah,
for a real upbeat Games for breakfast.

If the thumbnail of a patent didn't really get you uh on board with what we were talking about today, I'm I'm quite sorry. Um, but no, uh, listen, not every one of these is going to be full with, uh, bright eyes and bushy tales. Sometimes it's going to be some nonsense we just got to talk through and start conversations that we know are in no way finished in the hour and a half to two hours that we broadcast this.
Agreed.
Yeah.
Um, but thank you all so much for being here and thank you, uh, because I imagine by now a bunch of you have already left comments. If you're watching this later, thank you for leaving good constructive comments and starting good constructive discussions. Right? We know there's a lot to be upset about, but having a good conversation about the extent of these problems and the ways that we can approach these problems and not just devolving into incoherent screaming about these problems is something that our community is particularly good at and I want to

thank all of you for continuing to do that. Um, so yeah.
Well, I guess the only thing that's left, Will, is uh to go into our end of the show, which is the same every time. Again, building that sense of community and togetherness in a time when we really have to foster that, I think.
Yeah.
Um, and so everyone at home, please, you know, this ending, you love this ending. Please say it with me until next week when you join us for games for breakfast. Everybody say it with me. Now, this show is also patented and you may not do any version like it. If there's anything in our seven-point system of how your show is in comparison to ours, you may not actually put it on air. One, two people talking on the internet. [Applause] [Music]