594: Our PAX East trip and….bowling.

Larry Hryb: Hey there folks! Welcome to show 594. My name's Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. Uh, you downloaded the podcast. We got the gang in the studio. We're back in the studio, back from the road. Joining me is a, uh, is Jeff Rubenstein. Hello Jeffery.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hi!
Larry Hryb: And sitting directly across from you is a, a slightly blue, slightly frozen Laura Massey. Hi, Laura.
Laura Massey: Hello.
Larry Hryb: You're sl, ha- have you recovered from our, from our, uh, East Coast swing yet? (laughs)
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs) Where did, who did, this is like a Motown Philly reference?
Laura Massey: (chuckle) Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Boyz II Men, ABC, BBD? Uh, the East Coast family. Thank you.
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness. I became [crosstalk 00:00:54]-
Larry Hryb: I can't top it. Okay, show's over. Goodnight everybody (laughs).
Laura Massey: We're, we're done.
Larry Hryb: Uh, you, you, you, you, you, we had a great show last week, although we talked a little bit about the weather. The weather was, uh, the weather was a little bit rough.
Laura Massey: It was a bit chilly.
Jeff Rubenstein: That was the coldest PAX we've been to, isn't it? Wasn't it?
Laura Massey: Yes. I think that's probably the coldest that I've ever been.
Larry Hryb: Really?
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Oh wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Two years ago was close, but this was single digits.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm
Jeff Rubenstein: This was, I, I, we, we grew up on the East Coast, Larry.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.
Laura Massey: So you're probably used to it.
Jeff Rubenstein: We used to, this used to be no big deal.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: We are not used to it now.
Larry Hryb: Well I was, uh, Laura and I were walking back and I was telling her, I said, "Laura, see how cold it is?" She's like, [inaudible 00:01:23]. I said, "This is what I dealt with pretty much every single day when I was at Syracuse University." Or, you know, you're like, the snow's blowing side, you don't, you don't realize snow blows sideways.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: Um, and, and it's so cold that your ears are, feel brittle, and they feel like pins and needles.
Laura Massey: Yes. Well I thought my eyeballs were going to freeze.
Larry Hryb: Which-
Laura Massey: It hurt so bad.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: (laugh)
Jeff Rubenstein: I was actually thinking about that, like my eyeballs are horribly exposed.
Laura Massey: Yeah, I tried to, like, look down, cover them.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's why I had glasses on. So ...
Larry Hryb: Yeah. That's smart.
Laura Massey: That's nice.
Larry Hryb: Uh, but anyway we're back in the studio. It was a great time to be at PAX. We had a wonderful time. Thank you, uh, everybody that came to the show. Thank you very much everybody that tuned in on Twitch. Thank you very much. And, and thank you to you, Jeff, and you, Laura. You guys came out and you left. You, you hightailed it out of there, like, that night.
Jeff Rubenstein: Look we, it was good to be there, and, uh, we had a great crowd.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And it was, it was really worth it.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: It was really awesome.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Definitely was.
Larry Hryb: Did you have fun?
Laura Massey: I had a great time.
Larry Hryb: Did you?
Laura Massey: Yes. I enjoyed every minute of it, and thanks again to everybody who came.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It was fantastic.
Larry Hryb: Because we can't do it without you guys and girls. But I'm working on so, I got, I can't, you know, I, I hate doing this cause you know I don't like, I'm not really a hype master, I just kinda talk about stuff.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs) That is what you do for a living, Larry!
Larry Hryb: No. But I don't like, "Hey you're never gonna believe this!" But I am working on something super cool for PAX Prime.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, he is.
Larry Hryb: So, yeah.
Laura Massey: I'm looking, I haven't heard about this.
Larry Hryb: No you haven't.
Laura Massey: I'm looking forward to hearing about it.
Larry Hryb: I, I have something cool that I'll be using at PAX Prime that we're not gonna talk about.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: And, uh, and, working on a cool little, anyway. Well, that's, that's, that's many, many months away. We have so much going on between now and then. But we're, we're tuning in right now. What you're playing, you know, we can talk about what we're playing. Uh, Jeff and I are playing a little Mass Effect. Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. So, uh ... It, by the time you hear this-
Laura Massey: You have it (laughs).
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, no I don't. Uh, well I do through EA Access. So through EA access, um, you know, we were gonna jump on multiplayer and Larry, uh, we weren't a, we weren't all able to sync up, so I was like, "Oh, I'll go into the, to the creator, you know, and make my new Ryder," and I was, you know, do I go Fem Ryder or Bro Ryder-
Larry Hryb: And what did you do?
Jeff Rubenstein: Fem Ryder.
Larry Hryb: And what did you name her?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, you know, the, the initial name it gives you is Sarah Ryder and you could change it, and I actually left it, I always like leaving in the default because what I've noticed, and I don't know if this is the case here, but in certain games, they will actually record like the voice of, like-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Or the name, you know-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: ... So, so instead just-
Larry Hryb: So it's-
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Referring to her as Ryder, they may use the first name Sarah here and there, so I left it. Um-
Larry Hryb: Because all, as, as you go through the customization, the last name is, is, is standard.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: What is cool though, uh, is that, so you, you create your, uh, character however you like, and then, it gives you the opportunity of using either the default, you have a twin brother or sister depending on what you choose, so I think this is what was, was cool about, uh, so like, Bro Shep in Mass Effect One, Two and Three does not exist.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: He, he, he, he's on another timeline.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And he's in, in multiverse. Whereas here, both the characters will exist and it's just a matter of which one you will control versus which one, that I guess the other sibling will be in the story. But then you have the opportunity as the, you, you change, er, races, or you know, skin color-
Larry Hryb: The whole thing.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Features, whatever, they alter, if you like, the, the, your, your twin brother or sister to, to look like you're all part of the same family. Which I thought was [crosstalk 00:04:23].
Larry Hryb: You know I made with mine?
Laura Massey: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: What?
Larry Hryb: I, so it's, I went female as well-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: I named her Red.
Jeff Rubenstein: Red Ryder (laughs)?
Laura Massey: Red Ryder (laughs)?
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: I did think of going Ruff Ryder, R-U-F-F.
Larry Hryb: Oh, also good, also good.
Jeff Rubenstein: A little DMX, uh, and then I was just like, "That's stupid."
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I gave her red hair, too.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah? Oh, well-
Laura Massey: Funny.
Jeff Rubenstein: I shouldn't say that, but ah, anyway,
Laura Massey: BB gun?
Larry Hryb: Maybe.
Laura Massey: (laughs).
Larry Hryb: You'll shoot your eye out, kid (laughs).
Laura Massey: (laughs).
Jeff Rubenstein: Wow, that's really good.
Larry Hryb: (laughs).
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, so yeah, I jumped in, played the first hour, uh, every, I would say anything in that game is a spoiler. Including the Achievement list.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, ah-
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Which, they did not hide, uh, plot points under hidden Achievements, so I would just recommend just don't even look at the Achievement list, and coming from me, I, I, you know, someone who obsessively reads xboxachievements.com or TrueAchievements, ah, uh, don't look. And so, um, anyway, did that. We should play a little multiplayer this weekend, I think would be fun.
Laura Massey: Yeah, that'd be super fun.
Larry Hryb: (sighs) We should. Should we talk about what happened in Boston after the, after we did the show?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, let's do it.
Larry Hryb: So we're all back at my hotel room and Jeff here-
Laura Massey: All back (laughs).
Larry Hryb: ... And Jeff, you're working on something.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And I had brought my Switch with me.
Laura Massey: Yes, you did.
Larry Hryb: And Laura hadn't seen it yet cause I'm playing Zelda, uh, Jeff's playing Zelda, you're not, you, you don't have a Switch yet, and you and I were playing the demo game.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: We were playing the, what was it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Snipperclips.
Larry Hryb: Snipperclip, that you, that I had downloaded-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: ... And you and I, so you and I, you have, you have one of the Joy-Cons and I have one of the Joy-Cons and we're, we're, I don't have it on the big TV. I've, we're, we're, su- we're huddled around this little tiny, what six or seven inch screen, right? So-
Laura Massey: Right, and it's one of the first, like, local multiplayer games I've played on a handheld.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Like something that's portable.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Usually you have to pass it back and forth-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: ... If you're playing it, but this is brand new to me-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: ... Because I can play on a Joy-Con and you can play on a Joy-Con.
Larry Hryb: Right, we were playing at the same time. In fact, we had to work together.
Laura Massey: We did.
Larry Hryb: We had to solve puzzles.
Laura Massey: We did.
Larry Hryb: And-
Laura Massey: And it must have been very entertaining for Jeff.
Larry Hryb: Yeah because-
Jeff Rubenstein: It was! Because I was like, what is [inaudible 00:06:11]
Larry Hryb: You were sitting on the couch with us, and he was like, I, I kept looking over there and he was giggling and you and I were just like ...
Jeff Rubenstein: I was supposed to be working on like, a deck, and I just, there was so much giggling happening and, here, the other thing was, this game must be challenging because two of the smartest people I know, I'm really rounding up here for, for your sake Laura.
Laura Massey: (laughs) Thank you, thank you very much.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, we're having, we're, we're really having like a, a tough go of it.
Laura Massey: (laughs) Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Well-
Jeff Rubenstein: It looks like it's a kids game and-
Larry Hryb: Well I'm just gonna say this, um, I was having like, flashbacks to high school ...
Laura Massey: (laughing) Oh no.
Larry Hryb: ... Where, you know, where I'm teamed up with the really smart girl in the class and I'm dumb. And I'm watching, and you're like, "You know exactly what to do." And I'm like, "Yeah, I just, uh, hmm, uh, what do I do?"
Laura Massey: (laughing) Oh no.
Larry Hryb: "What do I, she, uh, mm-hmm (affirmative), right, hmm." So I felt like I was dragging you down so I have to apologize, Laura.
Laura Massey: (laughing) It's okay.
Larry Hryb: I felt like I was drag- because you looked at that and I could-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:06:56]
Larry Hryb: ... I could, it was fascinating for me watching you pull this thing apart and dissect it.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: And trying to figure out what we're, because you have to take these, for those of you that don't know, you, you each have a character, and they're, they're, they're one dimensional.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Actually they're two dimensional.
Laura Massey: They're two dimensional.
Larry Hryb: Two dimensional, and they have to, you, basically you're given an, a, a, a, a task on screen and it could be, hey, you have to fill in this shape, it's a dotted line or you have-
Laura Massey: Simply match the whole or-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: ... Something like that.
Larry Hryb: So you, and, and basically when, when your characters overlap you can cut parts out of each other to kind of like, I can cut you, you can cut me, and we can kind of create the shapes, or in the shape of the balloon one we created a pointy thing and we popped balloons.
Laura Massey: It's, that one was probably the longest one, uh ...
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: ... For us to figure out. (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.
Laura Massey: That one felt like the most entertaining as well.
Larry Hryb: So I ap-
Laura Massey: How do you, how do you pop the balloons?
Larry Hryb: I apologize, Laura I apologize, I apologize and I was, I feel like I was ...
Laura Massey: It was really fun.
Larry Hryb: I feel like I disappointed you.
Jeff Rubenstein: I will say it was pretty cool to see you two playing, like, a co-op game, like together same screen, like, portable.
Larry Hryb: Right. That was [crosstalk 00:07:50]-
Jeff Rubenstein: And I gotta say that it's, it's, it's well done.
Larry Hryb: So anyways, so, yeah. It's a free, free demo actually if you want to download that. If you have a Switch go ahead and download that, so ...
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Anyway.
Laura Massey: And let us know how it goes.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, let us know how that goes. Pick somebody out who you may or may not be friends with. This is always a problem when you and I played multi, er, you know, games like that where you need to cooperate as, uh, I'm always afraid you're just gonna, I mean you already know I'm an idiot. So you're, you're (laughs) just gonna, like, it's just gonna put, it's gonna put the icing on that cake!
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Anyway. Jeffrey!
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes sir!
Larry Hryb: Listen, I'm sorry, what-
Laura Massey: I was just gonna say you were a very pleasant partner.
Larry Hryb: Thank, you're very kind, thank you very, well we figured it out.
Laura Massey: Very pleasant. Cause we eventually figured them all out.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's, that's if you do the game, and actually by the time we finished it, the demo was over.
Laura Massey: Yeah, exactly.
Larry Hryb: Right?
Laura Massey: We, we played the entire demo all the way to the end.
Larry Hryb: I was, uh, I felt bad cause, like, you left cause, remember you went right to the airport.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Like, I turned to Jeff, like, "Did I piss her off? She just kind of stormed out of here."
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: She's just like ...
Laura Massey: Didn't want to be late.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, but you got out of there safely, didn't you.
Laura Massey: No problems.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was delayed many, many hours.
Larry Hryb: We all did.
Jeff Rubenstein: As were a lot of people [inaudible 00:08:42].
Larry Hryb: But we're, we're done with that. We're talking about what we're playing. Let's continue on with what you're playing there, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah! So in addition to Zelda which is, which is just an incredible game. It's very, very, very good. Uh, in our house one of the, uh, the games that sort of like taken over with all the people, all the different gamers in the house, uh, is The Witness. And it's-
Laura Massey: Oh good!
Larry Hryb: Yeah, which has been out on Xbox One for quite some time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, probably since last fall, maybe? Um, so, like, my brother beat it. He's smart, he's an engineer. You should play Snipperclips with him.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: And so I, like, purposely whenever he would play it I would make sure, unless he was really stumped I would help him, you know, we would try to work through it together. But it's actually kind of a great co-op game in that way.
Laura Massey: Yeah, well you're sitting all together.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, trying to work your way through it.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:09:22].
Jeff Rubenstein: Because otherwise it can be really-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... You know, you can hear a mental block.
Laura Massey: And it's fantastic to have a, an additional perspective-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Laura Massey: ... To say, "Oh, why don't you look over there, I have an idea-"
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Laura Massey: ... Where you wouldn't have had that idea otherwise.
Jeff Rubenstein: So we were looking through, like, the desert pyramid, which I was, I was kind of killing it. Then I got out to something-
Larry Hryb: I don't think, I don't think I made it that far.
Jeff Rubenstein: It, it's actually pretty close to the beginning, but obviously-
Larry Hryb: Is it off to the left?
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, depends on which way you're facing, I guess, maybe?
Laura Massey: It's a particular island.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Um-
Larry Hryb: I don't remember.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... But I, I guess, you know, you can go wherever you want.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: But it, you're, before you discover the boat, you're likely to end up in this desert area.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And I was-
Larry Hryb: There's a boat?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Blowing through it but then I got, I came up to, like, a part where I just couldn't figure it out and, like, my seven year old figured it out.
Laura Massey: Oh good!
Jeff Rubenstein: She was like, "Why don't you go back there and ... ?" And so she's actually further in the game than, she hit her seventh laser yesterday-
Laura Massey: What?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Which is crazy. I ...
Laura Massey: Wow!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I had to help her out. The only one was with the sound one, which, uh, it was pretty cool, like, they started getting in the ones where you're hearing, like, birds chirping and that's how you do it, like if it's a high or low pitch and then they make it more and more complicated. That was actually my, that's been my favorite puzzle so far. So anyway, the, The Witness is, uh, is an underrated co-op game, I would say.
Laura Massey: It is a very clever game.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Impressively clever.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. So, uh, that and I'm just gonna be really sinking a lot of time, I think, into, into Mass Effect. Oh, and, I mean we've talked about this before but, um, my favorite couch, secondary activity game if, like, the TV's on and I kind of don't care is, is Stardew Valley.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I know.
Jeff Rubenstein: So a lot of Stardew Valley.
Larry Hryb: You're all, you're all doing the Stardew Valley.
Jeff Rubenstein: Runs really well on the Surface.
Larry Hryb: Laura, you're next. Have you, did you have a chance to play anything when we were traveling?
Laura Massey: I played a few minutes of a game.
Larry Hryb: What did you play?
Laura Massey: I went home and I downloaded Robo Recall.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, wow, I played it too!
Laura Massey: Yeah, it's awesome!
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes! No, do, you're right, you're a hundred percent right. You talk and then I will affirm-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Everything you said because I forgot about that.
Larry Hryb: Go on!
Laura Massey: Because I had so much fun at PAX, and you heard me talk about that, you know, last, last week.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: And I went home and I bought it.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: And now I'm playing it.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: And it's just super fun!
Larry Hryb: Good!
Laura Massey: Super fun. The, I don't think-
Larry Hryb: Why don't you remind people that didn't hear PAX what it is.
Laura Massey: It is a VR game on the Oculus. I think you can also get it on the Vive through other means. And you are shooting robots and it is one of the best looking games on VR.
Larry Hryb: This is the one you were talking about on the show last week.
Laura Massey: Yeah, it is.
Larry Hryb: When we were at PAX, right.
Laura Massey: Yes, and it is one of the most immersive games I've ever played in VR, where you feel like you are doing amazing as you are shooting these robots. Like, it feels amazing.
Jeff Rubenstein: You feel like, like a hero-
Laura Massey: Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... In this game. So I was at South by Southwest and I had, um, we were there doing some meetings and-
Larry Hryb: So you went there after PAX.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, like, directly from PAX.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, it wasn't as warm as I would have liked. Um, but it wasn't nine degrees.
Larry Hryb: It wasn't.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, and, uh, and I ate my weight in queso, which, I feel great.
Laura Massey: Oh my gosh, fantastic. I miss queso.
Jeff Rubenstein: The queso's so good.
Laura Massey: So good.
Jeff Rubenstein: So um, so we're walk- uh, walking around that [inaudible 00:12:10] and we notice, "Oh, there's the Dell," uh, like they sort of had like a, a, a, a building, they had taken over a building which is kind of what, like, all, a lot of companies do down, during South by Southwest. And, and I know a couple of people on the Alienware team, a couple of people on the Dell team-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I was like, well you know, I'm gonna go in there and, you know, we'll say hi and just see what they're working on. Uh, spoiler alert, some cool stuff. They, they, I don't know if you ever saw that OLED. We had brought it in the office. They, they had, like, basically like the smallest laptop with a 10, I think it has a 1070 but with, like, a Pascal graphics chip in it, uh, from Nvidia. It has an OLED screen. It basically is like the smallest laptop you could run VR with and they have, like, an updated version now with, like, the new process- like, an even better version.
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Jeff Rubenstein: So that's really cool. Anyway, trust me. Uh, but then I looked over and I was like, oh, they, they have, they had an Oculus and a Vive there. I was like, "They have Robo Recall on there." And it was like, oh, one of my colleagues said that this was the most fun she's ever had playing a game, so I got on there.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: Did you get on the Oculus or Vive?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, they had it on the Oculus. I think for Vive you have to, like, get a mod or something.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:13:08] heard that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I, you ain't heard that, you hadn't heard that from me.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: But, um, so I, and I had never used the Oculus touch controllers before. I'd used the Vive a lot and I like it. Um, so I figured, well, this is a chance to do that, and you were right. It is so much fun.
Laura Massey: It is!
Jeff Rubenstein: And you can, like ... These robots are just coming from everywhere but the thing that I like is when they get close to you. Like, you, you can grab them and throw them or you can just punch them.
Laura Massey: (laughs) Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: And they just, like, go, you feel like Iron Man or something.
Laura Massey: Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: And, and at one point I, I used, you can ... One thing that it does well is in VR when you're moving around, um, like the way you would in a first person shooter, it can actually be a little disconcerting but you, in this game you can warp around.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And which, which makes it so you don't feel that-
Larry Hryb: So it runs on Windows 10, right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, well yeah, of course.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Um, and so I, I warped up to the top of a, like a awning or something and I stood up there and, like, occasionally, like, a, a, a robot would come up there and you would just grab him and chuck him or you, you'd slam two of them together.
Larry Hryb: What's, what's a win state?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, there are levels.
Laura Massey: There are levels, they have levels.
Larry Hryb: Okay, if they have levels, okay.
Laura Massey: And a [crosstalk 00:14:12].
Larry Hryb: It's not just an onslaught of robots.
Laura Massey: No. There, there are levels, there's progression, there's objectives to do in each of the levels-
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: ... There's maybe three or four objectives per level, and in some objectives, it's to shoot as many robots as you can. In another objective it's to throw robots into a portal that teleports them away.
Larry Hryb: Right, a waste receptacle?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah!
Laura Massey: Perhaps, perhaps. There's also a, an ability to upgrade your weapons where you go into the weapon zone and you get [crosstalk 00:14:36].
Larry Hryb: Is this where you get your shotguns?
Laura Massey: Yeah. You can holster different weapons, you unlock different weapons and then you can, uh, accessorize your weapons with, uh, you know, sightlines or, um, silencers.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh man, I didn't get that far, yeah.
Laura Massey: Clips and, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, you, you have the game now. But the, but one of the coolest things is when you're shooting and then you're out of ammo, like, you, you, you throw them away.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: It's sort of like, I felt, I've never felt more like Antonio Banderas in Desperado.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: You know, just chuck the gun over like [reaper 00:15:00] and, and, and then you just reach down in your hip-
Larry Hryb: Die, die, die!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... You pull the thing and you just pull one out there.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:15:04] little more.
Jeff Rubenstein: And I did a little death blossom action, I will say that.
Larry Hryb: Did you?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I, I, I was, I would expect nothing less.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, and I actually whacked somebody-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Uh, because I forgot that I was in VR and I got just so into it and I was like, "Oh I'm sorry, sir or madam, I'll apologize later."
Laura Massey: (laughs) Oh!
Jeff Rubenstein: Good! Right in the chest.
Larry Hryb: So anyway, that's what you're playing, Laura, so that sounds like, great.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, I [crosstalk 00:15:23].
Larry Hryb: We should put a link to that in the, uh, in the notes there, Jeff, okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, yeah.
Laura Massey: I also took [E's 00:15:27] advice and tried out Space Pirate Trainer-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: ... Which, you've played that one.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, yeah, that's a really good one.
Laura Massey: It's also really fun. It's a completely different mechanic but you are shooting robots in that one as well. But this one is endless onset of wave after wave after wave of robots and it just gets more progret-
Larry Hryb: Robots.
Laura Massey: ... Progressively harder. And then you have a shield where you can defend yourself. It's a little bit different.
Larry Hryb: I could play that one, yeah.
Laura Massey: It's a little bit different, but it's a shorter gameplay-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Laura Massey: ... No progression so I-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: ... Kind of get bored after a little while. At least I do.
Larry Hryb: Understandable, understandable.
Laura Massey: Robo Recall's got at least some, you know, some levels and progressions and so, it keeps you, keeps you in it. So I'm playing that, it's super fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: Sweet.
Laura Massey: It's almost like, it's almost like exercise! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh I was sweating! I was absolutely sweating.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, that's because you had, you, uh, you were in between taco feedings.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, like queso was coming out of my pores, right. It was still good.
Larry Hryb: Okay, yeah! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll be, I, I gotta go play some VR and then I'm gonna be right back, Torchy's.
Laura Massey: (laughs) Oh my goodness.
Larry Hryb: Uh ...
Jeff Rubenstein: At the Torch? Yeah, I know, I know.
Larry Hryb: Um, good. So then you've had a, you, you've, again, thank you guys for coming out. Uh, I'm playing Mass Effect. We talked about Zelda. Jeff and I were playing, you know, Jeff and I were on a plane together. Oh, we talked about that during the show.
Laura Massey: Oh, on the way up to ...
Larry Hryb: On the way, on the way over to, to Boston. And, uh, sitting, I was sitting in the center seat.
Jeff Rubenstein: I gave him the armrests.
Laura Massey: That's great. I [crosstalk 00:16:37] do that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I, I think it's a, a corner-
Larry Hryb: You know what I gave him?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... A pillar of our society.
Larry Hryb: I, I, I, I gave him my barf bag. (laughs)
Laura Massey: (laughs) Oh, sorry.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, have we archived last week's show or is it-
Larry Hryb: Well it's only VOD.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, so then most people probably haven't heard, yeah. So, my, my fear ...
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Because I had the window seat, which of course the, the one time I feel like I might have to run up to the bathroom, I, I, I had the window seat.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And my fear was just vomiting on Larry.
Larry Hryb: Going all over me.
Laura Massey: Oh now! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I woke up and I, and it was just, I was in a bad state but I was like, "I'm going to PAX."
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I saw that morning as I [inaudible 00:17:07] get breakfast, it'll, it'll be fine.
Laura Massey: Oh no! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: So there, so Larry handed me his barf bag and I, like, sort of tucked in the back of the chair, just with, like, the lip up, and I was, like, testing, like, like-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: ... My quick draw action, like how quickly can I grab this bag if need be?
Larry Hryb: It was pretty quick.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Fortunately it was not necessary because I became so agitated watching Larry-
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Kill poor Link in, in many ingenious ways that eventually-
Larry Hryb: I, look, look, it's, it's when you get a-
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I [crosstalk 00:17:30] up.
Larry Hryb: ... New video game you learn how to, you're like, "Can I do this? No dice."
Laura Massey: You press all the buttons.
Larry Hryb: Do this, let's go, all the things, you pick up all the things, jump off all the things, and that's-
Jeff Rubenstein: Jump into all the things, get eaten by all the things.
Larry Hryb: ... What I was doing, that's what I was doing.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Uh, made significant progress since we last spoke, Jeff, so ...
Laura Massey: Oh good.
Jeff Rubenstein: You're ahead of me.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so, there we go. Elephant, that's all I'll say.
Jeff Rubenstein: Elephant?
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hmm ...
Laura Massey: That's a mystery.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Uh, I'm playing Mass Effect, we need to get back into Overwatch, we got some Ghost Recon we gotta catch up on. Uh, there's some other things that we need to do that I can't really talk about, so we've got some other games, yeah.
Laura Massey: [inaudible 00:18:04], secret stuff is happening.
Larry Hryb: It's all the secret stuff that's happening.
Laura Massey: It's that time of year for secret stuff.
Larry Hryb: It's the most wonderful time of the year. (laughs)
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs) You're like in lounge, full on lounge singer mode.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: By the way, your glasses match your sweater today-
Laura Massey: Yes they do.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Which is [crosstalk 00:18:20].
Larry Hryb: Is that okay? Is that all right?
Jeff Rubenstein: No, it's good.
Laura Massey: Very stylish, very stylish.
Larry Hryb: I just, you know, I just try to, you know, it's spring, I'm trying to dress for spring.
Jeff Rubenstein: You're there. Not quite pastel but-
Larry Hryb: (sighs) You know I, normally I stay, I think we talked, we didn't really talk about this but, you know, cause, cause of what happened but normally I stay out of New England for the weekend and we weren't gonna do a show this week.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: But when the blizzard started, uh, started knocking on the door-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: I was like, I'm outta here. So I flew out early and unfortunately it disappointed my family as a, to the maximum.
Laura Massey: Oh!
Larry Hryb: So yeah, mom and my sisters are, are none too pleased with me. They're like, "But you grew up here!" And I'm like, "Yeah, I know but I don't live there anymore, see you later, bye!" So ...
Jeff Rubenstein: You made the right call.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, based on the photos I saw, but anyway. Uh, all right. Well, Jeff, you got some news we can go over there?
Jeff Rubenstein: I do.
Larry Hryb: Cause we gotta, we got some stuff to go through in the show. We, we don't have interviews last week, or this week, base- you know, cause we had a couple last week so we're kind of keeping a nice, clean, tight show. This is more of a surprise, a pop up show if you will.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it was nice to have Mac there, uh, last week-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... From the Mass Effect team.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, he was great.
Jeff Rubenstein: So congrats to them, these, uh, these guys will be launching. I mean if you have EA Access, you're already playing.
Larry Hryb: You're in! You're in!
Jeff Rubenstein: If not, the rest of you, uh, this coming Tuesday. Uh, depending on when you're listening to this, this may be your last day or next to last day to get an Xbox One S Minecraft Favorites bundle for just $249.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, what are you waiting for?
Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, that, uh, deal goes from, uh, from the time you're hearing this through, er, from March 12th, uh, through March 18th.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, so this, this weekend [inaudible 00:19:38] the US and [crosstalk 00:19:38].
Jeff Rubenstein: This is just about the end of it, so, in the US, so, uh, but yeah, that's a pretty darn good deal. Um, also ...
Larry Hryb: Yes?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... We are now into the second half of March with, with, without incident-
Laura Massey: What?
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Past the Ides of March. And-
Laura Massey: We're in the second half of March?
Jeff Rubenstein: I mean, yeah, I know.
Laura Massey: When did that happen?
Jeff Rubenstein: Which means, uh, the second half of, uh, March's Games With Gold are now available for download. That is, uh, Evolve: Ultimate Edition ...
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:20:00].
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Uh, and Heavy Weapon, which, uh, was, I feel like one of the first arcade games-
Larry Hryb: You're right.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Xbox Live Ar- er, going backwards.
Larry Hryb: Back in the day.
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, and-
Larry Hryb: Classic, an oldie but a goodie.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... And, uh, that is backwards compatible. And actually speaking of backwards compatibility-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Uh, highlight of this week's trove of games, uh, Street Fighter IV.
Larry Hryb: Right?
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: I, I feel like that may be the best fighting game of all time.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:20:21].
Jeff Rubenstein: I, I, there's a lot of arguments being made but I, I, I certainly played just a ton of Street Fighter IV and I, I thought that was awesome.
Larry Hryb: Fighting games, I just, I was never any good at them for some reason.
Laura Massey: Neither was I.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I just, I just, when I, all the years I spent in the arcade with the standup, I was just, I was that sucker just pumping quarters in. I was, I was the, I was the patsy.
Jeff Rubenstein: See, when I was in high school is when fighting games were really coming out. I think I was, like, a freshman when Street Fighter II came out, and it was just like, it was like a moth to a flame, like all of, all of the kids in the class would just, like, after school we were going to a bowling alley, to an arcade if there was an arcade nearby, and this was sort of like an era when arcade games would be in places where you didn't expect. Like, this doesn't happen now.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Like, arcades are in a, I mean arcade games are in an arcade or they're in-
Larry Hryb: They're on your phone! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Or in barcade or on your phone, but they're, they're kind of hard to find. But, like, when I was growing up, like, restaurants might have a couple of-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... arc- like a Pac-Man machine in the front or something like that.
Laura Massey: Pizza Hut had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle machine.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: That's what I played all the time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly, yeah!
Larry Hryb: That was your, that was your jam?
Laura Massey: That was my jam.
Jeff Rubenstein: So Street Fighter was sort of in a lot of places, go, oh no, you got something to say here, Larry?
Larry Hryb: Wait a minute. I'm sorry, can we just, can we just rewind a little bit. Bowling alley? You spent some time at a bowling alley?
Jeff Rubenstein: I spent a lot of time in bowling alleys.
Larry Hryb: As did I, as did I.
Jeff Rubenstein: I shot a lot of pool.
Larry Hryb: Did you?
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, yeah. Uh, actually, the, the bowling, the pool-
Larry Hryb: Do you have a leather jacket that says the Jets?
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: No, but just back then, people would smoke in a bowling alley and it would just, leather would just smoke up all the smell and you would just stink. It was [crosstalk 00:21:40].
Larry Hryb: Okay. All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: It was, this was the 90s, Larry.
Larry Hryb: Did you ever spend time in a bowling alley, Laura?
Laura Massey: A little bit of time.
Larry Hryb: Little bit of time. As little as possible. (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: But here's the thing. The bowling alley near me was only a quarter for, uh, for Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II and III, not 50 cents, so we had-
Larry Hryb: Did you ever play duckpin or candlepin?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know what that is.
Larry Hryb: Really!
Laura Massey: Neither do I.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, in New, in New England we had duck, we had regular bowling but they also had duckpin, which are shorter, squatter pins, and then candlepin which is, look it up, this circular, circular pins. So it's completely like a tall, circular pin.
Laura Massey: Does it just make it much harder?
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, the little, little fat, little pins and candle-
Larry Hryb: Yeah, duckpin and candlepin.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Oh, [crosstalk 00:22:19].
Larry Hryb: And the, and the duckpin if I remember correctly, the balls were smaller. They were like bocci balls.
Laura Massey: Oh! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Whoa, the candlepin-
Larry Hryb: Check the can-
Jeff Rubenstein: ... It's like, it's like bowling into an menorah.
Larry Hryb: See? Just like ... (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Yeah, that looks super difficult, as if bowling wasn't difficult enough already ...
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I don't remember the-
Laura Massey: ... And that takes [crosstalk 00:22:34].
Larry Hryb: ... I don't remember the size of the candlepin ball. Uh, maybe Wikipedia will say, but I remember the duckpin were absolutely, you could just take them and if you, like, I remember, I, I, I had a couple of friends that were on the softball team and they could just underhand those things, voom! We are off to the races.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, it's like a shot put!
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it, uh, it was a-
Jeff Rubenstein: All right, I'll link to those-
Laura Massey: Wow.
Larry Hryb: My big hands.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Because this is weird stuff.
Larry Hryb: I was a-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah, and, and not only that but just, like, the Wikipedia's just like, "This is a Boston thing!"
Larry Hryb: Yeah. (laughs) Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: Although there's a set of lanes in Wyoming.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Or no, Wyoming, Ohio. I didn't know that was a place. That's the closest we're gonna get.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway, uh, this is what happens when you look at Wikipedia on the fly.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Back compat.
Jeff Rubenstein: Back, oh yeah!
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh no!
Larry Hryb: That's where we ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so Street Fighter IV, it was really good. Yeah, I, the, the fighting games, man, back then it was cool because when you played in the arcade, it was, it wasn't, wasn't about latency or all that cause there is no latency, it was about, like, physical positioning. Like, and I was really skinny in high school and, so a larger person could, like, sort of muscle you out.
Laura Massey: Oh, push you away from, like, the machine.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right, yeah, or they, well they, or they, like, they would stand, like, essentially in the middle and you're sort of hanging off the edge.
Larry Hryb: Oh, there was a whole physical element to that that you do not get today.
Laura Massey: Oh my goodness!
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah! Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Oh no!
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, it could be very intimidating. There would be times I'd go into the arcade and I'm like, "I don't want to stand here and play next to that person cause I'm afraid they will just destroy me, like physically, like, jump me if I win."
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: You know, or, or I'm worried that I'll, I'll just-
Larry Hryb: Or just because! (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah! Well, I mean which happened a couple of times.
Larry Hryb: Cause it is a bowling alley.
Jeff Rubenstein: Right, in Miami. But, um, yeah, it, it's, that whole element seems to be gone today, but that's probably for the best.
Laura Massey: Probably.
Jeff Rubenstein: Probably.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway, Street Fighter IV, backwards compatibility.
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: This flashback brought to you by, uh, age.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: I want to go find a candlepin bowling place now or duckpin and take you. Next time we go to Boston, we'll go to duckpin or candlepin bowling, all right?
Jeff Rubenstein: I, I love this idea.
Larry Hryb: Do you, do, do, do you approve?
Jeff Rubenstein: This is just so strange!
Larry Hryb: I, I know that Laura will only go if it's nine degrees outside and the only reason she's really going in there is to get away from the outside. Right?
Laura Massey: Per- perhaps, perhaps. I do have my own bowling shoes, though.
Larry Hryb: Wait a minute, what?
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Are you some strange size that you had to require them or did you just, were you into bowl- were you on the bowling team?
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Were you?
Laura Massey: No!
Larry Hryb: Wow.
Laura Massey: No, strangely enough I bought them for dancing. They're really good for dancing because they have a soft, you know, toe-
Larry Hryb: You're right.
Laura Massey: ... And a hard heel.
Larry Hryb: Are they funny colors?
Laura Massey: No, it's white. I try to get [nada 00:24:50] looking bowling shoes because when I took dancing lessons, that's what I would wear.
Larry Hryb: Wow.
Laura Massey: They're much cheaper than normal [crosstalk 00:24:58] shoes.
Larry Hryb: If Laura had a bowling nickname, what would it, what would be the-
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: ... What would you have on the back of your jersey?
Laura Massey: It would be inscribed on my ball.
Larry Hryb: Right, your ball and your, and your, and your ball bag, your carrier.
Laura Massey: My ball bag.
Larry Hryb: You carrier, right? What would that be?
Laura Massey: Yes, and my leather jacket.
Larry Hryb: Let me think about that, but certainly, I mean lollipop, we're just put out some [crosstalk 00:25:12].
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, but with the bowling ball instead of a lollipop.
Laura Massey: Oh yeah!
Larry Hryb: What color would your ball be? Pink?
Laura Massey: It would be a lollipop color.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's really, that's, that's just ...
Larry Hryb: What? I'm just asking!
Laura Massey: I want to get a swirl.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, the swirl like a lollipop.
Laura Massey: That would be amazing.
Larry Hryb: Hey, that's, that's what I'm talking about. All right, we-
Jeff Rubenstein: You don't have a bowling ball?
Larry Hryb: Uh, me?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: No, I don't have a bowling ball.
Laura Massey: Do you?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know, just, I, well I do-
Larry Hryb: Wait, you have a bowling ball?
Jeff Rubenstein: It's, it's literally the only possession from my dad that I have.
Larry Hryb: Really!
Laura Massey: Oh!
Jeff Rubenstein: And, but we had the same, I ... Uh, my, uh, the hands fit perfectly, which of course makes sense. So I have the bowling ball in, like, a totally 80s bag.
Larry Hryb: I want to take, can you take a photo of it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, yeah.
Larry Hryb: Put it on Instagram!
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll have to go home, I'll have to, yeah, I'll find where it's at, but it's literally the only match.
Larry Hryb: You, so you [crosstalk 00:25:49] so different cause you have that and one of the only things I have from my dad is a stapler.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh! Is it, was it a Swingline?
Larry Hryb: Oh yeah!
Jeff Rubenstein: Well there you go!
Larry Hryb: It was back in the day and this-
Jeff Rubenstein: You want to hold onto that one.
Larry Hryb: ... This, both of them could do damage, trust me.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: You know, it's like rock, paper, scissors.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, couple more, couple more-
Larry Hryb: (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: ... News bits here. Uh, so, uh, the [email protected] Game Fest is now into week three. And so, uh, what's happening is for the last few weeks is, is, a huge percentage or a huge, uh, a huge chunk of great [email protected] indie games are having a huge percentage off.
Laura Massey: Great.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, some of the, the games worth mentioning here would be, uh, Knight Squad. Reagan Gorbachev, did you ever play that?
Larry Hryb: I played that, yeah, it's a good one.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it's so bizarre, like, it's like a buddy movie between the two of them. Don't Starve: Shipwrecked, uh, Shantae: Half Genie Hero, Axiom Verge, which is a very cool Metroidvania type game, and, uh, Manual Samuel, which is, um, the conceit of that game is, like, very awesome. Did you, did we talk about this game before?
Larry Hryb: No.
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: I don't, I don't recall.
Jeff Rubenstein: So it's, uh, it's about someone who, uh, a, a, a boy or a young guy who, who's died but he's so lazy and he was so spoiled, he doesn't actually know how to, like, do anything including walking properly or breathing, and so you have to manually control every single one of these moves. It's sort of like QWOP-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: ... If you've ever messed around with QWOP, but, like, with better graphics, but it's so funny and, and there's just great animations like when you forget to breathe and then all of a sudden you're like, "Why is he turning blue? Oh, I didn't hit the-"
Laura Massey: (laughs) Oh no!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... "The B button to breathe," or whatever it might be.
Larry Hryb: So you're like the brain?
Jeff Rubenstein: No, you, well you're like, almost like, he's almost like a marionette.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: And you have to help him just go through normal, mundane tasks like making breakfast or getting in the car or whatever it might be. Uh, but, like, all the things that your brain stem does without you thinking about it, you have to think about.
Larry Hryb: All right.
Laura Massey: Oh!
Jeff Rubenstein: It's a very interesting game.
Laura Massey: That is interesting.
Jeff Rubenstein: And it's on sale. I'll link to that, I'll link to that one, I like that game. Uh, there, there was just a big update, speaking of, uh, indie titles, an Xbox Play Anywhere title, Everspace, which is pretty fun. Uh, it's just been adding, ever since it went into early access it's been adding tons and tons of new stuff. Uh, huge update, uh, including new, new ships, new perks. Um, I believe they actually updated, uh, the game engine to make it, uh, work better on both Windows 10 and on Xbox One.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, I feel like they, they might be getting pretty close to hitting, uh, uh, 1.0. I was just taking a look on their web site the other day, uh, the folks from Rockfish Games. So that one is, uh, definitely worth checking out. And then Trove is a new release, uh, by the folks at Trion. It's made with voxels and for that alone it's worth mentioning.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, think blocky Minecraft esque sort of visuals. The game, of course, is different. And, uh, Death Squared is a cooperative puzzle game for up to, up to four folks.
Larry Hryb: Head over to majornelson.com, my blog. You can see-
Jeff Rubenstein: They're all there.
Larry Hryb: ... All the releases and more! Also if you follow me on Twitter @majornelson, I'll tell you when those Games With Gold are available, uh, so that, or I'll just tell you what I'm eating for lunch.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: So you just never know what-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:28:46]!
Larry Hryb: ... You never know what you're gonna get!
Laura Massey: Free stuff for ...
Larry Hryb: Free stuff, that's right.
Laura Massey: For information.
Larry Hryb: For information. You're gonna get, you're gonna get, something that's there is going to amuse or irritate you.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: (laughs) I'll, I'll just pretty much guarantee that. Cause it's the Internet! Uh, Laura, you have Name the Game from a couple of weeks ago. There were, I know there's-
Laura Massey: We do!
Larry Hryb: ... Some folks who were a little disappointed we didn't do it at PAX.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: We normally don't do that feature when we're live on location cause it's, it's just, it's a little more difficult-
Laura Massey: It is.
Larry Hryb: ... Cause it requires, it just requires a lot of stuff. It requires the clip from before, it requires a new clip and it just, no, so we don't do it.
Laura Massey: Right. So we just do it here in the studio.
Larry Hryb: So why don't we go ahead and, uh, roll the clip?
Laura Massey: Yeah! Let's do, uh, Name the Game from last time.
Clip: Hornet reporting, over.
Clip: Infantry level one researched.
Clip: Keep in formation!
Clip: It's like sand!
Laura Massey: So that was Name the Game from last time, and it was Halo Wars 2.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: That was a pretty easy one.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Also we're playing that too.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: On the road, cross platform, all sorts of stuff.
Laura Massey: Play anywhere ...
Larry Hryb: Play any- I'm playing the anywhere.
Laura Massey: And the winner is Allison from Arizona!
Larry Hryb: Allison! We have a lady winner!
Laura Massey: Yes! And her gamertag is, uh, Bad Alley Cat.
Larry Hryb: Bad Alley Cat, sweet.
Jeff Rubenstein: I bet she goes to the bowling alley.
Larry Hryb: Where is she?
Laura Massey: That would be a good bowling name.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well the bowling alley I used to go to in college was Alley Cats.
Larry Hryb: Oh!
Jeff Rubenstein: In Gainesville, Florida.
Laura Massey: Nice!
Larry Hryb: Allison, do you bowl? Let us know, but it doesn't matter if you bowl or not cause you're a winner! What'd she win, Laura, what'd you-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:31:09] she has a lot of cool stuff coming her way.
Larry Hryb: All right, what've you got?
Laura Massey: She's got a copy of Trove: The Essentials Pack.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Which is the add on for the new free to play game, which is Trove.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And she gets a copy of Death Squared, which is a new [email protected] game. A copy of Blue-Collar Astronaut, which is also a new [email protected] game. A copy of Dark Arcana: The Carnival-
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: ... Which is a new [email protected] game.
Larry Hryb: I mean, I [inaudible 00:31:31], yeah.
Laura Massey: I can see a theme here.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And another game, the NeuroVoider, which is another new [email protected] game.
Larry Hryb: Neur- NeuroVoider.
Laura Massey: NeuroVoider.
Larry Hryb: Oh yeah, I think I talked about it on the show this week. On This Week On Xbox, sorry.
Laura Massey: This Week On Xbox.
Larry Hryb: That's my other, my other show.
Laura Massey: But that's not all!
Larry Hryb: That's not all! What?
Laura Massey: Allison also gets a copy of EA Access for 30 days.
Larry Hryb: Oh, she can try all the games in the Vault out!
Laura Massey: Exactly!
Larry Hryb: Nice.
Laura Massey: So now she could even play Mass Effect-
Larry Hryb: Yes she is, she sure can.
Laura Massey: ... Before most other people. And that's not all! She also gets a copy of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: Deluxe Edition.
Larry Hryb: Whoo, look at her go!
Laura Massey: Very fun. And ...
Larry Hryb: And?
Laura Massey: ... She also gets an Xbox wireless controller-
Larry Hryb: Wow!
Laura Massey: ... Which is the Winter Forces Special Edition.
Larry Hryb: Oh, that's a nice one. Have you seen, that's a good one.
Laura Massey: It's beautiful.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, the timing. Only a few days left in winter.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, right? Allison, nice work! You just cleaned up whole bunch of stuff there. Those are, of course, we send you codes so you get the digital version of the games. You can, you can fully embrace the digital lifestyle-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: ... So it's, uh, we'll, we'll get, we'll get an e-mail out to you there, so ... All right! Well done!
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:32:29]. Thank you! And I bet people are wondering how do they win these fabulous prizes?
Larry Hryb: I don't know, how do they win? Why don't you tell me?
Laura Massey: It's really easy.
Larry Hryb: Tell the listeners, dear Laura.
Laura Massey: You can play Name the Game and you too could win!
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: It's really easy. All you have to do is listen to the sound effects that I'm about to play.
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: And then send me an e-mail with what game that's from.
Larry Hryb: That's right, all you have to do is listen, and I will tell you this right now. There, you do not need to own your own bowling shoes!
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: You can, but it's not-
Laura Massey: But it's not required!
Larry Hryb: ... It's not a requirement. So, you ready?
Laura Massey: All right, let's roll it!
So that was Name the Game for this week. If you think you what game those sounds are from, just send me an e-mail, [email protected] and CC [email protected]
Larry Hryb: Yep, Microsoft employees-
Laura Massey: Easy as that!
Larry Hryb: ... Are not, uh, allowed to participate-
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: ... And there's, uh, there's, the rules are on a, on a FAQ over on my blog, so ...
Laura Massey: Right. So good luck to all the listeners out there.
Larry Hryb: And you'll win cool stuff!
Laura Massey: Who knows what you could win!
Larry Hryb: Yeah, I know. Apparently you go into my, I, I don't know how you get into my office.
Laura Massey: I do!
Larry Hryb: I'm always, I'm always there and I'm like, oh, I'd never, Laura's, I just couldn't, I, you know, I've figured it out! You're using your bowling shoes and you're coming up over the door! I just figured it out!
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: It's crazy, Laura!
Laura Massey: You know now, I had those connections.
Larry Hryb: All right, we're gonna to, uh, we're getting ready to wrap up the show. I don't know if you guys have anything to add. Um, do you have anything to add, Laura? I mean it's, it's kind of, this is kind of, like I say, a surprise show since we-
Laura Massey: It's a bonus show!
Larry Hryb: ... Weren't, we, just, we, we were not scheduled to be in the studio this week. I've got a couple of things. I got my, uh, just got, got my gaming PC back.
Laura Massey: Oh, that's good.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, it was upgraded. They put a new, uh, new processor in, a new motherboard, you know, just got everything ready.
Jeff Rubenstein: What are you gonna test it out with?
Larry Hryb: I don't know. Gotta find something good to test, maybe, you know, maybe I'll play, uh, maybe I'll play, um, Robo Blocks, or Robo Recall.
Laura Massey: Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: Do, do you have an Oculus?
Larry Hryb: I don't have an Oculus, I have a Vive.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay. Well ...
Larry Hryb: So, I think I, though I think someone I know must have an Oculus, looks at Laura.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Um, so yeah, I, I'm sure we can figure that out. But yeah, I gotta, I gotta, I'm undecided what I'm gonna play yet but I'm gonna get back into it and get my, I'm gonna finish up Halo Wars on it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, that's a good idea.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Cause, cause we were playing that cross platform.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: I just kind of wanted to play on my big 4K-
Laura Massey: Big screen.
Larry Hryb: ... 4K monitor.
Laura Massey: Yes. I bet that looks really nice.
Larry Hryb: So sharp.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: You know it's, when you use a 4K monitor, it's the same as when you're on the web or, you know, whether you're using, like, a Mac or Windows, it looks so good in 4K, but then when you find that weird part of the operating system that they never updated-
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: ... The icon, it's like, oooh.
Jeff Rubenstein: And it's really big.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and it's really big and blocky and, oooh.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: And, and I've seen them both on Windows and the Mac side. They, uh, they still get there. (sighs) All right Jeffrey, what else before, cause I know you gotta run-
Jeff Rubenstein: I do.
Larry Hryb: ... Laura's gotta finish, you gotta finish up your lunch over there.
Laura Massey: I do.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, you gotta finish up your lunch. I appreciate you coming into the show.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:35:39]. Thanks for having me.
Larry Hryb: All right. Well we may be back next week. Who knows? Sometimes we plan to be here, sometimes we're not, sometimes we don't not plan to be there and sometimes we are. [crosstalk 00:35:47].
Jeff Rubenstein: Count me in if you're doing it.
Laura Massey: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: We're getting ready for E3. Jeff and I will be there, right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yes.
Larry Hryb: Okay. Laura, we're still trying to get Laura to go.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: We bare- we barely got her to PAX!
Laura Massey: Still don't know, still don't know. (laughs) That's true!
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)
Larry Hryb: Yeah, your, your, your plane ride coming in was, was a-
Laura Massey: Just awful!
Larry Hryb: ... A little bit, uh, rough, but-
Laura Massey: It was way delayed.
Larry Hryb: ... But we'd love to have you down. It's a little, it's only two and a, two and a half hours away down in LA as opposed to the ...
Laura Massey: Six plus ...
Larry Hryb: ... Six ...
Laura Massey: ... Hour.
Larry Hryb: Four hour, six back, whatever it is, it's crazy.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: All right, gang, hit us up on Twitter. You can find Laura and her bowling shoes at?
Laura Massey: (laughs) @lauralollipop.
Larry Hryb: You can find Jeff and his, uh, his bowling ball-
Jeff Rubenstein: Thank you! (laughs) Well done, @jeffrubenstein.
Larry Hryb: And you can find me and my candlepins @majornelson. We'll talk to you guys next time. Bye bye everybody!
Jeff Rubenstein: Bye!
Laura Massey: Bye!