597: ID @ Xbox Celebrates 500 games

Larry Hryb : (music)
Hey everybody, welcome back. I'm name's Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's MajorNelson. I'm here with you in your ears, or in your speakers, in your car, wherever you're listening to us. I'm here with Jeffrey. Hi, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hi.
Larry Hryb : Jeffrey!
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sorry to be in your ear canals.
Larry Hryb : Well, it's- We all are. It's- it's- that's the beautiful thing of podcasting. Uh, Laura couldn't join us this week. She had a little last-minute emergency and we weren't gonna cancel the show because I'm really excited, Jeff. You- you know I'm a big fan of, of our next guest.
Our in-studio guest. He was - I believe, I need to check Wikipedia, but - I believe he was the longest-running editor of Thrasher magazine.
Chris Charla: (laughing) Not only that, but-
Larry Hryb : Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Christ Charla. No, that's not true. Hi, Chris.
Chris Charla: Hey. How's it going?
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing)
Larry Hryb : Is it true that you won X-Games Seattle in 1994?
Chris Charla: I- I won X-Games [Wallingford 00:01:22].
Larry Hryb : Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: (chuckles)
Chris Charla: There weren't a lot of entries, but uh, yeah. Yes.
Larry Hryb : But you're here. But it's great to see you, Chris. Of course, you're in charge of our [email protected] game and we announced, uh, ear- earlier, I think, but- you know, depending upon when you listen to the show, but we announced, uh, recently that 500 games have been launched on the [email protected] program. Wow!
Chris Charla: Yeah, it's awesome, and- and- it's- it's been super fun so far and there's tons more coming, too.
Jeff Rubenstein: Do you remember the first one?
Larry Hryb : Uh, gee whiz. That's a great question, Jeff. I- Do I? I don't think I do.
Jeff Rubenstein: I- The- It- It seems like it was just yesterday.
Chris Charla: Yeah. I'm- What's- What's-
Jeff Rubenstein: I re- I remember the first one.
Chris Charla: Go ahead and tell m- tell us.
Jeff Rubenstein: It was uh, Strike s- Zero.
Larry Hryb : Oh, that's right.
Chris Charla: That's right! I remember-
Jeff Rubenstein: It's a space shooter-
Chris Charla: Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really fun space shooter.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. That's right. I remember that. Well done, and that- and so that was the first one, and w- I know there's a whole bunch that had came out, so which one did you guys look at and say, "This is number 500!" (laughing).
Chris Charla: Yeah, we- we really had to do that because, you know, when we were counting, we knew were getting close to 500 and then we were saying things like, "Okay, well, uh, are we juts looking at Xbox One, are we counting Windows 10-"
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... Because we obviously help a lot of Windows 10 games ship as well-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And then- And then the big question was like, "Well does a, does an Xbox Game Preview count? Because it's not technically at 1.0 but we still-"
Larry Hryb : Right. Right.
Chris Charla: " ... Have shipped something." Anyway, we- we- we took all these things into account. We had top men working on it-
Larry Hryb : Yep. Top men.
Chris Charla: ... And (chuckles) pricewater house coopers, and uh, we determined that City Skyline's was number 500.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yay!
Larry Hryb : Yay, which came i- which is now out of- now available on Xbox One, of course.
Chris Charla: That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Chris Charla: Yep.
Larry Hryb : That's, the- Well, congratulations. I wanted to get you on because obviously that's a huge milestone. I mean, any time- Any game that ships is unbelievable, but t- you work really closely with all these teams around the world!
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we've had games ship now, I think on, uh, uh, maybe six continents.
Larry Hryb : Six-
Chris Charla: We've had- We've had [crosstalk 00:03:02] games.
Larry Hryb : Which ones? [crosstalk 00:03:02] Antarctica?
Chris Charla: So we haven't had anybody ship from Antarctica, so-
Larry Hryb : Well, we do hav-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:03:05] base.
Larry Hryb : We do have listeners, apparently, I've been told we have listeners on this show from McMurdo base, so if you're in McMurdo base-
Chris Charla: That would be awesome!
Larry Hryb : ... Contact Chris Charla so we can get you an [email protected]
Chris Charla: Make a game!
Larry Hryb : Make- Make any game! Survival on McMurdo base! Or, what's- Wait a minute. Remember-
Chris Charla: The Thing.
Larry Hryb : Remember what happened the- uh, was it, like, back in the 60s where somebody was - I think it was down there - where he had to operate on himself? Do you remember that story?
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Larry Hryb : This- This, like, doctor or- There was no one there and he had to operate himself. I know. It's- it's morti- as mortifying as it sounds here-
Chris Charla: I didn't even want to see 128 Hours.
Larry Hryb : Anyway, so- So congratulations. This is really good. What are- Let's talk about some of the milestones in the program and- and frankly, where you're going from here?
Chris Charla: Yeah, I mean, so we- We launched a program, um, more than three years ago before Xbox One launched. We announced it, I think, 2013 at Gamescom.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: We had incredible developer response. We still have amazing developer response. We still have new developers joining the program every day, and um, you know, we just worked as hard as we could to make sure that, like, it was just easy as possible for a developer to get their game out on Xbox One-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And on Windows 10, and you know, it's just a testament to the- It's really a testament to the support of Xbox fans. Uh, it just, you know, how well the program has done, because they've generated, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars in sales for-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... For [email protected] developers, millions and millions of copies of games have been sold, and it's been, um, uh, a really successful program so far and we're- we're not slowing down.
Larry Hryb : And I want to point out, it's- obviously you're in charge of the program. You've got a whole team behind you.
Chris Charla: Oh, there's- Yeah. There's a- There's a, a huge team here at Microsoft who work on it and- and the- the other thing that's been probably the- the most amazing thing is from the day one of the program is, you know, we had a- we started with a really small little team and we would go to these different parts of Microsoft, and we were asking for big changes in how our, our back-end systems worked to accommodate independent developers, and we were not sure what reception we were gonna get, honestly.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: We- We knew it was the right thing to do and we hoped other people did, and we would go into these meetings with like, you know, 10 people you had never met before, f- some- some part of Microsoft you didn't even really knew existed, but you kinda have to get through to ship a game, and you're a little bit intimidated.
Larry Hryb : Sure.
Chris Charla: You've got like, your eight-slide PowerPoint presentation and we'd go in there, and like, the first thing that would happen is they'd be like, "Oh, you're the indie guys. How can we help?" And then the second thing would be like, "Have you seen this game? Have you seen that game?"
Larry Hryb : Oh, really?
Chris Charla: And so the support really from inside Microsoft-
Larry Hryb : Really engaged. Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... Was just, like, ridiculous. Um, yeah, and then since- And we've- we've built the team up bigger and you know, continued to encounter the same level of awesome support from inside Microsoft. We have an unbelievable team of uh, really, really passionate, um, folks who are just super invested in developer's success.
Larry Hryb : W- Tell- Tell me a little bit about, you know, this show is a little bit abnormal because we're celebrating the 500th of [email protected] and we're not- we may go over some of the stuff we're playing. Right- Right, Jeff? [crosstalk 00:05:44]?
Jeff Rubenstein: I think we should do that, especially since there's some- I was making sure to play a bunch of [email protected] [crosstalk 00:05:48].
Larry Hryb : Do you want to do that right now, and then we can kind of talk about s- because I have a ton of questions, both from Twitter as well personally that I want to talk to Chris about the [email protected] program.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, I'm- I'm assuming you've been playing Voodoo Vince.
Larry Hryb : Uh, yes. That's an- Ah- It's a- This is not a video podcast, [crosstalk 00:06:01]. You need to say "yes."
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) He's nodding his head.
Chris Charla: Um, ro- One of the things I've really been enjoying and I find myself spending more time with a lot of, um, ID games recently because a lot of them have adopted, uh, the Xbox Play Anywhere program. VooDoo Vince being one of them, so, uh, during a conference call today, I was-
Larry Hryb : You were not. You were not.
Chris Charla: Oh, come on. That's like, my MO. I beat Dark Souls on a conference call.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's awesome.
Larry Hryb : (laughing)
Chris Charla: Um, but Voodoo Vince, I- I've really gotten into- I-I love that sort of e- exploratory, you know, 90s feeling game. I guess it came out probably in the first, uh, the first couple years of, uh, the 2000s. Um, but like, Ukulele's another one which I- I need to jump into. Um, but definitely getting into Voodoo Vince. Another game, uh- Into the Gungeon, I was playing. These are just like, in the past week, on my PC while I've been traveling. Uh, Spheroids I had a pretty good time with and Everspace, which is still in game preview. I'm waiting for a- Can't wait 'til they give achievements, but they've added a lot to that game.
Larry Hryb : Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Chris Charla: Yeah, and uh, being able to play that and jump back and forth. Oh, and Snake Pass was another one, which was, uh, pretty cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: Snake Pass is awesome.
Chris Charla: Yeah, this- The, uh- I've played that-
Jeff Rubenstein: We talked about it a couple weeks ago.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, it was like I all of a sudden, like, this actually how a snake feels, I guess (laughing), right?
Chris Charla: Yeah, I mean, it is- You're playing it and you're like, "Wait, what do a- I gotta- you know, waggle the stick to make the- Oh, yeah! It's like a snake!"
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, yeah, that feels right! It's like a snake!
Jeff Rubenstein: And y- And- Yeah, that game is really, really fun.
Chris Charla: I- I played that and then I watched Planet Earth II, like, the part where-
Larry Hryb : Oh.
Chris Charla: I like your copier, by the way.
Larry Hryb : Do you [crosstalk 00:07:26] my copier-
Chris Charla: Yeah, it's right here (laughing), uh ...
Larry Hryb : My disc- My 4k version.
Chris Charla: Yes. Uh, because I wanted to test out my- my- I- I had gotten a 4k TV and that is the thing you test it out with, but that scene where the racer snakes are going after-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And I was like, "I wish I was that good in Snake Pass."
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: You know, to catch those iguanas.
Larry Hryb : No spoilers.
Chris Charla: Sorry.
Larry Hryb : Voodoo Vince! [inaudible 00:07:41]- Voodoo Vince. We're talk-
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : So, Chris, we're just gonna talk about what we're playing and then we're gonna get back to this great 500 milestone. I haven't played City Skylines yet. I'm sure you have, and it's a lot of fun.
Chris Charla: You know, I haven't played it on Xbox yet.
Larry Hryb : Oh!
Chris Charla: I- I've played it a ton on PC. Uh, but I usually try and- I try and wait 'til the- G- I generally try and wait 'til games commercially available before I play it.
Larry Hryb : Right. Yeah, that's- I'm- I'm the same way, because you find out- You kind of- you kind of- I don't know. You- You just want to- You want to experience it the way that our- our- our fans and- and- and Xbox people- you know, everyone else experiences it.
Chris Charla: Ye- A- And I want to be able to talk about I on Twitter and I want to be part of the- you know what I mean? Like, I- I want to play it day one-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... But I want to play it when it's available so I can talk about it and-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... In- Once in a while I'll break that rule. Like, Inside.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: I played before, but-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: But uh ...
Larry Hryb : Yeah. So, uh, that's important to point out is that Inside was also an ID game.
Chris Charla: Yeah, absolutely.
Larry Hryb : And it's- it's interesting because you have had the scope of, of, of, of teams, you know, anywhere from single to double, two or three people, up to, uh, much, much larger teams that have worked around the world dispersed, right?
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah, absolutely. We have everything from, you know, o-one man or one woman teams, uh, all the way up to, you know, 200 person studios are coming through ID-
Larry Hryb : Wow! Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And i-it's kind of uh, uh, like, um, you know, when we design the program, instead of kind of focusing on, you know, what was an indie game in 2013-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... Uh, we kind of looked and said like, "How- How can we- you know, make this future-proof a little bit?"
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: And so that was what a lot of the back end work was, and so-
Larry Hryb : So from a technology standpoint.
Chris Charla: It's- Exactly.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: And so we've ended up enabling, um, you know, a lot of different game types. My favorite kind of trivia fact is the- the MLB is technically an independent developer because-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... RBI baseball is an [email protected] game, so you-
Larry Hryb : Right. Even though it's licensed.
Chris Charla: Right.
Larry Hryb : It's got licensed goods.
Chris Charla: We- It's made by- made by the MLB.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: And- And so they're- They're- They're an indie developer.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, does it- But it doesn't-
Larry Hryb : Technically. Oh, wow, wait a minute. My head just exploded.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Right. MLB's okay.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: It doesn't necessarily- It's not like the days of every game being like, sprite-based, 8-bit, four people making the game-
Larry Hryb : Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Chris Charla: I mean, those games still exist, and are pretty great-
Larry Hryb : A-absolutely. There's some great ones.
Chris Charla: Um, but, yeah, there's some, like, very visually impressive games out there. Um ...
Larry Hryb : Yeah, exactly.
Chris Charla: Sort of defining ... Like, the definition of indie has changed significantly in a way.
Larry Hryb : Well, yeah- Well, how do you look at that? You know, because we get that asked all the time. How is an indie game versus a triple A title? I mean, is that- i- tho- those really the two categories?
Chris Charla: Ye- And we- we- we don't-
Larry Hryb : You don't?
Chris Charla: You know, we- we actually- you know, I- I come from the- the- the punk rock era-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And I spent, like, most of my 20s arguing about what was punk rock and what wasn't punk rock and- and-
Larry Hryb : Did you come to a solution?
Chris Charla: No! And so- so with, uh-
Larry Hryb : Time well spent.
Chris Charla: Yeah, absolutely.
Larry Hryb : (laughing)
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing)
Chris Charla: Um, with uh, with um, with independent games, we decided early on we weren't gonna worry about that. You know, if a developer comes to us and says, "Hey, I'm an independent developer and I want to ship a game through [email protected]," We're like, "Sounds great," And you can be, you know, uh, one person or-
Larry Hryb : And then you look at their email address and it says [email protected]
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) Yeah.
Larry Hryb : Right?
Chris Charla: E- EA has another path onto the console. Um, but you know, if it's major league baseball or it's, you know, o-one person in South Africa, like-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... We're excited to, to see their games.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. Yeah, I was looki- I was talking with some of the people from your team when I was in Australia, and they told me about some of the games you guys are working on and some that aren't out yet, but I'd be- It's just, the richness, uh, the tapestry and the- that you have to select from, it's just- It's unbelievable.
Chris Charla: It's- It is amazing, and when we- When we first started the program, you know, one of our big goals was we wanted to make sure when Xbox players turn on their Xbox One, they have access to this huge, diverse array of content, and if you had asked me to say what that meant in, in 2013, I would have had an answer, and I would say by 2014 I was already completely blown away-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And you look today at the breadth of content-
Larry Hryb : Over 500 titles.
Chris Charla: Ye- But- Over 500 titles and just, the diversity of, you know, things, you know, from Smite to Inside to Street Force Home to, you know, Thimbleweed Park, Her Majesty's Spiffing, like- this- there's just-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: Like, so much variety in, uh, in the games that are coming from independent developers. It's- there's really something for everyone.
Larry Hryb : What has changed since you started the program in terms of- in terms of the technology or the approach or the types of games you're seeing? Talk to me a little bit about the cycles, you know?
Chris Charla: Y- Well, you know, what we see is we've seen, um, uh, w- what we're seeing now on Xbox One which I think is really cool is we're seeing sophomore efforts and junior efforts.
Larry Hryb : Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Charla: So developers who have shipped one game on Xbox or two games on Xbox-
Larry Hryb : They cut their teeth.
Chris Charla: Yeah, and now they're working on new things and they're pushing the boundaries of their hardware, and you know, obviously Project Scorpio is gonna, you know-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... Y-you know, change that even more. Um, but the really cool think, I think, that we're seeing is we're seeing developers at all stages of their journey, so we're seeing, you know, we're still getting lots and lots of, you know, um, console debuts coming onto Xbox One from developers and the [email protected] At the same time, it's- we're seeing, you know, these veteran studios, and then the- the- one really fun thing is we're seeing groups of veterans, like the guys at System Era who made Astroneer, um, who have, you know, in-incredible resumes, um, come together with some new blood and then just make a new studio, make a new game that's informed by not only, you know, the- the- the kind of passion that the new guys are bringing, uh, but also the- the- the veteran stuff that the veterans have seen-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And you end up with a debut effort in Astroneer that actually is a, you know, stunning game.
Larry Hryb : I want to point out, also, the fact that this is y- 500 more titles, 500 more titles. These are purely digital titles.
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : Right? I mean the- this is- uh, the- the days of shipping on a disc, while still exist for some- some part of the audience, these are all digital titles. That's amazing!
Chris Charla: Yeah. It's- it's super cool.
Larry Hryb : Yes, Jeffrey. You have something to add (laughing)?
Jeff Rubenstein: No! I was just wondering if- if- if out there, there are, uh, students who are putting together games, and um, and there's a lot of like, pretty well developed programs these days, and that are thinking like, how do I get it off the ground? How could I get onto Xbox? Ha- What is that first step for them?
Chris Charla: Yeah, so, I mean, th- they- First of all, y-you can just come to xbox.com/ID and apply, but the other thing that we announced at GDC that I think is really exciting is that-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... The Xbox Live Creator's Program.
Larry Hryb : Now, what is that?
Chris Charla: So, it's a really cool program. So basically, you- you are home. You have a, a, a retail Xbox One. You can-
Larry Hryb : Just like you bought at Best Buy or Gamestop or anywhere else, right?
Chris Charla: [crosstalk 00:13:44]. Yep. You download, uh, I think it's called, um, oh, is it devmode app, um ...
Larry Hryb : .exe?
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : (laughing)
Chris Charla: There's- There's a free app, uh- sorry, I just spaced on the name of it.
Larry Hryb : Ye- Right.
Chris Charla: Um, devmode activation, I think.
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Chris Charla: And it's a free app that's on the- the Xbox One app store.
Larry Hryb : On the- on the store.
Chris Charla: That turns your Xbox into a devkit, and then you can download free version of Visual Studio-
Larry Hryb : Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Charla: ... And you can deploy a game from Visual Studio on your PC, a UWP game, um, to your Xbox One and it runs the sa- you know, the- the- your PC sees the Xbox as another PC-
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Chris Charla: ... Because Xbox One runs Windows 10-
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Chris Charla: ... And you can just deploy a game to your Xbox and immediately start playing it with your controller on your television.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: And so that was really cool. We announced that, actually, last year in, uh, 2015-
Larry Hryb : Sure.
Chris Charla: I'm sorry, 2016 at GDC.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: And so, in 2017 we announced Xbox Live Creator's Program. So now, in addition to doing all that for- for playing and testing, you can, uh, you can go get - without signing any NDAs, without, you know, signing any contracts - you can just go download Xbox Live.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: Implement Xbox Live into your game. Most of the features, all the social features like Identity and Presence and Leaderboards, and then put that into your game and ship it on Windows 10 and on Xbox One.
Larry Hryb : So this is- This is the, I guess as- as- what- what programmers call APIs, right?
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : These are your p- APIs that allow you to call into Xbox Live-
Chris Charla: Exactly.
Larry Hryb : ... Which is obviously a massive service with millions and millions of people, um, and easily implement that in your game.
Chris Charla: Yeah. Absolutely.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, linking to that in the show notes if that sounds like something you want to- But- It's like a four step process.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: Yeah, it's- It's really straightforward, and those games, um, they don't have everything that uh, that uh, that uh, uh, you know, a game that comes through the ID program or, you know, from a publisher like Electronic Arts has.
Larry Hryb : Sure.
Chris Charla: They don't have access to achievements and gamer score.
Larry Hryb : We don't- We want to keep those as pure as we can.
Chris Charla: That's right, and uh, and they don't have access to the multi-player features.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: We have those gated, but if there's no- there's nothing stopping a game, uh, you know, like a student game or something like that from starting as a game that's in the creator's program and then at any point, either it's during development or even after they launch, like, talking to the folks at ID and then just, uh, you know, becoming an [email protected] game and getting access to gamer score and achievements. So it's-
Larry Hryb : So you can go from the- the kind of the- the kiddie pool to the big pool to the Olympic pool (chuckles).
Chris Charla: Yeah, that's right, and- and- but I wouldn't- I would- I wouldn't say it's exactly a kiddie pool-
Larry Hryb : Sure.
Chris Charla: ... Becau- But I- Because I think we will see, um, we'll definitely see really cool games from students and experimenters-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And hobbyists and makers-
Larry Hryb : So let's call it a sandbox.
Chris Charla: Right, but I think we'll see pros, too.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: You want to get a game out really quickly, do a, you know, quick game, see ha- what the response is, and then decide if they want to take it to ID, but I think what's really cool is t- is two things. One is, it- make sure that every Xbox can now be used for creation-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... As well as playing, and then two, when you look at just the full spectrum for developers, whether you're, you know, um, coming through ID-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... Whether you're, you know, going through a, you know, a third-party studio or whether you just want to do it all yourself completely unmanaged, like, there's a place for you on- on the Xbox [crosstalk 00:16:40]-
Larry Hryb : If you want to make a game - and regardless, as you said, if you're one person or 10 people - we- we have a solution for you!
Chris Charla: Absolutely.
Larry Hryb : Right? At very, very low to almost no cost!
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : Right? You may- may- you can use that console you already have at your house!
Chris Charla: Yeah, it's amazing.
Larry Hryb : [crosstalk 00:16:55] console. Yeah. That's fun. Yes, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm waiting to see what kind of game you're gonna come up with [crosstalk 00:16:59].
Larry Hryb : Me?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : I- I- I'm-
Jeff Rubenstein: Ma- Major's Revenge?
Larry Hryb : I don't- I don't know what kind of game I would come up with. I've- I've had many of idea over the time and I know a great game when I see it, but it feels like I- I- I'm always- I'm always surprised at the creativity that comes through the program.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah.
Larry Hryb : You know, like I say, we talked about Inside which is one of those zowie moments when you get to the end. I don't want to have any spoilers, and we all- we all got to the end, many of us did. Um, but yeah, the creativity in this space is great, but it's also great to see, you know, we had Thimbleweed Park and I had, uh, I had Ron on a few weeks ago and it was great to see, you know, Ron who's been in the games industry m- you know, longer than anybody in this room for the most part-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Larry Hryb : ... Shipping on that platform, right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : And doin- doin' some really cool stuff!
Jeff Rubenstein: And then you've got Cuphead.
Larry Hryb : Oh, boy. L- All right, so- I- I gotta ask yeah, when's Cuphead coming out?
Chris Charla: Th- It's coming out in 2017.
Larry Hryb : Okay.
Chris Charla: That's what the team has said, and uh, and, and so it's coming out this year, but you know, you think about that game, like when you- you know, start a program you think, "Oh, we're gonna get this kind of game, we're gonna do that kind of game-"
Larry Hryb : Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Charla: Nobody thinks, "We're gonna get a game that is 100% hand animated in 1920-style paired with, you know, contra-style of run-and-gun gameplay."
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: You know, tha- ah- you know, you can't- like-
Larry Hryb : That-
Chris Charla: Unless you're the- the Moldenhauer brothers you can't think that up-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And then you see it and it is just, every time I see it - and I've seen it a lot - it, it just blows me away every time. I cannot believe this is an interactive video game.
Larry Hryb : Right. Ra- And- And of course, you talk about the- the story with Inside, which was very story-driven and the- I don't want to say it was simple gameplay, but it was very approachable.
Chris Charla: Yeah, absolutely.
Larry Hryb : Right?
Chris Charla: I mean, that game was in development for a long time. It's not a long game, but one thing that they did - and they're, you know, such great designers - was every second of that game, every place you were, they knew everything you might do there-
Larry Hryb : Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Charla: ... And they basically had a custom animation for it, and-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And were ready to go-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And it's just, uh, it's unbelievable.
Larry Hryb : And it's also, I love the- because Play Dead, right?
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : They- They oh- they just recently won some D.I.C.E awards, right?
Chris Charla: Yeah, I think they won some D.I.C.E awards-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And they just won a BAFTA.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, the [crosstalk 00:18:53]-
Chris Charla: Or, a couple of BAFTAs.
Larry Hryb : And they just- the- it's funny 'cause they just don't- they just- they like to just let the game speak for themselves. Right?
Chris Charla: That's exactly right.
Larry Hryb : And that's always- That's always admirable. Uh, moving right along here, Jeffrey. You've got some other stuff we want to go over? You got some news?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know. Do you want to hit news? You want [crosstalk 00:19:05]?
Larry Hryb : We might as well hit news. I mean, we- we're- we're s- talking about games. If you have any- you know, we- we had some questions from Twitter, Chris, so while we're reading some of the news headlines, if you can go out to Twitter and grab some of those-
Chris Charla: Sure.
Larry Hryb : ... We'll answer those when we come back. Yeah, you're gonna stay here with us, but we'll answer those in just a minute. Let's go through some of the headlines we've got. Even though Laura's not here, we're gonna do Name the Game. I- I've asked, uh, Chris to pick up the mantle on that this week.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ooh!
Larry Hryb : So, we're gonna do that, but we- yeah. Let's go through-
Jeff Rubenstein: And- We have to- Is it gonna be a punk-rock game? We have to ...
Larry Hryb : No. Maybe- Maybe an [email protected] game. We'll find out. So ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe. Well ... Um, yeah, so one of the big changes, uh, we've been listening to feedback and um, for the system itself, for Xbox One, we've released a- a- a number of fan-inspired feature updates to the community last month. More are coming, so-
Larry Hryb : Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... There's- There's quite a bit, but uh, one of the big things is Arena. We've been talking about it. Um, it's gonna be coming, now, to Killer Instinct, so you know, when you hear about the world of e-sports, people immediately think pro-gamers, people that, you know, do this-
Larry Hryb : Call of Duty, Halo ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, well- And- But people that play 14 hours a day, you know, in, a-arenas and things like that-
Larry Hryb : Yep. Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... But really e-sports can be as simple as, like, you know, the- the equivalent of, like, the, uh, the Work League or something like that.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. I want- I want a beer league for- for e-sports.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, exactly, a beer league, and- and y- now you're gonna be able to set that up. So we have a lot of details, um, and I can link out to that but-
Larry Hryb : Please do.
Jeff Rubenstein: It'll be easier than ever to set up a Killer Instinct tournament. Smite is actually gonna be supporting this as well.
Larry Hryb : World of Tanks.
Jeff Rubenstein: World of Tanks, which was the first, and Halo Wars II, so a lot coming there. Um, a party overlay.
Larry Hryb : Hmm.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, I don't know if you've tried out the achievements overlay. I am an achievement hunter, and so when I'm, uh, trying to, uh, uh, track a, an achievement where I'm like, having to collect- I'm actually doing this with Voodoo Vince where you need to get, like, 100 of the zombie sands, uh, zombie dust bags or whate- Wa- I actually got them, that one this morning. Uh, where you can do a little bit of an overlay that keeps track, uh, as you go.
Uh, if you haven't tried this, it's sort of like, I think Gears of War 2 was like, the first game where as you were getting close, when you did your first active reload, it would let you know you were getting your- your progress towards the achievements getting closer.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, similar thing with the party overlay. So you can see, uh, who's in your party and who's speaking, uh, a-at any given time. Like, the little speaker icon on top.
Larry Hryb : Really helpful for Destiny Raids, uh, and you can move it around to any one of six- eight quadrants on the screen. Eight, not quadrants, I guess, sectors on the screen.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. So, and a number of the other features, but one that I know, Larry, you're definitely gonna want to take advantage of and that is captive portal support.
Larry Hryb : Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: So if you take that word by itself, "captive portal support"-
Larry Hryb : That's en- That's en- That's engineering speak, Jeffrey!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... A lot- What does that mean? Yes it is, uh-
Larry Hryb : But- but let- Why don't you tell us what it really means?
Jeff Rubenstein: It means, in layman speak, you can- you can use your Xbox One at a hotel.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, um, all of these a- I've traveled with my Xbox One a number of times, um, and I have a travel router for different places on Wifi where you have - and hotels are the most common example of this - where you have to like, click through on a website in order to like, turn it on-
Larry Hryb : Accept the terms of agreement, where it goes high speed, low speed, what's your room number, etc.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ex- All of that stuff. Yeah, um, you will be able to do that directly through the Xbox One. That's something that, uh, we are working on and a number of other features that we're hearing from the community, so I know that's one of the ones I'm excited about. Um, a number of things involving clubs, involving, uh, beam and twitch broadcasts. A number of things- we'll link to that.
Um, and normally I'll pick out a couple of, uh, couple of games to highlight, um, and-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... And, and in- I was like, "Oh, in honor of Xbox, uh, of [email protected], in honor of you being here, I'll call out one or two-" But it actually, this is a great week for ID- Re- Like, an insane week.
Chris Charla: Unbelievable.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, we talked about Voodoo Vince. A-again, this is an X- and XPA game. This was a game that I first knew about because Phil Spencer is a big fan of Voodoo Vince.
Larry Hryb : Well, what am I, chopped liver?
Jeff Rubenstein: Well ...
Larry Hryb : (laughs)
Jeff Rubenstein: Is there- Is there a MajorNelson Easter egg in the game?
Larry Hryb : There is ... (chuckles) I can't confirm or deny.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well (chuckles) ... We- Well- Well, ah ... We'll always have, uh, Kinect Sports. Yes.
Larry Hryb : Yes, that's right. Thank you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, where you didn't finish first in the-
Larry Hryb : Thank- Thank- Thank you Craig [Duncan 00:22:56].
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, exactly.
Larry Hryb : (chuckles)
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, so, uh, it's an excellent game from the- that era. Uh, of the e- the OG Xbox era, um, of exploratory, third-person, character-based-
Larry Hryb : Platformers.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Platformers and adventure and, I'm definitely having a lot of fun with that, that New Orleans theme. Flint Hook. This is a game a lot of people are talking about. Um, hearing it- it- uh, there's like a bionic commando sort of vibe to it. What can you tell me?
Chris Charla: It is amazing. So, super fun, basically like, uh, I guess you could describe it as an action platformer. Um, but you've got this cool hook, uh, you know, grappling hook mechanic, and the thing about the game that is just really cool is it's super fluid, and they've done some- you know, they've done are- a lot of work with the controller so you just, you know, from your thumbs to the screen is just like, there's no barrier, and so the game itself just flows really, really beautifully. They have a bunch of gifs online that you can see it and it's just- it's just unbelievable.
Jeff Rubenstein: So that's Flint Hook. Um ...
Chris Charla: Flint Hook.
Jeff Rubenstein: Two really beautiful games that came out this week. Uh- Sh- I do- Help me of- if I'm pronouncing this right? Shinesse, or Shinesse? Uh, the lightning kingdom? This is like an RPG and it looks really- it has a very cool cell-shaded look that kind of reminds me of like, like, Dragon Quest 8 which is one of my favorite games of all time. This has a really cool look to it, and something that I li- I like about it based on what I heard is it's not a 100-hour RPG.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's nice when you can actually fit one into your schedule, uh, and another game that just looks fantastic is uh, Wonderboy: The Dragon's Trap, and we have a- a great article, uh, on Xbox Wire that was written by, um, one of the, one of the devs, uh, from Lizard Cube, and we have actually a couple of animation gifs as well, uh, built into that. So definitely worth checking out and then-
Larry Hryb : What are these animated gifs?
Jeff Rubenstein: These animated gifs? Is it "jiff"?
Larry Hryb : Is, uh, is uh, is it like- [crosstalk 00:24:40]-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:24:41]- I said it right, right?
Chris Charla: Obama said it was gif, so ...
Jeff Rubenstein: So like, he's got more authority than I do. 'Nother game with a very interesting visual style, in the complete opposite direction, is Late Shift.
Chris Charla: Yeah!
Jeff Rubenstein: So, ah- ah, the- Full motion video is back! I- It-
Larry Hryb : It is?
Chris Charla: From our friends at Wales Interactive, um, they put together a full-motion video game and they've done some really neat stuff with it. First of all, I think the cinematography is great. You look at still images or you look at it when it's moving, like, they did a really nice job, and um, it's an FMV game, like a classic FMV game, and you basically make these, uh- Actually, it's a little different than classic FMV games. So, it's not like Night Trap or Sewer Shark.
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) I- Sega CD owner right here. Yes.
Larry Hryb : (laughing)
Jeff Rubenstein: It's more like, uh, a choose-your-own adventure game. So there's not a lot of repeating video, it's really just like, you get to a branching choice and you have like, a very short amount of time to make a choice-
Larry Hryb : Dragon's Lair style, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... And you've gotta sort of decide, like, hey, am I gonna, you know, uh, you know, how am I gonna choose how to progress the story?
Larry Hryb : Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... And, um, it really does have some meaningful branches. I think there's seven different endings, and um, so there's a lot of different things than can happen and uh, I was- I was really surprised, um, by the production values and uh, that's a pretty neat one.
Larry Hryb : Let's check that out.
Chris Charla: Yeah, so- ye- there's a bit of a renaissance there, like Her Story last year and-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, and- Yeah, and Wales Interactive also did The Bunker-
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... Which is another, uh, more traditional FMV game that was, um, super disturbing, so ...
Chris Charla: (laughing) Way to sell it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : You're right, you're right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hey, sometimes you want that out of the way.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, you're right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, couple other non-ID titles, uh, Guardians of the Galaxy, uh, Telltale Series Episode One is out.
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, kind of excited for this one. The Disney Afternoon Collection, um, as someone who played, used to come home from school and play DuckTales every single day.
Larry Hryb : Total- Stop it! Why you making me feel old?
Jeff Rubenstein: What? I was, uh, a little too old to be playing DuckTales, but-
Larry Hryb : Okay (laughing).
Jeff Rubenstein: I could beat- I could beat it in one go. Um, and this one's maybe right up your alley, Larry. Professional Farmer 2017.
Larry Hryb : You know, I've heard about that. I've heard about that and you know, you know I love my farming simulators.
Jeff Rubenstein: I know you do, and I love how they still use that sort of like, that- that- that italicized font that goes back all the way to like, Flight Simulator.
Larry Hryb : Flight Sim- Flight Simi- Yeah. Ohh.
Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly. It just- It lets you know who this audience is for, which you, Larry.
Larry Hryb : Lot of news out this week. Head over to majornelson.com or news.xbox.com, which ever is your fancy, and we'll make sure we uh, show you what's going on. There's- There's just so much, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: There is, there is. One last thing, uh, Star Wars Battlefront 2 was announced last [crosstalk 00:27:07]-
Larry Hryb : Yeah! Was down in Orlando for that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Larry Hryb : Lovely. Your- Your- Your, uh, old stomping grounds, huh?
Jeff Rubenstein: It- It is, uh, I came for the, I came for the Magic Kingdom and I stayed for the humidity.
Larry Hryb : Yes, you did.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb : Yes, you did. It was ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Nine years.
Larry Hryb : It was- It was humid down there, but yeah, it was a lot of fun to go down there, so we've got a video up on this week on Xbox.
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb : In fact, I dressed as a Jedi. Have you seen it yet?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, n-no I haven't (chuckled) seen this.
Larry Hryb : (laughing) You've gotta see this one, it's great. The team did a great job, so you'll- uh, t- watch the latest episode of this week on Xbox.
Jeff Rubenstein: I will do that.
Larry Hryb : It's on my Twitter.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh. Okay.
Larry Hryb : Follow now, @majornelson.
Jeff Rubenstein: F- S- Uh, I don't ca- whatever. You know how to find me.
Larry Hryb : And Janina, uh, Gavankar, you know her? She's uh, she's uh, going to be playing, uh, Iden Erso- Versio-
Jeff Rubenstein: Apparently I've interview- Apparently I've worked with her before.
Larry Hryb : You have?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb : She's- She's- She's a huge gamer. Um, and we've worked within a, in, in a number of ca- uh, different ways and-
Jeff Rubenstein: I rem- I remember- Yeah, once I realized [crosstalk 00:27:55]. She's great.
Larry Hryb : She plays everything. She's great.
Jeff Rubenstein: A delightful young lady.
Larry Hryb : She was in, uh, she was in True Blood and- You've seen her.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : You'll know her.
Jeff Rubenstein: We worked together! We did- We did an E3 together!
Larry Hryb : But she [crosstalk 00:27:59]- Yeah. Yeah. What? How come you're not in this game, either?
Jeff Rubenstein: I, bu- Please. This is the alt- This is the burning question. Maybe I'm in Voodoo Vince as a- (chuckles) as a [crosstalk 00:28:08]-
Larry Hryb : Uh, [crosstalk 00:28:09]- Yeah. I'll have to go back and get all the collectibles to unlock the-
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) Ah, look for a microphone. So (coughs), anyway, so that- those are the news. You- you know how to find it. Uh, we ha- we said we were gonna take some questions form Twitter. You had a couple out here. Do you mind the- I've got a couple here if you want to go over them, Chris.
Chris Charla: Yeah, do- Wa- So what- Do you want to start or do you want me to start?
Larry Hryb : I'll- Let me- Well- Um, well- I got s- I got one up here right away from Megan-
Chris Charla: Okay.
Larry Hryb : ... Uh, Savannah wants to know, I want- He wants- I'm supposed to ask you about your zine, Incredibly Strange Games. What is that?
Chris Charla: So, uh, I do a fanzine.
Larry Hryb : Yeah?
Chris Charla: Um, I've done fanzines ever since I was like, six years old-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And, uh, so I do a fanzine still, uh, about strange video games and it's printed in-
Larry Hryb : Also, which is even stranger (laughing).
Chris Charla: Yeah, yeah. No, I still- I mean, I ki- I mean, it's like using Cork Express or InDesign and stuff and-
Larry Hryb : [crosstalk 00:28:51], wow.
Chris Charla: ... Uh, there is like a blog for it, too, but to get to-
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm linking to that.
Chris Charla: Oh, okay-
Jeff Rubenstein: Incrediblystrangegames.com?
Chris Charla: That's correct.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Chris Charla: Uh, but to get the- the- the real thing, you've gotta, you know, see me at a show and I- I usually have some, although it- recently in Seattle we've done a couple live nights at a bar that is smaller than this studio-
Larry Hryb : Really?
Chris Charla: ... And um, and so we'll have a couple different people come and bring and show- show off weird games and uh, and then we'll make like a little mini-zine for, just for that show. So ...
Larry Hryb : Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is that the, the Grizzled Wizard or something?
Chris Charla: No, I- I wish. It's uh, or- Grizzled Wizard was awesome, but it's at the Fuse Box, which is up by the zoo.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, I've never- I'll have to go there.
Chris Charla: You c- I'll- I'll- You [crosstalk 00:29:28]-
Jeff Rubenstein: That's up near your house! That's up near your house, yeah.
Larry Hryb : [crosstalk 00:29:28].
Chris Charla: Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Larry Hryb : Okay, good. Fun. So, so yeah, so Megan wanted to know about that. Um, "Are you ever too old to skate?" You're a skateboarder.
Chris Charla: I am a skateboarder. No, you're absolutely never too old to skate.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. Yeah, I- I completely agree, and then finally, "Tater tots or nachos, and there only better be one answer?"
Chris Charla: You know, I really feel like Seattle doesn't have a lot of native foods, but Seattle does tater tots better than any place on- in the whole country.
Jeff Rubenstein: Y- You don't have to choose between tater tots and nachos if you go down to Ballard and you- there's a counter in a wall, I don't know what it's connected to, but you go up there and you get the Totchos.
Chris Charla: Yeah, we- you know, w- the- Damon's, which is the sport's bar closest to where we're sitting right now here in Redmond-
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... Uh, has some of the best Totchos on the East side, so ...
Jeff Rubenstein: Seattle owns the Totcho scene.
Larry Hryb : I- I have no room in my diet for- for tater tots.
Jeff Rubenstein: Eh, maybe after E3.
Larry Hryb : No, I never! I don't like them spicy-
Jeff Rubenstein: You gotta live a little!
Larry Hryb : I don't! I just, they don't interest me, it's com- it's- I don't know. Whatever.
Chris Charla: Tater tots are amazing.
Jeff Rubenstein: Tater tot is like Seattle's national food.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, maybe- I-
Jeff Rubenstein: We don't have a lot to offer culinary-wise here, but [crosstalk 00:30:26] we've got tots.
Larry Hryb : Oh, I disagree. I disagree. As a gateway to Asia, you certainly do (laughing).
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah. Y-you mean, like, good food. I'm talking like, bar food.
Larry Hryb : Yes- Yeah- Oh. Fair point, fair point, fair point. All right, so yeah, do you have any- Do you have any of the, uh, any (chuckling) Tw-Twitter response you want to r-
Jeff Rubenstein: Wel- O- One question that came up, uh, a lot was, uh, just about, uh, what's going on with the game Ashen.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, which was, uh, with us at E3 a couple years ago, and uh-
Larry Hryb : Right. Can you remind people what the game is about?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so um, it is a really cool low-poly game that we showed a cool teaser trailer, uh, uh, um, with some, you know, pretty violent stuff happening-
Larry Hryb : Yeah (chuckles).
Jeff Rubenstein: ... And uh, so I'm not gonna say more than that because I don't want to give away more than, than what they gave away.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, but, um, t-the team's still hard at work, and um, you know, this is a case where, um, you know, I saw uh, some, you know, video of latest build, or recently, um, but it's, um, it's up to the team when they want to announce what's going on, and- and- so we didn- you know, as- as excited as we are for the game, like, we can't say much more than-
Larry Hryb : Yeah. That's their- That's their project to own.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. That's exactly right.
Larry Hryb : Why they own the messaging on it, so we don't want to- we don't want to take away any thunder from them, so stay tuned. What else you got over there for questions?
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, another question was about - I think we already hit, but - it was just about hey, I'm f- My son's 14, he wants to get into game development, what should he do? Xbox Live Creator's Program.
Larry Hryb : Right there.
Jeff Rubenstein: Turn that Xbox into a devkit and get going.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. W-wouldn't it be awesome if you know, if your mom or your dad or your somebody, I mean, your family bought you an Xbox and then you came down one day and said, "I made a game." "How?" "I turned my Xbox into a devkit!"
Jeff Rubenstein: "And now I'm movin' out!"
Larry Hryb : Yeah!
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) "Get my own place."
Larry Hryb : "See ya later, gang!" Uh, well that's cool, yeah. So you can find- You- They can find you on Twitter. Where do they follow? @IOCat.
Jeff Rubenstein: IOCat, yeah.
Larry Hryb : Ioca- was there-
Jeff Rubenstein: All these things are linked.
Larry Hryb : Do you want- Do you want me to- Can you explain the story behind that Twitter handle?
Jeff Rubenstein: I- No.
Larry Hryb : (chuckles)
Jeff Rubenstein: It's uh- It's real- It's really old. It's from the Apple 2 days.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Everybody needed a handle.
Larry Hryb : I remember. I rem- I remember the Apple 2 days.
Jeff Rubenstein: What was your first handle? Was it majornelson?
Larry Hryb : Uh ... (laughing) That's a great question. No, it wasn't. Um, so I actually, I actually- that's a good question because there was- before there were computers and I lived in the time there wasn't when I was a little boy, my dad ha- we- I had a CB radio.
Jeff Rubenstein: Nice!
Larry Hryb : Uh, I had a CB radio license, uh, so I had that. So my red- handle- my dad gave it to me, was "redcap."
Jeff Rubenstein: Hmm.
Larry Hryb : That was it. So, I don't know why, but that was what he gave me. So that- That has- That ha- That lived in- Lived and died right there, so, anyway, that's a way to bring a broadcast to an end.
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) Well, no, we can't- You've got other stories [crosstalk 00:32:49]?
Larry Hryb : Oh, I have many stories!
Chris Charla: I want to know this, uh, Diet Dr. Pepper story.
Larry Hryb : Oh, the Diet Dr. Pepper story. What happened was is so, um, Jeff came into the studio before we were recording and he showed me the Diet Dr. Pepper and I got very excited. I'm a Diet Dr. Pepper fan. I should not drink it, but I do. S- I have very few vices, Chris.
When I joined the company in 2001, um, I was like, you know, we had free beverages at Microsoft and I was like, "Oh, this is a cool, big deal," And they didn't have Diet Dr. Pepper, so I started wri - this is before I was anybody - I started writing an email to the people that- whoever this email address was, it was behind stock in the things, I'm like, "Hey, can we get Diet Dr. Pepper?" And n- like, every two months I'd send the same letter.
Two months later- Or, I'm sorry, two years later, it finally appeared in the coolers and I'm taking credit for it.
Chris Charla: Nice!
Larry Hryb : So I was really excited. Well, about six or eight months ago, Jeff was with me, we noticed the Diet Dr. Pepper was no longer there.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah. We got- We got coconut water instead.
Larry Hryb : Right?
Chris Charla: (laughing)
Jeff Rubenstein: Some- Had- Something had to go.
Chris Charla: Something!
Larry Hryb : So I was like, "Wait a minute, wh-" And I was like, okay, maybe this- maybe it's a bad week, maybe they didn't resto- And I went to, like, six different coolers on campus looking for them. So I started my letter-writing campaign again, and I said, "Hey, um, what happened?"
So long story short is the Diet Dr. Pepper [inaudible 00:33:59]-
Chris Charla: I am drinking one right now and it really does taste more like regular Dr. Pepper.
Larry Hryb : Yes. So it's- it's- Anyways, so I'm very excited that I- So- So that's-
Chris Charla: That's- That's awesome.
Larry Hryb : I'm taking credit for it's- for it's- for it being implemented, going away, and- and returning at- it's triumphant return!
Jeff Rubenstein: Larry, that's a great, ripping [inaudible 00:34:15] but let's talk about the other thing that you're supposed to tell me about that I've been waiting to hear about.
Larry Hryb : Which one? The-
Jeff Rubenstein: The thing that happened in Orlando.
Larry Hryb : So- So Chris, let me tell you what happened [inaudible 00:34:21]-
Chris Charla: Oh, nice.
Larry Hryb : I was hoping- hoping, uh, uh, Laura's gonna be here to tell us. So I go to Orlando for the Star Wars celebration, which is a- which was amazing, and it's always so fun to be in Florida (coughs). So flat, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's no topography.
Larry Hryb : It's just like, f- ... Anyw- Oh, you know, you know you [inaudible 00:34:35] trouble when apparently the tallest mountain in central Florida (laughing)?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, it i- (laughing) It's- It's uh, it's a landfill.
Larry Hryb : It's- No, it's Space Mountain (laughing).
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, it- I was in South Florida. My- My sister lives, um, smelling distance from the [inaudible 00:34:48] road dump which is, uh, [crosstalk 00:34:50]-
Larry Hryb : Mara Del- Mara Del [crosstalk 00:34:51] (laughing)?
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, stepping into that one, Larry! At a- at a height of like, 400 feet, it is the highest point in South Florida.
Larry Hryb : Wow. Anyway, so I g- So I go to this hotel and I will not give out the name to protect the innocent, but I get to this hotel, Chris, after flying all day and we've all done this, you know, business trips and-
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : ... I'm exhausted, and I just want to get to the room, and ... So I put my- Put- Slide my card, uh, into the door. The door opens, and I open the door, and on the little desk - this is your basic hotel room, you know, with the- with the bathroom and then you walk through in the bedroom - and I see there's like this- this- this bottle of champagne, and like, flowers, and there's some food. I'm like, "This is cool, someone-" And I'm- I'm kind of- This is all happening so quickly, but it's in slow-mo.
I'm like, "Why did somebody- Why? Nobody knew I was here. Why do I have this?" And as I step three foot, four foot, five foot into the room, I realize there is a couple without any clothes on in the bed.
Chris Charla: (laughing) Oh, my goodness.
Larry Hryb : And apparently, I barged in on their party. So, uh, they- they let out a gasp. I let out a gasp, and I said, "Oh! Excuse me!" And I looked at the gentlemen. I said, "I think you have things covered here," And I left.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did you really (laughing)?
Larry Hryb : I can think pretty quickly sometimes! And it was- It was rather embarrassing, so I went down to the manager and I said, "Let me pull you aside here, [inaudible 00:36:06], just FYI, this is-" And he was- He was mortified, and they put me in a different room, but it was just- it- I'd never had that happen, Jeffrey!
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I hope the new room had the champagne and the food as well.
Larry Hryb : Uh, I do not recall seeing that. It was- that was a little disappointing.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hmm ...
Chris Charla: I feel like a fruit basket might have been good compensation.
Jeff Rubenstein: Bare minimum!
Larry Hryb : You think? You think? It was- It was one of those moments where I- I- I apo- So, whoever that young couple is that I interrupted, uh, well done and I'm sorry to bother you (laughing).
Jeff Rubenstein: Keeping the magic alive!
Larry Hryb : Exactly. So, uh, whew, that was uh, that was uh ...
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing)
Larry Hryb : Thank you for- I was gonna hopefully- I really wanted to tell that when Laura was here because I- I- I kind of started telling this story and you made me stop.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, because I wanted to hear it in-
Larry Hryb : Well, I texted you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb : I texted you and I said, "You're not gonna believe this."
Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, yeah. Funny thing is I totally believe that.
Larry Hryb : It- It is! This- The weirdest stuff happens to me when I'm on the road.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Yeah. Yes it does.
Larry Hryb : Um, and then we were at- We were getting in to go see Mark Hamill. I didn't tell you this story.
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Larry Hryb : We're going in to see. They did the premiere of the Last Jedi, uh, the trailer, and we were running late. It was me and somebody from the team, and this woman, uh, this- this- this woman, the security woman- the security guard standing there, I said, "Hey, we- we need to get in to see it," And she looked at me, she said, "We can't let you in. It's over capacity."
And there was this dead silence, and she looked at me and she said, "You're the Xbox guy. Let's go." And she brought me in the back and were standing on the side of the stage, it was really this special moment.
Chris Charla: Nice.
Larry Hryb : So, anyway, that's-
Chris Charla: That's awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did you get to meet Mark and-
Larry Hryb : We- I did not because they were- I- I didn't to- I didn't want to interrupt them.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah.
Larry Hryb : They were having their moment.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I guess so.
Larry Hryb : But it was fun. Orlando! Yay!
Jeff Rubenstein: It's, uh, America's #1 travel destination. Probably.
Larry Hryb : It- It is, uh, is, uh- Am I going back there? No, I'm not. I'm sorry. Uh, t- Apparently I'm not going back any time soon, but hopefully- Hopefully we- you know, you and I need to go back.
Jeff Rubenstein: We've never gone together. We need to go to the Millennium Mall-
Larry Hryb : We need to go to the Millennium Mall?
Jeff Rubenstein: We need to go to the- I used to know the, uh, community manager at that Microsoft store there.
Larry Hryb : We need to go to Universal Studios if I'm allowed back on property.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. That would be fun. Harry Potter land.
Chris Charla: I hea- I heard the Harry Potter land at Universal in Florida was like-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, it's pretty- It's crazy. Yeah.
Chris Charla: Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
Larry Hryb : Everybody says that.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's- It's very cool.
Larry Hryb : I can't wait 'til Star Wars land opens up over at Dis- at, uh, down at Disneyworld.
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb : Anyway. I'm sorry, we're doing too mu- too much theme park talk. That's another podcast that Jeff hosts.
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) Ye- Central Florida's theme-
Larry Hryb : Inside theme parks.
Jeff Rubenstein: Inside central Florida.
Larry Hryb : So yeah, so, uh, anyway, hey, we've got, uh, we've got Name the Game which is we do every week. Laura couldn't join us, but um, I spoke to her and I said, "Hey, look. Chris Charla is coming on the show. Do you think he could do it? 'Cause I mean, he's the games guy!" I mean, he does a- he does a zine! So she said yes. So anyway, we're gonna play Name the Game. We're gonna play the last week's clip right now, and Chris you're gonna come back and tell us who the winner is. How's that sound?
Chris Charla: Sounds good.
Sound Clip: (music) (frogs croak) (crickets chirp) (scraping)
(music fades, then continues)
Chris Charla: So big congratulations to Hannah from Brighton, U.K., gamertag HannahLou, who correctly identified Thimbleweed Park-
Larry Hryb : Yes!
Chris Charla: ... And your prize, of course, is a copy of Thimbleweed Park-
Jeff Rubenstein: But!
Chris Charla: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: You- You came with your pockets stuffed (laughing)!
Chris Charla: That's right. That's not all.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's not all!
Chris Charla: Uh, in addition to Thimbleweed Park, which is a fantastic game, you will also get Flint Hook, a new [email protected] game-
Larry Hryb : Ri- Ooh! We already talked that one up.
Jeff Rubenstein: We talked about that-
Chris Charla: Which we already talked about.
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Chris Charla: Late Shift.
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: (scoffs) It's like we planned this out!
Chris Charla: Which we also already talked about. Super cool new [email protected] title.
Larry Hryb : Yep.
Chris Charla: Voodoo Vince-
Jeff Rubenstein: Hmm!
Larry Hryb : Which we also talked about. Yeah.
Chris Charla: Amazing, which may or may not have a majornelson Easter egg in it.
Larry Hryb : Can- Cannot confirm or deny that at this time.
Chris Charla: Uh, City Skylines.
Larry Hryb : Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : Which was the 500th [email protected] ti- Woo!
Chris Charla: Uh, the 500th [email protected] game.
Jeff Rubenstein: (cheering)
Larry Hryb : Audio confetti, audio confetti, audio confetti (laughing).
Jeff Rubenstein: Woo-hoo!
Chris Charla: And-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:40:00] post.
Chris Charla: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy-
Larry Hryb : Yeah!
Chris Charla: ... From our friends at Tell Tale!
Larry Hryb : Wow. So that's- That is a great collection of games. Thank you, Chris.
Chris Charla: That's pretty awesome.
Larry Hryb : Thank you Chris, for- Thank you for all of those, uh, the- First of all, congratulations, Hannah, for all the great, uh, for identifying this. Now, you're probably listening right now saying, "Oh, come on, how do I get in on the free games, Chris Charla?" Well, it's easy! All you need to do is we're gonna play an audio clip right now which is from an Xbox game. It could be- It could be any one of the types of games we've talked about, but you play it on the Xbox and uh, you guess what that is, send us an email, [email protected] or [email protected] Tell us where you're from, and uh, and uh, we'll put all the correct winners into a pile and randomly pull one. How's that sound, Chris?
Chris Charla: I think that sounds awesome.
Larry Hryb : All right, you ready to play the clip from this week?
Chris Charla: Yeah. Absolutely.
Sound Clip: (music) (roaring) (whooshing) (roaring)
Larry Hryb : So if you think you know what that is, just send me an email, like I said earlier. [email protected], you can uh, CC [email protected] Good luck to everybody. We'll, uh, you can win cool games just like the ones Chris went over, right?
Chris Charla: Absolutely.
Larry Hryb : Right. Well, how are things going? You getting ready for E3?
Chris Charla: Yes.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: Yes.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, you got- I mean, we- I don't know- We- we're not gonna talk too much about it because we do- We can't. Uh, but you're- It's always a busy time of the year for those [inaudible 00:41:30]. They must get excited when you call them and say, "Yeah, yeah. You want to be on the stage?" Right?
Chris Charla: Yeah. Who doesn't get- I mean, if somebody, if- You know-
Jeff Rubenstein: Right.
Chris Charla: Uh- It- It's the big show, right?
Larry Hryb : Right, it is the big show.
Chris Charla: It is the biggest stage in video games, and so the- to the extent we've been able to showcase some cool ID games there. It's been super awesome.
Larry Hryb : Or when we have them playable on the show floor, some- any- any of the events- w- events we're doing-
Chris Charla: Absolutely.
Larry Hryb : It's always- It's always good to see that, and you guys are- Maybe- I mean, I don't- I don't want to- I don't want to push it on you, but usually towards like around PAX, PAX Prime, we do a, we do a little ID game event here.
Chris Charla: Yeah!
Larry Hryb : Are we gonna do that again this year?
Chris Charla: Yeah, absolutely.
Larry Hryb : Uh, okay.
Chris Charla: I think it was already booked.
Larry Hryb : Oh, is it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Nice.
Chris Charla: Yeah, I- It- I'm pretty sure.
Larry Hryb : They haven't given us the dates, but just so- Just- Just if everyone remembers the past couple years, you and your team put together this- You- You round up these amazing developers. You bring them on, uh, to the Microsoft campus here, and then we just throw open the doors and say, "Hey, if you're in the area, come on down!"
Chris Charla: Yeah. We have a big open house at Building 92-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And uh, invite everybody in to play a bunch of ID games and last year I think we had 50 games and- and we had Halo Wars and the year before we had, I think, Big Halo and, uh-
Larry Hryb : Yeah. Big Ha- Is that what we call it? Big Halo (laughing)?
Chris Charla: You know, it's we- (laughing)
Larry Hryb : Big Halo, Baby Halo.
Chris Charla: Um, but yeah, it's really fun. Um, we throw open the doors for a few hours-
Larry Hryb : Hundreds of people show up. Yeah.
Chris Charla: Yeah, yeah. I think last year we had, like-
Larry Hryb : Many, many hundreds, I gather. Yeah.
Chris Charla: Yeah, tons.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, it was- It's a lot of fun because it's great to walk around and see- I mean, it always- Whenever any of the events you do, you see the developers who many, for the first time, are showing off their games to people that have never seen it before.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : So they're looking through with really fresh eyes.
Chris Charla: Yeah, and- And there's- As a developer - and we talk to developers all the time, you know, what's working for you, what's not working for you- and, and those kind of events they love because you know, it's not just about getting- obviously getting to see people, most of these games that we show at these kind of events are not done yet.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: And so they get to see people play their game before it's finished, so they get to see, like, oh, they're enjoying this part, they're not enjoying this-
Larry Hryb : Oh, they're having a hard time- Right.
Chris Charla: ... And it's, you know, and so- It's r- It's great feedback, but I think to me the thing that I always love and if a developer hasn't shown, uh, you know, publicly before, getting to see that happen for the first time is amazing, is that, you know, you've been working at- you're a developer, you've been working on this game for months and months by yourself. You- you hope it's good, and you put it out there in the public and when you see people start to play the game and they're smiling and they're laughing and they're getting their friends to play it-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... That energizes you as a developer so much-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And so, and for us, it's, you know, the- the guys who are, you know, on this program, um, getting to see the developers get energized energizes us and it's just, you know, there's that moment - for me, anyway - um, right before, you know, one of those events opens it's doors and you look around and there's like, you know, 50 new games and, you know, 50 studios and you're- it's just, like, super special to like, you know, be there for that and-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... It's just really fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: One of the games I played last year that I had a really good time with was Deformers, and that's coming out really soon isn't it?
Chris Charla: Yeah, Deformers should be out, uh, uh, literally any time now.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. S- Maybe even by the time they hear this.
Larry Hryb : "Deformers"? What was it about?
Jeff Rubenstein: So it's sort of like an arena battler of like these squishy animal balls- I-
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Like it's hard to- It- It looks really cool, and it's like, it's- again the- I think you can play with, like people of a variety of different skills, but there's definitely like some serious strategy to it.
Chris Charla: Oh yeah. Yeah. When you first play it's like super fun button mash-y fun, so you play it at a show or something-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yep.
Chris Charla: ... You immediately get into it, but when you play it more and more, like, you know, obviously if you're skilled, you- you win, and uh, so it's got like-
Larry Hryb : Kind of like life (laughing).
Chris Charla: Exactly. Li- Easy to access, and then, but it's actually got this deep skill thing to it which is really, really cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: And- And it's made by Ready at Dawn, who-
Chris Charla: Yep.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... I guess this would probably be the first game they've ever made to appear on Xbox, if I recall. They did the- the God of War games for PSP.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Change of Olympus and whatever the other one was. Um ...
Larry Hryb : You worked on those, didn't- Are yo- Are you in those games?
Jeff Rubenstein: I did. Actually, I'm- I'm in the credits, I believe, for those games-
Larry Hryb : Yeah!
Jeff Rubenstein: ... And uh, and then they did the Order 1886 and they're, you know, doing other stuff so it's cool to-
Larry Hryb : Ah-
Jeff Rubenstein: One of the- One of the marketing guys, I- I knew 'cause I used to work with them. That actually was kind of cool.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway. Keep an eye out for it, yep.
Chris Charla: Yeah. It's a [crosstalk 00:45:21] game.
Larry Hryb : Delightful. Yeah, so anyway, so we'll be doing that later this year, but yeah, you guys all have a lot going on. It's a- What was- So- What do you hope when you- We're kinda- kinda wrap the show up here, but when you look forward, what do you hope to get out of the next 500 games on Xbox?
Chris Charla: Man. If we got, uh, the same things that we got out of the last 500-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... I would be completely satisfied-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... But- But knowing what's coming, uh, some of the games that are coming are just tremendous-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... And, uh, it- it- it- to me, like, um, like uh, you know, we try really hard on the program - on ID - we never want to sit around and say like, "Oh, yeah. We made it. Like, everything's cool." You know.
Larry Hryb : No.
Chris Charla: Like, we're always just focused on, like, hey, what can we do next? How can we shave two hours off a developer's journey onto Xbox? How can we make things a little bit easier? So we- we really focus on what's next and how we can fix things, but when I look at just the number of games that came out-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... From, um, um, that's awesome.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: Uh, uh, when I (chuckles) look at just the number of games that have come out and just the diversity, it- it is just tremendous, and I think what you're gonna see in the next 500 - and we've got more than 1,000 games in development right now coming through the ID [crosstalk 00:46:27] -
Larry Hryb : Wow! Wow!
Chris Charla: ... Is uh, y- just an incredible flowering of what independent developers can do, and- and what you thought an independent developer could do five years ago or three years ago or six months ago-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... Uh, compared to what independent developers are gonna be doing six months from now or two years from now-
Larry Hryb : Yeah, 'cause you- you're looking six, 12, 18, 24 months up the pipeline.
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, is, you know, and- and when we think about Project Scorpio-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: ... It is gonna be, uh, ridiculous, and so it's- it's a- it's a great time to be a player on Xbox right now.
Larry Hryb : And I know that the- I don't want to ha- I don't want to put you in a position where you're, you know, representing every single [email protected] game, and I don't mean to do that, but since you work with them on a regular basis, what are some of the themes you see of, everyone talks about, oh mobile gaming is huge, and certainly the- it is huge for a certain audience, but how does that sit next to the ID gamer around it, behind it, above it, be- I don't know, right?
Chris Charla: You know, it- it's been really interesting. Um, we've seen games come to Xbox that actually started in mobile-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And, you know and they do work to make sure it feels like an Xbox game and everything like that, and- and sometimes they do really, really well-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... Because it's, you know, it's about like, you know, is this game, you know if we're thinking just about Xbox One, you know, putting Windows 10 aside for a minute, um, does this game feel good with my hands on a controller looking at a TV in my living room?
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: And, uh, and those kind of games can come from any place.
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: Um, one thing that's been neat is we've seen some developers go to the- the mobile fields, really, really great developers, and now they're coming back to console. Um, they've learned stuff, but they- they want to be back in console, and um, it's amazing to see the games that those guys are producing.
Larry Hryb : I gotta say, I just- I just noticed this. Jeff, I don't know if you noticed this. You know, over the past month or so I've been playing Zelda Breath of the Wild.
Jeff Rubenstein: You and I both.
Larry Hryb : Right, and I think you have as well, right, Chris?
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Larry Hryb : And you have a [inaudible 00:48:12] pin on.
Chris Charla: No! It's not! It's- It's-
Larry Hryb : Is it? It looks-
Chris Charla: It's, uh, [inaudible 00:48:17].
Larry Hryb : Oh! It looks like [inaudible 00:48:18]- Oh! Okay.
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : It looks like- From here, it looks like [inaudible 00:48:21], the guy that you give the- the seeds to. Doesn't it?
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah. No, no.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, is the [inaudible 00:48:24] name?
Larry Hryb : Yes!
Jeff Rubenstein: I was like, "I don't know what [inaudible 00:48:26] is," (laughing).
Chris Charla: Yeah, no, no, this is from a cool [email protected] game called [inaudible 00:48:30] that's being developed my Glumberland which is a two-person studio, um-
Larry Hryb : Where are they?
Chris Charla: They are in New Hampshire.
Larry Hryb : Ah! Jeff and I know New Hampshire very well!
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing) We're going back!
Larry Hryb : We're going back!
Chris Charla: So, uh-
Jeff Rubenstein: That's good, that's a Xbox play anywhere game as well, is it not?
Chris Charla: Yeah. It's gonna be Xbox play anywhere.
Larry Hryb : Tell- Tell us a little bit about [inaudible 00:48:45]. When is that coming out?
Chris Charla: Uh- I do not know.
Larry Hryb : Okay.
Chris Charla: In the future-
Larry Hryb : In the future.
Chris Charla: ... But it's super, super cool looking game. Really, really cute style and it is basically a mash-up of a farming game-
Larry Hryb : Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Charla: ... Uh-
Larry Hryb : So Stardew Valley-like?
Chris Charla: Yeah. Animal Crossing-
Larry Hryb : Okay. 'Kay.
Chris Charla: In terms of interacting with all these kind of characters, and then the things that you're raising are these [inaudible 00:49:04]-
Larry Hryb : Two people? Two people are doing this?
Chris Charla: ... And, y- That's right.
Larry Hryb : Right? Oh, my gosh.
Chris Charla: And, uh, yeah. Rebecca and Ben, and um-
Larry Hryb : Are they- Are they a couple?
Chris Charla: I think so, but I'm not sure, so I don't want to-
Larry Hryb : Okay. Okay, doesn't matter. (chuckles) It doesn't matter.
Chris Charla: And, um, and uh, and then there's a, a big Pokemon element in terms of these characters that you're raising and collecting.
Larry Hryb : Have you heard of that game, Jeffrey? Pokemon?
Jeff Rubenstein: The- The Poke-Mans?
Larry Hryb : (chuckles) The Poke-mons. I know you- I-
Jeff Rubenstein: Look, I- I'm not bragging about my Pokedex being 227. I wouldn't do that on a podcast or anything like that, but-
Larry Hryb : Yeah. Jeffrey. Jeffrey, brag- Nobody likes a bragger I believe is what somebody told me once (laughing)!
Jeff Rubenstein: I may have said that to you once on ... Bit me on the butt for that one. Yep.
Larry Hryb : Any-hoo, uh, yeah, that's- I remember [inaudible 00:49:43] because I saw that when I came down to San Francisco for doing our event.
Chris Charla: Yeah, you were at- at GDC.
Larry Hryb : Right, yeah. I remember that. That's- I can't wait to see that, but yeah, I would love to go back up to New Hampshire.
Chris Charla: Yeah. New Hampshire's awesome.
Larry Hryb : I don't- th- I- that- I don't think we've ever had a game out of New Hampshire.
Chris Charla: It- They may be- So we just shipped out first game from South Africa-
Larry Hryb : Okay.
Chris Charla: ... And, um, and, and yeah, this may be our first game from- from [crosstalk 00:50:02]-
Larry Hryb : Do you tra- Do you ha- Like, do you guys have a map, like, you know, a big map with the push pins on it?
Chris Charla: We- Actually- Well, uh, actually, um, somebody on our team, uh, has gone into like, Power BI-
Larry Hryb : Right.
Chris Charla: ... And we actually have a spinning globe that, uh-
Larry Hryb : (gasps)
Chris Charla: We have a gif of a spinning globe that shows where every [email protected] developer is.
Larry Hryb : Can you send it to me? If I- Or if you tweet it out, I'll re-tweet it.
Chris Charla: Yeah. Yeah, that would be awesome.
Larry Hryb : I'd love to see that. That'd be awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: And Antarctica, just ... [inaudible 00:50:24] ...
Larry Hryb : Yeah. Just- Under-represented.
Chris Charla: Come on, guys.
Jeff Rubenstein: See, I know you're like, a, you're obsessive with- I've- Cause I remember a few years ago at PAX, you like, stood up in the middle of the [inaudible 00:50:31] and you're like, "Does anyone-" On your 3DS, like, 'cause you were trying to get, like, one last state, like, Indiana or something like that to get the street pass with.
Larry Hryb : Yeah. I needed Iowa.
Jeff Rubenstein: Iowa. It was an I state.
Chris Charla: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Um, th- Antarctica. Come on. We need it. We need to hit that seven- seventh continent.
Chris Charla: That would be awesome.
Larry Hryb : We need- H- Have you ever had one from my home state of Connecticut?
Chris Charla: I don't know if we have.
Larry Hryb : Oh, come on, nutmeg state! I need you to represent!
Jeff Rubenstein: Is it the nutmeg state?
Larry Hryb : Yes, it is. Yes it is.
Jeff Rubenstein: So there's a state completely around kicking a soccer ball between someone else's legs?
Larry Hryb : Uh, sure. Like, okay, that's- That's pleasant.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's very interesting. Okay. That's-
Larry Hryb : That's really- That's really what you're doing here on this show?
Jeff Rubenstein: That's what a nutmeg is.
Larry Hryb : No, I'm just- it is a spice.
Jeff Rubenstein: That, too.
Larry Hryb : Okay. Don't you- You have it on your- you have it on your-
Jeff Rubenstein: Your eggnog.
Larry Hryb : Your eggnog (laughing) once- us- Apparently that's all.
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe not the best industry.
Larry Hryb : No, no, it's-
Jeff Rubenstein: The thriving nutmeg industry.
Larry Hryb : Yes, it's good right along with-
Jeff Rubenstein: B- Home of Big Nutmeg. Hartford.
Larry Hryb : (laughing) Big Nutmeg and Big Insurance. Uh, anyway, so yeah, there's- so you, you've uh, you've got gre- Anyway, man, I kn- I know I gotta let you go 'cause you've got- you've got some work to do (chuckles).
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : So I really appreciate coming by. You're always welcome, Chris Charla. You're always welcome to come on the show. Uh, @IOCat. You can follow him on Twitter. Um, if you see- If they see you they- they can get a zine from you, right?
Chris Charla: That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein: I- I would like a zine.
Chris Charla: And- And I have to warn you, if you're wearing a Cuphead shirt and you're walking around, I will stop you and start talking to you.
Larry Hryb : Okay. That's g-
Chris Charla: I was just in L.A. and I saw somebody walking around with a Cuphead shirt and I was like-
Larry Hryb : Did he know who you were?
Chris Charla: W- Actually, yeah, he kinda did, and then- So wh- we're just ended up talking about Cuphead and, and Xbox for a long time, so, cool dude.
Larry Hryb : Oh. That's great. Well that's- That's beau- Isn't that great, when you're traveling, when- And certainly when you're going to Redmond in Seattle we run into people that are Xbox fans all the time, but Jeff and I, and just like yourself, you travel the world and you run into people who, I ran into this when I was in Orlando. The guy, uh, at, at TSA- Jeff, I didn't tell you this?
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Larry Hryb : The TSA, the guy looked at the- you know, I hand him my, you know, I hand him my ID and my- my, um, my uh, airline ticket and he looks at, looks at it, looks at me, looks at it, looks like ... "Major Nelson. How's it going." I said, "What's up?" And so we start- We started talking about what we were playing. You never know where people you run into are-
Jeff Rubenstein: And then you were randomly - "randomly" - selected for, uh, a- a- [crosstalk 00:52:31] screening. Yeah.
Larry Hryb : You know, now that you mention it, I was. I was. They- they had me-
Jeff Rubenstein: Got any game codes in those pockets?
Larry Hryb : (laughing)
Chris Charla: I was checking into a tiny little- like, it was at your Gamescom and I was going up to meet my family in Scandinavia, and on- on the way I stayed in Hamburg for a night and I was checking into this tiny little, like, you know, whatever the cheapest hotel was I could find in Hamburg.
Larry Hryb : Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Chris Charla: I'm checking in, I'm all exhausted, and the guy just looks at me and, I was wearing a Cuphead shirt. He's like, "Cuphead. When is it shipping?" (laughing).
Larry Hryb : (laughing)
Jeff Rubenstein: (laughing)
Larry Hryb : That's awesome.
Chris Charla: It was kind of amazing.
Larry Hryb : Are- You're- You're kind of like, exhausted. You're like, "Wh- Wait a minute, what?" It's amazing how those moments just kind of snap into focus-
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : ... And you're like, yeah, there's this- It just shows you to your point about the 500 games, how games of all sizes, shapes and sizes, touch everybody around this globe.
Chris Charla: Absolutely. It's amazing, and totally brings everybody together.
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Chris Charla: Like, if you see somebody with a Cuphead shirt on-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, Cuphead!
Chris Charla: ... Kind of friends automatically.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, yeah. You've got something in common.
Larry Hryb : Jeffrey, did- do you have a Cuphead t-shirt?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't. I don't have a Cuphead shirt.
Larry Hryb : Because I don't either. I don't either.
Chris Charla: Yeah. We may be able to fix that.
Larry Hryb : All right. I went- I would- I want a Mug Man shirt (laughing).
Chris Charla: I- I had people [inaudible 00:53:31] Mug Man shirt to my Cuphead shirt.
Larry Hryb : Wait, there's a Mug Man shirt?!
Chris Charla: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Larry Hryb : He's got the- the big nose like me-
Jeff Rubenstein: Right.
Larry Hryb : ... And he's blue, like me-
Jeff Rubenstein: Like you.
Chris Charla: Yeah.
Larry Hryb : Okay. I've- Well, either way. Maybe- Maybe you get Cuphead- Mug Man for him and Cuphead for me.
Chris Charla: We can- We can [crosstalk 00:53:42].
Jeff Rubenstein: That's a- That's a- That's a new, um, Twitter banner right there.
Larry Hryb : I need to cha- you know what else? You know, we talked earlier about um, about uh, some of the new features coming to Xbox. One of them is custom gamer pictures.
Jeff Rubenstein: I updated mine.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, I saw you updated yours. I updated- Did you update yours yet?
Chris Charla: I have not yet.
Larry Hryb : Yeah, I- I mean, I need to update my Cuphead.
Jeff Rubenstein: I still have my day one, you know, remember like on-
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: ... On the one-year anniversary, got that day one gamer picture?
Larry Hryb : Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: And so like I, just, like, I really like that one, so ...
Larry Hryb : I- I- I feel the same way. My original one was one- the toast one, which was-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah.
Chris Charla: [crosstalk 00:54:09].
Larry Hryb : Which we call "angry toast," because he's like, "Grr!" So I- I finally swapped it out and I did, uh, a great picture of the- the- the um, uh, the Scorpio engine. You know, the chip.
Chris Charla: Oh, nice.
Larry Hryb : And then I had- N- I now have one for Voodoo Vince so yeah, I'll change it out every now and then, but that feature will be coming to everybody very soon to Xbox, but, all right. We've been random enough in this show. Jeffrey, thanks for your time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Happy to be here.
Larry Hryb : Chris Charla, again, congratulations to you and everybody on the [email protected] game shi- ship, uh, team shipping 500 titles. Huge milestone.
Chris Charla: Yeah. Thanks a lot and thanks to all the developers who've been supporting the program.
Larry Hryb : Yes, thank you developers, and thank you fans. All right, gang. We'll talk to you next time. Buh-bye everybody!
Jeff Rubenstein: Buh-bye.
Chris Charla: Bye!