604 What Remains of Edith Finch, D2 and D3

Larry Hryb: Welcome back. My name is Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. We've got the show, here. We were off last week. We've got the full gang, here. Laura, hello.
Laura Massey: Hello.
Larry Hryb: How you doing?
Laura Massey: It's good to be back in the studio.
Larry Hryb: Isn't it nice?
Laura Massey: It sure is.
Larry Hryb: Isn't it nice, we're back [inaudible 00:00:57].
Laura Massey: A nice smell in here.
Larry Hryb: Up here in-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:00:59].
Larry Hryb: What does our studio smell like?
Laura Massey: It smells fresh and clean.
Larry Hryb: Fresh, we just took the plastic off the seats, and that's why Jeff's here.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's your [inaudible 00:01:08].
Laura Massey: Oh, that is a genius idea.
Larry Hryb: How, interesting.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Or, one that doubles as a fan.
Jeff Rubenstein: This way after the apocalypse you can still smell fresh. You know you cannot, you know, you have to count on electricity.
Larry Hryb: Febreze that is a free product idea.
Jeff Rubenstein: You can have that one.
Larry Hryb: Okay. Just take it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: We've got a lot of them. Anyway, we're here for the show, 604. We were off for a couple weeks. I was down in a-
Jeff Rubenstein: Annual leave?
Larry Hryb: No. Unfortunately not. I was down in Anaheim at D23, which is the big Disney conference.
Laura Massey: Totally jealous-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: By the way.
Larry Hryb: Oh, it was-
Laura Massey: My face is green.
Larry Hryb: Is it? Oh, that's what that color is.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: It was a lot of fun to be down there. You know, Anaheim is fun. At D23, I did an interview about Star Wars Battlefront.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 00:01:48], so you can watch it this week on Xbox. In fact, if you go over to your console right now, or up on YouTube, or Twitter you'll see my interview with her. I hung out with her, I didn't even get a chance to walk around the show for Laura.
Laura Massey: You didn't.
Larry Hryb: No. I had no time. I was in and out. We were prepping for a few things. We wanted to make sure we saw some things. There were so many things I wanted to see, because it was all Star Wars, and then there's all the Disney stuff, and the live action movie this, and you know what I'm talking about.
Jeff Rubenstein: What's up with the Star Wars hotel?
Larry Hryb: I saw that.
Jeff Rubenstein: How much is the thing going to cost?
Larry Hryb: I don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did you see this, Laura?
Larry Hryb: Did you hear about this, Laura?
Laura Massey: I heard the headlines, but not the details.
Larry Hryb: But, did you read the details?
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: Apparently when you check in-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:02:23].
Jeff Rubenstein: Like, you assume a new identity.
Larry Hryb: You are in a cosplay.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:02:26].
Larry Hryb: You're in a cosplay.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. It's Laura stalk killer.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: Awesome thing. Right?
Laura Massey: That sounds much better.
Larry Hryb: I was, like, hm, so, yeah, if you noticed on Twitter last week I was pleading with Disney, I was like, Disney World people you know how to find me, because we need to take the show down there.
Laura Massey: We do.
Jeff Rubenstein: Apparently, there's not going to be any windows in this hotel. The conceit of this is that you're going to be on a spaceship, so all the windows will show space-
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: Like you're on the set of whatever, Star Trek-
Larry Hryb: That's-
Jeff Rubenstein: It's very Star Trekean.
Larry Hryb: That sounds good, but I kind of want to window, I mean, otherwise, it's like you might as well put it in a basement.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, maybe it will be.
Larry Hryb: Well, that's right. Who knows?
Jeff Rubenstein: Hopefully it's under attack, and it shakes. I don't know how it's going to be, but it sounds very west worldy.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. It does.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Which means, I mean-
Larry Hryb: What could go wrong?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: What could go wrong?
Jeff Rubenstein: Please have [inaudible 00:03:12].
Larry Hryb: I got to tell you this funny story, I get down there and we're doing, I had a few minutes, so I went out to In and Out Burger, which I've done-
Laura Massey: Of course.
Larry Hryb: That in the past.
Jeff Rubenstein: We talked about this, Larry.
Larry Hryb: No, but this is funny. I go down there, my producer and I we were going to have a production meeting, and-
Laura Massey: At In and Out Burger?
Larry Hryb: At In and Out Burger. I get in and a very nice gentleman from, I don't know where he was from, somewhere in Europe slash the Middle East, and this older gentleman, and we're talking and telling him we're from Seattle, and yeah, we're just doing this, we're going back tomorrow, he drops us off, so the next morning I do everything, and I'm going back to the airport.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: So, I open up my Uber app, and I put in going to the airport, call an Uber, and it's the same guy.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Larry Hryb: Really nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: I've never had that happen in my life.
Larry Hryb: He gets out of the car-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: And, I see that it's him, and we see each other through the thing, and I smile, and he smiles at me, he gets out right in the front at the pickup at the hotel and he says, "No, Mr. Hryb. No, In and Out, today. You're going home. Let's go." I said, "All right. Let's go," which is funny because I've never had that happen before.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: It was just a nice fun moment.
Laura Massey: That's really [crosstalk 00:04:10].
Larry Hryb: Anyway D23 was a lot of fun, I watched the video, and then hopefully we can go down sometime and see Star Wars land and all the-
Laura Massey: Absolutely.
Jeff Rubenstein: A lot of fun, too. It looks really good.
Larry Hryb: I will tell you a little disappointing thing about that. Can I tell you?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Have you been Anaheim or Disney Land, Laura?
Laura Massey: I have not been to Disney Land.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: I have.
Larry Hryb: You have. So, Disney Land, for those, like I grew up on the west coast, Laura-
Jeff Rubenstein: You grew up on the east coast.
Larry Hryb: On the east coast, thank you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Don't change your story, now.
Larry Hryb: No.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, Mr. Hryb.
Larry Hryb: I grew up on the east coast, which everybody there goes to Florida.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I don't know, because growing up in Texas your kind of in the middle of the country, Laura.
Laura Massey: We are in the middle.
Larry Hryb: Did you go to Disney World, or Disney Land.
Laura Massey: We went Disney World.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: We drove from Texas to Florida.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's a long drive.
Laura Massey: A long drive.
Larry Hryb: Disney World is, for those of you on the east coast that have never been to Disney Land, Disney World is massive 25,000 acres, the whole nine yards.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Disney Land much smaller. You can see it from the street.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: It's a different experience. Anyway, it's definitely a V1 to Disney World's V2. Well, you can see what was the Tower of Terror.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Which is an iconic ride, and has been, but they've completely redressed it as Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm disappointed.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Larry Hryb: Because it just looks, let me show, can I show you the picture?
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I took a picture of it and I texted it to a friend of mine, who's a huge Disney fan, I was just really disappointed that this is what the back of it looked like, so I don't know where it is, here. Do I have it, here?
Jeff Rubenstein: You don't remember that iconic scene in The Guardians of the Galaxy where they dropped and they-
Larry Hryb: Oh, I don't.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:05:35], and they dropped again? Did that happen in that movie? No?
Larry Hryb: I do have this slide-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:05:40].
Larry Hryb: Check this out, there was a land speed around front and it was signed by, Laura?
Laura Massey: Lando.
Larry Hryb: Billy Dee Williams.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: It works, every time. I don't know, for some, I don't know why I took a photo of it. Anyway-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: It was a good time to be at D23 and look for that on this week on Xbox. Star Wars Battlefront II looks amazing, coming to Xbox One, Xbox One X, later this year. We'll be playing that, and I'm sure we'll play that, a lot of fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:06:08], I'm sure.
Larry Hryb: The [inaudible 00:06:09] you cannot do it early, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:06:11].
Larry Hryb: We're going to get into what we're playing. We talked to, Laura's probably playing Diablo III.
Jeff Rubenstein: Skip.
Larry Hryb: Am I right?
Laura Massey: That's right. I am also playing other games, as well.
Larry Hryb: What are you playing?
Laura Massey: It's not just Diablo-
Larry Hryb: What are you playing?
Laura Massey: All the time.
Larry Hryb: What are you playing?
Laura Massey: I have been playing Diablo III-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: I did want to mention that I finally hit level 70 with my [inaudible 00:06:28], and that's a big achievement.
Larry Hryb: I don't have any with me, but imagine my hand going, confetti-
Laura Massey: Yay.
Larry Hryb: Yay.
Laura Massey: Not only is it an achievement, it's also a rare achievement.
Larry Hryb: You know, you love that sound, don't you?
Laura Massey: I love that sound.
Larry Hryb: Va room.
Laura Massey: That's a great sound. It's also really fun to see that pop up instead of a normal achievement.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, because the diamond spins around.
Laura Massey: Yeah. The diamond is spinning around.
Larry Hryb: The flourish, because I remember when I worked on that audio piece, Jeff, you and I talked about this-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: That it was, I remember playing for you the different audios.
Jeff Rubenstein: There was one where it just went, Yay. Like, you were at a kid's birthday party, and they whacked the pinata.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, but we've already done that in Halo.
Laura Massey: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:06:59].
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Oh, it was very much-
Larry Hryb: That was-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:07:01].
Jeff Rubenstein: I've been thinking of that, that-
Larry Hryb: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:07:02] birthday party.
Jeff Rubenstein: I love that.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I told this story before, but I'll tell it here, I don't think I've ever told it on air. The original sound, what they wanted for the achievement was the, and Laura I've talked to you about this-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Was the sound that you get from antique roadshow, when they reveal how much the item is appraised at.
Laura Massey: That was the original [crosstalk 00:07:20].
Larry Hryb: It's kind of like a xylophone, ring, and they came up with that and I remember looking at them in the office going, "No. This is what it sounds like," and they didn't know, so I go to YouTube and pull up a video and I'm like, "I don't want to sound like we got the proper bid on a 200 year old chest."
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Okay. That's not what this is, or a clock, or a Victorian brassiere.
Laura Massey: brassiere.
Larry Hryb: Right?
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: You with me on that, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: What?
Larry Hryb: Anyway, I'm glad you enjoy that. What else did you playing?
Laura Massey: I also got a chance to check out What Remains of Edith Finch.
Larry Hryb: Out this week on Xbox, in fact, we've got an interview later on with the developers, so we don't want to talk too much about it, because it is a story based game-
Laura Massey: It is.
Larry Hryb: We don't want to give too much away.
Laura Massey: This is similar to story games, like everyone's going to the rapture, or-
Larry Hryb: What was that other one?
Jeff Rubenstein: Gone home?
Laura Massey: Gone home. Yes.
Larry Hryb: What was that other one we played, that was started on a fairy? Oxenfree.
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oxenfree was great.
Larry Hryb: Right? Oxenfree.
Jeff Rubenstein: I love that game.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Oxenfree is good.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: But, it has less, I'd say less interruption than-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Oxenfree. For this game you do, it's basically a progression that you walk through.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And, you experience this story in the shoes of the protagonist.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And, you do-
Larry Hryb: There's multiple protagonists.
Laura Massey: There is.
Larry Hryb: Right. In this game. Right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Spoiler.
Larry Hryb: We'll talk about it-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:08:30].
Larry Hryb: We'll talk about it later on with the interview.
Laura Massey: Yeah. But, lets, I don't know if your interview will cover this, but what's awesome, to me, is that it's set in the Pacific Northwest.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: It's set on [inaudible 00:08:41] Island, which is just-
Larry Hryb: Oh.
Laura Massey: You know, a few hours, or a plane ride away, very, very close.
Larry Hryb: Depending on [crosstalk 00:08:49].
Laura Massey: And, it looks a lot like the area around here, so I was able to really put myself in the shoes of this, and imagine myself walking around the area that we live in-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: And, seeing the story unfold.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: And, specifically they even have the right flowers in there. At the very beginning-
Larry Hryb: I did not-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:09:05].
Larry Hryb: Realize you were an accomplished botanist, Laura. I didn't even notice. It's funny you say that, because at the very beginning of the game you're walking down the driveway-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: There's some flowers-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And, I actually went over to them, like, oh, this is pretty. I wasn't like, oh this is a pretty scene I've seen before, I was like, oh, this is nice.
Laura Massey: Yeah. That's native flowers to the area, it's called foxglove.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: And, they only bloom in the summer, so I can tell you exactly-
Larry Hryb: I feel like I got those in [inaudible 00:09:28].
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't even [crosstalk 00:09:29].
Larry Hryb: You know, you and I are pretty good friends, I did not know that you were a-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Florist, a botanist.
Laura Massey: A botanist. I'm not a botanist, but I do enjoy gardening, and growing flowers, and things like that. I've grown foxglove-
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: In my garden, before.
Larry Hryb: Okay. Oh, Laura, Laura, how does your garden grow?
Laura Massey: Exactly.
Larry Hryb: That's unnecessarily creepy. I apologize.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well-
Larry Hryb: It's not the first time.
Laura Massey: If you want to give props to the artist of this game. They did a very good job of capturing the Pacific Northwest, especially at the beginning of the game.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: So, you walk through the very long driveway of this house, and you get inside the house-
Larry Hryb: The story is setting up as you're walking through.
Laura Massey: It's setting up as you walk through, and it's just one of those games that really, it involves you, gets you hooked from the moment you turn it on.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: Like, everything about it, it's just, it makes you want to know more.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: I love how the story and the text appeared inside the world.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And-
Larry Hryb: It's almost like augmented reality.
Laura Massey: It is. It's almost like augmented reality.
Larry Hryb: Right. Yeah.
Laura Massey: [inaudible 00:10:30] as the protagonist narrates, that she narrates her story, you see the words appear like on the signs, or along the path, and when she's done saying that sentence then the characters, they're just disappearing, they actually fall down [crosstalk 00:10:41]-
Larry Hryb: And, they melt away.
Laura Massey: Or, they bounce away-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Or, they get blown away in the wind.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It's really, really well done.
Larry Hryb: We don't want to say too much more.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. But, this is Giant Sparrow-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is the developers, their first game on Xbox. I think it's only their second game, ever. They had a game called, the Unfinished Swan, which I played back in my, I think it was on PS3, days, which was also really cool, and sort of like an early quote on quote, walking simulator, actually it was very similar to Beyond Eyes, in a way-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Where you sort of unveil things as they went along, but really great to have them having a game for us on Xbox.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. We'll have that interview later on. We'll go through some of the headlines, now, and what we're playing, but we'll play that later on. If that's all right with you, Laura?
Laura Massey: Yeah. Sure thing. I'm very interested to hear this, the interview.
Larry Hryb: So, you're playing that.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: I'm playing that, as well. The other thing I'm playing, I'm sorry, are you done?
Laura Massey: I am done.
Larry Hryb: Okay. I'm playing that, of course, I'm playing Overwatch, Jeff and I been playing a little bit of that. Started playing the Destiny 2 Beta, which hit-
Laura Massey: Oh, nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Hit earlier this week-
Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.
Larry Hryb: For Xbox fans. Jeff and I, we're going to try to play that tonight. Right?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I've already completed the first level, which is what was shown, I think, during E3, Activision showed it off. It's really impressive to actually play. Then, I also finished through, I played through the strike last night, as well. Yeah. So far, so good. I like what I got. It looks really good, like visually it's a very impressive game.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I am, I enjoyed it, and I actually stopped playing it last night, because I knew that I was going to play it with you.
Jeff Rubenstein: All right.
Larry Hryb: Probably tonight, or whenever.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'll escort you through.
Laura Massey: Cool. What would you say are the differences between Destiny I and Destiny II?
Larry Hryb: Oh, boy. Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know if they're using a different engine, but the game, it definitely felt smoother [inaudible 00:12:24] playing on a TV that I didn't have previously, but man it looked, it just looked really good.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: As far as the feel, most of the feel, is very similar, and it's just the beta, so a lot of the stuff-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Is not in there.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: In fact, a lot of the stuff-.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:12:36] probably a month old, or so.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh. Yeah. At least. You end up getting a legendary, actually, you get an exotic rifle like pretty much is just handed to you-
Laura Massey: Nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: Early on, and like going through equipped menu, and all that, it looked exactly the same. I'd imagine, we cannot judge the final product, until we have that?
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:12:58].
Jeff Rubenstein: And, it's less than two months, away, I think it's September 6th, but if you wanted more Destiny, and I know many, many of us did-
Larry Hryb: You do.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's coming.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: It felt like the things that worked, worked well, and I would say that the first mission, this campaign mission is definitely more epic than any of the campaign missions-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: That I played in the original Destiny.
Larry Hryb: Here's a little bonus for those of you on Xbox, if you're listening to this, now, the first weekend, this weekend of the beta, it's available for free-
Jeff Rubenstein: That's right.
Larry Hryb: Not only that, but it's a free gold weekend.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Larry Hryb: So, you can actually check out the game, and play it multiplayer for free, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: That is correct. It's funny, let's say you play through that strike multiple times, you play [inaudible 00:13:41], you have all that kind of fun, there's another game that is actually free this weekend as part of the free gold weekend, and that is Doom.
Larry Hryb: Doom.
Laura Massey: Doom.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, Doom is putting out a big update the 6.66 update, very funny.
Laura Massey: Ha, ha, ha.
Larry Hryb: Ha, ha, ha.
Jeff Rubenstein: For those of you who read the [inaudible 00:13:57] here and listen to the podcast, yeah, it's a free weekend for both gold and Xbox Live, silver, folks, as well. It will let you play the first two levels of the campaign, but then also makes all the DLC available to everyone, and I believe everyone can play the multiplayer regardless if you have the game or not. Yeah. You'll be able to, and then you can even just buy it for 14.99 if you like it. This is-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: A shooter that is rated just about as good as it gets last year, and a very crowded shooter, here, last year, with a lot of amazing shooters-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:14:29].
Jeff Rubenstein: People really like Doom.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura Massey: It was really good.
Jeff Rubenstein: If you didn't get a chance to try it, this would be the weekend to do that.
Larry Hryb: So, if you're looking for something to do, we got you covered. Not going to Comic Con, should I talk about Comic-Con?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. If you're not going to Comic-Con, you know, these are the things to do.
Larry Hryb: If you aren't going to Comic-Con-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:14:43].
Larry Hryb: I will be there Saturday, the San Diego Comic-Con, which is the legendary con down in San Diego, and I will be there Saturday at 11:00 a.m., I will be hosting the Crackdown III panel.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: I will be handling that, as well as joined by-
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah-ha.
Larry Hryb: Terry Crews, so Terry will be, of course he's in Crackdown III.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: And, he will be joining us on the panel.
Jeff Rubenstein: He's just perfect for that role.
Larry Hryb: You think?
Laura Massey: He really is.
Larry Hryb: Yeah? Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think so.
Larry Hryb: Okay. I agree. I agree, so we're looking forward to that. I'll be hanging down at, I'll be there most of the day Saturday doing a bunch of other stuff as well. I'm doing a stream, Saturday night, Laura.
Laura Massey: All right. I'll be streaming?
Larry Hryb: I'm going to be streaming with Entertainment Weekly.
Laura Massey: Oh, really?
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I'll be hosting their official stream.
Jeff Rubenstein: What's hot? [crosstalk 00:15:27].
Larry Hryb: I don't know, we'll see. I'm going to have a lot of fun there. [inaudible 00:15:30] who I interviewed last week is going to be joining me.
Laura Massey: Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: You two are becoming good friends.
Larry Hryb: Apparently we are.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: So, now I just need to get into a Star Wars game/movie.
Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly. Or, if they bring back True Blood.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I'm also-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:15:43] that.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, we're doing that, and Entertainment Weekly, it's no big deal, just-
Laura Massey: Right. Just, you know-
Larry Hryb: Just Entertainment Weekly.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:15:51].
Larry Hryb: At Comic Con.
Laura Massey: Just-
Larry Hryb: Just hosting the stream, Laura.
Laura Massey: Yeah. That's pretty sweet.
Larry Hryb: Sometimes I was like, wait a minute, what did I sign up for? Oh, God, I'm nervous.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, you can tune in and watch that on Beam, excuse me, mixer.com/xbox you will host it there. We'll take your questions. You'll see [inaudible 00:16:09]. I think the kids from-
Jeff Rubenstein: Stranger Things.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I've asked to see if they can stop by.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:16:18].
Larry Hryb: Because apparently they're Xbox fans.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really?
Larry Hryb: I want to see them [inaudible 00:16:20].
Laura Massey: My goodness.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: That would be [crosstalk 00:16:23].
Larry Hryb: There's a couple of reasons, because they're playing kids, growing up in the '80s, which was when I was, so I mean, I want to talk about that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Just lie and tell them we're coming up with a gorgon based video game or something.
Larry Hryb: They're Xbox fans.
Jeff Rubenstein: Maybe they could make one.
Larry Hryb: They're Xbox fans, they want to come by.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Anyway I'm looking forward to that, so I've got a busy weekend ahead of me, Laura.
Laura Massey: Right. Are you playing dress up for Comic-Con?
Larry Hryb: I don't. I really don't.
Laura Massey: No?
Larry Hryb: No. You know me, I'm not a Halloween guy, every day I get to be what I want to be and I have fun, and I don't want to pretend to be anybody else. I love being me.
Laura Massey: [inaudible 00:16:54], Major Nelson
Larry Hryb: Yeah. That's exactly it.
Jeff Rubenstein: We should all get to that state of enlightenment. Really.
Larry Hryb: It's really, it's being centered, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: It's being centered.
Jeff Rubenstein: Embrace tranquility.
Larry Hryb: Thank you. That's my Zenyatta.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's another thing you can do this weekend.
Larry Hryb: What is [crosstalk 00:17:11].
Jeff Rubenstein: If you're not at home-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Playing both Doom and the Destiny II beta, if you're not at the San Diego Comic Con.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, if you are in places like LA, Santa Clara, Miami, or Oak Brook, I'm assuming that's Illinois.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know if you saw, but Xbox One is now the official console partner of Real Madrid, and that's a soccer team-
Larry Hryb: Thank you-
Jeff Rubenstein: Your looking at me like
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:17:31].
Jeff Rubenstein: I know Madrid is a real place. What do you mean?
Jeff Rubenstein: You know, we forget I used to play soccer.
Laura Massey: For real?
Larry Hryb: Professionally.
Jeff Rubenstein: You did?
Laura Massey: What?
Larry Hryb: I used to, I was one of those boys running around in shorts, and then I just got older, and said, I cannot do this anymore.
Jeff Rubenstein: Wow. I was not aware of this.
Larry Hryb: I wasn't either, but I did fly-
Jeff Rubenstein: I have seen photos of you in short, shorts, but you were not kicking a ball.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I wore-
Jeff Rubenstein: Everyone wore short, shorts in the '80s.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:17:54] from my mind.
Larry Hryb: Yes. I wish I could.
Laura Massey: It's gone.
Jeff Rubenstein: I wish I could.
Laura Massey: I will not retrieve.
Larry Hryb: Really, Laura? Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: Men in Black flashy thing.
Larry Hryb: Blink.
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway, in honor of this, there's going to be FIFA '17 fan tournaments at the Microsoft store, I'll link out to it in the notes below.
Larry Hryb: Oh, I've been to that Oak Brook store, that's nice.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is it really?
Larry Hryb: That's a beautiful mall there. It's like the south side thing. It's where the corporate headquarters are for McDonald's.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's actually going to be a special Real Madrid fan tournament in the New York City Flagship store on 5th Avenue, which I was at this week.
Larry Hryb: You were just there earlier this week.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I came by to check out the Mixer NYC studio-
Larry Hryb: Oh, you've never seen it?
Jeff Rubenstein: No. It was amazing.
Larry Hryb: It's bananas, isn't it?
Jeff Rubenstein: Here's the thing, it was like a 1000% humidity-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: There this week-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:18:36].
Laura Massey: Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, I was like, they were like, "Do you want to see the studio?" And, I've been in video studios before, they crank the AC, it's in the '50s-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was like, please, let's do it.
Larry Hryb: And, it's a walk in, it's a freezer.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, I just stood under the vent, it was amazing.
Larry Hryb: Like I told you on Twitter we need to do a show there-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Would you come to New York, Laura?
Laura Massey: Of course, I would.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. You know, I love New York.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:18:55].
Larry Hryb: New York is my, you know, I'm lucky, I adore that city and I need to go back. We need to go back.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: And, do a show.
Jeff Rubenstein: My favorite dim sum restaurant opened up in New York edition, like from Hong Kong.
Laura Massey: All right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: So, you can take us to dim sum.
Jeff Rubenstein: We're going to [inaudible 00:19:09]. We're doing it. I'll do the ordering.
Larry Hryb: Thank you.
Laura Massey: We just need to get invited.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:19:13].
Laura Massey: That's all we need, first.
Jeff Rubenstein: Here's the thing about Larry, Larry's a meat and potatoes guy, he loves a good burger. I bring him to this place he'll be like, you were right, I like a pork bun.
Larry Hryb: I'm open.
Jeff Rubenstein: Okay.
Larry Hryb: I'm open.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah?
Larry Hryb: They're too bunny they're not enough porky.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. No. You're not having the good ones.
Larry Hryb: Anyway, so Real Madrid, where is this taking place, again?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, yeah. Again-
Larry Hryb: That's this weekend?
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, Real Madrid is having this US summer tour, I think it's called the International Champions Cup, they're a huge team worldwide. This is their preseason, they come over here, and they play other, either MLS teams, I think they're playing the MLS All stars at some point in the next couple of weeks. They're going to be playing other European teams that are over here. And, they're going to be in Santa Clara, which is in the Bay area of California, LA, Miami, and apparently in the Chicago area, Oak Brook, and in New York, so what will happen is we're going to have these different FIFA games, and then you have the chance to win tickets to one of those matches in real life.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative). That's delightful.
Laura Massey: Cool.
Jeff Rubenstein: Anyway, I'll link to that.
Larry Hryb: Please, do.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, there's a lot going on, but I think that's kind of a cool connection. Microsoft as a whole already had a connection with Real Madrid, a partnership and now that extends into Xbox.
Larry Hryb: Thank you for that.
Laura Massey: Cool.
Larry Hryb: So, you got a busy weekend, this weekend, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, as long as you have your console, or in the San Diego area, or any of those above mentioned places that Jeff went through. We've got you covered.
Laura Massey: That's right. Lots of games this weekend.
Larry Hryb: Lots of games-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:20:44].
Jeff Rubenstein: Say hi to Cristiano Ronaldo for me.
Larry Hryb: He's not my favorite player.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:20:50].
Larry Hryb: The women everywhere just gasped.
Jeff Rubenstein: They do. They do.
Larry Hryb: Really? He's not your favorite player? How can that be, Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm more of a Barcelona fan.
Larry Hryb: Jeffrey is more of a pork bun fan.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. Exactly.
Larry Hryb: All right. We're going to take a break, here. We've got a wonderful interview.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: A wonderful interview.
Laura Massey: I'm looking forward to this interview.
Larry Hryb: This is an interview that I've been looking forward to for a while as Jeff said, earlier on that the game, What Remains of Edith Finch, or what became, What Remains of Edith Finch, it's available on Xbox, first game. I had a chance to talk to someone from the studio, so what do you say, we roll that now, shall we?
Laura Massey: Yeah. Let's listen.
Larry Hryb: What Remains of Edith Finch is out on Xbox One, very soon, like within the next week or so. Joining me on the line, right now, is Ian Dallas, he's the creative director of Giant Sparrow, the developers behind, What Remains of Edith Finch. Ian, thank you for joining us.
Ian Dallas: Oh, my pleasure.
Larry Hryb: Now, it's really exciting, the game has been out for a little while on another console, on PlayStation, and PC, it's coming to Xbox One, it's coming out next week. What is the date of release, by the way?
Ian Dallas: It's going to be out on Wednesday, July 19th.
Larry Hryb: Now, this has been a very, very well received game. Tell us, for those folks on the Xbox side who haven't had a chance to really look at it maybe they've heard a little bit about it, walk us through what this game is about, because it's a very interesting approach that you guys have taken.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. The game is about high level, it's a collection of short stories about a cursed family in Washington state, and you play as Edith Finch who is coming back to the house that she grew up in, and trying to figure out why she is the last family member alive. As you're exploring this house in each of the bedrooms you'll find a different story about how that family member died, and then you get to play as that family member, and living out the last moments of their life, and one of the things that makes this game really unusual is that each of those stories that you play is essentially its own entirely different game with its own set of mechanics, often gameplay that people have never seen in a video game before.
So, your kind of going in, it almost looks like a walking simulator at first when you're exploring this house with all its different passages, and then suddenly you find these stories and it's like sort of Alice in Wonderland, you're falling down the rabbit hole, it's just a crazy bunch of totally different games that give you an insight into how this family lived and ultimately died.
Larry Hryb: Now, this is also a challenge, you know, when I do interviews like this with some story based games is you don't want to give away too much for obvious reasons, no spoilers. But, I want to talk about at least, before we move to some of the story, as much as we can, about the art style and really what you were, you know, as a creative director, what you were going for in the art style in, What Remains of Edith Finch.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. I mean, I think, overall we were trying to go for variety. This is a game where there's 13 different family members and they've all got their own kind of personality, and we were trying to make each of the stories feel distinctive, but then also kind of bind that together, and feel like you're playing one game, which is obviously a bit of a challenge. It's sort of like the Twilight Zone, just one of the inspirations for the game, trying to make something that feels like every episode is different, but you still have something, some continuity to it.
Initially, because the game was inspired by a lot of ghost stories, and kind of serial tales, we were looking at something that felt very [inaudible 00:24:28], like almost cartoonish in a way, like each of the stories was very unrealistic, because the stories are dealing with things that are potentially sort of magical, and so unclear of what's going on. Then, something very strange happened about midway through development, we ended up hiring a lead artist, Brandon, who came from the Call of Duty team. He's like fresh off of the latest Call of Duty, which is not where you might expect to find, you know, kind of an Indy lead artist from-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: But, he just ended up being a really good fit, and a little militaristic, actually, in the way that he approached things, of like, all right, just give me a hundred things to model, like a lampshade, an easy chair, and whatever, and I will crank through those things, and he just did a phenomenal job. Brandon's really interested in lighting.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: What ended up happening artistically with the game after Brandon joined is that the house section of the game, which is about half the game, or so, you as Edith exploring the house-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Ian Dallas: Ended up becoming quite realistic looking, so even though there's a lot of, the stories are quite theolized, the art style for the rest of the house ended up being, not like Call of Duty, I'm not saying it looks like-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: Call of Duty, but it looks like someone who had been making Call of Duty for a number of years had been given the challenge of making something that feels much more dream like-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: And, that's kind of, we ended up with this house, it's really beautifully lit, and the Unreal Four Engine, does a great job of realistic lighting. Yeah. So, we got this kind of hybrid of half the game looks quite realistic in some ways, and half the game looks like a fantasy.
Larry Hryb: Now, we talked about the art. Talk about some of the inspirations, you talk about some of the stories that maybe you, you made a reference a moment ago, some real life stories, tell me about some of the real life stories that you used for the inspiration for some of the stories, I mean, it's a little macabre to talk about, but maybe for the deaths, or at least some of the storylines.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. No. I mean, it's a little weird to say since all these Finch family members are dead, and a lot of them died quite young, but the game broadly was based on my own childhood, like what it felt like for me growing up in Washington state, and my family is more or less alive at this point, but what it feels like basically to be a child in the forest, for example, like the kind of initial inspiration was my memories of scuba diving in Washington state-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Ian Dallas: And, feeling like you're very small, and you're in an element that is quite, like an area that's quite beautiful, but also a little overwhelming. Yeah. The game is this kind of strange hybrid of things that I remember. For example, like the importance of salmon, like in Washington state, if you grew up, you ended up eating a lot of salmon.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: It's like a rounded part of that culture, and because a lot of these things are, you know, the stories are very dream like, I wanted to ground them into things that felt very familiar, and intimate, and kind of mundane. We talked about it feeling a little bit like, This American Life, the NPR show-
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Ian Dallas: Something where you could really feel a human recognizable element that balances out, because that's like trying to make something that feels surreal, you're always in danger of it feeling just nonsense, and kind of random, and arbitrary, and kind of Ren and Stimpy like, almost, no offense to Ren to Stimpy.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: But, you know we wanted something that was a little more grounded. Growing up, one of the things that I remembered was what it felt like to be on a swing set, and that kind of freedom, so one of our stories, for example, takes place on a swing set, and usually things happen in stories that didn't happen to me personally, but the kind of initial feed was these memories that I had, like things that stood out most from my own childhood.
Larry Hryb: Essentially, because you talk about it taking place in Washington state, here in the United States, and I actually live here, now. I've lived here for about 15 years working at Xbox, and I was looking at some of the screenshots, and not growing up in this area, I could actually see it, and it's funny, because I actually am I diver, a scuba diver, so when you said that, my ears kind of perked up, so I'm interested to see. I haven't had a chance to play it, yet, so I'm interested to see, I know there's a little bit of a beach in here.
Ian Dallas: You know, it's not out on Xbox, yet.
Larry Hryb: Well, I know that, that's why we're doing the interview.
Ian Dallas: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I'm looking forward to seeing what that entails, because like I say, the art styles are so different, I mean, you have some of the, obviously, some of the lush exteriors with the green, and the trees, and the foliage, and then inside some of the, I was looking at one of the bedrooms where it's just such magically lit, you know, there's beautiful pinks, and blues-
Ian Dallas: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: It's like a sun setting, or a sunrise, so it's interesting how you're capturing all these microcosms. When you were working on that, you talk about playing each part of the game through a different characters point of view, did you take into account that maybe this character may see things one way and perhaps does character see the same thing perhaps slightly different?
Ian Dallas: Yeah. You know, one of the things that was a very happy discovery for us midway through development was that reusing environments, and even characters, and kind of repurposing things had a lot of resonance, because it felt like seeing the same living room, for example, like it appears in one of the stories in the 1960s and then Edith walks through the same living room, herself, in present day-
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Ian Dallas: And, as a game developer I was, you know, there's this pressure to reuse things, because it's easier for the artist-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: It's easier for everybody, and it's just like cheaper, and maybe you can just turn it 90 degrees and people won't notice it's the same thing, even. So, we kind of shied away from that, because a lot of the game was about giving things to players that were surprising.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: And, that they'd never seen before, so we kind of constantly trying to reinvent ourselves, but, yeah, actually seeing things from different perspectives, especially in time, but then just even seeing the same thing multiple times, even when it hadn't changed significantly made the world feel a lot more real-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: You know, there are areas in the game that you'll see from three or four different perspectives, in different stories, because a lot of stories ended up taking place in and around the Finch house, because midway through development we found out, oh, this isn't a bad thing to reuse, and it will be very different. Like, some of the environments that we rendered, like in a cel shaded comic book style for one of the stories, and then other stories might be something else. Yeah. It's very interesting to see, like, oh, right, that couch was here, but then it got moved, like very binal things.
Larry Hryb: Sure.
Ian Dallas: Like I was at this family reunion, recently, with people watching videos of themselves, films, from 40 years ago-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: And, the comments were always such binal things, like, wow, I still have that raincoat. It's weird that objects have this life that video games, I think are really well suited for because there are so many objects-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: In a space like a house.
Larry Hryb: Yeah, and then add to your point, I mean, when you look at an object in the '60s obviously you can take the same art asset in a video game and weather it a little bit, and age it a little bit, and it's still recognizable, but it also makes sense, because again you're exploring a house that has history with this family.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. Absolutely.
Larry Hryb: Now, I want to talk about the development, because you guys have been at Giant Sparrow, so committed to this idea, tell me a little bit about the development cycle and how you came up with the idea, and then how you moved it forward to really ultimately deliver a well regarded, highly rated game.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. Backwards. We start with an idea that is very, kind of abstract, but sometimes very specific in that we start with a feeling, and in this game it was the feeling of the sublime moments where like in real life you feel simultaneously like something is beautiful, but also a little bit overwhelming.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: So, the initial inspiration, for me, was like I said, these memories of scuba diving in Washington state and seeing the bottom of the ocean slope away into a seemingly infinite darkness.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: And, the way that, that can make you feel kind of like impressed by the grandeur of nature, but then also feeling very small and fragile. I just wanted to explore that feeling. The game initially started out as a scuba diving simulator, and we started the game the first day making an underwater scene in scuba diving, and breathing in and out with a regulator and all that.
Yeah, it was interesting for about five or 10 minutes of gameplay, and then it just kind of started feeling too much, to us, like a traditional game where, you know, I think as soon as players get comfortable there's this part of their brain that switches over to, okay, I now understand what I have to do, let me do that thing, and how do I do it better, and challenge me? This isn't a game that's about challenge in a traditional sense, I mean, it's more of discovery, and exploration, and just like a general craziness.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: We looked for references in the real world for things that had done the sublime feeling well, and there aren't a lot. I mean, you find like traces of things, like in cathedrals, for example, like walking in, that feeling you get, but I think the clearest reference we found was weird fictions people like HP Lovecraft, and Neil Gaiman, and Edgar Allen Poe, and stories that are kind of about people experiencing the unknown. A lot of them tend to be kind of horrific, that people die in them.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: That worked out well for us, as well.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: And, a lot of them tend to be short stories, as well. I think, that's no accident, that a lot of the references that we looked at, including things like the Twilight Zone, tend to be these very brief vignettes, like just the feeling of the sublime, I think, worked best when it has a short runway, and then you're off into it, like a ski jump or something. In the development of the game we pivoted kind of early on, okay, let's do like one scuba diving simulator thing into what if we did like a series of these stories?
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: Then it was like a lot of just making these crazy prototypes, a lot of which didn't end up in the game, like I still wish we could have done the story about the infinite parking garage, I don't know what the gameplay of that story would have been, unfortunately-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: Like, that's the rock we foundered on, but we just tried a whole bunch of different idea and then ultimately called out to around 13 of these stories that kind of felt cohesive, and it's weird that the game itself ends up feeling like they all kind of bind together. In the beginning, that was definitely not the case, it was just like, let's try a bunch of things that feel like they kind of evoke this element of the sublime, and-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: What we ended up discovering was that a lot of stories that worked best were about characters getting lost in their own imagination.
Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Ian Dallas: And, I think part of that is because as a development team, like Giant Sparrows, is just kind of interested in those sort of subjects, but then also that's kind of what the experience of being a game player is like. You just naturally focus on one thing to the detriment of everything else.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: As a player, when your given one objective, your like, got it, I will go and kill four warthogs, or whatever it is.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: There's no warthogs in this game.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: But, that kind of a thing.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. You understand that-
Ian Dallas: [crosstalk 00:36:34] completely ignore-
Larry Hryb: You understand the combat loop of the game, as we call it.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. No. Exactly. As a player, you just kind of have been trained to focus very narrowly.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Ian Dallas: So, that's what a lot of these stories ended up being about. In some ways the game is like a version of what it's like to be a player, but I think that's, you know, any story is like you're showing up and putting on a new costume and taking on a new role.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Ian Dallas: That's kind of like reading a work of fiction, or watching a movie, or in this case, playing a game, there's that kind of element to the unknown where you have no idea what this person's life is like, but these stories give you an opportunity to live out a bit of these different peoples lives.
Larry Hryb: Essentially, you talked about where players just go in and they understand what they need to do, the combat loop, and do it again, and again, and you kind of, I don't want to say, solved it, but you approached it by having each of the short story, having different mechanics, and then of course supporting that difference, and reinforcing that difference with the art and the tone. Then, of course, what's interesting to me is that you've got all these little pods of gameplay that are dramatically different, but then you tied them together with something that everybody knows, which is the family.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. No. I think we got lucky in some ways. That we were basing all of these stories on something that was so relatable, like the family, and the way that family histories get created, and each person has their own kind of take on events, so there's a nice sort of melding, it's like when you're making a stew, or something, you throw all these ingredients in, but then there's some magic that happens when you let it boil, in our case, for about four years.
Larry Hryb: Right. Let it simmer. It simmers.
Ian Dallas: Yeah. Simmers, exactly. Right. There's no [inaudible 00:38:29] and boil, it's just a light simmer. After it [inaudible 00:38:33] long enough, it feels like, wow, this thing kind of works together. Right? The stock in this case is what it's like to be in a family, and that's something that hopefully everyone can relate to.
Larry Hryb: What Remains of Edith Finch, coming out to Xbox, coming out next week. Depending upon when you're listening to this it either could be out now, or it's going to be out. What's the date, again, Ian?
Ian Dallas: It's going to be Wednesday, July 19th.
Larry Hryb: There you go. I appreciate it. All right. Ian Dallas, creative director for Giant Sparrow, they are the development house behind the highly regarded development house, you guys have a lot of game out that you've done in the past, and really good stuff. What Remains of Edith Finch coming to Xbox next week. Ian, I want to thank you for your time, and I wish you luck, and welcome to the Xbox platform.
Ian Dallas: Thank you. Glad to be here.
Laura Massey: Thank you very much to Ian Dallas, from Giant Sparrow-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: For stopping by to chat with us.
Jeff Rubenstein: You like anyone with the last name of Dallas.
Laura Massey: Who doesn't?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Like, that's a really sweet name.
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:39:23], and Austin. Ian Lubbock. Ian-
Larry Hryb: Houston.
Jeff Rubenstein: San Antonio. Houston's a good one.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: It doesn't sound as good as, Ian Dallas.
Jeff Rubenstein: Ian Dallas is a heck of a name.
Laura Massey: That's pretty great. I am looking [crosstalk 00:39:34]-
Jeff Rubenstein: Ian Padre Island.
Larry Hryb: Dallas. Dallas.
Laura Massey: That was Padre-
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:39:37].
Larry Hryb: Wasn't that one of the names of the guys in, yeah, it was, in Alien. Dallas. I think it was the captain. Go ahead. Sorry.
Laura Massey: Well, anyway, I am looking forward to finishing up that game.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Because it just talked to me.
Larry Hryb: Good go through there, so check it out.
Laura Massey: It tells a good story.
Larry Hryb: Check it out. Jeffrey, you said you had a few more interviews.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:39:54].
Larry Hryb: There's even more.
Laura Massey: More news.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, there's more, and more games. If you are a Minecraft player, and who isn't? There are more skins on the marketplace, and if you bug fixes that have taken place for both pocket edition, and the Windows 10 edition, so definitely worth checking out. These skins are interplanetary explorers, and, you can find that on the marketplace. Gigantic, that was a game we were talking about a few years ago, and it just finally, it had been part of the preview program-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Or, the game preview program, I should say, is now, 1.0'd so the starter bundle and the ultimate bundle are now available for Windows 10, I believe and and definitely on Xbox One.
Larry Hryb: Check it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, check that out. A couple of games. So, since we last spoke we have passed the Ides of July, so that means more new games for you, thanks to Xbox Live games with gold.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, Runbow, which is a multiplayer party game, up to eight people can play locally, and that has debuted into, directly into games with gold, so make sure you pick that up, as well as, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 00:40:59].
Jeff Rubenstein: Video game. Another game coming out about the time you'll be hearing this, it will be the early access to Fortnite, another game that was long time of the long time in the making, I've been watching some streams this morning as influencers are starting to get a hold of this game, it looks really good.
Larry Hryb: What's the game about?
Jeff Rubenstein: The game is about a zombie infestation that occurs in these storms, so while the weather is good you collect all these resources, and you build up like a fort, and then the storm is going to roll in at night with these zombies [crosstalk 00:41:34]-
Larry Hryb: So, they're storm zombies?
Jeff Rubenstein: Storm zombies, tornado zombie, it's a zombie tornado.
Larry Hryb: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, they're going to sweep in and then you add four players together you combine to sort of fight them off and live to see another day, and then you collect more resources, you level up. There's some very interesting looking character models, it looks good, and the streams that I was watching it looked really good, so this is, this is something I think I'm going to be playing, we might, we should give this a shot.
Larry Hryb: I'm-
Laura Massey: It sounds pretty fun.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Is it more real time strategy-isch where you build it out?
Jeff Rubenstein: There are elements where you are building-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: In real time, but you're controlling, it's a third person shooter.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, you're manipulating panels of wood, or traps, or things like that, and it looked like it was platforming going on. I think there's a lot, I mean, added space, it's like, okay, build in the daytime, fight monsters at night, it's kind of almost like Minecraft-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: But, it seems very different than Minecraft.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: I mean, you have guns, first of all, and there's different character classes, the character models look really cool. I'm excited for this one, so I'm looking forward to playing that this weekend.
Laura Massey: It comes out in preview?
Jeff Rubenstein: It is-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:42:40].
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. It's early, I believe it is the earliest version of the game, so there's a couple of different skews of it, if you will, where it comes with different supplies, or different things.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm just going to go ahead and link out to it, because there's a standard founders pack, a super deluxe founders pack, a limited edition. There's a lot of different things. I'm just going to go ahead and link out to that page.
Laura Massey: Cool.
Larry Hryb: Thank you.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, decide, which Fortnite is right for you.
Larry Hryb: Thank you for that.
Laura Massey: That looks good.
Jeff Rubenstein: One last thing that you may see-
Larry Hryb: But, wait, there's more.
Jeff Rubenstein: To be part of the Xbox insiders program-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: The Creators Collection is starting to make its way out to a subset of folks in this group, and so you might start to see some of these new games, where independent creators will be able to make games do like sort of a simplified certification process, similar in a way-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: To the Xbox Live independent games, program, back in the day.
Larry Hryb: Back in the day.
Jeff Rubenstein: I made a game with Zombies.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: If you recall that one. So, you're going to see that in the game section of the store, it's starting to roll out to folks in the insider program, and we'll go from there.
Larry Hryb: Speaking of that, we had a big update last week.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, we did.
Larry Hryb: You know, last week, big dashboard update, you can now customize your image.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: So, you can see my custom image. Laura, I'm waiting for yours.
Laura Massey: I know, I don't have a custom image, yet.
Larry Hryb: What are you waiting for? How about a flower?
Laura Massey: That was last year [crosstalk 00:44:04].
Larry Hryb: One of your flowers you're building.
Laura Massey: Building.
Larry Hryb: A foxglove.
Laura Massey: Flowers that I'm building.
Larry Hryb: You are kind of-
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:44:08] Dallas.
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 00:44:09] Dallas.
Laura Massey: That's right. I don't know, what do you suggest?
Larry Hryb: Well, hmm.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think a necromancer.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:44:17].
Larry Hryb: Yeah. There's tons of stuff. You can take a screenshot, and figure that out. Yeah. I do wish you would change it, though. I do wish you would.
Laura Massey: Yeah. It's been a while.
Larry Hryb: I mean, I had angry toast. How long did I have angry toast?
Laura Massey: You had angry toast-
Jeff Rubenstein: For at least two years.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I had angry toast for a while-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: That was my favorite.
Jeff Rubenstein: When I see angry toast, I still think it's you.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Thank you, Jeff.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. So, my favorite feature-
Larry Hryb: When I see a cup of coffee I still think it's you.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's usually, yeah, well, because I kept it at that. No. I made it a personal one, now.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: But, I'll switch to another cup of coffee. I'll switch to a different varieties, I definitely appreciate that by looking at a cup of brown liquid, they'll know. My favorite feature for this update, and it's something we've tried out, and we need to try out again-
Larry Hryb: Oh, yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Is Mixer co-streaming?
Larry Hryb: Co-streaming.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Co-streaming.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, when you're playing multiplayer games, and you access the guide, you're used to seeing invite party to game-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: For instance.
Larry Hryb: You're still going to see that.
Jeff Rubenstein: You're still going to see that, but right underneath that you can see invite party to co-stream-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: But, wait, what's that Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: Ah-ha. So, what it means is if you're playing a multiplayer game and viewers are going to be able to see both streams, or multiple streams, I think it goes up to four-
Larry Hryb: Total four.
Jeff Rubenstein: At a time, which would be perfect for Fortnite.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: That one person can then watch all four vantage points at the same time, and with the sub second latency of Mixer, it looks really good. I was watching when we were playing, we did this with-
Larry Hryb: Overwatch.
Jeff Rubenstein: With Overwatch, maybe a month ago when we were testing it out, and I was able to watch you, and it was so close to real time that I could have played off the stream-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I was very impressed with that.
Laura Massey: That is incredible.
Larry Hryb: So, I highly recommend you try that out. Co-stream, find a buddy.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Find a co-streaming buddy.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Right? Or, two, or three.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:45:54].
Larry Hryb: Right? You could do a whole bunch of folks.
Jeff Rubenstein: It is the more the merrier situation. It's kind of fun. It combines the chat, so everyone can see the same chat.
Laura Massey: Oh, that's great.
Larry Hryb: Because it will make even less sense, now.
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, I mean, when you're broadcasting-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: It scrolls through pretty quickly.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: The average person probably, that's a one percenter-
Larry Hryb: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:46:13]. That is a problem I have. I'm sorry.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Co*streaming.
Laura Massey: Thank you.
Larry Hryb: Lots of new features coming out that are-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Available now, we talked about those, some coming out in the future, really cool stuff coming, I got a preview of some things coming out later this year, very excited. I cannot talk, cannot tell it.
Laura Massey: Ewe.
Jeff Rubenstein: I only got to everything that is in that-
Larry Hryb: That's all I can say.
Jeff Rubenstein: That new Xbox One update, another thing we're checking out is the sign in via your controller-
Laura Massey: Oh, yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, there's multiple people sharing, if kids, other folks using the Xbox at the same time, if they always use the same controller, they can just hit that nexus button, turn on the controller, and it signs them in, which is a great way of doing it.
Larry Hryb: That is right.
Jeff Rubenstein: That's how we do it.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: That is how we do it.
Laura Massey: Great.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is how we do it.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Jeff Rubenstein: Wow. Taking it way back to Montell Jordan. The year was 1995.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: God, what happened in 1995?
Larry Hryb: Was that the year it happened. Was that the OJ thing?
Jeff Rubenstein: That was.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: The trial.
Laura Massey: Was that '95?
Jeff Rubenstein: The trial.
Larry Hryb: Windows 95, OJ, the whole-
Jeff Rubenstein: Windows 95 was at the top of the charts.
Larry Hryb: That's actually when I started working for Microsoft.
Jeff Rubenstein: Really?
Larry Hryb: In 1995. Yeah.
Laura Massey: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: You've not been here 22 years.
Larry Hryb: No. I started doing contract work for them.
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh.
Laura Massey: Oh. Okay.
Larry Hryb: So, when I was still in Connecticut.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Actually, I know how long you've been working here, because I heard a different podcast this week that you were on, where you talked about having been here for 14 years.
Larry Hryb: That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein: At least worked on Xbox for 14 years.
Larry Hryb: That's right. Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:47:31] to the podcast, I guess I should point out.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: It's a different team at Microsoft does, it's very NPR style, This American Life, like really high production values, not that this isn't.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:47:46].
Larry Hryb: Because it's not.
Jeff Rubenstein: Down a cul de sac and I pulled a 180 power slide. It's sort of that tone where it's like every inhalation is edited out, in those.
Larry Hryb: I cannot do that.
Laura Massey: Really?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: I find it so-
Jeff Rubenstein: You know it if you've edited a video before, you can hear, you never hear anyone inhale.
Larry Hryb: They do that, I've seen that on, This American Life does it a little bit-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: And, they bounce back and forth, where the moment I start speaking, Laura, you would start speaking, they take out any breaths, anything in the middle, and our voices are essentially on top of each other. Now, I haven't listened to the podcast, yet, that I was on, so I don't know how they do that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. It's very well, it's a really interesting podcast. They talk about some interesting stuff. We partnered with the groups, but it's not like a Microsoft, like we talk about Xbox the whole time, they talk about a lot of different topics, but this particular episode was about independent games, and it's talking about someone who was there during the fall of, or the Iranian Revolution in like 1979, and made a video game about it.
Laura Massey: Wow.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's some interesting stuff in there, but Larry's part of that, Larry was not there for [crosstalk 00:48:53]-
Larry Hryb: I was not in the Iranian Revolution, though.
Jeff Rubenstein: You were not there at the time. But, it's a really interesting podcast, so I'll just go ahead and I'll link to it.
Larry Hryb: If you don't mind.
Jeff Rubenstein: If you want to, Larry needs to hear it.
Larry Hryb: I do.
Jeff Rubenstein: Larry needs you to hear it.
Larry Hryb: No, I don't. You're listening to this podcast, the low quality one, I believe this is what you call low rent.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is-
Larry Hryb: This is the non NPR version.
Jeff Rubenstein: This a DIY podcast. Look, can you edit that out please?
Larry Hryb: We leave breaths in the here, we leave everything in here, much to the [inaudible 00:49:22] of the audience, we leave it all in. We're not taking anything out. We will spare nothing. Anything else?
Jeff Rubenstein: No. I think that's, that.
Larry Hryb: We got to do a name the game, which is-
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: We had a winner last time, finally, after the longest running on-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: Like, ever.
Laura Massey: And, we did another one.
Larry Hryb: And, we did another one-
Laura Massey: And, awesomely enough-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: I took pity on the audience, [inaudible 00:49:41] was really easy.
Larry Hryb: Should we play the piece?
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And, then, okay. Let's go ahead and play the [inaudible 00:49:48] ...
Laura Massey: So, that was the easy name the game from last time, and you probably already guessed it, listener, the answer was Diablo III.
Larry Hryb: Yay.
Laura Massey: Of course, the Necromancer DLC
Larry Hryb: Yes. One of Laura's hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of hours of playing that.
Laura Massey: Right. I'm sure, of course, we got lots, and lots of correct-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Winners, but we took them all and picked out a random person, who guessed it correctly-
Larry Hryb: Who did? Who's our winner?
Laura Massey: The winner is Mark from Scotland.
Larry Hryb: Mark, who made no [inaudible 00:50:38].
Laura Massey: Maybe.
Larry Hryb: Or, not.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:50:39], or, not. You know, what else. His gamer tag is a feline rampage.
Larry Hryb: Great camera talk.
Laura Massey: That's awesome.
Larry Hryb: Feline rampage.
Laura Massey: So, Mark, here is what you've won.
Larry Hryb: What have you taken out of my office, this week, Laura?
Laura Massey: So, I scrounged around and somehow found a copy of this game, which strangely enough to me wasn't being played, I don't know why it wasn't being played.
Larry Hryb: Which game?
Laura Massey: Of course it was also Diablo III, the entire collection.
Larry Hryb: That's because I have a digital copy. Go ahead.
Laura Massey: That's right. Of course the eternal collection includes the Reaper of Souls-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: As well as the Necromancer DLC.
Larry Hryb: The whole thing.
Laura Massey: The whole thing. That's all you need.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Is that one game.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Trust, Laura, she never takes her disc out of the tray.
Laura Massey: That's right. I also, that's right, I don't. I also found a copy of EA Sports FIFA 17.
Larry Hryb: Sweet.
Laura Massey: For you Mark, as well as a copy of Halo Wars II, the ultimate edition.
Larry Hryb: Wow. Look at you going.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: That's where my games went. What else?
Laura Massey: I also found a copy of Minecraft Story Mode, season two.
Larry Hryb: Oh. Fun.
Laura Massey: The complete season. There you go, Mark.
Larry Hryb: Now, for something completely different.
Laura Massey: And, I also got you a copy of Xbox Game Pass-
Larry Hryb: What?
Laura Massey: For three months.
Larry Hryb: Three months of-
Jeff Rubenstein: That's really of you.
Larry Hryb: All the games you can eat.
Jeff Rubenstein: How thoughtful.
Laura Massey: That's great. Yes.
Larry Hryb: That is fantastic.
Laura Massey: I like to reward my winners, here, on name game.
Larry Hryb: Well, you do, with my stuff, so thank you for that. Anyway, congratulations-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:51:55].
Larry Hryb: Mark. Now, you're probably listening right now asking yourself, all right, I want to win, I don't know what to do, I'm confused.
Laura Massey: Right.
Larry Hryb: I'm hurt, it's raining out, my clothes are dirty, I'm lost, my phone isn't charged.
Laura Massey: Where are you going with this?
Larry Hryb: I'll just go through all the angst you feel when your young and whatnot. I wanted to tell you how you when, all you need to do is we're going to play a clip, here.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: What could it be from, Laura?
Laura Massey: It could be from any Xbox One game, Xbox One DLC, Xbox One Back Compat, any of those games.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It's not a pre-released game.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: It's not a beta.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Not a beta. It's not-
Laura Massey: Spoiler alert.
Larry Hryb: It's not Destiny II.
Laura Massey: It's not Destiny II.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. There you go.
Laura Massey: It's not a beta, it's a fully released game.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: That you can go and buy-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Or, download from the store.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: And, Xbox One.
Larry Hryb: So, there you go. Let's play the clip.
Laura Massey: All right. Here's the clip for this week ... All right. So, if you, too, want to win fabulous prizes like Larry said, it's super easy, you just have to send us an email. Email me, [email protected] and [email protected]
Larry Hryb: Yep.
Laura Massey: Let us know what game you think those sounds are from, easy as that.
Larry Hryb: It's that easy.
Laura Massey: It's easy as that.
Larry Hryb: We take all the correct winners, put them into a virtual hat, and randomly chose one, and boom-
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: You could win.
Laura Massey: You could win.
Larry Hryb: Someone right now listening to our voices has already won, they just don't know it.
Laura Massey: That's true.
Larry Hryb: Da-dah.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 00:53:49].
Laura Massey: Very good, Larry.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: Good luck to all of our listeners out there.
Larry Hryb: Please.
Laura Massey: Please send us an email [email protected], and [email protected]
Larry Hryb: That's it.
Laura Massey: That's it.
Larry Hryb: That's it.
Laura Massey: Pretty easy.
Larry Hryb: Thank you very much.
Laura Massey: You're welcome.
Larry Hryb: Jeff, we got anything else? I'm kind winding down towards-
Jeff Rubenstein: What do you want to talk, you know, we never talked about new gadgets, it's been a little while.
Larry Hryb: Well, I got the new Surface Notebook, which I'm, the laptop, which I'm sporting over here in what's cobalt blue, right?
Laura Massey: It's beautiful.
Jeff Rubenstein: That is cobalt blue.
Laura Massey: It is beautiful.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Cobalt blue.
Laura Massey: Very shiny.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, as part of my job, I have to, I didn't have to, I am honored to give these to people-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: But, it pains me every time.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Because I don't have one.
Larry Hryb: You don't have one.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, I really want one.
Larry Hryb: You're like me, you give stuff away-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: All the time.
Jeff Rubenstein: Which is good, that part is good.
Laura Massey: Do you think you could-
Jeff Rubenstein: But, I really want one.
Laura Massey: Give one to me.
Larry Hryb: I was going to say, you're not giving anything to Laura.
Laura Massey: That's right, if you're a giver I could-
Larry Hryb: Receive.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I suppose you are an influencer of a sort [crosstalk 00:54:41]-
Larry Hryb: Yeah. Especially amongst the botanical set.
Jeff Rubenstein: No. It really looks good, the burgundy looks really good, I would take that one in a second.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And, even the gold one is surprisingly good looking.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:54:53].
Larry Hryb: They're all good lookers.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: So, yeah, I've got that. I think I talked about this, maybe I haven't talked about this, but I put the networking system in my home the euro system-
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: That I upgraded to their pro, which is I'm testing it, I'm all mesh all the time, if you haven't gone to an all mesh network, there's a ton of different options out there. Ubiquiti has them. Orbi has them. A few other people have them. Mesh is fantastic at home.
Laura Massey: That's right.
Larry Hryb: So, I don't really understand how it works, I don't need to know, it just works, I just know I plug them in, and all my stuff just works.
Laura Massey: Great.
Jeff Rubenstein: Build them up.
Larry Hryb: Exactly.
Jeff Rubenstein: Break them down.
Laura Massey: That's exactly what you want from a home networking solution.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: It's just working.
Larry Hryb: It's just working.
Laura Massey: Because I feel like I've never really had that experience with my home networking solution.
Larry Hryb: I can tell you this, Laura, and I want to show this to you, because it comes with a app management, I can look at the app, and I think I showed this to you, before, so that's a real time view of all the devices connected to my house, right now. How many do I-
Laura Massey: You have 50.
Larry Hryb: 50, right now.
Laura Massey: Five, zero.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Connected devices.
Larry Hryb: And, I'm not even home, yet, with my laptop, and my phone, and some other stuff-
Laura Massey: Right. It's interesting, you can look at this when you're not at home.
Larry Hryb: Right. It's [crosstalk 00:55:55].
Jeff Rubenstein: Why do you have a wifi connected toaster, Larry? Why do you need that?
Larry Hryb: Why don't you have one?
Jeff Rubenstein: Touche.
Larry Hryb: I've got all this crazy, to be honest with you, there's my gaming PC, yeah, I cannot really talk about much of this stuff, can I? No.
Laura Massey: No.
Larry Hryb: Xbox One, what?
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Anyway, so I've got that in there, a great system. It's a little pricey, but it is absolutely worth it, so I recommend it. Whatever you do when you're upgrading your home network, go mesh, that's all I can say.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Larry Hryb: That's all I really have with that. What else can I talk to you about? We talked about this, I don't really have much more to say.
Laura Massey: I've got a gadget that I'm working on.
Larry Hryb: Oh, go. Go, Laura.
Laura Massey: It arrived yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to set it up, yet, but I just got a Roomba.
Larry Hryb: Oh.
Laura Massey: A robotic vacuum.
Larry Hryb: That's right. A robotic vacuum.
Laura Massey: It's one of the newer models that is supposedly a lot more fancy than traditional [crosstalk 00:56:47]-
Larry Hryb: But, at the end of the day, it's just going to clean the floor, I mean how much fancy do you need?
Jeff Rubenstein: Well.
Larry Hryb: Is it going up the stairs?
Laura Massey: No. It doesn't go up the stairs.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: But, those do multiple rooms and it does do carpet and hardwood floors, and go seamlessly between the two, and it has, apparently a lot more power, and a lot more suction power than the previous models.
Larry Hryb: Which is what you always wanted in a vacuum cleaner.
Laura Massey: It does a, supposedly, a better job of vacuuming.
Larry Hryb: Can it bring you out a gin and tonic from the kitchen?
Laura Massey: That actually would be amazing.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: If only I could teach it to do that. [crosstalk 00:57:15]-
Jeff Rubenstein: If anyone in this room could-
Laura Massey: Disposable [crosstalk 00:57:17].
Jeff Rubenstein: It's you.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: I suppose we could add attachments, some robotic hands.
Larry Hryb: I get an upgrade.
Jeff Rubenstein: Larry, I know you would ask this.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: Have you named it, yet.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. That's true.
Laura Massey: All right. No, I haven't named it, yet.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Laura Massey: I need [crosstalk 00:57:30].
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:57:34]
Larry Hryb: Let's name it, Fred.
Laura Massey: Fred, the robotic vacuum.
Larry Hryb: Stephen.
Jeff Rubenstein: Stephen.
Laura Massey: I don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:57:44].
Larry Hryb: Actually, I'm sorry, I'm kind of imposing, do you think it's male or female?
Laura Massey: That's true. I don't know.
Larry Hryb: I don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein: Don't project.
Laura Massey: I don't know either.
Larry Hryb: I don't want to, I'm sorry.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:57:51]. We could go with traditional-
Larry Hryb: Marjorie?
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:57:55].
Larry Hryb: I was going to say Martha, I think we're somewhere at [crosstalk 00:57:58]. I like that.
Jeff Rubenstein: I think Martha would be a good-
Laura Massey: Or, Marvin.
Larry Hryb: Marvin.
Laura Massey: Marvin the robot from-
Larry Hryb: Bugs Bunny?
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:58:04].
Larry Hryb: I was going to say, Bugs Bunny.
Jeff Rubenstein: Hi, Marvin, I'm the robot.
Laura Massey: Or, Robbie.
Larry Hryb: Or, Robbie the robot, also a good one. That's right.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: May I humbly suggest, Jeffrey. It would make a great butler name.
Larry Hryb: It works well on a podcast.
Jeff Rubenstein: Did I tell you-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:58:19].
Jeff Rubenstein: Because that name is gone. They've essentially retired that name, and I think Larry as well.
Laura Massey: Jeffrey?
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. My family was down at Disney, and you know they have personalized everything, those little personalized license plates-
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: And-
Laura Massey: Key chains.
Jeff Rubenstein: Whatever, yeah, key chains-
Laura Massey: Mugs.
Jeff Rubenstein: All this other stuff.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And, apparently I've been replaced, Jeff, is no longer there. My daughter is very upset, because she was looking for my name.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: And, it goes-
Larry Hryb: Did she find hers?
Jeff Rubenstein: No. She's got pretty-
Larry Hryb: Unique name.
Jeff Rubenstein: Unique name, as well. Go straight from Jayden-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Thanks, Brittany.
Larry Hryb: Jayden.
Jeff Rubenstein: To Jenna.
Larry Hryb: Oh.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, I've been replaced by Jayden and Jenna.
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: Jeff is no, I think if you, if I peeled off the sticker where it said Jayden, or Jenna, you would see Jeff under that.
Laura Massey: Oh, no.
Larry Hryb: Because I remember back in the day, they used to have two separate stations, there would be the male names and the female names, and now they've just combined them.
Jeff Rubenstein: Jayden could go either way.
Larry Hryb: Well, I'm not saying-
Jeff Rubenstein: Either way.
Larry Hryb: They always have Laura, don't they?
Laura Massey: Usually.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. That's a classic name.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:59:20].
Larry Hryb: They always have mine, which is-
Jeff Rubenstein: No, they don't.
Larry Hryb: They-
Laura Massey: What?
Larry Hryb: They have the proper use of my, the proper, Lawrence.
Jeff Rubenstein: Lawrence.
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:59:26].
Larry Hryb: Now, is it a W or a U, and there's a whole conversation around that.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: In France, I'm sure they have it.
Larry Hryb: No, Jeffrey.
Jeff Rubenstein: No, Jeff.
Laura Massey: That's surprising, because I thought Jeffrey was pretty common.
Jeff Rubenstein: Nope. We're done. Yeah. Maybe in the '80s. I think if you actually looked up after that-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:59:40].
Jeff Rubenstein: Well, you can look and you can see when did names peak in popularity, and it was basically from 1970 to 1982 there hasn't been a Jeff before or since.
Larry Hryb: Oh. That's too bad.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: Oh.
Larry Hryb: Sad face.
Laura Massey: That is a sad face.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Well, okay, so we're going to name it Jeffrey.
Laura Massey: Okay. Bring back the Jeff's.
Jeff Rubenstein: This is going to be the equivalent, be transferring in my brain into a robot, so I can live forever.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: But, also vacuum. Let me tell, you name it Jeffrey, it will learn how to make that gin and tonic.
Larry Hryb: Laura I'd like to introduce you to Jeffrey, your humble servant.
Jeff Rubenstein: I just want the name to live, however-
Larry Hryb: You got to do what you got to do.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 01:00:17]. I won't stop until Disney makes that key chain.
Larry Hryb: Cannot stop, won't stop.
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Larry Hryb: All right, then. Anything else we want to talk about? We look forward to the report on-
Laura Massey: Yes.
Larry Hryb: On Jeffrey.
Laura Massey: I will give a full reports.
Larry Hryb: The robot.
Jeff Rubenstein: Thank you.
Larry Hryb: Jeffrey Stephen Roomba.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. There we go. I told you this off camera, but-
Larry Hryb: Yes.
Jeff Rubenstein: I got a VR device. I got a-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 01:00:39]. We talked about that a couple weeks ago.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. We did. That show didn't make it.
Larry Hryb: No. I think we did, didn't we?
Laura Massey: I don't think it did.
Jeff Rubenstein: No.
Larry Hryb: okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: It was last week.
Larry Hryb: I thought it was a couple of weeks, ago.
Jeff Rubenstein: This part we will definitely-
Larry Hryb: Okay.
Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 01:00:49].
Larry Hryb: I don't remember. I don't know.
Jeff Rubenstein: So, I got a [inaudible 01:00:52], and I've been amercing myself in mixed reality gaming-
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: It was really fun. I've tried it before, like the Microsoft store, and at a couple museums, like this Game of Thrones thing. Having it in your home it definitely feels like the future. It's interesting, because the games that I enjoy on Xbox on like a 4K screen are very different than the games, I've been playing this game called Front Defense, which take place during World War II. You're in like a little foxhole-
Laura Massey: Oh, yes.
Larry Hryb: Oh.
Laura Massey: This sounds awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, you don't move, like if I was playing this with a controller on a 2D screen, this would not be a good game, but in 3D it's amazingly intense.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, you're basically, there's troops, enemy troops coming down, you're in like a European sort of street, and there's like you and a couple of AI companions, and your just huddled in a foxhole-
Larry Hryb: What do you have to do, stay alive?
Jeff Rubenstein: Stay alive, basically.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: They're coming in and you've got a machine, it looks familiar from playing like Call of Duty, and Battlefield, and stuff, and you shoot until you're empty and then you literally, you take your left hand, and you pull the clip out-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 01:01:59]-
Jeff Rubenstein: You grab another one off your belt-
Larry Hryb: Pop it in.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, jam in it, and you keep going. There's a battlemint there, but it doesn't, sort of like a machine gun-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 01:02:09].
Jeff Rubenstein: A [inaudible 01:02:10]. Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, sometimes I'm like one handing that, and I'm keeping the machine gun in my left hand in case I need to-
Larry Hryb: You do a wheelie?
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm doing wheelie.
Larry Hryb: My Lord.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 01:02:21].
Jeff Rubenstein: And, then occasionally a vehicle will come in, and you actually have like a rocket propelled grenade that you pick it up, you load it in the missile into the back, but a lot of times you're like wincing, you're like [inaudible 01:02:32].
Larry Hryb: Put a link in the show, so people can [crosstalk 01:02:34].
Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know it's just so immersive, the game that-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Certain things that, and even stuff like carnival game type stuff it's just really fun in VR. Anyway I'm enjoying myself, and I'll report back if I play anything super intense. Actually, I started playing, the Arizona Sunshine, which is like a zombie game-
Larry Hryb: Right.
Laura Massey: Awesome.
Jeff Rubenstein: That one, like one of them I missed, and I empty my clip, and it was coming at me and I like freaked, because it like lunged at me, and like you viscerally-
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeff Rubenstein: Recoil.
Laura Massey: Because it feels so real-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Laura Massey: It's coming at you, and you don't want it to come at you-
Jeff Rubenstein: You do not.
Laura Massey: So, you have [crosstalk 01:03:06].
Jeff Rubenstein: No. Exactly.
Laura Massey: Your brain says, evade, and you do.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: There's some interesting stuff out there, but definitely-
Laura Massey: Have you played Space Pirate Trainer.
Jeff Rubenstein: I have. It was literally the first game I got.
Laura Massey: Yeah. [crosstalk 01:03:17].
Jeff Rubenstein: This is a lot of fun, I know it's something that [crosstalk 01:03:19] big fan of.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: And, he talked me into it, and you just feel very empowered. You just get into it so much.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I've got the Vive at home, as well.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And, I just haven't had the-
Jeff Rubenstein: We should play some multiplayer stuff.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: I didn't know you did.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. I talked about this last year. I've been playing a few things, I just haven't had, I don't have in my particular home office where I have my gear set up, I just don't have the large play space.
Laura Massey: Okay.
Larry Hryb: So, it's
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 01:03:41].
Larry Hryb: Yeah. It's restrictive.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: So, I need to get a bigger house. Isn't that the way it works?
Jeff Rubenstein: I think my house is probably smaller than yours.
Larry Hryb: It is.
Jeff Rubenstein: The West Wing, but we did clear enough space to make it work. It doesn't need a ton.
Larry Hryb: Right.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Laura Massey: [inaudible 01:03:56] super fun. I'm glad you're getting into it.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. You work up a sweat, I'll tell you.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 01:04:01].
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm down on my knees, I'm like hunkering down like behind these sandbags-
Laura Massey: Basically, hunkering down.
Larry Hryb: That's right, because-
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 01:04:08] stretching.
Larry Hryb: We went to dinner with Jeff last week-
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And, my wife and I was at dinner with him, we met him down near his house, and he was on time, but he looked, it was rather warm that evening, and I just chalked it up, because remember, I asked you-
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Did you walk down? I didn't know he was getting that.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: Because you looked a little tired, a little worn, your hair was a little askew.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: And, I was like-
Jeff Rubenstein: No. I've been in Vive for about two hours straight.
Larry Hryb: You were apparently in a foxhole 10 minutes before.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. War never changes [inaudible 01:04:38].
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 01:04:40] yeah, thank you.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.
Larry Hryb: All right. Well, I think we've got, successfully have completed the show for this week.
Laura Massey: [crosstalk 01:04:47].
Larry Hryb: Have we?
Laura Massey: I think we have.
Larry Hryb: [inaudible 01:04:49], sorry, I don't know, it's not up to us.
Jeff Rubenstein: They've tuned out long ago.
Larry Hryb: Yeah. So, we're going to have an interesting few shows ahead of us, we've got Gamescom coming up. I won't be able to go to Gamescom this year, unfortunately, I've got a conflict, so I'm going to be taking care of that. So, we may, or not be, we've got a few shows that are going to be taking care of over August, most of the world is on holiday.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: Annual leave.
Laura Massey: Yeah.
Larry Hryb: I know, Laura, you said, you're going to be, you've got a-
Laura Massey: I'm going to be on some annual leave, as well.
Larry Hryb: You're going to be on annual leave, and then we'll be back. So, we may, or may not be doing some shows during August, we'll see.
Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry Hryb: But, we will be back at [inaudible 01:05:21].
Laura Massey: That's right.
Jeff Rubenstein: We should do some-
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 01:05:23].
Jeff Rubenstein: Streaming in the meantime, if we have [crosstalk 01:05:24]-
Larry Hryb: Co-streaming.
Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. We should all get together-
Larry Hryb: Co-streaming.
Jeff Rubenstein: It would actually be a good way to have the show.
Larry Hryb: Yeah.
Laura Massey: That would be fun.
Larry Hryb: Or, something that's similar-
Jeff Rubenstein: Something similar.
Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 01:05:31].
Jeff Rubenstein: Something show-isch.
Larry Hryb: Show-isch.
Jeff Rubenstein: I'm down.
Larry Hryb: More nonsense. All right, gang. We'll talk to you guys next week, or whenever we can talk to you. Thank you for downloading the show and tuning in. We'll have all the details of most of what we talked about on the show, we'll put in the show notes if Jeffrey was-
Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, they're there.
Larry Hryb: If you want to catch up with Laura and her flowers, you can find her on Twitter.
Laura Massey: @Lauralollipop.
Larry Hryb: You can find Jeffrey, and his cheese steak ad.
Jeff Rubenstein: @jeffrubenstein.
Larry Hryb: I'm Major Nelson, we'll talk to you guys next time. You can see me every weekend, this week on Xbox on your console, or on your Twitter. See you next time. Bye-bye, everybody.
Jeff Rubenstein: See you.
Laura Massey: Bye-bye.