562: We roundup the latest Xbox news and discuss what we are playing this week
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Announcer: Celebrating ten years of audio and gaming excellence ... It's Major Nelson Radio.
Larry: Welcome back, everybody. It's, um, show number 562. My name is Larry Hyrb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. We've got the gang all here. Sitting across from me is Jeffrey. Hello Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: I didn't know we were joining a gang!
Larry: We are. Were a posse. And then, sitting across diagonally, across from you is Laura Massey. Hello Lollipop.
Laura: Right. At the other end of the table. Hello.
Larry: Well, you have your own special under the table with your own microphone, and your own ...
Laura: Yeah. I've got my own cool, special microphone.
Larry: Luck, luck, luck, luck.
Jeffrey: Really far.
Laura: I know. This is where it was a place when I came in.
Larry: This is like a locker room. A guys locker room, down here. You don't want to be down here. You want to be ...
Laura: Are you saying it's smelly down there?
Larry: It could be. It's messy, it's smelly, its just everything you don't ... that you want. Okay?
Jeffrey: I always avoid the locker room. I just change at home.
Laura: (laughs) yeah.
Larry: Really?
Jeffrey: I don't ... I have a locker room aversion.
Larry: Did something happen? Because I got ... I got ...
Jeffrey: Oh, something happened, all right.
Larry: Did you ... did you ... do you want to talk about it?
Jeffrey: So, growing up and ... and going to summer camp ...
Larry: In Philadelphia.
Jeffrey: I went to summer camp, but in Philly. I went to summer camp at the YMCA.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: And, um, you shared those locker rooms with people that, when you're 11 that are like seven or eight decades older than you.
Laura: Mmm.
Jeffrey: And man, they just like walking around, letting it all hang out.
Laura: Oh, no!
Larry: Wait a minute. So, did you have an inferiority complex?
Jeffrey: No. I was just afeared. Um, um, um, you know, the things that I had seen that no young boy should see.
Laura: I see.
Larry: See, now mine is really all about ... because I remember when I was young. I was a freshman in high school. And I got, um ... I ... I ... I got flushed.
Laura: You what?
Jeffrey: Really?
Larry: Yeah. Laura, you don't know what that means, do you?
Laura: I can imagine.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: I think I know what it means.
Jeffrey: Was this before or after the hot dog stand?
Larry: This was before. This was before.
Jeffrey: Okay. Because I feel like the pictures I've seen of you in the early 80s ...
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Was a confident young Han Solo.
Larry: I was ... Thank you.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Thank you. I'll go with that. Laura's laughing. [crosstalk 00:01:51]
Jeffrey: This is after you've been bled through the flushings.
Larry: Hey, listen. It's just, um, I did shoot first. The, um, it was ... Anyway, so I don't want to talk about the high school ...
Laura: Wait. Are you saying you deserved [00:02:00] the flushing?
Larry: No, no, no, no. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Laura: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Nobody deserves a flushing.
Larry: Coach turned around and ...
Laura: Didn't save you?
Jeffrey: (laughs) were you turned upside down? Or was it more, um ...
Larry: I don't want to talk about it.
Jeffrey: Okay.
Larry: Just imagine the worst that could happen. It was terrible.
Jeffrey: You've gone dark, man.
Laura: Right at the beginning.
Larry: Terrible. High school was a ... high school was a very difficult time.
Laura: As it is for most people.
Jeffrey: I don't know anyone who really enjoyed high school.
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: I think you did, Laura.
Laura: It was okay. I don't think ... I don't have any horror stories like you just ...
Larry: I could fill you ... I could fill your day with them, for God sakes.
Laura: Oh, no.
Jeffrey: Yeah. I didn't go to my reunion. I'll just put it that way.
Larry: You know, I didn't either.
Jeffrey: No one I wanted to see.
Larry: I didn't either because I was living out here, and one of them ... for out here on the west coast. I didn't have time.
All right enough about high school. Lets talk about games. You're tuned in to hear about games. We've got a lot of games going on.
Laura: We do.
Larry: We have a Halo content update, we're going to talk about. New games with gold that we're going to talk about.
Laura: (coughs)
Larry: Oh you all right over there, Laura?
Laura: Oh, you heard that? Sorry. I tried to lean away.
Jeffrey: Yeah. We did.
Larry: Um, Halo championship is taking place in aspen this coming weekend.
Jeffrey: Of all the places they could go, it's ... yeah, why not?
Larry: Well, if you want ... I did the Halo stream, last weekend.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: Or last Friday. And, um, they, um, were talking about that and I kind of looked at them and went, "Really? You guys are going to Aspen?" And I looked into the camera, and I said, "All right. You watching at home on Twitch, go look up boondoggle. Because that's what this is all about." I just called them out on it.
Laura: Oh.
Jeffrey: "Why don't we do our team meetings in Hawaii?"
Larry: Yeah. It's just crazy. Anyway, so a lot going on this week. Laura what are you playing?
Laura: Oh.
Larry: Yeah. We're going to just jump right in.
Laura: So we're getting right in to me?
Larry: See? I just ... Kaboom.
Laura: Just right in.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: No nonsense anymore.
Larry: No nonsense. We're just ... Everybody wants to hear what we're talking about. What we're playing and I want ... I want to know what you're playing, because I've got to tell you, I'm convinced ... Jeffrey? You're going to back me up on this. I'm convinced you block me on Xbox Live.
Laura: No! I've not blocked you!
Larry: Okay? Because you haven't been on in weeks!
Laura: Did you see me ...
Jeffrey: Are you playing under private?
Laura: No.
Larry: I keep seeing all these achievements pop up, and I'm like, "You're not on." So, you've blocked me. It's okay. I understand. I would, too.
Laura: Did you see that I was online last night? I saw that you were online playing Halo.
Larry: Yeah. We were playing ... Jeff [00:04:00] and I were playing Halo with the new gang. We were trying the new content update, and we'll talk about that in a minute.
Jeffrey: You could've joined us.
Laura: Well, I was playing Oxenfree.
Larry: Oh! Let's talk about it! Because I finished it.
Laura: Oh, that's right.
Larry: How far did you get? Without spoiling.
Laura: Um, I got inside of a cave.
Larry: So, about an hour?
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: So, do you see what I mean?
Laura: Yes. So, this was ... I had no expectations, going in.
Larry: Well, other than what I had told you about.
Laura: Other than what you had mentioned.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: And, I was really impressed.
Larry: Right?
Laura: Really, really impressed. It was really the first time I felt like I was actually raking part in a conversation.
Larry: Well, part of it is because the voice acting was stellar.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: Like, those ... talk about it ... Let's be clear. This is kind of a nice little segue. Well done, Laura. It's about a bunch of individuals in high school.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: Right?
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: Well I think they're in high school, aren't they?
Laura: They seem high school age.
Jeffrey: I haven't played yet. Is there, "Press right bumper to flush?"
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: Find someone named Major Nelson?
Larry: Um, not that I saw, but there could be. But, yeah. So, it's ... the voice acting is good and the environments are good.
Laura: Yes. It's a completely different art style, though from what I've seen before.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: So, I'm a huge fan of more artsy things, which is right up my street. And, as far as I've gotten, so far, it seems like it's a ... an action adventure story.
Larry: Yup.
Laura: Where you talk to your friends a lot.
Larry: Yes.
Laura: And then, you know, go through a few adventures together.
Larry: So, how far sis ... you got into the cave. Did you do what you had to do in the cave?
Laura: Yes. I did what I did ...
Larry: Okay.
Laura: Yes. With the triangle ...
Larry: Okay. Yes.
Laura: Yes. Um, and then went to the next segment.
Larry: Okay.
Laura: And then called it a night. But, it really struck me that I felt like I was a part of a real conversation.
Larry: That's why I kept playing it.
Laura: Yes!
Larry: And I couldn't stop playing it!
Laura: Because ... so ... like normal RPGs where ...
Larry: Press A to baby, or something like that.
Laura: They wait for you to answer. Like especially, you know, Mass Effect, and all these sorts of things. They give you three or four options to reply.
Larry: And you can kind of think about it for a second.
Laura: And you have lots of time to think about it. It does not feel real. Because that's not how real life works. No one waits for you to think about your answer for 30 seconds before you reply.
Jeffrey: We do a little bit, here.
Laura: A little bit.
Jeffrey: We'll give you ten seconds.
Larry: We edit [00:06:00] most of those pauses out for time caps.
Laura: (laughs) But, with this one, I've never played a game like this before, where you are taking part in a conversation with multiple other people, and you have the option to contribute to it, or not.
Larry: Right.
Laura: Because you can stay silent.
Larry: Right.
Laura: And the conversation will continue. And in some cases, you have to interrupt.
Larry: Right.
Laura: To make your voice heard.
Larry: Right.
Laura: That ... I've never had to interrupt a conversation in a game before. It's almost ... it's like, as real life as I've felt [crosstalk 00:06:27].
Larry: It's interesting, because you're actually articulating something that I couldn't articulate. And that's why ... that's why I kept playing it.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: Because it felt like a real life conversation and it was, like, you know the voice acting is spectacular, and the art style is fun, and the story is very interesting. I'll just say that. I know you haven't gotten that far, but it's fun.
Laura: Yeah, but I'll definitely keep playing. Definitely.
Larry: Yeah. It's a little stingy on the achievements upfront.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: But, then later on in the game, they'll start popping for you.
Laura: Sure. Throw them in. Throw them in.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: So again, yeah. I'm really impressed. Really impressed with the game.
Larry: Good. Oxenfree. Check it out. If you haven't checked it our yet, I highly recommend it. Um, I'm not a big fan of the ... How would you describe the game? You said it was Action-Adventure?
Laura: Yeah. I haven't gotten too far into the mechanics.
Larry: The problem is, Action-Adventure implies, like, FPS. You're going to be jumping around, and it's not that.
Laura: No. There is some, sort of, platforming element to it. Because you know, I traversed a little bit.
Larry: Yeah, I had a ...
Laura: I haven't gotten too far into the game, yet. There's a mechanic with a radio.
Larry: Yeah, which is really cool.
Laura: Which is cool.
Larry: Yeah. Listen to some of the stations on there. That's all I'm going to say.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: They're really nifty stuff.
Laura: Interesting. It's mostly you're traversing through a story ...
Larry: Yeah
Laura: With your friends.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: As far as I've found.
Larry: The only problem I had with the game, and I think I told the developers this, is ... So, you pull the left trigger and the map comes up, the world map.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: The world map is not as fanciful.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: So, when you're in an area and you're like, "Oh," you pull the world map up and you want to go to an area to the right, or the upper right, yure like, "Okay, I've got to go to the exit to the right." Well, you really don't have to. It's not ... it doesn't map like that. It's not technically accurate.
Laura: Oh. I see.
Larry: It's more of a ... it's more of a, um ... it's just ... [00:08:00] it's more fanciful and it's kind of like ... It's artsy.
Laura: I see.
Larry: Maybe that lines into the rest of the game, but I always had a problem where I was like, "Okay. I want to go up here," and I was looking at the map going, "Okay, I think I can go here, but it's not ..."
Laura: Are you saying it's not a real map where there's distances that it maps for you?
Larry: Precisely .. well yeah. Distances ... and frankly, direction, sometimes.
Laura: Oh, no!
Larry: All the things you want out of a map.
Laura: Yeah. (laughs)
Jeffrey: So, it's a Disney Parks map?
Larry: That's exactly what it was. Now, it's interesting. When you talk about the Disney Park mac. Um, park maps. If you go to like Disneyland or Disney World, they're exactly that. They're very ...
Jeffrey: It's, like a big picture. It's like a caricature ...
Larry: Yeah. It's a caricature.
Laura: Caricature?
Larry: But, now, I went to Disneyland in Tokyo ...
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: And, in Japan, they're very precise, and the map was, like, precise down to the garbage can.
Laura: Whoa!
Larry: Yeah. It was very, very different. So ...
Laura: Everything was to scale?
Larry: Everything was to scale, everything was exactly where you want, and that's what I wanted out of ... and not that I needed that out of the world map, but something a little closer.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: Anyway, that's ... otherwise, it was great. Once I figured out that, "Okay, this is really just a, a, a, a representation, it's not really a map..."
Laura: Caricature.
Larry: Scale and direction, then, "Okay. Now I get it." It's not all of the things that I expect out of a map.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). No, but it's super fun and I'll definitely keep playing it. I'm really looking forward to it.
Larry: Good.
Laura: I think that's all I've been up to.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: Other than playing Diablo.
Jeffrey: Diablo. I knew that was coming.
Laura: (laughs) I started a new character, and got him to level 40 ... 45.
Larry: Good for you. What's the cap, these days?
Laura: 70.
Larry: Oh, okay.
Jeffrey: You've got a little way to go.
Laura: But there really isn't a cap, per se. Once you get to 70, you unlock paragon levels and you can keep leveling after that, but you don't get any skills. Like new types of skills. You get points that you can spend to increase your hit rate, or your life per second, like, kind of, almost like attribute points, but not really. So, you don't stop leveling, which I think is a problem, with my addiction to Diablo. (laughs) [inaudible 00:09:50].
Jeffrey: Fallout called. It wants you back.
Laura: It does.
Jeffrey: It does.
Laura: I haven't played in two weeks.
Larry: I wouldn't know. You're blocking me.
What about you, Jeffrey? What are you playing?
Jeffrey: What [00:10:00] aren't I playing?
Larry: What aren't you playing?
Jeffrey: Um, so ... a lot of stuff. Um, we've been playing a lot of Halo, at night, and enjoying the new ... what is it called? The, the armor's ...
Larry: Armory?
Jeffrey: Armory?
Larry: Armory. What's it called, Brady?
Brady: Um, Infinity's Armory.
Larry: Infinity's Armory.
Jeffrey: Infinity's Armory. So, we've been playing a lot of Assault, which is something which we haven't really played a lot. In the War-zone maps. We had just been doing traditional War-zone, and you know, you hold your spots and you rack up those points. We've been playing a lot of Assault, which if you haven't played ...
Larry: Have we played that?
Laura: Yeah. Yeah.
Larry: We played a lot of battlefield, back in the day, so it's like Rush.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: Where you're defending or attacking a specific point, and you have to maintain it to unlock it, and then you move on to the next thing.
Jeffrey: You're only pushing people back, and even, like, when you're taking the territory, they can't reclaim any of it.
Laura: I see.
Jeffrey: But, it's incredibly challenging. You're immediately in to the action. You're not, um, you're not having to run very far before you're right back into it. In fact, it's, um, it's super intense. So, we've been having a lot of fun with that.
Um, I'm playing a lot of Banner Saga.
Larry: You are. Yes.
Laura: I finally got that, and I downloaded it.
Jeffrey: Okay. Good.
Laura: I haven't started.
Jeffrey: Yes. It's, um, it's a bit of a grim tale. Um, things go from, sort of, bad to worse, um, it's um, I was reading an article in Xbox Wires. An interview with the developers and they wanted to pay homage to Viking history. Viking lore.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: And, um, they didn't have a happy ... um, they didn't tell a lot of happy yarns. It was a lot of, um, you know, a lot of people die.
Laura: Oh, no!
Jeffrey: And, and, and, luckily, some people manage to survive after a struggle. And, so that's ... every battle, I'm like, barely finishing, and I don't have enough resources to around. I'm enjoying it. It's kind of like X-COM, in that way.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: You're not going to ... It's not ... Some RPGs, they get ... they almost get easier and easier, as time goes by, because you become really OP. Not in this game. It's learning how to manage ... yes.
Larry: Just explaining OP to those that don't ...
Jeffrey: This audience knows OP.
Larry: Well, everybody assumes they know. Like, I'm the first one to say, if I don't know what something means, I'll say, "Stop. What does that mean?"
Jeffrey: I appreciate it.
Larry: So, I just ... I don't want to ... I want to make sure the audience knows. Some do, some don't.
Jeffrey: So, I'm doing [00:12:00] that, and then, um ... so, the division Beta.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Which is going on this weekend. We're going to be playing a bunch of that.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Um, but I was waiting for it to start at one in the morning, is when we knew the servers would be ...
Laura: Wow.
Larry: So, Wednesday and Thursday of the previous week.
Jeffrey: Yes. And so, um, I needed to fill some time, there, and So, I went to ... Well, I went to try my ... I bought a gaming laptop about a month ago, but I really hadn't ... there was nothing really I wanted to play. I was sort of getting ready for X-COM 2.
Larry: And if I remember correctly, you can only play ... run it at night, because that's when the power, um, costs are lowest.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: This thing is a beast.
Jeffrey: The lights ... the lights flicker a bit when I turn it on.
Larry: Seattle City Power is sending you an Email saying, "Oh, please. Only after midnight."
Jeffrey: Yeah. It was like, "Please don't bust down the door. It's not some sort of growing operation, here."
Larry: Which is legal, by the way.
Jeffrey: I suppose that's true. Although it's really not necessary.
Larry: Of course.
Jeffrey: Um, so, there were two games that I, um, tried out. So, one is, um, Rise of the Tomb Raider, which is now out for Windows 10.
Larry: Yup. I'm playing that, as well.
Jeffrey: And, very quickly, it's like, "Yeah. I'll play this again."
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: I would play this again. And, also, a note that, um, the first DLC, um, sort of scenario, um, Baba Yaga, which was first teased at, um, the VGAs, or the Video Game Awards, is now out.
Laura: Cool.
Jeffrey: Yeah. For Xbox One, and so, I'm playing through that again on Windows 10. And then also, um, The Witness. Jonathan Blow's game.
Larry: Yeah. Jonathan Blow, who did Braid.
Jeffrey: Yup.
Larry: We're all fans of Braid, on this show.
Jeffrey: And, um, had been in the works for a long time. It's a puzzle game, and it ... I mean, it's beautiful. So, I've just been sitting there. There's a little bit dial on it. It really just sort of throws you in. And, um, it does not hold your hand at all. There's no tutorial. You're just like, "Oh. I guess I need to do this. Oh! That worked!" It really, um, I keep like switching back and forth between feeling really smart and really dumb.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: But, then that's the way puzzle games always work.
Laura: That's very true.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: How reminiscent of Braid is it?
Jeffrey: Not at all.
Laura: No?
Larry: Nope.
Jeffrey: So, Braid, you know it was [00:14:00] like a ... It was almost like a ... there was elements where it took from, like, Mario. Super Mario Brothers and then just messed with time and totally went in a whole other direction.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: This ... um, most puzzle games, you'll have like a puzzle and then you solve that and then the next one's harder, and then the next one's harder, and there you have it. Um, this, you're thrown into a, um, a world. An open world, and you're seeing it from a first person perspective. It controls like any other first person game.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: And then, there are like these screens, and they you can sort of solve the puzzle, and if sometimes you go up to one, and like, "I don't even know what to do with this." And, so, I will then, just go somewhere else. And I'll do that. And sometimes it ... something will lead back to where I'll make a revelation and then all of the sudden, I'm like, "Oh, wait. Now I know how to handle that." And then, I go back to another area. I don't know, exactly, what larger purpose I'm going for, but, the puzzles, themselves, which all sort of are based off of the most simple concept and then they build and build, have been really fun.
Some of the stuff, I'm like, "Surely that can't be! Oh, my God. That was it!"
Laura: Oh.
Larry: Fun?
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: I'll have to check that out. Because, you know, usually, historically, January is a low period, but we've got ... we've got a lot of games to play. I'm playing um ... Is that all you're playing?
Jeffrey: That's all I'm playing. Is that not enough? Are you not entertained?
Larry: So, I'm working on ... we talked about Halo 5: Guardians. We're playing that. The new maps and the content update that's out. I haven't gotten my hands on that Halo 2 BR, though, that they released. Um, Rise of the Tomb Raider. I'm playing that on my PC. My new, um, gaming PC. I'm playing that in 4K. Beauty.
Laura: How is that? Tell us more about that.
Larry: I mean it's so good. It's so ...
Laura: So, this is your really awesome, fancy ...
Larry: Yeah. It's actually about to get more awesome.
Laura: What? How is that possible?
Larry: I'm adding another graphics card.
Laura: What?
Jeffrey: Like, how many do you have?
Larry: I have one in there, now, but I'm going to add another one. I just want to ... I want to ... you know, it's running ...
Jeffrey: You're gong to run some VRs.
Larry: Yeah. I'm going to ... Um... I'm working on some good stuff. So, I've got that going, Rise of the Tomb Raider. Elite Dangerous. We talked about that, Laura.
Laura: Yes.
Jeffrey: Oh, yes.
Larry: I just keep ... I don't know why, but I ... It's like it is my plan, and I keep getting sucked into it like gravity.
Laura: Really?
Larry: Yeah. It's like I-
Laura: You keep going back to it?
Larry: I don't know why. Well, I just ...
Laura: Have you ...
Jeffrey: You know, you're not the only one.
Larry: But, you know I [00:16:00] love my piloting.
Laura: It's true.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: Have you been able to figure out the economy?
Larry: No.
Laura: No?
Larry: No. Nothing. I mean I'm just excited ... I'm like silly stupid, because I'm excited that I'm able to, like ... I spend 15 minutes docking.
Laura: Yes!
Larry: Right? You know we talked about that last time. So, it's like [crosstalk 00:16:14]
Laura: That's a big challenge at the beginning.
Larry: It's fun. Did it.
Laura: Are you able to dock now?
Larry: I'm getting ... I'm getting much better. I actually ended up upside down once.
Laura: Yeah. That's hard.
Larry: I couldn't do that. I kept, like, needing a reset. I'm playing that, um ... (laughs) You didn't see this one, Jeffrey, did you? When I ... in the office. Brunswick Pro Bowling.
Laura: Bowling? Oh!
Larry: On Xbox One. Um, playing, um, a little bit of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege. We played that last week.
Jeffrey: Yeah. That's right. I forgot we got into that.
Larry: Did you have a little fun with that?
Jeffrey: I did. It's um ... I think if you're rolling with, um, the right team, which I think we really had, and we were playing PVE, we had a lot of fun. When we went online ...
Larry: We played with Phil. That's right we played with Phil. Phil Spencer was joining us, yeah.
Laura: Awesome. He jumped in?
Jeffrey: Yeah. We rolled for a couple of hours.
Larry: Yeah. We were rolling hard and deep with that one for a long time.
Laura: Nice.
Jeffrey: We're talking about video games, right?
Larry: Yeah, we are.
Jeffrey: Okay cool. And, um, yeah. We had a good time. I would say PVE: a lot of fun. PVP: Um, people know what they're doing online and we got wrecked.
Larry: And we don't. Yeah. We're like, "I can grow. Okay, you got the stairs covered? Okay you got that door covered?" Boom! The ceiling blows out, the side of the wall blows out, and we're dead.
Jeffrey: We had the best of intentions.
Laura: Oh, no!
Larry: Yeah, and then just boom.
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Not so much. So, that's kind of what I'm playing this week. Looking forward to getting into The Division Beta. Um, you know, the other game we're playing this week, that Jeff and I just finished playing together ... Well, unfortunately you weren't participating in this one, is the Move the Office game.
Laura: Oh, that doesn't sound like a fun game at all.
Jeffrey: Oh, you have no idea.
Larry: Jeff and I ... Okay, if you follow me on Twitter or you follow me on Instagram, you've seen me post some photos ... Jeff and I, our teams, um, have moved offices. We're now actually ... (laughs) We're actually in a different zip code. We're in a different town.
Laura: You're in a different city.
Larry: Yeah. We're in a different city.
Jeffrey: We went from like a very suburban, rural almost feel, to the campus here, to ... we're out in the city.
Laura: The big city.
Larry: I knew it was different because Jeff was wearing his skinny jeans, and he was getting all [00:18:00] hipster.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Look. Just because I don't want to drink the coffee out of the free machines, [crosstalk 00:18:06].
Larry: I'm not judging, I'm not judging. So, we moved our offices, and that doesn't really mean anything to you, the end-user, but if you follow us on, um, Twitter, you know it's a little amusing. Like, we have to actually ... our studio is located closer to Laura's office, over here on the main campus, so we come over here ... Jeff and I will come over here frequently to record the show, but we're just ... but that's the beautiful part about ... about, um, technology, now. Sure, Jeff. You and I are on the other side of campus, but, like Laura, you're just an I'm away.
Laura: That's true.
Larry: Whether you're five feet away, or whether you're five, six miles away, and that's the way the teams are working virtually.
Jeffrey: It's the global village life.
Larry: It is. I've heard of this. I've heard of this. Anyway, so ... but you need to come over and see our offices.
Laura: I do. I haven't yet.
Larry: Yes. You would like them. We're getting used to them. So, Jeffrey, lets talk about news. What do you got over there?
Jeffrey: All right. So ...
Larry: Over to the news desk with you, Jeffrey!
Jeffrey: Yeah, so thanks for, um ... Five PM, top of the hour ...
Larry: Top of the hour. Here we go.
Jeffrey: I wasn't really ready.
Larry: Headlines.
Jeffrey: Yeah. So, um, I talked about Tomb Raider. So, um, Rise of the Tomb Raider out on Windows 10 right now, and also, um, Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, um, DLC, which again was teased earlier. So, I'll put a trailer ... I'll put a link to that into the show notes.
Larry: Thank you.
Jeffrey: Um, big announcement from Insomniac Games.
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: Who you would know from Sunset Overdrive.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: Among many other things on ...
Jeffrey: Amongst many, many other things. The Ratchet and Clank franchise, and other things like that. Um, so they've announced a new game. Um, Song of the Deep, which is coming to Xbox One, and, um, that will be coming out later this year.
Laura: Cool.
Jeffrey: So, um, we got the first trailer. It's coming out this summer. Um, and so we have that over on Xbox Wire. I can link over to that. Um, The Division Beta. And, so a lot of people are going to be jumping in to that. Um, at this point it has passed, but, um, first on Xbox One, and I think we'll be enjoying that throughout the weekend and hopefully beyond. Um, and you also had some notes on how to install it. So, if you pre-ordered The Division ...
Larry: Yes. A couple of important notes, here.
Jeffrey: What you need to do.
Larry: Pre-ordered [00:20:00] it on Xbox One.
Jeffrey: Yes. Um, how to get it. So, I'll link to that in show notes, as well.
Larry: Good.
Jeffrey: Um, we announced our games with gold for February.
Laura: Exciting.
Jeffrey: So, we have on Xbox One, Hand of Fate. And then, also Styx: Master of Shadows. Um, so that will take us through ...
Larry: It's a famous river, I believe, in the middle-east. The river Styx.
Jeffrey: I don't think it's ... I think it's in Hell. That's where the river Styx is.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Especially if you don't like Mr. Roboto. Then there's a whole other ... And then on, um, Xbox 360, it'll be Sacred Citadel and Gears of War 2.
Laura: Cool.
Jeffrey: And, um, of note, those games are backwards compatible. So, you'll be able to play even if you only have an Xbox One, not a 360. Go ahead. You'll be able to click through, download it, and then, um, play it on your Xbox One.
Larry: Always good stuff.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: And some new releases. Um, Lego Marvel Avengers came out for Xbox One. I'm definitely going to be playing that. There's a demo for, um, WRC, World Rally Championship.
Larry: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: People, they like the demos. Um, puzzle games, Sparkle 2, and then Road Blocks, which is free. And it's a game where people can create all kinds of stuff.
Larry: Yeah, and we showed that on the um ... You know I do this weekly show on your console called This Week on Xbox Video Show.
Jeffrey: Hm. When did that start?
Larry: Oh, boy. We started that in May.
Jeffrey: Oh.
Larry: We started like almost a year
Laura: Almost? Almost a year?
Larry: Almost a year, yeah.
Laura: It feels like just yesterday.
Larry: It does feel ...
Jeffrey: We need to give out the Majors. Like some sort of award at the end of the year.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Yeah, you're probably right. But anyway, so yeah. We covered a little bit on This Week on Xbox. You want to see This Week on Xbox. You know, I tweet it out every Friday. Um, we put it on YouTube. But, if you really want the genuine experience, Laura, you have to watch it on your console.
Laura: Absolutely.
Larry: You know why?
Laura: The interactive features.
Larry: Exactly. Not only am I in High Def - and I'm sorry about that, America and the word - um, but more importantly, it's interactive. So, as we're talking about different things, you just hit A and it will take you in to download the demo to watch the video a little bit further. It's really kind of cool. If you haven't checked it out, please do and let me know what you, um, let me know what you think. Hit me up on, um, Twitter @Majornelson and let me know. Or you can tell Laura or Jeff. I don't care. But, either way it will get back to me.
Laura: Okay.
Jeffrey: Just [00:22:00] tell Laura.
Larry: Yeah. Tell Laura. Hit Laura up on Twitter.
Jeffrey: And, um, the last little bit of news, there. Um, Saints Row: Metro double pack.
Larry: Now, did you play any of the Saints Row games? I've played a lot of them.
Jeffrey: Of course. Yeah. Saints Row 3, I thought was, when it first came ... No. The original Saints Row on 360.
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: When that came out, that was just, like, a huge breath of fresh air. Um, in terms of like, it really advanced everything that had been going on in the GTA series. I felt like maybe it has and maybe it hasn't, but in my mind, I think it helped push things forward in the GTA series and helped make it better. Like, things that we take for granted in all open world games, like, um, GPS. Like when a little arrow goes on the street. That was pioneered by, um, Saints Row.
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: And I always felt it was really fun. I think it was Saints Row ... Maybe it was the original one. Your character didn't speak at all. And, I made my guy kind of like a gangsta Andy Reed. NFL coach Andy Reed.
Larry: Remember Saints Row the Third?
Jeffrey: I do remember that.
Larry: I need a hero?
Jeffrey: Oh yes.
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: The music in three was amazing. But like, your character didn't speak the whole time and at one point, there's someone who won't shut up, and the only line in the entire game, your person goes, "Will you just shut the whatever up?"
Larry: Right.
Jeffrey: And then everyone just stops, turns and looks. And you're character is like, "Yeah. I can talk. I just chose not to."
Laura: (laugh)
Jeffrey: And that was it. Doesn't talk again for the rest of the game. Um, yeah. Some great music in Saints Row 3. Kanye West, Power. When you're like, coming in. Um, when you're parachuting into, like, the high-rise.
Larry: Yup.
Jeffrey: I'm a huge fan of that series.
Larry: That's right. Anyway, I am well a big fan of the series.
Jeffrey: You are well.
Larry: I am well. (laughs) Earlier in the show I wasn't, but I am now.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Whew.
Laura: I'm glad you're okay now.
Larry: Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you for asking. Thank you. Go ahead, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: No, I think, um, that's it from the news side. The new releases side. Are you not entertained?
Larry: I am. I'm highly entertained. This show entertains me. Um, I've got a lot going on over the next few months. I'm working on some amazing projects that I'm not ready to talk about yet. Laura, you know most of them.
Laura: How you ... How dare you tease?
Larry: Well, you know most of them.
Laura: Do [00:24:00] I?
Larry: Well, I forwarded you emails about a couple of ...
Laura: Okay. Those projects?
Larry: Yeah. Those projects.
Laura: Oh, man!
Larry: So, we can't talk about them yet, can we?
Laura: No.
Larry: No. But, we will, once I can. There's some really cool stuff coming up. We are, um, working on some really nifty things and, um, (laughs). We may have a show next week, we may not. Um, you know, Jeff may be traveling.
Laura: Wait. We don't have Jeff?
Jeffrey: Oh, yeah. I'm just working on some stuff.
Larry: Working on some stuff in the bay area. Big football game or something. I don't know.
Laura: Something like that?
Jeffrey: Not reallyt a sports guy.
Larry: All right. We've got a little Name the Game action. Um, Laura, this is a weekly feature. Or, a show feature. It's not weekly. It's whenever we do a show where, um, we play a clip from an Xbox 360 or an Xbox One game, You send us an email with a guess, we take all those correct answers, put them into a hat, pull them out, and name a winner. Right?
Laura: That is correct.
Larry: I think I've pretty much captured it, right?
Laura: That is the essence of it, indeed.
Larry: All right. So, that ... Do we have a clip? You got your clip ready for this week?
Laura: I do. Let's roll last week's clip. (clip playing)
[00:25:25] So, that was Name the Game from last time. It was a pretty hard one. It was 6180 The Moon.
Larry: Now, you haven't played this yet?
Laura: Not yet.
Larry: I have. I don't want to say I finished it, but I kind of did.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: The reason I say, is because you have to solve a series of puzzles going one way, and then you basically come back the other way.
Laura: I see.
Larry: So, like I got halfway up.
Laura: It does look something that's up my street, though. It's a puzzle game based on gravity.
Larry: Yeah. I told you this. I covered this last month. You don't listen to me.
Laura: No. Clearly I don't.
Larry: That's what happens.
Laura: But, Larry, can you tell us who has won?
Larry: That's what happens when you block me on Xbox [00:26:00] One.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Um, sure. I sure can do that, Laura! The name of the winner is ... His gamer tag is Djtoughpuppy. His name is Colin, and he is from Portland, Oregon.
Laura: All right!
Larry: So, he said it ... it says right there. He says, "Okay to say info."
Laura: Great. Congratulations, Colin.
Larry: Colin's street address is ... No, I won't give you that. I'll just say where you're from. Anyway, congratulations, Colin. We got a whole raft o'games headed your way. I believe I've got a code for, um, Tomb Raider, and a few other things. So, we'll make sure we email those out to you.
Um, so now that we've got that out of the way, it clears the deck for a brand new Name the Game.
Laura: It does.
Larry: We're going to ... Laura's going to step up to the machine, press the button, we're going to play a random clip from a random game, and then the rest is up to you, frankly. Right?
Laura: That's very true.
Larry: Are you ready?
Laura: Right. Let me press the button. (clip playing)
[00:27:24] So that was Name the Game for this week. Like Larry said, if you think you know what game those sounds are from, you can enter this simple competition by sending me an email. [email protected] and cc [email protected]. Include what game you think it is.
Larry: It's not simple. It's not simple.
Laura: It is simple.
Larry: Well, it's simple once you know then answer.
Laura: Yes.
Larry: (laughs)
Laura: Listen. Guess.
Larry: You listen, yeah. So ...
Laura: One entry per person.
Larry: Yes.
Laura: And if you can hear our voice-
Larry: Yup.
Laura: - you can enter this competition.
Larry: And you can ... Don't ... don't ... you know, don't tell us on Twitter. You've got to send us an email.
Laura: That's true.
Larry: Sorry, we're going old-school. I know there's a lot of people that don't like to do email anymore. Email or phone calls, right?
Laura: What? [00:28:00] Email is going away?
Jeffrey: Oh. In a perfect world.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Well, it seems like a lot of people ... No. Yes. It's not going away entirely, but, um, [crosstalk 00:28:09]
Laura: That's how I run my life, is through email.
Larry: Is it?
Laura: Yes. I just can't imagine a world without email.
Larry: I remember it.
Jeffrey: I remember it. It's called, like, 1994.
Larry: I remember it, Laura.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Laura, there was a time, and I'm sure you remember this ...
Laura: I do remember.
Larry: ... where you were excited to hear "You've got mail."
Jeffrey: Ooh.
Laura: That's ...
Jeffrey: I didn't even think about it.
Larry: Right. And then all of the sudden it was terrible. You didn't want to get any more mail, right? Because it was like, that was a bad sound you heard.
Jeffrey: You're not going to defend "You've got mail."
Laura: How bad is Tom Hanks?
Jeffrey: It was like, "Sleepless in Seattle was a big hit? How do we follow that up? Lets add more internets!"
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: Cha-ching!
Larry: I'm going to have to agree with you, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey: I really didn't like that movie.
Larry: No. I didn't like it. It wasn't Joe Versus the Volcano.
Jeffrey: I think what was so quaint about it, and so short-sighted, was that Tom hanks worked for some big, mega book company.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: And he was putting the small book company out of business.
Laura: Right?
Jeffrey: Meanwhile, it was about the internet. And how has that worked out for ...
Laura: Not so good.
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Laura: Not so good. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeffrey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Laura: There's irony, there.
Jeffrey: Yeah. You won the battle, Tom Hanks, but you lost the war.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: (sighs) All right. So, there you go. So, if you know the name of that clip, just, um, shoot us an email. Laura and I would love to hear from you, wherever you're from. Let us know where you're from. We love to know where the listeners are.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: Whew, baby. What a week it's been in gaming, huh?
Jeffrey: I'm just thinking about all of solid ... awesome games we're playing.
Larry: January is usually a quiet time, but not so.
Jeffrey: Yeah. I think I've had more nights past midnight playing than in the past several months.
Larry: We've been burning the midnight oil.
Jeffrey: Yeah. It's good.
Larry: We got Phil into the party. You know, Laura, you can play with us sometime, when Phil joins us. Even our VP joins us, Laura. Which is kind of great.
Laura: Okay.
Larry: That's all
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: Oh. She's looking at us. Ice queen over there. Okay. So, you're on your own.
Jeffrey: I'll tell you what. You've never been so careful on a game that has friendly fire on ...
Larry: [00:30:00] Than with Phil.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Larry: In fact we had an over/under who was going to pop ... who was going to take him out the first time. Who was it? Was it Trey?
Jeffrey: No. I don't think any of us took him out. I ...
Larry: (laughs)
Jeffrey: He said he listens to the show, but he probably doesn't get this far into the show.
Laura: (laughs)
Jeffrey: I did. In the last round, he came around a corner, and I pegged him. I didn't take him down, but um, I hope he didn't notice.
Larry: Yeah, he didn't notice. Hey! If you're an Xbox ... If you're in the preview program, we've got some really cool stuff coming your way. I teased it on Twitter, earlier this week. Um, we announced what the features were last week, but we deployed a preview to the preview, um, program that wasn't feature-complete, yet. Right Laura? That's the engineering term?
Laura: That is the engineering term.
Larry: So, um, we're going to be pushing some new builds out. One of them is you're going to be able to rearrange your pins, which I demonstrated in a video.
Laura: I saw that on Twitter.
Larry: Did you see that? Do, do, do, do.
Laura: Yeah, and it was really cool.
Larry: Um, you can either do it in the menu, or you can press Y down and do it.
Laura: Sweet.
Larry: Obviously I can't show that, because I didn't have a camera on the controller. So I've got that and a bunch of other cool stuff coming along with the preview program. And, um, the Xbox app on Windows 10 has also been updated. So, go check that out. We've got a whole bunch of stuff going on.
Laura: It's a lot of stuff.
Larry: Those crazy software developers are back at work and they are just churning some ...
Laura: They are.
Larry: They are making code.
Laura: They are coding away.
Larry: They're coding like maniacs.
Jeffrey: Order up!
Larry: Order up.
Jeffrey: Do they do that?
Larry: I don't know, do they?
Jeffrey: You know coding. Laura, when you. Like, finish it do you ring a little bell?
Laura: That would be a good idea, but no. There's no bells. But that's a great idea.
Jeffrey: See? You just need a little bit of fresh thinking from someone who knows absolutely nothing about coding.
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). Check in. Ding!
Larry: Ding! Ding! Check in. Want to talk about gadgets? Any news? Got anything in the gadgets department? I got something interesting I want to talk about after you guys go ahead.
Laura: Oh.
Jeffrey: No, you go ahead.
Larry: Um, Raspberry Pi.
Laura: Yes. You told me about this.
Larry: Yeah, I bought a Raspberry Pi, so I'm playing around with that on my home network.
Jeffrey: It sounds delicious. Tell me more.
Larry: It's a ... So, for those of you that don't know, the Raspberry Pi is a small device, its about ... Laura, it's about this big, and I'm holding my hands up in a square.
Laura: That really helps the people who can't see you.
Jeffrey: Credit card size.
Larry: It's about the size of a Twinkie.
Jeffrey: Or ... Okay. Fair enough.
Laura: A Twinkie? Didn't they go out of business, but they're back, now?
Jeffrey: They're back.
Larry: Yeah.
Laura: Are they ... They're really back?
Jeffrey: They really are. You can go into a store and buy a Twinkie.
Larry: Its about the size of a small ... like that hard drive, over there.
Laura: [00:32:00] Again, not helpful for the audience at home.
Larry: I know, but they understand what a little portable hard drive looks like.
Jeffrey: A Twinkie is probably ...
Larry: Anyway, it's a ... So, it's a little device that you can ... that has a ... you can actually load a version of Windows 10 on it. I've got Linux on it, and I'm going to load Windows 10. So, I'm just learning a couple of little things that, um ... Just ... you know me. I like to some ... You never said anything about some of the stuff I sent you. I've got to talk to you about that off the air.
Jeffrey: Ideally, what would you do with it? What's the ...
Laura: What's the goal?
Jeffrey: Yeah.
Larry: Um, well I could do some home automation stuff. Um, I've got it, um, I just want to understand what's going on, here and frankly, what it can do. I'm coming up with some interesting scenarios. I know a lot of people have set it up where it'll tweet when you do certain things. I'm not going to do that to my, you know almost a million twitter followers.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: I won't do that. Um, but I'm just going to play around with it.
Jeffrey: All right.
Larry: I want to understand what it's all about.
Jeffrey: So, can you eat it?
Larry: No. You can not eat it. It is a piece of ...
Jeffrey: I've never had raspberry pie, but marionberry pie is so good.
Larry: Raspberry pie is delicious.
Laura: Marionberry?
Larry: Yeah.
Jeffrey: You've never had marionberry pie?
Laura: No. What is that?
Jeffrey: Oh, my God. We're going to Whole Foods.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Wow. How do you not have ... Wow.
Laura: What is a marionberry?
Jeffrey: It's kind of like a raspberry.
Larry: It's kind of like a raspberry.
Jeffrey: I've only seen it ... I've only seen ...
Laura: Does it taste like one?
Jeffrey: It's maybe not quite as sour.
Laura: Okay.
Jeffrey: But, it's along that line.
Larry: It's from this area. It's from the Washington area. I've heard them ... I've seen them out here a lot. But, yeah. Marionberry.
Laura: I guess blackberries get all the love, because they're everywhere.
Jeffrey: Yeah. Um, blackberries, you know, are good. But, they're no marionberries.
Laura: Oh!
Larry: Anyway ...
Jeffrey: We need to fix this.
Larry: Um, so ... so Raspberry Pi is not something you eat.
Jeffrey: But, like, they're tempting me.
Larry: Um, what else? We talked about the fact that I'm dropping a second video card into my computer, but we can talk a little about that the next time do that.
Laura: Do you want to tell me a little bit about your car? Because you sent me ... saying you got, if this then that.
Larry: I have IFTT in my BMW, now. Because they have now, for the i3 where you can do certain things ...
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: ... with, um, you know with IFTT. Like, if you ... you know it'll email you if it gets below a certain percent. There's a whole series of things. It's part of their, like, lab. You know, kind of a Beta program. I'm testing it out.
Laura: Have you set anything up?
Larry: I have. Every morning I get in the car [00:34:00] and it'll display the daily forecast, right there on the screen.
Laura: That's cool. So, how did you set that up? Was it door opening, or ...
Larry: No, it's ... I think it's just when I turn the car ... frankly, when I turn the car on.
Laura: Start the car, show weather?
Larry: You can see it when I start the car up. Um, so I think it's only that. I'm playing around with it. It's still in its infancy. I'll just say that. Um, I'll tell you, kind of in the gadgets, but not really, and you ... you and I haven't even talked about ... another thing we haven't talked about. The Revenant.
Laura: The movie?
Larry: Yes.
Laura: That's a gadget?
Larry: Well, it's just not ... not games.
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: So, did you watch it yet?
Laura: No. No I haven't watched it yet.
Larry: Okay. Because we were talking about this ...
Laura: You kind of, sort of warned me off it a little bit.
Larry: Yeah, I did. I said ... Have you seen it, Jeff? The Revenant?
Jeffrey: No. You told me all about it. It got my attention.
Larry: Yeah. It's ... I don't want to spoil it, because I ... Just ... just I don't want to spoil it.
Laura: Yeah.
Larry: It's ... it's ... it's a little violent. It's a lot violent, okay?
Laura: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Larry: I guess it's not ... you're right Laura. It's not a gadget. Thank you for keeping ...
Laura: (laughs)
Larry: Thank you ... thank you for keeping me on task.
Laura: Keeping you honest.
Larry: Thank you.
Laura: Keeping you honest.
Larry: Um, next week we're going to, um ... So, we've got a bunch of stuff going on. I've got, um, some really cool interviews I'm lining up. Some of the cooler projects that, Laura, I've talked to you about.
Laura: I can't wait to hear about it.
Larry: Off the air. I look forward to bringing those forward and getting ... getting some of those onto the show, here, because we've got some really cool stuff. Jeff, you worried over there? You got something going on?
Jeffrey: I'm just looking at stuff.
Larry: Yeah, we're going to wrap things up, here, because, um ... we're going to wrap this show up. It's, um ... We'll see you on The Division Beta, all weekend long, most likely.
Jeffrey: Absolutely.
Larry: Seeing what the weather is like. Laura, what are you going to be doing all this weekend. What are you going to do?
Laura: I'm going to play Oxenfree.
Larry: Oh, you've got to ... I think you can finish it. I'm confident you can finish it.
Laura: It's really fun.
Larry: So, we're looking forward to next week. Assuming we can get everything in order for next week, we'll have another show next week. Um, we'll get everybody back in here. We'll talk about what we're playing, um, and tease some of the cool stuff coming up. So, thank you for, um ... Jeffrey thanks for joining us.
Jeffrey: I'm always happy to do it.
Larry: It's always fun to come over here. Laura it's great to have us ... to be back in out old studio, even though this is where you are.
Laura: It is. Thank you for walking all the way ... or driving.
Larry: Driving. We drive in.
Laura: Driving all the way over here, when I had to walk.
Larry: Yeah, you had to walk. So ... [00:36:00] All right, gang, we'll talk to you all next week. Bye, bye, everybody!
Laura: Bye, bye!
Jeffrey: Bye!