566: Quantum Break’s Sam Lake and more

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Larry Hryb: Welcome back, everybody.

Jeff Rubenstein: Is is that it? (laugh) Did we just come back from a commercial break?

Larry Hryb: Welcome back. Well, we've been gone for a little while. Welcome back. My name's Larry Hrybex X-Box Live's Major Nelson. You know my voice. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. You certainly know Jeffery's voice. You heard Jeffery. Hello Jeffery.

Jeff Rubenstein: Best hour of the week. Or bi-weekly.

Larry Hryb: This is this ... Or yeah, whenever it happens. And then, uh, Laura unfortunately is not joining us, so sitting in for Laura is Mr, Mr James Pfaff.

James Pfaff: Hey, how's it going?

Larry Hryb: Known as Litheon. You're one of the developers on the Xbox team.

James Pfaff: Yeah. We're building cool stuff. Always.

Jeff Rubenstein: See spoilers.

Larry Hryb: So let me just tell you what you just did. You said that, and and I know you are, but there's certain, there's certain, you know click-hungry press out there that are gonna to listen to that quote, and write an entire article about what you just said (laughs).

James Pfaff: Well, I hope that wasn't enough meat for the article.

Larry Hryb: Well ... No, no, no. It already is.

Jeff Rubenstein: Headline. Microsoft colon Really Cool Stuff. (laugh)

Larry Hryb: Exactly, so ... But anyway.

Jeff Rubenstein: No, he's working on the refrigeration system in here. It's, it's chilly. It's cold.

Larry Hryb: It's cold.

James Pfaff: Yeah, it's uh, you know it's pretty warm out here in Seattle now and uh we, we need really good air-conditioning.

Jeff Rubenstein: Just freaking me out, by the way.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, welcome! Great to see ya. You come on the show frequently. You've been working on a lot of Xbox uh, Xbox code stuff.

James Pfaff: The codes.

Larry Hryb: The codes, and doing stuff. There's a whole team that works on really cool stuff and you're part of that team.

James Pfaff: Yeah it's uh, it's actually the ... It's called the really cool stuff team.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, and I can, I can confirm that I've been over to your desk and you have shown me cool stuff. That's the headline press! The tribute, me. Not him. (laughs) So, that's the headline. Now it's funny because I post ... I'm over on Reddit. You've probably heard of this Reddit thing.

Jeff Rubenstein: What's this now? You've already read it why do I ...

Larry Hryb: No, no, no. I'm saying, I'm saying when I'm on Reddit, whenever I reply to somebody, somebody pulls it out and makes a quote for some ridiculous reason. So, anyway. But anyway.

James Pfaff: Just in, the sky is blue in Seattle.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. It's, it's just in. Anyway, welcome everybody and uh, we're gonna get into what games we're playing. We've got uh, Sam Lake from uh Remedy Entertainment. Uh, the folks behind Quantum Break. I had a chance to catch up with Sam so I've got that interview coming up later on. Have you played Quantum Break yet, James?

James Pfaff: I haven't. I've downloaded it.

Larry Hryb: Okay. That doesn't count.

James Pfaff: I know. It's the, the aspiration to play it is there.

Larry Hryb: Okay. Jeffrey?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. The only way to win is to not play. Uh, yeah. I'm in act four. Something that like surprised me is that I'm really into the episodes.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: The actual like TV shows.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Are good. I'm about to ... I think I'm pretty close to seeing my fourth episode.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, we're ... I'll talk to Sam about that later on in the show so we don't wanna talk to much about that, but it's out this week. Just a reminder that if you uh, if you, if you pre-ordered it on Xbox one you'll be getting a code shortly in your message center on your console, or on the Xbox app. Uh, that will have a code for you to download it for the PC, PC version for free.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm doing that. So I actually loaded it up for the first time last night.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And uh, I wanted to optimize it for my laptop and I was like, Well, let me load it up. And just like it instantly picked up from exactly where I left off.

Larry Hryb: Right!

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And I picked up a couple collectibles and I played for act four-one, and then uh, I had to go do something, and then later on the TV had freed up and I loaded it up.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:03:16] console.

Jeff Rubenstein: There was no syncing or ... It just happened.

Larry Hryb: Just magical.

Jeff Rubenstein: I played four, two, and three.

Larry Hryb: Magical. That's kinda some of the cool stuff that your team works on.

Jeff Rubenstein: You're like, Yeah, that's pretty standard stuff from where I sit.

Larry Hryb: (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: ... But it's cool when it works.

James Pfaff: Yeah. It's okay. That's okay. No, it's actually really awesome stuff. I think it's actually been working for a long time, so ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I think there's just ... I guess I'm not used to it.

James Pfaff: Yeah, exactly.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's pretty cool.

Larry Hryb: ... Uh, so anyways, why don't we talk about what we're playing. James, I'm gonna let you start uh, since you are our infrequent guest on the show. Talk about what you're playing.

James Pfaff: Yeah. Well uh ...

Larry Hryb: We know what you're not playing. (laughs) We talked about that.

James Pfaff: [crosstalk 00:03:46] Not having played Quantum Break yet. I'm definitely gonna get into it, I just wanna carve out enough time to play it. Uh, but per the usual I, I play a lot of Halo5, or like shooters in general.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

James Pfaff: ... And uh, you know the, the update came out uh, I think yesterday.

Larry Hryb: Ghosts of Meridian.

James Pfaff: [crosstalk 00:04:02] Wednesday.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: ... And uh, yeah Ghosts of Meridian uh, it's awesome. And uh, we actually, we managed to play uh, one war zone game uh ...

Larry Hryb: We did, yes.

James Pfaff: Skirmish [crosstalk 00:04:11].

Larry Hryb: You and I, Jeff, and somebody else [inaudible 00:04:13] from the team we're playing in ... And Ryan [Trite 00:04:15], and we played it and we had some fun.

Jeff Rubenstein: Favorite moment of that entire night was at the very beginning of the map.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, what we're used to with War Zone is, you spawn or you come off of a flying APC into an area.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And there's like, you know, NPC dogs or whatever that you shoot and you take over your base, and you go from there.

Larry Hryb: To kinda ease you into the combat.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, we did that. We come in, and there was like, oh there's like a ... There's a boss. Like a, one of those ones that get you 25 victory points, is it?

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And um, and we had like ... We take them out, and we're like, Weird. I wonder if they have one too? And then we like, come around a corner and there's like nine blue dudes. And we all just go, Aah!

Larry Hryb: Yeah. On the, on the new map.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, and then ...

Larry Hryb: ... Because we, we did ... that's the first time we played the map so we really didn't understand it yet.

James Pfaff: It seemed like it was the first time they played it too, because they're like, Oh. But there, there's uh, red guys.

Jeff Rubenstein: There's guys there. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Why are they there?

Larry Hryb: I think they were just as surprised. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: There was just a beat, and then I, I dropped a grenade and then I was gone and, and yes ... Anyway, it's a great map.

Larry Hryb: They were just a surprised as we were, but that was a lot of fun. We won that one. We actually, we ... What did we play? Three rounds and we won? Well you ... I had to, I jumped off and you continued, but ...

James Pfaff: Uh, yeah we, we played a war zone map.

Larry Hryb: That we lost. [crosstalk 00:05:14]

Jeff Rubenstein: The first one we escaped.

James Pfaff: It was a good warm-up. It was a good warm-up.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. 500 to 1000. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: We lost pretty bad.

James Pfaff: It was pretty brutal. Uh, we, like we started it out pretty well, and then uh, you know, I think we were a little rusty and the other team was uh, like a little more well-oiled of a machine.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

James Pfaff: ... And they kinda rolled us towards the end.

Larry Hryb: ... And then we got into uh, and then we go in to try the new map, and that's ... We, we, we won there.

James Pfaff: Yeah. The skirmish at Dark Star. Which uh, it's, it's cool in that ... yeah it's, I think it's like uh, there's one other map, I forget the name of it, that you basically, you spawn in a neutral location and you try to get to something, and the, the middle of the map.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: ... And then you kinda have to go out of the way to get to the west or east armories.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: ... But uh, one thing I actually really liked about it that's different from a lot of the maps that we've play, is that it's not actually as vehicle friendly.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: It's uh, it's a little different in that regard. I like ... There was a, there was a boss.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

James Pfaff: A [legender 00:06:00] that had spawned and I'm like, All right. I'm gonna go in and kill the guy. Like I, I spawned like a ghost. Or, I'm sorry, a banshee ultra. Flying in there, and like, Oh. There's not really an angle on this guy. And like they were getting really really close to killing the guy. So I'm just like, Whatever. Like kamikaze in there, like shot him with a fuel rod cannon when I'm right next to him, and I died and they still got him.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, did the same thing, and I was like, Oh. And I spawned like a, like a sword ghost or something, and then I was like, Uh, I, I can't fit. I'm too big for this.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: It's a, it's, it's a lot of fun. You should check out it. The update for Halo 5. Of course, I, I, I met uh, to my surprise, I wasn't ready for it, somebody had a Hannibal scorpion last night. Which was pretty brutal.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Is that the one with the like ...

Larry Hryb: Laser.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... [inaudible 00:06:41] guns. I ...

Larry Hryb: Yeah. It's got ... I don't know what it is.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: All I know is there's a flash and I'm dead. That's, I don't know exactly what it is. (laugh) So there's a bunch of stuff, and there's also a um, there's a new mantis and a bunch of other cool stuff there. So check it out over at Halo way point. Jeff, let's make sure we include those notes if you can.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Absolutely.

Larry Hryb: ... And then also put those in the notes there among the other things. So anyway, playing some Halo. What else you playing? Oh! I know what we're playing.

James Pfaff: ... Uh well, yeah. Obviously, been uh, I been playing uh, a bunch of The Division. Not as much as some people at this table. Um ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Level 22?

Larry Hryb: I'm only 19. When did you play?

Jeff Rubenstein: During conference calls. I run through like the little uh, the little hexagonal side missions.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: It adds up. Every little bit helps New York Larry.

James Pfaff: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: I, well I know that. So you're playing that?

James Pfaff: Yeah, like a [inaudible 00:07:24]. I mean and uh, yeah like I said, not as much as you guys, but it's ... I'm really enjoying it. Especially, like the environments are awesome. The, the assorted quests are pretty cool in that, it's, it's not a like go here and like open this chest and do this thing. It's like, hey you know, restore the power to this section of New York, or uh, hey, like go rescue these people that are like locked in a closet with a bunch of like evil dudes.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: [inaudible 00:07:49]

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And occasionally a hand gun in a box, but let's uh ... I'll suspend my disbelief.

James Pfaff: (laugh)

Larry Hryb: But we had some fun with it. We played uh ... And then, and then what we haven't done is ... because I'm on level, I think I'm 19 now, and you're level 13?

James Pfaff: I'm yeah, I'm level 13.

Larry Hryb: So ...

James Pfaff: Like, we did, we did try out the Dark Zone.

Larry Hryb: We tried the Dark Zone but because of the level discrepancies it, it separated us. Which is fine, but we, we ... I was trying to remember because you're playing it, and I'm you know, I'm playing it in the Dark Zone, and you're obviously in a separate instance of the Dark Zone, so I'm trying to explain to you what going ... It's cool.

James Pfaff: Yeah, it was. It was actually really funny having Larry like talking in my ear while I'm trying to stay alive because I like ... When uh that happened I was the lowest level you could be to get into the Dark Zone.

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

James Pfaff: I was level 10.

Larry Hryb: You're like 10.1. (laughs)

James Pfaff: ... And then the enemies around me are like level 13 and 14.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: And like, you know the [crosstalk 00:08:30]

Larry Hryb: You're just trying to, trying to stay alive.

James Pfaff: Yeah and, well it's super funny. I like, I actually you know, met up with like a random, and like started uh, like taking out some of the uh ...

Larry Hryb: With him?

James Pfaff: Yeah, like, with the ...

Larry Hryb: With the random.

James Pfaff: Yeah, and I took out some of the NCP's like around me. And the guy, he gets injured and like has to get a revive. So, he comes over to me and I'm like, All right. Yeah I'll like, yeah I'll totally revive the guy. And then, 30 seconds later, like not 30 seconds later I'm down, and I'm like crawling over to guy, and I'm like, Hey man.

Larry Hryb: Hey! Help! Little Help!

James Pfaff: You gonna revive me? Like, Hey uh, you know I'm down here. And no, and he just, he just looked at me, and he's like, No.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Bleeding out.

James Pfaff: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: That's ...

James Pfaff: I think he just, like he thought I ... I think he thought I had items, and he didn't want to go rogue and take them, so ...

Larry Hryb: Right. He's just waiting for you to bleed out.

James Pfaff: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: Well, and that's, that's the beauty of the Dark Zone. That's why we need to get you, and me, and Jeffrey if he wants to.

Jeff Rubenstein: Of course I want to.

Larry Hryb: ... And try to get a few others, and we'll go into the Dark Zone, and we'll, we'll show you. We'll show you how it goes.

James Pfaff: Yeah I'm ... And that's why I'm trying to vie for the higher levels so I can play with you guys.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. So we'll, we'll ... I'm, I'm, I'm kinda stopping playing that. Waiting till you catch up, so. Jeff on the other hand apparently has a lot of conference calls. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Look I take, I take whatever opportunity I get.

Larry Hryb: That's the ... We work in a ... We work in an environment where we like to multi-task, and Jeff's form of multi-tasking is playing games while he's on conference calls.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's the best way to do it.

Larry Hryb: I'm not, I'm just, I ...

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And then they call on you, and I'm like, Uh, give me one sec.

Larry Hryb: I'm sorry what did you say? I dropped out there.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:09:44]

Larry Hryb: Exactly. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Roger that.

Larry Hryb: Could you repeat that? (laugh) So, there you go.

James Pfaff: ... Uh, yeah. Like, I've been loving The Division, but other than that I actually uh, I've been playing ... Well I, I play games at work a little differently than Jeffrey here does, but uh ...

Larry Hryb: Why?

Jeff Rubenstein: You're not allowed to call me Jeffrey yet.

Larry Hryb: (laugh)

James Pfaff: Well I ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Larry, Larry can do it. Larry and my mom are literally ... that's it. It feels weird for me to call you James.

James Pfaff: Yeah right.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's like uh, [inaudible 00:10:11].

James Pfaff: Uh, I'll call you Rub.

Jeff Rubenstein: There we are.

James Pfaff: Somewhere in the middle.

Jeff Rubenstein: Perfect.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

James Pfaff: ... But uh, so like I can't really, you know, write code and play at the same time.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: It's a little difficult.

Larry Hryb: Well you can but you won't write good code. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Yeah, like the only time I could do that is if I'm compiling, and even then it usually ... It takes about a minute.

Larry Hryb: So this is the difference. You performing mission critical duties. Jeff, not. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Yeah those, those calls sound pretty important.

Jeff Rubenstein: I was thinking about this uh, on the way over after I came out of our games meeting, and I was driving over here to a different office.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And I was like, Oh, I'm so stressed. And I was like, Wait a second. I just came out of a meeting about a game.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: This is not, you know, life and death. It's awesome, and it's great, and I love it.

Larry Hryb: Right. We love ...

Jeff Rubenstein: It gave me some much needed perspective.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's, it's, it's ... We love working. I, I, I you know, I don't know about you guys, but I, I just know every single day that I wake up that I'm lucky to work in the games industry and do something I love. And it doesn't feel like work right? We show up and just make cool stuff.

James Pfaff: I know man. And like it feels great at the end of the day. It's like, Oh wow, I just made like an you know...

Larry Hryb: Cool stuff.

James Pfaff: The technical term is really cool stuff.

Jeff Rubenstein: And then I go home and I say, I talked about the really cool stuff that Lith made.

Larry Hryb: And then I got home and I play with the really cool stuff that Lith made. (laugh)

James Pfaff: And then, then we get feedback from our customers that say, Wow, this is really cool stuff.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah it makes ... Anyway, so uh, it's, it's, it's ... Anyway, so that's...

James Pfaff: But yeah so, like I said, I play games a little bit differently at work than Jeff.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Jeffrey.

James Pfaff: Or Rubes here does.

Larry Hryb: Jeffrey.

Jeff Rubenstein: Jeffrey.

James Pfaff: Uh, but so there's actually this um, like ID Xbox game that, uh, a couple of my coworkers uh, got me into. It's called Cluster Puck, and ...

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Cluster Puck 99.

James Pfaff: Yeah, Cluster Puck 99. It's awesome. Um, it's, it's a, kind of a shared like screen game with local multi-players. So, you like, you can have up to eight players playing it at one time.

Larry Hryb: This one came out last September. For those of you who ...

James Pfaff: Yeah it's, it's been out for awhile.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Made in, made in Philly.

James Pfaff: Oh.

Jeff Rubenstein: I should say.

Larry Hryb: Also a Cluster Puck. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Well here's the thing. So, we had these guys at uh, at GDC last year, in 2015. And uh, I heard ...

Larry Hryb: Right. Is there, there's really game development happening in Philly?

Jeff Rubenstein: Not a significant amount.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's just not, I mean Philly has like this underdog you know, Allen Iverson sort of feel where it's like, you know, we're not the tallest, we're a little scrappy, we're sandwiched in between the worlds banking center, and the worlds military slash government center, and we're there in the middle, and our hay-day was in like the 1700s.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: But um ...

Larry Hryb: But it was a good hay-day (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh man. Was it ever.

Larry Hryb: Ring that bell.

Jeff Rubenstein: So um, Ben Franklin still ... Ben Franklin, and a fictitious boxer are our most famous contributions. Uh, that being said, uh, some development there. And when we, we came in and we saw that game, I knew that we had some Philly-based dibs. And uh, because the name of their title ... Of their, their um, the publishing group was, it was something very Philly-based. It was like PHL ...

Larry Hryb: PHL Collective.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. There we go. And I was like, Oh! And then I come over and I'm like, Oh, you're games called Plus Cluster Puck. That's exactly a Philly game. That's like perfectly ... That's my John right there. Which makes sense if you're from Philly.

James Pfaff: [crosstalk 00:13:11]

Larry Hryb: It's a small ... That's the ...

Jeff Rubenstein: I have, yeah.

Larry Hryb: That's the beauty of ... And we'll get to the game in a second, but that's the beauty of, of games now, and, and, and this thing called the internet where we, you know, you can develop games anywhere.

Jeff Rubenstein: Look at Moon Studios.

Larry Hryb: Look at Moon Studios. They're everywhere. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: They're not even ... None of them are even in the same room.

Larry Hryb: They're everywhere, and nowhere.

Jeff Rubenstein: And yet, [Cory 00:13:26] is amazing.

Larry Hryb: Yeah so, so anyway, so you're playing Cluster Puck.

James Pfaff: Yeah, I, I play a ton of Cluster Puck. Uh, but yeah, it's a shared uh, screen multi-player game where you, you control this disc, it kinda looks like a table shuffleboard disc. Almost identical. And then, there's a uh, a new neutral puck that [inaudible 00:13:44]

Larry Hryb: Look at all these awards there. These, these, these things it was up for.

James Pfaff: Yeah. See it's, it's a solid game.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: Um ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Linked on the uh, in the notes, the show notes.

James Pfaff: And yeah, like the, you basically, you play on a like kinda pseudo 3D surface with like really 2D, with like obstacles um, surfaces like um, you know, bumpers, these boosts, spikes. And then um, also the maps don't necessarily have to have a wall everywhere so depending on the map you might actually be able to fall off of it. And the, the name of the game is get the puck into the opposing teams goal. And it sounds pretty simple, but there's actually a ton[crosstalk 00:14:24].

Larry Hryb: Sounds like Rocket League. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Yeah. It's, it's like a 2D rocket league.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

James Pfaff: Where you have like, yeah with like no uh, no up or down like, it's only like

Larry Hryb: No altitude.

James Pfaff: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's like only X Y coordinates.

Larry Hryb: Okay, got it.

James Pfaff: And uh, yeah it, it's like a, it's like a poor mans Rocket League.

Larry Hryb: Wouldn't it be Y Z?

James Pfaff: No.

Larry Hryb: Isn't X up and down?

James Pfaff: No Z is up and down.

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's right. Okay. (laugh)I don't even know what we're talking about here.

Jeff Rubenstein: Really?

Larry Hryb: Okay. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Uh.

Larry Hryb: X. Y. Okay, you're right.

James Pfaff: Anyway. Anyway.

Larry Hryb: Okay. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Uh, and so yeah, like it's ... You can make a really complicated game out of like just really simple components so it, it kinda plays like, not quite like Fifa, but kind of. So you can do things like, like lead a pass into your teammates. So, another guy on the other teams out of position, and you can like knock the puck into the goal. And then, there's even crazier stuff. You can like, at the start of a game, say you wanna get, get your guy to grab the puck first, you can boost him like, you can use your uh ... Everybody has like a boost that has a little cool down for it, and you can propel your teammate at it before the other team can get it, and now they're out of position and hopefully use their boost, and then you can drive it in.

Larry Hryb: So is this what you're playing what you're not writing code for cool stuff?

James Pfaff: For really cool stuff.

Larry Hryb: Really cool stuff.

James Pfaff: Yeah, it is, if, if I'm at work. Otherwise, I get home from work I play some breakout on Halo5.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: But uh yeah, that's, that's really about all I've been playing. That's a lot of stuff.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I'm a, as we talked about, I'm playing Quantum Break, uh Halo, um ... I got, I booted up uh, [Orie 00:15:50], the definitive edition.

Jeff Rubenstein: Mmm.

Larry Hryb: It just looks so good. It's just that's so relaxing.

Jeff Rubenstein: Planning on playing that on Windows 10 when it comes out.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. So I'm looking forward to that. Uh, of course The Division. So yeah, I'm pretty much playing exactly what you think I'd be playing. Jeffrey what about you?

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, I'm playing as you, Quantum Break and The Division. And I'm also playing uh, a game that also came out today, and it's called watch the Rogue One, uh trailer.

James Pfaff: (laugh)

Larry Hryb: Yeah we were just talking about that in here before you guys showed up. What did you think of it? Did you watch it?

James Pfaff: Yeah, I did.

Larry Hryb: And?

James Pfaff: I thought it was pretty good.

Larry Hryb: So, do you, you know where it fits in in the whole timeline of Star Wars, right?

James Pfaff: I don't.

Larry Hryb: Jeffrey?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it's right before episode four.

Larry Hryb: So it's before the original Star Wars. It's, it's basically about, you know ... Because at the beginning of episode four, Darth Vader comes aboard the ship looking for the plans that were stolen. This is about getting the plans.

Jeff Rubenstein: Many Bothans die to keep this information.

Larry Hryb: See, now, now, now this is, this is the problem is that ... I was talking with Ryan Chart about this. He says that's from Return of the Jedi.

Jeff Rubenstein: Is that true?

Larry Hryb: Yes. I, I, I gave him that quote and he slammed me right into the ... He took my face right into the table.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm not gonna aruge with, with Ryan.

Larry Hryb: So, just FYI.

Jeff Rubenstein: I, I thought there'd be more Bothans in the trailer.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, it was ... It looked good.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's got Forest Whitaker. Maybe he's a Bothan.

Larry Hryb: Who knows?

Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know.

Larry Hryb: It looked good.

James Pfaff: It looks amazing in like that the protagonist, she looks pretty devious.

Larry Hryb: I'll tell you this, is um, and I was ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Is, is she the [inaudible 00:17:05] rogue?

Larry Hryb: I don't know.

Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know. The [inaudible 00:17:08] rogue?

Larry Hryb: I'll tell you this is, I was gonna cover this in the gadget section is I um, you know I got my blue ray disc for, for Star Wars.

Jeff Rubenstein: How many, how many times have you watched it?

Larry Hryb: Uh, two. It looks so good. The Force Awakens looks so good.

Jeff Rubenstein: Did you get it in 4k?

Larry Hryb: No. It's not available in 4k?

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh.

Larry Hryb: It's not yet. I'm sure it will be eventually, but I, I didn't see it in 4k. Because um, it looked ... Oh it looks so good. It looks so good. It looks so good. You know what was interesting? So, did you buy the disc?

Jeff Rubenstein: I didn't because I'm like sort of in this, this realm where I'm like do I buy it now? And then after the next one comes out they'll have like a really cool box set. And after the next one there will be another really cool box set.

Larry Hryb: So you didn't buy the disc either. So, so what ... Like most movies do nowadays, they have this, you know they have a digital version for a code that you can enter. God, I feel like I'm totally off of that. Yeah I wanna talk about this at the end of the show.

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh so you get the digital version. Yes.

Larry Hryb: I wanna talk. You know what, let, let's hold. I want to stop and let's get uh, let's get Sam Lake in here. I want to tell you about my experience with the digital code later, because it's actually very interesting.

Jeff Rubenstein: All right. Let Sam in.

Larry Hryb: Quantum Break is out this week on Xbox One and Windows 10, and joining me in Mr, uh the man himself, Mr Sam Lake. Sam, its a great to hear your voice.

Sam Lake: Hey. Good to be talking with you, and um really nice to be here talking about this. Its been quite a launch week.

Larry Hryb: It certainly has. I mean, a lot of folks getting into it. Looks like the game is being reviewed very well. The folks over there at Remedy must be pretty happy. I mean this has been a, this has been quite the journey for Quantum Break. It's a, of course it was announced in 2013 and you guys have certainly been working on it before then. But, tell us a little bit about the journey that brought us up to the launch of Quantum Break.

Sam Lake: Well it's a, it's a, it's a long journey. Uh, and uh, you know many phases. It, it, it takes a lot of work and, and many kind of different, different phases to create uh, new IP licenses. And, and you know Remedy traditionally we, we have always created our technology. So, or own game engine and tools. So, a lot of that goes into it. Obviously lot of [inaudible 00:19:13]. I, I, I firmly believe that creating uh, a game is creative process. You, you need to try out different things, and you need to be you know, brave enough to also change direction when needed. And, and when you are building something totally new you try out many different things, and, and, and bit by bit, you're kind of naming more of those details now.

Larry Hryb: Sam, you, you mentioned the game engine a moment ago, and it's ... I want you to tell me a little bit about that, because you guys have a new game engine, and I can't remember what it's called again.

Sam Lake: Northlight. Uh, and, and, you know its, the foundations of the engine go back to [Allen 00:20:00] [Wade 00:20:00] but quite a few areas of that have been reworked and, and built from the scratch. And, and certainly Quantum Break there are very unique aspects to it. Like uh, I mean we have focused and put a huge amount of effort into character technology, uh, building the digital [inaudible 00:20:22] of the actors and, and kind of a lot of stuff related to motion capture and, and surface capture of the actors faces to, to get you know, the actual actors performance uh, into the game. So, so a lot of effort has gone into that. A lot of effort has gone into obviously everything time related and, and you know, all of the special effects that, that go with that.

Larry Hryb: Now I, so I would argue that you really didn't launch Quantum Break this week. You launched Quantum Break, and the [Northlight 00:21:03] engine. You really launched two products this week in some regards, right?

Sam Lake: Well uh yeah, I mean you can, you can put it that way. Uh, this is the first game uh, with this, with this engine. And, and a lot of, you know, how would I put it? Invisible background work has gone into making a lot of the tools that we are using uh, for the Quantum uh, and building the Quantum.

Larry Hryb: A lot of folks are, you know, really enjoying the game right. Obiously I mentioned earlier on Windows 10 and on Xbox One. You're, You're one of the first games to use the cross-save feature, which I used uh, last night. It was great. I was playing it on my PC, went home to console and picked it right up. That's gotta be great to be experimenting with some new things like that.

Sam Lake: Yeah. I mean, we ... Obviously, Remedy has the strong heritage on the PC side. Uh, you know, going back all the way to Max Payne. So we were really really happy to be able to uh, release Quantum Break on PC as well.

Larry Hryb: Tell us about, you know, the game's out there, people are having it, they're enjoyed it. Where, Where do, where do you plan on taking Quantum Break from here? I mean, it's a, it's a brand new IP. It feels like the skies the limit. You have this new engine, this new IP, and a lot of new technology going on.

Sam Lake: Well, yeah, I mean, that's, that's something that will obiously uh, be determined by the process of, of uh, Quantum Break. And, and when, when we build a new IP we, we do a lot of uh, background work and, and kind of uh, build a lot more than just the game. That, that is the first game. And, you know uh, time will tell. (laugh)

Larry Hryb: (laugh)

Sam Lake: You know and, and obviously since the [inaudible 00:23:00], so a lot of uh, a lot of it depends on the success of the product always. Uh but, but we'll see. We'll see.

Larry Hryb: I want to talk about the, you know, the game itself. There's, there's this ... The other component where you could make some decisions and enjoy some live action, tell me about developing that. Because I know I've talked to some friends of mine in Hollywood who work in the motion picture and television industry, and they're like, Wait a minute. What's going on here? This is kind of the closest the two have come together, in some regards, in quite a long time isn't it?

Sam Lake: Yeah. I mean, I, I, I do think that this is something unique. And, and in a way it is an experiment. Uh, but I'm, I'm really proud and happy that, that uh, we did it. And, and, and here we are. And it kind of ... It was really, really challenging to pull off. Uh, and, and there were a lot of learning along the way. In many ways. As I, as I said earlier, you know, I see building a game as very interesting process. And, and, then again you know, doing a live action show, uh, the production model uh, is very different. Usually while you do need to write, but you need to write on the screen play level and, and once that's locked, you have a very kind of tight production schedule. And, and figuring out how to marry these two models uh, especially as, as a height of [inaudible 00:24:33] ambition is, is through the whole process is to pull these two things closer and closer together. That we have crossover characters, and crossover locations, even crossover scenes, which complicates the thing. But, at the same time, I think that if we can pull this off combined with the interactive element that we have [inaudible 00:24:55] material on the show-side as well. It truly will be something new. Something ... A very unique thing and, and, and yeah. Uh so, so really happy. Happy that uh, that it came out as it did.

Larry Hryb: I want to talk about working with ... I mean you're working this new medium. Video games is a fairly new medium for actors. Not so much as of late, but now you've kind of taking the new medium and made it even newer. What was it like working with Shawn Ashmore, and Dominic, and the rest of the ... Aiden Gillen, and the rest of the, the ... And Lance Reddick, of course, and the rest of the cast. Explaining to them like, hey we're shooting multiple versions of this scene that are wildly different. Uh, what was it like working with those, and working with kind of the, the standard Hollywood types

Sam Lake: You know I, I, I think that's really, really early on. When, when, when we set out, especially from the perspective that, that uh, you know, how, how these games are built. It, it, it's a lot of, a lot of it is kind of a leap of faith. That, that's ... the poise comes late. And, and you know, early on it's, it's looking really crude. And, and you know you have the vision in your head but it's, it's not on the screen yet. And, and when the actors got involved, we couldn't really show them in detail, you know, what we, what we are planning to do and, and, and where we are going with this. It was all just sitting down and talking about it. So I think that there was kind of reservations and hesitations maybe on both sides, because we were also kind of thinking that well, you know, this is video games. Will they look at it as kind of a B project for them? Uh, you know, as opposed to movies and TV. But that was not the case at all.

You know, all of these guys obviously really talented professionals, but all of them also with motion capture and, and all of that, you know, a lot of new [crowns 00:27:02] uh for them, and a lot of learning for them as well. But, they were really excited and eager to jump in and learn, and they were really kind of interested about, you know, asking questions and, and, and clearly, you know, trying to work it out and, and, and understand how the pipeline works after their performance is done.

And, and, and I think that part of that is that, you know, how big movies are made these days, and how big video games are being made, we are getting closer to each other step by step. That same kind of tools and pipelines, and motion sensor, and all of these things are used on both sides. And, and for them it was you know, valley of learning because you never know what the next project is going to be. So, so all it, you know, Shawn especially, in the role of Jack the main character he, he just went you know, above and beyond all kind of duties and, and put so much towards uh, into it. And, and he was part of the team. Because making these things is very much a team effort always.

Larry Hryb: Now you were, you were involved in a, in a motion picture. In uh, in, in Max Payne the film. How did you take some of your learning of what you did with that film and bring it forward to Quantum Break to provide this hybrid experience?

Sam Lake: Yeah, well, I mean, I wasn't really involved. A part for us, uh really, really early on before the first Max Payne game had even came out, the movie rights were sold and, and that's where our involvement stopped.

Larry Hryb: Ah. I see.

Sam Lake: But, but, but maybe that was the learning. Because, you know, I just the thing that, you know, if you have a vision, and if you, if you, you know, tried and tried something into a certain direction, of course you need to be very much involved and very much, you know part of all the creative discussions. Uh, you know, sitting around the same table with the rights people. So, so that, that may be the learning then. That, that was used in Quantum Break.

Larry Hryb: I wanted to talk about, you know, you've got such an amazing history. Remedy and, and the projects that you've worked on. Max Payne, Max Payne 2, we talked about the movie, Allen Wake, Allen Wake's Nightmare, and now Quantum Break. Over the past 15 years since 2001, these are some incredible games that are 100% story-driven, they're single player experiences, have you ... And over the past 15 years one of the areas that in video games that's really busted out of course is multi-player. Have you ever looked at that and go, Gee, maybe we should do a multiple player component of Game X or Game Y? Or do you just say, You know what? That's, that's for other people to figure out. I'm gonna keep my head down and say focused on really incredible stories?

Sam Lake: Well yeah, I mean part of the Remedy game approach is definitely the story and, and, and storytelling. Uh in, in, in various forms we, we have tried kind of combining differing mediums. With Max Payne it was kind of graphic novel, and with Allen Wake it was a novel and, and now it's a TV show. (chuckle) So it's kind of trying doing these experiments with, with different mediums is definitely part of it.

You know we do have a lot of discussions, obviously. All kinds of design discussions at Remedy. Sometimes very passionate, heated discussions about what we do , and where should we go, and all kinds of ideas floating around, and all kinds of idea prototypes all the time that, you know, many of these things kind of we, we, we put out you know, some time ago. And, and demo video of cross type work that we did after the first Allen Wake on, on you know, potential Allen Wake 2, as we know that that never happened back then.

James Pfaff: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-

Sam Lake: But we just felt, well it would be nice to give a glimpse to everybody you know, at the for once, because uh, a lot of the ... There is a lot of work going on in every game studio that will never be seen any anyone uh, outside. You know, all kinds of prototypes and, and, and things like that. And, and certainly there are discussions about [inaudible 00:31:54], or certainly there are discussions about, you know, all kinds of ideas. And we want to evolve with the times as well, you know. Why else you think we push ourselves, and always come back and question what is a Remedy game? And how can we, you know, evolve into something, something cooler. So, so a lot of this is happening all the time. Uh, so far we have not done that. Uh, sometimes it's been maybe closer and, and sometimes not been there even in discussions. But, you know, we will see, you know how, how ... What will be the next alteration of Remedy Games.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I mean it's, that's, that's the beauty of what you guys have done there. I mean, if we could ... If you look back in the rear-view mirror since, you know, since 2001 with Max Payne and beyond, and moving forward you can see how you've taken this, this beautiful concept of storytelling and you've just, you've been polishing it, and polishing it like a fine diamond. Uh, so it just keeps every ... You know, with every new title it gets ... Your storytelling acumen just gets tighter and tighter, and, and better and better.

Sam Lake: Thank you. (laugh)

Larry Hryb: Um, Anyway. Well listen Sam. I know you've got a busy schedule of interviews and so-forth, so I'm gonna wrap it up and here and let you go. I really appreciate you taking the time. Uh, of course, everyone should be checking out Quantum Break, out this week on Windows, uh, Windows 10, and Xbox One. And of course, uh, you can also go play, uh with [inaudible 00:33:28] with Xbox One. Play Allen Wake. It's gotta be great to see that coming to [inaudible 00:33:32]. Right, Sam?

Sam Lake: Yes. Very much so. Uh, and, and it's really lovely to be able to offer kind of a overload of Remedy Games.

Larry Hryb: (laugh)

Sam Lake: [crosstalk 00:33:45]

Larry Hryb: Exactly. It's an overload, so ...

Sam Lake: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: All right. Well listen, I want to ... On behalf of everyone over here, I want to congratulate everyone there at Remedy for, for a great launch this week. And thank you so much for your time.

Sam Lake: Thank you. And, and, and thanks, thanks to everyone out there playing it and, and kind of uh, sending us your comments through Twitter and, and, and Facebook and, and all of that. It's been really, really fun launch week. Uh, following the people's reactions when they finally kind of get to play it. So, thank you.

Larry Hryb: Thank you very much. Always good to talk to Sam. You heard a little bit about Quantum Break, the production, and you know, I just ... Fascinating.

Jeff Rubenstein: How, how much of just like a, a uh, uh, BMAF is Lance Reddick, by the way?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, right?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. You may know him as Commander Zavala.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Or if you're, you're playing this, then you know him as uh, Martin Hatch.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative)-

Jeff Rubenstein: He's just uh, that voice. I would, I would, I would sell off my firstborn on record for that voice.

Larry Hryb: So he is a uh, he is a ... What was your acronym?

Jeff Rubenstein: A BAMF.

Larry Hryb: And I'm uh, I guess I'm supposed to say, So shut you mouth. Right?

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh yeah.

Larry Hryb: A little shaft action. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Hey I'm just talking about Lance Reddick.

Larry Hryb: (laughing) Shut your mouth. So ... (laugh) Oh, shaft. Anyway, uh, yeah so that's uh, that's a lot of fun there. So check Quantum Break out. And if you, if you pre-ordered it on Xbox One you'll be getting your code very soon. Probably ... You may have it already. Check your message center on Xbox, and that's where the code's will show up. There you go.

Jeff Rubenstein: Tech codes.

Larry Hryb: So, now normally we've got after the ... After the interview, we do features, and we do ... But the problem is, Laura's away so, Name the Game is gonna have to wait until she comes back. And I'll talk about ...

Jeff Rubenstein: We cannot name the game without her.

Larry Hryb: We cannot. I ... It's locked in her computer.

Jeff Rubenstein: The game cannot be named.

Larry Hryb: Encrypted. I mean even the FBI can't get into it. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: (laugh) Topical Larry.

Larry Hryb: (laugh) See what I did there? Uh, but we do have, because we have a real-live, in the flesh developer with us, James, in case you were mistaken dear listeners that it's me or Jeffrey. You, you, you bought an Xbox 101 right?

James Pfaff: I did. It's uh, it's a relatively simple one, but it's kind of a cool pro tip. So uh, if you ever do like a lot of management of your, your games in DLC for example, like moving stuff to an external drive, or moving it back onto an internal drive, or installing it ...

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

James Pfaff: You have to go to what's termed the manage page. Which generally the way people get to that is, you know you'll, you'll find the game in my games and apps, or find the app in my games and apps, and then hit the menu button, or the hamburger button.

Larry Hryb: Or right click. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Right click on it.

James Pfaff: Exactly. And then go click manage app or game. So ...

Larry Hryb: Yeah. And that brings you to ... You'll see the game where it's installed and all the associated season pass, DLC, or anything else related to it, right?

James Pfaff: Exactly right. But what a lot of people don't know is you can actually short circuit that by ... Instead of pressing the hamburger button, you press the, opposite button. You press the, the view button to the left.

Larry Hryb: Really?

James Pfaff: And it, it just ... Instead of having to bring up a menu, it goes straight to the manage page.

Larry Hryb: Did you know that Jeffrey?

Jeff Rubenstein: I did not know that.

Larry Hryb: So you can hit the back ... Formerly known as the back button.

James Pfaff: Well, yeah. Formerly known as the back button. I think we term it the view button now.

Larry Hryb: Right. It is the view button.

James Pfaff: It's got like two little squares on it.

Larry Hryb: Two little, two little windows that are overlapping.

James Pfaff: Yeah, exactly.

Larry Hryb: I did not know that.

James Pfaff: Well there you go.

Larry Hryb: That is an excellent ... I, that ...

Jeff Rubenstein: [inaudible 00:36:56]

Larry Hryb: That's an excellent ... So there you go. So if you, if you want to manage your games. Now can you do that in the, can you do that in the pins?

James Pfaff: Uh, I doubt it.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

James Pfaff: Um, just because, like this a ... Not to use like a bunch of technical terms but it's kind of a, it's [inaudible 00:37:12] that's only built up on the what you're seeing in my games and apps.

Larry Hryb: I see. So you gotta go down in there to do it. I see.

James Pfaff: The, the representation of that app in home like [crosstalk 00:37:21].

Larry Hryb: It's different. Yeah, I see.

Jeff Rubenstein: That's the shortcut.

Larry Hryb: That's the shortcut so ...

James Pfaff: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: Exactly.

Jeff Rubenstein: See, I use my windows.

Larry Hryb: That is excellent! I just, I did not know that.

Jeff Rubenstein: We have a couple news bits.

Larry Hryb: We do?

Jeff Rubenstein: We, we ...

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:37:33]

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:37:33] went to write to Sam Lake, but there are a few things.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. We'll go over those. I want to talk about ... You know, I was down in uh, San Francisco last week for [inaudible 00:37:40].

Jeff Rubenstein: It's, it's a beautiful city. Did you leave your heart there?

Larry Hryb: Uh, no. No, no, no, no.

Jeff Rubenstein: No.

Larry Hryb: No, I did not.

Jeff Rubenstein: It would've been, It would've been stolen [crosstalk 00:37:47] chained it up. Believe me.

Larry Hryb: It's not, it's not the same when, when, when I don't go down without you because you used to live there, so you ... Remember we did the Walking Tour last time I was there.

Jeff Rubenstein: We did, uh ...

Larry Hryb: Three year old neighborhood.

Jeff Rubenstein: The southeast section of the mission. Aka, the shooty part.

Larry Hryb: (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: That's what we referred to it as. People are like Oh you live in the mission. And they're like, Oh, And I'm like, Eh, its more the shooty part.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Like pew-pew. It happens.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, let's go through the headlines. (laugh) Shall we?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, so uh, big news. Uh, just revealed this week, and that is we have a launch date for Gears of War 4.

Larry Hryb: Did you guys miss this? October 11th. Mark your calendars now.

Jeff Rubenstein: See this is what's gonna happen. It's my wife's birthday and I'm gonna, I'm gonna forget about because I'm gonna be very hung up. I'm gonna be like, Hey hunny, I've got, got big plans for the 11th. Don't even talk to me. I gotta play Gears 4.

Larry Hryb: And then you're ... We're not gonna see you online for two weeks because you're gonna be mending the fences. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: You, you know when, when these things happen. Hey we're ... Are you gonna be online tonight.

Larry Hryb: Nope.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm like, Yeah. Not, not tonight.

Larry Hryb: Not tonight. And you know what as ... And, and James you'll understand this when you get married is that you just, you just, you have to choose your battles wisely. So, yeah. You decide what hills you're gonna run up, and which ones not to.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, October 11th is Gears of War 4.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: And I did actually get to play the ... Right now there's currently a beta tour going on where Rod Ferguson and other folks of the coalition are, are going all around to the media.

Larry Hryb: When are we gonna hear about that though?

Jeff Rubenstein: You're gonna be hearing about that, uh, next week actually.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeff Rubenstein: So uh you'll, you'll get all that depending on when you listen to those.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Jeff Rubenstein: But uh, it'll be a little over a week from now. And uh, it'll be bumping up right close to when the beta starts.

Larry Hryb: For those of you that are confused, the week of April 11th. Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. Yes.

Larry Hryb: So that's roughly.

Jeff Rubenstein: And so you, you'll find out what everyone thinks about it. Um I ...

Larry Hryb: You played it.

Jeff Rubenstein: I can't say anything, but I'm glad I got to play it.

James Pfaff: Was it really cool stuff?

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, I don't, I don't want to have a headline. Microsoft, colon.

Larry Hryb: Gears of War.

Jeff Rubenstein: Gears of War. Colon again. Which doesn't make sense. Really cool stuff.

Larry Hryb: So, a Microsoft spokesperson ...

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm wink, I'm winking.

Larry Hryb: And, and James, you played a lot of, you played a lot of gears.

James Pfaff: Yeah, back in the day I played a ton of it.

Larry Hryb: That right? We did. We played a lot of gears.

James Pfaff: Yeah. Even on our less than stellar internet connections, I still managed to play a lot.

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's right. (laugh) James and I had played together a long time. He used to play from his [ISDN 00:39:50]. Duel, duel channel ISDN.

James Pfaff: Yeah, duel channel. It was like I was looking up in the world.

Larry Hryb: That's right. So, back when you were living out in the Midwest. Now you've got ... What's your, what's your speed?

James Pfaff: Uh, [inaudible 00:39:58] up and down. It's great. I love it.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, no big deal. No big deal. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Well, it's funny like, gears of ... Like when I ... Uh, The Division. You know, since it using at least one of the same mechanics and like hit a is take cover.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: Like, I like, I still had to kinda break how I like ... Because I just think Gears of War when I do that.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: So I'm always like, trying to like double tap a to like stick on wall.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: And then like, double tap it again to stick on another wall.

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

James Pfaff: The Division's like no we don't. We don't do that this fast.

Larry Hryb: Just point and press A. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Like I went in a hold.

Jeff Rubenstein: I will say for my first uh, my first couple of matches I was holding B to like try and mantle over cover.

Larry Hryb: Right. Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: And uh, I died.

Larry Hryb: I'm actually having that problem in Quantum. Because I'm like ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, yeah.

Larry Hryb: I'm like why am I doing ... Oh never mind. I don't want to do the tie and shield.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. It just pulls you right into it.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

James Pfaff: All the time you'll like randomly see me taking cover and then suddenly, I'm like out in the open, and you're like oh that's kind of a weird strategy, what's up with that.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:40:46]

James Pfaff: I'm like uh, still working on the control scheme a little bit.

Larry Hryb: Don't worry about it. I got this. Don't worry about it. All right, headlines. Keep going Jeffrey.

Jeff Rubenstein: Um, oh yeah, and just wanted ... For those of wondering when do I get to get into the Gears of War uh, 4, multi-player beta, it's April 18th. So, uh other headlines.

Larry Hryb: April 18th. Conveniently that's um ... Okay I'll be able to play that. Then later on that week is [inaudible 00:41:07] so, yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. So, you ... Actually yeah, they'll be going on while you're at [inaudible 00:41:12].

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: You can play at [inaudible 00:41:12] I'm sure. Uh, so just a couple of other releases in addition to Quantum Break, I noticed that Phil Spencer uh, P3 which is playing Dirt Rally. The Dirt games are really fun. [crosstalk 00:41:23].

Larry Hryb: You know who's playing [inaudible 00:41:23]. You know whose playing this, right?

Jeff Rubenstein: Ray Cox?

Larry Hryb: No.

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh. Well he plays everything. Graham?

Larry Hryb: Graham.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laugh) yeah.

Larry Hryb: Okay. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Of course.

Larry Hryb: So I was like ... He's so European isn't he?

Jeff Rubenstein: I, it's [inaudible 00:41:33] masters.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sure he played awhile.

Larry Hryb: [Codies 00:41:35]. You know who used to be at Codies was um, was Craig. They had a [inaudible 00:41:40]. He used to be at Code Masters.

Jeff Rubenstein: Craig Duncan?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh. Very cool.

Larry Hryb: Just FYI.

Jeff Rubenstein: What a great guy.

Larry Hryb: Yeah he's a good guy.

Jeff Rubenstein: Gamer boss.

Larry Hryb: Gamer boss.

Jeff Rubenstein: And also uh, a game called uh, Steered In, which looked pretty cool. An ID Xbox game. Also, now available. So, uh, plenty to keep you busy with this week.

Larry Hryb: If you miss anything just go over to MajorNelson.com. Follow me on twitter @MajorNelson. And uh, you'll learn all of those things. I give you all of the headlines, and none of the, none of the drama and noise. Just this.

Jeff Rubenstein: No. You can find those at other sites.

Larry Hryb: Okay. You've got plenty of places to find those events.

Jeff Rubenstein: People quoting, quoting Lith.

Larry Hryb: Come, come, come right over to my corner of the internet, and I'll make sure it's nice and quiet, and calm, and factual. (laugh)

James Pfaff: You know uh, yeah, there's a lack of click-bait titles on your, your, on your blog.

Jeff Rubenstein: Right?

James Pfaff: I'm actually really impressed.

Larry Hryb: Well it's, it's one thing I [inaudible 00:42:19]. Who knows. Maybe I need to start click-baiting. But, you're right. That's, that is one thing I've always tried to[crosstalk 00:42:23].

Jeff Rubenstein: The ten thing, the things you need uh, you needed to know about Xbox One. And you won't believe number seven.

Larry Hryb: Here's one weird trick on how to get to your collection. (laugh) So, yeah you won't believe that. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: We could change Xbox one-on-one to One Weird Trick.

Larry Hryb: One weird trick. Oh that's true. (sigh) You got any other news over there Jeffrey, because we got uh ... We're cooking along here, at a nice ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Whoa, hey.

Larry Hryb: My, my windscreen keeps falling down. Sorry.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's, it's, it's fine. It must be the wind.

Larry Hryb: Took some medicine for that, so ... (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: I, I'm at a loss here.

Larry Hryb: Uh, so yeah anyway, as we said go over to uh, go over to my blog and check it out. The uh, the Quantum Break. Usually I'm giving away ... You know I've, I've got a lot of different promotional partners that come. The one thing you will find over on my blog is I'm doing giveaways all the time. Giving away Quantum break um, bundle right now. May, or may not be there by the time you listen to this, but I like to give away different bundles and things so you should always go over there and check that out. So, so that's about that.

Yes?

Jeff Rubenstein: No. Eh.

Larry Hryb: Eh. Okay. Let's swing uh, moving, moving powering for ... Oh, before we forget, programming note. Uh, a couple of programming notes. Uh, we won't have show for a couple weeks because I'm going out on the road next week. I'm going to Florida.

Jeff Rubenstein: Mmm.

Larry Hryb: I got some business to do in Florida. And then I'll be flying up for [PAX 00:43:37].

Jeff Rubenstein: You shouldn't say that because that's get the FBI on alert. Just some business in Florida.

Larry Hryb: (laugh) I don't live ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Just offshore.

Larry Hryb: I don't live in New Jersey, I can say that. (laugh) Uh, so I've got some business in Florida and then I gotta go up to PAX, and I'll stay there for probably like the week after. And then I'll be back here. So, we've got a little bit of time before the next show

Jeff Rubenstein: We do a show at PAX?

Larry Hryb: Uh we, I'm doing the show at PAX per normal, and you're gonna join us probably ...

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm working on it. I'm trying.

Larry Hryb: Remotely.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm seeing what I can do.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:44:01].

Larry Hryb: All right. You'll be there. Um, so we're gonna do that. And then this week on Xbox, which you watch every Friday on your console, uh, is ... I'm gonna be out doing that for a couple weeks, and you're gonna fill in. Right Jeff?

Jeff Rubenstein: That's right. I'm gonna be uh, soiling your, your beautiful flat screens soon enough.

Larry Hryb: So look, look for that. So there's a couple programming notes. Sorry about that. You know if we can't ... If we can maybe we'll do a um, uh, Google Hangout, because we have not wanted ... Done one of those in like forever. So maybe we'll do one of those when I'm on the road. So, there you go. All right.

Jeff Rubenstein: Gadgets.

Larry Hryb: I want, I want to talk about my Blu-ray.

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh. Yes. [crosstalk 00:44:34]

Larry Hryb: So I, I buy my Star Wars, and in it it has a code. You go to this website. I think it was like Force Awakens HD. So anyway, and you put in the code and it says, Okay, you can either use this one iTunes, you can use it on Amazon, or you can sign up for the, the Disney ... Whatever their movie club thing is. So all right, let me do that. And if you do that, this is what's really interesting ... You sign up for that and it's free. (sigh) It connect ... You can connect your account. So I connected my iTunes account, my, my Microsoft ID, my Xbox account, and my Amazon account, and all of the sudden the digital copy of The Force Awakens that I bought showed up in iTunes, it showed up on my console. And this is, it even gets weirder. The stuff I bought on my console went back to iTunes. Somehow it like ... Everything all started talking and connecting.

Jeff Rubenstein: This is that digital future we were promised.

Larry Hryb: Right. And I was like, this is awesome. So I was very impressed by that. So that was ... I highly recommend that.

Jeff Rubenstein: Okay.

Larry Hryb: So buy, buy ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I've done it with the Disney movies where I bought the Blu-ray just to get the digital version to throw on like an iPad or something.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: But uh, the fact that it's back where ... I guess Star Wars it makes sense.

Larry Hryb: Yeah I would ..

Jeff Rubenstein: The Disney infrastructure.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, and obviously the key is the ... Having that, whatever, that Disney account was that kinda connects everything.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: But I was like this is, this is kind of nifty. So ...

Jeff Rubenstein: All right. You may have just sold me.

Larry Hryb: I'm just saying that's, that's one of the reasons.

Jeff Rubenstein: Chalk up another sale to the uh, Major Nelson referral.

Larry Hryb: Blue, Blu-ray, Blu-ray discs. Check them out. So, anyway. James, you had some gadgets you wanted to talk about.

James Pfaff: Yeah uh, not, not recently acquired.

Larry Hryb: All right.

James Pfaff: I think uh, pretty cool gadgets in the last ... And none of like the ... The last time I was on the show I talked about kind of upgrading the audio in my, as of last year, new car.

Larry Hryb: In your ride.

James Pfaff: Yeah. And uh, yeah so I just, I put some new speakers in it which were pretty awesome. They sounded good, but me being a like a big enjoy-er of like, full spectrum audio, not just the high-ends of notes. I kind of wanted uh, some extra bass. (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: (laugh)

James Pfaff: And I wanted ... Yeah, exactly right.

Jeff Rubenstein: I went to high school in Miami.

Larry Hryb: (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: I mean if you can't hear the car from two blocks away, you've done it wrong.

James Pfaff: (laugh) Well that's good. Then uh, this car would definitely represent well in Miami.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

James Pfaff: Uh then I also ...

Jeff Rubenstein: It's in the 90s.

James Pfaff: (laugh) Ah, man, and one in high school for me I also, I had a sub-woofer in my less than stellar uh, Ford Focus. But I got a little nicer car these days.

Larry Hryb: You do. That's a nice sound system. You took me out an you tested it for me the other day. It was pretty ...

James Pfaff: Yeah, listened to a little bit of Kygo.

Larry Hryb: Kygo. Kygo is the new artist that I'm ... You listen to Kygo?

Jeff Rubenstein: Of course.

Larry Hryb: No. Seriously.

James Pfaff: (laugh)

Jeff Rubenstein: Is that the one with [crosstalk 00:46:56].

Larry Hryb: I put you on to Kygo didn't I?

James Pfaff: Yeah. Yeah. You're the one that told me about that song.

Larry Hryb: It's all right. I felt really good. Look at this, [inaudible 00:47:02] I was like, I didn't think you're gonna like it. And I was like, this guy ... The videos. The music videos.

James Pfaff: The music video is awesome.

Larry Hryb: The video is amazing.

Jeff Rubenstein: All right. Let's put it in the show notes, Kygo music video.

Larry Hryb: Kygo. Seriously. Kygo music video.

Jeff Rubenstein: What's the track?

James Pfaff: It's uh, stole the show.

Larry Hryb: Stole the show.

Jeff Rubenstein: All right.

Larry Hryb: Seriously. It's phenomenanal.

James Pfaff: Yeah. But uh, so, also I wanted kind of a better system for controlling my phone. So a little, something a little extra beyond just Bluetooth. And so, I kind of made.

Larry Hryb: It's called USB. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Eh it's, it's called USB, but I actually wanna control like the phone with the [crosstalk 00:47:31]

Larry Hryb: Oh, I see. I see. I see.

James Pfaff: Yeah. And uh, what I ended up finding Pioneer. They make like a series of head units, that could allow me to do that with like touch screen, and navigation, and they also uh, connect really well with phones. So they can actually run ... Like show you a view of the app that's running on your phone on the head unit itself. So you can like use the touch screen, you know, and all that fun stuff, and actually drive things on the phone from the head unit.

Larry Hryb: Right.

James Pfaff: And then, but I also wanted to keep like all the factory stuff. So like, you know USB, like the steering wheel controls, and all that. And it was actually kind of a huge ordeal. Like uh, you know, I like bought all the stuff. I had to like solder uh, like a wiring harness into like this uh, kind of receiver.

Jeff Rubenstein: How long did this take you?

James Pfaff: Oh man, it was like a, probably a five month process.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: Like [inaudible 00:48:16] getting better and better. Like first thing when I started it, I didn't have a sub, I didn't have the steering wheel control. Like I lost all the AUX, and then like slowly but surely, I kind of expanded it. And now, as of right now, I've got like this pretty awesome like, 15 inch sub with like a 1200 watt single channel amplifier, so it, it kicks pretty hard.

Larry Hryb: I think you would hear that two blocks away. (laugh)

James Pfaff: Yeah. Yeah you definitely can. Like I actually made a trip up to Wissler, uh, man like uh, two weeks ago. And like, I got to the car a little before the crew that I was going with, so like I got the sound system started up. They commented when they got to the car. It was like oh yeah, we knew where James' car was because you could hear it. (laugh)

Larry Hryb: Yeah. You could hear it a mile away.

James Pfaff: A couple hundred feet away.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

James Pfaff: Uh, but yeah ...

Larry Hryb: Do you have a parts list that we can post?

James Pfaff: Uh, I do actually. And it's, I mean it was an ordeal. Like there's ...

Larry Hryb: Send it over.

James Pfaff: There's a bunch of stuff in there. But yeah, I'll uh definitely share it out.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Send it over.

James Pfaff: And it sounds good. Especially, like we have a little better head unit driving the speakers too. Kind of uh, the higher end sounds even better than it did.

Larry Hryb: Sweet.

James Pfaff: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: So what else you got. Is that, is that ... I mean that's not ... I know you got a lot going on so I didn't know if there was anything else.

James Pfaff: Uh that, I think that's all I got.

Larry Hryb: Jeffrey.

James Pfaff: Spending all my money on traffic cam tickets.

Larry Hryb: What?

James Pfaff: [Bellview 00:49:27] is uh, they've, they've got an aggressive series of surveillance I should say, and I got like two day, two in two days. For uh ...

Larry Hryb: What?

James Pfaff: Making a right on red that I wasn't aware I wasn't able to make.

Larry Hryb: Where is that? Is that near the office?

James Pfaff: Oh, it's adjacent to the office.

Larry Hryb: I need to know where that is, just in case.

James Pfaff: Yeah, I'll tell you. And then ... So now I'm paranoid every day. Now that I know about it, I'm like you know, that thing needs to be green before I even attempt to go. But, there's like a bit of a delta between the time that you've committed the infraction allegedly, um, and uh, the time when you actually get the ticket. So there's about another nine days, so I could be out like another 1000 bucks.

James Pfaff: Oh man.

Jeff Rubenstein: Like, worst case scenario.

Larry Hryb: Well, I don't ...

Jeff Rubenstein: So, every day I'm scared to check the mail.

Larry Hryb: Wow. I didn't realize you were, you were ...

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm 300 bucks down right now.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: I think you should ... Maybe I should drive from now on.

Jeff Rubenstein: I think that that's ... That would be wise.

Larry Hryb: I haven't had a problem. [crosstalk 00:50:18]

Jeff Rubenstein: I could've said that to until [inaudible 00:50:19].

Larry Hryb: Wow. That is ... That's the ... Keep going. Have fun.

Jeff Rubenstein: No, no sub-woofer for me.

Larry Hryb: No. No sub-woofer at all.

James Pfaff: Such a bummer.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Woo.

Jeff Rubenstein: Straight into the coffers.

Larry Hryb: Uh, anyway, so I would say ... I don't think I really have anything to add. I'm still ... I'm working on a couple of different uh, you know, one of my ... You guys know, and listeners you know this as well, one of my weird passions is travel routers.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laugh)

Larry Hryb: So, I've got a couple of new travel routers that are inbound that I'm testing out. And I just bought a new printer. You know, you know printers are so inexpensive now.

James Pfaff: But the inks where it's expensive. Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, that's how they get yeah.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so I ended up buying ... I have a color laser printer now in my home. It's beautiful. I mean it was only like ...

Jeff Rubenstein: You're not like amazed, there was a time where even having a black and white printer was just like ...

Larry Hryb: Right. James is looking at me like, yeah this is no big deal.

Jeff Rubenstein: Are you like James bond? You know? And to have a color laser printer.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Are you James Bond?

Larry Hryb: I don't know?

Jeff Rubenstein: Like, not like new one, but like, you know, Roger Moore?

Larry Hryb: Well my wife needed some, to do some in color, and I was like oh we'll just get this one because it's better than Inkjet. The Inkjet printers are even cheaper, but you're right the consumables are just ridiculous.

James Pfaff: And I'm starting to get suspicious Larry. So you're going offshore in Florida.

Larry Hryb: (laugh) Right? A color printer.

James Pfaff: And you're buying a printer, now I can see why the FBI might [crosstalk 00:51:27]

Jeff Rubenstein: Do you have a newfound affection for encryption?

Larry Hryb: No, I don't. That you know of.

James Pfaff: Is Whats App your favorite app?

Jeff Rubenstein: Get the podcast on the tor server.

Larry Hryb: Okay. Enough with you people. Look at me, I'm not ... Anyway, I like technology. So uh, so yeah, so that's, that's about that. Um, yeah, so we're ... Those ... You have the notes about the show. Anything else guys? I'm just gonna wrap it up and let people get on with their day here.

Radio Announcer: (music)

Jeff Rubenstein: Let's give them that time back.

Larry Hryb: Let's give them that time back. All right. Now listen, if you want to find me on Twitter you know how to find me @MajorNelson or over at the blog. Uh, you know, MajorNelson.com. You can find Jeffrey on Twitter at ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Jeff at Jeff Rubenstein.

Larry Hryb: And then for the next two weeks uh, actually I think it's not next week but the week after that, and the week after that, you'll see him on this week on Xbox.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sorry in advance.

Larry Hryb: Yes. And James. How do people find you when their puzzled?

James Pfaff: @Lithion.

Larry Hryb: @Lithion. And Lithion is also your gamer tag.

James Pfaff: It is my gamer tag. So, if you want to follow me, go for it.

Jeff Rubenstein: And on twitch, where, where are you?

James Pfaff: Uh, it's a Litheron.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laugh)

Larry Hryb: Which one it's ... Yeah I don't know about that. Anyway.

Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know why that's funny to me.

Larry Hryb: All right gang, we'll see you guys next time. Thank you for uh, thank you for downloading and listening to the show, and we will see you in a few weeks. If not before then. Bye-bye everybody.

Jeff Rubenstein: See ya.

James Pfaff: See ya.

Radio Announcer: (music)