580: Forza Horizon 3, ReCore and more (spiders…)

Larry Hryb: Hi there. My name is Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson. Welcome to show number five hundred and eighty. We are here. Uh, Jeffrey's here. Hi Jeff.

Jeff Rubenstein: Why, hello.

Larry Hryb: Now you know when we do the show, uh, we have guests and special guests.

Jeff Rubenstein: I, the, we have the specialist guest of all.

Larry Hryb: We have a special guest here today. Making a rare appearance is Laura Massey.

Laura Massey: Hey.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: It's not that rare, is it?

Larry Hryb: No. (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: See, we're already getting knocked down. We're already-

Larry Hryb: Hey, hey.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: This is not gonna be one of those shows.

Larry Hryb: Well, well it ha-, you know, w-when I look back on the calendar you haven't been on in about a month or so-

Laura Massey: It has been about a month.

Larry Hryb: You, you've be-, you've been a busy and-

Laura Massey: It's been very, very busy. Been on vacation. Trips.

Larry Hryb: Jeff and I got in all sorts of trouble when you were gone.

Laura Massey: I heard on Twitter.

Jeff Rubenstein: Spider trouble.

Larry Hryb: Spider trouble.

Laura Massey: No thanks.

Larry Hryb: Do y-, are you noticing all the spider uptick in the northwest?

Laura Massey: There's a spider uptick?

Larry Hryb: Well, because, apparently when it's, when, uh, we're s-

Jeff Rubenstein: Don't you watch the news?

Larry Hryb: We're gonna, we're go-, when it's, when it-

Laura Massey: How big are these spiders?

Larry Hryb: No, when it, well when it gets colder they go inside.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:01:20]

Laura Massey: Oh, I see.

Jeff Rubenstein: Inside my car.

Larry Hryb: And the stro-, the story that, and again I, apo-, apologies listeners, because clearly Laura hasn't listened to the la-, the last show.

Laura Massey: No. The Twitter was saying, don't talk about spiders! So I was like, I'm not listening to this show.

Larry Hryb: Okay, we're, so, so if you don't like spiders, uh, don't listen for the next sixty seconds. I'm gonna give you the context.

Laura Massey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: When I was finishing up Deus Ex, I was, again this was on the last show, I was really into the last, it was like a Boss fight, and I'm doing it, and apparent-, and I, I finished and I was like, oh, all done, the achievements in, uh, the, the credits are rolling, and my back starts crawling.

Laura Massey: (gasps)

Larry Hryb: I'm like, what's going on here? And I go into the bathroom, I pull my shirt off, and I had these welts on the back.

Laura Massey: (gasps)

Larry Hryb: Apparently a spider, during my boss battle-

Laura Massey: What?

Larry Hryb: ... Was attacking me and I didn't even, it was under my shirt.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:01:59]

Laura Massey: Oh my gosh.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so it was ...

Laura Massey: It bit you. Ugh!

Larry Hryb: You know what? You know what? I didn't even do this for Jeffrey.

Laura Massey: Ah. [crosstalk 00:02:06] pictures?

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:02:06] pictures?

Larry Hryb: I think I've got photos.

Laura Massey: (laughs) Oh my God.

Jeff Rubenstein: Look, I can't, if I want to be grossed out I can go to WebMD. I don't need the ...

Laura Massey: Ugh. Insane. Is this a spider bite? Yeah, just don't search spider bites for images. Oh God.

Jeff Rubenstein: No. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Massey: Ahhh!

Jeff Rubenstein: Ahhh!

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: Ugh. No thanks.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:02:20] watching the surgery channel. Now is that necrotic?

Larry Hryb: No [crosstalk 00:02:20]. I don't know, anyway.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: So that's, that's what, and so it, it just started down this whole rabbit hole, well, spider hole.

Laura Massey: Spider, a spider rabbit hole.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it was terrible but, uh, anyway. Welcome back, nice to see you.

Laura Massey: I am glad to be back. Happy to be back

Larry Hryb: You, you are, uh-

Jeff Rubenstein: We'll fix that.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: We'll fix that. (laughs) It is a crazy time of the year, you know. We're in September, finally. September.

Laura Massey: Finally.

Larry Hryb: Where d-, where'd the year go? Twenty sixteen.

Laura Massey: It's now autumn.

Larry Hryb: It ...

Laura Massey: Isn't it?

Larry Hryb: In some parts of the country ... or world.

Laura Massey: World. The, the northern hemisphere.

Larry Hryb: The northern hemisphere. And I'm going to the, I'm go-

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:02:49] world.

Jeff Rubenstein: Do they call it spring in the southern hemisphere?

Larry Hryb: I believe they do.

Laura Massey: They might.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:02:52] I know the weather is like that.

Larry Hryb: Whether, do they ca-, or, or, you know, when you're growing up, does autumn mean spring, right?

Laura Massey: Oh. Interesting.

Jeff Rubenstein: Right. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I don't know.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: Like, is red blue?

Larry Hryb: Well you know what? I'm gon-, exactly, I'm gonna find out when I go down there. I'll be go-, I'm gonna-

Jeff Rubenstein: When you're in Australia. You're ha-, take in some of that warm winter weather.

Larry Hryb: I am.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). (laughs)

Larry Hryb: I've decided to already get outta here and I'm going down to Australia, which I talked about last week. I told you that, Laura, right?

Laura Massey: Yeah, you did.

Larry Hryb: Going down at the beginning of, uh, beginning of, uh, November. But anyway, uh, let's, let's jump right in, talk about what we're playing. It's been a heck of a week of game releases and ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, has it ever.

Larry Hryb: Finishing up games and playing games. And, Laura, I'm gonna let you go first since you're back. You, I don't know if you've, if your time has given you the ability to play some games, 'cause I know you've been busy.

Laura Massey: Too much time to play games. It hasn't, unfortunately. I've been watching all of the games get released and taking down, like, okay, it's definitely on my list. I want to play that on Xbox, play that on Xbox.

Larry Hryb: Now I sent you, I ...

Laura Massey: You sent me a witness code.

Larry Hryb: And another one for, did you get The Turing Test?

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: Ooh.

Laura Massey: But I saw you play that on Twitter.

Larry Hryb: I finished it.

Laura Massey: I want to play that one so bad.

Larry Hryb: I know you-, the whole time I was playing it, I'm like, Laura's gonna love this game.

Laura Massey: (sighs)

Larry Hryb: (gasps) Laura's gonna, Laura's gonna love this game. Yeah this is, this is a-, this is all you.

Laura Massey: So, are you human or are you computer?

Larry Hryb: I don't want to answer that question.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Oooh. Hey.

Larry Hryb: It was, it's, it was really good. It was, it was, uh, from the same guys that brought you Pneuma: Breath of Life.

Laura Massey: Oh yes.

Larry Hryb: But the, but there's much more of an-

Laura Massey: The puzzle game.

Larry Hryb: There's much more of a narrative in this one, which, to your point, you know, what are you?

Laura Massey: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: And the-, and I'll tell ya. Jeff, have you played it?

Jeff Rubenstein: No.

Larry Hryb: The, the voice acting is phenomenal.

Laura Massey: Oh, awesome.

Larry Hryb: There's the computer and then there's the, there's the, the female, I guess she's the protangonist. (clears throat) But the, the ma-, the voice sh-, her voice is, I don't know who the actress is, is unbelievable. It's so good.

Laura Massey: Nice.

Larry Hryb: And his voice, he is Jeremy Irons. He sounds like Jeremy Irons. You know, Scar from, from the Lion King?

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: And among other things.

Jeff Rubenstein: Among other, yeah.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: He's always a bad guy.

Larry Hryb: But, but, but it, but it sounds, it sounds like, it sounds exactly like him.

Laura Massey: Wow. [crosstalk 00:04:44]

Larry Hryb: Anyway, so ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Is he the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 2?

Larry Hryb: No, that was, uh, Alan Rickman.

Jeff Rubenstein: Not Lethal Weap-, oh no, um, Die Hard 2.

Larry Hryb: That was Alan Rickman.

Jeff Rubenstein: No that was Die Hard 1.

Larry Hryb: Oh that's a good question. I think you're right. I don't know. We'll, we'll check that. We'll fa-, go ahead and fact check that.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm looking.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Anyway, so g-, I'm sorry, back to what you're playing, Laura.

Laura Massey: (laughs) So I wanna play, The Witness is now out on Xbox One. Super wanna play that on Xbox One. I played a bit on PC.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Didn't finish it.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: But now it's got Xbox achievements ...

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: ... that I wanna go get.

Larry Hryb: Yes you do.

Laura Massey: Should be super fun. Uh, a bunch of awesome Steam games came out on Xbox One recently. Dear Esther came out.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.

Laura Massey: Uh, Firewatch.

Larry Hryb: Ooh, fact, later on in the show we've got an interview with, uh, Sean from, from El Campo.

Laura Massey: Oh awesome.

Jeff Rubenstein: Vanaman.

Larry Hryb: Did you know that?

Jeff Rubenstein: I did know that.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, he was, he was great. We ha-, we had a great, we did that, uh, a few days ago. He's fantastic. So he'll be on.

Laura Massey: Yeah, I played.

Larry Hryb: Have, have you played that?

Laura Massey: Yes, I played it.

Larry Hryb: Did you finish it?

Laura Massey: I fin-, I finished it.

Larry Hryb: You did?

Laura Massey: On PC, yes.

Larry Hryb: When did you finish it?

Laura Massey: I don't know. When it came out originally.

Larry Hryb: Every time I, every week I ask you what games you're playing and you never mentioned that. Now you drop that you finished it?

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Wow, okay.

Laura Massey: Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention that one.

Larry Hryb: Apparently. Got anything else, you got any other ones?

Laura Massey: Usually when I go to what I'm playing I look at my Xbox One app.

Larry Hryb: Right, right.

Laura Massey: To see [crosstalk 00:05:46]

Larry Hryb: Well, well it also, it also tracks Steam games.

Laura Massey: It does?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: Well, one thirty-two games.

Laura Massey: Oh, I see.

Larry Hryb: It's the beauty of the Xbox app on the PC.

Laura Massey: Okay. Yeah, very good. So lots of great games have come out that I wanna play and unfortunately haven't had a chance to play them 'cause I've been traveling. Did you tell the folks that are listening what I, what I was doing last weekend?

Larry Hryb: Uh, I think they knew because I'm, I'm, I'm not even talking to you right now I'm so angry.

Laura Massey: (laughs) You're not angry, are you?

Larry Hryb: I'm, I'm, I'm, I, I'm so-, wanna fill her in?

Jeff Rubenstein: Fill us in.

Larry Hryb: Tell, tell us, you went to Jeff's favorite state in the union.

Laura Massey: I went to Florida.

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, hey.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Welcome. Did, did you go through quarantine?

Larry Hryb: Uh, it's, I do-, I don't think, she, she didn't go down tha-

Laura Massey: No, I didn't.

Jeff Rubenstein: You can't bring any of those, uh, those oranges back.

Laura Massey: Oh, I see.

Jeff Rubenstein: You're gonna bring citrus canker out here.

Laura Massey: (laughs) Citrus canker. Oh no, it doesn't grow out here.

Larry Hryb: But you were down there for?

Laura Massey: I was down there for the launch of Destination Mars-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: ... which is a experience on HoloLens.

Larry Hryb: That you worked on.

Laura Massey: That I worked on. Well, I didn't work on that one specifically. I worked on the product that inspired it, which is called OnSight.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yup.

Laura Massey: Which is a science, scientist's tool to explore Mars that JPL uses.

Larry Hryb: Yup.

Laura Massey: JPL, of course, is a part of NASA ... to explore Mars. And the JPL team wanted to give that a similar experience to the public.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Laura Massey: Because right now only the scientists can walk around on Mars.

Larry Hryb: You took me to Mars.

Laura Massey: I did take you to Mars.

Larry Hryb: Thank you very much for that.

Laura Massey: Yeah. I gave you a demo of that.

Larry Hryb: Yes, yes you did.

Laura Massey: When we, when we were building it.

Larry Hryb: And then you threw me off Mars.

Jeff Rubenstein: (clears throat) I, I haven't done it.

Larry Hryb: Oh you haven't been to Mars?

Jeff Rubenstein: No.

Larry Hryb: Oh, it's delightful. Especially if, when Laura brings you and Laura gives you the tour. It's phenomenal.

Laura Massey: (laughs). Thanks.

Jeff Rubenstein: I've only been through the eyes of Matt Damon.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Nobody gives-, Laura, Laura is the tour guide of Mars.

Laura Massey: That's very kind. Thank you. Ah, so JPL with the collorabation of Microsoft and a team I didn't work with, uh, took that OnSight program and brought it to-

Larry Hryb: Created a, created a consumer version.

Laura Massey: A consumer version.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Exactly, which is hosted by Buzz Aldrin.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: Of, of course, he knows no introduction. But if you don't know, he's the second person to walk on the moon.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Which is awesome. And Erisa Hines, who is a Curos-, Curiosity Rover driver, so she actually tells the Rover where to drive on Mars.

Larry Hryb: I'd imagine ...

Laura Massey: So both those people are the hosts of it.

Jeff Rubenstein: Gotta be tough. That's a, that's some serious lag.

Larry Hryb: That's a some, that's some intergalatic lag.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs). The good news is that it isn't, isn't what you think, which is, uh, live driving.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: The, there's smarts on the Rover where it figures out where to go.

Larry Hryb: It's like, hey, go, go from point A, go to point B, and then it, it eventually gets there.

Jeff Rubenstein: I was like, now she's gotta think 9 minutes ahead.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: And put in the, she just steers blind.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I'm sure. She's making all these martian callbacks. You getting it, you getting this, Laura?

Laura Massey: Exactly. [inaudible 00:08:14]

Jeff Rubenstein: Did you get to go to the uh, vehicle, vehicle assembly building while you were there?

Laura Massey: We didn't go inside of it. We drove past it.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's huge, right?

Laura Massey: It's the biggest building I've ever seen.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Laura Massey: It's really big.

Larry Hryb: You, you know, the weath-, it has it's own weather. That's what I've heard.

Jeff Rubenstein: God.

Laura Massey: I'm sure it does.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, like, apparently it rains in there sometimes.

Jeff Rubenstein: Like inside the building.

Larry Hryb: Inside. Inside the building.

Jeff Rubenstein: 'Cause it's big it, it, like, the wa-water c-can condense, yeah.

Laura Massey: What?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: It rains inside that building?

Jeff Rubenstein: We may be just spreading rumors, but I've heard that same rumor.

Laura Massey: (laughs).

Larry Hryb: Okay, so if you've heard it and I've heard then, then that's, that's, so yeah, it's, it's, it's um, obviously it's a massive building.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'll, I'll put a link to it.

Larry Hryb: Go put a link to the- (laughs) it raining inside the ...

Laura Massey: Oh my goodness. Oh, well.

Larry Hryb: Hey, now you've never been there.

Laura Massey: I had been there once before a while ago.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: To the Kennedy Space Center, we're talking about. And that's where, where Destination Mars was, was being launched [crosstalk 00:08:56]

Larry Hryb: So the visitor's center. I've been to the visitor's center.

Laura Massey: You have.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. I went there to watch the, uh, one of the shuttle launches. It was phenomenal.

Laura Massey: Oh really?

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: So you went to, did you go to the second, there, so, there's two centers. There's the one where you enter then take a bus tour and it drops you off to where the Saturn five rocket is.

Larry Hryb: (sighs) We didn't do that.

Laura Massey: Did you go to the, the big building with the Saturn five rocket inside of it?

Larry Hryb: We did not, unfortunately.

Laura Massey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it was, it was late at night. It was, I was with my mother and it was crazy.

Laura Massey: Okay.

Larry Hryb: So.

Laura Massey: But you saw a rocket launch at night. That's pretty sweet.

Larry Hryb: Well actually, we never did.

Laura Massey: (gasps) What happened?

Larry Hryb: 'Cause it was, it was scrubbed.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause the weather.

Laura Massey: Oh, that's too bad.

Larry Hryb: So we waited until 3am and then it was scrubbed.

Laura Massey: Oh no.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, that sucked.

Laura Massey: That's disappointing.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, enough about that.

Laura Massey: But yes. So, Destination Mars on HoloLens is now at the Kennedy Space Center.

Larry Hryb: So if you're, he-, if you're planning a trip there you can actually go check it out, right?

Laura Massey: Yes, you can.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: It is, uh, included in the price of the admission ticket. You just gotta go get a reservation-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: ... for the, that day. And then you can go and experience Mars. It's open until ... I believe January 1st. So you have to get in-

Larry Hryb: And then what happens?

Laura Massey: ... this year. I'm not sure what happens after that.

Larry Hryb: It's only gonna be there for a few months?

Laura Massey: Yeah, for three months.

Larry Hryb: What? I can't i-

Laura Massey: So, plan your trips now.

Larry Hryb: I can't imagine something more popular's gonna supplant that, but what do I know?

Laura Massey: I know.

Larry Hryb: Unless they're gonna put you on a rocket and send you to Mars.

Laura Massey: (laughs).

Larry Hryb: Why would you, why would they, anyway. All right.

Laura Massey: I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens after January 1st, but that's the current planned, ah, hours for ...

Larry Hryb: Was it hot enough for you down there?

Laura Massey: Oh my gosh, was it hot.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: It was really, it's more humid.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Well, you're-

Laura Massey: And it's been a while since I've been in a humid environment, so I've, you know, you forget wh-what it's like. You forget that when you're inside it's really nice and cool-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: ... and when you go outside, your glasses fog up.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's like, ye-yeah.

Laura Massey: You can't see.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's like breathing through a straw.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Like, especially when you first get there and you're like- (gasps) How do you do this?

Laura Massey: (laughs) Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: You walk off the plane, you're just hit with it. You're hit with the, the shower that is the humidity.

Larry Hryb: Yup.

Jeff Rubenstein: Ha-, ha-, yeah. And then you start counting your days by shirts. "Oh, today was a three shirt day."

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I only had to change my shirt twice.

Larry Hryb: Yeah that's like, that's like when I go down there. I mean, this is too, TMI, but I mean you gotta bring like 2 or 3 pair of underwear.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause you're sweatin' through it.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah there was a Lewis, a Lewis Black, uh-

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: ... jag on that one before.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: That's right. Anyway. Uh, well, welcome back.

Laura Massey: Yes. So that was super fun.

Larry Hryb: Yes, that, so long story short, so y-, you met Buzz.

Laura Massey: I did meet Buzz.

Larry Hryb: Now is he, does he look as cantankerous or is he as cantankerous as he looks?

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: Okay, yeah. I could tell.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: He does. He, yeah. But it was super honor to meet him.

Larry Hryb: Of course it was.

Laura Massey: I never thought it, you know, I would ever be able to meet someone like that, but I touched a man who touched the moon.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: It's awesome.

Jeff Rubenstein: Did, did, did he pull like a moon rock out of your ear?

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Come here, kid.

Jeff Rubenstein: You got somethin' in there.

Larry Hryb: S-sit on my lap. Look at this. A moon rock. (laughs) What's tha-, how'd that get-

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Oh boy.

Laura Massey: Oh, no. That would have been sweet, but no.

Jeff Rubenstein: This is why I can't go to the moon, 'cause that's what I would do.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: Oh yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Squirrel away a whole bunch of moon rocks.

Laura Massey: Just keep 'em all in your ... pants.

Jeff Rubenstein: Keep that one. Keep it under your hat.

Larry Hryb: Buzz is a, yeah, Buzz is a ... I've, I've, I've-

Laura Massey: He's a legend.

Larry Hryb: Y-yeah, enough said.

Laura Massey: Yes, exactly.

Larry Hryb: Enough said, so.

Laura Massey: Yeah, so he gave a little speech to open Destination Mars.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Laura Massey: And then he cut the ribbon.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: To officially open it.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: So ... It was a, it was a really fun and special moment. I was very honored to be there.

Larry Hryb: So when you go there, I, I hope when you go there, that the snack bar only is serving potatoes.

Laura Massey: (laughs).

Larry Hryb: That's for you, Jeff. (laughs)

Laura Massey: That's, that's for Jeff. That's for Jeff.

Jeff Rubenstein: Wait, I don't get it.

Laura Massey: Potatoes. Potatoes on Mars.

Larry Hryb: The Martian?

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh yeah.

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Wow.

Jeff Rubenstein: Lil' slow.

Larry Hryb: Wow.

Laura Massey: (laughs) That took a while.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: That took a while.

Larry Hryb: You should have seen the look gave, he's like ...

Jeff Rubenstein: I had nothing. I was completely blank.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: That's right, I was [crosstalk 00:12:09] I'm just thinking about NASA. I'm like-

Larry Hryb: Way to kill the-, wa-, wa- (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: No, the potatoes in Florida are no better than the potatoes here. I can assure you. We're closer to Idaho.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Way to kill the joke, Jeff.

Jeff Rubenstein: Sorry.

Larry Hryb: Whomp, whomp, whomp. All right.

Laura Massey: Oh, one, one fun fact.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: If you do go to, to, Kennedy Space Center and check it out, you might see a familiar face. They play a video while you're standing in line.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: A video on loop.

Larry Hryb: The queue.

Laura Massey: Yes. And they play a video inside and my face is in the video.

Larry Hryb: You're in the video? Nice.

Laura Massey: Yeah, I'm in the video. [crosstalk 00:12:36]

Larry Hryb: Do I know this video?

Jeff Rubenstein: Why wasn't I in this video?

Laura Massey: It, it- (laughs)

Larry Hryb: No, no, it, this, so, I've, I've se-, no, I've see-, I remember the reveal video. I think you were va-, so, it's a similar, s-

Laura Massey: I was in that one and they used that footage.

Larry Hryb: Okay, cool. So this, this is, uh, so it ma-, if you se-, here's the deal. I need somebody to tweet me a photo, and Laura-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: ... a picture of that if you're going over the next few months, okay. I need to see this.

Laura Massey: Yes. If you see my face ...

Larry Hryb: So, whi-whip out your phone and, how far are you in the video, do you remember?

Laura Massey: I am at the first third.

Larry Hryb: First thi-, how long is it?

Laura Massey: First third. It's a, um, couple minutes.

Larry Hryb: Okay, so you're right at the be-, right at the beginning of it. So-

Jeff Rubenstein: Ask them, roll it back, pause.

Laura Massey: Yeah. Pause. I g-, shot.

Larry Hryb: So.

Jeff Rubenstein: You're fine with it. We checked.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: I need you to check that out. Anyhow, that's exciting.

Laura Massey: Yeah, super exciting.

Larry Hryb: That's exciting. Good for you.

Laura Massey: It was really really fun and super honored to go and, and ...

Larry Hryb: You didn't even tell me this. I was like, I looked on Twitter, I'm like, wait a minute, what? Went in where? Wh-, how? With who? W-T-F. Anyway.

Laura Massey: Sorry we didn't invite you down.

Larry Hryb: No, it, please, I don't think you are.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Thanks for saying that, but I don't think you are. (laughs) That's very kind of you.

Laura Massey: (sighs) So that's what I've been up to.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Recently.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Lots of traveling.

Larry Hryb: Jeff, you, you touched any strange spacemen lately? Cranky spacemen? (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs) Cranky spacemen.

Jeff Rubenstein: Not while I was awake.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Oh, boy. Ugh, boy. Yes. All right. I'm sorry, you, you, you finished with what you're playing?

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: You, that's, that's, okay. What about you Jeffrey, what are you playing?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. I can't follow up, I didn't meet anyone even remotely f-, other than you. Remotely famous.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Ah, so ... I got, actually, you know what I did, I did touch some spacemen.

Laura Massey: You did?

Jeff Rubenstein: With, with my new, with my new legendaries that I pulled out of Destiny.

Laura Massey: Oh, very good.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. Uh, so, jumped into, obviously, the, the, um, Rise of Iron rose this week. And as expected, even though I hadn't, I hadn't really pl-, played a lot of Destiny in the last six months. Uh, right back into it. And it's sor-, that's, that's my Diablo.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Jeff Rubenstein: I look at you and I get you no-

Larry Hryb: Oh, that's great.

Laura Massey: I understand.

Jeff Rubenstein: Eh, do you just, you just pick right up. It took me, you know, a good hour, like, wait, what is this unit of, you know, some sort of trading resource.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: That it's, it's, there's just, frankly an astounding amount of things that you can trade for one thing or another and it's like, no, that's from the Taken King or that one's from whatever. Um, so just figuring out what to do. But, um, played through. Uh, finished the Rise of Iron quest line last night and, eh, the final, the final battle is actually really awesome.

Larry Hryb: Who'd you do it with?

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, played it with, uh, couple good folks from the, from our LA space.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeff Rubenstein: The LA office.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, um, they, um, they've taken me through the, uh, previous, previous raids and stuff.

Laura Massey: Okay.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, and, when the raid unlocks-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, they, I remember, they carried you.

Jeff Rubenstein: They did.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: They did. It was only ... however many sets of folk [inaudible 00:15:07]. But, uh, yeah. So, we'll be tackling the new raid, I guess, is that this weekend? Or whenever that comes out, we'll be, we'll be [crosstalk 00:15:14].

Larry Hryb: Don't ask us, I don't know, I don't know if Laura knows, I don't know.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: Gotta get you back into that.

Larry Hryb: I gotta, I'm-, I'm headed, uh, I'm headed to LA this weekend.

Jeff Rubenstein: That's true.

Larry Hryb: I have no time for that.

Jeff Rubenstein: That's not gonna, that's not gonna happen. Uh, played also a lot of, uh, Forza Horizon 3.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, we, Jeff and I played a little bit of that. Uh, Laura, have you played it?

Jeff Rubenstein: So good, so good.

Laura Massey: Not yet.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. That's ... top priority.

Larry Hryb: Oh boy. Ohhh boy. Oh boy. Just it looks good, plays good, it's just, there's nothing-

Jeff Rubenstein: Sounds good.

Larry Hryb: ... There's nothing like, uh, there's nothing like plowing through the Australian outback-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: ... In a, uh, Centenario. Going about, you know, a hundred miles an hour.

Laura Massey: Nice.

Jeff Rubenstein: That car's unreal.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: They've-, were you the one that was saying that the only way you could get a Centenario-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Would be if you already were-, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah. So, so, the, this car which we had at E3 earlier this year when we announced for the Forza Horizon 3, the, uh, Lamborghini Cent-, Centenario, 'cause you have to pronounce Italian, Centenario-

Laura Massey: Uh, huh. [crosstalk 00:16:03] movements-

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:16:03]

Larry Hryb: ...I had to pr-, I had, I actually, so I actually had, yeah, you have to, I actually had to rehearse this because when I knew what it was, I had to sit down-, my wife speaks fluent Italian so sh-she's, like we're sitting at the kitchen table-

Laura Massey: Coaching you.

Larry Hryb: ... And she's like, Centenario. And she does it really nice, not like Centenario. No, no, no, again. So anyway, rehearse that, so I had it at E3. But in any event, this car is phenomenal and the only way you can buy one of them, first of all they're all sold out, is apparently you had to pre-own like three or four Lamborghinis. You had to be an existing owner-

Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.

Larry Hryb: You couldn't just waltz in and go, I want one of those.

Laura Massey: That's exclusive.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. Wicked exclusive.

Jeff Rubenstein: We ha-, we had one at the booth and just in, it was maybe the most impressive vehicle I had ever seen.

Laura Massey: Wow.

Jeff Rubenstein: And without it even moving.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, th-those Lamborghinis, I mean we seen them all, you know, in, in games and in pictures. They look like they're going a hundred miles an hour when they're standing still.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: They're just such beautiful, beautiful, they have such wonderful lines so.

Jeff Rubenstein: So depending on when you're listening to this-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: Um, you can already play Forza Horizon 3. Um, if you're listening to this before, uh, Tuesday, September 27th-

Larry Hryb: And.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... There is the Forza 3, ultimate edition-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Which you could play right now as we record this. Uh, everyone else can play, uh, if you're having other, uh, other versions of the game, uh, starting this Tuesday.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, the reviews were stellar. I, I think possibly higher than any other Forza game.

Larry Hryb: I think you're right.

Jeff Rubenstein: Um, which is really saying something.

Larry Hryb: And I, and I think it's now is a good time 'cause, you know, if a Forza game comes out that I need to again ... that's an interesting sound, I don't know what that is. Uh-

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh I know where you're going with this already.

Larry Hryb: Uh, that I have to apologize in advance for my Drivatar.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs)

Laura Massey: Uh, huh. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Uh, he is a little aggressive. Uh, you've run into-

Jeff Rubenstein: I, I've, I, well that and I've already gotten the same complaint about mine.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: Is it a little aggressive or ... a lot?

Larry Hryb: Uh, so listen, I grew up driving on the east coast of the United States. That's just the way it is up there.

Jeff Rubenstein: It, it's, it's totally different.

Larry Hryb: I'm used to driving in New York, I'm used to driving in, uh, you know, Boston. It's like, get out of my-, the horn is there for a reason.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: [Speed 00:17:57] of warranty can customize your horn!

Larry Hryb: Da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:18:02] there's a, there's a, I'm actually looking forward to less about what cars I'm going to unlock and more about what horn I'm going on.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: So I do, you know what I also have, is I was taken for a spin last time was the Warthog.

Laura Massey: (gasps) What?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so for the first time ever-

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:18:15]

Larry Hryb: The Warthog, yes, did, do you not see the videos? I did one, I did an amazing video with the Warthog.

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: I missed it.

Larry Hryb: Well, see, you, you don't remember this-

Laura Massey: Show me.

Larry Hryb: ... I told this story a couple weeks ago. We, when we were down at, uh, when we were down at, uh, Turn 10, we were doing a video to announce that you can, for people that, anybody that plays, uh, any Halo game on Xbox One.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: So that the Master Chief Collection or Halo 5: Guardians, you'll get a code, a five-by-five code in your, in your message center on Xbox.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: And you can, and you can use that to, to unlock the Warthog and you can drive it in game.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: So it's phenomenal. But when we did the unveil, and I'll se-, I'll send you the video Laura, um, is we were there and it was, uh, it was just funny moment 'cause we were shooting, it was shooting with Dan Greenawalt at Turn 10. He says, he's like, "Oh, I have a surprise for you," and I said, "What is it?" He says, "Oh, it's right over there," and we turn and the Warthog is supposed to drive up at that point.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: So the c-, so the camera turns to look at the Warthog and all you here is, vrrrr-vrrrr-vrrrr-vrrrr ... rrrr-rrrr.

Laura Massey: Oh, no! (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Rrrr, and then you hear the driver go, "Hold on!" (laughs)

Laura Massey: Oh no. (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:19:16]

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:19:17]

Larry Hryb: I have to, I have to fi-, I have, I have to find that outtake somewhere. It's never been [inaudible 00:19:20]. But anyways, but yeah-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: ... The Warthog is in there so I was driving that all over, all over the Australian creation. It was a lot of fun.

Jeff Rubenstein: Man, that game is so good.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so.

Jeff Rubenstein: You l-, you like racing-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... It literally has everything.

Larry Hryb: And of course, let's be clear, this is an Xbox Play Anywhere title Laura, which means if you buy it on Xbox you get the Windows 10 version, it's included at no additional cost.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: Uh, you can play cross plays, so if I'm on my PC and you're on your console or vice versa we can play together if you'd like. Uh, also your game save goes back and forth.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: So it's, it's fully embracing, it's really really starting -

Laura Massey: Great, so you can go between PC and Xbox.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Rubenstein: Um, and so what I would say is if you're looking forward to being able to play, uh, Forza Horizon 3 on your PC, um, there are some new drivers that Nvidia released this week, that, uh, will increase your performance, we'll link to that.

Larry Hryb: Video drivers, not, not Drivatars.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, I didn't really think about that-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: But yeah, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Just wanna make sure ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Thank you, appreciate that.

Laura Massey: The clarity. [inaudible 00:20:13] clarity.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. So that's, uh, that's an Xbox play they worked on. What else you playing Jeffrey, are you ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, still playing through ReCore, still, I'm so close-

Larry Hryb: ReCore.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, and yeah.

Larry Hryb: Have you played ReCore Laura?

Laura Massey: Not yet. I really wanna play, play that.

Larry Hryb: Okay Laura, you might wanna st-, play some games.

Laura Massey: I should play some games.

Larry Hryb: You could even get your console hooked up.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Just gotta ...

Laura Massey: Ye-yes it is.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Thanks for clarifying that.

Larry Hryb: Just wanted to, just wanted, just wanted to make sure, you know, you've just been so busy with ... doing other stuff.

Laura Massey: Lots of stuff.

Larry Hryb: Doing other stuff.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, the, the last game that I am playing, I'm so close on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:20:42]

Jeff Rubenstein: I got to the point yesterday where I was jumping on a plane and they were like, uh, before you do this, uh, finish all your side missions, this is it.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Hmmmm.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm coming up on the end game.

Laura Massey: I see. So all you need is a spider now and ...

Larry Hryb: Yeah, exactly.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes!

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:20:56]

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:20:56] wolf spiders. That's what we have-

Larry Hryb: I don't know what it was ...

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah. They're nasty.

Larry Hryb: You should've seen me jump outta that chair.

Laura Massey: Oh, gosh.

Larry Hryb: I've never moved faster.

Laura Massey: Ugh, ugh.

Jeff Rubenstein: So we had that whole conversation and then on-

Laura Massey: My skin is crawling.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... On Monday, um, I was dri-, usually take the bus but I drove in on Monday. And, uh, 'cause I had to drop my kid off at school and she was like, spider in the car. And I was like, you gotta be kidding me.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:21:17]

Jeff Rubenstein: She just smashes it, it was on the back of the headrest-

Laura Massey: (gasps)

Jeff Rubenstein: So that thing was, was ready to pounce.

Laura Massey: (Laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: It was in the kill position ...

Larry Hryb: It was, it was ready to go right on ya.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: But she just, she saved you.

Jeff Rubenstein: She did. Like-

Larry Hryb: Thank you.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... She had, she's not like me, she's-

Larry Hryb: God, no more spiders.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... She has no fear of bugs.

Larry Hryb: No more spiders. No more spiders.

Laura Massey: That's very good.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Raising right. (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I don't know how I didn't ruin that generation.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sure I'll find a way.

Larry Hryb: All right, uh, so quickly what I'm playing, uh, Forza Horizon 3, we talked about that. Uh, BioShock, BioShock- [crosstalk 00:21:41]

Laura Massey: (gasps) Yes!

Jeff Rubenstein: Oooh.

Laura Massey: [crosstalk 00:21:41] of the whole pack.

Larry Hryb: Yes. Ugh, so good.

Laura Massey: They're so good games.

Larry Hryb: So good. Playing that and of course I finished The Turing Test. Uh, been playing The Witness, ReCore. You know something we need to do, Halo 5: Forge came out whilst you were gone Laura.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Um, and there's-

Laura Massey: On PC?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, on PC. It's free.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Uh, and it has an achievement for getting seven players into a ga-, it's like a hundred point achievement for getting seven players into a custom game.

Laura Massey: Lot of points.

Larry Hryb: So we need to do this.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: I've cracked into the top five of my achievement list for the month.

Larry Hryb: You have?

Jeff Rubenstein: So we need to keep that going.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Laura Massey: Yeah. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: All right, well we'll have to take a look at that. So-

Jeff Rubenstein: I-I'm only, I'm only thirteen thousand points behind, um, behind Stallion83 for this month. He's-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I'm seeing you as number four, you've got 1850, I've got 1805.

Laura Massey: Thirteen thousand?

Jeff Rubenstein: That's pretty good.

Laura Massey: Thirteen thousand points or thirteen hundred?

Jeff Rubenstein: Thirteen thousand.

Laura Massey: What? For a month?

Jeff Rubenstein: He is the world's gamer score leader.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: Oh my gosh.

Larry Hryb: Yes, yes, that is his, that is his job.

Laura Massey: That's impressive.

Larry Hryb: So anyway, so yeah, it's been, it's been crazy. Of course we got some releases coming up this week. Jeff do you have the latest le-, release list [crosstalk 00:22:39]?

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah [crosstalk 00:22:39]. We can actually just quickly look back, we've mentioned Firewatch just came out.

Larry Hryb: Yeah and I want, I actually w-, w-, I wo-, I wanna make sure we get to this, I got, I got the interview queued up.

Laura Massey: It's the interview, right.

Larry Hryb: So we'll get to that in just a moment.

Jeff Rubenstein: Sure. Uh, NBA 2k17 is, uh, now available. And, uh, EA, EA Sports NHL 17 is also available. Um, what we've got coming up this month. All right, this week, this week EA Sports FIFA 17.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: With, uh, we talked about last [crosstalk 00:23:03].

Larry Hryb: Available now if you have EAX, uh-

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, and this is the first one, uh, first FIFA game to use the frostbite engine. So there are, like, real tangible differences in the way the game feels and, uh, from what I've played- [crosstalk 00:23:13]

Larry Hryb: Is the stadium gonna crumble down?

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, I, I, I-

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm hoping that if you hard the ball hard enough-

Larry Hryb: Boom!

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Y-you get to [inaudible 00:23:18], like goodbye. Uh, XCOM 2.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: Is also coming out.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: Oooh.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, this is a game that I played earlier this year, beat earlier this year. Uh, on PC. Um, they always give me the XCOM games. I think I bought XCOM: Enemy Unknown slash Enemy Within on five different platforms.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: So, and, I mean, so they've got me. Uh, I'll be picking this up again but XCOM 2 is really really good. Um, it is actually better than Enemy Unknown. So if you played the last one you will love it. If you like strategy sort of RPGs with super high stakes, um-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... You will, you will love that as well.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: So those two, FIFA, uh, XCOM, and Forza, those are your big releases for this coming week.

Larry Hryb: That's good. Speaking of XCOM you know who loves XCOM is E.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Oh, you know I gotta get him back on the show for those of you that missed it, he has a new job.

Laura Massey: I saw.

Larry Hryb: He's working at Pokemon.

Laura Massey: That's great.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: He's working, he's working with Niantic, right?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, he's working, he's working with those guys so he's, uh, I know he's doing, he's doing IT stuff.

Laura Massey: Okay, I imagine he's doing-

Larry Hryb: I asked him if he wants to come back on the show-

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: ... And he's, he's just always walking around trying to find Pokemon. So-

Laura Massey: Okay [crosstalk 00:24:20].

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:24:20] plays Pokemon Go all the time.

Laura Massey: If you look [crosstalk 00:24:24]

Larry Hryb: Well I can tell you if anybody follows him on Twitter, it's what he did all summer long.

Jeff Rubenstein: Do you, have you heard-

Larry Hryb: Which apparently was a job interview, so ...

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Have you heard the song?

Larry Hryb: No.

Jeff Rubenstein: You don't know that that was quoting the song. The Poke-, it's one minute long. I have to play it for you. It's the worst thing ever.

Larry Hryb: Are we really gonna d-, okay go ahead.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes!

Larry Hryb: If you, if you wish to.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's an ear worm.

Laura Massey: What?

Jeff Rubenstein: Twenty-five million views. On that. It's, it's-

Laura Massey: Does that ...

Jeff Rubenstein: ... It's, uh, a boy from, I think the Czech Republic and it just goes on and on and on.

Larry Hryb: And on.

Jeff Rubenstein: But now, well, we've been using it to troll the people in the office.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: You've been missing that. Dan on the surface team-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Played it for me once and it, it gets in your head. I only played- [crosstalk 00:25:08]

Larry Hryb: Play it again.

Laura Massey: Oh no.

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs) I can do that.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: It, it, it's-

Jeff Rubenstein: It's just a preview there.

Laura Massey: And that just loops?

Jeff Rubenstein: It's a guitar solo in it by the way-

Larry Hryb: Is it, is that the whole thing?

Jeff Rubenstein: N-, it has a, it has verses.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:25:26]

Larry Hryb: 'Cause that, that's like, that's like, that's like the bridge, you know, like a stinger or something we would use.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, uh, so the, well when you're on Bing and you just mouse over-

Larry Hryb: The videos.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... A video, it'll play the first few seconds.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: I love you guys, so that's all I did. But I will ce-

Laura Massey: That's kind.

Larry Hryb: Okay, just, just-

Jeff Rubenstein: It's up to thirty million views now

Laura Massey: Oh wow.

Larry Hryb: Wow. My lord.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's a phenomenon. And we have to make sure E hears it. Nonstop. In his streams. [crosstalk 00:25:48]

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Okay. So we'll [crosstalk 00:25:48] make sure he has. Could you put that in the show notes?

Jeff Rubenstein: Can do.

Larry Hryb: Because that's-

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm sorry.

Larry Hryb: Apologies in advance, uh, we talked about Firewatch, Firewatch is out now, which is a game where you play a, uh, by the way the writing in that is extraordinary.

Laura Massey: Yeah. It is.

Larry Hryb: It's funny 'cause I was, I was-

Laura Massey: The voice acting is great.

Larry Hryb: ... I was, ye-, without a doubt. I was explaining this to my wife, I'm like, "hey, I'm playing Firewatch." She says, "oh, what is it?" I said, "well, it's, it's a, it's a game where you're, you're playing as a fire watcher in the late '80s and you, you know, your wife has dementia." And I started explaining this, I'm like, she looked at me like I was out of my mind. She's like, "what?" (laughs) She's like, "wait a minute, what?" It was just this, anyway, but the writing is really fantastic.

Jeff Rubenstein: When do you eat the power pellets and run away from the ghosts?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, exactly, it's, it's [crosstalk 00:26:30].

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:26:30] Games' come a long way.

Larry Hryb: They certainly have, they certainly have.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: But uh, Firewatch, so why don't we take a break here, we'll get Sean in here, talk a little bit about Firewatch, now out on Xbox One. And he'll give us the update there, how's that sound?

Laura Massey: That sounds great.

Larry Hryb: As promised, uh, joining us on the line from San Francisco's Sean Vanaman, Sean welcome. Welcome to the show. It's great to, great to talk to you.

Sean Vanaman: It's great to be here, thanks for having me.

Larry Hryb: Now, really exciting, Firewatch is out now on Xbox One, and you're, you're the writer of Firewatch, right?

Sean Vanaman: Yes, yeah. I wrote the game every single word of the game pretty much, uh, maybe, there's probably a couple in there that I didn't. But, uh, yeah, and then I did a lot of the creative direction on the game with the studio co-founder Jake. And, uh, we're a small studio, we're like, uh, ten people, so you do everything. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: There's like, like, yeah. Um, gameplay, scripting, and whatever there is to be done, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Now, now, these folks are probably familiar with your title Firewatch, it came out earlier this year, uh, on, on, other consoles, on Playstation. And it was also out on PC, but now it's coming to Xbox One, or it's on Xbox One. Let's walk us through, you know, what the game is all about and what Xbox One players can kind of expect from the experience.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, um, it's funny, the best way to de-describe the, I can describe the game really quickly and then I can kind of talk about some of the, like, people who worked on it and the sensibilities they have and I think it may give people a good sense. So, like, um, Firewatch is a single player, first person ... narrative, exploration game set in the woods where you hike and climb and, uh, run around, looking for sort of clues to a mystery. You play as this guy Henry, who has taken this job as a fire lookout in Wyoming in the '80s, to sort of get away from his life that's sort of not gone well and then, like, weird stuff starts to happen. And then in the game, you have a, uh, a boss named Delilah who's sort of your only lifeline to the outside world. And as you explore and talk to her, your relationship changes and evolves and the whole goal was to set out to make a, like, really, like, tight thriller, like psychological thriller with a, like, incredible character story underneath it.

Um, Jake and I had been creative directors and co-writers on The Walking Dead season one Telltales. So we, like, felt like we, like, character stuff has always been our strength and then-

Larry Hryb: You kind of understood what you needed to do. (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: ... Yeah. (laughs) Yeah. So just a, just go for the gut at every time, every time you can break somebody's heart, do that. Um, but uh, there's maybe a little bit less of that in Firewatch. But it's still got some, uh, heavy emotional things. Um, I promise people right now live exclusive on this podcast, that-

Larry Hryb: All right, here we go ladies and gentlemen, here we go.

Sean Vanaman: ... (laughs) If I get to write another game, I'm writing another game. Uh, it will be less of a bummer all the time. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Good to know.

Sean Vanaman: Um, but, uh, that's like, at least that's like a personal goal I'm setting for myself. But we'll see how far I'm able to actually do that.

Larry Hryb: I think, I think you can achieve it. I wanna talk about, you know, the concept of the game. 'Cause, 'cause folks outside the country or maybe that aren't familiar with this, this part of the United States, is the-, being a firewatch, this is actually a role that still exists today. This isn't just from the '80s. Can you explain what that is? 'Cause obviously you've done your research and, and, and how you've kind of wound that into a game narrative.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, um, so, this job being a lookout is pretty straightforward in that you, uh, sit in isolation in a wilderness area, in a tower. And watch for fires. And-

Larry Hryb: And that's pretty much as exciting as it sounds, right? (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: That's about where it goes. And, I mean, you're talking sometimes like upwards of a hundred thousand acres of these, uh, like ladies and gentlemen are covering. Which is, pretty, like, a substantial chunk of the wilderness. Also I think possibly, uh, like, our friends in Europe who maybe haven't been to the US or haven't been to the West at least, or been maybe to like cities or big coasts, um, there's so much space here. Like our, like, Xbox players in Russia are like, we're familiar with lots of space.

Larry Hryb: Right. (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: But, um- (laughs) There is so much land, uh, and when you're in the middle of it, you will never feel more alone. And that was-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's completely, it's thousands of acres of uninhabited wilderness.

Sean Vanaman: ... Like you will die and the world won't care, no one will come and save you. There is nothing there. I guess Australians would probably understand that too. Um-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: But um, uh, yeah, so, it was sort of that feeling that we wanted to, we thought was a good feeling, it's a feeling you have in a lot of games.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: It's like the way I felt when I played BioShock. Like BioShock is a huge inspiration on this game.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: Like our gameplay programmer, um, worked on the BioShock series, for instance.

Larry Hryb: No big deal. (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: So, uh, he's, he's good. Um, but, um, that feeling of, I'm so alone here and everything that's happening to me is, uh, I can't bounce off of reality, I have to sort of frame it in context of where I am right now, was a feeling that I really like in those games. It's the stuff that I like sometimes in half life. Those are big, like, touchstones for us, so. There are parts of those games where, like, I'm not crazy shooter guy.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: Like, I like, I like a good, like, I mean I love Dishonored, I also love the BioShock series, and I like Half-Life. But, um, we wanted to make a game that sort of felt like some of those moments in the BioShock series, where you don't have a gun and you're just thinking in wonderment, in curious about what's happening around you. You're like infinite, the opening advancement-

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Sean Vanaman: ... Is like stunning with that. So, um, yeah. That was always a big inspiration for us. So if you like those sorts of moments in those games, like Firewatch is probably for you.

Larry Hryb: So, so you're, you're hanging out, you're on the top of this, soon near top of this mountain, with your, you know, with your binoculars, looking over thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of acres, looking for a fire. How do you make a story out of that?

Sean Vanaman: Great question. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: Um, you make stuff happen. (laughs) Um, that's sort of something I've always done, where it's like, hey, we have this set up, and honestly like, the inspiration for Firewatch was like, I grew up in Wyoming, I thought fire lookout towers were cool. Um-

Larry Hryb: Have you ever been up in, you must have been up in one?

Sean Vanaman: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've been to some when I was a good and then we took the team to a bunch during development. There is a couple in Yosemite, there is one not too far actually from San Francisco, which is weird. Up in [ber-and 00:32:59], it's still used and it actually looks over a residential slash wilderness area, which is pretty cool. Um, and, uh, I just thought they were like evocative and a really interesting place. They also do a thing that you want in game design and level design, which is like, oh, that's where I'm going.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: You know. And oftentimes like, oh, I need to return to my, to my home base. So it does a lot of cool stuff, um, and then, in terms of how do you make a story about that, uh, that was like the first question. And it was, okay, what's his problem, what's her problem. (laughs) What do they want and then what has happened in the world. You just start asking yourself those questions and you pitch yourself bonkers ideas.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: Um, and, then you start figuring out what the tone of your game is. So in this game, uh, in the first day of the job, like, you're basically assaulted. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: Like your tower, your tower is-

Larry Hryb: It's under attack.

Sean Vanaman: ... Under attack.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: And you're like, what did I do?

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: And, uh, you're like is this a misunderstanding? Did I just, like, anger, these hikers that I just met? Was it some guy I just saw? Like, what, why would this- is this a bear? Um, and when you start having those questions as a player, and as a storyteller, you're like, okay, now we have a story. Like, why? The answer is just like why did this happen.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: And then when that answer-, question gets answered you better have like two more questions. So that's always the way I've tried to write, you know. Um, and, uh, we also write a lot of stuff that players, some players aren't going to see. You know, we try to write stuff that- there's a real core na-, like story, that you're definitely gonna experience. Um, the world is open so you can hike and go wherever you want. But obviously, like, as you get to places, story stuff's gonna happen.

Larry Hryb: Sure.

Sean Vanaman: But um, like, questions and, uh, plot points of the game, um, don't happen in cut scene. They happen, like, totally as you discover that. We really tried to keep like non-player interactive stuff to a bare minimum this game. That was a huge goal of ours, so, you've very few, like, maybe seconds worth of hands off the controller, cut scene type stuff, like-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Sean Vanaman: ... Not much at all.

Larry Hryb: Now, one of the things that I, you know, we recall when it came out, um, you know, is that, last year, is that it's so beautiful and I saw people making these great wallpapers out of it and going on and on. Talk about the art style a little bit and how your art is captured. What, what the, what the style you were looking for.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, um, you know, like so much of the way we do, like, game and creative direction is just like, what are you good at? And, um, our, uh, main illustrator and our, our 2D artist and our 3D artist are a guy named Olly Moss and then a woman named Jane Ang. And Olly just has a really distinct color-based graphic style and he, I think he-

Larry Hryb: It's very bold.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, it's incredibly bold. And he wanted to, he's also from England. So he was like, getting familiar with the American West while making this game. And he wanted to recreate that feeling of, like, when you're standing, looking out into the wilderness and, uh, like those, like, layers of depth of just mountain after mountain after mountain after mountain and he had done a lot of, his style just had that in it. And he's like, I wanna apply that sort of, like, color-based layered style to a 3D game. And then Jane and our programmers, uh, Apollo and Ben said, like, okay, well let's figure out what we can do to actually, like, make the, like, 3D geometry sort of fade into what would be, like, a Olly Moss illustration-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: ... As you go further into the world. And I think, um, I'm pretty just stunned at how they pulled that off, because when you're, let's say you're like in a valley, all the things around you just look 3D and like a video game.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: But then through use of just, uh, shaders and a thing we call stylistic fog, they were able to like just sort of blend into these illustrations almost.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: Um, and it makes the world just feel enormous. (laughs) It's like so good.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, I mean, that, that's a part of the tools that a good artist has, is they know how to do, it's a little bit of stage craft, isn't it?

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, I mean that's so, it's so, it's so similar to stage craft. Like I mean, I think a great video game, like, 3D artist and like a, like, stage crafts person have, like, just tremendous amounts in common. Um, you know, when you're making a 3D game like ours where you can just whip your head around at any time and look around, you don't get the sort of benefit of fixed perspective that, you know, you get in, like, a game like Inside, which I am ob-, like ob-, stupidly obsessed with. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Did you finish it yet?

Sean Vanaman: Uh, so I play this game in twenty minute chunks.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Sean Vanaman: I play twenty minutes a night because I get to a point where I'm so overwhelmed with the craftsmanship of the game that I get angry-

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

Sean Vanaman: ... As a developer.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: And I go, okay, all right, I just need to not for a second. So I'm pr-, I'm finishing it tonight.

Larry Hryb: Okay, well, then your mind is about to explode.

Sean Vanaman: Yes. I know, I can't wait. It's just a wonderful game. Yeah. So that's the art of Firewatch.

Larry Hryb: How many of, uh, you know you talked about the other games you worked on, The Walking Dead. And that is a, it's fairly prescribed in terms of the dialogue trees and so forth. And this is a, you know, certainly the narrative is very strong. How did you, how did you make the transition from something like that, which is fairly rigid to what could essentially be an open-world type game.

Sean Vanaman: Um, that's a great question. Um, I think I made that transition clunkily. (laughs) I don't know. I think I, I look back now and I like all the things I learned making Firewatch. Um, Firewatch is also a game that if we had any diligence we probably wouldn't have tried to make. 'Cause we're like, oh, we know how to make games. Like, let's use a new engine to make an open-world, first person story-driven game.

Larry Hryb: What could go wrong?

Sean Vanaman: Raise your hand if you've done that. (laughs) Uh, but, um, I thought about it, um, very similar, actually I think about it from a sitting down at my computer, not a technical side but from a sitting down at my computer perspective. Um, in the same way, which is, okay, we have this, like, collection of moments. Let's say the game has got, like, two hundred and fifty moments and one of them can just be a two second back and forth with Henry and Delilah. Or one could be a like a bonkers set piece, that, you like as you're walking down a path something crazy happens. Um, I just sort of try to make all those moments as detailed as possible. And I try to write them really well, the same way I would on the Walking Dead. And then, um, the things that we do differently is, I then sort of think, okay, inside of this moment, which of the stuff can I like changed based on stuff that's already happened.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Sean Vanaman: So when it does happen to you, it feels even more personal.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: And then I do, and then I just write little branches and I kind of have like a mark-up or like a code I write, in like a, basically like programming, I just write a code.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: And then I go, okay, I've done that and now, what ca-, what are all the things in the world that could cause this one moment to happen. And then I like make a list of, like, this has to be true, this has to be true, this has to be true. And now-

Larry Hryb: It's gotta be believable.

Sean Vanaman: ... Yeah. Well this sort of like player has to have been here, player has to like already have this item, player has to have had this conversation and made this choice for this moment to happen. And then you just sort of drop them in the world. Like, literally, like I drop them as like cubes, they're just like triggers you hit.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Sean Vanaman: We ended up, like, tuning it way way mor-, way more, but this was like a first pass so I just literally go in and I, I'm dropping clear cubes on top of a map. And I'm like, it should happen here, it should happen here.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: And then we play it, you know.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: So that was the whole new part, but um, the writing stuff is just like, yeah, just trying to write with brevity, try to make, try to give it enough stuff in the script and the actors, who are brilliant in this game. Like, h-, can latch onto. And, um, then, cross your fingers, which is like most of The Walking Dead was just like, we didn't know what we're doing.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: We had thought, we were like, oh, well, this game will hopefully find an audience. (laughs) You know, like-

Larry Hryb: And how. (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: ... Do good and cross your fingers.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Sean Vanaman: Um, so, yeah, the actors in this game is a guy named Rich Summer, who is, uh, was on Mad Men from the first episode to the last episode, which is really cool. And then Sissy Jones plays Delilah and she is from The Walking Dead season one. She played, um, the Belgian woman Katjaa, she was like, she's in tons of stuff now. She was in Adrift, she's in, uh, bunch of other Telltale stuff, yeah. She's awesome.

Larry Hryb: I wanna ask you, um, you know, you talk about Firewatch, which takes place in the '80s, in the late '80s, correct?

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, '89.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. How, how do you feel about, um, what is it, Stranger Things? On Netflix.

Sean Vanaman: Oh man. Um, so, Stranger Things- (laughs) Okay. This is how I feel about Stranger Things. Stranger Things is incredible because Stranger Things is like, I feel like I'm walking through the woods and there is like a trap that's been baited perfectly to catch me. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: I'm like, like why, why is that so well-made? Why is that exactly the way it should be?

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: I was never like a huge Goonies fan, which I know is probably-

Larry Hryb: Yeah, it's funny, neither was I.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah. So I feel like I'm, I don't have the sort of like gushing emotional, like, attachment to Stranger Things, but like, I love, like, I watched the whole thing and I love how well it's made, I love that it got made, I like that that's like where we are now, that Netflix can let people make stuff like Stranger Things. Um, and, uh, you know, I think they do a, maybe ... Firewatch is a good game and you should totally buy it. So I'm being critical when I say I think maybe they do a better job, like a better job-

Larry Hryb: No, I, the only reason I wa-

Sean Vanaman: [crosstalk 00:42:48]

Larry Hryb: ... I don't wanna draw any parallels, just Firewatch because it takes place in the '80s and it's narrative driven and I mean I don't wanna give too much away about your story.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: But I mean, it's, it's got this parallel, everyone is talking Stranger Things right now-

Sean Vanaman: [crosstalk 00:42:59] (laughs) Yeah, um, yeah. I think, I think, um, if you like gen-, '80s genre stuff, we go for it. You know, like, we have, like, the actual, there's a band in the game, there's a bunch of like diegetic music and that band is a modern band from LA. Um, and they sell cassette tapes at their shows because they like record all of their audio to cassette first. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Let me just tell you something. I, I, listen Sean, I don't know about you but I lived in the '80s and I had cassettes. They're terrible.

Sean Vanaman: They're awful.

Larry Hryb: It's okay they went away.

Sean Vanaman: They're awful, I remember the first CD I ever got, which was Simpsons Sing the Blues, by the way. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Nice, well done.

Sean Vanaman: And I remember hearing it and going, like, oh my God. Like, what, like why does this not sound like trash and why is this not falling apart. Uh-

Larry Hryb: And I don't have to rewind it or flip it over? Cool.

Sean Vanaman: They're a nightmare. They, I, I hope it's like vinyl. I have a bunch of vinyl now 'cause that's a cool thing everyone has now.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: 'Cause vinyl's on the come-up. Um, vinyl's great. But, like, I hope cassettes don't do that. I hope it's not like in five years-

Larry Hryb: They don't need to.

Sean Vanaman: ... Like Urban Outfitters is like we got cassettes now.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Sean Vanaman: 'Cause don't get suckered into that, ladies and gentlemen at home. It sucks.

Larry Hryb: You heard it here first.

Sean Vanaman: It's a nightmare.

Larry Hryb: You heard it here first, so.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, well listen, it sounds great. I know that it, it's out and I know that you had, you had-, you said before we got started you wanted to talk a little bit about, um, the release in Europe.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah. We're a little bit delayed in Europe because of a ratings snafu. Uh, there's-, our game's a weird game to rate. They did a fine job, it's just like the most bureaucratic nonsense. But it'll be, um, it's, it's coming. It'll be there ASAP. If not, like, today, mmm, in a couple days.

Larry Hryb: Very soon.

Sean Vanaman: Yes. So please, keep checking your Xbox store dashboards. Also at Campo Santo on Twitter, we will tweet, like, it'll be an obscene storm of tweets the moment it's out in Europe.

Larry Hryb: And one would almost say it's a firestorm of tweets. (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: One would almost say that.

Larry Hryb: And I'll, obviously I'll tweet it as well when you guys, or retweet you guys once it's available, just to let our, the Xbox owners in Europe know that, hey, you can now get your Firewatch on.

Sean Vanaman: Yes. Oh! And, um, also, just last thing is that, um, like, we were, we've been like so excited to come to Xbox-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Sean Vanaman: ... Since like launch day on February 9th. And, um, we, the game has a bunch of new stuff in it too. The game has this crazy, like, multi-hour, uh, scavenger hunt slash making-of mode, where you hike through the wilderness and go on a scavenger hunt and find cassette tapes, crappy cassette tapes-

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: ... Of, like, stories of how we made the game, interviews with the cast, and then also like museum set pieces of like, here's how our lighting works, um, out in the woods. And then we also, uh, for Xbox owners we're shipping with a, on a free-realm mode that has a day-night cycle, and secrets to find out in the woods, um, and a bunch of new achievements. So that's all coming to Xbox, um, basically like, uh, for the first time ever. So, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Well I gotta tell you, on behalf of everyone at Xbox, we're really excited to have, have you on the console and I know that, uh, everyone's really excited about this game and I know that my, my, my activity feel on the console's just gonna fill up with all wonderful screenshots of this game. And I, I, you know, maybe I should stream it for a little while on Bing when it-, you know, but, uh, can't, can't wait to get my hands on it like I said, I've played it on the other platforms. I'm really excited to see what you guys are gonna do here, especially with some of that cool new stuff.

Sean Vanaman: Yeah, the new stuff is so good. We started it as just, like, oh, wouldn't it be fun if, and then we built full-featured modes that we're really really thrilled about, so. Um, definitely check them out. It's also a very streamable game.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Sean Vanaman: Um, people have streamed, like, there's some good streams out there, uh, from like Markiplier and PewDiePie and stuff. They're, like, it's a very streamable game. Because you can sort of act as Henry the whole time, so.

Larry Hryb: Now I gotta ask you one question before I let you go, 'cause-

Sean Vanaman: Uh, oh.

Larry Hryb: ... You wrote, you wrote a game many many moons ago ...

Sean Vanaman: Oh, god! (laughs)

Larry Hryb: ... That I really, I'm a huge huge Wallace and Gromit fan.

Sean Vanaman: (gasps) Oh my god! (laughs)

Larry Hryb: And you were one of the co-writers on that game, what was it like to work with, with Aardman?

Sean Vanaman: Oh man. Uh, difficult.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: Because that is, it's like, what is like to write for a national treasure-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: ... When you're twenty-four years old-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: ... And don't know any of their language really. Um, it was awesome and-

Larry Hryb: It was a learning experience.

Sean Vanaman: ... I was like so, I was just young and dumb. Like I didn't understand, like, what an opportunity I'd been given.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: Um, I was, like, I liked Wallace and Gromit, um, and, uh, I just tried to do right by the people at Aardman because they were so passionate and, um-

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: ... Uh, like, protective of Wallace and Gromit. And I think that, like, I ended up, I was, I ended up having a great experience. Uh, and I went to England for two weeks and recorded the whole cast, uh, which was awesome. Um, for, uh, any listeners who don't know what Wallace and Gromit is, it's a clay-mation British, like, sort of like, shorts series that has come over the past fifty to twenty years.

Larry Hryb: And if you haven't seen it, you're missing, you're missing some incredible storytelling, animation, and frankly comedy.

Sean Vanaman: They're delightful.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Sean Vanaman: They're funny, it's like, got the sort of like Pixar thing, where it's like, I'm an adult and I'm laughing at a joke my kid doesn't understand and they have shorts and then they have a couple features, um, that are great. Um, really really wonderful. That was my first actual shipped game I ever wrote.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Sean Vanaman: Because I wrote, made a bunch of stuff that I never shipped before that. So, uh, Wallace and Gromit was like the, I'm gonna ship a game goal and then I shipped Wallace and Grommit, Episode 3: Muzzled, on the Xbox 360. It was an Xbox exclusive. (laughs) Um-

Larry Hryb: I do remember that, that's, that's [crosstalk 00:48:43] 'cause I, being a big fan of Wallace and Gromit, when I remember that game coming to 360, I was like, oh, my God, and I played, and I just had the greatest time with it. So I just wanted to, wanted to thank you. And of course you've done a lot of other stuff, you've done Tales of Monkey Island and-

Sean Vanaman: But that's, that's, that's, that's the peak. Let's talk, Wallace and Grommit, I peaked early, man.

Larry Hryb: (laughs) That was your first, one of your first big projects, you can't peak then.

Sean Vanaman: I, I did, sorry. Walking Dead is trash. (laughs)

Larry Hryb: All right, Sean, I'm gonna let, you know what, I think that's-

Sean Vanaman: Off the record.

Larry Hryb: It's off the record, all right.

Sean Vanaman: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Sean Vanaman, I appreciate you taking the time, uh, you're of course the man behind the studio that's bringing us Firewatch this week, uh, on Xbox One and then coming out shortly, very very soon, Xbox One over in Europe. But I wanna thank you for, uh, everybody at Campo Santo for all the great work on this and, uh, great to have you on the platform.

Sean Vanaman: Thanks so much, I'm excited to be here. Son of the platform since the 360 days with Wallace and Grommit. Very excited.

Larry Hryb: Thank you Sean. You can find him @vanaman on, uh, Twitter, if you wanna check him out.

Laura Massey: Very cool.

Larry Hryb: And he'll talk about, uh, Firewatch. Uh, check Firewatch out on Xbox One now. Thanks Sean.

Laura Massey: Yeah, it was a really really beautiful game as well.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Just gorgeous.

Larry Hryb: It's on my list, I gotta download it.

Laura Massey: Yeah, definitely play it.

Jeff Rubenstein: After Deus Ex, jumping on it.

Larry Hryb: There's no raids in it.

Laura Massey: No, there's no raiding.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, but what kind of, like, legendary gear do you get?

Larry Hryb: Yeah right, okay.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: You think you get some rope and pine cone.

Laura Massey: You do, and a shovel.

Larry Hryb: Did you find the turtle? Did you find the turtle?

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: Really? There's an achievement for finding the turtle.

Laura Massey: I didn't find the turtle.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, so you might-

Laura Massey: I'll have to go back and play on Xbox to get the achievement.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Go back and find the turtle.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: All right, Jeffrey. We got some headlines and then we gotta get to Name the Game, because that's a little-

Laura Massey: It's been a while.

Larry Hryb: ... It's, uh, it's ooh, ooh boy. It's been a month.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I, so, I, you know the old, the original foundi-, foundation of, uh, of Microsoft, I think the original, the original creed or ... what would be the word, uh, mission statement-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Was, uh, was a computer on every desk.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: That was Bill's statement, yeah, Bill Gates.

Jeff Rubenstein: Every home. Yeah. So I, I feel like this holiday, we've got an Xbox One S for every gamer.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: And we've had, we have had bundles, I, uh, I picked up the Halo Xbox One S bundle, we've got one that's coming out for Gears of War, FIFA 17, Madden bundle, ah, we just announced, ah, a Minecraft-

Larry Hryb: Yay.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Favorites bundle.

Laura Massey: That's great.

Jeff Rubenstein: So that actually has like the best box art I've seen on a bundle.

Laura Massey: You have a picture of it?

Jeff Rubenstein: It, just, it, it's completely, yeah, it's right there. It's kind of completely taken over, uh-

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... By, uh, Steve and, ugh, I can't remember her name. From, uh, from [inaudible 00:50:59].

Laura Massey: Oh, yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Um, Alex, maybe? Um, anyway. So, uh, that is, there's a five hundred gigabyte, uh, uh, Xbox One S bundle.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, of course, it comes with, um, Minecraft Xbox One. And, uh, as well of a bunch of skin packs and texture packs and things like that. So, uh, that is available now.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, and, in other Minecraft news, um, the, for the version of Minecraft for Gear VR, that is the, uh, virtual reality that works with the, the Samsung, one of the Samsung phones.

Larry Hryb: Yep.

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, now has Xbox wireless controller support, so-

Larry Hryb: Yay.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... If you, um, if you wanted to control that with, uh, the world's best controller ...

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, you can do that. And I believe you need an Xbox One S controller, correct? Or the, the newer model-

Larry Hryb: The one with the Bluetooth stack in it.

Laura Massey: Mmm.

Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: Which, which we're, which we've been phasing in since we announced it at E3 so.

Jeff Rubenstein: Exactly. So if you have an Xbox One S, you could, uh, do that or if you had picked up one of the Xbox design labs, that's that [crosstalk 00:51:57] controller.

Larry Hryb: Those all have it too.

Laura Massey: Oh, good.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh-

Larry Hryb: You have one, right Laura? You designed your controller.

Laura Massey: I didn't order it. I need to order it.

Larry Hryb: It's sitting in your cart, you haven't checked-

Laura Massey: It is.

Larry Hryb: Really?

Laura Massey: I haven't checked go yet.

Larry Hryb: Oh that's, that's ... why don't you work on that.

Laura Massey: I'll work on that.

Larry Hryb: Okay.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, we announced this October's Games with Gold.

Larry Hryb: Yes, we did.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, in time for the end of baseball season, we have, uh, Super Mega Baseball.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, that will be available, uh-

Larry Hryb: Each one of you can be Mr. October. Or Mrs. October.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I'm just thinking of Reggie Jackson-

Larry Hryb: That's exactly- (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: ... In, in, in the Naked Gun ...

Larry Hryb: (laughs) That's exactly ...

Jeff Rubenstein: ... When he tries to kill the queen, like that, that's all I could think of, it's like, Reggie, like most of his glory years happened before I was really sentient.

Larry Hryb: Sure, sure.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, but you know, [heh-mee 00:52:40] when he was playing for the, I think, the Angels. [crosstalk 00:52:42]

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:52:42] He had the candy bar, you know?

Jeff Rubenstein: He did?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Really.

Larry Hryb: Go look it up, Reggie Jackson. I think it was just called Reggie, yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Reggie Jackson candy bar, I'll look that up.

Laura Massey: Really? What?

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, but they used a mind control device, Ricardo Montalban did, to get him to kill the queen. He doesn't, spoiler alert.

Larry Hryb: Okay. (laughs) Thank you.

Jeff Rubenstein: What a great movie that was. Uh, the Escapists. Uh-

Laura Massey: That's a good game. It's super fun.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And that's, uh, in the middle of October through the middle of November on Xbox One.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: And then for Xbox 360 ...

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Uh, we have, uh, Reflex: MX versus ATV.

Larry Hryb: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: And then also I Am Alive.

Laura Massey: Oh. Very good.

Larry Hryb: Okay. Those are free if you're an Xbox Gold subscriber, you can get those games for free right now. Go get 'em.

Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, one last announcement. Um-

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... So I have been, and I don't know about you, but I've been staring long, longingly, wistfully at the new gaming laptops that have come out in the last couple of months.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Ever since the, the mobile Pascal chip by Nvidia was announced-

Larry Hryb: It rocked, it rocked your world.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Where everything went from the nine hundred series to the, the one thousand series, uh, you know, ten-sixty, ten-seventy, ten-eighty-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: ... Where they were like, they can, they can make the computer, the laptop smaller now. They're pumping out way more frames per second and resolution and use less battery power and I'm staring over at what I used to love, my laptop.

Laura Massey: Aw.

Jeff Rubenstein: With my, with my nine six five in it and now I'm like, lazy.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:54:02]

Jeff Rubenstein: It's great, it's great. I'm using it to play Forza Horizon 3, I'm using it to play ReCore, I've used it to play, uh, Quantum Break earlier this year. It does the job but it's no longer top-of-the-line.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Right. Well that, that is the constant struggle in the technology industry.

Laura Massey: That's very true.

Larry Hryb: And we want our phones smaller, we want things faster, we want them lighter, you know, the whole thing.

Jeff Rubenstein: I know, I, oh man. I want one of these ten [crosstalk 00:54:25] laptops.

Larry Hryb: I know you do, I know you do, I know you do.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I need it, I need it. Well anyway, so [crosstalk 00:54:28] ...

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:54:28] I have a, I kind of have a ten-eighty laptop.

Jeff Rubenstein: You do?

Larry Hryb: I do. 'Cause I have the Razer Core ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Oh, you can plug it in.

Larry Hryb: And I have a ten-eighty in it. And I have it connected to my stealth, so-

Jeff Rubenstein: That does the job.

Larry Hryb: Kind of. That's why I said kind of.

Jeff Rubenstein: Uh, so, if you, if you're like me in that you want one and you're not like me in that you, uh, you actually just go for it, you grab life by the, wherever you grab life by, uh, and, and pick up, uh, one of the GTX, uh, GeForce GTX 1080 or 1070 graphics card systems or, or laptops. You get Gears of War 4. Uh, it comes with it now.

Larry Hryb: Yes.

Laura Massey: Oh, awesome.

Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, if you are going to be picking up one of those new awesome shiny laptops, uh, to play Gears-

Larry Hryb: Consider that.

Jeff Rubenstein: Ugh. Yeah. It looks so good, by the way. We showed it at PAX.

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: So good.

Larry Hryb: By the way, congratulations to Coalition. Game on Gold this week.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes.

Laura Massey: All right.

Larry Hryb: So, yeah, so-

Jeff Rubenstein: Everybody up there, did you see the picture?

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: [Sah-tee-uh 00:55:21] was up there.

Laura Massey: Oh, I did. I did see that. [crosstalk 00:55:23] I saw that picture.

Jeff Rubenstein: Phil was there. Terry was there.

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 00:55:24] [Yoo-siff 00:55:26] was there.

Jeff Rubenstein: [Yoo-siff 00:55:27] was there.

Larry Hryb: Blain Howard was there.

Jeff Rubenstein: Our good friend Blain, dressed up in full COG armor.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, he's, he's the guy over on the left side.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. Uh-

Laura Massey: I noticed that guy.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... And then he started Rampage [inaudible 00:55:36] Vancouver, in, in, you know, dressed like JD.

Laura Massey: He did?

Larry Hryb: Yeah, that, that's gonna go well.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, well, there-

Larry Hryb: Did he get over the border in that outfit? (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I, I, think he probably [crosstalk 00:55:44]. You admit, he was bragging that they, they actually made the armor to his specifications.

Larry Hryb: Of course they did. Of course, or so he thinks.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes. He would, he would hear this, except he's in the gym right now.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Lifting.

Jeff Rubenstein: So I guess he, he kind of earned it. Yes.

Larry Hryb: Well we're playing an audience of one right now.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Laura's even checked out of this one. Making fun of Blain, so, all right.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, Blain's not listening.

Larry Hryb: All right, go ahead.

Jeff Rubenstein: That, so that's, that's your news for the week.

Larry Hryb: All right, that's the news for the week. It's, uh, it's a lot more going on I want to talk, a few things, uh, as I said, kind of alluded to earlier. I'm headed down to Los Angeles. By the time you listen to this, I may already be back.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: We're gonna be down there at the Petersen Automotive Museum to launch Forza Horizon 3. Very excited, but I've never been to the Petersen, apparently it's, it's quite the car museum.

Laura Massey: Really.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, there was a feature on Wire, they completely redesigned the museum in order to, um, be able to move the cars around. So it's got some of the more, like, most elaborate car elevators in the world.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Jeff Rubenstein: It was a really cool fea-, I'll see if I can find that.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: Well, I'll let, I'm gonna check those out-

Laura Massey: Yeah, let us know.

Larry Hryb: ... It's gonna be open to the public, I'll be down there. Uh, the following week, which is next week, I'll be at TwitchCon.

Laura Massey: Gracious.

Larry Hryb: Gonna be doing some [crosstalk 00:56:46] talk about what I'm doing there.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:56:46]

Larry Hryb: Yeah. But we're gonna be down TwitchCon, which is in sunny San Diego.

Jeff Rubenstein: We'll just say look for us.

Larry Hryb: Look for us, yeah. Look for us. Just follow me on Twitter, as you know. Uh, then following that I'm working on a Gears launch event. So Gears will be launching, I'll be doing that event. I don't know where that is, I think it's in LA. Uh ...

Laura Massey: Lot of travels in California.

Larry Hryb: And then after that, and then after, yeah exactly, and then after that I'm going to, uh, I think I talked about going to Australia for PAX.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: Very excited about that Laura.

Laura Massey: That's right, 'cause you're keynoting.

Larry Hryb: I am, well, they call it story time. I have a surprise.

Laura Massey: You have a surprise?

Larry Hryb: I'll tell, I'll tell you off the air. I don't wanna tell people but I do have a cool surprise.

Laura Massey: Awesome.

Larry Hryb: So just a little something. You know I, I just, you can't show up to a country emptyhanded.

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: It's just bad form.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: So, I'm gonna be bringing a little something. For the entire country.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: The diplomatic mission, I'll just say that.

Laura Massey: I see.

Larry Hryb: Anyway, uh, so yeah, I've got a lot going on, uh, and travel over the next few months. So apologies in advance for the, the sporadic and sometimes incredibly inconsistent show schedule-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: ... That we, we have. You know what I, what I was asked, you know, we need to do a Google Hangout or something, you know-

Laura Massey: We do, it's been a long time.

Larry Hryb: ... 'Cause we haven't, we haven't done some time.

Laura Massey: Think it's been over a year.

Jeff Rubenstein: We're talking about Beam, right?

Laura Massey: Oh, yeah.

Larry Hryb: We were, were thinking 'bout, oh, yeah, 'cause, 'cause I was actually to the, because we bought Beam, I was talking to the Beam guys. What we can do is kinda connect all on Skype and then I can just broadcast my Skype channel.

Laura Massey: Oh.

Larry Hryb: You know, so you're in my Skype thing, so-

Jeff Rubenstein: That seems to work.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. So we're gon-, I was go-, thinking of maybe we should test that out one time.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: But either way, we, you, if you wanna see us, I mean who doesn't, right?

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Uh, then, then we'll, we'll work on that as well, 'cause then, it's a little easier 'cause then when, uh, you know, when I'm on one side of the planet, Laura's, uh, hanging out with a cranky Buzz Aldrin, and, and Jeff is-

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 00:58:18]

Larry Hryb: ... Whacking spiders in the back of the car.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: We can, uh, we can do a little something with you guys when we're not doing this show. So anyway, hey, Laura, we have a, uh, we have a Name the Game, you know.

Laura Massey: We do.

Larry Hryb: We have one that's a little bit, gotta (blows), gotta blow the dust off it so ...

Laura Massey: Gotta dust on it, yeah.

Larry Hryb: Uh, you ready with that?

Laura Massey: Yeah, let me blow the dust off my tape player here.

Larry Hryb: All right and, uh, you gonna, you hit the play button, that's the big one with the triangle pointing to the right.

Laura Massey: Oh, thanks. Thanks, we'll, let's roll the tape, from last time. That was Name the Game from last time and it was F1 2016.

Larry Hryb: Vroooooooom.

Laura Massey: Exactly. Not too difficult of one.

Larry Hryb: Nope.

Laura Massey: But Larry, can you tell us who's won?

Larry Hryb: Sure can, uh, well this is interesting. Uh, his gamer tag is [grug 00:59:12] and he is from Queensland, Australia. How convenient.

Laura Massey: Ohh. How co- (laughs)

Larry Hryb: So it's unrelated to, he was randomly chosen.

Laura Massey: Yeah.

Jeff Rubenstein: You're gonna meet [grug 00:59:18].

Larry Hryb: I, I, hopefully I'll meet him.

Jeff Rubenstein: Hand, hand him his prize in person.

Larry Hryb: I, he won, you wanna know what he won?

Laura Massey: Yes. I want to know.

Larry Hryb: Oh, this is unbelievable. He won a copy of ReCore, Firewatch, BioShock collection, and The Turing Test.

Laura Massey: What?

Larry Hryb: But you know what I just realized as I, I, as I look at this and he's from Australia? How can I not throw in a copy of Forza Horizon 3?

Laura Massey: Right?

Larry Hryb: Right?

Laura Massey: Right?

Jeff Rubenstein: Mandatory.

Laura Massey: Mandatory.

Larry Hryb: Mandatory. I'm gonna do that and I'm also gonna include one of those mini-Lambo cars that I gave away, have you seen those?

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: If you look on my Instagram, did you see it? Hold on, I'll show it to you.

Laura Massey: I don't, I don't know if I follow you on Instagram.

Jeff Rubenstein: I'll drop it in the [crosstalk 00:59:47].

Larry Hryb: Okay, well that's, that's, that's another problem.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Um, this is, uh, I, I gave them away in my free code Friday last week, we have little ones, so it's, it's, it's little models.

Laura Massey: Oh. Oh, little models of the, the Lamborghinis.

Larry Hryb: Take a, take a look at what I posted.

Laura Massey: I got a real, little Lamborghini- (laughs) Gave away. That's really funny.

Larry Hryb: So anyway, so, uh, we, I'll throw in one of those.

Laura Massey: That's great.

Larry Hryb: Congratulations [grug 01:00:09], you got yourself some cool stuff.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: Now there's people listening right now, going, ugh, I wanna win cool stuff, how do I do that, Laura?

Laura Massey: Well, we've got a great little game for you to play and you too can win fabulous prizes. It's super simple to play, all you have to do is listen to the sound effects that I'm about to play-

Larry Hryb: Yeah.

Laura Massey: ... And then send us an email with what game you think those sound effects are from.

Larry Hryb: All right, so let's go ahead and play it. We'll, we'll give you email addresses on the other side, all right?

Laura Massey: Sounds good, let's roll this next Name the Game. So like we said, it's super easy to enter this game. All you have to do is send us an email. Send me an email at [email protected] and CC [email protected]. Include what game you think those sound effects are from and we will randomly choose you if you're right.

Larry Hryb: That's right. And if you're wrong you'll get nothing and like it.

Laura Massey: Exactly.

Larry Hryb: But, uh, hope, good luck. It's pretty easy.

Laura Massey: Yeah. It's easy, exactly.

Larry Hryb: We try to make them easy but hopefully you can win there so ... we got prize to give away so thank you for that. Um, and if you, a lot of people ask, well, can I enter? If you can hear our voices, you can enter. If you can send email, you can enter.

Laura Massey: Right.

Larry Hryb: Now, don't, don't, don't bother us on Twitter 'cause that's not considered an entry. I mean you're welcome to bother us on Twitter, just don't, don't do it for Name the Game.

Laura Massey: That's true.

Larry Hryb: 'Cause we're not gonna-

Laura Massey: That's true, 'cause we can't quite catalog that easily.

Larry Hryb: Right, that's, that's, uh, you gotta send email as Laura just pointed out.

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: So congratulations to the winner and good luck to you, my, my, my new winner somewhere out there in the vast vast listening audience.

Laura Massey: Exactly. Good luck.

Larry Hryb: Look at the look of pensiveness on Jeffrey's face, I don't know what-

Laura Massey: What is he doing?

Jeff Rubenstein: Reading a Reddit thread in which ...

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: ... You were invoked, which happens a lot [crosstalk 01:02:21] Xbox One.

Larry Hryb: Oh, yeah, [crosstalk 01:02:21], yes.

Laura Massey: You can invoke to Larry?

Larry Hryb: Ye-yes, and it's frequent.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: And, uh, the comments are, after you jumped in-

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: ... as you do, a running joke on that thread that it's like Candyman.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: You say Major Nelson three times in the mirror, you will appear.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Um, and that basically is what happens.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: And they love you for it. [crosstalk 01:02:41]

Larry Hryb: [crosstalk 01:02:41]

Jeff Rubenstein: Some, some funny stuff on there.

Larry Hryb: Okay. Glad I can provide you online and offline amusement.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Woo. All right then, so we're, we're kind of getting towards the end of the show here, we've gotta, I've gotta get to LA, I've got a plane to catch.

Laura Massey: You do.

Larry Hryb: You've, Laura, you've got, um, I don't know what you've got to do.

Laura Massey: Work, to do. Probably.

Larry Hryb: Got, you've got other work to do. And Jeffrey has, uh ...

Laura Massey: Reddit threads to read.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: I've got Redditing. Just keeps going.

Larry Hryb: You know we haven't really talked about much big gadgets, you know. If we've got phones, or you know, I know the new iPhone's out, a lot of people are excited about that.

Jeff Rubenstein: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: Um, the new iOS thing is out, with the messages. We've been playing around with that.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: You don't, you've been playing with that.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Not every text needs lasers, that's all I'm saying.

Larry Hryb: Not true!

Jeff Rubenstein: A lot of them do.

Larry Hryb: Balloons, confetti.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, I actually sent that to some-, it was their birthday though yesterday so.

Laura Massey: Okay. [crosstalk 01:03:33]

Larry Hryb: By the way, apparently if you just type in congratulations or happy birthday or happy new year, it'lll automatically happen.

Laura Massey: Oh really.

Jeff Rubenstein: Hmm.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, my wife actually found that one out.

Jeff Rubenstein: Be careful not to do it during like a solemn occasion.

Larry Hryb: Right.

Jeff Rubenstein: Like, oh, great, sorry, oh, balloons! Yay, you feel better now.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Many gifts. Uh, so, yeah, I don't really have too much to share. I've got a couple things I'm working on, I'm looking at some new, um, as always, some new networking hardware. Ubiquity is, uh, working with those guys for some new stuff.

Laura Massey: Oh really?

Larry Hryb: Yes, some pretty high-end stuff.

Laura Massey: Well let us know what you think.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, as always, you know, right now, I'm really happy with my home, home, home network setup.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: It's been, the guys from Eero, you know I think I talked about that on previous shows.

Laura Massey: Yeah, you talked about Eero's.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: So those guys are great and I love, love my Eeros. Um, what else, I think that's about it, you know, right now, I'm just at that awkward moment where I need to get an HDR TV for home, but it's not ...

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, um, I'm starting to casually look around.

Larry Hryb: Don't do that.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: That's like, like-

Jeff Rubenstein: Not on the AVS forums.

Larry Hryb: Okay, yeah, that, that, that-

Jeff Rubenstein: That, you've gone too far.

Larry Hryb: ... That is, when you go, you know the AVS forums Laura.

Laura Massey: I do.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, when you go to the AVS forums, that is, there is no turning back.

Laura Massey: There is none.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah.

Larry Hryb: It's like you're all of the sudden, it's 3AM and you're 472 pages in on this thread-

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: Yes, I do need the ten thousand dollar version.

Larry Hryb: ...of how to calibrate your TV (laughs). God, is it bananas. Anyway, other than that, it's, you know, it's kind of, uh, we're just focusing on the game releases. Like I said, we gotta lot of trips planned, some events, uh, some game launches.

Laura Massey: Yes, things in the future.

Larry Hryb: Yeah. You know what else I started talking about, this is gonna blow your mind, Laur.

Laura Massey: Okay. I'm ready.

Larry Hryb: I didn't even tell this to Jeff. Started talking about E3 next year with somebody.

Laura Massey: What? What?

Jeff Rubenstein: Wait, like for real? Just casually?

Larry Hryb: Yeah. No. We were just talking about hey, we should do this for E3.

Jeff Rubenstein: It's September!

Larry Hryb: I know. I know.

Laura Massey: Wow.

Jeff Rubenstein: That's nine months, you can make a baby between now and the next E3.

Larry Hryb: I know.

Laura Massey: You could.

Larry Hryb: Okay, that's ...

Jeff Rubenstein: That's a long time.

Laura Massey: It is a long time.

Larry Hryb: That went a different way than I was expecting. But it, it is. Although I think the gestation periods of the blue whales is a little longer.

Jeff Rubenstein: Yeah, it's a couple years.

Laura Massey: Oh my goodness.

Jeff Rubenstein: Same thing with the elephant.

Laura Massey: Really? I had no idea.

Larry Hryb: What about the spiders?

Laura Massey: Oh.

Jeff Rubenstein: Five minutes. [crosstalk 01:05:38]

Larry Hryb: And it releases ten thousand of the ...

Jeff Rubenstein: Lays the eggs in your ear. [crosstalk 01:05:44]

Laura Massey: Yes.

Larry Hryb: Now, now. Speaking of spiders, I have told this story. I have told the spider story of, of, the Christmas tree right?

Laura Massey: No.

Larry Hryb: So this is, I, I'm pretty sure I told this one. If you don't like spiders, I urge you to fast forward about ninety seconds, 'cause this-

Jeff Rubenstein: I think they've already unsubscribed.

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: So I'm sorry, I'm sorry but I should've shared this last week. So this happened when my wife and I lived in Connecticut.

Laura Massey: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Larry Hryb: She loves Christmas and the real Christmas trees. So she went out and bought a real Christmas tree and this was like the first couple years we were married and she's like, "I wanna bring a Christmas tree home." So she brought the Christmas tree home, she set the tree up, she went out to the farm, they cut it down. They bring, she brings it into the house, she sets it up, and obviously this is, you know, November, December, so it's warming it up. And the water starts coming up. She's under the tree, trying to get it into the, the little tree holder. And while she's under it, she feels this water getting under her head. And then she looks up, there was a spider nest in there because it was warm, they started hatching. Thousands of spiders are spilling out on her face.

Laura Massey: Oh my gosh! Oh!

Jeff Rubenstein: So, uh, get an artificial tree this year.

Larry Hryb: We've had an artificial tree ever since, this is a true story.

Laura Massey: Ahh! I could've lived my life without this story.

Larry Hryb: This, I'm telling you, so that's why ... it can only happen because they, it was warming up and they got into the house and it was a bad bad scene. So we burned that house down and moved.

Laura Massey: Oh! (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs) That time you ended up in Washington.

Larry Hryb: (laughs) We had to move to the other side of the, other side of the country.

Jeff Rubenstein: [crosstalk 01:07:12]

Larry Hryb: Oh my gosh.

Laura Massey: No thanks.

Jeff Rubenstein: I feel like between now and the time we go to Australia, we should have a spider-

Larry Hryb: Apparently ten thousand baby spiders on your face feel like water on your face Laura. (laughs)

Laura Massey: Oh, no. Oh no.

Jeff Rubenstein: I feel like ten thousand baby spiders is like a Cards Against Humanity, that's like the- [crosstalk 01:07:30]

Laura Massey: Yes, yes.

Larry Hryb: Yeah, yeah.

Laura Massey: Ugh, ugh!

Larry Hryb: All right. Can you give us some eye or ear [inaudible 01:07:35] to get us out of this? Tell us about space or something?

Laura Massey: Right? No, all I can think about is tiny baby spiders in my ears.

Larry Hryb: No, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that, don't do that. Oh, it's, it's ...

Laura Massey: That's all I got, I can not steal my self away.

Jeff Rubenstein: I think only one thing can save us.

Larry Hryb: Yes, all right, we're gonna get out now. Here we go, go ahead. Go ahead, let it go.

Jeff Rubenstein: Take the spiders away, take the spiders away.

Laura Massey: (laughs) It keeps going.

Larry Hryb: (laughs) Boom, boom. All right I'll just put the clean version of this in there. All right we're gonna wrap the show up here. Laura, thank you for joining us, thank you for finding time in your schedule.

Laura Massey: Thank you for having me back.

Larry Hryb: Welcome back from Mars.

Laura Massey: Thank you.

Larry Hryb: And Florida. By the way I think Florida was a weirder place than Mars.

Laura Massey: Possibly.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Jeff Rubenstein: (laughs) In our new segment, Florida or Mars?

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: So and Jeffrey thank you-

Jeff Rubenstein: Water has been discovered on both, similarities don't stop there.

Larry Hryb: (laughs)

Laura Massey: (laughs)

Larry Hryb: Oh boy. Okay. Before I get, before we get going on the weird place, we're gonna stop now. Thank you Laura. Jeff, thank you. Follow Jeff on Twitter, at?

Jeff Rubenstein: @jeffrubenstein.

Larry Hryb: You can find Laura on?

Laura Massey: @lauralollipop

Larry Hryb: You can find me @majornelsen or the spider man. We'll talk to you guys next week, bye-bye everybody.

Laura Massey: Bye.