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Hello, everyone, welcome to episode 107 of Punching Up.

Last name is weekly Nintendo podcast.

I'm your host, as always, Brad Elsa joining me.

I have my fantastic and lovely co-host,

Micah Moriarty, Micah, hello.

How are you on this fine spring day?

Hello, Bradley.

Well, I'm as well as I can be with my allergies

really kicking my ass this week.

Starting yesterday, the sore throat has begun.

I want the audience to know I'm on two different

allergy medications a year round as it is.

Oh, damn.

I can increase, according to my allergies,

I can increase the dose if I want to,

but it's already like, bra,

I'm already like pumped up with so much shit right now, right?

Yeah.

I'm trying to just weather it, drink a lot of water,

hang in there, but I'm also not being responsible.

I'm spending a lot of time outside.

I grilled three days in a row.

Ooh, can help myself.

Living the dream right there with the dad flannel on

and everything.

It's cold again.

It's only 52 today.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, flannels are back.

It is like bouncing back and forth.

It was in the 80s.

It's down to the 50s.

It's gonna climb back up next week.

I'm making the most of it though

because it's still not humid.

So like the other day, it was like 78.

I was out at the grill, but zero humidity.

And it was just like glorious.

So I'm making the most of it now before summer starts.

I got a new charcoal in the mail.

No, how about that?

Dude, can't wait.

Did you wear the animal crossing crocs?

No, I don't want to get them dirty.

I wear those when I am packing orders in the garage primarily

because the garage floor is really cold

or I'll wear them for like a trip out to the mailbox.

But they are so pretty and they were so expensive.

I don't want to get charcoal dust on them.

I have a specific pair of shoes

that I only wear for grilling

after I ruined a perfectly good pair of sneakers

when I was a rookie.

Sorry.

Who was it yesterday or a couple of days ago?

Rush Pups, birthday.

How was that?

It was actually six years old.

Good.

I boiled them some chicken.

So I woke up before they did like a good mother

and I boiled them some chicken

so then when they came down for breakfast, it was ready.

And so they love it.

Today's the last day of boiled chicken.

I usually make enough for a couple of days.

So today's the end of it.

I will make it for them randomly here and there

but they get kibble mixed with wet food.

So like I promise that they get a good diet

with variety.

We rotate through the flavors.

Yeah, they're spoiled.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm sure those dogs are limited up.

Don't feel bad with those sneakers.

They're completely fine.

But Micah, you watched the movie, right?

I did watch it.

OK, we're going to save all that for the end of the show though.

Just in case people don't want to hear anything about it.

Spoilers, I guess, years old at this point.

But Super Mario Galaxy movie is out.

What, next week, I want to say?

I believe if they pull first, is that correct?

The first, yes.

So we will watch that.

We'll talk about it probably the seventh I'm guessing.

Yeah, because our show will actually release that day.

Like next week episode will come out that day.

So we'll give people some time to see it.

Yes, yeah, but we're going to get all into all of that

kind of stuff, which I'm excited about.

But you got to wait listeners, or you can fast forward, I guess.

I still have time to die between here and then too.

That's true.

You do have time.

I'll allow that if you die.

That's fair.

If you were calling dies, yeah, I'll allow that.

Before we get into the show, everybody, please check us out

at patreon.com slash last day media.

If you like to support us, you can get early ad free access

to all of our shows, including this one, defining

the Ducor Xbox podcast, Sacred Symbols.

Of course, our PlayStation Focus podcast.

Some inside the other podcast, I host, where I had Maddie

in a walk on recently.

Lots of arguing on that episode, which was good.

Lots of disagreements talking about AI on there,

talking about Crimson Desert, good episode.

So check that out.

If you want to hear us, Bicker back and forth,

which I know the audience loves.

People love drama.

There was no drama between you and me, so.

No, the pretend beef, though, is sometimes the best.

People will be like, wow, I can't believe Brad hates lock.

Yeah.

But when they put like the, I'm kidding in quotation.

Yeah.

They get to do it.

But me and lock Amelie continue to talk every day,

constantly, about random shit.

Sometimes you just disagree with your homie.

That's all about a video game.

It ain't no big thing.

It could be a lot of things.

Maybe I disagree with people who use propane,

but they're allowed and it's valid and it's fine.

I actually, I have a really random thing

that I'm gonna, if I, I've been meaning to do this

for like three weeks.

I have been in possession.

This is a, for people on audio,

this is a New York Giants women's Valentine hoodie.

I have this because I ordered a Patriots one

and the one they sent me was damaged.

So they said they sent me a new one and they sent me this.

And then I said, sorry.

And so then they finally sent me the Patriots one.

And now I'm in possession of three of these.

But anyways, this is a New York Giants women's size

medium sweatshirt.

I don't want it.

I don't know any Giants fans.

If there's a Giants fan, woman or small man

who would like a sweatshirt with hearts on it,

they are like conversation hearts is the motif.

If you want this, send me a message somewhere.

Just cord, Twitter, Instagram.

I don't know.

I'm mom, I'm like a 93 on everything.

But find me and I will send this to you for free

in the United States.

No offense.

No offense, anybody else.

Just because it's like, I gotta get rid of some of these.

I'll donate to Goodwill otherwise.

But I was like, if there's a listener out there

who's a female Giants fan or a small man

who'd like a Giants hoodie with conversation hearts on it,

it's not a hoodie, it's just a crew next sweatshirt.

You can have it.

Yeah, yeah.

Just let me know.

Speaking of setting stuff, Micah,

you need to do a big solid, okay?

This is a lot of work though.

What is it?

You need to find Collins, Black, DSI, and send it to me.

Oh my God, no, I don't know where that is.

It's probably in the attic.

You would send it to me.

He did say that.

He did say that.

And it's, I want that shit.

Now, I think it's in the attic.

When I asked him about it previously,

he said, yeah, I think it's in the attic.

And I guess up there, I can't go up there.

I'm afraid I'd never been in our attic.

Oh my God, Micah, you're killing me.

I need that DSI, Micah.

There could be a dead body.

He could have a whole other family up there.

And I will never know because I cannot go up that ladder.

Oh, dude.

Like the Sims, have you seen that Simpsons episode?

I think it's like a tree house, a horror one.

Oh, yeah.

There's the evil part.

Like fake part.

The evil part that lives up in the attic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That scared the shit out of me and my sister when we were kids.

Yeah, that's good stuff.

Micah, we were talking.

I just looked this up because I was curious,

the Zelda Lego set, the all green time one.

I guess it's out.

So I'm going to have to go buy this.

We have to stroll down to my Lego store and pick this up.

Why, you're going to go in person.

Look at that.

Yeah, I'm not going to wear online.

There's a Lego store near me.

So it's like 15 minutes from my house.

I can easily just roll up in there.

I'm a chronic online orderer of like, oh, Walmart's 10 minutes away,

but they'll bring it to me for free.

Yeah.

So our Walmart's a bad example because I hate this Walmart.

It is busy 24-7.

The parking lot is like a fucking monster truck rally.

Every time you go in, it's a disaster.

The store is packed with people.

It is a horrible experience to shop at this specific Walmart.

It's all due to anything to avoid going in there.

Well, Walmart's a different beast.

Do you know what I mean?

Like the legacy is a really good Walmart.

Like one with a subway in it.

That's a good Walmart.

It smells like bread.

Yeah, there's like, you know, not all stores are created equal.

Of course, they're a good Walmart and all that kind of stuff.

Like 7-11, there's another fine example of this.

There's like an insanely nice 7-11 by my house.

Like insanely nice.

And sometimes, you know, there's a 7-11

with like a crack head living in it.

It's just different years.

We haven't relatively new 7-11.

I think they built it like two or three years ago at this point.

But I've never, I go there for gas, but I've never been in it.

Because there's always young kids on bikes out front of it.

And I'm afraid of them.

So, you know, teenagers by my chemical romance, very true.

I am afraid of them.

And I stay, I just, I see a group of kids on bikes.

I'm like, no, thanks.

I don't think I get my gas and crank hog out of here.

Crank hog, yeah.

So, I'm going to try to pick this up today, I guess.

I need that Lego set.

But I have to go to the gym after this.

Then come home and do all that.

I need to buy some new jeans as well.

Jeans, eh?

Mine don't fit anymore.

They're too big.

So I'm like, right?

Wow, look at you.

Yeah.

That just means you got to get muscular enough

that now, like, you're back.

I've been eating a lot more protein.

Yeah.

So, we're going to bulk up a little bit.

You got to get that fucking Jeff Nippard giant butt.

Toot toot.

That's tough.

Like, I mean, I'm a skinny guy already.

I am more muscular than I was before though,

but I was very skinny.

So it's hard for me to get humongous.

Well, and I mean no offense to him.

He's a lovely guy with great information.

But mom, I'm Mia, he's got a butt like Venus Williams.

And I'm just like Jesus Christ.

Some dudes got like a huge woman ass.

I don't know.

He's training those glutes.

I'm like dudes.

But I don't know, train the glutes.

I do train the glutes, so you can't skip them.

You can't.

It's important for the whole chain of muscles,

you know, you want to be balanced.

Don't skip.

Mom and Mia, that guy, he could lay off on a bit.

Oh, yeah, also, if you want some merch,

last and media dot store, Michael sent it to you.

She'll be wearing her crocs while she does it.

So please head on over there.

Anything like that the listener should consider on the store?

Is there still a St. Slayer stuff on there?

Oh, we have not started selling that yet.

Okay.

But that is something that be keeping an eye out for.

Because St. Slayer digital is going to be coming out in April.

Is it?

And am I spoiling something?

I've just assumed you're doing physical for it.

I think we've talked about it.

Okay.

It'll happen sometime.

No idea why I don't have a timeline for it.

Like, I don't have a timeline for that yet.

But it's in the cards.

That's all.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I feel like I should buy that game

and not ask Colin for a code.

I mean, he'll be happy to provide you with one.

No, no, no.

They don't play St. Slayer.

You know, I'm not going to play Colin game

on anything but PlayStation.

Do you know what I mean?

Oh, of course.

Of course.

Just checking notes, make sure we're not breaking any embargo

or anything.

Whatever, Justin, if you're listening, you'll know.

Just cut this out if you need to.

I'll give you a quick break, like a quick,

even cut in right now.

Okay.

We may have said something we weren't supposed to.

I don't know.

I honestly, I haven't seen anything about it,

but I just guessed.

So, you know, history and all that.

Juuch Magooch wrote into its sub-fisties.

This one is from Micah.

I feel the need to smoke meats.

And I have no experience or equipment, please help.

Not help, help.

Keep up the great work you two.

And good job on watching the Mario movie, Micah.

Yay, Micah did it.

She watched the kids movie in the 90 minutes

or whatever she did it.

The second movie is a little longer, apparently, as well.

So buckle up, Micah.

Did Colin watch the movie with you?

He did.

He did.

Okay, nevermind, we'll save it.

There's one part in that movie.

I don't like to do this is such a calling part.

He would probably love this thing.

There were multiple things he was calling out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's an old head like me, so he would know a lot of that stuff.

Absolutely, it was nice to watch it with him

and have those references.

That is nice.

All right, Micah.

We have a couple barbecue questions though,

but this is like your specialty.

You know this stuff.

They need, they have the need to smoke meats.

They have no experience or equipment.

What advice do you have for the listener?

Yeah, so the absolute easiest way to get started

would just be to get a Weber kettle

or just a kettle-style grill.

So I know a lot of people are down on Weber these days

for whatever reason.

I still think they're very high quality

and worth the price.

But there's also SNS, slow and sear grills.

You know, there are a couple of different

quality kettle options, but the main thing is that

with a kettle grill, you can do low and slow

because you can get either charcoal baskets

or just pile your charcoal in a certain way,

but you can do low and slow cooking.

Of course, you can do searing and steaks and everything.

So that would be your all-in-one if you wanted it.

If you have a very high budget

and you're interested in a Commado,

like a big green egg or the Commado Joe's,

those are like the red ones.

You know, that's like ceramic cookers.

They also do other brands have steel ones

and like cast iron Commados, like Goldens,

makes a cast iron Commado.

If you have a big budget and you're interested in that,

it's a different style of cooking.

There is a ton of YouTube creators specific to that

because it's a little more,

it's not like more difficult, but there's like a method.

But Commados are another all-in-one grill

that you could have for like smoking and grilling.

If you want just a dedicated smoker and not to grill,

then something like a Weber Smoky Mountain style,

so a bullet style smoker,

can be easier to manage temps than a drum style.

And those are usually pretty affordable too.

Tom Horseman on YouTube has a million grill reviews.

And so if there's something you are interested in,

search him up on YouTube and see

because he'll give you like a great overview of it.

But like for the very basics,

a kettle style grill could do anything.

Okay, good advice right there.

Back kettle or that thing you said the Weber one,

I looked it up, it's like 150 bucks.

Pretty easy access.

Yeah, the one I have is the one

that has the table attached to it.

So a little more spendy, but it's got the table

and like the charcoal bin attached,

but you can absolutely get these for a lot cheaper.

And there's other companies that make very similar ones

just for getting started.

All right, desitman, I guess they say rodents and hay fisters.

Quick question from Micah.

My fiance and I just moved into a new house for renting

and we finally have a backyard.

I like to start grilling now that we're getting nicer weather

and I have an eye on a classic Weber kettle charcoal grill.

I am a seasoned chef in the kitchen,

but no experience on the grill.

Any tips to keep in mind when starting off

for maximums or maximizing smoke,

maximizing flavor, et cetera, et cetera.

PS, my neighbor said I could use a smoker at any time.

I'd also love a recommendation on the finest meat

to smoke, thanks in advance, and keep goonin.

Well, excellent.

Yeah, so number one tip for grilling is to zone fire.

This applies to propane and charcoal.

The idea behind that is that if you're on the propane

multi burner grill, never light, for example,

all four burners are all three burners.

Always have yourself a cool zone

so that you can move the food if it's cooking too quickly.

It's also just in general a really great way to cook.

I do almost everything except for steaks indirect,

which means that my hand burgers.

I pile up the charcoal on one side of the grill.

I put the burgers on the cool side,

which is by comparison, like say 350 degrees

versus the 500 degree hot side.

I let the burgers cook until they're almost done

on the cool side.

Then we sear them at the end.

This is the best way, and maybe the easiest way

to just not overcook your food.

You can also do it searing first

and then cooking indirect till it's done,

but two zone fire, look that up on YouTube

like setting up an indirect cook,

whether it's propane or charcoal.

Like number one best tip to improve your meals.

In terms of like, hey, you're having your art

like too smoky for example,

that does vary by brand of charcoal.

If you're going charcoal,

if you're cooking something fatty over fire,

whether it's propane or coals, it's gonna get smoky.

But it's usually a pretty quick cook

if you're doing steak or something like that.

I wouldn't worry too much about that

with your neighbors and stuff.

If they're grilling too, especially if your neighbor

is a smoker, fantastic, he's not gonna mind.

For a great first thing to smoke,

a pork butt is super forgiving.

And so, and that's actually something too.

If you get like a whole pork butt,

you can cut it in half to shorten the cook a little bit

or you can ride it the whole way through

like a eight pound one.

They'll usually take about eight hours.

So half that you can have it done maybe four.

Tons of recipes on YouTube

I highly recommend the How to Barbecue Right YouTube channel

for tips and tricks.

Ribs can be pretty simple too.

I think baby backs, they cook faster,

but they're a little less forgiving

because they're not as fatty.

So like St. Louis spare ribs.

I'll be a little more forgiving.

And that's like ribs are just pretty simple

because they have so much fat

and they're not a super long cook either.

There's many methods to get them done faster.

But ribs would be another one that I'd say,

yeah, you could cook that for your first time out there

and give that a go.

That really though there's so much content on YouTube

to get you started, I wouldn't do a brisket first.

I wouldn't do that.

Even I haven't made one of those.

But otherwise, really,

there's so much to be done.

Chicken would be great, you know?

Yeah, okay.

Chicken, that's what I want.

We actually, I want to do some like pulled chicken soon.

Something I want to do.

I'm working up the courage.

I cook a lot of chicken,

but we've talked about this in the discord.

I'm still someone who's a little about having to deal with it.

I do, because I cook a lot of chicken,

but I want a spatch cock at chicken

to cook it faster on the smoker,

but I am like so wigged out by it.

I don't want to do it.

And what I've been doing to desensitize myself

is watching YouTube videos of people

spatch cocking chickens.

What is that?

What is spatch cocking?

Oh, that is when you cut out the spine

to make it lay flat.

And it cooks a lot faster.

And it helps speed up the dark meat

so it cooks on pace with the breast meat.

So it's a really great thing to do,

but I have been so, ooh, by it.

And they sell spatch cock chickens at Widmins,

but I don't want to pay the premium for it.

I'm like, no, I can do this myself.

I know I can, but I don't want to.

So I've been watching videos on YouTube

to desensitize myself so that I'm like,

okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can do this.

Yeah, yeah, that's like some mortal combat shit.

It's, because it's like, dude,

first you cut out the spine

and then you have to break the breastbone

and I'm like, I don't want to.

But you know what?

I'm starting to not be as bothered by it.

So, yeah, I get you.

Yeah, it's all that, you know,

it's not something you do every day.

So definitely take it to the used to.

Not yet.

And once that, because everyone says,

once you start cooking them this way,

you're not going to want to go back.

So I'm like, all right,

I just got to do it once and then be ready.

Because actually too, with ribs,

the first time I ever cooked ribs,

I wasn't prepared for the clackety sound

they'd make on the cutting board.

Kind of like a cartoon skeleton noise.

You know what I mean?

That's funny.

It was a random thing,

but it kind of wigged me out.

I'm like, oh God, like it was like this clackety

xylophone skeleton noise.

I was like, oh, and now I'm used to it and it's okay,

but the very first time I took the ribs out of package

and it did that, I didn't like it.

So, yeah.

De-sensitize yourself.

Yeah.

Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney Plus.

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You can watch the record breaking phenomenon at home.

Zootopia 2, now available on Disney Plus rated PG.

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All right, Michael.

Let's talk about some Nintendo news.

But this thing isn't going to affect you or me

or many of the listeners.

This is mostly for Europe.

But there is a new Nintendo switch to model coming

to the EU apparently.

Nique, let me read this from my Nintendo news.

But Revital Japanese News organization.

The Nique is reporting this afternoon

that Nintendo is currently creating

a Nintendo switch to version or revision

that includes a replaceable battery.

This model will follow EU legislation

and allow reduced environmental impact

and will follow under customers' right to repair.

The Nintendo switch to model end for the European market

will presumably launch in other markets too

and will make repairs that much more simple for consumers.

This is a quote from the article.

Nintendo implement the right to repair

for a Nintendo switch to console

in order to reduce its environmental impact.

Firstly in line with European Union,

EU legislation of the company will modify the design

to allow consumers to easily replace

the console's battery in the future.

Should consumer awareness of the right

to repair increased Japan in the United States?

The company may take similar measures.

So yeah, they're giving you a new version of the game

or the system so you'll be able to replace the battery

easier, which I think is great.

I've fortunately been lucky

with most of my console hardware

and haven't had any problems.

So it's been awesome, but I do know.

Well, the red ring of death, you know,

we all had that going on there.

So that sucks.

We all know dealing with that kind of stuff is not fun.

So if they can make it even easier to repair

whatever your switch to console, that's great.

But like I said, it's probably not gonna affect you or I

at least for a while.

Maybe this will come later,

but Micah, any thoughts on all this?

Yeah, I really would be curious

because I'm of two minds about it on the one hand.

It's like, there's an idea that to simplify manufacturing,

they could just make them all like this, you know,

instead of having the special ones for there.

But of course, I also fully believe that they are not

going to do that unless required to.

They're doing this because they're required

to by legislation.

100%.

Yeah, and it's not doing the sound

of the goodness of their heart.

That's for sure.

No, so reduce our environmental impact.

Bullshit.

Bullshit.

No, so it would be cool to get these here,

just for the peace of mind of like, oh, easy to replace.

But I don't think that's actually gonna happen

unless we also got some laws passed that said,

yeah, you have to be able to replace the batteries

and all your shit.

Right.

I could see maybe another switch to model,

you know, like an OLED model or whatever,

a light model, I'm exactly sure.

If they'll just implement something like that for everybody.

I wonder if they'll do that or if they'll just

stick to it how it is.

I don't know, we're a couple of years away from that still,

but we'll see, I guess.

All right, just a quick little thing.

Like I said, it doesn't really impact me or Micah

or many of you listening.

Next thing though, Capcom says that it won't be using

generative AI.

So this, you know, the talk of the town,

the bell of the ball going on, the DLSS Phi discussion.

Micah and I talked about it last week.

I think it's been talked about in every show that we've done.

So on the network, I mean,

so if you want to hear everyone in the network talk about it,

you can get everyone's thoughts here.

But Nvidia had their thing last week

and they showed off a bunch of games using DLSS Phi

and Resident Evil was one of them.

But later on, Capcom put out a statement.

I'm gonna read this from Games Park,

the website I'm using this on.

This was via a summary of a Q&A session

that Capcom released.

Let me read just exactly what says.

Capcom released a summary of the Q&A session

from its online company briefing

for individual investors on March 23rd,

on March 23rd Capcom released this whole statement.

Someone asked about generative AI

is being used as a technology

and proof of effectiveness and productivity.

Capcom said along these questions asked during the Q&A session

was when regarding the handling of generative AI

and response Capcom stated,

we will not implement materials created by generative AI

into game content, clarified its policy that.

On the other hand, they also stated they intend

to actively utilize technology

as it contributes to increase efficiency

and productivity in game development.

Furthermore, the company indicated in January 2025

that it would be using generative AI for idea generation

according to official Google Cloud Japan blog.

And in this Q&A session,

they stated that they are also exploring ways to utilize

in various fields such as graphics sound and programming.

During the Q&A session, there was also a question

about whether they would be entering the mobile game market

in the future after prefacing,

oh, this doesn't matter, I guess,

but a whole mobile thing going on there.

We don't give a shit about that.

But yeah, they just said they were not going to be using

JNI or implementing materials created

by generative AI into the game content,

but they'll still be using in other ways

for game development, I guess.

So I guess if you saw the Nvidia showcase

with hyper realistic grace,

like the, do you remember, have you seen the Simpsons

where another Simpsons reference for the show

where Homer made the makeup gun

and it's the double barrel shotgun.

And it shoots on more.

Yeah, it's an on-hole.

Yes, or a grace got hit by that gun really quick.

So maybe if you're worried about that,

we won't see anything like that planned for now.

Plans change, but I mean, I'm down with that.

I think generative AI looks kind of shitty right now

in the most part.

Yeah.

What do you think, Micah?

No, it's funny because they are kind of speaking

on both sides, saying like we're not going to implement

generative AI, but then it was that a year ago,

they said, yeah, we'll use a variety of generations.

So as a consumer who is wary of AI,

I am happy to see them maybe pumping the brakes a little bit.

That might be a little bit of what we're seeing here.

And honestly, it's such a can of worms, man.

But I was not in love with the look of that DLSS-5 stuff.

So I definitely would prefer to see developers continue

to use it, you know, they make the models.

And that's what it looks like versus this like Instagram filter

being applied to everybody.

But then, I don't know, man, if they start doing this,

not so far, they'll start by keep playing Nintendo games

until they justify Yoshi as well.

Oh, man, yeah, yeah, do.

When I'm getting like AI-generated visuals, I guess,

in Zelda, I mean, like, fuck.

Puttin' the makeup gun on gore-ons and stuff like that.

Like, what's happening?

Oh my God.

Right.

Actually, speaking of Rush's birthday,

there was one time I was taking,

so I always take Snapchat photos of the dogs on their birthday

to put the little party hats and things on them.

And I'm probably the last person in America using Snapchat.

But anyways, and one time I put one on him

not realizing it was also like a face filter.

And it tightened up like his neck rolls.

It basically gave like a little facelift

and like it gave him like eyelashes

and it was the funniest thing seeing him like,

yassify, like it trimmed up his cheeks

so they weren't so like jowly.

I was like, oh my God, like how beautiful you could be.

Yeah, I don't know anyone that uses Snapchat.

I thought that was like a pervert app

that people would listen to.

It makes and stuff.

It is, but I've never sent a message on it.

I only use it for the filters and for the dogs.

So on their birthday, I can put the little happy birthday text

over and it puts a little party hat on them, type of deal.

And I use the bitmojis still.

My dad loves bitmojis.

So I still send those.

He sends them to my sister and I.

And that's really it.

I don't think I've ever used it for messaging.

Yeah, stay away from that.

Do you have any more trouble in your life?

I definitely don't.

Whenever I go on Snapchat for twice a year

and it's like, why don't you add some friends?

It's like, why don't you fuck off?

Yeah.

What's your business?

Snapchat.

Creep.

All right.

I guess just lastly, yeah.

I'm happy to hear Capcom say this.

Who knows if that's the case though in the future?

Plants change.

When people aren't outraged as much.

When inevitably, Gen.A.I. looks a lot better.

I'm expecting it just to happen in the future.

It is what it is.

That's the thing.

One of our listeners had pointed out.

It's like, how long ago was that horrifying video

of Will Smith eating spaghetti?

Yeah.

And how much better has it gotten?

Because I am continually getting tricked on Instagram

by AI videos of people falling down.

And I'll realize it's not quite right

because the microphone sounds too good, stuff like that.

I'm like, their voices are too clear.

This isn't real.

But that's what's holding it up.

It's going to eventually figure that out too.

So it is only getting better and better.

Yeah, it's only like a matter of time.

But what I've seen right now, do not like.

Looks like shit.

All right.

Next thing right here, Micah.

The switch in Japan is big among the teenagers.

Big among the teenagers.

They love it.

The kids love the switch.

I'm going to read this from VGC,

be doing Instagramical.

Nintendo Switch is the second most popular brand

among Japanese teenagers.

Being out the likes of Disney and Pokemon,

that's according to a new survey by Nike,

who we're bringing up again,

which asks Japanese teenagers and adults,

their views on various brands to determine,

which are the most powerful in Japan.

The brand Japan 2026 survey,

the 26th such survey that has been carried out

involved a large sample size of 37,000 Japanese citizens

and looked at 1,000 brands of companies,

products, and services.

The results were then split into two charts,

one for the respondents under 20 years of age,

and the one for the respondents, regardless of age,

to determine the most popular brands

among each demographic.

For the under 20s chart,

Nintendo Switch was declared the second most popular brand

behind only YouTube.

This also makes the Switch brand more popular

than a Nintendo brand itself,

which came in at number three.

That's very interesting.

Other notable brands,

and the under 20s chart included Pokemon

at 7th, Amazon at 9th, and Disney at 10th.

The situation is different when the chart expands

to include all generations, of course,

where alcohol and soft drinks company,

Suntory is number one brand,

as opposed to the 47th among teenagers.

In this chart, Nintendo Switch drops from second to 59th,

while Nintendo itself only drops from third to 12th,

suggesting that Nintendo name is still more popular

in Japan as a whole,

where Switch is more popular among Japan's youth.

Pokemon also drops from 7th to 201st,

with all the generations are surveyed,

suggesting that despite the series,

recently hitting 30th anniversary,

it's still mainly a brand enjoyed

by younger players in Japan.

Also noted by Nikkei,

the generational gap is made clear

in both charts as older respondents,

favored automobile and electronic manufacturers,

while youngers responded,

our respondents appeared to be moving away

from cars in alcohol.

PlayStation manufacturers, Sony's ranked 10th among all ages,

but only ranks 40th among those under 20.

The top 10 for each A-group are as falling.

Okay, here we go.

What is this?

This is for people under 20.

Number one is YouTube.

Two is Nintendo Switch.

Three is Nintendo.

Four is Daiso.

Five is Mooji.

Six is Line.

Seven is Pokemon.

Eight is San Zaria.

Sizaria.

Nine is Amazon and 10 is Disney.

And I'm actually kind of surprised to see Disney

still so high there.

Yeah, seriously.

I mean, I don't know what,

I guess Disney's still big in Japan.

They have several parks there, so maybe.

Okay, this is for all ages.

Number one is Suntory,

who is that, they said like a soft drink

in alcohol brand.

Number two is YouTube.

Three is Daiso.

Four is Panasonic.

Five is Mooji, I don't know what that is.

Six is Uniqlo, which is like a store for clothes.

Seven is McDonald's.

Eight is A on.

Number nine is Google and number 10 is Sony.

I'm kind of surprised to see Sony up there as well.

I didn't think I could make the cut.

Not PlayStation, but Sony in general.

So very interesting data.

Mike, I love data like this.

I love this kind of shit.

I know it's probably boring for many people,

but I love hearing sick breakdowns like this.

I always love that shit.

Well, we got a graph too, Micah.

Ooh, sign me up.

No graph, sir, but I love a number list as well.

That's good shit.

You'd love the data is beautiful, subreddit.

It's people who do like long projects

and they make excellent bar graphs.

The best one, the reason I found it was because there was a guy

who he thought he was crazy that his Chipotle bowl

was like a different size every day.

So he started weighing them

and then he charted it all out in a bar graph

of how big the bowl was and then he had like,

this is how much variance there was overall

between the bowls it was fascinating.

Oh, yeah, this is an awesome subredd.

I've never seen this.

I can't hang out on a Reddit though.

That's too much for me.

But I love that.

Yeah, I've just seen this graph.

The first one I see here is

mean height of nine-year-old males, 19-year-old males,

1985 through 2019 in centimeters.

And it's just listening out the tallest people.

Netherlands, the tallest at 183.79.

US is 176, quite a bit shorter.

China below that,

below as we have here is India at 166.

Interesting.

I don't know why I'm bringing this up on a Nintendo show,

but you're going to go back to that subreddit.

Mark my wolf, you're going to go back there.

Yeah, especially if it's about like subjects

I'm interested in like gaming and all that kind of stuff.

Well, that's what the Chipotle bowl is what caught my eye.

So I'm like, yeah, dude,

sometimes those bowls are weirdly undersized

or sometimes it's like, wow,

they give me a lot of beans today, hell yeah.

Yeah, Micah, let's look at the top 10

for the people under 20, all the teenagers.

Does anything stand out here for you on this top 10 list?

I mean, YouTube being so popular for both groups.

YouTube has just become the default place to watch things.

And I do find that quite fascinating

just because,

well, and you would have experienced this too.

YouTube was once just like place to go watch

weird, funny videos.

Like, oh, let's go watch Charlie the Unicorn.

Let's go watch salad fingers, you know, Fred.

And then YouTube turned.

Dude, I was like a Fred fanatic, okay?

Yeah, how?

Cause he was, he's like literally as old as I am.

That was out when I was in high school.

We loved Fred.

Did he have like a movie or like a show?

I want to say so.

He did, that was too old for it by then.

But prior to him having Fred,

he had his own show with his two friends.

It was JKL productions.

And those are the pre-Fred videos.

They just did all these skits.

And we loved those.

And then he spun off and did Fred anyways.

But YouTube has just become huge.

I watch YouTube every night for cooking videos

and grilling reviews and all sorts of stuff.

So like that is an interesting one

just to see completely the same in Japan.

They're loving YouTube as well.

And like you mentioned for the adult group

or the all ages group, Sony itself being number 10,

not like PlayStation, you know, interesting as well.

Just because for me, I think a PlayStation first,

I'm not thinking of Sony electronics or Sony pictures,

you know, I'm just thinking of PlayStation

when they're brought up.

Yeah, sorry.

I just went down a Fred rabbit hole

and looked at a video again.

And I was like,

it's so weird how humor changes over time.

Because I watch it.

I'm like, this is the fucking worst thing I've seen

in a long time.

I have not watched Fred since high school.

My best friend, cat, we loved it.

And I remember specifically Fred lost his meds,

I think, was like my favorite one we ever did.

Like Fred needs his meds.

But it's really weird.

Even in my head now, I'm like, yeah, that's real.

I don't think it's gonna hold up.

I think home star runner would still hold up.

I don't think Fred's gonna hold up.

Strong bad, yeah.

Trogador.

Oh, dude, homestar.

Yeah, love that.

I looked up some of these brands I didn't recognize.

So line Micah is a messaging app in Japan.

Oh, okay.

So I guess it's like WhatsApp.

And WhatsApp is extremely popular in Europe.

I realized by talking to some Europeans.

And they're in some, well, they're in trouble

with consumers right now,

because they're doing something

they're changing the encryption,

which is the whole point of using it.

I thought, I thought those whole point of WhatsApp

was the strong encryption and privacy.

And I just saw a headline saying that consumers

are rioting because they're changing it.

And I'm like, I never used it in the first place

because the only people I'm texting

are like my sister, my mom.

So it doesn't need to be really locked down.

Yeah, let's calm down.

Sai Ziraya is a widely popular budget-friendly Italian-style

family restaurant in China or restaurant chain in Japan.

Interesting.

So it's like they're all a garden, I guess.

Or some shit.

That's hysterical that that made it so high

on the list or the under team.

Just because, you know, parallel to that,

it's like raising canes is huge with the high schoolers here.

The adults are actually kind of like,

it's not that good.

But like if you ask any high schooler,

like raising canes is the best.

And it's just funny to see these parallels

of like the Japanese you fucking love this one restaurant.

Yeah, it reminds me like around here,

I feel like teenagers like love Chipotle.

Yes.

Love Chipotle.

Don't get me wrong, I like Chipotle too,

but it's like really popular with teens here.

And Mooji, I think is like a department

or like a furniture store.

What was this again?

Mooji is a shop of girls.

It's a Japanese retailer selling a wide variety

of household and consumer goods

with a minimalist philosophy with an emphasis on recycling.

Who I like that.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm looking at it right now.

There's like clothes, tables, furniture,

like other products like skincare, it looks like.

I wanna go here.

Yeah, looks really nice.

I like the way it looks.

That's why we usually do a live show in Tokyo.

I'm not gonna go, you can take Colin though.

Yeah, he'd like to go.

Flip the bill for everyone.

Spend a lot of money on us.

Wait, you wanna go to Tokyo if we all win?

What if we just drugged you up to get on the plane?

I mean, with enough drugs maybe,

but I hear the thing.

You people may be surprised to find out

I'm a little bit of like a hypochondriac.

So at one point, I get expressed to my doctor.

I had to go somewhere and I expressed my fear of flying,

but I was like, I gotta work through it.

She's like, would you want me to progresscribe you

like two Xanax to get you through your trip?

And I was like, no, that's a little scary.

I've never told you Xanax before.

So now I'm scared of that.

So I was like, you know what?

I just raw dog these flights and hate it the whole time.

But I have my limits.

And I think that's like so far past the limit.

Sure, I get it.

Let's make it happen though.

Tokyo trip, LSM, the whole crew.

I've seen it on YouTube.

I've watched a lot of Paulo and Tobi.

I think of all the cool stores we could go to though, Micah.

Think of all the...

I don't know who the police is here.

The machine and the fucking pudding dog you love.

Burren.

Burren, yeah, all the cafes we can go to.

Oh my God, I forgot to tell you, dude, I was so upset.

The Hello Kitty Cafe truck has been going across America

for the last several years.

It has never come anywhere near where I live.

It came to Richmond this weekend and I didn't know about it.

Oh no.

It's after it happened.

Oh no.

I saw it on the local news.

Now people lined up at 3 a.m. for it.

So I would not have done that.

I would not have gotten anything.

So really it's for the best.

But like the way my heart sank when I saw on the local news

that the Hello Kitty Cafe truck was enrichment

and I had no fucking idea.

Because it's like this started when I lived in Mazda,

choose it.

And I have just been like patiently waiting

to see if it would come anywhere near here.

And it did.

Well, Micah, like five minutes from my house

is the Hello Kitty Cafe.

Oh man.

I can get you something from there.

If you want something.

Have you ever been to it?

I've never been in it.

I've seen it several times.

I've never been inside it.

God, it's so cute.

Look at this fucking place.

Oh my God.

Just looking at it.

Yeah, dude.

It's like not a truck.

It's like an actual like.

Yeah, you got a real one.

Because yeah, the truck, it's like,

oh, the truck will have exclusive merch.

But when I saw people lined up at 3 a.m.

I was like, I wouldn't have gotten anything anyway.

They would have bought it all up.

But oh my God.

Just look at this place.

Yeah, I know they had like,

I know they have like big goods and stuff in there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I guess they're merch, too.

You get your pom, pom, purin, plush or something.

I don't know.

They have a bunch of that stuff that looks like.

I am surrounded.

I'm inundated with parents.

Look at this corner here.

Look at all over there.

Yeah, it's a little fucking shrine, dude.

It's like from Hey Arnold,

how hell have you had the shrine for Arnold?

Yeah.

And that's after I donated a bunch to Goodwill

when I moved here, I had more than this.

But I ran out of space properly.

So, but I got a pom, pom, purin clock on the wall.

I got it.

My desk organizers, there's a pom, pom, purin one.

I got a purin lamp.

It's there everywhere.

Yeah, here I'll show you mine.

There's usually like a line for it.

So I've never even really bothered trying to go in there.

But for you, I would go in there and try to get you something.

I appreciate it.

I appreciate it.

I'll keep that in mind.

It's you.

Next time I go, I'll just check it out and see what they got.

See if there's anything cool for you.

Oh, God, no.

Lines are lines are not worth it.

Look at these roofs.

I mean, I don't mind waiting on line for like 10 minutes

or something.

I hate a line.

Oh, hey, oh, hey, lines.

All right.

Well, there you go.

We got that going on here.

What the hell were we talking about?

Brands.

That was it.

Yes.

Try to see, was there any other brands on here?

Why isn't hella kitty in the top 10?

Why isn't hella kitty up here?

I don't know.

Hello, kitty's been around for a long time.

Maybe it's just.

Years.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I mean, come on.

Like, these are pretty like big brands on here.

I mean, Sanrio, if that's how you say, right, is very popular.

I hope so.

I've been saying it.

It's very popular.

Still, I know that.

But maybe in Japan, when they're just like surrounded by shit like that constantly,

it's not as impressive as like here.

We're getting this kind of stuff here.

We're the last like 20 years, but I don't know.

Hello, Keith, we got that magic.

I don't like the hello kitty is like not an actual kitty, though.

Like whatever.

She's a child.

Yeah.

I'm like, what's going on here?

Why can't you just be?

She's a little British kid.

Well, the thing.

She.

Wow.

She doesn't have a mouth.

It's true.

There's a lot that doesn't make sense.

Like, you know, she doesn't know.

She has a pet cat.

So that's a whole thing.

Yeah, they're a little British children, allegedly.

Allegedly.

OK.

Any other brands we're trying to look on here?

I don't know what Aeon is.

What's this?

This is for the people above teenage level.

Aeon, a world of ideas.

This can't be right.

Oh, let me see.

Aeon, Japan, store.

Let's see.

Shopping guide, websites.

Freaking me out.

Maybe it's just like a department store or something.

I don't know.

This seems to be a lot here.

All right, never mind.

I'm not dealing with that.

There's too much information right now.

All right.

Well, those are some brands that are big in Japan.

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Next up, Micah, let's talk about what we've been playing.

I'll go first, because I talked about this on some side,

of course, as always, I'll be more brief.

The only thing I've been really playing new is Crimson Desert.

I have played, let's see what my play time is on Steam here really quick.

Let's see, Crimson Desert, where are you?

There you are.

It says 17.7 hours.

So I've played a decent chunk of the game.

This game is fucking huge.

Huge, by the way.

Could be like the biggest open-world game I've played, you know,

ever maybe, that I can recall, humongous world.

This game feels like, to me, it's 200 hours.

Yeah.

It's like an insane amount.

There's like an insane amount of content in this game.

It is cool.

I do like it a lot.

I'm having more fun with the game as I play more.

It's a weird game.

I guess it's not weird, but it's a game that starts really slow, and I can see a lot of

people bouncing off.

It's one of those games where it's like, dude, it gets good 10 hours in, kind of thing

like that.

It's really good, 20, 15 hours in, which can't do it, man.

Yes.

I would say a lot of people can't do, and people bounce off of, but I'm usually okay

with something like that, but I totally understand why people don't.

But the world is really cool, Mike.

It reminds me a lot of, it gives me the feeling of Witcher 3 a lot, just kind of being out

in that world.

I've been hearing that.

I've been hearing that.

I've been hearing that.

The world is more interesting, I think, than Witcher 3's world, in terms of geography

and what's the word I'm looking for?

Verticality and stuff like that.

We have a lot of movement like you would in Zelda, like clearly this game was inspired

by Breath of the Wild, and that kind of stuff.

You jump in off-clists, gliding around, all that shit like every open-world game has been

inspired by Zelda now.

It's a very complex game.

Very dense with lots of information, lots of menus, lots of stuff you can do in combat,

which is really cool.

You can do a lot of cool stuff.

You can DDT some guy with wrestling moves and shit out in the world.

You can tons of like swords, spears, all that kind of stuff, there's a lot you can do

in the game.

There's so much I have not seen or unlocked in the game, also Micah, where it's like teasing,

elemental attacks and all this kind of stuff.

I'm like, man, I'm this far in the game and I still don't have anything like that.

Tons of side quests, lots of you distracted by it.

There's some puzzles in the game.

I found one yesterday, which was actually cool, because I was talking shit on the puzzles

in the game, where I was like, these are pretty boring, nothing that's like blowing

my dick off, doing them or anything like that.

It's been that cool, because the game has like, it's a version of Ultrahand from Tears

of the Kingdom and I'm like, you're not doing anything interesting with this in the game

and I still don't think you are necessary to the level.

Like puzzle wise, let's be real, it's something close to Zelda, not even close.

But there was this one cool puzzle I had where it's like a giant ring that you could move

around, like almost looks like a clock dial, I should say, like a giant ring, there's

bunch of symbols on it and around that are statues that are all holding different objects

and there's a statue right in the middle with like a laser light pointing at a certain

statue with an object in his hand and you look down at the floor of this like clock dial

and it has a bunch of the symbols on the floor and basically you just match up what's on

what the light is pointing at and every time you do it gets a little more complex and

you have to line up multiple things at one time.

Which interesting is that you use your like a weapon to stab into the puzzle and like

kind of rotate it.

I was like, okay, this is a simple but enjoyable puzzle that I like.

So I'm like, okay, need more of that.

One puzzle I did like to is I got to an area locked.

There is a map on the wall with some X's on the X's on the wall as well on the map

and that is a map of the world in certain spots.

So you have to find where those spots are out in the world and go out there and see

a picture and memorize the picture and like turn a certain thing to the line up of how

the picture was.

So I think that's fun.

There was two of those I ran into and I was like, ooh, two are ready.

I don't know about that.

But this game is fucking big.

I've seen maybe like 20% of the map probably less than that.

Yeah, I was watching Lockmort stream it actually a couple of days ago because I'm

curious about this game.

It is not something I intend to play, but I was curious about it.

And he had said he's like, you know, he's making some comparisons to like,

can we come deliverance and the Witcher, which he knows I love.

But I said, those games have a lot more direction.

I said, you know, those games have a really like, not linear, but a really defined

set of missions that you're going on.

And if you don't know what to do right now, why don't you go do one of these missions?

He's like, that's true, you know?

Yeah, there's a lot more self directed.

There is like main story quests and you could like see and you can do those if you just

kind of wish, but there's so much also out in the world that you probably should explore.

And you're kind of like, you know, it's not like Zelda where I saw something where I was

like, oh, fuck, I got to get over there immediately.

There is some of that in this game though.

Don't get me wrong, but it's not that quite at that level.

But they've been patching the game a lot too.

In my opinion, it needs a lot of patches.

Like, you got to fix some like small things here and there.

It's like death by a thousand cuts.

I felt like this game when I launched, but it seems they seem to be addressing a lot of it.

Like it kind of controlled like shit.

It felt like you're playing as Arthur Morgan.

In this game where you have to like jump around and climb all bunch of stuff.

You know, I'm doing that as Arthur, so it works more in that.

And of course, Red Dead was going for more realism.

But it's an impressive video game.

It's a very, it's like a super divisive game.

I can see people hating it, but a lot of people do love it.

And I'm more in the camp of enjoying it way more.

Who knows how I'll feel 100 hours in or something like that?

You know, I don't know how I'll feel.

But if you like getting lost in a world and just kind of exploring,

fighting random guys, seeing what's out there, you may enjoy this.

There is a narrative.

It's pretty bad or it's not very engaging at all.

Like you can get the job done, I guess, for a lot of things,

but it's not enthralling whatsoever.

I'll say that.

So don't come to the game for story.

Like if you're expecting that what's your three story or anything like that

or kingdom come story, you ain't going to get that.

You're going to be mostly confused.

So what I would say.

I think that's what's missing for me because in an experience that long,

the gameplay would need to be really addictive.

Or the story would be super engaging.

If the gameplay gets off to a slow start,

even with a promise of getting better,

I just don't know if I can hang in there without a story that I'm really invested in.

Yeah.

But like I said, it's a cool game.

It's not a game I can recommend for everybody.

It's one of those games where I'm like, I like this game a lot.

I think it's cool.

But I don't know if everyone's going to like it kind of thing.

So if you're interested in the game,

there's tons of people playing it out there.

You can get tons of coverage and opinions out there.

So maybe look at the game yourself and see if it seems interesting to you.

But it seems like it's going to be getting patched for a while.

So maybe if you're worried about some jane,

wait a little bit.

Like Mike, I was killing guys.

And their clothes would just fly off when they died.

And I was like, what?

But I don't know.

We'll see.

I even saw like, you know, major improvements.

Like reviewer saying that they added a fast travel point.

In a specific area.

And when one reviewer said that would have shaved three hours off of my playtime,

just not having to go back and forth between this place and being able to fast travel.

So some of these are major changes to improve the experience here.

So it does sound like this is one that's worth waiting to see how many more tune-ups they give it.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, I think it's a cool game.

Not for everybody though.

Micah, what have you been playing?

Yeah, so still chipping away at Pocopia.

This game is massive.

Yeah.

Like just because the more and more Pokemon that you find,

the more and more hints that you will get.

Like a certain, you'll get a new Pokemon, right?

And then they'll say, I wish so and so was here.

And they'll give you the hint on how to attract that Pokemon.

And it just continues building on itself.

This game is started to get a little stressful.

It's starting to get a little stressful.

I'm not going to lie.

And I'm still just slapping houses together and making them out of a bunch of materials

that don't match, but whatever they live in them, they're fine.

But this game is huge.

I am taking a very slight step back from it because I realized I just,

at a certain point, I started to just feel like I was just doing tasks.

And I said, I'm not having fun right now.

Let's pivot and try something else.

So one thing I did, I did test Kingdom Come Deliverance 1

in the handheld beast mode to see if it was better.

I don't think it's better.

I had Colin look at it.

And he's like, this is 720p.

And I was like, all right.

So that game still looks like trash.

But it's still a miracle that it works.

Still a marvel of invention that it works.

So I dabbled around in that for a bit.

But I wasn't really actually looking to go play it again either.

But there's that update.

I tried the Monster Hunter Stories 3 demo.

Oh.

And so starting off, the story seemed interesting enough.

Right away, they have you flying around on some dragon guy.

That was pretty cool.

That was fun.

But once I got to the combat tutorial, I really didn't like it.

So what's the combat like?

So from what the tutorial that I had got,

it is a triangle system of this speeds this, this speeds this.

And you're going individually.

So my party was three people.

We were facing one monster.

We're taking turns.

And so it's like, if the monster is a speed type,

then you need to use a tactical attack.

It's like tactical beats speed, speed beats power.

Power beats tactical, I think.

There's the wheel of three.

And then it just kept, they kept you know,

iterating on that of like, if you want to do a combo move,

you pick this, then you call in this monster,

and then you do that.

And I don't know why I didn't like it,

because there are other games with similar systems.

But something about it just really felt like,

I just, I was like, I don't want to do this very much more.

You know, I tried it out and the combat,

like it was an interesting concept.

But I was like, I don't know, I'll do this for 40 hours.

Like, I don't know what it was.

I can't say exactly why I didn't click for me.

But yeah, I did try monster her story three finally.

I was kind of hoping I'd like it,

because the story really was interesting.

Right off the bat, I was like, okay, I like this world.

And you got the cute little cat companions

that everybody's got.

Those are fun.

What a Palakos or whatever.

Those are cute.

But yeah, that combat.

And I don't know.

Monster Hunters never grabbed me in the first place.

And as soon as we did find that first monster,

I was like, I don't know, something about it.

He also, you know, the main character is kind of annoying.

It's like, like this is from the demo.

This is right away.

Your dad is like, I might need you to go on a mission.

And he's like, but we're researchers.

We're not fighters.

And then he goes and like demolishes some monster.

And I'm like, bro,

fuck you mean enough fighters.

That guy's wearing armor with spikes on it.

And they're like, we're researchers.

Hell you are.

So right away, I was like, oh, if this whole story is going to be about

like, I don't want to fight, but I must.

I'm not in, I don't want to do that.

It had enough of that shit.

Go on and drag and bullseye.

I don't want any of that anymore.

I want, I want to play as a guy who loves to fight.

We're in this.

We're having a great time.

Yeah.

So yeah, I tried it.

Didn't love it.

Immediately deleted.

Okay.

Damn.

Going back to book, you know, I own the game.

I haven't played it yet though.

But I like Monster Hunter.

So that's the thing.

You might love it and immediately be enthralled by it.

But because like at first, I was like, yeah, yeah, I like this.

I like this.

And that's just quickly waned.

So, but I'm glad I tried and glad they had the demos.

The Nintendo directs multiple times.

I'm like, that looks really cool.

I want to check that out.

Thank God for demos.

Thank God for demos.

You're right.

Thank God for them.

Cool.

Anything else?

No, no, no.

So I'm back into Pocopia feeling very overwhelmed.

But they periodically remind you to go at your own pace.

They really are trying to tell you like, bro, just slow down.

You don't have to do all this at once.

Also, and maybe this is like the most minor of spoilers.

I got a hint for a certain humanoid Pokemon

that really freaks me out.

And it was like, this is how you get this guy here.

And I was like, I'm not doing that.

Was it Mr. Mine?

Yeah, I refused to make his habitat.

I don't want him here.

I do not want him here.

That's fair.

I'm not making his habitat.

He's not allowed here.

So if I need him for something,

that might be curtains.

I might stop playing because occasionally,

it's like, we need you to get this one.

And I'm like, fuck,

I don't think he's one of those types.

But as soon as I saw the hint,

and it was his silhouette,

and I'm like, fuck, no, I'm not making

a Mr. Mine habitat.

You're out of here, bro.

Yeah.

But the game also continues to give you more and more abilities.

You unlock ways to power yourself up.

I want to be vague so people can continue

to be surprised by the different mechanics.

But you unlock ways to further power yourself up.

So you can do things more efficiently and more quickly.

You're going to start getting a little more Minecrafty

about some stuff in terms of like producing materials,

let's say, and then you can get a little more advanced

with what you're making.

So the game continues to open up.

It is relatively slow in terms of like the progression markers

that kind of wants you to hit

before it starts telling you these things.

It definitely isn't trying to overwhelm you all at once.

With everything.

Some of this stuff took many hours for me

to then get the prompt from the Professor Spaghetti Man

of like, hey, you want to try this out.

So I think the game's extremely well made in that regard

and how it is presenting everything to the player.

I am trying to just continually tell myself,

like, don't rush it.

Don't rush it.

Because it's supposed to be fun.

But when you, like, when it's like, oh my god,

you know, it's like, do this.

It's like, oh, this task is like huge.

I got to get all these materials and do all this shit.

But it's supposed to be fun.

I keep telling myself that.

OK.

Yeah, it's supposed to be fun.

And I am getting, I'm continually excited

by all the Pokemon, even though I don't know them.

There was an adorable little green cat that showed up.

And I'm like, oh, he's great.

He's fantastic.

So I don't know them very well.

But I am happily, like, all the cute ones

that keep dropping by.

I'm like, oh, he's fantastic.

He's great.

A Sprig Gatio.

Sprig Gatio.

This is a starter.

I recognize this Pokemon.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the one.

I googled it.

Yeah, that's him.

That one was very cute.

I like that one when he showed up.

He immediately jumped to the front of the line for a house.

Yeah, Sprig Gatio.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, which Pokemon was this?

So we're in the shield.

I don't remember looking at evolution forms.

It gets very sinister later.

And so far, they have not, like, they

don't seem to evolve.

They do seem that you can attract their real powerful versions.

Yeah, you can make a habitat that

will attract the more powerful version.

But you won't lose your cute little buddies.

And that was just paramount to me.

Because I'm like, I don't want to replace this guy

with some weird fucking other cat thing.

And I want this one to stay, too.

They heard your prayers.

They did.

They did.

All right.

Very nice.

Yeah, I haven't played the game in a while,

but I really did like the game.

I think it was great.

I want to play more of it.

But I don't know, I'll get to it.

But that's a game I feel like I can just hop back into any time.

Now, you absolutely can.

Like, the story is cool.

The more and more like notebooks that you find out,

scattered around the world, tell you more about the story

and what's going on.

And it's been really cool so far.

And I've actually been telling Colin like,

well, you'd like this a lot.

Like, here's what's happening in the story.

But it's not a game that you can't just pick up.

It's not something that you hear.

I got to start over.

I don't know what I was doing.

It's literally just check your habitat decks

and make more habitats, wait for the Pokemon to appear.

They'll have requests.

And that just keeps rolling.

Yep.

All right, let's get back into the news, Micah.

More AI stuff right here.

Square Enix has announced it's partnering with Google

to add an AI chatbot character to its Dragon Quest MMO.

So I'm going to read this off video games chronicle again.

And now it's during a press event.

This week in Dragon Quest 10, we'll

use Google's Gemini to power a controversial AI

companion called Chatty Slimey, who

will help guide lost players.

Speaking to Japanese publication Senkai, head development

to Kashi Anzai said, new players won't

feel lonely and wondering where to start playing.

It will become their own personal companion,

the publication said.

When a player talks to Slimey using the chat function,

it automatically generates voice and engages in conversation.

The AI also analyzes information from the game screen

and Slimey may even initiate conversations

when a powerful enemy is defeated or rare item is obtained.

Dragon Quest is a Japan MMO, which pisses me off.

I've been wanting to play this game for fucking ever.

There's probably some unofficial way to get around

and play in English, but I don't know how to do that.

There's at least in 2012 for PC and PS4, then switch later.

Not the first time.

Yeah, MMO has had that weathering waves,

had something like that, I guess.

And Darth Vader in Fortnite.

Did you ever see that when they had Darth Vader in Fortnite,

who would do AI voice lines?

Really?

Dude, it went exactly how you expect.

He was saying the N word really fast.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

Oh jeez, yeah, you can't let people have access to that.

Yeah, so it was like Vader with you in the game

and he would do a course of AI lines.

He would say stuff to you.

And yes, the end bomb was brought out very quickly.

So I don't think they've brought that back since.

Oh yeah, they said here, Fortnite faced similar challenges

when it added a Darth Vader chatbot,

which was quickly reported to be saying

swear words and slurs to players.

Like, is the slime going to call you an N word

or something like that and drag and press?

I don't know, dude, we're getting crazy right now.

This is the modern equivalent of like,

when your mom would take your Furbio wigs,

you taught it to swear.

Yeah, exactly.

Michael, what do you think?

This is an interesting idea because to me,

I'm like, is this just like a Google search engine

in the game now?

Right.

Like that instead of you alt tabbing

and typing in the Google now, it's like here,

you can talk to your little sliny guy right here.

Yeah.

Which is an interesting idea

because I want to keep you in the game.

I don't know, it seems weird.

I'm curious to see how it turns out.

I'm not like thrilled about it,

but I'm certainly curious about it.

How is this going to evolve in the future?

Yeah, this is something I don't hate for AI

because yeah, presumably if you're asking it,

how do I unlock this door?

It presumably is just going through Google

and finding the guide and saying like,

this is how you unlock the door in the fart tower, you know?

And so it's like, I don't hate that.

These are examples of AI that I think are fine

because I don't expect them to be like,

you know what?

You're going to have a tether to a real human

and he's going to tell you where it goes.

This is a chatty slimy helpline.

I don't expect that.

I probably would just go on my laptop and check a guide

because I have my laptop next to me at all times

when I'm gaming, so I don't think I'd use it.

Especially too because you just can't always trust these things.

Sometimes it's like, I saw an example

where it's like a guy asked chat GBT.

He's like, I want to bring my car to the car wash.

It is 10 meters away.

Should I walk or drive?

And chat GBT said, you shouldn't walk

because it's not very far.

Yeah.

It's a, so it's just like, yeah,

these things are so little unreliable

for certain questions and how things are worded.

You have to be very careful with how you word things

to get the result you want.

So it'll be interesting.

It's a meat feature.

This is something I'm not mad at at all

in terms of AI implementation.

But I just would be curious as the player,

is it really going to be more efficient

or should I just go on Neo-seeker

and bring up the guide, you know?

Yeah, like, yeah, it depends how efficient it is, I guess.

Like a, I guess how I would do if I was doing it,

like if someone's like, you have to put these AI guru

in the game, I'd be like, okay.

I'm going to make like a wizard character

or a fortune teller character.

Or you can go to to find out all the information.

I guess it's how to do it.

I mean, I prefer not to put in my game,

but if I had to, I guess that's what I would do.

I'm like, I'll be running it to a point

in like future games, you know?

Dragon Quest 13 or 14, whatever, it's gonna be like that,

you know, go to no man down by the river.

And you guys magic castle, pay him 50 gold coins

and have him search Google for you.

Well, because actually, so in Dragon Quest 7 remake,

there's a little character that you're supposed

to be able to ask for help, you know,

part of the game, you're looking for those tablet fragments

to advance the story.

And you're supposed to be able to ask him for hints.

And mine wasn't working because I couldn't find the tablet

and he said, there are, he said,

I can't locate any tablets in the world right now.

But I'm like, that's all fucking alive.

We're all like, there's one of them out there.

I need it to advance the story.

Like, where is it?

I ended up having to go on a walk through somebody wrote

and figuring out which one I was missing and how to get it.

But it's like that little guy is supposed to give you a hint.

And he didn't do it and there was indeed one out there.

So I was like, all right, that didn't work.

Maybe AI would have done better.

Maybe AI would have just told me where the fuck it was.

Yeah, this will become the norm probably

in most games in the future.

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All right, next thing right here.

Just some Minecraft news, actually.

So first thing, Minecraft Dungeons 2 was announced.

This is coming to switch and switch to,

I'm looking at the Minecraft ex account.

I'm trying to see if there is a date or anything like that.

But yeah, Minecraft 2.

So Minecraft, I'm sorry, stories 2.

Minecraft story, wait, Dungeons, not stories.

That's the separate thing.

Dungeons, it was like a, kind of like an ARPG Minecraft game.

In terms of like the camera perspective and going through,

like they diablo without like the insane amount of loot

and all that kind of shit.

And I think I played through, I did play through the game

actually, and I remember being okay.

But I was like, this is not like a bad spin off

or anything like that.

And I guess people enjoyed it.

It's co-op and all that kind of stuff.

So they're finally making a second one.

Came out a while, a while ago.

I don't have any interest in revisiting the game.

So, but if you liked Minecraft Dungeons

before you're in luck, so it's back.

Also, they are building a Minecraft world

at Chessington World of Adventures,

which is a Minecraft themed land,

I guess coming to this amusement park here.

Opening a 2027, I'm looking at the X post right here

and attractions and adventure.

Biggest Minecraft shop ever,

Minecraft food, mob encounters,

more info coming soon.

I'm not a big Minecraft person.

I have no problems against it.

I just don't have a lot of experience with Minecraft

or so I don't like love the world or anything like that.

I could see people who are like teenagers now,

later teens and younger kids.

Maybe they're just two year old women.

Now, yeah, love in that fucking shit.

You're right, there's a lot of people

that are older than that love in Minecraft.

But I could see a lot of people love in this shit.

What do you think, Michael?

I think this amusement, here's the thing.

I don't really enjoy amusement.

But this looks incredible.

My first thought though, like with the food

is like, what if it's just like pork chops?

So I did a thing when I'd play Minecraft

where I only would live off of pork.

I was like a pork Italian.

So like I'd fucking starve to death

before I ate anything else.

So fun, stupid little ways like that to customize your game

because I'm my friend would only eat beef.

And then also he'd only eat beef, I'd only eat pork.

So it's like it'd be funny if that was one

of the foods you'd get with pork chop.

But I would go here if I wasn't a recluse

who didn't like leaving my home.

This looks enjoyable.

I'd like to see the Minecraft store.

Once upon a time I had the Pax East exclusive

gold pickaxe of stupid foam thing

that paid a lot of money for and no longer have.

I got like way up top of the shelves.

I have like my red stone like light up block.

And I have a diamond one.

I got those from the GameStop Power of Rewards.

Back when you see it physical stuff

you could trade your points for.

Oh, what a time.

What time that was.

So I'd be super into this Minecraft museum park

if I was a different person entirely.

Yeah.