Podcasts about Animal Crossing

It's time EmSwizzle (Max) & AbdallahSmash rank every Animal Crossing game! With both of them being veterans of the series, this is sure to get spicy! We also go over Nintendo news including Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 releasing, answer your questions, and SO MUCH MORE!  

While we were off last week, Jocelyn played A LOT of Hades II. But that's for next week with special guest Ridiculous Hat. For this episode, Jocelyn hangs up her cloak on Hollow Knight: Silksong while Ryan continues to find the fun. Also on Ryan's gaming plate is a second helping of Frostpunk 2 with it's console edition. Wrapping up the games they're playing, Ryan and Jocelyn recap TGI Game Night with PEAK. Over in the news, PlayStation showcases some heavy hitters for 2026, EA goes private, and Palworld takes on Animal Crossing.DiscussionStart - More Hades II Next Week8:24 - Hollow Knight: Silksong26:01 - Frostpunk 2 Console Edition41:24 - PEAK48:40 - NewsExtra Life is back! Check out the team or donate by going to tiny.cc/tgiextralife.Important StuffSupport us on PatreonDiscord ChannelEmail the show Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; we once again a team of Three! (This is becoming a pattern!) Trent is regrettably absent; but the show must go on! In the theme of Three; we have a Show & Tell Segment that we have each brought in a unique character; and we each compare said character with their Vintage Version; Vs a more modern interpretation.... Plus along with an almost latest-release version of them. A Three-Way Comparison! This was a fun segment to chat to; with some interesting points from the different eras. Then we do a bit of a time stamp on the ep; with our local Adelaide Comic & Toy Fair show only a week away; we discuss what we are potentially hunting for & such. (This will be fun to see if we actually find anything on our Wish-Lists or not!) Then the final segment is rounding out the Patreon Questions! With more fun queries that hopefully allow you all to get to know us a little better; plus how our Plastic Toy Addicted minds work! Enjoy!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pokémon has just revealed something completely different — Pokémon Pokopia, a brand-new life simulation game coming in 2026 for the Nintendo Switch 2. Instead of battling gyms and chasing the champion title, you'll step into the role of a Ditto-turned-human and build your very own Pokémon paradise.In this episode, I break down everything we know so far about Pokopia: its cozy gameplay features, the role of Ditto, crafting and customization, day–night cycles, and that intriguing hint of deeper lore. I'll also share some speculation, compare it to games like Animal Crossing and Minecraft, and talk about my personal wishlist for what could make Pokopia the ultimate chill Pokémon experience.If you love Pokémon, cozy games, or just want to know why everyone's buzzing about this new spin-off, this is the episode for you.✨ Stay cozy, stay chibi — and let's dive into Pokopia!⭐️ VaultX - Protect your trading card collection. Save 10% on your order with my code CHIBIWEEBhttps://www.vaultx.com?ghref=25025:710668&discount=CHIBIWEEB✨ Chibi Weeb Etsy Shop - anime pins, accessories & morehttps://chibiweebmerch.etsy.com

Donnie and Delvin are joined by Snerts as the trio discusses what they're playing (Silent Hill F, Dying Light the Beast, Shinobi) before getting into the big news of the week, the PlayStation State of Play.Also Topics - Pocketpair ripping off Animal Crossing. Xbox Console Prices on Rise (again). NBA Bounce and zen games.

Então, se você não deletar o save e for lá na nuvem e syncar de novo o jogo do zero na nuvem, você não deleta realmente o save dele. Então, fica aí para os aprontões de plantão, se você for deletar o save de alguém, verifique se ele syncou na nuvem esse save deletado. Agora, isso aí do Animal Well é foda, porque no caso, falando como jogador de Animal Well, que já fui, eu sou dessa população que foi... Como eu posso falar no Diálogo infinito sobre games via WhatsApp.Com João Varella, Alexandre Sato, Thomas Kehl, Marcos Kiyoto, João R e Marina Andreoli2 analógicos

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are only a team of Three again! Unfortunately Trent is missing; but the show must go on! We kick things off with a few News highlights, including the reveal of the much anticipated Transformers Studio Series 86 - Soundwave! With an impressive Three cassette figures included. But does he live up to expectations? Then chat towards the announcement of the not one, but Two unique sets of LIFE-SIZED Movie Shredder Helmets & accessories! They look so so awesome.... until the price is revealed! Wave 7 of the Super7 Silverhawks is revealed with a very neat line-up of Flashback, Hardware, Melodia & Condor! Then we chat towards our Latest Scores. We each have some pretty awesome goodies too! More Patreon Questions Answered, from deep thought provoking scenarios; to personal choices of Chip flavours! Another really fun episode. Enjoy!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us for a later August episode in September! We delight in surprise LEGO, butterfly updates, and K-Pop Demon Hunter x Animal Crossing crossover.

Earlier this season, we did a real-life live show in a real-life arcade. Well this week we're doing another real-life live show in real-life Atlanta! They didn't have an arcade, so we brought the games with us. Turn your dollars into quarters and get ready to count your tickets, because we're turning regular games into arcade cabinets. Recommended reading: You can find the PowerPoint at the following link. If your podcast app doesn't support links, please visit our website to find the slides at debatethiscast.com! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17qkHfUNsd9FEWn4RJhJu3QSbI4j0-W7vIZZtmKdki-E/edit?usp=sharing A massive thank you to the folks at the Southern Fried Gaming Expo for having us! They've already announced the dates for 2026. Get all the details at https://gameatl.com/ Have you seen our Instagram? instagram.com/debatethiscast Have you seen our Threads? threads.net/debatethiscast Want to send us an email? debatethiscast@gmail.com MERCH! We have that! Right now you can go on the internet and order things that say Debate This! On them! All you need to do is head to MerchThis.net and give us your money! Ever wanted socks with the DT! logo on them? Well now you can get em! One more time that website is MerchThis.net! Properties we talked about this week: Animal Crossing, Virtua Fighter, Donkey Kong, WarioWare, Gears of War Music for Debate This! is provided by composer Ozzed under a creative commons license. Check out more of their 8-bit bops at www.ozzed.net!

This Week: We’ve got all the news out of the latest Nintendo Direct (yes, another one!) including the reveal of the new Super Mario movie, the cozy new Pokémon spin-off that’s basically Pokémon meets Animal Crossing, and the latest update on Metroid Prime 4. Plus, a lawsuit has been filed against a studio accused of using AI to recreate Lara Croft’s voice. I’m joined this week by Ron Kerbs, CEO of Kidas, who shares new stats on the surge of online threats facing young gamers and how his company is working to curb them.

Manon nous parle de son meilleur date, de vaginisme, de son rapport au sexe, de sa destination de rêve, du harcèlement en ligne, de ses chaussons, de la musique qu'elle n'aime pas, et elle nous fait la voix des petits habitants dans Animal Crossing guidée par "Façon sex" de Tribal King. P.s. : j'ai oublié de lui demander ses paroles de chansons prefs c'est terrible. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

We break down the biggest reveals from Nintendo's latest Direct, including confirmation that the next Super Mario movie heads to Mario Galaxy, a firm release date for Metroid Prime 4, and a slate of first and third party titles for Switch and Switch 2. Highlights include Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave in 2026, a cozy life sim twist with Pokémon Poke Spear where you play as Ditto, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book in spring 2026, the surprise return of Virtual Boy with 14 supported games, and Mario Tennis Fever boasting a huge roster. Host insights throughout on why these moves set up Nintendo's next year. 00:00 Nintendo Direct overview and setup00:04 Mario Galaxy movie confirmed, teaser impressions00:07 Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 bundle dated for Switch and Switch 200:12 Metroid Prime 4 gets a release date00:18 New hardware accessory tease, the “bike” mention00:23 Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave announced for 2026, classic tactics focus00:30 Pokémon Poke Spear revealed, play as Ditto, cozy life sim vibes00:37 Yoshi and the Mysterious Book set for spring 202600:43 Virtual Boy returns on Feb 17, 2026, 14 games supported, pricing details00:55 Mario Tennis Fever slated for February, 38 playable characters01:02 Third party slate notes, Resident Evil, Hades 2, Mortal Kombat01:10 Key takeaways and what we are most excited aboutThe next Super Mario movie is set in the Mario Galaxy era, a smart swing for spectacle and nostalgia. Metroid Prime 4 finally has a date, anchoring Nintendo's holiday calendar. Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave sticks with old school tactics, signaling a back to basics entry for long time fans. Pokémon Poke Spear leans into cozy play, framing Ditto as your daily life companion in an Animal Crossing style loop. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book and the Virtual Boy revival build out 2026 with variety, from family platforming to a retro curiosity built for 14 titles. Mario Tennis Fever arrives with a large roster and party energy, while Resident Evil, Hades 2, and Mortal Kombat round out strong third party support. “Nintendo just revealed a bunch of stuff. Let's go over it.” “It is Animal Crossing, Pokémon style.” “They are bringing [Virtual Boy] back for 100 bucks, with a cardboard version too.” Enjoyed the breakdown? Subscribe and leave a quick review to help more fans find the show. Share your favorite announcement with #GeekFreaksPod and tag us so we can feature your take on the next episode.News source hub: GeekFreaksPodcast.comFollow us:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegeekfreakspodcastThreads: https://www.threads.net/@geekfreakspodcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/geekfreakspodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/geekfreakspodcast/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/GeekFreakspodcastQuestions or hot tips? Send your thoughts or voice memos, and we will include listener notes in a future Headlines episode.Apple Podcast tags: Nintendo Direct, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, Super Mario movie, Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 4, Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave, Pokémon Poke Spear, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Virtual Boy, Mario Tennis Fever, Resident Evil, Hades 2, Mortal Kombat, Geek Freaks HeadlinesTimestampsKey TakeawaysMemorable QuotesCall To Action

This is a recap of the top 10 posts on Hacker News on September 10, 2025. This podcast was generated by wondercraft.ai (00:30): I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screensOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45199931&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(01:52): Charlie Kirk killed at event in UtahOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45202200&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(03:14): I replaced Animal Crossing's dialogue with a live LLM by hacking GameCube memoryOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45192655&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(04:37): Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"Original post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45195520&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(05:59): ChatGPT Developer Mode: Full MCP client accessOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45199713&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(07:21): KDE launches its own distributionOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45204393&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(08:44): OrioleDB Patent: now freely available to the Postgres communityOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45196173&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(10:06): Court rejects Verizon claim that selling location data without consent is legalOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45206567&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(11:28): We can't circumvent the work needed to train our mindsOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45198420&utm_source=wondercraft_ai(12:51): TikTok has turned culture into a feedback loop of impulse and machine learningOriginal post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45199760&utm_source=wondercraft_aiThis is a third-party project, independent from HN and YC. Text and audio generated using AI, by wondercraft.ai. Create your own studio quality podcast with text as the only input in seconds at app.wondercraft.ai. Issues or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: team@wondercraft.ai

Comedians Chris McKeever and Garrett Buss return to the show to give our hottest predictions for the HOUR LONG Nintendo Direct scheduled for this Friday. Will we finally get a Metroid Prime release date? Is it time for a new Animal Crossing? Red Dead Redemption and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?? Listen to hear our thoughts. We also cover all the Nintendo and gaming news such as Silksong's enormous release, the Call of Duty movie fumbling Steven Spielberg, Star Wars Outlaws and much more. As always, we close with the games we've been playing. Listen to Super Switch Headz on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you enjoy podcasts. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:08:36 News and Rumors 0:39:54 Nintendo Direct Predictions 1:27:41 Games We're Playing Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWbF4gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/switchheadz Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SuperSwitchHeadz/ Website: https://www.switchheadz.com/ Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SwitchHeadzClips

Send us a textEver feel like you're barely keeping your head above water while juggling multiple jobs? You're not alone. In this raw and relatable conversation, we dive into the real challenges of managing multiple work responsibilities in today's demanding professional landscape.The struggle is painfully familiar – you're about to leave the office when an urgent ticket comes in, forcing you to choose between extending your workday or leaving someone without help. We break down practical strategies for setting boundaries, from organizing technical bookmarks to shutting off those persistent Slack notifications that follow you home. If you've ever felt the pull between in-office demands and remote work responsibilities, this discussion offers both validation and actionable advice.We also unpack the fascinating generational divide in work perspectives. As millennials, we were told college was the only path to success, only to discover trade careers might have offered better financial prospects with less debt. The painful truth emerges: "Boomers had the money. Gen Xers knew the money was there. Millennials are like WHERE IS THE MONEY? And Gen Z doesn't give a f***." This generational breakdown resonates because it connects to broader economic realities—wages not keeping pace with inflation and the necessity of multiple income streams just to maintain stability.When work becomes overwhelming, finding effective stress relief becomes essential. We compare music (particularly lo-fi beats) with gaming as decompression tools, even ranking video games from most stressful (Dark Souls) to most relaxing (Animal Crossing). These insights offer practical suggestions for choosing entertainment based on your desired stress response—whether you need to blow off steam or find calm.Between career discussions, we share our enthusiastic reactions to the King of the Hill revival, appreciating how it maturely developed beloved characters without losing the show's essence. If you're balancing multiple responsibilities while trying to maintain your sanity, you'll find both practical wisdom and comforting camaraderie in this episode. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram as we continue growing our community of overworked, underpaid, but eternally optimistic professionals. https://www.carolinaotakus.com/

We're here to bid farewell, once and for all, to the original Nintendo Switch console, as this week, we review Zelda Dungeon's Top 25 Favorite Nintendo-Published Switch Games! This staff feature, which was published by our amazing writing team, serves as a final homage to the hybrid console, and we go over the list to see what we agree and disagree with! Tons of Zelda games top the list as you might expect, but we also get in depth about how Pokemon, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and even Kirby did on the Switch, so come let us know what you think! All this, PLUS Al's thoughts on the Stardew Valley concert, Andy's thoughts on Silksong and The Last of Us Part 2 (so far!), and a tease for our next Hyrule Historia episode! Come hang out with us!   Support The Zelda Cast on Patreon! Subscribe to receive the monthly bonus show ‘The Zelda XL featuring Andy and Gooey”! Follow The Zelda Cast! The Zelda Cast (@TheZeldaCast) Andy Spiteri (@Spiteri316) Alasyn Eletha (@AlasynEletha) Twitch x Facebook x Discord x Tik-Tok x BlueSky Advertise on The Zelda Cast! See Options Here! Subscribe to The Zelda Cast! Apple Podcasts x Podbean x Spotify x iTunes x Google Podcasts x iHeart Radio x PlayerFM

We're here to bid farewell, once and for all, to the original Nintendo Switch console, as this week, we review Zelda Dungeon's Top 25 Favorite Nintendo-Published Switch Games! This staff feature, which was published by our amazing writing team, serves as a final homage to the hybrid console, and we go over the list to see what we agree and disagree with! Tons of Zelda games top the list as you might expect, but we also get in depth about how Pokemon, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, and even Kirby did on the Switch, so come let us know what you think! All this, PLUS Al's thoughts on the Stardew Valley concert, Andy's thoughts on Silksong and The Last of Us Part 2 (so far!), and a tease for our next Hyrule Historia episode! Come hang out with us!   Support The Zelda Cast on Patreon! Subscribe to receive the monthly bonus show ‘The Zelda XL featuring Andy and Gooey”! Follow The Zelda Cast! The Zelda Cast (@TheZeldaCast) Andy Spiteri (@Spiteri316) Alasyn Eletha (@AlasynEletha) Twitch x Facebook x Discord x Tik-Tok x BlueSky Advertise on The Zelda Cast! See Options Here! Subscribe to The Zelda Cast! Apple Podcasts x Podbean x Spotify x iTunes x Google Podcasts x iHeart Radio x PlayerFM

EmSwizzle (Max) shares his thoughts on the big question: when might we finally see the next Animal Crossing game release? It's been one of the community's most-asked questions, and today we put an end to the speculation! We also cover some major Nintendo news, answer your questions, and SO MUCH MORE!  

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are only a team of Three again. Unfortunately Scot is missing; but the show must go on! Keeping in the theme of 'Three' - that's exactly how many topics we have for you this Episode! Starting things off is a healthy chat around our Personal thoughts around: What it takes for a successful Crowdfunding Campaign. With Crowdfunding now the new norm; we review the past, present & future of this unique sales pitch option. Second Topic; is a Fun review of the New Lego Transformers Set - in the Form of Soundwave! Including his companion characters - Laserbeak & Ravage. This set really is impressive and the Sound Option is a welcomed point of difference too! Rounding out our Topics; is: 'State Of The Nation.' This is a Reality Check-in for us; to access our Collecting Journey and take note of our future plans. It turns into a bit of a therapy session, as we each give advise to one-another on assessment of our very addictive Toy Collecting Habits!! This honestly was a really fun episode as we get quite personal; and share a lot of our own distinctive opinions.Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Liv and I review the absolutely lovely, relaxing, dare I say ARIA-ESQUE Animal Crossing film! Gekijōban Dōbutsu no Mori, released in Japan only, is available through the magic of the internet, and boy is it lovely. Kick back with us and reevaluate the joy of ol Tom T Nook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen Business is back! And he's attempting to make a meme into a reality. The clubhouse attempts to answer these (and other) questions:How many fishing minigames is too many fishing minigames?Is it okay to shoot fish with lasers?Who are those teenagers with emo hair in the Bentley?Should Stephen make something on the Playdate?Why do people go fishing?Does anyone actually like fishing?You can wishlist 'Blippo+' on Steam! - SteamFishingLydia kicked of this topic with a comment an episode, maybe this one?Revisiting Your GamesFishing Minigame MemeRedditLydia learned about noodling from this youtube channelBon AppetitYouTubeFeeding time at a Fish Hatchery is bonkers!YouTubeLydia's nice list of games with fishing minigamesTales of Arise Pokemon Animal Crossing Stardew ValleyLegend of Zelda (many) SkyrimKirby The Forgotten Land Verdant Skies Spiritfarer Red Dead Redemption 2 Final Fantasy (many) Sonic Frontiers Far Cry 5Hades

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; its another News heavy episode; as we take a snap shot of the Crowdfunding that's still in progress from the MOTU Snake Lair & the Star Wars GunShip. Then we look at some teaser images of the Transformers Missing Link Ultra Magnus... We have some questions if it will be as articulated as the previous releases? McFarlane has a new Batmobile on offer for everyone's garage & Blokees Galaxy Version 08 is a has a really neat roster of figures! Will the Figure Obscura: The Jersey Devil, be haunting your neighbourhood? Or is the Marvel releases of Deadpool, Doop & Mysterio sets more your desire? Star Wars Black series announces some long overdue classic figures as well as some Christmas designs that are so bad they are good?!? Then it gets more personal; as we plug our latest Scores! There's certainly a bit of Jealousy in the room - but also some love as Ben surprises Trent with a custom missing accessory. Frank surprises us all with some outstanding Comics - some of which are quite old - plus an awesome plan to display them! Rounding out the ep; its a bit of a round table chat about what we are Reading / Watching / Playing! All this & more - hope you enjoy!!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we're diving into a whimsical face-off between two of LEGO's most charming and animal-filled themes: the cozy world of Animal Crossing and the nostalgic classic, Fabuland.Will the modern, customizable magic of LEGO Animal Crossing win your heart? Or does the retro charm and storytelling power of LEGO Fabuland still reign supreme?Whether you're a longtime LEGO fan or new to the brick-built world of adorable animals, this episode is packed with insights, fun debates, and plenty of nostalgia.Drop your favorite in the comments: #TeamAnimalCrossing or #TeamFabulandDon't forget to subscribe for more LEGO-themed discussions and geeky goodness every week!#LEGO #AnimalCrossing #Fabuland #LEGOThemes #Podcast #AFOL #LEGOAnimalCrossing #LEGOFabuland #ToyTalk #BrickDebate

You're listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest is Ash Brandin of Screen Time Strategies, also know as The Gamer Educator on Instagram. Ash is also the author of a fantastic new book, Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family. Ash joined us last year to talk about how our attitudes towards screen time can be…diet-adjacent. I asked them to come back on the podcast this week because a lot of us are heading into back-to-school mode, which in my experience can mean feelingsss about screen routines. There are A LOT of really powerful reframings in this episode that might blow your mind—and make your parenting just a little bit easier. So give this one a listen and share it with anyone in your life who's also struggling with kids and screen time.Today's episode is free but if you value this conversation, please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription. Burnt Toast is 100% reader- and listener-supported. We literally can't do this without you! PS. You can take 10 percent off Power On, or any book we talk about on the podcast, if you order it from the Burnt Toast Bookshop, along with a copy of Fat Talk! (This also applies if you've previously bought Fat Talk from them. Just use the code FATTALK at checkout.)Episode 208 TranscriptVirginiaFor anyone who missed your last episode, can you just quickly tell us who you are and what you do?AshI'm Ash Brandin. I use they/them pronouns.I am a middle school teacher by day, and then with my online presence, I help families and caregivers better understand and manage all things technology—screen time, screens. My goal is to reframe the way that we look at them as caregivers, to find a balance between freaking out about them and allowing total access. To find a way that works for us. VirginiaWe are here today to talk about your brilliant new book, which is called Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family. I can't underscore enough how much everybody needs a copy of this book. I have already turned back to it multiple times since reading it a few months ago. It just really helps ground us in so many aspects of this conversation that we don't usually have.AshI'm so glad to hear that it's helpful! If people are new to who I am, I have sort of three central tenets of the work that I do: * Screen time is a social inequity issue. * Screens can be part of our lives without being the center of our lives. * Screens and screen time should benefit whole families.Especially in the last few years, we have seen a trend toward panic around technology and screens and smartphones and social media. I think that there are many reasons to be concerned around technology and its influence, especially with kids. But what's missing in a lot of those conversations is a sense of empowerment about what families can reasonably do. When we focus solely on the fear, it ends up just putting caregivers in a place of feeling bad.VirginiaYou feel like you're getting it wrong all the time.AshShame isn't empowering. No one is like, “Well, I feel terrible about myself, so now I feel equipped to go make a change,” right?Empowerment is what's missing in so many of those conversations and other books and things that have come out, because it's way harder. It's so much harder to talk about what you can really do and reasonably control in a sustainable way. But I'm an educator, and I really firmly believe that if anyone's in this sort of advice type space, be it online or elsewhere, that they need to be trying to empower and help families instead of just capitalizing on fear.VirginiaWhat I found most powerful is that you really give us permission to say: What need is screen time meeting right now? And this includes caregivers' needs. So not just “what need is this meeting for my child,” but what need is this meeting for me? I am here recording with you right now because iPads are meeting the need of children have a day off school on a day when I need to work. We won't be interrupted unless I have to approve a screen time request, which I might in 20 minutes.I got divorced a couple years ago, and my kids get a lot more screen time now. Because they move back and forth between two homes, and each only has one adult in it. Giving myself permission to recognize that I have needs really got me through a lot of adjusting to this new rhythm of our family.AshAbsolutely. And when we're thinking about what the need is, we also need to know that it's going to change. So often in parenting, it feels like we have to come up with one set of rules and they have to work for everything in perpetuity without adjustment. That just sets us up for a sense of failure if we're like, well, I had this magical plan that someone told me was going to work, and it didn't. So I must be the problem, right? It all comes back to that “well, it's my fault” place.VirginiaWhich is screens as diet culture.AshAll over again. We're back at it. It's just not helpful. If instead, we're thinking about what is my need right now? Sometimes it's “I have to work.” And sometimes it's “my kid is sick and they just need to relax.” Sometimes it's, as you were alluding to earlier, it's we've all just had a day, right? We've been run ragged, and we just need a break, and that need is going to dictate very different things. If my kid is laid up on the couch and throwing up, then what screen time is going to be doing for them is very different than If I'm trying to work and I want them to be reasonably engaged in content and trying to maybe learn something. And that's fine. Being able to center “this is what I need right now,” or “this is what we need right now,” puts us in a place of feeling like we're making it work for us. Instead of feeling like we're always coming up against some rule that we're not going to quite live up to.VirginiaI'd love to talk about the inequity piece a little more too. As I said, going from a two parent household to a one parent household, which is still a highly privileged environment—but even just that small shift made me realize, wait a second. I think all the screen time guidance is just for typical American nuclear families. Ideally, with a stay at home parent.So can you talk about why so much of the standard guidance doesn't apply to most of our families?AshIt's not even just a stay at home parent. It's assuming that there is always at least one caregiver who is fully able to be present. Mom, default parent, is making dinner, and Dad is relaxing after work and is monitoring what the kids are doing, right? And it's one of those times where I'm like, have you met a family?VirginiaPeople are seven different places at once. It's just not that simple.AshIt's not that simple, right? It's like, have you spent five minutes in a typical household in the last 10 years? This is not how it's going, right?So the beginning of the book helps people unlearn and relearn what we may have heard around screens, including what research really does or doesn't say around screens, and this social inequity piece. Because especially since the onset of COVID, screens are filling in systemic gaps for the vast majority of families.I'm a family with two caregivers in the home. We both work, but we're both very present caregivers. So we're definitely kind of a rarity, that we're very privileged. We're both around a lot of the time. And we are still using screens to fill some of those gaps.So whether it's we don't really have a backyard, or people are in a neighborhood where they can't send their kids outside, or they don't have a park or a playground. They don't have other kids in the neighborhood, or it's not a safe climate. Or you live in an apartment and you can't have your neighbors complain for the fifth time that your kids are stomping around and being loud. Whatever it is—a lack of daycare, affordable after school care —those are all gaps. They all have to be filled. And we used to have different ways of filling those gaps, and they've slowly become less accessible or less available. So something has to fill them. What ends up often filling them is screens. And I'm not saying that that's necessarily a good thing. I'd rather live in a world in which everyone is having their needs met accessibly and equitably. But that's a much harder conversation, and is one that we don't have very much say in. We participate in that, and we might vote for certain people, but that's about all we can really do reasonably. So, in the meantime, we have to fill that in with something and so screens are often going to fill that in.Especially if you look at caregivers who have less privilege, who are maybe single caregivers, caregivers of color, people living in poverty—all of those aspects of scarcity impacts their bandwidth. Their capacity as a caregiver is less and spread thinner, and all of that takes away from a caregiver's ability to be present. And there were some really interesting studies that were done around just the way that having less capacity affects you as a caregiver.And when I saw that data, I thought, well, of course. Of course people are turning to screens because they have nothing else to give from. And when we think of it that way, it's hard to see that as some sort of personal failure, right? When we see it instead as, oh, this is out of necessity. It reframes the question as “How do I make screens work for me,” as opposed to, “I'm bad for using screens.”VirginiaRight. How do I use screen time to meet these needs and to hopefully build up my capacity so that I can be more present with my kids? I think people think if you're using a lot of screens, you're really never present. It's that stereotype of the parent on the playground staring at their phone, instead of watching the kid play. When maybe the reason we're at the playground is so my kid can play and I can answer some work emails. That doesn't mean I'm not present at other points of the day.AshOf course. You're seeing one moment. I always find that so frustrating. It just really feels like you you cannot win. If I were sitting there staring at my child's every move in the park, someone would be like, “you're being a helicopter,” right? And if I look at my phone because I'm trying to make the grocery pickup order—because I would rather my child have time at the playground than we spend our only free hour in the grocery store and having to manage a kid in the grocery store and not having fun together, right? Instead I'm placing a pickup order and they're getting to run around on the playground. Now also somehow I'm failing because I'm looking at my phone instead of my kid. But also, we want kids to have independent time, and not need constant input. It really feels like you just can't win sometimes. And being able to take a step back and really focus on what need is this meeting? And if it's ours, and if it is helping me be more present and connected, that's a win. When I make dinner in the evening, my kid is often having screen time, and I will put in an AirPod and listen to a podcast, often Burnt Toast, and that's my decompression. Because I come home straight from work and other things. I'm not getting much time to really decompress.VirginiaYou need that airlock time, where you can decompress and then be ready to be present at dinner.I'm sure I've told you this before, but I reported a piece on screen time for Parents Magazine, probably almost 10 years ago at this point, because I think my older child was three or four. And I interviewed this Harvard researcher, this older white man, and I gave him this the dinner time example. I said, I'm cooking dinner. My kid is watching Peppa Pig so that I can cook dinner, and take a breath. And then we eat dinner together. And he said, “Why don't you involve her in cooking dinner? Why don't you give her a bag of flour to play with while you cook dinner?”AshOf all the things!VirginiaAnd I said to him: Because it's 5pm on a Wednesday and who's coming to clean the flour off the ceiling?AshA bag of flour. Of all the things to go to! VirginiaHe was like, “kids love to make a happy mess in the kitchen!” I was like, well I don't love that. And it was just exactly that. My need didn't matter to him at all. He was like, “h, well, if you just want to pacify your children…” I was like, I do, yes, in that moment.AshWell, and I think that's another part of it is that someone says it to us like that, and we're like, “well, I can't say yes,” right? But in the moment, yeah, there are times where it's like, I need you to be quiet. And as hard as this can be to think, sometimes it's like right now, I need you to be quiet and convenient because of the situation we're in. And that doesn't mean we're constantly expecting that of them, and hopefully that's not something we're doing all the time. But if the need is, oh my God, we're all melting down, and if we don't eat in the next 15 minutes, we're going to have a two hour DEFCON1 emergency on our hands, then, yeah, I'm gonna throw Peppa Pig on so that we can all become better regulated humans in the next 15 minutes and not have a hungry meltdown. And that sounds like a much better alternative to me!VirginiaThan flour all over my kitchen on a Wednesday, right? I mean, I'll never not be mad about it. It's truly the worst parenting advice I've ever received. So thank you for giving us all more space as caregivers to be able to articulate our own needs and articulate what we need to be present. It's what we can do in the face of gaps in the care system that leave us holding so much.That said: I think there are some nitty gritty aspects of this that we all struggle wit, so I want to talk about some of the nuts and bolts pieces. One of my biggest struggles is still the question of how much time is too much time? But you argue that time really isn't the measure we should be using. As you're saying, that need is going to vary day to day, and all the guidance that's been telling us, like, 30 minutes at this age, an hour at this age, all of that is not particularly germane to our lives. So can you explain both why time is less what we should fixate on? And then how do I release myself? How do I divest from the screen time diet culture?AshOh man, I wish I had a magic bullet for that one. We'll see what I can do.When I was writing this and thinking about it and making content about it, I kept thinking about you. Because the original time guidelines that everyone speaks back to—they're from the AAP. And they have not actually been used in about 10 years, but people still bring them up all the time. The “no time under two” and “up to an hour up to age five” and “one to two hours, five to 12.” And if you really dig in, I was following footnote after footnote for a while, trying to really find where did this actually come from? It's not based on some study that found that that's the ideal amount of time. It really came from a desire to find this middle ground of time spent being physically idle. These guidelines are about wanting to avoid childhood obesity.VirginiaOf course.AshIt all comes back, right?VirginiaI should have guessed it.AshAnd so in their original recommendations, the AAP note that partially this is to encourage a balance with physical movement. Which, of course, assumes that if you are not sitting watching TV or using an iPad, that you will be playing volleyball or something.VirginiaYou'll automatically be outside running around.AshExactly, of course, those are the only options.VirginiaIt also assumes that screen time is never physical. But a lot of kids are very physical when they're watching screens.AshExactly. And it, of course, immediately also imposes a morality of one of these things is better—moving your body is always better than a screen, which is not always going to be true, right? All these things have nuance in them. But I thought that was so interesting, and it shouldn't have surprised me, and yet somehow it still did. And of course it is good to find movement that is helpful for you and to give your kids an enjoyment of being outside or moving their bodies, or playing a sport. And putting all of that in opposition to something else they may enjoy, like a screen, really quickly goes to that diet culture piece of “well, how many minutes have you been doing that?” Because now we have to offset it with however many minutes you should be running laps or whatever.So those original recommendations are coming from a place of already trying to mitigate the negatives of sitting and doing something sort of passively leisurely. And in the last 10 years, they've moved away from that, and they now recommend what's called making a family media plan. Which actually I think is way better, because it is much more prioritizing what are you using this for? Can you be doing it together? What can you do? It's much more reasonable, I think. But many people still go back to those original recommendations, because like you said, it's a number. It's simple. Just tell me.VirginiaWe love to grab onto a number and grade ourselves.AshJust tell me how much time so that I can tell myself I'm I'm doing a good job, right? But you know, time is just one piece of information. It can be so specific with what am I using that time to do? If I'm sitting on my computer and doing work for an hour and a half, technically, that is screen time, but it is going to affect me a lot differently than if I'm watching Netflix or scrolling my phone for an hour and a half. I will feel very different after those things. And I think it's really important to be aware of that, and to make our kids aware of that from an early age, so that they are thinking about more than just, oh, it's been X amount of minutes. And therefore this is okay or not okay.Because all brains and all screens are different. And so one kid can watch 20 minutes of Paw Patrol, and they're going to be bouncing off the walls, because, for whatever reason, that's just a show that's really stimulating for them. And somebody else can sit and watch an hour and a half of something, and they'll be completely fine. So if you have a kid that is the first kid, and after 20 minutes, you're like, oh my god, it's not even half an hour. This is supposed to be an okay amount. This is how they're acting. We're right back to that “something's wrong. I'm wrong. They're bad,” as opposed to, “What is this telling me? What's something we could do differently? Could we try a different show? Could we try maybe having some physical movement before or after, see if that makes a difference?” It just puts us more in a place of being curious to figure out again, how do I make this work for me? What is my need? How do I make it work for us?And not to rattle on too long, but there was a big study done in the UK, involving over 120,000 kids. And they were trying to find what they called “the Goldilocks amount of time.”VirginiaYes. This is fascinating.AshSo it's the amount of time where benefit starts to wane. Where we are in that “just right”amount. Before that, might still be okay, but after that we're going to start seeing some negative impacts, particularly when it comes to behavior, for example.What they found in general was that the Goldilocks number tended to be around, I think, an hour and 40 minutes a day. Something around an hour and a half a day. But if you looked at certain types of screens, for computers or TV, it was much higher than that. It was closer to three hours a day before you started seeing some negative impacts. And even for things like smartphones, it was over an hour a day. But what I found so so interesting, is that they looked at both statistical significance, but also what they called “minimally important difference,” which was when you would actually notice these negative changes, subjectively, as a caregiver.So this meant how much would a kid have to be on a screen for their adult at home to actually notice “this is having an impact on you,” regularly. And that amount was over four and a half hours a day on screens.VirginiaBefore caregivers were like, “Okay, this is too much!” And the fact that the statistically significant findings for the minutia of what the researchers looking at is so different from what you as a caregiver are going to actually be thrown by. That was really mind blowing to me.AshRight, And that doesn't mean that statistical significance isn't important, necessarily. But we're talking about real minutiae. And that doesn't always mean that you will notice any difference in your actual life.Of course, some people are going to hear this and go, “But I don't want my kid on a screen for four and a half hours.” Sure. That's completely reasonable. And if your kid is having a hard time after an hour, still reasonable, still important. That's why we can think less about how many minutes has it been exactly, and more, what am I noticing? Because if I'm coming back to the need and you're like, okay, I have a meeting and I need an hour, right? If you know, “I cannot have them use their iPad for an hour, because they tend to become a dysregulated mess in 25 minutes,” that's much more useful information than “Well, it says they're allowed to have an hour of screen time per day so this should be fine because it's an hour.”VirginiaRight.AshIt sets you up for more success.VirginiaAnd if you know your kid can handle that hour fine and can, in fact, handle more fine, it doesn't mean, “well you had an hour of screen time while I was in a meeting so now we can't watch a show together later to relax together.” You don't have to take away and be that granular with the math of the screens. You can be like, yeah, we needed an extra hour for this meeting, and we'll still be able to watch our show later. Because that's what I notice with my kids. If I start to try to take away from some other screen time, then it's like, “Oh, god, wait, but that's the routine I'm used to!” You can't change it, and that's fair.AshYes, absolutely. And I would feel that way too, right? If someone were giving me something extra because it was a convenience to them, but then later was like, “oh, well, I have to take that from somewhere.” But they didn't tell me that. I would be like, Excuse me, that's weird. That's not how that works, right? This was a favor to you, right?VirginiaYeah, exactly. I didn't interrupt your meeting. You're welcome, Mom.Where the time anxiety does tend to kick in, though, is that so often it's hard for kids to transition off screens. So then parents think, “Well, it was too much time,” or, “The screen is bad.” This is another very powerful reframing in your work. So walk us through why just because a kid is having a hard time getting off screens doesn't mean it was too much and it doesn't mean that screens are evil? AshSo an example I use many times that you can tweak to be whatever thing would come up for your kid is bath time. I think especially when kids are in that sort of toddler, three, four age. When my kid was that age, we had a phase where transitioning to and from the bathtub was very hard. Getting into it was hard. But then getting out of it was hard.VirginiaThey don't ever want to get in. And then they never want to leave.AshThey never want to get out, right? And in those moments when my kid was really struggling to get out of the bathtub, imagine how it would sound if I was like, “Well, it it's the bathtub's fault.” Like it's the bath's fault that they are having such a hard time, it's because of the bubbles, and it smells too good, and I've made it too appealing and the water's too warm. Like, I mean, I sound unhinged, right?Virginia“We're going to stop bathing you.”AshExactly. We would not say, “Well, we can't have baths anymore.” Or when we go to the fun playground, and it's really hard to leave the fun playground, we don't blame the playground. When we're in the grocery store and they don't want to leave whichever aisle, we don't blame the grocery store. And we also don't stop taking them to the grocery store. We don't stop going to playgrounds. We don't stop having baths. Instead, we make different decisions, right? We try different things. We start a timer. We have a different transition. We talk about it beforehand. We strategize, we try things.VirginiaGive a “Hey, we're leaving in a few minutes!” so they're not caught off guard.AshExactly. We talk about it. Hey, last time it was really hard to leave here, we kind of let them know ahead of time, or we race them to the car. We find some way to make it more fun, to make the transition easier, right? We get creative, because we know that, hey, they're going to have to leave the grocery store. They're going to have to take baths in a reasonable amount of time as they grow up into their lives. We recognize the skill that's happening underneath it.And I think with screens, we don't always see those underlying skills, because we see it as this sort of superfluous thing, right? It's not needed. It's not necessary. Well, neither is going to a playground, technically.A lot of what we do is not technically required, but the skill underneath is still there. So when they are struggling with ending screen time, is it really the screen, or is it that it's hard to stop doing something fun. It's hard to stop in the middle of something. It's hard to stop if you have been playing for 20 minutes and you've lost every single race and you don't want to stop when you've just felt like you've lost over and over again, right? You want one more shot to one more shot, right?People are going to think, “Well, but screens are so much different than those other things.” Yes, a screen is designed differently than a playground or a bath. But we are going to have kids who are navigating a technological and digital world that we are struggle to even imagine, right? We're seeing glimpses of it, but it's going to be different than what we're experiencing now, and we want our kids to be able to navigate that with success. And that comes back to seeing the skills underneath. So when they're struggling with something like that, taking the screen out of it, and asking yourself, how would I handle this if it were anything else. How would I handle this if it were they're struggling to leave a friend's house? I probably wouldn't blame the friend, and I wouldn't blame their house, and I wouldn't blame their boys.VirginiaWe're never seeing that child again! Ash I would validate and I would tell them, it's hard. And I would still tell them “we're ending,” and we would talk about strategies to make it easier next time. And we would get curious and try something, and we would be showing our kids that, “hey, it's it's okay to have a hard time doing that thing. It's okay to have feelings about it. And we're still gonna do it. We're still going to end that thing.”Most of the time, the things that we are struggling with when it comes to screens actually boil down to one of three things, I call them the ABCs. It's either Access, which could be time, or when they're having it, or how much. Behavior, which you're kind of bringing up here. And Content, what's on the screen, what they're playing, what they what they have access to.And so sometimes we might think that the problem we're seeing in front of us is a behavior problem, right? I told them to put the screen away. They're not putting the screen away. That's a behavior problem. But sometimes it actually could be because it's an access issue, right? It's more time than they can really handle at that given moment. Or it could be content, because it's content that makes it harder to start and stop. So a big part of the book is really figuring out, how do I know what problem I'm even really dealing with here? And then what are some potential things that I can do about it? To try to problem solve, try to make changes and see if this helps, and if it helps, great, keep it. And if not, I can get curious and try something else. And so a lot of it is strategies to try and ways to kind of, you know, backwards engineer what might be going on, to figure out how to make it work for you, how to make it better.VirginiaIt's so helpful to feel like, okay, there's always one more thing I can tweak and adjust. Versus “it's all a failure. We have to throw it out.” That kind of all or nothing thinking that really is never productive. The reason I think it's so helpful that you draw that parallel with the bath or the play date is it reminds us that there are some kids for whom transitions are just always very difficult—like across the board. So you're not just seeing a screen time problem. You're being reminded “My kid is really building skills around transitions. We don't have them yet.” We hope we will have them at some point. But this is actually an opportunity to work on that, as opposed to a problem. We can actually practice some of these transition skills.AshAnd I really like coming back to the skill, because if we're thinking of it as a skill, then we're probably more likely to tell our kids that it's a skill, too. Because if we're just thinking of it as like, well, it's a screen. It's the screen's fault, it's the screen's fault. Then we might not say those literal words to our kids, but we might say, like, it's always so hard to turn off the TV. Why is that, right? We're talking about it as if it's this sort of amorphous, like it's only about the television, or it's only about the iPad, and we're missing the part of making it clear to our kids that, hey, this is a skill that you're working on, and we work on this skill in different ways.VirginiaI did some good repair with my kids after reading your book. Because I was definitely falling into the trap of talking about screen addiction. I thought I was saying to them, “It's not your fault. The screens are programmed to be bad for us in this way” So I thought, I was like at least not blaming them, but being like, we need less screens because they're so dangerous.But then I read your book, and I was like, oh, that's not helpful either. And I did have one of my kids saying, “Am I bad because I want to watch screens all the time?” And I was like, oh, that's too concrete and scary.And again, to draw the parallel with diet culture: It's just like telling kids sugar is bad, and then they think they're bad because they like sugar. So I did do some repair. I was like, “I read this book and now I've learned that that was not right.” They were like, oh, okay. We're healing in my house from that, so thank you.AshOh, you're very welcome, and I'm glad to hear that!I think about those parallels with food all the time, because sometimes it just helps me think, like, wait, would I be wanting to send this message about food or exercise or whatever? And if the answer is no, then how can I tweak it so that I'm sending a message I'd be okay with applying to other things. And I like being able to make those parallels with my kid. In my household right now, we're practicing flexibility. Flexibility is a skill that we're working on in so many parts of our lives. And when I say we, I do mean we. Me, everybody is working on this.VirginiaParents can use more flexibility, for sure.AshAbsolutely. And so like, when those moments are coming up, you know, I'm trying to say, like, hey, like, what skill is this right now? Who's having to be flexible right now? Flexible can be a good thing, right? We might be flexible by saying yes to eating dinner on the couch and watching a TV show. That's flexibility. Flexibility isn't just adjust your plans to be more convenient to me, child, so that I can go do something as an adult. And coming back to those skills so they can see, oh, okay, this isn't actually just about screens. This applies to every part of these of my life, or these different parts of my life, and if I'm working on it here, oh, wow, it feels easier over there. And so they can see that this applies throughout their life, and kind of feel more of that buy in of like, oh, I'm getting better at that. Or that was easier. That was harder. We want them to see that across the board.VirginiaOh, my God, absolutely.Let's talk about screens and neurodivergence a little bit. So one of my kiddos is neurodivergent, and I can both see how screens are wonderful for them at the end of a school day, when they come home and they're really depleted. Screen time is the thing they need to rest and regulate. And they love the world building games, which gives them this whole world to control and explore. And there's so much there that's wonderful.And, they definitely struggle more than their sibling with this transition piece, with getting off it. One kid will naturally put down the iPad at some point and go outside for a bit, and this kid will not. And it creates more anxiety for parents. Because neurodivergent kids may both need screens—in ways that maybe we're not totally comfortable with, but need to get comfortable with—and then struggle with the transition piece. So how do you think about this question differently with neurodivergence? Or or is it really the same thing you're just having to drill in differently?AshI think it is ultimately the same thing, but it certainly is going to feel quite more heightened. And I think especially for certain aspects of neurodivergence, especially, I think it feels really heightened because of some of the ways that they might be discussed, particularly online, when it comes to how they relate to technology. I think about ADHD, we'll see that a lot. Where I'll see many things online about, like, “kids with ADHD should never be on a screen. They should never be on a device, because they are so dopamine-seeking.” And I have to just say that I find that to be such an ableist framing. Because with ADHD, we're talking about a dopamine deficient brain. And I don't think that we would be having that same conversation about someone needing insulin, right? Like, we wouldn't be saying, like, oh yeah, nope, they can't take that insulin. VirginiaThey're just craving that insulin they need to stay alive.AshA kid seeking a thing that they're that they are somehow deficient in—that's not some sort of defiant behavior. VirginiaNo, it's a pretty adaptive strategy.AshAbsolutely, it is. And we want kids to know that nobody's brain is good or bad, right? There's not a good brain or a bad brain. There are all brains are going to have things that are easier or harder. And it's about learning the brain that you're in, and what works or doesn't work for the brain that you're in.And all brains are different, right? Neurotypical brains and neurodivergent brains within those categories are obviously going to be vastly different. What works for one won't work for another, and being able to figure out what works for them, instead of just, “because you have this kind of brain, you shouldn't ever do this thing,” that's going to set them up for more success. And I think it's great that you mentioned both how a screen can be so regulating, particularly for neurodivergent brains, and then the double-edged sword of that is that then you have to stop. VirginiaTransition off back into the world.AshSo if the pain point is a transition, what is it really coming from? Is it coming from the executive function piece of “I don't know how to find a place to stop?” A lot of people, particularly kids ADHD, they often like games that are more open-ended. So they might like something like a Minecraft or an Animal Crossing or the Sims where you can hyperfocus and deep dive into something. But what's difficult about that is that, you know, if I play Mario Kart, the level ends, it's a very obvious ending.VirginiaRight? And you can say, “One more level, and we're done.”AshExactly. We've reached the end of the championship. I'm on the podium. I quit now, right?But there's a never ending series of of tasks with a more open-ended game. And especially if I'm in my hyper focus zone, right? I can just be thinking, like, well, then I can do this and this and this and this and this, right?And I'm adding on to my list, and the last thing I want to do in that moment is get pulled out of it when I'm really feeling like I'm in the zone. So if that's the kind of transition that's difficult. And it's much less about games and more about “how do I stop in the middle of a project?” Because that's essentially what that is.And that would apply if I'm at school and I'm in the middle of an essay and we're finishing it up tomorrow. Or I'm trying to decorate a cake, and we're trying to walk out the door and I have to stop what I'm doing and come back later. So one of the tricks that I have found really helpful is to ask the question of, “How will you know when you're done?” Or how will you know you're at a stopping point? What would a stopping point be today? And getting them to sort of even visualize it, or say it out loud, so that they can think about, “Oh, here's how I basically break down a giant task into smaller pieces,” because that's essentially what that is.VirginiaThat's a great tip. Ash“Okay, you have five minutes. What is the last thing you're going to do today?” Because then it's concrete in terms of, like, I'm not asking the last thing, and it will take you half an hour, right? I'm at, we have five minutes. What's the last thing you're wrapping up? What are you going to do?Then, if it's someone who's very focused in this world, and they're very into that world, then that last thing can also be our transition out of it. As they're turning it off, the very first thing we're saying to them is, “So what was that last thing you were doing?”VirginiaOh, that's nice.AshThen they're telling it to us, and then we can get curious. We can ask questions. We can get a little into their world to help them transition out of that world. That doesn't mean that we have to understand what they're telling us, frankly. It doesn't mean we have to know all the nuance. But we can show that interest. I think this is also really, really important, because then we are showing them it's not us versus the screen. We're not opposing the screen, like it's the enemy or something. And we're showing them, “Hey, I can tell you're interested in this, so I'm interested in it because you are.” Like, I care about you, so I want to know more.VirginiaAnd then they can invite you into their world, which what a lot of neurodivergent kids need. We're asking them to be part of the larger world all the time. And how nice we can meet them where they are a little more.AshAbsolutely. The other thing I would say is that something I think people don't always realize, especially if they don't play games as much, or if they are not neurodivergent and playing games, is they might miss that video games actually are extremely well-accommodated worlds, in terms of accommodating neurodivergence.So thinking about something like ADHD, to go back to that example, it's like, okay, some really common classroom accommodations for ADHD, from the educator perspective, the accommodations I see a lot are frequent check ins, having a checklist, breaking down a large task into smaller chunks, objectives, having a visual organizer.Well, I think about a video game, and it's like, okay, if I want to know what I have available to me, I can press the pause menu and see my inventory at any time. If I want to know what I should be doing, because I have forgotten, I can look at a menu and see, like, what's my objective right now? Or I can bring up the map and it will show me where I supposed to be going. If I start to deviate from what I'm supposed to be doing, the game will often be like, “Hey, don't forget, you're supposed to be going over there!” It'll get me back on task. If I'm trying to make a potion that has eight ingredients, the game will list them all out for me, and it will check them off as I go, so I can visually see how I'm how I'm achieving this task. It does a lot of that accommodation for me. And those accommodations are not as common in the real world, or at least not as easily achieved.And so a lot of neurodivergent kids will succeed easily in these game worlds. And we might think “oh because it's addicting, or the algorithm, or it's just because they love it” But there are often these structural design differences that actually make it more accessible to them.And if we notice, oh, wow, they have no problem knowing what to do when they're playing Zelda, because they just keep checking their objective list all the time or whatever—that's great information.VirginiaAnd helps us think, how can we do that in real life? AshExactly. We can go to them and say, hey, I noticed you, you seem to check your inventory a lot when you're playing that game. How do we make it so that when you look in your closet, you can just as easily see what shirts you own. Whatever the thing may be, so that we're showing them, “hey, bring that into the rest of your world that works for you here.” Let's make it work for you elsewhere, instead of thinking of it as a reason they're obsessed with screens, and now we resent the screens for that. Bring that in so that it can benefit the rest of their lives.VirginiaI'm now like, okay, that just reframes something else very important for me. You have such a helpful way of helping us divest from the guilt and the shame and actually look at this in a positive and empowering way for us and our kids. And I'm just so grateful for it. It really is a game changer for me.AshOh, thank you so much. I'm so glad to hear that it was helpful and empowering for you, and I just hope that it can be that for others as well.ButterAshSo my family and I have been lucky enough to spend quite a lot of time in Japan. And one of the wonderful things about Japan is they have a very huge bike culture. I think people think of the Netherlands as Bike cCentral, but Japan kind of rivals them.And they have a particular kind of bike that you cannot get in the United States. It's called a Mamachari, which is like a portmanteau of mom and chariot. And it's sort of like a cargo bike, but they are constructed a little differently and have some features that I love. And so when I've been in Japan, we are on those bikes. I'm always like, I love this kind of bike. I want this kind of bike for me forever. And my recent Butter has been trying to find something like that that I can have in my day to day life. And I found something recently, and got a lovely step through bike on Facebook Marketplace. VirginiaSo cool! That's exciting to find on marketplace, too.AshOh yes, having a bike that like I actually enjoy riding, I had my old bike from being a teenager, and it just was not functional. I was like, “This is not fun.” And now having one that I enjoy, I'm like, oh yes. I feel like a kid again. It's lovely.VirginiaThat's a great Butter. My Butter is something both my kids and my pets and I are all really enjoying. I'm gonna drop a link in the chat for you. It is called a floof, and it is basically a human-sized dog bed that I found on Etsy. It's like, lined with fake fur.AshMy God. I'm looking at it right now.VirginiaIsn't it hilarious?AshWow. I'm so glad you sent a picture, because that is not what I was picturing?Virginia I can't describe it accurately. It's like a cross between a human-sized dog bed and a shopping bag? Sort of? AshYes, yes, wow. It's like a hot tub.VirginiaIt's like a hot tub, but no water. You just sit in it. I think they call it a cuddle cave. I don't understand how to explain it, but it's the floof. And it's in our family room. And it's not inexpensive, but it does basically replace a chair. So if you think of it as a furniture purchase, it's not so bad. There's always at least a cat or a dog sleeping in it. Frequently a child is in it. My boyfriend likes to be in it. Everyone gravitates towards it. And you can put pillows in it or a blanket.Neurodivergent people, in particular, really love it, because I think it provides a lot of sensory feedback? And it's very enclosed and cozy. It's great for the day we're having today, which is a very laid back, low demand, watch as much screen as you want, kind of day. So I've got one kid bundled into the floof right now with a bunch of blankets in her iPad, and she's so happy. AshOh my gosh. Also, it kind of looks like the person is sitting in a giant pita, which I also love.VirginiaThat's what it is! It's like a giant pita, but soft and cozy. It's like being in a pita pocket. And I'm sure there are less expensive versions, this was like, 300 something dollars, so it is an investment. But they're handmade by some delightful person in the Netherlands.Whenever we have play dates, there are always two or three kids, snuggled up in it together. There's something extremely addictive about it. I don't know. I don't really know how to explain why it's great, but it's great.AshOh, that is lovely.VirginiaAll right, well tell obviously, everyone needs to go to their bookstore and get Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family. Where else can we find you, Ash? How can we support your work?AshYou can find me on Instagram at the gamer educator, and I also cross post my Instagram posts to Substack, and I'm on Substack as Screen Time Strategies. It's all the same content, just that way you're getting it in your inbox without, without having to go to Instagram. So if that's something that you are trying to maybe move away from, get it via Substack. And my book Power On: Managing Screen Time to Benefit the Whole Family is available starting August 26 is when it fully releases.VirginiaAmazing. Thank you so much. This was really great.AshThank you so much for having me back.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith (follow me on Instagram) and Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, and Big Undies.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Farideh.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe

We voelen het: de Grote Direct komt eraan. Cody en Jacco doen ieder weloverwogen voorspellingen met wat we kunnen verwachten. Mario' s verjaardag, Xenoblade, NSO, Animal Crossing en nog veel meer komen voorbij. Oh, en Jacco reviewt Kirby en de Vergeten Wereld voor Switch 2! Kom bij onze Discord! Via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠deze link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠kan je met ons en andere luisteraars kletsen over games, deals, nieuws en meer.Wil je zelf ook een vraag insturen of heb je iets leuks om te melden? Dat kan! Stuur een mailtje naar bonuslevelcast@gmail.com (of bonuslevelkast@gmail.com of bonuslevelqast@gmail.com) en wellicht hoor je jezelf terug in de volgende aflevering!

Al and Kev go through a list of 22 farming games Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:11: What Have We Been Up To 00:12:37: Game News 00:43:58: New Games 00:48:23: The 22 Best Steam Farming Games of all Time 01:33:28: Outro Links Whimside Herdling Ritual of Raven Abyss: New Dawn Star Birds Len’s Island “1.1” Update Disney Dreamlight Valley “Emotional Rescue” Update Overthrown “Coastal” Update Starsand Island Trailer Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home Special Edition Infinity Nikki x Stardew Valley We Harvest Shadows Neverway The 22 Best Steam Farming Games of All Time Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Al: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season my name is al. (0:00:36) Kev: My name is Kevin and Al, you drop the ball, you miss the chance. (0:00:41) Kev: The way we should have started this week was, “Why is podcasting so hard?” (0:00:46) Al: Oh, disaster. Maybe we need to start that again. (0:00:49) Kev: Oh dear. (0:00:55) Kev: Yeah, it’s probably harder for Sakurai to make Kirby out. (0:00:59) Al: It’s true, though. But it’s not. It’s not true. It’s not hard. (0:01:06) Kev: AirRiders isn’t a podcast, probably. (0:01:06) Al: Yeah, yeah, that is true. Probably. Yeah, so we are here, as I said. (0:01:08) Kev: Well, that was a great direct. (0:01:16) Al: We’re gonna talk about Cuchco Games. Lots of Cuchco Games, because we have a list to talk about. (0:01:18) Kev: Yeah. (0:01:23) Al: There’s a list. Did I find this list? I found this list, didn’t I? This is a list on cozy game reviews (0:01:26) Kev: Yes, you did. (0:01:31) Al: of the 22 best Steam farming games of all time. Brackets updated for 2025. (0:01:38) Kev: What an apropos subject after last week’s episode. (0:01:44) Al: So we’re going to talk about that. (0:01:46) Al: Next we’re going to go through it and see if we agree because not only has it got them all listed, it says what they’re all best for. They’ve all got a specific thing that the writer thinks that they’re best for. (0:01:56) Kev: Which is a good move, um, well, you know, we’ll get to the list. We’ll get to the list. I like the list content (0:02:00) Al: It gives us something to talk about, so we’ll see how we go. (0:02:08) Al: Before that, we’ve got quite a lot of news. We’ll get into that soon, but first of all, Kevin, what have you been up to? (0:02:14) Kev: Oh, this is I’ve been thinking about this it’s been the hardest part for me to think about this week because I’ve been busy and not (0:02:22) Kev: a lot of the usuals (0:02:26) Kev: Let’s see here at battle can’t Sonic event finish, so I’m still playing but it’s it’s whatever (0:02:32) Kev: Pokemon unite is good (0:02:36) Kev: We had the world championships just last weekend, so we had announcements there (0:02:41) Kev: That was fun. I don’t even remember who it is now, but (0:02:45) Kev: Oh gosh, what is it? Oh, no, I have to look up the list (0:02:48) Kev: I don’t remember but I mean I’ve been playing it’s good the latte both lattes are out now (0:02:54) Kev: They’re pretty fun (0:02:55) Kev: Especially when you can actually play with someone and you can use them both because they so specifically designed to work with each other (0:03:03) Kev: So that’s pretty cool (0:03:07) Kev: But (0:03:08) Kev: Yeah, you know unite still play. It’s wild (0:03:12) Kev: We’re almost at a hundred playable Pokemon in the game (0:03:14) Kev: That’s wild to think (0:03:17) Kev: That’s like what almost 10% of the the techs (0:03:23) Kev: But but yeah, it’s been good. Oh gosh, I cannot (0:03:28) Kev: I don’t remember (0:03:32) Kev: Sorry, I was trying to Google it was stalled for talking but either way I’m playing unite it’s been good (0:03:39) Kev: Let’s see other than that, um, yeah, just a lot of the same as usual stuff. I’ve been playing (0:03:44) Kev: I picked up a new show now that I finished monk (0:03:48) Kev: Have you ever heard of dr. Quinn medicine woman now (0:03:54) Kev: Okay, so it is a show from the 90s it is (0:04:02) Kev: How should I put this frontier (0:04:05) Kev: Style American setting kind of like little house (0:04:06) Al: Okay, yeah. (0:04:09) Kev: But it’s a little more a little less saccharine (0:04:12) Kev: It is the titular character. (0:04:14) Kev: It is a female doctor, Dr. Quinn, which is, you know, given in that timeframe and setting, leads to a very different dynamic, right? (0:04:28) Kev: So yeah, it’s been enjoyable. I think it’s a little more “real” than, say, Little House or some of the other more… (0:04:42) Kev: Uh, I should… (0:04:45) Kev: It doesn’t paint over some of these details, so you know I’ve just been here enjoying a show about a (0:04:52) Kev: Trying to find a home and community (0:04:55) Kev: Despite the backdrop of a society where misogyny (0:05:00) Kev: bigotry racism et cetera are pretty strong, you know, I (0:05:06) Kev: Don’t know if that resonates with anyone, but you know (0:05:08) Al: Not at all, not at all. (0:05:11) Kev: So it’s been good (0:05:13) Kev: It is from the 90’s. (0:05:14) Kev: So it looks a little dated, um, and, and you can still feel the 90’s like hairstyles permeating the show though. (0:05:22) Kev: Um, but, uh, but, uh, but yeah, it’s been fun. (0:05:25) Kev: That’s Dr. (0:05:26) Kev: Quinn, medicine woman. (0:05:27) Kev: Like I said, just something to fill the, the show hole. (0:05:29) Kev: Um, but yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s roughly what I’ve been up to. (0:05:33) Kev: It’s been busy week. (0:05:34) Kev: I made it, I made like a two day, one day gone the next day back work trip this week. (0:05:39) Kev: That was wild. (0:05:40) Al: What have I been up to? (0:05:40) Kev: Um, yeah, so I’m tired. (0:05:42) Kev: What about you? (0:05:45) Al: I’m still playing Donkey Kong Bonanza, so it’s a long game. (0:05:50) Kev: All right (0:05:56) Kev: Yeah, it’s a lot of bananas to find (0:05:58) Al: It is a lot of bananas, yeah, I’ve put like maybe like 10 hours into it or something so (0:06:04) Al: far and I saw that there was a new world record put up today, so I went out to look at it (0:06:10) Al: and what I’ve done in that like 10 hours they did in 50 minutes, like oh goodness me, so (0:06:17) Al: I think I’ve got quite a lot of the game left to go because the world record is over four (0:06:21) Al: hours, so I’m maybe a quarter of the way through but that doesn’t feel right, but I don’t know. (0:06:29) Al: I did say, I think I said true endings, maybe that’s getting all the bananas, so maybe I’ve (0:06:33) Al: got, maybe I’m halfway, I might be about halfway through, we’ll see. (0:06:34) Kev: Hmm (0:06:37) Kev: Hmm have you done that art mode at all the the sculpting mode or whatever? (0:06:41) Al: I have not, no, I’ve not. (0:06:43) Kev: Okay, I’ve seen people do some crazy nonsense in them. That’s pretty cool (0:06:46) Al: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, I’m enjoying that, we’ll see how long that takes me, but this (0:06:57) Al: week I’ll probably be starting Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar, so who knows, how bizarre, so (0:07:02) Kev: How bizarre, how bizarre. (0:07:06) Al: I guess we’ll see a mate put down Donkey Kong for a bit. (0:07:10) Al: I think that’s pretty much it gaming wise. (0:07:17) Al: I’ve been catching up on a bunch of shows that I missed when I was on holiday, so I’ve (0:07:22) Al: just finished Sandman and it was good. (0:07:25) Kev: Oh, how was it? (0:07:28) Kev: Was it just weird? (0:07:30) Al: It was good if you can ignore the fact that it’s no gaming, then it’s good. (0:07:30) Kev: Okay. (0:07:34) Kev: Well, I feel like, you know, I feel like, in this day and age, (0:07:40) Kev: people get pretty good at that, if you just ignore the, you know, monster at the top. (0:07:42) Al: Well, yeah. Mm. So, yeah, no, that was good. And I think I’m going to watch Wednesday this (0:07:56) Al: week. So, yeah. (0:07:58) Kev: Oh, yeah, that’s all right. Okay. You know what you I assume you watch season one (0:08:05) Kev: Did you watch any Adams family prior to Wednesday (0:08:10) Kev: Okay, cuz I’m cuz I I’m a big fan of the animals family. Um, so I’m I had not watched Wednesday. So I’m curious how (0:08:17) Kev: That you know how it compares to the other relations, but alright (0:08:22) Kev: I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts. Anyways (0:08:26) Al: Yeah, I think that’s about it for me. (0:08:29) Al: Oh, no, I started on. (0:08:30) Al: So I’ve been watching through my mentions a couple of times. (0:08:33) Al: I’ve been watching through all the James Bond films. (0:08:35) Al: So I’m now on the Daniel Craig films. (0:08:37) Al: So on the home stretch nearly there. (0:08:40) Kev: Okay, okay, how is there any overall trends like they’re (0:08:44) Al: Hmm. So I don’t think there is like an upward or downward (0:08:46) Kev: Like better worse (0:08:51) Al: trend. They have like a good one followed by multiple terrible (0:08:53) Kev: Mm-hmm (0:08:55) Al: ones. I will say that one thing I’ve noticed watching them all (0:08:57) Kev: Yeah (0:09:01) Al: like we started in November. So we watched them all in the last (0:09:02) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:09:05) Al: nine months basically. One thing I’ve noticed is that they’re (0:09:06) Kev: Yeah (0:09:08) Al: all basically the same film. (0:09:10) Kev: Yeah (0:09:13) Kev: Now we’re talking oh (0:09:14) Al: So I mean, if you like that, then that’s good. I did get to the (0:09:17) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I mean (0:09:21) Al: point where we hit the, what’s his name? I’m so bad with the (0:09:29) Al: actor’s name sometimes. The Piers Brosnan ones. So we hit (0:09:32) Kev: » Yeah. (0:09:33) Al: 95 with GoldenEye. And I was like, oh, fantastic. We’re (0:09:34) Kev: » Yeah. (0:09:36) Al: finally, we’re finally getting out of the, you know, maybe we’ll (0:09:39) Al: get some bad baddie other than the USSR. And then I’m pretty (0:09:43) Kev: Yeah, yeah they do. (0:09:43) Al: pretty sure they go back in time. (0:09:44) Al: to make the USSR the baddie again. (0:09:49) Al: And then in the end, I would just watch Casino Royale and there’s a little bit (0:09:53) Al: where, where M goes, Oh, I wish we were, I wish we were back in the cold war. (0:09:57) Kev: Yeah, yeah, man, that’s that’s good stuff. Obviously, you and I is Nintendo, Pokemon, MCU fans, we can we can handle a whole lot of the same thing done over and over. But that’s that’s that’s fascinating. (0:09:59) Al: They really do miss that easy baddie. (0:10:05) Al: So yeah. (0:10:18) Al: - Yeah. (0:10:22) Al: I guess it’s different when you’re seeing the same thing (0:10:24) Al: every three years rather than every week. (0:10:27) Kev: Yeah, you know, that’s a good point. That’s a good point. But still, I mean, hey, you’re still trucking, you didn’t cause you to, to give up or die. So it’s because there’s at least something there. (0:10:38) Al: Yeah. Yeah, nearly there, nearly there, definitely. I’ve watched all the Daniel Craig ones as (0:10:44) Al: well, so I can’t officially say that I’ve watched every James Bond film. I just haven’t (0:10:48) Kev: Yeah (0:10:50) Al: watched these ones in a while, so. And Rona hasn’t seen the newest one, so. (0:10:51) Kev: Right, right (0:10:54) Kev: Okay, there you go. Hey congrats (0:10:57) Kev: Good stuff. Oh, I found the unite Pokemon. It’s sorry (0:11:04) Kev: Okay (0:11:05) Kev: We are getting Empoleon which sure starters always a safe choice. We are getting Vaporeon (0:11:13) Kev: Which means that the only Eevee evolutions we didn’t have were the original three. So we (0:11:18) Kev: Are now getting them that’s now confirming two other ones down the line (0:11:23) Kev: But most interestingly we are getting Delmise the (0:11:29) Kev: Living seaweed on an anchor. I’m excited about that. I like the freak pics. Delmise is a good freak pic (0:11:38) Al: Fun. Yeah. I look forward to seeing how Dalmay’s, you know, moves. (0:11:39) Kev: Yeah (0:11:43) Kev: Yeah, I’m just gonna flow it’s all just gonna flow (0:11:49) Kev: But yeah, oh well drags it drags itself (0:11:50) Al: You never know, should be something more interesting. (0:11:54) Al: Yeah, you just hear this scraping sound. (0:12:00) Kev: Oh, that’d be incredible. Oh my gosh (0:12:02) Al: Especially, I presume there’s no in-game chat, like audio chat in Unite. (0:12:08) Kev: Yeah, there is. There is a voice, yeah. (0:12:10) Al: Well there is, does it have, has it got, what’s it called, where you’re like, (0:12:15) Al: it changes depending on how close to the character you are. (0:12:18) Kev: Oh, proximity? No, it does not have proximity as far as I know. (0:12:19) Al: » Yeah. (0:12:20) Al: » That’d be brilliant. (0:12:21) Al: So if you could hear, like, the scraping come closer to you, that’d be brilliant. (0:12:22) Kev: The scraping. (0:12:28) Al: Feels like it’s something out of a horror film. (0:12:31) Kev: That’s incredible. Oh, I love dumb eyes. Oh, that’d be great. (0:12:38) Al: All right, should we get into some news? (0:12:41) Kev: Oh, you mean a lot of news. So much news. (0:12:43) Al: So, yeah, we have some games that have released (0:12:49) Al: that I completely missed when I was doing my catch-up (0:12:52) Al: of all the news in the break. (0:12:57) Al: So we’re just gonna quickly go through those. (0:12:59) Al: First up, we have Whimside, Whimside or Whimside. (0:13:03) Al: I don’t know how they want it to be said, (0:13:04) Al: but it’s one of those. (0:13:04) Kev: Yeah (0:13:06) Al: So that is out now. (0:13:08) Al: So a hoo to windside. (0:13:08) Kev: That’s (0:13:10) Kev: That’s the desk that’s your rusty like Pokemon collector (0:13:16) Al: Correct, yes. (0:13:17) Al: It’s a creature collector, the game that sits at the bottom of your screen, and fits easily (0:13:18) Kev: Which (0:13:22) Al: into your routine. (0:13:23) Kev: It looks kind of in-depth I don’t want to use it as a you know thing on the side (0:13:28) Kev: But I am kind of interested to just play get (0:13:32) Al: Yeah. It has 194 reviews so far, very positive 85%. So that’s good. (0:13:39) Kev: some look some of those were also just pokemon there was just a squirtle in in that trailer (0:13:46) Al: Well Squirtle is just a blue turtle, so come on. Next we have Herdling, they are also out now, (0:13:49) Kev: it is you’re not wrong yeah that’s true (0:13:56) Al: came out on the 21st of August, that one wasn’t one that I missed because it’s only just out. (0:13:56) Kev: they nope that just came out that’s (0:14:01) Al: So that is the you’re gathering a herd of mysterious creatures on a stirring and beautiful (0:14:07) Al: journey into the mountains. And this is published by Panic, they’re… (0:14:08) Kev: It’s Journey, the game Journey, but cows. (0:14:16) Al: the Untitled Goose Game people and also the… (0:14:22) Kev: Wow, that looks nothing like a criminal ghost game. A publisher? Okay, okay. (0:14:25) Al: No, well they’re just the publisher, they didn’t they didn’t write the game, but they’ve (0:14:33) Al: Panic are also the they’ve turned into a publisher as well. But they’re also the, and I’m just trying (0:14:41) Al: to remember the name of it. Nope, nope. (0:14:42) Kev: one game give me a hint is it stray oh oh my goodness wow these guys are heroes (0:14:47) Al: In our game the Playdate, the console, they also did the console. (0:14:54) Kev: hurdling exclusive to the play date or with the tool exclusive to the play date where you use the (0:15:00) Kev: crank to herd the cows uh oh okay yeah so these guys are (0:15:01) Al: Oh, they did fire watch as well. (0:15:12) Kev: gonna publish weird things that’s cool good for them i’m actually more interested in hurdling now (0:15:20) Kev: now that I have this I mean not that the publisher just the developer or whatever you know but uh (0:15:22) Al: Yeah, I (0:15:26) Al: Yeah, but I mean a publisher tells you something especially when they’ve only published like 10 games or something so (0:15:32) Al: It’s not like they’re throwing them out there. They’re taking anything that comes (0:15:36) Al: unlike some other games publishers (0:15:38) Kev: But (0:15:39) Al: But yeah, I mean it looks much more kind of fire watchy than it does anything else in terms of it’s because obviously fire watch is (0:15:44) Kev: Yeah (0:15:46) Al: much more (0:15:47) Al: straight and serious and (0:15:49) Kev: Yeah (0:15:50) Al: and they look. (0:15:52) Al: kind of meditative, almost. (0:15:53) Kev: Yeah (0:15:55) Kev: Yeah, it’s not yeah, that’s a good way of describing it right very Zen sort of thing (0:16:00) Kev: Just walking with some cows up a mountain (0:16:00) Al: Hmm. Big haticos. (0:16:05) Kev: The character even wears red like the journey (0:16:08) Kev: Character with the scar. It’s fine. Journey is a good game (0:16:14) Al: Next we have a ritual of Raven, which is also out now. (0:16:20) Al: So this is an isometric, story-based farming game. (0:16:26) Kev: cards, lots of cards, everywhere. I don’t understand the mechanics. Do you farm (0:16:34) Kev: with cards? It kind of looked like that. (0:16:38) Al: Yeah, I think so. I think you use the cards to create spells because you’re awake (0:16:43) Kev: okay right let’s see enchant constructs to help grow herbs and ingredients to help you complete (0:16:49) Kev: your book of shadows using the mystical deck of cards you’ll be able to enchant constructs to (0:16:54) Kev: plows plow sow seeds water and harvest them for you collect all 22 constructs and create thriving (0:17:01) Kev: herb garden um so yeah looks like you do use the cards to make stuff to farm that’s kind of (0:17:08) Al: Yeah. Yup, so that’s out now. Next, we have Abyss New Dawn. This is out in early access now. (0:17:17) Al: I think they had a delay. Are these the ones that delayed the game? They were meant to come (0:17:24) Al: out and then they were like, “Oh no, we’ve got an issue.” There we go. This is the one. Abyss (0:17:26) Kev: Did I lose the button, too? (0:17:31) Al: New Dawn release may be delayed by a few days. During Steam’s review process, our latest build (0:17:36) Al: was rejected due to a technical issue of three achievements. (0:17:38) Al: We’ve already fixed or submitted the build for approval. Steam usually takes three to (0:17:43) Al: five days for the review, so the release date may be delayed until August 25th. It was not. (0:17:48) Al: It ended up releasing Friday 22nd, so I don’t think it was delayed at all, but they thought it might be. (0:17:49) Kev: Yeah, um, so this, first of all, I hate. (0:18:02) Al: Oh yes, this is a warm village above a deadly abyss below. Will you farm in peace or dive in? (0:18:10) Kev: Okay, so first of all, I hate that name, like good heavens what an awful name, just like, it’s just so generic, it doesn’t tell you anything, um… (0:18:14) Al: Yes, also it feels like it’s the second in a series. This is the sequel to Abyss. It’s (0:18:24) Al: Abyss New Dawn. But I don’t think that’s the case. It is not the case. (0:18:25) Kev: yeah yeah okay this is gonna sound kind of weird this this game doesn’t look (0:18:34) Kev: like it was AI generated but it looks like the concept was generated concept (0:18:40) Kev: because it feels like it has so much going on like all these hallmarks you’ve (0:18:44) Kev: got Animal Crossing as characters you got farming you got fishing (0:18:49) Kev: customization and then the abyss the abyss is actually just dinosaurs it’s (0:18:54) Kev: It’s just a dinosaur world. (0:18:55) Kev: I don’t know. It looks well made. It’s a tough market out here. (0:19:04) Kev: That’s all. (0:19:04) Al: Yeah, I’m not seeing anything make me want to play this. (0:19:06) Kev: No, as much as I love dinosaurs, I’d rather play paleopine. (0:19:13) Kev: I would, I’m not trying to entertain them. (0:19:16) Al: Yeah, do you want to fight dinosaurs or do you want to tame them? That’s the question. (0:19:21) Kev: Also, so they have the Animal Crossing decorate your house because, of course. (0:19:25) Kev: The one question I don’t see, and I think this is a big problem a lot of games have, (0:19:30) Kev: can you actually use the furniture? Can you sit in the couch or lying in the bed? (0:19:36) Kev: Because that kills me when you can’t, and a lot of games do it. But anyways, yeah. (0:19:43) Kev: Bismuthon, that’s early access. I probably won’t play it. Bite Slime, that’s in the video. (0:19:55) Kev: Not fight slimes or anything, just fight slime singular. Or the general concept of slime, I guess. (0:20:05) Al: Yeah, yeah, I don’t I’m not excited to to play this let’s put it that way (0:20:11) Kev: I’m not either (0:20:14) Al: All right moving on to something I am excited to play (0:20:17) Kev: Okay, okay, I tried (0:20:18) Al: Starbirds (0:20:20) Kev: Okay, let’s see here. So I tried looking at this. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Remember this one now. Yeah. Yeah (0:20:21) Al: Starbirds (0:20:24) Al: So so starbirds have announced that the their early access is releasing on the 4th of September. So just to (0:20:33) Al: So, remind people. (0:20:35) Al: This is the game made by the people who did Dorph Romantic, and it is based on the YouTube channel Kurtzkazat in a nutshell. (0:20:49) Al: They do science-based videos, very interesting videos, all very meticulously researched and stuff. (0:20:56) Al: And this is in their art style, and it is an asteroid-based building and resource management game. (0:21:03) Kev: yeah that yeah it’s it’s um it’s a lot those are a lot of words but the good the game the game looks (0:21:08) Al: You know Dorph Romantic, right? You know the game. You don’t know Dorph romantic. You would (0:21:10) Kev: good I don’t want to like I don’t actually no no hold on (0:21:16) Al: you definitely recognize it if you clicked on it. Click through to the developer on Steam (0:21:20) Al: and click on Dorph romantic. It’s a really record. It’s kind of it’s got the like tiles (0:21:25) Al: like the hexagon tiles and it’s it’s like a building puzzle game. Yeah, it’s pretty (0:21:31) Kev: That is that is just settlers of Katon the game (0:21:37) Al: it, it, it, it pretty much. (0:21:38) Al: Um, but it’s single player, I think, um, it’s got 15,000 overwhelmingly positive reviews. (0:21:40) Kev: Sure sure (0:21:46) Al: It’s a very big game, they’re romantic. (0:21:47) Kev: Oh, I’m sure okay, is it good to have you played it? (0:21:53) Al: I haven’t played it, but I mean, there’s overwhelmingly positive on the Rivens team. (0:21:58) Kev: That’s true well (0:21:59) Al: So like people like it. (0:22:01) Kev: I guess so that’s true (0:22:02) Al: It’s not, I’m not, I’m not the biggest management game guy. (0:22:06) Kev: Yeah, that is true (0:22:08) Kev: So I’m also okay for starboard. So it is very heavy on the management. You have networks of cables and roads and flow (0:22:16) Kev: But I think the art style is very charming (0:22:19) Kev: very cartoony (0:22:20) Al: What I like about it as well is it’s very small scale. (0:22:24) Al: So I think one of my issues with management games is, (0:22:27) Al: here’s an infinite canvas, make something. (0:22:31) Kev: Yeah. Mine it. (0:22:31) Al: And you’re like, but maybe I don’t want to. (0:22:33) Al: And what this does is it goes, here’s a mini asteroid. (0:22:36) Al: Mine it. (0:22:37) Al: And then those all connect together eventually. (0:22:40) Al: And so it does create this bigger thing, (0:22:41) Al: but it’s like much smaller scale at the start. (0:22:44) Kev: Very piecewise. Yeah. Yeah, I see what you’re saying. Yeah, I think that’s cool too. Very (0:22:44) Al: I like, yeah. (0:22:51) Kev: Like discrete as in with the E at the end (0:22:56) Kev: Discrete units of (0:22:59) Kev: Resource management and then you connect them all together for a bigger network. I like it. That’s a fun idea (0:23:06) Kev: Also your birds I (0:23:08) Kev: Like I like to parrot a toucan. I don’t know what bird that is. Looks like it has a toucan beak but parrot (0:23:14) Kev: So I’m not sure I like that bird (0:23:16) Al: Alrighty, so that yeah, that’s 4th of September that comes out, Starbirds. (0:23:21) Kev: That’s sooner than it should be. Oh, where did all this go? Jeez (0:23:28) Al: Yeah, that’s two weeks away, less than two weeks away. (0:23:30) Al: That’s a week and a half away. (0:23:30) Al: That’ll be a week away when this game episode comes out. (0:23:32) Al: Alrighty, next we have Lens Island. (0:23:36) Al: They’ve released their 1.1 update. (0:23:38) Al: That is out now. (0:23:40) Al: That includes, it is the community feedback update. (0:23:42) Al: update. It brings a bunch of changes such as free (0:23:46) Al: camera orbiting. Okay, junk loading settings and performance (0:23:51) Al: boost, you can change how far away you can see things, which (0:23:54) Al: is really cool. If you’ve got like, a really good computer, (0:23:57) Al: you can see islands miles away in the distance. I really like (0:24:00) Al: that because yeah, that’s really nice. Increased performance of (0:24:05) Al: spending farms always good. A sorting button for storage items (0:24:09) Al: should have been there in 1.0. Edit constructions with new move (0:24:13) Al: button. The move button should have been 1.0. When Earth was (0:24:16) Al: this was one of the things I complained about in the in my (0:24:16) Kev: Yup. (0:24:18) Al: review of it. Why on earth? Why on earth did I have to delete (0:24:20) Kev: Yup. (0:24:21) Al: something and recreate it? So silly. You did at least when you (0:24:22) Kev: Yup. (0:24:25) Al: recycled something, you got all the materials back. So you (0:24:26) Kev: Right, right, right. (0:24:27) Al: didn’t waste anything. But it’s just still such an annoying (0:24:30) Kev: Yeah, I agree. Like, I feel like almost every game that has you, you know, building constructs or buildings or whatever should have this feature. (0:24:38) Kev: And a lot of them don’t. A lot of, I don’t know why. (0:24:42) Al: Yeah, another thing that should have been in there is the crop status UI, so if you hover over a crop, you can see whether it’s ready to harvest or not, which is good. (0:24:52) Kev: That seems important. (0:24:53) Al: Yeah, yeah, I found it later on. So after the podcast, I read that I found out that you can craft a scythe, and if you use the site that only gets rid of things that are harvestable, but before that, you just have to guess. (0:25:05) Kev: Oh, that’s good. That’s good. Good good (0:25:12) Al: So you can create a new companion, the black bear, so you can get an animal black bear companion. (0:25:18) Kev: Now this I like just because I like bears in general good good for you. He added a bear (0:25:24) Al: Yeah, yeah, I think I’m probably gonna stick with my dog. I like my dog, but (0:25:26) Kev: Can you pet the bear? (0:25:30) Kev: Yeah (0:25:31) Al: There’s tempting (0:25:35) Kev: I’m tempted. I don’t play this game. But if I did I’d get a bear (0:25:39) Al: Haha, I (0:25:42) Al: Haven’t played it for a few weeks (0:25:43) Al: But I will hopefully get back into it at some point the problem is this is the one that I have to play on my (0:25:48) Al: computer with my mouse and keyboard, so you know and (0:25:53) Al: Next we have Disney Dream. (0:25:54) Al: I’m just going to say a new episode. (0:25:56) Kev: What property is it today or this time? (0:26:01) Al: This is the emotional rescue update. (0:26:04) Al: Let’s see. (0:26:06) Al: Joy and sadness. (0:26:08) Al: You’ve got, so there we go. (0:26:10) Al: We’ve got inside out, that’s what it’s called. (0:26:11) Kev: Inside out as in joy and sadness TM, but the capital letters (0:26:19) Kev: That (0:26:21) Kev: How should I put this like this is a (0:26:25) Kev: complete nonsensical like (0:26:28) Kev: There’s no logic in this world because it’s just whatever cartoons (0:26:33) Kev: but it (0:26:34) Kev: But despite that, I don’t know it feels weird that you can hang out with you know (0:26:40) Kev: and psychological constructs. (0:26:41) Kev: You win. You know, the rest of the guys are actual lions or dogs or people. (0:26:48) Kev: But, whatever. I liked Inside Out. I didn’t see Inside Out, too. (0:26:53) Kev: Inside Out, first one, was a good movie. (0:26:55) Al: I enjoy, I think Inside Out 2 was just as good if not better than Inside Out 1. (0:27:00) Kev: Ooh! Ooh! That’s interesting. I’ll have to check that out. (0:27:03) Al: It’s very good. I think that so many sequels, I understand why people get frustrated with them, (0:27:09) Al: but I think Inside Out was not, I mean, whether it was a cash grab or not, I don’t care, right? (0:27:15) Al: Like it doesn’t feel like a cash grab, it feels like a continuation of the story in good and better (0:27:15) Kev: Yeah (0:27:20) Kev: Sure, I mean (0:27:22) Al: ways, right? Like it’s, it takes the concept. (0:27:23) Kev: Yeah (0:27:25) Al: And it goes further with it in a way that can completely break you. (0:27:27) Kev: Yeah (0:27:30) Kev: Sure sure, I mean, yeah, okay, it’s not (0:27:34) Kev: It’s difficult but being a cash grab and being an excellent sequel are not mutually exclusive (0:27:40) Al: Exactly. (0:27:41) Kev: Um, just very, very rare, but, but it is, it, it’s theoretically. (0:27:45) Kev: Possible. So sure. Um, okay. I, I have one question from the sequel. (0:27:50) Kev: Okay. So you remember in the first movie, you, sometimes you see the, (0:27:55) Kev: the minds of other people, the parents or whatever, (0:27:57) Kev: and they have the five emotions. (0:27:58) Al: Yes. No. Explain why they weren’t there with the main character who I can’t remember the (0:27:59) Kev: Do they explain why all these other emotions weren’t there? No. (0:28:05) Kev: Darn it. Darn it. (0:28:11) Al: name of, but not why the new ones wouldn’t be in Riley, that’s the name, yeah, but why (0:28:13) Kev: Riley. (0:28:16) Kev: Yeah. Darn it. That’s fine. That’s fine. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I mean, (0:28:16) Al: they wouldn’t be in the other ones. No, they don’t explain that. No, they do explain why (0:28:21) Kev: it makes sense that you get new emotions as you get older. (0:28:23) Al: why they’re not in Riley. (0:28:25) Kev: You get, you know, more nuanced. It’s totally makes sense. (0:28:28) Al: Yeah, the metaphors are both fun and painful. (0:28:35) Kev: Now you say, is it painful? Cause it’s too real. (0:28:38) Kev: Is that what it is? Oh, yeah. (0:28:42) Kev: Oh, yeah. (0:28:42) Al: a little bit yeah you’re a big anxiety boy aren’t you yeah yeah then then then yeah (0:28:45) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, yeah. (0:28:52) Al: watch it but but watch it on an emotionally stable day (0:28:52) Kev: Oh, oh, so it can be so that was so the rest of your day can be emotionally unstable. (0:28:58) Al: or you know semi-emotionally stable (0:29:08) Al: no I think I think it’s one of those ones where it will break you but in a healing way (0:29:12) Kev: Sure, sure. (0:29:13) Al: you know like therapy you know you go into therapy and sometimes you come out crying (0:29:14) Kev: Yeah, no, I get that. (0:29:16) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (0:29:18) Al: but also you feel better in some ways as well it’s kind of like that (0:29:22) Kev: Yeah, I get that. (0:29:22) Kev: Yeah, no, I know what you mean. (0:29:24) Kev: I mean, like, like the first one, the shocker. (0:29:26) Al: not that watching watching films obviously important to note watching films is not a (0:29:30) Al: suitable alternative to therapy do therapy please and thank you (0:29:34) Kev: Yeah, that’s that’s a good thing to do that (0:29:36) Al: if you can if you can afford it if you can’t talk to your friends (0:29:38) Kev: You go go or (0:29:42) Kev: Okay, yeah, here’s my my PSA helpful hint for the day (0:29:46) Kev: I always always recommend because therapy can be very expensive, right? (0:29:52) Kev: Especially on the states where we have to deal with you know medical insurance and yada yada (0:29:57) Kev: If you find that to be a challenge go seek out your nearest University (0:30:02) Kev: They may have a clinic with students. (0:30:04) Kev: They may have a clinic with students in training to be full psychologist/counsellors, which is usually generally affordable. (0:30:06) Al: Hmm. (0:30:10) Kev: Or they can make it affordable. (0:30:13) Kev: And it’s pretty okay because they still are supervised by actual, you know, fully certified therapists and whatnot. (0:30:20) Kev: So, yeah, go look at your local university. (0:30:24) Kev: Anyway, so that’s Disney Dreamlight Valley! (0:30:30) Al: - Yes, that’s Disney Dreamland Valley, go to therapy. (0:30:37) Al: Next, we have Overthrown, (0:30:39) Al: they have released a coastal update. (0:30:42) Kev: Okay. (0:30:42) Al: So that includes some coastal related things. (0:30:45) Kev: Okay, so I saw that and my first question was what is overthrown? I did not remember this game at all. (0:30:50) Al: This is the one where you can like pick up the sawmill (0:30:54) Al: and throw it at trees and it’ll turn the trees (0:30:56) Al: into planks of wood, stuff like that. (0:30:58) Kev: Yeah, which is (0:30:59) Al: It’s like the. (0:31:02) Kev: The very it’s very cool concept to be honest I saw it (0:31:07) Al: and you can also in their ritual run. (0:31:08) Kev: Yeah, you are not running across water and everything (0:31:13) Kev: And it’s multiple. It’s it’s chaotic and and boy that that main character (0:31:18) Kev: They’re the default design or whatever that is a breath of the wild outfit. That is blue link blue (0:31:24) Al: Yeah, fair. (0:31:27) Kev: But but it’s fine (0:31:28) Kev: What a wild goofy game (0:31:30) Kev: What a novel idea to pick up the sawmill and chop down the whole forest by running with it (0:31:37) Kev: We’re throwing buildings at the invaders that’s good stuff. I like that. That’s fun (0:31:43) Kev: Coastal I like coastal stuff you can throw pirate ship now (0:31:46) Al: All right, next we have Starsand Island have released a trailer for the game. (0:31:54) Al: Have you watched it yet, Kevin? (0:31:56) Kev: let me see which one is this no this is not the hold on there’s a lot of games (0:32:03) Kev: trying to merge one this isn’t the allegory allegory game (0:32:08) Kev: yeah no we’ll get to that later oh gosh I missed this one I was going through (0:32:15) Kev: the doc and it’s this one actually let me see here live reaction okay those are (0:32:20) Kev: pretty graphics hate the name of course goes without saying oh that’s anime that (0:32:25) Kev: That is some anime. (0:32:27) Kev: Uhm, okay, a lot of customization, farming, cat, ooh, is that an arcade? Actual arcade? (0:32:34) Kev: Why is it always snake? They always be, “Oh, you’re right, on a deer there’s some pandas, and a bamboo raft, so we can go build your aquarium.” (0:32:45) Kev: Oh, I kind of remember, yeah, I remember this, build the house, 3D spirit favor house, yeah, yeah, yeah, water slide into the ocean. (0:32:53) Kev: There’s a lot of stuff. (0:32:56) Kev: Yeah, build your 3D Animal Crossing Spiritfare pool party house. (0:33:03) Kev: Okay, that’s… (0:33:05) Al: I feel like this game is either going to be another Stardew Valley like a big really popular (0:33:12) Al: really good farming game or it’s Sugardew Island again and I can’t tell which like I (0:33:14) Kev: Yeah, there is a metal ground, you don’t think so? I kind of, I mean, I mean, you have reason (0:33:19) Al: don’t think there’s going to be a middle here I don’t know for this game like there are (0:33:25) Al: many games in the middle ground I don’t think this one can be in the middle ground it’s (0:33:29) Al: one or the other like it might be that this game is entirely fake I’m still not convinced (0:33:37) Kev: to believe that there’s a guy playing guitar with ostriches and sheep, there’s backup dancers. (0:33:43) Kev: That’s… (0:33:46) Kev: I like that. I don’t know if it’s real. (0:33:48) Al: you can get a boat with a water slide (0:33:48) Kev: But… (0:33:50) Kev: Into the ocean. (0:33:53) Al: for some reason. I’m so confused about the boat. Where’s the boat? (0:33:54) Kev: Yeah. (0:33:59) Al: Like, am I riding the boat somewhere? Because I can customize the boat, (0:34:03) Kev: Yeah, it makes you think like it’s your main base, but they show you a room. Yeah, you (0:34:03) Al: right? But it’s not. You’ve got a farm. (0:34:10) Al: So what is this? Why is this boat? Is it from traveling places or is it just a (0:34:13) Al: second home? Why was I going down the slide in (0:34:15) Kev: Probably (0:34:17) Al: might feel soon. (0:34:19) Al: So many questions. (0:34:20) Kev: There’s a lot of questions what why are you writing a legendary Pokemon not the ostrich the deer one (0:34:26) Al: And an ostrich. (0:34:29) Al: Yeah, I know I saw the deal, but the ostrich definitely looks (0:34:32) Al: fine. I would ride an ostrich. That sounds fun. (0:34:33) Kev: I (0:34:34) Al: Also, there’s a baby chick on the ostriches head for some reason. (0:34:37) Kev: It does something, you know us oh, yeah, there are there is chick. Oh, I think you customize the ostrich (0:34:44) Kev: I see one the flower too. I don’t know (0:34:46) Al: There’s a snake minigame where instead of a snake, you’re a capybara. (0:34:50) Kev: Which is I don’t like that concept I (0:34:54) Kev: Don’t like yeah, no or rather the the cap of the air gets longer. No, I don’t get that (0:34:54) Al: Of a long capybara. (0:35:03) Al: Oh, you’re fine with a long capybara just as long as it stays the same length. (0:35:04) Kev: You (0:35:06) Kev: Yes, I don’t I don’t like yes, it’s the increase here that’s making me uncomfortable but (0:35:06) Al: Is that what you’re saying? (0:35:13) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:35:15) Kev: It’s a wild game. I (0:35:18) Kev: Don’t know (0:35:20) Kev: it looks real enough, but (0:35:24) Kev: You can put a carousel in the middle of your boat (0:35:28) Kev: It’s wild. I (0:35:30) Kev: I don’t know what what is the point of all I like. (0:35:33) Kev: What is the impetus here? Why do you write ostriches? I don’t get it. (0:35:37) Al: You get round fast, obviously. Come on. (0:35:39) Kev: Yeah, you know, apparently writing ostriches is incredibly dangerous in real life. (0:35:45) Al: Well yeah, obviously. They’re terrifying birds. (0:35:46) Kev: Yeah, yeah, but like, yeah, they are. (0:35:52) Kev: I like them, though. Anyways, I mean, it it has caught my attention (0:35:57) Kev: just because it’s it’s I don’t know what to make of it. (0:36:03) Kev: It hasn’t it hasn’t put me off. (0:36:06) Kev: So good for you, Star Santa, even with the name, you’ve you’ve caught my attention (0:36:11) Kev: to a degree, Star Santa Island. (0:36:13) Al: I also worry that there might just be too much in this game, that’s always a problem (0:36:17) Al: with these games. (0:36:18) Kev: You know, it feels like that’s kind of a recurring theme these days. (0:36:23) Kev: Like they’re just do stardew, but bigger or add more and bloat and bloat and oh, (0:36:34) Al: Well, we’ll see. We will keep you posted on this game. (0:36:38) Kev: We’re obligated to. (0:36:42) Al: Next, we have Harvest Moon Home Sweet Home Special Edition. (0:36:47) Al: So this is the console version of this game for Switch and PS5. (0:36:53) Al: We now have a price. It is $40 and it’s up for pre-order now coming out Q4. (0:37:00) Kev: It’s… we all know what it is. It’s the harvest moon. The Natsume… (0:37:10) Kev: Well, I’m not gonna get it, I’ll be honest. (0:37:13) Al: That’s fair. I will say, I still think this is actively a good game. My big question is, (0:37:22) Al: is there going to be an update coming to the mobile version that gives us the stuff that (0:37:26) Kev: Hmm (0:37:28) Al: this version has, like the hover bike and stuff like that? (0:37:31) Kev: I I wouldn’t rule it out. Not something has been surprising us lately. So maybe actually it’s more than 0% chance (0:37:34) Al: Yep, I never expected an update for this game. (0:37:43) Al: On the console to give us controller support, for example, never expected that and we got (0:37:48) Al: it. So maybe, maybe, but it’s weird that they’ve not done anything about it, like told us anything (0:37:55) Al: about it yet. (0:37:58) Kev: Well, it’s better than scong than in the communication. (0:38:02) Al: Next we have in what is both surprising and not surprising crossovers, like was this on (0:38:09) Kev: I (0:38:12) Al: your bingo guard of crossovers? (0:38:13) Kev: Well, no because (0:38:14) Al: No, but if you said, if you told me this was going to happen, I would say, okay, sure, (0:38:19) Al: I can see that. (0:38:21) Al: And that is Infinity Nicki cross Stardew Valley. (0:38:21) Kev: I. Okay, so to begin with, I was not familiar with Infinity Nicky. So that was my first (0:38:31) Kev: response. What is Infinity Nicky? I watched a I watched the trailer. I watched a gameplay (0:38:32) Al: This is the dressing up game, isn’t it? (0:38:39) Kev: trailer. I still don’t understand what this game is. Yeah, but it’s also gotcha. (0:38:42) Al: I’m pretty sure this is the, uh, yes, it’s the dress up game. (0:38:47) Al: So the whole point it’s, yes, it’s a gacha great dressing up game. (0:38:51) Al: So the collaboration is in Infinity Nikki. (0:38:54) Kev: very anime. Yeah. (0:38:57) Al: It’s not in Stardew Valley. (0:38:59) Al: Um, but I don’t think we know for certain, I’ve not, I didn’t notice (0:39:03) Al: anything in the trailer that gave us an indication as to what it was, but (0:39:05) Al: I’m guessing it’s Stardew inspired outfits in Infinity. (0:39:10) Kev: I thought that 3D… still pixelated, but 3D Junimo was in the game. (0:39:17) Al: Yeah, I think that’s just, this is the trailer. I don’t think that actually is going to… (0:39:20) Kev: Are you sure? Mmm… (0:39:23) Kev: I don’t know. I kind of feel like it is. It felt very… (0:39:26) Kev: That was a very detailed model for just a trailer, in my opinion. (0:39:31) Kev: There’s creatures for, to some extent, in this game. I don’t know what they do. (0:39:36) Kev: But… yeah, I don’t know. (0:39:40) Kev: But regardless, like… (0:39:44) Kev: It’s… (0:39:45) Kev: First of all, it’s… (0:39:47) Kev: It’s so many other Stardew crossovers. (0:39:49) Kev: Like, it’s, you know, 2D pixelated, indie developer, whatever, right? (0:39:54) Kev: Like, it’s kind of on the same realm as Stardew. (0:39:58) Kev: Uh, Infinity Nicky is a very high-fidelity, 3D anime, mohoyo-looking game. (0:40:09) Kev: And so it’s wild to see. (0:40:10) Kev: We started getting upgraded, like just visually, you know, up to that level. (0:40:17) Al: Oh, here’s interesting. So, apparently, Infiniti Nikkei is getting updated to have (0:40:23) Al: homes. Apparently, he didn’t have homes before. And farming. (0:40:27) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s correct. I do I did see that (0:40:32) Al: So, that’s interesting. (0:40:34) Kev: And well, there’s your there’s your Avenue (0:40:36) Kev: What what a get for this infinity Nikki go for the big one and I’ll start it to introduce your new home (0:40:44) Kev: Farming update with it (0:40:47) Kev: Yeah, this this whole thing is wild apparently so the internet thought so too (0:40:52) Al: Yes, so just to clarify, I think this article is mostly clickbait, but I wanted to just (0:40:58) Kev: Yeah, I agree (0:41:00) Al: have a quick chat about it. So this is a random article on a random site. Stardew Valley creator (0:41:05) Al: defends free Infinity Nikki crossover after backlash as he genuinely thought the players (0:41:11) Al: would like it. So I don’t think he’s actually responding to complaints about the fact that (0:41:17) Al: this exists. The quote comes from a tweet where he says there have (0:41:22) Al: been a few collaborations between Stardew Valley and other games over the years. To (0:41:27) Al: be clear, I never received any money from these collabs. I’ve only done them because (0:41:31) Al: I was a fan of the other games or because I genuinely thought the players would like (0:41:34) Al: it. That is not like the headline definitely makes it sound like he’s specifically talking (0:41:40) Al: about this collab. And he and he’s like making it makes it sound like it’s going, Oh, I’m (0:41:44) Al: really sad. People don’t like it. I genuinely thought the players would like it. Like that (0:41:48) Al: doesn’t seem to be the case. And if you look in the YouTube comments for this video, like (0:41:52) Al: it is mostly positive and or mostly just like shock in general, right? (0:41:56) Kev: Uh (0:41:58) Kev: I I don’t know because the (0:42:01) Kev: concern they tweeted is uh (0:42:03) Kev: Just a couple days ago, um right around the time of the trailer dropping (0:42:08) Kev: So I think he might be obviously he’s getting (0:42:11) Kev: He has a lot of people that follow him and send him comments and stuff. So (0:42:16) Kev: he I suspect there was a (0:42:19) Kev: Maybe not a large but you know how these things are a vocal minority of people (0:42:24) Kev: Who complained about this because (0:42:26) Kev: I can see the logic right concerned a star do we that’s a success right he’s (0:42:32) Kev: already getting success from stardew and now he’s collabing with the gotcha game (0:42:37) Kev: which is probably making insane boatloads of money because gotcha games (0:42:41) Kev: that’s what they do so oh look at that and see now he’s collaborating with big (0:42:42) Al: Yeah. Yeah, so well, so yeah, so my I suspect it was a small number of people who are like, oh, (0:42:54) Al: I can’t believe he’s doing this, he must just be getting a bunch of money. And so he’s like, (0:42:57) Al: no, no, I’m not getting money. And that’s all he really cared about doing, right? That’s because (0:43:00) Kev: Yeah, sure, sure, sure. (0:43:01) Al: that’s really all he said is, I don’t get money from the collabs, play it or don’t, I don’t care. (0:43:02) Kev: Yeah. (0:43:06) Kev: Yeah, pretty much. (0:43:06) Al: Right? Like, I think these are fun. And that’s basically what he’s saying, which is a fair thing (0:43:11) Al: to… to point out. I just… (0:43:12) Al: feel like this then article just takes it as like this stupid over the top forced to apologize (0:43:20) Al: because it you know it’s just like oh my word gonna know and then of course I’m playing into (0:43:20) Kev: yeah yep and then and then QS I think the 3d dream was part of it I’m still (0:43:24) Al: that by talking about it. I’m still not sure what this collab actually is as well but it (0:43:34) Kev: I’m standing by that (0:43:35) Al: we’ll see. Well I think it’ll just be inspired designs but we will see. (0:43:40) Kev: yeah I don’t know how should I put this it’s wild to me that started concerned (0:43:48) Kev: I knew what this game was from what I’ve seen. (0:43:50) Kev: in other interviews he seems a little out of touch with the gamesphere but here we are (0:43:54) Al: Yeah, maybe. All right, to finish off the news, we have two new games to talk about, (0:44:03) Al: and I don’t know why, but this is apparently horror time. One of them is called We Harvest (0:44:10) Al: Shadows, a single-player first-person farming horror allegory, (0:44:14) Al: become a recluse, build up your farm, and survive the lonely nights. (0:44:18) Kev: Yeah, this is what I said was the allegory game, um, yeah, um, this is, this is just straight (0:44:21) Al: All right. Okay. There we go. (0:44:26) Kev: horror. (0:44:27) Kev: There is no cozy here. (0:44:29) Kev: Um, it’s full 3D, first person, spooky lighting, you know, uh, run down shack you’re living (0:44:38) Kev: in. (0:44:39) Kev: You are leading a lamb to a sacrifice, it looks like, I don’t like that. (0:44:45) Kev: Um, okay. (0:44:48) Kev: I hate about, um, not just games, but like, I hate when anything describes itself as an (0:44:56) Kev: allegory or allegory, excuse me, um, uh, because like, that kind of defeats the point. (0:44:58) Al: Yeah. (0:45:04) Kev: You know, you should be able to figure it out. (0:45:04) Al: Yeah. Also, an allegory to what, right? Like, you can’t just say that. (0:45:06) Kev: And the worst part, exactly, right? (0:45:09) Kev: Exactly. (0:45:10) Kev: If you’re gonna tell me, okay, what is it for? (0:45:13) Kev: Tell me. (0:45:14) Kev: Right? (0:45:15) Kev: If you’re going to be, you know, maybe you’re inspired off. (0:45:18) Kev: Something or give me a general idea. (0:45:20) Kev: I guess I can get it, but, but you’re just okay. (0:45:25) Kev: Why were you telling me you’re, you mean something? (0:45:28) Kev: That’s like, this game has thoughts. (0:45:31) Kev: This game has emotions. (0:45:32) Kev: Okay, good for you. (0:45:34) Kev: I would hope your game does, but yeah, it’s very bizarre. (0:45:37) Al: Yeah, what am I meant to do with this information? Right? Bizarre. (0:45:44) Al: Oh my word, those creatures are horrifying. Sorry, (0:45:44) Kev: But anyways, the game itself… (0:45:46) Al: I was just watching the end of the trailer and just got jump scared from that horrible creature. (0:45:48) Kev: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that said, I was about to say that exactly, the it is very just straight horror, those are Resident Evil-esque looking creatures at the end of that trailer. (0:46:00) Kev: Um, and you got a shotgun, and I don’t know what you’re supposed to survive, and you’re still farming somehow, apparently. (0:46:08) Kev: Um, yeah, I’m generally not a big horror, like straight horror. (0:46:10) Al: Obviously. I mean, why not? (0:46:18) Kev: Um, at least game-wise, um, so I don’t know if I’ll be checking that out, but it’s a little more refreshing than, than, you know, what is this, Star Sand Island baby? (0:46:31) Kev: A bit, it’s New Dawns, but definitely more exciting than that. (0:46:32) Al: And the other one, which I’m not 100% sure whether we have or haven’t talked about this (0:46:41) Al: one, because like some things are ringing bells. (0:46:42) Kev: We have I or I am like positive or do we talk about just on discords? (0:46:44) Al: We have talked about this, right? (0:46:48) Al: It’s not, it’s, this is the thing I can tell, it’s, it’s on, it’s not, it wasn’t on my list (0:46:49) Kev: I can’t remember because it was on a direct (0:46:54) Al: of games that are upcoming. (0:46:56) Al: So I either didn’t talk about it or I forgot to put on the list, but anyway, we’re talking (0:47:02) Al: about it. (0:47:03) Al: That’s never a way. (0:47:04) Al: The interesting thing about this one is the pixel artist is the one who did Celeste. (0:47:09) Al: So that’s exciting. (0:47:10) Kev: - Yeah, so that’s good work already. (0:47:12) Al: After quitting her dead end job, Fiona starts over on a farm and becomes the immortal hero (0:47:17) Al: of a dead God. (0:47:18) Al: Make friends, fight through horrors and pay your debt in this nightmarish life sim RPG. (0:47:24) Al: This is giving Cult of the Lamb. (0:47:26) Kev: yep it’s it’s still stardew-esque because you have a town and you’re interacting with characters and (0:47:33) Kev: possibly romancing but genuine horror there are some

This week on The Free Cheese, the raccoon days are never over. As we look forward to the fall season we must first look back at our time spent in Animal Crossing over the summer months. We share tales of bug catching, fishing, and all of the things we missed out on as well. We discover what happens when you have a birthday in the game and how tough it is to get that one last fossil.

We welcome a local legend and all round swell guy Avon Fox to the show. His wealth of knowledge in all things robots (that AREN'T Transformers) has to be heard to be believed! With museum-level quality and attention to detail, Avon takes us through his collecting journey and his amazing website. Go-Bots, Rock Lords, Train Toys, Zybots and much much more. Learn more about this amazing dude at both the-liberator.net and his own show Screwhead AF Podcast. Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colorado has built the world's largest animal crossing. We speak to Kara Van Hoose from Colorado Parks and Wildlife about why Monument is building a bridge for animals.And are zombie rabbits real? Kara explains the disease affecting cottontail bunnies that gives them a horned appearance.Plus, the kids' magnesium supplement that the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have advised customers to dispose of.Also in this episode:Water tests reveal ‘really concerning' pollution in Lake WindermereA new trial offers hope for patients with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosaSir David Attenborough names a golden eagle chick'Good Boy' trailer released, the horror film from a dog's perspective Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; we finally get around to reviewing the much anticipated Fantastic Four Film! As it has been a few weeks between seeing it, and talking about it here; we decide to go head first in - with no holds back - Full Spoiler Talk! So please be mindful of that. Plus; with all the hype around Comic Book movies; we have a fun discussion around which Film did we think, did it best? Superman or FF4? Then we take a quick look at the latest news - with a pure focus around the three main Crowdfunding projects, all happening right now. The HasLab SnowCat which has actually just wrapped up. Mattel's rather ambitious Snake Lair; with a rather questionable price tag! Plus the other HasLab project, the Star Wars: Gunner Ship! This one looks like it needs a huge boost of backers! Then pivoting back to the Big Screen; we chat about the latest Radical Rewind screening that was: Wayne's World! From numerous Cosplay fun, to the upcoming hype around the Next Feature Film too! Then rounding out the ep; we have a quick chat about the incredible 'Weapons' film that sports a perfect mix of Thriller, Horror & Suspense! This movie has us just buzzing after seeing it! All this & more; enjoy!!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we're all trendy as we talk about #AnimalCrossing Crocs and Jibbitz, Labubus, and even more Lego! Also, fear not, we never miss an opportunity to cover everyone's favorite topics birbs and bugs. So, come chill with us as we pull out our coloring books and favorite pens. --- Patreon Members Only: View episode 244 as a Vodcast!  --- Support us for $1/$2 on Patreon! https://patreon.com/thepocketpod Visit our Website! https://www.thepocketpod.com/ Don't forget to follow us and subscribe to PocketPod in all the places! Bluesky: @ThePocketPod  |  Youtube: /ThePocketPod  |  Instagram: @ThePocketPod  |  Threads: @ThePocketPod  |  Facebook: /ThePocketPod/  |  Mastodon: @thepocketpod  |  Twitch: /thepocketpod Apple Podcasts  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  Amazon  |  Podbean  |  Spotify  |  iHeartRadio  |  Player.fm  |  RSS  

Kev and Codey round up all the recent news Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:49: What Have We Been Up To 00:23:52: Game Releases 00:51:09: Game Updates 01:00:01: New Games 01:16:21: Outro Links Research Story 1.0 Little Witch in the Woods 1.0 Slime Rancher 2 1.0 Grimshire Early Access Hotel Galactic Early Access Hotel Galactic Apology Out and About Release Date Out and About Release Delay Ages of Cataria Early Access Release Go-go Town Switch Space Sprouts Update 1 Terra Nil Heatwave Update Snacko 1.1 Update Everdream Valley Family Time DLC Firefly Village Honogurashi No Niwa Galactic Getaway Development Issues Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Kev: Hello farmers and welcome to another episode of the harvest season. My name is Kevin. I’m not alone today. I (0:00:38) Codey: Oooooh though people be clamorin’ for solo Kev time. (0:00:47) Kev: Like how I push the envelope every time I’m you know, I total line but oh (0:00:53) Codey: I’m gonna be real with you. (0:00:55) Codey: I have not listened to the most recent episode. (0:00:58) Codey: I think I’m still finishing up the Tiny Garden episode. (0:01:01) Kev: That’s okay, that’s fine. That’s fine. I (0:01:04) Codey: So I still have a couple episodes to go, (0:01:06) Codey: but I just know that you rock it every time. (0:01:13) Kev: Am (0:01:14) Kev: Getting an hour plus solo recording. I do that’s mmm. I don’t know if that’s good or bad (0:01:17) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:01:20) Kev: That just so that just shows I’m very well versed in talking to myself (0:01:25) Kev: possibly too much (0:01:27) Codey: - Nah, you got, you’re good at it. (0:01:30) Codey: It’s all good. (0:01:31) Kev: Ah, yeah, okay. Well, hi everyone again. I’m Kevin (0:01:36) Codey: - Yeah, you are and I’m not Kevin, I’m Cody. (0:01:37) Kev: Yeah (0:01:39) Kev: And there you go. There we go (0:01:41) Kev: certifiably not Kevin (0:01:43) Codey: - Yeah. (0:01:43) Kev: And we are here to talk today to talk about cottagecore games. Whoo (0:01:48) Codey: - Oh woo, ow, ow, ow. (0:01:50) Kev: Now you dear listener may be wondering why cottagecore and not more deep diving into the Lord of (0:01:56) Codey: Yeah, we really set we set y’all up for, uh, for some, some shire stuff. But alas, we (0:02:00) Kev: And well (0:02:04) Kev: The month of the Shire (0:02:08) Codey: are here, not for the shire. (0:02:10) Kev: The fake out oh, but you know, you know what I’m gonna add something to the what I’ve been up to (0:02:18) Codey: Oh, okay, cool. (0:02:22) Kev: Okay (0:02:24) Kev: But yeah, we’re all over and we’re here to talk about news because news is built up (0:02:28) Kev: We are spoiler alert (0:02:32) Kev: We’re working on the Shire episode, whatever the tale of the Shire episode, but we needed a weak buffer (0:02:36) Kev: And so Cody and I said alright, we’ll just do some news because there’s plenty of news to talk about with the build-up. So (0:02:40) Codey: Yeah. It sure has been a hot minute. (0:02:45) Kev: Yep (0:02:47) Kev: Okay, so yeah news catch up and we’ll get to that as we do (0:02:50) Kev: But before that Cody tell me what has been going on over over there in Cody World (0:02:56) Codey: to think of it. So I think, uh, during those episodes recording with Johnny, I had not yet (0:03:03) Codey: gone to beetle school. So since that time I went to beetle school, you guys, and I had some, (0:03:11) Codey: it was really fun. Uh, I was up in the Chiricahua’s in Arizona, which is not like my first thought. (0:03:16) Codey: I was like, Oh God, Arizona, not looking forward to this super hot. I don’t do hot. Uh, the Chiricahua’s (0:03:21) Codey: were. Lovely. Um, I want to say it never got above like 70 (0:03:26) Codey: degrees. It was like around 70 degrees, but we could go down (0:03:26) Kev: Ooh, that’s lovely! (0:03:31) Codey: into the desert. And so we went into the desert like at night a (0:03:34) Codey: couple times and we got to see some, some tarantulas and some (0:03:38) Codey: rattlesnakes. And so like we got to, to adventure. We also went (0:03:43) Codey: up higher where it was almost like 11,000 feet elevation, um, (0:03:48) Codey: in the Chiricahuas. And it was, it was actually very cold up (0:03:50) Codey: there. I was like, I should have brought a jacket. Yeah. (0:03:52) Kev: Yeah, yeah, it’s the elevation right cuz Atlanta’s similar where we’re you know down South deep, Georgia (0:03:57) Kev: But what’s its mountain eats high evolution into elevation so it can still get chilly (0:04:01) Codey: Yeah. So that was really fun. I learned a lot about Beatles and I feel a lot more confident now. (0:04:06) Kev: So and and you did you graduate are you certified are you do you have a license to be a beetle now? (0:04:13) Codey: You know, it’s funny because when I went to fly school last summer, they gave me a little certificate. (0:04:18) Kev: Yeah (0:04:21) Codey: We did not get a certificate for Beatles. So I, all I have, all I have is the memories. (0:04:23) Kev: Oh, oh no the Beatles got a step up their game (0:04:31) Codey: Uh, the one thing that is beneficial about this is so fly school was more of an international thing. (0:04:36) Codey: There were like maybe six or seven of us that were from the US, but most of the students were from, um, all over the world. (0:04:43) Codey: But so it is unlikely for me to run into the people that I met from fly school at the conferences that I go to because I mostly just go to United States conferences. (0:04:52) Codey: But all, almost all the beetle people, except for like two people, uh, there was a Canadian and a New Zealander. Um, they were all. (0:05:01) Codey: Uh, citizens of America. And so I will be seeing most of them at the conference that I’m going to in November. Very stoked about that. (0:05:09) Codey: Um, cause you make these connections and then, you know, I, it’s like, Oh man, when am I ever going to see that? (0:05:15) Codey: That really cool Italian from, from fly school or whatever. Um, but yeah, I will see most of these people again. (0:05:16) Kev: - Yeah. (0:05:18) Kev: Yeah. (laughs) (0:05:22) Codey: And it’s just great to start building those connections. Um, so I did that. (0:05:27) Codey: that. (0:05:31) Codey: I have also been playing, I’m still playing honey Grove. (0:05:35) Codey: Um, I have unlocked a new explorer B so I’m now at five, but I think there’s six. (0:05:44) Codey: And I’m just like playing it a little bit at a time. (0:05:47) Codey: I’m working on my specimens as per usual so I will graduate or I will defend in the in December now I have had to. (0:05:54) Kev: Okay, these are real specimens. We switched to not the honeygrove specimens (0:05:56) Codey: Correct. We’ve switched to real life. (0:06:01) Codey: Yeah, into the real world. (0:06:04) Codey: So yeah, working on that, I had almost the entire time we were (0:06:08) Codey: kind of on our little break and we were doing the Lord of the (0:06:11) Kev: Yeah. (0:06:12) Codey: Rings stuff. I actually had people that helped me. So I (0:06:13) Kev: Yeah. (0:06:15) Kev: No. (0:06:16) Codey: wasn’t doing everything by myself, which was amazing. Yeah, (0:06:18) Kev: You had cronies. (0:06:20) Codey: we called him my henchmen. And so I had henchmen and they did (0:06:21) Kev: Yeah, there you go, that’s correct. (0:06:25) Codey: an amazing job and they learned so much and I’m so proud of (0:06:28) Codey: them. But I am like almost back to being solo now and I (0:06:31) Codey: am stressing but I got it. I’ve got this but I had to push back (0:06:36) Codey: my defense just because of how much work so I will be defending (0:06:40) Codey: in December now fingers crossed and then actually like graduating (0:06:45) Codey: and like walking for my doctorate in the spring, which (0:06:46) Kev: Oh, snap. (0:06:48) Codey: I don’t super care about it being like so far out. (0:06:52) Kev: Yeah. (0:06:52) Codey: It’s actually better for a lot of my family members that want (0:06:55) Codey: to come and watch me walk because yeah, so they don’t have (0:06:57) Kev: To plan, yeah. (0:06:58) Kev: Mm-hmm. (0:06:59) Codey: to come when it’s like. (0:07:01) Codey: Possibly snowy. (0:07:03) Codey: There’ve been times when my mom wanted to come visit or I wanted to go visit (0:07:06) Codey: home and it like during the June, um, sorry, December, um, January timeframe. (0:07:12) Kev: Yeah. (0:07:13) Codey: Then it just doesn’t work. (0:07:14) Kev: Yeah. (0:07:15) Codey: So it’s better for it to be. (0:07:16) Kev: Yeah. (0:07:16) Kev: I mean, yeah, it’s wild how people who don’t live in snowy areas just absolutely get bodied (0:07:26) Codey: Well, but even even that that I mean even just irrespective of that there is the fact that like (0:07:26) Kev: by snow. (0:07:32) Codey: We will have entire like planes shut down like people will try and travel like the last time I tried to go there (0:07:36) Kev: Oh, that… mmm… that is true. (0:07:41) Codey: I (0:07:42) Codey: Well, what’s the last time? (0:07:43) Codey: I don’t know (0:07:44) Codey: I tried to go home and I was gonna be home for like two and a half weeks and then I ended up having to cut (0:07:48) Codey: It short because my flight got delayed and then I finally got on the plane (0:07:52) Codey: Like it got delayed by like two days and then I finally got (0:07:54) Kev: No, my god, oh my goodness, oh (0:07:56) Codey: Yeah, and then I finally got on the plane. I was on the plane and then there were they had mechanical issues (0:08:00) Codey: And then finally when they can’t mechanical issues (0:08:01) Kev: No (0:08:03) Codey: Cleared up there was that flight was supposed to go to Chicago O’Hare and then O’Hare was getting like three feet of snow (0:08:10) Codey: So they were like, you know, you guys can sit tight (0:08:13) Codey: But we are basically being told to wait and I was just like nope screw it. I just left (0:08:16) Kev: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah (0:08:20) Codey: like (0:08:22) Codey: No (0:08:23) Codey: But yeah, so that kind of stuff happens (0:08:24) Kev: Apologies to Aislinn for triggering her (0:08:26) Codey: especially (0:08:30) Codey: Yeah, it’s I mean, yeah, she knows all about it and (0:08:34) Codey: Yeah going even just like going to Arizona and my stuff got canceled a million times. So (0:08:40) Codey: It’s just a hard time out there right now for sure (0:08:44) Codey: But then my last update is I’m playing Tales of the Shire (0:08:50) Kev: Did you- did you- did you- did- how far are you? (0:08:53) Codey: Um, I don’t… (0:08:56) Codey: Are you playing it too? (0:08:57) Kev: No, I’m not. I’m just curious. (0:08:58) Codey: Oh, okay. (0:08:59) Kev: I- did you have, you know, ballpark estimate? 50%? (0:09:02) Codey: No, no, no, not anywhere near that. (0:09:03) Kev: Okay. (0:09:04) Codey: I’m still in the same… (0:09:05) Kev: There you go. (0:09:06) Codey: I’m still in the first, like… (0:09:08) Codey: I think you start in summer. (0:09:10) Kev: Okay. (0:09:10) Codey: And I’m still in summer. (0:09:11) Kev: Mmm, ahh. (0:09:12) Codey: Um, but I feel like I’m getting… (0:09:18) Codey: I’m, like, going at a good clip. (0:09:19) Codey: I just was gone for a long time. (0:09:22) Codey: And then now that I’m back, (0:09:23) Codey: I’ve been so busy with, like, getting caught up with work. (0:09:24) Kev: Yeah. (0:09:26) Codey: Visiting and stuff, and so, yeah. (0:09:27) Kev: Ahh, alright, alright. (0:09:29) Codey: Uh, well, so that’s what I’ve been up to. (0:09:30) Kev: Well, uh… (0:09:31) Codey: What have you been up to, Kev? (0:09:32) Kev: Well, I was just gonna say, I’m waiting to hear when you finally defeat Sauron, um, Tails of the Shire, but, uh… (0:09:38) Kev: But, hahaha, but, uh… (0:09:40) Codey: That is, that is interesting. (0:09:42) Codey: I’m at the point, um, I don’t know if… (0:09:44) Codey: So this is not a spoiler. (0:09:45) Codey: I don’t know if “Tales of the Shire” is before or after. (0:09:49) Codey: So, um, yeah, I’m not entirely sure. (0:09:53) Codey: It is unclear to me at this, at this stage. (0:09:56) Kev: What if you invite Sauron to tea and you don’t even know it? (0:09:56) Codey: I… (0:09:59) Kev: It could happen. (0:10:00) Codey: You know what? (0:10:01) Codey: It could happen. (0:10:07) Kev: That’s good stuff. (0:10:09) Kev: Okay, well, this past week I’ve been slammed by work. (0:10:13) Kev: I did the coming of the office on, (0:10:15) Kev: I have to come into the office on Saturday yesterday (0:10:18) Kev: ‘cause it’s that bad. (0:10:20) Kev: But other than that, the week before wasn’t as bad. (0:10:26) Kev: There was actually an office party dinner thing (0:10:30) Kev: where I tried to karaoke for the first time. (0:10:32) Codey: Ooh, did you like, did you enjoy it? (0:10:34) Kev: Oh yeah, so, okay. (0:10:36) Kev: I mean, first of all, I am into music, period. (0:10:39) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:10:41) Kev: I am the one, first one on and last one off, (0:10:44) Kev: generally the dance floor. (0:10:46) Kev: Now, this wasn’t a dance floor, (0:10:48) Kev: even though I was moving a bit. (0:10:50) Kev: But, I mean, as evidenced by here, this endeavor, (0:10:54) Kev: I have no problem scre- (0:10:56) Kev: screaming things into a microphone so karaoke was to fit like a glove (0:11:01) Kev: um I I did many songs I don’t remember all of it I know I did um at first they (0:11:09) Kev: did like a curated list cuz they want to stay professionally yada yada but by the (0:11:14) Kev: end of it we’re just doing whatever I know I did the mean canto Columbia mean (0:11:19) Kev: canto from the Disney movie in canto I sung in Spanish build me up buttercup (0:11:22) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:11:26) Kev: there um oh my girl by the temptations that was a good one so on and so forth (0:11:33) Kev: anyways I did karaoke stay tuned will that show up on a solo ops or maybe I (0:11:38) Codey: Ooh, like you would do karaoke on a solo episode. (0:11:43) Kev: cannot be stopped you do will I have a new theme song written for the heart (0:11:48) Kev: season maybe yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah (0:11:50) Codey: I might, you know what, if ever we’re going to record again, I might have to, you know, I’m sick. (0:11:56) Kev: I mean will yeah oh my gosh I’ll should do one of those patreon goals you know (0:11:58) Codey: I want to hear the karaoke. (0:12:04) Codey: That would, you know what, that would be fun, having a greenhouse of karaoke. (0:12:08) Codey: I’m going to put that on there. I have green, oh my gosh, yeah, I have three greenhouses with (0:12:16) Kev: yeah we need to get that we got it we got (0:12:19) Codey: Kev on a sticky note on my laptop and it’s the Sonic 3 movie, Bluey and now karaoke. (0:12:26) Kev: all those are all excellent topics I love blue so I don’t watch blue in a (0:12:27) Codey: I know. (0:12:30) Kev: minute I’m not seeing all the way to something we’ll get there um okay but (0:12:36) Kev: yes karaoke so I carry okie on unabashedly and and yeah um okay game (0:12:44) Kev: stuff though um okay oh okay DK bonanza came out I do not have a switch to my (0:12:50) Kev: brother does I do not so I’ve not played it but (0:12:56) Kev: I do play Tetris 99 and they do events every now and then they’re the kind of (0:12:58) Codey: - Okay, yep. (0:13:03) Kev: always under the radar but I pick up on them because I’m a fiend for Tetris (0:13:07) Kev: DK Bonanza had an event where they put you know a special skin on the Tetris (0:13:12) Kev: screen the blocks and and they play music from the game and so on and so (0:13:17) Kev: forth it was great it’s fantastic music was stellar absolutely stellar so much (0:13:24) Kev: So that like a day or two after. (0:13:26) Kev: I was like, man, I want more of that DK Bonanza music in my veins. (0:13:30) Kev: So I loaded up on the done, you know, YouTube or whatever. (0:13:34) Kev: And then I saw spoilers. (0:13:35) Kev: I didn’t think I could ever see spoilers for a Donkey Kong game, but musical spoilers. (0:13:42) Kev: Which is wild that one, there were spoilers in the Donkey Kong game, but there are. (0:13:47) Kev: And two, that I was spoiled by the soundtrack. (0:13:49) Codey: by this soundtrack done dirty (0:13:53) Kev: so I uh you know (0:13:56) Kev: I haven’t played it but I will say that’s one of the greatest games ever (0:14:00) Kev: from what I’ve seen that will happen (0:14:03) Kev: oh goodness but um so yeah the DK bonanza it’s already good thumbs up from (0:14:10) Kev: you without playing it oh okay oh you know here’s another getting on game (0:14:16) Kev: thing and hey hey here we go people I’m still keeping it in theme I have been (0:14:21) Kev: watching Rings of Power on the Prime Video. (0:14:23) Codey: Ooooh. (0:14:26) Kev: Umm, that’s the Lord of the Rings the prequel series question mark? (0:14:29) Codey: Yeah, it’s it’s a prequel series. (0:14:30) Kev: I g- (0:14:32) Kev: Yeah, it is. I mean like, you know, it’s big open world of Tolkien lore, whatever, but- (0:14:38) Kev: But yes, it happens before the Lord of the Rings. (0:14:40) Kev: Umm… (0:14:41) Kev: I- I- Are you familiar with this at all, Cody? (0:14:44) Codey: unfortunately. Unfortunately, I wish I could get those hours back. No, so it is beautiful. (0:14:47) Kev: Oh, you are. (0:14:48) Kev: Th- That’s unfortunately you are. (0:14:56) Kev: That is all right. Oh no, uh-huh (0:15:00) Codey: It’s beautiful, but they only got rights to like some of the content. And so they just had to like, (0:15:08) Codey: make stuff up, and I hate it. Um. (0:15:09) Kev: Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard I (0:15:15) Codey: So without getting too, like, too nerdy, but this is still going to be fairly nerdy. And I could be (0:15:23) Codey: wrong, but this is kind of how I remember it. So Galadriel’s brothers were like fighting. They were (0:15:32) Codey: trying to get revenge on, I think Sauron, because he killed someone who was related to them in the (0:15:38) Codey: war of the, like, when they were trying to fight over the Silmarils. And so they basically like, killed. (0:15:44) Codey: They ended up, like, almost killing each other because they were just so, like, embroiled in this (0:15:47) Kev: - Yeah. (0:15:49) Codey: drama. And Galadriel, like, is known in the Silmarillion to have been like, I don’t want to (0:15:56) Codey: take part of my brother’s war, or my brother’s wars, or whatever. And then the Rings of Power (0:15:58) Kev: Okay, yeah (0:16:02) Codey: is all her taking part in her brother’s wars. And I’m like, no! So that was right away. I was like, (0:16:04) Kev: It is (0:16:08) Kev: Oh (0:16:12) Codey: Oh, I’m grumpy because she was. (0:16:13) Kev: That’s incredible (0:16:14) Codey: She was supposed to be like, not caring. (0:16:18) Codey: And she was just like, well, screw you guys. (0:16:20) Codey: I’m going to go live in the woods and. (0:16:21) Kev: I’m going to go in sight more war. Oh (0:16:24) Codey: Yeah, exactly. (0:16:25) Codey: And so, but I get they had to do things differently and like. (0:16:28) Kev: That’s that’s amazing (0:16:30) Kev: So I guess I have the privilege of being a normie like I have watched Florida the Rings in the Hobbit (0:16:34) Codey: Yeah. (0:16:35) Kev: But I’m I’m not deep in there. It’s it’s it’s I’ve struggled for it just to stick with me (0:16:40) Codey: Well, and there’s just like so much like, who is so wrong? (0:16:43) Kev: Yeah (0:16:45) Kev: Yes (0:16:45) Codey: Are we all Sauron? (0:16:48) Codey: Like, there’s a Sauron in all of us. (0:16:48) Kev: Maybe that maybe if we believe it (0:16:50) Codey: And I like the whole time and I’m just like, okay, I’m, I’m done with this. (0:16:54) Codey: Like, I, uh, (0:16:58) Kev: He does (0:17:00) Kev: That is probably (0:17:02) Kev: like one of the most (0:17:04) Kev: entertaining but in a bad kind of way like he’s very (0:17:08) Kev: Over the top almost like I mean not not ridiculously so but compared to the the movies, right? (0:17:13) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:17:14) Kev: Sauron is a you know more of a force. He’s not a guy right? (0:17:17) Kev: He’s he is the giant eyeball in the sky and this overwhelming presence and here he’s he compared to that (0:17:23) Kev: He feels like a mustache twirling, you know, ooh spooky bit (0:17:26) Codey: Yeah, yeah. (0:17:29) Kev: But that’s it. I mean I’ve been enjoying it. I don’t know all the lore (0:17:32) Kev: I point to the screen when I know a thing but then that’s it (0:17:36) Kev: It’s the productions. Well done. It’s good production better production than the Hobbit (0:17:40) Codey: Yeah, it’s gorgeous. (0:17:41) Codey: It is beautiful and like, but I, (0:17:44) Codey: so I don’t think I’ve watched past the first season. (0:17:46) Codey: I don’t know how much there is. (0:17:48) Kev: There’s three two and they’re working on (0:17:51) Codey: Okay, I didn’t watch past the first one (0:17:53) Codey: because I just, I need to like take off my snooty hat, (0:17:58) Kev: - Yeah. (0:17:59) Codey: you know, and just let things be different and stuff. (0:18:02) Codey: and I just have yet to… (0:18:05) Codey: get the balls to do that, I guess, I don’t know. (0:18:08) Kev: Yeah, it’s hmm. I will I will say again. I say this as a very (0:18:14) Kev: novice casual Lord of the Rings enjoyer (0:18:16) Kev: I feel like they’re really trying hard to tie it to the Lord of the Rings. Yeah, you know the movies right because like (0:18:20) Codey: Yeah, but they’re like literally not supposed to. (0:18:24) Kev: Yeah, yeah, I know because there’s the the hobbits. They’re not even called hobbits (0:18:28) Kev: I forget anyways there are two hobbits and it’s very clearly trying to evoke Sam and Frodo even though they’re not and but no (0:18:37) Kev: Whatever (0:18:38) Kev: It’s fine. I’m enjoying it. Whatever. There you go (0:18:38) Codey: Yep, wasn’t my favorite. It’s I it is enjoyable, especially I think if you have not seen. Yeah, (0:18:45) Kev: The less you know the less, you know with the little tuning star (0:18:47) Codey: the last you know. But like what before it was coming up, I was like, so because I knew it was (0:18:52) Codey: coming. So I read that I was like, I’m gonna read the Silmarillion and then I can have like a little (0:18:53) Kev: Yeah (0:18:56) Codey: bit of idea and I really just shouldn’t have because it ruined it for me. Yep. (0:18:59) Kev: You know too much (0:19:01) Kev: You’re you’re into deep (0:19:03) Kev: Yeah, but I mean it’s it’s fine like it it’s it’s there are worse things to watch (0:19:08) Codey: Yeah, and I know, no, no, dude, that third one, this is me trying not to yell right now. (0:19:09) Kev: Arguably some of the Hobbit movies. Mm-hmm. That third one’s rough. I’m just sorry (0:19:20) Codey: That third one is rough for people because they don’t watch the extended edition. (0:19:25) Kev: Yeah (0:19:27) Codey: You got to watch all of it. (0:19:28) Kev: Okay, you know what that’s probably fair just that’s oh (0:19:31) Codey: There’s so much that’s like cut out that makes it seem like not then you’re like, (0:19:34) Kev: I believe it (0:19:37) Codey: why is he why is this (0:19:38) Codey: so (0:19:39) Kev: You (0:19:40) Kev: That is correct. That is my reaction to many things in that movie is someone who’s not seen the extended cut (0:19:46) Codey: You gotta see the extended come if you if you believe if you think the Hobbit movies are bad come come (0:19:47) Kev: Okay (0:19:51) Codey: We’ll go watch if you and you haven’t seen the extended and you haven’t seen the extended editions (0:19:52) Kev: Go listen to the episode (0:19:56) Codey: Go watch them and then come back to me (0:19:59) Kev: Okay, we have a greenhouse episode on the hobbit I have not listened to it to be fair (0:20:02) Codey: We do (0:20:06) Codey: We do we had fun with those for sure (0:20:07) Kev: But I will (0:20:08) Kev: Yeah, I bet (0:20:10) Codey: When we were recording them, we were like, I don’t know if I was gonna cut half of this or not (0:20:14) Kev: As Al pointed out those greenhouse discussions sparked more discussion in the slack than any other episode of anything (0:20:16) Codey: You (0:20:19) Codey: Yeah, maybe we just need to be let loose (0:20:29) Kev: Okay, um, but yeah, okay now they all right one more thing um for me um the big one (0:20:36) Kev: Uh, Drumroll, please unicorn overla- (0:20:38) Kev: Oh Lord, credits hit today baby! (0:20:41) Codey: Ooh! (0:20:43) Kev: Ooh, um, so I did, like, everything, to be fair, right? (0:20:43) Codey: How many hours is that? (0:20:48) Kev: ‘Cause they’re- they’re very clear, like, here’s the main missions, here’s a bunch of side missions, and you don’t- they’re optional. (0:20:54) Kev: Uh, I did it all, I clocked in at about 110 hours, I think it was. (0:21:00) Kev: Um, and yeah- (0:21:04) Kev: So, I mean, overall thumbs up, my comments are still- (0:21:07) Kev: It’s a– (0:21:08) Kev: Consistent game, I’ll say that. (0:21:10) Kev: Like it’s– (0:21:12) Kev: It’s the strategy gameplay. The story is nothing to write home about. It’s straightforward fantasy (0:21:21) Kev: armies and whatnot. (0:21:23) Kev: Political royalty, yada, yada. (0:21:26) Kev: So it’s enjoyable. It’s comfort food for me. So I enjoy it. Like it’s quality. Don’t get me wrong. (0:21:29) Codey: Yeah. (0:21:32) Kev: It’s not bad, but it just hits the spot for me. (0:21:36) Kev: My biggest complaint and this is gonna sound weird cuz I (0:21:39) Kev: Just said I clocked in 110 hours (0:21:41) Kev: it’s it’s not enough they’re missing and and (0:21:48) Kev: Specifically the end I think I mentioned this on a previous episode, but (0:21:52) Kev: As it came out the developers ran out of money towards the end and you can feel it you can feel it (0:22:00) Kev: So the like I said, there’s main missions, right? And as you beat them, you know (0:22:04) Kev: You’ll not you progress towards the final mission in the (0:22:09) Kev: ultimate main mission you unlock you get one new character a new class that you’ve never had before (0:22:16) Codey: Okay. (0:22:17) Kev: Which in you know these kind of strategy games, that’s a big deal like you don’t get any time to use your new toy basically (0:22:23) Codey: Mm hmm. (0:22:24) Codey: Yeah. (0:22:24) Kev: Congrats, you finally got the last character go beat the game (0:22:29) Kev: Now that’s it there is a little post game epilogue that I can do and whatnot (0:22:35) Kev: And it is still overall very big. It has a lot of (0:22:39) Kev: Variations and and just little things. There’s a couple of different endings you can do (0:22:45) Kev: There’s relationships and and and support conversations that are fun (0:22:52) Kev: But but yeah overall it’s great (0:22:56) Kev: one of the (0:22:58) Kev: Interesting things to get the true the best ending you have to get hitched you have to find a partner (0:23:02) Codey: Mmm. Boo. (0:23:04) Kev: Which is yeah (0:23:07) Kev: Yeah, they try to play it up in the (0:23:08) Kev: it’s it’s a little it’s a little forced a little you know shoehorned in but but (0:23:15) Kev: whatever I still I still have a lot of fun I’m very happy I want more I want (0:23:21) Kev: unicorn overlord 2 now please but yeah just thumbs up overall and that game (0:23:28) Kev: frequently goes on sale so if you have any interest in strategy you know fantasy (0:23:33) Kev: stuff go for it it’s good but okay and hey I hit credits on the game that (0:23:38) Kev: been often for me and at least not lately so yeah all right okay so that’s (0:23:43) Kev: uh that’s that’s stuff we’ve been up to whoo all right let’s get into news (0:23:50) Kev: there’s a lot of it all right we’re gonna start off with the game about Cody (0:23:56) Kev: research story in honor of her almost getting done so they came out with 1.0 (0:24:02) Kev: that is out now I don’t know when it would July it’s been (0:24:09) Kev: for a while more than now yep exactly (0:24:10) Codey: Well, yeah news catch-up episode everybody (0:24:15) Codey: Yeah, so this uh, this adds the epilogue the conclusion some end credits, you know proposals and marriage (0:24:22) Codey: One thing that I super enjoy about this is they have 10 marriage candidates and the proposals can either be player (0:24:29) Codey: initiated or NPC initiated (0:24:32) Kev: Oh, that’s… Oh my gosh! Has that been done before? (0:24:34) Codey: So I (0:24:37) Kev: Oh… (0:24:37) Codey: I don’t know, but I kind of like that where you’re. (0:24:40) Codey: Spend in time with an NPC and then suddenly you just hit a cut scene and they’re proposing to you like I think that’s awesome. (0:24:49) Kev: pretty good that’s pretty like you know obviously well documented lamenting of (0:24:54) Kev: the relationship mechanic or whatever but if you’re gonna do it put in some (0:24:57) Codey: Right. (0:24:59) Kev: effort do something new that’s good I like that that’s good (0:25:01) Codey: Yeah. (0:25:03) Codey: Definitely like that. (0:25:05) Codey: Give more to say about that. (0:25:07) Kev: no just with two things one that makes you think of unicorn oh Lord at one one (0:25:12) Kev: quick shout out just I remembered to get the true ending you have to have your (0:25:16) Kev: Which I think this is actually kind of a thumbs (0:25:19) Kev: up for me. You have to have whoever your selected partner is in your party for the final fight to get the true ending, which I think is kind of nice. (0:25:28) Kev: But yeah, no, just overall, I think that’s great. Having the other person initiate it, that’s great. (0:25:34) Kev: Yeah, no, I’m still kind of on the fence of it being included in the game at all, but here we are, and they did work, so I’ll give them props for that. (0:25:45) Codey: Um, yeah, so that was cool. (0:25:47) Codey: They also had some quality of life adjustments. (0:25:50) Codey: Um, so that brings the game to its 1.0, which is great. (0:25:53) Codey: And the current price is 1399. (0:25:55) Codey: They had it on sale for 60% off, I believe, um, for a hot minute. (0:26:00) Codey: But I think by the time this comes out, it’s already gone. (0:26:03) Codey: So, um, yeah, so, but that’s fine. (0:26:04) Kev: store. Yeah, it’s really not. And that’s, that’s fine. Yeah, the kind I almost feel bad that (0:26:07) Codey: 1399 is nothing. (0:26:08) Codey: Um, on August 28th, they’re going to increase it to 1499. (0:26:15) Codey: Just still feel nothing. (0:26:17) Codey: So you guys. (0:26:21) Kev: they said we, we are not charging, we’re not making money, they, they do deserve that money. (0:26:26) Codey: Yeah, so that was cool. (0:26:26) Kev: So good for them. (0:26:30) Codey: And then the final thing, they had a couple hints (0:26:34) Codey: of what they’re working on next. (0:26:35) Codey: And they are going to do Mac ports and Linux ports. (0:26:41) Codey: But Mac– ooh, very excited about that. (0:26:43) Kev: - Yeah, woo! (0:26:48) Codey: I just never touch my PC anymore. (0:26:50) Kev: laughs I… (0:26:52) Codey: So we’re going to move it up. (0:26:54) Codey: We’re supposed to move it up here this week. (0:26:56) Codey: Um, but I’m also like very busy right now. (0:26:59) Codey: So there’s no way I’m going to play it soon, but. (0:27:02) Kev: Yeah, I have never owned an Apple product. No, that’s not true. I had an iPad or iPod. (0:27:08) Codey: iPod. (0:27:08) Kev: Yeah, that’s an iPod, yes. Back in the day, like the Mini, the Nano, whatever. That’s it. (0:27:14) Kev: But hey, good for you people. Man, those romancibles, they are pretty people. (0:27:18) Codey: - Yeah. (0:27:23) Codey: That’s pretty, yeah. (0:27:25) Codey: They, yeah. (0:27:26) Kev: Sparkles all over. Somebody has birds in there. Good for them. (0:27:30) Codey: Yep. (0:27:32) Kev: All right. Yeah, good for your research story. I do think it is worth celebrating any of these games (0:27:39) Kev: because we’ve seen them in the docket so long, hit 1.0. So good for you. Yeah, (0:27:44) Kev: and it feels like a 1.0 release. Speaking of 1.0s, a little witch in the woods. (0:27:53) Kev: September 4th, they’re dropping the 1.0. And yeah, let’s hear it. (0:28:02) Kev: Okay, right now it’s $16. That is comparable to the other ones. Oh man, these people, (0:28:11) Kev: like, I feel weird saying it. I just feel bad for these devs who work so hard. (0:28:15) Kev: They could probably go up to $19.99. I’m just saying. No one’s gonna weep over the extra (0:28:17) Codey: Yeah, like that’s not going to be that’s not going to break the bank. (0:28:21) Kev: five bucks. I’m just saying. No, it’s not. They deserve a 20. I’m just saying. Anyways, (0:28:30) Kev: So yeah, it’s dropped (0:28:32) Kev: September 4th, it’s you know, all sorts of new features new areas the villager the village with new villagers stories (0:28:41) Kev: quality of life, etc, etc (0:28:44) Kev: so yeah, that’s (0:28:46) Kev: Yeah, good for them. That’ll be you know more less than a month when this drops (0:28:54) Kev: So yeah, I’m looking forward to that. Yeah, I don’t know how do we (0:29:00) Kev: I’m just thinking, how do I feel about the- (0:29:02) Kev: It does look very cute. I like the art style a lot. Will I play this? I don’t know, maybe. (0:29:06) Codey: Yeah, I’m, I don’t know how I feel bad, but I’m, I’m, I’m done with witches, man. I’ve. (0:29:12) Kev: It it has been used exhaustively in this space hasn’t it? (0:29:19) Kev: Yeah (0:29:20) Kev: But but hey (0:29:23) Kev: Well, let’s say here wait one second. Well, you know what? Let’s uh, oh gosh (0:29:30) Kev: No, never mind. Okay. Okay. Um, alright, let’s talk about (0:29:34) Kev: another release coming out (0:29:36) Kev: Slime Rancher 2 September 23rd that is another 1.0. It’s (0:29:42) Kev: Coming out on (0:29:44) Kev: Everything pretty much nuts. Not true steam epic games PS. I can’t believe the epic game store still running (0:29:50) Codey: Yep. Yep. (0:29:50) Kev: PS 5 and Xbox series x slash x s whatever that whatever the current letter is not switch not switch - (0:29:59) Kev: but (0:30:01) Kev: Yeah, it’s coming out. It looks (0:30:04) Kev: Chaotic and fun. It’s it’s weird. We don’t talk about first-person shooters on this on this show much (0:30:10) Kev: But yeah, here we go with you (0:30:12) Kev: Vacuum up or launch the slimes (0:30:15) Kev: Yeah, I don’t know the well. I didn’t play the first one. I will probably not play. There’s nothing wrong with it (0:30:21) Kev: I’m just busy (0:30:22) Codey: Yeah, not not super for me either. But I know some people (0:30:26) Codey: are really excited about it. So very happy for them that it is (0:30:28) Kev: Yeah, no it (0:30:30) Codey: coming out in a month and a half. (0:30:32) Kev: It looks like a quality game. I will say that so good for you so I’m rancher to have people (0:30:38) Kev: Alright, now let’s keep rolling. (0:30:43) Kev: Ok, we’re backing off from the releases. (0:30:46) Kev: Let’s go now to our bread and butter on the show, Early Access and Betas. (0:30:52) Kev: Early Access for the game called Grimshire. (0:30:58) Kev: It is officially out now. (0:31:02) Kev: Let’s see here. (0:31:04) Kev: Here, you wrote some notes, take it away Cody. (0:31:06) Codey: - Yeah, so I wrote some notes (0:31:08) Codey: because I hadn’t really heard about this game (0:31:10) Codey: and I was like, what, this is Grimshire? (0:31:14) Codey: But this is a cozy game podcast, (0:31:16) Codey: like Cottagecore game podcast, what? (0:31:18) Codey: And so I went and looked at it and it is, it’s cute. (0:31:22) Codey: It reminds me, like the character models (0:31:25) Codey: remind me a lot of Redwall. (0:31:28) Codey: Did you ever read the Redwall books? (0:31:30) Kev: Yeah yo, so yeah, this is Redwall is like one of my favorite fantasy variants. (0:31:37) Kev: I don’t know how to describe that, but like, because anytime you, the critter, it’s like anthropomorphic critters and little animals. (0:31:44) Codey: Mm-hmm. (0:31:45) Kev: I’m, I’m down like 10, I’m not going to lie. (0:31:50) Kev: That’s kind of what got me into magic. (0:31:52) Kev: They released a set called bloom burrow, which was Redwall s magic cards. (0:31:52) Codey: [LAUGHS] Yeah. (0:31:57) Kev: and it kind of caught my eye. (0:32:00) Kev: So yes, I love Redwall very much. (0:32:02) Codey: Yeah, so it reminds me of that and then, um, I kind of read more about it. (0:32:07) Codey: They said, quote, we’ve been working on this cozy but grim little world for the past three (0:32:11) Codey: years. (0:32:12) Codey: And I was like, cozy but grim? (0:32:16) Codey: Like how can something be cozy and grim at the same time? (0:32:20) Codey: But I have also been recently watching Little House on the Prairie. (0:32:24) Kev: Oh! Oh! That is, how should I put this? One of the Soria family staples. We’ve watched the series at least four times in the entirety! (0:32:27) Codey: Did you ever watch that show? (0:32:33) Codey: Okay. (0:32:38) Codey: Okay cool. (0:32:39) Codey: Yeah, so I would also describe that as cozy but grim. (0:32:44) Kev: Every episode of Tragedy, you can’t. (0:32:46) Codey: Every single episode. (0:32:48) Codey: And I was like texting Jeff cause I was watching them and I would just text him suddenly and (0:32:53) Codey: be like, she got a pet raccoon and then they thought the raccoon had rabies. (0:32:56) Kev: Oh, no, that episode! (0:32:59) Codey: And then he was like literally about to shoot the dog. (0:33:02) Codey: And the raccoon also bit Laura. (0:33:04) Codey: So if the dog got rabies, she was going to have rabies and then it was. (0:33:08) Codey: And I’m just like, I’m like sobbing, just tears streaming down my face. (0:33:12) Kev: The raccoon ups that one’s intense. Oh my gosh (0:33:12) Codey: And he was just, that was intense. (0:33:15) Codey: This is first season, like so many things happened in the first season. (0:33:19) Codey: And I’m like, Oh yeah, I would have described that also as cozy, but grim. (0:33:23) Kev: Yeah (0:33:23) Codey: So I get it. (0:33:26) Kev: Yeah (0:33:27) Kev: But yeah, and I mean if you watch the trailer for Grimshire here like yeah, it’s it’s pretty grim like towards the end (0:33:34) Kev: You see like the story is about (0:33:37) Codey: plague (0:33:37) Kev: Some survival stuff. There is a pyre. There’s a funeral pyre (0:33:39) Codey: Yeah (0:33:41) Codey: Yeah, cuz there’s plague there’s plague in the area so which is also a little house of the food (0:33:42) Kev: And people wondering if they’re gonna die (0:33:45) Kev: Yeah (0:33:48) Kev: More than multiple (0:33:49) Codey: More than one. Oh, no (0:33:51) Codey: Well, yeah (0:33:52) Codey: I guess cuz there I just they just had a typhus outbreak in this one and it didn’t make I know one of them (0:33:54) Kev: Yeah (0:33:57) Codey: Makes the sister go blind anyway (0:34:01) Codey: So they said quote in early access you can play throughout year one (0:34:04) Codey: but your file will be stuck on winter 28th once you get there. (0:34:07) Codey: The day keeps repeating after you go to bed, (0:34:09) Codey: and we will be adding more content and story in the future. (0:34:11) Codey: So just a heads up, if this is something (0:34:13) Codey: that you were going to think about doing, (0:34:16) Codey: then you’re not going to be able to go further than that. (0:34:20) Codey: And they also said that their old demo save files (0:34:24) Codey: won’t carry over into the full game. (0:34:27) Codey: So if there are any new demo– (0:34:32) Codey: if you restart a new demo now in the early access, (0:34:37) Codey: that will be compatible with the full game. (0:34:39) Codey: But if you’ve played the demo before, (0:34:43) Codey: you will have to start over. (0:34:45) Codey: Just a heads up. (0:34:46) Kev: That’s kind of a bummer (0:34:48) Codey: I get that it happens sometimes, though. (0:34:49) Kev: Yeah, I get it too. I’m just saying like yeah, you know (0:34:52) Kev: I I’m interested in this game because it’s got the red wall thing that the dark angle (0:34:57) Kev: I mean, I’m intrigued but uh, but I probably will wait till I know when you know, I can keep a save or whatever (0:35:02) Codey: Yep, and so they also say that they’re going to add more stuff as they head to 1.0. (0:35:04) Kev: Yeah (0:35:10) Codey: This is actually a common theme of a lot of what we’re talking about today. (0:35:15) Codey: They are going to add more, and they have a little bit of a roadmap, but there are no (0:35:19) Codey: dates on that roadmap. (0:35:21) Codey: So just letting you know what’s coming up, but they don’t have any expected like, “Oh, (0:35:28) Codey: we’re expecting this to be done at this time and this to be done at this time,” which is (0:35:30) Kev: Yeah, yeah, that that’s fine (0:35:31) Codey: It’s probably realistic. (0:35:32) Codey: Uhm, just feels a little. (0:35:36) Kev: Okay, well hey you I’m I’m definitely have my eye on Grimshire though all things said maybe not right now, but oh, but yeah (0:35:45) Kev: Okay (0:35:46) Kev: Let’s see what else next up another early access (0:35:50) Kev: Hotel galactic (0:35:53) Kev: Early oh my gosh $35. That’s kind of a it’s premium. That’s some premium pricing (0:35:56) Codey: I know, right? (0:36:00) Codey: Well, and there was drama associated with it. (0:36:00) Kev: Oh (0:36:05) Kev: Yeah, yeah (0:36:06) Codey: So they released the early access on July 24. (0:36:12) Codey: And in that initial post, they said (0:36:14) Codey: that in the weeks following the release, (0:36:17) Codey: they wanted feedback. (0:36:20) Codey: Again, they had a projected roadmap, (0:36:23) Codey: but I didn’t have dates on it. (0:36:24) Codey: Literally two days later. (0:36:26) Codey: They posed another thing on Steam that’s basically like oops. (0:36:30) Codey: We’re sorry for the state of the game. (0:36:33) Codey: Um, and they say, quote, our rundown hotel has not yet been restored to its future. (0:36:38) Codey: Glory. (0:36:38) Codey: We are fully aware of that. (0:36:40) Codey: And we sincerely apologize that our early access build did not (0:36:44) Codey: meet all of your expectations. (0:36:46) Codey: We made a mistake and we take full responsibility. (0:36:49) Codey: Um, as part of like this, that’s end quote, as part of this, uh, mistake, (0:36:54) Codey: quote unquote (0:36:56) Codey: They are adding compensation strategies so they’re going to find a way to compensate people who have already paid for this early access. (0:37:04) Codey: Kevin, how do you feel about that? (0:37:06) Kev: Oh, okay. Um, all right. First off, I’m gonna take one step back here. First of all, what is the game cuz let’s write that that’s gonna I think that illustrates expectations. It’s a clearly studio Ghibli specifically spirited away inspired game of how should I put this spirit favor esque of the, you know, the side view with the the rooms that you hop around that you’re building up a hotel that then and so yeah, you’re kind of (0:37:10) Codey: - Mm-hmm, right, so… (0:37:36) Kev: expanding the hotel, maintaining guests, etc, etc. We’ve talked about it before I just I just can’t remember anyway, so that’s the game. And so now, okay, before any drama $35 feels like a decent chunk of change for this game, considering spirit fair is noticeably not $35. Um, so you know, the expected prices set expectations, right? That’s like the number one thing in in gaming, (0:38:06) Kev: marketing, whatever. (0:38:09) Kev: So, you know, dropping $35 on the city, it better be good. Now, early when I play an early access, or, you know, I hear about it, I expect things to be buggy, right? That’s kind of a big part of the point, right? betas and play testing all that good stuff. So how bad was this? I can’t even imagine how bad this was to demand or (0:38:36) Kev: to elicit an apology. (0:38:38) Codey: Yeah, I think that that’s like my biggest issue and why I like pulled this question out because (0:38:44) Codey: if I am playing something that’s in early access I’m (0:38:47) Codey: expecting bugs like even if it’s game-breaking bugs like even if it is (0:38:51) Codey: something like they put this out two days later if there was if there were (0:38:57) Codey: bugs that made the game unplayable and it was then like two weeks later and they (0:39:02) Codey: hadn’t responded yeah compensate them like unless you had a friggin family (0:39:08) Codey: and you didn’t have any way to be working on the game at that time but (0:39:11) Codey: literally two days after full release I think that’s par for the course for a (0:39:17) Codey: game that is as ambitious as this game so personally I’d be like like if I were (0:39:25) Codey: one of the people who kick-started it or whatever I’d be like no no don’t worry (0:39:28) Codey: about reimbursing me just like take your time keep doing what you’re doing like (0:39:32) Codey: here’s more feedback and give feedback because they literally won’t need (0:39:36) Kev: Sure, sure. Well, okay. I think there’s two things one. There’s a compensation. I don’t think then it’s gonna be necessarily monetarily (0:39:43) Kev: That could just be you know in game item status, whatever something a bonus of some kind (0:39:50) Kev: That’s what I expect (0:39:53) Kev: But (0:39:54) Kev: But yeah, I like I agree with you (0:39:58) Kev: Like I don’t know maybe it’s just this developer. Maybe they’re just very sensitive about the (0:40:04) Kev: the responses, it could be, I don’t know, or. (0:40:06) Kev: Maybe it was just that bad. (0:40:09) Kev: I don’t know where this lands. (0:40:10) Codey: Okay, so they have, they do have some of the things, they explain what some of the bugs (0:40:16) Codey: were that were coming up. And I mean, some of them are like, you know, game like breaking (0:40:23) Codey: down or requests being blocked, cooking recipes not working, in game time, freezing stuff (0:40:29) Codey: like that. But my favorite too, was that the workers are refusing to perform tasks. And (0:40:33) Kev: Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, yeah, like, I mean, all right, you know what, I think that the (0:40:37) Codey: You know what? (0:40:38) Codey: Good for them. (0:40:40) Codey: Let them unionize. (0:40:40) Codey: Like that is a bug that if that was happening, I would cackle. (0:40:46) Codey: I would be laughing so hard and I would message them and be like, (0:40:48) Codey: Hey, this is happening. (0:40:50) Codey: But like, I mean, what are you going to do? (0:40:58) Kev: The only problem is, I’m going to go back to the $35 price point for early. (0:41:01) Codey: - Okay, yeah. (0:41:03) Kev: If that was their full release price point, sure, whatever, for early access, I don’t know, $15, maybe? That’s kind of high still, but, that’s, I mean it’s tough, you need money to keep it going, but I don’t know. (0:41:19) Kev: Ooh, that’s rough though. (0:41:20) Codey: So the other the other bug that I loved was that guests were stuck in an endless sleep loop. (0:41:30) Kev: I like that. (0:41:30) Codey: And you know what, same. I feel like sometimes in my life I there’s just a bug happening and I’m just stuck endlessly sleeping. (0:41:40) Kev: That’s not that’s that’s a feature not a bug (0:41:40) Codey: So I get it. Sometimes it just be that way. (0:41:50) Codey: Yeah, so those are the two things that I thought were hilarious other I mean like I get if (0:41:56) Kev: Yum (0:41:56) Codey: there’s like other things happening but that much outrage to come out in the 48 hours post (0:41:58) Kev: Yum (0:42:03) Kev: Well, you know here here’s another thing is (0:42:07) Kev: What if what is what about the knot game break (0:42:10) Kev: breaking part like what if it’s, you know, has just not fun, you know, like, sure. (0:42:14) Codey: but that’s again something that is going to be improved upon I mean I played lens islands (0:42:19) Codey: first one and like it was I saw where they were going with it but it was definitely like pretty (0:42:24) Codey: basic and they have improved it so much and it seems so fun now like oh sorry not seems it is (0:42:30) Codey: so fun now. But yeah, I just (0:42:30) Kev: Yeah (0:42:35) Kev: Yeah, like I said, I think the only real issue the mistake was the $35 price point (0:42:42) Kev: That’s all that’s that’s something to go back to right because I how much did you pay for for the other ones? (0:42:48) Kev: It wasn’t $35 (0:42:50) Codey: - No, probably not, yeah. (0:42:51) Kev: Yeah, right (0:42:53) Codey: I don’t even remember it was so long ago. (0:42:55) Kev: Yeah, but but anyways (0:42:59) Kev: Well, I’ll give him this (0:43:01) Kev: They they came out and said something right that’s good (0:43:04) Kev: So all right, that’s hotel galactic. I’ll keep keep an eye out to see if they fix that hotel (0:43:14) Kev: Okay, um, all right here next up and (0:43:20) Kev: Purred the a few sentences into Al’s notes. It is early access is confirmed. Oh (0:43:27) Kev: Oh, oh wait, no, not out yet. (0:43:29) Kev: It will be a, sorry. (0:43:30) Codey: No, no, no, no. (0:43:31) Kev: Dates, they’re weird. (0:43:32) Kev: It is out, when people are listening to this, it will be out. (0:43:35) Kev: It is already out now when we’re recording, ‘cause, wait, no? (0:43:39) Kev: Oh my go- oh my go- I’m misreading that, you’re right! (0:43:40) Codey: Okay, so let me let me do this. (0:43:41) Kev: Oh my gosh. (0:43:42) Codey: So Al wrote early access releasing. (0:43:43) Kev: Oh my goodness. (0:43:46) Codey: Well, out now maybe and then there’s another bullet not actually out yet, but was meant to be out 7th of August, but they clicked the wrong button on release. (0:43:54) Kev: Oh my go- (0:43:58) Codey: So, it’s fine. (0:44:02) Codey: This is their quote. I love this for them. (0:44:04) Codey: I mean, it’s probably very stressful for them, but I think this is hilarious. (0:44:08) Codey: Quote, “We are heartbroken to say this, but we can’t release today. We literally cannot press the button. It’s gone.” (0:44:16) Codey: The game is ready to go. Everything was prepared, but since this is our first release ever, we forgot to tick the early access checkbox on the Steam backend until this morning. (0:44:26) Codey: and once that is ticked, Steam automatically put our Steam page into (0:44:30) Codey: review mode, which is a normal process on their end, but for us it couldn’t have come at a worse (0:44:35) Codey: time. This has caused the release button to disappear and we cannot click it. (0:44:41) Kev: Aaaah! Hah! (0:44:42) Codey: Oh dude, but that is like such like beer like I could see that being like bureaucracy stuff like (0:44:47) Codey: that’s not how are you supposed to know how are you supposed to know to click that check box or (0:44:53) Codey: what if they started the game before that checkbox was there and then it just like was like well they (0:44:57) Codey: didn’t click it I don’t know it (0:45:00) Kev: But (0:45:00) Codey: good for that like they’ll figure it out it’s it’s only been three days there (0:45:02) Kev: Yeah, that that’s good (0:45:06) Codey: is not an update yet let me just double-check that this is true but (0:45:11) Kev: I’ve (0:45:14) Kev: I’ve just got to say I love (0:45:18) Kev: Game big news stories that come from pushin

This week, we're double fisting with two guests, Arthur Dixon and Caty Coffee! Both hilarious comics, plus our beloved Zampino, will all take the stage for the Starlite Comedy Night August 8, making this episode either a preview or a taste of what you missed, depending on when you listen! We check out the trailers for “Rental Family” and “The Paper.” Then, it's the secret language of Animal Crossing, divorce proceedings with Andrew WK, and important questions about French rap. “Dad's dead, Dad's dead…”

Send us a textWelcome to another episode of The Gamerheads Podcast! This week on The Gamerheads Podcast, Jake, Zeb, and Trina join Roger to share their highlights from TennoCon, including a live Warframe concert and a welcoming community vibe that made the trip unforgettable.The crew also picks their favorite “summer feeling” games, from cozy favorites like Stardew Valley, Dave the Diver, and Animal Crossing to surprise picks like Far Cry 3, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and even PowerWash Simulator. Roger rounds things out with Donkey Kong Bananza and Super Mega Baseball for those classic summer vibes.The episode wraps with updates on what everyone's been playing, including more Donkey Kong Bananza, Warframe, Destiny's new expansion, Moonlighter, and a first look at Tales of the Shire.Support the showHere are a few ways you can support Gamerheads!Leave us a review!Not only does your review help fellow gamers discover our podcast, but it also provides valuable insights for us as content creators. Your feedback serves as a compass, guiding us in crafting episodes that cater to your interests, addressing topics that matter to you, and enhancing your overall listening experience. Your words have the power to influence the direction of future episodes and ensure that we continue delivering content that captivates and engages. Review us on Goodpods! Review us on Apple Podcasts! Review us on Spotify! Join our Discord!In The Gamerheads Podcast Discord, you'll find a haven for lively discussions, where you can chat about the latest releases and share your gaming experiences with fellow gamers.Join our Patreon today https://www.patreon.com/gamerheadsFollow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/gamerheadspodcast.comMusic: Jeff Dasler - Recus...

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; we bring you a whole episode dedicated to the 2025 San Diego Comic Con baby!! And boy do we have a BIG episode for ya! (This could just be the LONGEST episode we have ever recorded!) We systematically run through each Manufacturer & attempt to call out all the awesome reveals that has oh so very excited!! - Mattel- Jada- Nacelle- Four Horsemen- Mondo- Neca- Mezco- Super7- Playmates- McFarlane- Hasbro- The Loyal SubjectsPlus we have Birthday Celebrations; round table thoughts of the Con itself & much much more! ENJOY!!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When will they make a two-sided SD card that always lands text?Discussed: PSPrequel on Patreon, upcoming flights to Jersey, flipping an SD card, Cobalt Core, StarVaders, FTL, He is Coming, Loop Hero, whether or not roguelikes need to be infinite, Void Stranger, Stephen finishing The Hundred Line, games with multiple endings, Sacred Stones, the best introductions to Fire Emblem, A Link to the Past, New Leaf, the potential of a new Animal Crossing, all kinds of Za, Patapon on Switch, The Forgotten City, 1000xResist, the “last time on” mechanic, Jersey diners & New York pizza Find us everywhere: https://intothecast.onlineBuy some merch if you'd like: https://shop.intothecast.onlineJoin the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intothecast---Follow Stephen Hilger: https://bsky.app/profile/stephenhilger.bsky.social Follow Brendon Bigley: https://bsky.app/profile/bb.wavelengths.onlineProduced by AJ Fillari: https://bsky.app/profile/ajfillari.bsky.social---Season 7 cover art by Scout Wilkinson: https://scoutwilkinson.myportfolio.com/Theme song by Will LaPorte: https://ghostdown.online/---Timecodes:(00:00) - Intro (00:19) - Check out the PSPrequel on Patreon! (06:05) - There are other video games believe it or not (07:27) - Cobalt Core | The Text of video games (22:02) - He is Coming | The Pins of video games (37:15) - Star Vaders, Blue Prince, Void Stranger, Hundred Line | When a game is finished (47:53) - Break (47:55) - Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones | BREAKING: Water is wet (55:35) - A Link to the Past | Stephen answers for his bad takes (01:03:53) - Animal Crossing: New Leaf | Brendon Breezely (01:25:05) - Patapon 1+2 | Brendon Bailley (01:25:38) - The Forgotten City | Brendon Bailley (01:29:30) - Wrapping up ---Thanks to all of our amazing patrons including our Eternal Gratitude members:Zachary DIanfaceMcGeeMatt HClayton MChris Yw0nderbradShawn LCody RZach RFederico VLogan HAlan RSlinkmattjanzz DeaconGrokCorey ZDirectional JoySusan HOlivia KDan SIsaac SWill CJim WEvan BDavid Hmin2Aaron GVErik MBrady HJoshua JTony LDanny KSeth MAdam BJustin KAndy HDemoParker EMaxwell LSpiritofthunderJason WJason TCorey TMinnow Eats WhaleCaleb WfingerbellyJesse WMike TCodesWesleyErik BmebezacSergio LninjadeathdogRory BA42PoundMooseAndrewJustin MPeterStellar.BeesBrendan KScott RwreckxNoah OMichael GArcturusChris RhepaheCory FChase ALoveDiesNick QWes KChris MRBMichaela WAdam FScott HAlexander SPTherese KjgprintersJessica BMurrayDavid PJason KBede RKamrin HKyle SPhilip  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We talk Animal Crossing this week as Molly Phoenix (AKA Weast/Numbra) joins to discuss where we see the future of the series heading on the Switch 2. Is it finally time for Nintendo to dive head first into the realm of MMOs? What quality of life updates could a sequel to the massively popular New Horizons have in store? Listen to hear all of our thoughts. We also cover all the Nintendo and gaming news such as the itch.io's new NSFW policies, a better breakdown of the Pokemon Presents, the new LEGO Game Boy set, and much more. As always, we close with the games we've been playing. Listen to Super Switch Headz on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you enjoy podcasts. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:05:21 News and Rumors 0:34:57 The Future of Animal Crossing 1:04:39 Games We're Playing Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWbF4gb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/switchheadz Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SuperSwitchHeadz/ Website: https://www.switchheadz.com/ Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SwitchHeadzClips

It's the holy crap we're only 10 episodes away from 500 special, brought to you by Holden Afart! In this one I call a few swap shop users and a few receipt havers, and we not only get to listen to a guy hang up improperly and rant about my prank call all the way home, but we also learn a brand new insult phrase! The opening song is by Jenna G. on Fiverr. The background music is Black Mages by Emergency Pizza Party. The end song is Sensei Doug by The Tree Flushers. The show art is a picture of Cheshire Catalyst, the guy who made the 321 area code happen.LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHOW: To find out more about the music you hear on this show, visit our page of artists. For a bit of history and a studio tour, this is a good starting page. Request a prank call and find links related to shows at snowplowshow.com. If you're searching for a specific thing said in a show, shitbradsays.com is a great resource for that.SUPPORT THE PLA: For extra weekly shows, subscribe on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple. Get our t-shirts and stickers at our TeePublic store. Get coins, vinyl records, CDs, and more on our Bandcamp page. We also have thing in our Zazzle store in our Spreadshirt store. Buy important things for us at PLA's wishlist or Brad's wishlist, but most importantly, please tell your friends, family, and strangers about all about us.JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Add PLA on Prankcast for live shows, add PLA on Facebook, add Snow Plow Show on Facebook, add PLA on X, add PLA on Tik Tok, add PLA on Bluesky, add PLA on Tumblr, add PLA on YouTube, add Snow Plow Show on YouTube, PLA on Twitch, PLA on Instagram, join a Prank Call Discord, the PLA Reddit, add RBCP on Instagram, add RBCP on X, add RBCP on YouTube, and leave a voice message for the show at 814-422-5309.PLA FRIENDS AND STAFF: Nik Caesar from scary-art.com is the unofficial PLA artist.  Buy PLA designs from Nik's Spreadshirt store.  You might also like the cactus and PLA designs in Laugh Track Matt's store.  Clownsec does a lot of cool things for PLA so go honk the PLAnet.  Watch JIAD's Calls of Mass Confusion and listen to a few of the prank call shows over at World of Prank Calls. Joe DiVita and Vista Blue do lots of music for us, but so do lots of other people, so visit the SPS music page for a very incomplete list.GAME WITH PLA Join us Animal Crossing addicts by becoming our friends on Switch. If you're into GTA5, join the PLA Radio crew.

This week on the Toy Power Podcast; we are still down a Scot, as he is still unwell. But that will not slow him down in contributing to this ep! Before we get into the main segments, we chat about Ben & Frank's latest Plastic Addiction, in the form of Transformers Blokees! Prior to chatting about the Superman Film itself, we focus on the Toy likeness compared to what the actor actually looks like! With a little Jurassic World banter in between. Then, without another moment to spare, we get right into the James Gunn driven film itself! We chat towards our Cinema experiences and start off with a non-spoiler discussion; before we head into a chat about the whole Film itself! Giving it our typical DVG rating out of 19 too. Then changing gears, we introduce a New segment - named: Variant Schmariant! We each pick two variants of a pre-existing character (in toy form) that just doesn't need to exist. We unearth some quite silly versions of characters that had a legitimate Toy Release; that clearly logic was not a concern at all!! Plus we tie a nice bow around the proposed Nick-Names for both Frank & Scot. Enjoy!!Support the show: http://patreon.com/toypowerpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SUBSCRIBE NOW!!!! on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher & Audible. This week on the Press X to Start Gamer's Digest: DJ & Sean talk about Donkey Kong Bananza's big arrival, the newest Pokemon Presents, Animal Crossing rumors, FromSoftware's mysterious new game and much more!  Gaming News - Time code: 2:04 We take a look at Donkey Kong Bananza's UK launch sales and give our early impressions of the game; We speculated on what the newest Pokemon Presents was revealing; A new Animal Crossing rumored to be on the horizon for the Switch 2; FromSoftware reportedly deep in development on something called "FMC"; In the midst of being sued by the founders, Krafton extends the Subnautica 2 bonus period; Yves Guillemot's son named co-CEO of Ubisoft's new subsidiary; The recently laid off staff at King to be replaced by their own AI tools; A new FPS Ghost Recon in development at Ubisoft; Forza Horizon 5 moved an insane 2 million units in a month on PS5. What Have We Been Playing - Time code: 38:09 DJ & Sean talk about their enjoyment of the DS2 gameplay loop and speculate on what the 2025 GOTY contenders will end up being. If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate/review it on whatever service you're using. Every little bit helps!  Want to ask a question, ask us at PressX2start.com/Questions Join/Follow Us: Youtube: Press X To Start TV Twitch: pressxtostarttv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pressx2start Twitter: @PressX2S  Instagram: @PressX2Start TikTok: @pressx2start You can find more info about the Press X and who we are at www.PressX2start.com. If you have any questions or just want to tell us how great (or just slightly okay) we're doing or how we can be better, be a friend and reach out and email us at pressxtostartpodcast@gmail.com End music by @maztrshots on SoundCloud Be good to each other, Peace!

I guess it's kind of like a Bananza?Discussed:  Upcoming episode for Patrons, TWG on Bluesky, Donkey Kong Bananza, early 3D Nintendo games, Donkey Kong as a series, the history of Nintendo console launch windows, the appeal of Zelda speed runs, Word Play, Boss Keys (GMTK), Developing (GMTK), the journey of any creative project, the dream of portrait mode, Nurikabe World, Brendon's ROM Hack corner, Animal Crossing: City Folk Deluxe, why Animal Crossing works best handheld, and BeardoFind us everywhere: https://intothecast.onlineBuy some merch if you'd like: https://shop.intothecast.onlineJoin the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intothecast---Follow Stephen Hilger: https://bsky.app/profile/stephenhilger.bsky.social Follow Brendon Bigley: https://bsky.app/profile/bb.wavelengths.onlineProduced by AJ Fillari: https://bsky.app/profile/ajfillari.bsky.social---Season 7 cover art by Scout Wilkinson: https://scoutwilkinson.myportfolio.com/Theme song by Will LaPorte: https://ghostdown.online/---Timecodes:(00:00) - Intro (01:10) - Some announcements! (08:18) - Donkey Kong: Bananza | Punching our way into the episode (50:15) - Break (50:17) - Wordplay | Puzzle time (01:00:53) - Nurikabe World | An actual minesweeper segment (01:06:15) - Break (01:06:17) - Brendon's ROM Hack Shaq (01:08:15) - Animal Crossing: City Folk Deluxe | Brendon's ROM Hack Shaq (01:28:27) - Wrapping up ---Thanks to all of our amazing patrons including our Eternal Gratitude members:Zachary DIanfaceMcGeeMatt HClayton MChris Yw0nderbradShawn LCody RZach RFederico VLogan HAlan RSlinkmattjanzz DeaconGrokCorey ZDirectional JoySusan HOlivia KDan SIsaac SWill CJim WEvan BDavid Hmin2Aaron GVErik MBrady HJoshua JTony LDanny KSeth MAdam BJustin KAndy HDemoParker EMaxwell LSpiritofthunderJason WJason TCorey TMinnow Eats WhaleCaleb WfingerbellyJesse WMike TCodesWesleyErik BmebezacSergio LninjadeathdogRory BA42PoundMooseAndrewJustin MPeterStellar.BeesBrendan KScott RwreckxNoah OMichael GArcturusChris RhepaheCory FChase ALoveDiesNick QWes KChris MRBMichaela WAdam FScott HAlexander SPTherese KjgprintersJessica BMurrayDavid PJason KBede RKamrin HKyle SPhilip  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Kev talks about Guacho and the Grassland Timings 00:00:00: Theme Tune 00:00:30: Intro 00:02:57: What Has Kevin Been Up To 00:13:24: Game News 00:36:37: Gaucho And The Grassland 00:55:12: Outro Links Islanders: New Shores Super Zoo Story Release Info Fantasy Life i Password Hello Kitty: Island Adventure “Sunshine Adventure” Dicounty Employee Training Videos Sun Haven Snaccoon Plushie Contact Al on Mastodon: https://mastodon.scot/@TheScotBot Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/ Transcript (0:00:30) Kev: Well howdy partners and welcome to the harvest season. (0:00:35) Kev: Around these parts they call me Kevin. (0:00:39) Kev: Today you’re riding with me as we wander over yonder (0:00:42) Kev: and go exploring these fine grasslands. (0:00:47) Kev: Yes, hello, it’s true. (0:00:49) Kev: You’ve heard the rumors and I can’t confirm. (0:00:52) Kev: My name is Kevin and I am your sole host of the harvest season. (0:00:55) Kev: Hello everyone. (0:00:56) Kev: We’re here to talk about Cottage Corgades. (0:00:59) Kev: you know how we do (0:01:00) Kev: as I’m legally obligated to say by “ow” (0:01:04) Kev: um, but, uh, but yes, hello, no, no co-hosts, another solo cabin episode today (0:01:12) Kev: I can already hear the groan/cheers as you prepare for the best/worst kind of episode we have offered here on the Harvey season (0:01:22) Kev: uh, just, just me, un-chained, unhinged, uncensored, right? (0:01:28) Kev: No one stood here to stop me from singing. (0:01:30) Kev: songs or doing a foghorn-leg-horn impression. And so you know, yeah, prepare yourself. Just (0:01:38) Kev: me alone talking directly into your ears. Just you and me alone staring at each other (0:01:44) Kev: in an empty room. Hello everyone. I hope that sets the tone as it should be if you may feel (0:01:55) Kev: a little threatened. I’m sure Al does. Excuse me, I got a drink. (0:02:00) Kev: I don’t care. But yeah, so hello. It’s harvest season. As I was doing with my little cowboy (0:02:09) Kev: twang intro, I already got the voices going. We are here, and by we and me me, I’m here (0:02:16) Kev: to talk about Gaucho and the Grassland game that you all know. I have been eagerly awaiting, (0:02:26) Kev: forward to. It finally released and here I am with (0:02:30) Kev: some first impressions for it. But before that as as per our norm we have we have (0:02:40) Kev: some news to go over. That’s a good good bit of pieces of news I like them from (0:02:46) Kev: what I’ve seen so I’m looking forward to going over that with you guys. But (0:02:51) Kev: before that let’s talk about some non cottagecore game thing stuff I’ve been (0:02:57) Kev: up to because people are interested in that apparently. (0:03:02) Kev: And if you aren’t well, I don’t hear any objection. So there you go, you know, so (0:03:07) Kev: The well, yeah, this week’s been as usually, you know, I mean, I’m busy with work things and stuffs (0:03:14) Kev: And I just spent time on gotcha, of course, so, you know, that was a good chunk of time this week (0:03:20) Kev: But aside from that (0:03:23) Kev: I’ve been probably (0:03:26) Kev: So you both Pokemon unite hits fourth anniversary this this year this (0:03:30) Kev: Week a couple days ago whenever which first of all is horrifying to think about. I’m playing this game for four years time. Oh (0:03:39) Kev: whole time (0:03:41) Kev: Never never stops never. It’s always relentless (0:03:47) Kev: Now as per pretty much tradition at this point every year in the anniversary they release a new Pokemon a (0:03:53) Kev: Legendary or mythical we’ve had Mewtwo. Oh, oh sweet food. I think it was last year (0:03:59) Kev: And this year a little (0:04:00) Kev: Bit of a treat two for one special we’re getting the Latias and Latios the young duo the Latino was at Latinas (0:04:08) Kev: Whatever you want to call them the gen 3 that the blue and the red one (0:04:13) Kev: No, not not the ones on the box the other blue and red one (0:04:17) Kev: Yeah (0:04:19) Kev: That’s we only have Latios at the moment (0:04:25) Kev: But Latias will be releasing soon and they do in fact work together (0:04:31) Kev: It’s the first time we’ve seen pokemon explicitly boost and support (0:04:37) Kev: Another specific pokemon, so that’s a fun mechanic. I think in Unite. I’ve seen them played and they’re not (0:04:44) Kev: Terrifyingly busted like Mewtwo when he came out, but yeah, it’s fun. So (0:04:48) Kev: Fun times over there Unite. I enjoy it still still still on that train (0:04:54) Kev: Speaking of trains. I’m still on Zenla’s on zero with its update of an update of its own (0:05:01) Kev: The 2.1 patch or whatever number it’s it’s one of the bigger numbered patches which (0:05:07) Kev: Implies a story content update a new chapter in their story (0:05:13) Kev: Now unfortunately, I think Zenla’s on zero (0:05:16) Kev: Continues to suffer from a sort of identity crisis. I’ve talked about it (0:05:22) Kev: Before but when the game first came out. It was a very (0:05:25) Kev: Lack of better way of describing it mid 2000s urban vibe (0:05:30) Kev: big metropolitan city is the setting and people have flip phones and their CRTs (0:05:35) Kev: hanging about and video rentals a very specific aesthetic they were going for (0:05:41) Kev: and it worked for me right clearly up to taste if you know the player enjoyed it (0:05:46) Kev: or not but it worked and they they wrote that aesthetic with a with a solid (0:05:53) Kev: playing game plan and story for a year right there were hackers and kind of this (0:05:58) Kev: mystery to explore. (0:06:00) Kev: And, uh, but yeah, as they hit the end of year one, they kind of wrapped up a lot of (0:06:06) Kev: those storylines and threads, um, and I, I feel like they continue to struggle a bit (0:06:13) Kev: to follow that up, uh, for lack of better way of describing it. (0:06:18) Kev: Think of post-Endgame MCU, where it’s a little, suffering a little in its identity, I’m not (0:06:24) Kev: sure where to go. (0:06:26) Kev: And now this may just be a me thing because there are (0:06:30) Kev: leaning into this kind of like they’ve gone from this urban city to now we’re (0:06:35) Kev: out in rural not China where the the former hackers I mean they still are I (0:06:41) Kev: guess technically but they are now living at a temple because trying to keep (0:06:46) Kev: them on mystics with a bunch of monks which is a wild pivot from the more much (0:06:52) Kev: more science fiction heavy aesthetic and genre that they’re kind of leaning into (0:06:58) Kev: and then now we’re going into a bit of mysticism with (0:07:01) Kev: feng shui and energy lines and all that good stuff (0:07:05) Kev: So yeah, this may be an issue of just stuff getting lost in translation (0:07:10) Kev: You know mihoyo is a Chinese company and you know this may be (0:07:14) Kev: For that that target audience. I don’t know (0:07:18) Kev: And it doesn’t help that the cast did all the new characters that have been out since (0:07:23) Kev: 2.0, which is about a month or two ago (0:07:26) Kev: They this new cast has just not hit (0:07:30) Kev: I don’t find them as entertaining or engaging (0:07:34) Kev: Which isn’t entirely a bad thing (0:07:37) Kev: And this isn’t just the pullable characters even a lot of NPCs. They’re just not as memorable in my opinion (0:07:44) Kev: But the the pullable the playable characters (0:07:47) Kev: yeah, I don’t I pulled for one in the (0:07:51) Kev: Four three or four that have come out since then (0:07:54) Kev: Which isn’t entirely bad thing because that means I can now save up on resources for when stuff (0:07:58) Kev: I do want will drop and (0:08:00) Kev: And that will happen again. We’ve in true mohoyo fashion. They they tease upcoming characters (0:08:08) Kev: Not just in the marketing, but in in the gameplay you’ll you’ll meet some of them who are clearly like up (0:08:12) Kev: Here’s your next banner character or a couple banners away (0:08:16) Kev: In particular there’s a group called the obol squad they’re like a military Defense Force unit (0:08:23) Kev: and (0:08:24) Kev: Those guys have some cool designs (0:08:26) Kev: We’ve already gotten a few out in ZZZ, but the looks like we’re gonna fill out (0:08:30) Kev: the rest of that roster and I’m looking forward to those guys there’s a there’s (0:08:35) Kev: like a big Mecca guy that’s piloted by a little bunny robot there’s a their (0:08:41) Kev: captain has a living gun who is actually the captain I think something wild like (0:08:47) Kev: that the sniper of their unit is blind so you know there you go yeah colorful (0:08:53) Kev: colorful crew that oval squad so I’m looking forward to that but but until (0:09:00) Kev: I said ZZZ kind of kind of struggling a little with its the flavor if you will (0:09:06) Kev: um but it’s okay because the gameplay is still good even all those characters on (0:09:10) Kev: that instant come out you know they give you trials or you play with them in the (0:09:14) Kev: story or whatever they are fun mechanically gameplay wise they’re not (0:09:17) Kev: bad just yeah I’m not dying for them or anything and then the nice bit is not (0:09:25) Kev: just zenless I think all the mihoyo games they’re very strong with their side (0:09:28) Kev: content. They have lots of weird goofy modes. (0:09:30) Kev: For instance, right now they have a summer mode where you operate a seaside resort with all sorts of minigames. (0:09:37) Kev: And so you have to work to upgrade the minigames and the attractions, and that is certainly enjoyable, I’m having a blast with that little mode. (0:09:46) Kev: But yeah, that’s Endless Zone Zero, there’s my report. No one here to stop me. (0:09:52) Kev: Oh, so there you go. Now, aside from that, the other thing I want to talk about… (0:10:00) Kev: isn’t game, per se, but I’ve been watching a lot of Monk, the mid-2000s, I think it was like 2000 to 2008. (0:10:09) Kev: Detective Mystery Show, aired on USA Network, I think. It’s about Adrian Monk, a former detective on the police force whose wife was killed. (0:10:21) Kev: Which led to a dismissal, as he already had, let’s say, a lot of conditions. OCD. (0:10:30) Kev: And a lot of phobias. (0:10:32) Kev: and stuff like that well all that is amplified by his wife’s death and so now (0:10:37) Kev: he does work as a private investigator helping so helping the police just not (0:10:41) Kev: on their official payroll but but while managing all of these intense oddities (0:10:49) Kev: and quirks yeah I mean it ran for eight seasons it’s clearly a popular show and (0:10:56) Kev: you guess what lives up to it I’m a fan of detective mystery shows play a lot (0:11:02) Kev: right professor Layton you know it’s kind of in that in that lane and and the (0:11:08) Kev: mysteries themselves you know they obviously cast staff of writers so they (0:11:13) Kev: can vary right some it’s tough to write mysteries because how do you do it right (0:11:18) Kev: are you breadcrumbing the clues and it’s kind of obvious how it’s gonna go or do (0:11:24) Kev: you know is your detective so great they see something that the audience can’t (0:11:28) Kev: see or know, but they caught it and, oh, a big (0:11:32) Kev: reveal at the end. Um, so it’s hard to find a balance between there and, you know, between (0:11:37) Kev: the different episodes, uh, I think they swing both ways on this pendulum, but overall still (0:11:43) Kev: enjoyable, um, and it helps by the fact that the riding is excellent. It’s a very funny (0:11:50) Kev: show, um, as Monk has to navigate this world and the world has to navigate with Monk, supporting (0:11:57) Kev: his OCD and need to straighten and clean everything up. (0:12:02) Kev: and avoid things that are not clean or straight and orderly so it makes for (0:12:10) Kev: some very very entertaining scenarios and and monk himself is very well (0:12:16) Kev: written and enjoyable character played excellently by Tony Shalab I believe is (0:12:21) Kev: the actor’s name yeah very charming even with all his oddities and quirks very (0:12:28) Kev: Very, very funny, excellent, can’t recommend enough shocker. (0:12:32) Kev: 8 season show was popular, for a reason, so yeah, go check it out. (0:12:36) Kev: And hey, it has a great little intro theme, written and performed by Randy Newman, the Toy Story song guy you guys know what I’m talking about. (0:12:44) Kev: So that’s very catchy. (0:12:49) Kev: No, I will not sing this song right now, I’ll spare you all, for now. (0:12:55) Kev: But yeah, that’s uh, that’s some of the stuff I’ve been up to lately. (0:13:03) Kev: And so with that, let’s get, uh, let’s see what the world of video games has been up to. (0:13:10) Kev: Let’s start talking with those Xbox 9000 layoff. (0:13:14) Kev: No, no, I’m kidding, let’s stick to cottagecore stuff, as painful as it was, my heart, it goes out, my condolences to all those Xbox employees. (0:13:23) Kev: Ugh. (0:13:25) Kev: Ugh, so let’s talk about things that weren’t laid off, but in fact, the opposite, have stuff that… (0:13:32) Kev: …got launched and has, uh, updates. (0:13:36) Kev: Let’s start with, uh, Islanders. (0:13:39) Kev: Um, the Calm City Builder, uh, it has a, it’s come out with a big update, um, called Islanders New Shores. (0:13:50) Kev: You know, one of those subtitle type, uh, updates/expansions. (0:13:54) Kev: Um, this is the, yeah, city/island builder, and the new shores update. (0:14:02) Kev: Um, has, oh, it’s one of those kind of expansions, um, oh, I apologize, no, is this a sequel? (0:14:11) Kev: Oh, this is a sequel, I thought it was an expansion, oh, I’m wrong, oh, good, good for me, um, I… (0:14:26) Kev: Yeah, wow, I think this is one I just played before and said I should, I could be wrong. (0:14:31) Kev: Either way, it’s an island city builder, island/city builder. (0:14:37) Kev: A lot of the mechanics of the first game returning just, you know, bigger, better, more biomes, more options. (0:14:46) Kev: Very, very fun stuff. It does look up my alley and I might play it. (0:14:52) Kev: Kinda reminds me of the Terrenil, which is a game I still go to every now and then. (0:14:56) Kev: You can play a lot and enjoy. (0:14:58) Kev: Yeah, you’ve got lava islands, snow islands, rocky islands. (0:15:02) Kev: And you’re just building up little villages and population on these islands. (0:15:06) Kev: So yeah, very charming, very endearing. (0:15:08) Kev: Check it out. That is out already. (0:15:12) Kev: With a 60%… Oh my… Wait, is that right? (0:15:16) Kev: Hold on, is this available for $2 USD? (0:15:20) Kev: Wham! (0:15:22) Kev: Or is that part of it? (0:15:24) Kev: Oh, this is special prom- (0:15:26) Kev: Yup, wow that is lovely, yeah, very affordable game check it out. It’s on sale (0:15:36) Kev: And yeah, and they’re still gonna work on it they have a 2025 roadmap with (0:15:43) Kev: Basically a lot of the same just working and expanding very cool (0:15:48) Kev: Yeah, good for you islanders new shores (0:15:51) Kev: Great looking game. I might very likely check this out. This looks like something (0:15:56) Kev: I could use you know kind of a just pick up in and just zone out for a little bit sort of game (0:16:02) Kev: Not not heavy at all. I like it (0:16:05) Kev: All right. Let’s see here. What next um ah (0:16:10) Kev: Something that is not out, but is coming out. Let’s talk about super zoo story the I (0:16:18) Kev: Guess Star Zoo Valley you could call it. It feels what I call a star do like but set in a zoo instead of a farm (0:16:26) Kev: um (0:16:27) Kev: They came out with a big post on their Kickstarter (0:16:31) Kev: This this is a this is kind of a wild one they had to clarify their release date and development (0:16:41) Kev: Feels like an important one that probably should have been made clear, but but hey it happens (0:16:48) Kev: Basically if they they chalk it up to they you know (0:16:52) Kev: There was the text portion of the Kickstarter and then there’s graphics portions (0:16:56) Kev: on the Kickstarter and basically they just fudged up they mixed up some of (0:17:03) Kev: the dates. The true and proper release date is the graphic the shown on the (0:17:09) Kev: little timeline graphic. They are planning to release an alpha version of (0:17:14) Kev: the game in the second half of this year 2025. A beta will release in the first (0:17:18) Kev: half of 2026 with the goal of the full release in 2026 second half. (0:17:26) Kev: and from their post they describe that they feel they are on track you know (0:17:32) Kev: famous last words but hey they’re trying they kind of go over different (0:17:38) Kev: categories of stuff they’re working on (0:17:46) Kev: customization (0:17:48) Kev: They do want to launch with multiplayer in the game including minigames like a little soccer game you can play with others (0:17:54) Kev: That’s that’s fun. I don’t I don’t know how to start (0:17:57) Kev: Do you have that yet like little minigames you can actually play with people are playing on multiplayer. I don’t remember it does (0:18:04) Kev: But that’s uh, that’s fun. That’s good. Oh, so hey, but good for them. They came out trying to dress it (0:18:11) Kev: It’s we know (0:18:14) Kev: You know still waiting a year (0:18:16) Kev: I’m certainly in no rush for it. Let’s take your time. Well, I get this. I don’t know like (0:18:21) Kev: The whole relationships and you know stardew mechanic tropes like I I don’t know (0:18:27) Kev: But it’s a zoo and I really love animals. So maybe I don’t know (0:18:34) Kev: Maybe more than maybe (0:18:38) Kev: Yeah, but yeah, there’ll be plenty of time at least a year until this comes out (0:18:44) Kev: And yeah, no rush (0:18:46) Kev: By any means because there is plenty of stuff to play in the meanwhile (0:18:52) Kev: Including I transition (0:18:55) Kev: Go go town which has the fifth major update tourist trap (0:19:02) Kev: So, yeah go go town the kind of Animal Crossing gone on hyperdrive (0:19:12) Kev: Looking game as I would describe it (0:19:16) Kev: They’ve released an update called tourist trap which puts a lot of emphasis on making the village town a tourist attraction (0:19:23) Kev: So now you have lots of people coming in they have thought bubbles (0:19:27) Kev: There’s ratings on the attractions and the food and stuff like that. Yeah, you know kind of rollercoaster tycoon (0:19:34) Kev: It looks cute um with this update they’ve also introduced like new (0:19:40) Kev: categories of people that can visit aliens and robots and werewolves and all sorts of stuff (0:19:46) Kev: Which is fun and some of those characters can also become what they call townies the actual villagers (0:19:52) Kev: And then they could some structures like transit systems that introduces it a little way of doing it (0:19:58) Kev: So basically like you okay, I want the werewolf while I have to (0:20:01) Kev: Unlock the werewolf transit system and that will include a werewolf (0:20:07) Kev: Townie in your town (0:20:09) Kev: So that’s fun (0:20:11) Kev: It introduces a tier three industry. That’s kind of cool (0:20:16) Kev: a factory that leads to production of resources that leads to massive landmarks as they call it (0:20:21) Kev: a big lighthouse a stadium ooh hot springs a conservatory okay okay um yeah that’s cool (0:20:30) Kev: and oh hey yeah yum grease that’s that yum grease tm that’s (0:20:47) Kev: uh… I admire how unabashedly they are about uh… (0:20:52) Kev: the zaniness of stuff like that uh… very cool very cute (0:20:56) Kev: so yeah go go to oh yeah they have oh big one here uh… (0:21:00) Kev: uh… (0:21:01) Kev: cliff customization you know all of the new new horizons uh… (0:21:06) Kev: that’s that’s been added which includes waterfalls they also added water (0:21:18) Kev: I like that a lot, so yeah, a lot of new customization stuff, um, clowns, they can have clowns joining in the party, uh, that’s fun, you know, I admire Gogotown, they just keep going at it, and leaning into whatever it is they’re doing, kind of just over the top nonsense, and I appreciate that, I, Kevin, appreciate it over the top nonsense, shocker. (0:21:42) Kev: Um, yeah, so good for you, and again, that is our (0:21:48) Kev: party out now, uh, GOGO, see the GOGOTOWN, yeah, yeah baby, haha, um, alright, next up, uh, let’s talk about super farming boy, no, not a super meat boy expansion, sadly, or crossover, um, but it is a charming game nonetheless, it is, oh gosh, uh, we’ve, I think we’ve discussed, we, I know we’ve seen (0:22:18) Kev: it before, discussed it, but, um, they’re, they’re coming out with an early access that’s out in August 12th, this game is the using, okay, quote here from their steam page, an action puzzle farming sim featuring chain reactions and combos, which is just a wild descriptor in my opinion. (0:22:37) Kev: Um, so yeah, you play, uh, what’s, little character, uh, what is, oh gosh, I get it, oh, super farming boy gets his name. (0:22:48) Kev: It’s all in this very like, oh, comic bookie style, not exactly cop head, but very cartoony style, maybe like mid 2000s or 2010s, uh, cartoon network, like adventure times, even universe esque designs. (0:23:06) Kev: Um, yeah, you play super farming boy, his body transforms into the different tools. Um, so you just have one tool basically that just changes for the situation, which is a fun concept. (0:23:18) Kev: Very charming, vibrant art style. Um, and yeah, the chain thing is weird. Like you pull up one carrot, but it does like a grid thing that pulls all the other carrots in the same pattern nearby. (0:23:30) Kev: Um, very dynamic, very chaotic looking game. Um, but in a good way, like it’s clearly what they’re going for. So, you know, I guess that just might be a thing for days. There’s boss battle. So, you know, I think that using, using the. (0:23:50) Kev: um they have uh they have touch control that’s super cool (0:23:54) Kev: um yeah so very interesting i’ll be keeping my eye out on this um and hey (0:23:58) Kev: the hidden early access on like I said august 12th (0:24:01) Kev: um so that’s cool good for them they’re getting there uh demo is out now if you (0:24:05) Kev: want to see um look up for you super farming boy (0:24:18) Kev: Oh here’s a, you know, okay next up a game I also want to keep being themselves. (0:24:23) Kev: Fantasy Life Eye. They have hit 1.2 million copies sold. That’s a lot. Well, yeah that’s for like a (0:24:36) Kev: little over a month. That’s pretty good. They’re giving out some gift codes for (0:24:47) Kev: play fantasy life I don’t know these these might be good materials maybe not (0:24:51) Kev: there’s not a lot of them there’s like 12 no 9 there’s like three sets of one (0:24:57) Kev: two three six okay there’s 18 there’s six sets of three materials each yeah (0:25:02) Kev: I’m happy overall mostly with the number of fantasy life sold because I’m a big (0:25:10) Kev: level 5 fan and I was especially worried when they’re in North America office (0:25:14) Kev: But their they came out with this beautiful (0:25:17) Kev: And it’s it’s going strong on fantasy life seared the prequel again (0:25:21) Kev: I played the DS version a lot the DS game (0:25:25) Kev: I still play it actually I’m going through the DLC origin island (0:25:31) Kev: Kind of - when this came out it was you know, I was like, oh, I don’t want to buy it (0:25:36) Kev: But I didn’t do that DLC so I fired it up and I’ve been checking away at the DLC a little bit here and there (0:25:42) Kev: I like it. It’s good. It’s the single-player MMO (0:25:45) Kev: I don’t know if Fantasy Life Eye still follows it. (0:25:47) Kev: It still has at least a lot of that level five charm and design I still love. (0:25:53) Kev: So good for you Fantasy Life Eye. Keep keep on selling. Do another 1.2 million. (0:25:56) Kev: Yeah. All right speaking of games that sold probably at least 1.2 million. (0:26:04) Kev: I’d be shocked for anything less. Hello Kitty Island Adventure coming out with (0:26:08) Kev: another update. The Sunshine Celebration Update. Summer Vacation Festival, Tiki’s (0:26:16) Kev: Bitch (0:26:18) Kev: You know beach party type to update. It’s one of those seasonal events where hey (0:26:28) Kev: trade ’em in for new stuff, you know, new decorations and whatnot, it’s very cute. (0:26:34) Kev: It’s botsmaru, running a little juice-sticky bar. (0:26:38) Kev: Um, yeah, I like it, very cute. (0:26:42) Kev: Um, yeah, that’s uh, oh, it’s on sale right now, 25% off, get it for $30 USD, I don’t know for when, but uh, (0:26:49) Kev: but yo, check it out, it’s a good game, we talked about it on at least two episodes, and I like it. (0:26:55) Kev: Good for you, little kitty island venture. You’re a good thing. (0:26:58) Kev: That’s good. (0:27:00) Kev: Ah, you know what else is good, folks? (0:27:04) Kev: Discounty. Or more specifically, their little PR campaign they’ve done. (0:27:10) Kev: So, discounty. We have talked about it for people who may not remember. (0:27:15) Kev: You are running a convenience type store. (0:27:22) Kev: It’s like in the middle of a city, and it kind of feels like, you know, (0:27:26) Kev: just small little. (0:27:28) Kev: This is a grocery type store, um, I think the store is called ‘Discounty’. (0:27:34) Kev: Anyways they released a series of videos that they call ‘Employee Training Videos’ and these (0:27:41) Kev: videos are framed as such, you know you get little CRT scan lines and then the little (0:27:47) Kev: jingle for the business as you work for the ‘Discounty Corporation’. (0:27:51) Kev: They go over a few different mechanics, they talk about store expansion, they can buy land (0:27:58) Kev: to expand your store, excuse me. (0:28:04) Kev: Customer happiness is one. (0:28:09) Kev: Store layout and customization, I’m actually impressed by that one, there’s a wide range (0:28:13) Kev: of customization and layout options. (0:28:17) Kev: And it’s, I think that’s a, I think this is gonna be a key element in making this enjoyable (0:28:23) Kev: right because you know running a store as you know Al’s not fond of and for a lot of (0:28:28) Kev: understandable reasons right, it’s kind of maybe, as Al says, the just, it’s the shipping (0:28:36) Kev: box with extra steps or whatever. (0:28:38) Kev: Well this clearly is not that, there’s a lot more in that, you invest, you can, you kind (0:28:42) Kev: of think strategically how do I want to layout merchandise. (0:28:47) Kev: And I think that’s pretty clever and not just that but aesthetically there’s a lot of variations (0:28:52) Kev: you can go with. (0:28:53) Kev: You know you can actually make it look like a little greenhouse sort of store, you know, (0:28:58) Kev: a nursery that’s the word because you have so many plants and whatnot. (0:29:03) Kev: Yeah they’re even do, they have an employee of a month contest in their discords, that’s (0:29:10) Kev: very cute, where they crown a winner of like the best looking shops every month with the (0:29:15) Kev: demo you can play. (0:29:17) Kev: That is, that is very, very cute. (0:29:19) Kev: Yeah let’s see, okay there’s a couple more training videos, welcome to Blomkis the town’s (0:29:26) Kev: called Blomkis, kind of an overview of the town. (0:29:29) Kev: There’s a shop, some of the different locals and locales, locations you can visit. (0:29:36) Kev: That’s uh, that’s fun. (0:29:40) Kev: And then there’s another employee training video on talking about relationships, like (0:29:45) Kev: the mechanics and different types of characters you can meet and whatnot. (0:29:52) Kev: That’s yeah, that’s the last one. (0:29:55) Kev: Now throughout these training videos there’s a common theme (0:29:58) Kev: Of uh, how should I put this uh, the CD underbelly. This really feels like the Joja Market route, the game. (0:30:10) Kev: Um, because um, at the end of each of these training videos there’s a disclaimer. (0:30:15) Kev: “Discounty corporation cannot be held liable for any environmental damage, interpersonal relationship issues, (0:30:25) Kev: or riotous uprisings that occur as a result of the (0:30:28) Kev: these training, uh, following this training video. (0:30:32) Kev: So, um, yeah, clearly they framed that some of this stuff can result in bad (0:30:37) Kev: things. Um, and you do in fact, get a tiny sliver of a frame of a riotous (0:30:42) Kev: uprising. So, um, yeah, I don’t know. Can you lean into that or is it, you know, (0:30:48) Kev: like, oh, you’re going to have a change of heart and changed how the model works. (0:30:51) Kev: I don’t know, but you know, they’re aware of what they’re doing. It’s fun. Um, (0:30:57) Kev: And it does look like you have the eye. (0:30:58) Kev: You don’t have the option to build relationships with people. (0:31:02) Kev: You can bribe or make things easier for you to get around permitting or control press. (0:31:08) Kev: Get in a relationship with a reporter and avoid bad press from your store. (0:31:12) Kev: Which is kind of a fun idea actually. (0:31:16) Kev: The people, your relationships impact the status of your farm. I like that. That’s good. (0:31:22) Kev: Yeah, that’s clever. I’m excited for this one. (0:31:28) Kev: This is the store simulators. (0:31:30) Kev: I think has a lot of charm and personality and the mechanics like I said the whole store customization thing. I (0:31:36) Kev: Like that a lot. I’m a big fan. So yeah, keep (0:31:41) Kev: Keeping on up for that folks (0:31:44) Kev: Say do we have a release date? I don’t think we do (0:31:51) Kev: Could be dead wrong, but oh, oh I’m dead right. I am dead wrong. It’s available August 21st 2025 (0:31:56) Kev: Oh, that’s that’s around the corner of the month (0:32:00) Kev: I can’t wait for that. Oh, oh, yeah, I’ll definitely be playing this. I’m very excited for that. Yay (0:32:05) Kev: I like it when I don’t have to wait too long for things. That’s that’s fun (0:32:12) Kev: Yeah (0:32:14) Kev: Okay, there you go discount (0:32:16) Kev: All right. Yeah, do check out those videos. I think they’re charming only down like maybe a minute long each something like that (0:32:22) Kev: Um, they they’re they’re flavorful. They have a lot of character. So check them out (0:32:27) Kev: Well, you know, you know we have the links on the website. (0:32:30) Kev: Oh (0:32:32) Kev: Okay, lastly Sun-Haven Sun Haven I addressed (0:32:40) Kev: As as mandated by the cottage cores laws of the internet games fear (0:32:46) Kev: We they’ve come out with to make ship plushy because of course they have (0:32:49) Kev: You know what hats off to make ship. They’re they’re hustlers. Look how much they get done (0:32:55) Kev: Anyways, what is cool though is I haven’t seen this before (0:33:00) Kev: I didn’t really realize there are jumbo plushies. This is not though like (0:33:13) Kev: It is a plushy. I should say of the snack Coon. It’s kind of like big perp (0:33:18) Kev: Oh my god, I forgot this is that’s just a big the Casa big belly has the purple and the stripes with the white bell (0:33:23) Kev: That is just (0:33:25) Kev: Big the cat but a raccoon. Oh (0:33:28) Kev: Man, I did. I just saw myself on this maybe (0:33:33) Kev: Let’s see here (0:33:35) Kev: You have 12 days to get this to make ship campaign. That’s how they are right always limited campaign (0:33:40) Kev: 12 well actually only available until August (0:33:43) Kev: 12th at noon eastern (0:33:46) Kev: us eastern that’s when it’s sad so (0:33:48) Kev: to say like maybe a week after you hear this the senate (0:33:52) Kev: uh… (0:33:53) Kev: but yeah it is a (0:33:56) Kev: missus (0:34:07) Kev: Either way, um, it’s the snack own sleeping has the blep tongue. I don’t think the belly is big enough. That’s gonna be my biggest (0:34:23) Kev: Don’t know maybe it’s just something about the posing doesn’t doesn’t feel as round (0:34:28) Kev: It does seem more raccoon like and as a plush, which I’m sure they wanted (0:34:33) Kev: but (0:34:35) Kev: But yeah check it out um (0:34:38) Kev: Because you have a little better week to jump on that so (0:34:42) Kev: Almost 38 USD that is aging premium jumbo plushie, I guess (0:34:48) Kev: Snacks are not included. Oh and hey the things already funded so you know if you want it you can just get it (0:34:54) Kev: It’s yours. You don’t have to worry about not getting it (0:34:57) Kev: So there you go um (0:35:00) Kev: Good for you son hobbin son haven put putting out a very big plushie of (0:35:06) Kev: Not big the cat when do we get the big why don’t wait do I have it? No, I don’t think I would be the cat plushie (0:35:13) Kev: Hold on hold on folks. This is what is a Kevin episode. I’m checking the interwebs a big the cat plush (0:35:23) Kev: Is there an official one right? That’s the question cuz of course Etsy has 800 of them (0:35:30) Kev: Great Eastern Entertainment, I think that might be an officially licensed one. Oh snap oh (0:35:37) Kev: Oh my gosh, and it’s almost the price of the snack goon plushie (0:35:42) Kev: Okay, I might not get snack good, but I might get a big the cat plushie (0:35:47) Kev: This episode is an accessory (0:35:50) Kev: You can hear the roars of cheering (0:35:53) Kev: Enjoy as Kevin discovers the big the cat plushie (0:35:59) Kev: He has his fishing rod oh, he looks very dopey. I love it his belly’s not big enough. No his arms are too long (0:36:12) Kev: Oh, but Kevin discovers the big, the cat flush. (0:36:18) Kev: Good times. (0:36:19) Kev: All right. (0:36:20) Kev: All right. (0:36:20) Kev: All right. (0:36:21) Kev: The, the, the, I know that’s the real hard hitting news. (0:36:23) Kev: We all want it, but that’s, that’s all I got. (0:36:25) Kev: That’s, that’s the news we covered the docket. (0:36:27) Kev: Yay. (0:36:29) Kev: Um, so with that being said, let’s get into go show in the grassland. (0:36:38) Kev: So, um, all right, this one, I feel needs a little. (0:36:42) Kev: Just, uh, just a hint of historical context, what is a gaucho? (0:36:54) Kev: Um, so, uh, a gaucho in a very, very base and somewhat inaccurate descriptor, uh, would (0:37:05) Kev: be a South American cowboy, right? (0:37:08) Kev: Um, uh, the, the emphasis being particularly on the horsemanship, the, the skills of equestrianism (0:37:17) Kev: and all that. (0:37:18) Kev: Um, and you know, this, as we all know, I’m Mexican, right? (0:37:22) Kev: So this is south of my border, if you will, right? (0:37:24) Kev: In Mexico, the Vaquero is very, very much synonymous or equivalent to the American cowboy, (0:37:32) Kev: because, hey guess what, like a third of American cowboys were Hispanic, so. (0:37:36) Kev: So, you know, that whole iconography, mythos, is similar, but gauchas are just a little (0:37:44) Kev: different. (0:37:45) Kev: Part of it, I think, is the environment, right? (0:37:48) Kev: We’re talking Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, right? (0:37:53) Kev: A lot, uh… (0:37:55) Kev: A very different environment from the big wide open plains of the U.S., right? (0:38:00) Kev: I mean, there were, they called the Pampas, um, the, uh… (0:38:05) Kev: Kind of plains out in South America, but it’s still, generally speaking, a more heavily forested area, right, so… (0:38:12) Kev: Um, the South American region, right, tropics, and all that good stuff. (0:38:16) Kev: Um… (0:38:19) Kev: So yeah, um, Gauchos, um… (0:38:21) Kev: they they have this sort of uh… meat (0:38:26) Kev: or stereotype of being brave and unruly at the same time (0:38:30) Kev: like very rough and tumble sort of guys out there (0:38:34) Kev: not necessarily like Wild West Sheriff type thing (0:38:38) Kev: but you know they’re out there (0:38:48) Kev: living out on the country living out on the land (0:38:52) Kev: that’s the word I’m looking for and so again (0:38:56) Kev: this South American region and (0:39:00) Kev: that leads to this game Gautreaux and the Grassland which is (0:39:04) Kev: in fact developed by a Brazilian (0:39:07) Kev: game dev company one second let me find their name again (0:39:13) Kev: Gautreaux and the Grassland (0:39:18) Kev: Ipopia games I hope I’m saying that wrong (0:39:22) Kev: or yeah good good job man I hope I’m saying that wrong I hope I’m not saying (0:39:26) Kev: that wrong that is again for talking in South America so this is more Portuguese (0:39:31) Kev: in Spanish so I don’t speak Portuguese I can kind of you know guess a little bit (0:39:37) Kev: but yeah so this was announced forever ago and when this when I saw this game I (0:39:43) Kev: I was thinking, okay, it’s like, 3D Stardew… (0:39:53) Kev: That’s what I thought that the game was going to be, more or less. (0:39:57) Kev: Now, what the game was, or is, isn’t quite that. (0:40:04) Kev: Let’s start with the very first thing. (0:40:05) Kev: First of all, when I bought it, it’s only $20 USD. (0:40:08) Kev: Okay, well, I honestly expected a little more. (0:40:11) Kev: I thought it was going to be, but, I mean, hey, that’s a good surprise, right? (0:40:15) Kev: But it also, I think, does set the expectations of the game, right? (0:40:20) Kev: This was smaller in scale than I expected, I would say. (0:40:24) Kev: And it’s only 1.3 GB, so yeah, much smaller in scale than I expected. (0:40:29) Kev: I was like, “Huh.” (0:40:33) Kev: But that’s not a bad thing, just, you know, just surprise me a little, maybe I wasn’t paying attention. (0:40:41) Kev: So what I did get, instead of Stardew, but South American Cowboy, (0:40:47) Kev: what we got is a game that is more, I think, about that. (0:40:54) Kev: The themes of the couch, which is weird to say. There’s an important bit here. (0:40:59) Kev: When I checked early on, when I was playing, I just happened to check the credits, because I was curious to find out a little more. (0:41:07) Kev: Because when you start the game, it actually tells you that this was, the development was aided by what they call the State Department of Culture, (0:41:14) Kev: which I believe is in reference to a Brazilian governmental, like, federal funding thing. (0:41:20) Kev: Um, which I personally found very endearing. (0:41:24) Kev: Um, uh, and, you know, that, you know, could be largely contextual because of how things are in the U.S., we’re losing NPR, PBS, et cetera, right? (0:41:36) Kev: So, and then you have this little game out of Brazil where, you know, the Brazilian government wants to make, uh, quite a little game about, um, (0:41:53) Kev: So, um, so yeah, that, that, that shortly made me say, huh. (0:41:58) Kev: Um, but furthermore, like I said, I went through the credits and at the end. (0:42:04) Kev: They, they have a dedication to the, the victims of, uh, of some (0:42:12) Kev: floods that happened in Brazil. (0:42:13) Kev: Um, uh, from when I read and researched about, uh, January of 2025 this year. (0:42:21) Kev: You know to the victims and communities affected (0:42:23) Kev: by these heavy flooding some I was not aware of this this stuff but but yeah (0:42:31) Kev: thousands of people were affected people left homeless and so on and so forth so (0:42:38) Kev: yeah obviously a tragic event and I don’t know um like that so recent it’s (0:42:48) Kev: hard to know how much an impact did the development but that little dedication (0:42:53) Kev: kind of paint this this whole game in a different light for me because what this (0:43:01) Kev: game is it’s not the stardew valley like I thought what this game is is about a (0:43:07) Kev: community and helping people out because that’s what the premise is you are a (0:43:13) Kev: nameless gaucho and you are summoned by literally your ghost father that is the (0:43:21) Kev: character’s name, Ghost Father. (0:43:23) Kev: And he, uh, has implored you, forced you. (0:43:29) Kev: It’s, it’s kind of pushy, kind of not even, you don’t get the choice. (0:43:33) Kev: Um, you are given the role of a guardian, a, to, to help, to go out into these (0:43:41) Kev: grasslands and these areas, um, where people have been suffering from all sorts (0:43:46) Kev: of natural and unnatural disasters and to go help them out and restore their (0:43:52) Kev: communities. (0:43:53) Kev: And this is what the game is, it’s not about necessarily your central homestead, but to go out and to go restore these different areas, helping people out. (0:44:05) Kev: That is like legitimate, actually the progress measure, how many happy points you get from people. (0:44:19) Kev: and so yeah it’s like I said very different from what I expected but it’s not (0:44:23) Kev: necessarily a bad thing I personally found this charming and endearing like (0:44:29) Kev: I said you know maybe (0:44:38) Kev: Things aren’t great, right? Maybe it’s my own. You know, I’ve got a lot of personal stuff going on (0:44:44) Kev: Maybe that’s making more sympathetic. Maybe I’m just a big sap. Guess what I am - we all know this (0:44:50) Kev: but I (0:44:51) Kev: found (0:44:53) Kev: This overall premise this overall theme to be very charming and endearing and I think a lot of it’s a presentation (0:44:59) Kev: It has the character designs are very overcooked (0:45:02) Kev: Let’s say for lack of a better way like very cartoony very cutesy and exaggerated (0:45:07) Kev: You’re the gout, the male gout, you can be like- (0:45:08) Kev: I’m male or female, but the male gout characters are generally speaking very big mustaches and eyebrows, very cartoon-y and cute. (0:45:18) Kev: Your dog also gets some eyebrows and mustache. (0:45:24) Kev: So yeah, I don’t know, for all the times I writhe in pain over the term, this game did in fact feel cozy to me. (0:45:38) Kev: At least it touched me, let’s say that. (0:45:42) Kev: Like I said, maybe I’m reading too much into it, right? Maybe that was just a nice little dedication I put in, but… (0:45:48) Kev: When I see this, right, it’s a game about hoping people, they have these floods, and you have the State Department of Culture funding them, backing them up, like… (0:46:00) Kev: I don’t know, all that is a feel-good story to me, like, it adds up to just something a little heartwarming. (0:46:10) Kev: But like I said, I don’t know, maybe that’s just me, it’s just mine being just too influenced by other stuff going on. (0:46:16) Kev: But overall, regardless of that, I do think the game is still charming, and overall the gaming is enjoyable. (0:46:24) Kev: So let’s talk about the actual gameplay mechanics. (0:46:28) Kev: It’s very resource-like collect and manage-not even manage, it’s collecting, right? (0:46:34) Kev: You’re not even, or at least from the portion I’ve played, I’ve only played (0:46:39) Kev: One of three different areas. I wasn’t you’re not really (0:46:43) Kev: Farming growing crops you I was and there might be it looks like there’s some different mechanics. I might unlock on each area (0:46:52) Kev: Because I know there’s chickens in the I have not encountered chickens (0:46:55) Kev: I did raise cattle and and grow and get milk from them, but but no crops (0:47:01) Kev: Um, so there might be that I might buy I don’t want to be inaccurate (0:47:06) Kev: But just I haven’t reached that if that’s the case, but so yeah, but (0:47:09) Kev: Not so much about growing the resources going out and gathering or finding them right chopping trees picking (0:47:15) Kev: You know using your pickaxe at stones to get stones. You mean your dog is a little resource generator (0:47:21) Kev: You used 10 did to dig at holes and it finds metal bits or or clay or you know different different items and resources (0:47:31) Kev: And and so yeah, so you have these different tools (0:47:34) Kev: Yeah, the axe the pickaxe a machete. Oh machete. You can cut down grass different types of (0:47:39) Kev: Grasses and stuff with it a jug for collecting water (0:47:43) Kev: Oh and a milk bucket took to milk cows cuz cows or milk cow milk is a resource as well (0:47:50) Kev: And so you’re gathering all these resources and you’re going around and helping people out right it’s full 3d (0:47:57) Kev: So, you know you the horse riding as it should be with a gaucho game is very important (0:48:04) Kev: have a horse with you at all times or you can hop on or summon it you can whistle and… (0:48:08) Kev: it’ll come to you at all times. The horse riding feels good you can lasso from the (0:48:14) Kev: horse riding and use a cattle horn to to have cows follow you all that feels (0:48:19) Kev: good as it should be as I’d expect so you know thumbs up for that it feels (0:48:24) Kev: like what I want or what I’d expect right which is always such an important (0:48:28) Kev: thing for any game. So yeah mechanically I think it’s it’s very solid and and hey (0:48:34) Kev: They are supporting it in between the time you’re playing it and… (0:48:38) Kev: …and, you know, coming out and me talking about this, they’ve come out with a couple updates… (0:48:43) Kev: …including one that improved gamepad performance. (0:48:46) Kev: ‘Cause the gamepad at first felt almost like a mouse cursor, you know, that sort of experience, which isn’t ideal. (0:48:52) Kev: And so they said, “Hey, we’re gonna fix that,” and now it just snaps to different menu options. (0:48:55) Kev: Like, “Alright, now that we’re talking, that’s what I want from a gamepad.” (0:48:59) Kev: So, so good for them. Good for them. (0:49:01) Kev: Um… (0:49:03) Kev: Uh… (0:49:04) Kev: Where was it going? (0:49:05) Kev: Uh, anyways, okay, going back to the resources. (0:49:07) Kev: So yeah, you gather all these resources. (0:49:08) Kev: If you’re six and stones and water and all that stuff and going around and helping people, um, there’s, there’s all sorts of different things, but hey, help me build me build this cart and this fence. (0:49:18) Kev: My cows all broke out. (0:49:19) Kev: Can you help me fix this fence and, and go herd my cows back here? (0:49:23) Kev: Can you help me build the trough for these new animals? (0:49:26) Kev: Can you fill it with water? (0:49:27) Kev: Can you help extinguish all these fires that are popping up with the jar? (0:49:32) Kev: Um, uh, you know, different things. (0:49:36) Kev: Um, it’s that. (0:49:38) Kev: particularly deep, there’s no, you know, deep character stories or lures or anything. (0:49:44) Kev: But you’re just going out and just helping a community, just helping these little people (0:49:47) Kev: regrow their little village, your community. (0:49:51) Kev: And as you do, you know, you get, I think they literally call it happiness points or (0:49:55) Kev: something like that. (0:49:57) Kev: And kind of what you’re doing in each of the areas, because there’s, like I said, there’s (0:50:00) Kev: three different areas. (0:50:01) Kev: You start off the game in one central hub world, but then you hop over to different (0:50:05) Kev: areas and what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to find like (0:50:08) Kev: this spirit guardian of this of each region. So once you help (0:50:14) Kev: enough people, you open a door where there’s there’s some (0:50:25) Kev: uh… and that’s kind of the overall objective for each area (0:50:32) Kev: in that there is still (0:50:35) Kev: some sandboxy creative elements it’s not (0:50:38) Kev: totally linear (0:50:40) Kev: uh… there’s areas of land you can buy by exchanging enough resources (0:50:45) Kev: uh… and some quests will actually ask you to do so because (0:50:48) Kev: when you buy the land you can (0:50:50) Kev: create different buildings on it (0:50:53) Kev: You’re given different recipes and… (0:50:55) Kev: You can build different types of houses, or a barn, or fencing, or you know, little different structures. (0:51:02) Kev: And from what, again, only going to employ one of the three areas, it does look like I could go to the second area and get new recipes and bring them back to the first area. (0:51:12) Kev: So, yeah, there’s this element of building up, not just repairing and helping all these little people, but actually building up the town. (0:51:22) Kev: the town, and a lot of it is purely aesthetic, cosmetic. (0:51:25) Kev: but it’s still charming, and it’s a little grid based system, you build, put a building here, put a building there, whatever. (0:51:32) Kev: It’s not super in-depth, at least from what I’ve seen, you can’t build like, let’s say, roads, which I kind of wish I could. (0:51:39) Kev: Because I think that would kind of make the village feel nicer, or whatever. (0:51:43) Kev: But, you know, it’s not Animal Crossing customized to every bit of a speck of dirt on the island, or whatever. (0:51:50) Kev: But it is a nice little creative outlet, too. (0:52:00) Kev: um and so that uh yeah that that’s like I said that’s I i’m only maybe a third of the game it’s (0:52:11) Kev: a very short game i’ll say you could probably you know for someone who’s busy you could probably (0:52:17) Kev: knock out maybe a week you just play it like an hour or two every night um because yeah i’ve (0:52:22) Kev: played I don’t know the exact card count but I would estimate i’m about a third of the way (0:52:27) Kev: done with the game and you know for that price that’s (0:52:30) Kev: perfectly fine and acceptable but yeah that’s that’s kind of it it is a like (0:52:39) Kev: game at least from what I’ve seen so far and that’s okay sometimes I like game is (0:52:44) Kev: good like I said earlier and more importantly like I said I think this (0:52:50) Kev: game does something that’s very hard and that’s just to make it charming but (0:52:56) Kev: Genuinely that that heartwarming sense of help (0:53:01) Kev: I don’t know that that’s (0:53:07) Kev: Like I think of Stardew Valley in the whole Jojo route and taking out right there helping people (0:53:13) Kev: like those those stories, you know, you help certain people and you get involved in their stories and whatever but (0:53:19) Kev: The overall feeling of restoring the community so I don’t know sometimes that maybe that gets lost in the weeds of just trying to fill (0:53:26) Kev: out the community (0:53:27) Kev: Center request or whatever (0:53:30) Kev: but this game like that’s clearly what they’re aiming for and I think it was a (0:53:36) Kev: They succeeded at it, which you know hats off to them. I find that very (0:53:41) Kev: impressive (0:53:43) Kev: So yeah, I’m gonna keep playing this game. I want to finish it to completion. That’s not terribly hard ask (0:53:49) Kev: and (0:53:51) Kev: But and yeah, I honestly (0:53:53) Kev: like even (0:53:55) Kev: Even though the game was not what I expected it (0:54:00) Kev: The cowboy simulator I hope for personally (0:54:04) Kev: It’s still a lovely and charming game and and then two thumbs up and an easy recommendation from me (0:54:11) Kev: You know, I hope it does well (0:54:13) Kev: I you know, like (0:54:16) Kev: It’s a more niche (0:54:18) Kev: like culturally (0:54:21) Kev: Area (0:54:22) Kev: You know, it’s not like we’re playing games from South American devs every other week here or in general, you know, so I (0:54:30) Kev: Wholeheartedly encourage that and then you know, just go check it out, you know (0:54:36) Kev: And and like I said, they you can feel the care they’re putting into this there. They’re updating game constantly and then fixing things (0:54:43) Kev: And and yeah, I can’t open I guess it before but though the overcooked art sounds very cute charming. I can’t emphasize enough (0:54:51) Kev: Um, okay. Yeah, I think that’s that’s all I got really I’m done rambling and and and and and and getting mushy and all that (0:54:59) Kev: Um… (0:55:01) Kev: So yeah, that is gaucho in the grass when I came out didn’t disappoint hey good good for them (0:55:06) Kev: Right the game works and didn’t disappoint. What more can you ask for really? (0:55:12) Kev: So yeah go check that out again, I highly encourage you (0:55:17) Kev: And yeah, I guess we can call it an episode shorter one, of course just just me that’s (0:55:24) Kev: that’s I (0:55:26) Kev: I like long podcasts. My primary podcast I listen to is generally (0:55:30) Kev: speaking three to four hours a week. I like it. Maybe it’s my own personal situation when I’m at (0:55:38) Kev: work. It’s easy to turn on podcasts and just get in it for a couple hours. But yeah, I always feel (0:55:46) Kev: bad when these episodes. That’s the biggest thing I feel bad about. It’s a little short, but hey, (0:55:52) Kev: it is what it is. What can I do? I mean, I could go on, but you know, I’ll save out there. (0:56:00) Kev: Just cutting out entire sections of me talking to myself is two different characters. That’ll be (0:56:10) Kev: for another episode. But yeah, thanks again folks for listening. Thanks Al for letting me do a solo (0:56:20) Kev: episode again. Thank you listeners for surviving somehow to the end of this. All right, and with (0:56:29) Kev: that. (0:56:31) Kev: You can find me on the internet if you can. (0:56:34) Kev: Actually, you probably don’t want to do that. (0:56:35) Kev: There’s probably not much that you’re going to find out there. (0:56:38) Kev: I’m @koopaprez on the bluesk, on the twitter, on the whatever. (0:56:42) Kev: Or the artist square, if you want to see some of my art, even though I’m falling behind. (0:56:45) Kev: I’ve picked… (0:56:47) Kev: I made some sprites in the past week, that&rs